Photo: Austin C. Jefferson

Speaker Heastie Wants More Attention Paid To The Imbalanced Budget Process

As state budget talks drag into a fourth week, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie made a point to tell reporters he isn’t frustrated with Governor Hochul. But he did express weariness with the rules she’s playing by as he echoed renewed calls from some of his members for a more even playing field in the negotiations.

Under the state constitution and a series of court decisions jointly referred to as Silver v. Pataki, the governor in New York holds immense power in the budgeting process. The executive-heavy process leaves the state Legislature with little negotiating leverage or statutory authority as governors have increasingly used their influence to get both spending and policy priorities jammed through.

Since becoming governor, Governor Hochul has effectively held the spending plan hostage for long periods past the April 1 deadline every year in order to get what she wants. “My relationship with the governor is tremendous – there's no issues,” Speaker Heastie assured reporters on Wednesday in the state Capitol. “She's just using the tools that you know have been used by previous governors.”

It’s not Governor Hochul, according to Speaker Heastie. It’s the process. And in an ideal world, that process would change. “Do I support a change in the budgetary powers?” he said. “Yes, personally, I do.”

The idea of passing a constitutional amendment in order to even the playing field during the budget process is hardly a new one. But the conversation has sprung to life again this year now that state leaders and legislators have found themselves at the end of April with a deal still elusive.

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