April 28, 2023
A tentative deal has been worked out, on the budget by Governor hochul and the state senate and assembly leaders. What we know so far, is that minimum wage will be going up to $16.00 an hour in this part of the state. Governor Kathy Hochul says the following is in the budget: improving public safety by providing judges greater discretion to set bail for serious crimes; $92 million in aid for prosecution and defense funding across the state; and more than $66 million to increase the number of State Police academy classes and number of troopers.
The Albany Times Union pointed out that Governor Kathy Hochul was surrounded by cabinet members when she made the state budget announcement, and not the two top state leaders from the Assembly and Senate, Speaker Karl Heastie and Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins. Heastie and Stewart-Cousins were repotedly not present.
There are no Republican lawmaker statements out yet, except that Corning Republican Assemblyman Phil Palmesano says that the GOP members of the state legislature have not seen the budget yet, and only know what they do, from the media.
