Plugged In @ Hinman Straub

January 24, 2024

What’s Inside

  • FY 2025-26 Executive Budget
  • Joint Budget Hearing Schedule
  • Legislative Session Recap
  • DFS Issues Overdraft Fee Regulations
  • In the News
  • Coming Up

FY 2026 Executive Budget

Governor Kathy Hochul delivered her FY 2026 Executive Budget address on Tuesday, January 21, 2025, in the “Red Room” at the State Capitol in Albany. The Address can be watched here. Her Executive Budget proposal totals $252 billion, a $8.6 billion increase (3.6%) over FY 2024-25. Following the Governor’s address, Budget Director Blake Washington held a FY 2025-26 Executive Budget technical briefing in front of the press, which can be watched here.

Tax receipts and other state revenues have increased significantly in recent months, resulting in a General Fund surplus of approximately $3.5 billion in FY 2025. The budget plan includes several actions to reduce out-year budget gaps to $4 billion in FY 2027, and $7.4 billion in FY 2028. New York now has $21 Billion in “rainy day” reserves.

The Governor’s budget proposal includes initiatives unveiled in her State of the State of the State of the State address on January 14, and in other previous announcements. In her remarks announcing the Executive Budget proposal, she stated her priorities as being to reduce income taxes and the effects of inflation, increasing access to childcare and school meal assistance, housing, safety on subways, the transition to clean energy, and eliminating cell phone use in public schools. Highlights of the FY 2026 Executive Budget proposal can be found in the Governor’s press release here. FY 2026 budget legislation (appropriations and Article VII bill) can be found here.

Governor Hochul may submit amendments to her original proposal after 21 and 30 days. The Senate and Assembly will release their respective one-house budget proposals in early to mid-March, kicking off final negotiations between both legislative leaders and the Governor ahead of the final budget due date, which is April 1.

Joint Budget Hearing Schedule

Following the Governor’s release of the FY 2026 Executive Budget legislation, the New York State Legislature issued its joint legislative budget hearing schedule. These hearings, each of which focuses on a programmatic area of the Executive Budget Proposal, are intended to provide the appropriate legislative committees with public input. The hearings will be available for viewing on the Senate and Assembly websites.

Budget hearings will commence on Monday, January 27, and conclude on Thursday, February 27. The respective state agency or department heads will begin testimony each day, followed by witnesses who have requested to testify on that area of the budget.

Please note, that requests to testify must be made by submitting a Hearing Request Form.

The joint budget hearing schedule is as follows:

  • Agriculture & Markets/Parks & Recreation: Monday, January 27 at 1:00 p.m.
  • Environmental Conservation/Energy: Tuesday, January 28 at 9:30 a.m.
  • Elementary Education/Secondary Education: Wednesday, January 29 at 9:30 a.m.
  • Local Government/General Government: Tuesday, February 4 at 9:30 a.m.
  • Mental Hygiene: Wednesday, February 5 at 9:30 a.m.
  • Transportation: Thursday, February 6 at 9:30 a.m.
  • Health/Medicaid: Tuesday, February 11 at 9:30 a.m.
  • Human Services: Wednesday, February 12 at 9:30 a.m.
  • Public Protection: Thursday, February 13 at 9:30 a.m.
  • Higher Education: Tuesday, February 25 at 9:30 a.m.
  • Labor/Workforce Development: Wednesday, February 26 at 9:30 a.m.
  • Economic Development/Arts: Wednesday, February 26 at 2:00 p.m.
  • Housing: Thursday, February 27 at 9:30 a.m.
  • Taxes: Thursday, February 27 at 2:00 p.m.

Legislative Session Recap

The Legislature convened on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. The Legislature will reconvene on Monday and Tuesday of next week.

This week, Both the Assembly and Senate highlighted the passage of respective legislative packages, focused on Reproductive protections, women’s health, and privacy.

The Assembly’s legislation consisted of two bills. The first, A.2145-A, Reyes, will increase privacy protections for doctors dispensing medications by replacing the prescriber’s name with the name of the practice. This would allow New York prescribers to provide care for their patients out of state without fear of direct legal action.

The second, A.2141-A, Rosenthal, will provide additional protections for electronic health information. This includes information that is stored by cellphones, smart watches and information collected over the internet through purchases or search history. This legislation protects information that is not already protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), including information collected in the pursuit of reproductive healthcare access. More information can be found here.

The Senate passed a larger package of bills to strengthen abortion rights and ensure access to reproductive healthcare for all New Yorkers, which includes:

  • Amends The Reproductive Freedom and Equity Grant Program: 135, sponsored by Senator Cleare, amends the Reproductive Freedom and Equity Grant program to provide support including reimbursement for travel, meals, and lodging to individuals accessing abortion care.
  • Prohibits ‘restricted substances’ in menstrual products: 1548, sponsored by Senator Fernandez, prohibits “restricted substances,” to be determined by the Department of Health (DOH), from being used in menstrual products.
  • The New York State Abortion Clinical Training Program Act: 1438, sponsored by Senator Krueger, would establish a clinical training program through the Department of Health (DOH) for the purpose of training healthcare practitioners in the performance of abortion procedures and related reproductive healthcare services.
  • Protection of Health Information: 929, sponsored by Senator Krueger, would regulate how companies collect and sell healthcare information, establish data privacy standards for entities that collect personal data related to individuals’ health and provide additional rights and protections to users related to consent and deletion of private health information.
  • Permitting alternative labeling for medication abortion prescription drugs: 36A, sponsored by Senator Mayer, would permit prescription labels for medication abortion prescription drugs (mifepristone, misoprostol and their generic alternatives) to include the name of the prescribing health care practice instead of the name of the prescriber at the prescriber’s request.
  • The Public University Emergency Contraception Education Act: 1683, sponsored by Senator Parker, would require public universities to develop, produce and distribute materials related to emergency contraception.
  • Raising Awareness to Hormone Therapy Treatments for Menopause:1720, sponsored by Senator Persaud, would inform the public about hormone treatment therapy for treating the symptoms of perimenopause and menopause symptoms through the DOH’s Health Care and Wellness Education and Outreach Program.
  • Authorizing pharmacists to administer contraceptive use injections: 1703, sponsored by Senator Webb, permits pharmacists to administer injections for contraceptive use as prescribed by a licensed provider acting within the scope of their practice.
  • Supplemental breast cancer screening coverage contractual clause: 1773, sponsored by Senator Webb, requires state contracts for goods and services to include a clause that contractors may not offer health insurance plans that do not include coverage for supplemental breast cancer screenings.

More information can be found in the Senate Democratic Majority’s press release here.

DFS Issues Overdraft Fee Regulations

The Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) has posted proposed regulations to enhance consumer protections against “unfair” overdraft fees. Under the proposed regulations, state-chartered banks would be prohibited from charging fees on overdrafts of less than $20, charging fees that exceed the overdraft amount, charging more than three fees per customer account per day, charging fees for instantaneously declined transactions, charging multiple fees for the same transaction, charging daily fees for each day an overdraft balance is not repaid, among other prohibitions.

Click here for a copy of the draft regulations.

New York State Department of Financial Services Superintendent Adrienne Harris said:

A healthy market grows when consumers have confidence and trust in the products offered and the providers offering them. Today’s proposed regulation ensures that consumers will no longer be taxed with surprising and disproportionate fees for using the overdraft services provided with their bank accounts.

In The News

Hochul unveils $252B budget with focus on cost of living, crime.

‘It kind of blows my mind’: Community college teaches cannabis cultivation.

NY Joins challenge of Trump’s order to end birthright citizenship.

New York City seeks jolt for Midtown with plan to build 10,000 homes.

Hochul reveals massive number of undocumented workers as she fears Trump crackdown can crush NY economy.

Trump executive order delivers a blow to wind-energy industry; Orsted sees setbacks on Sunrise Wind.

New York Gaming Association Board of Directors names Boyle Chair of organization.

Hochul proposes free college tuition for students seeking jobs at Micron, chip companies.

Hochul’s pro-union home care program overhaul promises $500M in savings but it’s off to a rocky start.

Some N.Y. congressional Dems call on Mayor Adams to be more forceful in pushing back on Trump.

Speaker Adams accuses mayor of having ‘no plan’ to counter right-wing Trump government.

Ruling on transgender athlete ban could prompt action at state Capitol.

Private equity firm to pay $1B to settle predatory lending case.

New York bill would make ‘masked harassment’ a crime.

Hochul watches her words in early days of Trump administration.

Former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin breaks silence after feds drop bribery case.

Coming Up

The New York State Assembly will hold a public hearing to examine current horseshoe crab management practices on January 29.

The NYS Board of Regents will meet on February 10 and 11.

The PSC will hold its next meeting on February 13.

The joint budget hearing schedule is as follows:

  • Agriculture & Markets/Parks & Recreation: Monday, January 27 at 1:00 p.m.
  • Environmental Conservation/Energy: Tuesday, January 28 at 9:30 a.m.
  • Elementary Education/Secondary Education: Wednesday, January 29 at 9:30 a.m.
  • Local Government/General Government: Tuesday, February 4 at 9:30 a.m.
  • Mental Hygiene: Wednesday, February 5 at 9:30 a.m.
  • Transportation: Thursday, February 6 at 9:30 a.m.
  • Health/Medicaid: Tuesday, February 11 at 9:30 a.m.
  • Human Services: Wednesday, February 12 at 9:30 a.m.
  • Public Protection: Thursday, February 13 at 9:30 a.m.
  • Higher Education: Tuesday, February 25 at 9:30 a.m.
  • Labor/Workforce Development: Wednesday, February 26 at 9:30 a.m.
  • Economic Development/Arts: Wednesday, February 26 at 2:00 p.m.
  • Housing: Thursday, February 27 at 9:30 a.m.
  • Taxes: Thursday, February 27 at 2:00 p.m.