New York lawmakers finally passed a $254 billion budget Thursday night, ending a 38-day delay after Gov. Kathy Hochul refused to budge without key policy wins. Despite weeks of infighting, the Assembly wrapped early, just before 9:30 p.m., with the Senate following soon after.
Hochul claimed victory on a series of contentious reforms, including evidence-sharing changes backed by city prosecutors, stricter involuntary commitment laws, and a classroom cellphone ban. Her tactics, however, infuriated legislators, with one senator accusing her of acting like a monarch. Her press tour ahead of the final deal only deepened divisions.
Now, lawmakers face a compressed timeline to handle the rest of the legislative session, which ends June 12 unless extra days are added.
Republican lawmakers are denouncing the finalized budget as excessive and misguided, criticizing both its process and priorities while accusing Albany of ignoring the needs of upstate communities.
Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay called the 2025–2026 budget “another reckless escalation of spending” that fails to stabilize the state’s economy or reduce the burden on working families. “This spending plan, the latest in 15 years and $13 billion more than last year, continued Albany’s pattern of closed-door dysfunction and lack of transparency,” Barclay said.
Barclay acknowledged the inclusion of measures long supported by Republicans—such as middle-class tax cuts and expansion of the Empire State Child Credit—but argued these gains were undercut by new taxes and costly mandates. He specifically pointed to the payroll tax in the MTA region and extended taxes on high earners as exacerbating the state’s affordability crisis.
Senator Pam Helming shared her frustration with the adopted budget. “For a budget that was supposed to prioritize affordability and public safety, it fails miserably. Instead of relieving New Yorkers of high taxes and costly mandates, it doubles down on spending with a staggering $17 billion increase over last year,” she said. “This budget is completely out of touch—those in power in Albany don’t understand the struggles of working families, seniors, farmers, or small business owners. They simply don’t get it. The foundation of an effective government is fiscal responsibility, and in New York, that foundation isn’t just cracking—it’s collapsing. If you truly love New York, you don’t dig it further into the ground—you fight with everything you’ve got to turn it around.”
Assemblyman Jeff Gallahan of Manchester went further, accusing the state’s Democratic leadership of turning its back on rural communities and local emergency services. “Once again, Albany’s priorities favor bloated bureaucracies and downstate interests over the real needs of upstate families,” Gallahan said in a statement.
Gallahan condemned the budget for failing to increase Medicaid reimbursement rates for rural ambulance services and volunteer squads, describing them as “on the brink of collapse.” He said the lack of meaningful support leaves first responders “with political promises” instead of the funding they urgently need.
Despite a $1.7 billion increase in school aid statewide, Gallahan criticized what he called an uneven distribution that left some districts with only a 2% minimum increase. “While Albany piles on costly, unfunded mandates, it’s handing $3 billion of State taxpayer funding to the chronically mismanaged MTA,” he said, also blasting the governor’s congestion pricing plan as a new commuter tax with “zero benefit for the Finger Lakes or Upstate.”
The final budget, announced April 29 by Governor Hochul, includes a $1 billion tax cut, expanded child tax credits, and up to $400 in “Inflation Refund” checks. Hochul also touted major investments in mental health care, education, clean energy, and public safety—including $77 million to deploy police on overnight subway trains and a fix to the state’s discovery laws.
“This budget is far more than a financial document,” Hochul said. “It’s a declaration of our shared values: who we are, who we’re fighting for, and a roadmap for a brighter future.”
But Gallahan remained unconvinced. “This budget makes things worse,” he said. “Enough is enough.” He reaffirmed his opposition by voting no, declaring the plan moves the state “in the wrong direction.”
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