He’s not mad. Please don’t put in the newspaper that he got mad.
As state budget talks drag into a fourth week, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie made a point to tell reporters he isn’t frustrated with Gov. Kathy 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 (thanks to changes made 100 years ago by the politico everyone loves to hate: Robert Moses) 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, 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,” 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 Hochul, according to 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.” Heastie rarely offers his personal opinion on legislative matters in public, generally deferring to what a majority of his conference has offered support for.
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.
Assembly Ways and Means Chair J. Gary Pretlow offered a surprise while debating the fifth short-term spending stopgap of the year on Monday, clearly voicing his support for a state constitutional amendment to realign the powers in the process. “That would take a constitutional amendment at this point … That’s a time-consuming process that I think maybe we should undertake,” he said on the floor of the chamber.
Pretlow isn’t alone either. Several of his Assembly colleagues last week held a virtual press briefing on the need to pass a new state constitutional amendment to fix the budget process. “I think people bring this up and then they get afraid, and they back away from it,” said Assembly Member Emily Gallagher, who was one of several members on the call. She said that in the past, lawmakers may have feared that the governor would retaliate against anyone who tried to limit their power.
But Gallagher expressed hope that this year could be different, in part because of how the current budget talks have devolved, despite initial optimism that there could be an on-time budget this year. “The five of us and some others are feeling some real momentum,” Gallager said. “We are willing to stick our necks out here and say that we’re for it, and we’re going to build that.”
Heastie said although he supports a constitutional amendment in theory, the “tough part” is actually passing the amendment – and he’s not ready for that fight. “Now you’re in a campaign, governor versus the Legislature,” he told reporters. “Who’s paying for that? … I’d love to change it, but it becomes a major campaign.”
And as he again made a point to clearly state, Heastie gets along just fine with Hochul despite his frustrations with the process. “I don’t even want y’all writing about this because I’m not trying to – my relationship with the government is tremendous,” he said. (Heastie later berated reporters for allegedly not writing about the budget process, saying “y’all don’t write about it, y’all just want to ask me if I’m frustrated about it.”)
But Heastie isn’t wrong that passing a constitutional amendment to fix the budget process would be an uphill battle. The last time state legislators even came close was two decades ago, when they passed a resolution to make tweaks to the state constitution in order to begin offering solutions to the problem of months-late budgets. The measure would not have fundamentally shifted the power of balance between the two branches of government. But voters still overwhelmingly rejected the proposal when it appeared on the ballot in 2005.
That year was also the last time legislators approved a past version of an amendment that would have made the budgeting process more equitable and taken power away from the governor. But they never passed it the necessary second time for it to head to voters in 2007, and the measure has since bounced between sponsors from both parties. Currently, state Sen. Gustavo River and Assembly Member Anna Kelles carry the resolution.
A spokesperson for Hochul did not immediately return a request for comment, but in the past, Hochul has declined to weigh in on the prospect of amending the budget process. Just months into her tenure as governor, City & State directly asked her about the topic as she promised a new era of cooperation with the Legislature following the tensions of her predecessor. “I’m not giving a straight answer on that,” Hochul said at the time.
