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1 day ago | 
cityandstateny.com | Austin Jefferson
In addition to spreading fear in immigrant communities, the Trump administration’s mass deportation plans could hurt the state’s economy.
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2 days ago | 
cityandstateny.com | Austin Jefferson
New York finally has a budget, but there is still over a month left to go in the legislative session. State lawmakers covered a lot in the $254 billion spending plan, from public safety to education and housing. But other policy issues still remain on the docket. Lawmakers are concerned about criminal justice reform, immigration issues, healthcare, climate policy and other issues as session days tick away. What they will manage to get to after New York’s budget odyssey is anyone's guess.
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5 days ago | 
cityandstateny.com | Austin Jefferson
Debates over substantial equivalency education standards stole the show as protracted budget negotiations neared their close. Hochul’s insistence on discovery reform took much of the blame for the late budget, but hangups over education standards in private religious schools proved a sticking point in the days before the state’s $254 billion spending plan was finalized.
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6 days ago | 
cityandstateny.com | Austin Jefferson
New York has updated its Foundation Aid formula for school funding with tweaks that did not make everyone happy, but did avoid last year's vitriol from state lawmakers, teachers’ unions and school districts. Foundation Aid uses a byzantine formula to decide how much funding New York school districts receive each year.
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1 week ago | 
cityandstateny.com | Austin Jefferson
The Housing Voucher Access Program is going to run as a four-year pilot program administered by the state Department of Housing and Community Renewal, New York City Housing Authority and city Department of Housing and Development, beginning on March 1, 2026 and ending on May 1, 2030. State Sen.
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1 week ago | 
cityandstateny.com | Rebecca C. Lewis |Austin Jefferson |Peter Sterne
At long last, the state Legislature has started printing budget bills, paving the way for legislators to begin hours of marathon voting to finally get the spending plan wrapped up. As of early Wednesday morning, the Legislature had introduced three of the remaining nine budget bills, leaving six more that still need printing. Still, PPGG had details about a number of other issues that drew attention during ongoing budget talks.
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1 week ago | 
cityandstateny.com | Austin Jefferson
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney won an election victory by running against President Donald Trump and the United States, but it remains to be seen what his defensive posture will mean for New York.
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1 week ago | 
cityandstateny.com | Austin Jefferson
Gov. Kathy Hochul and state Democrats identified affordability as the year’s marquee issue, and the state budget seems on pace to address that, even if it is in a much more watered-down format than Hochul had hoped. The governor has succeeded in pushing through inflation rebate checks, bumped up funding for child care vouchers, funded universal free school lunches, cut middle-class taxes and even changed her mind about the Housing Access Voucher Program. But there have been some hiccups.
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1 week ago | 
cityandstateny.com | Austin Jefferson
The push to rein in the mayor of New York City has returned to the statehouse just as state budget negotiations have hit a lull. State Sen. Jabari Brisport and Assembly Member Harvey Epstein are introducing a bill that would allow the New York City Council to remove the mayor of New York City, currently Eric Adams, with a three-quarters vote.
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2 weeks ago | 
cityandstateny.com | Austin Jefferson
New York school districts are blowing past budget deadlines now that the state budget is nearly a month late, and while lawmakers are searching for an equitable solution to Foundation Aid, if they take too long, some schools could be left reeling. Gov. Kathy Hochul alluded to updating the Foundation Aid formula for school funding by eliminating its reliance on outdated census data when she announced her “general agreement” for the state budget Monday.
