Policy Alert: FY25 NYS Budget Update

April 16, 2024

Yesterday evening, Governor Hochul announced the “parameters of a conceptual agreement” on the budget. Some highlights of the announced $237B budget are below:

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Housing

NYC

  • New 485-a incentive to build housing and 6-year extension of expired 421-a
  • Office conversion into housing and elimination of density restrictions in Manhattan
  • Pilot program for basement apartments

NYS

  • Incentives for multifamily housing and accessory dwelling
  • $650M for pro-housing communities statewide
  • $500M for up to 15K units on state-owned sites

Public Safety

  • $347M to drive down gun violence in the state
  • Increased penalties for assaulting retail workers and addressing sales of stolen goods
  • $40M for retail theft teams in the State Police and local law enforcement
  • State and local power to padlock doors of illegal cannabis vendors for up to one year during due process
  • $36M to prosecute domestic abuse
  • $35M to thwart hate crimes

Education

  • Funding for the Back to Basics reading curriculum
  • Adjustment to the School Funding built-in rate of growth for FY25, and the Rockefeller Institute to examine funding formula
  • Increased minimum award and raised income limits for Tuition Assistance Program

Mental Health & Healthcare

  • $19M for mental health support for school-aged children
  • Changes to standards for reimbursement and out-of-network mental health coverage
  • Investment in public swimming, NY Swims
  • $3B to support distressed hospitals
  • $20B for health care infrastructure
  • Increase to Paid Medical Leave
  • Medical debt protections for low-income New Yorkers
  • Increased home care worker minimum wage

Environment

  • Planting 25M trees
  • $500M for clean water
  • $50M temporary assistance for municipalities

Asylum Seekers

  • $2.4M to support NYC’s accommodation of asylum seekers

Workforce Development

  • $275M (in addition to $125M in private funding) for Empire AI Consortium
  • $200M for four new workforce development centers

Leaders in the Assembly and Senate have described this announcement as premature, and stated that a final deal has not been confirmed. A budget vote is expected to take place later this week or early next week. The most recent budget extender runs through Thursday, April 18.

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