A8804D

The New York State Senate passed a $2 billion capital budget (A8804D) on a 51-9 vote, allocating funds across housing, transportation, education, and environmental programs. The bill includes $585 million for housing capital, with $250 million dedicated to public housing improvements including $140 million for New York City Housing Authority. The budget also features $80 million in new upstate housing programs, including a $40 million Infill Housing Program for Buffalo, Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, and Binghamton to construct single and two-family homes on vacant lots. Transportation received $164 million, restoring $60 million in CHIPS funding and $40 million for touring routes that the Governor had proposed cutting. The budget includes $400 million for the Environmental Protection Fund and $500 million for clean water infrastructure. Nine Republicans voted against the measure, with Sen. Oberacker citing insufficient transportation funding increases despite rising material costs, and Sens. Helming and Martins raising accountability concerns about NYCHA spending. Sen. Krueger, the bill's sponsor, defended the housing investments, noting that public housing residents pay only $555 monthly rent on average—one-third the rate of rent-regulated housing—and that the state houses 600,000 people in NYC public housing alone. The bill passed with support from Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and includes funding for projects ranging from a Rochester intermodal bus terminal to Cornell University's veterinary diagnostic laboratory.