S10544

The New York State Senate passed its 14th budget extender on Tuesday, extending government operations through May 26th with $1.9 billion in additional spending, bringing total extender appropriations to $33.7 billion. The measure passed 59-2, with only Senators Rhoads and Weik voting in opposition. Sponsor Sen. Serrano indicated that the Education and Local Finance Administration (ELFA) bill would be taken up immediately following passage of the extender, with the Public Protection and General Government (PPGG) bill expected to follow within the next day. The remaining eight of nine outstanding budget bills are expected to be voted on the following week. The extender came as negotiations on the full budget continued, with Sen. Serrano indicating that budget items were moving to print and that "we are at the end of that road" on resolving outstanding issues. However, Sen. O'Mara (R) criticized the continued lack of transparency regarding which issues remain unresolved and expressed concern about voting on massive spending bills without having a complete budget before the legislature, calling the process "bad government" and noting that school districts had already held budget votes without knowing what state aid they would receive.