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NEW YORK STATE SENATE PASSES $229 BILLION BUDGET AFTER MONTH-LONG DELAY The New York State Senate passed the 2023-2024 state budget on a 42-21 vote Tuesday night, ending a budget impasse that stretched more than a month and centered largely on criminal justice bail reform language. Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins hailed the budget as a "people's budget" that makes historic investments in education, healthcare, childcare, and climate initiatives while prioritizing affordability for working and middle-class New Yorkers. The budget fully funds Foundation Aid for public schools for the first time, establishes universal free school meals, expands pre-K and childcare access, increases the minimum wage by $2 over three years with future ties to inflation, and allocates $500 million in additional healthcare provider aid and $1 billion for mental health services. The budget also advances the state's climate agenda through a cap-and-invest program holding major polluters accountable, while clarifying that existing buildings and gas stoves are exempt from the all-electric buildings requirement. All 21 Republican senators voted against the budget. Minority Leader Robert Ortt delivered a lengthy floor speech arguing the budget exacerbates rather than solves New York's affordability crisis. He contended the ban on natural gas hookups in new construction will increase housing costs, repeated minimum wage increases will harm the low-skilled workers they aim to help, and the diversion of county funds will force property tax increases on constituents already paying among the nation's highest rates. Ortt also criticized the budget's impact on farmers facing repeated labor cost increases. Sen. Walczyk opposed the budget over $14 million in Public Campaign Finance Board funding, calculating the cost at $2.50 per voter. Sen. Borrello called the $229 billion budget—$627 million daily—wasteful, noting it failed to fund school lunches for all children while raiding county coffers. Sen. Kennedy praised the budget for nearly doubling railroad inspector funding following recent derailments, crediting Sen. Hinchey and leadership for the safety investment. The budget's passage came after negotiations centered on modest criminal justice bail reform language that both sides characterized differently—Democrats calling it a necessary "clarification" of judicial discretion, Republicans arguing it amounts to no meaningful change.