Monday, July 14, 2025
By now, you’ve heard the news: The New York state budget finally passed after 11 emergency extenders and 38 days of delay, making it the latest budget in 15 years. It’s common knowledge how broken our budget process is. The jokes about it are everywhere. Jon Stewart, “Saturday Night Live,” “The Daily Show,” Samantha Bee, “The Colbert Report” — they’ve all poked fun at the lack of transparency and backroom deals that have come to define this annual, dysfunctional process. Some lawmakers even quipped that the election of the new pope would occur before Albany actually passed a state budget.
Who was right? Well, it depends on who you ask.
Gov. Kathy Hochul was on a public relations mission crisscrossing the state, claiming victory on a “fiscally responsible” budget and racing through the morning and evening cable news channels faster than a New York minute.
The problem? There wasn’t an actual budget agreement, there weren’t bills printed, there wasn’t anything for lawmakers to look over and analyze. In fact, it was over a week beyond her premature victory lap before everything was even pencils down.
Even New York Democrats agree that the budget process has to be reformed. After 15 years in the state Assembly, I’ve learned what works and, more often than not, what doesn’t. Every year, it’s become tradition for me to voice my concerns on the floor and in interviews, but I follow Theodore Roosevelt’s advice: never complain about a problem without offering a solution. That’s why I’ve introduced a package of budget reform bills, alongside my colleagues, aimed at closing the loopholes that have allowed this broken system to persist.
To ensure we pass a budget on time — every time — we need to stop the Legislature from recessing after the start of the fiscal year until the budget is passed. Delays have real consequences for local governments and schools, which are unable to make decisions about their own budgets.
We need to instill greater discipline in state spending by capping annual growth to the average rate of inflation over the past three years. At the same time, we should strengthen the state’s rainy-day fund to better prepare for economic downturns, ensuring future generations aren’t left with a mountain of debt.
Speaking of which, the state’s mounting debt is crippling. We need greater transparency and oversight, which is why my legislation requires all state agencies and local authorities to submit an annual report detailing their debt obligations. This will give taxpayers a clearer picture of how state debt is being managed and verify we’re not burying ourselves in obligations we can’t meet.
When you’re spending over a quarter of a trillion dollars, lawmakers and the public deserve a full financial picture before any votes are cast. This year, much like every year, major budget bills were passed without the Enacted Budget Financial Plan.
That document shows how much we’re spending, how much we’re pulling from reserves and what our future budget gaps and debt look like. It connects the dots between our revenue choices and long-term obligations. Without it, we’re voting blind. Requiring the governor to provide this plan at least one day before budget votes is a basic step in making informed decisions on behalf of the people we represent.
It’s time to stop doing things a certain way just because that’s how they’ve always been done. New York has plenty of great traditions — like arguing over who makes the best pizza or whether bagels should be toasted — but tradition shouldn’t be an excuse to resist change when the system isn’t working. We need to include all legislative conferences in budget negotiations, not just a select few. A more inclusive process means better representation and ensures every region of the state, including ours, has a voice in how our tax dollars are spent.
It’s been said time and again that New York’s budget process is the epitome of dysfunction, but it doesn’t have to be. We have real solutions, and the tools to fix the process are right in front of us. What we need now is the will to act. Otherwise, next April 1 will be just another punch line, when it should be a deadline we finally take seriously.
Ed Ra represents the 19th Assembly District and is the ranking Republican member on the Assembly Ways & Means Committee.
