State Senate approves $3.8 billion short-term budget extender after heated questions on pace of negotiations

The New York State Senate on April 4 approved a short-term appropriation measure that provides $3,800,000,000 in spending authority to keep state operations running while budget negotiations continue.

Senator Krueger moved to discharge Assembly bill 7695 from the Rules Committee and substitute it for Senate print 7239; the Senate accepted a message of necessity and ordered the bill to third reading before voting to pass the measure. The bill was announced as passed on the floor, and the sponsor said Section 2 makes the action effective immediately.

The vote came after Sen. O'Mara pressed Senate leaders on why a longer-term budget had not been completed, arguing the repeated short extenders mean the state is effectively spending “about $900,000,000 a day” without a final agreement. "Where are we in getting a budget done today?" O'Mara asked. Sen. Krueger replied that the bill provides $3.8 billion in appropriation authority to meet payroll costs and allow certain payments for the Department of Health, the Department of Labor and the Department of Veterans' Affairs; she said the amount is an increase of $1.8 billion over last Thursday's extender and "it only goes through Wednesday." Krueger added that the extender "extends the level of funding that were in the previous year" and characterized it as a continuation of prior-year spending rather than a permanent increase.

During the exchange, Krueger and O'Mara disputed whether the extenders create new spending or simply continue prior levels; Krueger said a full enacted budget could reduce or reallocate spending but, because of inflation and typical annual adjustments, many line items rise year to year. O'Mara repeated concerns that frequent extenders give the appearance of stalled negotiations and asked whether any of the remaining nine budget bills had been finalized; Krueger replied no.

Procedurally, the floor record shows Senator Stewart-Cousins reported from the Rules Committee earlier in the session and the substitution of Assembly bill 7695 for Senate print 7239 was ordered before the bill was read and acted on. The Senate accepted a message of necessity and appropriation at the desk before final passage.

The transcript records that nearly half of the $1.8 billion increase over the prior extender — approximately $860,000,000 — was described on the floor as Medicaid spending covering the two-day period the extender addresses. The sponsor and questioners also noted that the extender’s authorization covers only a brief window, indicating further legislative action will be required.

The Senate announced the bill passed; the transcript does not include a complete roll-call tally in the floor excerpts provided. The chamber recessed to conduct immediate follow-up meetings by conference caucuses and adjourned to its next scheduled session.