Senate approves debt-service budget bill after debate over $10 billion cushion

The New York State Senate approved Assembly Bill 3002, the debt-service budget bill, on March 26, 2025, after a floor debate in which lawmakers questioned a roughly $10 billion difference between the state's outstanding debt figure and the amount authorized in the bill. The vote was 49 in favor, 10 opposed.

Supporters and opponents framed the dispute around whether the debt-service bill should authorize only payments on currently outstanding debt or also include authority to service additional borrowing that could be authorized later in the full budget. Senator Liz Krueger, who reported the bill from the Finance Committee, said the debt-service bill historically is introduced first and provides the state with flexibility to ensure debt payments continue while the rest of the budget is negotiated. "We always end up doing this budget bill first because I think most of us recognize this budget bill, the debt service bill, is an assurance and guarantee to all 19 and a half million New Yorkers [that] we continue to make our payments on time," Krueger said on the floor.

Senator Anthony M. O'Mara (as identified in the transcript) urged caution and said he would vote no on the bill because it included what he characterized as an approximately $10 billion cushion beyond the roughly $56.5 billion figure he cited for outstanding state debt. "If this was a debt service bill in the interim to get us from April 1 till whenever we pass the budget and we were doing $56 billion, I would certainly be voting aye. But I have to vote no for the $10 billion that we have no idea what it might be for," O'Mara said.

Krueger defended the larger figure as consistent with the governor's analysis and with the Legislature's need for flexibility while remaining subject to later legislative review. "The debt service bill obligates us to pay our debts. It doesn't assume that we must make payments that aren't put into a budget and actually need to be paid for," Krueger said, adding the bill allows the state to make payments on debt that may be authorized later but would still require the usual legislative process.

The debate also touched on other obligations outside the state budget. O'Mara asked whether the $6.5 billion federal loan used to shore up the Unemployment Insurance Fund during the COVID-19 pandemic would be addressed in this bill; Krueger said the unemployment trust fund is a separate system and not part of the state budget or the debt-service bill. "It is legally an obligation of businesses who are obligated to be under the unemployment benefit system," Krueger said, answering a question from the floor.

Procedural steps preceding the debate included a committee substitution: Assembly Bill 3002 was substituted for the identical Senate Bill 3002 and placed on third reading on the supplemental calendar. Following debate, the vote on the supplemental calendar item (Calendar 619) was recorded as 49 ayes and 10 nays. The roll-call list of negative votes named Senators Morello, Brisport, Helming, Lanza, O'Mara, Ortt, Stec, Taddeo, Walzak, and White (as announced on the floor).

The passage authorizes the state to meet scheduled debt payments and leaves in place legislative processes for any future borrowing that would create new obligations. The bill text, as read on the floor, states the final section takes effect immediately.

Votes and formal actions related to Assembly Bill 3002 are recorded on the Senate's floor calendar and in the supplemental calendar for March 26, 2025. Further budget bills that together constitute the full state budget remained under negotiation on the floor; Krueger and others said those remaining pieces would be addressed separately in the coming days.

The Senate returned the bill to the non-controversial calendar by consent before the final roll call, and the chamber adjourned with the next scheduled floor session set for April 1, 2025.