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Gov. Kathy Hochul and state legislative leaders are wrapping up their first week of budget talks. By all accounts, discussions remain at a surface level, and headed in the right direction despite a curveball from the governor: a late push for some sort of restriction on wearing masks in public. A previous law went by the wayside amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jack O’Donnell, strategist and founder of O’Donnell & Associates, told Spectrum News 1 that even with the push for a mask policy, things still appear to be relatively tame.
“I think behind closed doors, this is a somewhat non confrontational budget. That doesn’t mean there aren’t differences, but the differences are minimal,” he said.
As for where things stand in terms of reaching the April 1 deadline?
“I’d say it’s still in like the opening statements,” state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said Thursday, adding that he wasn’t ready to predict a delay yet.
“It’s supposed to go smoothly the first week,” said state Sen. James Skoufis. "If you’re running into problems this early on, you have a really big problem."
“I would bet you $200 million it will not be on time,” state Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt said. “How about that?”
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie conveyed to reporters that as expected, Hochul’s proposals to modify discovery laws, involuntary commitment standards, and institute a bell-to-bell cell phone ban are early talkers along with MTA funding.
“Some things we super duper like, some things we’re okay with, some things we could be okay with but don’t like some of the language,” he said.
The governor waded into a public acknowledgment that she’s having “conversations” with lawmakers about a mask restriction, with exceptions for health and religious reasons, at an event about measles on Wednesday as the subject of masking for health purposes was raised.
“Masks used in the commission of a crime are deeply troubling to me,” she said. “Think about a bank robber who walks in and their face is covered, someone assaults someone on the subway and they can get away with it despite the fact that we have cameras.”
Asked how he felt about the last-minute nature of the governor’s push, Heastie quipped “That’s why I don’t like policy in the budget,” as he strode away from a news conference with capitol reporters.
Those close to negotiations say the governor has narrowed her wish to a proposal from State Sen. James Skoufis and Assemblymember Jeffrey Dinowitz that would ban “masked harassment” with exceptions for health, work, or religions needs as well as peaceful protests.
The bill defines masked harassment as someone wearing a face covering that “intentionally hides or conceals their face for the primary purpose of menacing or threatening another person or placing another person or group of persons in reasonable fear for their physical safety.”
“This is strictly a public safety proposal,” Skoufis said. “Anyone who is wearing a mask for any of those other legitimate reasons — this bill has nothing to do with you.”
The progressive flank of the state Legislature has expressed concerns over restrictions to mask wearing.
“I, when we’re speaking about the mask ban, am fundamentally opposed to that,” Assemblymember and New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani said.
For some, those concerns are focused on enforcement in cases of protests, public health and immigration enforcement issues. They say that concern has grown more acute in response to the Trump administration’s policies on immigration and campus protest.
Also creating friction behind the scenes is the state lawmakers’ resistance to the Hochul’s bell-to-bell cell phone ban in schools. In their one-house budget, the Senate favored an approach that gives more leeway to students during non instructional time and accommodates districts who have already tackled the issue. That position appears to be holding at least early on.
Skoufis, who agrees with the governor, emphasized that the good news is most conversations are taking place in the same ballpark.
“This is certainly going to be a debate, there’s going to be a back and forth,” he said. “There’s a lot of research on the issue, and I think we’re all interested in landing in a place that creates the best learning environment.”
He expressed a similar sentiment when it comes to mask restrictions.
“It’s going to be a debate because it’s a nuanced, complex issue,” he said. “I am very optimistic that we will get to a good place here because even those colleagues who have raised questions or even have raised concerns, the questions and concerns are intelligent, they aren’t just knee jerk oppositional.”
