New York State (WBEN) - Governor Kathy Hochul announced New York State's tentative budget deal on Thursday, a $229 billion dollar state spending plan that comes over a month past due.
That deal looks to make some interesting changes to bail reform, minimum wage and rules on natural gas.
WBEN reached out to both sides of the political aisle and spoke with Senators Sean Ryan and George Borrello, who provided their thoughts on those particular topics addressed by the tentative state budget.
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Bail Reform
Judges in New York will now have more discretion to jail people awaiting trial for alleged crimes, a policy change fiercely resisted by some of Governor Hochul's fellow Democrats.
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Democratic Senator Sean Ryan, however, is interested in continuing to see what works and what doesn't.
"When the bail reform changes were made a few years ago, it was acknowledged that we're not writing the 10 Commandments, it's not something perfect and we're going to have to come back and make changes and tinker. So we've come back and made a few tweaks. This is one more tweak."
Ryan continued, claiming crime has been on a decline. "So we'll see if this has any impact or if it's actually too restrictive. But we're not going to set these things in stone and say, 'this is the perfect way.' We're going to keep looking at data and we'll make changes when appropriate. We're not going to get stuck in the old way of saying we had bail perfect in 1955 and we'll never make a change again. That's not what we're about now in New York State. So we're going to keep looking at the data, keep looking and listening to law enforcement, district attorneys, public defenders, and we're just going to keep endeavoring to get it right."
Republican Senator George Borrello says this change is "a step in the right direction." However, 90% of crimes are still bail ineligible under current statute.
"We'll have to wait and see what specifics are in this budget. Removing the least restrictive means for judges, I think it will make New York a little bit safer. But ultimately, it's still a far cry from what's really needed, which is to scrap the original so-called 'bail reform' and start over again."
Natural Gas
Of great concern, specifically to Western New Yorkers, banning natural gas in homes has been a highly debated and contentious issue.
The tentative budget will ban natural gas in new homes and building up to 7 floors starting in 2025.
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However, it would appear that New York State, for the time being, is not going to make New Yorkers retrofit their homes to go all-electric, a decision that Senator Ryan thinks is the correct move.
"I'm glad the state backed off the idea of banning stoves and banning furnaces, we weren't ready for that, so we backed off that and now we're just on to new construction.
There's many areas of the state that are already building all-electric houses just because they're not on gas pipelines. So in Erie County, we build about 1400 houses a year and most of the contractors you talk to say, 'Yeah, sure we can build all-electric, we already build them in areas that it's not connected to a gas pipeline.'
We also asked Senator Ryan if he thinks that his fellow lawmakers will reconsider phasing out natural gas in existing homes.
"We're going to get there, but we're not going to get there until we figured out how to insulate all of our homes in Buffalo in Western New York. It's a whole different equation when you're talking about the 'has built' community. We've got nearly a million people in Erie County, they're all living in houses already, there's only 1200 new ones going up. The real challenge is how to make our homes more energy efficient to get towards the green technology, but we're not really there right now."
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On the flip side, Senator Borrello says not allowing natural gas in new homes is outright unconstitutional.
"This whole idea of banning natural gas has already been thrown out by the Ninth Circuit Federal Court, as unconstitutional. So what the governor and the far left Democrats are making us do is, sue them. This 2025 date is not very far away and imagine being in economic development trying to lure a new manufacturer here to New York State, or a manufacturer that wants to expand here in New York State. Natural gas is critical to manufacturing and so many other businesses."
An example Borrello makes is the food industry.
"Food processing, which is huge here in Western New York, how are you going to tell someone that is coming here looking to build a new factory, like Great Lakes Cheese in my district, that before the first step, before the foundation is laid, they'll not be able to use natural gas or sometime in the near future? This is just fraught with problems. It's going to make it impractical for natural gas suppliers to be able to continue to provide service and improve infrastructure. This is kind of like death by a thousand cuts for the reliable forms of energy like natural gas."
Minimum Wage
New York State's budget agreement also has plans to raise the minimum wage
The state budget would raise the minimum wage from $15 to $17 an hour by 2026 in New York City, Long Island and Westchester County. It would rise from $14.20 to $17 an hour by 2027 for the rest of the state. Future increases statewide will being pegged to inflation.
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"The bottom line is, the economics just don't support it. Inflation is already rampant, we're having issues with with employment as it is. And ultimately, this is going to once again, force more businesses out of New York State," said Senator George Borrello.
Borrello says the Federal Department of Labor Statistics show that as the minimum wage goes up, so does teen unemployment.
"When you go to the grocery store or get fast food, you see less and less people, it's all automation. That automation is going to increase, so our young people aren't going to have that first job opportunity where they learn things like discipline and communicating with people and how to deal with the public and how to be successful in the future by learning what it's like to work those jobs. I think that this is also going to force up all wages, wage compression, as they call it, which is going to lead to more inflation."
Senator Ryan has been a strong advocate for the Raise The Wage Act, which could raise minimum wage to $21.25 by 2027.
"It makes sense because you go buy a McDonald's drive thru right now, and there's signs saying 'Hiring at $18 and hour.' So right now, the statutory rate doesn't really respond to what people are paying in the community. So let's fix it. But also, let's get out of the political game on it. We're going to want to hit the number, it'll then be indexed to inflation. And it'll go up and down based on inflationary numbers, not based on trying to get enough votes to get it done."
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