What's the Holdup? State Budget Late Again

(WBEN) - The State Budget will be late once again.

Lawmakers in Albany missed the April 1 deadline to get the budget done on time, and once again it's policy, not financial issues holding things up.

"The two big things that are really stalling the budget negotiations here are the proposals from the Governor on the Climate act and auto insurance rates," said Albany insider Jack O'Donnell of O'Donnell and Associates.

Governor Hochul has talked for weeks about the need for changes to the State's Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, but specifics are still being negotiated.

"We haven't seen budget language like we have on everything else," O'Donnell said. "There are targets that go to 2030, is she pushing them just to 2040? That would be simple budget language. There are some other questions about how you calculate how much stuff is going into the environment and what that looks like there will be some language changes."

The Governor's proposal on auto insurance aims to limit damages sought by insurance schemes such as staged car accidents, hoping that will bring rates down by reducing fraudulent claims. The measure is opposed by trial lawyers who say it would limit options for legal recourse.

O'Donnell said that as of now, almost no conversations on the actual budget have taken place as lawmakers said they've been bogged down on these policy issues. Last year's budget negotiations stretched into May because of debates surrounding the State's discovery laws.