Talk of progress in NY budget negotiations but few signs

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - New York lawmakers put in a rare weekend workday Saturday searching for consensus on a new state budget, already a day late.

Leading lawmakers talked of progress, but there was little evidence on display in the halls of the Capitol. Key lawmakers huddled behind closed doors with Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the hopes of finding compromise on education spending, charter schools and a push to raise the age of criminal responsibility so 16- and 17-year-old offenders aren’t tried as adults.

The budget was supposed to be done by midnight Friday, but now it’s expected that the spending plan won’t be passed until Sunday at the earliest.

“It’s April Fools’ Day, but it feels more like ‘Groundhog Day’ - the movie,” said Republican Sen. Joseph Griffo of Rome.

Minutes after the midnight deadline passed, Cuomo issued a statement saying if lawmakers can’t reach agreement before Monday, he’ll propose extending current spending levels - a backup plan that would lack any of the high-profile policy and spending proposals now under discussion.

One key sticking point remains a proposal known as “raise the age” that would end the state’s practice of prosecuting and incarcerating 16- and 17-year-old offenders as adults. The change is a priority for Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and other Democrats, but it has raised concerns among Senate Republicans.

Lawmakers in North Carolina, the only other state where 16- and 17-year-old offenders are prosecuted as adults, are also considering legislation to raise the age.

“That would leave New York with the dubious distinction of being the only state in the union,” said the Rev. Peter Cook, executive director of the New York State Council of Churches, who led a group of protesters at the Capitol on Saturday. “Let’s not turn ‘raise the age’ into a political football.”

Negotiations also focused on how to divide increased education funding and whether to increase the number of authorized charter schools.

The budget deal is likely to include $2 billion to $2.5 billion for water quality and upgrades to the state’s aging water infrastructure, Republican Senate Leader John Flanagan said, as well as $163 million to make college tuition more affordable.

Cuomo introduced his $152 billion budget proposal in January. It keeps the status quo when it comes to taxes, adds $1 billion in new public education spending and includes expanded child care tax credits and a new initiative making state college tuition free for students from families earning $125,000 or less annually.