Assembly Announced the Enacted $236.8 Billion SFY 2024-25 Budget Invests in Families and Making New York a More Affordable Place to Live

Speaker Carl Heastie and Ways and Means Committee Chair Helene E. Weinstein today announced that the Enacted $236.8 billion State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2024-25 Budget makes critical investments in programs to uplift families and make New York a more affordable place to live.

“When we talk about the Assembly Majority’s Families First agenda, we’re talking about crafting thoughtful legislation that makes our state more affordable, more accepting and better place to live,” Speaker Heastie said. “In this year’s budget we were able to include critical funding for affordable housing across the state, increases in TAP funding to put higher education in reach for more students, restoring education funding, investments in our hospitals and nursing homes, and provisions that help new parents and working families. We will continue working with our partners in government to craft thoughtful legislation to uplift New Yorkers.”

“It has been an honor and a privilege to serve here in the People’s House as the Ways and Means Chair,” Assemblymember Weinstein said. “Year after year, we have fought to put together a budget that would fund programs and services that make New Yorkers’ lives better – whether opening doors through education, getting them access to safe and affordable housing, or investing in childcare or our health care system. I am proud of the work we’ve done on this budget and over the years to move our state forward.”

Affordability

The budget includes $350 million to ease the tax burden on families through the Supplemental Empire State Child Credit.

The legislature included a 1.7 percent salary increase on top of a 1.5 percent cost of living adjustment (COLA) proposed by the executive for support staff, clinical staff and non-executive administrative staff for Human Services agencies. This would include the Office of Mental Health (OMH), Office of Addiction Service and Supports (OASAS), Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD), Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA), State Office for the Aging and foster care providers and adoptive parents.

Included in the spending plan is $150 million to create the New York Housing for the Future Program. This new statewide limited equity cooperative program will provide affordable homeownership and rental opportunities to low and middle income families, and allow the program to develop housing on state and municipally owned sites, as well as sites owned by not-for-profit corporations and Community Land Trusts. The budget also includes $140 million for the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), $80 million for the Mitchell Lama program and $75 million for public housing authorities outside of New York City.

Tenant and Homeowner Protections

The budget also creates protections for homeowners, including protections against residential and commercial deed theft and making explicitly clear in state law that a squatter is a person to whom a landlord-tenant relationship does not exist.

The Assembly Majority has a long history of fighting for tenant protections, and has included in this plan new tenant protections to prohibit the removal of a tenant from a housing accommodation by eviction or refusal to renew a lease without good cause within New York City and by local option in the rest of the state. Established good cause includes nonpayment of rent, illegal activities, recovery for personal use, and nuisance. Additionally, a tenant can claim an unreasonable rent increase as a defense during a non-payment eviction proceeding if the rent increase exceeds the lower of five percent plus the change in the consumer price index or 10 percent.

Health & Mental Health

The enacted budget makes critical investments in health care services including $800 million in funding for financially distressed and safety-net hospitals and $350 million in funding for hospital rate increases. Additionally, the budget authorizes the Department of Health to apply for a federal waiver to establish an assessment on Managed Care Organizations (MCO) to leverage funding for capital healthcare projects and Medicaid coverage expansion.

The spending plan includes $31.1 million to fund critical programs to help individuals involved in the criminal justice system and diagnosed with a mental illness to get the care and services they need.

Higher Education

The SFY 2024-25 Budget makes a $20.7 billion investment in higher education with $1.3 billion to the State University of New York (SUNY), $858 million to the City University of New York (CUNY) and an additional $3 million for opportunity programs over last year.

The plan also raises the minimum TAP award from $500 to $1,000 and expands part-time TAP to proprietary college students.

Education

The budget also provides critical funds to our classrooms, with $35.9 billion in funding to the General Support for Public Schools (GSPS). It also reinstates the “Hold Harmless” provision within Foundation Aid, which keeps school districts from receiving a cut in Foundation Aid and instead provides $24.9 billion in Foundation Aid, a $934.5 million increase over the 2023-24 School Year (SY).

The Assembly also continues their effort to ensure equitable education by giving $28 million in ongoing funding to the My Brother’s Keeper Programs (MBK), for a total of $172 million in funding since the program’s creation.

Child Care

This year’s budget builds on previous year’s historic investments in child care in our state, making child care more accessible to New Yorkers by requiring the new Family Child Care Networks (FCCN) Pilot Programs to make provider recruitment and expansion in childcare deserts a priority. It also includes $13 million to require local social services districts to establish differential payment rates for child care services at 10 percent higher than the actual cost of care or the market rate, whichever is less, when care is provided during non-traditional hours for children experiencing homelessness; $6.5 million for United Way of Greater New York; and $1 million in additional funding for Infant Toddler Mental Health Consultants. It also provides $280 million for the recruitment and retention of child care providers.

Supporting New Parents

The Assembly Majority is committed to putting New York families first, and in the Enacted SFY 2024-25 Budget has included provisions that would help give New Yorkers necessary resources through pregnancy and their return to work. The spending plan would require private employers to provide employees with 20 hours of paid prenatal personal leave. It would also require both public and private employers to provide employees with 30 minutes of paid break time for breast milk expression. Additionally, the budget includes $1.5 million for National Diaper Banks and $2 million for cribs for low income families.

Closing Illegal Cannabis Stores

The budget also includes provisions to cut down on illegal cannabis sales by allowing the Office of Cannabis Management to padlock illegal cannabis businesses. Egregious actors would be padlocked immediately, while others would be padlocked on a second inspection. Behaviors that would qualify as egregious include:

• Documented sale to minors;
• Unlicensed processing of cannabis;
• Violent behavior toward investigators;
• Reports of hospitalization due to consumption of products;
• Close proximity to houses of worship, schools or public youth facilities; and
• Sales of cannabis that has not been lawfully tested.

Environmental Funding

The enacted budget invests $2.5 billion in funding for the environment, including $400 million for the New York State Environmental Protection Fund (EPF). It also allocates $500 million to support New York State's clean water infrastructure.

Transportation

The spending plan includes $1.3 billion for capital aid to localities, including funding restorations of $60 million for the Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program (CHIPs) and $40 million for the State Route NY Program. It will also provide $333.2 million for Upstate New York transit systems, an increase of $10 million above the executive proposal, and include provisions to combat toll evasion and strengthen stretch limousine safety.

Other Provisions

The budget includes $30 million in funding for AAPI crisis intervention centers and community-based organization combatting biased crimes, matching the funding in the Enacted SFY 2023-24 Budget.

The enacted budget implements a $3,000 tax credit for small business investing in retail theft prevention. Businesses with 25 or fewer employees would qualify for the credit if their retail theft prevention expenses exceed $4,000 and businesses with between 26 and 50 employees would qualify if their expenses exceed $6,000.