Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay (R,C-Pulaski) today issued the following statement on the Assembly Majority’s One-House Budget Resolution. The resolution proposes to take state spending to $232.9 billion for the 2023-24 Fiscal Year. The proposed increase is $5.9 billion more than what was proposed in Gov. Hochul’s Executive Budget and $11.3 billion more than last year’s enacted state budget.

“The Majority’s spending proposal will not be the state’s final budget plan – and that should come as a relief to every New Yorker. What was outlined today represents yet another runaway spending spree, with no regard for the issues of affordability, public safety, outmigration or fiscal responsibility.

No matter how clearly New Yorkers spell it out, Assembly Majority lawmakers continue to bury their heads in the sand on crime and cost of living. Rejecting even minor revisions to bail reform and raising taxes by $3.8 billion over two years show their indifference to what everyday families expect from the Legislature.

There are non-starters proposed by the governor that were rightfully rejected by the Assembly: raising tuition at SUNY and CUNY schools, shifting $624 million away from county governments and overriding local zoning laws to expand housing units are among the common-sense measures that should be left out of the final budget.

But overall, the Assembly Majority’s proposal spends far too much and accomplishes far too little to address the real-life challenges New Yorkers deal with every day.”