Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay

Following is a statement from New York State Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay:

After a month-long delay that featured six emergency extenders, secretive meetings and several backdoor deals, the recently passed state budget amounted to another missed opportunity. At a time when inflation remains problematic and the state’s sky-high cost of living has driven hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers away, we needed a budget focused on relieving the enormous fiscal pressure facing New York families. Unfortunately, the record-setting spending plan that was just passed completely ignores that reality.

Members of the state Senate and Assembly Republican Conferences today urged Gov. Kathy Hochul and the legislative Majorities not to use so-called “messages of necessity” to bypass the constitutionally-required three-day aging process once budget bills are introduced. This critically-important “aging” provision of the state constitution helps to ensure that the public, the press, and all interested parties have the opportunity to review the budget bills before they are enacted into law.