(WENY) — After a nearly two-month delay, the New York State Budget for the 2026/2027 fiscal year has finally passed. It was approved on Wednesday night by the state senate and assembly and totals to $268.5 billion.

This comes after 15 emergency budget extenders were enacted over the last two months. Those extenders were due to disagreements between Governor Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders over key issues such as climate law changes, auto insurance reforms, utility rate spikes, and more.

Compared to last year, spending in this year’s budget has increased by around $14 billion.

Other spending measures in the budget include a record investment of more than $900 million toward public safety funding as well as $1 billion put towards “Protecting Our Wallets Energy Rebate,” also known as “POWER” checks.”

Those $100 relief checks will be sent to New Yorkers to help offset high utility bills.

As part of pushing forward another statewide initiative, $4.5 billion will be invested in childcare and prekindergarten services statewide.

“We went through a lot of battles, working through a lot of challenges,” said New York Governor Kathy Hochul. “But the result is an extraordinary budget that puts families and New Yorkers first. So, we’re going to work on this, to continue this with our entire affordability agenda. The energy rebate, the school meals, the lower auto insurance rates, universal childcare.”

Governor Hochul continued, “All this adds up. It adds up to making a state that is not just desirable, but affordable, and we’re not done yet, my friends. We’re just getting started and so, for working families, if you could wake up in the morning and not have had that knot in your stomach, or don’t dread the mail coming in anymore and you don’t fear logging onto your bank statement, and we can lighten the load for all of you, then for me that is what public service, that is what this extraordinary privilege of being your governor is all about.”

The governor signed the budget on Thursday.

The budget also includes laws to protect New Yorkers against aggressive federal immigration enforcement, banning illegal homegrown 3D printed ghost guns and DIY machine guns, and moves to lower car insurance rates for New Yorkers as well.

However, some of our local lawmakers are not pleased with the state budget.

State Senator Tom O’Mara, a republican, says the budget doesn’t go far enough to address affordability issues for residents.

In a prepared statement, Senator O’Mara said:

“New York State taxpayers today and long into the future already face trying to afford, live, and work under a bloated, wasteful, and unaffordable state government. New York is already one of the highest taxed, heavily mandated, overregulated, and least affordable states in America. This budget makes it worse… It ignores the economic and fiscal warnings on the horizon and keeps on increasing government spending like there’s nothing to worry about tomorrow.”

O’Mara also criticized the budget adoption process itself:

“It’s time to bring this state’s budget adoption process into the modern day, especially at this time when one-party control keeps on producing skyrocketing state spending plans that are increasingly chock-full of policy initiatives that should, for accountability’s sake, be given stand-alone consideration…Fundamental checks and balances have effectively been thrown out in this state government. Governor Hochul and the Legislature’s Democrat majorities go on working behind closed doors to allocate state taxpayer dollars and set in motion far-reaching public policies impacting our local citizens, communities, and economies in consequential ways. The state budget demands a full public airing and the appropriate time for review and debate, but that’s never what we get. It’s a broken process that blindfolds the public and keeps producing bloated state budgets that taxpayers will never be able to afford.”

Assemblyman Phil Palmesano also reacted to the passing of the budget on Thursday. Here is a portion of the statement:

“This budget continues us down the unsustainable path of even more uncontrolled increased spending, taxes and debt. This budget does not address the affordability crisis; it only exacerbates it. Our state budget has increased over $90 billion since Gov. Hochul took office in 2021. Families and small businesses tighten their financial belts and continue to make difficult decisions every day, but, unfortunately, New York State fails to do so. I think my Democrat colleagues in Albany think it is their money they continue to spend and forget it’s the taxpayer’s money. That’s just sad and wrong.”

Palmesano also said, “Unfortunately, this might be the least transparent budget process I have ever seen in my years in the state Assembly and is the latest state budget since 2010. I will continue to be vocal and a tireless advocate for common-sense policies that address the affordability, public safety and quality of life crisis facing New Yorkers because they deserve nothing less.”

If you’d like to take a look at the budget and other budget related documents, those are linked here.