State budget has finally passed — is it good for our area?

By JEFF MORRIS 

On May 29 — two months late — the state’s new $269 billion budget finally passed. The Recorder asked the area’s three state lawmakers to tell us what they liked, and didn’t like, in the enormously complicated budget package.

Sen. Pete Harckham’s 40th Senate District includes Bedford, Lewisboro and Mount Kisco, while Sen. Shelley Mayer’s 37th Senate District includes Pound Ridge. And Assemblymember Chris Burdick’s 93rd District includes all of those municipalities. All are Democrats. 

Educational funding

All three cited increased educational funding as aspects of the budget they most liked. 

“I am proud that this budget includes increased funding for schools across the district, bringing the total increase to more than $275 million since I was elected in 2019,” said Harckham. “I have fought for years to fully fund pre-K outside of New York City, and I’m grateful that this investment was included in the budget. It will help support the growth and development of our youngest learners while making it easier for parents to return to the workforce.”

Burdick said, “I am pleased with the funds that Sen. Mayer and I took the lead in securing for the SUNY system: $200 million for SUNY maintenance capital, $100 million for SUNY research facilities, and $100 million for SUNY to self-finance projects.”

He explained that the impetus for the maintenance funding “was a text I received on a single-degree winter day from SUNY Purchase President Michael Steiper, informing me that a boiler had failed, forcing the cancellation of classes. Soon thereafter, I learned that there is a $10 billion backlog in deferred maintenance for the SUNY system.”

But Burdick also expressed disappointment with more not being done for education.

“While the legislature pressed for increases in state aid for our public schools and was successful to some extent, I would have liked to see a greater investment,” he said.

Mayer’s appraisal of education funding was more positive.

“As chair of the Senate Education Committee, I am committed to ensuring that all our public schools receive the necessary funding to serve their students and school communities,” she said. 

She was pleased that several measures in the budget affirm that commitment, “ensuring every child receives a quality education, regardless of their ZIP code.” 

Specifically, said Mayer, “This budget delivers a substantial increase in state support for schools, including at least a 2% increase in Foundation Aid over last year, including Bedford Central School District, which received this 2% increase.” 

She said she was proud to lead the fight for a higher minimum increase “to better reflect the needs of our schools,” and that this funding is a “$285 million increase over what the governor had proposed earlier this year.”

Burdens on schools

But, she added, “For many districts, this is still not enough to avoid a substantial tax increase, and I’m very aware of that.” And she said, “We’ve also taken other steps to try to alleviate fiscal burdens on schools while we meet the needs of students by pushing back the electric school bus mandate by five years.”

Environmental issues also figured prominently in the legislators’ assessments. “The budget also delivers a major victory for clean water infrastructure, increasing funding to a record $750 million, which will protect public health and help communities address critical water quality needs,” Harckham said. 

“We were also able to restore the highly successful NY-Sun Program with $200 million in funding and enact key components of my Accelerate Solar for Affordable Power (ASAP) Act. These measures will expand access to rooftop and community solar projects that will create jobs while saving ratepayers an estimated $1 billion annually.” 

Climate rollbacks

He noted that he was disappointed by the rollback of certain provisions of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. That also was also a big disappointment to Burdick.

The CLCPA was signed into law in 2019. At the time of its passage, it was landmark legislation designed to combat climate change. In October 2025, the State Supreme Court found that Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration had failed to meet key deadlines under the CLCPA and ordered the Department of Environmental Conservation to issue enforceable regulations to comply with the law’s emissions targets. The state appealed that decision. Hochul’s administration cited affordability concerns and obstacles presented by the federal government relating to offshore wind. 

In March, Hochul said that rather than rolling back the law’s core commitments, she was presenting adjustments to the implementation timeline and compliance framework in response to rising utility costs, unforeseeable inflation and interest rate levels, which she said presented constraints in building out clean energy infrastructure. 

The final 2026 budget includes several changes to the CLCPA that will impact the implementation of the state’s climate change programs going forward, including addition of an interim 2040 goal said to give the state breathing room to meet its targets. The deadline for issuance of regulations was moved to 2028, rendering the court case obsolete.

Going too far

Mayer agreed with both Burdick and Harckham about the changes to CLCPA, saying, “While much less than originally proposed, I felt these went too far.” She noted the portion of her district along the Sound Shore “sees the devastating impacts of climate change firsthand,” with severe storms and flooding becoming more frequent and destructive. “We must remain committed to reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, lowering greenhouse gas emissions, and protecting our environment for future generations,” she said.

Mayer said that as a result of compromise, there are “several areas where I am disappointed that stronger action was not included in the final adopted budget.” 

Health care losses

One, she said, is that the budget does not adequately address the impact of federal actions “that will result in the loss of health insurance coverage for nearly 450,000 New Yorkers currently enrolled in the Essential Plan beginning July 1, nor does it sufficiently prepare for the implementation of new Medicaid work requirements scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2027.”

Mayer said these changes threaten access to critical health care services “for some of our most vulnerable residents, and I believe New York must do more to protect them.”

Harckham said he was pleased to see an additional $50 million invested in the  Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program, but he would have liked to see greater capital funding directed to DOT Region 8.

“Since taking office, more than $300 million has been appropriated for state roads in the 40th District,” he said. “However, additional investment is needed to help local communities bring all our roads into a state of good repair.”

“On balance,” said Mayer, “this budget makes important and necessary steps to make New York more affordable for the hard-working families that live here. We address utility costs, protect our immigrant neighbors, invest in roads and bridges, and so much more.”