Watch NYS hearings at www.omara.nysenate.gov
A weekly COLUMN by NY State Senator Tom O’Mara,
Budget adoption season is underway at the State Capitol, which means, first and foremost, that joint Senate-Assembly public hearings on Governor Kathy Hochul’s 2026-2027 Executive Budget proposal kick off this week and will remain underway until the end of February.
Conducted jointly by the Senate Finance Committee, and the Assembly Ways and Means Committee, these forums examine and critique the governor’s proposal in detail and solicit testimony from state agency officials, public policy and fiscal experts, local government representatives, business leaders, educators, farmers, law enforcement, and numerous other advocates.
I have served as the Ranking Member on the Finance Committee since 2021 and continue to welcome having a direct voice on the legislative committee most responsible for overseeing the adoption of the state’s annual budget. These hearings highlight the course that the New York government is looking to set for short- and long-term fiscal practices and responsibilities. They also begin setting the stage for the Legislature’s negotiations with the governor over a final state budget.
Most importantly, they are a chance for the public to learn more about what’s being planned by Governor Hochul and Albany Democrats for New York State’s future direction.
Remember that the governor has proposed a 2026-27 budget that starts at $260 billion, an ongoing, astounding number in a state that over the past seven years of one-party control has been no stranger to big-spending budgets, which have grown by 50%. The governor’s proposal is already at least $8 billion above her proposed budget last year, which was the highest-ever. In other words, the governor and the Democrat leaders of the Senate and Assembly majorities – the biggest-spending Legislature in state history — will start final negotiations over a new budget looking to increase state spending by at least $8 billion more than what the governor proposed last year. It’s likely to go even higher.
My initial reaction when the governor unveiled her proposal last week was the following, “Throughout this era of total one-party control of the state’s purse strings, Albany Democrats have ignored the affordability crisis, ignored the overriding need for mandate relief and regulatory reform, ignored the need for commonsense energy policies, ignored the demand for permanent, broad-based tax relief, and ignored the need for cutting government fraud and waste. Instead, the Democrats’ spending plans over the past several years have been just that: a one-party, far-left vision for spending billions upon billions of taxpayer dollars.
“The Albany Democrat spending addiction has put in place massive, long-term spending commitments – including massive commitments looming in their pursuit of radical climate and other agendas – that will never be affordable or sustainable for state and local taxpayers, small businesses and manufacturers, and continually hard-pressed upstate communities, economies, and workers.”
Our Senate Republican minority conference will continue to be a voice for lower taxes, less regulation, greater accountability, economic growth, job creation, and more common sense on state fiscal practices. We welcome this year’s budget hearings, at this critical time, to put a spotlight on a range of policies and programs that will decide the future and strength of our local communities and economies.
In my view, we need to keep working against New York State tax and regulatory mindset that puts our businesses and manufacturers at a competitive disadvantage, imposes red tape that strangles local economies, or prioritizes higher and higher spending, overtaxing, unworkable and unsustainable clean energy mandates and rules, and burdensome overregulation. All of which makes life in New York more expensive and hinders opportunity for New Yorkers.
We also need to take a good, hard, renewed look at the cost of state government to ensure that it’s being operated affordably, efficiently, legally, and responsibly – and that taxpayers dollars aren’t being ripped off. That’s been brought into sharp focus at the start of this new year when there have been alarming reports of widespread fraud involving taxpayer dollars in the state of Minnesota and other places across the nation. Wouldn’t it be common sense here in New York to take a fresh look at our own state government considering what we’re reading and hearing about what’s been going on in other places?
Our Senate conference also recently unveiled a “Save New York” legislative agenda that proposes a range of policies focusing on public safety and security, economic growth and job creation, tax relief and regulatory reform, and affordability initiatives to try to reverse New York’s nation-leading population loss and other declines. You can read more details of our proposal on my Senate website, www.omara.nysenate.gov.
The first budget hearings begin this week and cover Agriculture/Parks and Recreation on Tuesday, the hot button topic of Energy/Environmental Conservation on Wednesday, and Elementary and Secondary Education on Thursday. During the weeks ahead, we’ll examine economic and workforce development, health care and human services, and public protection, among numerous topics.
The hearings can be viewed on my state Senate website, www.omara.nysenate.gov, and on the main Senate website at www.nysenate.gov/events. Archived videos of each hearing will be available on the main Senate website.
These hearings take a lot of time — and they cover plenty of complex and detailed ground – but they provide the first glimpse inside this critical decision-making process getting underway at the state capital. They can be viewed on the Senate website listed above, as well as on my previously mentioned Senate website.
