State lawmakers passed a final state budget on Saturday for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022-23, and Governor Hochul signed and approved the bills later that afternoon. The $220 billion budget, which includes wage increases for home care aides, health care worker bonuses and other increases for health care funding, is $4 billion more than the Governor originally presented as part of the Executive Budget Proposal that was released in January. Governor. Hochul touted the budget agreement as a “bold and fiscally responsible plan [that] makes historic investments in communities across the State.”
Along with the new wage increases, bonuses and health care funding, the final budget agreement includes several new and expanded initiatives, including an increase in the state’s reserves to a record level of 15% of State Operating Funds spending by FY 2025. The final budget also addresses bail reform measures, the expansion of Kendra’s Law, $5 billion in spending for childcare and record-level housing, transportation and clean energy initiatives, among many others. Click here for an overview of the items included in the final budget agreement.
The final budget also includes some relief for record high fuel prices at the pump, providing a gas tax holiday, which pauses the state’s 16-cent per gallon gas tax from June 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022. The state would suspend both the 8-cent per gallon motor fuel tax and 8-cent per gallon sales tax on gasoline. According to the...
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