Fate of protest buffer zones in state budget uncertain, proponents say

And Hochul confirmed she'll seek Climate Act changes in state budget talks.

Good afternoon — It’s Wednesday and Johnny Appleseed Day.

In today’s CapCon:

• Supporters of a proposal to create protest buffer zones around houses of worship are concerned it could fall out of state budget talks.

• Gov. Kathy Hochul confirmed that she’ll seek changes to the state’s energy and emissions mandates under the Climate Act as part of the state budget.

• Chief Judge Rowan Wilson is the subject of a new ethics complaint filed by Republicans in the state Legislature.

• Lawmakers are set to approve their one-house budgets at the state Capitol Thursday. Here’s what’s next in the budget process.

• Both chambers of the state Legislature have passed a bill that would require AI chatbots to disclose that they’re not always accurate.

• A new bill would require insurance companies to give state regulators access to their underwriting models.

Names in today’s CapCon: Kathy Hochul, Rowan Wilson, Sam Sutton, Micah Lasher, Dan Clark, David Weprin, Liz Krueger, Vanel, Gonzalez, Latrice Walker, Luis Sepulveda, Robert Jackson, Jonathan Jacobson, Andrew Hevesi, Jessica Ramos, Joe Addabbo

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News on the state budget, including proposals, negotiations and results.

Lawmakers rallied in support of the buffer zone proposal Wednesday (Dan Clark/Times Union)

🗣️ Lawmakers push to prevent protest buffer zones from falling out of budget talks

Not all Democrats in the state Legislature are on board with a proposal that would prohibit protests within 25 feet of houses of worship and health care facilities.

That was first proposed in a bill introduced last year by state Sen. Sam Sutton and Assemblyman Micah Lasher following a protest against Israel outside the entrance of Park East Synagogue in Manhattan.

Hochul then included the language of that bill in her executive budget proposal released in January. It was nearly identical to the bill introduced by Sutton and Lasher.

That language didn’t make it into either one-house budget proposal released by Democrats in the state Senate and Assembly this week.

Democrats in the state Senate included a truncated version of the proposal that would create a new criminal charge for obstructing someone from entering or exiting a house of worship. It did not include health care facilities.

The Assembly left the proposal out entirely. That doesn’t mean it’s off the table. Democrats in that chamber typically omit policy proposals from their one-house budget regardless of how members feel about them.

Their preference is to address policy matters outside of the state budget process, usually after a final spending plan is approved in the spring.

But supporters of the proposed buffer zones are now uncertain if they’ll make it into the final state budget agreement and are seeking to prevent them from falling out of those talks.