Hochul eyes 'other revenue sources' ahead of state budget due date

And the acting mayor of Buffalo could be running for state office.

Good afternoon — It’s Wednesday and the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

In today’s CapCon:

• Gov. Kathy Hochul said again Wednesday she won’t raise income taxes but signaled she’s eyeing other revenue sources for the state budget.

• U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik said the majority of Republicans in the House would support ousting Mike Johnson as speaker.

• Acting Buffalo Mayor Chris Scanlon could be preparing to run for state office.

• New York’s presidential primary would be set for Super Tuesday each cycle under a new bill from state lawmakers.

• A new bill seeks to require a buffer zone for protests around houses of worship after last week’s demonstration at a Manhattan Synagogue.

Names in today’s CapCon: Kathy Hochul, Zohran Mamdani, Donald J. Trump, Elise Stefanik, Mike Johnson, Jamie Raskin, Kevin McCarthy, Chris Scanlon, Sean Ryan, Mark Poloncarz, Patrick Burke, Micah Lasher, Sam Sutton, James Skoufis, Byron Brown, Landon Dais

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Today’s Capitol Confidential is sponsored by Food & Water Watch.

Tell Governor Hochul to sign the Legislature’s repeal of the 100-foot rule. New Yorkers shouldn’t have to subsidize new gas hookups. End this outdated giveaway and cut costs for families. — Food & Water Watch

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Hochul during her 2024 budget address (Lori Van Buren/Times Union)

💰 Hochul says ‘other revenue sources’ will be on the table for next year’s state budget

Gov. Kathy Hochul has about a month and a half to finalize her executive budget proposal, which is required by the state constitution to be balanced.

That means she has to lay out what she expects the state’s costs to be for the next fiscal year and how she’s proposing to pay for them. One suggestion she’s repeatedly ruled out is an increase in income taxes at all levels.

The state is expecting to face a budget gap because of systemic spending that’s outpaced revenue and a double whammy of funding cuts from the federal government.

Hochul was asked in an interview on FOX 5 Wednesday morning how she’s planning to deal with that. She’s still against raising income taxes, she said.

“But we have to look at other revenue sources to fund — again, we’re dealing with a lot of hits from Washington,” Hochul said.

Rosanna Scotto asked Hochul if one of those revenue sources might be an increase in business taxes. That idea was proposed by New York City Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani throughout his campaign this year.

“We have other taxes as well,” Hochul said. She plans to figure that out with the state Legislature.

But she’s also not planning to finalize her administration’s revenue projections before the end of this calendar year, she said, because the state always expects a bump from Wall Street.

“We’re even going to look at how well we’re doing with the end-of-year stock market bonuses, the bonuses, we get tax revenues from those,” Hochul said.

That could be good news for the state budget. The state comptroller’s office has projected that Wall Street will likely report the highest profits on record at the end of the year.

House Speaker Mike Johnson and U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

🤝 Stefanik says a majority of Republicans would vote to oust Mike Johnson

U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik said Wednesday morning that she’d won her fight to include legislation she authored into the National Defense Authorization Act, an annual authorizing bill.

That came one day after Stefanik said that U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson had blocked the legislation from being included in the bill at the behest of Democrats, specifically U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin.

I wrote about what happened in Tuesday’s newsletter if you’d like a full recounting of the back-and-forth, during which Johnson said he didn’t know what had happened with Stefanik’s provision. You can read that here.

Her proposal would require the FBI to inform Congress when they open an investigation into a candidate for federal office. It was spurred, she said, by the FBI’s probe into President Donald J. Trump when he was a candidate in 2016.

Stefanik said Wednesday that she had a successful conversation with Johnson and Trump about the legislation Tuesday night.

“After a productive discussion I had last night with President Trump and Speaker Johnson, the provision requiring congressional disclosure when the FBI opens counterintelligence investigations into presidential and federal candidates seeking office will be included in the IAA/NDAA bill on the floor,” Stefanik said.

She said the same thing on CNBC, calling it “a good win.” The dispute appeared to be resolved without any more bloodshed.

Then the Wall Street Journal published a story Wednesday afternoon with comments Stefanik made to the newspaper before she met with Johnson and Trump last night.