New York gets partial approval for health care spending solution

And the state budget process has now entered a new phase at the state Capitol.

Good afternoon — It’s Thursday and Plant a Flower Day.

In today’s CapCon:

• New York’s plan to prevent an additional $3 billion in state spending on health care has received partial approval from the federal government.

• One-house budgets were approved by both chambers of the state Legislature on Thursday, marking a new phase in the process.

• Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposals to curb car insurance rates have picked up a few more supporters but their inclusion in the state budget is far from certain.

• New York has adopted new rules to bolster cybersecurity for public water systems and prevent conflicts of interest for boards of elections employees.

• Both chambers have once again approved a bill previously vetoed by Hochul that would allow pharmacists to be reimbursed for dispensing contraceptive drugs.

• A new bill seeks to provide more flexibility for the Housing Access Voucher Program just as its getting off the ground.

Names in today’s CapCon: J. Gary Pretlow, Kathy Hochul, Phil Palmesano, Donald J. Trump, Josh Jensen, James McDonald, James Skoufis, Brian Kavanagh, George Borrello, Andrew Gounardes, Grace Lee

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

Assembly Ways and Means Chair J. Gary Pretlow (Lori Van Buren/Times Union)

💰 State budget talks enter new phase as one-house budget resolutions pass both chambers

Democrats in both chambers of the state Legislature approved their one-house budget resolutions Thursday.

That means we’ve now entered a new phase of the state budget process. With their respective spending proposals now passed, lawmakers are set to begin negotiations with Gov. Kathy Hochul in earnest ahead of the April 1 deadline.

While Hochul and lawmakers have failed to meet that deadline for the last four state budgets, Assembly Ways and Means Chair J. Gary Pretlow said this year could be different.

“It will be the end of the month,” Pretlow said during debate on the state Assembly’s one-house budget. He was responding to uncertainty from Ways and Means Ranker Phil Palmesano on whether they’ll meet the deadline.

As state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said on the floor Thursday, when negotiations begin next week, they’ll be at “the beginning of the middle.”

The one-house budget floor debates are one of few mechanisms for lawmakers in the minority to push back on the respective wish lists compiled by those in the majority.

They also serve as a great opportunity for lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to make impassioned speeches or snide remarks that they can then post video of on their social media accounts. That’s politics in a world where the internet exists.

But there was one particularly interesting part of the debate that confirmed the state’s health care spending shortfall scenario could soon be solved.