What you missed in Hochul's budget, line-by-line

Here are more than 20 proposals that have been overlooked.

Good afternoon — It’s Wednesday and Squirrel Appreciation Day.

In today’s CapCon:

• There’s a lot in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s five Article VII state budget bills, which were released yesterday afternoon.

• I went through all five of them, line-by-line, and pulled more than 20 proposals across them that have been overlooked.

• Here’s what those are and where you can find them to read for yourself.

Names in today’s CapCon: Gov. Kathy Hochul

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(Will Waldron/Times Union)

🔎 A closer look at what’s in Hochul’s state budget bills

It’s the day after Gov. Kathy Hochul presented her $260 billion state budget proposal and released the 10 bills that make up the spending plan.

The state Legislature is scheduled to begin their marathon of hearings on Hochul’s budget a week from today. If you haven’t seen that lineup yet, it’s all in yesterday’s CapCon.

There’s a lot more to Hochul’s budget than the highlights I gave you Tuesday.

Of the 10 budget bills, five relate strictly to spending. The other five include language that pairs funding with new policy. Those are called Article VII bills.

I closely sifted all five of her Article VII budget bills today to give you a closer look at what she’s proposing beyond the big-ticket items.

Like last year, I’ll tell you where to find each of these proposals in Hochul’s bills and what they would do. I’ve pulled more than 20 items from the bills.

I’ll skip describing the top items that have already been detailed, like Hochul’s plans to expand child care and allow state-level lawsuits against federal immigration officers over constitutional violations.

There’s a lot here so I’ll get right to it.

1️⃣ Education, Labor and Family Assistance (Full bill text)

Part A: This is Hochul’s school aid proposal for the new fiscal year. She’s proposing a $1.6 billion increase, including $779 million in Foundation Aid.

But there’s also a proposal in there to help schools afford renewable energy technologies, like ground-mounted solar panels. Hochul’s proposal would allow them to be considered as part of the calculation of Building Aid from the state.

Part C: A program was created in last year’s state budget to waive tuition at community colleges for students pursuing degrees in high-demand fields.

One caveat of the program was that people were ineligible if they already had a college degree. Hochul is proposing to allow people with college degrees to take advantage of the free tuition program if they’re attending college to study nursing.

SUNY Chancellor John B. King (Lori Van Buren/Times Union)

Part E: Hochul is proposing to keep tuition rates flat for students attending SUNY and CUNY schools. But that only applies to in-state students.

This part of Hochul’s budget would authorize SUNY and CUNY to raise tuition rates over a three-year period starting this fall for out-of-state students.