When one-house budgets are expected to pass next week

And an update on the immigrant protections package being negotiated at the state Capitol.

Good afternoon — It’s Wednesday and Grammar Day.

In today’s CapCon:

• Lawmakers are expected to unveil and pass their one-house budgets next week and here’s what comes after that.

• The state Senate and Assembly are now actively negotiating a two-way agreement on immigrant protections while Hochul is “anxious to get it done.”

• Democrats in the state Legislature aren’t closing the door on Climate Act changes but have yet to be told what, exactly, Hochul is proposing.

• State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli held a rare rally at the state Capitol Wednesday to push a pair of bills.

• A new bill seeks to set guardrails intended to prevent gene synthesis from being used for bioterrorism.

Names in today’s CapCon: Kathy Hochul, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Thomas P. DiNapoli, Lori Van Buren, Blake Washington, James Sanders, Jr., Khaleel Anderson, Clyde Vanel, Erik Dilan, Jabari Brisport, Michael Gianaris

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

The state Assembly (Lori Van Buren/Times Union)

💰 Lawmakers will unveil and approve their one-house budgets next week

We’re nearly to the point in the state budget process when Gov. Kathy Hochul and Democrats in the state Legislature begin negotiations.

With budget hearings now behind us, Democrats in both chambers of the state Legislature are compiling their one-house budgets. Those are rebuttal spending plans to Hochul’s executive budget proposal released in January.

Those are best described as a wish list for this year’s state budget from Democrats in either chamber. They’ll include everything lawmakers want to put on the table during budget talks.

Hochul and lawmakers will then spend the next few weeks — or several if they don’t meet the April 1 deadline — negotiating a final state spending plan.

We know of at least one thing that lawmakers expect to include in their one-house budgets in both chambers: income tax hikes for high-income earners.

That’s not a surprise. Democrats in both chambers have included such a proposal in their one-house budgets for the last several years. It would’ve been a surprise if they weren’t proposing them again.

State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins confirmed Wednesday that their one-house budget proposal will include revenue raisers but didn’t say if that would extend beyond income tax hikes.

“In general, we have always believed in this progressive tax structure,” Stewart-Cousins said. “We’ve always put forth ways that we can meet the needs of New Yorkers.”

We’ll soon know the details of those revenue raisers. Lawmakers in both chambers are expected to release their one-house budgets in a matter of days.