Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie makes bombshell bid to reduce Gov. Hochul’s power in NY budget negotiations

It’s Heastie versus Hochul.

State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie is going to war with Gov. Kathy Hochul, pushing a bombshell bill Wednesday to curtail her leverage in high-stakes New York budget talks — as disagreements over her policy demands stymie the negotiations.

The Bronx Democrat introduced a bill that would allow lawmakers to continue getting paid if state budget talks drag on with no end in sight past the annual April 1 deadline to pass a spending plan.

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The legislation was not introduced in the state Senate, where Deputy Majority Leader Mike Gianaris (D-Queens) — who hadn’t yet reviewed Heastie’s bill — said tensions were growing over Hochul’s asks, including those concerning involuntary commitment and discovery law.

“I think it’s born out of the frustration we all share about the continued insistence on non-budgetary policy into this budget conversation,” Gianaris said. “We’re now a week-and-a-half late and we’re still getting new things dropped on the table that have nothing to do with funding the government and keeping it operative.”

Negotiations over Hochul’s proposed $252 billion budget breezed past the April 1 deadline as the governor force mentally ill people into psychiatric care.

Hochul smiled last week as she told reporters she’s willing to hold up budget talks for months unless lawmakers fall in line with her demands.

And this week, Heastie’s counterpart in the state Senate — Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Westchester) — deemed budget talks at an impasse.

“I wish I could say we’re further along, but I think we are stuck at where we were last week,” Stewart-Cousins told reporters Tuesday.

Hochul’s spokesperson Avi Small argued the issues holding up the budget — including tough-on-crime and mental health measures — have the overwhelming support of New Yorkers.

“If the highest-paid State Legislators in America are worried about their paychecks, there’s a much easier solution: come to the table and pass a budget that includes Governor Hochul’s common-sense agenda,” Small said.

The biggest policy issue causing the legislative logjam continues to be Hochul’s pitch to reform the 2019 discovery law – signed by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo – setting strict timeframes for when prosecutors are required to turn over masses of evidence to the defense in criminal cases. 

City district attorneys and across the state argue the law has caused a wave of cases to be tossed over technicalities, arguing judges can be overzealous in applying a court decision that governs how evidence-sharing should work and when charges should be dismissed due to non-compliance.

Hochul wants to limit how and when cases can be tossed over a discovery violation, but lawmakers argue such changes are unnecessary because judges already have leeway to opt not to dismiss.

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But another possible stumbling block in the budget negotiations — Hochul’s pitch to make it easier to commit violently mentally ill people — appears to be clearing.

Heastie told reporters Tuesday that negotiators are “close” to an agreement, which would tack on priorities from the legislature to Hochul’s plan, including enhancing planning for when a person is discharged from a hospital after being committed. 

The snags still evidently frustrated Heastie, whose budget delay bill – first reported by Gothamist — tries to land a punch against Hochul by effectively removing a potential pressure point on legislators.

Under the would-be law, legislators would continue pocketing a paycheck if the the budget is late and policy items have been included in the governor’s proposal.

Unlike lawmakers, Empire State governors keep getting paid if the budget is late.

Hochul has held up budget talks every year since taking office in 2021 by including policy asks in her spending plan.

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Heastie’s bill could face a largely unprecedented uphill battle in Albany’s recent memory.

The assembly has enough Democrats to pass it on its own, assuming there are no defections. The Senate, however, would need Republicans to get on board.

A two-thirds majority in both houses would be needed to override Hochul’s likely veto of the bill. Democrats have not overridden a governor’s veto since the party reclaimed the majority in both houses in 2019.

Lawmakers who spoke with The Post had mixed reactions to the seriousness of Heastie’s bid to get them paid during the stalemate.

Some said it was unnecessary because they’re willing to forgo pay.

“Not getting paid doesn’t have the effect of making my colleagues hungry to get a deal,” one Assembly member said.

Gianaris said Hochul trying to turn the screws on lawmakers with delays won’t work.

“This notion that somehow holding it up will allow any governor to shift blame to the legislature, it never works,” he said. “Every governor I’ve served with has tried it, and it’s never ever worked.”