FY2023 Budget Update:
The Legislature has completed its departmental and public hearings through the budget committees in both Chambers. A few weeks ago, DOH Commissioner Judy Persichilli came before the budget committees to defend the initiatives the Department will be funding in the upcoming fiscal year. The discussion largely centered around COVID-19 response, but the Commissioner highlighted plans to spend $2.4 billion on public health, hospital care and facilities in the state’s health care system.

State Treasurer, Elizabeth Muoio, also appeared before lawmakers recently and announced that the state will collect nearly $51.4 billion in tax revenues by the end of the fiscal year on June 30th. This projection is over $8 billion higher than the anticipated revenues at the beginning of the fiscal year and how this surplus in revenue will be distributed has been largely debated in the press since the announcement. Some lawmakers, like Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, are calling for tax relief programs and Republican lawmakers are highlighting their “Give it Back” initiative that would provide direct rebates to taxpayers. Other lawmakers, like Senator Paul Sarlo, have called for a portion of the surplus to be put in the rainy-day fund and pay down debt in anticipation of a potential recession next year in the range of $6-8 billion to put the state in a position to ward off a future recession.

Legislative leadership has indicated that an Appropriations Act is likely to be passed on June 27th and sent to the Governor’s desk. The Appropriations Act must be signed into law by June 30th to avoid a government shut down.

One of the main budgetary issues that has arisen during the budget process is legislative oversight of federal COVID-19 funds, which was not initially included in the Governor’s proposed budget. Legislative leadership has re-enforced the importance of legislative oversight of the federal funding, which the state has until the end of 2024 to budget and until 2026 to spend.