10 things to know about New York's new $177B budget deal

ALBANY – While you were sleeping, New York lawmakers finished passing a $177 billion state budget that requires paid sick leave, scales back cash bail reforms and legalizes e-bikes and e-scooters.

The state Assembly wrapped up voting on the spending plan at 3:38 a.m. Friday, capping an unprecedented week at the state Capitol that saw the budget approved in nearly empty legislative chambers as most lawmakers voted remotely due to the coronavirus crisis.

The spending plan also grants Gov. Andrew Cuomo extraordinary power to withhold or reduce payments to schools and local governments as the year progresses — a serious possibility as COVID-19 threatens the state's tax collections.

"We can all agree that the budget we are passing is not the budget that any of us hoped to pass at the beginning of the session,” Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, D-Yonkers, said Thursday.

Here are 10 things you need to know about the new state budget for the fiscal year that started Wednesday:

A balanced budget? In this economy?

Cuomo's budget office anticipates tax revenue projections dropping by at least $10 billion in the coming year. And the state was already facing a $6 billion budget hole to begin with.

So how exactly did Cuomo and lawmakers balance the budget? The answer: By borrowing, as well as a bump in federal funds and giving Cuomo the power to cut spending if and when things get out of whack.

The budget authorizes borrowing an extra $11 billion to help cover the state's costs and lost revenues, including $8 billion to account for the state and federal government pushing its income-tax filing deadline from April to July, according to the Empire Center, an Albany-based think tank.

It also relies in part on several billion dollars from the federal coronavirus stimulus bills, including $1.2 billion to help schools and higher-education institutions.

But the biggest budget balancing trick is this: At three points during the year, Cuomo's budget director Rob Mujica can unilaterally cut state spending — including payments to schools and local governments — if tax revenues fall short of projections, throwing the budget out of whack.

More:Marijuana legalization 'not likely' in New York budget, Andrew Cuomo says

Paid sick leave approved in NY

Most workers in New York will soon be entitled to paid sick leave as part of the budget deal.

Cuomo and lawmakers approved a measure requiring large employers (100 or more employees) to provide up to 56 hours of paid leave a year for workers who become ill or injured or have to care for a sick family member.

Medium-sized employers (4 to 99 employees) will have to provide up to 40 hours. And those with fewer than four employees will have to provide up to 40 hours of unpaid sick leave.

Workers will accrue one hour of sick leave per 30 hours worked. The new requirements take effect in 2021.

Previously:Cuomo wants paid sick days for NY workers. How it would work, and why it's getting pushback.

Gestational surrogacy goes forward

As part of the budget, New York will soon allow same-sex couples and those having difficulty conceiving to opt for gestational surrogacy.

A couple will soon be able to compensate someone to carry a baby to term on their behalf.

Cuomo had been pushing for the measure. As of last year, New York was one of three states to actively prohibit surrogacy when payment is involved.

Under the new state law, the intended parents and the surrogate can enter into a court-approved agreement establishing parentage that becomes effective when the child is born. Surrogates, meanwhile, are meant to be protected by a series of rights laid out in the law.

It takes effect Feb. 15, 2021.

The measure was sponsored by Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, D-Scarsdale, Westchester County, and Sen. Brad Hoylman, D-Manhattan. Among those who opposed it was the state Catholic Conference, which argued it will allow vulnerable women to be taken advantage of. 

More:New York could legalize paid surrogacy for LGBTQ, infertile couples

Cash bail reform scaled back

Last year, Cuomo and lawmakers approved a measure effectively ending cash bail for most misdemeanors and class E felonies, requiring judges to release people charged with those crimes without requiring them to put up cash or bond.

Those reforms were uniformly criticized by law-enforcement officials across the state when they took effect in January.

Now, the state is scaling back the reforms, re-adding more than a dozen crimes -- including burglary of a residence and failing to register as a level 3 sex offender -- to the list eligible for a cash bail order.

More:New York poised to scale back cash bail reforms that angered law enforcement

Public campaign financing moves ahead

 A state commission last year crafted and approved a new system for public campaign financing in New York, in which donations of $250 or less to a state-level political candidate are matched with public funds at a 6-to-1 rate.

But a court invalidated the plan earlier this year, arguing the Legislature didn't have the authority to allow the commission to put such a system in place.

That changed in this year's budget, when lawmakers and Cuomo put the commission's plan into law. Now, the plan will take effect after the 2022 elections.

Candidates will have to meet certain fundraising thresholds to qualify.

The maximum contribution limits for candidates will also drop to $18,000 for statewide candidates, down from about $70,000 now.

The measure could also imperil several minor political parties, including the Working Families Party, which has repeatedly clashed with Cuomo over the years.

Under the new law, third parties will have to tally at least 130,000 votes — or 2 percent of the total, whichever is larger — on their line in presidential and gubernatorial elections to maintain their automatic spot on the ballot. Previously, the threshold was 50,000 votes in gubernatorial elections.

More:5 ways New York's elections are set to change

E-Bikes and e-scooters to be legal

Local governments will soon be allowed to permit e-bikes and e-scooters on their streets, clearing the way for rental companies like Bird and Lime to operate in the state.

It put an end to a two-year battle at the Capitol.

Last year, lawmakers passed a bill allowing local governments to opt in. But Cuomo vetoed it, citing safety concerns.

Under the budget deal, riders will have to be at least 16. Those under the age of 18 will have to wear a helmet. 

More:E-bikes, scooters are coming to New York. Here's what you need to know

$3 billion environmental bond act

In his original budget proposal in January, Cuomo said he wanted to seek voter approval to borrow $3 billion to fund environmental upgrades in New York, including green infrastructure upgrades and anti-flooding projects.

That proposal made it through to the final budget agreement.

But it gives Cuomo's budget director the ability to pull it back if it would interfere with the state's ability to obtain financing for other capital projects or the state can't otherwise get access to the markets to issue the bonds. 

Unless Cuomo pulls it back, the bond act will appear on the ballot this November.

More:A $3 billion bond to tackle environmental issues: Would New Yorkers vote for it?

'Permanent' fracking ban

In late 2014, Cuomo's administration first banned high-volume hydraulic fracturing, the technique used to help free natural gas from underground shale formations.

But the state's ban was administrative, meaning it was implemented by the Department of Environmental Conservation and could be overturned by a future governor.

That's no longer the case: Now the ban will be in state law, meaning it would require the governor and the Legislature to overturn it in the future.

More:New York's fracking ban, 5 years later: Massive win or missed opportunity?

Styrofoam ban in New York

The days of Styrofoam food containers and packing peanuts are about to be over in New York.

Starting in 2022, any food containers and packing material made of polystyrene foam — known by most as Styrofoam, which is a brand name — will be banne

Environmentalists have praised the measure, which they say will cut down on products made of the non-biodegradable material. But some Republicans and the polystyrene industry say it will put people out of work in New York.

"New York’s decision will likely result in the loss of up to 2,000 state-based manufacturing jobs and hurt small businesses, particularly restaurants, and consumers that are in crisis," said Oma Terrie, plastics division director for the Plastics Foodservice Packaging Group.

More:Coming soon? Why Gov. Andrew Cuomo says it's time to ban Styrofoam containers in New York

A new tweak to the state seal, flag

Cuomo got his way on this one.

In January, the Democratic governor unveiled his plan to add "e pluribus unum" to the New York state seal and flag.

The phrase — Latin for "out of many, one" — has long been a favorite of Cuomo's, and it is an unofficial motto for the country.

Lawmakers didn't stand in the way of Cuomo's request. Now, the official state coat of arms — which is on the state seal and flag — will be changed to add "e pluribus unum" underneath the state's official motto, "Excelsior."

It will be the first change to the coat of arms since at least 1882.

More:New York's flag has been the same for a century. Why Andrew Cuomo wants to change it

Jon Campbell is a New York state government reporter for the USA TODAY Network. He can be reached at JCAMPBELL1@Gannett.com or on Twitter at @JonCampbellGAN.

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