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Photo: Will Waldron, Albany Times Union
Speaker Carl Heastie holds a budget press briefing on Friday, March 30, 2018, at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Speaker Carl Heastie holds a budget press briefing on Friday, March 30, 2018, at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Photo: Will Waldron, Albany Times Union
Assemblymember Patricia Fahy, right, talks to Assemblymember Bill Magnarelli, left, following a budget press briefing held by Speaker Carl Heastie on Friday, March 30, 2018, at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
lessAssemblymember Patricia Fahy, right, talks to Assemblymember Bill Magnarelli, left, following a budget press briefing held by Speaker Carl Heastie on Friday, March 30, 2018, at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y.
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Assemblymember Patricia Fahy tries to listen in on a budget press briefing held by Speaker Carl Heastie on Friday, March 30, 2018, at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Assemblymember Patricia Fahy tries to listen in on a budget press briefing held by Speaker Carl Heastie on Friday, March 30, 2018, at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Photo: Will Waldron, Albany Times Union
Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, right, and Sen. Andrew Lanza, center, walk through the Hall of Governors on their way to meet with Gov. Andrew Cuomo for budget talks on Friday, March 30, 2018, at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
lessSenate Majority Leader John Flanagan, right, and Sen. Andrew Lanza, center, walk through the Hall of Governors on their way to meet with Gov. Andrew Cuomo for budget talks on Friday, March 30, 2018, at the
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Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, right, leaves the Hall of Governors after meeting with Gov. Andrew Cuomo for budget talks on Friday, March 30, 2018, at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
lessSenate Majority Leader John Flanagan, right, leaves the Hall of Governors after meeting with Gov. Andrew Cuomo for budget talks on Friday, March 30, 2018, at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times
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Speaker Carl Heastie holds a budget press briefing on Friday, March 30, 2018, at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Speaker Carl Heastie holds a budget press briefing on Friday, March 30, 2018, at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Photo: Will Waldron, Albany Times Union
Speaker Carl Heastie gets ready to start a budget press briefing on Friday, March 30, 2018, at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Speaker Carl Heastie gets ready to start a budget press briefing on Friday, March 30, 2018, at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Photo: Will Waldron, Albany Times Union
Sen. John DeFrancisco leaves Majority Leader John Flanagan's office on Friday morning, March 30, 2018, at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Sen. John DeFrancisco leaves Majority Leader John Flanagan's office on Friday morning, March 30, 2018, at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Photo: Will Waldron, Albany Times Union
Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan leaves Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office as the respective leaders met for budget talks on Friday, March 30, 2018, at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan leaves Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office as the respective leaders met for budget talks on Friday, March 30, 2018, at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Photo: Will Waldron, Albany Times Union
Assemblymember Patricia Fahy talks to Assemblymember Bill Magnarelli, not shown, following a budget press briefing held by Speaker Carl Heastie on Friday, March 30, 2018, at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
lessAssemblymember Patricia Fahy talks to Assemblymember Bill Magnarelli, not shown, following a budget press briefing held by Speaker Carl Heastie on Friday, March 30, 2018, at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y. (Will
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Assemblyman John T. McDonald III speaks on the phone while seated in the Assembly Chamber on Friday morning, March 30, 2018, at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Assemblyman John T. McDonald III speaks on the phone while seated in the Assembly Chamber on Friday morning, March 30, 2018, at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Photo: Will Waldron, Albany Times Union
State budget deal reached
ALBANY — Lawmakers were poised to finalize the state’s $168 billion 2018-19 state budget late Friday and early Saturday, with a deal that includes a new state tax code as a response to federal changes and more money for education.
"This budget was the most difficult budget I think we've done," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said late Friday as lawmakers prepared to vote on the plan, which has an April 1 deadline for approval.
Cuomo, speaking in the ceremonial Red Room at the Capitol, blamed the difficulty on the state starting with a potential deficit. He also spent time explaining the impact of the federal tax law changes -- "gutting deductibility of state and local taxes" -- and what the state plans to do to counter that, including decoupling from the federal tax code. Charitable contributions would be expanded.
The new $168 billion plan adds $1 billion to state school spending, bringing the total $26.7 billion. It also includes $25 million to expand prekindergarten and after school programs.
Earlier in the day, the Legislature passed sweeping legislation to address workplace harassment in the public and private sector, including requiring employers to adopt a model sexual harassment policy and prohibits mandatory arbitration and secret settlements.
Other features include: $100.1 billion for state operations,$7.6 billion in state support for higher education, and $118 million for the next phase of the Excelsior Scholarship.
A number of the more controversial policy items from Cuomo's 2018 agenda were stripped from the spending plan including the Child Victims Act, which raises the statute of limitations for victims of childhood sexual abuse; the DREAM Act, which enables undocumented immigrants to qualify for college assistance programs; and early voting.
His remarks came shortly after Assembly Democratic Majority Leader Carl Heastie said a logjam regarding oversight of private and religious schools had been broken.
“I don’t know if we met Sen. Felder’s demands,” Heastie said, referring to Brooklyn Sen. Simcha Felder who wanted a moratorium on the oversight.
Felder, a Democrat who caucuses with Republicans, had wanted to exempt Orthodox Yeshivas and other private schools from upcoming new scrutiny by the state Education Department to ensure students were receiving an adequate secular as well as religious education.
Because he caucuses with Republicans and can provide a crucial 32nd vote in the closely held Senate, he was able to hold up budget talks on the school point. But he left earlier in the day to make it home in time for the start of Passover.
“It empowers SED (the State Education Department) to look at what these schools are doing to provide these schools with an equivalent education,” Heastie said.
State regulations have long stated that private schools including religious academies should provide an education that is “substantially equivalent” to that given public schools. But the state has traditionally left that to localities. With growing concern about what critics say is the lack of basic English, math and science education in some religious schools, though, the state is looking to police these schools to some extent.
Typically the final budget is decided by Gov. Andrew Cuomo as well as Heastie, Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, R-Nassau, and Sen. Jeff Klein, leader of the breakaway Independent Democratic Conference.
With Good Friday and Passover falling out on March 30 this year, lawmakers were anxious to get out of the Capitol early for the Legislature's two-week hiatus. The showdown between Felder and legislative leaders prompted the threats of a potential government shutdown.
Other sticking points involved taxation, whether the state should tax the pending sale of the Fidelis health insurance company to the St. Louis-based Centene Corp. for $3.75 billion, and whether to apply a surcharge to sales of opioid medication. The GOP-controlled Senate opposes all taxes, but agreed to the opioid sales fee, instead calling it "an assessment."
