New York State Advances Congressional Redistricting

The process of redistricting New York State’s Congressional boundaries reached a conclusion this week, after years of court challenges and deliberations by multiple bodies. District lines that had initially been drafted by State legislators, challenged in court, redrawn by an appointed “Special Master”, challenged in court, redrawn by the bi-partisan Independent Redistricting Commission, rejected by the NYS Legislature, and redrawn by the NYS Legislature, were approved by both chambers this week.
The three-piece legislative package was swiftly delivered to Governor Hochul, who signed the bills into law effective immediately. Political observers have cautioned that the newest districts may again be challenged in court. Regardless, the petitioning period for the NYS congressional districts begins this week.

Budget Hearings Conclude

The NYS Legislature has now concluded its full slate of Joint Budget Subcommittee Hearings. The hearings, which were scheduled over the last month, yielded testimony from government agencies and stakeholders. With the Governor’s call to keep spending flat, many of the testimonies delivered focused on funding existing programs, with few new policy ideas proposed.

Once legislative staff has reviewed testimony from all subcommittees, both houses of the Legislature will prepare their one-house budget proposals. We expect the one-house budgets to be released sometime in mid-March, at which point budget negotiations between the Senate, Assembly, and Executive Chamber will begin to hasten.