Lawmakers agree on state budget with mobile sports betting, nursing home reform

ALBANY, N.Y. (WETM) — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie announced an agreement on the New York State Budget.

"Thanks to the State's strong fiscal management and relentless pursuit to secure the federal support that the pandemic demanded, we not only balanced our budget, we are also making historic investments to reimagine, rebuild and renew New York in the aftermath of the worst health and economic crisis in a century," Cuomo said, adding that, "This budget continues funding for the largest-in-the-nation $311 billion infrastructure plan."

The final budget includes major legislative priorities:

• $29.5 billion in school aid, a $3 billion increase
• $29 billion in public and private green investments
• $2.4 billion for rent and homeowner relief
• $2.4 billion for child care
• $2.1 billion for excluded workers
• $1 billion for small business recovery
• Plans for:
  • Affordable broadband internet
  • Mobile sports betting
  • Nursing home reform

"New York State approached this year's budget with many challenges and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic," Stewart-Cousins said. "However, driven by a commitment to long-term equity and prosperity for all, we have accomplished a great deal. I am proud of the strides we have made in funding our schools, helping businesses rebuild, and protecting New York's most vulnerable. Working and middle-class taxpayers will receive the relief they desperately need, while the wealthiest New Yorkers will help their neighbors."

The Enacted Budget also closes the deficit and invests in the ongoing pandemic recovery response measures. The budget includes spending in the following categories:

• Total state operating funds: $111 billion
• All funds spending: $212 billion

"Budgets are a statement of values, and in my two decades of service to the people of New York I can't think of a more far-reaching and impactful budget than this," Heastie said.