What Made It Into The Budget - And What Was Left Out
The major provisions of New York’s 2021 budget.




A group of Manhattan Democrats wants to force County Leader Keith Wright to choose between working for the party and working for a lobbying firm.
A major wind and solar developer is defecting from industry ranks, arguing the state shouldn’t bail out struggling projects.
In California, getting labor on board was essential to addressing the housing crisis. In New York, unions say the governor has barely tried.
The addiction epidemic is getting worse in the Capital Region. Through local zoning laws, residents fight to keep the state’s solutions out of their backyards.
Mixed evidence was piling up about a signature New York drug policy experiment. Then the state stopped releasing the data.
The health department has blown past deadlines to implement legislation encouraging lifesaving transplants — along with at least five other laws.
As a humanitarian crisis deepens, the state’s $25 million solution is off to a slow start. An in-depth look at the opaque program reveals a raft of logistical hurdles and strict eligibility requirements.
Under Roberta Reardon, the agency has recovered less and less of workers’ stolen wages. Meanwhile, staff resign, and replacements lag.
New York’s labyrinthine “rate case” process, explained.
The mayor is putting New York City’s landmark climate and jobs law in jeopardy, our columnist argues.
How a Hamptons mine, in defiance of New York’s top court, keeps trucking out precious piles of sand.
Will putting a price on trash keep the state’s garbage from overflowing?
At a heated town meeting, a resident warned “pedophiles or criminals” would move into new housing.
In the state’s byzantine system for addiction services, some people don’t know they have tenants’ rights. Some don’t have them at all.
Kathy Hochul proposed an executive order to extend the controversial 421-a tax break. Labor unions shot it down.
In 2020, New York became the first state to ban biometric technology from schools. But administrators are still seeking “face analytics” tools and other gray-area tech — with scant guidance from the state.
As ASA College prepares to shut its doors after years of controversy, New York continues to shell out tuition subsidies to for-profit colleges — at rates higher than any other state.
Child care used to be Hochul’s marquee issue. Now, she’s proposing a modest expansion—but only if Congress doesn’t act.
The move will leave tens of thousands of undocumented New Yorkers uninsured.
Legislators wanted to make judges warn defendants about deportation risks. They say Kathy Hochul’s veto left them blindsided.
The governor has three weeks and 265 potential laws to consider. New York Focus compiled them all.