State lawmakers are announcing legislation this week to ensure health care coverage for nearly half a million New Yorkers set to lose their insurance in July as a result of federal cuts.

The bills, sponsored by Assemblymember Amy Paulin and Senator Gustavo Rivera, would direct the state to use its own funds to continue Essential Plan access for moderate-income New Yorkers. The flagship program provides free or low-cost healthcare to 1.7 million residents and has been instrumental in helping the state achieve near-universal insurance coverage.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani is haggling with Albany over every cent he can get for New York City in the state budget. But he is raising no objections as the state embraces a tax policy, widely criticized by economists, that will cost the city hundreds of millions of dollars.

Governor Kathy Hochul is proposing to eliminate state income taxes for tipped wages up to $25,000. The move followed pressure from her Republican challenger in this year’s election and would align New York with an identical change to the federal tax code enacted by President Donald Trump last year. The state Senate and Assembly are backing Hochul’s proposal, meaning it will likely be approved in the final state budget.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is staying on the sidelines as a fight over the state’s climate law reaches a boiling point.

Mamdani has pointedly avoided taking a position on Governor Kathy Hochul’s proposed rollbacks to the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, or CLCPA, even as his socialist allies in the legislature rail against the proposals. Asked directly by New York Focus on Wednesday, Mamdani twice declined to say whether he has a position on Hochul’s push, saying only that he supported the original law.