A program making it easier to hire government workers has helped fill more than 50,000 jobs across New York state. But Mayor Eric Adams’s administration quietly abandoned a brief attempt to join the program in the face of union opposition — leaving a raft of vacancies in New York City government that now threatens to hobble the agenda of Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

In 2023, reeling from an exodus of public sector workers, Governor Kathy Hochul took a radical step: allowing state agencies to hire many employees without undergoing the many-months-long civil service exam process. The following year, her administration allowed local governments to opt into the emergency effort, called NY HELPS, and the vast majority of counties took her up on it.

New York City tried to opt in, too. It was a prime candidate: Vacancies in the city’s 300,000-person government have hovered around 4.5 percent since 2024 — more than double the pre-pandemic level. Agencies have reported that a lack of staff has prevented them from inspecting housing and restaurants, administering public benefits, upholding environmental standards, and more.

In September 2024, under then-Mayor Eric Adams, the city proposed a list of 51 different job titles it wanted to exempt from exam rules under NY HELPS, corresponding to hundreds of government jobs. The list was diverse, including everything from electricians and X-ray technicians to building inspectors and school-lunch supervisors.

It’s an uncertain time for New York law enforcement. President Donald Trump has toyed with the idea of sending troops into New York City even though reported violence is nearing historic lows. His administration has also threatened the state with an incursion by federal immigration agents. Officials are debating whether to use cops to protect residents against Immigration and Customs Enforcement abuses and how to prevent law enforcement from enabling raids that are already underway.

The state’s prisons, meanwhile, are in such dire straits after a guard strike and mass firing that, for a second consecutive year, Governor Kathy Hochul wants to use the National Guard to help staff them. It’s unclear when all of the system’s 42 facilities will resume normal operations.

The public has questions, and on Thursday, it could get some answers. That’s when the state legislature will hold an annual hearing on public safety, part of a monthlong marathon of sessions aimed at unpacking Hochul’s state budget proposals. The hearings offer a rare opportunity for lawmakers to publicly grill state agency heads about events of the past year and their plans for the year ahead.

Over 95 percent of New Yorkers have health insurance — one of the highest coverage rates in the country. That could soon change if lawmakers are unable to chart a new course for the state’s Medicaid program amid federal cuts.

Governor Kathy Hochul has provided sparse details about the future of the program, which makes up the largest share of the state budget. The public may gain more insight on Tuesday, when lawmakers will get a chance to grill agency heads at the annual Medicaid budget hearing.

President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill” has already jeopardized funding for the state’s flagship Essential Plan, which covers New Yorkers not eligible for Medicaid. That plan has expanded over the past decade and now covers 1.7 million New Yorkers. On top of further burdening the state’s health care system, advocates say forthcoming federal cuts to Medicaid could undermine the state’s progress on curbing overdoses, trigger widespread job losses, and threaten local economies.

Here are our questions about the future of New York’s Medicaid program.

Like many New York City mayors before him, Zohran Mamdani is trekking up to Albany on Wednesday to beg the state for money. But the new mayor is arming himself with an unusually provocative argument: that state leaders have systematically deprived the city of what it’s owed, and that it’s time to fix the imbalance.

“New York City is the economic engine of this state,” Mamdani said at a recent press conference, where he made a case for tax increases on the wealthy and corporations to help cover the city’s growing budget gap. “While we contribute the majority of state revenue growth, we do not receive the same proportion of state funds.”

The argument was a preview of Mamdani’s testimony at Wednesday’s annual “Tin Cup Day,” where the mayor and his aides will ask Albany leaders for tax hikes — and potentially other forms of aid — as part of the upcoming state budget.