If you were in Albany on March 8, you might have felt the ground shake under your feet as 15,000 public sector union members chanted: “Fix Tier 6!”

It’s a cry for state leaders to boost the pensions of government employees. In 2012, the state created a new pension plan, called “Tier 6,” that had less generous benefits and required more years of work compared to previous plans. Then-Governor Andrew Cuomo claimed the change would save state and local governments $80 billion over three decades.

Now, New York’s top unions want to roll back those changes. They argue it would help keep workers in the public sector, but it won’t come cheap: In dollar terms, it could end up being one of the biggest decisions made in this year’s budget.

The campaign has emerged as a major issue in negotiations around the state budget, which is due on April 1. Here’s what you need to know.

On Friday, Governor Kathy Hochul finally unveiled the changes she wants to make to New York’s flagship climate law, after months of waffling.

The core of Hochul’s proposal is to push back the law’s first big deadlines for emissions reductions. The 2019 law requires New York to cut emissions 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2030. And it required the state environmental agency to issue regulations by the start of 2024 to achieve those cuts.

Hochul’s administration failed to do so, and was given an ultimatum of sorts by a judge last October: Issue the rules, or change the law.

Last week, the state legislature officially backed Governor Kathy Hochul’s plan to offer every 4-year-old in New York a free pre-K seat within the next three years.

New York’s public pre-K program served three-quarters of eligible 4-year-olds last school year. But thousands of children statewide still lack access because their districts have limited seats or don’t offer it at all, New York Focus reported earlier this month. Last year, 49 districts opted out, many citing insufficient state funding, limited space, or staffing issues.

Hochul’s proposal would nearly double the state’s minimum reimbursement to $10,000 per student, but some district superintendents contend that amount would still not be enough to provide a seat to all applicants by the 2028–29 school year.