Governor of New YorkHuo Chu(Kathy Hochul) announced on the afternoon of the 15th that she had discussed the state budget for fiscal year 2025 with the state legislature.BudgetA “conceptual agreement” was reached, bringing the total budget amount to 237 billion yuan. The budget primarily includes investments in housing, law enforcement, medical care, and mental health services, and promises not to increase the tax burden. The budget still needs to be approved by both houses of the state legislature before it can be signed by the governor.
In the last budget talks, the housing issue was the most prominent area of conflict between the parties. According to reports, the agreement significantly relaxed the “Good Cause Eviction Bill” proposal aimed at protecting the interests of tenants, making it easier for landlords to evict tenants and increase the allowable rents. This has created strong resentment among both tenant and landlord advocacy groups. One side believes that the protection is too weak, while the other side believes that the legislative proposal does not contribute to the goal of expanding housing supply. The agreement also proposes a new version of tax incentives for developers building affordable housing and greenlights a proposal to remove the floor-area cap in Manhattan that has been mired in controversy for years.
Huo Chu listed some of the spending items included in the budget, including investing 40 million yuan to strengthen the fight against retail theft, providing 30 million yuan in tax incentives for merchants who upgrade anti-theft features And involves investing 30 million yuan to combat crime. And $47 million will be spent on strengthening law enforcement to prevent gun violence and crime and empowering local governments to more easily crack down on businesses selling illegal marijuana. Additionally, the budget also invests $7.1 million to strengthen supervision of parolees and expand college courses in prisons to reduce the likelihood of recidivism and recidivism.
Among other issues of common concern to the Chinese people, the new budget will provide 35.9 billion yuan of aid to P-12 schools to strengthen primary education, and to build new health care facilities, expand medical insurance coverage. Will invest more than 20 billion yuan. In addition to increased nursing care, staff salaries, the total investment in mental health services will also exceed 100 million yuan.
New York CityMayor Eric Adams expressed support for the state budget agreement, particularly in terms of strengthening affordable housing and authorizing New York City to strengthen enforcement of illegal marijuana shops. He also particularly welcomed the $2.4 billion in funding in the state budget for New York City to house undocumented immigrants. New York State Republican Party Chairman Edward Cox issued a statement saying that the housing policies of Hochu and state congressional Democrats mean a reduction in both the housing stock and new home construction and are “doomed to fail.”
New York