Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York unveiled on Tuesday a $252 billion executive budget that seemed intended to appease New Yorkers dissatisfied with the rising cost of living rather than to address President Trump’s policies that may hurt the state.
The proposed budget includes funding for about $1 billion in middle-class tax cuts, $3 billion in rebate checks for millions of New Yorkers, $800 million for an expansion of the state’s child tax credit, $340 million for school meals for every student and close to $60 million for more police officers on subway trains — all designed to address concerns about affordability, crime and the cost of living.
The spending plan represented a nearly $8.6 billion increase from the current budget, largely because of vast jumps in Medicaid and education spending.
Perhaps most significant is what Ms. Hochul’s budget did not include. She offered no contingency plans in case President Trump makes good on his vow to halt congestion pricing, which would stop the flow of hundreds of millions of dollars a year to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
It also did not identify potential alternate funding streams in response to the Republican-led federal government’s likely focus on cutting money from social service programs like the Affordable Care Act.
Ms. Hochul said that Congress should be held accountable for votes it takes and programs it cuts. She focused particularly on the $10,000 cap on the amount of state and local taxes that people could deduct from their federal income taxes. The governor wants the cap eliminated; Mr. Trump has also spoken against the cap.
The state’s sizable rainy-day reserves — close to $21 billion — cannot be used to fill holes that might come from federal funding cuts or changes to tax policy, she said, adding that she would stand up against Mr. Trump’s policies such as his effort to end birthright citizenship.
“Elections have consequences,” Ms. Hochul said. “I cannot stand here and say the State of New York is going to backfill all the federal dollars. No state governor can do that, and I’m not prepared to say that. It will be challenging.”
Mr. Trump’s name does not appear in Ms. Hochul’s 137-page budget briefing book, though it noted that “uncertainty looms” when it comes to the federal government.
“Potential federal changes to trade, immigration and tax policies could drive further inflation increases,” the briefing book said.
“Likewise, possible reductions in federal assistance that support vital New York programs, including health care delivery, social services and public safety, could negatively impact the state and New Yorkers who depend on these programs,” it said.
Blake G. Washington, Ms. Hochul’s budget director, said in an interview that the governor’s office would first see what comes from Congress and the White House.
“We have a legislature,” he said. “They are on a calendar from January to June. But in technicality, they are available on a year-round basis if there was a need to adapt to new federal realities.”
Higher-than-expected projected tax receipts mean there is a roughly $5.3 billion surplus expected for the next fiscal year. The added revenue has enabled Ms. Hochul to champion populist plans to counter her sinking poll numbers as rivals from both parties prepare to challenge her in 2026.
Sensitive to voters’ frustrations about rising costs and the state’s already large tax burden, Ms. Hochul is proposing no new tax increases. Her plan does include an extension of a tax on residents making more than $1.1 million through tax year 2032. It had been slated to expire in 2027.
Ms. Hochul’s budget includes a less-than-rosy outlook for future budget gaps, which it says will reach $6.5 billion in the next fiscal year and jump to about $11 billion by fiscal year 2029. Assemblyman Ed Ra, a Nassau County Republican and ranking member of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, said Ms. Hochul’s budget does too little to close that gap.
“Our recurring revenues and our recurring spending don’t match,” he said. “We’re committing to a whole bunch of new spending.” Mr. Ra proposed cutting economic development programs that aren’t producing the promised jobs in order to reduce future gaps.
The governor began to flesh out her proposed cellphone ban, offering $13.5 million to “restrict the use of smartphones and other internet-enabled devices” during school hours. The proposal, if enacted, would start next school year and would leave it up to individual school districts to enforce the restriction. It includes exceptions for students who need devices for things like tracking insulin and students who are in an English as a second language program.
“We’re not developing the skills we need because kids are distracted with the cellphones,” Ms. Hochul said. “Our kids will finally be freed from the endless disruptions of social media, and all the mental health pressures that come from it.”
Raj Goyle, a former Kansas state legislator and founder of Phone Free New York, which supports a ban, welcomed Ms. Hochul’s proposal but said it will need more teeth — something he thinks will be included during the legislative process.
“There needs to be a mechanism to ensure that there is actual enforcement of the legislation,” Mr. Goyle said. “It would be disappointing if there was really a policy on paper only but in reality, they didn’t actually do what we wanted to do.”
The revenue from congestion pricing has been going toward funding the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s infrastructure plan that ran through 2024. Last month, Carl E. Heastie, the Assembly speaker, and Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the Senate majority leader, rejected the authority’s capital proposal running through 2029, citing the plan’s $33 billion deficit, which “can be solved during the upcoming legislative session in the context of state budget negotiations.”
“We have got to get an answer, and I think now everybody knows that,” Ms. Stewart-Cousins said.
Ms. Hochul’s proposed budget lacked specifics on how to address the gap and she has said in recent weeks that it is incumbent on legislative leaders to bring her ideas. Mr. Washington, her budget director, said “we are going to have to work with the M.T.A. and the Legislature to arrive at a new plan.”
The budget proposal is the starting point for annual negotiations between the governor and legislative leaders over how to spend roughly $250 billion throughout the 2026 fiscal year. Last year, lawmakers blew through their April 1 budget deadline and talks went on for nearly three weeks.
Mr. Heastie said he was focused on keeping the budget balanced but that what Ms. Hochul had offered was a “great start,” adding that there was nothing “that jumps out to me that is problematic.”