For the second consecutive year, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has proposed the largest budget in her state’s history.
The governor on Tuesday unveiled a $252 billion plan for Fiscal Year 2026, growing government spending by almost $9 billion over the current budget that ends on April 1.
One of the most expansive items on the budget is Medicaid, with the state projected to spend $35.4 billion on the program in the upcoming fiscal year—an increase of $4.3 billion from the current year. Some 7 million New Yorkers are enrolled in Medicaid, 900,000 more than pre-COVID levels.
The proposed budget also includes a range of items that Hochul has recently promised, including $1 billion for middle-class tax cuts, $3 billion for so-called “inflation refund” checks, and $800 million for an expansion of the state’s child tax credit….