The Legislature passed the first two final budget bills this week. At this time, the plan is for budget negotiations to continue through the weekend, with voting on the remaining final budget bills expected to begin next Tuesday. Leadership is hopeful the budget process will wrap up by the middle of next week.
In the meantime, the Senate and Assembly passed yet another budget extender, number fourteen, to keep New York State government operating through Tuesday, May 26.
The two budget bills approved this week primarily addressed education and general government issues. Of particular interest, the education bill included legislation delaying implementation of New York’s electric school bus mandate by five years.
Under the revised timeline, school districts may continue purchasing standard school buses through 2032 and will now have until 2040 to fully electrify their fleets.
As budget negotiations continue, ESEA will continue monitoring developments impacting our members and the energy industry and will provide additional updates as the remaining budget bills are finalized and voted on in the coming days.
