A New York state lawmaker on Friday introduced a bill that would allow lawmakers to not pay their utility bills when they fail to pass a budget.

Assembly Member Larinda Hooks’ “Automatic Utility Deferment Act” would require utility companies “to automatically suspend shutoffs and waive late fees” for ostensibly all state employees whenever lawmakers fail to pass the state budget on time, according to station WHEC.

But there’s a massive catch: While the law is ostensibly designed to cover all state employees, it’d in fact only apply to state employees who’re “subject to a payroll freeze when the state budget is not passed” in time.

And it just so happens that the only state employees subject to said payroll freeze are state lawmakers.

“According to New York law, most state employees will continue to receive payroll while lawmakers and the Governor use extender bills to keep the government operating and funded while negotiations continue,” station WHAM notes.

Here’s the key: “While state employees receive pay, lawmakers typically have their pay held until the budget is finalized.”

This means that Hooks’ bill would bless lawmakers with temporarily deferred utility bills — and all essentially as a reward for not doing their jobs and passing a budget on time.

Republicans responded to Hooks’ bill by slamming the whole premise.

Democrats have full control of the state budget process.

Democrats have failed to enact an on-time state budget.

Democrats have introduced the Automatic Utility Deferment Act – special rules to protect them from utility shut-offs, late payments and fees when the budget is… pic.twitter.com/FxOxNFn6DC

— NYS Assembly Republican Conference (@NYS_AM) April 28, 2026

“This makes us all look bad, and another reason for people to hate politicians when they write laws to take care of themselves,” Assembly Member Joseph Angelino told station WBNG.

“It hit me like a brick that a member of the assembly was basically trying to take care of themselves. I’m an adult. I have a savings account. We all took this job knowing what we were going into, and this is one of the perils of not passing the budget on time,” he continued.

“We don’t need to pass laws to benefit ourselves,” Assembly Minority Leader Ed Ra, another Republican, added. “It’s kind of a silly conversation to talk about having utility relief that’s only going to be for us.”

Assembly Member Andrea Bailey called the proposal a “slap in the face” to her working-class constituents.

“The first thing that came to mind, honestly, is the calls that have come into the office from folks that say, ‘Andrea, I don’t know what I’m going to do — my electric bill doubled, it tripled,’” she told WHEC.

“I have been helping small businesses, seniors, single moms, families, farmers, so it’s impacting everybody, and if I were one of those folks looking on the outside looking in, it’s kind of a slap in the face. If we can find a way to carve out and make something a little bit easier for us, I think we should be able to look at ways to make something easier for every resident across New York State,” she added.

Assembly Member Scott Bendett accused Hooks of trying to enrich herself.

“I find it to be somewhat of a situation that’s very troubling — if I’m a citizen of New York State, I find it very disturbing that a member would put in a bill that would self-enrich themselves,” he told station WRGB.

Assembly Member Mary Beth Walsh said the focus should be on passing the very late budget.

“If the budget’s not passed, we don’t get paid. That may create financial hardship for some members, but that’s motivation to get the budget passed,” she said.

Assembly Member John Lemondes, meanwhile, targeted the bill’s “deceptive” language.

“The language in the bill is purposefully deceptive. They set it up that way,” he told WHAM. “The only ones who aren’t getting paid when the budget is late are the same people who fail to pass it in the first place.”

Even Assembly Member John T. McDonald III, a Democrat, has dismissed the bill as a non-starter.

“Quite honestly, I wouldn’t support it,” he told WRGB.