{"id":593877,"date":"2026-04-30T11:43:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T11:43:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=593877"},"modified":"2026-04-30T11:43:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T11:43:17","slug":"dem-bill-would-make-ny-lawmakers-exempt-from-paying-utility-bills-if-they-fail-to-pass-the-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=593877","title":{"rendered":"Dem bill would make NY lawmakers exempt from paying utility bills if they fail to pass the budget"},"content":{"rendered":"
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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.<\/p>\n

Assembly Member Larinda Hooks\u2019 \u201cAutomatic Utility Deferment Act\u201d would require utility companies \u201cto automatically suspend shutoffs and waive late fees\u201d for ostensibly all state employees whenever lawmakers fail to pass the state budget on time, according to station WHEC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a massive catch: While the law is ostensibly designed to cover all state employees, it\u2019d in fact\u00a0only apply to state employees who\u2019re \u201csubject to a payroll freeze when the state budget is not passed\u201d in time.<\/p>\n

And it just so happens that the only state employees subject to said payroll freeze are state lawmakers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording 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,\u201d station WHAM<\/a> notes.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the key: \u201cWhile state employees receive pay, lawmakers typically have their pay held until the budget is finalized.\u201d<\/p>\n

This means that Hooks\u2019 bill would bless lawmakers with temporarily deferred utility bills \u2014 and all essentially as a reward for not doing their jobs and passing a budget on time.<\/p>\n

Republicans responded to Hooks\u2019 bill by slamming the whole premise.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\ud83d\udd08\"Democrats have full control of the state budget process.<\/p>\n

\"\ud83d\udd09\"Democrats have failed to enact an on-time state budget.<\/p>\n

\"\ud83d\udd0a\"Democrats have introduced the Automatic Utility Deferment Act \u2013 special rules to protect them from utility shut-offs, late payments and fees when the budget is\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/FxOxNFn6DC<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 NYS Assembly Republican Conference (@NYS_AM) April 28, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThis makes us all look bad, and another reason for people to hate politicians when they write laws to take care of themselves,\u201d Assembly Member Joseph Angelino told station WBNG<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hit me like a brick that a member of the assembly was basically trying to take care of themselves. I\u2019m 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,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t need to pass laws to benefit ourselves,\u201d Assembly Minority Leader Ed Ra, another Republican, added. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of a silly conversation to talk about having utility relief that\u2019s only going to be for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Assembly Member Andrea Bailey called the proposal a \u201cslap in the face\u201d to her working-class constituents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing that came to mind, honestly, is the calls that have come into the office from folks that say, \u2018Andrea, I don\u2019t know what I\u2019m going to do \u2014 my electric bill doubled, it tripled,’\u201d she told WHEC.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been helping small businesses, seniors, single moms, families, farmers, so it\u2019s impacting everybody, and if I were one of those folks looking on the outside looking in, it\u2019s 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,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Assembly Member Scott Bendett accused Hooks of trying to enrich herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find it to be somewhat of a situation that\u2019s very troubling \u2014 if I\u2019m a citizen of New York State, I find it very disturbing that a member would put in a bill that would self-enrich themselves,\u201d he told station WRGB<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Assembly Member Mary Beth Walsh said the focus should be on passing the very late budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the budget\u2019s not passed, we don\u2019t get paid. That may create financial hardship for some members, but that\u2019s motivation to get the budget passed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Assembly Member John Lemondes, meanwhile, targeted the bill\u2019s \u201cdeceptive\u201d language.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe language in the bill is purposefully deceptive. They set it up that way,\u201d he told WHAM. \u201cThe only ones who aren\u2019t getting paid when the budget is late are the same people who fail to pass it in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even Assembly Member John T. McDonald III, a Democrat, has dismissed the bill as a non-starter.<\/p>\n

\u201cQuite honestly, I wouldn\u2019t support it,\u201d he told WRGB.<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019 \u201cAutomatic Utility Deferment Act\u201d would require utility companies \u201cto automatically suspend shutoffs and waive late fees\u201d for ostensibly all state employees whenever lawmakers fail… Continue reading Dem bill would make NY lawmakers exempt from paying utility bills if they fail to pass the budget<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":593878,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,22,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-593877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-border-security","category-immigration","category-immigration-reform","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=593877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/593878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=593877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=593877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=593877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}