Gov. Hochul and Democratic legislative leaders announced a handshake agreement on a new budget for the 2026 fiscal year on Monday night.
The $254 billion deal, which already was 28 days past the April 1 deadline, still has details to be finalized and must be voted on by both the state Senate and Assembly. Hochul was expecting approval sometime this week.
The $254 billion figure is $2 billion more than the governor proposed in her executive budget plan in January; and a 6 percent increase over the $239 billion measure approved last year…