The state budget volley is underway, as Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed a $260 billion spending plan for the 2026-2027 fiscal year, including a constitutional amendment freeing up state prison land in the Adirondack Park, last week in Albany.
Within the tranche of budget bills, the Hochul administration introduced a rare concurrent resolution that would amend the “forever wild” clause of the state constitution, which protects the forest preserve in both the Catskills and Adirondacks.
The resolution proposes to remove three of six closed prisons from the forest preserve to allow for their “public or private sale for public benefit, which may include economic, environmental, or housing benefits.”…