N.Y. Lawmakers End Session Without Replacing Congestion Pricing Revenue

In a searing rebuke to Gov. Kathy Hochul, Democratic lawmakers in the State Senate announced on Friday that they would be leaving Albany for the year without plugging the funding gap left after she backtracked on adopting congestion pricing in Manhattan.

The decision leaves a billion-dollar hole in the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s budget, imperiling planned projects and raising grave questions about the future of public transit in the nation’s largest city.

Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the majority leader, told reporters late Friday that her caucus had not been able to rally around any of the budget proposals being offered in the session’s final hours. She said they were “trying to figure out a way” to both ease congestion and provide funding for the authority, which oversees the city’s subway and buses and some commuter rail lines.

The senators’ announcement follows two days of frantic negotiations since Ms. Hochul said she wanted to halt the tolling plan “indefinitely” over concerns that it could hamper New York’s economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

The congestion pricing plan, which had been set to take effect on June 30, would have charged most drivers $15 to enter Manhattan’s central business district south of 60th Street, with the goal of reducing pollution and traffic and creating $1 billion a year in revenue for the struggling authority

Several hours after the Senate’s announcement, Ms. Hochul made her first public appearance since saying she would halt the congestion pricing program. She praised the legislative leaders, saying she had worked closely with them over the session, touting accomplishments on housing and social media.