New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday that she has reached a conceptual agreement on a delayed $268 billion state budget that includes a politically charged measure to create protective buffer zones around synagogues and other houses of worship — even as a top legislative leader quickly disputed that any final deal exists.

The provision, a priority for many Jews, would establish zones around religious sites to shield worshippers from harassment as they enter or leave services. Hochul’s office said the budget measure “establishes buffer zones to protect places of worship so New Yorkers can practice religion, a guaranteed right, free of harassment.”

But within hours, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie threw cold water on the governor’s rollout. “There is no budget deal,” Heastie said. “I don’t care what the governor says.”

The public split highlights the delicate endgame of Albany budget negotiations, where governors sometimes announce agreements before all legislative leaders are fully aligned, using the pressure of a public declaration to help force the process over the finish line. Hochul’s office described the agreement as “conceptual” and said lawmakers are expected to pass the budget bills “in the coming days.”

The buffer-zone language is among the more sensitive policy items still on the table. Supporters, including leading Jewish groups, argue the measure is needed after a series of vitriolic protests outside New York City synagogues, including demonstrations targeting events connected to Israel. They say the state has an obligation to ensure that people can attend religious services without intimidation.

Opponents on the left have cast the proposal as a threat to free speech, warning that buffer-zone laws can criminalize constitutionally protected protest in public spaces. The debate has set up a collision between two First Amendment concerns: the right to worship freely and the right to demonstrate.

The state measure would go further than a New York City law passed late last month. The city legislation requires the NYPD to develop and publicize plans to protect houses of worship during protests, but it does not set a specific distance or create a criminal penalty. The state proposal would establish a firm 25-foot zone and criminalize protest activity inside it.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani allowed the house-of-worship bill to take effect, while vetoing a similar measure for educational facilities, saying the school-related bill was overly broad. Civil liberties groups praised the veto, while Jewish organizations criticized it as a failure to protect students from targeted harassment.

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