Although it’s looking like Gov. Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders won’t make their April 1 budget deadline, they appear to be in agreement on a big-ticket item for the governor: an all-day ban on cellphones in schools, known as “bell-to-bell.”

“The majority of the members are more comfortable with a bell-to-bell approach, they really are,” state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, a Westchester Democrat, said.

“The members are probably more comfortable with ‘bell-to-bell,’” state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a Bronx Democrat, said on Tuesday.

It’s the first apparent state budget win for Hochul.

Part of the governor’s crusade to curb teen social media use and its link to addiction and declining mental health — her plan includes nearly $14 million statewide to help schools implement the ban.

“I support it, but we also have to recognize that there are school districts and some schools that already have some policies in place and they discussed it for a long time, we shouldn’t penalize them for being ahead of the curve,” state Sen. John Liu, a Queens Democrat, said.

While they’re not likely to beat their Tuesday, April 1 deadline, the legislature is on track to pass the first of several budget bills.

“Meanwhile, tomorrow we will be passing our debt service bill,” Stewart-Cousins said.

Hochul proposed a $252 billion spending package in January, but the Democratic-controlled legislature wants to spend billions more.

Lawmakers are also still hung up on a host of issues like prohibiting public mask wearing, with some exceptions for medical conditions.

“Generally, when you protest, right? If you believe in what you’re doing, you don’t hide your face. People who are typically wearing it are doing so because they want to do more than just protest and go beyond the First Amendment toward things like harassing and menacing and all that,” state Assemblyman Sam Berger, a Queens Democrat, said.

Altering what’s known as discovery laws governing the way prosecutors hand over evidence to the defense — a proposal backed by the city’s five district attorneys — is still up for debate.

“Unfortunately, a lot of what we’ve seen is really anecdotal coming from the DAs and what we wanna see is data that actually speaks to the issue, the scale of the issue,” state Assemblywoman Amanda Septimo, a Bronx Democrat, said.

And how to pay for billions of dollars in MTA fixes needs to be worked out.

“We need to make sure the MTA is fully funded because I go to the train, I take the trains, I take the buses and you know they run OK but they need to be running fantastically,” Manhattan Democrat Jordan Wright, a freshman assemblyman, said.

Changing involuntary commitment standards for the mentally ill is dividing legislators — but it’s a priority for state Sen. and mayoral candidate Jessica Ramos.

“We’ve all seen people displaying erratic behavior on the subway and in our streets and frankly there’s nothing compassionate or progressive about ignoring them and not providing them with the services they need before they hurt themselves or they hurt someone else,” the Queens Democrat said.  

But the big elephant in the room: how will New York backfill federal cuts?

“A lot has changed since we got here the first week in January, obviously, Donald Trump took the oath of office and every single day we are looking at some of the cuts that are happening and are impacting people in our districts,” Assemblyman Brian Cunningham, a Brooklyn Democrat, said. “We are trying to make sure we’re catching up with some of those cuts to make sure programs that are doing food services and programs that are providing housing dollars aren’t cut.”

Meanwhile, reports late Wednesday show the Trump administration is canceling a series of state health care contracts and grants, including $300 million slated for New York.

“Yesterday, the federal Department of Health and Human Services notified our Administration that they intend to cut more than $300 million in funding for the New York State Department of Health, Office of Addiction Supports and Services and Office of Mental Health,” Hochul said in a statement on Wednesday evening. “These include funds that county health departments across New York are planning to use to fight disease and keep people safe. At a time when New York is facing an ongoing opioid epidemic, multiple confirmed cases of measles and an ongoing mental health crisis, these cuts will be devastating.“

“Make no mistake: there is no state in this country that has the financial resources to backfill the massive federal funding cuts proposed by DOGE and Congressional Republicans. They are trying to rip apart the social safety net that lifts families out of poverty and gives everyone a shot at a middle-class life. These cuts aren’t just numbers on a page – they’re going to hurt real people in every corner of New York,” the governor added. “For every attempt they make to withhold this funding, we will fight them tooth and nail. I’ll do everything in my power to protect the health and well-being of New Yorkers.”