Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times  Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, left, after he signed a budget bill into law. At right, the Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, left, and the Senate majority leader, Dean G. Skelos.  Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and legislative leaders eagerly celebrated passage of the spending plan, which slightly reduces over-all spending from the current year, as evidence that Albany was finally behaving responsibly after years of scandal and disorder.  The voting on Friday marked the first time the Legislature had approved a state spending plan with more than 24 hours to spare since 1983 — when Mr. Cuomo’s father, former Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, passed his first budget.  Saying that “at one time, this state government was a joke,” Mr. Cuomo lavished praise on lawmakers at a news conference in his ceremonial office, where the backslapping among the assembled officials reached a level often seen in sports locker rooms following championship victories.  “It has been a dramatic and almost unbelievable turnaround in 15 months,” Mr. Cuomo said. “We went from a model of dysfunction to, I believe, a model of function.”  The daytime approval of the budget followed a period in which Mr. Cuomo and lawmakers had been criticized for a series of major votes taken in the middle of the night, and, at times, with little public notice.  This week, the governor and the leaders of the Legislature said their actions reflected a newfound comity in the capital.  “This was a good budget substantively, and it was a good budget procedurally,” said Senator John A. DeFrancisco, a Syracuse Republican and the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.  Mr. Cuomo and the leaders finished negotiating the bills that made up the budget on Tuesday. That gave them enough time to abide by a requirement in the State Constitution, often sidestepped for major legislation, that bills be made public for three days before they are voted on, so that legislators and the public can read the measures.  The Senate and the Assembly began debating most of the bills that made up the budget on Friday morning.  Early in the afternoon, lawmakers crowded into Mr. Cuomo’s ceremonial office to be photographed next to the governor as he signed a portion of the budget into law — even though neither the Senate nor the Assembly had actually finished approving the entire spending plan by that point.  The Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat, called the smooth budget process “a breath of fresh air to all of us.”  “We have been able to mesh our thoughts with your thoughts, and we produced what I think is a great document here,” said Mr. Silver, turning toward Mr. Cuomo and the Senate majority leader, Dean G. Skelos, a Long Island Republican. Mr. Skelos added, “We’re very proud of the way government is now functioning in Albany.”  Both the Senate and the Assembly finished passing the spending plan later in the afternoon. There were no major dramatics as they debated the budget bills, although some lawmakers in the minority caucuses in both houses made clear that they were upset with their limited role in the budget talks.  At the start of the celebratory news conference, one of Mr. Cuomo’s top aides, Joseph Percoco, was caught on camera instructing the Senate and Assembly minority leaders — who were standing behind the lectern near Mr. Cuomo, Mr. Skelos and Mr. Silver — to sit in the audience with the lawmakers on hand.  Senator Kevin S. Parker, a Democrat from Brooklyn, described the budget process as “a joke” that blocked the minority caucuses in both houses from having any substantive role in negotiating the spending plan. “It goes back to the old dysfunction that we saw,” Mr. Parker said.  During the day, the minority caucuses in both houses tried, and failed, to attach more than a dozen amendments to the budget bills that were being debated.  Assembly Republicans proposed cutting taxes for manufacturers and repealing a payroll tax that helps finance the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, while Senate Democrats proposed to make tuition aid available to illegal immigrants at colleges and universities.
Passage of a $132.6 billion spending plan marked the first time since 1983 that the Legislature has approved a budget with more than a day to spare.