ALBANY — Gov. Kathy Hochul, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and a Senate spokesman said Tuesday that there has been a potential breakthrough in negotiations over Hochul’s criminal justice proposal that has blocked agreement on passing the overdue state budget.

At issue is a 2019 law that was created to prohibit prosecutors from withholding evidence during the discovery phase of a criminal trial that could be important to a defendant before he or she decides to take a plea bargain or fight a charge in court. Hochul and prosecutors say the law in practice has resulted in cases being dismissed over minor mistakes or delays by district attorney offices.

Hochul’s bill would give prosecutors more leeway. For example, a judge would have greater discretion to decide if the evidence was inconsequential and allow the case to go forward. The Democratic majorities of the Senate and Assembly also said they want to avoid dismissals of cases over minor infractions, but they don’t want to return all the leverage to prosecutors.

On Tuesday, Hochul gave her most optimistic view of the status of talks surrounding the discovery proposal she has required for any budget deal.

"I believe there are conversations going on as we speak, that there could be a resolution in sight," Hochul told reporters Tuesday.

The discovery issue has been a key issue in delaying approval of a state budget, which was due by April 1, the start of the 2025-26 fiscal year.

"We’re in a good place on discovery," Heastie told reporters separately on Tuesday after a private meeting with his Democratic majority members. "We feel like we’ve come to a pretty good compromise."

Senate majority spokesman Michael Murphy also said Tuesday that the Senate conference is in "a very good place" on the proposal.

Still, all sides insisted Tuesday that they have no final agreement on the discovery issue.

They also need to settle or abandon some of Hochul’s other thorny policy issues in addition to agreeing on the fiscal aspects of the budget, which is expected to exceed $252 billion.

On Tuesday, the State Legislature passed Hochul’s fifth emergency spending measure to keep the state operating until a 2025-26 budget is adopted.

The "extender" measure authorized $437.7 million in spending to fund state government into Thursday. Since the 2025-26 fiscal year began, Hochul and the Legislature have approved $6.6 billion in emergency extenders to keep programs funded and most state workers paid.

The latest pressure to seal a deal is the need for most school districts to know state school aid figures so local school district budgets can be finalized on April 22 before district votes on the budgets are held statewide on May 20.

"It’s April 15 today," said Sen. Thomas O’Mara (R-Elmira) on Tuesday. "We all have to have our taxes done by today or we get penalized, but more importantly ... our school districts, a week from today, have to have their budgets finalized to be voted on in May. What do we tell our school districts?"

Hochul and Senate Finance Committee Chairwoman Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan) said that if a budget deal isn’t struck soon, the governor’s office could provide an estimate of state funding to school districts for use in their budgeting.

In her January proposal to the Legislature, Hochul called for an $825 million or 2.4% increase in school aid. The Assembly proposed $2.7 billion more than current funding and the Senate proposes a more than $1 billion increase over current spending on schools of more than $34 billion.