Politics on the Hudson

   Adoption of a state budget got snarled today in the state Senate before the process even started.

   Republicans so far haven’t shown up for a legislative session that was supposed to start at 9:30 a.m. A Republican spokesman said the minority members were waiting for information about aid to local school districts and other data before considering whether to vote for the bills.

   But the Democrats think the Republicans are weighing whether to just try to delay the process and capitalize on the anger at higher taxes and spending increases that the public has been displaying since the $131.8 billion budget deal was announced on Sunday.

   Republicans, who hold 30 of the 62 Senate seats and are in the minority this year for the first time since 1965, also might want to deny Democrats the bragging rights of getting a state budget passed before the midnight tonight deadline.

   Passage of the budget is expected to go much smoother in the Assembly, where Democrats have a 109-41-seat majority over Republicans.

   Senate Democrats issued a point-by-point description of the proposed budget this morning, saying it’s the first time a breakdown by budget area has been uploaded on the Web by the Senate.

—Jay Gallagher