ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10)---The first budget bill dealing with debt services has passed in the state legislature. There are now nine more budget bills to go before the state budget is finalized. It is due on April 1st. Democratic Assemblymember John McDonald said there are still big issues in the st ate budget being negotiated such as restrictions on mask wearing, issues regarding mental health, changes to discovery laws, and banning cell phones in schools.  "Those are the four large sticking points that need to be resolved," said McDonald.  Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said on Wednesday, a majority of her members are comfortable with a bell-to-bell approach to restrict cell phone use during school hours.  "It would happen during the next school year," explained Stewart-Cousins. "We want to make sure, again, that there are appropriate things in place for those exceptional  circumstances that every school will need to address, so we want to make sure there is appropriate flexibility there." Republicans have other priorities such as no tax increases. Assembly Minority Leader, Will Barclay also added he would like to see, "A reasonable spending plan moving forward that’s not going to bankrupt the state." The big question---will the budget be on time? McDonald said it’s up in the air.  "The truth of the matter is, we are not going to be in session on Monday because of an observance of Eid, we will be back on Tuesday," said McDonald. "Something could break over the weekend where we walk in Tuesday Morning, we’re gonna vote to extend the budget another week or so— whatever the governor decides because we want to make sure that the public employees continue to get paid." ...read more read less