The restructuring plan could give Mr. Cuomo (even more) significant control over the M.T.A., after years of him denying or downplaying that influence. The governor suggested in the radio interview that he would ask legislators to consider changing how the agency’s board members — of whom Mr. Cuomo controls a plurality but not a majority — are chosen.

Some lawmakers have already expressed skepticism. State Senator Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat, said the scope and purpose of the expert panel, as well as the governor’s long-term plans for the M.T.A., remained unclear.

“There are many still unanswered questions, and numbers that don’t necessarily add up right,” she said. “But I certainly agree that we have a crisis for mass transit funding, and dramatic solutions must be implemented.”

Buckling up

What do seatbelts have to do with state spending? Unclear. But they’re in the budget anyway, in the form of a proposal to make back-seat passengers wear them.

Currently, it’s illegal in New York to ride without a seatbelt in the front seat, and in both the front and back for anyone under 16.

It’s not contested that rear seatbelts save lives: A 2007 study found that crash mortality could be reduced by as much as 75 percent for people in the back seat if they wore seatbelts.

But that doesn’t explain why the proposal was in the budget, rather than introduced as a separate bill. Except that this is how the budget in Albany is always done: crammed with nonfiscal matters that the governor or other lawmakers want. After all, it’s harder to reject any one policy when it’s tied to a $170 billion budget for the entire state. Ah, transparency.