Making a surprise appearance on newly televised Paul Vandenburgh Show My4 Albany, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he was studying the minimum wage proposal introduced by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver earlier today.

“We’re going to watch it through this legislative session,” Cuomo said on the TV show via telephone.

The governor is yet to take a stance on raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.50 and then index future increases to inflation, but has said he’s been supportive of past efforts.

It remains to be seen if the proposal will be tied to measure that is more amenable to the business community, such as the new, less generous pension tier the governor included in the budget.

Business groups, including the Cuomo-aligned Business Council, were quick to denounce the Assembly proposal. It also remains to be seen if such a measure can make its way through the Republican-led Senate.

Silver originally said he would push the wage increase in his speech before Cuomo’s State of the State address earlier this month.

“He just put forth a specific proposal,” Cuomo said in the interview. “We’ll look at it, we’ll study it. We want to understand the impact of a minimum wage increase on the economy because as you know, Paul, for everything is about getting the economy going; getting jobs for all New Yorkers.”

“I want to hear from the business groups and the economic advisers,” Cuomo added. “Also: what would the effect be on the economy at all?”

The interview wasn’t on the governor’s public schedule and seems to have been a spur of the moment decision. Cuomo is yet to do an in-person television interview since taking office more than a year ago.

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