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Senator Bruno and his colleagues met with reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday to discuss the the status of budget reform legislation. |
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
The New York State Senate today passed a comprehensive budget reform bill, (S.7806) modeled on the budget reform bill passed by the Legislature earlier this year, that addresses concerns raised about the legislation and represents a compromise solution to ensure that a State budget is in place, on time every year.
"Since the Governor raised concerns about earlier budget reform legislation that was passed by both houses, we�ve held three-way discussions and this bill reflects those discussions, Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno said. "The most important change is that this bill would put budget reform in place next year, rather than waiting until 2006 as called for in the previous legislation. The sooner we can fix the budget process to ensure an on-time budget, the better.
"I urge the Assembly to, once again, join the Senate in acting on a real budget reform plan so we can put an end to late budgets," Senator Bruno said. "Particularly when the Court of Appeals has made a ruling that could end any hope of ever getting a budget done on time. We�ve got to achieve a result now."
"For ten years, the Senate has led the way in passing legislation to reform and improve New York�s budget process," Senator Owen H. Johnson (R-C, Babylon), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said. "Today we are continuing our efforts to achieve the budget reform that the people of this State want to end the 20 year string of late budgets. Fixing the budget process is the foundation for other reforms that will follow."
Earlier this year, both houses passed budget reform legislation (S.7615), along with a Constitutional Amendment (S.7317), that were negotiated by a bipartisan, Joint Legislative Conference Committee. Together, the measures would: provide more time for budget negotiations by requiring an earlier submission of the Executive Budget and changing the start of the state fiscal year (SFY) from April 1st to May 1st, beginning in SFY 2006-7; Would provide for greater detail and more disclosure in the budget; The plan calls for a contingency budget to automatically go into effect if a new budget is not adopted by the May 1 deadline; The contingency budget would continue the previous fiscal year budget forward until it is changed by the Legislature. The plan also requires a two year appropriation for state school aid.
The primary differences between the budget reform bill passed by the Senate today, and the one vetoed by the Governor, are that the Governor would submit a contingency budget by February first which would have to be adopted by the Legislature prior to the beginning of the fiscal year. Legislation related to the preceding fiscal year�s budget would remain in effect during the contingency period.
Also, the new legislation would create the Independent Financial Review Board to determine whether receipts would be sufficient to meet spending requirements. If the Board determines that receipts would be insufficient to meet spending requirements authorized by the Contingency Budget, uniform reductions would automatically be made to all spending items, except those which are exempt from spending limits, no later than 15 days after the beginning of the fiscal year. The five member board would be comprised of one appointment each from the Senate Majority and Minority leaders, the Assembly Speaker and Minority leader and Chairman to be nominated by the Governor and approved by both houses.
In addition, the provisions for an end to the contingency budget period would end upon passage of a single multiple appropriation bill amending the Contingency Budget, submitted by the Governor within 15 days of the start of the contingency period. The Governor�s submission may propose reductions to appropriations in the Contingency Budget and propose additions to the Contingency Budget which reflect policy initiatives.
The bill was sent to the Assembly.
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