Requires public hearings on the executive budget shall be conducted in certain areas of the state

Title of bill

An act to amend the legislative law, in relation to the conduct of public hearings on the budget

Purpose

Requires that public hearings on the executive budget shall be conducted in various counties and regions throughout the state.

Summary of provisions

Amends section 32-a of the legislative law, as added by chapter 762 of the laws of 1992, to provide that public hearings shall be held in various counties and regions through the state after submission, and prior to, enactment of the executive budget.

Existing law

Under current law, public hearings on the budget may be held regionally to provide individuals and organizations throughout the state with an opportunity to comment on the budget. In practice, this is almost never done, with the result that individuals who cannot travel to Albany have no meaningful public opportunity to comment on the provisions of the executive budget.

Justification

This Open Budget Reform bill will require regional budgetary hearings in the counties of Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Watertown, Albany, Poughkeepsie, New York City and on Long Island. These regional hearings will provide New Yorkers a more direct means to influence their state budget.

Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once said that "sunlight is the best disinfectant." After twenty years of late budgets and a growing sense of legislative gridlock, New Yorkers are more dissatisfied than ever with the process by which the state budget is eventually enacted. This measure will open the state budget to greater local scrutiny, make our budget process more transparent and facilitate greater involvement by rank and file state legislators.

County hearings will allow a closer examination of the local impact of provisions in the executive budget and enable the legislature to ultimately adopt a state budget that more accurately reflects the needs and concerns of citizens from all over New York.

Legislative history

2006 - S.2635 - Referred to Investigations & Government Operations 2008 - S.2275 - Referred to Investigations & Government Operations

Fiscal implications

The costs of additional public hearings will be minimal, but will include travel expenses for committee leaders and staff who must travel to the hearings.

Effective date

This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.