Makes provision regarding legislative additions to the governor's proposed budget bills

Title of bill

An act to amend the state finance law, in relation to legislative additions to the governor's proposed budget bills

Purpose or general idea of bill

To make the process of distributing "member items" more open and equitable.

Summary of specific provisions

Adds a new section 53-e to the state finance law, to make the process of distributing member items:

Provides that if there is any addition to the governor's budget bill for a member item, then every legislator in that house shall be entitled to direct an equal appropriation for use in his or her legislative district.

The senate finance and assembly ways and means committee shall provide the following for each proposed additional appropriation as described in subdivision one of this section:

* the formal name of the program, its sponsoring group, and its full address; the names of the sponsoring legislator or legislators;

* a description of and justification for the program; and

* whether a sponsoring legislator, or any of his or her family members, is an employee or conducts business with the sponsoring group or program.

The bill also provides that the Senate Finance Committee and the Assembly Ways and Means Committee shall establish further rules and regulations for determining whether a proposed additional appropriation will be included in the state budget, and specifies that if so, it must be included as a line item. All information required by the new section must be made available to the public at a cost not to exceed what is provided for in Article 6 of the Public Officers Law.

Justification

Currently, the member item process is neither equitable nor open. Clearly, the process is unfair; some legislators receive large amounts of funding for their districts, while others receive little or no funding. A 1990 study by Common Cause / New York found that one group of counties with less than half the state's population got nearly two-thirds of all member item money for schools and the elderly.

No formal mechanisms exist for the distribution of member item funds to particular legislators' districts, or for groups to apply for member item grants. There does not appear to be any assessment of the relative merits of member item grants.

We should hold ourselves, and our colleagues, accountable to the citizens of New York. Member items are paid for with taxpayer money. Information about who stands to benefit from these state dollars should be available for public comment before the money is committed. It is particularly important now, with the state facing a fiscal crisis, that we insist on integrity of the member item process.

Prior legislative history

A. 7364 of 2007/2008 A. 1740 of 2005/2006 A.6330 & S.7618 of 2003/2004 A.6806 & S.770 of 2001/2002 S.995 of 1999/2000 S.3807 of 1997/1998 S.3045 of 1995/1996 S.8381 of 1993/1994

Fiscal implications

None