Establishes the New York state independent budget office

Summary

Section 1. Amends the Legislative Law by adding Article 4-B as outlined below:

§75. Establishes the New York State Independent Budget Office.

1. Provides that its primary purpose is to provide both individual members and committees of the Legislature with information related to the Budget Process. 2. Prepare fiscal impact statements on any bill impacting State revenues or expenditures. 3. Submit an analysis of the Executive Budget by March first or each year. 4. Develop alternative approaches to meet the financial obligations of the State. 5. Prepare quarterly revenue forecast. 6. Publish a report by December 1st of each year that. analyzes the fiscal outlook of the State for the next five years. 7. Prepared to consult and assist with the analysis of proposed legislation on local governments, tribal governments, private sector employment and private sector enterprises. 8. Conduct continuing studies of budgetary matters to include the impact of State mandates on local governments and private sector entities. 9. Publish documents to enhance official and public understanding of budget and public finance related matters. 10. Addresses the use of computer equipment and outside consultants. 11. Requires that information be made available on the Internet.

§76. Duties and powers of the Director.

1. Provides that the Director of the Independent Budget Office be appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly and the Temporary President of the Senate upon the recommendations of the Independent Budget Office Board of Directors.

a. Director is appointed from a list of one or more candidates. b. Serves for a six year term and is appointed as follows. c. Initial recommendation must be made by January 15, 2013. d. Initial appointment made by February 15, 2012. e. Director takes office April 1, 2013. f. Same process recurs in six years.

2. Composition of the Independent Budget Office Board of Directors.

a. Has ten members who are appointed as follows: i. One appointed and serving at the pleasure of the Chair and ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee and Assembly Ways and Means Committee; ii. six jointly appointed to staggered six year terms by the Speaker of the Assembly and Temporary President of Senate; iii. All members must have extensive knowledge in the fields of finance, economies, accounting, public administration and public policy analysis including at least one of the following:

* Nationally recognized expert in the fields of budget theory and the budget process; * One current or former dean or director of a graduate school of business administration, public affairs or public administration located in New York State; * One current or former officer or economic advisor of a labor union; * One current or former officer or economic advisor of a business corporation; * One current or former officer or commissioner of a City with a population of more than one million; * One current or former officer or commissioner of a county; * One current or former officer of a civic or public interest advocacy organization directly involved in budget Statewide or local budget matters (merely lobbying state or local governments on budget related matters does not count for the purposes of this subparagraph); * No Director shall serve consecutive terms.

b. The New York State Independent Budget Office Board of Directors is tasked with developing guidelines for best practices of the Independent Budget Office. In developing such guidelines, nothing shall preclude the Board from using pronouncements, standards and other documents developed and published by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board or other organizations that are nationally recognized authorities in matters pertaining to public finance.

c. Board members serve without pay but are reimbursed for reasonable expenses.

3. Provides that the Director shall be appointed for a six-year term and cannot serve more than two terms.

4. Provides that twenty percent of the appropriations made to the Division of the Budget shall be available to the Independent Budget

Office, commencing the year in which the Director takes office (April 1, 2012). Gives the Director explicit authority to hire and fire staff, who will serve as appointees.

5. Provides that either the Senate or the Assembly may remove the Director by resolution.

6. Compensation.

7. Access to all State entities.

8. For the purposes of estimating the fiscal impact of revenue legislation this requires the Independent Budget Office to exclusively use revenue estimates provided to it by the State Comptroller but does not require or preclude use of the Comptrollers estimates in preparing quarterly or annual revenue forecasts.

Justification

This legislation establishes the New York State Independent Budget Office (NYS-IBO), a nonpartisan office to provide legislators with the objective information they need to make decisions regarding the budget. The NYS-IBO is modeled after the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the New York City Independent Budget Office. Accurate, up-to-date information is a key ingredient for prudent, timely budgetary and public policy decisions. This newly created office will provide that to all state lawmakers. Each year, the NYS-IBO will provide all members of the Senate Finance Committee and the Assembly Ways and Means Committee with analyses of the executive budget by March 1st. This provides ample time for members to review the analyses before the budget deadline of April 1st.

All legislators, regardless of political affiliation will be able to utilize the services of NYS-IBO. Because it is nonpartisan, members of the Senate and Assembly will have access to the same data, analyses and information thereby helping to reduce the yearly struggles that emerge over the disparities in both revenue and expenditure projections. This should in turn lead to more timely budgets based on sound fiscal policy. All documentation from this office will be made available to the public in order to grant the public access to the same information as the legislature. At least 23 other states including California, Texas, Florida, Connecticut and Vermont have already established nonpartisan budget offices to assist their legislatures.

Prior legislative history

S.7038, 2010 - Referred to Investigations & Governmental Operations

Fiscal implications

None for SFY 2011-12.

Funding consists of twenty percent of the appropriation authority made available to the New York State Division of the Budget. Based upon the amount appropriated for SFY 2011-12 this would be $5.9 million.

Effective date

Immediately.