Withholds the salary of the governor and members of the legislature if the budget is late until final ratification of the budget; forfeits withheld salary.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7290
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
May 19, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sen. GRIFFO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Finance
AN ACT to amend the state finance law and the legislative law, in
relation to withholding the salary of the governor and members of the
legislature if the budget is late until final ratification of the
budget
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 the "passage of late enacted budget (PLEB) act".
3 § 2. Subdivision 2 of section 24 of the state finance law is amended
4 by adding a new paragraph (c) to read as follows:
5 (c) On or after April first, two thousand twenty-four, any such salary
6 installment payments to be paid on or after such day to the governor and
7 members of the legislature shall be withheld and not paid until the
8 final ratification of the budget for the following fiscal year pursuant
9 to section five of the legislative law whereupon any salary installment
10 payments intended for the governor and members of the legislature that
11 are withheld and not paid shall be forfeited in perpetuity.
12 § 3. Subdivisions 1 and 3 of section 5 of the legislative law, subdi-
13 vision 1 as amended and subdivision 3 as added by chapter 635 of the
14 laws of 1998, the opening paragraph of subdivision 1 as amended by chap-
15 ter 841 of the laws of 2022, are amended to read as follows:
16 1. Effective January first, two thousand twenty-three, each member of
17 the legislature shall receive a salary of one hundred forty-two thousand
18 dollars per annum. Such salary of a member of the legislature shall be
19 payable in twenty-six bi-weekly installments provided, however, that,
20 effective January first, two thousand twenty-four, if [legislative
21 passage] final ratification of the budget as defined in subdivision
22 three of this section has not occurred prior to the first day of any
23 fiscal year, the net amount of any such bi-weekly salary installment
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11554-01-3
S. 7290 2
1 payments to be paid on or after such day shall be withheld and not paid
2 until such [legislative passage] final ratification of the budget has
3 occurred whereupon bi-weekly salary installment payments shall resume
4 [and an amount equal to the accrued, withheld and unpaid installments
5 shall be promptly paid to each member].
6 For purposes of this section, net amount shall mean gross salary minus
7 any or all of the following deductions: federal taxes, state taxes,
8 social security taxes, city taxes, payments on retirement loans, retire-
9 ment contributions, contributions to health insurance or other group
10 insurance programs, child support and court ordered payments.
11 3. ["Legislative passage] "Final ratification of the budget", solely
12 for the purposes of this section and section five-a of this article,
13 shall mean that the appropriation bill or bills submitted by the gover-
14 nor pursuant to section three of article seven of the state constitution
15 have been finally acted on by both houses of the legislature in accord-
16 ance with article seven of the state constitution [and], the state comp-
17 troller has determined that such appropriation bill or bills that have
18 been finally acted on by the legislature are sufficient for the ongoing
19 operation and support of state government and local assistance for the
20 ensuing fiscal year, and the governor has signed such bill or bills into
21 law. In addition, legislation submitted by the governor pursuant to
22 section three of article seven of the state constitution determined
23 necessary by the legislature for the effective implementation of such
24 appropriation bill or bills shall have been acted on. Nothing in this
25 section shall be construed to affect the prohibition contained in
26 section five of article seven of the state constitution.
27 § 4. Nothing in this act shall be construed to prevent the governor
28 from issuing a message of necessity pursuant to section five of article
29 seven of the state constitution, nor shall this act be construed to
30 prevent the passage and signing of a law to extend the budget from the
31 prior fiscal year provided it shall not suffice as an enacted budget for
32 the purpose of this act.
33 § 5. Severability clause. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivi-
34 sion, section or part of this act shall be adjudged by any court of
35 competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect,
36 impair, or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in
37 its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section
38 or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judg-
39 ment shall have been rendered. It is hereby declared to be the intent of
40 the legislature that this act would have been enacted even if such
41 invalid provisions had not been included herein.
42 § 6. This act shall take effect immediately.
