Creates the New York state independent budget office with a director to be appointed, upon the recommendations of an independent budget office advisory committee, by the speaker of the assembly and the temporary president of the senate; such office shall provide objective, non-partisan and timely analyses of state revenue, expenditures and management practices to members of the legislature for any legislation with fiscal impact or at the request of a leader or a committee.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A4444
SPONSOR: Galef (MS) TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the legislative law, in relation to establishing the New
York state independent budget office
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
The purpose of this legislation is to establish a New York State Inde-
pendent Budget Office (NYSIBO) to provide objective, non-partisan
analyses of State revenue, expenditures and management practices.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1. A new article 4-B is added to the Legislative Law and is
titled: NEW YORK STATE INDEPENDENT BUDGET OFFICE.
The duties of the NYSIBO shall include providing members and committees
of the legislature information with respect to:
* the budget, appropriation bills and bills with fiscal implications;
*estimated revenues and receipts, and changing revenue conditions;
*the effectiveness of state agencies and programs; and
*to extent practical, other analyses requested by such officials or the
general public.
Specific responsibilities of the NYSIBO will include:
*completing a fiscal impact statement for any bill placed on the Assem-
bly Ways and Means Committee's agenda or the Senate Finance Committee's
agenda, to the extent possible;
*completing a fiscal impact statement on any bill at the request of the
Speaker or Minority Leader of Assembly or the Majority or Minority Lead-
er of the Senate;
*completing a fiscal impact statement at the request of committee chairs
or ranking members for any bill referred to their respective committee;
*analyzing the Executive Budget by March 1st for the upcoming fiscal
year and reporting their findings to the Assembly Ways and Means Commit-
tee and Senate Finance Committee;
*completing a fiscal impact statement at the request of committee chairs
or ranking members for any bill referred to their respective committee;
*publishing a quarterly report that estimates revenue projections; and
*publishing a report by December 1St of each year projecting a five year
fiscal outlook.
The office shall, to the extent practicable, develop proposals for cost
effective alternatives to meet the public responsibilities of the State.
The office shall publish reports to enhance understanding of budget
documents, revenues, expenditures, state management practices and
related matters. All analysis and reports shall be made available for
the public and shall be available electronically.
The director of the NYSIBO shall be appointed by the Speaker of the
Assembly and Majority Leader of the Senate, based on the recommendations
of the New York State Independent Budget Office Advisory Committee
(NYSIBOAC). The NYSIBOAC shall consist of one person appointed by each
of the following:
*the chair and ranking member of the Assembly Ways and Means Committee;
*the chair and ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee;
*six additional members jointly appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly
and the Majority Leader of the Senate, which must consist of at least
one of each of the following:
1. one expert in budget theory and the budget process;
2. one dean or director (or format) of a graduate school of business
administration, public affairs or public administration located in New
York State;
3. one officer or former officer or economic advisor to a labor union;
4. one officer or former officer or economic advisor to a business
corporation; and
5. one officer or former officer of a civic or public interest advocacy
organization involved in budget matters. The NYSIBOAC shall develop
guidelines for the best practices of the office and shall meet annually
with the director to review the guidelines.
The members of the NYSIBOAC shall receive no compensation but shall be
reimbursed for reasonable expenses incurred in connection with their
duties. The director shall be appointed without regard to political
affiliation for a six year term. The director's salary shall be deter-
mined by the NYSIBOAC.
Section 2. Establishes the effective date.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND AMENDED VERSION (IF APPLICABLE):
Not applicable at this time.
JUSTIFICATION:
Modeled after the highly successful Congressional Budget Office and the
New York City Independent Budget Office, this legislation establishes a
non-partisan office to provide legislators with the objective informa-
tion they need to make decisions regarding the budget. Accurate, up-to-
date information is a key ingredient for prudent, timely budgetary and
mature policy decisions. This newly created office will provide such
information to all State lawmakers. Each year the NYSIBO will provide
the Senate Finance Committee members and the Assembly Ways and Means
Committee members with an Executive Budget analyses by March 1st. This
provides ample time to review the analyses before the budget deadline of
April 1st.
New York City's Independent Budget has recently published reports on
issues including Budget Options for the City, Financing Plans for Stadi-
ums, Debt Affordability Measures for the City and the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority's Budget in Staten Island. As in New York City,
the NYSIBO will provide legislators and the public with financial infor-
mation covering varying issues.
All legislators, regardless of political affiliation, will be able to
utilize the services of the NYSIBO. As this will be a non-partisan
office, Senate and Assembly Members will have access to the same data,
analyses and information thereby helping to eliminate the annual
conflicts that emerge over the disparities in both revenue and expendi-
ture projections. This will result in an on-time budget 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 non-partisan
budget offices to assist their legislatures.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A. 2830 and S. 4468 of 2015/2016
A. 5925 and S. 3137 of 2009/2010
A. 2007-A and S. 4005-B of 2013/2014
A. 7645 and S. 4618 of 2007/2008
A. 7184 of 2011/2012
A. 11196 and S. 7872 of 2006/2005
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
The New York State Independent Budget Office shall be funded by 10% of
the appropriations available for the Division of Budget.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
