Albany Republicans demand time to review budget before vote; spending agreement delayed again over policy
Apr. 27—ALBANY — As another week ends without a state budget, Republicans are calling for Democratic leadership not to fast-track the final agreement once it's struck.
One of the north country's state senators, Mark C. Walczyk, R-Watertown, has even introduced a bill to amend the state constitution that would bar anyone from fast-tracking the annual budget.
"The constitution requires three days of age, three days of daylight, three days of public feedback, three days for the media to look at these things and the members that are going to vote on these giant budget bills," he said at a news conference with Republicans in the Senate and Assembly on Wednesday.
Arguing that leadership hasn't prioritized passing the budget when it's due by law on April 1 this year, Albany Republicans asked that the final budget bill be made public for three days, so it can be read and reviewed by lawmakers and the public, before voting on it.
Generally, bills introduced in the legislature must be given three days to mature, although that can be kept to as short as 48 hours by introducing a bill late in the evening. In situations where legislation is required to pass faster than that time allows, the governor can submit a "message of necessity" that the bill be considered immediately, subject to acceptance by the Assembly speaker and Senate majority leader.
Sen. Thomas F. O'Mara, R-Big Flats, said the budget, which has been negotiated largely behind closed doors since the Assembly and Senate put out their individual drafts weeks ago, needs to get a full review by the lawmakers expected to vote on it, especially as it includes so much policy unrelated to spending this year.
"There's still a lot of policy issues being discussed in this budget by the leaders behind closed doors, with no information coming to any of us," he said.
The legislature has been passing extender bills for the past month, each one covering a few days to a week of state spending largely matching last year's budget. Sen. O'Mara argued that government has been operating normally, and only the legislators are going without their paychecks in the interim.
That's not entirely accurate, as local governments that anticipate funding from the state budget for their own annual budgets have gone without guidance for months now. School district budgets are due in June, with planning beginning now. The city of New York's budget is also due in June, and officials there have expressed concerns that their initial budget drafts cannot account for a number of proposed and still-unclear provisions in the state budget.
Town and county highway departments, which receive state funding for infrastructure work every year as the construction season begins in spring, have been left without enough funding to complete the work they have scheduled.
The prospects of a budget agreement coming forward this week dimmed Thursday, as no session of the Assembly or Senate was called and lawmakers began to leave the Capitol for the weekend. That's despite statements to the contrary made as recently as Tuesday, when Gov. Kathleen C. Hochul called a news conference and told reporters she thought a budget agreement could come before the end of the workweek.
Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli informed legislators on Wednesday that they had until Tuesday of next week to pass another budget extender without impacting state operations, even though the current extender only covered spending to Friday.
