A07997 Summary:

BILL NOA07997
 
SAME ASNo Same As
 
SPONSORGoodell
 
COSPNSRLopez, Duprey
 
MLTSPNSRJohns
 
Amd Part E SS2 & 3, rpld Part E S4, Chap 60 of 2015
 
Relates to providing periodic salary adjustments to state officers.
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A07997 Actions:

BILL NOA07997
 
06/03/2015referred to governmental operations
01/06/2016referred to governmental operations
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A07997 Committee Votes:

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A07997 Floor Votes:

There are no votes for this bill in this legislative session.
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A07997 Memo:

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A7997
 
SPONSOR: Goodell (MS)
  TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend chapter 60 of the laws of 2015, relat- ing to providing periodic salary increases to state officers, in relation to salary adjustments; and to repeal section 4 of part E of such chapter relating thereto   PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF THE BILL: The purpose of this legislation is eliminate the provisions in the 2015 budget that stated that the salary determinations of the special commis- sion on compensation could become effective automatically "with the force of law," and could "supersede" any inconsistent provisions of the Judiciary Law, Executive Law, and Legislative Law, without any further legislative action.   SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS: Section 1 of the bill replaces all references to a salary "increase" with neutral references to a salary "adjustment." Section 2 of the bill requires the salary review commission to make all of its salary recommendations by December 31, 2015, rather than delay the salary recommendations for members of the legislature until November 15, 2016, after the next election. In addition, section 2 of the bill eliminates the provisions that require the recommendations of the salary review commission to become effective with the force of law automat- ically without any further action by the legislature. Section 3 of the bill repeals the provisions relating to the effective date of any automatic salary increase. Section 4 would make the bill effective immediately.   JUSTIFICATION: On March 31, 2015, a 137 page budget bill (S4610-A/A6721- A)was intro- duced, and was adopted by the Senate late that evening. The Senate bill was adopted by the Assembly after 2:30am on April 1, 2015. This budget bill included, inter alia, legislation to establish a special commission on compensation (hereinafter "Commission") consisting of seven members, with three appointed by the Governor, one appointed by the Temporary President of the Senate, one appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly, and two appointed by the Chief Judge of the State of New York. There were no appointments from the Senate minority or the Assem- bly minority. This budget bill required the Commission to make its recommendations for judicial compensation not later than December 31, 2015, and for legisla- tive and executive compensation not later than November 15, 2016. The budget bill further stated that such determinations shall have "the force of law" and shall "supercede" inconsistent provisions of the Judi- ciary Law, Executive Law, and the Legislative Law, unless modified or abrogated by statute. This budget bill would enable legislators to receive substantial salary increases after the next election without incurring any political back- lash for voting for those increases. The budget bill was clear that the salary recommendations for legisla- tors would not be announced until after the next election, too late to encourage potential candidates to run in the election against the incum- bents and too late to require incumbents to justify such a salary increase during the election. By making the salary increases automatic, the legislators would not need to vote on such increases at all, thereby enabling the legislators to avoid the political liability that would result from voting for large and unpopular salary increases for themselves. Indeed, since the Legis- lature would normally not be in session immediately after an election, there would not even be an opportunity for individual legislators to vote on such salary increase unless both houses of the legislature were called back into special session for this specific purpose. This would enable all the legislators to speak out against the salary recommenda- tions, while knowing that they would not actually need to vote against such increases. In addition to being a devious and underhanded means of obtaining a salary increase without accepting any responsibility therefor, this budget bill language violates several fundamental provisions of the New York State Constitution, including the following: a.Article III, Section 6 of the New York State Constitution states that each member of the legislature shall receive an annual salary "to be fixed by law." The Constitution does not state that members of the legislature shall receive a salary "to be fixed by a commission." b.Article III, Section 1 of the New York State Constitution states that the legislative power "shall be vested in the Senate and Assembly." A non-elected commission cannot be delegated legislative power to enact recommendations "with the force of law" that can "supercede" inconsist- ent provisions of law. c.Article III, Section 6 of the New York State Constitution states that legislators shall continue to receive their current salary "until changed by law." A non-elected commission cannot "change the law" since only the State Legislature has the power to change the law. d.Article III, Section 13 of the New York State Constitution states that "no law shall be enacted except by a bill," yet the salary commission was given the power to enact salary recommendations "with the force of law" without any legislative bill approving of such salaries being considered by the legislature. e.Article III, Section 14 of the New York State Constitution states that no bill shall be passed "or become law" except by the vote of a majority of the members elected to each branch of the legislature. The budget bill, however, stated that the recommendations of the salary commission would "have the force of law" without any vote whatsoever by the legis- lators. Such a provision deprives the members of the legislature of their Constitutional right to vote on every bill prior to its enactment into law. f.Article IV, Section 7 of the New York State Constitution gives the Governor the authority to veto any bill, but there is no corresponding ability of the Governor to veto any recommendations of the salary commission before such recommendations would become effective. g. Arti- cle VII, Section 6 of the New York State Constitution states in relevant part that "(n)o provision shall be embraced in any appropriation bill unless it relates specifically to some particular appropriation in the bill," yet there was no appropriation in the budget bill relating to the salary commission. Thus, this legislation was improperly submitted and considered by the legislature as an unconstitutional rider to a budget bill. The within bill would repeal the unconstitutional provisions that enable the salary recommendations to become effective automatically "with the force of law" that would "supercede" inconsistent statutory provisions. In addition, this bill would require the salary recommendations for legislators to be made on or before December 31, 2015, thereby providing adequate time for any salary adjustments to be enacted by the State Legislature, funding to be provided in the next State budget, and notice given to all potential candidates of the salary the will apply following the next election.   PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: New bill.   FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None to the State.   EFFECTIVE DATE: The bill would become effective immediately.
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A07997 Text:



 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          7997
 
                               2015-2016 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                      June 3, 2015
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by  M. of A. GOODELL, LOPEZ, DUPREY -- Multi-Sponsored by --
          M. of A. JOHNS -- read once and referred to the Committee  on  Govern-
          mental Operations
 
        AN  ACT  to  amend chapter 60 of the laws of 2015, relating to providing
          periodic salary increases to state officers,  in  relation  to  salary
          adjustments;  and to repeal section 4 of part E of such chapter relat-
          ing thereto
 
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section  1.  Paragraph  (b) of subdivision 2 of section 2 of part E of
     2  chapter 60 of the laws of 2015, relating to providing periodic increases
     3  to state officers, is amended to read as follows:
     4    (b) The commission shall determine whether: (1) for any  of  the  four
     5  years commencing on the first of April of such years, following the year
     6  in  which  the  commission  is  established, the annual salaries for the
     7  judges and justices of the state-paid courts of the unified court system
     8  and housing judges of the civil court of the city of  New  York  warrant
     9  [an increase] adjustment; and
    10    (2)  on  the  first  of January after the November general election at
    11  which members of the state legislature are elected following the year in
    12  which the commission is established, and on the first of January follow-
    13  ing the next such election, the like annual salaries and  allowances  of
    14  members  of the legislature, and salaries of statewide elected officials
    15  and state officers referred to in  section  169  of  the  executive  law
    16  warrant [an increase] adjustment.
    17    § 2. Subdivision 7 of section 3 of part E of chapter 60 of the laws of
    18  2015, relating to providing periodic salary increases to state officers,
    19  is amended to read as follows:
    20    7. The commission shall make a report to the governor, the legislature
    21  and  the chief judge of the state of its findings, conclusions, determi-
    22  nations and recommendations, if any, not later than the thirty-first  of
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD11407-01-5

        A. 7997                             2
 
     1  December  of  the year in which the commission is established [for judi-
     2  cial compensation and the fifteenth of November the following  year  for
     3  legislative  and  executive  compensation].   Any findings, conclusions,
     4  determinations  and  recommendations  in the report must be adopted by a
     5  majority vote of the  commission  and  findings,  conclusions,  determi-
     6  nations  and  recommendations  with respect to executive and legislative
     7  compensation shall also be supported by at least one member appointed by
     8  each appointing authority.   [Each recommendation made  to  implement  a
     9  determination  pursuant  to section two of this act shall have the force
    10  of law, and shall supersede, where appropriate, inconsistent  provisions
    11  of  article  7-B of the judiciary law, section 169 of the executive law,
    12  and sections 5 and 5-a of the legislative law, unless modified or  abro-
    13  gated  by  statute  prior  to  April  first of the year as to which such
    14  determination applies to judicial compensation and January first of  the
    15  year as to which such determination applies to legislative and executive
    16  compensation.]
    17    § 3. Section 4 of part E of chapter 60 of the laws of 2015 relating to
    18  providing periodic salary increases to state officers is REPEALED.
    19    § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
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