Senate Finance Committee Chair Liz Krueger and Assembly Ways and Means Committee Chair Helene E. Weinstein today announced the Joint Legislative Hearing Schedule on the 2020-2021 Executive Budget Proposal.

These hearings, each of which focuses on a programmatic area, are intended to provide the appropriate legislative committees with public input on the Executive Budget Proposal.

The hearings will be available for viewing on the Senate and Assembly websites. The Legislative Channel (on cable systems throughout the state) also will carry the proceedings.

In accordance with the schedule, the hearings will commence on Monday, January 27, and conclude on Thursday, February 13, 2020. The respective state agency or department heads will begin testimony each day, followed by witnesses who have requested to testify on that area of the budget.

Requests to testify must be made by submitting a Hearing Request Form to either financechair@nysenate.gov or to wamchair@nyassembly.gov, no later than the close of business, 48 hours prior to the respective hearing. The Hearing Request Form can be found on both the Senate and Assembly websites at www.nysenate.gov and www.nyassembly.gov, respectively.

Witnesses scheduled by the committees to testify in person are required to send a copy of their prepared testimony via email at least 48 hours in advance of the hearing to both financechair@nysenate.gov and to wamchair@nyassembly.gov, and must provide 50 hard copies of their testimony on the day of the hearing. Witnesses must indicate in the subject field of the email which hearing their testimony relates to. Witnesses may not be permitted to testify in person if the above time frames are not adhered to. Witnesses are also encouraged to summarize their key points in their oral testimony and submit the rest of their testimony in writing only. Witnesses must limit comments to no more than five minutes.

Due to time constraints related to provisions of the New York State Constitution concerning the approval of the state budget by April 1st, only a limited number of witnesses can be accommodated at any given hearing. However, any party may still provide written testimony to the committees at the above email addresses, at any time up until seven days after the date of the hearing.

The agency and the departmental portion of the hearings are provided for in Article 7, Section 3 of the Constitution and Article 2, Section 31 of the Legislative Law. The state Legislature is also soliciting public comment on the proposed budget pursuant to Article 2, Section 32-a of the Legislative Law.

-30-