A01835 Summary:

BILL NOA01835
 
SAME ASSAME AS S03287
 
SPONSOROrtiz
 
COSPNSRWoerner, Ra, Epstein
 
MLTSPNSR
 
Add Art 4-B §§76 & 77, amd §30, Leg L
 
Creates the non-partisan legislative budget office; directs such office shall provide information to legislative committees of the senate and assembly with respect to the state budget, appropriation bills and other bills providing budget authority or tax expenditures; requires such office to report to the temporary president of the senate, the senate minority leader, the speaker of the assembly and the assembly minority leader.
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A01835 Actions:

BILL NOA01835
 
01/17/2019referred to governmental operations
01/08/2020referred to governmental operations
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A01835 Committee Votes:

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A01835 Floor Votes:

There are no votes for this bill in this legislative session.
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A01835 Memo:

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A1835
 
SPONSOR: Ortiz
  TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the legislative law, in relation to creation of the non-partisan legislative budget office   PURPOSE: Creates a nonpartisan budget office to provide budget related informa- tion to the committees of the senate and assembly.   SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: Section 1 creates a new Article 4-B of the Legislative Law and amends Section 30 of the Legislative Law. Section 76. Non-partisan Legislative Budget Office. 1. Definitions. 2. Appointment of the Director of the Legislative Budget Office. The Director shall be appointed to a seven-year term by a joint resolution requiring a super-majority vote of both the senate and assembly. 3. Appointment of a Deputy Director, who can temporarily succeed the Director when the Director resigns or is removed before his or her term expires. 4. Director prohibitions and compensation. 5. Removal of the Director through a two-thirds vote from the members elected to either branch of the legislature. Section 77. Powers and duties of the office; report. 1. Types of fiscal analytical information the Director shall provide to the Legislature. 2. Assistance the Legislative Budget Office shall provide to committees of the Senate and Assembly. 3. Hiring authority of the Director. 4. Legislative Budget Office report on the Executive Budget. 5. Funding sources the Legislative Budget Office and spending authority of its Director. Section 2. amends Section 30 of the Legislative Law. Legislative budget office access to all state entities Authority of the Legislative Budget Office to gain access to all state entities for the purpose of obtaining information on state operations and financial conditions.   JUSTIFICATION: A nonpartisan legislative budget office (LBO) should be created in order to provide objective analysis of the state's budget and fiscal situ- ation. Modeled on the Congressional Budget Office (CEO), the mission of the LBO will be to provide budget, economic and policy analysis for the residents of the state and its elected officials. Their role at the LBO will be to increase the legislature's understanding of the budget and how it affects New Yorkers. Currently, the majority and minority parties of each house of the Legis- lature as well as the governor have a fiscal and budget staff to provide them insight into the financial matters of the state. These partisan offices provide information solely to their respective membership. This costly and duplicative process entrenches the parties and reinforces their positions. Rather than using unbiased figures, each house uses its numbers to the advantage of their priorities and at the expense of their adversaries. The result has been a protracted budget debate where positions are staked and compromise is limited. A single nonpartisan budget office will ameliorate the situation and provide all the members with raw data which they can utilize in shaping a policy debate among their colleagues. The effectiveness of the LBO rests squarely on its ability to serve all members of the Legislature, regardless of the house in which they serve or the side of the isle on which they sit. To achieve this end, under this legislation, majority and minority members would be granted equal access to the services of the LBO and reports it prepares. At the committee level, the LBO would have to respond to requests for informa- tion from the chairs and ranking members of Senate and Assembly commit- tees. At the member level, the LBO would have to provide assistance in preparing fiscal notes for bills at the request of any legislator based on a priority processing system developed by the director in consolation with the chairs and ranking members of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Assembly Ways and Means Committee. Further, to help build trust between the LBO and the Senate and Assem- bly, the new office's Director would be selected regardless of his or her political affiliation by the majority leaders of the Senate and Assembly, in consultation with the minority leaders of the Senate and Assembly. The Director shall then be appointed by a joint resolution requiring a super majority vote of both the Senate and Assembly.   LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: 2015/16: A.5717 - Referred to Governmental Operations 2017/18: A.10579 - Referred to Governmental Operations   FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: Revenue neutral. The legislative budget office shall be funded from the Legislative Budget, with equal allocations provided by the Senate and the Assembly as they deem appropriate.   EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect immediately.
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A01835 Text:



 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          1835
 
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                    January 17, 2019
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by M. of A. ORTIZ -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Governmental Operations
 
        AN ACT to amend the legislative law, in  relation  to  creation  of  the
          non-partisan legislative budget office
 
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. The legislative law is amended by adding a new article  4-B
     2  to read as follows:
     3                                 ARTICLE 4-B
     4                   NON-PARTISAN LEGISLATIVE BUDGET OFFICE
     5  Section 76. Non-partisan legislative budget office.
     6          77. Powers and duties of the office; report.
     7    §  76. Non-partisan legislative budget office. 1. For purposes of this
     8  article:
     9    a. "Office" means the non-partisan legislative  budget  office  estab-
    10  lished in this article; and
    11    b. "Director" means the director of the non-partisan legislative budg-
    12  et office.
    13    c.  "Super-majority  vote"  means  a  vote requiring two-thirds of the
    14  members elected to each branch of the legislature.
    15    2. There is hereby created a non-partisan legislative  budget  office.
    16  The  head of such office shall be the director who shall be appointed by
    17  a joint resolution requiring a super-majority vote of both of the senate
    18  and assembly for a term of seven years.  The temporary president of  the
    19  senate  and  speaker  of  the  assembly, in consultation with the senate
    20  minority leader and assembly minority leader shall reach a consensus  on
    21  a  candidate  for the director position on which the senate and assembly
    22  shall vote. The director of  the  legislative  budget  office  shall  be
    23  appointed  without  regard  to  political  affiliation and solely on the
    24  basis of fitness to perform the duties assigned by this article.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD05847-01-9

        A. 1835                             2
 
     1    3. A deputy director shall be appointed by the director. Any  individ-
     2  ual appointed as director to fill a vacancy prior to the expiration of a
     3  term  shall serve only for the unexpired portion of that term. Any indi-
     4  vidual serving as director at the expiration of the term may continue to
     5  serve  until  his  or  her successor is appointed.   Any deputy director
     6  shall serve until the expiration of the term of office of  the  director
     7  who  appointed  him or her, and until his or her successor is appointed,
     8  unless sooner removed by the director.
     9    4.  The director shall hold no other public office  while  serving  as
    10  the  director.  The  director  shall receive such compensation as may be
    11  fixed by the legislature.
    12    5. The director may be removed by either the assembly or the senate by
    13  resolution requiring a two-thirds vote of the members elected to  either
    14  branch of the legislature.
    15    § 77. Powers and duties of the office; report. 1. a. The office shall:
    16    (i)  provide  information  to the legislative committees of the senate
    17  and assembly  with  respect  to  the  state  budget,  appropriation  and
    18  programmatic  bills  and  other  bills providing budget authority or tax
    19  expenditures;
    20    (ii) examine and review all financial and programmatic information  of
    21  the  state for the purpose of rendering revenue estimates used in deter-
    22  mining whether any proposed state budget is balanced;
    23    (iii) be charged with the duty of rendering anticipated revenue  fore-
    24  cast  reports  to  the  legislature and the governor for the purposes of
    25  facilitating passage of the state budget in a timely manner; and
    26    (iv) provide assistance in determining the fiscal impact  of  proposed
    27  legislation at the request of a member of the senate and assembly.
    28    b.  The  director  shall  develop, in consultation with the chairs and
    29  ranking members of the senate standing  committee  on  finance  and  the
    30  assembly  ways  and  means  committee,  a priority system for processing
    31  requests from legislators for fiscal impact statements for their  legis-
    32  lation.
    33    c.  The  director shall provide all members of the senate and assembly
    34  with a description of the priority system for processing  requests  from
    35  legislators for fiscal impact statements for their legislation.
    36    2.  At  the  request  of  any committee chair or ranking member of the
    37  senate or assembly, to the extent practicable,  the  legislative  budget
    38  office shall provide to such committee any information which will assist
    39  in the discharge of matters within the jurisdiction of such committee.
    40    3. The director may appoint budget analysts, assistants and such other
    41  employees  as  he or she may deem necessary or desirable, prescribe such
    42  employee's duties  and  fix  such  employee's  compensation  within  the
    43  amounts appropriated and made available therefor.
    44    4.  a.  The office shall submit a report to the temporary president of
    45  the senate, senate minority leader, the  speaker  of  the  assembly  and
    46  assembly minority leader, which shall include:
    47    (i)  written  estimates  of  anticipated  state revenues for budgetary
    48  purposes;
    49    (ii) projected economic factors and forecasts;
    50    (iii) summarization of the budget proposed by the governor pursuant to
    51  article seven of the constitution; and
    52    (iv) revenue sources that could be used  as  alternatives  to  revenue
    53  sources outlined in the executive budget.
    54    b.  Such report shall be submitted on the first of March each year for
    55  the next succeeding fiscal year. After submission to the temporary pres-
    56  ident of the senate, senate minority leader, the speaker of the assembly

        A. 1835                             3
 
     1  and assembly minority leader, such report shall be made available to the
     2  public, upon request.
     3    5.  a.  The legislative budget office shall be funded from legislative
     4  appropriations provided annually, with equal allocations provided by the
     5  senate and the assembly as each house deems appropriate.
     6    b. The director may procure, within the amounts appropriated and  made
     7  available  therefor,  up-to-date computer equipment, obtain the services
     8  of experts and consultants in computer technology.
     9    § 2. Section 30 of the legislative law, as amended by chapter  766  of
    10  the laws of 2005, is amended to read as follows:
    11    § 30. Duties  of finance and ways and means committees and secretaries
    12  and of the legislative budget office and its director.   The  committees
    13  and  their  secretaries  and  of  the  legislative budget office and its
    14  director shall have access at all reasonable times to offices  of  state
    15  departments,  commissions,  boards, bureaus and offices, to institutions
    16  and to all state authorities and public works of the state and they may,
    17  for the purpose of obtaining information as to the method of  operation,
    18  general  condition,  management  and  needs  thereof, examine the books,
    19  papers and public records therein.  Notwithstanding any other  provision
    20  of  law  such  state departments, commissions, boards, bureaus, offices,
    21  state authorities and institutions shall through their  proper  officers
    22  or deputies furnish to such committees and the legislative budget office
    23  such  data, information or statements as may be necessary for the proper
    24  exercise of their powers and duties and for the purpose of carrying into
    25  effect the provisions of this article. The finance and  ways  and  means
    26  committee  in exercising the powers and performing the duties prescribed
    27  by this article may act jointly, or separately, as they deem advisable.
    28    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
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A01835 LFIN:

 NO LFIN
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A01835 Chamber Video/Transcript:

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