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.
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.
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.