Albany, N.Y., April 1—State Senator Tom O’Mara, Ranking Member on the Senate Finance Committee, today joined Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt, Senator Jim Tedisco, and others members of the Senate Republican Conference to highlight the failure of Governor Kathy Hochul and the Legislature’s Democrat majorities to adopt an on-time state budget for the fourth consecutive year and to call for greater transparency in the state’s annual budget adoption process.
O'Mara said, “The inability of Governor Hochul and New York’s Democrat legislative leaders to adopt an on-time state budget is yet another signal of dysfunction within this state government under one-party, all-Democrat control. At a time of widespread economic uncertainty and with so many taxpayers, families, small businesses, and others struggling under heavy burdens of unaffordable taxes, mandates, and overregulation, Albany Democrats respond with inaction. New Yorkers are worried about rampant crime. New Yorkers are worried about making ends meet. They’re worried about the future of their jobs and opportunities for their families. In response, Albany Democrats respond by bringing New York government to a standstill. It’s yet another signal of a state in decline and spiraling out of control.”
GOP Minority Leader Ortt said, “Here we are, April 1st, and there is seemingly no movement toward a final state budget because Democrats can’t agree on how much to increase spending and taxes or come to an agreement on basic public safety concerns. This is truly the height of government dysfunction – Democrats continue to think they can spend their way to affordability and at the same time, completely disregard public safety. We can’t predict when we will finally see a budget deal, but we can tell you with certainty that it will be completely unsustainable and out of touch with the needs of New Yorkers.”
Tedisco called for the passage of legislation he sponsors, the Budget Transparency Act (S233), a constitutional amendment to prohibit legislative proceedings between midnight and 8 am and limit the use of “messages of necessity” except in the case of emergencies, such as security threats or natural disasters. Supporters of the legislation charge that the governor and legislative leaders broadly and unnecessarily utilize messages of necessity in order to bypass the constitutionally required three-day aging process intended to give legislators and the public ample time to review legislation.
Tedisco said, “We are on the verge of trying to complete, arguably, the most important set of legislation we are tasked with doing on a timely basis by April 1st to incentivize people to be able to live and work in New York State. Nobody in our districts think they can go to work, sit there, and not do the most important job they’re charged with doing, and expect not to get fired. Today is April Fool’s Day, but it’s more like the movie ‘Groundhog Day’ with the fourth late budget under this Governor and Majorities. When pointing fingers at why the state budget is late, they only have themselves to blame as they control all levers of power in Albany. If the Governor and Majorities won’t police themselves when it comes to transparency, then we need the New York State Budget Transparency Act to keep them contained and stop the abuses of messages of necessity, so the public is not in the dark about what is going on at the Capitol.”
Since Hochul took office, the state budget has been late for four years in a row and the budget process has become less transparent than ever, GOP lawmakers said.
