(The Center Square) — A coalition of good government groups is calling on New York lawmakers to reject Gov. Kathy Hochul’s “risky” budget proposals that would expand her control of state spending.
In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and House Speaker Carl Heastie, the coalition urged legislative budget writers to reject several provisions in the budget, which they said would give the governor’s office too much authority over spending taxpayer dollars.
“These proposed extraordinary powers are unnecessary and create significant fiscal risk,” they wrote. “We supported your prior actions to eliminate or restrain these powers and urge you to continue to do so this year.”
Specifically, the groups called on lawmakers to reject the governor’s permanent authority to issue up to $4 billion in short-term revenue anticipation notes, a $1 billion transfer from the General Fund to the “Health Care Transformation Account” as part of the state budget proposal.
The coalition also signed out Hochul’s proposal to create a “state operations interchange authority,” which would give the executive branch unilateral authority to “re-program” spending authorizations without legislative input.
“This authority has been proposed by the executive and rejected by the Legislature in each of the past four budgets,” they wrote. “We ask the Legislature to reject it again.”
The coalition noted that the spending policies date back to the pandemic and gave the governor “the needed authority and flexibility to manage a historic public health emergency and dire fiscal situation.”
“Nearly four years later, the situation is vastly different. These controls are no longer necessary,” the coalition said. “Enacting them would give the Governor unchecked authority to transfer, spend, or issue debt backed by public dollars.”
The coalition, including the Citizens Budget Commission, Common Cause New York, the Empire Center for Public Policy and the New York Public Interest Research Group, also called on legislative leaders to reject a proposal limiting the state Comptroller’s ability to review bond transactions.
Hochul filed her preliminary $252 billion budget in January, which included more money for education, health care and criminal justice in addition to expanding the authority of her office over financial matters.
Legislative budget writers are expected to release their version of the spending plan. The deadline for adopting a state budget is April 1.
