The state budget in New York is delayed for the fourth consecutive year. Senator Jim Tedisco, alongside members of the Senate Minority Conference, has expressed concerns over the delay and lack of transparency under Governor Kathy Hochul and the Senate and Assembly Majorities. Tedisco and his colleagues insist on government transparency, urging that final legislation be subject to public review before debate and voting.
Tedisco is advocating for the “NYS Budget Transparency Act” (S.233), a constitutional amendment aimed at preventing the abuse of “messages of necessity.” This amendment seeks to halt legislative processes between midnight and 8 a.m. and to restrict the use of messages of necessity to genuine emergencies. A two-thirds majority vote will be required to accept any message of necessity.
Governors have historically used messages of necessity to circumvent the constitutional rule requiring a three-day review period for new legislation. This practice allows pushing controversial policy proposals by including them in budget bills passed at night, thus avoiding public scrutiny. According to Tedisco, this technique has garnered long-standing criticism.
“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 afford to live and work in New York State,” stated Senator Jim Tedisco. He criticized the leadership for the delayed budget, suggesting that the control they have should solve this recurrent issue.
Tedisco further stated, “A message of necessity should not be a message of political convenience. If the Governor and Majority Leaders 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’s going on at the Capitol.”
He continued, questioning why budget proceedings that significantly increase from previous years occur secretly, “If the Governor and Leaders think passing a state budget that’s projected to be billions of dollars above last year’s in darkness is so good for New York taxpayers, then why don’t my colleagues hold their press conferences at 3 a.m. instead of the light of day?” Tedisco echoes journalist Bob Woodward, “Democracy dies in darkness,” alluding that if the budget is beneficial, it should be transparent and debated during the day.
