Senate Bill S85

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S85

SPONSOR: KRUEGER
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the legislative law, in relation to requiring the inclu-
sion of certain information in fiscal notes in retirement bills and on
bills affecting political subdivisions

 
PURPOSE:

Creates a statutory requirement for legislators to include fiscal notes
in bills which would impact the expenses and revenues of political
subdivisions by at least $250,000.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1. Section 50 of the Legislative Law is amended.

§ 50. Fiscal note in retirement bills. Adds a requirement for fiscal
notes to identify any individual or entity that provided compensation to
the source of such fiscal note's estimates, § 2, Section 51 of the
              

Legislative Law is amended.

§ 51. Fiscal impact notes on bills affecting political subdivisions.

1. Expands the definition of political subdivision to include hamlets,
colleges, universities and any state agency, department, office, bureau,
commission and public authority.

2. Repeals the requirement for the Senate and Assembly to jointly adopt
rules regarding legislative fiscal notes. Alternatively, requires stand-
ing legislative committees to prepare fiscal notes for bills, which
would impact the revenues and expenses of political subdivisions by at
least $250,000, prior to discharging such bill.

3. Details how the fiscal impacts of a bill can be described in a fiscal
note (e.g. by individual political subdivisions or aggregates of poli-
tical subdivisions).

4. Describes permitted fiscal note measurement units.

5. Authorizes bill sponsors and the chairs and ranking members of stand-
ing legislative committees to receive the support of relevant Executive
entities in preparing fiscal notes.

 
EXISTING LAW:

Legislative Law § 50: Requires fiscal notes to accompany legislation
that enacts or amends any provision relating to the New York State
Retirement system.

Legislative Law § 51: Requires the Senate and Assembly to jointly adopt
rules requiring fiscal notes to accompany bills that would substantially
affect the revenues or expenses, or both, of any political subdivision.

 
JUSTIFICATION:


Whether it is in a supermarket or on a stock market trading floor, price
awareness plays a crucial role in influencing fiscally sound money
management decisions. Contrarily, in the New York State Legislature,
price ignorance often drives many of the decisions legislators make
regarding State revenues and expenditures. The Senate and Assembly have
adopted rules requiring legislators to include fiscal impact statements
with their bills that would financially impact political subdivisions.
Nevertheless, many such pieces of either lack these notes or feature
notes with inadequate information. As a result, lawmakers have approved
sizeable increases in spending without knowing how they would impact
local governments and schools or to what degree they would result in
higher taxes imposed by the affected political subdivisions.

Clearly, the requirements for fiscal notes needs to be strengthened to
ensure legislators can attain an adequate level of price awareness when
they vote on bills. This legislation would prohibit a bill, which would
impact a political subdivision's revenues or expenses by at least
$250,000, from going to the floor of the Senate or Assembly for a vote
without a fiscal note included in the text of the bill.  The chairs and
ranking members of all standing legislative committees could not
discharge such a bill if it lacked a fiscal note.

Under this legislation, a bill's sponsor or the chair and ranking member
of any standing legislative committee can receive the assistance of any
relevant Executive department, agency or public authority in preparing a
fiscal note. Officers at these Executive entities would be required to
process these requests for fiscal note assistance on a first-come,
first-serve basis, except priority must be given to requests originating
from the chairs and ranking members of the Senate Finance Committee and
Assembly Ways and Means Committee. This legislation would also put into
statute several fiscal note related provisions under Rule VII Section 7
of the Rules of the Senate and Joint Rule I Sections 1 and 2 of the
Permanent Joint Rules of the Senate and Assembly.

According to a 1999 report by the North Carolina General Assembly's
Fiscal Research Division on the fiscal note practices at 40 state legis-
lative fiscal offices, 14 of the 38 respondent states required fiscal
notes to accompany a bill in the bill jacket upon its introduction in a
chamber. At least 27 states had a centralized process for preparing and
processing fiscal notes, with 19 of them operating on a first-come,
first-serve basis for processing fiscal note requests.  Fifteen states
had a formal, structured prioritization process for fiscal note
requests.

In 2008, the New York State Commission on Property Tax Relief issued a
report recommending stronger fiscal note requirements. By creating stat-
utory fiscal note requirements, this legislation would carry out the
commission's recommendation.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2023-2024: S.109 Investigations and Gov Ops

2021-2022: S.822 Investigations and Gov Ops

2019-2020: S.4582 Investigations and Gov Ops

2017-2018: S.4582 Investigations and Gov Ops
2015-1016: S.2674 Investigations and Gov Ops

2013-2014: S.3343 Investigations and Gov Ops

2011-2012: S.2610 - Investigations and Gov Ops

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

Negligible. Less than $250,000. A framework already exists between the
Legislature and Executive for preparing fiscal notes. To accommodate the
increased volume of fiscal note preparation requests in which this
legislation would result, minor staffing adjustments might be necessary
in the Legislative or Executive branches.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect after ninety days of enactment.