By Mark Scott
Buffalo, NY – One of the most controversial ballot propositions in many years goes before voters Tuesday. Proposition One is an amendment to the state constitution that will change the state's budget process.
State government in New York has been described as the most dysfunctional in the nation. Until this year, the state Legislature had failed to approve an on-time budget since 1984. So, in response, lawmakers approved a budget reform package that delays the start of the state's fiscal year by a month to May 1st and calls for a contingency budget to automatically take effect if the deadline is missed. Now, voters will have their say. Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group says it's a clear improvement over the status quo.
"It makes the budget process more open, through things like a requirement that all health care spending being included in the budget, for example," Horner said. "It creates a more accountable budget process through the creation of an independent budget office. It allows for certainty that under no circumstances will the state ever be without a budget."
Proposition One would appropriate school aid in two year intervals, rather than one, providing more predictability for local districts.
But opposition to Proposition One has been intense. Governor Pataki criss-crossed the state last week to speak out against it. He claims it would take too much power away from the governor.
"Come May 1st, the governor's budget is thrown out," Pataki said. "The Legislature can then adopt its own budget with its own initiatives. Everything the governor has proposed is out the window."
Pataki and other opponents say that would blow the roof off state spending. Quoting the governor, Proposition One "means higher taxes, more spending and fewer jobs." But NYPIRG's Blair Horner counters the reforms are better than what is now in place.