Ortt, Senate Republicans blame Hochul, Democrats in Legislature for another late state budget

Photo from Rob Ortt’s Office: State Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt joins his GOP colleagues in Albany today during a news conference about the late state budget.

Press Release, State Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt

ALBANY – State Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt and members of the Senate Republican Conference today blasted state Democrats for their failure to reach an on-time budget for the fourth year in a row under Governor Kathy Hochul.

The senators also called for more transparency in the budget process, as well as for the end of the use of messages of necessity and middle-of-the-night voting.

Senator James Tedisco called for the passage of his legislation, the Budget Transparency Act (S.233), a constitutional amendment to prohibit legislative proceedings between midnight and 8 a.m. and limit the use of messages of necessity except in the case of a true emergency, such as security threats or natural disasters. The Legislature habitually abuses the use of messages of necessity in order to bypass the three-day aging process which is intended to give legislators and the public ample time to review legislation.

“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,” Ortt said. “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.”

Since Governor 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.

“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,” Tedisco said. “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.”