Three state Senators have introduced legislation expressing their disappointment with how the 2020-21 state budget was handled.

Sen. Jennifer Metzger, D-Middletown, wants to amend the state Constitution to strip non-budget matters from yearly state budget discussions while Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, D-Bronx, wants to amend the state Constitution to give the state Legislature an equal say in the state budget. Sen. Fred Akshar, R-Binghamton, introduced his own legislation to amend the state Constitution to prohibit immediate votes on budget bills.

Metzger recently introduced S.8212 to amend Article 7 of the state Constitution to require that any legislation proposed by the governor in the budget process be directly necessary to provide moneys for proposed expenditures; that the governor include a detailed explanation of the fiscal necessity of each piece legislation; and the legislature reject any legislation that is not directly necessary to provide moneys and revenue sufficient to meet such proposed expenditures.

The state budget typically includes measures that are not related to the budget. The 2020-21 budget approved earlier this month implements changes to renewable energy facility siting, further regulates tobacco and vaping, criminalizes fentanyl analogs, authorizes prescription drug price increases, prohibits gender pricing discrimination, mandates employees receive between five and seven days of paid sick leave, eliminates photo identification requirements for public assistance recipients and allows New Yorkers to give a free identification card through the Department of Motor Vehicles, expands prevailing wage requirements to private projects costing more than $5 million paid if public money equals 30% of the project cost, made changes to criminal justice reforms passed in the 2019-20 state budget, bars gun ownership for those who commit serious offenses in other states, makes changes to the state’s farm labor statutes passed in 2019, bans polystyrene food packaging and polystyrene packaging peanuts beginning January 1, 2022, and bans high-volume hydraulic fracturing while imposing a moratorium on applications for gelled propane hydraulic fracturing filed with the Department of Environmental Conservation.

With state revenues taking a drastic hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic, relatively little time was actually spent debating spending in the budget. Metzger wrote in her legislative justification that the state’s founding fathers never meant the state budget process be used as a way to pass legislation unrelated to the budget.

“New Yorkers are better served when legislation proceeds through the regular legislative process, where bills are introduced, reviewed, vetted, amended, and voted on in a transparent and accountable manner,” Metzger wrote. “This bill, known as the “Clean Budget Act,” amends the state constitution to clarify that legislation may be included in the budget only if it is necessary to implement the various appropriations and expenditures contained in the budget bills.”

Additionally, many budget bills weren’t finalized until shortly before legislators were expected to cast a vote on the bills. Rather than the traditional three day waiting period required for legislation to be considered by the state Legislature, Gov. Andrew Cuomo used messages of necessity to move the legislation immediately to the floor for approval. Messages of necessity have become commonplace in state budget deliberations.

“This bill would prohibit the use of a message of necessity for budget-related bills,” Akshar wrote in relation to S.8199. “This measure would give legislators the full three-day aging process to review the proposed final budget.”

Biaggi, meanwhile, has three fellow Democrats co-sponsoring S.8198 to give legislators more say in the budget process. Her constitutional amendment would require the governor’s annual budget proposal include statements of any new legislation, changes to legislation or limitation on the effect of any legislation in the budget; require that any new legislation or legislative changes be separately stated; allow the legislature to modify or substitute appropriations in the budget and add, delete, modify or substitute new legislation subject to a veto by the governor; repeal messages of necessity to allow the legislature to act on its own appropriations bills before it has acted on the governor’s appropriation bills; and provides for a legislative override of vetoed appropriations bills.

“The legislature may eliminate, reduce, increase or add items of appropriation,” Biaggi wrote in her legislative justification. “However, the legislature is barred from modifying any appropriation. This has been interpreted to bar the legislature from substituting an appropriation from one that is deleted or reduced. This severely limits the legislature’s ability to fulfill its proper constitutional role, especially as more and more substantive legislation is incorporated in the budget. This amendment would provide the legislature — the branch of government closest to individual New Yorkers — with the full-fledged role in budget-making and legislating contemplated by our nation and state’s founders.”

Amending the state Constitution is a complicated process. Voters could approve a state Constitutional Convention, which is on the ballot every 20 years and was defeated by state voters in 2019, or through legislative action. Any legislative proposal must be approved by two successive state Legislatures before being submitted for voter approval.