February 16, 1995: Vol26n17: Budget process lenthy; UB may not know fate till June

By STEVE COX
Reporter Staff
The budget ball is now in the hands of New York's 211 state
legislators. The entire process in the capitol corridors is
constitutionally due to conclude by April 1, but UB may not entirely
know its fate until next summer.
	The state constitution gave Gov. Pataki an extra 10 days,
until Feb. 1, to present his budget proposal to the legislature since
he was newly elected in the fall. Between Feb. 1 and March 1, the
governor may submit amendments to his budget proposal, either
increasing or decreasing the overall proposal.
	Also, during this period, the legislature holds public
hearings on the budget. Joint hearings of the Senate Finance
Committee, chaired by Sen. Ronald Stafford, and the Assembly Ways &
Means Committee, chaired by Assemblyman Herman Farrell, hear testimony
from agency heads and others on the potential impact of the budget
proposal. The hearing on the SUNY budget was held Feb. 8 in the
Legislative Office Building.
	These hearings used to lead to a long series of closed door
meetings between the governor and the speaker of the Assembly and
majority leader of the Senate, from which a budget agreement would
eventually emerge. However, this year Gov. Pataki and the legislative
leaders have stated that things are going to be different. While there
certainly will still be closed door meetings, Assembly Speaker Sheldon
Silver and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno have vowed to open up
the process. For one thing, leaders of the minority party in each
house have been invited to join in the negotiations, a first.
Individual legislators, who have been made to feel shut out of the
process in years past, should also have more access to the budget
negotiations.
	Input from the public is valuable to the advocacy process,
said Senior Vice President Robert Wagner at the Feb. 7 Faculty Senate
meeting. He encouraged people to write to their Assembly member and
Senator to express support for SUNY and UB.
	The last time a state budget was passed by April 1 was 1983.
The latest budget passage came on July 7. This did not create
overwhelming problems for state government because former Gov. Cuomo
always signed emergency appropriation bills to see that things such as
state payroll checks went out on time. Gov. Pataki has vowed not to
use this mechanism. If the budget is not in place by the April 1
constitutional deadline, no one gets paid.
	Even if the 1995-96 state budget passes on time, the SUNY
fiscal year does not begin until July 1. The state appropriates money
to SUNY in, basically, a lump sum and SUNY Central divvies up the pot
amongst the campuses. It could be late June or early July before UB
knows exactly what it has to deal with.