APPENDIX I

THE PROPOSED NEW YORK AND THE MARYLAND BUDGET AMENDMENTS

A great deal of discussion of the last two years has centered around the budget sections of the defeated constitution of New York State and the Maryland amendment which was ratified by the people of Maryland. Both these documents are frequently referred to in the text and for convenience both documents are printed below.

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BUDGET SECTIONS OF THE PROPOSED NEW YORK STATE

CONSTITUTION

Article V, Section 1. On or before the fifteenth day of November in the year one thousand nine hundred and sixteen and in each year thereafter the head of each department of the state government except the legislature and judiciary, shall submit to the governor itemized estimates of appropriations to meet the financial needs of such department, including a statement in detail of all moneys for which any general or special appropriation is desired at the ensuing session of the legislature, classified according to relative importance and in such form and with such explanation as the governor may require.

"The governor, after public hearing thereon, at which he may require the attendance of heads of departments and their subordinates, shall revise such estimates according to his judgment.

"Itemized estimates of the financial needs of the legislature certified by the presiding officer of each house and of the judiciary certified by the comptroller shall be transmitted to the governor before the fifteenth day of January next suc

ceeding for inclusion in the budget without revision but with such recommendation as he may think proper.

"On or before the first day of February next succeeding he shall submit to the legislature a budget containing a complete plan of proposed expenditures and estimated revenues. It shall contain all the estimates so revised or certified and shall be accompanied by a bill or bills for all proposed appropriations and reappropriations, clearly itemized; it shall show the estimated revenues for the ensuing fiscal year and the estimated surplus of deficit of revenues at the end of the current fiscal year together with the measures of taxation, if any, which the governor may propose for the increase of the revenues. It shall be accompanied by a statement of the current assets, liabilities, reserves and surplus or deficit of the state; statements of the debts and funds of the state; an estimate of its financial condition as of the beginning and end of the ensuing fiscal year; and a statement of revenues and expenditures for the two fiscal years next preceding said year, in form suitable for comparison. The governor may, before final action by the legislature thereon, amend or supplement the budget.

"A copy of the budget and of any amendments or additions thereto shall be forthwith transmitted by the governor to the comptroller.

"The governor and the heads of such departments shall have the right, and it shall be their duty when requested by either house of the legislature, to appear and be heard in respect to the budget during the consideration thereof, and to answer inquiries relevant thereto. The procedure for such appearance and inquiries shall be provided by law. The legislature may not alter an appropriation bill submitted by the governor except to strike out or reduce items therein; but this provision shall not apply to items for the legislature or judiciary. Such a bill when passed by both houses shall be a law immediately without further action by the governor, except that appropriations for the legislature and judiciary shall be subject to his approval as provided in section nine of article four.

"Neither house shall consider further appropriations until the appropriation bills proposed by the governor shall have been finally acted on by both houses; nor shall such further appropriations be then made except by separate bills each for a single work or object, which bills shall be subject to the governor's approval as provided in section nine of article four. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent the governor from recommending that one or more of his proposed bills be passed in advance of the others to supply the immediate needs of government."

While this article contains the principal budget provisions, there are some other provisions of the constitution that ought, particularly, to be considered in connection with them. These provisions are:

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Section 16. No bill shall be passed or become a law unless it shall have been printed and upon the desks of the members, in its final form, at least three calendar legislative days prior to its final passage. No bill shall be passed or become a law, except by the assent of a majority of the members elected to each branch of the legislature. Immediately after the last reading of a bill the question upon its final passage shall be taken and the yeas and nays entered on the journal."

"Section 22. No money shall ever be paid out of the treasury of this state or any of its funds, or any of the funds under its management, except in pursuance of an appropriation by law; nor unless such payment be made not later than three months after the close of the fiscal year next succeeding that in which such appropriation was made; and every such law making a new appropriation or continuing or reviving an appropriation, shall distinctly specify the sum appropriated, and the object to which it is to be applied; and it shall not be sufficient for such law to refer to any other law to fix such sum. Appropriations made by the legislature in the year one thousand nine hundred and sixteen shall be made

for a period ending the thirtieth day of June, one thousand nine hundred and seventeen, and thereafter the fiscal year of the state shall end on the thirtieth day of June of each year, unless otherwise provided by law."

To indicate the trend toward executive aggrandizement of this constitution and particularly over the legislature, it was proposed to drop the following section of the old constitution:

"Section 7 of Article III. The political year and legislative term shall begin on the first day of January; and the legislature shall, every year, assemble on the first Wednesday in January."

THE MARYLAND BUDGET AMENDMENT 1

"Section 52 (of the Constitution)

Sec. 52. The General Assembly shall not appropriate any money out of the Treasury except in accordance with the following provisions:

Sub-Section A:

Every appropriation bill shall be either a Budget Bill, or a Supplementary Appropriation Bill, as hereinafter mentioned. Sub-Section B:

First. Within twenty days after the convening of the General Assembly (except in the case of a newly elected Governor, and then within thirty days after his inauguration), unless such time shall be extended by the General Assembly for the session at which the Budget is to be submitted, the Governor shall submit to the General Assembly two budgets, one for each of the ensuing fiscal years. Each budget shall contain a complete plan of proposed expenditures and esti

1 The suggestions made in this book for the formal budget procedure can be effected without constitutional amendment, and it was particularly the aim of this book to make no changes in the constitutional basis of the government.