The Executive Budget Decision, in New York

Extract

Twenty years of discussion of budget procedure came to a conclusion with the decision of the Court of Appeals on November 19, 1929, in People of the State of New York v. Tremaine. This decision upheld the contention of Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt as to the powers of the executive in budget procedure, as provided for by Article 3a of the state constitution.

The first chapter in the movement to improve financial procedure in the state was the passage in 1910 of a law which initiated a system requiring all requests for appropriations to be filed and tabulated for the use of the legislature and the governor in advance of the legislative session. Prior to this time, no attempt had been made to collect or compile the requests before the opening of the legislative session. This law of 1910 provided that on or before November 15 of each year each spending agency should file with the comptroller a detailed statement of all requests for appropriations to be made at the next session of the legislature. The requests were to be tabulated by the comptroller and then transmitted to the governor by December 15, and to the legislature on the opening day of the session.

The next change in budget procedure occurred in 1913, when Governor Sulzer appointed a committee of inquiry to investigate the management of state departments and institutions with a view to securing greater economy and efficiency in public service.