S 6663: Withholds the salary of the governor and members of the legislature if the budget is late until final ratification of the budget; forfeits withheld salary.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6663 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE March 19, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. GRIFFO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Finance AN ACT to amend the state finance law and the legislative law, in relation to withholding the salary of the governor and members of the legislature if the budget is late until final ratification of the budget The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as 2 the "passage of late enacted budget (PLEB) act". 3 § 2. Subdivision 2 of section 24 of the state finance law is amended 4 by adding a new paragraph (c) to read as follows: 5 (c) On or after April first, two thousand twenty-six, any such salary 6 installment payments to be paid on or after such day to the governor and 7 members of the legislature shall be withheld and not paid until the 8 final ratification of the budget for the following fiscal year pursuant 9 to section five of the legislative law whereupon any salary installment 10 payments intended for the governor and members of the legislature that 11 are withheld and not paid shall be forfeited in perpetuity. 12 § 3. Subdivisions 1 and 3 of section 5 of the legislative law, subdi- 13 vision 1 as amended and subdivision 3 as added by chapter 635 of the 14 laws of 1998, the opening paragraph of subdivision 1 as amended by chap- 15 ter 841 of the laws of 2022, are amended to read as follows: 16 1. Effective January first, two thousand twenty-three, each member of 17 the legislature shall receive a salary of one hundred forty-two thousand 18 dollars per annum. Such salary of a member of the legislature shall be 19 payable in twenty-six bi-weekly installments provided, however, that, 20 effective January first, two thousand twenty-six, if [legislative 21 passage] final ratification of the budget as defined in subdivision 22 three of this section has not occurred prior to the first day of any 23 fiscal year, the net amount of any such bi-weekly salary installment EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD09919-01-5 
 S. 6663 2 1 payments to be paid on or after such day shall be withheld and not paid 2 until such [legislative passage] final ratification of the budget has 3 occurred whereupon bi-weekly salary installment payments shall resume 4 [and an amount equal to the accrued, withheld and unpaid installments 5 shall be promptly paid to each member]. 6 For purposes of this section, net amount shall mean gross salary minus 7 any or all of the following deductions: federal taxes, state taxes, 8 social security taxes, city taxes, payments on retirement loans, retire- 9 ment contributions, contributions to health insurance or other group 10 insurance programs, child support and court ordered payments. 11 3. ["Legislative passage] "Final ratification of the budget", solely 12 for the purposes of this section and section five-a of this article, 13 shall mean that the appropriation bill or bills submitted by the gover- 14 nor pursuant to section three of article seven of the state constitution 15 have been finally acted on by both houses of the legislature in accord- 16 ance with article seven of the state constitution [and], the state comp- 17 troller has determined that such appropriation bill or bills that have 18 been finally acted on by the legislature are sufficient for the ongoing 19 operation and support of state government and local assistance for the 20 ensuing fiscal year, and the governor has signed such bill or bills into 21 law. In addition, legislation submitted by the governor pursuant to 22 section three of article seven of the state constitution determined 23 necessary by the legislature for the effective implementation of such 24 appropriation bill or bills shall have been acted on. Nothing in this 25 section shall be construed to affect the prohibition contained in 26 section five of article seven of the state constitution. 27 § 4. Nothing in this act shall be construed to prevent the governor 28 from issuing a message of necessity pursuant to section five of article 29 seven of the state constitution, nor shall this act be construed to 30 prevent the passage and signing of a law to extend the budget from the 31 prior fiscal year provided it shall not suffice as an enacted budget for 32 the purpose of this act. 33 § 5. Severability clause. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivi- 34 sion, section or part of this act shall be adjudged by any court of 35 competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, 36 impair, or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in 37 its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section 38 or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judg- 39 ment shall have been rendered. It is hereby declared to be the intent of 40 the legislature that this act would have been enacted even if such 41 invalid provisions had not been included herein. 42 § 6. This act shall take effect immediately.