Downstate lawmakers want more control over state budget

This year’s austerity budget is a microcosm of what is wrong with the construction process and the disproportionate power dynamics in Albany,” Biaggi said. “The unilateral control the Executive branch holds over the state budget process undermines the constitutional duty of legislators to make thoughtful spending and policy choices on behalf of the New Yorkers we represent. It is neither fair, nor just, to subdue the voice of the people in this critical and highly consequential decision-making process.”