The Citizens Budget Commission’s (CBC’s) December 2022 report, Accounting and More for a Better Budget, made 12 recommendations to improve New York State’s budgeting and fiscal management. With the budget now enacted and the scheduled legislative session concluded, CBC finds the State made little progress implementing the structural reforms needed to improve fiscal stability, transparency, oversight, and accountability. 

The State’s leaders adopted just 1 of CBC’s 12 recommendations and made substantial progress on 2 more. (See Table 1.) No progress was made on the remaining 9 recommendations. The Governor and Legislature even failed to publish basic financial plan tables with the one-house and enacted budgets. Simple reforms such as these should be a priority.

We reiterate the call CBC and several watchdogs made in January 2023 to take immediate action on several of these items, including holding a hearing to receive input and advance the discussion toward a better budget process. This fall presents a window of opportunity for discussions and an exchange of ideas to make meaningful improvements so that next year’s budget process may be more transparent, rigorous, and accountable.