Late Budgets

A Day Late and A Dollar Short? A Study of Budget Passage in New York State

“…The findings in Models 1 and 2 are consistent with previous studies (Andersen, Lassen, and Nielsen ). However, we also find that when budget rules are controlled in the model, divided government as a measure of political factors becomes statistically insignificant although they are still in the expected direction.…”

“…The critical issue of passing a budget on time remains much criticized but little studied. Although there are studies on late budgets and government shutdowns by the federal government (for example, Brass ; Joyce ; Meyers ), we found only a few studies on late budgets in states (Andersen, Lassen, and Nielsen ; Klarner, Phillips, and Muckler ; Kousser and Phillips ). In this research, we use a combination of a 43‐year longitudinal study and extensive interviews with government officials in the New York State to examine factors that impact this important yet not well‐studied topic—late budgets.…”

“…A recent Moody's report (2012, 4) indicated that “economic and revenue growth help states to overcome the political stalemate that marked much of the downturn. The prevalence of timely budgets reflects the improvement in state revenue trends.” The assumption is that adverse economic circumstances increase both fiscal uncertainty and the “transaction cost” of reaching a budget, and increase the risk of late budgets (Andersen, Lassen, and Nielsen ). However, an alternative theory is that more financial resources may lead to greater competition for funds and make it more difficult to reach agreements over the budget.…”

“…Politics stemming from differences of opinions increase the transaction costs of passing a budget. Andersen, Lassen and Nielsen () found that divided government (both split legislatures and split branches) increases the frequency of late budgets. Similarly, several studies of the federal government found that divided government and policy differences between the President and Congress lead budgetary actors to strategically disagreeing with each other on appropriations (Brass ; Joyce ; Meyers , ).…”

Paygo for punctuality

“…Previous scholarship has identified party polarization and divided government, presidential leadership, and economics among other things. The favorite target of scholars researching gridlock has been divided government for some time, with numerous researchers finding that divided government has an important effect on both the passage of legislation and fiscal outcomes (Mayhew, 1991;Alt & Lowry, 1994;Poterba, 1994;Clingermayer & Wood, 1995;Bohn & Inman, 1996;Clarke, 1998;Binder, 1999;Conley, 2002;Anderson, Lassen, & Nielsen, 2012;Klarner, Phillips, & Muckler, 2010;Kousser, 2010). Researchers have continued to develop their findings and further challenge the understanding of inter-party dynamics in the legislative process (Kelly, 1993;Binder, 1999).…”