Criminal Law Library Blog
During every session of the New York Legislature the current governor and his staff prepare bills addressing his or her objectives to be introduced directly in the legislature by the Governor. While it is assumed that legislatures in other states have similar mechanisms, this posting is only concernd with Governor’s programs in the State of New York.
When first introduced, these program bills are only sponsored by the Governor but once they have been introduced, members of the legislature can and often do add their names as sponsors. It is my understanding that once such a bill is introduced the process by which it works its way through the legislature is similar to other legislation except that if such a bill is amended while under consideration, it is then sent back to the Governor’s office for review, further modification etc.
In conversations I have had with people in the Governor’s office it was emphasized that Governor’s Programs should not be considered identical with other legislation introduced directly by individuall or groups of legislators and that Budget programs are separate from the Governor’s Program being discussed here. During those conversations the following book was recemmended as an excellent source for further information on this topic:
Author: Robert B Ward
Title: New York State Government.
Publisher: Albany, N,Y. : Rockefeller Institute Press, ©2006.
Edition/Format: Book : English : 2nd ed., [25th anniversary ed.]
To see the list of Governor Paterson’s Programs for 2009, you can go to the Governor’s website at:
http://www.state.ny.us/governor/bills/program_bills.html
David Badertscher