Understanding The Budget Process

Understanding the federal, state, and city budget process is a daunting task. It is difficult to keep track of budget negotiations and the impact on issues of concern for the formerly incarcerated. If you are a formerly incarcerated person, or someone who cares about criminal justice issues in New York City ,there are good sources of information that can help you understand the budget process.

This is not an exhaustive list, but a list of resources that we use:

1. New York City Budget Information

New York City Office of Management & Budget: http://www.nyc.gov/html/omb/html/home/home.shtml

The NYC Independent Budget Office is a great source for unbiased analysis of the New York City budget. The IBO regularly produces reports on specific areas of the budget and city operations to inform the public and elected officials: http://www.ibo.nyc.ny.us/

To view the IBO City Budget Roadmap see: http://www.ibo.nyc.ny.us/IBORoadmap.pdf

2. New York State Budget

New York State Division of the Budget: http://www.budget.state.ny.us/

The Division of Budget also has a Citizen's Guide to the Budget Process: http://www.budget.state.ny.us/citizen/process/process.html

3. Federal Budget

White House Office of Management and Budget: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/

See their budget process overview: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/circulars/a11/current_year/s10.pdf

Congressional Budget Office: http://www.cbo.gov/

4. Other Good Sources of Information

The Fortune Society's David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy is a great resource for information on major state and federal legislation impacting the criminal justice system. You can join their weekly email blast: http://fortunesociety.org/category/david-rothenberg-center-for-public-policy-drcpp/

The Correctional Association of New York is one of the oldest prisons reform advocacy organization in New York State and the only one with legislative authority to visit and inspect conditions in state prisons. The Association has also been a driving force in the state's drug law reform efforts and reforms in juvenile justice: http://www.correctionalassociation.org/

The Legal Action Center of New York conducts state and national advocacy on justice reform issues: http://www.lac.org/

On the small screen, Inside City Hall is a nightly cable news show on local and state government happenings: http://www.ny1.com/content/about_ny1/program_info/114/inside-city-hall/