Recently, my Assembly Republican colleagues and I introduced a number of amendments on the floor of the state Assembly in an attempt to reform the budget process and guarantee an on-time budget, every year. When the amendments were brought to the floor for a vote, they were defeated by the Democratic majority and the budget process will continue to be an unreliable process because of it.

The Democratic majority continues to stymie every attempt to change the system and pass an on-time budget. This type of behavior would not be tolerated in the private workplace and state residents should not tolerate it in the New York state Legislature.

The initiatives proposed by me and my Republican colleagues included:

* Reducing the duration of the emergency budget extender from four weeks to one week.

* Establishing that a binding revenue estimate be provided by the state comptroller in the event the Legislature fails to reach an agreement by the March 10 deadline.

* Requiring budget conference committee to meet no later than March 15 and require written reports.

* Restricting legislation after the April 1 deadline, addressing only budget-related bills.

* Requiring a plain language summary of the budget be made available to the Legislature and the public 48 hours prior to the budget vote.

* Calling for a constitutional amendment requiring the use of the prior fiscal year's budget if there is no agreement 60 days after April 1.

* Increase the amount in the state's "rainy day" fund from 2 percent to 5 percent of general revenue spending.

I understand that many residents don't find that a late budget truly affects them, but when the state fails to fulfill its obligation, funding is stalled and the state's credit rating is lowered. That costs the taxpayers more of their hard-earned money. I hope the Democratic majority takes a hard look at what is wrong and enacts the Republican conference initiatives to revise the budget process.