New York governors have a lot of leverage in the state budget talks when the state decides how to spend billions of dollars. 

Some state lawmakers want to claw some of that leverage back. 

Republican state Sen. Patrick Gallivan on Monday proposed a constitutional amendment that would block the governor from inserting non-fiscal measures in budget proposals. 

Lawmakers have blamed the negotiations over non-fiscal provisions in this year's budget — including measures to address changes to the state bail law and housing — as being largely responsible for a budget that is yet to be adopted nearly a month after it was due. 

“One of the most important obligations of the Legislature is to pass an on-time budget,” Gallivan said. “When non-fiscal policies are inserted into the budget, the process gets bogged down, denying the Legislative Branch time to pursue meaningful analysis, review and debate of spending priorities. Substantive policy issues should stand on their own and only be considered through the traditional legislative process.”

Gallivan's measure is meant to address a long-standing concern lawmakers have had with the budget process, which is weighted toward governors during the negotiations and largely helps them get what they want in a spending plan. 

It's a concern that's been bipartisan this year, with Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie blaming the policy questions in the negotiations for the delayed agreement. 

"It was a lot of policy. This is why you don't do policy in the budget," Heastie said on Monday. "I get it, governors have more leverage in the budget, but this is where we are."