Five months ago, Gov. George E. Pataki signed a law requiring the state to create a Web site where consumers could compare prescription drug prices across the state. He said the law would "help get New Yorkers access to the drugs they need at the lowest cost possible." 

This week, buried in his budget proposal, Mr. Pataki called for repealing the law.

Advocates who had pushed for the law, which passed both houses of the Legislature unanimously, were stunned by the turnabout. "It's just very disappointing, because a lot of people could have benefited from this," said Bill Ferris, a lobbyist for the New York branch of AARP. 

The new Web site was supposed to be up by this spring, and the state was supposed to provide a progress report to the Legislature by the end of this month. The law called for creating a Web site that listed the prices of the 150 most commonly prescribed drugs at every pharmacy in the state - information that the state already collects. The site was to be updated weekly.

But deep in one of the budget bills that Governor Pataki submitted is a section that would repeal the law. 

"Currently, pharmacies are required to make available their price lists upon request from the consumer, and no funding was made available to implement this labor- and resource-intensive requirement," the bill memorandum said.

The Pataki administration gave conflicting reasons for its proposal to repeal the law. On Thursday, Michael Marr, a spokesman for the governor's budget division, held open the possibility that the governor may withdraw his proposal to repeal the law. "We're currently reviewing the matter, and if we determine that there's not sufficient information for New Yorkers about the cost of prescription drugs on the Internet, we will make the appropriate changes in the 30-day amendments," he said. 

Assemblyman Richard N. Gottfried, a Manhattan Democrat who sponsored the bill, said the proposal to repeal it was "absurd."

"The data that would go on the Web site is already sitting in Health Department computers," Mr. Gottfried said, adding that the state has money from a settlement with a drug company that could be used to cover setup costs. "The Health Department probably spends more on office cleaning than it would cost to create this Web site."