| It looks as if we now have a pretty good idea of what is going to happen on Monday. Joe Bruno will definitely be bringing the Senate back for a one day special session and it appears likely that his chamber will pass, among other things, the bill to implement Mayor Bloomberg's congestion pricing plan.
And Shelly's crew? Well, they'll most likely be at the beach.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said in a radio interview this morning that the Assembly was not planning to return to Albany on Monday to act on Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan.
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“Right now, we have no time specific to come back,” he said in an interview on WROW-AM radio in Albany. “I think we will come back before the end of the year in session, but I do not believe it will be next Monday. Next Monday I believe is an arbitrary date.”
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But he also said that “there are a hundred questions” about the mayor’s plan, and added that ultimately some combination of the mayor’s plan and ideas from a recent report by Assemblyman Richard Brodsky and a new bill from Assemblyman Rory Lancman would probably be “the appropriate thing for New York City.” Mr. Lancman’s bill forgos the congestion pricing and looks to other steps to relieve congestion.
If, as the mayor says, the deadline is "hard and fast", it would seem that the congestion pricing part of PlaNYC looks rather doomed. The plan would find a much easier way through the legislature with half a billion dollars in federal money in the bank.
If, as Shelly and Brodsky et al believe, the deadline is a bit more elastic, there yet may be some hope.
Regardless, Shelly ain't bringing his gang back to Albany on Monday. This special session is going to be a "one house" affair. |
