This Newsday piece really gets to the heart of the matter. Essentially the suburban agenda is put into serious limbo by this gridlock.
Remember the issues?
Meanwhile, Albany needs to get on with the business of governing. Last week's coup effectively halted the historic debate on same-sex marriage, as well as mayoral control of New York City schools. Important gubernatorial initiatives - allowing parents to keep children on their health policies until age 29, a better ethics watchdog, mandate relief for schools and local governments, and caps on state spending and property tax increases - await a Senate quorum.
And there are many other critical legislative issues that also need to be resolved. Albany should pass independent redistricting, one of the issues that is fueling the Senate battles. Currently, whichever party is in control in 2010 will be able to draw district lines and protect its incumbents.
On the environment, a bill to cap all greenhouse gas emissions, and one requiring manufacturers to set up a recycling system for computers and other e-waste should be approved.
The Senate has already passed a bill that would give increased flexibility on tuition and other issues to the University at Buffalo, but not to Stony Brook University. Stony Brook, and possibly Albany and Binghamton, should be included.
The Assembly has renewed Timothy's Law, requiring insurers to cover mental health care; the Senate should also. And the New York Power Authority's Power for Jobs program, which helps secure 28,806 Long Island jobs, should be renewed.
Beefing up foreclosure conferences to benefit homeowners, renewing tax-free bonding for non-profit agencies, fairer pay for farm workers and blocking welfare enhancements are also important.
Locally, Suffolk County needs approval of its hotel-motel tax and regional bus plan. Nassau County wants to add a $2-per-pack tax on cigarettes and needs permission to issue $65 million in bonds to pay for early retirements.
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For example, Senator Aubertine was in the process of re-authorizing the Power for Jobs program, a bill that funds energy production jobs across upstate New York.
The power grab attempted in Albany last week is an unfortunate example what happens when politics is put ahead of people. This move effectively stalled the Senate for a full week, slowing progress on important issues including energy, property tax relief and economic development.
Still, as the political food fight continues, my focus remains on doing the most good I can for the people of Oswego, Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties. This has been my focus as your senator and regardless of court rulings, leadership changes, or anything else that's going on politically in Albany-I will continue to put the people I represent first.
Some of the business I hope to complete this session includes extending the state's Power For Jobs program, which provides businesses with low cost power in exchange for creating jobs. We need to act quickly on this because the program is set to expire June 30. As chair of the Senate Energy Committee, I have introduced legislation that would extend the program for 12 months or even 21 months while we work in the legislature to strengthen the program long term.
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That's right, a bill that would re-authorize a job creating machine for a large swath of upstate New York is now in the political purgatory of the Republican coup. I wonder if that's what upstate Republicans mean when they say they'll put their constituents first?
Of course the fact is that the Republican-caused gridlock ends up hurting all New Yorkers. Just look at the breadth of health related bills stuck in limbo as a result of the coup.
Coup puts health bills in limbo
Yesterday's uproar in the state Senate has left the legislative session in chaos and the fate of pending bills in question. "It is absolute uncertainty at this point," says a spokesman for HANYS.
With Republicans in charge, the consensus is that the progess of many bills will come to a standstill. Those that do proceed will probably be those that have bipartisan support rather than those that advance Gov. David Paterson's agenda as program bills.
Examples cited include his program bills on managed care and prior approval. There was talk yesterday that the compromise bills from last year-which are technically still active-might have a better chance of passing this session than the newer versions.
But the governor's program legislation could simply remain in suspension. "There's some sense that they don't want anything the governor can take credit for to go through," says one insurance industry source.
Many other health care bills are stuck in a no-man's-land. One is the nurse staff ratio bill A.2664/S.3843, sponsored by Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, D-Manhattan, and Sen. Thomas Duane, D-Manhattan. Others involve HIV testing and medical malpractice.
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And in a long-standing tradition of all governmental bodies, this crisis is shafting the health and wellness of our environment. Thanks to Republicans and Senator Espada, we may not get some of these great environmental reforms.
As the New York State Senate battles over who gets more bacon bits, several critical environmental bills are stuck in limbo.
These measures include a cap on global warming pollution, arguably one of the biggest challenges facing New York, a new electronic waste policy that would get tons of toxic cell phones, computer monitors and TVs out of our landfills and dumps, and a bill that would direct the money generated by state auctions of global warming pollution to clean energy and energy efficiency.
And we're running out of time. The Legislative Session is set to gavel out on Monday, June 22nd.
If state lawmakers don't get their act together and soon, it's possible that 2009 will go down in the history books as the year the New York State Senate accomplished nothing of note. To date, the Assembly passed almost 30 environmentally significant bills; the Senate has passed two.
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Republicans may claim that Democrats need to get back to work, but it was the Republicans who put all of us in this situation. Considering their past rhetoric as the defenders of upstate New York, Long Island, the suburbs, and the New York family, it makes you wonder whether they really care about these core constituencies.
The fact is that if Republicans DID care about these constituencies, they wouldn't have done the coup at all. At the very least, they could have waited until the very end of the session, after all the people's work was done, and then played their parliamentary games. Instead, they chose to strike with several weeks left in the session, and therefore put a variety of great bills into limbo. Let there be no doubt; these bills are hostages to the Republicans. They'll clamor about how Democrats are causing gridlock because we won't play ball. But the fact is that the Republicans started this mess. Don't let anyone forget that the gridlock is on their hands. |
