| Despite what you may think, the fossils in the New York State Senate can move pretty swiftly when they feel like it. In an un-typically speedy and efficient fashion, a bill embodying Mayor Bloomberg's PlaNYC 2030 proposals has been drafted and introduced in the State Senate. Liz Benjamin at the Daily Politics has the scoop:
The Speedy Congestion Bill
Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno just announced via press release that the Senate has introduced Mayor Bloomberg's PlaNYC 2030 in bill form, which includes his congestion pricing proposal.
The bill has a number - S.6068 - but isn't yet available on-line. It is being sponsored by the fearless and intrepid Sen. Rules.
I was speaking about this last week with staff of a State Senator from Manhattan. They were convinced that it would be quite some time before anything of substance about the Mayor's plan would be seen in Albany. I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one raising an eyebrow about just how quickly this bill came about:
What's fascinating here is how quickly this bill got drafted.
As recently as Monday I was talking to lawmakers in Albany who said they had not seen a whole bill from the Bloomberg administration, but rather pieces of a bill that had holes large enough to drive a delivery truck through.
As for the plan's most talked about provision, the congestion pricing initiative, The Drum Major Institute today released a report analyzing the costs and benefits of the proposal to New York's middle class. The report is titled, "Congestion pricing: Good policy for New York’s middle class" and it is well worth reading. |
