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For Immediate Release: Tuesday, January 4th, 2005 Contact: Contact: Jordan Isenstadt (c) 516.991.3842 (w) 212.490.9535 (f) 212.490.2151 ***PRESS
RELEASE*** State
Senator Liz Krueger Pushes for Substantive Rules
Reform in New Legislative Session Proposed Changes to
Include Ending Empty Seat Voting, Increasing Public Disclosure of Legislative
Information and Providing for Equal Resource Allocation Regardless of Party Albany, New York – With
the start of the 2005 Legislative Session close at hand, State Senator Liz
Krueger (D-Manhattan), a longtime advocate of reform, joined with her colleagues in announcing that Senate
Democrats had drafted rules changes to be offered for consideration by the
full Senate. “For many years the idea
of reforming Albany has been simmering on the backburner as a non-priority
and the Legislature has suffered greatly as a result. Now that the electorate is fired up around
this issue and the pot is on full boil, we must embrace this opportunity to
radically alter the landscape. The
Senate Democrats are coming to Albany tomorrow with substantive reform as our
number one priority.”
Specifically, the Senate
Democratic Conference will propose: 1)
Ending the practice known as “empty seat
voting”. 2) Requiring a 2/3 vote in order to accept a message of necessity from the Governor. 3) Providing for equal staff and
resource allocations for all Senators, regardless of party affiliation. 4) Requiring the Senate to
remain in session each day during a new fiscal year where the budget has not
been finally acted on. 5) Providing for open bill
sponsorship (regardless of party). 6) Authorizing ranking minority
members (or any three committee members) to hold public hearings. 7) Allowing ranking minority
members (or any three committee members) to place a bill on a committee
agenda. 8) Requiring each committee to
include a detailed committee report with each bill it sends to the Senate
floor. 9) Eliminating the Rules
Committee and creating a Rules and Administration Committee, which would have
authority over administrative matters, subject to the same rules applicable
to other Senate committees (open meetings, recorded votes, etc.). 10) Limiting the holding of
committee meetings “off the floor” while the Senate is in session. 11) Relaxing limits on the
number of and length of debate of discharge motions. 12) Strengthening rules
regarding accurate and updated bill memoranda. 13) Requiring greater public
disclosure of legislative information, by making expenditure reports, committee
transcripts and votes, and other information available to the public via the
internet. 14) Requiring any legislative
pay raise proposal to be considered prior to a general election. 15) Increasing the two hour
limit on debate to five hours. 16) Limiting Senators to fifty
bills per year (excluding local laws and emergency bills).
These proposals are a product of a forum conducted by the Senate Democratic Task Force on Legislative and Budgetary Reform in December. The Task Force, chaired by Senator Krueger, heard testimony from a variety of experts on ways to open the legislative process and increase accountability, efficiency and fiscal integrity in the Legislature.
“Members of the Senate Democratic Conference agree that reforming the legislative and budgetary process in New York is among our top legislative priorities,” said Senator Krueger. “New York State was once the leader in innovative policymaking. The laws we passed were often emulated by other states across the nation. Now, sadly, our government has achieved the dubious distinction as being a poster child for dysfunction. We need to fix that. New Yorker's deserve no less than the best their government can offer.”
Senator Krueger continued, “If we are to fix Albany, we must start by changing the way the Senate functions, or rather, does not function. The Senate Rules must be changed to empower rank and file legislators, strengthen the committee process, and change the way in which the Senate considers the budget.”
“When I was elected in 2002 on a platform of reforming Albany most people did not envision that the movement would grow to where it is today,” stated Senator Krueger. “The only reason that we now have such currency is because the people of this great state recognized that massive change was needed and they have made sure that their elected officials know that the time to change the rules of the game in Albany is right now.”
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