New York State Legislature

New York's Legislature starts its 2014 session in earnest this week.

The session officially began last Wednesday with Governor Andrew Cuomo's State of the State address, but lawmakers did little more that day than gavel in and out. Lawmakers return to Albany for session days Monday and Tuesday .

The Republican-dominated coalition in charge of the Senate plans to issue a report on hearings lawmakers held across the state on New York's regulatory climate.

When state lawmakers approved a bill to permit new gambling casinos in the final hours of the legislative session, they left something out.   A provision to ban campaign contributions to legislators from gambling corporations did not end up in the final version.

When Governor Cuomo announced his plan to create new gambling centers in New York, he said he also wanted to ban campaign contributions from gambling entities to state lawmakers.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says he is creating a powerful investigative committee under New York's anti-corruption Moreland Act to investigate the entire state Legislature.

The Democrat says negotiations to create new public integrity laws failed, so he's creating the investigative panel instead. He says Wednesday he refused to "significantly compromise" his reform proposal.

The committee will have subpoena power and go after the influence of campaign contributions on politicians.

The issue was forced by corruption cases involving lawmakers this spring.

Deals have been reached between Governor Cuomo and legislative leaders on siting new casinos and creating tax free zones at college campuses. But a bill on abortion rights was struggling, and reform measures appear dead for the session. 

The agreement on casinos would allow four resort style gambling centers; one in the Capital Region, one in the Southern Tier, and possibly two in the Catskills, if voters approve the change to the state’s constitution in the fall.     

Nassau and Suffolk Counties would  be allowed to open more slot machines, under the terms of the bill.

There were several arrests at the New York State Capitol Tuesday. Advocates took out their anger and frustration on Cuomo and leaders of the State Senate, after it became clear that a progressive agenda that includes abortion rights and public campaign financing are likely dead for the legislative session.

After the 2000 presidential election which saw Al Gore win the popular vote, but George Bush win the White House, there was an outcry by some to get rid of the Electoral College.  A bill to change that system has just cleared the New York State Assembly.  

The measure is being supported by Albany area Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy, a Democrat, who says the bill would have New York join an interstate compact in which states would give all of their Electoral College votes to the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote nationwide. Fahy spoke with WAMC’s Brian Shields.

Hundreds gathered at the State Capitol to rally for public financing of political campaigns. The measure remains in limbo in the State Senate and Governor Cuomo faces questions on whether he’s working hard enough for the proposal to pass.
 
They came in busses from all over New York to give state lawmakers their message- big money is corrupting politics. They say the state should adopt New York City’s public campaign finance system, which allows candidates to match every dollar they collect in small donations with seven dollars of government funds.

Faced with the possibility of being expelled from the state legislature as soon as next week, State Assemblyman Vito Lopez, a Democrat from Brooklyn, today said he would resign on June 20th at the end of the legislative session and run for a seat on the New York City Council. 

There have been a number of ideas and suggestions on how to improve the New York State Legislature, especially after the recent arrest of two lawmakers on corruption charges. One of the ideas is changing the job from part-time to full time. That’s not a new thought, in fact it was suggested more than 100 years ago, in 1910, by then newly-elected State Senator Franklin Delano Roosevelt. 

The second half of New York’s legislative session begins Monday. It's likely to be dominated by the response to on going bribery and corruption scandals that came to light while lawmakers were on spring break.  

Governor Cuomo, and one of the Co-Leaders of the State Senate have already taken some preemptive action before the legislature’s scheduled return to the Capitol,  following federal bribery charges against a State Senator and an Assemblyman, as well as other officials. 

Just two days after State Senator Malcolm Smith of New York City was charged with bribery, another state lawmaker is facing the same charge in an un-related case.

Even though state lawmakers announced a budget agreement Wednesday, they spent the day Thursday trying to pin down details and print the bills in time to be through over the weekend.