Legislative Update: June 6, 2006

By: Prospector

First, on Monday, 6/5, I received a call from the Assembly Republican Conference asking for confirmation of our position on A8588, the confiscation bill. Looks like we'll get the minority vote on the floor in addition to our support from the majority. Once again, our presence is recognized and our opinion sought......progress. Tuesday, 6/6, started out to be a slow day, with only 3 appointments due to last-minute cancellations. However, as often happens, things soon escalated and kept me moving until after 4 PM. The 3 appointments, one with a new Assemblywoman who I've been trying to see for months, were fairly routine. The 2 Senate staff I met with pledged support for S3410, the Yield Right-of-Way bill. On the Senate side, both S3410 and S6229 are in Transportation and have yet to come on the committee agenda, so we visited Senator Robach's office and urged him to try and get his bills moving. We have built support for them, but if they don't get on the agenda, it's all for nought. We also stopped at the Senate Transportation Chairman's office and asked that the bills be brought to committee. Later, even though I didn't have an appointment, I was able to speak with someone from Senator Fuschillo's office, where a got a fairly positive, though non-committal response.

At 2PM I attended the Assembly Transportation Committee meeting because A8588 was on the agenda. Assemblyman Gantt was not in attendance and the meeting was chaired by Assemblyman Tonko. Just before the start of the meeting I was informed that A8588 had been amended (not in any detrimental way) at the suggestion of Central Programs, and with the approval of the sponsor, Assemblywoman Lupardo. The bill was reported out and I immediately went back to Senator Robach's office to be sure they posted the changes on the Senate version. By the way, the committee meeting was rather more lengthy than usual due to a spirited discussion on A612, which would allow persons to apply for a NYS driver's license without a Social Security card as is currently required. You might want to contact your Assemblyman on this issue.

During the course of the day we visited the Assembly Codes Committee Chairman's office to find out why A4914 hadn't gone through his committee after he promised to expedite it's passage, and he hinted that there was a "problem", but didn't give us any further explanation. Later in the day, another reliable source informed me that there was talk of a problem. Once again there seems to be some secret conspiracy to sabotage this bill, and I can tell you that I'm furious. We are now attempting to get to the bottom of this and find out who has an objection and why, and will spend the rest of the week in pursuit of answers.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to get appointments as session nears the end and so far I only have 2 for next Tuesday, but am awaiting call-backs from several others. However, since we may have to deal with this problem on A4914, we will have a busy day just the same.