Speed cameras fading to black

ALBANY – New York City’s speed cameras were in jeopardy Wednesday as state lawmakers limped into the final hours of their annual session without an agreement to extend the expiring program.

Talks between Assembly and Senate leaders as well as Gov. Cuomo were expected to continue into the night in the hopes of reaching an agreement on speed cameras as well as a handful of other issues that lawmakers were still looking to resolve before they gaveled out for the year. Among the last-minute issues was a request from Cuomo for authority to begin work on a rail link to LaGuardia Airport.

“Still under discussion,” Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan (R-Suffolk County) said about the speed camera legislation late Wednesday. “Not finalized one way or the other.”

Democrats have blamed Senate Republicans and Brooklyn Democratic Sen. Simcha Felder, who sits with the GOP conference, for holding up the city’s request to renew and expand the program, which is set to expire July 25. The city wants to increase the number of cameras from 140 to 290.

“We will pass all those bills, and then it will be up to the Senate Republicans to decide whether they want to let the program lapse,” said Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx), who insisted he would not bring his members back to Albany after Wednesday’s session.