PREMATURE WRAP-UP
State legislators review completed session as Cuomo orders their return
COLONIE, N.Y. » Even though the state Legislature officially ended its annual session last week, legislators will be heading back to work Wednesday to deal with some unfinished business.
On Tuesday, though, several local legislators gathered at the Hearst Media Center to look back over the session and over their assessments and what was and wasn’t accomplished. But even before they could look back, they were informed of the announcement by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office that he was ordering the extraordinary legislative session primarily to grant New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio another year of control over the city’s public school system, which serves 1.1 million students.
Legislators were not sure what, if any, other issues will come before them, including what has for many years been a routine, two-year extension of state legislation allowing individual counties to collect sales tax above and beyond terms set by the state. Rensselaer County officials said last week the failure to extend that legislation could cost county taxpayers as much as $20 million a year in revenue used for everything from public safety and youth, senior and veteran services to road maintenance.
“We did receive notice
late last night that the governor has called us back into session for 1 p.m. Wednesday,” said Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy, D-Albany. “In terms of details, there are no details, so it’s not clear that a full agreement has been reached. We’re still waiting to hear more on mayoral control and also on things like sales tax extenders.”
State Sen. James Tedisco, R-Glenville, said members of his house had not received any official word yet as to when, or even if, they will be called back to the Capitol.
“We usually at least get two days notice before we’re told that we have to come back,” explained Tedisco, “but we don’t have to come back at the same time as the Assembly, so we could come back sometime later this week, too.”
The group of legislators — which also included Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin, R-Schaghticoke, and Neil Breslin, D-Albany, then went on to review some of the accomplishments during this year’s session.
“One important accomplishment for me is the Raise the Age bill,” said Breslin. “We raised the age to send kids to family court for non-violent crimes, so I think that is an extremely important piece of legislation. The Uber legislation [allowing ridesharing services in upstate New York] is a wonderful piece of legislation that will prevent a lot of drunken-driving charges.”
For McLaughlin, his biggest victory was getting some much-needed attention for the residents of Hoosick Falls, who have been dealing for nearly two years with the contamination of municipal and private water sources with a reputed cancer-causing chemical, perfluorooctanoic acid, that had been used for decades at what is now the production plant for Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics on McCaffrey Street in the village.
“I told [Assembly] Speaker Carl Heastie that I was not happy with what was going on in Hoosick Falls and the lack of response in the beginning,” McLaughlin explained. “We ended up getting those hearings in Hoosick Falls, and I do think, as a result not of my advocacy, but because of the people of Hoosick Falls, we are now testing for PFOA statewide.”
Legislators also highlighted issues they also felt were important but that weren’t addressed. McLaughlin specifically called on legislators to extend those sales tax agreements.
“We have to come back and do the sales tax extenders because those are vital for our counties,” said McLaughlin.
For the most part, the group agreed in their individual assessments of the relationship between Cuomo and the state Legislature.
“This is a man that has a personality that wants to get things done,” Tedisco observed, “and he wants to get them done his way. His way sometimes means that the three branches of government becomes me, myself and I. He’s not afraid to use his power, either.”
McLaughlin, a vocal foe of the governor, took the criticism farther, saying Cuomo has alienated many legislators on both sides.
“The relationship between the governor and the state Legislature is not good from my perspective,” said McLaughlin, who is currently running to replace fellow Republican Kathleen Jimino as Rensselaer County executive, “and I think that my colleagues on both sides of the isle would tend to agree. I think the governor is struggling right now because of some heavyhanded tactics he has deployed over and over again that [brings into question] his ability to deal with the Legislature in a respectful way.”