Do-little Legislature

Pols sink to low in bills passed

It was a bad year for Albany — even by the state Legislature’s abysmal standards of productivity.

Dogged by scandals and partisan bickering, lawmakers passed the fewest number of bills in the past four years, a slowdown that state Capitol observers worry will have farreaching consequences.

The Assembly and Senate signed off on just 619 two-house bills during the session that ended June 18, down from 718 passed last year, 658 in 2014 and 650 in 2013, according to records compiled by New York StateWatch.

Far fewer bills are likely to become law.

Cuomo has signed fewer bills on average each year (655) than any other governor in the past century, a number that will further drop this year.

That hasn’t stopped lawmakers from introducing and recycling their halfbitten proposals; they introduced a staggering 18,421 bills in 2015-16, even more than the previous two-year cycle (17,954), records show.

The lackluster session started off on a sour note with the convictions of former legislative leaders Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos and never gained momentum. “The focus on wrongdoing comes with a price and that price was visible in things that didn’t get done,” said former Westchester Assemblyman Richard Brodsky. “It was harder to do deals and get agreements.”

And Cuomo’s feud with Mayor de Blasio stalled the city’s receipt of nearly $2 billion in new housing funds, failed to revive an affordable-housing tax break and limited de Blasio’s control over city schools to one year.

Lawmakers did act on issues of gambling and booze — legalizing fantasy-sports sites and lifting the blue law that banned alcohol sales before noon on Sundays.

But the session was far more notable for what didn’t get done.

Cuomo vetoed a legislature-backed proposal to reform the Port Authority. His proposal to improve CUNY and SUNY governance stalled in March. And the state’s ambitious plans to expand its road, bridge, subway and rail projects remain unfunded, which worries experts.

“A lot of the infrastructure ideas that have been proposed are excellent ideas but I haven’t seen how they will be funded,” said former Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch.