Deep South Radio

State Government Leaders Came to An Agreement on the Budget, and Then They Got Nuts Again: Live From Albany.

Alas, the brief harmony that descended on Albany following Sunday afternoon’s budget agreement was to be short-lived.  

Hours after the joint conference committee hearing put a cap on the budget agreement, Senate Republicans sprang a surprise rules change on their Democratic colleagues by giving themselves more representation on two vital committees: Rules and Finance.

The changes, which were approved late Monday night with all Republican members and three Independent Democratic Conference members voting “yes,” would give the majority the ability to move bills from the Finance Committee to the Senate floor without having to go through the Rules Committee first. The changes would also allow a committee to sub in members an hour prior to meetings if any member were absent that day.

The last change seemed to spring from an attempted rules vote earlier in session when a measure failed to pass due to Sen. Kenneth LaValle’s absence. Under the proposed rules change, the majority counsel would only need an hour prior to the committee meeting to approve a substitute member.

Unsurprisingly, Democrats were incensed by the rules change.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of any process for establishing committees where you move the members on and off, with an hour’s notice,” said Sen. Liz Krueger, who called the proposed change, “fundamentally dangerous.”

The last fight over a rules vote took place in early February, the day before Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed his budget. That vote stripped Lt. Gov. Bob Duffy of his ability to cast a tie-breaking procedural vote.

Sen. Dan Squadron said that to propose a rules change on a day when the Senate should have been tying up the lose ends of the budget violated an existing rule requiring 48 hours notice prior to voting.

“This is in contradiction to good faith and transparency,” he said.

Deputy Majority Leader Tom Libous said the Republicans were doing as Democrats had during their brief turn in the majority, and cited rules changes enacted during the Senate coup as one example.

“As we have the votes, we have the prerogative to make the rules,” said Scott Reif, spokesperson for the Senate Republican conference.

Senate Democrats were particularly concerned that the rules changes had come about prior to final budget deliberations, expected to take place this week in advance of Friday’s budget deadline.

State Sen. David Carlucci was the only member of the Independent Democratic Conference to vote no on the change. As the session broke, someone cried out “Thank you David Carlucci! Thank you for doing what is right!”

When asked what had happened, Sen. Neil Breslin laughed. One of his aides stepped in to answer, “ What you just saw was petty politics at its worst.”

http://www.cityhallnews.com/newyork/article-1816-senate-democrats-blast-surprise-rules-changes-as-lddangerousrd.html