Deep South Radio

What senators passed before same-sex marriage

By LAURA NAHMIAS

While the Senate stalled on momentous issues like rent regulations, property taxes and gay marriage last week, it still pursued the people’s business. Here are some of the bills senators passed instead:

—Thinking of buying that Edsel? Get ready to pony up an extra Benjamin. The Senate voted on a bill to require an additional $100 registration fee for any antique car.

—Queens Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. sponsored and passed a bill to outlaw flashy LED license plates. They’re distracting, apparently—more so than all of the other flashy things one can see while driving in Queens.

—A culture war ensued over a bill to make the state’s September 11 Remembrance Flag the official September 11 Remembrance Flag.

—A bill passed prohibiting the sale of bear gallbladders.

—Nik Wallenda (of the Flying Wallendas) is now legally permitted to walk across Niagara Falls on a tightrope, by order of the Legislature.

—A bill passed that would allow commercial companies applying pesticides to use less than is suggested on the pesticide label.

—A bill to make sweet corn the official state vegetable of New York passed in the Senate, although a debate subsequently ensued over whether corn is, in fact, a vegetable at all—apparently it is considered a grain when fed to cows, and a vegetable when eaten by humans.
Corn beat out the onion, which was favored by freshman Sen. David Carlucci, who eventually ended up voting in favor of corn against his own candidate. As a consolation, the Senate passed a bill designating July 25 a day of state appreciation for the onion, and Carlucci got made fun of by Jon Stewart on “The Daily Show.”

—A bill passed to place a $1 tax cap on cigars.

—Convicted felons are now legally prohibited from not only purchasing regular firearms but also “antique firearms, black powder firearms or muzzle-loading firearms.”

—A bill passed authorizing the creation of a commission to study why people sometimes drive the wrong way on the highway.

Notably, none of the above bills had any reported fiscal implications for the state beyond the per diem costs the lawmakers received to remain in session past the scheduled end date.