By Sen. Darrel J. Aubertine
I knew long before I was elected as a State Senator that every organization has room for improvement. I expected the state Senate to be no different. However, what I have found in Albany the last five months is an organization and a system that stands in the way of doing what is best for the people of this state.
To put it bluntly, our State Senate is broken and needs to be changed.
In recent years, many of us have talked with friends and neighbors, relatives and co-workers, about how the dysfunction in Albany holds us back. In recent months, this dysfunction has had a direct impact on us here as the bills I carried at the request of local governments were ignored and brushed aside by the majority for political gain. But the dysfunction does not stop with the current leadership holding up home rule requests. It impacts all of us, every day.
New Yorkers, especially all of us here in the 48th Senate District, face serious challenges when it comes to our property taxes, gas prices and our economy. There is no shortage of possible solutions in Albany. But these solutions go nowhere, year after year, despite public demand. Instead, we witness more in the way of political games than action on these very real issues.
I believe the problem is the very structure of the State Senate, from the broken rules that stop bipartisan solutions from moving forward, to the misplaced priorities that put politics above all else. To address this, we must pass a package of reforms that will change the way the Senate operates and put the people and their representatives back in charge:
Open Sponsorship – Currently, minority members are blocked from co-sponsoring majority bills, unless Senate leadership allows it. I was told I had to remove my name from the Senate’s junior hunting bill so the majority would let it pass. I did so to let the bill to become law. No legislator should be forced to do that. Elected members of the Senate should have the right to co-sponsor legislation, regardless of party affiliation, to encourage bipartisan cooperation on the issues that matter to everyday people. I have co-sponsored legislation that will allow any member of the Senate to support legislation regardless of party.
Automatic Conference Committees – When similar but not identical bills pass the Senate and the Assembly, there is no standard process to work out the difference. So-called one house bills sit idle if just one word is different between the versions from each house. This blocks reasonable solutions from becoming law. I have co-sponsored legislation to create automatic conference committees to work out the difference between similar bills.
Home Rule Priority Consideration – We need to make sure home rule bills generated locally can get at least a committee vote without relying on the approval of majority leadership. It is no coincidence that the majority blocked all local bills sponsored by me or Sen. Craig Johnson. It had nothing to do with how hard we advocated for these bills. It had everything to do with election year politics. I will be sponsoring legislation that will make sure that regardless of party or status in the majority/minority, home rule legislation at least gets an up or down vote.
Equalized Office Resources – In probably the most obvious example of the Senate’s partisan dysfunction, resources for each office are doled out not based on need, but based on politics. While every Senate district represents about 300,000 people, offices have vastly different resources based on majority or minority status. My office is doing with only eight employees the same work my predecessor did with 14 or more staff members. In addition, my request to use donated space at SUNY Oswego’s campus as a satellite office was denied by the majority. Because I believe that this district needs two district offices, I’m going to open it anyway. To address these inequities, I have co-sponsored a bill that will equalize resources for Senate offices.
These changes are needed. And these are reforms I will support no matter what else changes over the next year, because I believe public service should not be based on party politics. In the Assembly I pushed for changes in how the house conducts its business, and we made critical strides. As your state Senator, I will continue pushing to be sure that our voice is heard, not through the filter of leadership, but directly from our representative.
You can be certain the powers that be in Albany will not like these bills, nor will they take kindly to this reform agenda. But today, I feel the winds of change blowing stronger than ever before. This is beyond Republican or Democrat. It is about creating a State Senate that is open, responsive and responsible to the people we represent.
The future of New Yorkâ€â€Âour economic development, relief from burdensome taxes, improved health care, and solutions to our fuel crisisâ€â€Âdepends on this real change. Together, we can take back our government and take control of our future.
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