A Perfect Opportunity to Take New Senate Rules for a Spin
With yesterday's votes in
Washington and
Maine concerning the rights of same-sex couples, New Yorkers may be wondering about the status of our own state's
proposal to extend marriage rights to gay couples.
On Tuesday, New York Magazine blog Daily Intel ran a
story
stating that Senate leadership appears unlikely to bring the marriage
bill that has been languishing in the chamber for months to the floor
for a vote.
This may be no surprise to those who were following
this story in the spring.
Then,
as now, bill sponsor Tom Duane and senate leadership have a fairly good
idea who is in favor of and who is against the bill, but voters do not.
The Daily Intel post reports that there are 25 or 26 Democratic votes
and three or four Republican votes in favor of the bill, but nobody's
naming names. That means that voters who want their elected
representatives to vote a certain way on the bill have no way of
knowing if they need to get in touch with their senators.
One of the rules reforms passed after the end of the Senate coup in
July would solve both the problem of leadership's reluctance to move
the bill to the floor and anonymity with respect to senators' positions
on the issue. It's called a petition for chamber consideration, and it
allows the bill sponsor to request that a bill receive a timely floor
vote. If three fifths of the chamber - or 37 senators - sign the
petition, the bill is considered on the first legislative day after
four days have passed. By signing the petition - a public document
under New York's open records law - senators can go on the record with
their support of the bill and force the legislation to the floor
without the blessing of chamber leadership.
The new Senate rules - perhaps the only redeeming thing about the
coup that deadlocked the chamber for a month this summer - included
a lot of good changes, but the real test is yet to come: members of the Senate actually have to take advantage of their new rights.
After decades of secrecy and leadership stranglehold over the
legislative process, rank and file members finally have an opportunity
to speak for themselves. But will they take it?
originally posted on ReformNY.
