Squadron Declares Rules Matter In Legislative Process
Brooklyn Heights State Sen. Daniel Squadron railed yesterday at the GOP controlled senate’s new rules of order that gives the breakaway Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) and its leader Bronx Sen. Jeff Klein a leg up in having their proposed legislative bills heard.
The IDC and GOP formed a majority coalition at the end of 2012, when Republicans fell into a numerical minority in the Senate. However, now that the GOP is in the majority, the IDC no longer has the same clout, but were still given advantages in how legislation is brought to the floor and debated.
Under the new rules, Klein will no longer co-lead the majority conference with GOP House majority leader Sen. Dean Skelos, but the five-member IDC will be allowed to lay aside one bill on the active list in a given day. Additionally, the IDC will be allowed to request bills placed on the Senate’s active list with a star next to them denoting it’s their bill.
Squadron, in an impassioned speech on the senate floor, said that to have it written in the rules of how bills are introduced and brought to action for debate smacks of a partisanship that undermines the merits of any bill.
“The fact that these are being written into the rules here raises an important question. Why for these functions especially can’t all three conference leaders be consulted. Obviously, the number of votes in the house are the number of votes in the house, but where the Democratic Conference leader Senator Stewart-Cousins is also consulted and also brought to the table on these questions,” Squadron said.
“Rules that create non-partisan collaboration and empower committees would lead to a fairer Senate and a more effective democracy,” he added.
Klein, meanwhile, told reporters the most important thing is the IDC is able to get things done. “We’ll still be able to bring bills to the floor. We’re still going to have a role in the budget process. We’re still going to have a role in the day-to-day running of the Senate,” he said.
Menchaca Sinks City’s Takeover Of South Brooklyn Marine Terminal
Sunset Park Freshman City Councilman Carlos Menchaca rejected a plan for the city’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) to take the reins of the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, the Daily News reported.
The de Blasio Administration wanted the EDC to take over leasing the 11-acre pier with hopes it could generate 350 jobs tied to shipping the delivery of automobiles and other large goods.
But Menchaca, who is considered an ally of de Blasio’s progressive movement, said giving total control over the Marine Terminal to the city usurps any community involvement on who and how the terminal is leased and run. As an alternative, he’d like to see a special development corporation established to manage the terminal similar to the successful Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation.
Menchaca argues that the establishment of this type of authority would allow for greater job creation and community involvement within the heavily immigrant district he represents.
“They are asking me to remove myself from my charter-mandated role to provide oversight,” Menchaca told reporters. “This is an agency in a new administration with the same old historical tricks; that leaves the community out in the dust, and that needs to change.”
EDC President Kyle Kimball said Menchaca’s thumbs down on the plan sends “a chilling message to potential operators that Sunset Park may not be open for business.”
Menchaca’s rejection of the city’s plan is more than just words as under city law the local councilman has to be on board for the project to move forward.
Bratton To Speak at Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce Breakfast
NYPD Police Commissioner William Bratton is scheduled as the keynote speaker at the next Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce’s Legislative Breakfast.
