General Issues

This year like many in Albany we saw many big issues moved through the legislature, with many of the smaller ones ignored. We saw an on-time budget this year that allowed for lower school taxes across the state, and to the benefit of countless organizations. A constitutional amendment was finalized and sent to voters that would take back the power of the legislature to change the governor's budget language, and moved the budget due date to May 1st.

The other big thing that was defeated this session was the proposal to allow the NY Stadium to borrow obscene amounts of money to build a stadium for the NY Jets and the phantom Olympics 2012 bid. The West Side Stadium is now dead, but the governor and legislative leaders continue to promise to improve the Javits center. Also this year, we saw the NYPD reject Freedom Tower Plans for security reasons. Quickly a safer version was proposed.

In the last minutes of the sessions, we saw a bunch more money go to upstate nursing homes thanks to a push by 1199 lobbyists. We got new voting machines, or at least counties got the power to purchase some kind of system for their counties. It might just be Florida all over in New York. We also got over-the-counter access to Plan B day-after-pill, which will do a lot to prevent accidental pregnancies. When you get a bit frisky in the back of the truck unprotected, then you might be able to avoid the horrors of seeing your love one get an abortion.

A lot of things didn't happen. Republicans tried to milk our fear of Child Molesters to greatly expand Megan's Law. They failed to come up with some kind of agreement in the last minutes of session and it expired on July 1st. At the same time, the Senate once again killed Timothy's law, which would have made affordable mental health services to those who have health insurance. Many of us are lucky enough to be able to afford an analyst, but some like Tim O'Clair weren't so lucky. This year holding diminished promise for this bill, ultimately stopped it for another year.

Rural New York Issues

Closer to home we saw several bills stall in the legislature. The bigger bottle bill, supported both by environmentalists and the farm bureau, stalled when grocers protested and said they wanted dirty used bottles in their stores. Joe Bruno remarked that we don't need to mandate people buy pickup trucks to get bottles back to the store. And how do you get your trash to the transfer station? We need this bill, as it would give more money for everything from farmland protection to increasing recycling programs. We need less littering, and it would be good for civic goods.

We saw a bill that would make riding in the back of pickup trucks illegal for all uses. Current law allows trips less then 10 miles in the bed of a pickup. While most of us don't recommend riding in the back of trucks for long rides, it makes sense for short trips out to fields and back, particularly when you can't put a lot of people in the cab. The Assembly passed it right away, but Republicans protested against it. The Senate hasn't considered it yet.

The burn barrel bill was back. The farm bureau marked this as a priority issue to oppose, stronger then the past. The exemptions for organic matter that was put in there years ago divided the farm community. While most of us don't like standing down wind to burning trash, Chris LaRoe over at the farm bureau probably was right when he said the effect of rural people burning trash on air quality is less then that of the traffic on the Tappazee Bridge. Mark Hansen, communications director for Joe Bruno says that the Senate isn't interested in passing this bill. Still another year for action, but don't expect much next year as the Senate has killed similar bills for over a decade.

The four wheeling front was mixed. The Assembly quickly passed the riding-and-trespassing as jail able offense quickly. The Senate followed. Farm people don't want ATVs tearing up their crops or making a mess of their woods. That is understandable, but do we need new crimes? Already the ATV law is confusing and gives us little place to ride. We also saw the big ATV Master Plan hearings, and are awaiting final results on setting a policy for riding on state lands. Most people from environmentalists to riders left frustrated and confused with the contradictory language in VLT law and the ENCON law.

The legislature finally created a dedicated fund for the construction of both private and public ATV trails from the now raised $25 yearly registration fee. The money is being saved this year, but without other legislation that allows it to be spent for any projects, it just sits earmarked for the future. Four-wheelers' had great hope that the money will be spent and not eaten by the state like in 1990. It looks like for now that nothing will happen on this bill.

We saw the US Supreme Court knock down laws prohibiting the direct interstate shipment of wine across state lines. That means once the legislature changes the state law, wineries will be able to easily ship out of state, and directly to customers. Some are concerned about underage drinking, but how many get drunk on a nice Chardonnay? Selling more wine and making New York competitive will help the many smaller wineries. This is essential in the Hudson Valley where sprawl and high taxes are destroying the beauty of the area.

We saw tough new legislation that was needed to deal with rural New York's methamphetamine problems. Drug dealers are coming out to the country to get anhydrous ammonia for their toxic stews. The byproducts of meth production will burn the skin when touched, explode when burned, and too often just get dumped on the side of the road. Clean-up requires haz-mat crews. The new law makes it a class-E felony to break into a farm and steal anhydrous ammonia for use in meth production. This was badly needed as anhydrous ammonia is a dangerous synthetic nitrogen fertilizer often used in the production of cow corn. The bill also makes it a felony to posses the materials with the intent to make methamphetamine. While concerning on civil liberties grounds, this was needed to prosecute this blight. Again, prosecutors have to prove intent.

Hunting season was changed around by regulatory fiefdom of the DEC. We got a shorter muzzleloader season, a gun season that starts on the third Saturday of November, and a longer late archery system. Many people are hoping for a bigger take as it will mean less crop destruction. The DEC cut doe permits as they say deer populations are down. The DEC is really pushing youth archery, and hopes to get more youth gun hunters out with the Saturday season. Like farming, hunting is an endangered species unless we get more people out there.

We saw some cases of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) out in Central NY on some deer farms that raise deer for canned shoots. This is concerning as if this expands to larger wild herds, it could lead to a big drop in deer takes. The Assembly and Senate held a joint hearing on the matter and they heard from some experts on the field such as Ward Stone. This is very scary for the deer hunters out there who enjoy when the third week of November rolls around once again.

The future of the Community Preservation Act looks bright with both the governor and the legislature supporting in general the creation of a less then 2% tax on real-estate sales. This would be an opt-in program for communities across the state who wanted to collect revenue to protect farmland, historic buildings, and other things that give communities character. This would do much to compliment our existing tools such as Comprehensive Town Plans, Zoning, and density restrictions.

Another bill that didn't get acted on but might be rather uncontroversial is the Smart Infrastructure Act. It would require the state to follow smart planning in building new roads and other infrastructure. There are some protections through zoning and the SERQ law, but we could do better if the state had to follow one standard state wide when constructing new infrastructure. It's designed to be flexible and let's hope that it passes next year. Sprawl is the number one environmental problem our nation faces.

Conclusions

Session is over for this year. For Albany it was a banner year for getting things done. We saw lobbying reform, an on time budget, laws against meth production, and the Plan B pill over the counter. Yet many of us feel that we got left with nearly nothing. The Bottle Bill was killed. Community Preservation Act for all its hype didn't make it through the process. Bills banning trash burning and riding in the back of pickups died. Tough new trespassing on farmland law was passed. We loss little and gained almost nothing.