Government Affairs Council
Update
January 20, 2006
Summary of the Governor's Proposed Budget
The Government Affairs staff has compiled a summary of the major provisions of the Governor's proposed 2006-07 budget.
We have also provided a link to the
official budget documents from the
Division of Budget.
Special Elections on February 28
Special elections will be held February 28th to fill six vacancies in the Assembly and one in the state Senate.
- In the 60th Senate District, Democratic incumbent Byron Brown was elected mayor of Buffalo in November.
- In the 8th Assembly District, Republican Thomas Barraga was elected to the Suffolk County Legislature last year.
- In the 17th AD, Republican Maureen O'Connell resigned after her election as Nassau County clerk.
- In the 59th AD in Brooklyn, Democrat Frank Seddio quit the Assembly after being elected to a Surrogate Court judgeship.
- In the 67th AD in Manhattan, Democrat Scott Stringer resigned after his election as Manhattan Borough president.
- In the 74th AD in Manhattan, Democrat Steven Sanders resigned to become a lobbyist.
- In the 139th AD in western New York, Republican Charles Nesbitt resigned his seat and his post as Assembly minority leader to take a Pataki appointment to the state Tax Appeals Tribunal.
New "Gift" Standard
for Lobbyists
Staff Contact: Ken
Pokalsky
The staff of the Temporary State Commission on Lobbying has issued new draft guidelines regarding the $75 cap on gifts from lobbyists and/or their clients to public officials, saying that the value of all gifts to a public official shall be aggregated over the calendar year to determine whether the $75 threshold has been exceeded. Previously, the Commission had interpreted the $75 cap as applying on a per event/per gift basis. While the legal status of this new standard has been questioned, Lobby Commission Executive Director David Grandeau has said that they are enforcing this new interpretation in 2006 and will continue to enforce it unless or until the Lobby Commission rules otherwise.
The Lobbying Act says that "No person or organization required to file a statement or report pursuant to this article shall offer or give a gift with a value in excess of seventy-five dollars to any public official as defined within this article." This means that both client organizations and lobbyists are subject to the new interpretation of the $75 per year threshold. For example, a lobbyist with multiple clients would be limited to an aggregate $75 in gifts to a specific legislator, irrespective of how many clients he or she represented; a client organization with multiple lobbyists would likewise be restricted to the $75 aggregate limit for each legislator.
This new Lobby Commission ruling is similar to the position taken by the State Ethics Commission. The Ethics Commission, whose jurisdiction applies to Executive branch employees and statewide elected officials, has long interpreted the Public Officers Law $75 cap as applying on a 12 month aggregate basis.
Click here for the Commission's new guidance. They will be reviewed at the Commission's next meeting on February 8.
2006 Legislative Session Calendar
Click here for the 2006 Legislative Session Calendar, which has been officially released by Senator Bruno and Speaker Silver. Note there is a week off at the end of May for political conventions.
High
Speed Rail Study Released
Staff
Contact: Tom
Minnick
The report presented to the Senate
Task Force on High Speed Rail last
week was released this week and is
available on the New
York State Senate High Speed Rail Task
Force web page.
John Egan, Executive Director of the Task Force Work Group will brief The Business Council Transportation Committee on the report at its next meeting on February 7, 2006.
Updating
Your Contact Information
Staff Contact: Karen
Derenzo
As we strive to continue to send our members valuable information, the communication door needs to be open and in working order. To keep you aprised of weekly legislative information, we ask you to please keep your contact information up to date with us. It seems that changing email addresses is becoming a very common thing these days, and trying to keep up with 750 email addresses can be a challenging task for me. I just wanted to pass along a small note, that if you do change your contact information (title, address, phone or fax number, email address), please let me know as soon as possible. Thank you, I appreciate your cooperation.
