By Henry J. Stern
June 20, 2006
As the 2006 state legislature moves toward adjournment on Thursday or Friday,
attention is focused on the last-minute activities of that most dysfunctional
branch of government. Normally, many bills are enacted in the end-of-session
rush, some desirable, some inconsequential, and some dangerous, adopted with
many others in an effort to avoid public attention.
This Sunday the New York Times published a lead editorial, "Last Chance in
Albany.” It is a comprehensive round-up of bills awaiting action.
Since it was printed only in the New York City section of the paper (Section
14), many people who just look at the principal editorials (Section 4) may
have missed it.
You can read it now, or print it out to read it at your convenience, by clicking
"
Last
Chance in Albany.” We recommend you do that. The editorial
discusses bills of which the great majority of New Yorkers are unaware.
And Speaker Silver is only mentioned twice, the editorial is not a polemic.
Today's Daily News has two columns that refer to the legislature.
Bill
Hammond, on p33, writes “LET'S HEAR IT FOR ALBANY DYSFUNCTION.”
Hammond argues that many proposed bills are so bad that we are fortunate
that the two houses are unable to agree on them, and that they never reach
the governor's desk. His style is wry, one might say sardonic. His
point was aptly made by Dr. Hippocrates about 2450 years ago, "First, do
no harm."
We are often frustrated by Assembly inaction, but in the Daily News this
morning
Errol
Louis writes on p33 “PUNISHING THE INNOCENT, State Senate Refuses to
Fix Phone Fiasco for Inmates' Families.” The column describes how a
bill approved by the Assembly, to reduce high costs charged to inmates' families
for collect calls home, has languished in the Senate Finance Committee since
January. One must be unusually hard hearted to overcharge poor families
for phone calls, but it appears that the beneficiaries of this excessive
income include the State Department of Correctional Services as well as Verizon,
so we should call on Governor Pataki for assistance, along with James Earl
Jones.
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