Should this Bill to reduce our generated State’s garbage by 85% be reintroduced?

NYS has always been a leader in waste reduction.  In fact, there are only two states, Vermont and Oregon, that have a better ranking on eco-friendly behaviors.  And so, it was a surprise to find the Governor vetoed Assembly bill 4117 last November to source reduce, reuse, recycle, or compost no less than 85 percent of the solid waste generated by 2032 and annually thereafter.  Both the members of the Assembly and the Senate believed this was an attainable goal with proper planning.  It is with this thought that the Environment Conservation Law was to have added wording to mandate that the Department of Conservation would submit a report to the governor and the legislature outlining strategies to achieve the state’s goal.

Should a Bill to direct the Department of Economic Development to conduct a study of public and private museums in NYS be reintroduced?

Assembly bill A9710 was vetoed by the Governor.  If passed not only would it direct the Department of Economic Development, in conjunction with other departments and entities, to conduct a comprehensive study of public and private museums, including taking a census of public and private museums in the state but it would also report the findings and recommendations of such study.

The information it would gather includes information on the size, hours of operation,  visitor statistics, funding sources  and amounts,  and the subjects of the museum’s collections, of the many museums throughout the state. It would also identify the benefits,  shortfalls, and consequences of the different sources of support museums receive publicly and those they must find privately. And it would provide information and recommendations so as to inform the legislature of the adequacy of public and private sources of funding for museums in the state and to serve current and future funding needs,  recommend systems of support to best ensure equitable distribution of such funds, regardless of discipline, budget size, or location, and the continued accessibility and availability of museums promoting a  general interest in cultural and historical topics, fine arts, physical and natural sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and to determine the feasibility of a single reporting system that includes active oversight.

Should this bill to establish a temporary commission to study aging in place in mental health housing be reintroduced?

Assembly bill A10139 was vetoed by the Governor.  If it had passed it would have made recommendations for such things as:

(a)  providing  solutions for removing barriers to ensure residents of community-based mental health housing programs can successfully age in place while receiving adequate care;

(b) identifying policy, procedure, or regulatory changes that  aim  to remove  barriers  to  residents of community-based mental health housing programs to receive both mental health and medical care,  including  the ability  to hire health care professionals, including but not limited to nurses and/or health home aides;

(c) an action plan  for  making  residences  American  Disability  Act compliant;

(d)  necessary  training for residential staff to understand the needs of the elderly for which they are providing care; and

(e) types of assistance to consider when transporting residents to medical appointments and ensuring the proper follow-up occurs.

NY Bill A5321 Revisited – Should business relationships have no conflict of interests?

Every once in a while a bill needs to be revisited that had previously been vetoed by the Governor.  Let your Representative know if this is one of those bills that should be reintroduced. 

The bill was A5321 and it would have made it mandatory to report business relationships as it relates to certain employees of the SUNY and CUNY systems.  The term “reportable business relationship” in this bill mean a relationship in which compensation is paid by a lobbyist or by  a  client  of  a lobbyist,  in exchange for any goods, services or anything of value, the total value of which is in excess of one thousand dollars  annually,  to be  performed  or provided by or intended to be performed or provided by

(i) any statewide  elected  official,  state  officer,  state  employee,member of the legislature or legislative employee, or

(ii) any entity in  which  the  lobbyist  or the client of a lobbyist knows or has reason to know the statewide elected  official,  state  officer,  state  employee,member of the legislature or legislative employee is a proprietor, partner,  director,  officer  or manager, or owns or controls ten percent or more of the stock of such entity (or one percent in the case of a corporation whose stock is regularly  traded  on  an  established  securities exchange).  PROVIDED,  HOWEVER,  THAT  SUCH  TERM  SHALL NOT INCLUDE ANY RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AN INDIVIDUAL AND A

COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY, AS  SUCH TERMS  ARE  DEFINED IN SECTION TWO OF THE EDUCATION LAW, WHEN SUCH INDIVIDUAL’S ONLY STATE EMPLOYMENT IS THROUGH THE STATE  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEW YORK  OR THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AS A PROFESSOR, ADJUNCT PROFESSOR, LECTURER, INSTRUCTOR, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR,  OR SIMILAR  TEACHING  ROLE AND IS EMPLOYED IN A SIMILAR ROLE AT THE COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY.

One would believe that full transparency would be the best  practice scenario; especially when considering millions of dollars is spent in this field.   This is one reason why there is a database on lobbyist groups in NYS at Home Page | New York State Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government (ny.gov) .  Yet despite both the Assembly and the Senate finding this bill to have merit, the Governor vetoed it. 

Do you believe it should be reintroduced?  If so please contact your Representative.

To find out who your representative is you can click this link: State & Federal  Elected Officials