Leaders confab on plan of action

By JOHN GRYBOS
Legislative Gazette Staff Writer

First published in The Legislative Gazette, May 14, 2007

With the legislative session rapidly coming to a close, legislative leaders joined Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Lt. Gov. David Paterson last Wednesday to lay out priorities for the remaining six weeks at the first of what are expected to be weekly six-way leadership sessions.

Although the leaders "have different ideological perspectives," Spitzer said rising above disagreement to find issues that are important to the people of the state, and that the leaders can agree on, "is the nature of our business here, in representing the public."

Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco, R,C,I-Schenectady, said, "This is the day I've been waiting for in my 25 years as an elected official. This is exactly the type of effort the people of New York state expect from us."

Top among the leaders' priorities is following through on plans to bring International Sematech to New York's Tech Valley.

The leaders want to entice Sematech to the Capital Region with $300 million over the next five years. The anticipated arrival of the semiconductor research consortium currently based in Austin, Texas was plugged by Sen. Joseph L. Bruno, R,C,I-Brunswick, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D,WF-Manhattan. Silver said he hoped to pass the bill to fund the program this week.

Sematech announced last Wednesday it plans to relocate its headquarters from Texas to the Empire State.

Bruno said, "We've got to market. We're in a competitive world and we've got to compete." He said it's important to focus on businesses that are likely to move to New York and create jobs, especially Upstate.

On campaign finance reform, Bruno continued to stick to his guns, and told Spitzer, "You're going to have a tough time." He reiterated that New Yorkers aren't concerned with the issue and want to see lower taxes and faster economic development. "I would recommend we move past that because it's going to bog us down."

Article X also topped the list of leaders' priorities. "It's the next big push - to get energy into the state's grid," said Spitzer. Article X, which has lapsed, regulates the siting of power plants in the state. Without Article X, no new power plants can be built to meet the increasing demand for electricity.

"It's a key issue that we're going to have to deal with really soon," said Silver. Siting and building a large power plant takes at least five years, and without a system to facilitate the process, plants can't be built fast enough to meet energy demand.

Moving on to another issue, Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith, D,WF-St. Albans, said sub-prime lending should be looked at carefully, with thousands of foreclosures expected for families and individuals who may not have known what the fiscal consequences of sub-prime lending could be.

Finding a "suitable substitute" for the New York Racing Association before December 31, when its franchise agreement to run the state's thoroughbred tracks expires, should be accomplished this session, said Bruno.

Spitzer agreed, calling the track in Saratoga "the gem of the racing world," and the state government "has got to do better" at keeping thoroughbred racing viable in New York state. He cautioned that NYRA's replacement might not be decided on in the next few weeks.

Also, Spitzer said he'd like to focus of reforming Wicks Law, which he called a burden on local governments and taxpayers. The law requires several separate contracts for any government or school construction projects costing more than $50,000. Those who oppose Wicks argue the multiple bidding requirement can inflate construction costs by 20 to 30 percent.

The governor also listed his healthy children agenda among his priorities. The Healthy Schools Act "will have enormous long-term implications" on the future of New York's youth, he said.

Tedisco on the other hand voiced concern over efforts to prohibit schools from having contracts with soft drink companies, because they give schools much-needed income for extracurricular activities. Forcing schools to break those contracts may leave schools without funding for sports and other after-school programs, he said.

But Spitzer pointed out that the major soft drink manufacturers have diversified greatly in recent years and sell juice and milk products as well as their flagship sugary concoctions. The problems can be worked around, Spitzer said.

Limiting children's access to violent media, like R-rated films and mature-rated video games, is another important initiative to protect today's youth, said Spitzer. "There are very real constitutional boundaries we have to be respective of," so the state government must exercise care in crafting a bill, Spitzer said.

In the realm of criminal justice, Spitzer listed human trafficking legislation and an expanded DNA database to aid investigators.

Also Bruno said he wants to pursue the death penalty for cop killers.

The leaders also addressed their priorities for economic development in the state.

The list Bruno offered included a hard look at the state's brownfields program. "We kind of lost sight of how important it is to develop brownfields," especially in municipalities like Buffalo, the majority leader said. Agreeing, Spitzer said the program "hasn't played out as effectively as we had hoped."

Silver's extended list included reforming the Empire Zone program, which he said gives state dollars out for job creation without reliably creating jobs.

Addressing the needs of local governments was a priority for Tedisco, who said the state should consider sending professionals to county governments to help them consolidate public services and save taxpayers money.

As the meeting closed, Bruno suggested Spitzer take the combined priorities list from the conference and extract the most important issues that are most likely to find consensus among the leaders to focus on. "We'll maybe end up stuck" on one issue or another unless agreement is possible, Bruno said.

Spitzer said "all issues are important, but perhaps not equally important," and selecting the most pressing issues to work on is a good idea, though he still plans "to march forward on many fronts."