THE NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS: AN ...

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16 THE NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS: AN EVALUATION AND BLUEPRINT FOR REFORM be made before that, but require two-thirds vote to pass), both Ohio chambers (30 days), and the New Jersey Senate (60 days). 113 ■ Deadline for Discharge Motions of Second Tuesday in April. New York places a uniquely long ban on motions to discharge after a specified deadline, namely, the second Tuesday in April, “except with unanimous consent of the members or in the discretion of the Temporary President [in the Senate, or the Speaker in the Assembly].” 114 The only other four chambers with similar blackout periods have made them quite brief, ranging from the last two to seven days of the session. 115 Even more striking, in ten chambers there are methods to expedite motions to discharge later in the session, generally through deadlines related either to the length of time a committee has had a bill or to the end of the session. 116 New York provides no such methods. This deadline, in conjunction with the 60-day waiting period, effectively reduces the period of time during which a motion to discharge can be introduced by three months and precludes such motions at the end of the session when the legislators focus their attention on passing bills. ■ Discharge Motions Must Remain on Calendar for Five Days. A motion to discharge must be on the calendar for a longer period of time (five days) in New York than in any of the 76 state chambers with express procedures. 117 ■ Leadership Action Required for Discharge Motions. New York’s legislative leaders play an unusually prominent role in discharging a bill from committee, albeit indirectly, because the extremely restrictive rules on timing can be overridden only by the discretion of the Senate Majority Leader 118 or Speaker, or by the unanimous consent of the chamber. In only six other chambers is leadership action directly required for discharge. In the Arizona Senate, the President alone can act upon petitions to discharge; in the Florida Senate, the Chair of the Committee on Rules & Calendar alone can make the motion to discharge after a request from the bill’s sponsor; in the Illinois Legislature, the Rules Committee alone handles bills after the committee deadline has passed by choosing to discharge or to re-refer; and in the Maine Legislature, deadlines for committee action are set and enforced by the Speaker and the President. Sixty-eight of the 76 chambers with explicit discharge procedures allow members to vote or petition to discharge directly. 119 ■ Debate on Discharge Motions Limited. New York’s Senate is one of only a handful of chambers that limit debate on motions to discharge: 120 in the Senate, the motion’s sponsor “shall have five minutes to explain said motion, and no other explanation or debate on the motion or upon the canvass of agreement shall be permitted by any member.” 121 Only six other chambers have special debate limits on the motion to discharge. 122 See Fig. 5. One Senate observer noted in 1975 with respect to discharge motions that “[n]o
FIGURE 5 RESTRICTIONS ON MOTIONS TO DISCHARGE LEGISLATION FROM COMMITTEES IN CHAMBERS WITH EXPRESS PROCEDURES Sponsor Leaders Only Waiting Must Must Act Leader Period (Days) Make or Debate for Can Vote Number of Waiting Period After Session After Petition Concur with Is Discharge Override State Body Required Restrictions Referral to Committee Deadline Motion Made Required Motion Restricted to Occur Restrictions Alabama House 50% 1 1 Alabama Senate 60% 1 6 days 0 Alaska House 50% 0 0 Alaska Senate 50% 0 0 Arizona House 60% 1 0 ■ Arizona Senate 60% 3 ■ 0 ■ ■ Arkansas House 67% 0 0 Arkansas Senate 50% 1 20 days 0 California House 50% 0 0 California Senate 50% 0 0 Connecticut House 50% 1 1 week after action deadline 0 Connecticut Senate 50% 1 1 week after action deadline 0 Delaware House 50% 1 12 legislative days 0 Florida House 67% 0 0 Florida Senate 67% 2 0 ■ ■ Georgia House 67% 1 10 legislative days 0 Hawaii House 33% 1 20 days 0 Hawaii Senate 33% 1 20 days 0 Idaho House 50% 1 5 days 0 Idaho Senate 33% 2 3 days 1 Illinois House 50% 2 1 ■ Illinois Senate 60% 1 0 ■ Iowa House 50% 1 18 legislative days 0 Iowa Senate 50% 1 15 legislative days 0 Kansas House 56% 3 10 legislative days 1 ■ Kansas Senate 60% 2 1 ■ Kentucky House 50% 2 1 ■ Kentucky Senate 50% 1 1 Louisiana House 50% 0 0 Louisiana Senate 50% 0 0 Maine House n/a 2 0 ■ ■ Maine Senate n/a 2 0 ■ ■ Massachusetts House 50% 2 45 days (67% vote before) 7* Massachusetts Senate 50% 3 45 days (67% vote before) 1 ■ Michigan House 50% 1 1 Michigan Senate 50% 0 0 Minnesota House 50% 0 0 Minnesota Senate 61% 0 0 ■ Mississippi House 50% 1 1 Mississippi Senate 50% 1 0 ■ Missouri House 33% 2 10 legislative days 0 ■ Missouri Senate 33% 0 0 Montana House 60% 0 0 Nebraska Unicameral 50% 1 20 legislative days 0 Nevada Senate 67% 2 ■ 1 New Jersey House 50% 4 3 committee meetings 1 ■ ■ New Jersey New York Senate House 50% 50% 3 5 60 days 60 days ■ 1 5 ■ ■ ■ New York Senate 50% 6 60 days ■ 5 ■ ■ ■ North Carolina House 60% 2 10 legislative days 3 North Carolina Senate 60% 4 10 legislative days 1 ■ ■ North Dakota House 50% 0 0 North Dakota Senate 50% 0 0 Ohio House 50% 3 30 days 1 ■ Ohio Senate 50% 2 30 days 0 ■ Oregon House 50% 0 0 Oregon Senate 50% 1 0 ■ Pennsylvania House 50% 4 15 legislative days ■ 1 ■ Pennsylvania Senate 50% 2 10 legislative days 1 Rhode Island House 50% 3 16 days 0 ■ ■ Rhode Island Senate 67% 2 16 days 0 ■ South Carolina Senate 50% 1 5 legislative days 0 South Dakota House 33% 0 0 South Dakota Senate 33% 0 0 Tennessee House 67% 2 7 legislative days 1 Tennessee Senate 50% 3 7 legislative days 1 ■ Utah House 50% 1 ■ 0 Virginia House 50% 0 0 Virginia Senate 50% 0 0 Washington Senate 50% 0 0 West Virginia House 50% 2 5 legislative days 0 ■ West Virginia Senate 50% 0 0 Wisconsin House 50% 2 21 days 0 ■ Wisconsin Senate 50% 1 1 week before & after hearing 0 Wyoming House 50% 0 0 Wyoming Senate 50% 0 0 * Only for discharge from Ways & Means and Counties Committees. 17
Page 1: THE NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATIVE PROC
Page 4 and 5: The Brennan Center for Justice at N
Page 7: CONTENTS Executive Summary. . . . .
Page 10 and 11: viii THE NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATIVE
Page 12 and 13: x THE NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATIVE PR
Page 14 and 15: xii THE NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATIVE
Page 16 and 17: xiv THE NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATIVE
Page 19 and 20: INTRODUCTION It has become somethin
Page 21 and 22: ■ Accessibility. An accessible le
Page 23 and 24: NEW YORK STATE’S LEGISLATIVE PROC
Page 25 and 26: ■■ REFERRAL OF LEGISLATION TO C
Page 27 and 28: legislation. As a result, the final
Page 29 and 30: ■■ COMMITTEE REPORTS Legislatur
Page 31 and 32: usually adopted by the full committ
Page 33: Neither of New York State’s two c
Page 37 and 38: that is overturned; this allows the
Page 39 and 40: of these committees. 142 In 1971, a
Page 41 and 42: into, a bill because the committee
Page 43 and 44: Additional research is necessary to
Page 45 and 46: Finally, analysis of the outcomes o
Page 47 and 48: maybe 20 staff people saw it before
Page 49 and 50: Few other states rely so heavily up
Page 51 and 52: Both the fast roll call (also known
Page 53 and 54: that the leaders exert over which b
Page 55 and 56: Nor is this pattern a recent phenom
Page 57 and 58: A COMPARATIVE SUMMARY OF NEW YORK
Page 59 and 60: State A COMPARATIVE SUMMARY OF LEGI
Page 61 and 62: THE IMPACT OF NEW YORK’S DYSFUNCT
Page 69 and 70: the people of New York State by acq
Page 71 and 72: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR REFORM The refo
Page 73 and 74: ■ Motions to discharge a bill may
Page 75 and 76: ENDNOTES 1 See, e.g., Albany’s Ad
Page 77 and 78: the New York State Legislature was
Page 79 and 80: 41 MAJOR LEGISLATION COMMITTEE ANAL
Page 81 and 82: Fin. Network, Inc., 830 A.2d 711, 7
Page 83 and 84: ers, the committee chair and majori
Page 85 and 86:
90-day session and the 105th day of
Page 87 and 88:
at 244, 547-48. 148 Aubrey Jewett,
Page 89 and 90:
175 MAJOR LEGISLATION ANALYSIS 1997
Page 91 and 92:
210 S4422B passed the Senate on Jun
Page 93 and 94:
voted from 1997 through 2001 were a
Page 95 and 96:
METHODOLOGY The research for this r
Page 97 and 98:
■ Vote Outcomes for All Bills 199
Page 99 and 100:
A9291-A, S6292-A S7833, A1103 A7162
Page 101 and 102:
TELEPHONE SURVEY RESPONDENTS Alabam
Page 103 and 104:
Montana Legislative Services Divisi
Page 105 and 106:
BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE BOARD OF
Page 108:
BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE AT NYU S
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