THE NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS: AN ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

78 THE NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS: AN EVALUATION AND BLUEPRINT FOR REFORM New York Legislative Digest. For all major bills during this period, the transcripts from both chambers on the dates of passages were also analyzed. ■ Messages of Necessity. Information on messages of necessity for the 308 major bills passed from 1997 through 2001 was drawn from the Legislative Bill Drafting Commission, STATE OF NEW YORK LEGISLATIVE DIGEST (1997- 2001). ■ Committee Votes. To understand how standing committees choose to vote on bills referred to them, we examined the complete voting records of the Assembly’s Committee on Economic Development, Job Creation, Commerce and Industry for the years 1997-2001 obtained from the Assembly Public Information Office. ■ Historical Survey. The authors conducted historical research on legislative procedures and practices from 1777 to the present, but focused on the period since 1900. Sources included proceedings of the constitutional conventions, contemporary press accounts, contemporary studies of the New York State legislature and commission reports, secondary historical works on New York history, and political science literature on legislative procedure. ■ Legislative Rules Analysis. Using the most recent versions of state legislative rules available on-line, the authors analyzed their treatment of specific steps in the legislative process, including limitations on debate, discharge of bills from committee, committee hearings, voting, and Rules Committees. The rules of all 99 legislative chambers were analyzed. ■ Telephone Survey on Frequency of Debate and Voting Procedures. Interviews were conducted by telephone in November and December 2003 with the agencies listed in Appendix B. A copy of the questionnaire used is also included therein. At least one source was interviewed from each state, where possible from a non-partisan research or library service associated with the legislature and devoted to maintaining the state’s legislative records in order to learn the frequency of debate on the floor, roll calls, and attendance at votes on the floor. Through this survey, we obtained complete information concerning 94 of the 97 state legislative chambers outside New York. ■ Interviews with Legislators and Staff. In addition to the interviews conducted in connection with the committee analysis discussed above, numerous sitting members of the Assembly and Senate and members of their staff were interviewed concerning various legislative procedures; these interviews were conducted on the condition of anonymity to ensure that their responses would be candid and that they would not face any negative consequences from their colleagues or constituents. Accordingly, citations to these interviews have been coded with alphabetical identifiers in the footnotes.
■ Vote Outcomes for All Bills 1997-2001. The vote tallies shown in the Journal of the Senate of the State of New York and in the Journal of the Assembly of the State of New York for all bills on which the Senate and Assembly voted from 1997 through 2001 were analyzed to determine how often bills were rejected by either chamber and whether a bill was enacted into law. METHODOLOGY 79
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 and 34:
Neither of New York State’s two c
Page 35 and 36:
FIGURE 5 RESTRICTIONS ON MOTIONS TO
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: METHODOLOGY The research for this r
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
show all

THE NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS: AN ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?