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For Immediate Release: Monday, July 5th,
2005
Contact: Jordan
Isenstadt (c) 516.991.3842 (w) 212.490.9535 (f)
212.490.2151
State
Senator Liz Krueger: We’ve Started to Turn the Corner -- Looks Forward to Productive
’06 Session
New York, NY
– When State Senator Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan) departed from Albany on the last
Friday in June, she was pleasantly surprised by the passage of a number of
important issues she had been championing that were dealt with by the
Legislature. “This legislative session
turned out to be a fascinating model of what public pressure can do to
influence the actions of a legislative body,” stated Senator Krueger. “Some significant
issues were handled dealing with reforms of public authorities, procurement
lobbying and ethics rules (discussed in an earlier release) and substantive
public health legislation such as the legalization of over the counter
emergency contraception and reporting of hospital infection rates, as well as
modernization of our election process and voting machines. I am heartened by our progress and believe
that we are beginning to move in the right direction. Still, many issues were ignored and others
were moved in the last 72 hours of the legislative session, with little
public input or awareness -- a reminder of how much more is left to be done
to modernize our legislative process.”
Among the most important actions taken up by the Senate
were:
Emergency
Contraception: Senator Krueger praised
the passage of the Unintended Pregnancy Prevention Act. The bill, which allows for emergency
contraception (EC - also known as Plan B) to be sold over the counter at
pharmacies, was approved by the Senate by a vote of 34-27, and also passed
the Assembly. “The passage of this
legislation confirms our state’s commitment to increasing reproductive health
options for women,” said Senator
Krueger. “We should remember that this bill would not have come to the
floor for a vote if not for the success of Westchester County Legislator
Andrea Stewart Cousin’s near defeat of Senator Spano
in 2004 (an election she lost by just 18 votes after 3 months of counting). Pressure brought to bear on the Republican
controlled Senate from that election and Ms. Stewart-Cousins continued
advocacy on this issue resulted in a victory for all New York women.” The World Health
Organization found that when emergency contraception is used within 24 hours,
the chance of becoming pregnant is reduced by 95%. EC has long been available throughout Europe and medical research proves it is safer than
aspirin. Giving women in New York State
easier access to EC will result in an estimated 122,000 fewer unintended
pregnancies and 82,000 fewer abortions every year and as a result cut health
care spending in New York
State by an estimated
$452 million annually (2003 study by NY State Comptroller). It is still unclear whether Governor Pataki
will sign or veto this legislation.
Help America Vote
Act (HAVA): “The fact that we finally managed to come to any compromise
on HAVA after two years seemed like a remarkable development,” said Senator Krueger. “Still, New Yorkers deserve to have a
voting system in which they can have confidence and will ensure transparent,
publicly verifiable elections. I
cannot say in confidence that the package of legislation we passed will
guarantee that.” In order to comply with the federal HAVA guidelines, New York State was required to replace JFK-era
lever machines with a new, modernized voting system by 2006. It has been Senator Krueger’s contention for over
two years that New Yorkers have a right to the most reliable, secure, and
auditable voting system currently available. In the end, the Legislature
passed a package of bills that required machines to produce a voter verified
paper trail, altered the governance structure at the Board of Elections and
shifted the responsibility of purchasing voting machines to the counties.
During this process, powerful lobbyists have been roaming the halls of the
Capitol, working to convince lawmakers that the more expensive DRE (Direct
Recording Equipment) machines were better than the more economical (and more
reliable) optical scanning machines. A 2004 study conducted in Florida that compared
inaccuracies reported by DRE and optical scan systems in elections where
there was only a single race or question on the ballot found that DRE voting
systems registered roughly 8 times as many mistakes and inaccuracies as were
registered by optical scan systems. Optical scanning is currently used in 45%
of the counties nationwide, representing 35% of all voters. “I was unable to
support the HAVA legislation that established machine standards because I did
not believe that the bill was in the best interests of New York State
voters,” stated Senator Krueger. “We had a historic opportunity to create a
single, statewide standard for voting machines and unfortunately we have
squandered it. Undoubtedly there will
be problems with the systems we institute and I can only hope that lawmakers
will look back to right these wrongs.
Presently, I am working to ensure that New York City makes the right choice and selects
optical scanning of paper ballots, with attachments that make these machines
accessible to people with disabilities and voters with limited English.”
Senior Citizen Rent
Increase Exemption (SCRIE): An
advocate for expanded access to the tax abatement, commonly known as SCRIE, since she operated eviction prevention
programs during the 1990’s, Senator Krueger has first hand experience
with the effectiveness of SCRIE
as a simple, cost-effective means to help protect low-income seniors from
losing their homes as their rents increase, but their fixed incomes do not. Senator Krueger was pleased to report
that legislation passed this session that will alter the tax abatement program by raising the
income limit for seniors from $24,000 to $29,000 over the next five years.
Additionally, the Legislature extended SCRIE to many low-income people with
disabilities receiving SSI and/or SSDI, as well as to disabled veterans. “It
was critical for the Legislature to amend the law this year, in response to
rising housing costs,” stated Senator
Krueger. “I’d
like to think that the movement of my colleagues on SCRIE legislation this year
will translate into further action next year.” Senator Krueger has proposed legislation to further expand SCRIE
to increase the income eligibility limit to $50,000 and provide full equity for low-income people with disabilities.
Defeat of Death Penalty Statute: Senator Krueger spoke out
and voted against a bill to reinstate the death penalty when it came to the
floor of the Senate this year (the bill passed 37-22), then commended the
Assembly Codes Committee for voting against the companion bill. Senator Krueger, a life-time opponent of the death
penalty, pointed out that the death penalty is a failed model for criminal justice on both the
state and national level. “Numerous
prisoners on death row have been exonerated, a
disproportionate number of death row inmates are minorities and are low-income people without access to qualified
attorneys. Life without parole is a more than adequate mechanism
to protect the public from even the most heinous criminal,” stated
Senator Krueger. In 2004, by a ruling of four to three, the New York
State Court of Appeals placed a moratorium on the death penalty law because
of a provision in the statute that was ruled unconstitutional. The death penalty was reinstated in New York in 1995 when
Governor Pataki made it a campaign issue in his successful campaign for
Governor.
Failure to Address Campaign
for Fiscal Equity: A major issue that should have been addressed by the
Legislature was the court ordered mandate to create a fair funding formula
for public schools, a result of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) lawsuit.
“CFE was a difficult judicial battle fought and won by dedicated New York City parents
and advocates on behalf of our City’s public school students,” remarked Senator Krueger. While the State
Legislature did pass an on-time budget, it did come at the expense of
reaching a resolution on CFE money. Senator
Krueger continued, “the timely resolution of the budget did nothing to
modernize and create equity in the way the State distributes public money for
education.” The budget fell far short of the $5.6 billion in operating funds
and $9.2 billion in capital funds mandated by the highest court in New York State
for New York City
schools. Currently a bill
penned by CFE called the Schools for New
York’s Future Act has been introduced in the State
Assembly. This bill extends the Court
of Appeals’ decision beyond needy public schools in New York City and provides for $8.6 billion
in operating and $10 billion in Capital funds for under-funded schools
throughout the State, as well as comprehensive reform to the funding formula
for education.
Disturbing vote to Eliminate
Medicaid Funding for Abortions: Two weeks ago, the Republican-controlled State
Senate passed a one-house bill to eliminate Medicaid funding for
abortion. State Senator Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan), a longtime champion of
reproductive rights, expressed indignation at this politically motivated
action. “The Senate Republicans showed
their true colors by displaying their devotion to the agenda of the radical
right-wing by attempting to deny poor women equal access to healthcare,” said
Krueger. Fortunately, the Assembly did not take up
the measure.
Finally, Senator Krueger pointed to other important bills that were not addressed
by the Legislature, and must go back on the top of the agenda for the 2006
Session Agenda:
Real Legislative Rules Reforms;
Rockefeller Drug Law Reform;
Timothy’s Law -- Mental Health
Parity;
Expansion of Returnable
Container Act (Bigger, Better Bottle Bill);
Environmental ‘Superbills”;
Campaign Finance Reform;
The Family Decision Act;
Article X Power Plant Siting Act;
Repeal of the Urstadt Law (Housing Policy Home Rule for NYC);
Downed Animal Ban (to protect
the public from Mad Cow and other diseases);
Refund Anticipation Loan Act --
to protect low income people from being ripped off by tax-preparers.
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