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For Immediate Release: Monday, July 18th, 2005Contact: Jordan Isenstadt (c) 516.991.3842 (w) 212.490.9535 (f) 212.490.2151 ***PRESS
RELEASE*** State
Senator Liz Krueger Criticizes Senate Republicans for Neglecting to Deal with
Environmental “Super Bills” New York, NY – Saying a majority of
Democrats and Republicans were willing to sponsor the five environmental
‘super bills’ giving them the votes needed to pass, State Senator Liz
Krueger (D-Manhattan) condemned
the Senate Republicans for not bringing important environmental legislation
to the Senate floor. “Environmental advocates made all the right policy
arguments for the passage of five crucial super bills during this last
session, but Republicans showed their lack of commitment to public health and
natural resources protection by failing to bring any of the five super bills
to the floor for debate and voting,” stated Senator Krueger. “Senate
inaction on critical legislation is a recurring theme and is a major reason
for the dysfunctional nature of Environmental Advocates (EANY) submitted their top five highest priority bills to the New York State Legislature in early 2005. These bills include: (1) the Community Preservation Act that allows towns to create a Community Preservation Fund to buy land for open space, make conservation agreements with working farms and preserve historic buildings; (2) the Clean Water Protection and Flood Prevention Act to preserve wetlands and reduce flooding; (3) the Carbon Cap for New York’s power plants to cut emissions of the biggest sources of carbon pollution and reduce air pollution; (4) the Bigger Better Bottle Bill that includes deposits on non-carbonated beverages, such as bottled water, juice and sport drinks, and requires the beverages industry to return all unclaimed deposits to the State to fund municipal recycling and waste prevention programs; and (5) the Burn Barrel Ban to reduce air pollution by avoiding outdoors burning on the ground or in a container. The Assembly passed all five super bills, whereas the Senate passed none of them. Governor Pataki supported all of the super bills, but
Senate Republican Leader Joseph Bruno was opposed to them. The power that
legislative leaders have to delay the passage of important legislation is an
example of what the Senator Krueger, a leader in the movement to reform legislative rules, indicated that because of Senate rules, she and other Democratic Senators were denied the opportunity to co-sponsor any of the environmental super bills by the Senate Republicans. “State Senate members had the opportunity to vote on environmental legislation that had massive statewide support, but once again Majority Leader Bruno committed what I would call a ‘breach of power’ and the Democratic Minority was disenfranchised,” said Senator Krueger. “The leadership’s control over legislation does not allow Minority party members to co-sponsor important bills.” The Bigger Better Bottle bill, which passed in the Assembly was supported by twenty-seven Senate Democrats and Republicans, but was not discussed in the Senate chamber. Majority Leader Bruno indicated that the passage of the Bigger Better Bottle bill was, “one of the dumbest things that has happened this year in the Legislature...” Despite the fact that the Legislature is no longer in
session, Senator Krueger has hopes for moving the super bills in the
future. Senator Krueger plans to work with environmental watchdog
groups to place the bills on the legislative calendar and keep the pressure on Senator Bruno to
make them high priority legislation
for 2006. “If passed,
these bills will go a long way towards protecting the environment and
increasing recycling, preventing litter, making communities safer and
cleaner, reducing waste disposal costs for municipalities and tax-payers, and
creating new jobs in the recycling and retail industries. These issues are on
the top of my agenda,” concluded Senator Krueger. -30- |
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