Blog

12 May
0

Liz’s Testimony to the New York City Council on the Proposed East Side Marine Transfer Station

“My name is Liz Krueger, and I represent the 26th State Senate district, which includes Manhattan’s Midtown and East Side.  I would like to thank the New York City Council Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management for the opportunity to submit testimony regarding capital funding for the proposed East 91st Street Marine Transfer Station (MTS) in the FY 2012 Executive Budget.

“I am delivering this testimony to address a number of serious concerns I have about New York City’s Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP), and to express my strong opposition to the proposed construction and operation of a MTS at East 91st Street Street.  For the many reasons outlined in the following testimony, I strongly urge the City Council to consider the extraordinarily negative effects the proposed 91st Street MTS would have on the surrounding community, and to reject capital funding for the 91st Street MTS…

Senator Krueger’s Full Testimony

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12 May
0

‘Smell’ of Victory Eludes Waste Transfer Station Opponents

By Megan Finnegan

After savoring what seemed like a victory a few weeks ago, some Upper East Siders are now smelling defeat after the mayor restored funding to construct a waste transfer station at East 91st Street.

Last month, the Department of Sanitation announced at a City Council budget hearing that they did not have the funds to complete the station and it would be delayed until 2018. Opponents of the project were jubilant, but their celebration was short-lived. Mayor Bloomberg included funding in his capital budget proposal, and if it gets approved, construction would begin in the very near future.

Full Article

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12 May
0

Liz’s Statement on Marriage Equality

“I am extremely pleased that Governor Cuomo has made the passage of marriage equality legislation one of his top priorities for this legislative session.  With polls now showing a clear majority of New Yorkers supporting marriage equality, I am more and more optimistic that if the Senate Majority allows the bill to come to the floor for a vote, it will have a good chance of passing.

“I strongly support marriage equality as a basic civil rights issue.  Under current New York law, lesbian and gay couples are denied the basic protections provided to heterosexual couples. Denying gays and lesbians access to those benefits and protections – as well as the many responsibilities which come with civil marriage – is a violation of the fundamental principle of equal protection under our State constitution.

“Those who argue against marriage equality usually base their arguments either on 1) religious grounds or 2) their belief that marriage should be reserved for relationships centered around procreation and child rearing. The first argument fails to recognize both the separation of church and state and the fact that many denominations do in fact already recognize same sex marriages.  And the second argument is just plain silly…

Full Statement On Marriage Equality

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12 May
0

Liz and The Bipartisan Pro Choice Legislative Caucus Hold Kick Off Information Fair

In a year that has seen Women’s Reproductive Rights come under attack at the National and State levels, Senator Liz Krueger and members of the NYS Legislature have mobilized to create a Bipartisan Pro Choice Legislative Caucus (BPCLC), coordinating their efforts to ensure that such attacks will never gain traction in New York State.  In their first public event, a mere two months after forming, the BPCLC joined with pro choice advocates and health providers throughout the State to host the Reproductive Rights and Information Fair, an event highlighting the BPCLC’s desire to shed more light on complex issues surrounding reproductive rights.

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05 May
0

Kind Words From New York League of Conservation Voters

The following is a Letter to the Editor published in Our Town Newspaper.

To The Editor

It seems like Albany has been talking about clean energy and its potential to create jobs for a very long time. Fortunately, Senator Liz Krueger is doing something about it, and we’d like to thank her for real leadership on this issue.

Right now, the state Legislature is examining a major initiative to revitalize New York’s economy by adding an impressive 5,000 megawatts of solar power capacity. As a co-sponsor of the so-called “New York Solar Industry Development and Jobs Act,” Senator Krueger is playing an important role, helping blaze the trail toward a greener, stronger New York.

The Solar Industry Development and Jobs Act is not only good for the environment, it will help reinvigorate New York’s economy in a very real way. This legislation will generate $20 billion in economic activity for the state and create at least 22,000 jobs. These jobs will be diverse, ranging across a broad spectrum of salary levels, skill and education requirements and employment fields. What’s more, they will be local jobs and difficult to outsource, meaning they will truly benefit New Yorkers.

Right now, New Jersey—where this program is already in place—has six times the solar capacity that we do. Clean energy has become a major industry in New Jersey, and its rapidly growing solar industry companies say that this type of program has been critical to their success.

It’s time to bring those jobs and benefits to New York. The Assembly is expected to pass this bill in early May. It already has strong bipartisan support in the state Senate, and fits perfectly in with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s vision to make New York a clean-energy leader.

All those years of talk about the innovation economy come down to this moment—Albany must act today for a better, more prosperous tomorrow.

Marcia Bystryn
President
New York League of Conservation Voters

Full Article

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03 May
0

Liz’s Free Events List: May 2011

Click here for Senator Krueger’s May 2011 Free Events List

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03 May
0

Senator Krueger & Senate Democrats Join Tenants to Beat the Clock Ticking Against Rent Regulation

With rent regulation laws that protect affordable housing for over 2.5 million tenants in New York City and the surrounding counties set to expire in less than two months, Senator Krueger and other Senate Democrats joined with tenants to release a powerful new video highlighting the critical need to extend and strengthen rent regulation laws before time runs out.

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02 May
0

Message From Liz on Her Bills Coming Before Senate Finance Committee Today at 1pm

If we truly want to clean up Albany and reform its tired practices, then we must change the legislative process. This is, I believe, the most pressing matter for Albany to address for one simple reason: a better process means smarter, more responsive government.

To help Governor Cuomo change how business is done, the 54 sitting senators who signed the NY Uprising pledge last fall must keep our promise and pass meaningful budget reform.

At 1:00 PM today, the Senate Finance Committee – the body through which bills must pass before coming to a full floor vote – will take up critical budget reforms originally introduced last year. Of the committee’s 34 members, 29 signed the NY Uprising pledge.  And now, these members will have the opportunity to follow through on their commitment to pass common sense legislation which will:

  • Task a 15-member Empire State Performance Commission with designing a performance based management and budgeting blueprint that will streamline government and end waste and fraud that has plagued programs and services (S413).
  • Remove fiscal manipulations that have allowed for the distortion of State finances, by requiring both the Executive Budget proposal and Enacted Budget to be balanced according to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). This will end the practice of balancing the budget on a “Cash Basis,” which blurs the State’s actual fiscal reality by only looking at what money the State has “in pocket” at a given time, while ignoring the money it owes (which is often a large sum). GAAP Budgeting will “fundamentally realign recurring spending with recurring revenue to restore the State’s fiscal health” as recommended in a recent report by the state Comptroller (S414).
  • End New York’s status as the only state with a budget date prior to the federal tax collection date. Currently, the State balances the budget based on assumptions, rather than on hard numbers. Shifting the start of the fiscal year to June 1 will allow for proper fiscal planning (S418).
You can watch the debate and committee vote online or receive regular updates on Twitter and Facebook.
Keeping Our Promise:
Earlier this session, Senate Democrats fought to bring Governor Cuomo’s independent redistricting legislation to a vote. And two weeks ago, Senators Daniel Squadron, Gustavo Rivera and I submitted petitions to force action on ethics reform, in particular, legislation which would strip convicted politicians of their pensions and increase oversight of the Legislature. To date, the Republican Majority has systematically broken their pledge.

However, ever the optimist, I am hopeful my colleagues from both sides of the aisle will keep their promise, starting today, and enact meaningful budget reform.

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28 Apr
0

Gay Marriage Bill Nears the Goal Line

By Megan Finnegan

Gov. Cuomo’s push, plus public opinion shift, raises bill’s chance of passage

Two years after the stunning defeat of a marriage equality bill in the State Senate, advocates and politicians are gearing up for another run at making same-sex marriage legal in New York.

With popularity high and momentum strong after passing an on-time budget, Governor Cuomo has made it a priority to introduce and push for the passage of new legislation to allow same-sex marriage. A recent poll from Sienna College shows that 58 percent of registered voters support the measure, with only 36 percent in opposition, and proponents are seizing on those numbers to persuade the public as well as elected officials on the fence that now is the right time to give gay marriage a legal stamp of approval.

Full Article & See What Liz Has to Say

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28 Apr
0

Liz Discusses Recent Hydrofracking Accident in Pennsylvania & SAGE Commission

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