Results tagged “senatemajorityleadersmith”

New York State's only openly gay Senator, Thomas Duane (D-Manhattan), is telling the media that if the Senate votes on a bill to legalize same-sex marriages, it will pass. Duane, who is the bill's primary sponsor, tells Newsday, "Already there are enough votes for it to pass and a cushion." But that view was hotly disputed by other Senators, including Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, who supports gay marriage but refuses to bring the bill to the floor before the legislative session ends on June 22nd unless it's clear there are enough votes to pass it. Smith insists, "I don't have 32 votes that I know of." Senator Frank Padavan (R-Queens) says Duane's "dreaming," and Senator Ruben Diaz Sr., a fierce opponent of same-sex marriage, slammed Duane's prediction, telling the Daily News "It's unprofessional to be playing with people's minds." Governor Paterson, who'll sign the bill if it reaches his desk, is urging the Senate leadership to put the bill to a floor vote, regardless of the vote count. But openly voting on such a divisive issue would take political backbone, so Duane can probably just keep dreaming.

According to the Daily News, Assembly Leader Sheldon Silver "unveiled a proposal to renew mayoral control over the schools before a largely skeptical group of fellow Democrats." The Legislature is set to decide whether Mayor Bloomberg can continue mayoral oversight of the public school system, which is the country's largest. Many lawmakers are skeptical because mayoral control leaves little opportunity for parents and community members to offer their insights. The News explains Silver's plan still gives the mayor "control of the 13-member Panel for Educational Policy, but at least two of his eight appointments would have to be parents of city schoolchildren... The schools chancellor would no longer be chairman of the body and would be required to visit each school district every two years. The chairman would be voted on by panel members. The panel, which would be required to meet once a month and in each borough at least once a year, would vote on all policy decisions, capital spending plans and budgets," according to sources. Previously, PolitickerNY has suggested that Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, who supports mayoral control, could side with Republicans in order to pass it.

According to the NY Times, the NY State Senate Democratic leaders "will seek income tax increases on at least some affluent New Yorkers and a sales tax increase of a quarter of 1 percent to help balance the state budget." An anonymous Senate official said, "The hole is too deep to dig ourselves out by cuts alone. The debate now is over where to start." The Times previously reported some of their proposed tax hikes, which would create three new tax brackets: $250,000-499,999; $500,000-999,999; and $1 million and over; there is also a separate proposal to raise taxes for households making $500,000 and more. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver supports taxing upper income levels. Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, Silver and Governor Paterson will supposedly meet in private to hash out the new state budget.