Appreciation for Legislature Passing Five of Our Priority FOIL, Anti-Corruption, and Voting Bills
Reinvent Albany thanks the Senate and Assembly for passing five of our priority bills this session. We also thank the Legislature for not doing a Big Ugly bill for the third session in a row (though maybe this is because so much was packed into this year’s utterly atrocious, secretive, and generally irresponsible budget – which also effectively halved the length of the legislative session).
As we thank the Legislature for doing some good things, we are also disappointed they were unable to say “no” to some especially wasteful corporate subsidies – this in a year when there is a very high likelihood the state will suffer massive reductions in federal aid. The Legislature extended the wasteful NYC REAP tax break, and the Assembly once again refused to pass legislation passed by the Senate ending New York’s Opportunity Zone capital gains tax break. This obscene giveaway from Trump’s first administration could begin costing New York tens of millions in revenue as soon as next year.
Here’s what happened to Reinvent Albany’s priority bills:
FOIL
- S2520-B (Skoufis) / A3425-A (Raga) – Reduces time the public must wait to appeal FOIL delays and denials. Passed both houses.
- S67 (Skoufis) / A6613 (McDonald) – Clarifies FOIL regarding redactions. Passed both houses.
- S5000 (Hoylman-Sigal) / A1410 (Rosenthal) – Limits Commercial FOIL exemption. Passed the Assembly, not the Senate (despite passing Senate in previous sessions).
- S452 (Hoylman-Sigal) / A2321 (McDonald) – Requires agencies to submit FOIL logs to the Committee on Open Government. Passed the Assembly, not the Senate.
- S1418-A (Liu) / A950-A (Steck) – Strengthen FOIL Attorneys’ Fees. Passed the Senate, not the Assembly.
Business subsidies
- S3340 (Gianaris) / A3246 (Dinowitz) – Ends NY’s Opportunity Zone tax break. Passed the Senate, not the Assembly.
- S4658-A (Ryan) / A4196 (Solages) – Prohibits subsidies for e-commerce warehouse facilities. Passed the Senate, not the Assembly.
Home rule
- S590-A (Krueger) / A3665-A (Simone) – Ends the ability of mayors in New York’s 62 cities to bump city council charter commissions off the ballot. Passed both houses.
Transparency
- A8662-A (Gallagher) / S8432 (Hoylman-Sigal) – Protects NY’s LLC Transparency Act from being undermined by federal changes. Passed both houses.
- S462-A (Hoylman-Sigal) / A1518-A (Weprin) – Authorizes the use of cameras in New York’s trial and appellate courts. Passed the Senate, not the Assembly.
Lobbying and financial disclosure
- S374 (Gianaris) / A7456 (McDonald) – Discloses lobbying activities for confirmation or nomination of persons to state office. Passed the Senate, not the Assembly.
- S5843 (Skoufis) / A2330 (McDonald) – Requires electronic filing of all lobbying disclosures. Passed the Senate, not the Assembly.
- S4857-C (Skoufis) / A463-B (Paulin) – Requires publishing of financial disclosure statements of candidates for office. Did not pass either house.
Voting
- S1356-A (Skoufis) / A3649-B (Taylor) – Authorizes NY to share voter roll data with other states. Passed both houses.