Budget Talks Continue, Same-Sex Marriage Vote Not Expected
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- November
- 10
The state Legislature will convene a special session today to seek to address the state’s budget deficit and a host of legislation, including a same-sex marriage bill.
But agreements still appear uncertain, and senators and aides said privately that they are not expected to take up the bill today to legalize same-sex marriage.
Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson, D-Brooklyn, was noncommittal this morning about whether the bill will be voted on. He said he has yet to discuss the matter with the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Thomas Duane, D-Manhattan, the Senate’s first openly gay member.
“I think we just are going to continue to work it out with Senator Duane and we’ll go from there,” Sampson said.
The same-sex marriage legislation is among nine bills Gov. David Paterson has asked lawmakers to consider in calling the special session, which starts at noon.
On Monday, Paterson gave a rare mid-year address to a joint session of the Legislature to implore them to close the state’s $3.2 billion deficit and approve the marriage equality bill. He is also asking them to pass a new pension tier for state workers and reforms of the scandal-scarred public authorities.
Lawmakers said they continue to work toward compromise on how to close the mid-year budget deficit. The Democratic-led Legislature has been reluctant to go along with cuts in aid to schools and health care proposed by Paterson.
Paterson warned lawmakers Monday that the state faces running out of money to pay bills next month without spending cuts.
“The goal is to get something done,” Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan said this morning as he arrived to his office.
The Assembly passed the same-sex marriage legislation in June, but the Senate, with a slim 32-30 seat Democratic majority, has not voted on the measure, largely because it’s uncertain whether it would pass.
That continues to be the concern of Democrats, who are leery of bringing the bill to the floor for a vote if it would fail. Several Democratic senators have said they would not vote for the bill, requiring votes from Republicans. And no Republicans have publicly said they would vote for the measure.
Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada, D-Bronx, said this morning as he headed into the Democratic conference meeting that the first goal is to get an agreement on the budget, called the deficit reduction plan (DRP).
“There’s a great expectation surrounding marriage equality and my personal view is that it should come up for a vote,” Espada said. “As to when? Let’s just put it this way: I think it will follow, in my view, the DRP.”
Gay-rights groups were working this morning to keep the bill alive, saying that the Senate should vote on it regardless of whether it’s uncertain if it would pass.
“To not bring this bill to the floor for a debate would be a slap in the face to every LGBT New Yorker,” said Empire State Pride Agenda executive director Alan Van Capelle. “We have waited far too long for the basic respect of a vote from our elected State Senators on an issue that affects our daily lives and the lives of our loved ones.”
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 10:59 am by Joseph Spector.
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