Senate Pushes on the Gas

A proposed Gas Tax Holiday will be considered by the Senate Investigations & Government Operations Committee on Tuesday.
The legislation comes at a time as regular gas exceeds $4 per gallon in the capital region and suggests 33 cents of state taxes per gallon during the busy four-day Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day holiday weekends.
The senate proposal (SB 4800) was introduced by Senator Greg Ball on Thursday and almost immediately received a committee assignment, which indicates that it will likely be fast tracked through the chamber. This is likely to be contrasted by the soon-to-be introduced version from Assemblyman Jim Tedisco, whose bill will probably never even come up for a committee vote.
The bill's memorandum makes a strangely emotional plea for its enactment:

New York prides itself on the colorful diversity of vacation spots throughout the state. Whether it's camping in the Adirondacks, going to the Saratoga Race Track, hitting the beaches in Coney Island, seeing a show on Broadway or touring the grape growing regions of central and western New York, as a state we have so much to offer.

It will be interesting to see if the practice of "speculation" is ever addressed in this debate in the New York State Legislature, since that is the real culprit for our artificially high gas prices. The practice of speculation receives a passing reference in the bill memo, but it is immediately disregarded as immaterial.

Ball Blasts NY Dream Act

In response to a proposal in the state legislature that would resurrect most of the provisions of the failed federal Dream Act, Republican Senator Greg Ball has characterized it as a major victory for terrorists.
Ball, who is Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, issued a statement on Thursday where he laid out the alleged security risks of the bill (SB 4179), which he labled as “a national security nightmare that should formally be renamed the ‘Terrorist Empowerment Act’.”
He argues that some requirements placed on DMV employees as the result of this bill would make it necessary for them to become experts at verifying every national identity card or voter card in the world.
Seizing on the driver's license portion of the proposal, which was a major controversy for former Gov. Elliot Spitzer, Ball said it would provide illegal identity documents to potential terrorists. "This is not about immigration; this is about security," he said.
Ball explained how the 19 terrorists responsible for 9/11 used over 300 fake IDs that were made with driver’s licenses and other documents.
In his statement, Ball did not address issues of financial aid, employment opportunities and health insurance coverage that are offered as incentives in the bill. Additionally, on Capital Tonight, Democratic Senator Dan Squadron laughed off Ball's rhetoric about the bill. All of this is probably a moot point, though, because the Dream Act will go nowhere in the Republican controlled Senate.

Chance of Marriage 4? Ball Edition

The fighting 40th senate district has new representation this year with Republican Senator Greg Ball in the seat vacated by Republican Vince Leibell, but it seems like same-sex marriage still has the same chances. Leibell stood in opposition with his fellow Republicans in 2009 when same-sex marriage came up for a vote and Ball opposed the measure in the Assembly.
While this would seem to make Ball's vote in the Senate seem pretty cut and dry, the senator has a mixed record of support for gay rights issues. He has constantly received support form the Log Cabin Republicans, the gay arm of the GOP, in 2009 he opposed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and in the fall of 2010 condemned the comments of GOP candidate Carl Paladino for comments he made about gay couples.
Unfortunately for proponents of gay marriage, though, these positive positions are unlikely to equal a vote in favor of their proposal in the senate if and when it comes up for a vote.
With Ball's likely no vote, the canceled out flips of Zeldin and Avella, and the uncertainty now in Carl Kruger's soon-to-be former seat, gay marriage seems to have gained no ground.
Stay tuned for more editions of Chance of Marriage...

SAGE ADVICE

Three Republican legislators have teamed up to urge Gov. Andrew Cuomo to convene a new Tech task force, which would operate under his Spending and Government Efficiencies Commission, to help the state go paperless to save tax dollars.
This move comes a week after Assemblyman Jim Tedisco, R-Glenville, who is one of the three members advocating this move, publicly advocated for an end to automatic printing of bills, legislative digests and daily sheets.
“We can help our environment and save tax dollars by bringing in the ‘Geek Squad’ of the world’s leading IT all-star experts to help find the bottom line savings for New York by going digital and stopping wasteful printing,” said Tedisco.
His plan, which includes state Senator Greg Ball, R-Patterson, and Sen. Lee Zeldin, R-Long Island, would have the tech savvy consultants discover ways the state's more than 70 state agencies, 48 public authorities, 64 SUNY schools and 20 CUNY campuses could limit their printing costs.
In an "e-mail" (stressed Tedisco's chief of staff) to the governor, they made their case to save millions in printing costs by seeking the advice of pioneers in technology from IBM, Xerox, Facebook, Apple, Twitter, Microsoft and YouTube. No word yet on whether Mark Zuckeberg will handle this problem himself, or just send his understudy, Jesse Eisenberg to offer advice.
Ball noted that while the gov't was asking ordinary people to do their part in shouldering the budget pain, the state could begin to chip in by limiting their costs. "These paper reliant systems are not eco-friendly or fiscally wise, and while it may have worked for Teddy Roosevelt, it's not working anymore. Let's follow the paper trail and zoom in on the duplicative and unnecessary processes and procedures, costing taxpayers millions,” said Ball.
This announcement comes on the heels of numerous bills from this session and in the past, which would give local municipalities all the way up to state agencies the freedom to limit their required printing.
No word yet on whether the legislation announced by Tedisco last week will include a constitutional amendment to satisfy the requirement of bills on a member's desk, which currently wouldn't be fulfilled by electronic copies.