With all the talk in state politics today about Gov. David Paterson’s directive to state agencies to provide benefits to same-sex couples, it seems that Paterson has quietly talked about the initiative publicly a few weeks ago.
On May 17, Paterson recorded a video played at the Empire State Pride Agenda in Rochester, where he announced he would allow same-sex couples who receive marriage licenses out of state to receive equal benefits.
“I’m directing our agency heads that we will recognize marriages conducted outside our state right here in New York state,” he said. “This is will be a strong step toward marriage equality right here in this state.”
The state Conservative Party is already railing against the move.
“Marriage in New York State is between a man and a woman,” said party Chairman Mike Long. “The California Judges overturned the will of the California people and Governor Paterson is apparently trying to do the same thing in New York.”
The revamped “I Love New York” campaign is calling on filmmakers to produce 60-second films about why they love the state in an effort to highlight attractions and lure visitors to the Empire State.
The inaugural “I Love New York” Short Film Competition is to be announced todayy at the George Eastman House in Rochester, where the Eastman Kodak Co. founder invented motion picture film.
Submissions will be accepted between June 1 and July 15 and must be filmed in New York. The entries will be judged by a star-packed panel, including “30 Rock” star Tina Fey and Academy Award-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, a Fairport, Monroe County, native.
“We really want this to be an opportunity for New Yorkers to tell their own story as part of the re-launch of the campaign as to what’s their reason for loving New York,” said Thomas Ranese, chief marketing officer for the state Empire State Development Corp.
Entries can be submitted online at www.metacafe.com/iloveny. The contest is for anyone 14 or older.
Submissions will then be reviewed and posted on the “I Love New York” Web site; the winners will be announced in September.
The grand prize winner’s film will appear as a commercial during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade broadcast and on JetBlue Airways seatback televisions. The film will also appear on Independent Film Channel, which is one of the contest’s sponsors.
The contest will also offer a variety of other awards, such as best young filmmaker, best student filmmaker and best regional film. The contest will include an online sweepstakes where visitors can vote for their favorite film.
A commission that has been studying how to get universal health care in New York released an interim report today, which updated Gov. David Paterson on the panel’s progress but did not give any recommendations.
The state Health and Insurance departments began studying the obstacles to health coverage last July and has heard from 280 people at public hearings held around the state. The Urban Institute received a contract to study reform proposals and the cost involved. Details on the proposals will be available to the public in June, and results are expected in the fall, according to the state agencies.
Paterson, who took over as governor in March, has not staked out a position on universal health-care coverage yet. (His predecessor, Eliot Spitzer, formed the commission). He said in a statement that the state is “aggressively seeking out” people who are eligible for public health-insurance programs and may not know it.
Earlier today, health-insurance consumers spoke to a panel of state officials and lawmakers about problems they have had and how they think the system should be fixed.
A day after a Long Island man pretending to be a police officer handcuffed and kidnapped a woman, the Senate passed legislation that would pump up penalties for impersonating a police officer. Yesterday, a 31-year-old man who wore a police shirt and had handcuffs, two BB guns and a fake badge was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated, kidnapping and criminal impersonation.
“This bill will ensure that anyone who commits a crime while pretending to be a police officer spends more time in prison,” Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, R-Brunswick, Rensselaer County, said in a statement. “As we saw in the Long Island case yesterday, despicable people can take advantage of others by impersonating an officer and they deserve greater punishment for their crime.”
Under the proposal, the Long Island man would serve a minimum of 20 years in prison, instead of 15 years.
Also today, the Senate passed a bill that would permit victims of alleged domestic violence to testify in court via closed-circuit television.
“Violent abusers can terrify and intimidate their victims during court proceedings,” said Senator Cathy Young, R-Olean, Cattaraugus County. “To break the cycle of abuse,victims should be in a non-threatening environment when giving testimony. They shouldn’t be stared down by someone who has physically and emotionally tortured them. Closed circuit testimony will help ensure that justice will be served.”
State legislators and mental health workers applauded the creation of a new statewide autism agenda today.
A new multi-agency “autism consortium” will be formed and hopes to create a statewide registry of people with autism and increase research and training for teachers and other professionals who interact with people with autism, said state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Commissioner Diana Jones Ritter.
The consortium will “provide the infrastructure, resources and collaboration necessary to best advance basic and applied research in this critical area,” she said.
The new platform adopted by the state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities includes provisions for increasing autism research and increased cooperation between the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, the state health department and state education, she said.
The state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental currently supports more than 16,000 people with autism or autism-spectrum disorders in the state.
Gov. David Paterson sounded the fiscal alarm today, saying the state is likely to have to take some “drastic actions’’ later this year to close a budget gap caused largely by a big dropoff in Wall Street revenues, GNS Bureau Chief Jay Gallagher writes today.
“Time is not on our side here,” Paterson said in an interview on Talk-1300 AM in Albany.
Paterson will address recommendations made by state agencies to cut spending today at a news conference at 2:30 p.m. The event can be watched live here.
When asked if he will call a special session of the Legislature later this year to try to deal with financial problems, he said, “I would anticipate one.”
His comments were among his most pessimistic yet as the state struggles to balance its budget.
Paterson has been talking about needs for cuts almost since the day he agreed on a new state budget last month that increases overall spending by about 5 percent.
Today, MoveOn.org is staging political protests around the country, asking voters to take “The Bush-McCain Challenge.”
Voters who take the quiz will try to tell the difference between the policy positions and statements of Sen. John McCain and President Bush.
More than 300 towns nationwide—including in the Albany area—will conduct the Bush-McCain Challenge, according to MoveOn.org
“Voters literally can’t tell the difference between President Bush and Sen. McCain on issues,” stated Richard Reeves-Ellington, professor emeritus at Binghamton University and MoveOn member from Delmar, Albany County.
Half a million voters have visited The Bush-McCain Challenge web site to take the quiz since it launched earlier this month, the group says.
An Albany County judge ruled today that Dell Inc engaged in fraud and false advertising when it advertised credit financing for consumers.
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo brought the case against Dell in May 2007. The decision prohibits Dell from engaging in the illegal business practices cited in Cuomo’s lawsuit.
Cuomo said the court will hold further proceedings to determine how much restitution Dell will have to pay to its customers.
“For too long at Dell the promise of customer service was a bait and switch that left thousands of people paying for essentially no service at all,” Cuomo said in a statement. “We have won an important victory that will force Dell to live up to its responsibilities and pay back its customers for profits that were pocketed but not deserved.”
According to the decision, Dell deprived consumers of the technical support to which they were entitled under their warranty or service contract, Cuomo said.
Dell told the Associated Press that they plan to appeal the ruling.
“We don’t agree with this decision and will be defending our position vigorously,” company spokesman Jess Blackburn said. “Our goal has been, and continues to be, to provide the best customer experience possible. We are confident that when the proceedings are finally completed the court will determine that only a relatively small number of customers have been affected.”
The state Senate today passed a measure that would prohibit drivers from sending text messages while driving after the death of five teens from Fairport, Monroe County, last year in a car accident.
Investigators found that text messages were received and sent from the 17 year-old driver’s cell phone moments before her SUV slammed head on into a truck.
The bill was sponsored by Sen. Carl Marcellino, R-Long Island, and pushed by Sen. James Alesi, R-Perinton, Monroe County, who represents Fairport.
The bill would amend current law that bans cell-phone use while driving “by prohibiting drivers from writing, sending or reading text messages on a mobile telephone or any other mobile device.”
The same bill is before the Assembly Transportation Committee, but has yet to pass.
The Senate said that a recent survey by Nationwide Mutual Insurance found that one in five drivers are texting while behind the wheel. The same survey found that the figure rises to one in three for drivers aged 18-34.
The penalty for driving while texting would be a $100 fine, the same as the original cell phone ban.
The state Assembly just finished up a lengthy floor debate over a bill by Assembly Transportation Committee Chairman David Gantt, D-Rochester, that would end the terms of the Republican-appointed members of the state Thruway Authority.
The authority has been under fire after it agreed last month to raise tolls over the next several years. But the state Legislature and Gov. David Paterson have argued that they have little control over the independent, seven-member authority because the members were appointed by former Gov. George Pataki.
Gantt’s bill would end the terms of the current board members and allow the governor to appoint their successors. The measure has no sponsor yet in the state Senate, though.
The bill passed the Assembly just now by a vote of 114-15.
Assembly Republicans, who have called for any toll increase to be approved by the Legislature, said Gantt’s measure was misguided.
Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco called it a “con game” and said drivers don’t want toll increases, not a removal of authority members.
“They didn’t say replace the members of the board, they said stop the toll increase,” he said.
Yet Gantt, right, defended the legislation, saying at least the Assembly is firing back at the authority for increasing tolls.
“I think that at least it shows that we are trying to do something to make a correction,” Gantt said.
The toll increases mean drivers with E-ZPass tags will have discounts cut in half starting in July. Also, tolls will rise 5 percent in 2009 and 5 percent in 2010.
Jay Gallagher has covered Albany for Gannett News Service since 1984 and has been Albany Bureau chief since 1989. He`s a native of the Boston area and likes to point out that in this millennium, the score is Red Sox 1 championship, the Yankees 0.
Cara Matthews has been a statehouse correspondent in the Albany Bureau since August 2005. Prior to that, she covered Putnam County government and politics at The Journal News for nearly five years. Before that, she worked at newspapers in Connecticut and covered the state Legislature for one of them.
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Jay Gallagher has covered Albany for Gannett News Service since 1984 and has been Albany Bureau chief since 1989. He`s a native of the Boston area and likes to point out that in this millennium, the score is Red Sox 1 championship, the Yankees 0. 
Cara Matthews has been a statehouse correspondent in the Albany Bureau since August 2005. Prior to that, she covered Putnam County government and politics at The Journal News for nearly five years. Before that, she worked at newspapers in Connecticut and covered the state Legislature for one of them. 
