Paterson: The Senate Is Spending July 4th In Albany
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Gov. David Paterson confirmed this afternoon what most senators expected: He’s keeping them in town through the July 4th weekend. He said he signed proclamations for special sessions through July 6.
“Yes, the legislators are spending the July 4th weekend in Albany, hopefully resolving this conflict,” he said at his daily news conference on the stalemate.
The sessions will start at 3 p.m. each day. The governor’s proclamation convenes the Senate to act on legislation that would extend mayoral control of New York City schools, authorize a higher sales tax in New York City, and implement a collective bargaining agreement for the City University of New York. Those three items appear on each day’s agenda. He also included taking action on gubernatorial nominations to state authorities and commissions on the proclamations.
Paterson faces questions about whether he will sign legislation that Senate Democrats claimed they passed legally yesterday when Republican Sen. Frank Padavan, R-Queens, entered the chamber briefly.
Paterson said he would not sign bills that are in dispute because it could cause the measures to face legal challenges. But he also didn’t say he would veto the legislation if it’s returned to the Assembly, which already passed the measures, and put on his desk.
“Even if I signed the legislation, it’s still in dispute,” he said.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 3:57 pm by Joseph Spector.
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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. 
