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2014 Environmental Scorecard The public’s guide to the voting record VOTERS’of New York State lawmakers GUIDE 2014 the only environmental scorecard for the New York State Legislature Crude Awakening On the cover is the artwork of John de Rosier. Readers of the Albany Times Union will recognize his work as he was the editorial cartoonist there for more than a dozen years. We commissioned John’s piece to underscore the huge threat posed by Big Oil’s efforts to make New York State, the City of Albany and the Hudson River in particular, a global crude oil transportation hub. Twenty-five percent of the crude oil flowing out of the fracking operations in North Dakota travels through New York, along the rail lines between Buffalo and Albany, along the shores of Lake Champlain and on barges and the banks of the Hudson River. Though much ink was spilled by newspapers across the state and thousands of citizens weighed in with concern, there was very little action by the Legislature or the Governor to stop the current threat or prevent Big Oil from moving the dangerous and climate altering tar sands of Canada through our state. The Assembly did pass legislation (Scorecard #12) to require oil companies to assure that they had insurance adequate to cover spills or catastrophic events, but that common sense measure died in the Senate. As we head into 2015, we need the Governor and the Legislature to meet the challenges posed as the state becomes part of the oil patch. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS EPL/Environmental Advocates is one of the first organizations in the nation formed to advocate for the future 4 of a state’s environment and the health of its citizens. Through A quick look at the scores & lobbying, advocacy, coalition building, citizen education, and find your legislators policy development, EPL/Environmental Advocates has been New York’s environmental conscience for 45 years. We work to ensure environmental laws are enforced, tough new measures are enacted, 5 2014 Legislative wrap-up and the public is informed of — and participates in — important policy debates. EPL/Environmental Advocates is a nonprofit corporation tax exempt under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. 7-9 Honorable Mention Abysmals & Oil slick EPL/Environmental Advocates 353 Hamilton Street 10 Assembly scores by region Albany, NY 12210 (518) 462-5526 www.eplscorecard.org 20 Senate scores by region 24 Bill summaries 29 How scores are calculated & visit us online 30 What you can do & support us How to read the scorecard Signed into law Bill description Super Bills Party & district Region 2014 Score 2013 Score Fracking MoratoriumChild Safe ProductsCommunity Act RiskEnergy Reduction StarEnergy State and Grants ResiliencyStar ApplianceTris-Free Babies TaxReduce Break FoodDrug Waste, Takeback Reduce DemonstrationGreen Climate Residential PollutionCurbing Program Light buildingClean Pollution Grant Energy ProgramPreventing Property Tax Aquatic Exemption Invasive Species 1 2 3 13 14 18 21 22 23 24 26 27 Governor Andrew M. Cuomo (D) U U ? ? U U Philip Boyle (R-4/Bay Shore) 74 47 - l U U U U U U N U U U John Flanagan (R-2/Smithtown) 58 42 - - U U U U U U U U U Y Kemp Hannon (R-6/Garden City) 73 52 - - U U U U U U U U U U Kenneth LaValle (R-1/Mount Sinai) 90 77 - l U U U U U U U U U U Carl Marcellino (R-5/Oyster Bay) 90 64 - l U U U U U U U U U U Long Jack Martins (R-7/Garden City Park) 85 74 l l U U U U U U U U U U Island Dean Skelos (R-9/Rockville Centre) 62 42 - - U U U U U U U U U U Lee Zeldin (R-3/Ronkonkoma) 50 36 - - U Y U U U U U Y U U Super Bill sponsor Incorrect environmental vote Not in office/excused absence - not scored Correct environmental vote 3 A quick look at leaders’ scores The Scorecard at a glance 75 100 Assemblymembers who earned scores of 100 or more Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D) 40 Child Safe Products Act Senate sponsors 88 Senate Minority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D) 0 Senate floor votes on the Child Safe Products Act 83 11 Senate Co-Leader Jeff Klein (D) Lowest score Senators who voted correctly on every environmental bill 8 62 Senate Co-Leader Dean Skelos (R) Priority bills dead in the Senate environmental conservation committee 1 40 Super Bills passed by both houses Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb (R) Find your legislators 4 The scorecard organizes lawmakers by region: 1 – Western New York 2 – Southern Tier 3 5 3 – Central New York 4 – North Country 1 5 – Capital Region 6 – Hudson Valley 2 7 – New York City 8 – Long Island 6 7 8 Find out who represents you. Visit www.assembly.state.ny.us and www.nysenate.gov or call the New York State Assembly at (518) 455-4100 and the New York State Senate at (518) 455-2800. 4 A Deep Dive into 2014 This is EPL/Environmental Advocates 45th year of ad- Failure Gets Another Life The year began with the Governor acknowledging that vocacy for the future of the state’s environment and the the brownfield cleanup program is broken and needs health of its citizens. Just when we think we have seen it to be fixed. An Environmental Advocates report found all, along comes the 2014 legislative session and we learn that over its life, the program has cost taxpayers more anew just how difficult progress on achieving our mission than $1.1 billion with only about 150 cleaned up (there can be. are thousands statewide). Further, powerful real estate interests have figured out how to game the system, and This year, the state Legislature delivered a true mixed bag taxpayers are funding programs to build extravagant to the environment. There were clear wins, far-from-ide- hotels and malls. Though the cost to the state treasury is al outcomes, many bad bills to be blocked and situations huge, decision-makers failed to come together to reach an that reminded us of all that can go wrong in the halls of agreement in the budget, but vows were made to fix the the Capitol. program by the end of session. However, the Governor never put forth a proposal and in the vacuum he created, Our Changing Climate real estate interests – focused on their bottom line – con- The impacts to our health and the environment that vinced lawmakers to simply extend the broken program flow from climate change are great and continue to another year and half: a predictable, yet terrible outcome. mount. And, while the state lacks a comprehensive plan to address it, we saw some hopeful signals this year that more lawmakers understand what is at stake and support Forty is the New Zero Advocates waged a campaign to engender support for action. Both houses passed the “Climate Risk Reduction legislation to eliminate toxic chemicals from children’s and Resiliency Act” a measure that will aid communities products. As the end of session unfolded, there were 40 in planning and accounting for climate change impacts, Senators signed on as co-sponsors; to pass the Senate a which Governor Cuomo has signed into law. It’s a great bill needs only 32 votes in support. The bill was passed first step, and to follow it up we need a comprehensive by the Assembly in March, yet, as crazy as this sounds, it plan that will cut carbon and set New York down the path never came up for a vote in the Senate. to clean energy and away from dirty fossil fuels of the past. In that Chamber, the bill was bottled up in committee for nearly the entire session by Environmental Conservation In the middle of session a bi-partisan group of legislators Committee Chair Mark Grisanti (R-Buffalo). As the bill from the Senate and Assembly came together to support sat, chemical industry lobbyists worked the Senate leader- federal action. In a letter to the U.S. Environmental Pro- ship to ensure that it did not come to the floor for a vote tection Agency head, Gina McCarthy, 50 legislators urged even after the committee finally approved it. her to set strong standards for power plant carbon pollu- tion. They made note that New York has strong standards To add insult to injury, as advocates were pushing the for our power plants, and that the Clean Air Act compels Senate for a vote on the Child Safe Products Act, Senator her to act on climate. Skelos and Senator Klein decided to call a vote on a bill to legalize sparklers and firecrackers, which is opposed by Taken together, these developments show that outside of many of the same firefighters and EMS personnel as sup- the acrimony of Congress, support for climate action can port the Child Safe Products Act. These groups oppose transcend party ideology and opportunity for progress is legalizing these products because of the harm they cause available. to children. The “sparklers bill” had only one Senator signed on as sponsor and yet it moved from introduction to passage in both houses in just three days. 5 Welcome to the new math of the New York State Senate Toxic Mercury in Light Bulbs, #19 Cadmium-Free Toys, and a new chapter in the civics books on how a bill be- #9 Keeping Recyclables Out of Landfills, #11 Microbead- comes (or in this case doesn’t) law.
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