VOTERS’ GUIDE TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 A quick look at the scores & find your legislators 4 EPL/Environmental Advocates is one of the first 2013 legislative wrap-up organizations in the nation formed to advocate for the future of a state’s environment and the health of its citizens. Through 6 lobbying, advocacy, coalition building, citizen education, and policy Oil slick award & development, EPL/Environmental Advocates has been New York’s honorable mention environmental conscience for more than 40 years. We work to ensure environmental laws are enforced, tough new measures are enacted, and the public is informed of — and participates in — important policy 8 Assembly scores by region debates. EPL/Environmental Advocates is a nonprofit corporation tax exempt under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. 18 Senate scores by region EPL/Environmental Advocates 22 353 Hamilton Street Bill summaries Albany, NY 12210 (518) 462-5526 www.eplscorecard.org 26 How scores are calculated & visit us online 27 What you can do & support us Awaiting action at time of print Signed into law How to read the Scorecard Rating Bill description SuperSuper Bills Bills Party & district Region 2013 Score 2012 Score New York SolarFracking Bill MoratoriumClimate &Protection HealthChild Impacts ActSafe ProductsCoralling Assessment Act Wild Boars Incentives for Energy StarShark Appliances Fin ProhibitionTransit Fund ProtectionPromoting LocalGreen Food Buildings Purchasing Extender 1 2 3 4 9 11 12 16 17 23 24 27 Governor Andrew M. Cuomo (D) ? ? S ? ? Eric Adams (D-20/Brooklyn) 73 46 N N example Greg Ball (R-40/Brewster) 42 73 - - - Catharine Young (R-57/Olean) 42 31 - - N Correct Super Bill sponsor environmental vote Incorrect absence - not scored Not a Super environmental vote Bill sponsor 2 A quick look at leaders’ scores Scorecard at a glance 71 Assemblymembers who earned scores of 100 100 Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver 11 77 Senators who voted correctly on every environmental bill Senate Minority Leader 0 Andrea Stewart-Cousins Super Bills sent to the governor 42 32 Lowest score Senate votes needed to pass a bill Senate co-Presidents Dean Skelos and Jeff Klein 34 41 Fracking hazardous waste loophole Senate sponsors Assembly Minority Leader 37 Brian Kolb Child Safe Products Act Senate sponsors Find your legislators Signed into law !e Scorecard organizes 4 lawmakers by region: " – Western New York # – Southern Tier $ – Central New York % – North Country 3 5 & – Capital Region 1 ' – Hudson Valley ( – New York City 2 Green Buildings Extender ) – 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 (&")) %&&-%"** and the New York State Senate at (&")) %&&-#)**. 3 The GREEN Gulf SUMMARY Once again the Assembly worked hard to move good policy – with Assemblyman Bob Sweeney putting our FAILED Leadership environment and health ahead of the wall of corporate Unlike years past when Governor Cuomo, Dean Skelos, money that consistently shuts down good legislation in and Shelly Silver exchanged high fives in the red room, the Senate. In all, the Assembly passed 26 good bills to this year’s silence spoke volumes about the quality of the just 11 passed by the Senate. 2013 session. As importantly, Speaker Sheldon Silver led the Assembly With the advent of “coalition” government in the Sen- to shut down every bad bill passed by the Senate, in- ate, people who care about the environment entered cluding legislation to invalidate critical regulations that the year with high hopes for a productive legislative provide basic health, safety, and environmental protec- session. We believed that environmental and public tions. Three of these bills earned 3-smokestacks under health protections stood a better chance of passage with Environmental Advocates’ rating system because their Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) Senator Jeff environmental impact would have been so severe; this Klein leading a so-called group of “moderate” Democrats was the highest number of 3-smokestack bills passed by alongside Republican Senator Dean Skelos’ conference, the Senate in five years. which has historically been difficult to move on issues ranging from climate change to protecting children from While we applaud the Assembly for continuing to lead toxic chemicals. on environmental issues, they must also step up their efforts to ensure their initiatives make it through both They promised to end the Senate’s dysfunction, and we houses and are signed into law by the Governor. had every reason to believe them. Senate GRAVEYARD How wrong we were. We saw two forms of gridlock during the session: failure to lead and failure to negotiate. Instead, for the second year in a row, the Senate did not deliver a single Super Bill to Governor Andrew Cuomo Failed leadership was seen in two bills that died in the for his signature. On issue after issue, Senators Skelos Senate despite having more cosponsors than were need- and Klein refused to allow simple votes on legislation ed for passage. Senator Philip Boyle worked tirelessly on and stymied proposals advanced by anyone other than behalf of the Child Safe Products Act garnering co-spon- members of the majority coalition. Oftentimes, it ap- sorship from an incredible 37 senators, including three peared they were not only at political war with the members of the IDC and seven republicans. Legislation mainline Democratic Conference, but each other. requires just 32 votes to pass. The bill went nowhere. Worse, even good bills sponsored by members of the Unrelenting public pressure brought 34 cosponsors, ruling Independent Democratic and Republican confer- including the IDC and several Republicans, onto a bill ences died in Senator Mark Grisanti’s Environmental that would close a gaping loophole in existing regula- Conservation Committee – the graveyard of good envi- tions and require drilling companies to properly dispose ronmental and public health legislation. of their hazardous waste. The bill went nowhere. 4 A failure to compromise sunk Governor Cuomo’s plan to make our state a leader in the development of clean, renewable energy – and in the process create thousands of jobs and lessen climate-altering emissions – by plac- ing the NY-Sun Initiative in statute for 10 years. Both houses passed versions of the bill, but they were unable to reconcile their differences, so when the final gavel fell New Yorkers were left with nothing. It is now on Gov- ernor Cuomo’s shoulders to take action. Real World CONSEQUENCES Despite promises of reform, the Senate failed to pass any campaign finance plan that would finally break the legislative logjam that stalls common-sense solutions to real world problems. It seems to have been lost on Senators Skelos and Klein that New York’s environmental dangers are real. When climate change delivers a steady rain of devastating and unpredictable storms, there are consequences. When manufacturers are allowed to load up children’s prod- ucts with deadly chemicals, there are consequences. And when a legislative body fails to deliver on any of its promises, there will be consequences. 5 Two Ends of the SPECTRUM In 2013, state legislators seemed more interested in gamesmanship and political power plays than working together to get anything accomplished – an extremely disappointing turn of events following the devastating toll that Superstorm Sandy and other severe weather events had on many communities statewide. As a result, EPL/Environmental Advocates is unable to provide anyone with the distinction of 2013 Legislator of the Year. This year’s legislative session brought no substantive action on issues of climate change, fracking, or children’s health. For the second year in a row, none of the environmental community’s Super Bills were sent to the Governor. And the one area of potential achievement – the solar energy development – failed due an impasse between the Senate and Assembly leaving the two houses unable to sort out nominal disagreements. Honorable Mention: ROBERT K. SWEENEY In a sea of disappointment, one legislator in particular stood out for his ongo- ing commitment to our environment. As Chair of the Environmental Conservation Committee, Assembly- member Sweeney (D–Lindenhurst) continued to cement his role as a champion for New York’s air, land, and water. He was the lead sponsor on three of the four environmental com- munity’s 2013 Super Bills, and was instrumental in passing them through his Chamber. The Assemblyman also shepherded a number of other environ- mentally beneficial bills to the floor for a vote including bills to keep mercury out of landfills and a bill to include future climate risks in municipal planning efforts. 6 OIL SLICK AWARDEE: Jeffrey Klein When Senator Klein (D-Bronx) arranged his ascension to his Chamber’s co-presidency, he promised to end the dysfunction that has consumed the Senate for years. Instead, he: prevented common-sense legislation from making its way through the legislative process; refused to use his leadership position to prevent the roll back of hard-fought environmental protec- tions from coming to the floor; voted for several bad bills which could kill protec- tions that Senator Klein and his colleagues voted in favor of in previous years. We had high hopes going into 2013 that bipartisan leadership would finally break the legislative logjam that has stalled so many initiatives in the past. Unfortunately, the 2013 legislative session ended with one of the most dismal environmental records in history. Senator Klein recieves the 2013 Oil Slick Award due to his lack of commitment to public health and environmental protection. The Senator seems more interested in power and press releases than sound public policy. We hope that in 2014 he will act as the leader he promised to be. 7 7 ASSEMBLY scores Super Bills 2013 Score 2012 Score New York SolarFracking Bill MoratoriumClimate Protection &Child Health Safe ImpactsAct HealthyProducts Assessment Green ActEnvironmental ProcurementEnvironmental Justice Advisory Impact GroupCorralling Reports WildSafer Boars SofasIndian PointPrivate Replacement Well Testing Plan 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 13 14 15 Governor Andrew M.