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Thursday, September 30, 2004
Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno announced today that he has created the Senate Majority Task Force on Government Reform that will review all aspects of Senate rules, the legislative process and other areas of State government and recommend changes that will build on the Senate�s record of reform, open up the process and address the problem of Capitol gridlock.
"I am establishing this task force in response to an overwhelming call from every member of the Senate Majority Conference," Senator Bruno said. "I became the Majority Leader 10 years ago by promising to reform the way the Senate operates and, with the help and support of the Conference, I delivered those reforms. However, now is the time to take a close look and seek input on how we can not only update and improve the legislative process, but also take a look at other areas of State government that can be changed to increase responsiveness and accountability. Most reform suggestions so far deal with the committee process, we need to go further than that."
Senator Bruno said every member of the Majority Conference will serve on the task force, which will be Co-Chaired by Senator Dale M. Volker (R-C-I, DePew) and Senator Frank Padavan (R-C, Bellerose).
"Dale Volker and Frank Padavan have a tremendous amount of experience serving in the Senate and working with State government," Senator Bruno said. "Their experience will help this task force to conduct a thorough review of State government, make substantive recommendations for reform and do it an in expedited manner so changes can be made for the 2005 legislative session."
"The need for our citizens to trust our democratic form of government is crucial and essential," said Senator Volker. "Senator Bruno from day one, has believed and implemented reform within the State Senate, yet more needs to be done. This task force will allow our citizenry to have a voice and vested interest in advocating for the necessary reforms to bring back the trust to our legislative institutions. I am confident that at the end of the day, reform will be accomplished in a bipartisan, fair, and equitable way."
"The Senate has been passing budget reform measures and advocating for the increased use of public conference committees for several years. We've finally seen some movement to enact these measures in the other house," Senator Padavan said. "However, it is abundantly clear that we need to go much further in reforming government here in Albany, making this system more functional. We need to open up the entire process."
Senator Bruno has established a strong record of reform since being elected Majority Leader in 1995. He has initiated such reforms as: issuing public legislative expenditure reports twice a year that detail legislative spending; establishing the use of legislative conference committees to negotiate differences between similar bills passed by both houses; making live audio and video of Senate sessions available on the Senate Internet web site and on cable television; giving more responsibility for legislation and policy development to individual committee chairs; and making the Senate run in a more timely and businesslike fashion.
When he became Majority Leader, Senator Bruno reduced the number of newsletters available to each Senator; closed 20 Senate offices; restricted Senate travel; reduced the size of the Senate staff by twenty percent; eliminated several legislative commissions and has kept the Senate�s budget far below the rate of inflation.
In addition, the Senate reform record includes passing one of the most restrictive lobbying reform bills in the nation, that virtually banned gifts from lobbyists to Senators and passing Initiative and Referendum legislation which would give more power to the people to place issues on the ballot.
For more than a decade, the Senate lead the fight to reform the State budget process, passing comprehensive budget reform plans every years before the Assembly finally joined the Senate this year to change the budget process.
"The frustration with the legislative process has its roots in 20 years of late budgets," Senator Bruno said. "So many issues are tied to the budget that when it is late, the result is legislative gridlock and tremendous frustration. This year we took a big step to solve the problem of late budgets."
In addition, the Senate proposed an historic, comprehensive reform of the Medicaid system that would have saved State and local taxpayers $2.5 billion over five years. The biggest recommendation of the Senate�s Medicaid Reform Task Force, the State takeover of the local share of the Family Health Plus program, was included in the enacted budget, but billions of dollars more could have been saved if more of the 40-plus task force recommendations had been instituted.
"We are always looking for ways to improve the legislative process and State government as a whole and the Senate Majority Government Reform Task Force will focus on how we can do that," Senator Bruno. "I plan on talking with Senate Minority Leader David Paterson about this reform effort, and, as we move forward, discussing reform issues and recommendations with Governor Pataki and Speaker Silver so we can share ideas and work together to reform State government."
Senator Bruno will meet with the Co-Chairs of the task force to establish a schedule of roundtable discussions and other events with a goal of issuing a preliminary report by the end of this year.
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