Albany Update Januray 13, 2006 Update on 2006 Legislative Session Given that this is an election year in which all seats in the Senate (62 seats) and Assembly (150 seats) are up for election, we are anticipating an on-time budget.. (Last year’s budget was the first on-time budget in 20 years.) Assuming the budget is approved in April, there will be plenty of time in May and June for the legislature to consider non-budget issues before they officially adjourn in late June. This should provide a good opportunity for those of you who have non-budgetary to bring them up before the legislature. So where do New Yorkers stand….Here are the results of some surveys/reports that were issued this week: A report was issued this week by the Citizens Budget Commission, the Brennan Center for Justice, the state League of Women Voters and the NY Public Interest Research Group. It detailed the results of a survey conducted last month by the Siena College Research Institute that found that 65% of New York registered voters believe that the Governor and leaders of the legislature “primarily represent” their own interests or those of special interests groups rather than those of the general public. This is in contrast to their opinion of local elected officials who 45% of registered voters polled felt represented their constituent interests. Over 60% of the respondents favored a state constitutional amendment to limit spending increases to the rate of inflation for local and state governments. A majority or 65% favored spending cuts over increased taxes to ward off future budget deficits. Four-fifths of those surveyed indicated that the government doesn’t need to spend more money on education, it just needs to spend it more effectively in order to improve the quality of NY schools. Seventy-six of the respondents said they don’t think the state is doing enough to get rid of Medicaid fraud and abuse. The survey was paid for the by the conservative Manhattan Institute think tank, and consisted of interviews with 620 voters state-wide. There was also a Quinnipiac College Poll that showed NY residents by a 3-to-1 margin believe that redistricting should be done by someone other than the legislature. A court decision has ruled that re-districting is necessary to insure that there is sufficient representation of racial minorities. Redistricting in Albany has been criticized for creating boundaries that favor incumbents. The Governor will release his budget January 17th. We will keep you posted. FUNDRAISERS Tuesday, January 17th Senator GEORGE WINNER [R] - Chair—Ethics - Albany, $400 Assem JAMES CONTE [R] - Ass’t Minority Leader Pro Temp - Albany, $250 Assem ROANN DESTITO [D] - Chair– Governmental Operations - Albany, $500 Monday, January 23rd Senator JIM ALESE [R] - Chair—Commerce - Albany, $400 Senator VINCENT LEIBELL [R] - Chair—Corporations - Albany, $450 Assem MICHAEL BENEDETTO [D] - Albany, $250 Assem JAMES TEDISCO [R] - Minority Leader - Albany, $300 Monday, January 30th DEMOCRATIC SENATE CAMPAIGN COMM - Albany, $650 Senator HUGH FARLEY [r] - Chair—Banks - Albany, $300 Assem HARVEY WEISENBERG [D] - Albany, $300 Back to newsletter list

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