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Partly Cloudy Bill curtails Assembly debate to 15 minutes
Republicans in the Assembly were blindsided by the Democrats in January when the majority introduced a resolution to limit the time that a bill could be discussed, Assemblyman Michael Montesano said. A bill was passed to limit the amount of time an assembly member can debate to 15 minutes, which is not enough time, he said.
In the past a debate could last for a half hour for some bills, especially controversial bills, Montesano, a Republican from Glen Head, said, or even up to five hours. Often assembly members see the bill the day it is considered on the floor.
“The new bill creates an issue of us not being able to flesh out the bills being presented,” Montesano said. “Some people on the majority side get a little stunned when some of the bills are fleshed out. We didn’t know this was even being considered until we walked in.”
Assemblyman Chuck Lavine, a Democrat from Glen Cove, said the change is necessary because some members slow things down, speaking for long periods on a bill. This will be more efficient, he said. There is much work to be done and the Assembly cannot be held hostage.
“Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address was little more than two minutes,” Lavine said. “It boggles the mind to believe any [assembly] member needs five times what Lincoln took to talk about bills in the Assembly. Mike Montesano has rarely used anywhere near 15 minutes.”
The new bill mandates that members speak 15 minutes or less. But they can get additional time to speak later if they receive the consent of their political party.
Montesano said the reason the bill was passed by the Democratic majority is because, anticipating a tough year ahead with many Democratic senior members of the Assembly facing a primary, [Democrats] want to “stifle [Republican] criticism.”
“They don’t need our vote to pass anything,” he said. “We dissect the bills and sometimes they change their minds. Sometimes it does get a little annoying when a debate is long but that’s our job. The average person pays no attention to this stuff. They look to us.”
Lavine said no one’s voice is being shut down. There are four times as many Democrats as there are Republicans in the Assembly. “If we were to adopt a system where they got a quarter time to speak that would be problematic,” he said. “There is no merit to his point. This is for both parties.”
Montesano went as far as to say that the majority should be ashamed of themselves for the “great injustice to New Yorkers everywhere.”
"By depriving us the appropriate time to discuss and debate bills, we are denying the people of New York from getting the representation they deserve," Montesano said. "This is just another way to silence us further and prevent us from doing our jobs in representing the good people of New York.”
The bill was passed 101 to 43 with one Republican voting for it and one Democrat against it.
