Latest legislative session features few hits, many misses
DAN MEYER Political Columnist
When fully reviewing New York State's 2007 legislative session, you have to come to the realization that the slight progress made by our state lawmakers was overshadowed by one of the most disappointing ends of session in quite some time.

So to get a full understanding about what was accomplished - and more importantly, what wasn't accomplished - here's a look at the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to legislative business in Albany:

The good: Some actual budget reform was achieved, most notably that member items are now required to be disclosed before they are put to a vote by the State Legislature.

The other progressive step taken was the decision to spoon-feed our elected officials loads of fiscal facts and figures in November as opposed to January, allowing for more number-crunching to be done in a more timely manner.

Much more still needs to be done when it comes to real reform when talking about the budget process, but this is progress and we must continue to hope that more is on the way in the very near future.

Also registering positively on the scorecard was workers' compensation reform. The changes to the workers' comp laws should save employers upwards of $1 billion over the next several years by eliminating those expensive lifetime payments for claims that are categorized as permanent partial disabilities.

What's it mean to the bottom line for small business owners? Think in terms of 10 to 15 percent, maybe even more, in total savings in payments for employee insurance.

The bad: While more than a dozen bills thought to be on the cusp of being approved were nudged aside at the end of session, our illustrious senators did find time to advance almost $500 million in requests made for pork barrel spending.

To add insult to injury, this group also made sure they were able to secure the necessary votes required to give themselves a pay raise.

The Senate also failed to confirm appointees to most of the state's major agencies, boards and commissions, including the SUNY Board of Trustees and the Empire State Development Corporation.

Also left undone, which garnered much interest locally, is the planned closing of St. Joseph Hospital in Cheektowaga. The Legislature simply failed to act upon a bill that was co-sponsored by Assemblyman Dennis Gabryszak and Sens. Dale Volker and Bill Stachowski that would have helped pull St. Joe's off the closing list issued earlier this year by the Berger Commission.

Since Gov. Eliot Spitzer had made it perfectly clear that he was going to veto the bill, a "Plan B" of sorts involving further discussions with hospital administrators and representatives from the office of the state's Health Commissioner was introduced.

The ugly: Simply put, the past month and a half of meetings in Albany saw very little action take place as lawmakers decided to walk away from the table and head home for the summer.

Specifically, a half dozen bills - namely Wicks Law reform, campaign finance reform, power plant sitting legislation, healthy schools legislation, public authorities reform and brownfields legislation - should have been addressed. So much has been said about the six bills listed above - particularly the Wicks Law and campaign finance proposals - and yet so little was accomplished.

Whether they want to admit it or not, our elected officials are obligated to address these issues on behalf of the taxpayers they represent and in the conscience of good government.

Yes, good government. A phrase that is so easy to say but so hard to emulate given the unacceptable and outrageous voting record of some of our elected officials. With all of this unfinished business still sitting on the table, it's amazing to think how these politicians can enjoy their summer vacation knowing they dropped the ball and left Albany knowing they had so little success doing what they get paid to do.

(Daniel Meyer is a columnist for the Weekly Independent Newspapers of Western New York. WIN is a consortiumof19 community-basedweeklynewspapers in Erie and Niagara counties with a combined paid circulation of 75,000 homes, providing collaborative advertising and editorial support for member publications. For more information on WIN, or to provide feedback on this column, visit our Web site at www.wnynewspapers.com. Opinions expressed here are those of the author.)