UNDERSTANDING AND AFFECTING THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS

What is the legislature? How is it made up? How does it work? Where do bills originate and what happens as a bill works its way through the legislature? Can I really affect what happens in this process, and if so, how?

Questions like these seem pretty basic; stuff they tried to teach us in junior high school. Few of us, however, really understand the structure of the legislature or how it really works. Too many of us are convinced that there is little that we, as an individual or as a group, can do to affect government decisions.

The truth is that we, as sports persons, as outdoor enthusiasts, and as conservationists can be very effective in guiding how our government makes decisions that affect us. To do that we need to be familiar with the basics of how our government is structured, and progress from there.

New York’s state legislature is made up of two Houses, the Assembly and the Senate. New York is divided into numbered legislative districts according to population - one hundred fifty Assembly districts and sixty two Senate districts. Each member of the Senate represents a little less than two and one half times as many people as an Assembly member. Because of the difference in the number of people represented Senate districts are much larger than those of the Assembly, and have different numbers. Each member of the Assembly and the Senate are elected by the voters in their respective districts. These elections are held every two years, and legislators take office on January first following the election. Our legislative year usually starts on the first Wednesday after the first Monday in January with The Governor's “State Of The State” address, and is scheduled to end about June 20th (though it rarely does).

Each House is made up of two parties, Republican and Democrat. Although the numbers could work out even, they, to the best of my knowledge, never have. Therefore a majority and a minority party have always existed. Each party elects its own leadership in each House, but the majority party really rules the roost. At present, in the Assembly the Democrats have a two to one majority (due primarily to the large number of democrats in the heavily populated areas). The Democratic (majority) party leader in the Assembly is known as the Speaker, and the leader of the Republican (minority) party is called the Minority Leader. Republicans are in the majority in the Senate, but by a much smaller margin. The leader of the Republican (the majority) party in the Senate is called the President Pro Tempore and Majority leader, the head of the Senate Democrats (the minority) is the Minority Leader. These leadership positions carry with them a rather awesome power. It is the party leaders who chose committee chairpersons and assign committee positions. They have a great deal to say about which members are placed in the strongest positions in the party and they have a great deal of control over the money that is made available to the members for projects in each members district and for election campaigns

In each of the two Houses several standing committees are appointed and each elected member is assigned to one or more of these committees. The majority party members out number the minority members on a committee by about the same ratio as in the respective House itself. Each committee has a chair who will be a member of the majority party and a ranking minority member who will be responsible for the actions of the minority party members. These committees deal with very specific areas of legislation such as agriculture, environmental conservation, education, finance and many more. There are thirty three Senate committees and thirty seven in the Assembly. It is the duty of these committees, and the staff who work on them, to examine every bill that is introduced in a category assigned to their respective committee, contact all of the interested parties in hopes of reaching consensus on the bill, and eventually making a decision as to whether that bill will be presented to the whole committee, If it is, members may then vote to decide if the bill does or does not go before the House for a vote.

Maybe we need to stop here for a bit and look at what a bill is. Where does it come from and how does it get as far as a committee. To begin with, a bill is just an idea. Something that some one thinks should be a law. That some one could be an individual like you or me, it could be an organization like the Conservation Alliance of New York or it could be a government agency, say the D.E.C. In order for the idea to be acted upon by the House, it must be introduced by a member who agrees to “sponsor” it. At this point, we must remember that for a bill to become law it must be introduced into and passed by both the Senate and the Assembly. Eventually it will need two sponsors, one from each House.

Once a sponsor is found, the language of the bill is written, either by the person who had the idea or the sponsor’s staff, and sent to a place in the legislature known as “bill drafting”. The people who work in bill drafting have the job of making sure that the language is technically correct. Now the bill can be sent back to the sponsor to be introduced. Usually at this time the sponsors will ask other legislators to add their names to the bill as co or multi-sponsors. This gives the bill more strength when the time comes for a vote. When the bill is introduced it goes to print, receives a number, and is directed to the appropriate committee. It then becomes available to the entire legislature and any other interested parties.

At this point, it’s time to return to the committee. The bill has been directed to the appropriate committee and now goes to that committee’s program and counsel people. This is true for both parties, in both houses. It is their job to analyze the bill, decide if it should even go to committee, and make any needed changes or amendments. Then, if all goes well, the bill will be placed on a committee agenda. Once on an agenda, the bill will be given to each member of the committee to examine and will be voted on. Three things can happen at the committee vote. First, the bill may be reported out if committee, which means it will then go to the floor to be voted on by the full House. Second, it may be “held” which means there was not a majority either way. Third, it may be defeated and will go no further.

Assuming that the bill passes the vote and is reported out of committee it will move on to the floor of the House where it will go to three readings. This means that it will be placed before the legislators for three days and after the third day (third reading) may be voted on. If the bill passes in both the Assembly and the Senate it is sent to the governor for his signature. The governor has ten business days to sign or veto the bill after it is delivered to him. Three things can happen here. First, the governor can sign the bill at which time it becomes law on the effective date. Second, he can veto the bill in which case it does not become law, and in most cases is the end of that legislation. Third, he can take no action and at the end of ten business days the bill automatically becomes law.

You, your family and friends, and the organizations to which you belong must take a role in this process. Your opinions are important, and yes your legislators do listen. So what can you do? First and foremost register and vote. An election year provides a great opportunity for you to get involved. Call, write or, better yet, speak to the candidates. Let them know what you expect from them and let them know that you're going to vote for the person who supports the things that are important to you, regardless of the party that they represent. After elections are over, contact your legislator. Whether or not your candidate won, congratulate them. Be courteous, but be strong. Let them know that you expect their support on issues that are important to you. Then stay in touch with both your Assembly member and your Senator. Get to know these people well enough that they call you by name when they see you on the street.

Make an effort to develop a contact in your local legislator’s district office (your town, city or village office or any post office can tell you the location of these offices). Ask them to keep you informed about legislation that may be of interest to you. Also check the Conservation Alliance of New York’s (CANY’s) website often to find legislation that would affect your interests.

When you find that legislation has been introduced that would affect you here are some steps to take that will help you to effectively state your position to the people in the legislature that can best help you. Write a short letter to your own Assembly member and Senator clearly stating your position and very briefly stating why you take that position. Remember to keep it short. Legislators receive tremendous amounts of mail. Long letters or great detail will rarely be read. Copy your letter to the chair and the ranking minority member of the appropriate committee. Follow up on your letters after a few days with a phone call; first to your own legislators then to those who were copied. Very likely you will talk to a staff person. That’s fine, in fact sometimes preferable. Ask if your letter has been received, and if there is any further information that you could give that might be helpful. Ask what the legislator’s position will be. The answer may or may not be what you want to hear. No matter, be courteous and thank the person for their time and then move on. If things seemed not to go well contact CANY by e-mail or phone, and we will do our best to help you understand what other steps might be available to you.

You can become an effective advocate for conservation, for sound management of our natural resources, and for your fellow outdoorsmen and women. Join strong organizations with experienced and dedicated leadership like CANY. Use our web site and e-mail to become an informed and educated conservation leader in your community. CANY will keep you up to date on new legislation affecting sportspersons, issues with the Department of Environmental Conservation, and all other information that conservation leaders need to be aware of. CANY will help you and your friends how to effectively work with our Government to benefit every one who loves the outdoors, and believes in the sustainable use and enjoyment of our natural resources.

As a member, or if you’re just looking for good, factual information, hit legislative button on this website often. Those legislative issues of importance to outdoor enthusiasts will be listed, and links to information on many other issues of special interest will be available.