Collections : [New York State Modern Political Archive]

The series consists mainly of correspondence and meeting minutes of the New York Temporary State Lobbying Commission regarding lobbying regulations and documentation on two court cases involving the commission, the most prominent being "Hobday, et al., v. the New York Temporary State Commission on Regulation of Lobbying." As an early advocate of the creation of the Lobbying Commission, NYSCC was represented on the commission by its director. The series also contains an analysis of New York State government agency logs, NYSCC lobbying registration forms, lobbying reports and studies on the amount of money spent on lobbying by business interests. New York State Common Cause

This series contains the records of the Capital-Berkshire Area Economic Conversion Study Group and Task Force (CABEC). The collection contains information about the organization and its activities from 1986-1992. Series 4 also contains information on several other local groups that supported economic conversion. Many of the groups fell under the umbrella of the Social Justice Center. There are also several news clippings and reports that help shed light on the issues surrounding economic conversion.

This series documents the legislative concerns of the organization during the 1970s. The series contains SASU's annual legislative agenda, memos to State legislators and SASU officers at member schools, information packets distributed at the annual legislative conference, and periodic legislative reports compiled by SASU's legislative director. Since SASU did not start lobbying until December/January 1973-74, at which time it registered its legislative director with the New York State Secretary of State, most of the material covers the period 1974-80. SASU was especially involved in lobbying for the passage of the following legislation: mandatory provisions of absentee ballots, upon request, to eligible, unavoidably detained voters in primary elections (1974); the age of majority bill, lowering the age of majority from 21 to 18 (1974); the creation of the Tuition Assistance Program, (TAP), the nation's largest and most comprehensive student aid program (1974); mail voter registration (1975); a student trustee bill, drafted and initiated by SASU, which resulted in students becoming non-voting members on the SUNY Board of Trustees, the City University of New York Board of Higher Education, and on college and university councils and boards of trustees for all New York State's public colleges (this legislation was enacted despite strong opposition by many trustees and SUNY Central's legislative effort), (1975); the establishment of four students as voting members on the Higher Education Services Corporation's Board of Trustees, and four students on the HESC's Advisory Council, (the Board and the Advisory Council are responsible for determining administrative policies for HESC, which controls student financial aid), (1976); restoration of four of the five TAP programs cut in proposals by Governor Carey, (1976); the guarantee of all parliamentary rights, excluding the right to vote, for student members of the SUNY Board of Trustees, CUNY Board of Higher Education, and university and college councils for all public colleges, (these rights include, for example, the privileges of making and seconding motions, and attendance at executive sessions) (1977); marijuana decriminalization, preventing criminal penalties for the possession of small amounts of marijuana, (1977); an increase in the maximum allowable TAP eligible income, from $2,000 to $2,750 to allow for inflation, (1978); defeat of an attempt to cut off Medicaid funding for abortions, (1978); the repeal of the student health fee, (1979); and finally, after intensive lobbying by SASU, Student Trustees and student College Council members were granted the right to vote

Series 9 consists of a small number of Center publications including The Advocate. The collection of The Advocate is incomplete. There is also a folder of publications by others, relevant to some of the work done by the Center. The Advocate is a quarterly community criminal justice journal. First published in 1992, the Advocate serves to inform and educate the community about the criminal justice system and how it operates. Regular features include the demographics of the state prison population, significant local and national criminal justice news briefs, summaries of important legislation and court decisions, writings by prisoners, book and film reviews, and guest editorials.

This series contains two items that, because of size and subject, do not fit easily into any of the other series. The two items are a religious instructional book given to the Link family in 1944 by Clarence V. Hourell and the 1979 plaque awarded to Link by the International Who's Who of Education.

Local Program Studies are studies and projects done by the LWVAC that concerned the local area and its citizens. The group evaluated such things as the mental health facilities (beginning in 1954), housing (1969 and 1973), and the civic center in Albany County (1984-1985). The Observer Corps (1982-1987), an LWVAC committee, observed meetings of the local governments to monitor compliance of those governments with the New York State Open Meeting Law and Freedom of Information Law following an Open Meeting Survey conducted by the group in 1980. Other local items of study included redistricting the city and county of Albany (1964-1967), solid waste management and the use of the ANSWERS incineration plant (1989-1991), and household hazardous material. From the latter study the LWVAC produced Household Hazards: A Guide to Detoxifying Your Home in 1988 and 1990, which is in this series rather than with publications in Series 7.

Materials on the 1924 Supreme Court case against the Virginia statute of sterilization of the mentally defective.

Included are bound volumes published by the UFS as well as State University of New York publications and miscellaneous background information from other sources.

This series, divided into two subseries, contains legislation that for the most part was introduced by Assemblyman Ernest Curto, and supporting materials, including memos, correspondence regarding the bills, and newspaper clippings.