Legislative Gazette Show 1323, 2013 June 7

From WAMC in Albany, this is the legislative gazette.
A weekly magazine about New York State government and politics, your host is David Castino,
with political commentary by Dr. Alan Shartock, political scientist and professor emeritus
at the University at Albany.
Statewide distribution for the legislative gazette is made possible by New York State United
teachers, representing professionals in education and healthcare, online at nysut.org.
And NISCASA, the New York State Coalition against Sexual Assault, working to support men and
their decisions to end sexual violence with the My Strength is not for hurting campaign
online at nyscasa not ORG.
Coming up this week, the governor releases his ten point women's equality agenda.
Our political observer Alan Shartock shares his thoughts on that and the governor's casino
proposal, in an effort to capitalizing agricultural property taxes gains momentum.
Those stories and more on the legislative gazette.
Governor Andrew Cuomo released legislation for his ten point women's agenda this week.
It includes a provision to quantify the abortion rights and the federal row versus way
decision into New York law.
The governor says he's been offered, quote, no assurances that it will pass the legislature.
We get more from the legislative gazettes Karen Dewitt.
Are we ready to get this done?
Hundreds of women from a long list of women's groups came to the Capitol for a rally, featuring
actor Cynthia Nixon, among others.
The governor's plan includes a zero tolerance policy on sexual harassment, equal pay provisions
and greater protections for victims of domestic violence and sex trafficking.
But its provision number 10 in the ten point plan that's garnered most of the attention,
it's a measure to write into New York state law the abortion rights protection spelled
out in the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v Wade.
Nixon says it's a no-brainer.
We are women.
We are not children.
How dare you presume to tell us what we can and cannot do with our bodies.
The landmark Supreme Court decision permits abortions after the first 24 weeks of pregnancy
if the fetus is not viable or the health or the life of the mother is threatened.
Cuomo's proposal also includes protections for healthcare providers who don't want to
perform abortions for moral or religious reasons.
Governor Cuomo, who's been working with women's groups for weeks on the bill language, says
the legislation is really very easy to understand.
You approach or you are not.
And it's okay to have a disagreement.
This is a difficult issue.
People have strong feelings on both sides.
Opponents say it's not that black and white.
Kathleen Gallagher with the Catholic Conference says many, even in blue New York, are uncomfortable
with late term abortions.
And she says the state has the highest rate of the procedure in the nation already.
Clearly, what the governor's language is going to do is expand abortion in the state
that least needs an expansion of abortion.
What we should be doing is reducing abortion and all elected officials, whether they're
pro-life or pro-choice, should be working to make abortion rare.
The Reverend Jason McGuire is with the conservative Christian group New Yorkers for constitutional
freedoms.
He says other states have limited some access to late term abortions and if New York adopts
the language in row, it could become a magnet for women from other states.
If we allow the health exception here in other states actually don't, then in essence,
we are rolling out the red carpet for late term abortions.
But the opinions of some religious leaders are not the greatest obstacle that the governor's
plan faces.
Senate Republicans who run the chamber in a power sharing agreement with a few Democrats
say they won't put the abortion provision on the floor for a vote.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for Senate GOP leader Dean Skellows calls the abortion
provision a political maneuver designed to curry favor with extremists who want to expand
late term abortions.
Cuomo and the women advocates had been hoping to craft a bill that would attract three or
four Republican senators.
Democrats do not have enough votes by themselves to pass it.
But the governor concedes that so far he's been offered no guarantees.
The Senate Republicans as well as the Catholic conference say they support many of the other
of the bill's provisions and protections for women.
The governor insists that he's sticking to all of the ten points in the agenda for
now.
But when pressed by reporters he did not completely rule out separating the abortion measure
from the rest.
I don't make promises to you and we don't promise to each other.
That's our position.
Cynthia Nixon says the governor should not give up.
The governor can be a very powerful person and I think that they should listen to their
constituents.
80 percent of women in New York, sorry not even women, 80 percent of people across the board
support this measure.
There are just over two weeks left until the official end of the legislative session.
That's plenty of time for a possible deal.
In Albany I'm Karen DeWitt.
Joining us now legislative Gazette political observer Alan Shartalk Allen this week the
governor, that's New York governor Andrew Cuomo released his ten point women's equality
agenda a long time and putting this together.
What do you make of it and how people have reacted?
Well first of all it's very very ambitious and it says a lot of things but the one thing
that has got the Republicans in the state senate concerned is the fact that what Andrew
Cuomo properly wants to do and good for him is to create a protection for women's controls
over their own body in other words abortion.
And he thinks that the Supreme Court of the United States might well reverse Roe versus
Wade and he wants to make sure that the women of New York state get protected.
Now New York was the first I believe state that all had abortion and it was always because
of a profile encouraged by a guy by the name of Michael's and he stood up he's from upstate
New York and he originally voted with the assembly to not allow it and it was going to
kill it but they only needed one more vote and he stood up with tears in his eyes.
I think he was from the Syracuse region and he said my kids are calling me a prostitute
because they know I don't believe this they know I'm going along for the sake of politics
and I know this is going to kill my career but I'm going to change my vote and so he did
and abortion passed in New York state and it led the way you know basically for the
rest of the country and it was one of those rare moments when a politician would do things
because it was the right thing not because it was going to raise money for him in his campaign
account but because it was the right thing to do. So now here comes Andrew Cuomo. Now I have to
say I'm in total agreement with this he wants to get rid of the glass ceiling he wants to make
sure that women he said his daughters and his girlfriend are all paid the fair amount of money
for what they do it's all it's all a good idea but they'll be business people and others who
don't like it. The head of the state senate who got really hurt because of the Republicans in
the senate one way or the other helped to pass the safe act the gun control act in New York state
and he Dean Skellas doesn't want to commit political suicide nor do the people in his conference
want him to do that because they want his protection so he gets up and he says no no no I'm not
for this now I said this to you all on the radio so many times I don't say it one more time if
Andrew Cuomo wants Dean Skellas to do anything at this stage of the game Skellas got to do it because
otherwise Cuomo can bring all the Democrats together and say you've got a majority in the house now
except for the so-called and the quotes around it traders who left the Democratic conference to
side with the Republicans which a lot of people think by the way is something that Andrew Cuomo can
easily live with because that makes the Republicans are the bad guys that he can say good things and
they can say no that's what happened with his father when Warren Anderson was there and I suspect
to set the model for him but that argument is getting a little bit thin right now so the real
question of course is if it comes up for a vote on the floor it'll pass of course it'll pass because
there are more Democrats sitting in that house and there are Republicans and there'll be many
Republicans who have to vote for this because they have a lot of women in their districts they all
saw how Obama did in the last election women went wildly for Obama and they're going to go for
people who offer them these protections so it's the sort of old line often church oriented politics
of the of the Republicans or the new reality which is hey women vote and if you're not on their
side they're going to vote against you now Cuomo comes up and he offers this very ambitious
women's agenda I'm not getting into motivation because frankly I don't care but what I do care
about is whether or not he's going to follow through and insist that Skelos does what he's supposed to
and that is a different story so I believe if it comes up for a vote on the floor it has to pass
Skelos is saying I'm not going to let it come up for a vote on the floor but you know what even
that's phony because in order to stay in the majority he had to make a peace pack with these four
Democrats who left the Democratic conference to come over with him some people say for a few
pieces of silver you know an extra committee chairmanship or something like that and he said for
two weeks that guy Klein will be the head guy and for two weeks I'll be the head guy that never ever
happened and where does he get the nerve now to say I'm not going to allow for an open vote on
the floor what happened to Klein and his two weeks because he could have done it during his two
weeks but he didn't because it never happened it was all a bunch of baloney that's the end of that one
a couple of things around casino gambling first we've seen the governor make deals with the
United Indian nations and other packs to give them exclusivity in the regions where they operate
casinos and then going to get money back for that right indeed they have to give the state a lot
of money and they did and some of them are calling him a blackmailer and then to this week he unveils
this casino proposal new York moving ahead he wants casinos upstate moratorium in the in the
boroughs in New York City but casino gambling do we want it in New York are we going to get it in
New York well first of all there has to be a constitutional amendment they passed both houses
passed it the first year now both houses have to pass it again there are many people who don't want
casino gambling in New York my bet is the state needs the money people from New York got a new
jersey they got a kinetic they got a Massachusetts you know why be so hypocritical to think they
should get the money and New York state shouldn't but of course gambling ruins a lot of lives and
there are a lot of people you know who know that on the other hand there's always going to be gambling
do you want it so that the state gets the money or the mafia gets the money and or organized crime
gets the money so those are all issues now Cuomo says because he has an upstate agenda he he's in
trouble upstate relative trouble so he says only upstate because they need it more than New York City
does well of course a lot of democrats come along and say no we want one and aqueduct we want one
on Long Island we want one here or there now Cuomo of course in the end will compromise I mean
what do you have to be crazy not to understand that he's going to say okay if this is the only
way we can get it and he gets all the credit for having made the argument about upstate he has the
issue if not the reality now let me talk to you a little bit David if I made this week about
Sheldon silver because a lot of people are calling for Sheldon silver to get out a recent poll show
that half the state you know a huge majority of the state think he's been there too long they
want him out but remember what I was saying before about how the republicans in the state senate
are unhappy some of them with Dean Skellow's their leader because he doesn't offer them the cover
that they want the one thing about about Sheldon silver is he never forgets that if he provides
cover for his members and so that they don't have to take the heat they're going to love him and
stick behind him and I think they will now the newspapers have taken out after after silver they've
decided he has to go as I've said before there really isn't anybody who comes up next thing after
him whether that's because of his cleverness it doesn't much matter but his conference likes him
on the other hand if the people in that conference the democratic conference in the assembly feel
that he has been a liability to them and that they're going to lose some of their members or
people are going to get voted out of office because they support them then they'll turn on them.
Well should they raise the age for retirement when it comes to being a judge in New York state
Alan this is in an article in the New York Times this week David you're talking to a 72 year old
and I have no intention of retiring people are doing better when they're older now we all live a lot
longer and we take statins we take an aspirin every day we take fish oil we take vitamin D and all
of it is apparently working we are living a longer life so we don't like discrimination
why should we discriminate against a perfectly good 70 year old who like Judith Kay the wonderful
achieved justice of the court who had to retire they should take it less you know that's
arbitrary and capricious but on the other hand you get something like the Supreme Court
where you guys can stay up there till they're 90s 80s and 90s and hundreds and whatever else and
we don't want that to happen because some of them do lose some of their mental capacity
so you got to figure out another way to do it and get them off if they're not you know
compliant with sanity legislative Gazette political observer Alan Char talk
you are listening to the legislative Gazette a program about New York state government and
politics I'm David Gistina the New York Farm Bureau's efforts to
capricizing agricultural property taxes are gaining legislative momentum the legislative
Gazette's Dave Lucas reports while governor Andrew Cuomo touts his business boosting tax-free
New York proposal the state's farmers are thirsting for relief New York farmers paid $38.41
in property taxes that according to farm credit east that is the second highest rate in the
country New York Farm Bureau president Dean Norton explains the increases in land values
we're going through a very competitive time in agriculture when you look at the price of our
commodities corn and soybeans and other things the place that has gone up and price of the farmers
are paying they're making more money and there's more competition for any available land so that
is driving the prices of real estate up on the price for acre right can remember 10 years ago if you
get good farm land in New York for around a thousand dollars an acre and I know that just in the last
month that some farms have sold upwards of six thousand and close to seven thousand an acre
but when you compare that to Midwest with their paying 13 to 14 thousand an acre and you see what
they're paying and property taxes versus us you see the inequity the farm bureau is pushing for
a 2% per year cap on agricultural land assessments which have routinely hit the existing 10% cap
a 2% cap on residential property taxes by municipalities was passed in 2011 after years of
effort primarily by senate republicans last Thursday the bill to establish the agricultural
property cap passed through the GOP controlled senate unanimously and passed out of the assembly
agricultural committee on Tuesday Laurie Griffin and her husband own Saratoga sod in Saratoga county
going from a 10% cap to a 2% at least it gives us a sense of where we can plan not only taxes on my
operation run about 11% of my total gross and is that keeps going up you know not only fuel but
now we're faced with one of my large bills is labor and as we get a minimum wage increase and
all these things are just parts the puzzle but they are real real parts of our daily operations so
I think this is a great step there is optimism that the bill lowering the cap on farmland assessment
increases approved in the state senate will pass in the assembly before the end of season farm
bureau president dean norton is confident legislative relief for farmers is near I know we've
had camera stations with the governor on this we're during the budget negotiation so I would
expect if we could get this through the assembly that we would see a positive outcome from the
governor's hand as well norton points out that the farm bureau is thinking ahead advocating for
the establishment of a working group consisting of stakeholders and experts to address the long-term
problem of agricultural assessment valuation Eric ooms is a dairy farmer based in kinder hook
it's going to be a problem down the road I have um nieces and nephews that are in their teens
that are looking to come back my kids are still five and six four and five years old
and I just want to be able to pass along a business that is sustainable there's a chart comparing
property taxes paid by new york farmers with farmers in other states on our website wamc.org
for the legislative gazette i'm dade lucas a new invasive insect is raising concerns among fruit
growers across the northeast as we hear in this report from the legislative gazettes pat Bradley
the spotted winged rassafala fruit fly was first discovered in california in 2008 and by the
following year it had spread to florida in 2011 it was detected in new england agriculture
officials across the region expect more reports of damage caused by the insect this year
most at risk are late season soft fruits like raspberries and blueberries along with blackberries
elderberries grapes peaches and cherries university of vermont extension vegetable and berry
specialist verne groupinger warns the potential for damage on those crops is extremely high
this pest has spread like crazy all across the country was in most of our region last year except for
a few spots especially in northern new england so there's every reason i think it's going to be
everywhere this year while most common fruit flies are attracted to overripe fruit cornell university
berry extension support specialist cathy hide and rike explains that's not the case with this new
species the spotted winged soft law has an egg layer the female does where she's able to actually
poke those eggs into a ripening fruit before they're even harvested common fruit flies really is
only interested in those fruit that are already passed that most people wouldn't want to eat in the
first place whereas spotting soft law actually puts those eggs in the ripening fruit which are the
ones that customers and consumers and growers will be harvesting and that's why the spotted winged
rassafala is a concern first found in new york in the Hudson Valley and the finger lakes in 2011
it's spread across the state in 2012 new york state integrated pest management fruit program
coordinator juliet carol says it has projected significant potential losses to commercial fruit
growers in new york from the invasive fly the value of production of all of these crops in new york
exceeds ninety four million dollars so these are high value crops and if we project that loss we
could be looking at up to seven million dollars in lost value juliet carol describes the subtle
signs of fruit has been infested what is distinctive after the egg hatches in the larvae begin to
develop inside the fruit the fruit may appear to have a dimple on it or the side of it might have
a sunken area and in certain of the fruit the larvae create breathing holes so there'll be a
little tiny hole in the skin of the fruit and if you gently squeeze it will leak juice out of this
extension and agricultural experts are educating growers on how to best manage for the spotted
winged rassafala they are mapping the track of the insect and testing prevention and control
measures verongroobinger says growers including backyard gardeners must prepare and take action
or risk losing crops on a small skill it's possible to use insect netting it appears that if you
thoroughly cover the crop you could be able to keep this passed out then there are some cultural
practices that are really important like picking fruit immediately when it's ripe so you don't
give it a chance to be exposed to attack and then putting that fruit right into the refrigerator
or freezing it so that even if there was an egg weight in there it won't develop and you know
it's so tiny that you probably wouldn't notice it even though it sounds gross that eggs and larvae
are actually really tiny and they don't pose any risk to human health.
The invasive fruit fly has no natural predators here native to Asia including northern Japan
it has adapted to colder northern climates like the U.S. Northeast for the legislative gazette
i'm Pat Bradley
and that about does it for this week's show we had helped from the New York State Public Radio
Network copies are available call 1-800-3239262 that's 1-800-3239262
ask for program number 1323 or just listen or podcast on the web at wamc.org
and join us again next week at this same time for more news on New York State government and politics
for the legislative gazette i'm David Gistina
Statewide distribution for the legislative gazette is made possible by New York State United
teachers representing professionals in education and health care online at nysu.org
and niscasa the New York State Coalition against sexual assault working to support men and their
decisions to end sexual violence with the my strength is not for hurting campaign online at NYS
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