Tagged: state senate

Nine more names of State Senators and others potentially involved in corruption were made public Wednesday, when a judge ordered prosecutors in the case of convicted ex- Senator Shirley Huntley to make public the names of  her colleagues that she had secretly recorded.

Former Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson turned himself in to federal authorities Monday after being accused in a nine-count indictment of embezzling nearly half-a-million dollars from mortgage foreclosure accounts and then trying to cover it up.

Most members of the Western New York State Senate delegation voted against the gun control legislation that is making its way through Albany.

The new bipartisan coalition in the New York State Senate has the approval of a large swath of voters, according to numbers from Quinnipiac University.

The newly formed coalition of Republicans and Democrats who will run the State Senate in January, made  their first public appearance,  and responded to criticism that the new government leaves out blacks and Hispanics.

The bipartisan coalition that came together earlier this week to take control the New York State Senate is drawing mixed reactions from some local members of the legislature.

The new co- leader of the State Senate, Jeff Klein, says he knows the new coalition of five Democrats and around 30 Republicans will have to prove itself in the coming months and deliver on key pieces of legislation, but he says they stand a better chance of success than if just the Democrats alone were in charge of the Senate.

The leadership fight in the State Senate has been resolved, with a breakaway Democratic faction joining with Republicans to form a new governing coalition that involves sharing the title of Temporary President of the Senate. 

Governor Cuomo says he’s staying out of the on going fight for control of the State Senate, maintaining that he’ll work with whoever ultimately wins the struggle.

Governor Cuomo has crossed party lines and offered a political endorsement to Republican Senator Roy McDonald, who lost a primary this month after voting to support same sex marriage.

Cuomo, in a letter released by his staff, tells Senator McDonald that it’s “evident” that he “paid a price” for his convictions when McDonald agreed to be one of four Republican votes in the Senate to ensure passage of Cuomo’s gay marriage bill.  

New York lawmakers have approved legislation requiring doctors to issue drug prescriptions electronically within three years.

Part of a broad measure to curtail abuse of prescription painkillers, it would require the Health Department to publish regulations by December  31 for electronic prescriptions for state-listed controlled substances.

Doctors would have to transmit those electronically to pharmacists within two years.
   

Sponsors say it will ensure prescriptions, still frequently written on paper, won't be altered or misinterpreted.
    

The seven-member Court of Appeals, the highest court in New York State, today upheld a Republican Party plan to add one seat to the state Senate, upping the body to 63 members.

The Court ruled that Senate Democrats did not satisfy the "heavy burden of establishing the unconstitutionality" of the GOP plan.

The move is seen by many as a move by Republicans to maintain a majority in the state Senate.