There was a rare occurrence in the Senate chamber late last night – something akin to an Ivory-billed Woodpecker sighting.
A bill was defeated.
Yes, you read that right. Flat out defeated. Voted down, 28-34, with cooperation from senators on both sides of the aisle.
The bill, as EJ McMahon described it, would have allowed local governments to amortize a potentially large portion of their pension contributions for six consecutive years, starting in 2011, as a means of off-setting what is expected to be a big hit.
The measure was passed by the Assembly on June 22 – its final day in Albany – with a message of necessity from Gov. David Paterson, which is interesting because the idea was initially proposed by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and slammed by the governor.
Even stranger: The bill (S.52204) was listed in the Senate as a “governor’s program bill #97” (Paterson submitted it as part of the extraordinary session agenda and it was referred to the Rules Committee on June 24)…
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