COXSACKIE — The Town of Coxsackie has authored a resolution encouraging Gov. Kathy Hochul to veto a bill that would require certain local elections be held only in even-numbered years.
The town board said the effort would undermine local elections and Home Rule, and the resolution alleges that the passage of the bill did not follow the proper parliamentary procedures.
“If the proposed legislation is enacted into law, local elections will have to compete with state and federal election campaigns for the attention of voters,” Coxsackie Town Supervisor Rick Hanse said.
Hanse added that “separating local elections from the federal and state election campaign cycles gives voters more time to focus on and better understand important local issues. As the law stands now, town and county candidates can present their positions on issues without having to compete with high profile national and state level campaigns.”
Hanse said he believes the move is hyperpartisan, given that cities, which generally vote Democratic, are not included in the change.
“It flies in the face of home rule,” Councilman Thomas J. Burke said.
“It will put added costs into local elections,” Councilman Patrick Kennedy added.
The board pointed out that, in order to implement the even-year voting law, term limits would need to be changed. For instance, some town leaders were elected in odd years, so either one year would need to be added or subtracted from their terms in order to comply with the law. Another complicating factor would be the fact that county legislators’ terms are every three years.
As for the New York State Legislature not following parliamentary procedure during the bill’s passage, the resolution states, “The bill sponsor indicated that hearings would be held on the proposal through the Elections Committee process; however, ‘there were no hearings held.’”
The original author of the bill, Saratoga Administrator Steve Bulber, wrote this point citing Assemblyman Chris Tague’s remarks during floor discussion. Tague had been referencing the requirement that, in the state of NY, when a bill is in committee, the public is entitled to hearing the matter.
“They robbed the opinion and oversight of the Election Committee by going around them. Every individual on the committee who has expertise on the matter was robbed of the opportunity to go through those bills and to ask questions and to able to debate those bills before they went to the floor,” said Tague.
A history of the bill on the Assembly website shows that on June 5 the bill was amended and recommitted to the Elections Committee. On June 8 the committee was discharged, a move that circumvented the need for a hearing.
Tague said that circumventing committees is for emergency situations, for issues that are of the time and essence that need to be passed, like the bills that were passed during the pandemic and bills to keep the state going when the budget hasn’t yet passed.
“Nothing was skipped,” Speaker of the House Michael Whyland said. He added that there had been hostile amendments from the minority that were defeated before the bill passed the Assembly.
According to the resolution, the Assembly voted on the measure over the last weekend of the legislative session in the middle of the night.