We only have a couple of weeks left in this legislative session and rather than attempting to impress voters with a long record of accomplishment, the strategy of the Senate leadership seems to be to avoid doing much of anything. That said, it is an Albany tradition to always seem to save most of the legislative work – for better or for worse – for the last few days, so I haven't completely given up hope that we can still get some important legislation passed.

Before the session began, I outlined a number of key priorities – issues that I hoped the pressure of a hotly contested election season might prompt action on – one of which was the Healthy Teens Act (S1342). This year the bill passed the Assembly on March 17 by a vote of 130 to 14, and passed the Senate Health Committee May 20 by a vote of 13-4. This is the farthest the Healthy Teens Act has ever come in the legislative process.

Earlier this week, Senate Republicans put forth legislation (S.7594-B) which would create a gas tax "holiday" from Memorial Day to Labor Day. I and many of my Democratic colleagues voted against this legislation because it is bad fiscal and environmental policy that will only result in windfall profits for oil companies and no real relief for consumers. My colleagues and I understand New Yorkers have been hit hard by rising fuel costs. However, what we need are not gimmicks, but carefully thought out policies that will create long-term solutions to the growing energy crisis facing our state and decrease our dependence on foreign oil.

S.7594-B, introduced by Senator Andrew Lanza (R-Staten Island), would exempt gasoline and diesel from the State's excise tax, Sales Tax, and Petroleum Business Tax, from May 23, 2008 to September 2, 2008. These taxes are currently used to provide funds for highways, roads, bridges, and mass transit. By suspending the taxes the Senate Republicans will create an estimated $600 million budget gap for these necessary services.

Last month, Democrat Darrel Aubertine, an upstate dairy farmer, won a special election for the 48th Senate District in northern New York, bringing the Democrats closer to control of the State Senate. This was an historic victory as the region had been represented by Republicans for more than 120 years.

One major line of attack developed during the campaign was that the Democrats only cared about New York City and downstate. This attack was false, and the voters clearly rejected it. Upstate has been represented almost exclusively by the GOP for decades and they haven’t done that great a job. I believe that, in countering this attack, Senator Aubertine and our Democratic colleagues in the State Senate have a real opportunity to move our state beyond the upstate/downstate rivalry, toward recognition of the ties that bind the diverse regions of our state together. Perhaps the greatest of these ties is agriculture, which is the foundation of the upstate economy and a critical piece of the downstate food supply. Strengthening our agricultural base and building stronger connections between food producers and food consumers in New York State must be a central part of the State’s economic development efforts. And since I want to see more Democrats elected upstate (and downstate too!) our party must demonstrate that we can be leaders in these efforts.

Last month an article titled "The Unborn Victims of Violence Act is Pro-Choice, But Protects Life" appeared in City Hall News, and was referenced in some blog entries. As an opponent of that bill I felt it important to respond. Below is an editorial being published this month in The Capitol, a new monthly paper covering state politics:

The goal of our State Legislature should be to serve the public good by passing laws that fix problems, fill loopholes, and protect New Yorker's rights. But sometimes there are bills that are riddled with errors, create new problems where none currently exist, or completely ignore the real problem at hand -- all because the sponsors have another, unstated, agenda.

This summer I introduced S6402, legislation to ban the use of styrofoam in the food service industry.

Assembly Member Brian Kavanagh has since signed on to carry the same-as version in his chamber, and it was recently announced that Westchester County will join the growing list of municipalities nationwide phasing out the use of this environmentally devastating, petroleum-based product.

This fall, supporters of the legislation will be engaging in a public education and outreach campaign to drum up support and help people understand why styrofoam products are bad and should avoided in their own lives. In fact, many of my colleagues will be joining me in writing to nearly 200 university and college presidents, asking them to voluntarily stop using styrofoam products on their campuses in favor of bioplastic alternatives.

Please join us and sign our new online petition and pass the information along to friends and family:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/banstyrofoamny/

For nearly 9 months, my office, along with Environmental Advocates of New York and St. Bartholomew's Church, has been organizing a large-scale NYC event aimed at fighting the climate crisis. The event will feature Grammy winning recording artist and 2-time Country Music Association Female (CMA) Vocalist of the Year Kathy Mattea, Commissioner Pete Grannis of the State Department of Environment Conservation (DEC), and NYS Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

Mattea will present former Vice President Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth slideshow. Her presentation will be followed by a discussion about what New York is doing to fight global warming, including the new Climate Control Office within the DEC, led by Commissioner Grannis and Comptroller DiNapoli. Due to New York City's regional population and business density, as well as our geographic vulnerability to the impacts of global warming, New York plays a key role in the future of the debate. The event is free and open to the public.

We have all seen the ads: "No money? No Credit? No problem!" It is this type of irresponsible misinformation to consumers that has contributed to the sub-prime mortgage crisis facing New York, and gripping the country. Impacts of the sub-prime mortgage crisis are reverberating throughout the entire economy. As we saw with the savings and loan crisis of the late 1980s, irresponsible and overly risky behavior on the part of financial institutions has the potential to undermine major sectors of the economy, affecting everyone. And as with the savings and loan crisis, much of the focus has been placed on bailing out the companies who made unwise investments. It is critical to remember that the victims in this sad situation are not the financial institutions, or even the broader community of investors in these companies, but the homeowners who were literally manipulated into taking loans they could not afford, many of whom have already lost their homes. The impact of foreclosures goes beyond the individual, destabilizing entire communities.

STATE SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER HOSTS

CLEANING UP NYC'S WASTE STREAM: A PANEL ON LONG-TERM, SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR MANAGING NEW YORK'S REFUSE

Featuring:

Barbara Warren of Sustainable South Bronx

Steve Cohen of Columbia University's Earth Institute

Benjamin Miller, author of Fat of the Land, a 200-year history of New York's solid waste management

Brenda Platt from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance

Topics of discussion:

Zero Waste

Solid Waste as Jobs Creation

Waste-to-Energy

Pay-to-Throw

& more…

WHEN: Tuesday, September 18th, 2007 / 10am to 12NOON (Open to the public, seating is limited)

WHERE: Baruch College, 151 East 25th Street, 7th Floor Conference Room

QUESTIONS?: email liz@lizkrueger.com or call Travis at 212-490-9535

There's really no time left for debate. NYS has to decrease our dependence on, and use of, petroleum-based products. We also must get a better handle on decreasing solid waste because NYC has no good answers about where to move it or how to get rid of it—in particular environmentally dangerous items.

One way to do both, at least in part, is to ban styrofoam and polystyrene products. And this week I have introduced a bill to do just that.

Picture styrofoam, and you picture a product produced from petroleum that takes up to 500 years to fully disintegrate, which is devastating to our environment. Think about this--that cup you may have grabbed a quick drink from on July 4th will outlive you by hundreds of years.

Fully 30% of the waste currently in landfills is from various Styrofoam products. We put so much Styrofoam into our waste stream, that the cups just Americans toss each year would, if laid end to end, circle the globe more than 430 times. That is 1,369 tons of Styrofoam every day—and Styrofoam is not exactly a heavy product.