Written by Senator George Latimer

Jan. 21, 2015: Senator George Latimer is proposing a reform to the operations of the State Legislature that would save taxpayer dollars; he wants the 2015 legislative session to end one month earlier and be structured in a way that eliminates several days of session, saving costs of travel reimbursements, per diems, and other operating costs of the legislature.

Latimer believes that the shortened legislative calendar will save taxpayers thousands of dollars. "The problems that Albany faces are not going to be aggressively addressed until the legislature runs at its leanest form possible," Latimer said.

The 2015 calendar was announced last week by the leadership of both the Senate and Assembly, scheduling sessions over a six-month period ending in June. Latimer has proposed a five-month schedule, ending in May.

He explained, "Realistically, most of our work has been back-loaded: intense, round-the-clock negotiations to finalize agreements that track toward the last days of session. There is nothing intrinsically necessary requiring that this last week must occur in June; the last week of May can fit the bill equally well. And if a unique circumstance occurs, then continuing into June (with an end of session in May) is much more desirable than continuing into July (with the current end of session in June). Since 2015 is not a state or federal election year, we run no conflict with the political calendar, giving us an ideal year to test the viability of a shorter legislative session."

Recent practice has scheduled as few as 30 session days and as many as 34 days in the April to June time frame (2010-2014 session calendars). The Latimer Plan proposal would schedule four-day weeks every week in April and May, rather than the combination of three- and four-day weeks currently used, for a total of 28 session days, post-budget. This proposal takes into account the Easter and Passover holiday seasons, which fall in early April, and allows for leadership to expand to one or more five-day weeks if needed in May.

Latimer continued: "As we know, many states schedule far shorter legislative sessions than New York; this attempt to slice one month off our calendar seems to me to be a modest effort at cost savings, greater efficiency, and allowing members to return to their districts in June, a busy month, before the summer vacation season arrives."

Legislative leaders are empowered to change the schedule at any time and could modify their plan to adopt Latimer's plan as late as March of this year.

Pictured here: State Senator George Latimer.

Photo by A. Warner