Another successful year for the Long Island Lobby Coalition!

With the New York State Legislative season over, the Long Island Lobby Coalition celebrates another successful year of united advocacy for Long Island. With 55 diverse organizations currently participating, ranging from business leaders, environmentalists, civic associations, human services, senior advocates, Smart Growth planners, labor groups, transportation advocates and others, NYS lawmakers were paying close attention to the opinions of such a unified voice. As the Coalition’s influence grew, so did the number of successful legislative and policy items. And this is all considering that this is said to have been the least productive legislative session in New York State since 1914.

The Coalition’s issue areas included transportation, energy and environment, human services, small businesses and economic development, and sewer infrastructure. The 2012 platform, which was developed for February’s initial Long Island Lobby Day, is available here.

This year’s successes include:

Sewage Pollution Right to Know – The Sewage Pollution Right to Know Act passed the Assembly in April and the Senate on the last day of session (June 21) and is currently heading to the Governor’s desk where it is expected to be signed! This act will finally give the public the right to know when raw or partially treated sewage is discharged into New York waters, allowing the public to avoid unnecessary exposure to dangerous sewage pollution. Beyond being an important win for the environment and public safety, this bill will bring light to the failing sewer infrastructure in our communities and put a greater impetus on municipalities and the state to make much-needed repairs. 

Transportation Financing – The NYS budget passed in line with what the Lobby Coalition asked for, including a $770 million capital infusion and a $7 billion increase in the debt ceiling for the MTA, without any transit sweeps. This allows the MTA Capital Plan to be fully funded for the final years of its 2010-2014 span. This is a win for LI jobs and large projects like East Side Access.

Red Light Cameras – 50 additional red light cameras were approved for both Nassau and Suffolk as part of the state budget. In 2009, 100 cameras were installed across the Island as part of a demonstration program. The results have been a success: according to a study by the Nassau County Traffic Safety Board, the cameras reduced accidents by 12-16% at those intersections. This is a big win for safety in our communities.

Solar legislation - Though the Solar Jobs Act did not pass this year, solar did advance in New York State: The Governor formally launched “NY-Sun” in April, which seeks to massively increase the amount of customer-sited solar power installed annually in New York over the next 4 years. The program brings together and expands existing programs from NYSERDA, LIPA and NYPA for a coordinated and well-funded solar energy expansion plan. In addition, despite the failure of Solar Jobs, the Legislature did pass two smaller pieces of solar legislation that are important for clean energy policy. One would exempt the sale and installation of commercial solar energy systems equipment from state sales and compensating use taxes, and the other would expand a tax credit to cover leased systems. The Governor must still sign these bills.

Small Businesses – The Small Business recommendations that the Coalition supported have been gaining some buzz in Albany, including a proposal to introduce tax-deferred IRA accounts for small businesses, and the concept of supporting downtowns as small business hubs.

SEQRA Reform – Reforming the SEQRA, the environmental review process, made major headlines on Long Island back in April when a proposal was floated to move SEQRA control up to the state level. In addition to several recommendations to reform the SEQRA process, a line in the Coalition’s platform noted that we had serious concerns about this idea. And as we saw, community groups almost unanimously opposed this when it was made public. There was such an outcry that a bill was proposed by Assemblywoman Schimel to block this, but it didn’t even need to move forward as the opposition was so ubiquitous.

The LI Lobby Coalition was featured in Newsday in June.

If you are interested in signing your organization onto our coalition, please contact info@visionlongisland.org or call (631) 261-0242