Nassau Democratic lawmakers last Thursday blasted Republican Presiding Officer Norma Gonsalves (R-East Meadow) for what they said was her refusal to call their proposals to a public hearing and vote.
“Bills can change lives,” Nassau County Democratic Minority Leader Kevan Abrahams said at a news conference in Mineola. “Bills are to protect people.”
“These are good bills that would benefit people,” Abrahams said.
Democrats said they have filed 13 bills this year without acknowledgment from the GOP majority. The bills include raising the minimum age to buy tobacco products to 21, exempting low-income seniors and veterans from incurring fees for police responses to false home security alarms, and banning the sale of personal-care products containing environmentally damaging “microbeads.”
Democratic legislators said that no bill written, sponsored, and filed by the Nassau County Legislative minority members has received a public hearing or been brought to the public for open debate, simply because Presiding Officer Norma Gonsalves chooses not to bring them to the floor.
“We’re not asking for the bills to pass,” Abrahams said. “We’re asking for debate.”
Gonsalves said in a statement that Democrats’ bills don’t advance because they fail on legal, financial or policy grounds, are sloppily drafted, and show no regard for the financial impact on taxpayers and businesses.
In Nassau, Republicans control the legislature with a 12-7 majority.
Officials said the bills often get thrown out before they have the opportunity for legislative committee debate and public scrutiny.
Abraham said he believes Gonsalves was not placing their bills on public meeting agendas due to “partisan politics.”
“We need to work together in a bipartisan way,” he said. “This is what’s called good government.”
“We’re all legislators, all voted in and all held to the same standard,” said Nassau County Legislator Judy Jacobs (D-Woodbury), who was presiding officer when Democrats led the chamber, from 2000 to 2009. “We all live here and all want to do the right thing.”
