Friday, July 10, 2009, 8:31am EDT
Modified: Friday, July 10, 2009, 9:55am
Senate pulls all-nighter, passes 135 bills (click title to entry - thank you)
The Business Review
Early Friday morning, the state Senate revived a popular program that provides low-cost power to businesses.
The program, called Power for Jobs, died during the unprecedented battle for control of the Senate that lasted for more than a month. The stalemate broke on July 9, and senators passed 135 bills in an overnight session that ended just before 2 a.m. on Friday.
The bills are expected to be sent to Gov. David Paterson for his signature.
In early June, two Democrats broke ranks and voted with Republicans in a surprise attempt to oust Democrats from power. Democrats had a 32-30 majority in the chamber, the first time the party had controlled the Senate in nearly 45 years.
One Democrat—Sen. Hiram Monserrate (D-Queens)--later left the Republican-led voting bloc, creating a 31-31 split. There was no way to break a tie vote, because the state had no lieutenant governor.
The Senate went more than a month without conducting any official business.
Those most responsible for the delay need to return a month's worth of paychecks and an investigation should follow ! The investigation should speak to the monies that were added to the New York State taxpayer because of the Abuse of Power by those individuals.
