Karen DeWitt

There’s three days left in the legislative session, and chances are dimming for a settlement on an abortion rights provision in a women’s equality act, and for reform of campaign financing and other anti-corruption measures.  Meanwhile, a new poll finds the public increasingly dissatisfied.
 
As the session winds down, it seems that two of the governor’s top agenda items are doomed in the State Senate.
 

There are only four days left in the legislative session, and so far no agreements have been reached between Governor Cuomo and the legislature on major issues like campaign finance reform or a women’s equality act.
 
Deals are often forged in the final days of the session, but Governor Cuomo has already admitted he might have to accept compromises on at least two of his top priorities- enacting public financing of political campaigns and an abortion rights provision in a 10 point women’s equality act.
 

Members of the legislature’s Black and Hispanic caucus and their allies made a last minute push for a bill to decriminalize the public possession of small amounts of marijuana, saying current laws unfairly target young black and Latino men.
 
Assemblyman Karim Camara, who chairs the caucus, says the bill to decriminalize public possession of small amounts of marijuana is needed partly to fix an ongoing problem with the New York City Police Department’s Stop and Frisk policy.  He and other supporters gathered outside the Senate chamber, to call for a vote.  
 

Women’s groups have agreed to amend abortion rights  language in a women’s equality bill to clarify that a late term abortion procedure that opponents call partial birth abortion  will continue to be illegal in New York.
 
Several Republican Senators said they couldn’t support a proposal to codify into New York State law the abortion rights afforded to women in the federal Roe v Wade decision. They said they feared it would promote late term abortions, including partial birth abortion, which are currently illegal in the US.
 

It’s getting down to the wire for major pieces of legislation as the end of session approaches in Albany, including women’s rights and campaign finance reform. There are no agreements yet, but as Karen DeWitt reports, that’s not unusual in a government that operates on last minute deals.