Tuesday, April 15, 2008

The Skelos 8 Runs and Hides on Equal Pay for Women

When Senator Craig Johnson brought his gender pay equity bill to the floor for a Motion to Petition, Skelos, Fuschillo, Marcellino and Hannon got the heck out of there. A Motion to Petition is a means to get a bill out of committee and all it needs is a simple vote.
Why doesn't Fuschillo want to vote on and discuss equal pay for women?
Does Skelos have a problem with women making as much as men for the same job?
Does Marcellino want women to be paid less than men in New York State?
Why won't Hannon stand up for women workers??

The Albany Times-Union was there....
" Here’s the final chapter in Irene’s video odyssey that started Monday when she was attempting to video the Senate but was asked to leave when she shouldn’t have been.

We straightened that out and I came and taped what is a time-honored tactic used by Senators who don’t want to go on record as voting against something: leaving the chamber when another lawmaker calls for a motion to petition, which if approved, would move a bill out of committee to the floor for a vote.

The catch is, it takes a simple majority of the 62 senators in what is essentially a non-role call vote to move to petition. So if lawmakers don’t like the measure being petitioned, but fear it may look bad to oppose it, they can simply leave the chamber when the motion comes for a vote.
Thus Tuesday’s near-empty chamber.
The voice you hear is Long Island Democrat Craig Johnson calling for a motion to petition on a gender pay equity bill. Joe Robach, a Republican from the Rochester area, was on the spot yesterday, as he had earlier said he’d support such a bill but instead voted with the rest of the senate to study the measure (which is controversial among business supporters) for a year."





No comments: