June 28, 2001

              Do-Little Albany? Not for Podiatrists or Bitten
              Dogs

              By SOMINI SENGUPTA

                   LBANY, June 26 — It's true that since
                   the legislative session began in January,
              state lawmakers have managed not to agree
              on any major piece of legislation — from
              loosening New York's drug sentencing laws
              to revamping school financing to requiring
              insurers to cover the costs of contraceptives.

              But it would be a mistake to think that the
              Legislature has done nothing in six months.
              And we're not just talking about the passage
              of a bill to ban hand-held cell phones while
              driving. The Assembly and Senate together
              also passed hundreds of other measures,
              which are fast on their way to becoming law.

              For instance, legislation sponsored by
              Assemblyman Bill Magee, an upstate
              Democrat, makes manure handling a
              recognized farm activity under state law: New
              Yorkers engaged in such activity on their land
              are now eligible for property tax breaks.

              Buoyed by appeals from a beer wholesaler in
              his district, Senator Owen H. Johnson, a
              Long Island Republican, carried a bill that
              makes it difficult for brewers to get rid of their
              distributors willy-nilly.

              Assemblyman Joseph D. Morelle, a Democrat from Rochester, pushed along a bill
              that makes it illegal for a snowmobile operator to fail to yield to trail-grooming
              equipment. (For those dwelling in more temperate climes, trail-grooming equipment
              refers to the machines that keep ski trails and snowmobile parks smooth and well
              manicured.) "There have been several collisions between careless snowmobile
              operators and slow-moving trail grooming equipment," the memorandum from Mr.
              Morelle warns.

              All told, more than 500 bills have been approved by both houses. Some tweak
              arcane threads of state law. Some satisfy a certain constituency. Some are tailored
              to meet local demands. The bills' sponsors are almost always likely to be members
              of the majority party.

              "When we're unable to deal with the big issues because of Albany gridlock, we're
              reduced to passing much more parochial measures," observed Senator Eric T.
              Schneiderman, a Manhattan Democrat who cannot get any of his bills out of
              committee. "Those are the only kinds of bills in a year like this that fall below the
              radar screen of the leadership."

              Taxpayers have doled out $1.5 million in per diem payments to lawmakers since the
              session began on Jan. 8. As government watchdog groups see it, there's nothing
              wrong with passing such minute measures of such limited consequence. They give
              lobbyists a chance to prove their worth. They get ink in the mailings from the bill's
              sponsor.

              "It's really primarily fodder for newsletters or helping some of your lobbyist friends,"
              said Blair Horner, a Statehouse lobbyist for the New York Public Interest Research
              Group. "Due to the policy vacuum left by the failure of the governor and legislative
              leaders to come to agreement on the big-ticket items — the budget and the seminal
              bills — that vacuum has been filled by these `Christmas tree ornament' bills. This
              session, there's no other way to describe it. It's been a disgrace."

              It has been a lucky year for podiatrists, though. They got one bill that allows them to
              be certified as acupuncturists, just like doctors and dentists, and another that allows
              them hospital privileges. Animal shelter owners got a law that allows them to recoup
              the costs of taking in dogs and other beasts mauled in illegally staged fights.

              Of course, as happens every year, a great many more one-house bills — those that
              have nary a chance of passing the other house — were passed this year. Perennial
              favorites include a bill in the Republican-controlled Senate to prohibit so-called
              partial-birth abortions, and a gay antidiscrimination bill in the Democratic-controlled
              Assembly.

              Some of the bills that did get the approval of both houses and are now on their way
              to the governor's desk crack down on some unusual crimes.

              One measure prohibits kicking, punching and boxing contests in all New York bars
              and restaurants. Defensive driving courses will now have to include a session on  road rage.

              Loitering aboard a school bus will be punishable. Who loiters aboard a school bus?
              "Recent incidents include a motorist boarding a school bus and accosting a disabled
              student who allegedly shouted obscenities at him," the bill memo explains.

              Many of these measures attest to the maxim that all politics is local. Thanks to their
              local lawmakers, evangelical churches on Long Island and Orthodox synagogues in
              Rockland County got property tax exemptions. In Poughkeepsie, thanks to a bill
              introduced by Senator Stephen M. Saland, a Republican from that town, the Singing
              Society of Germania will now be able to erect a building on property it already
              owns; a bill sponsored by the senator eliminates a provision in state law that caps
              their assets at $50,000.