Liz Benjamin has the latest scoop on congestion pricing legislation in Albany:
The third version of a bill dealing with congestion mitigation in
the city was introduced yesterday in both houses of the state
Legislature.The Assembly and Senate are scheduled to return to Albany Thursday
to take up this new bill - and nothing else. Each of them will be
eligible to collect $49 worth of taxpayer-funded per diem pay to cover
meals and other incidentals, and those who are traveling more than 50
miles will be eligible to put in for that to be publicly paid for, too.NOTE: The full-day per diem is $152 while
the half-day is $49, I'm informed by the Speaker's press office. The
mileage reimbursement depends on how far a lawmaker travels. Just FYI - and mine.The measure,
which represents the four-way compromise hammered out by the governor,
legislative leaders and Mayor Bloomberg last week, is a program bill
from Gov. Eliot Spitzer.Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is the main sponsor in his house.
Co-sponsors include two of the most outspoken opponents to Bloomberg's
congestion pricing plan - Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, of Westchester;
and Assemblyman Denny Farrell, of Manhattan; along with two who
supported the mayoral measure: Assemblyman Jim Brennan, of Brooklyn;
and Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco, of Schenectady.In the Senate, the bill is being sponsored by the mysterious Sen. Rules.
A reader sent along this helpful comparison
between the new bill and the Bloomberg bill the Senate moved out of
committee but never brought to the floor for a full vote after Senate
Minority Leader Malcolm Smith made himself a target of the mayor's
wrath by saying that his members wouldn't be voting unless there was a
deal with the Assembly.
