Senator Gianaris Calls For A Vote On Redistricting Reform Legislation

After Governor Cuomo introduced his own legislation creating an independent commission to redraw district lines, I issued a press release applauding his efforts. Governor Cuomo's redistricting reform legislation hews closely to the legislation I authored and championed first in 2005. As the legislature's leading advocate of redistricting reform, I have introduced my redistricting reform legislation in the Senate.

Candidates of both parties tripped over each other in the last elections to declare themselves reformers. Now is the time to discover who is a genuine Hero of Reform and who was just spouting empty campaign rhetoric. It's time to Keep the Promise and Pass the Pledge.

During the 2010 election cycle, the entire Republican Senate Conference pledged their support for Ed Koch’s New York Uprising movement that called for redistricting reform. In fact, 54 out of 62 Senators pledged their support for reforming redistricting. Unfortunately, with the elections over, the Republicans are walking away from their campaign promise and instead on typical Albany partisan politics. I amcalling on Senate Republicans to act on the promises of reform they made to the public and bring the redistricting legislation to the Senate floor for a vote immediately.