Senator Squadron Statement in Support of Governor's Call for Food Stamp Access and Campaign Finance Reform
January 4, 2012
Senator: Bills Ready for Immediate Passage
ALBANY -- Today, State Senator Daniel Squadron released the following statement in response to Governor Cuomo's State of the State address:
In his State of the State address, the Governor laid out a vision to build on the progress of the past year and continue to move New York forward.
Two priorities in particular that he laid out are ready for immediate passage.
S740 [Squadron] / A5303 [Wright] would accomplish the Governor's goal to end the practice of fingerprinting food stamp recipients. I urge Senator Skelos to immediately bring it to a vote.
The Governor was also clear: we must pass campaign finance reform this year.
For government to serve New Yorkers and for New Yorkers to have faith in government, we must change the way Albany does business -- creating a more accountable and effective government by reforming our campaign finance system.
Along with a system of public financing, the following bills I carry would answer the Governor's call:
- S44, which would lower contribution limits for statewide candidates from $55,800 to $10,000, for Senate candidates from $15,500 to $4,800, and for Assembly candidates from $7,600 to $4,800;
- S37, which would begin to put a stop to pay-to-play by significantly limiting contributions from lobbyists to $250 per candidate per election;
- S30, which would limit contributions from LLCs to the same $5000 limit as corporations;
- S876, which would creating a campaign finance enforcement unit within the State and make the office of the campaign finance enforcement counsel a four-year term;
- and S101, which would create more transparency and accountability when it comes to corporate contributions.
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