Senator Avella Urges Constituents to Vote “No” on State Constitutional Convention

Queens, NY – Senator Avella released the following statement regarding this November’s ballot proposal calling for a state constitutional convention.

“In less than a month, New Yorkers from all over the State will take to the polls to decide the shape of their city, county, and state for the near future. The back of every New Yorker’s ballot will have a very important proposal that could have a detrimental impact on our state if approved. I am talking, of course, about “Proposal 1” calling for a State Constitutional Convention.

“The idea of redoing the constitution sounds good on the surface; but when you dig a little deeper, you will find opening every part of the constitution, in this politically charged chaotic environment, is risky at best and will do more harm than good.

“A constitutional convention would put many of our long established labor protections in jeopardy and could also significantly rollback many of the hard fought environmental regulations that are crucial to our State.

“If you thought that politics was controlled by special interests and dark money, a constitutional convention would worsen an already bad situation.

“Individual provisions of the state constitution can be amended at any time, as seen in the other two proposals on the ballot this year. Both are constitutional amendments that went through the normal process for the legislature to amend the constitution which are now before the electorate for a vote.

“For example, Proposal 2 allows for the complete or partial forfeiture of an elected official’s pension if he or she is convicted of a certain type of felony. This is a huge step forward in holding corrupt politicians accountable. I urge voters to vote in favor of Ballot Proposal 2.

“I certainly agree that we need to improve the functioning of our State government, making it more accountable to the people; but a constitutional convention that opens up every aspect of our constitution does not accomplish that goal.

“I urge voters to vote “no” on the constitutional convention, (Ballot Proposal 1). It’s the only way to guarantee that we maintain important protections for all New Yorkers.”