Senate Republicans Propose ‘Amazon’ Amendment To Restructure Public Authorities Control Board Voting Procedure
February 26, 2019
On the heels of state Senate Democrats running Amazon HQ2 and its 25,000 high-paying jobs out of the state, Republicans today will propose restructuring the voting procedure for the Public Authorities Control Board (PACB).
Members of the Republican Conference will put an amendment on the floor today to remove veto power on the PACB, an influence so outsized that Amazon decided to scrap its massive project in Queens that would have been a boon for the entire tech industry in the state.
The Republican proposal would require a majority vote by PACB appointees instead of the unanimous vote currently required.
“Amazon took their cart full of 25,000 jobs and checked out of New York because every single member of the Senate Democratic Majority empowered one of their leaders – who remains the most vocal opponent of the project – to be nominated to the PACB. The Democratic Majority told New Yorkers and Amazon that they were not interested in analyzing financial merits, but only in handing veto power to a job-killer. To prevent this from ever occurring again, we must remove the ability for any one appointee to veto a project and allow this board to approve important economic development projects based on a majority vote,” said Senate Republican Leader John J. Flanagan.
Amazon HQ2 received support from 70% of the public, according to a recent poll. Despite the large public embrace, Democratic Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris rallied against the project, located in the Long Island City section of his district. He failed to even meet with Amazon representatives.
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins appointed Gianaris to the PACB, ultimately putting in his hands the veto power to kill 25,000 jobs with an average salary of $125,000 and over $27 billion in tax revenue for the state.
After the Governor blasted the Gianaris PACB board pick in a radio interview, Senate Democrats replaced his nomination with another member of the same Queens political establishment, Senator Leroy Comrie.
The PACB will be reviewing plans for Belmont in Comrie’s district.
