Short Week, Big Crowd

 This week in Albany started very slowly thanks to nasty weather and then the gun advocates came to Albany. On Thursday, 6,500 NRA and other gun rights advocates converged on the Capitol, stopping traffic, stalling security lines for well over an hour, and demanding that Governor Coumo be impeached. This is the third such rally in Albany, each bigger than the last. The NYSAFE law is headed to court, with three lawsuits already filed. Nobody in Albany thinks we have seen the last of these rallies.

The budget hearings are now complete and we will soon see the Assembly and Senate one house bills, after which the joint conference committees will begin. The League will monitor the budget, especially the education and health appropriations. We will also be there for the joint conference committees to monitor how open and transparent they are.

The New York Women's Equality Coalition is underway and you will hear much about this in the coming weeks. The League is on the steering committee and we will be providing information to Local Leagues in the Legislative packet as well as action alerts over the next several weeks. This Coalition has 450 organizations (and building) including a very broad array of women's, business, religious, civic, and people of color organizations. The kick-off to the Coalition is next week so stay tuned for much more.