A typical mid-March week

It was a typical mid-March week at the Capitol – we spent session days running around the Capitol, attending committee meetings, press conferences, working with our coalition partners and meeting with Legislators as much as possible.

As you know, the League is a proud member of the Women’s Equality Coalition and, as such, has engaged in advocacy work on a range of women’s issues, including human trafficking and paid family leave.  We were very pleased that the Assembly passed anti-human trafficking and paid family leave legislation earlier this week. To read our memos on these issues, click here (human trafficking) and here (paid family leave).

On Wednesday, a press conference (which we were, ironically, not allowed attend!) was held to announce the two-way ethics agreement reached between the Governor and the Assembly (not Senate). And while the reforms outlined are surely a step in the right direction, the League and other good-government organizations were disappointed to learn that certain significant reform measures did not make into the agreement – for example, closure of the LLC loophole. You can be sure we will all continue to advocate for items that are not included in the measures advanced by the Governor and Speaker. To read our joint statement on this issue, click here .

Also on Wednesday, our Education Finance Issue Specialist, Marian Bott, joined Legislators and advocates at a press conference to support the Assembly and Governor’s Version of the Property Tax Relief Circuit Breaker, which would provide targeted property tax relief to those that need it the most. Check out the press release from this event here. It has been a busy week for Marian, who, as many of you know, has also been working tirelessly to oppose the Education Investment Tax Credit – check out her blog post this week here.

With the deadline for the budget getting closer with each week, we are sure to have our work cut out for us these next two weeks.  Stay tuned, as more updates are forthcoming!