With Steve Saland conceding defeat, Democrats now have a 33 seat majority in the State Senate. Ballot counting is still going on in SD-46.
How long the power sharing agreement the GOP has with the IDC will last is questionable.
No agreement on legislation
It doesn’t look as if the Senate GOP and IDC have come to any agreement regarding microstamping or other gun legislation.
Skelos: “there is no agreement on any legislation whether it will pass, not pass, or come to the floor for a vote”
— Capital Tonight (@CapitalTonight) December 11, 2012
Big win in Illionis
Coming on the heals of our defeat in the 2nd Circuit, the 7th Circuit has ruled that Illionis prohibition on carrying concealed firearms is unconstitutional.
The antis are going to shit themselves over this.
Committee chairs
This mornings Daily News reports:
“… The newly created Senate governing coalition consisting of Republicans and a breakaway faction of five Democrats may give some committee chairmanships to Democrats who aren’t part of the power scheme, sources told the Daily News …”
A good indication of where the gun bills will be going is who gets to appointed to chair Codes.
Pre-filed bills
Jose Peralta has pre-filed a dozen antigun bills thus far in the Senate. I predict he’s going to be a real pain next year, trying to draw as much media attention to himself for his Queens BP run.
Thinking of 2014
Cuomo’s Litmus Test
Gov. Cuomo lays out his 10-point litmus test for the new Senate “leadership.” Microstamping is not mentioned.
Micorstamping reintroduced
The microstamping bill has been pre-filed in the Senate for the 2013-14 session as S-68 by Jose Peralta.
Peralta has declared his intention to run for Queens Boro President next year. He seems to think that pushing gun control will help his campaign:
“… As the Democratic minority whip, Peralta focused on getting the party in line on same-sex marriage last year. Now he is turning his attention to gun control. Peralta has been advocating for many months for the microstamping of bullets, which would imprint markings on a bullet allowing law enforcement to trace the gun from which the bullet was fired …”
Microstamping not progressive
The so-called Independent Democratic Conference announced their “progressive” agenda items.
Microstamping is not mentioned.
Espaillat on microstamping
Lots of funny shit going on behind the scenes and some Democrats are screaming. God knows what this means for us:
INBOX: Espaillat (mentioned as possible Senate Dem leader) does not condemn #GOPIDC, calls for “progressive” bills to be taken up. #nysenate
— Capital Tonight (@CapitalTonight) December 4, 2012
State Sen. Adriano Espaillat puts out statement urging GOP/IDC partnership to put min wage, Dream Fund, microstamping bills to a vote.
— Jon Campbell (@JonCampbellGAN) December 4, 2012
Notice how quiet both Cuomo and Silver have been lately. That cannot be a coincidence.