Chip Taylor

Sand in the gears

It's a truism in public policy that legislation is easier to block than to pass. There are lots of veto points. Passage requires successfully negotiationg every one; blockage requires success at only one point. Case in point, the New York Assembly:

For more than a year, consumer groups have been seeking to push through a law to make it easier to lease cars in New York. Last week, it looked as if the measure just might squeak through the little-known Assembly Transportation Committee, despite opposition from trial lawyers, a powerful lobby in the Capitol.

Just as the bill was poised for a vote with the potential of embarrassing the Assembly leader, a few curious things happened. The committee's chairman abruptly pulled it from the agenda. A freshman lawmaker, who said he was leaning toward supporting the measure, said he could see good points "on both sides." And a veteran Long Island lawmaker who had co-sponsored the legislation was reassigned from the committee after Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver offered him a seat on a more desirable one.

A result was that the legislation stalled, leaving unchanged a law that makes it quite hard to lease a car in New York.

It's my impression that power in the New York legislature is even more highly centralized than the average legislature.