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G.O.P. Senators Draft Bill to Enact Plan for Manhattan Driving Fee
By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE
Published: July 14, 2007
ALBANY, July 13 — State Senate Republicans prepared a bill on Friday that would enact Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s plan to charge drivers a fee for entering and exiting most parts of Manhattan, but create a commission to decide how to administer the plan.
The bill appeared to be a last-ditch effort both to draw support from Senate Democrats and entice the State Assembly to return to Albany on Monday, which federal officials have said is the deadline for New York City to have a congestion-pricing plan that would be eligible for federal financing. The Assembly has no session scheduled for Monday.
Joseph L. Bruno, the Senate majority leader, said the Senate would vote on the new bill on Monday, and he urged Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who has voiced support for congestion pricing, to ask Senate Democrats to back it. He also asked Mr. Spitzer to call on the Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, to convene the Assembly on Monday.
“This is a bold, creative measure to alleviate a major problem, and the governor, the Senate minority and the Assembly must step up and get it done,” Mr. Bruno said in a statement.
Some details of the new bill are similar to proposals that have been raised for weeks during the congestion pricing debate, without obvious affect on the Assembly’s skepticism.
The legislation would authorize the city to develop a congestion plan within Manhattan, which Senate officials say would give the city a chance of winning some $500 million in federal financing for the effort. A 12-member commission would be chosen equally by the governor, Mr. Bruno, Mr. Silver and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, and it would then develop recommendations for putting the plan in effect.
The commission would tackle several issues that have come up during Assembly hearings on the plan, including how revenue from the congestion fees would be spent and whether the city should create a permit system to ensure parking for city residents living just outside the congestion zone.
In a significant concession to the Assembly, the Legislature would have until Dec. 31 to approve the overall plan, effectively giving lawmakers a final veto over the proposal, and any authorization would have to be renewed three years later.
The basics of the plan, which would charge drivers a fee for entering and leaving most parts of Manhattan, would still need to be approved by Monday, however.
“We need to know the zone, the fee and the technology that will be used by the deadline,” said Farrell Sklerov, a mayoral spokesman in Albany. “Everything else goes to the commission.” Mr. Bloomberg’s proposal and the Senate bill both provide that cars would be charged $8 to enter Manhattan south of 86th Street during peak traffic hours. Cameras would be used to track movement.
A spokesman for Mr. Silver, Dan Weiller, said the speaker was not yet ready to comment on the new bill but was in “ongoing discussions with the mayor, the governor, and Senator Bruno in an attempt to resolve issues relating to congestion and mass transit in New York City.”
Christine Anderson, a spokesman for Mr. Spitzer, said the governor had not yet seen the legislation but hoped for a compromise that would pass both the Senate and Assembly. “At this point, the goal is to get something that can become law,” she said.
It is unclear how many Senate Republicans will support the measure. Earlier this week, Mr. Bruno said congestion pricing would require Democratic support to pass; it was a rare admission for the majority leader, who rarely permits bills to be voted on unless they can be approved with Republican votes alone.
Senator Malcolm A. Smith of Queens, the Democratic minority leader, said his conference had agreed to act unanimously on any congestion pricing measure but had not decided whether they would support it.
“The thing is so dynamic and so fluid, it doesn’t pay for us to say who is in favor of it and who is not,” Mr. Smith said. He also said it was very unlikely that his conference would vote for a bill if the Assembly declined to come into session on Monday.
“You don’t want to get into that old, dysfunctional Albany where there are only one-house bills,” he said.
The Senate also hopes to tackle other legislation on Monday, such as legislation that would grant an additional $200 million in property tax cuts to elderly citizens.
It will be the first return to legislative business since Mr. Bruno and Mr. Spitzer began feuding over reports last week of the senator’s travels with state troopers. Even before that battle, Mr. Spitzer had assailed Senate Republicans for leaving Albany at the end of the regular legislative session in June without acting on several of his priorities, including campaign finance reform and the approval of dozens of his nominees to key state posts.
According to the governor’s office, more than 60 of Mr. Spitzer’s nominees sent to the Senate from February to July have yet to be confirmed, including key economic development officials, members of various oversight and advisory boards, and state commissioners.
Mark Hansen, a spokesman for Mr. Bruno, said the Senate had not yet decided whether to approve any of the nominees.
“Senator Bruno has said that we will take up any that make sense,” he said.
