“Today, the Assembly had a tremendous opportunity to improve the way our house functions by increasing transparency, openness and accountability. At a press conference held last week by Minority Leader Brian M. Kolb (R,C-Canandaigua), the Assembly Minority Conference introduced a total of 17 different rules proposals that would drastically increase integrity in our recently besmirched government and restore faith in the people’s house. I offered a resolution requiring a two-thirds vote to approve messages of necessity after the Assembly has been in session for more than eight hours. These have been abused by the governor and legislature in recent years. Most notably, the SAFE Act was passed in this way to infringe on the rights of law-abiding gun owners while the media and public slept. Messages of necessity should only be used when time is truly of the essence, not when artificial deadlines loom.”

“Unfortunately, the Majority leadership in the Assembly chose to ignore the growing calls for ethics reforms and transparency statewide and did not accept the proposed amendments. As a devoted public servant, I am sincerely disappointed that we could not make these reforms a reality. Though it has been several weeks since former Speaker Silver was arrested on federal corruption charges, not a single piece of pro-transparency or ethics legislation has come before members of the Assembly for a vote. That is unacceptable, and I will continue to push for a higher standard of government as long as I hold a seat in the Assembly.”