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MICAH Z. KELLNER65

thAssembly District

THE ASSEMBLYSTATE OF NEW YORK

ALBANY COMMITTEES

BanksCities

Consumer Affairs and ProtectionEnvironmental Conservation

Steering

834 Legislative Office Building, Albany, NY 12248 (518) 455-, FAX (518) 455- 315 East 65 Street, New York, NY 10065 (212) 860-4906, FAX (917) 432-2983

E-mail: KellnerM@assembly.state.ny.us

April 26, 2010 Contact: Paul CurtisFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Office - 212.860.4906

Cell 347.210.7302

Kellner Introduces Rules Reform to BringAssembly Activities Out Into the Light

Proposed rules change will put a spotlight on lobbyists

and legislative process

A rules change proposed by Assembly Member Micah Z. Kellner (D, WFP) will shine a lighton the shadows in the State Assemblys legislative process, requiring the Assembly to show all

its work on the internetincluding the memos lobbyists use to attempt to influence lawmakers.

The new rules would require lobbyists memoranda in favor or against legislation to be put onthe Assemblys public websitealong with a host of other information not currently made

available, including recordings and transcripts of committee meetings.

Too much of the Assemblys public business is conducted behind closed doors, Assembly

Member Kellner said. People have a right to know who is lobbying on what and exactly whattheyre saying. We need to open up the process to public scrutiny. In the internet age, freedomof information is meaningless unless people have ready access to that informationand thatmeans putting it online.

The resolution requires that the Assembly make available on its public website all notices,

agendas, and calendars for meetings, hearings, and other public events, as well as recordings ofcommittee meetings and records of committee votes, and all formal requests by members to

force a committee vote on bills. It will also require that all memoranda distributed by registeredlobbyists to Assembly Members in support of or opposition to a bill be placed on the website,

linked to the text of the bill itself. Materials must be put online within 24 hours of their creation

or receipt.

Assembly Member Kellner said, Making laws is often compared to making sausages it is said

that its better not to see how it happens. But the lawmaking process is critically important toNew Yorkers everyday lives, and the public has every right to see what is happening and to

participate. My resolution will make this kind of transparency standard practice for theAssembly.

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Susan Lerner, Executive Director of Common Cause/NY, stated, "Greater transparency in both houses will help the Legislature regain the public's trust. When people can not see how

public business is conducted, they suspect the worst. The conduct of the people's businessshouldn't be hidden from the people. Common Cause/NY commends Assembly Member Kellner

for introducing this forward thinking piece of legislation, which seeks to take good ideas and

communications tools from business and use them to modernize the Legislature's procedures.

"Citizens Union strongly supports Assembly Member Micah Kellner's rules resolution to

utilize technology and the internet to provide the public with greater knowledge of the legislativeprocess and bills pending before the Assembly," said Dick Dadey, Executive Director of Citizens

Union. "By giving the public access to timely information about legislation, they are better ableto weigh in with their representatives while the process is unfolding, rather than after important

decisions have been made. We urge the Assembly to promptly pass this resolution."

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