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A4195Assembly2017-2018 SessionSame asS5833

One Floor Vote for All

Official title

“Entitles members to bring one statewide piece of legislation to the floor for a vote without a home rule message and committee review during each two-year term”

Sponsor Mark C. JohnsAD-135+29 co-sponsors
Status
In Assembly Committee
Governmental Operations
Impact
7/10
Significant
Passage
0%

Bill progress

Step 2 of 7

In committee · Governmental Operations

What's happening

This bill allows each New York legislator to bring one statewide bill directly to the floor for a vote each term, bypassing committee review.

Why it matters

  1. Empowers individual legislators. By guaranteeing each member the ability to bring one statewide bill directly to a floor vote, the bill reduces the power of party leadership and committees to block or delay legislation, making it easier for minority party or rank-and-file lawmakers to advance their priorities.

  2. Increases transparency and accountability. Since every legislator can force at least one public vote, controversial or widely supported bills can no longer be quietly stalled in committee, requiring all legislators to take a public stance on more issues.

  3. Potential for diverse policy proposals. This process could introduce a wider range of legislative ideas—including those typically ignored or suppressed by leadership—potentially giving a voice to underrepresented constituencies and encouraging more creative or responsive lawmaking.

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Who cares

  • Senators and Assembly members

    Each member would be entitled to bring at least one statewide bill of their choosing to a floor vote during each two-year term, excluding bills accompanied by a home rule message.

  • Legislative committee chairs

    Members could have a qualifying bill discharged from committee and brought to a floor vote without committee approval.

  • Senate desk operations and Assembly index clerks

    These clerks would provide the forms and receive the written notices members would file to bring their chosen bills to a floor vote.

Headline styles

One Floor Vote for All

Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.

Sponsors

Primary sponsor
Mark C. Johns

Assembly Member · Assembly District 135

History

  1. Held for consideration in governmental operations
  2. Referred to governmental operations
  3. Referred to governmental operations

Companion bill

The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.

S5833Senate

One Bill Per Legislator

In Senate Committee · Investigations And Government Operations · Sponsor Diane J. Savino

Impact 4 · Low0% to pass

Full text

1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗

STATE OF NEW YORK

4195

2017-2018 Regular Sessions

IN ASSEMBLY

February 1, 2017

Introduced by M. of A. JOHNS -- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Operations

AN ACT to amend the legislative law, in relation to entitling each member of the legislature to bring one statewide piece of legislation of his or her choosing to the floor for a vote without a home rule message and committee review during each two-year term

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "single opportunity for legislative equality (SOLE) act".

§ 2. The legislative law is amended by adding a new section 33-a to read as follows:

§ 33-a. Entitlement to one statewide bill during each two-year term. Notwithstanding any other provision to the contrary, during each twoyear term of the legislature, each member shall be entitled to have at least one statewide piece of legislation, of his or her choosing, exclusive of any bill accompanied by a home rule message, discharged from committee and brought to the floor for a vote. A member may bring such bill to the floor for a vote by filing a written notice with the clerk of senate desk operations or the index clerk of the assembly on a form provided by such clerk.

§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately.

EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets

[ ] is old law to be omitted.

LBD04401-01-7

Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.

Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.