Albany made "fair" progress, according to the 2007 Legislative Progress Report. The New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund (NYLCVEF) has issued a report that concludes the Assembly, Senate and Governor's Office made "fair" progress on environmental legislation, but that much work remains to be done.

The report, which was released after Gov. Eliot Spitzer made his approval decisions on several bills, analyses the fate of 24 individual bills introduced to tackle environmental problems. The legislation deals with a wide range of issues, including climate change, smart growth, environmental funding, transportation, environmental justice and energy planning.

"Rather than reporting separately on the Assembly and Senate, we've chosen to evaluate the Legislature as a body," said Marcia Bystryn, executive director of NYLCVEF. "What we found is that the two houses were able to come together on climate change and environmental funding, but there was little headway in reaching agreement on brownfields reform, power-plant siting and smart growth. These issues are critical for New Yorkers, and form the cornerstones of our aggressive Climate Action Agenda for New York State."

NYLCVEF's 2007 Legislative Progress Report concludes that the session made "outstanding" progress on climate change and "good" progress on environmental funding legislation. However, transportation improvements were rated "fair," and legislative progress on smart growth, energy planning and environmental justice "needs improvement."

NYLCV looks forward to working with the Senate and Assembly in the months ahead to develop an aggressive environmental agenda for the 2008 legislative session.

Newsletter Issue

• Ecopolitics Monthly --- September 2007