Senate Bill S6475

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S6475

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the legislative law, in relation to
bills with a threshold level of co-sponsorship

 PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL :

To allow for a piece of legislation that has garnered the
co-sponsorship of 76 members of the Assembly and 32 members in the
Senate to be brought to the floor in that respective house for a vote.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1: Amends the legislative law by adding a new section 33-a to
read as follows:

§ 33-a. Bills with a threshold level of co-sponsorship.

1. Any bill introduced in the assembly shall, upon being co-sponsored
by seventy-six or more members, be brought to the floor of the house
for a vote to be taken thereon during the legislative session in which
it was introduced.

2. Any bill introduced in the senate shall, upon being co-sponsored by
thirty-two or more members, be brought to the floor of the house for a
vote to be taken thereon during the legislative session in which it
              

was introduced.

 JUSTIFICATION :

In theory, any piece of legislation in any legislative body that has
earned the sponsorship of more than half its members has been vetted,
passed muster and merits an open floor debate and up or down vote.

This legislation would require that those pieces of legislation that
have garnered widespread support (76 members in the Assembly/32
members in the Senate) be discharged from committee and brought to the
floor for a vote.

It is the very concept of good governance and democracy for a
legislative body to openly debate a bill in the public square that has
the support of the majority of its members, hence a majority of that
legislative body's constituency.

 PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

2015-16: A.8658 (Tedisco)

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS :

None.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeeding the
date on which it shall have become a law.