1250 Broadway, 27th Floor New York, NY 10001

REMAKING ALBANY

 

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The Brennan Center Legal Series and its Steering Committee Members

 

Michael Waldman (Brennan Center for Justice), Jim Johnson (Brennan Center board chair, Debevoise & Plimpton)

 

Michele Balfour, Jeremy Creelan (Jenner & Block), Beth Golden, Professor Helen Hershkoff (NYU School of Law), Daniel Kolb (Davis Polk & Wardwell), Edward Labaton (Labaton Sucharow), Lawrence Pedowitz (Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz), Roy Reardon (Simpson Thacher & Bartlett), Lee Richards (Richards Kibbe & Orbe), Professor Cristina Rodriguez (NYU School of Law), Charles Stillman (Stillman, Friedman & Shechtman), and Sung-Hee Suh (Schulte Roth & Zabel)

 

Invite You to a Conversation on

 

Still Broken: New York State Legislative Reform

with

 

Jeremy Creelan - Partner, Jenner & Block
Andrew Stengel
- Senior Advisor for Government Reform, New York State Senate Majority

Michael Waldman - Executive Director, Brennan Center for Justice

Larry Norden - Senior Counsel, Brennan Center for Justice

 

The phrase is now ubiquitous: "Albany - the most dysfunctional legislature in the nation."
But that was five years ago. Has anything changed since then?

 

Regrettably, not much. Our State Senate and Assembly continue to operate in a way that is not accountable, transparent, or deliberative: committees do not fulfill a responsibility to vet legislation, there are no hearings or substantive debate on major bills, and much of the process is shielded from the public eye in the majority conferences in both houses.

 

The good news is that progress has begun in at least one chamber:
the new Senate Majority is taking steps to reform the process.

 

For far too long, the leadership has failed to enact the changes necessary to remake the Senate and Assembly. Today, pressure to change the culture of Albany may have finally intersected with a new opportunity (and demand) for reform. Drawing on three previous reports detailing Albany's shortfalls, our speakers will discuss not only the possibilities but also the challenges for making the legislative process more robust and democratic.

 

 

Please join us!

 

Thursday, April 30, 2009
12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Jenner & Block
919 Third Avenue, 37th Floor
New York, NY 10022

 

RSVP: Kindly respond by April 27, 2009 to max.scales@nyu.edu  or by calling 212.992.8643.

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