By Kelsey Durham
The state Senate passed a bill last week authored by Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) that would increase terms for members of the state Legislature from two to four years.
The bill, first introduced by Avella soon after he took office in 2011, is known as “good government legislation” that he introduced as a way to restore public faith in government by jump-starting reform in Albany.
The series of bills also included legislation that would limit the number of terms legislators can serve, a measure which has not yet been passed.
Under current laws that mandate two-year terms for state lawmakers, Avella said many officials are often preoccupied with constant campaigning rather than focusing on the issues their constituents face.
He called the passage of the term increase a “crucial first step” and said it would go a long way toward fixing the broken aspects of state government.
“As I stated time and time again, part of the dysfunction that has plagued the Legislature is that state officials are constantly running for office,” Avella said. “Legislators have basically one year in office before they have to run for re-election over and over again. Once the campaign year begins, they are anxious to get back to their districts and are often reluctant to deal with controversial issues, fearing voter reactions.”
The senator pointed out that 38 states across the country already have four-year terms for their state officials, and of the five states with the largest populations, New York is the only one still limited to two years, which hinders the productivity elected officials have in their districts, Avella said.
“The fact of the matter is that the current two-year terms were introduced at a time when candidates were not required to use anywhere near the amount of resources required today to run for legislative office,” he said. “The two-year terms were also instituted when the role of government in society was not nearly as extensive as it is today. The four-year term bill will go a long way in eliminating the nonsense and allow legislators to take important votes on issues of importance to their constituency.”
Now that Avella’s bill has passed the Senate, the legislation will move on for a vote in the state Assembly.
If the term extension passes the state Assembly as well, Avella said it would then need another vote of approval from the next legislative session in the Senate before being placed in front of voters on a November ballot because it would require amending the state constitution. He said the bill does not yet have a sponsor in the Assembly.
“Although our work is far from over and there are a number of important pieces of good government legislation that need to be enacted, especially the term limits bill, the passage of the four-year term limit legislation will allow the Legislature to function more effectively and work for the people, as it always should be,” Avella said.
Reach reporter Kelsey Durham at 718-260-4573 or by e-mail at kdurham@cnglocal.com.
