So if they don’t send these to committee to negotiate the differences, will Shelly, Joe and Eliot beat each other up on the Governors turf again? What a sad bunch we have there.

N.Y lawmakers try to work out differences

ALBANY — With three weeks left in the legislative session, senators and Assembly members agreed Thursday to try to resolve differences on similar bills that would improve school nutrition, expedite power-plant siting and restrict children’s access to violent video games.

The GOP-dominated Senate and Democrat-controlled Assembly passed different versions of the bills, but they cannot become law unless both pass the same version. While some state legislatures automatically send such proposals to a conference committee to negotiate, New York does not.

Sen. James Alesi, R-Perinton, Monroe County said he believes the goals of the bills are similar, but at this point they “reflect philosophical differences in the Republican-controlled Senate and the Democrat-controlled Assembly.”

The legislation to be negotiated would:

– Set up nutrition and dietary standards for schools to follow, and require additional nutritional and physical education.

– Set up a new process for approving power plants to replace a law that expired in 2003.

– Make it more difficult for children to access violent video games, and seek to educate parents and teachers on the issue.

A few members of the panel that agreed to send the bills to conference committee said it is a positive step and they hope it will help remove the label of “most dysfunctional” state legislature that New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice gave the body in 2004.

“I think this Legislature took a very bad hit when we were called dysfunctional because I think it was wrong. I think that misunderstanding between both houses when it comes to different versions of different pieces of legislation are normal and natural…,” said Sen. Mary Lou Rath, R-Amherst, Erie County.

The Legislature has used the conference-committee process on occasion before, but negotiations have not always been fruitful (such as one last year to civilly confine sex offenders,) and lawmakers on the committees have at times just ratified deals made by leaders behind closed doors.

Sen. Joe Robach, R-Greece, Monroe County, said the process “is a great step for open transparency.”

Sen. Liz Krueger, D-Manhattan, said sending the proposals to conference committee Thursday was historic, but it should be routine and automatic when similar bills are passed.

Barbara Bartoletti of the League of Women Voters said it would be more productive to set up a conference-committee process earlier. There are just 12 session days before the Legislature is scheduled to finish its work.

“It’s a step, ever so small, forward. Next session, we want to see this committee in action from January through the session,” she said. “That would be real progress. That would give rank-and-file the ability to actually decide to get these bills passed, get them in front of a conference committee, work out their differences and actually move legislation.”

Alesi, co-chair of the committee that decides which bills should be negotiated, said a lot of work will be required of legislators who sit on the conference committees for the three bills. He doesn’t expect his committee to meet again in the next few weeks unless there is a compelling need to review and refer legislation, he said.

Legislative leaders will decide who sits on the conference committees.

Assemblyman Joseph Lentol, D-Brooklyn, said he thinks there’s room for a compromise on the video-games bill.

“I think the goal is just to protect children from video violence and depraved violence … and to try to figure out a way in which we can have some type of system whereby we don’t let kids get access to games that may prove harmful to them,” he said.

Sen. Stephen Saland, R-Poughkeepsie, who sponsored the Senate’s Health Schools bill, said there are some issues “I think we can readily come to an agreement on,” but others will be more difficult.

Highlights of Senate and Assembly bills to be negotiated:

–School nutrition:

Assembly: Require the state Education Department to work with the state Health Department to establish nutritional and dietary standards for school meals, snacks and beverages. Districts with federal school-lunch programs would have to implement middle- and high-school breakfast programs. The state would provide a 15-cent increase for every free meal.

Senate: Require the Education Department to work with the Health Department and others to develop nutritional standards by Dec. 31, for implementation in the 2008-09 school year. The state would provide an extra 10 cents per meal for federally reimbursable breakfasts and lunches.

–Power-plant siting:

Assembly: Require an analysis of a new facility’s health impact on the community. Require local representatives to be placed on the siting board and notification of residents. Lower the minimum capacity of plants subject to siting standards from 80 megawatts to 30 megawatts. Require the state to consider which energy sources would best meet long-term regional needs.

Senate: Set up a framework for the application, review and approval process for entities that want to certificates of Environmental Capacity and Public Need for plants of 80 megawatts or more. Require that the plant enhance the reliability of the power system and have a net positive effect on the environment.

–Violent video games:

Assembly: Prohibit the sale of violent video games to minors (punishable by up to four years in prison) and require that game consoles be equipped with parental-control devices. Establish a committee to review the Entertainment Software Ratings Board’s system and consider establishing a parent-teacher violence awareness program.

Senate: Establish an advisory council to review the ESRB’s system and recommend additional steps to curb children’s access to “adult-only” material. Require retailers to place ratings labels on all video games, and establish a parent-teacher anti-violence awareness program.