State Senate to return for special session on Sept. 16

The New York State Senate will return to Albany on Sept. 16 for a special session.

The Senate will pass a brownfields/superfund bill which the Assembly approved but which the Senate did not get done before leaving Albany on June 19.

The legislation will establish new standards for brownfields cleanup and was agreed to by Gov. George Pataki, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Brunswick).

Bruno had promised to either pass the same bill the Assembly passed or amend the Senate's version of the bill to agree with the Assembly bill in September.

"When we adjourned the regular session as scheduled in June, I said that the Senate would be back in the fall," Bruno said in a written statement. "Since the conclusion of the regular session, I have spoken regularly with Gov. Pataki and Speaker Silver and our staffs have continued discussions on important issues. On Sept. 16 we will convene session to give final legislative passage to the brownfields/superfund legislation."

The Senate is also ready to pass any other "critical bills" which the Senate and Assembly majorities and Pataki can agree on, Bruno said.

There's no list yet of bills the Senate would like to address, said Marc Hanson, a spokesman for Bruno. A "budget cleanup" bill which the governor is calling for, and which the Assembly says is not necessary, is one bill which "would be nice to get done," Hanson said.

Pataki has said that additional legislation is needed to make some of the appropriations contained in the budget the state Legislature approved over his veto legal. He has said that some money cannot be released until a cleanup bill is approved.

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