ALBANY, N.Y. — The broadband study bill that was overwhelmingly passed by the legislature last July, fell victim to a pocket veto by Governor Andrew Cuomo Saturday night.
For those unfamiliar, a pocket veto is when an executive simply doesn't act on a bill when it arrives on their desk, they don't sign or veto it, they figuratively shove it in their pocket, and nothing happens.
According to lawmakers 2 On Your Side spoke to, they're quite disappointed with the governor considering this was a bipartisan effort in the legislature.
"Almost half of the Senate has had co-sponsored this bill and passed unanimously in both the Senate and the Assembly," Senator George Borrello said. "Clearly this is a directive from the legislature that the study needs to be done and these directives to PSC need to occur, and the governor has just let it die on the vine, which is just horrible."
The main sponsor of the bill in the New York State Assembly was, now Senator, Sean Ryan. Despite multiple attempts to schedule an interview, Senator Ryan was unable to discuss this topic due to a full schedule in Albany on Monday. WGRZ is working with his office to secure an interview.
The pocket veto by the governor does not allow the legislature to overturn anything, because the bill wasn't actually vetoed.
"This is going to take a bipartisan effort in both houses to stand up to the governor and say this is important," Borrello said. "This is important to our constituents, and we're not going to let this be manipulated.
Governor Cuomo's office did give 2 On Your Side a reason why the bill wasn't signed. In a statement provided by Senior Advisor to Governor Cuomo Richard Azzopardi the governor didn't sign the bill because of money in the budget.
"The legislation had a $3 million fiscal cost that occurred outside of the budget, thus it wasn't acted upon," Azzopardi said. "However, we agree with it in concept and will be including a proposal in the budget."
Borrello scoffed at that reasoning by the governor's office.
"I can point to several pieces of legislation that don't include funding," Borrello said. "I can certainly point to billions of dollars of waste, fraud, and abuse that are in the budget and unnecessary spending that the governor has enacted that he could certainly tap into for this $3 million."
In a statement to 2 On Your Side, Senate minority leader Rob Ortt said:
"In the age of the COVID-19 pandemic, remote schooling and remote working are more prevalent now than at any other time before. Although Gov. Cuomo vetoed legislation for a broadband study, that does not mean efforts to bring high-speed internet access to the unserved areas of our state stop. We need action, and the State Legislature can do this by immediately repealing New York’s Fiber Tax legislation, which makes it more costly and less financially viable for internet service providers to expand their networks to remote and rural areas.”
2 On Your Side also reached out to Senator Tim Kennedy and Assembly majority leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes but did not receive a statement or interview.
