Dems Still Split on Operating Agreement

ALBANY—State Senate Democrats are still not on the same page about an operating agreement to govern the non-operative chamber.

"I think we're committed to some type of reform that encompasses how the Senate is run and we were planning to do that and it is still going to happen," Senator Malcolm Smith, a leader in the Democratic conference, said. There are two competing proposals: one released publicly and presented to Republicans yesterday by Senator Jeff Klein, and another drafted by Senators Eric Schneiderman and Daniel Squadron.

Schneiderman told me his proposal would leave the post of Senate president vacant (the Republicans would give this position to Senator Pedro Espada Jr.; the Klein-ites would rotate it, an idea that Espada said this morning he was coming around to.)

"Our proposal makes it easiest to get bills to the floor," Schneiderman said. A bipartisan committee would set an active list of legislation, with the leaders of each conference able to add some bills each day. Resources will be shared equally.

Exactly who supports what is fluid, but Democratic senators have told me that the split is significant, with each proposal having about a half dozen members behind it.

Smith said: "We're hopeful that we'll get there, but right now we just want to deal with this within the conference and get a consensus there."