pALBANY — With ethics reform likely taken off the table in the final days of state budget negotiations, government reform organizations are calling out Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and legislative leaders for its omission./ppA coalition of reform groups, including Citizens Union, joined in a press conference Monday to criticize legislative leaders for not adequately pursuing ethics reforms, especially following the corruption convictions of former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos. /ppCitizens Union was joined by Common Cause, the League of Women Voters, NYPIRG and Reinvent Albany, which argued the legislature should be making strides to regain the public’s trust, but the government has yet to hold a public hearing to discuss change. The group also said more transparency of state spending is needed, but not taken seriously enough by Albany lawmakers. /pp“No longer can spending decisions be made in the shadows, out of public view,” said Dick Dadey, executive director of Citizens Union. “New Yorkers deserve to know more details on how their tax dollars are being spent and to see their elected leaders taking action to put forth meaningful ethics reforms that will restore public trust.” /ppGov. Cuomo put a href="http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/31332/20160318/cuomo-casts-doubt-on-ethics-reforms-in-ny-budget"blame on the Legislature/a for not moving forward with any proposals, and both Assembly Majority Leader Carl Heastie and state Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan agreed that it would be better to focus on ethics reform after the budget has been passed./ppBack in December, when Mr. Skelos was found guilty of his corruption charges, a href="http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/news03/lawmakers-promise-ethics-reform-efforts-in-wake-of-skelos-conviction-20151212"north country legislators in both houses/a promised they would make ethics reform a top priority going into this legislative session. In particular, State Sen. Joseph A. Griffo, R-Rome and Assemblyman Kenneth D. Blankenbush, R-Black River, were advocates of setting term limits for legislative leadership posts. Term limits were not included in either house budget, however. /ppMore recently, the Assembly had passed a separate bill, A-137-4 that would close the LLC loophole, which allows LLCs to donate campaign money as individuals, not corporations. The bill also included new limitations on legislators outside income. Gov. Cuomo had also supported these measures, having included them in his Executive Budget. But they won’t be part of final budget discussions, which are to conclude by April 1. /ppAs the deadline nears, one of the most looming questions has been whether the Senate will budge on Gov. Cuomo’s $15 minimum wage, which has been backed by the Assembly./ppThe Senate and the governor have discussed certain stipulations that would lessen the impact on upstate, such as exempting farmers and extending the wage’s upstate rollout to nine years instead of six./ppThe minimum wage debate has even brought a few words out of U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer, who said a href="http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/news03/schumer-talks-minimum-wage-increase-during-air-brake-plant-tour-20160326"during a New York Air Brake tour/a last week that he supports the $15 minimum wage, but it should be adjusted to relieve pressure on businesses that can’t afford it by 2021. /p
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