Looking back on the 2023 legislative session, New York Democratic Sen. James Skoufis told The Epoch Times that he pushed several high-priority bills with statewide impacts through both houses.
He also worked with Republican colleagues in the Assembly in passing local laws that allow a number of towns and villages in Orange County to levy hotel and motel taxes.
This year, 75 out of around 300 bills sponsored by Skoufis passed the state Senate, and at least 41 also passed the Assembly.
Skoufis represents the 42nd state Senate district, which covers most of Orange County, except for the northeastern section that contains the Montgomery and Newburgh areas.
A top priority bill of his that passed both chambers involves moving certain local elections from odd years to even years to coincide with the state and national elections.
The legislation impacts most races at the town and county levels outside New York City, except town justices, county judges, sheriffs, county clerks, district attorneys, and offices of three-year terms.
Skoufis said the bill had been around for almost 10 years, and he became its prime sponsor about three years ago; he reintroduced it along with Democratic state Sen. Julia Salazar early this year.
Another of his statewide bills that passed both houses will increase the minimum number of residents required for new village formation from 500 to 2,000; it also eliminates an old rule that permits landowners of large parcels in the proposed village to petition for such a formation.
If signed into law, the bill will deal a direct blow to the proposed village of Seven Springs just west of Kiryas Joel; petitioners of the new village have been involved in a legal battle against the Town of Monroe for years.
Skoufis has worked on amending the decades-old village incorporation law since 2019.
“Many of these bills have been around for a long time, and I’ve spent many years on them,” Skoufis said. “Hopefully, Governor Hochul signs them, and that will free up some bandwidth and allow me to do more work on other bills and some of the new bills we are looking at.”
Local Laws
Since Democrats hold supermajorities in both state chambers, they dominate the legislative agenda and are sponsors of most of the bills passed—a reality readily acknowledged by Skoufis.
Though limited, Republicans play a role in the legislative process, one being good critics of the technicalities of bill drafting, he said.
“There are plenty of instances where Republicans pointed out that this bill didn’t work because of the way this language was drafted, and we went and fixed the problem,” he said. “No one wants to pass bills that can’t work.”
At other times, on local laws that have no bearing on other parts of the state, he and Republican colleagues in the lower chamber find room to work together.
For example, Skoufis passed several bills in the state Senate that authorized several towns and villages in Orange County to levy hotel and motel taxes; their equivalent bills in the Assembly are sponsored by Republican Minority Whip Karl Brabenec and Assemblyman Brian Maher.
As a Democrat lawmaker representing a Republican-leaning district, he said he was able to offer more complete perspectives during legislative talks at the state level.
“Most of my colleagues are either Democrats in very Democratic seats or Republicans in very Republican seats,” he said. “No one can say that I operate within a bubble. I’m able to speak to how just regular people of all stripes are going to respond to bills that we are considering.”
Off-session Work
Even though the state Senate’s legislative session is over, the legislative work continues in his office to build support for bills that failed to pass and take on new bills that come to his attention.
One such bill is reversing the name of the bridge across the Hudson River—which connects Rockland and Westchester counties—from the Governor Mario Cuomo Bridge back to the Tappan Zee Bridge.
The old name refers to the Native Americans who once lived in the area.
Skoufis picked up the bill after its old sponsor, former Republican state Sen. Mike Martucci, left the Senate; it passed the Senate this year but got stuck in the Assembly.
Another bill that failed to advance out of the Assembly this year is allowing school districts in Orange County to elect a ward-based system for school board elections.
Skoufis plans to warm up a key interest group, the teachers’ union, during the off-session time and get its leadership from being neutral to supporting the bill.
“Maybe that will make a difference in the Assembly,” he said.
His office is also looking at new bills to add to the roster, one example being to amend the current law to make reentry resources available for people wrongfully convicted upon release.
As the chairman of the state Senate’s Committee on Investigations and Government Operations, Skoufis is about to release an investigation report into Orange County Industrial Development Agency in weeks.
However, Skoufis said his top priority during the off-session is to meet with constituents in his district.
His office is planning five town hall meetings across the county.
