Bill Ratings 2013

Every week during the New York State Legislative Session, Environmental Advocates of New York reviews all of the bills introduced in legislative committees or on the floor of the State Senate and the Assembly. We then issue a memo that summarizes the legislation and describes our position on measures with significant environmental impact.

The purpose of Environmental Advocates' rating system is to weight bills according to their potential impacts, either beneficial or detrimental, on New York's environment. The "Trees and Smokestacks" rating system (at bottom) is designed to place appropriate emphasis on each bill. At the end of the session, these weighted votes will be totaled to arrive at a final score for each legislator.

MEMO	SUMMARY & EVALUATION	RATING	STATUS	ASSEMBLY BILL	SENATE BILL
1	Home energy efficiency without the sticker shock		Passed Senate, In Assembly Committee	A.1245 (Cahill, et al)	S.1111 (Maziarz)
2	Increasing limits for net metering		In Assembly Committee	A.3143 (Hevesi)	S.2498 (Maziarz)
3	Homeowners insurance for oil spills		In Assembly Committee	A.3734 (Weisenberg, et al.)	S.4010 (Grisanti)
4	Closing the fracking hazardous waste loophole		In Assembly Committee	A.1046 (Sweeney, et al.)	S.674 (Avella, et al.)
5	Mercury thermostat collections		In Senate Committee		S.1676 (Grisanti, et al.)
6	Farm Net Metering		Passed Senate	A.4997 (Hevesi)	S.3806 (Maziarz, et al.)
7	Dirty Power Plant Bailout		In Senate Committee	A.5905 (Gabryszak)	S.2532 (Maziarz, et al.)
8	Fracking Moratorium & Health Impacts Assessments  SUPER BILL		Passed Assembly, In Senate	A.5424-A (Sweeney, Silver, Farrell, et al.)	S.4236-A (Avella, et al.)
9	Diesel Generator Prohibition		In Assembly Committee	A.625 (Rosenthal, et al.)	S.1239 (Perkins, et al.)
10	Environmental Justice Advisory Group		In Assembly Committee	A.3569 (Peoples-Stokes, et al.)
11	Environmental Impact Reports		In Assembly Committee	A.3729 (Peoples-Stokes, et al.)	S.931 (Serrano, et al.)
12	Private Well Testing		In Assembly Committee	A.1040 (Jaffee, et al.)
13	Purchasing energy efficient appliances and equipment		In Senate Committee	A.53 (Hevesi, et al.)	S.1187 (Maziarz, et al.)
14	Indian Point Replacement Plan		In Assembly Committee	A.1038 (Jaffee, et al.)	S.1645 (Carlucci)
15	Vested Rights for Land Development		In Assembly Committee	A.494 (Paulin, et al.)	S.2565 (Ball)
16	Child Safe Products Act  SUPER BILL		Passed Assembly	A.6328 (Sweeney, et al.	S.4614 (Boyle)
17	New York Solar Bill  SUPER BILL		Passed Senate	A.5060 (Englebright, et al.)	S.2522 (Maziarz, et al.)
18	Climate Protection Act SUPER BILL		Passed Assembly	A.6327 (Sweeney, et al.)	S.735 (Avella, et al.)
19	Drug Disposal Demonstration Program		Passed Assembly; Senate Committee	A.5465 (Sweeney, et al.)	S.3985  (Grisanti)
20	Safer Sofas		Passed Assembly	A.6557 (Sweeney, et al.)	S.4780 (Grisanti, et al.)
21	Healthy Green Procurement		Passed Assembly	A.6046 (Sweeney, et al.)	S.875 (Grisanti, et al.)
22	Mercury Thermostat Collection		Assembly Committee	A.1048 (Sweeney, et al.)
23	No Recyclables in Landfills		Passed Assembly	A.3754 (Colton, et al.)	S.719-A (Grisanti)
24	Shark Fin Prohibition		Assembly Committee; Passed Senate	A.1769 (Maisel, et al.)	S.1711 (Grisanti, et al.)
25	TRIS Ban		Passed in Assembly; Senate Committee	A.4741 (Sweeney, et al.)	S.3703 (Grisanti, et al.)
26	Outdoor Lighting		Senate Committee	A.1182-A (Rosenthal)	S.4126 (Marcellino)
27	DERA Repealer		Assembly Committee	A.5363 (Oaks, et al.)
28	Climate Change Planning		Passed Assembly	A.6558 (Sweeney, et al.)
29	Green Roof Tax Credit		Senate Committee	A.628 (Dinowitz, et al.)	S.2444 (Klein)
30	Green Buildings Extender		Senate Committee		S.3977 (Maziarz)
31	Biodiesel for Heating Oil		Senate Committee and Assembly Committee	A.2129 (Sweeney, et al.)	S.1184 (Maziarz, et al.)
32	Farm Dam Safety Exemption		Senate Committee	A.1487 (Gunther, et al.)	S.2621 (Young, et al.)
33	Corraling Feral Pigs		Assembly Committee	A.3767 (Glick, et al.)
34	Amends Polluter Spill Liability		Senate Committee	A.2065 (Schimminger)	S.1675 (Grisanti, et al.)
35	Recycling Construction Materials		Assembly Committee	A.1688 (Colton, et al.)
36	Not Really Green Jobs		Senate Committee	A.1639 (Kolb, et al.)	S.4118 (Maziarz, et al.)
37	Brownfield Tax Credit Reporting		Assembly Committee	A.892 (Rosenthal)
38	Lower Mercury Light Bulbs		Assembly Committee	A.2048 (Kavanagh, et al.)
39	Fracking Wastewater Treatment		Assembly Committee	A.5464 (Sweeney, et al.)
40	Gas Drilling Pollution Clean Up Fund		Assembly Committee	A.3634 (Sweeney, et al.)	S.4028 (Libous)
41	Cutting Logging Loose		Senate Committee	A.7071 (Magee, et al.)	S.4357 (Young, et al.)

TREES & SMOKESTACKS RATING SYSTEM

Legislation would be of significant benefit to help resolve a pressing problem facing New York's environment.

Legislation would provide substantial benefit to New York's environment.

Legislation would be beneficial to some aspect of New York's environment.

Legislation is likely to result in major or lasting harm to some aspect of New York's environment.

Legislation would do substantial harm to New York's environment.

Legislation would be detrimental to environmental causes in New York.

SUPER BILLS Every year, a few bills are identified as environmental priorities, or "Super Bills." The Super Bills are all three-tree bills and are included as part of lawmakers’ scores in our sister organization's (EPL/Environmental Advocates) Voters' Guide, even if the legislation does not reach the floor of the Senate or Assembly for a vote. Click here for more info.