2008 eNVIRONMENTAL ADVOCATES OF NEW YORK & EPL/ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCATES SCORING SYSTEM

For more than 30 years, Environmental Advocates of New York has issued memos in support of, or opposition to, bills that impact New York State’s environment. Environmental Advocates’ sister organization EPL/Environmental Advocates tracks lawmakers’ votes on these bills and publishes an annual Voters’ Guide, a comprehensive look at legislators’ environmental voting records. Voters’ Guide scores are based on two sets of criteria:

• Floor votes on all bills memoed and rated by Environmental Advocates of New York; and
• Support for Super Bills.

FLOOR VOTES: TREES  & STACKS
Environmental Advocates issues memos on environmental bills using its tree and stack rating system. Most memos are issued when a bill first appears on a committee agenda. Position statements on bills rated by Environmental Advocates are distributed to legislators and are posted to the Capitol Watch section of our website at www.eany.org.

Environmental Advocates rates bills according to their potential impact, either beneficial or detrimental, on New York's environment, as well as the measure’s potential effect on the development of environmental policy in New York.

The rating system is designed to place appropriate emphasis on each bill. Legislators can earn between 1 and 3 points for votes in support of bills rated by Environmental Advocates as 1-, 2- or 3-tree bills.  Likewise, legislators can earn between 1 and 3 points for votes against bills that are given a rating of 1, 2 or 3 stacks. Floor votes on all bills rated by Environmental Advocates are tracked and totaled, and then weighted scores are calculated for each legislator.

SUPER BILLS
Members’ scores are affected by the Super Bills whether or not they receive a floor vote. The Super Bills are all considered 3-tree bills for weighting purposes. 

The Super Bills are identified by the Green Panel, which includes the leaders of more than a dozen of New York’s environmental organizations. The Green Panel has the option of adding a Super Bill during the course of a legislative session and of removing a bill if it is no longer worthy of Super Bill status.

Legislators can earn points for Super Bills as follows:  

• Floor vote in favor. If a legislator votes for the bill when it reaches the floor, the lawmaker is recognized as having voted for a 3-tree bill. 
• Becoming law. If a Super Bill is passed by both houses and signed into law by the Governor, all legislators who voted for the bill receive 3 points plus 2 bonus points.
• Budget action. If substantively similar language is included in the state budget that meets the stated goals of any one of the Super Bills, and is signed by the Governor, all legislators receive full credit (3 points).

If a Super Bill does not receive a floor vote, lawmakers are still scored.

Legislators earn credit for supporting Super Bills as follows:

• Co-sponsoring. Lawmakers receive half credit (1.5 points of a 3-tree bill) for any Super Bills they sponsor or co-sponsor. Environmental Advocates of New York encourages members to immediately contact bill sponsors in order to receive co-sponsorship credit in our scoring system. Members who request to be added as a co-sponsor to a bill, but are not recognized as co-sponsors, may still earn credit if they forward a copy of the buck/blue slip to EPL/Environmental Advocates.
• Committee votes. Beginning this session, lawmakers will receive half credit (1.5 points of a 3-tree bill) if they vote in favor of a Super Bill in Committee. All sitting members of a committee considering a Super Bill during session have the opportunity to receive points for their support. If a member sits on more than one committee considering a Super Bill, points will be assigned based on the lawmaker’s most recent action on the bill. A Super Bill co-sponsor who fails to vote in favor of that bill in committee will forgo points.
• Votes on motions to discharge. If a motion to discharge or petition a Super Bill out of committee is brought (on an identical or more stringent bill), the vote on the motion will be counted as a regular vote on the Super Bill. Legislators voting in favor of a motion to petition or discharge a Super Bill out of committee will receive 3 points. If the Super Bill itself is voted on subsequently, that floor vote will be counted rather than previous support for the motion to discharge.

Please note that these points are not cumulative with the exception of bonus points that are awarded in the event that a bill becomes law. Points are assigned at the conclusion of the legislative session based on the last action on a Super Bill.

For example, if a legislator co-sponsors a bill, and the bill passes in that house, points will be assigned only for the bill having passed (3 points). However, if the bill is later signed by the Governor, 2 bonus points will be awarded (3 + 2 = 5). Legislators who do not act on the Super Bills will forego points.

Environmental Advocates of New York will continue to score all other bills as we have in the past. For more information, please contact Jackson Morris at 462-5526, ext. 233.

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