I’m still trying to pull together what happened. From what I can gather from Twitter and online, it looks like the Republicans boycotted the special session. So just the Democrats showed up, and then left 5 minutes after the gavel came down because of some hazy Senate/Assembly rules. From the Daily News:
Sen. Jeff Klein then stood and read into the record the Senate Democrats’ argument that any measures passed at the single-house extraordinary sessions called by the governor are basically moot because the other house isn’t also present to pass same-as bills.
. . . “If we are taking up legislation, we need the Assembly here as well,” Klein said . . .
And so, the Senate adjourned. Asked what happens now, Secretary of the Senate Angelo Aponte (still around and in control of the chamber, despite the Senate GOP’s attempt to strip him of that power), replied:
“Now the governor’s people are basically going to have to call both houses in, and when they do that, what we pass here will be legal.“
More on how things got to this point here.
I’ll update as more information comes in.
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