Changes in New York Assembly aim for more transparency

The New York State Assembly has passed a reform package to make its daily operations more open and fair, and to provide more transparency, giving the public more ways to see how the lawmaking body operates.

The package comes almost one year after the Democratic majority established a workgroup to recommend how to improve the legislative process, its operations and public participation. That workgroup issued a report with 42 recommendations late last week and the Assembly voted on Monday to adopt those recommendations that required rules changes.

For the recommendations that didn't require rules changes, Speaker Carl Heastie accepted them and plans to implement them. All but one of the changes can be done as a one-house vote, without Senate approval. Continue…

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