State Senator Kathy Marchione (R - Saratoga County), who serves as chairwoman of the Administrative Review Commission (ARRC) in the New York State Senate spearheaded controversial legislation (
S.5166) earlier this year which proposed repealing thousands of laws and regulations, many of which are aimed at protecting public health and workforce safety. Last January, over 50 national and statewide consumer advocacy groups, including the Consumer Union, publisher of Consumer Reports,
composed a letter in opposition to Marchione's legislation, titled "Don't Turn New York Into West Virginia," referencing the
Elk River chemical spill that took place in West Virginia earlier this year that many blamed on weak environmental regulations.
From Environmental Advocates of New York, January 2014:
Chuck Bell, programs director for Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports said, “New York consumers will be directly hurt if the state creates a backdoor process for businesses to throw out marketplace rules they don't like. Have legislators forgotten that we just suffered a terrible financial meltdown because of lax and ineffective regulation of the financial sector? New Yorkers overwhelmingly support sensible safeguards to protect consumers, public health and the environment, and protect our economy against abuse, fraud and corporate crime.”
While Senator Marchione is
not presently known to be a member of the controversial
American Legislative Executive Council (ALEC), a special interest group that develops template "model bills" favoring corporate interests, she has maintained close ties to several special interest and lobbying groups that maintain strong connections to ALEC, including the
National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), whose proposals Marchione last year
hailed as a model for economic development in the Upstate New York region, citing figures and statistics from the Tax Foundation, another group with close ties to ALEC. Marchione's campaign disclosure records from the New York State Board of Elections also show that she has received donations from several PACS of corporations that are known members of ALEC, including State Farm Insurance, Time Warner Cable and WellPoint/Empire BlueCross BlueShield. (
source,
source)
Now Senator Marchione's in the spotlight again for her controversial deregulatory legislation, receiving the annual "Oil Slick" award from Environmental Advocates of New York, a statewide environmental advocacy and policy development group.
From
Environmental Advocates of New York, October 9, 2013:
"Our coffers would be flush if we had a nickel for every time we heard polluters or their allies in the Legislature gripe that regulations stifle economic growth. Complaining is one thing, but being a proponent for the rollback of public health protections that provide safe working conditions and ensure a clean environment takes a very special and backward-thinking commitment. Enter freshman Senator Kathleen Marchione (R-Halfmoon)."
"Right now in her district, General Electric is dredging PCBs out of the Hudson River, and each day hundreds of train cars filled with dangerous crude oil is traveling local rails. So we’d expect her to have a fuller appreciation of what strong safeguards mean since a lack of oversight of this industry’s has a direct impact on her constituents’ quality of life."
"But quickly after her 2012 election, Senator Marchione took up the mantle of “Protection Cutter in Chief.” In 2013 the Senate passed her bill (rated three smokestacks) that requires the arbitrary repeal at least 1,000 regulations. Undeterred by the lack of interest shown by the state Assembly, the Senator and many colleagues of the Majority Coalition – in- cluding members of Senator Klein’s Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) – pressed ahead with a series of invite- only “listening” sessions last summer and fall that gathered from special interests a wish list of all they’d like to see go."