NYS 2025 Legislative Session

Recap of LWVNY Environmental Efforts by Anne Erling

Despite increasing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations and climate destabilization as a backdrop, environmental interests were largely snubbed in the 2025 NYS Legislative session that just ended.

Members of the four Capital Region county LWVs lobbied this year for four LWVNY priority environmental bills. Two were ongoing efforts from prior years -- the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act (PRRIA - S1464/A1749) that requires companies to reduce the amounts of, and remove toxins from, packaging, and also contribute to the cost of managing the packaging waste that remains, and the Bigger Better Bottle Bill (BBB - S5684/A6543) that expands the types of beverages subject to deposit, raises the deposit fee, and increases redemption center revenues. This year advocates also lobbied for two new LWVNY priority bills, the NY Home Energy Affordable Transition Act (NY HEAT S4158/ A4870A) that amends NYS law to align utility planning with the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act which requires an end to unsustainable energy provision, and the Climate Education Bill (S2430/A4876) that adds climate topics to NYS curriculum requirements.

The Senate passed PRRIA, and advocates had secured promises from enough Assembly members to expect passage in that body as well, but despite adding the bill to the floor calendar for the last day of session, Speaker Heastie allowed the session to close without bringing the bill up for a vote. BBB and the Climate Education Bill failed to progress in any meaningful way in either house of the legislature. Faced with lack of movement on any important environmental bill, NY HEAT bill sponsors introduced two related bills at the end of session -- the Customer Savings and Reliability Act (S8421/A8889), which represented an amended version of NY HEAT as a whole, and a separate bill (S8417/A8888) that repealed only the “100 Foot Rule,” the requirement that ratepayers across the state cover costs for free gas hook-ups to building owners within 100 feet of a gas utility line. In the end, this small but important carve-out of NY HEAT is the only environmental priority bill that passed through both houses of the NYS Legislature.

Efforts are now underway to urge Gov. Hochul to immediately sign this 100 Foot Rule bill -- it will go into effect providing savings to ratepayers immediately upon signature. Efforts to gain passage of the other LWVNY priority environmental bills will continue into next year. A bright spot: since 2026 will be the second year of the current two-year legislative session, all bills will be able to build upon the progress they made this session. Significantly, PRRIA will be eligible to go straight to the Assembly floor when the 2026 legislative session begins in January. Why not spend the summer bringing this bill up in conversations, and find a few more people to contact Assembly members? It will be a significant treat to see this bill signed into law! 

FEDERAL JUDICIARY The League’s Position

LWVUS Announces New Federal Judiciary Position

In June 2025, the League of Women Voters national Board was pleased to announce the adoption of the new League position on the Federal Judiciary.

The Federal Judiciary position was adopted using the long-standing League practice of grassroots study to arrive at member understanding and agreement. The League of Women Voters of Saratoga County was among the 321 Leagues representing 45 states and the District of Columbia who participated in the study.

This position is now part of the League's official public policy positions and will be folded into the next edition of the LWVUS Impact on Issues. It will be added to the "Congress and the Presidency" subsection of the "Representative Government" section.

Statement of Position on the Federal Judiciary, as announced by the national board, June 2025

The League of Women Voters of the United States (LWVUS) believes that all powers of the US government should be exercised within the constitutional framework of the balance of powers among the three branches of government. The League believes that, within the bounds of the US Constitution, the overarching principles of transparency, accountability, independence, and ethics are essential to an effective federal judiciary. These principles are not only essential for a strong democracy but foster public trust in the federal judiciary and adherence to the rule of law, the essence of our constitutional democracy.

For the federal judiciary, the League supports the essential principles of:

• Transparency: Federal court documents, proceedings, and rulings, including those in “shadow docket” cases, should be open and available to the public within the bounds of the law, recognizing the need for limited exceptions, such as legally protected sensitive information.

• Accountability: Federal judges and Justices should be held legally and ethically responsible for the integrity of their actions, with enforceable consequences for violations.

• Independence: Federal judges and Justices should act in accordance with the Constitution and statutory and case law, free from the influence of the other branches of government and free from shifting popular and political opinion.

• Ethics: Federal judges and Justices should adhere to ethical standards of conduct that apply universally at all levels of the federal courts. There should be a meaningful enforcement process with judges and Justices subject to penalties for failure to comply with the standards.

The League believes that standards of conduct for federal judges and Justices should include requirements to disclose non-judicial income; other financial benefits including, but not limited to, gifts and hospitality; and investment holdings. Federal judges, Justices, and their partners or spouses should be subject to penalties for failure to disclose accurately and in a timely manner.

The League believes that standards of conduct should include a process that requires a judge or Justice to recuse themself upon evidence that a bias or reasonable perception of a bias exists for or against any party or issue raised in a case. A judge’s or Justice’s decision and rationale not to recuse, despite evidence raised in the court proceedings, should be disclosed in the court’s record.

The League believes that respect for precedent (stare decisis) under most circumstances contributes to a strong democracy and promotes predictability and stability of law. Stare decisis does not mean precedents cannot or should not be overruled, but that such instances should occur in exceptional circumstances.

The League believes that the elements of this position contribute to judicial integrity and are essential to a strong democracy. These elements exemplify what the League expects from the federal courts, building trust and buttressing the Courts’ legitimacy. Adherence to the principles of accountability, transparency, independence, and ethics ensures both a strong federal judiciary and a stronger democracy.

Saratoga League calls for County Charter Commission

The following letter requesting the appointment of a County Charter Commission was sent to the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors on May 12th and read at the Board of Supervisors' meeting on May 20th by Linda McKenney, Co-President.
Here is a link to the Board of Supervisors’ May 20th meeting.
The letter is read at timestamp 31:20.

May 10, 2025

Saratoga County Board of Supervisors
40 McMaster Street
Ballston Spa, NY 12020

Dear Board of Supervisors,

The League of Women Voters of Saratoga County asks the Board of Supervisors to appoint a Charter Commission to examine options for types of governance that Saratoga County might consider adopting. The goal would be for the Commission to recommend one system of governance for the County to adopt (including the possibility of readopting our current form). Said Charter Commission would be given the authority to weigh the advantages of each of the types of legislative bodies and of executive (decision making) structures and to recommend one legislative and one executive type.

In 1987 the Board of Supervisors created a 16-member 21st Century Commission. They issued a 113 page report that dealt with many issues and made many recommendations, among them recommendations about the structure of the County Government, the two most important of which were to “enact a local law for the creation of a county board of representatives by 1991”, and to “establish a schedule of regular review of the structure and responsiveness of our county government.“  They also said, “Although we believe the accomplishments of Saratoga County government compare most favorably with other counties, it is prudent to carefully consider: -as Saratoga’s population and budgets continue to grow, “will the present form of government be able to meet the needs of its County residents?” (p.87)  

We are currently operating under the same form of government we had in 1791 when our county was established. On the last Tuesday in May 1791, the Supervisors rode their horses or drove their carts to the meeting at the “dwelling house of William Mead, of Still-water.”

There have been many changes in the past 234 years, and we believe it is time to once again critically examine whether our current governance structure continues to meet our needs. The League of Women Voters of Saratoga County believes this issue should be reexamined and asks you to establish a Charter Commission.

Note that if you do not establish a commission, the voters of the county can initiate the process by filing a petition with the clerk of the legislative board which contains the signatures of at least 10% of the total number of voters in the last gubernatorial election (10,482) asking that the board establish a Charter Commission.

If the legislative body of the county does not adopt a resolution creating a charter commission on its own accord, within three months of the petition filing with the clerk of the board, the board is required to submit the question to the voters, by referendum, on whether to establish a charter commission. This question must be posed to the voters at the next general election occurring not less than five months from the petitions filing. If the voters approve of the formation of a charter commission, the board must appoint members within two months of the public referendum.

Respectfully submitted,

Ann Marie Pendergast and Linda McKenney, Co-Presidents
League of Women Voters of Saratoga County

The League’s Nonpartisan Legacy

Submitted by Patricia Nugent

Reprinted with permission from The Daily Gazette, as featured on May 7, 2025.

I recently pitched League of Women Voters membership to a millennial lamenting how powerless he felt in this political climate. He forcefully replied, “It’s impossible to be nonpartisan these days! That’s totally unrealistic!” It’s true that our hyper-partisan culture has gotten progressively worse over the last decade, and nonpartisanship may be viewed with suspicion by both sides. I’m frequently challenged by people questioning how I, an outspoken feminist, can pursue women’s rights within the confines of the League’s nonpartisan mandate when one party’s record is verifiably less favorable to women’s equality than the other. After the last federal election, a friend indignantly texted, “How can the League remain nonpartisan when states are toying with executing women who have abortions? We can’t stand on the sidelines!”

I agree – we can’t. And we don’t. What is not well understood is that the League is a highly political organization, advocating for policies and legislation that advance an inclusive democracy – no matter which party supports or opposes them. We chase the cause and not the actors, not supporting or opposing political parties or candidates. Instead, we support or resist political actions. Admittedly, this can get confusing when party lines are drawn around issues, creating the potential to offend either political party at any given juncture.

A biography of Alice Paul, titled “Claiming Power” by J.D. Zahniser and Amelia R. Fry, has deepened my understanding of the League’s nonpartisan roots: Alice was one of the leaders who took women’s suffrage over the finish line to become the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The book traces Alice’s feminist training in London under Emmeline Pankhurst to the streets of Washington D.C. Originally a leader in the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), she then formed a competing organization to engage in more militant strategies to secure women’s voting rights. She eventually founded the National Woman’s Party (NWP), with the goals of holding the party in power responsible for the roadblocks to suffrage and withholding support from any party that didn’t support suffrage. Since a Democratic president and Congress stood in the way of women’s voting rights, Alice’s organization launched full-scale opposition to all Democratic candidates in 1916 whether or not they individually supported women’s suffrage. In other words, she held the whole party responsible, no matter how individual politicians voted. She insisted it was not a partisan act – she would have gone after any party standing in the way. Women of both parties joined her picket lines in front of President Wilson’s White House.

The president of NAWSA, Carrie Chapman Catt, was horrified by NWP’s tactics. Suffrage had always been a nonpartisan cause, and NAWSA aligned itself with pro-suffrage politicians of both parties. Being nonpartisan was important to the movement because partisan politics was considered “dirty business,” rendering women “unfeminine.” (Heaven forbid!) And NAWSA had suffered repercussions in the 1890s after aligning with a political party (Populist) that later faltered. Catt did, however, publicize each candidate’s position on suffrage and “recommended” suffrage candidates to voters.

This was not the first time, nor the last, a social movement split due to a difference in strategy. Single-minded in their goal to secure the vote for women, activities of both groups bordered on partisanship at various times. The cause overrode party and candidate.

Catt went on to found the League in 1920 to help women use their right to vote in their own self-interest. Three years later, recognizing that voting rights were not enough to ensure fair and equal treatment of women in our nation, Alice Paul proposed the still-elusive 24-word Equal Rights Amendment.

Through more than one century of advocacy, the League has remained bound by its nonpartisan mandate ‒ stricter now than our foremothers’ interpretation. While members might have personal partisan affiliations, when serving in an official capacity, they must honor their obligation to nonpartisanship in words and deeds. It’s what makes the League credible and sustainable through shifting partisan alliances.

The League proves people can work together on a mutual goal, such as women’s equality, regardless of political affiliation. Those who want to work together to build a more-inclusive democracy, regardless of party or gender, should join their local League of Women Voters.

——-

Patricia Nugent is a past president of the Saratoga County League of Women Voters and is currently active in their Women’s Rights Action Coalition. She will be presenting “Deeds, Not Words” about Alice Paul’s campaign strategies at Saratoga Springs Public Library on June 11 at 7pm.

LWV Saratoga Founder, Betty Gallagher turns 100 Years Old

Shared by Barb Thomas

In 1965 Betty Gallagher, who The Saratogian referred to as Mrs. Orville Roger Gallagher, held an organizational meeting to form a League of Women Voters to serve the area of the Saratoga Springs School District. She had invited 57 friends and acquaintances. Like Betty, most of the attendees were wives of Skidmore faculty. The meeting was cut short because there were so many sirens blaring. It was a fire that burned down the hospital and other buildings. But following that memorable meeting a Saratoga Springs League was formed. Betty served as the first president (1965-69) and again from 1981-84 and also was a co-president from 1986-1988. Betty was (and is to this day) a staunch defender of voting rights and all reproductive rights including abortion. And she almost single-handedly led the successful fight to get Saratoga County to provide Expanded In home Services (EISEP) to its elderly residents.

Betty’s 100th Birthday was March 15, 2025. During League’s gathering at the Parting Glass for International Women’s Day, members sang Happy Birthday.