NY Legislature Claims Top Honor As Most Dysfunctional

Not that this is a big surprise to those that follow state politics here in the Empire State, but NY has the most crooked legislature in the country. The Brennan Center did the statistical and factual compilations and shows us just how bad things are in Albany. Last year was just another repeat of a broken system where personal greed is encouraged next to nothing gets done for the people.

From The NY Daily News:

Almost five years after nailing the Assembly and Senate as partners in America's worst legislative branch, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School has compiled a fresh set of scandalously damning data:

• The state's 212 lawmakers introduced 18,239 bills and resolutions in 2008 - triple the number introduced in the next-highest legislature and half again more than introduced in Congress.
• More than 90% of the bills made it only as far as press releases and then they vanished without serious consideration.
• Legislative committees - which should move the bills to up-or-down votes - existed in name only. They held almost no hearings and produced exactly zero detailed reports on major legislation.

And the list goes on and on. In a nutshell, bills brought up by individual members have no chance at all unless given a go by the Speaker of the Assembly and the Majority Leader in the State Senate. Nothing has changed in a long time in our capitol and without a lot of hard work on the people's part, Albany will continue to be the scourge of the nation.