decided to take an aggressive approach<\/a> with the amendment after months of debating how far they should go. Not only would it allow for new lines before the next Census, but it\u2019d permanently remove the state\u2019s restrictions on maps drawn to benefit parties or incumbents.<\/p>\nWednesday\u2019s state Senate debate was largely an argument over history. Republicans repeatedly dusted off quotes from Gianaris and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins from when they worked with former New York City Mayor Ed Koch 15 years ago to call for more independent redistricting. Lines like \u201cvoters choose their elected officials rather than elected officials choose their voters\u201d repeatedly resurfaced.<\/p>\n
But, Democrats said, times have changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are playing a game that we\u2019re not playing alone,\u201d Gianaris said. \u201cSo if the other participants in this process are playing by a different set of rules, to not be able to respond in kind would be irresponsible.\u201d<\/p>\n
The debate in the Assembly was more measured, in large part because members were barred from discussing what\u2019s happened in other states. Democratic Assemblymember Chuck Lavine, the bill manager in that chamber, repeatedly said the amendment was simply \u201cto give the state the flexibility and nimbleness it needs as laws are changing at the federal level.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both houses passed the bill on partisan lines: 38-22 in the Senate, and the Assembly 91-47.<\/p>\n
Notably, several Democratic candidates for Congress \u2014 the members most likely to be impacted by the amendment \u2014 were absent from the debate a few weeks before New York\u2019s primary election. Assemblymembers Alex Bores and Claire Valdez \u2014 both running for House seats \u2014 were absent. As was Assemblymember Micah Lasher, another congressional candidate, who helped start talks on the amendment last summer.<\/p>\n
The history lessons also included voters\u2019 approval of a 2014 amendment on redistricting that\u2019s currently binding legislators\u2019 hands, as well as their rejection of a proposed 2021 amendment that would have given Democrats a bit more power over the process.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 2014 the voters themselves, the taxpayers, the residents of this state, our bosses so to speak, approved the Independent Redistricting Commission,\u201d Republican Assemblymember Michael Tannousis said. \u201cThis is nothing more than an attempted power grab.\u201d<\/p>\n
But, Democrats argued, votes in the past don\u2019t mean voters shouldn\u2019t have a chance to weigh in on a different question in 2027.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t be afraid of this,\u201d Gianaris said. \u201cPut it on the ballot. Let the people decide. What are you afraid of?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALBANY, New York \u2014 New York Democrats gave preliminary approval Wednesday to a constitutional amendment allowing them to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4241,12919,3947,9,11,10,49753,62914],"class_list":["post-254783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-albany","tag-constitutional-amendment","tag-mike-gianaris","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-republicans-and-democrats","tag-the-state-legislature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}