Two hours after midnight, the state Senate was still on the first of four budget bills the chamber’s leadership intended to act on in its Tuesday night/Wednesday morning session. At that rate, it seemed likely the chamber would be at work well past dawn.
The evening had developed its own catchphrases, from the idea that the dead-of-night vote was a “vampire” session to the sudden fever for the word “kumquat,” first used by Sen. George Latimer in his analogy of the ELFA bill — the first to be taken up after midnight — as a gift basket containing things you might like and others you don’t.
Sen. Kathy Marchione subsequently picked that up in her explanation of why she intended to vote for the ELFA bill despite its tweaks to the NY SAFE Act, which she wants to see repealed outright — a law that was “my kumquat,” she said. The Halfmoon Republican had also previously opposed any increase in the minimum wage, though she said the compromise three-step increase in the budget was a worthy alternative.
Sen. Gustavo Rivera then called the same bill “a basket of kumquats,” including what he described as an insufficient minimum wage increase (“the biggest kumquat of all”).
Two bills were passed before midnight: A measure funding legislative and judiciary activities was approved 55 to 5, but the subsequent debate on the health and mental hygiene measure bogged down primarily over the fate of SUNY Downstate Hospital, which faces dire fiscal peril. That bill passed by a much more narrow 34-26 vote.
As 2 a.m. came and went, lawmakers as well as journalists began questioning not only their choices in life but also the reasons why the Senate decided to pull an all-nighter when it easily could have adjourned and come back into session at, say, 9 a.m. Or 8 a.m. Or any other time when human beings aren’t meant to be asleep.
2:35 update: The ELFA bill passed 47-13, and the chamber moved on to the measure covering aid to localities.