NORWICH – A group of lawmakers are asking local municipalities to support a bill that would allow voters in 2010 to decide if the state’s constitution should be overhauled.
The “People’s Convention to Reform New York Act” suggests that a Constitutional Convention be held to change “how the state does business” and address setting limits on state taxes, caps on spending and restrictions on unfunded mandates.
Introduced last month by Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb (R-Canandaigua), the bill would prevent elected officials and lobbyists from being delegates and having a hand in the reform.
“We’ve needed this kind of reform at the state level for years,” said Assemblyman Cliff Crouch (R-Guilford), one of the bill’s sponsors. “A few years ago we finally got some budget reform. Then we went backwards. Now we’re back to three men in a room making all the decisions with little or no input from anyone else.”
A Constitutional Convention is the only real chance ordinary citizens to change the fundamental structure of state government, sponsors contend.
“This way, the people would have the option to enact reform at the constitutional level,” Crouch said.
Copies of “The People’s Convention to Reform New York Act” have been sent to local governments across the state. The bill has yet to be voted on, and is still being considered on the committee level in both the Assembly and Senate.
