People

On July 18, Governor Cuomo signed into law legislation requiring that all large trucks driven on New York City streets have crossover mirrors to allow their drivers to see what's directly in front of them. The law will take effect 180 days after the governor signed it, in mid-January.

Ever since the State Senate killed bridge tolls in the 2009 MTA funding package, the question has lingered: How is Albany going to finish the job and pay for the final three years of the MTA's five-year capital program?

Standing in front of two police cars and an enormous electronic traffic sign, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed tougher statewide distracted driving legislation into law this afternoon.

Could the state legislature get in on the costly, congestion-inducing parking minimum game? And could they do it at the site of Brooklyn's biggest transit hub? Under a proposal by Assembly Member James Brennan, that's exactly what would happen.

Legislation beefing up the state's distracted driving laws passed the state legislature at the end of what was a fairly productive session on transportation issues last month. If signed into law, the bill should help prevent some of the 10,000 crashes caused by distracted driving each year in New York state. What passed the legislature is slightly weaker, however, than the distracted driving bill put forward by Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Led by Assembly Member James Brennan, the State Assembly joined the Senate and took a strong stand in support of transit riders this afternoon, passing the transit lockbox bill by a unanimous vote of 98-0. Speaker Sheldon Silver came out in support of the legislation last night, putting it on a smooth path through the Assembly. The question now is whether Cuomo will sign the bill -- and there are a few indications that he may not.

Though the state legislature was expected to work well into the morning last night, dealing with major priorities like rent regulation and gay marriage in addition to lower-profile but still-important bills like the transit funding lockbox, the negotiated deals fell apart and the legislature put off all its business until this morning. The path to passage for any of those bills is a little less obvious than it was a day ago, but the lockbox still has a good chance of making it through the State Assembly.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver supports the transit lockbox bill, said spokesperson Mike Whyland this evening. According to Whyland, the bill will be voted out of the Rules Committee tonight and head to the floor.

In a 40-22 vote last night, the State Senate voted to phase out the payroll mobility tax, which generates about $1.5 billion per year for the MTA. The Senate proposal would eliminate the tax entirely in suburban areas while reducing it in New York City. Though the bill is expected to go exactly nowhere in the Democratic Assembly, it's a sign of the intense opposition to the payroll tax among Republicans and in the suburbs, as well as the collective delusion about the state of the MTA's finances.