By Lincoln Anderson
The State Legislature last week overrode Governor Pataki’s veto of two budget items to implement a problem bars task force and pay for nine new State Liquor Authority inspectors.
Pataki is arguing that the insertion of the two items violates the New York State Constitution’s prohibition against the Legislature changing language in some sections of the budget. According to Assemblymember Deborah Glick — who sponsored a bill that was inserted by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver into the budget in the form of the two items — the Legislature may wind up suing the governor in order to implement the task force and allocate the funding for the extra inspectors.
When the veto occurred last month, Silver expressed outrage at Pataki’s action.
Pataki, instead, proposed a rapid enforcement unit be created to deal with problem bars. However, Glick noted that Pataki’s plan doesn’t include a timeframe in which the task force must respond to complaints about problem bars. The problem bar task force would have a specific timeframe in which to act: three days to investigate and one week in which to report.
