New York State prohibits itself from doing business with businesses that do business with Iran

Nice headline, right?

The state Senate and Assembly passed a bill prohibiting local governments from entering into new contracts or renewing existing contracts with any company that has more than $20 million in dealings with the Iranian oil industry

Bronx Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz released a statement on the Iran Divestment Act: 

“The Iran Divestment Act of 2012, which I co-sponsored and helped pass in the Assembly yesterday, would prohibit New York State from doing business with companies that invest in Iran’s energy sector.

“This legislation renews New York’s commitment in the fight against terrorism, taking a bold stand and sending a message loud and clear that our great state will not help fund Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. Under our bill, people, businesses and organizations that invest substantial sums of money in the Iranian energy sector would be identified by the state Office of General Services and prohibited from doing business with state and local governments, helping keep taxpayer money out of the hands of known international terrorists.”

There are 47 companies affected by this, though it looks like only one, Siemens, has divisions that do business with New York. The list was compiled last month by the California Department of Insurance. All are based overseas.

Here is the video of Assembly Majority Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos discussing the ban as well as other issues, such as redistricting the state Senate to 63 seats, from the Albany Times Union.

Senate leaders remarks today

Here are the remarks made today by Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos at Gov. Andrew Cuomo's State of the State, and Senate Minority Leader John Sampson during the first Senate session of the 2012.

Let's see how they do this year, in terms of fulfilling promises and running an efficient government this year.

Skelos:



Sampson:

Diaz Sr. congratulating Hispanic colleagues in Skelos boycott

State Senator Rev. Ruben Diaz Sr. has congratulated the members of the state legislature who joined him in boycotting Republican Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos' Unidad Latina Legislative Conference last week. We've got the full backstory here and here.

The GOP called the conference a success, citing the fact that two current Hispanic members of the Assembly attended. Diaz ponders why they did attend, but ultimately is pleased that most of the Hispanic members of government did not attend. Diaz said in an earlier letter that he was boycotting the conference because Republicans hurt Hispanics in the state budget this year, and the conference was nothing more than a publicity stunt.

Jump below for the full statement.

From Diaz to the members of the Puerto Rican/Latino Caucus:

This memo is to congratulate my Senate colleagues who serve as Members of the New York State Senate Puerto Rican/Latino Caucus: Senator Adriano Espaillat, Chair; Senator Gustavo Rivera, Vice-Chair; and Caucus Members Senator José Peralta, Senator Martin-Malavé Dilan, and Senator José M. Serrano.  I congratulate all of you for showing real unity on behalf of our Caucus and our community by not attending the so-called Legislative Hispanic Unity Conference that was organized by our Senate Majority (Republican) Leader Dean Skelos.

Most importantly, I have to admire our Caucus Chairman, Senator Adriano Espaillat for his leadership.
I have to admire our Caucus Vice-Chair Gustavo Rivera for being forthright in the media last week by stating: “I will not be attending the conference. If the majority leader and the Senate Republicans were serious about addressing the issues affecting Latinos, they would have asked their Latino counterparts in the Senate to help them organize a conference that reflects the issues that are impacting Latinos throughout the state such as immigrants’ rights issues as well as the need to extend the millionaire’s tax so that New York State is able to continue funding important services like education, housing, and healthcare that are so critical to our communities.”

Diaz Sr. urges Skelos to open a dialogue

Last week, state Senator Rev. Ruben Diaz Sr. urged his fellow Hispanic colleagues in government to boycott Republican Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos' Hispanic gathering, Unidad Latina Legislative Conference. Diaz says that no Hispanic legislators attended the conference, though the GOP says a number of them did.

The letter, released today, is directed at Skelos and calls for him to open up a dialogue with Hispanic lawmakers to start better serving their needs, which were ignored during the state budget agreement, Diaz said.

According to Capitol Confidential, the GOP says Diaz has his facts wrong.

Senate GOP spokesman Scott Reif told the Times Union blog that Assembly members Guillermo Linares, Naomi Rivera and Nicole Malliotakis were on hand, as well as former Assemblyman Roberto Ramirez, the first Puerto Rican Democrat county leader in the state, “along with dozens of Hispanic business and community leaders.”

Reif’s full response to CapCon:

This is absolutely not true, and Senator Diaz should be ashamed of himself for putting politics ahead of what’s best for New York’s Hispanic community.  Sponsored by Senator Skelos and the well-respected Hispanic Federation, Unidad Latina was attended by hundreds of people, Senators and Assemblymembers from both political parties, and many Hispanic lawmakers.  And, despite Senator Diaz’ best efforts to bully people into not attending, this conference was an enormous success which gave serious legislators an opportunity to make contacts, to listen and to learn, and to advocate for issues important to the Hispanic community.  The Senate Democrats should spend less time trying to tear people down and more time trying to bring people together, as Senate Republicans have been doing.

Here's a sample of the letter from Diaz. Jump below for the full piece.

"I hope (and in speaking for myself) you will understand that until you build a dialogue with the six Hispanic Senators who serve as your colleagues in the New York State Senate, some of us will have a reason not to participate in your publicity events."