Determining NYCOM Priorities

NYCOM annually issues its Legislative Program, a document which outlines our legislative priorities for the year.  While NYCOM advocates for and against hundreds of bills each legislative session, our Legislative Program represents our membership’s position on key issues of interest to city and village officials. 

The development of our Legislative Program begins each Fall as NYCOM’s legislative staff reviews statutory and budgetary changes that occurred during the previous legislative session, as well as developing issues at the local government level.  The staff also analyzes legislative proposals submitted by our membership throughout the year and as part of the registration process for our November Legislative Meeting.  Based on this information, the staff develops a series of “policy issues for discussion” to be reviewed and discussed at the November Legislative Meeting.  City and village officials who attend the Meeting also have the ability to raise additional legislative proposals at that time.

The November Legislative Meeting is a one-day convening of our membership, usually in Albany, to discuss and prioritize legislative issues for the ensuing legislative session.  The meeting includes a review of the most recent legislative session, a look ahead to what might be the fiscal, political and policy environment in Albany for the coming year, and an open discussion of any legislative issues not included in the meeting handouts.  At that point, mayors and NYCOM staff lead a discussion of specific policy issues within each of four topical areas:  Finance, Government Operations, Employee Relations and Public Safety, and Environment and Health.  Once the review of the policy proposals is complete, the membership in attendance at the meeting votes to select the top priorities in each of the topical areas listed above.  The results of the vote are tabulated and presented to the attendees.  Immediately following, the NYCOM Executive Committee and other members of the Legislative Committee review the results and confirm NYCOM’s overall legislative priorities for that year.

Immediately after the Governor ‘s Executive Budget is released in January, NYCOM staff reviews the items in our Legislative Program to determine if any changes need to be made to reflect the Governor’s budgetary proposals.  After this review and any necessary amendments, the NYCOM Legislative Program is printed and distributed to our membership, the Governor and members of the Executive branch, state legislators, the media, statewide associations and groups, other interested parties, and is posted on the NYCOM web site.  The priority issues included in the Program become the focus of our legislative advocacy efforts for the year, including our primary lobbying event:  the NYCOM Winter Legislative Meeting in Albany at the end of February.