Key issues spur delay in gay marriage vote

ALBANY -- With leverage in hand, Senate Republicans are delaying a vote on whether to allow gay marriage in New York, possibly till the end of the legislative session, while they wait for other key issues to shake out.

Republicans are still trying to negotiate a complicated trade of property-tax caps for rent-control laws, among other issues, before the final day of the session -- which, for now, is Monday. Legislators are quietly saying the tax cap/rent issue has to be settled before the gay-marriage bill can come to a vote.

Issues clouding the vote

Republicans met behind closed doors Thursday for a second straight day but emerged saying there was still no decision on bringing the same-sex marriage bill to the floor for a vote. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has made the bill a priority and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg met with GOP senators Thursday in Albany to urge them to allow a vote. At this point, 31 of the state's 62 senators have publicly said they support gay marriage -- none from Long Island.

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) remained elusive about timing.

"We will continue our discussion," Skelos said, following a brief meeting the governor. "This is one of the things about our [Republican] conference, and I think you are beginning to see that. We take a very deliberative approach to different issues. It's not just walk in, walk out."

The Democrat-led Assembly approved the gay marriage bill in an 80-63 vote late Wednesday. Just seven Island Assembly members favored it, while 14 were opposed.

Tension over the rent control/tax cap issue has thrown a monkey wrench into the proceedings.

Rent regulations for millions of New York City tenants expired Wednesday at midnight after a deal to extend them until Friday -- to allow more negotiations -- collapsed. Senate Democrats refused to back the two-day extension, angering Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) who dearly wanted it and swinging the negotiating advantage to Skelos.

Working on broader bill

That setback was linked to the delay on gay marriage, several senators said.

"Last night's move was the biggest blunder I've seen in a long time," said Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn). Now, with rent laws technically gone, he said there's a sense of urgency to tackle that issue first.

Cuomo said on May 23 he and legislative leaders had reached an agreement to enact a 2 percent property-tax cap in exchange for renewal and expansion of rent regulations. Since then, Skelos has said he favors renewal only. He's also sought to link rent control to the renewal of the "421a" tax abatement program popular with real-estate developers. Democrats have been cool to that idea. There's talk that even a measure to raise public-university tuition could get rolled into a broad bill that covers several high-profile issues.

Until that's resolved, gay marriage might have to wait.

"I think gay marriage comes to the floor. I think it's definitely coming to the floor," Golden later told WCNY.

Cuomo issued a statement calling the Senate's inaction on rent regulations "unacceptable." "I will not allow the legislature to go out of session and go home until tenants are protected," the governor said.

Echoing that sentiment, Silver said: "This can't drag on. We need a permanent deal."

Countered Skelos: "The governor says we won't go home without rent regulations. We won't go home until we have a property tax cap."