Senate vote on same-sex marriage tonight

ALBANY -- A bill to legalize same-sex marriage will be brought to the state Senate floor for a vote Friday night, Majority Leader Dean Skelos said.

Asked whether he expected enough Republicans to vote for the measure to assure passage, Skelos replied, "As I have said many times, this is a very difficult issue and it will be a vote of conscience for every member of the Senate."

Skelos's comment came after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and legislative leaders agreed on language to protect churches and church-related agencies from discrimination claims.

After working for weeks on the wording, officials released an amended version of the bill late Friday afternoon.

So far, 31 of the state's 62 senators have said they support legalizing same-sex marriage. But that includes just two of the 32 Republicans who control the chamber.

The moves on gay marriage came as lawmakers tried to move forward on that and other measures including a property tax cap.

Deputy Majority Leader Tom Libous (R-Binghamton) told reporters that the Senate still planned to address legislation Friday, though he was not specific.

Skelos had adjourned the chamber late Thursday night after snags over a landmark property-tax cap bill brought proceedings to a halt. He has said he would not tackle the contentious issue of same-sex marriage until the other major bills -- including a tuition plan for the State University of New York -- were settled.

Skelos had been set to hold a lengthy closed-door session with fellow Republicans on Thursday to determine what to do with an issue that might impact the GOP's narrow hold on the Senate. The legislature's top Republican had been putting off discussions until the end of the legislative session, using that leverage to drive bargains on other issues such as the statewide property-tax cap.

But while that bought time, it also helped fuel rhetorical battles and raucous demonstrations that have filled the Capitol for the past two weeks.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has made same-sex marriage one of his three priority issues for the second half of the session. He's succeeded on a new ethics bill, while gay marriage and the property tax cap remained unsettled Friday.

The Democrat-led Assembly passed the marriage bill a week ago. In the Republican-controlled Senate, half the members -- 31 of 62 -- have publically said they support legalization. If approved, New York would be the sixth, and largest, state to allow same-sex marriage.

Several Republicans have said they are undecided.

Skelos personally opposes same-sex marriage but has said he'd allow rank-and-file GOP senators to determine whether to bring the issue to a vote.

While the broad outlines of the tax cap had been agreed to weeks ago, negotiations over mandate relief were continuing. Mandates are programs, services or rules that local governments and school districts are required to provide, fund or follow.

The cap is widely popular among New Yorkers, who pay some of the highest property taxes in the nation. More than a third of voters -- 37 percent -- identified a property-tax cap as their top legislative priority in a Siena College poll taken earlier this month.

Lawmakers tied the tax cap to the renewal of rent regulations; the issue primarily affects New York City, where about 1 million apartments are subject to rent stabilization or rent control. Both measures were expected to include a sunset provision allowing lawmakers to revisit the issues in a few years.

Under the tax cap, school districts and local governments could only raise property-tax revenue by 2 percent or the rate of inflation each year, whichever is less.

The cap includes several exemptions, and individual property owners could still see their taxes rise by more than 2 percent. The exemptions include some of the growth in pension costs, capital spending, economic development and major legal settlements. The cap could be overridden by a supermajority of 60 percent of voters or a two-thirds majority of a local legislative body.

"There's no question it's going to force some discipline at the local level," said Elizabeth Lynam, director of state studies at the Citizens Budget Commission, a fiscal watchdog organization. The cap will highlight the choice between paying for services and raising taxes, she said.

Critics worried the cap would force school districts to cut jobs and programs.

The cap could have a greater negative impact on poorer districts because they are more dependent on state aid and less likely to muster votes to override the cap, said Gary Bixhorn, chief operating officer of Eastern Suffolk BOCES.

"We have a tremendous disparity between some of the wealthier districts and some of our poorer districts," he said. "We're concerned that one of the unanticipated consequences would be to expand the gap between those districts."

Joseph Dragone, assistant superintendent for business at the Roslyn school district, said that under the new law the district might have to cut about $1.4 million of spending in the 2012-13 school year but thought that voters would override the cap.

But Kevin Law, president of the Long Island Association, a business group, said the cap would help Long Island companies make long-term plans.

"Businesses like to plan out for several years at clip," Law said. "They're looking for some predictability in terms of making their decisions whether to stay where they are and to grow and expand."