One Albany Lawmaker Isn't Much for Making Law

Among lawmakers in Albany, there's a prevailing assumption that you are there to, well, make laws. Along with committee assignments and fund raising, legislative output is often an important benchmark of competition.

Now, one lawmaker is challenging the notion that more is necessarily better. For the last three years, an East Harlem assemblyman, Adam Clayton Powell IV, has stood out for his streak of inactivity.

Of the thousands of bills introduced this year, Mr. Powell can take credit for not a single one. If Mr. Powell doesn't introduce a bill in the next month, he will have made it through three consecutive session years without acting as the prime sponsor of any piece of legislation, according to a legislative database.

While the streak has yet to attract Cal Ripken-like attention around the halls of the Capitol Building, lawmakers have begun to take notice, puzzled as to why one of their own would choose to remain in the background. Mr. Powell, the son of the late Adam Clayton Powell Jr., a congressman who was one of the most powerful black American politicians of the 20th century, said in an interview that he takes pride in his legislative restraint.

"There's much more to being a strong leader than how many insignificant bills you introduce," Mr. Powell said. "There seems to be a race among the media and political pundits as to who will introduce the most bills."

Mr. Powell also argued he was behaving in a fiscally responsible way, noting: "Each bill we introduce costs thousands of dollars."

Since January, Mr. Powell has been absent from five session days out of 50. He says he had a 99% attendance record up until a year ago.
Mr. Powell also questioned that the streak was three years, but he did not say when he last acted as a prime sponsor on a bill.

Mr. Powell's official member Web site highlights legislation introduced by other colleagues that he supported. His biography details his political pedigree but says little about his legislative record other than listing his committee assignments —he's chairman of the sub-committee on insurer investments and market practices in underserved areas —and his role in passing a law that exempts low-income seniors from rent increases.

Mr. Powell, who was first elected in 2000, last introduced a bill in 2004, according to the Legislative Retrieval System, the database used by lawmakers. That year, he introduced five bills, none of which became law. His most productive year was in 2002, when he sponsored nine bills.

In Albany, the motive behind legislation varies along a spectrum from ideological to practical to transactional. Sometimes, a legislator is spurred into action by a constituent complaint. Other times, lawmakers are responding to interest group lobbying or fulfilling a campaign promise. Bills are also born when a lawmaker alights on a legislative solution to a problem.

Not every bill can be confused with pressing matters of public concern. This year, for instance, enterprising lawmakers have sought to ban the release of helium balloons (imposing a $10 fine for every loose balloon, red or otherwise), to authorize distinctive license plates for former lawmakers, and to give real property tax exemptions to Cold War veterans.

One of the most active lawmakers is Assemblyman Richard Brodsky of Westchester, who is the prime sponsor of 207 bills in this session, many of which were also introduced in prior years. Since 1993, Mr. Brodsky has tried in vain to persuade the Legislature to establish a chess curriculum for public and private school students.

Peter Abbate, a Democratic assemblyman from Brooklyn, has been even busier, sponsoring 220 bills, many of which aim to increase retirement benefits for various public employees. There are at least 12 lawmakers in the Assembly that have churned out more than 150 bills.

"Legislators do overreach in proposing legislation that's unnecessary," the executive director of the Citizens Union, Dick Dadey, said. "But a legislator's responsibility is to propose legislation to address problems."

Mr. Dadey, whose organization advocates for stricter lobbying and campaign finance laws, said Mr. Powell is a lawmaker "who has no impact."

A Democratic assemblyman from Brooklyn, Joseph Lentol, who has been the prime sponsor of 118 bills, defended Mr. Powell, saying that a lawmaker can be effective by helping others pass bills.

"They might not have an original idea, but there are others who do, and they sign on to those bills," Mr. Lentol said. "Sometimes I think I have good ideas that others haven't thought of. Some people aren't as focused on their own ideas."

Mr. Lentol said Mr. Powell "works hard" and often helps other lawmakers get their own bills passed. "Maybe he's saving the state money by not introducing so many bills," he said.