As reported by City & State on 3.18.18:
On March 5, three weeks after 17 people were killed in a school shooting in Parkland, Florida, New York state legislators had their standoff. State lawmakers introduced bills in response to the massacre, with Republicans emphasizing school safety measures and Democrats pushing for more gun control. Some of the bills may become law, and others won’t, as legislative leaders and the governor make deals over the coming weeks.
But among the bills, one rises above the others – at least politically – because the fate of the bill to put an armed police officer at the entrance of every New York City school may determine the balance of the state Senate.
“My bill is not about guns in general,” said state Sen. Simcha Felder, the sponsor of Senate Bill 6798A. “My bill is about having a trained, armed security guard or police officer at the entrance of every school. Our children are certainly no less valuable than cash in the Brinks truck.”
Felder pitched his bill as a commonsense action for school safety, and one that’s long overdue. All New York City public schools currently have a uniformed officer, but most are school safety agents, who are not armed. Felder introduced the legislation last session, long before the Parkland shooting reignited debates over school safety. And in fact, it’s been one of Felder’s main legislative concerns for years. Felder has been calling for funding for NYPD officers at private schools as far back as 2009, when he served in the New York City Council.
Felder is in a pivotal position as a registered Democrat who caucuses with the state Senate Republicans. Though the eight-member Independent Democratic Conference now forms a majority coalition with the Republicans and Felder, Democrats are hopeful that they can win over Felder and the IDC to form a liberal majority if Democrats can win the two open Senate seats in Westchester County and the Bronx in the April 24 special elections. The IDC has shown interest inrealigning with the mainline Democrats, which means Felder could be that last, essential piece of the puzzle. And Felder seems to be tying his decision to whether or not his armed school guards bill gets support.
“Somebody asked me on the record, ‘If the governor were to get this done, would I do what he wanted?’ I think I said I’d do acrobatics for him if he got it done,” Felder told City & State.
Read the rest of the story here.
— Posted on 3.25.18 by JVS, backdated to 3.18.18
Felder Tracker 