Gov. Andrew Cuomo will have the final say over whether hydraulic fracturing is allowed in New York—but some hydrofracking opponents are shifting their focus to lawmakers to pass a two-year moratorium on the controversial method of drilling for natural gas. Drilling foes see a potential for a breakthrough in the state Senate, which has traditionally been more supportive of hydrofracking but where state Sen. Jeff Klein and his breakaway Independent Democratic Conference could be in a position to play a… [More]

Each day we typically tackle three to four topics on The Capitol Pressroom, and in recent weeks the budget negotiations we have heard from some provocative guests.… [More]

Legislators want their cash back, but the governor stands in their way.… [More]

The new coalition government running the state Senate has tongues wagging all across the state. With no precedent, it’s worth taking a look at coalition government in England and Israel. … [More]

A divided state Senate spent its first day of session debating the merits of a package of new gun laws that would tighten restrictions on assault weapons, before passing it late Monday night in a 43-18 vote. It was the first bill passed under the body’s new power sharing agreement, though it was unclear to some lawmakers who was actually in charge. “It doesn’t matter,” said Temporary Co-President Jeff Klein, a Democrat who shares control of the Senate with Republican… [More]

Democrats are poised for a leadership fight while Republicans hold out hope in upstate races … [More]

The clock runs down in Albany on campaign finance reform This was supposed to be the year that statewide campaign finance reform finally got passed. After decades of frustration and false stops, good-government groups and other proponents of reform found the ally they had been waiting for in the form of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the state’s powerful and effective chief executive. In his State of the State Address in January, Cuomo delighted longtime advocates for reform by not just publicly… [More]

Undoubtedly at the national scale the top talker this week was PACs, both regular and Super, as the 2012 presidential election heated up. But we note that Gov. Andrew Cuomo seems to have his own massively successful quasi-Super PAC, the Committee to Save New York, whose financial disclosure forms released late last week show a huge amount of wealth concentrated in the hands of roughly 20 anonymous millionaire donors all stumping for the Cuomo budget plan. None of that seems… [More]

The best items from The Notebook, City & State’s political blog City & State’s political blog, The Notebook, is your key source for political and campaign developments in New York. Stay on top of the news with items like these at www.cityandstateny.com/thenotebook.… [More]

Candidates who may have once thought Republican Sen. Tom Libous too entrenched and well-funded to be defeated in a state senate race are reconsidering, after a witness in Federal court testified Libous behaved unethically in procuring a job for his son at a law firm. The most recent candidate to consider challenging Libous is Barrett Esworthy, a 36-year-old college professor, who joins Binghamton mayor Matt Ryan and former public schoolteacher John Orzel as potential Democratic challengers to the 12-term state… [More]