New York On Verge of Historic Power Shift…Again

This headline might be a tad premature but it appears that the State Senate Democratic Caucus headed by Andrea Stewart-Cousins and the 8 member Independent Democratic Caucus by Senator Jeff Klein have reached a preliminary agreement to unify, potentially paving the way for cutting Republicans out of holding any power in the state legislature.

How big of a deal is this? Since the end of WWII, Democrats have held power without Republican help only briefly in 1964, 2008, and 2010. In the latter two cases, Republicans maintained control by entering into power sharing agreements with a group of breakaway Democrats.

Yesterday, Senator Jeff Klein issued a statement in which he indicated that the Democratic factions had come to an agreement about how to work together. In a statement released yesterday evening, “The State Party’s assurance that our progressive legislative agenda will be advanced is a victory for the people of New York,” Klein said. “I look forward to implementing the terms that have been outlined in yesterday’s letter.”

Still this appears to be an agreement to agree. The new power sharing arrangement is reportedly scheduled to take effect only after the state budget is negotiated. Currently there are 23 Democrats in the traditional Senate Democratic Caucus and 8 Democrats in the breakaway IDC. Simcha Felder is a Democrat who currently caucuses with the Republicans but has indicated in the past that he is willing to work with whatever party can most help his constituents. With special elections taking place next year, a unified Democratic conference should be able to take control without needing Republican help, but then again we have been here before.

NY Credit Union Fined By DFS

New York’s Department of Financial Services announced that The United Nations Federal Credit Union and Lloyds of London were fined $1.47 million for marketing and offering life insurance tied to the credit union’s credit and debit card program without being appropriately licensed. Here is some additional information.

Round One Goes To Mulvaney

Also yesterday evening, a Federal District Court Judge refused to block Mick Mulvaney from taking over as the interim head of the CFPB while continuing to serve as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. I haven’t seen a transcript of the proceedings yet but according to this article, the Judge explained “Nothing in the statutes prevents Mr. Mulvaney from holding both of these positions.” Hopefully this silliness can end soon and we can start concentrating on working with Mr. Mulvaney to bring much needed mandate relief to credit unions.