Suffolk Region

Gerry Bringmann

Legislative Advocacy Chair– Advocacy Team

Report of March 12, 2018

On February 11th & 12th, I attended the NYS PTA Legislative Summit(2/11) & Lobbying Day (2/12) and want to thank Suffolk Region for sending me up to Albany toparticipate. Some of the highlights of the Summit & Lobbying Day were:

  • Excellent workshops on Sunday, including one hosted by the Commissioner of Education who took the time to answer questions both during & after her session. During this meeting, we discovered that the State Ed Department still had numerous unfilled positions, including the staff that reviews spending plans for Construction/Renovation Bond Issues & Smart Schools monies. Review times are currently running 12-16 months. This is an issue that we expressed concern about to our Legislators, last year at this time, but unfortunately no action was taken.
  • On Monday, “Team Suffolk”, visited the offices of Assemblymen Garbarino & Engelbright, as well as Senators Croci, Boyle & LaValle. Unfortunately, in each case we were only able to speak with their aides, but we did give them plenty to take notes about during our 25-minute appointments, so they could report back to the Legislators. We also left hard copies of the NYS PTA “asks” for this Legislative Session.
  • As a follow up to Lobbying Day, I forwarded copies (electronically) of the NYS PTA requests for this year to all of the Assembly members & State Senators representing Suffolk County that we didn’t get to visit, as well as to Governor Cuomo’s representative here in Suffolk County. Copies of our “asks” were also forwarded to each of our Council Presidents for their review & use, with a request to share this information with their individual units.

On March 8th, I had the pleasure of attending Sachem’s Legislative Forum, which was moderated by Dana Platin. Assemblymen Dean Murray & Michael Fitzpatrick were in attendance. There were also representatives there from Senator Croci, Boyle & Flanagan’s respective offices and while they didn’t participate directly, they did appear to take copious notes to report back to the Senators. It was a terrific opportunity for an exchange of ideas & concerns between the District residents, teachers & administrators and the Assemblymen. I would strongly encourage more districts to schedule these type events, as they are an excellent way to keep the lines of communication open with our elected officials.

Some other quick bullet points of Legislative related issues over the past month:

  • The Federal Government – there has been much discussion about School Safety & gun controls since the Stoneman Douglas School shooting in Florida, but no decisive action has been taken yet. The most likely stepcurrently appears to be the banning of “bump stocks” which convert a standard rifle into an automatic weapon.
  • The NYS Senate issued a release blasting the NYS Education Department for the delay in approving Smart School Spending Plans & the NYS Assembly has a pending bill which would require a much quicker approval progress of school spending plans. At this time only $400 million of the $2 billion Smart Schools Bond Issue funds has been released. What the Senate failed to mention in their release (& as I mentioned earlier in this report) is that the State Ed Dept. is extremely understaffed, which is the major cause of the backlog in getting these spending plans approved. There is apparently a major disconnect between our State Legislators & what the State Education Department can produce with their current staffing. We should be encouraging our Senators & Assembly members to stop playing a very counterproductive “blame game” and give our State Ed Department the tools they need to do their job by having the State Budget Division authorize the filling of all open positions within the Department. I had been told by an aide to the Governor that this had been done shortly after the budget was adopted last year, but she was apparently misinformed (& is no longer in that position)
  • The NYS Senate has passed a Safe School Legislation Bill, however similar legislation in the Assembly has yet to come to the floor for a vote.
  • State Senator Todd Kaminsky introduced a bill last week that would prohibit teachers from being armed while on school grounds. I will keep you posted on the status of this bill and can tell you that NYS PTA has taken a strong position against teachers or other staff members carrying firearms.
  • An“introduction meeting” that I had set with Governor Cuomo’s Representative here in Suffolk last month was postponed at the last minute, but I’m hopeful of re-scheduling with Brian Sapp sometime soon. In the interim. He has been sent information via email on the NYS PTA’s various positions (Where We Stand 2017, etc.)
  • Special Elections have been called for April 24th to fill the two Assembly seats here in Suffolk County that were vacated by Al Graf (5th District) & Chad Lupinacci (10th District)
  • Regarding the NYS Budget Process. The Senate, Assembly & Governor’s Office agreed last week on the fiscal year revenue projection to be used in formulating the 2018-19 State Budget. The Assembly & Senate should be releasing their respective “one house budget plans” by the middle of this coming week, which will immediately begin the negotiation process between the three entities.

With Easter falling on April 1st this year, every effort is going to be made to finalize the new State budget by Thursday, March 29th.

In closing, I would like to apologize for not being able to attend tonight’s Board of Managers Meeting, but Suffolk County Legislature’s Presiding Officer DuWayne Gregory has scheduled a School Safety Forum for this evening in Hauppauge and I will be in attendance there. This is to be an informational forum for school officials, parents & Suffolk County Officials to discuss school safety and share ideas how school districts can best protect students & staff in the future, an endeavor the County very much wants to be a part of. In fact, the SCPD has already started reaching out to school districts to get the capability of tying into School Building cameras in Emergency’s to better prepare & respond to the situation at hand. Also, on the County level, Legislators are working on a bill that would add opioids & other controlled substances to the existing Social Host Law.

As always, should anyone wish to get in contact me regarding any Federal, State or County legislative issues, please know the best way to get in touch is via email. My email address is

Respectfully submitted … Gerry Bringmann