SENATE RESOLUTION No. 114

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

217th LEGISLATURE

 

INTRODUCED MAY 1, 2017

 

 

Sponsored by:

Senator  LORETTA WEINBERG

District 37 (Bergen)

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

     Objects to establishment of office of New York Port Authority Inspector General and urges New York Legislature to reject legislation establishing that office.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     As introduced.

  

A Senate Resolutionobjecting to New York legislation creating a New York Port Authority Inspector General and urging the New York Legislature to reject that legislation.

 

Whereas, The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (Port Authority) is a unique bi-state entity that was established in 1921 pursuant to an interstate compact between the states of New York and New Jersey nearly a century ago with the consent of Congress, pursuant to Article 1, Section 10, Clause 3, of the United States Constitution (Port Authority Compact), to achieve "a better co-ordination of the terminal, transportation and other facilities of commerce in, about and through the Port of New York . . ."; and

Whereas, The Port Authority Compact clearly articulates the powers and duties of the Port Authority and specifically provides a mechanism through "the action of the legislature of either state concurred in by the legislature of the other" to delegate additional powers to or impose additional duties upon the Port Authority; and

Whereas, Legislation introduced in the New York Legislature as S.2010 and A.3010 unilaterally appoints a New York Port Authority Inspector General to broadly investigate any Port Authority action "with a nexus to the state of New York or its residents" in violation of the Port Authority Compact's requirement that any such modification or supplementation of the Port Authority Compact require, at a minimum, the consent of the legislatures of both states; and

Whereas, Six Port Authority commissioners, including Chairman John Degnan and New York Commissioner Kenneth Lipper recently sent a strongly worded letter to the New York Legislature expressing their "urgent and serious" concerns with the proposed legislation; noting that "virtually 100% of all Port Authority decisions and actions have a nexus to New York or its residents"; and

Whereas, These six Port Authority commissioners believe that S.2010 and A.3010 represent an attempt by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to "seize political control of the Agency, through the coercive force of threatened investigation, litigation and potential criminal prosecution of any Commissioner or managerial employee" and that that proposed legislation "would give Governor Cuomo dictatorial power over the bistate Agency"; and

Whereas, The establishment of this office, without the concurrence of the State of New Jersey, violates the well-established principle that "bistate entities created by compact . . . are not subject to the unilateral control of any one of the States that compose the federal system"; and

Whereas, The provisions of A.3010 and S.2010 also undermine and conflict with several articles included in the Port Authority Compact by taking powers delegated to the Port Authority and shifting those powers to a New York state agency; and

Whereas, The unilateral appointment of a New York Port Authority Inspector General would not only violate well-established principles governing interstate compact entities and the spirit and the letter of the Port Authority Compact, but also undercut the authority and independence of the current Port Authority Office of Inspector General; and

Whereas, By entering into the Port Authority Compact, the State of New York entered into an agreement with the State of New Jersey and each state is bound by the terms of that agreement; and

Whereas, New York is not permitted to unilaterally modify the Port Authority Compact; now, therefore,

 

     Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of New Jersey:

 

     1.    This House objects to the provisions of A.3010 and S.2010 establishing a New York Port Authority Inspector General and urges the New York Legislature to reject the provisions of A.3010 and S.2010, which is a patently illegal and an ill-intended effort by the Governor of New York to unilaterally seize political control of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

 

     2.    Copies of this resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the Secretary of the Senate to the members of the New York Legislature, the members of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Board of Commissioners, the Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the Governor of New Jersey, and the Governor of New York.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

     This resolution objects to the provisions of A.3010 and S.2010 establishing a New York Port Authority Inspector General and urges the New York Legislature to reject the provisions of A.3010 and S.2010, which is a patently illegal and an ill-intended effort by the Governor of New York to unilaterally appoint a New York Port Authority Inspector General.