Senate Republicans Push Bill To Overhaul Port Authority
TRENTON, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) - Senate Republicans are pushing a bill aimed at increasing transparency at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and capturing the support of both states' governors.
Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean Jr., who authored the bill, said it blends aspects of a measure passed unanimously in New Jersey's and New York's legislatures last year with suggestions from both states' governors.
``It's a very strong, hybrid approach that I believe is the only solution to truly reform the Port Authority immediately and that will pass all four legislatures and be signed by both governors,'' Kean said Friday.
Kean's effort comes as New Jersey Senate Democrats plan a veto override vote.
The new GOP bill continues to call for legislative oversight including subjecting the authority to public records laws. But it also includes some of the governors' changes, such as establishing a chief executive officer.
Both states' legislatures and governors must sign off on legislation in order to enact changes at the bistate authority, which oversees the World Trade Center, ports, bridges and tunnels and airports in the region.
The governors' vetoes angered lawmakers who pledged to mount a new effort to pass the legislation, but that process was slowed down because New York lawmakers began a new session this year and so had to start over.
The issue has taken on a political tone in New Jersey because Democrats who control the Legislature have promised to attempt to override Christie. Republicans, Kean included, have said that's not likely to happen. Lawmakers have never overridden Christie's veto.
Messages left with Democratic senators Loretta Weinberg and Bob Gordon, who sponsored the original Port Authority overhaul, were not immediately returned.
Kean said he will formally introduce his bill on Thursday.
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