MMA bill falters in NY Assembly
Jim Genia who has covered the effort more than anyone in the sport, has now tweeted that it appears once again the bill will not get voted on in the Assembly.
Dana White @danawhite
The corruption in NY politics is DISGUSTING!!!!
For nine years UFC representatives have gone to NY’s capitol Albany to try to get the sport legalized and regulated. Five times it passed the Senate but Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver refused to bring it to a vote. In January, Silver resigned as Speaker, following his arrest on corruption charges.
The new Assembly Speaker, Carl Heastie, is a supporter of the bill.
This year the bill again passed the Senate, but it did not get sufficient support in the Assembly.The Senate has passed a new version with popular support, and even a final moments C version, but the 2015 legislative session for the year ends very shortly, and passing does not appear likely.
Jim Genia who has covered the effort more than anyone in the sport has been asking EVERYONE to contact Speaker Heastie, and politely and respectfully implore him to bring the bill to a vote.
jim genia @jim_genia
•The big question is if @CarlHeastie will lend the support he promised. The bill needs him to get thru the committees and onto the floor.
•It won’t hurt to keep reaching out to @CarlHeastie asking him to support the MMA bill. 518.455.3791 or speaker@assembly.state.ny.us
UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman too weighed in on the issue.
However, Genia has now tweeted that it appears once again the bill will not get voted on in the Assembly. Gannett’s Albanty Bureau Chief Joseph Spector has the story.
New York is the last state in the nation to bar the events, and it seems it’s going to stay that way until at least next year.
My big challenge today is that a number of members who are counted as supporters were just unavailable today because of the scheduling, that we weren’t expected to be here this long, Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Morelle, D-Irondequoit, Monroe County, the bill’s sponsor, told Gannett’s Albany Bureau.
And it’s really complicated efforts to get to 76. I think it’s looking less likely as the day wears on.
Today is expected to be the final day of the legislative session, which was extended a week because of ongoing negotiations over a host of issues. But the extra days has led to the absence of some members who would have supported the bill, Morelle said.
Morelle is seeking 76 votes from the roughly 105-member Democratic conference to pass the bill, which would legalize MMA but also establish new safety standards for all combat sports. The measure has already passed the Senate, which has approved versions of the bill for the past six years.
The Assembly has 150 seats, so if Morelle would get support from Republicans, the bill would easily pass. It’s a move that MMA supporters in recent days have encouraged the Assembly to take.
But Morelle said that’s not the way the Assembly Democrats work: They need to be able to get 76 votes in their own conference for a bill to come to the floor.
I’m not going to have a different standard for bills sponsored by Joe Morelle than I would have for any other member – which is I don’t rely on minority votes to pass bills, he said. I’ll work as long as I have to work to get them, but that’s the rule.
So it’s increasingly unlikely a vote will happen today.
So we’ll keep working, and I’m confident that the next time we reconvene, I’m going to redouble my efforts, Morelle said.
Thomas Gerbasi @tgerbasi
New Yorkers, these are the people representing us – the ones who got Chicken Wing Day passed, but apparently don’t have time for #MMAinNY