This winter, after Gov. Kathy Hochul nominated Hector LaSalle for chief judge of the state’s highest court, lobbyists went into overdrive, spending an unprecedented amount of money to influence the votes of lawmakers.

LaSalle’s nomination was rejected by the state Senate. But because of the unusual lobbying effort around LaSalle, Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris sponsored legislation to close what he considers to be a loophole in the law – one that allows the lobbying of lawmakers who are voting on judicial nominations.

The bill passed in the state Senate.

The Assembly sponsor of the bill, Assemblymember John McDonald, chair of the Government Operations Committee, told Capital Tonight that the bill will also cover the nominations of agency commissioners.

But it was the lobbying around LaSalle that got McDonald’s attention. 

“I remember one morning reading the paper early like I like to do and I’m like oh, they hired lobbyists,” he said. “And there’s a gap here.”

While the bill is relatively simple — it just adds to the laundry list of required lobbying registrations — it will only impact the state Senate, which may be hindering its momentum in the Assembly. 

“We’re working through the process. Candidly, to be honest with you, we have a lot of bills to deal with in the Assembly,” said McDonald. “This is not looked at as one of our priorities because we have hundreds of other bills we’re trying to address with our members.”

When asked if the Assembly leadership has a problem with the bill, McDonald replied, “Not that I’m aware of.”

“I am speaking and working with leadership to make sure they know it’s a priority that we should be focusing on,” he said. 

Another bill McDonald is pushing during this last scheduled week of session is A6568B/S6714B, which would establish the New York state organized retail crime task force to provide the governor and Legislature with information on organized retail crime.