(NY) Gay Marriage Vote Advances

Here's the strongest sign yet that the gay marriage bill will indeed come to the Senate floor for a vote before the day is over: Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr., the measure's most outspoken opponent, has retired to his Albany office to pray.

"I don't know why it has to be done in special session. I don't know why it has to be today. Is it going to be done? I believe so," Diaz Sr. told me rather glumly during a brief telephone interview just now.


...snip...

Assemblyman Danny O'Donnell, who is carrying the marriage bill in the lower house, told Jimmy Vielkind this afternoon that the Assembly plans to re-pass the measure (for the third time) while gaveled in for extraordinary session.

This robs the Senate of an excuse some lawmakers were raising in hopes of avoiding a vote. In order to be eligible for signing by the governor, a so-called "same-as" bill has to pass both houses. It needs to be absolutely identical, not a measure passed in regular session versus one that passed in extraordinary session.