NEWYORK STATE, _ SENATE x. (heli June 15, 2009 Honorable Dean G. Skelos Honorable Pedro Espada, Jr. New York State Senate Room 907 LOB Albany, NY 12247 Dear Senators: In the spirit of moving the State’s business forward and providing New Yorkers with the representation they deserve, 1am asking you to participate in discussions towards a bi- partisan agreement between our two conferences in order to resume Senate business in a fair and impartial manner through the end of this session and beyond In light of recent events, itis clear that we presently have an equal number of members representing each of the two conferences of the two political parties. As such, neither conference can convene a quorum and do the people's business without the cooperation of the other. ‘There are dozens of examples of legislatures of equal numbers of members from two conferences that shared power evenly. Even the US. Senate produced such an agreement for the start of the 107th Congress in 2001. Cooperation is the only course left to us at this point at time. In addition to the shared role of leadership in the operation of the chamber and committees, 1am eager to codify reforms to the legislative process, including an equitable distribution of resources and increased transparency, consistent with recommendations from Senators and from the Temporary Committee on Rules and Administration Reform, Thave directed my staff to appoint a team to discuss a bi-partisan agreement with your conference immediately. | look forward to our discussions. | trust we can reach a reasonable solution that allows us to movgfprward, Lr yours, 7 MEE ‘A. Smith