Green Party of New York State

2006 Draft Platform

May 20, 2006

Green Party of New York State 2006 Platform
Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................................................................4
OUR PLATFORM IS INFORMED BY OUR TEN KEY VALUES: ...........................................................................4
ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY................................................................................................................................5
FOOD AND FARMING ..................................................................................................................................................5
A SAFE AND SUSTAINABLE ENERGY ECONOMY.............................................................................................10
WASTE MANAGEMENT AND CLEAN-UP .............................................................................................................13
CLEAN WATER ............................................................................................................................................................15
CLEAN AIR ...................................................................................................................................................................15
NEIGHBORHOOD DESIGN ........................................................................................................................................19
URBAN REFORESTATION AND OPEN SPACE IN CITIES ...................................................................................19
PROTECTION OF ANIMALS AND WILDLIFE .......................................................................................................20
THE INDUSTRIAL HEMP ACT..................................................................................................................................21
REDUCTION OF TOXINS ...........................................................................................................................................21
MAKE KODAK CLEAN UP ........................................................................................................................................21
ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM.....................................................................................................................................22
LEAD POISONING .......................................................................................................................................................22
HOME RULE ON GRAVEL MINING ........................................................................................................................23
HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE ................................................................................................................23
CRIMINAL JUSTICE....................................................................................................................................................23
END THE DRUG WAR IN NEW YORK ....................................................................................................................25
COMMUNITY CONTROL OF THE POLICE ............................................................................................................26
CIVIL LIBERTIES.........................................................................................................................................................27
PROTECTION OF CHILDREN....................................................................................................................................27
INDIGENOUS NATIONS.............................................................................................................................................28
ENDING SEXISM .........................................................................................................................................................28
ENDING RACISM.........................................................................................................................................................29
ENDING HETEROSEXISM .........................................................................................................................................30
NYS HUMAN RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT .................................................................................................................30
DISABILITY RIGHTS ..................................................................................................................................................30
GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY .....................................................................................................................................31
PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY .............................................................................................................................31
COOPERATIVE BUSINESSES ...................................................................................................................................32
ECONOMIC DEMOCRACY ........................................................................................................................................33
IRV AND PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION .....................................................................................................34
PUBLIC CAMPAIGN FINANCING ............................................................................................................................34
VOTING RIGHTS AND ELECTION LAW REFORM ..............................................................................................36
ECONOMIC JUSTICE ....................................................................................................................................................38
FULL EMPLOYMENT: JOBS FOR ALL AT LIVING WAGES ..............................................................................38
WORKERS RIGHTS .....................................................................................................................................................39
SOCIAL SECURITY .....................................................................................................................................................41
COMPARABLE WORTH .............................................................................................................................................41
UNIVERSAL, AFFORDABLE CHILD CARE ...........................................................................................................41
WELFARE REFORM....................................................................................................................................................42
NUTRITION...................................................................................................................................................................43
AFFORDABLE HOUSING...........................................................................................................................................43

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CURBING CORPORATE ABUSE.................................................................................................................................45
CORPORATE WELFARE REFORM ..........................................................................................................................45
HOLD CORPORATIONS ACCOUNTABLE..............................................................................................................46
RETURN THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO CONTROL CORPORATE POWER ...............................................46
HEALTH…….. ..................................................................................................................................................................48
UNIVERSAL, SINGLE-PAYER HEALTH CARE .....................................................................................................48
PREVENTION ...............................................................................................................................................................49
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS ..........................................................................................................................................49
LONG-TERM CARE.....................................................................................................................................................49
FAMILY MEDICAL LEAVE .......................................................................................................................................50
AIDS / HIV .....................................................................................................................................................................50
MENTAL HEALTH.......................................................................................................................................................51
ETHICS...........................................................................................................................................................................51
EDUCATION.....................................................................................................................................................................52
FREE PUBLIC EDUCATION THROUGH UNIVERSITY LEVEL FOR ALL........................................................52
TEACHING METHODS ...............................................................................................................................................53
LITERACY AND ADULT EDUCATION ...................................................................................................................54
TECH-PREP CENTERS................................................................................................................................................54
MAINSTREAMING ......................................................................................................................................................55
PEACE ............................................................................................................................................................................55
PARTICIPATORY CULTURE & MEDIA...................................................................................................................55
PUBLIC FINANCE...........................................................................................................................................................56
PROGRESSIVE TAX SYSTEM...................................................................................................................................56
STATE BUDGET PROCESS REFORM ......................................................................................................................57
NO MANDATES WITHOUT MONEY .......................................................................................................................58
DEMOCRATIC PUBLIC ENTERPRISE.....................................................................................................................58
DEMOCRATIZE INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITIES, THE NEW YORK POWER
AUTHORITY, AND OTHER PUBLIC AUTHORITIES............................................................................................58
SOCIAL AND ECOLOGICAL ACCOUNTING .........................................................................................................58
ECO-TAXES AND TRUE COST PRICING................................................................................................................59
DEMOCRATIC AND ECOLOGICAL INVESTMENT OF PUBLIC PENSION FUNDS MANAGED BY A
STATE BANK................................................................................................................................................................59
INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY ................................................................................................................................60
A PRO-DEMOCRACY FOREIGN POLICY...............................................................................................................60
PEACE CONVERSION.................................................................................................................................................61
BAN US WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION: UNILATERAL NUCLEAR, BIOLOGICAL, AND
CHEMICAL DISARMAMENT ....................................................................................................................................61
COOPERATIVE SECURITY……………………………………………………………………………………..61
DEMOCRATIZE THE UNITED NATIONS ...............................................................................................................61
CANCEL THE DEBT....................................................................................................................................................61
FAIR TRADE .................................................................................................................................................................62

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 Green Party of New York State
2006 Platform

Introduction

The Green Party of New York State pledges itself to protect, restore and expand the
power of all our citizens to chart a course to a sustainable, just, healthy and humane
tomorrow.

Our platform is informed by our Ten Key Values:

1. Grassroots Democracy
2. Social Justice and Equal Opportunity
3. Ecological Wisdom
4. Nonviolence
5. Decentralization
6. Community-Based Economics and Economic Justice
7. Feminism and Gender Equality
8. Respect for Diversity
9. Personal and Global Responsibility
10. Future Focus and Sustainability

In order to strengthen the democratic power of the People, and to protect and restore
the environment, the Green Party of New York State advocates all the measures
proposed in this, our 2006 platform. And we pledge ourselves to work towards
accomplishing them, through public education, nonviolent direct action, alternative
institutions, alliances with other Green and kindred movements throughout the world,
and with independent Green candidates for public offices.

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 Ecological Sustainability

As temporary inhabitants of the earth we are not its owners, but its caretakers. We are
charged with the immense responsibility of stewardship over the earth’s resources, and
with insuring that these resources remain intact to be passed down to future
generations. We share this planet with many other species, and have a responsibility to
promote its biological diversity. The Greens believe in preventing pollution. In contrast,
the State of New York has spent millions of dollars attempting to regulate pollution, and
handing out permits to pollute. Energy conservation is the most ecologically sensible,
economically sound and immediately available energy resource.

FOOD AND FARMING

Public policy in food and agriculture should have these objectives: the safety and
security of the food supply, the prosperity of farms and farm communities, and the
sustainable use of water, soil and energy resources.

By these measures, current policy has failed. Public policies and public monies have
favored the agri-business model, which has led to the loss of half the nation’s topsoil,
the waste and pollution of groundwater and waterways, the contamination of farmland
and food by fertilizers and biocides, a high degree of dependence on petroleum
sources, a decline in the nutritional quality of our food, and the impoverishment of farms
and farm communities. Green values - ecological wisdom, decentralization, diversity,
future focus - inform our efforts towards a sustainable agriculture, in which the public’s
need for high quality food is served by farmers who can afford to invest in the health of
their asset and inheritance: the land.

The Green Party of New York State will use legislation, administrative guidelines, tax
policies, regulatory oversight and all other means to revitalize family farms and rural
communities.

Give Our Family Farms The Legislation They Need To Prosper

• Enact a Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) law;

• Shift public subsidies from corporate processors and distributors, towards on-farm and
cooperative processing and marketing;

• Direct schools and public agencies not to purchase foods grown abroad with chemicals banned in
New York State, or containing imported Milk Protein Concentrates;

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 • Adopt a law similar to the law adopted in Nebraska in 1982, and in a number of other mid-
western states, that prohibits corporations from acquiring or otherwise obtaining an interest,
whether legal, beneficial, or otherwise, in any title to real estate used for farming or ranching in
our state, or engaging in farming or ranching, with some exceptions for locally owned
corporations;

• Direct agricultural college research away from large-scale, capital-intensive techniques, towards
low-input, family sized production. Encourage small-scale family farms, poly-culture crops and
regional food supplies. Discourage the transportation of food over long distances to market;

• Prohibit insurance company and bank ownership of farmland;

• Require public disclosure of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) owners and
investors. There are now more than 700 CAFOs operating in New York State. It is estimated to
cost $500,000 or more to clean up abandoned CAFO facilities. Therefore, financial assurances to
fund decommissioning should be required from all permitted operations. Institute a moratorium on
new permits – the DEC should stop issuing permits as has been done in North Carolina to
encourage the phasing out of CAFOs;

• As a short-term solution, the Greens endorse the Dairy Price Compact to raise the price farmers
receive for the milk so that they may remain in business. However, the price supports should go
first to small family farms, and sustainable or organic dairy farms;

• End tax incentives to chain supermarkets; and redirect incentives to establish cooperatively
owned farmers’ markets;

• Reduce tax burdens on farmland by ending the regressive property tax system used to fund
schools and public services;

• Purchase development rights to preserve agricultural land and ease the inheritance of family
farms.

Respect And Protect Farm Workers

• The same rights and protections that most other workers take for granted, including a day of rest
per week, overtime pay, disability insurance, and the right to bargain collectively with their
employers should be extended to farm workers;

• Protect farm workers from dangerous pesticides and herbicides; and require farm owners to
provide appropriate equipment and protection to workers;

• Improve the pay and working conditions of farm workers. Hire inspectors to ensure compliance.

Expand Organic Agriculture To Benefit Farmers & Consumers

• Require agriculture colleges to teach organic and sustainable farming, integrated pest
management and other holistic methods;

• Help farmers identify and install best management practices to reduce environmental/water
quality impacts. Well-managed dairy farms and the pen space these farms represent have been
identified as a preferred land use in the New York City watershed, serving an important function
in preserving drinking water quality for millions of New Yorkers;

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 • Tighten standards for organically produced food; and fight USDA attempts to include genetically
engineered, sludge-grown, and irradiated food as organic;

• Offset school and public agency purchases of organic foods;

• Encourage soil conservation practices such as planting stands of trees as windbreaks, and
contour planting, to curb topsoil loss and prevent future dust bowls;

• Underwrite the integration of food/agriculture issues into school curricula at all levels;

• Expand and diversify family and cooperative organic farming.

Offer Urban Support For Organic Farming

• Develop a price preference for organically produced items (food, textiles, etc.) in state, county
and local procurement procedures. The preference should be based on the differential market
prices between “organic” and “non-organic” products over a reasonable period of time. This would
bring healthier food into schools and hospitals and make the State a partner in supporting organic
agriculture and sustainable land practices;

• Provide incentives for those Greenmarkets that provide a percentage of organic produce;

• Build coalitions with upstate farmers in New York City’s watershed to forestall development;

• Link upstate and Long Island farmers to urban consumers in order to increase the economic
diversity and self-reliance of the food and agricultural economy of New York;

• Vastly increase support for Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA).

Work To End The Use Of Biocides (Pesticides/ Herbicides/Fungicides)

Massive biocide use values agribusiness profits over human/ecosystem health. Biocide
use causes topsoil loss, creates resistance in target organisms, disrupts biological
control, endangers farmers and farm workers, neighbors, wildlife, and consumers. Aerial
application results in wider distribution of drifting poisons. Ecological wisdom dictates an
end to methods of weed and pest control that poison the earth, disrupt ecosystem
balance, and threaten the health of humans and other living things.

The Green Party advocates the rapid curtailment of pesticide use through:

• A halt to aerial and ground-level biocide spraying by cities, schools, forestry and other
government agencies, and the development of non-toxic/low impact pest management strategies
by all public agencies;

• Local or statewide 48-hour neighborhood notification programs for biocide use in lawn care,
agriculture and insect control;

• A quick phase-out of fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides containing carcinogens, mutagens and
hormone disrupters in food production;

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 • A ban on petrochemical-derived fertilizers and biocides on commercial and residential lawns
beginning with golf courses, and coastal and waterside locations;

• An end to the exportation of pesticides that are illegal in the United States.

Promote The Ethical Treatment Of Animals

The Green Party advocates a policy of humane treatment of farm animals that would:

• Prohibit the routine use on them of hormones, antibiotics and other chemicals, including
genetically engineered compounds;

• Require that all animals in captivity, including farm animals, be given a certain amount of outdoor
space within which they can move freely and mingle with other animals for at least two hours
each day;

• Phase out factory farming, as other countries are already doing , including feedlots, the genetic
manipulation of farm animals;

• Regulate the domestic transportation and slaughter of animals to ensure their humane treatment;

• Outlaw all commercial trapping and fur ranching and the use of goods produced from exotic or
endangered animals;

• Outlaw the use of animals for consumer product testing, tobacco and alcohol testing,
psychological testing, classroom demonstrations and dissections, weapons development and
other military programs;

• Make vegetarian meals available at all public institutions including primary and secondary
schools;

• Mandate the clear labeling of products to tell whether they have been tested on animals and
whether they contain any animal products or by-products;

• Prohibit large scale commercial breeding facilities, such as “puppy mills” because of the massive
suffering, overpopulation and ill health such facilities produce;

• Subsidize spay and neuter clinics to combat the ever worsening pet overpopulation problem
which results in the killing of millions of animals every year. Where unwanted companion animals
are being killed in shelters, we advocate mandatory spay and neuter laws.

Control Genetic Engineering

Greens oppose the patenting of life. We call on the State and Federal governments to
recognize that an organism’s genetic code is its own, being the inalienable property of
that individual, and to refuse to grant or recognize “intellectual property rights” — the
patenting of living organisms or their DNA sequences for private profit.

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Elected Greens at local and state levels are pledged to advocate:

• A moratorium on planting and growing genetically modified crops in New York State;

• A moratorium on life forms genetically engineered to afford a higher tolerance of herbicides and
pesticides;

• The requirement of labeling and registration of genetically modified seeds;

• A ban on the transportation into NY of all genetically engineered agricultural products;

• Legal action against those who contaminate soil, plants or animals by use of genetically modified
material;

• A ban on the use of genetically-engineered recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) in milk
production.

Guarantee Food Safety

To ensure the safety of our food, its environmental sources, and farm families/farm
workers, the Green Party aims to:

• Legislate a phase-out of antibiotics in animal feed, used to speed growth; which is a contributing
factor to high levels of asthma and resistant organisms;

• Ban the spreading on farmland of sewage sludge and untreated human wastes;

• Require the labeling of genetically engineered food sold in the state;

• Require public schools and hospitals to purchase only organic, non-genetically engineered milk.

Food Security / Urban Agriculture

We advocate:

• An increased access to food stamps and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for
Women, Infants and Children (WIC);

• A culture of urban gardening to reduce transport costs, fertility wastage, and food insecurity;

• Building public composting facilities to reduce the multimillion ton waste of organic fertility that is
discarded into landfills in New York State each year;

• Community gardens on publicly-owned property so that as many New Yorkers as possible can
grow their own food, develop green open spaces for their neighborhoods and give children an
opportunity to learn about growing plants;

• The development of programs like the New York City Department of Sanitation’s large-scale in-
vessel and worm composting facilities, and the pilot facility of the Lower East Side Ecology
Center on the East River in Manhattan.

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A SAFE AND SUSTAINABLE ENERGY ECONOMY
The Green Party demands a radical change in our energy policies. New York State
needs to reduce fossil fuel use through efficiency and conservation, develop renewable
resources, and restructure the electric industry. Energy conservation is the most
ecologically sensible, economically sound and immediately available energy resource:
reduce, reuse and recycle. Solar-hydrogen fuel, solar-electric photo-voltaics, solar-
thermal electricity, solar heating, small-scale hydro, wind power, and biofuels must
replace ecologically detrimental and socially irresponsible energy sources such as
nuclear power, fossils fuels and hydroelectric. Our current energy practices rely on fossil
fuels that pollute the atmosphere and nuclear generators that produce radioactive waste
that remains hazardous for millennia.

New York is facing a climate catastrophe due to global warming, a problem that a 2003
Pentagon analysis said “would challenge United States’ national security in ways that
should be considered immediately.” There is practically unanimity within the scientific
community that global warming is happening faster than previously thought and that it
will create dramatic shifts in the climate if not addressed. It is time for state government
to take over the utility industry and put New York on a crash program to establish a
sustainable energy system and set an example for the world for how to reverse global
warming due to the burning of fossil fuels.

The Green Party advocates these measures:

Restructuring the Energy Industry

Legislation at the State level to encourage decentralized public ownership and
democratic control of our energy system. Decentralize and democratize the New York
Power Authority (NYPA) through a federated structure of local boards elected by the
public, which in turn send representatives to regional and statewide boards. The 50
existing municipal utilities and cooperatives in New York State should be federated into
this statewide structure, which would operate in an open and accessible manner. The
New York State Energy Research and Development Agency (NYSERDA) should also
be incorporated. The NYPA should take over privately owned electric utilities and oil
companies. The creation of publicly owned power utilities would result in reduced
energy prices.

Implementing Conservation and Energy Efficiency

• An energy efficiency plan developed by the NYPA to maximize energy conservation and the most
efficient use of each unit of energy consumed;

• Utilization of full-cost pricing for energy accounting to reflect the true cost of health risks and
pollution for various energy sources;

• Requiring utilities to accept net metering (the selling of the excess power to the grid by private
generators) to encourage building of alternative energy generation;

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 • Implementing “time-of-use” pricing and the installation of time-of-day meters for large users;

• Legislating the elimination of sales taxes on vehicles that get over 30 mpg and on compact
fluorescent bulbs;

• Through tax incentives, encourage energy conservation and renewable energy use in the design
of new buildings, and similar incentives for retrofitting existing structures; thereby Increasing the
efficiency of buildings and industrial technologies to reduce the demand for energy;

• Requiring energy efficiency, passive solar for heating and cooling buildings, solar water heating
and solar electricity in building codes. The promotion of new construction standards, favoring the
use of nontoxic materials, natural lighting in commercial and public buildings, and their siting for
optimum solar gain. Subsidies and incentives should be provided for such development;

• Establishing higher energy efficiency standards for lighting, home and office appliances and
industrial motors; and increasing rebate and replacement programs. Promoting energy
conservation in commercial lighting, including advertising;

• Requiring electric and gas utilities to provide financial assistance to residential and agricultural
customers who install solar and wind equipment, and offer tax credits for residents and
businesses that install such equipment and follow energy conservation practices;

• Offering NYPA financing to assist residential, industrial, commercial, and agricultural customers
to install energy efficiency programs and renewable energy sources;

• Creating an incentive program to encourage conservation by landlords.

Developing Renewable Energy Sources

• Supporting a renewable energy plan developed by NYPA to move New York as fast as technically
possible to a 100% renewable energy system;

• Committing New York State (with federal assistance) to engage in a massive development
program of subsidized wind-generated electrical clean energy based on the dire need to deal with
global warming, which threatens to destroy our naturally balanced climatic conditions. Wind
energy electricity generation today provides the most fully developed, ecologically viable, and
most practical means of replacing fossil fuels;

• Promoting development and use of alternative renewable energy technologies, including active
and passive solar, solar-thermal electricity, solar electric photovoltaics, wind, ocean, tidal, small-
scale hydro, geothermal, alcohol, biomass, bio-fuel, solar-hydrogen fuel, methane, hydrogen and
fuel cells, through subsidies and incentives including NYPA low-cost power subsidies;

• Establishing a business incubator funding research and development of renewable energy

technologies for export to promote job creation in New York State;

• Employing union labor in construction of state energy projects;

• Providing state economic financing and technical assistance to create the businesses needed for
a renewable energy system, including renewable energy producers, clean vehicle manufacturers,
rail transportation providers, companies to retrofit buildings, and companies for energy efficiency
and renewable energy sources.

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Converting from Nuclear Energy and Fossil Fuel
• Phasing out fossil fuels as an energy source and converting to renewable energy sources for all
our energy needs as soon as possible;

• Stopping new construction of gas-powered electric plants;

• Immediately shutting down of all nuclear power plants in New York State and replacing nuclear
energy with environmentally safe and sustainable alternatives;

• Providing education and assistance to workers from all decommissioned nuclear plants;

• Preventing ratepayers or taxpayers from being forced to bail out shareholders for “stranded costs”
of nuclear power plants;

• Halting food irradiation;

• Eliminating nuclear and radiological weapons and immediately halting the production of nuclear
weapons material, components and delivery systems in New York State;

• Removing all subsidies for nuclear energy research and development in New York State and
reallocating those subsidies to environmentally safe and sustainable energy technologies;

• Requiring all nuclear material generators to be responsible for the safe containment of their
radioactive wastes. No storage of radioactive materials in West Valley;

• Banning the shallow burial of radioactive wastes or their incineration, and developing methods to
achieve long-term, safe storage of radioactive wastes; emphasizing transportable above-ground,
dry-cask storage of such wastes for easy monitoring and handling. Providing for the safe onsite
disposal of nuclear waste from all decommissioned nuclear plants;

• Allowing no deregulation concerning radioactive wastes that might permit their dumping in
community landfills or use in consumer products. Preventing the construction of unsafe disposal
sites for so-called low level wastes;

• Reclassifying nuclear wastes currently classified BRC (Below Regulatory Concern) on the basis
of far more stringent environmental standards;

• Prohibiting transportation of nuclear fuel and waste in New York State;

• Developing independent radiation monitoring networks for all industrial and military nuclear
facilities;

• Establishing strong criminal penalties for radioactive contamination of the environment.

Inspection of Nuclear Facilities for Health and Safety Risks

The state should continually monitor the public health, safety and environmental risks
posed by nuclear facilities in New York State. The state should prevent the distribution
of energy from these facilities when they pose an unnecessary health risk. In addition

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the state should levy a tax on these facilities for each curie of radioactive material
released into the environment. This tax should be used to defer state health expenses
for treating the cancer and other health effects caused by these radioactive releases.

WASTE MANAGEMENT AND CLEAN-UP

Refinance State Superfund

The Green Party strongly supports the refunding of the State Superfund program, which
is running out of money. In 1982, the State Legislature created the state superfund
program to clean up the thousands of toxic waste sites throughout New York. There are
currently more than 850 inactive hazardous waste sites in New York. In addition, a legal
loophole has left hundreds of additional sites ineligible for superfund financing since the
contamination is due to the presence of hazardous substances rather than hazardous
waste. Approximately $2.5 billion is needed to clean up the various sites. Prime
responsibility for this fund should be polluters rather than taxpayers. The Green Party
supports the use of front-end fees (fees assessed at the time the polluting materials are
produced or sold). At least 75% of the cost of the program should be paid for by taxes
on corporate polluters. The state should strengthen, not weaken, cleanup standards.

Authorize Citizen Lawsuits

The purpose of the Environmental Conservation Law (ECL) is to protect the natural
resources of New York State from polluters. While the Department of Environmental
Conservation and Department of Law are supposed to pursue polluters who violate the
ECL, neither agency has the necessary resources to insure adequate enforcement; in
addition, sometimes laws are not enforced due to political pressure. Citizens should
have the right to sue polluters when the government fails to do so.

The Materials Recycling Act

The Materials Recycling Act will require manufacturers to be financially responsible for
the collection and recycling of manufactured items that they have produced.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

The Green Party supports:

• Rapidly phasing out materials that cannot be recycled;

• A move toward total recycling through reducing the amount of waste and disposable products
produced, reusing items and materials whenever possible, and recycling as much as possible
that which we cannot reuse;

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• A solid waste program based on promoting waste reduction (such as the state’s Environmentally
Sound Packaging Act and German packaging law), reuse of materials, comprehensive recycling,
and green composting of only food and yard waste, with the residue placed in small,
environmentally secure landfills;

• Expanding the use of Quantity Based User Fees (QBUFs), at least initially, so that all publicly
funded governmental bodies pay for their solid (non-recycling) waste generation, as an
encouragement for them to reduce and recycle waste;

• Recycling in all city agencies, especially schools;

• Improving public education and outreach to increase recycling and to minimize solid waste; with a
major long-term program of public service announcements in subways, on buses, on radio, on
TV, in schools and in workplaces;

• Designing and producing high quality goods that are durable, repairable and recyclable at the
end of their useful life; which is a concept that is the opposite of the current “planned
obsolescence;”

• Creating a market for recycled goods through legal and tax incentives;

• Standardizing containers to make their reuse easier;

• Manufacturing recycled paper out of a specific percentage of post-consumer waste paper; and
requiring that all packages disclose the amount of recycled material contained in the package,
which will promote the use of recycled material;

• Stepping up efforts to enhance consumer waste prevention practices and codifying waste
prevention practices in state and local government procurement procedures, including expanded
provisions for price preferences for the purchase of goods produced with post-consumer recycled
material;

• Legislating limitations in packaging and imposing penalties for wasteful packaging;

• Legislating deposits on all glass, metal and plastic beverage containers;

• Amplifying the procedures that let people choose not to receive junk mail;

• The right of community residents to participate in the decision-making process related to the
cleanup of hazardous waste sites, with ongoing health monitoring of inactive hazardous waste
sites;

• Holding those who produce garbage financially responsible for ensuring its safe disposal;

• Closing and banning trash incinerators;

• Banning mixed waste co-composting, since the end product is often contaminated with toxics,
plastics, metals, and other contaminants;

• Mandating the use of metal containers for restaurant waste;

• Consolidating garbage collection as a comprehensive city service;

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 • Restructuring garbage rates to encourage reduction in the volume of waste;

• Instituting convenient curbside recycling (including yard clippings) in all urban areas;

• Expanding efforts to facilitate job creation and private sector capacity to recycle;

• Continued Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) spending for DEC’s recycling program and the
Department of Economic Development’s Office of Recycling and Market Development (ORMD).
By promoting recycling, the state has also promoted economic development and job creation,
with more than 21,000 people now employed in recycling. The state should expand efforts to
facilitate job creation and private sector capacity to recycle. We support creating an economic
development policy for recycling, including the implementation of tax incentives for recycling and
creating a designated fund to help recycling-related industries, especially smaller, community-
based businesses. Remanufacturing of recycled materials will reduce waste and create new jobs.

CLEAN WATER

The Intake-Outlet Reversal Act

The Intake-Outlet Reversal Act will require users of river water to locate their water
intake downstream from their refuse outlet. This will serve to guarantee that factories
and other facilities would not pollute the water sources on which all of us rely. City water
supplies should be protected at their source, rather than through the construction of
massive water filtration factories.

CLEAN AIR
A new model for transportation is needed. Better emission standards is a positive step,
but limited. Dramatic shifts to public transportation are required and can be justified by
comparing total transportation costs. A densely distributed rail system coupled with on-
call public transport vehicles and car cooperatives could replace
privately owned vehicles.

To improve and maintain air quality we need: stricter tailpipe emission limits; an
effective inspection and maintenance program for motor vehicles; expanded transit
ridership; and improved, economical transportation planning. New York has adopted the
California Low Emission Vehicle (LEV) program, which contains the Zero Emission
Vehicle (ZEV) mandate and encourages the development of alternatively fueled
vehicles. New York should continue this program and help seed enterprising companies
to develop clean fuel vehicle industry in New York State, while improving air quality. In
addition, diesel buses in urban areas should be phased out, and emissions from diesel
trucks should be controlled and reduced.

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Alternative Fuel Vehicle Purchase Incentives
Legislation should be passed to provide companies and individuals with incentives for
the purchase of alternatively fueled vehicles and the fueling infrastructure necessary to
support them. Incentives could include investment tax credits, personal income tax
credits and elimination of motor fuel and sales taxes, all of which have been
successfully enacted in other states.

Heavy Duty Diesel (Hdd) Emissions Testing

Legislation should be passed to require DEC to establish a testing program for HDDs in
ozone and/or particulate non-attainment areas. Testing should encompass HDDs that
are not registered in New York, but travel on roads in the non-attainment areas of the
state. Roadside inspections similar to those used for weight of vehicles should be part
of the testing program.

Buy Back And Phase Out Of All Two-Cycle Motors

This should be accomplished within a 5-year timeframe. Pleasure boats spew more
pollution than all trucks, buses and cars in the U.S. (source: Clearwater). The sale of
new 2-cycle outboard motors should be banned.

The Greens oppose the so-called New York Clean Air Act because it would delay
implementation of the clean air program pending further study, which would delay
improvement of New York’s air quality.

We support:

• Enforcement of federal air quality standards;

• Implementation of the federal Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990;

• Elimination of the per ton emission fee cap for stationary sources of air pollution. Currently every
ton of pollution up to 6,000 tons carries a set fee, while every ton of pollution over the 6,000 ton
amount is, in effect, free. This cap should be eliminated to provide a disincentive to pollute;

• Requiring a fee of at least $40 per ton for stationary source emissions;

• Banning coal fired plants in the state of New York.

Transportation
A major source of atmospheric pollution is the fossil fueled car, which releases massive
amounts of carbon dioxide into the air. This mode of transport is inefficient, costly and
environmentally destructive. We need ecologically sound forms of transportation that
minimize pollution and maximize energy efficiency. Most of this air pollution comes from

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the transportation sector. While progress has been made in reducing pollution through
better motor vehicle emission standards, more cars are being driven more miles, and
diesel buses and trucks remain heavy polluters. The polluting effect of automotive
emissions has also increased due to changes in composition of gasoline. The health
hazards of this are well documented: adverse respiratory and carcinogenic effects are
acknowledged by the EPA. The adverse effects on climate through global warming were
also made clear at the Kyoto Conference. Increases in driving have also led to
transportation gridlock. In the New York City Metropolitan area traffic congestion is
stalling the economy and deteriorating the quality of life.

To improve and maintain air quality we need: strict tailpipe emission limits; an effective
inspection and maintenance program for motor vehicles; expanded transit ridership; and
improved, least cost transportation planning.

While New York has substantial state and federal transportation resources, these funds
are limited and must be spent prudently. Investments in mass transit make prosperous
metropolitan regions possible. New York should maintain its commitment to mass transit
by continuing to upgrade subway, bus and commuter rail systems; maintaining fares;
and supporting innovative ridership incentive programs such as unlimited ride transit
passes and regional fare cards. Full funding of mass transit capital and operating
programs is imperative.

The Green Party advocates:

• Scheduling an increase in Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards to 60 mpg for
cars and 45 mpg for light trucks by the year 2010. We should abolish presidential ability to
override these goals;

• A “gas guzzler” tax on new vehicles that get a lower mpg than the CAFE, with provision for “gas
sipper” rebates for vehicles that get a higher mpg;

• Supporting the development of public transportation;

• A re-prioritization of transportation planning and funding from highways to railroads for

transportation and shipping. NYS must rebuild the dense and intricate network of inter-city
railroad and municipal trolleys and light rail it had 100 years ago;

• The phasing out of diesel buses in urban areas and the control and reduction of emissions from
diesel trucks;

• The elimination of subsidies to the snowmobile, race car, and other gas-guzzling & polluting
“recreational” industries;

• A zero-increase policy for paved areas. Every square foot newly paved must be balanced by a
square foot of paved land unpaved and restored to its pre-paved condition. This should apply to
both the public and private sectors. This would include expansions of existing roadways, such as
the Long Island Expressway, and the creation of parking lots;

• Allowing local governments to use State road and bridge money for bike and pedestrian paths;

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• Encouraging the choice of human powered transportation, by constructing pedestrian malls,
greenways and walking paths, establishing bicycle lanes on most streets and roads, and by
making some streets and roads bicycle only;

• Improving pedestrian facilities in urban areas by reclaiming paved open space and street space;

• Improving bicycle parking by creating secure bicycle storage and parking facilities in our cities, at
all transit stations;

• Providing free transportation of bicycles on public transit; and standardizing all MTA bicycle rail
access policies, creating one life-time, free permit that provides for bicycle access to all off-peak
and weekend trains (including reverse commute options);

• Requiring all public and private garages to provide bicycle parking;

• Making urban parks car-free; and minimizing car use in state and county parks — eliminating
vehicular traffic within public parks, wherever possible;

• Establishing multi-zoning in communities so that people can live within walking distance of their
work and providing incentives for them to do so;

• Locating services like stores, restaurants and laundries so that most people can easily access
them on foot or by bicycle;

• Expanding service on public transit and restoring reasonable fares;

• Emphasizing affordable mass transit systems; which could be partly subsidized with revenues
from taxes on non-efficient vehicles and on gasoline. Mass-transit should be more economical to
use than private vehicles;

• Encouraging mass transportation, including light and heavy rail for long distance travel;

• Emphasizing the use of light and heavy rail for freight transportation;

• Eliminating subsidies for airlines and airports;

• Maintaining variable toll fees that would be lower for cars containing more than two people;

• Adopting Transportation Control Measures to permit preferential parking for multiple occupancy
vehicles and alternative transportation initiatives (e.g., mass transit and bicycle commuting
programs);

• Requiring businesses of 100 or more employees to help their employees to achieve a minimum
base ridership per vehicle (for example, 1.5 to 2.5);

• Subsidizing businesses purchases of solar, electric and other environmentally benign fueled
vehicles for their employees’ use through the use of gas tax revenues;

• Developing light rail options along highway corridors, in congested urban settings, linking
suburban centers and transit hubs;

• Coordinating and improving rail-to-bus links along all commuter and Amtrak train lines;

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 • Restoring cut transit funding;

• Ensuring that transit riders pay a smaller proportion of total transit cost than drivers pay of total
road costs (including externalized costs like pollution deaths and sickness, etc.);

• A ban on highway billboards;

• Enforcing “no idling” laws to reduce polluting auto emissions;

• Requiring manufacturers to warranty emission control systems, with the state having the power to
require manufacturers to recall vehicles with faulty emission systems and make all required
repairs at no cost to the consumer;

• Conversion of the state vehicle fleet to non-polluting vehicles based on renewable sources, such
as bio-fuels and renewable electric and hydrogen combustion as fast as technically possible; and
equipping state parking spaces with recharging outlets for use by state employees who commute
to work in electric vehicles.

NEIGHBORHOOD DESIGN
Greens advocate:

• That neighborhoods have a discernible center, like a square, a green, or sometimes a busy street
corner, with a transit stop located at this center;

• A variety of dwelling types so that younger and older people, singles, families, the poor, and the
wealthy may find places to live together in a community;

• That elementary school’s are located so that most children can walk between their home and
their school;

• Neighborhoods organized to be self-governing, in which a formal neighborhood assembly

debates and decides matters of maintenance, security, and physical change.

Urban Reforestation And Open Space In Cities

Trees in urban areas are one of the few signs of our natural landscape. Trees along city
streets make cities greener, healthier, quieter, and more livable. They provide shade
and temperature moderation in the summer heat, and protection from harsh winds in
winter. Older trees with graceful canopies not only add beauty and color to
neighborhoods, contributing to the value of property, but they also preserve the balance
of oxygen in our air, remove harmful pollutants and play an important role in water
drainage and soil erosion. Unfortunately, many urban areas are losing trees to neglect,
damage or disease and are unable to replace them at the same rate.

Preservation of green, open space is important to quality of life and ecological

sustainability. The New York State Open Space Conservation Plan should be amended
to provide for open space preservation in cities, through the support and creation of

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parks, community gardens and privately owned open areas. Special efforts need to be
made in New York City, which has the lowest open space standards of any metropolitan
area in the country, only 2.5 acres per 1,000 residents. Green, open space within the
city, should not merely be preserved. It should be increased, with measures like
encouraging the construction of roof patios on new buildings. For the public to fully
enjoy these open spaces, billboards should be banned, and an adequate number of free
public bathrooms should be constructed.

PROTECTION OF ANIMALS AND WILDLIFE

All policies concerning human settlement, food, energy, natural resources, water (fresh
and saline), coastal development and industrialization should be formulated to prevent
further disruption of the ability of the ecosystems involved to maintain themselves.

The Green Party advocates that we:

• Protect native animals and plants in their natural habitat;

• Eliminate predator control on public lands and reintroduce native predators where they would
contribute to a viable ecosystem;

• Stop any further drainage of wetlands and any further development of shore areas;

• Strengthen the Endangered Species Act;

• Ban programs to kill birds at airports;

• Ban programs that stock non-native fish and hatchery raised fish into lakes, rivers and streams.

Parks And Wilderness

Greens advocate:

• Expanding existing forest preserves through purchases of conservation easements and

acquisition of land in order to preserve ecologically sensitive areas;

• The establishment of at least 300-foot setbacks from shorelines for all future construction in the
Adirondack and other wilderness areas;

• State leadership in developing environmentally sound jobs for local Adirondack residents;

• The creation of the Working Farm and Forest fund to provide property tax abatements to
landowners who pledge not to develop their property;

• Making and keeping all publicly held parks and gardens free to all;

• Developing coast lines for common recreational use;

• Expanding wildlife refuges within cities and strengthening protection for endangered species.

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Wetlands
Wetlands are an especially sensitive and productive ecosystem, and it is imperative that
they be protected. State law should be changed to protect all wetlands, not just those
that are 11 acres or more.

Elect DEC Commissioner

The Greens support the direct election of the Commissioner of the state Department of
Environmental Conservation. DEC is presently doing an inadequate job of protecting the
New York state’s environment.

THE INDUSTRIAL HEMP ACT

This act would allow farmers to grow industrial hemp, thus joining 14 other states that
have already passed legislation permitting the cultivation of industrial hemp.
Industrial hemp can be a new cash crop for small farmers, can bring new industries at
the regional level, can preserve our forests, can keep our rivers clean, would encourage
local and small businesses, and preserve topsoil. The use of industrial hemp could
precipitate an economic revolution: plastics made from hemp instead of fossil fuels;
paper production that doesn’t pollute rivers; food products that are high in protein; hemp
oil that contains both omega-3 and omega-6; safe bodycare products; textiles that have
extended wear; building materials such as fiberboard, light-weight cement and plaster.

REDUCTION OF TOXINS
The Greens support a ban on the dumping of cancer-causing chemicals such as
fluoride into our drinking water, as required in the state Safe Drinking Water Act. We
support a comprehensive Toxic Use Reduction program for all New York waste
generators, along with strict timetables for testing and permanent cleanups of
hazardous, radioactive, and industrial waste dumps.

There should be a ban on all use (and manufacture) of CCA (contains arsenic) or
“Wolmanized” treated lumber products, with an immediate ban on coastal uses such as
bulkheads and docks, and a 5-year phase-out for other areas.

MAKE KODAK CLEAN UP

Kodak is one the largest polluters in the New York State and the 20th largest in the U.S.;
it is the number one source of air pollution in the Great Lakes. Kodak needs to
immediately install state of the art pollution controls at its hazardous waste incinerator,
and change its waste disposal practices to stop the emission of methylene chloride, a
known carcinogen.

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ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM
Greens recognize that people who bear the brunt of environmental injustices and racism
are disproportionately people of color and people of low income. To rectify this long-
standing US tradition, Greens support increasing at all levels the open participation of
residents, communities and agencies, including the government and businesses, in
decisions regarding siting and building facilities or projects, or otherwise altering the
ecological quality of life of a particular area. We support Public Hearings that hold
agencies accountable and address complaints made by residents and/or communities.

Greens support strengthening environmental protection agencies including but also

distinct from the current DEC and EPA to support and provide legal information/aid to
affected residents and communities. We recognize that governmental agencies/officials
claiming to be environmental and civil rights advocates oftentimes act by supporting and
upholding their own agencies rather than the affected residents and communities, to the
detriment of both parties.

Therefore, Greens support new environmental injustice/racism “watchdog”

organizations that are distinctly separate from the NYSDEC or EPA; including but not
limited to funding environmental “Crime Units” for District Attorneys in counties
particularly troubled with alleged environmental injustices, civil rights complaints, and
pollution. Funding must be flexible with the understanding that unforeseen future
incidents might require additional, unpredictable funding.

Greens especially advocate these principles of Environmental Justice:

• The fundamental right to political, economic, cultural and environmental self-determination of all
peoples;

• The right to participate as equal partners at every level of decision making, including needs
assessment, planning, implementation, enforcement and evaluation.

LEAD POISONING
Lead poisoning in children can cause short-term memory loss, central nervous system
damage, impaired kidney function and in extreme cases can result in brain damage,
seizures, coma and even death, yet lead poisoning is a preventable environmental
threat. Since 1993, New York State has required that all young children be screened by
their pediatricians for possible lead exposure. Tens of thousands of children under the
age of six, who were tested, registered intolerable lead levels. Lead exposures must be
reduced. The Worker Certification and Training Bill is the logical next step, requiring that
workers involved in lead removal know how to take the precautions necessary to protect
children. This bill will create jobs in New York State while taking advantage of federal
funds for lead abatement projects in low and moderate-income housing.

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The Greens support:

• Increased efforts to protect children, residents and workers from lead poisoning;

• Removing or permanently covering lead painted walls;

• Legislation that would put an excise tax on newly produced lead used in products like car
batteries to raise $1 billion a year for lead-paint abatement;

• Testing to determine locations where lead piping and soldered joints have leached into tap water.
A random Health Department sampling of first draw water in New York City revealed that 12 to
13% of tap water tested had lead at levels that exceed the existing federal limit.

• The banning of lead smelting in cities. The Non-Ferrous Processing Corporation, a lead-smelting
plant in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn, had long been the most troubling single source of
industrial lead pollution in New York City. In 1980, its facility was emitting more than 40 tons of
lead per year. Under a consent agreement with the EPA, Non-Ferrous agreed to install pollution
controls to cut back these discharges;

• Installing pollution controls on hospital incinerators to keep them from blowing lead into city air.

HOME RULE ON GRAVEL MINING

The Greens support repealing legislation that gave the state rather than local
communities the right to regulate and control gravel mining. DEC should be prohibited
from issuing a state mining permit until the local government has issued a permit. Too
often the state grants a permit even when the operation would be in violation of local
zoning.

Human Rights And Social Justice

CRIMINAL JUSTICE
The Greens recognize that law breaking by corporations and other white-collar criminals
is as much a threat to the public well being as the more commonly feared street crime.
The Greens support restructuring the criminal justice system so that corporate and
street crimes are prosecuted in proportion to the magnitude of the harm inflicted. OSHA
and other government studies show that more than 100,000 workers per year die from
occupationally related disease and preventable accidents in the workplace - far more
than the number of individuals who die annually from street crime. White-collar crimes
cost the public far more each year than street crime.

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We advocate the following measures be taken:

• Reject life without parole sentences: They fail to recognize the human capacity to change and
fully appreciate the value of each human life;

• Make white-collar crime the top priority of law enforcement. These crimes cause more harm to
society than so-called ‘street crime.’ White-collar crime includes embezzlement, bribery, political
corruption, price-fixing, misuse and theft of corporate property, corporate tax evasion, fraud,
money laundering, racketeering conspiracies, quasi-legal scams, the maintenance of dangerous
work conditions, and intentionally causing occupationally related diseases;

• Halt all new prison construction: This will create a saner public climate in which crime and
criminal justice issues can be discussed and policy formulated. We must rethink our current
response to crime so we can develop a system that is empowering, restorative, community-
specific, fair and just;

• Consider the natural and human impact of new prisons: The New York Environmental Quality
Review Act (SEQRA) should be changed to require that the impact on the natural environment
and the human impact on prison staff, prisoners, their families and communities be adequately
considered before a prison can be constructed in NY State. The Act should also allow community
input from residents of communities from which the majority of prisoners will come and return;

• Address the economic development needs of communities now dependent upon a prison
industrial complex;

• End corporate ownership of prisons;

• Apply labor laws to prisoners;

• Eliminate the practice of double-celling: A recent study reports that, ‘Besides the obvious privacy
issues that arise from having to take care of even the most personal bodily functions in such
close proximity, there are inherent dangers of violence breaking out between two prisoners so
closely confined for long periods of time and of contagion from inmates who may have
communicable diseases.’ The newly constructed ‘high tech’ double cells used to eliminate all
human contact, confine two prisoners in a small space for 24 hours a day, year after year. This
isolation has been shown to do irreparable psychological harm and produce deep effect on the
soul of the prisoner that can prove quite disabling when they are released into free society;

• Define and approach the current disproportionate incarceration of African Americans and Latinos
as a civil rights issue: These ethnic groups make up more than 85% of the current NY State
prison population that has been found to result in part from racial discrimination in the
administration of justice;

• Develop and provide a full range of alternative incarceration sentences: Those alternatives
should be accessible and available to those convicted of crimes defined as violent and non-
violent;

• Repeal mandatory sentencing laws: They remove judicial discretion and deny justice, which
recognizes the uniqueness of each individual and the circumstances of each case;

• Redefine and use prison as an alternative to community-based sentencing and use prison only
under the most extreme circumstances: When used, prison must focus on individual needs,

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 accountability of the offender, and harm done to the community. Prisoners should have more
access to media and education;

• Restore the vote to prisoners and felons in the US: Members of African American and Latino
communities are more likely to be discriminated against and given prison sentences that
disenfranchise prisoners and dilutes the voting strength of their communities. There is no
compelling reason to deny prisoners the right to vote;

• Develop a comprehensive public legal services system for the poor that adequately addresses
their civil and legal services needs;

• Separate the development of criminal justice policy from the Executive Budget process: Criminal
justice policy should be developed in an open forum that will allow public scrutiny and input.

Death Penalty
The Green Party of NYS supports abolishing the death penalty. It is ineffective and
costly, it is a form of violence, and it is racist and immoral.

END THE DRUG WAR IN NEW YORK

We must focus on the causes of drug abuse and make a commitment to eliminate those
factors. Drug use must be approached as a health issue rather than a criminal justice
issue. Laws regarding drug possession must then be reformed in order to accurately
consider this new approach.

The Green Party therefore advocates:

• Repealing the Rockefeller Drug Laws and the “war on drugs”: Drug prohibition increases crime by
creating a violent underground drug economy. Legalize, regulate and tax drugs. Legalize the use
and regulate the sale of Marijuana as is currently done with liquor;

• Retroactively pardon those convicted of nonviolent, victimless drug crimes;

• Increased funding for research into addiction and treatment: Redirect the funds presently spent
on the drug war to education, prevention and treatment;

• Ban alcohol and tobacco advertising;

• The United States shall withdraw from or amend any and all international treaties or agreements
limiting the ability to alter domestic drug policy;

• The burden of proof and corroboration in all proceedings shall lie with the government: No secret
witness nor paid testimony shall be permitted in court, including that of any government agent
who stands to materially gain through the disposition of a drug case or forfeited property;

• Issues of entrapment and official misconduct shall be heard by the jury in any drug case, civil or
criminal: Government agents who violate the law are fully accountable and shall be prosecuted
accordingly;

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 • No civil asset forfeiture shall be levied against a family home or legitimate means of commercial
livelihood;

• Repeal laws and policies, such as profiling and civil asset forfeiture, that reduce the standard of
proof historically required of government in arrests and prosecutions.

COMMUNITY CONTROL OF THE POLICE

The police are public servants employed to serve the community and must be
responsive and accountable to community needs.

To this end, the Green Party supports:

• Decentralized urban police forces: place them under the direct control of elected boards at the
neighborhood level;

• Expanded Community Policing with officers patrolling neighborhoods on foot;

• Implementation of on-going training to build skills in conflict resolution and multicultural

awareness for all police personnel;

• Immediate and thorough investigation of any allegation of abuse of authority;

• Establishing a residency requirement for all newly hired police;

• Increasing the authority of the Civilian Complaint Review Board: We call on the NYC Council and
Mayor to allow the Civilian Complaint Review Board to issue subpoenas and independently
impose administrative penalties against police officers for abuse of authority;

• Establishment of citizen police review boards wherever supported by the community;

• Civilian police review boards should have a direct role in the development of policy, as well as
reviewing complaints about police conduct. While we encourage internal review of police
misconduct, the Greens believe that external reviews of police misconduct by agencies such as
citizen review boards must also be conducted and must supercede internal investigations when
there are discrepancies between the two.

The citizen police review boards should:

• Be elected;

• Have subpoena powers;

• Have career-track professional investigators with no ties to the police department;

• Provide protection of both civilians and officers due-process rights;

• Have authority to impose sanctions on police officers who violate citizens’ rights.

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CIVIL LIBERTIES
New York should adopt a state law directing the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Office of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, the New York State Police, and any other Federal,
State and local law enforcement officers in the state to report publicly each month to the
Attorney General the extent and manner in which they have acted under the USA
PATRIOT Act and new Executive Orders, including but not limited to disclosing: the
names of any detainees held in the state and the circumstances that led to the
detention; the charges, if any, lodged against each detainee; the name of Counsel, if
any, representing each detainee; the number of search warrants that have been
executed in the state without notice to the subject of the warrant pursuant to 213 of the
USA PATRIOT Act; the extent of electronic surveillance carried out in the state under
powers granted in the USA PATRIOT Act; the extent to which federal authorities are
monitoring political meetings, religious gatherings, or other such activities within the
state; the number of times education records have been obtained from public schools
and institutions of higher learning in the state under 507 of the USA PATRIOT Act; the
number of times library records have been obtained from libraries in the state under 215
of the USA PATRIOT Act; the number of times that records of the books purchased by
store patrons have been obtained from bookstores in the state under 215 of the USA
PATRIOT Act; and subpoenas issued to New York state citizens through the United
States Attorney’s Office without a court’s approval or knowledge.

PROTECTION OF CHILDREN
It is the role of parents, communities, and voluntary institutions to guide the
development of children, to transmit cultural values. This role is undermined by the
power of corporations to channel that development process for profit-maximizing ends.

The Green Party has a program to reverse that trend:

• The Child Privacy Act, to restore to parents control over any commercial use of personal
information concerning their children;

• The Commercial-Free Schools Act, to prohibit corporations from using schools to pitch products
to impressionable school children;

• The Leave Children Alone Act, to ban television advertising aimed at children under 12 years of
age;

• The Maternity/Paternity Leave Act, to guarantee job security for up to 6 months leave for both
parents;

• The Children’s Food Labeling Act, to require fast food restaurant chains to provide basic
nutritional information labels for their products.

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INDIGENOUS NATIONS
We believe all State and local governments have an obligation of trust to New York’s
Native people. Native nations are just that – nations – and should be treated in like
fashion, with the special circumstances they are located within New York’s borders. The
Greens support New York’s recognition of Native American nations’ right to self-
determination and self-government. Treaties with sovereign nations should be
respected and honored in fact and appearance. The Greens recognize the sovereignty
of New York’s native nations.

The Greens advocate:

• Negotiated solutions with New York’s indigenous nations as preferable to court-imposed

solutions;

• Stopping New York State’s imposition of sales taxes on sovereign Nation land;

• The right of indigenous people to participate in and celebrate their own culture.

ENDING SEXISM
The Greens want to create an open, non-sexist, non-racist society in which all people
will be free to develop to their full potential. Historically, women’s contributions have
been fundamental to the development of our society and yet continue to be
undervalued. Our history has been marred with oppression of and brutality to women.
The Green Party deplores this system of male domination, known as patriarchy, in all its
forms, both subtle and overt—from oppression, inequality, and discrimination to
domestic violence, rape, trafficking and forced slavery. Democracy cannot work without
equality for women that provides equal participation and representation. We are
committed to increasing participation of women in politics, government and leadership
so they can change laws, make decisions, and create policy solutions that affect and
will improve women’s lives, and we are building our party so that Greens can be elected
to office to do this.

We must enshrine in law the basic principle that women have the same rights as men,
and promote gender equality and fairness in the work force to ensure that women
receive equal pay for jobs of equal worth.

In a society where leadership is almost exclusively male, we support:

• Active efforts, including numerical goals, to create opportunities for full participation by women:
we support strong, effective affirmative action programs, including programs within unions, to
bring about full representation of women;

• Enactment and enforcement of legislation to prohibit sexual harassment;

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 • Elimination of job discrimination against women with children: Implement programs such as
flexible work hours, work place childcare, and part-time employment at all job levels;

• End violence against women: Women’s liberty is severely restricted by the ever-present threat of
violence. We reject the acceptance of violence as normal in male-female relationships. At least
one out of four women is physically beaten by a male partner. We must provide help for battered
families, including legal resources, psychological counseling and accessible centers and
programs which aid women in achieving freedom from economic dependence on men.

Rape is an act of violence. We support:

• Active reform of existing rape laws (including enlargement beyond traditional legal concepts the
circumstances under which the crime is considered to have occurred);

• Legal and medical support for rape victims;

• School and community programs, which train women to defend themselves from rape.

ENDING RACISM
The development of the United States has been marked by conflict over questions of
race. Our nation was formed only after Native Americans were displaced. The institution
of slavery had as its underpinnings the belief in white supremacy, which we as Greens
condemn. In slavery’s aftermath, people of color have borne the brunt of violence and
discrimination. The Green Party unequivocally condemns these evils that continue to be
a social problem of paramount significance.

The Greens support:

• Full implementation of affirmative action programs in both public and private sectors of the
economy.

• Strong enforcement of Civil Right Laws.

• Equality of opportunity for all members of our society, regardless of their religion, gender, sexual
preference, race, age or ethnic origin.

• Aggressive prosecution of hate crimes committed against people of color, religious minorities,
women, gay/lesbian/bi-sexual/queer/transgender, or disabled people because of their
race/religion/gender/sexuality/differently-abled status.

• Strong measures to combat official racism in the forms of police brutality directed against people
of color: We condemn the practice of racial profiling by law enforcement agencies to stop
motorists, harass individuals, or use unwarranted violence against suspects with no other
justification than race or ethnic background.

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ENDING HETEROSEXISM
The Green Party supports the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer, and transgender
people in housing, jobs, benefits, child custody, civil marriage, medical benefits and all
areas of life provided to other citizens.
To this end we advocate:

• Legislation to provide penalties for acts of violence and intimidation motivated by bias based on
race, creed, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, or sexual orientation;

• Including gender identity as a protected class under the NYS Human Rights law;

• The right of all persons to self-determination with regard to gender identity and sex;

• The right of same-sex people to enter into Civil Marriage through federal and state legislation to
end the discrimination against couples who cannot be legally married, in the traditional manner.

NYS HUMAN RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT

The Green Party of New York State supports a fully funded Commission on Human
Rights with the jurisdiction and authority to carry out its mission.

DISABILITY RIGHTS
The Green Party urges the government to:

• Increase rehabilitation funding so that persons with disabilities can pursue education and training
to reach their highest potential: The differently-abled should participate fully in the allocation
decisions of state rehabilitation departments’ funds;

• Allocate adequate funding to support community-based programs that provide outpatient medical
services, case management services and counseling programs: We should provide a residential
setting within the community for those who do not need institutional care but who are unable to
live independently.

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 Grassroots Democracy

PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY
All citizens should have the right, and opportunity to participate in the political and
economic decisions that affect their lives. Political power should be transferred from
elected elites and bureaucracies to the people at the grassroots. The Greens seek to
replace the vertical hierarchy of the centralized state, with a horizontal confederation of
citizen assemblies. We call for city and county charter changes, and state constitutional
changes, to institutionalize a grassroots democracy in New York State.

Specifically, the Greens call for:

Adopting Home Rule for New York Local Governments

The New York State Constitution should be amended to provide a new local
government provision guaranteeing the right of all New York counties and municipalities
to adopt home rule charters, and exercise home rule powers, similar to what
Pennsylvania did in 1968. This would transfer the basic authority to act in government
from state law to a local charter, adopted and amended by the voters. This allows a
local government choosing home rule to tailor its governmental organization and powers
to suit its special needs. A home rule charter can be likened to a local constitution for
the governmental entity. It is a framework within which the local government can adopt,
adapt and administer legislation and regulations.

A Grassroots-Democratic Initiative and Referendum Process

An initiative and referendum process in New York State, and its political subdivisions, in
which citizens initiate and vote on proposals through citizen assemblies. Rooting
initiatives and referenda in citizen assemblies ensures that the people have an
opportunity to discuss ballot measures and serves to prevent well-financed special
interests from pushing measures through, with the use of massive advertising
campaigns, before citizens have considered all sides of a question.

Civil Rights and Liberties

Legislation as required, and its enforcement, to guarantee the civil rights and liberties of
all people, regardless of their race, color, creed, nationality, gender, sexual orientation,
or political viewpoint.

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Social and Economic Rights
Legislation to guarantee that every person has full access to the means to life, including
a minimum income above poverty, a job at a living wage for all who are willing and able
to work, public education through graduate school, comprehensive health care,
affordable housing, affordable heat and electricity, and a non-toxic, healthy, and
sustainable environment.

Average Worker’s Pay for Public Officials

State legislative and executive salaries should be set at the median salary for New York
State residents (based on full-time, year-round work). The practice of providing lulus to
state legislators should be ended. No increase in salaries for elected officials should
take effect before the next general election, or one full year, whichever is longer.

State Legislative Transparency

The Freedom of Information Law and the Open Meetings Law should be extended to
include the State Legislature.

Expanded Public Space

An amendment of the New York law to permit the exercise of free speech in — and the
right to petition within — the common areas of shopping malls.

Local Government in New York City

• Community boards should be elected in New York City;

• The City Council should have consent rights to confirm or deny mayoral appointments;

• Salaries for elected city officials should be lowered to reflect a fair relation to other municipal
employees;

• The attendance or absence of City Council members, and their voting records at all meetings
should be made easily accessible to the public.

COOPERATIVE BUSINESSES
Open, Voluntary Membership
Membership in a cooperative business should be voluntary and available without
artificial restriction or social, political, racial, or religious discrimination to all persons
who can make use of its services and are willing to accept the responsibilities of
membership.

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Democratic Control
Cooperative businesses are intended to be democratic organizations. As such, their
affairs should only be administered by those who are either elected or appointed, in a
manner agreed upon by the cooperative’s members. Those administrators must be
accountable to the members. All members should enjoy equal rights of voting and
participation in decisions affecting the cooperative.

Bank Reform
Provisions should be made to permit state chartered cooperative banks that could offer
no-interest loans to members.

ECONOMIC DEMOCRACY
Regulation of the economy should be transitioned from the profit motives of a wealthy
few, to the democratically chosen priorities of the majority.

• Existing public corporations such as the New York Power Authority and the Empire State
Development Corporation should be democratized, through such measures as the public election
of regional and statewide boards to govern these entities;

• Communities and workers should have the right to elect persons to represent their interests, on
the boards of medium or larger businesses operating in New York State, so they can monitor and
influence the policies of those businesses, and prepare for full worker and/or community
ownership if private owners want to close business operations;

• Public financial and technical assistance should be provided by the state, to develop worker and
community cooperatives, to better enable worker or community takeovers of private corporations
that are either shutting down or violating the public interest;

• State law should provide low interest loans and tax rebates to local communities, cooperatives, or
worker organizations, which choose to take over businesses that private owners either wish to, or
are forced to abandon; with provision for local governments to guarantee the loans;

• There should be increased democratic social ownership and control of the natural and social
commons, including natural resources, energy, transportation, health care, education, banking,
and insurance;

• Economic planning should be adopted, from the grassroots up, through decentralized and
democratic structures that ensure community control of local development, and grassroots-
democratic control of regional and statewide development;

• The public — not private interests — should control how public property is managed;

• The charters or licenses of corporations, operating within New York State, should be revoked
when they fail to responsibly serve, or disregard the public’s interests.

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IRV and PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION
The Green Party calls upon New York State to lead the U.S. in replacing the
undemocratic winner-take-all electoral system in New York with a proportional
representation, to include the following:

• Instant Run-off Voting for the Election of Single-Member Offices (Governor, Lieutenant-Governor,
Attorney General, Comptroller, U.S. Senators, District State Legislative Representatives). With
instant runoff voting (IRV), also called preference voting, the voters rank candidates in order of
preference. If a candidate receives over 50% on the first ballot, s/he wins. If not, the last place
candidate is eliminated and ballots for that candidate are distributed to the designated second
preference. This process continues until a candidate receives over 50%. IRV addresses the
problem of voters who feel compelled to reluctantly choose a perceived lesser evil, by giving
those voters the opportunity to vote for their first choice, without helping the candidate they fear
most, and thereby giving all parties and candidates a truer measure of their support, in the first
round of counting. IRV can also reduce election costs, by eliminating any need for special run-off
elections on another date;

• Mixed Member Proportional Representation in a Unicameral State Legislature: Voters will vote
once (by preferential ballot) for their district State Legislative Representative, and then again for
the party of their choice. Half the seats will be elected from single-member districts, and half from
the party vote. Seats are awarded in proportion to the party vote, with district seats elected
counting toward the party’s total. This mixed member proportional system (used in Germany and
New Zealand) combines the advantages of proportional representation — a fair share of
representation to all groups — with the advantages of single-member district representatives,
providing representation of and service to the districts’ constituents. The unicameral legislature
better represents the democratic will of the people. Our current bicameral legislature often results
in the thwarting of the democratic will by institutional gridlock;

• Assigned seats on city councils according to a formula of proportional representation.

PUBLIC CAMPAIGN FINANCING

Our democracy is in crisis. At the heart of this crisis is a campaign finance system that
legalizes bribery. In this increasingly unfair and unworkable system, private interests
finance the election campaigns of public officials. State legislators and the Governor
spend the legislative session soliciting campaign contributions from the special interests
that lobby them for political favors. This system of privately financed election campaigns
disenfranchises ordinary citizens who cannot afford to make large campaign
contributions, and encourages our elected representatives to put the private interests of
their campaign contributors ahead of the needs and concerns of their constituents —
and of our state as a whole. Many good candidates never run for office due to the huge
sums of money needed to mount an effective challenge.

Piecemeal reforms will not resolve this crisis — nor unfortunately, will our existing state
legislators who benefit from the present system. We need an entirely new system of
democratically financed election campaigns. Under such a system, qualified candidates
for public office who pledge not to accept or spend private money, during the primary
and general election, would be eligible to receive public financing and other public

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resources, with which to conduct their campaigns. The Greens call for a voluntary
system of public campaign financing with the following features:

• Publicly financed candidates should receive sufficient funds to reach all the voters of their district
with their message;

• Candidates should accept spending limits and give up private contributions once they have
qualified for public funding;

• To qualify for public campaign financing, candidates should demonstrate a threshold level of
public support, by collecting a reasonable number of $5 contributions during a pre-qualifying
period, like January through April for a statewide campaign (e.g., 4000 contributions, for a total of
$20,000 for a candidate for Governor), with correspondingly lesser amounts for lower offices
(e.g., 250 contributions, for a total of $1,250 for State Assembly);

• During the pre-primary period, candidates could raise contributions of not greater than $100 per
contributor, for seed money to start their campaigns. Any amounts so raised would be deducted
from their subsequent public financing;

• Candidates who qualify in the same race receive equal funding and therefore run on a level
playing field, with regards to campaign financing.

Voluntary Participation
The U.S. Supreme Court has protected private campaign contributions as a form of first
amendment speech. However, this voluntary public campaign financing plan is
constitutional precisely because it is voluntary.

Overspending By Opponent
If a candidate’s opponent decides not to use private campaign financing, the publicly
financed candidate receives increases in public funds to match the privately financed
candidate up to double the normal public financing level. Similarly, if independent
expenditures are made on behalf of a candidate, the publicly financed candidate would
receive additional funding up to double the normal public financing level.

Economy of Public Financing

Public campaign financing would save tax dollars, because the cost that taxpayers now
endure, due to special political favors, sweetheart contracts, and special-interest tax
loopholes delivered in return for campaign cash — under the current system — is far
greater, than it would be in a public funded campaign finance system, which could cost
no more than $10 per election per voter.

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VOTING RIGHTS AND ELECTION LAW REFORM

Access to Voters
All candidates should be provided with equal access to communications media. Paid
ads should be banned.

Fair Ballot Access

The Election Law should be reformed to ensure that all serious candidates are on the
ballot. The existing laws enable the major parties to keep new and independent
candidates off the ballot. The voters — not election bureaucrats and lawyers — should
choose who they wish to represent them in government. A political party’s adequate
demonstration of voter support, for any one candidate, in any statewide or federal
election campaign — not exclusively its candidate for Governor — should be a sufficient
determinant of that party’s eligibility for automatic ballot status.

Board of Election Participation

All political parties meeting a reasonable minimum threshold of support should have a
commissioner on the boards of elections of the state and the counties. Boards of
elections should not be under the exclusive control of the two major parties.

Independent Nominating Petition Signatures

The signature requirements applicable to candidates filing independent nominating
petitions, should be reduced to make them equal to the number of signatures required
of party candidates.

Witness Residency
The residency requirements applicable to witnesses on designating petitions and
independent nominating petitions should be eliminated.

Felony Disenfranchisement
Those convicted of a felony, should still have a right to vote, while serving time in
prison, or on parole. Staff in all New York State agencies, which work with felons,
should be trained to provide education and information on voting rights to ensure that all
eligible voters are notified of their status.

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Immigrant Voting Rights
Documented immigrants should have the right to vote in local and state elections.

Verifiable Voting through Paper Ballots

The Greens support the use of paper ballots, with all votes counted openly and
accurately, by hand — in the presence of all interested parties — in a voting process
similar to that used in Canada and many other countries. It is the most transparent and
verifiable method of voting and the least expensive. Canada holds its national election
with hand counted paper ballots, and they report the results faster and more reliably
than American elections do with their variety of machines. New York’s mechanical
voting machines should be replaced because they cannot handle proportional elections.
If electronic voting machines will be used, the only acceptable electronic option would
be one which reads paper ballots marked by the voter, with those paper ballots being
retained for audits to verify the electronic counts, and for use in hand recounts of
contested elections.

Vote by Mail
All elections in New York State should be conducted by mail, as has been done in the
state of Oregon. Voting by mail, using paper ballots, would significantly increase voter
participation in this state.

Greens also advocate the following:

• Standardized voting procedures at all polling places.

• An expanded voter guide, with the smallest party featured first.

• A federal right to vote, state right to vote, guarantee.

• A private right of action for citizens to enforce voting rights.

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 Economic Justice

The Greens call for building a new economy, one in which workers and consumers
exercise democratic control (and ownership) over economic decisions. The Greens
realize that strong environmental protection is key to the development of a sustainable
economy that can provide a decent standard of living for all its citizens.

New York State should provide leadership in developing blueprints for economic
development at the local, regional and state levels. A democratic economic plan should
begin with a democratic method of defining realistic goals for the economy, and defining
priorities. Priorities for local community investment must be developed. Indirect costs of
projects need to be clearly identified, such as the impact on unemployment, pollution,
and taxes.

There are a number of goals a democratic economy must accomplish to provide

economic justice and meet the social needs of our communities, especially in the critical
areas of housing, food, energy, health care, and a clean environment.

FULL EMPLOYMENT: JOBS FOR ALL AT LIVING WAGES

Everyone who wants to work must be entitled to a job at a decent wage. Public job
banks should be established so that people who cannot find decent work in the private
sector can take a quality publicly funded job. These public jobs would be the core of a
democratically organized system of unalienating and ecological work that fulfills
community-defined needs and promotes ecologically sound development. To achieve
full employment, the Greens support such measures as a shortened workweek,
lengthened vacations, limitations on forced overtime, and socially useful public works to
create jobs.

Prevent Plant Closings

The Greens favor elected worker and community representatives on the boards of
medium to large businesses operating in NYS so communities can monitor and
influence business policies and prepare for full worker-community ownership when
owners want to close operations. Greens want to prevent plant closings that threaten
the viability of communities. We support programs that enable communities to propose
alternatives to closings, such as government guaranteed loans to enable workers to
purchase plants and modernize them, and company or government guarantees of
income and benefits until workers affected by plant closings can find suitable
employment.

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Economic Conversion
New York State Should Establish a State Program to Support community-based
programs for developing alternative uses for military and defense industry facilities and
to assist demobilized soldiers and defense industry workers with income, education,
and retraining grants.

WORKERS RIGHTS
The Greens support:

• The organization of democratic labor unions in all workplaces;

• Rank-and-file movements for democracy in existing labor unions;

• International labor networks to coordinate struggles against the international power of capital;

• The outlawing of permanent employment of replacements for striking workers;

• The right of workers and their communities to seize the assets of runaway corporations through
eminent domain or direct action;

• The right to bargain collectively for all workers;

• Good faith bargaining with unions representing municipal workers;

• The payment of prevailing or union wage to workers on all projects under contract with the state
and cities;

• The hiring of inspectors to enforce health and safety regulations and to wipe out local
sweatshops;

• Extending and enforcing full protection of labor laws and regulations to immigrant workers;

• Abolishing the Taylor Law.

Workers Compensation And Other Employment Benefits

The Green Party of New York supports the following proposals:

• Requiring employers to give truthful and timely information to their employees about workers
compensation benefits, disability benefits, unemployment benefits, and family medical leave.

• Making the Workers Compensation Fraud Unit investigate employer fraud, medical provider fraud
and insurance company fraud in proportion to their share of total workers compensation fraud.

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 • Creating a fund to pay for the injured worker’s medical treatment that has been awarded at the
hearing level, but not provided, when an insurance company appeals. This fund is to be
maintained by assessments against insurance companies in proportion to the times they lose
their appeals.

• Assessing large employers, who do not provide medical insurance to their employees, for the
cost of Medicaid and other public health benefits which their employees receive.

• Changing the maximum weekly benefit in workers compensation from the present $400 to $650
(2/3rds of the Gross Wage) as recommended by the State AFL-CIO.

Pension Funds
The largest owners of corporations in the U.S. are workers through their pension funds
investments. The Greens advocate taking away the control on these pension funds from
banks and other financial managers and restoring control to their true owners by
creating democratic worker control over their pension funds.

Fair Minimum Wage

The Greens support a state (and federal) constitutional guarantee of a job at a living
wage for all those who wish to work, restoring the minimum wage to its historical level of
50% of the average, non-supervisory agriculture wage, and indexing it to inflation. The
minimum wage should be transformed into a Living Wage, starting at a least $10 an
hour. The Greens support establishing of a maximum wage at a level no higher than 10
times the minimum wage.

Guaranteed Minimum Income

All New Yorkers, including welfare participants, should have the right to a guaranteed
minimum income to ensure them a decent standard of living, including the ability to
obtain such basic necessities as adequate housing, food, medical care, utilities, and
education. The Greens support ending poverty now by doubling public assistance
grants to 130% of the poverty line and, in the longer run, replace the welfare
bureaucracy with a Basic Income Grant (BIG) to every citizen automatically, to give low
income people a guaranteed minimum income above the poverty line. The BIG would
be a universal social security system that is taxable, with high-income people, who don’t
need it to survive, paying a portion back in income taxes.

A Raised Taxable Income Level

The minimum amount of income at which one must file a tax return should be raised to
ensure that subsistence income, or the amount one needs to merely survive, is not
taxed. In 2006, the minimum taxable income level, for a family with two parents and one
child, should be approximately $32,500 for New York City residents, and $27,000 for the

40
remainder of New York State. These amounts should be adjusted appropriately for
different filing statuses and number of dependents. Taxation should only begin on
income in excess of these subsistence levels, and increase progressively. If additional
taxes are needed, they should be raised by higher tax rates on income brackets above
the present maximum bracket level.

Dislocated Workers
Instead of paying to keep people on unemployment, we should be paying to give them
new skills to find jobs. We should provide more opportunities for people on
unemployment to enter education and job training programs and should explore
providing unemployment compensation grants for business start-up ventures.

SOCIAL SECURITY
• Social security tax over on income over 80,000 income;

• Social security tax on unearned income;

• Social security tax on gambling earnings;

• County rights to sue federal government for medicaid funds.

COMPARABLE WORTH
The Greens support an economic system that recognizes and rewards the value of work
traditionally done by women such as childcare, homemaking, and care of elderly or
disabled relatives. Women and men must receive equal pay for work of comparable
value.

UNIVERSAL, AFFORDABLE CHILD CARE

The Greens support:

• Increasing state funding of day care services to allow more people to go to work and to create
jobs in low-income communities;

• Encouraging companies to develop work site child care options;

• Creation of a quality, free public daycare system for infants and children;

• Increasing the salaries of all daycare staff.

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WELFARE REFORM
The Greens oppose efforts to effect changes in recipients’ behavior by reducing the
already immorally low level of benefits. The welfare system should help, not
economically punish participants for finding paid work.

The Green support establishing an adequate guaranteed minimum income for all New
Yorkers. As a short-term step, the Greens support raising public assistance benefits to
the mid-1970’s level of 130% of poverty (with food stamps included).

The Greens oppose the use of workfare as unpaid forced labor. Workfare participants
should have all the rights of other workers, including salary, fringe benefits and the right
to unionize. The Greens support replacing workfare with a job at a living wage for all
those able to work. Welfare reform should support individuals seeking job training and
college education. Transitional benefits such as child care and health care should be
extended to two years for welfare participants leaving for employment.

The Greens oppose the fingerprinting of welfare recipients and applicants.

The Greens support use of the ADA definition of disability in terming exemption from
work requirements under the existing state welfare law.

The Greens support a community services job program for welfare participants and
unemployed individuals. The program would provide individuals with a paycheck, real
job experience and job training while meeting unmet community needs.

The Greens support funding for transportation initiatives to help welfare participants
travel to jobs.

Children
The Greens support:

• The adoption of a children’s allowance program to ensure that every child has the income needed
to obtain basic necessities and to become a productive citizen;

• Recognizing the value of child rearing by financially supporting parents who need income
assistance to raise their children.

Training And Education Programs

These progarms are necessary for welfare participants, tailored to their individual
needs. The Greens recognize that such programs will fail unless there is a commitment
to create decent paying jobs. This training should be mandatory for all Department of

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Social Service workers. The Greens support the establishment of maximum caseload
sizes per worker.

NUTRITION
The Greens believe that all New Yorkers have the right to an adequate diet. To support
this right, the Greens support:

• Making the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program an entitlement program;

• Requiring that every school participate in the federal school breakfast and lunch programs, and
providing universal access to such programs;

• Providing full funding to the Meals on Wheels program for disabled, homebound senior citizens;

• Simplifying the application process for the food stamp program;

• Expanding the state food stamp program for immigrants to include adults;

• Doubling funding for the state’s Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program (HPNAP)
which provides funding to local food pantries and soup kitchens.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING
The Greens advocate:

• Housing as an unconditional human right;

• Constructing and maintaining sufficient public housing to ensure an end to homelessness;

• Public funding of housing to go only to non-profit builders;

• Public capital grants to replace debt financing to reduce public housing costs;

• An increase in public housing programs sufficient to meet unmet housing needs;

• Return of rent regulation from the State Legislature to the New York City Council;

• All new public city housing should be LEED Gold Standard or above;

• Expanding rent control and rent stabilization regulations to ensure full protection of tenants;

• Eliminating compulsory work service for residents of public housing;

• Assisting small landlords to upgrade their property with below market value loans and technical
assistance.

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Rent Control
Rent control ensures the access of tenants to affordable housing while providing
landlords a reasonable rate of return on their investment. The state’s rent control laws
should become permanent and extended to every municipality with less than a 5%
vacancy rate.

Rent Subsidy
The Greens support the establishment of a rent subsidy program to assist households
with income below 150% of poverty and which require rental subsidies in order to obtain
or maintain standards of health and safety. This will aid the nearly half of all low-income
renters in New York State who spend 2/3 or more of their income on housing.

Public investment in affordable housing should be increased, including the use of public
pension funds, in constructing affordable housing for low and moderate income New
Yorkers.

Rural Rental Assistance Program

State funding of at least $20 million a year should be given to the Rural Rental
Assistance Program (RAP) which provides direct rental subsidies to low-income elderly,
disabled and non-elderly large families residing in multi-family housing.

Mobile Home Cooperative Fund

A Mobile Home Cooperative Fund should be established to provide loans to support
cooperative ownership of mobile home parks.

Special Needs Housing Program

The Greens support providing at least $15 million in funding for the Special Needs
Housing Program to support the development of SRO (Single Room Occupancy) units.

Community Land Trusts

The Greens support the establishment of community land trusts to eliminate speculation
and profit-taking on the ownership of land.

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 Curbing Corporate Abuse

Greens advocate a democratically regulated mixed market economy which includes

small and medium sized businesses, consumer and producer cooperatives, non-profit
organizations, family farms, partnerships, government services and enterprises, worker
owned enterprises and regulated corporations.

CORPORATE WELFARE REFORM

It is outrageous that the Governor, State Legislature and local governments continue to
hand out billions in corporate welfare each year as vital services are cut and local
property and sales taxes continue to skyrocket. Corporate welfare also hurts the
competitiveness of small companies and other businesses that do not receive special
breaks. The Green Party of New York State supports the elimination of most if not all
forms of corporate welfare. It is time for Corporate Responsibility Act legislation that
includes following measures:

• A CORPORATE WELFARE/JOB CREATION ACT, requiring: public subsidies to be tied to job

creation goals, public hearings & monitoring, disclosure of subsidy arrangements/negotiation in
other locales, disclosure of corporate tax payments to other levels of government, clawback
provisions to recoup (with interest) subsidies that do not result in new jobs;

• A NO SUBSIDIES TO RETAIL BUSINESSES ACT;

• A FAIR SHARE ACT, requiring businesses to pay proportionally for burdens related to law
enforcement, fire protection, water & sewer, waste disposal, roads, and other public services;

• A SEVENTH GENERATION ACT, making corporations liable for long term damage to vital
natural resources: soil, water, air, and biological diversity;

• An I.D.A. DEMOCRACY ACT, establishing Industrial Development Agencies (one to a county) as

elected boards subject to veto by county or local governments;

• A WINING AND DINING ACT, absolutely repealing state income tax deductions for meals,
entertainment, club dues and lobbying expenses;

• THE CORPORATE TAX DISCLOSURE ACT, giving individual taxpayers the right to know
whether they are paying more in taxes than profitable corporations.

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HOLD CORPORATIONS ACCOUNTABLE
Businesses demand public accountability of government agencies and should have no
problem requiring the same of themselves. The Securities and Exchange Commission
at the federal level requires publicly traded corporations to disclose how much they pay
in federal taxes. This allows analysts to determine if profitable corporations are avoiding
taxation. We need a similar mechanism at the state level. This would also hold firms
accountable for the various tax returns they file in different states, to ensure that the
information contained in them is consistent.

The Green Party proposes:

• To prosecute corporate polluters;

• To preserve citizens rights to class action lawsuits, medical malpractice, and states rights to hear
class action lawsuits;

• THE CORPORATE THREE STRIKES AND YOU’RE OUT ACT, revoking the state incorporation
charter for corporations convicted of three crimes;

• THE BIOTECH LIABILITY ACT, to hold biotech corporations liable for unintended contamination
of conventional or organic crops by genetically engineered plant materials;

• THE CORPORATE CHARTER REVOCATION ACT, to provide for the immediate revocation of
the corporate charter of any corporation doing business in the state of New York if the corporation
or any officer or employee of the corporation is found to be guilty of homicide while acting in the
course of his employment.

RETURN THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO CONTROL CORPORATE

POWER
Corporations are chartered by states and, as such, are creatures of law. Through
questionable interpretations of law, Corporations have gained rights as “persons” that
were only meant for flesh and blood human beings.

In order to reassert the political right of people to control corporations, the Green Party
of New York would amend the Business Corporation Law as follows:

• No corporation shall be deemed a “person” or a “citizen” for purposes of either State or Federal
Constitutional Law and the legislature reserves its power to impose laws, restrictions, regulations,
responsibilities and limitations upon corporations that it could not impose upon flesh and blood
human beings;

• Each corporation chartered in New York or doing business in New York shall be prohibited from
engaging in political speech or lobbying activity of any kind; provided, however, that flesh and
blood human beings who either own or are employed by corporations may engage in any such
activity using their own assets and their own time;

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• No corporation doing business in New York can deny access to corporate property to any
governmental authority or agency involved in the enforcement of environmental, health, safety or
criminal laws at any time whether or not a flesh and blood human being could Constitutionally be
required to provide access under the circumstances then existing;

• If any corporation is unable to pay all of its lawful debts in full for any reason whatsoever then the
corporate principals, as defined below, shall be jointly and severally liable for any such lawful
debts of the corporation as a result of:

(1) Criminal or civil action brought against the corporation by any governmental entity,

(2) Any personal injury or workers’ compensation verdict or settlement,

(3) Any civil liability arising from violation of any environmental law or from any harm to the
environment caused by the corporation, and

(4) Any wage, benefit or pension claim.

Corporate principals are defined as:

(1) The ten largest shareholders,

(2) The ten most highly compensated employees of the corporation as long as they had
management responsibilities,

(3) The inside members of the corporation’s highest governing board and,

(4) Any employees or agents of the corporation whose negligent or wrongful acts proximately
caused the corporate liability in question.

• The corporate purpose must include restrictions that profit cannot be at the expense of the
environment, human rights, public safety, the communities in which the corporation operates or
the dignity of its employees.

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 Health
UNIVERSAL, SINGLE-PAYER HEALTH CARE
The Green Party of New York State recognizes that health care is a basic human right.
Although the ability to enact universal single payer health care on a state by state basis
is an extremely difficult task, we support statewide efforts that will bring New York closer
to covering all residents while access to quality comprehensive heath care.

The Green Party supports a universal, comprehensive, national single-payer health plan
that will provide the following with no increase in cost:

• A publicly funded health care insurance program, administered at the state and local levels;

• A publicly funded; publicly administered statewide single payer health insurance program that
covers all residents (including non-citizens);

• Fully funded public hospitals;

• Prompt payment of all debts that cities owe to hospitals and non-profits;

• Lifetime benefits for everyone regardless of employment status. No one will lose coverage for any
reason;

• Freedom to choose the type of health care provider, with a wide range of health care choices;

• Decision-making in the hands of health providers and their patients;

• Comprehensive benefits, as good or better than existing plans, including dental, vision, mental
health care, hospice, long-term care, substance abuse treatment and medication coverage;

• Long-term care, prescription drug, mental health and dental care services;

• The prescription of marijuana for medical purposes;

• Participation of all licensed and/or certified health providers, subject to standards of practice in
their field;

• Portable health plan benefits;

• Greatly reduced paperwork for both patients and providers;

• Preservation of all health care services currently available;

• Parity of coverage for all mental health services;

• Financing by the whole population based on the ability to pay;

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 • Avoidance of premiums for each worker that are regressive;

• Large businesses will not have the option to opt out of the health care system to obtain their own
health insurance;

• Expanding loan forgiveness for primary care providers who practice in medically underserved
areas.

PREVENTION
Our health care system should focus on keeping residents healthy, rather than on
curing people once they get sick. Primary and preventive care is a priority, including
wellness education about diet, nutrition and exercise.

The Green Party of New York State supports increased efforts to reduce exposure to
second-hand smoke by increasing taxes on tobacco products to help finance our health
care system.

REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
Our health care system must include full reproductive freedom for women. We oppose
proposals that seek to impose parental consent requirements for teenagers.

The Green Party of New York State advocates:

The right to free and complete birth control information and devices for all men and women and for all
adolescents with or without parental consent;

• Supporting and defending a woman’s right to have an abortion;

• The right to free counseling and support for pregnant women;

• The right to complete free maternity care;

• The right to post-partum leave for both parents;

• The right to be free from involuntary sterilization;

• Full funding for the Prenatal Care Assistance Program;

• Expansion of sex education programs in schools.

LONG-TERM CARE
Any national or state health care plan should include long-term care. The Green Party of
New York State supports the establishment of a single Point of Access to long-term
care to ensure that the needs of the patients and their families - not the health care

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providers - are met. Such an access system would ensure that all consumers receive
help in obtaining the most appropriate and cost-effective services, often non-medical
community based services, as they move through the long-term care system. Early
intervention can help the elderly and adults with disabilities maintain their independence
longer.

FAMILY MEDICAL LEAVE

The Green Party of New York State supports enactment of the state Family Medical
Leave Act, which would require employers to provide up to sixteen weeks of unpaid
medical leave during any 24 month period to care for a newborn or adopted child; to
provide care for a parent, household member or child; or to seek attention for a serious
health condition. The employer would be required to maintain health benefits for the
employee for the duration of the leave period.

AIDS / HIV
New York is still the epicenter of America’s AIDS/HIV epidemic, accounting for a quarter
of all the AIDS cases in the nation. AIDS and HIV infection in NY continues to expand,
particularly among women, African-Americans, Latinos, poor people and IV drug users.

The Green Party of New York State strongly advocates:

• Increased state and federal funding for programs to expand AIDS-centered research, education,
and care programs;

• Ensuring access to AIDS information, treatment and medications for all affected, with particular
attention to communities with disproportionately high rates of AIDS/HIV;

• Sex education should be expanded as a preventative measure. Accessibility of free male\female

safe sex protection, age appropriate comprehensive sex education and safety information like
pamphlets should be increased and included in school curriculum;

• Allowing all prisoners affected with AIDS/HIV to have the same access as free residents to
education, treatment and preventive measures (including condom use);

• Enacting single-payer health insurance that will cover treatment and medication for every person
with AIDS/HIV;

• Supporting voluntary, anonymous screening for HIV;

• Protecting the confidentiality of all people diagnosed with AIDS/HIV or tested for HIV;

• Preventing discrimination against people with AIDS/HIV;

• Increasing funding for housing for people with AIDS/HIV;

• Supporting needle exchanges and other harm reduction programs;

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 • New York should invest $3 million in specialized job training and welfare-to-work slots open to
beneficiaries living with AIDS and HIV;

• Requiring the sharing of information between researchers, funding agencies (including

corporations), and the public on AIDS/HIV.

MENTAL HEALTH
The Green Party of New York State advocates a holistic approach to mental health and
mental illness. The individual should be considered as a whole, rather than treating
mental illness as a symptom with which to match psychiatric drugs. Psychiatric drugs
should be used as a last resort, rather than a first resort. Alternative treatments and
methods, such as certain drugs, diet, looking at family behavior, school, personal
relationships etc, should be considered in diagnosing and treating mental health issues.
Many influential and mainstream doctors have used nutritional therapy for mental health
disorders (orthomolecular medicine) and found significant results that need continued
nutritional therapy to prolong effects. Patients must be able to include nutritional
medications into their insurance so that they can afford the ongoing treatments.

The Green Party of New York State advocates caution in prescribing psychiatric drugs
to treat minors 16 years of age and younger. Their brains are still developing and the
repercussions of mind-altering drugs on developing minds are still unknown.

State funding is needed for establishing an adequate amount of new community beds
for the mentally ill. We support funding a joint New York City-State venture to generate
10,000 new housing units for the homeless, mentally ill in NYC.

Standard healthcare coverage should include psychological therapy and alternative

therapies Insurance coverage for mental illnesses needs to receive equal coverage to
other physical illness and should be extended to cover alternative medicines and
treatments. New York needs to pass “parity” legislation that has more teeth than the
federal parity legislation. The federal legislation is limited to covering only employers
with more than 50 employees. It also allows employers to drop the coverage if an
increase of more than two percent occurs with premiums.

Regular, unannounced state check-ups of mental health providers and agencies should
be implemented to check on mental health institution safety measures and/or abuses.
Heightened sensitivity training for mental health providers and mental health program
workers should be required.

ETHICS
Doctors should be prohibited from referring their patients to laboratories, clinics and
other health care businesses in which the doctor has a financial investment.

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 Education

The Greens regard education as the basic requirement of a democracy based on an

informed, responsible and active citizenry. The quality of a child’s education should not
be dependent on the wealth of their parents or community.

The educational process should be restructured to emphasize critical thinking and lay
the basis for independent judgment, respect for others, and social consciousness. We
believe that the best educational climate is one that is flexible enough to adjust to
individual needs and that encourages individual self-development through the
recognition and promotion of individual strengths.

The Greens support:

FREE PUBLIC EDUCATION THROUGH UNIVERSITY LEVEL FOR ALL

We should have a comprehensive system of free, high quality public schools for all —
kindergarten through graduate school — with a guaranteed tuition-free placement in the
State University system for every graduate of a high school, who wants to attend; with
day care provided for the students, at any level, who are parents.

Funding
Schools should be funded by progressive broad-based taxes, not regressive property
taxes. The property tax is an unfair way to finance education. Instead of being a tax on
wealth, as initially envisioned when our country was founded more than two centuries
ago, the property tax has become primarily a tax on housing. It unduly burdens senior
citizens, and low to moderate-income households, since they pay a higher percentage
of their income for housing costs. The quality of a child’s education should not depend
upon the wealth of their local community. State income taxes, and federal funding
should be the primary means of financing for schools. The state should guarantee that
the schools in every community meet the minimum standards for education —
completely — without exception.

Community Control
Local communities should have greater control of their schools, while the state and
federal governments should have less. School voucher programs should be resisted,
and corporations should not be allowed to administer schools operated with public

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funding. There should be citizen oversight panels to audit district financial records and
recommend school system changes.

Community Involvement
Parental and community involvement in schools should be encouraged, with greater
communication. The utilization of community resources in children’s learning can
provide valuable teaching alternatives, and an economic expansion of learning space.
Schools should provide parents and any other interested members of the community
with education in the principles of child development and learning.

Safety
Environmental hazards present a greater risk for children than adults. Long-term
solutions to increase school safety should be implemented, to create environmentally
friendly schools. Protecting children only while they are in school is not sufficient.
Environmental education should be incorporated into elementary school curriculums, to
better inform both the students and their parents regarding environmental health issues,
like lead paint, radon, chemical solvents, industrial food, etc.

TEACHING METHODS
Whenever possible, students should be involved in the planning of their education.
Student participation in determining how their schools are run can result in better
schools, while providing the students with an experiential education in organizational
development.

While we recognize the need for testing to help measure a student’s educational
progress, we deplore that it frequently serves in subordinating individual needs to the
needs of a factional norm. We also recognize that testing often reflects the cultural
biases or limitations of those designing and administering tests. High stakes
standardized tests should not be used, since a variety of alternative forms of
assessment can better evaluate a student’s progress.

The curriculum of every school should provide multi-cultural exposure that teaches
respect for the beliefs and lifestyles of others.

Focus on Individual Needs

The Greens support a greater emphasis on individual instruction, with small class size,
and the development of teaching aids designed to identify individual problem areas,
evaluate individual progress, and tailor programs to satisfy individual needs.

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Cooperation, Not Competition
The Greens oppose the way our present educational system tends to encourage
competition between students. Education should develop cooperation among students
by employing methods like joint projects and student-to-student learning.

Public Awareness and Civic Knowledge

Teaching approaches should foster a love of knowledge and a willingness to engage in
public discourse. The need to cultivate young people to become public intellectuals is
paramount for a healthy public debate. Individuals must be open to knowledge, and able
to critique the status quo, in order to make society a better place for all people. Each
person should be educated to enable them to fully participate as good citizens, who
think for themselves.

Socialization
Extra-curricular, after-school activities including all manner of teams, publications and
clubs, enhance students’ social, mental and physical development. These programs
should be fully funded, so that student participation is not dependent upon parental
finances.

Other socialization measures should include:

• Increased non-disciplinary administrator contact with students.

• Implementation of mentoring programs for all students.

• Establishment of peer mediation programs at every school.

LITERACY AND ADULT EDUCATION

A greater investment should be made, in programs that increase literacy and computer
skills appropriate for the realities of the emerging workplace.

TECH-PREP CENTERS
To better prepare students interested in the numerous new technical careers, there
should be a greater availability of Tech-Prep centers, that combine the last two years of
high school with two years of technical college, and teach skills needed to work in
today’s high-tech fields.

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MAINSTREAMING
Those who are physically or mentally impaired should have access to mainstream
public education. There should be a revision of curriculum and teaching methods, to
foster a critical citizenry rather than a passive, depoliticized workforce for capital.

PEACE
School boards and their administrators should have the right to ban on campus military
recruitment.

PARTICIPATORY CULTURE & MEDIA

The Greens recognize that free and diverse artistic expressions are vital for challenging
people to rethink their assumptions and for educating people about past and present
issues and future visions. The Greens oppose censorship in the arts, and encourage
individual and social responsibility by artists.

We support:

• Public funding of artistic and cultural endeavors to benefit all and develop community, not elitist
cultural centers;

• Public funding of independent artists through peer-review panels, free from state censorship.

• More support for smaller arts organizations;

• Public funding for community media: TV, video, radio, alternative presses, and public bulletin
boards in order to expand and diversity the voices heard on social and political issues;

• Fighting corporate control of media. We advocate strengthening and expanding the section on
public funding, public regulation, decentralization and community control of media and public
airwaves;

• Legalizing micro-radio.

The Greens support the vitality of the public domain as the source for cultural and
material production that is open and shared by all citizens. Greens generally support
eliminating or reducing patent rights. The increase in copyright and proprietory rights is
a clear threat to the public domain and real innovation within an economy and culture.

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 Public Finance

PROGRESSIVE TAX SYSTEM

There should be a more progressive tax system that would require wealthy individuals
and large corporations to pay their fair share of the tax burden. In New York State, as a
person’s income increases, the percentage of their income that goes towards paying
total state and local taxes (income, sales, excise, and property taxes) decreases.

This is unfair and should be remedied by:

• Closing loopholes on the corporate franchise tax, making multi-state and multi-national
corporations pay their fair share of the corporate tax burden. Corporations should be required to
disclose how much tax they pay to other states and countries;

• Taxing condominium, coop and homeowners at the same rate;

• Eliminating tax abatements for luxury residential and commercial buildings and renegotiating
those that are outstanding;

• Taxing properties and income generating enterprises owned by elite non-profits such as
universities, religious institutions and foundations;

• Establishing progressive wealth and inheritance taxes;

• Increasing the state Earned Income Tax Credit to ensure that all working individuals have an
income above the federal poverty level;

• Increasing the property tax credit for low-income homeowners and renters in order to provide
property tax relief;

• Restructuring the tax system to favor environmentally friendly construction materials and
procedures;

• Reimposing the stock transfer tax;

• Prohibiting public monies from subsidizing stadiums constructed for privately owned teams.

Home Rule On Taxation

We would grant municipalities and counties home rule on taxation, so they can reduce
regressive sales and property taxes and generate more revenues from progressive
income taxes.

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Equal Revenue Sharing

A system of statewide revenue sharing should be established with a formula for

equalizing payments to ensure that citizen assemblies, municipalities, and counties
have sufficient revenues to provide a minimum floor of comparable public services at
comparable levels of local taxation. The minimum level of state revenues to be shared
with local governments should be 8%.

STATE BUDGET PROCESS REFORM

The state budget, used to determine how New York prioritizes spending is one of the
more important pieces of legislation enacted each year. In recent years, the Governor,
Assembly Speaker and Senate Majority Leader have increasingly decided the State
Budget behind closed doors, with little input and virtually no oversight from rank and file
legislators or the taxpayers. Corrective budget process reforms should be enacted into
law.

State budget process reforms should include:

• Developing an Independent, non-partisan budget office, to oversee revenue forecasting;

• Using conference committees to resolve differences between the budgets of the two houses;

• Setting a specific, agreed upon timetable for the adoption of the budget;

• Adopting of a comprehensive three-year financial plan;

• Opening up the budget making process of individual state agencies to greater public scrutiny;

• Making the state budget more performance based;

• Ensuring that all documents relating to the state budget are easily available to the public;

• Requiring that legislators and the general public have access, for a reasonable timeframe, to read
the budget before it is voted upon;

• The Governor should not be allowed to authorize a Message of Necessity for passage of a state
budget, which waives the normal three-day period of review;

• If the legislature is unable to agree upon a budget by the beginning of the fiscal year, the budget
from the previous year should be used, with adjustments for inflation, as certified by the State
Comptroller.

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NO MANDATES WITHOUT MONEY
There should be no unfunded state mandates to municipal governments. New York
State mandated local programs should be fully funded by progressive taxes at the state
level.

DEMOCRATIC PUBLIC ENTERPRISE

Public policy and spending should support increased community ownership of
community wealth, so that as neighborhoods, cities, towns, and counties increasingly
own and develop their own productive wealth, a greater portion of the surplus produced
by economic activity will fund their local public treasuries, and circulate within the
communities’ local economies, rather than being extracted for private profits of out of
area corporations. The sectors that should be socialized, decentralized, and
democratized as soon as possible include banking, insurance, energy, transportation,
health care, and natural resources.

DEMOCRATIZE INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITIES, THE

NEW YORK POWER AUTHORITY, AND OTHER PUBLIC AUTHORITIES
Bonding authority and project selection decisions should not be made by technocrats
accountable to politicians, who are in turn accountable to wealthy political contributors.
These decisions should be made by elected boards, directly accountable to the people,
and recallable by citizen assemblies.

SOCIAL AND ECOLOGICAL ACCOUNTING

The Greens call for a new social and ecological accounting system to provide a full
accounting of the economy of New York State, that includes not only the government’s
accounts, but also:

• The state of the private economy upon which the public economy rests;

• The non-monetary household economy upon which the private economy rests;

• The state of the natural, human, and cultural capital upon which the public, private, and
household economies rest.

Natural capital includes renewable and non-renewable resources. Human capital

includes the knowledge, skills, health, and motivation of the people. Social capital
includes the organizational capacities and degrees of conflict or cooperation in
businesses, trade unions, and government and non-profit agencies. New York State
should evaluate public policies using the new economic indicators that have been

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developed to summarize the state of an economy using full social, ecological, and
economic accounting, such as the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare which uses
such indicators as income distribution, natural capital stocks, the value of household
labor, and personal consumption to measure the ecological sustainability and social
welfare provided by the economy.

ECO-TAXES AND TRUE COST PRICING

Within the context of a progressive structure of income and wealth taxation, the Greens
call for eco-taxes on the depletion of natural resources and the release of pollutants.
Eco-taxes would be structured to create “true-cost pricing” where the full costs of
production, including their social and environmental costs, are no longer externalized
onto society and the environment by private firms, but internalized into the firms’ cost
structures. Eco-taxes for true cost pricing will create disincentives for ecologically
damaging products and production technologies; while also providing incentives for
ecologically sustainable products and production technologies.

DEMOCRATIC AND ECOLOGICAL INVESTMENT OF PUBLIC PENSION

FUNDS MANAGED BY A STATE BANK
Current capital markets and ownership structures are not adequately financing small
and medium businesses, affordable low and moderate-income housing, and economic
development in inner cities and rural communities. With over $100 billion in public
pension funds and other state assets, New York State can play a decisive role in
meeting these needs by making prudent investments to fill capital gaps in these under-
financed areas of the economy. Management of these funds is far too important to be
left to the discretion of a single person, the state Comptroller. The Greens call for the
creation of a state bank, with the Comptroller as one of the elected board members, and
with a competently staffed trust department to act as a fiduciary agent and manager of
the public portfolio and other state cash assets, as well as to receive deposits of
ordinary citizens. The state-owned Bank of North Dakota has done this since 1919,
consistently making a profit for the state. It serves as a yardstick for measuring the
effectiveness of public banks in serving the financial needs of the economy. Investment
of the state’s public pensions and other state funds should be targeted to support:

• Revitalization of wealth-creating primary production in agriculture and manufacturing;

• Worker, consumer, and community owned enterprises that anchor capital and wealth in our
communities and state under democratic control;

• Conversion to ecological technologies that promote sustainable economies.

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 International Solidarity

A PRO-DEMOCRACY FOREIGN POLICY

We call for a fundamental shift in US foreign policy, from supporting repressive regimes
in the interests of global corporations to supporting the pro-democracy labor, social, and
environmental movements of people.

Greens advocate:

• International, multilateral peacekeeping to stop aggression and genocide;

• Ending the United States’ long practice of hostile intervention in the internal affairs of other
nations, which continues as evidenced by the recent interventions in Haiti, Afghanistan,
Venezuela, Iraq, and Iran;

• Closing all overseas us military bases;

• Disbanding NATO and all other aggressive military alliances;

• Banning U.S. armaments exports;

• Abolishing the CIA, NSA, US Army School of the Americas/WHINSEC, and all other U.S.
agencies of covert warfare.

The Greens oppose aggressive and imperialist U.S. invasions and wars. The Defense
Department’s actions should be in compliance with the implication of its name. Any U.S.
military action should be strictly defensive. The current U.S. occupation of Iraq is a clear
violation of international law and is offensive rather than defensive in nature.

The Greens call for:

• The immediate withdrawal of U.S. and other foreign forces of occupation;

• Ending the corporate colonization of Iraq, and rescinding all U.S. imposed economic orders to
privatize Iraqi oil, public services and other assets;

• Unconditionally funding Iraq’s reconstruction – as a U.S. reparation - to rebuild the infrastructure

that the U.S. destroyed in its more than 15 years of wars and sanctions against Iraq.

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PEACE CONVERSION
U.S. military spending should be unilaterally cut by 75% within a two year time-frame, to
establish a non-interventionist, non-offensive, strictly defensive military posture; and to
redirect the spending of approximately $400 billion a year, toward the constructive
endeavors required to establish a more peaceful and sustainable planet.

BAN US WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION: UNILATERAL

NUCLEAR, BIOLOGICAL, AND CHEMICAL DISARMAMENT
Weapons of mass destruction have no place in a non-offensive military. The U.S.
cannot credibly demand that other countries destroy their weapons of mass destruction
while it continues to have them. The U.S. should set a disarmament example, and
demand that other nations match our lead, before the proliferation of weapons to
countries around the world leads to mass destruction.

Cooperative Security
Our nation should pursue a “cooperative security” strategy, that seeks mutual arms
reductions, progressive elimination of cross-border offensive capabilities, and deep cuts
in military spending. We should progressively demilitarize down to a non-offensive
defense of U.S. national territory using a coast guard, border guard, national guard, and
light air defense system, which could cost less than $5 billion a year, or less than 1% of
current US military spending.

Democratize The United Nations

Cooperative security cannot work as long as the United Nations is dominated by the
United States. Greens support reforms to democratize the United Nations, such as
more proportionality and power in the General Assembly, an elected Security Council,
and the elimination of the Great Power Veto on the Security Council.

CANCEL THE DEBT

The debt owed by poor countries to global banks should be cancelled; and the
exploitation of poor countries by the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) “structural
adjustment” policies should be ended. The IMF and the World Bank should be
disbanded, and replaced with a democratic international financial institution, for
balancing international accounts and financing short-term current account balances.

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FAIR TRADE
The U.S. should withdraw from the World Trade Organization, NAFTA, and all other
corporate-managed trade agreements that are driving down labor compensation, while
exacerbating environmental conditions globally. An internationalist social tariff system
should be established, that equalizes trade by accounting for the differences among
countries in their wages, social benefits, environmental conditions, and political rights.
Tariff revenues should be dedicated to a democratic, international fund for ecological
production and democratic development in poor countries in order to level up social and
environmental conditions to a high common standard.

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