Westchester, Explained 02: How a Bill Becomes a County Law - An In-Depth Conversation With Westchester’s Intergovernmental Relations Department

As an extension of our weekly "This Week in Westchester - The Podcast" we welcome you to Westchester, Explained. This is the first in a special long-form series where we'll take you deeper into the headlines, decisions and policies shaping Westchester County and their impact on your family, your neighborhood and your future. Here we will slow it down, dig in and bring in the people doing the work, and we'll explain not just what the County is doing, but why it matters.

Because government should be clear. This is your County. 

And this is Westchester, Explained. 

Today, we're focusing on how a bill becomes a law in Westchester County, including the people and steps  involved -- and the role community members can play to get involved in the process. 

Joining for this in-depth conversation are Westchester's Intergovernmental Relations Director, Steve Bass and Intergovernmental Relations Aide, Harry Brussel -- who will discuss their work, while helping to clarify the mechanics, limits and accessibility of local government -- and why that matters.

Let's dive in.

HOSTED BY: 

Catherine Cioffi, Westchester County Communications Director

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Transcript

Speaker 0:06

Hi Westchester. I'm Westchester County Government Communications Director Catherine Cioffi. And as an extension of This Week in Westchester, the podcast, we welcome you to Westchester Explained. Here we'll take you deeper into the headlines inside the decisions shaping Westchester County and the policies that impact your family, your neighborhood, and your future. Here we will slow it down, dig in, and bring in the people doing the work, and we'll explain not just what the county is doing, but why it matters. Because government should be clear. This is your county, and this is Westchester explained. Today we're focusing on how a bill becomes a law. And we're here with Intergov, intergovernmental, we should be very formal, director Steve Bass, and Intergov aide Harry Brussel. And we're going to talk about something that sounds incredibly basic, but is actually very involved. And we hear about this process at the federal level quite a bit, but here in Westchester, we also have a process and you're going to walk us through it. So let's begin. Why don't you tell us a bit about what your department does here in county government?

Speaker 1 1:15

So, you know, Intergov has a few roles. Um, one thing we do is we're the closest point of entry for our municipalities. Um, so your town, village, or city. Uh, if they have a matter that relates to the county, uh, they're likely to come through us first. And then we can connect them with the department uh that's best suited for the matter. Um, on the other hand, uh, we also work closely with state and federal partners uh advocating for the county's needs, um, whether it's grants uh or a different kind of assistance, uh, we're a point of connection there too. And then finally, we work with the board of legislators. And this is sort of a different role, I think, um, because it's really sort of our our legislative shop. Um, so that might involve uh giving feedback to the board on uh legislation that they propose. You know, as the administration, we're often closer to the execution of policy. Um, but then uh, you know, and a lot of policy also gets initiated um in our office. Uh and so a lot of the legislation that goes down to from the board uh may come from up here on ninth and from our intergap office. Um so it's sort of both our liaison shop and then are also our our legislative shop.

Speaker 2:19

Okay. Now, one thing that I think is important to point out, because I know I get this phone call a lot in my department. People think sometimes that the county can tell the towns, the villages, the cities what to do. But what is the truth behind that?

Speaker 2 2:33

So the truth behind that is Westchester County is just another municipality. Although it's a much larger municipality, um, we don't have authority over each town, city, or village. They have their own right to pass and adopt their own laws. Unless the state gives an exception that says the counties have the authority to do it.

Speaker 2:52

Aaron Powell Okay. Other question that I know I get asked a lot, I'm sure you do as well, is the school districts.

Speaker 2 2:56

Aaron Powell Yes. We have no authority over any school policy at all. We don't fund the schools, we don't interact with schools simply with libraries. Some people get confused the library because there is a Westchester library system, but that's not Westchester County government.

Speaker 3:11

Aaron Powell Okay. So people want to complain about their school districts, their school taxes, their library, their library taxes. Don't call us.

Speaker 1 3:20

You can always call our office. Um, we're happy to lend a uh uh a helping hand. Um, but your most direct contact uh on schools is really is going to be your school board. Um and then if it's a local municipal issue, um, it's likely gonna be your municipality.

Speaker 3:34

Okay, great.

Speaker 2 3:35

And we often are able to point people in in the right direction because we are.

Speaker 3:38

We should not I shouldn't joke about it. It's yeah.

Speaker 2 3:41

Because we have built relationships with all these people on all the different levels of government. So we have a relationship with there and we're able to connect people.

Speaker 3:47

And you have these relationships regardless of political affiliation as well.

Speaker 2 3:51

Of course.

Speaker 3:51

Yeah. Let's talk about that a little bit more. Why does that not matter?

Speaker 2 3:55

Um, I think a lot of the um town supervisors and mayors um they're looking for projects in their municipalities, and we're happy to assist them on behalf of the constituents that we share.

unknown 4:09

Yeah.

Speaker 1 4:09

I think the county executive would say uh our job is to serve the people of Westchester. Absolutely. And that goes whether there's a Republican administrator or a Democratic administrator.

Speaker 4:18

Absolutely. Terrific. So now that we get that out of the way, let's talk about the Westchester County Board of Legislators, because that is where you spend a fair amount of your time sort of working with them. Why is that an important relationship to maintain?

Speaker 2 4:30

Because the Board of Legislators and primarily is in charge of um crafting the budgets, the county budgets, with in partnership with the county executive's office. And it is our job to make sure that we uh carry out those policies and um implement the budget that is adopted by the board and signed by the county executive.

Speaker 4:51

Okay. Now we live and breathe this every day, but we we know that there are some people in this county, hopefully not too many, but there are some who don't really understand what the county board of legislators does. What are they, who is my representative? Can you give them like a very basic overview of how that works and how they find out who their rep is?

Speaker 1 5:08

I think you can go back to the three branches of government lesson they might have gotten in your civics class. So you have an executive.

Speaker 5:14

Some people forgot.

Speaker 1 5:15

Some people may have forgotten. So the the the two-second version is um the county executive serves much like the president. Uh his job is to execute the laws of Westchester. The County Board of Legislators serves much like Congress. Uh, their job is to make policy and to pass laws. Um, there's not necessarily an an uh analogous judicial branch, but there is a court system as well. Um, but that's sort of where the analogy ends.

Speaker 5:40

Okay, terrific. So everybody in Westchester is represented by the county executive and also represented by their county legislator. So let's talk about how a bill becomes a law in Westchester County. What is the first step?

Speaker 1 5:52

Well, um, you can you can start at a number of points. Uh, you know, the I'm just a bill bit from Schoolhouse Rock, which I think folks may have seen. It starts with an idea. Um, so that idea might come from a constituent, it might come from a policymaker here in county government. But eventually that idea is going to be drafted into a bill before it becomes a law. After that, the bill will be introduced to the board of legislators, either by the county executive, the county attorney, or by one of the legislators themselves. From there, the full board refers it to a committee that's assigned based on the policy, uh, the policy type that it that it is.

Speaker 6:29

Okay. And from that point, from committee, what happens?

Speaker 2 6:33

Uh the committee will deliberate the um bill before them. They may make changes to that bill. Um, they'll probably have um people in who have knowledge about that bill so they can hear testimony. Uh if it's a local law, it'll require public hearing to hear from the public. Um but uh once they finish doing their committee input, they can decide whether they want to pass that c uh bill out of committee for the full board to consider.

Speaker 7:02

Okay. And now in your role as the director of intergov and an intergov aide, how involved are you in this process?

Speaker 1 7:10

Well, it really depends on the on the bill, I suppose. You know, there's bills that have substantial questions from the legislators. Uh might be something that's just more complex, something that intersects with a number of county departments. And so they might need feedback from different commissioners. Part of our role is to loop in the right poke uh right people to come to the committee room and to give those answers. Uh we might also be giving those answers directly if we have knowledge of the policy area. But it really depends on the bill.

Speaker 7:37

Okay. And so the bill goes before the full board. What happens?

Speaker 1 7:44

Sure. Uh I think this is the exciting part. It's the exciting part, it's also the part that's maybe the most intuitive. So once it goes before before the full board, this is after the committee hearings, the public hearing, what have you, uh, the board uh takes a vote. And so there's 17 legislators. It depends on what the item is. Uh many only need a simple majority to pass. If it's a bond act, it might need a supermajority to pass. Um but if it meets that threshold uh and you have a quorum of legislators present, uh then it'll be adopted by the board.

Speaker 8:14

Okay. And once it's adopted by the board, it could go one of three ways. It comes to the county executive, it could go one of three ways. Why don't you explain that?

Speaker 2 8:22

The bill can be vetoed by the county executive. And if it's vetoed, it would go back downstairs to the board of legislators for consideration override, which would mean two-thirds. It can be signed by the county executive and the bill would be approved and become law. And the third option is that he may not sign it or veto it and it will just become law.

Speaker 8:47

Okay. Terrific. And now um something else that that people that we talk about a lot that we hear um is executive orders. So can you explain that?

Speaker 2 8:57

Uh sure. Uh sometimes, depending upon the type of policy, um, the county executive can create just an order to basically order a department to sort of implement uh a county policy. Um for example, I'm trying to think of one that he has done over the uh the most recently. It was it was obviously done most often during emergency situations. You know, when there's a snow emergency or something, or during COVID, uh if the county executive needs to put a policy in place very quickly, that's an instance where he would do that.

Speaker 9:33

Aaron Powell Okay. Terrific. And so you have followed, you've been in this business a long time, Steve. Um, what would you say is, you know, when you think back on all the legislation that is passed that you've been a part of, what would you say is maybe your top top five favorite pieces?

Speaker 2 9:47

Certainly I think the Immigrant Protection Act is is one of them. Absolutely. You know, yeah, the the goal of that was to make sure that police were able to coordinate with uh local communities and um to keep people uh safe who needed to be kept safe and uh make sure that if there was a situation that a judicial warrant was presented to um uh I to obtain and uh capture anybody that is committed crimes.

Speaker 10:15

Not a sanctuary county bill.

Speaker 2 10:18

Correct. Which it specifically says.

Speaker 10:19

Specifically says in there, but is a bill, is a law that requires uh the federal government to follow the law.

Speaker 2 10:26

Sorry.

Speaker 10:26

Okay. What else? You've been here for a lot. I know you got some like favorites in there. Harry, we're coming to you next.

Speaker 2 10:32

So when we banned salary history.

Speaker 10:36

Mm-hmm. Oh yeah. That was huge for women.

Speaker 2 10:38

It was very, very busy. That's a big one. They faced a lot of discrimination in the workplace, it became really difficult to um get uh equal pay.

Speaker 10:46

And I think that would helps end that for people who don't know what it was tell tell them.

Speaker 2 11:03

Uh people of what they would pay them for the next job based upon what they had previously made, rather than what the job is worth paying for, what what it was uh entailed.

Speaker 11:13

Right. And as a woman, you're generally brought in lower. And so if you start lower and you have to constantly say that you're at a lower salary, you're it's harder to advance. And you want to take that off the table.

Speaker 2 11:24

And many women coming back into the workforce after maybe being home for a long time. And that was a disadvantage to them.

Speaker 11:31

Absolutely. All right. Well, let you have a pause. You can think about your other pieces that you enjoyed working on. Harry, what about you? What's your y you can give us one, your favorite piece.

Speaker 1 11:39

Aaron Powell My favorite piece um would have to be the Complete Streets Act of 2021.

Speaker 11:45

Wow, this is very specific.

Speaker 1 11:47

Well, it's specific because I'm a little biased. I I worked on it um when I was interning here in college. But what this act did, it was a successor to a policy that our county executive now had worked on when he was chair of the board uh previously. What it did this law was give teeth to the uh existing provision. So complete streets is what you think of uh in terms of pedestrian safety, so sidewalks, um uh wider shoulders, bike lanes, that sort of thing. And the existing the existing law really just said that it would be a goal of Westchester to implement those facilities. The Act of 2021 gave provisions that our DPW would have to complete a checklist for each substantial road project. So every time we go back to pave a street uh or build uh a new traffic facility, we would be able to look at can we install a bike lane? Can we improve sidewalk facilities? What about a crosswalk? And I think this has led to a lot of good policy over the course of the past five years or so. So that's my favorite.

Speaker 12:45

All right. Well, you know, it's interesting because um, you know, so much of your work and the work of how Bill becomes a law and the work that you do, it is very closely connected to the public. Um would you encourage the public, or do you think the public realizes how intimately involved in every step of legislation they are?

Speaker 2 13:04

I don't think they do. Um as I said, um every local law required to have a public hearing. And the more people come out and provide input to um the legislature for that, um, the better the process is.

Speaker 13:19

Right. Right.

Speaker 2 13:20

The better the better the law is in the end.

Speaker 1 13:24

I think my answer is yes and no, right? I think that more public engagement would be positive. And I think that your average member of the public isn't aware of how much county government does and how much ability they have to give input. And yet I'm also surprised when you have a great turnout for a public hearing and there's something going on in someone's community that they hear about, whether it's through a local paper, although less these days, maybe online. Uh, and there's a group of 10, 12 people that come out to voice their opinion about it. I mean, I think that's what democracy is all about.

Speaker 13:52

It really is a beautiful process. I mean, we're obviously biased because we work in government, but it is it is a beautiful process to have people voice a concern, um, contact their legislator, have this, have it move through the process. I mean, it's really like it's the essence of our country. Um, what drew you to work in this field, to work in this area? You're brand new to this, Harry, sort of brand new. More brand new than Steve. Yeah. Well, 10 years when you started very young. And so what what was it, what is it about this that that excites you?

Speaker 1 14:31

You know, I think back to that Mario Cuomo quote, which is that uh you campaign in poetry and you govern in prose. And I started out on the campaign side uh as an intern with with uh then state senator George Latimer. I like the poetry of it, the lawn signs are flashy, uh, the conversations and builders can be a lot of fun, uh, all the you know, all the attention on the race. But working in government too, I think I've sort of come to appreciate the pros of it. Uh I think that there's uh a beauty to the deliberation aspect of government where you have a lot of people weighing in on it, um, many with different opinions. And at the end of the day, you know, maybe maybe this is I don't know. We live in sort of a cynical time. I don't know if people believe this anymore. But I think having that sort of different input leads to a better outcome at the end of the day. And I've come to appreciate that as well.

Speaker 15:16

Aaron Powell Steve, how about do you?

Speaker 2 15:18

I think it's because in local government truly is the closest government to your lives.

Speaker 15:24

Absolutely.

Speaker 2 15:25

It allows us to really make a difference in what happens uh with our in our neighborhoods, in our communities on a day-to-day level, more than Albany or or certainly DC, which is just so far removed and seemed like um a little bit less than impact, although I know we feel a lot of pressures coming from DC. But that's why it's even more important now that we have a local government that can make a real difference in the day-to-day lives of where we actually live. Yeah.

Speaker 1 15:53

Local government, you know, a lot of the things that people associate with with the role of of their government um happens here.

Speaker 15:59

Yeah. The number one thing is like the roads, the sewers, things that are very that people take for granted.

Speaker 2 16:07

Absolutely. And we do a lot of things um through the uh budget process with the legislature, and that goes through um a lot of things that that impact roads, sewers, bridges, all of that, which are very important in the different communities.

Speaker 16:21

Aaron Powell For someone listening to this who might feel overwhelmed by the process. They don't know where to start. They want to get involved, they want to learn more, they don't know where to start. What would you tell them?

Speaker 1 16:32

I mean, I would say show up, right? Show up to your local board meeting in your town or city, uh show up to a meeting of the county board of legislators. Uh it's great to be exposed to the process that way, hear what's happening, you'll get familiar very quickly. Um, and I think it'll lead uh to a lot of learning and uh you'll you'll figure out a way to contribute to the process that makes it a lot better.

Speaker 16:52

I think, you know, just to build on that, I what I think is most um wonderful, honestly, about county government is that it's so accessible. It's not we're not in Albany, we're not in DC, we're so accessible. If they have people want to say something or voice something or complain, they could literally just call us or they could email you, Steve.

Speaker 2 17:11

I mean, I would suggest to people who are interested in getting involved, um, find an issue that you care about and focus on that first and do it around an issue and whether it's your local town or city, um, that you should reach out to, you know, Google who your representatives are and on that level and see if they can uh be involved in that issue, or if it's a county issue, then certainly do that and reach out to your legislator or the county executive's office.

Speaker 17:39

And and county government, you know, I know Harry mentioned you still find that people don't really know what we do and how we do it. Um how would you how would you explain our work, your work, to someone who's really like just has no idea what's going on? What are they doing over there at 148 Martin? I don't know.

Speaker 1 18:00

Um I think the way that's most accessible to people is to sort of present what services we offer. Because often they are going to be familiar with them. So the B-line bus system, that's Westchester County. Right. Playland Park, we run Westchester, it's run by Westchester County. Um and people know these functions, but they don't necessarily know that it's us doing them. Um and the more they hear about that, I think the more they appreciate that Westchester is there for them.

Speaker 18:22

Absolutely.

Speaker 2 18:23

I mean, they hopefully have heard about the award-winning parks.

Speaker 18:26

I mean, who hasn't?

Speaker 2 18:29

So that certainly is one thing that hope people can relate to. But obviously, I'd say the biggest service that we generally provide is when people really need them the most in our social services department. Absolutely. And, you know, things uh for veterans and people who need childcare. Those are really when we're there for people the most. But of course, our health department, um, which was tremendous during COVID, is also very active. Um, and people should be aware that, you know, our health department, our social services is really part of the quality of life that we have here.

Speaker 18:59

I mean, often for Westchester County, we're we are we are meeting people at a pretty difficult time of their life. If you're if you're interacting with county government, it's usually because you're going through something. Um but to your point, even when you're not going through something, we have we have the parks. The health department, to you to your point, is tremendous. Everyone needs vaccines to go to school. They have vaccines. Um, so it's there there is a lot there. It's just a matter of sort of starting to dig around and realizing, Harry, to your point, that, oh yeah, that actually is the county that's doing that, which is tremendous. Anything else that the two of you would like to add?

Speaker 2 19:37

No, I think as far as the process goes of how a county bill becomes a law and what we do uh that impacts uh people's lives, um, is that I think I would leave with folks that you can you two can have a role in that process and have a voice, find the issue you care about and speak out.

Speaker 19:58

Call Steve Bass or Harry. That's terrific. Thank you so much for joining us today. Really appreciate it.