These three bills, each sponsored by Sandy Galef, a Democrat whose state Assembly district includes Philipstown, have been passed by the Senate and House but not yet delivered to the governor.

Below are the votes cast by Republican Sue Serino (whose state Senate district includes the Highlands), Galef and Democrat Jonathan Jacobson (whose Assembly district includes Beacon).

■ This law would classify spent fuel waiting to be disposed from a nuclear power plant as “real property,” allowing it to be taxed in the same way storage units are taxed. “Because the spent fuel rods will stay in our community after the plant is shut down [in 2021], this bill creates a source of revenue for as long as the spent fuel rods from Indian Point remain at the facility,” Galef wrote in a newsletter sent to constituents. “This will create much-needed tax revenues for the Village of Buchanan, Hendrick Hudson School District and the Town of Cortlandt during the transition.”

Senate passed 45-17 (Serino voted yes)
Assembly passed 114-30 (Galef voted yes; Jacobson voted yes)

■ This law would maintain the positions of Indian Point employees for as long as feasible, at prevailing wages, Galef wrote. “The decommissioning company that takes over the property from Entergy is then required to maintain the current workforce to the extent practical, and new hires will be selected from a list of qualified employees of the power plant.”

Senate passed 61-1 (Serino voted yes)
Assembly passed 112-32 (Galef voted yes; Jacobson voted yes)

■ This law would extend the “payment in lieu of taxes” paid by Indian Point, which is scheduled to expire in April 2021, when the third and final reactor is shut down. “Indian Point pays a lump sum tax in order to operate as a generating power plant,” Galef wrote. “This bill ensures that payment continues once it is a ‘formerly generating’ power plant.”

Senate passed 59-3 (Serino voted no)
Assembly passed 144-0 (Galef voted yes; Jacobson voted yes)

Behind The Story

Type: News

News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.

A former longtime national magazine editor, Rowe has worked at newspapers in Michigan, Idaho and South Dakota and has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism from Northwestern University. Location: Philipstown. Languages: English. Area of Expertise: General.

2 replies on “How They Voted: Indian Point”

  1. It looks like Senator Serino was one of only a few dissenters on the “payment in lieu of taxes” bill. Do you happen to know what her rationale was?

  2. So the plan is to tax the spent fuel as real property. Good luck the spent fuel is owned by the U.S. government, not Entergy, Con Edison or the new company Holtec. The fuel assemblies were rented from the federal government for use in the reactors and continue to belong to them. Maybe they are suddenly realizing how much revenue those plants put into the state economy and how much it’s going to impact them when they’re gone….

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