A change in New York State’s Public Authorities Law and resistance by Republicans will likely keep a self-governance bill for Roosevelt Island bottled up in Albany until at least next year.

Meantime, end-of-session negotiations resulted in $15 million for Roosevelt Island Tram repairs being dropped from the State budget "cleanup" bill State legislators approved last week, though Governor George Pataki has said he will make money available for Tram repairs that could begin in the fall.

On the final day of the regular 2006 legislative session last Friday, the Democratic-controlled Assembly unanimously approved the self-governance bill.

It would expand the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation’s Board of Directors to nine members, require that at least six be Island residents, and provide for Islanders to vote for the majority of Board members, who are now appointed.

The legislation would also authorize RIOC to commission an audit to determine needed capital repairs and to then borrow up to $25 million to do the work. And it would prohibit development of designated open space in the General Development Plan for anything other than park purposes.

But the bill died in the Republican-controlled State Senate, as it has since versions of it were first introduced in 1998.

Assemblyman Alexander B. "Pete" Grannis, the Democrat who represents Roosevelt Island, blamed late submission of the legislation and complications caused by last year’s overhaul of the Public Authorities law.

"There were a great many other issues around" at the end of the session, said Grannis, who added the need to conform the self-governance bill to the new authorities law required extra focus by the Assembly’s program and counsel staff and the staff of the Committee on Assembly Corporations, Authorities and Commissions chaired by Richard Brodsky of Westchester.

In fact, Pataki’s office cited the new authorities law in explaining the Governor’s concerns about the bill.

Pataki spokeswoman Lynn Krogh said authority board members are not supposed to have "self-interest" in the matters they oversee. If RIOC Board members live on the Island, "it would clearly be a self-interest problem," she said.

Grannis and State Senator José M. Serrano, the other sponsor of the self-governance bill, called that argument illogical and inconsistent.

"I can understand if it’s a business person looking to make money off a particular deal," Serrano said of the self-interest argument. "The only interest they (RIOC Board members) would have is the greater good of the Island and to have proper representation of the Island."

And Grannis pointed out that under current law, the majority of Board members must be Island residents.

"The difference is they (current Board members) are [now] hand-picked by the Governor instead of being chosen by the people who live there" as would be the case under the self-governance plan, Grannis said. "We’re just changing how the selection process works for the people who sit on this board."

Grannis contended Pataki didn’t adhere to principles espoused by the Commission on Public Authorities Reform headed by lawyer Ira Millstein when the Governor renominated Joseph Strasburg, a lobbyist for landlords and developers, to chair the State of New York Mortgage Agency, whose mission is to provide affordable housing.

"It seems to me that a board made up of parties whose lives are at stake is totally appropriate" for RIOC, Grannis said. "If there are technical problems, we would be prepared to negotiate those with the governor."

Aides to State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, a Republican from Rensselaer, said boards such as RIOC’s are normally appointed, rather than elected, and said they didn’t see strong advocacy for the bill as the 2006 session came to a close.

"I don’t know what they consider to be advocacy," said Serrano, who, as a member of the political minority in the Senate, has a much tougher time winning approval for bills than do majority Republicans. "It is a good bill and the hope is that that would be enough to warrant bills going forward. When I was on the City Council, we didn’t have to do this back room lobbying to get bills to move forward, but we don’t see that level of reform going on in the State Senate. Joe Bruno and others in the Senate understand how important this is to my constituents."

Whatever the reason the bill failed, both Grannis and Serrano expressed the hope that Pataki’s decision not to seek a fourth term this year will give the bill new life in 2007.

"My hope is next year, when we have a new governor, we won’t see the kind of resistance to do what’s in the best interests of the residents of Roosevelt Island," Serrano said.

Grannis said the bill now is "in its proper form and it lays the groundwork for the next administration to determine whether or not it’s appropriate to turn the Island and its destiny to a RIOC Board made up of residents of the Island."

Among other things, Grannis noted, the latest version of the bill does not call on the State to fund capital work needed on the Island, as previous incarnations had. The latest bill authorizes RIOC to borrow money to pay for the work, and Grannis said that change comports with the new public authorities law.

Grannis acknowledged that State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, the front-runner in the race for governor, has not tipped his hand on the self-governance issue at events at which Island residents have asked his opinion.

But Grannis called the matter "a micromanagement item on the agenda of someone running a statewide campaign. It’s something to talk about after inauguration day."

As for the Tram repair money, Grannis said the Senate insisted the $15 million not be included in the budget cleanup bill and that the Assembly went along so as not to hold up the deal. Bruno’s office denied this, saying the budget bill was passed as Pataki sent it up.

"It seems to me very petty on their part," Grannis said of the Senate. "I was surprised. I think everyone was surprised."