Assembly approves multiple consent-calendar bills in unanimous votes

The New York State Assembly on March 23 adopted a series of resolutions and consent-calendar bills, recording overwhelmingly unanimous support on the floor.

Clerk readings and recorded tallies showed repeated vote counts of 140 ayes and zero noes for the items taken on consent. The adopted measures included proclamations asking the governor to designate March 22 as Water Day and March as Brain Injury Awareness Month, along with a range of bills placed on the consent calendar and read into the record by the clerk.

Miss Walsh, explaining her vote on Assembly No. 329-B (a mental hygiene law amendment), said coordinated treatment for people with co-occurring substance use and mental-health conditions will streamline care and improve outcomes. ‘‘I think that this will be helpful,’’ she said, and voted in the affirmative. The Clerk then recorded the vote and declared the bill passed.

Other bills on the consent calendar were passed or laid aside as announced by the clerk. Several items were explicitly laid aside for later consideration; where the bill text specified an effective date, the clerk read that timing into the record before the tally.

The session followed routine floor procedure: the day opened with an invocation and the pledge, a quorum was confirmed and the journal for Friday, March 20, was dispensed with and approved. Floor leaders also introduced guests and extended privileges of the chamber to several community members.

The assembly adjourned at the close of the session and scheduled reconvening for 2 p.m. on Tuesday, March 24.