New York’s marriage equality bill will come up for a vote in the state Senate Friday night, after lawmakers reached a deal on the final language of the bill earlier in the day.
NY1 reports that Republican Senate Majority leader Dean Skelos said the bill will come to a vote tonight. “After many hours of deliberation and discussion over the past several weeks among the members, it has been decided that same-sex marriage legislation will be brought to the full Senate for an up or down vote,” he said.
Danny Hakim, the Times’s Albany Bureau Chief tweeted that state Sen. James Alesi, a Republican who recently announced that he will support the bill, said that the vote is “what I was hoping for” and “it’ll be tonight.”
Earlier, Skelos and other lawmakers reached a deal with Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) over the final language of the bill. Cuomo and other gay marriage supporters were negotiating with Republicans who were pushing for more carve-outs for religious groups in the bill.
So far there are 31 state senators — including two Republicans — who have said they will vote for the bill if it’s brought up. It needs 32 to pass.
The final language of the bill is here.
And you can watch the state Senate debate it here.
Jillian Rayfield
Jillian Rayfield is a Reporter/Blogger for TPM, and started as a News Intern in May 2009. She graduated from Cornell University in May 2008 with a degree in Film, and worked as a Research Assistant for a market research firm in London in between.
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