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Senate passes over bills proposed by AARP Dear Editor: This is in response to a letter from State Senator Owen H. Johnson which appeared in your January 3 issue. He wrote to praise the Senate for having passed legislation that would allow confinement of sexually violent predators when their criminal sentences have expired. Sixteen other states have such legislation, he said. But because the Assembly failed to join the Senate in passing this, New Yorkers continue to be at grave risk. In his opinion, "it is shameful that this opportunity was missed." In my view, the kettle is calling the pot black. The Senate of which he is so proud, has also missed its share of opportunities, and on equally important legislation. Your readers should know that thousands of AARP members have been pleading with their Senators to approve two bills, both of which were previously passed by the Assembly. So far, we've gotten nowhere. One of these measures would allow the State to bulk purchase prescription drugs so that a savings could be passed on to consumers. The other would require drug companies to publicly report their gifts to doctors. This practice is used to promote the writing of prescriptions for newer, more expensive drugs, rather than for generic equivalents which would be equally effective but less expensive. Is it possible we have a little shell game going on here? Let us pass a bill that our constituents will love, but you shoot it down in the other body. And then you can pass something that we'll reject. After all, our voters are important but so are the contributions from our lobbyists.
James E. Stubenrauch, Massapequa
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