The Nassau County Legislature has become a new entity, as a result of the Nov. 2 election. With the Democrats coming into power, there are changes in view. The most recent change is in the way assets will be apportioned in the new legislature. The story started with dissension and ends with a change in the rules of the Legislature.

Political rumors had said the Republicans were considering instituting a new super majority which would mean Democrats would not be able to pass legislation without the help of the Republicans.

Deputy Presiding Officer Peter Schmitt said in a telephone interview on Monday, Nov. 29, that the rumor was "media driven." He said it came from a question he answered during a press conference. Mr. Schmitt had been asked by Newsday reporter Larry Levy about whether he was considering instituting a two-thirds majority and he answered, "No. However you give me food for thought."

He said the Democrats came out with their list of committee assignments, in which Presiding Officer Elect Judy Jacobs intended to create eight member committees instead of the present seven. The Democratic plan was to have five Democrats and three Republicans on the committees. "That is 60 percent (of a committee) and they didn't win by that number," Mr. Schmitt said.

Mr. Schmitt said the committee structure should be four to three or five to four. "I've asked to codify the rules of the legislature so that committee structure should reflect the composition of the Legislature," he said.

Thursday, Dec. 2, during a Rules Committee meeting, the configuration was changed to five Democrats and four Republicans.

"It's good to have the committee allocations awarded according to voting strengths. You never know when you might end up on the other side," said Carole Trottere, press secretary for the current minority party.

Mr. Schmitt agreed there was a benefit in the new system. He said, "We reached agreement with the leadership of the incoming Democratic caucus to adequately and fairly divide the assets of the legislature, which will give both sides the resources necessary to work together."

In the future the budget of the Legislature will be divided according to the same formula, he said.

Out of that budget comes the salaries of the legislators themselves and the salaries of their support staff.

"This was never done before," he said. "Bruce Blakeman and Bruce Nyman just cooperated with each other - which is no way to run a legislature," he said.

The recent political changes are making the Legislature fine tune the way things are done.

The next meeting of the Legislature is on Dec. 13 at 10:30 a.m.