Regular Session - December 2, 1998
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9 ALBANY, NEW YORK
10 December 2, 1998
11 1:00 P.M.
12
13
14 REGULAR SESSION
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18 LT. GOVERNOR BETSY McCAUGHEY ROSS, President
19 STEVEN M. BOGGESS, Secretary
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6448
1 P R O C E E D I N G S
2 THE PRESIDENT: The Senate will
3 come to order. Would everyone please rise and
4 join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.
5 (The assemblage repeated the
6 Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.)
7 May we bow our heads in a
8 moment of silence.
9 (A moment of silence was
10 observed. )
11 THE PRESIDENT: Reading of the
12 Journal, please.
13 THE SECRETARY: In Senate,
14 Tuesday, December 1st. The Senate met
15 pursuant to adjournment, Senator Farley in the
16 chair upon designation of the Temporary
17 President. The Journal of Monday, November
18 30th, was read and approved. On motion,
19 Senate adjourned.
20 THE PRESIDENT: Without
21 objection, the Journal stands approved as
22 read.
23 Presentation of petitions.
24 Messages from the Assembly.
25 Messages from the Governor.
6449
1 Reports of standing
2 committees.
3 Secretary will read.
4 THE SECRETARY: Senator Lack,
5 from the Committee on Judiciary, reports the
6 following nomination:
7 As a Justice of the Supreme
8 Court for the Sixth Judicial District, Samuel
9 J. Castellino, of Elmira.
10 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Lack.
11 SENATOR LACK: Thank you, Madam
12 President.
13 It is my privilege to rise and
14 move the nomination of Samuel J. Castellino,
15 of Elmira, as a Justice of the Supreme Court,
16 Sixth Judicial District.
17 We received the nomination from
18 the Governor this past week. The Judiciary
19 Committee has examined the credentials of the
20 candidate who appeared before the Judiciary
21 Committee this morning. A hearing was held,
22 and we unanimously moved to the floor of the
23 Senate his nomination and, Mr. President, I
24 yield for the purposes of seconding to Senator
25 John Kuhl.
6450
1 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Kuhl.
2 SENATOR KUHL: Yes, Madam
3 President. It is my privilege and pleasure to
4 rise on behalf of one of my constituents being
5 elevated to this very, very important position
6 in the service of the state of New York.
7 Justice Castellino, who is here
8 today, has certainly a remarkable history in
9 service to the residents not only of his home
10 town of Elmira but in service to the people of
11 the state of New York. He is, from my
12 perspective as a lawyer, certainly the epitome
13 of what we all hope to be, that is a person
14 who has served in many capacities and served
15 them very well.
16 His only really, from my
17 perspective, negative part of his resume is he
18 went to Holy Cross, which I know stimulates
19 Senator Stachowski's interest in this
20 candidate, rather than going to Syracuse, but
21 he did go to Cornell Law School, which
22 certainly speaks well of his abilities, and he
23 did very well there.
24 But as far as his history in
25 the practice of law, it seems like he has
6451
1 served well in most every capacity he's been
2 in. He was in private practice for close to
3 30 years, and he's served as an assistant
4 district attorney, served on the other side of
5 the prosecutorial section of the law in that
6 he was a public defender, and then for the
7 last about 13 years now, has served in the
8 capacity of County Court and Surrogate Court
9 Judge in Chemung County.
10 Judge Castellino, through this
11 nomination, I think will reach the epitome of
12 a judicial experience, that being where he
13 will have the opportunity to serve as a
14 Supreme Court Justice. The experiences that I
15 hear from my constituents and fellow members
16 of the bar when they're related to an
17 association with Justice Castellino, are, in
18 fact, very remarkable. I, as of this date,
19 have never heard anybody speak negatively
20 about this candidate for the bench in any
21 capacity.
22 So it's with a great deal of
23 pride, certainly a pleasure that I stand here
24 before all of you to second the nomination of
25 the Governor for Samuel J. Castellino as a
6452
1 Justice of the Supreme Court.
2 Thank you, Madam President.
3 THE PRESIDENT: The question is
4 on the confirmation of Samuel J. Castellino as
5 a Justice of the Supreme Court. All in favor
6 please signify by saying aye.
7 (Response of "Aye.")
8 Opposed nay.
9 (There was no response.)
10 Samuel J. Castellino is hereby
11 confirmed as Justice of the Supreme Court.
12 (Applause)
13 Reports of select committees.
14 Communications and reports from
15 state officers.
16 Motions and resolutions.
17 Senator Bruno.
18 SENATOR BRUNO: Madam
19 President, can we at this time adopt the
20 Resolution Calendar.
21 THE PRESIDENT: All in favor of
22 adopting the Resolution Calendar, please
23 signify by saying aye.
24 (Response of "Aye.")
25 Opposed nay.
6453
1 (There was no response. )
2 The Resolution Calendar is
3 adopted.
4 Senator Bruno.
5 SENATOR BRUNO: Madam
6 President, I believe that there is a
7 privileged resolution at the desk, by Senator
8 Leibell. I would ask that the title be read
9 and move for its immediate adoption.
10 THE PRESIDENT: Secretary will
11 read.
12 THE SECRETARY: By Senator
13 Leibell, Legislative Resolution 4305,
14 congratulating the Fox Lane High School Girls
15 Volleyball Team and Coach Mike Galu on their
16 outstanding season and team record on winning
17 the New York State Public High School State
18 Championship.
19 THE PRESIDENT: The question is
20 on the resolution. All in favor please
21 signify by saying aye.
22 (Response of "Aye.")
23 Opposed nay.
24 (There was no response. )
25 The resolution is adopted.
6454
1 Senator Bruno.
2 SENATOR BRUNO: Madam
3 President, I believe that I have a privileged
4 resolution at the desk. I would ask that the
5 title be read and it be read in its entirety
6 and then move for its immediate passage.
7 THE PRESIDENT: Secretary will
8 read, please.
9 THE SECRETARY: By Senator
10 Bruno, Legislative Resolution commending
11 Pauline Williman upon the occasion of her
12 completion of 20 years as the Official
13 Stenographer of the New York State Senate.
14 WHEREAS, the Legislature takes
15 great pride in honoring outstanding citizens
16 of the Great state of New York, and especially
17 a person who has devoted a lifetime to an
18 industrious career and to service in the New
19 York State Senate; and
20 WHEREAS, it is the sense of
21 this Legislative Body to commend Pauline
22 Williman upon the occasion of her completion
23 of 20 years as the Official Stenographer of
24 the New York State Senate;
25 On December 31, 1998, Ms.
6455
1 Williman will retire as the Senate's Official
2 Stenographer. Ms. Williman is a life-long
3 resident of the Capital District, having
4 graduated as class salutatorian from Altamont
5 High School in 1940. While she hoped to use
6 her love for science and mathematics in future
7 endeavors, as is the case with many persons,
8 her career path led in a different direction.
9 As a student at the Albany
10 Stenotype Secretarial School from 1941 to
11 1944, Ms. Williman excelled at reporting and
12 attained a 300-word-per-minute writing speed,
13 exceptionally fast in this service.
14 Ms. Williman's skills were such
15 that she was able to take on reporting jobs
16 for General Electric and Winthrop Chemical
17 while completing the requirements for school;
18 and
19 Whereas, a reporting company
20 owned by New York City attorney James Beasley
21 hired Ms. Williman in 1942 and almost
22 immediately assigned her to work under the
23 direction of state Senator Arthur H. Wicks;
24 Senator Wicks was chairman of the Senate
25 Finance Committee at the time and was deeply
6456
1 involved in the review of Governor Thomas
2 Dewey's nominees for state positions and with
3 the Governor's proposed restructuring of state
4 government.
5 Ms. Williman reported the
6 minutes of many hearings while under the
7 direction of Senator Wicks. During the same
8 period, Ms. Williman reported the minutes of
9 numerous meetings and hearings regarding the
10 creation of the State University of New York.
11 In 1947, Ms. Williman became
12 the executive secretary and the office manager
13 for the U.S. Army Reserve Officers' Associa
14 tion of New York. In this capacity, she was
15 the personal secretary to Brigadier General
16 Wendell Westover, who later became the
17 executive for Reserve and ROTC in the U.S.
18 Defense Department.
19 In 1949, Ms. Williman embarked
20 on a career as a free-lance shorthand
21 reporter, a career which continues today and
22 has resulted in Ms. Williman owning and
23 operating her own court reporting business.
24 Whereas, Ms. Williman has
25 provided court reporting service to many
6457
1 public and private entities statewide. One of
2 her more notable jobs in the early part of
3 years of her independent business was the
4 reporting of hearings regarding applications
5 by large and small municipalities for water
6 supply grants; in fact, she became so much a
7 fixture in these hearings that she was
8 proposed for and was accepted for membership
9 in the American Water Works Association and
10 was awarded, a few years ago, a 30-year
11 lifetime membership.
12 One of the more visible jobs
13 that Ms. Williman reported for was the
14 Organized Crime Trials and related hearings,
15 especially as related to the Appalachian Crime
16 Summit in 1957.
17 In 1958, Ms. Williman became
18 Official Reporter with the New York State
19 Supreme Court, Third Judicial District, a
20 position that she held until 1964 when she
21 resigned to devote full-time to her
22 independent business; and
23 Whereas, elected to be the
24 Official Stenographer of the New York State
25 Senate in 1979, upon the recommendation of
6458
1 then-Temporary President Warren M. Anderson,
2 Ms. Williman embarked on a 20-year journey of
3 reporting the minutes of the proceedings in
4 the Senate chamber and of Senate hearings
5 across the state.
6 Subsequent to her election to
7 the Official Stenographer position in 1979,
8 Ms. Williman has been elected to nine
9 additional consecutive two-year terms.
10 As the Senate's Official
11 Stenographer, she has reported on many
12 momentous events that have been debated in the
13 Senate chamber and has recorded the debates on
14 all of the thousands of bills that have been
15 considered by the Senate during the past two
16 decades, many of which became the law of the
17 state.
18 Keeping pace with the evolving
19 technology of court reporting, Ms. Williman
20 upgraded her reporting equipment regularly and
21 in 1995 began supplying to the Senate the
22 minutes of the Senate chamber proceedings in
23 electronic format so that the transcripts
24 could be made available to Senate offices via
25 the computer network; and
6459
1 Whereas, in addition to the
2 service provided to the Senate as Official
3 Stenographer, Ms. Williman has performed
4 reporting services for, to name a few, the
5 Department of Transportation, Public Employees
6 Relations Board, State Insurance Department,
7 Department of Environmental Conservation,
8 Department of Law, Department of Mental
9 Hygiene, the Office of General Services, and
10 the Adirondack Park Agency.
11 Membership in the National
12 Court Reporters' Association of the New York
13 State Court Reporters' Association has given
14 Ms. Williman an opportunity to actively
15 promote the court reporting profession. She
16 has been an active and vocal advocate of
17 preserving and continuing the court reporting
18 profession.
19 Ms. Williman takes great pride
20 in the fact that she has trained over 75 court
21 reporters who have gone on to hold responsible
22 reporting positions from New Hampshire to
23 Texas and Washington, D. C. to Montana; and
24 Whereas, the list of notables
25 for whom she has recorded their statements
6460
1 seems to be endless, but naming a few would
2 include President Harry Truman, United Nations
3 Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold, New York
4 Yankee pitcher,"Lefty" Gomez and all Governors
5 of the state since Thomas Dewey.
6 Ms. Williman, by her own
7 estimate, has traveled over five million miles
8 while carrying out the tasks of the thousands
9 of large and small reporting jobs that she has
10 completed.
11 Court reporting duties have
12 enveloped Ms. Williman for well over 55 years,
13 but she has had time for other activities.
14 She has been an active community member of the
15 Hill Towns of Albany County, been a member of
16 the Second Reformed Church of Berne; Kiwanis
17 Club of the Helderbergs, past president; the
18 Business Council of New York State; Albany
19 County Farm Bureau and other various civic and
20 community organizations.
21 Hobbies include golf,
22 gardening, snowmobiling, walking, music,
23 reading, the New York Yankees and the Green
24 Bay Packers; and
25 Whereas, it is the desire of
6461
1 this legislative body to give recognition and
2 thanks to someone who has faithfully served to
3 assure that the proceedings in this chamber
4 have been accurately recorded during the past
5 20 years; now, therefore, be it
6 Resolved that this legislative
7 body pause in its deliberations to commend
8 Pauline Williman upon the occasion of her
9 retirement after two decades of dedicated
10 service as the Official Stenographer of the
11 New York State Senate; and be it further
12 Resolved that a copy of this
13 resolution, suitably engrossed, be transmitted
14 to Pauline Williman.
15 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Bruno.
16 SENATOR BRUNO: Madam
17 President and colleagues, we have just heard a
18 remarkable dissertation on the life of one
19 individual, and I am honored to stand here and
20 say to Pauline and to say to you, Pauline, on
21 behalf of my colleagues and myself, thank you.
22 Thank you, thank you, thank you.
23 Pauline is here in this chamber
24 longer than any individual. When we're
25 working and have worked hour after hour, after
6462
1 hour, I don't know about you, but I have been
2 amazed that Pauline would sit there and do her
3 job with such professionalism, with such
4 efficiency; and when many of us mumble and
5 grumble and get into exchanges, Pauline gets
6 every word, every hesitation. And if you
7 hiccup, it will be recorded as part of what
8 you have been saying.
9 Now, if anyone doesn't
10 recognize the talent, the art form that is
11 represented in doing an outstanding, excellent
12 job, then they ought to just take a look at
13 what Pauline Williman does on behalf of this
14 Legislature.
15 I've known Pauline for I don't
16 know how many years. I believe we first met
17 when I was on staff with Speaker Perry Duryea,
18 when I was one of the high-paid staff people
19 and doing better than I'm presently doing, let
20 me say.
21 (Laughter)
22 But, Pauline, you know that
23 times change and everything changes and
24 eventually, we catch up. But I really want to
25 congratulate you. You have a lot of years in
6463
1 front of you to do the kinds of things that
2 you'll see fit to do with your life, but I
3 want to congratulate you, not really just for
4 the excellence that you've demonstrated here
5 with us on our behalf, but for the example
6 that you are for people in this state as an
7 entrepreneurial woman who has been an employer
8 of hundreds of people in Upstate and
9 throughout this state who really exemplifies
10 what the spirit here in America is all about,
11 about a person who does something and does it
12 in such an outstanding way that she is head
13 and shoulders above anyone else in her field;
14 and there aren't too many people that should
15 be or can be as proud as you should be about
16 the work that you have done, about the example
17 that you have set, about the leadership that
18 you have exemplified for your employees, for
19 people here in this chamber.
20 And I will challenge anyone
21 here to try and live up to the standard that
22 Pauline has set for us in terms of diligence,
23 attention, responsiveness, and just doing what
24 is right in such a talented and outstanding
25 way.
6464
1 So, on behalf of everyone here,
2 Pauline, and from the bottom of our hearts,
3 let us just say a heartfelt thank you very,
4 very much for being here with us. And I would
5 ask, Madam President, that we accept and adopt
6 this resolution and that my colleagues join me
7 in a standing ovation to Pauline Williman.
8 (Applause and standing
9 ovation.)
10 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Cook.
11 SENATOR COOK: Not to be
12 anticlimactic to that great presentation by
13 Senator Bruno and the applause that Pauline
14 received -- and I want to wait for a second.
15 Pauline was, at one point in my
16 life, a constituent and I simply want to rise
17 and recognize her in that capacity, not as my
18 constituent, but as a leader in the town of
19 Knox where her ability through the years has
20 been something that has been a great service
21 to all of her neighbors and friends. There
22 really are very few towns in this state who
23 have a resident who is as knowledgeable about
24 such a broad range of public law and public
25 policy as is Pauline because of all the things
6465
1 in which she's been involved through the years
2 and she's made that available to the people in
3 her community and she's been a real leader.
4 Time after time when community
5 issues have come to the surface, it's been
6 Pauline who's been there, provided the
7 expertise and the background for her neighbors
8 who've been dealing with some issue of public
9 policy in the town of Knox.
10 So totally aside from the fact
11 that she's been a very, very warm and close
12 and valuable and dear friend for these 25
13 years, aside from that, Pauline, we do
14 congratulate you, in fact, for all of the
15 service you've been to your neighbors. Thank
16 you.
17 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.
18 Would anyone else care to speak
19 on the resolution?
20 Senator Paterson.
21 SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you,
22 Madam President. On behalf of Senator Connor,
23 we would like to thank Pauline for her years
24 of service and her tireless devotion,
25 particularly some of the occasions that we
6466
1 went from one day right into the other,
2 continually talking and engaging in diatribe
3 in this chamber. And I sometimes wonder how
4 many of you in the front of the room are able
5 to put up with it, but it is in thanking you
6 that we really thank all of the staff here for
7 their work and devotion to allowing us to
8 perform the functions of our duties here as
9 Senators.
10 But in this specific case,
11 Senator Stachowski reminded me to let you
12 know, Pauline, that if any of us was ever
13 doing 65 to 70 miles an hour on the Thruway,
14 that we always knew that the radar gun would
15 get you and not us and that we did appreciate
16 you for that, as well as the tremendous work
17 that you've done.
18 You'll certainly be missed.
19 You certainly already are appreciated; and
20 again, as much as we reward people for doing
21 their jobs, what we probably don't do is to
22 recognize people that do their jobs so
23 effectively as the Majority Leader pointed
24 out; and in this kind of small way -- and it's
25 not a difficult thing to get up and to thank
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1 people for their work, but to let you know
2 that the spirit of what we're saying will be
3 remembered and will be discussed long after
4 you've left the chamber.
5 So, congratulations and best
6 wishes.
7 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.
8 Senator Smith.
9 SENATOR SMITH: Thank you,
10 Madam President.
11 On behalf of the women of this
12 chamber, I would like to say to Pauline that
13 she has truly been a role model for all of us.
14 And she has been there with a kind word when
15 many of us needed it and when we felt a little
16 depressed; but I also want to commend her for
17 her love of her family and the time that she
18 spends with her nieces, nephews and all that
19 she gives to everybody because she is truly
20 going to be missed by all of us. And the one
21 thing that we most wish that she had missed
22 was some of the things that we've said in this
23 chamber.
24 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.
25 Senator DeFrancisco.
6468
1 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I think
2 all has been said that should be said, but I
3 want to just make one observation, Pauline.
4 Senator Bruno mentioned that you've raised the
5 standard of stenographic reporting for
6 everybody in that field and the observation
7 that I'd like to make, you are the only one in
8 this state that could possibly have drawn five
9 T.V. cameras, all the photographers and a
10 gallery full of people to honor you today on
11 this special day.
12 (Applause.)
13 THE PRESIDENT: The question
14 is on the resolution. All in favor, please
15 signify by saying aye.
16 (Response of "Aye.")
17 Those opposed, nay.
18 (There was no response.)
19 The resolution is adopted.
20 Senator Bruno.
21 SENATOR BRUNO: Madam
22 President-- I'm sorry, Senator Farley, do you
23 have some comment to make?
24 SENATOR FARLEY: Yes. Was the
25 resolution open to everyone?
6469
1 SENATOR BRUNO: That
2 resolution hopefully will be joined by the
3 entire Senate. If anyone feels otherwise, you
4 can approach the desk. But thank you, Senator
5 Farley.
6 Madam President, can we at this
7 time ask for an immediate meeting of the Rules
8 Committee in Room 332, and I would ask my
9 colleagues just be patient for a few minutes,
10 I don't think we will be more than five or ten
11 minutes with a Rules Committee report, which
12 we will then address.
13 THE PRESIDENT: There will be
14 an immediate meeting of the Rules Committee in
15 Room 332, and the Senate will stand at ease.
16 (The Senate stood at ease from
17 1:35 p.m. to 1:47 p.m.)
18 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President.
19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
20 house will come back to order, please.
21 SENATOR SKELOS: Can we return
22 to reports of standing committees? I believe
23 there's a report of the Rules Committee at the
24 desk; I ask it be read.
25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
6470
1 Secretary will read the report of the Rules
2 Committee.
3 THE SECRETARY: Senator Bruno,
4 from the the Committee on Rules, reports the
5 following bills:
6 7855-A, by Senator Volker, an
7 act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law and
8 Chapter 383 of the Laws of 1998;
9 7859-B, by Senator Volker, an
10 act to amend a chapter of the Laws of 1998;
11 7866-A, by Senator Larkin, an
12 act to amend Chapter 464 of the Laws of 1998;
13 7867, by Senator Liebell, an
14 act to amend the Private Housing Finance Law;
15 7868-B, by Senator Velella, an
16 act to amend the Insurance Law;
17 7870, by Senator Saland, an act
18 to amend the Social Services Law and the
19 Family Court Act; and
20 7871, by the Senate Committee
21 on Rules, an act to extend the period for
22 filing applications for the school tax relief
23 exemption.
24 All bills ordered direct for
25 third reading.
6471
1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
2 Senator Skelos.
3 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to
4 accept the report of the Rules Committee.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: All in
6 favor of accepting the report of the Rules
7 Committee, signify by saying aye.
8 (Response of "Aye.")
9 Opposed, nay.
10 (There was no response.)
11 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr.
12 President, there will be an immediate
13 conference of the Majority in the Majority
14 Conference Room, and Senator Bruno indicates
15 that we should be back in about 20 minutes.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
17 Immediate conference of the Majority in Room
18 332. Room 332.
19 SENATOR SKELOS: Please
20 recognize Senator Mendez.
21 SENATOR MENDEZ: Thank you,
22 Mr. President. There will be a Democratic
23 Conference in Room 314 right after.
24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: And an
25 immediate Minority Conference in Room 314.
6472
1 Majority in 332, Minority in 313. See you in
2 20 minutes.
3 SENATOR SKELOS: Stand at
4 ease.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
6 Senate stands at ease.
7 (The Senate stood at ease from
8 1:50 p.m. to 2:58 p.m.)
9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
10 Senate will come to order. Members will take
11 their place. Staff will find their place.
12 The Chair recognizes Senator
13 Bruno.
14 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
15 can we take up the non-controversial reading
16 of the Rules report?
17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
18 Secretary will read.
19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar
20 Number 1668, by Senator Volker, Senate Print
21 7855-A, an act to amend the Vehicle and
22 Traffic Law and Chapter 383 of the Laws of
23 1998.
24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
25 Secretary will read the last section.
6473
1 THE SECRETARY: Section 3.
2 This act shall take effect on the same date
3 and be subject to the same provisions as
4 Chapter 383 of the Laws of 1998c.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
6 Call the roll.
7 (The Secretary called the
8 roll.)
9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
11 bill is passed.
12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar
13 Number 1669, by Senator Volker, Senate Print
14 7859-B, an act to amend a chapter of the Laws
15 of 1998 amending the Penal Law.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
17 Secretary will Read the last section.
18 THE SECRETARY: Section 8.
19 This act shall take effect immediately.
20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
21 Call the roll.
22 (The Secretary called the
23 roll.)
24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58.
25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
6474
1 bill is passed.
2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar
3 Number 1671, by Senator Liebell, Senate Print
4 7867, an act to amend the Private Housing
5 Finance Law, in relation to increasing the
6 amount of the bond and note authorization.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
8 Secretary will read the last section.
9 THE SECRETARY: Section 2.
10 This act shall take effect immediately.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
12 Call the roll.
13 (The Secretary called the
14 roll.)
15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
17 bill is passed.
18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar
19 Number 1672, by Senator Velella, Senate Print
20 7868-B, an act to amend the Insurance Law, in
21 relation to domestic life, property/casualty,
22 reciprocal, mortgage guaranty, cooperative
23 property/casualty and financial guaranty.
24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
25 Senator Bruno.
6475
1 SENATOR BRUNO: Is there a
2 message at the desk?
3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
4 There is.
5 SENATOR BRUNO: Move to
6 accept the message.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
8 motion is to accept the message of necessity
9 on Calendar 1672.
10 All those in favor, signify
11 by saying aye.
12 (Response of "Aye.")
13 Opposed, nay.
14 (There was no response.)
15 Message is accepted.
16 SENATOR LEICHTER: Lay it
17 aside, please.
18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay
19 the bill aside.
20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar
21 Number 1674, by Senator Saland, Senate Print
22 7870, an act to amend the Social Services Law
23 and the Family Court Act, in relation to
24 reasonable efforts.
25 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Lay it
6476
1 aside.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
3 Senator Bruno.
4 SENATOR BRUNO: Is there a
5 message at the desk?
6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
7 There is.
8 SENATOR BRUNO: Move to
9 accept the message.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
11 motion is to accept the message of necessity
12 on Calendar 1674, which is at the desk. All
13 in favor, signify by saying aye.
14 (Response of "Aye.")
15 Opposed, nay.
16 (There was no response.)
17 The message is accepted.
18 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Lay it
19 aside, please.
20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
21 bill is laid aside.
22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar
23 1675, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate
24 Print 7871, an act to extend the period for
25 filing applications.
6477
1 SENATOR BRUNO: Is there a
2 message at the desk?
3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
4 There is.
5 SENATOR BRUNO: Move to
6 accept the message.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
8 motion is to except the message of necessity
9 on Calendar 1675, which is at the desk. All
10 those in favor, signify by saying aye.
11 (Response of "Aye".)
12 Opposed, nay.
13 (There was no response.)
14 The message is accepted.
15 The bill is before the
16 house. The Secretary will read the last
17 section.
18 THE SECRETARY: Section 4.
19 This act shall take effect immediately.
20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
21 Call the roll.
22 (The Secretary called the
23 roll.)
24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58.
25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
6478
1 bill is passed.
2 Senator Oppenheimer, why do you
3 rise?
4 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: I was
5 just going to question, did you read 1670?
6
7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: No, we
8 did not.
9 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Thank
10 you.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
12 Bruno, that completes the non-controversial
13 reading of the Rules report calendar.
14 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
15 can we at this time have the controversial
16 reading of the Rules report?
17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
18 Secretary will read.
19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar
20 Number 1672, by Senator Velella, Senate Print
21 7868-B, an act to amend the Insurance Law.
22 SENATOR BRUNO: Lay it aside.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay
24 the bill aside.
25 SENATOR BRUNO: Can we at this
6479
1 time call up Calendar Number 1674?
2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
3 Secretary will read.
4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar
5 Number 1674, by Senator Saland, Senate Print
6 7870, an act to amend the Social Services Law
7 and the Family Court Act.
8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
9 Senator Saland, an explanation of Calendar
10 1674 has been requested by Senator Dollinger.
11 SENATOR SALAND: Thank you,
12 Mr. President.
13 Mr. President, this bill is
14 a Governor's program bill. It is an effort on
15 the part of the Governor and this body to
16 conform with the federally adopted
17 legislation; the legislation was adopted in
18 November of '97, the Adoption and the Safe
19 Families Act.
20 Basically what this bill
21 attempts to do, proposing to do, is to elevate
22 to the paramount consideration the health and
23 safety of a child, whether it be in terms of
24 adoption,
25 whether it be in terms of foster care or
6480
1 whether it be in terms of child protective
2 services.
3 And while previously the
4 standard in the state of New York which was of
5 paramount concern was the reunification of a
6 family, in order to comply with the federal
7 law and failure to comply, which will result
8 in the loss of some 650-plus million dollars,
9 but in order to comply with the federal law,
10 we have to adopt again, as our paramount
11 standard, the safety and health of a child.
12 And that is not to say that
13 we divorce ourselves from the importance of
14 reunifications of families, but in those cases
15 where it is determined that the health -- I'm
16 sorry, that the safety and well-being of a
17 child requires either a termination of
18 parental rights or whether it requires some
19 intervention on the part of child protective,
20 that, in fact, the reunification of the family
21 will, in fact, have to take a back seat.
22 There are a number of
23 changes that are contained in this
24 legislation. What we do, among other things,
25 is require that if a child is in foster care
6481
1 for 15 out of 22 months,
2 we permit, as the federal law requires, that a
3 termination of parental rights petition may be
4 filed.
5 We require, in addition,
6 that there be some new grounds for termination
7 of parental rights; we define among them
8 aggravated circumstances, which includes
9 certain enumerated crimes or classifications
10 of crimes. We also provide some additional
11 categories which would provide grounds for
12 termination. There would be criminal
13 background checks for prospective foster and
14 adoptive parents.
15 And, again, the essence of
16 this bill, which is a bill which we must not
17 fail to comply with simply if, for no other
18 reason, aside from the changes in policy that
19 will be dictated by this bill, but for the
20 fiscal impact on the state of New York, as I
21 said earlier, in excess of some 650 million
22 dollars, but the essence of this bill is about
23 children, the protection of children, and
24 clearly adhering to the federal mandate to
25 make of the paramount policy consideration by
6482
1 this state and 49 others the safety and
2 well-being of a child.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is
4 that explanation satisfactory, Senator
5 Dollinger? SENATOR DOLLINGER:
6 Mr. Chairman, I don't know whether there
7 are any other members from this side who had
8 questions, but I had a couple for Senator
9 Saland, if he would yield to a couple
10 questions.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
12 Senator Saland, do you yield to a question
13 from Senator Dollinger?
14 THE SECRETARY: Yes, Mr.
15 President.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
17 Senator yields.
18 SENATOR DOLLINGER: This is
19 a bill that I hadn't seen until today, so some
20 of these may be simple prefatory questions.
21 For example, on page 4, there are a list of
22 aggravated circumstances which would allow a
23 court, in the absence of any other finding, to
24 disqualify or remove from the parent a child.
25 Aggravated circumstances would give, as I
6483
1 understand this bill, Senator, would give the
2 courts the ability to remove the child or
3 terminate the parental rights upon a finding
4 of any one of these violations, is that
5 correct?
6 SENATOR SALAND: The -
7 what the essence of the aggravated
8 circumstances goes to -- and you have a list
9 of some very severe crimes -- is that there
10 would no longer be a requirement that you make
11 a reasonable effort to reunify the family.
12 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again,
13 through you, Mr. President, if Senator Saland
14 will continue to yield.
15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
16 Senator Saland, do you continue to yield to
17 Senator Dollinger?
18 SENATOR SALAND: Yes, Mr.
19 President.
20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
21 Senator yields.
22 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I
23 appreciate that explanation. As I've often
24 asked in other bills we have done, that bill
25 includes criminal solicitation as defined in
6484
1 Article 100 of the Penal Law, does that
2 include criminal solicitation that may only be
3 a violation, therefore, we'd simply issue an
4 appearance ticket to the parent on that issue
5 and yet that would be sufficient a finding
6 that there was a violation,
7 they were guilty of a violation, not a crime,
8 but just a violation, would that be sufficient
9 to constitute aggravated circumstances?
10 SENATOR SALAND: I think if
11 you read a bit further and look at the
12 language in line 19, it talks in terms of
13 soliciting or facilitating any of the
14 foregoing crimes. So I would think by
15 definition, we are limiting ourselves to
16 crimes and it would not apply to a violation,
17 in as much as a violation is not a crime. It
18 would apply to misdemeanors, would apply to
19 felonies.
20 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again,
21 through you, Mr. President.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
23 Senator Dollinger.
24 SENATOR SALAND: And again,
25 I would just -- for purposes of responding yet
6485
1 further, what this is part of the federal
2 requirement.
3 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Okay.
4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
5 Senator Dollinger, the chamber appeared to be
6 a little noisy; I was trying to get a little
7 control here so we could have the adherence of
8 your discussion.
9 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I
10 appreciate that, Mr. President.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
12 Senator Saland, do you continue to yield?
13 SENATOR SALAND: Yes, Mr.
14 President.
15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
16 Senator continues to yield.
17 SENATOR DOLLINGER: The
18 specific crimes that are listed here,
19 solicitation, facilitation and conspiracy, all
20 are derivative violations, they are violations
21 in which the individual who's charged has not
22 necessarily committed the crime they have
23 taken an overt act, either in the solicitation
24 of the crime, or the facilitation of the
25 crime, they are not actually engaged in the
6486
1 underlying crime itself.
2 My question is, Mr.
3 President, is that required by federal law
4 that it go that far, all the way to
5 facilitation and conspiracy and solicitation?
6 SENATOR SALAND: Attempt,
7 conspiracy and solicitation are expressly in
8 the
9 federal mandate.
10 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Okay.
11 Again, through you, Mr.
12 President.
13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
14 Senator Saland, do you continue to yield?
15 SENATOR SALAND: Yes, Mr.
16 President.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
18 Senator continues to yield.
19 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Just
20 let me make sure I understand. If a parent is
21 found guilty of a violation, which I believe
22 the sixth degree of criminal solicitation is
23 defined in Article 100 of the Penal Law as a
24 violation, simple violation, no jail time,
25 minor fine, minor violation of the law, not
6487
1 even a misdemeanor, not even a crime under New
2 York law, if they are found guilty of one of
3 those as defined in Article 100, solicitation,
4 there's a chance that their parental rights
5 could be cut off by a court upon that finding.
6 SENATOR SALAND: The
7 solicitation -- and unfortunately I don't have
8 the Penal Law in front of me -- relates back
9 to
10 each of the enumerated crimes, so if somebody
11 attempts -- conspires, solicits or facilitates
12 or attempts to do so with respect to murder in
13 the second degree, manslaughter in the first
14 degree, manslaughter in the second degree and
15 so on, through all those enumerated crimes,
16 yes, under this bill and pursuant to what has
17 been required of us by way of the federal
18 mandate, that person is -- stands to find
19 themselves at great risk.
20 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Okay.
21 Again, through you, Mr. President, just to use
22 another example, suppose a child is killed in
23 a gun accident and there's a finding of
24 criminal manslaughter against someone who was
25 playing with a gun involving another child and
6488
1 yet it was the parent who made the gun
2 available to the child, there might be an
3 instance in which they had facilitated the
4 crime of manslaughter. Under those
5 circumstances, would the parents, finding that
6 they had facilitated this terribly regrettable
7 act for which there is some criminal
8 liability, would that be sufficient to
9 disqualify the parent from terminating their
10 parental rights?
11 SENATOR SALAND: The
12 language
13 at the beginning of that paragraph beginning
14 at line 8 says the parent of such child has
15 been convicted. So, again, had the parent
16 been convicted, yes, the situation which you
17 describe would occur. Had the parent, for
18 some reason or other, been guilty of some act
19 of omission for which there were no criminal
20 charges, the answer would assumedly be no.
21 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Okay.
22 Again, through you Mr. President.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
24 Senator Saland, do you continue to yield?
25 SENATOR SALAND: Yes, Mr.
6489
1 President.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
3 Senator continues to yield.
4 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I
5 understand that explanation; I'm not quite
6 sure I read it that way, but I'll address that
7 in my remarks.
8 Let me call your attention
9 to the sections that allow the termination of
10 parental rights as contained in subdivision 6
11 which is on page 5. My question here is, this
12 says that if there is evidence that a child
13 has
14 been abandoned, then you may terminate
15 parental rights. What happens to the parent's
16 child support obligation when that happens?
17 SENATOR SALAND: The
18 section to which you're referring is foster
19 care review -
20 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Right,
21 but -
22 THE SECRETARY: Not
23 termination, this is foster care review.
24 SENATOR DOLLINGER: But my
25 question is, what happens if a parent's rights
6490
1 are terminated and that parent is paying child
2 support on behalf of the child? It would seem
3 to me that you can't be forced to pay child
4 support for a child that you no longer have
5 any parental rights over.
6 SENATOR SALAND: Under the
7 existing federal law, if you remain in foster
8 care, nowithstanding the fact that there has
9 been a termination, you remain obligated for
10 support payments until the child has been
11 adopted.
12 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Is that
13 again, through you, Mr. President.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
15 Senator Saland, do you continue to yield to
16 Senator Dollinger?
17 SENATOR SALAND: Yes, Mr.
18 President.
19 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Is that
20 true as a matter of state law or federal law?
21 SENATOR SALAND: Federal
22 law.
23 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I guess
24 I find that intriguing, but I'll certainly
25 accept that.
6491
1 One final question, and
2 again, Senator Saland, I can't -- I just read
3 this very quickly, as quickly as I could. Are
4 there any additional appropriations in this
5 bill that go directly to family courts in this
6 state because of the enormous mandate that
7 we're now presenting them with for the very
8 complicated adjudications that are necessary
9 to reach the complicated, difficult, trying
10 decisions that this bill requires to terminate
11 parental rights? Are we going to give them
12 any family court judges, are we going to
13 create any more personnel, are we going to
14 allow more social services money for reports
15 and investigations that are at the heart of
16 this bill?
17 SENATOR SALAND: The
18 reviews that are required under this bill
19 remain substantially the same other than the
20 new responsibility for a 30-day hearing where
21 there are issues of compelling circumstances.
22 Assumedly, if there is a
23 need to provide additional dollars, we
24 certainly can address this in as much as it is
25 not effective until the beginning of the next
6492
1 year. We certainly should be able to address
2 that in the course of the adoption of the
3 '99-2000 budget.
4 SENATOR DOLLINGER:
5 Finally, Mr. President, if I could, just one
6 final question, Senator Saland, and I respect
7 your opinion on this because I know you've
8 done so much work in family support and in
9 family issues. Are you convinced that there
10 is evidence in this state that our current
11 policy favoring parental rights and favoring
12 the recreation and re-establishment of
13 families has been ineffective sufficient to
14 justify us to change that policy and adopt
15 this federally- mandated system from
16 Washington that this is the right thing to do
17 in Albany and Syracuse and Schenectady? I
18 mean, is it right for us to take a federal
19 mandate?
20 I know, Senator Saland, that
21 it comes with that lure of money attached to
22 it, but has our system worked so poorly that
23 we should buy the federal solution devised in
24 Washington to replace our judgment on this
25 issue of parental involvement in families?
6493
1 SENATOR SALAND: Well, I
2 must share with you my sense that I generally
3 do not like the idea of having
4 one-size-fits-all solutions imposed upon us by
5 people who profess enormous wisdom in
6 Washington. Nonetheless, we find ourselves,
7 along with 49 other states, in a situation in
8 which if we fail to comply -- we don't have to
9 comply, but if we don't comply, we're going to
10 lose 650-plus million dollars in Title IV(e)
11 money.
12 The reality is that children
13 do languish far too long in foster care; there
14 is much evidence of that. This is an effort
15 to try and move children out of foster care
16 into more permanent settings much more
17 rapidly; and there is also evidence and
18 certainly there has been, either anecdotally
19 or by way of reports in major media when it
20 comes to questions of child protection,
21 reports of very horrible incidents
22 having occurred because of giving primacy to
23 family reunification and not to the safety of
24 a child.
25 I would have welcomed the
6494
1 opportunity to get us here in some similar
2 fashion, maybe not necessarily in the exact
3 same fashion, and have done it as state policy
4 without this -- certainly not a carrot, it's
5 a stick being used on us by the federal
6 government that certainly is a very critical
7 and added impetus that is going to require us
8 to do this.
9 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Thank
10 you very much, Mr. President. I greatly
11 appreciate that Senator Saland -- and let me
12 just address the bill quickly and give you my
13 sense of it.
14 I think you properly
15 characterize this, Senator Saland, as this is
16 a partially-funded mandate from Washington.
17 I can't believe that the Congress in
18 Washington which is so convinced that we ought
19 to have 50 states experimenting has now given
20 us this partially-funded mandate.
21 Why do I say
22 partially-funded? Senator Saland is correct,
23 there's a 650 million dollar lure to this, but
24 I think the cost of
25 doing this to our family courts is going to be
6495
1 substantially greater than that. We're going
2 to need additional judges. I know in my own
3 home county, and Senator Nozzolio and Senator
4 Alesi and I have been working on putting a
5 sixth family court judge to work in Monroe
6 County. I know there are other counties that
7 need county court judges in Upstate to handle
8 the enormous number of petitions that are
9 filed currently. It's only going to expand
10 here.
11 This sets a rubric for
12 terminating parental rights that's going to
13 have to be rigorously followed by our courts
14 which is going to consume more resources.
15 This is a partially-funded mandate, and I'm
16 concerned, Senator Saland, because I know as
17 you do that there is episodic evidence that we
18 put kids in foster care too long and that too
19 often they get lost in that system and we
20 don't, in many cases, terminate those parental
21 rights quickly enough and we end up with a
22 situation where parents are attempting to get
23 control back over their child long after
24 they've abandoned them and it aggravates the
25 tensions faced by our family courts and by our
6496
1 whole family support system.
2 But, I'm not willing to suggest that this
3 solution devised in Washington is the right
4 thing to do in New York.
5 This is contrary to what I
6 thought Washington would tell us, which is to
7 give us the money, set some targets and goals
8 and then let us figure out how to reach them
9 and figure out how to get there.
10 It seems to me it's
11 inconsistent for this Congress in Washington
12 to claim that they favor states' rights and
13 they want to increase the laboratory
14 experimentation on critical issues like this
15 and yet here they are telling us that we have
16 to follow these rules.
17 I'm concerned, Senator,
18 because I was hoping you would give this a
19 strong endorsement as the solution to the
20 problem in New York and what I heard you say
21 was it may be a solution, but we don't have
22 enough evidence in this state to make a
23 judgment that it will solve our problem.
24 And with that, even though
25 -- even though it has the lure of 650 million
6497
1 dollars attached to it, and even though it may
2 have the appearance of solving this problem, I
3 don't think that this bill does necessarily
4 provide the solution for New York. And, with
5 all due respect, I'm going to vote against
6 this bill because I think there are other
7 serious problems with it.
8 But if this is the way we're
9 going to deal with Washington and have
10 Washington tell us how to solve our problems,
11 I'm not convinced that the people in
12 Washington have the sensitivity that you have,
13 Senator Saland, to this problem in this state
14 and I would feel much better if you had stood
15 up and said we've come up to a solution, we've
16 held the hearings, we've got a better idea of
17 how to solve it.
18 If Washington's approach is
19 to give us this cash lure that's going to
20 force us all to conform with their vision of
21 how to solve the problems of families and
22 children, I think we're making a huge mistake.
23
24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
25 Senator Oppenheimer.
6498
1 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: If I
2 can ask a question of Senator Saland.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
4 Senator Saland, do you yield to a question
5 from Senator Oppenheimer?
6 THE SECRETARY: Yes, Mr.
7 President.
8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
9 Senator yields.
10 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: This
11 bill that we're dealing with today is a
12 Governor's program bill, is it not?
13 SENATOR SALAND: Yes, it
14 is, Senator.
15 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: But
16 this is not a bill that will be or has been
17 before the Assembly, is it?
18 SENATOR SALAND: This bill
19 has not been approved by the Assembly; and as
20 I respond to you here today, there is no
21 three-way agreement with respect to this
22 particular subject.
23 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: So
24 then we may look forward to another bill and
25 perhaps that other bill can address some of
6499
1 the concerns that I know I have been hearing
2 from the New York Bar Association, which
3 principally are concerns about the children
4 being moved too swiftly
5 through the system, not enough attention being
6 given to the children, and I think these are
7 things that we might be able to discuss
8 further when the two bills are brought
9 together; yes?
10 SENATOR SALAND: I would
11 certainly welcome that sort of finality,
12 keeping in mind that the clock is ticking,
13 that our deadline is December 31st, and it's
14 probably worth noting that the only memo I'm
15 currently aware of that I have received with
16 respect to this bill has been by the city of
17 New York and that has been in favor, or in
18 support of this bill.
19 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER:
20 Uh-huh. I -
21 SENATOR SALAND: Counsel
22 just advises me we have one other and that's
23 from PWA.
24 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: I
25 today shipped down the -- faxed down the bill
6500
1 to the New York bar -- City Bar Association,
2 they wanted to see the bill. So I think we'll
3 be hearing from them within a day or two. But
4 thank you very much, Senator.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Any
6 other Senator wishing to speak on the bill?
7 Senator Paterson.
8 SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you,
9 Mr. President.
10 If Senator Saland will yield.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
12 Saland, will you yield to Senator Paterson?
13 SENATOR SALAND: Certainly, Mr.
14 President.
15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
16 Senator yields.
17 SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you,
18 Senator.
19 Theoretically -- not even
20 theoretically but perhaps more specifically,
21 this -- the federal legislation which contains
22 within it the lure of $650 million which
23 Senator Dollinger was referring to earlier
24 does contain the opting out provision whereby
25 we would not necessarily have to include some
6501
1 of the criminal history checks and some of the
2 specifics that this legislation contains.
3 Is that true, Senator?
4 SENATOR SALAND: As I indicated
5 in my earlier remarks, Senator, while our bill
6 complies with federal requirement provisions
7 and you correctly point out the federal
8 requirement, we would be able to opt out of
9 that determination. The determination has
10 been made both by the Governor and his
11 relevant staff and the Majority in this house
12 and myself included as the Chairperson of the
13 Senate Children and Families Committee, that
14 we wish to avail ourselves of the opportunity
15 of having that fingerprinting mechanism as
16 part of the process.
17 SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you.
18 If the Senator would continue
19 to yield.
20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Will
21 the Senator continue to yield?
22 SENATOR SALAND: Yes, Mr.
23 President.
24 SENATOR PATERSON: Therefore, I
25 guess, Senator, what you're saying is that the
6502
1 federal government has set a threshold and in
2 this case because we feel there might be some
3 issues that have not been addressed by
4 Washington, we would go beyond that threshold
5 into a couple of these areas.
6 I want to just ask you a couple
7 questions about those areas, but before I even
8 go to that, the federal legislation itself
9 talks about -
10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
11 Paterson. Senator Paterson, if I might
12 interrupt you. I know it's getting very
13 difficult for me to hear and if it's difficult
14 for me to hear you, it's certainly difficult
15 for the people trying to record your question
16 and in your debate with Senator Saland. I
17 don't have any idea whether Senator Saland can
18 hear you, quite frankly, so if I could ask the
19 members, please, if you need to have a
20 conversation with your staff, please ask your
21 staff to go outside and have a conversation.
22 If you need to have a conversation with
23 another member, please take it outside so we
24 may proceed so some of us can get home to do
25 some Christmas shopping.
6503
1 Now, with that, please, Senator
2 Paterson.
3 SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you,
4 Mr. President, Senator Saland, for your
5 willingness to yield for this question.
6 I'm asking you with respect to
7 some of the aggravated circumstances that
8 would diminish the obligation of the court to
9 accomplish a unification between the parents
10 and the children and also in some cases that
11 might actually terminate parental rights.
12 One of the aggravated
13 circumstances that the federal legislation
14 addresses is the issue of domestic violence or
15 certainly of spousal abuse and my question to
16 you is since there's no law that actually
17 defines that, how are we supposed to interpret
18 from the federal law what spousal abuse or
19 what child abuse or some type of domestic
20 violence actually is?
21 SENATOR SALAND: We have had
22 meetings with DCJS and they have effectively
23 compiled a list of all of the specifically
24 enumerated categories of crime to which these
25 types of crimes such as spousal abuse crimes
6504
1 or child abuse crimes would be applicable.
2 SENATOR PATERSON: A final
3 question, if the Senator would continue to
4 yield.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
6 Saland, do you continue to yield?
7 SENATOR SALAND: Yes, Mr.
8 President.
9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
10 Senator continues to yield.
11 SENATOR PATERSON: Senator, is
12 there any distinction between the procedures
13 in which an adoption would be procured either
14 through the private agencies or through the
15 foster care system?
16 SENATOR SALAND: Regrettably,
17 Senator, I didn't hear your question in its
18 entirety. Could I ask you to please repeat
19 it.
20 SENATOR PATERSON: Certainly,
21 Senator. Is there any distinction between the
22 procedures by which an adoption would be
23 procured either through the private agency or
24 through the foster care system or any of the
25 procedures that would be followed or the
6505
1 regulations that this bill would establish, do
2 they differ in any way based on the manner
3 that the adoption is accomplished?
4 SENATOR SALAND: This isn't
5 applicable to private adoptions. Private
6 adoptions currently require fingerprinting.
7 The fingerprinting is generic and it's within
8 the discretion of the court to determine if
9 there's a hit whether or not the parent is an
10 appropriate adoptive parent.
11 SENATOR PATERSON: Criminal
12 backgrounds, Senator -- if you'll continue to
13 yield. Criminal backgrounds are the same or
14 the record checks are the same whether the
15 adoptions are private or through the foster
16 care system?
17 SENATOR SALAND: No. The -
18 the crimes which are deemed relevant are
19 categorized in this legislation for foster
20 care and for adoptions emanating from that
21 foster care. Private adoptions are -
22 currently require fingerprinting, criminal
23 screening. They're not categorized. If
24 anything they're broader but there's
25 discretion within the judge to determine
6506
1 whether or not that criminal record is
2 relevant to the fitness of the parent to be an
3 adoptive parent.
4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
5 Paterson?
6 SENATOR SALAND: The mandate
7 applies to agency adoptions only.
8 SENATOR PATERSON: Senator, if
9 you'd continue to yield.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
11 Saland, do you continue to yield?
12 (Senator Saland nods head.)
13 SENATOR PATERSON: Would it be
14 fair to say that in private adoptions the
15 judge has the discretionary power, whereas in
16 the adoptions that are secured through the
17 foster care system we would then be relying on
18 the specific delineated circumstances set
19 forth in the bill?
20 SENATOR SALAND: Yes, that
21 comports with the federal mandate.
22 SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you.
23 Just one final question,
24 Senator. In a situation involving Section 125
25 of the -- of the Criminal Code of the Penal
6507
1 Law, and that being vehicular homicide in the
2 second degree, in that situation, it only
3 applies if a child is killed in the car crash,
4 is that correct?
5 SENATOR SALAND: I believe it
6 would be applicable -- if I read correctly on
7 page 4, I believe it would be applicable to a
8 child -- any other child of that parent or a
9 half sibling as well.
10 SENATOR PATERSON: Then,
11 Senator, if the prospective parent were
12 willing to relinquish their driver's license,
13 would that make them eligible where they
14 otherwise would not be?
15 SENATOR SALAND: Not if there's
16 been a conviction. I -- the parents' rights
17 with respect to your question rise or fall on
18 whether he or she has been convicted.
19 SENATOR PATERSON: Okay. Thank
20 you, Senator.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
22 Secretary will read the last section.
23 THE SECRETARY: Section 50.
24 This act shall take effect January 1, 1999.
25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call
6508
1 the roll.
2 (The Secretary called the
3 roll.)
4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record
5 the negatives and announce the results.
6 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 55, nays
7 3, Senators Dollinger, Leichter and Abate
8 recorded in the negative.
9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
10 bill is passed.
11 Senator Abate, why do you
12 rise?
13 SENATOR ABATE: Yes.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
15 Oppenheimer, do you wish to be recorded in the
16 negative on this bill?
17 (Senator Oppenheimer nods
18 head.)
19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54, nays
20 4. Also Senator Oppenheimer.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
22 bill is passed.
23 Senator Abate, why do you
24 rise?
25 SENATOR ABATE: Yes. I'm
6509
1 voting in the negative on this bill and I want
2 to explain my vote.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: I
4 suppose we can allow that to happen. I wish
5 you had risen 30 seconds before.
6 SENATOR ABATE: I had my hand
7 up.
8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
9 Abate to explain her vote.
10 SENATOR ABATE: Yes. I have a
11 memo by the New York State Bar Association
12 that raise some critical issues about the
13 complexity of the bill, the impact the bill
14 would have on the child welfare system and
15 they had some very reasonable suggestions to
16 get a three-month extension so we could have a
17 public debate before the Judiciary, the child
18 organizations, the legal community to have a
19 public comment to look at the options
20 available to make sure that not only we're in
21 compliance with the federal laws, but that we
22 also produce a system that benefits families
23 and children throughout this state.
24 I do not believe that we've had
25 sufficient debate today, opportunity for the
6510
1 public review and for those reasons, I'm
2 voting against the bill.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
4 Montgomery, why do you rise?
5 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, Mr.
6 President.
7 I rise to vote no on this
8 legislation and the reason being that I
9 certainly understand Senator Saland's intent
10 to put us in compliance, I guess you would
11 say, with the federal law, but I do think
12 there are some very major issues raised -
13 being raised here in this in terms of what the
14 bill will mean.
15 One in particular is there are
16 larger and larger numbers of women who are
17 being incarcerated for various reasons and
18 obviously we want to make sure that in any
19 instance where those women had been reunited
20 successfully with their children, we don't
21 want there to be any question that they can
22 be, and I hope that we would be able to have
23 more open debate and discussion on this bill.
24 So I'm voting no for now.
25 Thanks.
6511
1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
2 Montgomery will be recorded in the negative.
3 Is there any other Senator
4 wishing to cast a negative vote?
5 (There was no response.)
6 The bill is before the house.
7 The Secretary will read the
8 final results.
9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52, nays
10 6, Senators Abate, Dollinger, Leichter,
11 Montgomery, Oppenheimer and Smith recorded in
12 the negative.
13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
14 bill is passed.
15 Senator Bruno.
16 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
17 can we call up Calendar Number 1672, please.
18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
19 Secretary will read Calendar Number 1672 on
20 the Rules report.
21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
22 1672, by Senator Velella, Senate Print 7868-B,
23 an act to amend the Insurance Law.
24 SENATOR LEICHTER: Explanation.
25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
6512
1 Velella, an explanation has been requested.
2 SENATOR VELELLA: This is a
3 chapter amendment to 7488-A which we passed
4 during the regular session earlier this year.
5 It expanded the types of derivative
6 instruments that insurers may purchase to
7 hedge upward or downward movement in the
8 marketplace.
9 The bill makes several
10 technical corrections to the new law to make
11 it operate more effectively.
12 SENATOR LEICHTER: Will Senator
13 Velella yield for a question or two?
14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
15 Velella, will you yield for a question?
16 SENATOR VELELLA: For a
17 question, yes.
18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
19 Leichter.
20 SENATOR LEICHTER: Okay.
21 Senator, as I read the chapter -
22 SENATOR VELELLA: Could you
23 speak up, Senator?
24 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes,
25 certainly. As I read the chapter amendment
6513
1 contained in this bill, what it seems to do is
2 somewhat limit the right and power of the
3 Insurance Department to pass on these
4 derivative proposals by insurance companies.
5 As we've seen, these derivative investments
6 can be extremely volatile, and I just wonder
7 what the reason and purpose is of these
8 limitations.
9 SENATOR VELELLA: Senator, it's
10 my understanding -- and I just checked with
11 counsel -- that, in fact, what this does is
12 provide a mechanism for the Insurance
13 Department to more closely scrutinize those
14 investments, not to remove any powers from
15 them to authorize it.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
17 Leichter.
18 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, if
19 you would continue to yield.
20 As I read it, this bill now
21 imposes certain time limitation, states that
22 if within a particular period of time the
23 Insurance Department doesn't act on the
24 application, the application will be
25 approved. I read that to be a limitation on
6514
1 the monitoring and the supervision by the
2 Insurance Department.
3 SENATOR VELELLA: Well,
4 Senator, like anything, it's a question of how
5 you look at it, how you interpret it. Is the
6 glass half full? Is the glass half empty?
7 The fact that the Insurance Department's
8 failure to act allows it to go through, I know
9 that since we have had a new administration,
10 the Insurance Department operates much more
11 efficiently. They will act on these
12 requests. It's not like the old Insurance
13 Department that you knew. This is a new one.
14 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr.
15 President.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
17 Leichter.
18 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr.
19 President, I don't want to prolong this
20 debate. Let me just briefly comment on the
21 bill.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
23 Leichter, on the bill.
24 SENATOR LEICHTER: You know,
25 Senator Velella, sometimes you can argue that
6515
1 the glass is half full or half empty but when
2 there's nothing in there, then it's all empty
3 and the fact is that these derivatives, as you
4 know, and as we've seen are extremely
5 dangerous investments.
6 We've seen major banks lose
7 hundreds of millions of dollars in assets in
8 their ill-advised investment in derivatives.
9 Now we're allowing insurance companies to
10 invest in derivatives.
11 I voted against the main bill
12 for that reason because I think it is such a
13 dangerous type of investment but at the very
14 least, if we're going to have these
15 investments, if we're going to have some
16 supervision by the Insurance Department, I
17 wouldn't limit the time within which the
18 Insurance Department has to act.
19 If you are right, Senator, and
20 we have such an efficient Insurance Department
21 -- I'm not saying that it isn't efficient -
22 they'll act in due time, but it may well be
23 that in some instances they would need more
24 than the 45 days or whatever number of days
25 that you permit in this chapter amendment for
6516
1 them to review the application of an insurer
2 to engage in derivatives.
3 It seems to me it's an ill
4 advised bill.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is
6 there any other Senator wishing to speak on
7 the bill?
8 (There was no response.)
9 Hearing none, the Secretary
10 will read the last section.
11 THE SECRETARY: Section 5.
12 This act shall take effect immediately.
13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call
14 the roll.
15 (The Secretary called the
16 roll.)
17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record
18 the negatives. Announce the results.
19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 56, nays
20 2, Senators Dollinger and Leichter recorded in
21 the negative.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
23 Hoffmann, why do you rise?
24 SENATOR HOFFMANN: Mr.
25 President, I was out of the chamber when the
6517
1 vote was taken on 1674. I would -
2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
3 Hoffmann -- the bill is passed.
4 Senator Hoffmann, why do you
5 rise?
6 SENATOR HOFFMANN: I'm sorry.
7 Mr. President, when 1674 was taken up I was
8 out of the chamber. I request unanimous
9 consent to be recorded in negative on that
10 bill.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without
12 objection.
13 SENATOR HOFFMANN: Thank you.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Hearing
15 no objection, Senator Hoffmann will be
16 recorded in the negative on Calendar Number
17 1674.
18 Any other members wishing to
19 make any adjustments to those?
20 (There was no response.)
21 Hearing none, Senator Bruno.
22 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
24 Bruno.
25 SENATOR BRUNO: Can we at this
6518
1 time take up Bill Number 1670.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
3 Secretary will read.
4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
5 1670, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 7866-A,
6 an act to amend Chapter 464 of the Laws of
7 1998.
8 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER:
9 Explanation, please.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
11 motion is to accept the message of necessity
12 on Calendar Number 1670 which is at the desk.
13 All those in favor signify by saying aye.
14 (Response of "Aye".)
15 Opposed, nay.
16 (Response of "Nay".)
17 The message of necessity is
18 accepted.
19 The bill is before the house.
20 Senator Larkin, an explanation
21 has been requested of Calendar Number 1670 by
22 Senator Oppenheimer.
23 SENATOR LARKIN: Mr. President.
24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Before
25 the discussion, may I ask the members to
6519
1 please take their chairs, the staff to take
2 their places. Let's quiet the conversations
3 down.
4 Senator Larkin.
5 SENATOR LARKIN: Mr. President,
6 this bill is a chapter amendment for a project
7 that was already approved by this body and the
8 Assembly unanimously, the 18th of June in the
9 Senate and the 19th of June, 1998 in the
10 Assembly unanimously.
11 What this bill does, it enables
12 the Dutchess County IDA to use $80 million of
13 federal tax exempt bond volume cap to finance
14 a recycling facility in Ulster County. The
15 project will invest over $500 million, create
16 300 permanent jobs and 1,000 construction
17 jobs.
18 This bill does not in any way,
19 shape or form change the SEQR process.
20 Nothing can be expended in this bill, none of
21 this $80 million until the entire SEQR process
22 has been totally completed and approved.
23 Okay?
24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
25 Oppenheimer.
6520
1 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Thank
2 you.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
4 Secretary will read the last section.
5 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: I will
6 have to disagree with my good colleague
7 because I think this does a lot of damage to
8 the SEQR process by turning the process on its
9 head instead of having -- following the SEQR
10 process and having an environmental impact
11 statement done at the beginning of a project
12 before any thought of financing that project
13 is put out and bonds are floated. The process
14 starts with an environmental impact. It
15 doesn't start with floating bonds and then
16 saying now let's look at the environmental
17 impact. So I have to disagree with you in
18 that I think it does a lot of damage by
19 allowing bonds to be sold before the SEQR
20 review.
21 This bill would actually
22 redefine a government action calling it a
23 non-action and it's hard to understand how a
24 non-action could be utilized -- that word
25 could be utilized in a project that will be
6521
1 700 acres of waterfront in Kingston. It will
2 take three million gallons of water a day out
3 of the river, Hudson River, and then return to
4 the Hudson River after the ink is removed from
5 the news print and that will have, we believe,
6 certainly some potentially serious
7 consequences to the spawning areas of sturgeon
8 and Atlantic shad and bass. We're not sure.
9 We can't say this for certain but that's the
10 purpose of the environmental impact statement,
11 so that we find out if there will be any
12 serious consequences.
13 I think we all would agree that
14 SEQR has been enormously, enormously effective
15 and in some ways it is our landmark
16 conservation legislation that has been around
17 for almost two decades and why -- why are we
18 talking about circumventing it now? Why are
19 we talking about turning it upside down, and I
20 think the fundamental principle of a
21 comprehensive environmental review at the
22 outside -- at the outset, the very beginning
23 of a project is something that we shouldn't
24 do, and that is what this law would do, and so
25 you would say, perhaps, Well, what it does it
6522
1 matter? This is one instance and this is
2 because we want to get the -- you know, the
3 federal tax exempt bonds.
4 I would say that the reason we
5 shouldn't do this is that it sets a very
6 dangerous precedent, and I know many of us
7 feel that there is no reason to sacrifice
8 environmental quality for economic development
9 even for a project that I'm sure we all would
10 agree is a good project. We want to see
11 newspaper recycled. We want to see this
12 project going -- to go ahead, but the fact is
13 this piece of money, this $80 million is a
14 small piece of the total funding and the
15 proposal -- as I understand it, the proposer
16 has said that there are alternatives to this
17 $80 million piece which we are to be voting on
18 today.
19 So when all things are
20 considered, I see a terrible potential
21 precedent here. This would be the first and
22 there would be others that would refer to it
23 in future years. We don't want to damage
24 SEQR. It has been the best environmental law
25 that we have had.
6523
1 So I'm urging a no vote.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
3 Dollinger.
4 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Will the
5 sponsor yield to two quick questions?
6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
7 Larkin, will you yield to two questions from
8 Senator Dollinger?
9 SENATOR LARKIN: Yes, Mr.
10 President.
11 SENATOR DOLLINGER: The first
12 one, Senator, what happens if the bonds are
13 sold and the project is never approved?
14 SENATOR LARKIN: Pardon me,
15 Richard?
16 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Through
17 you, Mr. President. What happens if the $80
18 million in bonds are sold and as a result of
19 the SEQR process, either there are
20 deficiencies and it's affecting, as Senator
21 Oppenheimer pointed out, the striped bass or
22 the water intake from the Hudson River, the
23 watershed or environmental -- the air that -
24 SENATOR LARKIN: Is that a
25 question, what happens to the bonds?
6524
1 SENATOR DOLLINGER: What
2 happens to the $80 million in bonds?
3 SENATOR LARKIN: Well, first of
4 all, the 880 million would be held in escrow
5 and after the environmental impact statement
6 has gone through the entire process from A to
7 Z, just as we said back in June when you voted
8 for the bill, this would be refunded, the
9 bonding would be refunded.
10 Richard, nothing can be spent
11 on this in the process of the facility until
12 every aspect of the environmental process -
13 the SEQR process is the guiding light of this
14 whole project. Without the approvals from A
15 to Z, there is no project, period, and -
16 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Okay.
17 Again just so I can clarify, Mr. President.
18 If the bonds will be sold, they will be held
19 in escrow for some period of time and then if
20 the project eventually isn't approved, the
21 bonds will be repaid, correct?
22 SENATOR LARKIN: Yes.
23 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Who's going
24 to pay all the interest to the bondholders
25 that accrues during the period of time it sits
6525
1 in escrow?
2 SENATOR LARKIN: The partners
3 of the project, they've already agreed to that
4 in writing to both Ulster County and Dutchess
5 County IDAs.
6 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again
7 through you, Mr. President.
8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
9 Larkin, do you continue to yield?
10 SENATOR LARKIN: Yes, Mr.
11 President.
12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
13 Senator yields.
14 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I
15 understand that in June we did approve a bill
16 that would have allowed this project to get in
17 under the cap. My question is why wasn't the
18 SEQR process started then? It would be done
19 now or close to being done now. We wouldn't
20 be where we are today if the application had
21 been filed, would we?
22 SENATOR LARKIN: Well, Richard,
23 when they started this, they weren't totally
24 sure of how long the process would take
25 place. As my good friend and colleague,
6526
1 Senator Saland, and I put together there was
2 advisory groups and they were sitting down
3 between the multiple -- both counties that
4 were involved in it, the municipalities that
5 had interest and all of the others. There
6 were advisory boards put together so they
7 could settle down and see where it was going.
8 They started to realize at that time that this
9 process, based on these initial evaluations
10 between the numbers of members that were
11 appointed to the board and their interest,
12 that this process could take as high as 18 to
13 20 months. That would put them past 31
14 December, at which time the 80 million cap
15 would float away. We couldn't roll it over.
16 The fed's said no. It would be lost not only
17 to this project but to the state of New York
18 and next year when we applied for federal tax
19 credit bonds, people could in Washington just
20 say, Wait a minute, New York. You had $80
21 million last year and you didn't use it, why
22 should we give you extra this year? There's
23 no guarantee we could get that money next
24 year. We would have to make an application
25 and what is the project?
6527
1 Richard, this project is, in
2 essence, to be environmentally sound. If we
3 believe in the SEQR process, as my good friend
4 Senator Oppenheimer said, I don't want to
5 violate the SEQR. I don't want to see us
6 create anything that's not environmentally
7 sound. I would not support any of this if
8 anybody would say to me that we plan to
9 circumvent the SEQR law. No way in Hades.
10 What we need to do is to make
11 sure -- and this package that's set out here
12 that creates a project worth $553 million, it
13 has a -- it has 1,000 construction jobs, it
14 has 375, but for me that's after the fact.
15 The fact of the matter is once this is -- we
16 would take -- should take positive action on
17 this, then the SEQR process, based on all of
18 the advisory groups, projects so far, would
19 move forward but we're talking about 18
20 months.
21 Everybody that we've talked to
22 said this project will take 18 months until
23 you get all of your evaluations and then
24 there's approvals which could extend a couple
25 more months. So at that point you would see
6528
1 the bonding move out -- not move out, be
2 extended.
3 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Just
4 through you, Mr. President, one more question
5 to Senator Larkin's comment.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
7 Larkin, do you continue to yield?
8 SENATOR LARKIN: Yes.
9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
10 Senator continues to yield.
11 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Under
12 federal law and under the federal cap, how
13 quickly does the $80 million have to be
14 spent? Is there any limitation on when it can
15 be spent? I know it has to be approved before
16 December 31st. Is there a limitation on when
17 it has to be spent?
18 SENATOR LARKIN: For example,
19 if we -- had we not had this process here and
20 the SEQR would have been done, they could have
21 done the bonds this year.
22 SENATOR DOLLINGER: But they
23 could do that under the -
24 SENATOR LARKIN: But SEQR is
25 not going to be done now. They can't do
6529
1 anything with those bonds. They can sell them
2 immediately upon receipt of total approved
3 SEQR process. Not until they receive that can
4 these bonds be valid for utilization in the
5 project.
6 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Okay.
7 Thank you very much, Mr. President.
8 I share the concerns of my
9 colleague, Senator Oppenheimer, and I'll be
10 very brief. There's some troubling
11 allegations that have been made by opponents
12 of this to me at least with respect to
13 representations made by this company in the
14 application process.
15 I would strongly suggest that
16 any municipal agency or the IDAs in these
17 counties take a good look at those. I offer
18 no interpretation other than to say that
19 there's some troubling allegations about
20 whether they've properly represented
21 themselves in the application. I leave that
22 to someone else to resolve.
23 It seems to me the critical
24 question here is whether our SEQR process
25 should be bent, slightly bent in this case, to
6530
1 achieve the goal of this project.
2 What I'm afraid we're doing,
3 Senator Larkin, is you're putting a very,
4 very, very big cart in front of a horse and
5 what you're doing is you're saying we're going
6 to fund this project. We're going to sell
7 under the cap, put these bonds in place and
8 somehow be convinced that the fact that we've
9 already got the money isn't going to influence
10 the decision we make about the environmental
11 security of this project.
12 I would just point out as a
13 private practice lawyer, I have been involved
14 in a number of SEQR cases. They are very
15 long. They can oftentimes be very contentious
16 and in many cases you don't know the outcome
17 of the SEQR process because of the
18 determination of the various environmental
19 variables until you get to the end of the
20 process and you're actually looking for those
21 governmental approvals both from the state and
22 local municipalities that are necessary to
23 operate this facility.
24 I would just suggest that we're
25 putting the financial cart before the SEQR
6531
1 horse and that's a bad idea. It would set a
2 terrible precedent in New York and somehow
3 suggest that there is a category of projects
4 which are so large, so important -- I won't
5 minimize the importance of this as an economic
6 development tool but somehow we're going to
7 create a big project exception and the
8 exception we're going to create is Go ahead.
9 Put the cart of financing ahead of the horse
10 of SEQR process and I would submit that that's
11 going to take a process we should all be
12 justifiably proud of, the SEQR process of
13 determining variables, making them a part of
14 our decision-making, something that I know,
15 Senator Larkin, I think you've have supported
16 throughout your history here, a time tested
17 process for making sure that our environment
18 for which we may forever change in the Hudson
19 River Valley if we build this project, that
20 that environment is taken into account when we
21 make this terribly important decision.
22 I would just submit when we put
23 the cart before the horse, we're creating a
24 terrible precedent in this state and we're
25 carving out a big project exception to the
6532
1 SEQR laws that in the long run will treat us
2 very, very poorly.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
4 Secretary will read the last section.
5 THE SECRETARY: Section 2.
6 This act shall take effect immediately.
7 SENATOR SALAND: Mr. President,
8 on the bill. On the bill. I would ask that
9 the roll call be withdrawn.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
11 Saland, on the bill.
12 SENATOR SALAND: Thank you, Mr.
13 President.
14 Mr. President, I rise in
15 opposition to this bill. Certainly as Senator
16 Larkin has indicated, our efforts initially
17 earlier this year were cooperative and I can
18 say nothing but kind things about Senator
19 Larkin, a dear friend and colleague for a
20 number of years, but this is -- issue has
21 certainly galvanized considerable response in
22 my Senate District, particularly in the
23 northern Dutchess portion of my Senate
24 District and much of it seems to center on
25 what many would consider to be a precedent -
6533
1 a dangerous precedent, an effort to get around
2 the so-called Queensbury case, a case which
3 was decided by the Court of Appeals back in
4 1982 and the concerns are that if we initiate
5 the type of action that's being requested here
6 and we compromise SEQR, what will be next,
7 what other exception will be required to
8 facilitate some other worthy project or
9 perhaps not so worthy project.
10 The reality is that the SEQR
11 law certainly has stood us well. For those
12 who might be concerned about SEQR, certainly
13 the form within which to deal with those
14 issues would certainly be far broader than
15 this attempted exception to SEQR and
16 attempting to carve out an exception to the
17 Queensbury case. I have a number of
18 municipalities in my district, the Northern
19 Dutchess Alliance, a number of environmental
20 groups who have been vehemently outspoken in
21 their opposition to this proposal, and I
22 certainly think that under the circumstances
23 we would be ill-advised to proceed with this
24 bill at this time.
25 Thank you, Mr. President.
6534
1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
2 Secretary will read the last section.
3 THE SECRETARY: Section 2.
4 This act shall take effect immediately.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call
6 the roll.
7 (The Secretary called the
8 roll.)
9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record
10 the negatives. Announce the results.
11 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded
12 in the negative on Calendar Number 1670 are
13 Senators Abate, Breslin, Connor, Dollinger,
14 Gentile, Kruger, Lachman, LaValle, Leibell,
15 Leichter, Markowitz, Montgomery, Nanula,
16 Onorato, Oppenheimer, Padavan, Paterson,
17 Rosado, Saland, Sampson, Santiago, Seabrook,
18 Smith, Stachowski, Stavisky. Ayes 34, nays
19 25. Also Senator Hoffmann. Ayes 33, nays
20 26.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
22 bill is passed.
23 Senator Bruno, that completes
24 the controversial reading of the Rules
25 report.
6535
1 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
2 can we return to the report of the Finance
3 Committee, and I believe that there is a
4 report of the Finance Committee at the desk.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Return
6 to the order of standing committees, the
7 Secretary will read the report of the Finance
8 Committee.
9 THE SECRETARY: Senator
10 Stafford, from the Committee on Finance,
11 reports the following nominations:
12 Member of the Buffalo and Fort
13 Erie Public Bridge Authority-(Peace Bridge):
14 Louis J. Billittier, of Hamburg.
15 SENATOR STAFFORD: Move the
16 nomination, please. Do them all. Yeah, do
17 them all.
18 THE SECRETARY: As a member of
19 the Board of Oswego Authority: Frank E.
20 Sayer, of Oswego and William F. Shannon, of
21 Oswego;
22 Commissioner of the Ohio River
23 Valley Water Sanitation Commission: Douglas
24 E. Conroe, of Maple Springs;
25 Members of the Thousand Islands
6536
1 State Park, Recreation and Historic
2 Preservation Commission: Judith J. Foster, of
3 Clayton and Sam F. Villanti, of Grieg;
4 Director of the Municipal
5 Assistance Corporation for the city of New
6 York: Ann Daly Printon, of New York City;
7 Member of the Mental Health
8 Services Council: Patricia H. Ogden, of White
9 Plains;
10 Members of the Board of
11 Visitors of the Bronx Psychiatric Center:
12 Richard Somer, of the Bronx;
13 Member of the Board of Visitors
14 of the Bronx Children's Psychiatric Center:
15 John T. Shea, of City Island;
16 Member of the Board of Visitors
17 of the Hudson River Psychiatric Center: Diana
18 T. Andros, of Poughkeepsie;
19 Member of the Board of Visitors
20 of the Letchworth Village Developmental
21 Disabilities Services Office: Ann Nehrbauer,
22 of Hastings-on-Hudson;
23 Member of the Board of Visitors
24 of the New York State Home for Veterans and
25 their Dependents at Oxford: Mary Smack, of
6537
1 Binghamton;
2 Member of the Board of Visitors
3 of the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center:
4 Clinton R. Matott, of Potsdam;
5 Member of the Board of Visitors
6 of the Staten Island Developmental
7 Disabilities Services Office: Robert
8 McCarren, of Staten Island;
9 Member of the Board of Visitors
10 of the Western New York Children's Psychiatric
11 Center: Ramon P. Perez, of Eden; and
12 Member of the Board of Visitors
13 of the Western New York Developmental
14 Disabilities Services Office: Ernest D.
15 McPeek, of South Dayton.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is
17 there any member wishing to speak to any of
18 the nominations?
19 (There was no response.)
20 Hearing none, the question is
21 on the nominations before the house. All
22 those in favor signify by saying aye.
23 (Response of "Aye".)
24 Opposed, nay.
25 (There was no response.)
6538
1 The nominees are confirmed.
2 (Pause)
3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
4 Senate will come to order.
5 Senator Bruno.
6 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
7 can we at this time ask for an immediate
8 meeting of the Rules Committee in Room 332.
9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There
10 will be an immediate meeting of the Rules
11 Committee in the Majority Conference Room, an
12 immediate meeting of the Rules Committee in
13 the Majority Conference Room, Room 332, and
14 the Senate will stand at ease.
15 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at
16 ease from 4:19 p.m. until 4:40 p.m.)
17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
18 Senate will come to order.
19 Senator Skelos.
20 SENATOR SKELOS: If we could
21 return to reports of standing committees. I
22 believe there's a report of the Rules
23 Committee at the desk. I ask that it be read.
24 We'll return to reports of standing
25 committees.
6539
1 THE SECRETARY: Senator
2 Bruno, from the Committee on Rules, reports
3 the following bills directly for third
4 reading:
5 Senate Print 7869, by the
6 Committee on Rules, an act to amend the
7 Retirement and Social Security Law;
8 Senate Print 7872, by the
9 Committee on Rules, an act to repeal section 2
10 of part C of Chapter 56; and Assembly Bill
11 6583-B, by member of the Assembly Grannis, an
12 act to amend the Insurance Law. All bills
13 directly for third reading.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
15 Senator Skelos.
16 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to
17 accept the report of the Rules Committee.
18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
19 motion is to accept the report of the Rules
20 Committee. All in favor, signify by saying
21 aye.
22 (Response of "Aye.")
23 Opposed, nay.
24 (There was no response.)
25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
6540
1 report of the Rules Committee is before the
2 house.
3 Senator Skelos.
4 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr.
5 President, if we can take up the Rules
6 Committee report, non-controversial.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
8 Secretary will read.
9 THE SECRETARY: In relation
10 to Calendar Number 1673, Senator Bruno moves
11 to discharge from the Committee on Rules,
12 Assembly Bill 8716-B, and substitute it for
13 the identical Senate Bill 7869.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
15 substitution is ordered. Secretary will read.
16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar
17 Number 1673, by the Committee on Rules,
18 Assembly Print 8716-B, an act to amend the
19 Retirement and Social Security Law.
20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
21 Secretary will read the last section.
22 THE SECRETARY: Section 2.
23 This act shall take effect immediately.
24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
25 Call the roll.
6541
1 (The Secretary called the
2 roll.)
3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 59.
4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
5 bill is passed.
6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar
7 Number 1676, by member of the Assembly
8 Grannis, Assembly Print 6583-B, an act to
9 amend the Insurance Law.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
11 Secretary will read the last section.
12 THE SECRETARY: Section 2.
13 This act shall take effect immediately.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
15 Call the roll.
16 (The Secretary called the
17 roll.)
18 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 59.
19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
20 bill is passed.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
22 Calendar Number 1678, by the Senate Committee
23 on Rules, Senate Print 7872, an act to repeal
24 section 2 of part C of Chapter 56 of the Laws
25 of 1998.
6542
1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
2 Senator Skelos.
3 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr.
4 President, is there a message at the desk?
5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
6 There is.
7 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to
8 accept.
9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
10 motion is to accept the message of necessity
11 on Calendar 1678. All in favor, signify by
12 saying aye.
13 (Response of "Aye.")
14 Opposed, nay.
15 (There was no response.)
16 The message is before the
17 house. Read the last section.
18 THE SECRETARY: Section 2.
19 This act shall take effect immediately.
20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay
21 the bill aside.
22 Senator Skelos.
23 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr.
24 President, if we could go back to the Rules
25 Committee report and take it up controversial,
6543
1 which means we'll take up Calendar Number
2 1678.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
4 Secretary will read.
5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar
6 Number 1678, by the Senate Committee on Rules,
7 Senate Print 7872, an act to repeal section 2
8 of part C of Chapter 56 of the Laws of 1998.
9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
10 bill is before the house.
11 Senator Dollinger.
12 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr.
13 President, can I just have an explanation of
14 this bill? It's unusual and I would just
15 appreciate to know what it involves.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
17 Senator Skelos, who are you going to have
18 handle the explanation?
19 (Pause)
20 Senator Dollinger, you had a
21 question?
22 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Yes, I
23 do, Mr. President, and it has nothing to do
24 with-
25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
6544
1 Senator Nozzolio is going to be handling the
2 answer.
3 SENATOR DOLLINGER: And
4 maybe Senator Nozzolio -- I know this is an
5 issue that substantively may affect Senator
6 Nozzolio's Crime and Corrections Committee,
7 but I have a broader question that deals with
8 the procedure. My understanding is, Mr.
9 President, that what we're doing by this bill
10 is repealing the language in an Article 7 bill
11 that was vetoed by the
12 Governor. Why do we need to repeal language
13 for which the Governor has already exercised
14 his veto?
15 I'm not sure it's a question
16 for Senator Nozzolio, but it's really more of
17 a -
18 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Let me
19 try to answer Senator Dollinger's question.
20 As thought- provoking and as provocative as
21 his questions often are, this question I think
22 simply can be answered by -- that we very much
23 want to make sure that the Senate has clearly
24 stated their position in support of Governor
25 Pataki's veto of that PTAC language.
6545
1 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr.
2 President, I accept Senator Nozzolio's
3 explanation, but I find it intriguing because
4 if the Senate were to approve this bill, which
5 suggests that the language needs to be
6 repealed, it would also suggest that Governor
7 Pataki's veto of the language portion of this
8 Article 7 bill was ineffective at the time it
9 was delivered; and I would just suggest that
10 what we're doing here is, in essence,
11 suggesting to me, at least, that the lawsuit
12 dealing with the repeal -- or excuse me, the
13 veto of the Article 7 bills, one of which was
14 this veto, that what we may be doing is
15 suggesting that we agree with the Assembly
16 that the effect of the veto was a nullity
17 because it couldn't veto Article 7 language as
18 part of the Governor's power and that what we
19 are, in essence, doing is declaring to the
20 people of this state that the Governor's veto
21 had no effect and that, in fact, what we had
22 to do as a chamber was now repeal that
23 language, with the consent of the Assembly.
24 So, Senator Nozzolio, I
25 under- stand why you substantively want to do
6546
1 this and I think that at least from my
2 perspective, that's a debate we could have
3 about the substance of this, but I would just
4 point out that I think what you're doing here
5 today is acknowledging that the veto of the
6 Article 7 language was ineffective and,
7 therefore, the only way to eliminate this,
8 remove it from state law, is to use the power
9 of repeal which rests in the Legislature
10 rather than the power of veto which rests with
11 the Governor.
12 Under those circumstances, I
13 think this bill may procedurally send a
14 different message than the proponents of this
15 suggest on the other side of the floor.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
17 Secretary will read the last section.
18 THE SECRETARY: Section 2.
19 This act shall take effect immediately.
20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
21 Call the roll.
22 (The Secretary called the
23 roll.)
24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
25 Record the negatives, announce the results.
6547
1 Announce the results.
2 THE SECRETARY: Those
3 recorded in the negative on Calendar Number
4 1678 are Senators Abate, Connor, Dollinger,
5 Markowitz, Montgomery, Onorato, Oppenheimer,
6 Paterson, Santiago, Seabrook, Smith,
7 Stachowski, Stavisky also Senator Nanula.
8 Ayes 45, nays 14.
9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
10 bill is passed.
11 Senator Skelos.
12 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr.
13 President, there will be an immediate meeting
14 of the Majority in the Majority conference
15 room.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
17 There will be an immediate meeting of the
18 Majority Conference in the Majority conference
19 room, in the Majority conference room, room
20 333.
21 Senator Paterson.
22 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr.
23 President, there will be an immediate
24 conference of the Minority in room 314.
25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
6548
1 There will be an immediate meeting of the
2 Minority Conference, room 314.
3 The Senate stands at ease.
4 (At 4:50 p.m., the Senate
5 stood at ease.)
6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
7 Senate will come to order. Ask the members to
8 take their places.
9 Senator Skelos.
10 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr.
11 President, there will be an immediate meeting
12 of the Rules Committee in the Majority
13 Conference Room.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: An
15 immediate meeting of the Rules Committe, an
16 immediate meeting of the Rules Committee in
17 the Majority Conference Room, Room 332.
18 The Senate will continue to
19 stand at ease.
20 (Whereupon, the Senate stood
21 at ease from 6:14 p.m. To 6:50 p.m.)
22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
23 Senate will come to order. Ask the members to
24 take their seats, the staff to take their
25 places.
6549
1 The Chair recognizes Senator
2 Bruno.
3 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
4 can we return to the reports of standing
5 committees.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We'll
7 return to the order of standing committees
8 with the report of the Rules Committee at the
9 desk.
10 We'll ask the Secretary to
11 read.
12 THE SECRETARY: Senator Bruno,
13 from the Committee on Rules, offers up the
14 following bills directly for third reading:
15 Senate Bill 6436-A, by the
16 Committee on Rules, an act to amend the Civil
17 Service Law;
18 Senate Bill 7873, by the
19 Committee on Rules, an act to amend the
20 Legislative Law;
21 7874, by the Committee on
22 Rules, an act to repeal Section 2 of a chapter
23 of the Laws of 1998;
24 7875, by the Committee on
25 Rules, an act to amend the Legislative Law;
6550
1 7876, by the Committee on
2 Rules, an act to amend the Executive Law and a
3 chapter of the Laws of 1998;
4 7877, by the Committee on
5 Rules, an act to amend the Education Law;
6 7878, by the Committee on
7 Rules, an act to amend the State Finance Law
8 and a chapter of the Laws of 1998; and
9 Assembly Bill 11464, by the
10 Assembly Committee on Rules, an act to amend
11 the Judiciary Law, the Executive Law and the
12 Legislative Law.
13 All bills directly for third
14 reading.
15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
16 motion is to accept the report of the Rules
17 Committee. All those in favor signify by
18 saying aye.
19 (Response of "Aye".)
20 Opposed, nay.
21 (There was no respones.)
22 The report is accepted.
23 The bills are reported directly
24 to third reading.
25 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
6551
1 I move we accept the Rules report as read.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
3 Rules report is accepted.
4 Senator Bruno.
5 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
6 can we at this time call up Calendar Number
7 1683.
8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
9 Secretary will read Calendar Number 1683,
10 Senate Print 7877.
11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
12 1683, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate
13 Print 7877, an act to amend the Education Law,
14 in relation to establishing a charter school
15 program.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
17 Bruno.
18 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
19 is there a message at the desk?
20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There
21 is.
22 SENATOR BRUNO: Move to accept
23 the message.
24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
25 motion is to accept the message of necessity
6552
1 on Calendar Number 1683. All those in favor
2 signify by saying aye.
3 (Response of "Aye".)
4 Opposed, nay.
5 (Response of "Nay".)
6 The message is accepted.
7 The bill is before the house.
8 The Secretary will read the
9 last section.
10 SENATOR MONTGOMERY:
11 Explanation.
12 THE SECRETARY: Section 26.
13 This act shall take effect immediately.
14 SENATOR CONNOR: Mr. President.
15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
16 Connor.
17 SENATOR CONNOR: Just briefly
18 to explain my vote.
19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
20 Senator, let me call the roll so we can get
21 the bill before the house.
22 The Secretary will call the
23 roll.
24 (The Secretary called the
25 roll.)
6553
1 SENATOR BRUNO: Party vote in
2 the affirmative.
3 SENATOR CONNOR: Party vote in
4 the negative.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
6 Secretary will call the party votes with
7 exception.
8 SENATOR CONNOR: Without
9 exception.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
11 Secretary will call the party line vote.
12 The Chair recognizes Senator
13 Connor to explain his vote.
14 SENATOR CONNOR: Thank you, Mr.
15 President.
16 To briefly explain my vote. I
17 think the members of the Senate Minority in
18 this house support innovative changes in the
19 educational system. I think we would like to
20 explore in a less hurried fashion the concept
21 of charter schools. We want to do it in a
22 proper way. We want to do it so collective
23 bargaining rights are preserved, so that we're
24 sure that certified teachers are used and so
25 that other concepts like the Regents control
6554
1 of education and local control are preserved.
2 This bill doesn't meet that.
3 That's why we're against it, Mr. President.
4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
5 Announce the results.
6 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 34, nays
7 25. Party vote.
8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
9 bill is passed.
10 Senator Bruno.
11 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
12 can we call up Calendar 1684.
13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
14 Secretary will read Calendar 1684, Senate
15 7878.
16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
17 1684, by the Committee on Rules, Senate Print
18 7878, an act to amend the State Finance Law
19 and a chapter of the Laws of 1998.
20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
21 Bruno.
22 SENATOR BRUNO: Is there a
23 message at the desk?
24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There
25 is.
6555
1 SENATOR BRUNO: Move to accept
2 the message.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
4 motion is to accept the message on Calendar
5 Number 1684. All those in favor signify by
6 saying aye.
7 (Response of "Aye".)
8 Opposed, nay.
9 (There was no response.)
10 The message is accepted.
11 The bill is before the house.
12 The Secretary will read the
13 last section.
14 THE SECRETARY: Section 6.
15 This act shall take effect on the same date as
16 a chapter of the Laws of 1998.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call
18 the roll.
19 (The Secretary called the
20 roll.)
21 SENATOR BRUNO: Party vote in
22 the affirmative.
23 SENATOR CONNOR: Party vote in
24 the negative.
25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
6556
1 Secretary will call the party line votes with
2 exceptions. Exceptions please raise your
3 hands. Keep them raised until we announce the
4 results.
5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 38, nays
6 21. Party vote with exceptions.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
8 Secretary will announce the exceptions.
9 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded
10 in the affirmative are Senators Dollinger,
11 Gentile, Senator Hoffmann, Senator Nanula and
12 also Senator Oppenheimer.
13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
14 Announce the updated results.
15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 39, nays
16 20.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
18 bill is passed.
19 Senator Bruno.
20 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
21 can we at this time call up Calendar Number
22 1677.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
24 Secretary will read Calendar Number 1677.
25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
6557
1 1677, by the Assembly Committee on Rules,
2 Assembly Print 11464, an act to amend the
3 Judiciary Law, the Executive Law and the
4 Legislative Law.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
6 Secretary will read the last section.
7 THE SECRETARY: Section 16.
8 This act shall take effect January 1st, 1999.
9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call
10 the roll.
11 (The Secretary called the
12 roll.)
13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record
14 the negatives. Announce the results. The
15 Secretary will announce the results.
16 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded
17 in the negative on Calendar Number 1677 are
18 Senators Alesi, Breslin, Bruno, DeFrancisco,
19 Dollinger, Gentile, Hoffmann, Kuhl, Larkin,
20 Leibell, Libous, Maziarz, Meier, Nanula,
21 Nozzolio, Oppenheimer, Saland, Santiago,
22 Seward, Stachowski, Stafford, Volker and
23 Wright. Also Senator Farley, also Senator
24 Rath, also Senator Holland. Ayes 33, nays
25 26.
6558
1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
2 bill is passed.
3 SENATOR CONNOR: Mr. President,
4 excuse me. How was Senator Onorato recorded?
5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
6 Onorato was recorded in the affirmative.
7 SENATOR CONNOR: I think he was
8 a negative, Mr. President. Is that right?
9 SENATOR ONORATO: Yes.
10 SENATOR CONNOR: Thank you.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
12 Onorato, did you wish to be recorded in the
13 negative?
14 (Senator Onorato nods head.)
15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without
16 objection, Senator Onorato will be recorded in
17 the negative on Calendar Number 1677.
18 Announce the final results.
19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 32, nays
20 27.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
22 bill is passed.
23 Senator Bruno.
24 SENATOR BRUNO: Announce the
25 results, Mr. President. Have we announced the
6559
1 results, Mr. President?
2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We
3 have, Senator Bruno.
4 The bill is passed.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
6 bill is passed.
7 SENATOR BRUNO: Would you call
8 up Calendar Number 1679, Mr. President.
9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
10 Secretary will read Calendar Number 1679,
11 Senate Print 7873.
12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
13 1679, by the Committee on Rules, Senate Print
14 7873, an act to amend the Legislative Law, in
15 relation to allowances payable to certain
16 Senate officers.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
18 Secretary will read the last section.
19 SENATOR BRUNO: Is there a
20 message at the desk?
21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There
22 is.
23 SENATOR BRUNO: Move to accept
24 the message.
25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
6560
1 motion is to accept the message of necessity
2 on Calendar 1679. All those in favor signify
3 by saying aye.
4 (Response of "Aye".)
5 Opposed, nay.
6 (Response of "Nay".)
7 The message is accepted.
8 The bill is before the house.
9 The Secretary will read the
10 last section.
11 THE SECRETARY: Section 2.
12 This act shall take effect on the same date as
13 a chapter of the Laws of 1998.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call
15 the roll.
16 (The Secretary called the
17 roll.)
18 SENATOR PATERSON: Party vote
19 in the negative.
20 SENATOR BRUNO: Party vote in
21 the affirmative.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
23 Secretary will call the party line vote.
24 Announce the results.
25 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 34, nays
6561
1 25; party vote.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
3 bill is passed.
4 Senator Bruno.
5 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
6 would you call up Calendar 1680.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
8 Secretary will read Calendar Number 1680,
9 Senate Print 7874.
10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
11 1680, by the Committee on Rules, Senate Print
12 7874, an act to repeal Section 2 of a chapter
13 of the Laws of 1998.
14 SENATOR BRUNO: Is there a
15 message at the desk?
16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There
17 is.
18 SENATOR BRUNO: Move to accept
19 the message.
20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
21 motion is to accept the message of necessity
22 on Calendar Number 1680. All those in favor
23 signify by saying aye.
24 (Response of "Aye".)
25 Opposed, nay.
6562
1 (Response of "Nay".)
2 The message is accepted.
3 The bill is before the house.
4 The Secretary will read the
5 last section.
6 THE SECRETARY: Section 2.
7 This act shall take effect on the same date as
8 a chapter of the Laws of 1998.
9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call
10 the roll.
11 (The Secretary called the
12 roll.)
13 SENATOR PATERSON: Party vote
14 in the negative.
15 SENATOR BRUNO: Party vote in
16 the affirmative.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
18 Secretary will record the party line vote.
19 Announce the results.
20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 35, nays
21 24; party vote.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
23 bill is passed.
24 Senator Bruno.
25 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
6563
1 would you call up Calendar Number 1681.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
3 Secretary will read Calendar Number 1681,
4 Senate Print 7875.
5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
6 1681, by the Committee on Rules, Senate Print
7 7875, an act to amend the Legislative Law.
8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
9 Bruno.
10 SENATOR BRUNO: Is there a
11 message at the desk?
12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There
13 is.
14 SENATOR BRUNO: Move the
15 message be accepted.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
17 motion is to accept the message of necessity
18 on Calendar Number 1681. All those in favor
19 signify by saying aye.
20 (Response of "Aye".)
21 Opposed, nay.
22 (There was no response.)
23 The message is accepted.
24 The bill is before the house.
25 The Secretary will read the
6564
1 last section.
2 THE SECRETARY: Section 3.
3 This act shall take effect on the same date as
4 a chapter of the Laws of 1998.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call
6 the roll.
7 (The Secretary called the
8 roll.)
9 SENATOR PATERSON: Party vote
10 in the negative.
11 SENATOR BRUNO: Party vote in
12 the affirmative.
13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
14 Secretary will record the party line vote.
15 Announce the results.
16 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 35, nays
17 24. Party vote.
18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
19 bill is passed.
20 Senator Paterson, why do you
21 rise?
22 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr.
23 President, what was the tabulation on this
24 last vote again?
25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
6565
1 Secretary informs me that the vote is 34 votes
2 cast in the affirmative, 25 in the negative.
3 SENATOR PATERSON: I'm sorry,
4 Mr. President. I thought I heard 35/24.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: It's
6 because of old age, Senator Paterson, and you
7 did. You're correct. They were announced
8 incorrectly.
9 Senator Bruno.
10 SENATOR BRUNO: Can we call up
11 Calendar Number 1682, Mr. President.
12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
13 Secretary will read Calendar Number 1682,
14 Senate Print 7876.
15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
16 1682, by the Committee on Rules, Senate Print
17 7876, an act to amend the Executive Law and a
18 chapter of the Laws of 1998.
19 SENATOR BRUNO: Is there a
20 message at the desk?
21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There
22 is.
23 SENATOR BRUNO: Move the
24 message be accepted.
25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
6566
1 motion is to accept the message of necessity
2 on Calendar Number 1682. All those in favor
3 signify by saying aye.
4 (Response of "Aye".)
5 Opposed, nay.
6 (Response of "Nay".)
7 The message is accepted.
8 The bill is before the house.
9 The Secretary will read the
10 last section.
11 THE SECRETARY: Section 3.
12 This act shall take effect on the same date as
13 a chapter of the Laws of 1998.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call
15 the roll.
16 (The Secretary called the
17 roll.)
18 SENATOR BRUNO: Party vote in
19 the affirmative.
20 SENATOR PATERSON: Party vote
21 in the negative.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record
23 the party line vote.
24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
25 Announce the results.
6567
1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 34, nays
2 25; party vote.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
4 bill is passed.
5 Senator Leichter, why do you
6 rise?
7 SENATOR LEICHTER: Exception on
8 the party vote.
9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator
10 Paterson, do you wish to have a party line
11 vote recorded with exceptions?
12 SENATOR PATERSON: With
13 exceptions, please, Mr. President.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: All
15 right. The Secretary will note the exceptions
16 to the party line vote in the negative. Would
17 the exceptions please raise your hands and
18 keep them raised until the vote is announced.
19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
20 Secretary will announce the results with
21 exceptions.
22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 41, nays
23 18; party vote with exceptions. The
24 exceptions: Senators Abate, Hoffmann,
25 Lachman, Leichter, Markowitz, Mendez and
6568
1 Montgomery.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
3 bill is passed.
4 Senator Breslin, why do you
5 rise?
6 SENATOR BRESLIN: Mr.
7 President, I request to be recorded in the
8 negative with unanimous consent on Calendar
9 Number 1678.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without
11 objection, hearing no objection, Senator
12 Breslin will be recorded in the affirmative or
13 in the negative?
14 SENATOR BRESLIN: Negative.
15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL:
16 Negative on Calendar Number 1678.
17 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
18 can we at this time call up Calendar Number
19 1685.
20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
21 Secretary will read Calendar Number 1685,
22 Assembly 9867-A.
23 The Secretary will read.
24 THE SECRETARY: In relation to
25 Calendar Number 1685, Senator Bruno moves to
6569
1 discharge from the Committee on Rules Assembly
2 Print 9867-A and substitute it for the
3 identical Senate Bill 6436-A.
4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
5 substitution is ordered.
6 The Secretary will read.
7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
8 1685, by member of the Assembly Crowley,
9 Assembly Print 9867-A, an act to amend the
10 Civil Service Law.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
12 Secretary will read the last section.
13 THE SECRETARY: Section 2.
14 This act shall take effect immediately.
15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call
16 the roll.
17 (The Secretary called the
18 roll.)
19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record
20 the negatives. Announce the results.
21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58, nays
22 1, Senator Leichter recorded in the negative.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
24 bill is passed.
25 (Pause)
6570
1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
2 Senate will come to order. Ask the members to
3 take their chairs, the staff to find their
4 places. A little order in the chamber.
5 The Chair recognizes Senator
6 Bruno.
7 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
8 can we return to motions and resolutions.
9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Can we
10 have a little order in the house. We'll
11 return to the order of motions and
12 resolutions.
13 The Chair recognizes Senator
14 Bruno.
15 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
16 I believe you have a privileged resolution at
17 the desk that was sponsored by the Rules
18 Committee. I would be honored and pleased if
19 you would read it and move for its immediate
20 adoption.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There
22 is a resolution at the desk.
23 The Secretary will read the
24 title.
25 SENATOR BRUNO: Why don't you
6571
1 read it.
2 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Can we see
3 it?
4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
5 Secretary will read the resolution in its
6 entirety.
7 THE SECRETARY: By the Senate
8 Committee on Rules, Concurrent Resolution
9 Number 4306, Concurrent Resolution of the
10 Senate and Assembly fixing the salaries of the
11 offices of Governor and Lieutenant Governor
12 pursuant to Article IV, Sections 3 and 6 of
13 the Constitution of the state of New York;
14 WHEREAS, the salaries of the
15 offices of Governor and Lieutenant Governor
16 were last increased to take effect in 1987;
17 and
18 WHEREAS, the salaries of other
19 state officials and employees have been fixed
20 at levels which exceed or closely approach the
21 salaries of the Governor and Lieutenant
22 Governor; now, therefore, be it
23 RESOLVED, if the Assembly
24 concur, that effective January 1st, 1999, the
25 salary of the office of Governor shall be
6572
1 fixed at $179,000 per annum and the salary of
2 the office of Lieutenant Governor shall be
3 fixed at $151,000, provided, however, that
4 this resolution shall have no force and effect
5 in the event that effective January 1st, 1999
6 the salaries of the Comptroller and Attorney
7 General are less than $151,500 per year.
8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
9 question is on the resolution. All those in
10 favor signify by saying aye.
11 (Response of "Aye".)
12 The Secretary will call the
13 roll.
14 (The Secretary called the
15 roll.)
16 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded
17 in the negative on Concurrent Resolution
18 Number 4306 are Senators Breslin, Dollinger,
19 Gentile, Nanula and Stachowski. Ayes 54, nays
20 5.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
22 resolution is adopted.
23 Senator Bruno.
24 SENATOR BRUNO: Is there any
25 housekeeping at the desk, Mr. President?
6573
1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There's
2 nothing at the desk, Senator.
3 SENATOR BRUNO: Well, then, Mr.
4 President, my colleagues, in memory of the
5 late Senator Jess Present, there being no
6 further business to come before the Senate, I
7 would move that we stand adjourned subject to
8 the call of the Majority Leader, and I would
9 like to take this opportunity to wish you all
10 a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thank
11 you, Mr. President. Intervening days to be
12 legislative days.
13 Thank you.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The
15 Senate stands adjourned in memory of the late
16 Senator Jess Present, all intervening days to
17 be legislative days.
18 (Whereupon, at 8:15 p.m., the
19 Senate adjourned.)
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