Regular Session - June 22, 2000
5876
NEW YORK STATE SENATE
THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD
ALBANY, NEW YORK
June 22, 2000
2:21 p.m.
REGULAR SESSION
SENATOR RAYMOND A. MEIER, Acting President
STEVEN M. BOGGESS, Secretary
5877
P R O C E E D I N G S
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Senate will come to order.
Could I ask everyone present to
please rise and repeat with me the Pledge of
Allegiance to the Flag.
(Whereupon, the assemblage recited
the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
invocation will be given by the Reverend Peter
G. Young, of Blessed Sacrament Church in
Bolton Landing.
REVEREND YOUNG: Thank you,
Senator.
Dear God, as we gather on this
first full day of summer to conclude our
legislative efforts, we thank You for the
dedicated members who served so diligently
their constituency. We pray that they be able
to enjoy Your creative, sunny, summer days to
relax and to restore their energy and
enthusiasm.
Health experts state that those who
serve in public office enter a phase of life
which then gives them a choice of either
5878
stagnation or generativity. We know that our
New York State citizens need an energized
voice in their government, and by necessity
depend on their elected Senators to be
available to their concerns.
We ask You, O God, to bless them at
this time, as a well-deserved respite from
their Albany sessions will bring them back
enthusiastic about their commitment.
Amen.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Reading
of the Journal.
THE SECRETARY: In Senate,
Wednesday, June 21st, the Senate met pursuant
to adjournment. The Journal of Tuesday,
June 20th, was read and approved. On motion,
Senate adjourned.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Without
objection, the Journal stands approved as
read.
Can we have some order in the
chamber, please.
Senator Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: There will be an
immediate meeting of the Rules Committee in
5879
the Majority Conference Room.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Immediate meeting of the Rules Committee in
the Majority Conference Room.
Presentation of petitions.
Messages from the Assembly.
The chair hands down a message from
the Assembly received today. Without
objection, it will have its third reading at
this time.
Just -- just a second. Can we have
some order in the chamber, please. Members
and staff, take their seats. If you have a
conversation that needs to take place, please
take it outside.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: On motion of
Mr. Bruno, and by unanimous consent, the rules
were suspended and said bill ordered to a
third reading: Assembly Bill Number 11139C.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is before the house.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1672, by the Assembly Committee on Rules,
5880
Assembly Print Number 11139C, an act in
relation to authorizing.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 43.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
Messages from the Governor.
Reports of standing committees.
Reports of select committees.
Communications and reports from
state officers.
Motions and resolutions.
Senator Fuschillo.
SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Thank you,
Mr. President.
On behalf of Senator Velella, I
wish to call up his bill, 3762A, recalled from
the Assembly, which is now at the desk.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
5881
Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
909, by Senator Velella, Senate Print 3762A,
an act to amend the Administrative Code of the
City of New York.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Fuschillo.
SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Mr.
President, I now move to reconsider the vote
by which the bill was passed and ask that said
bill be restored on the order of third
reading.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll on reconsideration.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 46.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Fuschillo.
SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Thank you,
Mr. President.
I now move to discharge, from the
Committee on Rules, Assembly Print Number
8669A and substitute it for the identical
bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
5882
Substitution ordered.
SENATOR FUSCHILLO: I now move
that the substituted Assembly bill have its
third reading at this time.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
909, substituted earlier today by the Assembly
Committee on Rules, Assembly Print Number
8669A, an act to amend the Administrative Code
of the City of New York.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 46.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
Senator Fuschillo.
SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Thank you,
Mr. President.
On behalf of Senator Hoffmann, I
5883
wish to call up Senate Print Number 6688B,
recalled from the Assembly, which is now at
the desk.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1340, by Senator Hoffmann, Senate Print 6688B,
an act to amend the Family Court Act and
others.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Fuschillo.
SENATOR FUSCHILLO: I now move to
reconsider the vote by which the bill was
passed.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll on reconsideration.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 46.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Fuschillo.
SENATOR FUSCHILLO: I now offer
the following amendments.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
amendments are received.
SENATOR LARKIN: Mr. President,
5884
can we now adopt the Resolution Calendar.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All in
favor of adopting the Resolution Calendar
signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Opposed,
nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Resolution Calendar is adopted.
Senator Larkin.
SENATOR LARKIN: Mr. President,
can we stand at ease pending the return of the
Rules Committee.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Senate will stand at ease pending the report
of the Rules Committee.
(Whereupon, the Senate stood at
ease at 2:26 p.m.)
(Whereupon, the Senate reconvened
at 2:37 p.m.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Larkin.
SENATOR LARKIN: Mr. President,
can we now return to reports of standing
5885
committees, please.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Reports
of standing committees.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Senator Bruno,
from the Committee on Rules, reports the
following bills:
Senate Print 7025A, by Senator
Farley, an act to amend the Public Authorities
Law;
3384B, by Senator Leibell, an act
to amend the Retirement and Social Security
Law;
6652A, by Senator Stavisky, an act
to amend the Criminal Procedure Law;
Assembly Print Number 1937A, by
Member of the Assembly Vitaliano, an act to
amend the Retirement and Social Security Law;
Senate Print 4032B, by Senator
Goodman, an act to amend the Executive Law;
4719E, by Senator Volker, an act to
amend the General Business Law;
914B, by Senator Larkin, an act to
amend the Education Law;
1532, by Senator Johnson, an act to
5886
amend the Tax Law;
2945A, by Senator Rath, an act to
amend the Real Property Tax Law;
4490A, by Senator Trunzo, an act to
amend the Public Authorities Law;
6280, by Senator Larkin, an act to
permit the reopening.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Larkin.
SENATOR LARKIN: Mr. Speaker,
there will an immediate meeting of the
Judiciary Committee in Room 332.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Immediate meeting of the Judiciary Committee
in Room 332.
The Secretary will continue to
read.
THE SECRETARY: Senate Print
6331, by Senator Fuschillo, an act to amend
the Vehicle and Traffic Law;
6463, by Senator Johnson, an act to
repeal Section 204e;
7763, by Senator Morahan, an act to
amend the Town Law;
7775A, by Senator Bonacic, an act
5887
to provide for the enrollment;
7787, by Senator Larkin, an act
relating to authorizing;
7828, by Senator Larkin, an act to
authorizing the reopening;
7991, by Senator Stafford, an act
to amend the State Finance Law;
8088, by Senator Seward, an act to
amend the County Law;
8198, by Senator Farley, an act to
amend a chapter of the Laws of 2000;
8199, by Senator Bruno, an act
authorizing the South Glens Falls Central
School District;
And Senate Print 8220B, by Senator
Alesi, an act to amend the Public Authorities
Law.
All bills ordered restored or
reported to third reading.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Without
objection, all bills reported or restored to
third reading.
Senator Larkin.
SENATOR LARKIN: Mr. President,
move to accept the report of the Rules
5888
Committee.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
those in favor of accepting the report of the
Rules Committee signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Opposed,
nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
report of the Rules Committee is accepted.
Senator Larkin.
SENATOR LARKIN: Mr. President,
can we now have the reading of the
noncontroversial calendar of Calendar Number
58 for Thursday, June 22nd.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read the noncontroversial
Calendar Number 58.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 609, Senator Farley moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 9858A and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 7025A,
Third Reading Calendar 609.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
5889
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
609, by Member of the Assembly Canestrari,
Assembly Print Number 9858A, an act to amend
the Public Authorities Law, in relation to
providing.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
act shall take effect in 90 days.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 48.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 741, Senator Leibell moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 5189B and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 3384B,
Third Reading Calendar 741.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
5890
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
741, by Member of the Assembly Vitaliano,
Assembly Print Number 5189B, an act to amend
the Retirement and Social Security Law, in
relation to authorizing.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
SENATOR ADA SMITH: Lay it aside,
please.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 833, Senator Stavisky moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 768A and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 6652A,
Third Reading Calendar 833.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
5891
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
833, by Member of the Assembly Hill Hooper,
Assembly Print Number 768A, an act to amend
the Criminal Procedure Law, in relation to
conferring.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 47. Nays,
1. Senator Duane recorded in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: May I
note that Senator Stavisky's first bill is
passed.
(Applause.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will continue to read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
905, by Member of the Assembly Vitaliano,
Assembly Print Number 1937A, an act to amend
the Retirement and Social Security Law, in
5892
relation to continuation.
SENATOR ADA SMITH: Lay it aside,
please.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1055, Senator Goodman moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 8413A and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 4032B,
Third Reading Calendar 1055.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1055, by the Assembly Committee on Rules,
Assembly Print Number 8413A, an act to amend
the Executive Law, in relation to conforming.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
5893
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 48.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1114, Senator Volker moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 1432B and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 4719E,
Third Reading Calendar 1114.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1114, by Member of the Assembly Schimminger,
Assembly Print Number 1432B, an act to amend
the General Business Law, in relation to the
licensing and conduct.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 13. This
act shall take effect April 1, 2001.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 48.
5894
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1640, Senator Larkin moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 5795B and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 914B,
Third Reading Calendar 1640.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1640, by Member of the Assembly Canestrari,
Assembly Print Number 5795B, an act to amend
the Education Law, in relation to special
services.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a local fiscal impact note at the desk.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 48.
5895
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1641, Senator Johnson moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 10181A and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 1532,
Third Reading Calendar 1641.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1641, by Member of the Assembly Sweeney,
Assembly Print Number 10181A, an act to amend
the Tax Law, in relation to sales and
compensating use taxes.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
act shall take effect on the first day of a
sales tax quarterly period.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 48.
5896
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1642, Senator Rath moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Finance,
Assembly Bill Number 1936A and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 2945A,
Third Reading Calendar 1642.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1642, by Member of the Assembly Tokasz,
Assembly Print Number 1936A, an act to amend
the Real Property Tax Law, in relation to
application of school tax relief program.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 47. Nays,
1. Senator Duane recorded in the negative.
5897
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1643, Senator Trunzo moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 7647A and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 4490A,
Third Reading Calendar 1643.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1643, by Member of the Assembly Vann, Assembly
Print Number 7647A, an act to amend the Public
Authorities Law, in relation to the
authorization.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 48.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
5898
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1644, Senator Larkin moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 9309 and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 6280,
Third Reading Calendar 1644.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1644, by Member of the Assembly Calhoun,
Assembly Print Number 9309, an act to permit
the reopening of the optional twenty-year
retirement plan.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a home rule message at the desk.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 48.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
5899
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1645, Senator Fuschillo moves
to discharge, from the Committee on
Transportation, Assembly Bill Number 8132 and
substitute it for the identical Senate Bill
Number 6331, Third Reading Calendar 1645.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1645, by the Assembly Committee on Rules,
Assembly Print Number 8132, an act to amend
the Vehicle and Traffic Law, in relation to
operation.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect in 90 days.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 47. Nays,
1. Senator Farley recorded in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
5900
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1646, Senator Johnson moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 9464 and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 6463,
Third Reading Calendar 1646.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1646, by Member of the Assembly Magee,
Assembly Print Number 9464, an act to repeal
Section 204e of the Agriculture and Markets
Law.
SENATOR DUANE: Lay it aside,
please.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1647, Senator Morahan moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 10885 and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 7763,
Third Reading Calendar 1647.
5901
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1647, by the Assembly Committee on Rules,
Assembly Print Number 10885, an act to amend
the Town Law, in relation to including.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 48.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1648, Senator Bonacic moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 10926A and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 7775A,
Third Reading Calendar 1648.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
5902
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1648, by the Assembly Committee on Rules,
Assembly Print Number 10926A, an act to
provide for the enrollment of certain
part-time and per-diem sheriffs.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a home rule message at the desk.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 48.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1649, Senator Larkin moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 10230A and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 7787,
Third Reading Calendar 1649.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
5903
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1649, by Member of the Assembly Cahill,
Assembly Print Number 10230A, an act relating
to authorizing the purchase of retirement
service credit.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a home rule message at the desk.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 48.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1650, Senator Larkin moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 10194 and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 7828,
Third Reading Calendar 1650.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
5904
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1650, by Member of the Assembly Cahill,
Assembly Print Number 10194, an act
authorizing the reopening of the twenty-year
retirement plan.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a home rule message at the desk.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 48.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1651, by Senator Spano, Senate Print 7886 -
SENATOR LARKIN: Lay it aside for
the day.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside for the day.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1652, Senator Stafford moves
5905
to discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 11169A and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 7991,
Third Reading Calendar 1652.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1652, by the Assembly Committee on Rules,
Assembly Print Number 11169A, an act to amend
the State Finance Law, in relation to
providing.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect on the 30th day.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 48.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1653, Senator Seward moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules -
5906
SENATOR ADA SMITH: Lay it aside,
please.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside.
Senator Larkin.
SENATOR LARKIN: Mr. Speaker, can
we now have a meeting of the Higher Ed
Committee in Room 332.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There
will be a meeting of the Higher Education
Committee in Room 332.
With respect to Calendar Number
1653, could we get the substituted Assembly
bill on the floor, and then we'll lay that
aside.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1653, Senator Seward moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 11379 and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 8088,
Third Reading Calendar 1653.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered. And the bill is laid
aside.
5907
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1654, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 8198, an
act to amend a chapter of the Laws of 2000 as
proposed in Legislative Bill Numbers Senate
8125 and Assembly 11409.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
act shall take effect on the same date as a
chapter of the Laws of 2000.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 52.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1655, by Senator Bruno, Senate Print 8199, an
act authorizing the South Glens Falls Central
School District.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This
act shall take effect immediately.
5908
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 52.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
Senator Larkin, that completes the
reading of the controversial calendar.
Senator Larkin.
SENATOR LARKIN: Mr. President,
can we now have the reading of the
controversial calendar.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read the controversial
calendar.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
741, substituted earlier today by Member of
the Assembly Vitaliano, Assembly Print Number
5189B, an act to amend the Retirement and
Social Security Law, in relation to
authorizing.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
5909
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 52.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
905, by Member of the Assembly Vitaliano,
Assembly Print Number 1937A, an act to amend
the Retirement and Social Security Law, in
relation to continuation.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Explanation.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
DeFrancisco, an explanation has been requested
of Calendar 905 by Senator Dollinger.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Basically
this bill provides that if you are in a public
position -- or, excuse me, an employee that is
subject to the retirement system and you
retire, you're not required to step down from
another elective office that you might be
already holding in midterm.
So for example, if I'm a
schoolteacher or if I'm an employee of a
municipality and I'm also a town board member
5910
and I decide to retire, I get certain payments
for that retirement. Presently the law says
that you're really -- you have to step down
from your other position because you're
retired and you can't hold another state
position.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Through you,
Mr. President, if Senator DeFrancisco will
yield to a question.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
DeFrancisco, do you yield for a question?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Yes, he
yields.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Does this
bill -- and I apologize, I guess, for the
nature of the question, since I haven't had an
opportunity to read the bill or the sponsor's
memo. But does this bill affect members of
the State Legislature? Is there a
circumstance under which it could affect -
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I can't see
how there would be a situation, because
it's -- we're not holding another state
position now. So there's no state position to
5911
retire from and therefore have to step down
under current law. No, it could not affect a
legislator.
It's -- it -- where it came to me
was a couple of board members on a town board
also were county employees, for example. And
the county employees decide to retire, and
they retire, then they've got to step down
from the town board.
But what this does is it allows
them to continue on with their elected
position, but any regulations that you might
have if you retire and then take an elected
office are still in effect.
So if I'm a schoolteacher, I
retire, then I decide to run for the town
board, there would be certain restrictions on
what I could draw out of the retirement. And
there may be some adjustments, because I'm
getting another salary.
So all this does is say we know
those are the rules if you retire first, then
take a town board or another position like
that, make them apply to someone who happens
to have a position, a part-time position on
5912
one of these boards or whatever, to continue
on and not have to step down in midterm.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Okay. Again,
through you, Mr. President, if Senator
DeFrancisco will yield.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Do you
continue to yield, Senator?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Yes, he
yields.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: I'm trying to
use my very faint knowledge and understanding
of the retirement system, just to make sure I
understand this clearly.
You have someone who's both a
public official and a public employee. You
have a -- the person that comes to mind is
my -- our former colleague Mary Ellen Jones,
who was a teacher. She could get a leave of
absence, she runs for the Senate, she wins the
Senate position, she's still on a leave of
absence. So she's still technically an
employee in both institutions. Let's use that
as an example. Although I'm not even sure, in
Mary Ellen's case, whether that was the case.
5913
But they hold an elective job and a
public employment job. They retire from the
public employment job. Under the current
rules, there are caps on what you can earn
working for the State of New York. And if you
exceed those caps, you don't draw down your
full retirement.
Just explain to me one more time
how this works with respect to that case.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I guess it
would work the same way. When I say "I
guess," I don't know if there's anyone else
here or in the Legislature that has another
public job.
But assuming that's the case and
they decide to retire from that public job
subject to retirement, then what would happen,
they not be required to step down but their
retirement may be reduced, the amount of
payments, because you got salary from another
position. In other words, you can't draw your
full retirement and also continue with this
job.
And it's no different than if I'm
a -- it would be no different than if I'm
5914
holding a position as a teacher or some other
public position, I retire, now I want to run
for the Senate. In those situations, your
retirement would be adjusted if you're
elected, but you would not be prohibited from
holding public office.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Okay. One
final question, through you.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
DeFrancisco, do you still yield?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Yes, he
yields.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: He will
yield.
Does this bill work the other way,
Senator? If you are an elected official, as
you and I are, if we retired and left our
elected positions and then went to teach at a
SUNY institution as a full-time or part-time
faculty member or teach in one of the
state-sponsored law schools -- or the guy that
comes to mind is our former colleague Senator
Sheffer, who was an elected official, retires,
leaves the service as an elected official,
5915
goes to work for the state.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: This
doesn't address that at all.
All the same retirement rules
apply. This only addresses the situation if
I'm in a public paid position and I'm also an
elected official in some capacity. When I
retire from that public paid position, I do
not have to resign. That's what you have to
do now.
But you are subject to the same
rules as if it went the other way, that you
retired first and then ran for public office.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: And through
you, Mr. President, now that I think I
understand the bill, let me ask the final sort
of question that I need to -
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
DeFrancisco, do you yield for the final
question?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: He
yields.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Does this
bill, by virtue of the way it operates, allow
5916
double-dipping, where a person can build two
pension entitlements under the state pension
plan?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: No. No.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: That's
enough, Mr. President. Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 54.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1646, substituted earlier today by Member of
the Assembly Magee, Assembly Print Number
9464, an act to repeal Section 204e of the
Agriculture and Markets Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
5917
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 53. Nays,
1. Senator Wright recorded in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1653, substituted earlier today by the
Assembly Committee on Rules, Assembly Print
Number 11379, an act to amend the County Law,
in relation to wireless telephone service.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This
act shall take effect on the 60th day.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 54.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
Senator Skelos, that completes the
reading of the controversial calendar.
SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
5918
is there any housekeeping at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: I
believe we have a motion to take care of,
Senator.
Senator Fuschillo.
SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Thank you,
Mr. President.
On behalf of Senator Velella, I
wish to call up Senate Print Number 7837,
recalled from the Assembly, which is now at
the desk.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
891, by Senator Velella, Senate Print 7837, an
act to amend the Social Services Law and the
State Finance Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Fuschillo.
SENATOR FUSCHILLO: I now move to
reconsider the vote by which the bill was
passed.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll on reconsideration.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
5919
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 54.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Fuschillo.
SENATOR FUSCHILLO: I now offer
the following amendments.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
amendments are received.
SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
if we could stand at ease for a few minutes.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Senate will stand at ease.
(Whereupon, the Senate stood at
ease at 3:08 p.m.)
(Whereupon, the Senate reconvened
at 3:35 p.m.)
SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: If we could
return to reports of standing committees, I
believe there's a report of the Judiciary
Committee at the desk. I ask that it be read.
5920
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Can we
have some order in the chamber first, please.
Reports of standing committees.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Senator Lack,
from the Committee on Judiciary, reports of
following nomination:
As a judge of the Court of Claims,
Edward D. Burke, of Southampton.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Lack.
SENATOR LACK: Thank you, Mr.
President.
I rise to move the nomination of
the Edward D. Burke, of Southampton, as a
judge of the Court of Claims.
We have received the nomination
from the Governor. The staff of the committee
has examined the merits of the candidate.
They were found to be in order. He appeared
in person earlier this afternoon before the
committee. He was unanimously moved from the
committee to the floor.
And I'm very happy to yield, for
purposes of a second, to Senator LaValle.
5921
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
LaValle.
SENATOR LAVALLE: Thank you,
Senator Lack, Mr. President, and colleagues.
I've known Judge Burke for many,
many years, both before he served as a
magistrate in the town of Southampton -- the
town of Southampton is a township in Suffolk
County of 50,000 people. But at this time of
the year, the population swells to almost
double that amount.
Magistrate's Court in
Southampton -- and the judge talked about the
kinds of experiences that he has with many
criminal matters and other matters that come
before that court. But more importantly, he
has a wonderful background that allows him and
has allowed him in his present position to
view the world in a real way.
That is, he has been a businessman,
he has worked as counsel to towns and villages
in the east end of Long Island. He has been
an adjunct professor. And I think has a
wonderful, wonderful temperament that I think
he will bring to the court.
5922
And so along with Senator Lack, I
second this nomination.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
question is on the confirmation of Edward D.
Burke as a judge of the Court of Claims. All
those in favor signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Opposed,
nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
nominee is confirmed.
Judge Burke is with us today in the
gallery.
And, Judge Burke, as acting
President of the Senate, on behalf of everyone
here I wish you congratulations and very good
luck with your important duties.
(Applause.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: Can we stand at
ease for one minute.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Senate will stand at ease.
5923
(Whereupon, the Senate stood at
ease at 3:40 p.m.)
(Whereupon, the Senate reconvened
at 3:41 p.m.)
SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: There will be an
immediate meeting of the Finance Committee in
the Majority Conference Room.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Immediate meeting of the Finance Committee in
the Majority Conference Room.
SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
would you please call up Calendar Number 1340.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Can we
get some order in the chamber, please.
The Secretary will read Calendar
Number 1340.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1340, by Senator Hoffmann, Senate Print 6688C,
an act to amend the Social Services Law and
5924
the Penal Law, in relation to abandoned
infants.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
is there a message of necessity at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Yes,
there is, Senator.
SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
motion is to accept the message of necessity.
All those in favor signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Opposed,
nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
message is accepted. The bill is before the
house.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
5925
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Hoffmann.
SENATOR HOFFMANN: Thank you, Mr.
President.
I'm very happy to rise in support
of this bill and to speak briefly about its
very interesting history.
I want to thank Senator Bruno for
his support. His name appears as my most
immediate cosponsor. Another name which
actually should appear on the bill, but
because of our obvious rules does not appear,
is the name of his son, Ken Bruno, who is the
district attorney in Rensselaer County.
And I would like everybody to know
that it was in great deal a credit to Ken
Bruno's pioneering work in speaking with
district attorneys -- not just in the Capital
District, but in other parts of the state -
that we have this bill in front of us today.
Because the great problem that has
always existed when dealing with the issue of
abandoned infants has been how to reconcile
the law -- which is quite explicit about the
need to provide for the well-being and safety
5926
of a child, has very explicit restrictions
against child abandonment -- and at the same
time how to save the life of an infant when a
distraught mother, in a complete absence of
clear thought, wants to abandon that infant
and possibly cause it to die.
It was after three of these
incidents back in Syracuse in 1981 that I
first became involved in that issue. I was at
that time in my first term, I believe -- maybe
my second term -- on the Syracuse City
Council. And three infants were found, all
newborns, all abandoned, all clearly had been
born alive, within a six-week period of time.
The city of Syracuse was rocked into a
terribly, terribly distraught state, wondering
how this could have ever happened.
At that time I convened a task
force of people -- we called it the maternity
crisis task force, for lack of any better
name -- and I asked all of the people who
might reasonably have any knowledge of how
such a situation could occur to offer their
suggestions as to what we could do differently
and how it was that we had failed in the first
5927
place to meet the needs of these young mothers
who had found no other alternatives except to
abandon the infants to a certain death, and in
some certain extreme cases to have actually
caused their death in advance of that
abandonment.
It was apparent that there were
more than enough programs in place that would
have provided prenatal care, would have
provided an adoption program, would have
provided maternal health care for the young
mother in the process of her pregnancy.
But these girls, for whatever
reason, were not willing to enter any existing
medical system and get that help. They
operated totally outside the purview of all of
the programs that might have been there to
help them.
And there was one indelible fact
that stuck in my mind during those hearings
that I think was the most sobering of it all.
Many of these girls were in such total denial
that they would not accept the fact that they
were indeed even pregnant up till and until
the moment of birth. They would deny to
5928
themselves, they would hope this problem would
just go away.
Their fear of being caught, their
fear of being punished, their fear of shaming
their family, their fear of doing something
wrong in their lives that would cause
punishment to them, caused them to totally
neglect this infant during the nine months of
pregnancy and at the time of birth.
And then following birth, these
young girls -- and most of them are relatively
young girls, or they're thinking like very,
very immature young girls -- what they do at
the time of birth is to worry about how they
are going to hide the evidence of this birth,
how they are going to prevent anybody from
ever finding out that they were pregnant in
the first place.
They suffer through a childbirth by
themselves, they are frightened, they don't
know what is happening, and then they must
make a decision about what to do with this
infant.
The beauty of the law that we are
passing today is that it meets the young woman
5929
who would abandon this infant on her own terms
in order to save the life of that infant.
I want to explain that a little bit
more carefully, because I think it might be
hard for people who have never thought
seriously about this situation before to
realize how very, very far we have come in
this state and how we are different with this
legislation from what some other states have
attempted to do.
At the time I first introduced this
bill, there was one other state that had
already put something into law. That state
was Alabama. And they had several relatively
practical intents within the law. But in
reality, the guidance that would give to the
young woman becomes a deterrent to her doing
the right thing for the infant.
Because what we have learned when
we study these cases is that these young girls
need time to recover from the trauma of
childbirth. They need time to come to their
senses. They have to begin to realize that
this is a live, breathing human being for
which they are responsible. They need time to
5930
physically recover so that they can go to a
location where the infant will be safe or make
phone calls, make rational choices about how
to save that child. And they may not be able
to do that within the first few hours of
delivery.
So what we have done here is to
have a bill that allows adequate time for the
young mother to recover and make an
intelligent decision that will safeguard the
well-being of the child. Most of the laws
that have passed in the states deal in hours.
Most of the laws across the United States say
within 72 hours the infant must be taken to -
and then a whole list of locations are given,
or categories where the infant can be taken
are delineated.
Our law in New York does not do
that, my friends. Our law in New York states
that within five days, that infant must be
brought to a location where it will be safe or
an attempt must be made to reach out to
someone who can retrieve that infant. The
mother must demonstrate an intent to safeguard
that infant, and she will not be prosecuted.
5931
Now, we don't tell her where to
take the infant. Let's be reasonable for a
minute here. A 15- or a 16-year-old girl has
just given birth alone, she is frightened,
she's bleeding profusely, she is suffering an
incredible hormonal change in her body that
affects her physically and emotionally. She
may not even be able to physically move from
the location that she's in.
And if there is a law in effect
that is written in hours and she thinks she
must do something immediately and she must go
a specific place, she may do neither, and she
may instead just remove the infant, whatever
way she chooses to, so that nobody will ever
know she was pregnant in the first place, much
less having given birth.
What our bill does, what this law
will do will be to allow her the time to
recover from that childbirth. Hopefully she
will then recognize within herself the
nurturing instincts that should be in all of
us as human beings, whether we are parents or
not. And hopefully then she will make an
appropriate decision about how that child can
5932
be safe.
We don't tell her where to go. The
other states have listed categories of
locations -- hospitals, off-duty firefighters,
on-duty firefighters, hospital staff members,
police stations, county hospitals, surgical
and recuperation centers, fire departments,
hospital outpatient facilities.
All of these, well-intentioned as
they are, don't work. Because remember, this
young girl wouldn't go to a hospital in the
first place. This young girl rejected all
aspects of authority, whether they be
uniformed or nonuniformed, medical or
nonmedical. She was not willing to get help.
She has operated outside all of her societal
structures that would have helped her before.
At this moment of crisis, it is
highly unlikely she is going to go through a
legal checklist of the safe places where she
is supposed to take that baby and think if she
makes a mistake and goes to the wrong one,
she's violating the law.
No, all she wants to do is to
protect her anonymity. We are hoping that by
5933
giving her this remarkable latitude to recover
physically, to have the time to reach enough
health so that she can then make an
intelligent decision, and to not tell her
where she must go, that she will pick an
appropriate, safe place. She will decide.
Then what happens is left up to the
district attorneys. Then the district
attorneys will be able to determine whether or
not she demonstrated an intent to safeguard
the well-being of this infant. If it's clear
that she was thinking of that infant and
placed that infant where he or she would be
all right, would be found immediately, made a
phone call so that somebody could find the
infant immediately, left the infant in an
extremely public place where it would have to
be recognized immediately -- if she did those
things, then there would not be any
prosecution.
Now, that is very, very critical to
the success of this measure in this state.
Because we cannot superimpose our standards on
that young girl. We cannot understand what it
is that she's feeling at that time and tell
5934
her that the law says she should feel
otherwise. It is real. It happens over and
over again, more times than any of us care to
know, probably more times than we will ever
know. Because how many of these infants are
abandoned and are not discovered?
But with this measure, New York
will be clearly in the forefront with the most
enlightened law in the nation that says, very
simply, we are willing to make some major
concessions: Young girl, we will meet you on
your own terms to save the life of an infant.
And I believe that is a fair trade-off.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Just to
explain my vote.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Okay,
let us call the roll first.
Call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
5935
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
DeFrancisco, to explain his vote.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. I am
just explaining my vote in order not to
prolong the debate, since we did this once
before.
My position on this bill is the
same. When you look at the affirmative
defense, the young woman has got to make sure
that the child is cared for in an appropriate
manner, left with an appropriate person at a
suitable location, and notified an appropriate
person of the child's location. It's just too
broad. And that's why all of these other
states have specific locations.
Now, Senator Hoffmann says this
woman is so confused with childbirth and all
the trauma. No question about that. But it
isn't a surprise that this woman is going to
have a child. You have nine months of
pregnancy.
And if we're going to have a
plan -- and this is a plan that's a good
plan -- public information, develop
educational and informational materials. If
5936
you notify people in this situation during the
nine months of your pregnancy that there are
places where the child could be safe, where
you can maintain your anonymity, you can make
certain that that child is going to be safe.
Not leave it up to a DA's
discretion whether it's an appropriate place,
a suitable person, or an appropriate whatever
else it says appropriately. The "appropriate"
language is just simply too broad and too
vague.
So I'm voting no.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Maltese, to explain his vote.
SENATOR MALTESE: Mr. President,
usually I find myself in agreement with my
learned colleague. But in this instance, just
events the other day have indicated how
important this legislation is and how
important it would be to pass it as quickly as
possible so that it can be signed into law and
implemented.
I served three and a half years in
the homicide bureau as deputy chief in Queens
County. And too, too often we saw and were
5937
present at the times when abandoned children
were fished out of Dumpsters, trash cans,
bathrooms, park bathrooms. And it was one of
the most terrible things to behold and to
participate in. Hardened officers of the law
would cry. So many times they gathered funds
so that they wouldn't be buried in potter's
field.
This is a bill that its time has
come and passed. It's something we should
pass. And we can worry about the terminology
and the exact phraseology in the future,
hopefully.
I vote yes, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Maltese will be recorded in the affirmative,
Senator DeFrancisco in the negative.
The Secretary will announce the
results.
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 57. Nays,
1. Senator DeFrancisco recorded in the
negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
Senator Marcellino.
5938
SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr.
President, is there any housekeeping at the
desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: No,
there is none, Senator.
SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr.
President, could we stand at ease pending the
report of the Finance Committee.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Senate will stand at ease pending the report
of the Finance Committee.
(Whereupon, the Senate stood at
ease at 3:57 p.m.)
(Whereupon, the Senate reconvened
at 4:18 p.m.)
SENATOR KUHL: Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Kuhl.
SENATOR KUHL: Yes. May we
return to the order of motions and
resolutions. And would you recognize Senator
Farley.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Motions
and resolutions.
Senator Farley.
5939
SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you, Mr.
President.
I wish to call up Senator Hannon's
bill, which is Print 8107A, which was recalled
from the Assembly, which is now at the desk.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1632, by Senator Hannon, Senate Print 8107A,
an act to amend the Public Health Law and the
Social Services Law.
SENATOR FARLEY: Mr. President, I
now move to reconsider the vote by which this
bill was passed.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll on reconsideration.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58.
SENATOR FARLEY: I now offer the
following amendments.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
amendments are received.
SENATOR FARLEY: Mr. President -
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Farley.
5940
SENATOR FARLEY: -- on behalf
of -- thank you. On behalf of Senator
DeFrancisco, who's right to my left here -
this motion is in trouble -- I wish to call up
his bill, which is Print Number 706, which is
recalled from the Assembly, which is now at
the desk.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
962, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 706,
an act to amend the General Obligations Law.
SENATOR FARLEY: I now move to
reconsider the vote by which this bill was
passed.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll on reconsideration.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58.
SENATOR FARLEY: I now offer the
following amendments.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
amendments are received.
Senator Kuhl.
SENATOR KUHL: Yes, Mr.
5941
President. Could we call an immediate meeting
of the Rules Committee in the Majority
Conference Room, please.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There
will be an immediate meeting of the Rules
Committee in the Majority Conference Room.
Senator Kuhl, we have one
substitution at the desk. Should we do that
now?
SENATOR KUHL: Let's read the
substitution.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read the substitution.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 962, Senator DeFrancisco moves
to discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 4919B and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 706A,
Third Reading Calendar 962.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
Senator Kuhl.
SENATOR KUHL: I understand
there's a resolution at the desk, a privileged
resolution by Senator Marchi. Could we have
5942
that resolution read in its entirety at this
time.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Yes, we
can.
Can we have some order in the
chamber, please.
Resolutions. The Secretary will
read.
THE SECRETARY: By Senator
Marchi, Legislative Resolution Number 4922,
welcoming Archbishop Edward M. Egan to New
York State.
"WHEREAS, By appointment of the
leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope John
Paul II, Edward M. Egan was installed on
June 19, 2000, as the ninth archbishop of New
York, to succeed the esteemed Cardinal John
O'Connor, who died May 3rd; and
"WHEREAS, Millions of New Yorkers
who were saddened by the loss of one of the
great prelates in the history of the Catholic
Church, and one of the most beloved religious
figures in New York's annals, were comforted
by Pope John Paul's election of an individual
of Archbishop Egan's stature and proven
5943
leadership ability to succeed Cardinal
O'Connor; and
"WHEREAS, New York City and New
York State have been blessed by the
extraordinary presence of nine Roman Catholic
archbishops, in whose tradition of greatness
Archbishop Egan is sure to follow in pursuit
of his pastoral duties; and
"WHEREAS, the Pope's choice to
oversee the spiritual and charitable needs of
2.4 million Catholics in Manhattan, the Bronx
and Staten Island and seven counties north of
New York City was welcomed by the Archbishop's
new flock because of his demonstrated
abilities as a Church leader, which had raised
him to the rank of bishop of the Diocese of
Bridgeport, Connecticut; and
"WHEREAS, During his tenure in the
Bridgeport Diocese, Archbishop Egan oversaw
the regionalization of diocesan elementary
schools, established active Hispanic and
Haitian apostolates, founded the St. John
Fisher Seminary Residence for young men
considering the priesthood, reorganized
diocesan health-care facilities and initiated
5944
the Inner-City Foundation for Charity and
Education; and
"WHEREAS, Archbishop Egan has
worked with the National Conference of
Bishops, as chairman of the Board of Governors
of the Pontifical North American College, as
chairman of the Committee on Science and Human
Values, and as a member of other key
committees of the Church in America; and
"WHEREAS, Archbishop Egan's rise to
positions of major responsibility within the
Church began with his graduation from St. Mary
of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, Illinois,
his ordainment as a priest in Rome in 1958,
and his assignment to the Archdiocese of
Chicago, where he became secretary to His
Eminence, Albert Cardinal Meyer; and
"WHEREAS, he returned to Rome in
1960, as assistant vice-rector and repetitor
of moral theology and canon law at the
Pontifical North American College in Vatican
City. He went on to earn a doctorate in canon
law summa cum laude from the Pontifical
Gregorian University, and went to back to
Chicago to serve first as secretary to
5945
Cardinal John Cody, and later as co-chancellor
of the Archdiocese of Chicago; and
"WHEREAS, Archbishop Egan won a
reputation as a leader in efforts to bring
people of many faiths together in the greater
Chicago area, serving, among other things, as
secretary of the Archdiocesan Commission on
the Ecumenicism and Human Relations; and
"WHEREAS, He went on to serve as a
judge of the Tribunal of the Sacred Roman
Rota, a position he held until his elevation
to the rank of bishop in May 1985; as
professor of canon law at the Pontifical
Gregorian University and of civil and criminal
procedure at the Studium Rotale, the law
school of the Rota; and as one of the six
canon law authorities who reviewed the new
Code of Canon Law with Pope John Paul II
before its promulgation in 1983; and
"WHEREAS, he was consecrated a
bishop on May 22, 1985, in the basilica of
Saints John and Paul in Rome by Cardinal
Bernardin Gaintin, with Cardinal John O'Connor
serving as a co-consecrator. In June 1985, he
became auxiliary bishop and vicar for
5946
education of the Archdiocese of New York,
where he contributed importantly to the
increasing excellence and effectiveness of
Catholic schools in New York; and
"WHEREAS, on November 8, 1988, Pope
John Paul II named him to be the third bishop
of the Diocese of Bridgeport; and
"WHEREAS, Archbishop Egan's
demonstrated condition, his organizational and
language skills, and his exemplary dedication
to human needs made him a highly qualified
candidate for consideration by the Pope as
successor to the legendary Cardinal O'Connor
in one of the world's most visible positions
of religious leadership; and
"WHEREAS, New York, with its myriad
of issues, its complex population, Catholic
and non-Catholic, continues to demand the best
of those assigned to provide spiritual and
moral leadership; and
"WHEREAS, Because of his dedication
to the concerns of people of all religious,
racial and ethnic groups and economic classes,
Archbishop Egan will help to continue the
advancements made under his predecessors.
5947
"This Legislative Body speaks out
periodically in support of individuals who
advance the public good, and wishes to do so
upon the occasion of Archbishop Egan's formal
arrival as the new leader of the Catholic
Church in New York; now, therefore, be it
"RESOLVED, That this Legislative
Body pause in its deliberations to extend a
warm welcome to New York's new prelate,
express its pleasure on the selection of a
strong and compassionate person of Archbishop
Egan's credentials and stature, and offer a
fervent prayer for his success in carrying on
the work so well performed by Cardinal
O'Connor; and be it further
"RESOLVED, That copies of this
resolution, suitably engrossed, be transmitted
to Archbishop Egan and his associates in
Church leadership in New York."
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Marchi.
SENATOR MARCHI: Mr. President,
he certainly made a tremendous impact in
addressing the diocese in the observance of
this event when he was welcomed formally and
5948
officially into the Archdiocese of New York
just a few days ago.
It was an extraordinary effect.
There were people from all over the world.
And the impact was uniform and one of
admiration and respect for the spiritual force
that he represents, for all of his many
talents, which are well suited to relating to
the public at large -- linguistic command of a
number of languages, just a superb historical
perspective being evidenced throughout his
delivery, and also his recognition of the
human dilemma and the essential need for
people to engage in cooperative efforts for
the promotion of the social and spiritual
welfare of the people that he serves.
I introduced this resolution, and I
invite the participation of my colleagues, if
that -- that is a custom in usage which we've
had, and I think would be expressive of the
feeling and the respect that we all hold for
Archbishop Egan.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
question is on the resolution. All those in
favor signify by saying aye.
5949
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Opposed,
nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
resolution is adopted.
Senator Kuhl.
SENATOR KUHL: Yes, Mr.
President. I understand there's a report of
the Finance Committee at the desk. So can we
return to the order of reports of standing
committees, and I'd ask that that report be
read.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Reports
of standing committees.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford,
from the Committee on Finance, reports the
following nominations.
As a member of the Board of
Trustees of the State University of New York,
Aminy I. Audi, of Fayetteville.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Stafford.
SENATOR STAFFORD: We're very
5950
fortunate today, and again I'm pleased to be
able to say that we had three fine nominees
appear before the Finance Committee.
And it's a pleasure to yield to
Senator DeFrancisco for Mrs. Audi.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Thank you,
Senator.
I rise with great pride to speak on
behalf of Aminy Audi, who's been nominated by
the Governor, in his wisdom, as a member of
the Board of Trustees of the State University
of New York.
It's a wonderful thing, I think,
for Central New York to have a representative
on this extremely important body. And the
Governor couldn't have picked anybody more
qualified -- a very, very successful
businesswoman who is an owner and executive
vice president of Stickley's furniture, which
is known worldwide, and not only for the
quality of their furniture but maintaining the
Arts and Crafts movement that we should have
in this community. It's not only furniture,
5951
but it's an art and it's a craft that
continues to this present day.
And although her name is Aminy,
that is not what she really is. She's far
from it. She's on every imaginable charitable
organization, and I can't even read half of
them, it just would take too much time.
So her background is as a very,
very successful businesswoman, an individual
who's been involved with so many works of
charity, and someone who would bring some real
common sense and leadership to the SUNY Board
of Trustees.
I congratulate the Governor and I
congratulate Mrs. Audi and request that
everyone unanimously support her here today
and confirm the nomination.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Hoffmann.
SENATOR HOFFMANN: Thank you, Mr.
President.
I too am very pleased to rise in
support of the nomination of Aminy Audi for
this very important position. I would love to
read this long series of accomplishments and
5952
awards that she has received. It's
single-spaced, it goes on for several pages,
beginning with one of the most recent -
recipient of the Women in Home Industries
Today award, Manufacturing of the Year
Award -- going back to, oh, she's an elder at
the Pebble Hill Presbyterian Church.
The reason I am not going to read
all of these very important achievements is
because I know that Mrs. Audi is scheduled to
be at home today preparing to host an event
for about a hundred of the distributors for
the Stickley furniture company, and she wants
to be home cooking.
This is not what we usually say
when we are speaking about the wonderful
professional achievements of our nominees to
these important positions, including the SUNY
board. But I must tell you that that
indicates the type of remarkable balance in
Mrs. Audi's life. She values her
responsibilities as a mother, as a wife, and
as a preeminent hostess as much as she does
her civic contributions and her business.
And for that, I'm very pleased to
5953
be able to second her nomination today.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
question is on the confirmation of Aminy Audi
as a member of the Board of Trustees of the
State University of New York. All those in
favor signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Opposed,
nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
nominee is confirmed.
Aminy Audi is with us in the
gallery today.
And, Ms. Audi, we congratulate you
and wish you well with your very important
duties.
(Applause.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will continue to read.
THE SECRETARY: As a member of
the Board of Trustees of the City University
of New York, Herman Badillo, of New York City.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Stafford.
5954
SENATOR STAFFORD: Also a fine
nomination.
And it's a pleasure to yield to
Senator Goodman.
SENATOR GOODMAN: Thank you,
Chairman Stafford.
Mr. President, I have the very high
honor today to give you a little background on
an absolutely unique individual who is up for
this high appointment. His name is Herman
Badillo, and it is a name which I think is
known nationally and internationally because
of his pioneering role as an individual who
has left an amazing mark thus far in his
career and who has a long way yet to go.
Herman Badillo was born in Caguas,
Puerto Rico, in August of 1929, came to New
York at the age of 11, where he was educated
in public schools, graduated cum laude from
the City College of New York in 1951 with a
bachelor of business administration and
proceeded from there to the Brooklyn Law
School, where he received the first
scholarship prize, was class valedictorian,
was a member of the Law Review and moot court
5955
team.
He was admitted to the bar in 1955
and became a certified public accountant as
well as an attorney, and was in private
practice for some years thereafter.
In 1965, he was elected as the
first borough president of Hispanic origin in
the history of New York City.
In 1970, he ran for and was elected
as a member of the House of Representatives
for the 21st Congressional district, the first
Hispanic to be elected to the House of
Representatives in the history of the entire
nation.
Mr. President, you can already
appreciate the extraordinary capacity. After
having served in Congress for seven years, Mr.
Badillo resigned in January 1978 to become
deputy mayor of the City of New York, serving
under Mayor Edward I Koch. He served as the
deputy mayor for management and deputy mayor
for policy, and resigned as deputy mayor on
September 30th to enter private practice.
This is enough of an accomplishment
to have already filled an esteemed lifetime,
5956
but the story does not end there. Going
beyond this, on July 20, 1994, Mayor Giuliani
appointed Mr. Badillo to the Mayor's Advisory
Committee on the Judiciary.
And in addition to that, he became
chairman of the Board of Trustees of the City
University of New York, appointed by Governor
Pataki on May 31, 1999.
Now, as chairman of the Board of
Trustees, Herman Badillo has already left an
indelible mark. He is insistent that there
should be adequate standards applied to the
educational accomplishments of our youngsters.
He believes very deeply in the importance of
college degrees and does not think that they
should be awarded on the basis of automatic
promotions.
He has restored, it seems to me, a
very serious incentive into the concept of
educating youngsters. And I think that this
core transformation of values will have an
enduring effect on the quality of education
and on the quality of our youth in the future.
Mr. President, it is therefore with
a great deal of personal pleasure and high
5957
pride that I ask that this nomination be
expedited through the Senate and ask every
member to enthusiastically welcome Mr.
Badillo, who I'm told is in the chamber today.
Thank you very much.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Lachman.
SENATOR LACHMAN: Winston
Churchill, who lived through the rise and the
downfall of the British Empire, once noted
that the empires of the future are the empires
of the mind.
We have two great empires of the
mind in the State of New York: the State
University of New York and the City University
of New York. And those empires can only
flourish if they have boards of trustees who
are competent, articulate, and guided by
commitments to excellence as well as access.
We have, in Herman Badillo, not
only a pathfinder in many areas -- a
trailblazer, as Senator Goodman has stated
now, and as Senator Santiago and Senator
Mendez have stated and will probably state
again -- we have a very unusual person.
5958
Ladies and gentlemen, the CUNY
Board of Trustees is now in the midst of a
stability that has not existed for the last
few years. It is no coincidence that this
stability began when Herman Badillo was
appointed chairman of the Board of Trustees
and Dr. Matthew Goldstein was appointed as the
chancellor of the CUNY board. Both, by the
way, graduates of the City University of New
York, of CCNY, and of Baruch.
Now, stability was exemplified this
past November by the CUNY Board of Trustees
through compromise, consensus, and an
elimination of a polarizing issue known as
remediation, where you had two factions at
different extremes. On November 22nd, the
Board of Regents approved the master plan of
the City University of New York involving a
consensus that had been difficult to reach in
prior years.
Now, this consensus vote by the
Board of Regents was sealed by one man who
cast the deciding vote, Harold Levy, who is
now the chancellor of the New York City Board
of Education, and is indicative of what we all
5959
hope will occur in the future -- greater
articulation, greater cooperation, greater
involvement of public education in New York
City, not only from 1 through 12th grade, but
through the City University as well.
In this agreement, in this
consensus, a Prelude to Success program was
developed which now exists on four campuses,
and I hope will expand. These are Brooklyn
College, Queens College, Baruch College, and
Hunter College.
Students who fall below an
assessment test, slightly below, are given the
opportunity to attend these senior colleges
and are given remediation at these colleges,
at the senior colleges, by members of
community colleges. For example, students at
Hunter College receiving this from faculty -
excuse me, faculty of Borough of Manhattan
Community College.
This was a great breakthrough, as
was the Levy compromise, which stated that
CCNY and Lehman should not fall within the
overall rubric of the elimination of
remediation because of special circumstances
5960
and the diversity of students that exist
there.
And we owe this primarily to the
captain of the ship, to Herman Badillo, and
the chancellor, Matthew Goldstein.
Now, I know also that Mr. Badillo
is pushing for two programs that I feel very
strongly about and my colleagues feel very
strongly about. One of those programs, more
faculty lines. Senator Stavisky mentioned
this at the Higher Education Committee.
It is outrageous that this great
empire of higher education should be at the
50 percent mark in faculty lines. It is
incumbent upon us, as members of the State
Legislature, to give them the funding that is
necessary to perpetuate teaching of excellence
by teachers of standards. Abe Lincoln once
said that the only thing more expensive than
education is ignorance. And no one in this
chamber will opt for ignorance over
educational excellence.
The other program that Chairman
Badillo feels very strongly about, and my
colleagues and I feel strongly about, is a
5961
program called College Now. It began at
Kingsborough Community College. It now exists
throughout the entire City University of New
York. And College Now is a mentoring program
of college students mentoring high school
students to prepare them for entry into the
City University of New York.
Now, on the conference committee
dealing with higher education, there was a
request by CUNY that we double the number of
College Now schools to the entire university,
which would only have entailed $5 million. It
was a disgrace that the Legislature did not
allocate that funding. Fortunately, the New
York City Council did allocate that funding,
and College Now does exist throughout the City
University of New York.
If we want access, if we want
diversity, if we want excellence, it has to
cost money. It also needs to have the type of
leadership that Herman Badillo exemplifies:
a man who is the first in many areas, a man of
principle, a man of direction, and a man of
commitment.
Between Herman Badillo, his vice
5962
chair, Benno Schmidt, and the chancellor of
the City University of New York, Matthew
Goldstein, we have an empire of the mind that
will continue to grow qualitatively and
quantitatively only if we support these
institutions with the money that is necessary
for greatness in this state. And that applies
to SUNY as well as CUNY.
Mr. Badillo, it is a pleasure, it
is indeed an honor to second your renomination
as chair of the CUNY Board of Trustees.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Santiago.
SENATOR SANTIAGO: Thank you, Mr.
President.
I assume that Mr. Badillo is here.
I'd like to turn around. There he is.
Herman, it's an honor to stand here
and it's an honor to be able to say to you
publicly what I've said to you privately many,
many times. I think it's important to note
that not only Puerto Ricans support you, but
we all support you. Senator Goodman -- I
don't think Senator Goodman is Puerto Rican.
SENATOR LACHMAN: I am.
5963
SENATOR SANTIAGO: And he was the
first one to support you.
It's not a Puerto Rican thing.
You're the best thing that happened, you're
the best person that happened for New York
State, you're the best that's happened in
education. We're thrilled to have you in that
position.
For us, it's an honor. As a Puerto
Rican woman, let me just say it's an honor to
stand here. Because from my regard, you
represent what we're about. Our people are
like you. You, in fact, took advantage of the
public schools. You took advantage of the
city schools. You were valedictorian. You
were cum laude. You graduated, you were -- at
the law school, you were written in the Law
Review.
We know your history very well. My
children, who are very young, know your
history very well. We talk about Herman
Badillo as if you almost were a legend.
You're not a legend. You, for us, are an
example of what every Puerto Rican is proud to
say that we are about. This is what our
5964
people are about.
It's very important for the
students at CUNY to know that the person who's
in charge of CUNY is someone of your caliber,
is someone who reads and writes. You ask the
children to read and write in the colleges,
but you read and write. You ask of them what
you in fact represent. So in fact, you're not
asking any more of students than you ask of
yourself.
I think that's so important.
Because sometimes it's very easy to require
someone to do things that you just -- you
yourself do not do. But you in fact do that,
and we're very proud of that and very proud of
you.
Being with you is really very
threatening, because we know that your
standards are so high. And the standards that
you're asking of our children, even though
they've been very, very critical -- some
people have criticized you for it. I would
say your respect for children is so high, your
respect for all children is so high that you
demand that they be the best that they can be.
5965
One point that I know, and I know
this because I know it personally, is that you
do not ask a child to perform at a level that
they can't accomplish. You just ask of every
child -- and I know this about you and I know
this personally -- you ask every child to be
the best person they know how to be. And if
our school system, if the public school
system, if the City University system could
provide that, then we've done our job as a
society. And certainly your leadership is the
one that's taking us there.
I was very proud to support your
social promotion policy. I understood it.
I'm sorry to say some people did not
understand it. I understood it. I would like
all children, in fact, to read, all children
to write, all children to be -- if, in fact,
we're talking about bilingual ed -
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Santiago, I don't mean to interrupt you, and I
apologize to you and the nominee.
Could you face the chair? Because
the members can't hear you. The microphone is
in front of you.
5966
SENATOR SANTIAGO: This is the
loudest I've ever spoken.
It's really an honor to be able to
support this nomination. Because -- let me
just repeat, then, the part that I feel
strongly about not.
He's not asking us, he's not asking
students by demanding standards something that
he doesn't impose on himself. And he's not
asking people to perform at a level that
they're not able to perform. He's asking the
school system and the CUNY system to be there
so that the child could be the best that they
can be. That's a very reasonable request.
I'm really proud to stand here as a
Puerto Rican woman, as a legislator, as a
citizen of the State of New York. He is
someone that you mentioned before, Senator
Goodman, that he is known nationally, that he
is known internationally. I know that to be a
fact.
And I'm very proud that we have
someone at the helm of CUNY that is of his
caliber and someone at the helm of CUNY who is
respected at every possible level, because we
5967
need that. Because the children that he's
represented, that he's representing, need
someone just like him, someone that they can
look up to, someone to whom other people will
listen.
Because I know one of the things
that Herman does is that Herman advocates for
children. And when you need, for example, if
you can't do it yourself -- and I know I've
used this office in this way. When my office
isn't enough to help a child, I call Herman.
Because it's almost like calling in the
sheriff. And I call Herman, and Herman will
respond. And Herman will call whoever he has
to call to help a child, not just the children
of the city of New York or the state of New
York.
It's an honor to be here. It's an
honor to be able to support his nomination and
to do it with such enthusiasm and such
respect.
Thank you very much.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Mendez.
SENATOR MENDEZ: Mr. President, I
5968
too rise with great pride to support the
nomination of Herman Badillo.
All of us who know Herman, and
those who have heard of him and have known
about his accomplishments throughout his
political and academic career, know very well
that he exemplifies competence, he exemplifies
excellence, and he exemplifies caring.
We know that the school system in
the City of New York has been failing all the
children for much too long. As a result of
that, all these miseducated children were
growing up without the necessary skills to
benefit from four-year colleges that belong to
the City University of New York.
The kinds of policies that he has
established through his leadership, as Senator
Lachman mentioned, have made it possible to
change around the system and bring all the
trustees together in focusing on the issue of
directing efforts to ensure that once the
youngsters go into any one of the colleges,
they will be able in turn to graduate in due
time -- not eight, ten years, but in due
time -- and be responsible citizens, get good
5969
jobs, and what have you.
I must say that in terms of the
Puerto Rican community -- and I am Puerto
Rican, as you know -- we all feel great pride
in his accomplishment. He was, as has been
stated here, the first Puerto Rican
commissioner in the City of New York. He was
the first borough president in -- Puerto Rican
borough president in the City of New York. He
was the first Congressman in the -- the first
Puerto Rican Congressman and the first borough
president.
The only thing, as I once told him
jokingly, that he couldn't be is the first
Puerto Rican woman elected to public office.
But anyhow, in all seriousness, he
really -- he knows what the problems are. And
then he focuses in resolving them.
For example, we all know that since
the time in which we passed here the
centralization law, the high schools, they
were under the supervision of the Board of
Education. And, my God, what a very poor job
they did.
So that now his program of College
5970
Now will ensure that these youngsters in the
ninth grade will be able to be tutored so they
will correct the miseducation that
unfortunately occurred in the City of New York
in the public school system for so long and so
long that it is pitiful.
So again, Mr. President, it is with
great pride that I stand up to second his
nomination. He's done an excellent job there
as well. And he'll keep working hard to
ensure that that wonderful university system
is accessible to all the students in the State
of New York.
I want to mention in passing that
we have high hopes for the CUNY system,
because he is there, among other things. And
we also have high hopes in his relationship
with the Board of Education.
And maybe this wonderful new
chancellor will whip whoever he has to to
ensure that learning occurs more productively
and that the children are not cheated anymore
of a good wholesome future. Because we all
know very well that the only road towards
upper socioeconomic mobility in this wonderful
5971
country of ours is through education.
So with him over there, I feel and
most of us, all of us feel more confident that
that situation will change.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
question is on the confirmation of Herman
Badillo as a member of the Board of Trustees
of the City University of New York. All those
in favor signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Opposed,
nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
nominee is confirmed.
Mr. Badillo is with us in the
gallery.
And, Mr. Badillo, on behalf of the
Senate, we express our admiration and
congratulations.
(Applause.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will continue to read.
THE SECRETARY: As a member of
5972
the Board of Trustees of the City University
of New York, Wellington Z. Chen, of Little
Neck.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Stafford.
SENATOR STAFFORD: Again, a fine
nomination.
And it's a pleasure to yield to
Senator Padavan.
SENATOR PADAVAN: Thank you,
Senator Stafford.
Mr. President, it is indeed an
honor and a privilege for me to advance the
nomination of Wellington Chen to the City
University.
Mr. Chen has a very distinguished
career in many, many dimensions. As an
architect and a planner, he served on the New
York City Board of Standards and Appeals for
many years -- over 13 years, as I recall.
For those who may not be familiar
with that tribunal, it is a very, very
significant part of city government in that
they deal with all matters of zoning, building
code issues and variances, a very critical
5973
component in the development and the economic
activities, the building activities that take
place in the city of New York.
As a product of the City
University, City College specifically -- and
his brother as well -- he has indicated to me
and to the committee that interviewed him that
this is his opportunity to pay back to the
City University and the City of New York all
of the benefits that he has accrued as a
product of that system.
He also told me when we met
recently that when his mother decided to take
them from Hong Kong and bring them to this
country, it was for one reason and one reason
only: because here she knew they would get a
quality education that was impossible for them
to get in their native country.
And so, knowing that, he is
committed to see that every youngster rises to
the potential that they are capable of, within
the City University and elsewhere, so that
they too can have the benefit of an education
that has served him so well.
And so, Mr. President, again, it is
5974
my honor to advance the nomination.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Maltese.
SENATOR MALTESE: Yes, Mr.
President. I'm very pleased that I can second
this nomination and join my Queens colleague,
Senator Frank Padavan, in urging this
nomination.
I wish to commend the Governor for
making the nomination, not only because
Mr. Chen is very, very well qualified and, as
Senator Padavan has indicated, a product of
the City University of New York, but he also
has a vantage point in that he attended the
university, City University, and then went
back to complete his education, and thus -
with a hiatus of several years, and thus had
an opportunity to see the City University of
New York as a university where distinguished
graduates like Mr. Badillo and others attended
and graduated, and the City University of New
York as it was at a later date where, as many
claim, standards had declined.
With this vantage point, he and
other members of his family are all proud
5975
graduates of the City University of New York.
But at the same time, they are part of a
force, a very potent force has been chosen by
our Governor to mold the City University of
New York so that it can aspire and achieve the
prominence that City University of New York
has achieved in the past.
Mr. Chen was, as has been
indicated, an engineer, a planner, somebody
who, as president of a corporation, had to
meet a payroll, somebody who had to stay
within a budget. And this is important to the
City University of New York that has to work
within certain confines.
I had the opportunity to speak to
Mr. Chen, I had the opportunity to talk to him
at some length about his aspirations for the
future and some of the things that he wanted
to urge that would be implemented in CUNY.
And he would be working, of course, with a
board that is pledged to reform and
excellence, and working with Mr. Badillo, who
has succeeded Ann Paolucci, who as chairwoman
had accomplished so very much to change the
direction of CUNY.
5976
Now, something should be said -- I
heard my good colleagues Senator Santiago and
Senator Mendez indicate the pride they took as
persons of Puerto Rican background in
Mr. Badillo's accomplishments. Well, that is
one of the areas that thankfully we can again
commend our Governor.
Recognizing that this was a Queens
seat where the trustee had to reside in the
County of Queens, with -- given the large
Asian-American population, not only of Queens
County but of the city and the state, this was
a method of recognizing, by Mr. Chen, the
excellence and the precedence that the
Asian-American population has taken and the
interest that they have taken in education.
Seeing the biographies of people
like Mr. Badillo and Mr. Chen, we see
sprinkled throughout their very, very
impressive resumes first in this board, first
as this commissioner, first in this particular
area. And this is something that makes them,
whether they like it or not, role models, role
models for others who would follow in their
footsteps and who would try to duplicate their
5977
efforts.
Mr. Chen is a proud Chinese
American. But listening to him speak about
when his -- the goals and dreams his parents
had and the dreams that he had himself and
what he hopes to accomplish at CUNY, I heard
over and over again things that I've heard,
very similar things from Italian Americans,
Hispanic Americans, German Americans, Irish
Americans, many of the people who preceded him
coming to this great nation.
And even in some of the
conversations we had of how he acquired his
name, Wellington Chen, which makes him unique
among many of the Asian Americans. It is a
uniqueness that has helped him, has enabled
him to be recognized by many in his own
community and many outside the community.
So people will be watching
Mr. Chen. He is up to the task and will excel
in that task. He is a wonderful role model
for not only Asian Americans, Chinese
Americans, and all Americans, but he is
someone who I am very pleased that the
Governor has chosen to appoint. And I am
5978
pleased that he will be representing Queens
County and all the students of the City
University of New York.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Stavisky.
SENATOR STAVISKY: Yes. I first
met Wellington Chen when he served as a member
of my local community planning board.
Queens, as you know, is probably
the most culturally diverse county in the
state and probably the nation, and I suspect
my Senate district reflects that diversity.
But there's a certain strength in that
diversity also that finally is being
recognized. We are stronger because of that
diversity.
And the City University trustees
will also benefit from the cultural background
that Mr. Chen is going to bring to the board.
We have approximately 150 languages
spoken in our schools in Queens County. And
Mr. Chen, I think, will be able to represent
people who look a little -- who bring a
different perspective, the perspective of
somebody who came from Hong Kong as a child.
5979
So I'm delighted to rise and speak
in behalf of Mr. Chen. And I must say I'm
happy that now that Mr. Chen is a successful
architect, he hasn't forgotten his roots, he
hasn't forgotten where he received his
education.
So I join with my other colleagues
in congratulating the new appointee.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
question is on the confirmation of Wellington
Chen as a member of the Board of Trustees of
the City University of New York. All in favor
signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Opposed,
nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
nominee is confirmed.
Mr. Chen is with us today in the
gallery. And we wish you well with your
important duties.
(Applause.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will continue to read.
5980
THE SECRETARY: As a member of
the Board of Trustees of the Cornell
University, Jerold R. Ruderman, Esquire, of
Scarsdale.
As a member of the Central New York
Regional Transportation Authority, H.J.
Hubert, Esquire, of Syracuse.
As a member of the Administrative
Review Board for Professional Medical Conduct,
Thea Graves Pellman, of West Hempstead.
As a member of the State Athletic
Commission, Judge Jerome M. Becker, of New
York City.
As a member of the State Board of
Historic Preservation, Robert B. Mackay,
Ph.D., of Cold Springs Harbor.
And as a member of the Veterans
Affairs Commission, Peter Iodice, of
Eastchester.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Stafford.
SENATOR STAFFORD: Move
confirmation, please.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
question is on the confirmation of the
5981
nominees. All those in favor signify by
saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Opposed,
nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
nominees are confirmed.
Senator Kuhl.
SENATOR KUHL: Yes, Mr.
President. May we return to the order of
reports of standing committees. I understand
there's a report of the Rules Committee at the
desk. May we have that read at this time.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Reports
of standing committees.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Senator Bruno,
from the Committee on Rules, reports the
following bills:
Senate Print 6590C, by Senator
Volker, an act in relation to the
construction;
5653A, by Senator Volker, an act to
amend the General Municipal Law;
5982
Assembly 812A, by Member of the
Assembly Weisenberg, an act to amend the
Agriculture and Markets Law;
Senate Print 7551, by Senator
Hoffmann, an act to amend the Agriculture and
Markets Law;
4457A, by Senator Marchi, an act to
amend the Not-for-Profit Corporation Law;
8018A, by Senator Spano, an act to
authorize the Town of Greenburgh;
8169A, by Senator Volker, an act to
amend the Public Authorities Law;
8172, by Senator LaValle, an act to
amend the Public Authorities Law;
28A, by Senator LaValle, an act to
amend the Education Law;
8152B, by Senator Lack, an act to
amend the Judiciary Law and the Uniform City
Court Act;
554, by Senator DeFrancisco, an act
to repeal Section 474A of the Judiciary Law;
1866, by Senator Gentile, an act to
amend the Penal Law;
5919A, by Senator Bonacic, an act
to exempt certain parcels;
5983
6830A, by Senator Seward, an act to
amend the Insurance Law and the State Finance
Law;
7923, by Senator Farley, an act to
amend the Real Property Tax Law;
8050, by Senator Leibell, an act to
permit the reopening;
8189, by Senator Seward, an act to
amend the Education Law;
8191, by Senator Farley, an act to
repeal paragraph (d) of subdivision 31;
8193, by Senator Johnson, an act to
amend the Public Authorities Law;
8217, by Senator Alesi, an act to
amend the General Business Law and the Civil
Practice Law and Rules;
8218, by Senator Bruno, an act to
amend the Public Authorities Law;
4281, by Senator Goodman, an act to
amend the Public Lands Law;
5136B, by Senator Skelos, an act to
amend the General Business Law;
5309C, by Senator Marcellino, an
act to amend the Navigation Law and the Town
Law;
5984
8212, by Senator Skelos, an act to
amend the Criminal Procedure Law;
8219, by Senator Padavan, an act to
amend the General City Law;
8222, by Senator Goodman, an act to
amend the Tax Law;
8223, by Senator Marcellino, an act
to amend the Environmental Conservation Law;
And 8226, by Senator Goodman, an
act to amend the State Finance Law.
All bills ordered direct to third
reading.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Kuhl.
SENATOR KUHL: Move to accept the
report of the Rules Committee.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All in
favor of accepting the report of the Rules
Committee signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Opposed,
nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
report is accepted.
5985
Senator Kuhl.
SENATOR KUHL: Yes, Mr.
President. May we now have the
noncontroversial reading of Senate
Supplemental Calendar Number 58A, which is on
all the members' desks.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: On
Senate Supplemental Calendar 58A, the
Secretary will read the noncontroversial
calendar.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 396, Senator Volker moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 9576C and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 6590C,
Third Reading Calendar 396.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
396, by Member of the Assembly Eve, Assembly
Print Number 9576C, an act in relation to the
construction.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
5986
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 592, Senator Volker moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 8421A and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 5653A,
Third Reading Calendar 592.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
592, by the Assembly Committee on Rules,
Assembly Print Number 8421A, an act to amend
the General Municipal Law, in relation to
authorizing.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
5987
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
930, by Member of the Assembly Weisenberg,
Assembly Print Number 812A, an act to amend
the Agriculture and Markets Law and the
General Obligations Law, in relation to harm.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This
act shall take effect on the first day of
November.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 939, Senator Hoffmann moves to
5988
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 10235 and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 7551,
Third Reading Calendar 939.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
939, by Member of the Assembly Magee, Assembly
Print Number 10235, an act to amend the
Agriculture and Markets Law, in relation to
insects.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
987, by Senator Marchi, Senate Print 4457A, an
act to amend the Not-for-Profit Corporation
5989
Law, in relation to authorizing.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect on the 30th day.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1458, Senator Spano moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 11310A and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 8018A,
Third Reading Calendar 1458.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1458, by the Assembly Committee on Rules,
Assembly Print Number 11310A, an act to
authorize the Town of Greenburgh.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
5990
there is a home rule message at the desk.
The Secretary will read the last
section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1575, by Senator LaValle, Senate Print 8172 -
SENATOR KUHL: Lay it aside for
the day, please.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside for the day.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1576, Senator LaValle moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 5370A and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 28A,
Third Reading Calendar 1576.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
5991
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1576, by Member of the Assembly Weprin,
Assembly Print Number 5370A, an act to amend
the Education Law, in relation to requiring.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect January 1, 2001.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1602, by Senator Lack, Senate Print 8152B, an
act to amend the Judiciary Law and the Uniform
City Court Act, in relation to judges.
SENATOR HEVESI: Lay it aside.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1656, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print
554, an act to repeal Section 474a of the
5992
Judiciary Law, relating to contingent fees.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in
the negative on Calendar Number 1656 are
Senators Farley, LaValle, Rath, Seward,
Stachowski, Volker, and Wright. Ayes, 52.
Nays, 7.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1657, by Senator Gentile, Senate Print 1866,
an act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to
disseminating.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
act shall take effect on the first day of
November.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
5993
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. Nays,
1. Senator Duane recorded in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1658, by Senator Bonacic, Senate Print 5919A,
an act to exempt certain parcels of land in
the Town of New Baltimore.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1659, Senator Seward moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 10352A and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 6830A,
5994
Third Reading Calendar 1659.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1659, by Member of the Assembly Tonko,
Assembly Print Number 10352A, an act to amend
the Insurance Law and the State Finance Law,
in relation to enforcement.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1661, Senator Farley moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 11318 and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 7923,
Third Reading Calendar 1661.
5995
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1661, by the Assembly Committee on Rules,
Assembly Print Number 11318, an act to amend
the Real Property Tax Law, in relation to the
assessment roll.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1662, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 8050,
an act to permit the reopening of the optional
twenty-year retirement plan.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a home rule message at the desk.
Read the last section.
5996
THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1663, by Senator Seward, Senate Print 8189, an
act to amend the Education Law, in relation to
the permissible use of school grounds.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect on the first day of
July.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1664, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 8191, an
5997
act to repeal paragraph (d) of subdivision 31
of Section 235 of the Banking Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect on the same date as a
chapter of the Laws of 2000.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1665, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 8193,
an act to amend the Public Authorities Law, in
relation to prohibiting.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
5998
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1666, by Senator Alesi -
SENATOR KUHL: Lay the bill aside
for the day, please.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside for the day.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1667, by Senator Bruno, Senate Print 8218, an
act to amend the Public Authorities Law, in
relation to and for the purpose of enabling.
SENATOR KUHL: Is there a message
of necessity at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Yes,
there is, Senator Kuhl.
SENATOR KUHL: Move to accept the
message.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
those in favor of accepting the message of
necessity say aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Those
opposed, nay.
(No response.)
5999
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
message is accepted. The bill is before the
house.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1669, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 4281,
an act to amend the Public Lands Law, in
relation to authorizing.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
6000
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1670, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 5136B,
an act to amend the General Business Law, in
relation to the dispensing of hearing aids.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Kuhl.
SENATOR KUHL: Is there a message
of necessity at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Yes,
there is.
SENATOR KUHL: Move we accept the
message.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
those in favor of accepting the message of
necessity say aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Those
opposed, nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
message is accepted. The bill is before the
house.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 13. This
6001
act shall take effect on the first day of
January.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1671, by Senator Marcellino, Senate Print
5309C, an act to amend the Navigation Law and
the Town Law, in relation to authorizing.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Kuhl.
SENATOR KUHL: Is there a message
of necessity at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a message at the desk.
SENATOR KUHL: Move we accept the
message.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
those in favor of accepting the message of
necessity signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Those
6002
opposed, nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
message is accepted. The bill is before the
house.
Senator Dollinger, why do you rise?
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Lay it aside.
Just lay it aside, Mr. President, 1671.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr.
President, if I'm also just recognized for a
moment, could I have unanimous consent to be
recorded in the negative on Calendar Number
1669.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Without
objection, Senator Dollinger will be recorded
in the negative on Calendar 1669.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Alesi.
SENATOR ALESI: Thank you, Mr.
President. I ask unanimous consent to be
recorded in the negative on Calendar 1656,
Senate Print 554.
6003
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Without
objection, Senator Alesi will be recorded in
the negative on Calendar 1656.
The Secretary will continue to
read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1673, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 8212, an
act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law, in
relation to eliminating.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Kuhl.
SENATOR KUHL: Is there a message
of necessity at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a message at the desk.
SENATOR KUHL: Move we accept the
message.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
those in favor of accepting the message of
necessity say aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Those
opposed, nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
6004
message is accepted. The bill is before the
house.
SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1674, by Senator Padavan, Senate Print 8219,
an act to amend the General City Law, Chapter
772 of the Laws of 1966, relating to enabling.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Kuhl.
SENATOR KUHL: Is there a message
of necessity at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a message at the desk.
SENATOR KUHL: Move we accept the
message.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
those in favor of accepting the message of
necessity say aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Those
opposed, nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
6005
message is accepted. The bill is before the
house.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 23. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a home rule message at the desk.
Call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1675, by Senator Goodman -
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
McGee, why do you rise?
SENATOR McGEE: I wish to be
recorded in the -
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: We're on
a bill, Senator, if we could hold that a
moment.
Senator Kuhl.
SENATOR KUHL: Just waiting for
the Secretary to read the title.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
6006
Secretary will read the title.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1675, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 8222,
an act to amend the Tax Law.
SENATOR KUHL: Is there a message
of necessity at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Yes,
there is, Senator.
SENATOR KUHL: Move we accept the
message.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
those in favor of accepting the message of
necessity say aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Opposed,
nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
message is accepted. The bill is before the
house.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This
act shall take effect in 60 days.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
6007
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
Senator McGee.
SENATOR McGEE: Mr. President, I
ask for unanimous consent to be recorded in
the negative on Calendar Number 1656, Print
Number 554.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Without
objection, Senator McGee will be recorded in
the negative on Calendar 1656.
The Secretary will continue to
read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1676, by Senator Marcellino, Senate Print
8223, an act to amend the Environmental
Conservation Law, in relation to special
requirements.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Kuhl.
SENATOR KUHL: Is there a message
of necessity at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a message at the desk.
6008
SENATOR KUHL: Move we accept the
message.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
those in favor of accepting the message of
necessity say aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Those
opposed, nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
message is accepted. The bill is before the
house.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 8. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Marcellino, to explain his vote.
SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you,
Mr. President.
This legislation addresses the
public's concerns about the exposure to
pesticides in an extremely comprehensive way.
6009
Any parent who wants to will
receive 48-hour prior notification of
pesticide applications, both inside and
outside of schools. All parents and staff
will receive at least four notices per year
listing previous applications and giving the
name and the contact person for more
information. These notices will also tell
parents and staff how to accept prior
notification.
At daycare facilities, notices will
be posted 48 hours prior to applications are
where all parents can see them.
Furthermore, counties will be able
to adopt a local law requiring that commercial
applicators give abutting properties within
150 feet of the site of lawn application at
least 48 hours prior notification, and that
homeowners would have to flag their properties
when treating more than 100 square feet of
their yard.
Mr. President, this bill has
implications that go far beyond the obvious.
It goes into considerations of how pests will
be managed that may not be so obvious to
6010
everyone just looking at this particular bill.
By exempting applications which
present negligible risks to students and
neighbors, this legislation will drive
applicators to those practices that are less
harmful and require less exposure and -
rather, towards those kinds of applications,
and away from those that are of greater risk.
This will protect our children and our
communities and our environment.
Mr. President, I've learned more
than, frankly, I ever thought I would want to
know about pest management since I became
chair of the Environmental Committee of the
Senate. In this learning process, I've become
an advocate for a program called integrated
pest management. And I hope all my efforts to
promote this approach to pest management will
result in our schools and our communities and
our environment facing a decreased risk from
exposure to pesticides.
Pest control is important, and I
don't want to lose sight of that fact. No one
wants children to be exposed to the risks that
pests pose, anymore than they want children to
6011
be at risk from pesticide exposure. But there
is a middle ground. And I believe that we
have achieved that middle ground with this
piece of legislation. We can control pests in
ways that minimize risks to humans, the
environment, and nontarget organisms.
Integrated pest management is the tool.
We have sponsored -- briefly, I'll
be finished in one second -- we have sponsored
in this house and we've supported funding for
integrated pest management in the budget each
year. The production of this book by Cornell
Cooperative Extension, which has been
distributed to all schools in the state, has
been a teaching guide for the schools to use
this plan.
This is a good plan, this is a good
bill. I thank my colleagues, I thank all the
environmental organizations that supported it
and helped to get passed. And I thank the
leadership of this house for helping to get
this bill to the floor.
Thank you, and I vote aye.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Marcellino will be recorded in the
6012
affirmative.
Senator Paterson, why do you rise?
SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President,
I know that a great deal of effort went into
this legislation -
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Paterson, do you wish to explain your vote?
SENATOR PATERSON: Yes, Mr.
President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Paterson, to explain his vote.
SENATOR PATERSON: I have a
couple of concerns about this bill. One has
to do with the fact that it allows the
counties to opt in to something that I think
is more than something that is a local
concern. I think it should be a statewide
concern. I think we should have made this a
statewide bill.
In addition, particularly when
we're dealing with pesticides, because of the
atmospheric disturbances and atmospheric
pressures, there are issues that could occur
in one county that would affect citizens of
another.
6013
The second concern I would have is
just about alternatives to pesticide
management, something that I think could have
been considered in this particular legislation
as well.
I will vote for the bill, but I
would hope that we could come back here next
year and to talk about some of those issues
that existed in some of the other legislation
but didn't make the final cut today.
I vote aye, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Paterson will be recorded in the affirmative.
Senator LaValle, to explain his
vote.
SENATOR LAVALLE: Mr. President,
I rise to first congratulate Senator
Marcellino on traveling a very arduous road, a
long road, never being discouraged, keeping
his eye on the ball and moving forward so that
a very reasonable bill is brought before this
body for a vote.
I got involved in this issue in a
most practical way. A number of years ago on
a beautiful Saturday morning, my wife and I
6014
were ready to do the duties around the yard.
She is the captain and I am the go-for in
helping out with the yard duties. But in the
middle of our being out in the yard, we were
bombarded by a spray next door of someone
spraying their trees without notifying us.
It's a summer day, a bright day, as
days are at this time of the year, beautiful
out on sunny Long Island. And windows open.
No notification.
And so advocates and a lot of
people in this chamber, under Senator
Marcellino's leadership, really went further
than just that spraying bill for homeowners,
but included some very, very important
provisions that protect our children and those
in daycare.
And I think this is going to be,
Senator Marcellino, one of the most important
bills that we will be acting on during this
session.
To Senator Paterson, I say to you
in one year I think that the entire state will
opt in to this bill. Yes, there may be a
county here or there that may drag its feet,
6015
may want to talk about it a bit. But I think
this will be a statewide bill, done in a
responsible way, allowing people the
opportunity to cogitate and deliberate locally
as to what their wishes are on this important
policy.
I vote in the affirmative.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
LaValle will be recorded in the affirmative.
Senator Schneiderman, to explain
his vote.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you,
Mr. President.
I've been here for two years, and
the pesticide notification bill we do in this
house keeps getting better and better. And
this is a lot better than what we've done
before. I agree with Senator Paterson, we
still have improvements to make, but we've
come a very long way.
I just wanted to mention, though,
that when it comes to pest management, we have
to give some credit to the pests also, the
environmental advocates and everyone else
who's been pushing so hard for this. Some
6016
have observed that passing some of the bills
we're doing tonight is really an effort at
integrated pest management on a variety of
issues. But there's enough credit for
everyone on this.
And I have watched Senator
Marcellino work on it. I know that there's a
great deal of credit that belongs there, and
I'm happy to acknowledge it at this time.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Schneiderman will be recorded in the
affirmative.
The Secretary will read last
section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 8. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1677, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 8226,
an act to amend the State Finance Law, in
6017
relation to prioritizing.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Kuhl.
SENATOR KUHL: Mr. President, is
there a message of necessity at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a message at the desk.
SENATOR KUHL: Move we accept the
message.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
those in favor of accepting the message of
necessity signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Those
opposed, nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
message is accepted. The bill is before the
house.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 27. This
act shall take effect July 1.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
6018
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Balboni.
SENATOR BALBONI: Mr. President,
I'd just like to explain my vote.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Balboni, to explain his vote.
SENATOR BALBONI: This is an
issue that has meant a great deal to a certain
group of New Yorkers. They are an industry of
small-business owners who make their
livelihood by trying to provide a lower-cost
cartridge that they use in printers. They're
called remanufacturers.
And this was a bill that was a very
contentious issue for two years. We were able
to put together the parties, along with
Assemblyman Joe Morelle over in the other
house, and with Governor Pataki.
And though this is wrapped in the
whole bigger issue of procurement, this
language here, this accommodation and this
agreement, represents the hope that in America
you can still start your own business and not
have big business take you over and push you
around.
6019
Mr. President, I vote aye.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Balboni will be recorded in the affirmative.
The Secretary will announce the
results.
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
Senator Kuhl, that concludes the
noncontroversial calendar.
SENATOR KUHL: Mr. President, may
we now have the controversial reading of
Supplemental Calendar 58A.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read the -- Senator Saland, why
do you rise?
SENATOR SALAND: Mr. President, I
was out of the chamber a bit earlier when
Calendar 1656, Senate Bill 554, passed this
house. And I would request that I be recorded
in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Without
objection, Senator Saland will be recorded in
the negative on Calendar 1656.
With regard to Supplemental
6020
Calendar 58A, the Secretary will read the
controversial calendar.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1602, by Senator Lack, Senate Print 8152B, an
act to amend the Judiciary Law and the Uniform
City Court Act.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 7. This
act shall take effect April 1 -
SENATOR HEVESI: Explanation,
please.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Lack, an explanation has been requested of
Calendar 1602 by Senator Hevesi.
SENATOR LACK: Mr. President,
this is the first revision in the Uniform City
Court Act in the last 16 years, since 1984.
The composition of how the courts are formed
and the amount of time allotted to judges in
each of the courts in the various cities
covered by the act hasn't been changed in 16
years. Therefore, neither has the
compensation.
We've had this bill now for two
6021
sessions, working on it with various members
of this house, and have come to an agreement.
And before you is the B print.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Hevesi.
SENATOR HEVESI: Thank you, Mr.
President. Would the sponsor yield?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Lack, do you yield for a question?
SENATOR LACK: I'll yield, Mr.
President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
sponsor yields.
SENATOR HEVESI: Thank you.
Senator, I support this
legislation. My question for you, is there
anything in this legislation which adjusts the
compensation for Housing Court judges in the
City of New York?
SENATOR LACK: No.
SENATOR HEVESI: Mr. President,
would the sponsor continue to yield?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Lack, do you continue to yield?
SENATOR LACK: Yes.
6022
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
sponsor yields.
SENATOR HEVESI: Thank you.
It's my understanding that,
pursuant to legislation that we passed last
year which increased compensation for a whole
number of different categories of judges, that
Housing Court judges in New York City did
receive additional compensation, but for some
reason there was inequity and they were
shortchanged by several thousands of dollars.
I'm not sure whether it had to do specifically
with an error that was unintentional or
whether there were issues of retroactivity.
But I want to bring this issue to
your attention, and I guess I'll phrase it in
the form of a question. Are you aware of the
situation and do you plan on correcting the
inequity for Housing Court judges in New York
City?
SENATOR LACK: Mr. President,
this is a bill that refers to the Uniform City
Court Act, which doesn't pertain to any courts
in the City of New York. So therefore, the
question, quite frankly, is irrelevant. But
6023
I'll be happy to answer it in context.
Housing Court judges in the City of
New York, which are not constitutional judges,
were given a raise last year, as were all
judges in the state, members of the State
Legislature, the Governor, statewide offices,
commissioners, et cetera.
I'm fully aware that Housing Court
judges did not like the raise which they
received. But they certainly received a
raise. As I said, they're not constitutional
judges.
If the Senator would like to look
through the bill which he has stood up to talk
about, which has nothing to do with the City
of New York, you'll see that there are
salaries and compensation and times contained
in this bill that vary from city to city all
across the state.
The same is true within the City of
New York between Housing Court judges and
Criminal Court judges and Civil Court judges.
That's no different, Mr. President. If
Senator Hevesi cares to read 8152B, he'll find
that the same is true throughout the state in
6024
terms of times that are allotted based upon
work product done, et cetera.
Housing Court falls into the same
situation, and they are being paid according
to the work they do as a nonconstitutional
court in the City of New York. Their salaries
as such are higher than referees, for example,
in the Department of Motor Vehicles, lower
than Civil Court judges. And it probably will
most likely stay that way until it's looked at
in terms of another citywide contemplation of
what to do with judges.
It was specifically -- Housing
Court was not included and has not been
included by the Chief Judge, by the Senate, by
the Assembly, by the Governor, in any of the
proposed reorganization plans of the court
system to set up a two-tiered system does not
change the current status of Housing Court
judges which exist by statute, not by
Constitution.
SENATOR HEVESI: Mr. President,
on the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Hevesi, on the bill.
6025
SENATOR HEVESI: I want to thank
Senator Lack for the explanation.
I do disagree with his
characterization of the question of
compensation for Housing Court judges as
irrelevant. I'm sure they don't think it's
irrelevant. I don't think it's irrelevant.
And I do believe that there is a
germane nature of my question pursuant to a
piece of legislation which increases
compensation for judges, particularly since we
just passed legislation which compensated
judges and, in my opinion, shortchanged
Housing Court judges.
But this was helpful, because I now
understand Senator Lack's position that he
does not believe that there was an inequity,
that it was not an omission that was
accidental. And I will be advancing
legislation in order to correct that inequity.
But I do support this legislation,
as I trust Senator Lack has appropriately
written legislation to compensate other judges
throughout the State of New York.
Thank you, Mr. President.
6026
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Lack.
SENATOR LACK: Mr. President, it
is obvious that Senator Hevesi desires to use
the English language only as he understands
it.
One, this is a bill that does not
pertain to any court within the City of New
York.
Two, Mr. Hevesi, this language
refers to the time in which judges spend as
judges, and they are compensated according to
time. There is nothing in this legislation
that increases compensation for judges for the
same time spent.
This reflects thousands of hours of
work done on a nonpartisan, nonpolitical basis
by the Office of Court Administration of the
State of New York, based on millions of case
statistics over the last 16 years and the
amount of work done by these judges.
There are no raises here. There's
a reflection that if a city has changed -
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Duane, why do you rise?
6027
SENATOR DUANE: Point of order,
Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: State
your point of order, please.
Senator Paterson, why do you rise?
SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President,
if I remember correctly, Senator Hevesi was
speaking. He had the floor. I don't remember
him yielding the floor.
SENATOR LACK: I beg your pardon,
Senator.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Paterson, I believe Senator Hevesi had
finished and sat down. He concluded his
remarks and said thank you.
SENATOR PATERSON: I'm sorry. My
mistake, Mr. President.
SENATOR LACK: If I may continue
now, unless somebody else had a point of
order.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Evidently not. Senator Lack has the floor.
SENATOR LACK: Thank you, Mr.
President, from when I was rudely interrupted.
This bill does not increase the
6028
compensation to any judge of the State of New
York. It merely increases the time that many
of these judges have had to spend on their own
not getting compensated at all. It doesn't
matter whether they're Republican judges or
Democratic judges. What matters is the time
they have spent.
Based on all these thousands of
hours of work, two sessions of going over this
legislation, these times have been adjusted.
The compensation remains the same.
And in effect, Mr. President, you
can say that's exactly what we did for the
Housing Court of the City of New York last
year.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Duane.
SENATOR DUANE: Thank you, Mr.
President. Would Senator Hevesi yield?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Hevesi, do you yield to Senator Duane?
SENATOR HEVESI: Yes, Mr.
President.
SENATOR DUANE: Thank you.
Senator Hevesi, if you would yield
6029
for a question rather than a lecture, I'm
wondering if you could perhaps expound on the
germaneness of your question to this bill for
me.
SENATOR HEVESI: Absolutely,
Senator Duane.
This legislation deals with
compensation. If I erred in my comments
before by indicating that there were raises, I
apologize to anybody who took exception to
that miscategorization on my part.
The germaneness of my comments deal
with the issue of compensation for Housing
Court judges. It is certainly within this
realm, and I believe it's appropriate
conversation for this Legislature at this
time.
SENATOR DUANE: Thank you. And
if Senator Hevesi would continue to yield.
SENATOR HEVESI: Absolutely.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Hevesi, do you continue to yield?
SENATOR HEVESI: I do.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Senator yields.
6030
SENATOR DUANE: Thank you.
Senator Hevesi, could you describe
for me, please, why it is that you believe
that the issue of compensation for Housing
Court judges is an appropriate item for
discussion on this floor at this time?
SENATOR HEVESI: I believe it's
an appropriate item for discussion because of
the bill that is before us and because Housing
Court judges deserve additional compensation,
because I believe that there was an inequity
in the compensation package that was handed
down recently.
In addition, the Housing Court
judges in New York City perform an extremely
difficult task under extremely difficult
conditions. They are no less judges than
other members of the judiciary in other
branches, comparable branches.
And I do believe there was an
injustice that needs to be remedied, and this
is the appropriate forum to remedy that
injustice.
SENATOR DUANE: Thank you. And
would Senator Hevesi continue to yield,
6031
please.
SENATOR HEVESI: Yes, I do.
SENATOR DUANE: Senator Hevesi,
is it your contention that though for many,
many years Housing Court judges didn't have
their own secretaries, while they do now -
are entitled to the help and the assistance of
a secretary who is derived from a pool, that
in fact with recent changes in housing laws in
the State of New York impacting a
landlord-tenant court, that in fact in many
ways the job of a Housing Court judge has
become exponentially more complicated and
requires more time and a heavier caseload?
SENATOR HEVESI: I absolutely
agree with that assessment. I agree with that
categorization. And I believe that that is
one of the main points that lend themselves to
suggesting Housing Court judges today, under
the current compensation structure, are
undercompensated.
SENATOR DUANE: Thank you. If
the sponsor would continue to yield.
SENATOR HEVESI: Yes, I do.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Well, do
6032
you wish the sponsor to continue to yield, or
do you wish Senator Hevesi to yield?
SENATOR DUANE: Senator Hevesi,
Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Hevesi, do you continue to yield?
SENATOR HEVESI: Yes, I do, Mr.
President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Hevesi yields.
SENATOR DUANE: Thank you.
And may I just preface my next
question by saying how much I appreciate your
answering my questions rather than lecturing
to me as I ask you questions, Senator Hevesi.
Senator Hevesi, is it your
assumption that Housing Court judges in all
five boroughs of the City of New York are at
this point being undercompensated because of a
sort of basic unfairness in the law which
compensated judges on a statewide basis that
was passed recently?
SENATOR HEVESI: That's correct,
Senator Duane. My understanding is that with
uniformity, this applies to every New York
6033
City Housing Court judge. So any corrective
action would have to be comprehensive,
including every one of these judges operating
in each of the five boroughs.
SENATOR DUANE: Thank you. I'd
like to again thank you, Senator Hevesi, for
your clear and concise answers on the
legislation.
Mr. President, on the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Duane, on the bill.
SENATOR DUANE: Thank you, Mr.
President.
I cannot really adequately describe
my happiness that Senator Hevesi raised this
very important issue of compensation for
Housing Court judges as we debated a bill
dealing with compensation for judges in other
parts of this state.
And of course I would expect no
less of Senator Hevesi. He is probably one of
our best debaters and one of our most
intelligent Senators here in the Senate.
And again, I'm just very, very
grateful that he raised issues that were of
6034
great importance to me and to tenants and
landlords in the City of New York.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 7. This
act shall take effect April 1, 2001.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Lack, to explain his vote.
SENATOR LACK: Yes, very shortly.
I love the question and dialogue
that took place on the other side of the
chamber. I just want to note for the record
that neither Senator Duane nor Senator Hevesi
stood up last year to ask for additional
compensation for Housing Court judges when we
passed the bill that contained their raise.
I vote in favor, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Lack will be recorded in the affirmative.
Announce the results.
Senator Maziarz, to explain his
6035
vote.
SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you, Mr.
President, to explain my vote.
I just want to thank Senator Lack.
I read this piece of legislation, and it
correctly compensates judges, moves judges
from either quarter-time positions to
half-time or from half-time to full-time,
judges across the state of New York, in small
cities, in large cities, Democrats and
Republicans.
So I don't know what all the
discussion is. It does not involve the City
of New York whatsoever.
So, Senator Lack, I for one think
you did a great job, you and your staff, David
Gruenberg.
So I vote in the affirmative.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Maziarz will be recorded in the affirmative.
Senator Kuhl.
SENATOR KUHL: Announce the
results.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Duane, why do you rise?
6036
SENATOR DUANE: To explain my
vote, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Duane, to explain his vote.
SENATOR DUANE: Thank you, Mr.
President.
In explaining my vote, I just -
I'd like to say in my own behalf that I am
Senator enough to say that it's never too late
to try to right a wrong. And I'll be voting
yes on this, Mr. President.
Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Duane will be recorded in the affirmative.
The Secretary will announce the
results.
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
Senator Kuhl.
SENATOR KUHL: Yes, Mr.
President. May we now, before we take up the
balance of the controversial reading of
Calendar Number 58A, return to the regular
calendar, first calendar of the day, Number
6037
58.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Regular
calendar.
SENATOR KUHL: Calendar Number
1668, by Senator Alesi. Could you have the
Secretary read.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read Calendar 1668 on the
regular calendar.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1668, by Senator Alesi, Senate Print 8220B, an
act to amend the Public Authorities Law, in
relation to the establishment.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Kuhl.
SENATOR KUHL: Is there a message
of necessity at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a message at the desk.
SENATOR KUHL: Move we accept the
message.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
those in favor of accepting the message of
necessity signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
6038
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Those
opposed signify by saying nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
message is accepted. The bill is before the
house.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Dollinger, to explain his vote.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Thank you,
Mr. President.
I just rise -- this bill represents
a lot of hard work by a lot of people. But I
would be remiss if I didn't congratulate my
colleague Jim Alesi for his work on this bill.
He held a coalition of people with
the same interests together, but he was part
of the glue that made the deal happen. And I
commend him for that, my colleagues in the
Assembly who put the hard work in on the other
6039
side.
I think this is a good compromise.
I think it's something good for the future. I
congratulate you and your hard work. I
appreciate the courtesies you extended to me
as well. This is a good thing for the
Rochester community.
And Senator Maziarz and Senator
Nozzolio, who also worked on it, I also extend
similar commendations. Good luck.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Dollinger, is that a yes?
SENATOR DOLLINGER: It is, Mr.
President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Dollinger will be recorded in the affirmative.
The Secretary will announce the
results.
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
The Secretary will continue to read
in regular order.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1671, by Senator Marcellino, Senate Print
6040
5309C, an act to amend the Navigation Law and
the Town Law, in relation to authorizing.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Explanation,
Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Marcellino, Senator Dollinger has requested an
explanation of Calendar 1671.
SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you,
Mr. President. I'll be glad to give him an
explanation of this very good bill.
This bill would supply
clarification of powers of municipalities to
regulate personal watercraft and specialty
propcraft. The numbers of these crafts have
grown exponentially in recent years, and the
number of accidents has also risen
dramatically. These crafts also raise
environmental concerns in regard to water
pollution and wildlife habitat damage and
destruction.
This bill would address these
concerns about by allowing cities, towns and
villages to regulate or even prohibit these
crafts in municipal waters up to 1500 feet
from their shoreline.
6041
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr.
President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Dollinger.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr.
President, will the sponsor yield to a
question or two?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Marcellino, do you yield for a question?
SENATOR MARCELLINO: Yes, sir.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
sponsor yields.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Senator,
could you just explain to me how this affects
counties and towns?
And the reason why I ask, Senator,
is I'm looking at page 2 of the bill which
talks about the governing body of a city or an
incorporated village. And I'm trying to find
out where the provision is that affects towns
or counties.
SENATOR MARCELLINO: Counties are
not part of this bill, Senator. Towns are
part of it. A town might draw the same
controls and put the same controls up to
6042
1500 feet. But counties have no authority
under this particular bill.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again,
through you, Mr. President, if I could just
ask Senator Marcellino to repeat -
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Marcellino, do you yield for another question?
SENATOR MARCELLINO: Sure.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Actually,
through you, Mr. President, if he could just
repeat that answer. Because I wasn't quite
sure I heard or understood it.
Does it apply to counties?
SENATOR MARCELLINO: No, it does
not. It applies to towns, villages and
cities.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Okay.
Through you, Mr. President, if Senator
Marcellino will continue to yield.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Marcellino, do you continue to yield?
SENATOR MARCELLINO: Yes, sir.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
sponsor yields.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Could you
6043
explain to me why counties and towns were
excluded?
And the reason why I ask, Senator,
is because in the Finger Lakes, which is an
area I'm most familiar with -- or, for that
matter, in Lake Ontario -- they're often
neither cities nor incorporated villages that
border the lake, and yet counties and towns
border those lakes. And there are many
vacation homes, the same kind of thing that
you talked about with respect to the
disruptions caused by personal watercraft, but
they wouldn't qualify because they're not
either an incorporated village or a city.
SENATOR MARCELLINO: Towns would
be incorporated.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Towns would
be?
SENATOR MARCELLINO: Towns are
incorporated under this legislation. I
thought that I said that earlier in my
explanation, Senator. Just counties are out.
The concept being that a county is
too large a body, and if it imposed an
ordinance, you would have conflict with local
6044
villages, cities or towns, which are much
smaller entities.
It allows the cities, towns and
local villages to regulate watercraft in their
own jurisdiction, under their own local
jurisdiction.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Through you,
Mr. President, that's enough of an
explanation. I appreciate it.
I'm going to vote in favor of this
bill. I think Senator Marcellino has already
dealt with the issue of the MTBEs, which are
one of the offshoots of two-cycle engines that
have affected many of the lakes in my neck of
the woods that are used as water supplies. By
decreasing the use of that additive and its
entry into the water system, we're going to
get rid of the effect of harmful pollution of
our water sources, our drinking water sources.
And it seems to me by adding this,
giving communities at the shores of these
lakes greater authority to ban these
watercraft in certain areas, we'll end up with
a situation where we eliminate the other
consequence of personal watercraft, or Jet
6045
Skis, which is excessive noise pollution.
And my hope is that many
communities in my neck of the woods will take
advantage of this legislation and we'll have
some significant and improved conditions on
our lakes.
Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Marcellino.
SENATOR MARCELLINO: I'll explain
my vote. It's just as easy.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
act shall take effect in 60 days.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Marcellino, to explain his vote.
SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr.
President, this bill, like neighbor
notification, was the result of the activity
of many, many groups.
Many, many diverse groups all
6046
across the state have come together to put
this bill together, not the least of which are
those organizations and groups with the word
"Adirondack" somewhere in their title;
specifically, the Adirondack Council, the
Adirondack Mountain Club, the Adirondack
Residents Committee, and the Association for
the Protection of the Adirondacks.
These people are to be
congratulated for their effort, their work on
this particular piece of legislation.
This will allow local
municipalities the ability to control the
peace and quiet and the environment of their
localities and to give their residents the
ability to enjoy their waterways without fear
of having someone recklessly use a personal
watercraft, a Jet Ski, in a way that would
disrupt and destroy their peace of mind and
the tranquility that they have a right to
have.
I would also like to recognize my
colleague Senator Stafford, who has helped
lead the way on this particular piece of
legislation and helped us get through some of
6047
the opposition. His work on the Adirondacks
is well known, his care and love for that
region of the state is deserved and well
known. And I commend him and I thank him for
his assistance.
And I thank all the groups and
organizations who have worked so hard to get
this legislation passed. Good work.
I vote aye.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Marcellino will be recorded in the
affirmative.
The Secretary will announce the
results.
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1673, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 8212, an
act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law, in
relation to eliminating.
SENATOR DUANE: Explanation,
please.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Skelos, an explanation has been requested of
6048
Calendar 1673 by Senator Duane.
SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you, Mr.
President.
As you know, during this
legislative session we passed a Governor's
program bill which would eliminate the statute
of limitations on B violent felony offenses.
During the debate, certain recommendations
were made, or suggestions, by Senator Duane.
He read several editorials, including the New
York Times -- not that that necessarily
persuades me, because I think that the first
bill is what the Assembly should pass.
But we've narrowed down the -- some
of the offenses within the B violent felony
class closer to those that could be impacted
by DNA evidence.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Duane.
SENATOR DUANE: Thank you, Mr.
President. If the sponsor would yield,
please.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Skelos, do you yield?
SENATOR SKELOS: Yes.
6049
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
sponsor yields.
SENATOR DUANE: Thank you very
much.
I know that various media outlets
did discuss this bill, and I know that the New
York Civil Liberties Union, among others, has
continued to raise some flags about this bill.
I'm wondering why it is, though,
that DNA -- the availability of DNA evidence
is not -- if DNA is available, why is it not
mandated that it be used necessarily?
SENATOR SKELOS: This is strictly
a statute of limitations bill.
SENATOR DUANE: Thank you.
Mr. President, on the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Duane, on the bill.
SENATOR DUANE: I'm going to
reiterate my previous concerns about this bill
and to encourage my colleagues to vote in the
negative on it.
I believe that since this state is
going down the road of using DNA as
evidence -- which is very appropriate,
6050
provided that it's a level playing field for
prosecution and defense -- that before we
eliminate the statute of limitations, that we
be able to plug in a mandate for DNA evidence
to be used.
The reasons in the past for statute
of limitations I believe still remain in
effect. Witnesses pass away, they move away,
you can't find them, memories become hazy.
I'm not going to repeat all the reasons that I
went through the last time we discussed this
bill.
I think, though, the most important
reasons for voting no on it, though, are that
we need to take advantage of or wait until we
can take advantage of DNA evidence, and we
need to keep in mind that the original
crafting of the statute of limitations law
should remain in effect today. What was
correct in the past is still correct today.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Paterson.
SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President,
if Senator Skelos would yield for a question.
6051
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Skelos, do you yield for a question?
SENATOR SKELOS: Yes, Mr.
President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
sponsor yields.
SENATOR PATERSON: Senator, I
remember discussing this bill with you a few
months ago. Would you refresh my recollection
and that of our colleagues, what were the
classifications that you have decided to forgo
in favor of the violent B felony statutes that
you have in this bill?
SENATOR SKELOS: One would be
criminal possession of a dangerous weapon in
the first degree, one involves the possession
of an explosive, criminal use of a firearm in
the first degree, and criminal sale of a
firearm in the first degree.
SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you, Mr.
President. On the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Paterson, on the bill.
SENATOR PATERSON: The objection
I had to the original bill is that if you have
6052
legislation that is going to toll the statute
of limitations to such an extent that there
will be no statute forever, it has to relate
to crimes that have a meaning that would last
for a lifetime -- murder in the first degree,
manslaughter in the first degree, kidnapping
in the first degree, aggravated assault of a
police officer. All of these, I feel, fit
within the ambit of law.
What we had in the original bill I
thought were some offenses that, though they
were serious and though they should have
serious punishments, there should not be that
situation that would come up twenty, thirty
years later where a person is hard-pressed to
defend themselves when their recollection is
challenged. That's why we have a statute of
limitations in the law.
Looking over the bill as it's
amended, I would say that these particular
classifications that Senator Skelos now
contains in the legislation would be
acceptable.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
6053
THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. Nays,
1. Senator Duane recorded in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
Senator Skelos, that completes the
controversial reading of Supplemental Calendar
58A.
SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
there will be an immediate meeting of the
Rules Committee in the Majority Conference
Room.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Immediate meeting of the Rules Committee in
the Majority Conference Room.
SENATOR SKELOS: The Senate will
stand at ease until a quarter to 8:00. At
that time, there will be a conference of the
Majority in the Majority Conference Room.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Senate will stand at ease until 7:45 p.m.
6054
Senator Paterson.
SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President,
there will be a conference of the Minority at
7:45 p.m. in the Minority Conference Room.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Senate will stand at ease until 7:45 p.m., at
which time there will be a conference of the
Majority in the Majority Conference Room and a
conference of the Minority in the Minority
Conference Room.
(Whereupon, the Senate stood at
ease at 6:16 p.m.)
(Whereupon, the Senate reconvened
at 6:25 p.m.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
if we could return to reports of standing
committees, I believe there's a report of the
Rules Committee at the desk. I ask that it be
read.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Reports
of standing committees.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Senator Bruno,
6055
from the Committee on Rules, reports the
following bills:
Senate Print 3154A, by Senator
LaValle, an act to amend the Environmental
Conservation Law;
4252A, by Senator Volker, an act to
amend the Criminal Procedure Law;
6665A, by Senator Breslin, an act
to authorize;
6765B, by Senator Marchi, an act to
amend the Retirement and Social Security Law;
7083, by Senator Spano, an act to
amend Chapter 666 of the Laws of 1990;
7197B, by Senator Goodman, an act
to amend the Local Finance Law;
7892A, by Senator Saland, an act to
amend the Social Services Law and others;
8150, by the Senate Committee on
Rules, an act to amend the Tax Law;
8196, by the Senate Committee on
Rules, an act to amend the Real Property Tax
Law;
8197, by Senator Leibell, an act to
amend the Retirement and Social Security Law;
8221, by the Senate Committee on
6056
Rules, an act to amend Chapter 566 of the Laws
of 1967;
6818, by Senator Padavan, an act to
amend the Administrative Code of the City of
New York;
7910, by Senator Meier, an act to
amend the Racing, Pari-Mutuel Wagering and
Breeding Law;
8051, by Senator Fuschillo, an act
to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law;
8135, by the Senate Committee on
Rules, an act to amend the Labor Law;
8225, by Senator Volker, an act to
amend the Criminal Procedure Law;
7058, by Senator Nozzolio, an act
to amend the Family Court Act;
7886A, by Senator Spano, an act to
amend the Labor Law;
7887A, by Senator Spano, an act to
amend the Labor Law;
8229, by the Senate Committee on
Rules, an act to amend the Retirement and
Social Security Law;
8230, by Senator Marcellino, an act
to amend the Public Health Law;
6057
And Assembly Print 2820A, by Member
of the Assembly Thiele, an act to amend the
Criminal Procedure Law.
All bills ordered direct to third
reading.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept
the report of the Rules Committee.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
those in favor of accepting the report of the
Rules Committee signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Opposed,
nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The ayes
have it. The report is accepted.
Senator Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: If we could
stand at ease.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Senate will stand at ease.
(Whereupon, the Senate stood at
ease at 6:30 p.m.)
6058
(Whereupon, the Senate reconvened
at 8:54 p.m.)
SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Bruno.
SENATOR BRUNO: Can we return to
the reports of standing committees. I believe
that there is a nomination at the desk that we
might take up at this time. If Senator
Onorato will sit down and -
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Reports
of standing committees.
The Secretary will read.
SENATOR ONORATO: Move the
nomination. All in favor say aye.
(Laughter.)
THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford,
from the Committee on Finance, reports
following nomination:
As a member of the Public Health
Council, David E. Edwards, of Honeoye Falls.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Stafford.
SENATOR STAFFORD: Move
confirmation, please.
6059
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
question is on the confirmation of David E.
Edwards as a member of the New York State
Public Health Council. All those in favor
signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
SENATOR ONORATO: Aye.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Opposed,
nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
nominee is confirmed.
Thank you, Senator Onorato.
Senator Bruno.
SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
can we have the noncontroversial reading of
Calendar Number 58B.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: With
regard to Calendar 58B, the Secretary will
read the noncontroversial calendar.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 177, Senator Volker moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 8527A and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 4252A,
6060
Third Reading Calendar 177.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
177, by the Assembly Committee on Rules,
Assembly Print Number 8527A, an act to amend
the Criminal Procedure Law, in relation to the
designation.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
815, by Member of the Assembly Thiele,
Assembly Print Number 2820A, an act to amend
the Criminal Procedure Law, in relation to
designation of the animal shelter.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
6061
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. Nays,
1. Senator Duane recorded in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
Senator Bruno.
SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
can we ask for an immediate meeting of the
Rules Committee in Room 332.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There
will be an immediate meeting of the Rules
Committee in Room 332.
Senator Duane.
SENATOR DUANE: Thank you, Mr.
President. With unanimous consent, I'd like
to be recorded in the negative on Calendar
Number 177.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Without
objection, Senator Duane will be recorded in
the negative on Calendar 177.
6062
SENATOR DUANE: Assembly Bill
815.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Duane, the desk is inquiring if you also wish
to be recorded in the negative on Calendar
815.
SENATOR DUANE: Yes, I do. Thank
you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: You will
be so recorded. Thank you, Senator.
The Secretary will continue to
read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1499, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate
Print Number 8150, an act to amend the Tax
Law, in relation to the residential fuel oil
shortage tank credit.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
6063
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1570, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate
Print Number 8135, an act to amend the Labor
Law, in relation to establishing.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This
act shall take effect immediately.
SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1678, Senator LaValle moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 5945A and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 3154A,
Third Reading Calendar 1678.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1678, by Member of the Assembly Thiele,
Assembly Print Number 5945A, an act to amend
6064
the Environmental Conservation Law, in
relation to the Barcelona Neck management
plan.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1680, by Senator Breslin, Senate Print Number
6665A, an act to authorize the City School
District of Albany to issue serial bonds.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
6065
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1681, Senator Marchi moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 9687B and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 6765B,
Third Reading Calendar 1681.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1681, by Member of the Assembly Vitaliano,
Assembly Print Number 9687B, an act to amend
the Retirement and Social Security Law, in
relation to the establishment.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a home rule message at the desk.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
6066
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1682, Senator Spano moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 10025 and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 7083,
Third Reading Calendar 1682.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1682, by Member of the Assembly Vitaliano,
Assembly Print Number 10025, an act to amend
Chapter 666 of the Laws of 1990.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a home rule message at the desk.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect September 1, 2000.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
6067
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1683, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 7197B,
an act to amend the Local Finance Law, in
relation to the issuance of bonds and notes.
SENATOR BRUNO: Is there a
message at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a message at the desk.
SENATOR BRUNO: Move we accept
the message.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
those in favor of accepting the message of
necessity signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Those
opposed, nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
message is accepted.
There is a home rule message at the
desk.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
act shall take effect immediately.
6068
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1684, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 7892A,
an act to amend the Social Services Law, the
Domestic Relations Law and Chapter 7 of the
Laws of 1999.
SENATOR BRUNO: Is there a
message at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a message at the desk.
SENATOR BRUNO: Move we accept
the message.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
those in favor of accepting the message of
necessity signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Those
opposed, nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
6069
message is accepted.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 21. This
act shall take effect July 1, 2000.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1685, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 8197,
an act to amend the Retirement and Social
Security Law, in relation to disability
benefits.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 6. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
6070
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1686, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate
Print Number 8221, an act to amend Chapter 566
of the Laws of 1967.
SENATOR BRUNO: Is there a
message at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a message at the desk.
SENATOR BRUNO: Move to accept
the message.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
those in favor of accepting the message of
necessity signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Opposed,
nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
message is accepted. The bill is before the
house.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 6. This
act shall take effect June 30, 2000.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
6071
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1687, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate
Print Number 8196, an act to amend the Real
Property Tax Law, in relation to the railroad
ceiling program.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 10. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
SENATOR PATERSON: Withdraw the
roll call, please.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: We'll
withdraw the roll call. We'll lay the bill
aside.
The Secretary will continue to
read.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1688, Senator Padavan moves to
6072
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 9744 and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 6818,
Third Reading Calendar 1688.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1688, by Member of the Assembly Vitaliano,
Assembly Print Number 9744, an act to amend
the Administrative Code of the City of New
York, in relation to allowing.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a home rule message at the desk.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1689, Senator Nozzolio moves
6073
to discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 278A and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 7058,
Third Reading Calendar 1689.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1689, by Member of the Assembly John, Assembly
Print Number 278A, an act to amend the Family
Court Act, in relation to increasing the
number of Family Court judges.
SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1690, Senator Leibell moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 11037 and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 7910,
Third Reading Calendar 1690.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
6074
1690, by the Assembly Committee on Rules,
Assembly Print Number 11037, an act to amend
the Racing, Pari-Mutuel Wagering and Breeding
Law, in relation to allowing.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1691, by Senator Fuschillo, Senate Print
Number 8051, an act to amend the Vehicle and
Traffic Law, in relation to repeat offenses.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
act shall take effect on the 30th day.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
6075
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1692, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 8225, an
act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law, in
relation to proof of the commission.
SENATOR BRUNO: Is there a
message at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a message at the desk.
SENATOR BRUNO: Move to accept
the message.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
those in favor of accepting the message of
necessity signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Opposed,
nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Message
is accepted. The bill is before the house.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 11 -
SENATOR DUANE: Lay it aside,
6076
please.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1694, Senator Marcellino moves
to discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 11207 and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 8230,
Third Reading Calendar 1694.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1694, by the Assembly Committee on Rules,
Assembly Print Number 11207, an act to amend
the Public Health Law, in relation to
permitting.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
6077
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
Senator Bruno, that completes the
noncontroversial reading of the calendar.
SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
can we at this time take up the controversial
reading of the calendar.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read the controversial
calendar.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1570, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate
Print Number 8135, an act to amend the Labor
Law, in relation to establishing.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Explanation.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Spano, an explanation has been requested by
Senator Dollinger.
SENATOR SPANO: Thank you, Mr.
President.
This is a bill that is a
continuation of removing some of the
inequities for farm workers in this state, at
the same time putting into statute some of the
recommendations that we heard through a series
6078
of hearings across the state from farmers and
members of the Farm Bureau.
It does basically three things. It
creates an agricultural employment commission.
It provides a day of rest at workers' option.
And it excludes aliens who are admitted to the
U.S. for agricultural work from paying the
unemployment tax. There's no sense in
charging them for the tax, because they can't
collect it.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Paterson.
SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President,
if Senator Spano would yield for a question.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Spano, do you yield for a question?
SENATOR SPANO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Senator yields.
SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President,
if a worker receives more than $6.75 an hour
in pay, would they then be excluded from
working overtime?
SENATOR SPANO: This bill,
Senator Paterson, does not deal with overtime
6079
issues at all.
SENATOR PATERSON: It doesn't?
SENATOR SPANO: Hold on. You are
referring to 8137. This is 8135, which
doesn't have those provisions in it.
SENATOR PATERSON: One other
question, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Spano, do you continue to yield?
SENATOR SPANO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Spano yields.
SENATOR PATERSON: So then,
therefore, just to clarify, this particular
bill, by not dealing with overtime at all,
would not in any way set what the time would
be for overtime? In other words, 40 hours, 60
hours, it would not be covered at all in this
bill?
SENATOR SPANO: That's correct.
It does not address that at all.
SENATOR PATERSON: Okay. Thank
you, Mr. President. If Senator Spano would
yield for another question.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
6080
Spano, do you yield?
SENATOR SPANO: Sure.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Spano yields.
SENATOR PATERSON: Senator, does
this bill cover issues related to the number
of days off a month that a worker would
receive?
SENATOR SPANO: Yes, it does.
SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President,
if Senator Spano would yield for a question.
SENATOR SPANO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: He does.
SENATOR PATERSON: Apparently the
workers could receive four days off per month;
is that correct?
SENATOR SPANO: Roughly speaking.
Four days off after working 24 days straight,
within a four-week period. So yes.
SENATOR PATERSON: Then, Mr.
President, if Senator Spano would yield for a
question.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Spano, do you continue to yield?
SENATOR SPANO: Yes.
6081
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Senator yields.
SENATOR PATERSON: Then it would
be possible for a worker to work as much as 26
days in a row before receiving any days off if
the employer chose to have it that way; is
that true?
SENATOR SPANO: It would actually
be 24 days in a row.
SENATOR PATERSON: 24 days.
Mr. President, on the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Paterson, on the bill.
SENATOR PATERSON: I want to
thank Senator Spano for his answers -- and to
apologize to him, because I was looking at two
different bills and thought that this covered
overtime.
But still, it would appear that the
farm workers want one day off a week, which
would ensure that there weren't too many
consecutive days of work without a day off.
And I thought it would be important that I.
Made all of our colleagues aware of
that, in this particular time when farm
6082
workers really -- if you ask them what they
want, they want what everyone else gets, which
would be some compensation and some
consideration after a certain number of days
that would be worked where it would be
considered that the days off would be timely.
Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: I'm
sorry. Senator Mendez.
SENATOR MENDEZ: I wondered if
the sponsor would yield for a couple of
questions.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Spano, do you yield for a question from
Senator Mendez?
SENATOR SPANO: Sure.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Senator yields.
6083
SENATOR MENDEZ: Senator Spano,
please enlighten -
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Excuse
me, Senator Mendez.
Can we have some order in the
chamber. We're debating bills. We're not
going to get through this calendar in a timely
fashion if members and staff continue having
conversations.
Senator Mendez has the floor.
SENATOR MENDEZ: Senator Spano,
would you please explain to me the reason
why -
SENATOR SPANO: I'm sorry,
Senator Mendez, I can't hear you.
SENATOR ADA SMITH: I can't hear
you, and I'm right beside you.
SENATOR MENDEZ: Would you please
explain to me why in this bill farm workers
who earn more than $6.75 an hour would be
excluded from overtime?
SENATOR SPANO: Senator, the same
answer I gave to Senator Paterson. That's
8137, not this bill. The provisions that you
are referring to are not in this bill.
6084
SENATOR MENDEZ: It's in another
bill?
SENATOR SPANO: Yes.
SENATOR MENDEZ: That we will be
discussing today?
SENATOR SPANO: That bill is not
on the calendar.
SENATOR MENDEZ: Okay. But this
is why I'm asking you questions, because I
don't know -
SENATOR SPANO: No problem,
Senator.
SENATOR MENDEZ: You know how
things are, that you get the bills at the last
time, and these things occur.
Explain to me the -- I know that
the farm workers were requesting one day a
week of rest, one day a week. And this bill
would provide for four days of rest. And how
will those four days will be given? Will they
be one day a week, or how would it work?
SENATOR SPANO: No, the way this
would work would be that after a 24-day
period, their employees would have the option
of taking four 24-hour consecutive periods
6085
off, four days of 24 hours consecutive time
off.
And the reason we did it this
way -- and this is what we heard -- frankly,
heard from many of the farm workers as well as
the farmers -- is that they asked to us take
into account the uniqueness of the agriculture
industry. As Senator -- as a farmer up in
Senator Maziarz's district told us, that when
the peaches are ripe, they have to be picked.
And we can't say everybody's going
to be off the next day and then on the
following week they all fall on the floor.
So the farm workers that we talked
to -- and I don't mean to say that all the
farm workers agreed with this. But many of
the farm workers that we did talk to said that
when there was work for them to do, many of
them may not even take that day off, but they
would like the option of taking that day off.
And then what we did, in addition
to the four days off, we have language in the
bill that also says that an employee shall not
be denied a -- during that four-week period we
have language talking about not denying a
6086
reasonable period of rest consistent with the
subdivision for religious observance. So if
people would like to observe their own
religious observances on a particular day,
they'd have the option to do that as well.
SENATOR MENDEZ: So will the -
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Mendez.
SENATOR MENDEZ: Senator Spano,
please clarify some more.
So then if a worker, a farm worker
wants to get one day off one week, that will
not be granted unless that farm worker works
the 24 or 26 days, is that it?
SENATOR SPANO: It may happen
that the employees may in fact end up with a
day off a week.
But the reason it was written in
this way is because there are breakdowns in
equipment, because of the way that the crop
becomes ripe and needs to be picked, all of
the -- those are all of the reasons that we
are putting this specific language in there.
SENATOR MENDEZ: I see. Thank
you.
6087
Mr. President, on the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Mendez, on the bill.
SENATOR MENDEZ: I really must
say here that Senator Bruno has been very
sensitive to the plight of farm workers.
Really, in my opinion, farm workers
have been the bastard children of the labor
laws. There has been a little light at the
end of the tunnel. This, in my view, is
not -- we can do much better than this.
However, I suppose that when people don't have
any political muscle, they will have to accept
what is given. So better than nothing, then,
I suppose that I will support this bill.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Duane.
SENATOR DUANE: Thank you, Mr.
President.
I think that the greatest outrage
about this whole debate and the work that's
been done in regard to the issue of migrant
workers and farm workers in the state of New
York is that what the situation should be is
6088
that they don't need our largesse. What farm
workers need is the ability to collectively
bargain for themselves, for everything ranging
from unemployment benefits to a day of rest to
whatever other rights and benefits which
workers in the state of New York have come to
expect.
I believe that agriculture is
certainly not that different today than it was
in biblical times. And though I'm not a
biblical scholar, as I understand it, the
Bible talks a great deal about workers having
to have to take a day of rest every week. In
fact, it's considered a sin not to take a day
of rest every week.
Now, there are oftentimes
emergencies in a person's life when they have
to work, or there may be a situation where a
physician, or someone that has some reason to
keep a store open -- or there are always
extraordinary reasons why a person has to work
seven days a week. Like politicians, when
they're trying to get reelected.
However, I think that through the
ages, including in biblical times, when, as I
6089
understand it, the society was an agricultural
society, it was demanded of people that they
take a day of rest. And the same is true of
the people who came to America, the Pilgrims,
the Puritans. They also always took a day of
rest, which they used as a time to worship in
the church of their choice. Which is also one
of the reasons why they came here.
So for us not to provide the
opportunity for a worker to be able to take a
day off every week, no matter what line of
work that they are in, I think is just wrong.
And I also think that for us to
continuously put ourselves in the role of
handing over the largesse of certain
privileges which should be rights for workers
is wrong, and the way that we should deal with
the issue of farm workers is to give them the
right to collectively bargain for their own
rights.
After so much debate and
editorializing, I think that it's a shame that
we still are at the point where we're not
automatically giving these workers a day of
rest every week. And again, the only other
6090
people I know of who don't get that day of
rest are, for instance, politicians running
for office -- and it may be sinful to campaign
seven days a week -- and the unfortunate staff
members of politicians who have to work seven
days a week trying to get us to come to
agreement on various bills.
But other than that, and I think
farm workers don't fall into that same
category, they should be provided with a day
off for worship or for rest or for whatever
they want each and every day.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
Senator Dollinger.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr.
President, will Senator Spano yield just for
one question?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Spano, do you yield?
SENATOR SPANO: Sure. Sure.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Senator yields.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Through you,
6091
Mr. President. Senator Spano, I understand
that you and others have held a series of
statewide hearings about the problems
affecting those who work in our agricultural
industry.
And is it fair to say that the one
thing that farm workers absolutely wanted was
the right to collectively bargain on their own
behalf? So that all the issues that you're
trying to put on the table today, they could
negotiate with their employers?
SENATOR SPANO: I don't think it
would be fair to characterize that, Senator.
I think over the last couple of
years, when I've had an opportunity to work
with representatives of the farm workers -- as
a matter of fact, working with Senator Mendez
two years ago. It was the bill that we passed
mandating sanitary facilities. We ended the
two-tier system. Now we're going a long way
towards at least putting into the law
provisions for a day off.
So there were dozens of
recommendations that were made during the
course of those three days of hearings that we
6092
had across the state.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Through you,
Mr. President, just one other question.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Spano, do you yield?
SENATOR SPANO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Senator yields.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Isn't it a
fact, Senator, that all the things that are in
this bill the farm workers could negotiate at
the table for themselves, by themselves,
without the intervention of the State
Legislature?
SENATOR SPANO: No, that's not a
fact at all. The -- the farm workers cannot
create an agricultural employment commission.
The farm workers cannot provide -- there are
no provisions for collective bargaining now
where farm workers could force a day of rest.
There's nothing in there that would exclude
the farmers from paying the unemployment tax
for those workers who are aliens and are going
to leave the country.
These are three parts of the bill
6093
that they cannot do.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Through you,
Mr. President, just briefly on the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Dollinger, on the bill.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: I won't delay
very long, but I had an interesting
conversation with Senator Mendez, who says
these poor people need something to help them,
and this bill does -- gives them a little
something better.
Senator Mendez, I couldn't agree
with you more. This bill gives them a little
something better.
But let's make no mistake about it.
The one thing they want is the right that
everybody in the industrial environment has.
We may someday give it to doctors, we've given
it to lawyers, because we believe that people
with common interests should be able to go to
their employers and negotiate freely the
working terms and conditions of their
employment, and they shouldn't have to come to
the State Legislature and beg us to give them
what they could get at the bargaining table.
6094
I would suggest that the solution
to this problem is purely and simply give them
the right that 35 years ago no employer in
this nation wanted to give to anybody. And
I'll tell you, it was the greatest thing that
the Congress in 1935 did when they gave people
the right to collectively bargain. It's been
the best thing that's happened to this
industrialized nation. It drove salaries up,
it created a middle class. And if we did it
for farm workers, we'd do exactly the same
thing there.
I find it outrageous that we've
created this dot.com world in which people can
make billions of dollars through ideas and the
people who put the food on their table are
working for scraps. How we can allow that
disparity to occur when we have the solution
in our power to give them the right to do it
through collective bargaining -- why we would
let that disparity continue to exist, and kick
off to a commission that issue to some future
time when we've got the ability to do it right
now, is absolutely beyond me and grossly
unfair.
6095
I'm going to vote for this bill,
because it is something a little tiny bit
better. But let's do what's really needed.
Let's give them the right to fight for what
they believe in themselves, by approving
collective bargaining.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This
act shall take -
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Hoffmann.
SENATOR HOFFMANN: Just to
explain my vote, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
right. Let's get the roll call done.
THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Hoffmann.
SENATOR HOFFMANN: Mr. President,
the hour is late, so I'm not going to engage
6096
in a lengthy explanation of this bill, but
will say that I am going to vote for it. I
participated in some of its development.
And I think the most important
thing that people need to leave this chamber
understanding is that the farmers of this
state are good and honorable people, they pay
their employees fairly, they treat them well,
they treat them with dignity.
There may be an occasional
exception, and those exceptions need to be
punished and brought into compliance, or leave
the business. That is the position of the
industry advocates, the Farm Bureau, and any
other farm organization with which I've come
if contact. And, more importantly, it's the
position of this Legislature.
Where there have been problems, the
Department of Labor has occasionally not been
as aggressive as they have been in pursuing
them. And we have now, by this measure,
indicated that we want stricter enforcement of
those existing standards.
But at the same time, we are
looking for ways that we can address the
6097
tremendous inequity of the cost of doing
business for farmers in this state and the
cost of doing business in Third World
countries.
We value our food supply in this
state. Our number one industry is
agriculture. We are not going to drive the
farmers out of business in this state by
imposing requirements on them that bear no
relationship to production agriculture as it
exists.
Farmers must farm by the weather.
Farm families, who are not paid a minimum wage
very often when they amortize their annual
profit and losses, often work many additional
hours. Hopefully they don't do it year round.
But when you farm by the weather you must, as
the old expression goes, make hay while the
sun shines.
This year is one of the worst years
in history in New York State because of
terrible weather conditions, rain that
prevents people from getting their tractors
onto fields, fields that can't be plowed, hay
that can't be cut. Our farmers are in peril,
6098
and we have a responsibility to respect them
and their needs every bit as much as we
respect the farm workers -- particularly those
who come from foreign countries to work here,
because they love our country, they love our
agriculture, and they do appreciate the way
they are treated by most of the farmers of
this state.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Hoffmann will be recorded in the affirmative.
Senator Mendez.
SENATOR MENDEZ: To explain my
vote.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Mendez, to explain her vote.
SENATOR MENDEZ: I want everybody
in this chamber to understand that when we
argue for better treatment of the farm
workers, we are not attacking the farmers.
That's not in our minds. We are just arguing
for equitable conditions. Because, after all,
they spend their time there in bringing food
to our table.
So there is no need -- with respect
to this bill, there is no need to think that
6099
the entire agricultural industry of the state
of New York is going to go to pot just by
distinguishing -- by doing something to
improve the lives of those who work so very
hard in the fields for all of us. So no
farmers are under attack.
And as I said before, Mr.
President, I am supporting this bill because
it is better than nothing.
Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Mendez will be recorded in the affirmative.
Senator Duane, to explain his vote.
SENATOR DUANE: Thank you, Mr.
President.
I'm voting no on this legislation.
Agriculture may be the state's number one
industry, or certainly one of its top
industries. But the number one resource of
our state are its people and its workers,
including those who are farm workers. The
people who are in the state of New York are
those that have been here for hundreds of
years and those who have been here for ten
minutes. They're all people who live and work
6100
in New York State.
And people are saying that we
can -- that this is better than nothing. But
we can do better than better than nothing.
I'm voting no, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Duane will be recorded in the negative.
Senator Paterson, to explain his
vote.
SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President,
I'm very glad, in explaining my vote, that
Senator Mendez got up and made sure that we're
not trying to in any way pit any of the
workers against the employers.
This was the worst year in New York
State's history in terms of weather and those
conditions. And in years like that when you
have that kind of situation, that's exactly
why you should have collective bargaining.
Because both sides are familiar with what the
elements are, and we presume that both sides
are negotiating honorably, you can work that
out. You probably would have to pay workers
less in a year like this because there aren't
the resources to pay them because there was
6101
not the facility to profit in a year such as
this as the same.
But the mistake that we make when
we go down that slope of competing with Third
World countries is that we start to accept a
Third World economy right here in New York
State, we start to create conditions that you
would only see worse in the Third World.
And I thought that New York State
was better than that. And I thought that we
can address the inequities that are causing so
many problems for our farmers without doing it
on the backs -- impacting on the backs of the
workers.
I agree with Senator Duane, we can
do a lot more. And it's very hard to get up
and say that, because in the piecemeal fashion
that we're passing these pieces of
legislation, we address the overtime in one
bill and we address the number of days off in
a month in another bill, to a point where I
can't keep up with when we're doing it and how
we're doing it.
What we need to do is bring farmers
in compliance with what they should have, and
6102
we should do it right now. And until we do,
we've all fallen short. I vote no, Mr.
President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Paterson will be recorded in the negative.
Senator Schneiderman, to explain
his vote.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you,
Mr. President.
I agree with many of the comments
that have just been made by my colleagues. I
frankly find the approach we're taking to the
situation of farm workers in this state to be
offensive, because what we're doing is doling
out by bit by bit, scrap by scrap, what these
people should have the right to get for
themselves through their own collective
action.
When we're talking about collective
bargaining, we're not talking about giving
them anything. We're talking about taking
away the barrier that we have imposed to
prevent them from getting it for themselves.
It is fundamentally, in my view,
anti-American. And the most outrageous thing
6103
about this bill, which I think is a little
something and helps a little bit but is not
nearly enough, is the creation of a commission
to investigate the status of agricultural
labor conditions in New York.
I think if you spent five minutes
looking at the records of the hearings that
were held years ago, the hearings that were
continued this year, we know what the status
is. We've got a lot of people not earning
enough money, working too hard, not getting
enough days off. And it's a disgrace.
And I hope we'll do a lot more than
this very soon.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Schneiderman will be recorded in the
negative -- I'm sorry, Senator Schneiderman
will be recorded in the affirmative.
Announce the results.
THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in
the negative on Calendar Number 1570 are
Senators Bonacic, Duane, Kuhl, Larkin, and
Paterson. Also Senator Stafford.
Those recorded in the negative on
Calendar Number 1570 are Senators Bonacic,
6104
Duane, Kuhl, Lack, Larkin, Maziarz, Nozzolio,
Paterson, Stafford. Also Senator Libous.
Ayes, 49. Nays, 10.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1687, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate
Print Number 8196, an act to amend the Real
Property Tax Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Onorato, why do you rise?
SENATOR ONORATO: Will the
sponsor please answer a question?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Stafford, Senator Onorato has asked if you'll
yield for a question.
SENATOR STAFFORD: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Stafford yields.
SENATOR ONORATO: Senator
Stafford, I understand that this is a -- the
bill is a good bill. It will reduce taxes for
the operators of the railroad.
My question deals with some of the
people who have property alongside of railroad
6105
property. And some of them, which is -- it's
a very, very unique case, actually have to pay
the railroad an easement fee to get to their
property, because the railroad runs alongside
of it. And many of them are actually charged
part of the real estate taxes that are imposed
upon the railroad alongside of their property.
I want to make clear that with the
reduction of the taxes to the railroad, that
this reduction will also be reflected on those
people who have property alongside of the
railroad and are paying an easement tax to get
into their own properties. Is that so?
SENATOR STAFFORD: For the
record, if the lease says paying part of the
taxes, it certainly would, yes.
SENATOR ONORATO: Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 10. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. Nays,
6106
1. Senator Breslin recorded in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1689, substituted earlier today by Member of
the Assembly John, Assembly Print Number 278A,
an act to amend the Family Court Act.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr.
President, I asked that that bill be laid
aside. I'll just explain my vote, and I'd ask
the last section be read.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Dollinger, to explain his vote.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr.
President, I want to commend Senator Nozzolio
for his determination for the last two and a
half years to get this bill through the New
York State Senate and to join in a companion
6107
bill with our colleagues from the Assembly to
make this Family Court judge a reality.
If I could, Mr. President, just
ask -
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Can we
have a little quiet in the chamber, please.
Senator Dollinger.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: This is an
effort that Senator Nozzolio has led for the
last two and a half years. I commend him for
his persistence, Senator Alesi, Senator
Maziarz, for making this a reality.
We've seen it through a veto, we've
seen it through changes and undulations, I
think, in the legislative process, but I think
we're getting to the right result.
And on behalf of the people who
will be coming to Family Court, especially the
people that I represent, the many people in
the city of Rochester who, in my judgment,
have desperately needed a Family Court judge
for a long time, I want to thank my colleagues
for seeing this issue through to the right
conclusion.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
6108
Dollinger will be recorded in the affirmative.
Senator Nozzolio.
SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Thank you, Mr.
President, to explain my vote.
Mr. President, I want to thank the
members of the Monroe County delegation to the
State Legislature for sticking together on
this very important issue. Senator
Dollinger's comments are certainly well taken,
and that I want to thank personally Senators
Alesi and Maziarz for helping get this over
the goal line.
It's an issue that has been a long
time in coming. I thank my colleagues in the
Assembly for working collegially together. I
thank Senator Dollinger for his support, and
for all of us to get this measure taken care
of to help in establishing additional justice
in our Family Courts in Monroe County.
It's an excellent proposal. The
Governor was extremely helpful in his support
this year. And I also want to add our thanks
to Governor Pataki for helping get this
measure through.
Thank you, Mr. President.
6109
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Nozzolio will be recorded in the affirmative.
The Secretary will announce the
results.
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1692, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 8225, an
act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law, in
relation to proof.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 11. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Dollinger.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Explanation,
Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Volker, an explanation has been requested by
Senator Dollinger of Calendar 1692.
SENATOR VOLKER: I can explain
this very quickly.
What you see here in this bill is
6110
what was taken out of the sexual assault
reform bill that we have passed here for the
last several years, the Governor's sexual
assault reform bill. These are issues that
were objectionable, very honestly, by the
Assembly: the so-called Molineaux rule, which
is in this bill; the appeal of bail
decisions -- that is, bail decisions that are
considered too low -- and the right of a
prosecutor to appeal lenient sentencing.
Essentially, that's what this is.
These are part of what was the rules of
evidence in a previous sexual assault.
What this bill would do would
isolate those issues. A little while later,
rumor has it that you will be seeing the
agreed sexual assault reform bill, which will
reform a number of the areas of sexual assault
but will not include these issues in that
sexual assault bill.
You have voted on this, the members
of this house have voted on these issues a
number of times. A few of you voted against
the sexual assault reform bill, just a few.
But just so that you understand
6111
that what this is -- in fact, Senator
Paterson, who is standing now, this was in the
bill that you were a cosponsor of, the sexual
assault bill that we passed earlier this year.
I just want to point that out.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Paterson.
SENATOR PATERSON: Oh, boy. Mr.
President, would Senator Volker yield for a
question?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Volker, will you yield for a question?
SENATOR VOLKER: Certainly.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
sponsor yields.
SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President,
I guess in the interests of time not only did
Senator Volker summarize the bill, but he also
illustrated some of the complaints -- the
issue of the admission into evidence of the
prior bad acts of defendants, he talked a
little bit about the appeal of bail
proceedings and also -- the result of bail
proceedings and also the -- he also talked
about the undue lenient sentence appeals.
6112
So he really covered the areas that
I wanted to ask him about.
And I'll just say that sexual
assault reform is something that people on
both sides of this aisle and all over the
state recognize that is very important. And
because of that, we get caught up in this same
situation that we probably were addressing in
the last bill, where we really want to do
something but sometimes, when we go too far,
we're almost afraid to stop. And perhaps I'm
guilty of that earlier this session.
My question to Senator Volker is,
how are we going to pass some workable,
sensible, achievable legislation if we keep
these elements in the legislation, knowing
that our colleagues in the other house really
are not going to permit that kind of
legislation to go through?
When at the same time we have some
very important aspects of this bill that have
real meaning right now, particularly
exemplified by a horrible incident in New York
City in which 55 women to date complained
about sexual assaults committed after a parade
6113
in New York City in which there are now over
45 suspects. They found that there really are
not the measures that really could be taken to
mete out the punishments that probably were
deserved that day.
And we'd like to get to that, and
we'd like to do it right now. And frankly,
Senator, some of these issues are real
impediments to passing the bill. And I think
you understand that, you recognize them.
SENATOR VOLKER: Yes.
SENATOR PATERSON: I just want to
know what your opinion is of how we can move
forward.
SENATOR VOLKER: Senator, I
appreciate your comments. And that's why, in
effect, this bill is here.
And the reason this bill is here is
because we've broken out those pieces that
were so objectionable to the Assembly. And
although I think especially the first piece,
the so-called Molineaux piece that relates to
prior bad acts, I personally believe should be
in sexual assault reform.
And these other issues, the one
6114
thing about these two other issues, the bail
issue and the undue -- the leniency of undue
sentencing, the problem with that is of course
it applies beyond sexual assault reform.
And the Assembly argument was, and
I guess I understand that, was that they
shouldn't be in a sexual assault reform bill.
Well, we have taken those out of that bill.
What this is is a freestanding bill
with those issues in it. A little later you
will see a sexual assault reform bill without
these issues in it, as I understand, and that
bill, we hope and we understand, will be
agreed on three ways and will include the
kinds of things that I think you described
that are necessary to move this state ahead on
the issue of sexual assault reform.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Paterson.
SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President,
on the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Paterson, on the bill.
SENATOR PATERSON: I respect
Senator Volker's point of view. And certainly
6115
the prior bad acts, particularly with some of
the studies that have been done on sexual
predators and the recidivism, I don't know
that I totally can agree with that as a good
idea, but I certainly can understand why
Senator Volker would advance it.
But what I want to thank him for is
what would be, in a sense, a temporary
cessation on his part of what he would think
would be the right bill in exchange for an
achievable bill, which I think we could use a
little more of around here from time to time.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 11. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 57. Nays,
2. Senators Duane and Schneiderman recorded
in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
6116
Senator Bruno, that completes the
controversial reading of the supplemental
calendar.
SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
there were three bills that were set aside
today, they were amended and restored. We'd
like to call them up at this time.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
891, by Senator Velella, Senate Print 7837A,
an act to amend the Social Services Law and
the State Finance Law.
SENATOR BRUNO: Is there a
message at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a message.
SENATOR BRUNO: Move to accept
the message.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
those in favor of accepting the message of
necessity say aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Opposed,
nay.
6117
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
message is accepted. The bill is before the
house.
On a previous roll call on this
same bill, Senators Duane and Schneiderman
were recorded in the negative.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 16. This
act shall take effect in 90 days.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 57. Nays,
2. Senators Duane and Schneiderman recorded
in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
The Secretary will continue to
read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
962, substituted earlier today by Member of
the Assembly Ortiz, Assembly Print Number
4919B, an act to amend the General Obligations
Law, in relation to enacting.
6118
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect on the 30th day.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1632, by Senator Hannon, Senate Print 8107B,
an act to amend the Public Health Law, in
relation to authorizing Helen Hayes Hospital.
SENATOR BRUNO: Is there a
message at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a message at the desk.
SENATOR BRUNO: Move to accept
the message.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
those in favor of accepting the message of
necessity say aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Those
6119
opposed, nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
message is accepted.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
Senator Bruno.
SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
can we at this time return to the reports of
standing committees. I believe there's a
report from the Rules Committee at the desk.
I'd ask that it be read at this time.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Reports
of standing committees.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Senator Bruno,
from the Committee on Rules, reports the
following bills:
6120
Senate Print 1031G, by Senator
Saland, an act to amend the Education Law;
2709C, by Senator LaValle, an act
to amend the Education Law;
7158, by Senator Nozzolio, an act
to amend Chapter 41 of the Laws of 1971;
2375C, by Senator Stafford, an act
to amend the Lien Law;
88, by Senator Alesi, an act to
amend the Penal Law;
788C, by Senator Goodman, an act to
amend the Penal Law;
1775, by Senator Kuhl, an act to
amend the Penal Law;
2086, by Senator Libous, an act to
amend the Penal Law;
2753B, by Senator Goodman, an act
to amend the Penal Law and others;
5625C, by Senator Balboni, an act
to amend the Executive Law;
6246A, by Senator Hevesi, an act
authorizing the City of New York;
6432, by Senator Seward, an act to
amend the Judiciary Law;
7035, by Senator Johnson, an act to
6121
amend the Executive Law;
7039, by Senator Maziarz, an act to
amend the Environmental Conservation Law and
the Education Law;
7885, by Senator Leibell, an act to
amend the Civil Practice Law and Rules;
8036, by Senator Rath, an act to
authorize the City of Batavia;
8231, by Senator Goodman, an act to
amend the Penal Law and the Criminal Procedure
Law;
8232, by Senator Goodman, an act to
amend the Executive Law;
8233, by Senator Bruno, an act
authorizing the New York Stock Exchange
project;
And 8234, by Senator Padavan, an
act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law and
others.
All bills ordered direct to third
reading.
SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
can we move to accept the report of the Rules
Committee.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All in
6122
favor of accepting the report of the Rules
Committee signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Those
opposed, nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
report is of the Rules Committee is accepted.
Senator Bruno.
SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
can we have the noncontroversial reading of
the calendar, Supplemental Calendar 58C.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read the noncontroversial
calendar with regard to Supplemental Calendar
58C.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
460, by Senator LaValle, Senate Print 2709C,
an act to amend the Education Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This
act shall take effect on the 180th day.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
6123
(The Secretary called the roll.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Dollinger, why do you rise?
SENATOR DOLLINGER: No reason,
Mr. President. Mistake.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
right.
Call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. Nays,
1. Senator Duane recorded in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
680, by Senator Nozzolio, Senate Print 7158,
an act to amend Chapter 41 of the Laws of
1971.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
6124
Nozzolio, to explain his vote.
SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Thank you, Mr.
President.
This measure is the last measure
that our delegation from Monroe is confronted
with this year. And as I stated in my
previous remarks, we worked very closely
together to achieve this objective.
This tax measure combines with a
measure that Senator Alesi sponsored and
passed earlier today to create a sports
authority and a revenue stream which will help
greatly enhance the economic development
efforts in Monroe County.
I want to thank Senator Alesi for
his shepherding a much more controversial bill
through earlier to create that authority. He
deftly took care of the -- some very delicate
negotiations throughout the process.
It was a measure that will have a
tremendous long-term benefit on the Monroe
County region, and it was a bipartisan effort
in both houses. And again, our delegation
pulled together and should be congratulated.
Thank you, Mr. President.
6125
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Nozzolio will be recorded in the affirmative.
Senator Dollinger.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr.
President, just briefly to explain my vote.
I want to echo Senator Nozzolio's
comments. Those of you who've watched through
me through the years, I vote against all those
local sales-tax bills. I'm not going to vote
against this measure, because I know exactly
what it's going for. I agree with the project
that it's going to go for and the divvying up
of the hotel-motel tax for additional
development of the tourism opportunities in
western New York and certainly in our home
county of Monroe.
This is the right thing to do. So
I may continue to vote against all those other
sales taxes, but I can look at this one and
say this is the right thing to do. And it's
part of the package, as Senator Nozzolio said,
of both facilities improvements and improved
tourism in the Rochester community that will
produce benefits in the long run.
I commend my colleagues for seeing
6126
this final step through to conclusion.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Dollinger will be recorded in the affirmative.
Announce the results.
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1354, by Senator Stafford, Senate Print 2375C,
an act to amend the Lien Law, in relation to
notice.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect in 60 days.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1679, by Senator Alesi, Senate Print 88, an
act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to the
minimum sentence.
6127
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect on the first day of
November.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1695, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 788C,
an act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to
criminal use.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This
act shall take effect on the first day of
November.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
6128
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1696, by Senator Kuhl, Senate Print 1775, an
act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to
criminal possession.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect on the first day of
November.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1697, by Senator Libous, Senate Print 2086, an
act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to
authorizing.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 6. This
act shall take effect on the first day of
November.
6129
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1698, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 2753B,
an act to amend the Penal Law and others, in
relation to forfeiting.
SENATOR DUANE: Lay it aside,
please.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1699, by Senator Balboni, Senate Print 5625C,
an act to amend the Executive Law, in relation
to establishing.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 7 -
SENATOR CONNOR: Lay it aside.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
6130
1700, by Senator Hevesi, Senate Print 6246A,
an act authorizing the City of New York to
reconvey its interest in certain real
property.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a home rule message at the desk.
Call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1701, by Senator Seward, Senate Print 6432, an
act to amend the Judiciary Law, in relation to
increasing.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect January 1, 2001.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
6131
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1703, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 7035 -
SENATOR CONNOR: Lay it aside.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1704, by Senator Maziarz, Senate Print 7039,
an act to amend the Environmental Conservation
Law -
SENATOR CONNOR: Lay it aside.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1706, Senator Leibell moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 10432 and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 7885,
Third Reading Calendar 1706.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
6132
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1706, by Member of the Assembly Weinstein,
Assembly Print Number 10432, an act to amend
the Civil Practice Law and Rules, in relation
to the fees of stenographers.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1707, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 8036, an
act to authorize the City of Batavia to
discontinue.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a home rule message at the desk.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
6133
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1709, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 8231 -
SENATOR BRUNO: Lay it aside
temporarily.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside temporarily.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1710, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 8232,
an act to amend the Executive Law, in relation
to facilitating.
SENATOR BRUNO: Is there a
message at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
message at the desk.
SENATOR BRUNO: Move we accept
the message.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
those in favor of accepting the message of
necessity say aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
6134
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Opposed,
nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
message is accepted.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 9. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1711, by Senator Bruno, Senate Print 8233, an
act authorizing the New York Stock Exchange
project.
SENATOR BRUNO: Is there a
message at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a message.
SENATOR BRUNO: Move we accept
the message.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
6135
those in favor of accepting the message of
necessity say aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Those
opposed, nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
message is accepted.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 11. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1712, by Senator Padavan, Senate Print 8234,
an act to amend -
SENATOR CONNOR: Lay it aside.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator,
could we get the bill on the floor, and then
we'll lay it aside.
THE SECRETARY: -- an act to
6136
amend the Criminal Procedure Law and others,
in relation to assault weapons.
SENATOR BRUNO: Is there a
message at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a message at the desk.
SENATOR BRUNO: Move to accept
the message.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
those in favor of accepting the message of
necessity say aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Those
opposed, nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
message is accepted. The bill is before the
house.
The bill is laid aside.
Senator Bruno, that concludes the
noncontroversial reading of Supplemental
Calendar 58C.
Senator Bruno.
SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
can we have the controversial reading of the
6137
calendar, starting with Calendar Number 1712.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read the controversial
calendar, beginning with Calendar 1712.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1712, by Senator Padavan, Senate Print 8234,
an act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law and
others, in relation to assault weapons.
SENATOR PADAVAN: Thank you, Mr.
President.
This is a very comprehensive bill
that has a number of key elements in it -
provisions, requirements dealing with weapons,
their use and those that are precluded from
use. I'll go through the major parts of the
bill as quickly as I can.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Can we
have some order in the chamber.
SENATOR PADAVAN: The first
section of the bill deals with gun locks. It
requires that weapons, pistols and revolvers,
that are sold through retailers and other
means shall be delivered with gun locks,
devices that are prescribed by the State
Police as those that meet the requirements to
6138
ensure that children and others who get their
hands on these weapons and use them, as we
have seen a number of instances happen in this
state tragically, will not occur, at least to
the extent possible.
So that whole section beginning on
page 2 of the bill, going on to page 3, deals
with all of the requirements of safety devices
or gun locks.
Further on on page 3 we deal with
the issue of a ballistics directory, which
involves the shell casing. Any expended round
of ammunition, the casing thereof has unique
characteristics, similar to what a DNA would
be in a human being. The bill requires that
those characteristics be cataloged, maintained
by the State Division of Police, with certain
time frames in terms of when that will happen
and when the standards of the state division
will be developed.
And with that information in hand,
should that weapon be used in the commission
of a crime, there is a good chance that it can
be traced back to the seller and the owner.
The third provision of the bill
6139
deals with gun shows. What it says
specifically is that a national instant
criminal background check shall be conducted
on all individuals who acquire a weapon at a
show, either sold, transferred, bartered, or
in any other way. And it goes into some
detail as to how that should be done and what
the penalties are for not doing it.
The fourth section of the bill
deals with the issue of assault weapons.
Fundamentally, we track the federal
requirements in a variety of ways, by
definition of what a semiautomatic is and by
definition of what an assault weapon is.
And despite what some may have
heard, a straight semiautomatic weapon is not
banned either at the federal level, nor is it
in this bill.
However, a semiautomatic weapon
that has at least two of the characteristics
that are outlined in this measure -- and they
are listed here, and you can read them on page
7, such as a folding or telescoping stock, a
fixed magazine capacity in excess of -- so on
and so on, right down the line, including
6140
those that can launch grenades or have
silencer attachments or flash suppressors -
all of those requirements which are
articulated in the federal law are transposed
into the state law.
By so doing, we enable our
prosecutors and law enforcement agencies to
enforce the law rather than having to transfer
it to a federal jurisdiction.
And of course there are a number of
penalties that are outlined for violating
these laws. In addition to the descriptions,
also listed -- and again, I repeat, as in the
federal law -- are specific weapons. And
you'll note they are military weapons
manufactured and used in various countries,
including our own, for military purposes and
generally categorized as assault weapons.
There are certain exclusions, such
as bolt-action rifles, antique weapons, those
that have been rendered inoperable, and so on.
The next section of the bill deals
with the age. We raise the age to 21 from 18.
The only exceptions to that would be an
honorably discharged member of the military
6141
and a person 18 years of age or older who is
participating in a sanctioned target
competition. Other than that, the
requirements for possession of a pistol or
revolver would be 21 years of age.
Those are the major parts of the
bill. But one of the other areas that begins
on page 13 deals with the broad issue of gun
trafficking. As we have learned quite, I
think, dramatically, that most of the weapons
that are used in crimes in this state and
certainly in New York City are brought in from
other states, and there is a major enterprise.
And that problem has to be addressed, and it
is addressed in this bill in a variety of
ways.
There is a proposal that we have a
gun trafficking interdiction program operated
under the auspices of the Division of Criminal
Justice. Funds will be distributed in
accordance with those amounts appropriated,
put in a special fund under the auspices of
the Comptroller. District attorneys will
receive grants to deal with this issue.
The Superintendent of the Division
6142
of State Police shall establish and maintain
within the division a criminal gun
clearinghouse as a central repository of
information -- again, to further identify
where these guns are coming from, what they
are and in sum, perhaps, until such time as
the federal government does something more
meaningful, put a damper on those weapons that
are being imported into New York State and
used in the commission of a crime.
One final item is the reporting of
a stolen weapon, which is now mandated within
24 hours. And if that person does not do so,
they'll be subject to a $100 fine.
Those are the essential ingredients
within this what I would term comprehensive
approach to dealing with gun violence in New
York State.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Gentile.
SENATOR GENTILE: On the bill,
Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Gentile, on the bill.
SENATOR GENTILE: Mr. President,
6143
I am very pleased to see included in this bill
here tonight the gun trafficking and
interdiction program. It's a program -- it
was an idea that I introduced in this house
earlier this year by way of legislation.
Indeed, many of the arguments that I made in
this house on a motion to discharge on the
merits of this program were made by my good
colleague Senator Padavan just moments ago.
This program of gun trafficking
interdiction is essential, is an essential way
to track the illegal point of movement of a
gun. Such a program of gun trafficking
interdiction was used in the Columbine
massacre in Colorado. And because of the gun
trafficking interdiction program there, they
quickly found the point at which those guns
entered the illegal market.
As Senator Padavan has said, there
are many guns in New York State that come from
out of state. Having a program of this type
will allow us to track the movement of these
guns to find that choke point of where the
legal gun enters the illegal market.
So this program is a good program,
6144
it is a great program. It is proven in other
states. We need it here. Senator Padavan is
to be congratulated for putting it in. I am
glad that those ideas that I introduced
earlier this year have percolated down into
this bill tonight. So I'm pleased to be able
to -- or percolated up, I should say, maybe.
Okay.
But I'm pleased to support it. And
certainly I think this is a good day that both
sides of the house now can agree that this is
a good program.
So, Mr. President, I will be voting
in favor.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Schneiderman.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Mr.
President, on the bill.
It's wonderful that we're finally
getting a first step in this house towards
doing something about what I regard and many
of us regard as a crisis of guns in America
and guns in New York.
The program that Senator Gentile
has been pushing -- and I know Speaker Silver,
6145
in the other house -- is a fine program. I
think the Governor's ballistics fingerprinting
proposal -- I have to give him credit for
that -- is good.
I am disappointed that this bill
doesn't do more. And I'm also disappointed
that it's taken us so long to do something
that I think the overwhelming majority of the
people of the state of New York want, and that
is to do something about the availability of
guns and the lack of safety they feel on the
streets and in their homes and for their
children when they go to school because of the
proliferation of guns in New York.
What's not in this bill is an
assault weapons ban that goes beyond the
federal standard. This doesn't ban, as
Senator Padavan acknowledged, any weapons
aren't already banned by the federal
government. There are a lot of nasty weapons
that are called post-ban weapons that the gun
industry has developed since the federal ban
that are out there on the streets that we
should be banning.
This bill does not provide for a
6146
statewide licensing program requiring safety
courses and having renewable licenses. That
is, in my mind, the simplest and most
straightforward thing we can do in this state
to get control of the situation.
And finally, there's no child
access prevention law. We're having trigger
locks with no requirement that people use
them. There are hundreds of children who have
died from gun accidents in New York that are
preventable if we require adults to lock up
their guns. For ten years, a safe storage law
has passed the Assembly.
I'm very disappointed that when we
finally get all of the political momentum to
do this in this house, we are not passing a
child access prevention law. I urge you
that -- I've stood at news conferences urging
us to do something about guns this year with a
dozen parents who lost children because guns
were not safely stored. I don't want to have
to go back to those parents and explain why
any other children are going to die.
I'm afraid we've taken a good step
but left a lot on the table, and the work is
6147
left to be done.
I'm voting for the bill. It's a
great step forward, just because I think the
Senate now has finally come into step with the
people of the state of New York and the
overwhelming majority of the people in this
country. But there is a lot of work still to
do on this issue.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Dollinger.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Thank you,
Mr. President. On the bill.
I think it was six years and five
months ago that I stood on the floor of the
Senate, after Governor Cuomo had called us
into special session in the wake of the Long
Island Railroad shooting, to pass a ban on
assault weapons. And I think every year since
then I've brought a ban, that ban, to the
floor of the Senate.
And I've had some interesting
debates. I remember I was told on the floor
of the Senate that I didn't know how to define
assault weapons and because I couldn't define
6148
them and I couldn't come up with a definition,
we shouldn't pass a bill.
What I said at the time was we can
define assault weapons any way we want.
Instead of the industry telling us what an
assault weapon is, we could tell the industry
what an assault weapon was, and we could ban
them. We could restrict them. We could
restrict large-volume clips.
We could do all that because we had
the power of government on our side. We had
the power of the majority of the people who
had elected people in this chamber to do the
right thing, and we could do that regardless
of what the industry told us they wanted us to
do.
I suggested we should do it more
than six years ago. I'm pleased we're
beginning that process now.
But if anyone thinks that we've
ended our work to try to rid our society of
these weapons of violence, they're wrong.
This is not the end point in the continuing
battle to make New York something other than
the home of most violent crimes. This is a
6149
part of a continuing fight for which this is
the first step in the right direction.
I agree with Senator Schneiderman
and others, this is a step that needs to be
broadened. We are doing nothing more here
than taking the federal definition and the
federal weapons, for which it is already a
crime in this state and the other fifty states
to have these weapons. We are not expanding
the list. We are not dealing with the
problems of after-ban weapons, weapons that
have been designed to get around the federal
ban.
It seems to me we need to continue
to define our terms. We need to continue to
define the marketplace. And we need to tell
the manufacturers that you can't produce any
of these assault-style weapons and sell them
here in New York State.
I think that's the message we could
convey loud and clear. We have conveyed it,
but quietly and somewhat ambiguously, I'm
afraid.
And the other point that needs to
be mentioned is that the critical ingredient
6150
in protecting children from guns, the
consistent use of child safety locks, is not a
part of this bill. It's not required. We
don't punish those who fail to do it.
What I'm afraid will happen is that
there will continue to be children exposed to
weapons left haphazardly by adults, who will
walk in and think it's a toy, who will walk in
and mistake the fact that this is a dangerous
weapon that could kill the person that they
point it toward.
We will win the battle against
violence in our homes, we will win the battle
against violence in our streets when we more
effectively than what this bill does, when we
more effectively deal with the problem of
assault weapons. I think this is a first
step. I commend those who have taken the
first step.
But let's not forget, if what we're
trying to do is reduce the overall violence in
our society, the best way to do it is get rid
of military-style weapons from our residential
neighborhoods. This gets rid of some; it
doesn't get rid of all. And it doesn't
6151
protect the most vulnerable, our children.
Let's resolve that in the next
legislative session we will do those two
important things.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 28. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in
the negative on Calendar Number 1712 are
Senators Alesi, Bonacic, DeFrancisco, Farley,
Hoffmann, Kuhl, Larkin, Libous, Maltese,
Maziarz, Meier, Nozzolio, Saland, Seward,
Stachowski, Volker, and Wright. Also Senator
Stafford. Also Senator Rath.
Ayes, 40. Nays, 19.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
The Secretary will continue to
read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1698, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 2753B,
6152
an act to amend the Penal Law and others, in
relation to forfeiture.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 10. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1699, by Senator Balboni, Senate Print 5625C,
an act to amend the Executive Law, in relation
to establishing.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
SENATOR HEVESI: Explanation.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Balboni, an explanation has been requested of
Calendar 1699 by Senator Hevesi.
SENATOR BALBONI: Thank you, Mr.
President.
This bill before us this evening
6153
represents a year of work on behalf of the
Senate Majority Task Force on Youth Violence
and Entertainment. The task force was created
as a result of concerns raised from the series
of school shootings that took place in this
nation.
Senator Bruno appointed myself as
chairman of the task force, along with members
Libous, Rath, and Alesi. The task force
conducted five hearings across the state and
heard from over fifty witnesses -- parents,
educators, members of school boards, members
of the criminal justice system, and members of
the video game industry.
There is a report that's been
issued, and it is for everybody's review
should they decide that they want to take it
up. This bill represents the recommendations
of that report.
The bill essentially does four
things. It would create an advisory council
that would review the current existing ratings
system for video games and would make
recommendations. The advisory council would
consist of nine members, six ex officio
6154
members. Of the nine members, three would
come from the Governor, two would come from
the Majority Leader and the Speaker, one would
come from the Minority leaders of both houses.
The ex officio members would come from the
various agencies that were appropriate in this
issue.
The second part of the bill would
be to do something that no state and nation
has done before. It would be to establish a
film and video game ratings system.
This ratings system would affect
two areas. The first would be in arcades,
where children under the age of 16 would not
be able to play games that had the replica of
a pistol that would be used to blow apart
figures on a video screen, the most violent of
the games. And, secondly, children under the
age of 16 could not rent or buy CD-ROMs or
video games at stores, retail stores, under a
penalty under the General Business Law.
The last aspect would be to create
a school-based violence intervention program
where teachers would be given the skills to
spot children who are at risk for violence.
6155
That in sum, Mr. President, is what
the bill does.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Hevesi.
SENATOR HEVESI: Mr. President,
would the sponsor yield for a question?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Balboni, do you yield for a question?
SENATOR BALBONI: Yes, I do.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
sponsor yields.
SENATOR HEVESI: Thank you.
Senator Balboni, could you just
point out -- I appreciate the explanation.
One of the things you said I didn't see in the
bill. Can you just point out the section
where there is a prohibition for individuals
under the age of 16 from renting video games
which use a replica of a gun?
SENATOR BALBONI: It is in page
3, line 12.
SENATOR HEVESI: Mr. President,
would the sponsor continue to yield?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Balboni, do you continue to yield?
6156
SENATOR BALBONI: Yes, I do.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
sponsor yields.
SENATOR HEVESI: Page 3, line 12,
Section 615, every owner, proprietor, or
manager of a commercial establishment that
offers or displays one or more video games or
interactive media devices for use by the
public shall prohibit a person under 16 years
of age from playing any video game. I don't
know how that would refer to somebody who's
renting a video game for home use.
SENATOR BALBONI: If you look up
at Section 9, at line -- I'm sorry, at -
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Excuse
me a moment.
Members, please indulge us. We're
getting through the calendar. We need some
order here.
SENATOR BALBONI: Section 614,
Senator, line 9, sale or rental of video
games. No person, partnership or corporation
shall sell or rent or attempt to sell or rent
at retail a video game in contravention of the
rating system affixed thereto.
6157
SENATOR HEVESI: I see.
Mr. President, would the sponsor
continue to yield?
SENATOR BALBONI: I yield.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
sponsor yields.
SENATOR HEVESI: Senator Balboni,
from the definition of what the prohibition
would be, any video game that doesn't use any
kind of weaponry -- that is, a gun -- would be
acceptable. Can you just differentiate the -
what your assessment must be of the impact of
use of a gun in a video game as opposed to
hand-to-hand combat or with a knife or what
have you?
SENATOR BALBONI: Sure.
My colleagues, a part of the
difficulty here is that I'm sure that many of
you don't play video games. If you'd been to
an arcade, if you actually went into an arcade
and you saw the games that are played there,
you'd be stunned.
And one of the leading
psychologists on this topic is Lieutenant
Colonel David Grossman. He is from West
6158
Point, and he trains soldiers how to get over
the psychological impediment of killing. He's
written a book -- he's written several books.
One of his books is called On Killing. And
basically what he says is that we as human
beings need to be taught how to kill. It is
not our innate response. We have a fight or
flight, but only when we are challenged with
our survival. It is not something we take to
easily. So we have to learn how to kill.
Lieutenant Grossman believes that
the games at the arcades with the pistol
replica, where you point at the screen and you
blow figures away time and time again and the
figures keep coming up, is the model of
learning in psychology. How do we learn as
human beings? We watch something, we model
it, we repeat it. We are rewarded for the
proper exercise. And that's how we learn.
Lieutenant Colonel David Grossman
has called these particular games in arcades
killing machines, because that's what they're
doing. They're teaching kids how to kill.
And it's not just theory. There's
at least one case, Michael Carneal, Paducah,
6159
Kentucky, where he walked -- this student
walked into a classroom with a gun and shot
five people, never having worked with a gun
before. What was his favorite pastime? These
games.
That's why we singled out in this
bill those types of games, because it is my
belief and I believe the beliefs of the
members of the task force and the people, the
over fifty witnesses that we heard from, that
these represented the most dangerous games for
children.
SENATOR HEVESI: Thank you.
Mr. President, if the sponsor would
yield to one last question.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Balboni, do you yield?
SENATOR BALBONI: I yield.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
sponsor yields.
SENATOR HEVESI: Thank you,
Senator. Just so that I'm clear, we're not
simply referring to video games in an arcade
or some other establishment where the actual
video game has a device that is a replica, we
6160
are talking about any kind of on-screen
simulation where a character on the screen
would have a gun and that gun would be fired
by the manipulation of somebody with a joy
stick; isn't that correct?
SENATOR BALBONI: In order to
avoid the constitutional limitations that have
been expressed in certain circuit court
decisions around the nation -- though not in
the Second Circuit -- in an attempt to avoid
content-based restrictions, we have attempted
to focus only on the -- an implement that
would segregate these games from other games.
Because, as you know, there's a constitutional
requirement that the law be specific and not
be vague or overbroad.
So it is our attempt in this
particular bill to try to design a system
whereby we can point to the specific games;
therefore, no one has to guess as to which
games we're talking about.
SENATOR HEVESI: Mr. President,
I'm sorry, I need a clarification, if the
sponsor would yield.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
6161
Balboni, do you yield?
SENATOR BALBONI: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
sponsor yields.
SENATOR HEVESI: Since Section
614 refers to rental of video games, you must
have assumed that a video game which you rent
obviously cannot come with an actual pistol or
replica of a toy. So any on-screen character
that uses any kind of gun cannot be, if this
legislation is enacted -
SENATOR BALBONI: I don't know -
SENATOR HEVESI: -- used by
somebody under 16.
SENATOR BALBONI: Senator, I'm
sorry to interrupt.
I don't know of any games that are
sold, CD-ROM games that are sold with pistols.
But there are games that are rated MA, mature
audiences only. And therefore, those would be
prohibited under the sale or rental section of
the bill.
SENATOR HEVESI: Mr. President,
if the sponsor would continue to yield.
SENATOR BALBONI: Sure.
6162
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
sponsor yields.
SENATOR HEVESI: Thank you.
Senator, this is an important point. I'm not
belaboring this without reason.
If you rent the video game, the
character on the screen on the video game that
you are playing at home has a weapon and fires
bullets, is that video game, under your
legislation, restricted to individuals over 16
years old?
SENATOR BALBONI: It depends if
it is rated MA. If it is rated MA, then it
is. If it's not, it's not.
SENATOR HEVESI: Mr. President,
on the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Hevesi, on the bill.
SENATOR HEVESI: Thank you, Mr.
President.
I want to commend Senator Balboni
for his lengthy study into this issue. I
think it's an important issue. I'm very
concerned about it. I think everybody in this
chamber is concerned about school-based
6163
violence, violence among youth, and the
proliferation of video games that are
increasingly more violent, which I can attest
to myself, having played video games as a kid
and seeing the development and the progression
of the video games.
I'm a little bit concerned about
the blanket prohibition for individuals under
16 years old not based on a broad
classification of violent video games, but
rather on the simple manipulation of a
character or a model with a gun.
In other words, a video game that
has two individuals fighting each other with
knives, killing each other, with blood coming
out of each other when wounds were inflicted,
would not be prohibited, yet the legislation
would prohibit it if somebody was to fire a
gun.
I'm not sure, in addition, whether
the legislation is truly efficacious. I'm not
convinced, and I think maybe some further
study is necessary, that the isolated cases,
the limited number of cases of school violence
in reality, real school violence, where there
6164
was a link that the individuals who
perpetrated the violence also happened to play
video games, is conclusive evidence that the
video games led to the violence.
And I am familiar with Senator
Balboni's report. I have read the report.
The evidence that I guess I would suggest to
back up that point is the suggestion that
millions of kids play video games and only a
tiny fraction of those individuals are those
who wind up perpetrating violence.
Having said that, I'm going to
support this legislation, because I'm not
sure. And if I'm wrong and I voted no and
some video game which a child may not have
used he did use because we didn't pass this
bill leads to violence, I don't want to have
that on my hands. So I'm not sure.
I am concerned about limiting
access to violent video games where we're not
being perfectly consistent across a more broad
spectrum.
Having said that, I really
appreciate Senator Balboni's approach, in that
the advisory council is going to study these
6165
issues, do what I just suggested and make
those recommendations. And so hopefully upon
further study, if we're going to further
legislate in this area, we will have the
benefit of additional study in this measure.
I'm not so terribly troubled by the provision
that I just addressed that it would preclude
me from voting yes.
So I'm going to support this
legislation and again commend Senator Balboni
and all the members of the Majority who
participated in the forums throughout the
state. I think this was a worthy endeavor,
and I hope it works.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Lachman.
SENATOR LACHMAN: Yes. Will the
distinguished Senator from Long Island yield
to a question?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Balboni, I think he wants you to yield.
SENATOR BALBONI: Yes, I will,
Senator Lachman.
Eight people almost stood up, so -
(Laughter.)
6166
SENATOR LACHMAN: Senator, this
question relates to Section 917 of the
legislation, which involves a parent-teacher
antiviolence awareness program, in accordance
with regulations promulgated by the
Commissioner, which I assume is the
Commissioner of Education.
Can you explain how this will
operate in real life after this anti-violence
awareness program is promulgated by a diverse
commission and approved by the State
Commissioner of Education?
SENATOR BALBONI: There's
undoubtedly going to be some lead time before
this actually comes to fruition. This is
going to be, hopefully, part of a greater
package. If one day, and I hope sometime
soon, we see a school violence package of
bills, this is probably going to be a part of
that.
And what we're empowering the
Department of Education to do is to take a
look at the recommendations that are provided
by the advisory council, craft a program
whereby we can get into the schools and
6167
provide teachers with information on how to
spot children who are troubled, children who
have a propensity for violence, or children
who are perhaps depressed, maybe more so.
I believe that the schoolteachers
in this state, in particular, are very aware
of the situations that exist as a result of
the heightened publicity about the school
shootings. And therefore, I think everybody's
awareness that there is perhaps undetected
mental illness to a much greater degree in our
school population than was once thought is
certainly there.
What I'm concerned about is not
necessarily this year or the next year, but as
time goes on, and hopefully as the memories of
the horrors of the school shootings fade, that
our school systems don't fade in their ability
to constantly look over the population and try
to see if there aren't children who need some
assistance.
And perhaps this is one way, one
aspect to address those problems.
SENATOR LACHMAN: On the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
6168
Lachman, on the bill.
SENATOR LACHMAN: Yes. I will
support this bill, even though I still feel
that there is an imprecise wording as to the
definition of what is going to be attempted in
Section 917 and how that will be eventually
promulgated. Perhaps we can clean up the
wording afterwards. It is basically a good
bill, with this one exception.
Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Schneiderman.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you,
Mr. President. If the sponsor would yield to
one very brief question about this.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Balboni, do you yield?
SENATOR BALBONI: I will yield,
but I can't guarantee that the answer will be
very brief.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
sponsor yields.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: I rose
with that understanding.
During the last five years, as
6169
video games sales have boomed to record
levels, what has been the corresponding rise
or fall, if you know, in the level of youth
violence in the United States?
SENATOR BALBONI: It depends upon
when you make the determination.
This is very interesting. You know
what Mark Twain said: There are lies, damn
lies, and there are statistics. Well, the
problem here is that if you took the violence,
youth violence statistics from 1995 to the
present, you'd see a decline. But if you took
it from 1989 till 1997, you saw an increase.
More telling is worldwide, in
places like Australia, England, that have
access to these types of games, youth violence
has actually increased.
And one anecdote which is in the
report, and I would recommend that you take a
look at it, we had the -- I believe it's the
deputy superintendent of the State Police
testify up here in Albany. And he testified
to something that perhaps is behind these
statistics. That's, in his view, that the
viciousness of the crimes that are being
6170
committed by the youth today has dramatically
increased.
Now, maybe it's the media
sensationalism. He doesn't think so. He in
his 30 or 40 years of his law enforcement
career has seen an increase in this type of
violence, the viciousness of the violence, and
he ascribed that increase at least to the
glorification and the desensitization of
children as a result of playing these games.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you
for that extremely brief and concise response.
Mr. President, on the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Schneiderman, on the bill.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: I think,
listen, this is a statewide problem and a
statewide bill. And I understand the good
intention behind it.
I am afraid that I do not see any
correlation that's been established as
offensive, as I might find some of these video
games, between more kids playing the video
games and a higher level of youth violence.
I know that there is a
6171
correlation -- and if you compare places that
have video games in other parts of the world
to the United States -- between the level of
fatalities and serious injuries as a result of
youth violence, it's much higher here because
we have a lot more guns.
I can't really -- you know, I can
no longer say that this is a smokescreen for
not doing anything about guns. But I
certainly do think that the most important
thing we can do to prevent kids from killing
each other, hurting each other, is to pass a
child access prevention law.
And I must say, I don't -- not
seeing the correlation, it's very difficult
for me to go down the path of censorship.
Because, you know, I know when I was a kid,
there was perceived to be this extraordinary
increase in youth violence attributable to
rock and roll records. And, you know, maybe
that has resulted in some of my personality
traits that you see today.
But I don't really see this is
going to make the difference that is
proclaimed. I think the intention is good.
6172
But it's just an approach that I really can't
support. So I will vote no, if I may.
SENATOR BALBONI: Would you yield
to a question, please?
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: I will
yield to a question from the sponsor.
SENATOR BALBONI: Where in the
bill do you see censorship? What games are
banned?
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: No, I
think I said going down the path towards
censorship.
The rating system and the
restrictions on access to video games. That's
censorship, I suppose, if you can't get a
video game when you're under a certain age;
right?
SENATOR BALBONI: Because you are
aware that we made every attempt not to ban
the games.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: No, I
understand you made every attempt. And you
almost succeeded, except for what Senator
Hevesi pointed out.
SENATOR BALBONI: Well, we're
6173
really, as you know, we're trying to make sure
that it's the parent that's involved. And
that's really what we're taking about here.
That's all we're doing here. We're making
sure that the parent is involved.
You can see that in the language of
the bill. Can't you?
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: I
appreciate the fact that you have attempted to
do that.
I don't -- listen, I think that
violence is present on television, it's
present in the movies. It's present in an
unbelievable degree. I mean, I think that
there's nothing on earth that's been newly
created that's more violent than Roadrunner
cartoons, you know, that we grew up on.
I just don't think -- and again,
this doesn't do anything to prevent you from
downloading stuff from the Internet. So I
think that while it's well-intentioned, I
don't see how it's going to make a difference.
And again, it does create another big
government bureaucracy, which I realize you
big-government-statewide types like.
6174
But I just don't see this getting
the job done, and I'm going to vote no.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Paterson.
SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President,
oh, this summer I am going to miss Senator
Balboni's enthusiasm and his references to
Mark Twain and Shakespeare in his remarks.
And if he would just yield for a question so I
could have something to remember him by in the
summer.
(Laughter.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Balboni, do you yield for a question from
Senator Paterson?
SENATOR BALBONI: Mr. President,
I believe I yield.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Okay.
Senator Balboni yields.
SENATOR PATERSON: Senator, I
have a concern about government deferring to
private organizations for purposes of
establishing guidelines for law-making. In
your bill I see that we have, in Section 1,
6175
the Entertainment Software Review Board, ESRB.
I've never heard of this organization, ESRB.
I don't know who the board is. I don't know
to what extent this board might be tainted by
the fact that they are actually in many
respects comprised of the same people who are
selling the video games.
So while I do understand what
you're trying to do, to me in some way you
might even be negating the process. Because
right after we pass the legislation, the ESRB
or ESPN or whoever is deciding that, they are
going to pronounce which criteria establishes
the certain levels of grading of these
particular movies are really applicable.
And I just wanted to ask you as a
suggestion, would you consider in a sense
taking the same advisory board that you've
proposed and having them review a number of
these video games and put our own ratings on
them so that they would be coming from the
government rather than from a private
industry?
SENATOR BALBONI: Senator
Paterson, the reason why we did not adopt that
6176
approach is it came from the federal
government in 1993. In 1993 there was this
huge uproar in Congress. Congress was about
to act to create a federal ratings system for
video games, but they stopped. Senator Joseph
Lieberman stopped at the last minute because
of the concerns of freedom of speech and the
need for a voluntary private organization to
look at the content of these particular games,
thus avoiding government interference with the
expressive content included in these games.
That's why we adopted this
approach. Because the ratings system, even
though there are two ratings systems right now
that are inconsistent, and we hope to make
one, what we're trying to do here is use an
infrastructure that's already been created -
that is, a voluntary and perhaps albeit a
ratings system that is heavy-handed for the
manufacturers, because those are the ones who
rate their own games. We'd like to bring in
other sections so we can make it fairer, but
nonetheless use that same system.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Paterson.
6177
SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President,
if the Senator could continue to yield, I -
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Balboni, do you continue to yield?
SENATOR BALBONI: Yes, I do.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Senator yields.
SENATOR PATERSON: I appreciated
the Senator's answer. There were no
references to the humanities, but I still
liked his answer.
And my question, then, would be
these types of boards, while we might as a
government not want to necessarily impinge
upon the integrity of the board, wouldn't we
at least want to insist that if there's going
to be one ratings system that there be some
representation, perhaps even from the advocacy
groups that would probably feel, as you do,
the necessity to have some guidelines for
parents to follow when prescribing which one
of these videos is acceptable and which ones
are not?
SENATOR BALBONI: Yes, I agree
completely. And I believe that part of that
6178
language is in the bill itself, and that we've
worked towards that to provide parents with
the information as to which are the most
violent games and which are the games that
children should not be renting or playing. I
believe it's in there. Like Prego sauce.
SENATOR LACK: Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Lack.
SENATOR LACK: Thank you, Mr.
President.
I think this is a very good bill.
But it is only a start. I think the point
made a few minutes ago by Senator Hevesi
actually happens to be a correct one. But
unfortunately, there's only so far you can go
in probably constructing this piece of
legislation.
Over twenty years ago, my wife
wrote her doctoral thesis on the relationship
between video violence and small children, in
a correlation on what violence that children
see then on television -- before there were
these type of video games now -- and the
effect it has on their behavior, in which she
6179
modeled it after numerous studies of
2-and-3-year-old children watching "Tom and
Jerry" cartoons, picking up sledgehammers or
axes out of their parents' garage and going
down the street and wanting to strike a
friend.
Not to cause any damage, because
everyone knows, once you watch a "Tom and
Jerry" cartoon, that if Tom hits Jerry or
Jerry hits Tom or whatever it might be, both
characters in the next frame immediately come
back to regular life and have hurt absolutely
no one, and life goes on. And this is all
just part of what you see on television.
But that's not really something,
unfortunately, that New York can act on within
the scope of its laws. So what this is,
really, is a start.
And now my wife serves as assistant
superintendent in a suburban school system in
which she handles, as a school administrator,
all the psychological services and
relationships and disciplines and hearings
between administrators, teachers, and
students, and will be the person, at least in
6180
this particular district, will be the role
model that serves as a school administrator to
enforce this 917 section that Senator Lachman
referred to.
And again, this is a start. A
start that can only take place and, if it
works here and if it works with respect to
video games in which you can easily
identify -- because there is a gun or
something that relates to ammunition, and that
can be typed and put into effect and we can
show that correlations between children and
those games can be handled through the
requirements of this section -- then, quite
frankly, Mr. President, I'd hope that what
Senator Hevesi suggested could go on and that
we could then get into further descriptions of
how violence is determined.
Not the manner by which the
violence take place -- in this case, the
gun -- but just what happens as a result of
any violence, and start to look to see how we
can regulate that type of behavior and put it
into the same framework for which the bill is
establishing for video games and guns.
6181
So this is a start. This is a good
model. Senator Balboni has worked very hard
to bring this program about. And assuming
that it works, I think we have a long way to
go towards getting where we should be in terms
of establishing a relationship between the
behavior of children who are exposed to
whether it's television or video games that
involve violent behavior and those of us in
the adult community who would like to see
something done about it.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Dollinger.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr.
President, will Senator Balboni yield just for
one question?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Balboni, will you yield for one question?
SENATOR BALBONI: Yes, I yield.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Balboni yields for one question.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: The final
section of this bill, Section 6, establishes a
parent-teacher antiviolence fund. Where's the
money going to come for that fund? Is it
6182
solely from the fines imposed above? Or is it
your anticipation that there will be direct
money appropriated to this account?
SENATOR BALBONI: I've thought
long and hard about this fund. The language
itself is -- directs the monies coming from
violations of the section.
But I am certain that under Senator
Bruno's leadership we might be able to find a
couple of extra dollars that might go into
this program, should we decide that it's
worthwhile.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Through you,
Mr. President. Just briefly on the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Dollinger, on the bill.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Let me start
by begging to differ substantially with my
colleague Senator Schneiderman. There is
something far more violent than Roadrunner.
It's called Itchy and Scratchy. Watch it on
"The Simpsons." It's the most violent thing
on television. It's the most violent video
thing anywhere that I've seen.
I'm going to vote in favor of this
6183
bill, Mr. President. And I do so because I
think the most important piece of it is
contained in Section 917, which is the
parent-teacher antiviolence awareness effort.
That's really what it's all about.
Quite frankly, whether we're going
to ban videos or whether we're going to ban
television, whether we're going to change the
content of our movies, no matter what warnings
we put on this, we live in a culture for some
reason that dwells on the issue of violence.
I can remember when I was a little
kid, the thing that we did is we took our
plastic guns and went off in the woods and
played war. I mean, it was the game to play.
You ran around, you pointed your little
plastic gun at someone, you yelled bang. And
that was the way we did it.
For some reason, that didn't
translate into violent impulses in our
culture. Now, today, because you watch it on
a video screen and there's the scads of blood
poured all over the place, for some reason
this seems to promote more violence.
I would suggest to Senator Balboni
6184
that there are two defects in this bill, two
things you ought to consider doing. One is
what we need to look at is a standard, not
just of violence but indecency.
Those of you who know anything
about the cable television debate in this
nation know that the Federal
Telecommunications Act had included not only a
standard for cable television of obscenity,
but also a standard of indecency. That what
we should do as a government, what we had as
the power of government was the ability to
determine that some things couldn't
necessarily be banned because they were
obscene, but should be regulated because they
are indecent.
It's not just the issue of
violence. It's not just the pictures of
killing. I would suggest that that also
extends to things like the language used
against women and the violence that can be
directed against women, even though it doesn't
involve a gun or a knife. But it can involve
language, it can involve slurs, it can involve
directions or intimations of violence directed
6185
against women. Very significant problem.
I would hope that what this task
force will eventually do is look at instances
in which the propensity for violence or
indecency to other people is a part of our
educational process.
And my other conclusion is, Senator
Balboni, that I think what this bill would
mean to me is a lot more if there were
actually an appropriation attached to it. To
rely on this fund, which my guess is may
produce some minimal value over the course of
the next five years, isn't going to be enough.
If we're really going to try to
deal with the problem of violence among our
children, it's going to take a significant
amount of money put into the teacher-parent
awareness program, and it's also going to take
a general redirection of our society's view
about the issue of violence, in part by
banning assault weapons, in part by looking at
hate crimes, in part by dealing with indecency
directed to women.
And if we do all those things, we
may someday reverse what is unfortunately a
6186
culture that seems to be careening down the
path to greater and greater violence.
I hope we get there, Senator
Balboni. I applaud your effort of taking us a
step down the path. There are a lot more
steps to walk down.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 7. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
SENATOR BALBONI: Mr. President,
just to explain my vote.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Balboni, to explain his vote.
SENATOR BALBONI: I want to say,
well, we don't do enough in this chamber? I
just want to thank the people who worked on
the task force. Not only to Senators Alesi,
Libous, Rath, who were so terrific, and of
course Senator Bruno, for his leadership in
this, but also Jim Sherry, who sits behind me,
as the director, and Jennifer Lump.
6187
And let me just respond this.
Senator Schneiderman raises -- or sets the
standard for when we should act in his
comments, that unless a link is shown between
watching or playing violent videos and
actually going out and committing violence and
murder, then we shouldn't act.
My suggestion to you is that's not
the standard. When it comes to our children,
we ban tobacco, we ban alcohol, and we ban
pornography. Violence should be no different.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Balboni will be recorded in the affirmative.
Senator Schneiderman, to explain
his vote.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: That's all
right, I'm now constrained to explain my vote.
I appreciate the suggestion that I
set the standard here. I suppose maybe that's
an acknowledgement we have a low standard, I
don't know.
Violence is banned. The question I
have -- and I must say, I'm more concerned
actually hearing some of my colleagues on my
6188
side of the aisle talk about this. I am
concerned about the issue of censorship. And
I'm not sure where some of these comments were
going.
There's a lot of great art that is
extraordinarily violent, in my view. And I
think we go down a very dangerous path.
Violence should be banned. I favor, you know,
all the bans on violence we've got in this
state and more.
The difference is what is the
connection between something that, you know,
that may infringe on some people's First
Amendment rights. And there I have a very
strong standard. Because there's a lot of
stuff that I find personally offensive that I
will still fight to preserve people's right to
speak and to portray in every kind of media.
Thank you, Senator Balboni, for
this stimulating debate.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Schneiderman will be recorded in the negative.
Announce the results.
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. Nays,
1. Senator Schneiderman recorded in the
6189
negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
Senator McGee.
SENATOR McGEE: Mr. President, I
request unanimous consent to be recorded in
the negative on Calendar Number 1712, Print
Number 8234.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Without
objection, Senator McGee will be recorded in
the negative on Calendar 1712.
SENATOR McGEE: Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will continue to read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1703, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 7035,
an act to amend the Executive Law, in relation
to the reporting.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Paterson.
SENATOR PATERSON: Explanation,
please.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Johnson, an explanation has been requested of
Calendar 1703 by Senator Paterson.
6190
SENATOR JOHNSON: Senator
Paterson, this bill requires police agencies
to report to the Division of Criminal Justice
Services on certain crimes and suicides
committed by a person using psychotropic
drugs.
SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President,
if the sponsor would yield for a question.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Johnson, do you yield for a question?
SENATOR JOHNSON: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
sponsor yields.
SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President,
my question is whether or not Senator Johnson
presumes that there's a relationship between
the taking of psychotropic drugs by people who
are being treated for mental disease or
disability and a tendency towards violence.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Johnson, excuse me a moment, Senator Paterson.
There are two Senators attempting
to debate a bill, and they're having
difficulty hearing each other. Could we have
some quiet in the chamber, please.
6191
Senator Johnson.
SENATOR JOHNSON: Senator
Paterson, you're asking me if there's a
connection between these drugs and violence?
That has been established in many cases, yes.
The reason this bill is before us
is because within the past year or year and a
half, there have been some twenty mass
killings by children. And every one of them
were on some kind of drug. And I think the
police agency should get a report when these
child killers are using drugs and see if that
is related to their conduct with killing
people with guns.
And maybe they can go back to other
forms of behavior modification rather than
drugging these children, who seem to be
committing crimes under the influence of these
very dangerous hallucinogenic drugs.
SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President,
if Senator Johnson would continue to yield.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Johnson, do you continue to yield?
SENATOR JOHNSON: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
6192
sponsor yields.
SENATOR PATERSON: Senator, can
you state with a reasonable degree of medical
certainty that there's any data that's ever
been printed anywhere or established in any
medical journals that substantiate that the
taking of psychotropic drugs contributes to
the tendency towards violence of an
individual?
SENATOR JOHNSON: Well, there is
much, much evidence that -- just as one
illustration, Eric Harris, who committed the
Columbine shooting, was taking Luvox. Some of
the side effects of Luvox are agitation,
hypertension, mental changes, mental
depression, psychotic reaction, delirium,
drug-induced, emotional liability, hostility,
hallucinations, hysteria, phobia. There are
so many possible side effects.
And this has been studied by many
organizations. Georgetown University Medical
Center published something in October 1997,
Time magazine, that she was concerned about
the effect of these drugs on children. Now,
these drugs are very similar to cocaine in
6193
their effect and in their withdrawal effects.
And one of the studies that was
published in the American Journal of
Psychiatry, "Mania and Fluvoxamine," which is
the trade name for -- for which the trade name
is Luvox.
And there are many, many articles
here about the children who are doing things
and had these drugs in their systems. And
some people think there should be another way
to do it.
Even Hillary Clinton called
recently for a study of children being
prescribed these drugs which may not be
necessary. She wants to have a conference on
children's mental health, put warning labels
on these drugs and so on.
We're not going that far. We're
not calling for any controls on these drugs.
We're calling for let us research these
killings and these rapes and other acts by
children, and if they're on drugs, we want to
know about it.
We think that the manufacturers and
the prescribers of these drugs should know the
6194
side effects and what they're causing so we
can avoid this happening in the future. We're
generating a lot of drug addicts here, maybe
unnecessarily.
SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President,
what I'll do is I'll shorten this. On the
bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Paterson, on the bill.
SENATOR PATERSON: I think that
if Senator Johnson or anyone else has a
concern in this area and wants to research the
value of psychotropic drugs, I think the best
way to do it would be not through the police
department but through the medical
institutions.
In other words, you could
accomplish the same purpose just by getting
what would be a survey of the doctors in a
particular area, the psychiatrists, patients
that they serve, and what were the results of
that treatment. As opposed to just waiting
for crimes to be committed and then evaluating
how many of the criminals were using
psychotropic drugs. Because if there were
6195
psychiatric disturbances, presumably the
psychotropic drugs were being used to try to
treat them.
I think that this legislation has a
real chilling effect on doctors and medical
professionals in the area, because it would
dissuade them from using these types of
medications, where it is very possible that
the lack of treatment or the undertreatment of
these patients could actually lead to further
violence.
I think that if there is a
dialectic effect in what Senator Johnson is
talking about, it would be actually the health
hazards that many of these psychotropic drugs
actually cause and the fact that the medical
establishment has not necessarily addressed
them.
And in addition, that there are
other remedies that the medical associations
don't acknowledge that might actually treat a
lot of these illnesses as effectively as drugs
that hurt the health of the actual patients.
So I can see the necessity for a
study. I just don't think that when we're
6196
trying to make changes in medical philosophy
that we need the law enforcement institutions
to necessarily be part of it.
And that's why I would vote no on
this legislation, although I think that
research is something that we should always be
open to in this country.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Johnson.
SENATOR JOHNSON: Mr. President,
I'd just like to say that there have been many
studies verifying the effect of these drugs.
But we're not asking the police to verify the
effect of these drugs.
There have been studies by Hadassah
Hebrew University, Yale University. The New
England Journal of Medicine has many articles
about it. It's been studied by Harvard. The
American Journal of Psychiatry has many
articles on it, which we've looked up.
The fact is that these drugs were
involved in every one of these shootings. And
I would think, Senator, you and everyone else
in this place would like to know if there's a
connection between Ritalin, Luvox, all the
6197
other drugs which they're giving these
children, and violence. If these drug are
sparking the violence, we have to determine
that.
We're going to get the reports from
the police. If there's a connection, that's
it. That's all we're going to get from the
police. They're not going to investigate.
That's going to be turned over to the
psychiatrists, and we're going to tell them,
you've got to find another way to handle these
kids. These drugs are many times causing
these side effects.
And we can't permits guns to be
taken away, and all the other business, based
on the fact that people are committing the
crimes. We've got to find out why the people
are committing those crimes, not blame an
inanimate object.
So all we're saying is let us get
the facts out if these drugs are involved with
these shooting crimes. And if so, we have to
determine collectively what to do about that.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
6198
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect on the first day of
January.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President,
to explain my vote.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Paterson, to explain his vote.
SENATOR PATERSON: I think
Senator Johnson would be surprised to know how
much I agree with him about the need to study
the uses of psychotropic drugs, because I
think they're almost automatically given to
young people sometimes, and it's become such a
tradition that at times it's an actual danger.
But if you're going to study it, I
think you have to study it through the use and
the connection between the use and any
possible violence, not coming after the fact
and waiting until a crime is committed, then
to find out how many of the individuals that
committed crimes were using the drugs.
I think any institution that
6199
conducts any kind of research would tell you
that that is really putting the cart before
the horse. And that's why I want to vote no.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Paterson, I'm sorry, how do you vote?
SENATOR PATERSON: No.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Paterson will be recorded in the negative.
Announce the results.
THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in
the negative on Calendar Number 1703 are
Senators Breslin, Connor, Duane, Lachman,
Libous, Onorato, Paterson, Rosado,
Schneiderman, A. Smith, M. Smith, Spano,
Stachowski, and Stavisky. Ayes, 45. Nays,
14.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
Senator Bruno.
SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
can we return to messages from the Assembly.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Messages
from the Assembly.
The chair hands down a message from
the Assembly.
6200
THE SECRETARY: On motion of
Mr. Bruno, and by unanimous consent, the rules
were suspended and said bill ordered to a
third reading: Assembly Bill Number 11451.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Without
objection, the rules are suspended. The bill
will now have its third reading.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1713, by the Assembly Committee on Rules,
Assembly Print Number 11451, an act to amend
the Tax Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
Senator Duane.
SENATOR DUANE: Thank you, Mr.
President. I was hoping to get unanimous
6201
consent to be recorded in the negative on
1699.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Without
objection, Senator Duane will be recorded in
the negative on Calendar 1699.
The Secretary will continue to read
in regular order.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1704, by Senator Maziarz, Senate Print 7039,
an act to amend the Environmental Conservation
Law and the Education Law.
SENATOR LACHMAN: Explanation.
Explanation.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Maziarz, an explanation has been requested -
SENATOR MAZIARZ: Excuse me.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: -- by
Senator Lachman on Calendar 1704.
SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you very
much, Mr. President.
This bill before us promotes the
implementation of a firearm accident
prevention program for children in elementary
school. The safety program is designed to
instruct children that when they find a
6202
firearm, they should stop, don't touch, leave
the area, and tell an adult.
The decision of whether to
implement a firearm accident prevention
program will rest entirely upon each
individual school district, as will the type
of safety program taught by each school.
Last year the Assembly unanimously,
and this body, passed a similar piece of
legislation. Several suggestions were made
for changing this bill, some of them by -
most notably by Senator Schneiderman. Many
of -- I should say some of Senator
Schneiderman's suggestions were incorporated
into this new bill.
I certainly would invite Senator
Schneiderman to sign on as a cosponsor of this
legislation if he would so choose.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Schneiderman.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Well, I -
Mr. President, if the sponsor would yield to a
few questions.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
6203
Maziarz, do you yield for a question?
SENATOR MAZIARZ: Surely, Mr.
President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
sponsor yields.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: I am
overcome with the extraordinary outpouring of
courtesy. It's the late hour, I'm sure, at
the end of the session.
I have many fond memories of Eddie
Eagle, who before Senator Maziarz brought him
to me, I was never on national TV, didn't have
op-ed columns in the Daily News.
My understanding is the only real
difference between this bill and last year's
bill is that the language such as the Eddie
Eagle program, the specific reference to Eddie
Eagle has been deleted. We've actually been
calling this the bill formerly known as Eddie
Eagle.
Is that the only real substantive
difference, Senator?
SENATOR MAZIARZ: Well, you're
calling it the bill formerly known as the
Eddie Eagle program. I've always called it
6204
the firearm accident and prevention
instruction program, Senator.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Ah. So
through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor
would continue to yield.
SENATOR MAZIARZ: But -- but I -
just to continue with my answer, if I may,
Senator Schneiderman. Eddie has gone to rest.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Well,
through you, Mr. President. Is there any
other firearm -- this does continue the
reference, so that any bureaucratic seeking to
implement this program would know that they
were safe if they used the Eddie Eagle
program, to the Eddie Eagle message: "Stop,
don't touch, leave the area, tell an adult."
Which is in quotes in this program.
Is there any other firearm safety
program in the United States that you are
aware of that uses the safety message "Stop,
don't touch, leave the area, tell an adult"?
SENATOR MAZIARZ: None that I'm
aware of.
But I think that message "Stop,
don't touch, leave the area, tell an adult,"
6205
is an extremely positive message to send for a
firearm accident prevention course.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Schneiderman.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: So I take
it from your answer that you are not aware of
any other program with the specific
language -- which is in fact owned, I gather,
by the National Rifle Association of America.
It's got a little copyright thing.
Is there any other program that has
lifted or stolen this valuable product of the
National Rifle Association?
SENATOR MAZIARZ: This bill, of
course, does not mention Eddie the Eagle nor
the National Rifle Association, Senator
Schneiderman.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Yes, there
is a copyright on that. Senator Hevesi is
also concerned about the possible infringement
on the NRA.
I really -- it's Eddie Eagle, also,
Senator, not Eddie the Eagle. Eddie Eagle.
Has there been anything done -
you've mentioned some of my suggestions have
6206
been incorporated -
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Hold on
a second, Senator. You want Senator Maziarz
to yield?
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: I would,
Mr. President. Through you.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Maziarz, do you yield?
SENATOR MAZIARZ: Yes, I do,
Senator.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
sponsor yields.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you.
You mentioned some of my
suggestions had been taken into account. Has
anything been done to address the problem that
the Eddie Eagle program, while telling
children not to -- to stop and not touch
weapons, portrays in all of the cartoons
weapons as cherished objects of the grownups,
things that kids shouldn't touch but that are
wonderful possessions of grownups and really
positive things to have lying around in your
home?
SENATOR MAZIARZ: Well, this is
6207
not the Eddie the Eagle program, Senator.
It's not referenced in the bill.
And, quite frankly, the department
can use any reasonable source for gathering
the necessary criteria to implement this
program.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you,
Mr. President. The hour is late, and as much
as I enjoy talking with Senator Maziarz, I
would like to go on the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Schneiderman, on the bill.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: As much as
I sort of enjoy this debate, I do find it sort
of astonishing that Eddie Eagle has been taken
out, but we have repeated here several times
the copyrighted -- by the NRA -- message of
Eddie Eagle, making it clear to me that this
is, again, the bill formerly known as Eddie
Eagle.
I think it was a bad idea last
year. Governor Pataki evidently agreed with
me. I think it's a bad idea this year.
The "20/20" program that showed the
Eddie Eagle program doesn't work has never
6208
been satisfactorily rebutted.
I have gotten a great deal of mail
and e-mail from members of the Shooters
Committee on Political Education and other
organizations in this state relating to Eddie
Eagle. In fact, I was awarded the Political
Putzhead Award by the Long Island chapter for
my opposition to Eddie Eagle. It's just
something I'd be proud to -- I was wondering
who was behind that. Thank you, Senator.
But I just don't think this is a
program that works. It is a program -
SENATOR MAZIARZ: Mr. President.
You weren't pointing at -- you weren't
indicating that I was behind that?
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: No, no,
no. Senator Marcellino was clapping loudly.
SENATOR MAZIARZ: Oh, okay.
Okay.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: It came
from Long Island, Senator. It was the Long
Island chapter, not the Western New York
chapter.
SENATOR MAZIARZ: I apologize,
Senator.
6209
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Well, I
realize your reach is far, but -
(Laughter.)
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: I think it
it's a bad program.
I'd also like to close with
something on a more serious note. We just
passed a series of gun safety bills. We have
not passed a child access prevention bill,
which to me is the most critical way to keep
kids from being injured and killed with guns.
The Eddie Eagle program was
developed by the NRA in an effort to block a
child access prevention program in Florida.
That is the genesis of Eddie Eagle. That's
when it was developed, to try and be put in
the place of that. It uses a substitute to
prevent people from actually enacting a child
access prevention program. Fortunately, they
were not successful in that state.
I look forward to us passing a
child access prevention law in this state.
And I don't think that Eddie Eagle, the bill
formerly known as Eddie Eagle, or any other
foul legislation of this kind has any place in
6210
the State of New York.
SENATOR HEVESI: Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Hevesi.
SENATOR HEVESI: Mr. President,
very briefly on this bill.
I was -- with all sincerity, I was
about to vote yes on this legislation, because
the reference had been removed, until Senator
Schneiderman told me that that particular
language that remains in the bill, which is a
positive message, is in fact copyrighted by
the NRA.
And the practical implication of
that is that nobody else, therefore, can use
the language. And that if any materials are
going to be used in conjunction with the
program set out in this legislation, it has to
be the Eddie Eagle program.
And we have other problems with
that Eddie Eagle program, which were outlined
in prior debate. And I think Senator Maziarz
may have acknowledged that by removing the
reference.
But if the practical implication is
6211
there is no change as a result of this
copyrighted line, then we have in fact not
resolved the problem, and I cannot in good
conscience vote for this legislation.
Though the message is good, and I
support the message. I don't know why it had
to be drafted with that particular language.
We have just enacted some
legislation here that was very broad in scope.
We could just simply say, in this legislation,
gun control, a gun safety message for
children, and leave it broad, leave it open.
Instead of the exact language in the Eddie
Eagle program. Because we don't like that
program, for reasons that I won't get into
right now.
So unfortunately, Senator Maziarz,
I can't vote for this. And I'd like to vote
for it, because I do think a message like
this, exclusive to this message in and of
itself, without all the other baggage that
comes along with Eddie Eagle, would help to
protect kids.
So I'm going to vote no on this. I
wish we could revisit this and do it some
6212
other way. But Senator Schneiderman is,
again, right on target.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Dollinger.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Thank you,
Mr. President. I'll be very brief too.
I'm going to vote against this
bill. Because what I find so interesting
about it, Senator Maziarz, is the phrase in
which you say "the teaching of firearm safety
is critical to reducing the number of firearm
accidents among children." I couldn't agree
with that more. That's a wonderful statement.
But then it says "during a time in
which the media often displays unsafe and
irresponsible firearm handling." To the best
of my knowledge, a child has never been hurt
by the media's portrayal of irresponsible
firearm handling.
You know how they die, Senator
Maziarz? It's when their parents fail to put
trigger locks on them. It's when their
grandparents leave a shotgun lying around.
It's the irresponsible handling of guns by
their parents and in their homes that causes
6213
them to die. The media has nothing to do with
it.
I would suggest what that statement
suggests is that what you're interested in is
the media projection about safety. And if you
were really concerned about safety, what we'd
do is forget Eddie Eagle and tell parents if
you don't put a trigger lock on the gun,
you're going to be punished. It's a crime.
Then we'll absolutely obliterate or severely
reduce the amount of violence, unintended
violence with kids.
This is a bill that deals with the
media. I'm far more interested in dealing
with the reality. And the reality is pass the
child safety prevention act. And believe me,
Eddie Eagle or anybody else, we won't need him
in the classroom, because we'll have sent the
right messages to adults and parents.
I vote no.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This
act shall take effect on the first day of
July.
6214
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in
the negative on Calendar Number 1704 are
Senators Connor, Dollinger, Duane, Hevesi,
Lachman, Onorato, Paterson, Rosado, Sampson,
Schneiderman, A. Smith, M. Smith, Stavisky.
Also Senator Breslin. Ayes, 45. Nays, 14.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
Senator Breslin.
SENATOR BRESLIN: Mr. President,
I wish to call up my bill, Print Number 6665A,
recalled from the Assembly, which is now at
the desk.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1680, by Senator Breslin, Senate Print 6665A,
an act to authorize the City School District
of Albany.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Breslin.
SENATOR BRESLIN: Mr. President,
6215
I now ask and move to reconsider the vote by
which this bill passed.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll on reconsideration.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
SENATOR BRESLIN: Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Breslin.
SENATOR BRESLIN: Mr. President,
I ask that the bill be restored to its place
on the Third Reading Calendar.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: So
ordered. The bill is restored to third
reading. And the bill is recommitted.
The Secretary will continue to
read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1709, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 8231,
an act to amend the Penal Law and the Criminal
Procedure Law, in relation to the offense of
money laundering.
SENATOR CONNOR: Is there a
message at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
6216
a message at the desk.
All in favor of accepting the
message of necessity signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Opposed,
nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
message is accepted. The bill is before the
house.
SENATOR CONNOR: Read the last
section.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 7. This
act shall take effect on the first day of
November.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
SENATOR VELELLA: Mr. President,
can we return to Calendar 58B while the
6217
Majority Leader is tied up. He's asked that
we do that.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Certainly. For the record, that completes
Supplemental Calendar 58C.
The Secretary will return to 58B.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1651, by Senator Spano, Senate Print 7886A, an
act to amend the Labor Law, in relation to the
maintenance.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Velella.
SENATOR VELELLA: Is there a
message at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a message at the desk.
SENATOR VELELLA: Move to accept
the message.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All in
favor of accepting the message of necessity
say aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Those
opposed, nay.
(No response.)
6218
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
message is accepted. The bill is before the
house.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect January 1, 2001.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1660, by Senator Spano, Senate Print 7887A, an
act to amend the Labor Law, in relation to
felonies.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Velella.
SENATOR VELELLA: Is there a
message at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a message at the desk.
SENATOR VELELLA: Move that we
accept the message.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
6219
those in favor of accepting the message of
necessity signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Those
opposed, nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
message is accepted. The bill is before the
house.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect on the first day of
November.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1693, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate
Print 8229, an act to amend the Retirement and
Social Security Law, in relate to providing.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Velella.
6220
SENATOR CONNOR: Is there a
message at the desk?
SENATOR VELELLA: I yield to
Senator Connor.
(Laughter.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Yes,
there is a message at the desk.
SENATOR CONNOR: I move we accept
the message.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
those in favor of accepting the message of
necessity signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Those
opposed, nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
message is accepted. The bill is before the
house.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This
act shall take effect on the same date and in
the same manner as a chapter of the Laws of
2000.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
6221
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
That completes the reading of
Supplemental Calendar 58B.
Senator Velella.
SENATOR VELELLA: Can we stand at
ease for a moment, please.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Senate will stand at ease.
(Whereupon, the Senate stood at
ease at 11:24 p.m.)
(Whereupon, the Senate reconvened
at 11:25 p.m.)
SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Bruno.
SENATOR BRUNO: Can we ask for an
immediate meeting of the Rules Committee in
Room 332.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Immediate meeting of the Rules Committee in
Room 332.
6222
(Whereupon, the Senate stood at
ease at 11:26 p.m.)
(Whereupon, the Senate reconvened
at 11:47 p.m.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Bruno.
SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
can we return to the reports of standing
committees. I believe there's a report of the
Rules Committee at the desk. I ask that it be
read at this time.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Reports
of standing committees.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Senator Bruno,
from the Committee on Rules, reports the
following bills:
Senate Print 7859D, by Senator
Marcellino, an act in relation to creating the
State Council on Scrap Tire Management;
8237, by Senator Marcellino, an act
to amend the Environmental Conservation Law;
976, by Senator Skelos, an act to
amend the Insurance Law;
5170A, by Senator Saland, an act to
6223
enact the Families in Transition Act;
5494A, by Senator Spano, an act to
amend the Retirement and Social Security Law;
6266A, by Senator Seward, an act to
amend the Insurance Law;
7317B, by Senator Dollinger, an act
in relation to authorizing;
7376A, by Senator Bonacic, an act
authorizing a transfer;
7879, by Senator Nozzolio, an act
to relation to authorizing the Village of
Phelps;
8071, by Senator Kuhl, an act to
amend the Education Law;
8127, by Senator Hannon, an act to
amend the Public Health Law;
8192, by Senator Spano, an act to
amend the Public Authorities Law;
8200, by Senator Goodman, an act to
amend the Penal Law and the Criminal Procedure
Law;
8236, by Senator Morahan, an act to
amend the Education Law;
8238, by Senator Volker, an act
enacting the Sexual Assault Reform Act;
6224
And 8239, by Senator Saland, an act
to amend the Education Law.
All bills ordered direct to third
reading.
SENATOR BRUNO: Move to accept
the report of the Rules Committee.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
those in favor of accepting the report of the
Rules Committee signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Those
opposed, nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
report is accepted.
Senator Bruno.
SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
can we take up the noncontroversial reading of
Calendar 58D.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read the noncontroversial
calendar with regard to Supplemental Calendar
58D.
SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
6225
Bruno.
SENATOR BRUNO: Can we call up
Calendar 1714.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read Calendar 1714.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1714, by Senator Marcellino, Senate Print
8237, an act to amend the Environmental
Conservation Law.
SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President, is
there a message at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a message at the desk.
SENATOR BRUNO: Move we accept
the message.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
those in favor of accepting the message of
necessity signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Those
opposed, nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
message is accepted.
SENATOR BRUNO: Move to lay the
6226
bill aside temporarily.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside temporarily.
SENATOR BRUNO: Can we take up,
at this time, Calendar Number 1726.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read Calendar 1726.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1726, by Senator Morahan, Senate Print 8236,
an act to amend the Education Law.
SENATOR BRUNO: Is there a
message at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Yes,
there is.
SENATOR BRUNO: Move to accept
the message.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
those in favor of accepting the message of
necessity signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Those
opposed, nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
message is accepted.
6227
SENATOR BRUNO: Lay it aside
temporarily.
THE SECRETARY: Lay the bill
aside temporarily.
SENATOR BRUNO: Can we take up
Calendar Number 1727.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read Calendar 1727.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1727, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 8238, an
act enacting the Sexual Assault Reform Act.
SENATOR BRUNO: Is there a
message at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Yes,
there is, Senator.
SENATOR BRUNO: Move to accept
the message.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
those in favor of accepting the message of
necessity signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Those
opposed, nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
6228
message is accepted.
SENATOR BRUNO: Can we lay the
bill aside temporarily.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside temporarily.
SENATOR BRUNO: Will you take up
the noncontroversial reading of Calendar 58D.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: With
regard to Calendar 58D, the Secretary will
read the noncontroversial calendar.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1714, by Senator Marcellino, Senate Print
8237, an act to amend the Environmental
Conservation Law, in relation to the
dispensing.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
6229
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1715, Senator Skelos moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Insurance,
Assembly Bill Number 5037 and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 976,
Third Reading Calendar 1715.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1715, by Member of the Assembly DiNapoli,
Assembly Print Number 5037, an act to amend
the Insurance Law, in relation to providing.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This
act shall take effect on the first day of
January.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Bruno.
SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President, at
this time -- I'm sorry, you're announcing the
6230
results.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will announce the results.
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 56. Nays,
3. Senators Kuhl, Meier, and Seward recorded
in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
Senator Bruno.
SENATOR BRUNO: Can we at this
time take up Calendar Number 1727.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read Calendar 1727.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1727, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 8238, an
act enacting the Sexual Assault Reform Act.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 57. This
act shall take effect February 1, 2001.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 57.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
6231
is passed.
Senator Bruno.
SENATOR BRUNO: Can we take up,
at this time, Calendar Number 1726.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read Calendar 1726.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1726, by Senator Morahan, Senate Print 8236,
an act to amend the Education Law, in relation
to improving school safety.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 24. This
act shall take effect November 1, 2000.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
SENATOR BRUNO: Can we at this
time take up Calendar Number 1724.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read Calendar 1724.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
6232
Calendar Number 1724, Senator Spano moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 11358 and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 8192,
Third Reading Calendar 1724.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1724, by the Assembly Committee on Rules,
Assembly Print Number 11358, an act to amend
the Public Authorities Law, in relation to the
guidelines.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
Senator Bruno.
SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
6233
can we at this time take up the regular order
calendar.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read the noncontroversial
calendar in regular order.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1716, Senator Saland moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 7646C and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 5170A,
Third Reading Calendar 1716.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1716, by Member of the Assembly Green,
Assembly Print Number 7646C, an act to enact
the Families in Transition Act of 2000.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 10. This
act shall take effect in 60 days.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
6234
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1717, Senator Spano moves to
discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 8012A and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 5494A,
Third Reading Calendar 1717.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1717, by the Assembly Committee on Rules,
Assembly Print Number 8012A, an act to amend
the Retirement and Social Security Law, in
relation to peace officers.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
6235
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1718, by Senator Seward, Senate Print 6266A -
SENATOR BRUNO: Lay it aside for
the day.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside for the day.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1719, by Senator Dollinger, Senate Print
7317B, an act in relation to authorizing.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a home rule message at the desk.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1720, by Senator Bonacic, Senate Print 7376A,
an act authorizing a transfer into retirement
6236
plan.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a home rule message at the desk.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Calendar Number 1721, Senator Nozzolio moves
to discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 11123 and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 7879,
Third Reading Calendar 1721.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitution ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1721, by the Assembly Committee on Rules,
Assembly Print Number 11123, an act in
relation to authorizing the Village of Phelps.
6237
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1722, by Senator Kuhl, Senate Print 8071, an
act to amend the Education Law, in relation to
increasing.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 7. This
act shall take effect on the first day of
July.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. Nays,
1. Senator LaValle recorded in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
6238
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1723, by Senator Hannon, Senate Print 8127, an
act to amend the Public Health Law, in
relation to health information.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 16. This
act -
SENATOR DOLLINGER: Lay it aside,
please.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1725, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 8200,
an act to amend the Penal Law and the Criminal
Procedure Law, in -
SENATOR BRUNO: Lay it aside.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside.
Senator Bruno, that concludes the
reading of the noncontroversial calendar for
Supplemental Calendar 58D.
SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President, at
this time we would like to take up the
6239
controversial calendar, if there is any
controversy in the chamber.
The hour is now 12:05. The clock
is running. And I have a feeling that some
Senators are going to be running right behind
it.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: On that
note, the Secretary will read the
controversial calendar.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1723, by Senator Hannon, Senate Print 8127, an
act to amend the Public Health Law, in
relation to health information.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 16. This
act shall take effect immediately.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: On the bill
just briefly, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Dollinger.
SENATOR DOLLINGER: I'll be
extremely brief.
I know that this bill has been the
subject of enormous debate, enormous
6240
discussion in this Capitol, certainly in this
house, in the Health Committee, and I think in
the general public.
I'm going to vote in favor of this
bill, Mr. President. But I still think there
are other things that need to be done. I
think that the issue of what types of
settlements ought to be disclosed to the
public, we ought to use the Massachusetts
model. It works in Massachusetts. It's been
accepted there. We're clearly capable of
doing it. I think it's been instructive to
consumers. It's a good thing to do.
I would also include as much
disclosure as possible with respect to
physicians and their relationship to HMOs. I
think that also can be valuable consumer
information, especially as HMOs interact with
physicians dealing with recordkeeping and
other kinds of issues that consumers should
have information about.
I think this bill takes a half step
to getting this job done. I think we should
have taken the whole step. And I will be
extremely disappointed if we leave this
6241
Capitol today without the most important
thing, which is instead of a bill from the
Assembly and a bill from the Senate, we had a
law to benefit the people of the State of New
York.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 16. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
SENATOR HANNON: Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Hannon, to explain his vote.
SENATOR HANNON: Mr. President,
this bill is a most comprehensive bill. It
not only deals with the things Mr. Dollinger
mentioned, but it deals with hospital report
cards, it deals with continued ratings of
HMOs, it deals with making sure that the
public will continue to have access to all the
information it needs now.
It has a patient safety center. It
has a number of other things, including
6242
filling loopholes that will protect people
throughout this state, all in this addition to
the consumer information.
And without the provisions in this
bill, we wouldn't actually cure the problems
caused by the Doctor Z case, we wouldn't
actually address what was done in the Lisa
Smart case. These things are necessary. I
believe it's a terrific bill. I believe if
the Assembly were to look at it, they would
concur.
Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Hannon will be recorded in the affirmative.
Announce the results.
THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in
the negative on Calendar Number 1723 are
Senators Alesi, DeFrancisco, Duane, Farley,
Gonzalez, Hoffmann, Larkin, Libous, Maziarz,
McGee, Meier, Rosado, Saland, Seward,
Stafford, Volker, Wright. Also Senator Kuhl.
Also Senator Leibell. Also Senator Nozzolio.
Ayes, 39. Nays, 20.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
6243
Senator Bruno.
SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
can we return to motions and resolutions. I
believe that there is a privileged resolution
at the desk by Senator Seabrook. I would ask
that the title be read and move for its
immediate adoption.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Motions
and resolutions.
The Secretary will read the title.
THE SECRETARY: By Senator
Seabrook, Legislative Resolution commemorating
the 8th Annual Caribbean American Family Day
Festival 2000, to be celebrated in conjunction
with the 38th anniversary of the political
independence of Jamaica, on September 3, 2000.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
question is on the resolution. All those in
favor signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Those
opposed, nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
resolution is adopted.
6244
SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Bruno.
SENATOR BRUNO: Can we return to
messages from the Assembly.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Messages
from the Assembly. The chair hands down a
message from the Assembly.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: On motion of
Senator Bruno, and by unanimous consent, the
rules are suspended and said bill ordered to a
third reading: Assembly Bill Number 11352.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Without
objection, the rules are suspended. The bill
will have its third reading at this time.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1729, by the Assembly Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 11352, an act to amend
the Public Authorities Law, in relation to
conforming.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a home rule message at the desk.
Read the last section.
6245
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
Senator Bruno.
SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
can we take up Calendar Number 57.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read Calendar Number 57.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
57, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 1031G, an
act to amend the Education Law, in relation to
the protection of pupils.
SENATOR BRUNO: Is there a
message at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Yes,
there is a message at the desk.
SENATOR BRUNO: Move to accept
the message.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
those in favor of accepting the message of
6246
necessity signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Those
opposed, nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
message is accepted. The bill is before the
house.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 14. This
act shall take effect July 1, 2001.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
Senator Bruno.
SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
can we take up Calendar Number 1705.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read Calendar 1705.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1705, by Senator Marcellino, Senate Print
7859D, an act in relation to creating the
6247
State Council on Scrap Tire Management.
SENATOR BRUNO: Is there a
message at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a message at the desk.
SENATOR BRUNO: Move to accept
the message.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
those in favor of accepting the message of
necessity signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Those
opposed say nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
message is accepted. The bill is before the
house.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
6248
is passed.
Senator Bruno.
SENATOR BRUNO: Can we take up
Calendar Number 1728.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read Calendar 1728.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1728, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 8239, an
act to amend the Education Law, in relation to
clarifying.
SENATOR BRUNO: Is there a
message at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
message at the desk.
SENATOR BRUNO: Move to accept
the message.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: All
those in favor of accepting the message of
necessity signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Those
opposed, nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
message is accepted. The bill is before the
6249
house.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
act shall take effect on the same date as a
chapter of the Laws of 2000.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
can we call up Calendar Number 1725.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read Calendar 1725.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1725, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 8200,
an act to amend the Penal Law and the Criminal
Procedure Law, in relation to hate crimes.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 7. This
act shall take effect on the same date as a
chapter of the Laws of 2000.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
6250
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
SENATOR CONNOR: Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Connor.
SENATOR CONNOR: Since this is a
chapter amendment and the hour is late, may I
suggest that we do the same vote as last week
on the main bill, with the exception that
Senator Mendez, I believe, was excused and I
think would now like to be added to a yes
vote.
Okay? So same vote as last week,
with the addition of Senator Mendez in the
affirmative. Is that -
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Bruno.
SENATOR BRUNO: Yes, Mr.
President, that's a fine suggestion.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will announce the results of
Calendar 1725.
THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in
the negative on Calendar Number 1725 are
Senators DeFrancisco, Farley, Kuhl, Larkin,
6251
Libous, Maltese, Marchi, Maziarz, McGee,
Nozzolio, Volker, and Wright. Ayes, 47.
Nays, 12.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
Senator Connor.
SENATOR CONNOR: Yes, Mr.
President.
Mr. President, Senator Bruno, my
colleagues, what a session this has been. You
know, as I said several times in the past
weeks when I saw my Republican colleagues go
into conference and they'd say, "Oh, are you
having a conference?" I'd say, "No, we
conferenced that bill back in January when we
prepared our motions to discharge."
The fact is, this has been a year
of milestones. It began even before this
session started, last December, when we saw
the Senate Minority push, push an idea that
Senator Bruno had, and Senator Bruno pushed
back, and we ended up with what I think has
certainly gone a long, long way to restore the
confidence of the public in the Legislature.
And that is our voluntary ban on gifts and
6252
meals from lobbyists.
And as I said at the time, I don't
think anybody was doing anything wrong, but
there was an appearance problem. I think
coming through this whole session, looking
around the room, that ban has actually helped
all of our appearances in more than one way.
Senator Spano is certainly looking svelte
these days.
We at the time also did a clinic
access bill, something that the Senate
Democrats had pushed for for some time.
And then, going into this session,
I don't know where to start. Tonight we saw
something that for this house is monumental, a
gun safety bill. Not a perfect gun safety
bill, but a start. It's only a start, but
it's a gun safety bill upon which we can
build.
And for that certainly I have to
acknowledge a number of my Democratic
colleagues who have over the years -- not just
this year, but over the years brought to this
floor the issue of gun safety, made motions to
discharge and amendments. Senator Dollinger
6253
on assault weapons. Senator Gentile on the
interdiction program. Others of my
colleagues, some who are no longer here.
You know, I thought tonight, as we
were doing the gun bill, I thought of Senator
Gold and Senator Leichter and others who for
years and years and years pushed gun safety in
this house. And the Assembly, for year after
year after year, they passed gun safety bills
and assault weapons bans, and this house never
took it up until tonight.
For that we certainly owe those
members of my party who pushed for it for
years. We certainly owe an acknowledgement to
Governor Pataki, who certainly brought the
issue much to the fore a couple of months ago
with his initiatives, which certainly captured
the imagination of the public and got the
issue rolling again. And, of course, our
Majority Leader, Senator Bruno, who had the
courage to put it out here for a vote even if
it wasn't his cup of tea, based on his vote.
That really is what this Senate
ought to be, a small-D democratic body where
these issues are worked out by the
6254
representatives of the people expressing
themselves and voting the interests of their
constituents to a result. And that we did.
Other things that were done this
year, both in the budget and otherwise, EPIC
expansion, something that this conference
pushed, something that Senator Gentile did
year after year after year as budget
amendments, motions to discharge.
This conference was the first to
introduce a bill to hold the counties harmless
on the cost of HCRA, something that this house
and the other house adopted as part of the
budget.
The farm workers' minimum wage, I
remember Senator Mendez many, many years ago
first championing the farm workers, even
before the Daily News, and pushing those
issues and holding hearings.
And so we made some progress with
respect to fairness for farm workers. We
didn't go far enough, Mr. President. Much
remains undone in that area. And I hope we
will be able to continue to push and prod and
make progress on that next year.
6255
You know, the initiative the
Majority took on the -- to lower airfares is
something that was first brought to the fore
in the press and with the public in a report
issued by the Democratic conference in 1998,
when then-Senator Catherine Abate pushed that
issue. And I'm delighted to see that we did
something about that at the initiative, this
year, of Senator Bruno.
Hate crimes. Hate crimes. This
house finally, just last week, passed the hate
crimes bill. A little slow at the draw on
that. But hopefully, before an hour is out,
it will be resolved with the other house and
we'll have a hate crimes bill in New York and
finally join every other state on the Eastern
seaboard, with the exception of South
Carolina, in having a hate crimes law.
That's something that's been pushed
for years and years and years by the
Democratic members of this house.
And again, we're delighted that the
Majority Leader brought that to the floor and
put it to a vote. And hopefully -- well,
let's say not hopefully, Mr. President. We
6256
better not leave Albany this night without a
hate crimes law. We'd best not leave Albany
without it. I'm optimistic we will finally
adjourn with a hate crimes law, a bill agreed
to by both houses. But it would be an
absolute tragedy, it would be an absolute
disgrace for this state if we were to leave
here without an agreed-upon bill.
We also dealt with the issue of
primary ballot access. We made some noise
over here. Our Republican colleagues
responded. Unfortunately, we don't have a
law. We don't have a law because, as I
pointed out at the time we did the bill here,
in a debate with Senator Maltese, that the
Democrats need an alternative. We're not
allowed, under our party rules, to accept as a
part of the permanent law something that
doesn't address our party rules.
Hopefully that will get worked out
by the time we're back in session. But an
issue the Senate Democrats are proud to have
pushed for both parties, because we want that
ease of ballot access for Democratic
candidates as well.
6257
The marriage tax penalty, which was
addressed in the budget by the Majority,
started the -- gee, now I'm getting into an
area of technology I'm not competent with -
the e-petition drive, through e-mail. Senator
Dollinger took a lead on it, some of the other
colleagues did. We got thousands of
signatures by e-mail. What shocked me, in the
end we had a little bitty disk like this, but
they tell me there were thousands of
signatures somehow on it. I stand in awe of
that. But an idea that we pushed.
A permanent COLA is something this
conference has championed literally, literally
for over a dozen years. Pesticide neighbor
notification, and on and on and on.
And so I say to my colleagues in
the Minority, we finally proved at long last,
ideas matter. Ideas matter in this
Legislature. Ideas matter in this State
Senate. There's nothing like a good idea and
a little election-year fear to move a
legislative agenda.
So as we close the session, I do
say on a personal note, nobody can do these
6258
kind of jobs alone. And I'm certainly not
alone. I am proud to have had the support of
all my colleagues in the Senate Democratic
conference, particularly the more-than-able
assistance of my Deputy, Senator David
Paterson; of our ranker on the Finance
Committee, Senator Bill Stachowski; of our
Chairperson, Senator Olga Mendez; our
Assistant Minority Leader for Policy and
Administration, Efrain Gonzalez; the Assistant
Minority Leader for Floor Operations, Senator
Dollinger; and the Whip, Senator Ada Smith;
the floor leadership; and all of my colleagues
who serve in other roles.
I do appreciate all of your
assistance. I thank you. We couldn't have
done -- had such a great year without you.
And then there's the staff, the
people who really do the work, do the real
work while we make the speeches. And I do
want to acknowledge certainly my counsel, Ed
Wassermann; Mike Fallon, our deputy counsel;
and of course Keith St. John, our floor
counsel.
On the administrative side, Mona
6259
DeMay, our chief of staff; Lorenda Harris, our
deputy chief of staff; and Richard Hernandez,
our deputy secretary. Mercy Miglino, our
director of communications; Michael Rosano,
the deputy director of communications for the
Minority; and Bill Reynolds, our press
secretary. And then, of course, John Ewashko,
the Secretary to the Finance Minority.
Christine Rutigliano, the director of budget
studies. Roger Cohen, the director of the
fiscal studies. Eric Lugo, the deputy
secretary to Minority Finance.
And someone I can't forget, because
I have a confession to make. Someone I depend
on enormously, our whole conference depends on
enormously, and I stood up here two years in a
row, last year with him sitting right here
looking at me, and forgot to mention him. And
it was an oversight, but by no means -- we do
depend on him, and we appreciate his efforts.
And that's Mark Leinung, our director of
program for the Minority.
So to my colleagues in the
Majority, to Senator Bruno, who I have said
many times, and I mean this, it is always a
6260
pleasure to work with. He has always treated
me with courtesy and with respect, and I do
appreciate that.
And to my other colleagues in the
Majority, this is a tough year and a tough
business we're in. I wish you all, for the
rest of the year, well. Some of you less well
than others, perhaps.
(Laughter.)
SENATOR CONNOR: But nonetheless,
I wish all of you, each and every one of you
and your families, good health and an
enjoyable rest of the year.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Bruno.
SENATOR BRUNO: Thank you, Mr.
President.
Listening to my colleague Senator
Connor, you can't help but be impressed by all
the good things that he was able to accomplish
in this very Senate chamber that we share
together.
And I'm very, very proud of all of
the things that Senator Connor relates to that
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happened here in this chamber. And I'm proud
of my colleagues here in the Majority that
played some role in helping to make sure that
the issues that Senator Connor related so
well -- I'm not sure he missed any -- that we
got them to the floor, we were able to have
discussions, and they passed this house.
So we're grateful that we can
address some of these very critical issues for
the people of this state, pass the
legislation, and move it.
I had a list -- and, Marty, I
wasn't taking notes, so I'm going to run down
through, since this probably has been one of
the most productive legislative sessions that
we have enjoyed in this chamber.
And this very week we did the gun
safety bill, sexual assault, school violence,
background checks on employees of schools and
daycare facilities, pesticide notification,
money laundering, keeping the Stock Exchange
in New York City, which is critically
important to the city and to the entire state
and the country.
In the budget, we did the EPIC
6262
expansion, College Bound, record school aid
increases, 1.3 billion tax cut package, GRT
elimination, transportation funding, with New
York Soars as part of it, and more help for
local governments than we have provided in
years.
We did the permanent COLA for the
public employees, the pension adjustments,
hate crimes, sex assault reform, fire-safe
cigarettes, saving abandoned babies, dozens of
bills to protect people's privacy and personal
information, improving the quality of life for
farm workers.
Now, there is a litany of page
after page. But that pretty well highlights
the kinds of things that we did together. And
those are things that we can very, very proud
of.
And I really want to thank my
Majority members, who have been leading me in
the right direction, guiding my every step of
the way, really and truly making this one of
the most outstanding sessions that we have
shared together.
And I really want to say a special
6263
note of thanks to my Deputy Majority Leader,
Dean Skelos, who is in the chamber much of the
time when I am doing some of the other things
that are necessary to get done. And our
Finance Chair, Senator Ron Stafford. And our
Vice President Pro Tem, Senator Owen Johnson.
And our Senior Assistant Majority Leader,
liaison to the Executive, Senator Guy Velella.
And there were times when he wasn't liaisoning
too well, I might say.
(Laughter.)
SENATOR BRUNO: But he managed to
pull it all together.
And Chair of the Majority Program
development, Senator Tom Libous. And our
Assistant Majority Leaders, Senator Kuhl and
Senator Spano, for their support. And -- and
the others.
And I certainly want to extend my
gratitude to Speaker Silver for the bills that
we can get done together. And hopefully there
are still some that we will get done before
this morning gets too much further.
Governor George E. Pataki has truly
provided the leadership to get many of these
6264
very, very difficult issues to the floor and
to help us get them done. I've been on phone
with the Governor a half a dozen times in the
last hour, soliciting his help to try and get
this last bias crimes, the hate crime bill put
together.
Because we all, as you all know,
passed the bill, and the Assembly is
struggling with that bill. It was a
Governor's program bill. They have a
difficult time, apparently, with the
authorship of that bill. And we're dealing in
the substance, not in authorship. I hope they
can resolve that difference within these next
several minutes, because we are going to be
long gone. So I hope somebody is listening.
But I really want to say to the
Governor, because I have a feeling he may be
listening, that we couldn't have done most of
what has happened here in this chamber without
his leadership, without his support, and
without his partnering with us. And
especially the budget, that he took an active
part in this year to help us all the way, and
we had one of the best and earliest budgets
6265
that we have had in this state in a lot of
years.
And all of us here who are in
elective office depend on the people who are
by our side, in front of us, and behind us.
And those are the staff people that truly make
this place run, run our offices, and help us
run or lives in an orderly way. I want to
thank all of them.
Our Secretary to the Senate, Steve
Boggess, who normally is standing in the
doorway. I hope he's not in there taking a
nap. But I would trust that he's in doing
what is important as we wind up the session.
And my personal staff, Marcia
White, who I believe is here, and is the press
secretary. Amy Leach, who is our executive
secretary. Pat Stackrow, my executive
assistant. Leslie King, who handles much of
the scheduling in our life. Dick Burdick, who
does more things than I can relate. And so
many others that I'm going to not be able to
mention, and I'll be hearing about that,
probably, tomorrow.
The people working at the Senate
6266
desk, our Clerk, Tommy Testo, and the people
that you see up there, spend a lot of hours,
weekends, more than any of us can keep up
with. So we're indebted to you for not just
your diligence but all the accuracy and the
good nature that you always seem to have up
there.
And our sergeants-at-arms, who help
us keep things together.
Our counsels that we can't function
without. You can't function in this business
without counsels. Ken Riddett, our chief
counsel, Frank Gluchowski, who help us keep it
together, and all of the other counsels that
support them and support us.
Abe Lachman, our Finance chair -
not our Finance chair, our secretary of
Finance, our chief fiscal advisor. Abe is as
diligent, works as hard as anybody can work.
And Mary Louise Mallick, who assists him. And
Lee VanRiper. And all of the other staff that
do the good work that they do. Communications
Director John McArdle; Mark Hanson, who
assists him; and Chris McKenna, and an office
of others.
6267
And, you know, there are hundreds
of people who support us that we aren't able
to mention -- that side of the aisle, this
side of the aisle -- in our respective
offices. And we function because of the work
that they do. Many of them are here; others
are listening. But they're there for us, and
I want to say really a heartfelt thank you to
all of them.
We're winding up a session, it's
been a productive session. We've talked about
it. We will brag about it as we go forward.
We are hopeful that within these next minutes,
as we are pondering closing this session and
leaving, that we can finish a last piece of
unfinished business that some people have some
interest in here in this chamber.
And I'm not sure whether that's
going to happen or not, because we have been
since midnight waiting for the Assembly to act
on the bias bill. And do we know any more now
than we knew at midnight?
We are, as you might judge, just
sort of spinning our wheels a little and
marking time and waiting to see whether or not
6268
we can be helpful. But we can only wait a
certain amount of time, and then I'm afraid
that we're going to go on and do some
productive and constructive things in our
life.
Senator Connor, do you have
something in mind?
SENATOR CONNOR: Senator Bruno,
I'd like to request that we stand at ease for
a few minutes. And perhaps members could
stand at ease and -- but still in session,
and -
SENATOR BRUNO: We will just rest
comfortably here for a few minutes. Don't go
too far, please, from your chairs or the
chamber. Ah, Senator -- Senator, please don't
leave us.
(Laughter.)
SENATOR BRUNO: You don't have to
stand at ease, but please sit at ease, be
relaxed.
Because this session has been so
productive and so worthwhile that we want to
make sure that we end it in a very positive
note.
6269
We are not going to adjourn, but if
some of the members have a travel schedule and
feel compelled to start moving in the
direction, be my guest. We are going to not
formally close the session at this time, but I
don't expect that anything controversial is
going to come up over these next five or ten
minutes.
So I know some of you have plans on
traveling. So I really I want to wish you,
while you're in the chamber, well, a safe
summer, a healthy summer.
And we want to wish you back
here -- most of you, anyway -- after November.
And we'll look forward to seeing you in
January. And we hope to see you on the same
side of the aisles, in your same seats, in the
same numbers. Okay?
(Laughter.)
SENATOR BRUNO: And if we take up
this issue, as we conclude, on the bias bill,
if the Assembly gets it back to us, it will be
the same vote that we had in this chamber in
the previous vote. Plus Senator Mendez, who
has registered her vote since she's been here.
6270
We are standing and sitting at
ease.
(Whereupon, the Senate stood at
ease at 1:00 a.m.)
(Whereupon, the Senate reconvened
at 1:41 a.m.)
ACTING PRESIDENT LACK: Senator
Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: If we could
return to messages from the Assembly.
ACTING PRESIDENT LACK: The
Senate has received a message from the
Assembly.
THE SECRETARY: The Assembly
returns Senate Bill Number 4691A, Assembly
Reprint 30002, an act to amend the Penal Law,
the Executive Law, and the Criminal Procedure
Law, in relation to hate crimes, with a
messages that it has concurred in the passage
of the same, with amendments.
ACTING PRESIDENT LACK: Senator
Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
is there a message of necessity at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT LACK: There is
6271
a message at the desk, Senator.
SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept.
ACTING PRESIDENT LACK: Motion of
Senator Skelos to move the message of
necessity. All those in favor, aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT LACK: Contrary,
nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT LACK: The
message is accepted.
The bill is before the house,
Senator.
Senator Skelos, you move to concur
in the amendments made by the Assembly and
take the vote on the original bill as passed
on June 7th of the year 2000?
SENATOR SKELOS: Yes, with the
exception of Senator Mendez, who I believe
will be recorded in the affirmative.
ACTING PRESIDENT LACK: Senator
Mendez to be added and recorded in the
affirmative.
Same vote as the bill passed on
June 7, 2000, with the addition of Senator
6272
Mendez. That would be 49-12.
The bill is restored to third
reading.
The Secretary will read the last
section.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1316, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 4691A,
Assembly Reprint 30002, an act to amend the
Penal Law and the Executive Law, in relation
to hate crimes.
SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, I
believe the vote is 47-12.
ACTING PRESIDENT LACK: Yes.
47-12, with two members excused.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 7. This
act shall take effect in 90 days.
ACTING PRESIDENT LACK: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 47. Nays,
12.
ACTING PRESIDENT LACK: The bill
is passed.
SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President.
6273
ACTING PRESIDENT LACK: Senator
Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: Is there any
other housekeeping at the desk?
Mr. President, I'd like to thank
Senator Velella, Senator Morahan, Senator
Meier, Senator Lack -
ACTING PRESIDENT LACK: Thank
you, Senator Skelos.
While you're doing that, Senator
Skelos, here are some bills that could be
recommitted. Senator Skelos, we've got bills
that could be recommitted if someone would
move to recommit them.
SENATOR SKELOS: Yes. At this
time if we could recommit all the bills to the
Senate Rules Committee.
ACTING PRESIDENT LACK: All bills
that remain on the calendar are recommitted to
the Senate Rules Committee.
SENATOR SKELOS: And there being
no further business, I move that the Senate
stands adjourned, subject to the call of the
Majority Leader, intervening days being
legislative days.
6274
ACTING PRESIDENT LACK: The
Senate stands adjourned, subject to the call
of the Majority Leader.
(Applause.)
(Whereupon, at 1:45 a.m., the
Senate adjourned.)