Regular Session - January 27, 2003
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NEW YORK STATE SENATE
THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD
ALBANY, NEW YORK
January 27, 2003
3:11 p.m.
REGULAR SESSION
LT. GOVERNOR MARY O. DONOHUE, President
STEVEN M. BOGGESS, Secretary
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P R O C E E D I N G S
THE PRESIDENT: The Senate will
please come to order.
I ask everyone present to please
rise and repeat with me the Pledge of
Allegiance.
(Whereupon, the assemblage recited
the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.)
THE PRESIDENT: With us this
afternoon to give the invocation is Rabbi
Nachman Simon, from Chabad-Lubavitch of the
Capital District in Delmar.
RABBI SIMON: Last week we
celebrated Tu B'Shevat, the New Year for
Trees. This is the season in which the
earliest blooming trees in the land of Israel
emerge from their winter sleep and begin a new
fruit-bearing cycle.
It says in the Bible that man is a
tree of the field, and we can reflect on the
lessons we can derive from this analogy. The
tree's primary components are the roots, which
anchor it to the ground and supply it with
water and other nutrients; the trunk,
branches, and leaves, which comprise its body;
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and the fruit, which contains the seeds by
which the tree reproduces itself.
The spiritual life of man also
includes roots, a body, and fruit. The roots
represent faith, our source of nurture and
perseverance. The trunk, branches, and leaves
are the body of our spiritual lives, our
intellectual, emotional, and practical
achievements.
The fruit is our power of spiritual
procreation, the power to influence others, to
plant a seed in a fellow human being, see it
sprout, grow, and bear fruit.
Buried underground, virtually
invisible, are the roots. They possess
neither the majesty of the tree's body, the
colorfulness of its leaves, nor the tastiness
of its fruit -- but without roots, a tree
cannot survive.
This is our faith and commitment to
our Creator. May it be the Almighty's will
that He give us the strength to guide us, the
people of New York, so that we can be a
full-sprouted tree bearing much fruit, founded
on the principles of faith in our Creator,
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helping us in all our endeavors.
And let us all say amen.
ALL: Amen.
THE PRESIDENT: Reading of the
Journal.
THE SECRETARY: In Senate,
Friday, January 24, the Senate met pursuant to
adjournment. The Journal of Thursday,
January 23, was read and approved. On motion,
Senate adjourned.
THE PRESIDENT: Without
objection, the Journal stands approved as
read.
Presentation of petitions.
Messages from the Assembly.
Messages from the Governor.
Reports of standing committees.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Senator Volker,
from the Committee on Codes, reports the
following bills:
Senate Print 323, by Senator
DeFrancisco, an act to amend the Criminal
Procedure Law;
327, by Senator DeFrancisco, an act
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to amend the Criminal Procedure Law;
422, by Senator Bonacic, an act to
amend the Penal Law;
508, by Senator Maziarz, an act to
amend the Penal Law;
512, by Senator Balboni, an act to
amend the Penal Law;
518, by Senator Balboni, an act to
amend the Civil Rights Law;
519, by Senator Balboni, an act to
amend the Penal Law;
526, by Senator Marcellino, an act
to amend the Penal Law;
550, by Senator Skelos, an act to
amend the Penal Law.
554, by Senator Skelos, an act to
amend the Penal Law;
555, by Senator Skelos, an act to
amend the Penal Law;
561, by Senator Maziarz, an act to
amend the Penal Law;
621, by Senator Padavan, an act to
amend the Penal Law;
And Senate Print 624, by Senator
Padavan, an act to amend the Penal Law.
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All bills ordered direct to third
reading.
THE PRESIDENT: Without
objection, all bills ordered direct to third
reading.
Senator Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President,
there will be an immediate meeting of the
Local Governments Committee in the Majority
Conference Room.
THE PRESIDENT: There will be an
immediate meeting of the Local Governments
Committee in the Majority Conference Room.
Reports of select committees.
Communications and reports from
state officers.
Motions and resolutions.
Senator Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President,
there's a privileged resolution at the desk by
Senator Paterson. I ask that it be read in
its entirety.
THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary
will read.
THE SECRETARY: By Senator
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Paterson, Legislative Resolution 194,
memorializing Governor George E. Pataki to
proclaim February 2003 as Black History Month
in the State of New York.
"WHEREAS, It is the duty of a
community to recognize those within its midst
who have contributed greatly to the quality of
life therein; and
"WHEREAS, Black History Month,
which was founded in 1926 by Dr. Carter G.
Woodson, is celebrated nationally each year
during the month of February; and
"WHEREAS, In recognition of the
rich and diverse contributions of
African-Americans, a joyful month-long
celebration is held across New York State and
across America to pay tribute to our
African-American brothers and sisters; and
"WHEREAS, Many commemorative
events, plays, lectures, parties, and museum
tours are held to honor and display the
cultural heritage of African-Americans; and
"WHEREAS, Black History Month is
the time to reflect on the struggles and
victories of African-Americans throughout our
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country's history, and to recognize their
numerous valuable contributions to the
protection of our democratic society in war
and in peace; and
"WHEREAS, We commend the
African-American community for preserving for
future generations its centuries-old
traditions that benefit us all and add to the
color and beauty of the tapestry which is our
American society; now, therefore, be it
"RESOLVED, That this Legislative
Body pause in its deliberations to memorialize
Governor George E. Pataki to proclaim
February 2003 as Black History Month in the
State of New York; and be it further
"RESOLVED, That this Legislative
Body pause further to applaud each of the
individuals who have furthered the cause of
African-American heritage and freedom, which
contributes greatly to the quality of life in
New York State; and be it further
"RESOLVED, That copies of this
resolution, suitably engrossed, be transmitted
at events commemorating Black History Month."
THE PRESIDENT: Senator Paterson.
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SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you,
Madam President.
I guess all of us, in whatever
groups that we're in, have this distinct sense
of paranoia that we're all being discriminated
against, or perhaps we're not all being
recognized for our service. And so it was
important for me to put in the resolution that
Black History Month was founded in 1926 by the
Honorable Carter G. Woodson.
And the reason that he chose the
month of February was not because it was the
shortest month and African-Americans were
being cheated out of three extra days. That's
not the reason. The reason was that Frederick
Douglass, probably the foremost and most
famous and original black leader in this
country, was born on February 13, 1818, and
died on February 18, 1895. So it was
originally entitled "Negro History Week," and
that was to commemorate the birth and the
death of Frederick Douglass.
The first African known to have
come to this country was an individual known
as Estevan or Estevanico. He came in the
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15th century with Spanish explorers.
The first African known to have
come to New York was an individual known as
Jan Rodriguez. He came here in 1607. He was
actually dropped off as a disciplinary action
by the British West Indian Company, from one
of their ships that was passing through the
New York area and landed on what is now the
island of Manhattan. He himself hailed from
the island of Hispaniola.
And therefore, with the great
Dominican population that has emigrated to
Manhattan in years since, he not only was the
first Dominican to come to Manhattan, he was
the first settler to come to that area.
By the time the British West Indian
Company came back to look for him, five years
later, he had aligned himself with a Native
American tribe and with muskets drove his
adversaries away.
All through history,
African-Americans have had a unique
contribution to this country as the first
group brought here not through exploration, or
escaping tyranny, but brought here as chattel
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slaves.
New York had a very large free
population because the first church built on
Manhattan Island was the old St. Nicholas
Church, which succumbed to a fire in 1847 and,
but for the efforts of the people who lived in
that community, who were all African, the
church would have totally perished. As a
reward for that, they were freed by King
Charles I of England and thereafter were
thought to have been major players in the
development of the early New York culture.
Through our Constitution, which
started out with Article 1, Section 2,
Clause 3, which provided for the existence,
for population purposes, of slaves and counted
them as three-fifths of the population, or
Article 4, Section 2, Clause 3 of the
Constitution, an article which provided for
the recovery of runaway slaves, which sadly
has never been removed from the Constitution,
what to do about African natives who lived in
this country was the most significant point
that we addressed in our country from its
inception.
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In the original Declaration of
Independence, which described slavery as the
greatest woe to mankind, it did not make the
final cut because of a coalition of
New England slave traders and southern
planters.
It led, in 1820, for Thomas
Jefferson, one of our country's founders and
probably its most literary character, to
write: "Never did I ever believe that our
country would have so much trouble from this
source."
The great British wit Sydney Smith,
writing in the Edinburgh Review at the same
year, wrote: "Which one of the European
tyrannies that the Americans so abhor
systematically tortures and divides one-sixth
of its population?"
So between 1820 and all through
those decades, again, what to do about the
Africans that lived in this country was a
major, major problem for anyone who sought
leadership.
Finally, in the compromise of 1850,
California was elected to -- was brought into
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statehood as a free state, Texas as a slave
state, Utah and New Mexico as neutral
territories, and the District of Columbia had
slavery abolished.
Finally, in 1857, it all led to a
Supreme Court case, the Dred Scott decision,
which didn't just hold that we could have
slavery north of the 36th parallel, as had
been arrived at in 1820 through the Missouri
Compromise, but actually held that Frederick
Douglass, as three-fifths of a person, didn't
have the right to sue in a federal court.
That was a constitutional decision. That's
what the Constitution held at that particular
time.
It took a civil war and years of
struggle to abolish not only slavery but
segregation and also a separatist point of
view, to the point now that fortunately we
have nine African-Americans that serve as
Senators in this particular body.
This may not, as a national sense,
be representative of all the contributions
that this community has made to American
society, but it certainly represents a great
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stride that this country has made, not only
because of African-Americans, but because of
all Americans. So when we talk about African
history, we're really talking about American
history.
And there are those, as Dr. Martin
Luther King pointed out in his famous speech
in the March on Washington, who are not
African-American but believe in the American
dream and believe in freedom and justice for
equality. So we're not just celebrating great
African-Americans who held this truth to be
self-evident, we're talking about all
Americans who believed in equality and that
people be judged not by the color of their
skin but by the content of their character.
It's in this vein, Madam President,
that we present this resolution in memorial to
all of those -- black and white, Asian,
Hispanic, both the living and the dead -- who
struggled over the past few centuries,
unremittingly and courageously, to live to
bring America into context with its
Constitution and its Declaration of
Independence, so that when we say the Pledge
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of Allegiance we mean "for all."
Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT McGEE: Thank
you, Senator Paterson.
The question is on the resolution.
All in favor will signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT McGEE: Opposed,
nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT McGEE: The
resolution is adopted.
Senator Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: Senator
Paterson, would you care to open up that
resolution to the sponsorship of the entire
Senate?
SENATOR PATERSON: After what I
said, that would be about the most
hypocritical thing I could ever do.
Yes, Madam President.
SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President,
all members will be put on the resolution. If
somebody wishes not to be on the resolution,
they should notify the desk.
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ACTING PRESIDENT McGEE: Thank
you, Senator Skelos.
The resolution is open for
cosponsorship. If you do not wish to be a
cosponsor, please notify the desk.
Senator Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: If we could
return to reports of standing committees, I
believe there's a report of the Local
Governments Committee at the desk. I ask that
it be read at this time.
ACTING PRESIDENT McGEE: The
Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Senator Little,
from the Committee on Local Government,
reports the following bills:
Senate Print 493, by Senator
Skelos, an act to amend the Real Property Tax
Law;
And Senate Print 741, by Senator
Little, an act making certain findings and
determinations.
Both bills ordered direct to third
reading.
ACTING PRESIDENT McGEE: Without
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objection, the bills are reported to Third
Reading Calendar.
Senator Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President,
if we could go to the reading of the
noncontroversial calendar.
ACTING PRESIDENT McGEE: The
Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
6, by Senator Maltese, Senate Print 89, an act
to amend the Penal Law, in relation to
clarifying the definition.
ACTING PRESIDENT McGEE: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect on the first day of
November.
ACTING PRESIDENT McGEE: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 53.
ACTING PRESIDENT McGEE: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
13, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 240, an
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act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to
loitering for the purpose of engaging in
prostitution.
ACTING PRESIDENT McGEE: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect on the 90th day.
ACTING PRESIDENT McGEE: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 52. Nays,
1. Senator Montgomery recorded in the
negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT McGEE: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
24, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 261, an
act to authorize the assessor of the County of
Nassau to accept and consider.
ACTING PRESIDENT McGEE: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT McGEE: Call the
roll.
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(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 53.
ACTING PRESIDENT McGEE: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
25, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 328,
an act to amend the Town Law, in relation to
including.
ACTING PRESIDENT McGEE: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT McGEE: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 53.
ACTING PRESIDENT McGEE: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
32, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 396, an
act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to
authorizing the County of Dutchess.
SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside.
ACTING PRESIDENT McGEE: The bill
is laid aside.
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Senator Skelos, that completes the
noncontroversial reading of the calendar.
SENATOR SKELOS: If we could take
up the controversial calendar.
ACTING PRESIDENT McGEE: The
Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
32, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 396, an
act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to
authorizing.
ACTING PRESIDENT McGEE: Senator
Breslin.
SENATOR BRESLIN: Madam
President, through you, if the sponsor would
yield to one brief question.
ACTING PRESIDENT McGEE: Senator
Saland, Senator Breslin would like you to
yield for a question.
SENATOR SALAND: Yes, Madam
President.
ACTING PRESIDENT McGEE: The
Senator yields.
SENATOR BRESLIN: Through you,
Madam President, I just wanted to know if
there was a message of necessity from the
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local entity.
SENATOR SALAND: I'm sorry, I
couldn't -- with the door open, I couldn't
hear you, Senator.
SENATOR BRESLIN: A message of
necessity from -- or, excuse me, a fiscal note
from the local entity.
SENATOR SALAND: I have a home
rule request that was passed by the Dutchess
County Legislature on January 9th of this
month.
SENATOR BRESLIN: Thank you very
much, Madam President.
ACTING PRESIDENT McGEE: Does any
other Senator wish to speak on the bill?
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT McGEE: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 54.
ACTING PRESIDENT McGEE: The bill
is passed.
Senator Skelos, that completes the
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controversial reading of the calendar.
Senator Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President,
there being no further business to come before
the Senate, I move we stand adjourned until
Tuesday, January 28th, at 11:00 a.m.
ACTING PRESIDENT McGEE: On
motion, the Senate stands adjourned until
Tuesday, January 28th, at 11:00 a.m.
(Whereupon, at 3:30 p.m., the
Senate adjourned.)