Regular Session - February 24, 2003
633
NEW YORK STATE SENATE
THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD
ALBANY, NEW YORK
February 24, 2003
3:17 p.m.
REGULAR SESSION
SENATOR JOSEPH E. ROBACH, Acting President
STEVEN M. BOGGESS, Secretary
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P R O C E E D I N G S
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The
Senate will 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.)
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: In the
absence of clergy, may we all bow our heads
for a moment of silence.
(Whereupon, the assemblage
respected a moment of silence.)
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Reading
of the Journal.
THE SECRETARY: In Senate,
Sunday, February 23, the Senate met pursuant
to adjournment. The Journal of Saturday,
February 22, was read and approved. On
motion, Senate adjourned.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Without
objection, the Journal stands approved as
read.
Presentation of petitions.
Messages from the Assembly.
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Messages from the Governor.
Reports of standing committees.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Senator Hoffmann,
from the Committee on Agriculture, reports the
following bills:
Senate Print 188, by Senator
Hoffmann, an act to amend the Agriculture and
Markets Law;
616, by Senator Hoffmann, an act to
amend the Agriculture and Markets Law;
And Senate Print 1973, by Senator
Kuhl, an act to amend the Agriculture and
Markets Law.
All bills ordered direct to third
reading.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Without
objection, the bills are reported direct to
third reading.
Reports of select committees.
Communications and reports from
state officers.
Motions and resolutions.
Senator Farley.
SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you, Mr.
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President.
On behalf of Senator LaValle, on
page 6 I offer the following amendments to
Calendar 58, Senate Print 296, and I ask that
that bill retain its place on the Third
Reading Calendar.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The
amendments are received and adopted, and the
bill will take its place on the Third Reading
Calendar.
Senator Little.
SENATOR LITTLE: Mr. President, I
wish to call up my bill, Print Number 741,
recalled from the Assembly, which is now at
the desk.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The
Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
50, by Senator Little, Senate Print 741, an
act making certain findings and
determinations.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Senator
Little.
SENATOR LITTLE: Mr. President, I
now move to reconsider the vote by which this
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bill was passed.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The
Secretary will call the roll on
reconsideration.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 48.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Senator
Little.
SENATOR LITTLE: Mr. President, I
now offer the following amendments.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The
amendments are received and adopted.
Senator Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
are there any substitutions at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Yes,
there are.
SENATOR SKELOS: I ask that they
be made at this time.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The
Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: On page 8,
Senator Velella moves to discharge, from the
Committee on Higher Education, Assembly Bill
Number 1409 and substitute it for the
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identical Senate Bill Number 759, Third
Reading Calendar 91.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH:
Substitution ordered.
Senator Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: There will be an
immediate meeting of the Children and Families
Committee in the Majority Conference Room.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: There
will be an immediate meeting of the Committee
on Children and Families in the Majority
Conference Room.
Senator Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
there's a privileged resolution at the desk by
Senator Volker. May we please have the title
read and move for its immediate adoption.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The
Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: By Senator
Volker, Legislative Resolution Number 483,
commemorating the 25th anniversary of the
Displaced Homemaker Program.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Senator
Volker.
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SENATOR VOLKER: Mr. President,
this is a resolution, as was previously read,
that honors a group of women, and a group that
is now operating across the state, that takes
care of people who have had various problems,
through no fault of their own, and tries to
help them out. I think that it is a very good
organization that this house and the Assembly
has funded for many years.
The resolution is sponsored by all
the Western New York delegation, but I'd like
to offer sponsorship or cosponsorship to
anybody in the Senate who would like to be on
it.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The
question is on the resolution. All in favor
say aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH:
Opposed, say nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The
resolution is adopted.
Senator Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
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if we could go to the noncontroversial reading
of the calendar.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The
Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
44, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 554, an
act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to
sentencing of persistent violent felony
offenders.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Lay it
aside.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The
bill is laid aside.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
59, by Senator Balboni, Senate Print 857, an
act to amend --
SENATOR BALBONI: Senator Robach,
I'd like to lay that bill aside, please.
Mr. President. President Robach.
Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: For the
day?
SENATOR BALBONI: For the day.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: How
about the session?
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(Laughter.)
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The
bill is laid aside for the day.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
73, by Senator Marcellino, Senate Print 785,
an act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law,
in relation to increasing penalties.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Read
the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Call
the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 54.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The
bill is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
76, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 665, an
act to amend the Penal Law and the Criminal
Procedure Law, in relation to the offenses of
bail jumping.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Lay it
aside.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The
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bill is laid aside.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
77, by Senator Padavan, Senate Print 685, an
act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to the
piercing and branding of the body of a child
under the age of 18 years.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Read
the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
act shall take effect on the first day of
November.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Call
the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in
the negative on Calendar Number 77 are
Senators Parker and Schneiderman. Also
Senator Duane. Ayes, 51. Nays, 3.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The
bill is passed.
Senator Skelos, that completes the
noncontroversial reading of the calendar.
SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
if we could go to the controversial reading of
the calendar.
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ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The
Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
44, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 554, an
act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to
sentencing of persistent violent felony
offenders.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN:
Explanation.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Senator
Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
this legislation -- which has passed the
Senate in 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001 -- would
eliminate discretionary parole for violent
felony offenders who have been convicted and
sentenced for three or more violent felonies
within a ten-year period.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Senator
Schneiderman.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you,
Mr. President. On the bill very briefly.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: On the
bill.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: This
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legislation is a part of an ongoing process to
transfer discretion over sentencing -- not to
eliminate discretion over sentencing from the
criminal justice system, but simply to
transfer it from judges to prosecutors.
And I would urge my colleagues
that, as has often been said, absolute power
corrupts absolutely. We're getting to a
situation where prosecutorial control over
sentencing is becoming a serious problem.
I would call my colleagues'
attentions to a study by the Criminal Justice
Policy Foundation, in which the president of
that institution, Eric Sterling, stated: "The
entire criminal justice system knows that
perjury is the coin of the realm. People's
homes are invaded because of lies, people go
to prison because of lies, people stay in
prison because of lies, and sometimes bad guys
go free because of lies."
What he's referring to is this
phenomenon that is becoming widespread, which
is that in the absence of any judicial outlet,
prosecutors are essentially in a position to
coerce testimony out of people, because if
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they charge a crime that requires life
imprisonment, that's the price you're going to
pay. And if you have any way to get out,
including making up testimony to get an
alleged coconspirator in with you, you will do
that.
So I would urge that we really
should think more carefully before increasing
prosecutorial control over the sentencing
process. We've increased, in 1995, the
mandatory sentence for the sorts of defendants
that would be addressed under this
legislation.
Again, the crime rate has been
going steadily down. It does not appear that
from any sort of public policy point of view
the criminal justice system requires more
severe sentences.
And again, this is not a situation,
I would urge, in which we're eliminating
discretion, this is a situation in which we're
shifting discretion. I would like to see
judges and parole boards continue to play a
role.
Having worked in a prison, I
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certainly don't like the idea of these people
doing time without any possible incentive to
behave while they're serving their sentences.
And I certainly also do think -- and I have
many friends who are prosecutors -- that it's
just too tempting and it's too tempting to
criminal defendants.
A defense lawyer has commented that
he stopped representing people who are
cooperating with prosecutors because for those
defendants you just don't have to teach them
how to sing, you have to teach them how to
compose. I think that's a lot of what's going
on now in our criminal justice system.
I'm going to vote no on this, and I
also would urge a no vote from my colleagues.
Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Senator
Montgomery.
SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, Mr.
President, just briefly on this bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: On the
bill.
SENATOR MONTGOMERY: I have voted
no in the past and will vote no again today.
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I think that one of the issues -- a
couple of issues that I have, in addition to
those raised by my colleague, is, one, on the
fiscal implications.
Senator Skelos, the author of this
legislation, sponsor of this legislation,
indicates that the fiscal impact is yet to be
determined. He does acknowledge that there
will be an increase in incarceration costs.
So we don't know -- we have no idea how much
more we're going to have to spend if this
legislation passes.
The other issue that I raised, I
recall, I believe last year or the year
before, was that this bill essentially is a
"two strikes and you're in for life without
the possibility of parole." And we know that
in cases where this kind of legislation has
been passed in other states, the costs to them
have been enormous. And it's questionable as
to whether or not this really is an answer to
the issue that is being addressed here.
So I'm going to continue to vote no
on it, and I would urge my colleagues that
this is quite an irresponsible approach to
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dealing with the issue of incarceration and
crime in our state, because it is going to
essentially break us as it relates to the cost
of this bill. So I'm going to vote no on it.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Thank
you, Senator Montgomery.
Is there any other Senator wishing
to be heard on this bill? If none, debate is
closed.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This
act shall take effect on the first day of
November.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Call
the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in
the negative on Calendar Number 44 are
Senators Andrews, Dilán, Duane,
Hassell-Thompson, Montgomery, Parker,
Paterson, Schneiderman, and A. Smith. Ayes,
48. Nays, 9.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The
bill is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
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76, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 665, an
act to amend the Penal Law and the Criminal
Procedure Law, in relation to the offenses of
bail jumping.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN:
Explanation.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Senator
Volker.
SENATOR VOLKER: Mr. President,
this is an old City of New York bill which is
also an Office of Court Administration bill, I
believe.
It relates to primarily a problem
in New York City and the bigger cities, and
relates to a ludicrous situation primarily in
regards to appearance tickets, where what
happens is that a person is summoned to appear
in court and doesn't appear in court, so that
the -- they're allowed 30 days after that.
Usually I guess what happens in the city is
the ticket is usually lost for a while,
because there's so many appearance tickets,
and then the person is then pursued at some
point.
Years ago, there was over 250,000
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appearance tickets out there, and some 281,000
warrants. And I haven't tabulated this
recently. It -- by the way, this also relates
to the hearings that Joe Lentol and I held in
New York City some years ago, and we had
passed a bill here just about two weeks ago on
aggravated unlicensed operation.
And the reason it relates to this
is the City of New York spends a ton of money
pursuing these people, and they have such a
backlog that they have virtually given up in
some ways.
What this bill really does say is
that if you don't appear on an appearance
ticket, you can be subject to some sort of
penalty. And we increase the penalties for
bail jumping.
So that what would happen, I guess,
is somebody will get about 30 tickets and
they'll get a warrant for them, they'll bring
them in, and they'll charge them with 20 or 30
bucks' bail, or whatever they are, and the
person would be then subject to a violation if
they didn't appear on the bail. And of course
they don't appear again. And then they bring
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them in.
What this bill does is up the
penalties, depending on what you were charged
with in the first place.
I realize that some of the people
in this house are a little sensitive to this.
But if you think about it, you know, it is
pretty ridiculous what's going on. What it
is, it's encouraging scofflaws at an epidemic
rate in places like Buffalo and New York City
and Rochester and so forth.
We don't have quite that problem in
some of the other localities because we
have -- we don't have as many of these, and
the judges usually keep track of them. Even
there, there's a substantial cost to it.
Although what happens, I think the justices
usually eventually send somebody out, they
just grab them, bring them in, and put them in
jail. And then they figure out what to do
from there.
But what this bill is, it's really
a simple bill. And what it says is we're not
giving them -- they're supposed to come in.
If they don't come in, they're subject to
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being brought back in. And they must -- they
can take jail. And if they jump the bail,
then they're subject to some sort of penalty,
starting out at a B misdemeanor, going to an
A misdemeanor, depending on the crime, and
eventually getting to a felony.
Most of the felony charges -- there
is, by the way, a penalty already, but this is
in case -- there are some lesser violations
where you don't usually give an appearance
ticket out or a -- for a felony. But there
are in certain cases where this can be done.
It really is a commonsense approach.
And, by the way, this doesn't say
you have to do it. All it says is that that
penalty is available and you don't have the
extra 30 days. Because remember, this is
extra. This is after you are supposed to
appear in court. Which may be, I don't know,
it may be two months. When you get an
appearance ticket, somebody may set it up for
two months from there. And so the person
doesn't come in in two months, and then you've
got 30 more days before they do anything.
And what this does is to eliminate
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the 30 days.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Senator
Montgomery.
SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, Mr.
President. If I can ask Senator Volker a
question.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Senator
Volker.
SENATOR VOLKER: Sure.
Certainly.
SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Senator
Volker, I'm just looking at the memo attached
to your legislation. And it says that the
failure to respond to an appearance ticket is
currently a violation --
SENATOR VOLKER: Right.
SENATOR MONTGOMERY: -- that
becomes a Class B misdemeanor.
SENATOR VOLKER: If they don't
appear.
SENATOR MONTGOMERY: If they
don't appear, punishable by up to three months
in jail.
And bail jumping in the third
degree, currently a Class A misdemeanor,
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becomes a Class E felony punishable by up to
four years in prison.
SENATOR VOLKER: No, no, no.
Wait a minute. You've got --
SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Am I reading
that wrong?
SENATOR VOLKER: No, I think
you're misreading it.
SENATOR MONTGOMERY: It says bail
jumping in the third degree, currently a
Class A misdemeanor, becomes a Class E
felony --
SENATOR VOLKER: Right, E felony.
SENATOR MONTGOMERY: --
punishable by up to four years in prison.
SENATOR VOLKER: Mm-hmm. Yes.
SENATOR MONTGOMERY: So I'm
just -- and it goes on.
So that the farthest out that we go
with your legislation is 15 years in prison.
SENATOR VOLKER: Right.
SENATOR MONTGOMERY: I'm just
wondering, again, what is the value of this
legislation vis-a-vis the cost to the state if
we take it to the farthest degree, based on
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what your legislation does.
SENATOR VOLKER: Senator, let me
explain something to you. The process right
now is costing the City of New York tons of
money. There's nothing in this bill that's
going to add any costs at all.
A person who is out on bail and
jumps bail on a felony, let's remember that
they're already subject -- by the way, quite
clearly, it would be stupid -- it's stupid for
somebody if they're innocent to jump bail.
But people do it anyway. Usually it's because
they're guilty and they don't want to come
back in. So you're almost encouraged to try
to escape.
What we're saying is you're not
encouraged to escape, you're encouraged to
come back in and at least face the charges.
If you don't, if you jump bail, then you can
get an extra sentence to the one that you
would be entitled to anyways.
Now, let's understand that
appearance tickets -- I don't know of hardly
any felonies that are subject to appearance
tickets. The only thing is that most of the
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nonappearances in the major cities are for
appearance tickets. They're things like
parking and different violations. So the
worst you could get for not appearing
eventually would be a B misdemeanor.
Now, in New York City, a
B misdemeanor is -- no one is going to jail on
a B misdemeanor, by the way. They could, but
nobody is. Unless they yell at the judge
or -- I mean, well, who's going to bother to
put somebody in jail for that?
But the big thing is to try to get
them to come in without having to send out
police officers or the sheriff's people in the
city -- or in upstate New York, the sheriffs
also -- which costs umpteen dollars and
actually detracts from the ability of the City
of New York, the City of Buffalo, and all
these places to be able to enforce the law and
to deal with real crimes. Because most of
these are not real crimes, they're
comparatively minor.
And that's what you're trying to
do, you're trying to get people in to respond
to these. Okay?
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SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Thank you,
Senator Volker.
SENATOR VOLKER: You're welcome.
SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Mr.
President, briefly on the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: On the
bill.
SENATOR MONTGOMERY: I am looking
at Senator Volker's legislation and the memo
that accompanies it, and the thing that really
is quite disturbing to me is that we're
talking about, as Senator Volker says himself,
to a very large extent failure to appear for a
desk ticket, an appearance ticket. And those
people who do that, under his legislation,
would possibly be required to spend three
months in jail, based on his bill.
It occurs to me that it's much more
costly for the city to have -- you have
43,000. If we got half of them, and they
received the maximum sentence under your
legislation, we'd have a huge cost to the City
of New York, because they're going to spend
those three months in a local jail. If we go
to the maximum possibility, 15 years in
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prison, just consider how much that costs.
We already have a major problem
with people who are being reincarcerated
because they violated a parole -- not that
they committed another crime, but they
violated some parole rules, and they end up
back in prison. It's very costly. It does
not help to deal with the whole question of
the behavior of people. There's nothing to be
gained by this kind of legislation that I can
see.
And I think that Senator Volker is
at least fair in admitting that these are
basically minor issues that we're talking
about. But still, we want to incarcerate
them.
I just cannot go along with this
notion that every single issue that we have,
especially in the city of New York, in the
urban centers of this state, everything that
we consider to be an issue is dealt with with
the criminal justice system. And this is just
one more example.
So I'm going to vote no again on
this legislation, as I have in the past.
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SENATOR VOLKER: Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Senator
Volker.
SENATOR VOLKER: Senator, I guess
I have a question. What you're saying is we
shouldn't do anything because people violate
the law. Should we flog them? I mean, what
is there you would like to do?
Nobody is saying these people are
going to go to jail, but they're violating the
law. Maybe they harassed their wife, or
maybe -- who knows what it is. And it costs
us millions -- or it costs them millions of
dollars to go out and look for them. And
you're saying what do we do, tell them to come
in? I mean, you have to think about this.
There's laws in this state. And the only way
you can enforce some of those laws is to have
penalties.
Now, for instance, drug offenders,
many of them in the City of New York get
arrested a hundred times before they ever go
to jail. And then finally they go to jail and
people say, "Well, they're only nonviolent
drug offenders." Well, the problem is maybe
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if they had at least been called in in the
first place and had some treatment, maybe they
wouldn't be doing it.
But the only way you can do this is
to have some sort of a penalty. How else are
you going to do it? I think you're thinking
that all these people are going to jail. Of
course they're not going to go to jail. But
you have to have some sort of penalty to get
them even in there.
And the problem is that the police
department just gets so fed up with these
things -- so what that means is you have a
hundred thousand scofflaws running around
knowing that they can do anything they want.
They can run into your car, drive away, and
nobody is going to bother them. That's not
the solution.
I know what you're talking about
incarceration, but the solution is not to let
them do anything they please. And you can't
just talk them into it, because some of these
people have 30 appearance tickets. And my
personal opinion is if they have 30 appearance
tickets, they're obviously saying we don't
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care about you, your family, or anybody. And
they ought to be in jail, frankly, because
they ought to do the same thing you and I do,
and that is follow the law.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Thank
you, Senator Volker.
Is there any other Senator wishing
to be heard on this bill? If not, debate is
closed.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 16. This
act shall take effect on the first day of
November.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Call
the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Senator
Montgomery, to explain her vote.
SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, I would
like to explain my vote, Mr. President.
I know that Senator Volker feels
very strong about this issue. And I just want
to offer, as -- by way of example, the -- an
approach to this kind of a situation. Not
exactly the same, but it's an approach.
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The district attorney of Kings
County has implemented a program whereby he
contacts parolees and brings them in. The
purpose of him bringing them in and the reason
that he gets such a tremendous response is,
one, it is the district attorney who is
approaching them, and, two, he is looking to
offer them a way of staying out of trouble,
remaining free of incarceration, and therefore
people do respond in a very positive fashion.
So I think that we just need to
figure there are possibilities, there are ways
of approaching this kind of situation that
doesn't cost so much money and doesn't end up
being at the -- part of the problem of so many
people being incarcerated in our state.
So I vote no.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Thank
you, Senator Montgomery.
The Secretary will announce the
results.
THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in
the negative on Calendar Number 76 are
Senators Andrews, Hassell-Thompson,
Montgomery, and Parker. Ayes, 54. Nays, 4.
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ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The
bill is passed.
Senator Skelos, that completes the
controversial reading of the calendar.
SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you, Mr.
President. If we could return to reports of
standing committees, I believe there's a
report at the desk. Could we have it read at
this time.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Reports
of standing committees.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Senator Rath,
from the Committee on Children and Families,
reports the following bills:
Senate Print 517, by Senator
Balboni, an act to amend the Family Court Act
and the Domestic Relations Law;
556, by Senator Skelos, an act to
amend the Family Court Act and the Criminal
Procedure Law;
And Senate Print 1023, by Senator
Skelos, an act to amend the Domestic Relations
Law.
All bills ordered direct to third
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reading.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: All
bills reported direct to third reading.
Senator Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: Is there any
housekeeping at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: No,
there is not.
SENATOR SKELOS: Would you please
recognize Senator Krueger.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Senator
Krueger.
SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you, Mr.
President. I'd like unanimous consent to be
recorded in the negative on Calendar 44, S554.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Without
objection.
SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Senator
Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
there being no further business to come before
the Senate, I move we adjourn until Tuesday,
February 25th, at 12 noon.
ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: On
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motion, the Senate stands adjourned until
Tuesday, February 25th, at 12 noon.
(Whereupon, at 3:46 p.m., the
Senate adjourned.)