Regular Session - June 9, 2004
3320
NEW YORK STATE SENATE
THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD
ALBANY, NEW YORK
June 9, 2004
11:03 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION
LT. GOVERNOR MARY O. DONOHUE, President
STEVEN M. BOGGESS, Secretary
3321
P R O C E E D I N G S
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Senate will come to order.
I ask everyone present to please
rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance
to the Flag.
(Whereupon, the assemblage recited
the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: In the
absence of clergy, may we each please bow our
heads in a moment of silence.
(Whereupon, the assemblage
respected a moment of silence.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Reading
of the Journal.
THE SECRETARY: In Senate,
Tuesday, June 8, the Senate met pursuant to
adjournment. The Journal of Monday, June 7,
was read and approved. On motion, Senate
adjourned.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Without
objection, the Journal stands approved as
read.
Presentation of petitions.
Messages from the Assembly.
3322
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.
Amendments are offered to the
following Third Reading Calendar bills:
Sponsored by Senator Volker, page
number 11, Calendar Number 289, Senate Print
Number 2326C;
By Senator Bonacic, page number 29,
Calendar Number 777, Senate Print Number
6645A;
By myself, page number 32, Calendar
Number 833, Senate Print Number 6962A;
By Senator Rath, page number 65,
Calendar Number 1358, Senate Print 7013;
By Senator Bruno, page number 73,
Calendar Number 1476, Senate Print Number
6747.
I now move that these bills retain
3323
their place on the order of third reading.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
amendments are received and adopted, and the
bills will retain their place on the order of
third reading.
Senator Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
are there any substitutions at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Yes,
there are.
SENATOR SKELOS: If we could make
them at this time.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read the substitutions.
THE SECRETARY: On page 17,
Senator Padavan moves to discharge, from the
Committee on Rules, Assembly Bill Number 3686
and substitute it for the identical Senate
Bill Number 4121, Third Reading Calendar 442.
On page 75, Senator DeFrancisco
moves to discharge, from the Committee on
Rules, Assembly Bill Number 10800 and
substitute it for the identical Senate Bill
Number 7209, Third Reading Calendar 1494.
On page 75, Senator Leibell moves
3324
to discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
Assembly Bill Number 11080A and substitute it
for the identical Senate Bill Number 7297A,
Third Reading Calendar 1496.
And on page 76, Senator Larkin
moves to discharge, from the Committee on
Rules, Assembly Bill Number 11349 and
substitute it for the identical Senate Bill
Number 7368, Third Reading Calendar 1502.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
Substitutions ordered.
Senator Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
there's a resolution at the desk, 5402, by
Senator Bonacic. Could we please have it read
in its entirety and move for its immediate
adoption.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read Resolution 5402.
THE SECRETARY: By Senator
Bonacic, Legislative Resolution Number 5402,
commending the Valedictorians, Salutatorians,
and Honored Students of the 42nd Senate
District, in recognition of their outstanding
accomplishments, at a celebration to be held
3325
at the State Capitol on June 9, 2004.
"WHEREAS, It is the sense of this
Legislative Body to act in accord with its
longstanding traditions, to honor the youth of
today -- the leaders of tomorrow -- whose
character and achievements exemplify the
ideals and values cherished by this great
state and nation; and
"WHEREAS, This Legislative Body is
justly proud to recognize and commend the high
achievements of these dedicated students in
the 42nd Senate District on the occasion of a
special celebratory visit to the State Capitol
in Albany, New York, on Wednesday, June 9,
2004. At this time the Valedictorians,
Salutatorians and Honored Students who have
been selected by their school leadership for
outstanding community service will receive
special recognition from the Senate in the
Senate chamber. Lunch will be served in the
Well of the Legislative Office Building,
followed by a tour of the State Capitol; and
"WHEREAS, These Valedictorians,
Salutatorians, and Honored Students represent
the best of developed potential inherent in
3326
our most precious resource, our youth. These
achievements have brought enduring honor to
their families and communities and should be
recognized and saluted; and
"WHEREAS, The Valedictorians who
are being commended today for their
outstanding academic performances and
exemplary achievements include: Sarah
Sidorowicz, Erin Bailey, Chelsea Frisbee,
Christopher Odell, Jene Shafer, David
Albanese, Jennifer Matthews, Sarah Halprin,
Benjamin Lennon, Krista Brown, Megan Foscaldi,
Gauray Gulati, Erin M. Simpson, Jennifer
Taggart, Rebecca Eignor, Shilpa Agarwal, Laura
Falconieri, Brian Brandes, Charlene E.
Carroll, Lisa E. Manz, Ashley M. Morse, Jason
W. Richmond, William Hurley, Natalie Martin,
Otto Burger, Emily Wolford, Susanne Bowers,
Alison Hinkley, Jesse Louis-Rosenberg, Stephen
Pysnik, Jack Cooperman, Max Tannone, Carrara
Tait, Ashley Relyea, John Theadore, Heather
Iatauro, Angela Lee and Matthew John George;
and
"WHEREAS, The Salutatorians who are
being commended today for their outstanding
3327
academic performances and exemplary
achievements include: Carissa Fairbairn,
Lisa Staiber, Anup Krishna Gangavalli, Crystal
Trask, Allison Lake, Rebecca Haber, Nathan
Nero, Katherine Orlowski, Virginia
Perry-Unger, Jessica Montrose, Andrew Maxwell,
Morgan Hardy, Krista Bressler, Lindsay Fisk,
Paige Miller, Caitlin Clancy, Jill Balzano,
Kenneth M. Johnson, Alison Bender, Ashley
Hunt, Evan Sangaline, Brenden Hendrickson,
Carly Finch, Holly Meredith, William McLean,
John Paczkowski, Chalya Tait, Amanda Krom,
Amber Saylor, Kaleigh Battle and Michelle
Elaine DuMond; and
"WHEREAS, The Honored Students who
are being commended today who have been
selected by their school leadership for
outstanding school or community service
include: Amanda Galunas, Megan Andrews,
Shiloe Mokay, Richard Watts, Mark York, Gail
Crossman, Shanna Curlin, Melissa Hoos, Laura
Gluckman, Kimberly Noonan, Hannah Bessell,
Molly Carboy, Tonya Stokes, Shannon Bowers,
Hemang Mistry, Erica Farrell, Jereme Bivins
and Craig DeCicco; and
3328
"WHEREAS, These Valedictorians,
Salutatorians, and Honored Students may now
stand with pride as they assess their
achievements, experience the satisfaction of
their labors and the joy of their
accomplishments, eager to face the new
experiences of a challenging world; now,
therefore, be it
"RESOLVED, That this Legislative
Body pause in its deliberations to commend the
Valedictorians, Salutatorians and Honored
Students of the 42nd Senate District, in
recognition of their outstanding
accomplishments, at a celebration to be held
at the State Capitol on June 9, 2004; and be
it further
"RESOLVED, That copies of this
resolution, suitably engrossed, be transmitted
to the aforementioned Valedictorians,
Salutatorians, and Honored Students."
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Bonacic.
SENATOR BONACIC: Thank you, Mr.
President.
Tom, you did a good job on all the
3329
names, I want you to know.
I feel like a proud dad today, but
I'm a proud Senator. I'd like to welcome all
of the valedictorians, the salutatorians and
the community award winners from 31 school
districts. There's 87 honored guests today,
and their proud parents and friends and
relatives.
This is our fifth time that we have
done this. We've had a brief seminar this
morning for the honored guests we're honoring
today. We're going to treat them to pizza and
soda. They're seeing the Senate chambers in
action.
But the thing that I'd like to
impress for all of our colleagues is most of
the time we have athletes in these chambers,
and we honor our athletes for their successes
in winning championships. But in my humble
opinion, the people that are in these chambers
today are the athletes of the mind, the best
and the brightest, the future leaders of
America.
And I would say to you that when
you finish college, we want you to think about
3330
coming to this great state that offers
wonderful opportunities in health care, in
education, in nanotechnology and business.
Raise your families here, live, work and play
here. It's one of the best states, if not the
best state, in the United States.
I'm honored to have you, and have a
wonderful day.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, I'd
like to rise and echo what Senator Bonacic
said.
And he truly is proud of all of
you. We've talked about this as late as last
evening, how excited he was that all of you
were going to be here to be honored for your
great achievements.
And we do honor athletes, we do
honor other individuals for various things
throughout the year. But I'll bet the
valedictorians and salutatorians are also
leaders in other areas. I bet you we have
athletes here. I'll bet you we also have
3331
great musicians and people who excel in other
areas. Because usually the ones who are the
busiest and working the hardest academically
have many, many other interests and time for
those interests as well.
And the other reason we're all
proud on this floor of all of you, because the
only people that have ever been valedictorians
or salutatorians are in the gallery. And we
understand how impressive it is and how hard
you had to work to get to where you were and
where you are.
Congratulations.
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: I'm
sorry, Senator Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, I
would like to point out to Senator DeFrancisco
and to our guests that Senator Bonacic is a
3332
great athlete.
(Laughter.)
SENATOR SKELOS: But he was also
valedictorian of his class. So we do have a
valedictorian on the floor who's also a great
athlete.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
question, then, 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.
(Applause.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you, Mr.
President.
There's another resolution at the
desk by Senator Bonacic, 5478. If we could
have the title read and move for its immediate
adoption.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
3333
Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: By Senator
Bonacic, Legislative Resolution Number 5478,
commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the
Police Benevolent Association of the New York
State Troopers, Inc.
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.
Senator Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
there's a resolution, 5394, by Senator
DeFrancisco at the desk. If we could have the
title read and move for its immediate
adoption.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: By Senator
DeFrancisco, Legislative Resolution Number
3334
5394, commemorating the 100th Anniversary of
the New York State Association of Fire Chiefs,
to be celebrated June 9 through 12, 2004.
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.
Senator Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
there's Resolution 5488 at the desk by Senator
Larkin. Could we have the title read and move
for its immediate adoption.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: By Senator
Larkin, Legislative Resolution Number 5488,
honoring Ada Bell upon the occasion of her
retirement after 35 years of distinguished
service to the Newburgh School District.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
3335
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.
Senator Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
if we could go to the noncontroversial reading
of the calendar.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will conduct the noncontroversial
reading of the calendar.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
33, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 2993,
an act to amend the Navigation Law, in
relation to the operation of a vessel
recklessly.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
3336
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 42.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
34, by Senator Alesi, Senate Print 46B, an act
to amend the Penal Law, in relation to
establishing the offense of unlawful failure.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This
act shall take effect on the first of
November.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 43.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
55, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 4816, an
act to amend the Transportation Corporations
Law, in relation to capacity plans.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
3337
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, 43.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
89, by Senator Maltese, Senate Print 87A, an
act to amend the Real Property Tax Law, in
relation to the optional school tax exemption.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect June 1, 2005.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 43.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
90, by Senator Balboni, Senate Print 3939A, an
3338
act to amend the General Business Law, in
relation to requiring.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
act shall take effect on the 180th day.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 43.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
95, by Member of the Assembly Sanders,
Assembly Print Number 1892A, an act to
amend --
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Lay it
aside.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
192, by Member of the Assembly M. Cohen,
Assembly Print Number 608, an act to amend the
Vehicle and Traffic Law, in relation to
allowing.
3339
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, 44.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
197, by Senator Marcellino, Senate Print 5901,
an act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law,
in relation to permitted use.
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, 44.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
3340
304, by Senator LaValle, Senate Print 749, an
act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to
providing an exemption.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 6. 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, 44.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
307, by Member of the Assembly Brodsky,
Assembly Print Number 617C, an act to amend
the Public Lands Law, in relation to making
surplus.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
3341
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 44.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
450, by Senator Robach, Senate Print 2764A, an
act to amend the Executive Law and the Social
Services 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, 44.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
452, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 5291A, an
act to amend the Family Court Act and the
Executive Law, in relation to orders of
protection.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
3342
THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This
act shall take effect on the 90th day.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 44.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
468, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 953B, an
act to amend the Education Law, in relation to
health education regarding alcohol, drugs and
tobacco.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect on the first of July.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 44.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
542, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 4373B,
3343
an act to make certain parents, widows and
children of certain firefighters dying at the
World Trade Center on September 11th eligible.
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.)
SENATOR SKELOS: Lay it aside for
the day, please.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Withdraw
the roll call.
Lay the bill aside for the day.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
559, by Senator Marchi, Senate Print 6161, an
act to amend the Public Authorities Law, in
relation to requiring the Triborough Bridge
and Tunnel Authority.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect on the 180th day.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
3344
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 44.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
591, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 4984, an
act to amend the Social Services Law, in
relation to evidence in termination.
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, 44.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
718, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 4331, an
act to amend the New York State Urban
Development Corporation Act, in relation to
working capital assistance.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
3345
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, 44.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
726, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 1891A, an
act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to
establishing the crimes of assaulting a child
in the first and second degree.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This
act shall take effect on the first of
November.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 44.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
3346
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
730, by Senator Balboni, Senate Print 2498B,
an act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to
establishing a new crime of unlawfully dealing
with a child in the first degree.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This
act shall take effect on the first of
November.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 43. Nays,
1. Senator Hassell-Thompson recorded in the
negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
733, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 3845A, an
act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to
establishing the crimes of attempting to lure
or entice a child.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
3347
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect on the first of
November.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 44. Nays,
1. Senator Duane recorded in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
770, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 6743, an
act to amend the Social Services Law, in
relation to considering a child's
relationships.
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, 45.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
3348
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
783, by Senator Alesi, Senate Print 947, an
act to amend the Correction Law, in relation
to work-release programs.
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, 44. Nays,
1. Senator Duane recorded in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
811, by Senator Seward, Senate Print 6076, an
act to amend the Insurance Law, in relation to
personal lines insurance.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Maltese.
SENATOR MALTESE: Lay it aside
for the day, please.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside for the day.
3349
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
849, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 1914, an
act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law, in
relation to expanding the offenses concerning.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
act shall take effect on the first of the
calendar month next succeeding.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 45.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
850, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 1915, an
act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law, in
relation to authorizing child witnesses.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
3350
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 45.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
853, by Senator Golden, Senate Print 3974A, an
act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to
establishing the crime of criminal neglect.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect on the first of
November.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 45.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
856, by Senator Volker, Senate Print --
SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Lay it
aside.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside.
3351
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
867, by Senator LaValle, Senate Print 6219A,
an act to amend the Navigation Law, in
relation to requiring.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This
act shall take effect on the 30th day.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 44. Nays,
1. Senator Wright recorded in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
885, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 6505, an
act to amend the Environmental Conservation
Law, in relation to promoting the
distribution.
SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Lay it
aside.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
3352
895, by Senator Golden, Senate Print 6516A, an
act to amend the General Municipal Law, in
relation to allowing police 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, 44. Nays,
1. Senator Duane recorded in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
941, by Member of the Assembly Nolan, Assembly
Print Number 9598, an act to amend the
Executive Law, in relation to providing for
annual adjustments.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
3353
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 45.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
953, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 6146, an
act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, in
relation to issuance of distinctive plates.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This
act shall take effect on the 180th day.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 45.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
988, by Senator Trunzo, Senate Print 937, an
act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, in
relation to speeding.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
3354
act shall take effect on the 180th day.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 45. Nays,
1. Senator Duane recorded in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
990, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 1658B, an
act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, in
relation to authorizing distinctive license
plates.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect on the 180th day.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 46.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1028, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 6642, an
3355
act to amend the Social Services Law and the
Penal Law, in relation to the provision of
child daycare.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
SENATOR RATH: Lay it aside for
the day, please.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside for the day.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1029, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 6713, an
act to amend the Family Court Act and the
Social Services Law, in relation to court
review.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Maltese.
SENATOR MALTESE: Lay this bill
aside, Mr. President, for the day.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside for the day.
SENATOR MALTESE: Could you call
up Calendar Number 1028 again, please.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read Calendar Number 1028.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
3356
1028, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 6642, an
act to amend the Social Services Law and the
Penal Law, in relation to the provision of
child daycare services.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 7. This
act shall take effect on the 60th day.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 47.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1045, by Senator Morahan, Senate Print 6461B,
an act to authorize the First Timothy
Christian Church to file an application.
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.)
3357
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 46. Nays,
1. Senator Bonacic recorded in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1054, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 2180A,
an act to amend the Banking Law, in relation
to including mortgage bankers.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
act shall take effect on the first of January.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 47.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1079, by Member of the Assembly McLaughlin,
Assembly Print Number 7137B, an act to amend
the General Business Law, in relation to
immigrant assistance services.
SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Lay it
aside.
3358
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1094, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print
6990, an act to amend the Estates, Powers and
Trusts Law, in relation to an order for the
purposes of conducting.
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. Nays,
1. Senator Duane recorded in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1116, by Senator Trunzo, Senate Print --
SENATOR TRUNZO: Lay it aside for
the day, please.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside for the day.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
3359
1130, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 6629A, an
act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to
endangering the welfare of a child.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect on the first of
November.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 47.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1133, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print
7028A, an act to amend the Civil Practice Law
and Rules, in relation to the admissibility of
graphic, numerical, symbolic or pictorial
representations.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect on the first of January.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
3360
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 47.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1135, by Senator Flanagan, Senate Print 7162,
an act to amend the Penal Law and the
Correction Law, in relation to endangering the
welfare of a child.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
act shall take effect on the 90th day.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 47.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1194, by Senator Spano, Senate Print 6230, an
act to amend the Public Health Law, in
relation to establishing.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
3361
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
act shall take effect on the 120th day.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 47.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1244, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 4385, an
act to amend the Public Authorities Law, in
relation to authorizing.
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, 47.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1255, by Senator Kuhl, Senate Print 7298, an
3362
act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, in
relation to the use of restored registration
plates.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 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, 47.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1266, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 2602A,
an act to amend the Retirement and Social
Security Law, in relation to retirement
eligibility.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 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.)
3363
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 48.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1268, by the Assembly Committee on Rules,
Assembly Print Number 8099, an act to amend
the Civil Service Law, in relation to
independent hearing officers.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect on the first of March.
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
1272, by Senator Robach, Senate Print 3201A,
an act to amend the Retirement and Social
Security Law, in relation to creditable
service.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
3364
THE SECRETARY: Section 6. 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
1285, by Senator Maltese, Senate Print 6223,
an act to amend the Administrative Code of the
City of New York and the Retirement and Social
Security Law, in relation to including.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
a home-rule message at the desk.
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, 48.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
3365
1287, by Senator Robach, Senate Print 6368A,
an act to amend the Civil Service Law, in
relation to the reassignment.
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: Calendar Number
1299, by Senator Mendez, Senate Print 7291, an
act to amend the Administrative Code of the
City of New York and the Education Law, in
relation to retired members.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 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.)
3366
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 48.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1307, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 7265, an
act to amend the Social Services Law, in
relation to providing.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This
act shall take effect on the 180th 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: Calendar Number
1321, by Member of the Assembly DiNapoli,
Assembly Print Number 10052, an act to --
SENATOR MALTESE: Lay that aside
for the day, please.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
bill aside for the day.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
3367
1325, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 7216,
an act to amend the Environmental Conservation
Law, in relation to marine commercial
licenses.
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, 48.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1326, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 7217,
an act to amend the Environmental Conservation
Law, in relation to catch and release fishing.
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.)
3368
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 48.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1327, by Senator Marcellino, Senate Print
7241, an act to amend the Environmental
Conservation Law, in relation to the authority
of the Department of Environmental
Conservation.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 6. This
act shall take effect October 1, 2004.
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
1331, by Member of the Assembly Canestrari,
Assembly Print Number 6256B, an act in
relation to permitting the Albany Port
District Commission.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
3369
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. Nays,
1. Senator Bonacic recorded in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1456, by Senator Balboni, Senate Print 7315,
an act to amend the Patriot Plan, in relation
to extending the applicability.
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, 49.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
3370
1457, by Senator Golden, Senate Print 7319, an
act to amend the Executive Law, in relation to
requiring information.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect on the 120th day.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 49.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1470, by the Assembly Committee on Rules,
Assembly Print Number 8952A, an act to
authorizing the Commissioner of General
Services to sell and convey.
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.)
3371
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 50.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
Senator Bonacic.
SENATOR BONACIC: On an unrelated
matter, now that my students have left the
chambers, I was never a valedictorian. One
member misspoke.
And I wanted to make sure the
record -- I was a good student, a good
athlete, but not a valedictorian.
(Laughter.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Before I
rule Senator Bonacic out of order, would
anyone else like to make a confession?
(Laughter.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Morahan, that completes the noncontroversial
reading of the calendar.
Senator Duane, why do you rise?
SENATOR DUANE: Thank you, Mr.
President. If I may have unanimous consent to
be recorded in the negative on Calendar Number
559.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Without
3372
objection, Senator Duane will be recorded in
the negative on Calendar 559.
SENATOR DUANE: And had I been a
valedictorian, I would not have missed that
one.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Morahan.
SENATOR MORAHAN: Thank you, Mr.
President. Can we now have the controversial
reading of the calendar, please.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will conduct the controversial
reading of the calendar.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
95, by Member of the Assembly Sanders,
Assembly Print Number 1892A, an act to amend
the Education Law, in relation to attendance.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Schneiderman.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you,
Mr. President. Very briefly on the bill.
This piece of legislation seeks to
amend the Education Law to allow all school
districts the power to require that students
attend school at least until the end of the
3373
school year in which they turn 17.
Current law only allows all the
school districts in the state to require that
students attend until the end of the school
year in which they turn 16. And this is a
bill in recognition of the fact that there are
needs, sometimes, for students to remain in
school longer.
But as we head towards the end of
session and we head towards a budget which we
will pass someday, we are going to be engaged
in an ongoing basis in the discussion -- and
we had one of them on Monday -- on issues
related to the Campaign for Fiscal Equity
case.
And in regard to students staying
in school longer than we would like, perhaps,
or taking extra time to graduate, I would just
like to point out to all of my colleagues
another finding of the court in the CFE case.
Only 50 percent of the students in New York
City high schools graduate in four years.
Fifty percent. And 30 percent of them do not
graduate by the age of 21.
Once again, evidence that we have a
3374
systemic failure in the City of New York far
beyond anything that exists anywhere else in
the state. And that we all want good schools
in all communities for all of our students.
But I bring this to your attention,
once again, as we move forward, as Senator
Kuhl has with this bill to enable school
districts to address problems. We have to
provide the reforms and the resources to
enable the City of New York to end a system in
which only 50 percent of our students graduate
in four years.
I am voting yes for this bill, Mr.
President. And I hope that we will address
all of these issues before the session is out.
Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I'm going
to vote yes for this bill, but I just want to
make clear that maybe in the negotiations
there could be some discussion about this
issue that it just talks about school
districts having the ability to require
students to continue education until age 17.
3375
I would hope that there would be
some standard added to the bill, because if a
person's able to finish school early, there's
nothing in this bill that wouldn't cause --
there's something in the bill that might cause
confusion as to whether that student can get
out early because they've already completed
the grade work, the classwork.
The intent is clear, I think, that
it's for people who don't have the high school
education while they're -- while they're age
16 and they're let to go out of school and
they never graduate, and then they're at an
academic disadvantage or at a disadvantage the
rest of their lives.
But there should be a clarification
that if you've completed your studies, that
discretion of the school district to keep you
on until you're 17 should not be allowed.
I vote yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Gonzalez.
SENATOR GONZALEZ: Yes, Mr.
President.
As Senator Schneiderman has stated
3376
with the statistics, I think that part of the
statistics that the kids don't graduate -- but
I expect the kids to graduate from the Raul
Julia Middle School up in the Bronx who are
here today. And those statistics will not be
set forth because they are working hard so
that they can graduate and with their parents
be proud and I will be proud of them.
So those statistics, we're working
hard not to have that happen, and I vote yes
on this.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect on the first of July.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 48. Nays,
2. Senators LaValle and Wright recorded in
the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
Senator Morahan.
SENATOR MORAHAN: Yes, thank you,
3377
Mr. President. Would you please recognize
Senator Saland.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Saland.
SENATOR SALAND: Mr. President, I
request unanimous consent to be recorded in
the negative on Calendar 867, Senate 6219A.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Without
objection, Senator Saland will be recorded in
the negative on Calendar 867.
Senator Morahan.
SENATOR MORAHAN: Thank you, Mr.
President. If you'll continue in regular
order of the controversial calendar.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will continue to read in regular
order.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
856, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 5563A, an
act to enact the Criminal Procedure Law Reform
Act of 2004.
SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON:
Explanation.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Volker, Senator Hassell-Thompson has requested
3378
an explanation of --
SENATOR VOLKER: Yes, she's
tough. She is tough, I'll tell you.
Mr. President, this bill has been
around for a few years. It -- you'll notice
it was amended. It was amended to go from the
Criminal Procedure Law Reform Act of 2003 to
the Criminal Procedure Law Reform Act of 2004.
So that explains the amendment.
There isn't any major change in the last few
years.
This is a bill that deals with, I
happen to believe, if you're not a defense
attorney, a lot of common-sense changes in the
law where the New York Court of Appeals --
that has begun developing a reputation for
decisions that are out of line with most of
the rest of the country, frankly, in defense,
in many cases, of violent criminals.
And I say that with some
trepidation, because I realize, and I did
defense work myself, that if you're a defense
attorney, you're looking for absolutely
everything you can find, everything
technicality possible, to allow your client to
3379
escape the fact that he's guilty.
And if you really look at these
provisions here, one that relates to the right
of a defendant to be at every phase of the
trial, including the voir dire before the
case, to -- as one judge said, it means that
you have to -- if there's any questioning that
goes on in the robing room with the judge,
then technically, under the present New York
law, the defendant should be there to listen
to any such conversation.
Another piece of this bill says
that -- and it relates, primarily, to the
issue of lineups. And there's always been a
lot of question about lineups, because they
create a huge problem for a defense attorney.
And I'm the first to admit it. I prosecuted
some cases or helped prosecute cases and also
defended them.
And what this bill basically says
is that if you identify someone, a witness
identifies someone in a lineup -- and in some
cases it will be years later before the case
comes to trial. And in one case that I had,
it was 4 years before the second trial. And
3380
the defendant looked entirely different in
4 years, partly because he had been in
federal prison for a while and he didn't look
very well. He had a beard and so forth.
What I'm saying is that evidence of
a prior identification, when you think of it,
should certainly be allowed in.
Another piece of this bill says
that if a defendant -- in one case here, a
defendant made a statement at the time of his
lineup, the time that he was identified at the
lineup. The prosecution forgot to include it
in their 15-day notification period
requirement. And later on, because of that,
all the evidence in the lineup was excluded.
What this bill would say is that if
you find out you have not given certain
evidence, as long as it doesn't go to the
heart of the case, that a 15-day period then
could be allowed when you realize that it was
not done.
Keeping up with that, later on, if
a person is convicted and that technicality is
found out later on, the judge on appeal can
look at the issue in terms of whether the
3381
exclusion of certain evidence or the failure
to notify went to the heart of the case and
whether the error was a good-faith error or,
as it's called, a bad-faith error. And the
entire case wouldn't be thrown out because of
technical violations that really didn't
prejudice the case anyways.
In other words, if the evidence
would not have been inalterably impacted by
either the exclusion of such evidence or the
inclusion of such evidence or the mistake that
was made by the prosecutor, then, in keeping
with the federal rule and most of the country,
the Court of Appeals will be precluded from
using that as an excuse for throwing out a
case.
One of the other issues is the
issue of the appeal of preclusion orders.
Now, this sounds all very technical. But what
it basically means is that if the preclusion
of certain evidence does not allow, in many
cases, the prosecution to move forward, the
prosecution would absolutely have the right to
an appeal to at least be able to challenge the
judge's ruling, so that the case could move
3382
forward.
Rather than the present situation,
where in many cases the prosecution is unable
to move forward because the evidence has been
precluded.
Basically that. And although
there's a couple of other inflections, that is
basically what the procedure act -- which, by
the way, at one point, years back, included
several other provisions which have been
removed, one of which was removed because it
became law. And so that's basically it.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Schneiderman.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you.
Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor
would 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 SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you.
In connection with the issue of
identification of a defendant, I just want to
3383
clarify something that I believe would be
possible if this bill were to become law.
Does this legislation in fact
provide that a third party, someone other than
the person who did the original
identification, could testify that the
identification took place?
SENATOR VOLKER: It is possible,
yes. I think I know what you mean.
One of the interesting issues is
when one of the witnesses dies who has made
the identification in a statement or whatever,
and a third party was there -- and you are
right, and I'm the first to admit that. What
we're trying to do here is to, in the
interests of justice, to allow certain
evidence in.
Now, remembering that the judge
always has the right in a criminal case, in
the interests of justice, to exclude such
evidence if the evidence for one reason or
another doesn't follow the usual train of
evidentiary thought.
I realize, by the way, that any
defense attorney worth his salt wants to have
3384
a face-to-face confrontation. But in certain
cases, that can't be done. And in certain
cases it's the defendant's -- it's because of
the defendant's challenges and things of that
nature that it doesn't happen.
So what you say is true. I believe
that that could happen.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you.
Mr. President, on the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Schneiderman, on the bill.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: I'd like
to thank the sponsor once again for his
explanation of this legislation.
I hope that we will move along and
have different Criminal Procedure Acts to
discuss in the future, since this is starting
to move into the oldie-but-goodie status of
one-house bills.
The problem that I just raised with
the sponsor is, I think, a fundamental problem
that many of us have with this legislation.
This bill, in essence, allows someone to say:
Well, there was a lineup and Senator
Hassell-Thompson identified Dale Volker as the
3385
perpetrator, but later at the trial to have a
third-party person -- as I happened to be
driving with Senator Hassell-Thompson that
day -- that I could testify, even though I
never was a witness to the crime: Oh, yes,
Senator Hassell-Thompson identified Dale
Volker as the perpetrator.
No ability to cross-examine the
person who did the actual identification. And
we know, and I know from my own experience as
a lawyer, people think, oh, you have an
eyewitness. There is nothing shakier than a
case based on eyewitness testimony in many
circumstances. We have seen a lot of people
who were convicted based on eyewitness
testimony who have been exonerated with DNA
evidence and through other means in recent
years.
Eyewitness identification is very
powerful with a jury, extremely powerful with
a jury. But people make many, many mistakes.
And there have been many cases of false
identification. And, you know, astonishingly
so. People who are absolutely certain that
they identified a person and in fact were
3386
wrong.
So the ability to have a chance for
the jury to assess the credibility of the
identifier, to have an opportunity for
cross-examination, I think is critical.
I would also suggest -- and I think
this was suggested in a prior year's debate --
that with our modern ability to videotape,
perhaps we can avoid this problem altogether.
If you want to videotape the identification,
that could be preserved and then the jury can
assess for themselves. I mean, what were the
circumstances of the lineup, how did it
happen.
In fact, it may be that the
requirement to videotape lineups could remedy
a host of problems that people either -- that
either do take place or that people certainly
believe do take place with regard to lineups.
So that's one reason and a reason
enough to vote against this bill, which I
certainly intend to do, as I have in the past.
The other question for the need for
defendants to be present at every phase of a
trial, including, as Senator Volker referred
3387
to, the voir dire -- there are some lawyers
who essentially use the voir dire as their
opening argument. I mean, there are
circumstances under which what goes on at the
voir dire could be very, very important to the
case.
And we're in a period of time in
our society with the evolution of DNA
evidence, people being exonerated for crimes
that they were convicted of, where there's a
lot of doubt about the criminal justice
system.
And, frankly, there's a lot of
doubt about whether or not there are racial
and ethnic prejudices that pervade the system
so that some people get less fair treatment
than others. There certainly is a growing
sense that there is a class bias in the
criminal justice system. Those who can afford
fancy lawyers certainly get a very different
type of justice than those who cannot.
And I think in those circumstances
it is more important than ever that defendants
be allowed to be present so they can at least
see what's happening and not be convicted with
3388
the belief that their lawyer sold them out,
that they weren't allowed to be there, they
weren't allowed to watch, they didn't know
what happened, and all of a sudden they
believe they're convicted unfairly.
Finally, I would say that there are
some small number of circumstances in which
what are referred to as technicalities -- but
to some of us are fundamental due-process
rights -- result in guilty people going free.
But the wisdom of our founding fathers and
mothers, and the wisdom of our constitution,
federal and state, is that we are a lot better
off having a very small number of guilty
people go free in order to prevent the
unspeakable horror of an innocent person being
convicted.
And I'm willing to make some
sacrifices for that, and I think a lot of us
are. And a lot of us believe that that's what
we fight for when we're fighting for the flag
and the Constitution of the United States, is
that fundamental sense of freedom and justice.
We have to put the government to
their test. And prosecutors, like defense
3389
lawyers, are capable of abusing whatever
possible limits there are.
And I would note, in fact, that
when you're talking about giving prosecutors
rights to appeal preclusion orders, we've seen
very recently someone we know well who was
really worn down by prosecutorial activity
that just went on and on and on and forced him
to spend a tremendous amount of money and
borrow money. And those kinds of abuses are
possible also.
So I vote no. I think we can come
up with better ways to amend the Criminal
Procedure Law. I appreciate Senator Volker's
tireless efforts to address the problems in
the system. I don't think this bill addresses
them in a way that we really should be.
And I encourage everyone else to
vote no in the hopes that we will come up with
some other formulation of these reforms,
perhaps not this year but perhaps before we
have to see this reprinted as the Criminal
Justice Reform Act of 2005.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
3390
Volker.
SENATOR VOLKER: Very briefly.
You know, I agree with most of what
you said, Senator. However, I don't agree
with the end result.
Let me just say something. And
you're absolutely right about the case that
you were talking about. Although, remember,
it never went to trial. And with all the
procedure that was done and the bankrupting of
the defendant and all that sort of stuff,
quite obviously that was, in my opinion,
prosecutorial misconduct. But that's beside
the point on this situation.
Remember one thing. I happen to
agree with you that sometimes the guilty go
free because of improper practices and things
of that nature. But the law should not be in
the situation -- and by the way, these people
that are going free here are virtually all
minorities. Which is fine. And many would
say that it's more likely that they're going
to go free, especially in the city, than
caucasians. And I think that's true, by the
way, the way the law has turned out in the
3391
last few years.
But be that as it may, remember
that the people who are going free here, who
have been, all of them, been judged guilty,
are criminals. These are people that
victimized, in some cases murdered innocent
people, many of whom were minorities.
And the problem with justice is
that you really have to be careful with how
you deal with these issues of justice. I
totally agree with you that certain people,
even though they were guilty, in the interests
of fairness and justice have to go free. It's
our system.
But I think sometimes that we
overdo the issue of justice. Justice means
that people get their due, as a general rule.
And if people get their due and because of
some minor frailty -- for instance, the
defendant doesn't happen to be there at every
phase of the prosecution because of their own
negligence or their own choice -- then it
seems to me it's just unjust.
And I believe in judicial
discretion. So I think we should allow a
3392
judge to then look at that situation and not
be locked into a rule that says that people
virtually automatically go free because there
was some sort of a minor problem. And if a
judge thinks that problem is more major than
it appears, then he has the right to rule in
favor of the defendant.
So all I can say to you, Eric, I
agree with you that these are tough things on
defense attorneys, because they're outs. And
we in many ways would rather not do outs.
But, on the other hand, remember that these
are innocent victims who were victimized by
these people who committed these crimes and
went off and were freed.
THE PRESIDENT: Does any other
Senator wish to be heard on this bill?
Then the debate is closed.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 10. This
act shall take effect immediately.
THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in
the negative on Calendar Number 856 are
3393
Senators Connor, Duane, Hassell-Thompson,
Paterson, Schneiderman, and Stavisky. Ayes,
46. Nays, 6.
THE PRESIDENT: The bill is
passed.
Senator LaValle.
SENATOR LaVALLE: Madam
President, may I have unanimous consent to be
recorded in the negative on Calendar Number
1325.
THE PRESIDENT: Hearing no
objection, you will be so recorded as voting
in the negative.
Senator Duane.
SENATOR DUANE: Madam President,
if I may also be recorded in the negative with
unanimous consent on Calendar Number 1325.
THE PRESIDENT: Hearing no
objection, you will be so recorded as voting
in the negative.
SENATOR CONNOR: Madam President.
THE PRESIDENT: Senator Connor.
SENATOR CONNOR: Thank you, Madam
President. May I have unanimous consent to be
recorded in the negative on Calendar Number
3394
559.
THE PRESIDENT: Hearing no
objection, you will be so recorded as voting
in the negative.
Senator Balboni.
SENATOR BALBONI: Madam
President, I request unanimous consent to be
recorded in the negative on Calendar Number
1325.
THE PRESIDENT: Hearing no
objection, you will be so recorded as voting
in the negative.
Senator Ada Smith.
SENATOR ADA SMITH: Madam
President, I request unanimous consent to be
recorded in the negative on Calendar Number
856, Senate Print Number 5563A.
THE PRESIDENT: Hearing no
objection, you will be so recorded as voting
in the negative.
Senator Schneiderman, I think
you've been standing for a while.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Oh, thank
you, Madam President. Although I'm very
comfortable.
3395
I would request unanimous consent
to be recorded in the negative on Calendar
559.
THE PRESIDENT: Hearing no
objection, you will be so recorded as voting
in the negative.
Senator Maziarz.
SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you very
much, Madam President. I'd like unanimous
consent to be recorded in the negative on
Calendar Number 95, Senate Print 1487.
THE PRESIDENT: Hearing no
objection, you will be so recorded as voting
in the negative.
Senator Little.
SENATOR LITTLE: Thank you, Madam
President. I would request unanimous consent
to be recorded in the negative on Calendar
Number 95, Senate Bill 1487, and Calendar
Number 867, Senate Bill 6219A.
THE PRESIDENT: Hearing no
objection, you will be so recorded as voting
in the negative.
Senator Bruno.
SENATOR BRUNO: Madam President,
3396
I believe that there is a privileged
resolution at the desk that I and others have
sponsored. I would ask that it be read in its
entirety at this time and we move for its
immediate adoption.
THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary
will read.
THE SECRETARY: By Senators Bruno
and Maltese, Legislative Resolution Number
5477, paying tribute to the distinguished and
remarkable life of Ronald Wilson Reagan, the
40th President of the United States of
America.
"WHEREAS, It is with profound
sorrow that this Legislative Body,
representing the people of the State of
New York, is moved this day to pay tribute to
an eminent gentleman of indomitable faith and
dedication whose purposeful life and
accomplishments will forever stand as a
paradigm and inspiration for others; and
"WHEREAS, Ronald Wilson Reagan, a
former film star and America's 40th president,
died Saturday June 5, 2004, in Los Angeles, at
the age of 93, living longer than any United
3397
States president; and
"WHEREAS, Ronald Reagan spent his
final years coping with Alzheimer's disease.
In 1994, he touched the hearts of Americans
when, in a handwritten letter, he let it be
known he was suffering from the illness, a
step very much in keeping with the way he
lived his life and which helped millions of
Americans by increasing awareness of this
debilitating disease; and
"WHEREAS, Ronald Reagan worked
throughout his life serving freedom and
advancing the public good, while serving in
many capacities, including as an entertainer,
union leader, corporate spokesman, Governor of
California, and President of the United
States; and
"WHEREAS, Ronald Reagan served with
honor and distinction for two terms as the
40th President of the United States of
America. In his second term, he earned the
confidence of three-fifths of the electorate
and was victorious in 49 of the 50 states in
the general election -- a record unsurpassed
in the history of American presidential
3398
elections; and
"WHEREAS, In 1981, when Ronald
Reagan was inaugurated president, he inherited
a disillusioned nation shackled by rampant
inflation and high unemployment; and
"WHEREAS, During Mr. Reagan's
presidency, he worked in a bipartisan manner
to enact his bold agenda of restoring
accountability and common sense to government,
which led to an unprecedented economic
expansion and opportunity for millions of
Americans; and
"WHEREAS, Mr. Reagan's commitment
to an active social policy agenda for the
nation's children helped lower crime and drug
use in our neighborhoods; and
"WHEREAS, President Reagan's
commitment to our armed forces contributed to
the restoration of pride in America, her
values and those cherished by the free world,
and prepared America's armed forces to win the
Gulf War; and
"WHEREAS, President Reagan's vision
of 'peace through strength' led to the end of
the Cold War and the ultimate demise of the
3399
Soviet Union, guaranteeing basic human rights
for millions of people; and
"WHEREAS, Ronald Reagan was born in
Tampico, Illinois, on February 6, 1911, to
John Edward Reagan and Nellie Wilson Reagan;
and
"WHEREAS, Ronald Reagan graduated
from Eureka College with a degree in economics
and sociology. A scholarship winner who
worked summers as a lifeguard, he was also the
president of his class, an outstanding athlete
who earned three varsity letters, and the star
of most of the campus plays; and
"WHEREAS, After graduation, Ronald
Reagan auditioned to be a radio sportscaster
in Davenport, Iowa. He was quickly hired and
went under the name 'Dutch' Reagan; and
"WHEREAS, In 1937, Ronald Reagan
visited Hollywood and took a screen test with
Warner Brothers; the studio signed him and his
first role was as a sportscaster in 'Love is
in the Air.' That was the first of eight B
movies he appeared in during his first year
before being promoted to feature films and
fame as George Gipp, the doomed football star
3400
in 'Knute Rockne, All American'; and
"WHEREAS, The movie became famous
for the line 'Win one for the Gipper,' a line
Ronald Reagan later adopted in his political
career; and
"WHEREAS, In 1940, Ronald Reagan
married actress Jane Wyman. They had a
daughter, Maureen, and adopted a son, Michael.
The marriage ended in divorce in 1948, after
he became active as a member of the Screen
Actors Guild board of directors. He became
known as a man who loved to take the floor and
later earned the nickname 'The Great
Communicator'; and
"WHEREAS, In 1952, Ronald Reagan
married actress Nancy Davis. She became both
his wife and his political partner and
advisor. Together they had two children,
Patricia and Ronald, Jr.; and
"WHEREAS, For the next ten years,
Ronald Reagan discovered his talent in front
of the television camera and spent eight years
as a host and occasional performer on General
Electric Theater and as a national spokesman
for General Electric; and
3401
"WHEREAS, Ronald Reagan made a
dramatic debut in national politics in 1964,
which led to his election as Governor of
California and ultimately two terms as
President of the United States; and
"WHEREAS, The sincere condolences
of this Legislative Body are offered in great
respect and loving honor to Ronald Wilson
Reagan's family. He is survived by his wife,
Nancy; his children, Patricia 'Patti' Davis,
Ronald, Jr., and Michael; and his
grandchildren Rita, Cameron and Ashley; now,
therefore, be it
"RESOLVED, That this Legislative
Body pause in its deliberations in a moment of
silent tribute to Ronald Wilson Reagan; and be
it further
"RESOLVED, That copies of this
resolution, suitably engrossed, be transmitted
to the family of Ronald Wilson Reagan, the
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum,
the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, the
Office of Ronald Reagan, and the Reagan Alumni
Group."
THE PRESIDENT: Senator Bruno.
3402
SENATOR BRUNO: Thank you, Madam
President and colleagues.
You have heard a resolution that
took several minutes to read and review about
the life of a great man, a great, great man.
Great American, patriot. But a great man,
just a great person.
This week we've all been
reflecting, and really for a lot of years, on
Ronald Reagan the man. The president. The
Governor. Labor leader. The actor.
All of us get affected in different
ways by circumstances and by people. Well, I
don't know about you, but with me, in my life,
Abraham Lincoln has sort of been like the
president, the leader in bygone days. Ronald
Reagan, in my life, was the greatest
inspiration that I've ever had.
And I was reflecting, with all of
this, when I first saw Ronald Reagan. It was
in Glens Falls, New York, where I lived, at
the Queensbury Hotel. He was on tour for GE.
He was touring the country, delivering their
message. And I remember I was in an audience
with several hundred people. And I was
3403
probably from here to where Madam President is
presiding.
And I watched him all through the
meal. He was an after-dinner speaker. And I
watched people go up to him. He was then a
pretty successful guy, known, you know,
throughout the country. He was a celebrity.
But I watched him interact with people.
Now, I was -- you'll probably find
this hard to believe -- 30 years old. I was
30 once in my life, yeah. Somewhere. I was,
you might say, impressionable. I hadn't given
a thought to be in politics. I was
struggling, just trying to earn a living. And
my recollection is I was in sales. And I
watched him, and I remember watching -- he had
a handkerchief sticking out here, dapper,
handsome, charismatic. And it just exuded in
a natural way.
And when he was introduced and got
up to speak, I observed that he wasn't casual.
He didn't take anything for granted. You
could tell that he was on. It was his moment.
You know, he kind of went like this
[straightening tie], and he touched -- I
3404
almost felt, at my age, he looked nervous.
Now, I don't believe that he was
the least bit nervous. I believe that he is
such a great communicator that he wasn't
casual, he wasn't anything other than right on
his toes, ready to deliver a message.
I sat there; he talked for probably
15, 20 minutes. And I remember when he
stopped talking, unlike most of you in the
chamber, I was sad. I was unhappy. Most of
the time when you listen to someone speak, you
can't wait for them to sit down. Not always.
But you know what I'm saying? I
could have listened to him, because he talked
about all of the things that were important in
people's lives. But he did it in such a real,
real fashion.
And what I noticed about him then,
which I never forgot -- because when he
finished talking, he got a standing ovation, I
worked my way up through the crowd and I shook
hands with him. And, you know, the whole
thing was like five, ten seconds. But he had
a twinkle in his eye, and he looked you
directly in the eye so that you felt truly
3405
like you made contact.
Now, that's what was special about
this man as a man, as a communicator, in all
of the roles that he played. There was
nothing phoney about him. He was real. You
think about it. On his ranch, in life, a
union leader, he was a man, a person. Wanted
to change the world, wanted to do things.
In my mind, Abraham Lincoln and
Ronald Reagan changed this world, changed our
world here in this country, in all the
positive ways that -- to our benefit. And you
can debate Reaganomics and trickle-down and
you can be pro or con. But nobody can ever
debate the sincerity, what this man did, what
he accomplished, what he overcame in a very
difficult, challenging time and business.
So we can reflect on his life now,
each and every one of us, because we are in
challenging times now and we have to provide
leadership through these challenging times.
And whether it's worldwide with what's going
on in this country, some of the other
countries around the world, when we reflect on
his life -- overcoming communism, providing
3406
the leadership that he provided in so many
different ways. How? How? By communicating
with sincerity.
And that is a key in all of our
lives, that we be sincere, sincere with
ourselves, with our constituency. And that's
the lesson that I learned from Ronald Reagan.
I saw him as president a couple of
times -- again, for seconds, in receptions --
and he never was any different. He just made
you feel real, like a person, not that he was
talking down, looking down. That's a gift.
And that's a gift that all of us can relate to
in our lives, as you're out there with people
who look to you for leadership and the way
you, I, relate to people. That's a lesson
that we have to learn from Ronald Reagan in
our lives.
And when he found that he had what
would be a terminal disease where he was going
to be totally incapacitated, did he hide? Did
he whimper? He shared with the world what his
life was like, and in his famous line that he
was approaching the sunset of his life.
Now, how profound. And he lived
3407
those first years in the sunset recognizing
when he could, writing when he could. But
being a man, being a husband, being a father,
being a president of all of the people here in
the United States.
So I was blessed for having been
exposed to him in a personal way, and I was
blessed that he provided such an inspiration
to me in my life that I ended up with a dream
and a vision that I someday would be in
elective office. I don't remember thinking
that I might like to be president someday.
But who knows? Time passes, and who knows.
He was 73 when he was elected
president. Think about that for achievement
and accomplishment.
So I know a lot of you have your
own thoughts and you want to verbalize them.
But I have just had a feeling right here and
in my heart all of these years, as he has been
languishing with the ailment that he's had,
and now we reflect on all of the great things
this great American did.
Thank you, Madam President.
THE PRESIDENT: Senator Paterson.
3408
SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you,
Madam President. And Mr. Leader, for that
quite informative eulogy to the former
president.
The two things I'll probably
remember most is that I never knew that former
President Reagan, before he was president, had
traveled around the country for GE. And I
also didn't know that the leader was leaving
the door open to being a national candidate in
a few years.
I first remember Ronald Reagan when
I was 8 or 9 years old. I was a big sports
fan, and he was the star of a movie, "The
Grover Cleveland Alexander Story." And I must
have watched that movie ten times. So he was
one of my heroes in those days. He played the
role of the pitcher who comes back after
illness and helps the St. Louis Cardinals win
the 1926 World Series.
As I got older, I would learn that
Ronald Reagan in 1932 was a broadcaster for
the Chicago Cubs, along with a famous
broadcaster named Bert Wilson. And he once
said that he could have stayed right there and
3409
been a broadcaster for baseball for the rest
of his life. And speaking for all the members
of this conference, and Democrats all around
the country, we really wish he had done that.
(Laughter.)
SENATOR PATERSON: The next time
I remembered seeing Ronald Reagan was in 1964,
when he did a commercial for Barry Goldwater,
who was the presidential candidate that year,
and he let America see his temper. He was one
angry individual about the Democrats'
commercials and the way that Barry Goldwater
was being portrayed as an angry, antagonistic
figure.
And inadvertently I think Ronald
Reagan, who would go on to become governor,
thought that perhaps he had played into that
himself by showing his anger in the media.
Now, what was interesting around
that time is that there was actually a comedy
album that was released portraying what it
would be like if Ronald Reagan ever became
president. That was considered sort of abject
humor at that particular time.
But he would go on to become
3410
Governor of California and of course President
of the United States. And he made an
adjustment, and the adjustment was that he
realized that those who established and avowed
the same political ideology that he did were
coming across in a way that really connoted
reciting the bill of particulars for what they
believed was wrong with America at the time,
and for doing it in a way that came across
almost arrogantly or in some ways hostilely.
And so President Reagan made an
adjustment, and he reached to that
communicating part of his personality -- it
was one thing that he was a great
communicator; it was another thing that he
knew the value of communication.
And I remember watching him in 1980
running for president in the presidential
debates. At that time President Carter
wouldn't debate, so Ronald Reagan debated
Senator John Anderson. And in those debates,
I watched him and I just had this feeling that
I knew how this election was going to end.
And I was right about that.
And at the time, having a different
3411
point of view, I had a different feeling about
whether that was good for America. But I
certainly could not take away that gift of
his.
And it's always interesting when we
tend to mimic the character and the conduct of
people who we actually don't agree with but we
respect and admire the way they present
themselves. And that was how I always felt
about President Reagan.
Just a few months after he was
inaugurated, at the end of March, he was shot
in Washington, D.C. And when he was taken to
the hospital and they got his wife on the
phone, he offered the famous rendition from
the movie, and he said: "Honey, I forgot to
duck."
That was actually taken by the
national media and a lot of political figures
to be negative, that why would he make light
of the fact that he was shot. But that's not
what he was doing. He was trying to put the
country at ease. He was trying not to let
people become hysterical over the fact that
there had been yet another attempted
3412
assassination of a president.
Remember, 18 years earlier, the
president was murdered. And then, within five
years of that incident, there had been two
attempts on the president when the president
was Gerald Ford. So this was the fourth
attempted shooting of a president in nearly
twenty years.
What he wanted to do was to
establish comfort for the rest of the country.
And isn't it wonderful that this man, lying in
a hospital, wounded by a bullet, still has
quicker and sharper reactions than all of the
prognosticators and the consultants and the
analyzers of American conduct.
And I guess that's why Senator
Bruno said it's a gift. Because apparently
President Reagan didn't have to think before
he did these things; he had an instant
reaction that was timely and was what the
country needed.
The same year, he would go on to
pass the largest tax cut in the country's
history, a $750 million tax cut that friends
of mine opposed very vigorously. But within a
3413
couple of years of that tax cut, the national
debt actually doubled and the national savings
was dwindled. President Reagan had the
ability to change the course. He created
revenue enhancers just a couple of years later
that in many ways generated more revenues per
capita than the Clinton tax increase of 1993.
The point isn't whether or not you
agree with it. The point isn't even whether
or not it's right. It was that with all of
his greatness, he still understood his
humanity and he still understood his own
imperfections. He'd actually make fun of
them. Remember when he made fun of his own
age in the presidential debate and said he
wouldn't let his opponent's youth be held
against him?
And the point about President
Reagan was that he had that ability to, in
many ways, act in a way that you would
consider to be genius. But then, as Senator
Bruno said, that when he met him he made
everyone feel as if he was no better than they
were.
People say that he didn't change
3414
his philosophy. His intervention in Reykjavik
in 1986 would belie that. This was a person
who thought about what he was doing, and this
was a person who had a sense of himself that
was so confident that he would trust himself
at times just to react to things.
And whatever your ideology is, you
have to admire the few people that come along
who touch us in our lives who have that great
ability that is so needed in our society right
now.
It's amazing how we, as much as we
in public service, are still affected by the
greatness of leadership ourselves, as the
Majority Leader talked about Abraham Lincoln
and, in his life, Ronald Reagan.
And certainly the decorum that he
displayed is something that really as much as
on perhaps a short list of three of people
I've observed, is something that's in me. I
sort of try in my own way to be like him. I
just don't try to vote like him, but I really
try to be like him.
Because it is that indomitable
spirit that we're all really paying homage to
3415
today. And the grace with which he actually
left office, the manner in which he treated
other people, even his adversaries, I think
will be celebrated for decades. He is
probably one of the ten American presidents
that will be best remembered, no matter how
many presidents our union elects.
It was a memory I have in 1986, my
first year in the Senate, when we had to
cancel session on January 28th because of the
shuttle disaster. And that night, President
Reagan went on television and spoke to the
nation. And that was when he talked about
"peering through the galaxy to touch the face
of God." I thought it was one of the most
poignant and touching moments of my life.
And no matter how you thought on
the lower frequencies, the political
differences that we have, you know that all
the families and the family of America and
people around the world had to feel nurtured
by this great man, just him sitting in front
of a camera communicating with us.
I hope that as much as celebrating
him, and not using this occasion for a sort of
3416
harmonious grief, that we will pay more
attention to his life, to his conduct, to the
message that he conferred on America. And in
our own differing ways, even as we don't
always see eye to eye, that we will use that
kind of example to raise the consciousness of
our debate and interaction with each other.
That's how we will remember him, and that
would be the greatest gift we could receive
from him.
Thank you again for your comments,
Mr. Leader. And Madam President, thank you
for allowing me to offer mine.
THE PRESIDENT: Senator Maltese.
SENATOR MALTESE: Madam
President, first of all, I want to say that in
addition to acknowledging so many debts of
gratitude to President Ronald Wilson Reagan, I
didn't realize until now that we also might
owe a debt of gratitude to him for our
Majority Leader entering political life.
I do want to also say that our
Governor took absolutely the right step by
declaring Friday a day of commemoration and
mourning. I think those alleged conservatives
3417
who would say that it's the wrong thing to do
and Ronald Reagan would not have approved do
not truly know Ronald Reagan. I think they're
the grinches or the grouches of today.
I think this is a day that we that
live at this time will long remember and will
be long remembered in our history. I had the
pleasure of reading a commentary this morning
by former Mayor Ed Koch where he indicated
that in his mind, President Reagan would be
remembered in history as one of the most
beloved and effective presidents.
I'd like to, first of all, as far
as our distinguished Minority Leader, I want
to say that I had the honor to serve as an
elector in 1980 and 1984, and I knew his dad,
Basil Paterson, slightly but came to know him
even better at that time. He was a most
hospitable host, making sure that all the
electors were comfortable, acting as a host
many times, seeing that all were tended to.
And again, it's easy to see from whence he
came as far as our Minority Leader is
concerned, in that he also admired and
respected Ronald Reagan.
3418
I'd like to just say three very
brief anecdotes. Because I was the chief
operating officer of the state Conservative
Party, we were -- early on, we were big
supporters of Barry Goldwater and of course
early supporters of Ronald Reagan. And
because of that, I was in the company of
President Reagan many, many times.
One particular time I think showed
the self-effacing nature of the man. He was
present with State Chairman Dan Mahoney,
Kathleen Mahoney, his wife, and my wife,
Constance. And he was telling us -- my wife
happened to mention Errol Flynn, and he was
telling us that he knew that Errol Flynn was
taller than he was, and they had to apparently
appear in some sort of press conference in
connection with a movie they were filming. So
it was outdoors, and he was surreptitiously
kicking earth together to create a little
mound so that when the time came for the
camera shot, he was not only even to Errol
Flynn but just a little bit taller.
And I remember in 1984 when Mondale
picked Gerry Ferraro as his vice presidential
3419
candidate, I, through the good offices of
Senator D'Amato, emerged as the congressional
candidate for the district where Gerry Ferraro
ran. As I remember, Senator D'Amato said:
"Don't you live in that district?" And I
ended up running for Congress.
(Laughter.)
SENATOR MALTESE: But that
particular seat was known as the Archie Bunker
seat. And as a result, the combination
between being known as the Archie Bunker seat
and the fact that the vice presidential
candidate was vacating the seat placed a lot
of attention on the seat.
And I was one of a number of
prospective congressmen or congressional
candidates that were called to Washington,
D.C. in '84 to pose with the President. It
was a good number of us; I think in excess of
twenty. And the idea was, as we know in
politics, that you would file up the steps of
the Capitol, say a brief word or two with
President Reagan and shake his hand, take your
picture and move on.
And we were in alphabetical order,
3420
and the gentleman before me was Connie Mack,
who was at that time running for congressman
from Florida, the state of Florida. And so he
got his place on the step, and I was next to
him. So we would be efficiently moving
forward, I guess they assigned maybe a big one
or two minutes for each congressional
candidate.
And when Connie Mack shook his hand
and said, "Hi, Mr. President, I'm Connie
Mack," that was it. The president said:
"Connie Mack? The grandson of the Connie
Mack? Wow, I've been meaning to talk to you.
Do you have a souvenir for me?"
And lo and behold, Connie Mack had
a baseball signed by his grandfather, Connie
Mack, which he presented to the president.
Well, even at that time, in 1984,
there were many that felt that the president
was slipping. He was, as Senator Bruno has
indicated, the oldest man ever to run for
president. And that he had at that time, they
were claiming, stages of Alzheimer's.
Well, for the next more than half
an hour, the president stood on the steps and
3421
regaled Connie and those of us standing nearby
with his days as a radio announcer in
Des Moines, Iowa, with the fact that he had
been known as Dutch and could we picture him
with blond hair, and that's why they had
called him Dutch.
And the stories of Connie Mack, who
was the -- I think he played for the
Pittsburgh Pirates, but that was way before my
time, and then he was the manager for the
Philadelphia Athletics.
But he remembered plays that he had
announced on the radio, he remembered the
players, he remembered everything throughout.
And as has been indicated, it was the '30s,
and we were at that time in the '80s.
The last anecdote was he was
constantly being portrayed as older. And Time
magazine had done an absolutely terrible cover
shot of the president, and showing him
red-faced. It looked more like a Salvador
Dali painting than a painting of the
President.
And my wife had done a painting of
the president for presentation at one of the
3422
dinners. And Constance and I and I think Mike
Long and Dan presented this painting to him.
And as we presented it to him, he was
literally jumping for joy. He was pointing to
the painting, and Nancy was with him, and he
said, "That's what I really look like, not
that damn Time magazine cover!"
So as has been mentioned by the
Minority Leader, certainly the measure of the
man was that episode, March 30th of 1981, when
he was shot. He insisted on the walking into
the hospital himself, on his own two feet, did
not wish to be assisted, although he collapsed
as soon as he got into the hospital.
And in addition to the famous line
"I forgot to duck," I think another one that
heartened the nation was, "I hope the surgeon
is a Republican."
This certainly was a man bigger
than life, larger than life. I know what I
watched was, of course, over and over again,
as he was at the Berlin Wall and when he
stated those famous words: "Mr. Gorbachev,
tear down this wall!" And that, of course, as
we know, led to the ultimate collapse of the
3423
"evil empire." And it was indeed an evil
empire.
And people may conjecture the cast
of characters, whether it would have changed
or not. But thank God he was in the right
place, the right man in the right place at the
right time. And as a result, we removed the
threat of nuclear annihilation from our
children, our grandchildren, and the world is
a much better place now. We emerged as the
sole superpower, and I think recent events
have certainly indicated that we are using
that power wisely.
So Ronald Wilson Reagan, you, I am
positive, will emerge as one of the greatest
presidents of all time, certainly the greatest
president in my lifetime.
And I am proud to second this
resolution to memorialize and remember Ronald
Wilson Reagan.
THE PRESIDENT: Senator Balboni.
SENATOR BALBONI: Madam
President, personal experiences and lessons
learned.
Many of us in this chamber, I'm
3424
sure, have had the brushes with greatness of
an amazing man and president. Mine is one
seen through the eyes of my father. My father
was involved in the Rotary and traveled around
the world providing medical care to the
underprivileged in places like Uganda and in
Korea and Costa Rica.
On one trip, when he first went --
and it was a brand-new program -- they brought
back three children from Korea. And in South
Korea they did not have the ability to take
care of these children with heart
abnormalities. And they could be treated with
some of the simplest technology we had in this
nation.
Well, the president of the United
States, Ronald Reagan, and his wife, Nancy,
took these three children on Air Force One,
flew them into New York, and then Mrs. Reagan
personally brought the children to St. Francis
Hospital, to my father's care, in Roslyn,
New York.
She actually called the house one
day and that was a great source of amusement,
because, you know, pick up the phone, it's the
3425
White House on the phone. Yeah, sure it is.
At that time we were playing phone pranks on
everybody, and we figured it was a phone
prank. And then my father got a little
anxious that no, it really was the First Lady.
And then he took his brother-in-law
and his sister from Rome to the White House
and was entertained by the president.
And his remarkable gift was to make
sure that you understood that you were
important. Here's the President of the United
States, and he really focused on that.
And then the lessons learned. I
don't know about all of you, but following up
on Serph's comments, I remember very, very
vividly when the President of the United
States said the words "Evil Empire," that I
was frightened, I was truly frightened that
this was going to be the start of an armed
conflict with this massive enemy, the Soviet
Union, that was going to wind up in the
destruction of our society and our
civilization.
And yet the lesson should be
learned, you know, leadership is hard. You
3426
are always second-guessed. It's never a
popular thing to do. If it were popular,
anyone could do it.
Ronald Reagan proved appeasement
doesn't work, peace through strength, the
ability to look your enemy in the eye and say:
You will not defeat us. Very challenging
times. Something we should remember today.
God bless him.
THE PRESIDENT: Senator Johnson.
SENATOR JOHNSON: Madam President
and my colleagues, I too would like to say a
few words about Ronald Reagan, President
Reagan.
I think I was perhaps one of the
first Senators -- certainly Fred Eckert and I
met with Ronald Reagan's advocates before he
was the candidate for president, and we always
had a relationship over the years. Through
the American Legislative Exchange Council, we
met with President Reagan many times. And
after he was elected, of course.
We got him elected, thank God,
because the country was in such a depressed
state at that time. The Iranians had our
3427
captives there. You know, we had gone through
the oil crisis with Jimmy Carter. There was
no strong leadership. The Cold War was at its
intensity. The communists were working their
way up the isthmus -- Nicaragua, Guatemala,
El Salvador.
And at that time we had one of our
meetings with the president, myself and
several members of our executive board of the
American Legislative Exchange Council had a
private meeting with him, and he assured us
that he knew the situation and the situation
was going to be resolved and the communists
were not coming up through Central America to
Mexico and causing all sorts of trouble in our
hemisphere, he would take care of that. And
the famous Iran-Contra is what took care of
that.
And the president really -- he knew
what was going on, he knew how to handle it,
he was very much in control. He restored my
faith and the faith of many people in America
and the future that we had and that we would
prevail in this struggle of ideology
worldwide. And we did prevail.
3428
And God bless him and his family.
And I think I'll never see another president
like him. But I'm certainly glad that he
lived, for my sake, for my satisfaction, for
all of our satisfaction, for the future of
America and indeed for the future of the
world.
So I'd like to add my second,
third, fourth or whatever endorsement to this
resolution. Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Senator Meier.
SENATOR MEIER: Thank you, Madam
President.
I guess there's an entire
generation of us who entered public service
just about the time that President Reagan was
president. And for many of us, he really was
an inspiration.
In reflecting on it personally, in
terms of the way I looked at him, there were a
number of great gifts that this man brought to
the presidency, to the country and to those of
us who were inspired by him.
As a Republican who -- and this may
surprise some of you -- leans a little bit to
3429
the conservative side, I was inspired by the
fact that he changed the whole idea of what
being a conservative was all about. Being a
conservative politically in this country used
to be regarded as sort of the political
equivalent of telling people to eat their
spinach.
And Ronald Reagan stressed the
positive side of being a conservative
Republican, the idea that being a conservative
involved having a deep faith in the ability of
individual people to run their own lives and
make their own decisions.
Ronald Reagan was a politician who
never needed an image-maker. Senator Bruno
said this was a man who carried himself well,
who was serenely comfortable with who he was
and how he conducted himself. He was also a
politician who didn't need a pollster to tell
him what he believed. He had deep-held
convictions, and he lived them out.
He was also someone, though, who
brought to public life something that I think
we sorely lack today on many parts of the
political stage. Although he had certain
3430
convictions he would never violate, he also
was once quoted as saying: "I would rather
get half a loaf than go over the cliff with
the flag flying."
And he was also somebody who always
conducted himself in his political life
without departing from civility and from basic
kindness and basic respect for those who
opposed him.
Two things in his own words that
I'd like to close with. One was a sign that
he had behind his desk on the credenza in the
Oval Office. It said: "There is no limit to
what a man can accomplish if he doesn't mind
who gets the credit."
The second thing in his own words
are words that are engraved very near where he
will be laid to rest later this week. Ronald
Reagan's words: "I know in my heart that man
is good, that what is right will eventually
triumph, and there is purpose and worth in
every life."
Thank you, President Reagan.
THE PRESIDENT: Senator Lachman.
SENATOR LACHMAN: I rise to speak
3431
and say a few words about President Ronald
Reagan, which can't compare to the
inspirational words of the leadership that
have spoken before.
I did not have the privilege of
ever meeting Ronald Reagan. In fact,
initially, as a youngster, my position was, is
he prepared to be president after what he had
gone through in the pre-presidential years.
And I have to admit he was prepared to be
president.
And as a Democrat, I also have to
admit that he was an outstanding president.
Now, there are two things I would
like to mention as both a student of history
and a professor of government. In the
Washington National Cathedral on Friday there
will be hundreds if not thousands of people,
but two stand out in particular in terms of
international affairs: former prime minister
of Britain Margaret Thatcher, and the former
president of the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics, Mikhail Gorbachev.
Margaret Thatcher and Mikhail
Gorbachev refused to speak to one another
3432
until President Reagan brought them together.
And in their initial comments this week on his
death, both of these statesmen agreed that no
one ended the Cold War, but he led to the
ending of the Cold War by bringing these
disparate, different people and movements
together. And very few people expected that
to happen from a man who was obviously
underrated even before he became president.
The second point I'd like to raise
deals with domestic policy. Though I didn't
agree with all of Ronald Reagan's domestic
policy, I have to admit that this man was able
to resuscitate and bring a movement to
American life that is still with us today, a
quarter of a century later. And these group
of people today decide who wins or loses
presidential elections. And who are they?
They are the so-called, quote, Reagan
Democrats, end of quote.
Everyone who ran for president
after Ronald Reagan until this year are trying
to tap into these Reagan Democrats, because
they realize if they don't, they will never be
president of the United States.
3433
It's a great honor for me to be in
the Senate chamber today when we memorialize
this outstanding human being, President Ronald
Reagan.
THE PRESIDENT: Senator Larkin.
SENATOR LARKIN: Thank you, Madam
President.
I had the privilege of meeting
President Reagan three times during his times
in office: 1982, 1987, and 1989. But 1987
was a striking point for it, because it was
the first time at West Point that they
rearranged the field so that the president
could look out over the river rather than to
look at the barracks. Everybody thought that
was confusing, but it was the Secret Service,
because somebody said there may be some
demonstration here.
But when the Secret Service came,
they said: "We have to have six vehicles for
the president." Now, where do you get six
vehicles in four days? If I was the Majority
Leader, I'd have no problem.
But what we did was we went around
and got vehicles. And the president made it
3434
very clear: If somebody doesn't want to loan
us the equipment, forget it. But we're not
flying vehicles in from Washington.
So we went around to dealers, and I
asked them if they could loan us a vehicle and
explained we had to have two station wagons
because the Secret Service were going to put a
light machine gun in each one of the front and
back vehicles just in case.
So that morning the president came
around and said -- they were getting ready to
move out from Stewart -- "What have we done
for the people that are using the cars?" So
Jack Reedy from the Secret Service says:
"Bill Larkin took care of that, Mr. President.
We're going to put a plaque in each one of
them." And it said "President Reagan used
this vehicle on his trip to West Point,
October 28, 1987."
So the president said, "Well,
that's good. But how will they know I ever
got there?"
So General Clifton said to him:
"Sir, would you take a seat?" The president
sat there in a Mercury, 1989 Mercury, and they
3435
took a picture. Every one of those six cars
got a plaque. And there was a photograph in
each one of those cars of President Reagan
done by the great photograph shop at West
Point.
Then he walked around to the
drivers and he said, "Who has the Mercury?"
"I do, Mr. President." He shakes his hand, he
says: "Darn good car." He said, "Really
nice." He said, "You know, if GE ever made
cars, I'd have been a billionaire." That
referred to his days of announcing.
But it was so amazing. He said --
the cadets, he walked to the cadets and he
said "What year?" "Mr. President, I'm a
firstie." Knew he was a senior. Plebe, knew
he was a freshman. He asked them something
about the questions, what they were talking
about. Because that day -- that was the day
that he was making a major policy address on
nuclear weapons.
So he had six seniors, all who were
engineers that were going to graduate in May.
And he started asking them about nuclear
weapons, what they knew about it.
3436
I took two steps back and I said to
myself, you know, Teflon isn't going to get
hurt here. Because the president was
communicating to them on something that he was
going to speak about in a couple of hours that
affected our national security.
Those cadets that he talked to and
walked with that day came away with a clear
understanding that this was not just a
president, but this was a national leader who
was concerned about his nation and their
future.
Ronald Reagan was a great
president. As our leader explained his
situation with him, I think that all of us,
maybe not meeting him but looking at what he
said and what he did during his tenure,
whether it was in California as governor or in
the presidency, Ronald Reagan was a human
being for all human beings.
THE PRESIDENT: Senator
Hassell-Thompson.
SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Thank
you, Madam President.
The first time that I visited the
3437
White House was when Ronald Reagan was
president. At that time I represented a group
called the Minority Contractors Association of
Westchester, and I represented them on the
national board. And there were a group of us
who were selected to prepare for the White
House Conference on Small Business.
And people said: Well, why would
you, a Democrat, staunch Democrat, want to go
to the White House with a Republican
president? I said, Well, first of all, it's
the first time I've ever been invited to the
White House. And the fact that he's a
Republican president isn't important. What's
important is he's the president.
And I think that having met him,
and as we talked and discussed the plight of
African-Americans and other minorities and
their attempts to do business with government
and to make sure that the legislative
initiatives that we were attempting to push at
that time to ensure that there was fair and
just participation by minority businesses and
women-owned businesses in this country, it
gave me the first opportunity, as I said, to
3438
meet with him, but certainly I came away
understanding what leadership was truly about.
And so I did not want to allow this
opportunity to go without adding my words to
those others here in the chambers, that
greatness is in the results. And I think that
this country continues to be great as long as
its leadership stands up, no matter whether I
agree with them or not, but if they stand up
and do what they believe to be the right thing
at the right time.
Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Senator Rath.
SENATOR RATH: Thank you, Madam
President.
It is appropriate that we pause
today and together remember President Reagan.
Thirty years since we've had a state funeral
like this in this country. And totally
appropriate that New York State workers have
an opportunity to share this with the rest of
the nation.
Appropriate that we share with each
other our recollections, because it makes us
all more human as we work with each other.
3439
And I'm sure that he would think that that was
totally appropriate. Because, as so many have
remarked today, that was certainly a hallmark
of Ronald Reagan the man.
Two personal recollections. In
1979, I was a newly elected county legislator,
and Ronald Reagan was out taking the Barry
Goldwater doctrine everywhere in this country
and was certainly out on I guess what we'd
call the rubber chicken circuit, and he
happened to come through Western New York.
And I have a wonderful photograph,
an 8-by-10 glossy, standing between President
Ronald Reagan and Congressman Jack Kemp.
Certainly something that will stay in the
archives of my family. And I think Dale
Volker must have one of those too, because he
was there that night, I'm sure.
But he was very encouraging to a
new young woman county legislator who was,
frankly, quite concerned about my capability
of functioning in this political world.
And then a serendipitous happening
two days ago, three days ago, the day that
President Reagan died. I was into one of
3440
those endless piles of papers that we all have
in our homes, and lo and behold, what surfaced
but something that my 93-year-old mother felt
was one of the most important pieces of
documents in her personal archives. And it
had ended up, of course, in a pile of papers
in my house.
And it was a little white glossy
folder. Written in red on the front,
"President Ronald Reagan's Speech to Rotary
International: A Time for Choosing, 1973."
And in my mother's handwriting, written across
the top of it: "Mary, don't let this get out
of your hands. These are important words."
My son came in the house later that
day, and I said to him, "Edward, this came
into my hands this morning. Today the
president died." I handed this to my son
because I want him to understand what
President Reagan meant to my mother.
Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Senator Alesi.
SENATOR ALESI: Thank you, Madam
President.
I suppose, like many people here, I
3441
owe my entry into politics by my father, who
loved to define himself as a Rockefeller
Republican. He was just a small-town judge
and very much a grass-roots politician. But
it was because of him that I gained an
interest in politics.
And at an early point in my career,
when I ran for election to the county
legislature and lost, it was obviously because
I didn't take his advice.
But there was also something
happening at about the same time, and that was
a time when America's spirit went into a very
deep, dark spell. And it was also a time
when, after losing that election, I also lost
my interest in politics, despite the fact that
my father urged me to stay active and not to
lose my appeal for politics because the
Republican Party was in a state of darkness.
But it wasn't until Ronald Reagan
really came back on the scene that my interest
in politics reignited. And I'm just one
person whose story can carry on from there.
But it was Ronald Reagan who not only
reignited my napping interest in politics, but
3442
it was Ronald Reagan who reignited the
American spirit and who gave this country its
sense of pride once again.
And we will all say this same story
in so many ways. But I can tell you the
effect that it had on me. And the path that I
chose, as someone who was building a business
at that time, to come back into politics, was
directly related to the fact that this country
and our Republican Party was regaining its
sense of pride. And the allure for the
political life was greatly enhanced at that
time.
And I think that that's when I
reentered and ran for office. And looking
back on it, that's when this country owes so
much of where we are today to Ronald Reagan.
And many people forget, when we say
he rekindled the American spirit and he gave
us our sense of pride, he rebuilt the
military, not only by spending large sums of
money -- because this was a great country and
the economy was so great, and part of spending
all that money on the military boosted the
economy. But also he was a man who it said in
3443
the paper today that, when he saluted a
serviceperson, you could see that he really
had respect for that individual person in
uniform, he had respect for the military and
for the people in the military. And that was
something that was lacking.
And even those little gestures that
people could see day in and day out when
they'd see him on television were things that
made stronger the very fiber of our American
being -- as individuals, surely, but as a
country as well.
And we all understand the fact that
it was Ronald Reagan who ended communism. But
very few people make this extension -- and I
say this as a business owner, but also as
someone who has not only watched politics but
economics as well, as they're coupled with
world history. We used to have a thing called
international trade. But if it were not for
Ronald Reagan and the dismantling of the
Soviet Union, we wouldn't have a thing called
the global economy.
And many people don't understand
that the global economy that we have today is
3444
directly related not only to the economic
policies of Ronald Reagan but to the fact that
he dismantled the Soviet Union and ended
communism and opened the door for a global
economy.
From a personal standpoint, I can't
help but think of my favorite picture. It's a
picture of Ronald Reagan that I have at home,
actually. Not in one of my offices, but at
home. And it's a picture of him with a big
smile -- just kind of looking up, as Senator
Bruno described, his twinkling eyes and that
great white cowboy hat of his. And it just
says be optimistic, be happy, enjoy everything
there is to be about life.
And it's a picture; that's all it
is. But that was Ronald Reagan, and that's
what he did for me.
And we talked earlier about
sometimes if you -- no matter what it is, if
you find the humor in something, no matter how
dark it is, that finding humor in something
gets you through the day, gets you through the
week. Ronald Reagan was a man who could find
humor in anything. And he taught us that.
3445
Because much of his humor, as Serph
said earlier, was aimed at himself, and it
taught us how to laugh at ourselves and laugh
at the circumstances that we take so seriously
sometimes but really aren't.
And that's how you can get through
the day. And that's how Ronald Reagan got us
through eight years of challenging times. The
optimism that came from him is an optimism
should still be embraced by all of us, not
only in politics but in our daily lives.
One other thing that's probably
even difficult to say, but when I looked at
Ronald Reagan and his wife and looked at the
love affair that those two people had, that's
really a fascinating story. And everything
you say about Ronald Reagan as a model, Ronald
Reagan is a model. And even in his personal
life with Nancy Reagan and the way she devoted
herself to him in the last ten years -- and
probably the most recent part of those ten
years must have been extremely difficult for
her.
Because, as he said when he first
got the disease, it was such courage to stand
3446
there and say "I'm going on a journey." And
then she finished by saying: "He has gone on
a journey, and I've lost him to that."
What a tremendous amount of courage
for both of them, and dedication to each
other, and the love that has kept all of that
together. We can only learn from every single
thing that we've all talked about in one way
or the other here.
The thing that's fascinated me the
most is the way that Senator Paterson captured
the spirit of Ronald Reagan. Senator Paterson
was so completely eloquent in describing a man
with whom he would probably argue on political
issues very often. But to have the Minority
Leader talk about Ronald Reagan in such
glowing and honest terms I think tells you
what kind of a man Ronald Reagan was, that
anybody could embrace him as a man and as a
world leader.
And he will surely be missed.
THE PRESIDENT: Senator Leibell.
SENATOR LEIBELL: Thank you,
Madam President.
It's very interesting, as I hear my
3447
colleagues talk about their recollections and
their thoughts upon the passing of President
Reagan. One of my most vivid memories was the
Goldwater campaign of '64. And I can remember
very well my father coming in and getting me
and saying, "Vinnie, I want you to come hear a
speech."
And it was what later became known
as, I think, a classic, the Ronald Reagan
speech in that presidential year. Which, even
though it certainly was a losing campaign for
the Republican candidate, it was a speech that
focused on issues and needs for the country
and energized many people.
It was so similar in many ways to
the speeches that Franklin Roosevelt had
given. As we all know, that President Reagan
commented many times how much he admired FDR
and his leadership. And it was similar in
tone, in many ways, to the fireside chats that
FDR gave.
Many years later, I had the chance
to go to the White House when I was a member
of the Assembly. And I was sent down there
with another one of my colleagues, George
3448
Pataki, and we were down there to go to the
Rose Garden for the signing of a bill. And it
rained, so the ceremony was held inside the
White House. And at that time, it was one of
those more infrequent occurrences where both
the president and the vice president were
present. And both of us, the now Governor and
I, had the chance to meet President Reagan on
that occasion and to speak with him.
And I think one thing that comes
out as we listen to the comments that are made
today and that have been made over the last
few days -- and it's something that speaks to
our system of government, which is why I think
we are the envy of the world -- is that
regardless of how we felt about a political
issue, regardless of how someone may have
voted -- in fact, it's interesting to note the
long lines going into the presidential library
in California, the number of people who said:
Oh, I never voted for him, but I admired him.
That certainly is a special thing
that's unique to our system of government, I
believe, where we can disagree -- in fact,
it's an honorable thing to disagree when
3449
necessary -- but to respect one's opponent or
someone who expresses a different idea.
And as I would look back upon
Ronald Reagan, I would say that here was a man
who was a great leader, who was not afraid of
any task that was in front of him, that loved
being with people, and that enjoyed the
opportunity to exchange thoughts and ideas and
who respected other people's opinions.
He was asked on a couple of
occasions about holding that great job of
president. And one person who inquired of him
said, during an interview: "This is reputed
to be the loneliest job in the world,
President of the United States, and you have
never seemed to feel that way about it."
And his response was, "I don't feel
it's that way. It's a great opportunity, it's
a wonderful job. I meet people, and we get to
live in a nice house."
Another occasion, certainly there's
no greater responsibility for a president than
that of commander-in-chief, where certainly
you have the obligation sometimes to send our
young people into harm's way. It was the
3450
occasion of the Gulf of Sidra, where two Navy
aircraft shot down two opposing aircraft, and
he was not awakened. It happened in the
middle of the night, and he was not awakened.
And the press was furious with
this -- why was he not awakened, the
commander-in-chief? And he said: "No, no,
I'd given orders. If they shot us down, you
wake me up. If we shoot them down, get me up
in the morning."
Here was a man who knew how to wear
the office of the presidency, who let the
world know that I am in command, that I lead a
great nation, and that we are not afraid to
face the future. He has truly left us with a
great legacy. He is known as "the Great
Communicator," but beyond that, beyond the
ability to communicate, there was truly
tremendous depth.
We will miss this great president,
and I think it's a wonderful thing to hear
members of all political persuasions recognize
what he did for our country and the legacy
that he's left behind.
Thank you, Madam President.
3451
THE PRESIDENT: Senator Farley.
SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you, Madam
President.
I hear all of these eloquent
tributes to a great president, Ronald Reagan.
Back when I was an officer in the National
Conference of State Legislatures and also
national chairman, as was Senator Marchi, of
the Council of State Governments, I was at the
White House a number of times.
And one time I was involved in a
debate on federalism which the White House was
very interested in, with the National
Conference of State Legislatures, and we won
it on a close vote. And the White House
called my office as I'm flying back to Albany,
saying will the Senator be home on Saturday,
that they may call.
Well, I waited by the phone all day
Saturday, and nobody called. But on Monday,
as I came into the Senate, I was in a
committee meeting and a secretary came out and
said, "The White House is on the phone."
I went back to the Senator's
office, and they said, "This is Operator 1,
3452
please call this number," and so forth, and
President Reagan answered. And he spoke to me
for about 20 minutes or better. I literally
almost had to terminate the conversation,
saying what a thrill it was. And it was
during the Argentine crisis, I think.
And that night I had to fly to
Montreal. And I called home, as we all must
do, and asked my wife how are things. And she
said, "You just got a telegram from the White
House inviting Senator and Mrs. Farley to
dinner with President and Mrs. Reagan for a
small group of state officials." And I says:
"Fantastic." She says: "You can't go. It's
the night of Peggy's play, and you're in it."
So I had to send back a telegram,
"Dear President and Mrs. Reagan, I can't come
to dinner because I'm in Peggy's play," and so
forth. But anyway, he did invite me down to
meet with him and thank me.
But the point I want to make with
President Reagan -- and so many points have
been made about him in being eulogized by
almost everybody -- I can recall as he was
president -- and in this chamber -- man, he
3453
was excoriated pretty good, by European
leaders, by many, many people. Much like the
current president, I think. But he stuck to
his guns. And I think that even though, as
time took its toll, people realized what a
nice and decent person he was.
But I think the thing that
impressed me the most at every meeting that I
was at -- it was the large meetings, usually,
at the White House -- was his sense of humor.
He never ceased to break up the whole crowd
with his quips. He was very quick with saying
something humorous and really lightening up
the whole situation. He was indeed very
funny, and everybody could recall so many
things that he did, even at the convention or
no matter where it was, how he could always
break up the crowd with his humor.
But more important than that, he
was always a very formal person, very formal.
He would never take off his jacket in the Oval
Office. And I never saw him, particularly as
he was operating as president, in anything but
a very formal situation, but he was always
very warm and very personable and very genuine
3454
and a person that I think that you could
immediately like.
And I was somewhat the filler; you
know, the guy that comes out and warms up the
crowd. But we're waiting for our Majority
Leader to come back. But I just want to say
welcome back into the chamber, Senator Bruno.
And, Madam President, as Senator
Bruno is here, I'm just going to say that
President Reagan will be sorely missed. He's
been a beloved president.
Thank you very much.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you,
Senator Farley.
SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President,
I'm going to be very, very quick.
You know, earlier today -- first of
all, if Ronald Reagan would be sitting in this
chamber, he'd be having a great time listening
to the stories. And each story would mean
something to him. Because he made every
single one of us who had the opportunity to
meet him feel good about ourselves and to feel
great about this country.
You know, earlier, Senator Bruno,
3455
you were kidding about -- and he would laugh
and be part of the whole process -- you were
kidding about maybe running for higher office.
And John Marchi leaned over to me and said he
would support you despite your youth and
inexperience.
(Laughter.)
SENATOR SKELOS: But we all have
wonderful, wonderful recollections. And I
guess my recollections are in 1964, in my home
community of Rockville Centre, I was head of
Youth for Goldwater. And I think in my high
school there were probably two of us that were
involved in the Goldwater campaign.
In fact, the regular Republican
organization then had a headquarters, and they
would not allow -- this is during a
presidential year -- would not allow the
Goldwater group to be part of that, and we had
our own separate headquarters.
As we know, Barry Goldwater lost.
And, you know, I was very upset, ready to pack
it in; how could people vote against Barry
Goldwater, a good conservative. And it really
wasn't until -- and I think this is what you
3456
said, Leader, and Jim Alesi and so many
others, it wasn't really until Ronald Reagan
came back on the scene that he ignited my
desire to once again be involved in politics.
And I'm not going to go into all
the details. But there's one picture that I
have, and Jim Alesi mentioned it, it was when
he was coming to speak to the United Nations
in 1986 and Warren Anderson asked me to greet
him at the heliport. Mayor Koch was there,
the U.N. ambassador. And the picture is all
of us there, and I'm greeting President
Reagan. Helicopter -- could barely get
anything out of my mouth, because he was such
an imposing figure. But in the background are
the Twin Towers.
And that really means something now
that as we reflect Ronald Reagan, Twin Towers,
beautiful picture, that this nation has to
stay strong. Because we are fighting another
evil empire right now.
And Ronald Reagan offered that type
of leadership. And I believe we will continue
to get that type of leadership through the
resolve of the American people.
3457
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you,
Senator Skelos.
In accordance with the terms of the
resolution, instead of a voice vote, all those
in favor of the resolution please signify by
standing for a moment of silence.
(Whereupon, the assemblage rose for
a moment of silence on the resolution.)
THE PRESIDENT: Senator Bruno.
SENATOR BRUNO: Madam President,
can we have an immediate meeting of the Rules
Committee in the Majority Conference Room.
THE PRESIDENT: There will be an
immediate meeting of the Rules Committee in
the Majority Conference Room.
SENATOR BRUNO: Can we at this
time return to the controversial reading of
the calendar.
THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary
will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
885, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 6505, an
act to amend the Environmental Conservation
Law, in relation to promoting.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN:
3458
Explanation.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Larkin, Senator Schneiderman has requested an
explanation of Calendar 885.
SENATOR LARKIN: Thank you very
much, Mr. President.
You know, the background on this
bill is that we have a program where we donate
venison. We also have a problem with deer.
Nobody knows it any better than me. My wife
thinks she's a horticulture specialist, and
she plants and the next morning we go out and
the deer have taken everything.
Right out on the main highway, 218,
where I live, there's not a week goes by that
there isn't a deer been slaughtered by a
vehicle or a vehicle that has had total
damage.
So when we started talking about
the DEC, what to do with it, the DEC, the
Health Department got in it, Ag & Markets got
in it. They said: Look, why don't we create
an interagency to look at this to find out how
we can eliminate the problem of the deer.
There's millions of dollars each year that's
3459
been reported by the Insurance Department for
vehicles that have been in an accident with a
deer. Some casualties. Some personal body
injuries.
And the other thing is, is how do
we make the program work like we intend to?
Right now the department is saying that this
is a $120 million a year loss because we don't
control the deer population. And we haven't
done anything. And in controlling it, the
idea of a vehicle accident with the venison,
then clearing it and then donating it, creates
a lot of problems.
In discussion with the Department
of Ag & Markets this year, they estimated that
last year alone, the damage to crops was
approximately $16 million.
Now, you know, here in this chamber
about three or four years ago we talked about
a crop advantage so that we would turn away
the deer destruction of crops. We have had no
luck at all. But what we're saying now is we
want the Department of Environmental
Conservation.
What we've been successful in is
3460
everybody saying they want to be a part of it,
and we feel that this will ease the problem of
the venison that we want to give away, have an
opportunity to decide what are we going to do
to eliminate them destroying the crops, and
then what are we going to do about the
destruction on the highway of the deer, of
human beings and of vehicles.
This program, we've found so far,
has been successful on the venison side of it,
but we have not been successful in dealing
with the other. And in dealing with the
agencies, they felt that this was a way that
could render some service to the problem and
correct it.
That's it. Not much voice left.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Hassell-Thompson.
SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Thank
you. On the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Hassell-Thompson, on the bull.
SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON:
Senator Larkin, I appreciate your explanation.
We had a relatively heated
3461
discussion in committee on this particular
bill, and I voted at that time without
recommendation purposely. Because one of the
things I did not hear then that I have heard
now is that there is a discussion about the
formulation of a commission made up of several
organizations which will in fact explore not
just the immediacy but a long-range plan in
terms of how we go forward with deer control.
I am not necessarily considered to
be an environmentalist, but I do believe that
there is a necessity for humans and our
environment to live somewhat in a peaceful
coexistence. And when by some of our actions
we begin to build, to the extent that we begin
to limit and change the environment in which
the animals around us live, I want us to, you
know, to be sure that there is a judicious way
and a humane way that we continue to go
forward with the problem.
I remember hearing Senator McGee
talk also about the extent to which it has
caused damage in her part of the state, and
the extent of the damage and what that
long-range damage means. These are not just
3462
gardens that people create, but these are
crops that feed families.
And so that I think that it does
become important for us to recognize that over
the years the deer population has grown
extensively, as have the Canadian geese in
Westchester and some other parts of the state,
and there needs to be a real ongoing dialogue
as to what we do and how do we control that.
Because it's very clear that hunting is not
the generational sport that it used to be, and
so therefore we have to do something that is
humane.
And I thank you for your
explanation.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 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, 55.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
3463
is passed.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1079, by Member of the Assembly McLaughlin,
Assembly Print Number 7137B, an act to amend
the General Business Law, in relation to
immigrant assistance services.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Schneiderman.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you,
Mr. President. On the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Schneiderman, on the bill.
SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: This is a
piece of legislation to essentially begin the
process of establishing regulations in an area
in which we currently have none.
There are no regulations for the
many, many people in the State of New York who
provide services to immigrants. There are
regulations, obviously, for attorneys. But
the fact of the matter is we are in the midst
of the greatest wave of immigration in the
history of New York State.
And there are a lot of people in my
district who come to my office all the time
3464
because they are taken advantage of by
unscrupulous businesses that hold themselves
out to provide services to immigrants and
don't deliver the goods. And before this
legislation is enacted, we really don't have
any state regulation over the provision of
these services.
We are in the process now of
setting up a clinic in Upper Manhattan, with
the cooperation of Columbia Law School and the
Legal Aid Society, to provide these services.
And I assure anyone who has read
the memos of opposition to this bill that come
strictly from bar associations and lawyers'
organizations concerned, I guess, about losing
business, that we could not possibly address
the needs of the immigrant community in
New York without the work of nonlawyers.
So this bill is absolutely
necessary. We have to regulate this area. It
is an area where there are really what I can
only describe as horror stories of abuse by
people holding themselves out as providing
services to immigrants.
So I'm going to vote for this bill,
3465
and I urge everyone to do so as well. And the
issues that have been raised in the letters of
opposition I think really reflect the more
parochial concerns of lawyers who practice in
this area and are concerned that someone else
may take some of their business.
I assure you, we do not have enough
immigration lawyers in New York to provide all
the services we need, and there are a lot of
people who need help who cannot afford an
immigration lawyer at all. So this is a good
piece of legislation. I hope it will become
law.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Hassell-Thompson.
SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Thank
you, Mr. President.
Again, this was a bill that I had
voted without recommendation in committee
because I didn't clearly understand the bill.
And I will admit to that, Senator Padavan.
But since that time, what I did do
was -- even though immigration is not normally
something that is handled in the Senate
3466
office, we have such a large number of
immigrants continually in many of our
communities, and so that the overflow from our
Congressional office always ends up with us
somehow. And so we have been continually
making referrals.
But we want to be sure -- and I
think that what this bill does is to ensure
that the people that we are referring them to
are licensed and are appropriately able to
handle their cases. We have -- we can tell
some horror stories as well of the numbers of
people who believe that they are getting their
citizenship and who have paid an inordinate
amount of money to people that nobody
controls, and they have gotten nothing.
And I even went so far as to take a
couple who had been recommended to me down to
Immigration. And when they looked at the
record, they said: "Senator, these people
should have been told three years ago that
they were never going to become citizens,"
because the people who were sponsoring them
had some wrongdoings in their record and
therefore were unable to be a sponsor.
3467
These people had lost over $10,000
in continual services that never rendered them
any kind of successful result.
So, Senator Padavan, again, I
apologize for my misunderstanding of the bill
in committee, and I appreciate the opportunity
to have the discussion on the floor today and
to vote yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Sabini.
SENATOR SABINI: Mr. President,
on the bill.
I want to congratulate the sponsor,
Senator Padavan, senior elected official in
Queens, for his foresight in moving forward
with this. As our Deputy Minority Leader
said, a lot of attorneys have talked to us in
concern and outright opposition to this
legislation. And I think their opposition is
misguided.
Given their druthers, they would
have not-for-profit organizations that have
serviced the immigrant community in
neighborhoods like mine -- organizations like
the Emerald Isle Immigration Center or the
3468
Latin American Integration Center -- and would
have forced them to change the way they do
business. Even though the way they do
business has been both successful -- at no
profit -- and effective. So I think the
criticisms of the legislation have been
wrongheaded.
And one need only read newspaper
accounts or walk down Roosevelt Avenue in
areas like Woodside and Elmhurst and Jackson
Heights and Corona to see a variety of people
who have tried to set up shop as consultants,
as expeditors. And they thrive, frankly, in
the fear of some of the other legislation that
we've passed, both here and in Washington.
And they try to go to people they
trust or they think they can trust, and
they've been ripped off, they've been duped.
And in some cases their status in this country
has been harmed by unscrupulous advisors that
they've paid large sums of their hard-earned
cash to.
So I congratulate Senator Padavan
on this bill. I wholeheartedly support the
legislation and want to urge my colleagues to
3469
vote yes.
Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
last section.
THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
act shall take effect on the first of
November.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is passed.
Senator Skelos, that concludes the
controversial reading of the calendar.
SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you, Mr.
President.
If you could recognize Senator
Krueger.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
Liz Krueger.
SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you,
Mr. President. I'd like to request unanimous
consent to be recorded in the negative on
Calendar 856, Senate 5563A.
3470
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Without
objection, Senator Liz Krueger will be
recorded in the negative on Calendar 856.
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,
from the Committee on Rules, reports the
following bills:
Senate Print 7045, by Senator
Hannon, an act in relation to allowing;
7046, by Senator Hannon, an act to
authorize the assessor of the County of
Nassau;
7047, by Senator Hannon, an act
authorizing the assessor of the County of
Nassau;
7112, by Senator Leibell, an act to
3471
amend the Executive Law;
7282A, by Senator Spano, an act to
authorize;
7324, by Senator Oppenheimer, an
act to amend the Public Authorities Law;
7334, by Senator Padavan, an act to
amend the Civil Service Law;
7351, by Senator Little, an act to
amend the County Law;
And Senate Print 7397, by Senator
Kuhl, an act to amend the Public Officers 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: Those
opposed, nay.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
3472
report of the Rules Committee is accepted.
Senator Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
is there any housekeeping at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Yes, we
have some housekeeping.
Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Mr.
President, on page 56 I offer the following
amendments to Calendar Number 1230, Senate
Print 6822A, and ask that said bill retain its
place on Third Reading Calendar.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
amendments are received and adopted, and the
bill will retain its place on the Third
Reading Calendar.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: On page
number 54, I offer the following amendments to
Calendar 1195, Senate Print Number 6483, and
also ask that that bill retain its place on
Third Reading Calendar.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
amendments are received and adopted, and the
bill will retain its place on third reading.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: On page 32,
3473
I offer the following amendments to Calendar
830, Senate Print 6612A, and ask that that
bill also retain its place on the Third
Reading Calendar.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
amendments are received and adopted, and the
bill will retain its place on third reading.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: And
finally, on page 50, I offer the following
amendments to Calendar 1105, Senate Print
Number 5937, and ask that said bill retain its
place on the Third Reading Calendar.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
amendments are received and adopted, and the
bill will retain its place on third reading.
Senator McGee.
SENATOR McGEE: Mr. President, on
behalf of Senator Padavan, I wish to call up
his bill, Print Number 7164, recalled from the
Assembly, which is now at the desk.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
1004, by Senator Padavan, Senate Print 7164,
an act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law.
3474
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
McGee.
SENATOR McGEE: 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, 55.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
McGee.
SENATOR McGEE: Mr. President, I
now offer the following amendments.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
amendments are received and adopted.
Senator McGee.
SENATOR McGEE: Mr. President, on
behalf of Senator Skelos, I wish to call up
his bill, Print Number 5156B, recalled from
the Assembly, which is now at the desk.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
267, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 5156B, an
act to amend the Public Health Law.
3475
SENATOR McGEE: 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, 55.
SENATOR McGEE: Mr. President, I
now offer the following amendments.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
amendments are received and adopted.
Senator McGee.
SENATOR McGEE: Mr. President, on
behalf of Senator Golden, I wish to call up
his bill, Senate Print Number 6516A, which is
at the desk.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
895, by Senator Golden, Senate Print 6516A, an
act to amend the General Municipal Law.
SENATOR McGEE: Mr. President, I
now move to reconsider the vote by which this
bill was passed and ask that the bill be
restored to the order of third reading.
3476
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
roll on reconsideration.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
is restored to the order of third reading.
SENATOR McGEE: Thank you, Mr.
President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Thank
you, Senator McGee.
Senator Skelos.
SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
there being no further business to come before
the Senate, I move we stand adjourned, in
memory of President Ronald Reagan, until
Thursday, June 10th, at 11:00 a.m.
ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: On
motion, the Senate stands adjourned, in memory
of President Ronald Wilson Reagan, until
Thursday, June 10th, at 11:00 a.m.
(Whereupon, at 1:40 p.m., the
Senate adjourned.)