Regular Session - June 9, 2005
3630
1 NEW YORK STATE SENATE
2
3
4 THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD
5
6
7
8
9 ALBANY, NEW YORK
10 June 9, 2005
11 11:06 a.m.
12
13
14 REGULAR SESSION
15
16
17
18 LT. GOVERNOR MARY O. DONOHUE, President
19 STEVEN M. BOGGESS, Secretary
20
21
22
23
24
25
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1 P R O C E E D I N G S
2 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
3 Senate will come to order.
4 May I ask everyone to please rise
5 and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance to the
6 Flag.
7 (Whereupon, the assemblage recited
8 the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.)
9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: In the
10 absence of clergy, may we each bow our heads
11 in a moment of silence.
12 (Whereupon, the assemblage
13 respected a moment of silence.)
14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Reading
15 of the Journal.
16 THE SECRETARY: In Senate,
17 Wednesday, June 8, the Senate met pursuant to
18 adjournment. The Journal of Tuesday, June 7,
19 was read and approved. On motion, Senate
20 adjourned.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Without
22 objection, the Journal stands approved as
23 read.
24 Presentation of petitions.
25 Messages from the Assembly.
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1 Messages from the Governor.
2 Reports of standing committees.
3 Reports of select committees.
4 Communications and reports from
5 state officers.
6 Motions and resolutions.
7 Senator Farley.
8 SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you, Mr.
9 President.
10 I wish to call up Calendar Number
11 994, Assembly Print 3454.
12 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
13 Secretary will read.
14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
15 994, by Member of the Assembly Bing, Assembly
16 Print Number 3454, an act to amend the State
17 Finance Law.
18 SENATOR FARLEY: I now move to
19 reconsider the vote by which this Assembly
20 bill was substituted for Senator Robach's
21 bill, Senate Print 1893, on 5/24/05.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
23 roll on reconsideration.
24 (The Secretary called the roll.)
25 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 37.
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1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
2 Farley.
3 SENATOR FARLEY: I now move that
4 the Assembly Bill 3454 be committed to the
5 Committee on Rules and then Senator Robach's
6 Senate bill be restored to the order of third
7 reading.
8 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: So
9 ordered.
10 Senator Farley.
11 SENATOR FARLEY: I now offer the
12 following amendments.
13 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
14 amendments are received and adopted.
15 SENATOR FARLEY: On behalf of the
16 distinguished president, Senator Meier, Mr.
17 President, I wish to call up your bill, Senate
18 Print 2741, which was recalled from the
19 Assembly, and it's now at the desk.
20 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
21 Secretary will read.
22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
23 807, by Senator Meier, Senate Print 2741, an
24 act to amend the Public Authorities Law.
25 SENATOR FARLEY: I now move to
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1 reconsider the vote by which this bill passed.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
3 roll on reconsideration.
4 (The Secretary called the roll.)
5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 37.
6 SENATOR FARLEY: I now offer the
7 following amendments.
8 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
9 amendments are received and adopted.
10 SENATOR FARLEY: Mr. President, I
11 wish to call up Senator Spano's bill, Senate
12 Print 4079, recalled from the Assembly, which
13 is now at the desk.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
15 Secretary will read.
16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
17 781, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate
18 Print Number 4079, an act to amend the Tax
19 Law.
20 SENATOR FARLEY: Mr. President, I
21 now move to reconsider the vote by which this
22 bill passed.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
24 roll on reconsideration.
25 (The Secretary called the roll.)
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1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 37.
2 SENATOR FARLEY: I now offer the
3 following amendments.
4 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
5 amendments are received and adopted.
6 Senator Bonacic.
7 SENATOR BONACIC: Thank you, Mr.
8 President. I'd like to offer the following
9 amendments to the Third Reading Calendar
10 bills.
11 First of all, by Senator Larkin,
12 Calendar 450, page 15, Senate Print 1398A;
13 Senator Spano, Calendar 1030, page
14 41, Senate Print 3743B;
15 Senator Skelos, Calendar 1246, page
16 54, Senate Print 1168;
17 Senator Skelos again, Calendar
18 1395, page 60, Senate Print 4708.
19 I now move that these bills retain
20 their place on the order of third reading.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
22 amendments are received and adopted, and the
23 bills will retain their place on the Third
24 Reading Calendar.
25 SENATOR BONACIC: Thank you, Mr.
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1 President.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
3 Fuschillo.
4 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Mr.
5 President, on behalf of Senator Winner, I wish
6 to call up Senate Print Number 3415, recalled
7 from the Assembly, which is now at the desk.
8 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
9 Secretary will read.
10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
11 1102, by Senator Winner, Senate Print 3415, an
12 act to authorize.
13 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: I now move to
14 reconsider the vote by which the bill was
15 passed.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
17 roll on reconsideration.
18 (The Secretary called the roll.)
19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 37.
20 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: I now offer
21 the following amendments.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
23 amendments are received and adopted.
24 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: On behalf of
25 Senator Golden, I wish to call up Print Number
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1 5148A, recalled from the Assembly, which is
2 now at the desk.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
4 Secretary will read.
5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
6 1199, by Senator Golden, Senate Print 5148A,
7 an act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law.
8 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: I now move to
9 reconsider the vote by which the bill was
10 passed.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
12 roll on reconsideration.
13 (The Secretary called the roll.)
14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 37.
15 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: I now offer
16 the following amendments.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
18 amendments are received and adopted.
19 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: On behalf of
20 Senator Skelos, Mr. President, I wish to call
21 up Print Number 3898, recalled from the
22 Assembly, which is now at the desk.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
24 Secretary will read.
25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
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1 672, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 3898, an
2 act authorizing.
3 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: I now move to
4 reconsider the vote by which the bill was
5 passed.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
7 roll on reconsideration.
8 (The Secretary called the roll.)
9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 37.
10 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: I now offer
11 the following amendments.
12 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
13 amendments are received and adopted.
14 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: On behalf of
15 Senator Skelos, I wish to call up Print Number
16 4644, recalled from the Assembly, which is now
17 at the desk.
18 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
19 Secretary will read.
20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
21 1111, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 4644, an
22 act authorizing.
23 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: I now move to
24 reconsider the vote by which the bill was
25 passed.
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1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
2 roll on reconsideration.
3 (The Secretary called the roll.)
4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 37.
5 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: I now offer
6 the following amendments.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
8 amendments are received and adopted.
9 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: On behalf of
10 Senator Skelos, I wish to call up Print Number
11 4556, recalled from the Assembly, which is now
12 at the desk.
13 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
14 Secretary will read.
15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
16 950, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 4556, an
17 act to amend Chapter 564 of the Laws of 2004.
18 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: I now move to
19 reconsider the vote by which the bill was
20 passed.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
22 roll on reconsideration.
23 (The Secretary called the roll.)
24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 37.
25 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: I now offer
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1 the following amendments.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
3 amendments are received and adopted.
4 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Mr.
5 President, on behalf of Senator Skelos, I wish
6 to call up Senate Print Number 4517, recalled
7 from the Assembly, which is now at the desk.
8 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
9 Secretary will read.
10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
11 949, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 4517, an
12 act authorizing.
13 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: I now move to
14 reconsider the vote by which the bill was
15 passed.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
17 roll on reconsideration.
18 (The Secretary called the roll.)
19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 37.
20 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: I now offer
21 the following amendments.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
23 amendments are received and adopted.
24 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: On behalf of
25 Senator Nozzolio, I wish to call up Print
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1 Number 1567, recalled from the Assembly, which
2 is now at the desk.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
4 Secretary will read.
5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
6 478, by Senator Nozzolio, Senate Print 1567,
7 an act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law.
8 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: I now move to
9 reconsider the vote by which the bill was
10 passed.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
12 roll on reconsideration.
13 (The Secretary called the roll.)
14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 37.
15 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: I now offer
16 the following amendments.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
18 amendments are received and adopted.
19 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Mr.
20 President, on behalf of myself, Senator
21 Fuschillo --
22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Finally,
23 something for yourself, Senator Fuschillo.
24 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Thank you,
25 Mr. President.
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1 I hope that Senator Skelos gets it
2 right, with all these amendments.
3 I wish to call up Print Number
4 4087, recalled from the Assembly, which is now
5 at the desk.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
7 Secretary will read.
8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
9 944, by Senator Fuschillo, Senate Print 4087,
10 an act authorizing.
11 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: I now move to
12 reconsider the vote by which the bill was
13 passed.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
15 roll on reconsideration.
16 (The Secretary called the roll.)
17 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 39.
18 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: I now offer
19 the following amendments.
20 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
21 amendments are received and adopted.
22 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Thank you.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Thank
24 you, Senator.
25 The Secretary will read the
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1 substitutions.
2 THE SECRETARY: On page 53,
3 Senator Alesi moves to discharge, from the
4 Committee on Rules, Assembly Bill Number 6633A
5 and substitute it for the identical Senate
6 Bill Number 5026A, Third Reading Calendar
7 1237.
8 On page 62, Senator Leibell moves
9 to discharge, from the Committee on Civil
10 Service and Pensions, Assembly Bill Number
11 6371 and substitute it for the identical
12 Senate Bill Number 3263, Third Reading
13 Calendar 1413.
14 On page 62, Senator Padavan moves
15 to discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
16 Assembly Bill Number 7348 and substitute it
17 for the identical Senate Bill Number 4553,
18 Third Reading Calendar 1416.
19 On page 62, Senator Flanagan moves
20 to discharge, from the Committee on Health,
21 Assembly Bill Number 4189 and substitute it
22 for the identical Senate Bill Number 4893,
23 Third Reading Calendar 1418.
24 And on page 63, Senator Leibell
25 moves to discharge, from the Committee on
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1 Cities, Assembly Bill Number 6467 and
2 substitute it for the identical Senate Bill
3 Number 5309, Third Reading Calendar 1423.
4 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER:
5 Substitutions ordered.
6 Senator Skelos.
7 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
8 there is a Resolution 2216, by Senator Rath.
9 It was previously adopted on June 1st. If we
10 could have it read in its entirety at this
11 time.
12 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
13 Secretary will read Resolution 2216.
14 THE SECRETARY: By Senator Rath,
15 Legislative Resolution Number 2216,
16 congratulating 11-year-old Katie Brownell, who
17 plays baseball in a boys Little League, upon
18 the occasion of pitching a perfect game.
19 "WHEREAS, Excellence and success in
20 competitive sports can be achieved only
21 through strenuous practice, team play and team
22 spirit, nurtured by dedicated coaching and
23 strategic planning; and
24 "WHEREAS, Athletic competition
25 enhances the moral and physical development of
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1 the young people of this state, preparing them
2 for the future by instilling in them the value
3 of teamwork, encouraging a standard of healthy
4 living, imparting a desire for success and
5 developing a sense of fair play and
6 competition; and
7 "WHEREAS, It is the sense of this
8 Legislative Body to recognize and pay tribute
9 to those young people within the State of
10 New York who, by achieving outstanding success
11 in athletic competition, have inspired and
12 brought pride to their community; and
13 "WHEREAS, Attendant to such
14 concern, and in full accord with its
15 long-standing traditions, this Legislative
16 Body is justly proud to congratulate
17 11-year-old Katie Brownell, who plays baseball
18 in a boys Little League, upon the occasion of
19 pitching a perfect game; and
20 "WHEREAS, An all-star since she
21 started playing baseball three years ago,
22 Katie Brownell struck out all 18 boys who came
23 to bat against her during a six-inning game in
24 the Oakfield-Alabama Little League in what may
25 have been the first perfect game by a girl in
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1 Little League history; and
2 "WHEREAS, An avid baseball player
3 since she was 6 years old, Katie Brownell also
4 allowed only one hit and struck out 14 batters
5 in five innings in her first outing of the
6 season. Furthermore, she is a major threat at
7 the plate, with a batting average of .714
8 after three games; and
9 "WHEREAS, Loyally and
10 enthusiastically supported by family, fans,
11 friends and the community at large, Katie
12 Brownell has appeared on "World News Tonight,"
13 "Good Morning America" and "Cold Pizza," as
14 well as in news segments on television
15 stations and in newspapers across New York
16 State and the country and met President George
17 W. Bush at an event in Rochester; and
18 "WHEREAS, With her throughout have
19 been her parents, Mark Brownell and Denise
20 Bischoff, and her brothers, Jonathan and
21 Joshua, all of whom feel privileged to be a
22 part of her life and rejoice in her
23 achievements; and
24 "WHEREAS, Sports competition
25 instills the values of teamwork, pride and
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1 accomplishment, and Katie Brownell has clearly
2 made a contribution to the spirit of
3 excellence which is a tradition of Little
4 League; and
5 "WHEREAS, It is the sense of this
6 Legislative Body that when individuals of such
7 noble aims and accomplishments are brought to
8 our attention, they should be celebrated and
9 recognized by all the citizens of the great
10 State of New York; now, therefore, be it
11 "RESOLVED, That this Legislative
12 Body pause in its deliberations to
13 congratulate 11-year-old Katie Brownell, who
14 plays baseball in a boys Little League, upon
15 the occasion of pitching a perfect game, and
16 to wish her continued success in all of her
17 future endeavors; and be it further
18 "RESOLVED, That a copy of this
19 resolution, suitably engrossed, be transmitted
20 to Katie Brownell."
21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
22 Rath.
23 SENATOR RATH: Mr. President, how
24 do you start to congratulate someone who's
25 done something that's perfect?
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1 The resolution that we've just
2 read -- and my constituent here in the
3 gallery, Katie Brownell, of course
4 congratulations is what we're here about today
5 and what everyone has been saying to you ever
6 since that day several weeks ago or maybe a
7 month ago now that you struck out all 18 boys
8 who came to bat against you during a
9 six-inning game in the Oakfield-Alabama Little
10 League, in what may have been the first
11 perfect game by a girl in Little League
12 history.
13 Katie, I want to tell you, for many
14 reasons not only am I proud and happy for you,
15 but you don't know the grief I've taken here
16 from all these guys on the floor when their
17 teams have beaten some of our Western New York
18 teams.
19 But I have to say that my pride is
20 far surpassing anything I would have
21 anticipated, because, first of all, I don't
22 recall that any of you has brought anyone up
23 who had pitched a perfect game so far in my
24 11 years here in the State Senate. I think
25 this may be the first time we've honored
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1 someone who has pitched a perfect game.
2 And of course we congratulate not
3 only you but your parents, Mark Brownell and
4 Denise Bischoff; your coach, Jeff Sage; League
5 Administrator Eric Klotzbach.
6 Oakfield-Alabama, a small town in
7 Western New York, but a wonderful place for
8 baseball, whether it's the Batavia Muckdogs
9 that we're following or the Buffalo ball team
10 or the Rochester ball team. We all like
11 baseball in Western New York.
12 And I understand the other day
13 Katie hit a home run, so she's not only good
14 at pitching, she's good at batting.
15 And I hope, honey -- honey.
16 Because you're like my 11-year-old
17 granddaughter -- I hope as you continue to
18 play baseball or take up other sports or go to
19 other interests, someday you may pitch another
20 perfect game, or you may end up with the piano
21 and play a perfect concerto. You may bring
22 home a perfect report card, which I'm sure
23 everyone would hope that that would be one of
24 the items.
25 Or you may serve in this
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1 Legislature someday, and you may pass a
2 perfect piece of legislation. That will be a
3 first, I will tell you, if you pass a perfect
4 piece of legislation here.
5 But no matter what it is you do or
6 wherever your future takes you, you're going
7 to be able to say that you were there and you
8 did it and you had it all one time in your
9 life. Very few people in their lives can ever
10 say I was there, I was absolutely at the top
11 of my game once.
12 So enjoy this, remember this. And
13 on behalf of the whole State Senate and all
14 the people of the State of New York, you make
15 us very proud. Oakfield-Alabama, you make us
16 very proud. Come back again next year when
17 you've done it again, and we will do this all
18 over again, because for sure you're a winner.
19 And we're proud of you.
20 (Standing ovation.)
21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Katie,
22 it's George Steinbrenner. He wants to talk to
23 you.
24 (Laughter.)
25 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
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1 resolution was previously adopted.
2 Senator Skelos.
3 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, I
4 have a Resolution 2388 at the desk. Could we
5 have the title read and move for its immediate
6 adoption.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
8 Secretary will read the title.
9 THE SECRETARY: By Senator
10 Skelos, Legislative Resolution Number 2388,
11 commending Father Donald M. Baier for his
12 12 years of dedicated service as Pastor of
13 Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Malverne,
14 New York.
15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
16 question is on the resolution. All those in
17 favor signify by saying aye.
18 (Response of "Aye.")
19 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Opposed,
20 nay.
21 (No response.)
22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
23 resolution is adopted.
24 Senator Skelos.
25 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
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1 if we could go to the noncontroversial reading
2 of the calendar.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
4 Secretary will conduct the noncontroversial
5 reading of the calendar.
6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
7 475, by Senator Trunzo, Senate Print 850, an
8 act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law.
9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
10 last section.
11 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
12 act shall take effect immediately.
13 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
14 roll.
15 (The Secretary called the roll.)
16 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 51.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
18 is passed.
19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
20 506, by Member of the Assembly Calhoun,
21 Assembly Print Number 6823, an act to amend
22 the Tax Law.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
24 last section.
25 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
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1 act shall take effect immediately.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
3 roll.
4 (The Secretary called the roll.)
5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 51.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
7 is passed.
8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
9 563, by Senator Balboni, Senate Print 933, an
10 act to amend the Family Court Act and the
11 Domestic Relations Law.
12 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
13 last section.
14 THE SECRETARY: Section 10. This
15 act shall take effect immediately.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
17 roll.
18 (The Secretary called the roll.)
19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 52.
20 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
21 is passed.
22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
23 568, by Member of the Assembly DiNapoli,
24 Assembly Print Number 5745, an act to amend
25 the Real Property Tax Law.
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1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
2 last section.
3 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
4 act shall take effect on the first of January.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
6 roll.
7 (The Secretary called the roll.)
8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 52.
9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
10 is passed.
11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
12 611, by Member of the Assembly Clark, Assembly
13 Print Number 1794A, an act to amend the
14 General Business Law and others.
15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
16 last section.
17 THE SECRETARY: Section 9. This
18 act shall take effect on the first of January.
19 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
20 roll.
21 (The Secretary called the roll.)
22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 52.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
24 is passed.
25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
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1 616, by Senator Sampson, Senate Print 1029, an
2 act to amend the Penal Law.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
4 last section.
5 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
6 act shall take effect on the first of
7 November.
8 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
9 roll.
10 (The Secretary called the roll.)
11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 51. Nays,
12 1. Senator Duane recorded in the negative.
13 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
14 is passed.
15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
16 768, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 5021, an
17 act to amend Chapter 698 of the Laws of 1996.
18 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
19 last section.
20 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
21 act shall take effect immediately.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
23 roll.
24 (The Secretary called the roll.)
25 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 52.
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1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
2 is passed.
3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
4 873, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 4939, an
5 act to amend the Real Property Tax Law.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
7 last section.
8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
9 act shall take effect immediately.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
11 roll.
12 (The Secretary called the roll.)
13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 52.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
15 is passed.
16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
17 902, by Senator Padavan, Senate Print 4774, an
18 act to amend the Penal Law.
19 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
20 last section.
21 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
22 act shall take effect on the first of
23 November.
24 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
25 roll.
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1 (The Secretary called the roll.)
2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 51. Nays,
3 1. Senator Duane recorded in the negative.
4 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
5 is passed.
6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
7 906, by Senator LaValle, Senate Print 5184, an
8 act to amend the Penal Law.
9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
10 last section.
11 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
12 act shall take effect immediately.
13 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
14 roll.
15 (The Secretary called the roll.)
16 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 51. Nays,
17 1. Senator Duane recorded in the negative.
18 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
19 is passed.
20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
21 931, by Member of the Assembly Tonko, Assembly
22 Print Number 329A, an act to amend the Real
23 Property Tax Law.
24 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
25 last section.
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1 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
2 act shall take effect on the first of January.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
4 roll.
5 (The Secretary called the roll.)
6 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 53.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
8 is passed.
9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
10 978, by Senator Bonacic, Senate Print 5175A,
11 an act to amend the Private Housing Finance
12 Law.
13 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
14 last section.
15 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This
16 act shall take effect immediately.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
18 roll.
19 (The Secretary called the roll.)
20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 53.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
22 is passed.
23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
24 1001, by Member of the Assembly Morelle,
25 Assembly Print Number 3426, an act to amend
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1 the Tax Law.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
3 last section.
4 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
5 act shall take effect on the first day of a
6 sales tax quarterly period.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
8 roll.
9 (The Secretary called the roll.)
10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 54.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
12 is passed.
13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
14 1004, by Senator Alesi, Senate Print 5078, an
15 act to amend Chapter 291 of the Laws of 2004.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
17 last section.
18 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
19 act shall take effect on the same date and in
20 the same manner as Chapter 291 of the Laws of
21 2004.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
23 roll.
24 (The Secretary called the roll.)
25 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 54.
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3660
1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
2 is passed.
3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
4 1049, by Member of the Assembly Calhoun,
5 Assembly Print Number 2645, an act authorizing
6 the Village of Walden.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
8 a home-rule message at the desk.
9 Read the last section.
10 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
11 act shall take effect immediately.
12 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
13 roll.
14 (The Secretary called the roll.)
15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 54.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
17 is passed.
18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
19 1055, by Member of the Assembly Canestrari,
20 Assembly Print Number 787, an act to amend the
21 Vehicle and Traffic Law.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
23 last section.
24 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
25 act shall take effect on the first of
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1 November.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
3 roll.
4 (The Secretary called the roll.)
5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 54.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
7 is passed.
8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
9 1056, by Member of the Assembly Lafayette,
10 Assembly Print Number 2156, an act to amend
11 the Vehicle and Traffic Law.
12 SENATOR VALESKY: Lay it aside.
13 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
14 bill aside.
15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
16 1062, by Senator Libous, Senate Print 4058, an
17 act to amend the Highway Law.
18 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
19 last section.
20 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This
21 act shall take effect immediately.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
23 roll.
24 (The Secretary called the roll.)
25 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 54.
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3662
1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
2 is passed.
3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
4 1088, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 5349, an
5 act to amend Chapter 147 of the Laws of 2001.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
7 last section.
8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
9 act shall take effect immediately.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
11 roll.
12 (The Secretary called the roll.)
13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 54.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
15 is passed.
16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
17 1096, by Senator Meier, Senate Print 5241, an
18 act to amend the Family Court Act.
19 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
20 last section.
21 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
22 act shall take effect immediately.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
24 roll.
25 (The Secretary called the roll.)
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1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 53. Nays,
2 1. Senator Duane recorded in the negative.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
4 is passed.
5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
6 1103, by Senator Alesi, Senate Print 3584, an
7 act authorizing the County of Monroe.
8 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
9 a home-rule message at the desk.
10 Read the last section.
11 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This
12 act shall take effect immediately.
13 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
14 roll.
15 (The Secretary called the roll.)
16 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 54.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
18 is passed.
19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
20 1104, by Senator Alesi, Senate Print 3586A, an
21 act authorizing the County of Monroe.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
23 a home-rule message at the desk.
24 Read the last section.
25 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This
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1 act shall take effect immediately.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
3 roll.
4 (The Secretary called the roll.)
5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 54.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
7 is passed.
8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
9 1105, by Senator Alesi, Senate Print 3589A, an
10 act to authorize the County of Monroe to
11 convey.
12 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
13 a home-rule message at the desk.
14 Read the last section.
15 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This
16 act shall take effect immediately.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
18 roll.
19 (The Secretary called the roll.)
20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 54.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
22 is passed.
23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
24 1121, by Senator Little, Senate Print 5294, an
25 act to amend the Real Property Tax Law.
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1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
2 last section.
3 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This
4 act shall take effect immediately.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
6 roll.
7 (The Secretary called the roll.)
8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 54.
9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
10 is passed.
11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
12 1123, by Senator Morahan, Senate Print 5340,
13 an act to amend the Mental Hygiene Law.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
15 last section.
16 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
17 act shall take effect immediately.
18 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
19 roll.
20 (The Secretary called the roll.)
21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 54.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
23 is passed.
24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
25 1147, by Member of the Assembly Schroeder,
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1 Assembly Print Number 8166, an act to amend
2 Chapter 1 of the Laws of 2002.
3 SENATOR SEWARD: Read the last
4 section.
5 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
6 act shall take effect immediately.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
8 roll.
9 (The Secretary called the roll.)
10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 53. Nays,
11 1. Senator Duane recorded in the negative.
12 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
13 is passed.
14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
15 1173, by Senator Meier, Senate Print 5229, an
16 act to amend the Domestic Relations Law and
17 others.
18 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
19 last section.
20 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This
21 act shall take effect December 1, 1996.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
23 roll.
24 (The Secretary called the roll.)
25 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55.
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3667
1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
2 is passed.
3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
4 1192, by Member of the Assembly Sweeney,
5 Assembly Print Number 1147, an act to amend
6 the Public Authorities Law.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
8 last section.
9 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
10 act shall take effect immediately.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
12 roll.
13 (The Secretary called the roll.)
14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55.
15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
16 is passed.
17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
18 1266, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print --
19 SENATOR SKELOS: Lay it aside for
20 the day, please.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
22 bill aside for the day.
23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
24 1276, by Senator Fuschillo, Senate Print 2728,
25 an act to establish the Baldwin-West End Canal
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1 repair and maintenance district.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
3 a home-rule message at the desk.
4 Read the last section.
5 THE SECRETARY: Section 18. This
6 act shall take effect immediately.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
8 roll.
9 (The Secretary called the roll.)
10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
12 is passed.
13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
14 1277, by Senator Fuschillo, Senate Print 2729,
15 an act to establish the Baldwin-Grand Canal
16 repair and maintenance district.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
18 a home-rule message at the desk.
19 Read the last section.
20 THE SECRETARY: Section 18. This
21 act shall take effect immediately.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
23 roll.
24 (The Secretary called the roll.)
25 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55.
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3669
1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
2 is passed.
3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
4 1298, by Senator Balboni, Senate Print 5374,
5 an act authorizing the Village of East Hills.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
7 a home-rule message at the desk.
8 Read the last section.
9 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This
10 act shall take effect immediately.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
12 roll.
13 (The Secretary called the roll.)
14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55.
15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
16 is passed.
17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
18 1377, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate
19 Print Number 5375, an act to amend the Tax
20 Law.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
22 last section.
23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
24 act shall take effect immediately.
25 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
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1 roll.
2 (The Secretary called the roll.)
3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55.
4 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
5 is passed.
6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
7 1405, by Senator Trunzo, Senate Print 1684, an
8 act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law.
9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
10 last section.
11 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
12 act shall take effect on the first of
13 November.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
15 roll.
16 (The Secretary called the roll.)
17 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55.
18 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
19 is passed.
20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
21 1406, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 1736, an
22 act to authorize the Town of New Windsor.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
24 a home-rule message at the desk.
25 Read the last section.
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1 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
2 act shall take effect immediately.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
4 roll.
5 (The Secretary called the roll.)
6 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
8 is passed.
9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
10 1407, by Senator Diaz, Senate Print Number
11 2234, an act to amend the Agriculture and
12 Markets Law.
13 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
14 last section.
15 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This
16 act shall take effect on the 90th day.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
18 roll.
19 (The Secretary called the roll.)
20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 54. Nays,
21 1. Senator Duane recorded in the negative.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
23 is passed.
24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
25 1408, by Senator Marcellino, Senate Print
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1 2369, an act to require the New York State and
2 Local Employees Retirement System.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
4 a home-rule message at the desk.
5 Read the last section.
6 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
7 act shall take effect immediately.
8 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
9 roll.
10 (The Secretary called the roll.)
11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55.
12 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
13 is passed.
14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
15 1409, by Senator LaValle, Senate Print 2514,
16 an act to amend the Education Law.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
18 last section.
19 THE SECRETARY: Section 9. This
20 act shall take effect one year after the date
21 on which it shall have become a law.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
23 roll.
24 (The Secretary called the roll.)
25 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55.
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1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
2 is passed.
3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
4 1410, by Senator Golden, Senate Print 2737, an
5 act to amend the Executive Law.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
7 last section.
8 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
9 act shall take effect on the first of January.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
11 roll.
12 (The Secretary called the roll.)
13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
15 is passed.
16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
17 1411, by Senator Spano, Senate Print --
18 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Lay it
19 aside.
20 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
21 bill aside.
22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
23 1412, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 2946, an
24 act to provide for the classification of Louis
25 M. Klein.
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1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
2 a home-rule message at the desk.
3 Read the last section.
4 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
5 act shall take effect immediately.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
7 roll.
8 (The Secretary called the roll.)
9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
11 is passed.
12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
13 1413, substituted earlier today by Member of
14 the Assembly Galef, Assembly Print Number
15 6371, an act authorizing Bryan R. Watson.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
17 a home-rule message at the desk.
18 Read the last section.
19 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
20 act shall take effect immediately.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
22 roll.
23 (The Secretary called the roll.)
24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55.
25 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
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1 is passed.
2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
3 1414, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 3320, an
4 act in relation to allowing Carol A. Meissner.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
6 a home-rule message at the desk.
7 Read the last section.
8 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
9 act shall take effect immediately.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
11 roll.
12 (The Secretary called the roll.)
13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
15 is passed.
16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
17 1415, by Senator Maziarz, Senate Print 4478,
18 an act to amend the Civil Service Law.
19 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
20 last section.
21 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
22 act shall take effect immediately.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
24 roll.
25 (The Secretary called the roll.)
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1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
3 is passed.
4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
5 1417, by Senator Hannon, Senate Print 4611, an
6 act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
8 last section.
9 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
10 act shall take effect immediately.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
12 roll.
13 (The Secretary called the roll.)
14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55.
15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
16 is passed.
17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
18 1418, substituted earlier today by Member of
19 the Assembly R. Diaz, Assembly Print Number
20 4189, an act to amend the Environmental
21 Conservation Law and others.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
23 last section.
24 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
25 act shall take effect immediately.
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1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
2 roll.
3 (The Secretary called the roll.)
4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 56.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
6 is passed.
7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
8 1419, by Senator Seward, Senate Print 4951A,
9 an act in relation to granting.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
11 a home-rule message at the desk.
12 Read the last section.
13 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
14 act shall take effect immediately.
15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
16 roll.
17 (The Secretary called the roll.)
18 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 56.
19 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
20 is passed.
21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
22 1420, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 4967,
23 an act to authorize the Town of Yorktown.
24 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is
25 a home-rule message at the desk.
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1 Read the last section.
2 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
3 act shall take effect immediately.
4 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
5 roll.
6 (The Secretary called the roll.)
7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 56.
8 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
9 is passed.
10 The record should reflect there was
11 also a home-rule message with regard to
12 Calendar 1419.
13 The Secretary will continue to
14 read.
15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
16 1421, by Senator Flanagan, Senate Print 5128,
17 an act to amend the Executive Law.
18 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
19 last section.
20 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
21 act shall take effect immediately.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
23 roll.
24 (The Secretary called the roll.)
25 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 56.
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1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
2 is passed.
3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
4 1422, by Senator Wright, Senate Print 5308, an
5 act to amend Chapter 519 of the Laws of 1999.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
7 last section.
8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
9 act shall take effect immediately.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
11 roll.
12 (The Secretary called the roll.)
13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 56.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
15 is passed.
16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
17 1423, substituted earlier today by Member of
18 the Assembly Parment, Assembly Print Number
19 6467, an act to amend the General City Law and
20 the Town Law.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
22 last section.
23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
24 act shall take effect immediately.
25 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
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1 roll.
2 (The Secretary called the roll.)
3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 57.
4 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
5 is passed.
6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
7 1427, by Senator Meier, Senate --
8 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Lay it
9 aside.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
11 bill aside.
12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
13 1428, by Senator Wright, Senate Print --
14 SENATOR SKELOS: Lay it aside for
15 the day, please.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the
17 bill aside for the day.
18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
19 1429, by Senator Golden, Senate Print 5548, an
20 act to amend Chapter 779 of the Laws of 1986.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
22 last section.
23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
24 act shall take effect immediately.
25 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
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1 roll.
2 (The Secretary called the roll.)
3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 57.
4 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
5 is passed.
6 Senator Skelos, that completes the
7 noncontroversial reading of the calendar.
8 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you, Mr.
9 President. If we could go to the
10 controversial reading at this time.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
12 Secretary will conduct the controversial
13 reading of the calendar.
14 The Secretary will ring the bell.
15 The Secretary will read.
16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
17 1056, by Member of the Assembly Lafayette,
18 Assembly Print Number 2156, an act to amend
19 the Vehicle and Traffic Law.
20 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the
21 last section.
22 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
23 act shall take effect immediately.
24 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN:
25 Explanation.
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1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
2 Larkin, Senator Schneiderman has requested an
3 explanation with regard to Calendar 1056.
4 SENATOR LARKIN: Senator
5 Schneiderman, the question I presume you're
6 going to ask is the relationship from what the
7 City of New York has just come up with.
8 They've come up with a sincere question.
9 They're going to reduce something
10 to writing, and we will meet with them on
11 Monday and we'll resolve it.
12 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
13 Schneiderman.
14 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you,
15 Mr. President.
16 I think that Senator Larkin is
17 demonstrating some psychic abilities here in
18 divining what my question is.
19 Just to clarify --
20 SENATOR HANNON: Psychiatric.
21 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: That's a
22 different issue.
23 (Laughter.)
24 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: The issue
25 that was raised by the city which I believe
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1 you were addressing is the city's concern that
2 the Department of Motor Vehicles should be the
3 primary agency responsible for identifying who
4 is the insurer of a vehicle that is impounded
5 and notifying the insurer rather than the
6 overburdened police department.
7 Is that the issue that you're going
8 to be clarifying with the city?
9 SENATOR LARKIN: Yes.
10 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you,
11 Mr. President.
12 I'd like to thank Carnac the
13 Magnificent for divining that from my intent.
14 Thank you.
15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Does any
16 other Senator wish to be heard on the bill?
17 Debate is closed, then.
18 The Secretary will ring the bell.
19 Members are asked to come to the chamber for a
20 vote.
21 Read the last section.
22 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
23 act shall take effect immediately.
24 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the
25 roll.
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1 (The Secretary called the roll.)
2 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
3 Secretary will announce the results.
4 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in
5 the negative on Calendar Number 1056 are
6 Senators Duane, Gonzalez, L. Krueger and
7 Savino.
8 Ayes, fifty -- excuse me. Absent
9 from voting: Senators Breslin and Parker.
10 Also recorded in the negative --
11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Could we
12 see the no votes again, please, the no votes
13 on this calendar.
14 Could we ask members to take their
15 seats when we're trying to conduct a vote.
16 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in
17 the negative on Calendar Number 1056 are
18 Senators Duane, Gonzalez, Hassell-Thompson,
19 L. Krueger and Savino.
20 Those Senators absent from voting:
21 Breslin and Parker.
22 Ayes, 54. Nays, 5.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill
24 is passed.
25 Senator Montgomery, why do you
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1 rise?
2 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, Mr.
3 President, I would just like the record to
4 reflect that, being consistent, I would have
5 been voting no on Calendar 616 had I been here
6 on the consent calendar roll call. Thank you.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The
8 record will so note.
9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
10 1411, by Senator Spano, Senate Print 2892A, an
11 act to amend the Election Law.
12 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN:
13 Explanation.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
15 Spano, Senator Schneiderman has requested an
16 explanation.
17 SENATOR SPANO: This is a very
18 simple bill, Mr. President, one that says we
19 will prohibit a polling place from having more
20 than five election districts located in it.
21 Outside of the City of New York.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
23 Schneiderman.
24 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: I'd like
25 to thank the sponsor and his coaching staff
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1 for that response.
2 Mr. President, on the bill.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Just a
4 second, Senator.
5 Senator Schneiderman.
6 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you.
7 The concern that some of us have
8 with this piece of legislation -- which is to
9 say that if you have a polling place today
10 that has six election districts in it, that
11 will have to be split up into two separate
12 polling places in two separate locations.
13 The problem that some of us have --
14 and this, I believe, emerges out of some of
15 the issues that came up in last year's
16 election cycle -- is that the current state of
17 the law, as demonstrated last year, is that if
18 you go to the right polling place but vote in
19 the wrong election district, your vote will
20 still be counted. So a polling place that has
21 six EDs, if you just get to the right
22 building, your vote will be counted.
23 But if you start breaking them up
24 and creating lots more polling places with
25 only a few EDs each, everyone who goes to the
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1 wrong polling place, the so-called "wrong
2 church, wrong pew" voter, that person is
3 disenfranchised. And that, I think, is the
4 wrong way to go.
5 We should be moving towards trying
6 to count every vote of someone who is a
7 legitimately registered voter in a particular
8 jurisdiction attempting in good faith to vote
9 by going to a polling place.
10 This bill will actually have the
11 effect of disenfranchising people. I think
12 that we have the Help America Vote Act. This
13 is the, you know, Hurt Americans Trying to
14 Vote Act, in some respects. And I think that
15 it is the wrong approach to the problem.
16 I think if we want to address the
17 problem, we should do it by dealing with the
18 issue of disenfranchisement for people who go
19 in good faith to the wrong polling place and
20 attempt to cast -- and cast their ballot and
21 have that ballot accepted by the election
22 inspectors. Again, anyone who is sent to a
23 different polling place has no problem.
24 We're talking about the
25 disenfranchisement of people who go to a
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1 polling place and have their ballot accepted
2 by an inspector. That's just wrong to
3 disenfranchise those people. And this bill
4 clearly will exacerbate that problem and
5 create more disenfranchised voters.
6 So I suggest that we vote no and
7 come up with a different approach to dealing
8 with this problem.
9 Thank you, Mr. President.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator
11 Dilan.
12 SENATOR DILAN: Mr. President, I
13 believe there's an amendment at the desk. I
14 ask that the reading of the amendment be
15 waived, and I ask to be heard on the
16 amendment.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Your
18 amendment is at the desk. The reading is
19 waived, and you're recognized for the purpose
20 of explaining the amendment.
21 SENATOR DILAN: Thank you.
22 This amendment would give voters
23 the benefit of the doubt. It would codify the
24 Court of Appeals decision in Panio v.
25 Sunderland and ensure that ballots cast in the
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1 wrong election districts and at the correct
2 polling place be counted.
3 It would also go further than that
4 decision to clarify our notoriously muddy
5 Election Law, which has been used to
6 disenfranchise voters for what are essentially
7 procedural mistakes. It says that if you cast
8 your ballot in the wrong polling place but in
9 the correct county, your vote is to be
10 counted.
11 Let me share with you an op-ed from
12 Journal News dated February 4, 2005, and
13 quote: "We see no material difference between
14 the voter who goes to the proper polling place
15 but the wrong election district and the voter
16 who goes to the improper polling place and of
17 course the wrong election district.
18 "Given our abundance of technology
19 and means for sharing information, we believe
20 it is a ministerial error and an electoral
21 embarrassment when poll workers do not or
22 cannot direct voters to the proper location."
23 And I agree with that quote.
24 Let us take a stand and say that
25 we're going to give the voters the benefit of
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1 the doubt who are duly registered and who care
2 enough about our political process, and have
3 their vote counted. I urge my colleagues to
4 join me today to ensure that in future
5 elections, every vote is to be counted.
6 Thank you.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Those
8 Senators in agreement with the amendment
9 please signify by raising your hand.
10 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in
11 agreement are Senators Andrews, Brown, Connor,
12 Dilan, Duane, Gonzalez, Hassell-Thompson,
13 Klein, L. Krueger, C. Kruger, Montgomery,
14 Onorato, Oppenheimer, Paterson, Sabini,
15 Sampson, Savino, Schneiderman, Serrano,
16 A. Smith, M. Smith, Stachowski, Stavisky and
17 Valesky.
18 THE PRESIDENT: The amendment is
19 not agreed to.
20 Is there any other Senator who
21 wishes to be heard on this bill?
22 Then the debate is closed.
23 Senator Krueger.
24 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you,
25 Madam President. I would like to speak on the
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1 bill.
2 I would like to raise the point
3 that there are so many issues in voter rights
4 that we should be dealing with with
5 provisional ballot procedures that we have
6 almost none of in the State of New York.
7 With the fact that the real problem
8 at polling sites -- and I think Senator Spano
9 and I might agree that some of this experience
10 comes from the 35th District -- is that we
11 have poll sites without any information
12 available to help voters determine where
13 they're supposed to be voting or if they're in
14 the correct location.
15 That we don't have enough training
16 for our poll workers throughout the State of
17 New York. That we've got voters who
18 reasonably can be confused about where they're
19 supposed to vote, especially if they haven't
20 voted in a while or their location has moved,
21 and that this bill does nothing to address
22 this.
23 In addition, this bill conceivably
24 costs our boards of elections significant
25 amounts of money without, it's my
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1 understanding, any discussion with boards
2 around the state about their position on this.
3 Because if they have to open far more polling
4 sites and have far more monitors and have more
5 machines, potentially, if they go down the
6 road particularly of optical scanning
7 machines, and if they've got to oversee an
8 election process with an even larger number of
9 sites that might not have access for the
10 disabled, that might not have the materials
11 that are available, that might not have enough
12 people to get to those sites during the day to
13 ensure that they're operating correctly, that
14 this bill sends us in the reverse direction of
15 where we should be going.
16 We've got a timeline, we have
17 already failed to meet it, for HAVA. We've
18 got so many issues we need to address
19 legislatively and at the local level to ensure
20 that voters find it easier to vote or ensure
21 that when they go to vote they are allowed to
22 vote and that their registration is recognized
23 legally, that this proposal, while it might
24 address some issues for some small specific
25 areas, in fact, I would argue, is going to
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1 create greater problems for the majority of
2 New York.
3 But frankly, it's a one-house bill,
4 so I doubt that it will have any impact
5 because it won't move forward into law. But I
6 wish we were discussing the real issues
7 involved with improving our voter system and
8 our voting day and polling site system here in
9 New York, rather than one-house bills. And
10 I'm sorry that our hostile amendments weren't
11 accepted.
12 I'll be voting no.
13 Thank you, Madam President.
14 THE PRESIDENT: The debate is
15 closed.
16 The Secretary will ring the bell.
17 Read the last section.
18 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
19 act shall take effect immediately.
20 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll.
21 (The Secretary called the roll.)
22 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Spano, to
23 explain your vote.
24 SENATOR SPANO: To explain my
25 vote, Madam President. Just to clarify a
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1 couple of things that were said.
2 I agree with Senator Krueger that
3 there are some -- a number of other issues
4 that we need to deal with as a part of
5 Election Law reform, many of which will be
6 discussed as we continue our discussions with
7 HAVA. And with regard to training of election
8 inspectors, that's certainly an issue that
9 will be discussed, as well as finance, through
10 the HAVA negotiations.
11 We have an additional bill that
12 hopefully we'll address before the end of the
13 session that will talk to the coordinator
14 issue, so that if there are more than two,
15 less than five election districts in one
16 location, there will be required to be a
17 coordinator there to -- so people know where
18 they should go to vote.
19 To address the whole issue of the
20 amendment as well, if we pass this bill and
21 this is signed into law, we will not need to
22 codify the Court of Appeals decision because
23 the fact is that the "right church, wrong pew"
24 people will know where to vote.
25 We will eliminate what is currently
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1 happening across this state, and certainly in
2 my district, where there's one location with
3 14 election districts, in one location.
4 Some of those election districts
5 have three and four tables, more than one
6 machine, two and three machines. Could you
7 imagine the confusion at this one location
8 when you have thousands of people trying to go
9 in and vote?
10 So Senator Schneiderman wants to
11 talk about disenfranchising. We are
12 enfranchising voters, removing the confusion
13 that exists out there right now. And to do
14 anything more, such as was suggested by the
15 minority amendment, would be an invitation for
16 election fraud.
17 I vote aye.
18 THE PRESIDENT: You will be
19 recorded, Senator Spano, as voting in the
20 affirmative.
21 Senator Balboni, to explain your
22 vote.
23 SENATOR BALBONI: Yes, Madam
24 President. Anyone who has gone on election
25 night to a polling place with more than one
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1 machine knows firsthand the confusion that is
2 associated with that exercise. You've got
3 people coming back and forth saying what
4 machine is it, what's the count, and you have
5 people yelling back and forth. That's
6 confusion.
7 The argument proffered by the
8 minority is logically inconsistent, in that if
9 you're concerned about right church, wrong
10 pew, then you should support any type of
11 limitation on the number of pews. That would
12 be the way to solve this problem.
13 And as far as moving the whole
14 process on in terms of electoral reform, we
15 need more proposals out there, because the
16 silence, particularly from the other side, is
17 deafening.
18 I join in voting aye on this
19 measure. Thank you.
20 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Balboni,
21 you will be recorded as voting in the
22 affirmative.
23 Senator Schneiderman, to explain
24 your vote.
25 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you,
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1 Madam President.
2 THE PRESIDENT: You're welcome.
3 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: I just
4 want to clarify something, because I think
5 that my last two colleagues have addressed
6 issues that were not raised by Senator Dilan's
7 amendment, really.
8 The issue here is not concerned
9 about right church, wrong pew. If you go into
10 a polling place and are confused and cast your
11 ballot in the wrong election district, your
12 ballot is still counted. You are not
13 disenfranchised. So the effort to distract us
14 on that issue I think is mistaken.
15 The concern here is that this
16 legislation will increase the number of valid
17 votes cast by duly registered voters
18 attempting to exercise their right. Because
19 it is not the case that if you go into the
20 wrong polling place your vote will be counted.
21 So I think, with all due respect to
22 my colleagues, we should be working on this
23 further. I think the amendment was
24 well-founded.
25 And I also would note, as Senator
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1 Spano referred to HAVA, we currently do not
2 have conference committees meeting on HAVA.
3 While the Assembly is willing to reauthorize
4 the conference committees, the leadership of
5 this house is not. And I would suggest that
6 that might be a place where we could put our
7 energy if we want to advance the issue of
8 reforming the election laws before this
9 session is out.
10 I vote no.
11 Thank you, Madam President.
12 THE PRESIDENT: You will be
13 recorded as voting in the negative on this
14 bill.
15 The Secretary will announce the
16 results.
17 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in
18 the negative on Calendar Number 1411 are
19 Senators Andrews, Dilan, Duane, Gonzalez,
20 Hassell-Thompson, L. Krueger, C. Kruger,
21 Little, Montgomery, Onorato, Oppenheimer,
22 Paterson, Savino, Schneiderman, Serrano,
23 A. Smith and Stavisky.
24 Absent from voting: Senator
25 Parker.
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1 Ayes, 43. Nays, 17.
2 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is
3 passed.
4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
5 1427, by Senator Meier, Senate Print 5502, an
6 act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law and
7 others.
8 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON:
9 Explanation.
10 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Meier, an
11 explanation has been requested.
12 SENATOR MEIER: Thank you, Madam
13 President.
14 This bill really represents one of
15 the first attempts to significantly change the
16 juvenile justice system in this state since
17 the enactment of the Family Court Act itself
18 over 20 years ago.
19 And it is undeniable, one can see
20 it every day in everyday experience and in the
21 daily news media, that certainly society has
22 changed over those 20 years, and the nature
23 and kinds of criminal activity engaged in by
24 young people and juveniles has certainly
25 changed. And this bill seeks to respond to
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1 that.
2 Let me summarize it very briefly.
3 It gives the Family Court the capacity to
4 increase dispositions for juvenile offenders
5 ages 13 to 16 who commit violent crimes,
6 youthful offenders ages 16, 17, or 18 who
7 commit violent crimes, and juvenile
8 delinquents, who are not prosecuted as adults.
9 It expands the category of crimes
10 for which juvenile delinquents can be
11 prosecuted as adults and specifically
12 addresses the area of permitting the court to
13 address those who commit murder at the age of
14 12 as juvenile offenders.
15 One of the most important elements
16 of this bill is that it mandates that every
17 juvenile delinquent adjudicated as such
18 receive some sort of sanction and particularly
19 focuses on elements, if the child is 10 years
20 of age or older, on some kind of restitution
21 or community service.
22 It authorizes the Family Court, and
23 gives them a tool that they presently don't
24 have, to require parental participation as a
25 condition of a disposition and particularly as
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1 a condition of a sentence of probation. And I
2 don't think anyone can doubt the merits of
3 requiring that kind of participation, of
4 involving the parent in the dispositional
5 planning of a juvenile delinquent.
6 There are some procedural kinds of
7 reform which deal with making juvenile
8 delinquency proceedings more public. Under
9 the existing Family Court Act, juvenile
10 delinquency proceedings are presumptively
11 public proceedings, but the court has great
12 leeway to restrict those. This would restrict
13 such closing of the courtroom to exceptional
14 circumstances.
15 And it does require that we take a
16 very systematic and studied look at the entire
17 area of alternatives to incarceration, sets up
18 a commission to look at those alternatives and
19 to report back.
20 It is, I think, a balanced look at
21 the Family Court Act. It institutes some
22 much-needed changes and brings us into this
23 21st century with our Family Court Act to
24 address some elements of our modern life that,
25 like it or not, we do need to take a look at.
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1 Thank you, Madam President.
2 THE PRESIDENT: Is there any
3 other Senator wishing to be heard?
4 Senator Hassell-Thompson.
5 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Yes,
6 thank you, Madam President. I think I'll just
7 speak on the bill.
8 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed
9 on the bill.
10 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Thank
11 you.
12 Last year, when this bill came
13 before us, I gave you a very long, lengthy and
14 in some instances I think perhaps technical
15 dissertation on my concerns about this bill.
16 Suffice it to say that it is my
17 opinion that there have been no changes in
18 this bill from the perspective of concern that
19 I raised that this is a criminal justice
20 approach that's very heavy on incarceration
21 and light to none on prevention.
22 I don't disagree with Senator Meier
23 that many of the juvenile justice and our
24 criminal -- not our criminal, but our Family
25 Court rulings are archaic and need to be
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1 remedied.
2 But I also caution us to continue
3 to look at one factor. And that is that as we
4 continue to look at lowering the age of
5 incarceration of our young people,
6 criminalizing activities and behaviors that
7 heretofore -- and I'm not speaking about
8 violent crimes, but rather those kinds of
9 actions, initiatives that we have taken in
10 this body this year, and in the five years
11 that I've been here, to criminalize behavior
12 that is not violent behavior but, rather,
13 raising misdemeanors and raising so many of
14 the juvenile crimes to felonies.
15 I cited a report that the American
16 Bar Association, in association with the
17 National Bar Association, put out that talks
18 about justice by gender. And it's a gender
19 bias report that I reference that the numbers
20 of girls that continue to go into the juvenile
21 justice system is increasing.
22 And even though I have read the
23 statistics that talk about decreases or
24 declines in the numbers of the cases since
25 1995, recidivism is not as great in many of
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1 the areas as they ought to be.
2 For instance, our alternatives to
3 incarceration does work. And according to the
4 Juvenile Justice Coalition, in 2003,
5 46 percent of the youth released from the
6 Department of Juvenile Justice youth jails
7 returned to DJJ custody in the same year. In
8 contrast, one of the largest alternative to
9 incarceration programs had a recidivism rate
10 of less than 17 percent.
11 And I guess I heard you, Senator
12 Meier, talk about you felt that this was a
13 good balance. But I don't see the balance. I
14 don't feel it or see it in terms of how we
15 connect the dots in relationship to how we
16 budget money for our youth programs.
17 When we look at our summer youth
18 issues and look at the numbers of summer youth
19 jobs that continue to be cut -- and when we
20 know that summer jobs were created for the
21 sole purpose of finding positive ways to
22 engage our young people during our summer
23 months -- we don't, for some reason, seem to
24 be talking the same language. Because in the
25 absence of these jobs, criminal activities do
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1 in fact increase during the summer months.
2 And we also don't take into
3 consideration the fact that many of these
4 young people are partly responsible for
5 assisting in the economic empowerment of their
6 own families.
7 I would just -- I'd like to be able
8 to say that I agree with you and could vote
9 for this bill in total, but there are too many
10 unmet needs that continue. In these chambers
11 we have the power to review and assess what we
12 do so that, when we connect the dots and
13 create a picture, we have participated in the
14 prevention side as much as we have in the
15 incarceration side.
16 Therefore, Madam President, I will
17 be continuing to vote no.
18 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Duane.
19 SENATOR DUANE: Thank you, Madam
20 President. On the bill.
21 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed
22 on the bill.
23 SENATOR DUANE: I could be
24 mistaken about this, but -- and if I am, then
25 please forgive me. But I still am not aware
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1 of any hearings that occurred around the state
2 on this omnibus bill.
3 And if we're to overhaul the
4 juvenile justice system, then I think we need
5 to think really long and hard about what we're
6 doing and that we need to bring in the
7 experiences from other states around the
8 nation, from district attorneys and also those
9 who defend juveniles in our criminal justice
10 system.
11 It's clear that early intervention
12 is a more effective tool for stopping a young
13 person who is headed down the wrong path. And
14 yet until something terrible happens, we don't
15 focus on that, which is the most important
16 element of trying to save young people's lives
17 before they're destroyed by their getting into
18 criminal activities.
19 The same is true for adults as for
20 young people, that our criminal justice system
21 for young and old should be about
22 rehabilitation and not just punishment. And I
23 think that as legislators we need to be
24 educators on that and not just be pandering to
25 the public's worst fears, particularly as it
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1 concerns young people. That we would risk
2 throwing away even more young people I think
3 is a travesty.
4 If we were really serious about
5 trying to prevent young people from continuing
6 in a life of delinquency and then going into a
7 life of crime, then from the get-go -- and
8 this is one of the elements of the bill, but
9 it doesn't go far enough -- we would treat
10 more young people as youthful offenders and
11 not juvenile offenders. Youthful offenders
12 can go to the Family Court.
13 In fact, I would say that we should
14 reverse what has happened in this state, which
15 makes us one of the most backward, I think,
16 states in the nation, and that youthful
17 offenders as well as juvenile offenders should
18 all go to the Family Court first. And while
19 the Family Court has more tools at its
20 disposal than the criminal court, we need to
21 give them even more tools to save and
22 rehabilitate young people.
23 As I'm sure my colleagues know,
24 right now if you are being prosecuted as a
25 juvenile offender, you go to criminal court.
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1 And so a young person goes before a judge that
2 sees many, many adults who have perhaps
3 entered into a life of crime. And I believe
4 it's hard for those judges to see that a young
5 person is different than an adult.
6 And that young people in our state
7 should go before Family Court judges so
8 that -- because those are the judges that
9 actually are used to dealing with young
10 people. And we need to give those judges more
11 resources to save more young people's lives.
12 Now, I know that's a long way off,
13 but it's something that could absolutely be
14 considered if we did bring together experts
15 from around the nation on the issue of
16 juvenile justice.
17 And finally, I would just like to
18 remind my colleagues, many of whom have
19 children, and ask them to look at their
20 12-year-olds and really think about whether or
21 not their 12-year-old child should be treated
22 the same as an adult. I don't think so.
23 I'll be voting no on this, Madam
24 President.
25 THE PRESIDENT: Senator
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1 Montgomery.
2 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, Madam
3 President. I will just speak on the bill.
4 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed
5 on the bill.
6 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes. First
7 I want to remind my colleagues that I count at
8 least five bills that are directly related to
9 criminalizing children on our calendar today.
10 So clearly this is a rush to the bottom as it
11 relates to how we handle young people and what
12 message we give them in terms of how we feel
13 about them.
14 I see that this bill permits 14-
15 and 15-year-olds to be prosecuted as adults
16 for a number of designated felony offenses,
17 including aggravated assault on a police or
18 peace officer and et cetera, et cetera.
19 Now, 14- and 15-year-olds who come
20 in contact with a police officer and somehow
21 is angry, even if he yells at that police
22 officer, that young person is going to be
23 charged with assault. I know that because I
24 have it happen over and over again for young
25 people in my district.
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1 And to say that we're going to now
2 treat them as if they have committed a heinous
3 crime I think is for us, as legislators,
4 absolutely an abomination.
5 And to say that we're going to now
6 deal with 12-year-olds -- a 12-year-old, in my
7 estimation, is a baby. And we should look at
8 children differently from the way that we look
9 at seasoned criminals in our society.
10 But as my colleague has pointed
11 out -- Senator Duane -- we have not had any
12 hearings on this to really explore what the
13 possibilities are for dealing with young
14 people. We have not really dealt with
15 alternatives to incarceration.
16 There is no funding in here for
17 youth courts in our state that would be able
18 to handle issues regarding youth in a very
19 different way. There is no funding in here
20 for a serious alternative-to-incarceration
21 approach to young people.
22 So clearly this is simply a
23 punishment and imprisonment bill. That's all
24 that it is. It extends the sentences and
25 creates additional sentences and it takes into
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1 our criminal justice system now 12-year-olds.
2 I suppose next year we'll go to 11-year-olds.
3 So, Madam President, I'm voting no
4 on this. I think it is a terrible message as
5 a legislature to send to constituents in our
6 state, especially those of them who are most
7 vulnerable, and that is our children.
8 Thank you.
9 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Sampson.
10 SENATOR SAMPSON: Would the
11 sponsor yield for a couple of questions.
12 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Meier,
13 will you yield for a question?
14 SENATOR MEIER: Of course, Madam
15 President.
16 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed
17 with a question, Senator.
18 SENATOR SAMPSON: Through you,
19 Madam President, what percentage of crimes
20 have been committed by the youth within the
21 last three years that causes for such -- the
22 basis for such bills?
23 SENATOR MEIER: I want to be
24 clear on your question, Senator. What
25 percentage of crimes -- I lost you after that.
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1 SENATOR SAMPSON: I'm sorry, let
2 me be clear. The -- what percentage of crimes
3 that have been committed by the youth within
4 the last three years would cause for such --
5 the basis for such a bill?
6 SENATOR MEIER: Well, I mean, I
7 don't have --
8 SENATOR SAMPSON: Let me try
9 it --
10 SENATOR MEIER: I don't have
11 numbers for you in terms of what percentage.
12 And I'm not clear on what you're calling
13 youth.
14 But I think this. You know, the
15 argument is being posed here, I guess, that
16 somehow we're, as a blanket matter, saying
17 that we're going to start treating children
18 like adults, that we're going to start
19 treating 12-year-olds like adults.
20 Now, when my son and daughter were
21 12-year-olds, I didn't expect them to be
22 treated like adults. I didn't permit them to
23 drive. The State of New York doesn't permit
24 them to vote. I didn't permit them to use
25 alcohol or smoke cigarettes. But I sure as
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1 heck didn't expect them to commit violent
2 felonies, either.
3 And I must tell you, frankly, that
4 one of the great conceits of modern time is
5 that every single aspect of the human
6 condition is subject to therapy. A lot of it
7 is, and we need to concentrate on that and
8 work on it. But what do you do when a 12- or
9 13- or 14-year-old unapologetically,
10 unabashedly commits violent felonies, up to
11 and including murder? And I think that is the
12 reason for many of the provisions in this
13 bill.
14 Now, it's also important to note
15 that what we're talking about is children in
16 those age categories being treated as juvenile
17 offenders. And the juvenile sentencing
18 structure, Madam President, as everyone well
19 knows, is somewhat more stringent than that
20 available for a juvenile delinquent, but not
21 precisely the same -- indeed, somewhat less --
22 than that for people prosecuted purely as
23 adults.
24 SENATOR SAMPSON: Through you,
25 Madam President, would the sponsor continue to
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1 yield.
2 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Meier, do
3 you yield for a question?
4 SENATOR MEIER: Yes, Madam
5 President.
6 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed,
7 Senator.
8 SENATOR SAMPSON: Well, how many
9 12-year-olds have committed assault on police
10 officers?
11 SENATOR MEIER: Well, Senator, I
12 don't know. But for the sake of argument,
13 let's say it's not many. Let's say it's a
14 hundred. What -- what --
15 SENATOR SAMPSON: Through you,
16 Madam President, would the sponsor continue to
17 yield.
18 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Meier, do
19 you yield?
20 SENATOR MEIER: Of course, Madam
21 President.
22 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed,
23 Senator.
24 SENATOR SAMPSON: The basis for
25 this bill is based upon the antiquated Family
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1 Court Act and also the increase of juveniles
2 committing crimes.
3 But if we don't know the percentage
4 of crimes that have been committed by
5 12-year-olds on police officers, or gang
6 assaults in the first degree, then how can we
7 talk about increasing the penalty with respect
8 to 12-year-olds, 14-year-olds, basically
9 juveniles and youths?
10 SENATOR MEIER: Well, Senator, I
11 mean using such highly sophisticated research
12 techniques as reading the newspaper, just this
13 week, in the city of New York, a 9-year-old
14 took a knife and murdered an 11-year-old.
15 That is the kind of thing that seems to be
16 becoming more and more commonplace.
17 And you mention the whole idea or
18 the whole notion of gang activity. And we
19 know from talking to prosecutors out there and
20 criminal court judges, Family Court judges,
21 that some people who engage in gang activity
22 will deliberately go out and recruit people
23 who are below an age where they could be
24 prosecuted as adults and recruit them to carry
25 out various activities, whether it's running
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1 drugs or whether it's committing assaulting or
2 even murders. And those are the kinds of
3 situations that I think this is meant to
4 address.
5 Now, earlier when I said this was a
6 balanced bill, one of the things that it does
7 say that we need to do is to take a very
8 extensive look at alternatives to
9 incarceration.
10 It is also balanced in terms of
11 bringing into the mixture some people who
12 really, frankly speaking, don't count for much
13 in the present juvenile justice system, and
14 that's victims, in terms of involving them in
15 the dispositional phase.
16 But although -- you know, if you
17 want to ask me a series of questions about how
18 many 12-year-olds have committed murder over
19 the last year or committed assaults or so
20 forth, I'm -- I'm frankly not going to be able
21 to give you those statistics. But we do know
22 that it's there and that it is certainly
23 something that is unfortunately much more
24 present than it was 20 years ago.
25 SENATOR SAMPSON: Through you,
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1 Madam President, would the sponsor continue to
2 yield for a question.
3 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Meier,
4 will you yield for another question?
5 SENATOR MEIER: Yes, Madam
6 President.
7 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed
8 with a question.
9 SENATOR SAMPSON: From the mayor
10 to the governor, they talked about how crime
11 is on the decline in our communities. And
12 when looking at -- it's not only good to look
13 at alternatives to incarceration; I would like
14 to know what recommendations are within this
15 bill with respect to alternatives for
16 incarceration when dealing with the juveniles.
17 If any.
18 SENATOR MEIER: Well, the bill
19 contemplates a number of things, Madam
20 President.
21 For example, the present Family
22 Court Act does not in every instance make
23 provision for restitution or community
24 service. This bill does that.
25 The present Family Court Act does
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1 not give the Family Court judge extensive
2 authority to require the involvement of a
3 parent in a dispositional phase as a condition
4 of probation. This bill does that. And, I
5 think, might give a judge in some instances
6 the tools to say, Okay, maybe we'll try to
7 work out some kind of conditional disposition
8 here. Conditioned on community service,
9 perhaps restitution, perhaps some kind of
10 program involving the parent. And then, if
11 that fails, only at that point consider
12 incarceration.
13 So those are some of the things
14 that this bill does look at.
15 Now also, outside the context of
16 this bill, really, the idea that the State of
17 New York doesn't invest in preventive services
18 is really not one that's entirely accurate.
19 For example, in the budget that we
20 just passed we increased, in just one program
21 area, we increased by some $10 million the
22 amount of money that will be spent on the
23 Summer Youth Employment Program. We're going
24 to spend $25 million as opposed to the
25 $15 million that we spent last year.
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1 So I think there are also some
2 things transpiring outside the four corners of
3 this bill.
4 SENATOR SAMPSON: Through you,
5 Madam President --
6 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Sampson.
7 SENATOR SAMPSON: -- would the
8 sponsor yield for one last question.
9 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Meier,
10 will you yield for a final question?
11 SENATOR MEIER: Of course, Madam
12 President.
13 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed
14 with a final question, Senator Sampson.
15 SENATOR SAMPSON: Through you,
16 Madam President. In the bill it talks about
17 giving access, giving the police officers or
18 peace officers access to juvenile delinquent
19 records.
20 Don't they have access already to
21 juvenile delinquent records if individuals are
22 applying for jobs as police officers or peace
23 officers?
24 SENATOR MEIER: Give me a moment
25 while I confer with learned counsel here.
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1 They have access only on a limited
2 kind of basis. They can gain access to
3 juvenile records when -- if the individual,
4 for example, were to apply actually to become
5 a police officer himself or herself.
6 But in terms of whatever relevance
7 it may have to a case under investigation, I
8 don't believe they have access now.
9 SENATOR SAMPSON: Through you,
10 Madam President, will the sponsor yield for
11 just a follow-up question. I don't understand
12 something he just said.
13 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Meier,
14 will you yield for another question?
15 SENATOR SAMPSON: Post-final
16 question.
17 SENATOR MEIER: The last was the
18 penultimate question, and this is the final
19 question.
20 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed,
21 Senator.
22 SENATOR SAMPSON: When you say
23 through investigations, what do you mean?
24 Investigations in employment, or
25 investigations in a police matter? What do
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1 you mean by investigations?
2 SENATOR MEIER: Well, let me be
3 clear on your question. Are you asking -- two
4 separate issues here.
5 Are you asking about a background
6 investigation for, say, government
7 employment --
8 SENATOR SAMPSON: Yes.
9 SENATOR MEIER: That's what
10 you're asking about.
11 SENATOR SAMPSON: Yes.
12 SENATOR MEIER: The answer is
13 yes, then.
14 But not for criminal
15 investigations. A criminal investigator would
16 not have access to the records of the JD
17 adjudication.
18 SENATOR SAMPSON: Thank you,
19 Madam President.
20 THE PRESIDENT: The debate is
21 closed.
22 Senator Krueger.
23 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you.
24 Thank you, Madam President. If the sponsor
25 would please yield, through you.
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1 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Meier,
2 will you yield?
3 SENATOR MEIER: Yes, Madam
4 President.
5 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed
6 with a question.
7 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: What's the
8 financial impact of this bill on the juvenile
9 justice system?
10 SENATOR MEIER: Madam President,
11 the financial impact of this bill could
12 conceivably show up in two areas.
13 One would be the increased
14 responsibility on the part of probation
15 departments to do some dispositional planning.
16 But I'm sure that's a cost that everyone on
17 both sides of the aisle would gladly bear,
18 because that includes the enhanced
19 responsibility to look at alternatives to
20 incarceration, parental involvement, community
21 service and restitution.
22 Now, many of these things,
23 depending on how well a particular probation
24 department is staffed, could probably be
25 handled by existing staff, but it might
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1 require more time.
2 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you.
3 Madam President, on the bill.
4 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed
5 on the bill, Senator.
6 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you.
7 I have to disagree with my esteemed
8 colleague on his analysis. I believe that the
9 cost of this bill would be exorbitant to the
10 state system. And I'm not arguing that one
11 should make a decision on a bill exclusively
12 on its cost factors.
13 But again, in disappointment that
14 we haven't had hearings around the state on
15 such an omnibus proposal, I would also argue
16 that we have failed to even start to evaluate
17 the economic cost to the state and local
18 governments of moving this legislation.
19 Since in fact in this legislation
20 we would be increasing the penalty and length
21 of stay in jail for juveniles at a cost, it
22 appears, of $130,000 a year to have a juvenile
23 in the jail system, at least in New York City,
24 and we mandate in this bill specific increased
25 timelines for various categories of felony, in
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1 this bill we mandate up to five years of
2 post-release supervision, that's got to have
3 an enormous cost on our supervision, probation
4 post-prison system.
5 We are shifting younger and younger
6 people into a formal criminal court system --
7 and I'll get back to that in a minute -- that
8 obviously has increased costs up and down the
9 road.
10 This is an expensive bill. I can't
11 tell you a number either; I haven't done an
12 analysis. But I would argue that since this
13 is a Governor's program bill, that he should
14 have submitted with it an economic analysis of
15 how much this was going to cost and should
16 have also submitted, for the record, why he
17 was pushing this bill in the year 2005, the
18 same year that during his own budget speech at
19 the beginning of 2005 he talked proudly about
20 the dramatic reduction in the crime rate among
21 youth. He pointed out that the crime rate for
22 those under age 16 declined by 36 percent
23 between 1995 and the year 2001.
24 He also eliminated 290 beds from
25 the OCFS facilities because (a) there was a
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1 decreased crime rate among juveniles, and (b)
2 he was hopefully supporting expansion of
3 alternative to incarceration and
4 community-based incarceration for youth,
5 because it seemed to be working.
6 And again, if we'd had hearings on
7 the bill, we might have heard from experts who
8 were pointing out that in fact alternative
9 models are working and are more
10 cost-effective. And that actually in the
11 21st century we've learned a lot about what
12 works and what doesn't work with young people
13 and crime, and what you can do to ensure that
14 they -- even if they start off the wrong
15 direction, that they can be brought back, they
16 can in fact be rehabilitated, the damage done
17 in bad situations for young children in homes
18 can be reversed with the right kinds of
19 services.
20 And in fact while I appreciate the
21 example of a murder -- excuse me, a stabbing,
22 a 9- and an 11-year-old involved in a stabbing
23 in the newspaper, that's no way to make public
24 policy. That's just a horrendous story that
25 hits the front page of the dailies, no doubt
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1 without any explanation of what actually led
2 up to that.
3 And so I will also rise to say that
4 we should not be treating children as adults
5 in the criminal court system, and it is
6 frightening and disturbing that we would
7 propose going down to age 12 for treating
8 children as adults in our criminal system.
9 There are good things in this bill.
10 Because it's an omnibus bill, there are pieces
11 of this that I think all of us could
12 comfortably agree with. There are certainly
13 justifications for changes made to the Family
14 Court system and the processing system and
15 authorizations of different categories.
16 Again, a bill this large, a bill
17 that claims to rewrite a set of laws that
18 haven't been changed in 23 years, is exactly
19 the kind of bill we should be bringing in the
20 experts. We have a Family Court system in
21 New York City filled with people who are
22 knowledgeable about what needs to be done. We
23 have people who have studied this in detail.
24 There are think tanks who have put out
25 research, analysis on what works and what
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1 doesn't work in juvenile justice and in
2 rehabilitation and alternatives to
3 incarceration.
4 We have -- on the floor of this
5 Senate, I have heard my Republican
6 colleagues -- I have listened carefully as
7 Senator Volker one day argued for the
8 recognition of a second chance for people who
9 have made a mistake and that that shouldn't
10 follow them the rest of their life and that
11 there's a reason to have record seals and
12 opportunities given, particularly for the
13 foolishness of youth in some situations. I
14 think Senator Volker may remember his eloquent
15 argument in favor of that.
16 And yet in this bill we go in the
17 opposite direction.
18 So there are too many wrong things
19 in this bill. There is no analysis in this
20 bill of the very complicated proposals --
21 again, I believe that if Governor Pataki
22 brought this to the Legislature and asked us
23 to pass this this year, there is so much more
24 work that should have been done before this
25 was submitted to us. There is something in
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1 here everyone should have a problem with, as
2 there are things in this bill that many of us
3 would agree with.
4 I'll be voting no. I hope my
5 colleagues will vote no. But more
6 importantly, because this bill is a one-house
7 bill, I hope that next year we will spend the
8 time, both houses, throughout the state, in
9 conference and in coordination with each
10 other, having hearings, listening to the
11 experts, going over the studies at the
12 national level and state by state of what's
13 working.
14 This won't work for us. I hope
15 you'll vote no.
16 Thank you, Madam President.
17 THE PRESIDENT: Senator
18 DeFrancisco.
19 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Back
20 several years ago I used to do
21 assigned-counsel work, and I'd get involved
22 with defending a lot of people in different
23 circumstances, and many young people. And I
24 just want to recount one incident that I think
25 is pretty illustrative and I think supports
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1 this type of approach.
2 There was a young man who -- not
3 young man, he was a young child who had a
4 habit of doing a lot of burglaries. And he
5 was able to do those burglaries really with
6 impunity, because every time he'd commit one
7 it would go before the Family Court and little
8 if anything would ever occur.
9 The thing that I remember most
10 about that case, and I will never forget, is
11 when he committed his next burglary and he
12 happened to be 16 years of age. And I went to
13 visit him to discuss the issue of bail, and he
14 was not only upset but he was indignant with
15 the fact that he was being held in jail. How
16 could this happen? This isn't the way it
17 works. The system doesn't work this way. How
18 can this happen to me?
19 And I explained to him he now had
20 reached the magic age of 16, and now he's
21 going to be treated like an adult and the
22 rules are different.
23 And from that point forward, I
24 always wondered whether or not we've got our
25 system backwards. Maybe the way the system
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1 should work is really give a message and maybe
2 a serious penalty early on, before the second,
3 third and fourth offense, to the point of a
4 comfort level that future offenses aren't
5 going to have any consequences.
6 So I support this bill because I
7 think it does just that. It gives more tools
8 for that young person -- and not only to
9 protect the public, but also to send a message
10 earlier on that there are consequences that
11 maybe save some of these young people from
12 repeated criminal-type activity.
13 So I'm going to vote aye.
14 THE PRESIDENT: The debate is
15 closed.
16 The Secretary will ring the bell.
17 Read the last section.
18 THE SECRETARY: Section 105.
19 This act shall take effect immediately.
20 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll.
21 (The Secretary called the roll.)
22 THE PRESIDENT: Senator
23 Hassell-Thompson, to explain your vote.
24 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Yes,
25 thank you, Madam President.
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1 One thing that I would like to make
2 clear, in case there is any lingering doubt, I
3 do believe that when juveniles commit serious
4 crimes that they do have to be punished.
5 However, it still does not make
6 sense to me to increase the sentences across
7 the board for juveniles. Nor does it make
8 sense to continue to lower the age at which
9 youth can be dealt with as adults without
10 providing sufficient prevention programs.
11 Each year the Governor's budget
12 cuts funding and services for our most needy
13 youth. Year after year we have to fight to
14 restore money to the Summer Youth Employment
15 Program. Services to runaway and homeless
16 youth, youth development and delinquency
17 prevention and especially delinquency
18 prevention programs are continually
19 underfunded.
20 Our investment in after-school and
21 prevention programs are not sufficient to keep
22 our children safe and in preventing children
23 from becoming involved in the juvenile justice
24 system in the first place. Therefore, I will
25 continue to vote no.
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1 THE PRESIDENT: You will be so
2 recorded as voting in the affirmative.
3 Senator Breslin.
4 SENATOR BRESLIN: Thank you,
5 Madam President.
6 I commend Senator Meier for
7 bringing this to this house. There's a
8 tremendous need to reform an antiquated Family
9 Court system.
10 And I also share the concerns of
11 Senator Duane, Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson,
12 Senator Krueger, Senator Montgomery about some
13 of the problems with this bill.
14 But their concern really shouldn't
15 be as great as it is, because this bill is not
16 going anywhere. There's no -- there's no
17 conference committee set up. There's no
18 hearings that have been held. We've wasted
19 our -- in many respects wasted our time here
20 today.
21 We've wasted our time because
22 there's not a process that leads to a
23 conclusion where something goes on the
24 Governor's desk for signature. There's no
25 participation. There's no involvement of both
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1 houses.
2 I'll do everything I can in the
3 Assembly to work to get people to come up with
4 bills that two houses can look at, that's
5 acceptable to everybody. But that hasn't
6 happened in my nine years here. And unless
7 and until it does, this place will be
8 dysfunctional.
9 I vote aye.
10 THE PRESIDENT: You will be
11 recorded as voting in the affirmative, Senator
12 Breslin.
13 Senator Meier, to explain your
14 vote.
15 SENATOR MEIER: Thank you, Madam
16 President. I'd love to explain my vote.
17 With all due respect to all of my
18 colleagues, I have not wasted my time here
19 today. This is an important idea that needs
20 to be discussed.
21 And you know what this harkens back
22 to? This harkens back to Jenna's Law, that we
23 had to pass in this chamber several times
24 until the other body had to be shamed into
25 doing something about this situation.
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1 The comment was made that the fact
2 that a 9-year-old killed an 11-year-old is not
3 the reason to make public policy. It's a good
4 reason to make public policy, I think, when
5 children commit murders, when gangs recruit
6 children to commit violent crimes, knowing
7 that they can't be charged or punished to any
8 degree that will deter them from doing it
9 furthermore. I think it's a good reason to
10 make public policy.
11 And there's something else I want
12 to mention, because I think it needs to be on
13 the record. I think the record will reflect
14 that I might have been the only person in this
15 debate who talked about victims. And if a
16 12-year-old murders you, guess what? You're
17 still dead. That's the balance that we need
18 in this debate: What about the victims?
19 Madam President, I vote aye.
20 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Meier,
21 you will be recorded as voting in the
22 affirmative on this bill.
23 Senator Young.
24 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you, Madam
25 President. To explain my vote.
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1 I want to commend Senator Meier for
2 his leadership in this issue. And not only
3 does it harken back to Jenna's Law, but it
4 also harkens back to Penny's Law that I fought
5 for for several years in the State Assembly,
6 that this house passed year after year. And
7 it increased penalties for juvenile killers,
8 14- and 15-year-olds who just take people's
9 lives wantonly.
10 And, you know, it's distressing to
11 me to hear some of my colleagues talk about
12 the fact that juveniles should be treated
13 lighter, that they can be rehabilitated, that
14 this is a waste of time. It is not a waste of
15 time.
16 As Senator Meier rightfully pointed
17 out, there are victims and there are victims'
18 families whose lives are forever changed and
19 impacted and destroyed by these juvenile
20 killers. It is not a light matter.
21 And you talk to the families of
22 people like Penny Brown, who was killed by a
23 15-year-old on Mother's Day in 1998 -- or
24 1999; she was raped and she was strangled.
25 Or you talk to the families of
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1 people like Derrick Robie, a beautiful
2 4-year-old who was killed by a 13-year-old --
3 sodomized, bludgeoned, strangled by a
4 13-year-old.
5 Or you talk to the family members
6 of Jennifer Bolender, from Niagara Falls, who
7 was stabbed more than 44 times by 14- and
8 15-year-old brothers.
9 These are not light crimes. And
10 you know what? The killers in these cases
11 were well-known to the juvenile justice
12 system. And maybe if we had gotten tougher in
13 this state beforehand, we could have saved
14 lives.
15 So I think that this bill is an
16 extremely important bill. It's not a waste of
17 time. And what we've got to do, instead of
18 saying we're going to sit down because this is
19 a waste of time, we have to stand up and say
20 this is important to the citizens of this
21 state, because we are going to save lives and
22 save victims if we pass this legislation.
23 I vote yes.
24 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Young,
25 you will be recorded as voting in the
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1 affirmative on this bill.
2 Senator Parker, to explain your
3 vote.
4 SENATOR PARKER: To explain my
5 vote, Madam President.
6 First, I want to thank Senator
7 Meier for his vision and his leadership to
8 bring this bill to the floor and have us have
9 this important debate. I think that all of us
10 are profoundly struck when we hear of murders
11 amongst young people and juvenile crimes in
12 particular.
13 I however want to respectfully
14 disagree on the modality which we are choosing
15 today to try to attempt to solve it. I think
16 that increasing penalties do not necessarily
17 lead to prevention. I'm not clear that this
18 9-year-old is thinking: I may go to jail for
19 a significant amount of time if I do this
20 murder.
21 If in fact we want to help our
22 young people, then we need to be looking at
23 ways to prevent these murders before they
24 happen. And I don't think that, you know, the
25 criminal justice process is that manner.
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1 We need to be having -- and we
2 haven't had this yet, and this isn't the first
3 time I've said this. We need to be increasing
4 programs for things like after-school
5 programs. We need to be, you know, increasing
6 the dollars that our schools have. In fact, I
7 don't know, let's do CFE. And let's just
8 figure out what putting another $19 billion
9 into the school system, first in New York and
10 then in high-needs districts around the
11 state -- let's experiment. Meaning that we're
12 going to try to, you know, solve problems
13 about preventing these problems, giving young
14 people places to go after school.
15 If you want to stop gangs, Senator
16 Meier, I will work with you to put money into
17 antigang programs around the state. Because
18 the reality is that if we go back to the
19 Giuliani administration, when everybody agreed
20 that Mayor Giuliani did a great job in
21 decreasing crime, look at the numbers. Youth
22 violence went up at the same time that overall
23 crime was going down.
24 Why? Because at the same time that
25 we were increasing police, we got rid -- we
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1 consolidated, in the city, the youth programs
2 with community development. We got rid of --
3 many of the JV programs in high schools were
4 eliminated or significantly reduced. We got
5 rid of music, art and dance in the schools.
6 We need to go back to full-fledged
7 education and making sure that young people
8 have places to go beyond school. We need to
9 make sure that our communities have programs
10 in them so that young people have alternatives
11 to the things that they're doing like playing
12 video games that desensitize them to the kind
13 of violence that we're now seeing in our
14 communities.
15 Let's stop juvenile murder. Let's
16 stop juvenile violence. But the way we stop
17 that is by making sure we are creating
18 alternatives for our young people instead of
19 violence.
20 I vote nay.
21 THE PRESIDENT: You will be so
22 recorded, Senator, as voting in the negative.
23 Senator Duane, to explain your
24 vote.
25 SENATOR DUANE: Thank you, Madam
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1 President.
2 No one said that there shouldn't be
3 consequences for a child performing a bad act.
4 No one here, I don't think, has ever said that
5 they don't care about what happens to the
6 victim of violent crime. Of course we all
7 feel that way.
8 There are even, as some of my
9 colleagues have said, some very good things in
10 this omnibus bill. However, there are also
11 some very bad things in this omnibus bill.
12 If a child does something wrong, of
13 course there should be consequences. But I
14 think what many of us are trying to say is
15 that we believe that in addition to
16 consequences there should be rehabilitation,
17 that there is a way for young people to be
18 redeemed.
19 Many of the cases that have been
20 raised here, of the most heinous kinds of
21 things that a child has done, I don't believe
22 that they've performed those things or done
23 those things without any warning. So really,
24 if we invested a little bit more in child
25 protective services instead of just focusing
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1 on that when something terrible happens, well,
2 then maybe we'd be able to prevent some of
3 these terrible things from happening and get
4 children into -- out of bad environments or
5 into better services at an earlier age, to
6 prevent any violence.
7 And again, a 12-year-old is not an
8 adult. Should there be consequences for a
9 12-year-old? You bet there should be
10 consequences for a 12-year-old. But a
11 12-year-old is not a 30-year-old. They're
12 different. We cannot just lightly say they
13 should be treated as an adult.
14 No one in this body that has a
15 12-year-old child I don't believe thinks that
16 their 12-year-old child should be treated as
17 an adult. And that means that if they don't
18 think their child should be treated as an
19 adult, then another person's child shouldn't
20 be treated as an adult either. Because a
21 12-year-old is not an adult.
22 Thank you, Madam President.
23 THE PRESIDENT: You will be so
24 recorded as voting in the negative, Senator
25 Duane. I assume that's your vote?
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1 SENATOR DUANE: Yes.
2 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary
3 will announce the results.
4 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in
5 the negative on Calendar Number 1427 are
6 Senators Andrews, Connor, Dilan, Duane,
7 Gonzalez, Hassell-Thompson, L. Krueger,
8 Montgomery, Oppenheimer, Parker, Paterson,
9 Sabini, Sampson, Schneiderman, Serrano,
10 A. Smith and Stavisky. Also Senator Malcolm
11 Smith.
12 Ayes, 43. Nays, 18.
13 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is
14 passed.
15 Senator Skelos, that completes the
16 reading of the controversial calendar.
17 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you, Madam
18 President.
19 Is there any further business at
20 the desk?
21 THE PRESIDENT: Yes, there is,
22 Senator. We have motions.
23 Senator Little.
24 SENATOR SKELOS: Before the
25 members leave, there will be a meeting of the
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1 Rules Committee in the Majority Conference
2 Room.
3 THE PRESIDENT: There will be a
4 meeting of the Rules Committee in the Majority
5 Conference Room immediately.
6 SENATOR SKELOS: We will report
7 the bills but not take them up today.
8 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Little.
9 SENATOR LITTLE: Madam President,
10 I wish to call up my bill, Print Number 4069A,
11 recalled from the Assembly, which is now at
12 the desk.
13 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary
14 will read.
15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
16 1350, by Senator Little, Senate Print 4069A,
17 an act to amend the Public Officers Law.
18 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Little.
19 SENATOR LITTLE: Madam President,
20 I now move to reconsider the vote by which
21 this bill was passed.
22 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary
23 will call the roll upon reconsideration.
24 (The Secretary called the roll.)
25 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 61.
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1 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Little.
2 SENATOR LITTLE: Madam President,
3 I now offer the following amendments.
4 THE PRESIDENT: The amendments
5 are received.
6 Senator Little.
7 SENATOR LITTLE: Madam President,
8 on behalf of Senator Wright, on page 63 I
9 offer the following amendments to Calendar
10 Number 1424, Senate Print Number 5413A, and
11 ask that said bill retain its place on Third
12 Reading Calendar.
13 THE PRESIDENT: The amendments
14 are received, and the bill will retain its
15 place on the Third Reading Calendar.
16 SENATOR LITTLE: Thank you.
17 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Skelos.
18 SENATOR SKELOS: Please recognize
19 Senator Hassell-Thompson.
20 THE PRESIDENT: Senator
21 Hassell-Thompson.
22 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Point
23 of information, Madam President. I don't
24 think that I heard my name as voting no on the
25 last bill.
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1 THE PRESIDENT: And you explained
2 your vote, and I said at the end of that you
3 would be recorded as voting in the negative.
4 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Right.
5 But in the negatives I didn't hear my name.
6 THE PRESIDENT: You are correct.
7 The Secretary will make sure the
8 record is corrected, Senator Hassell-Thompson.
9 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Thank
10 you, Madam President.
11 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Skelos.
12 SENATOR SKELOS: If we could just
13 stand at ease pending the report of the Rules
14 Committee.
15 THE PRESIDENT: The Senate stands
16 at ease.
17 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at
18 ease at 12:58 p.m.)
19 (Whereupon, the Senate reconvened
20 at 1:07 p.m.)
21 SENATOR SEWARD: Mr. President.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT SALAND: Senator
23 Seward.
24 SENATOR SEWARD: Yes, Mr.
25 President, if we could return to reports of
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1 standing committees, I believe there's a
2 report of the Rules Committee at the desk.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT SALAND: The
4 Secretary will read.
5 THE SECRETARY: Senator Bruno,
6 from the Committee on Rules, reports the
7 following bills:
8 Senate Print 3339, by Senator
9 Padavan, an act to amend the Retirement and
10 Social Security Law;
11 3745, by Senator Oppenheimer, an
12 act to reopen;
13 3981, by Senator Larkin, an act to
14 authorize;
15 4052, by Senator Golden, an act to
16 amend the Penal Law;
17 4169, by Senator Skelos, an act to
18 amend the Tax Law;
19 4236, by Senator Hannon, an act to
20 amend the Criminal Procedure Law;
21 4523, by Senator Leibell, an act to
22 amend the Soil and Water Conservation
23 Districts Law;
24 4896, by Senator Flanagan, an act
25 to amend the Public Officers Law;
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1 4962A, by Senator Johnson, an act
2 to amend the Tax Law;
3 5023, by Senator Alesi, an act to
4 amend the Retirement and Social Security Law;
5 5129A, by Senator Flanagan, an act
6 to amend the Public Officers Law;
7 5196, by Senator Nozzolio, an act
8 to amend the Executive Law;
9 5197, by Senator Nozzolio, an act
10 to amend the Executive Law and others;
11 5252, by Senator Johnson, an act to
12 amend the Tax Law;
13 5379, by the Senate Committee on
14 Rules, an act to amend the Civil Service Law;
15 5451, by the Senate Committee on
16 Rules, an act to amend the Workers'
17 Compensation Law;
18 5463, by the Senate Committee on
19 Rules, an act to amend the Labor Law;
20 5509, by Senator Young, an act to
21 amend the Education Law;
22 5512, by the Senate Committee on
23 Rules, an act to amend the Public Officers
24 Law;
25 5514, by Senator DeFrancisco, an
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1 act to amend the New York City Civil Court Act
2 and others;
3 5517, by Senator Johnson, an act to
4 amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law;
5 5523, by Senator Nozzolio, an act
6 to amend the Executive Law;
7 5539, by Senator Volker, an act to
8 amend the Criminal Procedure Law;
9 And Senate Print 5575, by Senator
10 Volker, an act to amend the Criminal Procedure
11 Law.
12 All bills ordered direct to third
13 reading.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT SALAND: Senator
15 Seward.
16 SENATOR SEWARD: Mr. President, I
17 move to accept the report of the Rules
18 Committee.
19 ACTING PRESIDENT SALAND: All
20 those in favor of accepting the report of the
21 Rules Committee signify by saying aye.
22 (Response of "Aye.")
23 ACTING PRESIDENT SALAND: Nay?
24 (No response.)
25 ACTING PRESIDENT SALAND: The
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1 Rules report is accepted.
2 SENATOR SEWARD: Any further
3 business at the desk?
4 ACTING PRESIDENT SALAND: There
5 is none.
6 SENATOR SEWARD: Okay. With no
7 further business, I announce that the Senate
8 will adjourn until Tuesday, June 14, at
9 3:00 p.m., intervening days being legislative
10 days.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT SALAND: On
12 motion, the Senate stands adjourned until
13 Tuesday, June 14, at 3:00 p.m., intervening
14 days being legislative days.
15 (Whereupon, at 1:11 p.m., the
16 Senate adjourned.)
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