Regular Session - January 9, 2006
29
1 NEW YORK STATE SENATE
2
3
4 THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD
5
6
7
8
9 ALBANY, NEW YORK
10 January 9, 2006
11 3:43 p.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 THE PRESIDENT: The Senate will
3 please come to order.
4 Would everyone present please rise
5 and repeat with me the Pledge of Allegiance.
6 (Whereupon, the assemblage recited
7 the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.)
8 THE PRESIDENT: In the absence of
9 clergy, may we bow our heads in a moment of
10 silence, please.
11 (Whereupon, the assemblage
12 respected a moment of silence.)
13 THE PRESIDENT: Reading of the
14 Journal.
15 THE SECRETARY: In Senate,
16 Friday, January 6, the Senate met pursuant to
17 adjournment. The Journal of Thursday,
18 January 5, was read and approved. On motion,
19 Senate adjourned.
20 THE PRESIDENT: Without
21 objection, the Journal stands approved as
22 read.
23 Presentation of petitions.
24 Messages from the Assembly.
25 Messages from the Governor.
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1 Reports of standing committees.
2 Reports of select committees.
3 Communications and reports from
4 state officers.
5 Motions and resolutions.
6 SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you, Madam
7 President.
8 THE PRESIDENT: You're welcome.
9 SENATOR FARLEY: I move that the
10 following bills be discharged from their
11 respective committees and be recommitted with
12 instructions to strike the enacting clause:
13 On behalf of Senator Balboni, 1744,
14 2001, 2943, 4786, and 5400.
15 On behalf of Senator Flanagan,
16 1809, 1810, 1811, 1812, 1813, 1814, 2067,
17 3650, and 3686.
18 On behalf of Senator Fuschillo,
19 2161, 4378.
20 On behalf of Senator LaValle,
21 Madam President, 585, 684, 836, 999, 1560,
22 1625, 2080, and 2599.
23 On behalf of Senator Skelos, 2725,
24 3046, 3442.
25 And on behalf of Senator Wright,
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1 4379, 4488, and 5335.
2 THE PRESIDENT: So ordered,
3 Senator.
4 Senator Skelos.
5 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President,
6 please recognize Senator Schneiderman.
7 THE PRESIDENT: Senator
8 Schneiderman.
9 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you.
10 Madam President, I would move that
11 the following bills be discharged from their
12 respective committees and be recommitted with
13 instructions to strike the enacting clause:
14 Senate Bill Number 3123, by Senator
15 Breslin, and 675, by Senator Toby Stavisky.
16 THE PRESIDENT: So ordered,
17 Senator.
18 SENATOR VOLKER: Thank you.
19 Senator Skelos.
20 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President,
21 there will be an immediate meeting of the
22 Rules Committee in the Majority Conference
23 Room.
24 THE PRESIDENT: There will be an
25 immediate meeting of the Rules Committee in
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1 the Majority Conference Room.
2 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at
3 ease at 3:49 p.m.)
4 (Whereupon, the Senate reconvened
5 at 3:57 p.m.)
6 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Skelos.
7 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President,
8 if we could return to reports of standing
9 committees.
10 I believe there's a report of the
11 Rules Committee at the desk, if we could take
12 it up at this time.
13 THE PRESIDENT: Reports of
14 standing committees.
15 The Secretary will read.
16 THE SECRETARY: Senator Bruno,
17 from the Committee on Rules, reports the
18 following bills:
19 Senate Print 6007, by the Senate
20 Committee on Rules, an act to amend the Tax
21 Law;
22 And Senate Print 6019, by Senator
23 Skelos, an act to amend the Correction Law.
24 Both bills ordered direct to third
25 reading.
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1 THE PRESIDENT: Without
2 objection, both bills ordered directly to
3 third reading.
4 Senator Skelos.
5 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept
6 the report of the Rules Committee.
7 THE PRESIDENT: All in favor of
8 accepting the report of the Rules Committee
9 please signify by saying aye.
10 (Response of "Aye.")
11 THE PRESIDENT: Opposed, nay.
12 (No response.)
13 THE PRESIDENT: The report is
14 adopted.
15 Senator Skelos.
16 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President,
17 if we could take up the calendar,
18 noncontroversial.
19 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary
20 will read.
21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
22 29, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate
23 Print 6007, an act to amend the Tax Law.
24 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Lay it
25 aside.
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1 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is laid
2 aside.
3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
4 30, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 6019, an
5 act to amend the Correction Law.
6 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last
7 section.
8 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Lay it
9 aside.
10 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is laid
11 aside.
12 Senator Skelos, that completes the
13 reading of the noncontroversial calendar.
14 SENATOR SKELOS: Can we go to the
15 controversial reading, please.
16 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary
17 will read.
18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
19 29, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate
20 Print 6007, an act to amend the Tax Law.
21 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Brief
22 explanation.
23 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Volker,
24 an explanation has been requested.
25 SENATOR VOLKER: Madam President,
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1 I think as everyone here knows, the County of
2 Erie last year went through a prolonged fiscal
3 crisis, and the county in reality is still not
4 functioning by any means at one hundred
5 percent. A number of the agencies in Erie
6 County are down to bare minimums. The Erie
7 County Clerk's Office is just catching up from
8 a mess that was created earlier in the year by
9 layoffs of probably about half the clerk's
10 office.
11 What happened was that the county
12 legislature, after agonizing for most of the
13 year, finally, after we in this chamber passed
14 legislation for an Emergency Control Board,
15 finally came to an agreement at the last
16 minute, just before the control board took
17 over total and firm control.
18 And part of the agreement was that
19 the county legislature, as part of the budget
20 for 2006 -- and, by the way, 2007, because
21 this bill applies to the budgets for this year
22 and for next year -- that the county
23 legislature would authorize an additional 1/2
24 of 1 percent for the County of Erie to keep
25 their budget functioning.
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1 There was a great deal of concern.
2 And what happened was, because of the fact it
3 was unclear whether we would come back in
4 December, a bill was introduced by both houses
5 of the Legislature -- this is agreement
6 between the Assembly, the Senate, and the
7 Governor that a bill would be introduced, the
8 county legislature would pass a home rule
9 message, as they did, and we would then,
10 before January 15th, pass legislation which
11 affirms the 1/2 percent sales tax.
12 I must point out -- it's something
13 I've pointed out before -- this is not a state
14 sales tax, this is a local sales tax. The
15 only reason we're doing this is because this
16 bill is a home rule bill.
17 The final thing I want to say is
18 that in reality we were asked to make a
19 commitment to Wall Street that this bill would
20 pass today, because otherwise the county would
21 have its ratings reduced and downgraded. We
22 did, and that's what this bill is for. It
23 will keep the bond rating of the county at a
24 higher rate and will also stabilize the County
25 of Erie for the rest of this year.
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1 THE PRESIDENT: Senator
2 Schneiderman.
3 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you.
4 I know we're on a short time frame
5 today. I thank the sponsor for his
6 explanation and request that we move forward
7 on this piece of legislation.
8 THE PRESIDENT: Does any other
9 Senator wish to be heard?
10 Then the debate is closed.
11 The Secretary will ring the bell.
12 The Secretary will first read the
13 substitution.
14 THE SECRETARY: In relation to
15 Calendar Number 29, Senator Bruno moves to
16 discharge, from the Committee on Rules,
17 Assembly Bill Number 9081 and substitute it
18 for the identical Senate Bill Number 6007,
19 Third Reading Calendar 29.
20 THE PRESIDENT: Substitution
21 ordered.
22 There is a local fiscal impact note
23 at the desk.
24 Read the last section.
25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
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1 29, by the Assembly Committee on Rules,
2 Assembly Print Number 9081, an act to amend
3 the Tax Law.
4 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last
5 section.
6 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This
7 act shall take effect immediately.
8 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll.
9 (The Secretary called the roll.)
10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 56. Nays,
11 1. Senator Valesky recorded in the negative.
12 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is
13 passed.
14 The Secretary will continue to
15 read.
16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
17 30, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 6019, an
18 act to amend the Correction Law.
19 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last
20 section.
21 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN:
22 Explanation.
23 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Skelos,
24 an explanation has been requested.
25 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President,
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1 this legislation would require all sex
2 offenders currently registered, and those who
3 would be prospectively registered after
4 they've committed their crime, to have to
5 register for life. That would be all Level 1,
6 2, and 3.
7 For Level 1 offenders who are not
8 designated as a sexual predator, sexually
9 violent offender, or a predicate sex offender,
10 they would have to register for 20 years and
11 then after 20 years they could petition the
12 sentencing court to be removed from the
13 registry.
14 THE PRESIDENT: Senator
15 Schneiderman.
16 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you,
17 Madam President. I believe there's an
18 amendment at the desk. I ask that the reading
19 of the amendment be waived and that I be heard
20 on the amendment.
21 THE PRESIDENT: The reading is
22 waived, and you may be heard on the amendment.
23 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you,
24 Madam President.
25 This is an amendment in the spirit
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1 of the day, in which we are setting out the
2 criminal justice agenda of the house. We've
3 already been notified that the civil
4 commitment for sexual predators bill is going
5 to be accelerated so it can be considered next
6 week.
7 Senator Volker has advised us that
8 the calendar of the Codes Committee that met
9 today is being moved so that we can consider
10 that legislation next week, which includes
11 bills on gang sexual assaults, DNA evidence,
12 and other matters.
13 And today we are moving on Senator
14 Skelos's bill to extend the registry for sex
15 offenders, which is something that we are
16 certainly committed to doing before the
17 expiration of Megan's Law.
18 I would add in this amendment
19 something that has passed the Assembly today
20 but is noticeably and glaringly absent from
21 the criminal justice agenda in this house, and
22 that is a package of bills to follow up on our
23 success in the special session a few weeks ago
24 to deal with the plague of illegal guns that
25 in the hands of criminals are causing
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1 devastation across the state.
2 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Skelos.
3 SENATOR SKELOS: If I could
4 interrupt for a moment, I think we have a real
5 germaneness problem right now in terms of -- I
6 understand the amendments that are going to be
7 offered. But in consultation with Senator
8 Bruno, I think I should indicate we're not
9 going to raise the germaneness issues, but
10 certainly we're not looking to detract, which
11 I believe is a ploy of the Minority right now,
12 from the importance of passing this amendment
13 to Megan's Law, this reforming of Megan's Law
14 to protect our children and to protect our
15 communities.
16 So I think it's very, very
17 important that we recognize we're not going to
18 raise the germaneness issue, but the issue of
19 the day is the fact that unless the Assembly
20 follows the lead of the Senate, there will be
21 hundreds and hundreds and thousands of sex
22 offenders off the registry who the police, our
23 parents, our communities, our children will
24 not be able to track because of that.
25 So thank you, and again, we will
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1 not raise the germaneness issue at this time.
2 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you.
3 I appreciate it. And certainly I do want to
4 speak on the amendment --
5 THE PRESIDENT: You may continue
6 to speak, Senator Schneiderman.
7 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: -- and
8 then we'll get to the substance of this
9 important legislation.
10 I would note that the Assembly has
11 already passed their own version of an
12 extension, so that this is a problem that
13 really should be able to be resolved between
14 the two houses.
15 But as to that, this amendment is
16 something that I believe we committed
17 ourselves in the special session to acting on.
18 The Assembly today has demonstrated its
19 commitment to dealing with the issue of gun
20 violence and of guns that are used in crimes
21 by passing a comprehensive package of gun
22 violence and gun safety legislation.
23 Unfortunately, in spite of the
24 rhetoric in the special session, this house is
25 the graveyard of gun safety and gun control
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1 bills. This house is the place that, as
2 recognized by the Daily News, New York Times
3 and other sources, is called NRA-friendly.
4 This is where the NRA can block gun safety and
5 gun violence bills. And it's time for that to
6 end.
7 We heard rhetoric during the
8 special session that we are prepared, as we
9 move forward, to take action against sexual
10 predators, to take action against gang
11 violence, to take action against those who
12 would harm our communities, that we are going
13 to add to that this year, that the Senate is
14 going to stop being the barrier to gun safety
15 and enact the other critically important
16 community-safety legislation that this state
17 needs.
18 Today was the arraignment of the
19 two men charged in the shooting of New York
20 City police officer Enchautegui. That was the
21 arraignment. We spoke about it at the special
22 session. Let's not take one step, let's not
23 put one piece in place of a 10-piece puzzle,
24 as we would be doing if we stopped after we
25 passed the important gun-trafficking
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1 legislation in the special session and failed
2 to take action on the other bills that have
3 passed the Assembly today.
4 So this amendment would get us
5 started and show the commitment of this house
6 to taking action in the 2006 legislative
7 session on the critical issues of guns used in
8 crimes.
9 The three elements of the amendment
10 are very, very straightforward. First of all,
11 this would enact provisions that are in a
12 piece of legislation carried by Assembly
13 Member Paulin that impose common-sense
14 requirements on gun dealers.
15 There's a fiction that is advanced
16 by some -- certainly promoted by NRA and its
17 related agencies -- there's a fiction advanced
18 that there's a difference between legal guns
19 and illegal guns. There's no one down at the
20 Smith & Wesson or the Glock factory who says,
21 Oh, 10 p.m., time to stop making the legal
22 guns, let's start making the illegal guns.
23 These all start as legal guns, and
24 they are diverted by a very small number of
25 gun dealers into the illegal market. We know,
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1 from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
2 Firearms, that 1.2 percent of the federally
3 licensed gun dealers are responsible for
4 57 percent of the guns used in crimes.
5 Most gun dealers are honorable
6 businessmen and -women, but there's a small
7 portion that the Assembly wants to crack down
8 on, that this amendment would allow us to
9 crack down on by imposing simple
10 requirements -- requiring that they maintain
11 records, back up the records, and provide them
12 to law enforcement officers, requiring that
13 employees who sell guns are at least 21 years
14 old and receive training.
15 This amendment would require that
16 guns are safely stored. Some of you may
17 recall that right here in the Capital District
18 there was a robbery at Accurate Arms & Ammo
19 gun store, which is in Colonie, where 29
20 handguns ended up in the hands of a notorious
21 drug dealer and one was used in a homicide in
22 New York City. This amendment would solve
23 that problem.
24 This amendment would also enact a
25 piece of legislation that Senator Stavisky
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1 carries separately. And it is astonishing to
2 me that the members of the Majority in this
3 house would not support that bill. It's a
4 bill that would prevent violent felons from
5 being able to obtain gun licenses.
6 Understand, that bill passed the Assembly.
7 The Majority in this house will not let to the
8 floor a bill that would prevent violent felons
9 from being able to obtain gun licenses. That
10 we should move forward, and that's in this
11 amendment.
12 And, finally, there's a component
13 of this amendment that corresponds to a bill
14 carried by Assembly Member Koon that requires
15 the submissions of crime guns and shell
16 casings to the database so that we can track
17 them.
18 Right now we have a database that's
19 of very little use because there's no
20 requirement that law enforcement agencies,
21 when they find crime guns, submit it to the
22 database so we can see if the guns were used
23 in other crimes in other parts of the state.
24 That's what this amendment would do.
25 And I'm going to stay very, very
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1 brief on this issue -- although as many of you
2 know, I feel strongly about it and can speak
3 about it at length -- in the spirit of
4 cooperation indicated by Senator Skelos. It
5 is critical that this house act on the
6 rhetoric during the special session, that this
7 house stop being the barrier to gun safety and
8 gun control laws.
9 If we care about protecting our
10 police officers from violent criminals armed
11 with guns that they obtained from the legal
12 market diverted into the illegal market, we
13 must take action. 2006 cannot pass -- we
14 cannot finish this session without addressing
15 the critical issues of gun safety and gun
16 violence.
17 And we suggest this in the true
18 spirit of cooperation today that this
19 amendment be accepted, that this amendment be
20 added to Senator Skelos's critically important
21 bill. Let's get the issue of gun violence and
22 gun safety on the floor of the Senate this
23 year. Let's bring these bills that never make
24 it to the floor in this house to the floor and
25 vote on them. Let's provide our citizens with
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1 the protection they deserve.
2 I hope that everyone will support
3 this amendment, Madam President. And then we
4 look forward to speaking on the substance of
5 the bill itself when we are done with this
6 vote.
7 Thank you.
8 THE PRESIDENT: All Senators in
9 favor of the amendment please signify by
10 raising your hand.
11 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in
12 agreement are Senators Andrews, Breslin,
13 Connor, Diaz, Dilan --
14 SENATOR DIAZ: No.
15 THE SECRETARY: Excuse me. Those
16 recorded in agreement are Senators Andrews,
17 Breslin, Connor, Dilan, Duane, Gonzalez,
18 Hassell-Thompson, Klein, L. Krueger,
19 Montgomery, Onorato, Oppenheimer, Parker,
20 Paterson, Sabini, Sampson, Savino,
21 Schneiderman, Serrano, A. Smith, M. Smith and
22 Stavisky.
23 THE PRESIDENT: The amendment is
24 not agreed to.
25 Senator Schneiderman.
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1 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Yes, very
2 briefly, Madam President, as I indicated, on
3 the bill.
4 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed
5 on the bill.
6 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: I just
7 want to note I will vote in support of this
8 legislation. It's obviously essential that we
9 deal with this issue before the deadline.
10 I would note that the Assembly
11 today has passed its own version of an
12 extension, which requires sex offenders to
13 register annually until March 31, 2007, in
14 anticipation of what we hope will be action by
15 the federal government to create a national
16 registry.
17 So if we pass this bill today and
18 the Assembly passes its bill, I would urge
19 that this is an excellent example of a case in
20 which a conference committee should
21 immediately be convened. And that if we had
22 adopted the rule that has been proposed for
23 mandatory conference committees, that would
24 happen.
25 In the absence of that, we urge the
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1 leadership in both houses to act to move this
2 along as quickly as possible.
3 I will be voting in support of
4 Senator Skelos's bill.
5 Thank you, Madam President.
6 THE PRESIDENT: Senator
7 Montgomery, on the bill.
8 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, Madam
9 President, briefly on the bill.
10 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed.
11 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: I just want
12 to raise an issue that I think I raised last
13 session, and I will maintain my position on
14 this legislation.
15 One, unfortunately, we can't just
16 do a bill that extends what we already have.
17 We have to go one step beyond that and try to
18 catch many, many more people into this web.
19 So I'm very unhappy about that.
20 The bill would require all sex
21 offenders, including Level 1 -- and my fear is
22 that I see some young men up there who sit
23 here and watch this session right now. If one
24 of those young men got caught up as a Level 1
25 offender, unfortunately, in this, you are
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1 asking that person to be -- to have their
2 names as part of this registry for the rest of
3 their lives. Then, in 20 years, they could
4 possibly apply for -- to have -- am I on the
5 wrong bill?
6 SENATOR SKELOS: No, no. If you
7 could yield for a moment.
8 Under what circumstances would
9 those young men have to register for life?
10 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Under your
11 bill, if they were Level 1 sex offenders.
12 SENATOR SKELOS: What crime would
13 they have committed?
14 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Well, it
15 would depend on whatever you define as a
16 Level 1 sex offense.
17 Are you saying that there are some
18 sex offenses that are not -- that under this
19 law would not be covered?
20 SENATOR SKELOS: If we had -- it
21 depends on the activity that took place. The
22 laws of the State of New York have made as
23 public policy a very definite decision that
24 the age of consent is 17, over 17. And also
25 that for a person to be convicted of statutory
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1 rape, that that person would have to be over
2 the age of 21.
3 So you're dealing in a situation
4 and I think what you're trying to bring out is
5 if it was two 16-year-olds and it was --
6 there's no statutory rape, and this would not
7 take place.
8 If an individual was over 21 and
9 the young woman is under 17, then you have,
10 yes, then you do have statutory rape, because
11 this Legislature has made a very definite
12 decision as a matter of public policy -- now,
13 you may want to lower the age of consent --
14 but has made a definite decision that it is
15 under the age of 17 that you cannot give that
16 type of consent.
17 So you're sort of wrong in terms of
18 saying all these individuals would be
19 categorized as Level 1.
20 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Thank you
21 for that explanation.
22 But let me just respond by saying
23 to you that what I intend to say is that any
24 young college student -- 17, 18, 19 -- that
25 has a charge against that young person that
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1 results in that young person being charged
2 with Level 2, no matter if it's with that
3 person's sweetheart, who is 16, maybe, or 17,
4 maybe, they could still be charged under your
5 law here.
6 SENATOR SKELOS: If the crime
7 that they have committed would require that
8 they be categorized as a Level 1 sex
9 offender --
10 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Exactly.
11 SENATOR SKELOS: -- they could
12 petition the sentencing court after 20 years
13 to be removed from the registry unless they
14 have been categorized as a sexually violent --
15 let me get the words correctly here --
16 sexually violent predator, there's a predicate
17 offense that's involved, or they're a sexual
18 predator.
19 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Thank you,
20 Senator Skelos, for your explanation.
21 I think you've agreed with me that
22 there are some cases where we would question
23 whether or not we would want that young person
24 to be registered in your sex registry based on
25 the fact that there was a charge based on a
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1 19-year-old having an encounter with a
2 17-year-old even though they may have been --
3 or there could be very, very minor contact
4 here and they would still fall under your law.
5 SENATOR SKELOS: If the existing
6 law --
7 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Point of
8 order. Is Senator Skelos asking Senator
9 Montgomery to yield?
10 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Skelos --
11 Senator Skelos -- do you have a point of
12 order?
13 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Oh, we
14 forgot.
15 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President,
16 I think we're having a very good discussion.
17 It's interesting how Senator Schneiderman,
18 when issues of germaneness are not raised,
19 he's happy, but if we're having a very civil
20 discussion to enlighten the chamber, Senator
21 Schneiderman is on his feet objecting.
22 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: I mean no
23 disrespect. I'm just protecting the
24 prerogative of the presiding officer to keep
25 us on track here.
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1 Thank you.
2 THE PRESIDENT: Senator
3 Montgomery, do you yield some time for Senator
4 Skelos to speak?
5 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Well, yes,
6 I --
7 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed,
8 Senator Skelos.
9 SENATOR SKELOS: Senator
10 Montgomery, you realize that if the crime
11 that's committed by the young people is
12 considered a sexual offense under existing
13 law, then they would have to register.
14 But I think existing law takes into
15 account certain ones of these crimes if they
16 fall within certain age limits and there's
17 been no force and there's been no drugs used
18 and there's been no coercion. Then they are
19 protected.
20 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Okay, thank
21 you.
22 On the bill, Madam President.
23 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed
24 on the bill, Senator Montgomery.
25 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes. The
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1 bill would require all offenders, regardless
2 of risk level, to register with the sex
3 offender registry for life. Certain Level 1
4 offenders are permitted to petition for relief
5 from registration once they have been
6 registered for 20 years.
7 The crimes for which an individual
8 may be required to register as a Level 1 sex
9 offender are oftentimes very minimal offenses.
10 For example, consensual sex between teenagers
11 and acts of lewdness or forceable touching
12 could potentially result in an individual
13 having to register for the rest of their life.
14 For that reason, I am adamantly
15 opposed. I have a son who is in college, I
16 know many of us in this room have sons who are
17 in college -- maybe they're going to be going
18 off to college, maybe they're 21 now, maybe
19 they're out of college -- but they could still
20 be required to register for the rest of their
21 lives.
22 And you and I know who it's going
23 to fall on most. And I do not want one more
24 reason for young men in my district to be
25 charged with something where they have to
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1 register for the rest of their lives for
2 something they did when they were 17 or 18.
3 So I vote no.
4 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Nozzolio.
5 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Thank you,
6 Madam President. On the bill.
7 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed
8 bill, Senator Nozzolio.
9 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Madam
10 President and my colleagues, I first, as
11 chairman of the Crime Victims, Crime and
12 Corrections Committee of the New York State
13 Senate, wish to thank my colleagues who were
14 so instrumental in pushing this legislation,
15 particularly Senator Skelos.
16 Senator Skelos, thank you for your
17 leadership on this issue. Ten years ago, when
18 Megan's Law was first created, you brought
19 New York State out of the dark ages into
20 establishing again a zero tolerance for
21 violence and sexual assault in this state.
22 Also, I wish to thank my colleagues
23 who participated in the hearings that we have
24 conducted across this state on updating,
25 modernizing Megan's Law as it has existed now
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1 for 10 years.
2 Our mission was clear. We wanted
3 to modernize it, update it, ensure that law
4 enforcement had appropriate input into how we
5 could, overall, protect more children. That
6 was the objective of the Senate Republican
7 Majority. That was our objective, to ensure
8 that there would be a broader scope of Megan's
9 Law, that the most successful notification
10 program in the history of the nation needed to
11 be modernized, updated, changed so that we
12 would have more children protected.
13 By requiring lifetime registration
14 for all levels, that that is something, as
15 Senator Montgomery very surprisingly protested
16 against, it's our view that those very
17 important crimes that were committed shouldn't
18 be overlooked. Level 1 offenses are very
19 serious offenses. They involve, in many
20 cases, the use of power and authority over the
21 innocent, and that there are children that are
22 the victims of those who have committed
23 Level 1 sex offenses.
24 That I believe you should very much
25 support this legislation, as I know most of,
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1 if not all of our colleagues on this side of
2 the aisle are going to do, because it protects
3 more children, pure and simple, and that it is
4 cried out for time and time again.
5 This is not additional punishment.
6 It's a notification. It's letting the sun
7 shine on the fact that there was a criminality
8 involved and that people have the right to
9 have notification when an individual that
10 committed this crime moves into the area.
11 If you're a parent, I believe you
12 certainly would want this type of notice.
13 You'd want to do all you could to protect your
14 children. That's what the objectives of this
15 conference were. That's why I congratulate
16 Senator Skelos for pushing hard to establish
17 this legislation. That's why I look forward
18 to voting aye.
19 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Diaz.
20 SENATOR DIAZ: Thank you, Madam
21 President. On the bill.
22 Now, I'm amazed to see the level of
23 hypocrisy when people try to use the suffering
24 of our minority community. We say we are
25 supposed to protect our community. Today I
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1 voted against an amendment to this magnificent
2 and good piece of legislation. I want to tell
3 you why.
4 Two weeks ago they called us back
5 here in Albany to deal with a piece of
6 legislation to increase the penalties on those
7 that kill a police officer. And I said on
8 that occasion that my daughter, my only
9 daughter, is a police sergeant in the New York
10 City Police Department, and I'm concerned with
11 that.
12 But I said on that occasion that if
13 we want to protect the community and we are
14 really concerned in protecting our community,
15 the life of a police officer should not be
16 worth more than the life of a bodeguero, of a
17 taxi driver, of a senior citizen, of any other
18 New York State citizen.
19 And on that occasion, nobody cared
20 about -- nobody showed care about the
21 bodegueros, the senior citizens, the taxi
22 drivers, the whole community. We came here
23 and everybody voted in favor of increasing the
24 penalty for those that kill police officers.
25 So where was the concern for our
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1 community on that occasion? Where was the
2 concern for our community, for our people?
3 Only two of us voted against it, Senator
4 Parker and myself. Not because we don't
5 believe in increasing the penalty, but we
6 believe that we are to put an end to crime, we
7 should increase the penalty for everybody.
8 But today we come here trying to
9 put an amendment because we've got to protect
10 our community. We've got to protect our
11 community. That's pure hypocrisy.
12 And I'm voting yes on this piece of
13 legislation. Thank you.
14 THE PRESIDENT: Senator
15 Marcellino.
16 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Madam
17 President, when I first got elected, one of
18 the first press conferences I attended was on
19 the Capitol steps, and Senator Skelos was
20 there with a bunch of people, and we were
21 championing the beginning and the opening
22 salvo in the movement to pass Megan's Law for
23 the first time.
24 And I was very pleased to be there.
25 It was an important piece of legislation that
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1 was the result of a lot of work on the part of
2 Senator Skelos, for which he is to be
3 congratulated. And I congratulate him again
4 on recognizing the fact that this law has to
5 be amended. This law needs to be changed.
6 When this law expires, thousands of
7 sexual predators will simply disappear. They
8 will no longer be recognized where they are,
9 they will no longer have to register, they
10 will disappear from the public's view. We
11 have to ask ourselves, where will they go? In
12 whose neighborhood will they move? Who will
13 they move next door to? Where will they work?
14 How many more children will they abuse and
15 rape and murder?
16 That's what's at stake here. Never
17 let that escape your mind. Never forget that
18 point. We're trying to protect our children
19 from people who cannot control their own
20 urges. Even they say so. They ask for help
21 in many cases. The system fails them, and it
22 fails our children when we allow them to
23 continue their perverted behavior. We must
24 take firm action to protect our communities
25 and our children's very lives.
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1 Ladies and gentlemen, this is an
2 important piece of legislation. The Assembly
3 has suggested we should wait, we should wait
4 for the federal government to act on this
5 issue.
6 I remember a couple of years ago
7 when we passed legislation on the minimum wage
8 and the statement was made by some we should
9 wait because the federal government will act
10 soon and we will not have to. Ladies and
11 gentlemen, we acted. The federal government
12 minimum wage is still what it was, $5.15 an
13 hour. It hasn't moved.
14 There's no guarantee the federal
15 government will act. The way their bills are
16 moving now, chances are they will not act in a
17 timely fashion. In the meantime, this law
18 will have expired, kids will be put at risk,
19 communities will be put at risk, and parents
20 will be threatened and given great anxiety.
21 I commend Senator Skelos for his
22 efforts and his great work on this issue. But
23 this bill has to pass now and pass
24 unanimously. There is no excuse for not
25 passing this bill in both houses. There is no
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1 excuse for this bill not becoming the law of
2 the State of New York. I urge an aye vote
3 from everyone.
4 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Balboni.
5 SENATOR BALBONI: Thank you,
6 Madam President.
7 I have three things to say on this
8 issue. First, to follow up on what Senator
9 Marcellino said, to suggest that this has
10 suddenly become a national issue is
11 ridiculous.
12 I've spoke on the floor before
13 about the issue of preemption; that is, the
14 federal government taking away the purview of
15 the states, the constitutionally granted
16 purview of the states, particularly as it
17 relates to police power to protect our own
18 citizens.
19 Well, there's no more local issue,
20 no more community-based issue than this one.
21 I've said it time and time again, when you
22 pick up the phone and you dial 911, it does
23 not ring in Washington. We must preserve the
24 police powers we have always maintained. We
25 should not wait for the federal government to
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1 act on this.
2 The second is that it was suggested
3 before by one of the prior speakers that we
4 should wait for the Assembly; if we pass the
5 amendments, that the Assembly would do this.
6 Well, I offer a counterview. Madam
7 President, I've come to learn that actions
8 speak louder than words. Just last week in
9 the State of the State address, when Governor
10 Pataki urged the State Legislature to pass his
11 legislation, there were two reactions as
12 relates to Megan's Law. One was a standing
13 ovation from many of the people in this
14 chamber, and the other was a deafening silence
15 on the part of the Assembly majority. If you
16 don't believe me, go back and look at the
17 tape.
18 And the last aspect is, you know in
19 this Legislature we get a chance to hopefully
20 make our mark on a particular issue. And as a
21 result of diligent work, of commitment and
22 persistence, when someone carves out an issue
23 that they believe in, have researched and care
24 deeply about, we should listen to them.
25 And on this issue, Senator Skelos
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1 has become not only a state leader but a
2 national leader. And so when he's urging us
3 to do this particular measure, I think we
4 should take him and his leadership at his
5 word.
6 Thank you, Madam President.
7 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Klein.
8 SENATOR KLEIN: On the bill,
9 Madam President.
10 I've had the distinction of voting
11 for Megan's Law and being one of the original
12 cosponsors 10 years ago. It was Senator
13 Skelos' bill in the Senate and then Assembly
14 Member Dan Feldman.
15 I think what we're seeing now is,
16 10 years later, I'm hopeful that we're now
17 judging its effectiveness. While I'm a firm
18 believer in the importance of notification, I
19 think we really have to make some changes.
20 Because I think what we're doing now, we're
21 giving the public, I think, sort of a sense of
22 safety that we're just releasing these
23 individuals, Level 1, 2 and 3 -- more
24 specifically, Level 3, the most dangerous --
25 into their communities.
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1 While I think it's important to be
2 able to track their whereabouts and know where
3 they live, I think what we're doing time and
4 time again is releasing ticking time bombs
5 into our community.
6 So I really think the answer -- and
7 I know we're going to be debating this,
8 hopefully next week -- is civil confinement.
9 I think anything we do as far as Megan's Law
10 is truly a Band-Aid approach, but an important
11 one.
12 And I think today the legislation
13 which we're going to pass I understand is an
14 extension. And I certainly agree with the
15 lifetime notification for 1, 2 and 3 level
16 offenders. I think we really need to do a lot
17 more. And I'm hopeful we're going to pass the
18 legislation again that I know Senator Skelos
19 passed last year.
20 But I want to highlight, I think,
21 one specific example which is very, very
22 important. Over the summer my office
23 conducted a study where we looked at over
24 250 zip codes which make up New York City and
25 Westchester County. And what we found was
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1 there was seven Level 3 sexual predators
2 living in each of those zip codes. Seven.
3 That's a real problem.
4 And I think what we're seeing now
5 is again, 10 years later, while some
6 communities, I think, around the state take
7 the notification requirement very, very
8 seriously, I don't think it's being done as
9 well in New York City. And I think everyone
10 knows that the law says that local law
11 enforcement may notify the community. And I
12 think in many cases, especially in New York
13 City, that's just not getting done.
14 Just over the last two months, in
15 my community of the Zerega community, which I
16 represent within my Senate district, we had
17 three Level 3 sexual predators moving into one
18 zip code in a three-month period, living right
19 across the street from a school, up the block
20 from a school. The community never knew.
21 You know, I'm not blaming my local
22 law enforcement. But they in some cases have
23 something else to do or just aren't doing it
24 in a timely fashion.
25 I also represent the Tuckhoe
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1 community in Westchester County. When they
2 had a Level 3 sexual predator moving into
3 their community, there was instant
4 notification. Local law enforcement went door
5 to door with handouts, they held community
6 meetings, I think in a very, very orderly
7 fashion.
8 So I think what we're seeing now is
9 that places around the state -- in New York
10 City, in Westchester, around the state -- are
11 really handling this requirement very, very
12 differently.
13 So one of the things that I'm
14 advocating, and I hope it's going to be in the
15 final version of the legislation that's passed
16 in the Senate, as well as which ultimately
17 becomes law, I think we need a system of
18 instant email notification.
19 If you think about it for a moment,
20 we use the Internet for a whole host of
21 things -- up-to-the-minute weather forecasts,
22 up-to-the-minute stock market quotations. I
23 think we should be using it to give our local
24 communities and our families the ability to
25 take matters into their own hands in
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1 protecting their children.
2 I think in this instance knowledge
3 is power. And I think we have to give people
4 the ability to be able to register online,
5 give the zip codes they're interested in
6 knowing about, where their kids go to school,
7 where their grandkids go to school. And I
8 think, again, that's still a Band-Aid
9 approach, but at least we're allowing our
10 communities to be notified when a dangerous
11 sexual predator moves into their community.
12 Thank you.
13 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Robach.
14 SENATOR ROBACH: Yes, Madam
15 President. On the bill.
16 I would just quickly like to add, I
17 think we should be taking a very pragmatic and
18 somewhat populist approach to this. I would
19 agree with my colleague from the Bronx, we
20 should do more. But this is an important
21 piece of many of the things we have to do.
22 While it is not the cure-all, it
23 has been helpful. It was much better than we
24 were at prior to the 10-year time period. And
25 we are now asking for this to be extended and
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1 somewhat strengthened.
2 This has to get done. There should
3 have to be agreement. If people think we
4 aren't doing enough or this is important, I
5 would suggest we go to where the debate may
6 occur. And I don't think any of those bills
7 will have trouble passing this house.
8 My feeling is -- not my feeling, I
9 know that the difficulty would be actually in
10 the other house, the Assembly. Maybe we
11 should go to conference committees or use our
12 collective independent powers perhaps to move
13 them so we can get the right thing done to
14 protect our children.
15 On the populist side, I've spent an
16 inordinate amount of time in the urban part of
17 my district and the suburban part of my
18 district with the PAC-TACers, the neighborhood
19 crime watch people, neighborhood preservation
20 groups. And I can assure you that every one
21 of those people, every one of those groups
22 wants us to pass this bill and go on for GPS
23 tracking, longer sentences, and many other
24 things that would protect kids.
25 And you know what? We should be
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1 responsive to them. Waiting for the federal
2 government, in my opinion, is crazy. We got
3 elected to be here to lead, to take action,
4 not wait for anybody else. And as my
5 colleague Senator Marcellino said, whether
6 it's been labor policy, education policy,
7 social service policy, one of the reasons why
8 I've been very proud to be part of this house,
9 this government, is because we don't wait, we
10 lead. And it should be no different on this.
11 These are our most vulnerable, our
12 kids. We should be doing everything. This
13 should be permanent, this should be
14 strengthened. And this should just be the
15 start of what we need to do to continue to
16 protect our kids.
17 Hopefully this bill will pass here
18 overwhelmingly. And if we need to go to
19 conference committees, so be it. But in the
20 interim, I would ask all my colleagues who
21 support this, and I believe we all should, to
22 do what we can to get the other side to make
23 these permanent changes. We need not rely on
24 another level of government to do the right
25 things for our kids, the people we represent,
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1 and do what we got sent down here to do.
2 Thank you, Madam President.
3 THE PRESIDENT: Senator
4 Oppenheimer.
5 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Thank you.
6 Most of what I was going to say has
7 already been said. There was only one point I
8 guess at this juncture that I would like to
9 make, and that is that I feel the federal
10 registry is so much preferred to the state
11 registry, because there can be sex offenders
12 living in Connecticut five minutes from my
13 house that will be coming into Westchester.
14 So I guess the point I want to make
15 here is that if the federal government is not
16 responding to what we see as a very grave need
17 for legislation in this area, we really ought
18 to be holding their feet to the fire. Because
19 just having it in our state, while it's
20 comfortable and makes us feel good that we are
21 doing something, unless it is throughout our
22 nation, people move around too easily. We are
23 a very transient society.
24 And I think it has much less value
25 than if it were federally based. And we
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1 really ought to be holding all our
2 representatives' feet to the fire.
3 Thank you.
4 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Flanagan.
5 SENATOR FLANAGAN: Thank you,
6 Madam President. On the bill.
7 Obviously I've listened to the
8 comments of my colleagues, and I have great
9 respect for people's thoughts and opinions,
10 but I don't necessarily always agree.
11 I don't agree with Senator
12 Schneiderman that we should be dealing with
13 the gun violence bills today. I think they
14 are separate issues. I respect his passion.
15 And I hope that we do have an engaging debate
16 on that at some point, and some point in the
17 short term rather than the long term.
18 I respect Senator Skelos for his
19 leadership, Senator Nozzolio for his
20 leadership on these issues.
21 And there are three things that I
22 just want to say. One just sort of ties into
23 what Senator Oppenheimer just mentioned. And
24 this ties into all issues about security.
25 If you look at some of the
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1 tremendous issues we've had to deal with, the
2 bulk of the work, even when there's federal
3 legislation that gets done, always gets done
4 at the local level. If you look at the
5 thousands of law enforcement personnel, the
6 overwhelming majority of them are New York
7 State people. Yes, we have people from the
8 FBI and from the federal government, but the
9 real work is done at the local level.
10 So I think we should be focusing on
11 our local efforts. Yes, if the federal
12 government wants to do something, great. But
13 we should also bear in mind that what they
14 have set is minimum standards. We should be
15 doing better than that. I mean, think, it's
16 just minimum standards. We have an
17 opportunity and an obligation to go beyond
18 that.
19 And it's not like all this is new
20 information. We have statistics and facts and
21 horrific stories all across this state and all
22 across this country. I listened to Senator
23 Golden today describe some details of some
24 sexual offenses. I'm getting like sick to my
25 stomach, because he's talking about young boys
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1 who are being molested. I have two sons who
2 are 15 and 12. It scares me that this type of
3 activity goes on. And it scares me that we
4 haven't been as aggressive as we possibly
5 could be.
6 Now, I am slightly unique to the
7 rest of my colleagues in this body because we
8 all get an opportunity to listen and learn
9 from our constituents. I have a constituent
10 named Laura Ahearn who lives in Stony Brook
11 and is the executive director of Parents for
12 Megan's Law. Certainly our colleagues are
13 respected in this field, but she's nationally
14 recognized for her passion, her perseverance,
15 her -- I can think of a hundred different
16 words, all pushing in the right direction,
17 talking about protecting children.
18 You know, this is not -- we can all
19 be accused of being political to a degree,
20 even when we're being governmental. Here's
21 somebody who is dispassionate and yet very
22 passionate. She's an expert. She's a great
23 resource for me, as her Senate representative,
24 but also for all of us in the context of the
25 work that we're attempting to do. To hear her
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1 speak today, you really don't need anything
2 else. If people were to hear this, it's
3 common sense.
4 And I'll make a distinction with
5 the Assembly, as opposed to the work that she
6 does. Senator Schneiderman mentioned the
7 efforts of the New York State Assembly. And
8 there's no question that they do do some good
9 things. But if we're going to look to their
10 efforts in this area, for 10 years we've tried
11 to get the language in the statutes changed
12 about notification. We cannot get the
13 New York State Assembly to go for one word,
14 switch from "may" to "shall."
15 That was part of the compromise.
16 That's one of the ways that it got done 10
17 years ago. Most people, I would bet 90
18 percent of the people, if you asked them that
19 question, yes, absolutely. Senator Klein, law
20 enforcement should have that obligation, I
21 agree with you. Make that notification.
22 So the Assembly has lagged way
23 behind in that respect, and I don't want to
24 lag behind with them on this issue. Parents
25 for Megan's Law have underscored, in their
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1 efforts -- and I'll give you one example.
2 They have a program out in Stony Brook where
3 they do mock trials. They have a children's
4 therapy room to help children get ready for
5 having to appear in court to relive these
6 nightmares.
7 I've met with the people who work
8 on this. I met with Laura Ahearn. If you
9 were to go out and see this, you'd think to
10 yourself, again, this is common sense. We
11 should be moving forward, we should be passing
12 this bill. And the Assembly doesn't want to
13 do it, we should immediately go to conference
14 committees and have a great public airing and
15 public debate about the real safety of
16 children.
17 Thank you.
18 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Alesi.
19 SENATOR ALESI: Thank you, Madam
20 President.
21 It seems as though at least once a
22 year or so, maybe even more often than that,
23 back in my district we hear about the presence
24 of a sex offender. And neighbors come to a
25 town meeting and express their concern and
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1 their fear for their children. And they're
2 amazed to learn how many sex offenders there
3 really are living among us. And amazed even
4 more so how many we don't know are living
5 among us.
6 And probably one of the most
7 effective tools that people have to protect
8 their families is the sex offender registry.
9 When I listen to my colleague
10 Senator Montgomery express her concerns that
11 Level 1 or 2 sex offenders would bear the
12 scars of being on this registry for life, I
13 respect her passion for caring about her
14 constituents. But her constituents, like all
15 of ours, would also be the victims of sex
16 offense, not just the perpetrators. And the
17 scars that those victims bear will last a
18 lifetime, whether you see them or not.
19 And those perpetrators -- and I
20 should underscore, Level 1 or 2 doesn't mean
21 they're any less dangerous than Level 3.
22 There are extenuating circumstances that
23 determine the level. Those sex offenders we
24 know have an extremely high recidivism rate.
25 The chances are very good that they will find
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1 another way, seize another opportunity,
2 destroy another life.
3 And all we're suggesting in this
4 legislation is that we continue to make those
5 dangerous people known to their neighbors so
6 that they can be protected. That's all we're
7 asking. And if 10 years for a Level 1 or 2
8 has proven to be good enough, then why not a
9 lifetime? Because as I said before, the scars
10 of being a victim of a sex offender last a
11 lifetime.
12 Now, I don't know what's going to
13 happen in the Assembly. I'm not entirely sure
14 whether it's a political game that's being
15 played over there or not. But what I can tell
16 you is this. In a few short weeks, if we
17 don't have a bill in both houses, in my
18 district, where I live, 122 sex offenders are
19 going to fall off the screen. They'll be
20 lost. But they will not be changed. They
21 will be invisible, and they'll be more
22 dangerous as a result of that.
23 For the life of me, I can't imagine
24 why anybody would not support this
25 legislation. If I know that 122 sex offenders
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1 are going to disappear from scrutiny in my
2 district, then ask yourselves how many are
3 going to disappear in your district and your
4 district and in Senator Montgomery's district.
5 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Golden.
6 SENATOR GOLDEN: Thank you, Madam
7 President.
8 I too rise to speak on the bill and
9 to thank Senator Skelos and all of my
10 colleagues here.
11 But there is no Democratic or
12 Republican way in protecting our children.
13 And I don't think the families of the children
14 that are assaulted want to hear about our
15 squabbles. They want action.
16 And in Kings County, in Brooklyn,
17 where I come from, there are 1619 sex
18 offenders living in Brooklyn. A number of
19 them will fall off by the end of this month,
20 and a tremendous number of them will fall off
21 by the end of this year. There are 5400 in
22 all the city of New York and 20,000 in the
23 state of New York. And there are over 550,000
24 nationwide. Pretty sad numbers.
25 Before one of these people are
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1 arrested, they assault over 100 children.
2 Their lifetime record is about 350, although
3 some go on to do thousands. Take a look at
4 these numbers of children that are being
5 assaulted, the families that are being hurt,
6 the scars that we are putting on those
7 children and those families.
8 We have to pass this legislation
9 because it's the right thing to do.
10 Mr. Lunsford was here in June, and he'll be
11 back up again probably next week or the week
12 after. Mark Lunsford's child Jessica, they
13 didn't know that 50 feet from them was a
14 Level 3. They didn't know that Jessica was
15 still alive 48 hours after and that she was
16 hidden in a closet, tied up. And that if they
17 had the proper tools for the police
18 department, either GPS or civil confinement,
19 they could track, that child would be alive
20 today.
21 I dare to say I'd hate to see a
22 Jessica in the city, I'd hate to see a Jessica
23 in Brooklyn, I'd hate to see a Jessica
24 anyplace across this country and have to face
25 that family and tell them we couldn't get it
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1 together.
2 So I'm hoping that everybody in
3 this body sees the reason why we should vote
4 for this and that we should give the police
5 departments across this state the tools they
6 need to protect our children and our families.
7 I vote yes. Thank you.
8 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Krueger.
9 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you.
10 On the bill.
11 I will be voting for this bill, but
12 I think that we're both oversimplifying and
13 losing track of a few things here today.
14 One, we don't have to worry about
15 people falling off this list as long as we go
16 to conference committee. The Assembly today
17 has passed a bill. We will pass this bill.
18 What is incumbent on us is to get to a
19 conference committee as quickly as possible to
20 come to agreement.
21 So I don't want people to walk away
22 or for the press to tell a story that the
23 actions of the Senate or the Assembly in some
24 way are putting us at risk of having people
25 fall off this registry, because that is not
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1 correct.
2 Second, I do think we oversimplify
3 the question with this bill by not going far
4 enough. My colleague Senator Klein raised
5 some of the concerns, and I will go further.
6 I worry that after 10 years of
7 putting people on a registry list, that we
8 perhaps have comforted ourselves or the public
9 that that protects them. Knowing that there
10 is a sex offender in a community does not
11 necessarily do anything to address a better
12 coordinated model of law enforcement, to
13 provide the funding for the services that may
14 be required, in coordination with law
15 enforcement, to ensure monitoring and
16 supervision and treatment of sex offenders.
17 I think we oversimplify when we
18 mostly talk about attacks on children, when of
19 course this is attacks on everyone, adults --
20 primarily women, but sometimes men -- and
21 children.
22 And we do oversimplify, and I share
23 the concerns of my colleagues such as Senator
24 Montgomery who pointed out that there are
25 differences between Levels 1, 2, and 3.
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1 And I respect Senator Skelos's
2 argument that a crime is a crime. But I think
3 we do danger to our own planning that we ought
4 to be doing to expand protections in our own
5 communities if we do label the response to a
6 flasher the same as the response to someone
7 who is a rapist or a pedophile, because we
8 know that those are different activities.
9 And so simply defining Level 1, 2,
10 3, whatever the realities of the crime were,
11 as "go in the computer for the rest of your
12 life and be looked up that way," that that's
13 not smart public policy.
14 So I hope we do go into conference
15 committee quickly and that we actually have
16 substantive discussion about how do we address
17 these concerns in our communities. Because a
18 number of my colleagues have mentioned
19 numbers, and those numbers are scary. And the
20 truth is, and I think Senator Golden knows
21 this, and he referenced the New York City
22 numbers, we don't have a system in place for
23 the police to actually follow up if somebody
24 chooses not to reenter their information into
25 the computer.
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1 I had a situation in my own
2 district this year where we learned that in
3 fact there are quite a few Level 3 sex
4 offenders who don't seem to go and report, and
5 no one does anything about it.
6 And so one can argue that, well, we
7 have the law -- but if we don't have the plan,
8 the funding, the resources at the level of the
9 community where our police professionals, our
10 treatment providers, our case managers can in
11 fact figure out what we're doing to do about
12 this, I feel that simply saying we passed a
13 law, you have to sign up on the computer for
14 life, isn't really going to get us any real
15 increased security for our communities.
16 My colleague Senator Bonacic had a
17 bill last year that I believe talked about GPS
18 bracelet monitoring. I believe that was your
19 bill, Senator. Am I right? You're listening.
20 I think it was Senator Bonacic's bill on GPS
21 monitoring and bracelets. And that may in
22 fact be a very important response for some
23 level of sex offenders.
24 We should be having conference
25 committee with the Assembly immediately.
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1 Let's put out all these various proposals that
2 go far further than just this one bill today,
3 and let's see where we can get. But let's
4 also not panic our communities that some cliff
5 is about to be fallen off of, because we all
6 know that is not the case.
7 I think our assignment is to see,
8 after 10 years of Megan's Law's existence,
9 what can we do to better protect our
10 communities and not oversimplify the
11 questions.
12 I will be voting yes. Thank you,
13 Madam President.
14 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Larkin.
15 SENATOR LARKIN: Thank you, Madam
16 President.
17 We've been discussing this bill for
18 an hour and five minutes. This bill is dated
19 16 December '05. Since that time, I discussed
20 it back in my district with people from all
21 walks of life. Their general comment was:
22 What is taking you so long to do something so
23 simple to protect people?
24 Now, I just heard Senator Krueger
25 talk like this was just, you know, a little
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1 toothache. It isn't a toothache. This is a
2 very serious matter.
3 On Saturday I celebrated the birth,
4 one year old, of a 12th grandchild and a 13th
5 grandchild. And as I looked at them, I said,
6 I have to worry, because there's people out
7 there that people want to protect.
8 We want to protect our families.
9 And I can't believe that anybody in this
10 chamber in reality, who thinks right, doesn't
11 put protection of our families and our
12 children first.
13 When we talk about lifetime on the
14 registry, I think it's a wonderful idea.
15 Because at my age, I won't have to worry about
16 my grandchildren. Somebody else will after
17 me.
18 You know, it's a shame that we are
19 talking here at this time of the year about an
20 issue that should have been done before. And
21 then I hear someone say, Well, let's wait
22 until the federal government does in March of
23 '07. I've heard in this chamber people say,
24 We can't wait for the federal government, we
25 have to do it.
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1 Yes, we should do it. And we
2 should do it now. And I'd be ashamed of
3 anybody who says they can't vote for this.
4 Why can't you vote for it? Because it's the
5 right thing to do?
6 And I heard someone say, Well, a
7 conference committee. Well, you know, Senator
8 Bruno said that before. He and Senator Skelos
9 said it this morning at a press conference.
10 We're waiting. We'll be willing to discuss it
11 with the other house. But every time we come
12 up to this, it's protect the criminal, not
13 protect the innocent.
14 I think it's about time we started
15 to remember what our mission is here, what we
16 were elected to do. We were elected to
17 protect the people of the State of New York.
18 And we should be in the front line of showing
19 the rest of the nation that the State of
20 New York takes care of its people.
21 Thank you, Madam President.
22 THE PRESIDENT: Senator LaValle.
23 SENATOR LaVALLE: Thank you,
24 Madam President. I'm going to be very brief.
25 First, I wanted to commend Senator
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1 Skelos for his good work on this issue and his
2 focus; Laura Ahearn, who is an advocate on
3 this issue and has done a lot of work.
4 But there's -- for me, I'm sitting
5 here listening to the debate, and I'm saying,
6 what am I missing? In the '05 session we
7 passed I don't know how many bills and how
8 many debates that we had on this very issue --
9 not only Megan's Law, but the sexual predator
10 issue. We looked at it from every angle that
11 we could look at it.
12 As everyone is remindful, towards
13 the end of '05 this issue got a lot of
14 attention in the press. And there was even
15 discussion that in December we might deal with
16 Megan's Law, civil commitment and other
17 related issues. That did not happen.
18 We are now into January. I am
19 reminded -- and I think everyone here will
20 identify with what I'm going say -- when I was
21 first elected, there was a bill dealing with
22 students. It was a bus safety issue. And
23 having been the former director of the
24 Education Committee, I looked at the bill and
25 I was really being a techie, and I said, Oh,
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1 you know, there's problems with this bill, I'm
2 not going to vote for this bill.
3 The senior member came over to me
4 and said: "Ken, I would be very, very careful
5 of voting against this bill. Because God
6 forbid one student is injured or killed and
7 you will have voted in the negative and we
8 will not have passed -- or the bill doesn't
9 pass if you get up and debate it." And I've
10 always thought about it.
11 This bill takes effect immediately.
12 Everyone has talked about this issue ad
13 infinitum. And I think it is about our
14 children. And to further delay this issue is
15 really a disappointment. It's a
16 disappointment in this body because we've
17 taken such great leadership on all the bills,
18 and it's passed with bipartisan support in
19 this house, and yet the Assembly has not come
20 to the table on a critical issue to protect
21 our children. Shame, shame on them.
22 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Little.
23 SENATOR LITTLE: Thank you, Madam
24 Speaker.
25 I'd like to speak on the bill for a
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1 moment and certainly thank Senator Skelos for
2 putting this bill forward. I'm very pleased
3 to be a cosponsor of it.
4 I know that anytime I read about a
5 sexual offense, a child, an adult, a girl or a
6 boy, I get a very sickening feeling in my
7 stomach. And I'm sure that I'm not the only
8 one who feels that way.
9 My second thought is always how
10 would I feel if this were one of my children
11 or my parent or my loved one, my grandchild.
12 And then you get very angry, because you can't
13 help but think how can this be prevented, how
14 can we protect our children.
15 One of the tools that we have had
16 to protect our children is Megan's Law. And
17 this bill helps reinforce that and extend it.
18 Certainly there is no way to
19 identify a sexual offender. They come from
20 all walks of life, all sizes, all ages. But
21 the one thing we can use to identify a
22 convicted sexual offender in our
23 neighborhoods, in our municipalities, is
24 Megan's Law. And our schools use it, our
25 parents use it. People need this. They need
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1 this way of identifying those who are
2 convicted.
3 Keep in mind, there are thousands
4 of sex offenders out there who are not on
5 Megan's list that we have no way of
6 identifying. But let's make sure that we
7 continue to have Megan's list, that we can
8 identify every convicted sexual offender,
9 Level 1, 2, or 3, for their lifetime.
10 Thank you.
11 THE PRESIDENT: Senator
12 Fuschillo.
13 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Thank you,
14 Madam President.
15 This has certainly been a spirited
16 discussion about such a critical issue. But
17 as I sit hear and I listen to all the
18 comments, I think about myself as a parent.
19 From the minute my wife and I wake
20 up, and I'm sure it's similar in other
21 households, we think about everything to
22 protect our children. We make sure they eat
23 the right foods, we make sure they dress
24 properly, we make sure they get to school
25 safely. We drive them ourselves to ensure
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1 that. When they come home, we make sure they
2 know where we were to pick them up. We
3 monitor their activities. We watch every
4 single thing they do in their lives every
5 minute of the day till they go to bed and we
6 go to bed, and the cycle starts over.
7 Now, my kids, my oldest just turned
8 15, my middle guy is 11 1/2, and my daughter
9 is 6. And I'm sure this is going to be for
10 the rest of my life, even when they go out of
11 the house.
12 This is a no-brainer. But what's
13 upsetting to me on this particular issue --
14 and my compliments to Senator Skelos. And
15 unfortunately, Dean, 10 years went by like
16 that. And this has to be reevaluated, and the
17 right thing has to be done.
18 But what's upsetting is on an issue
19 like this, to protect what we cherish so much,
20 our children and parents throughout this
21 state, is that 212 legislators aren't
22 screaming, yelling that this has to be done
23 immediately. It shouldn't be debated. It
24 shouldn't be conferenced, in my opinion. It
25 should be done, the right thing that should be
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1 done.
2 It's not a federal issue. Today
3 we're dealing with a state issue. And in the
4 absence of any federal agreement, we have an
5 obligation to protect the children and
6 families of this state. I'll be voting in the
7 affirmative.
8 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Bonacic.
9 SENATOR BONACIC: Thank you,
10 Madam Speaker.
11 I ask you, take a moment and think
12 that you're not a politician, you're not an
13 elected official. And I ask you a simple
14 question: What is the most sacred thing in
15 your life? Think about it. Is it your
16 wealth? Is it your friends? It's simple.
17 It's your family. And it's the protection of
18 your family.
19 Now, whenever we have an
20 opportunity when it comes to children and
21 especially women, who I think are the
22 quarterbacks in taking care of a family --
23 tending to their health care needs of
24 children, making sure that they get to school
25 on time. They're there every day, for the
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1 most part, taking care of the family while the
2 man is out working, bringing money home.
3 How can anyone not pass bills that
4 safeguard the safety of children and women
5 from sexual predators? It's unheard-of. And
6 any elected official that doesn't stand up and
7 run to vote to make more strict and more
8 harsher laws to protect our women and children
9 should be impeached, in my opinion.
10 Now, the people in this chamber
11 will vote for this bill, for the most part.
12 We are talking about who is the strongest and
13 the voice of the Democratic Party in the State
14 of New York. And I will tell you who that is.
15 That's Sheldon Silver. And he is the Assembly
16 leadership. He is the head of the Democratic
17 Party.
18 And the philosophy that we have
19 seen when it comes to criminal enforcement
20 legislation is they're more concerned with the
21 rights of the criminals than they are with the
22 victims.
23 Just take two weeks ago. Sheldon
24 Silver made a stupid remark that "I don't go
25 to cops' funerals." That set off a lightning
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1 rod of public pressure, of law enforcement
2 officials throughout the state of New York.
3 And Democrats, good Democrats from the state
4 of New York were nervous. It didn't agree
5 with their values. And they pressured Sheldon
6 Silver and the leadership to vote to change
7 cop-killer legislation and make it tougher,
8 and they voted for gun trafficking.
9 Did he want to do it? He didn't
10 want to do it. He was backed into a corner.
11 That's why he reacted. And it's the same kind
12 of tactics that are going on with this
13 legislation.
14 So I know we will be together when
15 it comes to protecting our children and our
16 families from sexual predators. But I will
17 say to you we have a greater obligation.
18 Every Democrat in this chamber that
19 votes yes for this legislation and every woman
20 Democrat should be standing up with us at
21 press conferences and bashing Sheldon Silver,
22 the leader of the Democratic Party, and that
23 Assembly leadership, of why they are not doing
24 everything in their power to protect our
25 children and our women from the most deviant
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1 and dangerous criminals out there. That's
2 what I ask of you.
3 Thank you, Madam Speaker.
4 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. It's
5 "President."
6 To close, Senator Skelos.
7 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you, Madam
8 President.
9 Recently I was asked by a reporter
10 why I feel so passionate about the reforming
11 of Megan's Law. Number one, it makes those
12 who commit these crimes accountable to the
13 victim and accountable to society.
14 I've met with Maureen Kanka, young
15 Megan's mom, who talked to me about what
16 happened to her daughter. Her daughter would
17 be in college right now. Three convicted
18 pedophiles living across the street, and they
19 didn't know.
20 Sitting down with Mark Klaas, whose
21 daughter Polly out in California was just
22 taken out of her bedroom, brutally raped and
23 murdered; with Mark Lunsford -- we know the
24 story of Jessica -- with Laura Ahearn and
25 other experts in the field, how important it
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1 is to have zero tolerance for sexual
2 offenders.
3 We've had a very good discussion
4 today, and certainly people feel very
5 passionate about this. I mean, the only
6 regret I have about the debate today, quite
7 frankly, is the Minority putting up an
8 amendment that certainly was not germane, that
9 was intended to deflect attention away from
10 what this chamber is doing today, and using
11 inappropriate, inflammatory language that
12 somehow if you're a Republican you're in the
13 pocket or you just take the lead from the NRA.
14 That would be like me saying that
15 if you vote against this or you're a Democrat
16 legislator, you're controlled by pedophiles.
17 Right? If you want to use inflammatory
18 language. It's inappropriate to have used
19 that type of language and try to deflect away
20 from what we are doing today.
21 We're elected to lead. We're not
22 elected to follow. And Senator Marcellino
23 mentioned about the minimum wage. I heard all
24 our good friends on the other side of the
25 aisle say raise the minimum wage, don't wait
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1 for the federal government. But yet when it
2 comes to protecting children and women, we're
3 being asked to support an extender for over
4 one year, until March of '07 -- till March of
5 '07 -- to see if the federal government may
6 act. Not that they're going to act.
7 And what the Speaker has not
8 pointed out, and the Assembly majority, is the
9 bill that they hang their hat on is dead in
10 the Congress. Because we've discussed it with
11 the Judiciary Committee. There's a new bill
12 that, quite honestly, is starting the
13 watering-down process. Because the federal
14 government establishes the minimum standards.
15 And we can go beyond those and
16 establish maximum standards. And that would
17 be, quite frankly, the bill that we have
18 before us today with lifetime registration.
19 If we had waited for the federal
20 government, we wouldn't have the EPIC program
21 which we passed in 1986 in this state. If we
22 waited for the federal government, and we
23 mentioned the minimum wage increase, we
24 wouldn't have college-tuition deductibility in
25 this state.
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1 So I just find it very interesting
2 that our friends on the other side of the
3 aisle and the Democrat majority in the
4 Assembly now wants us to be led by the federal
5 government. I think that's wrong.
6 And Senator Klein mentioned the
7 list of legislation. Email notification. We
8 passed it in the Senate. GPS tracking,
9 Senator Bonacic's bill, we passed it in the
10 Senate. Civil commitment or confinement,
11 Senator Volker's bill, we've passed it in the
12 Senate. All on the Internet, we've passed it
13 in the Senate. Statute of limitations,
14 eliminating the five-year statute of
15 limitations on rape, we've passed it in the
16 Senate.
17 Spend your time in the Assembly to
18 get your colleagues to pass this legislation.
19 That's what it's about, getting your
20 colleagues to pass legislation that is going
21 to protect our children from individuals who
22 would take a young girl, brutally rape them,
23 kill them, and then throw them in the forest
24 or in the street like they're a piece of
25 garbage. That's what we're dealing with.
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1 So there should be zero tolerance
2 when it comes to sexual offenders. And all of
3 us, the Assembly, should be talking about
4 passing this legislation, not passing an
5 extender.
6 Now, Senator Bruno has indicated,
7 willing to go to conference committee. We
8 have a bill that's real. The Assembly has
9 passed an extender changing a couple of words.
10 It's not even their position in terms of what
11 type of notification there should be. So
12 we're going to go to conference committee with
13 a real bill, and we're going to discuss with
14 the Assembly to see whether there should be a
15 moratorium for over a year to see if the
16 federal government acts? That's absurd.
17 So the bottom line is we have to
18 act, we have to act in a timely fashion, or by
19 the end of January there are going to be
20 several hundred people off the registry,
21 800 more in February, over a thousand more in
22 March, and, by the end of this year, 3579
23 Level 1 and Level 2 offenders will no longer
24 be in the registry so that we'll have the
25 information to protect our kids.
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1 So I urge you, vote for this bill
2 and certainly talk to your colleagues in the
3 other house to make sure that they pass this
4 bill to protect our children.
5 Thank you, Madam President.
6 THE PRESIDENT: The members being
7 present, I'll ask the last section to be read,
8 please.
9 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
10 act shall take effect immediately.
11 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll.
12 (The Secretary called the roll.)
13 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Duane, to
14 explain your vote.
15 SENATOR DUANE: Thank you, Madam
16 President.
17 Even after the debate on the bill,
18 I remain concerned about the potential
19 mistakes or miscarriages of justice that could
20 happen even for those or maybe particularly
21 for those who are considered Level 1 offenders
22 who might be captured in the category of
23 someone having sex with someone who is
24 underage. And I have raised this before.
25 The law doesn't take into account
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1 the difference -- the law as it is now doesn't
2 take into account, and this wouldn't be
3 changed under this legislation either, the
4 difference between a 21-year-old having sex
5 with a 17-year-old, which is entirely
6 different than a 40-year-old having sex with a
7 is a year old. And I don't want to at this
8 time put at risk juveniles being put on the
9 list for 20 years. For a 21-year-old, that's
10 a very long time.
11 Now, I also think that the bill
12 does disregard level designations and the
13 reasons that we have level designations. You
14 know, a Level 1 is not a Level 2, a Level 2 is
15 not a Level 3, a Level 3 is not a Level 1.
16 So I also predict that we'll have
17 another chance to debate and vote on this
18 bill, and I hope that we'll also cover the
19 issue of rehabilitation then.
20 And finally, I also think that we
21 have our work cut out for us in terms of
22 lengthening the statute of limitations for
23 civil cases --
24 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Duane,
25 how do you vote? Your time is up.
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1 SENATOR DUANE: -- and also the
2 statute of limitations for rape now that we
3 have DNA.
4 I vote no.
5 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you,
6 Senator. You will be so recorded as voting in
7 the negative on this bill.
8 Senator Bonacic, to explain your
9 vote.
10 SENATOR BONACIC: Madam
11 President, in my district, if we do not have
12 an agreement on this legislation, we will have
13 a little less than a hundred sexual predators
14 preying on our families in my particular
15 Senate district.
16 And the other point that I'd like
17 to make -- and I wanted to thank Senator
18 Skelos and the conference who has exercised
19 leadership on this role. But we have many
20 working men and women that are out there in
21 the marketplace. And their children many
22 times are unattended, and they need even more
23 protection from the sexual predators. They
24 need information in order to help themselves
25 protect their children.
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1 I'd like to thank every member in
2 this chamber, on both sides of the aisle, that
3 vote yes for this legislation. I vote aye.
4 Thank you.
5 THE PRESIDENT: You will be so
6 recorded as voting in the affirmative.
7 Senator DeFrancisco, to explain
8 your vote.
9 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, I'm
10 going to vote yes.
11 I heard some of the opposition
12 concerned about the individual who may be the
13 perpetrator. I think what's most important
14 when we deal with legislation is we're always
15 balancing things. There's no clear-cut
16 anything in this world. We're always
17 balancing things.
18 And, first of all, I think it's
19 important that before someone gets on a
20 registry, they've either pled guilty to a sex
21 crime or they were found guilty. And when you
22 balance that person being on a registry to
23 protect other people, especially children,
24 against the embarrassment of someone who is
25 convicted of a crime such as this, I don't
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1 think the balance is even close.
2 For those reasons, I'm voting aye.
3 THE PRESIDENT: Senator
4 DeFrancisco, you will be recorded as voting in
5 the affirmative.
6 Senator Nozzolio, to explain your
7 vote.
8 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Thank you,
9 Madam President. I ask permission to explain
10 my vote.
11 As chairman of the committee that
12 reviewed this legislation, I wish to thank all
13 the law enforcement officers who provided
14 testimony, all the educators who provided us
15 input, all the citizen activists who came
16 before the committee time and again, and thank
17 them for their assistance in making this law a
18 law that will achieve the objective of
19 protecting more children.
20 Lastly, I'd like to thank our
21 members, the leadership of Senator Bruno and
22 Deputy Majority Leader Senator Skelos for
23 their leadership on this very important issue.
24 I vote aye, Madam President. Thank
25 you.
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1 THE PRESIDENT: You will be so
2 recorded as voting in the affirmative.
3 Senator Johnson, to explain your
4 vote.
5 SENATOR JOHNSON: I'd like to
6 thank Laura Ahearn for being here today, for
7 leading the charge against this continuing
8 child sex abuse and doing something about it.
9 She came to my district and put a program on
10 for my constituents, we passed out
11 information. It was very helpful and
12 enlightening to a lot of people.
13 And I want to thank you for being
14 here all day today to make sure that we got
15 this done.
16 Thank you.
17 THE PRESIDENT: You will be
18 recorded as voting in the affirmative.
19 Senator Maziarz, to explain your
20 vote.
21 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you very
22 much, Madam President. Just very briefly to
23 explain my vote.
24 You know, it's almost -- I listened
25 to this entire debate, and it's almost
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1 incomprehensible that the Assembly passed
2 today and some of my colleagues positively
3 reflected on the fact that they passed an
4 extender today. You know, we pass extenders
5 for budget bills, for programs in the Health
6 Department and DEC and things like that.
7 We're talking about legislation that protects
8 children.
9 There's no deadline, there should
10 be no deadline on legislation that protects
11 children from sexual predators. To have a
12 deadline of March 31, 2007, which some policy
13 person on the other side just pulled out, and
14 then to use the excuse that we're waiting for
15 the federal government -- some of my
16 colleagues, Senator Skelos and Senator
17 Marcellino and others pointed out how we
18 didn't wait for the federal government. We've
19 always been the leader on issues like this,
20 and we should continue to be the leader on
21 issues just like this.
22 I'm going to be voting in the
23 affirmative. Thank you, Madam President.
24 THE PRESIDENT: And you will be
25 so recorded.
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1 The Secretary will announce the
2 results.
3 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in
4 the negative on Calendar Number 30 are
5 Senators Duane, Montgomery, and Parker.
6 Ayes, 54. Nays, 3.
7 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is
8 passed.
9 Senator Bruno.
10 SENATOR BRUNO: Madam President,
11 is there any further business there at the
12 desk?
13 THE PRESIDENT: No, there is not.
14 The calendar is completed.
15 SENATOR BRUNO: There being no
16 further business, I would move that we stand
17 adjourned until tomorrow at 11:00 a.m.
18 Thank you, Madam President.
19 THE PRESIDENT: On motion, the
20 Senate stands adjourned until Tuesday,
21 January 10th, at 11:00 a.m.
22 (Whereupon, at 5:30 p.m., the
23 Senate adjourned.)
24
25
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