Regular Session - March 1, 2006
1071
1 NEW YORK STATE SENATE
2
3
4 THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD
5
6
7
8
9 ALBANY, NEW YORK
10 March 1, 2006
11 11:18 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 THE PRESIDENT: The Senate will
3 please come to order.
4 I ask everyone present to please
5 rise and repeat with me the Pledge of
6 Allegiance.
7 (Whereupon, the assemblage recited
8 the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.)
9 THE PRESIDENT: In the absence of
10 clergy, may we bow our heads in a moment of
11 silence, please.
12 (Whereupon, the assemblage
13 respected a moment of silence.)
14 THE PRESIDENT: Reading of the
15 Journal.
16 THE SECRETARY: In Senate,
17 Tuesday, February 28, the Senate met pursuant
18 to adjournment. The Journal of Monday,
19 February 27, was read and approved. On
20 motion, Senate adjourned.
21 THE PRESIDENT: 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 Fuschillo.
8 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Thank you,
9 Madam President.
10 On behalf of Senator Winner, on
11 page number 27 I offer the following
12 amendments to Calendar Number 352, Senate
13 Print Number 2453, and ask that said bill
14 retain its place on Third Reading Calendar.
15 THE PRESIDENT: The amendments
16 are received, and the bill will retain its
17 place on the Third Reading Calendar.
18 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Madam
19 President, on behalf of Senator Padavan, I
20 move to recommit Senate Print Number 1055A,
21 Calendar Number 380 on the order of first
22 report, to the Committee on Environmental
23 Conservation, with instructions to said
24 committee to strike out the enacting clause.
25 THE PRESIDENT: So ordered.
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1 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Thank you.
2 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Skelos.
3 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President,
4 I believe there are substitutions to be made
5 at this time.
6 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary
7 will read.
8 THE SECRETARY: On page 28,
9 Senator Johnson moves to discharge, from the
10 Committee on Finance, Assembly Bill Number
11 9566A and substitute it for the identical
12 Senate Bill Number 6466A, Third Reading
13 Calendar 397.
14 THE PRESIDENT: Substitution
15 ordered.
16 Senator Skelos.
17 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President,
18 there's a resolution at the desk by Senator
19 DeFrancisco. If we could have it read in its
20 entirety and move for its immediate adoption.
21 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary
22 will read.
23 THE SECRETARY: By Senator
24 DeFrancisco, Legislative Resolution Number
25 3711, congratulating the 2005 North Syracuse
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1 Babe Ruth 15-Year-Old All-Stars for advancing
2 to the Babe Ruth World Series.
3 "WHEREAS, Excellence and success in
4 competitive sports can be achieved only
5 through strenuous practice, team play and team
6 spirit, nurtured by dedicated coaching and
7 strategic planning; and
8 "WHEREAS, Athletic competition
9 enhances the moral and physical development of
10 the young people of this state, preparing them
11 for the future by instilling in them the value
12 of teamwork, encouraging a standard of healthy
13 living, imparting a desire for success and
14 developing a sense of fair play and
15 competition; and
16 "WHEREAS, It is the sense of this
17 Legislative Body to recognize those young
18 people among us and within the State of
19 New York who achieve excellence and success in
20 competitive sports; and
21 "WHEREAS, One such group of young
22 people is the North Syracuse Babe Ruth
23 15-Year-Old All-Stars, which consisted of team
24 members who had prior experience as players in
25 the North Syracuse Babe Ruth League, but who
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1 had never played together as a team. In 2005,
2 they achieved a most outstanding season; and
3 "WHEREAS, This remarkable group of
4 elite athletes consisted of players from seven
5 different schools in the greater Syracuse
6 area. The purpose of building such a team is
7 to provide these top athletes an organized
8 baseball program in the summer months when
9 schools are closed and when skills are honed
10 in competition with others of outstanding
11 abilities; and
12 "WHEREAS, These extraordinary
13 gifted young men had all proven themselves to
14 be an outstanding combination of athletic
15 prowess and discipline before being named a
16 part of this All-Star team. They had already
17 brought much pride to their parents, their
18 schools, their friends and their communities;
19 and
20 "WHEREAS, The team members and
21 coaches of the 2005 North Syracuse Babe Ruth
22 15-Year-Old All-Stars were just one of almost
23 3,000 other talented teams that had the goal
24 of winning the national World Series title, to
25 be determined in August 2005. The road to the
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1 World Series was filled with many stops where
2 the North Syracuse All-Stars had to prove to
3 themselves and to others their exceptional
4 talents; and
5 "WHEREAS, The race to the World
6 Series began in early July of 2005 with the
7 District 2 Championship, where competition was
8 held among teams from Central New York. North
9 Syracuse emerged from the double elimination
10 competition, which was held in Syracuse, by
11 sweeping three games. The North Syracuse Babe
12 Ruth 15-Year-Old All-Stars thereby earned the
13 right to move on to the Western New York State
14 Championship; and
15 "WHEREAS, A familiar North Syracuse
16 Junior High School baseball field was the site
17 of the Western New York State Championship.
18 Teams from the Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo
19 and Ithaca areas participated and, once again,
20 the North Syracuse All-Stars swept their
21 series, this time in four games, to move on to
22 the Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships, which
23 were held in Frederick, Maryland; and
24 "WHEREAS, Only the best of Babe
25 Ruth 15-year-olds from throughout the
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1 Northeast participated in the regional
2 competition. The North Syracuse Babe Ruth
3 15-Year-Old All-Stars again faced the
4 challenge of competing with increasingly
5 talented teams, just as they had in the
6 earlier rounds. For the regionals, that
7 included the top teams from eastern New York,
8 New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and
9 Maryland; and
10 "WHEREAS, As they had in the past,
11 the North Syracuse Babe Ruth 15-Year-Old
12 All-Stars swept another four games and were
13 named the Mid-Atlantic Regional Champions,
14 having brought their tournament record to
15 11-0. Most importantly, they earned the
16 distinction of being just one of ten teams
17 from all 50 states to qualify to play in
18 Abbeville, Louisiana, with the hope of winning
19 the 2005 15-Year-Old Babe Ruth World Series;
20 and
21 "WHEREAS, In Louisiana, the North
22 Syracuse Babe Ruth 15-Year-Old All-Stars
23 played four games in five days in 'pool play.'
24 They went 2-2 and thereby qualified as one of
25 just four teams to advance to the final
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1 elimination; and
2 "WHEREAS, The North Syracuse Babe
3 Ruth 15-Year-Old All-Stars next took on a most
4 talented team from Norwalk, Connecticut.
5 North Syracuse's outstanding pitching made the
6 difference as the All-Stars went on to win 7-5
7 and head to the semifinals on Friday, August
8 19; and
9 "WHEREAS, North Syracuse was
10 matched with Oahu, Hawaii, in the semifinal.
11 Oahu surprised North Syracuse early and led by
12 8-0 after the first inning. North Syracuse
13 was unable to recover, and the game ended with
14 a 12-4 win for Oahu. Overall, the North
15 Syracuse Babe Ruth 15-Year-Old All-Stars ended
16 tied for third place in the World Series
17 competition; and
18 "WHEREAS, No matter how gifted any
19 one team member may be, no team can accomplish
20 all that the North Syracuse Babe Ruth
21 15-Year-Old All-Stars accomplished on the
22 field. Its team members, and the schools they
23 attend, include Brett Botsford
24 (Baldwinsville), Dom Caruso (Liverpool), Paul
25 Conte (Baldwinsville), Joe Ilacqua
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1 (Cicero-North Syracuse), David Kernan
2 (Cicero-North Syracuse), Matt Marra (Central
3 Square), Alex Nodzo (Henninger), Pat O'Brien
4 (Cicero-North Syracuse), D.J. Pastuf
5 (Cicero-North Syracuse), Ryan Poplawski
6 (Bishop Ludden), Aaron Schuldt (Liverpool),
7 Dan Sisto (CBA), Matt Wessinger (Liverpool),
8 Aaron Wirth (Liverpool), and Jakob Wirth
9 (Liverpool). Special mention is also made of
10 the team's official World Series Bat Boy,
11 Andrew Gaudette, the grandson of the team
12 manager, Joe Sacco; and
13 "WHEREAS, The success of this team,
14 which was formed just two months prior to
15 traveling to Louisiana, is due in large part
16 to the efforts of Manager Joe Sacco and his
17 coaches Mark Botsford, John Ilacqua and Dan
18 Pastuf, as well as the never-ending
19 encouragement and support of friends, family
20 and the entire community; and
21 "WHEREAS, This tribute to the team
22 does not end with their last game. About one
23 month later, the team learned that one of its
24 host families in Louisiana was virtually wiped
25 out by the devastation of Hurricane Rita. The
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1 team showed its true spirit by organizing a
2 fundraiser for Huey and Carla Delcambre of
3 Abbeville, Louisiana. They and their
4 7-year-old son were flown to Syracuse by the
5 team, not knowing what the team had planned;
6 and
7 "WHEREAS, On Saturday, November 5,
8 2005, the Mattydale VFW was the site of a
9 'surprise' fundraiser which raised a
10 significant amount for the Delcambres.
11 Approximately 300 people attended, four
12 professional comedians donated their time, and
13 numerous donations of food and merchandise,
14 much of which was won by those attending but
15 turned over by them to the Delcambres, helped
16 to make the event a success; now, therefore,
17 be it
18 "RESOLVED, That this Legislative
19 Body pause in its deliberations to
20 congratulate the North Syracuse Babe Ruth
21 15-Year-Old All-Star Team, their coaches and
22 supporters on their successful season, overall
23 team record, and outstanding efforts that
24 culminated in their third-place finish in the
25 2005 Babe Ruth 15-Year-Old World Series
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1 Championship, and for the outstanding
2 citizenship these individuals, who just months
3 earlier had never been together as a team,
4 displayed by assisting one of their host
5 families; and be it further
6 "RESOLVED, That copies of this
7 resolution, suitably engrossed, be transmitted
8 to Manager Joe Sacco, Coaches John Ilacqua,
9 Mark Botsford and Dan Pastuf, as well as the
10 members of the 2005 North Syracuse Babe Ruth
11 All-Star Team."
12 THE PRESIDENT: Senator
13 DeFrancisco.
14 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Thank you,
15 Madam President.
16 You know, we have a lot of
17 champions in Central New York, and we keep
18 bringing these championship teams here to
19 congratulate them for their outstanding
20 seasons and for the competition that they
21 participated in and became winners.
22 Well, this group of young people
23 that we're honoring today came in third; they
24 didn't win the World Series of the All-Star
25 Babe Ruth League. There were 3,000 teams
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1 throughout the country; they came in third.
2 To me, they're winners.
3 But the real reason I brought them
4 here is what was stated in one of the
5 paragraphs. And that is that they probably
6 learned a lesson, and gave us a lesson for us
7 to learn, that these competitive sports are
8 much more than who gets that final victory.
9 When you hear about how a host team
10 in Louisiana was virtually wiped out by a
11 hurricane and what this team did to bring the
12 family to Syracuse to have a fundraiser for
13 them, and to have them be able to participate
14 in a fundraiser showing that we care in
15 Central New York about their plight and, more
16 than just caring, we're going to do something
17 about it. And these are young people that not
18 only learned a great lesson but are teaching
19 us a great lesson today in not only how to
20 win, how to compete, but also how to care for
21 others who are truly in need.
22 So I brought them here for that
23 reason. They're true champions in not only
24 their final success in the tournament, but
25 also in how they dealt with a very, very
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1 serious situation.
2 So thank you all for what you've
3 done, and congratulations on your exploits. I
4 played a little baseball in my day, and you're
5 going to remember this the rest of your life.
6 Is Manager Joe Sacco here? I
7 played ball with Joe Sacco since I was 9 years
8 old. We're the same age. I look much better.
9 (Laughter.)
10 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: But he was
11 a great ballplayer and a great human being,
12 and I'm sure it's in large part because of him
13 and because of the assistant coaches and the
14 parents that the success of this team was such
15 as it was. And I thank them for everything
16 they've done.
17 Thank you.
18 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Valesky.
19 SENATOR VALESKY: Thank you,
20 Madam President. I rise to join my colleague
21 from Onondaga County, Senator DeFrancisco.
22 Senator, thank you for your efforts
23 in bringing the team here to Albany and for
24 offering this resolution today.
25 I would just add my comments and
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1 congratulations to the Babe Ruth 15-Year-Old
2 All-Star League from North Syracuse, and
3 remind my colleagues that this is a team as an
4 All-Star team that did not have an opportunity
5 to play with each other very much before
6 competitive competition.
7 And their success in what they
8 accomplished throughout last summer's All-Star
9 season, how they came together as a team
10 certainly reminds all of us of the importance
11 of teamwork and working together.
12 And Senator DeFrancisco is
13 absolutely correct in suggesting that the life
14 lesson that they learned throughout that
15 process, when one of their host families was
16 virtually devastated by Hurricane Rita, they
17 stepped up to the plate, as it were, back in
18 Syracuse, hosted a number of events,
19 fundraisers, brought the family to Syracuse to
20 show their support for the devastation that
21 occurred in the state of Louisiana to their
22 host family.
23 So congratulations on your success
24 in baseball. Congratulations and we look
25 forward to many more great things from you as
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1 leaders in the community as you grow older.
2 Thank you, Madam President.
3 THE PRESIDENT: On the
4 resolution, all in favor please signify by
5 saying aye.
6 (Response of "Aye.")
7 THE PRESIDENT: Opposed, nay.
8 (No response.)
9 THE PRESIDENT: The resolution is
10 adopted.
11 Congratulations and best wishes for
12 your continued success. We're confident,
13 based on your record, that you will be
14 successful in your future endeavors. Have a
15 great celebration.
16 (Applause.)
17 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Skelos.
18 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President,
19 can we go to the noncontroversial reading of
20 the calendar, please.
21 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary
22 will read.
23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
24 64, by Senator Morahan, Senate Print 5733A, an
25 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to
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1 possession of gambling devices.
2 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last
3 section.
4 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
5 act shall take effect immediately.
6 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll.
7 (The Secretary called the roll.)
8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 45.
9 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is
10 passed.
11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
12 96, by Senator Bonacic, Senate Print 6415A, an
13 act to amend the Environmental Conservation
14 Law, in relation to requiring.
15 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last
16 section.
17 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
18 act shall take effect immediately.
19 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll.
20 (The Secretary called the roll.)
21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 45.
22 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is
23 passed.
24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
25 163, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print
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1 4856, an act to amend the Estates, Powers and
2 Trusts Law, in relation to the right of
3 election.
4 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last
5 section.
6 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
7 act shall take effect on the first of January.
8 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll.
9 (The Secretary called the roll.)
10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 46.
11 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is
12 passed.
13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
14 219, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 4761A,
15 an act directing the Commissioner of Labor to
16 issue a report.
17 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last
18 section.
19 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
20 act shall take effect immediately.
21 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll.
22 (The Secretary called the roll.)
23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 46.
24 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is
25 passed.
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1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
2 248, by Senator Robach, Senate Print 3186, an
3 act to amend the Civil Service Law, in
4 relation to the authority of the Civil Service
5 Commission.
6 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last
7 section.
8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
9 act shall take effect on the first of January.
10 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll.
11 (The Secretary called the roll.)
12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 46.
13 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is
14 passed.
15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
16 251, by Senator Maziarz, Senate Print 302A, an
17 act to amend the Highway Law, in relation to
18 the designation of the "General Casimir
19 Pulaski Interchange."
20 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last
21 section.
22 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
23 act shall take effect immediately.
24 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll.
25 (The Secretary called the roll.)
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1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 46.
2 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is
3 passed.
4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
5 255, by Senator Alesi, Senate Print 2272, an
6 act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, in
7 relation to additional penalties.
8 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last
9 section.
10 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
11 act shall take effect on the first of
12 November.
13 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll.
14 (The Secretary called the roll.)
15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 46.
16 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is
17 passed.
18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
19 268, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 3313, an
20 act to amend the General Municipal Law, in
21 relation to municipal cooperative activities.
22 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last
23 section.
24 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
25 act shall take effect immediately.
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1 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll.
2 (The Secretary called the roll.)
3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 46.
4 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is
5 passed.
6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
7 271, by Senator Little, Senate Print 6384, an
8 act in relation to creating the Dodge library.
9 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last
10 section.
11 THE SECRETARY: Section 8. This
12 act shall take effect immediately.
13 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll.
14 (The Secretary called the roll.)
15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 46.
16 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is
17 passed.
18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
19 298, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print
20 5999A, an act to amend the Public Health Law,
21 in relation to promotion.
22 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last
23 section.
24 SENATOR DUANE: Lay it aside,
25 please.
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1 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is laid
2 aside.
3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
4 313, by Senator Maziarz, Senate Print 691, an
5 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to the
6 crime of obstructing firefighting operations.
7 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last
8 section.
9 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
10 act shall take effect on the first of
11 November.
12 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll.
13 (The Secretary called the roll.)
14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 47.
15 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is
16 passed.
17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
18 327, by Senator Alesi, Senate Print 5023, an
19 act to amend the Retirement and Social
20 Security Law, in relation to option election.
21 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last
22 section.
23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
24 act shall take effect immediately.
25 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll.
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1 (The Secretary called the roll.)
2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 47.
3 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is
4 passed.
5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
6 328, by Senator Golden, Senate Print --
7 SENATOR SKELOS: Lay it aside for
8 the day, please.
9 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is laid
10 aside for the day.
11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
12 396, Senate Budget Bill, Senate Print Number
13 6465, an act to amend the Racing, Pari-Mutuel
14 Wagering and Breeding Law.
15 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last
16 section.
17 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
18 act shall take effect immediately.
19 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll.
20 (The Secretary called the roll.)
21 SENATOR DUANE: Lay it aside,
22 please.
23 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is laid
24 aside.
25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
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1 397, substituted earlier today, Assembly
2 Budget Bill, Assembly Print Number 9566A, an
3 act to amend Chapter 55 of the Laws of 2005,
4 making appropriations for the support of
5 government.
6 SENATOR DUANE: Lay it aside,
7 please.
8 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is laid
9 aside.
10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
11 398, by Senator Robach, Senate Print 6806, an
12 act to amend the Retirement and Social
13 Security Law, in relation to investments.
14 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last
15 section.
16 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
17 act shall take effect immediately.
18 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll.
19 (The Secretary called the roll.)
20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 47.
21 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is
22 passed.
23 Senator Skelos, that completes the
24 noncontroversial reading of the calendar.
25 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you, Madam
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1 President. If we could go to the
2 controversial reading of the calendar.
3 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary
4 will ring the bell, and the members should
5 return to their seats so we can continue with
6 the controversial calendar.
7 The Secretary will read.
8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
9 298, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print
10 5999A, an act to amend the Public Health Law.
11 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER:
12 Explanation.
13 THE PRESIDENT: Senator
14 DeFrancisco, an explanation has been
15 requested.
16 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Thank you,
17 Madam President.
18 This bill would provide for the
19 establishment of a public cord blood banking
20 program. And it calls upon the Department of
21 Health to promote public awareness of the
22 potential benefits of public cord blood
23 banking and to promote research in the use of
24 cord blood, and to facilitate the donation of
25 umbilical cords for use in research and also
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1 for use for individuals who may need this
2 blood based upon some disease that they may
3 have.
4 Basically, what the bill is doing
5 is to preserve rather than to throw away
6 medical waste that is being thrown away
7 routinely in the State of New York, and to
8 provide that material, which has been proven
9 to save lives -- to have that material placed
10 in some public bank for the use of others, to
11 cure diseases. It also is going to be used
12 for research.
13 Just about a month ago in Syracuse,
14 New York, there was a young child who ended up
15 going to Duke Hospital, since there was no
16 such facility here, in order to get umbilical
17 cord blood, and was cured of a very serious
18 disease. That is the purpose of the bill.
19 There is a same-as in the Assembly
20 sponsored by Assemblyman Joe Lentol.
21 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Krueger.
22 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you,
23 Madam President. If the sponsor would please
24 yield.
25 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
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1 THE PRESIDENT: The Senator does
2 yield. You may proceed, Senator Krueger, with
3 a question.
4 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you.
5 I certainly can support ensuring
6 that there is a mechanism for more people to
7 be able to store and donate their umbilical
8 cords from their children, in the hope that
9 future research will find that this is a
10 valuable research option that may in fact lead
11 to both cures for illnesses and treatment for
12 illnesses.
13 But I do have several questions
14 about the bill. Senator, on page 2, line 6,
15 paragraph D, it says that one of the
16 responsibilities of the Department of Health
17 will be to "promote research through public
18 and private funding sources in the potential
19 benefits of cord blood as an alternative to
20 tissue transplantation as a source of stem
21 cells in the treatment of disease."
22 Is it your intent in this
23 legislation to discourage people from donating
24 their tissue?
25 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: No, it's
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1 not.
2 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: It is not,
3 thank you.
4 If, through you, Madam President,
5 the sponsor would continue to yield.
6 THE PRESIDENT: Senator
7 DeFrancisco, do you yield for a question?
8 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
9 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed,
10 Senator, with a question.
11 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you.
12 And while you've changed the cover memo to
13 your bill since earlier today -- and so
14 concerns that I had with your previous memo I
15 have to say I don't have anymore, because
16 you've changed your memo.
17 But I would like to ask you, for
18 the record, is it the intent of this
19 legislation to in any way prohibit embryonic
20 stem cell research in the future in the state
21 of New York?
22 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, I did
23 change the memo. Because apparently there was
24 a lobbyist running around Albany 10 minutes
25 ago, at the last minute, saying that there's
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1 some objectionable language in the bill
2 memo -- without coming to me to suggest maybe
3 I could correct that language.
4 There was language in the bill memo
5 that was intended to say that there's a debate
6 on ethical grounds and other grounds as to
7 whether or not embryonic blood cells should be
8 collected and used for this type of purpose.
9 The intent of the memo, what I was
10 trying to say was that we may be debating that
11 issue in the future, it may be held up because
12 of various opposition from some parties, but
13 there is no opposition from anyone that I know
14 of with respect to using umbilical cord blood.
15 And the point in my prior memo was
16 rather than wait for this debate to develop
17 and rather than to postpone further research
18 and rather than to not be in a position to
19 help young kids that have diseases, like this
20 young child in Syracuse that has to go out of
21 state to find some cord blood for a cure, that
22 we should get this done now.
23 It certainly does not -- so I
24 changed the language to be more politic about
25 that, stating what I just said.
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1 But my point was to be, namely,
2 that let's not hold this up. The future
3 debate is going to happen, no doubt, at some
4 point in time, and when it happens the cards
5 will fall as they may based upon the number of
6 votes that are available on both sides of that
7 issue.
8 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Madam
9 President, if the sponsor would continue to
10 yield.
11 THE PRESIDENT: Senator, do you
12 yield?
13 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
14 THE PRESIDENT: He does yield.
15 You may proceed, Senator Krueger.
16 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you.
17 And I appreciate your explanation. But again,
18 just since the intent of the Legislature
19 sometimes gets used in debates after bills
20 have become law, can I just ask you, with a
21 yes or no, does this bill intend to prohibit
22 embryonic stem cell research in the state of
23 New York?
24 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: It does not
25 intend to prohibit that.
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1 It intends to have this lifesaving
2 umbilical cord available for research and
3 saving lives now, rather than wait for that
4 debate to develop and materialize one way or
5 the other.
6 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you.
7 Madam President, on the bill.
8 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed
9 on the bill, Senator.
10 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you.
11 I want to thank Senator DeFrancisco
12 for his explanation and thank him for the
13 bill. New York State clearly should be moving
14 forward with legislation that ensures that any
15 kind of research this is going to lead us down
16 the road of curing diseases, of preventing
17 diseases, of saving lives should be allowed in
18 New York State.
19 And in fact, he has answered the
20 two concerns that I did have about the bill.
21 One, would it discourage tissue donation. And
22 he said no, it is not intended to discourage
23 tissue donation.
24 Which is an important issue for us
25 to highlight on the record, because in fact,
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1 according to the Musculoskeletal Transplant
2 Foundation, at least 750,000 tissue
3 transplants occur in the United States each
4 year. This has more than doubled annually
5 since the early '90s.
6 Often, individual donors make
7 possible more than a hundred tissue
8 transplants. In 1998, donated tissue from one
9 volunteer firefighter ended up being
10 transplanted to help 422 individual people.
11 Between 1994 and 2003, in the United States
12 the number of donors of blood and related
13 tissues more than tripled, rising from 6,000
14 to 20,000 donors.
15 These tissue transplants save limbs
16 from being amputated, give sight to the blind,
17 allow recipients to walk without pain, lift up
18 their child, or perform other functions in
19 employment and in their lives. In fact, I
20 would argue that we need to do everything we
21 can to expand public knowledge about the
22 importance of donating tissue and organs
23 because the waiting lists are far greater than
24 the number of donors available.
25 He also answered another important
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1 question for me, is this bill in any way an
2 attempt to discourage moving forward with the
3 option for embryonic stem cell research in the
4 state of New York. And again, I would argue,
5 as I have before -- and I carry a bill that I
6 hope this house will take up sometime in the
7 near future, or someone else's version
8 therein, that would establish regulatory
9 guidelines for what would and wouldn't be
10 appropriate in doing embryonic stem cell
11 research in the state of New York.
12 Because the scientists in the
13 country have made it clear that while there
14 are many options that they hope will come out
15 of umbilical cord blood cell research, that it
16 is a much more limited option in research than
17 embryonic stem cell research. And that it is
18 critical for this state, as so many other
19 states now have already moved forward, to move
20 forward with passing legislation that would
21 establish what is appropriate research in the
22 state of New York, what will we encourage,
23 what will we limit.
24 In my law, we could exclude any
25 option for human cloning, but we would
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1 absolutely allow donations of embryonic cells
2 from fertility clinics, with the full
3 knowledge of the donors that this is what
4 their surplus embryonic cells would be used
5 for. We would establish a scientific
6 committee that would be there to evaluate, on
7 an ongoing basis, since medical research is a
8 dynamic field, what is moving forward, what is
9 not, what is successful, what is not. We
10 would have bioethicists involved who would
11 evaluate where are the lines that perhaps the
12 State of New York should not cross, who will
13 be overseeing the type of research that goes
14 forward, who will be ensuring that the right
15 kind of research goes forward without putting
16 any of us and our futures at risk.
17 So I am happy to have had the
18 debate today with Senator DeFrancisco. I will
19 be voting for the bill. I urge my colleagues
20 to do so. But I again strongly, strongly urge
21 this house to take up a discussion and a
22 debate of the importance of passing a broader
23 stem cell research law for the State of
24 New York.
25 Thank you, Madam President.
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1 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Ada
2 Smith.
3 SENATOR ADA SMITH: Thank you,
4 Madam President.
5 I too join with my colleague
6 Senator Krueger in commending Senator
7 DeFrancisco for this bill.
8 Many of us have heard, read, or
9 have personal knowledge of how beneficial this
10 can be, especially to young people. And any
11 doubts that I may have had, Senator
12 DeFrancisco has allayed all of those fears by
13 his answers. And I want to personally thank
14 him for this.
15 And I will be voting yes, and I
16 look forward to working with him closer to
17 make sure that we can go forward to ensure
18 that other bills come to the floor that will
19 be of benefit to our constituents.
20 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Diaz.
21 SENATOR DIAZ: Thank you, Madam
22 President. On the bill. On the bill.
23 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed
24 on the bill, Senator Diaz.
25 SENATOR DIAZ: It is well known
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1 that the use of embryos in the stem cell
2 research is the killing of life. And the use
3 of embryos is -- to some of us is
4 unacceptable, by killing embryos and using
5 their parts.
6 According to Senator DeFrancisco,
7 this bill is not intended to prohibit the use
8 of embryos. But if we can prove that
9 umbilical cord blood is effective and that we
10 don't have to kill embryos by using umbilical
11 cords, even though the bill does not prohibit
12 the use of embryos, but if in the future we
13 could prove that the umbilical cord is
14 sufficient to cure many illnesses and we don't
15 have to use embryos, let it be. It will be a
16 godsend.
17 So I congratulate you, Senator
18 DeFrancisco. I'm voting for this bill. We
19 all know that the umbilical cords have been
20 used, have been effective curing many
21 illnesses, including lymphoma, leukemia, and
22 many others. So it is a good move. Again, I
23 repeat myself: If we could prove that we
24 don't need to use the embryos, let it be.
25 This is a good bill. I'm voting
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1 yes.
2 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Duane.
3 SENATOR DUANE: Thank you, Madam
4 President.
5 I'm going to vote in favor of this
6 bill. However, I want to note a couple of
7 things.
8 The Governor and my colleagues on
9 the other side of the aisle have proposed
10 $200 million in this year's budget to expand
11 biomedical studies, which is an excellent
12 step. The Assembly is proposing $300 million
13 for stem cell research. That's a terrific
14 step.
15 I'm hopeful that in the budget
16 process we can work out what's best for the
17 people of this state, because the issue of
18 biomedical research, which I hope will include
19 stem cell research, is very important just for
20 humanitarian purposes, but is also very
21 important to the economy of our state, from
22 Long Island to New York City to Roswell Park.
23 So I'm assuming that will be worked
24 out as we move forward in the budget. And I'm
25 hoping that that will happen, because we
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1 really have to get ahead of this issue. Other
2 states are already working on this issue, and
3 we really need to be competitive. And let's
4 face it, New York is the best place to conduct
5 this kind of research. And we can't let any
6 time go by.
7 I personally have concerns about
8 this bill, though I'm going to vote in the
9 affirmative, because of the language that
10 says -- talks about the potential benefits of
11 cord blood as an alternative to tissue
12 transplantation. It's hard to tell whether or
13 not if this bill and the companion bill, which
14 is introduced by Assembly Member Lentol in the
15 Assembly, passes, if that would have the
16 impact of discouraging tissue donation and an
17 impetus towards stem cell research. I think
18 that that would be a mistake.
19 And while I have, and I think they
20 know this tremendous esteem, for the sponsor
21 here in this house and also the Assembly
22 sponsor, I think we would do a disservice to
23 the state and do a disservice to people in
24 general and hoped-for cures for diseases and
25 better treatment for diseases if we did
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1 discourage tissue donation in any way or
2 having a focus on stem cell research as well.
3 I also would be remiss if I didn't
4 mention that my colleague Senator Krueger has
5 a bill on this topic as well, and her bill
6 would authorize the conducting of stem cell
7 research. And it would have safeguards.
8 There would be informed consent, and there
9 would be a prohibition against human
10 reproductive cloning, which I know is
11 appropriately a concern to people as well.
12 I also think this is an issue that
13 deserves hearings. And I think we could have
14 hearings quickly. I think people would be
15 more than happy, experts in the field, to come
16 and testify on this issue. I think it would
17 be educational for all of us. I personally am
18 not an expert in biomedical issues; I know
19 some of my colleagues probably are, but I am
20 not. But for those of us who are not, I would
21 be interested to hear what experts in the
22 field had to say on this issue.
23 And I think if we did do that, one
24 of the outcomes would be is that while this is
25 good-intentioned and something we should vote
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1 for, it's not enough. And even if the
2 Assembly companion bill passed, it would not
3 be enough.
4 So I'm going to vote yes on this
5 bill, in the hope that no one here thinks that
6 we have done our job on this issue and that we
7 will come back to together -- both houses,
8 both parties -- and really make the best
9 investment we possibly can and the most
10 inclusive investment we possibly can in
11 biomedical research.
12 Thank you, Madam President.
13 THE PRESIDENT: Does any other
14 member wish to be heard?
15 Then the debate is closed.
16 The Secretary will ring the bell,
17 and the members should return to their seats
18 so we can vote on this bill.
19 Read the last section.
20 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
21 act shall take effect on the 180th day.
22 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll.
23 (The Secretary called the roll.)
24 THE PRESIDENT: Senator
25 DeFrancisco, to explain your vote.
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1 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, I rise
2 to explain my yes vote.
3 I want to thank all those who spoke
4 and those that didn't that have the same
5 beliefs as those that spoke.
6 And I think -- I want to make very
7 clear that probably should be hearings on some
8 of the issues concerning the use of embryonic
9 cells and that type of donation and the like.
10 There should be hearings on that. And those
11 hearings may take some time. And whatever
12 results from those hearings in an ultimate
13 bill, an ultimate vote, will come someday,
14 there's no question about that.
15 But my whole point in doing this
16 bill is that we can do this now, and we can
17 create a public bank of umbilical cord blood.
18 Right now many of you know that there are
19 private banks where people can actually take
20 the umbilical cords and store them for use of
21 their own children or their own family
22 members.
23 Well, there's a lot of people in
24 the general public that don't have that
25 ability. And if we can start creating such a
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1 bank today, while whatever other debate goes
2 forward, and provide the education and try to
3 encourage people to donate this medical waste,
4 is what it is right now, we can truly do a
5 great service, not only in research but also
6 in curing people right here and now as they've
7 been cured.
8 And I appreciate what Senator Diaz
9 says. You know, maybe this will affect the
10 ultimate debate on further type of use of
11 materials that many, many feel should not be
12 used. If this is as successful as I think it
13 would be, that could be a relevant factor in
14 the ultimate debate on use of other types of
15 blood cells.
16 So I vote yes, and I again thank my
17 colleagues for their support.
18 THE PRESIDENT: You will be
19 recorded as voting in the affirmative,
20 Senator.
21 The Secretary will announce the
22 results.
23 THE SECRETARY: In relation to
24 Calendar Number 298, those absent pursuant to
25 Rule 9: Senators Breslin and Johnson.
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1 Those absent from voting: Senators
2 C. Kruger and Montgomery.
3 Ayes, 51. Nays, 0.
4 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is
5 passed.
6 The Secretary will read.
7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
8 396, Senate Budget Bill, Senate Print 6465, an
9 act to amend the Racing, Pari-Mutuel Wagering
10 and Breeding Law.
11 SENATOR DUANE: Explanation.
12 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Larkin,
13 an explanation has been requested.
14 SENATOR LARKIN: Madam President,
15 this bill is a technical amendment to the
16 Racing and Wagering Law, Section 208B, which
17 modifies the provisions that govern the
18 Nonprofit Racing Association's Oversight
19 Board.
20 This board, as we all know, was
21 established last year, and aspects of it are
22 to observe and address the NYRA until NYRA's
23 franchise ends on 31 December, '07.
24 Basically what this law does, it
25 creates the oversight board that assumes the
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1 responsibility of the State Thoroughbred
2 Racing Capital Investment Fund, which was a
3 public benefit corporation. The oversight
4 board, when it was created, was not designated
5 as a public benefit corporation. This bill
6 corrects that discrepancy.
7 Also, as a public benefit
8 corporation, it must abide by all of the
9 public authority's transparency laws.
10 THE PRESIDENT: Does any member
11 wish to be heard on this bill?
12 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Yes, I'm
13 just out of my place. I'm so sorry.
14 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Krueger.
15 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you.
16 I apologize. I seem to be over there with the
17 Republicans today, so I -- and they're over
18 here. It's all very confusing. Sorry, Madam
19 President.
20 If the sponsor would please yield
21 for a question.
22 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Larkin,
23 will you yield for a question?
24 SENATOR LARKIN: Yes ma'am.
25 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed,
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1 Senator Krueger, with a question.
2 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you
3 very much.
4 How does changing to a public
5 benefit corporation actually change anything
6 about the way we're operating with this
7 situation?
8 SENATOR LARKIN: First of all,
9 you have to recognize now they'll have to
10 abide by other laws. They don't have any
11 bonding authority. But they have the
12 oversight, which we didn't have before, and
13 which was the cause of the problems that we
14 have, because we didn't have a definitive
15 board observing and interacting with NYRA.
16 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Madam
17 President, if the sponsor would continue to
18 yield.
19 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Larkin,
20 do you continue to yield?
21 SENATOR LARKIN: Yes.
22 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed,
23 Senator.
24 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you.
25 It's my understanding from the bill
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1 and from your explanation that this would
2 require that they do quarterly reports to the
3 Legislature --
4 SENATOR LARKIN: Yes.
5 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: -- and
6 therefore we would actually have the
7 opportunity --
8 SENATOR LARKIN: It will be
9 accountability, Senator.
10 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Yes. Thank
11 you.
12 Thank you, Madam President.
13 Speaking on the bill.
14 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed
15 on the bill.
16 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: I'm very
17 pleased we're moving forward with this
18 legislation. I think it highlights how
19 important it is for the Legislature to play an
20 oversight role in overseeing agencies and
21 public authorities.
22 And I think it's exactly what many
23 of us have been talking about in the State of
24 New York of having, as Senator Larkin just
25 said, more accountability for the people's
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1 money and the process. That public
2 authorities should go through careful scrutiny
3 and oversight and tracking. And the
4 Comptroller's office would have a role here,
5 the State Legislature would have a role here.
6 And that we should be following our own
7 lessons from this legislation on any number of
8 other areas of the state where we have not
9 been careful enough in providing oversight and
10 evaluation and asking the hard questions.
11 So I'm very happy to support this
12 bill. Thank you, Senator Larkin.
13 Thank you, Madam President.
14 THE PRESIDENT: Does any other
15 member wish to be heard?
16 Then the debate is closed.
17 The Secretary will ring the bell.
18 Read the last section.
19 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
20 act shall take effect immediately.
21 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll.
22 (The Secretary called the roll.)
23 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary
24 will announce the results.
25 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in
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1 the negative on Calendar Number 396: Senator
2 Duane.
3 Those absent pursuant to Rule 9:
4 Senators Breslin and Johnson.
5 Those absent from voting: Senators
6 C. Kruger and Montgomery.
7 Ayes, 50. Nays, 1.
8 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is
9 passed.
10 The Secretary will continue to
11 read.
12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
13 397, substituted earlier today, Assembly
14 Budget Bill, Assembly Print Number 9566A, an
15 act to amend Chapter 55 of the Laws of 2005,
16 making appropriations for the support of
17 government.
18 SENATOR SABINI: Explanation.
19 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Larkin,
20 an explanation has been requested.
21 SENATOR LARKIN: Madam President,
22 this is a budget bill that authorizes the
23 Division of Lottery to loan, to loan to NYRA
24 up to $20 million so that NYRA can remain in
25 operation and assist the system as the current
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1 operator of the state racing franchise in its
2 construction of VLTs at Aqueduct.
3 The money will be paid back to the
4 Division of Lottery with a 4 percent interest
5 rate when the VLTs are up and running.
6 However, before any money is transferred to
7 NYRA, the Nonprofit Racing Association's
8 Oversight Board that we just talked about --
9 to prove that we will have accountability and
10 transparency, John -- will approve any of
11 these transfers.
12 The money will be gradually lent to
13 NYRA depending upon NYRA's accomplishing the
14 goals that were stated in this bill. Among
15 the standards NYRA will need to comply with
16 include the development of a cash management
17 plan so that NYRA revenues will equal NYRA
18 expenses; develop a plan to reduce NYRA's
19 expenses to minimize further losses; NYRA is
20 to increase the amount of money that it
21 retains from each bet to increase its revenue;
22 alter NYRA's cash management statement so that
23 the oversight board may review its cash
24 management practices on a real-time,
25 continuing basis.
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1 Implementing this bill is essential
2 to retain stability in New York's racing
3 industry, while the future of the management
4 of the state's racing franchise to operate
5 their tracks at Aqueduct, Belmont, and
6 Saratoga is resolved by the law in existence
7 which terminates 31 December, 2007.
8 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Sabini.
9 SENATOR SABINI: Madam President,
10 if the sponsor will yield for a question.
11 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Larkin,
12 will you yield for a question?
13 SENATOR LARKIN: Yes, Madam
14 President.
15 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed,
16 Senator, with a question.
17 SENATOR SABINI: Through you,
18 Madam President, I'm wondering if the sponsor
19 can tell me, if there is so much debt and
20 mismanagement at the New York Racing
21 Association, how are they going to pay off
22 this loan before their franchise ends in 2007?
23 SENATOR LARKIN: I think a couple
24 of things that I said, John, just a few
25 minutes ago, what we've been talking around
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1 this Capitol since December when this concept
2 was first originally proposed. If you recall,
3 the original concept was for $30 million, was
4 to sell land, to sell paintings. But there
5 was no estimate of how to repay it.
6 What we structured here is, one, up
7 to $20 million; two, when they do the 5,000
8 slot machines at Aqueduct, we're talking about
9 a revenue of a billion dollars. They'll be
10 able to pay that back at an interest rate of
11 4 percent.
12 I don't know who you're talking to,
13 but the people that I'm talking to in the
14 financial market assure us that this is a
15 concept based on the fact that they're not
16 going to get $20 million, they're going to get
17 up to 20.
18 The oversight board is in place.
19 You know, the Assembly just appointed their
20 people. They'll be able to start monitoring,
21 as a concept of the Governor, Senate Majority,
22 Senate, and Assembly. This board has the
23 oversight responsibility.
24 So they're not going to get a pile
25 of money thrown at them. They're going to get
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1 money, as they request it, based on what is
2 thought to be needed and how the oversight
3 board reviews it.
4 SENATOR SABINI: Madam President,
5 will the sponsor continue to yield.
6 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Larkin,
7 will you yield for another question?
8 SENATOR LARKIN: Yes, Madam
9 President.
10 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed
11 with a question.
12 SENATOR SABINI: I'm wondering if
13 the sponsor is aware of the fact that NYRA
14 claims they can't pay their New York State tax
15 this year.
16 SENATOR LARKIN: John, you and I
17 both sit on the same committee, and we've been
18 observant of this for a number of years.
19 This concept that we're doing here
20 today was the vehicle to try to straighten
21 that management up. You know, when you start
22 to look at the number of people that are
23 employed in the racing industry just in those
24 three tracks, you're talking 35,000 people.
25 Are we going to lay 35,000 people off? Or are
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1 we going to do good management, reorganize it,
2 put it in place, and allow it to be invested
3 and the return?
4 They're going to pay this back at
5 4 percent. That's better than banks are doing
6 today.
7 SENATOR SABINI: Thank you, Madam
8 President. On the bill.
9 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed
10 on the bill, Senator.
11 SENATOR SABINI: Thank you, Madam
12 President.
13 I don't know if my new colleague to
14 my right, Senator Coppola, has been to a
15 racetrack of a thoroughbred nature. But if
16 you go to the track and you're serious about
17 horse racing, you buy the Racing Form, look at
18 past performances. Just like a business would
19 go and look at a credit report or a management
20 report before investing money in another
21 business, if we were in the investing
22 business.
23 It is my assertion that NYRA's past
24 performance is dismal. They're a nag. I
25 heard the chairman of the committee in June of
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1 2004 talk about a bill, if we just passed this
2 bill, everything would be fine, Aqueduct would
3 be up and running. We passed another bill in
4 the August of 2004. The chairman said if we
5 passed that bill, Aqueduct would be up and
6 running. Well, let's look at the record.
7 In 2003, the New York Racing
8 Association lost $22 million. In 2004, they
9 lost $15 million. They currently owe us,
10 without this money, $60 million. They are
11 $100 million in debt. As of the end of 2004,
12 NYRA's accumulated deficit totaled
13 $102.2 million. That's the Comptroller's
14 figure -- not NYRA's, not mine, but the
15 Comptroller's, based on his audit about their
16 franchise fee calculations and related
17 operations of 2002 and 2003.
18 And their condition continues to
19 deteriorate. The Comptroller determined that
20 NYRA underpaid their franchise fee to us, to
21 the State of New York's taxpayers, at least
22 $25.7 million and maybe as high as
23 $27.7 million, from the Comptroller's
24 observations. They are now $13 million behind
25 in the pension fund to the workers that we all
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1 care about.
2 And the chairman is right, horse
3 racing is a big business here. We don't want
4 to see the business fold up, we just think
5 someone else maybe could do it better.
6 Because the people that are doing it now, in
7 some of the crown-jewel locales of racing,
8 aren't doing the job properly.
9 They're even behind $17.6 million
10 in property tax to Nassau County and New York
11 City, because part of their franchise
12 agreement is they're supposed to pay their
13 property tax and the water bill on the tracks.
14 They recently received a tax
15 warrant for $1.25 million for taxes generated
16 at Aqueduct. They want to sell the paintings
17 off the walls. They're talking about selling
18 the tracks that we don't know if they own.
19 And I could get into a debate here
20 at length as to who owns the racetracks.
21 Oddly enough, the chair of the oversight board
22 that we just memorialized, J. Patrick Barrett,
23 says that we own them. So why would we do
24 business with an organization that won't even
25 agree with us as to what we own and what they
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1 own?
2 We make compacts with Indian tribes
3 and Native Americans over what land they own,
4 and yet we have less honest dealings with NYRA
5 than we do with some of the tribes who are our
6 adversaries.
7 Last year, Comptroller Hevesi
8 called NYRA the poster child for mismanagement
9 and corruption. They gave a $700,000 no-bid
10 contract to the former CEO's son-in-law and
11 daughter, a $1.6 million no-bid PR contract,
12 and spent $400,000 in that one year on
13 trophies alone.
14 In 2003 they agreed to a plea
15 bargain from federal prosecution for tax
16 evasion and agreed to pay a $3 million fine
17 and submit to a court-appointed monitor.
18 They've been investigated by the
19 Attorney General, who said they lack
20 appropriate financial and operational controls
21 and have rampant criminal activities at
22 state-owned thoroughbred racetracks. Notice
23 he said "state-owned," so I guess the Attorney
24 General recognizes that we may own that land
25 as well.
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1 Perhaps most onerous of all, or
2 most scandalous of all, is that there are
3 several NYRA officials now under indictment
4 for rigging the scales. That goes right to
5 the heart of our pari-mutuel wagering industry
6 and tells the bettors that the races may not
7 be honest, that there were jockeys riding who
8 may not be at the weight they're supposed to.
9 Not in minor races in January at Aqueduct, but
10 as big a race as the Cigar Mile, which is a
11 major stakes, Class 1 stakes race.
12 And that really -- if that
13 continues to happen, we won't a thoroughbred
14 racing pari-mutuel industry in New York,
15 because the bettors won't want to come.
16 When New York State extended NYRA's
17 franchise in 1997 -- even then people
18 complained -- it required NYRA to operate in a
19 sound, economical, efficient, effective manner
20 so as to produce reasonable revenue for the
21 support of our government, because that's what
22 they're supposed to do. They're not doing it.
23 Now, I've heard from other people
24 that, well, they're getting better. Well,
25 this Comptroller's report was released on
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1 February 17th, not that long ago. Just a
2 couple of weeks ago. And in it the
3 Comptroller stated: "NYRA has made little
4 effort to produce realistic budgets or rein in
5 its expenses."
6 The Comptroller reported NYRA
7 inappropriately categorized certain expenses
8 as promotional or extraordinary and
9 nonrecurring and improperly excluded these
10 costs from tests for excess expenses. They
11 improperly included operational expenses such
12 as $800,000 for trophies for next year in this
13 category. They have done everything they can
14 do to violate their franchise, which could be
15 terminated today if it was so seen.
16 In July of 2003 the Attorney
17 General concluded in a report that the
18 Legislature and the Governor should end NYRA's
19 franchise now, that the current structure has
20 not, does not, and will not work. And that
21 was before all the convictions and indictments
22 and plea bargains I mentioned before.
23 It's time for this to end. That is
24 not a business plan that you would loan money
25 to. That is not an entity you would loan that
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1 kind of money to. And it's about time that we
2 got realistic about the fact that their
3 franchise has to end.
4 My colleague, the distinguished
5 chairman of the committee, wrote an op-ed in
6 the New York Post, and I read it with
7 interest. He said: "We need fresh ideas, new
8 energy, and a new model for racing in New
9 York." I agree with him.
10 This is not the new model. This is
11 an extension of the old model. And when I
12 heard the explanation about how they need this
13 money to get better, it sounded an awful lot
14 like a guy borrowing money at a racetrack.
15 You know, "if you just get me through this
16 next race, I'll have the money to pay you back
17 for all the other money you loaned me." And
18 how often does that happen that that money
19 comes back?
20 I know, and I think you all know,
21 that this is a bad investment. NYRA has taken
22 what was the jewel locations of thoroughbred
23 racing in America -- Saratoga, Belmont, and
24 Aqueduct -- so important to the economy of
25 this state, so important to the economy of our
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1 agriculture upstate, because horse farms need
2 other things, and squandered the goodwill of
3 the betting public, squandered the goodwill of
4 this Legislature. And I believe that we can't
5 continue to pour money down this hole.
6 So, Madam President, I will be
7 voting no.
8 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Bruno.
9 SENATOR BRUNO: Thank you, Madam
10 President. And thank you, Senator, for your
11 comments.
12 And what's great about what goes on
13 in this chamber is that all of us are
14 representative and we can all talk about our
15 opinions, and we don't have to be right.
16 That's what's good about it. And you are
17 about as wrong in what you are saying as
18 anybody can be, in all due respect to you,
19 sir.
20 Saratoga is in my district.
21 Saratoga is the premier racing place in the
22 whole world. People come from all over the
23 world. Forty thousand people work in
24 agriculture and in racing in this state. And
25 the Senator is right, the model doesn't work.
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1 The model is broken. And we are fixing it
2 together -- with the Assembly, with you, with
3 the Governor. We're fixing it.
4 We passed the law that says we have
5 a nine-member committee that will review all
6 of the bids that will be put in between now
7 and December 31, '07, when the NYRA franchise
8 expires. By law. That's the law.
9 That committee has had open
10 hearings. There are nine members functioning.
11 And the rest of what will happen is they will
12 take -- put together a new model, a model that
13 will work.
14 Because you've had some extremely
15 successful, bright people, CEOs and chairmen
16 of NYRA -- and you're right, Senator, they all
17 fail. They all lose money. It doesn't take a
18 genius to know that if you get some of the
19 most successful people in the country in
20 charge and they still lose $30 million,
21 $40 million, $50 million, something is wrong
22 with the model. And shame on us that we
23 didn't change it a long time ago. But we're
24 changing it now.
25 But the option is not to do this
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1 legislation. Don't do it. That's an option.
2 And let NYRA go bankrupt, let them go
3 bankrupt, and then let them operate under the
4 federal courts. Let the federal judge
5 dictates what happens out there in the lives
6 of the 40,000 people who are grooms, who are
7 growing crops, who are walking the horses, who
8 are making $7 and $8 and $9 an hour. Let the
9 federal judge say what's going to happen.
10 That's an option. But it's a very poor
11 option.
12 So this money that we are voting on
13 will help bridge getting NYRA, with their
14 broken model, to the VLTs which should have
15 been operative already. And the state has
16 lost about a billion and a half dollars for
17 education because they're not up and running.
18 So this will help get them running.
19 And MGM should be operating, when
20 this is done, by February of next year, which
21 is about two years-plus later than they were
22 supposed to. And we lose about a half a
23 billion dollars a year.
24 So it's simple arithmetic. And
25 this money is for education, it's to help
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1 finance CFE, it's to help finance the
2 high-need districts of this state.
3 So an alternative is let them go
4 bankrupt. Let the feds take over horse racing
5 in New York State. It's an option. Because
6 they don't have the cash flow to continue.
7 So in the wisdom of Senator
8 Larkin -- and I think you participated,
9 Senator -- and the Speaker and the Governor
10 and all of the others involved, this plan was
11 put together. And is it a bailout of NYRA?
12 No, it's an investment in NYRA, in horse
13 racing, and it will be paid back. The dollars
14 will be paid back.
15 You're right, have they paid back
16 in the past? No. Why? Because they
17 couldn't. Why? Because they don't have the
18 money. That's why.
19 So where will the final word be on
20 how this franchise continues? Where will it
21 be? Right here in this chamber. That's the
22 procedure. That's the law. When the bids are
23 put out and the responses are there -- and
24 you'll have responses. I hope NYRA is one of
25 them, with whatever partners partner with
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1 them. I hope people come in from all over the
2 world and bid.
3 And the committee, with some very,
4 very bright people, will make a recommendation
5 to the Legislature, the Assembly, and the
6 Senate, and we will vote on how to proceed,
7 how to select, how to go forward and fix what
8 is wrong and has been wrong with horse racing.
9 Because, Senator, you're right.
10 This should be -- New York State should have,
11 and we do have, despite all of the failures,
12 we have some of the best racing in the
13 country. And we will have the best racing in
14 the world. Not just to have racing, but
15 because it is a sport, it creates jobs, more
16 and more jobs, it stimulates the economy with
17 tourism.
18 And tourism still is the
19 second-largest industry, second only to
20 agriculture, thanks to Senator Young and all
21 the others that maintain agriculture as the
22 most viable, largest industry in this state.
23 And racing is part of agriculture, and it's
24 part of tourism, and it will also be part of
25 the funding of education that is so critical
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1 in the city and in the rest of the state.
2 So thank you, Senator, for sharing
3 your point of view. And thank you to my
4 colleagues -- Senator Duane, are you going to
5 speak? What does this mean, Senator? Does
6 that mean that I'm talking too much?
7 SENATOR DUANE: Never. I would
8 never say that.
9 SENATOR BRUNO: What does it
10 mean?
11 Thank you. I respectfully sit
12 down. When my esteemed leader here on my left
13 goes like this, I'm sitting down. Because I
14 hope I've made my point, sir.
15 Thank you. Thank you, Madam
16 President.
17 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you,
18 Senator Bruno.
19 Senator Ada Smith has the floor.
20 SENATOR ADA SMITH: Thank you,
21 Madam President.
22 My district stops at the Home Depot
23 which is next door to Aqueduct. So it is of
24 grave importance to my community and my
25 constituents what happens there.
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1 And in listening to both sides of
2 the argument, I'm even more perplexed.
3 Because it's my understanding that NYRA is
4 supposed to be the money machine to generate
5 funds to pay for public education. And I'm
6 well aware that the CFE decision mandates that
7 we give more money to the City of New York for
8 the children there.
9 But if NYRA is wasting $60 million
10 and we're giving them another $20 million and
11 we're not giving anything to the children of
12 the City of New York, who's losing? We're
13 throwing good money after bad money, and we're
14 not getting a win, place, or show bet out of
15 it. And our children, who haven't even begun
16 to get an education, are losing.
17 I'm even more perplexed that I'm
18 told that the VLTs at Aqueduct will begin to
19 pay back the $20 million. The $20 million on
20 top of the $60 million that they haven't paid,
21 and they're going to do all of this in
22 22 months. Well, in all the years that
23 they've existed, they haven't paid back any.
24 So why in 22 months, all of a sudden, they're
25 going to be made whole again?
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1 But what concerns me even more is
2 it's my constituents who live next door to
3 Aqueduct that's going to be spending the money
4 that they can ill afford to spend on the VLTs.
5 So not only do they lose in the educational
6 funding, but they're losing out by spending
7 money on these VLTs that they can ill afford.
8 So they're in essence, as we would say in the
9 community, screwed twice.
10 I don't understand how we, as
11 supposed lawmakers, can make a decision to
12 give money to NYRA, who has proven themselves
13 to be a bad bet. Because I believe that when
14 you place a bet, you place it to win. And in
15 placing a bet on NYRA, we are certainly
16 losing.
17 Thank you, Madam President.
18 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Duane,
19 would you like to speak?
20 SENATOR DUANE: I thought you'd
21 never ask, Madam President.
22 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed.
23 SENATOR DUANE: Thank you.
24 It's the universal symbol of
25 chatting. Don't bring up the Scouts.
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1 (Laughter.)
2 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Duane, is
3 your microphone on?
4 SENATOR DUANE: Yes, Madam
5 President. Thank you.
6 You know, it's no secret I don't
7 like gambling. I don't like gambling. I
8 don't like horse racing less than I don't like
9 gambling in general. And I have to say that
10 Saratoga is wonderful. And I know that it's
11 absolutely something that Senator Bruno,
12 appropriately, is very proud of and we should
13 be proud of what happens there as a state.
14 And I like the sport, I just don't like the
15 gambling part of it.
16 And the other thing I don't like
17 with what's happened at the tracks is this VLT
18 thing. And I have been to a VLT place in
19 Monticello, and I'm sorry to say the buffet is
20 horrible.
21 (Laughter.)
22 SENATOR DUANE: And the other
23 tragedy is that it's supposed to be a place
24 where people, you know, from out of state or
25 all around the state come and spend some
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1 money, maybe have the buffet -- although,
2 again, I don't suggest it. But there's a
3 really sad part of it too. I believe that it
4 sucks money from people who can least afford
5 it.
6 And I've seen Access-A-Ride vans
7 pull up to the VLT place in Monticello. And
8 if you are coming by Access-A-Ride and you're
9 spending your Social Security check, that's a
10 problem. I know that's different than horse
11 racing, but the VLTs go where the horse racing
12 is.
13 You know, we're supposed to swallow
14 gambling because it's supposed to fund
15 education. But in this case, the lottery,
16 which is supposed to be funding education,
17 is -- instead of giving millions to education,
18 they're loaning it to NYRA so that they can, I
19 think, lose it.
20 You know, I don't know much about
21 gaming. I don't know much about the odds. I
22 really don't. But what I do know about NYRA
23 is they are always in trouble -- with us, with
24 the law, right, with localities, with the
25 feds. Always in trouble. And they lose
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1 money. And, you know, I know that this is a
2 "we," and we're all working on it together.
3 But actually, that's not true. We don't have
4 any appointments to any of the three boards
5 over here. We don't have an appointment to
6 NYRA or the ad hoc or that other thing that
7 they have, the Nonprofit Racing Association
8 Oversight -- don't blame us. We don't have
9 any people on that. Senator Sabini's not on
10 that. He'd be a welcome addition on any of
11 them. But we don't have anybody. Don't blame
12 us.
13 NYRA loses money. It's a big
14 problem. We know it's a big problem, but
15 somehow the admitting that it's a big problem
16 doesn't really get us to do anything about the
17 problem. Right? What's the definition of
18 insanity? Doing the same thing over and over
19 again and expecting different results. Like
20 gambling. Keep spending money, think you're
21 going to win, but you don't.
22 The house is supposed to win. The
23 state's not winning. Enough already. Let's
24 get rid of it. Vote no.
25 Thank you.
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1 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Krueger.
2 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you,
3 Madam President. On the bill.
4 I thought Senator Sabini did an
5 excellent analysis for us about what's wrong
6 with continuing to try to bail out NYRA.
7 Senator Tom Duane said it very well.
8 So I will just repeat, somebody
9 recently said it was lunacy to want to put all
10 this new money into public education in
11 New York City and underutilized high-need
12 areas of the State of New York. And I have to
13 say it's lunacy for the State of New York to
14 keep putting more money into gambling that's
15 losing money.
16 There are different debates on this
17 floor about the ethical issues of supporting
18 gambling or government funding of operation of
19 gambling. But if it's supposed to be for
20 public education, and instead we're taking
21 money out of the lottery for public education
22 to give it to an entity that keeps losing it,
23 I don't understand this at all. This is
24 completely counterintuitive to what our
25 mission is supposed to be.
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1 So I'll agree that we have great
2 racetracks, and I would suspect somebody is
3 making a lot of money somehow on racing in
4 New York State. So it constantly escapes my
5 understanding why we would use children's
6 education money to continue to bail out an
7 entity that, as others have pointed out, keeps
8 getting in trouble with us and with the law,
9 never seems to be able to figure out how to
10 avoid the next set of problems, and keeps
11 coming begging the Legislature for money.
12 We have so many unmet needs in the
13 State of New York because we say "we don't
14 have the money for you." It's very confusing
15 to me why we would waste more of the
16 taxpayers' money bailing out a gambling
17 industry. I also say vote no.
18 Thank you, Madam President.
19 THE PRESIDENT: Does any other
20 member wish to be heard?
21 Senator Sabini.
22 SENATOR SABINI: Thank you, Madam
23 President. Again, on the bill.
24 I just want to point out that as
25 Senator Krueger said, we are taking money out
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1 of the Division of Lottery to pay this loan.
2 And we heard about how the money is going to
3 be paid back, by the sponsor, based on the
4 VLTs.
5 Let me just also point out to my
6 colleagues, you know, there's an old story
7 about a guy at the racetrack, walks along and
8 meets someone. The guy says: "Listen, I'd
9 like you to help me, I need a thousand dollars
10 for my wife's operation." And he says:
11 "Well, if it's serious, I'd be happy to do it,
12 but how do I know you won't use it for
13 gambling money?" And the guy says: "Well, I
14 have gambling money."
15 (Laughter.)
16 SENATOR SABINI: The money for
17 the VLTs, based on legislation passed in this
18 house, was supposed to help education. And
19 some of it, based on action by this house and
20 the other house, was supposed to do track
21 improvements, money for the breeders, money to
22 the horsemen, improvements on the tracks'
23 perimeters, making the racing industry better.
24 One-third of that was supposed to go to that.
25 And then the rest was supposed to go to
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1 education.
2 But now we're putting in more money
3 to pay off the money we're lending them to get
4 to that point. It's a very vicious circle
5 that I think they will never get out of. And
6 in fact, I suspect we'll be back debating
7 their franchise and they'll be holding all
8 this money over our head and saying, Well, you
9 got to keep us around, we owe you so much
10 money.
11 So while I respect the arguments of
12 the chair and the Majority Leader, I just
13 don't see how doing this helps matters. I am
14 concerned about a federal judge as well. But
15 you know what? The pension fund's in debt
16 now, they're selling off assets to the track.
17 I don't know that a judge could do worse.
18 Thank you, Madam President.
19 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Bruno, to
20 close debate.
21 SENATOR BRUNO: I just want to
22 clarify, Madam President. I agree with some
23 of the other Senators: I hate gambling. I
24 hate gambling. I am probably one of the few
25 people in this chamber that originally voted
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1 against the lottery because it was gambling.
2 Okay? I just want to make that clear.
3 Most of our colleagues hate
4 gambling. Hate it. The fact of the matter
5 is, if we, anybody here was king of the whole
6 world, there would be no gambling anywhere.
7 None. But you're not king of the world.
8 Sorry. I'm not king of the world.
9 So go to Pennsylvania, 61,000 VLTs
10 activated to fund education. Go to
11 New Jersey, by the tens of thousands you can
12 gamble, 45 minutes out of New York City from
13 your home. Go to Connecticut, Foxwood and
14 Mohegan Sun, 2 hours and 15 minutes from here,
15 the two biggest casinos in the whole world.
16 Go to Canada, to Montreal, Toronto, Niagara,
17 the other side of the river. Gambling.
18 The fact of the matter is, New York
19 is an island surrounded by gambling. And you
20 know what is tragic and sad? The biggest
21 exporters of gamblers are in New York State,
22 second only to California. Okay? You know
23 what that means? That means that our bettors
24 that you'd like to keep home, that you would
25 like to keep home, that I would like to keep
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1 home are funding education in New Jersey --
2 our bettors -- in Connecticut, in Canada, in
3 Pennsylvania. Those are our dollars that
4 people are funding education all around us.
5 So I hate gambling. And if there's
6 any way that you could stop it in Canada, let
7 me know. Okay? If you can stop it in
8 Connecticut, let me know. If you can stop it
9 in New Jersey, let me know. Okay?
10 Pennsylvania, 61,000 of them all over. But if
11 anybody here has an idea on how we can limit,
12 stop it, I'm your partner. Okay? We can't.
13 Common sense tells us we can't.
14 So common sense tells me that this
15 is the right thing to do. It's not a bailout.
16 This is equity. This is representative of the
17 taxpayers of New York State, so that they have
18 equity in that we are able to step up and fund
19 education and not see our dollars flow in all
20 of the other countries and states that
21 surround us.
22 I hate gambling, Madam President,
23 and I wish it wasn't necessary anywhere in the
24 world. There shouldn't be gambling. But
25 there is. So I deal in common sense. I deal
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1 in reality. And I would urge a vote on this,
2 my colleagues, to support the children of
3 New York State.
4 THE PRESIDENT: The debate is
5 closed.
6 The Secretary will ring the bell.
7 Read the last section.
8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
9 act shall take effect immediately.
10 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll.
11 (The Secretary called the roll.)
12 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Diaz, to
13 explain your vote.
14 SENATOR DIAZ: Thank you, Madam
15 President.
16 In explaining my vote, I have to
17 say that I heard Senator Bruno's speech on
18 Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Jersey. So
19 everybody is making money out of gambling.
20 Therefore, because everybody is making money,
21 we should also make money.
22 I am opposing this piece of
23 legislation because I don't believe in
24 gambling. In my neighborhood and in New York
25 City, in New York State, there are parents and
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1 people that use children to sell drugs because
2 they make money. And because they make money,
3 therefore I have to make money, then I should
4 pay my children to go and sell drugs to
5 compete with the others? And that's the kind
6 of mentality that we are having.
7 The other day I heard before, on
8 the stem cell research, somebody says that
9 it's good, beneficial; embryos, stem cell
10 research will financially benefit New York
11 State. So because it's financially good,
12 let's kill children and living creatures.
13 And I hate to think that we are
14 doing things because everybody is making money
15 or because everybody is doing it, let's do it.
16 We have to have some kind of standard, some
17 kind of belief or moral belief and ethics, not
18 saying because people are making money out of
19 gambling so we should gamble too.
20 I oppose this bill. Ladies and
21 gentlemen, gambling is no good, gambling is
22 disastrous to our society. So I'm voting no.
23 THE PRESIDENT: You will be so
24 recorded as voting in the negative, Senator.
25 Senator Onorato, to explain your
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1 vote.
2 SENATOR ONORATO: To explain my
3 vote, Madam President.
4 I've been listening to the debates
5 here quite a bit. I remember a few years ago
6 I got up to debate about how we were balancing
7 our budget. And I reminded the crowd that we
8 had a built-in $5 billion deficit because we
9 were premising it on the Lotto money -- not
10 only Lotto money, but the video lottery
11 terminals that were not online. They weren't
12 online three years ago, and here we are today
13 trying to lend money to NYRA.
14 You know, in this particular case
15 in private industry, when the bookmaker's
16 runners don't come back with the money that
17 they took from bets, that runner is no longer
18 operating for that bookmaker. He's out of
19 business.
20 Well, we're the bookmakers here for
21 NYRA. They work for us. And they've been
22 losing money for all of these years, and we've
23 still got them in business. Why? Why haven't
24 we gotten rid of them, gotten new runners, got
25 new operators of the thing?
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1 Plus, again, we're still hoping
2 that they're going to pay us back with video
3 lottery terminals from the Aqueduct Racetrack
4 that are still not online. When are we going
5 to learn?
6 When they're online and you got the
7 money, you expend it. But let's stop betting
8 with "if" money. I am going to vote no. Put
9 the video lottery terminals on, and I'll vote
10 for the bill.
11 THE PRESIDENT: You will be
12 recorded, Senator, as voting no.
13 Senator Stavisky.
14 SENATOR STAVISKY: Madam
15 President, to explain my vote.
16 I too vote no. There are many
17 institutions facing bankruptcy or in
18 bankruptcy, particularly those serving the
19 most vulnerable of our society, whether they
20 be healthcare institutions or whatever.
21 And when we lend money, it seems to
22 me this is wrong. One person's investment is
23 another person's bailout. And I think when we
24 have so many institutions, particularly in the
25 healthcare field, in bankruptcy, it seems to
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1 me that this is not a wise investment, and
2 instead it's a bailout.
3 And that perhaps these institutions
4 should start going into the lottery business,
5 because that seems to be the way to do it. I
6 think it's wrong, and I vote no.
7 THE PRESIDENT: You will be so
8 recorded as voting in the negative, Senator.
9 The Secretary will announce the
10 results.
11 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in
12 the negative on Calendar Number 397 are
13 Senators Andrews, Connor, Coppola, Diaz,
14 Dilan, Duane, Gonzalez, Klein, L. Krueger,
15 Montgomery, Onorato, Padavan, Parker,
16 Paterson, Sabini, Sampson, Savino, Serrano,
17 A. Smith, Stavisky and Valesky.
18 Those absent pursuant to Rule 9:
19 Senator Breslin.
20 Those absent from voting: Senator
21 C. Kruger.
22 Ayes, 32. Nays, 21.
23 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is
24 passed.
25 Senator Bruno, that completes the
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1 controversial calendar.
2 SENATOR BRUNO: Can we recognize
3 Senator Paterson, Madam President. Thank you.
4 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Paterson.
5 SENATOR PATERSON: Madam
6 President, it's always great to be recognized
7 by the Majority Leader and by you.
8 And it is my honor today to
9 introduce to all of you our newest member. He
10 served for seven years in the Buffalo City
11 Council. He became the majority leader of the
12 City Council. And who knows, maybe one day
13 he'll be the majority leader right here in
14 this Senate.
15 And we are very proud to have him
16 among us, and I would like to introduce to
17 everyone our new Senator from Buffalo, Senator
18 Marc Coppola.
19 (Applause.)
20 THE PRESIDENT: Senator,
21 congratulations and welcome.
22 Senator Spano.
23 SENATOR SPANO: Madam President,
24 on behalf of Senator Bruno, in consultation
25 with Senator Paterson, I'd like to hand up the
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1 following leadership and committee assignment
2 changes.
3 THE PRESIDENT: They will be
4 recorded in the Journal, Senator.
5 SENATOR SPANO: Can you please
6 recognize Senator Johnson for a motion.
7 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Johnson.
8 SENATOR JOHNSON: Madam
9 President, pursuant to Rule 9, I was required
10 to be at a meeting of the Finance Committee
11 and cast my votes as follows for the bills on
12 the controversial calendar:
13 5999A, Calendar Number 298, in the
14 affirmative; 6465, Calendar Number 396, in the
15 affirmative.
16 Thank you.
17 THE PRESIDENT: You will be so
18 recorded, Senator Johnson.
19 Senator Golden, with a motion.
20 SENATOR GOLDEN: Madam President,
21 on page number 25 I offer the following
22 amendments to Calendar Number 328, Senate
23 Print Number 6624, and ask that the said bill
24 retain its place on the Third Reading
25 Calendar.
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1 THE PRESIDENT: The amendments
2 are received, and the bill will retain its
3 place on the Third Reading Calendar.
4 SENATOR GOLDEN: Thank you, Madam
5 President.
6 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Spano.
7 SENATOR SPANO: Thank you, Madam
8 President.
9 Just two announcements. We want to
10 remind the members that the Senate picture
11 will be taken on Monday, March 6, promptly at
12 3:00 o'clock.
13 And also we'd like to announce that
14 after session that we will have a father from
15 the Cathedral Church who will be giving ashes
16 in the east lobby, east lobby of the Assembly.
17 That's after session, but that's actually at
18 1:30 today in the east lobby of the Assembly.
19 I'd like to recognize Senator
20 Sabini for a motion.
21 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Sabini.
22 SENATOR SABINI: Thank you, Madam
23 President.
24 I have a motion at the desk. I'd
25 like to have it called up at this time.
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1 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary
2 will read.
3 THE SECRETARY: By Senator
4 Sabini, Senate Resolution Number 2302,
5 amending Section 1 of Rule XI of the Senate
6 Rules.
7 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Sabini.
8 SENATOR SABINI: Thank you, Madam
9 President.
10 This is a motion to discharge a
11 resolution, something we haven't done.
12 Normally we discharge bills. But I think this
13 is perhaps more important to the framework of
14 what we do in this chamber than almost any
15 bill we could propose for discharge.
16 This resolution amends Senate
17 Rule XI to delete language that was added in
18 January of 2005. We heard a lot of talk in
19 2004 -- as my leader, Senator Paterson, often
20 says, there were more press conferences in
21 October of 2004 on reform than in the twenty
22 years before. And we came here in January,
23 and we passed a few measures that changed or
24 tinkered with the Senate rules and gave the
25 appearance of change.
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1 One thing that was done here, which
2 I believe will make sure that there will never
3 be real change here, is to put the rules of
4 the Senate into the Rules Committee and not be
5 allowed to be discussed on the floor. The
6 intent of that was clear. The intent of it
7 was to avoid any discussion in the future on
8 reform in this house.
9 Now, despite making some mild
10 progress on reform, the State Legislature
11 continues to be called dysfunctional by people
12 that look at it and many of us who are in it.
13 Giving the Senate Rules Committee more
14 authority is a step backward. In short,
15 making the Rules Committee stronger fails the
16 test of reform.
17 Debates over Senate rules, if we
18 ever have a debate again on Senate rules, will
19 be consigned to Room 332 of the Capitol, the
20 Majority Leader's office, outside the view of
21 the public who might be watching now on the
22 Internet or on television.
23 Earlier this year, Citizens Union,
24 Common Cause/New York, the League of Women
25 Voters, NYPIRG, and the Brennan Center for
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1 Justice at NYU Law School issued a document
2 entitled "2005 Midterm Report Card on Reform
3 for New York State Government." And they
4 stated the problem pretty succinctly: "Most
5 disturbing about the Senate approach to rules
6 reform in 2005 was the cynical decision to
7 require all future rules changes to be
8 considered and approved by the Rules Committee
9 of the Senate rather than raised and approved
10 in the full chamber at the beginning of
11 session. That reform" -- air quote --
12 "effectively killed any rules reform in the
13 Senate for the future."
14 The Senate received an F grade on
15 reform in that report.
16 This proposal brings back Senate
17 rules onto the Senate floor and empowers all
18 of us -- those on the Rules Committee, as I
19 am, and those not -- to talk about reform, act
20 on reform, and takes it out of the centralized
21 situation that that so-called reform, which
22 was a step backwards, did.
23 And I urge all my colleagues to
24 vote yes to discharge this resolution.
25 Thank you.
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1 THE PRESIDENT: All those
2 Senators in favor of the petition out of
3 committee please signify by raising your
4 hands.
5 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in
6 agreement are Senators Coppola, Connor, Diaz,
7 Dilan, Duane, Gonzalez, Klein, L. Krueger,
8 Montgomery, Onorato, Parker, Paterson, Sabini,
9 Sampson, Savino, Serrano, A. Smith, Stavisky
10 and Valesky.
11 THE PRESIDENT: The petition is
12 not agreed to.
13 Senator Spano.
14 SENATOR SPANO: Madam President,
15 there being no further business, I would ask
16 that we adjourn until Monday, March 6th,
17 3:00 p.m., intervening days to be legislative
18 days.
19 THE PRESIDENT: On motion, the
20 Senate stands adjourned until Monday,
21 March 6th, 3:00 p.m., intervening days being
22 legislative days.
23 (Whereupon, at 12:58 p.m., the
24 Senate adjourned.)
25
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