Regular Session - January 16, 2007
81
1 NEW YORK STATE SENATE
2
3
4 THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD
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6
7
8
9 ALBANY, NEW YORK
10 January 16, 2007
11 3:57 p.m.
12
13
14 REGULAR SESSION
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16
17
18 LT. GOVERNOR DAVID A. PATERSON, President
19 STEVEN M. BOGGESS, Secretary
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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 would ask all assembled to please
5 stand and recite with me the Pledge of
6 Allegiance to our flag.
7 (Whereupon, the assemblage recited
8 the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.)
9 THE PRESIDENT: We are very
10 please today to be joined by Father Peter G.
11 Young, of Mother Theresa's of Albany.
12 REVEREND YOUNG: Let us pray.
13 Dear God, in this chamber we are
14 proud to honor a courageous Wesley Autrey for
15 his outstanding example to help others and one
16 in need.
17 As we gather following in that
18 tradition on this national day in order to
19 honor this man, Martin Luther King, we call on
20 our New York State constituents and citizens
21 to recall his contributions and greatness to
22 positive changes for all people.
23 Having personally marched with
24 Dr. King, we feel the esteem of the dream of
25 climbing the mountain of liberty and justice,
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1 as symbolized in the stained glass above this
2 podium.
3 May our Senators be blessed to
4 overcome injustices by following the example
5 of Martin, with their dedication to fairness
6 and opportunity in all of their legislative
7 activities. We call upon You, O God, to
8 provide them with the strength and the courage
9 to be Your instruments of love and peace to
10 all people.
11 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Father
12 Young, who has delivered prayer before this
13 chamber for 48 years. Thank you.
14 Reading of the Journal.
15 THE SECRETARY: In Senate,
16 Monday, January 15, the Senate met pursuant to
17 adjournment. The Journal of Sunday,
18 January 14, 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 The chair recognizes Senator
7 Skelos.
8 SENATOR SKELOS: Yes,
9 Mr. President. If we could take up Resolution
10 Number 35, by Senator Parker, and have the
11 title read.
12 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary
13 will read.
14 THE SECRETARY: By Senator
15 Parker, Legislative Resolution Number 35,
16 honoring Wesley Autrey, of Harlem, New York,
17 upon his heroic actions in saving the life of
18 a fallen citizen.
19 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Parker
20 wishes to be heard. The chair recognizes
21 Senator Parker.
22 SENATOR PARKER: Thank you,
23 Mr. President.
24 As all of us know by now, on
25 January 2nd of this year something really
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1 miraculous happened in the City of New York
2 which -- I mean, you know I'm almost
3 speechless to be even in the presence of
4 someone that we are calling our subway
5 superhero.
6 Mr. Wesley Autrey, who is here with
7 us today, put his own life in imminent danger
8 to save the life of a stranger, of a young man
9 who had had a seizure on the platform of the
10 137th Street station at Broadway -- taking not
11 just his life in his own hands but also his
12 two daughters, who looked on as this drama
13 unfolded.
14 And today I'm asking you all to
15 join with me in just honoring this act of
16 courageousness, this bravery.
17 And during the King celebration we
18 should also make sure that we also recognize
19 his humanity, that when we start talking about
20 the unconditional love that Dr. King preached
21 about, that this is surely an example of that
22 kind of love.
23 And we can only hope that we find a
24 piece of what Wesley Autrey found in himself
25 that day, just a piece of that in all of us as
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1 we go forward. And we hope that his act that
2 day becomes viral and becomes contagious
3 amongst all citizenry, not just in New York
4 State but both this country and the world.
5 So, Mr. Autrey, we want to honor
6 you. Thank you very much for your bravery,
7 your heroism, and really just thank you for
8 being an exemplar of what human life can be
9 every single day.
10 THE PRESIDENT: Senator
11 Hassell-Thompson.
12 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Thank
13 you, Mr. President.
14 I too echo the sentiments of my
15 colleague and wish to let Mr. Autrey know that
16 it makes us proud as Senators to represent
17 someone from the state of New York that would
18 take an opportunity to show kindness,
19 compassion, and concern, and in the split
20 moment use good sense in procuring the safety
21 of himself and this young man.
22 It is with great pride that I will
23 be a signator on this resolution declaring you
24 as a true hero in the best sense of the word.
25 We thank you.
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1 THE PRESIDENT: The chair
2 recognizes Senator Perkins.
3 SENATOR PERKINS: Thank you very
4 much, Mr. President, for this opportunity to
5 make my first speech in such a momentous
6 occasion.
7 And if I may brag a moment, that's
8 a constituent of mine. In fact, it's one of
9 Harlem's finest, obviously. So I don't really
10 want to say too much, except to thank my
11 colleague Kevin Parker for the leadership that
12 he has shown this bringing him to this body.
13 I want to thank him so much for
14 making all of us, not just in Harlem but
15 throughout our city, throughout our state,
16 proud. I think you represent an example of
17 what we all can be as legislators, as public
18 servants. And we look forward to keeping you
19 in mind as we move forward in trying to serve
20 the people of the State of New York.
21 I would like to at this time ask
22 that this resolution be opened up for
23 cosponsorship to the entire body.
24 Thank you very much, Mr. President.
25 THE PRESIDENT: We will wait to
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1 pass the resolution first, Senator Perkins.
2 Would anyone else like to be heard
3 on the resolution?
4 Senator Huntley.
5 SENATOR HUNTLEY: Yes. I would
6 like to take this time to tell this gentleman,
7 on such a time of Dr. Martin Luther King and
8 his birthday and the celebration, and for you
9 to come today.
10 And as we know, Dr. King always
11 talked about people helping people, people
12 believing in people and a better life for our
13 young people, our families. And you are an
14 example of all of that. And I would say to
15 you -- and also, I know your daughters live in
16 my district -- it is such an honor to have
17 people like you and your family amongst us
18 again.
19 Thank you so much.
20 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you,
21 Senator Huntley.
22 Senator Adams.
23 SENATOR ADAMS: This must be New
24 Senator Day, because I want to join and add my
25 voice.
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1 Clearly, I served as a police
2 officer in the transit system, so I'm well
3 aware of what a train can do. And I'm well
4 aware of how much it takes to jump on the
5 tracks in the first place and then to use the
6 initiative and courage to protect someone.
7 And I think that people often
8 romanticize Dr. King, but they fail to realize
9 that during that moment that there were
10 costars. And those costars were ordinary
11 people that were willing to do extraordinary
12 things. And you're a representative and a
13 reflection of the costars that move this great
14 country ahead.
15 And I think that the best we can do
16 is to make sure that your voice and your story
17 is heard not only across New York State but
18 across the country, because our children need
19 to know that all we need to do is do ordinary
20 thing in extraordinary ways and we will
21 continue to be like you were.
22 And thank you very much for your
23 show of support and your show of strength and
24 courage.
25 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you,
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1 Senator Adams.
2 Are there any other new or old
3 Senators that would like to be heard on this
4 motion?
5 Senator Maltese.
6 SENATOR MALTESE: Mr. President,
7 as a resident of the city, I wish to join my
8 colleagues in extolling the virtues of this
9 heroic man.
10 As someone who has traveled the
11 subway and am familiar with the perils of the
12 subway, to think of the heroism of instantly
13 leaping onto the tracks to save a person that
14 he didn't know is such an act of heroism that
15 it has truly been extolled by all the
16 residents of not only the city but, as has
17 been said by my colleague, by the state and
18 the nation.
19 At a time when some of us may need
20 a reminder of heroism and someone who puts his
21 self aside for the welfare of others, this is
22 a shining example. I join my colleagues in
23 this resolution that commends a hero, Wesley
24 Autrey. And I wish to join in this resolution
25 as an example to his fellow New Yorkers and
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1 his fellow Americans of a true American hero.
2 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you for
3 those kind words, Senator Maltese.
4 Senator DeFrancisco.
5 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I don't
6 know whether I qualify as a new or old
7 Senator, but we don't have any subways in
8 Syracuse.
9 But when I heard of this act of
10 heroism, I truly couldn't believe it. I truly
11 couldn't believe it. In this day and age of
12 skeptics and people who are cynical about
13 everything and talking about situations where
14 we don't do good things for our fellow man, to
15 see something like this happening in our state
16 is truly uplifting.
17 It's truly an honor to have you a
18 citizen of the State of New York. And I can't
19 say anything more than that, because it's
20 beyond words what you did. And hopefully you
21 will be an example for many, many more people
22 to put others ahead of themselves, not only in
23 situations like you were faced with, but also
24 in situations whether it's government or
25 otherwise.
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1 And you are truly a hero and truly
2 an unbelievable human being.
3 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Diaz.
4 SENATOR DIAZ: Thank you,
5 Mr. President.
6 I also rise up to join my
7 colleagues in congratulating our hero. And
8 how good we feel to see that someone from the
9 City of New York has become such a model for
10 everyone else.
11 And by doing this and by we talking
12 about him, I also want to remind everyone that
13 don't forget that a miracle, a miracle happens
14 here. And that shows our city and our state
15 that there is God and that he's always
16 looking, watching, protecting us in those
17 moments when we most need him. He's always
18 there.
19 And there is a time here when I'm
20 seeing in you, my friend, a miracle. I'm
21 seeing in you the hand of God, the power of
22 God telling us I'm still -- I'm still -- I am
23 who I am, and I'm protecting you.
24 So congratulations on that heroic
25 achievement. But remember always, God is with
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1 you. God bless you, brother.
2 THE PRESIDENT: The chair
3 recognizes Senator Marcellino.
4 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you,
5 Mr. President.
6 Mr. Autrey, I hope you understand
7 what we do here to a large extent is we
8 produce laws which are designed to prevent
9 people from doing bad things, to try to help
10 people against others who would do them ill.
11 There's no way we could pass
12 legislation, even this resolution, that would
13 say thank you enough for the effort that you
14 did. I'm sure your family is glad you
15 survived, and I'm sure they told you don't
16 ever do it again. I know that's what my wife
17 would say. So in that case, listen to your
18 family.
19 But this one time I'm glad you did,
20 and I'm glad you did the right thing. God
21 bless you, sir.
22 THE PRESIDENT: Senator
23 Stewart-Cousins.
24 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: Thank
25 you, Mr. President.
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1 Mr. Autrey, I just wanted to tell
2 you that your influence continues, because
3 frankly I was not going to stand up. But
4 because you stood up, I stood up, and so many
5 of the new members stood.
6 And I frankly can't think of
7 anything more auspicious to do as I start this
8 session than to commend someone like you. It
9 has raised the level completely. And I'm
10 certainly honored that the first thing I say
11 is to thank you for being exactly who you are.
12 Thank you.
13 THE PRESIDENT: The question is
14 on the resolution. All in favor please
15 indicate by saying aye.
16 (Response of "Aye.")
17 THE PRESIDENT: Opposed, nay.
18 (No response.)
19 THE PRESIDENT: The resolution
20 carries.
21 Senator Marcellino.
22 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Yes,
23 Mr. President. If we could follow the normal
24 custom of the house, I believe which was
25 requested earlier by one of my colleagues,
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1 that we open the resolution up to all members
2 to sign on, unless otherwise indicated to the
3 chair.
4 THE PRESIDENT: The resolution
5 will be declared unanimous. Anyone wishing
6 not to be on the resolution may indicate at
7 the desk.
8 Wesley Autrey of Manhattan,
9 New York, on behalf of the members of the
10 Senate and our great leader, Senator Bruno, we
11 want to thank you for this heroic and
12 courageous act which has inspired people all
13 around the world.
14 The most notable and profound of
15 the commentary that I heard from people who
16 have borne witness to your act was when you
17 appeared on the David Letterman Show. And
18 when asked, you said you did what anyone would
19 have done. And David Letterman immediately
20 said he would not have jumped from the subway
21 tracks to save anybody.
22 (Laughter.)
23 THE PRESIDENT: But the fact is
24 that in the spirit of oneness where we're all
25 part of the same, and in that concept that we
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1 love thy neighbor as we would love ourselves,
2 which is embodied by all the religions of the
3 world, we here in the Senate have not greeted
4 anyone more deserving than your heroic act.
5 And we thank you for joining us here today.
6 (Standing ovation.)
7 THE PRESIDENT: The chair
8 recognizes Senator Marcellino.
9 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr.
10 President, there is another resolution,
11 Number 125, by Senator Smith. Will you have
12 it read in its entirety.
13 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary
14 will read.
15 THE SECRETARY: By Senator Smith,
16 Legislation Resolution Number 125,
17 commemorating the 78th birthday of the
18 Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and
19 paying tribute to his life and
20 accomplishments.
21 "WHEREAS, From time to time we take
22 note of certain individuals whom we wish to
23 recognize for their valued contributions and
24 to publicly acknowledge their endeavors which
25 have enhanced the basic humanity among us all;
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1 and
2 "WHEREAS, Attendant to such
3 concern, and in full accord with its
4 long-standing traditions, it is the intent of
5 this Legislative Body to commemorate the 78th
6 birthday of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther
7 King, Jr., and pay tribute to his life and
8 accomplishments; and
9 "WHEREAS, His birthday was
10 proclaimed a national holiday in 1986. Had he
11 lived, Martin Luther King, Jr., would be
12 78 years old; and
13 "WHEREAS, Martin Luther King, Jr.,
14 was born January 15, 1929. At birth, his
15 first name was Michael, but was later changed
16 to Martin. He graduated from high school at
17 the age of 15, and in 1948, he earned a
18 Bachelor of Arts degree from Morehouse
19 College; and
20 "WHEREAS, After three years of
21 theological study at Crozer Theological
22 Seminary in Pennsylvania, where he was elected
23 president of a predominantly white senior
24 class, he was awarded a Bachelor of Divinity
25 degree in 1951. With a fellowship from
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1 Crozer, he enrolled in graduate studies at
2 Boston University, completing his residency
3 for his doctorate in 1953 and receiving the
4 degree in 1955; and
5 "WHEREAS, While in Boston, Martin
6 Luther King, Jr., met and married Coretta
7 Scott, a young woman of uncommon intellectual
8 and artistic attainments. Two sons and two
9 daughters were born into the family; and
10 "WHEREAS, in 1954, Martin Luther
11 King, Jr., accepted the pastorate of the
12 Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery,
13 Alabama. Always a strong worker for civil
14 rights for members of his race, he was at this
15 time a member of the executive committee of
16 the NAACP; and
17 "WHEREAS, In early December 1955,
18 Martin Luther King, Jr., was ready to accept
19 the leadership of the first great Negro
20 nonviolent demonstration of contemporary times
21 in the United States, the bus boycott
22 described by Gunnar Jahn in his presentation
23 speech in honor of the laureate; and
24 "WHEREAS, The bus boycott lasted
25 382 days. On December 21, 1956, after the
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1 Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the
2 laws requiring segregation on buses in the
3 South, Negroes and whites rode buses as
4 equals; and
5 "WHEREAS, In 1957, Martin Luther
6 King, Jr., was elected president of the
7 Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an
8 organization formed to provide new leadership
9 for the burgeoning civil rights movement. The
10 ideals of this group were taken from
11 Christianity, and its operational techniques
12 from Gandhi; and
13 "WHEREAS, In the 11-year period
14 between 1957 and 1968, Martin Luther King,
15 Jr., traveled over 6 million miles and spoke
16 over 2500 times, appearing wherever there was
17 injustice, protest and action; and
18 "WHEREAS, In 1964, at age 35,
19 Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man
20 to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. He was also
21 the recipient of more than 300 awards for his
22 invaluable contribution to the improvement of
23 race relations in America, and before his
24 death, he wrote five books and numerous
25 articles; and
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1 "WHEREAS, During his life, Dr. King
2 endeavored to inspire within all of us a
3 different and better way of thinking, premised
4 on a renewed sense of faith, strength, and
5 commitment: The faith to believe what our
6 forefathers proclaimed, that all men and women
7 are created equal; the strength to look beyond
8 prejudices of skin color so as to see the
9 content of one's character; and the collective
10 commitment to grow our country from an infancy
11 rife with mistakes and oppression into an
12 enlightened adulthood of mutual respect and
13 understanding; and
14 "WHEREAS, Upon the occasion of the
15 observance of the 78th birthday of Dr. Martin
16 Luther King, Jr., it is the intent of this
17 Legislative Body to commemorate the heroic
18 actions of Dr. King, who loved and served
19 humanity, and who was an advocate for peace,
20 justice and righteousness; now, therefore, be
21 it
22 "RESOLVED, That this Legislative
23 Body pause in its deliberations to commemorate
24 the 78th birthday of the Reverend Doctor
25 Martin Luther King, Jr., and pay tribute to
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1 his life and be accomplishments; and be it
2 further
3 "RESOLVED, That a copy of this
4 resolution, suitably engrossed, be transmitted
5 to the New York State Black, Puerto Rican and
6 Hispanic Legislative Caucus."
7 THE PRESIDENT: On the
8 resolution, Senator Smith.
9 SENATOR SMITH: Thank you very
10 much, Mr. President.
11 Yesterday would have been Martin
12 Luther King's 78th birthday. What he stood
13 for, which we all know today, was not only for
14 justice and civil rights but also for
15 fairness.
16 In addition to that, he also stood
17 for something that we strive for every day in
18 our life, and that is continued improvement.
19 You know, the Japanese have a phrase called
20 "kaizen." It was actually birthed by a
21 gentleman by the name of W.E. Deming, who was
22 the father of a theory and discipline called
23 "continuous improvement."
24 What we are doing each and every
25 day of our lives, what we are doing, in the
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1 spirit of Martin Luther King, is continually
2 trying to improve our lives. Just 45 minutes
3 ago, Mr. President -- and you were there
4 also -- we had a press conference with our
5 Governor, the Majority Leader, the Speaker of
6 the Assembly, and we have reached what many
7 have thought would not happen, an agreement on
8 a budget reform process.
9 Here we are on the sunset of Martin
10 Luther King's birthday, which was yesterday,
11 and we have the good news that we can bring to
12 the people of this state, which essentially
13 says to them we got their message. The
14 message was we want to make sure the
15 government of this state works for everyone.
16 We want to make sure the government of this
17 state is responsive. And, equally, we want to
18 make sure that there are reforms that are put
19 in place.
20 I think Martin would have been
21 happy this day after his birthday had he been
22 here. One day after his 78th birthday, he'd
23 have been able to stand and say, Well, at
24 least in the north United States, a place
25 called New York State, they have recognized
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1 the importance of doing what the people ask.
2 We have reached an agreement on a budget
3 process.
4 In addition, he would also ask, if
5 he was here this day, that we take it a step
6 further and that we do again what the people
7 of this state have asked for, and that is to
8 have a government that is by the people, for
9 the people.
10 And also that would mean we would
11 have certain rules that govern this body that
12 allow for each and every member to have not
13 only a vote but to make sure that that
14 particular vote is not only cast but is also
15 understood, recognized, and that the people of
16 this state know exactly where people stand.
17 So I think as we celebrate his
18 birthday today, 39 years of when he died, 39
19 to this date, to yesterday -- he would be 78
20 years yesterday -- I think we need to reflect
21 not only on what Martin wanted for each and
22 every one of us, but we should also reflect on
23 what it is we want for our families.
24 Each and every one of us have
25 someone in our family, somebody in our life
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1 that we can look at and say, You know, I
2 believe that all that Martin stood for is what
3 I want for you. I want my son or daughter to
4 be treated equal. I want the members of this
5 Senate body to be treated equal.
6 I don't want to just stand here and
7 say that hopefully one day black children,
8 white children will be able to sing that old
9 Negro spiritual and say "free at last, free at
10 last." What I'd rather say is that one day
11 we'll be able to stand on the floor of this
12 Senate and that Democrats and Republicans can
13 all stand up and be able to say not only that
14 we are free at last, but our votes are cast
15 and are recognized by everybody.
16 That's the day that we strive for.
17 That's the day that we look for. I think this
18 is a great day that we celebrate Martin Luther
19 King's birthday. But I also think it is also
20 a great time for us to be good to one another.
21 It's also a great time for us to be
22 able to say to one another, when we leave
23 these chambers today, that he did not die in
24 vain 39 years ago and that we are going to
25 be -- not only to receive the challenge, but
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1 we're going to be brave in what we do and do
2 some of the things that we think are difficult
3 for us to do, as we know change is difficult.
4 But we also know sometimes change has to be
5 done in order to make the wrongs right.
6 With that, Mr. President, I thank
7 you for allowing us to bring this resolution
8 before us today. I must tell you that, in the
9 spirit of friendship, you are my Martin Luther
10 King. It's a pleasure to have you standing
11 before us presiding.
12 Thank you.
13 THE PRESIDENT: Are there any
14 other members that wish to speak on the
15 resolution?
16 Senator Larkin.
17 SENATOR LARKIN: Thank you,
18 Mr. President.
19 You know, Dr. Martin Luther King
20 was a name that I only knew by the media until
21 February 1965. In February 1965, as you and I
22 personally discussed, there was a meeting in
23 the Pentagon. And it was said that there
24 would be a march from Selma to Montgomery.
25 And the problem was that Governor Wallace was
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1 stubborn and had to be addressed.
2 On the 7th of March, there was an
3 encounter on the bridge, with the bullhorns
4 and the fire hoses, by a police chief by the
5 name of Connor. And it was dismissed.
6 Another trial had happened, and at
7 that time the president and the Attorney
8 General, Ramsey Clark, and President Johnson
9 ordered that a joint venture by the armed
10 forces go to Selma, first to try to solve the
11 problem with the governor.
12 There was a young Army colonel,
13 better looking than he is today, who was
14 assigned that mission. When I went out and
15 talked to a full colonel by the name of
16 O'Brien, he said, "We're not taking it.
17 Mr. Wallace's answer to me was if the
18 president wants to activate the Alabama guard,
19 let him do it. We will not do it."
20 We went back to the Pentagon, and
21 we did organize. We had the First Signal
22 Group from Fort Lewis, Washington; the 11th
23 Air Assault from Fort Benning; the 82nd from
24 Bragg; the 720th from Fort Hood; and other
25 units from Fort Riley. And we put together
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1 the march from Selma to Montgomery, an
2 integration of civil rights units, of which I
3 don't know how many in this chamber know it,
4 but the Lieutenant Governor's father, Basil,
5 was one of the front-line marchers with
6 Dr. King on that Sunday that we marched.
7 You know, if you look back at it,
8 the memories it serves for me were most
9 interesting. First of all, we had this
10 bastion of people trying to let other people
11 know there's something wrong with our society
12 and we ought to start to look at how we can
13 integrate without being ashamed of ourself. I
14 know people who said, "Well, I'd like to do
15 it, but." Well, you really didn't want to do
16 it, but the "but" was a big asinine word as
17 far as I was concerned.
18 And we marched. I don't know how
19 many people here remember that there were
20 three threats on Martin Luther King's life
21 during that march. At the last end of the
22 march, we flew back to Andrews Air Force Base,
23 and on the plane with us was the attorney
24 general, and a bunch of others. And we were
25 getting ready to get off, and they said
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1 there's been a killing. A lady by the name of
2 Viola Liuzzo, who was a part of the UAW out of
3 Detroit, who was down there representing her
4 unit, was shot and killed that day.
5 If I ever saw a group of people
6 trying to work out the little crunches, it was
7 very successful. Between the military -- many
8 of us had civilian clothes on for that week.
9 But there was something about it. Every day
10 when you marched, we had trains so that we
11 could get the supplies up. And we had
12 engineers checking all the rail lines to find
13 out if they'd been dynamited or something.
14 There was a threat one night that
15 Dr. King's trailer was going to be blown up,
16 and he had to be relocated.
17 You know, if you think about our
18 country and think about what happened in 1865,
19 you start to wonder about how low we stooped
20 to attempt to kill our fellow Americans. And
21 I don't have to take a back seat to anybody,
22 because I also commanded an all-black
23 company -- that's what they were known -- from
24 '49 to '51. Had a great, great unit.
25 And I stand here today to say, my
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1 first encounter with Dr. King was he looked at
2 myself and Colonel Kingman and he said, "I
3 pray for you and I thank you both for what
4 you're doing. Please, please, do not let any
5 violence take place." And that was the last
6 time I said anything to him for the rest of
7 the march.
8 But it was just common sense that
9 if we could do that on one day, after all the
10 thrashing that went on, I think that this
11 world could use a little more of Dr. Martin
12 Luther King's theory -- not in principle, but
13 in practice.
14 Thank you.
15 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you,
16 Colonel Larkin.
17 Senator Maltese.
18 SENATOR MALTESE: Mr. President,
19 I rise to join the resolution, join the
20 support of the resolution.
21 Dr. Martin Luther King was truly an
22 inspiration. His example of selfless
23 sacrifice and dedication to the cause of peace
24 inspires hundreds of thousands and millions
25 across the country.
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1 I have, as many know, the honor of
2 being chairman of the board of Christ the King
3 Regional High School, and one of our seniors,
4 an honor student, had the honor of being
5 chosen as one of five recipients in the entire
6 state of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
7 Humanitarian Award.
8 The young lady inspired by
9 Dr. Martin Luther King was so active in a
10 variety of causes, raising money for
11 starvation in Darfur, raising money again
12 against the scourge of leprosy for the Damian
13 Society, working on behalf of other groups,
14 the victims of floods and famines. In a
15 person so young, it's remarkable that she
16 would rise to such heights.
17 We honored earlier today a heroic
18 man. That could truly be said to be in the
19 spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, who
20 constantly, at threat of his own life and
21 ultimately at the cost of his life, stood for
22 peace and humanity.
23 It's my honor today, in that same
24 spirit and dedication, to introduce to this
25 body the young lady who is the recipient of
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1 the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Humanitarian
2 Award given by the State of New York
3 yesterday, and she is present here. Her name
4 is Joanna Kurylo, and she is accompanied by
5 her mother and father, Anatola Kurylo and
6 Gonafra Kurylo. And I'd like to introduce
7 them at this time.
8 They are immigrants from Poland and
9 truly exemplify what Martin Luther King stood
10 for, without regard to race or religion,
11 standing forth in the true spirit of
12 dedication and humanity.
13 Thank you, Mr. President.
14 (Applause.)
15 THE PRESIDENT: The chair
16 recognizes Senator Adams.
17 SENATOR ADAMS: Mr. President, I
18 too stand in support of the resolution.
19 A story that's not often told, when
20 Dr. King was a child, he witnessed his older
21 brother slide down the bannister and bump into
22 his grandmother, knocked her to the ground.
23 Dr. King, seeing this, thought his grandmother
24 died. He ran up to the second floor of his
25 home and jumped out the window in an attempt
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1 to kill himself.
2 What would have happened if we
3 would have lost Dr. King? How would our lives
4 have been different? How far would our
5 maturity of getting along with each other have
6 changed?
7 I raise that question because I
8 ask, how many Dr. Kings have we lost through
9 senseless gun violence? How many Dr. Kings
10 will never become who and what they ought to
11 be because we have not yet as a state taken
12 control of the overproliferation of guns on
13 our city streets? How many secrets of cancer
14 and AIDS and other important discoveries in a
15 scientific capacity will never be found
16 because of the thousands of children each year
17 who die because of illegal handguns?
18 The question must be what are we
19 going to do as a Senate body, not only to
20 protect those potential Dr. Kings of tomorrow,
21 but to protect the countless number of
22 uniformed officers in the police agencies
23 throughout this state, to ensure once and for
24 all we rein in the senseless overproliferation
25 of guns on our streets, and demand that those
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1 who sell guns to safeguard and protect our
2 constituents and citizens.
3 It's one thing to say we praise and
4 champion Dr. King, but it's another thing to
5 say we're turning his dream into a nightmare
6 when illegal guns are on our streets.
7 Thank you, Mr. President.
8 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Diaz.
9 SENATOR DIAZ: Thank you,
10 Mr. President.
11 I also rise to join in the
12 resolution and also to say that even though I
13 never met Dr. Martin Luther King, never even
14 encountered him in any demonstration -- I
15 didn't march with him, I did not participate
16 in any of those historic marches like many of
17 you did, and like many other people.
18 However, the only thing that I know
19 is that I was 18 years old in 1960 in Puerto
20 Rico. I was born in Puerto Rico and I grew up
21 in Puerto Rico. And that was the Vietnam era.
22 And I decided to join the great American Army
23 to fight for my country and to go and even put
24 my life in jeopardy, because I believe in the
25 American dream. Even though I didn't know --
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1 I mean, I never knew Martin Luther King.
2 I was sent from Puerto Rico, a
3 young guy 18 years old, to Columbia, South
4 Carolina, to Fort Jackson for my basic
5 training. And when I got there, 18 years old,
6 proud to be member of the American armed
7 forces, I learned over there the abuses, the
8 discrimination and the things that I even went
9 through that I don't wish any other human
10 being to go through. They called me "spic."
11 They even, when I went to a bar to
12 get -- on my first pass, I sat down in a bar
13 and they told me, "Whatever you're looking
14 for, we haven't got it." Even though they
15 served all my other friends from Puerto Rico
16 who were white.
17 And I had to leave that
18 establishment. And when I went outside, they
19 chased me, running after me. I'm not wearing
20 my uniform. And I was running from the town
21 to Fort Jackson. In the entrance of Fort
22 Jackson, thanks to the MPs there, they
23 stopped.
24 So even though I never knew Martin
25 Luther King, and people are celebrating his
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1 day and all what he did, I'm very glad, I'm
2 very honored that he went to these marches and
3 that he took away our burden and that a young
4 guy like me from Puerto Rico could join the
5 Army, a young black guy from Puerto Rico could
6 join the Army now and go to Fort Jackson, sit
7 down with anybody else, eat in any other place
8 and participate in any other activity that
9 anybody else could participate.
10 So you don't have to be an American
11 living in America or an African-American to
12 understand about Martin Luther King. I am
13 black, I'm Puerto Rican, I'm from Puerto Rico.
14 I could tell you that Martin Luther King did a
15 lot of things for us Puerto Ricans too. And I
16 join all of you, my friends, and I tip my hat
17 before Martin Luther King, Reverend Wyatt Tee
18 Walker, Reverend Jesse Jackson.
19 And I also would like to say to
20 those friends at the New York Post, leave
21 Reverend Al Sharpton alone.
22 Thank you very much, Mr. President.
23 (Laughter.)
24 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Perkins.
25 SENATOR PERKINS: Thank you very
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1 much, Mr. President.
2 I want to obviously join in on this
3 resolution and join in the remarks made by our
4 Minority Leader and sponsor, Malcolm Smith, in
5 terms of the role that this body can play in
6 the spirit of Dr. King.
7 I'm reminded of two campaigns that
8 Dr. King embarked upon before his unfortunate
9 assassination. The first, in 1967, he
10 declared his opposition to the war in Vietnam.
11 It's very significant because in that
12 declaration he was not simply concerned about
13 the death and destruction but also about the
14 fact that funds, public dollars that were
15 focused on a War on Poverty were redirected to
16 a war that he considered -- and I join him in
17 that consideration -- an unholy war in
18 Vietnam.
19 And the second campaign that I'm
20 reminded of is his campaign to end poverty in
21 this country, his campaign that he started and
22 unfortunately which he never was able to
23 fulfill because he was assassinated upon
24 announcing that campaign.
25 And it would seem to me that while
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1 this body may not be able to end the war, we
2 may have a role to play with regard to the
3 problems of poverty. We see it not just in
4 the Harlems of this state but where, for
5 instance, even in New York City children are
6 still being poisoned by lead, as was reported
7 in recent newspapers this week, the Daily News
8 in particular. Governmental intervention
9 leading to that, it would seem to me that
10 other manifestations of that kind of poverty,
11 this body I would hope, as a new member
12 inspired by the possibilities of this body,
13 would want to direct its legislative might and
14 other wherewithals, so that we can at least in
15 that respect fulfill the dream of Dr. King
16 that poverty, that public intervention is a
17 possibility, a very important possibility, a
18 moral imperative, if you will, to address the
19 pervasive poverty not just, again, in the
20 Harlems of this community but throughout this
21 state and throughout this country.
22 So I would hope that we can look at
23 Dr. King with that kind of recommitment.
24 Thank you.
25 THE PRESIDENT: The question is
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1 on the resolution. All in favor please
2 indicate by saying aye.
3 (Response of "Aye.")
4 THE PRESIDENT: Opposed, nay.
5 (No response.)
6 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Duane.
7 SENATOR DUANE: Thank you,
8 Mr. President.
9 Senator Smith would like this
10 resolution to be opened for cosponsorship to
11 the entire Senate body. Thank you,
12 Mr. President.
13 THE PRESIDENT: Senator
14 Marcellino.
15 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Yes,
16 Mr. President. I'm glad that was proposed.
17 And if we could follow the normal procedure.
18 THE PRESIDENT: All those not
19 wishing to be om the resolution may indicate
20 so at the desk.
21 The resolution is adopted in the
22 spirit that when we honor Dr. Martin Luther
23 King we are also honoring, over the last 200
24 years, those Americans, black and white,
25 living and dead, who struggled unremittingly
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1 and courageously to bring to this country the
2 true meaning to the end of our pledge of
3 allegiance, there would be equality and
4 justice for all.
5 And not the least among those
6 Americans who fought for that is our colleague
7 Senator Bill Larkin.
8 Senator Marcellino.
9 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr.
10 President, we have another resolution, a
11 privileged concurrent resolution, Number 115,
12 by Senator Bruno. Could we have the title
13 read, please.
14 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary
15 will read.
16 THE SECRETARY: By Senator Bruno,
17 Concurrent Resolution of the Senate and
18 Assembly Number 115, authorizing the Senate
19 and Assembly of New York State to purchase
20 copies of the New York Red Book for 2007-2008.
21 THE PRESIDENT: On the
22 resolution, the Secretary will call the roll.
23 (The Secretary called the roll.)
24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 56.
25 THE PRESIDENT: The resolution is
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1 adopted.
2 Senator Marcellino.
3 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr.
4 President, I believe we have another
5 resolution, Number 128, by Senator Smith.
6 Could we have the title read, please, at this
7 time.
8 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary
9 will read.
10 THE SECRETARY: By Senator Smith,
11 Senate Resolution Number 128, to adopt the
12 rules of the Senate for the years 2007-2008.
13 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Duane.
14 SENATOR DUANE: Thank you,
15 Mr. President.
16 I do believe we have at the desk a
17 resolution which the Senate Democratic
18 conference has put together which is a
19 proposal for the Senate rules. And I believe,
20 Mr. President, very, very strongly that this
21 entire body should find them fair, open and
22 honest.
23 It's time to let the sunshine in
24 this chamber, Mr. President. And I think we
25 can all agree that we have really, frankly,
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1 been embarrassed enough. And that
2 embarrassment is quite public, and it's based
3 on the stagnation and the dysfunction that we
4 have seen here in Albany.
5 Now, at the same time, we do pride
6 ourselves here in the Senate of being able to
7 make real change for the people of the State
8 of New York, and we are now being provided
9 with an opportunity to make for real and
10 substantive change in our Senate chamber.
11 You know, we are only as strong as
12 our rules in this body. And who could
13 disagree that having strong, fair, honest,
14 open rules would in any way weaken anyone in
15 this house? In fact, I think the claim could
16 be appropriately made that strong, fair,
17 honest, and open rules make all of us
18 stronger.
19 So on the desk is our rules
20 resolution. We will hear from several members
21 of our conference on these rules and why we
22 need these rules. And so with that,
23 Mr. President, let's begin the discussion on
24 our resolution on improving the rules of the
25 New York State Senate.
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1 THE PRESIDENT: On the
2 resolution. The chair recognizes Senator
3 Parker.
4 SENATOR PARKER: Thank you,
5 Mr. President. I rise today as we engage in
6 this conversation about rules, this idea of
7 reform. In this last election we saw that the
8 voters of the State of New York overwhelmingly
9 asked, Mr. President, for there to be
10 significant reform in the way that we do
11 business.
12 A number of years ago, we got
13 pegged with being the most dysfunctional
14 legislature in the country. And in some ways
15 that was very true in part because of the
16 rules that we have here, and specifically
17 around the issue of equal resources for
18 Senators.
19 Right now, there are very unequal
20 resources for Senators in this chamber based
21 on party affiliation. And that shouldn't be
22 the case. Members of this body all represent
23 roughly, you know, 310,000 people. In fact,
24 according to the number that I've seen, most
25 of the Democratic Senators represent roughly
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1 10 percent more than the average Republican
2 Senator in this body, yet we receive
3 substantially less in terms of resources.
4 I don't think that the members of
5 my district or any other districts should
6 receive less simply because the representative
7 that they happen to elect comes from a
8 particular party. And in fact, we should have
9 the same ability to communicate with our
10 constituents, we should have the same ability
11 to serve them and advocate on their behalf.
12 And we're asking in this particular
13 proposal to make sure that that in fact
14 happens in a way that allows us to be able to
15 just do the work of government. And certainly
16 part of the work of government in a democracy
17 is to be able to communicate effectively with
18 your constituents. And under the current
19 rules, many members of this body are
20 prohibited from doing that.
21 And so I ask my colleagues, and all
22 those who think that democracy is important,
23 to vote for this reform in our rules.
24 Thank you.
25 THE PRESIDENT: The chair
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1 recognizes Senator Valesky.
2 SENATOR VALESKY: Thank you,
3 Mr. President.
4 This resolution that is before us
5 today, Senate Resolution 128, is, make no
6 mistake about it, real reform -- real
7 legislative reform that, if adopted, would
8 move this Senate on the course to an open,
9 accountable, responsible legislative body.
10 So this is an important debate that
11 we have today. Unfortunately, this will be a
12 rare debate that we have today. Because as a
13 result of a rule that was adopted two years
14 ago, any future proposed rules changes can
15 only come through the Rules Committee and not
16 to the floor of the Senate. So my
17 understanding is that this will be the only
18 opportunity we have for this two-year session
19 to discuss real legislative reform on the
20 floor of the State Senate.
21 I want to share with you,
22 Mr. President and all of my colleagues, a
23 situation has occurred shortly after taking
24 office two years ago when I, as many new
25 members I'm sure do have orientation sessions
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1 and learn about the practices of how the
2 New York State Senate works.
3 We went through the various forms
4 of debating a bill and how the committee
5 process works and so on and so forth. And
6 then we talked about the issue of legislation
7 that perhaps may be supported by an
8 overwhelming number of Senators, Republicans
9 and Democrats, that for whatever reason does
10 not come out of committee. And we talked
11 about a process of moving a bill to the floor
12 of the Senate and recording that vote.
13 And much to my surprise, it was
14 explained to me that in 2001, in the adoption
15 of rules in that session, that those votes
16 were no longer recorded. That, instead, a
17 canvass of agreement was adopted whereby votes
18 were not recorded on those bills. In
19 addition, the number of opportunities to
20 motion to petition a bill out of committee was
21 significantly reduced.
22 And so, Mr. President, our
23 resolution today eliminates the canvass of
24 agreement. It eliminates the limits that we
25 currently place on motions of petition. And
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1 it basically says that when there are
2 legislative proposals that some member or
3 members of this body feel ought to be
4 addressed by the Senate, that we would have a
5 procedure under this rule to allow that bill
6 to come -- or allow that motion to come before
7 the house for a vote. And that the votes on
8 that motion be recorded.
9 Because in the final analysis,
10 Mr. President, don't the constituents that we
11 represent deserve to know how we feel on a
12 particular issue? One of the most democratic
13 of all things that we do here, having an
14 ability to stand up for a particular issue and
15 say whether we support that issue or oppose
16 that issue or support maybe an alternative
17 proposal. Under our resolution, Senate
18 Resolution 128, we would have that kind of a
19 structure here in the Senate.
20 And I urge all my colleagues to
21 support this resolution for the purpose of
22 eliminating a canvass of agreement and opening
23 this Senate, and for a number of other items
24 that are contained in this as well, and move
25 this Senate along the path toward real reform,
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1 real openness, real accountability, real
2 transparency and real responsiveness on our
3 part on behalf of the citizens of the State of
4 New York whom we are elected to represent.
5 Thank you, Mr. President.
6 THE PRESIDENT: Senator
7 Schneiderman.
8 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you,
9 Mr. President.
10 I rise to speak in support of this
11 resolution and in particular to follow up on
12 something Senator Valesky just noted about the
13 power of the Rules Committee in this house.
14 And, ladies and gentlemen, I would
15 urge you that this really shouldn't be a
16 Democratic or a Republican issue. This is
17 certainly not an issue that relates to any
18 particular leader of this house.
19 But this is a sham Legislature.
20 This is a Legislature, until we reform the
21 rules, in which no member of this house, no
22 group of members, no matter how numerous, can
23 get a bill to the floor for a vote. It is
24 controlled by the Majority Leader through the
25 shadow committee, the Rules Committee.
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1 Here is the calendar of Senate
2 committee meetings, so the public can know
3 when we meet. Every committee is on there
4 except one, the Rules Committee. Because it
5 has no scheduled meetings, it has no identity
6 other than to be the shadowy arm of
7 authoritarianism by which the Majority Leader
8 has absolute control over what comes to the
9 floor for a vote.
10 Last year we attempted -- in the
11 last few years, since the passage of this rule
12 in 2005 that requires all proposed changes to
13 the Senate rules to go through the Rules
14 Committee -- my colleagues on this side of the
15 aisle sent a series of 11 resolutions to the
16 Rules Committee proposing changes in the
17 rules. Senator Krueger, Senator Oppenheimer,
18 Senator Valesky, Senator Breslin, Senator
19 Malcolm Smith, Senator Duane, Senator
20 Hassell-Thompson, Senator Klein, Senator
21 Sabini, Senator Stachowski and myself all
22 authored resolutions. Not one of us even
23 received a response from the Rules Committee
24 that supposedly is in charge of handling
25 amendments to the Senate rules.
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1 Why is that? It's because -- we
2 all know this, everyone knows this. Let's
3 not, you know, play games with the public --
4 the Rules Committee is a shadow government.
5 It's not a real committee. It's the arm of
6 the Majority Leader to control what comes to
7 the floor.
8 Ladies and gentlemen, let's get rid
9 of -- I see at this point Senator Johnson is
10 leaving our side of the aisle.
11 (Laughter.)
12 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Come back
13 and visit again.
14 Ladies and gentlemen, this is
15 not -- you know, this is really not a joke.
16 Our constituents know what's going on. They
17 know that this is the equivalent of the old
18 legislatures in the Eastern Bloc, where you
19 had a sham parliament that pretended to pass
20 legislation while everyone knew that the
21 Politburo was behind the scenes making
22 decisions.
23 Let's get rid of the Rules
24 Committee. Let's restore the power of the
25 substantive committees. Let's provide for
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1 ways for real, ordinary, rank-and-file
2 Senators to get bills to the floor for a vote.
3 And let's certainly dispense with this sham
4 that rules reform will go on in the Rules
5 Committee after the debate today.
6 So I urge everyone to support this
7 effort to make the Senate more open and
8 democratic and support Resolution 128.
9 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you,
10 Senator Schneiderman.
11 Senator Savino.
12 SENATOR SAVINO: Thank you,
13 Mr. President.
14 I stand in support of this
15 resolution. The people of this state want and
16 deserve a government that is open, that is
17 honest, that is responsive, that is
18 accountable, that is equitable, and that is
19 effective.
20 This resolution would alter the
21 2005-2006 Senate rules by allowing ranking
22 Minority members or any three committee
23 members to place a bill on the committee
24 agenda. It would allow the ranking Minority
25 member or any three committee members to hold
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1 public hearings. It would authorize any
2 Senator to join on any bill as a cosponsor.
3 It would require detailed committee reports on
4 each bill reported to the floor.
5 It would require more information
6 be made available to the public, through the
7 Internet; the active list, including committee
8 transcripts and votes, fiscal notes, and
9 Senate expenditure reports.
10 Currently, right now, I serve as
11 the ranking Minority member -- till today --
12 of the Labor Committee. I serve on six other
13 committees. And many times I have found
14 myself as one of a few members who attend
15 these committee meetings.
16 This is where we're supposed to
17 discuss and debate legislation. This is where
18 we're supposed to seek the advice, the
19 information, the expertise of our colleagues
20 as to what the legislation and public policy
21 we are putting forth is.
22 Our committees do not achieve that.
23 Bills that move through the committee at the
24 request of the chair are overseen by the
25 Majority Leader's legal staff. We have almost
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1 no input -- in fact, none of us have almost
2 any input on the bills that come through these
3 committees. We need to change that. This
4 resolution will allow us to change that and
5 allow for more interaction among the
6 membership, more input, and better legislation
7 moving through these committees.
8 So I support this resolution.
9 Thank you, Mr. President.
10 THE PRESIDENT: Senator
11 Hassell-Thompson.
12 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Thank
13 you, Mr. President.
14 I want to offer a proposed hold on
15 the numbers of committees that meet off the
16 floor. The Senate currently holds an
17 excessive number of meetings off the floor.
18 Why is this problematic? It's problematic
19 because the people send us here to have open
20 and honest discussions, and they need to be
21 allowed to attend or send representatives to
22 attend any of these meetings.
23 The other thing that it disallows
24 is a time frame in which there could be
25 meaningful discussion on any of the
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1 solicitation that is being proposed.
2 According to the law of physics, it's
3 impossible for a Senator to be in two places
4 at once. When there is a committee meeting
5 being held off the floor, the Senator who is a
6 member of that committee must choose whether
7 to miss floor votes, miss committee votes, or
8 miss hopefully active debate or discussion
9 that may be going on about the bill.
10 This rules change will permit
11 committee meetings to be held off the floor
12 under appropriate circumstances and is
13 designed to ensure that the holding of
14 committee meetings off the floor is the
15 exception rather than the rule.
16 Finally, when it is necessary for
17 the Senate to hold meetings off the Senate
18 floor, this rule would provide that the Senate
19 must stand at ease until the committee
20 concludes its business. This will permit all
21 Senators to perform their duties both on the
22 floor and in committee.
23 This would also give us
24 accountability to the public and committees
25 that are scheduled for meeting times which are
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1 publicized. And that's for a specific
2 purpose. We are defeating the purpose each
3 time that we take the committee off the floor.
4 Lastly, reality. While the reality
5 is that sometimes these meetings off the floor
6 become necessary, it should be done in
7 consultation with the body in general. These
8 decisions should not be made in a vacuum but,
9 rather, this proposal would require that
10 two-thirds of all members of the committee be
11 held accountable for calling such a committee
12 meeting.
13 In conclusion, the State Senate
14 supports this proposal that makes the Senate
15 and the entire Legislature, again, more
16 responsive, deliberate, accessible,
17 accountable, and efficient. This in fact is
18 true reform.
19 THE PRESIDENT: Senator
20 Stewart-Cousins.
21 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: Thank
22 you, Mr. President.
23 I began earlier today talking about
24 the auspiciousness of the day. And I get to
25 rise yet again to talk about something that
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1 startlingly just happened a few moments ago.
2 I was to speak on member items and
3 the need for transparency and the need for
4 accountability, and I find that the Governor,
5 along with the Majority and Minority Leaders,
6 have decided that member items should indeed
7 be transparent, that member items should
8 indeed be part of the budget process. That
9 suddenly, the light is going to shine on what
10 and who and how, and it will be decided on in
11 a budget process. I think we have gone a far
12 way.
13 One last thing, however. Part of
14 my presentation was to deal with the fact
15 that, once the member item has indeed seen the
16 light of day and has become part of the budget
17 process, that it actually be honored.
18 And I would want to thank my
19 colleagues in advance for honoring the member
20 items that are indeed in the budget. That
21 those that do appear should indeed be granted,
22 and we can certainly move forward again in a
23 way that I believe gives more accountability,
24 transparency, and credibility to this
25 Legislature.
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1 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Krueger.
2 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you,
3 Mr. President.
4 I rise to speak about our next
5 amendment on ethical standards for members of
6 the Senate officers and staff.
7 I often talk about, at home, that
8 because I've asked people to elect me to make
9 their laws, I believe I should be held to
10 higher standards than the rest of the public.
11 It is a privilege we have to serve in the
12 Senate to represent the 19 million people in
13 our state. But I believe that requires of us
14 not just formal standards for our behavior but
15 clear-cut rules for the Senate of what is
16 acceptable and what is not.
17 And so this amendment would
18 prohibit any member of the Senate, officer or
19 employee of the Senate from accepting any gift
20 with a fair market value of more than $25
21 directly or indirectly from any person or
22 organization who is doing business with the
23 State of New York.
24 All state employees must act in a
25 manner consistent with that public trust and
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1 must not take any actions that either are
2 intended or appear to be intended to achieve
3 personal gain or benefit. We have heard the
4 voices loud and clear from all of our
5 constituents. They demand better of us. They
6 demand accountability. We need to be able to
7 hold our heads high, say we are senators of
8 the great state of New York and that we are
9 held to high ethical standards.
10 Governor Spitzer has called for
11 ending a system of pay-to-play government in
12 our state. The Senate Democrats have been
13 calling for that for many years. And we
14 support, as part of a broader package of
15 legislative changes on campaign finance reform
16 and rules about how you can spend your
17 campaign money, a rule within the Senate rules
18 specifically outlining a gift ban.
19 Senator Bruno has spoken of this in
20 previous years as a voluntary agreement, but
21 it is not enforceable unless it is in our
22 rules. It would give our Senate Ethics
23 Committee something to do to ensure that we
24 are following ethical standards within our
25 rules.
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1 Again, we need to tie this with
2 other changes that need to be done both in
3 consultation with our other house, the
4 Assembly, and, I would argue, through
5 legislative change. But today we can change
6 our rules and we can establish that, as a
7 Senate, we say we will have specific ethical
8 standards for accepting gifts and we will not
9 violate them.
10 Thank you, Mr. President.
11 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Stavisky.
12 SENATOR STAVISKY: Thank you,
13 Mr. President.
14 I rise to discuss the issue of
15 standing conference committees. Our proposal
16 would create a standing conference committee
17 of five Senators to work with the members of
18 the Assembly to resolve differences.
19 So often you hear people in the
20 halls talk about one-house bills, this is only
21 a one-house bill. How often do we read about
22 it in the newspapers? If we had a standing
23 conference committee in place in our rules,
24 the term "one-house bill" I think would be
25 used less and less.
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1 To have the legislation considered
2 by this joint conference committee, the
3 requests would be made by the Temporary
4 President of the Senate -- the Majority
5 Leader -- and the Speaker of the Assembly, or
6 by the prime sponsors of the bill in both
7 houses, or by the chairs of the substantive
8 committee considering these measures. The
9 prime sponsors of the bill in each house would
10 serve on the conference committee but act as
11 nonvoting members.
12 In addition, the resolution of the
13 dispute would be examined by a nonpartisan
14 council appointed by the commissioners of the
15 Legislative Bill Drafting Commission, and then
16 they will determine if the bill or resolution
17 should be sent to the standing conference
18 committee. They would have 10 days from the
19 time of the referral to negotiate changes and
20 then report the bill within 15 days of the
21 referral.
22 What we're doing now I think is a
23 disgrace. In 45 of the 49 bicameral houses of
24 the legislature -- obviously, Nebraska has
25 only one house -- but in the 45 of the 49
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1 legislatures, they have conference committees.
2 They have them in Congress. You read about it
3 all the time in Congress. It makes absolutely
4 no sense to deal with it the way we've been
5 doing it.
6 Lastly, I believe that our rules
7 changes -- when we say rules reform, too often
8 that's become an oxymoron. I think it's time
9 that we started to take reform of the
10 Legislature, and the rules of the Legislature
11 is where we've got to start this entire reform
12 process.
13 Thank you, Mr. President.
14 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Diaz.
15 SENATOR DIAZ: Thank you,
16 Mr. President.
17 I rise to talk on the so-called
18 amendments and rules, especially the first one
19 introduced by Senator Parker. It reads:
20 "Proposal that all Senators receive equal
21 staff and resources and that committee
22 members, staff and resources are allocated
23 proportionally to the majority and minority
24 representation."
25 I think that if we are all honest
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1 in what we're doing and trying to do, I would
2 say that I will congratulate my colleagues and
3 Senator Parker for talking about these.
4 However, I have been here four
5 years. Four years I have been in this
6 chamber. I'm going to my fifth. And we know
7 that that side discriminates against us. We
8 all know that.
9 They got people there with --
10 getting -- some members getting $3 million and
11 $4 million, $5 million in member items. I'm
12 getting $200,000. Some members there are
13 getting -- some members there are getting -- I
14 guess. I don't know, I think I -- que?
15 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: More
16 than me.
17 SENATOR DIAZ: So if I'm getting
18 more than you, Senator Ruth Thompson, this is
19 exactly what I want to say.
20 That some members have two and
21 three district offices; I only have a
22 rinky-dinky one. We all represent -- supposed
23 to represent 250,000 people plus. The law
24 says one vote, one person. We all represent
25 the same amount of people. Most of us, like
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1 me, represent the poorest of the poorest. But
2 we're getting nothing. Nothing. We're
3 getting crumbs.
4 That's okay, that that side is in
5 the majority, they control the money and they
6 get the big chunk, and they send to us
7 something. But then when it comes to us,
8 whatever we get, we don't do with it what we
9 say we're going to do with it. Because
10 nobody's doing anything that can say let's do
11 it right.
12 We don't get the same amount. Now,
13 Senator Thompson just said that I'm getting
14 more than her, and I'm getting $200,000. I
15 suppose that she's getting what?
16 So if we want to talk about
17 equality, resources, honesty, let's share
18 equally. I understand that when Senator
19 Connor was the minority leader, he didn't do
20 it. When Senator Paterson was the minority
21 leader, he didn't do it. Now I don't know
22 what the new minority leader is going to do.
23 So let's criticize that side. Yes,
24 you got the big bucks. You all discriminate
25 against us; you get more money. But, ladies
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1 and gentlemen, I have to present my side too.
2 We're not getting it equally neither. So if
3 we are going to talking about transparency,
4 equality, honesty, let's be real, ladies and
5 gentlemen.
6 Thank you very much.
7 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Sabini.
8 SENATOR SABINI: Mr. President,
9 on the proposal.
10 You know, I don't think it's
11 revolutionary to say that we should as
12 legislators, when people send us here to
13 represent the people in our districts, the
14 300,000 people we represent, that it should be
15 so questionable that we have to record our
16 votes.
17 And yet under the current rules and
18 the proposed rules that I hear are coming
19 down, we are not, on many issues. When issues
20 are brought to the floor for discharge, we're
21 not required to record our votes.
22 I find it amazing that even once
23 again we're in a position where all the rules
24 are going to be dispatched through the Rules
25 Committee, even though everyone knows the
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1 Rules Committee won't deal with the rules.
2 Even the attempt to discharge my bill last
3 year to make the rules come before the floor
4 of the body, that of course was knocked down
5 by the other rule based on the canvass of
6 agreement.
7 With regard to conference
8 committees, it has become so ridiculous that
9 we can't come to agreements on issues that
10 even when we have good intentions and try to,
11 we can't resolve them. Let's take, for
12 example, Timothy's Law. Finally, after all
13 these years, we passed it, the 11th hour,
14 59th minute of the last day of session in
15 June. And of course that left a nonpassed
16 version in the Assembly.
17 That shouldn't happen. And if
18 another tragedy occurred, based on the fact
19 that someone couldn't get care because we did
20 it the Albany way, we did it the way that
21 makes sure nothing gets done -- if another
22 tragedy occurred because even when we had good
23 intentions we couldn't get the law into
24 effect, that's shameful. It's shameful.
25 Now, I read papers all over this
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1 state. With the advent of online newspapers,
2 you can read just about everyone's news in
3 everyone's district. And across this state,
4 in the Western Frontier, in the Southern Tier,
5 in the Hudson Valley and the Capital District,
6 New York City, Long Island, all I kept reading
7 about everywhere, and everyone's raised it,
8 was how every candidate was for cleaning up
9 Albany, changing the system, making things
10 better, more user-friendly for residents of
11 the state of New York. And most of the people
12 in this room said that in their campaigns.
13 What is it about when we get here
14 that that attitude changes? Well, to
15 paraphrase Dr. King, there was a promissory
16 note issued here in November. And that
17 promissory note, I suspect, is going to come
18 back marked "insufficient funds." And that's
19 not right.
20 We should be able to determine the
21 role of this Legislature, the direction of
22 this Legislature, and what bills come to the
23 floor and what bills do not. And if we don't
24 like it, we shouldn't be afraid to be recorded
25 on it.
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1 And so I support this package of
2 reform that has come before us today and urge
3 everyone in the room to seriously consider
4 whether or not they can go back home and
5 explain to people what it is we do in this
6 room. Because when I try to explain it to
7 people, I couldn't defend it. It's not my
8 role to defend it. But I don't think anyone
9 else who votes for it can defend it either.
10 Thank you.
11 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Connor.
12 SENATOR CONNOR: Thank you,
13 Mr. President.
14 Mr. President, I'm beginning my
15 30th session here. And after what I heard
16 Senator Diaz say, I want to have a little chat
17 with you, Mr. President, after session.
18 Because my colleague should watch what he
19 complains of.
20 (Laughter.)
21 SENATOR CONNOR: In this
22 beginning of my 30th session, I'm the senior
23 member -- not the oldest, I always point out,
24 but the senior member on this side of the
25 aisle. And I look across the aisle, and I
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1 have at least a dozen colleagues over there,
2 and friends, who have spent more years in this
3 house than I have.
4 And I pose the question, and I have
5 my answer: Isn't it painful? Doesn't it pain
6 you? In all the years I've been in the
7 Senate, and I trust the years you have, have
8 you ever seen or heard this Legislature, this
9 Senate, be as much maligned and held in as
10 much ill repute as one only needs have to look
11 at the daily newspapers?
12 And I know over the years the
13 newspapers have slammed us individually and
14 collectively on various issues. I am talking
15 about the consistent drumbeat, the consistent
16 criticism, the consistent reference to the
17 Legislature -- not just as dysfunctional, but
18 in worse terms -- that we've been hearing now
19 for a year or two.
20 Is it all fair? No, it's not all
21 fair. I've served with some of the finest
22 public servants I think New York has ever had
23 on both sides of the aisle in this house. And
24 yes, in nearly 30 years there have been a few
25 scoundrels, and they got caught. You'll find
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1 them anywhere. But they certainly never,
2 never epitomized the New York State Senate.
3 This body, when I first came here,
4 held itself forth as the greatest debating
5 body, legislature, in the nation. They had
6 rules that afforded all of us, minority
7 members as well as majority members, full
8 debate, full record votes, participation in
9 committees. That's how it used to be.
10 I passed, as a minority member in
11 my first year here, 21 bills. And they
12 weren't local bills. Because the majority
13 that led the house then -- and some of you
14 were there. Remember what the rule was?
15 We'll do any bill in this house on the merits.
16 And politics didn't count. That's the way it
17 was when Senator Anderson was the majority
18 leader. And I have closets full of pen
19 certificates to prove it. And I wasn't alone
20 then, by any means.
21 Isn't it painful now, though?
22 Isn't it painful when your neighbors look at
23 you kind of funny? And they don't say, "Wow,
24 you're a Senator," they say, "How are things
25 in Albany? Going to clean that mess up
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1 there?" That's how you're greeted by
2 neighbors now. Isn't that painful?
3 You know, we don't serve here for
4 treasure. Lord knows, I know -- I see senior
5 members there, and I know the pension laws,
6 and you know it too. There are a lot of you
7 working for less than nothing. Less than
8 nothing. And I said that to somebody once,
9 and they said, "Oh, most of those members
10 would pay for the honor of being in the State
11 Senate." And certainly that was true for
12 decades.
13 I really wonder now, where's the
14 honor? We all have our personal honor. But
15 isn't it time that we reach out to reclaim the
16 reputation of this institution that's the
17 people's Senate? I heard that phrase many
18 times on this floor, We're the people's Senate
19 in New York State.
20 That's what at stake here. Not
21 just our individual reputations, the
22 reputation of this institution where so many
23 of us have served so many years and exchanged
24 ideas and debated.
25 My colleagues, listen to the
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1 voters. It's now resonating with the voters.
2 It's not just a press problem, it's a problem
3 with the voters. When the voters lose
4 confidence in their elected representatives
5 and the elected representative institution in
6 which we serve, we all have a problem.
7 Democracy with a small "d" has a problem.
8 New York State has a problem. And it's a big
9 problem.
10 These rules changes, what do they
11 do? Do they eliminate the majority's control
12 over the house? No. That's not democracy.
13 Nobody is proposing to do that. They do
14 change power relationships. They do. It
15 certainly takes away some of the power of the
16 majority leader. I assure you, adopt these
17 rules and the majority leader will still be
18 one of the three most powerful people in
19 New York State. But he won't be quite so
20 powerful. He won't be quite so powerful when
21 it comes to how we function as elected
22 representatives.
23 How independent can you be when you
24 are guaranteed nothing for staff, guaranteed
25 nothing? You can get anywhere from zero to
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1 hundreds of thousands of dollars for staff.
2 Do you want to represent the districts as
3 large as ours with no staff or minimal staff?
4 How can you be independent then, when every
5 resource of this house depends on the will of
6 the leaders? And I speak -- the other house
7 can speak for itself, but we know what it's
8 there like there too.
9 If we're going to change this
10 Legislature, we have to change it. We can't
11 just Band-Aid it a little bit here and there.
12 What about these proposals to empower
13 committees? Well, that's how real
14 legislatures work. We are almost unique in
15 being behind the curve on that.
16 Empower the committees, it empowers
17 the chairs. So far none of us are chairs. It
18 empowers you, my colleagues on the other side
19 of the aisle. You, to be independent, to hold
20 your committee meetings when you deem fit and
21 the members of your committees deem fit, to
22 function as a real committee -- like 25 or 30
23 years ago, when the TV cameras went to
24 committee meetings. And everybody interested
25 in an area attended committee meetings. And
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1 everybody knew who the committee chairs were
2 because they were really important.
3 How important are you when your
4 meetings are being snuck off the floor in the
5 middle of session, held in a lobby somewhere,
6 no one knows they're happening?
7 That's what these rules do, they
8 empower you. As well as give a fair voice to
9 the minority.
10 Gifts. I have said this over and
11 over again, I've never served with a person
12 who I thought was unduly influenced by someone
13 giving them a meal or a couple of meals over
14 the course of a session. That's not the
15 problem. The problem is perception. The
16 public thinks you are. The public thinks the
17 institution is.
18 And to his credit, Senator Bruno
19 first proposed this total ban that's in these
20 rules in the end of 1998, I believe it was.
21 Maybe it was 1999. It was a one-house bill.
22 I first suggested, "Well, let's do a rule that
23 will bind us." We ended up with a voluntary
24 ban that I've observed since then, and I
25 suspect others have as well. But it's
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1 obviously not good enough. It didn't solve
2 the problem. It didn't get us ahead of that
3 curve.
4 My colleagues, the voters are
5 asking for change. Change can be difficult.
6 Look, in my 30th year here there are some
7 changes here, and I think, What did we have to
8 do that for? Nobody really is comfortable
9 with change for the sake of change. But you
10 have to recognize when change is not just
11 appropriate, it is necessary.
12 The voters have delivered a
13 message. My colleagues, my advice to you is:
14 Embrace change. Embrace change or pay the
15 price. You'll perish politically at the
16 polling places if you don't.
17 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Thompson.
18 SENATOR THOMPSON: Mr. President,
19 I listened today very concerned as a new
20 member of this very distinguished body.
21 I rise today, Mr. President,
22 because I am very concerned, coming from the
23 most western part of the state, where
24 throughout the last couple of years our
25 newspapers have consistently argued that
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1 Albany is dysfunctional.
2 And I understand that we come from
3 a great country where democracy is not
4 perfect. But I do also know that people want
5 change in this democracy in the New York State
6 Legislature.
7 Today we have an opportunity to
8 push for change. And unfortunately, in a very
9 few minutes we may not give people the change
10 that they so desperately want.
11 Legislative reform is something
12 that in Western New York people have talked
13 about each and every year for the last five to
14 six years. People have also talked about
15 making sure that their members participate in
16 conference committees and that those
17 committees have meaning and that those
18 committees have value. Hopefully that will
19 change by the time this session is over.
20 The other thing that's so important
21 as well is that the road to change in New York
22 State begins and starts in this chamber. It
23 starts right here. And people want change and
24 hopefully, ladies and gentlemen, that we will
25 give people the change that they so
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1 desperately want right here in Albany in this
2 Senate chamber.
3 Thank you.
4 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Duane, to
5 close.
6 SENATOR DUANE: Thank you,
7 Mr. President.
8 You know, I've been listening to
9 everything that my colleagues have said here.
10 And there is nothing, nothing in any of the
11 proposals put forward that would shock the
12 conscience or seem in any way egregious. It
13 just seems to me like simple democracy, good
14 government, period.
15 Senator Parker, equal resources, of
16 course.
17 Senator Valesky, makes sense.
18 Senator Schneiderman, absolutely
19 correct; oversight is good.
20 Senator Savino, committees can
21 actually function with a little bit of
22 independence.
23 Senator Hassell-Thompson, why do we
24 hold meetings off the floor? Right? We've
25 got lots of room and lots of time to have our
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1 committee meetings. What's the rush? Why do
2 you have to call it off the floor, right?
3 (To Senator Stewart-Cousins.) Our
4 new conscience. Thank you very much, Senator.
5 You convinced me one thousand percent.
6 And Senator Krueger, our rules
7 maven, makes perfect sense.
8 And Senator Stavisky, who doesn't
9 love a good conference committee; right? Good
10 government.
11 Senator Connor, with history on
12 your side, you have proven that collegial and
13 democratic makes good laws and makes a good
14 legislative body.
15 This chamber was a real Senate.
16 This chamber could be a real, democratic,
17 open, honest, recorded chamber again. We can
18 do it. We can reform ourselves, and the
19 Senate could be a beacon of good government.
20 There's nothing to stop us.
21 So let's not hold back, ladies and
22 gentlemen. Let's do it. Let's make ourselves
23 a real, democratic Senate.
24 Thank you.
25 THE PRESIDENT: The question is
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1 on the resolution. All those in favor please
2 indicate by saying aye.
3 (Response of "Aye.")
4 THE PRESIDENT: Those opposed,
5 nay.
6 (Response of "Nay.")
7 SENATOR CONNOR: Mr. President, I
8 request a slow roll call.
9 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Connor,
10 may I rule on the voice motion.
11 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr.
12 President.
13 THE PRESIDENT: Senator
14 Marcellino.
15 SENATOR MARCELLINO: I don't
16 believe a slow roll call is provided for under
17 our current rules.
18 SENATOR DUANE: Mr. President.
19 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Duane.
20 SENATOR DUANE: I do believe that
21 the voice vote was insufficient and we do need
22 to get an accurate tally of the vote on this
23 resolution.
24 THE PRESIDENT: Is there anyone
25 else who would like to speak on the point of
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1 order?
2 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr.
3 President.
4 THE PRESIDENT: Senator
5 Marcellino.
6 SENATOR MARCELLINO: It is my
7 understanding that the current rules only
8 provide for a slow roll call on bills and
9 concurrent resolutions and nominations. This
10 not being one of those, the current rules do
11 not provide for a slow roll call, and I
12 suggest that the chair so rule.
13 SENATOR DUANE: Mr. President,
14 point of order.
15 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Duane.
16 SENATOR DUANE: Actually, the
17 rules are basically silent on this issue. And
18 I therefore respectfully continue to request
19 that we see what the actual votes here are.
20 Because I believe it would be incredibly
21 difficult to be able to tell, we're so -- we
22 seem so closely matched in what it was.
23 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Skelos.
24 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
25 if it was the intention of this body to have
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1 provided for slow roll calls other than the
2 three instances that are provided in the
3 rules, it would be listed. There is no
4 provision for slow roll calls on a resolution.
5 So therefore, I would say that the
6 resolution is defeated.
7 SENATOR DUANE: Mr. President,
8 may we have a ruling, please.
9 THE PRESIDENT: The ruling on the
10 point of order set forth by Senator Connor is
11 defeated.
12 SENATOR DUANE: Mr. President.
13 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Duane.
14 SENATOR DUANE: I respectfully
15 call for an appeal of the ruling of the chair.
16 SENATOR CONNOR: Mr. President, I
17 call for a slow roll call on that appeal.
18 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Skelos.
19 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
20 if I could just mention, they're appealing the
21 ruling of the chair. There's no slow roll
22 call on that. And if they want to -- if the
23 Minority can get 32 individuals to overrule
24 the appealing of the chair, then it would be
25 overruled.
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1 SENATOR DUANE: Mr. President.
2 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Duane.
3 SENATOR DUANE: I respectfully
4 disagree with that. Actually, the rules are
5 quite open to having a slow roll call vote on
6 an appeal of the ruling of the chair. In
7 fact, there's precedent for that.
8 SENATOR ONORATO: Mr. President.
9 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Onorato.
10 SENATOR ONORATO: Well, it's
11 okay.
12 THE PRESIDENT: With regard to
13 the ruling, is there any other member that
14 would like to speak?
15 Senator Connor.
16 SENATOR CONNOR: Yes,
17 Mr. President. Procedurally, I've seen many,
18 many times when an appeal of the chair has
19 been subjected to a slow roll call.
20 Certainly it's subjected to a roll
21 call. I don't think Senator Skelos is
22 suggesting that there's not a fast roll call
23 on it. It's not a motion to discharge or an
24 amendment, so it's not subject to that
25 nonsensical canvass of agreement that was
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1 adopted in 2001.
2 But as to the main issue, as to the
3 main issue, let me pose the following. Yes,
4 resolutions are done by voice vote, except a
5 resolution adopting rules. Because that's
6 what we're doing. If we don't adopt rules
7 today, Senator Bruno loses most of his power
8 tomorrow, because there will be no rules.
9 There will be no rules tomorrow.
10 So it's an organizational meeting
11 of the Senate. And when you have an
12 organizational meeting, there are no rules.
13 Does anyone doubt for a minute, but
14 for our comity in this house, that on opening
15 day of a new Legislature, a new Legislature,
16 when we elect a Temporary President by
17 resolution -- oh, yes, we put a substitute
18 resolution in that loses on a voice vote for
19 the Minority Leader. Do you doubt if we came
20 back here at 31-31 after an election you
21 couldn't have a roll call on who the Temporary
22 President would be because it's a resolution?
23 Of course you'd want a roll call.
24 You can have a roll call, clearly,
25 at the organizational meeting of the Senate,
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1 on the election of a temporary chair, a
2 Secretary, Stenographer, Sergeant-at-Arms and
3 adoption of the rules. Why not? Is anyone
4 willing to stand up here and say, Oh, if we
5 came back here and it was a tie vote, we
6 wouldn't want a roll call?
7 The fact that ordinarily we just do
8 it on a voice vote is because we recognize the
9 Majority has more seats.
10 And if you go back to the history
11 books, go to the State Library, in the year
12 1965 when it took this Senate three months to
13 organize, it operated without rules for three
14 months, because the Constitution mandates the
15 first order of business is electing a
16 Temporary President. And it was unable to
17 elect a Temporary President for three months,
18 so there were no rules. And they had slow
19 roll call after slow roll call on the election
20 of a temporary chair. I'm not making that up.
21 It's in the books, if anyone cares to look.
22 So that the my point,
23 Mr. President. The adoption of the rules is
24 an organizational matter of the Senate. And
25 of course it's subject to a proper division of
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1 the house by a roll call vote. How else could
2 you do it?
3 SENATOR DUANE: Mr. President.
4 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Duane.
5 SENATOR DUANE: Mr. President, I
6 just want to focus on the question before us,
7 which is whether, on the appeal of the ruling
8 of the president, we are entitled to a slow
9 roll call vote. I believe the answer is yes.
10 I'm arguing that my motion is superseding the
11 Senate rules because it's an appeal of the
12 chair.
13 And so, Mr. President, I would very
14 much like to hear your ruling on my appeal and
15 our ability to have a slow roll call on that
16 appeal.
17 Thank you, Mr. President.
18 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you,
19 Senator Duane. We will have that ruling.
20 I would just like all the members,
21 in the spirit of openness, to be allowed to
22 express themselves. And we now recognize
23 Senator Maltese.
24 SENATOR MALTESE: I yield to
25 Senator Saland.
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1 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Saland.
2 SENATOR SALAND: Mr. President,
3 as best as I can follow this debate, what I
4 seem to have gleaned procedurally is that,
5 unlike the situations described by
6 Senator Connor, we are operating under rules.
7 The rules are the preexisting rules, and those
8 rules have specific provisions as to what
9 particular types of matters a slow roll call
10 can be had -- for which a slow roll call can
11 be had.
12 I think by inclusion -- and I'll
13 defer to Senator Maltese as to what the Latin
14 term is; he's far more adept at that than I
15 am -- but by inclusion of those three specific
16 items, we exclude all other items that might
17 be coming before this house for consideration
18 by this body.
19 And I would ask for the wisdom of
20 the Latin expert to tell me what the phrase
21 might be.
22 SENATOR MALTESE: Mr. President.
23 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Maltese.
24 SENATOR MALTESE: I really miss
25 Senator Marchi right now. But I believe the
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1 phrase is expressio unius est exclusio
2 alterius, which is "The expression of one is
3 the exclusion of all others."
4 And since you have specific
5 enumeration of those instances where the slow
6 roll call is permitted, therefore it would
7 exclude this circumstance, which is not
8 specifically enumerated.
9 THE PRESIDENT: Is there any
10 other member that would like to speak on the
11 motion?
12 Hearing none, I had a feeling this
13 might come up. Looking back at the actions of
14 the Senate back to 1993, which was as far back
15 as I was able to peruse, there have been
16 rulings of the chair that were appealed and
17 resolved by a slow roll call.
18 In 2001, there was a rules change
19 to the Senate, including Rule 8(B), which is
20 the one which is under debate right now.
21 There was one appeal of the ruling of the
22 chair during that time. At that time the
23 chair did not make a ruling on that motion.
24 So there's no precedent in this
25 chamber for an appeal of the ruling of the
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1 chair not being allowed to have a slow roll
2 call.
3 Now, the question of the exclusion
4 of a procedure then therefore meaning that
5 there is an automatic bar to that procedure is
6 not true, because this chamber has done it
7 several times. And in 1993, the members spoke
8 Latin as well as they do today.
9 Therefore, the chair rules on the
10 appeal of the chair by Senator Duane that,
11 upon further information and belief, that the
12 previous ruling of the chair is overturned.
13 There will be a slow roll call.
14 The Secretary will ring the bell.
15 SENATOR WINNER: Mr. President, I
16 appeal the ruling of the chair.
17 SENATOR CONNOR: Slow roll call,
18 Mr. President.
19 SENATOR WINNER: Mr. President, I
20 have the floor.
21 Point of order, Mr. Chair.
22 THE PRESIDENT: Point of order.
23 Senator Winner.
24 SENATOR WINNER: Thank you,
25 Mr. President.
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1 You have made a ruling for which
2 the Majority appeals the ruling of the chair.
3 And the determination by the chair under these
4 circumstances can only be done with respect to
5 whether or not a slow roll call can be had on
6 an appeal of the ruling of the chair. And
7 this appeal would be final.
8 THE PRESIDENT: Senator, I've
9 already ruled on that. The appeal is denied.
10 SENATOR DUANE: Mr. President.
11 SENATOR WINNER: Mr. President.
12 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Duane.
13 SENATOR WINNER: Mr. President.
14 SENATOR DUANE: It occurs to me
15 that really the chair had two choices now, to
16 allow the slow roll call to move forward --
17 which frankly I don't know why it's such a big
18 deal -- or the motion could be withdrawn. We
19 don't have to do the rules today,
20 Mr. President.
21 But those seem to be our only two
22 options.
23 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Winner.
24 SENATOR WINNER: Mr. President,
25 my point of order and my request for an appeal
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1 of your ruling is an appeal specifically
2 relative to your determination that a slow
3 roll call is in order with regard to the
4 appeal of a ruling of the chair.
5 In this circumstance, we believe
6 that on this side of the aisle we're entitled
7 to a ruling that specifically relates to the
8 issue as to whether or not a slow roll call is
9 appropriate under these circumstances.
10 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you,
11 Senator Winner.
12 SENATOR DUANE: Point of order.
13 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Duane.
14 SENATOR DUANE: Regardless of
15 how --
16 SENATOR WINNER: I have the
17 floor.
18 SENATOR DUANE: Regardless of how
19 you rule on that motion, I believe strongly
20 that the right order would be to have the slow
21 roll call on the original appeal of the
22 chair's decision.
23 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Duane,
24 the point of order is before us right now.
25 The point of order procedurally would come
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1 before any other action the Senate will take.
2 On the point of order, as I ruled
3 previously, Senator Winner, there have been --
4 there is much precedent in this chamber for
5 slow roll calls as a result of the appeal of
6 the chair's ruling. There have been no
7 denials of those slow roll calls, as far as I
8 could find, between 1993 and 2000. There was
9 one appeal that was not ruled upon in 2001
10 after the passage of new rules, but at that
11 time the chair did not ever rule on that
12 motion -- on that appeal.
13 Therefore, I don't see any
14 precedent for not allowing Senator Duane's
15 motion to have a slow roll call on the appeal
16 of the chair. The appeal is therefore denied.
17 SENATOR WINNER: Mr. President,
18 I'm not asking you for a ruling with regard to
19 precedent. I'm asking you for a ruling with
20 regard to your ruling.
21 Your ruling is that there can be a
22 slow roll call allowed on an appeal of the
23 ruling of the chair. I am respectfully
24 appealing your ruling that states that that is
25 possibility. There can be no appeal of the
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1 ruling of the chair by a slow roll call under
2 the rules of this house.
3 Therefore, your ruling that it can
4 be appealed by a slow roll -- a slow roll call
5 can occur is therefore the subject of my
6 appeal, and I would ask that there be a vote
7 cast on that question.
8 And I would respectfully suggest
9 that the vote in favor of overturning the
10 ruling of the chair would be a vote suggesting
11 that there be no slow roll call permitted on a
12 motion --
13 THE PRESIDENT: Let me restate
14 the ruling --
15 SENATOR CONNOR: Point of order,
16 Mr. President.
17 THE PRESIDENT: -- of the chair
18 for Senator Winner.
19 We did not rule on precedent. We
20 ruled on your motion, a motion that in your
21 subsequent argument you have just requested a
22 vote. Ironically, which is what the ruling
23 was about originally.
24 The ruling is that the slow roll
25 call at this point is in order.
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1 SENATOR CONNOR: Mr. President --
2 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President.
3 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Skelos.
4 SENATOR CONNOR: -- addressed to
5 Senator Winner's motion. Fundamental
6 parliamentary procedure --
7 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Connor --
8 SENATOR CONNOR: Point of order,
9 I'm sorry.
10 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Connor.
11 Senator Skelos.
12 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
13 we can go on all evening with this. And there
14 can be as many appeals as the Minority wishes,
15 but at some point there's going to be a motion
16 to overrule the chair which will prevail.
17 So we can make 30 motions if we
18 want, we can appeal 30 times if we want, but
19 the bottom line is in the end there will be 32
20 votes that say no slow roll call.
21 SENATOR DUANE: Mr. President, I
22 just -- Mr. President --
23 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Duane.
24 SENATOR DUANE: I just want to go
25 back to my point of order, that I believe I'm
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1 agreeing with you, Mr. President. We have two
2 options: To go ahead with the slow roll call
3 on the appeal, as you've ruled is in order, or
4 those that want can just withdraw their rules
5 and we'll talk about them another day.
6 Thank you, Mr. President.
7 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Connor.
8 SENATOR CONNOR: Mr. President,
9 just addressing Senator Winner's last
10 motion --
11 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
12 can we have a voice vote at this time on
13 Senator Winner's motion to overrule the ruling
14 of the chair.
15 SENATOR CONNOR: Mr. President, I
16 have a point of order on that.
17 SENATOR WINNER: -- resolution is
18 on the floor.
19 SENATOR CONNOR: A point of order
20 upon a point of order is not appealable.
21 That's what Senator Winner is doing.
22 THE PRESIDENT: We're not on a
23 point of order right now, Senator Connor.
24 SENATOR DUANE: Mr. President, I
25 know I'm sounding like a broken record,
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1 appropriately on my -- but really there's only
2 one of two options. Either we proceed with
3 the slow roll on the appeal, or we'll hear a
4 withdrawal of the resolution and what happens
5 after that is -- who cares.
6 But frankly, again, I don't think
7 it's a big deal to have the roll call. So
8 let's just do it, Mr. President. Thank you.
9 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
10 is -- Senator Duane, do you wish to withdraw
11 the resolution?
12 SENATOR DUANE: No.
13 SENATOR SKELOS: Well, you just
14 indicated you wanted to withdraw the
15 resolution.
16 SENATOR DUANE: No, I don't. I
17 don't, actually.
18 Mr. President, just to clarify, so
19 those are the two choices and --
20 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Skelos.
21 SENATOR DUANE: -- no one has
22 withdrawn the resolution.
23 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Skelos.
24 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
25 if I could just restate Senator Winner's
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1 motion, I believe he wanted to overrule the
2 ruling of the chair which stated that there
3 would be a slow roll call.
4 So that motion is before us now,
5 and I would ask that we vote on that motion.
6 SENATOR DUANE: Mr. President.
7 THE PRESIDENT: All those in
8 favor of the motion please indicate by saying
9 aye.
10 (Response of "Aye.")
11 SENATOR DUANE: Mr. President,
12 point of order.
13 THE PRESIDENT: All those
14 opposed, indicate --
15 SENATOR DUANE: Point of order.
16 Point of order, Mr. President.
17 Mr. President --
18 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Duane,
19 we're on a vote.
20 SENATOR DUANE: -- my motion
21 supersedes everything.
22 THE PRESIDENT: Senator, we're on
23 a vote now. There was a motion after your
24 motion.
25 SENATOR DUANE: Slow roll,
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1 Mr. President. Slow roll.
2 SENATOR WINNER: We're on a vote.
3 SENATOR DUANE: Mr. President,
4 just to be clear, we're asking for a slow roll
5 on Senator Winner's motion. We're appealing
6 your -- we're asking for a slow roll on
7 Senator Winner's appeal.
8 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Skelos.
9 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
10 perhaps you can announce the results. If
11 Senator Connor wishes to then ask for a slow
12 roll call, we can bring that up at that time.
13 SENATOR DUANE: Mr. President,
14 point of order.
15 THE PRESIDENT: Just a moment --
16 SENATOR DUANE: We're asking for
17 a slow roll on Senator Winner's appeal of the
18 chair's ruling. And we had five people
19 standing up. In fact, we had many more. If
20 you'd like to see, we'll show you again,
21 Mr. President.
22 THE PRESIDENT: My understanding
23 of this procedure is as follows. There was a
24 ruling on a slow roll call, that it was in
25 order. There's now an appeal of that ruling
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1 by Senator Winner. On the appeal, Senator
2 Skelos has asked for a vote.
3 And what would have to be explained
4 at this point for the vote to continue is why
5 those Senators calling for a slow roll call
6 would be denied to do so, since the last
7 ruling of the chair was in favor of a slow
8 roll call. They got up in an appropriate time
9 in the middle of a vote, as has always been
10 the case when there's a slow roll call in this
11 chamber.
12 Senator Skelos.
13 SENATOR SKELOS: Again, we're
14 going to start going in circles. It is not
15 provided for in the rules. And we are
16 overriding the ruling of the chair, and then
17 we can backtrack to the resolution as to
18 whether there is a slow roll call on that or
19 not. Of which you have ruled that there would
20 be no slow roll call.
21 SENATOR DUANE: Mr. President,
22 point of order.
23 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Duane.
24 SENATOR DUANE: Although I don't
25 understand, again, what the big deal is about
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1 having the slow roll call vote. It's
2 certainly not a big deal on this side of the
3 aisle.
4 But the rules actually do not
5 address this issue. Therefore, Mr. Chair,
6 your discussion of the precedent or lack
7 thereof on this is absolutely on point. And
8 therefore, we deserve and are entitled to,
9 since we're falling back onto rules that exist
10 everywhere in the universe -- and even here,
11 since the rules are silent on this issue -- to
12 have a slow roll vote count.
13 Thank you, Mr. President.
14 THE PRESIDENT: Senator
15 DeFrancisco.
16 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Mr.
17 President, it should be obvious by now that
18 every time there is going to be a motion for a
19 slow roll call, you apparently are going to
20 rule in the favor of the slow roll call.
21 And every time you rule in favor,
22 the Majority always has the opportunity under
23 the rules to appeal your rulings. And they
24 will call for a vote, like just what happened,
25 and then the other side is going to call for a
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1 slow roll call.
2 So unless we're going to go on
3 ad infinitum with this process, it makes sense
4 to have a vote on this, because ultimately the
5 rules do provide that a majority can always
6 appeal your ruling. And apparently the
7 Majority is going to continue to appeal your
8 ruling.
9 And to have some end to this
10 process, unless we're going to go on all
11 night, I would strongly suggest that we have a
12 voice vote and get on with it.
13 SENATOR ONORATO: Mr. President.
14 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Onorato.
15 SENATOR ONORATO: A point of
16 order.
17 I'd like to call a quorum. I don't
18 know if they've got 32 votes present to make
19 that voice vote valid.
20 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Onorato,
21 the rules of the Senate call for a quorum to
22 ascertain whether there is a majority of
23 Senators present, not a majority or a
24 plurality of one conference. So therefore,
25 the point is not in order.
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1 On the point that Senator
2 DeFrancisco is raising, Senator DeFrancisco
3 and all members present, it is the
4 determination of the chair that a voice vote
5 was not sufficient to pass this or defeat this
6 resolution pertaining to the rules.
7 It was my determination that if one
8 of the sides of the aisle, regardless as to
9 who it is, wanted to have a slow roll call,
10 that there is precedent in this chamber, there
11 is also precedent in Robert's Rules of Order,
12 in Mason's Rules of Legislative Procedure,
13 where the rules of construction state that
14 leaving out a procedure from a process does
15 not ban it from being used.
16 And so I have stated not only that
17 it has been practice in this chamber before, I
18 have stated not only that the rules of
19 procedure that we are using as the basis for
20 the Senate rules provide for it, but I have
21 further maintained that there has never been
22 one time that anyone can cite in this chamber
23 when the call for a slow roll call appealing
24 the ruling of the chair has been denied.
25 So the precedent would be set today
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1 if I allow it. And with the weight of the
2 evidence on that side, I have ruled that a
3 slow roll call is in order.
4 Now, I would certainly honor the
5 Majority, if you would like to continue to
6 discuss it, I'm open to that, or if you would
7 like to appeal the rule of the chair again.
8 But that is the decision of the chair, and I
9 think that it is rooted in law, it is rooted
10 in procedure and precedent where this body is
11 concerned.
12 Senator DeFrancisco.
13 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: If the
14 chair recognizes that the Majority always has
15 the right to overrule the ruling of the chair
16 no matter how many subsequent questions are
17 raised, then ultimately, when everyone gets
18 exhausted here going through this process,
19 we're going to get to that rule which is in
20 the rules that are presently guiding this
21 chamber.
22 So again, it's certainly up to the
23 chair; we can continue to go through this.
24 But ultimately the Majority, according to the
25 existing rules, would prevent a slow roll call
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1 no matter what the precedent is, because the
2 rules are in existence as of the beginning of
3 this session, because we carried over last
4 year's rules.
5 And one other thing. It's kind of
6 ironic that there's a motion to change the
7 rules in such dramatic ways when there does
8 not appear to be the willingness to follow the
9 existing rule. The final one is the Majority
10 always has the opportunity and the right to
11 overrule you.
12 THE PRESIDENT: Senator
13 DeFrancisco, I think your point is well-taken.
14 The Majority --
15 SENATOR DUANE: Mr. President.
16 THE PRESIDENT: The Majority
17 certainly has the option and certainly should,
18 if the Majority feels that that is right,
19 appeal the ruling of the chair.
20 However, any rules that this body
21 has conducted itself for the first four days
22 of the session have been indicated by consent.
23 The rules of this body have not been adopted
24 for this year. Even by following the previous
25 rules, even if we were following the rules
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1 right now, I made a determination on an appeal
2 of the chair, based on the rules as I
3 understand it, that this chamber has conducted
4 itself.
5 If the Majority would like to
6 overrule me, there are two other ways other
7 than a voice vote that the Majority can do so.
8 But it's my determination that a voice vote is
9 not in order.
10 And I would like to point out that
11 the other time that this came up was on
12 January 9, 2001, in a rules change where we
13 debated Rules 8(A)(B), and at that time the
14 chair didn't rule at all.
15 And so what I'm saying is, I would
16 not like to be the first chair to make a
17 ruling that is anathema to everything else
18 that I've seen in this process, not only as
19 chair but as a member of this body for the
20 last 21 years.
21 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Point of
22 order.
23 What is on the floor at the moment?
24 SENATOR DUANE: Mr. President, if
25 I may --
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1 THE PRESIDENT: The point of
2 order is, I believe, Senator DeFrancisco, a
3 second appeal of the chair by the Majority on
4 the issue of the allowance of a slow roll
5 call.
6 SENATOR DUANE: Mr. President.
7 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Duane.
8 SENATOR DUANE: I just would like
9 a point of personal privilege.
10 And as the members gather in the
11 chamber, I want to remind the members that
12 what we are voting on is whether or not to
13 uphold your decision on Senator Winner's
14 appeal -- not my appeal, but Senator Winner's
15 appeal.
16 And I believe that your decision
17 was most wise, and I'm hoping that every
18 member of the body will agree that you are
19 very wise in your decision. And voting yes on
20 the slow roll will indicate agreement with
21 that.
22 Thank you, Mr. President.
23 SENATOR PADAVAN: Mr. President.
24 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Padavan.
25 SENATOR PADAVAN: I think it
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1 would be instructive if you clarified the
2 significance of a yes or no vote as it relates
3 to this latest challenge to your ruling.
4 THE PRESIDENT: I'd be happy to
5 do that, Senator.
6 Would you restate that? I didn't
7 hear everything you said.
8 SENATOR PADAVAN: I'm asking you
9 to clarify it, Mr. President. "Yes" means
10 what and "no" means what in regard to Senator
11 Winner's motion on your prior ruling?
12 THE PRESIDENT: "Aye" would be in
13 favor of the motion that would defeat the
14 ruling of the chair that a slow roll is order.
15 "Nay" would mean that it would
16 support the previous ruling of the chair and
17 that the slow roll would proceed.
18 SENATOR WINNER: Mr. President.
19 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Winner.
20 SENATOR WINNER: Mr. President, I
21 would respectfully request that you continue
22 the voice vote on my motion to overturn the
23 ruling of the chair.
24 We've already voted overwhelmingly
25 on this side "yes" to overturn your ruling.
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1 We didn't conclude the voice vote, however,
2 for those that were in favor of sustaining the
3 ruling of the chair.
4 THE PRESIDENT: Senator, we did
5 not complete the vote because, as the vote was
6 commencing, Senator Connor asked for a slow
7 roll call. And a slow roll call is within the
8 ambit of possibility based on the previous
9 ruling. So I don't know how I can eliminate a
10 slow roll call if I had previously ruled for
11 it.
12 Senator Skelos.
13 SENATOR SKELOS: If I could just
14 suggest that we all take a deep breath --
15 inhale, exhale. And if we could just wait a
16 moment, I think everything will be resolved in
17 a happy fashion.
18 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you,
19 Senator Skelos. I'm waiting to exhale.
20 (Laughter.)
21 (Lengthy pause.)
22 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President.
23 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Skelos.
24 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
25 I'm hopeful that the deep breath helped.
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1 Senator Winner.
2 SENATOR WINNER: Thank you.
3 Mr. President, I withdraw my appeal
4 of the ruling of the chair.
5 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you,
6 Senator Winner.
7 Senator Duane.
8 SENATOR DUANE: Thank you,
9 Mr. President. I'd like to withdraw my appeal
10 of the chair.
11 THE PRESIDENT: So recorded,
12 Senator Duane.
13 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
14 if we could now vote on the resolution.
15 THE PRESIDENT: On the resolution
16 proposed by Senator Smith, all those in favor
17 please indicate by saying aye.
18 (Response of "Aye.")
19 THE PRESIDENT: Opposed, nay.
20 (Response of "Nay.")
21 THE PRESIDENT: The chair cannot
22 make --
23 SENATOR DUANE: Mr. President. I
24 just wanted to remind you, Mr. President, that
25 on this vote we are actually raising our
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1 hands.
2 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Duane.
3 SENATOR DUANE: Thank you,
4 Mr. President. Can we do it over?
5 (Laughter.)
6 THE PRESIDENT: All those in
7 favor of the motion presented by Senator
8 Smith, please indicate by saying aye.
9 (Response of "Aye.")
10 THE PRESIDENT: All those
11 opposed, please indicate with a nay.
12 (Response of "Nay.")
13 THE PRESIDENT: The chair cannot
14 determine where there are more votes. Perhaps
15 a showing of hands would better indicate the
16 result. Ayes, please raise their hands.
17 The Secretary will announce the
18 results.
19 Twenty-three recorded in the
20 affirmative. The motion is defeated.
21 Senator Skelos.
22 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, I
23 believe there's a resolution at the desk by
24 Senator Bruno. Could we have the title read
25 and move for its immediate adoption.
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1 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary
2 will read.
3 THE PRESIDENT: By Senator Bruno,
4 Senate Resolution Number 139, to adopt the
5 rules of the Senate for the years 2007-2008.
6 THE PRESIDENT: All in favor of
7 the motion please indicate by saying aye.
8 (Response of "Aye.")
9 THE PRESIDENT: Opposed, nay.
10 (Response of "Nay.")
11 THE PRESIDENT: The ayes have it.
12 Senator Skelos.
13 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
14 would you please recognize Senator Volker.
15 THE PRESIDENT: The resolution
16 being adopted, we recognize Senator Volker.
17 SENATOR VOLKER: Mr. President, I
18 just want to announce that it was suggested to
19 me that I have a Codes Committee meeting off
20 the floor today, but I thought it was kind of
21 inappropriate to do that.
22 So we're going to have the meeting
23 tomorrow at 10 o'clock in Room 433. Okay?
24 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you,
25 Senator Volker.
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1 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
2 is there any further business to come before
3 the Senate?
4 THE PRESIDENT: No, there is not,
5 Senator.
6 SENATOR SKELOS: There being
7 none, I move we stand adjourned until
8 Wednesday, January 17th, at 11:00 a.m.
9 THE PRESIDENT: Senate is
10 adjourned until Wednesday, January 17th, at
11 11:00 a.m.
12 (Whereupon, at 7:01 p.m., the
13 Senate adjourned.)
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