Regular Session - January 30, 2007
349
1 NEW YORK STATE SENATE
2
3
4 THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD
5
6
7
8
9 ALBANY, NEW YORK
10 January 30, 2007
11 3:08 p.m.
12
13
14 REGULAR SESSION
15
16
17
18 SENATOR CARL L. MARCELLINO, Acting President
19 STEVEN M. BOGGESS, Secretary
20
21
22
23
24
25
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1 P R O C E E D I N G S
2 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The
3 Senate will come to order.
4 I ask everyone present to please
5 rise and recite with me the Pledge of
6 Allegiance.
7 (Whereupon, the assemblage recited
8 the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.)
9 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The
10 invocation today will be given by Reverend
11 Robert Quick, pastor of the First Baptist
12 Church of North Tonawanda.
13 REVEREND QUICK: Thank you.
14 Let's pray.
15 Our Heavenly Father, we thank You
16 for the opportunity we have to come before You
17 and do Your business. Father, we thank You
18 that this is a place where those who minister
19 for You minister to us. We pray, Father, for
20 wisdom upon this body, and give them great
21 guidance. We ask, Father, in Jesus' name.
22 Amen.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
24 Thank you, Reverend.
25 May we have the reading of the
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1 Journal.
2 THE SECRETARY: In Senate,
3 Monday, January 29, the Senate met pursuant to
4 adjournment. The Journal of Friday,
5 January 26, was read and approved. On motion,
6 Senate adjourned.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
8 Without objection, the Journal stands approved
9 as read.
10 Presentation of petitions.
11 Messages from the Assembly.
12 Messages from the Governor.
13 Reports of standing committees.
14 Reports of select committees.
15 Communications and reports from
16 state officers.
17 Motions and resolutions.
18 Senator Skelos.
19 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
20 if we could adopt the Resolution Calendar,
21 with the exception of Resolutions 246 and 247.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: All
23 in fave of adopting the Resolution Calendar,
24 with the exception of Resolutions 246 and 247,
25 signify by saying aye.
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1 (Response of "Aye.")
2 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
3 Opposed, nay.
4 (No response.)
5 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The
6 Resolution Calendar is adopted.
7 Senator Skelos.
8 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
9 if we could take up --
10 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
11 Excuse me, Senator.
12 Could we have some order here.
13 Thank you.
14 Senator Skelos.
15 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
16 if we could take up Resolution 246, by Senator
17 Griffo, have the title read, move for its
18 immediate adoption, and open it up for
19 cosponsorship.
20 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The
21 Secretary will read.
22 THE SECRETARY: By Senator
23 Griffo, Legislative Resolution Number 246,
24 honoring the memory and celebrating the life
25 of the late New York State Senator William H.
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1 Hampton.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The
3 question is on the resolution. All in favor
4 signify by saying aye.
5 (Response of "Aye.")
6 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
7 Opposed, nay.
8 (No response.)
9 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The
10 resolution is adopted.
11 Senator Skelos.
12 SENATOR SKELOS: If we could put
13 all members on the resolution. If anybody
14 wishes not to sponsor the resolution, they
15 should notify the desk.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: So
17 ordered, Senator Skelos.
18 SENATOR SKELOS: If we could take
19 up Resolution 247, by Senator Seward, have the
20 title read, and move for its immediate
21 adoption.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The
23 Secretary will read.
24 THE SECRETARY: By Senator
25 Seward, Legislative Resolution Number 247,
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1 mourning the untimely death of Shawn Falter of
2 Homer, New York, and paying tribute to his
3 courageous actions as a member of the United
4 States Army.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The
6 question is on the resolution. All in favor
7 signify by saying aye.
8 (Response of "Aye.")
9 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
10 Opposed, nay.
11 (No response.)
12 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The
13 resolution is adopted.
14 Senator Skelos.
15 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
16 Senator Seward would like to open up the
17 resolution for cosponsorship. If anybody
18 wishes not to sponsor the resolution, they
19 should notify the desk.
20 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: So
21 ordered.
22 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
23 if we could go to the noncontroversial reading
24 of the calendar.
25 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The
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1 Secretary will read.
2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
3 22, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 99,
4 an act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to
5 the crime of aggravated harassment.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
7 Read the last section.
8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
9 act shall take effect on the first of
10 November.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
12 Call the roll.
13 (The Secretary called the roll.)
14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 38. Nays,
15 2. Senators Duane and Montgomery recorded in
16 the negative.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The
18 bill is passed.
19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
20 25, by Senator Alesi, Senate Print 163, an act
21 to amend the Penal Law, in relation to the
22 crime of false personation.
23 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Lay it
24 aside.
25 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: Lay
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1 the bill aside.
2 SENATOR SKELOS: Lay it aside for
3 the day, please.
4 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: Lay
5 the bill aside for the day.
6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
7 28, by Senator Morahan, Senate Print 246, an
8 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to
9 providing.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
11 Read the last section.
12 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This
13 act shall take effect on the first of
14 November.
15 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
16 Call the roll.
17 (The Secretary called the roll.)
18 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 41.
19 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The
20 bill is passed.
21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
22 31, by Senator Alesi, Senate Print 278, an act
23 to amend the Penal Law, in relation to
24 establishing.
25 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
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1 Read the last section.
2 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
3 act shall take effect on the first of
4 November.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
6 Call the roll.
7 (The Secretary called the roll.)
8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 45.
9 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The
10 bill is passed.
11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
12 36, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 650, an
13 act to amend the Mental Hygiene Law and
14 others.
15 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
16 Read the last section.
17 THE SECRETARY: Section 25. This
18 act shall take effect immediately.
19 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
20 Call the roll.
21 (The Secretary called the roll.)
22 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
23 Senator Klein, why do you rise?
24 SENATOR KLEIN: Mr. President,
25 I'd like the opportunity to explain my vote.
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1 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
2 Senator Klein, to explain his vote.
3 SENATOR KLEIN: I rise in support
4 of this legislation. And I know there's been
5 some changes since the last bill, which we
6 passed on special session. And I certainly
7 believe that the time is now to finally pass a
8 civil confinement law in New York State.
9 When we open up our newspapers,
10 both our daily and our local newspapers, we
11 constantly see localities across the state of
12 New York trying to pass what I consider to be
13 piecemeal laws. They're trying to ban Level 2
14 and 3 sexual predators from living within 200
15 feet of a school; in essence, preventing these
16 individuals from living anywhere in a city or
17 town. That's not the answer.
18 I think we're also seeing that
19 Megan's Law is merely a Band-Aid approach,
20 after years and years of using that as a way
21 to protect our children and our families from
22 dangerous sexual predators.
23 So I think it's important now that
24 we finally pass civil confinement, because
25 quite frankly I think it's the only answer to
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1 make sure that someone is not released until
2 they're ready to join society once again
3 safely.
4 I conducted a study last year where
5 I looked at all the zip codes in the City of
6 New York as well as Westchester County. And
7 when looking at those zip codes, we found that
8 on average there were seven Level 3 sexual
9 predators living in each of those zip codes.
10 Just this past weekend, Congressman
11 Anthony Weiner released a study which found
12 that 85 percent of the Level 2 and 3 sexual
13 predators presently living in New York City
14 are living within five blocks of a school;
15 38 percent are living within a block of a
16 school. That's a serious problem.
17 And I think what we're doing now is
18 we're giving residents all over the state of
19 New York a false sense of hope that they're
20 actually safe from a violent sexual predator.
21 When you look at the statistics, it
22 becomes even more apparent that we need to
23 pass this law. First, a Level 3 sexual
24 predator or a dangerous sexual predator is
25 four times more likely to commit the same or
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1 similar crime when they're released from
2 prison. It's also the only type of criminal
3 where there's a greater propensity to commit
4 this crime as they get older and older.
5 So I'm hopeful that we'll quickly
6 reconvene our conference committee, work out I
7 believe the minor differences in the two
8 pieces of legislation, and, finally, keep the
9 residents and especially our families of
10 New York State safe from violent sexual
11 predators.
12 I vote yes, Mr. President.
13 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
14 Senator Klein will be recorded in the
15 affirmative.
16 Senator Volker, to explain his
17 vote.
18 SENATOR VOLKER: Mr. President,
19 very quickly.
20 This bill is essentially the same
21 bill as we passed in 2006 in January and then
22 again in December, in the special session.
23 There's a couple of differences, though, that
24 should be noted. And frankly, we added a lot
25 of language here relating to treatment.
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1 One of the arguments that the
2 Assembly made -- which frankly we thought was
3 rather interesting, because we were never
4 opposed to treatment -- was that they wanted
5 strict intensive supervision. So in this bill
6 we have defined strict and intensive
7 supervision. In fact, one of the questions we
8 asked was, What the hell is that? Excuse me:
9 What is that? And we defined it sort of in
10 this bill.
11 The defendant would be subject to
12 six face to face-to-face and six collateral
13 visits with a parole officer each month. And
14 there are other restrictions on monitoring and
15 approval of the offender's residency, which
16 also would be conditions of transitional
17 parole.
18 These would occur when a person was
19 released from the intense supervision
20 internally; that is, in a facility. And that
21 facility, by the way, is already ready to open
22 very shortly, and it's going to be a totally
23 separate facility in the grounds of the
24 St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center in Bridgeview.
25 The interesting thing is that a
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1 couple of the opposition memos say they want
2 to make sure that the site is run by OMH -- it
3 is -- and it's separate -- it is. Clearly,
4 the trial lawyers are opposed because any --
5 they want litigation. And we understand that.
6 But what this bill does, in my
7 opinion, is very close to what the Assembly
8 wanted. And we firmly believe -- and we've
9 been talking with the Governor, and I think
10 the Governor -- let's just say this. I think
11 within a week or two I think the Governor will
12 come out with a bill pretty close to ours.
13 And whether we need a conference
14 committee to go on -- because there's just a
15 couple, in my opinion, a couple of changes
16 which can be done, and we may not even need a
17 conference committee. That is, we can just
18 agree.
19 I feel very strongly that this
20 agreement is going to come within the next
21 month. I think it would have happened in
22 December except that other issues got in the
23 way, so to speak, in my opinion. And those
24 other issues meant that we couldn't come to an
25 agreement between a Governor and a Speaker who
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1 detested each other.
2 So at any rate, this is basically
3 the same bill, with additions to it that I
4 think make it more palatable to the Assembly
5 and, frankly, I think make it more palatable
6 to many of the people who have opposed it.
7 The main opposition to this bill is
8 just the idea of civil confinement. And I
9 understand that. None of us like it. On the
10 other hand, if we're going to deal with people
11 that we can't anywhere else -- any which other
12 way else to deal with, this is something we
13 need to do.
14 I vote aye.
15 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
16 Senator Volker will be recorded in the
17 affirmative.
18 Senator Nozzolio.
19 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Thank you,
20 Mr. President. I rise to request permission
21 to explain my vote.
22 Mr. President and my colleagues,
23 this is a very important measure. That
24 Senator Volker is to be given yeoman credit
25 for consistently driving this issue.
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1 This is an extremely important
2 measure to protect our families in New York
3 State. The Senate has continually led with
4 legislation to establish a zero tolerance for
5 violence and a zero tolerance for sexual
6 predators in New York.
7 With Senator Skelos many years ago
8 focusing on Megan's Law, during that process
9 it became clear, time and again: Once a sex
10 predator, always a sex predator. And that
11 regardless of how much incarceration time,
12 that that individual has demonstrated a clear
13 danger to society and needs to be constantly
14 monitored.
15 Megan's Law, zero tolerance for
16 violence, zero tolerance for sexual predating,
17 that's what this Senate has stood for. And we
18 in this measure before us will continue to
19 stand tall to ensure that those who are not
20 becoming rehabilitated do not come out into
21 society and become a danger to children and
22 families.
23 I congratulate my Senate colleagues
24 for supporting this measure. That it is the
25 next step in ensuring that our children are
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1 safe and that we have a system of laws in this
2 state that is clearly to protect victims
3 before they become victims.
4 Thank you, Mr. President. I vote
5 aye.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
7 Senator Nozzolio will be recorded in the
8 affirmative.
9 Senator Thompson.
10 SENATOR THOMPSON: Thank you,
11 Mr. President.
12 First I'd like to congratulate one
13 of my colleagues, Senator Volker, for his
14 effort on this bill.
15 I just have two things that are of
16 concern. One is that cities like Buffalo and
17 Niagara Falls are very cash-strapped, and they
18 have a problem with people who would be
19 impacted by this law, particularly those
20 predators. But part of the challenge we face
21 is that these cash-strapped communities cannot
22 afford to disseminate the information on who
23 these predators are.
24 And hopefully sometime this year
25 we'll be able to address that so that we can
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1 get information on some of the government
2 websites, the school districts, and we'll have
3 the capacity to notify many of the local
4 residents.
5 We also have seen study after study
6 across the state where people are living right
7 next to schools. And many of our urban school
8 districts don't have the resources that are
9 necessary to empower the parents, to empower
10 the residents. And I believe that that
11 loophole needs to be addressed and corrected,
12 and hopefully we can work to address that
13 issue in the near future.
14 Thank you. I'm in support of the
15 bill.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
17 Senator Thompson will be recorded in the
18 affirmative.
19 Senator Montgomery.
20 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes,
21 Mr. President. I rise to commend my
22 colleagues on trying to deal with this very,
23 very difficult issue.
24 I just -- one of the attempts that
25 has been made in this house, and I support
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1 that attempt, is that I think it's Senator
2 LaValle's bill which calls for, I believe,
3 chemical castration.
4 And since this seems to be such a
5 very, very difficult situation to deal with --
6 some people apparently just cannot control
7 their sexual addictions and the problems that
8 they have that's associated with it -- and I
9 believe we should really consider, very, very
10 seriously, passing Senator LaValle's bill.
11 People who have a need for that
12 should be able to get it. And then some
13 people -- maybe we won't have to spend all of
14 this money on civil confinement if people are
15 able to access this. And in some instance
16 they may even want physical castration.
17 That's fine with me too, as long as it's
18 voluntary.
19 So I offer that because I think
20 Senator LaValle has tried that legislation,
21 and I urge him to reintroduce that. And that
22 should really be a part of our package, that
23 people should be able to receive, on a
24 volunteer basis, at the least chemical
25 castration services.
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1 Thank you.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
3 Senator Montgomery, how shall I record your
4 vote? In the negative?
5 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
7 Senator Montgomery will be recorded in
8 negative.
9 Senator Golden.
10 SENATOR GOLDEN: Thank you,
11 Mr. President.
12 I too rise to commend Senator
13 Volker for reintroducing this bill again this
14 year.
15 And I hope that the Governor is
16 sincere in his approach in allowing this not
17 only for discussion, but to bring it forward
18 and to pass it as a law of the state that
19 those that would go after our children here in
20 the state of New York, causing them harm, that
21 they would be placed and kept placed in jail
22 if in fact they were found at a psychiatric
23 hearing not to be fit to be allowed to be
24 returned to the community.
25 There are over 550,000 convicted
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1 sex offenders here in this nation, of which we
2 cannot find 100,000 of them. One hundred
3 thousand cannot be found here in this nation.
4 I dare to say -- we had
5 Mr. Lunsford up here last year. His daughter
6 Jessica, she was killed by a registered sex
7 offender, Evander Couey. And I dare to say in
8 my community on a regular basis I talk of
9 those that come in from around the country and
10 hide within the city of New York because it's
11 great to be able to hide in plain sight and
12 walk through the city of New York and not be
13 found.
14 And in my community, we had a
15 gentleman not too long ago that came in from
16 New Jersey -- never told Jersey he was
17 leaving, never told New York he was coming --
18 and came and had molested many of the children
19 in the 6-1 precinct area. This was only six
20 months ago, another sex offender that had
21 served time that had been released to the
22 communities.
23 And we have studies, studies from
24 the Washington State Institute. After six
25 years after release, 57 percent of the
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1 subjects were convicted of a new felony
2 offense. Forty percent were convicted of a
3 new felony against a person offense, including
4 sex offense. Almost one-third committed a new
5 felony sex offense, and 16 percent failed to
6 register as sex offenders.
7 The Center for Sex Offender
8 Management: Recidivism depends on how the
9 population is defined. Child molesters have a
10 recidivism rate of 52 percent over 25 years,
11 and rapists, 39 percent.
12 In Brooklyn, there are 1555
13 registered sex offenders, of which 345 of them
14 are Level 3 sex offenders. And just looking
15 at the Level 3 sex offenders in Brooklyn,
16 recidivism statistics indicate that somewhere
17 between 18, or 5.3, and 113 or 33 percent of
18 these people will commit another sex crime
19 within six years. And as many as 172 may
20 reoffend over a 25-year period.
21 This law is long overdue here in
22 this state. Our children and our families
23 deserve it. And hopefully, God willing, we
24 will move Senator Volker's bill and we will
25 get it passed this year, unified with the
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1 Assembly, the Senate, and the Governor so that
2 we can protect our children in this great
3 state.
4 I vote aye.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
6 Senator Golden will be recorded in the
7 affirmative.
8 Senator Libous.
9 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you,
10 Mr. President.
11 And I too want to applaud Senator
12 Volker for bringing this legislation up again
13 and passing this house almost unanimously time
14 and time again.
15 The frustration that I have, and
16 actually the frustration that my constituents
17 have, is that this is common sense. Why can't
18 we put legislation together that both houses
19 can agree on and that the Governor can sign?
20 Every day in my district, at the
21 local level, there are town ordinances, city
22 ordinances to try to make changes to protect
23 citizens and particularly young children from
24 these dangerous sex offenders and predators
25 who are released from state facilities. I
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1 think it's just common sense that we enact
2 this law and put it on the books to protect
3 our children.
4 Mr. President, I guess what's
5 frustrating is that if you look at the bills
6 in both houses, they're fairly similar, with
7 just minor changes here and there. And it
8 just doesn't make sense that the Assembly just
9 fails to move forward on the provisions, as in
10 Senator Volker's bill, to make sure that
11 before dangerous predators are released that
12 the hearing take place.
13 It makes no sense to me and it
14 makes no sense to the constituents that I
15 serve when I explain to them the hangup or the
16 difference is that what the Senate is trying
17 to do is make sure, before a dangerous
18 predator is released, that the hearing take
19 place, that they're not on the streets, that
20 they're not preying on our children. They
21 feel that that's common sense.
22 I would hope that members of the
23 Assembly are listening today. I would hope
24 that Governor Spitzer is listening today. The
25 time has come that we have a unanimous piece
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1 of legislation that passes in both houses,
2 that's signed by the Governor, to protect the
3 children of the state.
4 I vote aye.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
6 Thank you, Senator Libous. You will be
7 recorded in the affirmative.
8 Senator Bonacic, to explain his
9 vote.
10 SENATOR BONACIC: Thank you,
11 Mr. President.
12 I stand also and I thank Senator
13 Volker for drafting this legislation and
14 passing it in the Senate.
15 Level 3 sexual predators are the
16 worst kind of felons that prey on our children
17 and our families and our community. When we
18 talk to the police and the prosecutors, there
19 was one statistic that always knocked my socks
20 off, and it's horrifying. And that is before
21 a sexual predator is caught, he would have
22 committed somewhere between 100 and 113 acts
23 upon children or adults before they nail him.
24 It is an illness, and it is an
25 evil. And when we incarcerate this felon
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1 after he is -- he or she is convicted, and
2 they serve their time, you can argue, Well,
3 they've served their time, they should be
4 allowed to go back into the community.
5 But you've heard my colleagues
6 speak to this issue. There are studies that
7 the recidivism rate is over 50 percent that
8 they will commit the same horrendous acts of
9 assault, rape or murder of children and mainly
10 women.
11 Another reason for civil
12 confinement is certainly the first priority is
13 to protect our families and our communities.
14 But in a humane way. They could be treated
15 with medication, with counseling, to give them
16 a fighting chance to see if they can ever
17 overcome this horrible addiction to evil and
18 commission of a crime.
19 So let's not let this delay -- you
20 know, there was an incident unrelated to this
21 particular crime of sexual predators, and we
22 had an incident occur this weekend with cell
23 towers. Remember, up in the Adirondacks? Two
24 people were in a car accident. They couldn't
25 get out of the car, they couldn't use their
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1 cellphones because there was no service
2 because there was a fight going on, the
3 environmental community versus the people that
4 wanted cell towers. And two people died for
5 inaction.
6 How long has the Assembly and the
7 Senate not acted on civil confinement? And
8 when you look at the statistics -- because we
9 can chart what these Level 3 sexual predators
10 are -- you know where most of them are?
11 They're in the metropolitan area. They're in
12 New York City, they're in the Bronx, they're
13 in Brooklyn, they're in Queens.
14 So as we play with language and
15 don't do a bill, how many of these sexual
16 predators who are now out of jail, are not
17 civilly confined, are committing multiple,
18 repeated assaults, rape and murder on children
19 and women?
20 For those reasons, I vote yes. And
21 I thank you, Mr. President.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
23 Senator Bonacic will be recorded in the
24 affirmative.
25 Senator Liz Krueger, to explain her
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1 vote.
2 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you.
3 I think we're actually on the bill
4 still, Mr. President.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: No,
6 we're explaining the vote. We're on a roll
7 call.
8 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Oh, we're
9 explaining the vote. I thought it seemed to
10 be longer than a few minutes.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The
12 chair has been lenient in enforcing our
13 two-minute rule, but --
14 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: That's why
15 I lost track. Thank you.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: You
17 have the floor, Senator.
18 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you,
19 Mr. President.
20 Well, I have some dilemmas here. I
21 spoke to some experts who came to speak to me,
22 and I thought that they would tell me, because
23 they were professionals in the field, that
24 they had concerns about this bill and civil
25 confinement.
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1 And what they told me surprised me,
2 because they said: No, you're looking at this
3 wrong. There are people who should just have
4 longer terms in prison because they are
5 dangerous and they are predatory and they are
6 recidivists. And unfortunately, there may not
7 be mental health services out there that can
8 address their problems.
9 So they raised the concern to me,
10 one, that the costs of civil confinement could
11 be as high as a quarter million dollars a year
12 per person, compared to prison costs, which
13 are about $40,000 per year.
14 They raised concerns that mandating
15 people into civil confinement was going to
16 drain money that is desperately needed in the
17 mental health care system within prison and
18 within communities that is already so
19 desperately short. We are so short on funds
20 for community-based mental health care
21 services, for institutional-based mental
22 health care services.
23 And they said they think we're
24 doing this wrong, but they're not disagreeing
25 with Senator Volker or anyone who already
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1 articulately raised the fact that we have to
2 protect our society from violent sexual
3 predators. There's no one who would debate
4 that point.
5 But they were saying there's still
6 a better way for us to think this through,
7 which is to ensure longer prison terms for
8 people who are found guilty of these crimes,
9 to ensure that we have adequate mental health
10 care services before people end up, I think as
11 Senator Bonacic just described, as addicted in
12 some way to evil.
13 That we should have upfront mental
14 health services for people who appear to be at
15 risk of going down the road where they end up
16 in this situation. That we should also face
17 the fact that if you look at the studies from
18 every other state, once you've put somebody
19 into civil confinement, apparently they never
20 get out, statistically.
21 And one might argue that that might
22 be protecting people from the dangers of
23 violent predators, and I'm not sure I would
24 argue that one, but at a cost of up to
25 $250,000 a year for life.
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1 Senator Montgomery talked about
2 Senator LaValle's bill on chemical castration
3 and the question of if it's a voluntary setup,
4 might that be a way to address some concerns.
5 And we don't address that in this bill.
6 I talked to professionals who
7 technically would be the people making the
8 decisions within Senator Volker's bill about
9 whether someone was civil confined or let out,
10 and they said, "Let's be honest. None of us
11 are ever going to vote to let them out. We're
12 not going to want to take that heat."
13 So they're admitting that once we
14 make a civil confinement decision, that's it
15 forever. And you ask have to ask the
16 question -- because once we pass laws, it's
17 tough for us to go back and change them later,
18 especially on an issue that is so sensitive
19 and so press-driven as sexual predators -- do
20 we want to have life imprisonment, life civil
21 confinement for sexual predators when they're
22 in their 70s, when they're in their 80s, when
23 they're in their 90s, where the data shows
24 that in fact they are not statistically at
25 risk of continuing to be predators?
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1 So I will vote for the bill. And
2 frankly I think it would be hard for us not to
3 vote for the bill today. But I hope as we go
4 forward in negotiations with the other house
5 and with the new Governor, we think through
6 not my analysis that we don't be this tough --
7 because these are scary people. I know I'm
8 scared for my constituents -- but that we
9 think through what is best practice, what are
10 our options here, and are we not thinking as
11 broadly as we should about what we can do to
12 protect our communities.
13 So I will vote yes, but I hope we
14 will expand on this bill before it becomes
15 law.
16 Thank you, Mr. President.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
18 Thank you, Senator Krueger. You will be
19 recorded in the affirmative.
20 Senator Robach, to explain his
21 vote.
22 SENATOR ROBACH: Yes,
23 Mr. President.
24 I rise to support this bill and
25 applaud my colleague Senator Volker, who has
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1 done a great job of not only framing this
2 issue but keeping it alive.
3 And while I would agree with
4 Senator Krueger that I do think that these
5 people should get much, much longer sentences,
6 sometimes in the realm of government we only
7 have our vote or our issue, we have to get
8 things through all sides.
9 And I know, coming from the
10 Assembly, that oftentimes many of the bills I
11 supported over there that would have given
12 longer sentences were not able to pass that
13 house.
14 And I think that frustrates us
15 because -- or at least me, because when I'm
16 dealing with the public what they want is not
17 politics, they want protection. This is about
18 children, about families, about victims. And
19 they're really asking us, in any way we can,
20 can we better protect their kids.
21 Now, I don't think it's going to
22 cost a quarter of a million dollars. I do
23 believe that's a fear, not a fact. And we
24 should probably try to do it in the most
25 cost-beneficial way. But I don't know if we
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1 in this house want to not vote for a bill
2 because of a price tag when it comes to less
3 victims in this area.
4 I had the opportunity earlier in my
5 life to work with crime victims, and I can
6 tell you the stories are not only tragic,
7 hurtful, but they are the kind of wounds that,
8 more than the physical offenses, are things
9 that stay with these people for a lifetime.
10 So I think this is a very, very
11 important bill off of anybody's politics. I
12 do hope sincerely that we do come to some
13 three-way agreement and that we get this done,
14 first step. Then I would agree, second step,
15 and I would support those things from chemical
16 castration to longer sentences or anything we
17 could do, again, to be preventive but balance
18 those scales of justice back to the offended,
19 not the offenders.
20 And I'll end with this. It's very,
21 very frustrating -- I've seen it firsthand --
22 of people coming out of jail, off probation,
23 who say right to the very authorities that are
24 supposed to be protecting the public: Hey,
25 look, this is just what I do. Don't be mad at
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1 me. Don't expect anything different.
2 When you have that kind of person
3 and those kind of statements, there really is
4 only one choice for us as lawmakers. That's
5 to change the policy that's not going to let
6 them out to prey.
7 So I gladly cast my vote in the
8 affirmative, Mr. President.
9 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
10 Thank you, Senator Robach. You will be
11 recorded in the affirmative.
12 Senator Diaz, to explain his vote.
13 SENATOR DIAZ: Thank you,
14 Mr. President. I have to explain my vote,
15 which I'm voting yes.
16 Mr. President and ladies and
17 gentlemen, I am reading the legislative
18 history of this bill. And it shows that in
19 1998, the bill came, Senate Bill Number 70659
20 [sic] and passed this Senate, this chamber, 59
21 votes to 1, being Senator Leichter, the one
22 that voted against.
23 In 1999, Senate Bill 5093 passed
24 the Senate 56 to 1, Senator Duane voting
25 against.
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1 In 2000, Senate Bill 5093 again
2 passed the Senate 59 to 1. Senator Duane
3 voted against.
4 In 2001, Senate Bill 5385 passed
5 the Senate 56 to 0.
6 In 2003, Senate Bill 5556 passed
7 the Senate 59 to 2, Duane and Montgomery.
8 In 2004, Senate Bill 5556 passed
9 the Senate 59 to 2 again, Duane and
10 Montgomery.
11 In 2005, Senate Bill 3273 passed
12 the Senate 58 to 2, Duane and Montgomery.
13 In 2006, Senate Bill 6325 passed
14 the Senate, Duane and Montgomery. In 2006
15 again, in extraordinary session, Senate Bill
16 6325 passed 60 to 0.
17 What am I doing and what am I
18 saying? I'm saying that every year we come
19 here and the Majority has the opportunity,
20 being the majority, to be the one to introduce
21 the bill.
22 Then we have to take and to listen
23 to each and every one of the 33 or 34 members
24 of the Majority standing in front of the
25 cameras lecturing us and talking like the bill
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1 has any opposition. And they get up and they
2 stand there and they -- owoo, owoo --
3 lecturing us like we are opposing the bill.
4 Why are you going through this
5 mockery and this game? You have no opposition
6 here. We have been supporting the bill every
7 time. The only reason, that you are the ones
8 that introduce the bill. But we -- the most,
9 the most negative votes that this bill has
10 gotten is two. We Democrats have been in
11 favor of this bill.
12 So why every year you have to start
13 trying to lecture us so people on the camera
14 can see you and say, Oh, the Democrats don't
15 want the bill? We have no problem with the
16 bill. We're supporting the bill. Every
17 single year you have our support.
18 Please don't lecture us anymore.
19 Stop the game. This bill has no reason to be
20 discussed in here. We have no opposition.
21 This is a bill, easy thing to do. Go talk to
22 the other side of the hall and lecture them.
23 But please stop that game.
24 I'm voting yes, Mr. President.
25 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
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1 Thank you for voting yes, Senator Diaz.
2 Senator Little, to explain her
3 vote.
4 Can we have a little order, please,
5 in the house. Please.
6 Thank you.
7 SENATOR LITTLE: Thank you,
8 Mr. President.
9 As I sit here, I too can't help but
10 think about the cellphone issue, as Senator
11 Bonacic mentioned. This is -- getting
12 cellphones on the Northway is something that I
13 have worked on for about -- since 2000.
14 We have a general agreement that
15 yes, we need to have cellphones there. What
16 kind and how to go about doing it has been a
17 debate. But to tell the Langners that we are
18 working on it and that we know it's an issue
19 that needs to be done is little consolation.
20 And as we sit here and talk about
21 civil confinement, I think I'm correct in
22 saying that the Assembly agrees it needs to
23 happen, the Governor agrees it needs to
24 happen, the Senate agrees it needs to happen.
25 Let's just hope that it happens and that we
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1 get an agreement so that this is not a work in
2 progress and some other child or adult is
3 killed or whatever by a person who would have
4 qualified for civil confinement and should
5 have been civilly confined.
6 On this bill, I vote aye. Thank
7 you.
8 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
9 Thank you, Senator Little. You will be
10 recorded in the affirmative.
11 Senator Schneiderman.
12 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you,
13 Mr. President.
14 I will be also supporting this
15 bill. And I appreciate the fact that there
16 have been some positive changes made.
17 I would like to suggest, though,
18 that the single major problem remaining with
19 the bill that I'm not sure would withstand a
20 legal challenge, quite honestly -- and the
21 problem, I told Senator Volker this before, I
22 don't think is with the United States Supreme
23 Court, I think it would be with the Court of
24 Appeals of our own state.
25 The problem is you have great
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1 due-process protections provided for people
2 going -- being -- before they are civilly
3 confined. And this is something that has been
4 developed over a course of years and there
5 have been hearings held. I think Senator
6 Klein held hearings that really jump-started
7 this process in our house to move this along.
8 It has something that members of the Assembly
9 and of the Senate in both parties, as
10 Senator Diaz points out, have supported for a
11 long time.
12 The difficulty from my point of
13 view comes from the fact that after all this
14 due process, before people are civilly
15 confined, the burden is all put an OMH
16 commissioner to -- and this is the language of
17 the statute -- get a psychiatric report and
18 make a determination in writing as to whether
19 the person is no longer a sexually violent
20 predator.
21 Ladies and gentlemen, what OMH
22 commissioner is going to put their career on
23 the line by letting someone out, given the
24 standards that have been set here?
25 I think we have to pass a statute
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1 that does not essentially sentence everyone
2 put into this program to lifetime
3 incarceration, which is the functional effect,
4 I believe, as currently structured.
5 There are ways to remedy this. And
6 I am going to vote in support of it in the
7 hopes that as we move forward towards actually
8 passing a law we can change this. But there
9 has to be something more in the nature of a
10 presumption, some more process, some provision
11 of legal services for the annual evaluation,
12 some way that someone who is already in the
13 program has a realistic chance of someday
14 getting out. I'm not sure you're going to
15 survive a constitutional challenge if you
16 don't provide that.
17 With the hope that that change will
18 be made, and commendations to everyone who
19 continues to work on improving this bill, I
20 will be voting in support of it.
21 Thank you, Mr. President.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
23 Thank you, Senator Schneiderman. You will be
24 recorded in the affirmative.
25 Senator Griffo, to explain his
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1 vote.
2 SENATOR GRIFFO: Thank you,
3 Mr. President.
4 As we have this discussion today
5 and we talk about how we have to have this
6 law, it's even more important to say that we
7 must have this law. This is a good piece of
8 legislation, and it's also an essential piece
9 of legislation.
10 I defy anyone to go out into their
11 community to talk to their constituents and to
12 ask them how they feel -- and I know that from
13 talking to people in my community, no one
14 would sit here today and tell or express to
15 any of us as representatives that we should
16 not do something and that we should not do
17 something right now. Because there is no
18 greater opportunity that we all have as a body
19 to do something to protect society, to have a
20 tremendous impact in making this a safer
21 community.
22 So I think this -- I want to also
23 applaud Senator Volker for his persistence,
24 and this entire body. Because now we need to
25 really come together to bring that message,
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1 Senator Diaz, to the other house and to ensure
2 that they understand and appreciate the
3 sensitivity of this bill, the timeliness of
4 this bill. And let's get something done to
5 make a difference to protect our communities
6 across the state.
7 Thank you. I vote aye.
8 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
9 Thank you, Senator Griffo. You will be
10 recorded in the affirmative.
11 Senator Lanza, to explain his vote.
12 SENATOR LANZA: Thank you,
13 Mr. President. I rise also to support this
14 bill and thank my colleague Senator Volker for
15 putting it on the floor.
16 Senator Diaz, thou protest too
17 much. You talk about the fact that there's
18 unanimity of support here. And I hear
19 questions being raised, I hear problems being
20 talked about with respect to this bill.
21 We hear talk about the costs of
22 civil confinement. Well, I tell you the cost
23 of doing nothing is something that we can't
24 afford to do.
25 We talk about the fact that perhaps
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1 civil confinement is a de facto life sentence.
2 I say good, so be it.
3 We hear that there may be other
4 alternatives, longer prison sentences. I
5 agree. How about a lifetime sentence? Why
6 don't we put that on the floor and see what
7 kind of support we have?
8 Senator Diaz, you hit it perfectly,
9 I think, with respect to why this hasn't
10 moved. You seem to understand and appreciate
11 why it's not law. I suggest to you that you
12 convince your Democratic colleagues across the
13 hall to see it the way you see it, to support
14 this measure, to make sure that we protect our
15 children.
16 If we -- and I speak not as a
17 member of the State Senate, but a member of
18 the state government -- if we cannot protect
19 our children from being sexually molested,
20 assaulted and raped, then we have no business
21 being here. Going to fold up the tent and go
22 home.
23 We owe that to them. As a
24 civilized, decent society, we should do no
25 less.
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1 And so I thank you again, Senator
2 Volker, for putting this on the floor. And I
3 vote aye.
4 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
5 Senator Lanza will be recorded in the
6 affirmative.
7 Senator Duane, to explain his vote.
8 SENATOR DUANE: Thank you,
9 Mr. President.
10 I also want to commend Senator Diaz
11 and the comments that he made, and to point
12 out to members that are less familiar with the
13 New York State Senate that it's always
14 appropriate to debate and critique in this
15 body, that that's what the people of the State
16 of New York expect us to do every day that
17 we're here.
18 And as we work to pass substantive
19 legislation, we need to make sure that we in a
20 civil and a collegial way make sure that every
21 point of view is heard and that questions are
22 answered. And I think the people in the state
23 expect no less.
24 And I'll be voting in the negative,
25 as you know, Mr. President, but I want to
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1 commend my colleagues on both sides of the
2 aisle and, as a former member of the
3 conference committee, both sides of the aisle
4 in the other house on their hard work on
5 trying to come together on consensus on this
6 legislation.
7 And I'm confident that, along with
8 the Governor, soon we will have legislation
9 that will pass with the majority of the
10 members of both houses.
11 Thank you, Mr. President.
12 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
13 Thank you, Senator Duane. You will be
14 recorded in the negative.
15 Announce the results, please.
16 I'm sorry. Senator Perkins, to
17 explain his vote.
18 SENATOR PERKINS: Thank you so
19 much.
20 I'm not going to be able at this
21 time to vote on this legislation. I want to
22 thank Senator Krueger and Senator Schneiderman
23 for their arguments, which helped to be
24 convincing for me, even though they may have
25 taken the other position.
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1 I want to thank Senator Volker for
2 the work that he's done on this legislation.
3 I think it's a step in the right direction.
4 I'm glad to hear that this process
5 is evolving. Because while I strongly
6 identify with the intentions of this
7 legislation, I am looking forward to those
8 changes that will come as a result of the
9 discussions between the two houses, the
10 Congress -- I mean the Governor, as well as
11 ourselves, so that I can find myself more
12 comfortable in a position that I feel is the
13 right position for me to take.
14 So I want to be recorded in the
15 negative.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
17 Senator Perkins, you will be recorded in the
18 negative. Is that correct?
19 SENATOR PERKINS: Yes.
20 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
21 Thank you.
22 Is there any other member wishing
23 to be heard on this piece of legislation?
24 Seeing none, announce the results,
25 please.
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1 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in
2 the negative on Calendar Number 36 are
3 Senators Duane, Montgomery, and Perkins.
4 Ayes, 55. Nays, 3.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The
6 bill is passed.
7 Senator Skelos.
8 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
9 is there any further business to come before
10 the Senate?
11 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
12 There is none, Senator. The house is clean.
13 SENATOR SKELOS: There being
14 none, I move we stand adjourned until
15 Wednesday, January 31st, at 11:00 a.m.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: On
17 motion, the Senate stands adjourned until
18 Wednesday, January 31st, at 11:00 a.m.
19 (Whereupon, at 3:56 p.m., the
20 Senate adjourned.)
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