Regular Session - April 16, 2007
1891
1 NEW YORK STATE SENATE
2
3
4 THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD
5
6
7
8
9 ALBANY, NEW YORK
10 April 16, 2007
11 3:08 p.m.
12
13
14 REGULAR SESSION
15
16
17
18 SENATOR ELIZABETH O'C. LITTLE, 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 LITTLE: The
3 Senate will come to order.
4 I ask everyone present to please
5 rise and repeat with me the Pledge of
6 Allegiance.
7 (Whereupon, the assemblage recited
8 the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.)
9 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The
10 invocation today will be given by Rabbi Joseph
11 Potasnik, of Congregation Mt. Sinai in
12 Brooklyn.
13 RABBI POTASNIK: Thank you,
14 Senator.
15 I want to share a true story with
16 all of you here. Some time ago I was invited
17 to the installation of Archbishop Edwin
18 O'Brien, which was held at St. Patrick's
19 Cathedral in New York City. I arrived that
20 day, and I had two tickets with me.
21 And an elderly Catholic woman came
22 over to me, and she said: "Do you have an
23 extra ticket? I don't have one, and I'd like
24 to attend." And I reached in my pocket, and I
25 said, "Please, take this one." And she said,
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1 "Oh, thank you so much. Who are you?" And I
2 said, "I'm a rabbi."
3 And she said, "You know, only in
4 New York, in order to get into St. Patrick's
5 Cathedral, do you need a rabbi to give you a
6 ticket."
7 The lesson there is, I think, that
8 all of us need rabbis in life. But more
9 importantly, we need people to open doors for
10 us.
11 So please remember, as you recall
12 Jackie Robinson, that shortly before he played
13 his first game, he went into the stands and he
14 said to his wife: "You will easily recognize
15 me on that field, because I will be wearing
16 Number 42."
17 So we are here today as people of
18 different faiths and people of different
19 faces, but hopefully we all recognize that
20 there comes that moment when we all must
21 realize we are part of one family.
22 Amen.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank
24 you, Rabbi Potasnik.
25 The reading of the Journal.
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1 THE SECRETARY: In Senate,
2 Sunday, April 15, the Senate met pursuant to
3 adjournment. The Journal of Saturday,
4 April 14, was read and approved. On motion,
5 Senate adjourned.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Without
7 objection, the Journal stands approved as
8 read.
9 Presentation of petitions.
10 Messages from the Assembly.
11 Messages from the Governor.
12 Reports of standing committees.
13 Reports of select committees.
14 Communications and reports from
15 state officers.
16 Motions and resolutions.
17 Senator Farley.
18 SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you, Madam
19 President.
20 On behalf of Senator Young, I have
21 a motion to recommit and to strike the
22 enacting clause, and I move that this bill be
23 discharged from its respective committee and
24 be recommitted with instructions to strike the
25 enacting clause. It's Senate Number 410.
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1 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: So
2 ordered.
3 SENATOR FARLEY: On behalf of
4 Senator Maziarz, Madam President, on page 5,
5 Calendar Number 63, Senate Print 947A, I now
6 offer the following amendments.
7 And also for Senator Maziarz, on
8 page 5, Calendar Number 66, Senate Print 957,
9 I offer an amendment.
10 I offer an amendment to Senator
11 Marcellino's bill, which is on page 8,
12 Calendar Number 144, Senate Print 699A.
13 And I also would like to amend
14 Senator Volker's bill, on page 10, Calendar
15 Number 194, Senate Print 1977.
16 And I also would like to amend
17 Senator Maltese's bill, on page 24, Calendar
18 Number 461, Senate Print 3600.
19 And I would ask that these bills
20 will retain their place on the Third Reading
21 Calendar.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The
23 amendments are received and adopted, and the
24 bills will retain their place on the Third
25 Reading Calendar.
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1 Senator Duane.
2 SENATOR DUANE: Thank you, Madam
3 President.
4 On behalf of Senator Stavisky, I
5 move that the following bills be discharged
6 from their respective committees and be
7 recommitted with instructions to strike the
8 enacting clause: 2608 and 2609.
9 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: So
10 ordered.
11 Senator Skelos.
12 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President,
13 if we could go to the noncontroversial reading
14 of the calendar.
15 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The
16 Secretary will read.
17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
18 23, by Senator Maziarz, Senate Print 112, an
19 act to amend the Criminal --
20 SENATOR SKELOS: Lay it aside
21 temporarily.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The
23 bill is laid aside temporarily.
24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
25 92, by Senator Flanagan, Senate Print 691, an
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1 act to amend the Education Law, in relation to
2 providing.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read
4 the last section.
5 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
6 act shall take effect immediately.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call
8 the roll.
9 (The Secretary called the roll.)
10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 38.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The
12 bill is passed.
13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
14 111, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 1582, an
15 act to amend the Civil Service Law, in
16 relation to retaliatory actions.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read
18 the last section.
19 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
20 act shall take effect immediately.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call
22 the roll.
23 (The Secretary called the roll.)
24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 38.
25 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The
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1 bill is passed.
2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
3 129, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 1478, an
4 act to amend the General Business Law, in
5 relation to real estate syndication offerings.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read
7 the last section.
8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
9 act shall take effect immediately.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call
11 the roll.
12 (The Secretary called the roll.)
13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 37. Nays,
14 1. Senator Duane recorded in the negative.
15 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The
16 bill is passed.
17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
18 235, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 907, an
19 act to amend Chapter 672 of the Laws of 1993,
20 amending the Public Authorities Law.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read
22 the last section.
23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
24 act shall take effect immediately.
25 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call
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1 the roll.
2 (The Secretary called the roll.)
3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 40.
4 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The
5 bill is passed.
6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
7 256, by Senator Griffo, Senate Print 3253A, an
8 act to amend the Agriculture and Markets Law,
9 in relation to agricultural assessment values.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read
11 the last section.
12 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
13 act shall take effect immediately.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call
15 the roll.
16 (The Secretary called the roll.)
17 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 42.
18 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The
19 bill is passed.
20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
21 268, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 236, an
22 act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to
23 eligibility.
24 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read
25 the last section.
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1 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This
2 act shall take effect immediately.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call
4 the roll.
5 (The Secretary called the roll.)
6 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 41. Nays,
7 1. Senator Duane recorded in the negative.
8 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The
9 bill is passed.
10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
11 272, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 917, an
12 act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to
13 requirement.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read
15 the last section.
16 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
17 act shall take effect immediately.
18 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call
19 the roll.
20 (The Secretary called the roll.)
21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 45.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The
23 bill is passed.
24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
25 281, by Senator Seward, Senate Print 2073, an
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1 act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to
2 extending the authorization.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read
4 the last section.
5 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
6 act shall take effect immediately.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call
8 the roll.
9 (The Secretary called the roll.)
10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 45.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The
12 bill is passed.
13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
14 283, by Senator LaValle, Senate Print 2516, an
15 act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to
16 excluding.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read
18 the last section.
19 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
20 act shall take effect on the first day of the
21 sales tax quarterly.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call
23 the roll.
24 (The Secretary called the roll.)
25 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 48.
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1 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The
2 bill is passed.
3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
4 324, by Senator Stachowski, Senate Print 2754,
5 an act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to
6 definition.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read
8 the last section.
9 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
10 act shall take effect on the first of
11 November.
12 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call
13 the roll.
14 (The Secretary called the roll.)
15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 49.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The
17 bill is passed.
18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
19 326, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print
20 2877, an act to amend the Penal Law and the
21 Criminal Procedure Law.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read
23 the last section.
24 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
25 act shall take effect on the first of
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1 November.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call
3 the roll.
4 (The Secretary called the roll.)
5 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in
6 the negative on Calendar Number 326 are
7 Senators Duane, Hassell-Thompson, L. Krueger,
8 Montgomery and Perkins. Also Senator
9 Schneiderman.
10 Ayes, 44. Nays, 6.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The
12 bill is passed.
13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
14 336, by Senator Morahan, Senate Print 2898, an
15 act to amend Chapter 631 of the Laws of 1997,
16 amending the Social Services Law.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read
18 the last section.
19 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
20 act shall take effect immediately.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call
22 the roll.
23 (The Secretary called the roll.)
24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 50.
25 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The
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1 bill is passed.
2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
3 345, by Senator Little, Senate Print 1120, an
4 act to amend the Real Property Tax Law, in
5 relation to taxation of forest lands.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read
7 the last section.
8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
9 act shall take effect immediately.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call
11 the roll.
12 (The Secretary called the roll.)
13 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in
14 the negative on Calendar Number 345 are
15 Senators Duane, Hassell-Thompson, and
16 L. Krueger.
17 Ayes, 47. Nays, 3.
18 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The
19 bill is passed.
20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
21 346, by Senator Wright, Senate Print 1555, an
22 act in relation to authorizing.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: There
24 is a home-rule message at the desk.
25 Read the last section.
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1 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
2 act shall take effect immediately.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call
4 the roll.
5 (The Secretary called the roll.)
6 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 50.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The
8 bill is passed.
9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
10 420, by Senator Bonacic, Senate Print 479, an
11 act to amend the Correction Law, in relation
12 to requiring.
13 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read
14 the last section.
15 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
16 act shall take effect on the 120th day.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call
18 the roll.
19 (The Secretary called the roll.)
20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 50.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The
22 bill is passed.
23 The Secretary will read.
24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
25 23, by Senator Maziarz, Senate Print 112, an
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1 act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law, in
2 relation to enacting criteria.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read
4 the last section.
5 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This
6 act shall take effect on the first of
7 November.
8 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Explanation,
9 please.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call
11 the roll.
12 (The Secretary called the roll.)
13 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The
14 roll call is withdrawn. Senator Montgomery
15 asks for an explanation.
16 The bill is laid aside.
17 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President,
18 if an explanation has been requested, then we
19 should go to the controversial reading of the
20 calendar.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank
22 you.
23 The Secretary will ring the bell to
24 bring Senators into the chamber for the
25 controversial calendar.
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1 The Secretary will read.
2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
3 23, by Senator Maziarz, Senate Print 112, an
4 act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law.
5 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Explanation.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Senator
7 Maziarz, for an explanation.
8 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you,
9 Madam President.
10 This legislation would expand the
11 scope of criteria judges are allowed to
12 consider when setting bail. This bill would
13 give the judge certain discretion to decide if
14 the individual is a possible threat to the
15 alleged victim, if the individual has made any
16 prior threatening comments to the alleged
17 victim.
18 This legislation would also allow
19 the judge to consider whether or not the
20 individual has violated past court orders when
21 setting bail. The judge would also be able to
22 consider if the defendant has a pattern of
23 violence or threats of violence against the
24 victim or towards others.
25 This legislation is named after an
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1 individual who I've talked about many times on
2 the floor here, Jill Cahill, whose husband
3 repeatedly beat her. The second to the last
4 time that he beat her, he sent her to a
5 hospital in Syracuse for several weeks. And
6 while she was there recovering, he
7 surreptitiously snuck into the hospital and
8 poisoned her to death and murdered her in an
9 extremely horrific way.
10 The husband had been through the
11 Family Court, had had numerous orders of
12 protection, had been through the system and
13 none of that helped, and was actually out on
14 bail at the time that he murdered her, for the
15 beating that he inflicted upon her.
16 Thank you, Madam President.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank
18 you, Senator Maziarz.
19 SENATOR MAZIARZ: I might also
20 add that this bill is supported by Senator
21 Duane and Senator Ruben Diaz, Madam President.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank
23 you.
24 Senator Schneiderman.
25 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Yes, Madam
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1 President, on the bill.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank
3 you. Senator Schneiderman on the bill.
4 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: I
5 appreciate the growing Maziarz coalition.
6 I have voted against this bill in
7 the past, I will continue to vote against it,
8 and I'd urge my colleagues to vote against it
9 for a very simple reason. This is a classic
10 example of the old expression "Hard cases make
11 bad law."
12 Obviously this is a tragic
13 situation where this individual was a
14 wife-batterer and made threats and then was
15 released on bail, for whatever reason, and
16 killed his wife.
17 I would urge that this bill does
18 absolutely nothing to add to the likelihood
19 that that tragedy could have been prevented
20 and potentially does a great deal of harm,
21 particularly to poor defendants in this state
22 who will be unable to meet the burden that
23 could be imposed on them by prosecutors who
24 wanted to turn a bail hearing into an
25 open-ended inquiry on the mental state of the
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1 defendant.
2 Right now what bail is for is to
3 determine if someone is going to show up for
4 trial. This is something that is tremendously
5 important in our criminal justice system. But
6 New York's current statutes allow the judge to
7 take into account every single thing that this
8 bill would allow the court to take into
9 account.
10 What the current statutes do,
11 though, is frame those inquiries in a way so
12 that you don't have an open-ended hearing with
13 witnesses called on issues that would be
14 permitted by this bill, including -- and
15 again, I'm going to read from the language of
16 the bill, because I don't think that the
17 description of the distinguished, elegant
18 sponsor and head of the Maziarz coalition
19 provided us.
20 This bill would allow someone to be
21 held if the court finds that they are a danger
22 to some third party, someone who has nothing
23 to do with the crime. This would allow a
24 prosecutor, if they were inclined, to say:
25 You know, this person got into a fight with
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1 Joe Smith down the street and we think he
2 should be held in jail for that, and would
3 tremendous discretion for the judge.
4 And again, I think this would be
5 discretion that would work to the detriment of
6 the poorest defendants, who would not be able
7 to have lawyers capable of calling witnesses
8 and rebutting these charges.
9 This would allow the judge to hold
10 someone in jail for something that had
11 absolutely nothing to do with the crime
12 charged. That, ladies and gentlemen -- first
13 of all, I think it's unconstitutional. Second
14 of all, I would urge that it's not the way to
15 solve this problem.
16 If we want to have a tougher
17 standard for people who perpetrate domestic
18 violence, if we want to have a tougher
19 standard for letting them out on bail, let's
20 bite that bullet, let's deal with that.
21 Remember the work that went into
22 crafting the bill on civil confinement.
23 Remember the work that went into protecting
24 the due process right of those accused or that
25 the court would hold after their sentences
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1 were served. That inquiry and that effort is
2 completely absent from this piece of
3 legislation.
4 This would turn every bail hearing
5 into an open-ended inquiry on whether this
6 defendant had ever posed a danger to anyone
7 else, including to himself. This is a bill
8 that would require the court to look at the
9 issue of whether or not this defendant might
10 be suicidal.
11 Again, who suffers? Poor
12 defendants, mostly defendants who are people
13 of color in the state of New York who cannot
14 afford fancy defense lawyers to call rebuttal
15 witnesses. If a prosecutor wants to keep
16 someone in jail, this gives that prosecutor
17 open-ended discretion to keep someone in jail.
18 And that's the reason I'm opposed
19 to it -- not because I want people who are
20 dangerous out on the loose; I don't. But this
21 is a bill that is a one-house bill.
22 Suggestions are made every year, they're never
23 adopted, it's the same language. It never
24 comes out of committee in the Assembly and,
25 frankly, is not taken very seriously in the
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1 Assembly.
2 Our bail laws already allow the
3 consideration of all these factors. What our
4 bail laws now do not do is allow the
5 prosecutor to go on a vendetta to say, I'm
6 keeping this guy in jail pending his trial no
7 matter what I have to do, and I'm going to
8 raise issues that he can't deal with related
9 to third parties and other allegations and the
10 fact that maybe he's considered to be somewhat
11 suicidal or something like that.
12 All of these factors are things
13 that would change the nature of our bail
14 hearings. If I'm going to jail, I can afford
15 a good defense lawyer, I can call witnesses,
16 I'm getting out pending my trial. A poor
17 person wouldn't be able to do this.
18 This is a situation, as I say, in
19 which hard cases make bad law. This would be
20 bad law. And I'd urge all of my colleagues to
21 vote against it.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank
23 you.
24 Is there any other Senator wishing
25 to be heard?
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1 Senator Diaz.
2 SENATOR DIAZ: Thank you, Madam
3 President.
4 This bill was introduced because a
5 man by the name of Jeff Cahill had viciously
6 attacked with a baseball bat, seven times, his
7 wife. He was arrested, according to the bill,
8 and while she was in the hospital, he was
9 released on bail. He went into the hospital,
10 made believe that he was a maintenance person
11 in the hospital, and worked out to poison his
12 wife. So he did that. He killed her.
13 In the 32nd Senatorial District,
14 which I represent, in the county of the Bronx,
15 there are black and Hispanic majority of the
16 residents, what we call brown and black. And
17 somebody today told me -- asked me to wake up
18 and smell the coffee. My colleague, Senator
19 Ruth Hassell-Thompson, she asked me to wake up
20 and smell the coffee.
21 And I want to tell you and respond
22 to my colleagues in the Democratic side that
23 will oppose this bill and those in the other
24 side that will oppose this bill. In my
25 district there are women, a lot of women that
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1 get killed and get beaten by their spouses, by
2 their in-laws or whatever.
3 There are statistics here that say
4 that in the United States, 32 percent of all
5 the female murders, women killed in this
6 country, 32 percent of them were killed by
7 their husbands or by their boyfriends.
8 And here in New York State, in
9 2002, 194 women were killed. Out of those 194
10 women, 66 were murdered, killed by their
11 spouse, by their common-law spouse, by their
12 sexual partner or by their ex-sexual partner.
13 So we in the Democratic Party, we
14 brag about that we defend women and that we
15 are the defenders of women. And when a piece
16 of legislation like this comes to the floor,
17 we then say that most of the defendants cannot
18 afford the bail. But let me tell you
19 something, to all of you -- and I have to be
20 careful because nowadays, if you say things
21 that you're not supposed to say, even in a
22 joke, they kick you out of your job. But I
23 want to take my chances.
24 In the 32nd Senatorial District
25 that I represent, we are majority black and
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1 Hispanic. But you know who are the ones
2 killing the bodegueros? Us, black and
3 Hispanic. You know who are the ones killing
4 the taxi drivers? Us, black and Hispanic. Do
5 you know who are the ones raping women? Us,
6 black and Hispanic.
7 Let me wake up and smell the
8 coffee. And as soon as I wake up and smell
9 the coffee, ladies and gentlemen, I can assure
10 you that that coffee is going to stink.
11 Because it's us who are committing the crimes
12 against our people.
13 But then we don't want us to pay
14 for the crime. We come and we say, oh, the
15 black and Hispanic will never afford the bail.
16 Who's the one beating the women in our
17 communities? Who is the one committing the
18 crimes? With all due respect to all of you
19 and to all my colleagues, my community, in my
20 district, the whites are not the ones
21 committing the crimes. It's us, black and
22 Hispanic. Brown and black.
23 So when the year gets out, guess
24 who are the majority of people in jail? Black
25 and Hispanic. But why? Hello. Why? Because
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1 we are the ones.
2 So now this piece of legislation
3 calls for stronger bail or giving the judge
4 the authority to hold someone. But we say,
5 oh, but that person would be black and
6 Hispanic and would be poor and will not be
7 able to afford the bail. Anybody, any man,
8 any man that physically abuses a woman
9 deserves to be in jail as strongly -- with a
10 strong bail. If I abuse my wife and she
11 complains and they arrest me, I cannot
12 complain, Oh, I can't afford the bail. Why
13 did I abuse my wife? Why did you abuse a
14 woman? So if you don't want to pay the price,
15 don't commit the crime.
16 And as long as we don't come strong
17 forward to our community and to send a
18 message, stop the nonsense that the system
19 is -- stop the nonsense that we cannot pay the
20 bail, stop the nonsense that we have to be
21 easy with them. They are not being easy with
22 our women, they are not being easy with our
23 bodegueros, they are not being easy with our
24 taxi drivers, they are not being easy with our
25 senior citizens. We are being abused by our
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1 own.
2 Ladies and gentlemen, Senator
3 Maziarz, I am supporting your bill. And I'm
4 going to get heat because of what I'm saying,
5 but I'm supporting your bill. And it is a
6 good bill. And whoever abuse a woman, lock
7 him up and throw the keys away.
8 Thank you.
9 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank
10 you, Senator.
11 Senator Hassell-Thompson.
12 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Thank
13 you, Madam President.
14 I think that when we come into
15 these chambers, many times in our zeal and our
16 zest to do the right things for the right
17 reasons, we sometimes do so without regard for
18 the fact that there is a constitutionality
19 that must also be considered.
20 In my comments here on this floor,
21 I always want to make sure that no one goes
22 away believing that I do not believe that the
23 victim is entitled to justice. But I also am
24 smart enough -- whether that's a belief or not
25 by most -- that we use language not only to
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1 cover the victim, but we also lend ourselves
2 to the opportunity to expand on our judicial
3 powers to cover crimes that sometimes in the
4 language is not understood.
5 I don't purport to be an attorney,
6 but I do purport to be a student of language.
7 And when I suggested to my colleague Senator
8 Diaz that he wake up and smell the coffee, I
9 do so because I want us to always be clear
10 that when we're throwing out a net to catch
11 tuna, that we don't catch a dolphin.
12 And for anyone who does not believe
13 that we are in the business of language, then
14 they don't understand what we're here to do.
15 Language is very powerful. And within the
16 language that is written, there are also
17 nuances that are sometimes not written but is
18 understood by very few.
19 So my contention is that when I
20 look at a bill, if I do not understand it, I
21 will ask questions continually until I not
22 only understand the language that is being
23 written but the language that is being
24 presumed. And I presumed very correctly, I
25 believe, each time that I have voted no on
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1 this bill, that this language goes way beyond
2 that which is necessary to give judicial
3 discretion to our courts.
4 And therefore it is not a concern
5 of duplicativeness, but it is because within
6 it is contained the ability to go beyond what
7 appears on the surface. And I think maybe the
8 language is called prima facie; more than what
9 we see is contained in this bill.
10 So therefore I have voted no. I
11 have encouraged many of my colleagues to vote
12 no. And I will continue to vote no. Not
13 because I am not concerned about the numbers
14 of the crimes that are permitted against women
15 not only in my district but across the State
16 of New York -- I'm not passing laws for the
17 36th Senatorial District. I'm interested in
18 laws that go beyond the boundaries of the 36th
19 for women across this state, and for men who
20 are abused across this state. And because men
21 don't come forward does not mean that the
22 numbers of cases of abuse and deaths among men
23 does not occur. That's not the issue.
24 This is not a gender issue. This
25 is not a boundary issue. But it is an issue
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1 of law that says yes, protect the victim, but
2 not at the expense of perhaps another criminal
3 act's constitutionality. And that's what I
4 see in this bill, and that's what I have voted
5 against in the past. And that's what I will
6 vote against in the future, because I see my
7 job as being sure that the action that I take
8 does not cross the boundaries of the
9 constitutionality of all the citizens of the
10 State of New York.
11 Thank you, Madam President.
12 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank
13 you, Senator.
14 Is there any other Senator wishing
15 to be heard?
16 The debate is closed.
17 The Secretary will ring the bell.
18 Read the last section.
19 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This
20 act shall take effect on the first of
21 November.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call
23 the roll.
24 (The Secretary called the roll.)
25 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The
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1 Secretary will announce the results.
2 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in
3 the negative on Calendar Number 23 are
4 Senators Breslin, Dilan, Gonzalez,
5 Hassell-Thompson, L. Krueger, Montgomery,
6 Perkins and Schneiderman.
7 Ayes, 43. Nays, 8.
8 Absent from voting: Senators
9 Huntley and Parker.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The
11 bill is passed.
12 Senator Skelos, that completes the
13 reading of the controversial calendar.
14 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President,
15 is there any further business at the desk?
16 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: No,
17 there is not, Senator Skelos.
18 SENATOR SKELOS: If you would
19 recognize Senator Griffo, please.
20 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank
21 you. Senator Griffo.
22 Could we have some quiet in the
23 chamber, please?
24 Senator Griffo.
25 SENATOR GRIFFO: Thank you,
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1 Senator Skelos, Madam President.
2 Last Thursday evening in the city
3 of Utica, New York, Police Officer Thomas
4 Lindsey, in the performance of a vehicle and
5 traffic stop, was killed in cold blood in the
6 line of duty. A veteran of the United States
7 Marine Corps with over five and a half years
8 of service to the Police Department of the
9 City of Utica, an extraordinary young man who
10 gave his life to protect others.
11 I ask today that we join together
12 as we remember this fine police officer, offer
13 our condolences to his family and to the
14 members of the Utica Police Department, and
15 ask that we keep Officer Lindsey in our
16 prayers, as well as a random senseless act of
17 murder that occurred today, for all those who
18 have been hurt and killed at Virginia Tech
19 University -- this outrageous, ridiculous
20 violence that permeates our society.
21 So I ask that we adjourn in a
22 moment of silence for Officer Lindsey and to
23 remember those other victims today wounded and
24 killed at Virginia Tech.
25 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Senator
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1 Skelos.
2 SENATOR SKELOS: I thank Senator
3 Griffo for the suggestion.
4 And if we could rise in a moment of
5 silence and adjourn until Tuesday, April 17th,
6 at 3:00 p.m.
7 (Whereupon, the assemblage rose and
8 respected a moment of silence.)
9 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: On
10 motion, the Senate stands adjourned until
11 Tuesday, April 17th, at 3:00 p.m.
12 (Whereupon, at 3:48 p.m., the
13 Senate adjourned.)
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