Regular Session - March 13, 2013
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1 NEW YORK STATE SENATE
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4 THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD
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9 ALBANY, NEW YORK
10 March 13, 2013
11 3:06 p.m.
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14 REGULAR SESSION
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18 SENATOR ELIZABETH O'C. LITTLE, Acting President
19 FRANCIS W. PATIENCE, Secretary
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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: In the
10 absence of clergy, may please we bow our heads
11 in a moment of silence.
12 (Whereupon, the assemblage
13 respected a moment of silence.)
14 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Reading
15 of the Journal.
16 THE SECRETARY: In Senate,
17 Tuesday, March 12th, the Senate met pursuant to
18 adjournment. The Journal of Monday, March 11th,
19 was read and approved. On motion, Senate
20 adjourned.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Without
22 objection, the Journal stands approved as read.
23 Presentation of petitions.
24 Messages from the Assembly.
25 The Secretary will read.
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1 THE SECRETARY: On page 16,
2 Senator LaValle moves to discharge, from the
3 Committee on Higher Education, Assembly Bill
4 Number 1049 and substitute it for the identical
5 Senate Bill Number 2897, Third Reading Calendar
6 171.
7 On page 16, Senator LaValle moves
8 to discharge, from the Committee on Higher
9 Education, Assembly Bill Number 1050 and
10 substitute it for the identical Senate Bill
11 Number 2899, Third Reading Calendar 172.
12 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE:
13 Substitutions ordered.
14 Messages from the Governor.
15 Reports of standing committees.
16 Reports of select committees.
17 Communications and reports from
18 state officers.
19 Motions and resolutions.
20 Senator Libous.
21 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you,
22 Madam President.
23 At this time I believe that you
24 could recognize Senator Klein, and he would like
25 to address the body.
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1 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank
2 you.
3 Senator Klein.
4 SENATOR KLEIN: Thank you,
5 Madam President. Thank you, Senator Libous.
6 I want to take a moment to
7 recognize a very special guest we have with us
8 visiting us here in Albany and in our Senate
9 chamber. I'm honored to have visiting Ms. Padma
10 Lakshmi, who's someone who I think everyone
11 knows her many accomplishments. Host of the
12 Emmy Award-winning show "Top Chef" on the Bravo
13 TV Network, she's an accomplished actress,
14 model, food expert.
15 And she's here today for a very
16 special reason, to help us move forward with our
17 teen health education initiative. And she's
18 someone who has done so much work on behalf of
19 young people throughout our state, throughout
20 our country.
21 And she's also the cofounder of the
22 Endometriosis Foundation of America. And she's
23 really putting her heart and soul in this
24 organization, doing so much great work.
25 And I hope you will join me,
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1 Madam President, in welcoming Padma today to the
2 Senate chamber.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank
4 you, Senator Klein.
5 And welcome. It's really a pleasure
6 and an honor to have you in our midst today.
7 Everyone has enjoyed knowing of you and what you
8 have done, and we appreciate it. So thank you
9 very much for joining us.
10 (Applause.)
11 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Senator
12 Libous.
13 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you,
14 Madam President. I believe there's a previously
15 adopted resolution by Senator Carlucci,
16 Number 582, at the desk. Could we please have
17 the title read at this time.
18 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank
19 you.
20 The Secretary will read.
21 THE SECRETARY: Legislative
22 Resolution Number 582, by Senator Carlucci,
23 memorializing Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to
24 proclaim September 2013 as Suicide Prevention
25 Month in New York State.
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1 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Senator
2 Carlucci.
3 SENATOR CARLUCCI: Thank you,
4 Madam President.
5 Today I rise to get a head start and
6 proclaim September as Suicide Prevention Month in
7 the State of New York.
8 And today we've probably all been
9 visited by mental health advocates from across
10 the state that have really talked to us about the
11 importance of making sure that we don't run away
12 from the stigma, that we talk about this very
13 important issue.
14 And in fact, it's troubling, the
15 statistics. Believe it or not, right now about
16 20 percent of our military personnel succumb to
17 suicide -- 20 percent. Startlingly, the tenth
18 highest cause of death in the United States is
19 currently suicide.
20 The statistics are startling, and
21 there's something that we can do about it. And
22 we have to start by making sure that we don't
23 hide away from this stigma, that we don't hide
24 away this emotion, this issue. And we make sure
25 that people that need help and want to talk about
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1 it can.
2 And we are setting that example by
3 proclaiming September a month where we're going
4 to recognize the importance of what we can do to
5 prevent suicide in the State of New York.
6 Thank you, Madam President.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank
8 you, Senator Carlucci.
9 Senator LaValle.
10 SENATOR LaVALLE: Madam President,
11 may we please have the noncontroversial reading
12 of the calendar.
13 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The
14 Secretary will read.
15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
16 157, by Senator Marcellino, Senate Print 3047, an
17 act to amend the Tax Law.
18 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read the
19 last section.
20 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
21 act shall take effect immediately.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call the
23 roll.
24 (The Secretary called the roll.)
25 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55.
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1 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The bill
2 is passed.
3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
4 158, by Senator Fuschillo, Senate Print 752, an
5 act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read the
7 last section.
8 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
9 act shall take effect on the first of November.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call the
11 roll.
12 (The Secretary called the roll.)
13 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Announce
14 the results.
15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The bill
17 is passed.
18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
19 160, by Senator Little, Senate Print 1356, an act
20 to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read the
22 last section.
23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
24 act shall take effect on the 180th day.
25 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call the
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1 roll.
2 (The Secretary called the roll.)
3 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Announce
4 the results.
5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The bill
7 is passed.
8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
9 164, by Senator Libous, Senate Print 982, an act
10 to amend the Real Property Tax Law.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read the
12 last section.
13 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
14 act shall take effect immediately.
15 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call the
16 roll.
17 (The Secretary called the roll.)
18 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Senator
19 Espaillat to explain his vote.
20 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: Yes, thank you,
21 Madam President. I would like to explain my
22 vote.
23 Every session this chamber takes on
24 a numerous number of legislation to assist the
25 farm industry in our state which provides the
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1 food that we bring to our table. In fact, many
2 neighborhoods in the City of New York benefit
3 from the green markets that receive on a regular
4 basis produce from these farms, from New York
5 State farms.
6 And while we do this, we neglect to
7 recognize that in these farms, there are many
8 farmworkers that continue to be exploited on a
9 regular basis by many of these farms. They don't
10 get a day's rest. They don't get overtime. They
11 don't have the right to collectively bargain.
12 They work under very adverse conditions. And yet
13 we haven't found it within us to address this
14 very serious issue that I think is -- I could
15 only characterize it as being one step away from
16 being indentured servants.
17 So I will be casting my vote in the
18 negative for this and other future bills that
19 will bring assistance to the farms until this
20 very serious travesty of justice is resolved.
21 Thank you, Madam President. I will
22 be voting in the negative.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank
24 you.
25 Senator Espaillat will be recorded
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1 in the negative.
2 Announce the results.
3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 54. Nays,
4 1. Senator Espaillat recorded in the negative.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The bill
6 is passed.
7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
8 171, substituted earlier by Member of the
9 Assembly Glick, Assembly Print Number 1049, an
10 act to repeal subdivision 7 of Section 7908 of
11 the Education Law.
12 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read the
13 last section.
14 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
15 act shall take effect on the same date and in the
16 same manner as Chapter 444 of the Laws of 2012.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call the
18 roll.
19 (The Secretary called the roll.)
20 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Senator
21 Kennedy to explain his vote.
22 SENATOR KENNEDY: Thank you,
23 Madam President.
24 First of all, I want to thank my
25 colleague Senator LaValle for carrying this
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1 important bill regarding the profession of
2 occupational therapy in this house today. I'm
3 proud to support it.
4 As an occupational therapist, I'd
5 like to introduce a group of young occupational
6 therapy students, some of them from my alma
7 mater, D'Youville College, and others from all
8 across New York State, from Buffalo to New York
9 City and everywhere in between. They're learning
10 the process of Albany as they're studying to
11 become occupational therapy students, and they're
12 watching government in progress and really
13 learning the process of that.
14 These individuals are going to go
15 out into the world and help people. As I make
16 the correlation between our jobs as elected
17 officials and what will be their jobs as
18 healthcare professionals and occupational
19 therapists, the common denominator is that we are
20 out there helping people. They're studying the
21 skills to help people learn the job of living and
22 to live their lives with independence and
23 dignity.
24 And with that said, Madam President,
25 I would appreciate if we could extend the honor
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1 of this house to those students today.
2 Thank you very much.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank
4 you, Senator Kennedy.
5 And welcome to all of the
6 occupational therapy students and therapists who
7 are here, and assistant therapists. We
8 appreciate your presence today, and continue your
9 good work. Thank you.
10 And Senator Kennedy will be recorded
11 in the affirmative.
12 (Applause.)
13 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Announce
14 the results.
15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The bill
17 is passed.
18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
19 172, substituted earlier by Member of the
20 Assembly Glick, Assembly Print Number 1050, an
21 act to amend the Education Law.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read the
23 last section.
24 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
25 act shall take effect immediately.
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1 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call the
2 roll.
3 (The Secretary called the roll.)
4 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Announce
5 the results.
6 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The bill
8 is passed.
9 Senator Libous, that completes the
10 noncontroversial reading of the calendar.
11 SENATOR LIBOUS: Madam President,
12 is there any further business at the desk?
13 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: No,
14 Senator Little -- Senator Libous.
15 SENATOR LIBOUS: I'm sorry? I'm
16 having a difficult time hearing today.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: I'm just
18 as glad you didn't hear it.
19 (Laughter.)
20 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Senator
21 Libous, no, there is no further business at the
22 desk.
23 SENATOR LIBOUS: Okay. Before I
24 adjourn, I did want to announce and remind the
25 Republican Conference that they will have
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1 conference immediately following session.
2 And there being no further business
3 before the house, I move that we adjourn until
4 Thursday, March 14th, at 11:00 a.m.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: On
6 motion, the Senate stands adjourned until
7 Thursday, March 14th, at 11:00 a.m.
8 (Whereupon, at 3:19 p.m., the Senate
9 adjourned.)
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