Regular Session - April 17, 2025

                                                                   1924

 1                NEW YORK STATE SENATE

 2                          

 3                          

 4               THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD

 5                          

 6                          

 7                          

 8                          

 9                  ALBANY, NEW YORK

10                   April 17, 2025

11                     11:26 a.m.

12                          

13                          

14                   REGULAR SESSION

15  

16  

17  

18  SENATOR JEREMY COONEY, Acting President

19  ALEJANDRA N. PAULINO, ESQ., Secretary

20  

21  

22  

23  

24  

25  


                                                               1925

 1                P R O C E E D I N G S

 2                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The 

 3    Senate will come to order.

 4                 I ask everyone to please rise and 

 5    recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

 6                 (Whereupon, the assemblage recited 

 7    the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.) 

 8                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   In the 

 9    absence of clergy, let us bow our heads in a 

10    moment of silent reflection or prayer.

11                 (Whereupon, the assemblage respected 

12    a moment of silence.)

13                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Reading 

14    of the Journal.

15                 THE SECRETARY:   In Senate, 

16    Wednesday, April 16, 2025, the Senate met 

17    pursuant to adjournment.  The Journal of Tuesday, 

18    April 15, 2025, was read and approved.  On 

19    motion, the Senate adjourned.

20                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Without 

21    objection, the Journal stands approved as read.

22                 Presentation of petitions.

23                 Messages from the Assembly.

24                 The Secretary will read.

25                 (Pause.)


                                                               1926

 1                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:  Okay, skip 

 2    that. 

 3                 Messages from the Governor.  

 4                 Reports of standing committees.

 5                 Reports of select committees.

 6                 Communications and reports from 

 7    state officers.

 8                 Motions and resolutions.

 9                 Senator Gianaris.

10                 SENATOR GIANARIS:   Good morning, 

11    Mr. President.

12                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Good 

13    morning.

14                 SENATOR GIANARIS:   On behalf of 

15    Senator May, on page 30 I offer the following 

16    amendments to Calendar 669, Senate Print 6318, 

17    and ask that said bill retain its place on the 

18    Third Reading Calendar.

19                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The 

20    amendments are received, and the bill will retain 

21    its place on the Third Reading Calendar.

22                 Senator Gianaris.

23                 SENATOR GIANARIS:   There will now 

24    be an immediate meeting of the Rules Committee in 

25    Room 332.


                                                               1927

 1                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   There 

 2    will be an immediate meeting of the 

 3    Rules Committee in Room 332.

 4                 SENATOR GIANARIS:   The Senate 

 5    stands at ease.

 6                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The 

 7    Senate will stand at ease.  

 8                 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at ease 

 9    at 11:27 a.m.)

10                 (Whereupon, the Senate reconvened at 

11    11:32 a.m.)

12                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The 

13    Senate will return to order.

14                 Senator Gianaris.

15                 SENATOR GIANARIS:   Mr. President, 

16    there's a report of the Rules Committee at the 

17    desk.  Please take it up.

18                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The 

19    Secretary will read.  

20                 THE SECRETARY:   Senator 

21    Stewart-Cousins, from the Committee on Rules, 

22    reports the following bills:

23                 Senate Print 5560, by Senator Mayer, 

24    an act to amend the Tax Law; 

25                 Senate Print 7459, by 


                                                               1928

 1    Senator Krueger, an act making appropriations for 

 2    the support of government.

 3                 Both bills reported direct to third 

 4    reading.

 5                 SENATOR GIANARIS:   Move to accept 

 6    the report of the Rules Committee.

 7                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   All those 

 8    in favor of accepting the report of the 

 9    Rules Committee please signify by saying aye.

10                 (Response of "Aye.")

11                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Opposed, 

12    nay.

13                 (Response of "Nay.")

14                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The 

15    report of the Rules Committee is accepted.

16                 Senator Gianaris.  

17                 SENATOR GIANARIS:   Please take up 

18    the supplemental calendar.  

19                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The 

20    Secretary will read.

21                 And there's a substitution at the 

22    desk.  The Secretary will read.

23                 THE SECRETARY:   Senator Krueger 

24    moves to discharge, from the Committee on Rules, 

25    Assembly Bill Number 8000 and substitute it for 


                                                               1929

 1    the identical Senate Bill 7459, Third Reading 

 2    Calendar 686.

 3                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   

 4    Substitution so ordered.

 5                 The Secretary will read.

 6                 THE SECRETARY:   Calendar Number 

 7    686, Assembly Bill Number 8000, by 

 8    Assemblymember Pretlow, an act making 

 9    appropriations for the support of government.

10                 SENATOR GIANARIS:   Is there a 

11    message of necessity and appropriation at the 

12    desk?

13                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   There is 

14    a message of necessity and appropriation at the 

15    desk.

16                 SENATOR GIANARIS:   Move to accept 

17    the message of necessity and appropriation.

18                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   All those 

19    in favor of accepting the message please signify 

20    by saying aye.  

21                 (Response of "Aye.")

22                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:  Opposed, 

23    nay.  

24                 (Response of "Nay.")

25                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The 


                                                               1930

 1    message is accepted, and the bill is before the 

 2    house.

 3                 SENATOR LANZA:   Lay it aside.

 4                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The bill 

 5    is laid aside.

 6                 That completes the reading of 

 7    today's supplemental calendar.  

 8                 SENATOR GIANARIS:   Let's take up 

 9    the controversial calendar, please.  

10                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The 

11    Secretary will ring the bell.

12                 The Secretary will read.

13                 THE SECRETARY:   Calendar Number 

14    686, Assembly Bill Number 8000, by 

15    Assemblymember Pretlow, an act making 

16    appropriations for the support of government.

17                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Senator 

18    O'Mara, why do you rise?  

19                 SENATOR O'MARA:   Thank you, 

20    Mr. President.  Will the sponsor yield?  

21                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Senator 

22    Krueger, will the sponsor yield?  

23                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Happy to, 

24    Mr. President.

25                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The 


                                                               1931

 1    sponsor yields.

 2                 SENATOR O'MARA:   Thank you, 

 3    Mr. President.

 4                 Good morning, Senator Krueger.  Here 

 5    we are doing our sixth budget extender on 

 6    April 17th.  How long is this extending us for 

 7    today?  And what's the dollar amount being 

 8    appropriated in total so far of the six, and in 

 9    this one in particular today?  

10                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Thank you, 

11    Mr. President.  

12                 And yes, my colleague Senator 

13    O'Mara, we're here again, Extender No. 6.  This 

14    will provide appropriations to allow the state 

15    government to meet our payroll and nonpersonal 

16    expenses through April 23rd next week.  And it 

17    provides funding, 9.6 billion in appropriation 

18    authority.  In total, an increase of 3.4 billion 

19    over the prior extender.  

20                 And I can list out all the agencies 

21    that the funding is for, but I'm not sure I was 

22    asked that part of the question yet.

23                 SENATOR O'MARA:   Thank you, 

24    Mr. President.

25                 If the Senator will continue to 


                                                               1932

 1    yield.

 2                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Will the 

 3    sponsor yield? 

 4                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Yes.

 5                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The 

 6    sponsor yields.  

 7                 SENATOR O'MARA:   Yeah, no, I've got 

 8    the detail on the bill so we don't need to run 

 9    through all that, just in total.  Thank you.

10                 Do you have any update for us on 

11    where we are on these policy issues that are 

12    holding this budget up?  You know, we see last 

13    night that Speaker Heastie says there is a deal 

14    on discovery.  No confirmation on that from the 

15    Governor at this point, or from your leader over 

16    there.  

17                 So where are we on that discovery 

18    issue?  

19                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   So I'm cautiously 

20    optimistic that we do have an agreement on 

21    discovery.  I don't necessarily know why the 

22    Governor has not actually officially said that or 

23    not.

24                 But I'm again cautiously optimistic 

25    that the language that has been agreed upon 


                                                               1933

 1    between the Assembly, the Senate and key DAs in 

 2    the state have gotten us to the goal.

 3                 And what does that mean?  That's one 

 4    of many issues within a giant budget.  But it 

 5    does seem to be the issue that was holding up 

 6    ongoing meetings with our staffs.  

 7                 If I'm in an optimistic mood -- 

 8    which is hard right, now for international and 

 9    national reasons.  But if I'm in an optimistic 

10    mood, we could come back to do this extender next 

11    week and even work on budget bills at the same 

12    time and even, in some world, complete budget 

13    bills before the end of next week.

14                 But the less optimistic side of 

15    me -- because I do read the newspapers in the 

16    middle of the night, a serious mistake.  Don't 

17    do it.  

18                 (Laughter.)

19                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   And I learned 

20    last night in the middle of the night, we have a 

21    federal government who's decided to kill our 

22    offshore wind projects that are already under 

23    construction, and seem to be hostile to any kind 

24    of green energy going forward.  Which is not only 

25    going to do enormous destruction to the 


                                                               1934

 1    pocketbooks of every constituent we have, but to 

 2    the state budget and actually to the economic 

 3    competitiveness of the entire country.  

 4                 And so every day we have these chats 

 5    and I try to think about where we are in New York 

 6    and the progress we're trying to make as quickly 

 7    as possible.  Then I am knocked off my feet by 

 8    the reverse activities going on at the federal 

 9    level and the sheer sense of doom I have about 

10    what might happen as soon as we get our budget 

11    done, because then we have a federal government 

12    that wants to pull the rug out from every issue 

13    that we care about here in New York.

14                 But having gone on too long, I am 

15    quasi-optimistic we could be coming to a 

16    conclusion on our budget.

17                 SENATOR O'MARA:   Through you, 

18    Mr. President, if the Senator will continue to 

19    yield.

20                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Will the 

21    sponsor yield? 

22                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Yes.

23                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The 

24    sponsor yields.

25                 SENATOR O'MARA:   It kind of makes 


                                                               1935

 1    me wonder, with all the concern you have over the 

 2    federal cuts that may or may not be coming, why 

 3    we're looking at a budget that's approaching 

 4    $260 billion and not being more fiscally 

 5    responsible in this budget and kind of plan for 

 6    some of that, that some is probably likely 

 7    coming.

 8                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Through you, 

 9    Mr. President.  I think we are being fiscally 

10    responsible.  

11                 We have put significant additional 

12    money into reserve funds.  We are also I believe 

13    being responsible by continuing to highlight to 

14    our congressional representatives that it is 

15    their responsibility to make sure that the 

16    50 states are provided adequate federal revenue 

17    to continue critical programs.

18                 And frankly, my colleague knows as 

19    well as I do that in the absence of these federal 

20    funds, we would not have any ability to refill 

21    those holes.  So suggesting that we ought to I 

22    guess not spend the money that we know we need on 

23    existing and important programs for New York 

24    State I do not think would be a wise plan.  

25                 And so I do support the Governor's 


                                                               1936

 1    clear agenda to not make cuts until such time as 

 2    we actually have to, while continuing to advocate 

 3    as strongly as possible -- hopefully with all of 

 4    us in this room -- with the federal government 

 5    and our congressional representatives not to do 

 6    those things to us.

 7                 And yet each morning I wake up and I 

 8    read the newspapers and they seem to be doing 

 9    those things -- but not with congressional 

10    approval yet, they're just ad libbing and 

11    actually, in violation of laws, declaring that 

12    they're not going to do things anymore that we 

13    desperately need.

14                 SENATOR O'MARA:   Thank you, 

15    Senator.

16                 Mr. President, if the Senator will 

17    continue to yield.

18                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Will the 

19    sponsor yield? 

20                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Yes.

21                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The 

22    sponsor yields.

23                 SENATOR O'MARA:   Do we have an 

24    overall dollar amount for the parameters of where 

25    we're going to work on it in this budget once we 


                                                               1937

 1    finally get through these policy issues?  

 2                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Through you, 

 3    Mr. President, I don't think we have a 

 4    bottom-line financial plan for the budget 

 5    completing negotiations between the two houses 

 6    and the Governor yet.

 7                 We know where the Governor was in 

 8    her original Executive Budget.  We know where the 

 9    two houses were in their one-house budgets.  I'm 

10    going to take a leap it's somewhere between those 

11    numbers, but I don't have a number.

12                 SENATOR O'MARA:   Thank you.  

13                 Through you, Mr. President, if the 

14    Senator will continue to yield.  

15                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Will the 

16    sponsor yield? 

17                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Yes.

18                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The 

19    sponsor yields.

20                 SENATOR O'MARA:   So there's no 

21    table targets yet for the joint conference -- 

22    budget conference committees to meet, is that 

23    correct?

24                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Through you, 

25    Mr. President, correct, there is no table 


                                                               1938

 1    targets.

 2                 And again, for the record, there 

 3    have been years where we did not have table 

 4    targets or conference committees.  I don't know 

 5    whether this will be another one of those years.

 6                 SENATOR O'MARA:   Through you, 

 7    Mr. President, if the Senator will continue to 

 8    yield.  

 9                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Will the 

10    sponsor yield?

11                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Yes.

12                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The 

13    sponsor yields.

14                 SENATOR O'MARA:   What is the 

15    purpose of the joint budget conference 

16    committees?  Is it just a charade for the 

17    citizens of New York?  Because that's what it 

18    seems like.

19                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Through you, 

20    Mr. President.  I have often been frustrated -- 

21    through four different Governors, being in the 

22    Minority, being in the Majority -- that it's 

23    often not been clear to me what the purpose of 

24    the conference committees are.  

25                 So I don't exactly know how to 


                                                               1939

 1    answer my colleague's question, because I often 

 2    think it's more of an academic discussion of a 

 3    way to deal with the budget, as opposed to 

 4    something that has netted out significant impacts 

 5    on final budget decisions.

 6                 SENATOR O'MARA:   Through you, 

 7    Mr. President, if the Senator will continue to 

 8    yield.

 9                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Will the 

10    sponsor yield? 

11                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Yes.

12                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The 

13    sponsor yields.

14                 SENATOR O'MARA:   I think it's 

15    probably set up for -- to give some appearance, 

16    anyways, that rank-and-file members of the 

17    Legislature are actually engaged in the budget 

18    discussions.  

19                 But we all know that's not how it 

20    works around here and there's really three people 

21    in a room that are making these decisions and 

22    then we'll be confronted with budget bills in the 

23    middle of the night.  So, you know, that's very 

24    concerning to me that we go through, as I called 

25    it, that charade year in and year out.


                                                               1940

 1                 So why don't we just not set them up 

 2    at all?  

 3                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Through you, 

 4    Mr. President.  I think my colleague could 

 5    absolutely make that suggestion.  

 6                 I don't think it's anywhere in rules 

 7    or statute or constitution that that process 

 8    takes place.  So that if my colleague would like 

 9    to propose an official end of that process, 

10    there's nothing that stops him from doing that.

11                 I also have my own frustrations with 

12    our budget process.  He highlighted in his 

13    earlier statement the fact that we get bills 

14    often late at night and we're asked to vote on 

15    them the next day.  I know I carried a bill for 

16    many years saying that budget bills should 

17    actually have to age for longer than the three 

18    days that we usually require so that people can 

19    take a look and see what's in them.  I think at 

20    one time I had a bill saying 10 days for budget 

21    bills.  

22                 And I do not like the concept that 

23    we sometimes even pass budget bills with messages 

24    of necessity, which I also have never been 

25    comfortable with.  So if my colleague would like 


                                                               1941

 1    to suggest either or both of those proposals I 

 2    would be happy to work with him on that.

 3                 SENATOR O'MARA:   Thank you, 

 4    Senator.

 5                 Mr. President, if the Senator will 

 6    continue to yield.

 7                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Will the 

 8    Senator yield?  

 9                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Yes.

10                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The 

11    Senator yields.

12                 SENATOR O'MARA:   I would be happy 

13    to work with you on that.  Because in my many 

14    years here in the Legislature, both the Assembly 

15    and the Senate, I don't think I recall voting on 

16    a budget bill without a message of necessity.  So 

17    the three days itself would be far better than 

18    what we're doing year in and year out.  

19                 Would you agree with that?  

20                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Yes, I think that 

21    messages of necessity are supposed to be for 

22    emergency situations.  And I'm not sure you can 

23    claim that a budget is an emergency situation, 

24    because obviously it's scheduled and worked on 

25    for months and months and months.  


                                                               1942

 1                 And obviously in this year we know 

 2    for a fact that there wasn't an emergency to get 

 3    it done on time, because otherwise he and I 

 4    wouldn't be standing here with you all having 

 5    this discussion on April 17th.

 6                 SENATOR O'MARA:   Thank you.  

 7                 Will the Senator continue to yield.

 8                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Will the 

 9    sponsor yield? 

10                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Yes.

11                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The 

12    sponsor yields.

13                 SENATOR O'MARA:   So yet we continue 

14    this process.  And you're right, there is no 

15    immediate urgency for getting the budget done on 

16    a specific date.  Obviously we blow past 

17    April 1st most every year.  And we do these 

18    extenders.  This is the sixth one.  So clearly we 

19    can extend the budget.  

20                 So why wouldn't we extend the budget 

21    when it gets to that point when we actually have 

22    a budget that's agreed upon?  Why wouldn't we do 

23    another extender for at least three days to get 

24    those bills in front of everybody, all of us and 

25    the public?  


                                                               1943

 1                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Through you, 

 2    Mr. President.  I would encourage my colleague to 

 3    make that a formal recommendation.  

 4                 And again, as I said, it would be 

 5    consistent with my history as an individual 

 6    legislator and my philosophy about how we should 

 7    handle budgets.  I don't know that I could get 

 8    agreement across the aisle in two houses for that 

 9    to happen.  But I think that that's a perfectly 

10    legitimate approach to the situation.

11                 SENATOR O'MARA:   Thank you, 

12    Mr. President.

13                 You know, coming up here the way 

14    we're doing it, Senator, is really a waste of 

15    time and expense.  You know, it's great we all 

16    get together, get to stay in a hotel, we get to 

17    go out to restaurants in Albany and collect our 

18    per diems.  Very nice.  

19                 But frankly there's been -- for the 

20    rank-and-file members there's been little to 

21    nothing, other than two votes this week, one on 

22    Tuesday and one today, to extend the budget.  

23                 To get us all back here for three 

24    days, a rough calculation is somewheres between 

25    150,000 and $200,000, depending on who comes, who 


                                                               1944

 1    doesn't.  So I just kind of average that out to 

 2    get to it.  In light of an approaching 

 3    $260 billion budget, you know, that's a pittance.  

 4    But I can tell you where I come from, that's more 

 5    than double the household median income of my 

 6    district each week we've been wasting.

 7                 So wouldn't it be better to get a 

 8    deal, at least the top level of the three people 

 9    in the room, before calling us all back here at 

10    that significant expense?

11                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Through you, 

12    Mr. President, I would vote with Tom O'Mara on 

13    that proposal.

14                 (Laughter.)

15                 SENATOR O'MARA:   No further 

16    questions.  

17                 (Laughter.)

18                 SENATOR O'MARA:   Thank you, 

19    Mr. President.  Will the Senator continue to 

20    yield?  

21                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Will the 

22    sponsor yield? 

23                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Yes.

24                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The 

25    sponsor yields.


                                                               1945

 1                 SENATOR O'MARA:   So you think 

 2    maybe, possibly, sort of, there might be a final 

 3    agreement on discovery.  What details of that can 

 4    you share with us?  Where did we end up on that?

 5                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   We are going to 

 6    conference after session today, and we are going 

 7    to ask our good counsel that exact question.  So 

 8    I don't have an ability to answer that right now.

 9                 SENATOR O'MARA:   Thank you.

10                 Mr. President, if the Senator will 

11    continue to yield.

12                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Will the 

13    sponsor yield?

14                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Yes.

15                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The 

16    sponsor yields.

17                 SENATOR O'MARA:   So I'll ask that 

18    question at the next extender vote, Senator, so 

19    just be prepared.

20                 Last -- or earlier this week, 

21    Tuesday, we discussed the urgency to our school 

22    districts to have an amount of school aid and you 

23    suggested that there might be forthcoming, even 

24    short of a full budget agreement, at least a 

25    baseline for our school districts to be able to 


                                                               1946

 1    count on in formulating their budgets, which have 

 2    to be I think finalized some point next week so 

 3    they're able to go to a vote in the middle of 

 4    May.

 5                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Through you, 

 6    Mr. President, yes.  In follow-up to last week, 

 7    and with information provided today, I believe 

 8    that on Tuesday, April 22nd, we will be asked to 

 9    vote on an additional appropriation authority 

10    to -- which would be necessary to assure funding 

11    for the school aid payments that may or may not 

12    include, I do not know yet, more additional 

13    information to help the school boards with their 

14    budget proposals.  

15                 That will happen Tuesday, with the 

16    full budget extender that we've been discussing 

17    up until now being on Wednesday.

18                 SENATOR O'MARA:   Thank you.  

19                 Mr. President, if the Senator will 

20    continue to yield.

21                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Will the 

22    sponsor yield?

23                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Yes.

24                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The 

25    sponsor yields.


                                                               1947

 1                 SENATOR O'MARA:   My understanding 

 2    of this extender we're voting on today -- and one 

 3    of the more important things of these extenders 

 4    is to make sure state workers still get paid.  

 5    And my understanding on this is we're doing two 

 6    payroll extensions in this, one for beginning of 

 7    next week and one that would be due in the middle 

 8    of next week, to get us -- so the payroll 

 9    extenders will be all the way through next week 

10    into the following week.  Is that correct?

11                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Yes.  I'm being 

12    told that is correct.

13                 SENATOR O'MARA:   So through you, 

14    Mr. President, if the Senator will continue to 

15    yield.  

16                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Will the 

17    sponsor yield? 

18                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Yes.

19                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The 

20    sponsor yields.

21                 SENATOR O'MARA:   So that being the 

22    case, as I've stated before, why bring us all up 

23    here at great expense with something that really 

24    doesn't have to be done?  I think there's one 

25    thing relative to school aid that might have to 


                                                               1948

 1    be done in the middle of next week.  There's no 

 2    reason whatever that that couldn't have been 

 3    extended into this.

 4                 Not that I don't want to be here and 

 5    do my job, because I do.  But I'd like to 

 6    actually have something to do.  And we don't.

 7                 So, you know, it just seems to me to 

 8    be a waste of time and money to call us back here 

 9    unless there's a complete budget deal done for us 

10    to actually -- or at least table targets so that 

11    we can actually start those types of discussions.

12                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Through you, 

13    Mr. President.  Only the Governor can initiate 

14    budget extenders and establish the amount in them 

15    and the timetable for them.

16                 So again, I don't find myself in 

17    disagreement with my colleague.  I'm just here to 

18    report the Senate can't control the situation, 

19    nor can the Assembly.  It's exclusively within 

20    the authority of the Governor to determine budget 

21    extenders, their length of time, and what's in 

22    them.

23                 SENATOR O'MARA:   Through you, 

24    Mr. President, if the Senator will continue to 

25    yield.  


                                                               1949

 1                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Will the 

 2    sponsor yield?

 3                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Yes.

 4                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The 

 5    sponsor yields.

 6                 SENATOR O'MARA:   Now, you said 

 7    maybe hopefully by Thursday next week we might 

 8    have a full deal in place and a budget to vote 

 9    on.  

10                 For us to vote on any budget bills 

11    on Thursday without a message of necessity, when 

12    would those bills have to be in print?  

13                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   So my colleague 

14    is correct.  In theory, without a message of 

15    necessary, the bills would need to be in print 

16    three days in advance.

17                 So I guess I need to edit my 

18    previous answer.  If we are going to change the 

19    system and not use messages of necessity on 

20    budget bills, realistically we probably could not 

21    vote on budget bills by the end of next week.

22                 SENATOR O'MARA:   Through you, 

23    Mr. President, if the Senator will continue to 

24    yield.

25                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Will the 


                                                               1950

 1    sponsor yield? 

 2                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Yes.

 3                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The 

 4    sponsor yields.

 5                 SENATOR O'MARA:   I mean, in theory 

 6    this body could not accept the Governor's message 

 7    of necessity and say we're not going to accept it 

 8    until you put these types of things in it, or 

 9    government's going to be shut down.

10                 Shutting down government is not a 

11    real palatable thing I think for most of us here 

12    in this room.  But, you know, this is a hardball 

13    game, so why not push back on those types of 

14    things?

15                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Through you, 

16    Mr. President, it's a very serious thing to 

17    decide to close down government.  It would mean 

18    that no one who works for the State of New York 

19    would be getting paid.  Right now we're the only 

20    ones not getting paid.  It would mean our 

21    agencies closing their doors, people reaching out 

22    to them for help on a daily basis -- which of 

23    course they do -- getting no one to answer the 

24    phones or the emails.

25                 I think that you need to have a 


                                                               1951

 1    fairly, fairly serious and almost crisis-like 

 2    process to decide not to do extenders and 

 3    continue the work of government.  So I certainly 

 4    am not going to stand here and suggest that being 

 5    late and having to deal with extenders is a 

 6    justification for not doing extenders and closing 

 7    down government.

 8                 SENATOR O'MARA:   Through you, 

 9    Mr. President, if the Senator will continue to 

10    yield.  

11                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Will the 

12    sponsor yield? 

13                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Yes.

14                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The 

15    sponsor yields.

16                 SENATOR O'MARA:   But that certainly 

17    could be used as a negotiating tactic.  Because 

18    if we refuse to accept the message of this 

19    extender half an hour ago, I think the Governor 

20    could probably have another extender with another 

21    message of necessity prepared in a few hours.  

22    Say, just inserting that school aid portion that 

23    we have to come back here for next week that we 

24    wouldn't have to come back here for if that was 

25    in here today.  


                                                               1952

 1                 Now, I understand the Governor -- 

 2    that she's got the power in all this, the ability 

 3    to jerk us around, but I don't see any pushback 

 4    on this.

 5                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Through you, 

 6    Mr. President.  I want to thank my colleague for 

 7    the question.  I think I did just answer it, but 

 8    I'll try again.

 9                 It would be very, very dramatic and 

10    very problematic if we as a legislative body 

11    chose to not continue the operation of government 

12    and the payment to the workers of the State of 

13    New York because we are frustrated with the 

14    length of time it is taking to negotiate a full 

15    budget.

16                 I do not see myself -- I'm not 

17    speaking for anyone else, but I do not see myself 

18    calling for a shutdown of New York State 

19    government and a stopping of payments to all the 

20    workers of the State of New York because I too am 

21    aggravated that we can't just negotiate the 

22    budget in a more timely fashion.

23                 I might not like coming up here for 

24    extenders either, on weeks where we were 

25    technically supposedly on spring break.  I have 


                                                               1953

 1    great empathy for my colleagues who have children 

 2    off from school this week and instead of doing 

 3    whatever they thought they were doing for spring 

 4    break they're hanging out with us in the Senate, 

 5    as entertaining as we all can be.

 6                 (Waving.)  Hello, child of 

 7    colleague. 

 8                 (Laughter.)

 9                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   So yes, I would 

10    love if the budget was done.  And I would also 

11    love that when the budget is done it has all the 

12    things in it that I want.  

13                 Guess what?  It won't have all the 

14    things I want.  And I will have to live with that 

15    reality.  And clearly it's not done on time, 

16    which is frustrating to all of us in this room.  

17                 But the thought of attempting some 

18    kind of nuclear option and saying we're not going 

19    to be here and vote for extenders, I personally 

20    don't believe any of us could actually go home 

21    and explain that to our constituents at this 

22    moment in history.

23                 SENATOR O'MARA:   Through you, 

24    Mr. President, if the Senator will continue to 

25    yield.  


                                                               1954

 1                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Will the 

 2    sponsor yield?

 3                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Yes.

 4                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The 

 5    sponsor yields.

 6                 SENATOR O'MARA:   I am not 

 7    suggesting that we go home and not come back for 

 8    an extender.  I'm suggesting we put pressure on 

 9    the Governor to make this a real extender until 

10    the budget gets done, by forcing her hand.  Let's 

11    come back with a revised extender to include 

12    that.

13                 You know, we're -- in this body we 

14    seem to be -- I don't see the pushback to the 

15    Executive on issues that are even, you know, very 

16    important to the Majority Conference here.  And 

17    we spoke a little bit at the last extender or the 

18    one before about the CDPAP program and where that 

19    stands, and I've got a question on that for you.

20                 But you indicated that -- when we 

21    spoke about it last time, that the providers were 

22    still getting paid, even those that weren't in 

23    the new program yet.  Yet our information that 

24    we're hearing from our constituents, and I'm sure 

25    you're hearing from them as well, those payments 


                                                               1955

 1    are not forthcoming, they're being delayed.  And, 

 2    you know, people are panicking about whether 

 3    their provider is going to walk off the job and 

 4    not be showing up because they're not getting 

 5    paid.  There's certainly not a high pay for this 

 6    anyways.

 7                 So, you know, do you have any update 

 8    on the timeliness of the payments for these 

 9    assistants?  

10                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   I'm going to ask 

11    for a new staff to come in on CDPAP, so I'm 

12    asking for a few seconds to shift gears.

13                 Through you, Mr. President, to just 

14    repeat, I believe my colleague was asking for an 

15    update on what we know about what's happening 

16    with CDPAP and the payments to workers, is that 

17    correct?

18                 SENATOR O'MARA:   Particularly the 

19    payments to workers that are not fully enrolled 

20    in the new program yet.

21                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Okay.  Hello.

22                 (Pause.)

23                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   As of yesterday, 

24    80 percent of -- excuse me, 87 percent of people 

25    signed up for PPL have transferred to the new 


                                                               1956

 1    system.  

 2                 Did I get that right?  And what was 

 3    the second number?  (Conferring.)

 4                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Out of the 

 5    245,000 personal assistants, 160,000 have been 

 6    moved over to the new system.

 7                 (Conferring.)

 8                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   And nearly 

 9    110,000 of the personal assistants were paid as 

10    of the first payroll in the new system.

11                 SENATOR O'MARA:   Through you, 

12    Mr. President, if the Senator will continue to 

13    yield.

14                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Will the 

15    sponsor yield? 

16                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Yes.

17                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The 

18    sponsor yields.

19                 SENATOR O'MARA:   Were those 

20    payments to those personal assistants that are 

21    not enrolled in the program, were they made on 

22    time, as they customarily have been?  And what if 

23    any delays are they experiencing and should they 

24    experience until they do get fully enrolled?  

25                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   So even though 


                                                               1957

 1    normally payroll is once a week, PPL has shifted 

 2    to an every-day payment.  So people who may have 

 3    not gotten paid appropriately on the one-week 

 4    timeline are now getting paid and adjusted up on 

 5    a daily basis, is what I'm being told.

 6                 SENATOR O'MARA:   Through you, 

 7    Mr. President, if the Senator will yield.  

 8                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Will the 

 9    sponsor yield?

10                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Yes.

11                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The 

12    sponsor yields.

13                 SENATOR O'MARA:   It was my 

14    understanding that those personal assistants that 

15    aren't enrolled yet are going to be being paid 

16    through their fiscal intermediary that they had 

17    before this changed to PPL.  So how is PPL paying 

18    those personal assistants?  Are they still being 

19    paid through their prior fiscal intermediary?

20                 (Pause.)

21                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   So people who are 

22    still within their old FIs and have not shifted 

23    over to PPL yet are going to continue to be paid 

24    through their existing FIs as long as the FI 

25    meets certain standards.  


                                                               1958

 1                 And regulations for that came out 

 2    from DOH -- yesterday?  Today?  Very, very late 

 3    Tuesday night.  This is all being overseen by a 

 4    court process, so it's not necessarily something 

 5    where you get a lot of advance notice.

 6                 I think that my constituents, my 

 7    colleagues, are also disturbed when they hear 

 8    that there are some people who have seemingly not 

 9    been paid on time and that there is general 

10    confusion out there.  I think we're all hearing 

11    the same thing.  

12                 I guess one thing I didn't 

13    mention -- because the question wasn't exactly 

14    asked -- a significant number of people who were 

15    in CDPAP actually chose to go into traditional 

16    home care during the transition.  So they are now 

17    not in PPL, they are now in traditional home-care 

18    arrangements with home care agencies.  And a 

19    significant number of the FIs who are not going 

20    to continue as FIs are continuing as home 

21    healthcare agencies.  And so we believe that 

22    their ability to continue with the payments is 

23    actually probably going okay.  

24                 But there is a universe of people, 

25    no doubt about it, where they have not completed 


                                                               1959

 1    transition to PPI -- PPL?  PPL, I'm so sorry.  

 2    All these code letters.  They have not completed 

 3    transition to PPL, and their FIs are in some kind 

 4    of gray area because they're not home healthcare 

 5    agencies who will be remaining open over time.  

 6    And there is real concern about how the paper 

 7    trail and the payments are being made.  

 8                 But I think in final answer to my 

 9    colleague's longer question, it's DOH who will be 

10    responsible for making sure that people who are 

11    falling into that category are getting paid.

12                 SENATOR O'MARA:   All right, thank 

13    you.  

14                 Mr. President, if the Senator will 

15    continue to yield.  And I realize we're at noon 

16    and probably there's a deadline here that means 

17    something, apparently.  

18                 (Laughter.)

19                 SENATOR O'MARA:   Even though the 

20    Assembly has typically taken till 3, 4 o'clock in 

21    the afternoon on these things, we try to get it 

22    done on time here.  And that's great.  But I 

23    don't think it's going to kill the process by 

24    taking a few more minutes.

25                 So, you know, with all the policy 


                                                               1960

 1    issues being discussed -- and you say there's 

 2    been significant progress and maybe even 

 3    resolution to discovery, yet there's a couple of 

 4    other major ones that are still out there, being 

 5    involuntary commitment and the so-called mask ban 

 6    that would preclude -- it would raise the level 

 7    of the crime for somebody committing harassment 

 8    while wearing a mask.  

 9                 You know, issues both of which -- 

10    and the discovery issue -- are overwhelmingly 

11    supported by the public at large.  And I believe 

12    if they -- if we actually had a referendum system 

13    in this state, that if they were put to 

14    referendum they would overwhelmingly pass.  So 

15    can -- yet they're holding up this budget.  

16                 So where do we stand in relation to 

17    those two major issues that I think are still 

18    outstanding?

19                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Through you, 

20    Mr. President.  Those are both complex issues.  

21    And I won't stand here and say I can explain the 

22    details of agreement or nonagreement.  

23                 I don't know that I agree with my 

24    colleague that if this was an I&R state that both 

25    of those issues would in fact overwhelmingly be 


                                                               1961

 1    supported or not supported.  

 2                 I know on involuntary commitment -- 

 3    and I represent a district where a vast majority 

 4    of the storylines seem to come out in the 

 5    newspapers every day -- my office is overwhelmed 

 6    by people saying, We're not asking for the arrest 

 7    or involuntary commitment of people.  We know the 

 8    police are scooping up people every day.  They 

 9    end up in Rikers or in a public hospital 

10    emergency room.  We want to know, what are you 

11    going to do to make sure that they get the 

12    services they need as mental health patients and 

13    get placed in residential facilities that are 

14    actually prepared to handle their illness?  

15                 So even the question that -- the way 

16    it was asked with involuntary commitment, that's 

17    not what the people who live right where the 

18    issue is happening are concerned about.  They're 

19    concerned about making sure services are 

20    available for these people to actually get the 

21    help they need.  And they don't want to see them 

22    locked up in any involuntary situation.  And 

23    frankly, the -- most of them end up in the Rikers 

24    system, not in any kind of mental health care.  

25                 So that has, I know, been a serious 


                                                               1962

 1    part of the discussion between the Legislature 

 2    and the Governor's office.

 3                 And also on the question of 

 4    increased criminal penalties for using a mask 

 5    while committing a crime, depending on who you 

 6    talk to, they think we're talking about bank 

 7    robbers or they think we're talking about 

 8    protesters or, lately, they think we're talking 

 9    about ICE agents who are wearing masks and 

10    scooping people off our streets.  So I also don't 

11    think there's actually one universal majority 

12    opinion on that.  

13                 But hopefully we will come to some 

14    kind of agreement on both of those issues within 

15    the budget.  But technically -- well, the 

16    involuntary commitment because you need the 

17    services for people is a budget issue.  

18                 The criminal case of when and if 

19    someone should face a higher level of criminal 

20    penalty for another criminal activity based on 

21    wearing a mask is not actually a budget issue, 

22    it's a Codes Committee issue.  So I don't know 

23    whether that's going to be taken up in the 

24    budget, sincerely.

25                 SENATOR O'MARA:   Thank you.  


                                                               1963

 1                 Mr. President, if the Senator will 

 2    continue to yield.

 3                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Will the 

 4    sponsor yield? 

 5                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Yes.

 6                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The 

 7    sponsor yields.

 8                 SENATOR O'MARA:   So all that I 

 9    guess leads me to believe that we're not close on 

10    those two issues, and those are likely to drag 

11    out even longer.  Which I think plays even more 

12    into my argument that we should be doing a full 

13    extender until those things are worked out.  At 

14    least until we're ready to sit down and actually 

15    talk about a budget with dollar amounts rather 

16    than policy issues.

17                 But, you know, I want to make it 

18    clear.  On the involuntary commitment, I'm 

19    certainly not suggesting that those that are 

20    willing voluntarily to go into treatment, that -- 

21    there's issues about the availability of that, 

22    for one.  And we do need to do better in that 

23    regard.  

24                 And I don't think we're talking 

25    about those individuals that will voluntarily go 


                                                               1964

 1    into mental health treatment to avoid the issues 

 2    that they have, whether it's homelessness, 

 3    inability to care for themselves, or crime.

 4                 It's those who we're looking to 

 5    catch that do not comprehend, understand or 

 6    grasp, due to their mental illness, their need 

 7    for treatment, and therefore leaving the 

 8    voluntary treatment, never going in the first 

 9    place.  And that's the purpose for involuntary 

10    treatment, which is a far better place to get it 

11    than at Rikers Island.

12                 But at -- you know, the policy 

13    issues that we deal with in the budget -- you 

14    know, no bail was one of them that was included 

15    in the budget.  And without bail, these -- by and 

16    large these individuals that aren't committing 

17    violent crimes, they're just committing other 

18    crimes, are not getting bail because bail can't 

19    be set on them.  So they're just kind of being 

20    released back into the streets to their 

21    homelessness situation where they can't care for 

22    themselves, don't know how to care for 

23    themselves, don't comprehend the needs that they 

24    have.  

25                 And involuntary treatment could 


                                                               1965

 1    certainly help at least get treatment started for 

 2    these individuals.  Don't you agree with that?

 3                 SENATOR KRUEGER:   Through you, 

 4    Mr. President.  Again, I don't think this 

 5    discussion is actually about bail.  

 6                 And again, I only have direct 

 7    personal experience from my city and my borough, 

 8    Manhattan, which actually is where most of these 

 9    cases are.  It's almost never an issue of someone 

10    refusing to go with the police into a hospital 

11    setting.  And it is very, very rarely a situation 

12    where they are saying, No, I refuse to stay.  

13    It's just the opposite.  We don't have the 

14    facilities and the services for them to go to.

15                 It's interesting, the City Council 

16    of New York had a hearing I'm going to say two 

17    days ago on protective services for adults, which 

18    is a division under state law, Social Services 

19    Law, that's supposed to exist in every county.  

20    And what we learned from the City Council hearing 

21    is New York City's agency only responded to 

22    follow up on 5 percent of the cases brought to 

23    them.  

24                 And the standards of a case being 

25    brought to them is almost exactly the discussion 


                                                               1966

 1    we're having right here, where if the adult is 

 2    not able to care for themselves -- food, 

 3    shelter -- they are being evicted from their 

 4    home, they have acted out in ways that are 

 5    clearly not in their best interests or their 

 6    neighbor's best interests, protective services 

 7    for adults, which on the books is supposed to be 

 8    law that somebody's supposed to do something, at 

 9    least in the City of New York they say because of 

10    inadequate funding they are only even following 

11    up on 5 percent of those cases.  

12                 Which tells me 95 percent of those 

13    cases could be people actually on our streets 

14    suffering from mental illness, not getting the 

15    services and care they need.  And even when 

16    government was supposed to follow up for them and 

17    there was a report made, nobody did anything.

18                 And now I've learned today that the 

19    federal government intends to defund that program 

20    completely.  And that's going to affect us 

21    whether we are in Senator O'Mara's district or 

22    any of my colleagues' districts.  

23                 So one has to be very careful when 

24    discussing the policy to understand what the 

25    problem actually is that you're trying to get the 


                                                               1967

 1    policy to match.

 2                 And I will continue to hold my 

 3    position that the crucial policy discussion here 

 4    is making sure that we have the adequate 

 5    healthcare services, mental health care services 

 6    and, for homeless mentally ill, residential 

 7    facilities that people can go to -- far, far, far 

 8    more important on a daily basis in all of our 

 9    communities than whether or not the police 

10    believed they had adequate authority within 

11    existing law to bring these people somewhere.

12                 Because again, for New York City, 

13    nobody's stopping NYPD from bringing them 

14    somewhere.  The dilemma is where is that 

15    somewhere, and how long is it going to last?  And 

16    if it's six hours before they get let out the 

17    back door of the emergency department, that is no 

18    solution, no matter how strict you make the laws 

19    on the books.

20                 Thank you, Mr. President.

21                 SENATOR O'MARA:   Thank you.  

22                 Mr. President, I understand I'm up 

23    against the time limit here, so I'll thank 

24    Senator Krueger for her answers.  I have more 

25    questions.  But on the bill, if I can, for a 


                                                               1968

 1    moment.

 2                 I certainly agree with you that 

 3    there's a lack of services for the mentally ill.  

 4    One thing that I have commended Governor Hochul 

 5    on over another years has been her commitment in 

 6    driving more money into the mental health 

 7    system -- following a decade of the prior 

 8    Governor having a direct assault on our mental 

 9    health facilities, shutting down beds and making 

10    it more difficult without the requisite NGO, 

11    not-for-profit groups set up to handle this type 

12    of thing.

13                 But I do disagree with 

14    Senator Krueger a bit on the need for involuntary 

15    commitment.  While a certain percentage will 

16    certainly go into voluntary treatment and 

17    hopefully continue with it and improve their 

18    lives and their ability to care for themselves, 

19    it's the percentage that won't do that and it's 

20    the percentage that continues to commit crimes on 

21    our streets in our communities with no option.  

22    It's just a revolving door for many of them, and 

23    we're not solving the problem.

24                 You know, the policy issues that are 

25    holding up this budget --


                                                               1969

 1                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Senator 

 2    Gianaris.

 3                 SENATOR O'MARA:   -- and nobody 

 4    wants policy issues in the budget -- 

 5                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Senator 

 6    Gianaris.  

 7                 SENATOR GIANARIS:   I'm sorry to 

 8    interrupt my colleague, but the time limit he was 

 9    referring to is that for all bill debates, 

10    members have 30 minutes to speak on the bill or 

11    present questions.  We've been lenient, and 

12    Senator O'Mara is now past -- well past 

13    40 minutes.  

14                 So if -- I would ask him to please 

15    wrap up.  Many of the issues he's talking about 

16    of course are not mentioned at all in this 

17    extender.  We will have plenty of opportunity to 

18    debate them when the budget-in-chief comes before 

19    us.  But if Senator O'Mara could wrap up his 

20    comments, that would be appreciated.

21                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Senator 

22    O'Mara.

23                 SENATOR O'MARA:   Thank you.  

24                 Thank you, Senator Gianaris.  And I 

25    was getting close to wrapping up anyways.


                                                               1970

 1                 But, you know, these policy issues 

 2    that are holding everything up, in the bodies of 

 3    the Senate and the Assembly Majorities, really no 

 4    pushback on policy issues that are important to 

 5    your side while the Governor is trying to 

 6    negotiate issues that, frankly, I'm largely in 

 7    support of.  And I think this side of the aisle 

 8    is, because we have concerns in the area of 

 9    mental health.  

10                 So it's important that these issues 

11    get resolved.  But we're only dealing with the 

12    Governor's issues.  You know, I've gone back a 

13    couple of times to CDPAP now on that.  The 

14    Legislature -- at least this body -- is generally 

15    not happy with that single fiscal intermediary.  

16    We're going from hundreds of fiscal 

17    intermediaries down to one.  

18                 It would have been much more 

19    reasonable to have regional ones, I think, for 

20    that.  I know the chair of the Senate Health 

21    Committee agrees with that because he has a bill 

22    to do just that.  And there's 38 cosponsors on 

23    that bill.  Yet it hasn't even moved through 

24    committee.  That should be in the mix of 

25    discussions about what's going on here with all 


                                                               1971

 1    the concerns we have over the single fiscal 

 2    intermediary that has really been crammed down 

 3    the throats of those that need it, those 

 4    services, in New York.

 5                 So thank you very much.

 6                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Thank 

 7    you, Senator O'Mara.

 8                 Are there any other Senators wishing 

 9    to be heard?

10                 Seeing and hearing none, debate is 

11    now closed.  The Secretary will ring the bell.

12                 Read the last section.

13                 THE SECRETARY:   Section 2.  This 

14    act shall take effect immediately.

15                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Call the 

16    roll.

17                 (The Secretary called the roll.)

18                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Senator 

19    Borrello to explain his vote.  

20                 SENATOR BORRELLO:   Thank you, 

21    Mr. President.

22                 I want to speak very specifically on 

23    what the sponsor termed as a tragic loss of 

24    funding from the federal government for offshore 

25    wind.  


                                                               1972

 1                 While we would certainly disagree 

 2    with that, I would remind her that that actually 

 3    fell apart under the Biden administration when 

 4    the developers decided to come back and try to 

 5    extort more taxpayer money, the 

 6    multi-billion-dollar boondoggle that it was.  

 7                 But since then, we've seen the 

 8    tragedy that has hit the shores of Block Island 

 9    and elsewhere, when these wind turbines offshore 

10    shattered and plastic shards polluted those 

11    beaches.  

12                 But this is an opportunity in the 

13    budget to take the billions of New York State 

14    taxpayer dollars that were dedicated to that 

15    ridiculous boondoggle and put it back into this 

16    budget, and maybe offer a discount to our 

17    taxpayers that are already overburdened.  

18                 So let's kill the offshore wind on 

19    our end as well, which is nothing but a 

20    taxpayer-funded boondoggle that puts money into 

21    foreign companies -- foreign countries like 

22    China, and let's bring it back to the people of 

23    New York State.  

24                 So I'm voting to keep moving this 

25    forward, but with the understanding that we have 


                                                               1973

 1    the opportunity to close the entire gap, 

 2    entirely, for every single dollar that the 

 3    federal government is, for whatever reason, not 

 4    giving us, with eliminating waste, fraud and 

 5    abuse in New York State's budget.  And we should 

 6    do that, and we should do it in this budget.

 7                 Thank you.

 8                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Senator 

 9    Borrello to be recorded in the affirmative.

10                 Senator Weik to explain her vote.

11                 SENATOR WEIK:   Thank you, 

12    Mr. President.  

13                 The budget was due April 1st.  Today 

14    is April 17th, Holy Thursday.  And we're voting 

15    on our sixth extender.  And I don't want 

16    government to shut down either, but we still have 

17    no table targets.  We're hearing no confirmation 

18    on movement.  And next week, April 26th, our 

19    school districts by law must approve budget 

20    proposals.  And without those, it's so much more 

21    difficult for them to be able to create something 

22    predictable for those residents.  

23                 Deflecting to national issues once 

24    again, using them as scapegoats for the failure 

25    to produce a state budget -- you know, it's just 


                                                               1974

 1    unacceptable.  It's irresponsible.  

 2                 And with a quarter of a trillion 

 3    dollars -- more than a quarter-of-a-trillion- 

 4    dollar budget being proposed, we as a state 

 5    should be more than prepared and funded to 

 6    safeguard our state.  And yet I'm still hearing 

 7    organizations and not-for-profits who, even in 

 8    these proposed budgets, aren't fully getting 

 9    funded, haven't seen any increases since the 

10    1990s.  And really, I mean, the entire State of 

11    New York is waiting for this budget.

12                 So it's time for us to do our jobs 

13    and it's time for us to get this budget done.  

14    And for that, I'm voting no.  Thank you.

15                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   Senator 

16    Weik to be recorded in the negative.

17                 Announce the results.

18                 THE SECRETARY:   In relation to 

19    Calendar 686, voting in the negative:  

20    Senator Weik.

21                 Ayes, 50.  Nays, 1.

22                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   The bill 

23    is passed.

24                 Senator Gianaris, that completes the 

25    reading of the controversial calendar.


                                                               1975

 1                 SENATOR GIANARIS:   Let me remind my 

 2    Majority colleagues there will be an immediate 

 3    conference for the Majority in Room 332 upon 

 4    conclusion of session.

 5                 And with that, is there any further 

 6    business at the desk?

 7                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   There is 

 8    no further business at the desk.

 9                 SENATOR GIANARIS:   Move to adjourn 

10    until Tuesday, April 22nd, at 11:00 a.m., with 

11    the intervening days being legislative days.

12                 ACTING PRESIDENT COONEY:   On 

13    motion, the Senate stands adjourned until 

14    Tuesday, April 22nd, at 11:00 a.m., with the 

15    intervening days being legislative days.

16                 (Whereupon, at 12:22 p.m., the 

17    Senate adjourned.)

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