Monday, June 21, 1993

5248 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ALBANY, NEW YORK 10 June 21, 1993 11 3:15 p.m. 12 13 14 REGULAR SESSION 15 16 17 18 SENATOR HUGH T. FARLEY, Acting President 19 STEPHEN F. SLOAN, Secretary 20 21 22 23 5249 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 3 Senate will come to order. Senators will find 4 their places. If you will please rise with me 5 for the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. 6 (The assemblage repeated the 7 Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. ) 8 Today we're pleased to have with 9 us the Reverend David M. Powers, Pastor of 10 Briarcliff Congregational Church, the United 11 Church of Christ of Briarcliff Manor, New York. 12 Reverend Powers. 13 REVEREND DAVID M. POWERS: Let us 14 pray. 15 Ever living, everlasting God, as 16 You envelop the world in the beauty and warmth 17 of this season, creating summer days for the 18 earth to produce new life, so grace this 19 session, we pray, with the welcome warmth of 20 Your presence and Your power. Bless and protect 21 all those who meet in this chamber. Keep each 22 one aware of the wider horizon of needs across 23 the state of New York. Attune our listening so 5250 1 we really hear one another. Sharpen our vision 2 so we are able to see new possibilities. 3 Strengthen every resolve to act on even the most 4 difficult and demanding issues and grant that 5 the deliberations and decisions which this 6 Senate is called to accomplish in these decisive 7 days may reflect an earnest commitment to the 8 things that make for life in all its fullness 9 for every woman, every man, every child today 10 and for all the days to come. Amen. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Thank 12 you, Pastor. 13 The Secretary will begin by 14 reading the Journal. 15 THE SECRETARY: In Senate, 16 Sunday, June 20th. The Senate met pursuant to 17 adjournment, Senator Farley in the Chair upon 18 designation of the Temporary President. The 19 Journal of Saturday, June 19th, was read and 20 approved. On motion, Senate adjourned. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Hearing 22 no objection, the Journal will stand approved as 23 read. 5251 1 The order of business: 2 Presentation of petitions. 3 Messages from the Governor. 4 Reports of standing committees. 5 Yes, we have a report from a standing 6 committee. The Secretary will read it. 7 THE SECRETARY: Senator Marino, 8 from the Committee on Rules, reports the 9 following bills directly for third reading: 10 Senate Bill Number 249, by 11 Senator Gold, authorizing the city of New York 12 to reconvey its interest in certain real 13 property; 14 443, by Senator Stafford, 15 Environmental Conservation Law; 16 755, by Senator Waldon, 17 authorizing the city of New York to reconvey its 18 interest in certain real property; 19 2225-A, by Senator Spano and 20 others, Family Court Act; 21 2341, by Senator DeFrancisco, an 22 act to amend the Highway Law; 23 2876-A, by Senator Pataki, 5252 1 Environmental Conservation Law; 2 3415, by Senator Kuhl, and 3 others, Alcoholic Beverage Control Law; 4 3825-B, by Senator Volker, 5 Criminal Procedure Law; 6 3859, by Senator Present, an act 7 to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law; 8 3971, by Senator Seward, Public 9 Service Law; 10 3991, by Senator Johnson, 11 Environmental Conservation Law; 12 4087, by Senator Kuhl, Alcoholic 13 Beverage Control Law; 14 4154, by Senator Nozzolio, Social 15 Services Law; 16 4278, by Senator Wright, to 17 provide for non-partisan primaries and elections 18 in the city of Watertown; 19 4375-A, by Senator Johnson, to 20 allow Paul D'Aversa, request for retroactive 21 service credit in the retirement system; 22 4470, by Senator Gonzalez, 23 Environmental Conservation Law; 5253 1 4491, by Senator Present, 2 Alcoholic Beverage Control Law; 3 4580, by Senator Mega, Criminal 4 Procedure Law; 5 4638, by Senator Sheffer, New 6 York State Canal Corporation; 7 4704, by Senator Padavan, 8 Administrative Code of the city of New York; 9 4810, by Senator Stafford, 10 Agriculture and Markets Law; 11 4950, by Senator Farley, General 12 Municipal Law; 13 4969-A, by Senator Saland, Public 14 Authorities Law; 15 4972, by Senator Hannon, making 16 appropriations to the Department of 17 Transportation; 18 4994-A, by Senator Lack, 19 authorizing the sale of certain state-owned 20 lands; 21 5071, by Senator Johnson, General 22 Municipal Law; 23 5147, by Senator Holland, Public 5254 1 Authorities Law; 2 5186, by Senator Sheffer, 3 Religious Corporation Law; 4 5371, by Senator Paterson, 5 authorize Tier 1 status for Wilhelmina E. 6 Holliday; 7 5403, by Senator LaValle, an act 8 to dedicate the David A. Sarnoff Pine Barrens in 9 the Rocky Point Natural Resources Management 10 Area; 11 5410, by Senator Farley, 12 Surrogate's Court Procedure Act; 13 5428, by Senator LaValle, 14 Education Law; 15 5433, by Senator Levy, 16 Transportation Law; 17 5487-A, by Senator Levy, 18 authorizing a review of current drug-impaired 19 driving education; 20 5530, by Senator Daly, 21 Environmental Conservation Law; 22 5571, by Senator Padavan, Public 23 Authorities Law; 5255 1 5667, by Senator Trunzo, amends 2 Chapter 901 of the Laws of 1990; 3 5681, by Senator Sears, Tax Law, 4 and Chapter 644 of the Laws of 1984; 5 5684, by Senators Levy and Sears, 6 amends Chapter 268 of the Laws of 1989; 7 5766, by Senator Saland, Public 8 Authorities Law; 9 5808, by Senator Seward, an act 10 to amend the Public Service Law; 11 5860, by Senator Saland, Social 12 Services Law; 13 5866, by Senator Stafford, create 14 a Motor Carrier Advisory Council; 15 And 5884, by Senator Trunzo, 16 amends Chapter 422 of the Laws of 1991. 17 All bills -- excuse me, also 18 Senate Bill Number 5887, by Senator Present, 19 authorizing the county of Cattaraugus to elect 20 and make optional 20-year retirement plan. 21 All bills reported directly for 22 third reading. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: All 5256 1 bills are reported directly to third reading. 2 Continuing the order of business, 3 reports of select committees. 4 Communications and reports from 5 state officers. 6 Motions and resolutions. 7 Senator Present. 8 SENATOR PRESENT: Mr. President, 9 on behalf of Senator Marino, I wish to call up 10 his bill, Print 1776, recalled from the 11 Assembly. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 13 Secretary will read 1776. 14 THE SECRETARY: 1776, by Senator 15 Marino, an act to authorize the city of Glen 16 Cove, Nassau County, to sell and convey certain 17 parcels of real property. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 19 Present. 20 SENATOR PRESENT: Mr. President, 21 I now move to reconsider the vote by which this 22 bill was passed. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 5257 1 the roll on reconsideration. 2 (The Secretary called the roll on 3 reconsideration. ) 4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 35. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 6 bill is before the house. Senator Present. 7 SENATOR PRESENT: Mr. President, 8 I now offer the following amendments. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 10 Amendments received. Bill will retain its 11 place. 12 Senator Johnson. Oh, you got 13 another one? Senator Present. 14 SENATOR PRESENT: Mr. President, 15 on behalf of Senator Pataki, would you please 16 place a sponsor's star on Calendar 1162. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 1162 is 18 starred at the request of the sponsor. 19 Senator Johnson. 20 SENATOR PRESENT: And one more. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: One 22 more. All right. 23 SENATOR PRESENT: Mr. President, 5258 1 will you please place a sponsor's star on 2 Calendar 1158? 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 1158 is 4 starred at the request of the sponsor. One more 5 coming. 6 Senator Johnson. 7 SENATOR PRESENT: Mr. President. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Hold on 9 a minute. Senator Present. 10 SENATOR PRESENT: Place a 11 sponsor's star on 1141, please. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 1141 is 13 starred at the request of the sponsor. 14 Senator Nolan, did you -- if I 15 might, Senator Johnson. 16 SENATOR NOLAN: Yes. 17 SENATOR JOHNSON: On page 39 - 18 SENATOR NOLAN: I'd like to 19 announce some guests we have here today in the 20 chamber. We have a delegation, official 21 delegation, to the United States from the 22 standing committee of Tientsin (T'ien-ching) 23 China. They are here today. I'd like to welcome 5259 1 them to the chamber here this afternoon. 2 Peoples delegation from Tientsin, China. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: On 4 behalf of the New York State Senate, welcome. 5 Senator Johnson. 6 SENATOR JOHNSON: Mr. President, 7 page 39, please remove the sponsor's star on 8 Calendar Number 438, Print Number S. 3534-A. 9 Thank you. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Star is 11 removed. 12 Senator Skelos. 13 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, I 14 wish to call up the following Senate bills which 15 have been recalled from the Assembly and are now 16 at the desk. 17 Senator Volker's bill, Print 18 Number 5394; Senator Saland's 4867; Senator 19 Libous, 4881. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 21 Secretary will read them. 22 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 23 Volker, Senate Bill Number 5394, authorizing the 5260 1 village of Hamburg to discontinue the use and 2 sell certain park lands. 3 4867, by Senator Saland, Social 4 Services Law, in relation to notice of surrender 5 proceedings. 6 Also Senate Bill Number 4881, by 7 Senator Libous, Education Law. 8 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, I 9 now move to reconsider the vote by which said 10 bills passed this house. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Would 12 you call the roll on reconsideration of those 13 bills. 14 (The Secretary called the roll on 15 reconsideration. ) 16 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 40. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 18 bill is before the house. 19 Senator Skelos. 20 SENATOR SKELOS: I now offer the 21 following amendments to said bills. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 23 amendments are received and the bills will 5261 1 retain their places on the Third Reading 2 Calendar. 3 Senator Wright. 4 SENATOR WRIGHT: Mr. President, 5 amendments are offered to the following Third 6 Reading Calendar bills: By Senator Farley, page 7 9, Calendar 489, Senate Print Number 2756; by 8 Senator LaValle, page number 14, Calendar 725, 9 Senate Print 4128; by Senator Velella, page 27, 10 Calendar Number 1091, Senate Print 4988; by 11 Senator Cook, page number 31, Calendar Number 12 1164, Senate Print 3028-A; by Senator Holland, 13 page 38, Calendar Number 381, Senate Print 14 Number 48; and by Senator Sheffer, page 41, 15 Calendar 753, Senate Print Number 3321. 16 Mr. President, I now move that 17 these bills retain their place on the order of 18 third reading. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 20 amendments are received and the bills will 21 retain their place on the Third Reading 22 Calendar. 23 SENATOR COOK: Mr. President. 5262 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 2 Cook. 3 SENATOR COOK: Could you please 4 remove stars from Calendars 633 and 832 and 5 place a star on Calendar 954. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 7 stars are removed at the request of the sponsor 8 and the bill so named is starred. 9 SENATOR STAFFORD: Mr. 10 President. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 12 Stafford. 13 SENATOR STAFFORD: I believe 14 there's a privileged resolution at the desk. 15 May the title please be read and have its 16 immediate adoption. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 18 Secretary will read the title of Senator 19 Stafford's resolution. 20 THE SECRETARY: Legislative 21 Resolution, by Senator Stafford, honoring Dr. 22 Charles O. Warren of SUNY-Plattsburgh in 23 recognition of his distinguished service and 5263 1 accomplishments as president of SUNY-Plattsburgh 2 from 1987 to 1993. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: On the 4 resolution, all in favor say aye. 5 (Response of "Aye.") 6 Those opposed nay. 7 (There was no response. ) 8 The resolution is adopted. 9 We have some substitutions, 10 Senator Present. Secretary will read them. 11 THE SECRETARY: On page 4 of the 12 calendar, Senator Mega moves to discharge the 13 Committee on Rules from Assembly Bill Number 14 7767-A and substitute it for the identical Third 15 Reading 133. 16 On page 15, Senator Sears moves 17 to discharge the Committee on Rules from 18 Assembly Bill Number 6102-A and substitute it 19 for the identical Third Reading 732. 20 On page 26, Senator Sheffer moves 21 to discharge the Committee on Rules from 22 Assembly Bill Number 2871-A and substitute it 23 for the identical Third Reading 1064. 5264 1 On page 30, Senator Paterson 2 moves to discharge the Committee on Rules from 3 Assembly Bill Number 4212, and substitute it for 4 the identical Third Reading 1155. 5 On page 31, Senator Marchi moves 6 to discharge the Committee on Environmental 7 Conservation from Assembly Bill Number 2396-A 8 and substitute it for the identical Third 9 Reading 1158. 10 Also on page 31, Senator Trunzo 11 moves to discharge the Committee on Rules from 12 Assembly Bill Number 7977 and substitute it for 13 the identical Calendar Number 1163. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 15 Substitutions are ordered. 16 Are there any other motions on 17 the floor? 18 Senator Present. 19 SENATOR PRESENT: Mr. President, 20 we take up the non-controversial calendar, 21 please. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 23 Secretary will read the non-controversial 5265 1 calendar. 2 THE SECRETARY: On page 6, 3 Calendar Number 269, by Senator Saland, Senate 4 Bill Number 3383-A, an act to amend the Social 5 Services Law, in relation to notifying police 6 departments of the emergency removal of 7 children. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 9 the last section. 10 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 11 act shall take effect immediately. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 13 the roll. 14 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 40. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 17 bill is passed. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 306, by Senator Mega, Senate Bill Number 2175 - 20 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay aside. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 22 that resolution aside. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5266 1 311, by Senator Maltese, Senate Bill Number 2 1053-A, an act to amend the Real Property Tax 3 Law. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 5 the last section. 6 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 7 act shall take effect immediately. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 9 the roll. 10 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 40. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 13 bill is passed. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 471, by member of the Assembly Wright, Assembly 16 Bill Number - 17 SENATOR PRESENT: Lay that bill 18 aside. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 20 that bill aside. For the day? 21 SENATOR PRESENT: Yes. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 23 aside for the day. 5267 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 620, by Senator Velella. 3 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay aside. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 5 that bill aside. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 625, by Senator Libous, Senate Bill Number 8 3815-C, an act to amend the General Business 9 Law, in relation to motorized wheelchair 10 warranties. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 12 the last section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 14 act shall take effect immediately. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 16 the roll. 17 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 18 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 40. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 20 bill is passed. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 626, by Senator Sears, Senate Bill Number 23 4208-A, an act to amend the Agriculture and 5268 1 Markets Law, unit pricing of consumer - 2 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay it 3 aside. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Laid 5 aside. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 646, by Senator Skelos, Senate Bill Number 1240, 8 an act to amend the General Obligations Law. 9 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay aside. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Laid 11 aside. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar 800, by 13 Senator Skelos, Senate Bill Number 4720 - 14 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay aside. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 16 that bill aside. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 888, by Senator Farley, Senate Bill Number 19 4953-A, an act to amend the Banking Law. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 21 the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 23 act shall take effect immediately. 5269 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 2 the roll. 3 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 40. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 6 bill is passed. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 890, by Senator levy, Senate Bill - 9 SENATOR PRESENT: Lay aside for 10 the day, please. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 12 that bill aside for today. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 892, by Senator Levy, Senate Bill Number 1309-A, 15 an act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 17 the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 19 act shall take effect immediately. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 21 the roll. 22 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 40. 5270 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 2 bill is passed. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 961, by Senator Levy, Senate Bill Number 999-A, 5 an act to amend the General Obligations Law. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 7 the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 9 act shall take effect immediately. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 11 the roll. 12 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 40. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: That 15 bill is passed. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 971, by the Senate Committee on Rules. 18 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay aside. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 20 that bill aside. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 980, by Senator Larkin, Senate Bill Number 5744, 23 authorizing the city of Newburgh to issue serial 5271 1 bonds. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 3 Larkin has a home rule message here at the 4 desk. You can read the last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 6 act shall take effect immediately. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 8 the roll. 9 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 40. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 12 bill is passed. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 1000, by Senator Wright, Senate Bill Number 15 4277. 16 SENATOR PRESENT: Lay aside for 17 the day, please. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 19 that aside for today. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 1009, by Senator Saland, Senate Bill Number 22 5765, authorizing the Town of Wappinger, county 23 of Dutchess, to discontinue the use of certain 5272 1 park lands. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 3 Saland has a home rule message here at the 4 desk. You can read the last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 6 act shall take effect immediately. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 8 the roll. 9 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 40. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 12 bill is passed. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 1012, by Senator Saland, Senate Bill Number 15 686-A, an act to amend the Real Property Tax 16 Law. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 18 the last section. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 20 act shall take effect immediately. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 22 the roll. 23 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 5273 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 43. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 3 bill is passed. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 1016, by Senator Kuhl, Senate Bill Number 6 2454-A, an act to amend the Executive Law. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 8 the last section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 10 act shall take effect immediately. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 12 the roll. 13 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 42, nays 15 one, Senator Leichter recorded in the negative. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 17 bill is passed. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 1022, by Senator Wright, Senate Bill Number 20 3806-B, State Administrative Procedure Act. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 22 the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 5274 1 act shall take effect immediately. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 3 the roll. 4 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 43. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 7 bill is passed. 8 THE SECRETARY: 1026, by Senator 9 Kuhl, Senate Bill Number 3877-B, an act to amend 10 the General Municipal Law. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 12 Kuhl has a home rule message here at the desk. 13 You can read the last section. 14 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 15 act shall take effect immediately. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 17 the roll. 18 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 43. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 21 bill is passed. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 1051, by Senator Sears. 5275 1 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay aside. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Laid 3 aside. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 1064, substituted earlier today, by member of 6 the Assembly Pillittere. 7 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay aside. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Laid 9 aside. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 1069, by Senator cook, Senate Bill Number - 12 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay aside. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Laid 14 aside. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 1084, by Senator Lack, Senate Bill Number 4471, 17 an act to amend the Agriculture and Markets 18 Law. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 20 the last section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 22 act shall take effect immediately. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 5276 1 the roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 5 bill is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 1088, by Senator Stafford, Senate Bill Number 8 4853, an act to amend the Environmental 9 Conservation - 10 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay aside. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Laid 12 aside. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 1107, by Senator Levy, Senate Bill Number - 15 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay aside. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 17 that bill aside. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 1112, by Senator Cook, Senate Bill Number 20 2918-B, an act to amend the Town Law, the 21 Village Law and the General City Law. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 23 the last section. 5277 1 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 2 act shall take effect immediately. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 4 the roll. 5 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 6 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 45. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 8 bill is passed. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 1115, by Senator Maltese, Senate Bill Number 11 3265, an act to amend the Social Services Law. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 13 the last section. 14 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 15 act - 16 SENATOR MALTESE: Lay aside. 17 SENATOR PRESENT: Lay it aside 18 for today. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 20 aside for today. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 1126, by Senator Johnson, Senate Bill Number - 23 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay it 5278 1 aside. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Laid 3 aside. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 1127, by Senator - 6 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay aside. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Laid 8 aside. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 1132, by Senator Seward, Senate Bill - 11 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay aside. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Laid 13 aside. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 1137, by Senator Saland. 16 SENATOR PRESENT: Lay aside for 17 the day, please. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Laid 19 aside for the day. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 1141. 22 SENATOR PRESENT: Lay aside for 23 the day. 5279 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Laid 2 aside for the day. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 1156, by Senator levy, Senate Bill Number 1001, 5 an act to amend the Education Law. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 7 the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 9 act shall take effect immediately. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 11 the roll. 12 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 46. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 15 bill is passed. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 1157, by Senator Levy, Senate Bill Number 1310, 18 an act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 20 the last section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 22 act shall take effect immediately. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 5280 1 the roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 46, nays 23, 4 Senators Kuhl and Wright recorded in the 5 negative. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 7 bill is passed. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1159, by Senator Skelos. 10 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay aside. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Laid 12 aside. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 1163, substituted earlier today, by the Assembly 15 Committee on Rules, Assembly Bill Number 7977, 16 Education Law, in relation to annexation of 17 territory. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 19 the last section. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 21 act shall take effect immediately. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 23 the roll. 5281 1 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 48. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 4 bill is passed. 5 We were out of order on that, so 6 we're going to do 1160, is that correct, now? 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 1160, by Senator Spano. 9 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay aside. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Laid 11 aside. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 1165, by Senator Velella. 14 SENATOR LEICHTER: Lay aside. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 16 that bill aside. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 1166, by Senator Velella, Senate Bill Number 19 3188, an act to amend the Executive Law. 20 SENATOR LEICHTER: Lay aside. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 22 that bill aside. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar number 5282 1 1167, by Senator Sheffer, Senate Bill Number 2 3374-A, an act to amend the Tax Law. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 4 the last section. 5 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay aside. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 7 aside. Don't read the last section. 8 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Go ahead. 9 SENATOR LEICHTER: No, lay it 10 aside. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Do you 12 want it laid aside? 13 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Yes. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: All 15 right. Senator Sheffer's bill is laid aside. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 1169, by Senator Pataki, Senate Bill Number 18 3566, an act to amend the Penal Law. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 20 the last section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 22 act shall take effect immediately. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 5283 1 the roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 5 bill is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 1170, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Bill Number 8 3951, an act to amend the Domestic Relations 9 Law. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 11 the last section. 12 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 13 act shall take effect immediately. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 15 the roll. 16 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 17 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 19 bill is passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 1171, by Senator Spano, Senate Bill Number 22 4224-A, New York State Financial Emergency Act 23 of 1984. 5284 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 2 Spano has a home rule message here at the desk. 3 Read the last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 5 act shall take effect immediately. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 7 the roll. 8 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 11 bill is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 1172, by Senator Wright, Senate Bill Number 14 4230-B, amends Chapter 266 of the Laws of 1854. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read - 16 lay that bill aside. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 1173, by Senator Cook, Senate Bill Number 4327, 19 legalizing, ratifying, validating and confirming 20 certain actions by the town of Roxbury. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 22 Cook has a home rule message at the desk. You 23 can read the last section. 5285 1 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 2 act shall take effect immediately. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 4 the roll. 5 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 6 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 8 bill is passed. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 1174, by Senator Skelos, Senate Bill Number 11 4433, an act to amend the Tax Law. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 13 the last section. 14 SENATOR LEICHTER: Lay aside. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 16 aside. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 1175, by Senator Libous, Senate Bill Number 19 4449, an act to amend the Penal Law. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 21 the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 23 act shall take effect immediately. 5286 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 2 the roll. 3 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 6 bill is passed. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 1176, Senator Wright moves to discharge the 9 Committee on Rules from Assembly Bill Number 10 6609, and substitute it for the identical 11 Calendar Number 1176. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 13 Substitution is ordered. Read the last 14 section. 15 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 16 act shall take effect immediately. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 18 the roll. 19 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 22 bill is passed. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5287 1 1177, by Senator Volker, Senate Bill Number 2 4830, an act to amend the Penal Law. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 4 the last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 6 act shall take effect immediately. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 8 the roll. 9 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 12 bill is passed. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 1178, by Senator Levy, Senate Bill Number 4844, 15 an act to amend the Tax Law. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 17 the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 19 act shall take effect immediately. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 21 the roll. 22 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50. 5288 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 2 bill is passed. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 1179, by Senator Maltese, Senate Bill Number 5 4917, an act to amend the civil service law. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 7 the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 9 act shall take effect immediately. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 11 the roll. 12 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 15 bill is passed. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 1180, by Senator Padavan, Senate Bill Number 18 4955, an act to amend the Penal Law and the 19 General Business Law. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 21 the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 23 act shall take effect immediately. 5289 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 2 the roll. 3 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 6 bill is passed. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 1181, by Senator Hannon, Senate Bill Number 9 4991, an act to amend the Tax Law. 10 SENATOR GOLD: Lay it aside. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 12 that bill aside. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 1182, by Senator Hannon, Senate Bill Number 15 5017, to allow Douglas Robins, an employee - 16 SENATOR GOLD: Lay aside. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 18 aside. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 1183, by Senator Hannon, Senate Bill Number 21 5332, amends Chapter 750 of the Laws of 1871, 22 relating to incorporating - 23 SENATOR GOLD: Lay aside. 5290 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Laid 2 aside. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 1184, by Senator Cook, Senate Bill Number 5352, 5 an act to amend the Local Finance Law. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 7 the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 9 act shall take effect immediately. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 11 the roll. 12 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 15 bill is passed. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 1185, by Senator Masiello, Senate Bill Number - 18 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay it 19 aside. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 21 that bill aside. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 1187, by Senator Skelos, Senate Bill Number 5291 1 5589, an act to amend the Executive Law. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 3 the last section. 4 SENATOR LACK: Lay it aside. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 6 that bill aside. 7 THE SECRETARY: 1188, by Senator 8 Tully. 9 SENATOR PRESENT: Lay aside for 10 the day. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 12 aside for the day. 13 SENATOR PRESENT: Next one lay 14 aside for the day. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay the 16 next one aside for the day, 1189. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 1190, by Senator Saland, Senate Bill Number 19 5859, Local Finance Law, in relation to revenue 20 anticipation notes. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 22 the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 5292 1 act shall take effect immediately. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 3 the roll. 4 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 7 bill is passed. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1191, by Senator - 10 SENATOR GOLD: Lay aside. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 12 that bill aside. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 1192, by Senator Seward, Senate Bill Number 15 5883, an act to amend the Town Law. 16 SENATOR GOLD: Lay aside. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 18 that bill aside. 19 Senator Present, that's the first 20 time through. 21 SENATOR SALAND: Mr. President. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 23 Saland. 5293 1 SENATOR SALAND: I was out of the 2 chamber at the time that Calendar 961 was 3 called. I walked in shortly thereafter and did 4 not want to have the bill reconsidered. I'd like 5 unanimous consent to cast my vote in the 6 negative and would like to briefly explain my 7 vote if I might, sir. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Without 9 objection, Senator Saland to explain his 10 negative vote. 11 SENATOR SALAND: Thank you, Mr. 12 President. 13 Mr. President, Senator Levy's 14 bill certainly is laudable in its intent. It 15 attempts to make parents absolutely liable for 16 the acts of their children up to the tune of 17 $2500 in those instances where a child has done 18 damage to a house of worship. 19 My concern, however, is where a 20 parent has, with the best of intentions, 21 expended a considerable amount of money perhaps 22 to deal with a troubled youngster, one who might 23 have emotional problems, one who might be cared 5294 1 for by a psychiatrist perhaps in extensive 2 therapy, and endeavors in every way humanly 3 possible to assist that child with his or her 4 problems, maybe even to use an extreme example, 5 keep the child secured perhaps using a third 6 party to act as that security, and the child 7 evades that security and causes the damage. 8 There's no provision for any 9 mitigation here. However, while Senator Levy 10 provides that the court can consider the 11 financial ability of the parents where it 12 exceeds $2500 and provides a $2500 floor for the 13 amount to be paid, there's no consideration for 14 mitigation and in the absence of that 15 consideration for mitigation where the parents 16 have made genuine good faith efforts to try and 17 deal with a troubled child, I feel compelled to 18 vote in the negative. 19 Thank you, Mr. President. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Without 21 objection, Senator Saland is in the negative. 22 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 5295 1 Holland. 2 SENATOR HOLLAND: Can I be 3 registered in the negative on that bill also, 4 please? 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 6 Holland will be in the negative. 7 SENATOR SEARS: I also. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 9 Sears is in the negative. 10 Controversial. 11 THE SECRETARY: On page 6, 12 Calendar Number 306, by Senator Mega, Senate 13 Bill Number 2175-A, proposing an amendment to 14 the Constitution. 15 SENATOR GOLD: Explanation. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 17 Explanation has been asked for. Senator Mega. 18 SENATOR MEGA: This is a 19 concurrent resolution. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Hold 21 on, Senator Mega. We're a little noisy in this 22 chamber. 23 SENATOR MEGA: This is a 5296 1 concurrent resolution, its first passage 2 increasing the jurisdiction of the New York City 3 Civil Courts from 25,000 to 50,000 and the 4 jurisdiction of the District Courts from 15,000 5 to 50,000. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Is that 7 explanation satisfactory? Read - 8 SENATOR GOLD: No. Mr. 9 President, will the Senator yield to a 10 question? 11 SENATOR MEGA: Certainly. 12 SENATOR GOLD: Senator, will you 13 explain the difference between the original 14 print and the "A" print? 15 SENATOR MEGA: The original print 16 did not include the District Courts. 17 SENATOR GOLD: All right. Thank 18 you. 19 Mr. President, on the bill. 20 There is a memorandum in opposition to the 21 original bill by the New York State Trial 22 Lawyers Association. They are concerned what 23 this increase would do. One sentence in the 5297 1 bill is, quotes: "An increase to 50,000, taken 2 in conjunction with mandatory arbitration 3 programs now in existence in our New York City 4 Civil Court system, could serve to drive too 5 many victims from the judicial system." 6 Mr. President, we do have a 7 structure right now. Senator Mega, I don't know 8 what we want to do with that structure. There 9 is a proposal by the Governor to merge all 10 courts, as you know. There was a proposal filed 11 by the Speaker last week to merge all courts - 12 two ideas which I think are horrendous, 13 unnecessary expenses. But in this regard, 14 Senator, I must say that there are a lot of 15 procedures that go to our judicial laws to set 16 up the Civil Court and the District Courts 17 differently from the Supreme Court, and I 18 believe, Senator, and not to make this a long 19 debate, but I believe that a lot of that was 20 geared to the fact that the amounts of money 21 involved were different. 22 We had at one point limitations 23 on our lower court to 3,000, 6,000, 10,000. 5298 1 25,000, Senator, I'm only a country lawyer but 2 25,000 to me is a lot of money. $50,000 is 3 already very serious, significant money to a lot 4 of people, and I would think that people with 5 claims that are that size are entitled to a 6 Supreme Court. 7 I don't want to argue the merger 8 issue, but that issue is an issue. I don't 9 think you get the merger by raising the limits 10 of the lower court to a point where everybody 11 shrugs their shoulders and says, "What's the 12 difference anyway?" The court systems in this 13 state need some repairs. 14 I don't think this does the 15 repair, and I would just point out that while 16 the trial lawyers' memo is on the original 17 print, based upon your comments, I assume they 18 would also be opposed to the amended version, 19 since none of their arguments in their memo 20 talks about opposition merely because you left 21 out the civil courts. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 23 the roll on Senator Mega's resolution. 5299 1 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 49, nays 3, 3 Senators Connor, Gold and Ohrenstein recorded in 4 the negative. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 6 resolution is -- the resolution is adopted. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 620, by Senator Velella, Senate Bill Number 9 2562-A, an act to amend the Executive Law, in 10 relation to establishing the Office of Risk 11 Assessment and Management. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 13 the last - 14 SENATOR GOLD: Senator Velella, 15 an explanation. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 17 Explanation. Senator Velella. 18 SENATOR VELELLA: Yes, Senator. 19 This bill would establish within the Office of 20 General Services a division or office of risk 21 management for the state of New York. 22 The purpose of this would be to 23 have a separate office assess the liabilities 5300 1 for New York State, make recommendations to 2 various state agencies on how our exposure to 3 liability might be limited and how we might 4 prevent any possible losses to the state. 5 It is something that all major 6 corporations have. Many local governments and 7 state governments across the country have it and 8 I think it's time that New York became part of 9 the team of our governmental agencies that have 10 this. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: You can 12 read the last section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 14 act shall take effect immediately. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 16 the roll. 17 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 18 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50, nays 19 two, Senators Waldon and Wright recorded in the 20 negative. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 22 bill is passed. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5301 1 626, by Senator Sears, Senate Bill Number 2 4208-A, Agriculture and Markets Law, in relation 3 to requirements for unit pricing. 4 SENATOR GOLD: Explanation. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 6 Explanation has been asked for. Senator Sears. 7 SENATOR SEARS: This is a bill 8 that passed earlier this year and the -- the "A" 9 version takes out the 98 percent compliance 10 provision. Instead, the existing enforcement by 11 section 214 (h) of the Ag and Markets law 12 applies. That is, if the Agriculture and 13 Markets inspector finds a violation, then the 14 store can be fined up to $300 per violation. 15 When this passed earlier, it went 16 over to the Assembly and they had an objection 17 to that 98 percent compliance, so we -- we 18 amended the bill to take that whole section 3 19 out. 20 SENATOR GOLD: Last section. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 22 the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 5302 1 act shall take effect immediately. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 3 the roll. 4 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 7 bill is passed. 8 Senator Saland. 9 SENATOR SALAND: Mr. President, 10 with apologies, may I please have unanimous 11 consent to be recorded in the negative on 12 Calendar Number 620, Senate 2562-A. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Without 14 objection, Senator Saland is in the negative on 15 620. 16 Senator Larkin. 17 SENATOR LARKIN: Mr. President, 18 may I have unanimous consent to be recorded in 19 the negative on Calendar 620, Print Number 20 2562-A. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 22 Larkin is in the negative on 620. 23 Continue the calendar. 5303 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 646, by Senator Skelos, Senate Bill Number 1240, 3 an act to amend the General Obligations Law. 4 SENATOR GOLD: Explanation. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 6 Explanation. Senator Skelos. 7 SENATOR SKELOS: Under this 8 legislation, Senator Gold, which passed the 9 Senate in '91 and '92, in an action for damages, 10 if the defendant, who in this case would be a 11 victim of a crime, shows that the injuries 12 sustained by the plaintiff, which would be the 13 criminal, arose during the commission or 14 attempted commission by the plaintiff of certain 15 enumerated crimes, and that the actions of the 16 defendant were justified pursuant to Article 35 17 of the Penal Law, then the Plaintiff is deemed 18 to assume the risk of injury coming from the 19 encounter with the victim and that the proof 20 shall constitute a complete defense to the 21 action. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 23 the last section. 5304 1 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 2 act shall take effect immediately. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 4 the roll. 5 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 6 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 49, nays 3, 7 Senators Connor, Gold and Ohrenstein recorded in 8 the negative. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 10 bill is passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 800, by Senator Skelos, Senate Bill Number 13 4720-A. 14 SENATOR GOLD: Explanation. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 16 Explanation requested. 17 THE SECRETARY: Environmental 18 Conservation Law. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 20 Skelos. 21 SENATOR SKELOS: Senator Gold, 22 this legislation was recommended to me when I 23 conducted task force hearings in Buffalo which 5305 1 were put together by, in this case, McHugh/ 2 Masiello, and it's also co-sponsored on a 3 bipartisan basis in this house, would prohibit 4 the confiscation or taxation of emission 5 reduction credits as defined by Title I of the 6 federal Clean Air Act in any manner unless 7 specifically authorized by law, meaning the 8 Legislature and signed by the Governor. 9 Emission reduction credits are 10 created when a business reduces emissions of 11 volatile organic compounds. These credits are 12 not, and I want to emphasize, should not be 13 confused with acid rain allowances which have a 14 totally different chemical make-up and are not 15 mentioned in Title I of the Clean Air Act. 16 These emission reduction credits 17 are of considerable monetary value to each busi 18 ness. In addition, they serve as an economic 19 incentive to pollute less. Thus, any confisca 20 tion or taxation by the DEC as outlined in their 21 new Source Review Regulations, Part 231, is 22 considered counterproductive to the emission 23 trading program, the federal Clean Air Act, and 5306 1 a severe detriment to New York's environmental 2 and economic welfare. 3 SENATOR GOLD: Thank you, 4 Senator. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 6 Gold. 7 SENATOR GOLD: Yeah, I'd like to 8 point out, Mr. President, that both the 9 Department of Environmental Conservation has 10 filed a memo in opposition and the Environmental 11 Planning Lobby -- Lobby has filed in opposition 12 and I feel terrible that there are some 13 Democrats on the bill or maybe after the vote 14 I'll be proud that there are some Democrats on 15 the bill. 16 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 18 Leichter. 19 SENATOR LEICHTER: Would Senator 20 Skelos yield, please? 21 SENATOR SKELOS: Yes. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 23 Skelos, would you yield, please? 5307 1 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator 2 Skelos. 3 SENATOR SKELOS: I'll yield to 4 Frank any time. 5 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes, Senator. 6 Under your bill, if a facility had built up 7 credits that it could transfer, could that 8 facility transfer the credits and then close up 9 its shop in New York State? 10 SENATOR SKELOS: No, the issue 11 here, Senator Leichter, is very simply that 12 these credits are allowed to certain businesses 13 and whether the DEC, by regulation, should be 14 allowed to just come in and confiscate without 15 any type of payment to the company. 16 Now, for example, if the state 17 decided that they wanted to put tracks from one 18 part of the state to the other and they had to 19 confiscate your property, it would be as if they 20 had the right to take your property without 21 paying you anything for it. 22 So it's really an issue of, 23 number one, should this asset be confiscated 5308 1 without any payment to the company for their 2 efforts in lowering pollution level and should 3 it really be a Legislative prerogative rather 4 than a regulation by the DEC to permit this type 5 of confiscation? And I also want to point out 6 that this legislation is supported by The 7 Business Council, the Buffalo Chamber of 8 Commerce, the Upstate Roundtable and the Long 9 Island Association. 10 SENATOR LEICHTER: Well - 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 12 Leichter. 13 SENATOR LEICHTER: Well, you - 14 even if I were to agree with you that this is a 15 legislative prerogative and that we don't want 16 DEC to lay down blanket rules by regulation, 17 there's still a question of how carefully and 18 well your bill is drafted and, by the way, I 19 want to say I don't agree with your basic 20 premise, but I'm still concerned that your bill 21 would facilitate a New York business 22 transferring its pollution credits and then 23 closing its door. 5309 1 Why wouldn't you put in your bill 2 that that transfer is only available to 3 businesses that are then not closed down shop 4 and lay New Yorkers off? 5 SENATOR SKELOS: Why would a 6 business who would go through all the efforts 7 and the expense of improving their business 8 environmentally then just want to close down? It 9 makes no sense. 10 SENATOR LEICHTER: I -- I beg to 11 differ with you, sir, and I can give you some 12 examples where that could happen. I don't think 13 you could preclude the possibility of that 14 occurring because we've seen cement factories 15 and other businesses that create pollution. 16 SENATOR SKELOS: They could do 17 that right now. Senator, couldn't they close up 18 their business right now if they want to? 19 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yeah, but they 20 couldn't -- under the DEC regulations, they 21 couldn't close down and get the benefit of 22 transferring their pollution credits. You're - 23 you're giving them possibly an additional 5310 1 incentive of doing that. 2 SENATOR SKELOS: No, I disagree 3 with you. 4 SENATOR LEICHTER: Well, Mr. 5 President. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: On the 7 bill, Senator Leichter. 8 SENATOR DALY: Mr. President. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Well, 10 Senator Daly. 11 SENATOR DALY: Mr. President, 12 will Senator Leichner yield? 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 14 Leichter, would you yield to Senator Daly? 15 SENATOR LEICHTER: I always yield 16 to Senator Daly. 17 SENATOR DALY: I've looked over 18 the memo, I've looked over the bill. I don't 19 see anything in the bill, not even in the memo 20 that would imply that it would cover this 21 situation and have the same result. If what you 22 say is true, then you can do it under the 23 existing rules and regs. 5311 1 This bill does not apply in any 2 way, shape or form to that question. All this 3 bill says is that a company -- that DEC cannot 4 take a ten percent hit or a company won't get a 5 ten percent hit from DEC if it reduces its 6 emission. Show me where it says that. 7 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, it's 8 the failure to cover that situation. It's 9 precisely, you read it the way I do. You looked 10 and you found nothing covering that situation. 11 That's precisely the problem. It ought to be 12 covered. We ought to, Senator, in this bill, 13 whether you agree with Senator Skelos' premise 14 or not, that at the very least we ought to 15 prohibit a company from transferring the credit 16 and then closing its doors. 17 You know, Senator Daly, that 18 we've had the situation where we've given 19 companies IDA loans or other benefits where they 20 then close the door, they've taken the money of 21 the people of the state of New York, they've 22 thrown New Yorkers out of work and they've gone 23 to some other place or just closed up. 5312 1 Certainly, this could happen under this -- under 2 this bill. 3 SENATOR DALY: Mr. President. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 5 Daly. 6 SENATOR DALY: Will the Senator 7 yield for another question? 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Would 9 you yield for another question? 10 SENATOR DALY: Now, let me quote 11 you about five minutes ago, Senator Leichter. 12 You said under the existing DEC regulations this 13 could not happen; the company could not close 14 down after it claimed some credits. This bill 15 doesn't impact on that. Doesn't change that in 16 the rules and regs. 17 All this bill says, pure and 18 simple, is that, if a company gets credits, DEC 19 cannot take ten percent of those credits, 20 period. 21 SENATOR LEICHTER: Well, Senator, 22 let me correct -- correct it to this extent. 23 The DEC would have one of their proposed 5313 1 regulations, it may not be the regulation now 2 and to that extent I think you're right, I'm 3 told, proposed regulation, most recent proposal 4 would bank all of the credits generated by 5 facility closure; so the DEC intends to cover 6 that situation that I'm concerned about. 7 It doesn't mean in no way dealing 8 with the whole universe of this bill, but I 9 think it's an important point and one of concern 10 to all of us because we're concerned about 11 facilities that take advantage of our laws and 12 then close up shop throwing New Yorkers out of 13 work. So that the DEC regulations proposed 14 would cover that particular situation and, if 15 this bill became law, then that regulation, as I 16 read it, would -- could not be enacted by DEC. 17 SENATOR DALY: Mr. President. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 19 Daly. 20 SENATOR DALY: If the -- if 21 Senator Leichter can just show me where - 22 anywhere in this bill, where this bill denies 23 DEC the right -- the right to establish that 5314 1 rule and regulation, I'll surrender. All this 2 bill does is take section - 3 SENATOR LEICHTER: I'll show you 4 where. 5 SENATOR DALY: Show me. 6 SENATOR LEICHTER: It does it on 7 page 2, starting line 3. It says the department 8 is prohibited from confiscating tax emission 9 offsets as defined in Title I, so if the 10 department now, as it intends to, so I'm 11 advised, will prohibit the transfer of any 12 emission credits in the event there's a closure 13 by the plant, it could not do this if this bill 14 became law. 15 SENATOR DALY: Give me that one 16 more time. I don't understand it. 17 SENATOR LEICHTER: O.K. Let's go 18 through this slowly. 19 SENATOR DALY: Yes, I need some 20 time. 21 SENATOR LEICHTER: I'll be 22 accommodating, Senator. Senator Skelos' bill 23 prohibits the department from confiscating or 5315 1 taking emission offsets, period, finally, 2 conclusively, without any exception. The DEC, I 3 am told, has a number of regulations in mind 4 dealing with these emission credits and offsets, 5 one of which could be that you can't -- that you 6 cannot get the offset and cannot get the credit 7 in the event there is a closure of the plant. 8 SENATOR DALY: Mr. President, 9 this bill - 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 11 Daly. 12 SENATOR DALY: This bill would 13 not deny DEC that right. It does not. 14 SENATOR LEICHTER: Well, Senator, 15 can I ask you then if you will yield? 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 17 Daly, will you yield for a question? 18 SENATOR DALY: Certainly. 19 SENATOR LEICHTER: What does it 20 mean when it says the department is prohibited 21 from confiscating or taking emission offsets? 22 What does that mean? 23 SENATOR DALY: Well, just what it 5316 1 says. 2 SENATOR LEICHTER: That's exactly 3 what I thought it meant and, therefore, it would 4 certainly cover my situation. 5 SENATOR DALY: No, Senator, it 6 would not. 7 SENATOR LEICHTER: Well, let's 8 see if, first, Senator Skelos can - 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 10 Skelos. 11 SENATOR LEICHTER: No, I'm just 12 yielding to him because he's on his feet and 13 maybe he can answer my problem. 14 SENATOR SKELOS: I'm just 15 stretching a little bit, Senator Leichter. 16 The whole issue here is whether 17 DEC, number one, should have the right to 18 promulgate these type of regulations rather than 19 the Legislature and the Governor, and the point 20 also is that the Department of Economic 21 Development is the agency that is concerned 22 about economic development within this state. 23 DEC, with these regulations, as 5317 1 far as I'm concerned, you may disagree, is 2 exceeding its authority and encroaching upon 3 what I believe is a legislative prerogative. 4 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, I 5 have no -- I've no problem in saying that that's 6 a legislative prerogative, and we're often 7 engaged in debates with your colleagues, usually 8 with Senator Wright, that we should not impinge 9 on administrative functions. 10 I agree. I think that it is 11 appropriate for the Legislature to do this. 12 That doesn't mean -- that doesn't mean that it 13 makes sense, and I -- I -- while Senator Daly 14 and I were really engaged in a sort of a narrow 15 point because I -- and I think an important 16 point, as usual, we've managed to confuse 17 anybody, including ourselves, but I wanted to 18 narrow the broader aspect of this, which is that 19 what you have now is that, under some 20 circumstances usually as a result of a DEC 21 requirement, usually it's a regulation, the very 22 thing that makes Senator Wright shiver and 23 uncomfortable, you have a New York business that 5318 1 has reduced its emissions and, therefore, could 2 be considered to have a credit which it could 3 transfer under -- under federal law under some 4 -- under some circumstances. 5 That credit is created solely 6 because DEC has taken some actions and we've 7 required that business -- well, I guess I could 8 -- I could see some situation where the 9 business does it on its own -- may decide on its 10 own to put in scrubbers, although it's not 11 required and, therefore, its emissions are less 12 than the federal requirement, but there's still 13 a -- there's still then an issue or question 14 whether you want that transferred or whether you 15 want to use that for the benefit -- in some 16 other respects for the benefit of the people of 17 the state of New York. 18 I would -- I would -- I would 19 submit to you that we -- that we again, when 20 there's an overall reduction in pollution, not 21 only in New York State but if we transfer some 22 of those emission rights to Ohio, where plants 23 are emitting pollutions that create acid rain 5319 1 which is affecting New York State - 2 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 3 this does not involve acid rain. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 5 Skelos. 6 SENATOR SKELOS: This does not 7 involve acid rain. So we shouldn't get into 8 Ohio and Indiana. This does not involve acid 9 rain. 10 SENATOR LEICHTER: O.K. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 12 Leichter. 13 SENATOR LEICHTER: It does 14 involve transfer of emission credits which allow 15 some other companies somewhere else in this 16 country to engage in activities that create 17 pollution. That pollution can have an effect 18 here in -- in New York State. 19 I think the whole idea that 20 you're going to create, that you allow a 21 trans... you allow somebody who is really doing 22 what is a benefit to the people, to gain a 23 benefit which is loud to be transferred to 5320 1 somebody else to do something which is harmful 2 to people, I have difficulty in understanding 3 why you would want to do it, and even if you 4 want to do it, at the very least, as I pointed 5 out, I think you ought to protect the people of 6 the state of New York against somebody taking 7 advantage of this and then closing down their 8 shop. 9 For these reasons and, as Senator 10 Gold rightly pointed out, DEC and EPL have urged 11 that we vote against it. I don't think it's 12 beneficial. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 14 the last section. 15 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 16 President. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Oh, 18 Senator Dollinger. Don't read the last 19 section. 20 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Yes. Would 21 Senator Skelos yield to a question. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 23 Skelos, would you yield to a question from 5321 1 Senator Dollinger? 2 SENATGOR DOLLINGER: Senator, I 3 must admit I'm going through this for the first 4 time and having some difficulty with this. As I 5 understand this, in the case of a closure or 6 discontinuance of operations, these credits 7 which are created by the, my understanding is by 8 the federal Clean Air Act, is that correct, 9 these credits would then go into the state to be 10 banked for purposes that the state Environmental 11 Conservation has set out in the regulations, is 12 that correct? 13 SENATOR SKELOS: That would be 14 under the proposed regulations. 15 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Just so I 16 better understand this concept of asset, what 17 would happen if the company went bankrupt? Is 18 this considered an asset of the bankrupt 19 corporation? 20 SENATOR SKELOS: I would say they 21 would be considered an asset of the 22 corporation. 23 SENATOR DOLLINGER: And if the 5322 1 company either went bankrupt or went out of 2 business, Senator, through you, Mr. President, 3 if you will yield for another question. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 5 Skelos, you are still yielding? 6 SENATOR SKELOS: Yes. 7 SENATOR DOLLINGER: If either of 8 those two things happened, the credits would be 9 available as an asset of the company to be sold 10 either in bankruptcy or at the time of the 11 discontinuance of the business. 12 SENATOR SKELOS: I believe so, 13 yes. 14 SENATOR DOLLINGER: O.K. I -- I'm 15 somewhat troubled, Mr. President, if I could 16 just speak on the bill for a minute. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: On the 18 bill, Senator Dollinger. 19 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Whether this 20 is really an asset, it seems to me these credits 21 create -- are really a creation of government. 22 They are established under the Clean Air Act. 23 We give the assets. We -- and by "we" I mean 5323 1 government, the federal government has created 2 the asset in this instance, and I'm not so sure 3 its functions under the same asset portfolio 4 that you would think of in the normal business. 5 This is something that government has created, a 6 right that government has created and, 7 therefore, it has, at least in my judgment, a 8 different treatment as far as the general asset 9 of a company would go, and although I'm, 10 frankly, still not sure I fully understand how 11 all this works, I think that that's important to 12 understand in the overall unraveling of this, 13 that there's a different type of asset. 14 This is not something the company 15 had prior to the Clean Air Act and, therefore, 16 perhaps the state government could manage it 17 better. I must admit to being still a bit 18 confused, Mr. President, but I've got a minute 19 or so to wrap that up. 20 Thank you. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 22 Oppenheimer. 23 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: I think, on 5324 1 the bill, because I am somewhat confused too, 2 but if the -- if New York State has first rights 3 to the -- these credits, and they do not indeed, 4 I think there's a concept behind not having to 5 pay the corporation that will be leaving the 6 state and, therefore, taking jobs and their 7 assets out of the state. 8 It's one way for New York State 9 to amass additional credits which are necessary 10 for us to meet the federal Clean Air Act and a 11 way for us to accumulate these credits without 12 spending a great deal of money in order to 13 comply with the laws which you suggested we 14 should be doing. 15 We should be spending state money 16 to acquire these credits from the corporations 17 leaving New York State. I say that would 18 probably hinder our efforts as a government to 19 try to meet the Clean Air Act because of the 20 costs that would be involved in buying these 21 credits from the corporations leaving New York 22 State. 23 Another thing that concerns me 5325 1 that always has, is the selling of the credits 2 which is the other option. If these credits are 3 to be sold, it would make me much more 4 comfortable with a provision that said they 5 should be sold to New York State corporations 6 and not to corporations that are outside of our 7 state, do no benefit to our state and only have 8 the prevailing winds drift the pollution back to 9 us. 10 So those are two points I'd like 11 to make. I concur that this is not a good bill, 12 and I would suggest that those who are concerned 13 with us meeting the requirements of the federal 14 Clean Air Act vote in opposition to this bill, 15 as I will. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 17 the last section. 18 SENATOR GOLD: Last section. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 20 act shall take effect immediately. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 22 the roll. 23 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 5326 1 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 2 the negative on Calendar Number 800 are Senators 3 Connor, Dollinger, Espada, Gold, Goodman, 4 LaValle, Leichter, Ohrenstein, Onorato, 5 Oppenheimer and Waldon. Ayes 41, nays 11. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 7 bill is passed. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 971, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 10 Bill Number 5709. 11 SENATOR GOLD: Lay aside for the 12 day, please. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 14 aside. Yes. Do you want that aside for the 15 day, Senator Present? 16 SENATOR PRESENT: Lay it aside 17 for the day. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 19 aside for the day. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 1051, by Senator Sears, Senate Bill Number 22 5754-A, in relation to the payment of a 23 judgment. 5327 1 SENATOR GOLD: Explanation. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 3 Explanation. Senator Sears. 4 SENATOR SEARS: Yes. As you 5 know, Mr. President, we debated this bill at 6 length the other day and, at the suggestion of 7 Senator Gold, I have amended the bill so that it 8 leaves no doubt as to what the Comptroller is to 9 compute if Jane Doe dies before the expiration 10 of her five and one half years of life 11 expectancy which is what is expected to happen 12 because, since the trial of last year, recent 13 laboratory tests show a marked decline in Jane 14 Doe's immune system which caused the doctor who 15 testified at her earlier trial to modify his 16 prognosis and tragically predict Mrs. Doe's 17 death in late 1995 or '96. 18 Now, what this bill does is to 19 substitute our judgment as representatives of 20 the people of the state of New York for that of 21 our Attorney General in this lawsuit and demand 22 that Jane Doe's estate be paid the full amount 23 of the damage award, no matter when she dies. 5328 1 As the situation stands now, the 2 sooner she dies, the more money the defendant 3 saves. A vote for this bill says that the 4 defendant in this case will not profit by its 5 own wrongful conduct and that Jane Doe's 6 children will get something to ease the pain of 7 watching the early and tragic death of their 8 mother caused by the outrageous and 9 unconscionable conduct of two correction 10 officers. 11 SENATOR GOLD: Mr. President. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 13 Gold. 14 SENATOR GOLD: Yeah. First of 15 all, I'm -- I'm glad that Senator Sears amended 16 the bill because, while I think the idea is 17 really very dangerous and very wrong, I respect 18 Senator Sears. I respect what he's trying to do 19 and I didn't think it would be fair if this 20 chamber voted to do something and it turned out 21 that it couldn't be done. So that issue is 22 taken care of. 23 This is a very, very, very 5329 1 dangerous piece of legislation and someone 2 agrees with me. It's dangerous, it's dangerous 3 because the members of the majority in this 4 house and others have decided that there ought 5 to be structured settlements in order to save 6 taxpayer money -- taxpayers -- the people who 7 the other side of the aisle are constantly 8 lecturing this side of the aisle about. 9 Thank you. We don't need your 10 lectures. This bill is an anti-taxpayer bill is 11 exactly what it is. I wish this woman all the 12 life and particularly painless life that anyone 13 could wish somebody. I don't want this woman to 14 suffer. I don't want her to die but the concept 15 of the structured settlement is that she will be 16 paid during the period of time that she is alive 17 for whatever pain and suffering she has while 18 she's alive. 19 Senator Sears is not giving her 20 and her family their due. He is giving them a 21 gift, way in excess of what the pain and 22 suffering is. That's what this bill does. Now, 23 throughout our system of law, we have 5330 1 circumstance after circumstance where we do not 2 allow family members to bring lawsuits for other 3 people's pain and suffering and for other 4 people's circumstances. 5 If, God forbid, someone has an 6 injured child, I know of such a case, a young 7 child was hit by an automobile at a young age 8 and a beautiful young man is getting along in 9 life but he has some disabilities. Those 10 parents every day of their lives live with 11 that. They take him to and from school. They 12 do these things. The law does not provide for 13 them to get a penny. 14 When Senator Sears says it would 15 be nice so that this woman would have something 16 to leave to her family, it would be nice to be 17 able to leave something to their family. My 18 arguments here are not heartless arguments. We 19 have -- I am not trying to take away anything 20 from this woman or her family. I'm trying to 21 remind this chamber what you have voted for and 22 what you have created. 23 You created a system where people 5331 1 who are injured by the state -- and this woman 2 was injured by the state; that has been a 3 finding -- that these people will be paid and 4 compensated but that we will not give away 5 balloons of the taxpayers' money. 6 If, God forbid, this woman were 7 to die early, we would, in effect, be giving a 8 few million dollars to this family. That goes 9 beyond the woman's medical, beyond her out of 10 pocket, beyond her pain and suffering. Well, I 11 don't know. I mean I don't know. There are 12 bills on the calendar that some people tell me 13 are one-house bills. There are some of you 14 wanted an extra $500,000 for your community, but 15 it's not really bargained out and people say, 16 where do you get the money? 17 There are bills on the calendar 18 where you need roads taken over by the state or 19 bridges. You can't get those negotiated with 20 the Assembly and you're talking about giving 21 away millions of dollars here as a gift and 22 that's what it is. 23 The circumstances of this case 5332 1 are a tragedy. They are a disaster. There are 2 61 members in this house. I will sign an 3 affidavit that no one has a larger and a bigger 4 and a finer heart than Senator Sears. He 5 absolutely means well, and I admire him for it. 6 But what we are being asked to do is just 7 wrong. 8 The majority in this house 9 suggested during court reform that we should get 10 rid of pain and suffering or at least cap it. 11 You want to put a cap on it. Now, please, you 12 can't be telling me that you would cap pain and 13 suffering in the private sector, but since 14 governments have so much money, we are not going 15 to put a cap on it in these situations. 16 The bill makes no sense. I was 17 hoping, to tell you the truth, that when I 18 suggested the amendment to Senator Sears, maybe 19 the bill would have faded away and we wouldn't 20 have to bring this to a vote because I look 21 around this room. I see good people in this 22 room and good people have hearts that go out to 23 other people, but we're being asked to do 5333 1 something which is governmentally, I believe, 2 terrible. Terrible. 3 We are not making up a deficiency 4 for someone who got underpaid. We are not 5 correcting a pension system for someone whose 6 papers were lost. We are being asked to make a 7 lump sum payment to someone which unquestionably 8 will turn out to be a gift of taxpayer money. 9 I've made my case. I don't know 10 what else to say. I think it is a bad law. 11 It's the old story of bad cases make bad law. 12 This is one of the classics. 13 I would have hoped that it didn't 14 come back. It shouldn't come back. It's here. 15 I reluctantly will vote against it. I don't 16 think there's anything else you can really do if 17 you respect the taxpayer wallet. Those of you 18 who vote against it, I look you in the eye and I 19 appreciate where your heart is, but I think it's 20 the wrong place to put your heart. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 22 Solomon was next. 23 Senator Solomon. 5334 1 SENATOR SOLOMON: Thank you, Mr. 2 President. 3 Will Senator Sears yield, please? 4 Mr. President. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 6 Sears, would you yield to Senator Solomon. 7 SENATOR SEARS: Yes. 8 SENATOR SOLOMON: Senator, in the 9 past, haven't you voted for a cap on pain and 10 suffering? 11 SENATOR SEARS: Excuse me? 12 SENATOR SOLOMON: Senator, have 13 you voted for caps on pain and suffering in the 14 past, 250-? 15 SENATOR SEARS: I believe I have, 16 yes. 17 SENATOR SOLOMON: Mr. President, 18 will the Senator yield for one other question? 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Would 20 you yield for another question? 21 SENATOR SEARS: Yes. 22 SENATOR SOLOMON: Senator, at a 23 certain time of year in the Jewish faith we 5335 1 celebrate the holiday of Passover, and one of 2 the questions -- the four questions that the 3 youngest people ask is why is this night 4 different than other nights, and I'd like to ask 5 a question along those lines, Senator: Why does 6 this individual deserve special treatment from 7 all the other individuals that have received 8 suits under egregious circumstances against the 9 state where the state was woefully at fault that 10 may have had their lives may have been shortened 11 and, in fact, prognosis may have changed? Why 12 should this person be treated differently? 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 14 Sears. 15 SENATOR SEARS: Senator, have you 16 ever seen anybody die of AIDS? 17 SENATOR SOLOMON: Yes. 18 SENATOR SEARS: Day by day? 19 SENATOR SOLOMON: Yes. 20 SENATOR SEARS: The final week or 21 two? 22 SENATOR SOLOMON: Yes. 23 SENATOR SEARS: Or months, when 5336 1 they deteriorate to practically not, don't know 2 where they're at, wish they were somewhere else, 3 because they're going to die from a disease that 4 they had not to do with contracting in this 5 case. 6 Yes, this is different, Senator, 7 very, very different and those children, I 8 think, are deserving of something for the pain 9 and the suffering that they will go through 10 during that period of time when they watch their 11 mother die. 12 SENATOR SOLOMON: Thank you. 13 On the bill, Mr. President. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 15 Solomon on the bill. 16 SENATOR SOLOMON: I'm glad that 17 Senator Sears just declared a new area for us to 18 look at, so if in the future any resident of 19 this state gets AIDS and the state is found at 20 fault in that case, special legislation should 21 be passed to help that individual. So we set a 22 new standard legislatively in the case of AIDS 23 for any individuals that receive it as a result 5337 1 of the negligence of the state of New York, and 2 I think that's the very point, because I've also 3 seen people that have become quadriplegics at 4 the fault of this state, and the miserable life 5 they must live. 6 I've also seen many other cases 7 where torts have resulted in horrible 8 circumstances. What we've done is set a new 9 standard. If you from now on, Senator, and I 10 hope you -- if there's ever any additional 11 situation would, in fact, introduce legislation 12 or support that legislation and convince your 13 colleagues that, if it happened to someone in 14 New York City, in my district or Senator 15 Waldon's district or Senator Onorato's district, 16 if it was a poor nurse aide in New York City who 17 developed AIDS as a result of the negligence of 18 state government, that they would be able to get 19 the same relief in this house as this individual 20 is getting. 21 But the fact of the matter is 22 we're setting a standard for only one 23 individual. We should be doing it across the 5338 1 board, and that's the problem with this piece of 2 legislation. I have no problem with this 3 individual getting this relief, but that's not 4 the current law for every other individual 5 that's been injured as a result of the 6 negligence in this state, and that's what's 7 unfair, an individual bill introduced which, in 8 fact, eliminates every other person that's been 9 injured as a result of the negligence in this 10 state, and I think that's the problem with this 11 legislation. 12 Thank you. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 14 the last section. 15 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 16 President. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Oh, 18 Senator Dollinger. 19 Senator Dollinger, you want to 20 speak? 21 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 22 President, I thought you had one speaker before 23 me as well. 5339 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: I 2 didn't see him, whoever he was. 3 SENATOR GOLD: Senator 4 Dollinger. 5 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 6 President, I spoke against this bill the first 7 time we took a look at it, and I think I have to 8 respond to Senator Sears' comment because I want 9 everybody in this chamber to recognize that - 10 two of the premises to this bill, and I 11 understand the good intentions from which it 12 springs. 13 I don't doubt those for a second 14 and I -- I clearly have sympathy for this 15 particular person, but I think it's important to 16 recognize, Mr. President, that there was no 17 mistake in this verdict. The verdict rendered 18 by the court said, I anticipate that you're 19 going to live 5.5 years and during that 5.5-year 20 period of time, you are going to sustain $3.5 21 million worth of damage because that life span 22 is worth that amount of money. 23 If the court had said, You're 5340 1 going to live 10 years, I dare say it would have 2 rendered a different verdict. The verdict 3 wouldn't be 3.5 million; it would be something 4 substantially more because the period of pain 5 and suffering would be greater as well. 6 But under our law, the court also 7 didn't have to say, by the way, if you only live 8 two and a half years, we're going to cut the 9 money down because, because of the periodic 10 payment rule, it was paid over 5.5 years in a 11 structured settlement. If you only live two and 12 a half years, you're going to get all that you 13 would be entitled to for the pain and suffering 14 in that two and a half-year period. 15 So by operation of law, this 16 court created and, by operation of law that we 17 approved the structured settlement and by 18 operation of the facts in this case, the court 19 took care of the instance of where the life 20 expectancy, the full life that this person would 21 live, would be less than 5.5 years. 22 That's critical, Mr. President, 23 because, if this woman does live less than 5.5 5341 1 years, and I understand that Senator Sears has 2 information that that may not be the case 3 regrettably, she will not live her life 4 expectancy but, if she doesn't, she will be 5 fully compensated for the -- by the state of New 6 York for our negligence, for what we caused. 7 She will be fully compensated for however long 8 she lived. If you have calculated it at 9 $750,000 a year which is roughly what this court 10 did, she's going to be paid a million and a half 11 dollars for the two years that she lives. If 12 she lives another year, she'll get $750,000 13 more. It's spread out over time. If the time 14 limit shrinks she will get every penny that she 15 is entitled to, and that's another critical 16 mistake that we ought to recognize in this bill, 17 that Senator Sears is correct what he's seeking 18 to do here is to compensate the family for the 19 pain and suffering of their mother and recognize 20 that that is probably the most liberal 21 interpretation of the common law in this state. 22 Throughout our history, the Court 23 of Appeals has recognized that the bystander who 5342 1 witnesses the damage-causing event is not 2 entitled to compensation because we draw a 3 line. If you're injured by the negligent party, 4 you are compensated but your loved ones are not, 5 and the reason why we draw that line is because 6 we want to be able to confine the exposure and 7 the risk. 8 When the example that's used when 9 everyone who is an attorney goes to law school, 10 is someone who gets struck in downtown Manhattan 11 by a car, everyone looks at this horrible 12 accident, everyone in the building or everyone 13 on the street could walk in and say, I watched 14 someone die in front of my face; I'm entitled to 15 compensation. 16 We in this state have drawn a 17 line in our common law which says we do not 18 recognize those claims for pain and suffering by 19 bystanders, by onlookers, even if they may well 20 be members of a family. 21 So recognize that we are not 22 correcting a mistake in this verdict, and we are 23 radically changing in this one instance, we are 5343 1 radically changing the common law in this 2 state. 3 The other comment that I made 4 beforehand which just bears quickly repeating, 5 we are not an appellate court. Our job is not 6 to intervene in verdicts which I think were 7 properly rendered and will fully compensate this 8 woman for the pain and suffering that she has to 9 endure. We are opening the door, in my 10 judgment, to a slew of these types of 11 applications, to all the members of this body as 12 well as the Assembly to walk in and say, we feel 13 that the justice system has not done us right. 14 We want you to correct it; we want you to give 15 money from the taxpayers to correct a perceived 16 inequity. 17 I submit to you, my colleagues, 18 this is no inequity in this statute. In this 19 case, this woman will be fully compensated for 20 her pain and suffering. The comment that 21 Senator Gold made, we are giving a gift of 22 millions of taxpayer dollars to a family that is 23 enduring an unspeakable tragedy, but one that, 5344 1 under our system of law, they are not entitled 2 to compensation for and one which we will open 3 our door, frankly, to all kinds of claims in the 4 future. 5 I would urge that, for this 6 respect for our common law, for our system of 7 law, for the system that produced this, what 8 appears to be a fair and equitable verdict that 9 we not tamper with this case and that we vote 10 no. 11 SENATOR GOLD: Slow roll call. 12 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Mr. 13 President. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Is it 15 -- Senator Connor. 16 SENATOR CONNOR: Thank you, Mr. 17 President. 18 Mr. President, I won't reiterate 19 what I said a week or two ago about this bill, 20 but I want to remind my colleagues that it's the 21 majority in this house, by and large, that year 22 after year has brought up piecemeal attempts at, 23 quote, "reform", unquote, of the tort laws and 5345 1 most of the majority members in this house have 2 supported in the past bills that would put an 3 absolute cap on pain and suffering. 4 There have been different ones 5 proposed, 150,000, 150 now. I remind you, if 6 your bill had become law, we wouldn't be talking 7 about $750,000 a year times five years; we 8 wouldn't be talking about $3 million in pain and 9 suffering even in this tragic, terrible 10 situation that Senator Sears has called to our 11 attention. We'd be talking about, take your 12 hundred thousand or 150,000 and take a walk, no 13 matter how long you live. If you suffer for 30 14 years, that's what you get. That's what you've 15 proposed, you in the majority, and I've opposed 16 it. 17 The rationale for your caps and 18 limits has always been it costs too much. It 19 costs the taxpayers too much; it costs the 20 insurance carriers and businesses. It costs the 21 tortfeasors too much. It inhibits business. It 22 causes us to have to raise taxes to pay 23 judgments. It discourages business because of 5346 1 the cost of insurance and the liability. 2 Well, I submit to you, that when 3 you proposed those laws, you were covering 4 thousands of tragic cases and maybe it's easier 5 to do when you do that, because it's all being 6 done theoretically in big numbers. It's 7 faceless, the cap for pain and suffering you 8 impose on suffering, faceless, suffering 9 citizens of New York. 10 But when you have a face or a 11 name, albeit Jane Doe or when you have a 12 particular person in mind, Aah, what a grave 13 injustice. Well, think about what you would 14 have done in the past in this case. You would 15 have said, "Senator Sears, take a hike, she gets 16 the hundred thousand dollars, she gets $150,000, 17 that's it," no matter what the suffering. 18 And you passed the law for 19 structured settlements, and you know what? 20 There was logic to that though, because it 21 became very controversial that a court, at the 22 present time, has to compute an estimate of 23 future pain and suffering, and I remember the 5347 1 proponents of this structured settlement saying 2 well, you know, the court uses its best estimate 3 and it says, well, you know, persons facing 20 4 years of pain, facing the actual 20 years, you 5 reduce the actual amount you structured it so 6 you will get the amount for the time you 7 actually suffer and experience pain, but you 8 won't get it for the fictional life expectancy 9 time thereafter. 10 And now you're up against your 11 first real case where a face with a name on it, 12 with a Senator to get up and represent it and 13 you're going to pass this special legislation. 14 I don't understand it. We should have a tort 15 law for all the citizens of New York State. 16 People, when you -- when you change these tort 17 laws, of course, people are going to experience 18 losses, but I mean do we really want to set up a 19 system where all 61 Senators feel that, in order 20 to do our job, we have to reach out in our 21 district and come up, reach out. 22 Once a bill like this passes and 23 gets some publicity, they'll reach out for us 5348 1 and the personal injury lawyers will reach out 2 for us and I'll get a call from someone who will 3 say, "Senator Connor, I got a case will break 4 your heart," and it will break your heart just 5 like this case will break your heart. 6 People really get injured in 7 fight torts. You talking about court reform? 8 People really get hurt, real people get hurt, 9 real families experience loss, and we deal with 10 it by law, and we're all going to get calls from 11 constituents, personal injury lawyers who 12 represent our constituents, saying, "I got one 13 for you this year, Senator." This will break 14 your heart. This will have your colleagues 15 weeping in the aisles. Just pass this bill 16 because if you don't, somebody will be out a 17 million or two. 18 Is that how you want to deal; is 19 that tort reform? Is that how you want to deal 20 with personal injury in New York State because, 21 if you start doing bills like this, one you have 22 no credibility, none whatsoever, when you 23 propose the bills for your court reform that are 5349 1 an annual event from the Majority in this house 2 and the rationale you use for them applies 3 directly towards the defeat of this bill. 4 It's a very, very bad thing. 5 It's a tragic case, but they're all tragic 6 cases, some more than others depending on the 7 proximity to it. I have told the story of the 8 man who showed up over in the park a few weeks 9 ago, threw his arms around me. Because of a 10 question of law, his lawyer missed a deadline, 11 he lost a $6 million judgment. He's really 12 injured; you take one look at him; he hasn't 13 worked in years. 14 Can I pass a bill saying, let's 15 forget about that 30-day time to appeal, 16 whatever it was, the appeal remittitur and give 17 him back his 6 million or let him go in front of 18 another jury and get another shot at it? Why 19 not? He suffers. He was wrongfully injured. He 20 and his family have needs for that money to pay 21 medical bills, and they have a better place to 22 live and facilities that will accommodate his 23 injuries and his present disabilities. 5350 1 And you know, you all have 2 constituents like that and, if you're doing your 3 job as well as Senator Sears, if you pass this 4 bill for Senator Sears, you'd better start 5 sponsoring bills for your constituents, and we 6 better start passing them year after year after 7 year. We probably should set aside a whole 8 month each year to pass those kinds of bills. 9 I have to vote no, not because 10 this woman, she got compensation, not because 11 her case isn't heart rending. But remember her 12 economic loss is compensated; her pain and 13 suffering are compensated, compensated much 14 better than you all who have proposed caps would 15 have compensated her; so I intend to vote no. 16 SENATOR GOLD: Slow roll call. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Slow 18 roll call asked for. Do I see five standing? 19 Yeah. Slow roll. Ring the bell. 20 Read the last section first, I 21 guess. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 23 act shall take effect immediately. 5351 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Slow 2 roll call. 3 THE SECRETARY: Senator Babbush 4 excused. 5 Senator Bruno. Senator Bruno. 6 SENATOR PRESENT: Yes. 7 THE SECRETARY: Senator Connor. 8 SENATOR CONNOR: No. 9 THE SECRETARY: Senator Cook. 10 (There was no response. ) 11 Senator Daly. 12 SENATOR DALY: No. 13 THE SECRETARY: Senator 14 DeFrancisco. 15 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Explain my 16 vote. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 18 DeFrancisco to explain his vote. 19 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I think 20 this case points up the problem of -- that we're 21 going to be experiencing on a much broader basis 22 when we're talking about so-called tort reform. 23 I think when you -- it was mentioned before and 5352 1 I think it's an excellent point, and it's very 2 difficult when there is a face associated with a 3 verdict to say no to somebody when they're 4 unjustly treated, because of a law that we 5 pass. I think that it's very clear having dealt 6 with many of these cases that when you put a cap 7 on something or even Article 50-b, which is 8 almost impossible to administer in the courts, 9 you're placing these artificial restrictions on 10 verdicts when all of the facts are being 11 considered by not only the court and the jury 12 but also on appeal as happened in this 13 particular case. 14 So I think, in this case, 15 although it's a very compelling argument to be 16 consistent with what the law is applying to 17 everybody else in this state, I have to vote no, 18 but I would hope that, in viewing this important 19 case, that we could be very careful as to the 20 so-called tort reform that we're all going to be 21 talking about in the future to make sure that 22 there's not more of these Jane Does that we're 23 causing by way of something that sounds good in 5353 1 the abstract, but doesn't work well in 2 practice. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: He 4 votes in the negative. 5 SENATOR SEARS: Lay the bill 6 aside, please. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay the 8 bill aside. You've got to excuse me. Let's 9 withdraw the roll call on that bill, and we'll 10 lay it aside. 11 SENATOR SOLOMON: Mr. President. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 13 Solomon. 14 SENATOR SOLOMON: Yes. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Why do 16 you rise? 17 SENATOR SOLOMON: I'd like to 18 have unanimous consent to be recorded in the 19 negative on Calendar Number 800. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 800, 21 Senator Solomon is in the negative without 22 objection. 23 Senator Levy. 5354 1 SENATOR LEVY: Yes, I was out, 2 I'd like unanimous consent to be recorded in the 3 negative on Calendar Number 800. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 800, 5 Senator Levy is in the negative. 6 SENATOR GOLD: Mr. President. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 8 Gold. 9 SENATOR GOLD: Yeah, with the 10 consent of the Senate Majority Leader, go to 11 motions and resolutions. On behalf of Senator 12 Montgomery, call up 4129-A. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 14 Secretary will read Senator Montgomery's bill. 15 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 16 Montgomery, Senate bill 4129-A, an act to amend 17 the Labor Law. 18 SENATOR GOLD: I move to 19 reconsider the vote by which the bill was 20 passed. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 22 the roll on reconsideration. 23 (The Secretary called the roll on 5355 1 reconsideration. ) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 4 Gold. 5 SENATOR GOLD: Yeah, move the 6 following amendments, offer them, waive their 7 reading, ask the bill retain its place on third 8 reading. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 10 bill will retain its place on the Third Reading 11 Calendar. Amendments are received. 12 Senator Sheffer. 13 SENATOR SHEFFER: Mr. President, 14 I'd like to remove a sponsor's star on Calendar 15 753, Senate Print 3321. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 753, 17 the star is removed. 18 Senator Saland. 19 SENATOR SALAND: Mr. President, I 20 move to call up my bill, Print Number 3383-A, 21 recalled from the Assembly. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 23 Secretary will read Senator Saland's bill. It 5356 1 wasn't recalled. Was it? Hold it up for just a 2 second. 3 SENATOR SALAND: Yes, it was. 4 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 5 Saland, Senate Bill Number 3383-A, an act to 6 amend the Social Services Law. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 8 Saland. 9 SENATOR SALAND: Mr. President, I 10 move to reconsider the vote by which this bill 11 was passed and ask it be restored to third 12 reading. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 14 the roll on reconsideration. 15 (The Secretary called the roll on 16 reconsideration. ) 17 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 19 bill is before the house. You want it restored 20 to third reading? 21 SENATOR SALAND: Mr. President, I 22 move to discharge from the Committee on Rules 23 Assembly Print 8231 and substitute it for my 5357 1 identical bill. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 3 Substitution is ordered. Read the last section 4 of the bill. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 6 act shall take effect immediately. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 8 the roll. 9 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 10 THE SECRETARY: Unanimous. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 12 bill is passed. 13 Senator Nolan. 14 SENATOR NOLAN: Now, let me see. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 16 Nolan? Senator Kuhl. 17 SENATOR KUHL: Yes, Mr. 18 President. May I have unanimous consent to be 19 recorded in the negative on Calendar Number 625, 20 please? 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 625, 22 Senator Kuhl is in the negative. 23 SENATOR KUHL: Thank you. 5358 1 Are there any other housekeeping? 2 Senator Montgomery. 3 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, Mr. 4 President. I'd like unanimous consent to be 5 recorded in the negative on Calendar Number 646. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 646. 7 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 646. 9 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 11 Montgomery is in the negative. I thought it was 12 646, she said. 13 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes. Got 14 it? 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 16 Galiber. 17 SENATOR GALIBER: Mr. President, 18 would you be kind enough to give me unanimous 19 consent or ask for unanimous consent to be re 20 corded in the negative on two bills, 800 and 21 646. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 800 and 23 646, Senator Galiber will be in the negative. 5359 1 SENATOR GALIBER: Thank you. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Seeing 3 no one else on the floor except Senator Present, 4 shall we continue the calendar. 5 SENATOR PRESENT: Continue the 6 calendar, please. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 1064, substituted earlier today, by member of 9 the Assembly Pillittere, Assembly Bill Number 10 2871-A, Environmental Conservation Law. 11 SENATOR GOLD: Explanation. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 13 Explanation. Senator Sheffer. 14 SENATOR SHEFFER: Sure. 15 Procedurally, the bill authorizes a one-day 16 fishing license as an alternative to three, five 17 or season. The background to it, though, is 18 that it's of enormous importance to a very 19 active and valuable sector of our state tourism 20 industry, the sport fishing industry or 21 particularly charter boat captains. 22 SENATOR GOLD: Will the Senator 23 yield to a question? 5360 1 SENATOR SHEFFER: Sure. 2 SENATOR GOLD: Senator, the 3 Department of Environmental Conservation says 4 that they have some concerns, which doesn't 5 bother me, but the -- there's a memo from the 6 New York State Town Clerks' Association. Have 7 you seen the memo? 8 SENATOR SHEFFER: I haven't seen 9 it, but I've heard about it. 10 SENATOR GOLD: All right. Well, 11 Senator, I just wanted to give you the 12 opportunity to comment about it. They say 13 they're opposed because the bill would allow 14 persons other than the clerks to issue the 15 licenses, resulting in a significant decrease in 16 town issuing fees. Under current law, they 17 issue them all, and they are concerned that the 18 town must absorb all of the costs, the 19 recordkeeping, et cetera, but apparently they 20 are losing money. 21 Is there -- has that been 22 addressed at all in any of the amended versions? 23 SENATOR SHEFFER: Yes. Two 5361 1 points: One is that people, sports stores, other 2 than clerks currently issue licenses. There's 3 no change in that structure at all and, 4 secondly, it's just regarding the timing of it 5 that largely what we're talking here is 6 out-of-state visitors on the week ends, and this 7 allows the charter boat captains to sell to 8 their customers a one-day fishing license for 9 that brief period of time that they're in town. 10 I think that that memo is 11 incorrect as to what might be lost to town 12 clerks regarding this program as a result of 13 these two factors. The bill did pass 14 unanimously last year and passed the Assembly 15 just about an hour ago. 16 SENATOR GOLD: Last section. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 18 the last section of that bill. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 20 act shall take effect immediately. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 22 the roll. 23 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 5362 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 3 bill is passed. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 1069, by Senator Cook, Senate Bill Number 2275, 6 Real Property - 7 SENATOR PRESENT: Lay aside. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 9 aside for the day, Senator Present? 10 SENATOR PRESENT: Yes. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 1088, by Senator Stafford, Senate Bill Number 13 4853, an act to amend the Environmental 14 Conservation Law. 15 SENATOR PRESENT: Lay aside. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 17 aside. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 1107, by Senator Levy, Senate Bill Number 1313, 20 an act to amend the Penal Law. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 22 the last section. 23 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Could we get 5363 1 an explanation? 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 3 Explanation has been asked for. Senator Levy. 4 SENATOR PRESENT: Lay it aside. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Laid 6 aside. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 1126, by Senator Johnson, Senate Bill Number 9 4830. 10 SENATOR GOLD: One day, please. 11 THE SECRETARY: To provide 12 retirement credit - 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 14 Johnson? 15 SENATOR JOHNSON: Lay it aside. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Laid 17 aside. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 1127, by Senator Levy, Senate Bill Number 4684. 20 SENATOR GOLD: One day on that, 21 please. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 23 aside, Senator Present? 5364 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 1132, by Senator Seward, Senate Bill Number 3 5229, an act to amend the Public Service Law. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 5 the last section. 6 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 7 act shall take effect immediately. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 9 the roll. 10 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50, nays 4, 12 Senators Galiber, Leichter, Ohrenstein and 13 Waldon recorded in the negative. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 15 bill is passed. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 1144, by member of the Assembly Rosado, Assembly 18 Bill Number 7087, an act to amend the Mental 19 Hygiene Law. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 21 the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 23 act shall take effect immediately. 5365 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 2 the roll. 3 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 6 bill is passed. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 1159, by Senator Skelos, Senate Bill Number 9 2205, an act to amend the Penal Law, in relation 10 to firearm licensees. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 12 Explanation. Senator Skelos. Just a moment. 13 SENATOR SKELOS: This bill amends 14 Section 400 of the Penal Law. 15 SENATOR GOLD: Will the Senator 16 yield to one question? 17 SENATOR SKELOS: Sure. 18 SENATOR GOLD: Is this the same 19 bill as last year, when Senators Connor, 20 Galiber, myself, Leichter, Markowitz, Mendez, 21 Montgomery, Ohrenstein, Paterson, Smith, Solomon 22 and Waldon voted against it? 23 SENATOR SKELOS: Yes, Senator. 5366 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 2 the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 4 act shall take effect immediately. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 6 the roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 8 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 9 the negative on Calendar Number 1159 are 10 Senators Connor, Espada, Gold, Leichter, Mendez, 11 Montgomery, Ohrenstein and Solomon. Ayes 46, 12 nays 8. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 14 bill is passed. 15 SENATOR WALDON: My hand is up. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 1160, by Senator Spano, Senate Bill Number 2209, 18 an act to amend the Retirement and Social 19 Security Law. 20 SENATOR LEICHTER: Can we have an 21 explanation? 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 23 Explanation has been asked for by someone. 5367 1 SENATOR SPANO: Mr. President, 2 this bill -- this bill would grant the police 3 officers and firefighters a minimum of five 4 working days to respond to accidental disability 5 retirement notification. 6 Currently, under the current 7 process, police officers and firefighters are 8 granted little or no notice between the day of 9 notification and the date of retirement should 10 they be injured in the performance of their 11 duties. 12 SENATOR GOLD: Yeah, Mr. 13 President. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 15 Gold. 16 SENATOR GOLD: Will you yield to 17 one question? 18 SENATOR SPANO: Sure. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 20 Spano will yield. 21 SENATOR GOLD: I have a memo from 22 the New York State Conference of Mayors and 23 Municipal Officials in opposition, and there's a 5368 1 stamp with two words on it, it says "unfunded 2 mandate". Is this an unfunded mandate? 3 SENATOR SPANO: I think the 4 memorandum from the Conference of Mayors over 5 states the problem. There is no fiscal impact 6 on the state of New York and in the bill 7 itself. There would be a small cost to the 8 local governments, but I think they're over 9 stating their opposition. 10 SENATOR GOLD: Well, Senator 11 Spano, if you would yield to one question. 12 SENATOR SPANO: Sure. 13 SENATOR GOLD: There is some -- I 14 don't know, you know, they have people keep 15 charts all the time; I don't know why they do it 16 but on the chart where it says "Republican bills 17 unfunded mandates," is this one of those that 18 goes on the chart? Maybe a little bit of money, 19 but is it a Republican unfunded mandate? 20 SENATOR SPANO: I think this 21 would go under the chart of all of us in this 22 house, Republicans and Democrats, are making 23 sure that our police officers and firefighters 5369 1 are given the ability to respond to an 2 accidental disability retirement and - 3 SENATOR GOLD: Well, will the 4 Senator yield to a question? 5 SENATOR SPANO: Sure. 6 SENATOR GOLD: I know we have 7 that column. 8 SENATOR SPANO: That would be in 9 that column; we're going to make that column. 10 SENATOR GOLD: We have a column 11 unfunded mandates with an asterisk. 12 SENATOR SPANO: Yes, exception. 13 SENATOR GOLD: So this is an 14 unfunded mandate with an asterisk? 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 16 the last section. 17 Senator Leichter yield -- wishes 18 you to yield, Senator Spano. 19 SENATOR SPANO: Sure. 20 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator Spano, 21 I must have difficulty in understanding the 22 basis for the bill and if you'd be so good as to 23 explain it. You're giving additional time to 5370 1 policemen and firefighters who retire on 2 disability and specify the options that they 3 have under their retirement system; is that it? 4 SENATOR SPANO: Five days, yes. 5 SENATOR LEICHTER: O.K. What I 6 don't understand the reason you give is that 7 these people may receive a notification, your 8 disability request has been granted, and they 9 will need, as you say, more than five days to 10 put their affairs in order and decide which 11 disability option to take; is that what this 12 does? 13 SENATOR SPANO: Many times a 14 reasonable period of time is required prior to 15 the actual retirement date because there are 16 certain of their job-related affairs to get in 17 order. 18 SENATOR LEICHTER: But what I 19 don't understand, Senator, and maybe you can 20 answer, these people are applying for 21 disability. They feel that they're set to 22 retire; they must feel that their application is 23 going to be received. Why wouldn't they, once 5371 1 having applied for disability, not make the 2 arrangements that they need to be made so that 3 when they receive the notification, they can act 4 on it? 5 SENATOR SPANO: Very often they 6 do, Senator, take that into account and very 7 often the -- their affairs are already placed in 8 order, but there have been occasions where, in 9 fact, that has not been the case, and that's why 10 we would like to give them this five working 11 days lead time to give them that ability. 12 SENATOR LEICHTER: I must say I 13 have difficulty understanding that, but let me 14 ask you some other questions. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 16 Spano, will you yield to another question? 17 SENATOR LEICHTER: If you would, 18 please. 19 SENATOR SPANO: Yes. 20 SENATOR LEICHTER: Can the same 21 situation arise with employees covered by some 22 public pension funds other than firefighters and 23 police officers? May they also find themselvesin 5372 1 a situation, somebody works for OGS, drives 2 their heavy equipment, and it flips over and 3 he's injured and he applies for disability, does 4 that person presently only have five days after 5 the notification? 6 SENATOR SPANO: The -- we have 7 not heard from other employees whether or not 8 that would be a specific problem to them, but if 9 they do raise that, then we'll take a look at 10 it. Senator, I haven't heard from anyone else 11 requesting the change. 12 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, it - 13 if you would just answer this question, if it is 14 not a problem for that operator of heavy 15 equipment who works for OGS or the 16 transportation department, why should it be a 17 problem for police officers or firemen; what is 18 it that you need through the function that they 19 perform or their retirement, that they would 20 need more than five days when other employees 21 don't need more than five days? 22 SENATOR SPANO: I'm not saying 23 that it's not a problem for the other employees 5373 1 -- the other employees. There may, in fact, be 2 a problem. The work -- what this legislation 3 addresses is just the police and fire retirees, 4 but we -- if it's a problem with the other 5 employees, we may address that further. 6 SENATOR LEICHTER: Well, Mr. 7 President, just briefly on the bill. 8 I first thank Senator Spano for 9 his explanation. First of all, I have 10 difficulty in understanding why somebody who 11 applies for disability is then -- and that 12 disability is granted, he's not ready to act on 13 it. He's applying for it, and if it makes sense 14 to firemen and police officers, it ought to make 15 sense for other employees also. 16 Now, Senator Spano says, well, 17 nobody has come to me. Well, maybe when we put 18 in bills of this sort, we have a positive 19 obligation to find out if it is a problem. 20 SENATOR LACK: Senator Leichter. 21 Mr. President. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 23 Lack. 5374 1 SENATOR LACK: Yes, Senator 2 Leichter, perhaps I could clear up this question 3 for you. 4 There are special accidental 5 disability procedures that are limited to 6 firefighters and police officers. In many 7 cases, it takes months for this type of 8 disability to be submitted. In some cases, 9 while the individual is submitting information, 10 the individual isn't always the applicant that 11 is involved. The department could be because of 12 some job-related injury or particularly if an 13 officer has been shot in the line of duty or a 14 firefighter burnt in the line of duty, might be 15 in the hospital, might be recovering, disability 16 information is submitted and conceivably, 17 particularly if the officer has to make 18 decisions as -- financial decisions, the officer 19 or firefighter, after notification, this would 20 give a five-day window. 21 In some cases, events that have 22 taken police eight or nine months previous, but 23 to go back to the original unfunded mandate 5375 1 question that came from the Conference of 2 Mayors, that's a stamp printed on a piece of 3 paper. I can tell you it would cost more to 4 stamp "unfunded mandate" on this piece of paper 5 and distribute it in the Legislature than this 6 so-called mandate is going to cost these 7 municipalities. 8 What they're really ticked off 9 about is extant law that allows municipal 10 employees, such as firefighters to have 11 disability retirement provisions in the whole - 12 in the first place. That, of course, is not at 13 all involved here. We're not trying to change 14 those except to change a day of notification. I 15 understand their being miffed at those 16 disability provisions being in the law, Senator 17 Leichter, but the fact is that they are in the 18 law and this isn't any more of an unfunded 19 mandate than anything else. 20 These people, because of the ways 21 in which this type of disability arises, deserve 22 to be able to have that window of decision 23 making when the time comes, particularly if 5376 1 they've been shot or burnt in the line of duty. 2 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 3 just one question to Senator Lack, and I - 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 5 Lack, would you yield for one question from 6 Senator Leichter? 7 SENATOR LEICHTER: Have we 8 allowed such disability provisions in the 9 "heart" bill? 10 SENATOR LACK: No, I don't think 11 the "heart" bill acts directly in this context. 12 SENATOR LEICHTER: All right. 13 Thank you. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 15 the last section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 17 act shall take effect immediately. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 19 the roll. 20 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 23 bill is passed. 5377 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 1165, by Senator Velella, Senate Bill Number 3 3126. 4 SENATOR PRESENT: Lay it aside 5 for the day. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Laid 7 aside. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1166, by Senator Velella. 10 SENATOR PRESENT: Lay that aside 11 for the day. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Laid 13 aside for today. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 1167, by Senator Sheffer, Senate Bill Number 16 3374-A, an act to amend the Tax Law. 17 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Explanation. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 19 Explanation. Senator Sheffer. 20 SENATOR SHEFFER: Senator, under 21 current law, a manufacturer using petroleum 22 products in the manufacture of tangible personal 23 property, pays the supplemental petroleum 5378 1 business tax and then applies for a refund and 2 they get it back, and this bill acknowledges 3 that that's crazy, and that it gives them a lot 4 of paperwork and aggravation that is unnecessary 5 and it simply exempts them. 6 SENATOR LEICHTER: Explanation 7 satisfactory. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 9 Explanation satisfactory. Read the last 10 section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. This 12 act shall take effect immediately. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 14 the roll. 15 (The Secretary called the roll.) 16 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 56. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 18 bill is passed. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 1172, by Senator Wright, Senate Bill Number 21 4230-B, amends Chapter 266 of the Laws of 1854. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 23 the last - 5379 1 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Could we 2 have a day on it? 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Could 4 he have one day on it, Senator Wright? 5 SENATOR WRIGHT: Lay it aside. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Laid 7 aside. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1174, by Senator Skelos, Senate Bill Number 10 4433, an act to amend the Tax Law. 11 SENATOR LEICHTER: Explanation. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 13 Explanation. Senator Skelos. 14 SENATOR SKELOS: Who asked for 15 the explanation? 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 17 Stachowski -- no, Senator Leichter was your - 18 the person wanting it. 19 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President. 20 This bill simply corrects a technical omission 21 recognized by the Tax Department of Chapter 166 22 of the Laws of 1991 in relation to a reduced 23 rate of tax on residual fuel oil. 5380 1 Currently, greenhouse operators 2 are exempted from the supplemental petroleum 3 business tax if the fuel they are using to heat 4 the greenhouses is Number 2 -- Number 2 oil 5 which is diesel fuel. However, if they burn 6 Number 5 or Number 6 oil, they are not exempt 7 because these residual fuel oils are not 8 considered diesel fuel. The bill is supported 9 by the Farm Bureau. 10 Now, obviously it is unfair to 11 allow a reduction for diesel fuel and not 12 residual fuel when they are not being used for 13 the same purpose. 14 SENATOR LEICHTER: Explanation is 15 fine. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 17 Explanation is fine. Read the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 19 act shall take effect immediately. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 21 the roll. 22 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 56. 5381 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 2 bill is passed. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 1181, by Senator Hannon, Senate Bill Number 5 4991, an act to amend the Tax Law. 6 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Could we 7 have a day on that, please? 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: One day 9 on it, Senator Hannon? Lay it aside. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 1182, by Senator Hannon, Senate Bill Number 12 5017. 13 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Could we 14 have one day on it? 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 16 Hannon, one day? Lay it aside. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 1183, by Senator Hannon, Senate Bill Number 19 5332. 20 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Could we 21 have one day on that? 22 THE SECRETARY: Amends Chapter 23 750 of the Laws of 1871. 5382 1 SENATOR PRESENT: Lay it aside. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 3 aside for the day. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 1185, by Senator Masiello, Senate Bill Number 6 5364, amends Chapter 824 of the Laws of 1933. 7 SENATOR PRESENT: Lay it aside 8 for the day, please. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Laid 10 aside for the day. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 1187, by Senator Skelos, Senate Bill Number 13 5589, an act to amend the Executive Law. 14 SENATOR LACK: Explanation. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 16 Explanation. Senator Lack wishes an 17 explanation. 18 SENATOR SKELOS: Senator Lack, 19 this legislation amends the Executive Law. It 20 increases the Green Thumb income eligibility 21 levels according to the federal Social Security 22 cost of living adjustment to 1993. This 23 increase will allow seniors to remain eligible 5383 1 for this worthwhile program. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 3 Lack. 4 SENATOR LACK: Thank you, Mr. 5 President. 6 I realize Senator Skelos has had 7 a long afternoon. While I have a lengthy list 8 of questions on this bill, I won't go into them 9 at this point, but I would like to, for all this 10 support of the Green Thumb program, give Senator 11 Skelos a thumbs up for good work done. 12 Last section, Mr. President. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 14 the last section. 15 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 16 act shall take effect immediately. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 18 the roll. 19 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 56. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 22 bill is passed. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5384 1 1191, by Senator Bruno, Senate Bill Number 5870, 2 authorize the town of Clifton Park, Saratoga 3 County - 4 SENATOR GOLD: Could we have one 5 day on the bill? 6 SENATOR PRESENT: Yes, Senator 7 Gold. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 9 aside for the day. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 1192, by Senator Seward, Senate Bill Number 12 58... 13 SENATOR GOLD: One day. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Could 15 they have one day, Senator Seward? 16 SENATOR SEWARD: One day. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 18 aside. 19 There are a lot of motions on the 20 floor I'm told, Senator Present. 21 SENATOR PRESENT: Let's do them. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: I'm 23 ready for motions. 5385 1 SENATOR STAFFORD: Mr. President. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 3 Stafford for a motion. 4 SENATOR STAFFORD: On page 40, I 5 offer the following amendments to Calendar 6 Number 682, Senate Print Number 2399, and ask 7 that said bill retain its place on the Third 8 Reading Calendar. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Without 10 objection. 11 SENATOR STAFFORD: Also, Mr. 12 President, I would please submit that I happened 13 to be out of the chamber last Wednesday, I 14 believe it was July 16th, when Senate 736 passed 15 on a slow roll call. That was Calendar Number 16 1038. If I had been here in the chamber, I 17 would have voted in the affirmative. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 19 record will so state. 20 SENATOR STAFFORD: Yes. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 22 Tully. 23 SENATOR TULLY: Yes, Mr. 5386 1 President. May I be recorded in the negative on 2 Calendar Number 620? 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 620, 4 Senator Tully is in the negative without 5 objection. 6 Senator Libous. 7 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President, 8 on behalf of Senator Cook, on page 42, I offer 9 the following amendments to Calendar Number 832, 10 Assembly Print 2913, and ask that said bill 11 retain its place. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Without 13 objection. 14 Senator Sheffer. 15 SENATOR SHEFFER: Mr. President, 16 on behalf of Senator Kuhl, I wish to call up 17 Senate bill, Print Number 4426, recalled from 18 the Assembly which is now at the desk. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 20 Secretary will read it. 21 THE SECRETARY: By Senator Kuhl, 22 Senate Bill 4426, Agriculture and Markets Law. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 5387 1 Sheffer. 2 SENATOR SHEFFER: Mr. President, 3 I now move to reconsider the vote by which this 4 bill was passed. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 6 the roll on reconsideration. 7 (The Secretary called the roll on 8 reconsideration. ) 9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 56. 10 SENATOR SHEFFER: I offer the 11 following amendments. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 13 Amendments are received. 14 Senator Nozzolio. 15 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Mr. President, 16 I ask to be recorded in the negative on Calendar 17 Number 620. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 620, 19 Senator Nozzolio is in the negative. 20 Senator Smith. 21 SENATOR SMITH: Mr. President, I 22 would ask unanimous consent to be recorded in 23 the negative on Calendar Number 1159. 5388 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 1159? 2 SENATOR SMITH: Yes. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 4 Smith is in the negative, without objection. 5 Any other motions? Senator Op... 6 Senator Lack. 7 SENATOR LACK: Please record me 8 in the negative, without objection, on Calendar 9 680. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 680, 11 Senator Lack will be in the negative. 12 Any other motions on the floor? 13 Seeing -- Senator Lack, you got the right number 14 on that? There's no 680. 15 SENATOR LACK: 800. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: What 17 number? 18 SENATOR LACK: 800; thank you. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 20 Lack in the negative on Calendar 800. 21 Senator Solomon. 22 SENATOR SOLOMON: I'd like to be 23 recorded, have unanimous consent to be recorded 5389 1 in the negative on Calendar 1159. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 1159, 3 Senator Solomon is in the negative. 4 We have a couple substitutions. 5 THE SECRETARY: On page 16, 6 Senator Holland moves to discharge the Committee 7 on Rules from Assembly Bill Number 4264 and 8 substitute it for his identical Third Reading 9 774. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 11 Substitution ordered. 12 THE SECRETARY: On page 18, 13 Senator Volker moves to discharge the Committee 14 on Rules from Assembly Bill Number 8201 and 15 substitute it for the identical Third Reading 16 856. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 18 Substitution ordered. 19 Senator Present. Oh, Senator 20 Hoffmann. 21 SENATOR HOFFMANN: Have unanimous 22 consent to be recorded in the negative on 800, 23 please, Mr. President. 5390 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 2 Hoffmann is in the negative on 800, without 3 objection. 4 Senator Present, looks like it. 5 SENATOR PRESENT: Looks like it, 6 huh? 7 Mr. President, there being no 8 further business, I move we adjourn until 9 tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 11 Senate will stand adjourned until tomorrow at 12 3:00 p.m. 13 (Whereupon at 5:21 p.m., the 14 Senate adjourned. ) 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23