Tuesday, June 22, 1993

5391 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ALBANY, NEW YORK 10 June 22, 1993 11 4:04 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 5392 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senate 3 will come to order. Senators will please find 4 their seats. 5 Please rise with me for the 6 Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. 7 (Whereupon, the Senate joined in 8 the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. ) 9 Today in the absence of visiting 10 clergy, we'll bow our heads for a moment of 11 silent prayer. 12 (Whereupon, there was a moment of 13 silence. ) 14 Secretary will begin by reading 15 the Journal. 16 THE SECRETARY: In Senate, 17 Monday, June 21. The Senate met pursuant to 18 adjournment. Senator Farley in the chair upon 19 designation of the Temporary President. Prayer 20 by the Reverend David Powers of Briarcliff 21 Manor. The Journal of Sunday, June 20th, was 22 read and approved. On motion, Senate 23 adjourned. 5393 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Hearing 2 no objection, the Journal will stand approved as 3 read. 4 The order of business. 5 Presentation of petitions. 6 Messages from the Assembly. 7 Messages from the Governor. 8 Reports of standing committees. 9 Senator Mega. 10 SENATOR MEGA: Mr. President, the 11 Senate Judiciary Committee met this morning to 12 consider the reappointment of five judges to the 13 Court of Claims of the state of New York, and at 14 this time I would like to take up the 15 reappointment of these five judges. 16 From the Governor from the 17 Executive Chamber dated April 8, 1993: "To the 18 Senate: I hereby nominate as judge of the Court 19 of Claims, Louis C. Benza of Glenmont, 20 reappointed for a term expiring on March 13, 21 year 2002." Signed Mario Cuomo, the Governor. 22 The full Judiciary Committee met 23 and found Judge Benza extremely well qualified 5394 1 to continue as a judge of the Court of Claims of 2 the state of New York and unanimously 3 recommended his reappointment to that position. 4 At this time, I would like to 5 yield to Senator Velella on the confirmation. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 7 Velella on the confirmation. 8 SENATOR VELELLA: Mr. President, 9 I rise to proudly second the nomination of Judge 10 Benza. I've known Judge Benza for thirty years. 11 He's formerly a resident of the Bronx where he 12 served in a capacity for his community in the 13 Borough President's office under three different 14 borough presidents. He served two United States 15 Congressmen, and he served on his home local 16 community school board. He's been an active 17 participant in the community and at the same 18 time has managed to be a distinguished member of 19 the bar during his years of practice, where he 20 was an outstanding trial lawyer in Bronx County, 21 and as a member of the Court of Claims has had a 22 distinguished record on that court. 23 The only mistake he ever made was 5395 1 moving out of the Bronx, but he moved up here to 2 the Albany area with his family in Glenmont, and 3 we forgive him for that. He has been a very 4 good supporter of his community back home even 5 though he lives up here. 6 And I am proud to second his 7 nomination. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: On the 9 nomination of Judge Benza. All those in favor, 10 say aye. 11 (Response of "Aye.") 12 Those opposed, nay. 13 (There was no response. ) 14 The judge is confirmed. 15 I believe he is with us here in 16 the gallery. 17 (Applause. ) 18 On behalf of the New York State 19 Senate, Judge Benza, we're very proud to appoint 20 you to this important post, and thank you very, 21 very much for being with us and for the service 22 you have given us over the years. 23 SENATOR MEGA: Mr. President. 5396 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 2 Mega. 3 SENATOR MEGA: Mr. President, 4 from the Executive Chamber dated April 8, 1993: 5 "To the Senate: The Governor has hereby 6 nominated as a Judge of the Court of Claims, 7 Jerome F. Hanifin of Binghamton, reappointed for 8 a term expiring on December 31 year 2001." 9 Mr. President, the Judiciary 10 Committee, the full committee, considered the 11 appointment, the reappointment of Judge Hanifin 12 to the Court of Claims. As in all the cases 13 before us and all the appointments before us, a 14 complete investigation had been conducted. 15 Judge Hanifin was found well qualified, and the 16 committee unanimously recommends his 17 reappointment to the Court of Claims. 18 I will at this point yield to 19 Senator Libous. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 21 Libous. 22 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, Mr. 23 President, and thank you, Chairman Mega. 5397 1 I rise to second the nomination 2 of Judge Hanifin. Since the day Judge Hanifin 3 was first nominated by Governor Hugh Carey and 4 confirmed by this body on May 24, 1977, he has 5 proven to be an outstanding addition to the 6 Court of Claims. 7 As a noted graduate of Cornell 8 Law School and practicing attorney for seventeen 9 years before coming to the bench, Judge Hanifin 10 gained strong respect in Broome County and in 11 our region for his experience as a litigator and 12 his commitment to the community in which he 13 serves, his commitment to his church, local 14 school board, and of course the Broome County 15 Bar Association. 16 After now serving on the Court of 17 Claims for an additional seventeen years, he has 18 strengthened his reputation for fairness and 19 professionalism not only in our home town of 20 Binghamton but among his colleagues on the bench 21 and throughout the entire state of New York. 22 I commend Governor Cuomo on his 23 appointment of this knowledgeable and 5398 1 expeerienced jurist. 2 Mr. President, it is a great 3 pleasure for me to stand today and second the 4 nomination of Judge Jerry Hanifin. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Thank 6 you, Senator Libous. 7 Judge Hanifin is with us in the 8 gallery also. On the nomination, all those in 9 favor say aye. 10 (Response of "Aye.") 11 Those opposed, nay. 12 (There was no response. ) 13 Judge Hanifin is confirmed. 14 Judge, congratulations on behalf 15 of the New York State Senate. 16 (Applause. ) 17 Senator Mega. 18 SENATOR MEGA: Mr. President. 19 From the Executive Chamber dated April 8, 1993, 20 the Governor has nominated as a Judge of the 21 Court of Claims, William C. Donnino of Syosset, 22 reappointed for a term expiring on May 29th, 23 year 2001. 5399 1 Mr. President, the full Judiciary 2 Committee met this morning to consider the 3 reappointment and confirmation of Judge Donnino, 4 and has unanimously voted his confirmation and 5 reappointment. 6 I should like to speak and move 7 the appointment of Judge Donnino and tell you of 8 my personal knowledge of his expertise and 9 experience not only as counsel to the Committee 10 on Crime and Correction for two terms but on all 11 that he's done up to this point to make him an 12 outstanding judge. 13 For five years, he was an 14 assistant district attorney in the New York 15 County district attorney's office. For two 16 years he was assistant counsel to the Governor 17 of New York. For two years he was deputy 18 commissioner and counsel of the New York State 19 Department of Correctional Services. For six 20 years he was chief of the Appeals Bureau in the 21 Nassau County district attorney's office. For 22 six years he was the executive and then chief 23 assistant district attorney in the Kings County 5400 1 district attorney's office. For two years he 2 was attorney at law, private practice, and 3 during that two-year period he was counsel to 4 the standing Committee on Crime and Correction, 5 the committee which I chaired during that 6 period. 7 For the last four years, Judge 8 Donnino has been a member of the Court of Claims 9 and has been doing an outstanding job in that 10 capacity. Just let me mention some of the 11 comments that were made about Judge Donnino, 12 from the people who work with him on a daily 13 basis, the people that work with him in the 14 court system, the attorneys that try cases and 15 other judges: 16 I have highest and greatest 17 respect for Judge Donnino. 18 I give him the highest possible 19 recommendation. 20 I had a seven-week trial before 21 him last year; it was great pleasure. 22 He's an excellent judge. He is 23 one of the best that we've got. 5401 1 He is fair, hard working, and he 2 is balanced between the prosecution and the 3 defense. 4 It's an honor to have him serving 5 as a judge. 6 He is a very good judge. He is 7 always prepared and knowledgeable on the law, 8 and he's fair to both sides and keeps good 9 control of a courtroom. 10 Professional writings, Mr. 11 President: Practice Commentaries, McKinney's, 12 New York Court of Appeals on Criminal Law, 13 "Sentencing Outline" co-author; "Circumstances 14 for Warranties and Home Arrests", co-author; The 15 Agency Defense in Drug Cases. 16 Judge Donnino is an out standing 17 judge. He is someone who is respected not only 18 by the attorneys that appeared before him but 19 other judges that serve with him. The system 20 works. It works well. 21 I congratulate the Governor on 22 his reappointment. I congratulate Judge Donnino 23 for the outstanding job that he is doing and he 5402 1 will continue to do. I wish him well, and I 2 move his confirmation. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: All in 4 favor of the confirmation of Judge Donnino, say 5 aye. 6 (Response of "Aye.") 7 Those opposed, nay. 8 (There was no response.) 9 The judge is confirmed. 10 And Judge Donnino is with us in 11 the gallery. Congratulations on behalf of the 12 state of New York State Senate. 13 (Applause.) 14 SENATOR MEGA: Mr. President. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 16 Mega. 17 SENATOR MEGA: Mr. President, 18 from the Executive Chamber dated April 8, 1993, 19 from the Governor: "I hereby nominate as Judge 20 of the Court of Claims, Edward M. Davidowitz of 21 Scarsdale, reappointed for a term expiring April 22 20, the year 2001." 23 The committee has indicated - 5403 1 met in full session, reviewed all the 2 information presented to the committee in 3 reference to the investigation of the abilities 4 of Judge Davidowitz and found him extremely well 5 qualified to continue as a judge of the Court of 6 Claims. A unanimous vote was taken and his 7 confirmation was recommended by the committee. 8 And at this point, I would yield 9 to Senator Gold. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 11 Gold. 12 SENATOR GOLD: Thank you, Mr. 13 President. Mr. President, I take this job very 14 seriously, and I know I've got to be very 15 truthful when I deal with this. So let's start 16 from scratch. The judge was nominated because 17 the Governor found out his wife was not a lawyer 18 and couldn't appoint Ellen, so he appointed 19 Eddy. That's where it started. 20 I've known Ed and Ellen 21 Davidowitz for many, many years. I had the 22 pleasure of meeting Ed Davidowitz in law school, 23 and having to go out drinking many nights alone 5404 1 because he was studying something about the 2 law. It could be useful in future years. I 3 never understood that because I've got counsel 4 all around. I knew I would be here. 5 After law school, at Cornell, of 6 course, Judge Davidowitz joined the district 7 attorney's office in New York County, which as 8 you may recall under Frank Hogan was one of the 9 great offices. It's still a great office. 10 He went into private practice for 11 a period of time, but then returned to public 12 service in the office of the Special Prosecutor 13 where he was the Bronx Bureau Chief for a period 14 of time, then the executive assistant, and then 15 the chief assistant in that office. 16 We had the pleasure of confirming 17 this nomination back in 1986, and we all ought 18 to be very proud of that. 19 SENATOR MEGA: Mr. President. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Yes. 21 SENATOR MEGA: Could we have some 22 order, please? 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Yes. 5405 1 The Senate will please be in order. Thank you. 2 Senator Gold. 3 SENATOR GOLD: Thank you. 4 We should be really very proud of 5 it. To me, one of the most significant 6 determining factors in who and what a person is 7 is what their colleagues say about him behind 8 his back, and I think if Judge Davidowitz were a 9 fly on the wall he would be very proud, because 10 I know many of the judges on the court where he 11 sits and there is not but great admiration for 12 him from his own colleagues at the bench. I 13 also know lawyers who have had the opportunity 14 to practice in front of the judge; and while his 15 background was mostly prosecutorial, I can tell 16 you that he is a person of not only intellect 17 and compassion and concern but a judge who is 18 very, very even-handed in the courtroom. 19 It is a delight to know him and 20 his family and it certainly is something from 21 which I thrill to look back at his career and 22 see how he has grown not only as a lawyer but as 23 one of our really very fine jurists. The only 5406 1 caution I give the house is that I find it very 2 hard to believe that he would actually say he's 3 a 24 handicap and take money out of people's 4 pockets based upon that fabrication. 5 But getting back off the golf 6 course, Mr. President. It is certainly a 7 delight to have this nomination before us and an 8 honor on my part to offer this nomination to the 9 house, and I ask that Judge Davidowitz be 10 confirmed. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: On the 12 nomination of Judge Davidowitz. 13 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Mr. 14 President. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 16 Oppenheimer, then Senator Galiber. 17 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Thank you, 18 Mr. President. I would like to take a moment to 19 say that Judge Davidowitz lives in my district, 20 and he is a very respected and honored member of 21 the Scarsdale community. 22 My colleague spoke about his 23 reputation on the bench for compassion and 5407 1 intelligence, and I can just assure you that in 2 his home community he is looked upon with 3 fondness and great respect also. I'm very proud 4 to be able to second the nomination. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 6 Galiber. 7 SENATOR GALIBER: Yes, thank you, 8 Mr. President. 9 I take this opportunity which is 10 a good day, it's a rare day in the legislative 11 process when we can find so many clones of 12 excellence and fairness and justice, and I was 13 not here to speak for my good friends Judge 14 Benza and Judge Donnino, but the quality of 15 judges this morning as we confirm them is just 16 outstanding, and I want to congratulate the 17 Governor for sending the reappointments up and 18 we want to send the message down to the Governor 19 that he's got a few more down there that he is 20 holding back, and we have persons who have the 21 same degree of quality in excellence and 22 fairness, if you will. 23 There are those who argued, 5408 1 disagreed with Governor Rockefeller when he took 2 this opportunity to create the Court of Claims 3 judges, and some suggested that he was 4 circumventing the Constitution, getting around, 5 if you will -- same thing -- in order to appoint 6 some judges because of the Rockefeller laws. 7 And at that time, there was some 8 doubt; but, again, I reiterate over and over 9 again that the qualities of the judges and the 10 balance here. In the old days if you were 11 exposed to the prosecution, you became 12 prosecution minded, and we have judges this 13 morning who come from that background and have 14 the intellect and the ability to deal with it 15 the way it should be, and that's with fairness 16 and justice and compassion and understanding, 17 and they do just that. 18 So I'm proud, Mr. President, to 19 add my voice to not only one of the Court of 20 Claims judges but all that we interviewed this 21 morning because they all are very fine, very 22 qualified and very excellent gentlemen, and they 23 do an excellent job. 5409 1 Thank you. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: On the 3 confirmation of Judge Davidowitz, all in favor 4 say aye. 5 (Response of "Aye.") 6 Those opposed, nay. 7 (There was no response.) 8 The judge is confirmed. 9 And he is with us here in the 10 gallery. Congratulations and best wishes. 11 (Applause. ) 12 Senator Mega. 13 SENATOR MEGA: Mr. President. 14 From the Executive Chamber, dated April 8, 1993, 15 from the Governor, "I hereby nominate as a judge 16 of the Court of Claims, Julian F. Kubiniec of 17 Buffalo, reappointed for a term expiring on 18 April 28, year 2001." 19 Full committee met, reviewed the 20 investigation and the qualifications of Judge 21 Kubiniec and found him extremely well 22 qualified. The committee voted and unanimously 23 recommended the confirmation if Julian F. 5410 1 Kubiniec as a judge of the Court of Claims. 2 I, at this time, would yield to 3 Senator Volker. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 5 Volker. 6 SENATOR VOLKER: Mr. President, I 7 would like to offer up the name of Julian 8 Kubiniec. 9 And let me just follow up on what 10 Senator Galiber said and Senator Mega in behalf 11 of some of the other candidates. I think that 12 of course in this day and age when the press is 13 so cynical about the Legislature and everything 14 to do in government, one of the things I think 15 it has not realized about the Senate is that one 16 of our, I think, most important functions that 17 goes on while everything else is going on is the 18 confirmation of judges. 19 And I complimented Senator Mega 20 today at the Judiciary Committee meeting, and 21 very sincerely, because Senator Mega is one of 22 the people that believes as I believe that even 23 renominations are so important that we should 5411 1 have the people in who have -- although they 2 have been in office and have been performing the 3 functions, to review what their colleagues say 4 about them, what they have to say, and to make 5 sure that the people that are serving us, for 6 instance, in the Court of Claims, are the people 7 that we think are the best people for those jobs 8 and who still should be reconfirmed. 9 I must say that the five people 10 that we had today are probably some of the best 11 that I have ever seen in the many years that I 12 have been here. 13 Bill Donnino, as was mentioned, 14 the only thing we kind of maybe would put 15 against him is he used to work for Senator Mega; 16 but aside from that, he is one of the best 17 judges around. And, very honestly, the other 18 judges, as Senator Galiber and I mentioned, it's 19 really starting to make us feel old since they 20 are coming back to us again and being 21 reconfirmed and we remember when they were 22 confirmed in the first place. 23 But Julian Kubiniec from Buffalo 5412 1 -- who I don't believe is here. The reason he 2 is not here is that he fell over the week end 3 and had a badly sprained ankle and asked if he 4 could be excused from being here. But I do want 5 to say that he is a fine judge, a fair judge, 6 and anyone who has dealt with him knows that he 7 is also one of those people who deserves to be 8 called a first class decision maker. In fact, I 9 don't believe I've ever heard any real criticism 10 of Judge Kubiniec in all the years that he's 11 been a judge, not only in the Court of Claims 12 but in City Court in Buffalo. 13 So I want to say not only do I - 14 would I like to move Julian Kubiniec's 15 confirmation but I also want to reiterate what 16 Senator Gold and Senator Mega and Senator 17 Galiber have said about all five of the 18 gentlemen that we have today, is that these are 19 extremely competent people, and we can be proud 20 that we are reconfirming these people today. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: On the 22 confirmation of Judge Kubiniec, all those in 23 favor, say aye. 5413 1 (Response of "Aye.") 2 Those opposed, nay. 3 (There was no response. ) 4 The judge is confirmed. 5 (Applause. ) 6 Senator Mega. 7 SENATOR MEGA: Mr. President. I 8 would like to take this opportunity to thank all 9 the members of the Judiciary Committee for 10 participating in the process. My ranking 11 Minority member, Frank Leichter, and all the 12 other members, and I don't want to start naming 13 them because I'm going to forget some. The 14 process doesn't work unless they are involved, 15 and they were involved in it from the beginning 16 to the end, and I believe it has worked well 17 today and it will continue to work that way as 18 long as we continue to get the kind of support 19 that we've gotten. 20 So I want to thank the entire 21 committee for making it work. 22 And to all the judges, again, 23 wish you luck. 5414 1 And to just remind the body and 2 being somewhat repetitive, the one thing that 3 runs true to the five judges that we confirmed 4 today is that they know the law, they understand 5 the law, they know how to apply it, they know 6 people, they have good judicial temperament, 7 they like what they are doing, and they all do a 8 great job. 9 And reappointment sometimes is 10 more important than the original appointment 11 because now we have something to look at. We 12 have a record to look at. We have people to 13 talk about, how they act and what they do as a 14 judge. And all of the appointees today, all 15 these judges that we confirmed today, passed 16 with flying colors. 17 So again congratulations and 18 thank you. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 20 Continuing on the order of business. 21 Reports of select committees. 22 Communications and reports from 23 state officers. 5415 1 Motions and resolutions. 2 We have a lot of them. 3 Senator Present, I will recognize 4 you first. 5 SENATOR PRESENT: Mr. President, 6 on behalf of Senator Maltese, he'd like the 7 sponsor star removed from Calendar 164 and 165. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 9 stars are removed. 10 SENATOR PRESENT: In behalf of 11 Senator Velella, on page 39, he offers the 12 following amendments to Calendar 259. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 14 Amendments received. The bill will retain its 15 place on the Third Reading Calendar. 16 SENATOR PRESENT: On behalf of 17 Senator Levy, Mr. President, I wish to call up 18 his bill, Senate Print 1001, recalled from the 19 Assembly which is now at the desk. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 21 Secretary will read Senator Levy's bill. 22 THE SECRETARY: By Senator Levy, 23 Senate Bill 1001, an act to amend the Education 5416 1 Law. 2 SENATOR PRESENT: Mr. President, 3 I now move to reconsider the vote by which this 4 bill was passed and ask that the bill be 5 restored to third reading. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 7 Secretary will call the roll on reconsideration. 8 (The Secretary called the roll on 9 reconsideration. ) 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 12 bill is before the house. 13 SENATOR PRESENT: Mr. President, 14 I now move to discharge the Committee on Rules 15 from Print 2630 and substitute it for this 16 identical bill. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 18 Substitution is ordered. 19 SENATOR PRESENT: May I now ask 20 the substituted bill have its third reading. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 22 the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 5417 1 act shall take effect immediately. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 3 the roll. 4 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 5 THE SECRETARY: Unanimous. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 7 bill is passed. 8 SENATOR PRESENT: On behalf of 9 Senator Marino, on page 23, I offer the 10 following amendments to Calendar 972, Senate 11 Print 5710, and ask that the bill retain its 12 place on the Third Reading Calendar. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 14 Amendments received. The bill will retain its 15 place on the Third Reading Calendar. 16 SENATOR PRESENT: Thank you, Mr. 17 President. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Thank 19 you, Senator Present. 20 Senator Spano. 21 SENATOR SPANO: Mr. President, I 22 wish to call up my bill, Print Number 1987A, 23 recalled from the Assembly, which is now at the 5418 1 desk. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 3 Secretary will read Senator Spano's bill. 4 THE SECRETARY: By Senator Spano, 5 Senate Bill Number 1014A, an act to amend the 6 Insurance Law. 7 SENATOR SPANO: Now move to 8 reconsider the vote by which the bill was 9 passed. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 11 Secretary will call the roll on reconsideration. 12 (The Secretary called the roll on 13 reconsideration. ) 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 16 bill is before the house. 17 Senator Spano. 18 SENATOR SPANO: I offer the 19 following amendments. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 21 Amendments received. The bill will retain its 22 place. 23 SENATOR SPANO: Mr. President. 5419 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 2 Spano. 3 SENATOR SPANO: I wish to call up 4 Calendar 598, Assembly Print 1335A. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 6 Secretary will read it. Give us that number 7 again. 8 SENATOR SPANO: Calendar Number 9 598, Assembly Print Number 1335A. 10 THE SECRETARY: By Senator Spano, 11 Senate Bill Number 1014A, an act to amend the 12 Insurance Law. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 14 Spano. 15 SENATOR SPANO: Now move to 16 reconsider the vote by which the Assembly bill 17 was substituted for the Senate Print Number 18 1014A on May 18. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 20 Secretary will call the roll on reconsideration. 21 (The Secretary called the roll on 22 reconsideration. ) 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 5420 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 2 bill is before the house. 3 Senator Spano. 4 SENATOR SPANO: Now move that the 5 Assembly bill, Number 1335A, be recommitted to 6 the Committee on Rules and my Senate bill be 7 restored to the order of Third Reading Calendar. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Without 9 objection. 10 SENATOR SPANO: I now offer the 11 following amendments. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Okay. 13 Now come the amendments. The amendments are 14 received. 15 Senator DeFrancisco, you have a 16 motion. 17 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. I 18 wish to call up my bill, Print Number 3513, 19 recalled from the Assembly, which is now at the 20 desk. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 22 Secretary will read it. 23 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 5421 1 DeFrancisco, Senate Bill 3513, an act to amend 2 the Real Property Tax Law, in relation to 3 veterans' exemption. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 5 DeFrancisco. 6 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Mr. 7 President, I now move to reconsider the vote by 8 which this bill was passed. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 10 the roll on reconsideration. 11 (The Secretary called the roll on 12 reconsideration. ) 13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 15 bill is before the house. 16 Senator DeFrancisco. 17 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Mr. 18 President, I now offer the following 19 amendments. 20 THE SECRETARY: Amendments 21 received. The bill will retain its place. 22 Senator Marchi. 23 SENATOR MARCHI: Mr. President. 5422 1 On behalf of Senator Farley, Hugh Farley, that 2 is, place a sponsor star on Calendar Number 3 1215, Senate 4950. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 5 bill is starred. 6 SENATOR MARCHI: And, Mr. 7 President, remove a star on Calendar Number 885, 8 Senate 2792. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Star is 10 removed. Thank you, Senator Marchi. 11 Senator Padavan. 12 SENATOR PADAVAN: Thank you, Mr. 13 President. I wish to call up my Print Number 14 2135A, recalled from the Assembly, which is now 15 at the desk. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 17 Secretary will read Senator Padavan's bill. 18 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 19 Padavan, Senate Bill Number 2135A, an act to 20 amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law. 21 SENATOR PADAVAN: Mr. President, 22 I now move to reconsider the vote by which this 23 bill passed. 5423 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 2 Secretary will call the roll on reconsideration. 3 (The Secretary called the roll on 4 reconsideration. ) 5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 7 bill is before the house. 8 Senator Padavan. 9 SENATOR PADAVAN: I now offer up 10 the following amendments, Mr. President. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 12 Amendments received. The bill will retain its 13 place. 14 Senator Holland. 15 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 16 amendments are offered to the following Third 17 Reading Calendar bills. 18 First, by Senator Padavan, on 19 page 26, Calendar 1074, Senate Print 3185. 20 Senator Spano, page 26, 1075 21 Calendar Number, and Senate Print 3276. 22 By Senator Kuhl, page 33, 23 Calendar 1200, Senate Print 3415. 5424 1 By Senator Farley, page 44, 2 Calendar 885, Senate Print 2792. 3 And, by Senator Cook, page 44, 4 Calendar 954, Senate Print 5311. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Without 6 objection. 7 Senator Present. 8 SENATOR PRESENT: Mr. President, 9 on behalf of Senator Stafford, I ask that the 10 sponsor star be removed from Calendar 43, Senate 11 Print 435. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Without 13 objection, the star is removed. 14 SENATOR PRESENT: Mr. President, 15 I would like to announce an immediate meeting of 16 the Rules Committee in Room 332. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: There 18 will be an immediate meeting of the Rules 19 Committee in Room 332. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 21 Maltese. 22 SENATOR MALTESE: Mr. President, 23 on page number 27, I offer the following 5425 1 amendments to Calendar Number 1115, Assembly 2 Print Number 323... Senate Print Number 3265, 3 and ask that said bill retain its place on the 4 Third Reading Calendar. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 6 Amendments received. The bill will retain its 7 place. 8 Are there any other motions on 9 the floor? 10 (There was no response. ) 11 Senator Kuhl, we have some 12 substitutions. 13 SENATOR KUHL: On the Resolution 14 Calendar. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Well, 16 we have some substitutions, and then we'll do 17 some resolutions. 18 SENATOR KUHL: Let's do the 19 substitutions first. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Okay. 21 THE SECRETARY: On page 6 of 22 today's calendar, Senator Mega moves to 23 discharge the Committee on Rules from Assembly 5426 1 Bill Number 7742 and substitute it for the 2 identical Third Reading 308. 3 On page 8, Senator Hannon moves 4 to discharge the Committee on Rules from 5 Assembly Bill Number 1829A and substitute it for 6 the identical Third Reading 470. 7 On page 11, Senator Cook moves to 8 discharge the Committee on Rules from Assembly 9 Bill Number 5476B and substitute it for the 10 identical Third Reading 633. 11 On page 16, Senator Sheffer moves 12 to discharge the Committee on Rules from 13 Assembly Bill Number 5546A and substitute it for 14 the identical Third Reading 753. 15 On page 16, Senator Levy moves to 16 discharge the Committee on Rules from Assembly 17 Bill Number 682A and substitute it for the 18 identical Third Reading 760. 19 On page 32, Senator Gold moves to 20 discharge the Committee on Rules from Assembly 21 Bill Number 3815 and substitute it for the 22 identical Third Reading 1194. 23 On page 32, Senator Waldon moves 5427 1 to discharge the Committee on Cities from 2 Assembly Bill Number 1341 and substitute it for 3 the identical Third Reading 1196. 4 On page 33, Senator Seward moves 5 to discharge the Committee on Rules from 6 Assembly Bill Number 5882 and substitute it for 7 the identical Third Reading 1203. 8 On page 33, Senator Wright moves 9 to discharge the Committee on Rules from 10 Assembly Bill Number 6810 and substitute it for 11 the identical Third Reading 1207. 12 On page 35, Senator Johnson moves 13 to discharge the Committee on Rules from 14 Assembly Bill Number 5102A and substitute it for 15 the identical Third Reading 1219. 16 On page 35, Senator LaValle moves 17 to discharge the Committee on Rules from 18 Assembly Bill Number 7873 and substitute it for 19 the identical Third Reading 1223. 20 On page 36, Senator Trunzo moves 21 to discharge the Committee on Rules from 22 Assembly Bill Number 7891 and substitute it for 23 the identical Third Reading 1230. 5428 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Without 2 objection, those substitutions are ordered. 3 Senator Kuhl. 4 SENATOR KUHL: Yes, Mr. 5 President. I move we now adopt the Resolution 6 Calendar with the exception of Resolution Number 7 1775. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: All in 9 favor of adopting the Resolution Calendar, say 10 aye. 11 (Response of "Aye.") 12 Those opposed, nay. 13 (There was no response. ) 14 The Resolution Calendar is 15 adopted with exception. 16 SENATOR KUHL: Now, Mr. 17 President, would you recognize Senator Daly. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 19 Daly. 20 SENATOR DALY: Mr. President, on 21 one of the resolutions, I stand before you, my 22 colleagues, as you can easily see, a paradigm of 23 sartorial elegance. I might add to that that I 5429 1 notice my hero in such cases, Senator Galiber, 2 even looked upon me with envy today. 3 Now, why would an unpretentious 4 and humble man such as myself make such a 5 statement? Well, I want you to know that on 6 behalf of the resolution which will designate 7 "Help Yourself, Buy America" -- or I should 8 say, designate Labor Day as "Help Yourself, Buy 9 American Day", I want you to know that my coat, 10 the jacket, suit, was made in Rochester; shirt, 11 made in Medina; tie, made in the USA; socks, 12 made in USA; shoes, made in the USA, and you'll 13 have to take my word for it, but my under 14 garments were made in the USA too. 15 Last year, if you remember, we 16 started this program. We in the Senate 17 initiated the proposal that Labor Day be 18 designated as "Help Yourself, Buy American 19 Day." At that time we sent the resolution to 20 all the states in the United States and truly 21 had an exceptional acceptance of this 22 resolution, so that the same resolution we 23 passed here in New York State was passed in 5430 1 twenty other states, and proclamations made in 2 each of those states that Labor Day be 3 designated as "Help Yourself, Buy American Day." 4 I know we have talked about - 5 we have been talking about "Buy American" for 6 many years. Maybe it's finally starting to 7 catch hold. I note from a New York Newsday 8 article on January 7, 1993, which indicated a 9 "Buy American" sentiment played a role in 10 helping the Ford Taurus become the best selling 11 car in the United States last year. In 12 addition, the April 23rd edition of The 13 Kiplinger Washington Letter noted that people 14 want to buy American products. 15 Now, we passed this last year; 16 why would we want to do it again? My 17 colleagues, I think we should do this every year 18 and try to create even -- make it bigger and 19 better, and we're working now with the 20 Governor's office to try to make Labor Day 21 something special as far as reminding people - 22 that's the key word -- reminding people that 23 it's in their best interest if they give 5431 1 preference in the purchase of -- to buy, or I 2 should say, in buying American-made products, 3 because nothing truly can help this economy 4 better or more. Think of the impact we would 5 have on the economy if we can improve the 6 purchase of American cars by about 10 percent. 7 We would have an amazing and very effective 8 impact on the economy. 9 So what do we have to do? I think 10 we have to keep reminding the people of the 11 state and of this nation that they should give 12 preference to the purchase of American-made 13 products and that when they go out and they buy, 14 they look and ask for American-made products. 15 I remember about two weeks ago - 16 I mentioned my shoes. I bought them locally 17 and I noticed there was a sale out in the mall, 18 so I went out, and it was Bostonian. I hadn't 19 bought any Bostonian shoes before, but it said, 20 "Made in America," so I walked in and I sat 21 down. I said, "I'd like to see some shoes, 22 please." And the proprietor brought out four 23 pairs of shoes. I looked at the bottom, "Made 5432 1 in Italy." Not that I have anything against 2 Italy, but I said, "I came here to buy American 3 made shoes. Now bring me some American-made 4 shoes." Lo and behold, he disappeared for about 5 ten seconds and came out with some more shoes 6 all made in America, and I made a purchase. 7 If we would all think about 8 giving preference to American-made products, my 9 colleagues, we could have an impact on this 10 economy. I think we will all agree to that, and 11 that's why the resolution is before you today. 12 And, hopefully, as I said, this Labor Day we 13 will make it bigger and better, and other states 14 will pick it up and we'll continue to make the 15 American people aware that they should give 16 preference to products made in this country. 17 The purpose of the resolution - 18 I'm sure you will agree with me that it is a 19 good resolution. I look forward to your support 20 today and let's all work to make Labor Day 21 even more important as far as reminding the 22 people of this state and the people of this 23 country that it's in their best interest -- it 5433 1 certainly is in the best interest of our country 2 -- if we give preference to American-made 3 products. 4 Thank you, Mr. President. 5 On the resolution. 6 SENATOR KUHL: That was already 7 adopted. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: That 9 was already adopted, that resolution. 10 Senator Kuhl. 11 SENATOR KUHL: Yes. Mr. 12 President, on behalf of Senator Hannon, I wish 13 to call his bill up, Senate Print Number 279, 14 recalled from the Assembly which is at the desk. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 16 Secretary will read Senator Hannon's bill. 17 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 18 Hannon, Senate Bill Number 279, authorize 19 payments in lieu of taxes by the county of 20 Nassau. 21 SENATOR KUHL: Mr. President, I 22 now move to reconsider the vote by which this 23 bill was passed. 5434 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 2 Secretary will call the roll on reconsideration. 3 (The Secretary called the roll on 4 reconsideration. ) 5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 7 bill is before the house. 8 SENATOR KUHL: Offer up the 9 following amendments. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 11 Amendments received. The bill will retain its 12 place. 13 SENATOR KUHL: Mr. President, 14 would you recognize Senator Lack, please. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 16 Lack. 17 SENATOR KUHL: Call up Resolution 18 1775. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 1775, 20 the Secretary will read the title of Senator 21 Lack's resolution. 22 THE SECRETARY: Legislative 23 Resolution 1775, by Senator Lack and others, 5435 1 urging the honorable Senators from New York to 2 support the maintenance of the current 80 3 percent deductibility of business meals and 4 entertainment expenses. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 6 Lack. 7 SENATOR LACK: Thank you, Mr. 8 President. It is estimated that in the state of 9 New York, as a result of the proposed change in 10 federal deductibility from 80 percent to 50 11 percent for business meals and business expense 12 luncheons, that there will be a loss in income, 13 sales in the state of a quarter of a billion 14 dollars and a loss of 11,392 jobs in the state. 15 As chair of the Senate 16 Labor Committee, I have been contacted by 17 several organizations and several unions, which 18 is why, I'm sure, that this resolution is 19 sponsored not only by myself and a rather 20 eclectic group as far as the Senate goes. 21 Senator Daly, Senator Larkin, Senator Marchi, 22 Senator Markowitz, Senator Nolan, Senator 23 Santiago, Senator Smith, and Senator Volker, 5436 1 truly a cross-section of the Senate representing 2 what could happen to this state if this type of 3 deductibility change takes place. If these 4 11,392 jobs, it's estimated, can be lost in this 5 state, in many respects it's those in the lower 6 income classifications and those in the food 7 service and restaurant industry who would suffer 8 as a result of these deductibility changes. 9 For that reason, Mr. President, I 10 submitted this resolution, calling upon our 11 United States Senators, Senators Moynihan and 12 D'Amato, to consider the effect upon the economy 13 of New York if we lose a quarter of a billion 14 dollars in restaurant sales in this state and 15 11,000 more jobs in an already perilous economy 16 in this state. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Is the 18 resolution open to other members? 19 SENATOR LACK: Circulate it to 20 every member of this house and is open for 21 co-sponsor ship. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Raise 23 your hand if you want to be on the resolution. 5437 1 Incidentally, all of those people were not 2 circled, but I'm sure they want to be on it. 3 All in favor of adopting Senator 4 Lack's resolution, say aye. 5 (Response of "Aye.") 6 Those opposed, nay. 7 (There was no response. ) 8 The resolution is adopted. 9 SENATOR LACK: Thank you very 10 much. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 12 Kuhl. 13 SENATOR KUHL: Will you call up 14 the non-controversial calendar, please? 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 16 Non-controversial. Secretary will read it. 17 THE SECRETARY: On page 7, 18 Calendar Number 395, by Senator Kuhl. 19 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay it 20 aside. 21 SENATOR KUHL: Lay it aside for 22 the day, please. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 5438 1 aside for today. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 438, by Senator Johnson, Senate Bill Number 4 3534A, Environmental Conservation Law. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 6 the last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 8 act shall take effect immediately. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 10 the roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 14 bill is passed. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 462, by Senator Volker, Senate Bill Number 3907, 17 an act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law. 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: Senator 23 DeFrancisco. 5439 1 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: May I 2 explain my vote? 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Yes. 4 Senator DeFrancisco, to explain his vote. 5 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I brought 6 this point up at the Codes Committee meeting and 7 I'm going to vote in favor of this bill but with 8 strong reservations, and I hope it gets 9 corrected in the process. 10 The purpose of the bill is to 11 provide for increased penalties and also an 12 extended period for the statute of limitations 13 for child abuse situations, both in criminal 14 cases and in civil cases. The criminal law 15 statute of limitations is no problem. It's 16 basically three years from the date the child 17 becomes 18 years of age or the report -- it's 18 reported to the appropriate authorities, 19 whichever comes first. 20 The problem that I have despite 21 the fact that the Trial -- New York State Trial 22 Lawyers Association thinks this is a good idea, 23 the problem I have is with the civil statute of 5440 1 limitations, and it's almost an unlimited 2 statute of limitations. It provides that you 3 can bring the lawsuit within three years from 4 the time of the discovery by the injured party 5 or both the -- of both the injury and the causal 6 connection between the injury and the abuse. In 7 other words, it's when the person realizes the 8 injury is caused by something that happened some 9 time past in their lifetime and there's a causal 10 connection established. The three years starts 11 to run at that point in time. 12 I think as a practical matter it 13 would be relatively easy for one to get a 14 psychologist to determine that the causal 15 connection was just discovered today, maybe 30 16 years after the incident occurred, and I think 17 it's too open-ended to allow civil proceedings 18 and not have an effective statute of 19 limitations. 20 So I'm going to vote yes. I 21 think it's an important bill, but I hope that 22 particular provision be looked at very carefully 23 before it's signed into law. 5441 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 2 Results. 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 53. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 11 bill is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 471. 14 SENATOR KUHL: Lay it aside. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 16 aside. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 633, by member of the Assembly Bennett, 19 substituted earlier today, Assembly Bill Number 20 5476B, an act to amend the General City Law, the 21 Town Law and the Village Law. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 23 the last section. 5442 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 53. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 8 bill is passed. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 729, by Senator Saland, Senate Bill Number - 11 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay it 12 aside. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 14 that bill aside. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 794, by Senator Daly, Senate Bill Number 109... 17 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay it 18 aside. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 20 that bill aside. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 869, by Senator Hannon. 23 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay it 5443 1 aside. 2 SENATOR KUHL: Lay it aside. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 4 that bill aside. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 870. 7 SENATOR KUHL: Lay it aside. 8 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay it 9 aside. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 11 aside. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 871. 14 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay it 15 aside. 16 SENATOR KUHL: Lay it aside. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 18 aside. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 872. 21 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay it 22 aside. 23 SENATOR KUHL: Lay it aside. 5444 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 2 aside. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 890, by Senator levy, Senate Bill Number 1003A, 5 an act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic 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 53. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 15 bill is passed. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 971, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 18 Bill Number 5709. 19 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay it 20 aside. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 22 aside. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5445 1 979, by Senator Spano, Senate Bill Number 5738, 2 an act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 4 the last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 6 This - 7 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Oh, I'm 8 sorry. There's a home rule message at the 9 desk. Now you can read 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 53. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 17 bill is passed. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 1000, by Senator Wright, Senate Bill Number 20 4277. 21 SENATOR WRIGHT: Lay it aside for 22 today, please. 23 SENATOR KUHL: Lay it aside for 5446 1 the day, please. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 3 aside for today. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 1024, by Senator Wright, Senate Bill Number 6 3810A, State Administrative Procedure Act. 7 SENATOR KUHL: Lay it aside. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 9 aside. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 1069, by Senator Cook, Senate Bill - 12 SENATOR ONORATO: Lay it aside. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 14 that bill aside. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 1081, by Senator Skelos, Senate Bill Number 17 4040A, authorize the town of Hempstead to lease 18 certain park lands. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: There 20 is a home rule message here at the desk. You 21 can read the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 23 act shall take effect immediately. 5447 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 2 the roll. 3 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 6 bill is passed. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 1088, by Senator Stafford, Senate Bill Number 9 4853, Environmental Conservation Law. 10 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay it 11 aside. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 13 aside. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 1107, by Senator Levy - 16 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay it 17 aside. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 19 aside. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 1120, by Senator Sears, Senate Bill Number 22 3837B, amends Chapter 711 of the Laws of 1992. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 5448 1 the last section. Oh, wait a second. There's a 2 home rule? 3 There's a home rule message here 4 at the desk. 5 If you'll read 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 53. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 13 bill is passed. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 1126, by Senator Johnson - 16 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay it 17 aside. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 19 aside. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 1127, by Senator - 22 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay aside. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 5449 1 that bill aside. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 1137, by Senator - 4 SENATOR KUHL: Lay it aside. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 6 aside. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 1150, by Senator Velella, Senate - 9 SENATOR KUHL: Lay it aside. 10 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay it 11 aside. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 13 aside. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 1155, by member of the Assembly Wright, Assembly 16 Bill Number 4219, authorize the city of New York 17 to reconvey its interest in certain real 18 property. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: There 20 is a home rule message here at the desk. 21 You can read the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 23 act shall take effect immediately. 5450 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 2 the roll. 3 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 6 bill is passed. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 1165, by Senator Velella, Senate Bill Number 9 3126, an act to amend the Executive Law. 10 SENATOR LEICHTER: Lay it aside. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 12 the last -- lay it aside. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 1166, by Senator Velella, Senate Bill Number 15 3188. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 17 that bill aside. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 1172, by Senator Wright, Senate Bill Number 20 4230B, amends Chapter 266 of the Laws of 1854. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 22 the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 5451 1 act shall take effect immediately. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 3 the roll. 4 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 7 bill is passed. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1181, by Senator Hannon, Senate Bill Number 10 4991, an act to amend the Tax Law. 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 53. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 20 bill is passed. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 1182, by Senator Hannon, Senate Bill Number 23 5017, to allow Douglas Robins of Levittown 5452 1 retroactive membership in the retirement system. 2 SENATOR GOLD: Lay it aside. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 4 aside. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 1183, by Senator Hannon, Senate Bill Number 7 5332, amends Chapter 750 of the Laws of 1871. 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 53. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 17 bill is passed. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 1185 - 20 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay it 21 aside. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 23 that bill aside. 5453 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 1191, by Senator Bruno, Senate Bill Number 5870, 3 authorize the town of Clifton Park, Saratoga 4 County, to employ town constables. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: There 6 is a home rule message at the desk. 7 You can read 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 53. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 15 bill is passed. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 1192, by Senator Seward, Senate Bill Number 18 5883, an act to amend the Town 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 5454 1 the roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 5 bill is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 1194, substituted earlier today, by member of 8 the Assembly Hevesi, Assembly Bill Number 3815, 9 authorizing the city of New York to reconvey its 10 interest in certain real property. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 12 Gold 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 53. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 21 bill is passed. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 1195, by Senator Stafford, Senate Bill Number 5455 1 443 - 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 3 that bill aside. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 1196, substituted earlier today, by 6 member of the Assembly Jenkins, Assembly 7 Bill Number 1341, authorizing the city of New 8 York to reconvey its interest in certain real 9 property. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 11 Waldon has a home rule message here at the 12 desk. 13 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 53. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 21 bill is passed. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 1197, by Senator Spano, Senate Bill Number 5456 1 2225A, an act to amend the Family Court Act. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 3 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 53. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 11 bill is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 1198, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Bill Number 14 2341, an act to amend the Highway Law, 15 assist in certain roads in the village of 16 Camillus. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 18 DeFrancisco has a home rule message at the 19 desk. 20 Read the last section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 22 act shall take effect immediately. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 5457 1 the roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 5 bill is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 1199, by Senator Pataki, Senate Bill Number 8 2876A, Environmental Conservation Law. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 10 the last section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 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 53. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 18 bill is passed. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 1201, by Senator Volker, Senate Bill Number 21 3825B, an act to amend the Criminal Procedure 22 Law. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 5458 1 the last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 3 act shall take effect immediately. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 5 the roll. 6 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 9 bill is passed. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 1202, by Senator Present, Senate Bill Number 12 3859, an act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic 13 Law. 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 53. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 23 bill is passed. 5459 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 1203, substituted earlier today, by member of 3 the Assembly Tonko, Assembly Bill Number 5882, 4 an act to amend the Public Service Law. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 6 the last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 8 act shall take effect immediately. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 10 the roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 14 bill is passed. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 104, by Senator Johnson, Senate Bill Number 17 3991, an act to amend the Environmental 18 Conservation 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 5460 1 the roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 5 bill is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 1205, by Senator Kuhl, Senate Bill Number 4087, 8 an act to amend the Alcoholic Beverage Control 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 54. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 19 bill is passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 1206, by Senator Nozzolio, Senate Bill Number 22 4154, an act to - 23 SENATOR GOLD: Lay it aside. 5461 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 2 that bill aside. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 1267, substituted earlier today, by member of 5 the Assembly North, Assembly Bill Number 6810, 6 an act to provide for non-partisan primaries in 7 elections. 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 54. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 17 bill is passed. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 1208, by Senator Johnson, Senate Bill Number 20 4375A, to allow - 21 SENATOR GOLD: Lay it aside. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 23 aside. 5462 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 1209, by Senator Gonzalez, Senate Bill Number 3 4470, Environmental Conservation 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 53, nays 12 one, Senator Pataki voted in the negative. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 14 bill is passed. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 1210, by Senator Present, Senate Bill Number 17 4491, an act to amend the Alcoholic Beverage 18 Control 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 5463 1 the roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 5 bill is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 1211, by Senator Mega, Senate Bill Number 4580, 8 Criminal Procedure Law. 9 SENATOR PRESENT: Lay it aside 10 for today. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 12 that bill aside for the day. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 1212, by Senator Sheffer, Senate Bill Number 15 4638, authorize the New York State Canal 16 Corporation to abandon certain canal lands. 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. ) 5464 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 3 bill is passed. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 1213, by Senator Padavan. 6 SENATOR PADAVAN: Lay it aside 7 for the day. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 9 aside for the day. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 1214, by Senator Stafford, Senate Bill Number 12 4810, an act to amend the Agriculture and 13 Markets Law. 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. 5465 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar 1216, by 2 Senator Saland, Senate Bill Number 4969A, Public 3 Authorities 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 54. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 13 bill is passed. 14 THE SECRETARY: Excuse me. Ayes 15 53, nays 1. Senator Pataki recorded in the 16 negative. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 18 bill is passed. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 1217, by Senator Hannon. 21 SENATOR GOLD: Can we have one 22 day on this, please? 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 5466 1 Hannon? Senator Kuhl. 2 SENATOR KUHL: Lay it aside 3 temporarily. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 5 aside. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 1218, by Senator Lack, Senate Bill Number 4994A, 8 authorizing the sale of certain state-owned 9 lands. 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 54. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 19 bill is passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 1219, substituted earlier today, by member of 22 the Assembly DiNapoli, Assembly Bill Number 23 5102A, an act to amend the General Municipal 5467 1 Law. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 3 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 54. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 11 bill is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 1220, by Senator Holland, Senate Bill Number 14 5147, an act to amend the Public Authorities 15 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 54. 5468 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 2 bill is passed. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 1221, by Senator Sheffer, Senate Bill Number 5 5186, an acted to amend the Religious 6 Corporations 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 54. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 16 bill is passed. 17 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Mr. 18 President. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 20 Oppenheimer. 21 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: I just 22 stepped out for a moment. I would like 23 unanimous consent to be recorded in the negative 5469 1 on Number 1220. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 1220. 3 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: 1-2-2-0. 4 It just passed a few moments ago. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 6 Oppenheimer will be in the negative on 1220, 7 without objection. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1223, substituted earlier today, by the Assembly 10 Committee on Rules, Assembly Bill Number 7073, 11 an act to dedicate the David A. Sarnoff Pine 12 Barrens and the Rocky Point Resources Management 13 Area. 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. 5470 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 1224, by Senator Farley, Senate Bill Number 3 5410, Surrogate's Court Procedure Act. 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 53, nays 1, 12 Senator Pataki recorded in the negative. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 14 bill is passed. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 1225, by Senator LaValle, Senate Bill Number 17 5428, an act to amend the Education Law. 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. 5471 1 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 4 bill is passed. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 1226, by Senator Levy, Senate Bill Number 5433, 7 an act to amend the Transportation Law and the 8 Vehicle and Traffic Law. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 10 the last section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 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 53, nays 1. 17 Senator Kuhl recorded in the negative. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: That 19 bill is passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 1227, by Senator Levy. 22 SENATOR PRESENT: Lay it aside. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 5472 1 that bill aside. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 1228, by Senator Daly. 4 SENATOR GOLD: Lay it aside. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 6 aside. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 1229, by Senator Padavan, Senate Bill Number 9 5571, Public Authorities 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 53, nays 1. 18 Senator Leichter recorded in the negative. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: That 20 bill is passed. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 1230, substituted earlier today, by the Assembly 23 Committee on Rules, Assembly Bill Number 7891, 5473 1 amends Chapter 901 of the Laws of 1990, amending 2 the Environmental Conservation Law. 3 SENATOR LEICHTER: Lay it aside. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 5 that bill aside. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 1231, by Senator Sears, Senate Bill Number 5681, 8 an act to amend the Tax Law and Chapter 644 of 9 the Laws of 1984. 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 53. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 19 bill is passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 1232, by Senator Levy. 22 SENATOR PRESENT: Lay it aside 23 for the day. 5474 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 2 aside for the day. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 1233, by Senator Saland, Senate Bill Number 5 5766, an act to amend the Public Authorities 6 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 SENATOR LEICHTER: Lay it aside. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 16 Withdraw the roll call. Lay the bill aside. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 1234, by Senator Seward, Senate Bill Number 19 5808, an act to amend the Public Service Law. 20 SENATOR PRESENT: Lay it aside 21 for the day. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 23 aside for today. 5475 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 1235, by Senator Saland, Senate Bill Number 3 5860, an act to amend the Social Services 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 54. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 13 bill is passed. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 1236, by Senator Stafford, Senate Bill Number 16 5866. 17 SENATOR GOLD: Lay it aside. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 19 that bill aside. 20 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 22 Leichter. 23 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. 5476 1 President. By mistake, I laid aside Calendar 2 1233. I have no objection to that bill if you 3 want to call it. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Would 5 the Secretary call up 1233 again. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 1233, by Senator Saland, Senate Bill Number 8 5766, an act to amend the Public Authorities 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 54. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 19 bill is passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: 1237, by Senator 21 Trunzo, Senate Bill Number 5834, amends Chapter 22 422 of the Laws of 1991. 23 SENATOR GOLD: Lay it aside. 5477 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 2 that bill aside. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 1238, by Senator Present, Senate Bill Number 5 5887, authorizing the county of Cattaraugus to 6 elect and make an optional 20-year retirement 7 plan. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 9 Present has a home rule message here at the 10 desk. 11 You can read 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 54. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: That 19 bill is passed, and that is our last bill. The 20 first time around, Senator Present. 21 SENATOR PRESENT: Mr. President, 22 can we return to reports of standing committees. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Yes, we 5478 1 may. 2 The Secretary will read a report 3 of a standing committee. But first let's have a 4 little order here. 5 THE SECRETARY: Senator Marino, 6 from the Committee on Rules, reports the 7 following bills directly for third reading: 8 Senate Bill Number 1132, by 9 Senator Stachowski, authorize the city of 10 Buffalo to discontinue the use of park land. 11 2095, by Senator Espada, 12 authorizing the city of New York to reconvey its 13 interest in certain real property. 14 2429, by Senator Tully, an act to 15 amend the Executive Law. 16 2475, by Senator Johnson, an act 17 to amend the Banking Law. 18 3012A, by Senator Spano, Civil 19 Service Law. 20 3104, by Senator Present, State 21 Administrative Procedure Act. 22 3180, by Senator Cook, Real 23 Property Tax Law. 5479 1 3560, by Senator Farley, allowing 2 Alexandra J. Burns retroactive membership in the 3 retirement system. 4 3674, by Senator Present, Real 5 Property Tax Law. 6 3930, by Senator Goodman, Vehicle 7 and Traffic Law. 8 4220, by Senator Cook, Real 9 Property Tax Law. 10 4897, by Senator Hannon, 11 Administrative Code of the city of New York. 12 5263, by Senator Lack, an act to 13 amend the Labor Law. 14 5362, by Senator Masiello, Local 15 Finance Law. 16 5411A, by Senator Farley, General 17 Municipal Law. 18 5626A, by Senator Holland, Social 19 Services Law. 20 5678, by Senator Holland, Social 21 Services Law. 22 5687, by Senator Holland, Social 23 Services Law. 5480 1 5805, by Senator Bruno, Public 2 Authorities Law. 3 5821, by Senator Wright, State 4 Administrative Procedure Act. 5 5852, by Senator Volker, county 6 of Livingston to acquire sites. 7 5853, by Senate Committee on 8 Rules, General Municipal Law. 9 5881, by Senator Saland, Family 10 Court Act. 11 5900, by Senator Johnson, 12 Environmental Conservation Law. 13 5929, by Senator Johnson, 14 Environmental Conservation Law. 15 5931, by Senator Trunzo, 16 Administrative Code of the city of New York. 17 5961, by Senator Trunzo, an act 18 to amend the Executive Law. 19 All bills reported directly for 20 third reading. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: All 22 bills are reported direct to third reading. 23 Senator Present. 5481 1 SENATOR PRESENT: Will you 2 recognize Senator Hannon, please. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 4 Hannon? There he is. 5 Senator Hannon. 6 SENATOR HANNON: Yes, Mr. 7 President. I have two amendments to offer up. 8 On page number 22, I offer the 9 following amendments to Calendar 871, Print 10 Number 4930, and I would ask that said bill 11 retain its place on the Third Reading Calendar. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Without 13 objection. 14 SENATOR HANNON: On the same 15 page, that is page 22, I would also offer the 16 following amendments to Calendar 872, Print 17 Number 5163, and I would ask that the bill 18 retain its place on the Third Reading Calendar. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Without 20 objection, the bill will retain its place. 21 Senator Mega. 22 SENATOR MEGA: Mr. President. On 23 the starred calendar, on page 38, on behalf of 5482 1 Senator Stafford, earlier today he had requested 2 that the star be removed from Calendar 43. He 3 now requests that the star remain on Calendar 4 43. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 6 star is put back on. 7 SENATOR MEGA: Thank you. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 9 Saland. 10 SENATOR SALAND: Mr. President, I 11 would like to remove the star from Calendar 456, 12 Senate 3286. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 456, 14 the star is removed at the request of the 15 sponsor. 16 SENATOR SALAND: Also, Mr. 17 President, on page 35, Calendar Number 1224, 18 bill S. 5410, I would like unanimous consent to 19 be recorded in the negative. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Without 21 objection. Let's get that Calendar Number 22 again. 23 SENATOR SALAND: Calendar 1224. 5483 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: That's 2 my bill. 3 Senator Present. 4 SENATOR PRESENT: Mr. President. 5 I believe we are ready for the controversial 6 calendar. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Yes, we 8 are, sir. Secretary will read controversial. 9 THE SECRETARY: On page 9, 10 Calendar Number 471, by member of the Assembly 11 Wright. 12 SENATOR PRESENT: Lay it aside 13 for the day, please. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 15 that bill aside for today. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 729, by Senator Saland, Senate Bill Number 18 3105C, an act to amend the General Business Law. 19 SENATOR GOLD: Explanation. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 21 Explanation has been asked for. 22 Senator Saland. 23 SENATOR SALAND: Mr. President, 5484 1 could I request this be laid aside for the day, 2 please? 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay the 4 bill aside for today. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 794, by Senator Daly, Senate Bill Number 1099, 7 an act to amend the Environmental Conservation 8 Law. 9 SENATOR GOLD: Explanation. 10 SENATOR PRESENT: Lay it aside 11 temporarily. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 13 aside temporarily. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 869, by Senator Hannon, Senate Bill Number 16 4898A. 17 SENATOR PRESENT: Lay it aside. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 19 aside. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 870, by Senator Hannon. 22 SENATOR PRESENT: Lay it aside. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 5485 1 aside. 2 SENATOR PRESENT: Call up 794, 3 please. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 794. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 794, by Senator Daly, Senate Bill Number 1899, 7 an act to amend the Environmental Conservation 8 Law. 9 SENATOR GOLD: Explanation. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 11 Explanation. Senator Daly. 12 SENATOR DALY: Yes, Mr. 13 President. Under the existing law, state 14 beverage containers must be photodegradable or 15 biodegradable to be used. 16 This would change the law to 17 allow recycled and recyclable materials to be 18 used also. Basically, it gives manufacturers 19 opportunities to use materials that can be 20 recycled, and the material -- the product they 21 make must be made partially of recycled 22 materials themselves. So you are dealing with a 23 product that, first of all, is using recycled 5486 1 materials and yet can be recyclable also. 2 SENATOR GOLD: Can you hold on 3 one second. 4 SENATOR DALY: Sure. Mr. 5 President. I might add, too, while we're 6 waiting that this bill is endorsed and supported 7 by the Department of Environmental 8 Conservation. We have a typical DEC memorandum 9 where they list the bills that are supported, 10 and Senate 1099, this particular bill, is 11 supported. 12 SENATOR GOLD: Will Senator yield 13 to a question? 14 SENATOR DALY: Certainly. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 16 Daly. 17 SENATOR GOLD: Senator, there is 18 a memorandum that I'm looking at where it says 19 on your bill that they have some concerns, but 20 nothing else. Did you receive something after 21 this from them? 22 SENATOR DALY: This says here, 23 Senator -- I note that on the memorandum which I 5487 1 have -- I'll show it to you. It says, "S. 1099, 2 beverage container, in support (revised)." 3 SENATOR GOLD: I see. 4 SENATOR DALY: This is dated - 5 sorry, Senator, it doesn't have a date, but I 6 know it's -- oh, wait. May 25, 1993. 7 SENATOR GOLD: Will the Senator 8 yield to one more question? 9 SENATOR DALY: Certainly. 10 SENATOR GOLD: Is this the same 11 as the 1992 bill? 12 SENATOR DALY: Yes, it is. 13 SENATOR GOLD: All right. I 14 yield to Senator Leichter. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 16 Leichter. Would you yield, Senator Daly, to a 17 few questions? 18 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 19 isn't it a fact, Senator, that the effect of 20 this bill would be that those companies that 21 package or market their product in these plastic 22 containers or holders would continue to do so, 23 and that you would be, in effect, furthering the 5488 1 use of plastics? 2 SENATOR DALY: Actually, all it 3 does, Mr. President, is gives these companies an 4 option to use either materials that are 5 photodegradable or biodegradable or materials 6 that are both recycled and recyclable. 7 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes, but, 8 Senator, as I recollect the debate on this bill 9 last year, one of our concerns was that we had 10 told the whole industry we want to get away from 11 plastics and that, based on that, companies had 12 made adjustments to the way that they packaged 13 their products. 14 Now -- I gather this is for the 15 benefit of one or two companies and so on -- you 16 are permitting the use of plastics, although it 17 is your claim and your justification that these 18 are biodegradable. 19 SENATOR DALY: Mr. President. I 20 don't know -- I believe that what we've told 21 companies who make plastic is that we want 22 plastics which can either be used again - 23 SENATOR LEICHTER: Excuse me. I 5489 1 can't hear you, Senator, I'm sorry. 2 SENATOR DALY: I don't believe 3 the state ever made a policy of decreasing 4 plastics, per se, but rather decreasing the use 5 of plastics that are not biodegradable, 6 photodegradable or recyclable and recycled, and 7 basically what this bill does is it allows 8 companies to use another option. 9 In other words, if you are using 10 plastics right now which are photodegradable you 11 can in their place -- and frankly, Senator, we 12 believe this is a better material to use because 13 when you say that a plastic is either 14 biodegradable or photodegradable, the question 15 is, "How long does it take for that to happen?" 16 and this particular material, this newly 17 developed material is material that, first of 18 all, is made from -- a certain percentage of the 19 finished product has to be made from previously 20 used plastics; in other words, recycled 21 plastics, and also this material itself can be 22 recyclable, so it can be reused again. 23 And what we're doing is you're 5490 1 using that material. First of all, you are 2 taking plastics that have already been used, 3 reusing them, and that final product in itself 4 can be reused. So you are decreasing the amount 5 of plastic that goes into our waste chain, and 6 you will note also the bill includes 7 specifications which would protect wild animals 8 or pets so that they could not be entangled in 9 the finished product, would not create a danger 10 to wild life. 11 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, some 12 of the debates and the issues of last year are 13 coming back, because both Senator Gold and I 14 were a little unsure why a number of us voted 15 against it. I guess in addition to the reasons 16 that I raised about the furtherance of plastic, 17 I guess there is a memorandum of opposition 18 which says, "The state's native brewers strongly 19 oppose this bill." That was issued on behalf of 20 the Genesee Brewing Company, Rochester, and the 21 F. X. Matt Brewing Company, Utica, New York, and 22 states, "This bill provides for the use of a 23 certain six-pack plastic retaining device that 5491 1 offers no new economic or environmental 2 benefits. The 'new' device is constructed of 3 rigid plastic having defined edges and two round 4 unbreakable holes or openings that are non 5 stretchable. The six-pack plastic holding 6 device now used by the above brewers, however, 7 is both photodegradable and recyclable. It is a 8 thoroughly tested product and has properly 9 addressed concerns relevant to litter control, 10 solid waste reduction and recycling." 11 So I gather the effect of your 12 bill, Senator, would be economically harmful to 13 our local brewers. 14 SENATOR DALY: Mr. President, I 15 know the memorandum in opposition that the 16 Senator refers to. However, I will tell you 17 that I was somewhat surprised to read that 18 memo. First of all, it does not add to their 19 costs, because it does not require them to stop 20 using their existing material which is a 21 photodegradable material. 22 What this bill does is give them 23 an option. If those three breweries want to 5492 1 continue using the material they are presently 2 using, they can use it. We're not discontinuing 3 the use of that plastic. We're adding one. 4 So I take strong exception to 5 that particular memorandum, because I thought it 6 was very hyperbolic to be frank with you. And if 7 they want to argue about what's better, I can 8 stand here and say, well, this particular 9 product covers the top of the can; the other 10 product doesn't, so it makes it more sanitary. 11 But that is something I don't think belongs on 12 this floor with the questions that are being 13 raised. 14 Just let me finish my statement. 15 Senator, by saying that this bill does not - 16 does not do any harm to those companies. They 17 can continue using exactly the same material, 18 the same process. They don't have to make one 19 penny change to their present operation. It 20 just allows this other material, which as I said 21 can be 100 percent recycled, be also used. 22 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, is 23 that under Subsection A of your bill? I just 5493 1 want to make sure that their present device 2 would not be precluded. 3 SENATOR DALY: Mr. President. 4 Senator, let me say if there is any way this 5 bill prevents those companies from continuing 6 their existing manufacturing processing, from 7 continuing using the same materials, to impact 8 on their production process in one way, I 9 guarantee you the bill will be changed and will 10 be changed. 11 SENATOR LEICHTER: Well, by that 12 time, Senator, it may be law. I think you're 13 right, Senator, and I happen to agree with you 14 as I read the bill. I just wanted you to 15 confirm it that perhaps under that Subdivision A 16 which says, "Such plastic holding device 17 decomposes," which is what these brewers use. 18 SENATOR DALY: That's right. 19 SENATOR LEICHTER: I gather then 20 their argument is that they feel they have a 21 certain advantage now in the packaging, and 22 you're going to take that advantage away by 23 giving the out-of-state brewers an ability to 5494 1 use a plastic device which they don't have, 2 which maybe will make the marketing of beer 3 easier. 4 I can see that maybe 5 economically, from their viewpoint, it's not to 6 their advantage, but I think you make a good 7 argument. I don't think you can certainly 8 oppose it on environmental grounds. 9 Senator, you have convinced me. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 11 the last section. 12 SENATOR DALY: May I say one more 13 thing, Mr. President? 14 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 15 Daly. 16 SENATOR DALY: This will not 17 impact on them. Other out-of-state breweries 18 are using the same materials, so it won't impact 19 on them one bit. 20 SENATOR GOLD: Will the Senator 21 yield to a question? 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 23 Gold. Senator Daly, will you yield? 5495 1 SENATOR DALY: Yes. 2 SENATOR GOLD: Senator, I just 3 want to understand one thing. They have the 4 choice of using something that is either 5 degradable or recyclable? 6 SENATOR DALY: Yes. 7 SENATOR GOLD: Will you yield to 8 one other question? 9 SENATOR DALY: Certainly. 10 SENATOR GOLD: Supposing, 11 Senator, that they use something that is 12 recyclable, but somebody throws it in the 13 garbage can, and now it's part of the trash and 14 it's not degradable. 15 SENATOR DALY: Good question. 16 You got me stuck for a minute. We have the same 17 problem, Senator, in anything we do as far as 18 recycled and recyclable materials and, 19 basically, what we'll try to do with this, 20 again, have it taken out of the waste stream. 21 Now, the problem we have, 22 Senator, too is with what is supposedly photo 23 degradable and biodegradable is questionable 5496 1 also, because that is not recycled at any time 2 -- doesn't have to be -- and if you tell me how 3 long it will take for a certain product under 4 certain conditions to disappear, I would like to 5 hear it. 6 SENATOR GOLD: Is that a 7 question? 8 SENATOR DALY: Rhetorical. 9 SENATOR GOLD: An hour and a 10 half. Will the Senator yield for another 11 question? 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 13 Daly, will you yield for another question? 14 SENATOR DALY: Yes. 15 SENATOR GOLD: Senator Daly, 16 first of all, I appreciate, and I know Senator 17 Leichter does, too, the frankness and the level 18 of the debate, because we are concerned. 19 Last year there were seventeen 20 people including at least one Republican who did 21 vote opposed, against this, and I know that 22 certainly one of the questions was the impact on 23 domestic breweries particularly in these 5497 1 economic times. 2 But, Senator, this is my 3 question. If you have items which are 4 recyclable and you have a program by which they 5 are recycled, you've got a chance. 6 SENATOR DALY: Yes. 7 SENATOR GOLD: So, for example, 8 if newspapers are collected separately, you got 9 a chance. Somebody may throw a newspaper with 10 other kinds of garbage and, therefore, we 11 haven't gained anything. If you have bottles 12 and we circulate and we recycle -- fine. My 13 question is, Senator, if they use something 14 that's "recyclable", but there is no mechanism 15 to recycle it and it just goes into the garbage, 16 then we haven't really done anything, because if 17 there is no program to take advantage of that, 18 then it really is not being recycled. Does 19 that make sense, Senator? 20 SENATOR DALY: That makes sense. 21 And I would submit, Mr. President, that more and 22 more communities are going to recycling 23 programs. It's growing and, as you know, at a 5498 1 rapid pace. And very frankly, to me, it seems 2 it would be better to take a material which can 3 be reused instead of material that has to go 4 back into the waste -- that will go back into 5 the waste stream, and we are encouraging 6 recycling, as you know that, throughout the 7 state. And this is another way of doing it. 8 SENATOR GOLD: Mr. President. On 9 the bill. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: On the 11 bill. Senator Gold. 12 SENATOR GOLD: I understand the 13 comments made by Senator Daly; and while I can't 14 raise my voice at you, Senator, and shout and 15 scream, I am a little bit concerned about the 16 legislation. I think that we're putting the 17 cart before the horse, Senator Daly. I think 18 that, really, solid waste disposal and 19 everything is very urgent. Recycling is a major 20 avenue to help society, but if we are not right 21 now, Senator, doing the recycling, it seems to 22 me that today we are better off with things that 23 are degradable. If, Senator, we have the 5499 1 recycling programs, then I certainly would agree 2 with you I'd rather have things recycled. But, 3 right now, I'm afraid the effect of the 4 legislation is going to be to cause some 5 consternation with the people who are our 6 brewers, Genesee Brewing, Rochester, F. X. Matt 7 Brewing Company, give them some agida, and take 8 a situation where we have no guarantees. Matter 9 of fact, it's stronger than that, Senator Daly. 10 Not only are there no guarantees as to the 11 recyclability of the program, but there is no 12 program at least none that's going to take these 13 items. And I can see people taking off the 14 plastic, not understanding that there is any 15 program and throwing it in the garbage so that 16 it is, I think, to some extent a step backwards. 17 So I assume on that little bit of 18 reasoning is why so many of us last year -- as I 19 said, seventeen of us did vote against it. Your 20 program is probably a good idea if we had the 21 second part in place, but without having the 22 second part in place, I think it's premature. 23 SENATOR DALY: Mr. President. 5500 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 2 Daly. 3 SENATOR DALY: I would like to 4 make two points. First of all, as far as the 5 breweries, again, they will not -- they are not 6 impacted in any way, shape and form. They can 7 continue to use their present process, the 8 present material. 9 Don't ask me why they are opposed 10 to this bill. They must have a -- if they have 11 an agenda, I can't find it. So I want to cast 12 that aside. I think we should. But there is a 13 legitimate point that was raised by Senators 14 Leichter and Gold, and that is, will this 15 material really be recycled? 16 Well, there is one other point 17 that we must be aware of, and that is, the 18 question of photodegradability. There is a 19 problem in that you have products that are 20 classified as photodegradable that take a long, 21 long time before they dissolve or disappear, and 22 that you must consider when you compare that 23 product to the recycled product. 5501 1 And again Senator Gold is right. 2 We have to -- we have to increase the number of 3 products that we make and use that can be 4 recycled. This product can be recycled. And, 5 by the way, it's made -- the original product is 6 made of recycled materials. So you get it at 7 both ends. 8 And I submit I would rather deal 9 with a situation where I know that what the 10 effect of that product is going to be rather 11 than one such as the present material where we 12 have a real question as to how effective photo 13 degradability is. 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 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 22 Leichter, why do you rise? 23 SENATOR LEICHTER: To explain my 5502 1 vote. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 3 Leichter to explain his vote. 4 SENATOR LEICHTER: I thought 5 Senator Daly was very persuasive, and he had me, 6 but Senator Gold was even more persuasive, and 7 so if I can flip-flop a little more, and maybe 8 if somebody else got up they'd make me change my 9 mind again. 10 But I think that Senator Gold 11 does make a good point. Without having really, 12 the recyclable system and structure in place, 13 this bill does have a problem. And aside from 14 the fact that it's a disadvantage of local 15 brewers, I think that it doesn't really help the 16 environment. 17 I'm going to vote in the 18 negative. 19 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 20 the negative on Calendar Number 794 are Senators 21 DeFrancisco, Espada, Galiber, Gold, Jones, 22 Leichter, Masiello, Mendez, Montgomery, 23 Ohrenstein, Onorato, Oppenheimer, Smith, 5503 1 Solomon, Stachowski and Stavisky. Ayes 40, 2 nays 16. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 4 bill is passed. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 971, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 7 Bill Number 5709, re-opening of the optional 8 20-year retirement plan. 9 SENATOR GOLD: Hold on one 10 second. 11 SENATOR LACK: Mr. President. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 13 Explanation, whoever's got it. 14 Senator Lack. 15 SENATOR LACK: Thank you, Mr. 16 President. This bill opens the optional 20-year 17 police retirement plan for one Jeffrey 18 Schondebare, a police officer on the village of 19 Huntington Bay Police Department, a 20 department that has a collective bargaining 21 agreement with its police officers. And 22 pursuant to Section 384 (d) of the retirement 23 plan, Officer Schondebare timely filed a 5504 1 notarized application within one year of his 2 employment to be part of the 384 (d) optional 3 20-year retirement plan. Through no fault of 4 his own, somehow that notarized application was 5 never received by the retirement system. 6 SENATOR GOLD: Last section. 7 SENATOR LACK: And the police and 8 fire retirement system, of course, has no 9 retroactive authority, and his only remedy 10 having filed a timely application, not being 11 received by the administration of the retirement 12 system, is to seek special legislation; hence, 13 Calendar 971. 14 SENATOR GOLD: Last section. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: There 16 is a home rule message at the desk. 17 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 53, nays 3, 5505 1 Senators Galiber, Gold and Leichter recorded in 2 the negative. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 4 bill is passed. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 104, by Senator Wright, Senate Bill Number 7 3810A, State Administrative Procedure Act. 8 SENATOR LEICHTER: Explanation. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 10 Explanation. 11 Senator Wright. 12 SENATOR WRIGHT: The bill deals 13 with the cost estimates of rulemaking and has 14 been recalled and amended to conform with the 15 Assembly companion version. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 17 the last section. 18 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Hold 20 on. 21 Senator Leichter. 22 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. 23 President. If Senator Wright would be so good 5506 1 as to yield. As I understand this bill is that 2 where the agency in its EIS or its assessment 3 comes out with a project cost which differs from 4 cost estimates that were made in comments, it 5 must explain why it has not accepted the cost 6 estimate and the comments. Is that correct? 7 SENATOR WRIGHT: That's correct. 8 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, I 9 must tell you I have difficulty in seeing how 10 the bill would work or really seeing its neces 11 sity. One of the difficulties I have maybe that 12 you could comment on, you say that such assess 13 ment must be made where the comments provided a 14 figure which "differed significantly." What's 15 "differed significantly"? 16 SENATOR WRIGHT: Well, I think, 17 Senator, when one takes a look at a number of 18 the cost estimates that have been made 19 historically, there are significant differences 20 in those cost estimates, that they are widely 21 diverse or widely limited in terms of their 22 projected impacts, particularly from the 23 perspective of the regulated community. 5507 1 This affords them the opportunity 2 to be involved in that process, to offer their 3 methodology, to offer their approach to costing 4 it out and having the agency review and comment 5 on that. 6 SENATOR LEICHTER: But, Senator, 7 I'm sorry to say that you haven't dealt with - 8 what I'm having some trouble with among other 9 things is I don't know what's "differed 10 significantly." Suppose the agency comes out 11 and says it's going to cost a million dollars, 12 and somebody in local government says, "No, I 13 think it's going to cost $1,100,000." Is that 14 significant? 15 SENATOR WRIGHT: Well, Senator, I 16 think the difference that you are looking for is 17 in terms of the regulated -- at least the 18 difference I'm looking for is the significance 19 on the part of the regulated community and their 20 concern and they are advancing the cost 21 estimates that they want considered by the 22 agencies. 23 SENATOR LEICHTER: All right. 5508 1 Mr. President. Just briefly on the bill. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 3 Leichter, on the bill. 4 SENATOR LEICHTER: I hope I've 5 demonstrated at least one of the problems that I 6 see with this bill, is that it has an extremely 7 vague definition. It says, "differed 8 significantly." I don't know what that means. 9 Now, under this bill, the agency 10 in its assessment must deal specifically with 11 every comment that differs significantly, 12 whatever that is, with what the agency's own 13 assessment is. I think that's just such a loose 14 and vague guide that the result of this is going 15 to be, if anybody pays much attention to it, 16 that you are going to have more litigation. 17 The problems that I have with so 18 many of Senator Wright's proposals are that they 19 really instead of making the process easier make 20 it more cumbersome. One of the ways it makes it 21 more cumbersome is that, as I read this bill, 22 even if you overcome this problem of what is a 23 significant difference -- is it $100,000? Is it 5509 1 $100? Is it $50? Is it $5 million? Is it 50 2 percent of the agency's assessment? Is it 5 3 percent? Do you look at it in terms of actual 4 dollars or percentages and so on? None of that 5 is really dealt with. But even if you overcome 6 that particular obstacle, you are going to 7 require such extremely lengthy and burdensome 8 assessments. Somebody may come in and say this 9 is going to cost $100 million. The agency says 10 absurd; it's going to cost a million. Somebody 11 else says 50 million. 12 Under this bill, the agency is 13 going to have to respond to each one of these. 14 As it is, the assessment must already provide 15 some basis for what the agency determines to be 16 the cost. So why say that they've got to also 17 specifically respond to everyone who differs? 18 You are just making it more cumbersome. 19 I don't know what you achieve. I 20 know that you know what you intend to achieve. 21 And I know it's a good faith effort to -- as you 22 think, to make the regulatory system simpler and 23 less onerous. I think the effect, very often, is 5510 1 just the opposite. 2 And I think that in some respects 3 there is a gentle hostility to regulation 4 itself. You would like to have a simpler, 5 easier world as maybe it existed in our parents' 6 days or even in our early days, but we need 7 regulation, Senator. We ought to see that they 8 are fairly done, intelligently done, but you 9 don't further that process of getting good 10 regulations or even limiting regulations by just 11 adding on, adding on, adding on, what needs to 12 be dealt with in assessments. And that's what, 13 among other things, this bill does besides 14 having rather loose definitions. 15 I'm going to vote in the 16 negative. 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. ) 5511 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 56, nays 2 one, Senator Leichter recorded in the negative. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 4 bill is passed. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 1069, by Senator Cook, Senate Bill Number 2275, 7 Real Property Tax Law. 8 SENATOR GOLD: Explanation. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 10 Explanation has been asked for. Senator cook. 11 SENATOR COOK: Mr. President. 12 Probably the easiest way to explain this bill is 13 to compare it to the situation we have in the 14 city of New York and Nassau County. 15 SENATOR GOLD: Will the Senator 16 yield to one question? 17 SENATOR COOK: Yes. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 19 Cook, will you yield to a question from Senator 20 Gold? 21 SENATOR GOLD: Is this the same 22 bill as last year, Senator? 23 SENATOR COOK: Yes. 5512 1 SENATOR GOLD: -- where Senators 2 Babbush and Connor and Gold, Halperin and 3 Markowitz and Mendez and Montgomery and Nolan 4 and Ohrenstein and Onorato, Oppenheimer, Smith, 5 Solomon, Stavisky, Waldon, Goodman, Mega, 6 Padavan and Velella voted against it? 7 SENATOR COOK: Yes. 8 SENATOR GOLD: Last section. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 10 the last section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 12 act shall take effect immediately. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 14 the roll. 15 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 16 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 17 the negative on Calendar Number 1069 are 18 Senators Connor, Espada, Gold, Gonzalez, 19 Goodman, Leichter, Mega, Mendez, Montgomery, 20 Ohrenstein, Onorato, Santiago, Smith, Solomon, 21 Stavisky, Velella and Waldon. Ayes 40, nays 22 17. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 5513 1 bill is passed. Senator Oppenheimer also. 2 THE SECRETARY: Also Senator 3 Oppenheimer recorded in the negative. 4 Calendar Number 1088, by Senator 5 Stafford, Senate Bill Number 4853, Environmental 6 Conservation Law. 7 SENATOR GOLD: Explanation. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 9 Explanation. Senator Stafford. 10 SENATOR STAFFORD: Mr. President. 11 Mr. President. As far as having 12 the Division of Law Enforcement, the 13 Commissioner by regulation or by his own power 14 has set up the division with law enforcement, 15 but, frankly, it sets up law enforcement 16 agencies, in effect, in all of the various like 17 regions of the state. And what this bill would 18 do, would set up a Division of Law Enforcement. 19 It would be well thought -- it is well thought 20 out. 21 There would be a person in 22 charge, and you would know who is in charge here 23 in Albany. You would know who is in charge in 5514 1 each region, and it would go from there. 2 And we think this bill is a good 3 bill. It has passed a number of times, and I 4 suggest that it's a step in the right direction. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 6 the last section. 7 Wait a minute. Senator 8 Leichter. 9 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes. Just 10 briefly in opposition to the bill. This is 11 opposed by DEC. 12 I think the problem with the bill 13 is that we're dealing with the administration 14 within the agency and telling the agency, well, 15 you ought to be organized in this particular 16 way. I think this is a bit of micromanagement 17 by the Legislature. 18 The DEC has certain enforcement 19 powers, has determined how those powers ought to 20 be carried out. I don't know what you gain by 21 setting up this law enforcement division within 22 it, except that there may be some loss of 23 control by the Commissioner, by people that we 5515 1 want to hold responsible. 2 I think in some way what Senator 3 Stafford has in mind -- it isn't all that clear 4 -- but I think is sort of within each area you 5 would have your own law enforcement division, 6 and, in that way, maybe legislators or the 7 Legislature would have more control over the 8 enforcement within areas of concern to them. 9 I don't think that's really what 10 we ought to be about. I think we have an 11 agency. I think it has a responsibility of 12 enforcing the environmental law. It has a 13 structure which I think makes sense. In any 14 event, it's a structure that it's responsible 15 for. 16 And I can well see that the 17 Commissioner wants to maintain and retain the 18 maximum control, and he is going to be held 19 accountable. He is responsible for it. You 20 should not impose this sort of administrative 21 fiat upon the agency. 22 SENATOR STAFFORD: Mr. President. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 5516 1 Stafford. 2 SENATOR STAFFORD: I very seldom 3 stand up a second time, but I have to tell my 4 summer Senator -- and I use the word "tell" 5 advisedly -- I'm not talking about any of us 6 being involved in law enforcement where 7 professional decisions have to be made. I think 8 if you're alluding to something which would be 9 along that line which is not proper, I'm glad I 10 can correct any thought you have. 11 We are always saying this. 12 Obviously, the head of the law enforcement 13 division would be responsible to the 14 Commissioner just like the Superintendent of 15 State Police is responsible to the Governor, but 16 we would have a law enforcement division which 17 would be run professionally. We would know 18 exactly what the chain of command is. Council 19 82 supports it. We do think it's a step in the 20 right direction and, as I say, we've passed it a 21 number of times. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 23 the last section. 5517 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 56, nays 7 one, Senator Leichter recorded in the negative. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 9 bill is passed. 10 Senator Padavan. 11 SENATOR PADAVAN: Mr. President, 12 if I may by unanimous consent be recorded in the 13 negative on Calendar Number 1069. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 1069, 15 Senator Padavan will be in the negative. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 1107, by Senator Levy, Senate Bill Number 1313, 18 an act to amend the Penal Law. 19 SENATOR PRESENT: Lay it aside 20 temporarily. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 22 that bill aside temporarily. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5518 1 1126, by Senator Johnson, Senate Bill Number 2 4630, provide retirement credit to Anthony A. 3 Tafuri. 4 SENATOR LEICHTER: Explanation. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 6 Leichter wants an explanation. 7 Senator Johnson. 8 SENATOR JOHNSON: Mr. President. 9 This bill provides that Anthony Tafuri can buy 10 back in the pension system the years that he 11 served as a village justice in one of the 12 villages on Long Island, and he is going to pay 13 the amount involved here, $24,000. There is no 14 -- let me see. There's a -- I don't think this 15 required a home rule message, did it, Mr. 16 President? 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: You've 18 got one here at the desk. 19 SENATOR JOHNSON: You got one. 20 Okay. I have a home rule message. So there is 21 no objection to this bill. He is going to pay 22 the full cost, and it's introduced at his 23 request. 5519 1 SENATOR LEICHTER: Read the last 2 section. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: You can 4 read the last section 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: Ayes 55, nays 2, 11 Senators Gold and Leichter recorded in the 12 negative. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: I think 14 I did say there was a home rule message here at 15 the desk prior to reading it. The bill is 16 passed. 17 1127. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 1127, by Senator Levy. 20 SENATOR PRESENT: Lay it aside 21 temporarily. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 23 aside temporarily. 5520 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 1137, by Senator Saland, Senate Bill Number 3 5499A, an act to amend the Social Services Law. 4 SENATOR PRESENT: Lay it aside. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 6 aside. 7 SENATOR PRESENT: For the day. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: For the 9 day. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 1150, by Senator Velella, Senate Bill Number 12 5832, an act to amend the insurance law. 13 SENATOR GOLD: Explanation. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 15 Explanation has been asked for. 16 SENATOR PRESENT: Lay it aside 17 temporarily. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 19 Velella, an explanation has been asked for on 20 1150, Calendar 1150. 21 SENATOR VELELLA: Excuse me. I 22 just wanted to make sure I had the right bill 23 here. 5521 1 This bill is an omnibus approach 2 to medical malpractice issues that need to be 3 resolved by the Legislature this year. 4 First, it extends the 5 Superintendent's authority to set primary 6 medical malpractice rates, allows Medical 7 Malpractice Insurance Association to write 8 current policies as is the case with private 9 insurance currently, and puts the MMIA on a 10 tri-annual basis for examinations rather than 11 annual basis. 12 The bill also extends for one 13 year the excess medical malpractice insurance 14 program with several significant reforms. 15 First, the measure opens up the 16 excess program to allow the physicians the right 17 to choose and pick which excess medical 18 malpractice carrier they want. It is envisioned 19 that they will retain their primary insurer for 20 the purposes of excess coverage, although this 21 is not necessary. 22 The bill does not require a 23 private insurer who already insures, covers a 5522 1 physician to provide the excess coverage as 2 well. 3 The bill also removes the 4 exposure of physicians and dentists from 5 ultimate liability for shortfalls in the 6 hospital excess medical liability pool. 7 Instead, the ultimate liability lies with the 8 insurance companies that choose to engage in the 9 excess medical malpractice insurance market. 10 The bill has been given support 11 by the New York State Medical Society and the 12 New York State Trial Lawyers, and any time you 13 can get the two of them to agree to something, 14 you must be doing something right. 15 SENATOR SOLOMON: Thank you. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 17 Solomon. 18 SENATOR SOLOMON: Thank you, Mr. 19 President. This is the old PRI chest nut, just 20 a different version of it. 21 Mr. President. Will Senator 22 Velella yield, please? 23 SENATOR VELELLA: Yes. 5523 1 SENATOR SOLOMON: Senator, last 2 year, Chapter 277 of the Laws of 1992, didn't we 3 require the Superintendent of Insurance and the 4 Commissioner of Health to conduct a joint study 5 to determine whether it would be in the public 6 interest to permit additional insurers to offer 7 excess medical malpractice? 8 SENATOR VELELLA: Senator, I 9 remember we required them to conduct that 10 study. I don't know if the citation of the laws 11 is correct as to what chapter it is. 12 SENATOR SOLOMON: All right. 13 Thank you. In that study, which I have in front 14 of me, dated April 1, '93, the interesting 15 result is that in the case of opening the 16 program for new insurers, they basically 17 recommend that we continue the status quo, and 18 we do not open the excess liability program to 19 new insurers. 20 On the bill, Mr. President. 21 (Whereupon, Senator Mega was in 22 the chair. ) 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEGA: Senator 5524 1 Solomon on the bill. 2 SENATOR SOLOMON: If we set aside 3 -- the most interesting point on page 26 of the 4 report, and I urge everyone here in the 5 Legislature to listen to this: If we set aside 6 the interests of the insurers who are selling 7 and who desire to sell the excess coverage and 8 turn in instead to the parties who are most 9 affected by the sale of the excess coverage, 10 hospitals, physicians, patients and attorneys, 11 there was basically no interest in changing from 12 the present two-carrier system. 13 I think we've got a couple of 14 problems that this bill raises, including the 15 fact that there are some questions of what would 16 happen to the fund if some of these companies 17 couldn't pay and couldn't carry their costs, 18 whether or not there would be several policies 19 and the security fund would be liable for multi 20 millions of dollars because of the way the 21 policies were written. 22 There are a lot of other issues 23 and, frankly, this plays havoc with the excess 5525 1 liability system that our hospitals are 2 necessary to operate under. And what was not 3 mentioned was that the Hospital Association of 4 New York is against this bill because it could 5 have a severe impact on what happened when we 6 tried to resolve the problem of excess liability 7 coverage. 8 Again, it's the same chestnut 9 that's come up before us for several years, with 10 a new twist to help a few small private insurers 11 get into business to take the cream off the top 12 and leave the hospitals and non-profit insurers 13 with the problems that would be resulted. Just 14 to help a few physicians and a few private 15 insurers and, in fact, this plays havoc with the 16 system and I recommend a no vote. 17 There's going to be a slow roll 18 call on this bill. 19 Thank you, Mr. President. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MEGA: Any 21 further debate? 22 Senator Gold. 23 SENATOR GOLD: Yes. Before you 5526 1 have a slow roll call, Senator Solomon has made 2 some excellent points, and that's why we had 3 twenty-three people last year against it 4 including some distinguished members on the 5 other side of the aisle. 6 I don't have to remind 7 everybody. I even see some predecessors of 8 current people who also thought this was a 9 terrible idea, so why don't we just have a slow 10 roll call and get the misery over with. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEGA: Slow roll 12 call requested. Ring the bell. Get the members 13 into the house. Call the roll. 14 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 15 act shall take effect immediately. 16 Senator Babbush. 17 (There was no response. ) 18 Senator Bruno. 19 (There was no response. ) 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MEGA: Is the 21 sergeant-at-arms present? Sergeant-at-arms have 22 the members in the chamber. Ring the bell. 23 Bring the members in so we can call the roll and 5527 1 take a vote. 2 THE SECRETARY: Senator Connor. 3 SENATOR CONNOR: No. 4 THE SECRETARY: Senator Cook. 5 SENATOR COOK: Yes. 6 THE SECRETARY: Senator Daly. 7 SENATOR DALY: No. 8 THE SECRETARY: Senator 9 DeFrancisco. 10 (There was no response. ) 11 Senator Dollinger. 12 (There was no response. ) 13 Senator Espada. 14 (There was no response. ) 15 Senator Farley. 16 SENATOR FARLEY: Aye. 17 THE SECRETARY: Senator Galiber. 18 SENATOR GALIBER: (Indicating 19 no. ) 20 THE SECRETARY: No. Senator 21 Gold. 22 SENATOR GOLD: No. 23 THE SECRETARY: Senator 5528 1 Gonzalez. 2 (There was no response. ) 3 Senator Goodman. 4 (There was no response. ) 5 Senator Halperin. 6 (There was no response. ) 7 Senator Hannon. 8 (There was no response. ) 9 Senator Hoffmann. 10 (There was no response. ) 11 Senator Holland. 12 (Senator Holland nods head.) 13 THE SECRETARY: Yes? Yes. 14 Senator Johnson. 15 SENATOR JOHNSON: Aye. 16 THE SECRETARY: Senator Jones. 17 SENATOR JONES: No. 18 THE SECRETARY: Senator Kuhl. 19 SENATOR KUHL: Aye. 20 THE SECRETARY: Senator Lack. 21 (There was no response. ) 22 Senator Larkin. 23 SENATOR LARKIN: Aye. 5529 1 THE SECRETARY: Senator LaValle. 2 SENATOR LAVALLE: Aye. 3 THE SECRETARY: Senator 4 Leichter. 5 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes. 6 THE SECRETARY: Senator Levy. 7 (There was no response. ) 8 Senator Levy. 9 SENATOR LEVY: Aye. 10 THE SECRETARY: Senator Libous. 11 (There was no response. ) 12 Senator Maltese. 13 (There was no response. ) 14 Senator Marchi. 15 SENATOR MARCHI: Aye. 16 THE SECRETARY: Senator Marino. 17 (There was no audible response. ) 18 THE SECRETARY: Aye. 19 Senator Markowitz. 20 (There was no response. ) 21 Senator Masiello. 22 SENATOR MASIELLO: No. No. 23 THE SECRETARY: No. Senator 5530 1 Mega. 2 SENATOR MEGA: Yes. 3 THE SECRETARY: Senator Mendez. 4 SENATOR MENDEZ: No. 5 THE SECRETARY: Senator 6 Montgomery. 7 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: No. 8 THE SECRETARY: Senator Nolan. 9 (There was no response. ) 10 Senator Nozzolio. 11 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Aye. 12 THE SECRETARY: Senator 13 Ohrenstein. 14 (Negative indication. ) 15 THE SECRETARY: No. 16 Senator Onorato. 17 SENATOR ONORATO: No. 18 THE SECRETARY: Senator 19 Oppenheimer. 20 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: No. 21 THE SECRETARY: Senator Padavan. 22 SENATOR PADAVAN: Yes. 23 THE SECRETARY: Senator Pataki. 5531 1 SENATOR PATAKI: Yes. 2 THE SECRETARY: Senator 3 Paterson. 4 (There was no response. ) 5 Senator Paterson excused. 6 Senator Present. 7 SENATOR PRESENT: Aye. 8 THE SECRETARY: Senator Saland. 9 SENATOR SALAND: Aye. 10 THE SECRETARY: Senator 11 Santiago. 12 (There was no response. ) 13 Senator Sears. 14 SENATOR SEARS: Yes. 15 THE SECRETARY: Senator Seward. 16 SENATOR SEWARD: Yes. 17 THE SECRETARY: Senator Sheffer. 18 SENATOR SHEFFER: Yes. 19 THE SECRETARY: Senator Skelos. 20 SENATOR SKELOS: Like to ask 21 permission to abstain. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEGA: Without 23 objection, Senator Skelos abstains. 5532 1 THE SECRETARY: Senator Smith. 2 (There was no response. ) 3 Senator Solomon. 4 SENATOR SOLOMON: No. 5 THE SECRETARY: Senator Spano. 6 SENATOR SPANO: Aye. 7 THE SECRETARY: Senator 8 Stachowski. 9 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Nope. 10 THE SECRETARY: Senator 11 Stafford. 12 SENATOR STAFFORD: Aye. 13 THE SECRETARY: Senator 14 Stavisky. 15 SENATOR STAVISKY: No. 16 THE SECRETARY: Senator Trunzo. 17 (There was no response. ) 18 Senator Tully. 19 SENATOR TULLY: Aye. 20 THE SECRETARY: Senator Velella. 21 SENATOR VELELLA: Mr. President, 22 to explain my vote. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEGA: Senator 5533 1 Velella to explain his vote. 2 SENATOR VELELLA: Mr. President, 3 during Senator Solomon's comments, he made al 4 lusion to the fact that the state Insurance 5 Department, the Superintendent and Commissioner 6 of Health had issued a report. I think, if you 7 read the report, you'll find that their 8 conclusion was that they ought to open this up; 9 however, the final conclusion that they stated, 10 while the facts support opening up the program, 11 they did not state that they would support that, 12 but reversed the whole argument that they made 13 and came up with the - 14 I certainly will suffer an 15 interruption. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MEGA: 17 (Inaudible-microphone not turned on) Senator 18 Velella. 19 SENATOR VELELLA: For that 20 reason, I urge my colleagues to support the 21 bill. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEGA: Senator 23 Velella votes yes. 5534 1 Continue the roll call. 2 THE SECRETARY: Senator Volker. 3 SENATOR VOLKER: Yes. 4 THE SECRETARY: Senator Waldon. 5 SENATOR WALDON: Yes. 6 THE SECRETARY: Senator Wright. 7 SENATOR WRIGHT: Aye. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MEGA: Call the 9 absentees. 10 THE SECRETARY: Senator Babbush 11 excused. 12 Senator Bruno. 13 SENATOR BRUNO: Yes. 14 THE SECRETARY: Senator 15 DeFrancisco. 16 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 17 THE SECRETARY: Senator 18 Dollinger. 19 (There was no response. ) 20 Senator Espada. 21 (There was no response. ) 22 Senator Gonzalez. 23 (There was no response. ) 5535 1 Senator Goodman. 2 SENATOR GOODMAN: Yes. 3 THE SECRETARY: Senator 4 Halperin. 5 (There was no response. ) 6 Senator Hoffmann. 7 SENATOR HOFFMANN: Yes. 8 THE SECRETARY: Senator Lack. 9 SENATOR LACK: Aye. 10 THE SECRETARY: Senator Libous. 11 SENATOR LIBOUS: Aye. 12 THE SECRETARY: Senator Maltese. 13 SENATOR MALTESE: Aye. 14 THE SECRETARY: Senator Markowitz 15 excused. 16 Senator Nolan. 17 (There was no response. ) 18 Senator Santiago. 19 (There was no response. ) 20 Senator Smith. 21 (Negative indication. ) 22 THE SECRETARY: No. 23 Senator Trunzo. 5536 1 SENATOR TRUNZO: Yes. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT MEGA: Results. 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 36, nays 4 15. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MEGA: The bill 6 is passed. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 1165, by Senator Velella, Senate Bill Number 9 3126, an act to amend the Executive Law. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MEGA: Read the 11 last section. 12 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 13 act shall take effect immediately. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEGA: Call the 15 roll. 16 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 17 SENATOR LEICHTER: Wait a minute; 18 wait a minute. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MEGA: Senator 20 Leichter, why do you rise? 21 SENATOR LEICHTER: I'd like to 22 have an explanation. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEGA: Withdraw 5537 1 the roll call, request an explanation. 2 SENATOR LEICHTER: Ask Senator 3 Velella to yield. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MEGA: Senator 5 Velella, will you yield? 6 SENATOR VELELLA: What bill? 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEGA: 1166. 8 Calendar Number 1165, Senator Velella, Senator 9 Leichter has requested that you yield. Do you 10 yield? 11 SENATOR VELELLA: Yes. I'm 12 sorry. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MEGA: Senator 14 Leichter. 15 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, is 16 this the same bill that was passed last year 17 which would authorize police officers in the 18 city of New York, maybe in some other localities 19 too, to carry automatic weapons? 20 SENATOR VELELLA: Yes, Senator, 21 it's the same bill. It was passed here by 22 either unanimous vote or by one vote against 23 it. 5538 1 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, I 2 assure you, it was not unanimous. I think the 3 vote was 51 to three, I think it was Leichter, 4 Paterson and one other person against it, and 5 then Senator Galiber. 6 SENATOR VELELLA: I stand 7 corrected. It was 51 to 3. You're correct, 8 Senator. 9 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, let 10 me just ask you. It was my understanding that 11 after your bill passed the Senate and the 12 Assembly said that they might consider it and an 13 agreement was entered into between the police 14 department and the PBA and that I think it was a 15 thousand police officers were to be armed with 9 16 millimeter automatic guns, and there was to be a 17 test period; is that correct? 18 SENATOR VELELLA: Yes, Senator, 19 that's what they told us they would do. 20 SENATOR LEICHTER: O.K. Has that 21 agreement been carried out? 22 SENATOR VELELLA: No, Senator, it 23 has not. 5539 1 SENATOR LEICHTER: Do you know 2 why it has not? 3 SENATOR VELELLA: Well, Senator, 4 I have a letter from the police commissioner. I 5 asked him to give me an update on the status of 6 the pilot program and, based on his update, we 7 have 406 of those weapons that have been issued 8 since the time that the agreement was reached 9 that one thousand would be issued. 350 were put 10 in 75 police precincts; 20 were issued to 11 highway patrol units, 17 to task force units, 12 four to the street crime unit where they're most 13 needed, 11 to emergency service units and four 14 to mounted units. 15 SENATOR LEICHTER: All right. 16 So, as I understand what you have said - 17 SENATOR VELELLA: Comes to 406. 18 SENATOR LEICHTER: -- based on 19 the information you got from the police 20 commissioner, there has been an effort to carry 21 out that agreement and there is a test now under 22 way; is that correct? 23 SENATOR VELELLA: Well, Senator, 5540 1 you categorize it as an effort, I would 2 categorize it as less than a half-hearted 3 effort. There are 406 out there out of a 4 thousand that were promised; it's less than a 5 half-hearted effort. 6 SENATOR LEICHTER: And has there 7 been any report as to the results of giving 8 these police officers the 9 millimeter guns? 9 SENATOR VELELLA: No, Senator, 10 other than the fact that I have contended that I 11 can tell you that there have been no instances 12 reported of shootings that might have been the 13 result of altercations, just a no conclusion 14 drawn. They just have decided, just based on 15 this sampling of 406, that they are better or 16 they are worse, they're still evaluating it but 17 there has been no drastic example that these 406 18 guns have caused any problem at this point. 19 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 20 on the bill, please. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEGA: Senator 22 Leichter on the bill. 23 SENATOR LEICHTER: At least we 5541 1 have one improvement over last year in that we 2 don't find the guns being brandished about this 3 chamber as we had last year. But the bill, 4 unfortunately, has not improved at all. I must 5 say in all my years here, I think this is one of 6 the worse bills that I've seen. Makes my list, 7 Senator, of 10, 15, 20 worst bills, and let me 8 tell you why. 9 SENATOR VELELLA: If I read the 10 last paragraph that might -- might just be of 11 importance to you. I don't want to mislead 12 you. Five police officers participating in this 13 project have been involved in five separate 14 shooting instances resulting in the discharge of 15 25 rounds. That's the total experience. 16 SENATOR LEICHTER: O.K. Thank 17 you. This is really an improper and unwarranted 18 interference by the Legislature into the police 19 department of the city of New York. As I look 20 around here, I don't see anybody who's a law 21 enforcement expert except possibly Senator 22 Volker, who did serve as a police officer. 23 SENATOR WALDON: Mr. President, 5542 1 Mr. President. 2 SENATOR LEICHTER: And - 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEGA: Senator 4 Waldon. 5 SENATOR WALDON: Would the 6 Senator yield for a point of information? 7 SENATOR LEICHTER: Before I 8 yield, I want to correct what I said and, of 9 course, Senator Waldon who is a very 10 distinguished and important member of the New 11 York City Police Department. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MEGA: Senator 13 Waldon, you've made your point, and we'll listen 14 to Senator Leichter. 15 SENATOR LEICHTER: And I'm glad I 16 was corrected. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEGA: Senator 18 Leichter. 19 SENATOR LEICHTER: But for this 20 Legislature to tell the police commissioner of 21 the city of New York or any other police 22 commissioner what armament police officers under 23 his jurisdiction and supervision are to use, I 5543 1 think, is a grave mistake. It's a raw 2 interference in the affairs of the city of New 3 York, a raw effort to micromanage the New York 4 City Police Department. 5 Let me just tell you what 6 happened in my district. I think it was in a - 7 in October or maybe November. There was a 8 hostage taking. There was an attempted robbery 9 or maybe a hold-up of a bank. The police came 10 upon the perpetrator, and he grabbed the 11 hostage. He took that hostage down the street, 12 it was at 95th Street and Riverside Drive. He 13 was pursued not only by the police officers, but 14 also some Transit Authority police officers, 15 that do now have permission to use 9 millimeter 16 guns. For some reason, and it's not quite sure 17 why, people started firing, and they were - 18 there was a discharge by the Transit Authority 19 police of maybe 30, 40 rounds of that -- of 20 their 9 millimeter guns. The hostage was killed 21 in that shoot-out. 22 There was no blame, by the way, 23 to be attributed to the police officers and I 5544 1 can not say that, if the Transit Authority 2 police didn't have the 9 millimeter guns, that 3 that hostage would not have been killed anyhow. 4 But the whole point is that, in the congested, 5 crowded conditions that pertain in New York, the 6 use of a 9 millimeter gun can be dangerous. 7 It's a rapid firing weapon. It also requires 8 special expertise in how to use that weapon and 9 the police commissioner -- and he's an excellent 10 police commissioner, and the previous police 11 commissioner was an excellent police 12 commissioner -- and they decided that they 13 thought it was unwise, although I believe the 14 previous police commissioner said, Let me have a 15 very controlled pilot program, and I believe the 16 9 millimeter guns were given to a few police 17 officers. 18 Last year, under the pressure of 19 this bill, the police commissioner decided that 20 he would expand that test program and, as 21 Senator Velella pointed out, indeed, there has 22 been expansion, although -- and I accept Senator 23 Velella's statement that there has not been the 5545 1 full involvement of the thousand police officers 2 that at least it was reported the police 3 department said that they would use for their 4 test program. 5 But there is a test program going 6 on to try to meet the concerns of legislators 7 such as Senator Velella and Senator Gold who 8 feel that police officers would be better armed 9 and would be better able to protect themselves 10 and carry out their duties if they had semi 11 automatic weapons. 12 That program or test has not been 13 completed. We certainly ought to get the 14 results of that before we proceed with this 15 bill. But I think, in any event, whatever the 16 test shows -- and I think it ought to be up to 17 the discretion and the sole discretion of the 18 police commissioner to say after that test, "I 19 think it makes sense" or "I think it doesn't 20 make sense." 21 We're dealing here with the 22 safety of people in the city of New York as well 23 as the safety of police officers, and I dare 5546 1 anybody here to say that Police Commissioner 2 Kelly is not as concerned about the safety of 3 the men and women in that police department as 4 anyone in this chamber, and he makes a 5 determination, what is best for the safety of 6 his officers. He makes the determination what 7 is best for the safety of the people of the city 8 of New York. 9 Certainly, we can understand some 10 of the concerns that he has raised and 11 Commissioner Brown before him, why it is unwise 12 in the city of New York, a densely populated 13 city where shoot-outs with semi-automatic 14 weapons could very readily lead to innocent 15 people being killed, to say, "I think it is not 16 wise to use it." He has also expressed concerns 17 about the training requirement and there have 18 been almost no instances, maybe one reported 19 instance, where a police officer, if he -- if he 20 had a 9 millimeter or some other semi-automatic 21 weapon might have been able to protect 22 themselves because he had run out of bullets and 23 the weapon that is presently being used requires 5547 1 reloading after discharge of a few bullets. 2 Really, we should not be doing 3 this. I think it would appear that this is sort 4 of a craven submission by this Legislature to 5 the dictates of the police union, and I dare say 6 that they are obviously concerned about their 7 men and women, but they don't have the greater 8 perspective that the police commissioner has. 9 You know, we talk about home rule and, of 10 course, there's many examples where we blithely 11 ignore it, but I don't know an instance as raw, 12 as blatant, as -- as direct as this, where this 13 Legislature and great as our capacity and our 14 ability may be to legislate on broad public 15 policy issues, we certainly do not have the 16 experience, the expertise, the responsibility or 17 the accountability to the people of New York 18 City to determine how they will best be 19 protected by their police officers and whether 20 that protection should include semi-automatic 21 weapons. 22 The mayor has said no, based on 23 what the police commissioner has determined, 5548 1 this Legislature has really no moral right - 2 you may have the right, but we have no moral 3 right to interfere in this fashion in this 4 decision. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MEGA: Senator 6 Gold. 7 SENATOR GOLD: Thank you, Mr. 8 President. 9 It is not always comfortable to 10 disagree with my distinguished colleague from 11 Manhattan, but in this particular issue, I must 12 do it because I really believe that he is 13 wrong. 14 I understand his dealing with the 15 governmental philosophy, and that is fine, but 16 every one of us in this chamber deals with home 17 rule, the way they want to deal with it and 18 there are some days when we love home rule and 19 some days we stomp all over it. 20 I'm concerned about one issue, 21 and that is safety in the streets, and I happen 22 to believe that a safe cop makes safe streets. 23 You don't start by making safe streets by having 5549 1 police officers who are underarmed and who 2 themselves are in an unsafe position. 3 Now, this is unfortunately, to 4 some extent, Senator Leichter, a political 5 issue, but people make political issues. You 6 know, you said very, very well on a number of 7 occasions, Senator Leichter, that the print shop 8 of the Senate becomes a political issue, because 9 they won't open the books, et cetera, et 10 cetera. They did it, the issue goes. 11 Well, the mayor of the city of 12 New York, who I happen to think is terrific and 13 a wonderful gentleman, will not end this 14 political issue by getting the tests done, by 15 getting these guns. He doesn't believe in the 16 gun, and I respect his right to feel that way. 17 But, Senator, let me say 18 something. The police commissioner is appointed 19 by the mayor. He is a good police commissioner. 20 I'm glad they made Ray Kelly the police 21 commissioner. He's got to answer to his mayor. 22 I understand that. I've seen commissioner after 23 commissioner stand up for budgets they didn't 5550 1 believe in up here because they're loyal to 2 their Governor. I understand that. 3 Senator Leichter, the woman who 4 was killed as a hostage was not killed because 5 the bullet came from a 9 millimeter gun. There 6 were questions as to the whole incident, but it 7 wasn't because it was a 9 millimeter gun. It 8 was a gun that fired a bullet and, as everybody 9 knows, the minute the bullet leaves, it has no 10 mind. 11 Well, unfortunately, Senator 12 Leichter, the bullets that go spraying through 13 our streets from semi-automatic weapons are not 14 coming from police officers. They're coming 15 from hoodlums, from drug dealers, who drive 16 through our streets. They transact drug 17 transactions on the streets and then they - 18 they wildly go through and women and children in 19 apartments get killed, and it's not police 20 officers that are doing that, Senator Leichter. 21 Today, on the front page of 22 NEWSDAY is a photograph or picture, a rendering 23 of a so-called Tek-9 which is manufactured in 5551 1 Florida. This gun is one of those which I 2 haven't purchased, $180, and you have a gun that 3 can fire off 34 or more 9 millimeter shots 4 without reloading, and then in literally a 5 second or so, you reload it, and they're 6 shooting up the subways with that. They're 7 shooting up the streets with that. And you want 8 to send a police officer out in the street with 9 six rounds. 10 Well, you know, Senator, there 11 was at least one instance of a police -- of a 12 Queens police officer who was not killed, 13 Senator. He was executed, executed on the 14 streets of our city while he was reloading a 15 weapon. Well, I got to tell you, I don't 16 consider a police officer today as having a six 17 shooter. I consider that he has a five shooter 18 because a police officer has to be nuts to fire 19 that last shot and leave himself in a position 20 to be executed like that one officer. 21 Unfortunately, police officers 22 aren't nuts, but they're dedicated, and they're 23 out there, Senator, and when it comes to 5552 1 protecting the public, they are going to let go 2 of that sixth shot. 3 I held a hearing. I -- when I 4 first got involved in this issue. I didn't want 5 to run around like a cowboy on this issue. I 6 held a hearing, and the police department came 7 to that hearing and, hopefully, they were going 8 to answer all my questions, and then that would 9 be the end of the issue, and, Senator, we have 10 it on tape. I invite you to listen to it. 11 Their answers were embarrassing. Embarrassing. 12 It's dangerous; bullets can ricochet. 13 Senator, if there's one place it 14 can ricochet, it's in the subways of the city of 15 New York, more than out in the streets, and the 16 Transit Police Department has 9 millimeters. No 17 one's made an effort to take it away from them 18 and we don't read stories every day of -- of 19 passengers in a subway system being slaughtered 20 by ricocheting bullets all over the place. It 21 doesn't happen, and you go from one argument to 22 the other. 23 Senator Leichter, I was out at 5553 1 the police range one day after, I want you to 2 know, we took the vote last year, and I was 3 firing a 9 millimeter Smith & Wesson, and the 4 gun jammed and all of a sudden I got very 5 upset. Had I gotten sucked up into this issue 6 to the point of not understanding it? And the 7 State Police firearms instructor, with a little 8 grin on his face, said, "Senator, don't get 9 upset. I can see you're upset." He said, 10 "Nobody said that there shouldn't be training," 11 and he took the gun away from me and he went 12 through the whole process, jammed the gun and 13 unjammed the gun in less than a second. 14 You want to know what's involved 15 in reloading a six-shooter .38 with speed 16 loading? You can't do it, Senator. So the 17 answer is, yes, it requires training. I'm not 18 suggesting we put anyone in the street without 19 training but, Senator Leichter, let me remind 20 you of something. We take people without giving 21 them mental examinations. We make them 22 soldiers, and we teach them how to use very 23 sophisticated weapons. These are police 5554 1 officers. We test them. They are, you can 2 imagine, as a general rule, a little better 3 educated. People have to learn to use and 4 respect a weapon. 5 But, Senator, I'm not doing this 6 for the police union or because there's a 7 policeman out there that wants to be more macho 8 than someone else. The bottom line is that 9 police officers themselves should be safe so 10 that they're in a position to protect us. 11 This is not a liberal issue. 12 It's not a conservative issue. It's an issue of 13 simply, I believe, Senator Leichter, common 14 sense, on what is best. 15 You make an argument which I 16 respect. Who is Manny Gold versus the mayor or 17 the police commissioner to know that respect? 18 But I'm urging upon you, Senator, that Manny 19 Gold is the same person that everybody else is 20 who, on every issue that we discuss, has to 21 become educated. 22 Who is any one of us to determine 23 these complicated solid waste programs and 5555 1 environmental programs? We are people who read 2 and educate ourselves and try to put ourselves 3 in such a position, and I -- and I submit to 4 this distinguished body that if we really 5 studied all ourselves, there is no reason -- in 6 one minute -- there is no reason to withhold it, 7 and the final argument I would give you on that 8 is that I don't know of one police department in 9 America which has gone to semi-automatic weapons 10 and went backwards. 11 There have been police depart 12 ments that had a Glock in, like the Glock, and 13 changed it or they changed something to a Glock, 14 but there is not one I know of that went 15 backwards. It's a weapon that's good enough for 16 the State Police in New York. It's good enough 17 for the F.B.I. It's good enough for the Transit 18 Authority, the Newark Police Department, et 19 cetera, et cetera, et cetera. 20 So I don't think I'm trouncing 21 home rule at all. I think this is something 22 that is -- that is -- that there is an urgency 23 about it, and I don't think that the mayor and 5556 1 the police commissioner have taken that urgency 2 to heart. 3 You want me to yield, Senator? 4 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Yes. 6 Senator Gold, would you yield to a question? 7 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes. You 8 asked a question, and you asked it 9 rhetorically. You said, who is Manny Gold? I 10 think he's a terrific legislator, and I 11 appreciate the obligation that we have in this 12 Legislature to educate ourselves on things that 13 we have jurisdiction or we try to act on. But 14 are you telling me that you read and educated 15 yourself to the point that you know as much as 16 Ray Kelly about police work, about what police 17 officers need for their safety, about what is 18 best for the public safety? 19 SENATOR GOLD: Senator, it's a 20 wonderful question, and I want everyone to 21 understand I didn't plant that question, O.K.? 22 SENATOR LEICHTER: O.K. 23 SENATOR GOLD: Senator, I don't 5557 1 know as much as Ray Kelly knows about the total 2 gamut of police work. I can tell you this, 3 though, on the one issue that I'm dealing with 4 today, on the use of 9 millimeter weapons versus 5 .38s in this situation, I think that I've done 6 a lot of home work and I wouldn't become -- I 7 wouldn't come here as an arrogant person to tell 8 you that I know as much about anything as Ray 9 Kelly. But on the issue that we're dealing 10 today, I think I've done my home work and I 11 think that it's in the best interests of the 12 people. 13 SENATOR LEICHTER: Well, Senator, 14 you didn't plant the question and, frankly, it 15 -- if you had planted it, you might have 16 answered it a little differently than. 17 SENATOR GOLD: No, I might have 18 answered it better. 19 SENATOR LEICHTER: It was obvious 20 you didn't plant the question in view of your 21 answer, but I'm sure you've read and you've 22 learned a lot, but with all due respect, as much 23 as I follow your lead on a lot of issues, when 5558 1 it comes to police work I'm going to look to Ray 2 Kelly. 3 But let me ask you, let me just 4 ask you this other question because I think you 5 said something, and I don't think you meant a 6 wrong inference. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Would 8 you yield for another question? 9 SENATOR GOLD: Yes, right. 10 SENATOR LEICHTER: You said, 11 well, Ray Kelly works for the mayor and Lee 12 Brown works for the mayor, sort of implying that 13 this is a mayoral decision, and that the 14 position of Ray Kelly or Lee Brown before him 15 was not a genuine, sincere, independent position 16 on their part but imposed by the mayor. Is that 17 what you were trying to say? 18 SENATOR GOLD: I'll say this to 19 you, Senator. I would not be presumptuous 20 enough to tell you that I can read anybody's 21 mind. I have the impression -- I have the 22 impression that the mayor of the city of New 23 York does not believe, and that -- and sincerely 5559 1 does not believe that the weapon is in the best 2 interests of the City, whether it's for whatever 3 reasons, and I don't have to go into his 4 reasons. 5 I think that, if that is his 6 conclusion, as he believes that it could be a 7 political problem for him or whatever, they 8 might have conversations with his commission 9 ers. I think that that is a reality of 10 government. I will tell you that I've served 11 here under Republican governors and Democratic 12 governors. I'm not ashamed to tell you, 13 Senator, that I believe that there have been 14 Democratic commissioners who have come before 15 the Finance Committee and supported a Democratic 16 governor on budgets that perhaps the 17 commissioner didn't agree with every part of, 18 but the commissioner as part of a team supports 19 his budget to the Bureau of the Budget. They 20 come back and tell him how to amend it. He 21 amends it, and now he or she as a commissioner 22 have to defend a budget that they may totally 23 not agree with. 5560 1 I believe that the police 2 commissioner of the city of New York is well 3 aware that he works for a mayor, and I don't 4 think that he wants to create a problem with his 5 mayor, and this is an issue which may or may not 6 have political implications. I'm sorry it's 7 gotten to that point. I really do. I don't 8 think that this would hurt the mayor of the city 9 of New York at all. I'm sorry it's come to this 10 point. I'm telling you that as someone who 11 supports the mayor for reelection. It does not 12 mean I have to agree with him on every issue and 13 there's going to be a couple issues this year 14 where I do not agree with him. Do I think he is 15 a far better choice for the people than the 16 unannounced Republican candidate? Of course, 17 but that doesn't mean I have to buy his position 18 on every issue. 19 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator. 20 SENATOR WALDON: Mr. President. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 22 Waldon, why do you rise? 23 SENATOR WALDON: I'm not sure 5561 1 procedurally I'm correct, but would Senator 2 Leichter -- could Senator Leichter, even though 3 Senator Gold has the floor, yield for a 4 question? 5 SENATOR GOLD: Procedurally. 6 SENATOR LEICHTER: I'm not going 7 to yield at this time, because I'm asking 8 questions of Senator Gold. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Well, 10 Senator Gold has the floor. I think you were 11 asking him some questions. 12 SENATOR LEICHTER: And I'd like 13 to continue. 14 SENATOR WALDON: Yes, Mr. 15 President, and I - 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Hold on 17 just a minute. Senator Gold, do you wish to 18 yield to Senator Waldon? 19 SENATOR GOLD: I would like to do 20 anything that makes everyone comfortable. 21 SENATOR WALDON: Thank you very 22 much, Mr. President. I would like - 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Just a 5562 1 minute. 2 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. 3 President. 4 SENATOR GALIBER: Point of order, 5 Mr. President. Is that a yes or no? 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: I 7 thought Senator Gold was ready to yield to 8 Senator Waldon. Senator Gold has the floor. 9 SENATOR GOLD: Yes, Mr. 10 President, if I may, everybody wants to be 11 polite and - 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: That's 13 what we want to do. 14 SENATOR GOLD: Senator Leichter 15 wanted to ask me some questions, and I think if 16 he wants to continue, I think my hands are tied 17 to that extent. 18 SENATOR LEICHTER: Thank you, 19 Senator Gold, and we're right in the middle of 20 this. Senator, I've talked to Lee Brown about 21 this issue. I've not talked to Commissioner 22 Kelly, and there is no question in my mind that 23 Commissioner Lee Brown sincerely, genuinely, 5563 1 even passionately believed independently of what 2 the mayor believed, that it was a mistake to arm 3 police officers with 9 millimeter guns, with 4 semi-automatic weapons. He had a lot of doubts 5 and questions about it. 6 Now, if you have any other 7 information which - 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Will 9 you yield? 10 Senator Leichter. 11 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes. 12 SENATOR VELELLA: Would you 13 yield? 14 SENATOR LEICHTER: You know. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 16 Leichter. 17 SENATOR LEICHTER: With all due 18 respect, Mr. President, I think we -- I think we 19 do have some procedures here. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Yes. 21 Senator Gold has the floor, and you're in the 22 midst of asking a question. 23 SENATOR GOLD: Yes, I think so. 5564 1 SENATOR LEICHTER: The question 2 was, it was clear to me - 3 SENATOR GOLD: I understand. 4 SENATOR LEICHTER: -- that 5 Commissioner Brown genuinely believed this. I 6 think there is no question in my mind that 7 Commissioner Kelly genuinely and sincerely 8 believes that, at least the test program or the 9 pilot program, ought to continue, that this is 10 interference in his jurisdiction. 11 Now, I'd like Senator Gold to 12 tell us, because you seem to continue to imply, 13 well, it's not really a genuine or sincere 14 position. Can you give us any factual 15 information, Senator, outside of the speculation 16 which would lead you to say or infer that this 17 is not a genuinely held position by the 18 authorities in this field; that is, the police 19 commissioners of the city of New York? 20 SENATOR GOLD: Yeah. Senator. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 22 Gold. 23 SENATOR GOLD: Yeah, I believe 5565 1 that Lee Brown did not like the 9 millimeter 2 gun, independent of the mayor. I do believe 3 that. I also understand that Lee Brown came 4 from a police department where the 9 millimeter 5 gun was brought in and he may even have opposed 6 it when it came in, and it came in -- Senator 7 Waldon may have a better answer. I don't know 8 whether he wanted it or not, but the point is it 9 went in, and it was successful. 10 As far as Commissioner Kelly is 11 concerned, I can not tell you that Commissioner 12 Kelly believes anything other than he says 13 because that would be an injustice to the man. 14 It is not for Manny Gold to say that Ray Kelly 15 doesn't tell the truth. I wouldn't do that. I 16 -- I can have my own feelings, Senator 17 Leichter, but I -- you're asking me to go past a 18 line which I don't want to go. 19 SENATOR LEICHTER: Thank you. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 21 Gold, you have the floor. 22 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Senator Gold 23 yield for a question? 5566 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 2 Stachowski asks if you will yield for a 3 question. 4 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Are there 5 members of the New York City Police Department 6 who have 9 millimeter weapons now? 7 SENATOR GOLD: Well, I understand 8 there are some, such as bodyguards to the mayor 9 and bodyguards to the police commissioner and 10 some other people. Also part of the test 11 program was to give them to sergeants, and I 12 must tell you, if you talk to the average cop on 13 the beat, they will -- not for quoting, but 14 they'll look at you and laugh, but they'll tell 15 you the last guy at the scene of the crime is 16 the sergeant. What does he need the gun for? 17 If you want to put a test program 18 out, you give it to the guy that's stuck out on 19 the street when, unfortunately, that incident 20 arises. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 22 Waldon, did you have a question for Senator 23 Gold. 5567 1 SENATOR WALDON: Thank you very 2 much. I would just like to briefly speak on the 3 bill. 4 Senator, I do not believe that 5 anyone as astute as those who have come through 6 the political morass and emerged as Senators 7 would really, in their heart of hearts, believe 8 that a police commissioner would not be 9 sensitive to the guy who appointed him, in this 10 instance to a 110-plus thousand dollar job, 11 perhaps the most prestigious police job in the 12 nation, and I don't think it is necessary for 13 the mayor to say absolutely, unequivocally, 14 directly that "I oppose the Glock." He may hint 15 at it, or he may allow the report that was 16 generated by those who are subordinate to him to 17 be shared with the police commissioner, and 18 that's how that deal goes down. 19 But the Glock was in the Houston 20 Police Department and Police Commissioner Lee 21 Patrick Brown did not oppose it there. It was 22 in the Atlanta Police Department. He did not 23 oppose it there, and I happen to believe from 5568 1 all of the contacts I have with the National 2 Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives 3 -- I'm a founding member of the Guardians, all 4 the black cops in this state -- that Lee Patrick 5 Brown is as astute a political animal as is Al 6 Waldon, and I think that Ray Kelly is also a 7 consummate astute political animal, so I 8 disagree with the argument that you presented to 9 us, Senator Leichter, but I can tell you from 10 the perspective of the guys that I see at the 11 meetings and the cocktail parties and the 12 barbecue, black and white, that they feel very 13 much underarmed when they have to go into a 14 parade with a six-shot revolver of any nature, 15 speed loader or otherwise, and that we do them a 16 disservice to force them to carry that weapon, 17 and this is the police commissioner's decision 18 independent of the mayor. 19 It is the wrong decision and, 20 therefore, we as the ultimate conscience of 21 the state have a right to correct his 22 wrong. 23 So I support this bill. I 5569 1 especially support the one following it, and I 2 would encourage all of us to recognize that we 3 can not have safe streets and safe cities unless 4 the police officers who are the front line of 5 defense feel safe in carrying out their duties. 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 55, nays 2, 14 Senators Galiber and Leichter recorded in the 15 negative. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 17 bill is passed. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 1166, by Senator Velella, Senate Bill Number 20 3188, an act to amend the Executive Law. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 22 the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 5570 1 act shall take effect immediately. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 3 the roll. 4 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 5 if I could just briefly explain my vote. This 6 is really the same as the last bill except it 7 applies to the New York City Housing Authority. 8 I guess you could make an argument that it's 9 even worse to have it for the Housing Authority 10 although I heard Senator Waldon who speaks very 11 passionately on this, and I have great respect 12 for him as a Senator and he was an outstanding 13 police officer and brings a lot more experience 14 to this than I do. 15 But I could certainly understand 16 why Housing Authority police who patrol in 17 corridors, in buildings or elevators and so on, 18 why their supervising officer would say, "I 19 don't want them to have a semi-automatic 20 weapon." 21 I say again, and I plead with you 22 that, while I may find logic in what Senator 23 Velella and Senator Gold and Senator Waldon 5571 1 said, we are not the police commissioner of the 2 city of New York. We're not the mayor of the 3 city of New York. You can disagree with the 4 mayor as I do on a number of issues, but that 5 doesn't mean that we have the right to go in and 6 meddle in the affairs of the city of New York. 7 And to speak, Senator Waldon, 8 that we are the ultimate conscience, well, you 9 carry that to the point where we can do anything 10 in this state, interfere in any locality, 11 goodbye to home rule. And Senator Gold, and 12 he's always candid and he's always honest, he's 13 always said, home rule, you know, if it serves 14 your argument you're in favor of home rule, if 15 it doesn't, you know, you forget about it. 16 That's, of course, what's happening here, but I 17 think it's important that we do recognize that 18 we do have local elected officials. They bear 19 responsibility; they're held accountable. They 20 appoint people to positions of responsibility 21 and, even if we were right on the issue, and I 22 don't know whether we are or are not, but my 23 point is that this is rank, blatant, wrongful 5572 1 interference. 2 Mr. President, I vote in the 3 negative. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 5 Results. Call the roll. 6 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 55, nays 2, 8 Senators Galiber and Leichter recorded in the 9 negative. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 11 bill is passed. 12 Senator Present. 13 SENATOR PRESENT: Mr. President, 14 call up 1107, please. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 1107, 16 is that right? 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 1107, by Senator Levy, Senate Bill Number 1313, 19 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. 5573 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 2 the roll. 3 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 4 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 5 the negative -- those recorded in the negative 6 on Calendar Number 1107 are Senators DeFrancis 7 co, Galiber, Gold, Leichter, Montgomery, Mendez 8 and Saland. Ayes 50, nays 7. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 10 bill is passed. 11 Senator Galiber. 12 SENATOR GALIBER: Yes. Mr. 13 President, can I have unanimous consent to be 14 recorded in the negative on Calendar Number 15 1126? 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 1126, 17 Senator Galiber will be in the negative. 18 Senator Present. 19 SENATOR PRESENT: Mr. President, 20 can we call up 1127, please? 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 1127. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 1127, by Senator Levy, Senate Bill Number 4684, 5574 1 an act in relation to affording retirement 2 credit to certain employees of the village of 3 Massapequa Park. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: There's 5 a home rule message here at the desk. You can 6 read the last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 8 act shall take effect immediately. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 10 the roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54, nays 3, 13 Senators Galiber, Gold and Leichter recorded in 14 the negative. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 16 bill is passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 1182, by Senator Hannon, Senate Bill Number 19 5017, to allow Douglas Robins, an employee of 20 the Union Free School District Number 5 in 21 Levittown to transfer certain service credits. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 23 the last section. 5575 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 54, nays 3, 7 Senators Galiber, Gold and Leichter recorded in 8 the negative. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 10 bill is passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 1185, by Senator Masiello. 13 SENATOR GOLD: Lay aside, 14 please. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 16 that bill aside. 17 SENATOR MASIELLO: Yes. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 1195, by Senator Stafford, Senate Bill Number 20 443, Environmental Conservation Law. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 22 the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 5576 1 act shall take effect immediately. 2 SENATOR GOLD: Yeah. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEGA: Senator 4 Gold. 5 SENATOR GOLD: Yeah, I understand 6 we've had some debates on these, but Senator 7 Connor and myself and Senator Halperin, 8 Leichter, Masiello and Mendez, Montgomery, 9 Ohrenstein, Onorato, Oppenheimer, Solomon, 10 Stachowski, Weinstein, Senator Daly, Senator 11 Sheffer have voted against this in the past. 12 The DEC is strongly opposed. 13 Last section. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 15 the roll. 16 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 17 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 18 the negative on Calendar Number 1195 are Senat 19 ors Connor, Espada, Galiber, Gold, Leichter, 20 Masiello, Mendez, Montgomery, Ohrenstein, 21 Onorato, Oppenheimer, Pataki, Sheffer, Solomon, 22 and Stachowski. Ayes 42, nays - 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 5577 1 Present. 2 THE SECRETARY: Also Senator 3 Present. Ayes -- ayes 41, nays 16. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: That 5 bill is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 1206, by Senator Nozzolio, Senate Bill Number 8 4154, an act to amend the Social Services Law. 9 SENATOR GOLD: Yeah, Senator 10 yield for a question? 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 12 Nozzolio, would you yield to a question from 13 Senator Gold? 14 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Mr. President, 15 would you star the bill. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Star 17 the bill. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 1208, by Senator Johnson, Senate Bill Number 20 4375-A, to allow Paul D'Aversa to file a request 21 for retroactive service credit. 22 SENATOR GOLD: Explanation. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 5578 1 Explanation has been asked for. 2 Senator Johnson. 3 SENATOR JOHNSON: Mr. President, 4 this bill provides that the individual named, 5 formerly a New York City police officer who was 6 laid off in 1975, who secured employment in 1977 7 as a Suffolk County police officer, be eligible 8 to buy those two years of service in the -- in 9 the retirement system. 10 I might remind you that in 1982, 11 a bill was passed saying others who worked for 12 New York City who had been laid off, but secured 13 other City employment prior to 1982, could buy 14 those years back or the time back that they were 15 out of the system, so this is merely equitable 16 for him. 17 The county has sent a home rule 18 message, and Mr. D'Aversa has agreed to pay the 19 $49,000 that would have been contributed plus 20 the earnings during the period he was 21 unemployed. Seems like he's put in an awful lot 22 of his own money into it and it seems equitable 23 and fair we should pass this bill. 5579 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 2 Gold. 3 SENATOR GOLD: Yeah. Mr. 4 President, I'll just make my comments since 5 Senator Johnson and I have already discussed 6 this. 7 This, I think, is even a 8 different situation than some of the other bills 9 that we've had. We have had bills where Jane 10 Roe, through no fault of her own, filed papers 11 and three cats at the county office ate them up 12 and we never find them again, but it was no 13 fault of her own. 14 This is a situation where a 15 gentleman, through no fault of his own, was laid 16 off. He worked some place else for two years or 17 got unemployment or whatever and then he went 18 back to work. Now, we're being asked to give 19 him retirement benefits not only counting years 20 that he worked, but years that he didn't work. 21 I mean this is incredible. As I said to Senator 22 Johnson, the next thing we will see -- I mean I 23 know that there is at least one member on your 5580 1 side; I don't want to embarrass the gentleman by 2 mentioning his name, who wanted to be the 3 governor for four years. We should give him a 4 pension based upon what the governor's salary is 5 because it's through no fault of his own that he 6 didn't work as governor. 7 I mean the logic here is crazy. 8 We're now giving pension credit for years that 9 people didn't work? Now, I'm sorry he was laid 10 off, and we all understand that, but to start 11 counting years in the pension system when 12 somebody didn't work, is really a big stretch. 13 Now, Senator Johnson says that 14 this gentleman has got to put in something like 15 49,000 of his own money or whatever. I assume 16 that the individual having been a police officer 17 is not stupid. He's putting in 49,000 because 18 he'll get out a half a million or whatever. I 19 mean I don't know what the numbers are; I really 20 don't. I remember last year we had a bill where 21 somebody was offering to put in around 80,000 22 and when we came up with the numbers, that 23 80,000 was worth about a million. I mean these 5581 1 people aren't stupid. 2 I don't -- I don't blame the guy 3 for -- for wanting the credit and I don't blame 4 him for putting up the 49,000, but I mean it is 5 really silly. We are getting involved in 6 situations which make us the laughing stock. We 7 are not -- we have no right to be giving these 8 kind of gifts. 9 Senator Trunzo, I come in here 10 every day waiting for your report that we're 11 going to get some satisfaction in the Assembly. 12 I don't know, maybe the Assembly is right and 13 our bill is no good or maybe you're not fighting 14 hard enough, but this process really ought to 15 stop. It gets worse and worse and worse. 16 We have a member of this house 17 who has developed a new bill that yesterday, 18 thankfully, in the middle of the debate was 19 withdrawn, but I know people are going to be 20 trying to get that bill going, and I'm telling 21 you that's going to be next year's flood of 22 private bills and private legislation, and I 23 think we really ought to have to do something 5582 1 about it. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 3 Padavan. 4 SENATOR PADAVAN: Senator Gold, 5 I'd just like to remind you that back in the 6 mid-'70s there were literally a thousand more 7 police, fire and sanitation workers who were 8 laid off in the city of New York during the 9 fiscal crisis. After that crisis abated, I 10 forget the specific time frame, year or whatever 11 it was, we passed legislation in this house and 12 I'm sure you supported it, that allowed those 13 members of those City agencies to buy back their 14 lost credit time. So that precedent has been 15 set. We did it in the city of New York and, if 16 I understand this situation correctly, this 17 individual was laid off through no fault of his 18 own either. How many others, I don't know, but 19 certainly we can not say with all good 20 conscience that this particular consideration 21 has not been provided to other similarly laid 22 off individuals. 23 SENATOR GOLD: Mr. President. 5583 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Who was 2 asking? Senator Gold? 3 SENATOR GOLD: Yes. I would just 4 like to respond. I appreciate Senator Padavan's 5 comments and the sincerity of those comments. 6 But, Senator, if we have had situations and we 7 have in bulk, through the municipalities, the 8 bargaining system and whatever, taken care of 9 them, that's one thing. 10 I don't think that's a precedent 11 for private bills. I think the process of 12 private bills is a bad process. If there was a 13 bill, general bill, Senator Padavan, that said 14 that if people get laid off by municipalities or 15 by the state for short periods of time and they 16 come back, and we should allow them to buy back, 17 if that's going to be the state policy, then 18 that's something the Legislature can do on a 19 policy basis. 20 That's different than picking and 21 choosing and have individuals who get these 22 benefits. I think that process is a bad 23 process. 5584 1 SENATOR JOHNSON: Mr. President, 2 I'd just like to expound for a moment - 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 4 Johnson. 5 SENATOR JOHNSON: -- on this. I 6 think Senator Gold is making a point that has 7 some validity, but I don't see the fairness, 8 quite frankly, that if he had been called back 9 by the city of New York, he would have been able 10 to buy back those two years, but because he 11 didn't get called back by the City and chose to 12 be employed as a police officer by Suffolk 13 County, he's not allowed to buy back those two 14 years. Something is inequitable about that, and 15 I'd say, Senator, and I'd say a similar bill to 16 this was signed into law two years ago for 17 similar situations. I think it's equitable. He 18 would have gone back to the City if they called 19 him back; he didn't get called back. He got 20 work in another department. He's buying back 21 the time that would have been allowed if the 22 City had called him back, and I don't feel that 23 this is special legislation. This is a career 5585 1 police officer who wants to be in the same 2 status he would have been if he hadn't been laid 3 off or, indeed, if he had been called back by 4 the City. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 6 the last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 8 act shall take effect immediately. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 10 the roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: There 13 is a home rule message with this legislation. 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54, nays 3, 15 Senators Galiber, Gold and Leichter recorded in 16 the negative. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 18 bill is passed. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 1217, by Senator Hannon, Senate Bill Number 21 4972, making an appropriation to the Department 22 of Transportation. 23 SENATOR LEICHTER: Explanation. 5586 1 SENATOR PRESENT: Lay it aside 2 temporarily. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 4 aside temporarily. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 1227, by Senator Levy, Senate Bill Number 5487 7 A, in relation to authorizing a review of 8 current drug-impaired driving education. 9 SENATOR LEICHTER: Lay that bill 10 aside. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 12 that bill aside for the day. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar 1228, by 14 Senator Daly. 15 SENATOR DALY: Lay aside until 16 tomorrow. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 18 that bill aside for the day. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 1230, substituted earlier today, by the Assembly 21 Committee on Rules, Assembly Bill 7891, amends 22 Chapter 901 of the Laws of 1990. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 5587 1 the last section. 2 SENATOR LEICHTER: Could we have 3 an explanation? 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 5 Explanation has been asked for. Senator 6 Trunzo. 7 SENATOR TRUNZO: Mr. President, 8 this bill permits Nassau and Suffolk County to 9 continue to bring actions to enforce violations 10 of SPDES programs for the county and they're 11 during this, they've done it for the past couple 12 of years and it's worked out well, and the thing 13 is to continue it, because the DEC out in the 14 county does not have the -- they're not 15 staffed. They're understaffed, and they can not 16 even prosecute some of those violators of the 17 SPDES permits, and the two counties have been 18 working at it, doing well. They share the 19 profits and the money with the state and the 20 counties involved, and, as a result, they're 21 asking for an extender of two more years of the 22 program. 23 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, if 5588 1 you would yield just for a question. 2 SENATOR TRUNZO: Sure. 3 SENATOR LEICHTER: Sounds like a 4 good bill. Just to steal Senator Gold's line, 5 do you know what the objection of DEC is to the 6 bill? 7 SENATOR TRUNZO: No idea, except 8 I know they objected to it two years ago and 9 they didn't put out a memo. 10 SENATOR LEICHTER: I don't 11 either, and I apologize, Senator Gold, for 12 plagiarizing his line. He's busy. 13 SENATOR TRUNZO: Read the last 14 section. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 16 the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 18 act shall take effect immediately. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 20 the roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 5589 1 bill is passed. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 1236, by Senator Stafford. 4 SENATOR PRESENT: Lay it aside 5 temporarily. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Laid 7 aside temporarily. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1237, by Senator Trunzo, amends Chapter 422 of 10 the Laws of 1991. 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 56, nays 19 one, Senator Gold recorded in the negative. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 21 bill is passed. 22 SENATOR GOLD: Can you hold on 23 for one second? 5590 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Yes, 2 the results again on that bill. Results. 3 THE SECRETARY: Results on 4 Calendar Number 1237 are ayes 57. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 6 bill is passed again. 7 Senator Present, could we 8 recognize Senator Libous for a motion? 9 SENATOR PRESENT: Sure. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 11 Libous. 12 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, Mr. 13 President, and on behalf of Senator Bruno, I 14 wish to call up his bill, Print Number 2354, 15 which is now at the desk. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 17 Secretary will read Senator Bruno's bill. 18 THE SECRETARY: By Senator Bruno, 19 Senate Bill Number 2354, Economic Development 20 Law. 21 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President, I 22 now move to reconsider the vote by which this 23 bill was passed. 5591 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 2 the roll on reconsideration. 3 (The Secretary called the roll on 4 reconsideration. ) 5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 6 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. 7 President, I now offer up the following 8 amendments. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 10 amendments are received. The bill will retain 11 its place on the Third Reading Calendar. 12 Thank you, Senator Bruno. 13 Senator Daly. 14 SENATOR DALY: Could I be voted 15 in the negative on Calendar Number 1195, Print 16 Number 443? 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 1195, 18 Senator Daly will be in the negative. 19 Senator Present. 20 SENATOR PRESENT: Mr. President, 21 do you have any housekeeping to take place? 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Looks 23 like the housekeeping is taken care of. 5592 1 SENATOR PRESENT: There being no 2 further business, I move that we adjourn until 3 tomorrow at 1:30. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senate 5 will stand adjourned until tomorrow at 1:30. 6 (Whereupon, at 7:04 p.m., the 7 Senate adjourned. ) 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23