Wednesday, May 17, 1995

5940 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ALBANY, NEW YORK 8 May 17, 1995 9 10:05 a.m. 10 11 12 REGULAR SESSION 13 14 15 16 SENATOR HUGH T. FARLEY, Acting President 17 STEPHEN F. SLOAN, Secretary 18 19 20 21 22 23 5941 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 places. Please rise with me for the 5 Pledge of Allegiance. 6 (The assemblage repeated the 7 Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.) 8 In the absence of visiting 9 clergy, we'll bow our heads for a moment of 10 silent prayer. 11 (A moment of silence was 12 observed. ) 13 Secretary will begin by reading 14 the Journal. 15 THE SECRETARY: In Senate, 16 Tuesday, May 16. The Senate met pursuant to 17 adjournment, Senator Kuhl in the Chair upon 18 designation of the Temporary President. Prayer 19 by Bishop Muriel Grant, Mount Olivet 20 Discipleship, Brooklyn, New York. The Journal 21 of Monday, May 15th was read and approved. On 22 motion Senate adjourned. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Hearing 5942 1 no objection, the Journal will stand approved as 2 read. 3 The order of business: 4 Presentation of petitions. 5 Message from the Assembly. 6 Message from the Governor. 7 Reports of standing committees. 8 Reports of select committees. 9 Communications and reports from 10 state officers. 11 Motions and resolutions. 12 SENATOR COOK: Mr. President. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 14 DiCarlo. 15 SENATOR DiCARLO: Mr. President, 16 on behalf of Senator Skelos, on page 40, I offer 17 the following amendments to Calendar 795, Senate 18 Print 400, and ask that said bill retain its 19 place on Third Reading Calendar. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 21 Amendments received. Bill will retain its 22 place. 23 Senator Cook. 5943 1 SENATOR COOK: Mr. President, 2 remove the star, please, from Calendar Numbers 3 496 and 497. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Stars 5 removed. 6 Senator Bruno. Senator Bruno. 7 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President, we 8 have an immediate meeting of the Rules Committee 9 in Room 332. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: There 11 will be an immediate meeting of the Rules 12 Committee in Room 332. 13 Senator Bruno, I think we're 14 ready for the non-controversial or whatever your 15 pleasure. 16 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President, I 17 would like at this time to take up the 18 non-controversial calendar. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 20 Secretary will read the non-controversial 21 calendar. 22 THE SECRETARY: On page 8, 23 Calendar 241, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 5944 1 2445, an act to amend the Civil Practice Law and 2 Rules, in relation to limitations on certain 3 actions against professional engineers. 4 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay it 6 aside. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 448, by Senator Trunzo, Senate Print 3314, an 9 act to amend the Real Property Tax Law, in 10 relation to exemption from real property 11 taxation for foster parents. 12 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Laid 14 aside. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 545, by Senator Bruno, Senate Print 1859, an act 17 in relation to authorizing the village of Round 18 Lake, county of Saratoga, to reduce the speed 19 limit on its highways. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: There's 21 a - 22 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay aside. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Laid 5945 1 aside. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 624, by Senator Kuhl, Senate Print Number 3235, 4 an act to amend the New York State Urban 5 Development Corporation Act, the Omnibus 6 Economic Development Act of 1987 and the 7 Economic Development Law. 8 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay aside, 9 please. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Laid 11 aside. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 632, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 3608, 14 an act to amend the Parks, Recreation and 15 Historic Preservation Law, in relation to 16 authorizing the sale of advertising or corporate 17 sponsorship. 18 SENATOR PATERSON: Last section. 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 5946 1 the roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll.) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 39. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 5 bill is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 679, by Senator LaValle, Senate Print 3269, an 8 act to amend the Education Law, in relation to 9 the issuance of limited permits in dentistry. 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 39. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: That 19 bill is passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 680, by Senator LaValle, Senate Print 3324, an 22 act to amend the Education Law, in relation to 23 licensure exemption for students enrolled in 5947 1 approved dental school programs. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 3 the last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 5 act shall take effect on the 180th day. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 7 the roll. 8 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 41. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 11 bill is passed. 12 Senator Paterson. 13 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 14 is Calendar 63... Number 632 still in the house? 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 632 is 16 still here, yes. 17 SENATOR PATERSON: May we lay 18 that aside just for a moment? Senator Leichter 19 has a question on it. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 21 Withdraw the roll call. Call the roll on 22 reconsideration. 23 (The Secretary called the roll on 5948 1 reconsideration. ) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 41. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay the 4 bill aside. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 682, by Senator Kuhl, Senate Print 4296, an act 7 to amend the Education Law, in relation to 8 optional retirement programs for employees of 9 the State University of New York. 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 44. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 19 bill is passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 685, by Senator Hoblock, Senate Print 2353, an 22 act to amend the General Municipal Law, in 23 relation to authorizing municipalities to 5949 1 utilize contingency and tax stabilization 2 reserve. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 4 the last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 6 act shall take effect immediately. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 8 the roll. 9 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 12 bill is passed. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 693, by Senator Trunzo, Senate Print 4131, an 15 act to amend the Education Law, in relation to 16 World War II military service credit for certain 17 members of the New York State Teachers 18 Retirement System. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 20 the last section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 22 act shall take effect August 31st. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 5950 1 the roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: That 5 bill is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 695, by member of the Assembly Bragman, Assembly 8 Print 6389, an act to amend Chapter 414 of the 9 Laws of 1887, relating to the reorganization and 10 incorporation of Syracuse University. 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 44. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 20 bill is passed. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 697, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 4052, 23 an act to authorize the New York State Canal 5951 1 Corporation to abandon certain canal lands. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 3 the last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. 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 44. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 11 bill is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 709, by Senator Wright, Senate Print - 14 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay aside. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 16 that bill aside. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 711, by Senator Present, Senate Print 4092, an 19 act to amend the Economic Development Law, the 20 General Municipal Law and others. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 22 the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 29. This 5952 1 act shall take effect immediately. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 3 the roll. 4 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 7 bill is passed. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 712, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 4459, an act 10 to amend the State Administrative Procedure Act 11 and the Executive Law, in relation to review of 12 agency permits. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 14 the last section. 15 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 16 act shall take effect on the first day of 17 October. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 19 the roll. 20 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 23 bill is passed. 5953 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 723, by Senator Hannon, Senate Print 4177, an 3 act to amend the Public Health Law, in relation 4 to revising the schedules of controlled 5 substances as regarding levo-alphacetylmethadol. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 7 the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. 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 44. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 15 bill is passed. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 725, by member of the Assembly Gottfried, 18 Assembly Print 2906, an act to amend the Public 19 Health Law, in relation to pet therapy 20 programs. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 22 the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 5954 1 act shall take effect immediately. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 3 the roll. 4 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 7 bill is passed. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 740, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 3424, an 10 act to amend the Administrative Code of the city 11 of New York, in relation to a credit against the 12 unincorporated business income tax. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 14 the last section. 15 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 16 act shall take effect immediately. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 18 the roll. 19 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: That 22 bill is passed. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5955 1 743, by Senator Seward, Senate Print 3827A, an 2 act to authorize the city of Ithaca in the 3 county of Tompkins to discontinue the use of 4 certain real property owned for park purposes. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: That 6 bill has a home rule message here at the desk. 7 You can read the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. 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 48. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: I'm 15 going to ask for a little quiet in this 16 chamber. It's very noisy. We're having 17 difficulty hearing, so please take your 18 conversations outside the chamber. 19 Secretary will continue. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 744, by Senator Marchi, Senate Print 3842, an 22 act authorizing the city of New York to release 23 its interest in certain real property acquired 5956 1 by in rem tax foreclosure in the borough of 2 Staten Island. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 4 Marchi, why do you rise? 5 SENATOR MARCHI: I'd request that 6 it be laid aside for the day. We are submitting 7 amendments. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 9 bill will be laid aside for the day pending 10 amendments. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 746, by Senator Padavan, Senate Print 4185, an 13 act to amend the Real Property Tax Law, in 14 relation to a tax exemption for certain 15 industrial and commercial properties. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read - 17 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay aside. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Laid 19 aside. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 753, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 3445, an 22 act to amend the Agriculture and Markets Law, in 23 relation to application for a dog license in the 5957 1 county of Westchester. 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 48. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 11 bill is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 754, by Senator Cook, Senate Print 3603, an act 14 to amend the General Business Law, in relation 15 to the licensing of barbers. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 17 the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 19 act shall take effect on the 60th day. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 21 the roll. 22 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 47, nays 5958 1 one, Senator Tully recorded in the negative. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 3 bill is passed. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 755, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 3672, an 6 act to amend Chapter 687 of the Laws of 1991 7 amending the General Business Law. 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 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay it 16 aside. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay the 18 bill aside, withdraw the roll call. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 756, by Senator Sears, Senate Print 3790, an act 21 to amend the General Business Law, in relation 22 to penalties for violation thereof. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 5959 1 the last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 3 act shall take effect on the first day of 4 November. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 6 the roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 48. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 10 bill is passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 760, by Senator Marchi, Senate Print 742, an act 13 to amend the Real Property Law, in relation to 14 modifying the real estate continuing education 15 requirement. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 17 Marchi. 18 SENATOR MARCHI: Mr. President, I 19 request that this bill also be laid aside for an 20 amendment. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 22 this bill aside for the day. Amendments are 23 pending. 5960 1 Secretary will continue. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 764, by Senator Velella, Senate Print 2587. 4 SENATOR VELELLA: Mr. President. 5 THE SECRETARY: An act to amend 6 the General Obliga... 7 SENATOR VELELLA: Star the bill. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Star 9 the bill at the request of the sponsor. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 765, by Senator LaValle, Senate Print 2736, an 12 act to amend the Domestic Relations Law, in 13 relation to information regarding the test to 14 determine the presence of Thalassemia Trait. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 16 the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 18 act shall take place on the first day of 19 September. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 21 the roll. 22 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 5961 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 2 bill is passed. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 767, by member of the Assembly Kaufman, Assembly 5 Print 6267, an act to amend the New York City 6 Civil Court Act, the Uniform District Court Act 7 and the Uniform City Court Act, in relation to 8 commercial claims. 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 52. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 18 bill is passed. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 768, by Senator Lack, Senate Print 3934, an act 21 to amend the Real Property Law, in relation to 22 satisfactory evidence of an acknowledgement. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 5962 1 the last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 3 act shall take effect on the 30th day. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 5 the roll. 6 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 9 bill is passed. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 772, by Senator Lack, Senate Print 4612, an act 12 to amend the Surrogate's Court Procedure Act, in 13 relation to the eligibility of a foreign 14 guardian to receive letters. 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 52. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 5963 1 bill is passed. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 773, by Senator Lack, Senate Print 4613, an act 4 to amend the Surrogate's Court Procedure Act, in 5 relation to the duty of the voluntary 6 administrator. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 8 the last section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 10 act shall take effect 30 days after it shall 11 have become law. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 13 the roll. 14 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 17 bill is passed. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 774, by Senator Lack, Senate Print 4616, an act 20 to amend the Surrogate's Court Procedure Act, in 21 relation to a proceeding by a fiduciary to 22 discover property. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 5964 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 52. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 9 bill is passed. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 782, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 1280, an act 12 to amend the General Municipal Law, in relation 13 to alternative methods for performance of 14 regulatory mandates. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 16 the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 18 act shall take effect on the 60th day. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 20 the roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 5965 1 bill is passed. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 783, by Senator Kuhl, Senate Print 1546, an act 4 to amend the Real Property Tax Law, in relation 5 to appointments made to the state Board of Real 6 Property Services. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Bill is 8 -- read the last section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 10 act shall take effect on the 90th day. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 12 the roll. 13 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 16 bill is passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 784, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 2744A, an 19 act to amend the Town Law, in relation to refuse 20 and garbage districts in the town of Putnam 21 Valley. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 23 the last section. 5966 1 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. 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 10 785, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 3134, an 11 act to amend the Local Finance Law, in relation 12 to the sale of municipal obligations by the 13 county of Erie. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: There's 15 a home rule message here at the desk. You can 16 read 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 53. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 5967 1 bill is passed. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 786, by Senator Bruno, Senate Print 3191, an act 4 to authorize the county of Clifton Park, 5 Saratoga County, to employ town constables. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 7 Bruno has a local fiscal impact note here at the 8 desk. Home rule message here at the desk. You 9 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 19 788, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 3648, 20 an act in relation to authorizing the county of 21 Onondaga to transfer ownership of the Marcellus 22 Park to the town of Marcellus. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: There 5968 1 is a home rule message at the desk. You can 2 read the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 4 act shall take effect immediately. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 6 the roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 10 bill is passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 789, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 3649, 13 an act authorizing the town of Camillus to 14 discontinue use as park lands certain lands 15 heretofore acquired for park and other public 16 purposes. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: There's 18 a home rule message here at the desk. You can 19 read the last section. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 21 act shall take effect immediately. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 23 the roll. 5969 1 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 4 bill is passed. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 790, by Senator Bruno, Senate Print 3792, an act 7 to establish a public library district in the 8 town of Malta, Saratoga County. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 10 the last section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 9. 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 20 792, by Senator Cook, Senate Print 4172, an act 21 to amend - 22 SENATOR COOK: Lay aside for the 23 day. 5970 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 2 that bill aside for today. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 793, by Senator Volker, Senate Print Number 5 4288, an act to amend Chapter 289 of the Laws of 6 1993 amending the Erie County Tax Act. 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 53. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 16 bill is passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 794, by Senator Trunzo, Senate Print 4468, an 19 act to amend the County Law, in relation to 20 permitting the consolidation of Suffolk County 21 Sewer District Number 2. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 23 the last section. 5971 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 10 810, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 11 Assembly Print 7486, an act to authorize the 12 Freeport Union Free School District to finance 13 deficits by the issuance of serial bonds. 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. 5972 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 828, by Senator LaValle, Senate Print 4419, an 3 act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law, in 4 relation to designating fire marshals in the 5 town of Brookhaven as peace officers. 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 -- ayes 52, 14 nays one, Senator Gold recorded in the 15 negative. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 17 bill is passed. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 882, by member of the Assembly Feldman, Assembly 20 Print 354B, an act to amend the Executive Law, 21 in relation to requiring the Division of 22 Criminal Justice Services to collect and analyze 23 data. 5973 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 2 the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 4 act shall take effect on the 90th day. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 6 the roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 10 bill is passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 886, by Senator Trunzo, Senate Print 3844A, an 13 act to amend the Executive Law, in relation to 14 the Long Island South Shore Estuary Reserve 15 Council. 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 53. 5974 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 2 bill is passed. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 908, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 1434A, an 5 act authorizing the Commissioner of General 6 Services to sell certain land to the city of 7 Beacon. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: There's 9 a home rule message at the desk. You can read 10 the last section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. 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 Senator Bruno, that completes the 20 non-controversial calendar. 21 SENATOR BRUNO: Thank you, Mr. 22 President, and now I would like to return to 23 Calendar Number 755, by Senator Goodman, at this 5975 1 time before we proceed. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 3 Secretary will call up Calendar Number 755 by 4 Senator Goodman. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 755, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 3672, an 7 act to amend Chapter 687 of the Laws of 1991, 8 amending the General Business Law. 9 SENATOR PATERSON: Explanation. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 11 Goodman, an explanation has been asked for by 12 Senator Waldon and Senator Stachowski. 13 SENATOR GOODMAN: Mr. President, 14 with the courteous assistance of the Majority 15 Leader, we'll take this up, I hope briefly, 16 now. 17 This was a renewal of the bill 18 which was passed in this house four years ago. 19 Its purpose was to clear up a very serious 20 problem that existed in obstructing the retail 21 business in New York City which was resulting 22 because of a series of very difficult and unfor 23 tunate abuses of a group of disabled veterans 5976 1 who were being used as front people for some 2 pushers of counterfeit goods and other illegal 3 transactions. 4 The essence of the bill is that 5 it is a bill that is designed to prevent the 6 selling of shoddy and counterfeit merchandise at 7 the doorways of such establishments as Sak's 8 Fifth Avenue or Bergdorf Goodman. Some of the 9 finest shops in New York were being very heavily 10 impacted by the existence of people who were 11 bringing up counterfeit watches, Gucci scarves 12 and the like, to virtually the front doors of 13 these retail establishments and, with the 14 passage of our bill, we were able immediately to 15 clean up this very difficult problem and, at the 16 same time, to provide extensive assistance to 17 veterans groups who were being -- who, in the 18 judgment of the legitimate veterans, needed 19 assistance so that specifically they got 20 substantial sums of money and assistance with 21 employment, and the general reaction of the 22 veterans groups has been extremely favorable to 23 this. 5977 1 So it's my hope that the house 2 will once again pass it. It's an experiment 3 which proved itself to be very beneficial to the 4 entire city and, therefore, deserves passage in 5 the house. 6 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Mr. 7 President. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 9 Stachowski. 10 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Could 11 Senator Goodman yield for a question, please? 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Would 13 you yield, Senator Goodman? 14 SENATOR GOODMAN: Yes, I will, 15 Senator. 16 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Senator, the 17 bill that's on the floor now, is this an 18 extender or does it make it permanent? 19 SENATOR GOODMAN: Permanentizes 20 it. 21 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Thank you. 22 We have a -- we have a memo here from the 23 disabled vendors, veteran vendors that points 5978 1 out that there was a contract with the 2 government, put together with the Fifth Avenue 3 business people and with the City and the state 4 of New York and that out of the many items in 5 the contract, only two have been completed and 6 that they point out that they would prefer not 7 to see this permanentized until this whole 8 contract was dealt with. 9 They also point out in their memo 10 that in spite of the fact that the city of New 11 York and the state of New York has failed to 12 live up to most of the contract as agreed upon, 13 that they, on their own, have trained 75 14 veterans and they have a hundred veterans yet to 15 be trained in the Culinary Arts Institute, that 16 they have set up a program, a non-profit 17 merchandise distribution center, for their 18 disabled veterans, that they have most 19 significantly accomplished an agreement with 20 major corporations, food corporations such as 21 Kraft, Pepsi-Cola, Su... 22 SENATOR GOODMAN: (Talking over) 23 Mr. President. 5979 1 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: -- and all 2 these things have taken place in spite of the 3 fact that the contract has not been yet lived up 4 to. 5 SENATOR GOODMAN: Mr. President. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 7 Goodman. 8 SENATOR GOODMAN: Would Senator 9 Stachowski yield for just a moment, please? 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 11 Stachowski, will you yield? 12 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Yes, I 13 will. 14 SENATOR GOODMAN: Senator, I 15 didn't want to interrupt you, but I thought you 16 would want to know that this is not an accurate 17 memorandum. It is replete with distortions. 18 The facts are that the contract 19 that was entered into with the veterans 20 contained two provisos. One was the provision 21 of $400,000 of funds to assist a very, very 22 small group of disabled veterans who were indeed 23 deserving of help, and the second item involved 5980 1 a training program which was made available, and 2 an employment program, both of which were made 3 available to these groups and of which they took 4 advantage. 5 The rest of these items have 6 nothing whatsoever to do with the contract and, 7 therefore, I hope you will not be misled by this 8 memo which is specious. 9 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Thank you 10 very much, Senator. I won't be misled, but I 11 still have some problems in that they have some 12 questions, and I'm not saying that, O.K., even 13 if this is not entirely accurate, I don't know 14 why the gentleman would send it up and sign it. 15 I do know, though, that in 19 - 16 the last time when we passed this and that now 17 it's going to sunset that Senator Goodman read 18 from a letter from Tom Cusick, if I pronounce 19 that correctly -- sorry if I didn't -- saying 20 that all the veterans that have vendors licenses 21 would be hired and paid twice the amount that 22 they are being -- making now, and I don't think 23 that happened either, so that's probably as 5981 1 accurate as this memo based on that part. 2 However, I think that since there 3 is this concern, if we could just clear this up 4 and maybe hold this over the week end and see if 5 we could hold this over for one day and see if 6 we could clear this up. 7 SENATOR GOODMAN: Senator, let me 8 just tell you that we do have the facts with 9 respect to that employment matter that you 10 raised. There were, in the first go-round, 30 11 veterans that responded to it. They were all 12 placed in accordance with their desires, and 13 then it was reopened and a second go-round 14 occurred and four veterans were placed, so that 15 out of the total group there were only 34 who 16 wished that assistance and they got it. 17 Now, let me add that with respect 18 to several of these other items, in fact all of 19 these other items, the Fifth Avenue Association 20 is more than willing to assist with them, but 21 they were not part of the original contract and 22 there has not been time to complete it. 23 What I'm saying to you is, this 5982 1 was a clear-cut case in which the Fifth Avenue 2 Association and the Mayor's office worked 3 closely with these veterans groups -- and I'm a 4 veteran, as you know, and I dare say you may be 5 -- and we mustn't be misled by the efforts of a 6 few people to completely distort this and imply 7 that there's an anti-veteran trend in this 8 situation. It's nothing of the sort. It is 9 altogether pro-veteran and, equally important, 10 it's altogether pro-economic development and 11 business in New York and has prevented a 12 terrific amount of pollution of all kinds on the 13 streets of some of our best shopping areas in 14 New York which were literally being hobbled by 15 the presence of all of these illegitimate 16 people. I'm sure even today you see some of the 17 people who sell these counterfeit watches, and 18 occasionally they come on and sell counterfeit 19 Gucci scarves and the like. The police enforce 20 this and keep them off the streets. 21 It is one experiment which we 22 undertook which has worked perfectly and, 23 therefore, I'm emboldened to suggest to you that 5983 1 the permanentizing of this is clearly in the 2 best public interest, and I urge your support. 3 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Mr. 4 President. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 6 Stachowski. 7 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: I found that 8 all rather interesting. I still don't know how 9 Senator Goodman stood up and made that comment 10 without going through the Chair or asking me a 11 question or me asking him a question, but that's 12 nice. 13 My problem still is on our side 14 we're not doubting any of the things that 15 Senator Goodman said, either officially or 16 unofficially, in his two statements. 17 My question is that -- and the 18 questions that we have on this side, if we could 19 just clear this up, if we could lay this aside 20 for one day and that would be the next working 21 day we'd take this up, so that our side wouldn't 22 think by voting for this, and we know we're 23 addressing the problem and we would probably 5984 1 have less trouble if it was merely an extender, 2 and in that way we would be sure the veterans 3 wouldn't be left out there permanently with the 4 problem if there are even a few veterans because 5 disabled veterans are kind of at everybody's 6 mercy, and rather than voting for a bill that I 7 know does a lot of good, but I know might hurt 8 some disabled veterans, if we laid this aside 9 and cleared this up, it might not be a problem 10 but if we're going to move it today and push it 11 through because Fifth Avenue will never be the 12 same if they don't have this in before the week 13 end, then I'm probably going to have to vote no 14 and I'd ask some of my colleagues to vote no 15 only because we don't want to leave any of the 16 veterans with the problem and, if we could clear 17 up the validity of the memo that we have through 18 our own resources, we would all feel more 19 comfortable voting for this. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 21 Goodman. 22 SENATOR GOODMAN: Could I just 23 clear up, Senator, a moment ago that when I 5985 1 responded to a question of yours I intended no 2 discourtesy. Furthermore, it has always been my 3 habit and I think that of any of my colleagues 4 to extend every courtesy to the other side. If 5 it is your wish to obtain further information, I 6 have no objection to that and will lay the bill 7 aside so that we can clarify it. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay the 9 bill aside. 10 Did you wish to speak? Senator 11 Waldon, did you wish to speak? Senator Waldon. 12 SENATOR WALDON: I don't know if 13 it's appropriate, Mr. President because the bill 14 has now been laid aside, but I did wish to ask 15 the learned Senator from Manhattan a couple of 16 questions in regard to the pending situation, 17 but if it's moot - 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: I think 19 the question is somewhat moot. It's laid 20 aside. 21 SENATOR WALDON: Thank you, Mr. 22 President. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Thank 5986 1 you, Senator Waldon. 2 The Secretary will continue. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 241, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 2445, an 5 act to amend the Civil Practice Law and Rules, 6 in relation to limitations on certain actions 7 against professional engineers. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 9 Skelos, why do you -- Senator Bruno. 10 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President, 11 can we at this time go to the controversial 12 calendar. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 14 Controversial calendar. 15 SENATOR BRUNO: And I would at 16 this time like to take up Calendar Number 545. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 545, 18 the Secretary will read Number 545. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 545, by Senator Bruno, Senate Print 1859, an act 21 in relation to authorizing the village of Round 22 Lake, county of Saratoga, to reduce the speed 23 limit on its highways. 5987 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: There's 2 a home rule message here at the desk. You could 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: Hold 11 on. 12 Senator Paterson. 13 SENATOR PATERSON: I had asked 14 for an explanation on that bill. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 16 Explanation, Senator Bruno. Senator Bruno. 17 SENATOR BRUNO: Explanation, Mr. 18 President. 19 The good Senator was speaking in 20 very subtle terms and you didn't hear him, but 21 we're prepared to give an explanation on this 22 earth-shattering piece of legislation. This 23 will change potentially the course of what we do 5988 1 here today because it affects the village of 2 Round Lake that is in the 43rd Senatorial 3 District that I represent, Mr. President, and 4 this allows the elected officials in that 5 village to make a judgment on reducing the speed 6 limit from 30 miles an hour to not less than 20 7 miles an hour, and that is because, Mr. 8 President, this is a very quaint, beautiful 9 little village in Saratoga County. The houses 10 were put up in a way that the road narrows in 11 particular places and side streets, and 30 miles 12 an hour might be excessive as determined by the 13 elected officials who are responsive to the 14 people in that village. 15 This in no way, Mr. President, 16 affects any of the jurisdiction of the 17 Department of Transportation. They are 18 specifically excluded if there are any roads 19 that come within that jurisdiction. So this is 20 local government, Mr. President, at its best. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 22 Paterson. 23 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 5989 1 I have been suffering from a psychological 2 dissociative response which causes me to 3 experience auditory hallucinations, and all 4 during the time Senator Bruno was talking, I 5 kept hearing this voice, and it kept saying 6 "speed trap". 7 I think that about covers it, Mr. 8 President. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: There 10 is a home rule message here at the desk. You 11 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 -- those 18 recorded in the negative on Calendar Number 545 19 are Senators Gold and Paterson. 20 SENATOR GOLD: Mr. President. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 22 Gold, why do you rise? 23 SENATOR GOLD: I just thought I'd 5990 1 explain my vote. 2 I really can't envision that the 3 AAA is going to now be telling everybody not to 4 go to this village because it's a (whispering) 5 speed trap, but I have to vote no because 6 Senator Paterson is making me. 7 In the negative. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 9 Gold is in the negative. Results. 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51, nays 2. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: The 12 bill is passed. 13 Senator Bruno, did you care to go 14 back to 241, or Senator Velella, who's ever in 15 charge there? 16 SENATOR VELELLA: Controversial 17 calendar, regular order. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Regular 19 order. 20 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. 21 President. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 23 Paterson. 5991 1 SENATOR PATERSON: We were on 2 Calendar Number 241, by - 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 4 Volker. 5 SENATOR VOLKER: Lay it aside 6 temporarily. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Lay 8 that bill aside temporarily. 9 SENATOR PATERSON: I knew they 10 wouldn't bring it up with me around here, Mr. 11 President. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: All 13 right. I think it's 448. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 448, by Senator Trunzo, Senate Print 3314, an 16 act to amend the Real Property Tax Law, in 17 relation to exemption from real property 18 taxation. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 20 the last section. 21 SENATOR PATERSON: Explanation. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 23 Explanation has been asked for. Senator 5992 1 Trunzo. 2 SENATOR TRUNZO: Mr. President, 3 what this bill does is it allows -- it amends 4 the Real Property Tax Law to allow eligible 5 senior citizens to receive real property tax 6 exemptions if they choose to become foster 7 parents. 8 Part of the program is to put an 9 innocentive on elderly people to become foster 10 parents and help children out in that particular 11 area. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Read 13 the last section. 14 Senator Paterson. 15 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 16 Senator Jones has a question on this bill. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 18 Jones has a question. 19 SENATOR JONES: Yes. Would the 20 Senator yield for a moment, please? 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 22 Trunzo, would you yield to Senator Jones? 23 SENATOR JONES: Yes, Senator, 5993 1 there are a couple other thoughts I had on this, 2 in fact introduced a bill. I wondered, there 3 are instances where grandparents end up with the 4 custody of children because of whatever reason; 5 their child is unable to care for them. Would 6 in any way this cover them for an exemption? 7 SENATOR TRUNZO: It merely covers 8 those who are foster parents. The -- what 9 you're discussing about is presently in the law 10 which prohibits them from getting an exemption 11 provided that the child lives and the child's 12 parents live with the grandparents. 13 SENATOR JONES: Would Senator 14 yield to another question? 15 SENATOR TRUNZO: Yes. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 17 Trunzo. 18 SENATOR JONES: My other thought 19 was, Senator, I know much of the new welfare 20 reform involves having a parent take home the 21 child who, let's say, has -- becomes pregnant 22 out of wedlock, and I know that the present 23 welfare bill, as opposed to them going on 5994 1 welfare would be for them to move home with 2 their own parents. 3 What would happen, let's say, if 4 that parent is a senior citizen? Would they 5 lose that exemption then on their house? 6 SENATOR TRUNZO: Technically, I 7 guess they would if the intent of the law as it 8 was originally written, but this is also local 9 option on the part of the municipalities to 10 grant this exemption if they want to do it. 11 SENATOR JONES: On the bill. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: On the 13 bill, Senator Jones. 14 SENATOR JONES: I certainly 15 support your bill, Senator, but I would like to 16 offer the suggestion today that at some further 17 day -- I did have a bill in that covered a piece 18 of that, but I do have in my own district grand 19 parents who, through no fault of their own and 20 certainly saving the state money, have taken in 21 grandchildren and have lost, as a result, their 22 exemption on their house. These are people on a 23 fixed income, and I would really like you to 5995 1 consider at some point including them as well in 2 a piece of legislation. 3 SENATOR TRUNZO: O.K. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 5 Dollinger. 6 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 7 President, I just want to underline Senator 8 Jones' point about welfare reform. I know 9 there's been a bill that's been ballyhooed by 10 the other side that says if you're under 18 11 years of age you have to live at home with your 12 parents. 13 Well, if that parent has a senior 14 citizen tax exemption, they may lose the benefit 15 of the senior tax exemption because they have a 16 child going to school who lives at home. It 17 seems to me that you ought to look at that in 18 your haste to put through these measures that 19 will somehow change our entire welfare system, 20 end welfare as we know it. We may wind up 21 ending senior tax exemptions as we know it, and 22 I'm sure nobody on the other side of the aisle 23 wants to do that. 5996 1 Senator Jones' counsel is a very 2 strong one, and I would urge the members on the 3 other side of the aisle to look at this question 4 in greater detail when we talk about the welfare 5 debate. I'd also point out, Senator Jones slips 6 me a note that says foster parents get paid, 7 grandparents don't get paid. You punish the 8 grandparent; you reward the foster parent. 9 What possible sense does that 10 make? I'm going to vote in favor of this bill. 11 It's a good idea. Let's look at the whole 12 package of this in combination with welfare 13 reform, to figure out how we can put the right 14 incentive into the system without inadvertently 15 punishing grandparents who take their grand 16 children back in and need to provide them with 17 education and support. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 19 Mendez. No, you just want to vote. O.K. 20 Read the last section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 22 act shall take effect immediately. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Call 5997 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 7 624, by Senator Kuhl, Senate Print 3235, an act 8 to amend the New York State Urban Development 9 Corporation Act, Omnibus Economic Development 10 Act of 1987. 11 SENATOR LEICHTER: Explanation. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: 13 Explanation has been asked for. Senator Kuhl. 14 SENATOR KUHL: Thank you, Mr. 15 President. 16 This is a rather easy bill to 17 understand. It's a bill that adds 11 words to 18 existing law from the words "processing food" 19 and ending "the Department of Agriculture and 20 Markets." 21 Essentially, what it does is to 22 make available certain programs that are 23 currently available for other types of indus 5998 1 tries in this state to be available for agri 2 business industries, programs like the 3 Industrial Effectiveness Projects, Small and 4 Medium Sized Business Assistance Projects and 5 the Strategic Resurgence Funding Program and the 6 Industrial Effectiveness Program, all run 7 through either UDC or DED. 8 One of the alarming statistics 9 that is available to us is that back in 1954 10 there were something like 4,690,000 people 11 employed in the processing -- food processing 12 business in this state and I should say in the 13 Northeast. Currently there is only 279,000 14 people employed in that industry. 15 What we find is that the 16 Northeast has had a dramatic decline in food 17 processing, significantly less than the rest of 18 the country. We think it's important to our 19 farmers to provide available types of assistance 20 through these programs to try to encourage food 21 processing business in this state. 22 We think that's what will 23 encourage farmers to remain active in this 5999 1 state. After all, agriculture is our number one 2 business in this state. It certainly is the 3 fabric of many of our small communities 4 upstate. We value it. We think it's important 5 enough to make these programs available to 6 agribusiness much like we do to some of the 7 other businesses in this state. 8 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FARLEY: Senator 10 Leichter. 11 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 12 I -- I agree with Senator Kuhl and I -- I must 13 say he is such an effective and eloquent spokes 14 person for agriculture in this state, and 15 obviously an essential industry in this state. 16 I have really no problem with 17 trying to focus the energy, the economic energy 18 of the state, on helping food processing. He's 19 absolutely correct it's a terribly important 20 industry. My only concern is, and I mention it 21 and I want to say I will support this bill, is 22 that we're doing this through the Urban 23 Development Corporation and we really created 6000 1 such a powerful agency that is without the 2 control that we apply to other state agencies. 3 It's become very easy for us and 4 particularly for governors to try to use the UDC 5 to achieve all sorts of purposes which they 6 can't do through regular state agencies, for 7 good reasons, and state agencies have certain 8 restrictions, requirements, they have certain 9 surveillance monitoring by the Legislature which 10 are important for the welfare of the state, for 11 its fiscal responsibility and integrity. 12 UDC is really sort of out of 13 control. It's certainly out of our control. I 14 don't get up and say this because we have a new 15 governor, new administration, a new president or 16 chairman of the UDC. I said the same thing last 17 year. I was always after our good friend, 18 Senator John Daly, to hold more hearings on the 19 UDC, to really deal with some of the abuses, so 20 only in the sense that we're now making the UDC 21 even more powerful, giving it additional 22 functions that I'm going to support the bill 23 because I guess UDC, if it's helping industry in 6001 1 other areas, certainly ought to be able to do it 2 in agriculture, but maybe the answer, and I 3 think it is the answer is really to try to bring 4 the UCD under our control. Let's do some of 5 these things through the Department of Economic 6 Development. 7 Having said this, Mr. President, 8 I'm going to support this bill, but I really 9 urge every member of this Legislature to take a 10 look more carefully at UDC. I hear a lot of 11 complaints out in the halls, but then when you 12 get into the chamber, everybody votes more and 13 more powers to the UDC. 14 I think it's about time that we 15 really did -- took some action to try to bring 16 the Urban Development Corporation under the 17 controls and under the same rules and regula 18 tions of other state agencies. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 20 Senator Paterson. 21 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 22 if Senator Kuhl would just yield to a very brief 23 question? 6002 1 SENATOR KUHL: I'd be happy to. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 3 Senator yields. 4 SENATOR PATERSON: Senator, were 5 there a number of firms that were adversely 6 affected that came forward allowing us to know 7 about the situation, or was it just a drop in 8 employment that would necessitate passing this 9 bill and making them eligible for funding and 10 certain technical assistance which it appears 11 from your explanation that they do need? 12 SENATOR KUHL: Actually, neither, 13 Senator Paterson. The -- what has happened is 14 that we have heard -- "we" meaning myself and 15 other members of the committee -- that the 16 farmers are having a more difficult time finding 17 a market for their product to be processed and 18 that is as a result of food processors actually 19 having left the state and, as a result of that, 20 certainly farmers are put on the brink of 21 whether they continue to grow a product that 22 can't be processed on essentially an 23 economically viable basis, and so that has 6003 1 generated our recognition that, in fact, we need 2 to create certain types of financial incentives 3 to encourage food processors to locate here or 4 at least to stay here, which would encourage 5 certainly our farmers to be actively producing 6 food. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: Read 8 the last section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 10 act shall take effect immediately. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: Call 12 the roll. 13 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 14 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 15 Results. 16 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: The 18 bill is passed. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 632, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 3608, 21 an act to amend the Parks, Recreation and 22 Historic Preservation Law. 23 SENATOR PATERSON: Explanation. 6004 1 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 2 Explanation has been asked for. 3 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: This bill 4 would authorize the Department of Parks and 5 Recreation to sell advertising on maps, 6 brochures and calendars of events and in order 7 to help defray the cost of distributing those 8 items that aid in providing information to the 9 consumer, to help not only the parks distribute 10 information but also to help tourism in this 11 state. 12 Already we have the authority and 13 we do use this vehicle in the "I love New York" 14 campaign in the brochures that are sent out, as 15 well as our main publication and, in addition, 16 similarly it's done, the MTA has it on their 17 schedules. They sell advertising, so it's 18 nothing unique. It's just providing 19 authorization for the Parks and Recreation 20 Department to do the same thing. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 22 Senator Leichter. 23 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes, Mr. 6005 1 President. If Senator DeFrancisco would yield, 2 please. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 4 Senator DeFrancisco, do you yield? Yes, he 5 does. 6 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, do 7 you read this bill to provide that the 8 advertising material has to, in some respects, 9 be related to the functions and purposes of the 10 state Division of Parks? 11 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: No, I don't 12 think it -- you could read it that way at all. 13 I don't think it's that narrow. 14 SENATOR LEICHTER: Well, if you 15 -- if you'd continue to yield, please. If you 16 would look at line 5, it says "*** have for sale 17 informational or promotional materials related 18 to programs, operation and facilities and 19 resources under the jurisdiction of the Office." 20 I didn't know whether they're referring to just 21 the material, the -- that the material has to be 22 related to the program or functions of the 23 Office, or whether it's any -- any material that 6006 1 is put out in connection or related or has a 2 relationship to the Department. 3 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I don't 4 think the intent is to narrowly restrict it that 5 an advertiser, for example, of a park in the 6 Adirondacks has to promote fishing, or I don't 7 think there's a relation in that respect. I 8 think the concept is to try to make it -- to not 9 limit it to that fashion, but -- but to 10 authorize them to sell appropriate advertising. 11 Obviously there's certain 12 advertising that would not be appropriate to a 13 brochure that's going to promote the parks, but 14 I don't think it's limited to the specific 15 activities occurring in a specific park. 16 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 17 if Senator DeFrancisco - 18 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 19 Senator DeFrancisco, do you continue to yield? 20 SENATOR LEICHTER: You have now 21 used the key word here "appropriate", and my 22 only concern is that we might see material which 23 really is not appropriate. I mean, if you saw 6007 1 an advertisement for cigarettes or I think you 2 and I would consider that inappropriate, and 3 it's in this respect that I wanted to see if the 4 legislation in some way tried to direct the 5 Department in having what you and I call 6 appropriate advertising material so that this 7 doesn't become sort of a large commercial 8 activity which, in some ways, is contrary to the 9 real purpose of the Department or the agency. 10 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Right. 11 Yes, I definitely understand your point, and I 12 think we've got some history with the "I love 13 New York" campaign. Material such as you've 14 discussed that we both would feel to be 15 inappropriate have not been the type of 16 advertisers that have been in those brochures, 17 and that's the intent here. 18 Basically maybe some other type 19 tourist activity, some activities that relate - 20 that are -- that are -- I don't know the right 21 word, but materials that are appropriate is the 22 word I keep coming back to, and that's the type 23 of people that have sought to advertise in these 6008 1 types of brochures, since it's obvious there is 2 a direct match to what they're trying to sell 3 and to the material -- to the park or the 4 activity that the informational materials 5 pertain to. 6 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 7 yes. 8 Thank you very much, Senator 9 DeFrancisco. I just - 10 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: Excuse 11 me, Senator Leichter. If we could take the 12 conversations out of the chamber, if we could 13 have some quiet in the chamber, please. Again, 14 I ask if we could take the conversations out of 15 the chamber and have some quiet in the chamber, 16 please. Thank you very much. May we please 17 close the door to the chamber, Sergeant-at 18 Arms? 19 O.K. Senator Leichter. 20 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes. Thank 21 you very much, Mr. President. I just hope that 22 the statement that Senator DeFrancisco just 23 made, the concerns that he voiced, will guide 6009 1 the state Division of Parks, Recreation and 2 Historic Preservation that we don't really see 3 this becoming a sort of a commercial activity 4 that in some way demeans the purposes that the 5 agency has, and I think that's important to keep 6 in mind, and I would hope that the Commissioner 7 and the agency would be guided by Senator 8 DeFrancisco's comments. 9 Thank you. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: Read 11 the last section. 12 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 13 act shall take effect immediately. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: Call 15 the roll. 16 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 17 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 18 Results. 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 56. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: The 21 bill is passed. 22 SENATOR VELELLA: Mr. President, 23 can we take up Calendar 755, Senator Goodman's 6010 1 bill. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 755, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 3672, an 4 act to amend the -- amending Chapter 687 of the 5 Laws of 1991 amending the General Business Law. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: Read 7 the last section. 8 SENATOR LEICHTER: Explanation. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: An 10 explanation has been asked for. 11 SENATOR GOODMAN: A few moments 12 ago, we discussed this bill and I believe that 13 Senator - 14 SENATOR GOLD: Hold on, please. 15 SENATOR GOODMAN: Senator 16 Leichter, I'm happy to tell you four years ago 17 you voted for this bill. 18 SENATOR GOLD: Could we - 19 SENATOR GOODMAN: Thank you. 20 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Mr. 21 President. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 23 Senator Stachowski on the bill. 6011 1 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: As you know, 2 I had this bill, and I asked Senator Goodman to 3 lay it aside earlier with some questions in 4 mind. Subsequent to that time, Senator Goodman, 5 Senator Larkin and myself, Senator Waldon, and a 6 few others went outside the chamber, met over 7 the issue, got all the details explained to us 8 and cleared up all the questions we had, the 9 fact that there's a fund available and large 10 sums of money for training and for the veterans, 11 and that the city of New York helps with permits 12 for veterans in locations other than in this 13 particular location, and that the -- it's 14 important to the livelihood of these businesses 15 to clear up what was a very maybe unwholesome 16 situation in front of their places of business, 17 and that this is all being done with the 18 well-being of the veterans still being kept in 19 mind, that those were the questions that we 20 had. 21 Those questions were answered and 22 that we no longer have a problem with this 23 bill. 6012 1 SENATOR GOLD: Last section. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: Read 3 the last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 5 act shall take effect immediately. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: Call 7 the roll. 8 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 56. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 11 Results. 12 SENATOR VELELLA: Mr. President. 13 Results. 14 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 15 the negative on Calendar Number 755, Senator 16 DiCarlo, Libous, Marcellino, Rath, also Senator 17 Maziarz. Ayes 51, nays 5. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: The 19 bill is passed. 20 Senator Velella. 21 SENATOR VELELLA: Mr. President, 22 may we return to the report of the Rules 23 Committee now? 6013 1 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 2 Secretary will read. 3 THE SECRETARY: Senator Bruno, 4 from the Committee on Rules, hands up the 5 following bill directly for third reading: 6 Budget Bill, Senate Print 5180, 7 an act to provide a bravery award to the widow 8 of a State Police investigator. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 10 Senator Velella. 11 SENATOR VELELLA: Mr. President, 12 I move we accept the report of the Rules 13 Committee. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: All in 15 favor of accepting the report of the Rules 16 Committee signify by saying aye. 17 (Response of "Aye.") 18 SENATOR WALDON: Mr. President. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 20 Senator Waldon, why do you rise? 21 SENATOR WALDON: I would like to 22 speak on this issue, correct? This is for the 23 $5,000 for the detective, is that correct? 6014 1 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: I 2 believe we have to accept the report of the 3 Rules Committee. 4 Opposed? 5 (There was no response. ) 6 The report is accepted. 7 Senator Waldon. 8 SENATOR WALDON: My colleagues. 9 SENATOR VELELLA: We haven't 10 reached that yet. Senator Waldon will have an 11 opportunity to speak to that issue before we 12 move on it. We have something else now that has 13 a time problem. 14 I would ask now that we take up 15 Senate 1001, Senate Bill 5180. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 17 Secretary will read. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 1001, Budget Bill, Senate Print Number 5180, an 20 act to provide a bravery award to the widow of a 21 State Police investigator. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 23 Senator Velella. 6015 1 SENATOR VELELLA: Mr. President, 2 is there a message at the desk? 3 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: Yes, 4 Senator, there is. 5 SENATOR VELELLA: I move we 6 accept the message of necessity. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: All in 8 favor of accepting the message of necessity. 9 (Response of "Aye."). 10 Opposed nay. 11 (There was no response. ) 12 The message is accepted. 13 SENATOR VELELLA: Mr. President, 14 would you recognize Senator Volker first, 15 please. 16 SENATOR VOLKER: Mr. President, 17 first to explain what this bill is about. 18 This is not state money, by the 19 way, this is fiduciary money. Some years ago we 20 passed legislation, and I didn't have a chance 21 really to check and see how many years ago it 22 was, but it was a lot of years ago and I 23 remember that I had some involvement in it and a 6016 1 number of other people in this chamber, to set 2 up the so-called Brummer Award account, and I 3 believe that there was a considerable amount of 4 money at that time put into this fiduciary award 5 account, so that there would be money available 6 to give for heroism, and so forth, that occurred 7 within the State Police. 8 The reason for the bill is that, 9 of course, it is -- it is a fiduciary account 10 and, although it is not state money, you have to 11 have an appropriation in effect to do that and 12 we don't have a budget in place, and so forth, 13 so that's why, but this is actually, as I 14 understand it, this $5,000 is not actually state 15 money as such, that it doesn't come directly out 16 of the budget but is -- but is a fiduciary 17 account that comes from -- from outside sources 18 just in case anybody wonders, and when this bill 19 is passed, and if you look at it, there's some 20 language as regarding the certificate filed with 21 the state Comptroller, the chairman of the 22 Finance Committee and chairman of Ways and 23 Means, which the original legislation provided, 6017 1 so that's what this is about. 2 Ricky Parisien, by the way, was a 3 -- was a detective if I'm not mistaken, and he 4 was killed off duty when he was confronted with 5 his, I believe his wife, at a shopping plaza, 6 with a hold-up, and attempted to prevent it and 7 was killed during the course of that attempt and 8 this would be -- this 5,000 we would be 9 presenting to his wife as part of this bravery 10 award. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 12 Senator Waldon. 13 SENATOR WALDON: Thank you very 14 much, Mr. President, my colleagues. 15 SENATOR VELELLA: Mr. President, 16 would you please -- can we recognize Senator 17 Marcellino for the -- for one moment. 18 SENATOR MARCELLINO: If I could 19 be - 20 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 21 Senator Marcellino. 22 SENATOR MARCELLINO: I'm going to 23 seek consent, unanimous consent, to be recorded 6018 1 in the negative on 765, Calendar Number 765. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 3 Unanimous consent. 4 Senator Maziarz. 5 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Mr. President, 6 I'd also ask unanimous consent to be recorded in 7 the negative on 765. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: In the 9 negative. Thank you. 10 SENATOR VELELLA: Senator Waldon, 11 without any further interruption. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 13 Senator Waldon. 14 SENATOR WALDON: Thank you very 15 much. 16 What we do with this gift, if you 17 will, to the widow of Officer Parisien does not 18 bespeak the debt that we owe to him for being 19 the first line of defense for all of us. He's 20 an example of the best that we have to offer in 21 terms of being the modern day Good Samaritan. 22 Having, along with Senator 23 Volker, been in the experience of law enforce 6019 1 ment, I can relate to the sacrifice that his 2 family has made. At night now he will not be 3 there. If they have children, and I believe 4 they do, they will not grow with their father. 5 I don't know what we can do to show our 6 gratitude better than this, but I'm glad that at 7 least we are doing this, and I wish Mrs. 8 Parisien and her family Godspeed. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: Read 10 the last section. 11 SENATOR COOK: Mr. President. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 13 Senator Cook. 14 SENATOR COOK: Mr. President, I'd 15 simply like to echo Senator Waldon's remarks. 16 Officer Parisien and his wife were in the 17 store. He was not on duty. He probably could 18 have simply found some excuse to be a little 19 slower in reacting, or not gotten directly 20 involved. It was not a case where he was 21 ordered to do something or that he was even on 22 duty to do something, but he saw an act that was 23 in the process of being committed and he rushed 6020 1 forward out of this sense, I think, of human 2 duty as much as his sense as a police officer, 3 and intervened and gave his life in the process, 4 and simply want to join in that small tribute. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: Read 6 the last section. 7 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 8 President. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: Excuse 10 me. Senator Dollinger. 11 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 12 President, I don't know who would answer this 13 question, and I don't know who to direct it to 14 since it's a budget bill and Senator Stafford 15 isn't here, but my only question through you, 16 Mr. President, is why we have to do this today 17 on a message of necessity. 18 I know I certainly agree with 19 Senator Cook and Senator Waldon about the 20 importance of recognizing this, and we have 21 funds set aside in the fiduciary trust account. 22 My question is, we're in a budget 23 stalemate. There are lots of people who aren't 6021 1 getting paid, lots of people who aren't getting 2 this. My question is, why do we have to do this 3 today? 4 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 5 Senator Volker, would you like to speak to that? 6 SENATOR VOLKER: I thought maybe 7 I indicated. I would say that, as people who 8 were at the memorial service yesterday realize, 9 and as Senator Cook just pointed out, this 10 police officer was killed just this past year 11 and the intention was to present this -- the 12 wife was here and the Governor was to present 13 the wife with the money tomorrow. 14 I don't think it was realized 15 although, let me reiterate, this is not state 16 money. This is a fiduciary account which means 17 that the money comes from -- from other sources 18 but, of course, is appropriated to the State 19 Police, and the answer is because we don't have 20 a budget, she's here to get the award and the - 21 in order to do that officially rather than do it 22 unofficially, that's why this bill is necessary 23 so that, because the account, the appropriation 6022 1 money itself is part of the budget, although the 2 money, cash money itself doesn't come from the 3 treasury itself, that's the only reason for this 4 bill, Senator. 5 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I guess on 6 the bill, Mr. President. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 8 Senator Dollinger, on the bill. 9 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I'm going to 10 vote in favor of this bill, Mr. President, but I 11 think of it just highlights the whole problem 12 with this budget. I know there are crime 13 victims and others awaiting funds from the 14 state. I know I've been called by landlords 15 waiting to be paid by the state of New York and 16 I know there are people out there not engaged in 17 suffering not just waiting for awards, but 18 actually waiting for services to be rendered, 19 and if this bill does anything, it just 20 highlights the contribution of our police 21 officers and perhaps the consequences of our 22 long budget delay. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: Read 6023 1 the last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 3 act shall take effect immediately. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: Call 5 the roll. 6 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 7 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 8 Announce the results. 9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: The 11 bill is passed. 12 Senator Velella. 13 SENATOR VELELLA: Regular order, 14 Mr. President. Regular order, Calendar Number 15 709, I believe. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 709, by Senator Wright, Senate Print 3137, an 18 act to amend the State Administrative Procedure 19 Act, in relation to requiring that state rules 20 not impose standards higher than those of 21 federal law. 22 SENATOR PATERSON: Explanation. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: An 6024 1 explanation has been asked for. 2 SENATOR WRIGHT: Mr. President. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 4 Senator Wright. 5 SENATOR WRIGHT: The bill amends 6 the Administrative Procedure Act and provides 7 two specific provisions. 8 One prohibits state agencies from 9 imposing standards for rules and regulations 10 that exceed federally established minimums un 11 less expressly authorized by this Legislature 12 and, secondly, it provides that in instances of 13 compliance that, if a company, small business, 14 local government achieves compliance with the 15 federal standard, that that is satisfactory in 16 achieving compliance for state purposes. 17 We've debated this bill before 18 and I would point out the importance of this 19 bill in terms of maintaining the economic 20 competitiveness in our state, and I would 21 reference the memorandum of support filed by the 22 National Federation of Independent Business 23 Agencies who consider this a key small business 6025 1 vote, and I quote: "A business that is seeking 2 to expand or relocate will choose the state with 3 the most business friendly climate. If we 4 impose regulations that go above and beyond, not 5 only the federal but our neighboring states, we 6 will surely lose the race to attract jobs to New 7 York State because we have made ourselves 8 uncompetitive." 9 That is the essence of what this 10 legislation does, is provide one additional 11 opportunity for New York State to establish the 12 competitive nature of its economic climate. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 14 Senator Leichter. 15 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yeah, Mr. 16 President. 17 As Senator Wright stated, we've 18 debated this bill before. I just want to point 19 out one thing which I think is the inconsistency 20 in the approach that this bill takes and, 21 frankly, the inconsistency of so many of the 22 statements we hear from the other side. 23 We hear the Republicans, 6026 1 particularly the Republican right, talking about 2 it's important to return control to the states. 3 Who's the federal government, who's the national 4 government to take over all of these powers and 5 functions? 6 So what do we have before us, a 7 bill which says that the federal government is 8 going to set the standards. You're going to 9 have some guy, some representative from Montana 10 and somebody from Utah, they're going to 11 determine what we can do here in New York 12 State. Doesn't make any sense. 13 You know, I have a lot of 14 problems with many of your policies, but at 15 least try to be consistent. This is totally in 16 consistent. Why should New York State cripple 17 itself? Why should New York State handcuff 18 itself? Why should New York State limit itself 19 as to what we think is necessary to protect the 20 welfare of the people of the state of New York? 21 Senator Wright, I have the 22 greatest respect for you and, while you and I 23 may differ on some philosophical basis, I would 6027 1 much rather trust you than to trust that 2 representative from Montana to set forth the 3 standards which ought to govern how people in 4 New York State are going to be regulated. 5 So I just want to point this out 6 and I also want to just address very briefly the 7 argument that we're losing our competitiveness 8 and the reason that we've lost jobs is because 9 our regulations are so much more severe than 10 other states. That just isn't true. 11 New Jersey regulates its en 12 vironment much more closely and directly than we 13 do here in the state of New York and, while New 14 Jersey's economy isn't particularly great either 15 as all of the Northeast has suffered in the last 16 few years, there was a period just a few years 17 ago when New Jersey was really doing much better 18 than we were in creating jobs. 19 It's just a myth to say that 20 because we've over-regulated the environment and 21 other aspects of our economic life that New York 22 State has lost its competitiveness. In fact, 23 very often it's regulation that's needed in 6028 1 order to create a healthy economy. It really 2 would be unfortunate to see a bill like this 3 passed. It may sound good on first blush but, 4 if you examine it, it really will do a lot of 5 harm to the state of New York. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 7 Senator Paterson. 8 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 9 I would just like to echo what Senator Leichter 10 just said. The concept of federalism is really 11 one of the foundations of our government, and it 12 really provides that the states would have the 13 opportunity to regulate themselves. 14 One of the reasons that we have 15 federalism in this country is because the 16 federal government knew at the outset that the 17 insight on specific local issues would be better 18 handled by states and basically gave the states 19 the purview to make those regulations and to 20 make those laws. 21 We just debated a little while 22 ago one of the towns who wanted to lower the 23 speed limit in this state and so, as Senator 6029 1 Leichter pointed out, and it really in my 2 opinion was quite astute, we're actually arguing 3 these different sides of concepts when the 4 specific situation merits it, and in terms of 5 trying to set some sort of viable and consistent 6 public policy, I really think we need to avoid 7 that and, specific to this bill, I think we need 8 to address the fact that we do need at times to 9 have agencies regulating beyond the federal 10 standard because New York State has a unique 11 ness. Its geographical and economic conditions 12 are different than other states, and I hope that 13 we'll never stray from that. Otherwise, I don't 14 understand why we really would even have agen 15 cies or even have a state government. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 17 Senator Oppenheimer. 18 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Oh, thank 19 you, Mr. President. 20 I just wonder how the state would 21 be able to respond to -- to local conditions if 22 this law were to be adopted. It really 23 restricts our ability to respond to local 6030 1 conditions that may not even exist federally and 2 it seems to me that we are the ones that pass 3 the law in the New York State Legislature and 4 so, if we deem that it is not a wise move to 5 pass the law because it will impede some area of 6 business or some whatever, we're the ones 7 responsible. We're elected to take that 8 responsibility, and I think this would hamstring 9 us as far as being able to do what we have to do 10 at our state level because the problem is a New 11 York State problem and it may not even exist out 12 west, and they may have a different rule 13 nationally but it doesn't really assist us at 14 our local level in our state. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 16 Senator Rath. 17 SENATOR RATH: Yes, Mr. 18 President. 19 I'd like to rise in support of my 20 colleague, Senator Wright, on this bill. I 21 think it is a long time in coming, and I think 22 it's something that we have needed and been 23 demonstrated, this need, over and over again as 6031 1 Senator Wright pointed out, from the business 2 community. 3 Yesterday you'll recall in 4 Congress the Clean Water Act was debated, and it 5 passed 240 to 185, and I'd like to read you a 6 quote from one of the Congressmen who voted for 7 it: "Flexibility means that local officials who 8 pay their own bills can control their own 9 destiny." He said, "Additionally, Iowa being 10 different from Buffalo, I shouldn't have to do 11 the same thing that we do," and I think what 12 we're saying in New York State, our destiny in 13 Erie County with Lake Erie is very different 14 than your destiny in New York City with the 15 Hudson River, and I think that we should have 16 local opportunity to make some of those choices 17 and it's with Senator Wright's bill he is saying 18 that the over-arching regulation, which is the 19 federal regulations, isn't gone, it's going to 20 be scaled back some, and we will be working with 21 scaled back federal regulations. 22 That does not mean that the local 23 governments and the local people who have to pay 6032 1 those bills will not have an opportunity to do 2 so locally. What we're saying is don't over 3 regulate them from the federal and then regulate 4 them again at the state and ask the local guys 5 to pay the bill. 6 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 8 Senator Leichter, why do you rise? 9 SENATOR LEICHTER: Wonder whether 10 Senator Rath would yield to a question. 11 SENATOR RATH: Certainly. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 13 Senator Rath, do you yield to a question? 14 Senator Leichter. 15 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, I was 16 listening to your comments which extolled the 17 virtue of having local people regulate and 18 govern their affairs, and I don't have, in 19 principle, disagreement with you, but I'm just 20 wondering whether or not you and I are reading a 21 different bill because, as I read Senator 22 Wright's bill, it says that the state of New 23 York cannot impose regulations that are stricter 6033 1 than federal regulations. Isn't that correct? 2 SENATOR RATH: Correct. 3 SENATOR LEICHTER: Well, Senator, 4 suppose a locality -- suppose the state of New 5 York makes a determination that it wants to 6 impose regulations which, under Senator Wright's 7 bill, would be stricter than the federal 8 regulation -- doing what you and I agree with, 9 let's be masters of our own fate, let the 10 locality determine this -- now, Senator Wright's 11 bill won't let us do that. 12 SENATOR RATH: As I read - 13 SENATOR LEICHTER: How is that 14 consistent with that wonderful statement you 15 made about home rule, home powers? 16 SENATOR RATH: My understanding 17 of Senator Wright's bill, Senator Leichter, is 18 that we are not going to put into place more 19 oppressive regulations than the federal 20 government has in place. The federal government 21 is attempting to do in many cases exactly what 22 we are trying to do in New York State, free up 23 the hands of business and small government so 6034 1 that they can be masters of their own fate, and 2 what has happened quite universally is that the 3 federal government will put in a set of 4 regulations and the state of New York will come 5 along and regulate even further than the federal 6 government has and, in many cases, let me be 7 clear about this because we are really moving 8 into a whole area of regulatory reform that is 9 going to be quite different. 10 Regulatory -- regulations have 11 been wonderful in many regards. We have one 12 victory that all of us should take credit for 13 with environmental regulation, but in some cases 14 they have gone further than they needed to go in 15 order to accomplish the goal that they set out 16 to do. That "further than they have needed to 17 go" was extraordinarily expensive for business, 18 and it's one of the reasons that many businesses 19 have found New York to be unfriendly to business 20 and what I'm talking about is moving towards a 21 risk assessment, cost/benefit analysis type of 22 thinking which is a bill that I have introduced, 23 has yet to be debated, but it's coming fairly 6035 1 soon, and so this is what I'm basing my thoughts 2 on now. 3 If I am incorrect, I would 4 certainly stand to be corrected, but I would 5 like to have my colleague, Senator Wright, also 6 comment. 7 SENATOR LEICHTER: Well - 8 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 9 Senator Leichter. 10 SENATOR LEICHTER: If Senator 11 Wright would be so good as to yield to one 12 more. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 14 Senator, do you yield? 15 SENATOR WRIGHT: Sure. 16 SENATOR LEICHTER: The 17 explanation that you gave now is, the way I 18 understand it, a logical explanation for 19 supporting this bill. I happen to disagree with 20 it, because I think as you, in part, pointed out 21 many of the advances that we've made cleaning 22 up, for instance, the lakes, lakes in your 23 district, never would have been possible if 6036 1 Senator Wright's bill were law, but I'm not 2 addressing that, because I -- there we have a 3 philosophical difference. 4 What I object to or I have 5 difficulty understanding is, your getting up and 6 saying this is a wonderful bill because it gives 7 us home rule. It gives us local power, when it 8 does just the opposite, because under this bill, 9 Senator, am I not correct that if your locality 10 or the state of New York, you and I together, 11 saw an environmental need that we wanted to 12 address where there was a federal law which was 13 less strict than what you and I want to do, we 14 couldn't do it. 15 You're turning the powers over to 16 legislators from outside of this state, to the 17 people from Montana, to Washington and so on, to 18 determine what ought to be done here. Now, if 19 you want to do that, and that's obviously what 20 you want to do, fine. Say so, but don't say - 21 don't get up and say, "Oh, I'm preserving home 22 rule, I'm letting -- letting the local people 23 decide." You're doing the exact opposite. 6037 1 SENATOR RATH: Well, my 2 understanding is that we can accomplish the goal 3 that you're pointing out by individual and local 4 legislation. I don't believe that the state of 5 New York has to tie the hands of the locals 6 right up front. I believe that we can do that 7 by local legislation. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 9 Senator Solomon. 10 SENATOR SOLOMON: Yes, Mr. 11 President. 12 Will the sponsor yield, Senator 13 Wright? 14 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 15 Senator Wright, do you yield? 16 SENATOR WRIGHT: Yes, Mr. 17 President. 18 SENATOR SOLOMON: Senator, if 19 there is no federal rule or regulation, will the 20 state agency be able to impose a federal rule or 21 regulation in that area? 22 SENATOR WRIGHT: Senator, if - 23 if there is no federal rule or regulation, the 6038 1 state, of course, could not impose a federal 2 rule or regulation because it wouldn't exist; 3 but does the state then have the authority to 4 proceed with their own regulations? Yes, and 5 there is no restriction on that and, in fact, 6 there is no restriction on local governments if 7 you read through this legislation. 8 It deals simply with an instance 9 where you have an existing federal standard, a 10 federal minimum standard that New York State has 11 to address. In turn, New York State has had a 12 long history of adding onto those federal re 13 quirements, and that puts our local governments, 14 our businesses, our industry at a competitive 15 disadvantage, because we have a long history of 16 adding on. 17 This precludes adding on by the 18 bureaucrats. It does not turn over our state's 19 rights, our authority, to Iowa, to Wyoming, to 20 Colorado. In fact, it reinvests this chamber, 21 this Legislature, with our appropriate authority 22 by taking that power away from the bureaucrats, 23 by allowing the bureaucrats to add on and 6039 1 specifically requiring that if, in fact, you are 2 going to exceed a federal minimum, then you have 3 to have the express approval of the state 4 Legislature to do that, in fact, the elected 5 representatives of the people to decide the 6 policy of the state. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 8 Senator Solomon. 9 SENATOR SOLOMON: Thank you, Mr. 10 President. 11 If Senator Wright will yield? 12 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 13 Senator Wright, do you continue to yield? 14 SENATOR WRIGHT: Yes, I will, Mr. 15 President. 16 SENATOR SOLOMON: Senator, what 17 I'm concerned with is the fact that there are a 18 large number of people in my Senate District 19 that adhere to certain religious restrictions in 20 terms of purchase of food products in terms of 21 being kosher or not, and we have the Department 22 of Agriculture which has instituted certain 23 rules and regulations which go beyond what the 6040 1 federal government has in terms of this area, 2 because there has not been any regulation or 3 there's been minimal regulation. 4 Under this bill, what could the 5 impact be on those rules and regs? 6 SENATOR WRIGHT: Mr. President, 7 under this bill, there would be no impact if the 8 Legislature specifically directed that there be 9 provisions in New York State regulation as 10 reflected by statute that would provide those 11 same protections over and above the federal 12 requirements. It simply requires that the 13 Legislature endorse that, and I, quite candidly, 14 don't anticipate that there would be any 15 difficulty in that area. 16 SENATOR SOLOMON: Well, Mr. 17 President, if Senator Wright will yield again. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 19 Senator Wright, do you continue to yield? 20 SENATOR WRIGHT: Yes, I would, 21 Mr. President. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 23 Senator Solomon. 6041 1 SENATOR SOLOMON: If I understand 2 you correctly, Senator, you just informed me 3 that the state Legislature would have to act 4 to - 5 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: Excuse 6 me, Senator Solomon. Excuse me. If we could 7 please have the attention of everybody in the 8 chamber and please take conversations outside. 9 Thank you, Senator Solomon. 10 SENATOR SOLOMON: Thank you, 11 Senator DiCarlo. 12 As I understand it from your 13 answer to my previous question, Senator, the 14 state Legislature might have to enact 15 legislation to authorize these regulations by 16 the Department of Agriculture of New York 17 State. 18 SENATOR WRIGHT: Senator, in 19 fact, the state has enacted legislation that 20 authorized those regulations originally. 21 What I would envision under this 22 bill is that the legislation would expressly 23 authorize those regulations to exceed any 6042 1 existing federal minimums in that particular 2 category, so it does not, in fact, prohibit. It 3 simply requires the Legislature to specifically 4 acknowledge that there is a requirement in New 5 York State, that New York State recognizes a 6 need in excess of the federal standards and 7 expressly says that should be our policy and 8 that that is done by the elected officials of 9 this state as opposed to appointees in an 10 agency. 11 SENATOR SOLOMON: But, Senator, 12 if you would yield one more time. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 14 Senator Wright, do you continue to yield? 15 SENATOR WRIGHT: Yes, I would, 16 Mr. President. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 18 Senator Solomon. 19 SENATOR SOLOMON: Senator, as 20 you've just stated again to me, the Legislature 21 is going to have to take some affirmative action 22 in many instances or possibly affirmative action 23 in many instances if this bill is adopted, first 6043 1 to O.K. regulations or authorize regulations 2 that we might currently have. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 4 Senator Wright. 5 SENATOR WRIGHT: Well, Mr. 6 President, of course the legislation has an 7 effective date that is prospective, not 8 retroactive; so consequently, as new issues are 9 brought before this Legislature, if those issues 10 require the authorization of regulations, this 11 Legislature should then very specifically 12 incorporate in the statute that authorizes those 13 regulations our willingness to have federal 14 minimums exceeded if that's the will of the 15 Legislature. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 17 Senator Solomon. 18 SENATOR SOLOMON: Senator Wright 19 yield to one more question? 20 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 21 Senator Wright, you continue to yield? 22 SENATOR WRIGHT: Yes, I will, Mr. 23 President. 6044 1 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: Senator 2 Solomon. 3 SENATOR SOLOMON: Each answer 4 brings another question to mind. 5 So, Senator, we ought to pass 6 legislation that authorizes our agencies to 7 implement that legislation through regulation. 8 We're now going to have to change that 9 legislation, language in that legislation 10 assuming that those regulations could, in some 11 instances, be in conflict with federal 12 regulations? 13 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 14 Senator Wright. 15 SENATOR WRIGHT: Mr. President. 16 Yes, I would then anticipate that, in some 17 instances, you may well have to change that 18 language. I do not see that to be a dramatic 19 change. Simply, you're indicating that a 20 federal regulation or a requirement applies, 21 establishes a minimum standard, and that we're 22 addressing that issue. We have the benefit of 23 that information and we accordingly acknowledge 6045 1 that we direct and authorize that the standards 2 established in this state may exceed those 3 federal minimums and, in fact, in many instances 4 that may be the very origin of the legislation 5 that's before this house, that a member or a 6 constituency has identified that, in fact, there 7 is a compelling need for this state to do 8 something other than what the federal minimum is 9 and we then specifically look at that and 10 address that consideration as elected officials 11 establishing the policy. 12 So I don't see that as an undue 13 burden. I don't see it as an encumbrance. I 14 don't see it adding to the tasks or responsi 15 bilities of this Legislature. 16 SENATOR SOLOMON: Mr. President, 17 on the bill. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 19 Senator, on the bill. 20 SENATOR SOLOMON: Thank you. I 21 think the more we delve into this bill and take 22 the layers off the skin of the bill, it's almost 23 like an onion, and it seems to be endless 6046 1 problems that could arise out of this. 2 I see numerous lawsuits arising 3 out of this legislation in the future. Some 4 group might contend that a state regulation is, 5 in fact, also impacted by a federal regulation. 6 There may be a grey area; it depends on how the 7 regulations are written. 8 I also see problems in various 9 agencies. Again, I have to agree with my 10 colleague, Senator Leichter. This seems to be a 11 piece of legislation where, on the face, it 12 looks very good, but the more you look into this 13 legislation, in fact, we are taking away local 14 control in many instances, and I question 15 whether or not this legislation is, in fact, 16 going to result in huge amounts of litigation by 17 various groups who can go through the volumes 18 and volumes of federal regulations and say, you 19 know, this federal regulation is, in fact, in 20 conflict with this state regulation. This 21 federal regulation may be -- may be more, may be 22 less restrictive than the state regulation, and 23 I really question the impact that this will have 6047 1 on the operation of government. 2 I think this is going to have an 3 impact on the operation of state government that 4 is going to be exactly the opposite of what the 5 sponsors envision, in fact, making things a lot 6 more complex, a lot more problems and a lot more 7 lawsuits that are going to be commenced as a 8 result of this. 9 That's why I'm going to vote no. 10 Thank you, Mr. President. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: Chair 12 recognizes Senator Johnson. For the members, we 13 have a list at the desk. If you wish to speak, 14 please signify. Senator Kuhl. 15 SENATOR KUHL: Yes, Mr.President. 16 Before you go to the next speaker, can you read 17 the last section, please. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: Will 19 the Secretary read the last section, please. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 21 act shall take effect on the 1st day of 22 October. 23 SENATOR KUHL: Call the roll. 6048 1 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 2 SENATOR KUHL: Now, would you 3 recognize Senator Leichter for the purpose of 4 casting his vote on this bill. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 6 Senator Leichter. 7 SENATOR LEICHTER: No. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 9 Senator Leichter in the negative. 10 Senator Stavisky also. Senator? 11 SENATOR STAVISKY: Because I am 12 not certain that the sponsor has more confidence 13 in this - 14 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: This 15 is your vote. 16 SENATOR STAVISKY: I am voting. 17 -- than George Pataki as a Republican, I wonder 18 whether he wishes to record his vote. I'm 19 voting in the negative. 20 SENATOR KUHL: Now, withdraw the 21 roll call, please. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 23 Withdraw the roll call. Senator Johnson. 6049 1 SENATOR JOHNSON: Mr. President, 2 I regret the fact that Senator Leichter, my 3 longtime sparring partner on environmental 4 issues, cast his vote and left the room, because 5 I wanted to ask him if he read the bill, 6 particularly (b) -- number 1 under (b) and 7 whether he understood that this does not say 8 that this state cannot promulgate regulations 9 more onerous or more strict than federal 10 regulations. It says, if these regulations are 11 to be promulgated, they'll be done with a 12 specific legislative authorization to do so. 13 So what this bill really does, in 14 simple language, it says the bureaucrats can't 15 make up their own regulations as they go along. 16 They have to do it in accordance with the law. 17 This is the Legislature. We're supposed to make 18 the laws. The agency appointees are not 19 supposed to make law, but they've been doing 20 that under the guise of regulation for many 21 years. 22 This merely returns to this 23 house, exactly contrary to what Senator Leichter 6050 1 alluded, this returns to this house the powers 2 to make the laws in this state. A very 3 appropriate bill certainly, and timely. 4 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 5 President, will Senator Johnson yield to a 6 question? 7 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 8 Senator Dollinger. Senator Johnson, do you 9 yield to a question? 10 SENATOR JOHNSON: Yes. 11 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Senator, 12 you've been one of the guiding forces behind 13 fish regulations in this chamber. I can 14 remember discussions with you about Long Island 15 fish I never heard of. Senator Marchi told us 16 what killi's were, and we've passed bills 17 regulating the taking of killi's, and I know 18 that you and Senator LaValle once sparred over 19 some kind of bass that I'd never heard of, 20 whether we should regulate the size or not 21 regulate the size. 22 I want to ask a question. 23 Suppose the federal government said you couldn't 6051 1 -- you could -- you could take any bass, name 2 the type, that was 12 inches long or longer and 3 suppose the DEC found that one year in Long 4 Island Sound there was a drastic fall-off in the 5 population and, therefore, in New York State by 6 regulation DEC would say, Wait a second, 7 overnight the population has been threatened by 8 a hurricane, could be wiped out. We're going to 9 establish a restriction that says you can't take 10 a bass that's bigger than six inches. They put 11 that in effect on April 1st because they know 12 that's the mating season or whatever it is, and 13 they don't want to deplete the population 14 because they don't want to wipe out the fishing 15 industry on Long Island. 16 What happens under this bill to 17 that fish and to that fishing industry? 18 SENATOR JOHNSON: Well, of course 19 -- of course, crises like these very seldom 20 happen but, when we pass our bill, we give 21 specific language what's to be done and we also 22 give in most cases, for a period of two or three 23 years, ability of the DEC to manage this fishery 6052 1 in accordance with the guidance of their own 2 biologists and managers in that field. 3 So yes, they could take emergency 4 action if they found it necessary because we 5 have authorized them to do so. 6 SENATOR DOLLINGER: But under 7 this - 8 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 9 Senator Dollinger. 10 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Under this 11 bill, if Senator Johnson would yield, there is 12 no emergency exception under this bill and, 13 therefore, the federal regulation which deals 14 with the taking of striped bass or black bass or 15 brown bass or Long Island bass, whatever they 16 call them, that federal regulation would apply 17 because that specifically deals with the exact 18 issue that New York State has dealt with and, 19 under this bill, federal rule would apply and 20 DEC's regulation to try to control the 21 population in Long Island or the Hudson River or 22 in Lake Ontario dealing with lake trout or 23 salmon, those would be completely overruled and 6053 1 the answer would be you can take any bass as 2 long as it complies with federal rule, isn't 3 that correct? 4 SENATOR JOHNSON: No, that's not 5 correct, Senator. I told you that we have -- we 6 anticipate these things where we feel it could 7 be a problem; but what I'm telling you is this, 8 that if this bill is not -- is not in place then 9 we will not be a part of the United States of 10 America. We will have laws and regulations as 11 we've had in the past greatly exceeding most 12 other states, making this state a pariah for 13 business, and even farming and everything else 14 to stay in New York and in this state. We have 15 to be aware that we're part of the United States 16 and that business and people should be -- feel 17 free to have generally similar regulations, not 18 onerous regulations, which are not tied to any 19 particular economic or social or scientific 20 benefit, and that's what we've been having by 21 agencies making their own laws as they go 22 along. 23 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again through 6054 1 you, Mr. President, if Senator Johnson will 2 yield? 3 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 4 Senator Johnson, do you continue to yield? 5 SENATOR DOLLINGER: If there were 6 a disaster that affected the Long Island fishery 7 or the Hudson River fishery, wouldn't you want 8 to be assured that DEC could provide greater 9 regulation to preserve that industry than the 10 federal government in Washington? 11 SENATOR JOHNSON: You know that 12 the Governor can call us back if there's a 13 crisis, and we can enact a law. 14 SENATOR DOLLINGER: But that 15 might take months, might it not? 16 SENATOR JOHNSON: I hardly think 17 that will happen. This hypothetical is really 18 erroneous, and just another red herring, you 19 might say, in the fishery. 20 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 21 President, do I have the floor? I was just 22 asking Senator Johnson a question. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: Yes, 6055 1 Senator Dollinger, you have the floor. 2 SENATOR DOLLINGER: O.K. I think 3 my colloquy with Senator Johnson emphasizes the 4 point and the problem that this legislation 5 creates. If the federal government said yes, 6 you can take any bass, any fish over six inches, 7 that's the federal rule, we have decided in 8 Washington that that's the right way to control 9 the national fishery, if it were a disaster that 10 affected Long Island as a hurricane once did and 11 the fishing population were significantly 12 affected and we didn't realize it until early 13 spring, how would we control our fishery and the 14 fishing populations under those regulations? 15 The answer is the federal 16 regulation would control. You could take any 17 mature fish over six inches. We may want to 18 have it twelve inches, older fish fourteen 19 inches, five pounds, ten pounds, so that we can 20 set our own limits to provide for the fishing 21 population. 22 Under this bill, the answer is, 23 we can't do that. I know we've debated bills 6056 1 about the fishing industry here. I know your 2 concern, Senator Johnson, Senator LaValle, other 3 Senators from Long Island about the Long Island 4 fishery. I have the same concern about the 5 Great Lakes fishery, and I'm not so sure I want 6 those decisions made in Washington. I want to 7 give DEC the power by regulation to move quickly 8 to establish larger sizes, to establish 9 restrictions on limits so that you can protect 10 the industry we've got here. Under this bill, 11 you can't do that. 12 I have one other suggestion, Mr. 13 President. There was in this chamber a state 14 Senator last year who sat right over there where 15 Senator Maziarz sat, and he voted for this 16 bill. He thought this was a great idea. 17 He has the power by executive 18 order to do everything that Senator Wright wants 19 to do. He can change the regulations. He can 20 simply inform all of the agencies that the time 21 has come not to regulate anything more than the 22 federal government. He's got the power. We've 23 given him the power. The Constitution gives him 6057 1 the power. 2 Yet we debate this bill again 3 this year, and the guy on the second floor can 4 do it. Such a good idea, and it may be a good 5 idea, Senator Wright, go to Governor Pataki. 6 Have him issue an executive order that says 7 exactly what your bill says. 8 I think the reason why he may not 9 have done it yet, because he may think now that 10 he's running the government and now that he's 11 got responsibility to protect all the interests 12 in this state and that he's got to have the 13 flexibility to protect the fishing industry and 14 other industries, that this may not be such a 15 good idea. If it's a great idea, let Governor 16 Pataki do it. He can certainly do it. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: Chair 18 recognizes Senator Kuhl. 19 SENATOR KUHL: Yes, Mr. 20 President. Would you have the Secretary read 21 the last section, please. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: The 23 Secretary will read the last section. 6058 1 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 2 act shall take effect on the 1st day of 3 October. 4 SENATOR KUHL: Would you call the 5 roll, please. 6 (The Secretary called the roll.) 7 SENATOR KUHL: Would you 8 recognize Senator Oppenheimer for the purpose of 9 casting her vote? 10 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: I vote in 11 the negative. 12 SENATOR KUHL: Are you going to 13 waive the reading? 14 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: He's going 15 to speak. 16 SENATOR GOLD: I'll waive it. 17 SENATOR KUHL: Would you 18 recognize Senator Gold for the purpose of 19 casting his vote. 20 SENATOR GOLD: Yes, in my 17 21 year -- I say no. 22 SENATOR KUHL: Would you withdraw 23 the roll call, please, and continue the debate. 6059 1 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 2 Withdraw the roll call, please, and continue. 3 Senator Abate, please. 4 SENATOR ABATE: Yes. Would 5 Senator Wright yield to a question? 6 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 7 Senator Wright, would you yield? 8 SENATOR WRIGHT: Yes, Mr. 9 President. 10 SENATOR ABATE: Yes. While I 11 understand the intent of this and the spirit of 12 this legislation, you're saying that Washington 13 has all the capacity and all the tools to 14 address the local needs and concerns of 50 15 states. What I -- and which I disagree with 16 that premise, but what's really lacking in this 17 legislation and maybe you can address, let me 18 give you an example. 19 Let's say, as we know, we have a 20 tuberculosis problem and that problem is -- has 21 been continuing in New York State. It's 22 endangering the lives of many, many New Yorkers 23 and we learn that there's a new technology that, 6060 1 particularly in congregate settings, that 2 businesses can put in place a new ventilation 3 system, but there's no regulation that requires 4 large manufacturing plants or prisons or 5 whatever to do that, and we go and we're told 6 that the federal government is looking at such a 7 regulation, but we have an exigent circumstance 8 in New York State. We have a crisis on 9 something that affects the health and welfare of 10 many people and yet there's no federal 11 regulation, but we're told that the federal 12 government is pursuing that. 13 Do we have to wait until they 14 act - 15 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 16 Senator Wright. 17 SENATOR ABATE: -- knowing that 18 they are now drafting regulations? 19 SENATOR WRIGHT: Mr. President, 20 the answer is no. There would be no federal 21 standard. There would be no federal 22 requirement. New York State could act. 23 SENATOR ABATE: All right. 6061 1 That's the case. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 3 Senator - 4 SENATOR ABATE: Would you yield 5 to another question? 6 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 7 Senator Wright, would you yield? 8 SENATOR WRIGHT: Sure, Mr. 9 President. 10 SENATOR ABATE: But let's say 11 that we have a health crisis, but this law would 12 permit that there would have to be a law passed 13 to allow the state to effectuate this new 14 regulation. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 16 Senator Wright. 17 SENATOR ABATE: It could not be 18 done by executive order. It could not be done 19 by state agency without this additional 20 legislation. 21 SENATOR WRIGHT: That would be 22 the circumstance, Senator, if and only if there 23 were a federal requirement. In the absence of a 6062 1 federal requirement, the state could act on its 2 own. If there were a federal requirement, and 3 certainly in the health area, in many instances 4 we have a situation where, in fact, we do 5 authorize in excess of the federal standard, we 6 may well have done that, and you already, 7 therefore, have pre-existing authorization to 8 move ahead. 9 If we have, in the worst case 10 scenario as is being defined, an extreme 11 emergency of that nature, this Legislature can 12 certainly act very rapidly to address those 13 needs and those concerns in the most extreme 14 circumstance that you could attempt to define. 15 SENATOR ABATE: Is there anywhere 16 that - 17 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 18 Senator Abate, would you please ask questions 19 through the Chair. 20 SENATOR ABATE: Yes. Would the 21 Senator continue to yield? 22 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 23 Senator Wright, do you continue to yield? 6063 1 SENATOR WRIGHT: Yes. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 3 Senator Abate. 4 SENATOR ABATE: Is there anywhere 5 in the legislation that allows for emergency or 6 exigent situations, where it allows for 7 expeditious handling of these issues? 8 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 9 Senator Wright. 10 SENATOR WRIGHT: There are 11 emergency procedures and emergency rule-making 12 procedures that are reflected within the SAPA 13 statute itself. This specifically deals with 14 the agen... the areas in terms of federal 15 regulations. You still have the ability to 16 pursue, under SAPA, the emergency rule-making 17 procedures. 18 SENATOR ABATE: Would the Senator 19 yield to another question? 20 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 21 Senator Wright continue to yield? 22 SENATOR ABATE: Let me give you 23 another hypothetical situation. Let's say the 6064 1 federal government does recognize that there is 2 a local need around TB and implements a new 3 regulation, but that new regulation is not 4 effective until a year hence, and we decide on a 5 local level that we can not wait. It's a year 6 away or six months away. We have a crisis 7 locally. 8 How would this statute interpret 9 that situation? 10 SENATOR WRIGHT: Mr. President, 11 the statute would not inhibit that in any 12 fashion if New York State wanted to make a 13 decision in excess of the federal requirements; 14 so, if we wanted to put that in place sooner, 15 either by saying in this state the federal 16 requirement would become effective a year early, 17 or saying that it will not only become effective 18 a year earlier, we will impose the additional 19 requirements, that's certainly within our 20 latitude. 21 This does not prohibit our 22 ability to do that. It simply changes who the 23 decision-maker is. It requires that the elected 6065 1 officials do that as opposed to appointed 2 bureaucratic agency personnel. 3 SENATOR ABATE: On the bill. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 5 Senator Abate, on the bill. 6 SENATOR ABATE: Because I do not 7 want to repeat what my colleagues have said 8 where I think it is a step in the wrong 9 direction, that we in New York State should be 10 in charge of our own destinites and be 11 responsible in terms of what kind of regulations 12 are fostered in New York State, but the fact 13 that this bill says that even in emergency or 14 exigent circumstances, we have to go through a 15 laborious time-consuming process of passing a 16 law -- and I don't think anyone in this chamber 17 would suggest this is an easy process to pass a 18 law; we may not be in session; we may have to be 19 called back; laws are not enacted and passed and 20 debated overnight -- I think this bill is 21 particularly deficient in this area which we're 22 talking about, not just the fishing industry 23 which I know is important, but the health and 6066 1 safety and welfare of many New Yorkers and, for 2 these reasons and others enunciated today, I 3 could not support this legislation. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 5 Senator Wright to close. 6 Senator Wright. 7 SENATOR WRIGHT: Thank you, Mr. 8 President. 9 The intent of this legislation is 10 very clear. It's to restore New York State to 11 competitiveness. There are numerous examples 12 where New York State exceeds far and beyond the 13 federal requirements: Whether it's a two-page 14 application that the federal government requires 15 for Medicare in a nursing home that New York 16 State makes a 48-page application, whether it's 17 solid waste requirements where the federal 18 government will establish the requirement for 19 one liner and New York State will make it three 20 liners, at significant cost without additional 21 benefit; whether it's air quality, water quality 22 standards, that put our industries at 23 significant risk with all the added expense and 6067 1 without any documented substantial environmental 2 benefit, the list goes on and on, and it's well 3 documented. 4 That's what this legislation is 5 intended to address, to restore a level playing 6 field within the state of New York. It does not 7 in any way abrogate local control. The federal 8 government, by the establishment of a federal 9 standard, already restricts local options. If 10 local options want to add over and beyond, it 11 simply becomes the prerogative of this elected 12 Legislature to extend that decision. 13 As to legislation in terms of 14 federal versus state intent, I think this makes 15 it abundantly clear there will be a federal 16 minimum. If New York State decides to impose 17 over and beyond that federal minimum, it is done 18 here in this chambers. It's specifically 19 debated and articulated laying out the legis 20 lative intent which will, in fact, go a long way 21 to addressing the concerns of litigation. 22 And last, but not least, the 23 question of the Legislature's ability to act. 6068 1 If, in fact, you look at the rule-making 2 procedure, it is exceedingly slow and cumbersome 3 even within an emergency. Yet, in fact, this 4 Legislature just today passed a bill that was 5 introduced today and acted upon today within far 6 short of a 24-hour period. So, in fact, we are 7 not restricting our ability to govern this 8 state. We are not abrogating our 9 responsibilities to the federal government. We, 10 in fact, are taking back jurisdiction to the 11 elected officials to restore a competitive 12 playing field to this state. 13 I encourage my colleagues to 14 support the legislation. 15 Thank you, Mr. President. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: Read 17 the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 19 act shall take effect on the 1st day of 20 October. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: Call 22 the roll. 23 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 6069 1 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 2 Senator Paterson. 3 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 4 just to explain my vote. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 6 Senator Paterson to explain his vote. 7 SENATOR PATERSON: I really just 8 want to reiterate what Senator Leichter said 9 before. We may not agree on this particular 10 piece of legislation, but what is a little 11 disturbing about this debate is that we can't 12 even agree on what the bill does, and I guess 13 that's just a matter of perception which each of 14 us reaches their own conclusion, but I would 15 strongly suggest that, if anyone took this law 16 under judicial review, that it would fail, that 17 it is actually unconstitutional, because what we 18 are actually doing is buttressing a state law 19 against a federal law which is unconstitutional 20 and it would be restricted by the due process 21 clause of the Fifth and the Fourteenth 22 Amendments because what we're really doing is 23 abrogating our responsibility and attaching it 6070 1 with a state law to a federal law. 2 I don't think that this piece of 3 legislation would actually withstand that 4 judicial scrutiny. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 6 Announce the results. 7 Senator Dollinger. 8 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Just to 9 explain my vote, Mr. President. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 11 Senator Dollinger to explain his vote. 12 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I made my 13 views on the bill substantively known. It's 14 just the thing about this bill that bothers me 15 most, it just seems to imply that Washington 16 knows business. Best I can tell in the last ten 17 years of watching politics, if there's any 18 lesson we learn, it's that Washington knows 19 least about what's going on. Why we would give 20 this power to Washington is absolutely beyond 21 me. 22 No. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 6071 1 Senator Stachowski to explain his vote. 2 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Mr. 3 President, to explain my vote. 4 I don't disagree with Senator 5 Wright that this would give the Legislature all 6 that power and chances to set our own 7 regulations if they would go past the federal 8 government, but at a time when the federal 9 government is doing things like the example 10 Senator Rath said, only I take a different view 11 on the Clean Water Act, when they're walking 12 away from the programs that are cleaning up the 13 Great Lakes, and in particular Lake Erie, and 14 they're walking away from programs to clean up 15 the Buffalo River and the Niagara River and 16 they're walking away from that responsibility - 17 at least the House is so far; hopefully the 18 Senate won't go along -- I'm very concerned that 19 we don't want to fall in line with an idea like 20 that. 21 I happen to like the idea that 22 years ago, when I first got here, Senator Dunne 23 passed the acid rain bill that may never have 6072 1 been a thing set up if we had been under the 2 mind set that we didn't want to do anything 3 beyond what the federal government does; and so 4 with that kind of idea in my mind, I can't 5 support this bill at this time, and I vote no. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 7 Announce the results. 8 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 9 the negative on Calendar Number 709 are Senator 10 Abate, Babbush, Connor, Dollinger, Espada, Gold, 11 Kruger, Leichter, Markowitz, Mendez, Nanula, 12 Onorato, Oppenheimer, Smith, Solomon, 13 Stachowski, Stavisky, also Senator Paterson. 14 Ayes 40, nays 18. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: The 16 bill is passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 746, by Senator Padavan, in relation to tax 19 exemption for certain industrial and commercial 20 property. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: Read 22 the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 27. This 6073 1 act shall take effect July 1st, 1995. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: Call 3 the roll. 4 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 5 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 6 Announce the results. 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: The 9 bill is passed. 10 Senator Kuhl. 11 SENATOR KUHL: Yes, Mr. 12 President. 13 I think there's one bill 14 remaining on the controversial calendar. That's 15 Calendar Number 241, Senator Volker's bill. 16 Would you lay that aside for the day, please. 17 Then I believe there's a 18 privileged resolution at the desk, by Senator 19 Leichter. Could we take that up? 20 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: Yes, 21 Senator Kuhl, there is. 22 SENATOR KUHL: And if the 23 Secretary will read the title, please. 6074 1 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 2 Secretary will read. 3 THE SECRETARY: Legislative 4 Resolution, by Senator Leichter, Legislative 5 Resolution paying tribute to Alfred Howell upon 6 the occasion of his designation for special 7 honor by Riverdale Senior Services at the 8 agency's 21st Anniversary Spring Party to be 9 held on May 21st, 1995. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: All in 11 favor, signify by saying aye. 12 (Response of "Aye.") 13 Opposed nay. 14 (There was no response. ) 15 The resolution is adopted. 16 Senator Kuhl. 17 SENATOR KUHL: You got some 18 housekeeping at the desk? 19 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: Yes, 20 Senator. 21 SENATOR KUHL: Could we take that 22 up? 23 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 6075 1 Senator Present. 2 SENATOR PRESENT: Mr. President, 3 on page 19, on behalf of Senator Levy, I offer 4 the following amendments to Calendar Number 573, 5 Senate Print 392. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: The 7 amendments are received and adopted. 8 Senator Present. 9 SENATOR PRESENT: Mr. President, 10 on behalf of Senator Levy, on page 66 I offer 11 the following amendments to Calendar 77, Print 12 328A, and ask that it retain its place on the 13 Third Reading Calendar. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 15 Amendments received and adopted. 16 SENATOR PRESENT: Mr. President, 17 on page 4, on behalf of Senator Levy, I offer 18 the following amendments to Calendar Number 79, 19 Senate Print 384C, and ask that it retain its 20 place on the Third Reading Calendar. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 22 Amendments received and adopted. 23 SENATOR PRESENT: Mr. President, 6076 1 on behalf of Senator Saland, on page 72, I offer 2 the following amendments to Calendar Number 955, 3 Senate Print 4219, and ask that it retain its 4 place. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: So 6 ordered. 7 Senator Kuhl. We have one 8 substitution at the desk. 9 SENATOR KUHL: May we take that 10 up at this time, please? 11 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 12 Secretary will read. 13 THE SECRETARY: Senator Farley 14 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 15 Assembly Print 1905 and substitute it for the 16 identical Calendar Number 455. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: 18 Substitution ordered. 19 Senator Kuhl. 20 SENATOR KUHL: Is that it for the 21 housekeeping? 22 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: That's 23 it, Senator. 6077 1 SENATOR KUHL: O.K. At this time, 2 I would remind all the members of the Majority 3 that there will be a Majority conference 4 immediately on the conclusion of session today, 5 and there being no further business, I would 6 move, Mr. President, that we adjourn until 7 Monday, May 22nd, at 3:00 p.m., all intervening 8 days to be legislative days. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT DiCARLO: There 10 will be an immediate meeting of the Majority 11 Conference in Room 332. 12 Senate stands adjourned until May 13 22nd at 3:00 p.m. Without objection, the Senate 14 stands adjourned. 15 (Whereupon at 11:58 a.m., the 16 Senate adjourned. ) 17 18 19 20 21 22 23