Tuesday, March 18, 1997

1667 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ALBANY, NEW YORK 10 March 18, 1997 11 3:03 p.m. 12 13 14 REGULAR SESSION 15 16 17 18 LT. GOVERNOR BETSY McCOY ROSS, President 19 STEPHEN F. SLOAN, Secretary 20 21 22 23 24 25 1668 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 THE PRESIDENT: The Senate will 3 come to order. Would everyone please rise and 4 join with me in the Pledge of Allegiance. 5 (The assemblage repeated the 6 Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.) 7 The invocation today will be 8 given by the Reverend Canon Dr. Alonzo C. Pruitt 9 from St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Brooklyn. 10 Reverend Pruitt. 11 REVEREND PRUITT: Almighty God, 12 our Heavenly Father. God of Abraham, Isaac and 13 Jacob, God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 14 Thou Who art known to some as Allah and to 15 others as the eternal spirit of love and peace. 16 Be present especially, we pray, with Your great 17 spirit upon the people of the great state of New 18 York. We especially pray for this distinguished 19 body, for all of Your honorable servants 20 assembled herein, and as we pray for George, our 21 Governor, Betsy, our President, we pray as well 22 for all of the members of the executive branch, 23 for all of the members of the legislative 24 assembly, all the members of the Senate and each 25 and every member of their working staff and for 1669 1 all members of the judiciary. Be present with 2 this body this day, Heavenly One, that in all 3 their works begun, continued and ended in You, 4 they might glorify Your Holy Name, serving well 5 the various people and community they 6 represent. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. 7 THE PRESIDENT: Amen. 8 The reading of the Journal, 9 please. 10 THE SECRETARY: In Senate, 11 Monday, March 17th. The Senate met pursuant to 12 adjournment, Senator Kuhl in the Chair upon 13 designation of the Temporary President. The 14 Journal of Friday, March 14th, was read and 15 approved. On motion, Senate adjourned. 16 THE PRESIDENT: Without 17 objection, the Journal stands approved as read. 18 Presentation of petitions. 19 Messages from the Assembly. 20 Messages from the Governor. 21 Reports of standing committees. 22 The Secretary will read. 23 THE SECRETARY: Senator Wright, 24 from the Committee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, 25 reports the following bills: 1670 1 Senate Print 2353, by Senator 2 Leibell, an act to amend the Education Law, in 3 relation to requiring instruction; 4 3004, by Senator Wright, an act 5 to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, and the 6 Mental Hygiene Law; 7 3088, by Senator Padavan, an act 8 to amend the General Business Law; 9 3358, by Senator Volker, an act 10 to amend the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law and 11 others. 12 Senator Stafford, from the 13 Committee on Finance, reports the following 14 bills: 15 Senate Print 1, by Senator Bruno, 16 an act to amend the Education Law, in relation 17 to submission of school district budgets; 18 242, by Senator Johnson, an act 19 to amend the State Finance Law, in relation to 20 allocations; 21 379-A, by Senator Seward, an act 22 to amend the Tax Law and the Public Service Law; 23 722, by Senator Cook, an act to 24 amend the Executive Law; 25 1520, by Senator Stafford, an act 1671 1 to amend the Tax Law, in relation to electronic 2 funds; 3 2210, by Senator Padavan, an act 4 to amend the Executive Law; 5 2466, by Senator LaValle, an act 6 to amend the Executive Law; 7 2734, by Senator Farley, an act 8 to amend the State Finance Law; 9 3485, by Senator Seward, an act 10 to amend the Public Service Law and others. 11 Senator Rath, from the Committee 12 on Local Government, reports the following 13 bills: 14 Senate Print 910, by Senator 15 Volker, an act to amend the Local Finance Law; 16 1295, by Senator LaValle, an act 17 to amend the General Municipal Law; 18 1379, by Senator Seward, an act 19 to amend the Town Law; 20 2233, by Senator Nozzolio, an act 21 to amend the General Municipal Law; 22 2484, by Senator Skelos, an act 23 authorizing the assessor of the county of 24 Nassau; 25 2485, by Senator Skelos, an act 1672 1 authorizing the assessor; 2 2649, by Senator Cook, an act to 3 amend the General Municipal Law; 4 2729, by Senator Cook, an act to 5 amend the General Municipal Law and others; 6 2898, by Senator Marcellino, an 7 act to amend the General Municipal Law; 8 3080, by Senator Padavan, an act 9 to amend the General Municipal Law. 10 Senator Levy, from the Committee 11 on Transportation, reports: 12 Senate Print 204, by Senator 13 Holland, an act to amend the Highway Law; 14 360, by Senator Levy, an act to 15 amend the Railroad Law; 16 416, by Senator Goodman, an act 17 to amend the Transportation Law; 18 598, by Senator Levy, an act to 19 amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law; 20 607, by Senator Levy, an act to 21 amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law; 22 923, by Senator Levy, an act in 23 relation to authorizing; 24 2231, by Senator LaValle, an act 25 to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, and 1673 1 3481, with amendments, by Senator 2 Levy, an act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic 3 Law. 4 All bills ordered directly for 5 third reading. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: All 7 bills direct to third reading. 8 Reports of select committees. 9 Communications and reports from 10 state officers. 11 Motions and resolutions. 12 Senator Wright. 13 SENATOR WRIGHT: Mr. President, 14 on behalf of Senator Libous, please place a 15 sponsor's star on Calendar Number 264. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: So 17 ordered. 18 Senator Bruno. 19 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President, at 20 this time, we'd like to adopt the Resolution 21 Calendar with the exceptions of Resolution 711, 22 '13 and '23. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: All 24 those in favor of adopting the Resolution 25 Calendar signify by saying aye. 1674 1 (Response of "Aye.") 2 Opposed nay. 3 (There was no response. ) 4 The Resolution Calendar is 5 adopted. 6 Senator Bruno. 7 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President, 8 can we at this time take up the privileged 9 resolution at the desk, 723, relating to "Good 10 Joe" Day, and I'd ask that it be read at this 11 time. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 13 Secretary will read. 14 THE SECRETARY: By Senator Bruno, 15 Legislative Resolution 723, commemorating "Good 16 Joes" Day 1997. 17 WHEREAS, St. Joseph is every 18 one's patron saint and not just the patron saint 19 of those who are fortunate to bear his name; and 20 WHEREAS the New York State 21 Legislature is appreciative of the vital 22 contributions of those good members known as 23 "Joseph"; 24 The Society of Good Joes is 25 celebrating its 39th year in memory of the late 1675 1 Joseph Addonizio and its members have banded 2 together under a common name in the spirit of 3 cameraderie and good fellowship. 4 Tradition holds that St. Joseph 5 is the patron saint of the working person, all 6 of those who labor with the dignity that only 7 true humility imparts. 8 On St. Joseph's Day in March the 9 swallows return to Capistrano, heralding the 10 conclusion of a long, cold winter and the advent 11 of a new spring. 12 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED 13 that this legislative body pause in its 14 deliberations and recognize this great day, 15 Wednesday, March 19, 1997, in commemoration and 16 deliberation of all Good Joes in the state of 17 New York, to be celebrated on Tuesday, March 18, 18 1997, in honor of all the Good Joes of this 19 Empire State; and 20 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a 21 copy of this resolution, suitably engrossed, be 22 transmitted to Mrs. Rose Addonizio. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 24 Question is on the resolution. All those in 25 favor of adopting the resolution signify by 1676 1 saying aye. 2 (Response of "Aye.") 3 Opposed nay. 4 (There was no response. ) 5 The resolution is adopted. 6 Senator Maltese. 7 SENATOR MALTESE: Mr. President, 8 I speak on Resolutions Number 710 and 711. 9 These resolutions - 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 11 Secretary will read. 12 SENATOR MALTESE: These 13 resolutions are commemorating a terrible tragedy 14 in the history of New York City and the state 15 and one that was - 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Excuse 17 me, Senator Maltese. The Secretary is going to 18 read the titles. Secretary will read. 19 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 20 Maltese, Legislative Resolution 710, 21 commemorating the 86th Anniversary of the 22 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire on Tuesday, 23 March 25, 1997, and acknowledging the 24 International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union's 25 efforts to make American working conditions the 1677 1 safest in the world; and, by Senator Maltese, 2 Legislative Resolution 711, commemorating the 3 10th Anniversary of the creation of the New York 4 State Department of Labor's Apparel Industry 5 Task Force in remembrance of the workers who 6 died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: On the 8 resolution, Senator Maltese. 9 SENATOR MALTESE: Mr. President, 10 this -- these two resolutions are combined to 11 indicate not only in memorial to 147 people, 12 mostly young women who perished on March 25th, 13 1911 but also to commemorate the creation of a 14 task force, a task force that was created by one 15 governor and has been continued -- Governor 16 Cuomo, and has been continued by Governor George 17 Pataki under the leadership of our Labor 18 Commissioner, John Sweeney. 19 This terrible tragedy took place 20 at the close of a working day in a factory on 21 Washington Square in downtown Manhattan, and as 22 was the custom at the time, scores and hundreds 23 of young women, young people, worked in sweat 24 shop conditions and during the course of the day 25 what would happen is the accumulation of 1678 1 materials around the working tables and around 2 the sewing machines would gather and create a 3 fire hazard. 4 This particular factory, the 5 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, was -- employed 6 some 600 people and the majority of those people 7 worked on the ninth floor, with hundreds of 8 others working on the eighth, seventh and sixth 9 floor. At the time the fire ladders of the New 10 York City Fire Department would only reach to 11 the sixth floor. 12 In addition, because we did not 13 have adequate fire laws, the fire exits were 14 inadequate, the elevators unable to really cope 15 with the numbers of people that worked in the 16 factory. Toward the end of closing, the young 17 women started to go home and found that there 18 was a fire on the sixth floor that they believe 19 started on the sixth floor. Understandably many 20 of them panicked, clogging the stairs, and it 21 was determined later on that many of the so 22 called fire exits had been locked by the 23 proprietors of the factory to keep employees 24 allegedly from pilfering some of the 25 shirtwaists. 1679 1 The combination of all the 2 circumstances, the accumulation of the 3 shirtwaists and the materials in the aisles, the 4 excessive number of people working in the sweat 5 shops, the fact that the fire exits were closed, 6 the elevators not working, the fact that the 7 fire trucks would only have ladders leading up 8 to the sixth floor led to, during the course of 9 the fire, hundreds of the women being unable to 10 go down the staircases and many of them fleeing 11 to the windows and as the fire would approach 12 them, leaping to their deaths on the glass 13 sidewalks below. 14 The -- it ultimately cost 147 15 deaths, as I've indicated, the majority of them 16 teen-age girls. My grandmother and two aunts 17 were among the 147 people. My brother Vincent 18 is presently the president of the Triangle 19 Shirtwaist Factory Fire Survivors. The steps 20 that have been taken and were taken over the 21 years by progressive New York State governors 22 and governments working together with union 23 members from the International Ladies' Garment 24 Workers' Unions represent -- are memorialized in 25 this resolution. 1680 1 I'd just like to say a word about 2 the immigrants of those days. It is very 3 difficult for many of us at this time and place 4 to think back to those early immigrants who 5 staked so much to come over and work in these 6 factories and create our nation as it is today. 7 Even as a young man, I remember the Lower East 8 Side and the many diseases that carried off so 9 many of our young people, diseases unheard of or 10 not really a threat today -- whooping cough, 11 scarlet fever, diphtheria, rheumatic fever and 12 so many others. The death was a common 13 occurrence in those days, and yet the enormity, 14 if you will, of a tragedy that took so many 15 deaths -- that took so many young lives, mothers 16 and daughters in many cases, sisters, members of 17 large families that perished in that fire. 18 For many years afterwards many of 19 the people, as was the custom in those days, 20 wore black for 20 and 25 years thereafter, so 21 these resolutions are memorializing that tragic 22 fire and in hopes that never again would 23 conditions like that be repeated. 24 The Resolution 710 was 25 circulated. Resolution 711 was not adequately 1681 1 circulated. If any members wish to join that 2 resolution, they are welcome to come on at this 3 time. 4 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. 5 President. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 7 Senator Leichter. 8 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes, Mr. 9 President, on the resolution. 10 I'm very pleased that Senator 11 Maltese brought that resolution before us. I 12 did not know, Senator, that your family was 13 touched by that tragedy. Certainly it was a 14 defining moment for this city and for this 15 country, and how we protect workers and we 16 certainly ought to commemorate that event. But 17 I think something else needs to be said, Senator 18 Maltese, because if we solely left the 19 resolution as such and this event as sort of a 20 historical artifact, we would not be doing 21 justice to what is unfortunately the fact that 22 presently we have sweat shops in the city of New 23 York. They're in my district and I dare say 24 they're in your district and in some respects 25 they're as bad as the sweat shops that existed 1682 1 at the time of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire. 2 The reason I particularly wanted 3 to get up on the resolution, I didn't know it 4 was coming up, but I just came in the chamber 5 and heard it, was that in 1982 I was shocked to 6 find these sweat shops in my district and I 7 started a study and found out that there were 8 more people working in sweat shops in 1982 than 9 were working in sweat shops in 19... whatever 10 the exact date -- year is that the shirtwaist 11 Triangle fire occurred. 12 Now, it's perfectly true that 13 there's been some effort on the part of the 14 state of New York, and I'm proud to have been 15 associated with that effort and support it and 16 we also passed legislation in this chamber 17 trying to deal with the problem of the sweat 18 shop, but I think that we all have to be aware 19 that the problem is still with us of workers in 20 this country, people who at their work place in 21 the United States, in our state and your city 22 and my city, Senator Maltese, that don't have 23 the protection of fire law, safety law, health 24 laws, labor standard laws. 25 We know that there are children 1683 1 working in these sweat shops right at this time 2 and I think that we really have to commit 3 ourselves to doing more legislatively through 4 the executive to see that we give protection to 5 everyone who, in this state, is at the work 6 place, and I hope that as we pass that 7 resolution, it also means that we are making 8 that sort of commitment. 9 Thank you. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Thank 11 you, Senator Leichter. 12 Senator Bruno, with your 13 approval, Senator Maltese has requested that all 14 members will be put on both resolutions. Anyone 15 who does not wish to be on the resolution should 16 notify the desk. 17 SENATOR BRUNO: Please do it, Mr. 18 President. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Thank 20 you, Senator Bruno. 21 The question is on the 22 resolutions. All those in favor of adopting the 23 resolutions say aye. 24 (Response of "Aye.") 25 Opposed nay. 1684 1 (There was no response.) 2 The resolutions are adopted. 3 Senator Lachman. 4 SENATOR LACHMAN: Yes, Mr. 5 President. I rise to speak on Resolution 713. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 7 Secretary will read. 8 THE SECRETARY: Legislative 9 Resolution Number 713, mourning the death of 10 Albert Shanker, distinguished citizen and 11 educator. 12 SENATOR LACHMAN: Next Monday 13 while we will be meeting in the Senate, there 14 will be a memorial meeting taking place in New 15 York City in memory of Albert Shanker, one of 16 the most distinguished labor leaders and 17 outstanding educators of the post-World War II 18 period. 19 One did not always have to agree 20 with Albert Shanker -- indeed we often sat at 21 opposite ends of the negotiating table -- to 22 realize that he was an extraordinarily gifted 23 man, a man who was first and foremost dedicated 24 not only to the teachers of this nation, but 25 especially in his later years to major 1685 1 educational reform in public education. 2 Albert Shanker was not only the 3 president of the 100,000 strong United 4 Federation of Teachers and the 800,000 strong 5 American Federation of Teachers, he also served 6 as the president of the 11 million strong 7 International Federation of Free Teachers 8 Unions. In the latter capacity, especially 9 during the 1980s, Albert Shanker befriended some 10 of the leading anti-Communist labor leaders in 11 the world, including Lech Walesa, and some of 12 the leading anti-Communists in the world - 13 great men, people such as Nobel Prize Laureate 14 from the Soviet Union, from Czechoslovakia and 15 from other nations. 16 But Albert Shanker's greatness, 17 in my opinion, was his ability to combine so 18 many lives in one: Mathematician, philosopher, 19 educator, administrator, union leader. In many 20 ways, without diminishing his colleagues who are 21 still with us today, he towered above his 22 associates, in his grasp of problems, in his 23 resolution of the problems and these issues and 24 in his determination again especially during his 25 latter years to make certain that public 1686 1 education would continue to benefit all children 2 of the United States, and whatever and wherever 3 possible to reform the educational systems of 4 the nation's urban areas in the states of this 5 nation. 6 We can do little at this time but 7 continue the traditions of this educational 8 statesman in the field of public education and 9 to work to aid the children of this nation 10 through the schools of this nation. That would 11 be a living memorial and testimonial to the late 12 Albert Shanker. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 14 Senator Goodman. 15 SENATOR GOODMAN: Mr. President, 16 I'd like to add a few words to the very eloquent 17 statement of our colleague with regard to Albert 18 Shanker. 19 This was a man I knew well during 20 the period of discussions on New York City's 21 education which commenced during his period as 22 the chairman, or the head of the United 23 Federation of Teachers, and I was always struck 24 by his remarkably stable and broad-gauged 25 approach to these problems. 1687 1 He's an individual of tremendous 2 breadth of intellect. He had a deep sincerity 3 and integrity which permeated everything that he 4 did and, as he continued to rise through the 5 ranks of labor and became a national spokesman 6 for progressive principles in education, while 7 maintaining steadfastly the imperatives of the 8 basic tools which youngsters need to survive and 9 to flourish in our free democratic society, I 10 always found him a most inspirational figure. 11 I share with great enthusiasm in 12 the resolution of our colleague, and will long 13 remember Albert Shanker as a sui generis, 14 absolutely unique figure highly to be respected 15 and long remembered. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Thank 17 you. 18 Senator Marchi? Senator Marchi. 19 SENATOR MARCHI: Well, 20 congratulations, Senator for having launched 21 this resolution. I knew him well and intimately 22 especially when he went through the crisis in 23 Ocean Hill. His leadership went far beyond 24 definition, as necessary and as indispensable as 25 it was to defining basic working conditions and 1688 1 circumstances. He was a man of tremendous 2 culture. His knowledge and breadth of cultural 3 history, the arts and the sciences, was awesome, 4 and all of us, many of us, I guess, were very 5 familiar with the Sunday column in the Week in 6 Review in the New York Times which appeared 7 ritually, and they didn't carry it this week. 8 My New York Times did not have the Week in 9 Review for some mysterious reason, and I'm 10 complaining, but they did carry excerpts from 11 prior issues, but that was -- that was a treat 12 in itself. 13 This is a man who had 14 international dimensions, and was known on an 15 international basis as well as nationally. So 16 he was a statesman in addition to being the 17 leader of basic concerns - 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Excuse 19 me, Senator. Senator Marchi, excuse me for one 20 second. Can we have a little bit of order in 21 the house so that we could all hear Senator 22 Marchi. 23 Thank you. Senator Marchi. 24 SENATOR MARCHI: Thank you, Mr. 25 President. 1689 1 I just want to state that 2 anything that we might say for him would grossly 3 under-state the respect and esteem and affection 4 with which he was held nationally and especially 5 with people who were dedicated to the principle 6 of education. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Thank 8 you, Senator. 9 Senator Marcellino. 10 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Yes. Thank 11 you, Mr. President. 12 I was a school teacher under Al 13 Shanker and a member of the union that Al 14 Shanker ran, and every teacher in the city of 15 New York and in the state of New York owes Al 16 Shanker tremendous credit. He uplifted 17 salaries; he uplifted the professionalism of the 18 profession. He balanced the need to organize 19 and work as a union with maintaining profession 20 alism and professional standards. That was no 21 easy task. 22 He worked with many different 23 administrations in the city of New York. That 24 was no easy task, and his single goal was to 25 improve and better education and better the 1690 1 working place, make it safer, and make it more 2 effective so the teachers could do their jobs 3 and do them without outside pressures, without 4 political pressures, and in a safe and effective 5 environment for our children. 6 Al Shanker was a tough union 7 person, a tough negotiator, but he cared for his 8 teachers and he cared for the students that were 9 their charges. His death is a serious loss to 10 the labor movement and to teachers and to 11 education as a whole. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Thank 13 you, Senator. 14 Senator Stavisky. 15 SENATOR STAVISKY: Mr. President, 16 ladies and gentlemen, I guess I knew Al Shanker 17 as well as almost anyone in this chamber because 18 when I served as chairman of the Education 19 Committee, he was simultaneously the head of the 20 UFT and also subsequently the AFT. 21 Here was a principled, tough 22 negotiator. He was someone who understood that 23 there was need to improve education. There was 24 need even to improve the qualifications of 25 teachers as well as the performance of the 1691 1 students and, in that regard, he was an 2 exemplary labor leader. 3 I remember very vividly the honor 4 he bestowed on me in 1976, the year in which I 5 sponsored what became known as the Stavisky 6 Goodman Law, and it was an exciting period. It 7 was the first time in the 20th Century that a 8 governor's veto was overridden by the 9 Legislature, and Senator Goodman remembers those 10 days and others do too. 11 He had the ability to stand up 12 for his members. He went to jail for his 13 members in an effort to prove that there was 14 need for reform and that there was need for the 15 observance of the right of laboring people - 16 and he was never opposed to being known as a 17 labor leader -- the right of laboring people to 18 stand up for their convictions. 19 He was an intellectual. He was a 20 tower of strength. He was someone who will be 21 missed in the entire educational world and in 22 the field of union negotiations. He is someone 23 with whom I served, someone with whom I had the 24 pleasure of working, and I will never forget the 25 John Dewey Award that he was privileged to 1692 1 bestow upon me. I said to him, "You're going to 2 lower the property value of the John Dewey Award 3 if you present it to Leonard Stavisky." He said 4 no, and that was a day and an incident that will 5 remain with me for my entire life. 6 I hope that this resolution will 7 be unanimously adopted, for it is one that 8 should have the support of every member of this 9 chamber. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 11 Senator Leichter. Senator Leichter. 12 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes, Mr. 13 President. 14 Al Shanker clearly was one of the 15 dominant and paramount figures in the state of 16 New York the second half of the 20th Century, 17 and his influence was really nationwide. I knew 18 Al Shanker the early days of the UFT, in fact, 19 before it was the UFT; it was still the Guild, 20 because both he and my late wife were very 21 active. 22 I've walked picket lines with Al 23 Shanker, attended meetings with Al Shanker. I 24 think the one thing you can say about Al Shanker 25 he was probably one of the straightest shooters 1693 1 that I've ever known or met. He would tell you 2 what was on his mind. There was no guile, there 3 was no dissembling. His purpose, his goal was 4 always very clear, and it was, as Senator 5 Marcellino so well put it, it was the 6 professionalism of teachers, and it was also the 7 strength in education, and while he was the head 8 of a union and as such had a particular mission, 9 he was never parochial. He realized the 10 importance of the teachers and the importance of 11 education to the society as a whole, and I think 12 that's really what he worked for. 13 He was a remarkable person and so 14 many of us obviously had a relationship with him 15 and came in contact with him, but whether we 16 knew him personally or not, all of us were 17 touched by him because his effect, his impact, 18 his influence on this state were so great, and 19 we were really privileged that we had an Al 20 Shanker in our midst. 21 I trust, Senator Lachman, that 22 you'll make every member a participant of that 23 resolution. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 25 Senator Lachman. 1694 1 SENATOR LACHMAN: Mr. Chairman, 2 that's exactly why I'm standing now. I know 3 that Mrs. Eve Shanker would greatly appreciate 4 the impact of a resolution which would have the 5 support of every member of this body, for this 6 great citizen of the state of New York and this 7 great American, and I, therefore, request the 8 Chair to open it up to others' support. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 10 Senator Stafford. 11 SENATOR STAFFORD: Mr. President, 12 I would just point this out. Everything has 13 been said so well, but I had a committee too 14 then that Al Shanker was involved with and, if 15 you wanted to see a meeting you should have been 16 at a meeting with Nelson Rockefeller, Earl 17 Brydges, Tony Travia and Al Shanker. That was a 18 meeting. I was there just listening. My job 19 has now changed, as you can see, but the respect 20 that they had for each other! And in fact 21 they're all gone now, if you think about it, and 22 it was really something. 23 Now, again keeping our sense of 24 humor, Senator Marchi had certain legislation 25 that I believe at that time was being discussed 1695 1 that Al Shanker was quite involved in, and 2 that's what those meetings were -- and you were 3 there too, but it's something that people that 4 were there will never forget it, the minds that 5 were in the room including Al Shanker, and the 6 respect and the give and take and really so much 7 of that is what makes this state what it is 8 today. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Thank 10 you, Senator. 11 Senator Bruno, Senator Lachman 12 has requested that all members of the Senate who 13 wish would sign onto this resolution. As is our 14 custom we will put everyone on, with your 15 permission, unless they notify the desk 16 otherwise. 17 SENATOR BRUNO: Please do, Mr. 18 President. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: So 20 ordered. 21 Question is on the resolution. 22 All those in favor of adopting the resolution 23 signify by saying aye. 24 (Response of "Aye.") 25 Opposed nay. 1696 1 (There was no audible response. ) 2 Resolution 713 is adopted. 3 Senator Leichter. 4 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes. 5 Mr. President, on behalf of 6 Senator Santiago, I move that the following bill 7 be discharged from its respective committee and 8 be recommitted with instructions to strike the 9 enacting clause: Senate Number 2452. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: So 11 ordered. 12 Senator Bruno, we have the report 13 of a committee at the desk. We'd like to return 14 to reports of standing committees. 15 SENATOR BRUNO: Please do so, Mr. 16 President. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Thank 18 you. Secretary will read. 19 THE SECRETARY: Senator Nozzolio, 20 from the Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and 21 Correction, reports the following bills: 22 Senate Bill Number 177, with 23 amendments, by Senator Nozzolio, an act to amend 24 the Executive Law and others; 25 387, by Senator Nozzolio, an act 1697 1 to amend the Executive Law, in relation to 2 making available to their victims the proceeds; 3 753, by Senator Goodman, an act 4 to amend the Executive Law, in relation to early 5 parole; 6 1749, by Senator Skelos, an act 7 to amend the Correction Law, in relation to the 8 definition; 9 1783, by Senator Nozzolio, an act 10 to amend the Correction Law, the Public Health 11 Law and the Penal Law. 12 All bills ordered direct for 13 third reading. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: All 15 bills ordered direct to third reading. 16 Senator Bruno. 17 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President, 18 can we at this time take up the 19 non-controversial calendar. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 21 Secretary will read. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 185, by Senator Levy. 24 SENATOR CONNOR: Lay aside. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Lay 1698 1 the bill aside. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 246, by Senator Larkin. 4 SENATOR BRUNO: Lay aside for the 5 day at the request of the sponsor. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Bill 7 is laid aside for the day at the request of the 8 sponsor. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 250, by Senator Bruno, Senate Print 706, an act 11 to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law. 12 SENATOR BRUNO: Lay aside. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Lay 14 the bill aside. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 256, by Senator Libous. 17 SENATOR BRUNO: Lay aside for the 18 day at the request of the sponsor. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Lay 20 the bill aside for the day at the request of the 21 sponsor. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 258, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 2859. 24 SENATOR BRUNO: Lay aside at the 25 request of the sponsor. 1699 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Bill 2 is laid aside at the request of the sponsor, for 3 the day. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 268, by Senator Holland, Senate Print - 6 SENATOR CONNOR: Lay aside. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Bill 8 is laid aside at the request of the Minority 9 Leader. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 271, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 1862, an 12 act to amend the Real Property Tax Law. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 14 the last section. 15 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 16 act shall take effect immediately. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 18 the roll. 19 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 56. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 22 bill is passed. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 277, by Senator Lack, Senate Print 2378, an act 25 to amend the County Law, in relation to 1700 1 permitting district attorneys. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 3 the last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 5 act shall take effect on the 30th day. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 7 the roll. 8 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 56. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 11 bill is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 281, by Senator LaValle, Senate Print 2669, an 14 act to amend the Town Law, in relation to 15 expending from fire district revenues amounts. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 17 the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 19 act shall take effect immediately. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 21 the roll. 22 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 56. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 25 bill is passed. 1701 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 285, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 1708, an 3 act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law, in 4 relation to preclusion of evidence. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 6 the last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 8 act shall take effect immediately. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 10 the roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 56. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 14 bill is passed. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 287, by Senator Libous, Senate Print Number 17 1915, an act to amend the Penal Law, in relation 18 to parole for certain sex offenders. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 20 the last section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 22 act shall take effect on the 1st day of 23 November. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 25 the roll. 1702 1 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 56. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 4 bill is passed. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 292, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 2016, an 7 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 8 consecutive sentences. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 10 the last section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 12 act shall take effect on the 1st day of 13 November. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 15 the roll. 16 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 17 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 56. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 19 bill is passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 293, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 2074, an act 22 to amend the Penal Law, in relation to repeat 23 offender status. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 25 the last section. 1703 1 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 2 act shall take effect on the 1st day of 3 November. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 5 the roll. 6 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 56. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 9 bill is passed. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 299, by Senator Present, Senate Print 1773, an 12 act to amend the Economic Development Law and 13 others, in relation to program reporting and 14 evaluation. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 16 the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 29. This 18 act shall take effect immediately. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 20 the roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 24 bill is passed. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 1704 1 302, by Senator Present, Senate Print 2536, an 2 act to amend the Economic Development Law, in 3 relation to directing. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 5 the last section. 6 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 7 act shall take effect immediately. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 9 the roll. 10 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 13 bill is passed. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 316, by Senator Seward, Senate Print 1747, an 16 act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to 17 extending the expiration of the provisions. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 19 the last section. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 21 act shall take effect immediately. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 23 the roll. 24 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 25 THE SECRETARY: Ayes - 1705 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Bill 2 is temporarily laid aside, roll call is 3 withdrawn. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 317, by Senator Cook, Senate Print 1858, an act 6 to amend the Tax Law, in relation to extending 7 the authorization. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 9 the last section. There is a home rule message 10 at the desk. Read the last section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 12 act shall take effect immediately. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 14 the roll. 15 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 16 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 17 the negative on Calendar Number 317 are Senators 18 Dollinger and Gentile. Ayes 55, nays 2. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 20 bill is passed. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 319, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 2970, 23 an act to amend the Navigation Law, in relation 24 to penalties authorized. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 1706 1 the last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 3 act shall take effect immediately. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 5 the roll. 6 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 9 bill is passed. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 324, by Senator Levy, Senate Print 924, an act 12 to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law. 13 SENATOR BRUNO: Lay it aside for 14 the day at the request of the sponsor. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 16 Calendar Number 324 is laid aside at the request 17 of the sponsor. 18 Calendar Number 316 is also laid 19 aside at the request of the sponsor for the 20 day. 21 Senator Montgomery. 22 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, Mr. 23 President. I would like unanimous consent to be 24 in the negative on 293. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 1707 1 Without objection, so ordered. 2 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Thank you. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 4 Senator Bruno, that completes the reading of the 5 non-controversial calendar. 6 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President, 7 can we at this time take up the controversial 8 calendar. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 10 Secretary will read. 11 SENATOR BRUNO: Let us, Mr. 12 President, begin with Senate 1, if we can. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: So 14 ordered. There is a local fiscal impact note at 15 the desk. Secretary will read. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 360, by Senator Bruno, Senate Print 1, an act to 18 amend the Education Law, in relation to 19 submission of school district budgets. 20 SENATOR CONNOR: Explanation. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 22 Senator Bruno. 23 SENATOR BRUNO: Who asked for the 24 explanation? 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 1708 1 Senator Connor has requested an explanation. 2 SENATOR BRUNO: Thank you, Mr. 3 President. Thank you, Senator Connor. I 4 appreciate the opportunity to talk on Senate 1 5 and why it is Senate 1. 6 We, in this house, were 7 responsible for passing the largest tax cuts in 8 all of the United States in this state last 9 year, personal income tax and business tax cuts 10 last year. This year we are focused on property 11 tax cuts because, when you take a look at the 12 impact of taxes on people in this state, they're 13 still prohibitive; they're a disincentive to 14 businesses to do business in this state. 15 So Senate 1 is appropriately 16 named because we focus this year on what is most 17 important in the lives of people in New York 18 State, cutting property taxes. Some will say 19 that you can't cut property taxes, especially as 20 relates to school -- schools because we need to 21 increase school aid, and you can't do both. 22 Well, we feel that you can do both, and I want 23 my colleagues to just focus on a couple of 24 facts. 25 Fact: From 1980 to 1990, we 1709 1 increased school aid by $4 billion. Local 2 property taxes, school taxes went up, same 3 period of time, by $5 billion. 1980 to 1996, we 4 increased school aid by 6.4 billion. Property 5 taxes went up 169 percent, over $9 billion; and 6 we wonder why we are still among the highest 7 taxed per capita in the United States. 8 So increasing school aid does not 9 get a lid on property taxes. So our response? 10 You learn from the past. You learn from their 11 mistakes. So we want to increase school aid but 12 we want to tie it in as much as we can with 13 putting a lid on property taxes. We do that 14 several ways. 15 One, we are partnering with the 16 Governor. The Governor has a STARR program that 17 cuts property taxes 1.8 billion and it does it 18 in places that are most needed. We have a plan 19 that cuts property taxes by a billion two. We 20 couple those, and we call if the SUPER STARR 21 plan, $3 billion in property tax cuts over the 22 next several years. (A telephone rang.) That's 23 the Governor calling. 24 Now, for those that haven't had 25 the experience before of voting in a very 1710 1 realistic way for property tax cuts, it is the 2 thing to do. It's the right thing to do, and 3 this does not inhibit school aid. We in this 4 Senate have always led the fight to properly 5 fund education, secondary and higher ed., 6 always. We take the lead. We don't follow in 7 funding education, because we know that that's a 8 priority here in the state. 9 But again, there is a recognition 10 that, as we have increased school aid, property 11 taxes have gone up so we, number one, ask school 12 districts voluntarily to freeze property taxes. 13 As they freeze property taxes, they get 3 14 percent additional state aid over and above the 15 state aid formula as an incentive for them to 16 freeze property taxes. 17 We have a homestead exemption in 18 this in that the average price home by county 19 gets a 30,000 deduction. That, in an average 20 price home is a 27 percent cut in the property 21 taxes. We have for seniors 62 or older get a 22 $50,000 deduction. Average home it's a 45 23 percent cut in their taxes. Those are with 24 incomes of 60,000 or less. 25 Now, the essence of what I've 1711 1 described is about $3 billion in property tax 2 cuts over a five-year period. For those that 3 think we can't afford to cut taxes, I will 4 restate you can't afford not to cut taxes 5 because what we have been doing has been moving 6 this state, partnered with Governor George 7 Pataki, in the right direction. We've gone from 8 the state that led the country in job losses, 9 the '80s, late '80s and early '90s, to leading 10 the country in job creation moving from 50th in 11 job creation to 8th in job creation, and to our 12 credit, we did that together -- we, the 13 Assembly, partnered with the Governor. 14 You now have an opportunity to 15 continue the economic development and the job 16 growth here in this state by doing what now is 17 the appropriate thing to do. The rest of this 18 package deals with administration. It creates 19 incentives to be more efficient in school 20 districts. It has mandate relief in it that 21 will save school districts millions and millions 22 of dollars. 23 It has a bill of rights for 24 students, parents. It's a very comprehensive 25 approach to doing what is right as relates to 1712 1 education in this state, while at the same time 2 providing the leadership that's desperately 3 needed to get a lid on property taxes. 4 People on fixed incomes are being 5 taxed out of their homes. Limited incomes are 6 being suffocated. Businesses can't grow and 7 expand because they are inhibited by the 8 property taxes that are much, much, much too 9 high by comparison to other states. 10 So, Mr. President, we have Senate 11 1 before us, and "1" usually denotes out front 12 first leadership. So I ask my colleagues to 13 join in leading this state, continuing in the 14 right direction. 15 SENATOR CONNOR: Thank you, Mr. 16 President. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Chair 18 recognizes Senator Connor. 19 SENATOR CONNOR: Thank you, Mr. 20 President. 21 I call up my amendment, waive its 22 reading -- it's quite thick -- and ask to 23 explain it. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: On the 25 amendment. 1713 1 SENATOR CONNOR: You know, Mr. 2 President, we've heard you talk about the job 3 growth under the Pataki administration and you 4 know, as someone said, there's statistics, 5 statistics, and he didn't say "darn" but I will, 6 lies. The fact is, it depends on how you look 7 at it. The fact is, we are eighth in number of 8 jobs created. That means we beat Idaho, Utah 9 and a few other low populated states, but if you 10 look at job growth rates, New York State -- and 11 this is the consensus forecast that everybody 12 agreed on for this coming year -- New York is 13 projected to have a job growth increase of .8 14 percent. The rest of the country is over 2 15 percent, so we're still not doing very well at 16 all. 17 Oh, yes, the coffers are awash 18 with revenues because wages are up and because 19 of Wall Street bonuses and, you know, as I 20 recently said about this administration, you 21 know when you take credit for the rain, be 22 prepared to have your critics attack you and 23 hold you responsible when the drought comes, so 24 we are indeed fortunate that Wall Street has 25 been doing so well, but our real job growth rate 1714 1 is still sad. 2 Now, be that as it may, Mr. 3 President, the bill before us deals with 4 property tax relief and property tax relief is 5 something we Senate Democrats have been talking 6 about for the last two years. As we pointed 7 out, a lot of our changes in the state fiscal 8 policy and our cuts in state spending have, in 9 effect, transferred expenditures to the counties 10 and the counties' major source of funding is the 11 property tax, and the property tax holders - 12 payers of this state, the home owners of this 13 state, have been paying through the nose, have 14 been experiencing increase after increase 15 because of their need to meet responsibilities 16 many of them mandated by the state, but the 17 state won't pay for them. 18 The Governor proposed STARR, a 19 good idea. Senator Bruno proposes SUPER STARR 20 which we're happy about, but we have a better 21 plan in this amendment, Mr. President, because 22 it's a FAIR STARR plan, and what it does -- and 23 I urge all my colleagues to listen -- each and 24 every Senator in this chamber, should this 25 amendment be adopted, will be able to go home 1715 1 and demonstrate they did a better job for their 2 counties and the exemptions for their home 3 owners will be better than under the Governor's 4 plan. 5 And why is that? The essential 6 feature of the Governor's plan was to guarantee 7 virtually everybody a $30,000 homestead 8 exemption, but there's a little language in his 9 bill which is in S. 1 that we take out and that 10 language is, "as adjusted by the median property 11 value for the county" because with that language 12 in there, I have a little chart here and all of 13 the counties in dark blue, light blue and medium 14 blue would do poorly under it. 15 Only Westchester -- the effect of 16 that language is that Westchester would, in 17 effect, get an exemption level -- in effect an 18 exemption level of $70,000. So Westchester gets 19 a 70. You live, you own a home in Westchester, 20 you get a $70,000 exemption. 21 Now, if you live in the ones that 22 we've tried to color in yellow, that's Nassau 23 and Rockland, your residents would get an 24 exemption of between 50- and $70,000, but if you 25 live -- if you live in the ones that are gray 1716 1 here, Suffolk, Putnam, Dutchess, Orange and 2 Saratoga, your residents would get an exemption 3 of between 30,000 and 40,000, but if you're in 4 the blues, if you represent -- if you own a home 5 in Ulster, Greene, Albany, Schenectady, 6 Rensselaer -- Senator -- Columbia, Warren, 7 Onondaga, Tompkins, Wayne, Monroe, Ontario, 8 Livingston and Erie, your residents only get an 9 exemption of between 20,000 and 29,000 and, if 10 you live in Niagara, Orleans, Genesee, Wyoming, 11 Yates, Seneca, Cayuga, Oswego, Oneida, Madison, 12 Chenango, Cortland, Tioga, Broome, Delaware, 13 Sullivan, Schoharie, Otsego, Essex, Clinton, 14 Hamilton and Washington Counties, you only get 15 an exemption of 15,000 to $19,000. That's what 16 you get under your bill. I mean I don't 17 represent Essex County so, you know, I care very 18 much about all the people in this state, not 19 probably as much as if I represented Essex 20 County. And if you live in and own property in 21 Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Allegany, Schoharie, 22 Chemung, Schuyler, Lewis, Jefferson, St. 23 Lawrence, Franklin, Herkimer, Fulton, Montgomery 24 Counties, your residents get an exemption of 25 under 15 percent. Why? Because the language is 1717 1 in there that says you take the median property 2 values. 3 Now, what does our plan do? 4 We're fair to everybody. By taking that 5 language out, we get a nice even yellow across 6 the board, everybody, yours and our home owners 7 get the $30,000 exemption, and it means real 8 dollars. 9 Now, you'll say for those of you 10 who represent Suffolk, Nassau, Rockland, 11 Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Orange and 12 Saratoga, sort of the privileged seven, we do 13 something for you. We don't want to hurt you, 14 so we're taking $400 million, and I'll tell you 15 where we have got it in a minute, taking $400 16 million and applying to those counties to hold 17 you harmless, hold those counties harmless, so 18 you'll get the same break as the unfair break 19 the bill gives you, but everybody else's 20 taxpayers will get a fair break and get that 21 $30,000 exemption, and we have charts. And do 22 we have charts! 23 The effect of this amendment, 24 it's rather startling here. I -- we have this 25 county by county. County by county, for 1718 1 example, Erie County, the average annual home 2 stead benefit in Erie County under S. 1 is about 3 $250, but under our amendment is $650. Allegany 4 County gets $150 under S. 1 but under our 5 amendment, the average home owner gets $450. 6 Delaware County goes from $175 to $375 and I've 7 got numbers. Look at Onondaga. Under S. 1, the 8 average home owner in Onondaga gets $350 and 9 under ours gets $700. 10 This is good, and I don't hold 11 this up as a political ploy. Vote against it if 12 you must, versus the Majority coming here to say 13 only we have good ideas. The Governor had a 14 pretty good idea. Senator Bruno made it better 15 and we have the best idea and if this 16 Legislature really is concerned about the 17 property taxpayers, they'll adopt this amendment 18 and we can move forward in partnership. 19 Now, what else do we do in our 20 amendment? We take $400 million and we drive it 21 to the Big 5 cities, which actually means 22 Westchester, which does very well under S. 1, 23 held harmless under our amendment, have to get 4 24 million because we drive 4 million of that $30 25 million into Yonkers, so if you're Westchester 1719 1 you do better under the amendment too. You do 2 real well, to the disadvantage of every other 3 county in the state except Nassau under S. 1. 4 Under our plan, Westchester does better and we 5 also keep $400 million to award those districts 6 to hold down spending, and that's where we got 7 our money. 8 Senator Bruno's $1.12 billion 9 addition, we provide it by driving 400 million 10 to the Big 5 cities, 400 million to hold 11 harmless Long Island and those suburban counties 12 with the high property values, and we keep 400 13 million to reward districts to hold down 14 spending, and I would point out while that's not 15 as much incentive to hold down spending, there 16 are other features in the main bill that we 17 don't interfere with like the two-thirds vote, 18 and so on. There's a lot of things there to 19 encourage districts to hold down spending and, 20 you know, it has some dramatic, I mean Monroe 21 County, Senator Alesi will get 82 percent more 22 of the benefit under this amendment, and I can 23 go through every member and I guarantee you, my 24 colleagues, every single member in this house 25 under this amendment can go home and say they 1720 1 did a better job for their constituents. They 2 can look their, in most cases upstate, the 3 benefit to your property owners is double under 4 this amendment, so if you must say we're not 5 looking at it because the Minority came up with 6 this idea, go ahead, my colleagues, go ahead at 7 the peril of the home owners in your district 8 because we take the same money, the Governor's 9 1.7, almost '8 billion dollars, Senator Bruno's 10 super 1.2 billion, and we apply it to the FAIR 11 STARR plan, fair for all the counties in the 12 state, fair to home owners and, you know, you 13 make the -- you can make the comparison, for 14 example, by looking at what happens under S. 1 15 to the harm of the average home owner -- where 16 is that number? Average home owner who paid 17 whatever? Oh, here it is. Here. Here it is. 18 Here you are. 19 Here's the part that's 20 interesting. What portion of a $120,000 house 21 is tax-exempt under the Republican plan? In 22 Westchester, 59 percent of the house is exempt; 23 in Suffolk 42 percent, in Nassau 33 percent; on 24 the average in this state only 25 percent; in 25 Schenectady County only 19 percent; in 1721 1 Montgomery only 12, Senator Farley; Fulton 2 County only 11 percent. 3 I urge my colleagues, look at 4 these materials because this amendment takes the 5 Governor's fairly good idea, Senator Bruno's 6 better idea, and makes it perfect for all of the 7 home owners in this state, and it doesn't cost 8 us any more than S. 1 would cost us. 9 I urge my colleagues, please 10 don't be blinded by partisanship, because this 11 is an idea that, just by changing that language 12 and using the same dollars, will benefit, in 13 most cases double the benefit to the home owners 14 and, if I represented other than Westchester and 15 Nassau, I wouldn't want to go back to my 16 constituents, and I don't want to because New 17 York City is not fairly treated by S. 1. 18 We would drive to the Big 5 19 cities more money so they get a better deal 20 too. What could be wrong, my colleagues, what 21 could be wrong? How could one vote against an 22 amendment that means property tax breaks for 23 your own constituents? 24 And again, I would urge in the 25 spirit of bipartisanship that the Senate accept 1722 1 this amendment and certainly I've discussed it 2 with my colleagues on this side and we all feel 3 that we owe it not just to the counties we 4 represent or the cities we represent, but to 5 those folks in Allegany County and those folks 6 in other parts of the state who would benefit 7 under this amendment and we would come up with a 8 FAIR STARR plan, a FAIR STARR plan where home 9 owners whoever they are, in whatever part of the 10 state, would get fair treatment. 11 Thank you, Mr. President. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 13 Bruno, on the amendment. 14 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President, 15 Senator Connor, I want to applaud you on the 16 good work that you have done. You have been 17 using your time so wisely and I am really 18 impressed and excited by the color graphics you 19 have that we can't afford in the Senate. We 20 can't afford these. I like it. Oh, this is 21 really impressive. I have to look at black and 22 white, and you're dealing with color and that's 23 why you can be so much more imaginative. That 24 is good work. Thank you. May I keep this? 25 Thank you. 1723 1 Mr. President, in all sincerity, 2 I want to applaud my colleagues and Senator 3 Connor, because that is good work. Those are 4 excellent recommendations and excellent 5 suggestions and, if you can convince the Speaker 6 that that's the right thing to do we will 7 negotiate this as we go forward in 8 permanentizing this as part of the budget. 9 I'm not sure that the Speaker 10 will be as all embracing as we might be, but we 11 are very interested. We want to go forward with 12 this, because again, I think you have added 13 something, for a change, very constructive to 14 the debate. 15 Having said that, there is a time 16 and place for everything, Mr. President, and the 17 time to incorporate these excellent suggestions 18 is in the negotiating process going forward, not 19 as an amendment on the floor in this house. 20 Consequently, we would encourage a party vote in 21 the negative on this amendment. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 23 Dollinger, on the amendment. 24 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I'll yield to 25 Senator Gentile, Mr. President. 1724 1 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 2 Gentile, on the amendment. 3 SENATOR GENTILE: Thank you, Mr. 4 President. 5 For too long in this state, we 6 have not dealt fairly and with equity in the 7 distribution of benefits and equity it's true, 8 especially in the distribution of benefits in 9 New York City, in the five counties that make up 10 New York City, and the time is now to address 11 that issue. The time is now. 12 For too long the city of New York 13 has been treated like the odd man out in this 14 collection of counties known as the state of New 15 York, and as the odd man out, we in New York 16 City have suffered. We've been short-changed. 17 We've been "gipped" as we say in Brooklyn as 18 state benefits have been doled out. 19 This slight, this shortcoming, 20 this short-changing and this inequity comes 21 although New York City has two-thirds of the 22 state population. We have in education 37 23 percent of the state's students and yet we get 24 only 34 percent of the school aid, which 25 results in a loss of over $300 million a year to 1725 1 public school education in the city. 2 We endure this inequity although 3 our student population increases by over $20,000 4 -- 20,000 students per year. We endure these 5 inequities, although we have over 50 percent of 6 the lottery revenue comes out of New York City, 7 and we endure these inequities even as much of 8 our toll money that we collect on our local 9 bridges and tunnels goes to subsidize suburban 10 railroads like Metro-North and the Long Island 11 Rail Road. 12 These inequities are not only 13 burdensome, they are burdensome to my 14 constituents in Brooklyn and in Staten Island 15 and to all the residents of New York City. So 16 now as an advocate of New York City, I must 17 rise, Mr. President, to support the attempt to 18 correct the inequity of the Governor that the S. 19 1 plan seeks to impose. 20 This particularly differential 21 treatment is found in the STARR program for the 22 property tax relief. That's why we have put 23 together our -- our fairness first plan that 24 will deal more fairly with New York City and 25 with the other four major school districts in 1726 1 regard to property tax relief. 2 Now, no one, as Senator Connor 3 has said, no one can argue with the premise of 4 the Governor's STARR program. That is a 5 property tax relief of $1.7 billion to New York 6 State home owners. But I am -- and I am of the 7 mind set that cutting taxes where possible and 8 helpful always makes sense -- always makes 9 sense. 10 Yet here once again New York City 11 is short-changed in this proposal. The New York 12 City home owners would only share in 12 percent 13 of that $1.7 billion program. Two-thirds of the 14 population in New York City out of the whole 15 state, and only 12 percent of the tax benefit, 16 and that tax benefit is significantly lower, as 17 Senator Connor has said, in New York City than 18 other comparable counties. 19 Clearly -- clearly something is 20 wrong. For example, the S. 1 program penalizes 21 the big cities like New York if they raise their 22 revenue by means other than the property tax. 23 Many large localities like New York City have 24 the ability to raise revenue much like the state 25 does, in income tax, in sales tax, in business 1727 1 tax, just to name a few. These revenue generat 2 ors are considered less onerous to our taxpayers 3 and more widespread than the sole reliance on 4 property tax as a source of revenue. 5 Yet the STARR program, the S. 1 6 program reduces the property tax exemption in 7 areas like New York City by penalizing us for 8 generating revenue in these other various and 9 less onerous ways. 10 What is the penalty? The penalty 11 is this: In the Big 5 school districts which 12 include New York City, the S. 1 program compares 13 the spending that localities do on school 14 districts to the City's total spending and the 15 difference in the -- is the percentage by which 16 the property tax exemption is reduced from the 17 $30,000 base or the $50,000 base for seniors, 18 so, therefore, the penalties imposed because the 19 City's property tax revenue is mixed in with the 20 other types of revenue that the City protects - 21 that the City collects, and for that we suffer 22 and for that we benefit less under the S. 1 plan 23 but, in contrast, the plan put forward by 24 Senator Connor, the amendment offered today, 25 removes that penalty for New York City and 1728 1 removes the penalty for the five big school 2 districts. 3 We remove that penalty by 4 assuming that all property tax revenue first 5 goes to the spending on local schools and that 6 as long as the tax revenue does not exceed the 7 school expenditures, then all home owners in the 8 Big 5 school districts would be entitled to a 9 $30,000 exemption or a $50,000 exemption in the 10 case of seniors. 11 So what is the difference between 12 the two plans? Under the S. 1 STARR plan, the 13 New York City home owners, the difference is 14 stark. In New York City, under S. 1 residential 15 property tax relief would amount to about $160 16 per year per home owner. Compare that to 17 somewhere in Westchester like Yonkers where home 18 owners would get a tax relief of $900 per year. 19 Seniors under the S. 1 plan would 20 receive a paltry $260 a year, yet in Westchester 21 County a senior in Westchester would get 22 $1,891. I'd like to know why the seniors in my 23 district are less worthy than the seniors in 24 Westchester. However, under our amended plan, 25 the plan put forth by Senator Connor, New York 1729 1 City residents would enjoy instead a $320 per 2 year reduction in property taxes. That is 3 double what the S. 1 plan offers. Seniors would 4 get a $523 per year reduction in property 5 taxes. That, my friends, is real savings. 6 And it's important to note here 7 under the amendment put forward that we're not 8 expanding the Governor's program beyond property 9 -- school property tax relief. Our plan allows 10 for an adjustment as property tax revenue 11 exceeds the local spending on schools in the Big 12 5, so we are not expanding the Governor's plan. 13 Instead, we are simply presenting a better and 14 fairer calculation and distribution of the tax 15 relief money. 16 What's really exciting about this 17 amendment is that none of the suburban or up 18 state counties are hurt or short-changed by this 19 amendment, to New York City or to the other 20 cities. Indeed, counties like Westchester, 21 Nassau will continue under this amendment to 22 enjoy their homestead exemptions that are over 23 $30,000 and more than $50,000. It's no change 24 from the S. 1 plan put forth here today. 25 Upstate counties like Chemung, 1730 1 Hamilton, Allegany County and others would 2 benefit by our amendment because it would 3 guarantee that the residents of those counties 4 receive at least a $30,000 exemption or the 5 $50,000 exemption if they are seniors, and what 6 is so fantastic about the amendment put forth by 7 Senator Connor is that it accomplishes all of 8 the following: 9 It helps the upstate counties. 10 It helps New York City and the Big 5 school 11 districts. It helps the wealthier counties of 12 this state because it holds them harmless and 13 actually in some cases increases their property 14 tax exemptions, and it fulfills the Governor's 15 promise to home owners across this state that 16 they would receive no less than the $30,000 tax 17 exemption or the $50,000 exemption if they are a 18 senior. 19 And our -- our FAIR STARR program 20 does this without any increased cost over the 21 S. 1 plan and yet offers taxpayers $700 million 22 more to the home owners in this state in tax 23 relief and we do that, as Senator Connor said, 24 by dividing up the $1.2 billion found in the - 25 in the S. 1 plan. In addition, our FAIR plan 1731 1 calls for $400 million for the tax-free 2 incentive aid which is double what the Governor 3 has proposed. 4 So we Democrats support and 5 embrace the Governor's STARR plan, but we make 6 it a fairness STARR proposal, and with this 7 amendment, by cutting up the pie, we cut up the 8 pie in a much more equitable way. 9 Passage of this amendment will 10 not solve New York City's problems. We're still 11 short-changed by our school aid. Too much of 12 our transportation money is still collected and 13 gets diverted elsewhere, but this amendment is a 14 step in the right direction in achieving some 15 parity and some equity to the Big 5 school 16 districts. 17 So, you know, I represent stable 18 neighborhoods in both Brooklyn and Staten 19 Island. I have real New York City homesteaders 20 who grow up, who raise families, who remain in 21 New York City during their senior years. I 22 represent hard working home owners and senior 23 citizens who have given so much to the "Big 24 Apple", so much to making it the preeminent city 25 that it is. 1732 1 So why not reward these home 2 owners for their diligence and why not reward 3 them for maintaining our stable neighborhoods? 4 Why not reward them for staying the course, and 5 why not, especially since our fairness STARR 6 plan is a win/win situation for everybody. 7 Benefits upstate counties, benefits New York 8 City, benefits wealthier counties, benefits our 9 senior citizens statewide. 10 We have a rare opportunity, 11 colleagues, by voting to approve this amendment, 12 to go back, as Senator Connor said, and say that 13 we got a better deal for them than was first 14 proposed, at no additional cost, and after 15 having voted yes on this amendment, you can go 16 back to your districts and be the true super 17 stars to your constituents. 18 I urge you to vote yes. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 20 Dollinger, on the amendment. 21 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Thank you, 22 Mr. President. 23 Senator Gentile spoke eloquently 24 about Brooklyn and Staten Island. Some of my 25 constituents find their origins in Brooklyn as 1733 1 well, and we have the phrase -- we don't use the 2 phrase "gipped" I guess but we have a phrase 3 that we borrowed from Long Island which was a 4 phrase called "we was robbed". That's a line, I 5 think it originated in Brooklyn some time ago 6 maybe in the days of Ebbetts Field. 7 But we was robbed. How was we 8 robbed? Well, the message upstate for years has 9 been we've been giving our tax dollars 10 downstate. We've been paying for higher school 11 costs down in Long Island and Westchester County 12 and we haven't been getting our fair share in 13 upstate New York. 14 Well, Senator Bruno, now is the 15 time. You said it. Now is the time to send a 16 message about property taxes. Here it is. You 17 want to send a message to the Speaker about 18 what's fair and just? Here's the easy way to do 19 it. The best way to do it, Senator, accept our 20 amendment, put our amendment onto this bill and 21 you've suddenly got a huge club to go negotiate 22 with the Speaker about what's fair for the 23 people of this state. Put the amendment on the 24 bill to start. That's the best way to send to 25 the Speaker a message. I'm willing to go talk 1734 1 to him. I'd go with you if you want to and we 2 can negotiate together to get the Speaker to buy 3 our idea for the plan. I think it would be a 4 wonderful way to do it, but the way to do it, 5 the way to send that message is to vote for this 6 amendment and, frankly, I don't see why anybody 7 who lives in upstate New York wouldn't vote for 8 this amendment. 9 In my county, Monroe County, 10 there's an 82 percent increase in the tax 11 reduction on school property taxes throughout 12 Monroe County. I can't wait to go back to the 13 school districts that I represent and say, I've 14 got a plan that will give you 82 percent more 15 than what Governor George Pataki proposed 16 because we had a better idea. We've worked hard 17 on this idea. It's a good idea, and I think 18 everybody in this chamber ought to be prepared 19 to go back to their upstate districts and say, 20 We got more, we had a way to do it without 21 spending more, a way to better distribute. 22 The problem with S. 1 without the 23 amendment is that what it does is it says that 24 the poor districts who have worked hard to try 25 to control spending for the last decade -- well, 1735 1 Senator Bruno talked about spending going up - 2 the districts who have worked hard and kept 3 their property taxes down end up being the most 4 punished. They get the least out of it and the 5 school districts who spent the most money, who 6 raised their property taxes the highest, get the 7 biggest benefit. 8 When does that seem fair? What 9 message does that send about their prior 10 spending practices? It seems to me it rewards 11 the big spenders and punishes those of us in 12 upstate New York who have been frugal in our 13 state spending. 14 It just seems to me that the plan 15 S. 1 as proposed is not fair. This amendment, 16 as Senator Gentile and Senator Connor point out, 17 creates uniformity in tax benefit, uniform tax 18 benefits. What could be fairer? Everyone gets 19 their fair share under the FAIR STARR plan. 20 Everyone gets a fair cut of the pie instead of 21 having the pie cut up with big pieces for West 22 chester, Nassau and other places, and small 23 pieces for everyone else. We're willing to give 24 bigger benefits. 25 One of the things that Senator 1736 1 Gentile and Senator Connor pointed out is that 2 we hold Nassau, Suffolk and the other major 3 counties we'll hold them harmless but let's make 4 sure that everyone fairly participates. Give 5 everyone a fair chance for property tax 6 reduction. Support the FAIR STARR plan and 7 let's start down the road to fairness in 8 property tax reductions in this state. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 10 Marchi, on the amendment. 11 SENATOR MARCHI: Mr. President, 12 it's very exciting, the rhetoric that has been 13 prompted by Senator Bruno's initiative. Had it 14 not been for Governor Pataki and Senator Bruno 15 expressing the consensus in the Majority, this 16 conversation would not be taking place. 17 It's been here many years. This 18 is the first direct attack on the problem of 19 property taxes that has substance and reality 20 undergirding it. 21 I also want to congratulate my 22 compatriot over there, Senator Gentile, and he 23 raises many points that we traditionally stress 24 in comparing -- making comparisons upstate and 25 downstate. But this kind of discussion goes on 1737 1 all over the state depending where you're from. 2 It's just the nature of government that you're 3 going to view with alarm what's being done to us 4 and "us" can mean anything from Erie County to 5 Suffolk County, and pointing with pride what 6 should be the division. 7 When I first came here, we had a 8 sparsity correction for upstate, like ten 9 percent because we didn't have in the upstate 10 counties the museums and all the other 11 infrastructure that went with it, that truly 12 placed us in places like New York City at a 13 distinct advantage. One of the reasons in New 14 York City, of course, is that while our real 15 estate taxes are the object of complaint, based 16 on comparison with almost any other area, you 17 will find that real estate taxes for residential 18 home owners, about 80 percent of our people are 19 renters. 80 -- 20 percent are home owners. 20 Our rates are low by comparison 21 to the rest of the state. If I compare my real 22 estate taxes or anybody from Staten Island 23 compares it and anybody from the city of New 24 York compares their property tax with that of 25 their adjacent numbers -- neighbors, there's a 1738 1 startling difference, but the answer is, of 2 course, we have also a plethora of taxes 3 including income tax and a plethora of other 4 taxes that other areas do not have, which really 5 is not all that bad because we have a rather 6 optimum range of sources of revenue to finance 7 the cost of government, and so that's not bad. 8 But to be applauded, I think, is 9 what Senator Bruno has stated so eloquently, and 10 also complimenting the direction taken by our 11 friends on the other side that when we finally 12 get to conference, we are pointing in the 13 identical direction, and it's that spirit that 14 animates the offering of the bill which 15 otherwise would never have appeared before us, a 16 conversation and a conference that we never 17 would have had, certainly my first in experience 18 since I've been here, had it not been for the 19 bill that we are considering. 20 So I just have the feeling that 21 there's a lot of wisdom in this chamber and that 22 wisdom will be made manifest to our good friends 23 at the other end of the hall here or the floor, 24 when serious negotiations take place, and I 25 think all of us will be gratified with the 1739 1 result because although there may be variations 2 to this theme, it all points to the same 3 direction. 4 So, Mr. President, I certainly 5 hope that the lessons that we have here -- and 6 let's remember one more fact. When we say 7 fairness should mean uniformity throughout each 8 and every circumstance that we live in, let us 9 remember equalization, a great principle 10 developed by Alfred E. Smith, equalizing 11 opportunity for every resident in this state. 12 The amount of real estate that - 13 upon which our education rests in the city of 14 New York is far more abundant than in some 15 areas. We may have 80- and $90,000 behind each 16 child attending public school, but there are 17 counties where it's 2- and $3,000 behind each 18 and every resident of that school district. So 19 equalization means we're going to bridge that 20 difference to bring everyone to a decent level 21 that will accommodate that expression. 22 That is, you know, we pay so much 23 in taxes. We should get so much back. That is 24 wrong. That is regressive, very regressive. 25 There are states in the United States that are 1740 1 very poor, and get more money simply because 2 they do not have the means to provide for 3 adequate living substance. Since when do we say 4 the amount of money that we put in is the amount 5 of money we should get back? That isn't 6 fairness. It's not fair to the poor little guy 7 and the poor little guy just doesn't live in the 8 city. They live in communities where -- where 9 the average income is very, very, very low. 10 Let us not lost sight of 11 equalization. Equalization is the principle 12 upon which New York became great, and I look 13 back to Alfred E. Smith for having fostered that 14 notion so earnestly and so effectively, so we're 15 going at things, I think in the right way, and 16 we're learning from each other, but let's do it 17 within the parameters of equalization, of 18 equity, and a realization that we are marching 19 in a direction perhaps which is a little 20 unaccustomed to traveling, but I think which 21 will bring positive results to the state of New 22 York. 23 SENATOR GOLD: Mr. President. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 25 Gold, on the amendment. 1741 1 SENATOR GOLD: Thank you, Mr. 2 President. 3 First, Mr. President, on a 4 personal note, I would like to thank my 5 colleagues for their important generosity during 6 the last week. It's very important. 7 Senator Marchi, you have a 8 problem and your problem is you cannot help 9 being other than what you are, which is a 10 gentleman, and I sat here a few moments ago and 11 I said to myself, Here is a very senior member 12 of this body who calls them like he sees them, 13 and I think it's extraordinarily gracious that, 14 for the second time in only a few weeks, you on 15 this floor complimented Senator Gentile for his 16 work. 17 I know the other day in the 18 Staten Island bill, which I voted against a year 19 ago, I was persuaded to go along with you and 20 Senator Gentile based upon his arguments which 21 you acknowledged and here again today as the 22 gentleman you are, you acknowledge the talent 23 and the hard work of Senator Gentile. 24 One comment I would like to make 25 to a dear friend, Senator Bruno -- and he's 1742 1 shown me that friendship in the last year or so 2 -- you said, Senator, that there's a time and 3 place for everything, and I look around the 4 chamber and I remember back. 5 We have laws in this state 6 against the use of so-called drug parapher 7 nalia. There's a fellow named Padavan who 8 brought that to our attention. The bill that 9 passed was not the bill originally filed by 10 Senator Padavan. He brought it out. We debated 11 it. He then called it back. There were 12 amendments and the debate made that a bill that 13 was of such a nature that it became law. I'm 14 proud of the fact that the so-called "Son of 15 Sam" Law was originated by me, but I'll tell you 16 right now, there are people still here today and 17 other members on your side who worked with me. 18 We amended it and we came up with something. 19 Now, Senator, if this isn't the 20 place to talk about it, I don't know what is 21 and, believe me, when we talk about the 22 Assembly's position, the Senate's position and 23 people say in the back rooms, Well, that really 24 means Joe Bruno's position, that really means 25 Shelly Silver's position, I'm not so thrilled 1743 1 with that. I wish it was the Senate's position 2 and that the same friendship and camaraderie, 3 which I acknowledge publicly, you have shown to 4 me and which I'm so grateful for, worked over 5 into a legislative process. 6 The concepts that Senator Connor 7 has offered to this chamber, not only today but 8 over the last few years are very interesting and 9 they're interesting for the following reason: 10 Years ago, I used to duck as people would throw 11 the comment at Democrats, and particularly 12 Democrats who weren't perhaps left of center, 13 that if there was ever a problem they throw 14 money at it and, of course, that was a 15 criticism. People said look what happened in 16 New York under the Wagner administration and 17 others. We got into a financial hole. 18 Senator Connor has brought out a 19 number of programs in the last few years which 20 have started with the concept that we're not 21 spending any more money than you are but we 22 think we have a way to improve upon it. 23 Now, Senator Bruno, I predict 24 that if you accepted the amendment and if the 25 Assembly went along with it, the Governor went 1744 1 along with it, that as every story got written, 2 it would still be the Pataki-Bruno initiative 3 and would we feel some goodness about it? 4 You're darn right, but as Governor Cuomo once 5 said to me as he was being -- as we were 6 discussing a certain piece of legislation, he 7 said, "Manny, don't worry about the newspaper 8 stories today. The Legislature goes home and 9 when I sign the bill, it's going to be Mario 10 Cuomo signing the bill. If this becomes law 11 with the Connor amendments, with the Gentile 12 amendments in it, believe me, it will still be 13 George Pataki with the pen in his hand and if I 14 know George Pataki, he's going to have his arm 15 around Joe Bruno and he'll tell me to go out and 16 play golf that day. He'll have his arm around 17 you. So, Senator Bruno, you would deserve 18 that. You would deserve it. 19 So all we're saying is that this 20 chamber ought to be a place where we discuss 21 these things and where it is appropriate to 22 discuss them. 23 In England, as some of you may 24 know, the House of Commons does not have enough 25 seats for the members because they don't want to 1745 1 discuss things. They don't want to encourage 2 all the members to be in the room at one time. 3 They say this is not a debating society and when 4 they have to vote, they march them in, they 5 march them right out again and make room for the 6 next group. 7 Our chamber is different. Our 8 chamber does discuss ideas with the hope that we 9 come out with the best product -- product we can 10 and in committee today, Senator Bruno, I voted 11 without recommendation to put it out because, as 12 Senator Marchi again pointed out, we're having 13 this discussion because the bill was put in. 14 All I'm saying is I want people 15 to vote for this amendment because it's good for 16 their districts, and I see my distinguished 17 friend from Syracuse. As was pointed out, this 18 bill means more money for Syracuse and it's not 19 a situation where, in Syracuse, if somebody 20 said, "Why would you vote against it?" You 21 would say, "Well, it costs too much money." 22 It's the same money. It's just a better way of 23 using the money, and I think that the work that 24 was done by Senator Connor, the work that was 25 done by Senator Gentile, as acknowledged by 1746 1 Senator Marchi, is important work because we 2 show that we can take programs and make them 3 better without spending more money, and that is 4 the new Democratic Party in this house which I'm 5 proud to be a part of and I hope that we can get 6 the support of the other side. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 8 question is on Senator Connor's amendment. A 9 yes vote is a vote in favor of the amendment - 10 I'm sorry. A no vote is a vote against the 11 amendment. On the amendment, all those in favor 12 signify by saying aye. 13 SENATOR PATERSON: Party vote in 14 the affirmative. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: There's 16 a request for a party vote. 17 The Secretary will call the 18 roll. 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 26, nays 34, 20 party vote. 21 SENATOR GOLD: Is that with the 22 exceptions? 23 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 24 amendment is defeated. 25 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President. 1747 1 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: On the 2 bill -- Senator Leichter, why do you rise? 3 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 4 on the bill, please. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: On the 6 bill, Senator Leichter. 7 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 8 there's something that's really been lacking in 9 the debate so far, and that is to take a look 10 and see why real estate taxes have gone up. 11 I almost thought that Senator 12 Bruno had it at the beginning because he said 13 two plus two -- and then he said it's zero. No, 14 Senator. Two plus two is four. You started 15 off, Senator, and you pointed out that we have 16 increased state aid but real property taxes have 17 continued to increase. Well, the answer is very 18 simply that the amount that we have increased 19 state aid for education over the years has not 20 equaled the increase in inflation, hasn't 21 increased the number of new students. 22 There's been an increase in the 23 city of New York in total dollars but when 24 adjusted for inflation and when adjusted for the 25 increase in school population -- we had 20,000 1748 1 students who came in last year, I think 15,000 2 the year before -- we have actually decreased 3 per student in real dollars the amount of money 4 that we supplied for the city of New York, and I 5 suspect the same thing is true for most of the 6 state. 7 I must tell you, I'm fortunate to 8 have a vacation home in Essex County and a 9 wonderful place represented by my good friend, 10 Senator Stafford who's revered by the residents 11 of Essex County, but I must tell you, Senator, 12 I'm appalled. I'm appalled at how my real 13 estate taxes have gone up. Now, it's not that 14 the people of Westport or the people who run the 15 school board have been profligate. It's because 16 state aid hasn't kept up with the expenses they 17 have. These people do an excellent job in 18 trying to keep costs down while seeing that 19 basic education is provided, and I imagine the 20 same thing is true at school boards throughout 21 this state. 22 So why have the real property 23 taxes gone up? They've gone up because we 24 haven't provided the state aid. Why haven't we 25 provided the state aid? Because we have 1749 1 embarked on a perfectly foolish, senseless, 2 unfair tax policy in this state of reducing 3 income taxes for the wealthy while everybody 4 else has had to pay more in local taxes, in 5 fees, in tuition, in transportation costs. 6 That, unfortunately, started under Governor 7 Cuomo in 1986 and we exacerbated the situation 8 under Governor Pataki. We did not have the 9 money for the tax decrease that we voted in 10 1995. That tax increase has been an utter flop, 11 a failure. I don't know how Senator Bruno can 12 get up and say "We have the state in the right 13 direction. We're growing in jobs." I hope that 14 you read -- and if you didn't, I'll send it to 15 you -- Senator Bruno's home paper -- or one of 16 his home papers, the Times Union had an 17 excellent analysis that showed that this state's 18 economy is sluggish. Our job growth ranks among 19 the lowest among all the states. 20 So if the justification for the 21 income tax dec... cuts, decrease, was it's going 22 to energize the economy, it hasn't happened. 23 All it's done is blown a hole in the state 24 budget, created a deficit, forced us to reduce 25 state aid to education and put the burden on the 1750 1 localities. We've seen real property taxes rise 2 all over. 3 So for this body and for Senator 4 Bruno to say we've done such a wonderful job, 5 we've reduced taxes but the localities haven't 6 reduced taxes and now we're going to come in 7 with this program of helping to reduce real 8 estate taxes. It's a phony, and it's a phony 9 not only because it fails to look at what the 10 real problem is, which is an unfair, unjust, 11 unwise tax cut, income tax cut, but also we 12 don't have the money for it. This is a shell 13 game. It's true, we have a one shot, one 14 windfall monies this year from Wall Street, but 15 if we embark on the -- whether you call it 16 STARR, super STARR, fair STARR or no STARR, the 17 fact of the matter is that there's no way that 18 we can continue that program without at the same 19 time next year further reducing aid to education 20 or failing to increase that aid to education in 21 a way that takes into account inflation, rising 22 pupils, and so on. 23 So how do we pay for it? We 24 can't pay for it. It's a gimmick. It's a trick 25 and it fails to do what we really need to do, 1751 1 and that's why the bond rate is already set. 2 You guys are continuing your foolish ways and 3 that's why people like the Citizens Budget 4 Commission have said, you're following a wrong 5 path. 6 So I can just tell you that I 7 think, as we often do here, maybe good public 8 relations, maybe it's good politics for awhile 9 and maybe we can say, look what we're doing for 10 real estate taxes but in point of fact, we're 11 just shifting monies around. We're shifting 12 obligations around and we're failing really to 13 help our school system or failing to help the 14 taxpayers. 15 Then, of course, you have the 16 problem that the STARR system and super STARRS 17 are terribly inequitable. That was pointed out 18 by Senator Gentile and Senator Connor and 19 Senator Gold and others, in a sense conceded by 20 Senator Bruno. What Senator Connor didn't fully 21 appreciate was how -- how STARR and super STARR 22 were figured out. It wasn't based, I think on 23 the medium assessment or cost of homes in the 24 various counties. It was based on one thing, on 25 votes cast in the 1994 gubernatorial election. 1752 1 That's how Westchester and Suffolk and Rockland 2 and some of those benefited greatly while the 3 city of New York is shortchanged in a very 4 blatant and a very unfair manner. 5 So I don't think that anything is 6 being done here that's of any assistance to the 7 taxpayers of the state of New York. On the 8 contrary. I think we're just making the state's 9 fiscal situation even worse. I think it's the 10 sort of game playing that we do here within the 11 confines of the walls of the Capitol, that maybe 12 on the outside some people are going to be 13 fooled and they're going to say, "Isn't it 14 wonderful? They're going to do something about 15 real estate taxes", but in point of fact, we're 16 not doing anything about what is really 17 meaningful, really needed, and that is 18 education, educational costs, who's going to pay 19 for it, how is it going to be paid for in a fair 20 manner? 21 So my colleagues, I just want to 22 say that with all this self-congratulations 23 going around, I think you better take a look at 24 what you're really doing, which is, again, 25 gimmickry, one shots of fiscal irresponsibility. 1753 1 This does not solve anybody's problem. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 3 Cook. 4 SENATOR COOK: Mr. President, 5 thank you. 6 When the Governor gave his budget 7 presentation and announced the STARR program, I 8 thought this isn't STARR. It's a sunrise 9 because for the first time, the leadership of 10 the state had taken seriously the issue of 11 property taxes. The question of how to fairly 12 fund our schools had actually put the dollars 13 into the fiscal plan to do it. It had presented 14 us with a plan that would accomplish over a 15 four-year period of time a 27 percent average 16 reduction for school taxpayers in the state, a 17 45 percent annual reduction for senior citizens. 18 We hear people saying, Well, why 19 don't we just pour extra money into the school 20 districts and let that take care of the tax 21 increases. Well, I think we ought to review 22 again -- and Senator Bruno cited some of this 23 information, but let's talk in percentages. 24 Since 1985 and '86, the inflation 25 rate -- the inflation increase since that period 1754 1 of time has been 35 percent. During that same 2 period of time, we have increased, not decreased 3 -- we have increased aid to education by 63 4 percent during that same period of time, but 5 during that time, the budgets, the local 6 spending has gone up 72 percent. Now, there are 7 those who say, Well, let's have a plan where 8 we're going to make the state up to 40 percent 9 or 50 percent or whatever share. How is the 10 state ever going to get to 40 percent or 50 11 percent when every time we increase state aid by 12 63 percent, the spending goes up to 72 percent? 13 It simply isn't going to happen. That's why the 14 plan has to be devised in the manner that the 15 Governor has presented it which gives the 16 reduction on the tax bill to the taxpayer. The 17 taxpayer sees it there in black and white. The 18 state makes the school district whole on the 19 amount of money that they would be losing, the 20 revenue they would be losing by giving this 21 reduction and property tax increase, which has 22 gone up 90 percent since 1985-86, for the first 23 time return that curve around and we begin in 24 the direction of reducing property taxes while 25 increasing the state's proportion of spending, 1755 1 indeed, and we do it by rewarding the school 2 districts for controlling their costs, not by 3 simply pouring more money in and saying, "Here's 4 a blank check. Spend it as you will", and 5 that's important, and the second thing that's 6 important to remember is that while this 7 particular bill costs $1.9 billion over that 8 period of time, that the Governor also has 9 proposed another 1.4 billion in increased aid 10 during the same period. So that's an investment 11 of over $3 billion that the Governor is 12 committed to, in fact, increasing spending for 13 educational purposes in the state over the next 14 four years. 15 That is a milestone. That is 16 something for which every person in the state 17 should stand and applaud and particularly the 18 property owners of this state should finally 19 feel that there is someone at the helm who 20 understands their problem and who is willing to 21 put his administration and this house on the 22 line to do something about the problem. 23 It is an innovative program. It 24 is a program that has been too long in coming, 25 and I think that we should all stand and applaud 1756 1 the Governor for the leadership that he's 2 showing in this effort. 3 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 4 President. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 6 Dollinger. 7 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Will Senator 8 Cook yield to a question? 9 SENATOR COOK: Certainly. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 11 Cook, will you yield to a question? 12 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Senator, you 13 talked about the increase in expenditures by 14 local school districts during the last decade 15 and you gave statistics about the 90 percent 16 increase. How much of that was approved by the 17 voters of the state of New York, the individual 18 school district voters? 19 SENATOR COOK: Senator, you don't 20 know, for the simple reason that with the 21 austerity budget that we have in place in this 22 state, when the voters turn down a budget, it 23 doesn't mean anything because the school boards 24 go ahead and spend whatever they want to 25 anyway. So the austerity -- the question of 1757 1 whether the voters approve that expenditure, I'm 2 sorry, it just doesn't exist. 3 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again, 4 through you, Mr. President, even if it were an 5 austerity budget and the number of budgets that 6 are approved under austerity plans, those 7 budgets were all previously approved by school 8 boards, weren't they, because that was last 9 year's budget. 10 SENATOR COOK: Mr. President, 11 that's precisely the point. The school boards 12 have approved spending programs that have far 13 exceeded the capacity of the taxpayers to keep 14 up with them and they have -- the answer that 15 the school boards have given us annually is you 16 give us more money because somehow even though 17 the taxpayers are paying 90 percent more taxes 18 than they did before, we still need more money 19 to spend. 20 Mr. President, this question of 21 reducing property taxes has to be partnership. 22 It's got to be a partnership between the state 23 of New York and the localities. There has to be 24 an effort on the part of both parties to deal 25 with this problem, and this is not punitive. 1758 1 This is not saying, cut your expenditures in the 2 local district. In fact, it's saying you may 3 increase your spending, but it's saying do it 4 responsibly. We'll be partners with you. 5 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again through 6 you, Mr. President. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 8 Dollinger -- Senator Cook, will you continue to 9 yield? 10 SENATOR COOK: Yeah. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 12 Dollinger. 13 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Isn't the 14 definition of whether a school board has acted 15 responsibly tested by whether or not the vote is 16 passed -- the budget is passed by the voters? 17 Isn't that the test of responsibility you're 18 looking for? 19 SENATOR COOK: Mr. President, as 20 I indicated before, even when budgets are 21 defeated, that has very little impact on how 22 much the district spends because the district 23 can impose an austerity budget on which there is 24 no limit and that, in fact, is what has been 25 happening, and that's the reason why property 1759 1 taxes have continued to go up despite the fact 2 that New York State has been giving additional 3 state aid at a rate almost double the rate of 4 inflation. 5 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again through 6 you, Mr. President. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 8 Dollinger. 9 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Senator, 10 could you just enlighten me as to how many 11 budgets were actually defeated in New York 12 State? 13 SENATOR COOK: Mr. President, it 14 varies from year to year, 20 percent, 30 percent 15 of the budgets, depending on the year, but the 16 point is, Mr. President, that the spending at 17 the local level is not responding to the issue 18 of property taxes. It is a matter that people 19 are looking to the state of New York to make - 20 to make up for whatever the localities expended. 21 I don't care whether the school boards are 22 spending it or the school voters are spending 23 it. The point is that the state of New York has 24 been doing its part and the local school 25 districts have been the one that have constantly 1760 1 been increasing their spending, and this bill is 2 saying to them, Okay. Let's turn that around. 3 Let's start being responsible in the way we 4 spend money at the local level and we as a state 5 will help you in that process. 6 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Okay. Mr. 7 President, I also - 8 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 9 if I could interrupt just a minute. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 11 Skelos. 12 SENATOR SKELOS: If I could have 13 the last section read for the purpose of Senator 14 Goodman and Senator Gold voting. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Read 16 the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 12. This 18 act shall take effect immediately. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 20 -- call the roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll.) 22 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 23 Goodman. 24 SENATOR GOODMAN: Mr. President, 25 I wish to cast my vote in the negative and 1761 1 explain briefly the reason. The reason is that 2 this situation is one in which we find ourselves 3 giving a very substantial assist economically to 4 upstate homeowners, to out of city homeowners. 5 It's been estimated that this might range from 6 1,000 to $1800 and at the same time, we are 7 causing the rents to rise in New York. If what 8 I read in the papers is accurate with respect to 9 a possible position being taken in this house 10 which will cause the increase in exactly the 11 same amount to many of my constituents. I 12 respectfully suggest to this body that what's 13 good for the goose is good for the gander and at 14 the appropriate moment of course, I'll vote to 15 reduce real estate taxes but not in advance of 16 some commitment to maintain a reasonable level 17 of rent in the district which I represent. 18 Thank you, Mr. President. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 20 Goodman in the negative. 21 Senator Gold. 22 SENATOR GOLD: I would like to 23 vote and not explain my vote. I vote in the 24 negative. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Thank 1762 1 you, Senator Gold. 2 Senator Gold in the negative. 3 Senator Skelos -- Senator 4 Oppenheimer. 5 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: I will be 6 voting in the affirmative. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 8 Oppenheimer in the affirmative. Withdraw the 9 roll. 10 Senator Dollinger. 11 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 12 President, I have a question for the sponsor and 13 I'm not sure whether Senator Cook is going to be 14 the sponsor. I asked the question of Senator 15 Stafford at the Finance Committee meeting, and I 16 was hoping that perhaps I could ask the question 17 again, see if I could get an answer that I could 18 work with. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 20 Dollinger, who are you posing your question to? 21 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Senator Cook 22 -- I could perhaps address - 23 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 24 Cook, do you yield to Senator Dollinger? 25 SENATOR COOK: Senator, I'll try, 1763 1 however inadequately, to respond to your 2 question. 3 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Senator, I 4 asked this question at the Finance Committee, 5 and if you could just bear with me because I 6 want to make sure I understand how this bill 7 works. 8 As you know, school districts 9 collect their property taxes, almost all of it, 10 from the 1st of September to the 1st of October, 11 the tax -- the penalty free period in which the 12 school warrant is paid by taxpayers. What I was 13 told in the Finance Committee is that the state 14 will -- they will collect less because the 15 exemption will be in effect and depending on the 16 value of the exemption, they will collect less 17 than they would otherwise collect had there been 18 no exemption in place. So instead of collecting 19 100 million, they'll collect $80 million. The 20 other $20 million is going to come from the 21 state of New York in the periodic aid payments 22 that the state of New York makes after the 23 period in which the school district finishes 24 collecting its taxes. 25 As you know, Senator, one of the 1764 1 things that school districts do with all that 2 cash is they invest it. They put it out for 3 deposit. They generate income in the period of 4 time in which they hold the cash but don't have 5 to spend it. 6 My question is what provision is 7 there in this law to reimburse those districts, 8 especially a district -- the larger districts 9 like the town of Greece which I represent, the 10 Greece Central School District, which I believe 11 raises in excess of 70- to $80 million on their 12 property tax levy. What is the provision to 13 reimburse them for the lost income on the funds 14 that they would otherwise hold when they collect 15 it? 16 SENATOR COOK: Mr. President. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 18 Cook. 19 SENATOR COOK: Actually, Senator, 20 you should know the answer to that because it's 21 the same provision that was in the amendment 22 that you -- that you proposed and that you 23 thought was such a great amendment. So we're 24 proposing to do it precisely the same way you 25 propose to do it, okay? 1765 1 To be a little bit more succinct, 2 however, the Governor has wished to tie this, 3 admittedly, in kind of a convoluted way to 4 lottery revenues and, as a matter of fact, the 5 reduction will probably just about equal the 6 lottery revenues over a period of time and that 7 will give all of us a little bit easier time of 8 going back and saying to people, you know, when 9 they ask us that question about the lottery, 10 here's where the lottery money goes. 11 There's a point of reality, 12 though. The money will be probably reimbursed 13 to the districts on about the same schedule that 14 we currently pay them state aid payments, which 15 is 70 percent, which goes between September and 16 April during our fiscal year, the other 30 17 percent during the subsequent fiscal year. 18 Now, admittedly, the district is 19 going to absorb some lost revenue by virtue of 20 the fact that they will have lost the 21 reimbursement -- that they will have lost that 22 money to put in the bank, but there are two 23 pieces of this that you need to be cognizant 24 of. The state reimbursement will be for the 25 value of the reduction, not the value of the 1766 1 amount that actually is not collected. 2 Therefore, in the school district's levy, the 3 uncollected school taxes which are returned to 4 the counties and repaid to the school districts 5 in April will probably be very close to the 6 amount of money that we're talking about here. 7 So that it will be something close to awash. 8 I will admit to you that there 9 will be some dollar amount that the school 10 districts will, in fact, be losing in revenue, 11 whatever that is, but I think it is not a large 12 amount of money. The point is, as I said 13 earlier, however, this is a partnership. The 14 state is assuming a major part of that 15 partnership in that we are, in fact, making the 16 districts whole on the original dollar amount 17 and if the school districts are, in fact, going 18 to lose some portion of the interest that they 19 would have earned by putting that in the bank on 20 October 1st rather than having it spread out 21 until April, then, indeed, that, perhaps, is 22 part of the local cost of giving this relief to 23 the property taxpayers. 24 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again through 25 you, Mr. President. 1767 1 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 2 Dollinger. 3 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Even though 4 in the long run they may have to raise more 5 property tax to cover that because they're 6 losing that income, they're going to have to 7 raise that revenue. We're not going to pay it 8 back to them. They're going to have to raise 9 property taxes to cover the lost interest 10 benefit that they would have from having their 11 money in the bank. 12 SENATOR COOK: Mr. President, 13 that is undoubtedly true. It is undoubtedly 14 true in some of the bills that I've seen folks 15 on your side propose relative to installment 16 payment of taxes, for example. Sometimes when 17 you give relief to the property taxpayers, 18 you're trying to relieve those folks who are the 19 most heavily burdened and some of the rest of us 20 pick up some of that additional money, but I 21 would point out that at its peak, this bill is 22 going to put -- reduce property taxes by an 23 estimated $2 billion. We're currently 24 collecting about $17 billion in property taxes. 25 So it is only two billion out of that $17 1768 1 billion in the first place that is going to be 2 affected by this reduction, about 27 percent as 3 we indicated for the average taxpayer but 4 remember this is not impacting the commercial 5 tax levy and, therefore, in terms of the 6 propose... the total tax levy of the school 7 districts across the state, we're only talking 8 about two billion out of the $17 billion that 9 they levy and, in addition to that, to repeat 10 what I just said early -- earlier, they are 11 being made whole for the entire portion of the 12 levy by which the levy is reduced or their 13 actual tax award is reduced by virtue of the 14 provisions of this law and, therefore, the 15 difference between what they are probably 16 currently carrying as unpaid taxes until that is 17 refunded by the counties in April, I would guess 18 -- and I can't -- I can't give you this in 19 solid numbers -- is probably very close to what 20 they would actually have to carry over under 21 this bill. 22 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again through 23 you, Mr. President. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 25 Dollinger. 1769 1 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I appreciate 2 Senator Cook's very detailed and I think 3 accurate explanation, but let me ask one other 4 question, Senator Cook. As you know, the 5 largest deadbeat for school districts in this 6 state is the state of New York. 7 Senator Leichter has pointed out 8 that the city of New York is owed about $800 9 million from the state. Several school 10 districts that I represent are owed somewhere 11 between 200- and $800,000 in aid that they - 12 they're owed and the state is going to pay off 13 slowly, slowly over time and, as you know, as we 14 talked about, I think last week, if you owe the 15 state of New York money, they grab money. 16 My question to you is, is there 17 anything in this bill that somehow gives an 18 incentive to the state of New York to make these 19 payments which will be absolutely critical 20 because these will be payments that, if they 21 don't get, they won't be able to spend the 22 budgeted amount because they won't have the 23 money. 24 Is there anything that requires 25 the state of New York to make these payments on 1770 1 time and puts a penalty on us if we don't pay it 2 on time as is our history? 3 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 4 Cook. 5 SENATOR COOK: Mr. President, 6 money that you are talking about -- which is, of 7 course, substantial amounts of money. I don't 8 deny that -- is money that was spent in previous 9 years and the reason primarily that that money 10 is outstanding, it has not been paid, is because 11 there were claims that the school districts 12 failed to make in a timely fashion to the 13 state. That was money that they spent two years 14 ago and for some reason it was sitting around on 15 somebody's desk and they didn't bother to send 16 the claim in to the Education Department before 17 the end of that fiscal year. So that was money 18 that they spent - 19 SENATOR DOLLINGER: That isn't 20 the case. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 22 Dollinger, please. 23 SENATOR COOK: That is money that 24 they spent in their previous budget. So it will 25 have no impact on future budgets. 1771 1 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 2 Dollinger. 3 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again through 4 you, Mr. President, if Senator Cook will yield. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 6 Cook, will you continue to yield? 7 SENATOR COOK: Yes. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 9 Dollinger. 10 SENATOR DOLLINGER: What do we 11 tell our school districts if the payments aren't 12 made on time? 13 SENATOR COOK: Well, we can tell 14 them to make their claims on time and then 15 they'll get their payments on time. 16 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again through 17 you, Mr. President. What happens if this bill 18 passes and becomes law and the school district 19 is sitting there having budgeted $100 million, 20 raised $80 million through property taxes and is 21 waiting for the $20 million payment from the 22 state of New York and doesn't get it on time? 23 What do we tell the school districts? 24 SENATOR COOK: Mr. President - 25 SENATOR DOLLINGER: They don't 1772 1 have any more resources. 2 SENATOR COOK: That is money that 3 they would be spending in this year's budget. 4 The claim is for money that they spent last 5 year. So they're two entirely different things. 6 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again through 7 you, Mr. President, I apologize. I haven't made 8 myself clear. 9 SENATOR COOK: I know what you're 10 saying, Senator. You're saying because the 11 school district has an account receivable, that 12 we should make them whole on the account 13 receivable, I don't deny that, but the point is 14 that's not this year's budget money that you're 15 talking about. 16 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again, I 17 apologize, Mr. President. I haven't been clear 18 with my question. Let me see if I can make it 19 clear. S.1 becomes law. In the year 2000, the 20 Greece School District needs $100 million. The 21 exemption is in place. They take in $80 million 22 in the month of September. They're owed 20 23 million more for that year, forget about prior 24 years. 25 SENATOR COOK: Well, Senator, 1773 1 that is not current year money that they're 2 owed. It's previous year money. 3 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Excuse me, 4 Mr. - 5 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 6 Dollinger. 7 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Maybe I don't 8 understand. It's the previous year's money that 9 they're owed for what? 10 SENATOR COOK: Because they made 11 late claims. 12 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again, Mr. 13 President, I'm not being clear. I'm assuming 14 that the district makes a timely claim for the 15 exemption. Under this bill you have to start in 16 November of the previous year. 17 SENATOR COOK: Senator, are you 18 talking about -- now you're talking about the 19 money under this bill, or are you talking about 20 the existing -- what we have called the "Q"? 21 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I'm talking 22 about the former, not the latter, Mr. Chairman, 23 and I apologize if I've confused you. 24 SENATOR COOK: Okay. We're 25 talking about this bill now. 1774 1 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Right. S.1 2 becomes law. 3 SENATOR COOK: Okay. 4 SENATOR DOLLINGER: We raised $80 5 million in the property tax levy. We need $20 6 million from someone to meet our $100 million 7 budget requirement. We get to July -- January 8 1st and we've spent 50 million and we've only 9 got 30 million left in the bank but we're going 10 to spend 50 million more. What happens if the 11 state of New York doesn't pay the $20 million on 12 time? 13 SENATOR COOK: Well, Mr. 14 President, the point is that we're writing it 15 into the statute that the state -- that this is 16 part of the state aid formula. This is unlike 17 the other circumstance -- and I don't want to 18 belabor that, but the other circumstance in 19 which people are making claims based on the aid 20 formula that existed in previous years. 21 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I agree with 22 that, but what happens if we don't get the money 23 this year? Is there anything in this bill that 24 forces the state of New York to release that 25 money in a timely fashion so our school 1775 1 districts aren't left with a huge hole? 2 SENATOR COOK: Mr. President, the 3 only way that the school districts would not get 4 the money would be if this Legislature were to 5 amend the law, change the law so that the 6 formula was in some manner different. 7 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Okay. I 8 apologize, Mr. Chairman, and I thank the Senator 9 for his comments. 10 I'll be very brief on this bill. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 12 Dollinger, on the bill. 13 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I have no 14 interest in voting for a bill that will take the 15 major portion of a huge property tax exemption 16 and driving it out of my community and into some 17 other part of the state unfairly and 18 inequitably. That seems to me to make no sense 19 whatsoever. 20 Without the amendment attached to 21 this bill, it is again a huge transfer, one that 22 has been complained about by upstate Senators 23 for years. It's a huge transfer of wealth from 24 the upstate region to some place else. It's not 25 fair across the board. It's not fair to my 1776 1 taxpayers. It's not fair to my county. It's 2 not fair to my region and, as far as I can tell, 3 it's not fair any place north of Putnam County. 4 I can't understand why we would want to take a 5 tax system and make it so inequitable that the 6 primary beneficiaries are the wealthiest people 7 in this state. This logic just absolutely 8 totally escapes me. 9 There are problems with this bill 10 in the mechanics of this bill. The most amazing 11 part about it is -- and I would just suggest one 12 other amendment. I'm not going to propose this 13 as an amendment because I know there are not 31 14 votes for good, well spoken English, but I would 15 suggest that everybody turn to page 32, line 40 16 and 41 and when we use the phrase which required 17 in this bill, which is the reason why this bill 18 is being passed, it says there will be on the 19 tax bill a little line that says, "Your tax 20 savings this year resulting from the New York 21 State school tax STARR program" -- this requires 22 -- the law requires them to use the word "is". 23 It's not "is". It's "are". I checked with 24 Professor Stavisky. Professor Lachman concurs. 25 You have to use a plural when you use a plural 1777 1 noun. We can't even get the English right in 2 this educational bill. 3 This bill is far too 4 complicated. It isn't going to do what we want 5 it to do. It's grossly unfair to the people I 6 represent. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 8 Saland. 9 SENATOR SALAND: Thank you, Mr. 10 President. 11 Mr. President, I listened 12 patiently to virtually all of the comments from 13 my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and I 14 heard most of the comments during the course of 15 the deliberation on the debate -- on the 16 amendment and have sat through the entire debate 17 on the main bill. 18 Let me just follow up on some of 19 the comments by Senator Cook. I certainly feel 20 that the Governor is entitled to an extraordin 21 ary amount of credit for having taken what has 22 long been an issue which seemed to be solely one 23 with which this Senate, and particularly the 24 Senate Majority was concerned and by, in his 25 State of the State address, making it into one 1778 1 of the cornerstones of the State of the State 2 address, immediately elevating it to a status 3 that has not heretofore been known in this 4 state. 5 The Governor, through his 6 leadership, has made school tax reform a front 7 burner issue, and what he has done is craft - 8 yes, I can probably draw on Senator Dollinger's 9 words -- a bill that is somewhat complicated. 10 Our bill mirrors many of the proposals of the 11 Governor, builds on the successful bill that we 12 had passed last year, but what he has done is 13 carefully craft the mechanism which effectively 14 says that real property tax relief will be 15 provided in the form of school tax relief based 16 upon median values in the respective counties to 17 virtually every residential owner in that county 18 as long as that is your primary residence, and 19 what we've done in our bill is to provide for 20 accountability, not merely concerning ourselves 21 with the revenue side because, as has been 22 pointed out, this state, the state of New York, 23 over the course of the past 11 years, has 24 greatly exceeded the rate of inflation in terms 25 of the amount of state aid that it has provided 1779 1 to its various school districts and, as has been 2 pointed out further, as greatly as we have 3 exceeded the rate of inflation which was some 35 4 percent over that period of approximately 11 5 years and our school aid has been in the amount 6 of approximately 60 percent increased. The 7 growth in school spending has dramatically 8 exceeded the amount -- the increased amount of 9 aid that we've provided. 10 So what we're doing here is 11 saying to those in our respective districts that 12 we will tie into your local median value, your 13 county median value, the means by which you can 14 find relief, and that's pegged at either 45 15 percent if you're a qualified senior, which 16 means less than $65,000 in income, and to all 17 other homeowners, the amount would be 27 18 percent, phased in over a period of three years 19 for non-seniors and four years for seniors and 20 at the same time, again, accountability, 21 providing the ability for school districts 22 should they choose to, in effect, have a freeze 23 in reduction where the state would reward those 24 districts that froze their school tax, provide 25 an even greater amount for those who would not 1780 1 merely freeze their school tax but return some 2 of their savings to their taxpayers. 3 There's a number of things that 4 have been included in our bill, whether it's one 5 statewide uniform budget day, whether it's a 6 limitation on the number of times you can go 7 back to the voters on the question of the 8 passage of a school vote -- school budget. The 9 reality is that this is a measure which will 10 help define the balance of this session, and 11 what we need and what we await is the response 12 from our friends over in the other house. 13 There have been -- Lord only 14 knows how many people have endeavored to 15 capitalize on this issue. It's an issue 16 certainly for those of us outside of the city of 17 New York where the principal means by which we 18 turn to our taxpayers is the real property tax. 19 It is a burning issue, one that has been 20 festering for several years, one with which this 21 house has time and again attempted to deal, only 22 to run into intransigence or indifference on the 23 part of the Assembly. 24 I think we here should be 25 indebted not merely to Senator Bruno and Senator 1781 1 LaValle and Senator Cook, but certainly an 2 enormous debt of gratitude to Governor Pataki 3 for really taking advantage of his bully pulpit 4 and making school tax relief a priority item 5 which the 1997 session may well at long last see 6 accomplished. 7 I'm proud to be one of the 8 sponsors, in fact, the prime sponsor of this 9 bill, and I look forward to continuing to work 10 not merely with our leadership but to really 11 work with our colleagues in the other house as 12 well to try and bring this to a resolution 13 before this session has concluded. 14 Thank you, Mr. President. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 16 LaValle. 17 SENATOR LAVALLE: Thank you, Mr. 18 President. 19 I would like to start by saying 20 that as many of the other speakers have, that 21 Governor Pataki, and certainly Senator Bruno, 22 have really taken the leadership and have 23 indicated to one and all that real property tax 24 relief is a number one priority. 25 Last year we discussed a bill 1782 1 that Senator Bruno, Senator Cook and many of the 2 people in this chamber put forth a great deal of 3 effort, and I guess today what we're saying is 4 we're into a good, better, best situation where 5 we have, through dialogue and discussion, taken 6 ideas and put them, as we have in Senate Bill 7 Number 1, together to take the best of the 8 principles that we have. 9 One of the things -- and I think 10 it is very, very important in this debate -- is 11 that the issue of state aid and the issue of 12 property taxes is a very, very complex issue. 13 The bill that we had last year and the bill that 14 we have today takes a multi-faceted approach to 15 a multi-faceted problem but, quite honestly, it 16 touches only the surface and the many dimensions 17 and aspects that are involved in the computation 18 of one's property tax. 19 Senator Marchi talked about 20 equalization rates and those of you who have 21 worked with equalization rates know that when 22 you're in a room with people, your eyes roll 23 because it is a very, very complex matter in the 24 role that the equalization rate plays into the 25 computation of both state aid to the school 1783 1 districts and the tax rate going back to 2 assessment practices, and so forth. 3 So that this bill doesn't hold 4 itself out to solve all of the detailed problems 5 that go into the computation of a tax rate, nor 6 does this bill address and change the tax acts 7 that each county has. Each county has a 8 different tax act that addresses when the 9 assessment process begins and ends and when we 10 collect taxes. That differs from one county to 11 the next. So whether a county has a problem in 12 terms of a shortfall differs from one place to 13 the next, but what this bill does do -- and it's 14 something that is very, very significant -- it 15 is a philosophical change in the way we think 16 about state aid and property taxes because this 17 bill says we have had a state aid formula. We 18 have increased amounts to school districts, but 19 we have never been able to across the board - 20 yes, we have to some school districts by simply 21 increasing state aid -- stabilize property taxes 22 but, as a matter of public policy, merely 23 increasing state aid does not lower school 24 property taxes, and so this legislation 25 philosophically says we're going to look at the 1784 1 major aspects of what goes into making a tax 2 rate, and so we look at and empower -- as 3 Senator Saland talked about, we empower and we 4 have talked about over two or three sessions, 5 empowering the voter to have a greater input in 6 the budget making process, by having a uniform 7 school budget voting day, by having budgets 8 submitted in plain language so that the voter 9 can understand what it is, by breaking the 10 budget down into an administrative budget, a 11 program budget and a capital budget. Greater - 12 now the voter has greater choices and can have 13 greater dialogue with the local school board 14 into a specific part of the budget that may need 15 fine tuning. 16 We have not really talked about, 17 during this debate, a second aspect, because 18 while we can reduce taxes through the homestead 19 exemption -- and that is a very major and 20 significant part of this bill -- we must control 21 and stabilize and freeze school property taxes, 22 and what we do is we offer incentives for some 23 school districts based on their wealth. If you 24 are a high tax/low wealth district, a large 25 district, the incentives can be rather 1785 1 significant to that school district. Coupled 2 with their state aid, it can make a difference 3 in the kinds of programs, educational programs, 4 that that district would offer and so, again, 5 the homestead exemption gives very directly to 6 seniors and non-seniors a reduction in their 7 taxes. 8 This bill has now through two 9 sessions, the '96 and '97 sessions, has been 10 improved and today we've had rather rich debate, 11 and I'm sure that the discussions that will 12 continue will even improve Senate Bill Number 1 13 even further, but what is the most important 14 thing today is that with the passage of this 15 bill, that the signal goes across the state and 16 to each and every Assembly District, to each 17 Assembly member, that they must join us in a 18 partnership if we are to accomplish what the 19 Governor and the Majority Leader and today even 20 the contribution -- contributions by the 21 Minority in this house, if this is to become a 22 reality and the people will receive a long 23 awaited tax relief. 24 I just -- in closing, Mr. 25 President, I just offer one anecdotal comment. 1786 1 There's a school district in the 1st Senatorial 2 District, the Longwood School District. Several 3 years ago we were able to put together some 4 legislation that created a tax stabilization 5 fund for that school district. The school 6 board, in a partnership and along with the 7 provisions that were in the legislation, froze 8 the property taxes for that district for three 9 years. What had happened before the passage of 10 that legislation was just chaos in the 11 district. The teachers were arguing with the 12 school board and the community, the community 13 with the school board, the school board with the 14 community and the teachers and the administra 15 tion. The passage and the commitment that was 16 given to freeze taxes for three years really was 17 a signal to the voters, the constituents of that 18 district, that there was some hope. There was 19 some light at the end of the tunnel, and so what 20 happened in that school district was that 21 teachers went back to the classroom and they 22 taught. Administrators became administrators. 23 Board members became board members and all of 24 the friction just literally eroded away. 25 The community began to get 1787 1 involved in things that communities should do, 2 getting involved in creating youth athletic 3 teams, being involved in the PTA, being involved 4 in class and school projects, and so what I'm 5 saying is that through tax stabilization, 6 through tax relief for our schools, we will 7 begin to energize all of the stakeholders. We 8 will enrich the classroom teachers. We will 9 enrich the administrators and the school boards 10 can go back to being policymakers in their 11 districts. 12 And so we are taking today in 13 this debate another significant step forward and 14 our Majority Leader has been a true champion by 15 staying the course, by making this Senate Bill 16 Number 1, by making this a priority and in 17 joining with the Governor, I think we have moved 18 the issue and given the taxpayers in each of our 19 school districts hope, Mr. President. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: There's 21 -- the local fiscal impact note is at the 22 desk. We'll read the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 12. This 24 act shall take effect immediately. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Call 1788 1 the roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll.) 3 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 4 Waldon, to explain his vote. 5 SENATOR WALDON: Thank you very 6 much, Mr. President. 7 I'm really baffled and confused 8 by some of the things which have happened here 9 today because I've heard in such an eloquent 10 fashion statements from my colleagues which, if 11 accurate, indicate to me that what I have found 12 in this bill is not what is here. What I have 13 found in this proposal, it doesn't say what it 14 appears to say. 15 It is my understanding that 50 16 percent of the people who buy lottery tickets in 17 this state live in New York City. Many of them 18 live in areas which produce the majority of the 19 people who are in the prisons in our state, 20 those Assembly Districts and those SURRE school 21 districts which send the most people to prisons 22 in this state. 23 It is my understanding that the 24 counties which will benefit most in terms of 25 this tax relief are Putnam, Rockland, Orange, 1789 1 Westchester, Nassau, Suffolk, Saratoga and in 2 Westchester County alone, it is 136 percent 3 above the median. 4 It is my understanding -- and I 5 would welcome someone to edify me -- that Long 6 Island has 15 percent of the students in the 7 state of New York but, as a result of S.1, will 8 receive 31 percent of the benefits orchestrated 9 in S.1. 10 It is my understanding that, 11 unless we in the city of New York have ten 12 schools, grade schools of 625 students per 13 school built per year, that we will not even 14 keep up with the number of students who are 15 coming into our schools by the turn of the 16 century. We're behind now. Children are being 17 taught in toilets, hallways, clothes closets, in 18 lunch rooms where it's too cold, in schools with 19 roofs leaking. I cannot understand why I, from 20 the city of New York, should support this 21 because it is disproportionate in its positive 22 impact for places which already have so much 23 more money than the city of New York, that it is 24 obscene, absolutely obscene. So I must oppose 25 this, and I would like to leave my colleagues 1790 1 with a caveat. 2 There's a place in New York State 3 called Raquette Lake. Those of you who 4 represent upstate, it's spelled, I believe 5 R-a-q-u-e-t-t-e, and a homeowner there, if not a 6 senior, will receive $40 as a benefit, a tax 7 relief. If that homeowner is a senior, $60, but 8 if you live in Hastings-on-the-Hudson, your 9 benefit will be $1,800. That's not going to 10 happen in the city of New York. Those of you 11 who are upstate, just check out what you're not 12 receiving as a benefit from this proposal but, 13 most importantly, I cannot support this because 14 if you're going to build 7,700 prison cells at 15 the cost of $630 million and not build the 16 classrooms in the districts I represent, then I 17 cannot be supportive of this. I think it would 18 be, in my opinion, violative of the mandate of 19 the people who sent me here and it would also be 20 an immoral, irresponsible act by Al Waldon to do 21 that. 22 I don't know if anyone else will 23 be with me on this. It really doesn't matter, 24 because I think for the people that I represent 25 and on the moral side of this issue, I am 1791 1 right. So I will vote in the negative, Mr. 2 President. I encourage my colleagues to do the 3 same. 4 Thank you very much. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 6 Waldon in the negative. 7 Senator Abate. 8 SENATOR ABATE: Yes, Mr. 9 President. I would like to explain my vote. 10 Like my colleague, I will not be supporting this 11 bill, and I would like to explain why. 12 I don't think there's a person in 13 this chamber that does not support school 14 property tax relief. The problem with this bill 15 is not just supporting a concept. We as 16 legislators support pieces of legislation and 17 the devil is in the detail, and if -- and I'm 18 not going to go on ad nauseam, but I believe the 19 way it is planned under Senate 1, it is 20 regressive on a statewide basis. 21 Everyone should benefit from this 22 tax relief, not just certain areas of the state, 23 if we are a state of equity and fairness, and 24 let me just put into the record once more, the 25 estimate under Senate 1 of the regional 1792 1 distribution for school tax benefits would 2 provide 12 percent of the relief to New York 3 City; Westchester, Rockland County 16 percent, 4 Long Island 31 percent and upstate 41 percent. 5 In no way is that benefit tied to the population 6 or the number of people who live in those areas. 7 So I will wait, not just 1 but 8 1-A. I look forward to a bill that presents a 9 more equitable and fair distribution of this tax 10 relief and hopefully that new bill, which we'll 11 call Senate 1-A, will take into consideration 12 many of the issues we've raised in our 13 amendment. Not until that point can I support 14 the bill. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 16 Abate in the negative. 17 Senator Hoffmann, to explain her 18 vote. 19 SENATOR HOFFMANN: Thank you, Mr. 20 President. 21 I would first like to indicate 22 that I support the Governor's long awaited 23 attempt to change the way which we fund 24 education so that it is no longer as reliant 25 upon property taxes as it has been historically 1793 1 in this state, but I must make it very clear 2 that, as I vote in favor of this measure, it is 3 not because I am happy with the substance of 4 this particular bill. 5 As several of my colleagues have 6 pointed out in such an eloquent and detailed 7 manner, there are major disparities between the 8 way certain portions of this state are treated 9 through this proposal. 10 It is, however, at this juncture 11 merely a proposal. The other house has yet to 12 act. We know that there will be many changes to 13 be made, and I am confident that the great minds 14 of this Capitol will come up with a much better 15 and more equitable bill by the time we conclude 16 our legislative activities this year, one which 17 will not disproportionately reward some of the 18 wealthier school districts of the state, wealth 19 ier counties of the state and harm dispropor 20 tionately some of the poorer portions of the 21 state, one that does not have the enormous 22 disparity between upstate rural districts and 23 downstate suburban districts. 24 So while I believe we are on the 25 right track in discussing this issue, in 1794 1 bringing forward property tax reform measures, I 2 want to make it abundantly clear to the people 3 in the 48th Senate District that this particular 4 STARR proposal, Senate 1, is not in any way an 5 acceptable answer to their concerns and that 6 much, much more needs to be done. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 8 Hoffmann, how do you vote? 9 SENATOR HOFFMANN: Aye. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: In the 11 affirmative. Senator Hoffmann in the 12 affirmative. Results? 13 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 14 the negative on Calendar Number 360 are Senators 15 Abate, Connor, Dollinger, Gold, Goodman, 16 Markowitz, Montgomery, Onorato, Paterson, 17 Sampson, Santiago, Seabrook, Smith, Stachowski, 18 Waldon, also Senator Rosado. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 20 Stachowski, why do you rise? 21 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: I didn't put 22 my hand up to vote in the negative. I'm trying 23 to figure out how I got recorded in the 24 negative. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Well, 1795 1 we had a number of members coming in from 2 outside the chamber. 3 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: I walked in, 4 came to my seat and never raised my hand. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 6 Stachowski is recorded in the affirmative. 7 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Thank you. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 9 Stavisky is recorded in the negative. 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44, nays 16. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 12 bill is passed. 13 The Secretary will return to the 14 controversial calendar. 15 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 17 Leichter, why do you rise? 18 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes, Mr. 19 President. I obviously came back into the 20 chamber after the roll call on S.1 was 21 finished. May I have unanimous consent to be 22 recorded in the negative. 23 SENATOR SKELOS: Without 24 objection. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Without 1796 1 objection - 2 SENATOR LEICHTER: Thank you. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: - 4 Senator Leichter will be recorded in the 5 negative. 6 The Secretary will continue with 7 the controversial calendar. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 246, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 2369, an 10 act to amend the Navigation Law, in relation to 11 liability. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Read 13 the last section. 14 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 15 act shall take effect immediately. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Call 17 the roll. 18 (The Secretary called the roll.) 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 60. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 21 bill is passed. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 250, by Senator Bruno, Senate Print 706, an act 24 to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law. 25 SENATOR SKELOS: Lay it aside for 1797 1 the day. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 3 bill is laid aside for the day. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 268, by Senator Holland, Senate Print 563, an 6 act to amend the General Municipal Law, in 7 relation to liability. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: There's 9 a home rule message at the desk. 10 SENATOR PATERSON: Explanation. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: An 12 explanation has been called for. 13 Senator Holland. 14 SENATOR HOLLAND: This is not 15 your regular IDA bill. Rockland County 16 currently has an IDA bill which was passed when 17 Assemblyman Connor and Senator Winikow were 18 here, but what this bill does is gives 19 municipalities the ability to negotiate tax 20 abatements. 21 We have an opportunity in 22 Rockland County now to bring some businesses in 23 from other states and this bill would give us 24 the ability to give tax abatements just like 25 every other IDA is in the state of New York. It 1798 1 still keeps the protections that were built into 2 our original IDA bill. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 4 Leichter, why do you rise? 5 SENATOR LEICHTER: Would the 6 sponsor yield, please? 7 SENATOR HOLLAND: Yes, sir. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 9 Holland yields. 10 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator 11 Holland, as you know, we've had a great deal of 12 problems with the IDA. In fact, the Legislature 13 somewhat clipped their wings because they were 14 engaging in a lot of activities that didn't 15 really seem to have any economic benefit but 16 were costing a lot of money, were costing 17 localities money. We were just talking about 18 real estate taxes and monies for schools, and so 19 on. 20 Did I understand you to say that 21 the authority that you give the IDAs in Rockland 22 County or the Rockland Industrial Development 23 Agency is the same authority that all other IDAs 24 have? 25 SENATOR HOLLAND: That's what 1799 1 we're looking for, Senator. The IDA that we 2 have now says we can not give tax abatements. 3 We have to give the normal tax, the regular 4 tax. This bill allows us to give tax 5 abatements, which is what the other IDA bills in 6 the state of New York allow. 7 SENATOR LEICHTER: If Senator 8 Holland continues to yield. 9 SENATOR HOLLAND: Yes. 10 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, what 11 puzzles me about this -- and I don't have the 12 IDA law in front of me, but we don't have for 13 each IDA, I believe, as far as I understand it, 14 specific authorization as to what tax abatements 15 they can give as a general generic authority. 16 SENATOR HOLLAND: Right. 17 SENATOR LEICHTER: Why don't you 18 just tap into that authority if, as you 19 maintain, Rockland County IDA, for some reason, 20 was left out, but you're giving specific 21 authority here as to granting tax abatement. 22 I'm not at all sure that it is the same as the 23 authority that other IDAs have. 24 SENATOR HOLLAND: I can read you 25 the section of the law that relates to Rockland 1800 1 County, if you would like. 2 SENATOR LEICHTER: No, no. I'm 3 interested -- if you'll excuse me. It's the 4 authority that applies to IDAs throughout the 5 state. 6 SENATOR HOLLAND: That's what 7 we're trying to do, Senator. We're trying to 8 make it the same as the other authorities in 9 this state and the section of the law now 10 regarding Rockland County says "In lieu of real 11 property taxes, including taxes, payments of 12 sums equal to the full amount thereof -- sums 13 equal to the full amount thereof." That's what 14 we're trying to change, Senator, so we can give 15 tax abatements, and my understanding is that's a 16 situation in the IDAs in the other part of the 17 state of New York. We cannot give tax 18 abatements. Therefore, we cannot bring the 19 businesses that want to come in from other 20 states into Rockland County with their jobs. 21 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, would 22 you be so good -- would you lay this bill over 23 until tomorrow so we can -- because I really 24 would like to check. I'm not sure that you're 25 not doing something different, because it would 1801 1 seem to me if you're doing the same thing as 2 other IDAs, you would so state or you would 3 refer to that section of the law which 4 authorizes IDAs to give whatever tax abatements 5 or exemptions that are provided under the law. 6 You write a specific section solely for Rockland 7 County. 8 SENATOR HOLLAND: Senator, I 9 appreciate your interest, but my county 10 executive and my county Legislature would like 11 to move on this as quickly as possible and 12 that's why we have moved it to the floor as 13 quickly as we have. I am not trying to put 14 anything over your head or around you. We are 15 trying to bring jobs into Rockland County. This 16 particular bill will allow us to do that. We're 17 working with the Assembly. They're going to do 18 the same thing and we're going to bring those 19 companies into Rockland County. 20 SENATOR LEICHTER: Well, Senator, 21 I certainly don't want to do anything that will 22 hold up Rockland County. I don't think one day 23 is going to matter very much, and I -- you would 24 be the last person that would ever try to pull 25 anything on anybody because I always find you to 1802 1 be very honest. That's not the issue. The 2 issue just is -- and it happens to me and it 3 happens to everybody here that sometimes you 4 think you're doing something because that's the 5 way to do it and where in point of fact, there 6 are provisions of the law that may apply and 7 from your answer, I gather you really haven't 8 checked into that. 9 SENATOR HOLLAND: I hadn't or 10 have? 11 SENATOR LEICHTER: Had not. 12 SENATOR HOLLAND: I have checked 13 with the attorneys of the Senate, my attorneys 14 and attorneys from Rockland County and they 15 advise me this is the way to go, Senator. 16 SENATOR LEICHTER: Again, if you 17 would be good enough to yield, Senator Holland. 18 SENATOR HOLLAND: Yes. 19 SENATOR LEICHTER: Will this have 20 any impact on the state of New York? Are we 21 dealing with any state taxes? As you know, the 22 IDAs do have authority to exempt sale taxes and 23 certain other taxes. So it has an impact on tax 24 affairs of the state what one specific IDA does. 25 SENATOR HOLLAND: That remains 1803 1 the same. 2 SENATOR LEICHTER: That has not 3 changed. 4 SENATOR HOLLAND: No. 5 SENATOR LEICHTER: So as I 6 understand it, all you're giving is that 7 specific IDA the authority insofar as local 8 property taxes are concerned. 9 SENATOR HOLLAND: Correct. 10 SENATOR LEICHTER: If I may - 11 SENATOR HOLLAND: When they're 12 part of the municipality. 13 SENATOR LEICHTER: If you'll 14 continue to yield. Senator, are you making that 15 subject at all to review by the County 16 Legislature or local school board? One of the 17 concerns that all of us had was that the IDAs, 18 county IDAs would go and give exemptions and 19 abatements that would have an impact on local 20 school districts. The local school districts 21 really had no input. They just found that their 22 tax base was being eroded. We were concerned 23 about that. Do you have any protections in here 24 for the local school district? 25 SENATOR HOLLAND: Actually, we 1804 1 are continuing the protections that were put 2 into the bill originally by Senator Winikow and 3 they are "specified terms for the board 4 members. Bylaws and amendments must be ratified 5 by the County Legislature and the County 6 Executive. Agencies must annually file 7 financial status of the agency with the County 8 Legislature subject to audit by the county 9 Department of Audit and Control. Records are 10 subject to Freedom of Information Act disclosure 11 requirements, et cetera." 12 SENATOR LEICHTER: Again, if you 13 would yield, Senator. 14 SENATOR HOLLAND: Yes. 15 SENATOR LEICHTER: You read that 16 off very quickly. Is there specific authority 17 required from the County Legislature before you 18 can enter into one of these deals? 19 SENATOR HOLLAND: No. I think 20 that authority lies with the IDA. 21 SENATOR LEICHTER: Right. My 22 question to you, if you continue to yield, 23 wouldn't it be wise to make these subject to the 24 County Legislature and maybe also subject to the 25 local school district? 1805 1 SENATOR HOLLAND: Senator, as I 2 said before, this has been requested by the 3 local County Legislature and the County 4 Executive. They think this is the way to go and 5 so do the counselors from the state Senate and 6 my counsel. 7 SENATOR LEICHTER: Okay. Mr. 8 President, on the - 9 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 10 Leichter, on the bill. 11 SENATOR LEICHTER: Just one final 12 question. We have a home rule on this, 13 apparently, from what you say, I gather, because 14 I haven't heard - 15 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: There 16 is a home rule at the desk, Senator. 17 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 18 just very briefly on the bill. 19 I think that we have given far 20 too great powers to the IDAs and very often they 21 really engage in self-dealing and/or 22 aggrandizement. We just have had too many 23 instances where their actions have not been a 24 benefit to the communities that it's supposed to 25 help. You know, more sins have been committed 1806 1 under the guise of saying this is going to bring 2 in jobs. This is going to lead to economic 3 development. Unfortunately, as we found out, 4 that's often not the case, and I think you 5 really need protections. 6 If you're saying -- and I'll 7 accept your word -- that all that we're going to 8 do here is give the same power to the IDA in 9 Rockland County that other IDAs have and if all 10 we're dealing here is with local property taxes, 11 I guess if the people of Rockland County want to 12 take that chance and risk of giving that power 13 to the IDAs and finding that maybe their tax 14 base is being undermined, I guess I shouldn't 15 stand up here and say "Be careful", but I just 16 caution you anyhow, Senator Holland. I know 17 you're doing what your county wants, but I think 18 these powers that we've given the IDAs often 19 come back to bite the local people. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Read 21 the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 23 act shall take effect immediately. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Call 25 the roll. 1807 1 (The Secretary called the roll.) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 60. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 4 bill is passed. 5 Senator Skelos, that completes 6 the controversial reading of the calendar. 7 SENATOR SKELOS: Is there any 8 housekeeping at the desk? 9 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Yes, 10 there is. 11 Senator Marcellino. 12 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr. 13 President, on page number 16, I offer the follow 14 amendments to Calendar Number 320, Senate Print 15 Number 507, and ask that said bill retain its 16 place on the Third Reading Calendar. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: So 18 ordered. 19 The Secretary will read three 20 substitutions. 21 THE SECRETARY: On page 10, 22 Senator Velella moves to discharge from the 23 Committee on Health Assembly Bill Number 1836 24 and substitute it for the identical Third 25 Reading Calendar 254. 1808 1 On page 18, Senator Velella moves 2 to discharge from the Committee on Civil Service 3 and Pensions Assembly Bill Number 1484 and 4 substitute it for the identical Third Reading 5 Calendar 334. 6 And on page 18, Senator Trunzo 7 moves to discharge from the Committee on Civil 8 Service and Pensions Assembly Bill Number 2997 9 and substitute it for the identical Third 10 Reading Calendar 337. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 12 substitution is so ordered. 13 Senator Skelos. 14 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 15 there being no further business, I move we - 16 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Excuse 18 me. 19 Senator Paterson, why do you 20 rise? 21 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 22 immediately after session, there will be a brief 23 but very important meeting of the Minority in 24 the Minority Conference Room, Room 314, that is, 25 if Senator Skelos feels that it's okay. 1809 1 SENATOR SKELOS: No problem. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: 3 Following session, there will be a meeting of 4 the Minority Conference. 5 SENATOR SKELOS: And I'm sure 6 that will be open to the public. 7 There being no further business, 8 I move we adjourn until Wednesday, March 19th, 9 at 10:00 a.m. sharp. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: On 11 motion, the Senate stands adjourned until 12 Wednesday, March 19th, at 10:00 a.m. 13 (Whereupon, at 5:50 p.m., the 14 Senate adjourned.) 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25