Wednesday, June 4, 1997

4684 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ALBANY, NEW YORK 9 June 4, 1997 10 11:05 a.m. 11 12 13 REGULAR SESSION 14 15 16 17 SENATOR JOHN R. KUHL, JR., Acting President 18 STEPHEN F. SLOAN, Secretary 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 4685 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 3 Senate will come to order. Ask the members to 4 find their chairs, the staff to find their 5 places. I would ask everybody in the chamber to 6 rise and join me in saying the Pledge of 7 Allegiance to the Flag. 8 (The assemblage repeated the 9 Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.) 10 In the absence of clergy, may we 11 bow our heads in a moment of silence. 12 (A moment of silence was 13 observed.) 14 Reading of the Journal. 15 THE SECRETARY: In Senate, 16 Tuesday, June 3rd. The Senate met pursuant to 17 adjournment. The Journal of Monday, June 2nd, 18 was read and approved. On motion, the Senate 19 adjourned. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Hearing 21 no objection, the Journal stands approved as 22 read. 23 Presentation of petitions. 24 Messages from the Assembly. 25 Messages from the Governor. 4686 1 Reports of standing committees. 2 Reports of select committees. 3 Communications and reports from 4 state officers. 5 Motions and resolutions. 6 The Chair recognizes Senator 7 Maziarz. 8 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you, Mr. 9 President. 10 On behalf of Senator Rath, please 11 remove the sponsor's star from Calendar Number 12 823. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The star 14 is removed from Calendar Number 823 at the 15 request of the sponsor. 16 Senator Maziarz. 17 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you, Mr. 18 President. 19 On behalf of Senator Levy, could 20 you please call up Bill Number 100 having passed 21 both houses and not delivered to the Governor. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 23 Secretary will read. 24 THE SECRETARY: By Senator Levy, 25 Senate Print 100, an act to amend Chapter 312 of 4687 1 the Laws of 1994. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 3 Maziarz. 4 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Mr. President, 5 I now move to reconsider the vote by which this 6 bill was passed and ask that the bill be 7 restored to the order of third reading. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 9 Secretary will call the roll on reconsideration. 10 (The Secretary called the roll on 11 reconsideration.) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 38. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 14 is restored to the order of third reading. 15 Senator Johnson. 16 SENATOR JOHNSON: Mr. President, 17 please place a sponsor's star on my two 18 following calendar Bills, number 111 -- 1111 and 19 1112. 20 Thank you. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Calendars 22 Number 1111 and 1112 will be starred at the 23 request of the sponsor. 24 I'll ask the Secretary to read 25 the substitution that's at the desk. 4688 1 THE SECRETARY: Senator Holland 2 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 3 Assembly Bill Number 6588 and substitute it for 4 the identical Senate bill Third Reading 1123. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 6 substitution is ordered. 7 The Chair would like to make the 8 notation that the motion that was made by 9 Senator Maziarz had an error included in it. 10 The motion called for a bill that had passed 11 both houses being recalled to this house and the 12 bill had only passed the Assembly. So the 13 record should reflect that the motion made by 14 Senator Maziarz to recall the bill that passed 15 the Assembly is now reordered to third reading. 16 Senator Skelos. 17 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, I 18 believe there's a -- Resolution 1529 sponsored 19 by Senator Libous which was previously adopted 20 is at the desk. May we have it read in its 21 entirety and then if you would recognize Senator 22 Libous. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 24 Skelos. 25 SENATOR SKELOS: Yes. If we 4689 1 could read Resolution 1530 first in its 2 entirety. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 4 Secretary will read Resolution 1530 by Senator 5 Libous in its entirety. 6 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 7 Libous, Legislative Resolution commemorating 8 Wednesday, June 4th, 1997 as Legislative 9 Disability Awareness Day at the state Capitol in 10 Albany, New York; 11 WHEREAS, New York State Senate 12 Select Committee on the Disabled in conjunction 13 with the New York State Assembly Task Force on 14 People with Disabilities is sponsoring the 17th 15 Annual Legislative Disability Awareness Day. 16 It is the sense of this 17 legislative body that persons with disabilities 18 merit our recognitions as they realize the goals 19 of inclusion and equality in our communities and 20 society at large. 21 It is the intent of this 22 legislative body to recognize persons with 23 disabilities accentuating, in turn, the benefit 24 to New York State of their contributions to our 25 economic, educational and social growth. 4690 1 Legislative Disability Awareness 2 Day so clearly labors the positive and salutary 3 definition of the communities of the state of 4 New York. 5 Legislative Disability Awareness 6 Day will conclude with this legislative body 7 considering legislation significant to persons 8 with disabilities. 9 Legislative Disability Awareness 10 Day provides individuals with an opportunity to 11 acknowledge and understand the legislative 12 process; now, therefore, be it 13 RESOLVED, that this legislative 14 body pause in its deliberations to commemorate 15 Wednesday, June 4th, 1997 as Legislative 16 Disability Awareness Day at the state Capitol, 17 Albany, New York, fully confident that such 18 procedure mirrors our shared commitment to the 19 efflorescence of human dignity; and be it 20 further 21 RESOLVED, that copies of this 22 resolution, suitably engrossed, be transmitted 23 to selected representatives of persons with 24 disabilities. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The Chair 4691 1 recognizes Senator Libous, on the resolution. 2 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, Mr. 3 President. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5 Libous, excuse me just a minute before you 6 start. It seems to be rather noisy in the 7 chamber. If we could have the members please 8 take their chairs and the staff to take their 9 chairs. 10 Thank you, Senator Libous. 11 Senator Libous, on the resolution. 12 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, Mr. 13 President. 14 Today is the 17th Annual 15 Legislative Disability Awareness Day in the 16 Capitol and we have a full day. Earlier this 17 morning at 10:30 we had Senator Bruno address a 18 group and we honored Eric and we'll talk about 19 Eric in the next resolution, but I just want to 20 comment on the purpose of this day and first let 21 me say thank you to my colleagues here in the 22 Senate chamber and particularly thank you to 23 Senator Stachowski who serves as the Minority 24 member on the Select Committee for the Disabled 25 for his assistance in today. 4692 1 What we're trying to do today is 2 make the people of New York State, along with 3 members of this house, aware of the fact that 4 there are people in New York State with dis 5 abilities and that because of their disabilities 6 -- and most often those disabilities are not 7 something that an individual asks for during his 8 or her life -- they have to change their life 9 and their life style. 10 We try to make people in New York 11 State aware of that, that we have to pass 12 legislation and later this morning this house 13 will pass a number of pieces of this legislation 14 that will be passed also by the Assembly and 15 will go to the Governor for his signature, in an 16 ongoing effort to recognize the fact that we 17 need to do everything that we can in helping 18 people in New York State who have disabilities. 19 Now, today is a full day at the 20 Capitol. As I said, we had the opening ceremony 21 and we were pleased to have the Majority Leader 22 speak at that ceremony and in the Legislative 23 Office Building, if some of you can show up 24 there a little bit later in the day, we have 45 25 organizations from across New York State who 4693 1 have come to the state Capitol to show exhibits 2 to talk about different techniques, different 3 programs, different rehabilitative techniques 4 that are being used to help people with 5 disabilities throughout New York State. So I 6 would ask to my colleagues if they could stop by 7 there today, I think it would be very, very 8 important. 9 The last thing that I would like 10 to mention on this resolution, Mr. President, is 11 that I would like to say thank you to your 12 interpreter today, Trudy Gilbert, who has joined 13 us in the chamber for this morning's ceremonies. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: This 15 resolution was previously adopted by the 16 Legislature. 17 Senator Marcellino. 18 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Yes, Mr. 19 President. I believe Resolution 1529 also 20 sponsored by Senator Libous which was also 21 previously adopted is at the desk and may we 22 please have it read in its entirety. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 24 Secretary will read Resolution 1529 by Senator 25 Libous in its entirety. 4694 1 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 2 Libous, Legislative Resolution honoring Eric 3 Emerick upon the occasion of his designation as 4 Guest of Honor at the 17th Annual Legislative 5 Disability Awareness Day, June 4th, 1997. 6 WHEREAS, it is the sense of this 7 legislative body that individuals with 8 disabilities merit our recognition as they 9 realize goals that serve to lift barriers and 10 expand choices for all persons with 11 disabilities. 12 It is the intent of this 13 legislative body to acknowledge individuals with 14 disabilities who have risen above those 15 conditions which might otherwise hinder a 16 purposeful life of achievement and fulfillment, 17 demonstrating that the barriers to success for 18 the disabled come more commonly from prevailing 19 attitudes and opportunities than the physical 20 limitations of the disability. 21 A ten-year journey led from 22 Colonie to such destinations as Texas and 23 England before Eric Emerick came back to the 24 capital region from California with the United 25 States Open Wheelchair Tennis Title. 4695 1 15 years ago, Eric Emerick was 2 the star on Colonie High School's football 3 team. He earned a degree at Hudson Valley 4 Community College and took a job at a nuclear 5 power company near Houston, Texas. 6 In 1986, he was involved in a 7 traumatic automobile accident and his life 8 changed forever. 9 As he mended, he heard about a 10 clinic for wheelchair tennis being staged during 11 the OTB Open in Schenectady that was run by area 12 coach Bill Yaiser. 13 It took a year for Eric Emerick 14 and Bill Yaiser to get together but when they 15 did, a union was formed that led to the national 16 championship. 17 Eric Emerick competes in the 18 Quadriplegic Division of Wheelchair Tennis. He 19 trains with Bill Yaiser and his Second Chance 20 Sports and Fitness Program and is one of eight 21 regular wheelchair tennis players in the capital 22 region. 23 Eric Emerick is very determined 24 and his disability has never stopped him. He 25 travels by himself to tournaments and when he's 4696 1 not on the court, he is at his home -- office at 2 home operating a desk top publishing company. 3 Whether throwing touchdown passes 4 for Colonie High or ripping forehands down the 5 line, Eric Emerick has proven that he's a 6 champion. 7 Upon the occasion of Legislative 8 Disability Awareness Day, this legislative body 9 is proud to publicly proclaim and commend Eric 10 Emerick for the edification and emulation of 11 others; now, therefore, be it 12 RESOLVED, that this legislative 13 body pause in its deliberations to honor Eric 14 Emerick, recognizing his courageous endeavors, 15 outstanding achievements and unparalleled con 16 tributions on behalf of the disabled and their 17 cause for increased awareness and opportunity, 18 upon the occasion of his designation as Guest of 19 Honor at the 17th Annual Legislative Disability 20 Awareness Day at the state Capitol in Albany, 21 New York, to be held on Wednesday, June 4th, 22 1997; and be it further 23 RESOLVED, that a copy of this 24 resolution, suitably engrossed, be transmitted 25 to Eric Emerick. 4697 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The Chair 2 recognizes Senator Libous on the resolution. 3 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, Mr. 4 President, and it is indeed an honor to have 5 Eric who is by my side here in the chamber with 6 us this morning. 7 I got to know Eric actually about 8 three hours ago. We taped a television program 9 downstairs and just within a 15-minute time 10 period, I feel as if I've known him for half of 11 my life. 12 Eric has that kind of personality 13 that, when you spend a few minutes with him, you 14 feel extremely comfortable and you feel as if 15 he's been your friend for almost all of your 16 life. 17 Eric's story is the kind of story 18 that is very similar to people with disabilities 19 or people who have what I would like to term as 20 changes in their life and he was, as it was 21 mentioned in the reading of the resolution 22 honoring him, he was a star athlete when he was 23 in high school, a very good athlete, a 24 quarterback, punter, place kicker. 25 He then graduated from school, 4698 1 went on with his life, moved to Texas and, 2 unfortunately, had a very dramatic accident, the 3 kind of thing that could happen to any one of us 4 in this chamber, anybody in this room at any 5 time in our lives and when that happens to us, 6 we have to really look from within to make that 7 change in our life. Not only is it very 8 difficult for people -- peoples' families and 9 making changes, whether it be for rehabilitation 10 or whatever road to recovery must take place 11 when someone is either mentally or physically 12 disabled, but the individual needs to reach deep 13 from within and make some decisions on how they 14 might want to change their life. 15 Eric has done that. We talked 16 about that this morning. He reached deep from 17 within and said, I must go on with my life and I 18 must do it in a different way. 19 Because of his athletic ability, 20 he met a gentleman by the name of Bill Yaiser. 21 Bill is here with us today. Bill is his coach, 22 and I see that Bill is employed by the Senate at 23 least temporarily with his new jacket on, but 24 his coach Bill and Eric worked together for a 25 number of years and Eric became the U.S. Open 4699 1 Wheelchair Tennis Champion. 2 Now, just saying those words it 3 might not mean an awful lot to anybody in this 4 chamber, but I watched some footage earlier this 5 morning, over 300 participants in his division, 6 the best in the world, wheelchair tennis. All 7 the rules are the same. They're not different 8 from if you or I were on the court or any other 9 tennis champion. 10 He is the champion. He's from 11 the Albany area. He's from New York State. He 12 moves around the court quite well and he's got a 13 pretty strong backhand, and I wouldn't want to 14 get in the way of his serve. 15 Ladies and gentlemen, I have had 16 the pleasure of meeting a lot of people in the 17 nine years that I've served in this chamber, but 18 I can tell you that meeting Eric Emerick has 19 been a very special moment in my life, and I 20 would hope that you would join me this morning 21 in honoring this very special person. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Thank 23 you, Senator Libous. 24 This resolution was previously 25 adopted by the Legislature, but on behalf of 4700 1 Senator Bruno, certainly Senator Libous and all 2 the members of the house, Eric, we welcome you 3 to Albany. We certainly congratulate you on 4 your accomplishment. It seems as though we are 5 having a lot of sports heroes entering this 6 chamber, one later today, Jim Kelly, the Buffalo 7 Bills. Last week we had "Doc" Gooden and David 8 Cone and you're certainly to be included with 9 that group of outstanding individuals and to be 10 complimented on your tremendous contribution. 11 Again, we welcome you to Albany. 12 Have a wonderful life and we appreciate your 13 spending just a couple minutes of that life with 14 us today. Thank you and welcome. (Applause) 15 Senator Marcellino. 16 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Yes, Mr. 17 President. I believe there's privileged 18 Resolution 1631 at the desk sponsored by Senator 19 Meier. May we please have the title read, move 20 for its immediate adoption. I believe Senator 21 Meier would like to open the resolution up for 22 co-sponsorship. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 24 Resolution 1631 by Senator Meier is at the 25 desk. 4701 1 I'll ask the Secretary to read 2 the title of the privileged resolution. 3 THE SECRETARY: By Senator Meier, 4 Legislative Resolution commemorating Thursday, 5 June 12th, 1997 as Women's Veterans Day in the 6 state of New York. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is there 8 any Senator wishing to speak on the resolution? 9 (There was no response.) 10 Hearing none, the question is on 11 the resolution. All those in favor signify by 12 saying aye. 13 (Response of "Aye".) 14 Opposed, nay. 15 (There was no response.) 16 The resolution is adopted. 17 Senator Marcellino. 18 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Yes, Mr. 19 President. I believe we also have Resolution 20 1618 at the desk by Senator Gentile. May we 21 have the title read and move for its immediate 22 adoption. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 24 Secretary will read the title to the privileged 25 Resolution Number 1618 by Senator Gentile. 4702 1 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 2 Gentile, Legislative Resolution commending 3 Maryanne Walsh upon the occasion of her 4 designation as the 1997 Civic Award recipient by 5 the Bayridge Community Council at its 46th 6 Anniversary dinner dance to be held on 7 Wednesday, June 4th, 1997. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 9 question is on the resolution. All those in 10 favor signify by saying aye. 11 (Response of "Aye".) 12 Opposed, nay. 13 (There was no response.) 14 The resolution is adopted. 15 Senator Marcellino. 16 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you, 17 Mr. President. 18 At this time, may we please have 19 a reading of the non-controversial calendar. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Marcellino, before we do that, could we return 22 to the order of motions and resolutions and 23 recognize Senator Seward for the purpose of a 24 motion. 25 Senator Seward. 4703 1 SENATOR SEWARD: Yes, Mr. 2 President. On behalf of Senator Levy, please 3 remove the sponsor's star from Calendar Number 4 788. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The star 6 will be removed at the request of the sponsor on 7 Calendar Number 788. 8 The Secretary will read the 9 non-controversial calendar, beginning with 10 Calendar Number 237. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 237, by Senator Libous, Senate Print 1125, an 13 act to amend the Public Health Law, in relation 14 to requiring consent for visual observation. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 16 Secretary will read the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 18 act shall take effect immediately. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 20 roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll.) 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 24 is passed. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4704 1 264, by member of the Assembly Weisenberg, 2 Assembly Print 4205, an act to amend the General 3 Business Law, in relation to prohibiting 4 taxicabs from imposing an additional charge for 5 wheelchairs. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 7 Secretary will read the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 9 act shall take effect immediately. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 11 roll. 12 (The Secretary called the roll.) 13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 15 is passed. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 676, by Senator Holland, Senate Print 228, an 18 act to amend the Social Services Law, in 19 relation to including portable X-ray services. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 21 Secretary will read the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 7. This 23 act shall take effect December 31st. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 25 roll. 4705 1 (The Secretary called the roll.) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 4 is passed. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 680, by the Committee -- Assembly Committee on 7 Rules, Assembly Print 7767, an act to amend the 8 Social Services Law, in relation to submission 9 of reports and to amend Chapter 627 of the Laws 10 of 1983. 11 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Lay it aside. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 13 bill aside. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 694, by Senator Libous, Senate Print 1122, an 16 act to amend the Mental Hygiene Law and the 17 Vehicle and Traffic Law, in relation to parking 18 spaces for handicapped persons. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 20 Secretary will read the last section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 22 act shall take effect on the first day of 23 September. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 25 roll. 4706 1 (The Secretary called the roll.) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 4 is passed. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 697, by Senator Libous, Senate Print 3831, an 7 act to amend the Mental Hygiene Law and the 8 Executive Law, in relation to authorizing 9 providers of services to the mentally retarded 10 and developmentally disabled to submit to 11 fingerprints. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 13 Secretary will read the last section. 14 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 15 act shall take effect in 90 days. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 17 roll. 18 (The Secretary called the roll.) 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 21 is passed. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 851, by Senator Alesi, Senate Print 3210, an act 24 to amend the Executive Law, in relation to 25 certain payments to veterans' unremarried 4707 1 spouses. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 3 Secretary will read the last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 5 act shall take effect on the first day of April. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 7 roll. 8 (The Secretary called the roll.) 9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 11 is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 954, by Senator Levy, Senate Print 103, an act 14 to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, in 15 relation to requiring certain information on 16 disabled children. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 18 Secretary will read the last section. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 20 act shall take effect on the 180th day. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 22 roll. 23 (The Secretary called the roll.) 24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 4708 1 is passed. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 1113, by Senator Libous, Senate Print 3992, an 4 act to amend the General Municipal Law, in 5 relation to authorizing business improvement 6 districts. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 8 Secretary will read the last section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 10 act shall take effect on the first day of 11 January. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 13 roll. 14 (The Secretary called the roll.) 15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 17 is passed. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 1115, by Senator Libous, Senate Print 4372, an 20 act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to 21 authorizing a tax credit for employing 22 individuals with disabilities. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 24 Secretary will read the last section. 25 THE SECRETARY: Section 9. This 4709 1 act shall take effect immediately. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 3 roll. 4 (The Secretary called the roll.) 5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 7 is passed. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1121, by Senator Libous, Senate Print 5052, an 10 act to amend the Executive Law, in relation to 11 provision of reasonable accommodations. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 13 Secretary will read the last section. 14 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 15 act shall take effect January 1st, 1998. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 17 roll. 18 (The Secretary called the roll.) 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 21 is passed. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 1122, by Senator Libous, Senate Print 5284, an 24 act to amend the Education Law, in relation to 25 establishing a service center for independent 4710 1 living in Harlem. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 3 Secretary will read the last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 5 act shall take effect immediately. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 7 roll. 8 (The Secretary called the roll.) 9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 11 is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 846, by Senator Present, Senate Print 4112, an 14 act to enact the Private Activity Bond 15 Allegation Act of 1997. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 17 Secretary will read the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 19 act shall take effect immediately. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 21 roll. 22 (The Secretary called the roll.) 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 25 is passed. 4711 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 903, by Senator Trunzo, Senate Print 4904-A, an 3 act authorizing the Commissioner of the Office 4 of General Services to enter into contract. 5 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 7 bill aside at the request of the Acting Minority 8 Leader. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 1000, by Senator Levy, Senate Print 4534, an act 11 to amend the Public Authorities Law, in relation 12 to the power of the New York State Thruway 13 Authority. 14 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Lay it aside. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 16 bill aside. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 1050, by Senator Marchi, Senate Print 4085, an 19 act to repeal Section 630 of the Business 20 Corporation Law. 21 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Lay it aside 22 for the day at the request of the sponsor. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 24 bill aside for the day at the request of the 25 sponsor. 4712 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 1106, by Senator Nozzolio, Senate Print 342, an 3 act to amend the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, 4 in relation to the issuance of temporary 5 permits. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 7 Secretary will read the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 9 act shall take effect on the first day of 10 September. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 12 roll. 13 (The Secretary called the roll.) 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 16 is passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 1107, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 726, an 19 act to amend the Executive Law, in relation to 20 fees and expenses for the Department of State. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 22 Secretary will read the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 24 act shall take effect on the 90th day. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 4713 1 roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll.) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 5 is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 1108, by Senator Stachowski, Senate Print 1273, 8 an act to amend the General Municipal Law, in 9 relation to general requirements of service 10 award programs for volunteer firefighters. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 12 Secretary will read the last section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 14 act shall take effect immediately. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 16 roll. 17 (The Secretary called the roll.) 18 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 20 is passed. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 1109, by Senator Oppenheimer, Senate Print 2174, 23 an act to authorize the town of Harrison, 24 Westchester County to sell certain land to such 25 town. 4714 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 2 a home rule message at the desk. The Secretary 3 will read the last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 5 act shall take effect immediately. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 7 roll. 8 (The Secretary called the roll.) 9 THE SECRETARY: 54. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 11 is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 1110, by Senator Tully, Senate Print 2844, an 14 act authorizing the assessor of the county of 15 Nassau to accept an application. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 17 Secretary will read the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 19 act shall take effect immediately. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 21 roll. 22 (The Secretary called the roll.) 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Announce 24 the results when tabulated. 25 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52, nays 2, 4715 1 Senators Cook and Dollinger recorded in the 2 negative. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 4 is passed. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 1114, by Senator Velella, Senate Print 4062, an 7 act to amend the Insurance Law, in relation to 8 deleting obsolete references to Lloyds 9 Underwriters. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 11 Secretary will read the last section. 12 THE SECRETARY: Section 12. This 13 act shall take effect immediately. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 15 roll. 16 (The Secretary called the roll.) 17 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 19 is passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 1116, by Senator Libous, Senate Print 4472, an 22 act to amend the Executive Law, in relation to 23 utilization of out of state provider pharmacies. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 25 Secretary will read the last section. 4716 1 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 2 act shall take effect immediately. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 4 roll. 5 (The Secretary called the roll.) 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 7 the negatives and announce the results. 8 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 9 the negative on Calendar Number 1116 are Senator 10 Cook, Dollinger and Onorato. Ayes 51, nays 3. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 12 is passed. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 1117, by Senator Velella, Senate Print 4487, an 15 act to amend the Public Authorities Law, in 16 relation to exempting - 17 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 19 bill aside. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 1118, by Senator Tully, Senate Print 4501, an 22 act authorizing the assessor of the county of 23 Nassau to accept an application for exemption. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 25 Secretary will read the last section. 4717 1 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 2 act shall take effect immediately. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 4 roll. 5 (The Secretary called the roll.) 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 7 the negatives and announce the results. 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52, nays 2, 9 Senators Cook and Dollinger recorded in the 10 negative. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 12 is passed. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 1119, by Senator Tully, Senate Print 4681, an 15 act authorizing the assessor of the county of 16 Nassau to accept an application. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 18 Secretary will read the last section. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 20 act shall take effect immediately. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 22 roll. 23 (The Secretary called the roll.) 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 25 the negatives and announce the results. 4718 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52, nays 2, 2 Senators Cook and Dollinger recorded in the 3 negative. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 5 is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 1120, by Senator Holland, Senate Print 4977-A, 8 an act to amend the Real Property Tax Law, in 9 relation to increasing the alternative veterans 10 exemption. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 12 Secretary will read the last section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 14 act shall take effect immediately. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 16 roll. 17 (The Secretary called the roll.) 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 19 the negatives and announce the results. 20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53, nays 1, 21 Senator LaValle recorded in the negative. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 23 is passed. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 1123, substituted earlier today by member of the 4719 1 Assembly Jacobs, Assembly Print 6588, an act to 2 amend the Social Services Law, in relation to 3 amounts for which the state and social services 4 district are responsible. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 6 Secretary will read the last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 8 act shall take effect immediately. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 10 roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll.) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 14 is passed. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 1124, by Senator Tully, Senate Print 5321, an 17 act to amend the Civil Rights Law, in relation 18 to confidentiality of victims and witnesses. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 20 Secretary will read the last section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 22 act shall take effect immediately. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 24 roll. 25 (The Secretary called the roll.) 4720 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 3 is passed. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 1126, by Senator Nozzolio, Senate Print 5324, an 6 act to amend the Executive Law, in relation to 7 preliminary hearings. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 9 Secretary will read the last section. 10 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 11 act shall take effect immediately. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 13 roll. 14 (The Secretary called the roll.) 15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 17 is passed. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 1127, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 5325, an 20 act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law, in 21 relation to waiver of pre-sentence 22 investigations and reports. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 24 Secretary will read the last section. 25 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 4721 1 act shall take effect on the 30th day. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 3 roll. 4 (The Secretary called the roll.) 5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 7 is passed. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1128, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 5367, an 10 act to amend the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, 11 in relation to requiring notice to the State 12 Liquor Authority. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 14 Secretary will read the last section. 15 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 16 act shall take effect on the 90th day. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 18 roll. 19 (The Secretary called the roll.) 20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 22 is passed. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 1129, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 5396, an 25 act to amend the Penal Law. 4722 1 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside, 2 please. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 4 bill aside. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 1130, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 7 Print 5404, an act to amend the General 8 Municipal Law, in relation to cooperative 9 investments. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 11 Secretary will read the last section. 12 THE SECRETARY: Section 7. This 13 act shall take effect immediately. 14 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 16 bill aside. 17 Senator Marcellino, that 18 completes the reading of the non-controversial 19 calendar. 20 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you, 21 Mr. President. 22 Can we now take up the 23 controversial calendar in regular order. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 25 Secretary will read the controversial calendar, 4723 1 beginning with Calendar Number 680 on page 23. 2 The Secretary will read. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 680, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 5 Assembly Print 7767, an act to amend the Social 6 Services Law, in relation to submission of 7 reports and to amend Chapter 627 of the Laws of 8 1983. 9 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 10 President, could I have a brief explanation. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 12 Holland, an explanation of Calendar Number 680 13 has been requested by Senator Dollinger, a brief 14 explanation. 15 SENATOR HOLLAND: Senator, I 16 can't understand why you would even question 17 this, to tell you the truth. This Disability 18 Advocacy Program (DAP) has saved millions of 19 dollars for individuals in the state of New York 20 and with the federal welfare reform and 29,000 21 children being removed from SSI, it will save 22 even more money for us. This makes it 23 permanent. It's only $2.87 million and it stops 24 -- it changes the reporting from every year to 25 every two years. 4724 1 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again through 2 you, Mr. President. I think it's a great idea. 3 I just had never heard of the program and since 4 I've represented -- or had many people call my 5 office to ask what happens when their SSI is 6 denied, I wasn't aware -- and maybe my staff is, 7 but I certainly wasn't aware that the state of 8 New York put funds into an advocacy program to 9 go in and help those people get disability 10 benefits from the federal government, and I 11 think it's a good program. I don't mind 12 delaying the reporting for two years. 13 I just -- do you have any sense 14 of exactly how many people are served and 15 exactly how much money it saves? 16 SENATOR HOLLAND: I -- there is a 17 report out, Senator, I have some place here. 18 SENATOR DOLLINGER: If it's all 19 contained in the report, Mr. President, I have 20 no further questions. I'll get a copy of the 21 report at a later time, but I rose more out of 22 my own personal inquisitive nature but it's a 23 good idea. I only wish we could broadcast it 24 even louder because too often in the past, in 25 the last decade, the federal government has 4725 1 either denied benefits or cut people off 2 benefits prematurely creating great anxiety and 3 greater costs to us from the state of New York. 4 It's a good program. It moves in 5 the right direction and I will be voting in 6 favor. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 8 Secretary will read the last section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 10 act shall take effect immediately. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 12 roll. 13 (The Secretary called the roll.) 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 16 is passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 903, by Senator Trunzo, Senate Print 4904-A, an 19 act authorizing the Commissioner of the Office 20 of General Services to enter into a contract. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 22 Secretary will read the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 24 act shall take effect immediately. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 4726 1 roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll.) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 5 is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 1000, by Senator Levy, Senate Print 4534, an act 8 to amend the Public Authorities Law, in relation 9 to the power of the New York State Thruway 10 Authority. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 12 Secretary will read the last section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 14 act shall take effect immediately. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 16 roll. 17 (The Secretary called the roll.) 18 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 20 is passed. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 1117, by Senator Velella, Senate Print 4487, an 23 act to amend the Public Authorities Law, in 24 relation to exempting the New York City School 25 Construction Authority from commissioning works 4727 1 of art. 2 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Lay that 3 aside temporarily. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay 5 Calendar Number 1117 aside temporarily. 6 The Secretary will continue to 7 read the controversial calendar. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1129, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 5396, an 10 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 11 sentencing for violent offenses. 12 SENATOR VOLKER: Mr. President. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 Volker. 15 SENATOR VOLKER: Mr. President, 16 this bill is a follow-up to the definite 17 sentencing bill that we passed back in 1995. 18 The reason it is here today is 19 that the federal government has changed its 20 requirements as far as criminal justice funding 21 and as far as the system involving violent 22 felony offenders. 23 The bill that we passed back in 24 '95 complied with the federal requirements and 25 enabled us to access millions and millions of 4728 1 dollars and what that bill said, among other 2 things, but specifically to comply with the 3 federal rules was that second or multiple 4 violent felony offenders must serve 85 percent 5 of their maximum sentence. 6 Now, under the new guidelines 7 that have been passed by Congress and put out by 8 the federal government, in order to qualify for 9 a minimum of $113 million -- I say a "minimum" 10 because it probably could well be more, 25 11 million of which I believe we're eligible for 12 after July 1st of this year, assuming that we 13 pass this bill, the Assembly passes it and the 14 Governor signs it into law. What the bill would 15 say is that a first violent -- violent felony 16 offender must serve 85 percent of the maximum 17 term for that sentence and, therefore, we would 18 comply with the federal requirements. Keep in 19 mind these are violent felony offenders and at 20 that time then we would comply and we would have 21 access to over $100 million in federal capital 22 funding, by the way. I would just like to make 23 that clear because that is something that we 24 discussed in conference yesterday, and I checked 25 it and it is capital funding and that's why the 4729 1 plan is to use it to help in the prison system. 2 SENATOR WALDON: Mr. President. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 Waldon. 5 SENATOR WALDON: Would Senator 6 Volker yield - 7 SENATOR VOLKER: Yes. 8 SENATOR WALDON: -- to a question 9 or two? 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 11 Senator yields, Senator Waldon. 12 SENATOR WALDON: Thank you very 13 much, Mr. President. 14 Senator, I understand that if we 15 choose not to enact the provisions -- oh, my 16 goodness. Jim Kelly is here -- of this bill we 17 must forego the federal prison construction 18 dollars but if we choose to enact this 19 legislation, can you tell us, please, what the 20 annual cost of constructing and operating the 21 prisons needed to accommodate the increased 22 prison population will be? 23 SENATOR VOLKER: As far as we can 24 determine, Senator -- and after we had the 25 discussion yesterday in the Rules Committee, I 4730 1 did a little further checking. It will have 2 essentially no immediate -- virtually no 3 immediate impact because keep in mind that 4 presently a person convicted of a violent felony 5 offense must serve 50 percent of the - 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7 Volker, excuse the interruption. 8 SENATOR VOLKER: Certainly. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 10 Marcellino, why do you rise? 11 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr. 12 President, in light of the appearance of a 13 special guest, perhaps we could lay this bill 14 aside temporarily and go to motions and 15 resolutions and do what we have to do there and 16 then we'll go back - 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Your wish 18 is our command, Senator. 19 SENATOR MARCELLINO: -- to the - 20 if Senator Stachowski is ready if the Senator 21 doesn't mind. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We'll lay 23 the bill aside temporarily. We'll return to the 24 order of motions and resolutions. 25 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Can we call 4731 1 Senator Stachowski's resolution, which I believe 2 is at your desk. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 Stachowski does have a privileged resolution at 5 the desk. 6 Senator Stachowski, would you 7 like to speak on your resolution? We're going 8 to call it up. 9 I'll ask the Secretary to read 10 the privileged resolution in its entirety. 11 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 12 Stachowski, Legislative Resolution honoring 13 former Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly upon 14 the occasion of his retirement from the National 15 Football League; 16 WHEREAS, on January 31st, 1997, 17 the Buffalo Bills professional football team 18 lost their leader, quarterback Jim Kelly, when 19 he announced his retirement from the National 20 Football League. 21 No number of superlatives can 22 describe the impact that Jim Kelly had upon the 23 city of Buffalo and the residents of Western New 24 York, both on the football field and in the 25 community. 4732 1 Jim Kelly's years as a Buffalo 2 Bills quarterback will always be equated with 3 mental and physical toughness, a hard-nosed, 4 thorough work ethic, a competitive nature second 5 to none in leadership skills which will be 6 emulated by other players in the National 7 Football League for years to come. 8 It is common knowledge that Jim 9 Kelly was the cornerstone of the Buffalo Bills 10 turnaround to national respect, turning a sub 11 par team into one which would eventually reach 12 four consecutive Super Bowls. 13 In his 11 seasons, this five-time 14 Pro-Bowl selection has piled up numerous 15 highlights, a career which has seen him 16 quarterback his team to four consecutive Super 17 Bowl appearances, become the fourth fastest 18 quarterback to reach 30,000 yards passing, 19 achieve a career passing rating of 84.4, the 20 sixth highest in NFL history, become one of only 21 five quarterbacks in NFL history to throw for at 22 least 3,000 yards in eight seasons, named the 23 AFC Offensive Player of the Week ten times, more 24 than any other Buffalo player, ranked 8th in NFL 25 history with 2,874 career passes completed, 4733 1 ranked 10th in NFL history with 35,467 career 2 passing yards and ranked 12th in NFL history 3 with 237 career passing touchdowns. 4 Jim Kelly's legacy in the NFL 5 will be one of respect, admiration, competition 6 and determination, all qualities hoped to be 7 attained by any player. 8 The community involvement 9 undertaken by Jim Kelly should serve as a model 10 for other players of "superstar" stature, 11 considering that his Kelly for Kids Foundation 12 has raised thousands of dollars for countless 13 charities, including the Cradle Beach Camp which 14 offers respite programs for children battling 15 the effects of cancer. 16 Through Jim Kelly's football 17 camp, thousands of children have been given the 18 opportunity to cross the hashmarks with their 19 hero, afforded with the chance to obtain the 20 autograph of a Buffalo Bill great, caught passes 21 from the person they imagined as their teammate 22 in empty lots and paved streets. 23 Jim Kelly has always stressed his 24 family ties in the vital role his parents and 25 brothers played in his development as a player a 4734 1 and a person. 2 That family bonding is now 3 apparent close to home as Jim is married to the 4 former Jill Waggoner, and together they have 5 been blessed with two children, Erin and Hunter; 6 now, therefore, be it 7 RESOLVED, that this legislative 8 body pause in its deliberations to join the 9 residents of New York State in honoring and 10 recognizing former Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim 11 Kelly upon the occasion of his retirement from 12 the National Football League; and be it further 13 RESOLVED, that three copies of 14 this resolution, suitably engrossed, be 15 transmitted to Mr. Jim Kelly. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The Chair 17 recognizes Senator Stachowski on the resolution. 18 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Mr. 19 President, on the resolution. Every so often in 20 our lives, as far as the sporting community 21 goes, there will come an individual that makes a 22 marked difference on his team and for the 23 Buffalo Bills, who are struggling and with a 24 struggling franchise, that marked difference 25 came when they signed Jim Kelly. 4735 1 Jim brought the team leadership, 2 a toughness and the one thing he brought that 3 all the numbers that you heard in the resolution 4 and all the statistics can never account for is 5 the fact that when Jim was on the field, his 6 teammates always believed they could win the 7 game, no matter what the score was. If there 8 was time left, Jim's teammates thought with Jim 9 on the field, we could win this game and that's 10 something that you just can't measure, and if 11 you ever played a sport and know that feeling, 12 you know exactly what I'm talking about and if 13 you talk to any of Jim's teammates, that would 14 probably be the one thing they would tell you 15 first, that if Jim is on the field and he's 16 playing, we can still win this game. We don't 17 care what the score is. 18 One of the great nights that 19 pointed that out was against Cincinnati on a 20 Monday night game. Jim started out as bad as 21 any quarterback ever started out and he ended up 22 throwing five touchdown passes -- I think it was 23 five and they had Cincinnati so crazy by the end 24 that Sam White should run out on the field at 25 one point and got flagged for a penalty. It was 4736 1 just one of those nights that if you were there, 2 you would never forget it and there were a lot 3 of those nights and afternoons with Jim as a 4 quarterback of the Bills. 5 In the resolution, it also 6 mentioned his sense of family and if you know 7 the Kelly family, there's nobody closer. I 8 mean, those people really take care of each 9 other. The brothers are closer than any 10 brothers I've ever seen. The respect and the 11 love they had for their parents -- obviously 12 their father is still with them and 13 unfortunately Jim lost his mother way too early 14 but his mother was quite an individual. I had 15 the opportunity to meet them because I used to 16 sit two rows in front of them when Jim could 17 only afford to put them in regular seats. 18 Subsequently as the contracts got better, Jim 19 got a box for his parents, so he got them up in 20 the box and it's a good thing he did because at 21 that point his mother couldn't have sat outside 22 anymore and his mother was really quite an 23 individual and, as Jim would be the first to 24 tell you, he got his toughness from his mom and 25 so it's a pleasure to have known his family 4737 1 also. 2 We talked about in the resolution 3 also the fact that a lot of people, when they 4 play for a team, they play for their team. They 5 contribute that way and that's the end of it. 6 They go home and that's the end of it for that 7 community but in Jim's case, he took Buffalo 8 into his heart. 9 He started the Kelly for Kids 10 Foundation and he raised tons of money. They 11 give him small grants to little charities that 12 normally wouldn't get grants because they don't 13 qualify but he always makes sure they get a 14 little money and he's done big things at Cradle 15 Beach, a camp for challenged individuals and 16 less fortunate is a really beneficiary because 17 they now have -- the Big House is now called the 18 Kelly House and he's raised an inordinate amount 19 of money just for that function. 20 So Jim Kelly's impact on Buffalo 21 and Western New York was a lot more than just 22 sports and it continues to be a lot more than 23 just sports because Kelly for Kids is still 24 going strong and raising money and helping the 25 community. 4738 1 And so it's my pleasure to stand 2 here -- and I could go on and on about his 3 football but I'm not going to do that, but I 4 would like to tell you that it's my pleasure to 5 thank Jim and have the opportunity to thank him 6 for all he's done for the Buffalo Bills, all 7 he's done for Western New York and on a personal 8 note, I don't consider Jim Kelly just a friend. 9 I consider him like a brother. 10 Congratulations, Jim. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The Chair 12 recognizes Senator Maziarz on the resolution. 13 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you very 14 much, Mr. President. 15 I too want to rise to 16 congratulate Jim Kelly upon his retirement from 17 the National Football League. It's a shame that 18 these young people that were here in the gallery 19 had to leave but, Mr. President, all too often 20 we see athletic stars today who will be signed 21 by a team and they will come in and only live in 22 that community on a temporary basis and move to 23 California or Florida where life may be a little 24 bit more warmer other parts of the year. 25 Jim Kelly is just the exact 4739 1 opposite of that, Mr. President. He moved to 2 Buffalo. He made Buffalo his home, continues to 3 make Buffalo his home, moved his entire family 4 to Buffalo and became, as Senator Stachowski 5 pointed out, an integral part of the entire 6 Buffalo community, athletic and athletics 7 aside. 8 I know that my chief of staff, 9 Rick Winter, has done a lot of private work for 10 Jim Kelly and for members of his family and has 11 always spoken of him as being not just a great 12 athlete but a true gentleman, and I want to rise 13 in support of this resolution. 14 Thank you, Mr. President. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The Chair 16 recognizes Senator Waldon, on the resolution. 17 SENATOR WALDON: Thank you very 18 much, Mr. President. 19 A couple of things are very clear 20 to me in regard to Jim Kelly. Let me personally 21 congratulate you. 22 One, that there's a person who is 23 amongst our body who is perhaps, if not the 24 strongest fan in support of yours outside of 25 your family, the strongest and most supportive 4740 1 fan we know in Billy Stachowski and Billy has 2 from time to time in his conversations with me 3 kind of fantasized about what he had been able 4 to do had you been running the ball at him. Of 5 course, we know that that was pure fantasy and 6 we dismiss it rather quickly. 7 I was talking to Senator Volker 8 earlier, Jim, in regard to your accomplishments 9 and they are legend from high school, through 10 college at Miami, through all of your years in 11 the pros. You have been one of the best and one 12 of the most exciting players to step on the 13 football field, to put the cleats on, but we 14 were marveling at the one thing that we cannot 15 quantify in terms of athletes. We can talk 16 about how high they can jump or how fast they 17 can run, how much weight they can lift, how much 18 weight they can squat but we cannot quantify 19 heart, and one of the things that is most 20 memorable about your exploits on the football 21 field when I've had occasion to be at Giant 22 Stadium when you beat up on the Jets, or to be 23 watching the television, is that you have a 24 huge, huge heart. What Senator Stachowski said 25 in terms of your team believed that they would 4741 1 win if you were on the field is because you 2 believed that you could win and you were 3 motivated by not only skill and an understanding 4 of the game plan but by a huge heart. 5 So you've brought a lot of joy to 6 those of us who are the Sunday jock watchers 7 around this country and we applaud you for 8 that. We respect you for that and we wish you 9 well in all of your endeavors in the future. 10 Thank you very much for a great 11 career. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 Volker, on the resolution. 14 SENATOR VOLKER: Mr. President - 15 and although the others have really, I think 16 said it all, I don't think that sometimes people 17 realize the impact that certain individuals can 18 have on an area and in Western New York, I think 19 that is particularly true, and I want to thank, 20 by the way, the Minority Leader, Assemblyman 21 Reynolds, for arranging to have Billy here along 22 with -- have Jim Kelly here along with Senator 23 Stachowski. 24 Jim, you have been not only a 25 towering figure in the sports field but, 4742 1 unfortunately, I think some of the people in 2 Western New York sometimes forget that sports is 3 a huge business that generates enormous amounts 4 of revenue for the state of New York, for Erie 5 County and for Western New York. 6 I think there's some in the 7 business community that really don't understand 8 the nature of sports not only in Western New 9 York but I think across the state. 10 You have been a tower of strength 11 on the football field. As has been said, when 12 you were on the football field, clearly you were 13 always in command and when you appear at 14 virtually any place in Western New York, clearly 15 you are a figure that is to be reckoned with and 16 as Bill said, you have raised a tremendous 17 amount of money for all sorts of worthy 18 organizations and our delegation provided 19 considerable money for the Cradle Beach facility 20 but it was you who generated the money that 21 allowed them to modernize their operation for 22 disabled and poor children along Lake Erie and 23 for that alone, I think you are to be enormously 24 commended. 25 We're happy to have you here. 4743 1 We're sorry that you're retiring from our 2 perspective but we know you're going on to great 3 -- bigger and greater things and good luck to 4 you, and we appreciate what you've done for our 5 area. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7 Rath, on the resolution. 8 SENATOR RATH: Thank you, Mr. 9 President. 10 Welcome, Jim. "Women 11 Understanding Football", no, I didn't take the 12 course, but I know a lot of people who did. 35 13 years of season seats. Used to freeze out there 14 on the rock pile. The first game I saw, I think 15 Tommy O'Connell was the quarterback. So we go 16 back a long ways with the Bills. 17 I say this because you have been 18 very special to Buffalo. We all thought you 19 were down here measuring for drapes and 20 carpeting like one of your predecessors, 21 although he went to Washington instead of Albany 22 but that's okay. You guys carry the message 23 very well, and there's -- I think that there's a 24 lot of opportunity in the political world for 25 our sports figures. 4744 1 You have been very special 2 because you're from a community that we're 3 somewhat familiar with. Buffalo, Cleveland, 4 Pittsburgh, we're not very different one from 5 each other. We understand each other. We 6 understand hard work and that was one of the 7 things that makes your time as our quarterback 8 in Buffalo so very important because the guys 9 who one of our DJ's calls "Those Working Squids" 10 in Buffalo, they understood you when you talked 11 to them and they knew how hard you worked and 12 they understood the role model that you 13 presented for the young people in your Kelly for 14 Kids and Cradle Beach and all of what has been 15 mentioned. 16 But today was very special and 17 Eric just wheeled himself out. I know you saw 18 Eric here. It was a very special day because we 19 had a disabled athlete who is a champion. You 20 are certainly a very enabled champion. You've 21 been a wonderful role model. We wish you great 22 good luck and success and thanks for all the 23 wonderful years. It was a heck of a ride. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is there 25 any other Senator wishing to speak on the 4745 1 resolution? 2 The Chair recognizes Senator 3 Holland, on the resolution. 4 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 5 I have a question. Are there any members of 6 this house who ever caught a pass from this 7 young man? I did seven years ago. He was at 8 the desk in the Assembly and there was a lady in 9 a white dress behind me. I think he threw the 10 pass to her, but I intercepted the pass. So it 11 was a great thrill for me. I'm sorry you 12 retired because I think we made a great team. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 Dollinger, on the resolution. 15 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Thank you, 16 Mr. President. 17 I don't know the quarterback of 18 the Buffalo Bills but I rise today, Jim, just to 19 thank you as a parent because you went through 20 some tough times in your career. You were close 21 to the big ring four times, but one of the 22 things that my children -- I have an 18-year-old 23 son and a 15-year-old daughter, a 13-year-old 24 son -- and one of the things they learned from 25 you was that not every time in life are you 4746 1 ordained to win. You can't win everything. No 2 one has ever won everything they've ever tried 3 but sometimes when we face defeat, when we face 4 loss, when we face the disappointment, we have 5 to do it with grace and style and dignity, and 6 I'll just tell you that my sons watched you 7 after times when you lost and you gave them that 8 sense of class and dignity that I think is part 9 of what we have in Western New York. I'm from 10 Rochester. It's part of what you have been 11 brought up with and part of what you in a little 12 way allowed me to teach my children and, on 13 behalf of it as a father, I thank you. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 15 Paterson, on the resolution. 16 SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you, Mr. 17 President. 18 On behalf of the Minority Leader, 19 Senator Connor, and myself, we would like to 20 thank Jim Kelly not only for his contributions 21 to the sports community but something that 22 Senator Maziarz referred to before, his concern 23 for the community that was in the area that he 24 worked and it is kind of a throwback to a 25 previous generation, that relationship between 4747 1 an athlete and the neighborhood around which he 2 became famous because of his attributes on the 3 field and it's something that we don't see as 4 much and it's the type of role model that we're 5 unable to put forth in the sport because of 6 other business concerns and, because of all the 7 things that he's done, we are particularly 8 pleased and very honored to have him here today. 9 As one who stands up on this 10 floor every day and loses all the time -- you 11 may not be able to win all the time but you can 12 lose all the time -- I would like Mr. Kelly to 13 know that I have certainly learned from his 14 graciousness through some of those tough 15 periods, those interviews after the Super 16 Bowls. As a fan of the Buffalo Bills, sometimes 17 I might have been a little agitated, but I found 18 that he put everything in perspective after 19 those games and I'm trying very hard to put 20 things into perspective around here, and I would 21 also like to thank Senator Stachowski and 22 Senator Waldon who talked about Senator 23 Stachowski's attributes as an athlete himself. 24 We've all seen him perform and while we always 25 found Jim Kelly to be poetry in motion, we 4748 1 always found Senator Stachowski to be poetry in 2 place. 3 Thank you, Mr. President. 4 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: He's not 5 faster than me. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is there 7 any other Senator wishing to speak on the 8 resolution? 9 (There was no response.) 10 Hearing none, the question is on 11 the -- Senator Stachowski. 12 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: I would like 13 to mention if everyone would like to be on the 14 resolution, we're opening it up for everyone. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Would you 16 like to change, Senator Paterson, that pattern 17 of losing every time and be on this resolution? 18 SENATOR PATERSON: Rare 19 opportunity. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Marcellino, if tradition holds, should we put 22 all the members on the resolution sponsorship 23 except those who designate that they don't wish 24 to be? 25 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr. 4749 1 President, as a lifetime Giant fan, we would 2 have absolutely no objection. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We'll put 4 all the members -- the Secretary is directed to 5 put all the members as co-sponsors. The 6 question is on the resolution. All those in 7 favor signify by saying aye. 8 (Response of "Aye".) 9 Opposed, nay. 10 (There was no response.) 11 The resolution is unanimously 12 adopted. 13 Jim, on behalf of Senator Bruno 14 and all the members here who have been very, 15 very outspoken in their commendations for you 16 and certainly your congratulations for your 17 retirement and certainly your career, I would 18 simply like to say thank you for all that you've 19 done for New York. Certainly thank you for all 20 that you've done for the Buffalo Bills and 21 Western New York. Thank you for all that you 22 have done for all of us, including the kids that 23 you're helping out. 24 We welcome you to Albany and it's 25 one of those rare treats where we would like to 4750 1 have you say a few words to the members. 2 MR. JIM KELLY: First of all, I 3 just want to -- I just want to, first of all, 4 thank each and every individual that spoke - 5 spoke today. It definitely hits a place in my 6 heart. 7 There's so many great things and 8 great memories that I've had as a Buffalo Bill 9 player in the state of New York, you know, just 10 the guys that I have come in contact with, a 11 person like Senator Stachowski that has been a 12 friend of mine for many, many years and I've 13 never seen him treated so well as he is here. I 14 don't know. It's a little different when he's 15 standing in our locker room and he's almost like 16 the football to us but he's definitely a class 17 individual. He speaks very highly of each and 18 every individual in here and, you know, it's 19 definitely an honor to stand here in front of 20 you today. 21 Yes, there's so many things that 22 we do as professional athletes and we also do 23 realize that we are all role models to a lot of 24 your children and whoever says that they aren't 25 a role model, they should look in the mirror 4751 1 because whether you like it or not, you are. 2 You spoke about the Kelly for 3 Kids. I speak about the Cradle Beach Camp. I 4 was very, I guess -- something had struck home. 5 There's so many things that I do for different 6 charities. I do one for Happy Days and Special 7 Times in Charleston, South Carolina. I do one 8 in my hometown of Pennsylvania for the Spinal 9 Cord Society and also here in Western New York, 10 I do one for all different types of Western New 11 York charities and my particular favorite is 12 Cradle Beach. 13 It's something that, you know, 14 hit me close to home and, you know, I wasn't 15 going to speak about it but, you know, after 16 seeing the gentleman in the wheelchair and 17 talking to him, I was very unfortunate last 18 week, my son Hunter, which is three and a half 19 months old, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy 20 and from that point on, you really know what 21 type of challenges you take each and every day 22 and they talk about challenges that I face as a 23 professional athlete. Lose my mother two years 24 ago. That was a challenge but nothing hits as 25 it hits close to home like having your own son 4752 1 or daughter diagnosed with a disease, but I'll 2 tell you what, as tough as I am, my son will be 3 tougher and I will make him that way and one of 4 these days he's going to live that normal life 5 and I'm going to give him every opportunity to 6 do that. He's a Kelly. He's strong. He will 7 be a champion. 8 (Applause) 9 I'll leave on this note. I have 10 a golf tournament that benefits Western New York 11 charities this coming weekend and Jerry Butler 12 is one of the athletes who we wanted to attend 13 my golf tournament but he's attending another 14 one in Western New York in Buffalo. It's for 15 cerebral palsy and you really realize how close 16 to home it does hit and it definitely hit where 17 it counts, right in the heart but more than 18 that, you know, as a Buffalo Bill player and as 19 a Kelly, I always said that we are the strongest 20 and we know what it's like to accept a 21 challenge. It's just another challenge in my 22 life. It's a challenge that I'm going to meet 23 and confront head on. It's one I'm looking 24 forward to because, again, he's my son. He's 25 blood. He's a Kelly. He'll be all right. 4753 1 Again, I want to thank you all 2 very much because this means a lot not only to 3 myself but on behalf of Scott Burtsore, our PR 4 man from Buffalo, Bud Carpenter, our head 5 athletic trainer and, of course, Scott -- Jerry 6 Butler, a wide receiver that, you know, many 7 years ago I would have loved to throw passes to 8 on the football field. Make sure they cut that 9 one right, Jerry, and, of course, Jerry Butkai, 10 a very good friend of mine that has piloted us 11 all around but more than that, to you all here, 12 to open this up to make this my day. 13 Again, I thank you very much. 14 Senator Stachowski, I thank you from the bottom 15 of my heart for everything you've done for me 16 not only today but in the past and, again, thank 17 you. 18 (Applause) 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: For the 20 benefit of the members here, Jim Kelly will be 21 available for pictures with the members in Steve 22 Sloan's office immediately. 23 Senator Marcellino. 24 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr. 25 President -- Mr. President. 4754 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 Marcellino. 3 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr. 4 President, can we have the last section read on 5 1129. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We need 7 to put it before the house first. 8 The Secretary will read the title 9 to Calendar Number 1129. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 1129, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 5396, an 12 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 13 sentencing. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 15 Secretary will read the last section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 9. This 17 act shall take effect immediately. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 19 roll. 20 (The Secretary called the roll.) 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Skelos, how do you vote? 23 SENATOR SKELOS: Yes. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 Skelos will be recorded in the affirmative. 4755 1 Withdraw the roll call. We're back on debate on 2 Calendar Number 1129. If we could get a little 3 order in the house, we would like to proceed 4 with the debate. 5 SENATOR WALDON: Mr. President, 6 would the gentleman continue to yield? 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 8 Volker, do you continue to yield to Senator 9 Waldon? He does. The Senator yields. 10 SENATOR WALDON: Before we had to 11 suffer such a very pleasant interruption, 12 Senator, to meet and greet Jim Kelly, a hero to 13 us all, I asked how are we going to pay for what 14 I anticipate to be a natural increase in prison 15 construction as a result of passing this 16 legislation? I believe you had just begun to 17 answer that. May we revisit your answer? 18 SENATOR VOLKER: Yes, Senator. I 19 think we ought to get some sort of an award for 20 degree of difficulty in this bill but, anyways, 21 the -- obviously we are -- as a result of this 22 bill, we are going to get some capital money 23 from Washington, as we know, because of this 24 bill, but the actual impact of this legislation 25 will not actually be felt for several years 4756 1 because right at this point we already have a 50 2 percent requirement as far as sentencing for 3 first violent felony offenders. 4 The assumption all along is, by 5 the way, Senator -- and let's keep in mind 6 what's been happening -- that, although there 7 have been people that have said, Well, you're 8 locking up all kinds of people but you're not 9 seeing any impact in the criminal justice area, 10 that is, in the crime rate, well, we know that 11 is not true. What's been happening is there's 12 been a dramatic decline in arrests and in 13 convictions as far as criminal activity is 14 concerned and we anticipate since we are 15 continuing to lock up violent felony offenders 16 and to keep them locked up for longer periods of 17 time, that that crime rate will continue to fall 18 into the next -- into the next -- in fact, into 19 the next century and the reality is that we 20 expect that you will begin to see the numbers in 21 the prison system fall off even more than they 22 already have. 23 Frankly, the numbers in the 24 prison system have actually fallen off over - 25 that is, the rise has fallen off. Obviously we 4757 1 are slowly escalating in the prison system but 2 the projections that we made years ago on where 3 we would be given the nature of the numbers that 4 were coming into our system, actually is as much 5 as 10,000 off the estimates that were made a 6 decade ago as to where we would go if the crime 7 rate continued at the level it was. 8 So we believe, number one, that 9 there will be no immediate impact on the system 10 by passing this bill and that the impact 11 probably about three years down the line will 12 not be extremely severe and in the meantime, we 13 must build several new prisons anyways because 14 the system right now is at 130 percent of 15 capacity, as you are well aware, and we are 16 convinced that one of the things we must do is 17 build at least two, possibly three maximum 18 security prisons. 19 So I guess the answer to your 20 question is if we don't see any immediate impact 21 -- we acknowledge that there would be some 22 impact if the crime rate did not continue to 23 decline as it is but we, frankly, expect the 24 crime rate to continue to decline and then in 25 reality, because we are locking up and keeping 4758 1 violent felony offenders locked up for longer 2 periods of time, we think we will actually see a 3 savings over the long haul. 4 SENATOR WALDON: Would the 5 gentleman continue to yield, Mr. President? 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7 Volker, do you continue to yield? 8 SENATOR VOLKER: Yes. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 10 Senator continues to yield. 11 SENATOR WALDON: Thank you, Mr. 12 President. Thank you, Senator Volker. 13 Senator, it is my understanding 14 that the cost on this bill in regard to prison 15 construction will be approximately $521.4 16 million which will be bonded out but what will 17 really result is the state of New York will have 18 to pay $1.1 billion over a 30-year period to 19 accommodate this. 20 It's interesting that this bill 21 will institute determinate sentencing for the 22 first time for first time violent felony 23 offenders and it also denies discretionary 24 parole for first time violent felony offenders 25 which, in my opinion, ensures that even though 4759 1 there may be a slight decline now in terms of 2 the rate of increase of prisoners but will 3 ensure that that will turn itself around and, 4 therefore, we will have this cost factor. 5 So I guess my question truly is 6 -- and it's the next to the last question, I 7 believe -- is do you see the institution of 8 determinate sentencing and the denial of 9 discretionary parole both for first time violent 10 felony offenders as increasing the population 11 faster than the current rate and, two, is there 12 any truth to the fact -- not to the fact -- to 13 my belief that the actual cost will be $1.1 14 billion to accommodate this proposal? 15 SENATOR VOLKER: Well, first of 16 all, I guess I would dispute the second figure. 17 I don't -- we need to build two -- at least two 18 and we really -- I suppose you could argue we 19 need to build three maximum security prisons and 20 I could get into the entire reasoning for that. 21 One of the things I don't think 22 some people realize is we have several old 23 maximum security prisons as it is that 24 ultimately probably will need either tremendous 25 changes in them or phasing out. So that I 4760 1 assume and I would hope that what will happen as 2 we really clamp down on the criminal justice 3 system and do a number of things in education 4 and other places, I believe we will continue to 5 see the crime rate decline into the next century 6 and hopefully we will see some relief in the 7 area of the criminal justice system. 8 However, you know, I think it is 9 extremely difficult to put any kind of 10 quantitative amount on this bill because I think 11 there's arguments both ways as to whether it 12 will cost more or, in fact, cost less, but I can 13 say this, that the initial cost, that is, in the 14 immediate next few years is virtually nothing 15 because of the fact that already we have in 16 place a 50 percent requirement of -- on 17 sentencing, so essentially what we're doing here 18 is moving it from 50 to 85 percent of the -- of 19 the maximum term on first felony offenders. 20 Keep in mind that these are first violent felony 21 offenders and you are, I know, very aware of the 22 kinds of individuals that we're talking about 23 here and I know you're also aware -- and this is 24 particularly true, I think in New York City - 25 that a person who is convicted of a first 4761 1 violent felony offense probably has been 2 arrested 15 to 20, maybe 30 times before he or 3 she is finally convicted. 4 We know that drug offenders are 5 sometimes -- that finally go to jail have rap 6 sheets that are maybe 100 arrests long and it's 7 something that a lot of the people who argue 8 against incarcerating drug offenders don't seem 9 to understand because they never see their rap 10 sheet, but I think the answer to your question, 11 Senator, is I think the 1.1 billion, or whatever 12 it is, figure, I would quarrel with that. I 13 don't think that's correct. I think we are 14 going to have a cost for building several new 15 prisons but not because of this bill. 16 SENATOR WALDON: Mr. President, 17 if the gentleman would yield for - 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 19 Volker, do you continue to yield? 20 SENATOR VOLKER: Certainly. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 22 Senator yields. 23 SENATOR WALDON: Senator Volker, 24 for as long as we've known each other, I have 25 proposed that we look at alternatives to 4762 1 incarceration where it works. I've never said 2 that those who are violent felony offenders 3 should be allowed to run amok here in society, 4 but I believe that we need alternatives to the 5 policies not only that are being forwarded by 6 our current Governor, George Pataki, but the 7 same policies which were afforded by Mario 8 Cuomo. I didn't agree with him. I don't agree 9 with our current Governor in that regard. That 10 doesn't mean I'm opposed to prisons altogether. 11 It just means that I think we ought to be more 12 judicious in our utilization of available 13 revenue to ensure that people have an 14 alternative to the incarceration modality. 15 In this bill, is there anything 16 which speaks to alternatives to incarceration, 17 drug treatment, for example, for non-violent 18 drug offenders? Is there anything in this which 19 says that we are going to ensure that the best 20 supportive services are available to you so we 21 don't have to see you anymore? You will be able 22 to clean up, get out and get on with your life. 23 SENATOR VOLKER: Senator, this 24 bill is actually, as I say, a compliance bill. 25 It's a definite sentencing bill. This bill does 4763 1 not deal with the issue of alternatives to 2 incarceration but, Senator, you are well aware, 3 I know, that we have passed a lot of legislation 4 dealing with alternatives to incarceration over 5 the years. In fact, we have innumerable 6 programs in this state dealing with alternatives 7 and, in fact, we just set up Willard -- the old 8 Willard psych' center. We have a place there 9 designed to deal with some of the people that 10 are coming out of the system to try to move the 11 system along without long prison terms. As you 12 also know, we have experimented, I think very 13 successfully with Shock incarceration. 14 One of the problems with the 15 system, though, there doesn't seem to be an 16 understanding by some people the fact we have 17 very, very few non-violent people. We say there 18 are less violent people in our system because 19 the truth is that the amount of drug convictions 20 for fairly minor offenses is virtually nil. 21 There are very, very few and the difficulty is 22 that -- and although you and I, I think could 23 certainly argue that there are many things that 24 are necessary and many of them are expensive 25 like drug -- increased drug treatment, increased 4764 1 sex offender treatment, things of that nature - 2 that's something I think we must look at and I 3 think we must consider very carefully because I 4 think it is important, but what this bill deals 5 with, specifically deals with the fact that the 6 federal government has set standards for us in 7 the violent felony offender field and we are 8 dealing strictly with that side of the issue. 9 SENATOR WALDON: Last question, 10 Mr. President, if I may. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 12 Volker, do you yield to one more question? 13 SENATOR VOLKER: Sure. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 15 Senator yields. 16 SENATOR WALDON: Senator Volker, 17 the federal government in its wisdom has often 18 times done some very goods things which benefit 19 the states of this great country. Is there any 20 proviso in this federal mandate which would 21 allow us to increase the number of police 22 officers on the streets of the cities of this 23 state? 24 SENATOR VOLKER: Senator, not 25 that I'm aware of, not in the bill. As you 4765 1 know, there was a couple years ago a bill passed 2 that took great fanfare that provided some 3 additional police officers. Of course, the 4 problem was it provided additional police 5 officers for one -- in effect for one and maybe 6 two years, that is, their pay and after that, 7 the area that got the police officers in had to 8 pay for them. 9 One of the difficulties with the 10 federal government providing things such as 11 continuing police officer strength is that the 12 localities have to pick up the cost because the 13 bulk of the cost came later on down the line 14 within just a couple of years. In fact, some of 15 the cities that got those police officers now 16 found a considerable increased cost because they 17 have those people on the force, and I think 18 what's happened in some cities is that because 19 of fiscal problems, they've actually not 20 appointed additional police officers so that the 21 net effect of some of those police officers was 22 zero because they -- they're not appointing new 23 people because they don't have the money to do 24 it because they already have police officers who 25 are on the payroll from what came from the 4766 1 federal government. 2 So the answer is not that I'm 3 aware of. I think the federal bill related 4 primarily to sentencing and, of course, Senator, 5 as you know, one of the things about this - 6 another reason why we don't think it will have 7 as much impact is the Parole Board has been very 8 reluctant to parole violent offenders anyways 9 and the Parole Board has been given directives 10 to be much more careful and one of our problems 11 with the prison system is that we are locking up 12 more parole violators now than we have, I 13 believe -- I'm not aware we ever locked up as 14 many parole violators because we are trying to 15 make sure that people who have bad records as 16 far as violent felonies are concerned stay in 17 prison and not create more havoc in the streets. 18 SENATOR WALDON: Thank you very 19 much, Mr. President. 20 If I may, Mr. President. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Waldon, on the bill. 23 SENATOR WALDON: Thank you very 24 much, Mr. President. Thank you, Senator Volker. 25 Senator, I believe the same 4767 1 argument you made which says that sometimes it 2 is not wise to accept federal monies for police 3 officers is the basic argument I'm trying to 4 make in regard to accepting the $113 million 5 from the fed's on this because the cost to New 6 York State will be 1.3 or $1.1 dollars. 7 Let me just make sure -- yes. 8 The guesstimates of my staff, who are pretty 9 good at math -- they know how to crunch the 10 numbers -- will be that over a 30-year period, 11 this will cost us $1.1 billion. I think that is 12 not a wise thing for to us do regarding our 13 grandchildren. They're strapped enough with 14 debt service, debt service on matters that we've 15 engaged in to date. It does not have any 16 proviso for operational costs. So this is just 17 merely to build. 18 I think it is something that we 19 should think about, defer, find a different way 20 to do it, find a more judicious way, both from 21 the financial perspective and from the moral 22 burden to our grandchildren. 23 I would encourage us not to do 24 this. I would encourage us to recognize that if 25 we want to really be penny-wise and not pound 4768 1 foolish, that we would look to alternatives. 2 They are just a small portion in a comparative 3 sense of the cost of building the prisons and 4 incarcerating people and despite your premise, 5 Senator -- and you know I respect you and this 6 is not just to juice you up or placate you - 7 your premise that there are not a great number 8 of drug violators in the mix that's causing the 9 prison population to increase is not my 10 perception. 11 I believe that the figures I have 12 would show that all of the people who are in our 13 prisons, 80 percent of them are there because 14 what they first did was to get high off of drugs 15 or get high off of alcohol and then commit an 16 act which brought them into confrontation with 17 the criminal justice system and eventuated into 18 their being a part of our prison population. 19 So I think that if we were smart, 20 we would create therapies and out-patient 21 centers and halfway homes and a lot of support 22 systems in the communities where these people 23 eventually go back to which would deal with 24 their real problem, which is their sense of 25 despair, their absence of hope, their absence of 4769 1 a job, their absence of a solid family 2 structure, their absence of a community which 3 has a community center or a night center, their 4 absence in the 11 community school boards and 5 the 17 Assembly Districts where 80 percent of 6 the prison population originates, from having 7 good and sound education. 8 I think that if we were to create 9 a Marshall Plan at a minuscule proportion of the 10 cost of building these prison cells to address 11 the needs of those 17 Assembly Districts, to 12 address the needs of those 11 community school 13 boards, we would find that the need for 14 construction of prisons would not vanish. 15 That's never going to happen but would diminish 16 to such a degree that there would be money for 17 the other needs of the people of the state of 18 New York. 19 I'm afraid that one day we're 20 going to wake up and say, Oops, we blew it. 21 We're in the same bag as California, no money 22 for anything else because we put all the money 23 into prisons. Oops, we blew it. We're in the 24 same bag as the state of Texas where the economy 25 of the state has been driven into its fiscal 4770 1 responsibilities, Senator, in terms of its 2 budget by the prison system and there's no money 3 for anything else, but the most tragic component 4 of all of this is we will say as we sit, you and 5 I and others in this chamber, in our nursing 6 homes many years down the road and say, Oops, we 7 blew it. My grandchildren cannot have a good 8 quality of life because they're paying all of 9 the debt service that I foolishly created as a 10 Senator during the '90s. 11 I don't think we should do that, 12 Senator Volker. I have great respect for you 13 and for what you stand for and the manner in 14 which you debate these bills but today I most 15 respectfully disagree with your contention and 16 your positions, and I would encourage my 17 colleagues to see it my way this day and let's 18 vote no on this particular proposal. 19 Thank you very much, Mr. 20 President. Thank you, Senator Volker. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Montgomery. 23 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Thank you, 24 Mr. President. 25 I wonder if the sponsor, Senator 4771 1 Volker, would yield for a question. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 3 Volker, do you yield to a question from Senator 4 Montgomery? 5 SENATOR VOLKER: Sure. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 7 Senator yields. 8 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Senator 9 Volker, I note in your legislation in this bill 10 that it now covers first time violent 11 offenders. 12 SENATOR VOLKER: Right. 13 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: And you also 14 have added Class D and Class E felonies. Are 15 those also specifically non-violent or 16 specifically violent felons? 17 SENATOR VOLKER: No, actually we 18 don't. The only people that we're adding here 19 is in relation to violent felony offenders. 20 There are no non-violent people involved in 21 this. So any offense that would be covered by 22 this bill would also be people, as I say, who 23 would fall under the violent felony offender 24 category. So this would not involve any 25 non-violent -- would not impact on their 4772 1 sentences or any of that in any way. 2 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Senator, do 3 we -- do you know the number of inmates who are 4 currently incarcerated who have -- who are there 5 based on drug-related non-violent convictions? 6 Do we have that information available? 7 SENATOR VOLKER: The trouble is 8 that we -- if you look at the numbers -- I was 9 looking at some of the numbers the other day - 10 you can say anywhere from zero to -- I've seen 11 some numbers that say, well, there's 20- or 12 30,000. Of course, the problem with that is 13 that the -- as I often said, that we've had a 14 number of people, the reason that they're 15 non-violent is because they were bad shots. You 16 have a lot of drug offenders in jail -- most 17 drug offenders in jail were arrested dozens of 18 times. In New York City you have to really work 19 at going to jail on drug charges, in many ways. 20 I mean I'm exaggerating in a way but it's a fact 21 of life. 22 The federal government did a 23 study on what is considered non-violent drug 24 offenders and they found out that most of the 25 serious drug offenders end up in jail, that is, 4773 1 the ones that get the long sentences were 2 arrested as many as 100 times before they 3 finally went to jail. 4 So the difficulty is when we 5 don't term them as "non-violent", we say less 6 violent and in keeping with that, Senator, let 7 me just tell you we're having difficulty 8 maintaining our Shock incarceration system and 9 the reason is, is that we have shipped the 10 people that are reasonably non-violent into that 11 system and we can't find enough of them in the 12 prison system to keep Shock incarceration camps 13 operating. So what we had to do is make - 14 several of those camps have become minimum 15 security prisons because they don't qualify 16 under the Shock program. 17 So the answer is that, yes, there 18 are a number of people who are convicted for 19 drug offenses who are in our system. Most of 20 them have some arrests for violent felonies some 21 place along the line but generally speaking were 22 never convicted of such violent felonies. 23 I've often said to somebody, what 24 do you think would make a person plead to a 15 25 to 25-year term under the Rockefeller Drug Law 4774 1 and the answer is some sort of a crime that 2 would mean that they would be sentenced 3 potentially to an even longer sentence if they 4 were subjected to a trial and usually those are 5 robbery or something of a much more serious 6 nature. 7 So the answer is we can't -- it's 8 very difficult to calculate exactly how many 9 people would be considered to be possibly 10 somewhat non-violent or at least less violent. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 12 Montgomery. 13 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: So Senator 14 Volker seems to imply, Mr. President, that there 15 may be 40 percent, 50 percent, some people say 16 61 percent -- or over 60 percent that are 17 actually there based on non-violent 18 convictions. 19 If Senator Volker would yield, 20 the - 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Volker, do you yield to a question from Senator 23 Volker? 24 SENATOR VOLKER: Yes. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 4775 1 Senator yields. 2 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Commissioner 3 Goord sent to me, in response to a question that 4 I asked him at the budget hearings, the 5 statistics that he has where the home districts 6 of the inmates are in the state. He indicated 7 that there are 68 percent who originate from New 8 York City. If that is the case -- and, Senator 9 Volker, you said in response to Senator Waldon 10 that most of the inmates, by the time they get 11 to prison, they've already been arrested some 15 12 times and I know you've made that statement 13 before. 14 SENATOR VOLKER: Minimum. 15 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: We've held 16 hearings several different times on this issue 17 and variations of this issue and every single 18 expert in the field of treatment and crime and 19 crime prevention, judges and D.A.s and everybody 20 says -- have said to us that the key to 21 preventing people from going further into a life 22 of crime is early intervention. It seems that 23 when there's a first -- a first instance when a 24 person, especially a young person comes in 25 contact with the law, that it is at that point 4776 1 that we should begin a process of turning that 2 young person around so that they don't do the 3 second, third and fourth and get to number 4 fifteen, and I'm just wondering -- they've also 5 talked about prevention. You yourself have 6 talked about alternatives to incarceration. I 7 know that our D.A. has a very active alternative 8 to incarceration program there in Brooklyn. 9 We've heard in many instances where community 10 courts are a specific and particular early 11 intervention mechanism as well as a prevention 12 mechanism. Can you identify for me where in the 13 Governor's budget we have the funding for these 14 programs specifically and what amount -- what 15 amount and does it reflect the 68 to 70 percent 16 that are going to -- that we anticipate will be 17 coming from New York City? Do we have that 18 percentage of funding for these programs in New 19 York City in the budget right now? 20 SENATOR VOLKER: Senator, that's 21 a lot of questions into one. 22 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: I know. I 23 want the money. Show me the money. 24 SENATOR VOLKER: Show me the 25 money. Let me show you the programs, Senator. 4777 1 This Legislature a few years ago, I think it was 2 1989, passed a law, signed by then Governor 3 Cuomo establishing a first felony offender 4 diversion program. It turned out to be a flop 5 -- a "flop" meaning it didn't attract much and 6 the reason it didn't is every D.A. in New York 7 City, virtually every D.A. in upstate is already 8 doing a first felony offender diversion program 9 and there are funds in the state budget; there 10 are funds in local budgets; there are funds in 11 New York City. We seem to think we're not doing 12 alternatives to incarceration. We have 13 innumerable alternatives to incarceration 14 programs. Are there enough? Probably not. I 15 think I would be the first to say to you, I 16 don't think there are. Is there enough money in 17 the Governor's budget? Probably not. We're 18 going to put more in, as you know. You know how 19 the system works. We both know it. 20 We always used to complain about 21 Cuomo not having enough money for certain things 22 and you did too. I mean -- and your side did 23 too. It's the way the system works. Before 24 this year is out, when we finally do a budget, I 25 assume there's going to be a considerable amount 4778 1 of more money on the prosecution side, as well 2 as on the defense side and on treatment side. 3 There's no doubt about it that there's going to 4 be, and I'll be the first to say to you that on 5 this issue, maybe I'm a little more -- what is 6 the word -- liberal, but that's a good word. I 7 believe and I hope we need to do more but all 8 that aside, keep in mind, Senator, that about 9 the system, we need to deal with the person who 10 is a violent felon because whether we were 11 unsuccessful in the early days or whatever we 12 did, these people are creating problems on the 13 streets and they -- these individuals cause us a 14 huge cost to society and if we could make sure 15 that these people -- who do most of the crimes, 16 by the way, because we -- studies have clearly 17 shown -- one thing that studies have clearly 18 shown is that a few people, a comparatively few 19 people -- I mean it's a lot of people in the 20 numbers but a comparatively few people, they do 21 most of the violent crimes and the theory that 22 is, of course, being criticized by certain 23 psychologists, and so forth, because they said 24 this is never going to work, they don't want to 25 admit that something is going on out there in 4779 1 this country and what's going on is the crime 2 rate is beginning to drop and we are locking up 3 more violent felony offenders for longer periods 4 than we ever have. We believe, and I think many 5 people now believe -- and even some of the 6 people who didn't agree for a long time, they're 7 still saying that we ought to have more 8 treatment and all of that. They're not denying 9 that but they're admitting that what's happening 10 here in this country appears to say that we are 11 at least being more successful by locking up 12 people who are violent felony offenders and 13 that's what this bill seeks to do. 14 The issue of treatment and 15 alternatives, and so forth, is something we're 16 going to debate when the budget passes and we 17 should, but that's for later. This is for now. 18 This gets us money to help us build a new 19 prison, by the way, so we can get the backup out 20 of the system in New York City and in other 21 places upstate and make sure and give us the 22 opportunity to, by the way, treat people because 23 we've got too many people in the system right 24 now that it's very difficult to do education and 25 treatment, and so forth, and that's why we need 4780 1 this bill. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 3 Montgomery. 4 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Thank you, 5 Senator Volker. 6 I am certainly encouraged that 7 Senator Volker is now on record in this house 8 before his side of the aisle and ours with a 9 firm commitment to fight along with us for an 10 enhancement in our state budget in the area of 11 prevention, crime prevention and alternatives to 12 incarceration and those -- and supporting those 13 areas that we know will work, and there are some 14 things that absolutely do work and do make a 15 difference. 16 I would like to caution Senator 17 Volker and my colleagues who are inclined to 18 look at this as a need to just lock them up and 19 throw the key away and that is how we will 20 reduce crime, that we're looking at a state and 21 a nation that has at this point -- we're moving 22 toward having one of every two African-American 23 males either incarcerated in some local, state 24 or federal prison or they are on probation or 25 parole or in something. We're moving in that 4781 1 direction. That to me is a shame and a disgrace 2 and as a nation and as a state, I think that we 3 must avoid -- we must stop this movement in that 4 direction, and I hope that, Senator Volker, you 5 are certainly going to work against that tide 6 because we cannot afford it and we should not - 7 we should not be -- we should not be a state 8 that looks like that. 9 We know that community policing 10 does work and we do know that early intervention 11 does make a difference. People from Suffolk 12 County to Buffalo, every part of the state have 13 said it makes a difference. Let's do it. 14 We know some of the things that 15 have to be done to not only enhance the lives of 16 young people but keep them out of crime and also 17 protect our neighborhoods. We should be doing 18 those things and not simply standing up and 19 saying in sound bites that here's Willy Horton 20 and how we deal with Willy Horton is we're going 21 to lock him up and the public believes that they 22 are then safe by that statement. 23 That is not true. That is not 24 what we want to reflect and represent in our 25 state and hopefully this -- from this point on, 4782 1 Senator Volker is also going to be helping to 2 turn the tide on the direction in which we have 3 been going in New York. 4 I am certainly going to vote 5 against this. I don't believe that we should be 6 looking to receive 25 million that we would 7 apparently ostensibly receive from the federal 8 in order to spend one point whatever billion but 9 also, I think that it was wrong. I do not agree 10 with what Congress did and I do not agree, and 11 I'm not pleased that the President signed the 12 legislation and I'm certainly not in agreement 13 with what we're doing here today. So I'm going 14 to vote no. 15 Thank you, Mr. President. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 17 Secretary will read the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 9. This 19 act shall take effect immediately. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 21 roll. 22 (The Secretary called the roll.) 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 24 the negatives and announce the results. 25 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 4783 1 the negative on Calendar Number 1129, Senator 2 Connor, Leichter, Montgomery, Paterson, Sampson 3 and Waldon. Ayes 50, nays 6. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 5 is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 1130, by the Committee on Rules, Senate Print 8 5404, an act to amend the General Municipal Law, 9 in relation to cooperative investments. 10 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 11 would - 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 Leichter, why do you rise? 14 SENATOR LEICHTER: Would the 15 sponsor yield, please? I understand Senator 16 Larkin is ready to respond to questions. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Are you 18 asking Senator -- excuse me, Senator Leichter. 19 What's your request? 20 SENATOR LEICHTER: I wanted the 21 sponsor to yield but he said he would like to 22 make an explanation of the bill and that's 23 fine. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 Larkin for an explanation. 4784 1 SENATOR LARKIN: This bill 2 represents three years of hard work on the part 3 of a lot of people, this body, the Comptroller, 4 the private sector, and it all had to do with 5 how do we adequately ensure that we're 6 protecting the investments, the investments at 7 local governments, the investment of monies that 8 have come from the federal government and the 9 state government. The auditors from the 10 Comptroller's office have played a great role in 11 here. I -- during my tenure as Chairman of the 12 Local Governments Committee, we had an extended 13 hearing to ensure that we received everybody's 14 input, the pros and the cons, what should or 15 shouldn't be done. 16 One of the things that I think 17 the practice of pooling investments of local 18 government has to date rested on a broad opinion 19 of the Comptroller of 1988 -- actually it was 20 8846 -- "the Legislature must now take this 21 opportunity to codify in the General Municipal 22 Law the practices which the municipal 23 corporations must follow." 24 Now, when we look at all of this, 25 Senator Leichter, we look at the opinion of 1988 4785 1 and we look at the audit of 1996 by sitting 2 Comptroller and we found that there were many 3 things they were concerned about. The lead 4 agency as we know it of Northern Westchester, 5 Putnam and BOCES, we have an individual who was 6 sitting there as the superintendent of BOCES and 7 also sitting -- wearing another hat as the prime 8 and sole investor over 350 communities. We have 9 this individual sitting there and responding to 10 an investment private sector and yet no 11 reimbursement to the Putnam BOCES. 12 There was questions which 13 concerned the pool authorization, the 14 investments. The Comptroller raised questions 15 on this of how far they should go and how much 16 the investments -- what we noticed that the 17 investments by MBIA, commonly referred to its 18 class, was the fact that they could take all the 19 money from all of the 350 participants and 20 invest it solely without individual 21 responsibility. The local governments wouldn't 22 know where their monies were. There was no 23 monthly accountability. 24 This new law that we're proposing 25 now takes into consideration all of the requests 4786 1 and the recommendations contained in Comptroller 2 McCall's audit of 1996. "We require 3 participants to establish an investment 4 agreement. Limit investment maturity periods to 5 two years. Limit weight average maturity days 6 to 60." 7 This is done specifically at his 8 request to protect access of municipality 9 corporations to their capital, in plain English, 10 the immediate need that a municipality may have 11 to withdraw out its money. "Require 12 participants to make sure that market value 13 determinations are made at least once a month. 14 Require participants to review their portfolio 15 for sensitivity to interest rates." 16 Currently they have no access to 17 it. They call up, invest and that's the end of 18 the action. "Require participants to obtain an 19 irrevocable letter of credit to cover possible 20 losses." 21 As we stand today, there is no 22 protection for the local monies that are being 23 invested. "We require participants to hire an 24 administrator investment advisor, independent 25 auditor and custodial bank", and that was one of 4787 1 the key things -- that was one of the key things 2 that the audit -- "require that each year a CPA 3 conduct a financial audit and an audit of the 4 internal control structure and provide 5 participants with a monthly statement." 6 In essence, Senator, what we're 7 trying to do here is to make sure that there's a 8 level playing field because under the rules 9 right now, a municipality could lose all of its 10 investments and have no recourse. 11 Thank you very much, Senator. 12 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 Leichter, why do you rise? 15 SENATOR LEICHTER: I want to 16 thank Senator Larkin for his explanation and ask 17 if you would be so kind as to yield. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 19 Larkin, do you yield to a question? 20 SENATOR LARKIN: Yes, Senator. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 22 Senator yields. 23 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, you 24 may have in part addressed the question that I 25 had in mind and that is, has the Comptroller 4788 1 support -- or is the Comptroller supporting this 2 bill? 3 SENATOR LARKIN: It's the same 4 answer as before. The Comptroller has not 5 rendered an opinion pro or con of this. He had 6 rendered his report in his audit of 1996. The 7 Comptroller's local government staff 8 participated in our hearings and comments that 9 what we have in here in our bill is taken - 10 extracted from the testimony that they gave us 11 then but he has not rendered a specific opinion, 12 except for the fact that his audit 13 recommendations are the basis of this bill. 14 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 15 if Senator Larkin would continue to yield. 16 SENATOR LARKIN: Yes, Mr. 17 President. 18 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, I 19 certainly appreciate the work you've done, and I 20 understand that you think that this meets the 21 Comptroller's proposals and suggestions. The 22 Comptroller might have a different view on it. 23 It seems to me, frankly, unwise to put this bill 24 forward without our knowing specifically if the 25 Comptroller considers that this bill meets all 4789 1 of these suggestions that he has made, all the 2 objections that he had for the past system. 3 SENATOR LARKIN: Well, two 4 things, Senator. In the early negotiations on 5 this in writing it, we had asked the Comptroller 6 to participate with us in the updating of this 7 specific legislation and as of one hour ago, 8 there was no response. We had asked them to sit 9 down with us. They have declined not to and as 10 you may or may not know, that this legislation 11 is -- expires today. 12 SENATOR LEICHTER: Well, Mr. 13 President, if Senator Larkin would continue to 14 yield. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator, 16 do you continue to yield? 17 SENATOR LARKIN: Yes, Mr. 18 President. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 20 Senator continues to yield. 21 SENATOR LEICHTER: You know, I 22 don't know what the Comptroller's policy is 23 about sitting down and working in the fashion 24 that you asked him to with your committee, and 25 so on. Apparently he did testify, and so on. 4790 1 The one thing I do know about the 2 Comptroller, he's not shy about giving his 3 opinion. You call him and you say, Mr. 4 Comptroller, this is what we propose. Do you 5 support it or don't you support it? Do you 6 oppose it? You have no comment on it but, I 7 mean, to put this forward and not know what the 8 Comptroller's position is, frankly, I think 9 leaves us in something of a quandary. 10 SENATOR LARKIN: Senator, I would 11 have thought that but the response from the 12 Comptroller's office was that it was not their 13 responsibility to draft this legislation. 14 SENATOR LEICHTER: I -- Mr. 15 President, again, if you would continue to - 16 SENATOR LARKIN: Senator, I - 17 you know, from the time we started working on 18 this three years ago, there's been many 19 opportunities for the Comptroller to interject 20 his views on it. The general views that we were 21 given in 1995 at our hearing and again in 22 communications -- and, again, Senator, I don't 23 chair the Local Governments Committee but having 24 had a keen interest in this, I think we've given 25 the Comptroller every opportunity to include 4791 1 waiting until the completion and we were asked 2 not to do any legislation until completion of 3 the 1996 audit, Senator, and that's exactly what 4 this side of the aisle did, wait for the 5 Comptroller because we wanted to make sure that 6 things that we heard about in '93 and '94 and 7 '95 were being looked at by their auditors. 8 Their auditors looked at it and gave a complete 9 audit of what they found wrong and what they 10 thought had to be corrected in order to make 11 this a viable operation and, Senator, he was 12 given the opportunity. He declined. His 13 comments -- I'm not saying that Mr. McCall made 14 the comment but his staff speaking on behalf of 15 him said that it was our job to draft the 16 legislation. 17 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 19 Leichter. 20 SENATOR LEICHTER: If Senator 21 Larkin continues to yield. 22 SENATOR LARKIN: Yes. 23 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator 24 Larkin, I think you and I can certainly agree 25 that it is our job to draft legislation, and I 4792 1 see you've worked very hard on this, and I again 2 thank you and I'm sure you used your best 3 efforts on it, but when I take a look at the 4 date of the bill, it's May 30th. So that was 5 Friday, on the eve of a June weekend. Has 6 anybody since then taken this bill and said, Mr. 7 Comptroller, we've done what you've asked. We 8 have drafted the bill. It's our 9 responsibility. We're the Legislature. You 10 remember. You were once a member of this body. 11 We draft the Legislature as you suggest -- as 12 you suggested. Now would you please tell us, 13 does this legislation meet your proposals and 14 recommendations? I mean, this is an area where 15 the Comptroller has primary responsibility and 16 primary knowledge, and I don't want to proceed 17 without knowing what his position is. 18 So the simple question is, 19 Senator Larkin, have you or any member of your 20 staff or any member of the Majority asked the 21 Comptroller in reference to Bill 5404 printed on 22 May 30th, 1997, do you support this bill? Do 23 you oppose this bill or do you have no position 24 on this bill? 25 SENATOR LARKIN: Senator, all I 4793 1 can tell you -- I can't speak for the 2 Comptroller, but his counsel informed mine that 3 they had no interest here in drafting the 4 legislation. Wait a minute. May I finish, 5 sir? They were kept up to date day to day while 6 we were doing this. They were apprised of the 7 changes that we proposed, how we were to do it. 8 They knew all about it but, you know, there's an 9 old saying that you and I at our age know that 10 you can't get blood out of a stone and we gave 11 the Comptroller every opportunity. His staff 12 knew what we were working on. They talked. I'm 13 confident -- she's not here now but the Chair of 14 Local Governments, Senator Rath's office had 15 been talking to them. Counsel's office had been 16 talking to them. 17 This is a piece of legislation 18 that has far-reaching effects to correct the 19 improprieties that he, the Comptroller of the 20 state of New York, said this is wrong. This is 21 how we should do it. We complied with what he 22 specifically asked us to do. He was made aware 23 of the proposals that we were incorporating in 24 this right up until the bill was printed on the 25 30th. If he doesn't want to respond to us, 4794 1 Senator, I don't know what else I can do. 2 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 Leichter, are you asking -- are you asking 5 Senator Larkin to yield? 6 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes. 7 SENATOR MARKOWITZ: Yes, Senator. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 9 Senator continues to yield. 10 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, that 11 was a well versed answer. The only problem was 12 it wasn't responsive. I -- you said up to the 13 date that we printed it, the Comptroller knew 14 what we were -- things we were doing and this 15 and that, but my question was very simple. 16 Senator, let me just finish the question, if I 17 may, sir. 18 SENATOR LARKIN: Go ahead. 19 SENATOR LEICHTER: In reference 20 to this bill, once this bill was printed, did 21 anybody call the Comptroller's office and say, 22 "What is your position on this bill?" That's 23 my question. I think that could be answered yes 24 or no. 25 SENATOR LARKIN: I guess my 4795 1 answer to that would be, Senator, why would I? 2 I have been working on this for a year. "We 3 followed your directions. We informed your 4 counsel what we plan to put in the bill. Do you 5 have any comment?" The comment that come back 6 is "It's not our place". You've had -- Senator, 7 personally -- and I don't mean to be 8 disrespectful, Senator, I think it's irrelevant 9 at this point. The Comptroller's staff, if 10 anybody is to be blamed, it must be he or his 11 staff because they knew what was in the bill. 12 They knew what we were doing. They knew that we 13 were complying strictly with what he recommended 14 and if they come back and tell the staff that 15 they have no interest, then I would have to 16 assume that they will wait until we act on it 17 and then maybe tell the Governor whether they 18 like it or dislike it or tell the Assembly 19 whether they like it or dislike it. 20 This has been an ongoing process 21 of trying to maneuver both houses and 22 participants in it. We didn't do anything 23 behind the scenes. We have had meetings after 24 meetings after meetings. His office that 25 handles local governments has been constantly 4796 1 kept aware of what we have been doing. I feel 2 to say that do we have the Comptroller's 3 blessing on this, I think it's the 4 responsibility of the Comptroller knowing what 5 we were doing, having been provided the details, 6 information, having the expertise of our staff 7 working with his. I think it behooves him to 8 not stand back or his counsels and say, It's 9 your responsibility to do the law. We did it. 10 We provided his office with all of the 11 information. 12 I think truthfully, Senator, it's 13 incumbent upon him to look at it and say to us, 14 I don't agree with you. I disagree with you. I 15 agree with you. He was afforded that 16 opportunity and the solemn answer that came back 17 time and again, It's not our responsibility. 18 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 19 if Senator Larkin continues to yield, please. 20 Senator, I'm sorry. You've made 21 it very, very clear that you didn't ask the 22 Comptroller. You asked him up to the point when 23 the cheese became binding, when it became 24 meaningful. You asked him -- taking what you 25 say as having occurred -- and I don't -- and I 4797 1 believe 100 percent what you say, that you asked 2 him to participate. You paid attention as you 3 see it to what he proposed but once the bill was 4 printed -- once the bill was printed you said, 5 No, we didn't ask him. 6 So let me make this suggestion to 7 you. Lay the bill aside. You and I will get on 8 the phone. We'll call the Comptroller. We'll 9 call his counsel and we'll ask, is this a bill 10 -- as a matter of fact, Senator Paterson said 11 that we could use his phone. He will charge us 12 for it but -- but, Senator, it's an easy thing. 13 I think we ought to know that answer. Why are 14 we -- why are we proceeding in this way without 15 knowing what the Comptroller's position is in 16 regard to this bill -- in regard to this bill 17 once it was printed on May 30th, and I think, 18 frankly, that we have an obligation before we 19 act on it to know the position of the chief 20 financial officer of the state of New York. 21 I think we look foolish voting 22 for this and not having the Comptroller say, I 23 think it's a bad bill. I think it's a bad bill 24 because of this reason or that reason. He may 25 not go as far as to say it's a bad bill. He now 4798 1 holds an important position so he's got to be 2 diplomatic. He doesn't speak the way you and I 3 do. He'll say this bill does not meet the needs 4 of all the people of the state of New York. 5 That's how comptrollers speak, but the point is 6 we look foolish. We voted for this bill and 7 here's the chief financial officer saying this 8 bill doesn't do it, doesn't cut the mustard. So 9 let's find out. We can do that -- maybe we can 10 catch the Comptroller right now. We'll call him 11 and maybe he'll say, Senator Larkin did a superb 12 job. Maybe he'll say it needs this and that. 13 I seriously recommend that course 14 of action to you and don't put the members here 15 in the uncomfortable position of having to vote 16 on something which is in the jurisdiction of the 17 Comptroller without knowing what his position 18 is. 19 SENATOR LARKIN: Senator, the 20 last session of the Legislature, we had a bill 21 called Senate 5339, the same bill we have in 22 front of us, with the exception of the specific 23 recommendations of the Comptroller to improve 24 the system. They're in there. The Comptroller 25 of the state of New York in 1995 and '96 never 4799 1 came to us and said, I like it. I dislike it. 2 His staff at that time were involved in it. 3 One very important point on this 4 piece of legislation, the government finance 5 officers have said they do not oppose this. 6 These are the individuals at our counties around 7 this state that have to observe how our funds 8 are handled. 9 If you have a specific question 10 of the bill, I would like to hear it. I'm not 11 being disrespectful, but when we've had a bill 12 that's been out there, it's had a public hearing 13 of where the Comptroller's staff were the prime 14 people participating in it who have worked with 15 my staff, who have worked with program staff 16 this year and have not come up with a 17 recommendation from the bill of 1995-96, S.5339 18 and have nothing to say pro or con about the 19 bill now and having been asked on numerous 20 occasions and knowing that the Government 21 Finance Association officers do not oppose this 22 action, I would presume that that's why the 23 Comptroller has taken the position that it's not 24 his because he works hand and hand, his 25 department does, with the government finance 4800 1 officers. If you have a specific question on 2 it, I would be more than happy to answer it. If 3 not, I request the bill be moved. 4 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6 Leichter. 7 SENATOR LEICHTER: One more 8 question, Senator Larkin. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 10 Larkin, do you yield? The Senator yields. 11 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, it's 12 hardly really an endorsement of your bill if the 13 county officers don't oppose it. They didn't 14 saying anything negative about it. That's 15 hardly a strong endorsement but, Senator, what 16 you keep on seeming to overlook is that 17 everything that went before really isn't 18 relevant when you have a specific bill that's 19 been printed just two days ago and nobody seems 20 to have taken the responsibility of calling the 21 Comptroller and saying, "Now that it's in print, 22 now that we've done what you asked us to do, 23 which is to draft the legislation, we think we 24 have put what your concerns are. They have been 25 expressed in this bill. Does this bill have 4801 1 your approval?" 2 You told me, as I understood, 3 Senator Larkin, that last year the Comptroller 4 was critical of a measure that we passed. Is 5 that correct, that he was critical of the 6 measure that we passed last year? 7 SENATOR LARKIN: Who? 8 SENATOR LEICHTER: The 9 Comptroller. 10 SENATOR LARKIN: No. He never 11 said a word about it. He never said a word 12 about S.5339. Last year the finance officers 13 took objection to certain parts of it. This 14 year they support this legislation. 15 Senator, we passed about 40 bills 16 here today or more and I don't remember anyone 17 standing up here and saying, Senator Rath, did 18 you coordinate this with Mental Health? Senator 19 Volker, did you coordinate this with Criminal 20 Justice? I don't remember anybody saying 21 anything. We were paying tribute to Disability 22 Awareness Day and I never heard anybody question 23 whether we took this bill to one of those other 24 departments. 25 Senator, this bill is on the 4802 1 calendar because it's needed. This bill is on 2 the calendar because it meets the needs to 3 protect the investments of our local 4 governments. 5 Thank you, Mr. President. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Mr. 7 President. 8 SENATOR LEICHTER: Briefly on the 9 bill. I'm advised - 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 11 Leichter, excuse me just a minute. 12 Senator Waldon, why do you rise? 13 SENATOR WALDON: Would Senator 14 Leichter yield to a question or two? 15 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 17 Senator yields. 18 SENATOR WALDON: Senator 19 Leichter, I just overheard the colloquy between 20 you and Senator Larkin and I recall seeing 21 something that might help us in understanding 22 the process. 23 Under the rules of the Senate, 24 have you ever heard the premise that when 25 there's a fiscal impact of any form or nature 4803 1 that bills should be dual referenced and not 2 necessarily be in just one committee? Have you 3 ever heard of anything like that? 4 SENATOR LEICHTER: I'm not quite 5 sure what you mean, frankly. Oh, you mean that 6 it should -- whether the bill should go to 7 finance - 8 SENATOR WALDON: Yes. 9 SENATOR LEICHTER: -- in addition 10 to going through - 11 SENATOR WALDON: To the committee 12 of origin when there's a fiscal potential. Are 13 you aware of that? 14 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes, I am 15 aware of it. 16 SENATOR WALDON: Okay. Are you 17 also aware that in this - 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 19 Waldon, are you asking Senator Leichter to 20 continue to yield? 21 SENATOR WALDON: I'm sorry, Mr. 22 President. I apologize. 23 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes. I'll 24 continue. 25 SENATOR WALDON: All right. 4804 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 2 Gentlemen, are we talking in the abstract now, 3 or are we talking about the bill before the 4 house? 5 SENATOR WALDON: Well, we're 6 talking perhaps in the abstract but only for the 7 purpose of my understanding - 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Then the 9 discussion -- the questions would not be germane 10 before the house, Senator Waldon. My suggestion 11 to you as the Chair of this body would be to 12 conform with the rules of the house which seems 13 to be one of the issues you're attempting to 14 talk about. 15 So I would suggest very strongly 16 that you ask questions of Senator Leichter about 17 this bill. 18 SENATOR WALDON: Okay. I thank 19 you for that edification. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: I just 21 remind you of the rules. That's my job as I see 22 it, Senator Waldon. 23 SENATOR WALDON: I really 24 appreciate it. I really appreciate it. 25 Senator, on this particular bill 4805 1 that you were discussing before, would you -- if 2 you were the author of it, would you have 3 referred it to another committee in regard to 4 its fiscal impact? 5 SENATOR LEICHTER: Well, I don't 6 know, Senator Waldon. I assume that people look 7 at the bills and determine whether it needs to 8 go to a committee. If you're saying that this 9 bill probably should have been looked at by the 10 Finance Committee, I think you make a valid 11 point. I don't know whether under our rules it 12 was required to go to the Finance Committee but 13 it certainly would have made sense. 14 The fact is, of course, Senator 15 Waldon -- and I think that underlies some of the 16 questions you have -- it's a bill in a very 17 important area. It was printed on Friday. Very 18 few people have had a chance really to digest 19 this bill. Its significance is that we've had 20 occasions in this state where localities have 21 lost millions of dollars - 22 SENATOR LARKIN: Mr. President. 23 SENATOR LEICHTER: -- because 24 of - 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Excuse 4806 1 me, Senator Leichter. 2 Senator Larkin, why do you rise? 3 SENATOR LARKIN: Mr. President, a 4 point of order. If the people looking at this 5 piece of legislation would look at its 6 background, there is no fiscal note required. 7 There is no bounds on local governments on 8 this. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Your 10 point of order is not very well taken, Senator 11 Larkin. 12 Senator Leichter, would you 13 continue to answer the question, please. 14 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, you 15 can always get another roommate. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 17 Leichter. 18 SENATOR LEICHTER: I think the 19 point is that it's a very important area. The 20 bill is being, I won't say rushed through but it 21 might have been helpful to have had a broader 22 consideration of this bill, and I assume that's 23 your point. 24 SENATOR WALDON: I thank the 25 gentleman very much, Mr. President. 4807 1 I thank you, Mr. President. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 3 Leichter, you still have the floor. 4 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yeah. I did 5 want to say I understand it's a one-house bill, 6 and I differ with some of my colleagues. I 7 don't think that necessarily means we shouldn't 8 act on it because we're -- we're a separate 9 chamber. We do what we think is right, but I do 10 think that in this area, Senator Larkin -- and 11 that's why it's different. You mentioned a lot 12 of other bills that were considered today where 13 we may not have had the direct input by a 14 department -- although I'm sure that Senator 15 Volker worked with people in the criminal 16 justice field on his bill, but this is an area 17 that is really the responsibility of the 18 Comptroller and if the Comptroller says it's a 19 good bill, I don't care if the Assembly doesn't 20 like it. I'm going to vote for it, but if the 21 Comptroller says it has a problem, then I think 22 we should address it. It's a very technical 23 area. It's an area where you obviously 24 understand it. I don't claim to have any 25 particular expertise on it, but I think we have 4808 1 a responsibility in proceeding in a careful 2 manner to find out what the Comptroller wants. 3 We may not -- maybe we'll disagree with him, but 4 I am frankly somewhat surprised that once the 5 bill was printed, your staff didn't call the 6 Comptroller's office and say, Now you have the 7 bill. What is your position on it? 8 So I'm going to vote against it 9 unless we know what the chief fiscal officer of 10 the state of New York has to say about it. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 12 Paterson, why do you rise? 13 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 14 if Senator Leichter would yield. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 16 Leichter, do you yield to a question from 17 Senator Paterson? The Senator yields. 18 SENATOR PATERSON: Senator 19 Leichter, in order to try to bring finality and 20 brevity to the process -- because I haven't 21 eaten but I'm getting a little fed up -- I 22 decided to call the Comptroller's counsel from 23 the chamber and also at the suggestion of 24 Senator Volker and the Comptroller's counsel was 25 not familiar with Senate Bill 5404. She was 4809 1 familiar with Senate Bill 5398, which is in some 2 way related, I imagine. There is an attorney 3 that works in this specific area that's 4 interested in contacting Senator Larkin and 5 yourself. 6 The position of the office - 7 it's not the official position, it's just kind 8 of an idle conversation -- was they did not seem 9 -- they're very familiar with the issue. 10 They're very interested in examining the issue. 11 They don't have any real recollection of 12 interaction with too many other officers about 13 the actual -- about the actual bill and they had 14 never seen this Senate 5404 bill. They're 15 familiar with Senator Larkin's interest and 16 apparently they have talked to him in the past, 17 but they seem to indicate that this is a new 18 legislative proposal from their perspective. 19 SENATOR LEICHTER: Thank you. 20 I think in answering your 21 question I just repeat the importance of our 22 knowing what the comptroller's position is 23 because this really is a field that he is expert 24 in. He's charged by law in supervising these 25 investments. Wouldn't we want to know what his 4810 1 position is? 2 And let me tell you, Senator 3 Larkin, that when I laid this bill aside, I - 4 nobody prompted me. Nobody primed me. I just 5 had that question as I looked at the bill 6 without even having read all the provisions of 7 it because frankly much of it I don't have 8 sufficient experience in it, but it seemed to 9 me, Hey, this is an area where we had a 10 problem. The Comptroller was involved. What 11 does the Comptroller say on this bill, and I 12 think we ought to get that answer. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 14 Secretary will read the last section. 15 THE SECRETARY: Section 7. This 16 act shall take effect immediately. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 18 roll. 19 (The Secretary called the roll.) 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 21 the negative. Announce the results. 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 56, nays 1, 23 Senator Leichter recorded -- ayes 55, nays 2, 24 Senator Leichter and Paterson recorded in the 25 negative. 4811 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 2 is passed. 3 Senator Smith, why do you rise? 4 SENATOR SMITH: Mr. President, I 5 request unanimous consent to be recorded in the 6 negative on Calendar Number 1129. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 11... 8 SENATOR SMITH: ...29. 9 SENATOR WALDON: Mr. President. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 11 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Smith 12 will be recorded in the negative on Calendar 13 Number 1129. 14 The Chair recognizes Senator 15 Waldon. 16 SENATOR WALDON: Thank you very 17 much, Mr. President. 18 Yesterday I was called out of the 19 chamber on Senate business and not here when we 20 acted upon Calendar 870, Bill Number 5180. I 21 would like the record to reflect had I been here 22 and had I been able to vote at that time, I 23 would have voted in the negative. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Calendar 25 Number 870, Senator Waldon? 4812 1 SENATOR WALDON: That's correct. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Okay. 3 The record will reflect that had you been in the 4 chamber yesterday when a vote on Calendar Number 5 870 was taken that you would have voted in the 6 negative. 7 SENATOR WALDON: I thank you very 8 much, Mr. President. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 10 Padavan, why do you rise? 11 SENATOR PADAVAN: Mr. President, 12 I would like to be, by unanimous consent, 13 recorded in the negative on Calendar Number 14 1106, Senate Bill 342. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 16 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Padavan 17 will be recorded in the negative on Calendar 18 Number 1106. 19 Senator Present. 20 SENATOR PRESENT: Mr. President, 21 could we take up Calendar 1117, Senator 22 Velella's bill. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 24 Secretary will read the title to Calendar Number 25 1117. 4813 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 1117, by Senator Velella, Senate Print 4487, an 3 act to amend the Public Authorities Law, in 4 relation to exempting the New York City School 5 Construction Authority from commissioning works 6 of art. 7 SENATOR PATERSON: Explanation. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 9 Velella, an explanation of Calendar Number 1117 10 has been requested by Senator Paterson. 11 SENATOR VELELLA: Senator, this 12 bill we passed last year. Basically what it 13 will do will be to remove the statutory obli 14 gation that the School Construction Authority in 15 the city of New York has to appropriate up to 16 one percent of any construction costs to the 17 purchasing of art in the schools. 18 The example -- if you'll remember 19 back to last year where the Governor came to one 20 of the schools in the Bronx, $187,000 was spent 21 on one so-called piece of art which was nothing 22 more than an archway and some hangers dangling 23 from it. The artist or the person who created 24 this great work of art is no where to be found 25 now. I don't know what happened to him but he 4814 1 took his 187,000 and he's gone and he left us 2 with this archway with a couple of hangers on 3 it. 4 This would allow for the school 5 Construction Authority to spend up to one 6 percent of the budget, if they so desired, but 7 not be required to spend money on artwork. That 8 money would be better spent in the school that I 9 cite you the example in. We visited that school 10 with the Governor. The elevator wasn't 11 working. Certain rooms had broken windows with 12 boards in the window. The $187,000 would have 13 better been spent on correcting some of the 14 construction problems in that building rather 15 than creating this so-called work of art. 16 This in no way intends to destroy 17 the concept that we need to make our young 18 people sensitive to the arts. Some of the best 19 artwork that I have seen in schools has been 20 done by the students themselves and I might add 21 at a much lesser cost than $187,000 in this one 22 particular project. 23 Requiring that we put this money 24 up for mandated artwork in schools when, in 25 fact, it may be the School Construction 4815 1 Authority's decision that we need some of this 2 money to do some repair work or do some 3 infrastructure work or whatever the case may be, 4 we ought to leave that up to the School 5 Construction Authority and not take construction 6 money and mandate artwork. 7 As I indicated last year in the 8 debate, there are many, many foundations and 9 museums that will lend artwork to our schools. 10 Even here in the Senate, we have some artwork 11 that's being lent to us to decorate in some of 12 the other rooms around the Capitol. I think 13 that that would be a much better way to go than 14 to make this money -- force it to be spent on 15 this artwork which, in some cases, the value of 16 the art, I guess is in the eye of the beholder. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 18 Paterson. 19 SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you, Mr. 20 President. 21 If Senator Velella would yield 22 for a question. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 24 Velella, do you yield to a question from Senator 25 Paterson? 4816 1 SENATOR VELELLA: Yes. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 3 Senator yields. 4 SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you, Mr. 5 President. 6 Senator Velella, certainly it's 7 hard to put a numerical or financial value on 8 artwork or how much should be spent for artwork 9 and the example you cited, the famous kind of 10 golden arches situation in the Bronx was 11 appalling and really was an outrage. I have a 12 concern about whether or not we should address 13 it in legislation such as that which you have 14 proposed. 15 The issue often is because of the 16 fact that we are in the midst of a crisis where 17 we have schools -- where we have students often 18 sitting in the halls, whereas you pointed out in 19 that situation the elevator wasn't working, poor 20 school construction, lack of books, diminished 21 facilities and other regards and materials that 22 aren't existing, the fact is that often the 23 enrichment and the enlightenment areas suffer 24 from that and there is certainly a perception, 25 and I think an honest one, that education in 4817 1 itself suffers when we take those commodities 2 away. 3 There is a feeling sometimes that 4 art would be synonymous with entertainment, that 5 it's something that we don't actually need, but 6 I remember an exhibit up here in 1988 that was 7 in the Concourse. It was dinosaurs that was 8 sent by the American Museum of Natural History. 9 They were plastic facsimiles of the dinosaurs 10 they had in their museum and when I went down 11 there, I met the president of the museum, who I 12 believe has since passed away. His name was Tom 13 Nicholson and he was saying that in every 14 archeological study that they had ever 15 endeavored, that they found that no matter how 16 primitive the culture was, there was some 17 representation of art. If they found an old 18 knife, there was some little insignia or some 19 symbol that was put on the knife to represent, 20 in a sense, the sensibility of that time and of 21 that people and since that's so much a part of 22 our culture to the extent that even in the Iron 23 Curtain countries they denied freedom but they 24 always had ballet, they always had different 25 incentives for art, that this is something 4818 1 that's endemic to sort of the human 2 consciousness, and what I think was the feeling 3 of those who put forth the legislation -- they 4 may not have done it in the correct way. They 5 may have been fallible to the extent that they 6 allowed a situation that you documented to occur 7 -- is that we have this situation that we don't 8 want to lose the precious value of art and my 9 question to you is, is there another way to, in 10 a sense, stop a school from allowing that 11 situation which probably sounded like a form of 12 patronage -- they had somebody make that arch 13 and it probably wasn't worth much at all and 14 someone made a lot of money on it -- is there a 15 way to accomplish that without passing 16 legislation which would, because of financial 17 issues, allow for the School Construction 18 Authority to perhaps spend 100 percent of the 19 construction dollars on just construction and 20 leaving out the sense of artwork that I 21 described? 22 SENATOR VELELLA: Senator, the 23 reason why we have to do it by legislation is 24 because the city, in their wisdom or lack of 25 wisdom, has required and we have required in the 4819 1 School Construction Authority enabling 2 legislation that one percent of their budget 3 must be spent on art. 4 What this bill would do is say it 5 can be spent on art if the School Construction 6 Authority deems it appropriate and necessary. 7 We're giving them the option. We're not saying 8 you cannot spend money. We're saying the 9 priority shall be to build schools, to correct 10 construction defects, provide the environment 11 for education that we all agree should be done, 12 the amenities that are necessary and ancillary 13 to educating children and if there is enough 14 money left, you can put it into artworks but not 15 that one percent of the budget, whatever the 16 number is to build a school must go to artwork 17 so we get in the situation where people say we 18 can't use this money to build. We have to spend 19 it for art. Let's create an arch with a couple 20 of hangers and pay 187,000 for it. 21 SENATOR PATERSON: Right. If 22 Senator Velella would continue to yield. 23 SENATOR VELELLA: Certainly. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 Velella, do you continue to yield? The Senator 4820 1 continues to yield. 2 SENATOR PATERSON: Senator, it 3 was precisely your answer that creates my 4 concern; in other words, when you said "if 5 there's any money left over." I think in the 6 constraints of the way our public schools are 7 formulated right now, there will never be any 8 money left over in the prioritization of where 9 money should be distributed. Art and other 10 enrichment areas have always suffered because no 11 one knows what their true value is, and I think 12 that that's why they tried to prescribe a value 13 to it and in many ways open a door to the type 14 of misuse of funds that you've described, 15 $187,000 for something that, you know - 16 SENATOR VELELLA: Well, Senator, 17 can I respond to that? I am a product of the 18 public school system within the city of New 19 York. I went to PS 77, Junior High School 123, 20 James Monroe and Christopher Columbus High 21 Schools, all public schools within the city of 22 New York. There was not one work of art worth 23 $187,000 or $100,000 or $50,000 in any of those 24 schools and certainly I would believe you think 25 I'm a cultured individual. I don't think that 4821 1 because I come from the Bronx, you think I'm not 2 cultured. 3 SENATOR PATERSON: No. The 4 thought never crossed my mind. 5 SENATOR VELELLA: Thank you. So 6 there is the answer. If we have to establish 7 priorities, I think there are alternatives to 8 spending this money on artwork. If the issue is 9 -- and I've asked parents -- a safe classroom, 10 an additional classroom, heating in the school, 11 walls that aren't crumbling, ceilings that 12 aren't leaking or a nice piece of art in the 13 corner, what would you prefer? Everyone that 14 I've ever asked has said, I want a safer 15 environment, a decent classroom and if there's 16 money left over, certainly the arts and the 17 culture are necessary to a broadened education 18 but it always wasn't that we needed expensive 19 artwork. 20 I would say that the schools you 21 went to didn't have expensive artwork but I 22 consider you a cultured, sensitive, warm 23 individual who has a good sensitivity to the 24 art. You don't need to spend money to develop 25 culture. Some of the poorest people in our city 4822 1 and in our state are great benefactors of the 2 arts. They create art that is worth more than 3 some of the artists that are paid big dollars. 4 Certainly you've seen some of the examples of 5 work in your own district that aren't paid big 6 prices but good, quality artwork with a 7 sensitivity to the needs of people with an 8 ability to express the plight of any particular 9 individual. All of that is done without 10 spending big money. 11 Let's let some of the museums, 12 some of the foundations provide some of those 13 artworks that we need. Let's let the students 14 create some art for themselves and, yes, if 15 we've provided a good, safe school with decent 16 classrooms, with good facilities and we have 17 money to invest in art to develop this cultural 18 aspect, let's do it but that's not the 19 priority. We can't just keep spending wildly 20 and say kids need to have some great artwork 21 available to them. Let's spend the money on 22 that and so what if the roof is leaking and 23 ruins the artwork. We don't have to fix the 24 roof. We bought artwork. It's silly. 25 Let's establish the priorities, 4823 1 good, quality education and good, sound 2 buildings and the ancillary things that we all 3 would like to provide -- artwork isn't the only 4 thing. There's a lot for educational 5 enrichment, a lot of experiences that people 6 should be exposed to but not at the expense of 7 safe, decent classrooms, safe, quality schools, 8 adequate space. All of those things come first. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 10 Paterson, do you want a second time or do you 11 want to try for three? 12 SENATOR PATERSON: Why not, Mr. 13 President. Especially with Kim Kelly's example 14 for all of us to uphold, I should have four 15 chances. 16 If the Senator would continue to 17 yield. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 19 Velella, do you continue to yield? 20 SENATOR VELELLA: Yes. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 22 Senator continues to yield. 23 SENATOR PATERSON: Senator, if 24 you talked to people who work in the industry 25 and certainly people from the New York State 4824 1 Council on the Arts and people who are involved 2 in arts appreciation, what seems to be the 3 complaint that you always hear is exactly that 4 situation, that when weighed against issues of 5 school construction or maintenance or providing 6 for heat and hot water in the schools -- and 7 that's how the argument is always termed - 8 obviously the preference would be for the 9 latter. The preference would be for an 10 environment that is safe, an environment that 11 provides for an educational opportunity, but 12 what we're saying is when you get down to the 13 last dollars that are being spent, that quite 14 often there is, in a sense, a connection between 15 issues of construction that may not be life 16 saving or rendering to the environment as 17 opposed to art appreciation and that the issue 18 of art appreciation always loses because someone 19 always gets up and says where they went to 20 school, for instance, as you did and that they 21 seem to be a cultured person but they didn't 22 necessarily find that in the schools, that there 23 are other things that the school offers, but 24 what we're saying is that all of these things - 25 that all of these things together provide for 4825 1 the kind of environment that we would like for 2 children to experience in the school and the 3 artwork offered by children is a part of it and 4 that is inexpensive but it shouldn't be confined 5 in a way that we never spend any dollars to try 6 to create an inherent appreciation of arts and 7 culture and that's why we spend a lot of money 8 seemingly to preserve the history and culture 9 when we landmark a lot of these buildings 10 because of the way they are built and the 11 culture that they actually reflect. 12 So all I'm suggesting to you is 13 that you take another look at how we might be 14 able to preempt the misuse of the dollars and 15 manage the money in a financially responsible 16 way, that rather than just removing the money in 17 total -- because a lot of times it does take 18 some money to provide for an atmosphere, 19 particularly when it comes to architecture, it's 20 very expensive to create the kind of beauty that 21 exists when one looks at a fine piece of art or 22 magnificently organized building as it's 23 constructed and what I'm just asking you is 24 let's not talk about the initial dollars that 25 are spent. 4826 1 What about the last dollars in 2 that budget? What are they going to that's more 3 important than perhaps to create an atmosphere 4 that will make it possible for children to learn 5 and let children particularly who do live in the 6 inner cities that we are willing to spend some 7 money not only to create a safe environment but, 8 yes, to create a beautiful environment, 9 something that they can take pride in, and my 10 question is, are the last dollars that are spent 11 prior to this one percent, the other 97th and 12 98th and 99th penny to each dollar, is it that 13 important that we have to now go back and change 14 the law because somebody found an exception, a 15 situation where we're now legislating against 16 one archway at the expense of a lot of other 17 buildings? 18 SENATOR VELELLA: My response to 19 that, Senator, is if we were talking in a dream 20 world or in Utopia, I would agree with you 100 21 percent, but I know as well as I are going to 22 our colleagues, going to the Governor and saying 23 we need more building aid for our educational 24 system. We need more money to construct new 25 schools because our schools are overcrowded in 4827 1 the city of New York and we're trying to impress 2 on our colleagues from upstate and from out of 3 the city of New York that we have a real need 4 for extra dollars to build schools and make 5 repairs in a system that is crumbling from age 6 in many buildings, we additionally need new 7 schools. The School Construction Authority is 8 trying to do that. 9 How valid is our argument that we 10 need more money to build those schools, more 11 monies to do those repairs if we're taking one 12 percent of the budget and spending it on 13 artwork? That means we have enough money to 14 provide the safe environment and the adequate 15 space that you and I agree are needed in the 16 city of New York. We can't eat with both 17 hands. We can't talk out of two sides of our 18 mouth, but if we want our upstate colleagues to 19 sympathize with our need, to build new schools,, 20 to create new classrooms, to repair crumbling 21 buildings, we can't justify it by saying we're 22 spending in one school 187,000 on art and one 23 percent of all those millions and millions of 24 dollars on artwork. 25 The priorities should be adequate 4828 1 buildings, enough space for everyone so we don't 2 have to double classes, so we don't have to 3 cramp people like ants or anchovies in a can 4 into a classroom and pack them in tight. We 5 want to have them this class sizes that they can 6 learn in. That is more of a priority than a 7 piece of artwork or some creative work that's 8 done by some local sculptor. 9 I think, yes, they're important. 10 All those people that are in the arts, they're 11 all very benevolent people. Let them contribute 12 of themselves to the education of our young 13 people. 14 The Council on the Arts spends 15 fortunes. We appropriate tons of money for 16 artistic needs, to Philharmonics, for artwork. 17 Let them share some of that with our young 18 people. Let us build the schools and let us go 19 to our colleagues and hold our heads up high 20 that every dollar they send to the city of New 21 York is being put into adequate educational 22 facilities for our children and not being wasted 23 in a sense of a priority for artwork over 24 construction and then we want more money. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4829 1 Paterson. 2 SENATOR PATERSON: On the bill, 3 Mr. President. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5 Paterson, on the bill. 6 SENATOR PATERSON: There is an 7 Asian philosopher whose wisdom is such that at 8 times he, in history, has risen to the level of 9 almost being considered a prophet, known as the 10 bodhisattva and the bodhisattva is supposed to 11 have done so many gracious things for people 12 that it is said that there is ambrosia that 13 stems from him that reaches down to the darkest 14 depths of hell and in many of the environments 15 that students learn, there is a real lost dream 16 and a real lost concept of what Utopia even 17 would be. 18 So when Senator Velella refers to 19 what we could do if we lived in the perfect 20 world, if this were Shangri-la, the whole idea 21 is to try to instill in younger people the 22 feeling of achievement, the feeling of having 23 dreams and to create the loftiest sense of self 24 importance and that is perhaps the only thing 25 they might have and maybe the most inspiring 4830 1 gesture that we as a society through our 2 educational institutions could be making to try 3 to tempt the young mind, to look beyond the 4 labyrinth of drugs and crime and unemployment 5 and poor, inadequate health care facilities and 6 often a poor, inadequate educational environment 7 and a failed educational system itself and many 8 of the ways that that's achieved is not as 9 intellectual, sometimes it's instant. 10 When you look at a beautiful 11 painting, what is it that reaches out and 12 touches you? How do you know that you like a 13 beautiful song when you hear it? It's something 14 that kind of goes beyond the notes and the 15 music, beyond the pictures and the colors that 16 actually touches you and it's the -- it's that 17 way in which we're moved toward things that art 18 touches us. It's misunderstood in this decade 19 of budgets and crunching numbers and finding the 20 resources to provide an educational environment 21 but it's just as important as reading and 22 writing or any kind of understanding of just the 23 required curricula and it was in that sense that 24 the drafters of the legislation reached out and 25 decided that they weren't just going to say if 4831 1 we spent all the money and we have any money 2 left over -- we never have any money left over, 3 if you look at the world from that prism, but if 4 you recognize that it is much a part of the 5 world as mathematics or English or the study of 6 history, that is it is just as important to the 7 development of the human mind and it cannot be 8 left just for philanthropy or charity or for 9 those who recognize that reaching back and 10 imploring youth to understand it, that it has 11 something to do not only with our culture but 12 our consciousness, that is the reason that we 13 feel that it should be written into the budget 14 and the fact that unfortunately a couple of 15 individuals who were not thinking in the best 16 interest of children and were probably thinking 17 in the interest of corruption abused the process 18 as they did in the example that Senator Velella 19 described, that's the reason that perhaps in 20 that situation we should find ways to minimize 21 the abuse of this opportunity, but I don't think 22 we do it by sacrificing a great opportunity to 23 show the younger people the importance of our 24 culture and that is really as effective as 25 stopping juvenile delinquency or violence 4832 1 between young people and each other or the 2 mistreatment and disrespect that young people 3 have for their elders and their school. 4 You'll always notice when you 5 have a bunch of young people around that if you 6 put them in an environment that has organization 7 to it, that they respond to it and we think that 8 it was at least worth one percent, one penny out 9 of a dollar that we would spend on the school 10 construction budget. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 12 Lachman. 13 SENATOR LACHMAN: Will the 14 Senator yield to a couple more questions? 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 16 Velella, do you yield to Senator Lachman? 17 SENATOR VELELLA: Yes, Senator. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 19 Senator yields. 20 SENATOR LACHMAN: The intent of 21 the bill, I assume, is to not only save money 22 but change what is mandatory into something 23 which is optional. This will not eliminate the 24 expenditure of one percent of cost for the use 25 of art. 4833 1 SENATOR VELELLA: Senator, the 2 answer is yes and no. No, it is not to save 3 money. The total appropriation remains the 4 same, the monies that will be spent. All it 5 does is relieve the School Construction 6 Authority of the obligation of saying whatever 7 we're spending on a building, one percent must 8 be given to create artwork. If they choose to 9 devote a half of one percent, if they choose to 10 devote three-quarters of one percent or one 11 percent, they can. 12 SENATOR LACHMAN: So it becomes 13 discretionary and optional. 14 SENATOR VELELLA: Absolutely. 15 SENATOR LACHMAN: Another 16 question related to that. Does the local 17 educational authority in New York City, not the 18 local school board but the Central Board of 19 Education have input in this discretionary 20 optional decision, or is it left to the School 21 Construction Authority? 22 SENATOR VELELLA: I believe that 23 it's left to the School Construction Authority 24 with consultation with the Central Board as to 25 what they're going to do in a particular school, 4834 1 but I don't believe that the Central Board could 2 veto or mandate that they spend anything. It 3 would be up to the Authority. 4 SENATOR LACHMAN: In consultation 5 with the Cultural Educational Authority. 6 SENATOR VELELLA: Certainly. 7 SENATOR LACHMAN: I also happen 8 to believe in the importance of art and works of 9 art and the works of masters of art, but I feel 10 very strongly that the greatest art in education 11 is the art of teaching, the art of learning and 12 the art of good school administration, and if 13 this does not impede that artwork, which is not 14 yet a science, then I would support the 15 legislation. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 17 Abate. 18 SENATOR ABATE: Yes, on the 19 bill. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Abate on the bill. 22 SENATOR ABATE: I want to thank 23 Senator Velella for moving the debate away from 24 whether Senator Paterson is cultured or whether 25 he's a good human being. I mean, maybe if he 4835 1 had been exposed to more art, he would even be a 2 better human being, but I'm glad that debate is 3 not going to take place. 4 SENATOR VELELLA: There can be no 5 better human being. 6 SENATOR ABATE: I'm glad that 7 debate is not going to take place today because 8 otherwise we would be here probably into the wee 9 hours of the morning. 10 I cannot support the bill for the 11 very reasons that Senator Velella says that this 12 bill is adequate because he says, well, if 13 there's some money available at the end of the 14 day, we'll invest in this art and that's our 15 problem with the philosophy of whether we should 16 invest in art. 17 We still consider investing in 18 art a luxury and if you look at what is 19 happening around the world, Germany invests $27 20 per capita in the arts. France invests $32 per 21 capita in the arts and we in the United States 22 invest 68 cents per capita on the arts, and I do 23 not believe that arts is a luxury. In fact, it 24 is part of our educational process. It enriches 25 our soul, our spirit, our mind. It develops our 4836 1 ability, particularly in some young people who 2 will follow their careers, who have talent in 3 the arts. It inspires them and also exposes 4 them to the arts so that they can follow those 5 careers and they can express some of their 6 feelings, in some instances some of their anger 7 and challenge some of their frustrations in a 8 very positive way, and what we miss is that we 9 are dependent upon the arts for our economy. 10 One of the reasons New York City 11 is one of the greatest cities in the world is 12 because of the arts. The national -- the net 13 industrial output of arts in the United States 14 is over $300 billion or six percent of our gross 15 national product. 1.53 million artists are in 16 the United States. That's close to three 17 percent of our work force. So the arts drive 18 our economy. The arts make us different from a 19 civilized versus an uncivilized nation. So we 20 should be doing more, not less in terms of 21 investing in the arts. 22 If this were part of a counter 23 proposal that said, yes, we'll take money away 24 from this capital construction but we'll find 25 money elsewhere to increase education in the 4837 1 arts, to increase young people's exposure to the 2 arts, maybe I could support this bill, but there 3 is no companion bill that calls for a further 4 investment in the arts and without it, I must 5 oppose the bill today. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7 Montgomery. 8 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Thank you, 9 Mr. President. 10 I am going to speak in opposition 11 to this legislation. I won't ask the Senator to 12 answer any questions because I think he's 13 answered most of the questions. 14 I just want to remind my 15 colleagues that what Senator Velella is talking 16 about and how he explains what he is trying to 17 do is that if we have a choice to spend "X" 18 number of dollars, would we spend it on an 19 additional classroom or fixing the ceilings or 20 the roof or whatever, the example he uses, or 21 put it into more learning or spend it on art, 22 and I think that that is not -- not the 23 appropriate question because all of those things 24 are separate in terms of the funding. 25 The issue is whether or not we 4838 1 set aside a very, very small minuscule 2 percentage of the construction funds for a 3 school that should go into putting some art in 4 that school, and I think that certainly I 5 believe that the beauty of this room is in the 6 artwork that has gone into the construction of 7 this room and this building, including the 8 staircase and every other aspect of it. 9 So clearly artwork as part of 10 construction is extremely important. It is not 11 just an addition. It is part of the history and 12 it expresses for a particular period in time for 13 all eternity something very significant about 14 that building and if there is no other place 15 where we want to have something of that 16 significance indicated and built into, it should 17 be our schools. 18 I think that this is -- it's a 19 statement in terms of how we value something 20 that is not totally unique but certainly 21 absolutely crucial and specific to the culture 22 of New York State and that is our magnificent 23 art and our tremendous community of artists. 24 So we want to lift them up. We 25 want to enhance our buildings. We want to make 4839 1 statements for all eternity that says this is a 2 people when they lived, when they excavate our 3 schools and our Capitol and whatever they're 4 going to do two or three centuries hence, 5 they're going to find what we valued in terms of 6 how we built into our major institutions a 7 statement on the arts. 8 So I think this is very 9 important. I certainly urge my colleagues to 10 vote against this. I think Senator Velella is 11 angry and frustrated because of something that 12 he thinks is absolutely ugly and it was too much 13 money spent and he has come up with this 14 legislation, but I don't really believe that in 15 his heart he wants to strip our schools of this 16 important thing, artwork, that should be part of 17 the construction of every single school that we 18 build from now on. 19 So I will vote no, Mr. President. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Waldon. 22 SENATOR WALDON: Mr. President, 23 on the bill. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 Waldon, on the bill. 4840 1 SENATOR WALDON: I recall at PS 2 70 in Brooklyn as a child Dr. John B. King, our 3 principal, Mrs. Gardner, one of my teachers, 4 Mrs. Oliver, Lucille Oliver, another of my 5 teachers, made sure that not only did I 6 understand what art was about but that I 7 understood what black art was about. At that 8 time we were called colored people. Later on we 9 became Negro. Later on we became black and now 10 is it fashionable to call ourselves African 11 American, but I have been comfortable with all 12 of those because at that stage of my infancy and 13 maturation, I was validated as not the me that 14 nobody knows but Alton R. Waldon, Jr., a very 15 proud young black boy at that time growing up in 16 Brooklyn. 17 The reason that I was so 18 validated was that not only did we learn about 19 Paul Laurence Dunbar and the Negro National 20 Anthem, we learned about Sojourner Truth and 21 Harriet Tubman, Denmark Vesey and all of the 22 sheroes and heroes of our proud past but within 23 that spectrum of learning about who we were, we 24 also were given an appreciation of the art, the 25 arts and the music. 4841 1 I can remember taking tests. 2 "Morning is dawning and Peer Gynt is yawning 3 and Grieg is washing his face" was the riddle 4 that we used to recognize the songs that were 5 played when we had a music appreciation test. I 6 can remember being taken to the museums and 7 shown the great artists not only of this country 8 but other countries when they were brought for 9 exhibitions, but I can recall feeling very proud 10 when Mrs. Oliver would point out to me and say 11 this is a great black artist and you ought to be 12 proud of your heritage and who you are, and so 13 the reason that I oppose this legislation is 14 more parochial than my colleagues have spoken to 15 this. 16 The reason I oppose it is that I 17 believe the opportunity for young blacks and 18 Latinos and Hispanics, Asians and white children 19 will not be given a full opportunity to know all 20 about themselves that they could know if the 21 arts purchased for their schools would validate 22 who they are. 23 I think it's a huge error. It is 24 a huge error not to use these pennies in the 25 construction budget to ensure that people will 4842 1 feel very, very good about themselves, and I 2 hope that others will see it not only the way my 3 colleagues who have spoken against the bill have 4 seen it but perhaps even as Al Waldon sees it, 5 that we need to validate who our children are so 6 that they each can be more proud of themselves 7 and less a problem of us -- for us at a later 8 date in their lives. 9 Thank you very much, Mr. 10 President. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 12 Marcellino. 13 SENATOR MARCELLINO: I apologize 14 for extending the hour. It's late in the day 15 but some things have been said I just couldn't 16 resist commenting on. 17 I heard nothing in Senator 18 Velella's comments and I read nothing in the 19 bill that would prohibit everything that Senator 20 Waldon would like to see, everything that 21 Senator Montgomery would like to see, everything 22 that Senator Abate and Senator Paterson would 23 like to see go on in the schools. He is not 24 talking about in-classroom education on art. 25 There is nothing in that bill that would limit 4843 1 the teaching of art and art appreciation to 2 students, taking students on trips, taking them 3 to see master pieces, teaching them about 4 masterpieces and all the rest of them. 5 What he is saying is in a city 6 where schools couldn't open because they 7 couldn't repair their walls or they couldn't 8 repair leaking buildings or they didn't have 9 money to get asbestos out, we're going to spend 10 money on picture on the wall. That's what we're 11 talking about. 12 Now, Senator Montgomery, if you 13 have a choice -- and I'm speaking on the bill 14 and I'm not trying to ask you a question, but if 15 you have a choice between opening a school and 16 reducing class sizes in already overcrowded 17 buildings and buying a painting on the wall, I 18 am sure you would put those students in a safe, 19 dry, clean place to get an education where they 20 could have a teacher to teach them art 21 appreciation, instead of in a building where 22 there's buckets in the corner or teaching them a 23 stairwell, which I have done in my 20 years of 24 teaching in the city of New York, teaching in 25 stairwells, lavatories, gymnasiums, cafeterias 4844 1 and other places not designed for education. 2 It's about time we put our money 3 where our mouth is. You're either for education 4 and quality schools or you're not. This is 5 construction money and it's offering an option. 6 It's not taking away anything. It's giving the 7 city of New York, Board of Education an option 8 to do something with their money that they don't 9 currently have. It will not take anything away 10 from art appreciation, art education in any way, 11 shape or form. It's about time we got some 12 common sense to this particular bill and this 13 particular debate. 14 I would vote aye and urge 15 everyone else to. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Read the 17 last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 19 act shall take effect immediately. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 21 roll. 22 (The Secretary called the roll.) 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 24 Marchi to explain his vote. 25 SENATOR MARCHI: Yes. I believe 4845 1 everybody, including the sponsor of the 2 legislation, is not hostile to the arts. 3 Actually he speaks of discretion in its 4 application. 5 With no intent to defeat the 6 bill, I cannot support it because I think that 7 art is an enormous inestimable value to the 8 education of a youngster. The earlier they're 9 exposed to beautiful art -- I come from a father 10 who went to Beaux-Arts school and his statues 11 remain standing in Griffith Park in California. 12 There is something -- there is 13 something edifying. There is something that 14 enriches the spirit. Man does not -- and I say 15 "man" in a politically correct fashion -- does 16 not live by bread alone and unless -- unless 17 there is something that appeals to the inner 18 sentiments of humanity, there is a loss and I 19 think it's a wise investment. It ought to -- I 20 think it walks ahead of any mundane subject that 21 we may be starting thereafter. 22 So I would hope that if this bill 23 prevails and becomes law that some of the 24 sentiments that have been reflected here that I 25 thought were positive in nature will remain on 4846 1 the side of exercising that discretion in favor 2 of an integral part of the cultural development 3 of a young man or woman. 4 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6 Leichter, to explain his vote. 7 SENATOR LEICHTER: Explain my 8 vote. There's no question that this bill down 9 grades an artistic amenity which ought to be 10 part of every school and it ought to be part of 11 education and to create the sort of atmosphere 12 at which people are going to learn. 13 Senator Marcellino is right. We 14 shouldn't have teachers teaching in stairwells. 15 We shouldn't have buckets catching water because 16 the roofs aren't being fixed but the answer 17 isn't to take the money from the arts, which is 18 only a small one percent. You might just as 19 well say that we ought to have schools built of 20 cinder blocks, Quonset huts, which, in fact, we 21 have. We ought to have the proper environment 22 in which students are going to learn and part of 23 that is certainly to have a pleasant, a 24 conducive environment, and I could just tell you 25 that if you take away the requirement that one 4847 1 percent goes for art, you're never going to see 2 art in the schools and the schools will be 3 harmed. The schools will be hurt and, Senator 4 Marcellino, for teachers like you, dedicated 5 teachers who gave so much to the system, it's 6 going to be that much harder to teach and to 7 motivate the children. 8 I vote no. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 10 Leichter will be recorded in the negative. 11 Senator Montgomery, to explain 12 her vote. 13 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, Mr. 14 President. I am certainly voting no and, as I 15 read this legislation, I see on line 7 that "The 16 Authority shall not enter into an agreement with 17 the City Board that requires compliance with any 18 such provision or that requires the Authority to 19 acquire or commission works of arts." 20 I -- I understand that to mean 21 that we are essentially instructing the 22 authority not to enter into an agreement even if 23 the City -- the City Board of Ed' or whatever 24 entity at the local level wants to do it. 25 Maybe I am not reading this 4848 1 correctly, but I certainly reiterate that we at 2 this time in our history should by no means be 3 withdrawing from a commitment to support and 4 enhance and expand the appreciation and the 5 access to artwork especially by young people, by 6 students and wherever they are in this state and 7 most especially in New York City. 8 So I am voting no on this bill. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 10 Montgomery will be recorded in the negative. 11 Senator Waldon, to explain his 12 vote. 13 SENATOR WALDON: Thank you very 14 much, Mr. President. 15 I appreciate and respect the 16 passion shown by my colleague from the other 17 side of the aisle in regard to the education of 18 our children and to where the priorities of this 19 body should be. 20 I have argued, as have others, on 21 this side of the aisle, for time immemorial, 22 that our priorities in regard to construction - 23 construction of prisons is I ill-put, that if we 24 were to take the resources of the state and 25 address them to where they are most needed, we 4849 1 wouldn't have one out of every four children 2 entering schools in New York City failing to 3 graduate from high school. We wouldn't have so 4 many children from the 11 community school board 5 districts ending up in the prisons of this 6 state, from the 17 Assembly Districts becoming 7 80 percent of the prison population of this 8 state, if but our priorities were in the right 9 place. 10 And so I don't want to see even a 11 slight erosion of the obligation, moral 12 obligation of this legislative body in regard to 13 ensuring children not only will have the right 14 education but will be validated as to who they 15 truly are. 16 For those reasons, I must oppose 17 this proposal. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 19 Waldon will be recorded in the negative. 20 Senator Velella, to explain his 21 vote. 22 SENATOR VELELLA: Mr. President, 23 if we were arguing this case in a vacuum and 24 this were the sole dollars to be given for the 25 arts, all of my colleagues on the other side of 4850 1 the aisle would be absolutely correct, but I 2 would like to point out to you that the proposal 3 in this year's budget and last year's budget 4 which we passed is $33 million to arts councils 5 in your local communities. That does not count 6 the fact that we are paying in our education aid 7 formula for all of those art teachers in your 8 schools, the art supplies and the educational 9 enrichment programs and many of us in this room 10 provide additional funding for those educational 11 enrichments that can have children and students 12 expressing themselves in the arts and, Senator 13 Montgomery, I would just point out that the bill 14 says exactly what I said. The Construction 15 Authority shall not be required to spend the 16 money. They have the option. That's what the 17 meaning in the words that you read relates to. 18 They shall not be forced to enter into a 19 contract that mandates they must spend one 20 percent of the budget on the arts. It says they 21 can't be forced to but they may if they come to 22 an agreement and that's how exactly I 23 represented the bill. 24 I think that we ought to just put 25 this in its proper place. This is school 4851 1 construction money that is desperately needed in 2 the city of New York to relieve overcrowding and 3 to make conditions in our classrooms safe. We 4 are not closing the door to art. 5 You and I both vote for a great 6 deal of bills that put arts money in. $33 7 million, that's a lot of art money. That's just 8 in the Council on the Arts and, Senator Abate, I 9 would just like to point out to you that there 10 is a proposal here that you can vote for that 11 Senator Goodman has, and I believe you'll have 12 an opportunity for additional arts works to be 13 an infrastructure -- construction fund for 14 creating art facilities, museums, bringing up 15 the Hayden Planetarium, the Bronx Zoo, as well 16 as some of the cultural institutions. We need 17 to are build those. Senator Goodman has a bill 18 that would do that through some authorities. 19 So we are not arguing, should we 20 close the sensitivity of our students to the 21 cultural aspects of society or to the 22 availability of exposure to artwork. We're 23 saying if we put money up to build decent 24 classrooms, let's spend it on building decent 25 classrooms. We have money up for arts works. 4852 1 All of those art teachers, all of those art 2 supplies and money you and I bring back to our 3 districts support that. Let's build the 4 classrooms. 5 Move the bill. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7 Velella will be recorded in the affirmative. 8 Senator Paterson, to explain his 9 vote. 10 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 11 to explain my vote. 12 In the spirit of trying to become 13 the best person I can possibly be, which will 14 give comfort to Senator Abate and others, I 15 refer you to a work of art from Picasso, 16 Mineromity. It's a picture of a bull fight. 17 The bull has just slain the bull fighter. You 18 can see the pain and right behind the bull 19 fighter standing between the bull and in his 20 path is a little girl holding a flower, and 21 that, in my opinion, is the classic collision of 22 might versus sensitivity. We see it every day. 23 The Cabbage Patch doll versus Power Rangers, the 24 Majority versus the Minority, once again, 25 insensitivity has raised itself in our 4853 1 discussion because, in all of our remarks, we 2 were referring not to the budget of the school 3 but the construction itself. 4 The district I represent, the 5 area north -- in northern Manhattan, 50 percent 6 of the land-based area is north of 96th Street. 7 Only ten percent of the landmark property is 8 north of 96th Street because for some reason, 9 somebody always thinks that those areas and 10 those edifices don't reflect the same history 11 and culture but they do, and that's why we 12 wanted so much to make sure that it was 13 concluded even in construction, not left to some 14 other budget, not left to philanthropy. 15 Therefore, I vote no, Mr. 16 President. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 18 Paterson will be recorded in the negative. 19 Announce the results. 20 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 21 the negative on Calendar Number 1117, Senators 22 Abate, Connor, Leichter, Marchi, Markowitz, 23 Montgomery, Paterson, Sampson, Smith and 24 Waldon. Ayes 47, nays 10. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 4854 1 is passed. 2 Senator Present. 3 SENATOR PRESENT: Mr. President, 4 is there any housekeeping to be done? 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There 6 is. We'll return to the order of motions and 7 resolutions. 8 The Chair recognizes Senator 9 Marcellino. 10 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Yes, Mr. 11 President. On page number 23, I offer the 12 following amendments to Calendar Number 670, 13 Senate Print Number 2467 and ask that said bill 14 retain its place on the Third Reading Calendar. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 16 amendments to Calendar Number 670 are received 17 and adopted and the bill will retain its place 18 on the Third Reading Calendar. 19 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you, 20 sir. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Present. 23 SENATOR PRESENT: Mr. President, 24 there being no further business, I move we 25 adjourn until Monday, June 9th at 3:00 p.m. 4855 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 2 objection, the Senate stands adjourned until 3 Monday, June 9th, at 3:00 p.m., Monday, June 4 9th, 3:00 p.m., intervening days to be 5 legislative days. 6 (Whereupon, at 2:14 p.m., the 7 Senate adjourned.) 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18