Tuesday, June 24, 1997

5816 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ALBANY, NEW YORK 9 June 24, 1997 10 1:35 p.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 5817 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 take their chairs, the staff to find their 5 places. I'd ask everybody in the chamber to 6 rise and join with me in saying the Pledge of 7 Allegiance to the Flag, and please remain 8 standing for the invocation. 9 (The assemblage repeated the 10 Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.) 11 We're very pleased to have the 12 Reverend Matthew Perkins from the Congregational 13 Christian Church from Ravena, New York with us 14 for the invocation. 15 Father Perkins. 16 REVEREND MATTHEW H. PERKINS: Let 17 us pray. Almighty and most gracious God, grant 18 us the sense of peace and of rest. We are 19 tired. We want and hope for Your guidance and 20 Your grace as we go about our work, our business 21 and our busyness. Amen. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 23 reading of the Journal. 24 THE SECRETARY: In Senate, 25 Monday, June 23. The Senate met pursuant to 5818 1 adjournment, Senator Kuhl in the Chair upon 2 designation of the Temporary President. The 3 Journal of Sunday, June 22nd, was read and 4 approved. On motion, the Senate adjourned. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Hearing 6 no objection, the Journal stands approved as 7 read. 8 Presentation of petitions. 9 Messages from the Assembly. 10 Messages from the Governor. 11 Reports of standing committees. 12 Reports of select committees. 13 Communications and reports from 14 state officers. 15 Motions and resolutions. 16 Senator Maziarz. 17 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you, Mr. 18 President. 19 Mr. President, on page number 37, 20 I offer the following amendments to Calendar 21 Number 1252, Senate Print Number 5359, and ask 22 that said bill retain its place on the Third 23 Reading Calendar. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 25 amendments to Calendar Number 1252 are received 5819 1 and adopted and the bill will retain its place 2 on the Third Reading Calendar. 3 Senator Holland, we have a couple 4 of substitutions from the Assembly, if we might 5 read those. 6 The Secretary will read the 7 substitutions. 8 THE SECRETARY: On page 37, 9 Senator Maziarz moves to discharge from the 10 Committee on Rules Assembly Bill Number 352-B 11 and substitute it for the identical Third 12 Reading Calendar 1331. 13 And on page 38, Senator Waldon 14 moves to discharge from the Committee on 15 Corporations, Authorities and Commissions 16 Assembly Bill Number 3898 and substitute it for 17 the identical Third Reading Calendar 1336. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 19 substitutions are ordered. 20 Senator Trunzo, why do you rise? 21 SENATOR TRUNZO: Mr. President, 22 would you please remove the star on Calendar 23 Number 492. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The star 25 on Calendar Number 492 is removed at the request 5820 1 of the sponsor. 2 Senator Holland. 3 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 4 at this time may we please have the reading of 5 the non-controversial calendar. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 7 Secretary will read the non-controversial 8 calendar. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 52, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 419-A, an 11 act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, in 12 relation to mandatory revocations. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 14 Secretary will read the last section. 15 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 16 act shall take effect in 30 days. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 18 roll. 19 (The Secretary called the roll.) 20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 37. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 22 is passed. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 91, by Senator Cook, Senate Print 780-A, an act 25 to amend the General Municipal Law, in relation 5821 1 to county planning boards. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 3 Secretary will read the last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 8. This 5 act shall take effect on the first day of July. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 7 roll. 8 (The Secretary called the roll.) 9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 37. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 11 is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 110, by Senator Present, Senate Print 765-A, an 14 act to amend the State Administrative Procedure 15 Act, in relation to compliance requirements. 16 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 18 bill aside. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 125, by Senator Maziarz, Senate Print 931-A, an 21 act to amend the Education Law, in relation to 22 prohibiting the direct merchandising. 23 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 25 bill aside. 5822 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 126, by Senator Cook, Senate Print 1373-A, an 3 act to amend the Executive Law, in relation to 4 the task force on school community 5 collaboration. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 7 Secretary will read the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. 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 37. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 15 is passed. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 178, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 18 2227-A - 19 SENATOR SMITH: Lay it aside, 20 please. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 22 bill aside. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 193, by Senator Lack, Senate Print 1097, an act 25 to amend the Labor Law, in relation to direct 5823 1 sellers. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 3 Secretary will read the last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 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 37. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 11 is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 224, by member of the Assembly McGee, Assembly 14 Print 1476, Senate Reprint 21001, an act to 15 amend the New York State Urban Development 16 Corporation Act. 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 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 37. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 5824 1 is passed. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 280, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 2514-A, an 4 act to amend the Real Property Tax Law. 5 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 7 bill aside. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 329, by Senator Lack, Senate Print 1167, an act 10 to amend the Election Law, in relation to 11 polling places. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 13 Secretary will read the last section. 14 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 15 act shall take effect immediately. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 17 roll. 18 (The Secretary called the roll.) 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 37. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 21 is passed. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 341, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 2550-A, an 24 act to amend the Insurance Law and the Vehicle 25 and Traffic Law, in relation to motor vehicle 5825 1 accident prevention courses. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 3 Secretary will read the last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 5 act shall take effect in 120 days. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 7 roll. 8 (The Secretary called the roll.) 9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 36, nays 1, 10 Senator Kuhl recorded in the negative. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 12 is passed. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 348, by Senator Padavan, Senate Print 3088, an 15 act to amend the General Business Law, in 16 relation to possession and sale of drug-related 17 paraphernalia. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 19 Secretary will read the last section. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 21 act shall take effect immediately. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 23 roll. 24 (The Secretary called the roll.) 25 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 37. 5826 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 2 is passed. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 367, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 2734-A, an 5 act to amend the State Finance Law, in relation 6 to filing authorization. 7 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 9 bill aside. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 447, by Senator Padavan, Senate Print 3070, an 12 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 13 possession of gambling devices. 14 SENATOR SMITH: Lay it aside. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 16 bill aside. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 500, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 2860-A, an 19 act to amend the Private Housing Finance Law, in 20 relation to extending the period of repayment. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 22 Secretary will read the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 24 act shall take effect immediately. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 5827 1 roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll.) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 37. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 5 is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 501, by member of the Assembly Lopez, Assembly 8 Print 6024-A, an act to amend the Public Housing 9 Law, in relation to the procurement by housing 10 authorities. 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 37. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 20 is passed. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 541, by Senator Levy, Senate Print 610-A, an act 23 to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, in 24 relation to the seizure of license plates. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 5828 1 Secretary will read the last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 3 act shall take effect on the first day of 4 November. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 6 roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll.) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 37. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 10 is passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 567, by member of the Assembly Eve, Assembly 13 Print 6780, an act to amend Chapter 198 of the 14 Laws of 1978. 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 37. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 24 is passed. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5829 1 574, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 3674-A, an 2 act to amend the Public Authorities Law. 3 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 5 bill aside. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 575, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 3731, an 8 act to amend Chapter 915 of the Laws of 1982. 9 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 11 bill aside. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 604, by Senator Meier, Senate Print 3937-A, an 14 act to authorize the town of Paris to convey 15 certain parklands. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 17 a home rule message at the desk. The Secretary 18 will read the last section. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 20 act shall take effect immediately. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 22 roll. 23 (The Secretary called the roll.) 24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 37. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 5830 1 is passed. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 625, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 1023-A, an 4 act to amend the Public Health Law, in relation 5 to requiring hospitals. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 7 Secretary will read the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 9 act shall take effect in 180 days. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 11 roll. 12 (The Secretary called the roll.) 13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes - 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 15 the negatives and announce the results. 16 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 36, nays 1, 17 Senator Cook recorded in the negative. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 19 is passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 636, by Senator Larkin - 22 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 23 THE SECRETARY: -- Senate Print 24 2638, an act to amend the General Municipal Law. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 5831 1 bill aside. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 638, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 4174, an 4 act to amend the Business Corporation Law, in 5 relation to requiring. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 7 Secretary will read the last section -- lay the 8 bill aside. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 663, by Senator Padavan, Senate Print 4047, an 11 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to the 12 disposal of allegedly stolen motor vehicles. 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 first day of 17 November. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 19 roll. 20 (The Secretary called the roll.) 21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 40. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 23 is passed. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 710, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 5832 1 Assembly Print 7640, an act to amend Chapter 514 2 of the Laws of 1983. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 4 Secretary will read the last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 6 act shall take effect immediately. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 8 roll. 9 (The Secretary called the roll.) 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 40. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 12 is passed. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 748, by member of the Assembly Weinstein, 15 Assembly Print 7029, an act to amend the Family 16 Court Act and others, in relation to powers of 17 local Criminal Courts. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 19 Secretary will read the last section. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 21 act shall take effect immediately. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 23 roll. 24 (The Secretary called the roll.) 25 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 47. 5833 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 2 is passed. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 752 by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 3870, an 5 act to amend the Domestic Relations Law, in 6 relation to solemnization of marriages. 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 40. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 16 is passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 773, by member of the Assembly Gottfried, 19 Assembly Print 7056-A, an act to amend the 20 Public Health Law, in relation to the 21 preparation and distribution. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 23 Secretary will read the last section. 24 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 25 act shall take effect immediately. 5834 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 2 roll. 3 (The Secretary called the roll.) 4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 40. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 6 is passed. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 784, by Senator Maziarz, Senate Print 5081-A, an 9 act to amend the Social Services Law, in 10 relation to establishing rates. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 12 Secretary will read the last section. 13 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 15 bill aside. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 789, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 5161, an 18 act to amend the Arts and Cultural Affairs Law, 19 in relation to including. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 21 Secretary will read the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 23 act shall take effect immediately. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 25 roll. 5835 1 (The Secretary called the roll.) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 40. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 4 is passed. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 864, by Senator Padavan, Senate Print 4589, an 7 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 8 including police officers. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 10 Secretary will read the last section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 12 act shall take effect on the first day of 13 November. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 15 roll. 16 (The Secretary called the roll.) 17 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 40. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 19 is passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 906, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 5209-A, an 22 act to amend the Tax Law and other laws, 23 relating to the reduction of rates, enhancement 24 of credits and other matters. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 5836 1 Secretary will read the last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 3 act shall take effect immediately. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 5 roll. 6 (The Secretary called the roll.) 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 40. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 9 is passed. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 907, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 5213-A - 12 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 14 bill aside. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 956, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 340-A, an 17 act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, in 18 relation to the enforcement. 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.) 5837 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 40. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 3 is passed. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 958, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 411, an 6 act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, in 7 relation to restricting. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 9 Secretary will read the last section. 10 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. 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 41. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 17 is passed. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 969, by Senator Padavan, Senate Print 951, an 20 act to amend the Public Authorities Law, in 21 relation to providing. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 23 Secretary will read the last section. 24 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 25 act shall take effect on the 120th day. 5838 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 2 roll. 3 (The Secretary called the roll.) 4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 42. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 6 is passed. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 993, by Senator Levy, Senate Print 4308-A, an 9 act to amend the Public Authorities Law, in 10 relation to authorizing. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 12 Secretary will read the last section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 14 act shall take effect in 30 days. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 16 roll. 17 (The Secretary called the roll.) 18 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 42. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 20 is passed. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 1017, by Senator Levy, Senate Print 5051-A, an 23 act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, in 24 relation to penalties for violating use 25 restrictions. 5839 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 2 Secretary will read the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 4 act shall take effect on the first day of 5 January. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 7 roll. 8 (The Secretary called the roll.) 9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 43. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 11 is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 1018, by Senator Levy, Senate Print 5134-A, an 14 act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, in 15 relation to the cancellation. 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 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 25 is passed. 5840 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 1045, by Senator Marchi, Senate Print 3649-B, an 3 act to amend the Limited Liability Company Law 4 and others, in relation to limited liability. 5 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 7 bill aside. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1082, by Senator Marchi, Senate Print 4767-A, an 10 act to amend the Business Corporation Law, in 11 relation to the organization of professional 12 service corporations. 13 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 15 bill aside. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 1128, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 5367-A, 18 an act to amend the Alcoholic Beverage Control 19 Law, in relation to requiring notice to the 20 State Liquor Authority. 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 5841 1 roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll.) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 5 is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 1134, by Senator Kuhl, Senate Print 1828-A, an 8 act to amend the Judiciary Law, in relation to 9 increasing the number of County Court judges. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 11 Secretary will call the last section. 12 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 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 44. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 19 is passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 1154, by Senator Bruno, Senate Print 5254-C, an 22 act to amend Chapter 987 of the laws of 1971. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 24 Secretary will read the last section. 25 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 5842 1 act shall take effect on the 23rd day of 2 November. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 4 roll. 5 (The Secretary called the roll.) 6 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 8 is passed. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 1159, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 317-A, an 11 act to amend the Insurance Law. 12 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 14 bill aside. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 1217, by Senator Stafford, Senate Print 4999-A, 17 an act in relation to the extension of 18 boundaries of fire protection. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 20 a home rule message at the desk. The Secretary 21 will read the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 23 act shall take effect immediately. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 25 roll. 5843 1 (The Secretary called the roll.) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 4 is passed. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 1323, by Senator Seward, Senate Print 4240-A, an 7 act to amend the General Municipal Law, in 8 relation to the calculation. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 10 Secretary will read the last section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 12 act shall take effect immediately. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 14 roll. 15 (The Secretary called the roll.) 16 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 43, nays 1, 17 Senator Tully recorded in the negative. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 19 is passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 1331, substituted earlier today, by member of 22 the Assembly Connelly, Assembly Print 352-B, an 23 act to amend the Insurance Law, in relation to 24 making insurance coverage. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 5844 1 Secretary will read the last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 7. This 3 act shall take effect on the 180th day. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 5 roll. 6 (The Secretary called the roll.) 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 9 is passed. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 1333, by Senator Maltese, Senate Print 1704, an 12 act in relation to allowing certain Correction 13 members. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 15 a home rule message at the desk. The Secretary 16 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 44. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 24 is passed. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5845 1 1334, by Senator Libous, Senate Print 1914-A, an 2 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to the 3 provision of large quantities. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 5 Secretary will read the last section. 6 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 7 act shall take effect on the first day of 8 November. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 10 roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll.) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 14 is passed. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 1335, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 2430, 17 concurrent resolution of the Senate and the 18 Assembly, proposing amendments to Sections 13, 19 14 and 16. 20 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 22 bill aside. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 1338, by Senator Trunzo, Senate Print 3190, an 25 act to amend the Retirement and Social Security 5846 1 Law, in relation to providing. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 3 a home rule message at the desk. The Secretary 4 will read the last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. This 6 act shall take effect January 1. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 8 roll. 9 (The Secretary called the roll.) 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 12 is passed. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 1339, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 3268, an 15 act to amend the Retirement and Social Security 16 Law, in relation to the retirement of ambulance 17 medical technicians. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 19 a home rule message at the desk. The Secretary 20 will read the last section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. This 22 act shall take effect January 1. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 24 roll. 25 (The Secretary called the roll.) 5847 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 3 is passed. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 1340, by Senator Libous, Senate Print 3620, an 6 act to authorize the city of Binghamton to offer 7 an optional 20-year retirement plan. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 9 a home rule message at the desk. The Secretary 10 will read the last section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 12 act shall take effect immediately. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 14 roll. 15 (The Secretary called the roll.) 16 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 18 is passed. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 1341, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 4342, an 21 act to amend Chapter 524 of the Laws of 1987, 22 relating to establishing. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 24 Secretary will read the last section. 25 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 5848 1 act shall take effect immediately. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 3 roll. 4 (The Secretary called the roll.) 5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 7 is passed. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1342, by Senator Meier, Senate Print 4583-A, an 10 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 11 permitting a court to impose a sentence. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 13 Secretary will read the last section. 14 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 15 act shall take effect on the first day of 16 November. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 18 roll. 19 (The Secretary called the roll.) 20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 22 is passed. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 1343, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 4624, an 25 act to enable the county of Schenectady to 5849 1 acquire, develop and distribute. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 3 a home rule message at the desk. The Secretary 4 will read the last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. This 6 act shall take effect immediately. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 8 roll. 9 (The Secretary called the roll.) 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 12 is passed. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 1344, by Senator Tully, Senate Print 4808-A, an 15 act to authorize Stuart L. Ain to apply for 16 retroactive membership. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 18 Secretary will read the last section. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 20 act shall take effect - 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Paterson, why do you rise? 23 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 24 is there a local fiscal impact message on this 25 bill? 5850 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 Paterson, there's no local fiscal impact note at 3 the desk. There is a home rule message at the 4 desk, if that makes a difference to you. 5 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 6 we're not sure. We're not really even 7 challenging the Chair. We would just like to 8 know if there's a need for a fiscal impact 9 message. 10 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 11 President. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 Paterson, I'm being told by the Journal Clerk 14 that the rules don't require one. Without 15 exhausting that investigation myself, I have to 16 go basically on their word. The standard 17 practice has been, as I understand it, for a 18 home rule message to be sufficient. 19 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 20 President, a point of order. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Dollinger, why do you rise? 23 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Just a point 24 of order, Mr. President, to follow up on Senator 25 Paterson's point. My understanding is a portion 5851 1 of the cost of this will be borne by the New 2 York State Assembly. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 Dollinger, if you have a question about the 5 bill, why don't we lay the bill aside and 6 continue to go on with the non-controversial 7 calendar. 8 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Thank you, 9 Mr. President. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We'll lay 11 the bill aside. The Secretary will continue to 12 call the non-controversial calendar. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 1345, by Senator Meier, Senate Print 4846-A, an 15 act to amend the Social Services Law and the 16 Family Court Act, in relation to 17 catastrophically maltreated children. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 19 Secretary will read the last section. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. This 21 act shall take effect immediately. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 23 roll. 24 (The Secretary called the roll.) 25 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 45. 5852 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 2 is passed. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 1346, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 4893, an 5 act to authorize the city school district of the 6 city of Hudson. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 8 Secretary will read the last section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. 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 45. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 16 is passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 1347, by Senator Velella, Senate Print 5107, an 19 act to amend the Public Authorities Law, in 20 relation to increasing. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 22 Secretary will read the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 24 act shall take effect immediately. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 5853 1 roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll.) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 45. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 5 is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 1348, by Senator Trunzo, Senate Print 5159-A, an 8 act to amend the Public Authorities Law and 9 others, in relation to clarifying the status of 10 employees. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 12 Secretary will read the last section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 11. 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 46. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 20 is passed. 21 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President 22 -- Mr. President. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 24 Leichter, why do you rise? 25 SENATOR LEICHTER: Is Calendar 5854 1 1333 still at the desk? 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 1333? 3 No, it is not. It's out of the house, Senator. 4 SENATOR LEICHTER: May I have 5 unanimous consent to be recorded in the negative 6 on that bill, please. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 8 objection, hearing no objection, Senator 9 Leichter will be recorded in the negative on 10 Calendar Number 1333. 11 The Secretary will continue to 12 read the non-controversial calendar. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Calendar 14 Number 1350, by Senator LaValle, Senate Print 15 5458-A, an act to amend the Mental Hygiene Law, 16 the Social Services Law and the Education Law, 17 in relation to transferring requirements. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 19 Secretary will read the last section. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 8. This 21 act shall take effect July 1. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 23 roll. 24 (The Secretary called the roll.) 25 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 46. 5855 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 2 is passed. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 1351, by Senator Spano, Senate Print 5461, an 5 act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, in 6 relation to authorizing a residential parking 7 system. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 9 a home rule message at the desk. The Secretary 10 will read the last section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 12 act shall take effect immediately. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 14 roll. 15 (The Secretary called the roll.) 16 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 48. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 18 is passed. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 1352, by Senator Dollinger, Senate Print 5479, 21 an act to ament the Vehicle and Traffic Law, in 22 relation to providing for a distinctive United 23 States Naval Armed Guard license plate. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 25 Secretary will read the last section. 5856 1 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 2 act shall take effect on the first day of 3 November. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 5 roll. 6 (The Secretary called the roll.) 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes - 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 9 the negatives. Announce the results. 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 47, nays 1, 11 Senator Cook recorded in the negative. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 13 is passed. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 1354, by Senator Marcellino, Senate Print 5534, 16 an act authorizing the assessor of the county of 17 Nassau. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 19 Secretary will read the last section. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 21 act shall take effect immediately. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 23 roll. 24 (The Secretary called the roll.) 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5857 1 Cook, why do you rise? 2 SENATOR COOK: Mr. President, I 3 inadvertently voted negative on the previous 4 bill. I'm voting no on this bill. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6 Marcellino's bill? 7 SENATOR COOK: Yeah, and I 8 intended to vote yes on the previous bill. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 10 roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll.) 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 13 the negatives and announce the results. 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 46, nays 2, 15 Senators Cook and Dollinger recorded in the 16 negative. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 18 Cook, your request is to have unanimous consent 19 to be recorded in the affirmative on the prior 20 bill, Senator Dollinger's bill, 1352? 21 SENATOR COOK: Yes. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 23 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Cook 24 will be recorded in the affirmative on Calendar 25 Number 1352. 5858 1 The Secretary will continue to 2 read the non-controversial calendar. 3 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5 Skelos. 6 SENATOR SKELOS: There will be an 7 immediate meeting of the Rules Committee in the 8 Majority Conference Room. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Immediate 10 meeting of the Rules Committee, immediate 11 meeting of the Rules Committee in the Majority 12 Conference Room, Room 332. 13 The Secretary will continue to 14 read the non-controversial calendar. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 1355, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 5537, an 17 act to amend the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, 18 in relation to creating. 19 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 21 bill aside. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 1356, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 5563, an 24 act to authorize the Commissioner of General 25 Services to sell and convey a certain parcel. 5859 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 2 Secretary will read the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 4 act shall take effect immediately. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 6 roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll.) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 48. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 10 is passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 1357, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 5581, an 13 act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, in 14 relation to authorizing out of state 15 recreational vehicle dealers. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 17 Secretary will read the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. 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 49. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 25 is passed. 5860 1 Senator Saland, why do you rise? 2 SENATOR SALAND: Mr. President, 3 have we completed the non-controversial? 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We have 5 not. We have not. We just passed Calendar 6 Number 1357. We have one bill left to call. 7 The Secretary will read the 8 non-controversial calendar remaining bill. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 1358, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 5602, 11 an act to authorize and direct the state Energy 12 Planning Board to conduct a study. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 14 Secretary will read the last section. 15 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 16 act shall take effect immediately. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 18 roll. 19 (The Secretary called the roll.) 20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 49. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 22 is passed. 23 Senator Libous. 24 SENATOR LIBOUS: Now, Mr. 25 President? 5861 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Now. 2 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, Mr. 3 President. 4 I would like to have unanimous 5 consent to be recorded in the negative on 6 Calendar Number 752. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 8 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Libous 9 will be recorded in the negative on Calendar 10 Number 752. 11 Senator Smith, why do you rise? 12 SENATOR SMITH: On Calendar 13 Number 636 and 638 that were laid aside earlier, 14 I wish to let them go. The explanation has been 15 satisfactory. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We'll 17 return to Calendar Number 636. I'll ask the 18 Secretary to read the title. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 636, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 2638, an 21 act to amend the General Municipal Law. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 23 Secretary will read the last section. 24 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 25 act shall take effect immediately. 5862 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 2 roll. 3 (The Secretary called the roll.) 4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 49. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 6 is passed. 7 The Secretary will read Calendar 8 Number 638. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 638, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 4174, an 11 act to amend the Business Corporation Law, in 12 relation to requiring any foreign corporation. 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 48, nays 1, 21 Senator Tully recorded in the negative. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 23 is passed. 24 Senator Saland. 25 SENATOR SALAND: Thank you, Mr. 5863 1 President. 2 Mr. President, I would request 3 unanimous consent to be recorded in the negative 4 on Calendar 752. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 6 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Saland 7 will be recorded in the negative on Calendar 8 Number 752. 9 Senator Maltese, why do you 10 rise? 11 SENATOR MALTESE: Mr. President, 12 I would request unanimous consent to be recorded 13 in the negative on Calendar Number 752. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 15 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Maltese 16 will be recorded in the negative on Calendar 17 Number 752. 18 Senator Marcellino, why do you 19 rise? 20 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr. 21 President, yesterday when Senate 2057 was taken 22 up, I was out of the chambers on Senate 23 business. I wish the record to reflect that I 24 would have voted no had I been here. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 5864 1 record will so reflect. 2 Senator Spano, why do you rise? 3 SENATOR SPANO: Mr. President, I 4 would like the record to reflect my negative 5 vote on Calendar 752. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 7 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Spano 8 will be recorded in the negative on Calendar 9 Number 752. 10 Senator Lack, why do you rise? 11 SENATOR LACK: Yes. I would 12 request unanimous consent to be recorded in the 13 negative on Calendar Number 752. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 15 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Lack 16 will be recorded in the negative on Calendar 17 Number 752. 18 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 20 Holland. 21 SENATOR HOLLAND: I would also 22 like to be recorded in the negative on 752. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 24 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Holland 25 will be recorded in the negative on Calendar 5865 1 Number 752. 2 Senator Holland. 3 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 4 can we return to motions and resolutions and 5 call up my privileged Resolution Number 1566 and 6 have it read in its entirety, please. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We'll 8 return to the order of motions and resolutions. 9 I'll direct the Secretary to read 10 Resolution Number 1566 by Senator Holland in its 11 entirety which was previously adopted by this 12 body. 13 The Secretary will read. 14 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 15 Holland, Legislative Resolution 1566, honoring 16 the teams from Clarkstown North High School in 17 Rockland County upon the occasion of placing 18 First, Second and Third in the National History 19 Day Contest, May 2 through 4, 1997; 20 WHEREAS, it is the sense of this 21 legislative body to act in accord with its long 22 standing tradition honoring the youth of today 23 and leaders of tomorrow whose character and 24 achievements best exemplify the ideals and 25 values cherished by this great state and nation; 5866 1 and 2 WHEREAS, this legislative body is 3 justly proud to honor the teams from Clarkstown 4 North High School in Rockland County upon the 5 occasion of placing First, Second and Third in 6 the National History Day Contest in Rochester, 7 New York, May 2 through 4, 1997; and 8 WHEREAS, the National History Day 9 Contest bring schools from all over New York 10 State to compete in a variety of group and 11 individual categories. 12 The Clarkstown team made up of 13 Matt Lipsky, Stacey Rabinowitz, Steven Chao, 14 Mark Cuccaro, and Steven Weintraub as the 15 alternate, won first place in the History Bowl 16 officially named "Yonkers History Bowl" modeled 17 after Jeopardy and College Bowl, which tests 18 students' knowledge of American history in the 19 quick response format. 14 schools sent teams to 20 compete and Clarkstown North also came in second 21 with a team consisting of Zack Osofsky, John 22 Sherman, John Spencer and Jay Suchotliff, as the 23 alternate was Kevin McCabe; 24 WHEREAS, in group performance, a 25 Clarkstown North team made up of Matt Lipsky, 5867 1 Zack Osofsky, John Sherman and Steven Weintraub 2 came in third in the state. Their dramatic 3 performance was about the triumphs and tragedies 4 of the building of the transcontinental railroad 5 in the late 1800s. The same team of boys also 6 placed third last year in the same category; and 7 WHEREAS, this legislative body, 8 in full knowledge of the significance of this 9 occasion, is moved to honor, commend and 10 congratulate these young citizens and able 11 scholars recognizing the value of their labors 12 and the promise of their futures; now, 13 therefore, be it 14 RESOLVED, that this legislative 15 body because in its deliberations to honor the 16 teams from Clarkstown North High School in 17 Rockland County upon the occasion of placing 18 First, Second and Third in the National History 19 Day Contest May 2 through 4, 1997; and be it 20 further 21 RESOLVED, that copies of this 22 resolution, suitably engrossed, be transmitted 23 to members of the Clarkstown North High School 24 First, Second and Third Place Teams. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5868 1 Holland, on the resolution. 2 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 3 could I ask the members of the Clarkstown North 4 to stand up, please. They're in the gallery up 5 here on the right. Would you stand up, please. 6 Now, I want to read a section of 7 the resolution in case everybody wasn't 8 listening. 9 "WHEREAS, this legislative body 10 is justly proud to honor the teams from 11 Clarkstown North High School", which is in 12 Rockland county, "upon the occasion of placing 13 First, Second and Third in the National History 14 Day Contest for the entire state of New York in 15 Rochester, New York on May the 2nd through the 16 4th." 17 Gentlemen, congratulations to 18 you. We expect you to do the same -- and 19 ladies. I'm sorry, Stacey. We expect you to do 20 the same thing next year. Congratulations. 21 We're all very proud of you. (Applause) 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 23 Holland. 24 SENATOR HOLLAND: Yes, Mr. 25 President. If we could go to the Resolution 5869 1 Calendar. I've had some requests if we could 2 open up 1821, "Drug Abuse Prevention Week", for 3 anybody who would like to be on that resolution 4 or the entire house if so wished and also 1882, 5 YM... "YWCA Week" I move the adoption. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We'll 7 follow the procedure, Senator Holland, and place 8 all of the members on the sponsorship on the two 9 resolutions, 1821 and 1882, unless they indicate 10 to the desk that they don't wish to be on the 11 resolution. 12 SENATOR HOLLAND: Thank you, Mr. 13 President. I move the adoption - 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: I'll 15 direct the Secretary to do that. You're 16 proposing to adopt the Resolution Calendar at 17 this time? 18 SENATOR HOLLAND: Please. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 20 motion is to adopt the Resolution Calendar which 21 is on the members' desks. All those in favor 22 signify by saying aye. 23 (Response of "Aye".) 24 Opposed, nay. 25 (There was no response.) 5870 1 The Resolution Calendar is 2 adopted. 3 Senator Holland. 4 SENATOR HOLLAND: Could we return 5 to the reports of standing committees for a 6 report from the Finance Committee, please, Mr. 7 President. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We'll 9 return to the order of reports of standing 10 committees. I'll ask the Secretary to read the 11 report of the Finance Committee. 12 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 13 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 14 following nomination: Commissioner of 15 Environmental Conservation: John P. Cahill, of 16 Yonkers. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The Chair 18 recognizes Senator Stafford, on the nomination. 19 SENATOR STAFFORD: Mr. President, 20 today three excellent nominees appeared. The 21 first excellent nominee, I will yield to the 22 Senator from Westchester. 23 SENATOR SPANO: Thank you, 24 Senator Stafford. 25 It is indeed my pleasure to 5871 1 second the nomination of John Cahill as the 2 Commissioner of the Department of Environmental 3 Conservation. 4 I have known John Cahill for a 5 long time and he has been a person who has 6 contributed a great deal to his community and 7 certainly to us in the city of Yonkers, as a 8 matter of fact, volunteering his services to our 9 city as a member of the Emergency Financial 10 Control Board which was an appointment that 11 required confirmation by the members of this 12 Senate. 13 In a short time, he has 14 demonstrated his commitment to his community, 15 demonstrated his commitment to protecting the 16 environmental concerns of the people of this 17 great state and in following through on a 18 commitment our great Governor has made to the 19 people of this state in putting someone in place 20 in the Department of Environmental Conservation 21 who understands how to run an agency in an 22 efficient way, in a way that properly requests 23 the concerns, the environmental concerns of this 24 administration, of the members of this house as 25 well. 5872 1 So it is my pleasure, Mr. 2 President, to second the nomination and to 3 congratulate the Governor in presenting someone 4 who had tremendous credentials, as an attorney, 5 as a litigator, as someone in his own education 6 who has studied environmental law and who has 7 already demonstrated that commitment as the 8 Acting Commissioner in the Department of 9 Environmental Conservation. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 11 Marcellino, on the nomination. 12 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you, 13 Mr. President. 14 I rise with great pride and 15 pleasure to speak on the nomination fervently of 16 John Cahill to be confirmed as Commissioner of 17 the Department of Environmental Conservation. 18 As the Chairman of the Committee, 19 John went through our process. It was almost a 20 love feast. The accolades, good things were 21 said and well deserved. John has done a 22 fantastic job in a department that was under 23 some stress before he got there and since he's 24 gotten there has been running just beautifully. 25 He's a pleasure to work with. He's a fine human 5873 1 being, a great lawyer and a superb environment 2 alist and I, with pleasure, recommend a 3 unanimous vote on John's nomination. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5 Leibell, on the nomination. 6 SENATOR LEIBELL: Thank you, Mr. 7 President. 8 Briefly, if I may join my 9 colleagues who have already spoken. As a member 10 of the Environmental Conservation Committee, we 11 were most pleased to see the commissioner come 12 before us. I can tell you from my own personal 13 experience and that of our staff in the Senate, 14 he has been wonderful as a department to work 15 with. They've done a tremendous job in a very 16 short period of time. Without question, this 17 will be one of the finest environmental 18 departments anywhere in the United States, and I 19 congratulate the commissioner. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Oppenheimer, on the nomination. 22 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Thank you, 23 Mr. President. 24 Well, it was a love feast in the 25 Environmental Conservation Committee meeting 5874 1 when we had John Cahill before us and that's 2 because John, in the period that he's been 3 acting commissioner, has done so much to improve 4 the enforcement of our environmental laws. 5 There was a period there where I 6 thought that an effort was afoot to get rid of 7 environmental law and after that I thought, 8 well, the opposite -- the alternative to getting 9 rid of it seemed to be simply not to enforce the 10 law that we did have and that was a direction 11 that was very disturbing and I thought the 12 Department was moving in but now many enforcers 13 have been put on staff and we are seeing a vast 14 improvement in the enforcement of our law. 15 John Cahill comes from a 16 wonderful background. Not only has he proven 17 himself on the job but his background couldn't 18 be better. He comes out of the school where he 19 took a Master's in environmental law that I have 20 the highest respect for and that's the Pace 21 University School of Environmental Law which was 22 started by Congressman Richard Ottinger and is 23 one of the greatly respected environmental 24 schools in the country. 25 So we have talked about things 5875 1 such as the Superfund, such as the emission 2 reduction credits. Everything seems to be 3 pulling together now under John and I am just 4 very, very pleased that we have such a fine 5 commission... commissioner candidate before us 6 today. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 8 Libous, on the nomination. 9 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, Mr. 10 President. 11 I too want to rise and join my 12 colleagues in saluting the Governor in making 13 this very fine appointment in John Cahill, and I 14 think what's nice about this appointment is Mr. 15 Cahill brings a unique balance. You know, in 16 the environmental field, while we all care very 17 deeply about our state's environment and make 18 sure that we're moving in the right direction, 19 we also do care very deeply about economic 20 development and growth in our state and making 21 sure that we strike a balance, and I think John 22 Cahill does strike that balance. Not only is he 23 well respected by those who favor and work very 24 hard on environmental issues but he's also 25 respected in the business community. 5876 1 So, Mr. President, I look forward 2 to working with the new commissioner and I know 3 that Yonkers for some is considered upstate but, 4 Commissioner, hopefully we'll bring you to 5 Binghamton, the Southern Tier and show you where 6 the real upstate is. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 8 Mendez, on the nomination. 9 SENATOR MENDEZ: Mr. President, I 10 also feel the need to stand up and congratulate 11 the Governor for the appointment of John Cahill 12 as the environmental commissioner. 13 I mean, the man is -- has done - 14 will be doing an extraordinary job and as far as 15 I'm concerned, this is the first candidate for 16 this position that is thoroughly knowledgeable 17 about the issue of environmental racism. He 18 knows what occurred in the South Bronx when an 19 incinerator that burns medical waste was placed 20 in an area congested with people, many of these 21 people suffering from asthma, and he's willing 22 to revisit the issue. 23 So I think he is one of the 24 finest appointments that the Governor has 25 submitted for confirmation and we look forward 5877 1 to work with him. 2 Thank you, Mr. President. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 Maziarz, on the nomination. 5 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you very 6 much, Mr. President. 7 Despite what we've heard today, 8 the real upstate regions of New York are the 9 Niagara region and the Adirondack region and 10 Senator Stafford agrees with me on that 11 particular comment. 12 Mr. President, the Niagara region 13 is very proud to have two members on the 14 Conservation Fund Advisory Board and those two 15 members have indicated to me that when it comes 16 to sportsmen's issues and the concern about the 17 hunters and the sports people in the state of 18 New York, that Commissioner Cahill is extremely 19 impressive with his record with those 20 individuals and I just want to congratulate and 21 commend the Governor. 22 I think that Commissioner Cahill 23 is going to be an excellent commissioner, and I 24 look forward to working with him for a good long 25 time. 5878 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 Johnson, on the nomination. 3 SENATOR JOHNSON: Mr. President, 4 I would like to echo some of the fine sentiments 5 which have been expressed so far on behalf of 6 John Cahill as Commissioner. I think there's no 7 question about his capability, his background 8 but I'm most impressed with his performance 9 while he's been Acting Commissioner. 10 He seems to have achieved a like 11 balance of environmental sensitivity, economic 12 alertness, awareness of the necessity of 13 maintaining jobs and expanding opportunities in 14 our state, and I think everyone is -- on all 15 sides of the spectrum, environmental/economic 16 activities, I think he has won friends and I 17 think those friends are here today speaking for 18 him and supporting him and wishing him well in 19 knowing that the Governor has made a fine choice 20 and he'll do a wonderful for the state of New 21 York. 22 Thank you. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 24 Hoffmann, on the nomination. 25 SENATOR HOFFMANN: I join my 5879 1 colleagues, Mr. President, in complimenting the 2 Governor on the very excellent appointment of 3 John Cahill as Commissioner of Department of 4 Environmental Conservation. 5 I've had an opportunity to speak 6 with Mr. Cahill on a number of times. I'm 7 impressed with his breadth of knowledge of 8 environmental issues as well as his grasp of the 9 great difficulty posed by trying to balance 10 environmentalism in its strictest sense with 11 agricultural practices and enforcement of 12 penalties against those who would pollute the 13 land. These are not always clear-cut issues. 14 They require a great deal of sensitivity, even 15 handling and a willingness to seek out all of 16 the facts. 17 That, unfortunately, has not 18 always been the case in DEC in New York State, 19 and I am convinced that we have in Commissioner 20 Cahill somebody who will be fair, who will take 21 the time to learn what the real issues are and 22 as somebody who has been involved in agriculture 23 herself and has served as the ranking member of 24 my party on the Agriculture Committee for seven 25 terms now, I believe that we have in John Cahill 5880 1 an excellent person. For those who are engaged 2 in agricultural practices in New York State, 3 it's time that they had a friend and somebody 4 who will be fair to farmers in this department. 5 So I join my friends in the 6 Senate on both sides of the aisle in 7 complimenting the Governor on this very 8 excellent appointment and wishing John Cahill 9 all the best in his new and very difficult 10 position. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 12 Wright, on the nomination. 13 SENATOR WRIGHT: Thank you, Mr. 14 President. 15 I too join with my colleagues in 16 supporting John Cahill's nomination. I found it 17 interesting the various definitions I've heard 18 today of upstate New York. 19 Having served on the EnCon 20 Committee, I had the opportunity to question the 21 acting commissioner and representing an area of 22 the state that is interested in sport fishing 23 and hunting and agricultural interests, I found 24 that the commissioner was not only conversant 25 but very supportive on all of those issues and 5881 1 that speaks to, I think, what we've all attested 2 to this afternoon and that is the balance that 3 the commissioner brings to that position and 4 while all of us have various priorities within 5 the influence of the Environmental Conservation 6 Department, the commissioner balances those 7 priorities, balances the regions of this state, 8 balances the concerns. 9 John, we're very pleased to have 10 you as commissioner. We wish you the best of 11 luck. 12 Thank you. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is there 14 any other Senator wishing to speak on the 15 nomination? 16 (There was no response.) 17 Hearing none, the question is on 18 the nomination of John P. Cahill to become the 19 Commissioner of Environmental Conservation. All 20 those in favor of the nomination signify by 21 saying aye. 22 (Response of "Aye".) 23 Opposed, nay. 24 (There was no response.) 25 The nominee is unanimously 5882 1 confirmed. 2 We're very, very pleased to have 3 John Cahill in the gallery to your left with us 4 today. Commissioner, congratulations. Good 5 luck. (Applause) 6 Commissioner, we are also very 7 pleased that you were able to fill the gallery 8 for us, and I know that you have a large number 9 of your family here with you. We would like to 10 have the members see them also. 11 I know you're joined by your wife 12 Kim, if she would stand, your four children. We 13 have John, Jr., Meghan, Erin and James and your 14 mother Margaret, your three brothers, James, 15 Kevin and Tom are with us today, your two 16 sisters, Mary and Eileen, your brother-in-law 17 Bruce Hume, your sister-in-law Ann Cahill and 18 your in-laws Beverly and Leo Magratten. 19 Thank you for all coming and 20 sharing this wonderful moment in John's life 21 with us. Thank you. 22 The Secretary will continue to 23 read. 24 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 25 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 5883 1 following nomination: Commissioner of Social 2 Services: Brian J. Wing, of Rensselaer. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 Stafford. 5 SENATOR STAFFORD: Thank you, Mr. 6 President. 7 I know I sound like a broken 8 record and I should because, again today, as I 9 mentioned earlier, I just want to second what's 10 been said about now Commissioner Cahill. Is he 11 Commissioner before he's sworn in? No. I guess 12 you're Commissioner now -- Commissioner now. 13 Brian Wing who's being considered 14 again is an example of the system really 15 working. We all go way back. Commissioner Wing 16 -- and I call him Commissioner because he is a 17 commissioner -- he has his Bachelor of Arts, cum 18 laude from Buffalo, an Associate in Arts, which 19 I think is tremendous, from Fulton-Montgomery 20 Community College and then his Master's in 21 Public Administration from the State University 22 of New York. 23 Now, I for one can remember -- I 24 don't think it's coincidental -- that he 25 graduated from Buffalo and the office of the 5884 1 commission studying the welfare laws was in 2 Buffalo. As a matter of fact, his former boss 3 was in town last evening and had breakfast with 4 him today, Senator Smith and, Mr. President, 5 Brian Wing was out of school, cum laude graduate 6 and he was on the ground floor of making changes 7 in revising and reforming some laws that needed 8 to be reformed and, as I say often on this 9 subject, we all have our personal experiences 10 and I can say that I should relate to this issue 11 and I do my best to from my own experiences. 12 I will share with you, Mr. 13 President, that Commissioner Wing is a 14 professional. He was before the Finance 15 Committee today and he did an excellent job. He 16 didn't necessarily, I think, tell everybody 17 exactly what they wanted to hear. On the other 18 hand, he was very open. He shared with them his 19 professional views and I don't think there was 20 anyone who really -- and I don't want to speak 21 for anyone, but I don't think there was anyone 22 that took umbrage, although probably on every 23 specific issue we were not in all complete 24 agreement but it was a good meeting, a good 25 dialogue, and I compliment the Governor on this 5885 1 appointment. 2 I think this should be mentioned 3 for the record, the work that the commissioner 4 has done through the years. I mentioned earlier 5 in '74-'75, he was senior research analyst on 6 the Commission to Revise the Social Services 7 Law. 8 '75 to '79, he was director of 9 research on this Commission to Revise the Social 10 Services Laws. 11 From '79 to '82, he was executive 12 director of the New York Public Welfare 13 Association, and again, he was questioned about 14 the entire state and he made it a point that he 15 realizes this is a diverse state, a complex 16 state and there are various interests in areas, 17 and I could go on and on. 18 He was a regional administrator 19 in the Department from 1982 to 1983. 20 From 1983 to '93, he was 21 director/local district liaison in the Office of 22 the Commissioner. 23 From 1993 to 1995, he was 24 executive assistant to the executive deputy 25 commissioner in the Office of the Commissioner 5886 1 and from April 1995 to the present has been the 2 acting commissioner. 3 Again, Mr. President, here's an 4 example of a professional who does a job, a 5 difficult job but he cares. He's concerned. He 6 has the ability. He has a proven record and on 7 behalf of Senator Bruno -- and he is -- the 8 commissioner is very fortunate to live in the 9 correct districts in this house, in the county 10 of Rensselaer, and for those who are wondering 11 what I'm saying, he lives in Senator Bruno's 12 district and Senator Bruno could more eloquently 13 state what I'm trying to state here today but, 14 on behalf of Senator Bruno, I move the 15 confirmation of a gentleman who has proven 16 himself and will continue to make New York State 17 a better place in which to live. 18 Thank you. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 20 Holland, on the nomination. 21 SENATOR HOLLAND: I would like to 22 also speak about Brian because I've worked with 23 him for a long time and some of the things I'll 24 repeat, Brian, but you don't care. It's PR. 25 I'm happy to support the 5887 1 nomination of Brian J. Wing as Commissioner of 2 the state Department of Social Services. My 3 staff and I have had the privilege of working 4 with Brian since I became chairman of this 5 committee in 1991. 6 We were pleased when Brian Wing 7 was named Acting Commissioner on April the 21st, 8 1995 and doubly pleased when the Governor 9 nominated Brian to serve as the official Social 10 Services Commissioner, although we had called 11 him that for years, earlier this month. 12 Brian Wing has demonstrated that 13 he has the experience, wisdom and skill to be a 14 great Social Services Commissioner. 15 For those of you who have not had 16 the privilege as I have to get to know Brian 17 Wing, let me tell you a little bit about him. 18 Brian is a lifer, an insider, someone who has 19 committed his career and most of his adult life 20 to improving the social services programs here 21 in the state of New York. 22 Prior to his designation as 23 Acting Commissioner, Brian worked at the 24 Department of Social Services in various 25 capacities since 1982. He served for ten years 5888 1 as the Department's local liaison director, 2 maintaining essential relationships between DSS, 3 state and local social services agencies. 4 Before becoming -- before coming 5 to DSS, Brian was executive director of the New 6 York Public Welfare Association. He began his 7 public service career in 1994 as executive 8 administrator in the Assembly and later served 9 in several capacities on the Senate's Commission 10 to Revise the Social Services Law. 11 Brian earned his Master's in 12 public administration degree from SUNY in Albany 13 and received a Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude 14 from SUNY at Buffalo. 15 As Acting Social Services 16 Commissioner, Brian Wing has presided over the 17 state's welfare reform efforts with a hands-on 18 commitment to implementing the most sweeping 19 overhaul of the social services system ever in 20 New York State's history without compromising 21 the state's tradition of providing comparative 22 services to those in need. 23 During Brian's tenure as Acting 24 Commissioner, the welfare case load has dropped 25 to its lowest level since 1969. More than 5889 1 340,000 have been removed from New York City's 2 welfare rolls. Child support collections are 3 coming in at record levels, increasing 13 4 percent in 1996 and bringing in an additional 5 $83 million helping families to leave the 6 welfare rolls behind and finger imaging and 7 other anti-fraud measures are restoring 8 integrity to public assistance. 9 Finger imaging alone has been 10 responsible for removing 43,000 welfare cheats 11 from the system. The dramatic improvement of 12 child support statistics is the result of new 13 innovative programs successfully implemented by 14 the Department of Social Services during Brian's 15 tenure. They include suspension of driving 16 privileges for dead-beat parents, employment 17 tracking for those who owe child support 18 payments, bank account seizures and creation of 19 partnerships with tax departments to increase 20 support payments. 21 As a result of Brian's tenacity 22 in improving child support enforcement, more 23 than 26,000 AFDC families have been able to 24 leave the welfare rolls. No one who I have 25 worked with during my tenure as Social Service 5890 1 Chairman is more qualified for the position of 2 Social Services Commissioner than Brian Wing. 3 His long-time dedication and hard 4 work in building a social service administration 5 we can be justly proud of says it all. 6 I know you will all join in 7 supporting Brian Wing's nomination for the 8 position of Chairman of the New York State 9 Department of Social Services, and I 10 congratulate you, sir. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 12 Libous, on the nomination. 13 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, Mr. 14 President. 15 I too want to rise to join my 16 colleagues, Senator Stafford and Senator 17 Holland, as they talked about the qualifications 18 of Brian Wing. 19 I just want to say that from a 20 different perspective, not being either Finance 21 Chairman or the Chairman of Social Services, I 22 have had the pleasure of working with Brian on a 23 couple of issues and I want to say this to my 24 colleagues. He has been -- not only is he very 25 knowledgeable and he understands the entire area 5891 1 of social services, but he has been extremely 2 responsive to me and my constituents, and I 3 think that he would treat anyone in this room in 4 that same manner and that's really what's 5 critical in our positions when sensitive issues, 6 changes that are taking place like in the area 7 of social services and there are ongoing changes 8 and they affect the lives of all of our 9 constituents in this state. 10 I have to say that whenever I've 11 called on Brian Wing as Acting Commissioner and 12 soon to be Commissioner, he has always been 13 responsive, and I want to again applaud the 14 Governor. We have several excellent nominees 15 before us today and I know that Mr. Wing will 16 carry out his responsibilities and be an 17 excellent commissioner, and I look forward to 18 continuing our working relationship. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 20 Mendez, on the nomination. 21 SENATOR MENDEZ: Mr. President, I 22 also want to rise to support the nomination of 23 Brian Wing for Commissioner of Social Services 24 of the state of New York. 25 I have never seen -- in so many 5892 1 years that I have served here, I have never 2 heard of a commissioner who is so thoroughly 3 knowledgeable of the entire system -- welfare 4 system of the state of New York. He's a true 5 professional and mostly he's the kind of a guy, 6 as Senator Libous mentioned, that if you have a 7 problem and you call, he is there and he is very 8 rational and sensitive about the needs that our 9 constituents do have. From the early stages of 10 planning through implementation and policy 11 making in the area of social welfare, he is the 12 finest. 13 So, Mr. President, this is indeed 14 a wonderful day. He's done a great job as a 15 commissioner -- as Acting Commissioner in the 16 past two years. So it's a very -- it's very 17 gratifying to move his nomination. 18 Mr. Chairman, since I have the 19 floor, I really must also for the record mention 20 the following: I was out of the chambers when a 21 resolution was read for -- memorializing Matthew 22 Lipsky for his -- and his class for his 23 performance in the contest, the national and 24 state level, and I want to mention for the 25 record that I am so sorry that I wasn't here 5893 1 because Matthew's mother Dorothy, as well as his 2 father Richard, they are personal friends of 3 mine and I want to join my colleagues in also 4 telling Matthew that we are all very proud of 5 him. 6 Thank you, Mr. President. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Thank 8 you, Senator. 9 Senator Farley, on the 10 nomination. 11 SENATOR FARLEY: Yes. Thank you, 12 Mr. President. 13 I rise to second and support the 14 nomination of Brian Wing. As Senator Stafford 15 said, it's so interesting that so many people 16 are moving to Rensselaer County but where 17 somebody came from is terribly important also, 18 and I know that he's got a lot of roots in 19 Amsterdam, New York, as does your wife, I 20 understand too and Amsterdam, New York is in my 21 district and a lot of great people have come 22 from there and Brian Wing is certainly among 23 them. 24 I think the important thing is I 25 want to congratulate the Governor on choosing 5894 1 somebody for this very, very difficult job, one 2 that has always been one of the most difficult 3 commissionerships in the government but one that 4 you have served so well and you have earned your 5 stripes as a commissioner. You've earned your 6 stripes as a great public servant. We're 7 grateful for that, and I commend the Governor on 8 this appointment. 9 Brian, I wish you well. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is there 11 any other Senator wishing to speak on the 12 nomination? 13 SENATOR GOLD: Yes, Mr. 14 President. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 16 Wright, on the nomination. Senator Wright. 17 SENATOR WRIGHT: Thank you, Mr. 18 President. 19 I join my colleagues in 20 supporting the nomination of Brian Wing. Brian 21 and I go back in terms of our prior lives in 22 local government and Brian spent a great deal of 23 time working with the counties of this state and 24 working through the Association of Counties and 25 the Public Welfare Association, as well as his 5895 1 responsibilities with the agency itself, and I 2 think particularly as we move ahead with 3 continuing changes within the field of social 4 services, it's important that we have someone at 5 the helm that is conscious of the role that 6 county governments play and the partnership that 7 county governments play as we develop the 8 appropriate social service responses to the 9 needs of our state and we maintain the integrity 10 of that partnership between state and local 11 government. 12 Brian is somebody who knows the 13 role of county governments, knows what they're 14 capable of doing, knows that the state needs to 15 maintain its full partnership in working with 16 him. 17 So we're very pleased to see the 18 Governor nominate someone who has that back 19 ground and that experience, that knowledge to 20 blend with the knowledge that he has acquired 21 within the agency. 22 So I too join my colleagues, 23 extend my best wishes and congratulations to 24 Brian and look forward to completing the 25 confirmation today. 5896 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 Gold, on the nomination. 3 SENATOR GOLD: Yeah, Mr. 4 President. Thank you. 5 Mr. President, I just wanted to 6 make the point that the Finance Committee 7 probably spent more time on this nominee than it 8 has on any nominee I can remember for a long 9 period of time. 10 The time that was spent was not 11 an indication that anything was troublesome or 12 worrisome about this nominee but just that the 13 Minority was -- is concerned about the issues 14 involved with this department, particularly 15 issues that are raised by a rather awkward and 16 backward budget offered by the Governor and 17 where we're going to go from here. 18 His answers, I thought were 19 excellent and in a time when there is so much 20 turmoil as to, number one, how to control costs 21 to the state and, on the other hand, how to 22 provide properly for people who are in need, we 23 need people with experience and with innovative 24 ideas, and I want to thank the nominee for his 25 patience at the Committee and I want to say that 5897 1 from my point of view, the Democratic members of 2 that committee did themselves proud this morning 3 in the way they handled the whole nomination. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is there 5 any other Senator wishing to speak on the 6 nomination? 7 Senator Gonzalez. 8 SENATOR GONZALEZ: Thank you, Mr. 9 President. 10 I too rise and second the 11 nomination for Brian Wing, Commissioner Wing. I 12 think that as part of the dialogue that took 13 place -- but I'm always in dialogue with him and 14 he has always been there working hard. He's a 15 great public servant, and I congratulate the 16 Governor on his nomination and I wish him well. 17 Thank you, Mr. President. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Any other 19 Senator wishing to speak on the nomination? 20 (There was no response.) 21 Hearing none, the question is on 22 the nomination of Brian J. Wing, of Rensselaer, 23 to become the Commissioner for the Department of 24 Social Services. All those in favor of the 25 nomination signify by saying aye. 5898 1 (Response of "Aye".) 2 Opposed, nay. 3 (There was no response.) 4 The nominee is unanimously 5 confirmed. 6 We're very, very pleased to have 7 Brian Wing in the gallery to your left with us 8 today. 9 Commissioner, congratulations. 10 Good luck. (Applause) 11 Brian is also joined by several 12 members of his family. His wife Katie is with 13 him, his mother Jacqueline and his daughter 14 Renee. Thank you, Commissioner. 15 The Secretary will continue to 16 read the report of the Finance Committee. 17 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 18 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 19 following nomination: Member of the state Board 20 of Parole: Lawrence P. Ibsen, of Bronxville. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The Chair 22 recognizes Senator Stafford. 23 SENATOR STAFFORD: Mr. President, 24 again, the third very fine, excellent nominee to 25 appear today and he was very patient. He had 5899 1 appeared a year ago and did an excellent job 2 when he came before us and gave us an 3 opportunity again to discuss the issues with him 4 and Commissioner Ibsen is very, very capably 5 represented by again the Senator from 6 Westchester. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 8 Spano. 9 SENATOR SPANO: Thank you, 10 Senator Stafford. 11 It was just a year ago I had an 12 opportunity to get up and speak about the 13 credentials of Larry Ibsen and his background of 14 over two decades in corrections and in parole 15 that have really been proven out with the 16 recognition of Brian Travis as Director of 17 Parole, when he very quickly elevated 18 Commissioner Ibsen to a position of 19 responsibility within the Division of Parole. 20 So it is my pleasure to stand 21 today to second the nomination and urge the 22 unanimous nomination of Mr. Larry Ibsen to the 23 Division of Parole. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is there 25 any other Senator wishing to speak on the 5900 1 nomination? 2 (There was no response.) 3 Hearing none, the question is on 4 the nomination of Lawrence P. Ibsen, of 5 Bronxville, to become a member of the state 6 Board of Parole. All those in favor signify by 7 saying aye. 8 (Response of "Aye".) 9 Opposed, nay. 10 (There was no response.) 11 The nominee is confirmed. 12 We're also very pleased to have 13 Larry Ibsen with us today. Congratulations on 14 your nomination. Good luck. (Applause) 15 The Secretary will continue to 16 read. 17 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 18 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 19 following nomination: Member of the Small 20 Business Advisory Board: Clarence A. Price, of 21 Harpursville. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 23 question is on the nomination of Clarence A. 24 Price of Harpursville to become a member of the 25 Small Business Advisory Board. All those in 5901 1 favor signify by saying aye. 2 (Response of "Aye".) 3 Opposed, nay. 4 (There was no response.) 5 The nominee is confirmed. 6 The Secretary will read. 7 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 8 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 9 following nomination: Banking member of the 10 State Banking Board: George J. Vojta, of 11 Bronxville. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 13 question is on the nomination of George J. 14 Vojta, of Bronxville, to become a member of the 15 Banking -- excuse me -- a Banking member of the 16 State Banking Board. All those in favor of the 17 nomination signify by saying aye. 18 (Response of "Aye".) 19 Opposed, nay. 20 (There was no response.) 21 The nominee is confirmed. 22 The Secretary will read. 23 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 24 from the Committee on Finance, report the 25 following nomination: Member of the Board of 5902 1 Trustees of the State University of New York 2 College of Environmental Science and Forestry: 3 Thomas Burkly, of Cazenovia. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 5 question is on the nomination of Thomas Burkly, 6 of Cazenovia, to become a member of the Board of 7 Trustees of the State University of New York 8 College of Environmental Science and Forestry. 9 All those in favor of the nomination signify by 10 saying aye. 11 (Response of "Aye".) 12 Opposed, nay. 13 (There was no response.) 14 The nominee is confirmed. 15 The Secretary will read. 16 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 17 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 18 following nomination: Member of the Battery 19 Park City Authority: James F. Gill, Esq., of 20 Rockville Centre. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 22 question is on the nomination of James Gill, of 23 Rockville Centre, to become a member of the 24 Battery Park City Authority. All those in favor 25 signify by saying aye. 5903 1 (Response of "Aye".) 2 Opposed, nay. 3 (There was no response.) 4 The nominee is confirmed. 5 The Secretary will read. 6 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 7 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 8 following nomination: Member of the 9 Metropolitan Transportation Authority: James S. 10 Simpson, of Staten Island. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The Chair 12 recognizes Senator Lachman. 13 SENATOR LACHMAN: Yes. On the 14 appointment, Mr. President, of Mr. Simpson as a 15 member -- reappointment to the membership of the 16 -- on the Metropolitan Transportation 17 Authority, I must admit that when I came to 18 Albany yesterday morning, I wasn't quite sure 19 how to vote on this appointment and the reason 20 is that the Metropolitan Transportation 21 Authority voted for an increase in fares for the 22 subways and trains of New York City, which I 23 think, even though it has led to an increase in 24 ridership, has not led to an improvement in 25 service, especially on the elevated lines in my 5904 1 district and the "B" Train service in New York 2 City, there are fewer cars and there are - 3 there's a longer time period between trains 4 throughout the city of New York, and I would 5 like to have the opportunity of speaking to the 6 commissioner in the near future about service on 7 the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 8 However, I am going to support 9 the nomination of Mr. Simpson. In keeping with 10 the admonition of Ralph Waldo Emerson that 11 foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small 12 minds, I'm going to support his reappointment 13 for two major reasons. 14 One, it has been brought to my 15 attention that he has had a distinguished record 16 as a member of the MTA since his appointment and 17 that is very important to me and equally 18 important to me, especially today, is that he 19 has had the unqualified support of one of the 20 most distinguished members of this chamber, the 21 Chairman of the Transportation Committee, 22 Senator Norman Levy, and for those two reasons, 23 I am proud to add my vote to the reappointment 24 of Mr. Simpson to membership on the Metropolitan 25 Transportation Authority. 5905 1 Thank you. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is there 3 any other Senator wishing to speak on the 4 nomination? 5 (There was no response.) 6 Hearing none, the question is on 7 the nomination of James S. Simpson of Staten 8 Island to become a member of the Metropolitan 9 Transportation Authority. All those in favor of 10 the nomination signify by saying aye. 11 (Response of "Aye".) 12 Opposed, nay. 13 (There was no response.) 14 The nominee is confirmed. 15 The Secretary will read. 16 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 17 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 18 following nomination: Member of the New York 19 State Bridge Authority: Roderick O. Dressel, of 20 New Paltz. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 22 question is on the nomination of Roderick O. 23 Dressel, of New Paltz, to become a member of the 24 New York State Bridge Authority. All those in 25 favor of the nomination signify by saying aye. 5906 1 (Response of "Aye".) 2 Opposed, nay. 3 (There was no response.) 4 The nominee is confirmed. 5 The Secretary will continue to 6 read. 7 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 8 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 9 following nomination: Member of the Allegany 10 State Park, Recreation and Historic Preservation 11 Commission: Ralph James Vanner, Jr., of 12 Buffalo. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 14 question is on the nomination of Ralph James 15 Vanner, Jr., of Buffalo, to become a member of 16 the Allegany State Park, Recreation and Historic 17 Preservation Commission. All those in favor of 18 the nomination signify by saying aye. 19 (Response of "Aye".) 20 Opposed, nay. 21 (There was no response.) 22 The nominee is confirmed. 23 The Secretary will continue to 24 read. 25 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 5907 1 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 2 following nominations: Members of the Advisory 3 Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse 4 Services: Richard G. Dobell, of Endwell; 5 Mitchell S. Rosenthal, M.D., of New York City; 6 John W. Russell, Jr., of Staten Island and John 7 B. Wingate, of Huntington. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 9 question is on the nomination of several members 10 to become members of the Advisory Council on 11 Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services. All 12 those in favor of the nominees signify by saying 13 aye. 14 (Response of "Aye".) 15 Opposed, nay. 16 (There was no response.) 17 The nominees are confirmed. 18 The Secretary will read. 19 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 20 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 21 following nominations: Members of the Mental 22 Health Services Council: Steven Friedman, of 23 Yorktown Heights; Leslie Franklin Major, M.D., 24 of Binghamton and Barry Bruce Perlman, M.D., of 25 New York City. 5908 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 2 question is on the nomination of several to 3 become members of the Mental Health Services 4 Council. All those in favor of the nominations 5 signify by saying aye. 6 (Response of "Aye".) 7 Opposed, nay. 8 (There was no response.) 9 The nominees are confirmed. 10 The Secretary will continue to 11 read. 12 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 13 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 14 following nomination: Member of the Passenger 15 Tramway Advisory Council: Ray Allard, of 16 Rensselaer. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 18 question is on the nomination of Ray Allard, of 19 Rensselaer, New York, to become a member of the 20 Passenger Tramway Advisory Council. All those 21 in favor of the nomination signify by saying 22 aye. 23 (Response of "Aye".) 24 Opposed, nay. 25 (There was no response.) 5909 1 The nominee is confirmed. 2 The Secretary will continue to 3 read. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5 Stafford, from the Committee on Finance, reports 6 the following nomination: Member of the Board 7 of Visitors of the Bronx Children's Psychiatric 8 Center: Harriet Parness, of the Bronx. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 10 question is on the nomination of Harriet 11 Parness, of the Bronx, to become a member of the 12 Board of Visitors of the Bronx Children's 13 Psychiatric Center. All those in favor of the 14 nomination signify by saying aye. 15 (Response of "Aye".) 16 Opposed, nay. 17 (There was no response.) 18 The nominee is confirmed. 19 The Secretary will continue to 20 read. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Stafford, from the Committee on Finance, reports 23 the following nomination: Member of the Board 24 of Visitors of the Brooklyn Developmental 25 Disabilities Services Office: Arlene Cohen, of 5910 1 Great Neck. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 3 question is on the nomination of Arlene Cohen of 4 Great Neck, New York to become a member of the 5 Board of Visitors of the Brooklyn Developmental 6 Disabilities Services Office. All those in 7 favor of the nomination signify by saying aye. 8 (Response of "Aye".) 9 Opposed, nay. 10 (There was no response.) 11 The nominee is confirmed. 12 The Secretary will continue to 13 read. 14 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 15 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 16 following nominations: Members of the Board of 17 Visitors of the Buffalo Psychiatric Center: 18 Morris Raiken, of Buffalo, and Garnet Hicks 19 Wallace, of Buffalo. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 21 question is on the nomination of several to 22 become members of the Board of Visitors of the 23 Buffalo Psychiatric Center. All those in favor 24 signify by saying aye. 25 (Response of "Aye".) 5911 1 Opposed, nay. 2 (There was no response.) 3 The nominees are confirmed. 4 The Secretary will continue to 5 read. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7 Stafford, from the Committee on Finance, reports 8 the following nominations: Members of the Board 9 of Visitors of the Capital District 10 Developmental Disabilities Services Office: 11 Linda S. Rippel, of Scotia and Joan D. Taylor, 12 of Schenectady. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 14 question is on the nomination of several to 15 become members of the Board of Visitors of the 16 Capital District Developmental Disabilities 17 Services Office. All those in favor of the 18 nominations signify by saying aye. 19 (Response of "Aye".) 20 Opposed, nay. 21 (There was no response.) 22 The nominees are confirmed. 23 The Secretary will continue to 24 read. 25 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 5912 1 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 2 following nomination: Member of the Board of 3 Visitors of the Central New York Developmental 4 Disabilities Services Office: Eleanora L. 5 Collins, of Rome. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 7 question is on the nomination of Eleanora L. 8 Collins, of Rome, New York, to become a member 9 of the Board of Visitors of the Central New York 10 Developmental Disabilities Services Office: All 11 those in favor of the nomination signify by 12 saying aye. 13 (Response of "Aye".) 14 Opposed, nay. 15 (There was no response.) 16 The nominee is confirmed. 17 The Secretary will read. 18 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 19 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 20 following nomination: Member of the Board of 21 Visitors of the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center: 22 Hector Battaglia, M.D., of Centerport. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 24 question is on the nomination of Hector 25 Battaglia, M.D., of Centerport, to become a 5913 1 member of the Board of Visitors of the Creedmoor 2 Psychiatric Center. All those in favor of the 3 nomination signify by saying aye. 4 (Response of "Aye".) 5 Opposed, nay. 6 (There was no response.) 7 The nominee is confirmed. 8 The Secretary will read. 9 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 10 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 11 following nomination: Member of the Board of 12 Visitors of the Elmira Psychiatric Center: 13 Marion S. Lagonegro, of Elmira. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 15 question is on the nomination of Marion S. 16 Lagonegro, of Elmira, New York, to become a 17 member of the Board of Visitors of the Elmira 18 Psychiatric Center. All those in favor of the 19 nomination signify by saying aye. 20 (Response of "Aye".) 21 Opposed, nay. 22 (There was no response.) 23 The nominee is confirmed. 24 The Secretary will read. 25 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 5914 1 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 2 following nominations: Members of the Board of 3 Visitors of the Long Island Developmental 4 Disabilities Services Office: Eleanor Schoen, 5 of Halesite and Reverend James Stringfield, of 6 West Babylon. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 8 question is on the nomination of several to 9 become members of the Board of Visitors of the 10 Long Island Developmental Disabilities Services 11 Office. All those in favor of the nomination 12 signify by saying aye. 13 (Response of "Aye".) 14 Opposed, nay. 15 (There was no response.) 16 The nominees are confirmed. 17 The Secretary will read. 18 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 19 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 20 following nominations: Members of the Board of 21 Visitors of the Mohawk Valley Psychiatric 22 Center: Josephine M. Alexander, of Whitesboro 23 and James Blackshear, of Utica. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 25 question is on the nomination of several to 5915 1 become members of the Board of Visitors of the 2 Mohawk Valley Psychiatric Center. All those in 3 favor of the nomination signify by saying aye. 4 (Response of "Aye".) 5 Opposed, nay. 6 (There was no response.) 7 The nominees are confirmed. 8 The Secretary will read. 9 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 10 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 11 following nominations: Member of the Board of 12 Visitors of the Sagamore Children's Psychiatric 13 Center: William P. Barrett, of Huntington Bay. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 15 question is on the nomination of William P. 16 Barrett, of Huntington Bay, to become a member 17 of the Board of Visitors of the Sagamore 18 Children's Psychiatric Center. All those in 19 favor of the nomination signify by saying aye. 20 (Response of "Aye".) 21 Opposed, nay. 22 (There was no response.) 23 The nominee is confirmed. 24 The Secretary will read. 25 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 5916 1 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 2 following nomination: Member of the Board of 3 Visitors of the South Beach Psychiatric Center: 4 Robert S. Flanzer, D.D.S., of Brooklyn. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 6 question is on the nomination of Robert S. 7 Flanzer, D.D.S., of Brooklyn, New York, to 8 become a member of the South Beach Psychiatric 9 Center. All those in favor signify by saying 10 aye. 11 (Response of "Aye".) 12 Opposed, nay. 13 (There was no response.) 14 The nominee is confirmed. 15 The Secretary will read. 16 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 17 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 18 following nominations: Members -- Member of the 19 Board of Visitors of the Sunmount Developmental 20 Disabilities Services Office: William A. 21 Hughes, of Malone. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 23 question is on the nomination of William A. 24 Hughes, of Malone, New York, to become a member 25 of the Board of Visitors of the Sunmount 5917 1 Developmental Disabilities Services Office. All 2 those in favor of the nomination signify by 3 saying aye. 4 (Response of "Aye".) 5 Opposed, nay. 6 (There was no response.) 7 The nominee is confirmed. 8 The Secretary will read. 9 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 10 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 11 following nominations: Member of the Board of 12 Visitors of the Western New York Children's 13 Psychiatric Center: Anthony V. D'Amore, of 14 Lancaster. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 16 question is on the nomination of Anthony B. 17 D'Amore, of Lancaster, New York, to become a 18 member of the Board of Visitors of the Western 19 New York Children's Psychiatric Center. All 20 those in favor of the nomination signify by 21 saying aye. 22 (Response of "Aye".) 23 Opposed, nay. 24 (There was no response.) 25 The nominee is confirmed. 5918 1 The Secretary will read. 2 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 3 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 4 following nominations: Members of the Board of 5 Visitors of Western New York Developmental 6 Disabilities Services Office: Louis J. 7 Billittier, of Hamburg; Kay F. Cook, of Batavia; 8 Mary Ellen Murphy, of West Seneca and Jessie B. 9 Wells, of Buffalo. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 11 question is on the nomination of several to 12 become members of the Board of Visitors of 13 Western New York Developmental Disabilities 14 Services Office. All those in favor of the 15 nominations signify by saying aye. 16 (Response of "Aye".) 17 Opposed, nay. 18 (There was no response.) 19 The nominees are confirmed. 20 Senator Johnson, that brings us 21 to the controversial calendar. 22 SENATOR JOHNSON: Mr. President, 23 at this time please take up Calendar Number 24 1344. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 5919 1 Secretary will read the title to Calendar Number 2 1344. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 1344, by Senator Tully, Senate Print 4808-A, an 5 act to authorize Stuart L. Ain to apply for 6 retroactive membership. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 8 Secretary will read the last section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 10 act shall take effect immediately. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 12 a home rule message at the desk. Call the 13 roll. 14 (The Secretary called the roll.) 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 16 the negatives and announce the results. 17 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53, nays 1, 18 Senator Leichter recorded in the negative. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 20 is passed. 21 Senator Skelos. 22 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 23 if we could take up the controversial calendar 24 at this time. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 5920 1 Secretary will read the controversial calendar. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 110, by Senator Present, Senate Print 765-A, an 4 act to amend the State Administrative Procedure 5 Act, in relation to compliance requirements. 6 SENATOR PATERSON: Explanation. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 8 Present, an explanation of Calendar Number 110, 9 Senate 765-A, has been requested by Senator 10 Paterson. 11 SENATOR PRESENT: Thank you, Mr. 12 President. 13 Mr. President, this is a bill 14 that passed, the original version, on March 12th 15 of this year. We've amended it. It amends the 16 Administrative Procedure Act and the Executive 17 Law, in relation to compliance requirements. 18 The bill is meant to assist small 19 businesses, individuals and municipalities who 20 have to abide by state regulations which are 21 often vague and require arbitration. 22 Under the provisions of this 23 bill, agencies will be required to provide 24 information to assist individuals, businesses in 25 satisfying the many compliance requirements 5921 1 imposed by the state agency. 2 Under the amendment, we've 3 deleted -- it would not apply to the Office of 4 Mental Health, Department of Motor Vehicles, 5 Department of Social Services or the Division of 6 Criminal Justice Services. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 8 Leichter. 9 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 10 if Senator Present would yield, please. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 12 Present, do you yield to a question? The 13 Senator yields. 14 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, do 15 you still include among those agencies covered 16 by your bill the Department of Taxation and 17 Finance? 18 SENATOR PRESENT: Yes. 19 SENATOR LEICHTER: Well, Senator 20 -- if you would continue to yield -- I'm 21 concerned. Suppose I write a letter to the 22 Department of Taxation and Finance and ask them 23 all the kinds of information necessary to -- for 24 me to satisfy my obligation to file a tax 25 return. Would they -- which I would assume for 5922 1 them to comply with, they would have to tell me 2 how to make out the form and all sorts of other 3 information. Do you intend to include that 4 within the confines of your bill? 5 SENATOR PRESENT: I think they 6 would send you the form that they send us all 7 with the packet of documents and the information 8 as to how to fill it out. 9 SENATOR LEICHTER: And, Senator, 10 would that satisfy the requirements of your 11 bill? That's really my question. 12 SENATOR PRESENT: I believe it 13 would. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 15 Leichter, did you have something further? 16 SENATOR LEICHTER: No, if that's 17 the legislative intent. I just want to make 18 sure, Senator Present, that we don't impose a 19 requirement on the agencies that really is going 20 to make it impossible for them to enforce any 21 particular rule as to any individual by that 22 individual writing and tell me, Well, you tell 23 me exactly what I need to know. I mean, there 24 are certain obligations and requirements that we 25 have to inform ourselves of the law, to comply 5923 1 with the law, to furnish information that's 2 required that we should not have the ability to 3 put on the agency. 4 Now, I have no problem in saying 5 to an agency at least, you know, tell us exactly 6 what it is that we're required to provide. If 7 you feel your language is clear enough and it 8 doesn't cover the Department of Taxation and 9 Finance in the instance -- in the example that I 10 just gave you, I have no problem with the bill. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 12 Secretary will read the last section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 14 act shall take effect on the first day of 15 October. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 17 roll. 18 (The Secretary called the roll.) 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 21 is passed. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 125, by Senator Maziarz, Senate Print 931-A, an 24 act to amend the Education Law, in relation to 25 prohibiting the direct merchandising. 5924 1 SENATOR PATERSON: Explanation. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 3 Secretary will read the last section. 4 Senator Paterson, did you wish an 5 explanation? 6 Senator Maziarz, an explanation 7 of Calendar Number 125 has been requested by 8 Senator Paterson. 9 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Excuse me, 10 Senator Paterson. I was taking an aspirin now. 11 You wanted an explanation? 12 SENATOR PATERSON: Yes. 13 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Senator 14 Paterson, this bill would prohibit the 15 merchandising of credit cards on SUNY and CUNY 16 campuses. It would not prohibit a student from 17 obtaining a credit card. It would only prohibit 18 the merchandising of those credit cards. 19 What we are seeing today is 20 banking institutions and credit card 21 institutions setting up tables, if you will, in 22 student centers and giving out mostly water 23 bottles or CDs or some type of incentive for 24 young people to obtain a credit card with an 25 extremely low line of credit. Generally it's 5925 1 around $500. 2 The student obtains the credit 3 card because they want the merchandise and what 4 we are finding is that many students, in 5 addition to the normal expenses of the 6 education, their tuition and fees for dormitory 7 facilities and food, and so forth, are finding 8 after four years that they're graduating with 9 enormous debt not only related to school and 10 education expenses but related to credit card 11 purchases because, as what is often the case, 12 once a credit card company has you as a 13 customer, they continually increase your level 14 of expenditures, and I can tell you one example, 15 a letter that I received from a young student 16 who had graduated whose credit card limit was 17 raised eventually up to $10,000 and she was 18 employed as a part-time pizza delivery person. 19 Now, I'm sure that that may be an abnormal 20 example, but I think it goes to show the extent 21 that some companies will go to get business. 22 I also found it very interesting 23 that some educational institutions, 24 particularly, I believe it was SUNY-Albany that 25 I read about, is adding credit counseling to 5926 1 their freshman orientation program and at the 2 same time they're allowing these private 3 institutions to set up in their student centers 4 and I think enticing students to get behind the 5 financial eight ball before they can have a 6 chance. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 8 Paterson. 9 SENATOR PATERSON: Senator 10 Maziarz, if you would yield for a question. 11 Would you yield for a question? 12 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Yes. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 yields. 15 SENATOR PATERSON: Many times 16 I've thought about the issue that you've raised 17 with this piece of legislation. Sometimes I 18 feel that half of the mail that I receive comes 19 from credit companies and there's a big zero 20 percent interest or something about loans that 21 they're promising to make and certainly younger 22 people often do not fully weigh the responsi 23 bilities of running credit, and I received a 24 letter, I guess much the same that you have from 25 a younger person who now owed $50,000 to 5927 1 different credit card companies and this person 2 couldn't have been older than 25 and they were 3 saying that part of the problem they saw is that 4 they didn't understand what the ramifications 5 were, and what the refinancing of some of these 6 cards was going to be. 7 So I think this is a good 8 effort. However, one question immediately comes 9 to mind is why you chose to regulate just the 10 state universities and not all of the colleges 11 in the jur... in the -- in the boundaries of New 12 York State. 13 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Well, most of 14 the private colleges that we contacted already 15 have this prohibition -- already have this 16 prohibition in their -- for their institutions, 17 Senator. And also because these are publicly 18 funded by tax dollars. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 20 Paterson. 21 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 22 I think I'd feel a little better voting for the 23 bill knowing that the private colleges have done 24 that and that it's part of the legislation, but 25 if the Senator would continue to yield for 5928 1 another question? 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 3 Maziarz, you continue to yield? 4 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Yes, I will. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6 continues to yield. 7 SENATOR PATERSON: Senator, what 8 some of the credit card companies and what the 9 banks are saying in their response to this 10 legislation is that they're going to find a way, 11 and maybe this is an audacious point of view 12 that they are averring, but they're basically 13 pointing out that they're going to find these 14 students anyway. They're going to get their 15 address. They're going to mail to them. 16 They're going to find out what their home 17 addresses are and that they'll mail to them 18 there. They'll make telephone calls to their 19 home numbers to talk to them and at least when 20 they come on the campuses, they feel that the 21 supervisory capacity of the institution will 22 probably be better for the student. 23 Are you aware of any supervisory 24 activity other than credit counseling courses 25 that the institutions, meaning the colleges, are 5929 1 involving themselves in? 2 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Absolutely no 3 supervision that I'm aware of whatsoever, and 4 I -- and I went out to three SUNY campuses and 5 observed this practice going on. There was no 6 supervision. In fact, if anything, Senator, it 7 was just the opposite. There were all these 8 enticements. In one instance, I witnessed a 9 student being told, you know, apply for the 10 credit card we'll give you the CD. When you get 11 the credit card, simply tear it up and don't 12 ever use it, and that I'm sure is never going to 13 happen. 14 Now, you've mentioned earlier 15 about enticements through the mail and by 16 telephone. Of course, that is still going to be 17 acceptable, but I think there is a large 18 difference between getting something in the 19 mail, being able to examine what the interest 20 rate is going to be, and so forth, as opposed to 21 having someone stand there with a free CD or a 22 free water bottle and tell you, if you just sign 23 your name here, you'll get this. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 Paterson. 5930 1 SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you, Mr. 2 President. On the bill. 3 There are probably some other 4 efforts that we can think of toward -- that 5 would be directed not only toward providing 6 protection for younger people who are in this 7 situation but probably providing protection for 8 the public as well. This is obviously a choice 9 that people make, but sometimes there is really 10 a connection between the -- the advertisement 11 and the choice, particularly individuals who are 12 in school and may work as pizza delivery, sales 13 persons, or they are people who actually deliver 14 products. They don't make much money on those 15 jobs. They're working their way through school 16 and the inducement and almost at times the 17 seduction of putting money or goods in front of 18 them with an understanding that one can pay for 19 it later when in all reality the individual 20 wouldn't be able to accumulate the resources in 21 a reasonable enough time to actually pay for the 22 products that they receive, is a very fair 23 point. 24 I would like to see the bill be 25 specific to all of the schools in New York, but 5931 1 I do feel persuaded by Senator Maziarz who I 2 hope I didn't provide him with too much of a 3 headache asking him all of those questions, but 4 I'm sure he'll get over it because I'm going to 5 vote for the bill. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7 Lachman. 8 SENATOR LACHMAN: Will the 9 distinguished Senator yield for another 10 question? 11 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Sure. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 Maziarz yields. 14 SENATOR LACHMAN: In follow-up to 15 Senator Paterson's questions dealing with the 16 private colleges and the private universities, 17 Senator Maziarz, I believe you said that most of 18 the private colleges have already laws against 19 merchandising of credit cards, and anyway you 20 weren't sure that this would be applicable to 21 them because they're not part of the State 22 University and the City University of New York. 23 Would it not be possible, sir, to 24 look into this further after we pass this 25 legislation today -- and I am in favor of this 5932 1 legislation -- to make certain that this is 2 applicable to all the colleges and universities 3 in the state of New York, since there will be a 4 consistency, and furthermore, in response to 5 your response to Senator Paterson, all colleges 6 now in the state of New York receive state 7 funding, not just the SUNY and CUNY campuses but 8 almost all, if not all of the private colleges 9 and universities receive some type and form of 10 state funding. 11 SENATOR MAZIARZ: The answer to 12 your question, Senator, is yes. 13 SENATOR LACHMAN: Thank you. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is there 15 any other Senator wishing to speak on the bill? 16 The Secretary will read the last 17 section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 19 act shall take effect on the first day of July. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 21 roll. 22 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 55. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 25 is passed. 5933 1 Secretary will continue to read 2 the controversial calendar. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 178, by Senator Liebell -- by Senator Leibell, 5 Senate Print 2227-A, an act to amend the Private 6 Housing Finance Law, in relation to the powers 7 of the New York City Housing Development 8 Corporation. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 10 Paterson. 11 SENATOR PATERSON: Might we hold 12 that bill for just a minute for Senator Smith? 13 She's out of the chamber on other business and 14 we'll get her in. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 16 Liebell, will you lay that bill aside 17 temporarily? 18 SENATOR LIEBELL: Yes. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 20 bill aside temporarily. 21 Continue the controversial 22 calendar. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 341, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 2550-A, an 25 act to amend the Insurance Law. 5934 1 SENATOR SKELOS: Lay aside for 2 the day. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 4 bill aside for the day. 5 Secretary will continue to call 6 the controversial calendar. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 367, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 2734-A, an 9 act to amend the State Finance Law, in relation 10 to filing. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 12 Leichter, did you want an explanation? 13 SENATOR LEICHTER: I have an 14 explanation, but I have an amendment we're 15 serving at this time. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 17 Farley - 18 SENATOR LEICHTER: We haven't 19 filed it, but I did mention it to my good 20 friend. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Farley, an explanation has been requested. 23 SENATOR FARLEY: Yes, I'll give 24 you just basically. I'm aware of this amendment 25 and I'll speak to that too because it's not a 5935 1 bad idea, frankly. 2 Currently state employees may 3 choose to have their paycheck deposited in a 4 bank and credit union, their entire paycheck. 5 However, if the employee wants the direct 6 deposit, only a portion of his or her paycheck, 7 let's say a car payment or something, this can 8 only occur through payroll deduction to a credit 9 union. 10 Now, this bill would provide the 11 state employees with an additional option. It 12 would allow them to choose to have only a 13 portion, if they wished, of the paycheck 14 directly deposited into a banking institution; 15 in other words, it kind of levels the field. 16 It's a bill that has had no objection by 17 anybody, but if you don't want to put your whole 18 paycheck in, you can put a portion in. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 20 Leichter. 21 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 22 just -- I believe the amendment is at the desk 23 and I'd like to call it up, please. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Just a 25 minute, Senator Leichter. Let me check. 5936 1 Senator Leichter, you moving to 2 offer up the amendment, waive its reading and 3 have an opportunity to explain it? 4 SENATOR LEICHTER: If I may. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Chair 6 will recognize you for that purpose. 7 SENATOR LEICHTER: All right, Mr. 8 President. 9 This is a very simple amendment, 10 and it's not a hostile amendment. I have no 11 problem with Senator Farley's bill. I really 12 just wanted to put this particular proposal in 13 front of the body because it's a matter that 14 came to my attention, where somebody, an 15 employee who had arranged direct deposit, then 16 got into a dispute with her employer, and her 17 employer not only canceled her direct deposit, 18 but actually had the bank refund to the employer 19 the last deposit that had been made and this was 20 done without any notice to the employee and, 21 when I called the bank on behalf of this 22 constituent, the bank said, that's what the 23 contract of direct deposit provides. 24 If you take a look, and I assume 25 many of you have direct deposits, I don't think 5937 1 it's the case with the direct deposit of our 2 Senate checks, but other instances of direct 3 deposits provide that the depositor can notify 4 the bank to return the money, and the bank is 5 obligated and will do so, but no notice 6 whatsoever is given to the person in whose 7 account the money has been deposited. 8 You could be writing checks 9 thinking, well, I've got this money in the bank, 10 and all my amendment does is say that before 11 that is done, notice has to be given that the - 12 that a request has been made to return the money 13 and I would hope my good friend, the chairman of 14 Banks -- and he puts out a number of bills that 15 make the banks very happy -- maybe he'll put out 16 a bill that will make the consumers happy. 17 SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you, 18 Senator Leichter. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 20 Farley, you wish to be heard on the amendment? 21 SENATOR FARLEY: This guy is 22 agreeing with you. I'm in trouble here. 23 Actually, we could make legislative history. 24 I'm willing to -- incidentally, you know as well 25 as I do, and I spoke to you about this, that an 5938 1 amendment at this stage of the game would kill 2 the bill. We couldn't do it. I -- I'm ready to 3 make legislative history and it will be a 4 Leichter-Farley bill, because I think it's 5 wrong. This happened in your district where 6 somebody, not only did the employer reach right 7 into the bank account and pull back the 8 employee's money, and I think that's improper 9 and I think that they at least should have 10 notified the employee. 11 I think your amendment is 12 eminently sensible, and I'm willing -- I spoke 13 with my director of Banks and we're willing to 14 do something with you on that, and we'll put the 15 bill in and I'll be happy to co-sponsor with 16 you, Senator Leichter. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 18 Farley, are you asking that the bill be laid 19 aside? 20 SENATOR FARLEY: No, I'm not. I 21 want this bill passed. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Well, 23 then are you speaking against the amendment or 24 for it? 25 SENATOR FARLEY: I like the 5939 1 amendment, but I wish that the amendment would 2 fail. I would bet, if you were to ask, Mr. 3 President, that the sponsor of that amendment 4 might withdraw it. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Are you 6 asking Senator Leichter to yield to a question? 7 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, I'd 8 be -- I'd be happy in this instance, on your 9 representation that you'd like to see a bill of 10 this sort, I just suggest that it be a Farley 11 Leichter bill. I think it will have clearer 12 sailing, but irrespective of the name it has, 13 it's something that we ought to do. 14 I withdraw the amendment. I look 15 forward to this bill, if not done this session 16 at least next session. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 18 amendment is withdrawn. 19 Secretary will read the last 20 section on the bill. 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. ) 5940 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 55. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 3 is passed. 4 Secretary will continue to read 5 the controversial calendar. 6 Excuse me. Senator Skelos. 7 SENATOR SKELOS: Please recognize 8 Senator Paterson. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 10 Paterson. 11 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 12 in this moment of legislative glee, I thought 13 that we would call up Calendar 178 again because 14 Senator Smith has come to an accommodation with 15 Senator Liebell. We're all just getting along. 16 SENATOR SKELOS: Please call up 17 Calendar 178. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 19 will read Calendar Number 178. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 178, by Senator Liebell, Senate Print 2227-A, an 22 act to amend the Private Housing Finance Law. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 24 will read the last section. 25 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 5941 1 act shall take effect immediately. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 3 roll. 4 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 55. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 7 is passed. 8 Secretary will continue to call 9 the controversial calendar in regular order. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 447, by Senator Padavan, Senate Print 3070, an 12 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 13 possession. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 15 will read the last section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 17 act shall take effect on the first day of 18 November. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 20 roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 22 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. 23 President. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 Paterson. 5942 1 SENATOR PATERSON: With the kind 2 permission of the Majority, might we temporarily 3 lay this -- lay that aside. 4 SENATOR SKELOS: Please withdraw 5 the roll call and lay the bill aside 6 temporarily. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Roll call 8 is withdrawn. The bill is laid aside 9 temporarily. 10 Secretary will continue to read 11 the controversial calendar, regular order. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 574, by Senator Liebell, Senate Print 3674-A, an 14 act to amend the Public Authorities Law. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 16 will read the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. 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 55. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 24 is passed. 25 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, I 5943 1 believe another accommodation has been made if 2 you'd call up Calendar Number 447. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Calendar 4 Number 574 was just passed. 5 Secretary will read Calendar 6 Number 447. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 447, by Senator Padavan, Senate Print 3070, an 9 act to amend the Penal Law. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 11 will read the last section. 12 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 13 act shall take effect on the first day of 14 November. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 16 roll. 17 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 18 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 55. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 20 is passed. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 575, by Senator Liebell, Senate Print 3731, an 23 act to amend Chapter 915 of the Laws of 1982. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 Liebell, an explanation of Calendar Number 575 5944 1 has been requested by Senator Leichter. 2 SENATOR LEIBELL: O.K. 3 This is -- Senator Leichter, this 4 is a SONYMA bill that is made at the request of 5 the agency. 6 The purpose of this bill is to 7 accomplish three tasks. We extend the sunset 8 date of SONYMA's mortgage financing and mortgage 9 insurance programs. We increase the maximum 10 amount of taxable exempt and taxable bonds which 11 SONYMA is authorized to issue and we also 12 increase the amount of taxes and bond proceeds 13 that can be blended with taxable bond proceeds. 14 The extenders -- the extenders 15 are for three years. 16 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. 17 President. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 19 Leichter. 20 SENATOR LEICHTER: If Senator 21 Liebell would yield. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 23 Liebell, you yield to a question? Senator 24 yields. 25 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, you 5945 1 had a bill which you and I discussed on the 2 floor, oh, maybe a few weeks ago which increased 3 the bonding authority of the Housing Finance 4 Agency. Does this bill cover that provision, 5 authorization, that we have provided? 6 SENATOR LEIBELL: This is 7 distinct from that bill. 8 SENATOR LEICHTER: O.K. You 9 remember my concern was - 10 SENATOR LIEBELL: I do. 11 SENATOR LEICHTER: -- as far as 12 funding mortgage insurance for luxury housing. 13 Is that in any way possible in relation to the 14 bonding authority that we're providing here for 15 SONYMA? 16 SENATOR LEIBELL: I've been 17 advised by counsel that it would not. Luxury 18 housing would not meet the qualifications 19 necessary. 20 SENATOR LEICHTER: Is this 21 program mainly for one- and two-family homes? 22 SENATOR LEIBELL: That's correct, 23 Senator. 24 SENATOR LEICHTER: All right, and 25 the only thing we're providing is more bonding 5946 1 authority for that program with all the income 2 limitations that applies to that. 3 SENATOR LEIBELL: That's 4 correct. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 6 will read the last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. 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 55. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 14 is passed. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 784, by Senator Maziarz. 17 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Lay that aside 18 for the day, please. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 20 bill aside for the day. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 907, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 5213-A, an 23 act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to tax on 24 mortgages. 25 SENATOR LEICHTER: Explanation. 5947 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 Goodman. Senator Leichter? Senator Leichter. 3 SENATOR GOODMAN: Can we just 4 take a minute? 5 SENATOR LEICHTER: Could you lay 6 this aside for just a little while? 7 SENATOR GOODMAN: Senator, that's 8 going to be difficult because I have a 9 scheduling problem. Would you mind if we tried 10 to move it? 11 SENATOR LEICHTER: That's fine. 12 I was just trying to obviate the necessity of 13 discussing it on the floor. 14 SENATOR GOODMAN: I appreciate 15 that very much, if it's O.K. 16 SENATOR LEICHTER: Fine. 17 SENATOR GOODMAN: May I explain 18 it to you, sir? 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 20 Goodman, for an explanation. 21 SENATOR GOODMAN: Yes. The 22 purpose of this bill is to modernize and clarify 23 provisions of Article 11 of the Tax Law 24 regarding mortgage recording taxes. 25 Many of the provisions of Article 5948 1 11 were first enacted in 1906 or 1909, where the 2 nature of the tax imposed was changed from a tax 3 on the mortgage itself to a tax on the recording 4 of the mortgage. The provisions of Article 11 5 have not been amended adequately to reflect this 6 change. 7 This bill modernizes and 8 clarifies the language in order to accurately 9 represent the current nature of the tax, to 10 modernize certain procedures and to make the 11 provisions more readable, understandable, and 12 equitable. 13 I would emphasize, Senator, in 14 response to some questions I know or I believe 15 you raised earlier, this does not affect any tax 16 rates, nor is it a policy issue. It's simply an 17 attempt to clean up some rather encrusted and 18 ancient anomalies. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 20 Leichter. 21 SENATOR LEICHTER: If Senator 22 Goodman would yield please? 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 24 Goodman, would you yield to a question? 25 SENATOR GOODMAN: I will. 5949 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 yields. 3 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, my 4 concern was what impact this would have on tax 5 revenue, and your counsel was good enough to 6 give me a letter and, frankly, what I wanted to 7 do was just ask a question of you and I was 8 ready to do that privately, about this letter, 9 because I didn't understand it. So now let me 10 do it on the floor since that's how you wish to 11 proceed. 12 The -- and I'm reading a letter 13 that was sent to your office by the Department 14 of Taxation and Finance. 15 SENATOR GOODMAN: (Inaudible 16 comment). 17 SENATOR LEICHTER: And it says, 18 referring to one particular section, adds a new 19 exemption for mortgages that were inadvertently 20 discharged, and then it says, this is a policy 21 change to exempt from tax those inadvertent 22 recordings which are currently subject to tax. 23 Frankly, I have trouble under 24 standing it. It was inadvertently recorded or 25 if there should have been no tax paid, it would 5950 1 seem to me something that could be corrected. I 2 don't see why they call that an exemption from 3 the tax. "Exemption" to me means that you're 4 subject to the tax and now by virtue of the 5 action we're taking, you're going to be 6 exempted. 7 SENATOR GOODMAN: That's 8 incorrect, Senator; it's not an exemption. It's 9 a little bit confusing in the way it's been 10 described. 11 SENATOR LEICHTER: So you're 12 reading the letter that the Department, or the 13 counsel to the Department somewhat misspoke and 14 that we're not creating a new exemption? 15 SENATOR GOODMAN: That is 16 precisely the position that I have taken, 17 Senator. 18 SENATOR LEICHTER: O.K. And then 19 this counsel finishes that paragraph, says it is 20 likely that this provision will have a minimal 21 negative effect on mortgage recording tax 22 revenue. So it seemed to me that they do assume 23 that there will be some fiscal impact, although 24 counsel says, well, it's likely to be minimal, 25 but it doesn't seem to speak with any great 5951 1 certitude about it, and maybe what counsel 2 thinks is minimal is not something that you and 3 I would think is minimal, and I was trying to 4 see whether we could get some idea of actual 5 figures that we may be talking about. 6 SENATOR GOODMAN: Senator, I 7 think that what they have really indicated to us 8 in conversation is that they do not know how to 9 calculate the impact. They believe it to be de 10 minimus. 11 SENATOR LEICHTER: Well, all 12 right. It would be -- it would have been 13 helpful to have had some figures on this. 14 Senator, I -- I accept your explanation or 15 correction of what the Department explained as 16 far as it was doing in the bill. 17 I see there's another provision 18 in here where taxpayers have to produce only one 19 appraisal of fair market value rather than two. 20 As you and I know, it's really not very 21 difficult to get an appraiser who tends to look 22 at matters the way your client or her client 23 wishes them to look at it so I'm not so sure 24 that two wouldn't be better, but I guess you 25 could find two appraisers who would do exactly 5952 1 what you want, so maybe that doesn't have that 2 much of an effect. 3 Let me just say on the bill, if I 4 may, Senator -- thank you for your explanation. 5 I guess one of the problems we have is, I mean 6 here we have a very lengthy bill that really may 7 not make any great substantive changes in the 8 law. The difficulty is that it springs upon 9 us. It's very hard to try to get information in 10 the closing days or maybe in the closing days of 11 the session. There's a lot of activity going 12 on, and my belief is, and this is not addressed 13 to Senator Goodman because certainly he didn't 14 delay this bill but it was a bill that was put 15 in on April 11th. We're dealing with it now. 16 We've had so much dead time in April and in May 17 and even dead time in June where we could have 18 taken up these bills, where we would have had 19 more time to look at it, where we could have had 20 sufficient time to get explanation and be sure 21 what we're doing, and I guess maybe it's -- I'm 22 a voice crying in the wilderness, although I 23 think everybody feels the same thing. 24 Why can't we handle these bills 25 in regular course during the year when we're 5953 1 here, when we have time instead of having 2 everything compressed at the end and when we 3 have such great time pressures and when we don't 4 have the opportunity to look into these bills as 5 carefully as we should? 6 I accept what Senator Goodman 7 says, and I just hope that we find out that this 8 bill will not have a significant impact on the 9 revenue from mortgage taxes. 10 Thank you, Mr. President. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 12 will read the last section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 31. This 14 act shall take effect on the first day of the 15 fourth month. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 17 roll. 18 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 55. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 21 is passed. 22 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 24 Skelos. 25 SENATOR SKELOS: Would you call 5954 1 up Calendar Number 1335 by Senator DeFrancisco. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 3 will read the title. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 1335, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 2430, 6 concurrent resolution of the Senate and Assembly 7 proposing amendment to Sections 13, 14 and 16. 8 SENATOR GOLD: Explanation. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 10 DeFrancisco, an explanation of Calendar Number 11 1335 has been requested. 12 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. This 13 is a bill that, if passed and it became law, it 14 would be the first passage towards a 15 Constitutional Amendment which would indicate 16 that, if the Legislature and the Governor were 17 late beyond April 1st in a budget cycle, we 18 would automatically have a budget of the prior 19 year, a base line budget from the prior year. 20 The Senate has passed other bills 21 similar to this that have been criticized as 22 one-house bills and that they never went 23 anywhere in the Assembly and in the Assembly 24 there's been some bills that they have passed 25 that they claim will resolve this budget crisis 5955 1 where we're late in budgets. 2 The significance of this 3 particular bill is that there is an identical 4 bill in the Assembly sponsored by 34 Majority 5 members, and earlier this year we had a news 6 conference with the sponsor, Sandra Galef, 7 Assembly Majority member, so there is an 8 identical bill with many, many Majority members 9 in the Assembly, and it's a bill whose time has 10 come to have a remedy for the late budget 11 process. 12 SENATOR GOLD: Mr. President. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 Gold. 15 SENATOR GOLD: Mr. President, 16 here we stand a day before we've been told by 17 the leader of this house we're going to adjourn 18 and we do not have a budget. While there are 19 people to blame, I'm not prepared to blame 20 Senator DeFrancisco, personally. I don't think 21 it's all on his shoulders. I think it's 22 interesting that in an earlier debate I asked 23 Senator DeFrancisco whether he would vote for 24 the Governor's budget as the Governor proposed 25 that budget this year, and he told me no, which 5956 1 I thought was an honest answer, and I won't give 2 any more meaning to it other than to make 3 reference to it. 4 This so-called reform package, to 5 me, is just an admission that the Pataki-Bruno 6 team can't abide by -- can't get a budget 7 together, and so we look for other mechanisms. 8 This is the third year when the Governor of this 9 state has attempted a budget. The first year 10 the Governor offered a budget and this Senate, 11 this house passed its own version of a budget 12 which -- which spent about a half a billion 13 dollars more than the Governor, and there was an 14 immediate recognition that, if the Governor's 15 budget passed, we would have havoc in certain 16 areas of this state. 17 Eventually, there was a budget 18 enacted and that spent a total of $700 million 19 more than the Governor, but in that first year, 20 Senator Bruno said that the Senate must act. We 21 have a constitutional obligation to act and we 22 did, in fact, pass a budget and I know that 23 every member of this house remembers the finger 24 pointing by Senator Bruno across the building to 25 Assembly Speaker Silver, saying, Where is the 5957 1 budget? Where is the budget? Where is your 2 idea of a budget? Give us your idea of a 3 budget. We can have conference committees and 4 we could have a budget. 5 Last year, thanks to Wall Street 6 primarily, money seemed to be flowing and the 7 Governor submitted a budget in December and 8 immediately in January he added 86 million more 9 and then since the Legislature couldn't agree on 10 a budget, the Governor added another 355 11 million, and it wasn't until some time in July 12 that we actually managed to pass the budget and 13 that budget totaled over a billion dollars more 14 than Governor Pataki suggested. 15 That budget was agreed to by the 16 Majority in this house and the Majority in the 17 other house and by many of us, but again the 18 Legislature rejected any leadership at all from 19 Governor Pataki and instead he has shown no 20 leadership at all when it comes to the budget. 21 But last year the Assembly at 22 least tried to get this body to pass a budget, 23 and Senator Bruno resisted. Now, Senator 24 DeFrancisco, I don't think that we should be 25 doing what we do and then ask that we reform 5958 1 ourselves by way of your particular 2 legislation. As you know, the Assembly has 3 passed what would be real budget reform, and 4 they can't get out in this house, Truth in 5 Budgeting, responsible timely open budget 6 process, require the governor create a current 7 services budget, require that the public 8 hearings on agency budgets be held, et cetera, 9 et cetera. This house won't pass that. 10 This house specializes in 11 veneer. Senator Bruno talks about reforms of 12 legislative procedure. He talks about all 13 things. These are a veneer because the bottom 14 line is that this Legis... this house of the 15 Legislature is probably run more strictly, more 16 tightly than it's ever been, with less 17 democracy. That's the real world from day to 18 day. 19 But, Senator DeFrancisco, there 20 is nothing in the law today that prevents George 21 Pataki from holding meetings -- five-way meet 22 ings, by the way, which he promised when he was 23 elected but which he forgot about very quickly. 24 I feel badly for Assemblyman Reynolds. I don't 25 know why they want to exclude him from these 5959 1 meetings. I don't know why they degrade him 2 constantly, but the Governor promised five-way 3 budget meetings. He doesn't do that. He 4 doesn't even have three-way budget meetings and 5 we are a day away from adjournment, and somebody 6 ought to call downstairs to the second floor and 7 remind the Governor that we're supposed to be 8 passing a budget. He's pretty good at 9 diversions, but he's not so good at passing 10 budgets, and one of the reasons he's not so good 11 at passing budgets is that the Majority in this 12 house does not want to stand in line with the 13 Governor and his budget and, Senator 14 DeFrancisco, when you answered me a few weeks 15 ago that you wouldn't vote for his budget, I 16 respected that. I respected that. I look at 17 the budget that would do havoc at City 18 University, that would do havoc at State 19 University, a budget which tells people that 20 they are -- they can't get services they need 21 because they ought to be working and then the 22 budget doesn't provide them with a job. I mean 23 it's a hoax on our people. 24 But the way to get a budget, 25 Senator DeFrancisco, is to do it. The only way 5960 1 to do it is to do it and we're not doing it. 2 Now, you will say to me, Senator Gold, isn't 3 that then a good reason to vote for my bill? If 4 we're not doing it, let's have something in 5 place. And I say to you, I don't agree with 6 that, Senator DeFrancisco. I say we do our 7 jobs. If we don't want to do our jobs, get new 8 leadership that will do the job. 9 Now, this year the Assembly 10 passed its own version of the budget. I 11 understand that's probably not agreeable to the 12 Majority in this house because you haven't 13 passed it. I guess if you liked it, you would 14 have passed it. But pass something, something. 15 You don't pass the Governor's budget. I don't 16 blame you for that. You won't pass the 17 Assembly's budget. Apparently you don't like 18 it. Pass something. Take a public stand. We 19 just went through this whole debacle over rent 20 where we did nothing more than to scare the huge 21 tenant population and throughout that whole 22 situation there was posturing by the Majority 23 Leader, but never did the Senate pass the bill, 24 and the reason was that any bill you would have 25 passed would have been embarrassing to some of 5961 1 your members. 2 So I say to myself, maybe - 3 maybe the reason the Republicans won't pass a 4 budget this year is that any offering you make 5 would be an embarrassment to your members, and 6 maybe some of your members say, don't pass a 7 budget. When there's a final budget agreement 8 and everybody votes for it, we have some cover. 9 I don't believe that looking for cover is 10 showing leadership. The concept of conference 11 committees is a good concept. It's so good we 12 even used it once, maybe twice. I think once, 13 am I right? What better situation would there be 14 for conference committees than to resolve a 15 budget? 16 The public would then know what 17 you stand for, what the Assembly stands for, 18 what we stand for, what Assemblyman Reynolds and 19 his Minority stand for and the public could 20 judge what we do. 21 I don't know why they call it 22 public office if we're trying to hide it from 23 the public. Let the public see what we do, and 24 the way you do that is by making a statement. I 25 ask nominees that come up from the Governor, how 5962 1 do you feel about this, how did you feel about 2 that? Can't get any answers from them. 3 At least as a Legislature, let's 4 get an answer. What we think a budget should 5 be. You should not be afraid, Senator Bruno, of 6 your ideas. Put them out there. Let's get a 7 vote on them, but I think, Senator Bruno - 8 Senator DeFrancisco, while you personally, I 9 respect in your effort to do this and I think 10 you believe in it, I think it is nothing more 11 than a convenience for Senator Bruno and the 12 Majority for their failures this year to deal 13 with the budget, and I -- I think that it is not 14 an answer to the responsibility of elected 15 officials to pass a budget. 16 The Governor gave us a budget. I 17 won't vote for that budget. The Assembly 18 proposed a budget, and I don't know whether I 19 would vote for it or not. Put it out on the 20 floor and give me a chance to hear it, debate it 21 and I'll give you an answer, but if we adjourn 22 tomorrow as things stand today, the Senate's 23 failure is the Senate's failure, Senator 24 DeFrancisco. There is nobody to point to. 25 Each year this house votes on 5963 1 something in the neighborhood of 18-, 1700, 2 2,000 bills. The Assembly does likewise. 3 There's a crossover of maybe a thousand bills, 4 so the concept of one-house bills is nothing new 5 to any member in this house, and it certainly 6 isn't new to the Majority, because I guarantee 7 you, 99.9 percent of the one-house bills are 8 sponsored by the Majority Republicans. You 9 don't let enough of our bills out to be one 10 house bills, so they're your one-house bills and 11 members on your side will stand up and say, 12 Senator Gold, it's important to pass this so 13 that we get discussions moving. It's important 14 to pass this one-house bill so that it's out 15 there. 16 What could be more important to 17 be out there than the state budget? Right now 18 the Republican version of the state budget is in 19 the closet. It's in somebody's drawer. Let it 20 have some of breath. Be proud of it. I don't 21 understand why the Majority ever does anything 22 that it is not proud of, and if you are proud of 23 your concept of a state budget, put it out 24 there. Force me, if I don't like it, to cast a 25 bad vote. Go ahead, force me, or force me in 5964 1 public to vote for it and say, you -- you 2 gentlemen and one lady have a good idea, but 3 Senator DeFrancisco, as sincere as I believe you 4 are with this legislation, I will close by 5 saying what I said earlier. This is nothing but 6 a cover. Your good offices or your good ideas 7 or your sincerity is nothing but a cover being 8 used by your colleagues on your side for the 9 fact that they are ending this session in 10 failure. 11 The Governor has offered a 12 budget. The Assembly has offered a budget and 13 the reason there is no state budget right now, 14 one of the major reasons is the failure of the 15 Republican Majority in this house to put a 16 budget out on the floor, pass it, and if it's 17 not in conformity with the other two branches of 18 government, at least set up a dialogue. If we 19 did that, we don't need contingency plans. We 20 don't need your bill. 21 Your bill, in my opinion, is an 22 excuse not to do the job that we got elected to 23 do. I would rather do that job rather than 24 worry what happens after I fail. 25 Thank you. 5965 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 DeFrancisco. 3 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: In my 4 explanatory remarks, I indicated that the 5 difference between this bill is that there's 34 6 Majority members in the Assembly. Now, we can 7 sit here today and talk about Pataki's problems, 8 about Bruno's problems. We didn't do a budget 9 this year. I can point to the Weprin-Cuomo 10 Marino team, two Democrats, one Republican, they 11 didn't do it as well. I can point to a couple 12 of years ago when the Senate passed a budget and 13 I was on the floor saying the same thing that 14 you are, Senator, namely, that the Assembly pass 15 a budget so we can go to conference committee. 16 So you can look at the Democrats, 17 you can look at the Republicans, but the fact of 18 the matter is, it's a systemic problem. Every 19 one's trying to tie their own special interests 20 into the budget and in order to deal with the 21 systemic problem you have to have a real 22 solution. We took them to court and we found it 23 was not possible to do that. This is a club. 24 It didn't work. This is a very simple 25 approach. It says, if you don't pass the budget 5966 1 this year, you're going to go back automatically 2 to April 1st. Nobody wants last year's budget; 3 nobody wants it. Some want to cut taxes, some 4 want to spend more, some want other programs and 5 that's precisely the beauty of the club that if 6 we don't have the budget by April 1st, nobody 7 gets what they want and that doesn't matter who 8 the Majority Leader is of what party, who the 9 Speaker is of what party, who the Governor is of 10 what party. 11 This is party neutral. It's 12 something that no one would want to do, go to 13 last year's budget, and that's why people would 14 get together or at least I think they would get 15 together. We get criticized for one-house bills 16 and solutions that aren't adopted by the other 17 house. 34 Assembly Majority members think this 18 is a good idea, think this is a good idea, and I 19 could tell you that many of the Minority 20 members, if not all think it's a good idea. If 21 it gets to the floor of the Assembly and it 22 passes here, then it's the first step to a real 23 chance that no matter who the leaders are, no 24 matter who the Governor is, we end up with a 25 budget on time. 5967 1 I think we owe it to our people 2 and I think we owe it to each other to have a 3 real remedy in this process. 4 Thank you. 5 SENATOR GOLD: Mr. President. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7 Gold, why do you rise? 8 SENATOR GOLD: I would like to 9 respond, if I could, to Senator DeFrancisco. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: I have a 11 list going, Senator Gold. 12 SENATOR GOLD: You have a list. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There are 14 three other members who have requested to speak 15 on this, and we'll give you the opportunity. 16 SENATOR GOLD: And in your 17 fairness, I know you'll exercise, can I sort of 18 get on the end of that list? 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 20 Nozzolio has left the chamber. 21 Senator Dollinger. 22 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Would the 23 sponsor yield to a couple questions? 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Would you 25 yield? Senator yields. 5968 1 SENATOR DOLLINGER: First of all, 2 let me preface this with a couple of remarks. I 3 think I see this as an attempt to solve a real 4 problem. We can question the budget, I think 5 everybody does, and this is a real attempt to do 6 something about it. 7 But let me ask a couple questions 8 just to highlight -- this may seem like legal 9 nitpicking, but just to get a sense of what we 10 do here. First of all, Mr. President, what do 11 you mean by the phrase "entire budget" because 12 that phrase is used throughout here, and 13 obviously the word "entire" has some very 14 significant meaning, because it's not just 15 budget. 16 I believe the Constitution as 17 it's currently phrased talks about budget bills 18 but there's no use of the phrase "entire 19 budget". What do you mean by that? 20 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Well, the 21 budget is comprised of several bills that we 22 pass that make up the budget. The bill says 23 that, if we happen to get to April 1st and we 24 pass two or three of these bills, that's not 25 good enough. We need all of the budget to be 5969 1 passed, all budgets bills, and if we haven't 2 succeeded in all budget bills, then the entire 3 or the same budget as last year goes into play. 4 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Now, it's 5 your definition that the entire budget includes 6 anything that's demarcated by the Legislature as 7 a budget bill? 8 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 9 SENATOR DOLLINGER: O.K. If we 10 were to fail to demarcate it as a budget bill, 11 for example, we did debt financing and that 12 wasn't described as a budget bill, but it was 13 just called debt financing, that wouldn't be 14 included in the phrase "entire budget"? 15 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: The entire 16 budget is the package of bills that make up the 17 budget each year. I don't know if we're down to 18 five or seven or three; I can't remember the 19 number, but we traditionally do several budget 20 pieces. Those are the budget pieces that would 21 have to all be in place or none of them are in 22 place as of April 1st. 23 SENATOR DOLLINGER: That's part 24 of my concern that the Legislature, I mean we 25 have proven to be really finding ways to breach 5970 1 the Constitution and one of them is to simply 2 say this isn't a budget bill; it's something 3 else. That's one problem. 4 What is the -- again through you, 5 Mr. President, if Senator DeFrancisco will 6 yield. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 8 DeFrancisco, do you continue to yield? 9 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 11 continues to yield. 12 SENATOR DOLLINGER: This 13 legislation uses the phrase "inactive". What 14 happens if the Governor actually vetoes one of 15 the budget bills or line item vetoes one of the 16 budget bills at his own convenience? That means 17 there is no budget. We go back to last year's 18 budget. If the Legislature fulfilled its 19 constitutional duty and passed the budget on 20 March 30th, presented it to the Governor, he 21 would have, I believe, at least ten days, if not 22 longer, before he would either have to make any 23 decision about signing the budget bills or not. 24 Doesn't that transfer a tremendous amount of 25 power to the Governor to decide the fate of the 5971 1 budget, substantially more than he's got today? 2 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Absolutely 3 not, because if there's a change by the Governor 4 of what the Legislature wants, it doesn't 5 happen. In that case the Legislature has the 6 power. In other words, the Legislature is going 7 to have a budget that the Governor doesn't go 8 along with. If the three parties can't agree 9 entirely on what the budget is, it goes back to 10 last year, and the point I want to emphasize is 11 the purpose of this is to make certain that each 12 of the three major -- both houses and the 13 Governor do come up with an agreement in time. 14 Presumably nobody wants to go back to last 15 year. 16 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again through 17 you, Mr. President - 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 19 DeFrancisco, do you continue to yield? 20 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 continues to yield. 23 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Does this 24 amendment make any provision for the Legislature 25 acting on April 2nd, for example? As I 5972 1 understand it, this says if you don't act by 2 April 1st, we'll continue to spend on April 2nd, 3 just as though it was April 2nd of the preceding 4 year, just as though the preceding year's budget 5 was in effect. 6 Does the Legislature, under this 7 amendment, have the ability on April 2nd to pass 8 a budget that would be effective for that year? 9 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: No, it 10 doesn't, because it talks about adopting an 11 entire budget. Once we have adopted a budget, 12 it becomes the budget. 13 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again through 14 you, Mr. President, the Legislature every year 15 has the ability to amend the budget at any point 16 in mid-stream, as I believe before you and I 17 both came here in 1991 as you recall, Governor 18 Cuomo line item vetoed a series of things 19 creating a significant problem in the latter 20 part of 1991. School aid was reduced and 21 several other adjustments were done. 22 All of those were budget changes 23 inside the year. Would those changes be 24 permissible under this Constitutional Amendment? 25 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: The way I 5973 1 read the amendment, no. 2 SENATOR DOLLINGER: So we're 3 talking - 4 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Because if 5 it worked that way and my intent is not to have 6 it work that way, we could be in the same 7 problem that we are presently, namely to go back 8 to last year's budget, continue to negotiate in 9 the same give and take, and we'll never have a 10 real budget. 11 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again through 12 you, Mr. President, if Senator DeFrancisco will 13 continue to yield. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 15 DeFrancisco, you continue to yield? 16 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 18 continues to yield. 19 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I read it 20 exactly that way but it does prohibit the 21 Legislature from crafting a budget after April 22 1st for that budget year, but is it your 23 intention to significantly constrict the hands 24 of the Legislature to make mid-year course ad 25 justments in the budget based on change in 5974 1 financial circumstances such as we saw in 1991? 2 We could have a budget that extends in a boom 3 period as we're going into a serious recession 4 or depression and yet we wouldn't have the 5 ability to reduce spending to be able to try to 6 buttress or support the state as the economic 7 slide begins. 8 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: That's 9 correct, and that's all the more reason for the 10 budget to be done in place because that's a risk 11 that we as legislatures -- legislators and the 12 Governor as a governor would be taking if we 13 didn't take our jobs seriously and, secondly, it 14 also goes the other way. If we have a boom year 15 that everyone wants to spend more, we wouldn't 16 be able to do that. 17 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Right. 18 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Because we 19 didn't do our job. 20 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I'm not so 21 much worried about that because if we didn't 22 spend we'd have a huge surplus at the end of the 23 year that we could delay our spending. I'm more 24 concerned about digging ourselves into a hole if 25 economic, conditions go downward. 5975 1 Just two other quick questions if 2 Senator DeFrancisco continues to yield. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 DeFrancisco, do you continue to yield to two 5 more quick questions? 6 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 8 continues to yield. 9 SENATOR DOLLINGER: What happens 10 if we have a circumstance where we have to build 11 a prison halfway through the year and in the 12 fiscal year, half of the state's debt service 13 comes on board and half of the employee cost 14 comes on board. If this amendment were 15 effective and there were no budget in place, 16 then we'd have to face the new fiscal year with 17 a year's worth of personnel costs and a year's 18 worth of debt costs and no revenue or presumably 19 no resilience to balance our revenues with our 20 expenses. We would find our expenses are up to 21 the full year but the previous year we only 22 budgeted half a year's worth of expense. 23 How do we pay for that extra 24 half? How do -- how do we do that if your 25 amendment becomes law? 5976 1 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Well, 2 presumably debt service gets paid down from time 3 to time and I would assume there would be 4 savings as well as increases possibly in debt 5 service coming on line halfway through the 6 year. Also, you know, the Governor doesn't 7 necessarily spend everything that's been 8 appropriated in every -- in every line item, and 9 there would have to be some adjustments made in 10 that respect as the Governor does now. A 11 surplus could be -- you'd have to find the money 12 some place. 13 SENATOR DOLLINGER: O.K. A final 14 question, Mr. President. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 16 DeFrancisco, do you continue to yield? 17 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I do. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: He 19 continues to yield. 20 SENATOR DOLLINGER: We have done 21 extenders and Article 7s in the budget bills. 22 Could we do an interim extension of this bill? 23 Could we do a one-year extender for these kinds 24 of bills that would qualify as a part of a 25 budget, the entire budget? 5977 1 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: A one-year 2 extender? 3 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Or even a 4 periodic extender as we've done this year. 5 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: A periodic 6 extender of last year's budget? 7 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Yes. 8 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: No. April 9 1st comes around, you don't have a budget, you 10 go to last year's budget in its entirety. 11 SENATOR DOLLINGER: A final 12 question, Mr. President. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 DeFrancisco, do you continue to yield? 15 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Absolutely. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 17 continues to yield. 18 SENATOR DOLLINGER: How do we 19 handle the problem, Senator, of phased-in tax 20 cuts? As you know, we have phased-in tax cuts. 21 This year, as you know, we have passed cuts - 22 major cuts in business taxes which, by law, will 23 be implemented this year. If we had an 24 automatic budget, we would have last year's 25 budget with this year's tax cut created in a 5978 1 previous year, and we'd have a significantly 2 reduced revenue on our expense base. 3 How do we -- how do we handle 4 that if we don't have the budget in place? 5 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Well, you 6 have to honor -- I would assume you have to 7 honor every passed bill that was in place, and 8 it would seem to me that if you could not honor 9 that tax cut because of a lack of revenue, the 10 only way you could do it is -- the only way this 11 Legislature could possibly do it is either hope 12 for additional revenue because we get more 13 revenue in place to take care of that tax cut 14 and if there's not enough revenue we'd have to 15 repeal part of it. 16 SENATOR DOLLINGER: All right. 17 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: But once 18 again, I just want to conclude by saying we 19 could come up with 18 different -- we already 20 have maybe 20 more different problems that might 21 exist. 22 The whole point is, because of 23 these potential problems, that's precisely the 24 reason why we might be working to get the budget 25 on time. 5979 1 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 2 President, I couldn't agree with Senator 3 DeFrancisco more. 4 There are, I understand, any kind 5 of categorical attempts to set an absolute 6 deadline and to enforce that deadline and to 7 create the kind of budget responsibility that I 8 know you want, that I would like. I understand 9 their problems. 10 I raise those questions only to 11 highlight some of them because, as we enter down 12 this road, if we're going to cut that thing off 13 on April 1st, I can see enormous potential 14 complications and they may affect the budgeting 15 process. As you know, these negotiations are 16 enormously difficult, and it may be difficult 17 for anyone on any side of the fence, given the 18 way this system has worked in the past ten 19 years, there may be advantages for one side, not 20 advantages for the other, disadvantages for the 21 other. 22 This will perhaps complicate the 23 process, but nonetheless, I'm going to vote for 24 it because I think that we have to do something, 25 something to try to drive the message home that 5980 1 what's needed is a sense of getting to 2 compromise, and this year has been an abysmal 3 demonstration of our ability to do that, which 4 is to make the budget compromises work. 5 I was in Vermont two week ends 6 ago, and they got their legislative business 7 done on time. It was five minutes of 12:00 the 8 night they were going to recess, but it was all 9 done and they'd gotten the budget done, they'd 10 made it work. 11 We, for some reason, can't do it 12 here in New York. I recognize there're problems. 13 I'm worried about the problems underlying this 14 bill, but I think that we've got to start taking 15 some steps to make this happen. I would prefer, 16 quite frankly, Senator DeFrancisco to have these 17 things done in a Constitutional Convention where 18 we could all sit down and figure out what the 19 pros and cons are of setting absolute deadlines 20 so that we could make absolute budget reform 21 happen, we could set a deadline and get a budget 22 done on time. 23 That would be my hope, it would 24 be my preference, but I take this bill for what 25 it is. I think it's an attempt to try to change 5981 1 the way we do business here. It changes the 2 dynamics, it alters the dynamics, but I think 3 it's a step at least in the right direction. 4 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. 5 President. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7 Leichter, why do you rise? 8 SENATOR LEICHTER: On the bill. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We have a 10 list going, Senator Leichter. 11 SENATOR LEICHTER: Thank you. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 Nozzolio. 14 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Thank you, Mr. 15 President. My colleagues, I rise in support of 16 Senator DeFrancisco's proposal because I think 17 it is a good faith attempt to right a process 18 that has been wrong. 19 The revisionist historians on the 20 other side of the aisle, Senator Gold most 21 notable among them, tend to forget what has 22 happened over the past three years in terms of 23 budgets and budget preparation. 24 Senator Gold conveniently left 25 out the fact that when Governor Pataki took 5982 1 office, he inherited a budget that was $5 2 billion in the red. Senator Gold conveniently 3 left out that fact, the fact that we were 4 destitute through the practices of the past, 5 that the Governor tried very hard to do whatever 6 he thought could be done to establish an on-time 7 budget. 8 One of those items was not paying 9 the legislators. Some of you may recall that 10 through the period when the budget was post 11 April 1st, Governor Pataki, along with others, 12 did not get paid and that we did not get paid. 13 That was an attempt to put some urgency into the 14 process. 15 The result was clear. We had the 16 latest budget in the history of late budgets. 17 Why? Because the political will, particularly 18 exhibited by the Speaker of the Assembly, was to 19 establish a record. The Democrats in the 20 Assembly, and I'd say the Democrats on -- in 21 this chamber, very much would like to see 22 records broken because it's politically 23 expedient. 24 The following year Governor 25 Pataki's second year in office, he put forth a 5983 1 budget clearly a month earlier than any other 2 governor had put forth that budget in recent 3 history. He put forth the budget around the 4 middle of December, hoping that the Legislature 5 having more time to review the proposal would, 6 in fact, come up with an on-time budget. 7 The result was another record 8 being broken, the latest budget in the history 9 of late budgets. Yet two good faith attempts by 10 the Governor of this state to establish order to 11 the budget process. I should also add to the 12 history, I didn't serve in this body but for two 13 years under Governor Cuomo, I served ten years 14 in the state Assembly as a member of the 15 Minority party and saw the fact that when 16 Governor Cuomo presented his budget, Assemblyman 17 Pataki, Assemblyman Nozzolio and Assemblyman 18 Winner had to sue Governor Cuomo because he 19 refused to put the budget bill, the budget 20 language, the Article 7 bill accompanying the 21 taxes that would accompany the budget. Governor 22 Cuomo refused to send up a bill until 23 legislators sued him. 24 Governor Pataki complied with the 25 law. He complied with the law by putting the 5984 1 Article 7 bill with his budget proposal and 2 then, in spite of the political shenanigans 3 which occurred in those first two years, that we 4 have seen a product that has reduced taxes 5 unprecedented in this state. We've reduced 6 taxes more in the last two budget cycles than 7 all the states in the Union put together in 8 terms of reduction of taxes. 9 This year, though, let's look at 10 what the Assembly has done. The assembly passed 11 a budget, yes. They passed a budget that spends 12 $5 billion more than Governor Pataki has 13 proposed. That's an 11 percent, almost a 12 14 percent increase in state spending over last 15 year. 16 Do you, my colleagues on the 17 other side of the aisle, support a 12 percent 18 increase in state spending? Well, if you do, I 19 think you'd be -- you certainly have your right 20 to do so, but I dare say that's not what the 21 citizens of this state want at this stage - 22 juncture of our state system. 23 The Assembly has not passed 24 welfare reform. We are not in compliance with 25 federal mandates. There is no criminal justice 5985 1 reform in the Assembly's proposal, including the 2 need to fill three maximum security prisons in 3 our state that the Governor has proposed. I 4 dare say if we do not build those maximum 5 security prisons, if we do not solve the prison 6 overcrowding issue, we will be faced with prison 7 disturbances and riots across our system. 8 There is no billion dollars in 9 borrowing in the Governor's proposal. Yet the 10 Assembly Democrats have passed a bill that 11 requires $3 billion of borrowing. I -- I don't 12 believe that any of the shenanigans that we've 13 seen in these past three years for perceived 14 political advantage have made sense. Governor 15 Pataki has tried to trust -- to propose 16 everything that could be thought of to produce 17 an on-time budget. 18 Senator DeFrancisco's effort here 19 is one that I support. We understand it is not 20 a perfect remedy, but it is a good faith attempt 21 at trying to put the political shenanigans out 22 of this process and make it much more orderly. 23 Senator Gold suggested the 24 conference committee process. I support the 25 conference committee process, but I should 5986 1 hasten to add that that is not a perfect 2 process. The federal government -- and I used 3 to work for the Congress of the United States - 4 the federal government has the conference 5 committee process. It has had the conference 6 committee process for at least 50 years. 7 That conference committee process 8 has resulted in the federal government not 9 passing a budget for the last at least two or 10 three years. The conference committee process 11 held out by some as the perfect panacea, is, I 12 think -- just look at the federal government's 13 example, and you can see that that perfect 14 function is not realized and it has not resulted 15 in on-time budgets at the federal level. 16 Senator DeFrancisco, thank you 17 for your proposal. I think it's something that 18 would demonstrate that we in this Legislature 19 are serious about focusing this budget process, 20 that the process has been certainly not in 21 focus. I dare say rent control had significant 22 impact on this process this year. If your bill, 23 Senator DeFrancisco, was put in place rent 24 control and other secondary issues would not be 25 impacting on this budget process. 5987 1 It's a good proposal, a good 2 step, and I urge its passage. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 Gold, did you wish to speak? 5 SENATOR GOLD: Yes, Mr. 6 President. 7 I just wanted to make a few 8 points based upon some of the comments that 9 Senator DeFrancisco made, and I really don't 10 want us to take our eye off the ball and, while 11 Senator Dollinger pointed out some problems with 12 the bill, I don't see that as the main problem. 13 I think the main problems go back to the fact 14 that this Senate has refused to act. 15 But, Senator DeFrancisco, very 16 briefly, I remember a few years ago, not that 17 many years ago, I had 58 sponsors on a bill in 18 this house, and a man who I loved dearly, 19 Senator Anderson, said to me, "There's one 20 signature missing which might be helpful - 21 mine." We never passed that bill; 58 people in 22 this house didn't pass it. 23 So when you say there is some 24 support on the other side, I understand that. I 25 understand that, but this is bigger than that, 5988 1 and what do we -- what's the answer you'd like 2 to give me, Senator DeFrancisco, about two weeks 3 when there was no requirement at all that we go 4 through a rent fight because, according to the 5 newspapers, if you took every Democrat who was 6 willing to vote to continue the rent laws and 7 you took the Republicans who said they would 8 vote for it, all we needed to do was bring it to 9 a vote. Your Majority Leader wouldn't do that, 10 so if one tenant in this state lost one right, 11 it's all because of your party. So when you say 12 to me that there are members on the other 13 side who are Democrats who support your bill, 14 that's a far cry from bringing it to the floor 15 and getting it passed. 16 As far as the budget process, 17 during the reign of Governor Cuomo, we had some 18 late budgets, no doubt, but it bothered Mario 19 Cuomo, and he would call meetings and he would 20 bring people together and he would try and he 21 would try and he would try, and it didn't work 22 unfortunately until the budgets were late, but 23 he tried. 24 This governor doesn't care. I 25 mean it's -- it's what, 83, '-4, whatever it 5989 1 is. It doesn't bother him, and that's one of 2 the problems. If the Governor was a driving 3 force to get us a budget, if he insisted on the 4 leaders being there and holding meetings, you'd 5 get a budget, but Senator, you're not going to 6 get a budget when the Governor doesn't care and 7 when the Majority Leader of the Senate won't 8 pass a bill. 9 The last thing I'm going to say 10 on the issue of the Governor's attempt not to 11 pay the Legislature, Senator DeFrancisco, that 12 would be a travesty. You want to know why? 13 Because in those years when the Governor didn't 14 want to pay us because the budget was late, my 15 people were saying, Hey, Manny Gold, fight that 16 budget, and I was doing my job by not allowing 17 George Pataki to destroy the state with naive 18 harmful budgets. 19 I earn my money every day. 20 That's what the people sent me here for. They 21 didn't send me here to vote for any budget on 22 time that was destructive. I can only imagine 23 as I look around on your side of the aisle that 24 many of your members feel the same way, because 25 this year you didn't vote for an on-time 5990 1 budget. 2 If it were just an issue of 3 passing any budget, you'd pass it, but I think 4 my job as a legislator is to work and work to 5 get a good budget. If George Pataki would call 6 some meetings, five-way meetings, if Senator 7 Bruno would pass a bill and set up some 8 conference committees, we would all be doing our 9 work and we would have a budget; and all that 10 happens with your bill today, Senator 11 DeFrancisco, it is a diversion. 12 I am told, although I did not 13 hear this, that at a press conference today a 14 reporter asked Senator Bruno why he didn't pass 15 a bill, and he said something to the effect that 16 it wasn't to his liking. Now, I don't want to 17 misquote him, but that's what I was told. If he 18 said that, that is an incredible remark. Since 19 when doesn't the state Senate pass a budget 20 because one person says it's not to his liking? 21 This is a diversion. It is well 22 meant, by a gentleman I respect, but it doesn't 23 give us a budget. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 Leichter. 5991 1 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yeah. Mr. 2 President, I think a good argument could be made 3 that, rather than facilitating the passage of a 4 budget on time, this amendment to the 5 Constitution could conceivably delay the passage 6 of a budget because I could see in an instance 7 where you have a split Legislature as we have 8 now, particularly as we had it prior to 1995, 9 that one house may find it to its advantage to 10 have last year's budget. They can just sit 11 back; they'll hold firm. They'll never agree to 12 a new budget. 13 I think the -- and I want to 14 particularly address that to my good friend, 15 Senator Dollinger, but I see he isn't here. I 16 think the point is that any of these mechanical 17 devisees to try to make government work really 18 are not effective. Term limits, initiative and 19 referendum, I just don't think they work. You 20 can't propel democracy by these sort of 21 strictures and commands and dictates. 22 I think what it really comes from 23 is the culture and, frankly, the culture of our 24 work here is God awful. We are a disgrace. We 25 are an embarrassment to parliamentary 5992 1 legislative bodies. I don't know how we got 2 this way, because I look around and I see 3 dedicated men and women, intelligent men and 4 women. I see them in the other house, but we 5 have made the process so awful, so ineffective, 6 so unproductive that we're the laughing stock 7 not only of this state but we're the laughing 8 stock of the nation. We can't get a budget 9 done. 10 So then, Senator DeFrancisco, 11 with the best of intentions, and other members 12 say, well, here's a way to try to get the budget 13 done. Senator DeFrancisco, it's not -- that's 14 not going to work. What we need to do is really 15 change the way we handle all of our affairs. 16 Almost not a day passes that there isn't some 17 newspaper, some reporter, some TV station, some 18 radio station, that doesn't make fun of us. And 19 do you know what? They're correct. There isn't 20 hardly a day passes there isn't some editorial 21 that criticizes us in the harshest of tones. 22 And do you know what? They're correct. 23 You read the editorial, the New 24 York Times last week, talking about the two 25 person Legislature. I don't think anybody would 5993 1 argue against it, and you're not going to 2 correct that, Senator DeFrancisco, by these sort 3 of changes of the Constitution. I wish we 4 could. 5 I think we've got to find it in 6 ourselves to change the way we do business. It 7 wasn't always that way. I and a few other 8 members who have been here for many years, can 9 tell you that there were times when the sort of 10 rank partisanship that now commands all activity 11 in the Legislature didn't exist, and it was 12 possible to get a Majority Leader and a Speaker 13 to work together. It was possible to get 14 committee chairmen to work together. It was 15 possible to have members to play a role in the 16 budget, to play a role in other important 17 matters that affect their constituents. 18 That has changed. I've said, 19 just half kiddingly, that we could save a lot of 20 money for the people in this state. Instead of 21 having a 211-member Legislature, we just ought 22 to have two people. We'd have a Speaker and a 23 Majority Leader because, by and large, they make 24 98 percent of all the decisions anyhow, so 25 that's really the problem, and the whole process 5994 1 has come down, where nothing is done on time, 2 because the Speaker, the Majority Leader, they 3 hold back all the bills that they possibly can, 4 they have all the arsenals toward the end for 5 the bargaining that goes on, and then we find 6 suddenly at the end of the session all sorts of 7 bills coming out. No participation of members, 8 no public airing, and so on. 9 That's what the problem is, and 10 frankly, we have it in our power, you don't have 11 to go to the people of the state of New York and 12 say, change the Constitution to make us work 13 effectively. We can do it. We can just decide 14 as Majority members, as Minority members, and I 15 don't want to say that this is all the 16 Republicans are faulted, they're not, nor are 17 all the Democrats. We're all equally at fault. 18 We've allowed this system to take over and we 19 need to change it. 20 That doesn't mean we'll 21 necessarily have a budget on time, but at least, 22 if we open up the process, I think we're going 23 to find that it's going to move a lot smoother 24 and a lot better, and I think the public will be 25 more satisfied. I think the same situation was 5995 1 certainly true on the rent laws and, while we 2 have stood up here last week and talked of 3 winners and losers and so on, maybe everybody 4 was a loser because of the process which I think 5 just dragged and dragged out the entire issue 6 and made it much more difficult to come to a 7 reasonable solution. 8 So let's change the way we do 9 business. We have the power right here to do 10 it, 211 legislators elected by the public. We 11 don't have to go and say, let's change the 12 Constitution. We can do it right here. Senator 13 DeFrancisco, as good a try as it is, these 14 mechanical devices, unfortunately, just don't 15 work. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 17 will call the roll on the resolution. 18 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Announce 20 the results. 21 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 22 the negative on Calendar Number 1335 are 23 Senators Gentile, Gold, Leichter, Montgomery, 24 Onorato, Oppenheimer, Paterson, Smith and 25 Stavisky. Ayes 47, nays 9. 5996 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 DeFrancisco, why do you rise? 3 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: To explain 4 my vote. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6 DeFrancisco, to explain his vote. 7 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. It's 8 been suggested here that we have the power 9 ourselves to make these things happen and to 10 make a good budget occur on time. I'd like to 11 think that was the case as well, but we're in 12 our 14th year, and it hasn't happened. 13 There's nothing at all partisan 14 about this bill. The bill is supported by 15 Assembly members, Majority Assembly members and 16 I know Minority Assembly members as well. What 17 Senator Gold says is true. Sheldon Silver and 18 Mike Bragman hold the cards as to whether that 19 bill goes on the floor for a vote. If the 20 people demand it, it will, and there will be a 21 remedy since we have not been able to do it 22 under the current rules. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 24 DeFrancisco will be recorded in the 25 affirmative. Announce the results again. 5997 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 47, nays 9. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 3 is passed. 4 Senator Skelos. 5 SENATOR SKELOS: Return to 6 Calendar Number 1045, regular order. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 8 will read Calendar Number 1045 and continue in 9 regular order. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 1045, by Senator Marchi, Senate Print 3649-B, an 12 act to amend the Limited Liability Company Law, 13 the Partnership Law and the Business Corporation 14 Law. 15 SENATOR SKELOS: Lay aside. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 17 bill aside. 18 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Mr. 19 President. 20 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, I 21 believe Senator Volker will give an explanation 22 for Calendar Number 1045. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 24 Oppenheimer, why do you rise? 25 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: I would 5998 1 like to note that, if I had been present in the 2 chamber yesterday when Calendar Number 490 - 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 Oppenheimer, we're on a bill right now and we'll 5 complete this, and we'll come back to you. 6 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Oh, sorry. 7 I got mixed up with what was happening here. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 9 Volker, for an explanation here. 10 SENATOR VOLKER: Mr. President, 11 this is not exactly my field but, as I 12 understand this bill, Senator Marchi's bill, 13 what it would do is it would allow business 14 corporations to use certain words in their true 15 names. What I guess the bill does is that 16 presently under the limited partnership law, you 17 cannot -- or Limited Liability Company Law, you 18 cannot do the same thing that you can do in 19 other areas using assumed names. 20 What this bill would do would be 21 to apply the rules, basically the rules that are 22 used in the Business Corporation Law to -- the 23 same rules to the Limited Liability Company Law, 24 and would clarify the use of these assumed 25 names. It would also expand the list of 5999 1 individuals who would be able to sign a 2 certificate of assumed name to include an 3 attorney-in-fact as far as these limited 4 liability corporations are concerned. 5 I understand one question was 6 about the fees that are listed in this bill, but 7 it's my understanding that this doesn't really 8 -- there are already fees, but because the 9 filing fees under the limited liability law are 10 $200 and $25 under the normal assumed name law, 11 this would increase it to $200 to comply with 12 the statute the way it is in other areas. O.K.? 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Any 14 Senator wishing to speak on the bill? Secretary 15 will read the last section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 22. This 17 act shall take effect immediately. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 19 roll. 20 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 56. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 23 is passed. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 1082, by Senator Marchi, Senate Print Number 6000 1 4767-A, an act to amend the Business Corporation 2 Law, in relation to the organization of 3 professional service corporations. 4 SENATOR PATERSON: Explanation. 5 SENATOR SKELOS: Senator Volker. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7 Volker, Senator Skelos has informed us that 8 you're going to do the explanation on the 1082, 9 Calendar Number 1082, Senator Marchi's bill; is 10 that correct? 11 SENATOR VOLKER: Mr. President, 12 as I understand this legislation, reading the - 13 reading this memo here, the legislation involves 14 a change in the Business Corporation Law, which 15 would allow an individual authorized by law to 16 practice before the United States Patent and 17 Trademark to organize a professional service 18 corporation with an attorney, for the purpose of 19 rendering professional services which are 20 limited to practice before the United States 21 Patent and Trademark Office. 22 I guess what that means is that 23 for some reason an attorney is not allowed to 24 organize a professional service organization if 25 he also practices before the United -- United 6001 1 States Patent and Trademark Office, so I guess 2 this bill would allow him to do that under the 3 Business Corporation Law. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5 Paterson. 6 SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you very 7 much. 8 If Senator Volker would yield for 9 a question. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 11 Volker, do you yield? 12 SENATOR VOLKER: Certainly. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 yields. 15 SENATOR PATERSON: Senator, I 16 understand that you're explaining the bill and 17 my question just as it related to prohibition 18 against lawyers and non-lawyers practicing 19 together, I can't see how this bill doesn't 20 violate that provision even though perhaps I 21 might concede that in this particular area as 22 probably in other areas people could obtain the 23 expertise in the area in order to discuss it, 24 but from the public perspective, we appear here 25 to have a case where you just have lawyers and 6002 1 non-lawyers and it's not distinguishable at what 2 point they're serving in those capacities. 3 Do you think that this 4 examination for patents can be comparable to a 5 bar exam? 6 SENATOR VOLKER: I don't think - 7 yeah, I guess what it is, is it's like a 8 separate bar exam that attorneys and non 9 attorneys have to take because this is - 10 remember, this is a federal agency and the 11 United States Patent and Trademark Office is a 12 separate entity. 13 Apparently what this bill would 14 do is allow, as I say, as I mentioned before, 15 attorneys, it would allow attorneys and non 16 attorneys to practice before this agency if they 17 were -- they took the examination which I guess 18 would be like a bar examination. My colleague 19 here says it is a bar examination, which would 20 allow them to practice before the -- the federal 21 -- federal Patent and Trademark Office. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 23 Paterson. 24 SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you, Mr. 25 President, and thank you, Senator Volker, for 6003 1 pinch-hitting and responding to the questions 2 right here. 3 On the bill, Mr. President. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5 Paterson, on the bill. 6 SENATOR PATERSON: Just a couple 7 of issues. 8 The Bar Association did not come 9 out with a memorandum on this -- on this bill. 10 There are several ethics opinions in which it 11 was made pretty clear that lawyers are forbidden 12 -- forbidden to practice with non-lawyers. I'd 13 just like to put that into the record. 14 The concern also is that, when we 15 finish with the patent area, we'll probably go 16 into the trademark area and then who knows, 17 labor law and tax law, particularly areas where 18 there are specialties that people in other areas 19 have obtained, and so I think the profession 20 needs to be aware of this. 21 I myself don't know the specifics 22 of what the patent situation would entail and, 23 therefore, can't really render an opinion, but 24 just as a general issue, I just suggest in the 25 future to the bar -- to the Bar Association that 6004 1 they peruse this whole issue a little closer. 2 Now, I don't know that we can 3 consider the examination to be a bar exam for 4 patents, the one that's going to be administered 5 because it's not part of the bar exam, and those 6 are just some concerns that I wanted to put on 7 the record and hope that the sponsors will - 8 will heed them. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 10 will read the last section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 12 act shall take effect immediately. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 14 roll. 15 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 17 the negatives. Announce the results. 18 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 19 the negative on Calendar Number 1082, Senators 20 Connor, Montgomery and Paterson. Ayes 53, nays 21 3. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 23 is passed. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 1159, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 317-A, an 6005 1 act to amend the Insurance Law, in relation to 2 policy coverage for persons with breast cancer. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 4 will read the last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 6 act shall take effect on the 180th day. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 8 roll. 9 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 11 Skelos, an explanation of Calendar Number 1159 12 has been requested. 13 SENATOR SKELOS: This bill would 14 prevent insurers from refusing to issue or renew 15 any policy of life or non-cancellable disability 16 insurance solely on the basis of genetic testing 17 used to determine a genetic predisposition to 18 breast cancer. 19 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 20 President. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Dollinger. 23 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I believe 24 there's an amendment at the desk that deals with 25 genetic testing. I'd ask that the reading of 6006 1 the amendment be waived and that I ask to be 2 heard on the bill. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 4 reading of the amendment will be waived and 5 you're recognized for the opportunity to explain 6 the amendment, Senator Dollinger. 7 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Thank you 8 very much, Mr. President. 9 First of all, I appreciate 10 Senator Skelos bringing his bill to the floor 11 because this deals with the critical issue 12 involving the use of genetic information, 13 genetic testing in this case, the bill, the 14 underlying bill, the question of genetic test 15 results, and to what extent in Senator Skelos' 16 bill a disability insurance company or a life 17 company may use genetic testing results to 18 determine whether or not the person is going to 19 be covered or conditions of coverage. 20 What this amendment seeks to do 21 is to broaden the intent of Senator Skelos' 22 bill, and it does it in four areas. First of 23 all, it includes health insurance, that it 24 simply shouldn't be life insurance and 25 disability insurance, but it should include 6007 1 health insurance as well. 2 Secondly, it includes the scope 3 of what information can be used. Senator 4 Skelos' bill simply says the results of genetic 5 testing. The amendment says any genetic 6 information, whether it comes through testing, 7 through family trees, through other 8 information. That information cannot be used as 9 the basis to deny someone coverage. 10 Three, Senator Skelos' bill has a 11 limited prohibition because under the amendment 12 the version that -- that Senator Skelos brings 13 to the floor today, in amending his bill he 14 added a section (b) which says that there are 15 certain instances in which the company can use, 16 I believe the phraseology is screening 17 acceptable underwriting procedures. 18 If they can demonstrate that the 19 use of the genetic testing results would be - 20 create a justifiable exception under 21 conventional underwriting techniques, then under 22 those circumstances the prohibition on the use 23 of genetic testing results is not absolute. 24 The amendment that I put on the 25 table creates an absolute prohibition. It says 6008 1 that under -- regardless of whether, under 2 normal underwriting techniques, there would be 3 an exclusion, there is no prohibition -- there 4 is no provision that says you can create an 5 exclusion when you have justifiable under 6 writing techniques. 7 So we go further than Senator 8 Skelos' bill, and I understand that Senator 9 Skelos' bill, that that specific language may be 10 the results of negotiations with insurers about 11 the extent of this bill, but nonetheless, it's 12 my judgment that the amendment that was put on 13 from 317 to 317-A actually softens the impact of 14 Senator Skelos' bill, and I think what we need 15 to do is firm it up by creating an absolute 16 prohibition, that we're not going to allow the 17 provision of underwriting techniques, we're not 18 going to allow them to kick it into their 19 screening process and say we've determined that 20 it would be appropriate to raise premiums for 21 certain kinds of insurance because of genetic 22 abnormalities found, whether it's in the result 23 of testing or elsewise. 24 So we have a complete prohibition 25 on the use of the genetic information of any 6009 1 type. 2 The last thing, as I said, ours 3 includes all genetic information and not simply 4 information through genetic testing. Why is 5 this so critical that we expand the scope of 6 this bill? The reason is because the gene 7 mapping project that is under way on this planet 8 is progressing at an unbelievable rate. The 9 ability to trace specific genes for the 10 development of diseases such as Tay-Sachs 11 disease, cystic fibrosis, a pre-disposition to 12 ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease, all well documented, 13 Huntington's disease, another disease that has 14 been linked to certain forms -- certain genetic 15 patterns; abnormal -- abnormally high or 16 catastrophically high cholesterol levels are 17 also linked to genetic information and, lastly, 18 they have determined that some forms of early 19 onset dementia and Alzheimer's can also be 20 linked to it. 21 Recently there was an article, I 22 believe in the Washington -- New York Post about 23 the disease implications to women in the Jewish 24 community, about linkage between certain types 25 of diseases and cancers that have been largely 6010 1 found in Eastern European Jewish women. Our 2 ability to predict certain types of cancer, 3 certain types of chronic disabling and sometimes 4 fatal diseases is now linked to the entire gamut 5 of genetic information. 6 So what this amendment seeks to 7 do, Mr. President, is to expand the scope of 8 this bill, to take this bill which is, I think, 9 a good effort to affect breast cancer, but to 10 increase the scope of diseases that it applies 11 to, not just breast cancer but linkages to all 12 forms of chronic and debilitating illness. 13 I appreciate Senator Skelos, I 14 know, comes from one of the highest areas of 15 incidence of breast cancer in the world in Long 16 Island, and I know that there have been many 17 people looking for both environmental and 18 genetic links to the high incidence of breast 19 cancer on Long Island, but it seems to me that 20 if we're going to send a message about the use 21 of genetic information, we should do it (a) in 22 one bill; (two) it should be as broad as 23 possible so that we tell our insurers, life, 24 disability and health insurers, that we're not 25 going to allow them to use genetic information 6011 1 to kick them out of the insurance pool, to treat 2 them differently. 3 The whole point of insurance, 4 large insurance pools, is to say to everyone who 5 seeks insurance coverage that you're not respon 6 sible for the risk of your genes. We as a 7 society accept those responsibilities 8 collectively. The genetic pre-disposition is 9 not going to be a disqualifying factor and that 10 whether it's breast cancer, Alzheimer's, 11 Huntington's disease, Lou Gehrig's disease or 12 any one of the other number of diseases, the 13 mere fact that you have it in your genes is not 14 going to disqualify you from getting into 15 insurance pools and being able to buy insurance 16 protection. 17 I -- my hope is that this 18 amendment will be considered by the house. My 19 hope is that we will send a clear unmistakable 20 message to everyone in this state that genetic 21 information, if we use it against people, 22 violates a fundamental New York State sense of 23 fairness and a fundamental sense that we're all 24 in this big pool together and that we all share 25 the risks and we're not going to punish anyone 6012 1 for the fact that they happen to have bad 2 genes. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Does 4 anybody wish to speak on the amendment? 5 Senator Paterson. 6 SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you, Mr. 7 President. 8 CBS Evening News, on June 22nd, 9 reported a California case in which an 10 individual -- several individuals were denied 11 employment based on genetic testing which found 12 that they had sickle cell anemia. These 13 employees, who were African-Americans sued in 14 the California State Supreme Court, and the 15 court held that there was no ban on genetic 16 testing. This case is now being appealed to the 17 United States Supreme Court. There are several 18 states that do have bans on genetic testing, so 19 what Senator Skelos is attempting here today is 20 quite laudable, but simply needs to be 21 expanded. 22 The issue in terms of breast 23 cancer is a serious one, but so are the other 24 ones that would not only deny employment but 25 perhaps insurance because of the imposition of 6013 1 genetic testing. It certainly would be an 2 invasion of what would almost be a private 3 right, I won't call it that, but I would just 4 say certainly the pool of individuals that would 5 be -- that would become eligible for this 6 genetic testing would certainly be broken down 7 due to various types of situations such as 8 Tay-Sachs disease, such as the others that 9 Senator Dollinger described. 10 So I speak wholeheartedly in 11 favor of the amendment and feel that Senator 12 Skelos, who certainly had the idea for this, 13 might want to take this amendment at this 14 particular time on an issue that seems to have 15 national significance as more and more people 16 are being denied and discriminated based on the 17 results obtained from genetic testing which I 18 would like to point out are not always correct. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 20 question is on the amendment. 21 Senator Dollinger. 22 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Just one 23 other issue, Mr. President, if I could just be 24 heard for one second to explain one other aspect 25 of the amendment. 6014 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 Dollinger, on the amendment. 3 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I appreciate 4 the courtesy, Mr. President. 5 This is part of a package of 6 bills that the Democratic Conference has put 7 together dealing with issues involving managed 8 care and the continuing evolution of science in 9 our health care system. It's sponsored by many 10 Democrats. I know I've spoken to Senator 11 Paterson about this. I consider him virtually a 12 co-sponsor of this amendment, but there are many 13 other members of the Democratic Conference who 14 have supported this concept who are on this bill 15 which I think I carry but many others are 16 co-sponsors on. 17 So this is -- this is, we think, 18 a cutting edge issue in the relationship between 19 science and technology, that tells us a lot 20 about new frontiers and whether that information 21 will be used for good or for bad. We support, 22 at least I support, Senator Skelos saying that 23 we won't allow this information to be used to 24 discriminate against those who have breast 25 cancer or pre-disposition to breast cancer. I 6015 1 think it should be broadened to meet the other 2 conditions that we discussed. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Question 4 is on the amendment proposed by Senator 5 Dollinger. All those in favor signify by saying 6 aye. 7 SENATOR PATERSON: Party vote in 8 the affirmative. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 10 will call the roll. 11 SENATOR SKELOS: Party vote in 12 the negative. 13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 24, nays 33, 14 party vote. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 16 amendment is lost. Senator Paterson, why do you 17 rise, to debate the bill? 18 SENATOR PATERSON: I wanted to 19 know who won. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 21 will read the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 23 act shall take effect in 180 days. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 25 roll. 6016 1 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 3 Oppenheimer, do you rise to explain your vote on 4 this bill? 5 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: I had hoped 6 to be recognized before the vote was taken, a 7 simple question of the sponsor. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Roll call 9 will be withdrawn. 10 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Thank you. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 12 Skelos, do you yield to a question from Senator 13 Oppenheimer? The Senator yields. 14 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: I'm just 15 questioning -- of course, I'm thrilled that 16 you're doing this on breast cancer. That's 17 certainly an area that I'm very concerned 18 about. But why was it not done for other 19 illnesses? We have information coming out that 20 the -- the testicular and prostate cancer are 21 also very involved in the pesticide law that we 22 passed. Why -- why don't you have other 23 illnesses involved here? 24 SENATOR SKELOS: Because 25 currently under New York State law enacted in 6017 1 1993, which I believe you supported, prohibits 2 insurers from refusing to issue or renew these 3 types of policies for individuals who have had 4 breast cancer providing that the initial 5 diagnosis occurred at least three years prior to 6 the date of application and that a doctor has 7 certified the disease has not reoccurred since, 8 so this is a logical next step in terms of the 9 advances with genetic testing. 10 Reading from the New England 11 Journal of Medicine, it says breast cancer is 12 the most common cancer among women in the 13 western world, with a cumulative lifetime risk 14 of one in eight. The organizations that I have 15 met with, ONE in NINE, I felt it appropriate to 16 advance this legislation. Certainly in the 17 future, we would be happy to consider an 18 expansive -- an expansion of this type of 19 legislation. 20 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Thank you. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 22 will read the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 24 act shall take effect in 180 days. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 6018 1 roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 5 is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 1355, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 5537, an 8 acted to amend the Alcoholic Beverage Control 9 Law, in relation to creating a new class of 10 license. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 12 will read the last section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 14 act shall take effect immediately. 15 SENATOR PADAVAN: Explanation was 16 asked for. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Pardon? 18 SENATOR PADAVAN: I believe I 19 heard Senator Paterson ask for an explanation. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Paterson, did you ask for an explanation of 22 Calendar Number 1355? 23 SENATOR PATERSON: Yes, I did. 24 SENATOR GOODMAN: The two Ps have 25 asked for an explanation. 6019 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 Goodman, I guess an explanation of Calendar 3 Number 1355 has been requested by Senator 4 Paterson. 5 SENATOR GOODMAN: This proposal is 6 geared toward assisting businesses that are 7 primarily restaurants who wish to brew some beer 8 and sell most of it in their restaurants. It is 9 not intended as a means to allow brewers 10 backdoor entry into the restaurant business. 11 The proposal contemplates modest 12 mini-change. A maximum of five of these 13 micro-breweries is permissible and modest 14 brewing, no more than 5,000 barrels of beer per 15 year per brew pub and no more than an aggregate 16 of 20,000 barrels per year per multiple license 17 holder. This compares to 60,000 which is now 18 permitted of a single micro-brewer. 19 Moreover, the bill permits only 20 an minuscule amount of beer, that's only 250 21 barrels a year per brew pub, an aggregate of 22 2,000 barrels a year for multiple license 23 holders, to be sold to other retailers or to the 24 public in their home. 25 Finally, the bill provides that a 6020 1 person who has an interest in a brew pub cannot 2 have an interest in other premises in New York 3 where alcoholic beverages are manufactured or 4 sold. A brew pub owner cannot be interested in 5 a New York brewer, a New York alcoholic beverage 6 wholesaler or any type of alcoholic beverage 7 retailer except another brew pub. 8 In summary, this proposal would 9 promote the brew pub business without having any 10 real impact on the three-tier alcoholic 11 distribution system now in effect in the state 12 of New York. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 Paterson. 15 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 16 we were concerned about the supplemental retail 17 license aspect of this bill, which Senator 18 Goodman might want to comment on. 19 The fact is that it would pretty 20 much enable the restaurant which becomes, in 21 effect, a brewery and also at the same time 22 becomes a distributor, to actually make its own 23 perhaps beer in this case and sell it off the 24 premises, but we've gotten, I think, a pretty 25 good understanding and want to thank Senator 6021 1 Goodman and Commissioner Casales for their 2 effort in this area. 3 If Senator Goodman would yield 4 for a question. 5 SENATOR GOODMAN: Yes, I will. 6 SENATOR PATERSON: I just want to 7 be assured that the 500-foot rule which bans the 8 fourth establishment from being allowed to exist 9 within 500 feet of the three other 10 establishments will be adhered to based on the 11 language of this bill. 12 SENATOR GOODMAN: Yes, I can give 13 you absolute assurance that this makes no change 14 in that provision. 15 SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 17 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: Record 24 the negatives. Announce the results. 25 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 56, nays 6022 1 one, Senator Padavan recorded in the negative. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 3 is passed. 4 Senator Skelos. 5 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 6 if we could return to reports of standing 7 committees. I believe there's a report of the 8 Rules Committee at the desk. I ask that it be 9 read. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We'll 11 return to the order of reports of standing 12 committees. I'll ask the Secretary to read the 13 report of the Rules Committee. 14 THE SECRETARY: Senator Bruno, 15 from the Committee on Rules, offers up the 16 following bills: 17 1086-A, by Senator Velella, an 18 act to amend the Public Health Law; 19 2288-A, by Senator Sampson, an 20 act to authorize the city of New York; 21 2668, by Senator LaValle, an act 22 to amend the Town Law; 23 4021-A, by Senator Nozzolio, an 24 act to amend the Social Services Law; 25 4386-A, by Senator Farley, an act 6023 1 to amend the Banking Law; 2 4500, by Senator Tully, an act to 3 amend the Surrogate's Court Procedure Act; 4 4525, by Senator Kuhl, an act to 5 amend the Social Services Law; 6 4728, by Senator Velella, an act 7 to amend the Retirement and Social Security Law; 8 4834-A, by Senator Johnson, an 9 act to amend the Agriculture and Markets Law; 10 4860-B, by Senator Cook, an act 11 to amend the General Business Law; 12 5098, by Senator Skelos, an act 13 to amend Chapter 879 of the Laws of 1936; 14 5103-A, by Senator Trunzo, an act 15 to amend Chapter 683 of the Laws of 1995; 16 5268-A, by Senator Levy, an act 17 to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law; 18 5370, by Senator LaValle, an act 19 to amend the Education Law; 20 5374-A, by Senator Montgomery, an 21 act to amend the Agriculture and Markets Law; 22 5416, by Senator Levy, an act to 23 amend the Penal Law; 24 5432, by Senator Levy, an act to 25 amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law; 6024 1 5490, by the Committee on Rules, 2 an act to amend the Tax Law; 3 5491, by the Committee on Rules, 4 an act to amend the Tax Law; 5 5492-A, by Senator Johnson, an 6 act to amend the Real Property Tax Law; 7 5506, by the Committee on Rules, 8 an act in relation to granting Tier I status; 9 5508, by Senator Marchi, an act 10 to amend the Public Health Law; 11 5513, by Senator Levy, an act to 12 amend the Public Authorities Law; 13 5514, by Senator Levy, an act to 14 amend Chapter 56 of the Laws of 1993; 15 5523, by Senator Goodman, an act 16 to amend the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law; 17 5535, by Senator Rath, an act to 18 authorize the town of Amherst; 19 5539, by the Committee on Rules, 20 an act to amend Chapter 904 of the Laws of 1984; 21 5540, by the Committee on Rules, 22 an act to amend Chapter 535 of the Laws of 1983; 23 5542, by Senator Seabrook, an act 24 authorizing the city of New York; 25 5566-A, by Senator Levy, an act 6025 1 to authorize the incorporated village of Free 2 port; 3 5567, by Senator Saland, an act 4 to authorize the Commissioner of General 5 Services; 6 5582, by Senator Tully, an act to 7 amend the Public Authorities Law; 8 5595, by Senator Santiago, an act 9 to authorize the Office of General Services; 10 5596, by the Committee on Rules, 11 an act to amend Chapter 166 of the Laws of 1991; 12 and 13 5603, by Senator Tully, an act to 14 certify, legalize and confirm. 15 All bills directly for third 16 reading. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 18 Skelos. 19 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept 20 the report of the Rules Committee. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Motion is 22 to accept the report of the Rules Committee. 23 All those in favor signify by saying aye. 24 (Response of "Aye.") 25 Opposed nay. 6026 1 (There was no response.) 2 The report is accepted. All 3 bills moved directly to third reading. 4 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 5 is there any housekeeping? 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is, 7 Senator Skelos, we could take that at this time 8 if we could return to the general order of 9 motions and - 10 SENATOR SKELOS: Yes, and there 11 will be a meeting of the Rules Committee in the 12 Majority Conference Room at 5:00 o'clock. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There 14 will be an immediate meeting of the Rules 15 Committee, immediate meeting of the Rules 16 Committee in the Majority Conference Room, Room 17 332. 18 Senator Abate, why do you rise? 19 SENATOR ABATE: Yes. I ask 20 unanimous consent to be recorded in the negative 21 on Calendar Number 1335, and I have an 22 additional motion. There is a resolution - 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 24 Abate, let me take that one first. 25 SENATOR ABATE: Yes. 6027 1 ACTRING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 2 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Abate 3 will be recorded in the negative on Calendar 4 Number 1335. 5 Senator Abate. 6 SENATOR ABATE: Yes. On 7 Resolution 1916 which I sponsored, which is a 8 resolution paying tribute to Jim Fox, who was 9 the New York Regional Director of the FBI, and 10 I'd like to open that up to the entire Senate 11 for anyone who would like to co-sponsor that 12 resolution, or we can do it in the reverse, 13 anyone who does not wish to go on it. 14 SENATOR SKELOS: If anyone wishes 15 to co-sponsor the resolution, they should notify 16 the desk. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: O.K. O.K. 18 Because the resolution has been adopted, there 19 is a special form that members will have to fill 20 out, so we'd ask the members to identify 21 themselves to the desk. 22 Senator Breslin. 23 SENATOR BRESLIN: Mr. President, 24 I would like to be in the negative by unanimous 25 consent on Calendar Number 1082. 6028 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 2 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Breslin 3 will be recorded in the negative on Calendar 4 Number 1082. 5 We'll return to the order of 6 motions and resolutions. 7 The Chair recognizes Senator 8 Marcellino. 9 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you, 10 Mr. President. 11 On behalf of Senator Wright, on 12 page number 35, I offer the following amendments 13 to Calendar Number 1065, Senate Print Number 14 4322-B, and ask that said bill retain its place 15 on the Third Reading Calendar. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 17 Amendments to Calendar Number 1065 are received 18 and adopted, and the bill will retain its place 19 on the Third Reading Calendar. 20 Senator Marcellino. 21 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you, 22 Mr. President. 23 On behalf of Senator Nozzolio, on 24 page number 18, I offer the following amendments 25 to Calendar Number 608, Senate Print Number 6029 1 2775-A, and ask that said bill retain its place 2 on the Third Reading Calendar. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 4 Amendments to Calendar Number 608 are received 5 and adopted, and the bill will retain its place 6 on the Third Reading Calendar. 7 Senator Marcellino. 8 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you, 9 Mr. President. 10 On behalf of Senator Goodman, on 11 page number 22, I offer the following amendments 12 to Calendar Number 719, Senate Print Number 13 5031-A, and ask that said bill retain its place 14 on the Third Reading Calendar. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 16 Amendments to Calendar Number 719 are received 17 and adopted and the bill will retain its place 18 on the Third Reading Calendar. 19 Senator Marcellino. 20 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you, 21 Mr. President. 22 I wish to call up Senator Skelos' 23 bill, Print Number 4314-A recalled from the 24 Assembly which is now at the desk. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 6030 1 will read. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 899, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 4 Print 4314-A, an act to amend the Tax Law. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6 Marcellino. 7 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr. 8 President, I now move to reconsider the vote by 9 which this bill was passed. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 11 will call the roll on reconsideration. 12 (The Secretary called the roll on 13 reconsideration.) 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 16 Marcellino. 17 SENATOR MARCELLINO: I now offer 18 the following amendments. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 20 Amendments are received and adopted. 21 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 23 Holland. 24 SENATOR HOLLAND: Could we read 25 the title and adopt Resolution Number 1932, 6031 1 Senator Nozzolio's resolution, please. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 3 will read the title of the privileged Resolution 4 Number 1932. 5 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 6 Nozzolio, Legislative Resolution 1932, 7 commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Ovid 8 Veterans of Foreign Wars Post Number 6200 Ladies 9 Auxiliary. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Question 11 is on the resolution. All those in favor 12 signify by saying aye. 13 (Response of "Aye.") 14 Opposed nay. 15 (There was no response.) 16 The resolution is adopted. 17 Senator Gentile, why do you rise? 18 SENATOR GENTILE: Yes, Mr. 19 President. I would ask for unanimous consent to 20 be recorded in the negative on Calendar Number 21 1082. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 23 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Gentile 24 will be recorded in the negative on Calendar 25 Number 1082. 6032 1 Senator Abate, why do you rise? 2 SENATOR ABATE: Yes, Mr. 3 President. I ask for unanimous consent to be 4 recorded in the negative on Calendar Number 5 1082. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 7 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Abate 8 will be recorded in the negative on Calendar 9 Number 1082. 10 Senator Oppenheimer, why do you 11 rise? 12 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: I would 13 like the record to reflect that if I had been 14 present yesterday in the Assembly, in the 15 Senate, I -- where am I? -- that I would have 16 voted against Calendar Number 491. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 18 record will reflect, Senator Oppenheimer, that 19 had you been in the chamber yesterday when a 20 vote was taken on Calendar Number 491, that you 21 would have voted in the negative. 22 Senator Holland. 23 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 24 can we do the non-controversial calendar on the 25 Supplemental Calendar, please. 6033 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 Seabrook. 3 SENATOR SEABROOK: Mr. President, 4 with unanimous consent, I would like to be 5 recorded in the negative on bill 1082. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 7 objection, hearing no objection, Senator 8 Seabrook will be recorded in the negative on 9 Calendar Number 1082. 10 The Secretary will now read - 11 Senator Sampson. I'm sorry. 12 SENATOR SAMPSON: Mr. President, 13 may I have unanimous consent to be recorded in 14 the negative on bill 1082. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 16 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Sampson 17 will be recorded in the negative on Calendar 18 Number 1082. 19 The Secretary will read the 20 non-controversial reading of Supplemental 21 Calendar Number 58-A, beginning on the first 22 page, Calendar Number 1359, by Senator Velella. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 1359, by Senator Velella, Senate Print 1086-A, 25 an act to amend the Public Health Law, in 6034 1 relation to applications. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 3 Secretary will read the last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 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 58. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 11 is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 1361, by Senator LaValle, Senate Print 2668, an 14 act to amend the Town Law, in relation to 15 authorizing. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 17 a home rule message at the desk. The Secretary 18 will read the last section. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 20 act shall take effect immediately. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 22 roll. 23 (The Secretary called the roll.) 24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 6035 1 is passed. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 1362, by Senator Nozzolio, Senate Print 4021-A, 4 an act to amend the Social Services Law and the 5 Education Law, in relation to enacting. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 7 Secretary will read the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 8. This 9 act shall take effect September 1. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 11 roll. 12 (The Secretary called the roll.) 13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 15 is passed. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 1363, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 4386-A, an 18 act to amend the Banking Law. 19 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 21 bill aside. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 1364, by Senator Tully, Senate Print 4500, an 24 act to amend the Surrogate's Court Procedure 25 Act, in relation to the continuation. 6036 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 2 Secretary will read the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 4 act shall take effect immediately. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 6 roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll.) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 10 is passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 1366, by Senator Velella, Senate Print 4728, an 13 act to amend the Retirement and Social Security 14 Law, in relation to making certain technical 15 corrections. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 17 Secretary will read the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. 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 58. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 25 is passed. 6037 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 1367, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 4834-A, 3 an act to amend the Agriculture and Markets Law, 4 in relation to creating. 5 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 7 bill aside. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1368, by Senator Cook, Senate Print 4860-B, an 10 act to amend the General Business Law and the 11 Public Health Law, in relation to prepayment. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 13 Secretary will read the last section. 14 THE SECRETARY: Section 7. This 15 act shall take effect on the first day of 16 November. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 18 roll. 19 (The Secretary called the roll.) 20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 22 is passed. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 1369, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 5098, an 25 act to amend Chapter 879 of the Laws of 1936. 6038 1 SENATOR HOLLAND: Lay it aside 2 for the day, please. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 4 bill aside for the day. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 1370, by Senator Trunzo, Senate Print 5103-A, an 7 act to amend Chapter 683 of the Laws of 1995, 8 amending the Retirement and Social Security Law. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 10 Secretary will read the last section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 12 act shall take effect immediately. 13 SENATOR LEICHTER: Lay it aside. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 15 bill aside. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 1371, by Senator Levy, Senate Print 5268-A, an 18 act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, in 19 relation to private service bureaus. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 21 Secretary will read the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 23 act shall take effect on the 60th day. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 25 roll. 6039 1 (The Secretary called the roll.) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 4 is passed. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 1372, by Senator LaValle, Senate Print 5370, an 7 act to amend the Education Law, in relation to 8 the duty of school districts. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 10 Secretary will read the last section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 12 act shall take effect on the first day of 13 September. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 15 roll. 16 (The Secretary called the roll.) 17 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 19 is passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: Senator Levy 21 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 22 Assembly Bill Number 1986 and substitute it for 23 the identical Third Reading Calendar 1374. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 25 substitution is ordered. The Secretary will 6040 1 read the title. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 1374, by member of the Assembly Bragman, 4 Assembly Print 1986, an act to amend the Penal 5 Law, in relation to conditions of probation. 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 58. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 15 is passed. 16 THE SECRETARY: Senator Levy 17 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 18 Assembly Bill Number 6244 and substitute it for 19 identical Third Reading Calendar 1375. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 21 substitution is ordered. The Secretary will 22 read the title. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 1375, by member of the Assembly Gantt, Assembly 25 Print 6244, an act to amend the Vehicle and 6041 1 Traffic Law and Chapter 713 of the laws of 1988. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Read the 3 last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 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 58. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 11 is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 1378, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 5492-A, 14 an act to amend the Real Property Tax Law, in 15 relation to granting a partial exemption. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 17 Secretary will read the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 19 act shall take effect on the second day of 20 January. 21 SENATOR LEICHTER: Lay it aside. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 23 bill aside. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 1379, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 6042 1 Print 5506, an act in relation to granting Tier 2 1 status. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 4 Secretary will read the last - 5 SENATOR LEICHTER: Lay it aside. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 7 bill aside. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1381, by Senator Marchi, Senate Print 5508, an 10 act to amend the Public Health Law, in relation 11 to the use by health care providers. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 13 Secretary will read the last section. 14 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 15 act shall take effect on the 120th day. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Bless 17 you. Call the roll. 18 (The Secretary called the roll.) 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 21 is passed. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 1385, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 5535, an act 24 authorizing the town of Amherst, county of Erie. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There's a 6043 1 home rule message at the desk. The Secretary 2 will read the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 4 act shall take effect immediately. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 6 roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll.) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 10 is passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 1386, by Senate Committee on Rules, Senate Print 13 5539, an act to amend Chapter 904 of the Laws of 14 1984. 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 58. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 24 is passed. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6044 1 1387, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 2 Print 5540, an act to amend Chapter 535 of the 3 Laws of 1983. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 5 Secretary will read the last section. 6 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 7 act shall take effect immediately. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 9 roll. 10 (The Secretary called the roll.) 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 13 is passed. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 1390, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 5567, an 16 act to authorize the Commissioner of General 17 Services to sell and convey. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 19 Secretary will read the last section. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 21 act shall take effect immediately. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 23 roll. 24 (The Secretary called the roll.) 25 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 6045 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 2 is passed. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 1391, by Senator Tully, Senate Print 5582, an 5 act to amend the Public Authorities Law, in 6 relation to the powers of the Water Authority. 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 90th day. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 12 roll. 13 (The Secretary called the roll.) 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 16 is passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 1393, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 19 Print 5596, an act to amend Chapter 166 of the 20 Laws of 1991. 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 6046 1 roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll.) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 5 is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 1394, by Senator Tully, Senate Print 5603, an 8 act to legalize, certify and confirm the acts of 9 the Hicksville School District. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 11 Secretary will read the last section. 12 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. 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 58. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 19 is passed. 20 Senator Holland, that completes 21 the reading of -- the supplemental calendar 22 non-controversial reading. What's your 23 pleasure? 24 SENATOR HOLLAND: Could we do the 25 controversial items on 58-A, Mr. President, 6047 1 please. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 3 Secretary will read the controversial calendar. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 1363, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 4386-A, an 6 act to amend the Banking Law, the Tax Law, the 7 General City Law, the Administrative Code of the 8 city of New York and the codes and ordinances of 9 the city of Yonkers. 10 SENATOR LEICHTER: Explanation. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 12 Farley, an explanation has been requested by 13 Senator Leichter. 14 SENATOR FARLEY: Yes. This bill 15 would allow limited purpose trust companies to 16 form and operate themselves as a limited 17 liability trust company instead of its 18 corporations. The option would apply to those 19 trust companies which do not receive deposits 20 from the general public and have been exempted 21 by the Banking Board from the deposit insurance 22 requirements of the Banking Law. 23 A limited liability trust company 24 would be subject to virtually all the provisions 25 of the Banking Law which currently is applied to 6048 1 corporate form trust companies. It would also 2 be subject to all the provisions of the Limited 3 Liability Company Law. If these two laws are 4 inconsistent, the Banking Law would prevail. 5 Now, the Superintendent of Banks 6 retains all his current authority to regulate 7 these entities and, in addition, the 8 Superintendent of Banks is provided with the 9 express authority to make rules and regulations 10 to govern limited liability trust companies. 11 This bill would authorize the 12 limited liability company structure from limited 13 purpose trust companies which do not accept 14 funds from the general public. 15 This alternative business 16 structure offers many advantages, including the 17 ability to be taxed as a partnership. The 18 limited liability company structure can be 19 attractive to certain limited purpose trust 20 companies. Currently some of these trust 21 companies have parent entities which are 22 partnerships. The requirement to have a stock 23 form trust company creates a certain structural 24 inefficiency. It presents tax and other issues 25 for these partnerships. The ability to organize 6049 1 as a limited liability company will allow these 2 companies to select a business structure which 3 is most appropriate and efficient and desirable 4 for their operation. 5 This bill is similar to Chapter 6 637 of 1995 which amended the Banking Law to 7 allow Article 12 investment companies to 8 organize themselves as limited liability 9 companies. 10 Now, let me just say as basically 11 or simply as I can -- and this is not -- this is 12 kind of an arcane bill, I guess, but the reason 13 that this is done is to make for a more 14 efficient form of business operation. 15 This bill actually is consistent 16 with a policy that this Legislature established 17 in 1994 when New York State authorized the 18 creation of limited liability companies. This 19 Legislature and the state made this judgment 20 despite the possible loss of revenue and there 21 is a $300,000 estimate that they all take place 22 -- take advantage of this loss to the state but 23 we made that decision that the limited liability 24 company structure was useful and an attractive 25 business structure which would help keep New 6050 1 York as a desirable place in which to conduct 2 business. They could take a walk as so many 3 companies, and so forth, has to. These 4 companies that are organized as a partnership, 5 this would allow them to become a limited 6 liability trust company. 7 I've got more if you need it, but 8 I'll be happy to try to answer questions. 9 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator 10 Farley, that was more than enough. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Read the 12 last section. 13 SENATOR LEICHTER: No, no. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 15 Leichter. 16 SENATOR LEICHTER: With your 17 indulgence - 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: I 19 apologize, Senator Leichter. 20 SENATOR LEICHTER: That's all 21 right. 22 Senator Farley, if you would be 23 so good enough to yield. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 Farley, do you yield to a question from Senator 6051 1 Leichter? 2 SENATOR FARLEY: Yes, sir. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 4 Senator yields. 5 SENATOR LEICHTER: I would like 6 to, for the benefit of our colleagues, cut to 7 the quick here because you and I have gone 8 through this both in the Finance Committee and 9 in the Rules Committee. 10 The key aspect of this bill - 11 I'm sorry. Let me withdraw that question. As I 12 understand it, Senator Farley, there's 13 approximately five large underwriting brokerage 14 companies that are going to take advantage of 15 this. I think one of them you mentioned was 16 Goldman Sachs. I think another one was Lehman 17 Brothers. Who are the other ones, Senator, if 18 you could just inform us of that? 19 SENATOR FARLEY: Brown Brothers & 20 Harriman Trust Company, Goldman Sachs Trust 21 Company and Neuburger & Berman Trust Company are 22 the three biggies. 23 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator -- and 24 I think you alluded to it in your explanation - 25 by making this change, these companies are going 6052 1 to get a tax benefit. It's going to cost the 2 taxpayers of the state of New York, I believe 3 the estimate is $300,000, is that right? 4 SENATOR FARLEY: That's correct. 5 That's if the -- all of them take advantage of 6 it. 7 SENATOR LEICHTER: All right. 8 Thank you, Senator Farley. 9 Let me just say, I don't know 10 what we're about. Here we are, we're going to 11 give $300,000 to some of the wealthiest, most 12 profitable brokerage and underwriting and 13 banking advisors and investors in the state. 14 Senator Farley, you know, said 15 something, well, you know, they could move 16 away. Now, wait a second, they're not going to 17 move to Hoboken or Secaucus. These are firms 18 that are here. These are not firms that are in 19 trouble. These are not firms that are doing 20 poorly. It's not a big sum of money but the 21 principle is just awful. 22 There's no reason, no 23 explanation, no justification for this bill 24 other than to give -- to allow these 25 underwriters to take advantage of a tax 6053 1 benefit. Instead of being taxed as 2 corporations, they're going to be taxed as 3 limited liability partnerships. As limited 4 liability partnerships, they have all the 5 advantages of a corporation. Now they also want 6 to be taxed as a partnership which brings them a 7 benefit which means that we, the taxpayers, our 8 constituents, the taxpayers, are going to be 9 supporting these corporations. 10 In some instances, it makes sense 11 for us to do it, but I submit to you that for 12 these three or maybe five wealthiest 13 corporations to say, Oh, we're going to let you 14 change your form of business arrangement so that 15 you can take advantage of the Tax Law and pay 16 less taxes to the state of New York, it just 17 makes absolutely no sense. We shouldn't be 18 doing this. We don't have the money, Senator 19 Farley. 20 We've got a lot of people that 21 are needy. We have a lot of people in New York 22 State that need help. We have a lot of sections 23 of this state that need help, including your 24 district where unemployment is going up, and I 25 don't think we should be about at this time 6054 1 increasing the already enormous profits of five 2 brokerage houses in the city of New York. 3 I'm happy that they're making a 4 lot of money, but I don't have to make them 5 richer at the expense of the taxpayers of this 6 state. 7 SENATOR FARLEY: I understand 8 what you're saying, Senator Leichter, but I 9 could not disagree with you more. Let me just 10 say this. We're talking about jobs, jobs. Jobs 11 that are in your area of the state, basically, 12 in New York City, the financial capital of the 13 world. 14 Let me just tell you, Goldman 15 Sachs who you're mentioning as a company that 16 makes a lot of money -- and I presume that they 17 do -- their operation, quite frankly, a great 18 part of it is in London; that's England and you 19 know what? They could move this not only out of 20 the state but out of the country and I'll tell 21 you something else. They could go to 22 Connecticut. They could go to so many other 23 places. You say, Well, they won't go. 24 I'll tell you, I could bring you 25 to some of the communities in my state. 6055 1 Amsterdam used to be the carpet center of the 2 world, the carpet capital of the world. There 3 isn't a carpet in that city. Every single one 4 of them left here, every one. I -- Schenectady 5 GE used to have 70,000 jobs. You know how many 6 they have there now? 5,000. It's an absolute 7 depressing situation. 8 All this bill does, very simply, 9 is to allow a partnership organization of 10 business to organize itself in a more efficient 11 way and for God's sakes, we don't allow or want 12 that to happen in New York State? For heaven's 13 sake, we want them to pay the most taxes that 14 they can pay. Now, if they're organized as a 15 corporation, they don't have to pay that but if 16 they happen to be a partnership, they have to 17 pay it. 18 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 19 would Senator Farley yield? 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Farley, do you yield to a question? 22 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, this 23 has absolutely nothing to do with efficiency. 24 They're going to run their operation precisely. 25 It has solely to do with tax liability, but I 6056 1 want to address the point you made that we're 2 talking about jobs and that we're in danger of 3 having these companies move out of the state. 4 Senator, do you have any report, 5 any study which shows the number of jobs that 6 are going to be created if we pass this bill? 7 SENATOR FARLEY: I'm talking 8 about saving jobs. Is that important to you, 9 Senator Leichter? 10 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, has 11 anybody said to you, do you have any credible 12 evidence that any jobs are going to be lost if 13 we don't pass this bill? 14 SENATOR FARLEY: Nobody has said 15 to me that it's going to snow this winter in 16 Albany but it's very evident if we don't do 17 something like this, it's not going to be a form 18 of business that they care to carry on in New 19 York State. 20 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator - 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Leichter, are you asking Senator Farley to 23 yield? 24 SENATOR LEICHTER: -- if you'll 25 be good enough to continue to yield, Senator. 6057 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 Farley, do you continue to yield? 3 SENATOR FARLEY: Yes, I will. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 5 Senator yields. 6 SENATOR LEICHTER: Am I correct 7 then that this is your assumption -- your 8 assumption that unless we do this special 9 benefit bill, that there's going to be a loss of 10 jobs in these companies? 11 SENATOR FARLEY: It is my 12 assumption that we should do this bill to level 13 the playing field between a corporation and a 14 partnership that are in exactly the same 15 operation of business. I think it's only fair. 16 I think it's an efficient form of business. I 17 think it makes sense and I don't think it's any 18 great loss. 19 You know, the taxes that will be 20 paid by these employees or this company staying 21 here are a lot more than $300,000. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 23 Leichter, are you asking - 24 SENATOR LEICHTER: Just one final 25 question. 6058 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 Farley, do you yield to another question? 3 SENATOR LEICHTER: My good friend 4 Senator Farley. Then I take it, Senator, that 5 other than your assumption because it snows in 6 Albany that these companies may cut jobs if we 7 don't -- if we don't pass your bill. You have 8 no credible evidence whatsoever and that nobody 9 from these companies has even said to you, 10 unless you pass this bill, there's going to be a 11 decline in jobs. Is that correct? 12 SENATOR FARLEY: Nobody has said 13 that to me, no, they have not. 14 SENATOR LEICHTER: Okay. 15 SENATOR FARLEY: They have not 16 threatened me, if that's what you're implying. 17 I do this out of the goodness of my heart and 18 for what I think is best for the state of New 19 York, for the economy of this state and for the 20 people that work for these companies. 21 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 22 I thank Senator Farley and I know that you 23 always act from the goodness of your heart and 24 what you think is best for the people of the 25 state of New York but, Senator Farley, let me 6059 1 tell you, this is such a special interest bill 2 and so outrageous and so unjustified. I don't 3 mind -- if this was really only a matter of 4 business efficiency, then I would say, Fine, 5 we'll do it but we'll just provide that they pay 6 the same amount of taxes as they did as 7 corporations. That has nothing to do -- not one 8 employee is going to be -- in any respect have 9 his functions or duties changed. Everything 10 will be exactly the same in these companies 11 except they'll set up these limited liability 12 partnerships and save some money on taxes. 13 Now, Senator, if you came before 14 me and said, I want to do this for one of my 15 carpet companies in Amsterdam or one of your 16 companies in Amsterdam, I may say maybe it makes 17 sense to do it because they're distressed. 18 They're in trouble. These companies are not in 19 trouble. They're incredibly profitable, thank 20 goodness. I'm pleased that they're profitable. 21 There's not the slightest risk that they're 22 going to move any of their operation out of the 23 state of New York. The fact that they're in 24 London and Hong Kong and Singapore and other 25 world financial centers is because that's the 6060 1 nature of their business, but their headquarters 2 is in New York. They're going to stay in New 3 York. They never said they're going to move. 4 They never said they're going to change one 5 job. They just said to Senator Farley as they 6 presented this bill, Senator, if we could make 7 this change in our legal -- in formation, we 8 would save ourselves some money and, Senator, if 9 you think that the people of the state of New 10 York are wealthy enough that we can support and 11 subsidize these companies and give them a tax 12 break, you go ahead and do it. 13 I'm not going do it. I think 14 it's outrageous. I think it's the worst form of 15 special interest legislation. It's always kept 16 for the end of the legislative session. Maybe 17 the only thing good one can say for this 18 legislation, if it appears before us at this 19 time, you know that the end of the session isn't 20 far along. 21 Senator, we shouldn't be doing 22 this. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 24 Secretary will read the last section. 25 THE SECRETARY: Section 20. This 6061 1 act shall take effect immediately. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 3 roll. 4 (The Secretary called the roll.) 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Announce 6 the results. 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57, nays 1, 8 Senator Leichter recorded in the negative. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 10 is passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 1367, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 4834-A, 13 an act to amend the Agriculture and Markets Law, 14 in relation to creating an advisory council. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 16 Secretary will read the last section. 17 SENATOR PATERSON: Explanation. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 19 Paterson, did you request an explanation? 20 SENATOR PATERSON: Yes. Thank 21 you, Mr. President. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 23 Johnson, an explanation of the bill has been 24 requested. 25 SENATOR JOHNSON: Mr. President, 6062 1 this is a bill in accordance with the suggestion 2 of the Ag' and Markets Department that it should 3 have a seafood council which would advise, in 4 all aspects, a seafood policy, including the 5 harvesters, the wholesalers, the retailers, 6 consumers and they would review seafood policy 7 in the state and make recommendations on an 8 annual basis about how the seafood policy should 9 be structured in the state of New York. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 11 Paterson. 12 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 13 a quick question, if the sponsor will yield. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 15 Johnson, do you yield? 16 SENATOR JOHNSON: Yes, Mr. 17 President. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 19 Senator yields. 20 SENATOR PATERSON: Senator 21 Johnson, I see here in the bill that there are a 22 number of appointments that will be made to 23 fulfill the needs that the bill proposes and my 24 question simply is I don't see any appointment 25 powers granted to either the Minority Leader in 6063 1 the Assembly or the Minority Leader in Senate. 2 Is there any plan to have full participation of 3 the Legislature in that regard? 4 SENATOR JOHNSON: I'm sorry. 5 What was the question, whether there's 6 legislative participation in this? Is that your 7 question, Senator? 8 SENATOR PATERSON: Yeah, by the 9 Minorities in the Senate and the Assembly, the 10 conferences. 11 SENATOR JOHNSON: Senator, 12 they're not in here, that's true, and there's no 13 good reason why they're not in here. I guess in 14 this case, I suppose the saving grace is that 15 the Assembly and the Senate are both represented 16 and different parties are represented therefor 17 and I expect a balanced representation in that 18 respect. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 20 Paterson, did you have further questions? 21 SENATOR PATERSON: No. Thank 22 you, Mr. President. 23 Senator Johnson gave a complete 24 answer to my question. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 6064 1 Secretary will read the last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 3 act shall take effect immediately. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 5 roll. 6 (The Secretary called the roll.) 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes - 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 9 the negatives and announce the results. 10 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 11 just to explain my vote. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 Paterson, to explain his vote. 14 SENATOR PATERSON: There is no 15 partisanship that compels me to object to this. 16 It kind of relates to what Senator Leichter was 17 saying earlier. Senator Leichter sometimes 18 thinks no one is listening to him around here 19 and sometimes he's right but in that particular 20 case, there really has, in my opinion, got to be 21 a greater understanding of the fact that just 22 the two parties doesn't satisfy the real need to 23 have appointments from the Minority. 24 It would be very possible that 25 one of the parties might win both houses and if 6065 1 we kept this kind of situation, we would not 2 have participation from a significant number of 3 representatives who are in the Legislature 4 representing large numbers of people, and so in 5 voting no, it's out of no disrespect to the 6 Majority in this house. It's just a general 7 feeling that there should be full participation 8 at all levels of the Legislature and by all 9 conferences and, therefore, that better enables 10 us to have a real representation of all of the 11 membership. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Announce 13 the results. 14 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 15 the negative on Calendar Number 1367 are 16 Senators Abate, Connor, Dollinger, Gentile, 17 Leichter, Montgomery, Onorato and Paterson. 18 Ayes 50, nays 8. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 20 is passed. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 1370, by Senator Trunzo, Senate Print 5103-A, an 23 act to amend Chapter 683 of the Laws of 1995. 24 SENATOR LEICHTER: Explanation. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6066 1 Trunzo, an explanation has been requested by 2 Senator Leichter. 3 SENATOR TRUNZO: Mr. President, 4 what this bill does is, as members of this house 5 know, back in 1993, we passed an administrative 6 review bill which had to do with all this 7 individual type of legislation where different 8 individuals for one thing or another -- the one 9 bill that Senator Gold constantly refers to as 10 the Trunzo bill, but at any rate, in 1995, we 11 amended that bill because originally we wanted 12 to socialize the cost of the -- you know, the 13 various independent items and it happened where 14 there was a case that came up in Senator Cook's 15 district where the amount of money that the town 16 had to pay to justify an error that was made way 17 back when was higher than the town budget and in 18 June of 1995, we passed legislation to socialize 19 everything retroactively to 1993 that had been 20 done in that Section 803 of the Civil Service 21 Law. 22 Now -- what we're doing now is 23 extending that and making it permanent, so to 24 speak, to all the sections that are out there 25 now, all the cases that still have not been 6067 1 resolved even though the window closed in 2 October. 3 So to do that, many of the 4 municipalities, because of the cost involved, 5 are not permitting their employees to make the 6 adjustments that should be made to their pension 7 systems. So by socializing it, they will accept 8 it as it has been done from 1993 to 1995. Now 9 we're continuing it on until they satisfy their 10 employees. 11 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 12 if Senator Trunzo will yield. 13 SENATOR TRUNZO: Yes. 14 SENATOR LEICHTER: That's an 15 interesting euphemism. We're socializing the 16 costs. 17 SENATOR TRUNZO: Well, the term 18 "socializing" has been used. Owen said I'm 19 getting to be a liberal. 20 SENATOR LEICHTER: You're asking 21 somebody to pay somebody's costs and that's 22 socializing them by spreading the expense 23 around? 24 SENATOR TRUNZO: This is what we 25 do with most of our pension legislation bills, 6068 1 where all employers involved share in the cost. 2 That's called socializing and that's the 3 terminology that's used, Senator, and what has 4 happened is that the cost has gone so 5 astronomical in certain areas where the original 6 employer, where the error was made, that in 7 1995, we did change the law to socialize the 8 cost retroactive to the date of the original 9 bill which was in 1993 and the only reason it 10 wasn't socialized originally is because Governor 11 Cuomo didn't want to do it that way because 12 that's the way we originally had it. The Senate 13 and the Assembly, when we both did that bill 14 over, you know, lots of years of work, wanted 15 the participat... the original employer, period, 16 to pay the cost of the change that they 17 themselves made in error. 18 So what we're doing is extending 19 it now from June of 1995 to whatever current 20 date because of that, I believe close to 4,000 21 applications that the Comptroller is still 22 holding onto, the decisions have not been made 23 to change whatever -- you know, to make their 24 decisions because the employers -- various 25 employers will not submit the paperwork even 6069 1 though the applications were made for correction 2 of their pension problems, would not submit the 3 paperwork because they figure they're going to 4 cost them too much money and since we did 5 socialization once before, we want to continue 6 to do it again so that these cases can be 7 resolved. 8 There are no further cases open 9 because the window did close in October of 1996 10 and there have been no objections to this. 11 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 12 if Senator Trunzo will yield, please. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 Trunzo, do you continue to yield? 15 SENATOR TRUNZO: Yes. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 17 Senator continues to yield. 18 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, we're 19 talking about the system that we set up in order 20 to enable employees to appeal to the Comptroller 21 if there was some correction that they felt they 22 needed to make in their pension system and that 23 -- the expense of that has really run into the 24 millions? 25 SENATOR TRUNZO: It's run into - 6070 1 a large cost to various employers and, as I 2 stated before, back in 1995, Senator Cook came 3 to our office and -- I don't want to give you 4 the picture, Charlie, but the Senator did come 5 into the office where a town, to make an 6 adjustment, cost higher than their town budget 7 and they couldn't afford to do it and we did the 8 legislation in June of 1995 that made it 9 retroactive for all the cases that were on file 10 up 'til that date and in all fairness now for 11 any of the future ones that the Comptroller has 12 not handled, we want that to continue on so they 13 can relieve these 4,000 cases that are still 14 pending. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Excuse 16 me, Senator Trunzo. 17 Senator Cook, why do you rise? 18 SENATOR COOK: Mr. President, 19 would the Senators yield and I would be glad to 20 enter a little explanation. 21 SENATOR LEICHTER: Sure. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator, 23 which Senator are you asking to yield? 24 SENATOR COOK: Well, whichever 25 one has the floor. 6071 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 Leichter has the floor. 3 SENATOR COOK: Okay. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5 Leichter, do you yield to a question from 6 Senator Cook? 7 SENATOR COOK: Senator, the 8 justification for socializing, in other words, 9 putting it as we do with all insurance, you buy 10 an insurance policy and everybody who's covered 11 by that insurance is included at a common 12 premium which is basically the principle of the 13 following, but just as a matter of explanation, 14 what happened in this particular instance, the 15 fellow who was involved was the town health 16 officer. He happened to be a physician in an 17 adjoining town and he worked at a salary of $500 18 a year. He was subsequently appointed by a 19 different county even to be the county -- head 20 of the county Health Department at a salary of 21 $50,000 a year. When he made his appeal, which 22 was well founded and it was decided that, in 23 fact, he was entitled to this, the error had 24 been made by the town which had the salary of 25 $500 but they had to pay the premium based on 6072 1 his $50,000 salary in the other county for all 2 the years that he had worked for them and that's 3 why the town ended up with an astronomical 4 amount of money which, of course, was not based 5 on anything that had been in their budget. 6 That's the reason why there are 7 so many of these individual cases involved in 8 this, that it makes a lot more sense just to 9 spread it across the board. 10 SENATOR LEICHTER: Thank you, 11 Senator Cook. 12 If Senator Trunzo will yield. 13 Senator, you said one thing that disturbed me. 14 We've closed the window now, the application - 15 SENATOR TRUNZO: Section 803 of 16 the Civil Service Law -- of the Pension Law 17 expired on October of 1996. In other words, 18 there's nobody else who can put in applications 19 to make change and that may be some reason why 20 you're seeing some individual bills coming out 21 here again that you have questioned in the past 22 -- over the past year or so, but what has 23 happened is the fact that the window is closed, 24 there are still applications pending in the 25 Comptroller's office and the Comptroller is 6073 1 putting -- has a socializing bill, as it's 2 called, also on the same issue to extend it so 3 that these cases can be resolved as they have 4 been between 1993 and 1995 when we did the 5 so-called socialization of all those costs. 6 SENATOR LEICHTER: So this - 7 SENATOR TRUNZO: So we're just 8 extending it for those applicants that are still 9 waiting. 10 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, if 11 you'll continue to yield. As I understand it, 12 by asking all the employers, every participating 13 employer in the system will be charged some 14 amount, I guess, a percentage of the - 15 SENATOR TRUNZO: Yeah, a 16 percentage. 17 SENATOR LEICHTER: -- payments 18 that they make to the pension system in order to 19 cover the costs of processing these 20 applications. 21 SENATOR TRUNZO: Yes, that's 22 right. 23 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, I 24 have one suggestion and I want to hear your 25 comment on it. How about since we're 6074 1 socializing, spreading the costs around, how 2 about socializing the costs in the Legislature 3 of printing and acting on all of these bills. 4 Why don't we pass that on to all the employers 5 too? 6 SENATOR TRUNZO: I think Senator 7 Bruno does that. 8 SENATOR LEICHTER: Thank you. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Read the 10 last section. 11 Senator Dollinger. 12 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Will Senator 13 Leichter yield to just a quick question? Is 14 this, in fact, the first case, Senator Leichter, 15 where we may be voting on a piece of socialist 16 legislation from the other side of the aisle in 17 your career here, your 25 years here? 18 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, I 19 learned a new word and I like the idea that if 20 you can spread some of the expense that you 21 might have to pay on to somebody else, you're 22 just socializing it. I would like to try that 23 with some of my colleagues. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 25 Secretary will read the last section. 6075 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 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 8 is passed. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 1378, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 5492-A, 11 an act to amend the Real Property Tax Law. 12 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Explanation. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 Johnson, an explanation of Calendar Number 1378 15 has been asked by Senator Dollinger. 16 SENATOR JOHNSON: Mr. President, 17 this bill would extend a real property tax break 18 exemption up to 50 percent -- up to 45 percent 19 for people who are disabled with essentially the 20 same income formula as presently exists for 21 senior citizens. 22 This was done last year and got a 23 veto by the Governor. It passed both houses. 24 Because he objected to some parts of that bill, 25 this bill has been revised. It's overcome his 6076 1 objection, clarified a lot of questions that I 2 think were addressed and this is necessary to be 3 done because in many cases the income of these 4 people isn't an awfully lot more than the taxes 5 on their house. 6 Now, if they were 65 or older 7 they could get the exemption but if they're in 8 their 30s, 40s or 50s and they're disabled with 9 low incomes, they're many times forced out of 10 their homes because of the taxes. 11 Now, there's no state cost to 12 this. It would have to be up to the localities, 13 of course, to grant this exemption and you and I 14 and everyone else who are paying the full taxes 15 will naturally pick up that difference, and so 16 it's a question of whether the localities want 17 to do it or not, but I think it's a good thing, 18 long overdue to help out disabled people of low 19 incomes so they can remain in their homes. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Dollinger. 22 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 23 President, will Senator Johnson yield just to 24 one question? 25 SENATOR JOHNSON: Yes. 6077 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 Johnson, do you yield to just one question? The 3 Senator yields. 4 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Do you know 5 what -- if this were implemented across the 6 state, fully implemented, all the people that 7 have disabilities, do you know what the cost 8 would be to local communities? 9 SENATOR JOHNSON: I do not know 10 that. 11 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Okay. 12 Because I assume this bill would work the same 13 as other exemptions, that is, whatever tax is 14 exempted for disabled people would then be -- to 15 use Senator Trunzo's term, would then be 16 socialized to everybody who pays taxes, is that 17 correct? 18 SENATOR JOHNSON: Yes. Most of 19 us here would be picking that up, no doubt about 20 it but, quite frankly, I and others have heard 21 so many tragic stories about people forced out 22 of their homes. Maybe there's a disabled person 23 in the family, a spouse dies who had the 24 income. This person who is in there cannot keep 25 the home, no place to go, and I don't think 6078 1 there would be very many of them in any 2 community because there are strict limitations 3 on who the person is on -- the disabled person, 4 they must be certified to receive SSI or SSDI, 5 retirement, and so forth, a certificate from 6 blind, visually disabled, and so on. It's not 7 that you want to get a parking space for the 8 disabled. I got a little trouble with my 9 heart. You have to really be disabled and 10 living only on that income essentially. 11 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 12 President, just on the bill. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 Dollinger, on the bill. 15 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I agree with 16 this bill from Senator Johnson. I'm going to 17 vote in favor of the bill. I do think it would 18 be helpful to have some estimate of what the 19 cost of these exemptions would be to local 20 communities so that we know how much of that tax 21 we're going to end up socializing as we spread 22 it around to others on the tax base. 23 It seems to me that it's a good 24 idea. It perpetuates the notion that disabled 25 people will be able to continue to live in their 6079 1 homes, which I think everybody acknowledges is a 2 good idea, but we should have some fiscal 3 understanding, and I think perhaps fiscal 4 conservatism as distinguished from socializing 5 the cost would give us a better sense of what 6 we're doing, even though I think it's the right 7 thing to do. 8 SENATOR JOHNSON: I think Senator 9 Leichter is really very sensitive to the fact 10 that this side of the aisle on these two bills 11 is taking away a lot of the Democrat agenda but 12 we don't really intend to do that. 13 I think the problem is, though, 14 first of all, the localities can opt into the 15 maximum of eighteen-five or they can go up to 16 the twenty-six eight ninety-nine. They don't 17 have to take the higher limits. So they can 18 control to a great extent what they do. 19 Upstate some communities are 20 still using a low limitation for the present 21 senior citizen property taxes. Of course, in 22 their communities, not many people make more 23 than $18,000 or $20,000. So it's really up to 24 the localities to do it and we can't predict how 25 many are out there now and what level of 6080 1 exemption might be adopted by the communities. 2 So it's very difficult to contemplate what that 3 figure would be right now. Someone somewhere 4 might be able to figure it out. I don't think 5 it's a simple thing to do and the way it impacts 6 on communities depends upon the actions of those 7 communities. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 9 Secretary will read the last section. 10 Senator Leichter, why do you 11 rise? 12 SENATOR LEICHTER: If Senator 13 Johnson will yield, please. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 15 Johnson, do you yield to a question from Senator 16 Leichter? 17 SENATOR JOHNSON: Yes, Mr. 18 President. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 20 Senator yields. 21 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, I 22 would be happy to have you take over all my 23 program. You seem to be much more skillful than 24 I am in getting bills passed, but what I'm 25 concerned about about your bill is I don't think 6081 1 it's totally complete. You deal with homeowners 2 but how about renters? How about disabled 3 renters and allowing municipalities to give them 4 a break? 5 SENATOR JOHNSON: Of course, 6 there are other programs out there which would 7 affect renters, for example, circuit breaker 8 programs, and so forth, which would affect 9 renters but I would say, Senator, that in my 10 experience, a homeowner and renter are different 11 in one respect, that the taxes on tenants are 12 generally a lot less than on homeowners. So, in 13 other words, it wouldn't impact on them as 14 much. 15 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, if 16 you would just yield to one more question. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 18 Johnson, do you yield to one more question? 19 SENATOR JOHNSON: Yes, Mr. 20 President. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 22 Senator yields. 23 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, the 24 renters pay for the real estate tax as part of 25 their rent. So it's certainly a burden on them 6082 1 and, in fact, we have a program for elderly 2 renters which allows municipalities to give them 3 a break, and I would just suggest that you ought 4 to extent your program to give that power to the 5 municipalities, city of New York, other 6 municipalities that have a lot of renters, if 7 they wanted to, as they do for senior citizen 8 renters, to give assistance and a subsidy, if 9 you will, to disabled renters. It's easy enough 10 to do and it would be a fair way of proceeding. 11 It would make this a better program. 12 SENATOR JOHNSON: Senator, I 13 don't -- at this point I can't express any 14 particular opposition to it if that's a real 15 problem. However, that's not in this bill and 16 perhaps I would be concerned about Senator 17 Dollinger's observation that we don't know what 18 this is going to cost and maybe in the future, 19 Senator, we can extend it to that group as 20 well. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 22 Secretary will read the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 24 act shall take effect on the second day of 25 January. 6083 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 2 roll. 3 (The Secretary called the roll.) 4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 6 is passed. 7 Senator Waldon, why do you rise? 8 SENATOR WALDON: Thank you very 9 much, Mr. President. 10 I rise because on other business 11 of the Senate, I was out of the chamber when 12 this august body considered 1082, 1335 and 13 1367. I respectfully request unanimous consent 14 to be recorded in the negative on each of those. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 16 objection and hearing no objection, Senator 17 Waldon will be recorded in the negative on 18 Calendar 1082, 1335 and 1367. 19 The Secretary will continue to 20 read the controversial reading of Supplemental 21 Calendar A -- 58-A. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 1379, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 24 Print 5506, an act in relation to granting Tier 25 1 retirement status. 6084 1 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Explanation. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 3 Holland, in the absence of Senator Rules, who 4 would you like to explain Calendar Number 1379? 5 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 6 this legislation would grant Tier 1 retirement 7 status to certain public employees who failed to 8 timely join the state employment retirement 9 system. 10 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 11 President. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 Dollinger. 14 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Will Senator 15 Holland yield to a question? 16 SENATOR HOLLAND: Yes. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 18 Senator yields. 19 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Senator, this 20 is the obvious question whenever we get one of 21 these bills and it doesn't have a name attached 22 to it, who is this person and what, if any, 23 relationship does this person have to this 24 Senate or any person in it, do you know? 25 SENATOR HOLLAND: I'm Senator 6085 1 Holland. This is Senator Rules. I'm just a 2 stand-in, Senator. 3 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I understand 4 that, Senator Holland. I appreciate it. Most 5 of these bills, when we do specific pension 6 bills, apply to one only person and that person 7 is named and I needed to ask. 8 SENATOR HOLLAND: I think it 9 does, but I don't have the answer to that. I 10 can get that for you. 11 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Could we lay 12 the bill aside until we have the name of the 13 person who's actually - 14 SENATOR HOLLAND: Well, I would 15 rather not. 16 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I've got the 17 floor, Mr. President. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 19 Dollinger, the floor is yours. Would you like 20 Senator Holland to yield to another question or 21 would you like to speak on the bill? 22 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Well, I would 23 love to have him yield to another question, Mr. 24 President. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6086 1 Holland, do you yield to another question from 2 Senator Dollinger? 3 SENATOR HOLLAND: Yes. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 5 Senator yields. 6 SENATOR DOLLINGER: We've done a 7 lot of these individual pension bills. We've 8 set up a process which Senator Trunzo mentioned 9 a couple minutes ago to try to deal with this 10 problem and not bring special individual bills. 11 I believe every other time -- I can remember one 12 exception which unfortunately ended up being a 13 rather unfortunate exception to this practice - 14 which caused a great deal of consternation and a 15 great deal of after the fact finger pointing and 16 all kinds of other things and it seems to me 17 that we need to know who this is before I could 18 cast anything near an intelligent vote on this. 19 I don't mean to put you on the 20 spot or any of the other members, but I think 21 it's only fair and consistent with our past 22 practice we know who this is, and I would ask 23 you again if we would lay this bill aside until 24 we know who it is. 25 SENATOR HOLLAND: I would rather 6087 1 not, Senator. I would like to tell you one 2 other thing, though. The employee is willing to 3 pay the entire cost here. 4 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again through 5 you, Mr. President. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7 Holland, do you continue to yield? 8 SENATOR HOLLAND: Yes. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 10 Senator continues to yield. 11 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Can I assume 12 from that that this employee is willing to pay 13 the entire cost because this is significantly 14 beneficial to this employee whether he pays the 15 cost or not? 16 SENATOR HOLLAND: I would imagine 17 so, sir. 18 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I would 19 imagine the same thing. I would like to know 20 who we're giving this big, huge benefit to. You 21 understand, Senator. I'm a fiscal conservative, 22 as I think you are. Before I spend the state's 23 money or deal -- dole it out of the pension 24 fund, I'd like to know who this person is. 25 Obviously this person had the ability under 6088 1 Senator Trunzo's bill to file a request for 2 readmission to the pension system, and I would 3 just ask that someone grant us an explanation of 4 who this person is. 5 SENATOR HOLLAND: Lay the bill 6 aside, please. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 8 Secretary will lay the bill aside. 9 THE SECRETARY: Senator Holland, 10 that completes the, for the moment, the 11 controversial reading of Supplemental Calendar 12 58-A. 13 SENATOR HOLLAND: That completes 14 -- I'm told there's one more, Mr. President 15 13... 1336, Senator Waldon's bill. 16 Mr. President, lay that bill 17 aside, please. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: What's 19 your pleasure at this point, Senator Holland? 20 SENATOR HOLLAND: Return to 21 reports of standing committees for a report of 22 the Rules Committee, Mr. President. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We'll 24 return to the order of reports of standing 25 committees. There is a report from the Rules 6089 1 Committee meeting just a couple hours ago that's 2 at the desk. 3 I'll ask the Secretary to read. 4 THE SECRETARY: Senator Bruno, 5 from the Committee on Rules, reports the 6 following bills: 7 Senate Print 282, by Senator 8 Kuhl, an act to amend the Tax Law; 9 1173, by Senator Maltese, an act 10 to amend the Retirement and Social Security Law; 11 1416-B, by Senator Wright, an act 12 to amend the Tax Law; 13 2487, by Senator Spano, an act to 14 amend the Correction Law; 15 4000-A, by Senator Present, an 16 act to amend the Executive Law; 17 4121-A, by Senator Holland, an 18 act to amend the Social Services Law; 19 4126, by Senator Marcellino, an 20 act to amend the Environmental Conservation Law; 21 4252, by Senator Johnson, an act 22 to amend the Local Finance Law; 23 4419, by Senator Farley, an act 24 to amend the Civil Service Law; 25 4766, by Senator Levy, an act to 6090 1 amend the Penal Law; 2 4847, by Senator Meier, an act to 3 amend the Retirement and Social Security Law; 4 5003-A, by Senator Trunzo, an act 5 to amend the Retirement and Social Security Law; 6 5075, by Senator Marcellino, an 7 act to amend the Education Law; 8 5297, by Senator Stachowski, an 9 act to permit the reopening of the optional 10 20-year retirement plan; 11 5328, by Senator Marchi, an act 12 to amend the Retirement and Social Security Law; 13 5372-A, by Senator Spano, an act 14 to amend the Social Services Law; 15 5422, by Senator Velella, an act 16 to amend the Family Court Act; 17 5440, by Senator Meier, an act to 18 amend the Retirement and Social Security Law; 19 5525, by Senator Volker, an act 20 to amend the Criminal Procedure Law and others; 21 5544, by Senator Nozzolio, an act 22 to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law; 23 5552-A, by Senator Goodman, an 24 act to amend the Tax Law; 25 5554, by Senator Libous, an act 6091 1 to amend the Insurance Law; 2 5559, by Senator Goodman, an act 3 to amend the Charter of the city of New York; 4 5584, by Senator Oppenheimer, an 5 act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law; 6 5598, by the Senate Committee on 7 Rules, an act to amend the Insurance Law; and 8 3836, by Senator Gentile, an act 9 authorizing the city of New York. 10 All bills ordered direct for 11 third reading. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 Larkin. 14 SENATOR LARKIN: Mr. President, 15 can we now take up the non-controversial portion 16 of this calendar. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 18 motion is to accept the report of the Rules 19 Committee. All those in favor signify by saying 20 aye. 21 (Response of "Aye".) 22 Opposed, nay. 23 (There was no response.) 24 The Rules report is accepted. 25 The bills are ordered directly to 6092 1 third reading. 2 The Secretary will call the 3 non-controversial Supplemental Calendar 58-B. 4 THE SECRETARY: Senator Kuhl 5 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 6 Assembly Bill Number 197 and substitute it for 7 the identical Third Reading Calendar 1395. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 9 substitution is ordered. The Secretary will 10 read the title. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 1395, by member of the Assembly Schimminger, 13 Assembly Print 197, an act to amend the Tax Law. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 15 Secretary will read the last section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 17 act shall take effect immediately. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 19 roll. 20 (The Secretary called the roll.) 21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 23 is passed. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 1397, by Senator Wright, Senate Print 1416-B, an 6093 1 act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to adding 2 mining. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 4 Secretary will read the last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 6 act shall take effect on the first day of 7 January. 8 SENATOR LEICHTER: Lay it aside. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 10 bill aside. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 1398, by Senator Spano, Senate Print 2487, an 13 act to amend the Correction Law, in relation to 14 the custody and supervision. 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 58. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 24 is passed. 25 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President. 6094 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Yes, 2 Senator Leichter. Why do you rise? 3 SENATOR LEICHTER: What happened 4 to Calendar Number 1396? 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: It was 6 laid aside. You requested it be laid aside. 7 SENATOR LEICHTER: I don't think 8 you ever read it. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Wait a 10 minute. Excuse me. I'm mistaken. 11 Senator Leichter, that bill - 12 well, you have the bill on your supplemental 13 calendar. There are several bills that are not 14 going to be taken up on the calendar. In other 15 words, there's an active list and there's a 16 non-active list and I'll provide for the benefit 17 of the members those bills which will not be 18 taken up. Those will be Calendar Number 1396, 19 which was passed by, Calendar Number 1405, 20 Calendar Number 1409, Calendar 1420, 1421 and 21 1422. They are not on the active list and will 22 not be read. 23 SENATOR LEICHTER: And they will 24 not be taken up today, is that correct? 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: They will 6095 1 not be taken up today. So Calendar Number 1396 2 was not read. So at this point Calendar Number 3 1395 has been passed. 1396 was not read. 4 Calendar Number 1397 by Senator Wright was laid 5 aside and we're on 1398. 6 SENATOR TULLY: Mr. President - 7 Mr. President. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Calendar 9 Number 1398 was passed. Excuse me. 10 SENATOR TULLY: Point of 11 information, Mr. President. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Yes, 13 sir. 14 SENATOR TULLY: I may be wrong, 15 but I think there was a lay aside request for 16 1396 and not for 1397. Perhaps you might want 17 to call 1397 again. I'm sorry. I stand 18 corrected. 19 Thank you. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is 21 everybody clear on where we are on the 22 calendar? 1395 passed. 1397 was laid aside. 23 1398 passed. We're now going to call 1399. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 1399, by Senator Present, Senate Print 4000-A, 6096 1 an act to amend the Executive Law, in relation 2 to the registration requirement. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 4 Secretary will read the last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 6 act shall take effect on the first day of 7 January. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 9 roll. 10 (The Secretary called the roll.) 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 13 is passed. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 1400, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 4072-B - 16 Calendar Number 1401, by Senator Holland, Senate 17 Print 4121-A, an act to amend the Social 18 Services Law, in relation to establishing. 19 SENATOR LEICHTER: Lay it aside. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay 21 Calendar Number 1401 aside. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 1402, by Senator Marcellino, Senate Print 4126, 24 an act to amend the Environmental Conservation 25 Law, in relation to the removal. 6097 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 2 Secretary will read the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 4 act shall take effect immediately. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 6 roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll.) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 10 is passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 1403, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 4252, an 13 act to amend the Local Finance Law, in relation 14 to installment. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 16 Secretary will read the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. 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 58. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 24 is passed. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6098 1 1404, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 4419, an 2 act to amend the Civil Service Law, in relation 3 to unused sick leave. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 5 Secretary will read the last section. 6 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 7 act shall take effect immediately. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 9 roll. 10 (The Secretary called the roll.) 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 13 is passed. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 1406, by Senator Meier, Senate Print 4847, an 16 act to amend the Retirement and Social Security 17 Law, in relation to retirement of sheriffs. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 19 Secretary will read the last section. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 21 act shall take effect immediately. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 23 roll. 24 (The Secretary called the roll.) 25 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 6099 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 2 is passed. 3 THE SECRETARY: 1407, by Senator 4 Trunzo, Senate Print 5003-A, an act to amend the 5 Retirement and Social Security Law, in relation 6 to making application. 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 58. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 16 is passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 1408, by Senator Marcellino, Senate Print 5075, 19 an act to amend the Education Law, in relation 20 to the frequency of the posting. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 22 Secretary will read the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 24 act shall take effect immediately. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 6100 1 roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll.) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 5 is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 1410, by Senator Marchi, Senate Print 5328, an 8 act to amend the Retirement and Social Security 9 Law, in relation to crediting and transfer. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 11 Secretary will read the last section. 12 THE SECRETARY: Section - 13 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Lay it aside, 14 Mr. President. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 16 bill aside. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 1413, by Senator Velella, Senate Print 5422, an 19 act to amend the Family Court Act, in relation 20 to modifying the existence of exemption. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 22 Secretary will read the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 24 act shall take effect on the 90th day. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 6101 1 roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll.) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 5 is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 1414, by Senator Meier, Senate Print 5440, an 8 act to amend the Retirement and Social Security 9 Law, in relation to the transfer. 10 SENATOR LEICHTER: Lay it aside. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 12 bill aside. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 1415, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 5525, an 15 act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law and 16 others, in relation to the collection of 17 financial obligations. 18 SENATOR LEICHTER: Lay it aside. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 20 bill aside. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 1416, by Senator Nozzolio, Senate Print 5544, an 23 act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, in 24 relation to providing for an exemption. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 6102 1 Secretary will read the last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 3 act shall take effect immediately. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 5 roll. 6 (The Secretary called the roll.) 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 8 the negatives and announce the results. 9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57, nays 1, 10 Senator -- ayes 56, nays 2, Senators Leichter 11 and Onorato recorded in the negative. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 13 is passed. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 1417, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 5552-A, 16 an act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to 17 exemption. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 19 Secretary will read the last section. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 18 - 21 SENATOR LEICHTER: Lay it aside. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 23 bill aside. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 1419, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 5559, an 6103 1 act to amend the Charter of the city of New 2 York, in relation to the power. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 4 Secretary will read the last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 6 act shall take effect immediately. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 8 roll. 9 (The Secretary called the roll.) 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 12 is passed. 13 Senator Larkin, can we return to 14 motions and resolutions. We have a bill that we 15 need to amend. 16 The Chair recognizes Senator 17 Marcellino. 18 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you, 19 Mr. President. 20 On behalf of Senator Spano, on 21 page number 2, I offer the following amendments 22 to Calendar Number 1411, Senate Print Number 23 5372-A, and ask that said bill retain its place 24 on the Third Reading Calendar. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 6104 1 amendments to Calendar Number 1411, which is on 2 Calendar Number 58-B, are received and adopted. 3 The bill will retain its place on the Third 4 Reading Calendar. 5 Senator Larkin, what's your 6 pleasure? 7 SENATOR LARKIN: Can we now start 8 on the controversial calendar, please, Mr. 9 President. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 1397, by Senator Wright, Senate Print 1416-B, an 12 act to amend the Tax Law. 13 SENATOR LEICHTER: Explanation. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 15 Wright, an explanation has been requested by 16 Senator Leichter. 17 SENATOR WRIGHT: The bill amends 18 the Tax Law to include that -- the mining 19 industry and the reimbursements that are 20 eligible under the manufacturing exemption of 21 the petroleum business tax. In '96, we amended 22 the petroleum business tax to provide for a 23 series of exclusions for manufacturing. At that 24 time mining was not included. This adds 25 mining. It has a projected fiscal impact of 6105 1 $80,000. 2 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 3 would Senator Wright yield, please? 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5 Wright, do you yield to a question from Senator 6 Leichter? 7 SENATOR WRIGHT: Yes, I will, Mr. 8 President. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 10 Senator yields. 11 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, do 12 you have any figures as to what the dollar 13 amount of this exemption is going to be, to what 14 extent it's going to reduce state revenue? 15 SENATOR WRIGHT: Yes. $80,000, 16 as I indicated in my initial response, that's 17 the annual estimate. 18 SENATOR LEICHTER: That's the 19 annual amount and, Senator, is -- if you would 20 yield for another question. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Wright, do you continue to yield? 23 SENATOR WRIGHT: Certainly. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 25 Senator yields. 6106 1 SENATOR LEICHTER: Do you know 2 how many mining and extraction companies there 3 are in the state that could avail themselves of 4 this exemption? 5 SENATOR WRIGHT: I do not know 6 the exact number. I know one that serves in my 7 district. Beyond that, I estimate that it's 8 probably less than a dozen throughout the state. 9 SENATOR LEICHTER: All right. 10 Senator, if you would continue to yield. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 12 Wright, do you continue to yield? 13 SENATOR WRIGHT: Yes, I will. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 15 Senator continues to yield. 16 SENATOR LEICHTER: What is the 17 justification for giving this tax benefit to 18 that company in your district? Why should we 19 help that particular employer or business rather 20 than some other employer business, or maybe we 21 ought to give this exemption to everybody who 22 uses motor fuel. 23 SENATOR WRIGHT: Well, in fact, 24 it was extended to most manufacturers in the 25 state who use number 10 petroleum fuel. At the 6107 1 time mining was one of the few not included. 2 So, in fact, most manufacturers who use number 2 3 oil, in fact, are already in receipt of this 4 exemption. So we're simply adding the mining 5 industries to that. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7 Leichter. 8 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator 9 Wright, I thank you for that answer. Maybe that 10 makes it clearer to me, but I was not aware that 11 this exemption, in fact, is available to all 12 manufacturers or you say almost all 13 manufacturers in the state that use this 14 particular form of oil, of motor fuel oil? 15 SENATOR WRIGHT: Thank you. 16 In 1996 when we did a series of 17 business tax reform, one of which was the reform 18 of the petroleum business tax, there were 19 specific exemptions provided for manufacturers 20 using number 2 petroleum oil. One of the few 21 industries not included was the mining and 22 extraction business. 23 SENATOR LEICHTER: Okay. Thank 24 you. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 6108 1 Secretary will read the last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 3 act shall take effect on the first day of 4 January. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 6 roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll.) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 10 is passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 1401, by Senator Holland, Senate Print 4121-A, 13 an act to amend the Social Services Law, in 14 relation to establishing. 15 SENATOR LEICHTER: Explanation. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 17 Holland, an explanation has been requested on 18 Calendar Number 1401. 19 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 20 this an idea for a bill I picked up at a 21 National Conference of State Legislators meeting 22 and it is an existing program in the state of 23 Minnesota. 24 The bill establishes a family 25 loan demonstration program to provide small, no 6109 1 interest loans to low income custodial parents 2 who are working or enrolled in post-secondary 3 education to help pay for certain unanticipated 4 expenses that could interfere with the ability 5 of the parent to maintain employment or continue 6 education. 7 This is what was asked for in 8 many of our hearings throughout the state of New 9 York, small loans that would be available to 10 people so that they might not have to go on 11 welfare and it is a public and private 12 partnership. The state would put up $300,000 13 for some non-profits to operate these loan 14 programs and the money would come from 15 foundations. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 17 Leichter. 18 SENATOR LEICHTER: Would Senator 19 Holland yield just to one question. 20 Senator, what I was interested in 21 was the amounts that were involved. You say the 22 amount of the -- of this revolving loan fund is 23 going to be $300,000? 24 SENATOR HOLLAND: The money has 25 to be appropriated but that would be the state 6110 1 requirement, $300,000 and that would establish 2 about four or five sites throughout the state of 3 New York for non-profits. The money for the 4 loans themselves, the revolving loans would come 5 from lending institutions or from foundations. 6 SENATOR LEICHTER: If you would 7 yield for another question. 8 SENATOR HOLLAND: Yes. 9 SENATOR LEICHTER: So the 10 $300,000 goes to set up the mechanism by which 11 people would be informed, would be directed to. 12 SENATOR HOLLAND: Correct, 13 administrative costs. 14 SENATOR LEICHTER: Lending 15 institutions and none of this money would be 16 used, I take it then, in giving either direct 17 loans or underwriting or guaranteeing the 18 loans. 19 SENATOR HOLLAND: Not the state 20 money, no, sir. 21 SENATOR LEICHTER: Right. 22 SENATOR HOLLAND: That would be 23 administrative costs to set up the program. 24 SENATOR LEICHTER: It seems like 25 a good program. I just question whether it's 6111 1 sufficiently funded and whether -- is there any 2 sense or any study that the lending institution 3 will actually provide loans? 4 SENATOR HOLLAND: I'm told that 5 lending institutions want to get credit under 6 the Federal Community Reinvestment Act and, 7 therefore, they would put up the money for this 8 and also there are -- the McKnight Foundation 9 has put up money for this in Minnesota and we 10 expect that they do the same thing here. We had 11 requests from other organizations in different 12 areas of the states to do the program. In 13 Albany, the Family and Children Services of 14 Albany, in New York City, the Community Service 15 Society of New York and the Jewish Board of 16 Family and Children Services and in Rochester, 17 the Catholic Family Center and the Family Center 18 of Rochester and we have a letter from them. 19 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Leichter. 22 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator 23 Holland, let me just tell you, I think it's a 24 good program but I think it's woefully 25 underfunded but we ought to give it a try. 6112 1 SENATOR HOLLAND: It's only a 2 beginning. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is there 4 any other Senator wishing to speak on the bill? 5 Senator Dollinger. 6 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 7 President, will the sponsor yield to just one 8 question? 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 10 Holland, do you yield? The Senator yields. 11 SENATOR DOLLINGER: As I 12 understand it, this is $300,000 that will be as 13 seed money from a fund that would grant no 14 interest loans; is it no interest or low 15 interest loans? 16 SENATOR HOLLAND: Correct. No 17 interest loans up to $2200 per loan. 18 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Under what 19 terms would they be paid back? 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Are you 21 asking Senator Holland to yield to a second 22 question, Senator Dollinger? 23 SENATOR HOLLAND: Yes. He said 24 he only wanted one question, Mr. President. 25 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 6113 1 President, I am. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Would you 3 yield to a second question, Senator Holland? 4 SENATOR HOLLAND: Yes. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 6 Senator yields. 7 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Under what 8 terms would they be paid back? 9 SENATOR HOLLAND: Up to two 10 years, repayment within two years. 11 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Okay. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 Dollinger. 14 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 15 President, just on the bill briefly. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 17 Dollinger, on the bill. 18 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I appreciate 19 the good-hearted intent that drives this bill 20 but, quite frankly, this is no substitute for 21 paying people a reasonable amount of welfare 22 benefits when they desperately need it. We're 23 not going to take a group of people who feel 24 guilty because they're on welfare and we're 25 going to make them even guiltier because they're 6114 1 going to borrow money from the state of New York 2 with no interest loans and we're going to turn 3 them all into deadbeats if they don't pay it 4 back, one of which will be the state of New 5 York. 6 With all due respect, I'm going 7 to vote for this bill because I don't mind 8 voting for it but it's just not a substitute for 9 paying people if they're in desperate straits, 10 exceedingly desperate straits where we can say 11 to them, Come to us. If you meet the poverty 12 test, we'll give you a reasonable stipend so 13 that you can transition yourself in a period of 14 time when you're down on your luck. Now we're 15 going to say to them, Well, we're not going to 16 give you as much as we used to but we'll loan 17 you the money and you'll have to pay us back. 18 Senator Holland, I appreciate - 19 maybe I misunderstand it. If so, please correct 20 me, but it seems to me that this isn't a 21 substitute for providing people with something 22 reasonable in a period of time when they need 23 temporary help. 24 SENATOR HOLLAND: I have traveled 25 all over the state of New York and I have talked 6115 1 to lots of people, and I think you're putting 2 poor people down. Lots of people do not want to 3 go on welfare. They would appreciate a loan 4 that would bridge them over a situation where 5 they might have to go on welfare and you can 6 talk to any, I believe social services director 7 in these counties throughout the state of New 8 York and they will tell you that situation is 9 correct and the letter of support comes from a 10 CEO in Rochester, you might want to talk to her, 11 Carolyn -- if I can pronounce her last name - 12 Portanova. 13 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Carolyn 14 Portanova. She's the president of the Catholic 15 Family Center. 16 SENATOR HOLLAND: Talk to her. 17 Talk to her. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Have you 19 concluded, Senator Dollinger? 20 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Yes, Mr. 21 President. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Thank 23 you. 24 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I don't 25 oppose this bill. I'm not going to vote against 6116 1 this bill. Obviously giving loans to people who 2 are down on their luck and have a difficult time 3 is not a bad idea, but I just hope it's not 4 anybody's impression here that this is a 5 substitute for giving them the kinds of 6 transitional benefits that they need in a period 7 of time when they need temporary assistance from 8 this state. 9 The last thing I would want to do 10 is say to people who are in need of welfare 11 assistance, Go ahead. Borrow money from us but 12 you've got to pay it back some day. I 13 understand it's well intentioned. I hope it 14 works but let's not use it as a substitute for 15 making sure we fulfill our commitment so that 16 poor people in this state have the transitional 17 benefits necessary to maintain themselves and 18 aren't enchained for the rest of their life with 19 the notion that they've got to pay it back. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 21 Secretary will read the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 23 act shall take effect immediately. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 25 roll. 6117 1 (The Secretary called the roll.) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 4 is passed. 5 The Chair recognizes Senator 6 Larkin. 7 SENATOR LARKIN: Mr. President, 8 can we now return to Calendar 1336, Senate Print 9 2491, by Senator Waldon. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 1336, by member of the Assembly Clark, Assembly 12 Print 3898, an act to amend the Public 13 Authorities Law. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 15 Secretary will read the last section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 17 act shall take effect immediately. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 19 roll. 20 (The Secretary called the roll.) 21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 23 is passed. 24 Senator Larkin. 25 SENATOR LARKIN: Can we now 6118 1 return to the regular order, Mr. President. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 3 Secretary will read the controversial calendar 4 58-B in order. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 1410, by Senator Marchi, Senate Print 5328, an 7 act to amend the Retirement and Social Security 8 Law, in relation to crediting and transferring. 9 SENATOR LEICHTER: Explanation. 10 SENATOR VOLKER: Mr. President. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 12 Volker, for an explanation. 13 SENATOR VOLKER: Mr. President, 14 in keeping with my new New York City package 15 here, let me explain this bill. 16 First of all, let me just say 17 that I read the -- there was a little problem 18 with the memo and I -- so I was -- it was 19 explained to me that what -- the story here is 20 that this involves a very small number of 21 employees who had prior service with the city of 22 New York and now are employed with the state of 23 New York and have pension service credits that 24 are -- apparently are what they called stranded 25 in the New York City pension system. They get 6119 1 their full credit, they would need to 2 consolidate these credits in the New York State 3 employ... state and local employees retirement 4 system, in other words, the ERS. 5 What I guess happened here is 6 that there was a bill passed here several years 7 ago and required the city of New York to pass a 8 local law which for one reason or another the 9 city of New York did not do in this case, 10 although apparently it did in other cases. 11 According to the memo, there's 12 only a small number of employees that are 13 involved here and, remember, these are credits 14 that these people earned themselves and the 15 money is in the system which is the credit of 16 the people who are now in the state system. In 17 other words, this is not any new money. It's 18 already in the system and some of the people 19 involved apparently was contributory -- made 20 contributions because the system itself required 21 contributions so their money is -- even their 22 own contributions are in the system. 23 What this would do is move those 24 stranded -- that stranded amount of money to the 25 state pension system. The Comptroller says that 6120 1 the fiscal impact of New York City would not 2 apply at all because these are monies that were 3 already earned by these people and the state 4 system cost would be very minimal because 5 there's only a few amount of people who were 6 involved. 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 60th day. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 12 roll. 13 (The Secretary called the roll.) 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 16 is passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 1414, by Senator Meier, Senate Print 5440, an 19 act to amend the Retirement and Social Security 20 Law, in relation to the transfer of previous 21 service credit. 22 SENATOR LEICHTER: Explanation. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 24 Meier, an explanation of Calendar Number 1414 25 has been requested by Senator Leichter. 6121 1 SENATOR MEIER: Yes, Mr. 2 President. Current law provides that members of 3 the State Police who have had previous service 4 as a member of a state park police agency or a 5 municipal police department may transfer the 6 full retirement credit earned during that prior 7 service into the State Police retirement plan. 8 This bill would expand the 9 universe of people who may transfer that credit 10 to include employees or officers, rather, of the 11 Department of Correctional Services. 12 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 13 President. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The Chair 15 recognizes Senator Dollinger. 16 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Senator 17 Meier, the anticipated cost of this is $180,000 18 for one member, is that correct? 19 SENATOR MEIER: That's correct. 20 There is one -- there's a fiscal note which is 21 appended to the bill which you have in your 22 hand. There is one identifiable member 23 currently within the system and that is the cost 24 that's been provided by the state retirement 25 system. 6122 1 The bill, I would point out, 2 would also apply to any future member who might 3 transfer from the Department of Correctional 4 Services to the Division of State Police. 5 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again through 6 you, Mr. President. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 8 Meier, do you continue to yield? The Senator 9 continues to yield. 10 SENATOR MEIER: Yes, Mr. 11 President. 12 SENATOR DOLLINGER: What is the 13 $180,000 cost? Is that going to come out of the 14 general fund? Who pays that? 15 SENATOR MEIER: The $180,000 16 cost, I believe, said there would be -- it would 17 come out of the budget according to the 18 statement from the actuary of the Division of 19 the State Police. 20 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again through 21 you, Mr. President. Could you just tell me who 22 this person is, who this one person is? 23 SENATOR MEIER: Yes, I could. 24 The present person affected is a gentleman named 25 Lieutenant Frank DeGennaro, who is presently a 6123 1 lieutenant in the Department of Correctional 2 Services and there may be other people who are 3 unidentified and any future people obviously 4 cannot be identified who might exercise the 5 option to be transferred. 6 SENATOR DOLLINGER: And again 7 through you, Mr. President, I apologize. I'm 8 just missing something. Why is the cost so 9 large? That's a huge amount of money to be 10 placed in the pension system. 11 SENATOR MEIER: I can only -- I 12 have the letter -- the fiscal impact note from 13 the New York State retirement system. I can 14 only assume that the cost is such because of the 15 amount of credit being transferred. The fiscal 16 note doesn't give us anything more than the 17 cost. It doesn't perform the calculations. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 19 Dollinger, do you wish to speak on the bill? 20 SENATOR DOLLINGER: No. Again 21 through you, Mr. President. If I can just ask 22 another question. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 24 Meier, do you continue to yield? 25 SENATOR MEIER: Yes, Mr. 6124 1 President. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 3 Senator yields. 4 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Is the 5 $180,000 transferred from one pension system to 6 another, or is it new cash coming into the 7 pension system out of the general fund? 8 SENATOR MEIER: The fiscal note 9 indicates that this is a past service cost of 10 approximately $180,000. It's my understanding 11 that it would not be a transfer and that the 12 prior -- that the funds contributed for the 13 prior service credit would remain within that 14 retirement system. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 16 Dollinger. 17 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again through 18 you, Mr. President, if Senator Meier will yield 19 to just one other question. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Meier, do you yield to one other question? 22 SENATOR MEIER: Of course, Mr. 23 President. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 25 Senator yields. 6125 1 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Does this 2 mean the individual will get a pension from one 3 of the pension systems and we're buying him 4 $180,000 worth of credit in the other pension 5 system? 6 SENATOR MEIER: No. Once the 7 credit is transferred, there can be no pension 8 from the other system because there's no credit 9 in it to cause a pension to vest. 10 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again, I'm 11 just trying to understand. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 Meier, do you continue to yield? 14 SENATOR MEIER: Of course, Mr. 15 President. 16 SENATOR DOLLINGER: What I'm 17 trying to understand, is this $180,000 of new 18 money, or are we getting $180,000 in the 19 treasury from forfeiture from the other pension 20 system that will be used to buy these new 21 purchase credits? 22 SENATOR MEIER: My understanding 23 is that the bill occasions a new expense of 24 $180,000 and that the funds placed into the 25 earlier pension system are, in effect, 6126 1 stranded. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 3 Dollinger. 4 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 5 President, I'm confused. I'm going to vote, I 6 guess in my confusion, but I think it's an awful 7 lot of money coming out of the general fund for 8 one person. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 10 Secretary will read the last section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 12 act shall take effect immediately. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 14 roll. 15 (The Secretary called the roll.) 16 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57, nays 1, 17 Senator Dollinger recorded in the negative. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 19 is passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 1415, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 5525, an 22 act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law, the Tax 23 Law and the Judiciary Law. 24 SENATOR VOLKER: Mr. President. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6127 1 Volker, for an explanation. 2 SENATOR VOLKER: Senator, this 3 bill is a Department of Probation program bill 4 and it provides an automated -- a new kind of 5 system for the collection of outstanding 6 financial obligations that are connected in 7 connection with criminal proceedings and 8 youthful offender adjudications. 9 It's no secret that the state has 10 had a problem for some years in collecting 11 fines, and I guess I would have to say this has 12 been true especially in the city of New York, 13 where hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, 14 in some cases, have been uncollected and in some 15 cases there are obligations outstanding and it's 16 been said that there are people or groups that 17 have money but for one reason or another there 18 has not been the ability to collect that money 19 and, in fact, if my recollection is correct, 20 over the years we have, in effect, put money in 21 the budget in anticipation of collections and 22 that has not come to fruition. 23 As I understand this, this is, in 24 effect, setting up a new modernized system for 25 collecting those fines and this does not raise, 6128 1 by the way, any fines or fees or anything of 2 that nature. 3 What this bill does is just set 4 up a better system for collecting those fees and 5 provides an amnesty program in certain cases 6 and, in other words, it's an entire revamping of 7 the system for collecting fees, and so forth, 8 that are due the state of New York in criminal 9 cases and in youthful offender cases. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 11 Secretary will read the last section. 12 THE SECRETARY: Section 9. This 13 act shall take effect on the first day of 14 November. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 16 roll. 17 (The Secretary called the roll.) 18 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 20 is passed. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 1417, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 5552-A, 23 an act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to 24 exemption. 25 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Explanation. 6129 1 SENATOR LARKIN: Lay it aside, 2 Mr. President. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 4 bill aside temporarily. 5 SENATOR LARKIN: Any house 6 keeping, Mr. President? 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We have 8 some. Can we return to the order of motions and 9 resolutions, Senator Larkin. We have a motion. 10 Return to the order of motions and resolutions. 11 The Chair recognizes Senator 12 Marcellino. 13 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you, 14 Mr. President. 15 On behalf of Senator Hannon, 16 please remove the sponsor's star from Calendar 17 Number 495. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The star 19 on Calendar Number 495 will be removed at the 20 request of the sponsor. 21 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you, 22 sir. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 24 Larkin. 25 SENATOR LARKIN: Would you please 6130 1 recognize Senator Montgomery, Mr. President. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 3 Montgomery. 4 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Thank you, 5 Mr. President. 6 I would like unanimous consent to 7 be recorded in the negative on Calendar 1381. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 9 objection, hearing no objection, Senator 10 Montgomery will be recorded in the negative on 11 Calendar Number 1381. 12 Senator Larkin. 13 SENATOR LARKIN: Mr. President, 14 would you lay Senator Goodman's bill, 1417 aside 15 for the day. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Calendar 17 Number 1317 will be laid aside -- excuse me - 18 1417 will be laid aside for the day. 19 Senator Larkin. 20 SENATOR LARKIN: Mr. President, 21 is there any other housekeeping at the desk? 22 SENATOR GENTILE: Mr. President. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 24 Gentile. 25 SENATOR GENTILE: Mr. President, 6131 1 earlier today there was a vote on a confirmation 2 -- on a reappointment to the Metropolitan 3 Transportation Authority. I just wanted to put 4 on the record, if possible, just my vote and my 5 explanation, my -- of my vote on James Simpson. 6 I vote in the affirmative on Mr. 7 Simpson but I must say, as a Staten Islander, I 8 would naturally be inclined to vote for him but 9 that's really not the reason that I voted in the 10 affirmative. 11 Actually given the Transit 12 Authority record in my Brooklyn end of my 13 district, which is atrocious, Mr. Simpson would 14 not get my vote, but I am voting in the 15 affirmative for Mr. Simpson on the basis that he 16 has publicly stated that he is in support of the 17 express bus fare campaign for the Staten Island 18 Express buses. 19 That public statement will give 20 me -- will give him the benefit of the doubt in 21 my eyes. However, just a public statement of 22 support for the half fare campaign on Staten 23 Island is not enough. 24 Mr. Simpson is in the position to 25 now make a motion to the MTA board to institute 6132 1 that half fare discount on the express buses 2 beginning this summer on Staten Island. 3 I look forward, with vigilance, 4 to be sure that Mr. Simpson, who's now stated 5 publicly he supports this half fare discount, 6 will now move forward and make that motion as a 7 member of the Metropolitan Transportation 8 Authority board. 9 So I vote in favor of Mr. 10 Simpson, but I do so with some trepidation and 11 look forward, with some anticipation, for his 12 cooperation on the express bus fare for Staten 13 Island. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 15 Gentile, since this is the end of session, we're 16 trying to be as accommodating as possible. 17 Normally you would not be allowed the 18 opportunity to explain a vote. It would have to 19 come in the form of a request to the entire body 20 for unanimous consent to make a statement at 21 that portion of the time when that opportunity 22 is available through the normal rules and 23 procedure. I just -- you're a new member. I 24 understand. I would just point that out for 25 your recognition at this time. 6133 1 SENATOR GENTILE: Thank you, Mr. 2 President. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 Larkin. 5 SENATOR LARKIN: Is this any 6 other business at the desk? 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 8 none. 9 SENATOR LARKIN: Mr. President, I 10 now move we adjourn until Wednesday, June the 11 25th, at 10:00 a.m., period. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 13 objection, hearing no objection, the Senate 14 stands adjourned until tomorrow, Wednesday, June 15 25th, at 10:00 a.m. 16 (Whereupon, at 6:40 p.m., the 17 Senate adjourned.) 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25