Tuesday, July 1, 1997

6663 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ALBANY, NEW YORK 10 July 1, 1997 11 11:24 a.m. 12 13 14 REGULAR SESSION 15 16 17 18 SENATOR JOHN R. KUHL, JR., Acting President 19 STEPHEN F. SLOAN, Secretary 20 21 22 23 24 25 6664 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 3 Senate will come to order. Ask the members to 4 find their places, staff to find their places. 5 Ask everybody in the chamber to rise and join 6 with me in saying the Pledge of Allegiance to 7 the Flag. 8 (The assemblage repeated the 9 Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. ) 10 In the absence of clergy, may we 11 bow our heads in a moment of silence. 12 (A moment of silence was 13 observed. ) 14 Reading of the Journal. 15 THE SECRETARY: In Senate, 16 Monday, June 30th. The Senate met pursuant to 17 adjournment. The Journal of Sunday, June 29th, 18 was read and approved. On motion, Senate 19 adjourned. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Hearing 21 no objection, the Journal stands approved as 22 read. 23 Presentation of petitions. 24 Messages from the Assembly. 25 Messages from the Governor. 6665 1 Reports of standing committees. 2 Reports of select committees. 3 Communications and reports from 4 state officers. 5 Motions and resolutions. 6 Chair recognizes Senator Tully. 7 SENATOR TULLY: Thank you, Mr. 8 President. 9 On behalf of Senator Present, I 10 wish to call up his bill, Print Number 535, 11 recalled from the Assembly which is now at the 12 desk. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 14 will read. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 112, by Senator Present, Senate Print 535, an 17 act authorizing the Commissioner of General 18 Services. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 20 Tully. 21 SENATOR TULLY: Mr. President, I 22 now move to reconsider the vote by which this 23 bill was passed. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 25 will call the roll on reconsideration. 6666 1 (The Secretary called the roll on 2 reconsideration.) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 40. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5 Tully. 6 SENATOR TULLY: I now offer the 7 following amendments. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Amendments 9 received and adopted. 10 Senator Tully. 11 SENATOR TULLY: Mr. President, on 12 behalf of Senator Volker, I wish to call up his 13 bill, Print Number 3617, recalled from the 14 Assembly which is now at the desk. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 16 will read. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 657, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 3617, an 19 act to amend the Civil Practice Law and Rules. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Tully. 22 SENATOR TULLY: Mr. President, I 23 now move to reconsider the vote by which this 24 bill was passed. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 6667 1 will call the roll on reconsideration. 2 (The Secretary called the roll on 3 reconsideration.) 4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 47. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6 Tully. 7 SENATOR TULLY: Mr. President, I 8 now offer the following amendments. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Amendments 10 received and adopted. 11 Senator Tully. 12 SENATOR TULLY: Mr. President, on 13 behalf of Senator Marcellino, I wish to call up 14 his bill, Print Number 4129, recalled from the 15 Assembly which is now at the desk. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 17 will read the title. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 787, by Senator Marcellino, Senate Print 4129, 20 an act authorizing the Commissioner of General 21 Services. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 23 Tully. 24 SENATOR TULLY: Mr. President, I 25 now move to reconsider the vote by which this 6668 1 bill was passed. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 3 will call the roll on reconsideration. 4 (The Secretary called the roll on 5 reconsideration.) 6 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 47. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 8 is passed. 9 Senator Tully. 10 SENATOR TULLY: Mr. President, I 11 now offer the following amendments. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 13 Amendments received and adopted. 14 Senator Tully. 15 SENATOR TULLY: Mr. President, on 16 behalf of Senator Spano, I wish to call up his 17 bill, Print Number 5405, recalled from the 18 Assembly which is now at the desk. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 20 will read. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 1256, by Senator Spano, Senate Print 5405, an 23 act to amend the Retirement and Social Security 24 Law. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6669 1 Tully. 2 SENATOR TULLY: Mr. President, I 3 now move to reconsider the vote by which this 4 bill was passed. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 6 will call the roll on reconsideration. 7 (The Secretary called the roll on 8 reconsideration.) 9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 47. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 11 Tully. 12 SENATOR TULLY: Mr. President, I 13 now offer the following amendments. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 15 Amendments received and adopted. 16 Senator Tully. 17 SENATOR TULLY: Mr. President, on 18 behalf of Senator Seward, I wish to call up his 19 bill, Print Number 5197, recalled from the 20 Assembly which is now at the desk. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 22 will read the title. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 838, by Senator Seward, Senate Print 5197, an 25 act to amend the General Municipal Law. 6670 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 Tully. 3 SENATOR TULLY: Mr. President, I 4 now move to reconsider the vote by which this 5 bill was passed. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 7 will call the roll on reconsideration. 8 (The Secretary called the roll on 9 reconsideration.) 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 48. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 12 Tully. 13 SENATOR TULLY: Mr. President, I 14 now offer the following amendments. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 16 Amendments received and adopted. 17 Senator Maziarz. 18 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you, Mr. 19 President. 20 On page number 25, I offer the 21 following amendments to Calendar Number 976, 22 Senate Print Number 1816-A, and ask that said 23 bill retain its place on the Third Reading 24 Calendar. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 6671 1 Amendments to Calendar Number 976 are received 2 and adopted. The bill will retain its place on 3 the Third Reading calendar. 4 Senator Maziarz. 5 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you, Mr. 6 President. 7 On behalf of Senator Padavan, on 8 page number 29, I offer the following amendments 9 to Calendar Number 1241, Senate Print Number 10 5262-A, and ask that said bill retain its place 11 on the Third Reading Calendar. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 13 Amendments to Calendar Number 1241 are received 14 and adopted. The bill will retain its place on 15 the Third Reading Calendar. 16 Senator Maziarz. 17 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you, Mr. 18 President. 19 I wish to call up my bill, Print 20 Number 5081-A, recalled from the Assembly which 21 is now at the desk. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 23 will read the title. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 784, by Senator Maziarz, Senate Print 5081-A, an 6672 1 act to amend the Social Services Law. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 3 Maziarz. 4 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Mr. President, 5 I now move to reconsider the vote by which this 6 bill was passed. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 8 will call the roll on reconsideration. 9 (The Secretary called the roll on 10 reconsideration.) 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 49. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 Maziarz. 14 SENATOR MAZIARZ: I now offer the 15 following amendments. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Amendments 17 received and adopted. 18 Senator Maziarz. 19 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you, Mr. 20 President. 21 On behalf of Senator Goodman, I 22 wish to call up bill Print Number 3756, recalled 23 from the Assembly which is now at the desk. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 25 will read the title. 6673 1 Before you proceed, Senator 2 Maziarz, Calendar Number 784 is restored to the 3 calendar. 4 Now, your second motion was to 5 recon.... Senator Maziarz, would you re-make 6 your first -- your next motion, please. 7 SENATOR MAZIARZ: I wish to call 8 up my bill, Print Number 5081-A, recalled from 9 the Assembly which is now at the desk. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Calendar 11 784 is restored to the calendar. Do you have 12 any other motion now, Senator Maziarz? 13 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Yes. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Would you 15 make that, please? 16 SENATOR MAZIARZ: I wish to call 17 up Print Number 3756, recalled from the Assembly 18 which is now at the desk. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 20 will read the title. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 890, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 3756, an 23 act to amend the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 Maziarz. 6674 1 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Mr. President, 2 I now move to reconsider the vote by which this 3 bill was passed. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 5 will call the roll on reconsideration. 6 (The Secretary called the roll on 7 reconsideration.) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: That bill 10 is restored to the calendar. 11 Senator Maziarz, relative to your 12 motion on Calendar Number 890, by Senator 13 Goodman, do you wish to have that bill 14 recommitted, as is on the script which you're 15 supposed to read? 16 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Yes. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: O.K. 18 Then we will recommit that bill. 19 Thank you, Senator Maziarz. 20 Are there other motions? Senator 21 Skelos, we have some substitutions we'd like to 22 take if they might be taken. 23 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 24 while we're doing some of the housekeeping, 25 there will be an immediate meeting of the Rules 6675 1 Committee in the Majority Conference Room. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Immediate 3 meeting of the Rules Committee, immediate 4 meeting of the Rules Committee in the Majority 5 Conference Room, Room 332. 6 Secretary will read the 7 substitutions. 8 THE SECRETARY: On page 9, 9 Senator Kuhl moves to discharge from the 10 Committee on Rules Assembly Bill Number 5409-A 11 and substitute it for the identical Third 12 Reading Calendar 389. 13 On page 11, Senator Nozzolio 14 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 15 Assembly Bill Number 5572-D and substitute it 16 for the identical Third Reading Calendar 437. 17 On page 12, Senator Liebell moves 18 to discharge from the Committee on Rules, 19 Assembly Bill Number 2931-A, and substitute it 20 for the identical Third Reading Calendar 504. 21 On page 21, Senator Holland moves 22 to discharge from the Committee on Rules 23 Assembly Bill Number 6049-A and substitute it 24 for the identical Third Reading Calendar 839. 25 On page 21, Senator Meier moves 6676 1 to discharge from the Committee on Rules 2 Assembly Bill Number 6334 and substitute it for 3 the identical Third Reading Calendar 845. 4 On page 31, Senator Bruno moves 5 to discharge from the Committee on Rules 6 Assembly Bill Number 8165-A, and substitute it 7 for the identical Third Reading Calendar 1421. 8 And on page 32, Senator Seward 9 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 10 Assembly Bill Number 4954, and substitute it for 11 the identical Third Reading Calendar 404. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 13 Substitutions are ordered. 14 Senator Holland. 15 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 16 I believe you have a privileged resolution at 17 the desk by Senator Rath. I would ask that the 18 title be read and it be adopted. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 20 will read the title of the privileged resolution 21 by Senator Rath which is at the desk. 22 THE SECRETARY: By Senator Rath, 23 Legislative Resolution commending the Ladies 24 Auxiliary of the Goetzville Fire Company upon 25 the occasion of its 75th Anniversary. 6677 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Question 2 is on the resolution. All those in favor 3 signify by saying aye. 4 (Response of "Aye.") 5 Opposed nay. 6 (There was no response.) 7 The resolution is adopted. 8 Senator Holland. 9 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 10 can we please adopt the entire Resolution 11 Calendar. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 13 motion is to adopt the Resolution Calendar which 14 is on the desk of the members. All those in 15 favor signify by saying aye. 16 (Response of "Aye.") 17 Opposed nay. 18 (There was no response.) 19 The Resolution Calendar is 20 adopted. 21 Senator Holland. 22 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 23 can we have the reading of the non-controversial 24 calendar, please. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 6678 1 will read the non-controversial calendar. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 278, by member of the Assembly Bragman, Assembly 4 Print 2632, an act to amend the Real Property 5 Tax Law, in relation to payment. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 7 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 51. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 15 is passed. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 339, by Senator Holland, Senate Print 453-D, an 18 act to amend the Insurance Law, in relation to 19 the settlement of claims. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 21 will read the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 23 act shall take effect 120 days. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 25 roll. 6679 1 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 4 is passed. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 488, by member of the Assembly Carrozza, 7 Assembly Print 4508, an act to amend the State 8 Finance Law, in relation to deferred 9 compensation. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 11 will read 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 51. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 19 is passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 504, substituted earlier today, by member of the 22 Assembly Lopez, Assembly Print 2931-A, an act to 23 amend the Private Housing Finance Law, in 24 relation to allowing. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 6680 1 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 51. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 9 is passed. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 575, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 3731-A, an 12 act to amend Chapter 915 of the Laws of 1982. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 14 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 51. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 22 is passed. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 850, by member of the Assembly Gunther, Assembly 25 Print 422, an act to amend the Public Service 6681 1 Law, in relation to utility rates. 2 SENATOR HOLLAND: Lay aside for 3 the day, please. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 5 bill aside for the day. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 865, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 4595, an 8 act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law and 9 others, in relation to the powers of the State 10 University security officers. 11 SENATOR HOLLAND: Lay that aside. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 13 bill aside. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 874, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 432, an 16 act to amend the Arts and Cultural Affairs Law, 17 in relation to the New York State fine arts 18 collection. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 20 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. ) 6682 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 3 is passed. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 1084, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 4899-A, an 6 act to authorize the town of Washington in the 7 county of Dutchess. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 9 a home rule message at the desk. Secretary will 10 read the last section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. 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 51. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 18 is passed. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 1411, by Senator Spano, Senate Print 5372-B, an 21 act to amend the Social Services Law, in 22 relation to unfounded reports of child abuse or 23 maltreatment. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 25 will read the last section. 6683 1 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. 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 51. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 8 is passed. 9 Senator Holland, that completes 10 the reading of the non-controversial calendar. 11 What's your pleasure? 12 SENATOR HOLLAND: Can we have the 13 reading of the controversial calendar, please? 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 15 will read the controversial calendar beginning 16 with Calendar Number 865, by the -- before we do 17 that, the Chair would recognize Senator 18 Paterson. 19 Senator Paterson, why do you 20 rise? 21 SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you, Mr. 22 President. 23 The only bill that I see on the 24 controversial calendar is one that I laid aside 25 for Senator Leichter who is in the Rules 6684 1 Committee. I just wanted the Chair to be aware 2 of that. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Calendar 4 Number 865 was laid aside at your behest, 5 Senator Paterson? 6 SENATOR PATERSON: Yes, it was. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: And that 8 was to allow Senator Leichter to be able to ask 9 a couple questions. Senator Saland, or excuse 10 me, Senator Holland, how do you propose to 11 handle that dilemma? 12 SENATOR HOLLAND: Lay that aside 13 temporarily, Mr. President, and if there is any 14 housekeeping do that. If not, we'll stand at 15 ease awaiting a Rules report -- oh, here it 16 comes. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There's 18 nothing at the desk to do so - 19 Senator Holland, the report of 20 the Rules Committee just arrived, but it will 21 take the desk just a minute or so, and they'll 22 be able to take that up. 23 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President. 24 There will be an immediate meeting of the 25 Finance Committee in Room 332. 6685 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There 2 will be an immediate meeting of the Finance 3 Committee, immediate meeting of the Finance 4 Committee in the Majority Conference Room, Room 5 332. 6 Senator Holland. 7 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 8 may we return to reports of standing 9 committees. I believe there's a report of the 10 Rules Committee at the desk. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There 12 is. We'll return to the order of reports of 13 standing committees. I'll ask the Secretary to 14 read the report of the Rules Committee which is 15 at the desk. 16 THE SECRETARY: Senator Bruno, 17 from the Committee on Rules, reports the 18 following bills: 19 5410-B, by Senator Johnson, an 20 act to amend the Environmental Conservation 21 Law; 22 5606, by the Senate Committee on 23 Rules, an act to amend Chapter 483 of the Laws 24 of 1978; 25 5609, by the Senate Committee on 6686 1 Rules, an act establishing the chronic care 2 management demonstration program; 3 5649, by Senator Velella, an act 4 to amend the Insurance Law; 5 5650, by Senator LaValle, an act 6 to amend the Public Authorities Law; 7 5653, by Senator LaValle - 8 excuse me, by Senator Velella, an act to amend 9 the Insurance Law; 10 3389, by Senator Seabrook, an act 11 authorizing the city of New York; 12 5657, by the Senate Committee on 13 Rules, an act to amend the Racing, Pari-mutuel 14 Wagering and Breeding Law; and 15 5658, by the Senate Committee on 16 Rules, an act to amend the Insurance Law. 17 All bills ordered direct for 18 third reading. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 20 Holland. 21 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 22 I move we accept the report of the Rules 23 Committee. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Motion is 25 to accept the report of the Rules Committee. 6687 1 All those in favor signify by saying aye. 2 (Response of "Aye.") 3 Opposed nay. 4 (There was no response.) 5 The report of the Rules Committee 6 is accepted. 7 Senator Holland. 8 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 9 I move we accept Rules report that was laid 10 aside last week. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Motion is 12 to accept the report of the Rules Committee 13 which was previously offered on June 25th at 14 about 11:55 p.m. All those in favor signify by 15 saying aye. 16 (Response of "Aye.") 17 Opposed nay. 18 (There was no response.) 19 The Rules report is accepted. 20 Senator Holland. 21 SENATOR HOLLAND: Can we take up 22 the non-controversial -- now, wait a minute, one 23 second. Can we -- the committee report, can we 24 take up 3389, by Senator Seabrook, please. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: For the 6688 1 benefit of the members, we will be going to 2 Supplemental Calendar Number 60-A, which was 3 just placed on your desk, and the Secretary will 4 read Calendar Number 1510, on page 2 of 5 Supplemental Calendar Number 60-A, by Senator 6 Seabrook. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 1510, by Senator Seabrook, Senate Print 3389, an 9 act authorizing the city of New York to reconvey 10 its interest in certain real property. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 12 no home rule message at the desk, so the bill 13 will have to be laid aside. 14 Senator Holland. 15 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 16 can we take up 5657, please, by Rules. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 18 will read the substitution on Calendar Number 19 1511, Senate Print 5657. 20 THE SECRETARY: Senator Bruno 21 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 22 Assembly Bill Number 8429 and substitute it for 23 the identical Third Reading Calendar 1511. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 25 Substitution is ordered. Secretary will read. 6689 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 1511, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 3 Assembly Print 8429, an act to amend the Racing, 4 Pari-mutuel Wagering and Breeding Law. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 6 will read the last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 8 act shall take effect immediately. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 10 roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 14 is passed. 15 Senator Holland. 16 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 17 may we take up 5410-B, by Senator Johnson, 18 please. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 20 will read Calendar Number 1493, which is Senate 21 Print 5410-B, by Senator Johnson. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 1493, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 5410-B, 24 an act to amend the Environmental Conservation 25 Law, in relation to the management of marine 6690 1 fisheries. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 3 Holland. 4 SENATOR HOLLAND: Is there a 5 message at the desk, please. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 7 a message of necessity at the desk. 8 SENATOR HOLLAND: Move we accept 9 it. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Motion is 11 to accept the message of necessity on Calendar 12 Number 1493. All those in favor signify by 13 saying aye. 14 (Response of "Aye.") 15 Opposed nay. 16 The message is accepted. 17 Secretary will read the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 13. 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 53. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 25 is passed. 6691 1 Senator Holland. 2 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 3 can we take up 5649, by Senator Velella, please. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 5 will read Calendar Number 1502, Senate Print 6 5649, the substitution which is at the desk. 7 THE SECRETARY: Senator Velella 8 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 9 Assembly Bill Number 8446 and substitute it for 10 the identical Third Reading Calendar 1502. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 12 Substitution is ordered. Secretary will read 13 the title. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 1502, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 16 Assembly Print 8446, an act to amend the 17 Insurance Law. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 19 will read the last section. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 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 53. 6692 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 2 is passed. 3 Senator Holland. 4 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 5 please 5650, by Senator Velella. I'm sorry, I 6 said it wrong again, LaValle. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 8 will read the Assembly substitution at the desk 9 on Calendar Number 1503. 10 THE SECRETARY: Senator LaValle 11 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 12 Assembly Bill Number 8445 and substitute it for 13 the identical Third Reading Calendar 1503. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 15 Substitution is ordered. Secretary will read 16 the title. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 1503, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 19 Assembly Print 8445, an act to amend the Public 20 Authorities Law, in relation to the powers of 21 the Dormitory Authority. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 23 will read the last section. 24 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 25 act shall take effect immediately. 6693 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 2 roll. 3 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 6 is passed. 7 Senator Holland. 8 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 9 5653, please, by Senator Velella. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 11 will read the substitution at the desk on 12 Calendar Number 1506, by Senator Velella, Senate 13 Print 5653, which is on page 2 of the 14 Supplemental Calendar 60-A. 15 THE SECRETARY: Senator Velella 16 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 17 Assembly Bill Number 8451 and substitute it for 18 the identical Third Reading Calendar 1506. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 20 Substitution is ordered. Secretary will read 21 the title. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 1506, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 24 Assembly Print 8451, an act to amend the 25 Insurance Law, in relation to continuation of 6694 1 provisions. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 3 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 53. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 11 is passed. 12 Senator Holland. 13 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 14 there are three remaining bills on 60-A. Could 15 you please read those bills starting with 5606, 16 please. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 18 will read. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 1498, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 21 Print 5606, an act to amend Chapter 483 of the 22 Laws of 1978. 23 SENATOR HOLLAND: Lay aside 24 temporarily. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 6695 1 bill aside. 2 Secretary will read the next 3 Calendar Number 1499. There is a substitution 4 at the desk on Senate Print 5609. 5 THE SECRETARY: Senator Bruno 6 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 7 Assembly Bill Number 8456 and substitute it for 8 the identical Third Reading Calendar 1499. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 10 Substitution ordered. Secretary will read the 11 title. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 1499, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 14 Assembly Print 8456, an act establishing the 15 chronic care management demonstration program. 16 SENATOR HOLLAND: Lay that aside 17 temporarily. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 19 bill aside temporarily. 20 Secretary will continue to read 21 Calendar Number 1512, the substitution that's at 22 the desk. 23 THE SECRETARY: Senator Bruno 24 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 25 Assembly Bill Number 8467 and substitute it for 6696 1 the identical Third Reading Calendar 1512. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 3 Substitution is ordered. Secretary will read 4 the title. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 1512, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 7 Assembly Print 8467, an act to amend the 8 Insurance Law, in relation to continuing the 9 purpose and extending. 10 SENATOR HOLLAND: Will you lay 11 that aside temporarily also, please. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 13 bill aside temporarily. 14 Senator Holland. 15 SENATOR HOLLAND: Could we return 16 to the today's calendar and do Calendar Number 17 865, Senator Saland's bill, please; is that the 18 one? 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Return to 20 the original calendar of the day. 21 SENATOR HOLLAND: I'm sorry, 22 never mind. Delete that. We're waiting for 23 Senator Leichter who would like to ask some 24 questions of Senator Saland. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6697 1 Holland, we do have a couple of motions we could 2 take care of at the desk. 3 SENATOR HOLLAND: Please. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Return to 5 the order of motions and resolutions. 6 Chair recognizes Senator 7 Marcellino. 8 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you, 9 Mr. President. 10 I wish to call up Senator Skelos' 11 bill, Print Number 5090-A, recalled from the 12 Assembly which is now at the desk. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 14 will read. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 1369, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 5090-A, an 17 act to amend Chapter 879 of the Laws of 1936. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 19 Marcellino. 20 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr. 21 President, I now move to reconsider the vote by 22 which this bill was passed. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 24 Secretary will call the roll on reconsideration. 25 (The Secretary called the roll on 6698 1 reconsideration.) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 Marcellino. 5 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr. 6 President, I now offer the following amendments. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 8 Amendments are received and adopted. 9 Senator Marcellino. 10 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Oh, I got a 11 blank sheet. 12 Mr. President, on behalf of 13 Senator Skelos, I wish to call up his bill, 14 Print Number 4821, recalled from the Assembly 15 which is now at the desk. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 17 will read. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 1453, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 4821, an 20 act to amend the Civil Service Law, in relation 21 to reimbursement. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 23 Marcellino. 24 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr. 25 President, I now move to reconsider the vote by 6699 1 which this bill was passed. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Motion is 3 to reconsider the vote by which the bill passed 4 the house. Secretary will call the roll on 5 reconsideration. 6 (The Secretary called the roll on 7 reconsideration.) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 10 Marcellino. 11 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr. 12 President, I now offer the following amendments. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 14 Amendments are received and adopted. 15 Senator Holland. 16 SENATOR HOLLAND: Senator 17 Leichter is not here yet. Can we return to 18 Supplemental Calendar 60-B from the Rules 19 Committee. Is it distributed? I guess not. 20 Can't do that either. Not distributed, Mr. 21 President. I guess we'll have to stand at ease 22 for the moment. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senate 24 will stand at ease for a moment. 25 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President. 6700 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 2 Senate will come to order, members find their 3 places, please, staff take their chairs. 4 Senator Holland. 5 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 6 may we return to reports of standing 7 committees. I believe there is a report of the 8 Finance Committee at the desk. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There 10 is. We'll return to the order of reports of 11 standing committees. I'll ask the Secretary to 12 read the report of the Finance Committee. 13 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 14 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 15 following bills: 16 Senate Print 5671, by the Senate 17 Committee on Rules, an act making appropriations 18 for the support of government; and 19 Senate Print 5672, by the Senate 20 Committee on Rules, an act making appropriations 21 for the support of government. 22 Both bills ordered direct for 23 third reading. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 Holland. 6701 1 SENATOR HOLLAND: I move we 2 accept the report of the Finance Committee. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Motion is 4 to accept the report of the Finance Committee. 5 All those in favor signify by saying aye. 6 (Response of "Aye.") 7 Opposed nay. 8 (There was no response.) 9 The report of the Finance 10 Committee is accepted. 11 SENATOR HOLLAND: Can we take up 12 Calendar 1508, please, Mr. President. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 14 will read the title of Calendar Number 1508. 15 It's one of the bills just reported from the 16 Finance Committee. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar number 18 1508, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 19 Print 5671, an act making appropriations for the 20 support of government. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Holland. 23 SENATOR HOLLAND: Is there a 24 message at the desk? 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 6702 1 a message of necessity and of appropriation at 2 the desk. 3 Senator Holland. 4 SENATOR HOLLAND: Move to 5 accept. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Motion is 7 to accept the messages. All those in favor 8 signify by saying aye. 9 (Response of "Aye.") 10 Opposed nay. 11 The messages are accepted. 12 Secretary will read the last section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 7. This 14 act shall take effect immediately. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 16 roll. 17 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 19 the negatives and announce the results. 20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52, nays 21 one, Senator Dollinger recorded in the 22 negative. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 24 is passed. 25 Senator Holland. 6703 1 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 2 can we do Calendar 1509, please. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 4 will read the title to Calendar Number 1509 5 which is the second bill that was reported out 6 of the Finance Committee. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 1509, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 9 Print 5672, an act making appropriations for the 10 support of government. 11 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 12 is there a message of necessity at the desk, 13 please? 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There are 15 two messages at the desk, Senator Holland. 16 SENATOR HOLLAND: Move we accept 17 both messages. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Motion is 19 to accept the message of necessity and the 20 message of appropriation on Calendar Number 21 1509. All those in favor signify by saying 22 aye. 23 (Response of "Aye.") 24 Opposed nay. 25 (There was no response.) 6704 1 The messages are accepted. 2 Secretary will read the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. This 4 act shall take effect immediately. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 6 roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 9 the negatives and announce the results. 10 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 11 the negative on Calendar Number 1509 are 12 Senators Alesi, Dollinger and Maziarz. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 14 is passed. 15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50, nays 3. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 17 is passed. 18 Senator Holland. 19 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 20 can we recognize Senator Stafford, the chairman 21 of the Finance Committee, please. 22 SENATOR STAFFORD: Mr. President, 23 I believe we have some nominations. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We'll 25 return to the order of reports of standing 6705 1 committees. There's a report of the Finance 2 Committee. I'll ask the Secretary to read. 3 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 4 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 5 following nomination: 6 Member of the state Civil Service 7 Commission, George C. Sinnott, of Clifton Park. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Chair 9 recognizes Senator Stafford, on the nomination. 10 SENATOR STAFFORD: Mr. President, 11 at the risk of being a broken record speaking of 12 the Governor's nominations, I assure you today I 13 am not. 14 We had two very fine individuals 15 appear before us, two of the finest -- I mean 16 that -- Chairman Sinnott of the Civil Service 17 Commission addressed us professionally. He 18 explained exactly what is being done. We 19 unanimously supported him, and I could go on and 20 on in a positive manner, but I will yield to the 21 Senator from part of Saratoga. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 23 Farley. 24 SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you very 25 much, Senator Stafford. 6706 1 I rise to move the nomination of 2 George Sinnott on behalf of my colleague that I 3 share Saratoga County with, Senator Bruno. I 4 know that Senator Bruno, if he wasn't involved 5 in a meeting, would be here to nominate George. 6 Actually, Clifton Park abuts my district and 7 we're -- half the people there think that I'm 8 their Senator, so today we'll pretend that I 9 am. 10 George Sinnott has had a 11 magnificent career, particularly when it comes 12 to personnel and working with labor and 13 hearings, and so forth, and you know, I have to 14 compliment Governor Pataki on this appointment 15 because nobody that is going on the Civil 16 Service Commission, particularly as president, 17 will -- is better qualified than George 18 Sinnott. 19 He comes from a distinguished 20 family. His brother Bill was a member of the 21 Senate family, and I guess he has four other - 22 four brothers that are a lot like my family, a 23 lot of boys and no -- no girls. 24 But let me say this, that George 25 Sinnott is eminently qualified for this job. He 6707 1 came before the Finance Committee and I think 2 everybody that heard him was impressed with the 3 breadth of knowledge and his commitment to 4 efficient state service, and commitment to the 5 civil service system which has been somewhat 6 under a cloud of attack because of its 7 inefficiency over the years, and I'm confident 8 that he will make a difference for this 9 commission, make a difference for the civil 10 servant who is the life blood of our state, many 11 of whom particularly from the Capital District 12 are my constituents, and Senator Breslin's and 13 Senator Bruno, but we're very, very grateful for 14 his commitment to the state service. He's also 15 mentioned, and I think it's kind of significant, 16 that his dear friend and mentor, Senator Levy, 17 who is ill at the present time, that he has a 18 connection from Long Island and Nassau County, 19 and George Sinnott is an outstanding appointment 20 and it's with enthusiasm that I move his 21 nomination. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Chair 23 recognizes Senator Skelos, on the nomination. 24 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 25 I'm delighted to rise and speak on behalf of my 6708 1 good friend, George Sinnott, as we once again 2 confirm him for a very important position. I 3 know George now resides in the -- in Clifton 4 Park, Saratoga County, but certainly his 5 upbringing and his training was in my great 6 county of Nassau County, where he served in 7 various capacities, for supervisors and county 8 executives. 9 In both instances, George was 10 involved in the decision-making process that 11 sometimes in government we don't like to make 12 but it involves the lives of so many of our 13 employees, whether it was in the county of 14 Nassau or the state of New York. The difficult 15 decisions were necessary in both instances, but 16 George always helped make those decisions 17 working with government, with elected officials, 18 to really reduce the pain that unfortunately 19 some people had to endure and keep it at a 20 minimum. 21 George respects the legislative 22 system. He respects the political system. He 23 respects us as legislators and what we are 24 required to do. There's never been a time that 25 I've written a letter, or any other member that 6709 1 I know of has written a letter to George and has 2 not received a courteous response even if we 3 totally did not agree with that response. 4 So I'm delighted to get up and 5 second the nomination of my good friend, George 6 Sinnott. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 8 Marcellino, on the nomination. 9 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you, 10 Mr. President. 11 I too would like to rise and echo 12 my colleagues' Senator Skelos' comments and 13 Senator Farley's comments on a good friend, 14 George Sinnott. 15 George's work in Nassau County 16 was almost legendary, and I had many times that 17 I had to call George on many issues relative to 18 the civil service system and received a prompt, 19 courteous and always accurate assessment of the 20 facts and assessment of the issue. He's a good 21 friend to everyone who's ever had to deal with 22 the system. 23 George has done a fantastic job 24 down in Long Island and will do an excellent job 25 -- has been doing an excellent job in the state 6710 1 of New York. Look forward to working with you 2 for many, many years to come, George. God 3 bless! 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is there 5 any other Senator -- Senator Trunzo, on the 6 nomination. 7 SENATOR TRUNZO: Mr. President, 8 as as chairman of the Civil Service and Pensions 9 Committee, I've had the honor of working with 10 George for the past two and a half years and 11 he's done an outstanding job. 12 He really went through quite an 13 itinerary during the Finance Committee and 14 really all the great things that have been 15 happening to the Civil Service Department making 16 it probably one of the best in the United States 17 and it is a great honor for me to second the 18 nomination of George Sinnott to continue on as 19 chairman of the Civil Service Commission. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is there 21 any other Senator wishing to speak on the 22 nomination? 23 Hearing none, the question is on 24 the nomination of George C. Sinnott, of Clifton 25 Park, to become a member of the state Service 6711 1 Commission. All those in favor of the 2 nomination, signify by saying aye. 3 (Response of "Aye.") 4 Opposed nay. 5 (There was no response.) 6 The nominee is unanimously 7 confirmed. 8 We're very, very pleased to have 9 Mr. Sinnott in the chamber to your left with us 10 today, along with his wife Judy, his daughter 11 Katie, son Tim, brother Bill, Joe and Adele 12 Neltz, Barbara Neltz and Hettie Stemmer, who are 13 all friends. 14 So congratulations, George. Nice 15 to have such a wonderful following coming along 16 with you, and good luck. 17 (Applause) 18 Secretary will continue to read. 19 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 20 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 21 following nomination: 22 Member of the state Civil Service 23 Commission, Margaret Dadd, of Attica. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 Stafford, on the nomination. 6712 1 SENATOR STAFFORD: Mr. President, 2 just once more let me -- and I know sometimes we 3 sound like we almost overdo it, but I -- I want 4 to say the two individuals that appeared before 5 us today, it was just very heartening to have 6 the quality that we are so pleased to have with 7 us, and I assure you that Margaret Dadd, from 8 Wyoming County, who is so ably represented by 9 Senator Volker, who I will yield to, that I'm 10 sure she will do the same type of work that 11 George Sinnott has done on the commission, and 12 with that, again, I could go on in a positive 13 nature for too long, and I will not. I yield 14 fought Senator from Wyoming. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Chair 16 recognizes Senator Volker, on the nomination. 17 SENATOR VOLKER: Thank you, Mr. 18 President, and thank you, Senator Stafford. I 19 appreciate it. 20 I'm proud to rise in behalf of 21 Margaret "Maggie" Dadd, as we affectionately 22 know her. She is one of the very nicest people 23 that I have ever met. I've known Margaret Dadd 24 for probably 25 or 30 years. The law firm that 25 "Maggie" Dadd is part of is probably one of the 6713 1 most -- certainly one of the most distinguished 2 law firms in upstate New York and the most 3 distinguished law firm in Wyoming County. Her 4 husband is a Supreme Court judge, and I knew her 5 father-in-law extremely well, and many other 6 members of the family, but I think and I 7 hesitate to say this. I say it because Mark 8 Dadd is not here, but I think Margaret Dadd is 9 the brightest of the entire family. I can say 10 that because he isn't here because he'd probably 11 say something if he was; but she has been a top 12 notch lawyer, a top-notch community leader. 13 There is no question that she is 14 more than capable of filling this job on the 15 Civil Service Commission, that, frankly, was so 16 ably held by Bob Reardon, her predecessor, who 17 was in that job for some time. 18 My congratulations to you and to 19 the Governor for naming Margaret, of course also 20 for naming George Sinnott who obviously has been 21 an enormously important part of the changes that 22 have gone on in the Civil Service Commission. 23 There is no doubt in my mind that Margaret Dadd 24 will prove to be one of the finest civil service 25 commissioners ever, and I wish you the best and 6714 1 my hearty congratulations to you and to the rest 2 of the family. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 Gold, on the nomination. 5 SENATOR GOLD: Yeah, Mr. 6 President. 7 As the ranking member of Finance, 8 I get the privilege of sitting in on these 9 hearings and they're very interesting, and I 10 heard this lady discussing her background, and 11 here is a lovely woman from Wisconsin who went 12 to school and law school out there and did some 13 work in the poverty law area, and then discussed 14 her work as a lawyer in New York and whatever, 15 and I sat there in total puzzlement and having 16 the big mouth which I know my Republican 17 colleagues will agree about, I -- I expressed my 18 amazement and I said, "You know, I -- I've heard 19 your background, and the only question I have 20 was how did you get mixed up with these 21 Republicans," to which this woman shot right 22 back at me, "Lucky, I guess," and I don't know 23 why everybody laughed at that point, but as she 24 was walking out of the room, the comment I made 25 was, quotes, This is a classy lady, and I want 6715 1 to tell you, I -- I'm very happy about this 2 nomination. 3 I do not know the woman. I had 4 the pleasure of meeting her husband and two of 5 her children afterwards, but I have the feeling 6 that our Governor who I believe drops the ball a 7 lot, certainly did not in this case and I want 8 to congratulate him on this nomination and wish 9 the nominee luck. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is there 11 any other question or any other Senator wishing 12 to speak on the nomination? 13 Hearing none, the question is on 14 the nomination of Margaret Dadd, of Attica, New 15 York, to become a member of the state Civil 16 Service Commission. 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 unanimously 22 confirmed. 23 Margaret has joined us and is in 24 the gallery to your left, along with her husband 25 and her children. Margaret, congratulations and 6716 1 good luck. 2 (Applause) 3 Secretary will read. 4 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 5 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 6 following nominations: 7 Members of the New York State 8 Hospital Review and Planning Council, Carol 9 Raphael, of New York City, and Suzanne C. Smith, 10 of Slingerlands. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 12 Holland, on the nominations. 13 SENATOR HOLLAND: Move the 14 nominations, please. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Question 16 is on the nominations of Carol Raphael and 17 Suzanne Smith to become members of the Hospital 18 Review and Planning Council. All those in favor 19 of the nominations signify by saying aye. 20 (Response of "Aye.") 21 Opposed nay. 22 (There was no response.) 23 The nominees are confirmed. 24 Secretary will read. 25 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 6717 1 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 2 following nomination: 3 Member of the Medical Advisory 4 Committee, Ruben Cowart, D.D.S., of Syracuse. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6 Hoffmann, on the nomination. 7 SENATOR HOFFMANN: Mr. President, 8 I'm very pleased to be able to support the 9 nomination of Dr. Cowart. He is well known in 10 the Syracuse community, both as a member of the 11 larger community and a very civic-minded 12 individual as well as an outstanding medical 13 individual -- medically trained individual who 14 runs the Syracuse Neighborhood Health Center and 15 has for a number of years. 16 He has distinguished himself 17 among his medical colleagues as well as among 18 people in the community. He originally received 19 his training at St. Augustine College in North 20 Carolina, did his medical work at Howard 21 University and has done graduate work in a 22 number of specialties through the State 23 University system here in New York State. 24 He served as a Lieutenant Colonel 25 in the United States Army Reserve and has many, 6718 1 many experiences on about an eight-page vita 2 which would take too long for us to enumerate 3 today, but I would commend him as a highly 4 qualified individual and a very fine individual 5 as well, fine gentleman as well, to all of my 6 colleagues and urge that he be supported. 7 Thank you. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Any other 9 Senator wishing to speak on the nomination? 10 Hearing none, the question is on 11 the nomination of Ruben Cowart to become a 12 member of the Medical Advisory Committee. All 13 those in favor of the nomination signify by 14 saying aye. 15 (Response of "Aye.") 16 Opposed nay. 17 (There was no response.) 18 The nominee is confirmed. 19 Secretary will continue to read. 20 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 21 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 22 following nomination: 23 Member of the Board of Visitors 24 of the Finger Lakes Developmental Disabilities 25 Services Office: Bernice Ziehm, of Webster. 6719 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Question 2 is on the nomination. All those in favor 3 signify by saying aye. 4 (Response of "Aye.") 5 Opposed nay. 6 (There was no response.) 7 The nominee is confirmed. 8 Secretary will continue to read. 9 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 10 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 11 following nomination: 12 Member of the Board of Visitors 13 of the Letchworth Village Developmental 14 Disabilities Services Office: Jane Clucas, of 15 Piermont. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Question 17 is on the nomination. All those in favor 18 signify by saying aye. 19 (Response of "Aye.") 20 Opposed nay. 21 (There was no response.) 22 The nominee is confirmed. 23 Secretary will continue to read. 24 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 25 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 6720 1 following nomination: 2 Member of the Board of Visitors 3 of the Rockland Psychiatric Center, Rocco C. 4 Giacobbe, of Nyack. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Question 6 is on the nomination. All those in favor 7 signify by saying aye. 8 (Response of "Aye.") 9 Opposed nay. 10 (There was no response.) 11 The nominee is confirmed. 12 Senator Holland. 13 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 14 now that Senator Leichter is here, can we go 15 back to today's calendar and take up 865, 16 please. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We'll 18 return to the original calendar of the day, 19 Calendar Number 60. Secretary will read 20 Calendar Number 865. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 865, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 4595, an 23 act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law and 24 others, in relation to the powers of the State 25 University security officers. 6721 1 SENATOR LEICHTER: Explanation. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 3 Saland, an explanation has been requested of 4 Calendar Number 865, by Senator Leichter. 5 SENATOR SALAND: Thank you, Mr. 6 President. 7 Mr. President, what this bill 8 would do would be to enable State University 9 security officers to be designated as police 10 officers and, in that capacity, their status 11 quite obviously would change. 12 The bill has countless memos of 13 support, probably I would say at least four to 14 five dozen from various and sundry police and 15 sheriffs and student organizations, and -- and 16 I'm prepared to respond to Senator Leichter's 17 questions. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 19 Leichter. 20 SENATOR LEICHTER: Thank you, 21 Senator Saland. I appreciate your yielding. I 22 do have one or two questions. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 24 Saland, do you yield? Senator Saland, do you 25 yield? 6722 1 SENATOR SALAND: Yes, Mr. 2 President. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 yields. 5 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, what 6 training do these campus security police 7 officers have? 8 SENATOR SALAND: They currently 9 receive rather vigorous training, in excess of 10 500 hours of training which is conducted, I 11 believe, at one of the municipal academies. 12 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, how 13 does that training compare with the training for 14 a regular police officer? 15 SENATOR SALAND: I believe it is 16 as rigorous as that, although I can't quantify 17 it, Franz. I believe it is as rigorous as that 18 provided, I'm told anecdotally that it's as 19 rigorous as that provided to police officers, 20 but I couldn't give you the corresponding number 21 of hours that are provided for the municipal 22 police. 23 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator 24 Saland, if you'd continued to yield, please. 25 SENATOR SALAND: Yes, sir. 6723 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 Saland, do you continue to yield? Senator 3 yields. 4 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, is 5 there one academy where all of the University 6 security officers receive their training or does 7 each institution have its own academy? My 8 concern is -- is purely as to whether we're 9 going to have people that are adequately - 10 adequately trained. They have police powers; 11 those are very extensive. They carry guns, and 12 so on. I think we just ought to be assured that 13 they have the proper training. 14 SENATOR SALAND: I have in my 15 file, Senator Leichter, a breakdown of what the 16 training consists of, and it consists of some 11 17 parts, totalling 531 hours. I can't tell you 18 with absolute certainty that it's conducted at 19 one site. I was -- it was my understanding that 20 it was, but I would not want you to accept that 21 as gospel. I -- I do believe it is, but I -- I 22 can't tell you that with absolute certainty. 23 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator 24 Saland. 25 SENATOR SALAND: May I also share 6724 1 with you, which touches upon the subject you've 2 just raised, a copy of a letter which I've 3 received from the Chancellor, John Ryan, of the 4 State University which was sent to Edward Gosdek 5 of the Police Conference, in which he informs 6 Mr. Gosdek that the State University is willing 7 to engage the Police Conference in the review of 8 the written protocols between the University and 9 municipalities in which the campuses are located 10 as such protocols are submitted by the campuses 11 to systems administration, and goes on to dwell 12 at greater length on the desire to be 13 cooperative with the Police Conference. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 15 Leichter. 16 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes, Senator 17 Saland, if you would bear with me just a moment 18 because I have a letter from Chancellor Ryan 19 which he sent me. I'm just trying to make sure, 20 Senator, I think all of us ought to be concerned 21 about it, that these people have adequate 22 training. You say that you think it's 23 comparable. 24 SENATOR SALAND: May I interrupt 25 you. I've just been advised by staff that they 6725 1 do go through the municipal police training 2 course, and I've heard that from a greater 3 authority as well, Senator Volker. 4 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, if 5 you would continue to yield. 6 SENATOR SALAND: Yes, Mr. 7 President. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 9 Saland, do you continue to yield? The Senator 10 continues to yield. 11 SENATOR LEICHTER: The sheriffs 12 are opposing this designation. We really 13 haven't had a chance to review their reason for 14 it. 15 SENATOR SALAND: I noted that 16 with interest, because I would say without 17 exaggeration, on the list of supporters here we 18 probably have at least four or five or perhaps 19 more sheriffs departments among the multitude of 20 law enforcement organizations that are 21 supporting this bill, and I also have the copies 22 of their respective letters or memos in support, 23 and the support, incidentally, seems to be 24 coming from -- overwhelmingly from law 25 enforcement organizations in the communities 6726 1 where these SUNY campuses are located, although 2 that's not exclusively coming from those 3 communities. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5 Leichter. 6 SENATOR LEICHTER: If Senator 7 Saland will continue to yield. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 9 Saland, do you continue to yield? 10 SENATOR SALAND: Yes, Mr. 11 President. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 continues to yield. 14 SENATOR LEICHTER: I have a memo 15 in opposition that was sent by Peter Kehoe in 16 behalf of his sheriffs. One argument that he 17 makes is that he interprets your bill to 18 authorize these campus security officials to 19 carry guns at all times irrespective of whether 20 or not the university president desires that 21 they carry guns. 22 SENATOR SALAND: I respectfully 23 submit that Mr. Kehoe is in error, that the 24 governing language that would control the right 25 to carry would be found in the Education Law, 6727 1 Section 6450, which clearly puts that, or 2 reposes that responsibility in the trustees or 3 the governing board of the respective college 4 campuses, and right now, the overwhelming 5 majority of those campuses permit their 6 personnel to carry, not all of them, but the 7 vast majority of them do. 8 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 9 finally, the reason you give for this bill and I 10 guess the request by SUNY to create these police 11 officers on campuses, they say that campus crime 12 has become a significant problem throughout this 13 state. 14 You know, we have certain 15 shibboleths, certain myths, sometimes actually 16 they're not myths, they turn out to be based on 17 fact. I don't know whether that's so. We've 18 seen crime decline throughout New York State. 19 Are you telling us at the same time that it's 20 increasing on the campuses of the State 21 University? 22 SENATOR SALAND: I would be 23 reluctant to tell you that I've seen the current 24 data for the past year or two. The -- probably 25 three or four years ago, Senator Leichter, I 6728 1 chaired a task force which dealt with issues of 2 campus crime and campus security, and one of the 3 constant themes which I heard in each locale in 4 which we took testimony was the need to, in 5 effect, convert the current security system to a 6 police system. It was embraced by virtually 7 everybody, whether it be people representing the 8 student population, whether it be law 9 enforcement personnel, whether it be 10 professional staff. 11 I'm reluctant in the absence of 12 hard data to say yes, the numbers have gone up 13 but what I can tell you is that the numbers I 14 have seen have shown a considerable amount of 15 theft, a considerable amount of -- of property 16 crimes, a considerable amount of assaultive 17 crime including -- including a number of sexual 18 offenses, and the sense was that it was rather 19 difficult for non-police personnel to 20 effectively respond to a number of these 21 situations. Often they would be required to 22 wait to bring in from off campus police 23 personnel, and I believe this mechanism will 24 provide for greater security on campus and 25 really I think a greater comfort level for all 6729 1 people who might be on campus whether they be 2 students, staff or employees. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 Leichter. 5 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator Saland, 6 if you would continue to yield. Presently these 7 security personnel are receiving the training 8 that you mentioned, is that -- is that correct? 9 SENATOR SALAND: They are 10 receiving the five hundred - 11 SENATOR LEICHTER: And they will 12 receive the exact same training if your bill 13 becomes law and they become actual police 14 officers? 15 SENATOR SALAND: I'm not quite 16 sure what additional bells and whistles they 17 will receive, but they are currently getting 18 what is the municipal police officer training. 19 I think the change in status may not necessarily 20 -- may not necessitate any particularly 21 lengthier or extensive type of training. 22 The purpose of the change in 23 status is to provide greater law enforcement 24 ability on campus, and in turn obviously greater 25 security on campus. 6730 1 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 2 on the bill. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 Leichter, on the bill. 5 SENATOR LEICHTER: I thank 6 Senator Saland for his answers. I'm just not 7 convinced. I'm not convinced on two grounds, 8 that we should create these university police 9 officers. 10 First of all, I don't know that 11 there's a pressing need. I don't know that 12 there is a problem. Senator Saland conceded 13 that he had no particular figures which 14 indicated a large increase in crime. He did 15 refer to acts that have occurred that maybe 16 could be better handled if security personnel 17 had the powers of police officers. 18 I don't know whether that, to my 19 mind, is sufficient justification to put police 20 officers on the campus on a full-time basis. I 21 hate to think of a campus university setting as 22 a place, you know, where we could avoid the need 23 of having police officers. I realize some of 24 that is illusory. Problems occur; situations 25 arise, but I'm not so sure that the police 6731 1 personnel that presently service those campuses 2 that provide the security are inadequate to do 3 it. 4 Secondly, I'm concerned about 5 giving people the status of police officers when 6 they don't have a training that, to my mind, 7 convinces me that it's every bit as thorough, as 8 complete, as carefully done as for other police 9 officers. Obviously being a police officer is a 10 very responsible position, requires to my mind 11 extensive training, and I'm not sure that that's 12 occurring in this instance. 13 I don't see that we advance the 14 safety of the people of the state of New York or 15 the students and staff of the universities by 16 passing this bill. I'm going to vote in the 17 negative. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 19 Oppenheimer. 20 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: I'd like to 21 speak briefly on the bill. 22 Like Senator Saland, I had my 23 Senate Democratic Task Force on Women's Issues 24 go around the state about five years ago on the 25 subject of violent crimes on campuses and, of 6732 1 course, we were talking mainly about violent 2 crime against women and most of that was -- was 3 rape and sexual assault, and we came to the 4 similar conclusions that Senator Saland did, 5 that there was a need to, or have police powers 6 for the officers on campus. 7 One of the main reasons was that 8 the campus officers could not go off campus 9 where many of the residents -- the residences of 10 the students was -- that's not good English, but 11 -- were, and therefore, they couldn't follow up 12 on the crime because the crime in essence was 13 committed off the campus even though the people 14 involved were on-campus people. 15 We had made a number of 16 recommendations which I think would also help 17 with this problem. We found that the incidence 18 of rape or sexual assault was perhaps the most 19 under-reported crime in the world on campuses. 20 We found that almost nobody was reporting it. 21 We are happy to say that now five years later, 22 we hear that more people are coming forth, 23 particularly women are coming forth and stating 24 what the problem is. 25 Our thought was that, in addition 6733 1 to increasing the police powers, that if there 2 where are a discussion during orientation, and I 3 would like Senator Saland to look at this 4 suggestion, if during orientation, the young 5 students age 17 and 18, who probably never have 6 been on their own before, explained exactly what 7 the consequences are, that a felony is a felony 8 whether it is on a campus or off a campus, that 9 there should be an explanation of a certain 10 sensitivity and understanding and listening to 11 people so that when a woman says "no", be she a 12 student or not, that she means no, and that they 13 ought to be able to have dialogue. 14 We further talked about having 15 rape crisis centers and victim centers on campus 16 which has been done in many of our state schools 17 but there were a variety of proposals and we 18 will try and see them to fruition, but this is 19 certainly one of them, that the officers on 20 campus needed further power, so I'm very 21 supportive of this bill. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 23 Hoffmann. 24 SENATOR HOFFMANN: Thank you, Mr. 25 President. 6734 1 I wonder if Senator Saland would 2 yield to a question. 3 SENATOR SALAND: Yes, Mr. 4 President. 5 SENATOR HOFFMANN: Thank you, 6 Senator Saland. 7 The bill does not convey any 8 information that I can determine about cost 9 either to the state or to the SUNY system 10 specifically. I wonder if you could elaborate 11 to us a little bit what costs you might 12 anticipate. 13 SENATOR SALAND: I'm glad you 14 raised that point because it helps me to respond 15 to a question that I didn't or was unable to 16 respond to which was posed by Senator Leichter a 17 bit earlier. 18 I can't quantify what that amount 19 of money would be. We're advised and have 20 included in the bill memo, that there would be 21 modest budgetary implications at the outset due 22 to the need for a transition training program 23 which reflects these additional duties which 24 again, in part responds to Senator Leichter and 25 while I'm up, Senator Leichter, and while it's 6735 1 not responsive to your question, Senator 2 Hoffmann, I have been presented with data which 3 I'd be very happy to share with you which does 4 show, while certainly necessarily uniform in 5 terms of each category of crime, increases in 6 crime particularly some of the more violent 7 crimes at the campuses and university centers 8 throughout the system. 9 SENATOR HOFFMANN: Thank you, Mr. 10 President. 11 If Senator Saland would continue 12 to yield to one or two more brief questions. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 Saland, do you continue to yield? 15 SENATOR SALAND: Yes, Mr. 16 President. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 18 yields. 19 SENATOR HOFFMANN: Thank you, Mr. 20 President. 21 It's not related directly to this 22 particular bill, but I wonder if you have 23 studied the question raised by the Sheriffs 24 Association about changing the retirement 25 status, the pension status of existing deputy 6736 1 sheriffs across the state. 2 SENATOR SALAND: Well, this 3 certainly doesn't deal with that bill and I am 4 certainly not really sympathetic to but 5 supportive of the deputy sheriffs in their 6 endeavor to get that change, and the fact that 7 police officers have that status and deputies 8 don't, I find rather troublesome inasmuch as 9 what often may happen is that people will be 10 trained as deputies and when an opportunity 11 creates -- is created in a police environment of 12 20-year retirement these people, who have been 13 trained by a county department, will very often 14 leave to go to that opportunity, so I'm 15 extremely sympathetic but don't think that the 16 SUNY -- this SUNY bill should be prejudiced or 17 held hostage because of the fact that, you know, 18 the deputy sheriffs haven't attained that 19 retirement system yet. 20 SENATOR HOFFMANN: O.K. Thank 21 you, Senator Saland. I -- my final question 22 which I think you anticipated would be why, if 23 it's un... if it's unfair currently for existing 24 deputy sheriffs to receive the 20-year 25 retirement rights to which they believe they are 6737 1 entitled and which other law enforcement are, 2 what then would be the logical cost we would 3 expect of similarly extending that same benefit 4 to this category of officers, since their 5 responsibilities would have become virtually the 6 same? 7 SENATOR SALAND: Well, what we're 8 talking about is not providing SUNY police with 9 deputy sheriff's status. I'm seeing in a number 10 of the memos that I've had the opportunity to 11 look at that there have been occasions in which 12 at various times one or another county sheriff 13 may have deputized SUNY public safety officers 14 for purposes of an investigation, but what we're 15 talking about is giving them police status, and 16 there are certain benefits that flow from that 17 police status that are purely incidental to that 18 status, and I don't think for one moment that 19 county sheriffs, and for that matter assumedly 20 deputy sheriffs, are eager to have their status 21 changed from that of deputy sheriff or sheriff 22 to police officer. What they're eager to 23 accomplish is to have the same type of benefits 24 that are provided by way of retirement to police 25 officers and the fact that that maybe be 6738 1 extended to the -- what would become the SUNY 2 police really is almost incidental and in no way 3 prejudicial to deputy sheriffs. 4 I believe that we're talking 5 basically apples and oranges here. 6 SENATOR HOFFMANN: Thank you, 7 Senator Saland. On the bill. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 9 Hoffmann, on the bill. 10 SENATOR HOFFMANN: This is a very 11 nettlesome issue, and I sympathize with Senator 12 Oppenheimer and commend her and the task force 13 which she convened for having explored the issue 14 of violence against women as it affects young 15 women on university campuses across the state. 16 I do not believe, however, that 17 this is the most logical response or the only 18 response to that issue. I would hope that we 19 would address that in a more comprehensive way 20 and outline the many questions that this bill 21 raises before we rush pell-mell into increasing 22 the police officer status of our SUNY officers, 23 because I believe it raises as many questions 24 and sets a scenario up for some considerable 25 cost and complications in the law enforcement 6739 1 field that have not been thoroughly 2 anticipated. 3 I have to say that initially I 4 had supported a number of measures like this and 5 over the last decade or so we have had many 6 institutions in the SUNY system come before us 7 requesting peace officer status for their 8 officers, and I have supported those, by and 9 large including on the campuses which I 10 represent in the 48th Senate District. 11 I've watched the evolution of 12 this change with some interest and -- and a bit 13 of dismay because it has been apparent that it 14 has not been the qualified success that we 15 expected at the outset, and I would just like to 16 cite Morrisville campus in the middle of Madison 17 County as one example. 18 Initially, the faculty 19 overwhelmingly opposed arming the security force 20 on that campus. There was no active opposition 21 within the rest of the community, but there was 22 also another situation happening on a parallel 23 basis which has some frame of reference to what 24 we're debating today, and that is the -- the 25 operation of a police force, a private police 6740 1 force, by the Oneida Indian Nation, and the 2 Oneida Indian Nation initially had a great deal 3 of support from or some support from both the 4 Madison and the Oneida County law enforcement 5 associations. That has diminished along with 6 the elected officials in both of those counties 7 who initially opposed -- encouraged, excuse me, 8 encouraged the police officer status -- the 9 peace officer status of those -- those agencies 10 and there are now people in both Madison and 11 Oneida County who voice some regret at having 12 extended the law enforcement privileges to a 13 group of men and women who are not accountable 14 directly to the public, and I think that that 15 argument relative to this massive peace officer 16 status off campus for SUNY officers is really 17 very well summarized in a memo from the New York 18 State Sheriffs Association. 19 The memo from Peter Kehoe reads, 20 and I'd just like to excerpt one section on that 21 subject, that there is a -- there is a danger 22 because SUNY police officers will be appointed 23 by a member of the education bureaucracy who is 24 in no way accountable to the general citizenry. 25 It is a very dangerous thing to give the state's 6741 1 police powers to officers who are shielded from 2 accountability to the public by layers of 3 bureaucrats, none of whom anywhere in the chain 4 are chosen by the electorate, and I think that 5 we really should take heed to the scenario that 6 this sets up. 7 Private police forces are an 8 anathema in this country. They hearken back to 9 the days of goon squads hired by coal mine 10 owners to go and bust up union organizing 11 activities in the coal mines, and I think that 12 we have become very enlightened in the last 10 13 or 15 years on this subject, and we demand the 14 ultimate in accountability from people in law 15 enforcement. 16 Sheriffs in this state are 17 elected. Police chiefs are appointed by the 18 highest elected officials in the executive 19 branch of government and the municipality in 20 which they serve. This would mark a dramatic 21 change from that accountability concept, and I 22 don't believe it is one in which we should enter 23 lightly. 24 But the other issue and one which 25 I queried Senator Saland about, that I think is 6742 1 extremely timely right now, is the matter of 2 cost, and the scenario that we would appear to 3 be setting up whereby a whole host of police 4 officers operating on the SUNY campuses would 5 feel the same entitlement to which deputy 6 sheriffs presently believe they are entitled, 7 and that is a pension system and a retirement 8 option which they have been denied. 9 Now, if the deputy sheriffs have 10 lobbied year after year and come to the state 11 Legislature seeking this benefit and been turned 12 down ostensibly for a cost factor, then why 13 would this same state Legislature create a 14 situation where another whole group of 15 individuals would feel a similar disparity, an 16 equal disparity, and again I'd like to cite from 17 the Sheriffs Association of the state of New 18 York, because I think that that memo outlines it 19 very well. 20 The memo reads, This bill will 21 entail a considerable cost to the state. The 22 SUNY memo in support admits that additional 23 training will be required, but attaches no cost 24 to that, and again Senator Saland was not able 25 to give us a cost figure on that. Additionally, 6743 1 there will be the cost of the change-over of all 2 uniform launch equipment to the police 3 designation. We have no cost figure for that. 4 There will be the cost of providing weapons to 5 all of the newly created police officers and 6 there will be the permanent ongoing cost of new 7 salaries for the upgraded positions since police 8 officers are not going to work for peace officer 9 pay and police officer supervisors are not going 10 to supervise police officers for the same pay 11 they receive for supervising peace officers, and 12 then Mr. Kehoe goes into the most compelling 13 argument of all that we really should be 14 considering here. 15 At a time when we have not been 16 able to formulate a budget of the state of New 17 York, this would be an enormous potential cost 18 and the responsibility would clearly be on us to 19 do the right thing, which would be to give the 20 retirement and pension benefits to these 21 officers much as we have a responsibility to 22 give them to the deputy sheriffs of the state. 23 Mr. Kehoe writes, And most expensive of all 24 would be the cost of providing the non 25 contributory 20-year and out at half pay benefit 6744 1 to all those newly created police officers with 2 a huge retroactive payment in the many millions 3 of dollars, and a large permanent ongoing 4 increased employer contribution. Although the 5 bill does not mention the retirement issue at 6 all, it doesn't take much thinking to realize 7 that the union representing these new police 8 officers cannot stand by and let these police 9 officers be subjected to the current 10 contributory age, 62, ERS retirement plan, when 11 all the rest of the state-employed police 12 officers they represent have a non-contributory 13 20-year and out plan. 14 So I urge my colleagues to weigh 15 very carefully the cost and the fairness factor 16 in this matter. I recognize we have before us a 17 measure in support of this measure from Council 18 82, which would be the -- the host union for 19 these newly created officers. Obviously Council 20 82, for whom I have the highest degree of 21 respect and represent many members in my 22 district at several of the state penal 23 institutions, Council 82's membership would 24 increase dramatically by the addition of these 25 new police officers in that union, but I find it 6745 1 interesting that in contrast, sharp contrast to 2 the memorandum of Council 82, both the Police 3 Conference of the state of New York and the New 4 York State Sheriffs Association, which represent 5 other law enforcement officials charged with the 6 responsibility that these officers would be 7 entrusted with, strongly -- and I emphasize 8 strongly -- oppose this measure. 9 So I want to commend Senator 10 Saland for having addressed this issue, but I 11 don't believe that we have gone far enough in 12 our analysis and I think that it would be 13 imprudent at best at a time when we have not 14 treated with fairness the New York State 15 deputies who would like to have equal treatment 16 under the law, for us to set up a scenario where 17 a whole group of new individuals would be 18 subjected to the same unequal treatment and the 19 potential cost would be borne by the SUNY system 20 for increased contributions in the future and 21 obviously by the state of New York, for making 22 available that retroactive payment. 23 So I would urge my colleagues to 24 give this more opportunity to be analyzed, and I 25 think that we could come back, Senator Saland, 6746 1 with a better bill at a different time that 2 would accomplish what Senator Saland seeks and 3 what Senator Oppenheimer spoke of in terms of 4 increased enforcement capabilities outside when 5 needed, outside a college campus when needed, in 6 conjunction with local law enforcement rules and 7 regulations and pay scales. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Chair 9 recognizes Senator Volker. 10 SENATOR VOLKER: This is always a 11 little bit awkward, I guess, for me because this 12 is a turf issue involving law enforcement 13 people, and I know all the individuals involved 14 here, but there's -- and I think there's a 15 little bit of confusion here that probably 16 should be cleared up. 17 First of all, the new SUNY police 18 officers will be the only instance in that 19 section of the law where they are not fully 20 police officers. They are only police officers 21 on campus and on the immediate highways that run 22 through the campus and in the immediate region. 23 They can not, in fact, as I understand it, carry 24 guns off the campus except in pursuit of their 25 powers in relation to campus duties, a major 6747 1 difference. 2 Secondly, and part of the problem 3 here, is that some local mayors around SUNY 4 campuses have begun making some pronouncements 5 about using SUNY police officers in their 6 cities. Well, I have news for them. They can't 7 because once they get off the campuses they no 8 longer of the powers of police officers. They 9 then would have peace officer status. 10 The next issue is the issue of 11 training. One of the interesting things here is 12 that some of the SUNY peace officers now 13 ironically have more training than some -- in 14 some of the areas than the local law enforcement 15 people do because the local campuses have been 16 very, very strong in making sure that these 17 people get the most training possible. 18 And Senator Leichter's question 19 about violence on campuses, I think probably 20 there's been somewhat of a decline over the last 21 several years in some of the urban campuses, 22 just as there has been a decline in violence and 23 in crime in a lot of the urban areas and 24 suburban areas, and so forth. But there is a 25 lot of studies done and Senator LaValle, if my 6748 1 recollection is correct and I believe I was on a 2 task force that toured the state on the issue of 3 violence, and I think Senator Saland was on that 4 task force also some years ago, and showed an 5 increasing and an alarming number of crimes, 6 particularly on urban campuses, but not 7 exclusively to urban campuses, even some of the 8 rural campuses were seeing that rise and that 9 really is what has spawned this new attempt to 10 deal with problems on the campuses. 11 This bill represents, in a sense, 12 a middle ground in an attempt to find a way to 13 provide the best possible law enforcement on the 14 campuses themselves. The issue of cost is kind 15 of interesting. They talk about new uniforms. 16 I believe it would be patches. I'm not so sure 17 personally that patches -- what people don't 18 realize is, if you haven't been on a SUNY urban 19 campus recently, I think you'll find out they 20 already have some pretty substantial uniforms. 21 Some carry guns, some don't, and by the way that 22 will probably continue, because this bill 23 although it enables them to carry guns, it 24 doesn't necessarily mean, as I understand it, if 25 the SUNY president decides that he would prefer 6749 1 they don't although virtually every urban campus 2 now I think because of some of the violence that 3 has occurred, the peace officers that are there 4 now already carry guns. They're already 5 trained, they already go to school, and they 6 will continue to be. 7 I think unfortunately, and I'm 8 reluctant to say this, but the sheriffs 9 representative has this idea in his head that 10 somehow it was Council 82 and the people that 11 represent these people that caused the sheriffs 12 deputies not to get their retirement plan. I 13 know that's not true, and I have a pretty good 14 idea. I know why they have been unable to. 15 I've been a supporter of it. This house has 16 been a supporter of that plan but it hasn't 17 happened. I won't get into why, but it hasn't 18 been Council 82, and it hasn't been the SUNY 19 people that created this, and, by the way, this 20 bill by itself does not create a pension plan 21 for SUNY police officers and there is no 22 indication at this time, at least I'm not aware 23 of any indication that they will get into the 24 20-year non-contributory pension plan that is 25 discussed here. 6750 1 So I think here's the problem. 2 The problem is this is a bill that limits the 3 authority of the people who have been named SUNY 4 police officers only to the campus and to its 5 immediate environs. Some of the opposition 6 here, and I understand it, I'm a former local 7 law enforcement officer, and I know the problems 8 that occur, the turf battles. One thing you 9 should understand about the sheriffs. The 10 sheriff is the chief law enforcement officer of 11 any immediate area and right now he is the chief 12 law enforcement officer of all the campuses 13 because he's head of it. 14 With this bill he will not be the 15 chief law enforcement officer right on that 16 campus and that is a little bit of a problem 17 with some of the sheriffs, and I guess I 18 understand that. He still, though, has 19 authority there and if a SUNY police officer 20 goes off campus, he will -- they will still 21 provide the assistance. The SUNY police officer 22 will need the assistance of these people to 23 perform their duties because they don't have the 24 authority to do it for the most part off the 25 campus, so I only point that out. 6751 1 I personally do not believe that 2 there's going to be huge costs involved here. I 3 realize that there is some jurisdictional 4 problems involved here, but I think this is a 5 move, particularly for our urban campuses, 6 towards doing something I think is really 7 necessary to get control of some of the problems 8 that have occurred within the SUNY system. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 10 will read the last section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 20. This 12 act shall take effect on the first day of the 13 sixth month next succeeding the date. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 15 roll. 16 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 18 the negatives and announce the results. 19 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 20 the negative on Calendar Number 865 are Senators 21 Hoffmann, Montgomery, Sampson, Smith and 22 Stavisky. Ayes 52, nays 5. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 24 the passed. 25 Senator Holland. 6752 1 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 2 can we return to motions and resolutions for a 3 moment. I have been -- there's been a 4 suggestion by Senator Larkin that three of the 5 resolutions that we previously passed ought to 6 be opened up for the opportunity for all 7 Senators going on. They are 1974, by Senator 8 Skelos, which is breast cancer awareness month 9 in the state of New York; 1982, by Senator 10 Skelos, the 75th anniversary of the National 11 Council of Jewish Women, and 2007, by Senator 12 Meier, which is National Pearl Harbor 13 Remembrance Day. Could we open them up? 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Are all 15 the sponsors willing to accept additional 16 co-sponsors? 17 SENATOR HOLLAND: I'm sure they 18 are, yes, sir. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Could we 20 follow the same procedure that we have in the 21 past by putting all the members on those 22 resolutions except those members who indicate 23 they do not wish to be on them? 24 SENATOR HOLLAND: Please. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: I will 6753 1 direct the Secretary to add all those members' 2 names to those resolutions, those resolutions 3 being, for the benefit of the members, 4 Resolution Number 1974, Resolution Number 1982 5 and Resolution 2007. 6 Senator Hoffmann, why do you 7 rise? 8 SENATOR HOFFMANN: Mr. President, 9 I was out of the chamber at the time Calendar 10 1509 was called up. I would request unanimous 11 consent to be recorded in the negative. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 13 any objection and hearing no objection, Senator 14 Hoffmann will be recorded in the negative on 15 Calendar Number 1509. 16 Senator Holland? Senator 17 Oppenheimer. 18 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 19 Senator Larkin has a privileged resolution at 20 the desk. Can we read the title only and adopt 21 that resolution, please. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 23 will read the title of the privileged resolution 24 by Senator Larkin which is at the desk. 25 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 6754 1 Larkin, Legislative Resolution honoring James 2 Sterling Gozaway upon his selection as Grand 3 Marshal of the 1997 town of Highland's 4 Independence Day Parade. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Question 6 is on the resolution. All those in favor 7 signify by saying aye. 8 (Response of "Aye.") 9 Opposed nay. 10 (There was no response.) 11 The resolution is adopted. 12 Senator Oppenheimer, why do you 13 rise? 14 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: I would 15 like unanimous consent to be recorded in the 16 negative on Calendar Number 1509, please. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 18 objection, hearing no objection, Senator 19 Oppenheimer will be recorded in the negative on 20 Calendar 1509. 21 Senator Holland. 22 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 23 can we go to Supplemental Calendar 60-B and do 24 the non-controversial calendar, please. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 6755 1 will read the non-controversial reading of 2 Calendar 60-B, Supplemental Calendar 60-B, which 3 is on the members' desks. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 1481, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 1937, 6 an act to amend the State Finance Law and 7 others, in relation to establishing. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 9 will read the last section. 10 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 11 act shall take effect on the first day of 12 April. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 14 roll. 15 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 16 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 18 is passed. 19 Senator DeFrancisco, why do you 20 rise? 21 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I would 22 like to explain my vote. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 24 DeFrancisco to explain his vote on Calendar 25 Number 1481. 6756 1 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I'm very 2 pleased to see that there is unanimous approval 3 of this legislation which I'm sure everyone 4 recognizes is an extremely important piece of 5 legislation for the state of New York in that it 6 creates a designated fund for the promotion of 7 the state of New York through its tourism 8 offices, and this dedicated fund comes out of 9 existing state revenues from the sales tax that 10 we're now receiving from hotels and eating 11 establishments, and it's extremely important 12 because every year with late budgets and things 13 where we can not predict what kind of monies are 14 going to be available in future years, there is 15 a formula upon which the tourism industry can 16 plan and provide a promotion campaign during the 17 seasons where it's most important, especially 18 the summer season. 19 Also we'll start increasing the 20 money used for tourism promotion in the state of 21 New York which at one time was at a high of 21 22 plus million dollars in promotion and now it's 23 down to about $14.5 million. This would 24 immediately increase the amount to almost $16 25 million. How you promote the second biggest 6757 1 industry of the state of New York is how it goes 2 and that's why it's extremely important to 3 promote it and to maintain this important 4 economic development vehicle in the state of New 5 York. 6 So I thank all of you for your 7 unanimous support of this legislation. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 9 DeFrancisco recorded in the affirmative. The 10 bill is passed. 11 Secretary will continue to read 12 the non-controversial Supplemental Calendar B. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 1482, by Senator Padavan, Senate Print 2615-A, 15 an act to amend the Administrative Code of the 16 city of New York and the Retirement and Social 17 Security Law. 18 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. 19 President. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Leichter, why do you rise? 22 SENATOR LEICHTER: Just before we 23 get into debate on that bill may I have unani 24 mous consent to be recorded in the negative - 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: No, we 6758 1 have a bill before the house, Senator. You're 2 out of order. 3 SENATOR LEICHTER: All right. 4 I'll wait until the end then. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 6 will read the last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. 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 57. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 14 is passed. 15 Now, Senator Leichter. 16 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes, thank 17 you, Mr. President. 18 With unanimous consent may I 19 please be recorded in the negative on Calendar 20 Number 865. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 22 objection, hearing no objection, Senator 23 Leichter will be recorded in the negative on 24 Calendar Number 865. 25 Secretary will continue to read 6759 1 the non-controversial Supplemental B calendar. 2 THE SECRETARY: Senator Wright 3 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 4 Assembly Bill Number 1045 and substitute it for 5 the identical Third Reading Calendar 1483. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 7 Substitution is ordered. Secretary will read. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1483, by member of the Assembly Schimminger, 10 Assembly Print 1045, an act to amend the 11 Economic Development Law, in relation to 12 encouraging. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 14 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 57. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 22 is passed. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 1484, by Senator Maltese, Senate Print 4395-A, 25 an act to amend the Administrative Code of the 6760 1 city of New York, in relation to credit. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 3 a home rule message at the desk. 4 SENATOR LEICHTER: Explanation. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 6 bill aside. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 1485, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 4514-A, an 9 act to amend the Banking Law, in relation to 10 common trust funds. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 12 will read the last section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 14 act shall take effect immediately. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 16 roll. 17 (The Secretary called the roll.) 18 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 20 is passed. 21 Senator Farley, why do you rise? 22 SENATOR FARLEY: Explain my 23 vote. 24 Mr. President, you know, the 25 reason for this, and I -- this is important that 6761 1 I do this in explaining my vote. A controversy 2 has recently arisen regarding Section 100 (c) of 3 the Banking Law that requires trustees of common 4 trust funds to absorb mutual fund expenses. 5 This bill was intended to clarify 6 Section 100 (c), and does not and never has so 7 required. It is the legislative intent that the 8 trustees thereof should not be subject to 9 liability for prudent investment in mutual funds 10 whether made in the past or the future. 11 This is consistent with the 12 Banking Department's interpretation and policy 13 on 100 (c). 14 Thank you, Mr. President. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 16 is passed. 17 SENATOR GOLD: How do you vote? 18 SENATOR FARLEY: I vote aye. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 1486, by Senator Spano, Senate Print 4933, an 21 act to amend the Workers' Compensation Law, in 22 relation to - 23 SENATOR GOLD: Lay it aside. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 25 bill aside temporarily. 6762 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 1487, by Senator Hannon, Senate Print 4974, an 3 act to enact the Health Care Embassy Match Act 4 of 1977. 5 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay aside. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 7 bill aside. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1488, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 5016-A, an 10 act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to 11 exempting. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 13 a local fiscal impact note at the desk. 14 Secretary will read the last section. 15 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 16 act shall take effect immediately. 17 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: 18 Explanation. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 20 bill aside. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 1489, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 5025-A, an 23 act to amend the Parks, Recreation and Historic 24 Preservation Law, in relation to establishing. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 6763 1 will read the last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 3 act shall take effect on the first day of 4 April. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 6 roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 10 is passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 1490, by Senator Marcellino, Senate Print 5071 13 C, an act to amend the Labor Law, in relation to 14 enacting the Unpaid Wages Prohibition Act. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 16 will read the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 8. This 18 act shall take effect on the 60th day. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 20 roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 24 is passed. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6764 1 1494, by Senator Montgomery, Senate Print 5414, 2 an act to amend the Education Law, in relation 3 to prohibiting a school district. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 5 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 57. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 13 is passed. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 1497, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 16 Print 5604. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 18 bill aside. 19 Senator Holland, that completes 20 the non-controversial reading of Supplemental 21 Calendar B. What's your pleasure? 22 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 23 can we do the controversial reading of this 24 supplemental calendar, please. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 6765 1 Senate will come to order. Ask the members to 2 find their chairs. 3 Senator Holland. 4 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 5 on Supplemental Calendar 60-B, can we take up 6 Senator Maltese's bill, 1484, please. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 8 Secretary will read Calendar Number 1484 on 9 Calendar B, Supplemental Calendar B. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 1484, by Senator Maltese, Senate Print 4395-A, 12 an act to amend the Administrative Code of the 13 city of New York, in relation to credit. 14 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Explanation. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 16 Maltese, an explanation has been requested of 17 Calendar Number 1484 by both Senator Stachowski 18 and Senator Leichter. 19 SENATOR MALTESE: Mr. President, 20 this bill would give certain firefighters who 21 are former police officers credit for the 22 purpose of eligibility for time spent as a New 23 York City Police officer trainee. 24 This would amend the law to 25 clarify that time spent as a police officer 6766 1 trainee would qualify a firefighter and his 2 years of service toward the fund benefits. The 3 justification is that it is equitable that 4 former members of the police trainee program of 5 the city of New York Police Department be 6 granted full service credit for their uniformed 7 police service to the city of New York. If 8 enacted, this bill would provide a firefighter 9 who is a former police trainee with the same 10 pension rights and service credit for such time. 11 The fiscal implications indicate 12 that seven people would be affected at a cost of 13 $5,000 per year and that this $5,000 per year 14 amount, according to the fiscal note by Jonathan 15 Schwartz, a consulting actuary, would remain 16 constant, that $5,000. 17 So the bill has one of the 18 requesters and the memorandum of support is by 19 the Uniformed Firefighters Association. It is 20 supported in the Assembly by Assemblywoman 21 Pheffer. 22 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 23 if - 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 Maltese, do you yield to a question? 6767 1 SENATOR MALTESE: Yes. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 3 Senator yields. 4 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, the 5 police trainees who then enter the police 6 department, do they get credit for the service 7 or the time that they spent in the police 8 academy? 9 SENATOR MALTESE: You mean if 10 they didn't transfer to the fire department? 11 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes. 12 SENATOR MALTESE: My 13 understanding is that they do. 14 SENATOR LEICHTER: Well, that's 15 the real basis of your bill is that it would be 16 inequitable to say, if you go to the police 17 department, you get credit for the time you 18 spent at the police academy but if you go to the 19 fire department, you do not. 20 SENATOR MALTESE: Yes, that's 21 correct. 22 SENATOR LEICHTER: Now, when 23 somebody, after having been a trainee in the 24 police academy or even if he hasn't been in the 25 police academy and he goes to the fire 6768 1 department, I assume that he has -- or receives 2 some training, that there's something comparable 3 in the fire department to the police academy. 4 Is that so? 5 SENATOR MALTESE: Mr. President, 6 that would be so. Also to clarify my prior 7 statement, although it's consistent with it, 8 according to the memo of support by the 9 Firefighters Association, they do indicate 10 specifically that in all other instances, 11 lateral transfers between the uniformed services 12 count for service credit and that police 13 trainees who subsequently become New York City 14 Police officers are given pension credit for 15 their trainee time with reference to your prior 16 question, Senator -- Mr. President. 17 SENATOR LEICHTER: If I 18 understand, Senator, if somebody who is in the 19 fire academy and then goes to the police 20 department, will that person get credit for the 21 time that he spends in the fire academy? 22 SENATOR MALTESE: Mr. President, 23 I don't know. If that bill -- if that bill is 24 not in, Senator, I would be glad to carry that 25 bill. It would seem also equitable that it be 6769 1 done. 2 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, that 3 -- you know, the only question I have about 4 this and I think I'll support it, it sounds 5 fair, but why don't we have one comprehensive 6 bill that takes care of all these lateral 7 transfers? 8 SENATOR MALTESE: Mr. President, 9 I guess politics and the legislation being an 10 art, it's not always a 100 percent consistent or 11 logical art and, in this case, the uniformed 12 firefighters asked that the bill be put in and 13 the Police Benevolent Association, if they don't 14 have such a provision, have not requested the 15 bill of me. 16 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator 17 Maltese, if I could also ask you along the same 18 line, if you'll continue to yield, isn't it 19 true, Senator, that this bill covers just six 20 particular individuals, that if right now 21 somebody in the police academy who then 22 transfers over to the fire department, next year 23 you're going to have to put in a separate bill 24 for that individual? 25 SENATOR MALTESE: Mr. President, 6770 1 yes, that is so because of the -- under the 2 provisions of the bill, the application has to 3 be made prior to a certain date. So if that - 4 and I could check the provisions of the bill 5 but, therefore, that would exclude all future 6 persons seeking to avail themselves of this 7 opportunity. I believe the purpose behind that 8 was actuarial so that we could ascertain with 9 exactitude the amount of persons and the cost. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 11 Leichter. 12 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator 13 Maltese, if you'll continue to yield. It would 14 have been just as easy for you to put in a bill 15 which would have said that anybody who, in the 16 past or in the future, attends the police 17 academy and then transfers to the fire 18 department, will get pension credit for the time 19 that he spent with the police academy. 20 I don't mean to be critical, but 21 it just seems to me that we have this pension - 22 particularly when it comes to a pension bill, we 23 do thousands and thousands of these individual 24 pension bills when, frankly, we could accomplish 25 much more efficiently and much more fairly and 6771 1 much more understandably comprehensive 2 legislation and that's my suggestion to you. 3 Let's handle all of these lateral transfers. I 4 think it's fair that if we go from one 5 department -- from one agency to another, they 6 ought to get credit, but we ought to have one 7 bill that says it and then we won't have to have 8 all of these bills coming up every session that 9 takes a lot of time, that's expensive and that 10 really is unnecessary -- or would be 11 unnecessary. 12 SENATOR MALTESE: Yes. Well, Mr. 13 President and Senator Leichter, I think one of 14 the reasons that it is done this way, as I said 15 before, many of these bills are the result of 16 compromise even where they are opposed by the 17 City or other municipalities, whereas they are 18 opposed perhaps with not the same ardor if they 19 only affect six or seven people or $5,000 or 20 they may affect in the future larger amounts of 21 personnel to an increasingly greater cost. 22 So, Senator Leichter, you're 23 absolutely correct. I would have no problem 24 putting in a bill that would apply it 25 prospectively to all future trainees, and I 6772 1 don't believe it would involve a great deal of 2 money, although more and more it seems that 3 there are these transfers where somebody gets 4 accepted on the list for the police or fire 5 department and then subsequently gets accepted 6 by the other service and decides to go into the 7 other service. 8 So I guess it will happen, 9 perhaps on the order of six or something like 10 that number a year and we should provide for 11 it. I'll probably consult with the Uniformed 12 Firefighters Association and indicate to them 13 that I'd be glad to carry such a bill and we 14 could debate that bill next year, Senator 15 Leichter. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 17 Leichter. 18 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator 19 Maltese, am I to suggest that there's maybe one 20 other reason why we do these things piecemeal - 21 and I don't mean to suggest that that's your 22 motive, but it seems to me this way, you know, 23 unions, individuals of particular interest 24 groups have to keep on coming to the 25 Legislature, come to legislators. They've got 6773 1 to ask whatever comes with asking and trying to 2 get something that flows from that, but I think 3 we really would be better off if we did this in 4 a comprehensive fashion and then I don't think 5 we would be subject to what you yourself alluded 6 to, the politics that gets involved. 7 We ought to treat public 8 employees fairly. I know you're committed to 9 that. I think everybody's committed to that. 10 They ought to be well compensated. They ought 11 to have clear pension rights but they ought to 12 be comprehensively done and then we wouldn't 13 have all of these bills that I think just 14 clutter up our calendar and raise questions 15 about how we function. 16 Thank you, Senator. 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 57. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 6774 1 is passed. 2 Senator Holland. 3 SENATOR HOLLAND: Yes, Mr. 4 President. Can we do 1487, please. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 6 Secretary will read Calendar Number 1487 on the 7 Supplemental B Calendar, by Senator Hannon. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1487, by Senator Hannon, Senate Print 4974, an 10 act to enact the Health Care Embassy Match Act 11 of 1997. 12 SENATOR GOLD: Explanation. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 Hannon, an explanation has been requested. 15 SENATOR HANNON: Yes, Mr. 16 President. This legislation authorizes the 17 Department of Health to enter into the agreement 18 with U.S. Embassies to prevent medical 19 assistance fraud, waste and abuse by foreign 20 nationals. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Any other 22 Senator wishing to speak on the bill? 23 (There was no response.) 24 Hearing none -- Senator 25 Dollinger. 6775 1 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Just so I 2 understand it, Mr. President, will the sponsor 3 yield to a couple of questions? 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5 Hannon, do you yield to a couple of questions? 6 SENATOR HANNON: Yes, Mr. 7 President. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 9 Senator yields. 10 SENATOR DOLLINGER: How many 11 individuals do you think this will apply to each 12 year? 13 SENATOR HANNON: I don't know. 14 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again through 15 you, Mr. President, if the sponsor - 16 SENATOR HANNON: Because the 17 nature of it is open ended, there are currently 18 several agreements in existence at the moment. 19 I would think it would tend to be a decreasing 20 nature. The very existence of this program will 21 act as a deterrent as it becomes more 22 widespread. You can make any -- the question of 23 deterrence leaves you just to make judgments as 24 -- and so you don't have numbers at hand. 25 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again through 6776 1 you, Mr. President, just for the sake of 2 clarification. What will be the standards that 3 an embassy would use to determine whether an 4 individual can become a public charge of the 5 United States -- of the -- if granted entry into 6 the United States? 7 SENATOR HANNON: What standards 8 would be used? I -- somehow without any noise I 9 couldn't hear you. Did you say what standards 10 would be used? Federal law would be used. 11 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Federal law 12 will determine? 13 SENATOR HANNON: Federal, yes, 14 and, of course, federal implies here we also 15 have a hand in implementing that because this is 16 the Medicaid program which is a combination of 17 federal and state statutes. 18 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Okay. Thank 19 you, Mr. President. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 21 Secretary will read the last section -- excuse 22 me. Senator Montgomery. 23 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, Mr. 24 President. Would Senator Hannon yield for a 25 question? 6777 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 Hannon. 3 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Senator, 4 does the bill -- the embassy's bill establish a 5 standard for determining who might likely be - 6 become a burden to the state? 7 SENATOR HANNON: No. All it does 8 is establish the procedure of -- the standards 9 are basically -- currently set forth in the law 10 and this allows us to have a procedure that acts 11 as a deterrent and to actually check whether 12 people are eligible. Without this, the people 13 would come to this country, go through the 14 application process and then be -- hopefully if 15 everything will work right, be determined to be 16 ineligible and not get Medicaid. This way- 17 which has already been implemented under the old 18 Department of Social Service now transferred to 19 the Department of Health, this way we're able to 20 have a better system and it probably is a lot 21 more fair because it doesn't require people to 22 make round trips. 23 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Mr. 24 President, if Senator Hannon would continue to 25 yield. The -- many of the hospitals or at least 6778 1 some of the hospitals that I'm aware of are 2 actively reaching out to invite people from 3 different countries to come and receive medical 4 care. I'm just wondering, this means then that 5 if someone has a particular medical need that 6 might only be able to be responsive here - 7 SENATOR HANNON: This leaves 8 eligibility alone. If they are currently 9 eligible, they would still remain eligible. If 10 they're not eligible, they cannot -- they're not 11 denied anything, if they're eligible. They're 12 not -- in order to give them status and so it 13 leaves eligibility alone. 14 What it provides is that for 15 somebody applying for a visa, that that 16 information is supplied through the Department 17 of Health to check out if they've already been 18 disqualified for Medicaid and if they are, that 19 information will be supplied through the federal 20 government. 21 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: If they're 22 not already eligible for Medicaid, then their 23 visa could possibly be denied based on - 24 SENATOR HANNON: No, no, no. If 25 they're not -- if they have been found to be - 6779 1 have a problem with Medicaid fraud, then that 2 could be deterred but not -- there's no new 3 standard enacted and these are all federal 4 requirements that have been implemented so that 5 they're denied the implementation. They cannot 6 get entry if they are going to come here for the 7 purpose of Medicaid. 8 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: All right. 9 Thank you, Senator Hannon. 10 I -- just briefly on the bill. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 12 Montgomery, on the bill. 13 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Mr. 14 President, I'm just wondering if this doesn't 15 establish another barrier. I know we're trying 16 to get our state in line with the federal law, 17 but I certainly sense New York State is the 18 premier -- one of the premier states in the 19 nation where -- as far as medical care is 20 concerned, that a number of people may, in fact, 21 be seeking to come here and I certainly would 22 not want to establish barriers to them being 23 able to get the high quality of health care here 24 in our state because the embassy finds that they 25 may become a burden based on what whatever 6780 1 the - 2 SENATOR HANNON: That's 3 currently. We're not establishing that, 4 Senator. That's currently law. You cannot come 5 here for that purpose. 6 Yesterday in the Post they were 7 talking about still determining that there are 8 dozens of cases -- and I'm quoting -- "Dozens of 9 cases of foreigners flying to the City applying 10 for Medicaid receiving organ transplants and 11 other operations before heading home, transplant 12 procedures which can cost hundreds of thousands 13 of dollars", but we're not in the course of this 14 bill setting up any new standards. What we're 15 doing is just ratifying procedures in place that 16 apply those standards, ones that are in place by 17 law now. 18 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Okay. Thank 19 you, Mr. President. Thank you, Senator Hannon. 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. 6781 1 (The Secretary called the roll.) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 4 is passed. 5 Senator Holland. 6 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 7 is there any housekeeping at the desk? 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: None at 9 the desk, Senator Holland. 10 SENATOR HOLLAND: May we stand at 11 ease. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 13 Senate will stand at ease. 14 (The Senate stood at ease.) 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 16 Senate will come to order. 17 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 19 Skelos. 20 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 21 there will be an immediate meeting of the Rules 22 Committee in the Majority Conference Room. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Immediate 24 meeting of the Rules Committee, immediate 25 meeting of the Rules Committee in the Majority 6782 1 Conference Room, Room 332, and the Senate will 2 continue to stand at ease. 3 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at 4 ease.) 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6 Holland. 7 SENATOR HOLLAND: Can we take up 8 bill number 1488, please. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 10 will read the title to bill number 1488, Senate 11 Print 5016-A, by Senator Volker. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 1488, Senate Print 5016-A, an act to amend the 14 Tax Law. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 16 will read the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 18 act shall take effect immediately. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 20 a local fiscal impact note at the desk. Call 21 the roll. 22 (The Secretary called the roll.) 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 25 is passed. 6783 1 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 2 we're going to have to stand at ease for a 3 moment until we locate Senator Maltese and 4 Senator Hannon so they can discuss their bills. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We do 6 have a couple motions and resolutions if we 7 could return to the order of motions and 8 resolutions and do a little housekeeping. 9 SENATOR HOLLAND: Please. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The Chair 11 recognizes Senator Tully. 12 SENATOR TULLY: Yes, thank you, 13 Mr. President. 14 On behalf of Senator Saland, I 15 wish to call up his bill, Print Number 2703-B, 16 recalled from the Assembly, which is now at the 17 desk. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 982, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 2703-B, an 20 act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Tully. 23 SENATOR TULLY: Mr. President, I 24 now move to reconsider the vote by which this 25 bill was passed. 6784 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 2 will call the roll on reconsideration. 3 (The Secretary called the roll on 4 reconsideration.) 5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7 Tully. 8 SENATOR TULLY: Mr. President, I 9 now offer the following amendments. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 11 Amendments are received and adopted. 12 Senator Tully. 13 SENATOR TULLY: Mr. President, on 14 behalf of Senator Levy, I wish to call up his 15 bill, Print Number 4535-A, recalled from the 16 Assembly which is now at the desk. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 1001, by Senator Levy, Senate Print 4535-A, an 19 act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law in 20 relation to registration. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Tully. 23 SENATOR TULLY: Mr. President, I 24 now move to reconsider the vote by which this 25 bill was passed. 6785 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 2 will call the roll on reconsideration. 3 (The Secretary called the roll on 4 reconsideration.) 5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 6 SENATOR TULLY: I now offer the 7 following amendments. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 9 is passed. 10 No, the amendments are received 11 and adopted. 12 Senator Holland. 13 SENATOR HOLLAND: Stand at ease a 14 moment. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senate 16 will stand at ease. 17 (The Senate stood at ease.) 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 19 Senate will come to order. Ask the members to 20 find their places, staff to find their places. 21 Senator Padavan. 22 SENATOR PADAVAN: By unanimous 23 consent, may I be recorded in the negative on 24 Calendar Number 1511. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 6786 1 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Padavan 2 will be recorded in the negative on Calendar 3 Number 1511. 4 Senator Skelos. 5 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 6 on Calendar 60-A, would you call up Calendar 7 Number 1498, Senate 5606. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Going to 9 Calendar 60-A, Secretary will read the title to 10 Calendar Number 1498. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 1498, by the Committee on Rules, Senate Print 13 5606, an act to amend Chapter 483 of the Laws of 14 1978. 15 SENATOR GOLD: What is this bill? 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 17 Hannon. 18 SENATOR HANNON: Mr. President. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: An 20 explanation of Calendar Number 1498 has been 21 requested. 22 SENATOR HANNON: This would 23 extend certain long-term demonstration programs 24 in regard to managed care for the elderly, and 25 it would continue to postpone the effective date 6787 1 in regard to certain taxation on HMOs which has 2 been suspended as part of the Health Care Reform 3 Act of 1996. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5 Dollinger, you have a question. 6 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Yeah, will 7 the sponsor yield to a couple questions, please? 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 9 Hannon, do you yield to a couple questions from 10 Senator Dollinger. 11 SENATOR HANNON: Yes. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 yields. 14 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I understand 15 that the Medicaid reimbursement of nursing home 16 capital costs on the historic basis used in the 17 theory has produced some significant savings, or 18 it might produce some significant savings in the 19 Medicaid budget. Do you have any idea what the 20 savings would be under this bill? 21 SENATOR HANNON: It would 22 continue the savings that we're now enjoying. 23 No, I don't. I can get it for you. But it - 24 this is not something innovative; this is 25 something that's continuing the current savings. 6788 1 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 2 President, I apologize, but I had difficulty 3 hearing Senator Hannon. I apologize. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5 Hannon, would you repeat your answer. 6 SENATOR HANNON: It would 7 continue the current savings. I don't have it 8 readily available. There's many lines; this is 9 only part of the provisions. This bill is 10 temporary because we don't have a budget and 11 we're trying to do as to the other portions of 12 cost savings that are continued and the one-week 13 extenders, we're just expanding -- expanding - 14 continuing cost containment that we've had for 15 Medicare. 16 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again through 17 you, Mr. President. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 19 Hannon, you continue to yield? 20 SENATOR HANNON: Yes. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 continues to yield. 23 SENATOR DOLLINGER: So is it my 24 understanding this is only an extension until 25 such time as we enact the budget this year, or 6789 1 will this be taken care of in the budget? The 2 reason why I ask that, Mr. Chairman, is that I 3 notice that this bill actually reads as a 4 one-year extender until 12-31-98, actually an 5 18-month extender. 6 SENATOR HANNON: I don't have the 7 bill in front of me right now. I -- I didn't 8 know you were going to call it up. Some of 9 these things were going to be the extensions 10 that would have been in the budget had we done 11 it and, if that was the case, it would be to 12 the end of the current fiscal year, which would 13 not be 18 months; it would be about nine months 14 now. 15 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Yeah, but as 16 I understand the bill, again through you, Mr. 17 President, if Senator Hannon will continue to 18 yield, as I understand the bill, the bill 19 actually contains language that would extend the 20 provisions on reimbursement as to costs on a 21 historic basis until 12-31-98, and I -- what I 22 thought, just so I understand it, what I thought 23 you had suggested to me was this was part of the 24 budget extension. 25 SENATOR HANNON: Well, this is - 6790 1 this is what we've done the last two -- as far 2 as I know, the last two years what we've done is 3 extend it a year at a time, and this extends it 4 from December 31st, '97 to December 31st, '98 5 which is a 12-month extension, so - 6 SENATOR DOLLINGER: O.K. 7 SENATOR HANNON: -- that's been 8 there. Why it's been December 31st has been 9 more history than any fiscal fact. 10 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again through 11 you, Mr. President, if Senator Hannon continues 12 to yield. 13 SENATOR HANNON: Yes. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 15 continues to yield. 16 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Is it my 17 understanding that this will be taken care of in 18 the budget, that we will make these changes 19 permanent. I can understand - 20 SENATOR HANNON: No, no, no, no, 21 I didn't say they would make them permanent; 22 they would be addressed in a more comprehensive 23 manner, but there are many, many items that 24 ought not to ever really be made permanent given 25 the frequency that Congress makes changes in 6791 1 their appropriation, authority rules and 2 regulations, so what we intend to do is extend 3 them for certain periods of time, and these 4 items have been extended. The only thing we 5 would do is make sure we have a comprehensive 6 list, but this -- the items in this list are 7 extended because we don't have a budget now, not 8 that they will also be taken care of in the 9 budget. 10 SENATOR DOLLINGER: O.K. Again 11 through you, Mr. President. There's one other 12 portion of the bill that I'm concerned about, 13 and that is the one-year delay to -- to July 14 1st, 1998 of the nine percent assessment that 15 HMOs would pay to hospitals for lack of good 16 faith in enrolling in Medicaid -- Medicaid 17 patients in to care. 18 SENATOR HANNON: Well, hold on. 19 That -- that was done as an original suspension 20 in July of last year. 21 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Right. 22 SENATOR HANNON: On the thought 23 that we were going to have universal or as most 24 -- as universal as you could have it, Medicaid 25 managed care program. 6792 1 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Correct. 2 SENATOR HANNON: And we had 3 already gone through the request for proposals 4 process. People have responded to those 5 requests for proposals, and we're under way. 6 Because of that, and the thought that it was 7 going to be successful, the soon awaited waiver 8 last July, we then suspended the nine percent 9 which, when it was originally imposed in 1991, 10 was not imposed as a carrot, but as simply a 11 revenue raising measure in those -- those one of 12 the two or three years when we were having such 13 shortfall, so, and yet there were some who 14 thought, well, even the possibility of this 15 springing up ought to be left in place as a 16 mechanism in case we never get the waiver, so I 17 thought that was such a remote possibility last 18 year that we'd be simply repealing it. 19 Well, we don't have the waiver 20 from the federal government again and so the 21 argument is pretty logical, extends it another 22 year, let's see if we get the waiver or not. 23 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again through 24 you, Mr. President, Mr. Chairman, if Senator 25 Hannon will continue to yield. I should preface 6793 1 my comment by saying this is just the kind of 2 thing if this had come out of the Health 3 Committee at some point, we might have had this 4 discussion in the context of the Health 5 Committee and perhaps avoided this discussion on 6 the floor. 7 My question again through you, 8 Mr. President, if Senator Hannon will continue 9 to yield, is the nine percent assessment was, as 10 I think you're correct, and this predates my 11 being here was a revenue generating measure but 12 now it's really a carrot and stick to get 13 Medicaid patients enrolled in HMOs so that the 14 cost savings which are right at the crux of what 15 this bill was designed to do, the major thrust 16 of this bill so that we can start to pay out 17 less in our Medicaid costs by using the concept 18 of managed care. 19 My question is, do you see a time 20 that that incentive will achieve the goal? And 21 I understand that we've had some problems with 22 the federal waiver, but is it -- do you foresee 23 a time when that nine percent is actually going 24 to push -- achieve the goal that we share which 25 is to push the HMOs to make sure that Medicaid 6794 1 is a significant enough portion so that we 2 realize savings? 3 SENATOR HANNON: I would 4 anticipate so. I would anticipate that we - 5 there are a whole other range of -- of comments 6 and critiques over the current system mainly 7 centered around the rates that are available and 8 whether or not we get a chance to address that 9 for the short term, we certainly have to address 10 the participation process, HMO participation 11 process, in Medicaid managed care when the 12 current RFP is up which I believe is December 13 31st, 1998 and that, therefore, the new 14 procurement has to take effect some place in the 15 next 18 months, so I would anticipate that we 16 could get to a state of affairs where we 17 wouldn't have the nine percent at all, and we 18 would simply repeal it. 19 SENATOR DOLLINGER: And again 20 through you, Mr. President, just one final 21 question. I know, Senator, you and I have had 22 an chance in the Health Committee to talk about 23 some of the problems that the Medicaid managed 24 care operation has faced, many of them focused 25 on the issue of the appropriate level of 6795 1 reimbursement; that is to try to get the 2 Medicaid managed care rate up to such a level 3 that physicians will participate and enough of 4 the organizations will participate so that there 5 is an access, so that the Medicaid enrollee has 6 a sense that there are enough physicians out 7 there to prevent them from going to emergency 8 rooms and instead they'll go to see their local 9 physician. 10 My question is, do you see that 11 the solution to this lies in an increase in the 12 Medicaid managed care rate for the HMOs 13 generally? I mean we're going to have to put a 14 little more carrot in so that we avoid having to 15 swing this big stick? 16 SENATOR HANNON: Well, yes and 17 no. There are many people who will say that 18 while there's been a lot of dropout by plans in 19 regard to participation. I would also point out 20 that it's been pointed -- that there are plans 21 that are signing up that are asking to get 22 involved, and so there doesn't seem to be any 23 type of crisis yet. 24 I have also pointed out that each 25 of these plans accepted bids from the department 6796 1 as to what they would -- would do, so if you're 2 ever going to increase exactly what are the 3 numbers you would increase the rates by and how 4 would you justify those numbers being that they 5 would be over and above the very rates that the 6 plans accepted. 7 They have said, yeah, that's all 8 well and good, but we're still losing money so 9 it's a question here of how do you have a 10 certain set of facts that is -- would form a 11 reasonable basis, so each Senator in this room 12 would be able to vote on that and have a certain 13 assurance that it's not a windfall for somebody 14 and that it would be logically related to the 15 cost of providing health care. 16 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Thank you, 17 Mr. President. I thank the chairman of the 18 Health Committee. 19 I know that this isn't his fault 20 and I don't mean to ascribe any blame, but this 21 is, frankly, I think a very beneficial 22 discussion at least to me based on my interest, 23 both in health care generally and in the 24 specific problems faced with Medicaid managed 25 care. 6797 1 As I know, the chairman and I, I 2 think have spoken in the context of the Health 3 Committee about some of the problems faced in 4 Rochester, New York, one of the homes of managed 5 care, one of the often quoted models of managed 6 care, the great difficulty with the Monroe Plan, 7 which is our Medicaid managed care plan and the 8 difficulty that it's had in the last three or 9 four years as it has seen either a freezing of 10 its rate or an actual lowering of the rate and 11 the impact of that on the ability of the plan to 12 enroll sufficient physicians so that the 13 Medicaid enrollee goes to the private physician 14 consistent with the HMO objective rather than 15 doing the one thing which Medicaid managed care 16 is designed to do which is to discourage them 17 from showing up at emergency rooms and incurring 18 much higher cost of care, and I understand that 19 as we go through this evolution from one health 20 care system to another and the difficulty of 21 that evolution, that we need to have extenders, 22 we need to make sure that we're not either ahead 23 of the system or behind it, that the Legislature 24 is on -- riding that wave on the crest so we're 25 right there as those changes occur. 6798 1 That's why I -- I'm going to vote 2 for this bill, Senator, and I appreciate the 3 description of it because it's too bad this 4 didn't go through the Health Committee because I 5 think that getting the kind of input, bringing 6 all of our members of the Health Committee up to 7 date on this issue and the importance of this 8 issue to achieve both quality health care for 9 those in the Medicaid system and to reduce our 10 costs. That's a critical part of the 11 discussions that we've incurred since you've 12 been the chairman of the Committee and I think 13 many of our other members of the Health 14 Committee could have benefited by this 15 discussion being had in the informal give and 16 take of committee rather than having the bill 17 come out. I know that the exigency of dates and 18 calendar drives this to be done today, but it 19 just seems to me that this is the kind of thing 20 that, because of the importance of the 21 underlying issue, this is just a sort of a tip 22 of the iceberg of a huge, very difficult issue, 23 that it would have been very beneficial to have 24 this done in the Health Committee. 25 I'll vote in favor of the bill, 6799 1 and I think it's the right thing to do under the 2 circumstances, but we need to have these 3 discussions perhaps maybe some time other than 4 the first of July. 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 58. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 14 is passed. 15 Senator Skelos. 16 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 17 would you call up Calendar Number 1499 on 18 Calendar 60-A. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: On the 20 same calendar, 60-A, Secretary will read the 21 title of Calendar Number 1499. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 1499, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 24 Assembly Print 8456, an act establishing the 25 Chronic Care Management Demonstration Program. 6800 1 SENATOR SKELOS: Lay aside for 2 the day. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 4 bill aside for the day. 5 Senator Skelos. 6 SENATOR SKELOS: On the same 7 calendar, would you call up Calendar Number 8 1512. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 10 will read the title. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 1512, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 13 Assembly Print 8467, an act to amend the 14 Insurance Law. 15 SENATOR SKELOS: Lay that bill 16 aside for the day. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 18 bill aside for the day. 19 Senator Skelos. 20 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 21 return to the order of reports of standing 22 committees. I believe there is a report of the 23 Rules Committee at the desk. I ask that it be 24 read. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We'll 6801 1 return to reports of standing committees. There 2 is a report of the Rules Committee at the desk. 3 I'll ask the Secretary to read. 4 THE SECRETARY: Senator Bruno, 5 from the Committee on Rules, offers up the 6 following bills: 7 Senate Print 5202, by Senator 8 Nozzolio, an act to amend the Correction Law; 9 5264-A, by Senator Marchi, an act 10 authorizing the city of New York to reconvey; 11 5470, by Senator Rath, an act 12 authorizing the SUNY College of Environmental 13 Science and Forestry; 14 3387, by Senator Saland, an act 15 to restore service credit to Suzanne Cunningham; 16 5635, by Senator Trunzo, an act 17 to amend the Executive Law; 18 5652, by the Committee on Rules, 19 an act to amend chapter of the laws of 1997; 20 3962, by Senator Trunzo, an act 21 to amend the Retirement and Social Security Law; 22 5152-A, by Senator Spano, an act 23 to amend the Transportation Law; 24 5634-A, by the Committee on 25 Rules, an act to amend the Public Authorities 6802 1 Law; 2 2456, by Senator Trunzo, an act 3 to amend Chapter 422 of the Laws of 1991; 4 5006, by Senator Tully, an act to 5 authorizing the assessor of the county of 6 Nassau; 7 5670, by Senator Skelos, an act 8 authorizing the assessor of the county of 9 Nassau; 10 4244-B, by Senator Farley, an act 11 to amend the Banking Law; 12 5452, by Senator Velella, an act 13 to amend the Insurance Law; 14 5638, by the Committee on Rules, 15 an act to amend the Local Finance Law; 16 5641, by Senator Seward, an act 17 to amend the Rural Electric Cooperative law; 18 5620, by Senator Marcellino, an 19 act authorizing the county of Suffolk; 20 5655, by Senator Markowitz, an 21 act authorizing the city of New York; and 22 5446, by Senator Montgomery, an 23 act to amend the Emergency Tenant Protection 24 Act; 25 5498-A, by Senator Spano, an act 6803 1 to amend the Penal Law; 2 5633, Senator Spano, an act to 3 amend a chapter of the laws of 1997. 4 All bills directly to third 5 reading. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Motion is 7 to accept the report of the Rules Committee. 8 All those in favor say aye. 9 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 10 President, before we accept that, could I object 11 to the Rules Committee report and ask to be 12 heard on the issue. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Motion is 14 before the house. Debatable motion. Senator 15 Dollinger, on the motion. 16 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 17 President, is there someone from the Rules 18 Committee who would just explain the reason for 19 this Rules Committee report, the rationale for 20 this Rules Committee report? 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Would you 22 like Senator Skelos to ask? 23 SENATOR SKELOS: Well, Mr. 24 President, I believe the Rules Committee has the 25 right, under our rules, to report to third 6804 1 reading at any time. 2 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 3 President, if Senator Skelos will take the lead 4 on this, is there any particular reason why 5 these bills have to be reported today? 6 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 7 the Rules Committee met. Majority, Minority 8 members were there. Legislation was discussed 9 and the Rules Committee determined that these 10 bills should be reported to the full Senate to 11 be debated at this time. 12 I move to accept the report of 13 the Rules Committee. 14 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again, Mr. 15 President, if I could be heard on that, I 16 appreciate Senator Skelos' comments. If I could 17 be just heard on this motion. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Excuse 19 me, Senator Dollinger. Would you say that 20 again, please. 21 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Could I be 22 heard on this motion? I object to the Rules 23 Committee report, and I believe it is a 24 debatable issue, and I believe we have a half 25 hour. 6805 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Yes. 2 There's 27 minutes left. 3 SENATOR DOLLINGER: 27. Thank 4 you, Mr. President. 5 The Rules Committee in this house 6 is oftentimes used, especially around this time 7 of year. It really ought to be called the "June 8 and July Committee" because it comes to life, as 9 we know, some time in the middle of March or 10 excuse me, the middle of May, in which all the 11 committees dump their bills or the bills end up 12 in front of the Rules Committee and as a 13 consequence, the Rules Committee then begins to 14 meet frequently and begins to analyze the bills 15 that ought to come before this house. 16 I'd point out a couple things to 17 those members who are interested in how the 18 bills flow. First of all, we have a lot of 19 bills on our calendar that are ready to go, 20 already been done, already come to the floor, 21 they're live on the active list. I look around 22 this side of the aisle. There's some members 23 over here who have bills on the Rules Committee 24 list that need activity, that need a vote of 25 this house in order to raise the possibility 6806 1 that they'll become law; so we've got a lot of 2 work already on our platter, and yet today we 3 come forward with the third Rules Committee. 4 We've got "A", we've got "B", we've got "C", I 5 mean we may end up with "Z" at some point but 6 there are bills that have already been put on 7 the active list that are ready and rarin' to go 8 that haven't been done yet. It seems to me 9 that, in the orderly management of this house - 10 and no one has been better at the order and 11 management of this house than Senator Bruno. 12 He's taught us the importance of starting on 13 time. He's taught us the importance of 14 finishing on time. It seems to me that it can 15 be consistent with Senator Bruno's credo we 16 ought to do the bills that are already here. We 17 don't need to go to another Rules Committee 18 report when we've got bills that are already 19 live, ready to go before the house. 20 But the other issue, it seems to 21 me, that we ought to do is take a look at the 22 bills that are actually being produced from the 23 Rules Committee and get a sense of whether we 24 need to do these in particular today. 25 Senator Nozzolio's is the first 6807 1 bill. This is a bill that would eliminate a 2 compensation cap for psychiatrists in the prison 3 system. I wasn't at the Rules Committee report, 4 I don't know what was said, but it seems to me 5 that that's a bill we could have done, gee, 6 almost any time in the last six months. 7 The same is probably true with 8 Senator Marchi's bill, a bill to reconvey 9 property. Why, I understand that there maybe be 10 members on this side of the aisle who have 11 re-conveyance bills that are already ready and 12 rarin' to go in the house, but instead we're 13 going to accept a Rules Committee report that 14 creates a specific bill from Senator Marchi to 15 jump on the calendar perhaps even ahead of those 16 bills. I'm not so sure I understand why that 17 would occur. 18 Senator Rath's bill which is 19 authorizing SUNY to create a -- to conduct a 20 research and restoration program on the American 21 chestnut tree, again, Senator Rath, that seems 22 like a good bill to me, but why it has to be 23 done in the context of the Rules Committee, 24 couldn't be done by the Environmental 25 Conservation Committee, why it couldn't have had 6808 1 a discussion about the importance of that 2 versus, I don't know, promoting the American elm 3 tree. That's the kind of discussion that should 4 go on in our substantive committees and not all 5 of a sudden come to the floor through the Rules 6 Committee. 7 Senator Saland has a bill which 8 is another bill in the Rules Committee report 9 that talks about giving special pension benefits 10 to a Suzanne Cunningham. Maybe very deserving. 11 I did catch part of the Rules Committee debate 12 on this issue and whether we should again single 13 out one individual for special treatment under 14 the retirement program. 15 I know we've passed a bill 16 several years ago that was designed to create a 17 system for dealing with pension benefits and 18 late filings and misfilings and this kind of 19 bill, frankly, we were doing these back in 20 March, I don't know why it couldn't have been 21 done in March, probably should have been done in 22 March. Probably deserved the special attention 23 that Senator Trunzo's Civil Service Committee, 24 retirement committee, could give to it. I would 25 suggest that it might be good to send it back to 6809 1 that committee and give everybody a chance to be 2 heard on it. 3 The interest arbitration, another 4 big and important bill, I have no doubt that it 5 deserves an airing in this house and maybe 6 deserve passage. I'll wait for the debate 7 before I make my decision, but that too seems to 8 be coming to us through an unusual path through 9 the Rules Committee and should be sent back to 10 the appropriate Civil Service or other 11 committees for discussion. 12 Then there are bills, I know 13 that, I was in the Rules Committee for a 14 discussion of Senator Trunzo's bill on the 15 pension benefits for firefighters that would 16 enable them to obtain accidental disability 17 benefits for those who contracted HIV during the 18 performance of their duties. 19 Again, this bill seems to me to 20 be just the kind of bill that maybe ought to go 21 to the Health Committee, maybe ought to be 22 discussed by the substantive committees before 23 it's reported directly to Rules. I don't know 24 why this bill couldn't have been done at an 25 earlier time, why the Rules Committee has to 6810 1 make a report on this bill at this particular 2 time, other than, of course, we're down to July, 3 it's now time to get all our work done and we're 4 going to hurry up and do it because through most 5 of February, March, April, May we didn't see a 6 bill that was anywheres near as substantive as 7 that one. We really didn't do anything. We did 8 license plate bills and all those other bills 9 which the Majority offered up for our appetite 10 on those days that we were practically starving 11 in the lack of intellectual stimulation on the 12 calendar. Now, all of a sudden we're to be 13 force fed these very significant bills that I 14 think deserve a little bit of time to sit on the 15 calendar, perhaps mature on the calendar, get 16 the opinions of a broader group of interests, 17 those interested in the legislation, and perhaps 18 get some suggestions that could even improve the 19 content of the bill, might even produce 20 amendments from this side of the aisle that we 21 could insert in these bills to improve their 22 quality. 23 Senator Spano's bill on the 24 Westchester Parkway Commission, this is going to 25 re-establish the parkway commission. I assume 6811 1 again that that's one that's about to run out of 2 gas unless we fill the tank up before the end of 3 the first of July. 4 There are also bills about the 5 creation of the police department in the 6 Metropolitan Transit Authority. Again, I'm not 7 familiar with that issue. I'm not from the city 8 of New York, but I question why that has to be 9 included in a Rules Committee report on the 10 first of July. 11 Then there are other bills that 12 create teachers' retirement systems, Senator 13 Trunzo again carrying a bill, I think, my guess 14 is this bill may have sat in Senator Trunzo's 15 committee for some time. It's got number 2459 16 on it. My guess is that bill was printed some 17 time in early March, sat in Senator Trunzo's 18 Committee for the better part of three full 19 months, maybe even four full months, maybe even 20 five full months. Didn't go anywhere. 21 I'd be interested perhaps even if 22 Senator Trunzo would yield to a question to ask 23 him why the bill suddenly comes to the floor 24 today, why on the Rules Committee on the first 25 of July. I can't understand it. Perhaps 6812 1 someone could offer me an explanation. 2 Senator Tully carries a bill, a 3 bill that -- and I believe it's mirrored by 4 another bill that -- there are two bills here 5 that create -- that's right, Senator Tully and 6 Senator Skelos both carry bills that would 7 permit organizations to obtain real property tax 8 exemptions. Senator Cook and I have made our 9 views known on those bills. We've consistently 10 voted against them. They should have come 11 through the Local Government Committee. I 12 regret that Senator Rath isn't here because 13 Senator Rath got the benefit of the discussion 14 that Senator Cook and I have had about the 15 importance of the integrity of real property tax 16 rolls and how these bills deviate from it. 17 Perhaps there's some very valid explanation as 18 to why these specific religious organizations 19 should be singled out by this Legislature on the 20 first of July as part of a Rules Committee. I, 21 frankly, don't understand it and, frankly, don't 22 understand why it's being done at this last time 23 and why the committee process was avoided for 24 the kind of bills, frankly, that we've done in 25 the Local Government Committee all year even 6813 1 though I've been in the negative on voting on 2 them. 3 But there are other bills on the 4 third page of the calendar that deal with port 5 ability of insurance, Senator Velella, very 6 important bill as New York complies with the 7 federal requirements for portability of 8 insurance benefits. Frankly, I think that's 9 just the kind of issue that ought to be or 10 should have been considered at great length by 11 the Insurance Committee or by the Health 12 Committee to determine the importance of the 13 transferability of health benefits for those 14 people that live in the state of New York. Just 15 the kind of issue that we should have had an 16 extensive discussion in the Insurance Committee 17 because that would give the members of the 18 Insurance Committee a better idea of exactly 19 what this bill accomplishes, how do we implement 20 federal changes. The same kind of discussion I 21 think could have been very valuable in the 22 Health Committee. We've lost the benefit of 23 that because instead we stuff it through the 24 Rules Committee. 25 There are other bills, I know 6814 1 that Senator Marcellino, the chairman of the 2 Environmental Conservation Committee, does have 3 a bill authorizing Suffolk County to discontinue 4 the use of certain lands. I can only assume 5 that this bill, number 5620, was probably 6 printed some time around the end of March, for 7 some reason sat in Senator Marcellino's 8 committee for three months, and now today all of 9 a sudden having done nothing with it for three 10 months, it's suddenly very, very important that 11 we get this bill done. I'd like an explanation 12 from someone why the Rules Committee has to put 13 a bill like this on the agenda, has to bring it 14 in now and has to have it leapfrog over all the 15 other active bills that are sitting on our 16 calendar. Frankly, I don't understand it. 17 Senator Montgomery does have a 18 bill, another interesting bill. Unless I'm 19 mistaken, I think that's the only bill that 20 doesn't have a Republican sponsor as its chief 21 sponsor. I'd be interested to hear what Senator 22 Montgomery has to say about that bill as well. 23 Senator Markowitz also has a 24 bill, my colleague next door here. I'd be 25 interested to hear what he has to say, but again 6815 1 either one of those bills could clearly have 2 been done outside of the context of the Rules 3 Committee, could have been put on the floor of 4 this chamber some time in the last six months, 5 last three months, and we could have done those 6 bills. We started doing them several weeks 7 ago. It isn't until now that they hit the 8 table. 9 And then Senator Spano has two 10 very important bills, two bills that I'm looking 11 forward to an explanation on; hopefully we'll 12 get a sufficient explanation, important bills 13 that deal with the hand gun issue in Westchester 14 County. I think that's a very significant 15 issue. As members know I've stood here before 16 and asked for the restriction on the use of 17 assault weapons. I believe we do have too many 18 dangerous weapons in our streets, too many 19 dangerous weapons in Westchester County, and 20 I'll be interested to hear his explanation, but, 21 quite frankly, that bill, both of those bills 22 sponsored by Senator Spano, could have easily 23 been done outside of the context of the Rules 24 Committee, could have easily been done by a 25 substantive committee, could have easily been 6816 1 printed, these bills, my my guess is were 2 printed some time in late March or early April, 3 could have been done in March or early April or 4 May, we sat here for days on end, doing four or 5 five or six bills, with nothing better to do. 6 Frankly, Mr. President, the issue 7 of whether we should accept the report of the 8 Rules Committee is a reflection of what this 9 institution does and how it does it. What does 10 it do? Absolutely nothing until it absolutely 11 has to. And how does it do it? It does it all 12 at the end with minimal explanation, without the 13 input of the substantive committees, without the 14 opportunity for members who are familiar with 15 particular issues because of their committee 16 involvement, to get actively involved in the 17 bill, to propose amendments to the bill, to 18 suggest alternatives, to come up with different 19 ideas. 20 As the ranking Democrat in the 21 Health Committee, I would suggest and I regret 22 that Senator Hannon isn't here, I think you saw 23 in the Health Committee in the last few years an 24 active involvement of all of its members in the 25 involvement in the structures of bills with 6817 1 proposals for changes, with suggestions for 2 amendment, with suggestions for discussions, 3 additional discussions with our counterparts in 4 the Assembly. 5 All of that is a product of our 6 committee system. That has all been bypassed in 7 this case. All of it has been ignored. The 8 process of the Senate has been ignored and, 9 quite frankly, it seems to me that the Rules 10 Committee report that's before us today is a 11 dramatic reflection of everything that's wrong 12 with this body as a deliberative body. 13 This is not about deliberation; 14 this is about expediency. This is about doing 15 something at the last second instead of doing it 16 right. 17 Mr. President -- with that - 18 SENATOR GOLD: Mr. President - 19 Mr. President. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Gold, why do you rise? 22 SENATOR GOLD: Would Senator 23 Dollinger yield to a question? 24 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I will, Mr. 25 President. 6818 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 yields. 3 SENATOR GOLD: Senator Dollinger, 4 I hear you asking all of these questions, but 5 I'm wondering whether you realize something and 6 I'm very shocked, Senator, at the thought that 7 you might not understand this. 8 Part of this Rules report is a 9 bill, a Print Number 3387, which would restore 10 certain pension rights. Now, it's my 11 understanding from the debate in the Rules 12 Committee when I raised the issue with Senator 13 Trunzo, who was at the meeting, as to why the 14 person was not covered by the Trunzo Law which 15 we all passed -- first of all I didn't realize, 16 Senator Dollinger, that the law expired in 1996, 17 big mistake on our part. I'm told that it has 18 not been restored because there are 4,000 of 19 these pension claims that haven't even been 20 handled yet, and they're afraid of more, and 21 that to me is silly because obviously at some 22 point in time we're going to have to pass them 23 again, and we're just going to create another 24 backlog. 25 But I was told by Senator Trunzo 6819 1 in a rather defensive way, and he should never 2 be defensive, but he said, Wait a minute, that 3 bill didn't come out of my committee. Now, 4 Senator Dollinger, don't you understand, don't 5 you realize as someone who's been around here 6 for more than an hour that the purpose of the 7 Rules Committee at the end is to report bills 8 that the committee chairmen would never let out 9 of their committee and that this is a way to go 10 around the committee chairman? 11 I mean don't you realize, Senator 12 Dollinger, as an intelligent, bright young man 13 who's been around here for more than an hour 14 that we have conference committees in the 15 Legislature. It's composed of Senator Bruno, 16 Assemblyman Silver and George Pataki. That's 17 the conference committee. Once you read, I 18 think it's today's Daily News, some of these 19 stories wondering what we're all doing and the 20 Rules Committee, Senator Dollinger, activates 21 that conference committee. 22 I remember, Senator Dollinger, 23 when we used to have the chairman of the Codes 24 Committee in one house and the chairman of the 25 Codes Committee in another house and they would 6820 1 meet and all of a sudden you would have the "X" 2 and the "Y" criminal justice package. 3 Now it's either got to be a Bruno 4 criminal justice package or a Silver criminal 5 justice package. You got to scratch your head, 6 well, I happen to know the chairman of Codes, 7 he's a fine gentleman, but you've got to wonder 8 who the chairman is. They're not the ones doing 9 it any more and, Senator, this I think gives you 10 some reason why some of these bills are on 11 Rules, don't you think, question mark? 12 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 13 President, I -- again I have to bow to the 14 sagacity of my colleague from Queens who again 15 is giving me the benefit of 25 years, 30 years 16 of experience in this Legislature that really 17 dwarfs my own minimal exposure to this body and 18 that I'm actually astounded, Senator Gold. 19 I think what you're suggesting to 20 me is that all those extra -- those extra cash, 21 the chairmen of committees get who get more 22 money than ranking members because they have 23 greater responsibilities, they've got -- what I 24 think you might be suggesting to me, Senator, is 25 that the agendas that they put out from the 6821 1 first of January to the 15th of May, which is 2 the committee cycle in this chamber, that those 3 agendas are filled with the bills that they 4 think might be important and that the bills that 5 come out of Rules are the bills that Senator 6 Bruno thinks are important. So it seems to me 7 that maybe what we ought to do is go back and 8 maybe look at our legislative structure and try 9 to re-evaluate whether we ought to be paying 10 chairs of committees additional stipends for the 11 benefit of reporting out bills that they think 12 are important when the real bills are the only 13 ones that Senator Bruno thinks are important. 14 Frankly, Senator Gold, this might 15 be the time to maybe ask for an inquiry by this 16 house as to maybe we should do away with the 17 committee chairs. They can report out the bills 18 that don't matter and just make Senator Bruno, 19 he's an ex officio member of every committee. 20 Why don't we just make him the ex officio chair 21 of every committee so that he can produce the 22 entire agenda for the Legislature so that at the 23 end of the session like it is today, whoever 24 structures the agenda of the Rules Committee is 25 really setting all the rules. 6822 1 I am -- I guess, Senator, you 2 force me to rethink my whole sense of what this 3 Legislature does and those in its leadership 4 positions and whether we ought to be paying them 5 anything for just producing the bills that 6 nobody thinks are important from the first of 7 January until the 15th of May and then pay 8 Senator Bruno some more because he's obviously 9 doing all the work of all the chairs. 10 I think Senator Gold is correct. 11 What this -- what today demonstrates, what this 12 Rules Committee demonstrates is that the 13 committees in this house are in danger of 14 becoming extinct and my suggestion to all of 15 those who have chaired a committee, it's now 16 your time to stand up, take back the powers that 17 the rules of this Senate give you, take back the 18 power to control the agenda. Take back the 19 power to put important issues on the agenda when 20 the committee meets. Don't let Senator Bruno 21 usurp the rules of this house and become the 22 super chairman who takes over the debate of this 23 house and dictates all of it. 24 This is a demonstration of what 25 the powerful leadership is all about in this 6823 1 house. It's dwarfing the minuscule power of 2 party -- of the chairs of committees, and I 3 would suggest to everyone that's a chairman of a 4 committee, everyone in this house is a chairman 5 of a committee. Anyone who is a chairman of a 6 committee who is in the sound of my voice, stand 7 up today and say this will never happen again. 8 We're going to stand up for the committees 9 today. 10 I'm standing up here to tell all 11 of those people who are chairs and I don't -- I 12 think they all sit on the other side, and I'm 13 telling you, I'm going to support you when you 14 want to bring a committee bill out. I'm going 15 to support you today by voting against the Rules 16 Committee to try to re-empower the substantive 17 committees that have to deal with the 18 substantive issues. 19 I'm going to vote today against 20 this Rules Committee report to give the chairman 21 of the Health Committee, Senator Hannon -- he 22 does sit on that side, give Senator Hannon more 23 power. I'm going to vote in favor of the Rules 24 Committee -- or excuse me, the Banking Committee 25 so that I can give Senator Farley more power so 6824 1 that he can decide what the important bills are 2 so that he'll bring the bills out of the 3 committee. Senator Leichter won't oppose that. 4 Senator Leichter wants a little bit more of that 5 power. 6 I'm going to vote against this 7 Rules Committee report because it is the symptom 8 of everything that's wrong with this 9 Legislature. We are now going to be force fed 10 every substantive bill in this legislative 11 session by having the Senate Rules Committee 12 debate it without input from the substantive 13 committees, without input from the members 14 who've worked in those committees for the last 15 five months. 16 Instead it's going to be run from 17 some office on the third floor, not sure which 18 one, I could get an idea, but some office on the 19 third floor is going to set that agenda and it's 20 unfortunate. Frankly, to all of you who are 21 committee chairs, if you had gumption, if you 22 really believed in what you were doing and if 23 you could justify taking an extra stipend from 24 the people of the state of New York, vote 25 against this Rules Committee report. 6825 1 Let's do it right for a change. 2 Let's say to this cockamamie system we have that 3 produces excess at the last second and dalliance 4 through most of the session let's throw the 5 system out. Vote against this silly Rules 6 Committee report. It's got important stuff on 7 it, but this is the wrong process. You know 8 it's wrong; I know it's wrong. Vote against 9 this report, send these bills back to the 10 substantive committees. They can meet now. 11 They can meet now. You can get all the 12 expertise from 61 members - 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 Dollinger. 15 SENATOR DOLLINGER: -- on 16 substantive issues. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 18 Paterson, why do you rise? 19 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 20 I was wondering if Senator Dollinger would yield 21 to a question. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 23 Dollinger, would you yield to a question from 24 Senator Paterson? 25 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Yes, Mr. 6826 1 President, I will. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 3 yields. 4 SENATOR PATERSON: Senator 5 Dollinger, I feel like I'm in a remake of the 6 movie NETWORK, but I'd like to ask you if you're 7 aware that in 1992 both this Legislature, both 8 the Senate and the Assembly passed bills that 9 severely restricted the powers of the Senate 10 Finance Committee chair and the Assembly Ways 11 and Means Committee chair on our budget, that 12 restricted much of what went through those 13 committees by law and then came to the floor of 14 the Senate and was then voted upon to such an 15 extent that it certainly minimized the authority 16 of one leader around here because those 17 significant committees that handled a lot of the 18 commerce and economic development legislation 19 were in the hands of other than the Majority 20 Leader and the Speaker of the Assembly, and my 21 question to you is, would you recommend that we 22 rethink that action that we took five years ago 23 because it seems to coincide with what you're 24 raising as an objection to this Rules report, 25 that we have in the Legislature 61 seats, we 6827 1 have over 18 million residents that live in the 2 61 Senate Districts, and we don't have an 3 opportunity for needed legislation to get passed 4 because what is most important about the 5 legislation is not the problem but the 6 geographic location as it relates to the 7 majority or minority status, and this is not 8 just a criticism of the Senate, it's just a 9 criticism of the whole process. So I wondered 10 if this is just another thing that you might 11 take a look at. 12 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Well, thank 13 you very much, Mr. President and Senator 14 Paterson. As you know, that law predates my 15 sitting on this side of the chamber, in fact 16 sitting in the chamber at all, so I wasn't aware 17 that that had been done, but it seems to me that 18 there is a certain consistency between 19 overruling or re-examining that bill and the 20 notion that's presented to us here today. 21 This is, as I pointed out to you, 22 Senator Paterson, this is Calendar C. This is 23 "C". We may get to "D". We may get to "E". 24 We may get to "F". We're going to continue to 25 do all the substantive work of this Legislature 6828 1 just as I tried to do it with Senator Hannon 2 which I think I apologized for because, frankly, 3 grilling the chairman of the Health Committee on 4 the floor of the Senate is not the place for me 5 to be asking him about whether the waiver from 6 the federal government on the Medicaid managed 7 care plans has worked. Senator Hannon knows of 8 my interest in that. Senator Hannon is very 9 well versed in it. 10 There are other members of the 11 Health Committee, I'll speak from just our side 12 of the aisle, Senator Abate, Senator Markowitz, 13 Senator Montgomery, who are very familiar with 14 the problem of Medicaid managed care, perhaps 15 even better understanding of that problem than 16 other members of the Health Committee who may 17 not come from districts that have such 18 significant populations of Medicaid patients and 19 I end up grilling Senator Hannon about the 20 particulars of this bill because I haven't seen 21 this bill before and, frankly, it comes from the 22 Rules Committee, and I'm not a member of the 23 Rules Committee, so I think with all due respect 24 to Senator Hannon, someone has -- has slapped 25 him in the face. Someone has said to him, we're 6829 1 not going to let your committee consider this 2 bill. We're going to get this bill to come out 3 of the Rules Committee. 4 Well, I think Senator Hannon 5 deserves to take his considerable expertise and 6 put it to work on this bill and to offer it for 7 other members of the Health Committee so that 8 they can analyze what this bill means to them. 9 That process is sidestepped. 10 Senator Paterson, I think that 11 the bill that was passed in 1991, if it was as 12 you describe it to be and I have no reason to 13 doubt that, I would have voted against that bill 14 in a second. I think what we need is to make 15 this body truly democratic with a small "d". 16 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. 17 President. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 19 Leichter, why do you rise? 20 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator 21 Dollinger yield? 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: You think 23 you can do that within the 30 seconds that he 24 has? 25 SENATOR LEICHTER: I'll try. 6830 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 yields for 30 seconds. 3 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, are 4 you offering the shocking radical proposition 5 that members who are elected and chair 6 committees should have more say about 7 legislation than the staffs that make the 8 decisions of what goes in the Rules report? 9 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I am 10 suggesting that, Mr. President. I'm suggesting 11 that -- that this vote right now is a vote 12 whether we accept the Rules Committee report, 13 interpreting in the generic sense, interpreting 14 it in its broadest sense, and it's very simple, 15 it's a vote for an empowered committee structure 16 that will deal with substantive legislation 17 early on in the session and that we won't, on 18 the last day, at least according to Senator 19 Bruno, one week or six days after we're supposed 20 to be out of here, we're now going to deal with 21 substantive issues that affect Senator Spano, 22 that affect the health care system in this 23 state, that affect Environmental Conservation. 24 Take a look at Supp Calendar C. 25 We're going to do the big stuff right now. I 6831 1 think our Committee system - 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 3 Dollinger, excuse me just a minute. 4 Senator DeFrancisco, why do you 5 rise? 6 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I believe 7 according to the rules that this issue is 8 debatable for 30 minutes, and 30 minutes are up 9 and I would request a vote on this issue. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Point is 11 very well taken, Senator DeFrancisco. 12 Question is on the acceptance of 13 the Rules Committee report.. 14 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. President. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 16 Dollinger, why do you rise? 17 SENATOR DOLLINGER: May I move to 18 suspend the rules and continue. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 20 Dollinger, there is a motion on the floor. 21 You're out of order. 22 The motion is to accept the 23 report or not. All those in favor say aye. 24 (Response of "Aye.") 25 Opposed nay. 6832 1 (There was no response.) 2 The report of the Rules Committee 3 is accepted. 4 Senator DeFrancisco. 5 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I would 6 request that we have the reading of the 7 non-controversial Supplemental 60-C as in 8 Charlie. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Go to 10 Calendar Number 60-C. Secretary will read the 11 non-controversial calendar. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 1491, by Senator Nozzolio, Senate Print 5202, an 14 act to amend the Correction Law, in relation to 15 elimination of the compensation cap. 16 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay aside. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 18 bill aside. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 1492, by Senator Marchi, Senate Print 5264-A, an 21 act authorizing the city of New York to reconvey 22 its interest. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 24 a home rule message at the desk. Secretary will 25 read the last section. 6833 1 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay aside. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 3 bill aside. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 1495, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 5470, an act 6 authorizing the SUNY College of Environmental 7 Science. 8 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay aside. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 10 bill aside. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 1500, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 3387, an 13 act to restore credit to Suzanne Cunningham. 14 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay aside. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 16 bill aside. 17 Oh, there is a substitution at 18 the desk. We'll take that up first before we 19 lay the bill aside. Secretary will read. 20 THE SECRETARY: Senator Trunzo 21 moves to discharge from the Committee on Finance 22 Assembly Bill 8434 and substitute it for the 23 identical Senate bill, Third Reading 1501. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 25 Substitution is ordered on Calendar Number 6834 1 1501. 2 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 Skelos. 5 SENATOR SKELOS: Is there a 6 message? 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 8 a message of appropriation at the desk. 9 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 11 will read the title of Calendar Number 1501. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 1501, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 14 Assembly Print 8434, an act to amend the 15 Executive Law, the State Finance Law, and the 16 Civil Service Law, in relation to terms and 17 conditions. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 19 Skelos, there is a message of appropriation and 20 necessity at the desk. 21 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Motion is 23 to accept the message of appropriation and 24 necessity on Calendar Number 1501. 25 Secretary will call the roll. 6835 1 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 3 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 4 we -- we, other than accepting the message and 5 then we voted on the legislation. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 7 message is accepted on Calendar 1501. Now we're 8 ready to read the last section. 9 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay aside, 10 please. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 12 bill aside. 13 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 14 Calendar Number 1505, Senator Bruno moves to 15 discharge from the Committee on Rules Assembly 16 Bill Number 8450 and substitute it for the 17 identical Senate bill Third Reading 1505. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 19 Substitution is ordered. Secretary will read 20 the title. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 1505, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 23 Assembly Print 8450, an act to amend a chapter 24 of the laws of 1997. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Bill is 6836 1 before the house. Lay the bill aside. 2 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 Skelos. 5 SENATOR SKELOS: There will be an 6 immediate meeting of the Rules Committee, in the 7 Majority Conference Room. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There 9 will be an immediate meeting of the Rules 10 Committee, immediate meeting of the Rules 11 Committee in the Majority Conference Room, Room 12 332. Secretary will continue to read the 13 non-controversial calendar. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 1507, by Senator Trunso, Senate Print 3962, an 16 act to amend the Retirement and Social Security 17 Law. 18 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay aside. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 20 bill aside. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 1513, by Senator Spano, Senate Print 5152-A, an 23 act to amend the Transportation Law, in relation 24 to re-establishing the Westchester Parkway 25 Commission. 6837 1 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay aside. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 3 bail side. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 1514, by the Committee on Rules, Senate Print 6 5634-A, an act to amend the Public Authorities 7 Law, in relation to the creation of a police 8 department. 9 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay aside, 10 please. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 12 bill aside. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 1515, by Senator Trunzo, Senate Print Number 15 2456, an act to amend Chapter 422 of the Laws of 16 1991. 17 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay aside. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 19 bill aside. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 1516, by Senator Tully, Senate Print 5006, an 22 act authorizing the assessor of the county of 23 Nassau. 24 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay aside. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 6838 1 bill aside. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 1517, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 5670, an 4 act authorizing the assessor of the county of 5 Nassau. 6 SENATOR LARKIN: Is there a 7 message of necessity at the desk? 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 9 a message of necessity at the desk, Senator 10 Larkin. 11 SENATOR LARKIN: Move to accept 12 the message. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Motion is 14 to accept the message of necessity on Calendar 15 Number 1517. All those in favor signify by 16 saying aye. 17 (Response of "Aye.") 18 Opposed nay. 19 (There was no response.) 20 The message is accepted. 21 Secretary will read the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 23 act shall take effect immediately. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 25 roll. 6839 1 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 4 is passed. 5 THE SECRETARY: Excuse me. Ayes 6 57 nays one, Senator Cook recorded in the 7 negative. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 9 is passed. 10 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 11 Calendar Number 1518, Senator Farley moves to 12 discharge from the Committee on Finance, 13 Assembly Print 6351 and substitute it for the 14 identical bill, Third Reading 1518. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 16 Substitution is ordered. 17 THE SECRETARY: An act to amend 18 the Banking Law, General Municipal Law, in 19 relation to the establishment of bank branches. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 21 will read the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 23 act shall take effect immediately. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 25 roll. 6840 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 3 is passed. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 1519, by Senator Velella, Senate Print 5452, an 6 act to amend the Insurance Law and the Public 7 Health Law, in relation to conforming. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 9 will read the last section. 10 THE SECRETARY: Section 23. This 11 act shall take effect July 1st, 1997. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 13 roll. 14 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 17 is passed. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 1520, by the Committee on Rules, Senate Print 20 5638, an act to amend the Local Finance Law, in 21 relation to sale of bonds. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 23 will read the last section. 24 THE SECRETARY: Section 7. This 25 act shall take effect immediately. 6841 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 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 1521, by Senator Seward, Senate Print 5641, an 9 act to amend the Rural Electric Cooperative Law, 10 in relation to powers of the board of 11 directors. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 13 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 58. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 21 is passed. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 1522, by Senator Marcellino, Senate Print 5620, 24 an act authorizing the county of Suffolk to 25 discontinue. 6842 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 2 a home rule message at the desk. Secretary will 3 read the last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 5 act shall take effect immediately. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 7 roll. 8 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 11 is passed. 12 Secretary will continue to read 13 the non-controversial calendar. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 1523, by Senator Markowitz, Senate Print 5655, 16 an act authorizing the city of New York to 17 reconvey. 18 SENATOR LARKIN: Is there a 19 message of necessity? 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 21 no message at the desk. There is also no home 22 rule message at the desk. The bill will have to 23 be laid aside. 24 Secretary will continue to read. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6843 1 1524, by Senator Montgomery, Senate Print 5446, 2 an act to amend the Emergency Tenant Protection 3 Act of 1994. 4 SENATOR LARKIN: Lay aside, 5 please. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7 Larkin, you removing the lay aside on Calendar 8 Number 1524. 9 SENATOR LARKIN: Yes, Mr. 10 President. Let's take it up. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Let's 12 read 1524 again. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 1524, by Senator Montgomery, an act to amend the 15 Emergency Tenant Protection Act. 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 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 25 is passed. 6844 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 2 the negatives. Announce the results. 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57, nays 1, 4 Senator Larkin recorded in the negative. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: All those 6 people wishing to vote in the negative on 7 Calendar 1524 please raise their hand. Announce 8 the results. 9 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 10 the negative on Calendar 1524 are Senators 11 Holland, Larkin, Nozzolio and Wright. Ayes 54, 12 nays 4. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 14 is passed. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 1526, by Senator Spano, Senate Print 5633, an 17 act to amend a chapter of the laws of 1997. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 19 will read the last section. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 21 act shall take effect on the same date as 22 chapter of the laws of 1997. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 24 roll. 25 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 6845 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 2 the negatives. Announce the results when 3 recorded. 4 For the benefit of the members, 5 we made a clerical error at the desk. We called 6 up Calendar Number 1526, so be sure that you're 7 voting in the negative on Calendar Number 1526. 8 We'll go back and call 1525 momentarily. 9 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 10 the negative on Calendar Number 1526 are 11 Senators Cook, Holland, Johnson, Larkin, 12 Nozzolio, Present, Rath, Saland, Seward, 13 Stachowski, Stafford and Wright. Also Senator 14 Kuhl. Ayes 45, nays 13. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 16 is passed. 17 Secretary will now read Calendar 18 Number 1525. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 1525, by Senator Spano, Senate Print 5498-A, an 21 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 22 enacting the Westchester County hand gun record 23 keeping and accountability act. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 25 will read the last section. 6846 1 THE SECRETARY: Section 7. This 2 act shall take effect immediately. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 4 roll. 5 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 7 the negatives. 8 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 9 the negative on Calendar Number 1525 are 10 Senators Cook, Johnson, Kuhl, Larkin, Nozzolio, 11 Present, Rath, Saland, Seward, Stachowski, 12 Stafford, Wright, also Senators Bruno and 13 Holland. 14 SENATOR GOLD: Who? 15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44, nays 16 14. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 18 is passed. 19 Senator Larkin, that completes 20 the reading of the non-controversial calendar. 21 SENATOR LARKIN: Let's now 22 proceed on the same calendar and take up the 23 controversial issues, Mr. President. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 25 will read the controversial reading of 6847 1 Supplemental Calendar 60-C. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 1491, by Senator Nozzolio, Senate Print 5202, an 4 act to amend the Correction Law, in relation to 5 elimination of the compensation cap. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 7 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: Calendar Number 17 1492, by Senator Marchi, Senate Print 5264-A, an 18 act authorizing the city of New York to reconvey 19 its interest. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 21 a home rule message at the desk. Secretary will 22 read the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 24 act shall take effect immediately. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 6848 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 1495, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 5470, an act 8 authorizing SUNY College of Environmental 9 Science at Syracuse University. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 11 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 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 1500, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 3387, an 22 act to restore service credit to Suzanne 23 Cunningham. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 25 will read the last section. 6849 1 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 2 act shall take effect immediately. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 4 roll. 5 (The Secretary called the roll.) 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7 Leichter. 8 SENATOR LEICHTER: To explain my 9 vote. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 11 Leichter, to explain his vote on Calendar Number 12 1500. 13 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 14 on extensive discussion in the Rules Committee 15 the basis for this bill was explained, and I 16 think that Suzanne Cunningham may have a valid 17 claim, but I just plead with all of us to find 18 some system and process whereby these matters 19 could be referred to an administrative 20 tribunal. 21 Senator Trunzo was able to 22 accomplish this for at least a certain class of 23 claims, although I understand that that process 24 has now sunsetted. But really, we should not be 25 doing this. This is an executive function, 6850 1 administrative function. We don't have the 2 background to do it. We don't have the 3 information to do it. We shouldn't be spending 4 our time and it's an extremely expensive way to 5 do this for the people of the state of New 6 York. 7 So I plead that we not be 8 inundated as we are at the end of this session. 9 We were also last session with hundreds of these 10 private bills. 11 Having said that, Mr. President, 12 I'll vote in the affirmative on this bill. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 Leichter will be recorded in the affirmative. 15 Announce the results. 16 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 18 is passed. 19 Senator Farley, why do you rise? 20 SENATOR FARLEY: Mr. President, 21 I'd like to be recorded in the negative on 1525 22 and 1526. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 24 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Farley 25 will be recorded in the negative on Calendars 6851 1 1525 and 1526. 2 Senator Maziarz, why do you rise? 3 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you, Mr. 4 President. 5 Mr. President, I too would like 6 unanimous permission to be recorded in the 7 negative on 1525 and 1526. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 9 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Maziarz 10 will be recorded in the negative on Calendar 11 Numbers 1525 and 1526. 12 Senator Saland, why do you rise? 13 SENATOR SALAND: Mr. President, I 14 too would request unanimous consent for the 15 purpose of being recorded in the negative on 16 Calendar 1524. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 1524. 18 SENATOR SALAND: Yes, sir. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 20 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Saland 21 will be recorded in the negative on Calendar 22 Number 1524. 23 The Secretary will continue to 24 call the controversial calendar. 25 Senator Volker. 6852 1 SENATOR VOLKER: Mr. President, I 2 too would like to be recorded in the negative on 3 Calendar Number 1525 and 1526. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 5 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Volker 6 will be recorded in the negative on Calendar 7 Numbers 1525 and 1526. 8 Senator LaValle, why do you 9 rise? 10 SENATOR LAVALLE: Mr. President, 11 I'd like unanimous consent to be recorded in the 12 negative on Calendar 1525 and 1526. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 14 objection, hearing no objection, Senator LaValle 15 will be recorded in the negative on Calendar 16 1525 and 1526. 17 Secretary will continue to call 18 the controversial calendar. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 1501, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 21 Assembly Print 8434, an act to amend the 22 Executive Law and the State Finance Law and the 23 Civil Service Law. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 25 will read the last section. 6853 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 1507, by Senator Trunzo, Senate Print 3962, an 11 act to amend the Retirement and Social Security 12 Law, in relation to providing. 13 SENATOR LEICHTER: Explanation. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 15 Trunzo, an explanation of Calendar Number 1507 16 has been requested by Senator Leichter. 17 SENATOR TRUNZO: This bill 18 provides for Tier II -- Tier II police officer 19 and firefighters who have gone on disability 20 retirement for three-quarters of their final 21 average salary, and in addition for the 22 contraction of HIV, hepatitis and tuberculosis, 23 it would entitle these members to disability 24 benefits. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6854 1 Leichter. 2 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 3 on the bill. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5 Leichter, on the bill. 6 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 7 I think this is just flawed and faulty 8 legislation. What this bill essentially 9 provides is that there's a presumption that a 10 firefighter or a police officer on retirement 11 who is found to have HIV, tuberculosis or 12 hepatitis, that he developed that disease in the 13 discharge of his or her duty. It's a rebuttable 14 presumption, but it's extremely difficult to 15 rebut. 16 I voted against almost all of 17 these bills that make a presumption, whether 18 it's the "heart" bill and some of the other 19 bills, but there at least is a tenuous 20 connection between firefighters who exert 21 themselves and develop heart trouble. But 22 there's not even a tenuous connection between 23 the police officer and a firefighter who is HIV 24 positive or has AIDS, that he has developed this 25 as a consequence of his duties and while the 6855 1 bill says that you've got to show it was, well, 2 you came in contact with some bodily fluids, 3 that in itself by no means indicates even the 4 chance or the likelihood, let's say, that the 5 firefighter, the police officer developed the 6 disease as a consequence of what happened. 7 There's just no connection what 8 soever and it's extremely difficult to rebut 9 that presumption. Firefighter says, Well, I 10 helped carry somebody out of an apartment. He 11 or she was bleeding. I think that's how I 12 developed HIV. How do you possibly rebut this? 13 This is something that happened years ago. The 14 person may have died. The person may have 15 moved. The likelihood of that happening is so 16 remote. 17 It would make more sense, 18 frankly, to create a presumption for public 19 employees who work in clinics where they are 20 more likely to come into contact with bodily 21 fluids. Let me say if we want to provide more 22 money for firefighters and police officers, I 23 may we will support it, because they do a 24 fantastic, wonderful job. They deserve our 25 support, but let's do it honestly. Let's do it 6856 1 up front. Let's not do it through the 2 subterfuge coming up with totally cockamamie 3 medical ideas and theories, and then imposing on 4 the pension system this great financial burden 5 and establishing a system where it's almost 6 impossible to rebut a presumption. 7 There's no basis for that 8 presumption, and I just want to point out the 9 fiscal note for those who have missed it, that 10 this is going to cost the participating 11 employers of the New York State and local police 12 and fire retirement system $26 million, and I - 13 annual -- annually. That's a large sum. 14 You talk about unfunded 15 mandates. This is certainly a whopper of an 16 unfunded mandate and it's totally inexcusable. 17 There's no basis for it. I say again, if we 18 want to provide more money for these very fine 19 people, then let's do it. Let's do it openly, 20 say they're entitled, but let's not do it by 21 twisting the retirement system, by creating 22 totally fallacious medical theories. 23 This is just not the way to 24 proceed and we really shouldn't pass these sort 25 of bills, Mr. President. I'm going to vote in 6857 1 the negative. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 3 will read the last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 5 act shall take effect immediately. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 7 roll. 8 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 10 the negatives. Announce the results. 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57, nays 12 one, Senator Leichter recorded in the negative. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 14 is passed. 15 Continue to call the 16 controversial calendar. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 1513, by Senator Spano, Senate Print 5152-A, an 19 act to amend the Transportation Law, in relation 20 to re-establishing the Westchester Parkway 21 Commission. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 23 will read the last section. 24 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 25 act shall take effect on the 60th day. 6858 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 2 roll. 3 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 5 the negatives, announce the results. 6 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57, nays 7 one, Senator Leichter recorded in the negative. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 9 is passed. 10 Secretary will continue to call 11 the controversial calendar. 12 SENATOR HOFFMANN: Mr. 13 President. 14 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 16 Paterson, why do you rise? 17 SENATOR PATERSON: Senator 18 Hoffmann. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: I 20 understand there are several members who want to 21 vote in the opposite. We'll take that as soon 22 as we complete the controversial calendar. 23 Secretary will continue to call 24 the controversial calendar. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6859 1 1514, by the Committee on Rules, Senate Print 2 5634-A, an act to amend the Public Authorities 3 Law, in relation to the creation of a police 4 department of the Metropolitan Transportation 5 Authority. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 7 will read the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 12. 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: Calendar Number 17 1515, by Senator Trunzo, Senate Print 2456, an 18 act to amend Chapter 422 of the Laws of 1991. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 20 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. ) 6860 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 3 is passed. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 1516, by Senator Tully, Senate Print 5006, an 6 act authorizing the assessor of the county of 7 Nassau. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 9 will read the last section. 10 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 11 act shall take effect immediately. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 13 roll. 14 (The Secretary called the roll.) 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 16 the negatives, announce the results. 17 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57, nays 18 one, Senator Dollinger recorded in the 19 negative. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 21 is passed. 22 Senator Alesi, why do you rise? 23 SENATOR ALESI: Thank you. Mr. 24 President, may I ask unanimous consent to be 25 recorded in the negative on Calendar 1526 as 6861 1 well as 1525. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 3 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Alesi 4 will be recorded in the negative on Calendar 5 1525 and 1526. 6 Senator Libous, why do you rise? 7 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President, I 8 too would like unanimous consent to be recorded 9 in the negative on Calendar 1525 and 1526. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 11 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Libous 12 will be recorded in the negative on Calendars 13 1525 and 1526. 14 Senator DeFrancisco. 15 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I would ask 16 unanimous consent to be recorded in the negative 17 on 1525 and 1526. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 19 objection, hearing no objection, Senator 20 DeFrancisco will be recorded in the negative on 21 Calendars 1525 and 1526. 22 Senator Maltese. 23 SENATOR MALTESE: Mr. President, 24 may I ask unanimous consent to be recorded in 25 the negative on Calendar Numbers 1525 and 1526. 6862 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 2 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Maltese 3 will be recorded in the negative on Calendars 4 1525 and 1526. 5 Senator Hoffmann, why do you 6 rise? 7 SENATOR HOFFMANN: Mr. President, 8 I'd unanimous consent to be recorded in the 9 negative on Calendar 1525 and 1526. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 11 objection, hearing no objection, Senator 12 Hoffmann will be recorded in the negative on 13 Calendars 1525 and 1526. 14 Senator Meier, why do you rise? 15 SENATOR MEIER: Mr. President, I 16 ask unanimous consent to be recorded in the 17 negative on 1525 and 1526. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 19 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Meier 20 will be recorded in the negative on Calendars 21 1525 and 1526. 22 Any other Senators wishing to 23 change their vote? 24 Senator Larkin. 25 SENATOR LARKIN: Mr. President, 6863 1 can we now return to reports of a standing 2 committee. We have a Rules report there. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We'll 4 return to the order of reports of standing 5 committees. There is a report of the Rules 6 Committee at the desk. I'll ask the Secretary 7 to read. 8 THE SECRETARY: Senator Bruno, 9 from the Committee on Rules, reports the 10 following bills: 11 Senate Print 5677, by the Senate 12 Committee on Rules, an act to amend the 13 Insurance Law; 14 4367, by Senator Paterson, an act 15 to authorize Richard J. Mason, the deputy 16 executive director; and 17 4822, by Senator Oppenheimer, an 18 act to provide benefit options. 19 All bills ordered direct for 20 third reading. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Larkin. 23 SENATOR LARKIN: Mr. President, 24 can we now call up Calendar 1496. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Motion is 6864 1 to accept the report of the Rules Committee. 2 All those in favor signify by saying aye. 3 (Response of "Aye.") 4 Opposed nay. 5 (There was no response.) 6 The report of the Rules Committee 7 is accepted. 8 Senator Larkin. 9 SENATOR LARKIN: Can we call up 10 1496, please. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 12 will read Calendar Number 1496. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 1496, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 15 Print 5677, an act to amend the Insurance Law, 16 in relation to continuing. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 18 Larkin. 19 SENATOR LARKIN: Mr. President, 20 is there a message at the desk? 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There 22 is. 23 SENATOR LARKIN: Move to accept 24 the message. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Motion is 6865 1 to accept the message of necessity on Calendar 2 Number 1496 which is at the desk. All those in 3 favor signify by saying aye. 4 (Response of "Aye.") 5 Opposed nay. 6 (There was no response.) 7 The message is accepted. 8 Secretary will read the last 9 section. 10 THE SECRETARY: Section 11. 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 56. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 17 is passed. 18 SENATOR LARKIN: Calendar Number 19 1528, Mr. President. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 21 Secretary will read Calendar Number 1528. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 1528, by Senator Oppenheimer, Senate Print 4822, 24 an act to provide benefit options to surviving 25 beneficiaries. 6866 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 Senator Larkin. 12 SENATOR LARKIN: Calendar Number 13 1527. 14 SENATOR GOLD: What's the 15 calendar number, ...27 -- 1527? 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 17 Larkin. 18 SENATOR LARKIN: Mr. President, 19 is there any housekeeping? 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We'll 21 return to the order of motions and resolutions. 22 There's a substitution at the desk. 23 I'll ask the Secretary to read. 24 THE SECRETARY: On page 18, 25 Senator Alesi moves to discharge from the 6867 1 Committee on Rules Assembly Bill Number 5285-A 2 and substitute it for the identical Third 3 Reading Calendar 733. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 5 substitution is ordered. 6 Senator Wright. 7 SENATOR WRIGHT: Mr. President, 8 on page 13, I offer the following amendments to 9 Calendar Number 525, Senate Print Number 3314, 10 and I ask that said bill retain its place on the 11 Third Reading Calendar. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 13 amendments are received and adopted. The bill 14 will retain its place on the Third Reading 15 Calendar. 16 Senator Larkin. 17 SENATOR LARKIN: Is there any 18 more housekeeping there? 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: That's it 20 for right now, Senator Larkin. 21 SENATOR LARKIN: Let's stand at 22 ease for a couple of minutes. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 24 Senate will stand at ease for a couple of 25 minutes. 6868 1 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at 2 ease from 6:36 p.m. until 6:39 p.m.) 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 4 Senate will come to order. Can we have some 5 quiet in the house, please. 6 The Chair recognizes Senator 7 Larkin. 8 SENATOR LARKIN: Mr. President, 9 let's call up 1527, please. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 11 Secretary will read Calendar Number 1527. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 1527, by Senator Paterson, Senate Print 4367, an 14 act to authorize Richard J. Mason, the executive 15 -- deputy executive director of the Renaissance 16 Health Care Network. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 18 Secretary will read the last section. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. 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 6869 1 is passed. 2 Senator Larkin. 3 SENATOR LARKIN: Let's stand at 4 ease for a few more minutes. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 6 Senate will stand at ease. 7 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at 8 ease from 6:40 p.m. until 6:46 p.m.) 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senate 10 will come to order. Ask the members to find 11 their chairs. 12 The Chair recognizes Senator 13 Skelos. 14 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 15 on behalf of Senator Bruno, at this time I would 16 like to move to recommit all calendar bills to 17 the Committee on Rules. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 19 objection, all bills currently on the calendar 20 are recommitted to the Committee on Rules. 21 SENATOR GOLD: Excuse me - 22 excuse me. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 24 motion is before the house. 25 SENATOR GOLD: Yes. Could I ask 6870 1 for just one moment before the motion. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Sure. 3 That's why I recognized you. 4 SENATOR GOLD: I appreciate it. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Otherwise 6 I would ask you to sit down. 7 SENATOR GOLD: Thank you. 8 I appreciate it. You are still a 9 gentleman. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 11 Gold, you had a question? 12 SENATOR GOLD: Thank you, Mr. 13 President. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 15 Gold, without objection, hearing no objection, 16 all the calendar bills are recommitted to the 17 Committee on Rules. 18 Senator Skelos. 19 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 20 there being no further business, I move that we 21 stand adjourned until Tuesday, July 8th, at 22 11:00 a.m. and there will be a Republican 23 Conference the same day at 10:30 a.m., 24 intervening days to be legislative days. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 6871 1 objection, the Senate stands adjourned until 2 Tuesday, July the 8th, at 11:00 a.m. 3 Senator Paterson, did you wish to 4 be recognized. 5 SENATOR PATERSON: On that same 6 day, on July 8th, next Tuesday, there will be a 7 Minority Conference in the Minority Conference 8 Room at 10:00 a.m. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There 10 will be a Majority Conference in the Majority 11 Conference Room at 10:30, Minority Conference in 12 the Majority Conference Room, intervening days 13 to be legislative days. 14 (Whereupon, at 6:49 p.m., the 15 Senate adjourned.) 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25