Tuesday, July 15, 1997

6913 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ALBANY, NEW YORK 10 July 15, 1997 11 12:19 p.m. 12 13 14 REGULAR SESSION 15 16 17 18 LT. GOVERNOR BETSY McCAUGHEY ROSS, President 19 STEPHEN F. SLOAN, Secretary 20 21 22 23 24 25 6914 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 THE PRESIDENT: The Senate will 3 come to order. 4 Would you please rise and join 5 with me in the Pledge of Allegiance. 6 (The assemblage repeated the 7 Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. ) 8 May we bow our heads in a moment 9 of silence. 10 (A moment of silence was 11 observed. ) 12 The reading of the Journal, 13 please. 14 THE SECRETARY: In Senate, 15 Monday, July 14th. The Senate met pursuant to 16 adjournment. The Journal of Sunday, July 13th, 17 was read and approved. On motion, Senate 18 adjourned. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 20 objection, the Journal stands approved as read. 21 Presentation of petitions. 22 Messages from the Assembly. 23 Messages from the Governor. 24 Reports of standing committees. 25 The Secretary will read. 6915 1 THE SECRETARY: Senator Lack, 2 from the Committee on Judiciary, reports the 3 following nomination: 4 Judge of the Niagara County 5 Family Court, John F. Batt, of North Tonawanda. 6 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Lack. 7 SENATOR LACK: Thank you, Madam 8 President. 9 I rise to move the nomination of 10 John F. Batt, of North Tonawanda, as a judge of 11 the Niagara County Family Court. Mr. Batt has 12 been examined by the staff of the committee. 13 His credentials have been found to be in order. 14 He appeared before the committee this morning, 15 and was unanimously recommended to the floor of 16 the Senate, and I most proudly yield to no doubt 17 his strongest supporter in the Senate and an old 18 and very long time friend, our own Senator 19 Maziarz. 20 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Maziarz. 21 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you, 22 Madam President. 23 Madam President, it's with a 24 great deal of pride and pleasure that I stand 25 before my colleagues today to recommend the 6916 1 confirmation of a good friend of mine, John 2 Batt, to the position of Niagara County Family 3 Court Judge. 4 I've known John for almost 30 5 years now. We graduated from high school 6 together. It's a long way from the halls of 7 Bishop Gibbons to these halls, John, but you've 8 certainly earned your way here. You're going to 9 do a great job. 10 John has been practicing law for 11 a number of years in Niagara County with a 12 specialty in the practice of Family Court law 13 and I know, Madam President, that probably it's 14 the most difficult assignment for any attorney 15 is to sit on the Family Court bench and to make 16 decisions that are going to affect the lives of 17 children in particular and determine their 18 course perhaps for the rest of their life. 19 John has the unique ability, I 20 think, to make those types of decisions. He's 21 served as a counsel to Assembly member David 22 Seaman, who joins me here in the chamber today 23 to offer his support of this excellent 24 nomination, and we certainly want to thank 25 Governor Pataki for choosing John Batt. He's a 6917 1 highly respected attorney in Niagara County and, 2 as I said earlier, he's earned his way here. He 3 is going to serve with distinction on the Family 4 Court bench and we are absolutely certain that 5 come November he's going to be elected to a full 6 four-year term. 7 So, Mr. President, I would ask my 8 colleagues to accept my recommendation of Judge 9 Batt and unanimously confirm him. 10 Thank you, Mr. President. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Any other 12 Senator wishing to speak on the nomination? 13 Hearing none, the question is on the nomination 14 of John F. Batt, of North Tonawanda, to become 15 the judge of the Niagara County Family Court. 16 All those in favor of the nomination signify by 17 saying aye. 18 (Response of "Aye.") 19 Opposed nay. 20 (There was no response. ) 21 The nominee is unanimously 22 confirmed. 23 We're very pleased to have now 24 Judge Batt with us in the chamber seated to your 25 left, along with his wife Carol Ann, his in-laws 6918 1 Louis and Rita Szot, and Ronald and Cynthia Szot 2 and a good friend, Michael Norris. 3 Judge, congratulations. 4 (Applause) 5 Secretary will continue to read. 6 THE SECRETARY: Senator Lack, 7 from the Committee on Judiciary, reports the 8 following nomination: Judge of the Madison 9 County Court, Biagio Joseph DiStefano, of 10 Eaton. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 12 Lack. 13 SENATOR LACK: Thank you, Senator 14 Kuhl. 15 I rise to second the nomination 16 of Biagio DiStefano, of Eaton, as judge of the 17 Madison County Court. His credentials have been 18 examined by the staff of the committee, appear 19 to be in order. He appeared before the 20 committee this morning and was unanimously 21 referred by the committee to the Legislature - 22 of the Senate and, in the absence of Senator 23 Hoffmann, I would respectfully yield to Senator 24 DeFrancisco for purposes of seconding. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Chair 6919 1 recognizes Senator DeFrancisco, on the 2 nomination. 3 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Mr. 4 President, it's with great honor that I rise to 5 support and speak on behalf of the nomination of 6 Mr. DiStefano. 7 You know, it's very interesting 8 that we look at these nominations all the time 9 and we always talk about we want to have 10 qualified people for the positions. There could 11 be no more qualified individual than Mr. 12 DiStefano for Family Court. He's been a hearing 13 examiner in Madison County for Family Court 14 matters since 1985, 12 years, hearing over 15 25,000 cases. Most judges don't have that 16 experience in a -- in their full term. 17 To have a person of this quality 18 and this experience for this position is a great 19 tribute to Governor Pataki in his process of 20 nominating qualified individuals. 21 More importantly even than his 22 experience as a hearing examiner, is his 23 reputation for being a quality person, a fair 24 individual, and someone who is going to honor 25 the court system by giving everyone a fair shake 6920 1 who comes before him. 2 He comes in a great tradition of 3 fine judges in that community, many of whom I 4 appear before. I'm looking forward to seeing 5 Judge DiStefano hearing cases as a Family Court 6 judge in the fine county of Madison and the 7 county seat Wampsville. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is there 9 any other Senator wishing to speak on the 10 nomination? Hearing none, the question is on 11 the nomination of Biagio Joseph DiStefano, of 12 Eaton, to become the judge of the Madison County 13 Court. All those in favor of the nomination, 14 signify by saying aye. 15 (Response of "Aye.") 16 Opposed nay. 17 (There was no response. ) 18 The nominee is confirmed. We're 19 very, very pleased to have Judge DiStefano 20 together with his wife Sue, children Kristen and 21 Blaze, and some friends with us in the chamber 22 seated to your left. Please welcome them. 23 Judge, good luck. 24 (Applause) 25 Secretary will continue to read. 6921 1 THE SECRETARY: Senator Lack, 2 from the Committee on Judiciary, reports the 3 following nomination: Judge of the Allegany 4 County Court, James E. Euken, of Belmont. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The Chair 6 recognizes Senator Lack, on the nomination. 7 SENATOR LACK: Thank you, Mr. 8 President. 9 I rise to support the nomination 10 of James E. Euken, of Belmont, as judge of the 11 Allegany County Court. As with our other 12 judicial nominees this morning, Mr. Euken has 13 appeared before the committee. His credentials 14 have been examined. He personally attended a 15 committee meeting this morning, was unanimously 16 moved from the Committee to the floor of the 17 Senate, and it's with great pleasure that I 18 yield to Senator Present for purposes of a 19 second. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Chair 21 recognizes Senator Present, on the nomination. 22 SENATOR PRESENT: Thank you, 23 Senator Lack. 24 Mr. President, I rise 25 enthusiastically to move the confirmation of a 6922 1 good friend and colleague, the Honorable James 2 E. Euken, of Belmont, to the position of 3 Allegany County Court judge. 4 Jim not only possesses the 5 intellect, judgment, temperament and character 6 for this position, he also has more than 20 7 years experience in the legal profession. 8 In February 1972, Jim Euken was 9 admitted to the New York State Bar Association, 10 Fourth Judicial Department, and began his career 11 as a partner in private law practice in the 12 Wellsville area. During the same period, Jim 13 Euken also served as public defender in Allegany 14 County. 15 In November 1983, Mr. Euken was 16 elected Allegany County District Attorney and 17 was elected and reelected in '87, '91 and '95. 18 On behalf of the Allegany County 50,000 19 residents, Jim first prosecuted cases from their 20 preliminary stages through appeal to -- in 40 21 local courts, County Court, the Appellate 22 Division and the Court of Appeals. 23 He has received numerous 24 citations for his service to the public. Jim 25 Euken is the past president and member of the 6923 1 Executive Committee of the Allegany County Bar 2 Association and has been a lecturer at various 3 seminars conducted by the New York State Welfare 4 Fraud Investigators Association. 5 It is indeed an honor and a 6 privilege for me to move for the confirmation of 7 the Honorable James E. Euken as Allegany County 8 judge. I know his impeccable credentials and 9 record of service to the public will enrich the 10 civil and criminal justice system in Allegany 11 County. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: Any 13 other Senator wishing to speak on the 14 nomination? Question is on the nomination. All 15 in favor of nominating James Euken of Belmont 16 for the judge of the Allegany County Court 17 signify by saying aye. 18 (Response of "Aye.") 19 Opposed nay. 20 (There was no response.) 21 Motion is approved. 22 Judge Euken, congratulations. He 23 joins with us today in the chamber with his wife 24 Molly and his daughter Caitlin. 25 Congratulations, Judge. 6924 1 (Applause) 2 Senator Lack. Secretary will 3 read. I'm sorry. 4 THE SECRETARY: Senator Lack, 5 from the Committee on Judiciary, reports the 6 following nomination: Judge of the Surrogate's 7 Court of Steuben County, Joseph W. Latham, of 8 Canisteo. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 10 Now, Senator Lack. 11 SENATOR LACK: Thank you, Mr. 12 President. 13 I rise to move the nomination of 14 Joseph W. Latham, of Canisteo, as Surrogate of 15 Steuben County. Again, as with our other 16 nominees, he's been -- his credentials have been 17 examined by the staff of the committee, have 18 been found to be of superior knowledge. He 19 appeared before the committee this morning, was 20 unanimously moved by the committee to the floor 21 of the Senate, and it's with great pleasure that 22 I yield to Senator Kuhl for purposes of a 23 second. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 25 Chair recognizes Senator Kuhl. 6925 1 SENATOR KUHL: Thank you, Mr. 2 President, and thank you, Senator Lack. It's my 3 pleasure -- indeed my pleasure and privilege to 4 be able to stand before the members of this body 5 to nominate or second the nomination of Joseph 6 W. Latham to a position of Surrogate judge in 7 Steuben County. 8 As many of those residents of 9 upstate New York know, when you're elected or 10 nominated and appointed and confirmed to a 11 position such as the Surrogate judge in a 12 county, it's not only that position that you 13 fill, but you fill several others. In Steuben 14 County it's a three-hatted judgeship, if you 15 will, because the person who serves as a 16 Surrogate judge also serves in Family Court and 17 also serves in the County Court, which means 18 that they deal with not only family matters but 19 criminal matters and civil matters and also 20 estate matters. 21 It takes a person of a wide 22 ranging background, certainly a great deal of 23 experience and a great deal of intellect and 24 integrity. Joseph W. Latham brings that to the 25 position of Surrogate judge in Steuben County, 6926 1 so it's my privilege to nominate and second the 2 nomination again of a friend, an adversary on 3 many occasions, and a colleague on certainly 4 many more. 5 Joseph, it's my pleasure again to 6 second the nomination. Good luck in your 7 future. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: Any 9 other Senator wishing to be heard on this 10 nomination? 11 SENATOR STAFFORD: Mr. 12 President. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 14 Senator Stafford. 15 SENATOR STAFFORD: I don't want to 16 repeat what Senator Kuhl has said so well, but I 17 think it's very nice to point out that I believe 18 it would have been this gentleman's great aunt 19 who served here in the Senate for over, believe 20 it or not, 50 years, and served a number of 21 people in the Senate, and she was very, very 22 proud of her family, and it was Helen Darling, 23 and, as I say, it's a pleasure for me to move, 24 together with Senator Kuhl, a relative of 25 Helen's who was here for so many years and so 6927 1 well respected, and I'm sure that what Senator 2 Kuhl said is completely accurate. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: Any 4 other Senators wishing to be heard? Question is 5 on the nomination of Joseph W. Latham, of 6 Canisteo, for judge of the Surrogate's Court of 7 Steuben County. All in favor signify by saying 8 aye. 9 (Response of "Aye.") 10 Opposed nay. 11 (There was no response.) 12 The nominee is confirmed. 13 The judge -- congratulations, 14 Judge Latham. The judge is joined by his wife 15 Margaret and Aunt Margaret Marian, cousins 16 Chilton, Caitlin and Alexandria Latham, and 17 family friends, Bill and Donna Hatch. 18 Judge, congratulations and good 19 luck. 20 (Applause) 21 Senator Skelos, may we move to 22 the next order of business? 23 SENATOR SKELOS: Are there any 24 communications and reports from standing 25 committees? 6928 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: We 2 have privileged resolutions we'd like to read. 3 SENATOR SKELOS: We'll go to 4 motions and resolutions, and I believe there is 5 a privileged resolution by Senator Farley. I 6 ask that the title be read -- read the entire 7 resolution, and then move for its immediate 8 adoption, and then recognize Senator Farley. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 10 will read. 11 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 12 Farley, Legislative Resolution honoring Lisa 13 Esler, upon the occasion of being named Miss New 14 York State. 15 WHEREAS, the state of New York 16 takes great pride in acknowledging outstanding 17 individuals who distinguish themselves in 18 service to their community and who serve as an 19 inspiration to their friends, family and peers; 20 and 21 WHEREAS, Lisa Esler, of North 22 ville, New York, was crowned Miss New York State 23 on Saturday, June 28, 1997; as Miss Fulton 24 County, Lisa Esler won this esteemed annual 25 pageant which was held in Watertown, New York. 6929 1 She will go on to represent New York State in 2 the Miss America Pageant this September in 3 Atlantic city; and 4 WHEREAS, in winning the Miss New 5 York State scholarship pageant, Lisa Esler 6 competed against 17 talented young women from 7 across the state for the title which includes a 8 $9,000 scholarship and the opportunity to 9 compete for the Miss America title; 10 This talented and dedicated 11 individual, currently a pre-med student at the 12 State University of New York at Binghamton, is 13 pursuing an undergraduate degree in both 14 Chemistry and Biology; 15 In addition to receiving the 16 prestigious title of Miss New York State, Lisa 17 Esler has received scholarships from both the 18 Miss New York State pageant and the Miss Fulton 19 County Scholarship pageant. Upon completion of 20 her duties as Miss New York State next year, she 21 will reassume her studies in hopes of becoming 22 an orthopedic surgeon. 23 Lisa Esler has assumed the unique 24 public relations role that comes with being 25 named Miss New York State. She will use her 6930 1 position to reach out to young people about the 2 serious problems that arise from alcohol abuse 3 and will be speaking to children in elementary 4 schools during her statewide appearance tour. 5 In addition to her notable 6 academic endeavors, this committed individual 7 has dedicated much of her time and talents to 8 volunteer service in area hospitals, as well as 9 the Children's Miracle Network, among others. 10 Lisa Esler is also an accomplished singer, and 11 performed "Memory" from the musical "Cats" 12 during the Miss New York State pageant. 13 Lisa Esler is also a member of a 14 loving and close-knit family. Her proud and 15 supportive parents, Celina and Richard Esler, as 16 well as her brother David and sister Valerie, 17 share in her excitement over the opportunities 18 presented by this esteemed award; and, 19 WHEREAS, this outstanding young 20 woman, who has accomplished so much and is 21 graced with talent and intelligence as well as a 22 belief in herself and in humankind, will serve 23 as a positive role model for young people and an 24 exceptional representative of New York State; 25 her message of hard work, commitment and 6931 1 responsibility presents a timely lesson to the 2 youth of today. 3 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED 4 that this legislative body pause in its 5 deliberations to commend Lisa Esler upon being 6 crowned Miss New York State for 1997-1998 and to 7 wish her continued success as she represents the 8 state of New York in the upcoming Miss America 9 pageant; and 10 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a 11 copy of this resolution, suitably engrossed, be 12 transmitted to Lisa Esler of Northville, New 13 York, along with our sincere congratulations. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Chair 15 recognizes Senator Farley, on the resolution. 16 SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you, Mr. 17 President. 18 Along with Assemblyman Marc 19 Butler of Fulton County, it is indeed a pleasure 20 to brighten up this chamber with this 21 magnificent young lady, Lisa Esler, who is Miss 22 New York State going on to the Miss America 23 pageant, I believe it's September 13th, and 24 everybody here -- and Senator Smith says we're 25 all going to be cheering for her, and I know 6932 1 that she's an outstanding candidate. 2 Let me just say a couple words 3 about her and her family. Incidentally, her 4 mother is right -- seated right over here, 5 Celina Esler, and, of course, the pageant 6 director, Diane Scribner, is also with us. 7 But let me just say something 8 about Lisa. She was number two in her class at 9 Northville High School and, as a professor, let 10 me tell you that with a double major of 11 Chemistry and Biology, she is pursuing one of 12 the most difficult academic disciplines in our 13 great State University of New York at 14 Binghamton. 15 Miss Esler is also a talented 16 singer. She is also a person that is -- cares 17 about our children and pursuing alcohol abuse in 18 the family, and it is with a great deal of 19 pleasure and thrill that we have her here in 20 this chamber, and I know that everyone here 21 wishes her well and knows that she's going to go 22 on to Atlantic City and do New York State 23 proud. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Any other 25 Senator wishing to speak on the resolution? 6933 1 Hearing none, the question is on the 2 resolution. All those in favor signify by 3 saying aye. 4 (Response of "Aye.") 5 Opposed nay. 6 (There was no response. ) 7 The resolution is unanimously 8 adopted. 9 Lisa, we're very, very pleased 10 that you chose today to come and spend a few 11 moments of your life with us. We wish you well 12 and will all be rootin' for you in Atlantic 13 City. Knock 'em dead. 14 (Applause) 15 MISS ESLER: Thank you. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 17 Skelos. 18 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, I 19 believe there's a privileged resolution at the 20 desk by Senator Alesi. I ask that the title be 21 read and move for its immediate adoption. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 23 will read the title to the privileged resolution 24 2097 by Senator Alesi. 25 THE SECRETARY: By Senator Alesi, 6934 1 Legislative Resolution 2097, congratulating Mr. 2 and Mrs. Thomas Griffo upon the occasion of 3 their 50th Wedding Anniversary. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Question 5 is on the resolution. All those in favor 6 signify by saying aye. 7 (Response of "Aye.") 8 Opposed nay. 9 (There was no response. ) 10 The resolution is adopted. 11 Senator Skelos. 12 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 13 there will be an immediate meeting of the 14 Finance Committee in the Majority Conference 15 Room. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Immediate 17 meeting of the Finance Committee, immediate 18 meeting of the Finance Committee in Room 332, 19 the Majority Conference Room. 20 Senator Skelos. 21 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 22 is there any housekeeping at the desk? 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 24 Skelos, we have a privileged resolution by 25 Senator Gentile at the desk. 6935 1 SENATOR SKELOS: Please read the 2 title and move its immediate adoption. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 4 will read the title to the privileged resolution 5 by Senator Gentile. 6 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 7 Gentile, Legislative Resolution applauding A 8 web Internet services' creation of the Asian 9 Community Bulletin Board website. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Question 11 is on the resolution. All those in favor say 12 aye. 13 (Response of "Aye.") 14 Opposed nay. 15 (There was no response.) 16 The resolution is adopted. 17 We also have some motions if 18 you'd like to take that up at this point in 19 time. 20 Chair recognizes Senator 21 Marcellino. 22 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you, 23 Mr. President. 24 On behalf of Senator Leibell, on 25 page number 4, I offer the following amendments 6936 1 to 1168, Senate Print Number 3215-A, and ask 2 that said bill retain its place on the Third 3 Reading Calendar. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 5 Amendments are received and adopted. Bill will 6 retain its place on the Third Reading Calendar. 7 Senator Marcellino. 8 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr. 9 President, on behalf of Senator Velella, I wish 10 to call up his bill, Print Number 3242, recalled 11 from the Assembly which is now at the desk. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 13 will read. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 344, by Senator Velella, Senate Print 3242, an 16 act to amend the Insurance Law. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 18 Marcellino. 19 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr. 20 President, I now move to reconsider the vote by 21 which the bill was passed and ask that the bill 22 be restored to the order of third reading. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 24 will call the roll on reconsideration. 25 (The Secretary called the roll on 6937 1 reconsideration.) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 45. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 Marcellino, the bill is restored, before the 5 house. 6 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr. 7 President, I now offer the following 8 amendments. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 10 Amendments are received and adopted. 11 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr. 12 President, I now move to discharge the Committee 13 on Rules from Assembly Print Number 5700-A and 14 substitute it for Senator Velella's identical 15 bill. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 17 Substitution is ordered. 18 SENATOR MARCELLINO: I have 19 Senator Tully, he had the Finance. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Marcellino. 22 SENATOR MARCELLINO: I wish to 23 call up Senator Skelos' bill, Print Number 3208, 24 from the Assembly which is now at the desk. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 6938 1 will read. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 479, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 3208, an 4 act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6 Marcellino. 7 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr. 8 President, I now move to reconsider the vote by 9 which this bill was passed. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 11 will call the roll on reconsideration. 12 (The Secretary called the roll on 13 reconsideration.) 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 45. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 16 Marcellino. 17 SENATOR MARCELLINO: I offer the 18 following amendments. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 20 Amendments are received and adopted. 21 Senator Marcellino. 22 SENATOR MARCELLINO: On behalf of 23 Senator Rath I wish to call up her bill, Print 24 Number 3802-A, recalled from the Assembly which 25 is now at the desk. 6939 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 2 will read. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 823, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 3802-A, an 5 act to amend the Real Property Tax Law. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7 Marcellino. 8 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr. 9 President, I now move to reconsider vote by 10 which this bill was passed. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 12 will call the roll on reconsideration. 13 (The Secretary called the roll on 14 reconsideration.) 15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 45. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 17 Marcellino. 18 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr. 19 President, I now offer the following 20 amendments. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 22 Amendments are received and adopted. 23 Senator Marcellino. 24 SENATOR MARCELLINO: On behalf of 25 Senator Maziarz, I wish to call up Print Number 6940 1 4982, recalled from the Assembly which is now at 2 the desk. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 4 will read the title. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar 758, by 6 Senator Maziarz, Senate Print 4982, an act to 7 amend the Real Property Law. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 9 Marcellino. 10 SENATOR MARCELLINO: I now move 11 to reconsider the vote by which this bill was 12 pad. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Motion to 14 reconsider the vote by which the bill passed the 15 house. Secretary will call the roll on 16 reconsideration. 17 (The Secretary called the roll on 18 reconsideration.) 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 45. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Marcellino. 22 SENATOR MARCELLINO: I now offer 23 the following amendments. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 25 Amendments are received and adopted. 6941 1 Senator Marcellino. 2 SENATOR MARCELLINO: I wish to 3 call up Senator Levy's bill, Print Number 4234, 4 recalled from the Assembly which is knew at the 5 desk. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 7 will read the title. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 991, by Senator Levy, Senate Print 4234, an act 10 to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 12 Marcellino. 13 SENATOR MARCELLINO: I now move 14 to reconsider the vote by which this bill was 15 passed. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 17 will call the roll on reconsideration. 18 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 45. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 20 Marcellino. 21 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr. 22 President, I now offer the following 23 amendments. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 25 Amendments are received and adopted. 6942 1 Finally, Senator Marcellino. 2 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Oh, no. 3 More. 4 On behalf of Senator Seward, I 5 wish to call up his bill, Print Number 4790, 6 recalled from the Assembly which is now at the 7 desk. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 9 will read the title. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 1083, by Senator Seward, Senate Print 4790, an 12 act to amend the Real Property Tax Law. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 Marcellino. 15 SENATOR MARCELLINO: I now move to 16 reconsider the vote by which the bill was 17 passed. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 19 will call the roll on reconsideration. 20 (The Secretary called the roll on 21 reconsideration.) 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 45. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 24 Marcellino. 25 SENATOR MARCELLINO: I now offer 6943 1 the following amendments. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 3 Amendments are received and adopted. 4 Senator Marcellino. 5 SENATOR MARCELLINO: On behalf of 6 Senator Spano, I wish to call up his bill, Print 7 Number 2487, recalled from the Assembly which is 8 now at the desk. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 10 will read the title. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 1398, by Senator Spano, Senate Print 2487, an 13 act to amend the Correction Law. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 15 Marcellino. 16 SENATOR MARCELLINO: I now move 17 to reconsider the vote by which the bill 18 passed. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 20 will call the roll on reconsideration. 21 (The Secretary called the roll on 22 reconsideration.) 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 45. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 Marcellino. 6944 1 SENATOR MARCELLINO: I now offer 2 the following amendments. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 4 Amendments are received and adopted. 5 And finally Senator Marcellino. 6 SENATOR MARCELLINO: As always I 7 save the best for last, sir. 8 On behalf of Senator Libous, I 9 wish to call up Print Number 4473, recalled from 10 the Assembly which is now at the desk. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 12 will read the title. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 1078, by Senator Libous, Senate Print 4473, an 15 act to authorize the town of Richford. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 17 Marcellino. 18 SENATOR MARCELLINO: I now move to 19 reconsider the vote by which this bill was 20 passed. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Motion is 22 to reconsider the vote by which the bill passed 23 the house. Secretary will call the roll on 24 reconsideration. 25 (The Secretary called the roll on 6945 1 reconsideration.) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 45. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 Marcellino. 5 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr. 6 President, I now offer the following 7 amendments. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 9 Amendments are received and adopted. 10 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you, 11 sir. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 Skelos. 14 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 15 the Senate will stand at ease pending the report 16 of the Finance Committee. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senate 18 will stand at ease pending the report of the 19 Finance Committee. 20 (At 12:47 p.m., the Senate stood 21 at ease until 1:05 p.m.) 22 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President. 23 If we could return to nominations, I believe 24 there's one more nomination to be taken up by 25 Senator Lack from the Judiciary Committee. 6946 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 2 Yes, Senator Skelos, there is. Secretary will 3 read. 4 THE SECRETARY: Senator Lack, 5 from the Committee on Judiciary, reports the 6 following nomination: Judge of the Otsego County 7 Family Court, Brian D. Burns, of Oneonta. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 9 Senator Lack. 10 SENATOR LACK: Thank you, Mr. 11 President. I rise to move the nomination as the 12 judge of the Otsego County Court of Brian D. 13 Burns of Oneonta. 14 I'd just like to thank Mr. Burns 15 and his family for waiting for Senator Seward 16 who wanted to speak on his behalf. He had 17 obligations of a conference committee. Thank 18 Senator Seward for getting here, and there's 19 always that kind of problem, for the record. 20 Mr. Burns' qualifications have 21 been examined by the staff of the Judiciary 22 Committee. They've been found to be of the 23 highest caliber. He appeared before the 24 committee this morning and was unanimously moved 25 from the committee to the floor, and I would 6947 1 most respectfully yield, Mr. President, to 2 Senator Seward for purposes of a second. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 4 Senator Seward. 5 SENATOR SEWARD: Thank you, Mr. 6 President and Senator Lack. 7 It's with a great deal of 8 personal pride that I rise to second the 9 confirmation of Brian D. Burns to be Otsego 10 County Court judge. 11 I've known Brian Burns for a 12 number of years. He's eminently well qualified 13 to assume this new responsibility. Mr. Burns 14 has served as an assistant district attorney in 15 Otsego County, as well as chief assistant 16 district attorney and acting district attorney. 17 He currently is the Oneonta city prosecutor and 18 in that capacity and throughout his career, Mr. 19 Burns has given special attention, the way I 20 would describe it special attention to the 21 victims of crime, not only prosecuting the 22 defendant but being sensitive to the victim of 23 the crime, and that's -- that says a lot in 24 terms of the type of individual that Brian Burns 25 is. 6948 1 In addition to his career as a 2 prosecutor, Mr. Burns is a practicing attorney 3 in Oneonta with the firm of Bookhout & Burns, 4 and also is a professor for upper level 5 management courses in business law at Hartwick 6 College. 7 In Otsego County, we have what's 8 called a three-hatted judge. The County Court 9 judge deals with the criminal matters, Surrogate 10 as well as Family Court, and it's a special - 11 takes a special individual to assume that type 12 of responsibility, and Brian Burns is that 13 special individual. 14 He's a man of integrity, 15 intelligence. He's hard working. His 16 professional abilities are unquestioned. He's 17 an experienced prosecutor. He is going to make 18 an outstanding County Court judge, and I'm very 19 pleased to rise to support his confirmation and 20 also to congratulate the Governor for making an 21 outstanding choice and also congratulate Brian 22 and his wife Elizabeth, who is joining him in 23 the gallery today and, of course, there are 24 three small children who are back at home 25 today. 6949 1 It's -- it's going to -- today is 2 going to be the beginning of what I know will be 3 a long and distinguished judicial career for 4 Brian Burns and on behalf of myself and more 5 importantly the community-at-large back in 6 Otsego County, I'm very pleased to rise and 7 support his confirmation. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 9 Thank you, Senator Seward. 10 Is there any other Senator 11 wishing to be heard on the nomination? The 12 question is on the nomination of Brian D. Burns, 13 of Oneonta, as judge of the Otsego County 14 Court. All in favor signify by saying aye. 15 (Response of "Aye.") 16 Opposed nay. 17 (There was no response. ) 18 The nomination is confirmed 19 unanimously. 20 Judge Burns, congratulations. We 21 know you're joined here by your wife Elizabeth 22 and your parents, John and Barbara Burns. 23 Congratulations once again, and much success. 24 (Applause) Senator Skelos. 25 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, I 6950 1 believe there's a report of the Finance 2 Committee at the desk. I ask that it be read at 3 this time. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 5 There is a report of the Finance Committee at 6 the desk, and the Secretary will read. 7 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 8 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 9 following nomination: 10 Trustee of the Power Authority of 11 the state of New York, Frank S. McCullough, Jr., 12 Esq., of Rye. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 14 Senator Stafford. 15 SENATOR STAFFORD: Mr. President, 16 I have said this before this session, but when 17 it's true I think it should be said. Once again 18 a nominee appeared before us today who was 19 nominated by the Governor to be a trustee of the 20 Power Authority who is a distinguished citizen 21 of Westchester County, and I'm speaking on 22 behalf of Senator Spano, but I think he will be 23 coming in, but I just want to emphasize again 24 that the nominee certainly acquitted himself 25 just as well as anyone could before the 6951 1 committee. 2 He has a distinguished record in 3 his profession, and as I mentioned that despite 4 where he went to college which is a small school 5 up in the north, we, of course, can't say enough 6 good about him, but I will now yield to the 7 Senator from Westchester, who I'm sure will be 8 most effective as always. 9 Senator Spano. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 11 Senator Spano is recognized. 12 SENATOR SPANO: Thank you, Mr. 13 President, Senator Stafford. 14 It's my pleasure to second the 15 nomination of Frank McCullough as a trustee of 16 the Power Authority of the state of New York. 17 I've known Frank McCullough for a 18 number of years, a person who is uniquely 19 qualified to serve in this unpaid position as a 20 member of the Power Authority. He has 21 volunteered on a pro bono basis for a number of 22 charitable activities in Westchester County, has 23 demonstrated his commitment to our community in 24 Westchester, is a successful attorney, someone 25 who understands the important role that he will 6952 1 play as a member of the Power Authority, and 2 it's -- and it's my pleasure to second the 3 nomination, congratulate the Governor on an 4 excellent appointment of someone who admits that 5 he may not know everything about the Power 6 Authority and power in the state of New York, 7 but is a very quick learner and is eager to 8 learn and is willing to listen, and that is - 9 those are the attributes of a person that will 10 do very well in making sure that the issues, the 11 important issues that he will deal with as a 12 trustee of the Power Authority will be heard and 13 will be dealt with effectively and efficiently. 14 So it's my pleasure to second the 15 nomination of Frank McCullough. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: Any 17 other Senator wishing to be heard? 18 Senator Oppenheimer. 19 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Yes. Frank 20 McCullough lives in my Senate District, and I 21 think we are very fortunate that he does live in 22 my Senate District. He is a person who has 23 gained great respect professionally, having a 24 very fine and respected law firm. He has gained 25 respect both personally, not just professionally 6953 1 but personally for the character and the quality 2 gentleman that he is. He has gained respect for 3 the kinds of philanthropic and civic work that 4 he has done in our community, ranging across the 5 board from presidencies of civic groups and 6 hospital groups and just been an immensely 7 caring and giving man. 8 He is also respected as a 9 wonderful family man with three children, and 10 all have done beautifully. So I think that 11 personally, professionally we have an 12 extraordinary man here and, as my father once 13 said, you can tell the intelligence of someone 14 by how well they listen and how well they're 15 willing to say, "I don't know that answer but 16 I'll be happy to research it," and I think we 17 have that, character of that man, that type of 18 person here and so we're very fortunate that he 19 will be willing to serve on the Power 20 Authority. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: Any 22 other Senator wishing to be heard on the 23 nomination? Question is on the nomination of 24 Frank S. McCullough as trustee of the Power 25 Authority. All in favor signify by saying aye. 6954 1 (Response of "Aye.") 2 All opposed nay. 3 (There was no response.) 4 The nomination is confirmed. 5 Mr. McCullough, we congratulate 6 you on the nomination. We know you're joined by 7 your wife Corky, your daughter Christine Brown. 8 Congratulations once again, and much success. 9 (Applause) 10 Secretary will read. 11 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 12 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 13 following bills direct to third reading: 14 Senate Print 5704, by the Senate 15 Committee on Rules, and Senate Print 5705, by 16 the Senate Committee on Rules, an act making 17 appropriations for the support of government. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 19 Without objection, third reading. 20 Senator Skelos. 21 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 22 would you call up Calendar 1532. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 24 Secretary will read. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6955 1 1532, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 2 Print 5704, an act making appropriations for the 3 support of government. 4 SENATOR SKELOS: Is there a 5 message of appropriation and necessity at the 6 desk? 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 8 Yes, there is a message of appropriation and 9 necessity at the desk. 10 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 12 Question is on the motion. All those in favor 13 signify by saying aye. 14 (Response of "Aye.") 15 Opposed nay. 16 (There was no response. ) 17 The messages are accepted. 18 SENATOR SKELOS: Last section. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 20 Read the last section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 13. This 22 act shall take effect immediately. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 24 Call the roll. 25 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 6956 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 2 Senator - 3 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Just a point 4 of order. Is this Calendar 5704? I wanted to 5 make sure. 6 SENATOR SKELOS: 5704, Calendar 7 1532. 8 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Thank you, 9 Mr. President. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 11 Announce the results. 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 47, nays 13 one, Senator Dollinger recorded in the 14 negative. 15 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 17 bill is passed. 18 Senator Skelos. 19 SENATOR SKELOS: Call up 1533, 20 Print 5705. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 22 Secretary will read. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 1533, by the Committee on Rules, Senate Print 25 5705, an act making appropriations for the 6957 1 support of government. 2 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 3 is there a message of appropriation and 4 necessity at the desk? 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 6 Yes, Senator Skelos, there is. 7 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 9 Motion is to accept the message of necessity and 10 appropriation. All in favor signify by saying 11 aye. 12 (Response of "Aye.") 13 Opposed nay. 14 (There was no response.) 15 Messages are accepted, Senator. 16 Read the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. This 18 act shall take effect immediately. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 20 Call the roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: Can 23 we count the negatives and announce the results, 24 please. 25 Senator Hoffmann, to explain her 6958 1 vote. 2 SENATOR HOFFMANN: Thank you, Mr. 3 President. 4 I recognize this is a small and 5 very futile statement to make, but we are in the 6 middle of July. We have not passed a budget 7 yet. We have been doing this rather ridiculous 8 process of one week extenders which have now 9 become an institutionalized late budget, and yet 10 there are no ongoing discussions by the 11 individual members of the Legislature about the 12 state's budget, not in any Finance Committees, 13 not in the sub-categories, transportation, 14 social services, mental hygiene, agriculture. 15 The many committees that are appointed by the 16 leadership of this chamber and the other chamber 17 should be earnestly discussing the budget and 18 looking for ways that we can meet our 19 obligations, our sworn responsibility to the 20 taxpayers of this state. 21 I can not, in clear conscience, 22 sanction the notion that here on auto-pilot we 23 as sitting members of the Legislature should 24 continue to draw our own salaries, so I would 25 just like the record to reflect at least for the 6959 1 people of the 48th Senate District, who seem to 2 be paying attention to this process, that I 3 would like to vote in the negative on the matter 4 of legislators being paid in the absence of a 5 state budget after this long a duration. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 7 Senator Hoffmann will be recorded in the 8 negative. 9 Senator Stafford, to explain his 10 voted. 11 SENATOR STAFFORD: Mr. President, 12 I have a great deal of respect for the fine 13 Senator who just spoke, so now I'll just take 14 the other tack, which is always good to balance 15 things out, and I would just point out first 16 that, you know, we have 211 people in the 17 Legislature and if 211 people just want to do 18 what they want to do, we'd get nothing done. 19 When I first got here, I didn't 20 like the seniority system. I've been very 21 enamored with it in the last couple of years. 22 Things change but, on a serious note, we have to 23 have a system and we have to have a leader and 24 the leader has a constituency and, Mr. 25 President, there isn't one person in the 6960 1 Legislature that can't give input toward these 2 negotiations, and I assure you, many are. 3 It would be good if we could have 4 a conference committee of 211 people. 5 Unfortunately, that doesn't work. It is not 6 practical. I would say that, yes, I agree there 7 should be a budget. We're working toward a 8 budget, but I'm not going to hesitate to say 9 that this is a very complex state. I'm not 10 making excuses. I'm just stating fact, and we 11 have people that represent districts that are 12 180 degrees different. Frankly, that's one of 13 the strengths of this state, and we have the 14 intellect, the sensitivity and the decency to 15 live together and have the Empire State and the 16 best state in the nation. 17 And finally, Mr. President, let 18 me share this. To the Governor's credit, to the 19 Majority Leader's credit, Senator Bruno, to the 20 Speaker's credit, Speaker Silver, and the people 21 in the Assembly and the people in the Senate, we 22 are passing legislation which keeps the 23 government functioning. People are being paid. 24 Bills are being paid while we hammer out a 25 budget on the anvil of discussion, sensitivity, 6961 1 decency, compassion and, shall I say, patience, 2 and I'm the first one to say that is tested. I 3 understand that. But I think that should be 4 said also and, Mr. President, again, everyone 5 has an opportunity for input with their fiscal 6 committees, Ways and Means, Senate Finance 7 Committee, the Majority Leader's office, the 8 Speaker and, with that, Mr. President, I would 9 hope that we could pass the legislation and yes, 10 I too look forward to a budget and we will 11 continue to work toward that end. 12 SENATOR GOLD: Mr. President. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 14 Senator Gold, to explain his vote. 15 SENATOR GOLD: Is that what we're 16 up to? 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 18 That's what you're up to. 19 SENATOR GOLD: I'd like to 20 explain my vote. 21 With great admiration for Senator 22 Stafford -- and that is not said sarcastically; 23 that is said sincerely -- I have a little bit of 24 a disagreement with him in terms of everybody 25 having input and patience and all of that. 6962 1 Senator, in my book, if a lot of 2 people around here would mind their own business 3 and let you be the chairman of Finance and let 4 "Denny" Farrell be the chairman of Ways and 5 Means and if we had a committee and we held the 6 hearings and we had the conference committees, I 7 think we'd have a budget. 8 I think that one thing I can say 9 is that Mario Cuomo, if he -- you want to say he 10 had a worse day, had more dedication to getting 11 a budget than George Pataki in his dreams. 12 There's been no leadership. I mean I hear we're 13 passing a one-week extender today and somebody 14 said we're going to get a six-week extender next 15 week. 16 Somebody has got to wake up this 17 Governor. We need a budget. Now, if the 18 Governor wants to buy one of the great American 19 newspapers, the Daily News -- and it is -- and 20 instead of using the editorial page for the 21 kitty litter box, which most of us do when you 22 read it, then I guess you can blame Shelly 23 Silver; but the fact is the Governor gave an in 24 adequate budget this year; the Governor gave an 25 inadequate budget last year. He shows no 6963 1 leadership; he doesn't drag people together and 2 everybody knows it. So why are we horsing 3 around? 4 And as far as everybody having 5 input and everybody doing their job, I will do 6 this and take my pay because my pay is to 7 protect the people from George Pataki's budget 8 and that's what I do. That's what I get paid 9 for, so I don't have any problem voting for that 10 but, Senator Stafford, I know that you are one 11 of the hardest working people, one of the most 12 sincere people. Why don't you give a message 13 down there that instead of them preoccupying 14 themselves with whatever it is they're doing 15 they ought to get this budget done or if they 16 don't do it, let Ronnie Stafford, Manny Gold, 17 "Denny" Farrell, Faso, Senator Hoffmann, 18 Senator Oppenheimer, all the members of the 19 committee, we'll do the budget if they can't get 20 to it. 21 I vote yes. 22 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 23 President. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 25 Senator Dollinger, to explain his vote. 6964 1 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 2 President, I have voted consistently against 3 this measure, and I'm going to continue to do 4 that. I vote against the continuing resolution 5 because that's really where we are, Senator 6 Gold. 7 We -- it's -- I feel there is an 8 interesting political metamorphosis going on 9 here in Albany. We're starting to look more 10 like Washington. We don't pass a budget, we 11 just pass continuing resolutions. We just keep 12 rolling the government forward, and we never 13 actually sit down and come to the hard decisions 14 about what we ought to spend and what we ought 15 not to spend, and so what I find so interesting 16 is that we're rolling toward Washington and yet 17 the one thing that Washington has that we don't 18 have, and Senator Gold properly pointed out, are 19 empowered conference committees, empowered 20 chairmen of committees. 21 Senator Stafford, you're the 22 chairman of the Finance Committee. As far as 23 I'm concerned, you ought to be at the seat, at 24 the table pounding out those numbers, figuring 25 out what we're going to spend, figuring out what 6965 1 we're going to do. You should be working in 2 conjunction with Assemblyman Farrell, the 3 director of the -- the chairman of the Ways and 4 Means Committee in the Assembly. I would 5 include Senator Gold and Mr. Faso from the 6 Assembly, because you're the four or five guys 7 who should know the numbers and should be able 8 to bring to your leadership what the numbers 9 ought to look like. 10 I've said this with respect to 11 the chairman of the Health Committee. He ought 12 to be empowered by the Legislature, by this 13 body, to negotiate health issues with the other 14 chamber and not have to do it through the strong 15 leadership system. What I find so fascinating 16 is that the strong leader system hasn't worked. 17 It hasn't worked. It hasn't produced the 18 compromise for a budget. 19 If it isn't working, let's 20 empower the committees and try what Washington 21 does. We're trying continuing resolutions. 22 We've bought into the Washington approach to the 23 budget. Let's buy into the Washington example 24 of powerful chairmen of committees who can set 25 the agenda, who can sit down and strike a deal 6966 1 on behalf of their house. Let's empower the 2 committees to make them work. Senator Gold has 3 a good idea. 4 I agree with Senator Hoffmann. I 5 think that this issue of legislators' pay, 6 frankly, from my point of view, the people that 7 I represent in the 54th Senate District. 8 I'm going to vote against it. I 9 historically voted against it, but it's a 10 protest about a powerful leader system that is 11 dysfunctional. It's not working. We're on our 12 way to trying to do what Washington does with 13 continuing resolutions. Let's try and empower 14 committee chairs as well. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 16 Announce the results, please. 17 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 18 the negative on Calendar Number 1533 are 19 Senators Alesi, Dollinger, Hoffmann, Maziarz and 20 Oppenheimer. Ayes 43, nays 5. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 22 bill is passed. 23 Senator Skelos. 24 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 25 if we could continue with the nominations from 6967 1 the Finance Committee. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 3 Secretary will read. 4 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 5 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 6 following nomination: 7 Member of the New York State 8 Olympic Regional Development Authority, Serge 9 Lussi, of Lake Placid. 10 SENATOR STAFFORD: Move the 11 nomination, please. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 13 Question is on the nomination of Serge Lussi to 14 the New York State Olympic Regional Development 15 Authority. All those in favor aye. 16 (Response of "Aye.") 17 Opposed nay. 18 (There was no response.) 19 The nominee is confirmed. 20 The Secretary will read. 21 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 22 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 23 following nomination: 24 Member of the Public Employment 25 Relations Board, Mark A. Abbott, Esq., of Point 6968 1 Lookout. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 3 Question is on the nomination of Mark A. Abbott, 4 Esq., of Point Lookout, for a term to expire May 5 31, 2003, as a member of the Public Employment 6 Relations Board. All in favor signify by saying 7 aye. 8 (Response of "Aye.") 9 Opposed nay. 10 (There was no response.) 11 The nomination is confirmed. 12 Secretary will read. 13 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 14 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 15 following nomination: 16 Member of the Advisory Council on 17 Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, Bruce 18 A. Greenwood, of Norwood. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 20 Question is on the nomination of Bruce A. 21 Greenwood, of, Norwood as a member of the 22 Advisory Council on Alcohol and Substance 23 Abuse. All in favor signify by saying aye. 24 (Response of "Aye.") 25 Opposed nay. 6969 1 (There was no response.) 2 The nomination is confirmed. 3 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 4 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 5 following nomination: 6 Member of the Advisory Council to 7 the Commission on the Quality of Care for the 8 Mentally Disabled, Grace E. Clench, of 9 Brentwood. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 11 question is on the nomination of Grace E. 12 Clench, of Brentwood, as a member of the 13 Advisory Council to the Commission on the 14 Quality of Care for the mentally Disabled. All 15 in favor signify by saying aye. 16 (Response of "Aye.") 17 Opposed nay. 18 (There was no response.) 19 The nomination is confirmed. 20 Secretary will read. 21 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 22 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 23 following nominations: 24 Members of the Citizen's Policy 25 and Complaint Review Council, Brian W. Cotter, 6970 1 of Rensselaer, and E. Robert Czaplicki, of 2 Syracuse. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 4 Question is on the nominations of Brian W. 5 Cotter and E. Robert Czaplicki, as members of 6 the Citizen's Complaint and Policy Review 7 Council. All in favor signify by saying aye. 8 (Response of "Aye.") 9 Opposed nay. 10 (There was no response.) 11 The nominations are confirmed. 12 Secretary will read. 13 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 14 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 15 following nomination: 16 Member of the Mental Health 17 Services Council, Jeffrey Davis, of Binghamton. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 19 Motion is to confirm the nomination of Jeffrey 20 Davis, of Binghamton, as a member of the Mental 21 Health Services Council. All in favor signify 22 by saying aye. 23 (Response of "Aye.") 24 Opposed nay. 25 (There was no response.) 6971 1 The nomination is confirmed. 2 Secretary will read. 3 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 4 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 5 following nominations: 6 Members of the Board of Visitors 7 of the Capital District Developmental 8 Disabilities Services Office, Marcella B. Ryan, 9 of Hudson Falls, and Francis J. Sheridan, of 10 Delmar. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 12 Question is on the nominations or reappointments 13 as members of the Board of Visitors of the 14 Capital District Developmental Disabilities 15 Office of Marcella B. Ryan, of Hudson Falls, and 16 Francis J. Sheridan, of Delmar. All in favor 17 signify by saying aye. 18 (Response of "Aye.") 19 Opposed nay. 20 (There was no response.) 21 The nominations are confirmed. 22 Secretary will read. 23 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 24 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 25 following nominations: 6972 1 Members of the Board of Visitors 2 of the Metro New York Developmental Disabilities 3 Services Office, Al Agovino, of the Bronx, and 4 Alera M. Dominique, of the Bronx. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 6 Question is on the reappointment of Al Agovino, 7 of the Bronx, and Alera M. Dominique, of the 8 Bronx, as a member -- as members of the Board of 9 Visitors of the Metro New York Developmental 10 Disabilities Services Office. All in favor 11 signify by saying aye. 12 (Response of "Aye.") 13 Opposed nay. 14 (There was no response.) 15 The nominations are confirmed. 16 Secretary will read. 17 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 18 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 19 following nomination: 20 Member of the Board of Visitors 21 of the Rockland Children's Psychiatric Center, 22 Matthew John Murphy, of Pearl River. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 24 Question is on the nomination of Matthew John 25 Murphy, of Pearl River, as a member of the Board 6973 1 of Visitors of the Rockland Children's 2 Psychiatric Center. All in favor signify by 3 saying aye. 4 (Response of "Aye.") 5 Opposed nay. 6 (There was no response.) 7 The nomination is confirmed. 8 The Secretary will 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 St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center, Orman 14 Bomyea, of Malone. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 16 Question is on the nomination of Orman Bomyea, 17 of Malone, as a member of the Board of Visitors 18 of the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center. All 19 those in favor signify by saying aye. 20 (Response of "Aye.") 21 Opposed nay. 22 (There was no response.) 23 The nomination is confirmed. 24 Senator Skelos. 25 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 6974 1 if we could return to motions and resolutions, 2 I'd like to move to adopt the Resolution 3 Calendar in its entirety. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: We 5 will return to motions and resolutions, and the 6 motion is to adopt the Resolution Calendar in 7 its entirety. All those in favor signify by 8 saying aye. 9 Senator Dollinger. 10 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 11 President, if I could just explain my vote on 12 one of the resolutions before the house. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: Let 14 me just finish making that call. You will be 15 recognized then immediately. Move the 16 Resolution Calendar. Senator Dollinger, to 17 explain his vote. 18 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Thank you, 19 Mr. President. 20 I just rise to make a brief 21 mention of Resolution Number 2089, which is 22 sponsored by myself, my colleagues from Monroe 23 County, Senator Alesi, Senator Maziarz and 24 Senator Nozzolio, and this is a congratulations 25 to Eastman Kodak Company for its work on the 6975 1 Mars landing. 2 Eastman Kodak Company provided to 3 the Jet Propulsion Lab the digital sensors that 4 allowed the vehicle on Mars to travel, and the 5 furthest operating piece of equipment from 6 Rochester, New York is a device that has digital 7 sensors which really provide the eyes for the 8 Mars landing probe; so it's a great moment for 9 Eastman Kodak Company, it's a great moment for 10 New York because it's a moment when we celebrate 11 the technology that we all want to bring to New 12 York State, the high technology that allows us 13 to explore other planets. 14 So I rise in support of the 15 resolution and ask my colleagues to support it 16 as well. 17 SENATOR GOLD: Will you hold on 18 just one second. That's all right. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: All 20 in favor signify by saying aye. 21 (Response of "Aye.") 22 Opposed nay. 23 (There was no response.) 24 The resolution carries, 25 approved. 6976 1 Senator Skelos. 2 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, I 3 believe the Minority wishes to have a short 4 conference at this time. Senator Paterson. 5 SENATOR PATERSON: We'd like to 6 have a long conference but we will have it 7 shortly in the Minority Conference Room 8 immediately upon our recess. There will be an 9 immediate meeting. 10 SENATOR SKELOS: We understand 11 that the Minority is requesting about 15 minutes 12 for the Conference, so that why don't we come 13 back about ten to -- ten to 2:00. 14 Enjoy your lunch. The Senate 15 will stand at ease until ten to 2:00. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 17 There will be an immediate meeting of the 18 Minority Conference in the Minority Conference 19 Room. Minority Conference in the Minority 20 Conference Room. 21 The Senate will stand in recess 22 until about ten minutes to 2:00. 23 Senator Wright, I'm sorry. 24 SENATOR WRIGHT: Thank you, Mr. 25 President. 6977 1 I request unanimous consent to be 2 recorded in the negative on Senate 5705. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: It 4 will be done, sir. 5 (Whereupon at 1:36 p.m., the 6 Senate recessed until 1:50 p.m.) 7 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT ALESI: Senator 9 Skelos. 10 SENATOR SKELOS: There will be an 11 immediate meeting of the Rules Committee in the 12 Majority Conference Room. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT ALESI: 14 Immediate meeting of the Rules Committee in the 15 Majority Conference Room. 16 (Whereupon, the Senate resumed at 17 2:05 p.m.) 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 19 Senate will come to order. Ask the members to 20 find their places, the staff to find their 21 places. 22 Senator Skelos. 23 SENATOR SKELOS: I believe 24 there's some housekeeping at the desk. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is. 6978 1 We'll return to the order of 2 motions and resolutions. 3 The Chair recognizes Senator 4 Marcellino. 5 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you, 6 Mr. President. 7 On behalf of Senator Johnson, I 8 would like to call up his bill, Print Number 9 5410-B, recalled from the Assembly which is now 10 at your desk. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 12 Secretary will read the title. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 1493, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 5410-B, 15 an act to amend the Environmental Conservation 16 Law. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 18 Marcellino. 19 SENATOR MARCELLINO: I now move 20 to reconsider the vote by which the bill was 21 passed. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 23 Secretary will call the roll on 24 reconsideration. 25 (The Secretary called the roll on 6979 1 reconsideration.) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 49. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 Marcellino. 5 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr. 6 President, I now offer the following amendments. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 8 amendments are received and adopted. 9 Senator Marcellino. 10 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr. 11 President, on behalf of Senator Skelos, I wish 12 to call up his bill, Senate Print Number 331, 13 recalled from the Assembly which is now at the 14 desk. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 16 Secretary will read. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 486, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 331, an act 19 to amend the Executive Law. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Marcellino. 22 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr. 23 President, I now move to reconsider the vote by 24 which the bill was passed. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 6980 1 Secretary will call the roll on 2 reconsideration. 3 (The Secretary called the roll on 4 reconsideration.) 5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 49. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7 Marcellino. 8 SENATOR MARCELLINO: I now offer 9 the following amendments. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 11 amendments are received and adopted. 12 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 Skelos. 15 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 16 if we could return to reports of standing 17 committees, I believe there's a report of the 18 Rules Committee at the desk. I ask that it be 19 read. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We'll 21 return to the order of reports of standing 22 committees. There is a report of the Rules 23 Committee at the desk. 24 I'll ask the Secretary to read. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6981 1 Bruno, from the Committee on Rules, reports the 2 following bills: 3 Senate Print 5702, by the Senate 4 Committee on Rules, an act to amend the Racing, 5 Pari-mutuel Wagering and Breeding Law; 6 5706, by Senator Seward, an act 7 to amend the Public Authorities Law and others; 8 and 9 5708, by Senator Lack, an act to 10 amend the Judiciary Law. 11 All bills ordered direct for 12 third reading. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 Skelos. 15 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept 16 the report of the Rules Committee. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 18 motion is to accept the report of the Rules 19 Committee. All those in favor signify by saying 20 aye. 21 (Response of "Aye".) 22 Opposed, nay. 23 (There was no response.) 24 The report is accepted. 25 Senator Skelos. 6982 1 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 2 at this time if we could take up Calendar 1531, 3 Senate Bill Number 5702. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 5 Secretary will read Calendar Number 1531. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 1531, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 8 Print 5702, an act to amend the Racing, 9 Pari-mutuel Wagering and Breeding Law. 10 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 11 is there a message of necessity at the desk? 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is. 13 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 15 motion is to accept the message of necessity on 16 Calendar Number 1531, Senate Print 5702, which 17 is at the desk. All those in favor signify by 18 saying aye. 19 (Response of "Aye".) 20 Opposed, nay. 21 (There was no response.) 22 The message is accepted. 23 Senator Skelos. 24 SENATOR SKELOS: Read the last 25 section, please. 6983 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 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. Announce the results. 10 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 11 the negative on Calendar Number 1531 are 12 Senators Padavan and Tully. Ayes 47, nays 2. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 14 is passed. 15 Senator Skelos. 16 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 17 there will be an immediate meeting of the Social 18 Service Committee in the Majority Conference 19 Room, I believe to take up one nomination. 20 SENATOR HOLLAND: Right. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Immediate 22 meeting of the Social Services Committee, 23 immediate meeting of the Social Services 24 Committee in the Majority Conference Room, Room 25 332. 6984 1 Senator Skelos. 2 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 3 if we could take up Calendar Number 1534, Senate 4 Bill Number 5706. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 6 Secretary will read. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 1534, by Senator Seward, Senate Print 5706, an 9 act to amend the Public Authorities Law and 10 others. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 12 Skelos. 13 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 14 is there a message of necessity at the desk? 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is. 16 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 18 motion is to accept the message of necessity on 19 Calendar Number 1534, Senate Print 5706. All 20 those in favor signify by saying aye. 21 (Response of "Aye".) 22 Opposed, nay. 23 (There was no response.) 24 The message is accepted. 25 The Secretary will read the last 6985 1 section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 9. This 3 act shall take effect immediately. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 5 roll. 6 (The Secretary called the roll.) 7 SENATOR SEWARD: Mr. President. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 9 Seward, to explain his vote. 10 SENATOR SEWARD: Mr. President, I 11 would like to explain my vote and just simply 12 say that this bill that we are passing today 13 represents the culmination of negotiations by 14 the ten members of the Conference Committee on 15 Economic Development and Power. 16 That committee took two very 17 separate bills and forged them into a product 18 which will provide 400 megawatts of low cost 19 power to assist our businesses as we transition 20 to a new era of competition in the electric 21 utility industry and the lower rates that will 22 result from that competition, and I simply want 23 to rise to thank the Senate members of the 24 Conference Committee who worked so well with me, 25 Senators Alesi, Meier, Wright and Senator 6986 1 Dollinger, our Ranking Minority member of our 2 committee and I'm very excited about this 3 product. It will mean the retention of jobs, 4 the creation of jobs in the state of New York 5 through low cost power. 6 I vote aye. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: After an 8 electrifying explanation, Senator Seward is 9 recorded in the affirmative. 10 Senator Dollinger, to explain his 11 vote. 12 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Thank you 13 very much, Mr. President. 14 I rise to join the Chairman of 15 the Energy and Telecommunications Committee in 16 support of this bill. I commend him for his 17 work with Assemblyman Tonko in bringing this 18 bill together. 19 This was a -- in my opinion, the 20 first true test of the Conference Committee 21 ideal in which a committee could sit down with 22 very different bills and bring those bills 23 together. The other members of the Committee, I 24 think contributed in the Senate and in the 25 Assembly, and I thought the process worked well. 6987 1 Just a couple quick comments. 2 One, I think the pollution issue, the question 3 of cheaper power that would perhaps be dirty 4 power, it was discussed in the Conference 5 Committee. We have attended to that here in 6 which we have talked about in the legislative 7 findings a commitment to producing power that is 8 clean and has a reduced impact on our 9 environment and we have given the Allocation 10 Board and the Power Authority the ability to 11 consider those factors in determining what low 12 cost power is. 13 The other thing I just again 14 commend Senator Seward on, he has been a 15 long-term supporter of reductions in the gross 16 receipts tax. This bill is the first time in 17 which we are going to provide a reduction in 18 gross receipts tax dependent upon utilities 19 working to make power available -- cheaper power 20 available. 21 So I commend Senator Seward. We 22 aren't at that final destination of eliminating 23 this tax but we're a step closer to it because 24 of your leadership. 25 I'll just conclude. Throughout 6988 1 the Committee, throughout the whole time we 2 talked about things, the message was we have to 3 get cheaper power to provide the one thing we 4 all agreed on, the solution to our welfare 5 problems, the solution to many of our social 6 service problems, the solution to many problems 7 that face families in this state and that's the 8 creation of new jobs, and I hope that this bill 9 and the power that we will be providing at 10 reduced costs will meet that goal and make this 11 state a better place. 12 Again, I commend Senator Seward 13 and everybody for bringing this bill together. 14 I vote aye. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 16 Dollinger will be recorded in the affirmative. 17 Announce the results. 18 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 49. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 20 is passed. 21 Senator Skelos. 22 SENATOR SKELOS: Stand at ease 23 for a moment. 24 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at 25 ease from 2:12 p.m. until 2:18 p.m.). 6989 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 Skelos. 3 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 4 would you please call up Calendar Number 1535, 5 Senate Bill Number 5708. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 7 Secretary will read. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1535, by Senator Lack, Senate Print 5708, an act 10 to amend the Judiciary Law. 11 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 12 is there a message of necessity at the desk? 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is. 14 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 16 motion is to accept the message of necessity on 17 Calendar Number 1535, Senate Print 5708. All 18 those in favor signify by saying aye. 19 (Response of "Aye".) 20 Opposed, nay. 21 (There was no response.) 22 The message is accepted. 23 The Secretary will read the last 24 section. 25 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. This 6990 1 act shall take effect immediately. 2 SENATOR PATERSON: Explanation, 3 please. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5 Lack. 6 SENATOR LACK: Thank you, 7 Senator. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: A very 9 reluctant request has been made for an 10 explanation by Senator Paterson. 11 SENATOR LACK: Thank you, Mr. 12 President. 13 This is an agreed upon version of 14 a renewal and extension of the outstanding 15 authority for cameras in the courts. 16 Cameras in the court legislation 17 which has been on the floor of this Senate six 18 times in the last ten years, this would be 19 another extender extending it for two more 20 years. 21 46 of the 50 states in the United 22 States have authorization in one form of another 23 for cameras in the courts legislation. That 24 ranges from the least restrictive, the state of 25 California, which unfortunately in the past two 6991 1 years produced a very bad trial which certainly 2 confirms the adage that one bad trial does not 3 make good law but California does have the most 4 liberal, unrestricted law for cameras in the 5 courtroom, to the most restricted law in the 6 state of New York, which is New York's law, and 7 with the revisions and amendments that are 8 contained in S.5708, the instant bill we are 9 talking about now, will make that language, 10 indeed, even more restrictive. 11 Since cameras in the courts have 12 been debated six times in the last ten years on 13 the floor of the Senate, unless specifically 14 questioned by Senator Paterson or others, I 15 won't go into what is the current extant law. 16 I will, however, dwell on the six 17 significant changes that are being made and 18 contained in S.5708 and how that changes current 19 New York law. 20 First, with respect to 21 procedure. Current law is that the media makes 22 a request to the court seven days before the 23 commencement of trial proceedings. Pretrial 24 conference is currently held between counsel and 25 the media. Counsel convey to the court any 6992 1 concerns of prospective witnesses but witnesses, 2 parties and/or victims are not parties to that 3 proceeding. 4 S.5708, the bill before us today 5 would change that by making the victim and/or 6 parties, parties to the proceeding for media 7 coverage if they so choose and within ten days 8 before proceedings instead of seven days, a 9 party or a victim can file a formal objection to 10 audio/visual coverage and then the law would 11 proceed as it currently does. There would be a 12 hearing before the trial judge. That would be 13 appealable only to the administrative judge of 14 the Judicial District or the city of New York as 15 the case might be and that would be the end of 16 the appellate process. 17 The standards -- the current law 18 lists certain factors that the judge has to 19 consider with respect to authorization of 20 cameras in the courts. If, under 5708, a party 21 or a victim of a crime objects, the court can 22 still grant coverage but only after finding the 23 public benefit of the coverage, quote, 24 "substantially outweighs the risks of such 25 coverage." 6993 1 Currently, after proceedings 2 start, no coverage is allowed unless counsels 3 for all party agrees. S.5708 would also add 4 that all victims of the crimes, assuming it's a 5 criminal proceeding, which are the subject of 6 the proceeding must consent before coverage 7 would be permitted if coverage is to start after 8 the commencement of proceedings. 9 With respect to pretrial criminal 10 proceedings, the current law is that coverage of 11 arraignments and suppression hearings were 12 permitted only upon consent of the defendant and 13 prosecutors. S.5708 would add bail hearings and 14 preliminary hearings to pretrial criminal 15 proceedings and they would be closed to audio/ 16 visual coverage unless all parties agree. 17 In the last ten years since 18 cameras in the court legislation became 19 effective, post-trial criminal proceedings have 20 included a victim impact statement. Current law 21 makes no mention of how to handle a victim 22 impact statement. This bill would recognize 23 that a person giving a victim impact statement 24 at sentencing can make a determination whether 25 he or she would like audio/visual coverage, that 6994 1 is, a victim giving a victim impact statement 2 can say I do not want the camera on or can 3 permit the camera to be on if the camera is 4 present. 5 Probably the most significant 6 change, the last one, current law is on 7 witness. In criminal cases, a non-party 8 witness, as the current law, can request that 9 his or her visual image, that's the blue dot, be 10 obscured and the court must so direct and that 11 would leave the current audio/visual coverage. 12 S.5708 would change that to 13 extend one, to civil cases as well as criminal 14 cases, would extend the protection to all 15 witnesses not just a non-party witness, to allow 16 cameras to be turned off, not just a blue dot, 17 that is, there would not only be no visual 18 reference to the witness testifying but no audio 19 reference as well and, indeed, it would be 20 blacked out at the choice -- choice of that 21 witness. 22 Those are the significant changes 23 made in 5708 to be grafted upon the current 24 Section 218 of the Judiciary Law and finally the 25 extension would be for two years after June 6995 1 30th, 1997 before this would come up for sunset 2 or review. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 Padavan. 5 SENATOR PADAVAN: Yes. Mr. 6 President. I acknowledge the somewhat paucity 7 of interest on this bill and I also acknowledge 8 the explanation in terms of the improvements 9 that have been added to this experiment as it 10 relates to cameras in the courtroom. 11 I would like to suggest, Mr. 12 President, that this experiment which has gone 13 on for ten years has failed. It's failed on one 14 significant point, that the essence of this 15 experiment was to provide an opportunity for the 16 general public to be educated and become more 17 aware and knowledgeable about the judicial 18 system that operates in this state and 19 everything that I have read and heard indicates 20 to me that that has simply not been the case. 21 I think one of the sources of 22 that conclusion is the New York Broadcasters 23 Association who said in their own words, "As far 24 as education, we in the media don't believe it's 25 our business to educate. That's why we have an 6996 1 educational system" and that statement, which is 2 a direct quote, was in response to that point 3 being made to them. 4 A study of TV coverage at the 5 federal level confirmed the media is not 6 involved in a public education process. Quite 7 to the contrary. A pilot program that we have 8 had was analyzed in New York and found seriously 9 lacking. The average length of courtroom 10 coverage was 56 seconds, hardly enough, I think, 11 to illustrate anything that's significant about 12 the judicial system and the Judicial Conference 13 at the federal level concluded in 1994 that 14 cameras should be banned in the federal court 15 and the reason they gave, and I support again, 16 the intimidating effect of cameras on some 17 witnesses and jurors is cause for serious 18 concern. 19 More specifically, here in New 20 York, a survey was conducted by Judge John 21 Feerick from Fordham Law School and some of 22 their observations, I think are significant. 23 One of the things was that 30 percent -- 37 24 percent of the judges they surveyed indicated, 25 and again I quote, "That cameras led judges to 6997 1 render rulings they otherwise might not issue. 2 80 percent believe that TV coverage is more 3 likely to serve as a source of entertainment 4 than education. Cameras also intimidate crime 5 victims." 6 There have been a number of other 7 surveys, including a Marist public opinion poll 8 which indicated that 61 percent of New York 9 State registered voters feel that it's a bad 10 idea for trials to be shown on television and 65 11 percent believe that rather than increasing 12 accuracy of news coverage of a trial, television 13 serves more to sensationalize a judicial 14 proceeding. 15 Now, irrespective and despite the 16 protections that are in this statute, a witness 17 knows there are cameras in the courtroom and he 18 or she is intimidated. Tell them everything you 19 want to, they're still intimidated. Jurors feel 20 uncomfortable. Certain members of the judiciary 21 and certain members of the legal profession will 22 attempt to manipulate that opportunity. All in 23 all, there are more negatives than positives. 24 If I felt that there was an 25 educational value and a significant reason to 6998 1 continue forward on this, well, I might be 2 persuaded that these negatives should be 3 overlooked, but if there is no primary positive 4 -- and we've got, I think ample proof of that 5 -- then why are we even risking these potential 6 problems and ones that have been identified at 7 the federal level, at the state level by 8 independent bodies that have sought to determine 9 for our benefit how this experiment has worked 10 out, and that being the case, I see no reason to 11 continue it. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 Waldon. 14 SENATOR WALDON: Thank you very 15 much, Mr. President. 16 On the bill. I am very much in 17 agreement with what Senator Padavan has said and 18 for the reasons that he made his statements. 19 However, my opposition to this goes beyond the 20 parameters of his statements to us. 21 When I came into the Legislature 22 in 1983, our prison population was much 23 different than it is now in terms of the 24 numbers. The numbers have increased almost 25 geometrically and as they have increased, the 6999 1 representation of young African-American males 2 has increased disproportionately. This happened 3 while cameras were in the courtroom, and so I 4 believe it is not just that the cameras have 5 failed to educate. Clearly the O.J. Simpson 6 trial was not about education. It was about 7 those who worship at the fountain of prurient 8 interest. People were glued to their TVs on a 9 regular basis, trying to enjoy and participate 10 vicariously in the worst that we have as a 11 society. 12 So while cameras in the courtroom 13 have been in existence, more and more and more 14 and more young African-Americans have been given 15 stiffer and stiffer and stiffer sentences. The 16 racial disparities report which came out of the 17 Democratic Conference most recently spoke to the 18 concern that if people similarly situated, black 19 and white, same block, same socioeconomic 20 background and education were arrested for the 21 same crime and went through the same courts, 22 one-third of those who were white would result 23 -- or their situation would result in a 24 criminal justice statistic adhering to 25 themselves. Two-thirds of those who were black 7000 1 would have a record and this nation, as we 2 speak, there are more young black men between 3 the ages of 18 and 25 in prison, on probation, 4 are on parole or in our local jails than in 5 college. As we speak, we have a 6 disproportionate number of blacks not just in 7 our prisons but in our local jails. Something 8 has failed. Something has failed. Not only has 9 our priority failed in terms of we should be 10 doing things to ensure that such a great 11 resource doesn't end up as cannon fodder for the 12 prison system but something has failed in the 13 fact that the criminal justice system treats 14 those of color differently than it does all 15 others, and I submit that part of that is a 16 result of cameras in the courtroom. 17 The judges sentence differently 18 because they are being scrutinized by the eye of 19 the camera. The prosecutors prosecute 20 differently because they are being scrutinized 21 by the eye of the camera. The police officers 22 testify differently because they are being 23 scrutinized by the eye of the camera. 24 So this has not only failed 25 because it has not educated us in this last ten 7001 1 years -- these last ten years but this process 2 of having cameras in the courtroom from a social 3 perspective has failed abominably. The society 4 is in trouble in terms of the way it treats its 5 people of color, especially those who are young 6 and part of that process that is resulting in 7 this shame is the camera in the courtroom. 8 So I submit to you that the smart 9 thing that we can do is to return the courts to 10 the judges, to the prosecutors and to those 11 involved in the process absent the need to have 12 the stage of theatrics be the courtroom. The 13 whole world is a stage, as we all know. 14 Everyone is playing a role but the role that's 15 been played most recently in the courtrooms with 16 the prosecutors and the police and the judges 17 has really failed the people of color of this 18 state especially, but I submit across the 19 nation. 20 So I would encourage us to do the 21 right thing, to recognize that this was an 22 experiment. It has failed on all four points 23 and that we send it off into the sunset where it 24 belongs. 25 Thank you very much, Mr. 7002 1 President. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 3 Hoffmann. 4 SENATOR HOFFMANN: This issue 5 before us which, as Senator Lack pointed out, 6 has come up many times on a temporary basis over 7 the last decade, really compels us to go back 8 and re-examine the Constitution. 9 This is one of those issues for 10 which constitutional scholars have enormous food 11 for thought and much evidence within the last 12 few years to provide new interpretations of the 13 document that our forefathers created well in 14 advance of the electronic age and little did 15 they know or anticipate when they wrote the 16 First Amendment and the Fourth Amendment the 17 degree to which they would come into scrutiny 18 today. 19 The First Amendment -- first 20 article of the Constitution, Article VI, "In all 21 criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy 22 the right to a speedy and public trial by an 23 impartial jury of the state and district wherein 24 the crime shall have been committed, which 25 district shall have been previously ascertained 7003 1 by law and to be informed of the nature and 2 cause of the accusation, to be confronted with 3 the witnesses against him, to have compulsory 4 process for obtaining witnesses in his favor and 5 to have the assistance of counsel for his 6 defense." 7 Article I, that's the fourth - 8 that's the sixth article dealing with freedom - 9 dealing with a fair and speedy trial and the 10 other article to which this is addressed is 11 "Congress shall make no law respecting an 12 establishment of religion or prohibiting the 13 free exercise thereof or bridging the freedom of 14 speech or of the press or the right of the 15 people peaceably to assemble and to petition the 16 government for a redress of grievances." 17 Now, it is this first article, 18 the freedom of press stated in conjunction with 19 religion and assembly, which has brought the 20 Newspaper Publishers Association, the 21 Broadcasters and many other individuals in the 22 media to the steps of these Capitol -- this 23 Capitol and other capitols many, many times 24 seeking what they believe is their 25 constitutionally guaranteed freedom to broadcast 7004 1 in its entirety any trial of their choosing. 2 The right of a defendant, and by inference the 3 rights of victims, to receive justice through 4 the court system has not been similarly lobbied 5 upon this Legislature, and I would submit to my 6 colleagues that there is no significant 7 organization out there anything on a scale in 8 terms of personal power and resources to 9 represent victims and witnesses which could be 10 balanced by this Legislature in contrast to the 11 press with its mighty power. 12 The press has maintained that 13 this is a very simple issue. They believe that 14 this document I have just quoted, the 15 Constitution of the United States, guarantees 16 them access and those of us who have watched the 17 experiment, as Senator Padavan pointed out so 18 eloquently, Senator Waldon so eloquently also, 19 state that it has not been an unqualified 20 success and there are numerous cases where 21 witnesses and victims have had their rights 22 violated in the exercise of so-called freedom of 23 press by the broadcast media. 24 Would our forefathers have 25 drafted the Constitution any differently if they 7005 1 could have anticipated broadcast trials? Who 2 knows? This is the sort of thing that can be 3 argued by constitutional scholars and all the 4 way up to the Supreme Court of the United States 5 without a clear and uniformed position, but we 6 have to take the process as it evolves, draw our 7 conclusions from the evidence as we see it from 8 each one of these experiments and determine 9 whether we are, in fact, on the right track and 10 if this is one of the most awesome 11 responsibilities we have in this branch of 12 government -- because here in the Legislative 13 Branch we are dictating to the Judicial Branch 14 how they shall conduct their activities without 15 our ability or without the Executive Branch's 16 ability to micro-manage them or have any 17 additional redress. All we can do is define a 18 basic ground rule. This is merely a blueprint 19 and then entrust the courts to implement them 20 the way we perceive they should be implemented. 21 We must wait until the end of this experiment to 22 determine whether or not it has been well 23 handled and that has been our pattern over the 24 last ten years. 25 I have my own reservations about 7006 1 cameras in the courtroom. I believe that the 2 courts are open and accessible right now. I 3 went one year myself to listen to a very 4 eloquent attorney in Syracuse do the summation 5 at the end of a long and highly publicized trial 6 because I wanted to see what it was he did. I 7 wanted an opportunity to hear this eloquent 8 speaker and to have a little better 9 understanding. Those courtroom doors were open 10 to me. I was able to walk in and hordes of 11 members of the media were there and many other 12 public interested citizens were there as well 13 and the same is true for numerous other trials. 14 Would it have been easier for me 15 to simply turn on my television and watch the 16 summation? I suppose it would have, but does 17 that mean that television has a responsibility 18 to broadcast every trial, or what is the 19 criteria by which television executives 20 determine they will broadcast trials? Is it for 21 only the most sensational? Is it for those 22 trials which fit neatly with the product which 23 is simultaneously being sold on a television 24 station? Is it because there is already a 25 sensational aspect as in the case of a well 7007 1 known individual like O.J. Simpson or William 2 Kennedy Smith that a trial becomes a broadcast? 3 These are very subjective 4 criteria. It is virtually impossible for us in 5 this chamber to anticipate every circumstance 6 like that and to determine when a trial should 7 and should not be broadcasted, but we do know - 8 we do know that we have a responsibility to see 9 that justice is the ultimate responsibility of 10 the court system not broadcasting for the 11 public's entertainment or even for the public's 12 education. Justice must be our number one 13 concern today and if we lose sight of that, we 14 will have violated the responsibility of this 15 branch of government to provide guidance to the 16 Judicial Branch of government. 17 Now, there are cases where it 18 appears justice has not been well served because 19 of the broadcast media's presence in the 20 courtrooms. 21 Senator Padavan has stated many 22 of the anecdotal and the documented examples of 23 questionable conduct and questionable outcome 24 caused by cameras in the courtroom and yet we 25 are really left with a very limited number of 7008 1 options in drawing up the guidelines for cameras 2 in the courtroom and most of them fall under the 3 general category of judicial discretion. 4 It is the judge in that courtroom 5 who assumes the Godlike responsibility of 6 determining what can emanate from that courtroom 7 to the public. The control of that individual 8 really is almost absolute. Once we devise some 9 guidelines, we must rely upon individual judges 10 in their own courtrooms to interpret them. So 11 all we are really doing is providing some 12 direction and hoping for the best. 13 There is, in this particular 14 bill, great progress made in addressing the 15 responsibility of judges to consider the status 16 of the victims and the rights of the victims and 17 of the witnesses. That was almost absent in the 18 previous cameras in the courtroom experiments 19 that we've had in this state, and I commend the 20 sponsors of this on page 2, beginning on line 21 39, where it begins "The court shall only grant 22 permission for such audio/visual coverage upon a 23 finding that, in accordance with the purposes of 24 this section, the benefit to the public of 25 audio/visual coverage in such a case 7009 1 substantially outweighs any risk presented by 2 such coverage." 3 Now, this statement was inserted 4 to explain under what circumstances a witness or 5 a victim or any party in the trial who requested 6 coverage not be permitted would have that 7 request thrown out and this implies, again, a 8 really, almost Godlike responsibility in the 9 hands of the judge to determine that there is 10 some overwhelming public good to be served by 11 broadcasting that trial. 12 I, frankly, can't imagine a 13 situation where there would be an overwhelming 14 public good to be served that would supersede 15 the rights of a victim or a witness to be 16 subject to broadcast coverage, and I believe 17 that there is ample evidence -- some of it is 18 anecdotal, but I believe that those of us who 19 have followed this issue over the years knows 20 that there are cases where rape victims chose 21 not to prosecute and, in some cases, not to even 22 report the crime of rape out of fear that the 23 trial in which their attacker would be tried 24 would put them on the stand as much as the 25 perpetrator of the crime. 7010 1 Over and over again in this 2 country, we have seen in the cases of sexual 3 assault that it is often the victim and not the 4 attacker who faces the greatest scrutiny and one 5 forgets sometimes who it is actually on trial. 6 The case of William Kennedy Smith is probably 7 one of the greatest living examples of that. 8 The young woman who was the victim in that case 9 was barely obscured by the infamous blue dot and 10 her entire history was divulged to the world at 11 large before the trial was over. 12 There was a new case in New 13 Bedford, Massachusetts, where a young woman had 14 her identity inadvertently disclosed by the 15 media in the course of a covered trial and there 16 are numerous examples, including some in this 17 state, one in which during an arraignment, the 18 identity of the victim was broadcast in a news 19 brief just before the 6:00 o'clock. "It was a 20 mistake. Oops. We're sorry", said the local 21 television station responsible. How could that 22 very trite apology ever begin to alleviate the 23 damage suffered by that young victim? 24 So I have my qualms in supporting 25 this measure today. I have considerable qualms 7011 1 that this little paragraph in here is going to 2 be able to guide the judges of this state over 3 the next two years and will help them find some 4 overwhelming public reason why there must be 5 audio/visual coverage in instances where the 6 witnesses and the victims would choose not to be 7 otherwise covered. 8 I believe, and I've said it many 9 times before, that we could have a bill that 10 would be fair to the broadcast media of this 11 state without compromising the criminal justice 12 system and the rights of the victims, a bill 13 that would simply allow an automatic exemption 14 from coverage at the behest of the victim, 15 period. Why is it so difficult to do that? If 16 we had such a bill, I would willingly support 17 it. 18 I will today give my support, my 19 limited for this measure because I believe we 20 are on the right track. I think this is 21 progress and it's a two-year time period, and I 22 would work to see that that other protection 23 could be inserted whenever we come up with a 24 future extender, but I have reasonable doubts 25 about whether we can put in the hands of the 7012 1 judges of this state this awesome responsibility 2 without compromising the rights of people who 3 are to become victims in the years ahead. 4 One other little note I would 5 just make, my constituents seem not to be 6 concerned about this matter at all. I find it 7 fascinating that on the many areas on which we 8 are lobbied regularly, I don't hear from the 9 people of the 48th Senate District asking for 10 extended coverage of cameras in the courtroom. 11 In fact, I will occasionally ask them at town 12 meetings what they think and they shrug their 13 shoulders and mutter something unpleasant about 14 the O.J. Simpson trial and then want to know 15 what we're doing about the budget. There are 16 many other things on their mind. 17 This is a matter that has been 18 driven by people who will personally benefit, 19 including some lawyers who would like to have 20 the exposure. This is obviously great 21 advertising for those members of the bar who 22 find themselves on television and gentlemen and 23 ladies of this chamber. Notwithstanding, I 24 think we all know there are some people who want 25 to play to the crowds and look forward to this 7013 1 opportunity to market themselves but is that 2 really our responsibility? Should we be helping 3 them to do that? Are there judges who also face 4 election in this state who are worthy of this 5 kind of free exposure and if there is even a 6 possibility that it is at the expense of 7 victims, we have every need to put the greatest 8 possible restriction on it imaginable to protect 9 the victims and to ensure that the primary 10 responsibility still must be for the courts of 11 this state to meet out justice not 12 entertainment. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 Skelos. 15 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 16 if we could have the title read at this time for 17 the purposes of Senator LaValle voting. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 19 Secretary will read the last section. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. This 21 act shall take effect immediately. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 23 roll. 24 (The Secretary called the roll.) 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7014 1 LaValle, how do you vote? 2 SENATOR LAVALLE: In the 3 negative. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5 LaValle will be recorded in the negative. The 6 roll call is withdrawn. Debate is continued. 7 The Chair will recognize Senator 8 DeFrancisco on debate. 9 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I'm going 10 to support this bill, and I think its only 11 drawback is it's not permanent, because if you 12 have a ten-year experiment, I don't know when 13 the experiment ever gets over. We've had ten 14 years under a bill very similar to this and 15 there has been very little, if any, negative 16 feedback from what's happened in the 17 courtrooms. 18 I speak from a little different 19 point of view. I am one of those lawyers who 20 have had a trial televised when the bill first 21 came into play. It was a very serious criminal 22 case and, no doubt, from time to time 23 individuals that are being broadcast or being 24 filmed on what they say somehow sometimes play 25 to the cameras, sometimes speak longer than they 7015 1 should have. That also applies, by the way, to 2 legislators, as some of you might have noticed 3 from time to time, but the fact of the matter is 4 that if it's a trial, the participants are so 5 wrapped up in the trial -- and I can speak from 6 experience -- that they're concerned more about 7 what they're doing for their clients or for the 8 people of the state of New York than they are 9 about how they happen to look on a camera. 10 As far as the judges 11 administering this law, there's been concerns - 12 some have expressed concern that the judges 13 should not be left with this awesome 14 responsibility. Well, judges are left with a 15 lot of awesome responsibilities, including 16 sentencing people on very serious crimes, making 17 evidentiary rulings that could determine the 18 outcome of trials and they certainly have 19 experience in what to do to protect the victims 20 as they have in our county, in my county and 21 they have throughout this state. To suggest 22 that judges could not use their proper 23 discretion, I think is not being fair to judges 24 and also if there is a judge who has a televised 25 case that is not ruling properly or is 7016 1 discriminating in some way or can't control the 2 courtroom, as I believe occurred in the Simpson 3 case, then the whole world will know about it 4 and that judge would become open to the public 5 scrutiny that the judge might not otherwise have 6 been held to. 7 So there's many factors on both 8 sides of this issue, but I think that the 9 experiment has been a positive one. Cameras in 10 the courtroom should be made permanent, and I'm 11 going to vote in favor of this bill. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 Stafford -- Senator Stafford. 14 SENATOR STAFFORD: Thank you, Mr. 15 President. 16 I'll be very brief. Ten years 17 ago we passed this bill. I was the sponsor and 18 I looked so terrible during that period that 19 everyone felt sorry for me and passed it. It 20 actually had not passed a few times before. The 21 first time it came up, I think there were maybe 22 three or four votes for it. Senator Anderson 23 was the sponsor. It didn't fair very, very 24 well. I voted for it at that time and I'm going 25 to vote for it again. I'm just going to make 7017 1 this point. 2 I respect all the concerns that 3 people have here on this bill and I have tried 4 lawsuits with the camera and without the camera, 5 and I assure you there are always possibilities 6 of abuses. There are always possibilities of, 7 you know, disadvantages. 8 On the other hand, here is my 9 point and this is a point that I made the day 10 that we passed the bill, and I remember Senator 11 Gold sitting where Senator Connor is right now, 12 and he nodded as I said this ten years ago. The 13 courts are an integral part of our system and if 14 there's one thing we pride ourselves in with 15 this system is it's open to the public. 16 Now, all of us, myself included, 17 sometimes have some things open to the public 18 that we say, well, wait a minute, the public 19 doesn't have to know that. I do it. We all do 20 it, but I suggest this to you. If there's any 21 function in our system that should be open to 22 the public, it's the courts. 23 Now, you're going to have trials 24 when you would rather it was not open. You're 25 going to have trials when you think it would be 7018 1 good to have it open, just as every function of 2 government, whether it is legislative or 3 executive. This is judiciary. 4 I compliment Senator Lack and all 5 those who have worked on this bill for the 6 safeguards that they have put in the bill. I 7 think this makes it a better bill than we passed 8 ten years ago, but once again, I just make this 9 point. If there's any function in our system 10 that should be open to the public where one 11 person is in a lawsuit or one party is in a 12 lawsuit with another party or whether, 13 unfortunately there's a trial where the 14 government is a party and we have a defendant, 15 in our system, we say we operate in the public 16 and, therefore, I say there will be times we 17 would rather not have this. There would be 18 times we rather have it. In government, there 19 are times we like to have things public. There 20 are times we say, well, wait, maybe it shouldn't 21 be public, but I think we all come down on the 22 side that actually this is one of the strings on 23 our democracy. 24 I think the bill is good. I 25 suggest there hasn't been any severe problems. 7019 1 I suggest that the bill should be continued and 2 I would go so far as to say, as someone said 3 earlier here, that we ought to make it permanent 4 and get on with it. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6 Gold. 7 SENATOR GOLD: Thank you, Mr. 8 President. 9 Mr. President, I and so many 10 other people remember these debates all the way 11 back and like so many other people, I probably 12 voted yes and voted no along the way and I'm 13 back again to something my friend Senator Farley 14 said in the discussion I had with him as to 15 whether or not we vote on bills or whether we 16 vote on labels. Everybody gets excited. This 17 is Court TV. Well, is this the bill that Court 18 TV wants? Is this the right bill for Court TV? 19 I think that's a legitimate question. 20 The last few days, we've seen 21 some things which have horrified me. I don't 22 know the reaction to my friends in this chamber, 23 but I don't know what came over people in 24 another part of this country that decided to 25 release autopsy reports on that little child, 7020 1 Jon Benet. To me it was horrifying. The 2 prosecutor didn't want it done. They're trying 3 to find the murderer. It had to be done. The 4 press had the right to know. I think that's 5 junk. I think that's silliness if it interferes 6 with an investigation. That had nothing to do 7 with cameras in the courtroom. 8 I was also upset within the last 9 month that a New York judge -- and I'm not 10 criticizing the judge. Please understand. A 11 judge makes a decision and does the best he or 12 she can, but I was surprised in the Chavez case 13 that the court was opened up and they were 14 trying very hard to deal with a youngster in a 15 family at tragic times and I don't know why that 16 was opened up. It's not my understanding. It's 17 not anything I ever wanted but, again, that 18 wasn't the cameras in the courtroom. It wasn't 19 the TV. It wasn't the radio, and I guess the 20 point I'm making is that if you want to talk 21 about openness and you want to talk about horror 22 stories, you'd probably find 40 to 1 the print 23 media versus any other media and we all go 24 through that and you say to yourself -- you pick 25 up a paper and you say to yourself, How do they 7021 1 print that stuff? 2 So one of the original arguments 3 that was made for Court TV was if you've got 4 print media people in there and they're writing 5 stuff, what could they -- what more harm could 6 it be to have a camera in and one of the first 7 hits on cameras in the courtroom was the concept 8 that you could show a picture of somebody, it's 9 a picture, it's a photograph and it's 15 seconds 10 or whatever and you could give the wrong 11 impression and the argument that came back 12 against that was one print media reporter in two 13 paragraphs or one paragraph can give you just as 14 bad a reaction. 15 So the answers, after all was 16 said and done, we gave it a try and Senator 17 Hoffmann said something a few minutes ago which 18 I think reflects my district also. I mean, if 19 you go around the district, people aren't 20 yelling and screaming for or against it, but I 21 think part of that -- I read it a little 22 differently than the Senator. I think part of 23 that is just that people have just accepted some 24 things now today as a part of life. 25 As a matter of fact, sometimes 7022 1 you'll pick up a paper and you'll say, How did 2 that get on the front page and instead of 3 getting outraged, I say to myself, Thank you, 4 God. We're not at war. If things are quiet 5 down with Russia, then I guess the country is 6 safe, if the only thing they could do is put the 7 junk on the front page that they put on the 8 front page. 9 The O.J. Simpson trial was 10 something which I think has had an interesting 11 effect on America. Number one, they saw a 12 criminal trial. Number two, they saw a civil 13 trial and a lot of people, for the first time in 14 their lives, learned that there was a 15 difference. They also saw how inept prosecution 16 can go on and on and on and some people can get 17 away with something and how you get a lawyer who 18 may be a trial lawyer type as the -- that bar 19 likes to call themselves, go in there, shorten a 20 trial and convince the jury that something 21 happened that's different. 22 I, for one, was not watching this 23 trial every day but there were people who were 24 and it was out there. If it wasn't on 25 television, you couldn't stop it from being in 7023 1 the newspapers every single day and even though 2 it was on television, it was in the newspapers 3 every single day. 4 The question of whether or not 5 that part of our society that deals with the 6 courts should be entertainment, we can shrug our 7 shoulders. It obviously has come to some extent 8 entertainment. 9 As far as it being education, I 10 do believe in that and I do believe, as was said 11 earlier, that these two elements should not 12 override justice because the courts weren't 13 created for entertainment and they weren't 14 created for anything else other than justice, 15 but I do believe that if you take the label, if 16 you listen to Senator Farley and take the label, 17 I personally have no objection today with the 18 concept of cameras in the courtroom and I say 19 that a little bit early. They haven't followed 20 any of my trials yet and I'm in the middle of a 21 trial, had to give up today to come here but if 22 and they wanted to bring their cameras Friday, 23 but the point is as a concept, I'm not opposed 24 to it. 25 One thing has started to get me 7024 1 upset, though, and that is that I am now hearing 2 that perhaps the people actually involved in 3 cameras in the courtroom may not support this 4 bill and if they don't support the bill, I guess 5 maybe they don't go in and maybe you don't have 6 it anyway. 7 So I say to myself, Senator 8 Farley, as much as you and I have debated 9 whether we vote on concepts or bills, I really 10 do believe we vote on bills and I, with the 11 greatest respect for Senator Lack and the work 12 he's done, have to throw out to you that I have 13 still got a question on my mind. 14 I am prepared to vote for cameras 15 in the courtroom. It makes no sense to me to 16 vote for cameras in the courtroom if the bill 17 I'm voting on is opposed by the people with the 18 cameras. If the people who are going to go in 19 or could go in or would go in are opposed to 20 this and say, Look. We want to do it but this 21 isn't the way to do it, that concerns me, and so 22 until I really get it clarified in my mind as to 23 what those involved want to do, I'm going to 24 wait my own decision until the end of this 25 debate. 7025 1 I can support the concept but 2 there's no way under our system that I could 3 vote for a concept. I'm only allowed, Senator 4 Lack, to vote for a specific bill with specific 5 language and that's the bill I want to know how 6 the people involved feel about it. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 8 Dollinger. 9 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Thank you, 10 Mr. President. 11 I have to respond to several of 12 the issues that have been raised in the course 13 of this debate. I'll start with Senator Padavan 14 who talked about the fact that cameras in the 15 courtroom hadn't educated the people in the 16 state of New York and that the Judiciary did not 17 want to have cameras in the courtroom continue. 18 My suggestion is, like most 19 levels of government, the concept of sunshine to 20 the Judiciary is not a particularly appealing 21 one, that the notion that the public will watch 22 the Judiciary more carefully or with an eye of a 23 camera is something that no doubt the Judiciary 24 is afraid of. Quite frankly, the Legislature 25 has proven in the past that we haven't been 7026 1 willing to authorize gavel to gavel coverage of 2 the state Legislature under the electronic eye 3 of a camera because we don't necessarily want 4 that level of sunshine brought into our 5 proceedings. So the people of this state could 6 watch this debate live and this house live and 7 watch how it works. I suggest that when the 8 Judiciary suggests we don't want cameras in the 9 courtroom, what they're saying is we would like 10 to conduct our proceedings the way we want to 11 without the glaring eye of the people on them. 12 Sunshine is sometimes a difficult thing to get 13 used to. 14 To my friend, Senator Waldon, who 15 talks about the racial imbalance in our criminal 16 justice system, this is an enormous problem that 17 we in America have to face. The concept that 18 justice for African-Americans and justice for 19 whites is different in our system, a system that 20 we pride on being color blind, should affront 21 and outrage all of us but, Senator Waldon, what 22 do I suggest is the solution to that? Less 23 exposure of that difference or more? 24 I would simply call your 25 attention to, Senator Waldon, that we had 7027 1 150-year history -- a 100-year history anyway, 2 of segregation and lack of justice for 3 African-Americans and at least based on my 4 recollection of history, what turned it around? 5 The eye of the television camera watching the 6 conduct of Bull Connor use electrical prods on 7 African-Americans in Selma, Alabama because they 8 were protesting the fact that they didn't have 9 equal rights to vote. It's America looking at 10 that image in the face that rallied the 11 conscience of Americans, black and white, to say 12 it must be finished. It is on outrage to our 13 sense of who we are and I would suggest to you, 14 Senator Waldon, that the camera in the courtroom 15 might some day achieve the same goal. It might 16 some day force us to confront the fact that 17 blacks are sentenced to disproportionately 18 higher rates, that their race is used against 19 them in the criminal justice system in violation 20 of all that we hold sacred, and I would suggest 21 it's the eye of the camera in the courtroom that 22 will prove to us that that is the case. It's 23 the eye in the courtroom that will show America 24 across the nation that whites are treated 25 differently from blacks and that we will 7028 1 hopefully come to our senses just as in 1963, we 2 came to our senses about inequalities in voting 3 and just as in 1970, when we came to our senses 4 about a war that we were fighting in which we 5 did not have an objective, in which we did not 6 fully understand and it was the televised 7 pictures that came back into our living rooms 8 that drove home the message that something was 9 wrong. 10 I also think it's important in 11 this debate to differentiate what we're talking 12 about. We're simply talking about the eye of 13 the television camera. All of those who are 14 concerned about witnesses, all of those who are 15 concerned about statements made by people 16 recognize that the print media has access to 17 these proceedings. The only thing that this 18 bill talks about is allowing the eye of the 19 camera to accompany those in the print media. 20 This is about bringing television to the 21 courtrooms. It's not about ending public 22 access. Witnesses will still have -- there will 23 be print reporters in the pews of a courtroom 24 taking down names, taking down statements, 25 taking down public information. 7029 1 So it seems to me that this bill 2 raises the issue of the role of television in a 3 courtroom. It seems to me to raise significant 4 issues. 5 I will close with one final 6 observation, and that is that the question of 7 how much authority a single witness should have 8 to curtail cameras in the courtroom. Senator 9 Lack, you can correct me if I'm wrong in your 10 summary on this bill, but my understanding is 11 the way this bill is drafted, any witness on the 12 witness stand, be they police officers or 13 anyone, can ask that the court cameras be 14 removed from the courtroom. 15 I would suggest that giving a 16 single witness, a police officer, anyone the 17 ability to turn off that camera without the 18 judge making a ruling that it will somehow 19 promote a fairer trial seems to me to give the 20 witness, be it Mark Fuhrman, be it Bull Connor, 21 be it anyone who is a witness in a courtroom the 22 ability to turn off the camera, gives them too 23 broad a discretion and that that provision may 24 defeat the whole purpose of having cameras in 25 the courtroom, which is to open to the public 7030 1 eye not necessarily to educate the public, not 2 necessarily to entertain it but to open for the 3 public the judicial process. 4 Those who have been critical of 5 the O.J. Simpson case, I would simply suggest 6 that that was not a fault of cameras in the 7 courtroom. That was an absolutely outrageous 8 performance by a trial judge who lost control of 9 his courtroom. It didn't have anything to do 10 with the fact that there were cameras there. It 11 had to do with the fact that the judge lost 12 control. 13 So this is a difficult concept 14 for me. I'm torn between what I see as 15 significant rights, significant protections, but 16 I believe that if you support the notion that 17 cameras should be in the courtroom, if you 18 support the notion that the public should be 19 allowed to go into the courtrooms in this state, 20 to allow a witness to unilaterally close the 21 door gives too much power to a witness to defeat 22 the beneficial purpose of this bill. 23 SENATOR LACK: Mr. President. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 Lack, why do you rise? 7031 1 SENATOR LACK: As the sponsor of 2 the bill, I would like to - 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We have a 4 list going. 5 SENATOR LACK: Oh, I think, Mr. 6 President, you should recognize me for a moment, 7 if you would. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Pardon? 9 SENATOR LACK: I think you should 10 recognize me for a moment with respect to the 11 bill. I don't think the waiting list will 12 mind. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Pardon, 14 Senator Connor? 15 I have a list, Senator Lack, 16 going, and if you want to ask Senator Dollinger 17 to yield to a question while he has the floor 18 before you're released, that's fine, but -- or 19 I'll put you next. 20 SENATOR LACK: No. I'm standing 21 to make a motion with respect to the bill, which 22 I believe will take precedence over it and 23 without objection of anybody in the body in the 24 course of making that motion, that it will 25 require me to make a statement for a moment or 7032 1 two. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 3 Connor, you have any objection to Senator Lack? 4 SENATOR CONNOR: Mr. President, I 5 would just like to briefly comment on this bill 6 and make one thing clear. I am for the concept 7 of cameras in the courts, as I have said. I am 8 for openness in the courts. I am also for 9 openness in the Legislature. We vote on bills. 10 This is a bill we saw for the first time-- or 11 most of us saw for the first time an hour and a 12 quarter ago. There are obviously problems with 13 it. Those who -- and I, in my early days, was 14 against the concept of cameras in the court but 15 I became a believer but when the newspaper 16 publishers, Court TV and others who are 17 concerned about this say they're against this 18 bill, I listen and I listen not because they 19 tell me where to be or their position is 20 dispositive. I listen because they have an 21 interest and they ought to get more than an hour 22 and a quarter to state their case on a 23 particular bill about why they may have 24 objections. 25 In view of that, Mr. President, I 7033 1 would be happy to yield to Senator Lack. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 3 Lack. 4 SENATOR LACK: Thank you, Mr. 5 President. Thank you, Senator Connor, for 6 yielding. 7 Senator Connor, as you know, you 8 might have just seen the language a few moments 9 ago but the language with respect to S.5708, 10 indeed, has actually been around, been discussed 11 for probably the better part of two weeks. Some 12 of the language which is complained about on the 13 floor of the Senate is language that has been - 14 would you close the door, please -- language has 15 been complained about emanates from requests 16 made by the Assembly with respect to the exact 17 same types of situations that both Senator Gold 18 and Senator Dollinger referred to in trying to 19 balance the rights of victims and witnesses 20 versus the rights of the public parties to any 21 particular litigation, et cetera. It was 22 specifically at the request of the Assembly and 23 the Assembly Majority that language was included 24 which gave witnesses their right to turn off - 25 not only to have the so-called blue dot which is 7034 1 current law but also turn off the audio portion 2 of cameras in the courtroom to take away 3 whatsoever any statement made by the witness. 4 That was to balance, particularly where the 5 witness is a victim, his or her belief that 6 their situation as a victim was aggravated by 7 the presence of cameras in the courtroom. That 8 is not a provision that emanated from the 9 Senate. It emanated from the Assembly Majority, 10 part of the negotiations. They wanted it - 11 they wanted it in the bill and so be it, it has 12 been put in the bill. It is my personal belief 13 that that still allows for cameras in the 14 courtroom and, in fact, is not different from 15 some provisions that exist in other states but 16 so be it. 17 If there are members of this 18 chamber who feel that the language requested by 19 the Assembly Majority should not be in the bill, 20 far be it for me to disagree and far be it for 21 me to have a bill pass this house where there is 22 disagreement because of language that has 23 emanated from the Assembly Majority. 24 So, Mr. President, I move to 25 strike the enacting clause of S.5708, as the 7035 1 sponsor. Please strike the enacting clause. If 2 you would like it more properly, Mr. President, 3 please lay the bill aside and I'll move to 4 strike the enacting clause. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6 Lack, I think that would be the appropriate 7 procedure because a vote was taken on the bill. 8 So we will withdraw the roll call, lay the bill 9 aside at your request. Now if you would like to 10 move to strike the enacting clause, I'll 11 entertain that motion. The motion is to strike 12 the enacting clause on Senate Bill -- Calendar 13 Number 1535, Senate 1997 -- excuse me -- 5708. 14 All those in favor of the motion signify by 15 saying aye. 16 (Response of "Aye".) 17 Opposed, nay. 18 (There was no response.) 19 The motion is successful. 20 Senator Skelos. 21 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 22 would you call up Calendar Number 1493, Senate 23 Bill Number 5410-C. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 25 Secretary will read. 7036 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 1493, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 5410-C, 3 an act to amend the Environmental Conservation 4 Law, in relation to the management of marine 5 fisheries. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7 Skelos. 8 SENATOR SKELOS: Is there a 9 message of necessity at the desk? 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is. 11 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 13 motion is to accept the message of necessity on 14 Calendar Number 1493, Senate Print 5410-C. All 15 those in favor signify by saying aye. 16 (Response of "Aye".) 17 Opposed, nay. 18 (There was no response.) 19 The message is accepted. 20 The Secretary will read the last 21 section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 13. This 23 act shall take effect immediately. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 25 roll. 7037 1 (The Secretary called the roll.) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 49. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 4 is passed. 5 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7 Skelos. 8 SENATOR SKELOS: I believe 9 there's a privileged resolution at the desk by 10 Senator Libous. I ask that the title be read 11 and move its immediate adoption. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Return to 13 motions and resolutions order and the Secretary 14 will read the title to the privileged resolution 15 at the desk by Senator Libous. 16 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 17 Libous, Legislative Resolution 2099, commending 18 the United Communities Against Substance Abuse 19 upon the occasion of its designation as the 20 recipient of the New York Conference of Mayors 21 Local Government Achievement Award. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 23 question is on the resolution. All those in 24 favor signify by saying aye. 25 (Response of "Aye".) 7038 1 Opposed, nay. 2 (There was no response.) 3 The resolution is adopted. 4 Senator Skelos. 5 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 6 is there any housekeeping at the desk? 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Nothing 8 at the desk, Senator Skelos. 9 SENATOR SKELOS: A reminder to 10 the members of the Majority, there will be a 11 Majority Conference at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, 12 July 22nd, and there being no further business, 13 I move we adjourn until Tuesday, July 22nd, at 14 12:00 noon, intervening days to be legislative 15 days. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 17 objection, hearing no objection, the Senate 18 stands adjourned until Tuesday -- for an 19 announcement, Senator Paterson? 20 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 21 there will be a conference of the Minority, 22 Minority Conference in the Minority Conference 23 Room at 11:30. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: For the 25 benefit of the members, before the adjournment 7039 1 of the house, there will be a Majority 2 Conference in the Majority Conference Room next 3 Tuesday at 11:00 a.m., a Minority Conference in 4 the Minority Conference Room at 11:30 a.m. and 5 without objection, the Senate stands adjourned 6 until next Tuesday, July 22nd, at 12:00 noon 7 sharp. 8 (Whereupon, at 3:20 p.m., the 9 Senate adjourned.) 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18