Tuesday, March 17, 1998

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ALBANY, NEW YORK 10 March 17, 1998 11 3:04 p.m. 12 13 14 REGULAR SESSION 15 16 17 18 SENATOR JOHN R. KUHL, JR., Acting President 19 STEVEN M. BOGGESS, Secretary 20 21 22 23 24 25 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senate 3 will come to order. Ask the members to find 4 their chairs, staff to find their places. Ask 5 everybody in the chamber to rise and join with 6 me in saying the Pledge of Allegiance to the 7 Flag. 8 (The assemblage repeated the 9 Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. ) 10 In the absence of clergy, may 11 we bow our heads in a moment of silence. 12 (A moment of silence was 13 observed.) 14 Reading of the Journal. 15 THE SECRETARY: In Senate, 16 Monday, March 16th. The Senate met pursuant 17 to adjournment. The Journal of Sunday, March 18 15th, was read and approved. On motion, 19 Senate adjourned. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Hearing 21 no objection, the Journal stands approved as 22 read. 23 Presentation of petitions. 24 Messages from the Assembly. 25 Messages from the Governor. 1 Reports of standing 2 committees. 3 The Secretary will read. 4 THE SECRETARY: Senator Lack, 5 from the Committee on Judiciary, reports the 6 following nomination: 7 As a Justice of the Supreme 8 Court for the Third Judicial District, Bernard 9 J. Malone, Jr., of Glenmont. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Chair 11 recognizes Senator Lack. 12 SENATOR LACK: Mr. President, I 13 rise to move the confirmation of Bernard J. 14 "Bud" Malone of Glenmont, as a Justice of the 15 Supreme Court of the Third Judicial District 16 comprising the seven counties surrounding the 17 Capital District. Mr. Malone appeared before 18 the committee this morning. His credentials 19 were examined by the staff and his nomination 20 moved to the Senate, and it's my pleasure to 21 move the nomination. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Chair 23 recognizes Senator Bruno, on the nomination. 24 SENATOR BRUNO: Thank you, Mr. 25 President. 1 I guess it's fitting today that 2 we be confirming as one of the first judges in 3 the chamber an Irishman, "Bud" Malone, and I 4 want to commend Governor Pataki for his wisdom 5 and his good judgment in having forwarded the 6 name of "Bud" Malone to be a Supreme Court 7 Justice. 8 There isn't anyone that is more 9 qualified to sit on the bench than "Bud" 10 Malone. He's an outstanding lawyer but, more 11 important, he is an outstanding person. He 12 has spent more time in public service for - 13 in his young life and has accomplished so much 14 through so many of the organizations that have 15 seen fit to recognize him, and I'll read a 16 few: The International Narcotics Enforcement 17 Officers Association Award; the Postal 18 Inspectors Commendation for successful 19 prosecution of child pornography; and a 20 Distinguished Service Award from Albany Law 21 School. 22 He also served in Vietnam from 23 '65 to '69, in the U. S. Army and received a 24 Bronze Star. He is a partner in the law firm 25 of Hinman, Straub, and he is a founding member 1 of the Youth Courts in Colonie and Bethlehem, 2 volunteering his time, his understanding of 3 the justice system to help young people stay 4 out of trouble. 5 He is truly, Mr. President, a 6 dedicated public servant whose intelligence, 7 humor and years of experience have served him 8 well. 9 It will serve him well on the 10 bench. It has served him well in front of the 11 bench. I am proud to rise and endorse "Bud" 12 Malone for the courts and move for its 13 adoption. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 15 Chair recognizes Senator Farley, on the 16 nomination. 17 SENATOR FARLEY: Yes, Mr. 18 President. 19 I also rise to second the 20 nomination of "Bud" Malone who comes from a 21 distinguished law firm where my daughter was 22 also associated, Hinman, Straub, Pigors & 23 Manning, but he has been an outstanding lawyer 24 in this community and also a United States 25 district attorney and has really served his 1 community well and, you know, as we're going 2 to be confirming another Irishman, it's nice 3 to see an Irishman make good. Good luck to 4 you, Bud. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6 Breslin, on the nomination. 7 SENATOR BRESLIN: I rise to 8 second the nomination of "Bud" Malone who's 9 been a friend of mine for over 25 years and a 10 fellow practitioner. Bud is great evidence of 11 a good choice by the Governor and has the 12 skills necessary to be an extremely competent 13 Supreme Court judge, and I look forward to 14 many, many more years with this friend. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Any 16 other Senator wishing to speak on the 17 nomination? Senator Stafford, on the 18 nomination. 19 SENATOR STAFFORD: I think 20 anyone would want to, if they had known "Bud" 21 Malone personally or worked with him 22 professionally and, as the leader said, and 23 everyone has said, the Governor has made a 24 tremendous, tremendous appointment and we know 25 he will do a tremendous job on the bench. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Any 2 other Senator wishing to speak on the 3 nomination? Hearing none, the question is on 4 the nomination of Bernard, commonly known as 5 "Bud" J. Malone, Jr., of Glenmont, to the 6 Supreme Court of the Third Judicial District. 7 All those in favor signify by saying aye. 8 (Response of "Aye."). 9 Opposed nay. 10 (There was no response. ) 11 The nominee is confirmed. 12 Judge Malone, we're very pleased to have you 13 with us. 14 (Applause) 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: I'm 16 sure the judge would like to have his family 17 recognized. His wife Paula is in the chamber 18 with him, his children Ryan and Jeffrey and 19 Jacqueline. 20 (Applause) 21 His father, Bernard Malone and 22 family and friends. Welcome to the chamber. 23 This is a marvelous day and, Judge, we know 24 you're going to do great things by the people 25 of the state of New York and the people that 1 you'll serve. Thank you for being with us. 2 (Applause) 3 The Secretary will continue to 4 read. 5 THE SECRETARY: Senator Lack, 6 from the Committee on Judiciary, reports the 7 following nomination: 8 As a judge of the Saratoga 9 County Family Court, Courtenay W. Hall, of 10 Stillwater. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 12 Chair recognizes Senator Lack, on the 13 nomination. 14 SENATOR LACK: Mr. President, I 15 rise again to move the nomination of Courtenay 16 W. Hall of Stillwater as a judge of the 17 Saratoga County Family Court. Mr. Hall 18 appeared before the Judiciary Committee this 19 morning. His credentials were examined by the 20 staff of the committee and found to be in 21 order and, Mr. President, I would very 22 respectfully once again yield to the Majority 23 Leader, Senator Bruno, for purposes of a 24 second. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Chair 1 recognizes Senator Bruno, on the nomination. 2 SENATOR BRUNO: Thank you, 3 Senator Lack. Thank you, Mr. President. 4 Again I am very, very pleased 5 to be able to stand and speak on behalf of an 6 extremely qualified individual from Still 7 water, the Saratoga County attorney, a 8 constituent. He has served with great 9 distinction the people of Saratoga County. In 10 his position he has prosecuted some 5,000 11 cases on behalf of the people of the county. 12 He is a former president and 13 chairperson of the Board of Directors of the 14 New York State Association of County 15 Attorneys. He has been very involved in the 16 community, especially on behalf of young 17 people, and has been an example of the right 18 things to do in the community. 19 His leadership as a Family 20 Court judge will be one that will set him up 21 as a role model for many of the people in the 22 county. 23 So again, Mr. President, I 24 commend the Governor in his selection and I 25 welcome this opportunity to speak on behalf of 1 such an outstanding and qualified person as 2 Courtenay Hall. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 Gold, on the nomination. 5 SENATOR GOLD: Thank you, Mr. 6 President. 7 Mr. President, I didn't have 8 the pleasure of knowing the nominee before the 9 meeting today, but I think everybody at the 10 committee meeting was very much taken with the 11 gentleman's desire to do the job and, while 12 many of the people I know at the bar would 13 love to be lawyers, as you get to the Family 14 Court the list dwindles a little bit and, as I 15 said, a little bit tongue in cheek at the 16 meeting, if this man wants the job so bad, let 17 him have it. Who wants it? 18 But this is one of the toughest 19 jobs we have in this state. The problems of 20 the Family Court, family abuse, child abuse, 21 juvenile crime, the kinds of things that come 22 before these judges are the kind of problems 23 where, at the end of the day, it's amazing 24 that -- that any of them are not alcoholics, 25 God forbid, and I want to wish the judge a 1 really successful tenure. I hope that 2 wonderful enthusiasm stays with you. You are 3 the kind of person from what I can see that we 4 really need on the Family Court, and I wish 5 you Godspeed in this job. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7 Farley, on the nomination. 8 SENATOR FARLEY: Yes. Thank 9 you, Mr. President. 10 I rise to second the nomination 11 of Courtenay Hall. I have the good fortune of 12 sharing Saratoga County with Senator Bruno, 13 and as a matter of fact where he practiced out 14 of, and so forth, is in my district, but let 15 me just say that he is undertaking one of the 16 more difficult jobs on the bench in Family 17 Court, but he's eminently qualified having 18 been a law guardian for nine years and having 19 worked in this area, and we certainly need 20 good justices in the Family Court, and I know 21 that Courtenay Hall will be an outstanding 22 Family Court judge, and we wish you well. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is 24 there any other Senator wishing to speak on 25 the nomination? 1 Hearing none, the question is 2 on the nomination of Courtenay W. Hall of 3 Stillwater, New York as a judge of the 4 Saratoga County Family Court. All those in 5 favor of the nomination signify by saying 6 aye. 7 (Response of "Aye.") 8 Opposed nay. 9 (There was no response. ) 10 The nominee is confirmed. 11 We're very, very pleased to 12 have Judge Hall with us in the chamber 13 together with his wife Carolyn, and his mother 14 Doris Hall. 15 Judge, congratulations. Good 16 luck. 17 (Applause) 18 Secretary will continue to 19 read. 20 THE SECRETARY: Senator Lack, 21 from the Committee on Judiciary, reports the 22 following nomination: 23 As Justice of the Supreme Court 24 for the Seventh Judicial District, Thomas 25 Vanstrydonck, of Rochester. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Chair 2 recognizes Senator Lack, on the nomination. 3 SENATOR LACK: Thank you, Mr. 4 President. 5 My privilege to rise to move 6 the nomination of Thomas M. Vanstrydonck, of 7 Rochester, as a Justice of the Supreme Court 8 for the Seventh Judicial District. He 9 appeared before the committee this morning and 10 notwithstanding the ringing endorsement of 11 Senator Dollinger or some of his childhood 12 relationships, nonetheless the committee 13 unanimously has moved him through the -- to 14 the floor. His credentials were examined by 15 the staff of the committee and found to be 16 highly in order, and it's with great pleasure 17 that I yield to the good Senator from 18 Rochester, the Honorable James Alesi, for 19 purposes of a second. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Chair 21 recognizes Senator Alesi. 22 SENATOR ALESI: Thank you, Mr. 23 President. 24 I'm indeed honored to support 25 the nomination of Governor Pataki for Tom 1 Vanstrydonck for this Supreme Court position. 2 Tom is a well respected attorney in the Monroe 3 County area. He's deeply committed to his 4 community, as a husband, a father and a 5 veteran and as our friend, Dave Dudley, 6 mentioned earlier in the committee meeting, he 7 has not only the intelligence but the 8 temperament for this position as well. 9 I'm very confident that Tom 10 Vanstrydonck will interpret the law with 11 wisdom and apply it with fairness and at all 12 times remember his responsibility to serve the 13 people of this state as Supreme Court 14 Justice. 15 Again, I'm honored to join the 16 Governor in this nomination and pleased to 17 welcome Tom here to Albany today. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Chair 19 recognizes Senator Nozzolio, on the 20 nomination. 21 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Thank you, 22 Mr. President. 23 My colleagues, the nomination 24 of Tom Vanstrydonck is indeed a nomination 25 that deserves a great deal of praise. 1 Governor Pataki has truly found an individual 2 uniquely qualified to serve, one who brings 3 with him to the bench a variety of experience 4 that will certainly enure to the benefit of 5 the citizens of this state. 6 Tom Vanstrydonck is a Navy 7 veteran, served in the Navy during the Vietnam 8 conflict and rose to the rank of Commander; 9 that he distinguished himself in law school, 10 in a number of endeavors and returned to his 11 home in Monroe County to serve with great 12 honor and distinction as an assistant district 13 attorney. During that tenure, he certainly 14 learned a great deal of the ins and outs of 15 courtroom procedure, as well as learned a 16 great deal of sensitivity to those crime 17 victims which will serve him well as he takes 18 on these new responsibilities. 19 Tom Vanstrydonck has, as 20 Senator Alesi said, a variety of those in the 21 Rochester-Monroe County legal community in his 22 corner, those among the bar who work with Tom 23 day in and day out as he now handles complex 24 litigation as a partner in a major law firm in 25 Rochester, that he has the respect of all 1 those members of the bar and his abilities 2 have been praised across the board. 3 I'd also like to mention one 4 item of responsibility that Tom Vanstrydonck 5 undertook and that is the cause of those 6 missing and exploited children, serving as a 7 board member and eventually as president of 8 the Adam Walsh Child Resource Center in 9 Rochester. 10 Tom Vanstrydonck distinguished 11 himself showing his sensitivity for this very 12 important issue and rose to the ranks of 13 leadership in making of this child resource 14 center a center that has done great work in 15 the Monroe County community. 16 Tom Vanstrydonck's appointment 17 serves as an indication of Governor Pataki's 18 commitment to take the highest quality 19 individuals and make them members of New 20 York's judiciary. It's with that, Mr. 21 President, that I second the nomination of Tom 22 Vanstrydonck, and I know he will do an 23 excellent job serving as a justice of the New 24 York State Supreme Court. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 1 Maziarz, on the nomination. 2 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you 3 very much, Mr. President. 4 Although I'm not personally 5 acquainted with Tom Vanstryconck, when I heard 6 that he was going to be up here today for his 7 confirmation, that Governor Pataki had 8 nominated him, I did contact a very good 9 friend of mine in the law enforcement 10 community in Monroe County, Tom Roche, the 11 Chief of Police of the town of Gates that I, 12 in fact, represent here in the state Senate 13 and I have to tell you, Tom, that Chief Roche 14 had nothing but the most positive things to 15 say about you. 16 He talked about the good work 17 that you did for crime victims during your 18 tenure as an assistant district attorney and 19 all of the help that you gave to the state's 20 police departments. So I want to join my 21 colleagues, Senator Nozzolio and Alesi, and 22 thank Governor Pataki for what I know will be 23 an excellent choice on the judiciary. 24 Thank you, Mr. President. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 1 Dollinger, on the nomination. 2 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Thank you, 3 Mr. President. 4 Senator Lack properly pointed 5 out, I guess, the longer I talk the more 6 Republican votes may be at stake, Tom, so I'll 7 be brief. 8 Governor Pataki's nomination of 9 Tom Vanstrydonck to the Supreme Court is a 10 tremendous appointment to the Monroe County 11 community. This is a man with a tremendous 12 sensitivity born of 25 years of experience as 13 a lawyer, for the balance that's needed in our 14 civil justice system, a recognition of the 15 travails of lawyers who come into courts 16 representing clients, of the economics of the 17 law practice, of an understanding of what it 18 means to be an advocate for a criminal 19 defendant, of what it means to be an advocate 20 for the people as a prosecutor. This man is 21 the entire package of a quality Supreme Court 22 judge. 23 I've known him for a long time 24 since I came back to the community in 1980. 25 Our families have had some contact together 1 because our children hang together, as they 2 would put it, but he really is a marvelous man 3 and I feel enormously secure that in the hands 4 of Tom Vanstrydonck, justice in Monroe County 5 will be assured. 6 Congratulations, Tom. You'll 7 be a marvelous addition to the bench. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Any 9 other Senator wishing to speak on the 10 nomination? 11 Hearing none, the question is 12 on the nomination of Thomas M. Vanstrydonck, 13 of Rochester, as a Justice of the Supreme 14 Court for the Seventh Judicial District. All 15 those in favor of the nomination, signify by 16 saying aye. 17 (Response of "Aye.") 18 Opposed nay. 19 (There was no response. ) 20 The nominee is confirmed. 21 Very, very pleased to have Judge Vanstrydonck 22 with us. Judge, congratulations and good 23 luck. 24 (Applause) 25 Secretary will continue to read 1 the report of the Finance Committee. 2 THE SECRETARY: Senator 3 Stafford, from the Committee on Finance, 4 reports the following nomination: 5 Member of the State Commission 6 on Quality of Care for the Mentally Disabled, 7 Gary O'Brien, of Watervliet. 8 SENATOR STAFFORD: Mr. 9 President. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 11 Stafford, on the nomination. 12 SENATOR STAFFORD: I've 13 mentioned this before, but I say it again 14 without any reservation or mental hesitation 15 whatsoever. 16 The Governor today sent us a 17 fine group of nominees, and the first nominee 18 was Gary O'Brien, who appeared before the 19 Committee, did an excellent job there, as I 20 know he has done and will do with the 21 Commission, and I yield to the Senator from 22 Broome. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Chair 24 recognizes Senator Libous, on the nomination. 25 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, Mr. 1 President, and it is indeed an honor and 2 pleasure for me to stand up and move the 3 nomination of Gary O'Brien. The Governor once 4 again has sent us an outstanding candidate. 5 Let me first say that the 6 Commission on Quality Care is one of those 7 commissions that sometimes gets overlooked 8 because it is an oversight agency and it has 9 tremendous importance because, as you look at 10 the three agencies it has oversight on, deal 11 with people with mental and physical 12 disabilities and whenever there is an 13 inappropriate action or problem at one of our 14 facilities or at a provider's facility, one 15 who needs action will call the Commission. 16 Gary fits the qualifications to 17 head the Commission because of his outstanding 18 background. Since 1995, he has worked at the 19 Commission in the area of policy analysis and 20 he's also conducted a number of investigations 21 of service providers in response to the 22 complaints that I had earlier mentioned. 23 Again, when these complaints come in, they 24 come in from parents who are concerned because 25 of the care that their sons and daughters are 1 receiving. 2 Before Gary's work with the 3 Commission on Quality Care, he earned four 4 advanced degrees including a Ph.D. from 5 Catholic University, for which he wrote his 6 doctoral thesis in Leadership Style, and Gary 7 didn't just write about leadership, Mr. 8 President. He administered his accomplishments 9 by doing a number of important things, whether 10 it be recruitment training and supervising 11 personnel, managing local facilities, 12 directing the formation of a seminary and 13 serving as president of a seminary corporation 14 with final responsibilities for budgeting, for 15 fund-raising, goal setting and program 16 implementation. 17 He has served on a number of 18 organizations, whether this be organizing 19 programs for youth, conducting parenting 20 classes for teens, running alcohol and drug 21 awareness programs, working on high school and 22 college students as a teacher and a counselor, 23 and working and serving as a priest for six 24 years in the Mid-Hudson Psychiatric Center. 25 Mr. President, it is indeed an 1 honor for me to move the nomination of Gary 2 O'Brien, who I believe will make an excellent 3 candidate for this position. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5 Farley, on the nomination. 6 SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you, Mr. 7 President. 8 I also rise to second the 9 nomination of Gary O'Brien. As we did with 10 "Bud" Malone, an Irishman, I think it's 11 appropriate on St. Patrick's Day that Gary 12 O'Brien be confirmed. 13 Let me just say that he is 14 eminently qualified, with a remarkable 15 educational background, an administrative 16 background, and also the fact that the 17 Commission is located in Schenectady. We 18 welcome him, and I look forward to being 19 associated with him, and of being of 20 assistance. 21 We're delighted to have you. 22 The Governor has chosen somebody who has been 23 trained in the field, has come up through the 24 ranks, and so forth, and we're delighted to 25 see you take over this very, very important 1 commission, and best wishes to you, Gary. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is 3 there any other member wishing to speak on the 4 nomination? 5 Hearing none, the question is 6 on the nomination of Gary O'Brien, of 7 Watervliet, to become a member of the State 8 Commission on Quality Care for the Mentally 9 Disabled. All those in favor of the 10 nomination signify by saying aye. 11 (Response of "Aye.") 12 Opposed nay. 13 (There was no response. ) 14 The nominee is confirmed. 15 Very, very pleased to have Mr. 16 O'Brien here in the chambers with us today 17 together with his brother Robert and his 18 cousin, Dr. Charles Murphy. Congratulations 19 and good luck. 20 (Applause) 21 The Secretary will continue to 22 read. 23 THE SECRETARY: Senator 24 Stafford, from the Committee on Finance, 25 reports the following nomination: 1 Member of the New York State 2 Olympic Regional Development Authority, 3 Clifford R. Donaldson, of Saranac. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5 Stafford, on the nomination. 6 SENATOR STAFFORD: Mr. 7 President, we are very, very fortunate to have 8 Cliff Donaldson here and to have him be 9 nominated to be a member of the Olympic 10 Regional Development Authority. 11 The Authority represents more 12 than just the regional area. It really 13 represents the Olympic movement, what the 14 Olympics are all about. People here in Albany 15 and Washington, the entire country, saw the 16 1980 Olympics. They supported it. 17 Cliff will do a tremendous 18 job. He's a son of the North Country. His 19 home in Lake Clear, which is a suburb of 20 Saranac Lake, for those of you who don't know 21 where Lake Clear is. He also was educated in 22 Arkansas, where he met his delightful wife 23 Joan. He has been a leader in the North 24 Country. He serves as a trustee of the 25 Saranac Lake Village Board. He's deputy 1 mayor. He's had experience in government, 2 served with the Facilities Development 3 Corporation, served with the Department of 4 Correction, presently is an administrator of 5 the very fine county of Essex. 6 He's a gentleman who has been 7 involved, is interested. He really does a 8 tremendous job in our upstate area, and once 9 again we could have no finer person serving as 10 a member of the board than Cliff Donaldson. 11 He's here with his wife Joan 12 and his son Aaron. I'd ask you to welcome 13 them, together with our new nominee who will 14 be a member of the Olympic Regional 15 Development Board. 16 Thank you. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is 18 there any other Senator wishing to speak on 19 the nomination? 20 Hearing none, the question is 21 on the nomination of Clifford R. Donaldson, of 22 Saranac, to become a member of the Olympic 23 Regional Development Authority. All those in 24 favor of the nomination signify by saying 25 aye. 1 (Response of "Aye.") 2 Opposed nay. 3 (There was no response.) 4 The nominee is confirmed. 5 We are very, very pleased to 6 have Mr. Donaldson in the chamber with us, 7 together with his wife Joan and son Aaron. If 8 they'd stand? Congratulations and good luck. 9 (Applause) 10 Secretary will continue to 11 read. 12 THE SECRETARY: Senator 13 Stafford, from the Committee on Finance, 14 reports the following nominations: 15 Members of the State Board for 16 Historic Preservation: Joseph J. Ryan, of 17 Buchanan, Frank E. Sanchis, III, of Peekskill, 18 and Arete Swartz Warren, of New York City. 19 SENATOR STAFFORD: Move 20 confirmation, please. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 22 question is on the nomination of several 23 people to become members of the State Board 24 for Historic Preservation. All those in favor 25 of the nominations signify by saying aye. 1 (Response of "Aye.") 2 Opposed nay. 3 (There was no response.) 4 The nominee is confirmed. 5 Secretary will continue to read. 6 THE SECRETARY: Senator 7 Stafford, from the Committee on Finance, 8 reports the following nomination: 9 Member of the State Athletic 10 Commission: Melville Southard, Esq., of 11 Manhasset. 12 SENATOR STAFFORD: Move 13 confirmation. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 15 question is on the nomination of Melville 16 Southard to become a member of the State 17 Athletic Commission. All those in favor 18 signify by saying aye. 19 (Response of "Aye.") 20 Opposed nay. 21 (There was no response.) 22 The nominee is confirmed. 23 Secretary will continue to read. 24 THE SECRETARY: Senator 25 Stafford, from the Committee on Finance, 1 reports the following nomination: 2 Member of the Allegany State 3 Park, Recreation and Historic Preservation 4 Commission: Thomas Brady, of Great Valley. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 6 Question is on the nomination. All those in 7 favor signify by saying aye. 8 (Response of "Aye.") 9 Opposed nay. 10 (There was no response.) 11 The nominee is confirmed. 12 Secretary will continue to read. 13 THE SECRETARY: Senator 14 Stafford, from the Committee on Finance, 15 reports the following nomination: 16 Member of the Central New York 17 State Park, Recreation and Historic 18 Preservation Commission: Mark G. Roberts, of 19 Sidney. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 21 Question is on the nomination. All those in 22 favor signify by saying aye. 23 (Response of "Aye.") 24 Opposed nay. 25 (There was no response.) 1 The nominee is confirmed. 2 Secretary will continue to read. 3 THE SECRETARY: Senator 4 Stafford, from the Committee on Finance, 5 reports the following nominations: 6 Members of the State Park, 7 Recreation and Historic Preservation 8 Commission for the city of New York: Edward 9 F. Cox, of New York City; Jeffrey E. 10 Livingston, of New York City; Myra E. Mahan, 11 of New York City and Cynthia C. Wainwright, of 12 New York City. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 14 Question is on the nominations. All those in 15 favor signify by saying aye. 16 (Response of "Aye.") 17 Opposed nay. 18 (There was no response. ) 19 The nominees are confirmed. 20 Secretary will continue to read. 21 THE SECRETARY: Senator 22 Stafford, from the Committee on Finance, 23 reports the following nominations: 24 Members of the Palisades 25 Interstate Park Commission, Barnabus McHenry, 1 of New York City and Samuel F. Pryor, III, of 2 Bedford Hills. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 4 Question is on the nominations. All those in 5 favor signify by saying aye. 6 (Response of "Aye.") 7 Opposed nay. 8 (There was no response. ) 9 The nominees are confirmed. 10 Secretary will continue to read. 11 THE SECRETARY: Senator 12 Stafford, from the Committee on Finance, 13 reports the following nominations: 14 Members of the Saratoga-Capital 15 District State Park, Recreation and Historic 16 Preservation Commission, Paulette 17 Zalduondo-Henriques, of Mamaroneck, and Thomas 18 P. Morahan, of New City. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 20 Holland, on the nominations. 21 SENATOR HOLLAND: Yes, Mr. 22 President. 23 I know Tom is not here today, 24 but he is a good friend and he is a former 25 Assemblyman, so I would like to say some nice 1 words about him. 2 He comes from that famous 3 Assembly seat that was Tom Morahan-Bob 4 Connor-Joe Holland. He is retired from the 5 Telephone Company after 44 years. He has 6 seven daughters and 15 grandchildren. He is 7 an excellent man. 8 In 1997, he was elected by the 9 voters of Clarkstown to the Rockland County 10 Legislature. He was Minority Leader for many 11 years, and did an excellent job, and when the 12 Republicans took over, for only two years he 13 was the chairman of the county legislature and 14 our local newspaper, the Rockland Journal News 15 called him the most effective leader of the 16 Rockland County Legislature in its nearly 30 17 year history and it's really my pleasure to 18 second the nomination of Tom Morahan. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Any 20 other Senators wishing to speak on the 21 nomination? 22 Question is on the nomination. 23 All those in favor signify by saying aye. 24 (Response of "Aye.") 25 Opposed nay. 1 (There was no response.) 2 The nominees are confirmed. 3 Secretary will continue to read. 4 THE SECRETARY: Senator 5 Stafford, from the Committee on Finance, 6 reports the following nomination: 7 Member of the Fire Fighting and 8 Code Enforcement Personnel Standards and 9 Education Commission: Gerald W. Lynch, of New 10 York City. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 12 Question is on the nomination. All those in 13 favor signify by saying aye. 14 (Response of "Aye.") 15 Opposed nay. 16 (There was no response.) 17 The nominee is confirmed. 18 Secretary will continue to read. 19 THE SECRETARY: Senator 20 Stafford, from the Committee on Finance, 21 reports the following nomination: 22 Member of the Medical Advisory 23 Committee: Stoner E. Horey, M.C., of 24 Hornell. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 1 Question is on the nomination. All those in 2 favor signify by saying aye. 3 (Response of "Aye.") 4 Opposed nay. 5 (There was no response.) 6 The nominee is confirmed. 7 Secretary will continue to read. 8 THE SECRETARY: Senator 9 Stafford, from the Committee on Finance, 10 reports the following nomination: 11 Member of the Advisory Council 12 to the Commission on the Quality of Care for 13 the Mentally Disabled: Elizabeth Wickerham, 14 of Saratoga Springs. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 16 Question is on the nomination. All those in 17 favor signify by saying aye. 18 (Response of "Aye.") 19 Opposed nay. 20 (There was no response.) 21 The nominee is confirmed. 22 Secretary will continue to read. 23 THE SECRETARY: Senator 24 Stafford, from the Committee on Finance, 25 reports the following nomination: Members of 1 the Minority Health Council, Lillian Yu-Feng 2 Hsu, M.D., of New Rochelle, and Enid B. McCoy, 3 of East Elmhurst. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 5 Question is on the nominations. All those in 6 favor signify by saying aye. 7 (Response of "Aye.") 8 Opposed nay. 9 (There was no response.) 10 The nominees are confirmed. 11 Secretary will continue to read. 12 THE SECRETARY: Senator 13 Stafford, from the Committee on Finance, 14 reports the following nomination: 15 Member of the Public Health 16 Council: Edward A. Stolzenberg, of Briarcliff 17 Manor. 18 SENATOR SPANO: Mr. President. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 20 Spano, on the nomination. 21 SENATOR SPANO: It's my 22 pleasure to stand and move the nomination of 23 Edward Stolzenberg as a member of the Public 24 Health Council. 25 Ed Stolzenberg was appointed a 1 number of years ago to head the Westchester 2 Medical Center which -- which turned last year 3 after an act of this Legislature into a public 4 benefit corporation in Westchester where he 5 still heads that public benefit corporation as 6 its president. 7 He has had a distinguished 8 career serving decades in the -- in this 9 profession, and will do us well and do the 10 Governor -- make the Governor proud as a 11 member of this Public Health Council. 12 Mr. Stolzenberg is here today 13 and I want to just say that we appreciate all 14 that he has done in Westchester County to 15 improve the quality of health care, the 16 delivery of health care for the people of 17 Westchester County, and I'm sure that he will 18 put all that good work and experience to work 19 for all the people across the state. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 21 question is on the nomination of Edward A. 22 Stolzenberg, of Briarcliff Manor to become a 23 member of the Public House Council -- excuse 24 me, Public Health Council. All those in favor 25 signify by saying aye. 1 (Response of "Aye.") 2 Opposed nay. 3 (There was no response.) 4 The nominee is confirmed. 5 Mr. Stolzenberg is with us here 6 today, I believe. We appreciate your 7 attendance. Congratulations and good luck. 8 Secretary will continue to 9 read. 10 THE SECRETARY: Senator 11 Stafford, from the Committee on Finance, 12 reports the following nominations: 13 Members of the New York State 14 Hospital Review and Planning Council: Vincent 15 Bove, of Belle Terre; Lin H. Mo, of 16 Bronxville; Edward G. Murphy, M.D., of Menands 17 and Henry M. Sloma, of Lewiston. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 19 Question is on the nominations. All those in 20 favor signify by saying aye. 21 (Response of "Aye.") 22 Opposed nay. 23 (There was no response.) 24 The nominees are confirmed. 25 Secretary will continue to read. 1 THE SECRETARY: Senator 2 Stafford, from the Committee on Finance, 3 reports the following nomination: 4 Member of the Board of Visitors 5 of the Bronx Psychiatric Center, Nellie 6 Neazer, of the Bronx. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 8 Question is on the nomination. All those in 9 favor signify by saying aye. 10 (Response of "Aye.") 11 Opposed nay. 12 (There was no response.) 13 The nominee is confirmed. 14 Secretary will continue to read. 15 THE SECRETARY: Senator 16 Stafford, from the Committee on Finance, 17 reports the following nomination: 18 Member of the Board of Visitors 19 of the Capital District Psychiatric Center, E. 20 Bernice Danks, of Averill Park. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 22 Question is on the nomination. All those in 23 favor signify by saying aye. 24 (Response of "Aye.") 25 Opposed nay. 1 (There was no response.) 2 The nominee is confirmed. 3 Secretary will continue to read. 4 THE SECRETARY: Senator 5 Stafford, from the Committee on Finance, 6 reports the following nomination: 7 Member of the Board of Visitors 8 of the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center, Christine 9 Spigner, of Jamaica. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 11 Question is on the nomination. All those in 12 favor signify by saying aye. 13 (Response of "Aye.") 14 Opposed nay. 15 (There was no response.) 16 The nominee is confirmed. 17 Secretary will continue to read. 18 THE SECRETARY: Senator 19 Stafford, from the Committee on Finance, 20 reports the following nomination: 21 Member of the Board of Visitors 22 of the Metro New York Developmental 23 Disabilities Services Office: Mildred Holley 24 Davis, of the Bronx. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 1 Question is on the nomination. All those in 2 favor signify by saying aye. 3 (Response of "Aye.") 4 Opposed nay. 5 (There was no response.) 6 The nominee is confirmed. 7 Secretary will continue to read. 8 THE SECRETARY: Senator 9 Stafford, from the Committee on Finance, 10 reports the following nomination: Member of 11 the Board of Visitors of the Middletown 12 Psychiatric Center, Jane A. Strout, of 13 Middletown. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 15 Question is on the nomination. All those in 16 favor signify by saying aye. 17 (Response of "Aye.") 18 Opposed nay. 19 (There was no response.) 20 The nominee is confirmed. 21 Secretary will continue to read. 22 THE SECRETARY: Senator 23 Stafford, from the Committee on Finance, 24 reports the following nomination: 25 Member of the Board of Visitors 1 of the Sagamore Children's Psychiatric Center, 2 Elsie Owens, of Coram. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 4 Question is on the nomination. All those in 5 favor signify by saying aye. 6 (Response of "Aye.") 7 Opposed nay. 8 (There was no response.) 9 The nominee is confirmed. 10 Secretary will continue to read 11 the reports of standing committees. 12 THE SECRETARY: Senator Lack, 13 from the Committee on Judiciary, reports the 14 following bills: 15 Senate 1231-A, by Senator 16 Libous, an act to amend the Uniform City Court 17 Act and the Judiciary Law; 18 1828-A, with amendments, by 19 Senator Kuhl, an act to amend the Judiciary 20 Law; 21 3414-A, by Senator Saland, an 22 act to amend the Judiciary Law and the Uniform 23 City Court Act; 24 3870, by Senator Goodman, an 25 act to amend the Domestic Relations Law; 1 5162-A, by Senator Lack, an act 2 to amend the Estates, Powers and Trusts Law; 3 and 4 6010, by Senator Stafford, an 5 act to amend the Judiciary Law. 6 Senator Hannon, from the 7 Committee on Health, reports: 8 Senate Print 6013, by Senator 9 Rath, an act to amend the Public Health Law; 10 6150, by Senator Hannon, an act 11 to amend the New York Health Care Reform Act 12 of 1996; 13 6233, by Senator Hannon, an act 14 to amend Chapter 426 of the Laws of 1983; 15 6252, by Senator Johnson, an 16 act to amend Chapter 572 of the Laws of 1994; 17 and 18 6326, by Senator Holland, an 19 act to amend Chapter 433 of the Laws of 1977. 20 Senator Johnson, from the 21 Committee on Transportation, reports: 22 Senate Print 901, by Senator 23 Kuhl, an act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic 24 Law; 25 2874-A, by Senator Johnson, an 1 act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law; 2 3671, by Senator Rath, an act 3 to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law; 4 5231, by Senator Maziarz, an 5 act to amend the Highway Law and the 6 Environmental Conservation Law; and 7 6069, by Senator Holland, an 8 act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law. 9 Senator Cook, from the 10 Committee on Education, reports: 11 Senate Print 6347, by Senator 12 Rath, an act to amend the Education Law. 13 Senator Saland, from the 14 Committee on Children and Families, reports: 15 Senate Print 332, by Senator 16 Skelos, an act to amend the Social Services 17 Law; 18 2584-A, by Senator Johnson, an 19 act to amend the Family Court Act and the 20 Vehicle and Traffic Law; 21 4519-A, by Senator Saland, an 22 act to amend the Domestic Relations Law and 23 others; and 24 5175, by Senator Saland, an act 25 to amend the Domestic Relations Law and the 1 Family Court Act. 2 Senator Goodman, from the 3 Committee on Investigations, Taxation and 4 Government Operations, reports: 5 Senate Print 342, by Senator 6 Nozzolio, an act to amend the Alcoholic 7 Beverage Control Law; 8 1825, by Senator Farley, an act 9 to amend the Public Officers Law; 10 4351-A, with amendments, by 11 Senator Maltese, an act to amend the Alcoholic 12 Beverage Control Law; 13 5563, by Senator Saland, an act 14 to authorize the Commissioner of General 15 Services; and 16 6119, by Senator Leibell, an 17 act to amend the Public Officers Law. 18 All bills ordered direct for 19 third reading. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 21 objection, all bills ordered directly to third 22 reading. 23 Senator Cook, why do you rise? 24 SENATOR COOK: On the report of 25 the Education Committee, were there two bills 1 by Senator Rath reported or only one? Did they 2 read them both? 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: I'm 4 informed by the Secretary, Senator Cook, that 5 only one bill was actually reported from the 6 committee, that was Senate Bill 6347, by 7 Senator Rath. 8 SENATOR COOK: Well, that's 9 incorrect, so we need to verify the - 10 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 11 we can always return to reports of standing 12 committees. Why don't we check that out. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 14 second bill, Senator Cook, is not on file yet 15 at the desk. That's why it wasn't reported. 16 SENATOR COOK: Oh, that was 17 reported by the Committee. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: But it 19 has not arrived at the desk so it hasn't been 20 reported. 21 SENATOR COOK: Those are bills 22 to get acted on, so I'll make sure we can get 23 the action. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Thank 25 you for your attention to that matter. 1 Reports of select committees. 2 Communications and reports from 3 state officers. 4 Motions and resolutions. 5 Senator Skelos. 6 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 7 I believe there's a privileged resolution at 8 the desk sponsored by Senator Paterson. May 9 we have the title read and I move for its 10 immediate adoption. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There 12 is. Secretary will read the title of the 13 privileged resolution by Senator Paterson, 14 which is at the desk. 15 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 16 Paterson, Legislative Resolution 2915, 17 declaring March 18, 1998 as Gideon Day in the 18 state of New York. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 20 Question is on the resolution. All those - 21 Senator Paterson, on the resolution. 22 SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you, 23 Mr. President. 24 I'd like to thank all of our 25 colleagues in the chamber for recognizing this 1 piece of legislation and would like to 2 recognize Senator Skelos for his help. 3 This is the 35th anniversary of 4 the landmark Supreme Court case of Gideon vs. 5 Wainwright which established the right to 6 counsel to any individual in this country who 7 needs one. This will certainly help Senator 8 Gold in his endeavors after this year, and it 9 is probably the most important of rights that 10 we have in this country, in a democracy, the 11 right to trial, the right to defend one's 12 self, the right to defend one's name. It is 13 something that is not as easily accomplished 14 as possible in this country and wasn't 15 recognized until the last few years that 16 without the assistance of proper counsel and 17 the ability to understand the charges against 18 one and to assist in one's own defense, it is 19 necessary to have a lawyer of understanding 20 who can interact on behalf of the -- those who 21 are aggrieved in this country, that there is 22 an equal right that we all have but we often 23 don't have equal resources to demonstrate it 24 and this case established what is now an 25 ordinary process but one that bears a memory 1 on a day such as today, the 35th anniversary 2 of the Supreme Court case, Gideon vs. 3 Wainwright. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 5 Question is on the resolution. All those in 6 favor 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 at this time may we please adopt the 14 Resolution Calendar in its entirety. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 16 question is on the Resolution Calendar which 17 is on the members' desks. 18 SENATOR GOLD: Mr. President. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 20 Gold. 21 SENATOR GOLD: Yeah, Mr. 22 President. 23 I'd just like to point out 24 Resolution Number 2905 which I'm sponsoring, 25 dealing with the death of Lloyd Bridges who, 1 as everyone knows, was a very renowned actor 2 and that's not really the reason for the 3 resolution. 4 The reason for the resolution 5 is that Lloyd Bridges and Mrs. Bridges 6 suffered the death of a child through Sudden 7 Infant Death Syndrome and were very, very 8 active in their life nationally in that 9 movement and were very, very supportive of all 10 the groups in that area and I just wanted to 11 point that out. If anybody would like to 12 co-sponsor that resolution, I would want to 13 open it up. 14 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. 15 President. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 17 Skelos. 18 SENATOR SKELOS: I believe 19 Senator Meier wishes to do the same with 20 Resolution JL 2879 which would commend the New 21 York State military forces for their 22 assistance during Operation Ice, January 23 1998. 24 SENATOR MEIER: Correct. 25 SENATOR SKELOS: So if any 1 member does not wish to sponsor either that 2 resolution or Senator Gold's resolution 3 commemorating the life of Lloyd Bridges, they 4 should notify the desk. O.K.? 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: I'll 6 direct the Secretary to make all members as 7 co-sponsors of both of those resolutions 8 unless they indicate to the Secretary that 9 they do not wish to be on those resolutions. 10 The question is on the 11 Resolution Calendar. All those in favor 12 significant by saying aye. 13 (Response of "Aye.") 14 Opposed nay. 15 (There was no response.) 16 The Resolution Calendar is 17 adopted. 18 Senator Skelos, we have one 19 substitution. 20 SENATOR SKELOS: Please make 21 the substitution. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 23 Secretary will read. 24 THE SECRETARY: On page 19, 25 Senator Spano moves to discharge from the 1 Committee on Judiciary, Assembly Number 2122 2 A and substitute it for the identical Third 3 Reading Calendar 371. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 5 Substitution is ordered. 6 Senator Skelos, that brings us 7 to the non-controversial calendar. 8 SENATOR SKELOS: Please take up 9 the non-controversial calendar. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 11 Secretary will read the non-controversial 12 calendar. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 135, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 251, an act 15 to repeal paragraph (f) of subdivision 1 of 16 Section 70.30 of the Penal Law. 17 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it 18 aside. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 20 bill aside. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 138, by Senator Present, Senate Print 539, an 23 act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law, in 24 relation to eligibility for youthful offender 25 status. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 2 Secretary will read the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 4 This act shall take effect on the first day of 5 November. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call 7 the roll. 8 (The Secretary called the 9 roll. ) 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 56. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 12 bill is passed. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 192, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 255, an act 15 to amend the Family Court Act, in relation to 16 the age of runaway children and persons in 17 need of supervision. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 19 Secretary will read the last -- Secretary will 20 read the last section. 21 SENATOR LEICHTER: Lay it 22 aside. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 24 bill aside. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 1 249, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 5136, an 2 act to amend the Executive Law, in relation to 3 services to runaway and homeless youth. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 5 Secretary will read the last section. 6 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 7 act shall take effect on the 120th day. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call 9 the roll. 10 (The Secretary called the 11 roll. ) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 14 bill is passed. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 299, by Senator LaValle, Senate Print 4335, an 17 act to amend the Education Law, in relation to 18 indemnification of City University community 19 college employees. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 21 Secretary will read the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 23 This act shall take effect immediately. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call 25 the roll. 1 (The Secretary called the 2 roll. ) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 5 bill is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 304, by Senator Nozzolio, Senate Print 2779, 8 an act to amend the Correction Law, in 9 relation to charging taxes. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 11 bill aside. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 306, by Senator Nozzolio, Senate Print 3429, 14 an act to amend the Correction Law, in 15 relation to requiring inmates to make medical 16 co-payments. 17 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay aside. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 19 bill aside. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 316, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 242, an 22 act to amend the State Finance Law, in 23 relation to allocations from the State Police 24 motor vehicle enforcement account. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 1 Secretary will read the last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 3 act shall take effect immediately. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call 5 the roll. 6 (The Secretary called the 7 roll.) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 10 bill is passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar number 12 352, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print Number 13 338, an act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic 14 Law, in relation to increasing the period of 15 time during which a driver's license is 16 suspended. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 18 Secretary will read the last section. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 20 act shall take effect on the first day of 21 November. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call 23 the roll. 24 (The Secretary called the 25 roll.) 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 3 bill is passed. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 355, by Senator Padavan, Senate Print 3088, an 6 act to amend the General Business Law, in 7 relation to the possession and sale of 8 drug-related paraphernalia. 9 SENATOR GOLD: Lay aside. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 11 bill aside. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 357, by Senator Maltese, an act to amend the 14 Real Property Tax Law, in relation to tax 15 credit for security improvements. 16 SENATOR GOLD: Lay it aside, 17 please. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 19 bill aside. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 359, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 87-A, an 22 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 23 criminal possession of marijuana in the third 24 degree. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 1 Secretary will read the last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 3 This act shall take effect on the first day of 4 November. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 6 bill aside. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 368, by Senator Meier, Senate Print 4583-A, an 9 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 10 permitting a court to impose a sentence of a 11 fine. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 13 Secretary will read the last section. 14 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 15 act shall take effect on the first day of 16 November. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call 18 the roll. 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 21 bill is passed. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 370, by Senator Velella, Senate Print 5710-A, 24 an act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 25 multiple convictions for criminal sale of 1 marijuana. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 3 Secretary will read the last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. This 5 act shall take effect on the first day of 6 November. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call 8 the roll. 9 (The Secretary called the 10 roll.) 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57, nays 12 one, Senator Leichter recorded in the 13 negative. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 15 bill is passed. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 391, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 2379-A, 18 an act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law and 19 others. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Skelos. 22 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 23 on Calendar Number 391, is there a message of 24 necessity at the desk? 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There 1 is. 2 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to 3 accept. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Motion 5 is to accept the message of necessity on 6 Calendar Number 391. All in favor signify by 7 saying aye. 8 SENATOR LEICHTER: On the 9 message of necessity, Mr. President, I believe 10 that's a debatable motion. Yeah, yeah. 11 Would you yield? Would the 12 acting Majority Leader yield - 13 SENATOR SKELOS: Lay the bill 14 aside temporarily. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 16 bill aside. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 394, by Senator Spano, Senate Print 6394, an 19 act to amend the Election Law, in relation to 20 certain village elections. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 22 Secretary will read the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 24 This act shall take effect immediately. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call 1 the roll. 2 (The Secretary called the 3 roll. ) 4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 6 bill is passed. 7 Senator Skelos, that completes 8 the reading of the non-controversial 9 calendar. 10 SENATOR STAVISKY: Mr. 11 President. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 Stavisky, why do you rise? 14 SENATOR STAVISKY: I rise for 15 the purpose of recording some negative votes. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Which 17 bills would you like to be recorded in the 18 negative on? 19 SENATOR STAVISKY: On Wednesday, 20 March 11th, Senate Calendar 298, Bill 243, I 21 should like to be recorded in the negative, 22 without objection. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 24 Skelos, the record.... Excuse me -- Senator 25 Stavisky, excuse me. The record will reflect 1 that had you been here that day, that you 2 would have voted in the negative on Calendar 3 Number 298. 4 SENATOR STAVISKY: And again, 5 Mr. President, Calendar Number 240, Senate 6 Print 4174, I would like to be recorded in the 7 negative on that one. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 9 record will reflect that, when that bill was 10 passed, Senator Stavisky, had you been in the 11 chamber you would have voted in the negative 12 on that bill. 13 SENATOR STAVISKY: On Monday, 14 March 16th, Calendar Number 240, Senate 231, I 15 wish to be recorded in the negative, without 16 objection. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 18 Stavisky, the record will reflect that had you 19 been here on Monday, the 16th, that you would 20 have been voting in the negative on Calendar 21 Number 240. 22 Secretary will read the - 23 Senator Montgomery, why do you rise? 24 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, Mr. 25 President. I would like to be recorded in the 1 negative on Calendar Number 370. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 3 objection. 4 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Thank 5 you. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Hearing 7 no objection, Senator Montgomery will be 8 recorded in the negative on Calendar Number 9 370. 10 Secretary will read the 11 controversial calendar. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 135, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 251, an act 14 to repeal paragraph (f) of subdivision 1 of 15 Section 70.30 of the Penal Law. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 17 Rath, an explanation of Calendar 135 has been 18 requested by Senator Montgomery. 19 SENATOR RATH: Thank you, Mr. 20 Chairman. 21 This bill repeals a section of 22 the Penal Law which limits the aggregate 23 maximum term of consecutive sentences imposed 24 on a juvenile offender for two or more 25 felonies. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 Montgomery. 3 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, Mr. 4 President. If the sponsor would yield. I 5 just have a question of clarification. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7 Rath, do you yield to a question? 8 SENATOR RATH: Yes. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 10 yields. 11 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Senator 12 Rath, what -- if your bill becomes law, what 13 then are we looking at as the average sentence 14 for a juvenile offender under this statute? 15 SENATOR RATH: Well, once this 16 section is repealed, Senator Montgomery, the 17 juvenile offender's sentence for kidnapping, 18 arson and non-Class A felonies will have the 19 same maximum as others. For example, 50 years 20 for three violent felony offenses, 40 for two, 21 30 for a Class B and another felony, and 20 22 years for any two or more felonies. 23 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: All 24 right. Thank you. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 1 Montgomery? 2 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Mr. 3 President, I'm going to oppose this 4 legislation. I think that since it is 5 specifically directed to juvenile offenders 6 and we -- obviously we want the punishment to 7 fit the crime, but I'm not sure that we want 8 to automatically give those extended prison 9 terms to juveniles, some of them as young as 10 perhaps 16, 17 or 18 years old, and who, 11 although may be exhibiting extreme behavior 12 and not at the point where they're not 13 salvageable, but if we just are going to put 14 them in the very long-term prison sentences, 15 and possibly with a very extended time without 16 even consideration of parole, it -- really it 17 doesn't leave much room for us to do much 18 remediation. 19 So, Senator Rath, I'm going to 20 oppose this legislation, Mr. President, 21 because I just think it's quite severe since 22 it is specifically directed at juveniles. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Any 24 other Senator wishing to speak on the bill? 25 Secretary will read the last 1 section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 3 This act shall take effect on the first day of 4 November. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call 6 the roll. 7 (The Secretary called the 8 roll. ) 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 10 the negatives. 11 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded 12 in the negative on Calendar Number 135 are 13 Senators Mendez, Montgomery, Sampson, Seabrook 14 and Waldon. Ayes 53, nays 5. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 16 bill is passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 192, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 255, an act 19 to amend the Family Court Act, in relation to 20 the age of runaway children and persons in 21 need of supervision. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 23 Secretary will read the last section. 24 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. 25 This act shall take effect on the first day of 1 November. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call 3 the roll. 4 (The Secretary called the 5 roll. ) 6 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 8 bill is passed. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 304, by Senator Nozzolio, Senate Print 2779, 11 an act to amend the Correction Law, in 12 relation to charging taxes on sales of 13 commissaries and canteens. 14 SENATOR PATERSON: 15 Explanation. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 17 Nozzolio, an explanation of Calendar Number 18 304 has been requested by Senator Paterson. 19 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Thank you, 20 Mr. President. 21 The bill before us authorizes 22 the head of any correctional institution to 23 charge taxes on sales of commissaries and can 24 teens. As you know, my colleagues, there are 25 prison commissaries and prison stores, if you 1 will, where a variety of goods can be 2 purchased by inmates. Unfortunately for the 3 taxpayers of this state, inmates not only get 4 a reduced charge on those goods but they also 5 pay no sales tax. The correction officers and 6 other correctional personnel who are entrusted 7 with guarding the inmates who are purchasing 8 -- making these purchases in effect have to 9 go and pay sales tax while their inmates 10 they're guarding do not. 11 We believe that this measure 12 would yield almost $700,000 for the state as 13 well as approximately $1.4 million for local 14 governments, and we believe it's something 15 that should occur. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 17 Montgomery? Senator Paterson. Senator 18 Montgomery. 19 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, Mr. 20 President, I would like to just ask the 21 sponsor a question. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 23 Nozzolio, do you yield to a question from 24 Senator Montgomery? 25 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: I'd be glad 1 to yield to Senator Montgomery. 2 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, 3 Senator Nozzolio. Do you know last week that 4 we had a very lovely exhibition of products 5 that are made in the prisons? What do we pay 6 the prisoners to -- when they participate in 7 those manufacturing and other product 8 production in prisons? What is their daily 9 salary? 10 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: I think, Mr. 11 President, for work that inmates do, the 12 license plates, Corcraft furniture, garbage 13 pails, street signs which I think is 14 terrific. 15 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes. 16 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: We've seen 17 an expansion of prison industry under Governor 18 Pataki, and I'd like to see that further 19 expanded. Inmates make a few cents an hour. 20 Frankly, I don't believe inmates should be 21 paid at all, but they do receive money for 22 their labors. 23 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: It's about 24 $1.50 a day, is that it, do you know? It's my 25 understanding that they earn about $1.50 a 1 day. 2 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: I don't know 3 what it is. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5 Montgomery, do you still have another 6 question? 7 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Mr. 8 President, I still have another question. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 10 Nozzolio, do you continue to yield? 11 SENATOR NOZZOLIIO: Yes, Mr. 12 President. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 Nozzolio continues to yield. 15 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: All right, 16 thank you, Senator Nozzolio. It is my 17 understanding that the products in the prisons 18 that are made by the inmates are only 19 available to be purchased by various 20 municipalities for their use -- street signs, 21 the litter baskets, the furniture, is that - 22 is that correct or - 23 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Mr. Presi 24 dent, with things like street signs, I think 25 the market is pretty limited for street signs. 1 I don't think people beyond municiplaities 2 would be buying street signs. License plates 3 though, Senator, Mr. President, in response to 4 Senator Montgomery's question, are readily 5 available to the public to purchase. I think 6 that's probably the commodity that is 7 purchased the most. 8 Corcraft furniture, Mr. 9 President, is not sold to the general public. 10 It is used primarily for state and office 11 settings. So Senator, yes, Senator's question 12 is that the goods sold are primarily not 13 available to others. The answer is yes, 14 they're primarily not with the exception of 15 license plates. 16 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: All 17 right. Thank you, Senator Nozzolio. 18 Just briefly on the bill, Mr. 19 President. As Senator Nozzolio has indicated, 20 the products that are produced by the inmates 21 where we pay them about $1.50 a day, those 22 products generate, I believe, according to 23 Corrections, about a billion dollars a year at 24 least, in revenue, and they are available at 25 what I assume to be a savings to 1 municipalities because they're not supposed to 2 be sold on the free market so, therefore, they 3 enure solely to the benefit of the localities 4 that Senator Nozzolio is now attempting to 5 collect a little it more taxes out of the 6 $1.50 a day that the -- that the inmates earn, 7 to help the localities that are already being 8 helped based on the fact that the inmates 9 produce these magnificent products, a wide 10 range of them, that are available to the 11 municipalities at what I assume to be a 12 tremendous savings. 13 So I think that this really is 14 just simply an act of real meanness as it 15 relates to one more small-minded kind of 16 punishment for people who, in fact, are 17 participating in -- in slave labor to produce 18 a major piece of the economy in this state. 19 So this is really -- this I 20 think, goes far beyond just the philosophy 21 that we want to make the prisoners pay and we 22 want to help the localities. They're already 23 being helped. They're being helped by the 24 fact the prison is there providing jobs for 25 their localities, for the people that live 1 there. It -- they -- the prisoners themselves 2 are generating income for the locality, income 3 for Corrections. 4 So, Senator Nozzolio, I -- I 5 understand that we want to make people pay for 6 their crimes, but this really is almost just 7 uncivilized because we are now charging the 8 slaves for their -- for their labor, so - 9 more. We're charging, taking more money out 10 of the small amount of money that is paid to 11 them, and they're essentially providing slave 12 labor, so I really think that we should not 13 even be considering this legislation. 14 I certainly hope that my 15 colleagues will vote against it. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Any 17 other Senator wishing to speak on the bill? 18 Senator Waldon, on the bill? 19 SENATOR WALDON: Thank you very 20 much, Mr. President. 21 Would the gentleman yield to a 22 question or two? 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 24 Nozzolio, would you yield? 25 SENATOR NOZZOLIIO: Yes. 1 Senator yields. 2 SENATOR WALDON: First, 3 Senator, let me thank you for yielding and, 4 two, let me first apologize for not having 5 reviewed your bill in total before standing 6 up, so I'll respectfully ask that you kind of 7 help me through some thorny issues. 8 In regard to the tax, is any of 9 that money used for education of those who are 10 incarcerated? 11 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Mr. 12 President, through the chair, yes, Senator's 13 question is that the cost of incarceration for 14 an inmate, certainly part of that cost gets to 15 the education, vocational, other training that 16 inmates undergo, and what we're trying to do, 17 Senator, is not, as Senator Montgomery 18 describes, as being -- as being harsh. Rather 19 we're trying to ensure that the taxpayers are 20 seeing inmates pay for the cost of their 21 incarceration, and that sales tax is a very 22 modest way that the inmates -- no one is 23 forcing them to buy these products. They are 24 products that are not -- they are given - 25 inmates are given three meals a day that 1 they're not -- they're not charged a penny for 2 that. They're given -- they're paying their 3 debt to society. 4 What I'd like to see happen, 5 Senator, is the more we can get inmates -- on 6 your question -- the more we can get inmates 7 to pay for the cost of their incarceration in 8 a fair way, the more we will be able to get 9 good vocational oriented programs and pay for 10 those programs in prisons. So I see this as a 11 very positive step. This is -- we can go to 12 the taxpayers and say the inmates are paying 13 for their cost of incarceration and, 14 therefore, we can do better things in trying 15 to rehabilitate our inmates now in our 16 facilities. 17 SENATOR WALDON: If the 18 gentleman will continue to yield, Mr. 19 President. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Nozzolio, do you continue to yield? 22 SENATOR NOZZOLIIO: Yes. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 24 continues to yield. 25 SENATOR WALDON: Senator 1 Nozzolio, can you give us some ball park 2 figure as to how much money you anticipate 3 will be raised from these taxes at the 4 commissary? 5 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Mr. 6 President, it's estimated that this bill 7 represents a potential savings of $5.1 million 8 to taxpayers across the state. 9 SENATOR WALDON: Will the 10 gentleman continue to yield? 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 12 Nozzolio, do you continue to yield? 13 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Yes, I will. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 15 continues to yield. 16 SENATOR WALDON: From what you 17 responded to my prior question and your 18 response to this question Senator, then am I 19 improper in assuming that $1.5 million will 20 now be allocated for the education of those 21 who are in prison? Will that money be 22 designated for the education of the people who 23 are actually paying the taxes? Is that the 24 quid pro quo? 25 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Senator, 1 through the chair, my intent is not to 2 specifically earmark. My intent is to create 3 an environment with this bill and the next 4 bill that we are going to be debating to have 5 inmates by paying for their cost of 6 incarceration are going to make it more easily 7 available for those who, like yourself, would 8 advocate additional prison support. I add 9 myself to that because, if we can ensure first 10 that the taxpayers are going to be met with 11 having inmates assume more and more of the 12 costs of their incarceration, I will join you 13 in advocating aggressively for those 14 additional programs and educational tools. 15 SENATOR WALDON: If the 16 gentleman would yield again, Mr. President? 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 18 Nozzolio, you continue to yield? 19 SENATOR NOZZOLIIO: Yes, Mr. 20 President. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 continues to yield. 23 SENATOR WALDON: Senator 24 Nozzolio, I defer to you as our in resident 25 expert in regard to the correctional system in 1 our state, so please correct me if what I'm 2 about to say is wrong and edify not only 3 myself but our colleagues. 4 It is my understanding that 5 approximately $30,000 per year is needed for 6 the maintenance of those who are incarcerated 7 when it's not a juvenile facility, an 8 adolescent facility, and when it's not a 9 certain specialized situation, i.e., someone 10 who is quite ill, AIDS or otherwise, and that 11 for the construction of each prison cell that 12 the state builds that it's about $150,000 to 13 build it on the front end, and by the time the 14 mortgage debt, meaning the debt service, is 15 paid on each individual cell, it comes to 16 about 450,000. So if someone is in jail -- in 17 prison I should say; I apologize -- for 20 18 years, it would be 20 times 30,000 without any 19 cost of living adjustment, and to build a cell 20 that that person would remain in would be 21 about 450,000. 22 Is that fairly accurate, from 23 your expertise? 24 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: It's a 25 little high, Senator, but it's in the ball 1 park. 2 SENATOR WALDON: Thank you. If 3 I may just ask another question. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5 Nozzolio, you continue to yield? 6 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Yes, I do. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 8 continues to yield. 9 SENATOR WALDON: Senator, when 10 we think of the cost attached to incarceration 11 of each person, ball park figure, let's say 12 400,000 to construct a cell, 20 times 30 or an 13 additional whatever kind of thousand, whatever 14 the figures, we're talking a million dollars 15 or thereabouts and if I'm not correct in my 16 math, please accept my apologies, and what 17 you're saying is that this program for a year, 18 for all of the prisons across the state, all 19 of the people that are in prison, male and 20 female, young and old, will generate just $1.5 21 million for education, if you and I become 22 advocates for that purpose, which hasn't 23 occurred, meaning we had no consultation that 24 this is what we're going to do, although you 25 may have had the genesis of that idea in your 1 head, I certainly had it in my head, but we 2 haven't agreed to agree to do that. 3 Isn't that a little -- isn't 4 that a stretch as to what benefit this tax 5 will make on or render on behalf of those who 6 are in prison? Couldn't we do something more 7 creative out of that million dollars for just 8 the one prison and somebody in jail for 20 9 years? Couldn't we find more than $1.5 10 million by reducing the cost of the 11 construction or doing something with 12 alternatives to incarceration or doing 13 something in regard to prevention so that the 14 person never would get into the prison so that 15 the state would have more money? Are we 16 careening towards what California and Texas 17 have done, literally bankrupting their 18 governments with construction of prison cells 19 and that's my last question, and I thank you 20 for your indulgence and for your kind 21 response. 22 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Mr. 23 President, if I may, Senator is correct, we 24 certainly could do more. This is one step, 25 though, in an effort that I would welcome 1 additional suggestions where we could hone 2 down the costs and move the correctional 3 system to an era of total rehabilitation in a 4 very progressive way, but I think we're going 5 to be hamstrung until we understand that we 6 need to have inmates continue to support more 7 of the costs of incarceration. 8 Maybe if would instill in some 9 inmates or some of those who want to be 10 inmates or who are trying, are living a career 11 of crime, that this prison isn't a place to 12 be, that with more and more costs of 13 incarceration borne by prison inmates, I 14 believe we are doing our taxpayers a great 15 service and that in the long run, we will be 16 doing our inmates a good service in focusing 17 more on positive ways to rehabilitate. 18 Thank you, Mr. President. 19 SENATOR WALDON: Mr. President, 20 on the bill. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Waldon, on the bill. 23 SENATOR WALDON: Thank you very 24 much, Mr. President. 25 First of all, let me say that I 1 truly believe that Senator Nozzolio believes 2 the position that he takes and that those 3 positions are correct. I have learned over 4 the years that he and I served in the Assembly 5 together and here in the Senate, that he's a 6 person who is not doing this just because it 7 may be politics for the moment, that he truly 8 believes the positions he takes. 9 But I respectfully disagree 10 with the positions that he takes and for us as 11 a state, to get involved with picayune penny 12 ante taxation of those who are, in effect, as 13 characterized so beautifully by Senator 14 Montgomery, a slave labor component of this 15 government, I think is somewhat obscene. 16 I think, when people are in 17 carcerated and making almost no money, to tax 18 the little bit of money that they have, while 19 you're taking away the educational opportun 20 ity, while you're restricting conjugal visits, 21 while you're doing a whole host of 22 counterproductive administrative procedures, 23 in my opinion, you're just asking for 24 trouble. 25 A guy makes $1.50 a day. He 1 goes to buy a tube of toothpaste and you say 8 2 percent -- 8 percent. You're sending a message 3 that says, Not only are you stuck here, you 4 don't even rate as a human being. This little 5 bit of money that you have, we're going to 6 take it away, and we're going to further grind 7 you down into your state of nothingness. For 8 the little bit of money that's generated, it 9 doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense. I 10 am not saying we should have happy campers in 11 prison, but we should certainly not make their 12 situation so impossible that they want to re 13 act and over-react against each other and 14 against the people who are working in the 15 prisons. 16 We have to be cognizant that we 17 want to promote safety for our good correction 18 officers in the prisons, but with some of 19 these really tough guys who are in prison, if 20 you take away that last modicum of sanity, 21 taxing them when they go to buy a toothpaste 22 or potato chip or whatever their need is in 23 prison, I think what you're saying is Hey, 24 take your best shot, do whatever you have to 25 do to survive, and then you create a problem 1 for the entire prison system. 2 I would hope, in our wisdom, we 3 would recognize that there are other vehicles 4 to generate money. We have a $76 bi;llion 5 budget facing us. This little $5.1 million is 6 nothing in the scale of the magnitude of that 7 budget. I suggest that we do the smart thing 8 today and vote against this particular 9 proposal. 10 Thank you, Mr. President. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 12 Paterson. 13 SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you, 14 Mr. President. If Senator Nozzolio would 15 yield for a question. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 17 Nozzolio? Senator Nozzolio yields. 18 SENATOR PATERSON: Senator, 19 just technically, is it just your attempt to 20 exempt inmates from paying the local taxes 21 because it appears that they would be paying 22 state taxes under this bill but I don't see 23 any way that they would be paying local taxes 24 to local governments in those areas. 25 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Senator, Mr. 1 President, through you, I'm sorry, Senator, I 2 had a little trouble hearing your question, 3 sir. Would you suffer an interruption by 4 repeating it? 5 SENATOR PATERSON: Certainly, 6 Senator. I'm sorry. I was asking if it was 7 your intention to exempt the inmates from 8 paying local taxes because, although I see in 9 this legislation how they would be paying 10 state taxes, it would seem that they would 11 only be paying four cents because I don't see 12 the mechanism in the legislation that would 13 allow for them to pay local taxes and local 14 governments where the detention facilities are 15 located. 16 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: It is our 17 opinion, Senator, that this measure would 18 empower the Commissioner to establish those 19 appropriate rules and regulations whereby 20 sales tax which, as you know, Senator, is not 21 just a creature of state government but also 22 one of local government, that local 23 governments would, in fact, because they share 24 in sales tax would be able to receive those 25 monies. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 Paterson. 3 SENATOR PATERSON: If the 4 Senator would continue to yield. 5 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Be happy to, 6 Mr. President. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 8 continues to yields. 9 SENATOR PATERSON: Senator, the 10 reason I pointed it out, if you had not put 11 anything in the bill, then that's what I would 12 assume, but you put in the bill appropriate 13 state sales tax. You don't refer to any other 14 tax, so that's why I was asking the question 15 because I would have thought if you wanted 16 both the state and the local tax to be paid 17 you would have written them both in the same 18 sentence. 19 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Senator, I 20 stand by that previous answer. 21 Thank you, Mr. President. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 23 Paterson. 24 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. 25 President, on the bill. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 Paterson, on the bill. 3 SENATOR PATERSON: I concur 4 with Senator Montgomery and Senator Waldon. In 5 a detention facility, the basic idea is that 6 we are removing the individual from society 7 because of crimes committed against the 8 society and our public policy. 9 I noticed earlier that Senator 10 Nozzolio said that for the work that the 11 inmates are engaged in, he didn't want to pay 12 them at all, and that might actually be the 13 appropriate reaction, that we wouldn't pay the 14 inmates for any work. We wouldn't charge them 15 for any of the food that they use in the 16 commissary, but in the Supreme Court case of 17 the early '70s, the State versus Ciro where 18 the discussion was really more about how 19 inmate facilities do not rehabilitate but only 20 incarcerate, I would think that the reason 21 that we do reward inmates for some of the jobs 22 that they -- the jobs that they are able to 23 acquire while in the facility, is to try to 24 bring them back into society, and so the 25 amount of money that they make in these jobs 1 is not nearly what they would make outside the 2 facility, but the whole purpose is not to pay 3 the minimum wage. It's to get them to 4 understand that they work, they then take 5 money that they earned, not that they stole 6 and use that money to purchase certain items 7 in the facility. 8 So what we're doing is we're 9 creating a closed society. Often in other 10 governments they actually send people to 11 closed cities at times when they were guilty 12 of some crime. I think that Gorki was the 13 city that the protagonist in "Crime and 14 Punishment" was sent to; and so what we're 15 really trying to establish is a situation 16 where we're not only punishing and 17 incarcerating, but we're also trying to create 18 some of maybe the most fundamental ethical 19 situations so that inmates can understand 20 what's expected of them when they come into 21 the outside world, so you can say that "I pay 22 taxes. I pay sales taxes at my store when I 23 go to buy products," and these inmates aren't 24 paying taxes; but it is the same kind of logic 25 as counting your fingers back from ten and 1 getting to six and then adding five and say 2 that you have eleven fingers. They're really 3 on two different scales, and I think that the 4 most apt way to look at the situation is to 5 recognize that our prisons are a completely 6 different society. There is no democracy in a 7 prison. There is certainly no opportunity for 8 redress in prisons. We really don't have any 9 real revenue infrastructure in a prison, so to 10 compare it to what's going on outside the 11 prison theoretically, one of the reasons that 12 the food costs less in an inmate commissary is 13 because we are purchasing it exactly for the 14 commissary of a prison, not in a regular 15 environment, and so it's not even an idea 16 logical disagreement that I have with Senator 17 Nozzolio, it's just a fact of circumstance 18 that a prison is a completely different 19 facility where we have different types of 20 rules, and that even the -- the work-related 21 tasks that are in prisons are designed to 22 accomplish a different kind of end than they 23 are in society, and I agree with Senator 24 Montgomery that there isn't much of a basis 25 when viewed through that prison, to support 1 this bill. 2 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. 3 President. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5 Leichter. 6 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes, Mr. 7 President. 8 Frankly I'm somewhat bothered 9 by the -- by the debate and I'm bothered by 10 Senator Nozzolio trying to read his bill in a 11 way that completely flies in the face of the 12 language. 13 Now, when you're in the 14 majority, Senator Nozzolio, you have a lot of 15 privileges, a lot of power, a lot of things 16 you can do, but you can't tell us black is 17 white. You can't tell us blue is red and, 18 when your bill says, as this bill does, that 19 it applies to state and sales and use taxes 20 and says, well, that clearly includes local 21 taxes, I mean I think we've got to rely on the 22 clear and plain language, and I had this 23 problem with you last week, Senator Nozzolio, 24 when you got up and you told us you had this 25 bill to take care of dangerous felons and they 1 were going to be subject to lifetime 2 supervision under parole, and I pointed out 3 that one of the provisions you put in there 4 was a misdemeanor, relatively minor mis 5 demeanor. I mean I think we're bound by a 6 certain degree of, shall I say honesty in 7 looking at our bills and saying what they 8 are. 9 Now, you can pass it. You'll 10 pass it today; doesn't matter how foolish the 11 bill is, you'll pass it and it really raises a 12 question which Senator Gold last time, are we 13 here for a public relation endeavor or is this 14 a serious effort to pass legislation? And I 15 would just say, Senator Nozzolio, that if we 16 want to save, and you always talk about trying 17 to save the taxpayers -- let me make a 18 suggestion to you if you want to save the 19 taxpayers. Get rid of that camera. That 20 camera, which is there at state expense which 21 seems to be there whenever one of your bills 22 is up, which isn't available to most members, 23 which isn't available to the public, you want 24 to save money, then don't have the taxpayers 25 pay for these public relations bits and, 1 frankly -- and I've made this point and I've 2 asked the Senate Secretary and I will again, 3 why these cameras are here when certain 4 members of the Majority ask to have them there 5 so that they can record their brilliant 6 debates and put it on their local television. 7 I don't think the taxpayers should pay for 8 that. I think what we should pay for is what 9 Congress has, which Massachusetts has, which 10 is we ought it televise our debates and that's 11 how we should spend money. 12 So if you want to save money, 13 let's get rid of the cameras every time, 14 Senator, that you have one of your bills or 15 let the cameras record that Senator Nozzolio 16 is telling the people of the state of New York 17 that black is white. And how can he do that? 18 Well, he's in the majority. He can pass 19 anything, but, Senator, if your intent is to 20 tax localities, this bill doesn't -- or not 21 tax localities but to give localities the 22 benefit of sales taxes to be paid by inmates, 23 this bill doesn't do it. 24 Let me just say, I certainly 25 agree with the arguments my colleagues have 1 made. I want to -- I do want to thank Senator 2 Montgomery for raising the issue. Otherwise 3 this bill would have probably just sailed 4 through, although I must disassociate myself 5 from her comment that this is slave labor. I 6 think the circumstances are somewhat 7 otherwise, but I think the argument that she 8 and Senator Paterson, Senator Waldon made, 9 certainly make good sense and, as I said, I 10 think there's a certain fairness, there's a 11 certain legislative process that we ought to 12 be following here in these bills, and I'm 13 afraid, Senator, that your bill doesn't meet 14 that standard. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is 16 there other Senator wishing to speak on the 17 bill? 18 Hearing none, the Secretary 19 will read the last section. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 21 act shall take effect immediately. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call 23 the roll. 24 (The Secretary called the 25 roll. ) 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 2 the negatives and announce the results. 3 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded 4 in the negative on Calendar Number 304 are 5 Senators Leichter, Marchi, Mendez, Montgomery, 6 Paterson, Sampson, Seabrook, Smith, Stavisky 7 and Waldon. Ayes 49, nays 10. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 9 bill is passed. 10 Secretary will continue to read 11 the controversial calendar. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 306, by Senator Nozzolio, Senate Print 3429, 14 an act to amend the Correction Law, in 15 relation to requiring inmates to make medical 16 co-payments. 17 SENATOR WALDON: Explanation. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 19 Nozzolio, a multitude of members would like 20 the bill explained. 21 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Thank you, 22 Mr. President. Mr. President. My colleagues, 23 Senate Bill 3429 requires inmates in New 24 York's correctional facilities to make a $7 25 co-payment for medical treatment, building 1 upon the last measure before this house 2 that we are pursuing every avenue to ensure 3 that inmates pay for the cost of their 4 incarceration. The proposed co-payment of $7 5 was chosen because that's the same amount that 6 New York's public employees pay and that we're 7 making inmates partial, in a very small way, 8 partially responsible for their health care 9 expenses, that clearly no inmate is going to 10 be denied needed medical care based on their 11 abilities to pay. 12 Their accounts and each inmate 13 in our correctional facilities have an 14 account. The account will be debited and may 15 be collected over a span of time as this 16 legislation permits. 17 New York currently spends over 18 $150 million a year on prison health 19 facilities and almost $2,000 of cost per 20 inmate. This co-payment will serve to reduce 21 the amount of excessive and non-emergency 22 medical visits that are paid. 23 Last year, there were a total 24 of one million sick calls in New York State's 25 prisons, and this legislation would result in 1 at least a $7 million savings to our 2 taxpayers. 3 I should add parenthetically, 4 this idea is not an original one. It is 5 accepted by 31 other states, including our 6 neighbors of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. 7 Thank you, Mr. President. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 9 Waldon. 10 SENATOR WALDON: I'll defer to 11 Senator Paterson, if he wishes to start. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 Paterson, do you wish the floor? 14 SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you, 15 Mr. President, especially if Senator Waldon 16 wishes me to have the floor. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 18 Chair recognizes Senator Paterson. 19 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. 20 President, if Senator Nozzolio would yield for 21 a question. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 23 Nozzolio, do you yield to a question from 24 Senator Paterson? 25 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Yes, Mr. 1 President. I would be happy to yield to 2 Senator Paterson. 3 SENATOR PATERSON: Senator, 4 there have been a number of pieces of 5 legislation in this chamber that we've voted 6 on in the past four or five years now and 7 members who have brought these pieces of 8 legislation who believe in them and they talk 9 about mandatory testing with all diseases, 10 particularly the HIV virus which can be the 11 catalytic element to the AIDS disease, calling 12 for this mandatory testing because of the 13 health risk of having individuals have some 14 sort of contact with others, the risk that it 15 might accrue to that individual and here we 16 have a situation where we are mandating 17 co-payments for medical services for inmates, 18 and my question to you is, anything that would 19 diminish the interest that an inmate would 20 have in receiving medical attention, in my 21 opinion, would be counterproductive not only 22 to the general health care in the institution 23 but even to the health of the corrections 24 officers who are often coming in contact with 25 the inmates. 1 So my question is, isn't it 2 very possible that by passing this legislation 3 and making a law mandating the medical 4 co-payments, that we might actually be 5 encouraging those not to seek medical 6 attention because they don't want to pay the 7 money for the limited resources they have and 8 in a sense making the institution far less 9 healthy than it was and jeopardizing the lives 10 of corrections officers who work in these 11 institutions? 12 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Mr. 13 President, in response to Senator Paterson's 14 question, Senator Paterson, I have the 15 greatest respect for you, but I believe your 16 analysis is strange logic that the mandatory 17 testing of AIDS inmates has nothing to do with 18 this measure. If you were to put on this 19 floor a bill that would require the mandatory 20 testing of inmates for AIDS, I would support 21 it wholeheartedly. 22 As a matter of fact, I fought 23 for years in the state Assembly -- Senator 24 Waldon may recall -- to great peril with the 25 Senate -- excuse me -- with the Assembly 1 Democrats, the Assembly Majority forwarded 2 mandatory AIDS testing of inmates at every 3 effort. I have advocated and been a leading 4 advocate for mandatory AIDS testing of inmates 5 beginning in 1985, almost 13 years ago, 6 thwarted every effort in the state Assembly. 7 Now, Senator, for you to raise this issue 8 which has little nexus, if any, with the 9 measure before us, I shrug my shoulders in 10 frustration. 11 No, Senator. This has no -- to 12 answer your question, this has no connection 13 with mandatory AIDS testing and that I would 14 be glad to put in any mandatory AIDS testing 15 bill an exemption for co-pay. 16 So, Senator, don't try to 17 diffuse this issue by confusing the two issues 18 and with all due respect, I certainly don't 19 believe that there is a connection. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Paterson. 22 SENATOR PATERSON: Let me try 23 to answer the question a different way. What 24 I'm trying to point out is that it was the 25 logic of those who opposed that legislation 1 that they wanted to limit the possibility of 2 spreading different diseases. 3 Now, one of the diseases that 4 they've listed in this legislation would be a 5 number of diseases -- that would be a number 6 of diseases that are actually airborne like 7 tuberculosis. So, in other words, what I was 8 saying is if a person didn't seek medical 9 attention and they clearly were exhibiting 10 some kind of a problem, didn't seek it because 11 they didn't think they could afford it or they 12 just didn't feel like making the co-pay. This 13 is a little different than a person that does 14 this who just lives in a house somewhere, an 15 apartment building somewhere. This is someone 16 who's in a facility with other inmates and 17 also individuals who are often paid by the 18 state to make sure that society is protected 19 from these inmates and I'm saying, isn't it 20 possible that we're jeopardizing their health 21 and jeopardizing health care in the entire 22 facility by creating a co-payment that the 23 inmates may ignore because here the issue 24 isn't picking up the $7 every time somebody 25 goes to the infirmary. The issue may be 1 protecting against the huge sums of money we 2 may spend either treating those who contract 3 tuberculosis or any other kind of disease or 4 perhaps paying off the lawsuits when somebody 5 finally sues and says that they were in a 6 facility in which there wasn't proper care, 7 which I think would be valid if some state 8 employee, particularly an officer from the 9 Corrections Department, made that allegation. 10 So what I'm saying to you is it 11 wasn't an attempt to twist the argument by 12 talking about that from the perspective of 13 health care policy, and my question is simply 14 do you think that it would possibly increase 15 the risk in a facility of the spreading of 16 diseases by passing this bill? 17 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Mr. 18 President, in response to Senator Paterson's 19 question, I don't believe that New York 20 prisons are that much healthier than the 21 prisons in California, in Connecticut, Ohio, 22 Pennsylvania, New Jersey, the states 23 surrounding -- New Hampshire, the states 24 surrounding us have these medical co-payment 25 requirements, that their prisons are not less 1 healthy than New York, that they have large 2 state problems as New York has, Senator, and 3 that concern certainly I don't believe would 4 occur. This does not deny anybody health 5 care. It simply says that those who are sick 6 and need medical services after have to, like 7 every other citizen, pay a simple co-payment. 8 As a matter of fact, not like 9 every other citizen, Senator, but like every 10 other state employee that has a very good 11 medical benefit plan again still is required 12 to pay a $7 co-pay. Senator, there are many, 13 many citizens in your district, in my 14 district, that do not have any health 15 insurance and must pay the entire cost of a 16 doctor's visit. 17 What we're saying is that those 18 inmates in our state facility, those 19 facilities, those convicted felons should have 20 to at least pay for a portion, a very small 21 portion of the cost of their medical care. 22 SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you, 23 Mr. President. 24 Will Senator Nozzolio yield for 25 another question? 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 Nozzolio, do you continue to yield? 3 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Yes, Mr. 4 President. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: He 6 continues to yield. 7 SENATOR PATERSON: Senator, I 8 think we're making some progress here because 9 now I have a basis for understanding your 10 legislation because your answer was the way I 11 interpreted it, in other states that have 12 adopted this procedure of having the inmates 13 make a medical co-payment, you don't see any 14 significant change in the health care rate or 15 the disease rate in those facilities. 16 My response to that is to ask 17 you this question. Do you know of another 18 state where the co-payment -- because in those 19 states that you cite, they don't have 20 co-payments the same amount that there is in 21 New York, and do you know of another state 22 where the co-payment would be actually upwards 23 of half of the amount of money that the inmate 24 could receive that week for any kind of work 25 that they did, assuming that they're working? 1 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Mr. 2 President, in response to Senator Paterson's 3 question, California has a co-payment in the 4 amount of $5. Pennsylvania has a co-payment 5 amount of $4, that Ohio has a co-payment 6 amount of $5. 7 Senator, in the region, our 8 costs would be -- the proposal here would be 9 $7 as opposed to our neighbors of $5 and in a 10 larger state like California, $5. So our 11 co-payment for this proposal is higher but 12 what we're saying is it shouldn't be lower 13 than the cost of co-payments that every state 14 employee must pay. 15 Senator, why -- let me answer 16 your question with a question. Why should 17 your employees -- why should the employees of 18 this state have to pay a co-payment that would 19 be higher than an inmate's co-payment? We're 20 suggesting they be just the same amount of $7, 21 but I would think that's out of line with 22 California's $5. 23 SENATOR PATERSON: Senator, I 24 asked you a question with the same answer I 25 answered in the last bill relating to the 1 commissary. My basic problem with both of the 2 bills is that you're asking questions about 3 life outside the facility, assuming it's the 4 same as life inside the facility, and I 5 thought the reason we were creating prisons in 6 the first place is to create a life experience 7 for those who are incarcerated that's 8 different. So, in other words, if we were 9 going to say that the inmate pays the same 10 amount of a co-payment that the working person 11 does, then you would be right. We just forgot 12 that the working person has a minimum wage and 13 we don't have a minimum wage in a facility and 14 we shouldn't have a minimum wage and you 15 suggested yourself earlier that you didn't 16 think we should pay the inmates at all which 17 begs the question, where will they get this 18 money from, but the -- but let's say that if I 19 agree with you, then we would just simply not 20 have any money traveling around in the 21 facility. We would just simply incarcerate 22 people as they have done it in a number of 23 places and when it's time to be fed, they're 24 fed. If they have to be treated for a medical 25 condition, they're treated and they're sent 1 back to their cells. 2 The reason that we started 3 bringing revenues into the correctional 4 facilities in the first place was in an 5 emblematic way to try to create an environment 6 that would be remedial and bring the inmate 7 back to the society. What's now happening is 8 that when -- once any resources or revenues 9 come into the prison facility, we have these 10 pieces of legislation that are attaching what 11 will be real world conditions into a closed 12 world, and so my answer would simply be that I 13 wouldn't compare the co-payment of a person 14 working outside the facility with one in it. 15 Quite frankly, I don't think -- I think once 16 you start making those types of comparisons, 17 that once you start saying that inmates are 18 taxpayers, you're going to have a lot of 19 advocacy groups that are going to try to apply 20 some of the rights of taxpayers to prisoners. 21 I would like to try to stay away from that 22 entire argument. 23 Understand they're prisoners. 24 Understand their rights are usurped because 25 they committed crimes against society and we 1 shouldn't allow for any of this kind of thing 2 to go on other than in these kind of 3 situations where for purposes of trying to 4 establish some kind of order and establish 5 some kind of -- some kind of process to bring 6 people back into society that we would set it 7 up. 8 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Senator, in 9 response to your question, that's exactly what 10 the citizens of the state are complaining 11 about, inmates in our state facilities are 12 treated much differently, given many benefits 13 than the average tax worker, given access to 14 things that the average taxpayer has no access 15 to, yet the taxpayer is paying for. 16 That's the whole point, 17 Senator. That's the whole point of this bill 18 and the bill before it. I'm very glad you see 19 it, but I must respectfully say that we don't 20 want to have a system where inmates are given 21 so many more benefits that are paid for by 22 taxpayers who do not share and receive like 23 benefits that inmates receive. 24 Thank you, Mr. President. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 1 Paterson. 2 SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you, 3 Mr. President. 4 On the bill. If Senator 5 Nozzolio establishes situations where inmates 6 -- and we've seen the egregious instances 7 where inmates have run up phone bills that the 8 average citizens probably couldn't or inmates 9 are watching cable television and the average 10 citizen might not be able to afford the cable 11 television time that the inmate has, where 12 Senator Nozzolio points out those situations 13 and wants to curb them, feeling that the 14 individual is there as a punishment and also 15 as a deterrent, I can certainly understand it, 16 but what we're now doing is turning the 17 facility into a revenue-generating body to the 18 extent that I don't think I understand. The 19 next thing we'll be doing is charging rent for 20 the cells, and I'm just saying that - 21 SENATOR GOLD: You gave him a 22 new bill. 23 SENATOR PATERSON: And I'm just 24 saying that these are not designed to be 25 natural situations where we'll be paying sales 1 tax for items where we would be -- where we 2 would be asking the prisoners to make medical 3 co-payments, where we would be charging them 4 for books they read or anything such as that. 5 I thought the object of 6 incarcerating a person was to separate them 7 from society, not to turn the facilities into 8 converted hotels, and I think that this piece 9 of legislation which would probably take up to 10 half of the money that the prisoners actually 11 do own, just to go and see a doctor, I would 12 like to actually see a study of what has 13 happened when people who were very sick 14 eschewed the opportunity to make the 15 co-payment and go in and visit the infirmary 16 and what damage that may have caused, and I 17 don't know if you can put a price on that. 18 I don't recommend we pass the 19 bill. I understand the intent of it, but I 20 really don't see the value in it. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 22 Chair recognizes Senator Abate. 23 SENATOR WALDON: I think, Mr. 24 President, that I had asked before and I 25 deferred to Senator Paterson. Do you recall 1 the sequence? 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 3 Waldon, we don't have a process whereby 4 members are allowed to yield the floor to 5 somebody else. You either have the floor or 6 you don't. 7 SENATOR WALDON: I apologize. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: It's my 9 mistake for not putting you -- in making that 10 clear and putting you on the list, but I will 11 put you on the list. You will be next in 12 line. 13 SENATOR WALDON: Thank you. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Okay? 15 Senator Abate. 16 SENATOR ABATE: Yes, Mr. 17 President. Would Senator Nozzolio yield to a 18 couple of questions? 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 20 Nozzolio, do you yield to Senator Abate? 21 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: I would be 22 happy to yield to Senator Abate. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 24 Senator yields. 25 SENATOR ABATE: Yes. I'm 1 looking at the language of a bill. How do you 2 define "ability to pay"? It seems to me - 3 correct me if I'm wrong -- that ability to pay 4 is determined by how much money is in a 5 commissary account. Am I correct? 6 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: That's 7 correct, Mr. President. 8 SENATOR ABATE: So that if an 9 individual understands that the check -- most 10 of the money in commissary accounts, it's not 11 there because of wages earned. It's there 12 because of family members and other 13 individuals sending checks in that are 14 deposited in the commissary account. So an 15 individual can arrange their visits so that 16 their visits to the clinic occur before the 17 money is deposited into the commissary 18 account. 19 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Mr. 20 President, in response to Senator Abate's 21 question, Senator, we're looking at this issue 22 in total, that to take a snapshot for an 23 individual inmate, that may occur from time to 24 time, but I believe in total we're looking at 25 a million visits a year, the 70,000 inmates in 1 our system, that we're looking to set a system 2 -- set up a process that is fair, that can 3 determine amounts of money in a reasonable 4 period of time in reviewing it in total. 5 I should just also add that 6 we're not suggesting at all that if an 7 inmate's account does not show sufficient 8 funds to satisfactory his obligation, then the 9 account will be frozen pending further receipt 10 of account monies. So it's not a static 11 situation. It's not something that just 12 happens one moment and then forgotten. It's 13 kept through the process. 14 SENATOR ABATE: Okay. May I 15 continue, Mr. President? 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 17 Nozzolio, would you continue to yield? 18 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Yes, Mr. 19 President. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 21 Senator continues to yield. 22 SENATOR ABATE: Yes. I am not 23 philosophically against co-payments. My 24 concern is when co-payments interfere with the 25 delivery of absolutely essential health 1 services, then we need to be concerned. 2 Am I correct, this is a 3 one-house bill? This has passed a number of 4 years. 5 SENATOR GOLD: 15 of the 16 6 one-house bills. 7 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Senator, 8 there are a number of Assembly members who 9 have volunteered to carry this bill, but we 10 wanted to see if it could pass the Senate 11 first. 12 SENATOR ABATE: But as of the 13 moment, looking at past history, this bill has 14 only passed the Senate. It has not passed the 15 Assembly. 16 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Yes, Senator 17 Abate, that's correct. It has not passed the 18 Assembly. 19 SENATOR ABATE: My question is, 20 I hope you will take under advisement -- if 21 that is the case again this year and it only 22 passes the Senate, I believe, and would you 23 consider altering the bill to include language 24 that exempts emergency care? There are 25 individuals -- there are women who are 1 pregnant, all of a sudden something happens 2 with their pregnancy, they are rushed to the 3 clinic or there may be someone suffering from 4 an extraordinarily high fever and is incurring 5 vomiting, certainly conditions not within the 6 control of the inmate. There can be an 7 assessment made by the clinic and we know 8 those aren't the situations that we're trying 9 to make money off of. It's a deterrent to 10 make sure that the frivolous visits are 11 reduced. Would you consider including an 12 exemption for emergency visits? 13 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Mr. 14 President, in response to Senator Abate's 15 question, that should there not be sufficient 16 funds to cover -- in the account to cover the 17 co-pay, that would not allow the prohibition 18 of medical services, that inmates will not be 19 assessed co-pay for things like psychiatric 20 visits and lastly, the commissioner of the 21 Department of Corrections is given the mandate 22 with this legislation to promulgate rules and 23 regulations necessary for its implementation. 24 So, Senator, yes, certainly 25 emergency care which would subject the 1 Department to questions of liability would not 2 be denied from this bill, would not be denied, 3 I would expect, from whatever responsible 4 regulations were promulgated by the 5 commissioner and certainly it's not the 6 intention for legislative history to ever deny 7 an emergency treatment as a result of the 8 inability to make a co-pay. 9 SENATOR ABATE: Senator 10 Nozzolio, would you consider to make that 11 intent explicit in this bill instead of just 12 leaving that to the discretion of the 13 Commissioner of Correction or any future 14 Commissioner of Correction? 15 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Senator, I 16 believe that this is already implied in the 17 bill on line 5, page 1, under Section 6075, 18 line 15, and subsequent lines which say 19 clearly that an inmate's account, if he does 20 not have the money in that account, is not 21 going to be denied co-payment -- or excuse me 22 -- the treatment is not going to be denied 23 because he does not have sufficient funds for 24 co-payment. We're simply saying the treatment 25 can be given and the co-payment will be made 1 when there are sufficient funds there. 2 So, Senator, I'm not going to 3 rule on anything. If it was -- if your line, 4 which I think it's kind of like chicken soup, 5 it's not going to hurt, certainly the tenets 6 of this bill, I certainly would support 7 anything that could get it through the 8 Assembly, and if your suggestion gets it 9 through the Assembly, then I certainly would 10 entertain it aggressively. 11 SENATOR ABATE: Mr. President. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 Abate. 14 SENATOR ABATE: Would Senator 15 Nozzolio continue to yield for the last 16 question? 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 18 Nozzolio, do you continue to yield? 19 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Yes, Mr. 20 President. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 22 Senator continues to yield. 23 SENATOR ABATE: Senator, would 24 you also consider another amendment. One of 25 the concerns is again, as you addressed people 1 when they get bored -- and there are 2 individuals, I've seen it -- where people 3 abuse access to clinics and are in and out, 4 sometimes not for legitimate issues and we 5 need to curb that expense, but how about the 6 case where the doctors have diagnosed someone 7 with a chronic disease; they have cancer; they 8 have AIDS; they have tuberculosis and as a 9 result of that chronic and debilitating 10 disease - 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 12 Abate, excuse me just a minute. I don't know 13 whether you're having a hard time making sure 14 that Senator Nozzolio is hearing you or not, 15 but it is getting rather noisy in here. If 16 the members could take their conversations out 17 of the chamber, we certainly would be able to 18 advance the debate. We have still four bills 19 to deal with, so -- thank you very much. 20 SENATOR ABATE: Let me just try 21 to repeat that. Would you take under 22 advisement amending this to include another 23 exemption, that when a clinician, the medical 24 staff diagnoses an individual with a chronic 25 or debilitating disease such as AIDS, 1 tuberculosis, cancer, and that disease 2 requires ongoing visits, absolutely necessary 3 visits, I equate those visits to similar 4 emergency situations, that the co-payment be 5 waived in those situations? 6 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Mr. 7 President, I certainly would welcome any 8 suggestion for legislative review by Senator 9 Abate, that I don't have any immediate 10 disagreement with that suggestion and would 11 welcome your presentation of language for us 12 to review. 13 SENATOR ABATE: All right. 14 Thank you. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 16 Waldon. 17 SENATOR WALDON: Mr. President, 18 would the gentleman yield to a question or 19 two? 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Nozzolio? 22 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Yes, Mr. 23 President. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 25 Senator yields. 1 SENATOR WALDON: Thank you, Mr. 2 President. 3 Senator Nozzolio, do you pay a 4 co-payment when you visit your doctor? 5 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Mr. 6 President, in response to Mr. Waldon's very 7 personal question -- and I consider health 8 care a personal question -- I will relinquish 9 my rights of privacy and suggest to Senator 10 Waldon, the answer to his question is yes, I 11 make a co-payment and further, that 12 co-payment, as Senator Marcellino and Senator 13 Meier reminded me, is more than the co-payment 14 that is required by this legislation. 15 SENATOR WALDON: Thank you for 16 that information, Senator. 17 Mr. President, I would like to 18 continue again with a question, but let me 19 preface it this with statement. I pay $8 20 co-payment. I don't know if that's what you 21 pay. I don't know if you're in the Empire 22 Plan as I do, but I pay $8, which is a 23 percentage of my overall salary here in the 24 Legislature. 25 My question, if I may continue, 1 Mr. President, if the gentleman continues to 2 yield. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 Nozzolio, do you continue to yield? 5 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Yes, Mr. 6 President. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 8 Senator continues to yield. 9 SENATOR WALDON: Senator 10 Nozzolio, do you have any idea what your 11 co-payment is as a percentage of your overall 12 salary one shot if you only go once a year or 13 if on occasion you have been more than once a 14 year to see the doctor in recent years? 15 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Mr. 16 President, no, Senator, I don't, and frankly 17 I'm not going to stand here -- I don't have a 18 calculator. I'm not going to do the math. I 19 think you can answer your own question. 20 SENATOR WALDON: Well, Senator, 21 if I may continue, Mr. President. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 23 Waldon, you're asking the Senator to continue 24 to yield? 25 SENATOR WALDON: Yes, sir, I 1 am. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 3 Nozzolio, do you continue to yield? 4 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Yes, Mr. 5 President. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 7 Senator continues to yield. 8 SENATOR WALDON: Senator 9 Nozzolio, it is not my purpose to be 10 contentious and I'm not looking to create any 11 ire between you and myself. Believe it or 12 not, I have a plan in terms of my questioning 13 and in terms of the route I'm taking with the 14 questions. It is not meant to be overbearing 15 or burdensome to you. It is hopefully to 16 elicit some responses which might cause us to 17 think a little differently about your 18 proposal. 19 Permit me to cut to the chase. 20 Do you have any idea in regard to the AIDS 21 virus and to full-blown AIDS, what percentage 22 of the people in our prisons, the 70,000, have 23 contracted this disease? 24 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Mr. 25 President, I don't have the facts to 1 sufficiently respond to Senator Waldon's 2 inquiry before me. I have only heard innuendo 3 that as many as 80 percent of prison inmates 4 could have been -- could have not full-blown 5 AIDS but could, in fact, be carriers of HIV, 6 but I do not have the numbers, Senator, to 7 respond sufficiently to your question. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 9 Waldon. 10 SENATOR WALDON: If the 11 gentleman would continue to yield, Mr. 12 President. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 Nozzolio, do you continue to yield? 15 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Yes, Mr. 16 President. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 18 Senator continues to yield. 19 SENATOR WALDON: Senator, not 20 related to our prisons, but related to HMOs, 21 when HMOs refuse to treat people because of 22 the bottom line, the dollar, are you aware 23 that they are not subject to suit, to being 24 sued for failure to treat people who come to 25 them who are ill? 1 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Yes, Mr. 2 President. 3 SENATOR WALDON: If the 4 gentleman would continue to yield, Mr. 5 President. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7 Nozzolio, do you continue to yield? 8 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Yes, Mr. 9 President. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 11 Senator continues to yield. 12 SENATOR WALDON: In your frame 13 of reference considering the scenario 14 regarding HMOs, Senator, can you view the 15 possibility that New York State's Department 16 of Correctional Services may be setting itself 17 up for a huge suit possibility from those who 18 have contracted not only AIDS but who may have 19 other virulent diseases and who are not going 20 to go to see the doctor because of the 21 potential disparate impact of whatever few 22 resources they have regarding this 23 co-payment? Could that in your realm or your 24 frame of reference be a possibility? 25 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Senator, in 1 response to your question through the Chair, 2 that we are not denying medical treatment to 3 any individual as a result of this measure. 4 We're simply saying that as long as somebody 5 has the ability to pay, that as long as they 6 have an inmate account that has any money in 7 that account, they will be subjected to paying 8 or at least reimbursing a small part of the 9 cost of their health care to the state 10 taxpayers. We're not saying in this measure 11 in any stretch of the imagination that this 12 prohibits or retards or restricts health care 13 access to prison inmates. 14 So, sir, I understand your 15 question, but I believe your concern is 16 misplaced. This is not an effort to refuse 17 medical treatment to anybody. This is only 18 saying that after you get that medical 19 treatment, expect your account to be debited a 20 $7 co-pay. 21 Now, if you go to 3,000 22 treatments and you are debited $21,000 and 23 your account has $21 in it, obviously you're 24 not going to get the total reimbursement, but 25 at the least there will be a reimbursement 1 process established here not to restrict 2 health care but to ensure that inmates share 3 in its deliver -- its cost to deliver. 4 SENATOR WALDON: Would the 5 gentleman be kind enough to yield to another 6 question, Mr. President? 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 8 Nozzolio? 9 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Yes, I would 10 be glad to yield. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 12 Senator continues to yield. 13 SENATOR WALDON: Thank you, Mr. 14 President. Thank you, Senator, for being 15 responsive. 16 Do you see or can you see that 17 there would be some resistance, some 18 reluctance, some desire by those who are our 19 inmates not to seek out medical attention 20 where needed simply because they did not wish 21 to pay the co-payment? 22 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Senator 23 Waldon, I don't believe that those who really 24 need medical care are not -- in prison today 25 are going to stop going to a doctor because 1 they know their account is going to be debited 2 $7. 3 What I do believe is that those 4 inmates -- and there are literally thousands 5 of them each year -- who use sick call to 6 avoid working in prison, to avoid their 7 responsibilities in prison, to do it as a 8 matter of sport, to avoid their 9 responsibilities, and in effect, costs the 10 taxpayers millions of dollars, that this will 11 be a measure which will retard that type of 12 behavior. 13 That's the intention of the 14 bill. That's the essence of what we're trying 15 to get at, not the sick but the -- in effect, 16 the ne'er-do-well who wishes to use the system 17 to avoid its own responsibility. 18 SENATOR WALDON: If I may, Mr. 19 President, last question. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Nozzolio, do you continue to yield? 22 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Yes, Mr. 23 President. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 25 Senator continues to yield. 1 SENATOR WALDON: Permit me to 2 preface the question with some remarks, 3 Senator. One, we've elicited from your 4 response that AIDS is a problem within our 5 prisons. We've elicited that those who are 6 sick, if your proposal becomes law, would have 7 to co-pay. We've elicited that perhaps 8 psychologically some prisoners would not want 9 to make a co-payment simply because it might 10 disparately impact their commissary account. 11 Can you envision where someone who has AIDS, 12 has been diagnosed as AIDS but would still 13 want to engage -- and those of us who are 14 realists understand that sexual activity is 15 everywhere in the prison system, both male and 16 female prison systems -- is it possible for 17 someone who has AIDS or the HIV virus at this 18 moment in our prisons to have the ability to 19 purchase condoms so they could practice safe 20 sex and if it is not the case, would you 21 support having that made available to them 22 because, one, it would preclude -- not 23 preclude -- it might interfere with the 24 spreading of the AIDS virus and certainly 25 would reduce those -- perhaps reduce those who 1 will have AIDS in the future when they are 2 permitted to practice safe sex in our prison 3 system? 4 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Mr. 5 President, in my opinion, the way to stop the 6 spread of AIDS in prison at the threshold 7 should be to establish a mandatory testing 8 policy, where the results of those tests are, 9 in effect, disclosed to prison personnel. 10 Right now we have an anemic 11 policy that, in effect, does nothing to stem 12 the spread of AIDS, HIV in prison. I called 13 for this not last week, not last year but in 14 1984 and '85 when Senator Waldon and I served 15 in the Assembly together. Senator, you put a 16 bill in and with good faith push your 17 suggestion, certainly I think that there will 18 be those who find it meritorious and who 19 knows, it could even be accepted, but I'm not 20 buying into it. 21 I'm saying if we are really 22 serious, let's look at the mandatory testing 23 question first. Neither of those questions, 24 Senator, are before us in this measure on 25 co-payment of health care. 1 So I must defer to what's 2 before us and say if you would like to talk 3 about other issues, let's save that for 4 another day and another measure. 5 Thank you, Mr. President. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7 Waldon, on the bill. 8 SENATOR WALDON: Mr. President, 9 if I may, on the bill. I thank Senator 10 Nozzolio for his indulgence. 11 One, I must oppose this. 12 Co-payment, no choice of doctor. When you go 13 to the doctor, I go to the doctor, we co-pay, 14 I at least have a choice, not that one should 15 have a choice in prison, but I think if we're 16 going to be fair -- and you spoke to fairness 17 -- that should be a possibility. 18 Two, I believe if we are going 19 to be wise as those who have oversight over 20 our prison system, we must immediately permit 21 the distribution and/or purchase, from 22 commissary or otherwise, of condoms for those 23 who are in prison. If not, the entire prison 24 population has the potential to become 25 infected and when they come back into society, 1 it's a threat to all of us. So I think it's 2 being foolish not to consider that, but the 3 main reason I oppose this, is I see it as 4 another oppressive measure, an overburdensome 5 measure against those who are in prison and 6 who have very few resources, if any, at all. 7 So for all of those reasons, I 8 must oppose it. I hope that somehow some 9 light has been shed on something this 10 afternoon with this debate that might cause 11 some of us to think a little differently 12 tomorrow than we did today as a result of 13 discussions held here. 14 Thank you very much, Mr. 15 President. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 17 Marchi, did you wish to be recognized? 18 SENATOR MARCHI: Yes, Mr. 19 President. I have the deepest respect for 20 Senator Nozzolio's steady adherence and 21 sincere support for a health delivery system 22 that provides needed attention, but I would 23 like to submit that this is not a problem that 24 we resolve only by a CPA or statistical 25 figures. 1 I believe there is a moral 2 compulsion that we all have where there are 3 adverse medical circumstances that must be 4 held high and visible, and I'm afraid this 5 legislation doesn't answer that purpose. The 6 Senator is certainly on the right track, I 7 think, because his life and his dedication to 8 public service has characterized that 9 awareness and that sensitivity. 10 I am surprised that some of our 11 surrounding states have done this, and I don't 12 care what the percentages are in terms of its 13 effect, but what about us? I mean, we have a 14 responsibility here, and I believe we cannot 15 support this legislation. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Any 17 other Senator wishing to speak on the bill? 18 (There was no response.) 19 Hearing none, the Secretary 20 will read the last section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 22 This act shall take effect on the 120th day. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call 24 the roll. 25 (The Secretary called the 1 roll.) 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 3 the negatives. Announce the results. 4 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded 5 in the negative on Calendar Number 306 are 6 Senators Gold, Leichter, Marchi, Markowitz, 7 Mendez, Montgomery, Onorato, Paterson, 8 Sampson, Santiago, Smith, Stavisky and 9 Waldon. Ayes 46, nays 13. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 11 bill is passed. 12 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. 13 President. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 15 Leichter, why do you rise? 16 SENATOR LEICHTER: May I have 17 unanimous consent to be recorded in the 18 negative on Calendar Numbers 135 and 192 which 19 passed earlier today. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 21 objection. 22 SENATOR LEICHTER: Thank you. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Hearing 24 no objection, Senator Leichter will be 25 recorded in the negative on Calendars Number 1 135 and 192. 2 The Secretary will continue to 3 read the controversial calendar. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 355, by Senator Padavan, Senate Print 3088, an 6 act to amend the General Business Law, in 7 relation to possession and sale of 8 drug-related paraphernalia. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 10 Secretary will read the last section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 12 This act shall take effect immediately. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call 14 the roll. 15 SENATOR GOLD: Mr. President. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call 17 the roll. 18 (The Secretary called the 19 roll.) 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Gold, to explain his vote. 22 SENATOR GOLD: Yes. Thank 23 you. 24 Mr. President, I'm going to 25 vote in the negative for just a very simple 1 reason. I know Senator Padavan has done a lot 2 of work in this field and as a result of his 3 work we have a statewide bill. 4 I think it makes no sense now 5 to start opening up to municipalities to elect 6 separate local laws dealing with criminal 7 penalties. I think if we are going to do 8 that, let's do that as a legislative body. 9 I'm not saying I would be opposed to it, but I 10 think the concept that as you go around the 11 state, you're going to have different laws, 12 particularly criminal laws applying to this 13 area just doesn't make any sense. 14 I vote in the negative. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 16 Announce the results. 17 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded 18 in the negative on Calendar Number 355 are 19 Senators Gold, Leichter, Mendez and Sampson. 20 Ayes 56, nays 4. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 22 bill is passed. 23 The Secretary will continue to 24 read the controversial calendar. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 1 357, by Senator Maltese, Senate Print 4880, an 2 act to amend the Real Property Tax Law, in 3 relation to tax credit for security 4 improvements. 5 SENATOR GOLD: Mr. President. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7 Gold. 8 SENATOR GOLD: Will my 9 distinguished colleague from Queens yield to a 10 question? 11 SENATOR MALTESE: Yes. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 Maltese yields. 14 SENATOR GOLD: Senator, there's 15 a memorandum in opposition from the City on 16 your bill, and I don't understand their 17 opposition. 18 My understanding of your bill 19 is that this creates a local option and 20 according to the City's own memo, the City 21 Council could then, if it wanted, pass a local 22 law. 23 It then goes on to say that if 24 the City Council were to determine they wanted 25 to do this, there could be adverse 1 implications to the fiscal health of the City 2 but, Senator, as I understand this, first of 3 all, it's a statewide bill. This would give 4 every locality an opportunity to opt in or out 5 and isn't it a fact that if the city of New 6 York did opt in, it could only be by local law 7 to which the City and the mayor and all would 8 agree after analyzing the fiscal implications 9 to the City at that time? 10 SENATOR MALTESE: Mr. 11 President, through you. That is correct 12 except for one thing. It would apply only in 13 cities of one million or more. 14 SENATOR GOLD: All right. 15 Well, that will help too but, Senator, it 16 doesn't change the basic argument - 17 SENATOR MALTESE: No. 18 SENATOR GOLD: -- that this 19 cannot be a law in the city of New York unless 20 the city government in the city of New York 21 determines that within the City's budget and 22 within the -- with an analysis of the housing 23 that's involved in the city of New York -- or 24 the realty in the city of New York, that it 25 would apply and be all right. 1 SENATOR MALTESE: Mr. 2 President, that's correct. 3 SENATOR GOLD: Thank you. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 5 Secretary will read the last section. 6 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 7 This act shall take effect immediately. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call 9 the roll. 10 (The Secretary called the 11 roll.) 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 13 the negative. Announce the results. 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 59, nays 15 1, Senator Leichter recorded in the negative. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 17 bill is passed. 18 The Secretary will continue to 19 read. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 359, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 87-A, an 22 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 23 criminal possession of marijuana in the third 24 degree. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 1 Secretary will read the last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 3 This act shall take effect on the first day of 4 November. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call 6 the roll. 7 (The Secretary called the 8 roll.) 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 10 Announce the results. 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58, nays 12 2, Senators Leichter and Mendez recorded in 13 the negative. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 15 bill is passed. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 391, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 2379-A, 18 an act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law and 19 others, in relation to enacting the Juvenile 20 Justice Accountability and Procedural Reform 21 Act of 1998. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 23 Alesi. 24 SENATOR ALESI: Lay the bill 25 aside for the day, please. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 2 bill aside for the day. 3 Senator Alesi, that completes 4 the reading of the controversial calendar. 5 SENATOR ALESI: Is there any 6 housekeeping at the desk? 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: If we 8 might return to motions and resolutions, 9 Senator, which we will do, the Chair will 10 recognize Senator Marcellino for a motion. 11 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you, 12 Mr. President. 13 On behalf of Senator Johnson, 14 on page number 11, I offer the following 15 amendments to Calendar Number 256, Senate 16 Print Number 2550-B, and ask that said bill 17 retain its place on the Third Reading 18 Calendar. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 20 amendments are received and adopted. 21 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 23 bill will retain its place on the Third 24 Reading Calendar. 25 Senator Montgomery, why do you 1 rise? 2 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Mr. 3 President, I would like unanimous consent to 4 be in the negative on Calendars 355 and 359. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6 Montgomery, what number bills were those? 7 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: 355. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 355. 9 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: And 359. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 359. 11 Without objection. 12 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Thank you. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Hearing 14 no objection, Senator Montgomery will be 15 recorded in the negative on Calendars Number 16 355 and 359. 17 Senator Alesi. 18 SENATOR ALESI: Being no 19 further business, Mr. President, I move we 20 adjourn until Wednesday, March 18th, at 11:00 21 a.m. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 23 objection, the Senate stands adjourned until 24 tomorrow, Wednesday, at 11:00 a.m., March 25 18th. 1 (Whereupon, at 5:21 p.m., the 2 Senate adjourned.) 3 4 5 6 7 8