Monday, March 23, 1998

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ALBANY, NEW YORK 9 March 23, 1998 10 3:05 p.m. 11 12 13 REGULAR SESSION 14 15 16 17 LT. GOVERNOR BETSY McCAUGHEY ROSS, President 18 STEVEN M. BOGGESS, Secretary 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 THE PRESIDENT: Would everyone 3 please rise and join with me in the Pledge of 4 Allegiance. 5 (The assemblage repeated the 6 Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.) 7 The invocation today will be 8 given by Rabbi Nachman Simon from the Delmar 9 Chabad Center in Delmar. 10 Rabbi. 11 RABBI NACHMAN SIMON: We are 12 swiftly approaching towards the holiday of 13 Passover which celebrates a liberation from the 14 bondage of Egypt over 3300 years ago. Passover 15 is the holiday of remembrance. We take time out 16 from our busy schedules and sit with families 17 and friends to reflect and relate our past and 18 at the same time look towards the future. 19 There are many customs and foods 20 that are associated with the traditional 21 Passover Seder. We can take lessons and 22 guidance from them; matzoh, the unleavened 23 bread, myrrh, the bitter herbs, and the festive 24 meal. Matzoh is flat and thin and has a very 25 plain taste. This shows on humility. As much 1 as we have accomplished in our lives in the 2 past, we always have to remember that it is the 3 Almighty who gave us the strength to achieve our 4 goals. 5 Myrrh is the bitter herbs which 6 helps us to remember that it is not enough to 7 rest on our laurels and all we have attained in 8 the past is not enough and that there are more 9 challenges to overcome and problems to be 10 solved, and the festive meal helps us remember 11 that the way to achieve our goals is through 12 happiness and joy. 13 As the Lubovitcher Rebbe of 14 blessed memory often stated, if one thinks good 15 or positively, then it will be good and as the 16 Tanya, the basic work of Chabad philosophy gives 17 an example of this of two wrestlers, each one 18 trying to get the upper hand over his opponent. 19 The winner will not necessarily be the stronger 20 of the two but rather the one who is more eager 21 or hungry for victory. 22 May it be the Almighty's will 23 that He continues to guide and lead us as He has 24 in the past and give us the mind and heart to 25 achieve our dreams and aspirations to benefit 1 our families, friends and communities in the 2 future. And let us all say Amen. 3 THE PRESIDENT: Amen. The 4 reading of the Journal, please. 5 THE SECRETARY: In Senate, 6 Sunday, March 22. The Senate met pursuant to 7 adjournment. The Journal of Saturday, March 21, 8 was read and approved. On motion, the Senate 9 adjourned. 10 THE PRESIDENT: Without 11 objection, the Journal stands approved as read. 12 Presentation of petitions. 13 Messages from the Assembly. 14 Messages from the Governor. 15 Reports of standing committees. 16 The Secretary will read - 17 Senator Marcellino -- motions and resolutions. 18 Senator Marcellino. 19 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you, 20 Madam President. 21 On behalf of Senator Stafford, I 22 wish to call up Calendar Number 157, Assembly 23 Print Number 1357. 24 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary 25 will read. 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 157, by member of the Assembly Lafayette, 3 Assembly Print 1357, an act to amend the General 4 Business Law. 5 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Madam 6 President, I now move to reconsider the vote by 7 which this Assembly bill was substituted for 8 Senator Stafford's bill, Senate Print Number 9 6020, on February 2nd. 10 THE PRESIDENT: The question is 11 on the motion to reconsider. Call the roll. 12 (The Secretary called the roll on 13 reconsideration.) 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 40. 15 THE PRESIDENT: The motion is 16 carried. 17 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Madam 18 President, I now move that Assembly Bill Number 19 1357 be recommitted to the Committee on Consumer 20 Protection and that Senator Stafford's Senate 21 bill be restored to the order of Third Reading 22 Calendar. 23 THE PRESIDENT: On the motion to 24 recommit, all those in favor please signify by 25 saying aye. 1 (Response of "Aye".) 2 Opposed, nay. 3 (There was no response.) 4 The motion is carried. 5 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Madam 6 President, I offer the following amendments. 7 THE PRESIDENT: The amendments 8 are received. 9 Senator Farley. 10 SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you, Madam 11 President. 12 On behalf of Senator Kuhl, I move 13 that the following bill be discharged from its 14 respective committee and be recommitted with 15 instructions to strike the enacting clause: 16 That's Senate Print 3349. 17 THE PRESIDENT: So ordered. 18 SENATOR FARLEY: On behalf of 19 several Senators, the following amendments are 20 offered to these following bills: Senator 21 Maltese, page 10, Calendar 262, Senate Print 22 4876; Senator Present, page 16, Calendar 375, 23 Senate Print 528; Senator Volker, page 17, 24 Calendar 385, Senate Print 6207-A; Senator 25 Libous, on page 18, 399, Senate Print 1231-A, 1 and on behalf of Senator Johnson, on page 19, 2 Calendar 412, Senate Print 2584-A. I move that 3 these bills retain their place also on the Third 4 Reading Calendar. 5 THE PRESIDENT: The amendments 6 are received. 7 Return to reports of standing 8 committees. 9 The Secretary will read. 10 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 11 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 12 following nomination: Member of the Port 13 Authority of New York and New Jersey: Anastasia 14 Song, of New York City. 15 SENATOR STAFFORD: Move the 16 confirmation, please. 17 THE PRESIDENT: The question is 18 on the confirmation of Anastasia Song as a 19 member of the Port Authority of New York and New 20 Jersey. All in favor please signify by saying 21 aye. 22 (Response of "Aye".) 23 Opposed, nay. 24 (There was no response.) 25 Anastasia Song is hereby 1 confirmed as a member of the Port Authority of 2 New York and New Jersey. 3 The Secretary will read. 4 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 5 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 6 following nomination: Member of the Board of 7 Visitors of the New York State Home for Veterans 8 and their Dependents at Batavia: Anthony M. 9 Ferrarese, of Rochester. 10 SENATOR STAFFORD: Move the 11 confirmation, please. 12 THE PRESIDENT: The question is 13 on the confirmation of Anthony M. Ferrarese as a 14 member of the Board of Visitors of the New York 15 State Home for Veterans and their Dependents at 16 Batavia. All in favor please signify by saying 17 aye. 18 (Response of "Aye".) 19 Opposed, nay. 20 (There was no response.) 21 Anthony M. Ferrarese as a member 22 of the Board of Visitors of the New York State 23 Home for Veterans and their Dependents at 24 Batavia is confirmed. 25 The Secretary will read. 1 THE SECRETARY: Senator Johnson, 2 from the Committee on Transportation, reports 3 the following bill: 4 Senate Print 6455, an act in 5 relation to improving traffic flow. 6 Senator Stafford, from the 7 Committee on Finance, reports the following 8 bills: 9 Senate Print 1233, by Senator 10 Volker, an act to amend the Executive Law; 11 2466, by Senator LaValle, an act 12 to amend the Executive Law; 13 2827-B, by Senator Cook, an act 14 to create a program; 15 4018-A, by Senator Present, an 16 act to amend the Executive Law; 17 4741, by Senator LaValle, an act 18 to amend Chapter 554 of the Laws of 1996; 19 5174, by Senator Alesi, an act to 20 amend the Executive Law; 21 6029, by Senator Trunzo, an act 22 to amend Chapter 41 of the Laws of 1997; 23 6101-B, Budget Bill, an act 24 making appropriations -- an act making 25 appropriations for the legal requirements of the 1 state debt service; 2 6102-B, Budget Bill, an act 3 making appropriations for the support of 4 government, general government budget; 5 6103-B, an act making 6 appropriations for the support of government, 7 transportation, economic development and 8 environmental conservation budget; 9 6104-B, Budget Bill, an act 10 making appropriations for the support of 11 government, public protection, health and mental 12 hygiene budget; 13 6248, by Senator Bruno, an act to 14 amend the Real Property Tax Law; 15 6262, by Senator Volker, an act 16 to amend the Executive Law; 17 6484-A, by Senator Stafford, an 18 act to amend Chapter 303 of the laws of 1988; 19 and 20 6512, by Senator Wright, an act 21 to amend Chapter 812 of the Laws of 1987. 22 All bills ordered direct for 23 third reading. 24 THE PRESIDENT: Without 25 objection, all bills direct to third reading. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 Bruno. 3 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President, 4 can we at this time return to motions and 5 resolutions. I believe that there is a 6 privileged resolution at the desk by Senator 7 Maziarz. I would ask that the title be read and 8 move for its immediate passage. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We'll 10 return to the order of motions and resolutions. 11 There is a - 12 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President, 13 correction. Can we have it read in its 14 entirety. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 16 a privileged resolution by Senator Maziarz at 17 the desk. 18 I'll direct the Secretary to read 19 the resolution in its entirety. 20 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 21 Maziarz, Legislative Resolution 2935, 22 memorializing the Honorable George E. Pataki to 23 proclaim the week of March 23 through 27, 1998 24 as "Elder Abuse Awareness Week" in New York 25 State; 1 WHEREAS, the millions of elder 2 citizens residing in the state of New York have 3 contributed to the general welfare of the state 4 by helping to preserve the customs, convictions 5 and traditions of the many ethnic backgrounds of 6 the citizens of New York State. 7 The more than three million 8 residents of New York State considered to be 9 elder citizens are vital and integral members of 10 our society. 11 The wisdom and experience of 12 elder citizens have enriched the lives of young 13 people of our state; and 14 WHEREAS, elder abuse in domestic 15 and institutional settings is a widespread 16 problem, affecting hundreds of thousands of 17 elderly people across the country. 18 It has been estimated that there 19 were over 1.8 million abused elders in the 20 United States in 1996. Estimates report that 21 elder abuse affects approximately 30,000 New 22 Yorkers every year. 23 Because elder abuse is still 24 largely hidden under the shroud of family 25 secrecy, elder abuse is grossly under-reported. 1 Elderly people who are being abused find it very 2 difficult to tell anyone. They are usually 3 ashamed and sometimes afraid; and 4 WHEREAS, only 1 out of 14 5 domestic elder abuse incidents come to the 6 attention of authorities, the 30,000 domestic 7 elder abuse cases reported to state adult 8 protective service or aging agencies in New York 9 represent only the tip of the iceberg and the 10 number of elder abuse cases is growing every 11 year. 12 Any elderly person may become the 13 victim of abuse. Males and females of any 14 income level, any cultural or ethnic group, 15 persons in good health or persons incapacitated 16 in some way may be abused by someone close to 17 them. Elder abuse is not only happening in poor 18 neighborhoods but also in suburbia and in some 19 of the most upstanding families. 20 The abusers can be anyone but 21 they are most commonly family members with whom 22 the abused person is living. Studies have 23 estimated that over half the elderly people 24 reported to have been abused were living with 25 persons who abuse them. The physical abuse, 1 mental anguish and financial exploitation too 2 many elderly people are enduring diminishes us 3 as a civilized society; and 4 WHEREAS, the legislators of New 5 York State have been studying and reviewing this 6 outrage through hearings across New York State 7 and are determined to find a solution that will 8 provide increased protection and services to the 9 elder citizens of New York State, now, 10 therefore, be it; 11 RESOLVED, that this legislative 12 body pause in its deliberations to memorialize 13 the Honorable George E. Pataki to proclaim the 14 week March 23 through 27, 1998 as "Elder Abuse 15 Awareness Week" in New York State; and be it 16 further 17 RESOLVED, that a copy of this 18 resolution, suitably engrossed, be transmitted 19 to the Honorable George E. Pataki, Governor of 20 New York State. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The Chair 22 recognizes Senator Maziarz, on the resolution. 23 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you very 24 much, Mr. President. 25 Mr. President, I rise today in 1 support of memorializing our Governor George 2 Pataki to proclaim the week of March 23rd 3 through 27th as "Elder Abuse Awareness Week". 4 Elder abuse is an issue that has 5 come to the forefront of our world today due to 6 the rapid increase in our senior population, 7 especially the population 85 years and older. 8 The rise in our senior population has also 9 unfortunately contributed to a rise in abuses 10 experienced by this population. 11 Elder abuse is not a restricted 12 area of abuse. It can exist in every setting of 13 a senior's life, including domestic, 14 institutional, financial transactions or the 15 workplace. It can also take many forms, 16 including financial exploitation, verbal, 17 emotional, mental and physical abuse. 18 I have joined forces with 19 Senators Alesi, Senator Holland and Senator 20 Nozzolio in their capacities as chairpersons of 21 the Consumer Protection, Social Services and 22 Crime Victims, Crime and Corrections Committees 23 to increase awareness and educate our state on 24 the various forms of abuses a senior may 25 experience. 1 We are in the process of 2 conducting public hearings on elder abuse across 3 the state. Our first hearing was held in 4 December in Albany. Our second hearing will be 5 held on April the 3rd in Rochester and a third 6 hearing will be held on April the 23rd in New 7 York City. It is our hope that these hearings 8 will be a source of education regarding the 9 issue of elder abuse and may also point out to 10 us as New York State legislators the laws that 11 may be needed amending or enacting in order to 12 eliminate abuses against the elder. 13 I just want to note as a result 14 of our Albany hearing, Senator Alesi has already 15 introduced a bill, had a bill passed in this 16 house mandating the reporting of elderly abuse 17 by various state agencies. 18 Today a number of senior advocacy 19 organizations and state offices have taken time 20 out of their very busy schedules to provide 21 information on the range of services available 22 to seniors so that they do not fall victims to 23 abuses. There are exhibitor tables in the 24 Concourse between the Capitol and the LOB and 25 they have some extremely excellent information. 1 Some of the organizations and offices which have 2 joined us today are the Attorney General's 3 Office on Elder Abuse, the state Office of the 4 Aging, the Office of Children and Family 5 Services, Consumer Protection Board, Life Span 6 of Rochester and Walk the Walk of New York City, 7 just to name a few, Mr. President. 8 I do hope that all the members 9 will stop by and say hello to these individuals, 10 and I invite staff and any guests that are here 11 in the gallery with us today to stop by and 12 speak with some of the advocates. Elder abuse 13 is a serious issue in New York State and it does 14 affect us all in one way or another. 15 I would also invite all of my 16 colleagues in the Senate to sign on as co 17 sponsors of this resolution. 18 Thank you, Mr. President. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is there 20 any other Senator wishing to speak on the 21 resolution? 22 (There was no response.) 23 Hearing none, the question is on 24 the resolution. All those in favor signify by 25 saying aye. 1 (Response of "Aye".) 2 Opposed, nay. 3 (There was no response.) 4 The resolution is adopted. 5 Senator Libous. 6 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, Mr. 7 President. 8 On behalf of Senator Johnson, on 9 page 12, I offer the following amendments to 10 Calendar Number 307, Senate Print Number 2720, 11 and ask that said bill retain its place on the 12 Third Reading Calendar. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 14 amendments to Calendar Number 307 are received 15 and adopted. The bill will retain its place on 16 the Third Reading Calendar. 17 Senator Bruno, that brings us to 18 the calendar. 19 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President, 20 can we at this time take up the non 21 controversial calendar. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 23 Secretary will read the non-controversial 24 calendar. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 1 310, by member of the Assembly Brodsky, Assembly 2 Print 1624, an act to amend the Environmental 3 Conservation Law, in relation to the offense of 4 endangered public health. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 6 Secretary will read the last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 8 act shall take effect on the first day of 9 November. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 11 roll. 12 (The Secretary called the roll.) 13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 15 is passed. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 380, by Senator Lack, Senate Print 3479, an act 18 to amend the General Municipal Law, in relation 19 to filing of a notice of claim. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 21 Secretary will read the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 23 act shall take effect immediately. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 25 roll. 1 (The Secretary called the roll.) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 4 is passed. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 382, by Senator LaValle, Senate Print 5125-A, an 7 act to amend the Town Law, in relation to 8 increasing the number of and the length of the 9 terms of office. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 11 Secretary will read the last section. 12 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 13 act shall take effect immediately. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 15 roll. 16 (The Secretary called the roll.) 17 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 19 is passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 390, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 5961, an 22 act to authorize the payment of transportation 23 aid to the Rhinebeck Central School District. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 25 a local fiscal impact note at the desk. The 1 Secretary will read the last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 3 act shall take effect immediately. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 5 roll. 6 (The Secretary called the roll.) 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 9 is passed. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 404, by Senator Stafford, Senate Print 6010, an 12 act to amend the Judiciary Law, in relation to 13 the appointment of stenographers by the district 14 attorney of Warren County. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 16 Secretary will read the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 18 act shall take effect immediately. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 20 roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll.) 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 24 is passed. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 1 407, by Senator Hannon, Senate Print 6233, an 2 act to amend Chapter 426 of the Laws of 1983. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 4 Secretary will read the last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 6 act shall take effect June 1. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 8 roll. 9 (The Secretary called the roll.) 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 12 is passed. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 410, by member of the Assembly Tokasz, Assembly 15 Print 9294-A, an act to amend the Education Law, 16 in relation to the hours of elections. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 18 Secretary will read the last section. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 20 act shall take effect immediately. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 22 roll. 23 (The Secretary called the roll.) 24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 1 is passed. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 425, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 6414, an act 4 to amend the Education Law, in relation to 5 additional apportionment for certain school 6 building projects. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 8 Secretary will read -- The Secretary will read 9 the last section. 10 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 11 act shall take effect immediately. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 13 roll. 14 (The Secretary called the roll.) 15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 17 is passed. 18 Senator Bruno, that completes the 19 reading of the non-controversial calendar. 20 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President, 21 can we at this time take up the bills that were 22 earlier reported to the floor by the Finance 23 Committee, starting with Senate 6248. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 25 Secretary will read Senate 6248. 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 438, by Senator Bruno, Senate Print 6248, an act 3 to amend the Real Property Tax Law, in relation 4 to the school property tax exemption. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The Chair 6 recognizes Senator Bruno, on the bill. 7 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President, as 8 the people in this chamber know, New York State 9 has become the leader in the country in cutting 10 taxes. We have cut over $11 billion in the 11 previous three years in personal income taxes, 12 real estate taxes, business taxes, sales taxes. 13 The consequence of that has been to turn the 14 economy of New York State around. 15 This bill before us is the 16 Senate's tax cut package for this year. We have 17 turned the economy of this state in three years 18 through the leadership of Governor George Pataki 19 when we in this chamber and the other house have 20 partnered, cutting more taxes in three years 21 than all other 49 states combined. 22 Previous to these three years we 23 led the country in job losses, lost about 24 600,000 jobs, 50th in job creation and in three 25 years, as a consequence of our tax cut policies 1 that are now law, the last few years we have 2 created 250,000 jobs. We are sixth in the 3 country in creating new jobs, leading some of 4 the major competitive states in job creation in 5 the United States. 6 So, Mr. President, I would urge 7 my colleagues to support the continuation of the 8 economic policies, the tax cut policies that 9 have led to the economic recovery and the growth 10 of New York State. 11 This package includes 680 million 12 in cuts this year, growing to the year 2001 and 13 2002 to 1,250,000,000, led by allowing moderate 14 and low income seniors to accelerate the STAR 15 program that all of us in this chamber -- most 16 of us in this chamber supported. It returns the 17 seniors, let's them keep about $538 million 18 savings in their property taxes. Now, that 19 accelerates a program that's already law. 20 That's the major part of what we are proposing 21 here today. 22 We also talk about cutting the 23 corporate tax rate by 25 percent, making us 24 again competitive with other states who have 25 been taking our jobs where growth has been 1 taking place where we've lost jobs. We will 2 reverse that. 3 We talked about an investment tax 4 credit for the financial community. The 5 financial community has been driving revenue as 6 we all know. They presently don't enjoy the 7 same breaks that manufacturers get here in this 8 state. They are investing in high tech' 9 equipment every few years to keep pace with the 10 market and all of the things that are 11 happening. We want those jobs to stay here. 12 That investment tax credit will help ensure 13 that. 14 I saw numbers that showed that 15 the average growth just in this industry alone 16 across the country was 49 percent growth. We in 17 New York State have not participated in that 18 growth to that extent. We have actually 19 participated very little because the back 20 offices have moved to other states. Hopefully 21 this investment tax credit will help reverse 22 that. 23 We talk about child care credits 24 for lower income people, to help working 25 mothers, working fathers to care properly for 1 their children. 2 Investment tax credits for 3 businesses are in this package to encourage them 4 to provide a safe place for families to keep 5 their young children while they're working. 6 We have a truck mileage tax 7 reduction in here, a petroleum tax including jet 8 fuel reduction in this. 9 We have a motor vehicle 10 reduction, taking a 25 percent reduction in 11 licenses for the people of this state who have 12 watched the costs of driving their cars 13 escalate. 14 We also returned, for those that 15 turn in a license early, those dollars they 16 presently forfeit to the state. 17 We do things for small business 18 to the tune of about $165 million, taking the 19 minimum tax down, taking the alternative tax 20 down from three and a half percent to two and a 21 half percent, and that is critically important 22 to industry and businesses in this state. 23 Companies that invest in high 24 tech' equipment, generally small companies, we 25 have a package that zeros in directly on these 1 small companies to help them get into business, 2 stay in business and be competitive. 3 There are other aspects to this 4 tax cut package, Mr. President, but I won't read 5 the detail. It's all in the bill. I would 6 encourage my colleagues to support this, and I 7 also know that there are alternatives to this 8 package. I know that there are tax cuts that 9 other people feel would be more productive and 10 we're interested in looking at those. 11 The Assembly has introduced, to 12 their credit, as they pass their budget, a tax 13 cut package and we want to look at that. Much 14 of what we are proposing here today is in their 15 package, to their credit. We will negotiate 16 what isn't, and while we recognize that there 17 are other ways to cut taxes and return this 18 surplus to the people of this state, we are 19 focused on creating jobs, economic development, 20 driving the economy and we believe sincerely 21 that this tax cut package does exactly that. 22 So, Mr. President, this is the 23 first of the budget bills that we will be 24 passing between now and Wednesday, and I would 25 encourage my colleagues to be supportive. 1 Thank you, Mr. President. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 3 Connor. 4 SENATOR CONNOR: Thank you, Mr. 5 President. 6 Mr. President, I'm delighted that 7 the Senate's begun work on its version of the 8 budget so that we can hopefully go to Conference 9 Committees and reconcile our differences or the 10 differences between the Majority in this house 11 and the budget passed by the Assembly. 12 During the course of the debate 13 today on this tax cut package bill, a number of 14 amendments will be offered by members on this 15 side of the aisle, amendments designed to make 16 the investment tax credit a better one by being 17 sure that its benefits are available for jobs 18 created in New York State rather than elsewhere 19 by the financial services industry because, as 20 we know, a lot of -- seems to be a lot of things 21 going on in South Dakota to New York's 22 detriment. 23 There will be amendments offered 24 to help the farmers in New York State with tax 25 relief designed specifically for them and there 1 will be a number of other amendments. 2 Let me say the first amendment, 3 Mr. President, I call up now is sponsored by 4 me. It's at the desk. I would ask to have its 5 reading waived and to explain my amendment. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7 Connor, the amendment is at the desk. The 8 waiving of the reading that you've asked for is 9 granted and you are now provided an opportunity 10 to explain the amendment. 11 SENATOR CONNOR: Thank you, Mr. 12 President. 13 This amendment embodies a 14 proposal which last week the members of the 15 Senate Minority Conference, the Senate 16 Democrats, proposed publicly. We got varied 17 responses. I like the response we got from 18 Change New York because I think it said it all. 19 Change New York said the Senate 20 Republicans have their tax cut proposals. The 21 Senate Democrats have their tax cut proposals. 22 It's good they both have proposals. The only 23 difference is who are you for? Who do you think 24 the benefits should be for? I guess that just 25 about sums up what the difference is in our 1 position. We are for tax cuts. We certainly, 2 in a state that has a substantial burden on the 3 taxpayer, are in favor of reducing taxes. 4 What our amendment does -- let me 5 tell you first, my colleagues, what it doesn't 6 do. It doesn't eliminate the investment tax 7 credit for banking securities. It does not 8 touch the enhanced STAR, accelerated STAR 9 benefits, cuts, which we support. It does not, 10 of course -- it leaves intact the child care 11 credit and the motor vehicle small fee cuts, 12 small business provisions. 13 What it does do is remove some 14 the other corporate tax cuts proposed by the 15 Majority and replace them with a series of 16 proposals for returning the surplus. 17 What it does, more importantly, 18 is while Senator Bruno's proposal -- while the 19 Majority's proposal would give back $680 million 20 to the taxpayers this year, we would give back 21 $1.6 billion this year. When our program was 22 fully implemented, it would cost 520 million, 23 namely the accelerated STAR. When the 24 Majority's program in out-years is fully 25 implemented, it will cost $1.3 billion. If you 1 see it on a graph, we cross like this 2 (indicating). 3 The reason is our concern is to 4 be responsible. We have the surplus this year. 5 We want to give it all back to those who paid 6 it. We don't want to create a possible deficit 7 next year or the year after. We don't want it 8 to balloon. We're, if you will, Mr. President, 9 fiscal conservatives about this. We believe you 10 ought to give back the surplus to the people who 11 paid it. We believe you ought to give it back 12 what you can afford and we believe you should 13 avoid creating deficits in the future. This is 14 sound fiscal management. I urge it upon the 15 state of New York. As shocking and refreshing 16 as a concept for governmental budget making, I 17 think it behooves this Legislature to go that 18 route, and I would urge this house to do that. 19 Now, how do we -- what do we do? 20 Where do we get this $1.6 billion? Well, the 21 accelerated STAR, the other provisions we 22 haven't effected and what we would add is a 23 rebate provision, so that every individual 24 taxpayer in New York State would get a $100 25 rebate, check in the mail. Now, a married 1 couple filing jointly, $200 check in the mail. 2 A taxpayer who paid less than $100 would get 3 back whatever they paid. 4 Now, Mr. President, what's the 5 philosophy behind this? We took too much from 6 these taxpayers. Our surplus says we met the 7 needs of government -- we met the needs of 8 government and we had some left over. We should 9 give it back. 10 What does it do? I know there 11 will be those who say, Oh, but how does that 12 create jobs? Mr. President, in the words of our 13 governor, it allows for freedom. It lets the 14 taxpayer decide what to do with their $100. 15 Maybe they'll spend it. Maybe they'll save it. 16 Maybe they'll invest it. Maybe they'll give it 17 away. Maybe they'll give it away to charity. 18 Maybe they'll start eliminate staying with it. 19 Who knows, Mr. President? That's their choice 20 under our system of entrepreneurship under our 21 capitalist system. They should be free. It's 22 their money. It's not our money. We shouldn't 23 decide on some kind of trickle down scheme. If 24 we give it back to General Electric, maybe 25 they'll hire some jobs. I say let's give it to 1 the GE employees who just lost their jobs. I'm 2 sure they could use the 100 or $200 they get 3 back. 4 Mr. President, it is about 5 leaving in the taxpayers' pockets, in the 6 citizens' pockets, leaving their money there and 7 letting them make the decisions about how to 8 spend it. It's money we didn't need to run the 9 government. They ought to have it back. 10 Frankly, Mr. President, the whole 11 corporate give-back aspects that we eliminate 12 and replace with this rebate is that old trickle 13 down theory and studies have shown over and over 14 again that you feed these corporations and it 15 doesn't necessarily produce the jobs. Let the 16 people spend the money. If every taxpayer in an 17 area had $100 to spend, that would certainly - 18 that would certainly create jobs. It would 19 enhance businesses as they spent this money 20 because, Mr. President, if it wouldn't, then why 21 did we do that personal income tax cut a couple 22 years ago? How did that ever produce jobs? 23 Well, the answer we heard from the Majority then 24 was, if you give the people the money back, 25 they'll spend it and that will create jobs in 1 retail, in entertainment, wherever they spend 2 that money, wherever they spend that money. 3 That's what this Majority sold us. It's what we 4 did three years ago. So how could you say today 5 that giving everybody $100 won't create jobs? 6 It will create jobs just as much 7 -- just as much as the personal income tax cuts 8 in past years created jobs, if they did create 9 jobs and, frankly, Mr. President, if we look at 10 the statistics on where New York's economy 11 lagged so far behind the regional economy, so 12 far behind the rest of the nation in terms of 13 recovery, indeed, the only bright spot in New 14 York's economy is that hot Wall Street and study 15 after study has shown it's New York City and the 16 New York City Metropolitan area that has 17 benefited from the jobs generated from Wall 18 Street. The rest of New York State, indeed, is 19 in a terrible situation when it comes to jobs 20 and just returning tax breaks to corporations 21 that are already on their way out the door from 22 New York won't do it. Let's give the residents 23 of New York the money to spend to create their 24 own economies in their own towns and cities. 25 Mr. President, we are blessed now 1 because of a national economy under the 2 leadership of a national administration that has 3 adopted policies that have produced a healthy 4 economy. One of the effects of this is no 5 inflation, virtually no inflation and, two, the 6 lowest interest rates we've seen in literally 7 decades. 8 The mortgage interest rate is at 9 an all time low, at least since I was old enough 10 to know what a mortgage rate was. Many, many 11 New Yorkers are interested in buying that first 12 home because it's a good time to buy. It's a 13 good time to barter. Many, many more middle 14 class homeowners in New York State are 15 interested in refinancing that mortgage, 16 refinancing that mortgage that is perhaps at 17 nine or ten or even eleven percent if they 18 didn't bother refinancing before this, down to a 19 possible seven percent. 20 A homeowner with a $120,000 21 mortgage that refinances at seven percent from 22 nine percent will save $24 -- $2400 in interest 23 payments the first year. 24 Now, we know when you refinance, 25 Mr. President, it's just like buying a house all 1 over again. There are closing costs. Sometimes 2 there's lawyers. You need a survey. You need 3 this and that and one of the big things you have 4 to do is you have to pay the mortgage recording 5 tax. It's a point. It's a point at which 6 usually the bank pays a quarter of the point and 7 the borrower pays three-quarters of a point. On 8 that $120,000 mortgage refinance, I think it 9 would come to 840 or $850 would be the local - 10 the mortgage recording tax. Now, we know that 11 tax is distributed primarily to the localities. 12 There are also some other state uses to which 13 part of those proceeds are put. Based on past 14 experience, this tax is worth about 300- to $350 15 million a year. 16 We propose as a one-year-only 17 proposition -- why one year, Mr. President? We 18 have a surplus this year. We want to give it 19 back. We want to give it back but we don't want 20 to create a future problem the way the 21 Majority's proposal would do. 22 So what we're proposing to do is 23 have a one-year moratorium. The state of New 24 York will hold the local communities harmless. 25 We'd give them the money they would have gotten 1 from the recording tax but the people who 2 refinance their home won't have to pay that tax, 3 a big savings for middle class families. 4 Virtually every middle class family with a 5 mortgage will be able to refinance at a much 6 lower interest rate, save thousands of dollars 7 in interest costs and save substantial dollars 8 by not having to pay the mortgage recording 9 tax. It will be good, Mr. President, for New 10 York's economy. It will be good for our 11 financial industries. It would be good for the 12 real estate industries. It will create jobs in 13 real estate. There's no doubt about it. No 14 doubt about it, Mr. President. 15 The other third tier, if you 16 will, of the changes we would make -- because 17 we're not replacing the Majority's proposal. 18 We're just substituting certain elements - 19 would be a selected cut in sales taxes based on 20 family needs geared to families and safety. 21 For example, we would exempt from 22 the sales tax child safety helmets, child safety 23 seats, diapers, things that the families, the 24 struggling middle class, working class families 25 in New York State have to pay for. 1 When you have children, Mr. 2 President, it's not an option whether or not you 3 buy a child safety seat. It's no more an option 4 to do that if you drive and most people in New 5 York State, that's how the transportation is. 6 They have to drive. That's not an option. You 7 have to buy that and it's not an option about 8 whether or not your child is going to need a 9 safety helmet as they grow and ride bicycles and 10 scooters and rollerblade, whatever. Just look 11 around. Every kid's got to have a safety 12 helmet. We want them to have a safety helmet 13 and it's silly for us to try and profit on 14 that. 15 So, Mr. President, in sum and 16 substance, I would urge that our amendment be 17 accepted because, one, it gives the money back 18 to the people. It lets the people decide how to 19 spend it. It lets the people create jobs by 20 their own economic free choice. Their own 21 economic free choice will create those jobs. It 22 will create those jobs. The marketplace will 23 create those jobs when we put all of this money 24 back in circulation. 25 Number two, Mr. President, it's 1 fiscally conservative and responsible. It's a 2 lot of money this year and there's no hole being 3 dug for future years. The Majority, once again, 4 makes a small down payment and goes deep into 5 the hole in the out-years with proposals, 6 frankly, Mr. President, that are of dubious 7 value in job creation and certainly of dubious 8 value to the average taxpayer in New York 9 State. Rewarding the company that's cutting 10 back on the jobs doesn't help the average 11 working man and woman in New York State. 12 So this first amendment, Mr. 13 President, I would urge all of my colleagues to 14 support. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Any other 16 Senator wishing to speak on the amendment? The 17 question is on the amendment. All those in 18 favor -- Senator, excuse me. 19 SENATOR DOLLINGER: On the 20 amendment. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Paterson. 23 SENATOR DOLLINGER: On the 24 amendment. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: I had 1 Senator Paterson rising first. 2 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Excuse me. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 Paterson. 5 SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you, Mr. 6 President. 7 This amendment, coming at this 8 time, I think brings a sobering and refreshing 9 kind of view of the economic forecast for New 10 York. 11 If we look at the last couple of 12 decades, it appears that the whole concept of 13 refinancing and debt has been misunderstood as 14 -- by governments, even by consumers. As we 15 read most recently, the consumers are finally 16 starting to understand what their obligations 17 are. Certainly as a government, which is 18 basically made up of a number of consumers, we 19 have to start understanding what our obligations 20 are. We cannot continue to go on and on, 21 raising hopes that we can't fulfill, making 22 promises that we can't keep, talking in absurd 23 extremes and peddling a bunch of simplistic 24 exaggerations that only parody the truth. 25 To state that we are going to 1 start a long-term $5 billion tax cut last year 2 and which we made a marginal down payment on at 3 a time when Wall Street was booming is really 4 confusing and creates the dispirited reaction 5 about government that the public feels when they 6 find out the painful truth that we are unable to 7 fulfill those obligations. 8 We learned that lesson right here 9 in this chamber in April of 1987 when we passed 10 a $2.3 billion tax cut which was the residue of 11 the coupling act of the Federal Income Tax 12 Reform Act of 1986. At that time we had $2.3 13 billion and we gave it back in various ways very 14 similar to what is basically being proposed in 15 the Majority's package today. 16 At the same time we were doing 17 this, the states of Illinois and Indiana and 18 Iowa, of Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan and 19 Minnesota were not doing that. We were either 20 passing the savings along to consumers or they 21 were investing that money and keeping it for a 22 rainy day. 23 The fact that we experienced a 24 windfall at that particular time did not allow 25 those states to fritter the money away in 1 reckless schemes but in New York State, by 1988, 2 we were $900 million in debt. By 1989, we had a 3 $4.3 billion budget gap. By 1990, we had a $4.8 4 billion budget gap and during that particular 5 time, we had to wonder how much more foresighted 6 would it have been if we had taken a realistic 7 look at debt and also a windfall at that 8 particular time. Now we are blessed again with 9 a nearly $2 billion surplus, the first time 10 we've had a surplus since 1987, and the idea of 11 giving this money back in a number of ways, I 12 guess if you own a tractor company, this would 13 be a benefit. If you own some kind of a large 14 corporation, this would be a benefit, but if you 15 are a small business owner or a citizen of this 16 state, it is not going to be the kind of benefit 17 that it would be if everybody got back $100 as 18 Senator Connor is proposing. 19 Many of us may have forgotten 20 what $100 really means or $200 for a couple. 21 $100 for us is more than just a few cigars. 22 $100 is something that can actually make a 23 difference for perhaps some of the employees of 24 Manufacturers Hanover who were laid off last 25 week. Anyone who's a resident of New York who's 1 part of the 20,000 people laid off by Boeing 2 last Friday, anyone from General Electric who's 3 lost their jobs recently, this could be a 4 valuable addition to what is a diminishing 5 revenue base right here in New York State. 6 This particular windfall that 7 we're receiving, we have to understand comes 8 from what has been an immense period on Wall 9 Street of great wealth and of great prosperity, 10 but it is not the only time that Wall Street has 11 actually prospered. Actually the largest, 12 longest period of time that Wall Street 13 prospered was about from 1961 until the end of 14 1969. When we went into recession after 1969, 15 recession being calculated as the measure of 20 16 percent less of the wealth of the aggregate year 17 two years before, that recession lasted almost 18 through the entire decade of the '70s. We had 19 had a growth in the late 1920s of nearly three 20 and a half times the Wall Street market average, 21 the Dow Jones average. That occurred from 22 mid-1926 to mid- -- to October of 1929, and we 23 don't have to remind ourselves of what happened 24 at that period of time. 25 So as we go through this bull 1 market and this period of prosperity which began 2 approximately October 20th of 1991 and has gone 3 through the entire decade, most analysts believe 4 that the period will continue, that it's not 5 going to end very shortly, that to actually 6 equal the percentage gain in the late 1920s, 7 that the Wall Street index, the Dow Jones 8 average which on Friday closed at 8906, 8,906 9 shares, would have to rise over 10,500 shares 10 and most analysts believe that it will rise and 11 it will go over 10,500 some time at the 12 millennium or in the year 2000, but the fact 13 remains that there will still come a time that 14 there will be deficit and there will be 15 recession in this state and at this particular 16 time, the best way to reignite the engine of our 17 economy, the best way to create prosperity is 18 actually the simplest way and we should actually 19 follow it, to give the money back to the 20 individuals who most should be rewarded, those 21 taxpayers, 7.6 million of them who have provided 22 the broad revenue base for this state and have 23 suffered the economic situation that we've had 24 from 1990 -- from 1988 to 1997. Those are the 25 people who most deserve it. That's the largest 1 number of people and this is the way that we 2 most believe it should be brought back. 3 The mortgage recording tax is 4 something that is so easy to figure out that 5 it's hard to discuss. Everyone who is now 6 refinancing on their homes or everyone who would 7 be desirous of buying property at this time when 8 there's a low interest rate would receive - 9 would not have to pay the mortgage recording tax 10 only for fiscal year 1998-99. 11 We're not going to forecast any 12 longer beyond 1999 because, even though we may 13 believe that we're in a period of prosperity, we 14 do not know for a fact what is actually going to 15 happen. There's no use talking about tax cuts 16 that are really no more than predictions and 17 plans. If there's anything left over next year, 18 we can discuss coming right back here and 19 passing the same legislation. It's not as if 20 we're going to go on vacation for a few years 21 after we pass this tax cut. This would be the 22 most responsible way. This is the way that even 23 citizens around this state are learning it is 24 the best way to handle their personal finances 25 and we as the fiduciary agents of their 1 interests as elected officials in government 2 need to respond to that actual interest, and as 3 we look at the essentials that we will be 4 allowing for in the sales tax, they will be very 5 important to the people who need them, diapers, 6 car seats for safety, fire extinguishers and the 7 like. 8 So I am proud to actually support 9 this amendment at a time when we think this 10 makes good fiscal sense and it is the type of 11 plan that you don't have to be an economist to 12 understand. It would, in our opinion, inure to 13 the benefit of the most people in this state and 14 would cost really no more than about $760 15 million to give out. It would certainly create 16 the same kind of investment opportunity and the 17 same kind of economy generating because even in 18 the poorest centers of our state, money changes 19 hands at least once in its own community before 20 it goes outside of its community and, therefore, 21 we would be putting the money right back into 22 some of the companies and some of the businesses 23 that the other plan does. 24 So I think that this is an 25 excellent suggestion coming at this time by the 1 Minority Leader, Senator Connor, and I think 2 it's one we should think about deliberately and 3 I think it's one that we should all understand 4 that we need in our state at this time and would 5 be the best way to reward all of the people who 6 had to pay for the deficit because of our 7 irresponsibility nearly a decade ago. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 9 Dollinger, on the amendment. 10 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Thank you, 11 Mr. President. 12 Friends, Romans and countrymen, 13 lend me your ears. You remember that start of 14 that famous speech which carried the line that 15 the evil that men do lives after it becomes 16 law. The good is often interred in an amendment 17 offered by the Senate Democrats. 18 I'll tell you, this is the best 19 offer made in a public body to the people of a 20 community since those 75 drachmas were offered 21 under Caesar's will in Julius Caesar. This is 22 $100, a C-note for everybody in New York State. 23 What Senator Connor and Senator Paterson have 24 overlooked is that this is the most progressive 25 form of tax relief that we could give and the 1 reason is simple. That $100 is worth a lot more 2 in the pocket of a man who makes $10,000 a year 3 than it is in the hands of a millionaire. It's 4 the perfect progressive rebate to the people of 5 this state. 6 What a great way to take the tax 7 system, make it progressive, make the rebate 8 system work. Give everybody in this state 9 $100. If you file jointly, give them $200. Let 10 them put into practice what we're told everyone 11 on that side of the aisle believes, which is 12 that each individual should figure out how to 13 spend his own money. As I recall, that's the 14 patron saint of the Republican Party, Ronald 15 Reagan, who told us that the way to make it work 16 best is to give the money back to the people and 17 let them decide what they want to do with it. 18 Let them decide where they should spend it. Let 19 them decide what consumer goods they should 20 buy. Let them decide what they should buy for 21 educating their children. Let them decide where 22 they want to send their kids to college. This 23 $100 rebate, which is part of this amendment, 24 allows them to do just that. It's progressive. 25 It gives the sense to people that their 1 government wants to give them something to help 2 them. Let them make the choice. 3 The tax cuts that the Majority 4 offers that are geared to businesses, sure, 5 those have value, but why not give it right back 6 to the people? Why not give it to the person 7 who can greatly appreciate it? Why not give 8 $100 to the guy who makes 10,000? Give him 9 something that he can spend. Give him something 10 that he can save. Give him something that he 11 can put to work. 12 What I find unique about this 13 amendment is that we are creating what I think 14 is a unique concept. We already have an 15 unclaimed property fund in this state. You know 16 that unclaimed property where if you don't claim 17 your bank accounts, they're eventually sent to 18 the comptroller and you can claim your money 19 back? Well, the Senate Democrat amendment, it 20 clearly creates an unspent tax fund. We don't 21 spend your tax money. We give it back to you. 22 We give it back to you at a rate of $100 per 23 person. An unspent tax fund, what a wonderful 24 idea. We don't need it to pay for the cost of 25 government. We'll give it back to the people 1 who gave it to us. What a great idea. What a 2 wonderful way to do it. What a wonderful way to 3 give it back to the people and make the people 4 those who decide where their tax money should be 5 spent. Give it back to them. Let them spend it 6 however they want to. 7 The promise -- the mortgage tax, 8 another great idea. Several years ago we had an 9 extensive debate in this house about repealing 10 the real property capital gains tax. You 11 remember that tax that was put in place before I 12 got here and I think, Senator -- maybe some 13 Senators can tell me, I think that was a tax put 14 in place by the Republican Majority here. I 15 don't think it was done in that one year in the 16 last 50 when the Democrats have been in 17 control. That was a tax put in place by the 18 Republican Party and if you all recall, there 19 was a great debate in which everybody said it 20 was a terrible tax. It was a terrible idea. No 21 one wanted to take responsibility for having put 22 it in place but when the time came to repeal it, 23 suddenly everybody on the other side of the 24 aisle jumped up and said, we made a horrible 25 mistake. It wasn't really our fault. We were 1 forced to do it but, boy, are we happy to be 2 repealing it. 3 Well, what that tax relief was 4 designed to do was promote new construction in 5 housing. I would suggest to you that a relief 6 from the mortgage tax would be a vital incentive 7 to increase new construction of homes, to allow 8 people to buy their starter home. $100,000 9 mortgage carries with it, I believe somewhere 10 between 900 and $1,000 worth in mortgage taxes 11 that you have to pay when you buy the property. 12 Why not allow the person to save that money? 13 You'll see people buying more houses to start. 14 You'll see more and more people refinancing. 15 Senator Connor is absolutely 16 correct. A two percent reduction in the 17 interest rate on your mortgage will produce a 18 savings of $2400 a year for a New Yorker who's 19 dropping their mortgage from nine percent to 20 seven percent. Why shouldn't we use tax relief 21 as the incentive to drive that decision, to 22 allow consumers to do something that we know is 23 better for them, which is they can reduce the 24 carrying cost of their house $2400 in a single 25 year and if you have a 30-year mortgage, that's 1 every year for the next 30 years. That's 2 $60,000 in savings leveraged by relief from the 3 mortgage tax that this proposal embodies. 4 So what do we do? We increase 5 refinancing. We allow more New Yorkers to save 6 their money. We encourage new home 7 construction. We encourage people moving up in 8 their homes. All those good things that I know 9 you want for New Yorkers, this amendment will 10 actually leverage. This will point them in that 11 direction. It will do for each individual in 12 this state what I think we all acknowledge they 13 should be doing. Save your money. Put it in 14 the bank. Use it to pay for your kid's college 15 education. If we give them the incentive of 16 relief from the mortgage tax, we will get closer 17 to that goal. We will put in the hands of 18 individuals the ability to decide what their 19 future is instead of simply putting it in the 20 hands of our major corporations. This one 21 favors people over corporations. It's just the 22 kind of tax cut that we should have in place. 23 It's just the kind of tax relief that New 24 Yorkers want. 25 It seems to me, as I said before, 1 this is very simple. The evil that men do can 2 live after. It can be in the form of a back 3 ended tax cut which blows out to billions of 4 dollars in the future. We learned that lesson, 5 I hope. It doesn't appear we have because the 6 Majority's bill creates those same kind of 7 unfunded mandated liabilities in the future. 8 This is a bill that creates 9 mandated liabilities for this state in the 10 future. They're all based on a faint and 11 illusory promise of continued economic 12 expansion. I hope it continues. I hope for all 13 of our sakes it continues, but it's an illusion 14 to think that we can build a promise on the 15 basis of that illusion. 16 The Democratic plan here is 17 simple. We've got more money. We don't need to 18 spend it. Give it back to the people who gave 19 it to us. Do something for the people of this 20 state. Put $100 back in their pocket. Give 21 them an incentive to refinance their home or buy 22 their first home by giving them relief from the 23 mortgage tax. It's very simple. This amendment 24 is the best deal since Mark Antony offered the 25 75 drachmas to the citizens of Rome. Offer 1 everybody in New York State refinancing of their 2 homes and $100 in their pocket. 3 Vote for this amendment. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 5 question is on the amendment. All those in 6 favor signify by saying aye. 7 (Response of "Aye".) 8 Opposed? 9 SENATOR PATERSON: Party vote in 10 the affirmative. 11 SENATOR BRUNO: Party vote in the 12 negative. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 14 Secretary will call the roll. 15 (The Secretary called the roll.) 16 THE SECRETARY: Ayes - 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 18 Leichter, why do you rise? 19 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 20 to explain my vote on the amendment, Mr. 21 President. I think the amendment is - 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 23 the party line votes, and Senator Leichter, to 24 explain his vote. 25 SENATOR LEICHTER: Right. I 1 think what Senator Connor has offered here, 2 obviously makes so much better sense than what 3 has been offered by the Republican Majority. 4 The Majority's proposal is highly irresponsible 5 and I'm going to talk about that later when we 6 get to it. I think at least what Senator Connor 7 has sought to do is to avoid putting the state 8 into a financial down spiral in future years as 9 far as revenue is concerned. 10 Nevertheless, I just don't feel 11 that I can support a tax cut at a time that this 12 state is facing a $5 billion structural deficit 13 in the coming years. I think that there are 14 ways that we can address needs in this state 15 that would be more helpful than giving people 16 the sort of tax cut proposed even moderate and 17 reasonably tame as Senator Connor's proposal is, 18 but I don't think this is a time that we can do 19 it and afford to do it and, therefore, I'm going 20 to vote in the negative on the amendment. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Announce 22 the results. 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 23, nays 34. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 25 amendment is lost. 1 Senator Stachowski. 2 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Mr. 3 President, I believe I have an amendment at the 4 desk. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is, 6 Senator Stachowski. 7 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Mr. 8 President, I would like to waive its reading and 9 offer an explanation. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 11 reading is waived. You're recognized for an 12 explanation of the amendment. 13 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: My amendment 14 will merely address the investment tax credit 15 for banks and investment -- and security 16 companies. 17 Senator Bruno, in his description 18 of the bill, talked about how there's been 19 growth in this area and unfortunately most of 20 the growth hasn't been here and that he talked 21 about the expense these companies have in 22 replacing their high tech' equipment and how 23 this bill would be an investment credit that 24 would help them do that more readily and lead to 25 more of the jobs being located here and the back 1 office locations being located here rather in 2 other states like New Jersey or the Dakotas or 3 Delaware, some place like that, and what this 4 amendment does is it takes Senator Bruno's good 5 idea to add some job growth in this industry and 6 makes it a better idea by making sure that that 7 job growth happens here and this amendment 8 merely says that if we're going to do this kind 9 of tax credit, then it should be effective in 10 jobs and equipment that are for people that are 11 located in New York, or at least the large 12 majority of it, and that's real easy to keep 13 track of. If the machinery -- if the equipment 14 is bought and sent somewhere else, obviously 15 it's not helping people in New York. If it's 16 bought here -- you know, if they get a tax 17 credit in New York and use the money to buy new 18 equipment that they put in their office in New 19 Jersey, that's not a direct help to the people 20 of the state of New York and that's what we're 21 trying to avoid by doing this amendment. 22 I think it's a good amendment. I 23 think it's a clear amendment, and I think it's 24 something where -- in some other areas where we 25 say we're trying to do a recoupment bill now and 1 we have been for years, where companies get 2 benefits, promise to create jobs or promise to 3 keep jobs and then they move out of the state or 4 they take the equipment that they bought to 5 create jobs and take it with them out of the 6 state, we now have people often complaining that 7 we shouldn't allow this. Well, here's a chance 8 when we're first looking at an investment tax 9 credit for an industry that doesn't have one 10 now, that we can cut that thing off from 11 happening by passing this amendment and making 12 sure that this investment credit is used for the 13 benefit of the people that work in the state of 14 New York. 15 I recommend that everyone vote 16 yes on the amendment. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 18 question is on the amendment. All those in 19 favor signify by saying aye. 20 SENATOR PATERSON: Party vote in 21 the affirmative. 22 SENATOR BRUNO: Party vote in the 23 negative. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 25 Secretary will call the roll. Record the party 1 votes. 2 (The Secretary called the roll.) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 24, nays 4 34. Party vote. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 6 amendment is lost. 7 Senator Hoffmann, why do you 8 rise? 9 SENATOR HOFFMANN: I too have 10 amendments at the desk, Mr. President. I would 11 request that we waive the reading. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Are you 13 going to take both amendments at the same time, 14 Senator, or do you want to take one over the 15 other one first? Which one do you - 16 SENATOR HOFFMANN: Why don't I do 17 the barn bill first -- the barn amendment first, 18 Mr. President. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Historic 20 barn preservation amendment? 21 SENATOR HOFFMANN: That is 22 correct. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Your 24 request for asking the reading of it be waived 25 is granted and you are afforded the floor for 1 the purpose of explaining the amendment. 2 SENATOR HOFFMANN: Thank you, Mr. 3 President, and with you presiding, I am much 4 more confident than my previous colleagues have 5 been about the success of this amendment when we 6 take it up momentarily for a vote. 7 This is a bill -- actually I'm 8 introducing it as an amendment today with a bill 9 which I introduced two years ago. It is 10 co-sponsored in the Assembly by Assemblyman 11 Parment and the beautiful part about this bill 12 is that it does not have a local fiscal impact. 13 It uses an existing funding source to allow 14 people around the state, whether they be private 15 property owners, corporations, people engaged in 16 public benefit or non-profit agencies who are in 17 possession of barns, to take advantage of the 18 Environmental Protection Fund which last year 19 received full funding at $110 million. 20 The important benefit of this is 21 that we would be able to save a number of barns 22 which are right now in the process of literally 23 falling to the ground. Anybody who's driven 24 across the upstate landscape knows that these 25 structures have very vulnerable to the weather 1 conditions. Many of them are as much as 300 2 years old and they are beautiful to behold. A 3 lot of them have hand-hewn beams inside. 4 Frequently they have been disassembled from one 5 location and moved from another spot maybe 100, 6 150 years ago, old threshing barns and hops 7 barns are reconstructed as attachments to dairy 8 barns and they are an intrinsic part of our 9 culture and our history. They're also an 10 important part of our economy right now, but as 11 everyone in this chamber knows as well, since we 12 proudly passed the Northeast Dairy Compact 13 legislation three weeks ago, dairy farmers and 14 agriculture in general are struggling right now 15 and everybody also understands that when people 16 are having a hard time making ends meet and when 17 the dairy farmers are operating at a deficit, as 18 we have discussed in these very chambers, it is 19 very unlikely that the kind of costs can be put 20 aside to make the necessary repairs for a large 21 capital structure like a barn, a historic barn. 22 So I am hopeful that this time 23 this chamber will pass this measure and allow 24 the barns of New York State to be included along 25 with other local landmarks which are presently 1 covered under the Environmental Protection 2 Fund. This would give our outstanding Parks 3 Department the opportunity to rake some of these 4 barns and be able to apportion a small amount if 5 they deem appropriate or a somewhat larger 6 amount of that $110 million that was in for full 7 funding last year and is anticipated to be in 8 the Environmental Protection Fund this year. 9 And I would just like to note 10 also that other sponsors on this bill which was 11 circulated at its origination to all members of 12 the Senate, other sponsors include Senators 13 Kruger, Leichter, Markowitz, Montgomery and that 14 most eloquent supporter of agriculture in New 15 York State, Senator Waldon. 16 So I would urge an adoption of a 17 historic barn amendment, Mr. President. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 19 question is on the amendment. All those in 20 favor signify by saying aye. 21 (Response of "Aye".) 22 Opposed, nay. 23 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 Leichter. 1 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 2 regrettably, I must ask to be excused from 3 voting on this bill. 4 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6 Paterson, why do you rise? 7 SENATOR PATERSON: Party vote in 8 the affirmative. 9 SENATOR BRUNO: Party vote in the 10 negative, Mr. President. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 12 Secretary will call the roll. The Secretary 13 will call the roll. The Secretary will call the 14 roll. 15 (The Secretary called the roll.) 16 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 24 - 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 18 the party line vote. 19 Senator Leichter, did you wish to 20 abstain from the amendment? 21 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: All 23 right. Without objection, Senator Leichter will 24 be recorded as an abstention on the amendment. 25 Announce the results. 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 23, nays 34. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 3 -- the amendment is lost. 4 Senator Hoffmann, would you care 5 to be recognized - 6 SENATOR HOFFMANN: Yes. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: -- for 8 the second amendment? 9 SENATOR HOFFMANN: I would, Mr. 10 President. Could I just yield for one moment to 11 Senator Montgomery, who I believe wanted to be 12 recognized. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 Montgomery, why do you rise? 15 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Mr. 16 President, unfortunately I wasn't recognized 17 before we took the vote on the barn amendment, 18 but I did want to just support very 19 wholeheartedly that amendment, which I think is 20 well overdue, to do something that acknowledges 21 the importance of the farming community and the 22 farming industry in our state and certainly that 23 it is an opportunity for us to preserve some 24 barns that are quite historical in upstate New 25 York, in particular. 1 Thank you. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Thank you 3 for your comments, Senator Montgomery. 4 The Chair apologizes for not 5 seeing you prior to the vote. 6 Senator Hoffmann, for the 7 purposes of forwarding a second amendment. 8 SENATOR HOFFMANN: Yes, Mr. 9 President. I have a second amendment to the 10 bill before us. I would request we waive its 11 reading. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 13 reading is waived. You're now offered the 14 opportunity to explain the amendment. 15 SENATOR HOFFMANN: Mr. President, 16 this bill would amend our Tax Law in relation to 17 an agricultural energy tax credit. 18 Very simply, this would allow a 19 credit for five percent of the cost of energy 20 products consumed in agricultural production to 21 be waived, including petroleum products, natural 22 gas, electricity, steam or alternative fuels 23 directly consumed in the production or operation 24 of farm products within New York State. 25 As everyone knows, agriculture is 1 a very energy-intensive industry. We have heard 2 much from farmers in recent months about a 3 desire to see lower cost energy. While we have 4 a surplus at hand, what more meaningful way can 5 we stimulate our agricultural economy than by 6 giving this immediate form of tax relief for 7 people engaged in agriculture in the form of an 8 energy tax credit in the amount of five 9 percent? 10 So I would urge the adoption of 11 this amendment, Mr. President. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 Abate, on the amendment. 14 SENATOR ABATE: Yes. I too would 15 like to speak on the amendment and support the 16 amendment. If we look over the last five to ten 17 years, we've lost 30 percent of small farms in 18 New York State. If you speak to farmers around 19 the state, they talk about the enormous cost of 20 energy and it's because of the enormous cost of 21 energy that many of them cannot survive. 22 This is very little we can do to 23 support the farmers in the state. We need to 24 support this tax credit. They've asked for it. 25 They support it statewide, and I 1 enthusiastically support this amendment. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 3 Waldon, on the amendment. 4 SENATOR WALDON: Thank you very 5 much, Mr. President. 6 I rise to support Senator 7 Hoffmann in her proposal. I think it is an 8 excellent idea. If we look back over the last 9 10 years, we see that historically about 66 10 percent of the cooperatives in the state have 11 failed and I'm talking about farm cooperatives 12 now, primarily dairy, and we see that all too 13 many family-owned farms are just falling by the 14 wayside. This was once the linchpin of our 15 entire state's economy and yet we with foolish 16 policies have not sufficiently supported them so 17 that they can remain strong and viable. I think 18 that what we're doing now would allow those who 19 want to farm, whom we need to farm and who we 20 need to have there to produce the products that 21 this state from the farming industry requires so 22 greatly. 23 So I encourage us to support this 24 amendment, and I really am proud that Senator 25 Hoffmann brought it to us for our consideration 1 and deliberation. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 3 Dollinger, on the amendment. 4 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Thank you, 5 Mr. President. 6 Just very briefly. I also 7 commend Senator Hoffmann for bringing this 8 amendment to the floor. I think this is the 9 right way to encourage family farms and to 10 increase family farms and continue their 11 viability. 12 We had a debate on this floor, a 13 very contentious debate about another way to do 14 it, which I thought was the wrong way to do it, 15 but I think that this is a method of giving to 16 individuals tax relief where they need it, and I 17 think that we ought to do this for our farms. 18 I would encourage Senator 19 Hoffmann and others of like mind on the other 20 side of the aisle who represent large farming 21 communities -- I do not -- but I would encourage 22 them to back this amendment because this is 23 something we can proudly say we've given farmers 24 tax relief which will reduce their cost, make 25 them more competitive and maybe reduce the price 1 of food in New York State. 2 Thank you, Mr. President. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 Lachman, on the amendment. 5 SENATOR LACHMAN: As one who 6 represents a large farming community in 7 Brooklyn, I would also urge my colleagues to 8 support Senator Hoffmann on this amendment to 9 the legislation. 10 William Jennings Bryan once said 11 that if we don't support the small farmers in 12 the nation, grass will grow in the streets of 13 the urban centers where they were formerly 14 concrete, not the grass that we want but weeds 15 as well as grass and we need to support small 16 farmers in our state and it's an excellent 17 amendment, and I add my voice in the chorus of 18 support. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Any other 20 Senator wishing to speak on the amendment? 21 (There was no response.) 22 The question is on the 23 amendment. All those in favor of the amendment 24 signify by saying aye. 25 Senator Paterson, why do you 1 rise? 2 SENATOR PATERSON: This is such 3 an excellent idea, I would like to call for a 4 bipartisan vote. 5 SENATOR SKELOS: Party vote in 6 the negative. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 8 Secretary will call the roll on the amendment. 9 (The Secretary called the roll.) 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 24, nays 11 34. Party vote. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 13 amendment is lost. 14 Any member wishing to speak on 15 the bill? 16 (There was no response.) 17 The Secretary will read the last 18 section. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 20 act shall take effect April 1. 21 SENATOR LEICHTER: Just a second, 22 Mr. President. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 24 Leichter. 25 SENATOR LEICHTER: Is this the 1 bill? 2 SENATOR ONORATO: This is the 3 bill itself. 4 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes. If I may 5 -- if I may be heard on the bill, Mr. 6 President. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 8 Leichter, on the main bill. 9 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yeah. Mr. 10 President, there seems to be something about the 11 Majority that leads to a lack of reality in 12 their statements and their comments, and I think 13 the higher up you go in the feeding chain, 14 somehow the more unreal the statements become. 15 I walked in the chamber and I 16 heard the Majority Leader talk about the state 17 has been turned around. The state is doing 18 wonderfully. It's beautiful. I thought, What's 19 he talking about, California, or is he talking 20 about any of the other 46 states that are doing 21 better than New York State? Where has this 22 state been turned around? Maybe turned upside 23 down, but if he's saying that our economy is 24 good, that we're doing better than other states, 25 he's absolutely totally completely wrong. 1 I mean, there's a certain amount 2 of hype in our statements -- and I certainly 3 plead guilty to it -- and you can disagree on 4 policy but you can't disagree on things like 5 unemployment numbers and job growth. 6 Just last Friday, New York Times, 7 March 20th, 1988, headline "Unemployment Rate 8 Rises in New York." Let me read. "The 9 unemployment rates in New York City and the 10 state continued to rise in February, state labor 11 officials reported yesterday. The statewide 12 unemployment rate last month was 6.8 percent, up 13 from 6.6 percent in January." The article 14 continues and concludes, "New York's jobless 15 rate was still well above the national 16 unemployment level of 5.0 percent, down by 0.2 17 percentage points since January" and today in 18 the New York Post, an article "Bond Analyst 19 Publishes Warning on New York Economy." I'm 20 going to read you a little bit of that. Quote, 21 "A nationally known expert on state budgets is 22 downplaying Governor Pataki's tax cutting 23 efforts in warning of dangerous times ahead for 24 New York's economy. Al Hove, former state 25 budget director in Ohio and Illinois and the 1 editor/writer of the widely respected State 2 Budget and Tax News Newsletter presents a 3 scathing analysis of the state's fiscal 4 conditions in a current special report on New 5 York. Hove calls the outlook for New York's 6 economy poor, despite the ongoing boom in New 7 York City Metropolitan area and declares, 8 'Forecast based on trends suggests the state's 9 economic situation will continue to deteriorate 10 relative to most other states.'" 11 I say to you, my colleagues, 12 there is no grounds, basis or justification for 13 the tax cuts that we are doing today and the tax 14 cut offered by the Majority is downright 15 irresponsible and it's because of proposals like 16 Senator Bruno put forward that this state has 17 the worst -- the worst bond rating tied for last 18 with Louisiana with the masters of gimmickry. 19 There used to be a time -- I was in this chamber 20 -- while there were strong philosophical 21 differences, at least there were true fiscal 22 conservatives here, people who believe in being 23 fiscally prudent, maybe to my mind at times 24 overly so. Now we have fiscal irresponsibility 25 led by the Majority and here again today we have 1 a tax cut which is so heavily backloaded so that 2 down the road this tax cut is going to cost 3 $1,248,000,000. Where is the money coming from, 4 Senator Bruno? Where do you expect to pay for 5 that? 6 Right now the projection is for 7 this state to have a budget deficit amounting to 8 billions of dollars as we go into the year 9 2000. The only reason -- the only reason that 10 we're not in fiscal straits this year is because 11 of the unusual numbers of Wall Street and every 12 expert tells us that Wall Street cannot continue 13 this impressive rise in the Dow Jones and the 14 profits that have been made at Wall Street 15 cannot continue. That's obvious because, I 16 think it was Paul Volcker pointed out on a news 17 report I saw, that if the Dow continued to rise 18 as it is, in a few years it would have to be at 19 20,000. I think all of us appreciate, 20 understand that that's not possible. 21 Now, maybe the Majority in its 22 fiscal flights of fancy maybe believes that it 23 was George Pataki that's responsible for this 24 boom in Wall Street, not Arthur Greenspan. No. 25 Arthur Greenspan had nothing to do with it. It 1 was George Pataki, if you listen to the 2 Majority. 3 If some people think that 4 bringing down the deficit -- or actually leading 5 now to a nationally balanced budget, sound 6 fiscal policy on the national level, was that 7 what created the boom in Wall Street? No. It 8 was George Pataki and his tax cuts. Obviously 9 the folly of that is so evident that I don't 10 think we need to pursue this. Clearly, we have 11 been lucky in this state as far as Wall Street 12 is concerned but that luck cannot continue and 13 we can't continue to spend money that we know in 14 future years we're not going to have. 15 Let me just say that when you 16 look at the state's economy and you take a look 17 at the job situation in this state and you 18 compared where we stand in regard to other 19 states, it shows you how the tax cutting 20 policies in this state have been so 21 ineffective. 22 Take a look. New York has a job 23 growth rate between January '95 and January 1988 24 that was 2.7 percent. That's what you're 25 bragging about, Senator Bruno. New Jersey had 1 five percent; Connecticut, 5.1 percent; 2 Massachusetts, 7.5 percent; New Hampshire, 8.0; 3 Vermont, 4.3; Maine, 4.2. Even little Rhode 4 Island did better than New York State at 3 5 percent. 6 How can we be satisfied with what 7 we're doing in New York? There's a national 8 expansion going on. We're coming out of the 9 recession of the early '90s. New York job 10 growth should be many times higher than it is. 11 We should be doing what the rest of the nation 12 is. Clearly the economic policies being pursued 13 in this state have not worked. 14 I'll tell you what the economic 15 program and the tax cutting has achieved, is 16 that New York State ranks number one. We're the 17 best in the nation in economic disparity, in the 18 disparity between the wealthy and most of the 19 population in this state. Certainly working 20 people, the middle class, people of moderate 21 income have not benefited from these tax cuts 22 and we've not seen the spur in job growth. On 23 the contrary, upstate New York is facing 24 extremely difficult times and one of the reasons 25 is because the monies that we do have available, 1 that we could reasonably and sensibly use for 2 job growth we're squandering away in these ad 3 hoc giveaways to business and into tax cuts that 4 don't spur the economy. 5 There are taxes that we ought to 6 get rid of and which should reduce. Gross 7 receipts tax ought to be totally eliminated. 8 There are bad taxes. There are even taxes that 9 are reduced in the Majority program that I think 10 that makes sense, but if you look at overall and 11 you look at the cost, it's irresponsible. 12 Probably nothing is more irresponsible, more 13 foolish than the $50 million tax cut which is 14 given to the financial industry. That's being 15 done through the investment tax credit. 16 Now, the investment tax credit 17 exists in this state for manufacturers. It 18 almost totally goes to the largest corporations 19 in the state that have all been downsizing. We 20 give every year millions and millions of dollars 21 in tax breaks to GE, Kodak, IBM, to some 22 extent. These are all the corporations that 23 have been downsizing, that don't create jobs, 24 that are cutting jobs in New York State. Why in 25 God's name would you reward these companies? 1 Now, under the Majority proposal, 2 we're going to make these tax credits available 3 to the financial industry which had enormous 4 profits, enormous profits. If there's one 5 industry in this state that doesn't need the 6 help of the taxpayers, we don't have to reach 7 into the pockets of Mr. Taxpayer to support 8 Merrill Lynch or Bear Stearns or Salomon and 9 Smith Barney. It doesn't make sense. It makes 10 absolutely no sense whatsoever and particularly 11 to do the investment tax credit and the idea 12 that in some way that this is going to save back 13 office jobs, where is your report? Where is 14 your study that shows that that would have any 15 effect whatsoever? It wouldn't. It's a total 16 complete, absolute senseless, worthless, 17 valueless giveaway, and the Majority proposal is 18 rife with these sort of tax benefits that 19 provide really no assistance and help to the 20 average New Yorker. 21 I think the time has come when - 22 maybe it came a long time ago but it's never too 23 late -- when we've got to display some fiscal 24 responsibility and some economic sense. This 25 tax cut clearly does not. Maybe you can go to 1 the voters. Maybe you can fool the voters and 2 you can be in an upstate area that has a nine, 3 ten percent or eleven percent unemployment and 4 say, I gave you a tax cut, but when they find 5 out that you gave a tax cut to Merrill Lynch and 6 to other companies that had record profits in 7 earnings, I don't know what they're going to 8 say, but I suspect they're going to say you 9 people have lost your marbles, and I think we 10 have a chance and a possibility of crafting an 11 effective job growth type of tax program. This 12 one clearly is not. 13 We also have the opportunity this 14 year to take that surplus and use some of it to 15 meet what we know are going to be shortfalls in 16 the coming years and there's going to be demands 17 on education, demands on social services, that 18 we're going to be incapable of paying because we 19 voted this sort of a tax cut. We shouldn't do 20 it. It's irresponsible. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Bruno, to close debate. 23 SENATOR BRUNO: Thank you, Mr. 24 President. 25 I've listened with great 1 interest, Mr. President, to my colleagues, found 2 the amendments very worthwhile, and in terms of 3 priority, we feel that the package that we have 4 introduced is the way to go, and we do think 5 that it will be a productive and helpful way for 6 us to grow. 7 I don't want to prolong debate 8 except to say that Senator Leichter just pointed 9 out, one minute, what was necessary, but you 10 pointed out exactly why we have to do the things 11 that we are doing here today and why we should 12 be supporting this tax cut proposal. You quoted 13 Al Hove, I believe, Al Hove who was budget 14 director, I believe for Ohio and Illinois. If 15 you read that article and passed it out, that 16 article justifies everything that we have been 17 doing because the conclusion was in that article 18 that New York State is lagging because we still 19 spend too much and tax too much. That was the 20 drift and the gist of that article, so I just 21 correct that for the record. 22 So what we're doing here is 23 intended to make us more competitive. You 24 rattled off six or eight or ten states that are 25 doing better than we. Again, thank you. That's 1 the point that we're making. Every one of those 2 states per capita pay less taxes than we in New 3 York State and spend less per capita, and that's 4 why we should support what we have before us. 5 You talk about, for an example, the alternative 6 minimum tax as not the way to go. 7 I would just point out one 8 company, Kodak, one of the major employers in 9 New York State who would benefit greatly, yes, 10 from that. Why do they need it? They need it 11 because Fuji, a Japanese company, has cut into 12 their market in an unconscionable way because 13 they are totally subsidized by the government of 14 Japan and they are then able to come into this 15 country and locate in Virginia and continue to 16 take Kodak's market forcing them to downsize. 17 You sit there and say, this is 18 the way it ought to be. There's nothing that we 19 could do to help companies. We should try to be 20 competitive. Let them all move to Japan and to 21 Europe and to Virginia, and then I'd like to ask 22 people that talk like that -- and we talked 23 about irresponsible, when people talk like that 24 I'd like to ask them: Where will the revenue 25 come from for the schools, for the welfare, for 1 the Medicaid, for the roads, for the bridges? 2 Where will the revenue come from? 3 Do we print money in New York 4 State? No. Does it come from trees? No. Is 5 there manna in the heavens somewhere? No. It 6 comes from people who work. It comes from 7 companies who create profits and, if we aren't 8 responsible enough to understand that if we 9 don't keep people working in this state, being 10 competitive in this state, then this state 11 cannot regain its place as the Empire State. 12 So I want to thank my colleague 13 on the other side of the aisle for helping us 14 make the case, Mr. President, on why this tax 15 package is critical to continue to move the 16 economy of this state forward. 17 Thank you. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 19 will read the last section. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 21 act shall take effect April 1. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 23 roll. 24 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 1 the negatives. Announce the results. 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58, nays 3 one, Senator Leichter recorded in the negative. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 5 is passed. 6 Senator Skelos, what's your 7 pleasure? 8 SENATOR PATERSON: Explanation. 9 SENATOR SKELOS: Senator 10 Paterson, are you asking for an explanation of 11 why he recognized me? 12 SENATOR PATERSON: No, I was just 13 being foresighted and thinking ahead. 14 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 15 we call up Senate 6101-B. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 17 will read the title to Senate 6101-B. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 434, Budget Bill, Senate Print 6101-B, an act 20 making appropriation for the legal requirements 21 of the state debt service. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 23 Paterson, now. 24 SENATOR PATERSON: Explanation. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Very 1 good. Very good. 2 Senator Stafford, an explanation 3 of Calendar Number 6101-B has been requested by 4 Senator Paterson. 5 SENATOR STAFFORD: Mr. President, 6 I can see that excellent closing of debate on 7 that last bill by the leader kind of threw us 8 out of step, but I think it explained really 9 what this is all about, in fact all of the bills 10 that we're doing here today. 11 I can see by all the seats near 12 filled to capacity, everyone is sitting on the 13 edge of their chairs, hanging on every word that 14 we do here today. But on a -- I know. The point 15 of the bill we're doing, I understand. I 16 thought I'd open, you know, on the bill what 17 we're doing here, kind of get everyone, you 18 know, feeling warm and fuzzy and then continue. 19 But on a serious note, Mr. 20 President, this is a debt service bill. We all 21 know what it does. It may lower the debt that 22 this state has. It -- again I would point this 23 out, Mr. President. In this day and age when 24 it's so easy to criticize, anything in extreme 25 is not good. As a matter of fact, anything 1 overdone is not good, but on the other hand, I 2 would say that the debt that we have in this 3 state represents a rather important industry. 4 It takes part in providing the funding, getting 5 the people to invest, and obviously we have to 6 pay. 7 I would say, Mr. President, as we 8 debate this bill, I would point out that an 9 increased amount is being put in the reserve 10 according to our program. This is also done by 11 the Governor which is very important. 12 I can see that Senator Paterson 13 has a question, so I'll yield to Senator 14 Paterson. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 16 Paterson. 17 SENATOR PATERSON: Now, Mr. 18 President? 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Now! 20 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 21 I don't -- I don't mind being a puppet around 22 here. It's when we let the strings show that it 23 really bothers me. 24 If Senator Stafford will yield to 25 a question, and I guess he already has. 1 SENATOR STAFFORD: Yes. 2 SENATOR PATERSON: Senator, are 3 there any restorations that are made in this 4 piece of legislation either today or later on, 5 or is this just kind of a donor bill? 6 I also notice that there's no 7 accompanying language for these bills. Is it 8 all going to be put in one bill? 9 SENATOR STAFFORD: One bill, 10 yes. 11 SENATOR PATERSON: I'm just 12 unsure about the structure of the bills as 13 presented now. There are a lot of cuts, I see, 14 but just in terms of restorations, have we 15 brought any forth at this point? 16 SENATOR STAFFORD: Yeah, there 17 are some reestimations, but this, in effect, 18 pays -- provides the funding for the debt and as 19 far as that, any language, that would be 20 included in other bills. 21 SENATOR PATERSON: Well, 22 actually, I found one restoration; that is the 23 statute for deceased firefighters, but other 24 than that, there really aren't any. O.K. That's 25 -- that's the answer. 1 Thank you, Mr. President. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 3 will read the last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 5 act shall take effect - 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7 Dollinger, why do you rise? 8 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I'll explain 9 my vote. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: All 11 right. 12 Secretary will read the last 13 section. 14 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 15 act shall take effect April 1. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 17 roll. 18 (The Secretary called the roll.) 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 20 Dollinger, to explain his vote. 21 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 22 President, just so I am sure, this is 6101-B. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: That's 24 right. 25 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Thank you, 1 Mr. President. 2 I'm going to vote against this 3 bill. The pattern of debt in this state 4 continues to gallop out of control and, frankly, 5 this budget will only increase our galloping 6 down the road to increase our debt obligations. 7 I would point out the short-term 8 debt in this state since we've been under the 9 thumb of a fiscal conservative governor who 10 believed that our debt load was way out of 11 whack, that our short-term debt has risen from 12 $9.6 billion to $12.65 billion, at least to the 13 best of my simple mathematical understanding, a 14 33 percent increase in short-term debt. If you 15 look at our debt service fund total, it's jumped 16 from $1.6 billion in debt expense to $2.47 17 billion in debt expense, which again -- I'm not 18 a mathematician -- looks to me like a 50 percent 19 increase in our debt service fund total. 20 So in this day of fiscal 21 conservativism when we were promised a governor 22 who was going to pay his way and not borrow and 23 end the decade-long practice of borrowing, 24 what's actually happening is we've gone hog-wild 25 on borrowing. We're borrowing. We're more 1 addicted to it than we ever were. Our 2 short-term debt has increased, cost has 3 increased at a cost to the taxpayers of this 4 state of substantially more money. The cost in 5 debt service fund alone has gone up $800 million 6 in the term of this Governor. That's $800 7 million that we're using to pay for things that 8 we've already bought, already spent, already 9 enjoyed. 10 It's a bad idea. I voted against 11 back-door borrowing. I'll continue to vote 12 against the debt. The debt load is way out of 13 control. This budget just increases that debt 14 load. It's a bad idea. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 16 Dollinger will be recorded in the negative. 17 Announce the results. 18 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58, nays 19 one, Senator Dollinger recorded in the 20 negative. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 22 is passed. 23 Senator Skelos. One moment. 24 Senator Skelos. 25 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 1 would you please call up Senate 6102-B. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 3 will read the title, excuse me, Senate Bill 4 6102-B. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 435, Budget Bill, Senate Print 6102-B, an act 7 making appropriations for the support of 8 government. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 10 Dollinger, why do you rise? 11 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 12 President, I believe there's an amendment at the 13 desk. I'd ask to waive its reading, have it 14 considered by the house. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 16 Dollinger, I have two amendments at the desk. 17 Which one would you like to take up first? 18 SENATOR DOLLINGER: This one 19 deals with the Alcoholic Beverage Control 20 Commission. 6102. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Dollinger, our trouble is that normally the 23 bills are marked up and they are replete with 24 amendments proposed in accordance with the 25 rules, and in looking at the rules it appears 1 that your amendment is deficient, but with the 2 good graces of the Acting Majority Leader, he's 3 allowed you to go ahead. I hope you remember 4 that in the future. So I assume it's the one 5 that deals with supplementation of about five 6 different appropriations. 7 SENATOR DOLLINGER: This one 8 actually deals with just one, Mr. President, 9 deals with the Alcohol Beverage Control. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: A million 11 dollars? 12 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Yes, Mr. 13 President. 14 I want to thank the indulgence of 15 the - 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Waive the 17 reading of the proposed amendment. 18 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I do. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Offer you 20 the opportunity to explain the amendment. 21 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I would also 22 like to thank the President and the Deputy 23 Majority Leader for their good graces to allow 24 this to be heard. This is -- to be very brief, 25 it's a million dollars in additional funding for 1 the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission to 2 increase enforcement in the western region of 3 New York State. 4 We have a problem. It's a 19 5 county region. There are only three inspectors 6 for the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control. 7 We don't have enough Administrative Law Judges. 8 It's slowed down the Alcoholic Beverage 9 Commission enforcement in the whole region. 10 What this would do, it would end the practice by 11 which you can violate the ABC Laws and spend two 12 or three years before you're adjudicated. It 13 really allows people who are operating in 14 defiance of the law to keep their shops open to 15 continue to sell alcohol illegally. 16 This would step up and increase, 17 Mr. President, the enforcement of the ABC and I 18 think it's vital to the quality of life in our 19 community. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Question 21 is on the amendment. All those in favor signify 22 by saying aye. 23 (Response of "Aye.") 24 SENATOR PATERSON: Party vote in 25 the affirmative. 1 SENATOR SKELOS: Party vote in the 2 negative. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 4 will call the roll. 5 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record the 7 party line vote. 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 25, nays 34, 9 party vote. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 11 amendment is lost. 12 Senator Dollinger, on the second 13 amendment. 14 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Yes, Mr. 15 President. I believe there's a second amendment 16 to 6103-B. It may be difficult. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We're not 18 on 6103-B. Thank you for bringing that to our 19 attention, Senator Dollinger. 20 Anybody else wishing to speak on 21 the bill? 22 Secretary will call the last 23 section. 24 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. This 25 act shall take effect April 1. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 2 roll. 3 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 5 the negatives and announce the results. 6 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58, nays 7 one, Senator Dollinger recorded in the 8 negative. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bull 10 is passed. 11 Senator Skelos. 12 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 13 would you please call up Senate 6103-B. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 15 will read the title to 6103-B. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 436, Budget Bill, Senate Bill 6103-B, an act 18 making appropriations for the support of 19 government. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Dollinger. 22 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 23 President, I believe in its current form there 24 is also an amendment to this bill at the desk. 25 I understand that the Deputy Majority Leader 1 will allow it to be heard under the good graces 2 exception, Mr. President, if I could continue to 3 have the indulgence of the house on it. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 5 reading is waived. You're now afforded the 6 opportunity of the floor to explain the 7 amendment. 8 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Thank you, 9 Mr. President. 10 This too is a relatively simple 11 amendment. This seeks to increase the 12 enforcement under the Agriculture and Markets 13 division. We have a problem in the city of 14 Rochester. I don't think it's unique there, but 15 the problem is we have small grocery stores 16 operating in contravention of the Agriculture 17 and Markets Law. They are routinely fined; they 18 are routinely disciplined. It takes years, 19 literally years, for those fines to play out. 20 These stores in the city of Rochester operate as 21 fronts for drug operations, for gun operations. 22 They sell old stale food. They have, at times, 23 had rodent infestation problems. 24 This will give a million dollars 25 to increase the enforcement of the Agriculture 1 and Markets to allow communities in our poorer 2 neighborhoods to have better quality food 3 stores, ones that run legitimate operations and 4 sell fresh food, provide access to proper food, 5 and end what appears to be the tyrrany of 6 illicit and improper sales of food in our urban 7 communities. 8 It's important for the city of 9 Rochester. The city supports it. I would ask 10 my colleagues to join in. It would improve the 11 quality of life in our poorest neighborhoods, 12 and it's needed. 13 Thank you, Mr. President. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Question 15 is on the amendment. All those in favor signify 16 by saying aye. 17 (Response of "Aye.") 18 Opposed nay. 19 (Response of "Nay.") 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 21 amendment is lost. 22 Secretary will read the last 23 section. 24 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 25 act shall take effect April 1. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 2 roll. 3 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 5 the negatives and announce the results. 6 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58, nays 7 one, Senator Leichter recorded in the negative. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 9 is passed. 10 Senator Skelos. 11 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 12 would you please call up 6104-B. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 14 will read the title to Calendar -- excuse me, 15 Senate Print 6104-B. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 437, Budget Bill, Senate Print 6104-B, an act 18 making appropriations for the support of 19 government. 20 SENATOR PATERSON: Explanation. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Stafford, an explanation of Senate Print 6104-B 23 has been requested. 24 SENATOR STAFFORD: Mr. President, 25 this is the public protection, health and mental 1 hygiene portion of the budget, all very, very 2 important. 3 This part of the budget increases 4 spending in all of these funds by 683.3 million 5 below what was originally suggested and sent to 6 us. This decline is attributed primarily to 7 lower Medicaid expenditures, increases for 8 additional spending in criminal justice of 13.2 9 million and increased spending in mental hygiene 10 by 14.17 -- or 14.7 million. 11 We estimate that the state's 12 share of Medicaid spending will be 223 million 13 below what was originally projected. The 14 original projection was 5.68 billion for fiscal 15 year '98-99. The state's share, we estimate, 16 also results in reduced federal Medicaid 17 spending of 446.5 million, for a total all funds 18 spending reduction in this area as we mentioned, 19 of 669.5 million in fiscal year '98-99. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Oppenheimer, why do you rise? 22 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Mr. 23 President, do you have an amendment, I believe, 24 at the desk? I'd like to waive its reading, ask 25 -- if it should be at the desk. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 Oppenheimer, is this the amendment dealing with 3 school-based health programs? 4 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: No, that's 5 my colleague, Senator Montgomery. It deals with 6 community beds for OMR/DD. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 8 Community-based residential opportunities, 9 that's what your amendment is concerned with? 10 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Yes. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 12 reason I'm having the problem, Senator 13 Oppenheimer, is the same problem that Senator 14 Dollinger just had and that is the rules require 15 that a copy of the -- requires that a copy of 16 the bill marked up and the desk doesn't have 17 that, so the amendment is deficient, so the 18 rules provide for you offering it and sending it 19 up, but the Majority Leader has allowed you to 20 go ahead and proceed as long as it's not 21 construed as a waiver of the rules in future 22 proceedings. 23 So with that in mind, the reading 24 of the amendment which it is very difficult to 25 determine what it is, is permitted and you are 1 now permitted to explain it. 2 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Lordy me, I 3 wouldn't want to do anything in contravention of 4 the rules of this chamber, and I do thank 5 Senator Skelos. 6 This is an amendment, and I must 7 say it's a very heartfelt request. The 8 amendment would seek to increase by $6 million 9 the total number of OMR/DD beds that are 10 scheduled to be developed in the coming year in 11 this budget. The Governor's budget had $25.1 12 million for OMR/DD beds, and that would probably 13 bring forth about 867 new beds, and the 14 Assembly's budget calls for an additional $7.5 15 million for 500 new beds, and that would be - 16 well, actually 500 community beds and that's the 17 state beds, then 260 not-for-profit beds, and 18 107 for those people who are leaving the 19 institutions. 20 The Senate budget has in it only 21 an additional $2 million dollars, and so what my 22 amendment would do is, I seek to bring the 23 amount up to the amount that is in the Assembly 24 budget which is, my amendment says, an 25 additional $6 million and that would bring it up 1 to the amount that the Assembly has put in their 2 budget. 3 Why -- why am I doing this? I 4 can't imagine that my community is that 5 different from other communities. We have such 6 a serious need for beds, not only this relates 7 to OMR/DD but it also in this -- this amendment, 8 OMH beds are also needed. We have literally, in 9 my Senate District alone, we have well over 150 10 people in crisis needing beds immediately. 11 We have not been putting in the 12 number of beds through the past several years 13 for those of our citizens who require beds under 14 OMR/DD. These are developmentally disabled. 15 They are our immediate family, our friends, our 16 neighbors. In many instances, their parents 17 have done the very best they could in caring for 18 them in their home and now in many instances in 19 my community -- I say it cannot be that 20 different from other communities -- these 21 parents are dying and they are getting too old 22 to take care of these children of theirs. 23 We have in the last three weeks 24 five children, mind you, the children are now in 25 their 50s and 60s in many instances, 40s, their 1 parents in this case, the last surviving parent 2 died. We have five people who have no place to 3 go. We have made a term called the "bathtub" 4 folks. There's no place for them to go. They 5 are living either on the street, in shelters, or 6 almost in friends' and neighbors' bathtubs. 7 This is really an outrage in our 8 society. We can afford to take care of -- of 9 those who can not take care of themselves, and 10 whose parents are no longer capable of taking 11 care of themselves. It is a very urgent matter 12 in my community, and I can only reiterate that 13 it must be happening in other communities too. 14 We have to take care of our disabled. 15 I urge the passage of this 16 amendment. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Question 18 is on the amendment. All those in favor signify 19 by saying aye. 20 (Response of "Aye.") 21 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Party vote. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 23 will call the roll, record the party line votes, 24 announce the results. 25 (The Secretary called the roll.) 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 25, nays 34, 2 party line vote. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 4 amendment is lost. 5 The Chair recognizes Senator 6 Kruger for the purposes of an amendment. 7 SENATOR KRUGER: Mr. President, I 8 believe I have an amendment at the desk. I would 9 ask that the reading be waived and discuss the 10 amendment. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 12 circumstances surrounding the amendment are the 13 same, I believe. 14 SENATOR KRUGER: I suppose I'm 15 deficient also. That's my middle name. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: No, 17 Senator Kruger, the Chair compliments you on, 18 there is a bill attached, you're not deficient. 19 SENATOR KRUGER: Maybe I'm not 20 deficient, but there's still an amendment. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 22 amendment is at the desk. It's moved to the 23 floor, the reading is waived and you're 24 recognized to explain the amendment. 25 SENATOR KRUGER: Mr. President, 1 the amendment that I've offered to this bill 2 allows us to deliver on a promise, a promise 3 that we made in 1992, in 1993, in 1994, in 1995 4 and in 1996. We said to the senior citizen that 5 we would deliver when we had the funds available 6 an enhanced EPIC program, a program that would 7 take $19 million and place it back into the 8 system, a program that would take its 96,000 9 current participants and allow another 8,000 10 participants to join the program, an enhancement 11 that would reduce a co-pay, that would lower a 12 deductible, that would remove and enhance a 13 premium program and would raise -- and would 14 lower an enrollment fee to $10. 15 At the same time, we would take 16 that indigent senior citizen who currently their 17 threshold level is only $10,000 for annual 18 income, and bump them up an additional $1,000. 19 We would take that married couple that currently 20 has a threshold income of $14,000 and bump them 21 up $1,000. As we move towards technology that 22 increases our long effort and improves our 23 quality of life, we have a moral obligation to 24 provide the pharmaceutical drugs and the 25 programs necessary to maintain and to sustain 1 that quality of life. 2 This enhanced version of our EPIC 3 program does nothing more than that. This is 4 not a pink pill. It's not a panacea. It's no 5 cure. It's our ability to reach into the system 6 and to say that we are willing to live up to our 7 commitment, that we are willing to live up to 8 our promise, to our promise to the senior 9 citizens in our communities that we will provide 10 the drugs and the medical care for you that you 11 deserve, that you need and that, quite frankly, 12 we can now afford to supply. 13 So I would ask for the adoption 14 of my amendment. I would ask for the increase 15 of $19.4 million into the EPIC enhanced program, 16 and I would ask for the support of my colleagues 17 in the house. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Question 19 is on the amendment. Senator Lachman. 20 SENATOR LACHMAN: I just want to 21 commend my colleague on the amendment dealing 22 with EPIC. He's to be applauded. People in the 23 twilight of their lives deserve to have a piece 24 of the increased pie that society gets in 25 general. This does not mean that business and 1 corporations should not get a piece of that 2 pie. They should, but it should be distributed 3 to all in our society, especially those who are 4 most vulnerable, not only the seniors, but the 5 aging seniors, and there was an article in 6 today's New York Times about people now who are 7 in their 70s and 80s and beyond who are in 8 desperate need of care and health facilities as 9 well as pharmaceuticals that this amendment will 10 provide, and I'm proud to support my colleague 11 in this endeavor. 12 Thank you. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Question 14 is on the amendment. All those in favor signify 15 by saying aye. 16 (Response of "Aye.") 17 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Party vote. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 19 will call the roll, record the party line votes, 20 announce the results. 21 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 25, nays 34, 23 party vote. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Amendment 25 is lost. 1 Chair recognizes Senator 2 Montgomery, for the purposes of an amendment. 3 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, thank 4 you, Mr. President. 5 My amendment is to simply attempt 6 to remind my colleagues on both sides of the 7 aisle that we are in danger of losing an 8 extremely important program and for certain we 9 have omitted an opportunity to expand that 10 program so that we can get many more children, 11 especially adolescents, into preventive health 12 primary health care, and that is school-based 13 health clinics. 14 I have before me a list, it's a 15 fairly comprehensive list of those Senators who 16 are particularly going to be impacted by the 17 loss of very important school-based health 18 clinics: Senator Seward is in danger of losing 19 at least three centers, and I'm assuming that 20 it's Senator Seward who represents Otsego 21 County. Forgive me if I'm wrong. I know that 22 Senator Cook is going to lose centers. Senator 23 Johnson is going to lose. Senator Volker is 24 going to lose. Senator Libous is going to lose. 25 Senator Stachowski is going to lose. 1 These -- these programs are the 2 primary source of preventive health care for 3 those young people who are in them. Senator 4 Stafford is going to lose big. He has a number 5 in his district. I know that Senator Stafford 6 didn't realize that, else he would have been on 7 the case. Senator Spano is going to lose. In 8 addition, to those who are going to lose 9 possibly primary health care, there are many 10 others who don't have any at all. Senator 11 Balboni, I know that he's a freshman, but 12 nonetheless he deserves to have primary health 13 -- school-based health clinics in his district. 14 I would like to have school-based 15 health in my district. Senator Marchi is going 16 to lose one if we don't make -- correct this 17 oversight. So -- and there are many, many 18 others who are either going to lose or those of 19 us who don't have school-based health, 20 particularly those programs that serve 21 adolescents and children. 22 This is a program that is 23 extremely cost-effective. I believe that 24 Senator Volker is one of the fathers of this 25 program, if you -- if you can refer to him as 1 that, because he was really one of the people 2 who carried this legislation on our side of the 3 aisle when it first -- when we first began to 4 invest state dollars in it back in 1978, I 5 believe. 6 We've now gotten to the point 7 where we are serving 140,000 children and 8 adolescents last year, and we only were -- had 9 to put in the state funds a very small amount of 10 money. We're talking about approximately $6 11 million of state funding and that state funding 12 was able to be matched with federal funding, and 13 a combination of mental health funds. We put 14 some mental health funding in so that these 15 clinics offer mental health services to young 16 people right in the school. 17 So we have developed for 18 ourselves in this state a model. We are now for 19 once in this particular category, school-based 20 health, we're number one in the country, but 21 we're going to lose that position. We're losing 22 ground because we have not established a funding 23 stream to make sure that those school-based 24 health clinics survive, nor have we put money 25 into our budget so that we can expand the number 1 of clinics to provide more children. 2 What does this mean to us? It 3 means, Mr. President, that we will not be able 4 to take advantage of the Child Health Plus 5 funding that will be coming to our state, 6 because we will not have the capacity to provide 7 important services to young people where they 8 are and that is in their schools; and so I'm 9 asking Senator Stafford, Senator Bruno -- I 10 think Senator Bruno needs a school-based health 11 clinic in his district, and Senator Marcellino 12 and Senator Wright and Senator Farley, whether 13 you will -- Senator Cook is also one person who 14 is going to lose a school-based health clinic. 15 So this really is an urgency for 16 us. It's an urgent plea to my colleagues who 17 have put this budget together absent an 18 expansion of school-based health funding to say, 19 let's do that because it's so important. It's 20 so simple, and I got my -- my amendment says, 21 let's put an additional $11 million in so that 22 we can expand that program and that we can also 23 strengthen what we have, to be in a much better 24 position to take advantage of the federal monies 25 that will be coming in for Child Health Plus. 1 Thank you. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 3 Waldon, on the amendment. 4 SENATOR WALDON: Thank you very 5 much, Mr. President. 6 Last week, Miss Lynn Johnson, a 7 registered nurse who's in charge of the 8 school-based programs in the Rockaways in the 9 district I represent, came to visit with me, and 10 to speak to the importance of the school-based 11 health clinic. She explained to me the number 12 of visits per year by the children in those 13 schools. She cited for me the types of 14 illnesses and situations brought to she and to 15 her colleagues, her subordinates. She advised me 16 of the absolute inability of many of these 17 children to receive any form of health care 18 other than that provided by the school-based 19 clinic. 20 For all of those reasons, I think 21 it is absolutely mandatory that we support the 22 amendment as submitted for our consideration by 23 the esteemed Senator from Brooklyn, Velmanette 24 Montgomery. It is right not only to maintain 25 the programs at their current level but to 1 expand their ability to reach children who 2 otherwise will not receive adequate health 3 care. 4 This is not a place for just 5 those that are afflicted. This is not a place 6 for just those who are the rich. This is a 7 nation and a state, especially New York State, 8 for all kinds of people from all stripes and all 9 socio-economic levels, and I don't think we want 10 on our conscience that there will be a child 11 somewhere sick and in a state of destitute - 12 desperation because we made the wrong decision, 13 that there will be a child who will have an 14 illness and will be ashamed to come to school 15 because they will not be able to have that 16 illness treated; there will be a parent who is 17 worrying, What do I do about this particular 18 health crisis for my child? I have no money, I 19 have no health care. I don't have the ability 20 to provide for my children. We can take care of 21 that. We could ease that mind, assuage that 22 pain, and make everything all right in the 23 morning by supporting Senator Velmanette 24 Montgomery's amendment. 25 I encourage all of us to do the 1 right thing and support the amendment. 2 Thank you very much, Mr. 3 President. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5 Oppenheimer, on the amendment. 6 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: I'll share 7 with you some information I got from a 8 conference I was at two or three weeks ago, 9 maybe a month ago, in South Carolina and it 10 concerned implementing the state child health 11 insurance program which is the federal program 12 that will entail hundreds of millions of dollars 13 coming from the federal government down to the 14 state for the purpose of implementing a broad 15 child health insurance program. 16 One of the concerns was that, 17 even though you have the insurance in place, if 18 the family doesn't know where the clinic is or 19 the hospital is or doesn't have the 20 transportation money to get them there, then 21 it's no use having the insurance because the 22 child isn't going to benefit by getting the 23 necessary care, the preventive care and also the 24 care when the child is sick. 25 There then was a discussion about 1 the kind of money necessary to put in which 2 would be utilized just for transporting of the 3 families to the health clinics. It seemed to me, 4 and I stood up and I spoke at this national 5 conference, that were the children health 6 clinics right in the school, the whole subject 7 of multiples of million dollars transporting 8 these children from their homes to the clinic 9 would not be necessary and, therefore, all that 10 money could go to improve the health of the 11 children and they would be taken care of right 12 where we hope they always will be, in school. 13 So it was something that I think 14 received a fair amount of attention by the 15 conference, and I think it is certainly a 16 farsighted way for us to go, instead of 17 utilizing the federal monies which are for 18 children's health just to transport, to get them 19 to the clinics. Here they can enjoy the best 20 care right where they are at school. 21 I urge that we support this 22 amendment. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 24 Dollinger, on the amendment. 25 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Thank you, 1 Mr. President. 2 I'll be very brief. There's an 3 ad that's currently running through upstate New 4 York that features a voice, a -- I would say a 5 distinctive voice, but it wasn't uttered very 6 often in this chamber. The gentleman who used 7 to sit right over there, I believe, right next 8 to Senator Rath and his voice is heard saying 9 Child Health Plus is a wonderful thing. It's 10 available for every New Yorker. When he was 11 here, all he said was, "I'm not going to vote 12 for this budget, spending too much." You 13 remember that guy. He now keeps an office down 14 on the second floor, downstairs, but he talks 15 about Child Health Plus. Says it's a wonderful 16 thing, everybody should be in it, and the one 17 thing he doesn't say is, I think, what Senator 18 Montgomery's amendment is designed to do. He 19 doesn't say it's available at the nearest retail 20 outlet. Where is the nearest retail outlet for 21 little kids? Schools. 22 Why don't we take what is such a 23 good idea that the Governor is out pressing 24 through the air waves in his own little monotone 25 voice, why don't we take it and simply put it in 1 the schools where it can do its best, where we 2 can get the return that we all want, more kids 3 covered by insurance, getting health care. Give 4 it to them in their school. 5 This amendment will help us do 6 that. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Question 8 is on the amendment. All those in favor signify 9 by saying aye. 10 (Response of "Aye.") 11 Opposed nay. 12 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Party vote 13 in the affirmative. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 15 will call the roll, record the party line vote 16 and announce the results. 17 (The Secretary called the roll.) 18 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 24, nays 35, 19 party vote. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 21 amendment is lost. 22 Senator Leichter. 23 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 24 unfortunately, an amendment which I was going to 25 propose did not get drafted in time. I know 1 you've been very lenient today but I was going 2 to do a soft "Harvey" and hand up an imaginary 3 amendment, but let me at least say what the 4 amendment would have done and what I think is a 5 real failure in this bill before us. 6 One of the most successful 7 programs that we've had in New York State, or 8 New York City, has been the New York/New York 9 program to build housing for mentally ill 10 homeless people. It took many people off the 11 streets, people most in need in our society, 12 those who suffered from a mental disability, and 13 yet did not have the means to take care of 14 themselves. They've been turned out of state 15 hospitals. Many of them were sleeping on the 16 streets of our cities. They were creating 17 problems, people who in a proper setting could 18 and do live very productive and good lives, and 19 we created, I believe, as many as 20,000 beds 20 for these people. They're more than beds. We 21 really created homes for them. 22 Unfortunately, that program 23 expired, and the state of New York has been 24 unwilling to invest in this program to provide 25 help for these most needy in our society. I 1 believe the Governor's budget calls for some 900 2 beds. What we really need is about 20,000 3 beds. 4 Now, the city of New York is 5 willing to put up its share. I think we're 6 talking of maybe some $15 million which would be 7 the state's contribution, maybe even less than 8 that. It's really something we should do. When 9 you take a look at the budget that's presented 10 before us and the budget that we know is going 11 to pass and all the "pork" that's going to be in 12 it and all the waste that's going to be in it 13 and even certain programs that may be hard, you 14 can say are helpful to people, but we've 15 neglected the most needy in our society, people 16 who have been turned out of mental institutions 17 and people who have no place to go. 18 We really fail in our obligation 19 to these people and it's something that we 20 should be ashamed of, and the amendment that I 21 was going to propose would have provided money 22 for these people. We ought to have this program 23 funded and I hope that when a final budget is 24 agreed to that we'll see money for New York/New 25 York too in it. 1 Thank you. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 3 will read the last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 5 act shall take effect April 1. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 7 roll. 8 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 10 the negatives, announce the results. 11 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 12 the negative on Calendar Number 437 are Senators 13 Dollinger, Gentile and Leichter. Ayes 56, nays 14 3. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 16 is passed. 17 Senator Skelos. 18 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 19 is there any housekeeping at the desk? 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Dollinger, why do you rise? 22 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 23 President, I believe when a vote was taken on 24 Calendar Number 6102-B, although I was present 25 in the chamber, I was occupied in discussion. I 1 just simply ask for unanimous consent to change 2 my vote from yea to nay on that vote, Mr. 3 President. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 5 objection, hearing no objection, Senator 6 Dollinger will be recorded in the negative on 7 Calendar Number 6102-B. 8 Senator Skelos, we do have one 9 substitution. 10 SENATOR SKELOS: Please take the 11 substitution. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 13 will read the substitution. 14 SENATOR MENDEZ: Mr. President. 15 THE SECRETARY: On page 13, 16 Senator DeFrancisco moves to discharge from the 17 Committee on Judiciary Assembly Print 8094-A and 18 substitute it for the identical Third Reading 19 Calendar 323. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 21 Substitution is ordered. 22 Senator Mendez. 23 SENATOR MENDEZ: Mr. President, I 24 move that the following bill, Senate 6533-B, be 25 discharged from its committee and be recommitted 1 with instructions to strike the enacting 2 clause. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 4 enacting clause will be struck and the bill will 5 be recommitted. 6 SENATOR MENDEZ: Thank you. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: That 8 takes care of the housekeeping, Senator Skelos. 9 Senator Montgomery. 10 SENATOR SKELOS: Please recognize 11 Senator Montgomery. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 Montgomery, why do you rise? 14 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Thank you, 15 Mr. President. I would like to be recorded in 16 the negative on Calendar Number 6101. 17 SENATOR SKELOS: No objection. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 19 objection, hearing no objection, Senator 20 Montgomery will be recorded in the negative on 21 Senate Print 6101. 22 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 23 on behalf of Senator Bruno, I hand up the 24 following committee changes and ask that it be 25 filed. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Changes 2 will be filed in the Journal. 3 SENATOR SKELOS: Is there any 4 further housekeeping? 5 Would you recognize Senator 6 Abate. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Chair 8 recognizes Senator Abate. 9 SENATOR ABATE: Yes. I move to 10 discharge from the Insurance Committee Senate 11 Bill Number 2887. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 13 will read the title. 14 THE SECRETARY: Senate Print 15 2887, by Senator Abate, an act to amend the 16 Insurance Law. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Chair 18 recognizes Senator Abate, on the motion to 19 discharge. 20 SENATOR ABATE: Yes. I would 21 like the opportunity to explain the motion to 22 discharge. 23 What I'm moving to discharge is a 24 legislation affecting the parent -- Patient Fair 25 Appeals Act. Last year, I did a similar motion 1 to discharge, and regrettably that motion failed 2 along party lines. I hope, although it's late 3 in the day, we'll seriously consider the import 4 of this bill, and look at what good it would do 5 for so many people throughout this state, and 6 for a moment in this chamber let's put politics 7 aside and do what's in the best interests of the 8 people and put people first. 9 I believe that, if this bill came 10 to the floor, each and every one of us would 11 vote our conscience and that this bill would 12 pass overwhelmingly, and what this bill does is 13 what we always talked about as we move toward 14 managed care, and we do know that managed care, 15 if it's done correctly, will make sure that 16 health care becomes affordable to people, but if 17 we do not put checks and balances in place and 18 managed care and the HMOs and the insurance 19 companies put profits over people, then we don't 20 have managed care. We will have managing us. 21 And so what this bill does, it's 22 just a brief bill that focuses on one part of 23 the problem. It says when an individual is in 24 need of investigative drugs or devices or 25 treatment or experimental drugs, devices or 1 treatment, that there are safeguards in place to 2 make sure that people get the needed care 3 available to them. 4 So what this bill does is, it 5 sets up uniform standards for such care. It 6 says that, if it's frivolous, the care would be 7 not reimbursed. If it's alternative methods 8 that are just as good and not as costly, they 9 would be reimbursed and not the experimental or 10 investigative treatment. It also says -- and 11 this is very important -- that if a doctor 12 recommends the treatment, that the HMO or the 13 managed care companies or the insurance company 14 says no because they're concerned with the - 15 about the bottom line, that there's an 16 opportunity for the patient to say, "I want to 17 appeal this decision. My doctor says I need it 18 to save my life, to reduce my pain," and that 19 patient should have the opportunity to have that 20 decision reviewed by an independent panel of 21 experts, that panel developed by the Insurance 22 Department working with the Health Department. 23 These are experts that will independently review 24 that decision and make a decision that's in the 25 best interests of that patient. 1 This makes sense. This makes 2 common sense. It's good public policy. Now, 3 many people say we can't do it because of the 4 cost. Well, if you look at the studies and where 5 this bill has been enacted in states around the 6 country, it has not increased cost. The costs 7 are less than one half of a percent, and if you 8 look at the recent Memorial Sloan-Kettering 9 Hospital report, they say it reduces costs, 10 because those individuals that have the 11 opportunity to get these treatments receive 12 fewer re-admissions, less time spent in the 13 hospital, and hospital stays reduced. So the 14 total cost incurred for each patient, because of 15 these trials, is less than if those trials were 16 not available to the patient. 17 Now, this is one of the first 18 times in history where you have a medical 19 profession, doctors and patients, agreeing that 20 not only is this good for health care, but that 21 today's experiment becomes tomorrow's cure. If 22 you were to eradicate the availability of 23 patients to this -- these cures, to these 24 experimental drugs and treatment, we would not 25 have cures for cancer, for multiple sclerosis or 1 for AIDS. We are dependent in the medical 2 profession on these experimental, investigative 3 treatments so that we have the cures tomorrow. 4 And lastly, I have heard from so 5 many people, particularly the elderly, who are 6 left with untenable choices. Do they use up all 7 their savings, the little savings they have to 8 live on so they can get these treatments, or do 9 they forego those treatments and then shorten 10 their lives? We should not allow people in the 11 state to have to make those kinds of choices. 12 So I ask you all again to put politics aside and 13 join all the numbers of organizations around the 14 state supporting this bill, and let me just read 15 some of the groups that are supporting the bill: 16 International Neighborhood of Teamsters; the 17 AFL-CIO, the New York Labor Religion Coalition, 18 the National Alliance of Breast Cancer 19 Organizations, New York Statewide Senior Action 20 Council, the Multiple Sclerosis Society, the 21 Association of New York State AIDS Community 22 Service Programs, the United Cerebral Palsy of 23 New York State, Cancer Care, Capital District 24 Coalition Support, Citizen Action, Community 25 Health Center Association, and I could go on and 1 on. 2 I hope everyone in this chamber 3 on both sides of the aisle vote for this bill. 4 There are too many people not getting treatment 5 today. There are too many people dying because 6 we are not taking appropriate action in this 7 chamber. I ask each of you individually to 8 stand up for what's right for the people of this 9 state and support this bill to discharge. 10 Thank you. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Question 12 is on the motion to discharge. All those in 13 favor signify by saying aye. 14 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Party vote. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 16 will call the roll, record the party line votes, 17 announce the results. 18 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 25, nays 34, 20 party vote. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Motion is 22 defeated. 23 Senator Skelos. 24 SENATOR SKELOS: Any other 25 housekeeping at the desk? 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: None. 2 SENATOR SKELOS: There being no 3 further business, I move we adjourn until 4 Tuesday, March 24th, at 3:00 p.m. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 6 objection, the Senate stands adjourned until 7 tomorrow, March 24th, at 3:00 p.m. 8 (Whereupon at at 5:32 p.m., the 9 Senate adjourned.) 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17