Wednesday, May 20, 1998

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ALBANY, NEW YORK 9 May 20, 1998 10 11:04 a.m. 11 12 13 REGULAR SESSION 14 15 16 17 SENATOR RAYMOND A. MEIER, Acting 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 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 3 Senate will come to order. I ask everyone 4 present to please rise and repeat with me the 5 Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. 6 (The assemblage repeated the 7 Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.) 8 In the absence, I ask that we bow 9 our heads in a moment of silence. 10 (A moment of silence was 11 observed.) 12 Reading of the Journal. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 14 THE SECRETARY: In Senate, 15 Tuesday, May 19th. The Senate met pursuant to 16 adjournment, Senator Kuhl in the Chair upon 17 designation of the Temporary President. The 18 Journal of Monday, May 18th, was read and 19 approved. On motion, the Senate adjourned. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Without 21 objection, the Journal stands approved as read. 22 Presentation of petitions. 23 Messages from the Assembly. 24 Messages from the Governor. 25 Reports of standing committees. 1 Reports of select committees. 2 Communications and reports from 3 state officers. 4 Motions and resolutions. 5 Senator Fuschillo. 6 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Mr. President, 7 on page number 68, I offer the following 8 amendments to Calendar Number 1161, Senate Print 9 Number 5583-A, and ask that that the bill retain 10 its place on the Third Reading Calendar. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 12 amendments are received. The bill will retain 13 its place on the Third Reading Calendar. 14 Senator Skelos. 15 SENATOR SKELOS: Are there any 16 substitutions to be made? 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Not at 18 this time, Senator Skelos, no. 19 SENATOR SKELOS: I believe there's 20 a privileged resolution at the desk by Senator 21 Nozzolio. May we please have the title read and 22 move for its immediate adoption. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 24 Secretary will read the title. 25 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 1 Nozzolio, Legislative Resolution 3549, commending 2 the village of Waterloo, New York, as the 3 federally designated birth place of Memorial Day. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 5 question is on the resolution. All in favor 6 signify by saying aye. 7 (Response of "Aye".) 8 Opposed, nay. 9 (There was no response.) 10 The resolution is adopted. 11 Senator Skelos. 12 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 13 would you please take up the non-controversial 14 calendar. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 16 Secretary will read the non-controversial 17 calendar. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4, 19 by Senator Libous, Senate Print 3887-a, an act to 20 amend the Mental Hygiene Law, in relation to 21 investigations. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 23 last section. 24 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 25 act shall take effect immediately. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 2 roll. 3 (The Secretary called the roll.) 4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 37. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 6 is passed. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 130, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 2305-A, an 9 act to amend the Real Property Tax Law, in 10 relation to subjecting certain state lands. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 12 last section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 14 act shall take effect immediately. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 16 roll. 17 (The Secretary called the roll.) 18 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 37. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 20 is passed. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 137, by Senator Balboni, Senate Print 337-A, an 23 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 24 establishing the crime of endangering the welfare 25 of a vulnerable elderly person. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 2 last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. This 4 act shall take effect November 1. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 6 roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll.) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 38. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 10 is passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 242, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 3930-B, an 13 act to amend the Private Housing Finance Law, in 14 relation to participation. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 16 last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 18 act shall take effect immediately. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 20 roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll.) 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 38. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 24 is passed. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 1 253, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 6152-A, an 2 act to amend the Private Housing Finance Law, in 3 relation to affordable housing loans. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 5 last section. 6 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 7 act shall take effect immediately. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 9 roll. 10 (The Secretary called the roll.) 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 38. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 13 is passed. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 264, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 680-B, an 16 act to amend the Public Health Law, the Tax Law 17 and the State Finance Law, in relation to the 18 Alzheimer's Research Fund. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 20 last section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section - 22 SENATOR LEICHTER: Lay the bill 23 aside. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the 25 bill aside. 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 320, by Senator Holland, Senate Print 3029-A, an 3 act to create the Piermont Library District in a 4 portion of the town of Orangetown. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 6 last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 8. This 8 act shall take effect immediately. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 10 roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll.) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 38. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 14 is passed. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 338, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 4117-A, 17 an act to amend the Navigation Law, in he 18 relation to equipment. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 20 last section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 22 act shall take effect on the 180th day. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 24 roll. 25 (The Secretary called the roll.) 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 38. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 3 is passed. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 472, by Senator Libous, Senate Print 1951-A, an 6 act to amend the County Law, in relation to 7 establishing the Chenango County Emergency 8 Communications Systems. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is 10 a home rule message at the desk. Read the last 11 section. 12 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 13 act shall take effect on the first day of 14 January. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 16 roll. 17 (The Secretary called the roll.) 18 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 38. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 20 is passed. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 476, by Senator Libous, Senate Print 6146, an act 23 to amend the County Law, in relation to 24 authorizing the county of Tioga. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There's a 1 home rule message at the desk. Read the last 2 section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 4 act shall take effect immediately. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 6 roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll.) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 40. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 10 is passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 531, by Senator Maziarz, Senate Print 4049-A, an 13 act to amend the Real Property Tax Law, in 14 relation to partial payments. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 16 last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 18 act shall take effect immediately. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 20 roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll.) 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 40. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 24 is passed. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 1 568, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 4115-A, an 2 act to amend the Public Health Law and the Social 3 Services Law, in relation to instituting. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 5 last section. 6 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the 8 bill aside. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 570, by Senator Lack, Senate Print 2374-B, an act 11 to amend the Parks, Recreation and Historic 12 Preservation Law, in relation to establishing. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 14 last section. 15 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 16 act shall take effect immediately. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 18 roll. 19 (The Secretary called the roll.) 20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 40. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 22 is passed. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 571, by Senator Marcellino, Senate Print 6132-A, 25 an act to amend the Parks, Recreation and 1 Historic Preservation Law, in relation to the 2 display of the POW/MIA recognition flag. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 4 last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 6 act shall take effect on the 180th day. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 8 roll. 9 (The Secretary called the roll.) 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 40. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 12 is passed. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 634, by Senator Cook, Senate Print 6278, an act 15 to amend the Town Law, in relation to the 16 settlement of claims. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 18 last section. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 20 act shall take effect - 21 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Lay it aside. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the 23 bill aside. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 635, by Senator LaValle, Senate Print 6315, an 1 act authorizing the village of Greenport to 2 convey certain parklands. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is 4 a home rule message at the desk. Read the last 5 section. 6 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 7 act shall take effect immediately. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 9 roll. 10 (The Secretary called the roll.) 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 40. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 13 is passed. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 639, by Senator Spano, Senate Print 6547, an act 16 to amend the County Law, in relation to the 17 jurisdiction of a coroner or medical examiner. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 19 last section. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 21 act shall take effect immediately. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 23 roll. 24 (The Secretary called the roll.) 25 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 40. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 2 is passed. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 640, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 6590, an act 5 authorizing the assessor of the county of Nassau 6 to accept an application. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 8 last section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 10 act shall take effect immediately. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 12 roll. 13 (The Secretary called the roll.) 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 43, nays 2, 15 Senators Cook and Dollinger recorded in the 16 negative. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 18 is passed. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 641, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 6746, an act 21 to amend the Real Property Tax Law, in relation 22 to making technical and clarifying amendments 23 thereto. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 25 last section. 1 THE SECRETARY: Section 8. This 2 act shall take effect immediately. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 4 roll. 5 (The Secretary called the roll.) 6 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 49. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 8 is passed. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 653, by Senator Wright, Senate Print 6450-A, an 11 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 12 including possession of an automated teller 13 machine card. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 15 last section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 17 act shall take effect on the first day of 18 November. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 20 roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll.) 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 49. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 24 is passed. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 1 671, by member of the Assembly Eve, Assembly 2 Print 10031, an act to amend the State Finance 3 Law, in relation to payment of emergency 4 financial aid. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 6 last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 8 act shall take effect immediately. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 10 roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll.) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 49. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 14 is passed. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 753, by Senator Lack, Senate Print 6583, an act 17 to amend the Judiciary Law, in relation to 18 juror's waiver of allowance. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 20 last section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 22 act shall take effect immediately. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 24 roll. 25 (The Secretary called the roll.) 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 49. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 3 is passed. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 776, by Senator Wright, Senate Print 6879, an act 6 to amend Chapter 640 of the Laws of 1990. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 8 last section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 10 act shall take effect immediately. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 12 roll. 13 (The Secretary called the roll.) 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 49. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 16 is passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 781, by Senator Hannon, Senate Print 7338, an act 19 to amend Chapter 884 of the Laws of 1990, 20 amending the public Health Law. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 22 last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 24 act shall take effect immediately. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 1 roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll.) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 49. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 5 is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 804, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 490, an act 8 to amend the Family Court Act, in relation to 9 judicial notification. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 11 last section. 12 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 13 act shall take effect on the 90th day. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 15 roll. 16 (The Secretary called the roll.) 17 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 49. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 19 is passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 805, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 491, an act 22 to amend the Family Court Act, in relation to the 23 placement of children. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 25 last section. 1 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 2 act shall take effect on the 120th day. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 4 roll. 5 (The Secretary called the roll.) 6 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 49. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 8 is passed. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 807, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 1279, an 11 act to amend the Domestic Relations Law, in 12 relation to visitation rights. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 14 last section. 15 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 16 act shall take effect immediately. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 18 roll. 19 (The Secretary called the roll.) 20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 49. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 22 is passed. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 808, by Senator LaValle, Senate Print 1737, an 25 act to amend the Domestic Relations Law and the 1 Family Court Act, in relation to the visitation 2 rights of great-grandparents. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 4 last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 6 act shall take effect immediately. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 8 roll. 9 (The Secretary called the roll.) 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 49. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 12 is passed. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 817, by Senator Libous, Senate Print 6144, an act 15 to amend the Highway Law, in relation to 16 increasing the limitation on the amount raised by 17 taxes. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There's a 19 home rule message at the desk. Read the last 20 section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 22 act shall take effect on the first day of 23 January. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 25 roll. 1 (The Secretary called the roll.) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 49. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 4 is passed. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 819, by Senator Maziarz, Senate Print 6492, an 7 act to amend the Highway Law, in relation to 8 state highways in Niagara County. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There's a 10 home rule message at the desk. Read the last 11 section. 12 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 13 act shall take effect on the first day of 14 October. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 16 roll. 17 (The Secretary called the roll.) 18 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 49. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 20 is passed. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 822, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 6814, an 23 act to amend the Highway Law, in relation to 24 highway projects. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 1 last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 3 act shall take effect immediately. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 5 roll. 6 (The Secretary called the roll.) 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 49. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 9 is passed. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 827, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 888 - 12 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 13 THE SECRETARY: -- an act to amend 14 the Penal Law. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the 16 bill aside. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 829, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 3617-B, an 19 act to amend the Civil Practice Law and Rules, in 20 relation to motions. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 22 last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 24 act shall take effect on the first day of 25 January. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 2 roll. 3 (The Secretary called the roll.) 4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 6 is passed. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 832, by Senator Present, Senate Print 4007, an 9 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to the 10 unlawful taking of trees. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 12 last section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 14 act shall take effect on the first day of 15 November. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 17 roll. 18 (The Secretary called the roll.) 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 21 is passed. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 834, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 4346-B, an 24 act to amend the Penal Law and others, in 25 relation to increasing the penalties for certain 1 criminal sales. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 3 last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 16. This 5 act shall take effect on the first day of 6 November. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 8 roll. 9 (The Secretary called the roll.) 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 12 is passed. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 839, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 5976, 15 an act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law, in 16 relation to authorizing electronic appearance. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 18 last section. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 20 act shall take effect immediately. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 22 roll. 23 (The Secretary called the roll.) 24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 1 is passed. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 841, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 6196, an 4 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 5 concurrent and consecutive terms of imprisonment. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 7 last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 9 act shall take effect immediately. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 11 roll. 12 (The Secretary called the roll.) 13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 15 is passed. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 850, by Senator Holland, Senate Print 6605, an 18 act to amend Chapter 631 of the Laws of 1997, 19 amending the Social Services Law. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 21 last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 23 act shall take effect immediately. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 25 roll. 1 (The Secretary called the roll.) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 4 is passed. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 862, by Senator Nozzolio, Senate Print 5711-A, an 7 act to amend Chapter 973 of the Laws of 1867, 8 relating to the Clifton Springs Water Cure 9 Company. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 11 last section. 12 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 13 act shall take effect November 1. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 15 roll. 16 (The Secretary called the roll.) 17 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 19 is passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 876, by Senator Spano, Senate Print 6381, an act 22 to amend the Mental Hygiene Law, in relation to 23 renaming of the Letchworth Village Developmental 24 Disabilities Services. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 1 last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 3 act shall take effect immediately. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 5 roll. 6 (The Secretary called the roll.) 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 9 is passed. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 877, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 7138, an 12 act to amend the Mental Hygiene Law, in relation 13 to renaming the Mid-Hudson Psychiatric Center. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 15 last section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 17 act shall take effect immediately. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 19 roll. 20 (The Secretary called the roll.) 21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 23 is passed. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 986, by Senator Balboni, Senate Print 6860-A, an 1 act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law, in 2 relation to authorizing audiotaped or videotaped 3 victim impact statements. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 5 last section. 6 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 7 act shall take effect immediately. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 9 roll. 10 (The Secretary called the roll.) 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 13 is passed. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 1002, by Senator Balboni, Senate Print 6785, an 16 act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law, in 17 relation to orders of protection. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 19 last section. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 21 act shall take effect immediately. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 23 roll. 24 (The Secretary called the roll.) 25 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 2 is passed. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 1152, by Senator Meier, Senate Print 6916, an act 5 to amend the General Construction Law and others, 6 in relation to service in the Armed Forces. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 8 last section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 14. This 10 act shall take effect immediately. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 12 roll. 13 (The Secretary called the roll.) 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 16 is passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 1175, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 2706, an 19 act to amend the Public Service Law. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 21 last section -- the Secretary will read a 22 substitution for Calendar 1175. 23 THE SECRETARY: On page 69, 24 Senator Leibell moves to discharge from the 25 Committee on Veterans and Military Affairs 1 Assembly Bill Number 422 and substitute it for 2 the identical Third Reading Calendar 1175. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 4 substitution is ordered. The Secretary will 5 read. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 1175, by member of the Assembly Gunther, Assembly 8 Print 422, an act to amend the Public Service 9 Law, in relation to utility rates. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 11 last section. 12 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 13 act shall take effect immediately. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 15 roll. 16 (The Secretary called the roll.) 17 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 19 is passed. 20 Senator Skelos, that concludes the 21 reading of the non-controversial calendar. 22 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 23 would you take up the controversial calendar, 24 please. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 1 Secretary will read the controversial calendar. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 264, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 680-B, an 4 act to amend the Public Health Law, the Tax Law 5 and the State Finance Law, in relation to the 6 Alzheimer's Research Fund. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator 8 Paterson. 9 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 10 this bill was laid aside by Senator Leichter and 11 I would not portend to have any idea what Senator 12 Leichter thinks about this bill or what questions 13 he would like to ask. He's okay with it. 14 Read the last section, Mr. 15 President. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 17 last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 19 act shall take effect on the 31st day of 20 December. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 22 roll. 23 (The Secretary called the roll.) 24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 1 is passed. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 568, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 4115-A, an 4 act to amend the Public Health Law and the Social 5 Services Law, in relation to instituting. 6 SENATOR PATERSON: Explanation. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator 8 Skleos, an explanation has been asked of Calendar 9 Number 568. 10 SENATOR SKELOS: Yes, Mr. 11 President. This legislation which we've named 12 Kathy's Law would require a criminal history 13 report of all new nurses aides and of all new 14 employees of home care service agencies whose 15 jobs require direct care of patients. 16 All of us in our lives, 17 unfortunately at some point, have to make a 18 decision, whether it involves -- whether it 19 involves an elderly parent, whether it involves a 20 member of the family that has been. or suffered a 21 traumatic injury. 22 Kathy who was in a coma for ten 23 years from an automobile accident was raped by an 24 employee of the nursing home, became pregnant. 25 The child was born. Ultimately she passed away, 1 but when we do make that decision that we have to 2 put somebody in a nursing home, that we have to 3 bring a home health care aid into our home or an 4 elderly parents' home, we have a situation where 5 an individual is extremely vulnerable. 6 We require training of 7 individuals. We require checking on certain 8 immunization records, yet we do not know when 9 this individual is put into the home in a 10 position of trust whether, in fact, they have a 11 criminal history which would really say they 12 should not be in that home, should not be working 13 in that nursing home, and this legislation, 14 through a criminal background check that can 15 include fingerprinting, would add some peace of 16 mind to individuals who have entrusted the care 17 of their loved one either in a nursing home or to 18 a home health care aid. 19 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Would the 20 sponsor yield to one quick question? 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator 22 Skelos, do you yield to a question from Senator 23 Dollinger? 24 SENATOR SKELOS: Yes, absolutely. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 1 Senator yields. 2 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Senator, this 3 is clearly a well warranted idea. As you know, 4 in Rochester back in my home community, we had a 5 very similar problem with a comatosed woman raped 6 by a nurse's aide or worker in a nursing home. 7 I just had a couple quick 8 questions about the technical aspects of the bill 9 that I want to make sure I fully understand. One 10 is the criminal background checks that will 11 actually occur, how long. first of all, who is 12 going to pay for them? How long do you 13 anticipate they'll take? Will this put a real 14 restraint on the hiring practices of nursing 15 homes because, as you know, they have a 16 significant turnover, which is one of the reasons 17 why they so easily fall prey, but where is the 18 balance for getting these checks done quick 19 enough so that they're. 20 SENATOR SKELOS: Number one, the 21 checks probably can be made within 30 days with 22 the Division of Criminal Justice Services and 23 even quicker. If a person has a criminal 24 background and they know that they're going to be 25 fingerprinted, number one, I think many of them 1 will probably not make that application for that 2 job. 3 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I agree with 4 that. 5 SENATOR SKELOS: Many of the home 6 health care agencies that we've discussed, 7 myself, my office, the Attorney General's office, 8 concerning this legislation, nursing home 9 individuals, owners of nursing homes, have no 10 real problem with this legislation and the fact 11 that it will lend support to them in hiring 12 qualified people. Right now they could not have 13 an intensive criminal background check 14 accomplished on these people. 15 SENATOR DOLLINGER: So the general 16 sense, again through you, Mr. President, is it 17 would take somewhere around 30 days and the 18 nursing home industry is okay. 19 SENATOR SKELOS: Probably less. 20 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Okay. 21 SENATOR SKELOS: Probably less. 22 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again through 23 you, Mr. President, if the sponsor will continue 24 to yield. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator 1 Skelos, do you continue to yield? 2 SENATOR SKELOS: Senator 3 Dollinger, just one other thing. They still can 4 hire that person subject to the report coming 5 back. 6 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Okay. That 7 was one of the other questions I wanted to ask. 8 It does allow -- this does allow the nursing home 9 to actually hire someone, put them on the staff 10 subject to a termination. 11 Does this bill specifically 12 provide that you can terminate an employee who 13 fails to survive the background check? 14 SENATOR SKELOS: If they refuse to 15 be fingerprinted? 16 SENATOR DOLLINGER: No. Let's say 17 they go through the fingerprinting process. 18 SENATOR SKELOS: That would be at 19 the discretion of the employer. 20 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Okay. Again 21 through you, Mr. President. Is there any kind of 22 hearing or any due process for the employee if it 23 comes back positive? 24 SENATOR SKELOS: It would be a 25 decision that an employer would make as to 1 whether they felt that person would be suitable 2 for the position. 3 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Okay. Again 4 through you, Mr. President. One of the other 5 issues that's raised by the nursing home industry 6 in their memo is the question of grandfathering. 7 How does this bill deal with the concept of 8 grandfathering, the hundreds of thousands of 9 employees who are currently working in nursing 10 homes? 11 SENATOR SKELOS: This would cover 12 prospective employees, but remember, there is 13 such a turnover in this industry, that in a short 14 period of time -- I can't give you the exact 15 period of time, probably a few years -- you would 16 have -- most people would be screened or have a 17 criminal background check on them because there 18 is a constant turnover in this industry. 19 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Okay. One 20 other question, again through you, Mr. President. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator 22 Skelos, do you continue to yield? 23 SENATOR SKELOS: Yes. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 25 Senator yields. 1 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Many of the 2 home health agencies and other agencies that use 3 nurses aides of this type have a cap on their 4 administrative expenses under the Medicaid 5 system. Does this bill in any way affect that 6 cap so that the additional administrative cost. 7 it's going to take some additional time and 8 effort to run people through the system. Is 9 there any increase in the cap so that nursing 10 homes would get greater reimbursement from the 11 Medicaid - 12 SENATOR SKELOS: This would be. 13 this cost would be picked up by the state. 14 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Picked up by 15 the state. Do you know what that cost will be? 16 SENATOR SKELOS: My estimate is 17 that it would cost the state. remember, part of 18 it would be paid by the federal government. For 19 those who are medicate eligible, it would be 20 somewhere from 3- to $5 million. 21 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Okay. Mr. 22 President - 23 SENATOR SKELOS: And effective 24 April 1st of 1999 so that it could be part of the 25 fiscal plan for next year. 1 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Okay. Thank 2 you to the sponsor. 3 On the bill, Mr. President. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator 5 Dollinger on the bill. 6 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I'm going to 7 support this bill. As Senator Skelos knows, the 8 Attorney General has. this is, I believe one of 9 his program bills or a bill that he has had a 10 role in. 11 He has been involved, as many 12 people in the Rochester community have, with 13 respect to a comatosed patient in one of the 14 nursing homes who was raped -- tragically raped 15 by a nurse's aide and he had a very substantial 16 prior criminal history which was undisclosed and 17 unknown at the time he was hired. 18 We clearly live in a society in 19 which the secrecy of people's pasts are being 20 invaded all the time. To some extent we all give 21 up a little bit of our privacy when we do all 22 kinds of things, whether it's run for office or 23 become involved in jobs that require a certain 24 sensitivity. 25 This bill chips away at one of 1 those privacy rights but it seems to me it does 2 so for the right reason and that is to simply say 3 that we won't allow someone with a secret 4 criminal past to be attending to those who are 5 infirm and elderly and to that extent we are 6 performing, I think, the most important duty we 7 can, which is to protect people who come into 8 unusual situations where they need the protection 9 of government and they need the protection of 10 others in order to be able to live. 11 So I'm going to vote in favor of 12 this bill. I think there are a couple of 13 technical issues that could probably be cleaned 14 up with respect to the grandfathering and some 15 other things because I think there are a large 16 number of people out there, but I certainly think 17 this is a good bill to move the process along. 18 My hope is that the Assembly will produce one and 19 either through Conference Committee or 20 negotiation we'll get to the bill that achieves 21 the laudable goal of this one. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 23 last section. 24 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. This 25 act shall take effect on the first day of April. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 2 roll. 3 (The Secretary called the roll.) 4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 55. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 6 is passed. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 634, by Senator Cook, Senate Print 6278, an act 9 to amend the Town Law, in relation to the 10 settlement of claims by certain towns. 11 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Explanation, 12 please. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator 14 Cook, an explanation has been requested of 15 Calendar 634. 16 SENATOR COOK: Mr. President, this 17 bill removes a requirement that is currently in 18 the law. When the town board agrees with a claim 19 that's made against the town or the claim is 20 compromised and the town board is prepared to pay 21 a certain amount of money, under the present law, 22 they still have to go to Supreme Court and have 23 the judge actually sign an order ordering the 24 town to make the payment. 25 This bill simply says that if 1 everyone is agreed on the amount of the 2 settlement and the town board then in due course 3 passes a resolution to pay it, that they don't 4 have to go to court. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator 6 Dollinger. 7 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Just a couple 8 quick questions for the sponsor, if I may. Does 9 this apply to tax tertiary cases as well? 10 SENATOR COOK: No. This does not 11 apply to tax tertiary. 12 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Just where. so 13 I understand that, Senator Cook, could you tell 14 me where in the bill that's the case? 15 SENATOR COOK: I beg your pardon? 16 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Just tell me 17 where in the bill that specified or is it not - 18 SENATOR COOK: Well, it is 19 specified except that the section that we're 20 amending, which is Subdivision 4 of Section 68 of 21 the Town Law, relates to claims against the 22 town. The tertiary proceedings are, I believe in 23 the Real Property Tax Law. 24 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again through 25 you, Mr. President. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator 2 Cook, do you continue to yield? 3 SENATOR COOK: Yes. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 5 Senator yields. 6 SENATOR DOLLINGER: If there's a 7 current limitation of any claim above $300 they 8 must go to Supreme Court. 9 SENATOR COOK: Yes. 10 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Would it make 11 better sense to increase that claim to a sizeable 12 number but not remove it entirely? The reason 13 for my question is obviously this provision was 14 put in there to allow some independent review of 15 a town's ability to resolve a piece of litigation 16 which, as I'm sure you would acknowledge, could 17 in some cases involve people that the town 18 fathers and mothers are very familiar with, the 19 possible. the possibility of insider dealing in 20 these cases, all of which could come out in the 21 wash in the political process, but nonetheless 22 this was put in to require, much as we do with 23 infants, the approval of a court before large 24 sums of money, public money are paid in these 25 kinds of settlements. 1 And my question is rather than 2 eliminate it entirely, what if we just upped the 3 amount and allowed smaller cases to be resolved? 4 SENATOR COOK: Mr. President, as a 5 matter of fact, Senator, we did discuss that 6 option. We talked about what kind of number was 7 logical. In all candor, we couldn't really think 8 of any number that was logical, recognizing that 9 if you're talking about a substantial liability 10 problem, you're probably involving an insurance 11 company in some nature, so you're not going to 12 get huge amounts of money. The town is going to 13 be paying that directly out of tax revenues and 14 it just seemed that there wasn't any sense in 15 having that independent review it, and frankly, 16 Senator, if you were to petition the court, the 17 court is going to see the paper is presented by 18 the town, which are going to present. which are 19 going to contain the very information that the 20 town board would utilize in agreeing to the 21 settlement in the first instance. So it's. it 22 didn't seem that there was any purpose in 23 maintaining this process. 24 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Through you, 25 Mr. President. Just one other question. The. 1 there's nothing in this bill that changes the 2 provisions of the Open Meetings Law with respect 3 to discussion of litigation in public. 4 SENATOR COOK: No. 5 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Okay. On the 6 bill, Mr. President. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator 8 Dollinger on the bill. 9 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I appreciate 10 the sponsor's explanation, but I'm going to vote 11 against this bill. I think that at least in 12 instances where small towns are negotiating the 13 settlement of claims, we currently set up under 14 our Open Meetings Law a provision that says you 15 don't have to talk about litigation in public. 16 So you can discuss the settlement of a case 17 entirely in private. It can be done in an 18 executive session. It doesn't have to be done in 19 open session and it seems to me that the intent 20 of this provision was to simply say in certain 21 instances. and I know it's back in 1959, Senator 22 Cook, I would be the first to admit that $300 is 23 a preposterously low number, but it seems to me 24 there is some number beyond which a town under 25 200,000 people should not be able to discuss the 1 settlement of the claim in private. It may 2 involve people that the elected officials in the 3 town know very well, the possibility of internal 4 dealing, the possibility of behind closed doors 5 discussion, outside public surveillance. The 6 potential is there that this could be abused, and 7 I would suggest that if this bill said we'll jump 8 it from $300 to $15,000 or $10,000, I know it 9 doesn't eliminate the possibility of small 10 influence peddling which could also occur because 11 of the notion that they don't need Supreme Court 12 approval, but it seems to me that the beneficial 13 purpose of this legislation would be best served 14 by jumping the amount from 300 to some other 15 number to allow small claims to be settled 16 without Supreme Court approval, but to require 17 that a town which negotiates a deal with a third 18 party behind closed doors has some obligation to 19 go convince a state Supreme Court judge that it's 20 in the best interests of the people. 21 My guess is, Senator Cook, that 22 seldom, if ever, has any Supreme Court judge 23 substituted his judgment for the judgment of the 24 town fathers in settling a case, but I do believe 25 that because it's done behind closed doors under 1 the public. the Open Meetings Law, that there's a 2 potential there that we should avoid. 3 If this bill has some increased 4 limitation, I'll vote for it, but to cast it away 5 completely, I think creates a possibility, a 6 potential for misdealing, and I would rather 7 avoid that potential, that temptation for local 8 governments. 9 So I'll be voting in the negative. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 11 last section. 12 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 13 act shall take effect immediately. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 15 roll. 16 (The Secretary called the roll.) 17 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 56, nays 1, 18 Senator Dollinger recorded in the negative. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator 20 Paterson. 21 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. 22 President. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: First, 24 Senator Paterson, excuse me. Just let me know 25 for the record the bill is passed. 1 Senator Paterson. 2 SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you, Mr. 3 President. 4 If we might pause in our 5 deliberations for just a moment, I would just 6 like to tell the members here that when I was a 7 little kid I used to watch television and watch 8 people debating political points of view, and I 9 suffered from the delusion that some of us here 10 continue that our point of view is always right 11 and have that dogmatic view that anyone else that 12 had another point of view was just wrong or 13 didn't know what they were talking about or was 14 insensitive to some point of view. 15 I watched a mayoral campaign in 16 the city of New York in which the Republican and 17 the Conservative candidate, who was John Marchi, 18 taught me something about civility and taught me 19 something about a sophistication that I had never 20 seen before and so, as a young person, he was 21 kind of a hero to me, and so on this, the 22 occasion of his birthday, actually his 77th 23 birthday of which he spent, unfortunately, 44 of 24 those years here in this chamber but somehow has 25 managed to persevere through all of this, that we 1 call the Legislature. 2 I would like to recognize his 3 birthday, and we have a gift that we would like 4 to give Senator Marchi in celebration of his 77th 5 birthday and we are bringing it to him right 6 now. 7 (Applause.) 8 SENATOR PATERSON: And the only 9 other thing I would want to add, Mr. President, 10 is the greatest thrill for me is that I share 11 this birthday with him, so that's how I knew 12 that. 13 (Laughter.) 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator 15 Marchi. 16 SENATOR MARCHI: I would like to 17 take the pleasure of reciprocating the sentiments 18 expressed by Senator Paterson. 19 His father was a colleague of 20 mine, and I have great respect and great 21 affection for him, the same affection that I have 22 for every member of this chamber. 23 The years I've had. I don't know 24 how many I have left but believe me, I am very, 25 very happy with my life and the fact that I spent 1 it with people that I have the deepest respect. 2 On a short list of three, I don't 3 think that -- very few people would disagree with 4 me that Senator Paterson. and not because he 5 married a girl from Staten Island. certainly 6 commands a very deep respect for the civility 7 with which he conducts himself, with the 8 intelligence that he conducts himself, and his 9 erudition and literary command, which is evidence 10 in my mind of extraordinary embrace of things 11 that improve the quality of life and he 12 exhibited. exhibits it every time he gets up, not 13 impairing his effectiveness in any way, and often 14 we disagree but even in that disagreement we 15 always maintain that deepest respect for Senator 16 Paterson. He is just a wonderful legislator, and 17 I'm most happy and delighted that we. well, he 18 doesn't share my actual birth date. He's a young 19 man. His. he's got a lot of road to travel and I 20 wish him well as he travels in it, but I. 21 certainly it's a festive occasion for both of us, 22 and I want to thank again each and every one of 23 you for. well, for a very warm. I wish for myself 24 that I could go on enjoying your companionship as 25 long as the good Lord allows it, and the voting 1 public, but I'm ahead now even if I weren't going 2 to have another day after this. I feel I'm so 3 far ahead that I have to be very grateful. 4 Thank you much and thank you all. 5 Thank you very much, Mr. 6 President. 7 (Applause.) 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: On behalf 9 the entire body, we wish both Senator Paterson 10 and Senator Marchi happy birthday. 11 Senator Marchi, your constituents, 12 your people and the entire people of the state 13 have benefitted from your service and will 14 benefit for many years to come. 15 And Senator Paterson, you're not 16 too bad yourself. 17 The Secretary will continue to 18 read the calendar. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 827, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 888, an act 21 to amend the Penal Law, in relation to resisting 22 arrest. 23 SENATOR PATERSON: Explanation. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator 25 Volker, an explanation has been requested of 1 Calendar 827. 2 SENATOR VOLKER: Mr. President, 3 now that we've got away with the pleasantries, 4 now we can get into the time when Senator 5 Paterson was wrong -- no, no. 6 (Laughter.) 7 This is a bill that has been 8 debated in this house a number of occasions. In 9 fact, last year it passed this house by a vote of 10 47 to 12. 11 This bill specifically. and 12 earlier this year we passed a bill, if my 13 recollection is correct, upgrading assault in 14 general. There are many of us who, frankly, 15 believe that assault probably is the area of the 16 law that needs upgrading virtually more than any 17 other area and because it seems to some of us 18 that many of the so-called bias crimes, for 19 instance, and other areas of the law, the 20 striking, and so forth, that occur, relate in 21 part to the fact that unfortunately personal 22 assaults on people has tended to be looked on 23 rather lowly in the courts. 24 Nowhere is this more evident, I 25 don't think, than assaults on police officers. 1 It's no secret to law enforcement people across 2 this state that you have to be seriously injured 3 before a court will essentially sentence anyone 4 to any kind of a serious prison term or consider 5 the actions of someone as serious enough to 6 warrant someone to get a jail term. 7 In fact, more than once. and it 8 frankly dates back to a long time. the attitude 9 that, well, it's part of the business of being a 10 police officer, you get assaulted. I think 11 that's really pretty ridiculous and, in fact, the 12 last time we debated this bill, Senator Leichter 13 asked a question of me if there's any indications 14 that there has been an increase of assault on law 15 enforcement people, and we've done some studies 16 on that and looked at some intelligent reports. 17 intelligence reports and they are very alarming. 18 For instance, a recent report says 19 that last year 160 police officers were killed in 20 the United States, a 40 percent increase over 21 1996, and that firearms-related deaths were up 22 percent, traffic-related fatalities were up 50 23 percent, some of which were deliberate, by the 24 way, as people deliberately drove into police 25 officers, and it talks. it goes on to talk about 1 an ominous sign being that a number of police 2 officers were specifically targeted simply 3 because they had the badge. 4 What this bill does is basically 5 set two different types of resisting arrest. The 6 number one penalty, which would make it a Class E 7 felony, would say that a person is guilty of 8 resisting arrest in the first degree when he 9 commits the crime of resisting arrest; in the 10 second degree, by striking, shoving, pushing, 11 kicking or otherwise using physical force. What 12 it really is is the use of physical force - 13 sorry about that -- the use of physical force - 14 I didn't do that deliberately. It differentiates 15 the resisting arrest from the so-called passive 16 resisting arrest which is the traditional Class A 17 misdemeanor that resisting arrest is considered 18 today. 19 So what we're doing here, we're 20 differentiating between using physical force and 21 the passive nature of resisting arrest and making 22 it a Class E felony. A Class E felony is the 23 lowest felony there is, by the way. Some of us 24 say that in the city of New York, Class E 25 felonies are almost like Class B misdemeanors 1 used to be because very often, unless you get a 2 Class E, very little, if any, of those charges 3 are ever maintained because they're usually pled 4 out to lesser charges. You start out with a 5 Class A misdemeanor, there's hardly any place to 6 go below that because the person, effectively, 7 never goes to jail. 8 So what we're doing here is 9 differentiating between physical force and the 10 passive nature of resisting arrest. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator 12 Paterson. 13 SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you, Mr. 14 President. 15 If Senator Volker would yield for 16 a question. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator 18 Volker, do you yield? 19 SENATOR VOLKER: Certainly. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 21 Senator yields. 22 SENATOR PATERSON: Senator, we 23 just had a bill a moment ago that we -- almost 24 all of us, I believe, supported by Senator Skelos 25 that definitely impinges upon the ability of 1 health care workers to get jobs based on whether 2 or not they are convicted of a felony. 3 So what I would advise is when we 4 go from a Class A misdemeanor to a felony, we are 5 -- even though it's an E felony, we are really 6 changing the options that many people may have, 7 and what you described, I thought very 8 articulately and very compellingly, were the 9 increases of assaults on police officers for 10 which I think we probably should increase the 11 penalties and when that legislation comes to this 12 floor, I assure you that I will vote for it, but 13 here we're talking about resisting arrest, where 14 many times the individual that's resisting arrest 15 is under some duress. Often you have a situation 16 -- maybe two individuals are fighting, the 17 police officer comes in to try to make the 18 arrest, the person is still swinging. They don't 19 even realize they're swinging at a police officer 20 now. It's an emotional period. 21 There are a lot of instances where 22 I would certainly put forth that a person could 23 be charged with this crime and at the same time 24 really not have made the decision to make the - 25 to cause the police officer any harm and this 1 doesn't -- this does not in any way allow us to 2 in any way forgive the individual for what they 3 did. They certainly are culpable, but they are 4 not culpable, I would say, in a fashion as it 5 would be if they just assaulted the police 6 officer. 7 So what I'm saying is I think that 8 while we have resisting arrest as a charge, 9 resisting arrest is often what I call the "pile 10 on" charge. It's disorderly conduct and 11 resisting arrest. It goes along with anyone else 12 that the person is being arrested for, and I just 13 think we have to take a look at this, and I'm 14 wondering if you would just comment on what I 15 said. I think we have to take a look at this 16 because I just don't want to see people who 17 really did not intend any kind of harm and did 18 not make the actual decision to harm the police 19 officer but who may just have needed to calm down 20 and the officer was interfered with in trying to 21 make the arrest. There, the resisting arrest 22 charge might be important but to now upgrade it 23 to a felony, I think would take a very willful 24 and deliberate act. 25 SENATOR VOLKER: Senator, what you 1 have stated is -- I understand what you have 2 said. You have stated a factual situation, and 3 when we do cases and when we look at cases 4 involving -- let's use the example of assault, 5 and you have said that the person didn't intend 6 to strike or to hit, or whatever, the police 7 officer, that's the factual situation, then 8 obviously you can't maintain a resisting arrest 9 for striking, and so forth, a law enforcement 10 officer. We understand that and if that's the 11 case, then that's something certainly that as a 12 factual -- in the factual nature of things, 13 should occur and that person should not be 14 convicted of resisting arrest in the first 15 degree. 16 And remember, that the courts have 17 always looked at these types of charges very, 18 very closely, and as well as they should, in 19 dealing with them, and I think what you're saying 20 to me, Senator, is -- and I know how -- what 21 you're thinking about, but I must tell you that 22 you cannot shirk from making -- it seems to me, 23 that you should not shirk from making changes in 24 the law that deal with the realities of our 25 society and with the protection of individuals 1 who need to be protected simply because there 2 could be a factual situation that might make it 3 more difficult necessarily to prove otherwise. 4 It seems to me that we have some 5 serious problems involving abuse of police 6 officers and abuse -- not just police officers 7 but law enforcement people, and we also have a 8 society that has tended to look at these charges, 9 frankly, from a somewhat jaded point of view; 10 that is, that this is all part of the job, and it 11 seems to me that under these circumstances, in 12 particular, it behooves us to give the authority 13 under certain circumstances to charge a higher 14 violation, which would be a Class E felony rather 15 than a Class A misdemeanor the way it is now. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator 17 Paterson. 18 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 19 on the bill. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator 21 Paterson on the bill. 22 SENATOR PATERSON: Senator 23 Montgomery wanted ti lead debate on this bill. 24 She's out of the chamber at this time, and I did 25 my best to try to bring forth what Senator 1 Montgomery's point is, which is that we really 2 would not like to see resisting arrest be a 3 felony. 4 Now, society does have a jaded 5 view about people fighting with police officers, 6 almost as if Senator Volker described as part of 7 the job, and our solution to that is to upgrade 8 the penalties for assault and at a point when 9 someone is that deliberate in their acts of 10 assaulting a police officer, I don't think that 11 should even be considered resisting arrest 12 anymore. I think that should be a straight out 13 attack on the police officer, and I would be 14 perfectly happy to see everyone who commits that 15 crime charged with that crime. 16 Resisting arrest was more of an 17 issue where just the definition, "resisting 18 arrest", demonstrates a less violent kind of 19 action, something where the individual is just 20 pushing and shoving and trying to get away from 21 the police officers and not something that I 22 think should graduate to this particular level. 23 I'm not saying that anyone that 24 assaults a police officer should be punished any 25 less than Senator Volker is saying. We're just 1 disagreeing on the terminology. I would like 2 that to go into the category of assault on a 3 police officer. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 5 last section. 6 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 7 act shall take effect on the first day of 8 November. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 10 roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll.) 12 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 13 the negative on Calendar Number 827 are Senators 14 Connor, Mendez, Paterson, Rosado, Santiago and 15 Smith. Ayes 52, nays 6. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 17 is passed. 18 Senator Fuschillo, that completes 19 the reading of the controversial calendar. 20 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Thank you, Mr. 21 President. 22 Is there any housekeeping at the 23 desk? 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is 25 no housekeeping. 1 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: There being no 2 further business, I move we adjourn until 3 Tuesday, May 26th, at 3:00 p.m., intervening days 4 being legislative days. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: On 6 motion, the Senate stands adjourned until 7 Tuesday, May 26th, at 3:00 p.m. Intervening days 8 will be legislative days. 9 (Whereupon, at 11:59 a.m., the 10 Senate adjourned.) 11 12 13 14 15 16