Monday, June 1, 1998

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ALBANY, NEW YORK 10 June 1, 1998 11 3:01 p.m. 12 13 14 REGULAR SESSION 15 16 17 18 SENATOR CHARLES FUSCHILLO, Acting President 19 STEVEN M. BOGGESS, Secretary 20 21 22 23 24 25 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 3 The Senate will come to order. I ask everyone 4 present to please rise and repeat the Pledge 5 of Allegiance. 6 (The assemblage repeated the 7 Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.) 8 In the absence of clergy, may 9 we bow our heads in a moment of silence. 10 (A moment of silence was 11 observed.) 12 Reading of the Journal. 13 THE SECRETARY: In Senate, 14 Sunday, May 31st. The Senate met pursuant to 15 adjournment. The Journal of Saturday, May 16 30th, was read and approved. On motion, Senate 17 adjourned. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 19 Without objection, the Journal stands approved 20 as read. 21 Presentation of petitions. 22 Messages from the Assembly. 23 Messages from the Governor. 24 Reports of standing committees. 25 Reports of select committees. 1 Communications and reports from 2 state officers. 3 Motions and resolutions. 4 Senator Meier: 5 SENATOR MEIER: Mr. President, 6 on page number 30, I offer the following 7 amendments to Calendar Number 864, Print 8 Number 6646-A, and ask that the said bill 9 retain its place on the Third Reading 10 Calendar. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: So 12 ordered. 13 SENATOR MEIER: On behalf of 14 Senator Libous, please remove the sponsor's 15 star from Calendar Number 1 and Calendar 16 Number 332. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: So 18 ordered. 19 SENATOR MEIER: On behalf of 20 Senator Wright, please place a sponsor's star 21 on Calendar Number 46. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: The 23 bill will be starred. 24 SENATOR MEIER: Mr. President, I 25 wish to call up Senator Libous' bill, Print 1 Number 1920, recalled from the Assembly which 2 is now at the desk. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 4 Secretary will read. 5 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 6 Libous, Senate Print 1920, an act to amend the 7 Vehicle and Traffic Law. 8 SENATOR MEIER: Mr. President, 9 I now move to reconsider the vote by which 10 this bill was passed. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 12 Call the roll on reconsideration. 13 (The Secretary called the roll 14 on reconsideration.) 15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 37. 16 SENATOR MEIER: Mr. President, 17 I now offer the following amendments. 18 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Amendments 19 are received. 20 SENATOR MEIER: Thank you, Mr. 21 President. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 23 Senator Farley. 24 SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you, Mr. 25 President. 1 I have a number of amendments 2 to be offered to the following Third Reading 3 Calendar bills: 4 Senator Hannon, on page 10, 5 Calendar 342, Senate Print 6057; 6 Senator Velella, page 18, 7 Calendar 612, Senate Print 577-B; 8 Senator Rath, on page 19, 9 Calendar 629, Senate Print 4850; 10 Senator Stafford, on page 19, 11 Calendar 631, Senate Print 6109-A; 12 Senator Maltese, on page 36, 13 Calendar 936, Senate Print 7021; 14 Senator Libous, on page 38, 15 Calendar 958, Senate Print 6145-A; 16 Senator Alesi, on page 38, 17 Calendar 959, Senate Print 6191-A; 18 Senator Cook, page 38, Calendar 19 960, Senate Print 6514; 20 Senator Balboni, page 43, 21 Calendar 1031, Senate Print 7198; 22 Senator Kuhl, on page 50, 23 Calendar 1118, Senate Print 6756; 24 Also for Senator Kuhl, on page 25 50, Calendar 1121, Senate Print 6828-A; and 1 Senator LaValle, on page 54, 2 Calendar 1169, Senate Print 7135, and I ask 3 that all of these bills retain their place on 4 the Third Reading Calendar. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 6 Amendments are received and the bills will 7 retain their place on the Third Reading 8 Calendar. 9 Senator Skelos. 10 SENATOR SKELOS: Are there any 11 substitutions to be made? 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 13 No. 14 SENATOR SKELOS: If we could 15 move on to resolutions, Mr. President, I 16 believe there are two privileged resolutions 17 at the desk sponsored by Senator Libous. I'd 18 ask that the titles be read and move for their 19 immediate adoption. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 21 Secretary will read. 22 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 23 Libous, Legislative Resolution commending the 24 Special Olympians upon the occasion of 25 completing the Capital District Leg of the New 1 York State Special Olympics Law Enforcement 2 Torch Run at the Opening Ceremonies marking 3 the 18th Annual Legislative Disability 4 Awareness Day, Wednesday, June 3rd, 1998, at 5 the State Capitol. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 7 Question is on the resolution. All in favor 8 signify by saying aye. 9 (Response of "Aye.") 10 Opposed nay. 11 (There was no response. ) 12 The resolutions are adopted. 13 Senator Skelos. 14 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President 15 -- please read the second resolution. 16 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 17 Libous, Legislative Resolution memorializing 18 Governor George E. Pataki to proclaim 19 Wednesday, June 3rd, 1998 as Legislative 20 Disability Awareness Day at the State Capitol 21 in Albany, New York. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 23 Question is on the resolution. All in favor 24 signify by saying aye. 25 (Response of "Aye.") 1 Opposed nay. 2 (There was no response. ) 3 The ayes have it. 4 Senator Skelos. 5 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 6 there are two privileged resolutions at the 7 desk sponsored by Senator Maltese. I ask that 8 they be read in their entirety and move for 9 their immediate adoption. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 11 Secretary will read. 12 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 13 Maltese, Legislative Resolution congratulating 14 Christ the King Regional High School's Women's 15 Varsity Basketball Team and Coach Vincent 16 Cannizzaro on their outstanding season and 17 upon winning their ninth straight New York 18 State High School Championship. 19 WHEREAS, excellence and success 20 in competitive sports can be achieved only 21 through strenuous practice, team play and team 22 spirit, nurtured by dedicated coaching and 23 strategic planning; 24 Athletic competition enhances 25 the moral and physical development of the 1 young people of this state, preparing them for 2 the future by instilling in them the value of 3 teamwork, encouraging a standard of healthy 4 living, imparting a desire for success and 5 developing a sense of fair play and 6 competition; 7 The Royals are the New York 8 State High School Champions, and 9 The athletic talent displayed 10 by this team is due in great part to the 11 efforts of Coach Vincent Cannizzaro, a skilled 12 and inspirational tutor, respected for his 13 ability to develop potential into excellence; 14 The teams's overall record is 15 outstanding, and the teams members were 16 loyally and enthusiastically supported by 17 family, fans, friends and the community at 18 large; 19 The hallmarks of Christ the 20 King Regional High School Women's Varsity 21 BVasketball Team, from the opening game of the 22 season to participation in the championship, 23 were a sisterhood of athletic ability, of good 24 sportsmanship, of honor and of scholarship, 25 demonstrating that these team players are 1 second to none; 2 Athletically and academically, 3 the team members have proven themselves to be 4 an unbeatable combination of talents, 5 reflecting favorably on their school; 6 Coach Vincent Cannizzaro has 7 done a superb job in guiding, molding, and 8 inspiring the team members toward their goals; 9 Sports competition instills the 10 values of teamwork, pride and accomplishment, 11 and Coach Vincent Cannizzaro and his 12 outstanding athletes have clearly made a 13 contribution to the spirit of excellence which 14 is a tradition of their school; 15 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED 16 that this legislative body pause in its 17 deliberations to congratulate the Christ the 18 King Regional High School Women's Varsity 19 Basketball Team, its members, Mary Bullock, 20 Sue Bird, Jessica Burch, Mary Cacic, Patricia 21 Tubridy, Gillian McGovern, Clare Droesh, 22 Crystal Gadsden, Antoinette Siatta, Amy 23 Mulligan, Amy Dawson, Toni-Renee Roker, Nancy 24 Fucci, Maria Edwards, Kathryn Fowler and 25 Josephine Alohan and Coach Vincent Cannizzaro 1 on their outstanding season and upon winning 2 their ninth straight New York State High 3 School Championship; and 4 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a 5 copy of this resolution, suitably engrossed, 6 be transmitted to Elizabeth Lawlor, Christ the 7 King principal; Athletic Director Sister Mary 8 Anne Kollmer; Coach Vincent Cannizzaro, team 9 assistants Bob Mackey and Jill Cook and Christ 10 the King Regional High School Women's 11 Basketball Team. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 13 Senator Maltese. 14 SENATOR MALTESE: The 15 resolution just read and a resolution that 16 will be read shortly exemplifies a spirit of 17 togetherness, good sportsmanship and fair play 18 that is certainly representative and 19 exemplified by this fine young women's 20 basketball team. 21 We have achieved for the ninth 22 straight year a state championship. We have 23 achieved in the past national championships. 24 One of the players on a prior team, Chamique 25 Holdsclaw, has been rated one of the best 1 players and the best player, girls' basket 2 ball players in the country. 3 To be commended in the 4 resolution that will be read is a young woman, 5 Sue Bird, who has been also ranked as the top 6 girls' basketball player in the country, and 7 she is present here today with her teammates. 8 Also present is Coach Vinnie 9 Cannizzaro, who has molded together an already 10 fine team and put it together and provided the 11 leadership and dedication to bring it to the 12 state championships, so that they have just 13 finished an undefeated season 27-0. That has 14 been repeated over and over again in past 15 teams against some of the best teams in the 16 country, not just in Queens or New York City 17 or locally. 18 Assisted by Bob Mackey and Jill 19 Cook, assisted by a good team spirit on behalf 20 of all the teammates and assisted by Sister 21 Mary Anne Kollmer, our team supporter and 22 recreation director, and certainly by also 23 accompanying the team Delores St. Louis who 24 exemplifies the parents and the friends and 25 the supporters of this fine team. 1 I, certainly as a Senator 2 representing all these young people, I commend 3 them not only for their excellence at play, 4 not only for their championships, repeated 5 championships, but for their reputation of 6 fair play, good sportsmanship and teamwork. 7 They represent the finest in young women in 8 America today, and I'm proud to support both 9 these resolutions and commend the young women 10 who are present here as well as the coaches 11 and Sue Bird who is present here today. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 13 Thank you, Senator Maltese. 14 Question is on the resolution. 15 All -- Senator Onorato. 16 SENATOR ONORATO: Mr. 17 President, I rise to join my colleague, 18 Senator Maltese, in commending Christ the King 19 on their outstanding achievement. As the 20 Senator representing Sue Bird, for her 21 outstanding achievement, I am exceedingly 22 proud having gone to Long Island City High 23 School, the public high school, who almost 24 became the Long Island City/Queens 25 championship. We never quite made it. 1 I'm extremely proud that a 2 Queens team and one of my constituents is a 3 member of the team who not only won the city 4 championship but the entire state championship 5 and for all of her teammates who join with her 6 in this outstanding achievement, her coaches 7 and all who attach to this, I extend my 8 heartfelt gratitude that you made us very, 9 very proud, especially those of us from Queens 10 County. 11 God bless you all. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 13 Question is on the resolution. All in favor 14 signify by saying aye. 15 (Response of "Aye.") 16 Opposed nay. 17 (There was no response. ) 18 The resolution is adopted. The 19 Secretary will read. 20 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 21 Maltese, Legislative Resolution honoring Sue 22 Bird in recognition of her outstanding 23 achievements in women's basketball. 24 WHEREAS, excellence and success 25 in competitive sports can be achieved only 1 through strenuous practice, team play and team 2 spirit, nurtured by dedicated coaching and 3 strategic planning; 4 Athletic competition enhances 5 the moral and physical development of the 6 young people of this state, preparing them for 7 the future by instilling in them the value of 8 teamwork, encouraging a standard of healthy 9 living, imparting a desire for success and 10 developing a sense of fair play and 11 competition; 12 Sue Bird, Player of the Year 13 for Christ the King Lady Royals, is considered 14 one of the best women's basketball players in 15 the country; 16 At five feet nine inches, Sue 17 Bird has been named to the Tri-State All-Stars 18 for the third time and she is this year's Most 19 Valuable Player. She was also named to the 20 Parade Magazine's All-America first team; 21 Together with her talented 22 teammates, Sue Bird was the cornerstone of a 23 team that won the school's ninth straight 24 Catholic state federation title, while 25 accomplishing a perfect season of 27 and zero; 1 For her multi-talented 2 contributions to winning the state Catholic 3 school title, in which she scored a game high 4 29 points, Sue Bird was named the Times News 5 weekly Crown Trophy Athlete of the Week; 6 During her career at Christ the 7 King, Sue Bird averaged 18.6 points per game, 8 5.4 assists and 7.7 steals per game for the 9 Lady Royals; 10 Recruited by the University of 11 Connecticut for her exceptional athletic 12 skills, Sue Bird is expected to start and make 13 an impact in her Freshman year; 14 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED 15 that this legislative body pause in its 16 deliberations to honor Sue Bird in recognition 17 of her outstanding achievements in women's 18 basketball, noting the significance of her 19 efforts and achievements and expressing 20 heartfelt confidence in the response to the 21 challenges of a promising future; and 22 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that 23 copies of this resolution, suitably engrossed, 24 be transmitted to Sue Bird, Elizabeth Lawlor, 25 principal of Christ the King Regional High 1 School, Sister Mary Anne Kollmer, Athletic 2 Director, Coach Vincent Cannizzaro and Team 3 Assistants Bob Mackey and Jill Cook. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 5 Senator Maltese. 6 SENATOR MALTESE: Mr. 7 President, I've already spoken on behalf of 8 Christ the King. 9 I would ask the President's 10 indulgence in asking the members of the team, 11 Coach Cannizzaro, Coach Mackey and Sue Bird to 12 stand in support of this resolution. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 14 O.K. Will everybody please rise. Let me 15 offer on behalf of the colleagues and members 16 of the Senate, my congratulations on your 17 accomplishment. 18 (Applause) 19 Question is on the resolution. 20 All in favor signify by saying aye. 21 (Response of "Aye.") 22 Opposed nay. 23 (There was no response. ) 24 The resolution is adopted. 25 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. 1 President. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 3 Senator Skelos. 4 SENATOR SKELOS: Could we 5 please have a reading of the non-controversial 6 calendar. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 8 Secretary will read. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 396, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 6041, an 11 act to amend the Real Property Tax Law, in 12 relation to tax exemption. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 14 Read the last section. 15 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. 16 This act shall take effect immediately. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 18 Call the roll. 19 (The Secretary called the 20 roll. ) 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 22 The bill is passed. 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 48, nays 24 1, Senator Leichter recorded in the negative. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 1 The bill is now passed. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 403, by Senator Lack, Senate Print 5162-B, an 4 act to amend the Estates, Powers and Trusts 5 Law and the General Obligations Law. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 7 Read the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. 9 This act shall take effect September 1st. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 11 Call the roll. 12 (The Secretary called the 13 roll.) 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 49. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 16 The bill is passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 411, by Senator Skelos. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 20 Lay aside for the day. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 602, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 3674-A, 23 an act to amend the Public Authorities Law, in 24 relation to powers of the state of New York 25 Mortgage Agency. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 2 Read the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. 4 This act shall take effect immediately. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 6 Call the roll. 7 (The Secretary called the 8 roll.) 9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 11 The bill is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 743, by Senator Marcellino, Senate Print 6305, 14 an act in relation to authorizing the city of 15 Glen Cove, county of Nassau. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 17 Read the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 19 This act shall take effect immediately. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 21 Call the roll. 22 (The Secretary called the 23 roll.) 24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 1 The bill is passed. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 746, by - 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 5 Home rule message at the desk. O.K. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 746, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 8 Assembly Print 10,677, an act authorizing the 9 city of Ithaca. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 11 Home rule message at the desk. Read the last 12 section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 14 This act shall take effect immediately. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 16 Call the roll. 17 (The Secretary called the 18 roll.) 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 21 The bill is passed. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 764, by Senator LaValle, Senate Print 4233, an 24 act to amend the General Municipal Law, in 25 relation to granting additional points. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 2 Read the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 4 This act shall take effect immediately. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 6 Call the roll. 7 (The Secretary called the 8 roll.) 9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 11 The bill is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 803, by Senator Holland, Senate Print 233-A, 14 an act to amend the Domestic Relations Law. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 16 Read the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 18 This act shall take effect immediately. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 20 Call the roll. 21 (The Secretary called the 22 roll.) 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 25 The bill is passed. 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 812, by Senator Holland, Senate Print 6325, an 3 act to amend Chapter 942 of the Laws of 1983. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 5 Read the last section. 6 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. 7 There act shall take effect immediately. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 9 Call the roll. 10 (The Secretary called the 11 roll.) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 14 The bill is passed. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 835, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 4478, an 17 act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 19 Read the last section. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. 21 This act shall take effect immediately. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 23 Call the roll. 24 (The Secretary called the 25 roll.) 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 3 The bill is passed. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 873, by member of the Assembly Connelly, 6 Assembly Print 9208, an act to amend the 7 Education Law, in relation to the eligibility 8 of Vietnam and Persian Gulf veterans. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 10 Read the last section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 12 This act shall take effect immediately. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 14 Call the roll. 15 (The Secretary called the 16 roll.) 17 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 19 The bill is passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 874, by member of the Assembly Mazzarelli, 22 Assembly Print 10370, an act to amend the 23 Executive Law, in relation to adding the 24 Commissioner of Mental Health. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 1 Read the last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 3 This act shall take effect immediately. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 5 Call the roll. 6 (The Secretary called the 7 roll.) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 10 The bill is passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 882, by Senator Trunzo, Senate Print 4435-A, 13 an act to amend the Retirement and Social 14 Security Law. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 16 Read the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 18 This act shall take effect immediately. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 20 Call the roll. 21 (The Secretary called the 22 roll.) 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 25 The bill is passed. 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 893, by Senator Trunzo, Senate Print 6977, an 3 act to amend the Education Law, in relation to 4 the establishment of a qualified governmental 5 access. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 7 Read the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 9 This act shall take effect immediately. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 11 Call the roll. 12 (The Secretary called the 13 roll.) 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 16 The bill is passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 894, by Senator Trunzo, Senate Print 6978, an 19 act to amend the Education Law, in relation to 20 the election of a retired teacher member. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 22 Read the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. 24 This act shall take effect immediately. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 1 Call the roll. 2 (The Secretary called the 3 roll.) 4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 6 The bill is passed. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 895, by Senator Trunzo, Senate Print 6979, an 9 act to amend the Retirement and Social 10 Security Law, in relation to applications. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 12 Read the last section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 14 This act shall take effect immediately. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 16 Call the roll. 17 (The Secretary called the 18 roll.) 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 21 The bill is passed. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 952, by Senator Maziarz. 24 SENATOR SKELOS: Lay aside for 25 the day. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 2 Lay aside. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 962, by Senator LaValle, Senate Print 6947-A, 5 an act authorizing apportionment of New York 6 State transportation aid to the Miller Place 7 Union Free School District. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 9 Read the last section. 10 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 11 This act shall take effect immediately. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 13 There is a local fiscal impact note at the 14 desk. Call the roll. 15 (The Secretary called the 16 roll.) 17 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 19 The bill is passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 964, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 22 Assembly Print 10727-A, an act authorizing the 23 Phelps-Clifton Springs Central School 24 District. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 1 Read the last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 3 This act shall take effect immediately. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 5 Call the roll. 6 (The Secretary called the 7 roll.) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 10 The bill is passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 965, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 7215-A, 13 an act changing the name of the Copake-Taconic 14 Hills Central School District. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 16 Read the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 18 This act shall take effect on the 30th day. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 20 Call the roll. 21 (The Secretary called the 22 roll.) 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 25 The bill is passed. 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 966, by Senator Stafford, Senate Print 7422, 3 an act legalizing, validating, ratifying and 4 confirming acts. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 6 There is a local fiscal impact note at the 7 desk. Read the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. 9 This act shall take effect immediately. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 11 Call the roll. 12 (The Secretary called the 13 roll.) 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 16 The bill is passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 981, by Senator Lack, Senate Print 6704-A, an 19 act to amend Chapter 689 of the Laws of 1993. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 21 Read the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. 23 This act shall take effect immediately. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 25 Call the roll. 1 (The Secretary called the 2 roll.) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 5 The bill is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 998, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 3442, an 8 act to amend the Domestic Relations Law, in 9 relation to orders of protection. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 11 Read the last section. 12 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. 13 This act shall take effect on the first day of 14 November. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 16 Call the roll. 17 (The Secretary called the 18 roll.) 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 21 The bill is passed. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 1006, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 24 7067, an act to amend Chapter 889 of the Laws 25 of 1986. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 2 Read the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. 4 This act shall take effect immediately. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 6 Call the roll. 7 (The Secretary called the 8 roll.) 9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 11 The bill is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 1020, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 6445, an 14 act authorizing the assessor of the county of 15 Nassau. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 17 Read the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 19 This act shall take effect immediately. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 21 Call the roll. 22 (The Secretary called the 23 roll.) 24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 49, nays 25 2, Senators Cook and Dollinger recorded in the 1 negative. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 3 The bill is passed. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 1027, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 6784-A, 6 an act in relation to legalizing and 7 validating action of the town of Halfmoon. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 9 There is a home rule message at the desk. 10 Read the last section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 12 This act shall take effect immediately. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 14 Call the roll. 15 (The Secretary called the 16 roll.) 17 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 19 The bill is passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 1029, by Senator Balboni, Senate Print 7151, 22 an act authorizing the assessor of the county 23 of Nassau to accept an application. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 25 Read the last section. 1 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 2 This act shall take effect immediately. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 4 Call the roll. 5 (The Secretary called the 6 roll.) 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 49, nays 8 two, Senators Cook and Dollinger recorded in 9 the negative. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 11 The bill is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 1041, by Senator Seward, Senate Print 3585-A, 14 an act to amend the Energy Law, in relation to 15 transfer of certain functions. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 17 Read the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 17. 19 This act shall take effect October 1st of 20 1998. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call 22 the roll. 23 (The Secretary called the 24 roll.) 25 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 2 bill is passed. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 1097, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 756-A, 5 an act to amend the Transportation Law. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read 7 the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. 9 This act shall take effect immediately. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call 11 the roll. 12 (The Secretary called the 13 roll.) 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 16 bill is passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 1098, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 757, an 19 act to amend the Transportation Law, in 20 relation to increasing penalties. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read 22 the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. 24 This act shall take effect on the first day of 25 November. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call 2 the roll. 3 (The Secretary called the 4 roll.) 5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 7 bill is passed. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1114, by Senator Kuhl, Senate Print 4176, an 10 act to amend the Agriculture and Markets Law. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read 12 the last section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. 14 This act shall take effect immediately. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call 16 the roll. 17 (The Secretary called the 18 roll.) 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50, nays 20 1, Senator Cook recorded in the negative. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIEER: The 22 bill is passed. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 1177, by Senator Fuschillo, Senate Print 7494, 25 an act to amend the Highway Law, in relation 1 to designating a portion of the state highway 2 system as the Norman J. Levy Memorial 3 Highway. 4 SENATOR SKELOS: Lay aside 5 temporarily. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay 7 the bill aside temporarily. 8 Senator Skelos, that completes 9 the reading of the non-controversial 10 calendar. 11 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 12 if we could go to the controversial calendar 13 commencing with Calendar 1177. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Clerk 15 will read the controversial calendar 16 commencing with number 1177. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 1177, by Senator Fuschillo, Senate Print 7494, 19 an act to amend the Highway Law, in relation 20 to designating a portion of the state highway 21 system as the Norman J. Levy Memorial Highway. 22 SENATOR PATERSON: 23 Explanation. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 25 Senator Fuschillo. 1 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Thank you, 2 Mr. President. 3 It's truly an honor for me to 4 rise on the first occasion with my first bill 5 coming to the floor. Mrs. Levy, Joy Levy is 6 over to my right, and it's really an honor for 7 me to put a bill in that will carry on 8 probably one of the greatest legislators ever 9 in the history of the state of New York, my 10 friend, my mentor, my neighbor, the late 11 Senator Norman J. Levy. 12 This bill will, in a ceremony 13 of dedication rename in his memory Meadow 14 brook Parkway which goes right through the 15 neighborhood of Norman Levy, forever, and 16 Norman Levy's name will forever be on the 17 Meadowbrook Parkway. 18 Thank you. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read 20 the last section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. 22 This act shall take effect immediately. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call 24 the roll. 25 (The Secretary called the 1 roll.) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 4 bill is passed. 5 Senator Bruno, that completes 6 the reading of the controversial calendar. 7 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President, 8 can we at this time return to motions and 9 resolutions. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Yes. 11 SENATOR BRUNO: And I believe 12 there is a privileged resolution at the desk. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Yes, 14 there is. 15 SENATOR BRUNO: I would ask 16 that it be read in its entirety and move for 17 its immediate adoption. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 19 Secretary will read the resolution in its 20 entirety. 21 SENATOR BRUNO: By Senator 22 Bruno, and all members of the Senate, 23 Legislative Resolution honoring the life and 24 paying tribute to the memory of Senator Norman 25 J. Levy. 1 WHEREAS, it is the sense of 2 this Legislative Body that the quality and 3 character of life in the great state of New 4 York is indelibly enriched by the faithful and 5 caring efforts of those who devote their life 6 to public service; and 7 WHEREAS, it is with deep regret 8 and profound sorrow that this Legislative Body 9 mourns the death of Senator Norman J. Levy of 10 Merrick, New York who represented the 8th 11 Senatorial District, Nassau County, until his 12 death at age 67 on Saturday, February 7, 1998; 13 This Legislative Body is moved 14 today to extend a grateful tribute in 15 remembrance of a special friend who 16 unselfishly committed his life to public 17 service and the needs of others; 18 Born in Rockville Centre, New 19 York on January 24, 1931, Norman Levy attended 20 elementary school in Lynbrook and Malverne and 21 graduated from the Milford School, Milford, 22 Connecticut. In 1952 he graduated from 23 Bucknell University; 24 From 1954 through 1956, Senator 25 Levy served in the United States Army where he 1 was assigned to the First Army Headquarters as 2 a Chief Legal Clerk, Army Staff Judge 3 Advocate; 4 Prior to entering the Army, he 5 attended the University of Pennsylvania Law 6 School and graduated from Brooklyn Law School 7 in 1958. Later that year he was admitted to 8 the New York State bar; 9 On August 1st, 1958, Senator 10 Levy became the first law intern of the Nassau 11 County district attorney's office and was 12 appointed assistant district attorney of 13 Nassau County on January 12, 1959. In 14 September 1962, he was appointed chief of the 15 Nassau County Rackets Bureau, investigating 16 and prosecuting organized crime, serving in 17 that capacity until December 31, 1970 when he 18 resigned to take office as a New York State 19 Senator; 20 In January 1971, Senator Levy 21 was appointed chairman of the Senate Committee 22 on Villages. In January 1973, he served as 23 chairman of the Senate Committee on Labor 24 where he compiled a distinguished record as an 25 advocate for working men and women, sponsoring 1 laws increasing health and safety standards, 2 increasing unemployment insurance, workers' 3 compensation benefits and disability benefits; 4 In 1982, Senator Levy was 5 appointed chairman of the Senate Committee on 6 Transportation, responsible for legislation 7 dealing with every facet of transportation 8 including but not limited to mass transit, 9 highway, bridge and traffic safety, and 10 financing. The same year he was appointed 11 chairman of the Joint Legislative Commission 12 on Critical Transportation Choices, charged 13 with the research and development of policy 14 issues on long-term transportation problems 15 and solutions; 16 Senator Levy, a nationally 17 recognized legislative leader in the field of 18 transportation, sponsored the first in the 19 nation mandatory seat belt law and many of the 20 state's anti-DWI, school bus and highway 21 safety laws. He was the chief architect and 22 prime mover of New York State's highway and 23 bridge rebuilding programs which continue to 24 repair rebuild and expand the highway and 25 bridge infrastructure; 1 Senator Levy, who recognized 2 the importance of a safe and reliable mass 3 transit system, was appointed chief 4 legislative advocate for the Capital 5 Improvement Programs of the Metropolitan 6 Transportation Authority, which rebuilds the 7 metropolitan region's rail, bus and subway 8 system; 9 In November 1996, Senator Levy 10 was overwhelmingly elected to his 14th 11 consecutive term as a New York State Senator, 12 returning him to the office in which he so 13 ably served his constituents and all people of 14 the state of New York with great dignity, 15 unerring dedication and incisive wisdom; 16 Norman J. Levy is survived by 17 his beloved wife Joy Saslow Levy; 18 Rare indeed is the impressive 19 conviction, dedication and commitment shown by 20 an individual for the benefit of his community 21 and fellow man such as that which New York 22 State Senator Norman J. Levy demonstrated 23 throughout his life and distinguished career; 24 and 25 WHEREAS, this Legislative Body 1 wishes to give official recognition and 2 approbation to an individual who served his 3 community and state for so many years in so 4 many ways; Senator Norman Levy, quick of wit 5 and determined in his beliefs, will be deeply 6 missed for his considerable energy and sage 7 leadership. His memory will continue to shine 8 forth as a beacon for all who aspire to a life 9 of purposeful fulfillment in service to the 10 public; 11 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED 12 that this Legislative Body pause in its 13 deliberations in grateful tribute to the 14 memory of Senator Norman Levy, to celebrate 15 his life and honor his accomplishments and in 16 doing so to dedicate ourselves anew to the 17 cause of the people he served; and 18 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a 19 copy of this resolution, suitably engrossed, 20 be transmitted to his wife, Joy Saslow Levy. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 22 Senator Bruno. 23 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President, 24 colleagues, you've just heard a resolution 25 reviewing the life of a very extraordinary 1 individual -- extraordinary in every way - 2 legislatively, as a colleague, as a friend, as 3 a devoted husband, as a family person. He 4 partnered with his wife Joy through every 5 minute that he lived, and Joy has joined us 6 here in the chamber with her mother, Lil 7 Saslow and her brother, Jerry, his wife Linda, 8 his nephew, Craig and niece Julie, and good 9 friend Lisa Young. We welcome you here. 10 When you reflect on what we 11 heard in a few moments, you can't help but 12 think about the effect one individual in 13 public service can have on the people of New 14 York State, truly throughout the Northeast and 15 the United States, because we all know that as 16 an individual legislator, he was so committed 17 to taking care of people that his reflection 18 shines throughout the state, throughout the 19 Northeast and throughout the United States. 20 We heard a lot of firsts before 21 he became chair of transportation. We heard 22 of the things that he did on behalf of the 23 constituency here in this state. As chair of 24 transportation for 16 years, he really was the 25 model of all of the things that were important 1 in people's lives, and there is nowhere that 2 we can go in our lives that we don't feel his 3 effects and his legacy in what he did for the 4 people of this state. 5 I think one of the indications 6 of how he lived his life was soon after he was 7 operated on in what turned out to be an 8 illness that was to take his life. I talked 9 with him on the phone. 10 "How is it going, Norm?" 11 "I'm doing my best. I'm doing 12 my best, and I'm going to be fine." 13 And you had the impression that 14 he was trying to make you feel good in talking 15 to him. He asked what was going on, and I 16 told him. We had something important 17 happening here in the chamber. He said, "I'm 18 going to try and get in," and I said, "Norm, 19 don't do that unless you're comfortable doing 20 that," and that was the end if it. 21 We were in conference, and our 22 colleagues can remember, when the doors opened 23 and in walked Norm, just breezed in, and I 24 don't know if you -- I'm sure you recall, it 25 was one of the most emotional things I've ever 1 seen because, spontaneously, when we saw Norm 2 come in, everything stopped, everyone got to 3 their feet and applauded him until he got to 4 his chair as chair of the conference. 5 Norm was humble. He didn't 6 want that. That's why he didn't indicate he 7 was coming in. He was embarrassed by the show 8 of affection and emotion, but knowing Norm, 9 you couldn't help but be affectionate, you 10 couldn't help but get emotional because he was 11 so real, so human, so down to earth, so caring 12 for everyone, starting with his beautiful wife 13 Joy, the Senate as an institution, his 14 friends, his colleagues. He just cared, and 15 when you think about our lives in public 16 service, if we can emulate a person like 17 Senator Norm Levy, in wherever anyone goes in 18 this state, they will have a recollection -- a 19 reflection of what Senator Norm Levy has done, 20 what's here, and what we will enjoy through 21 our lives. 22 I was at the Albany Airport, 23 the Albany International Airport, today for 24 their official ribbon cutting and dedication 25 and, as I looked around at that splendid 1 facility, I thought of all the conversations I 2 had had with Norm over the years about that 3 facility. I just left the Stillwater and 4 Mechanicville site where the tornado struck 5 last night, and the devastation there is 6 unbelievable, with 30 to 50 houses totally 7 leveled, businesses out of business, 70 or 80 8 homes where people are moved out of. And you 9 know what? All I could think of were the 10 bridges going in there and out of there, the 11 roads going in there and out of there. And 12 you know what? They were all open with trees 13 and lines. Why? Because they were accessible. 14 The community was accessible. That's the 15 legacy of Senator Norm Levy to all of us. In 16 every community in this state, there are 17 places like Stillwater, Mechanicville, the 18 Albany International Airport, all the roads, 19 all the bridges, the mass transportation, the 20 subway system, that was his heart, that was 21 his soul. Why? Because he knew how important 22 all of these things are to our public safety, 23 to our health, to our general well-being. 24 I know there are a number of 25 people who have things to say, but you feel 1 that you could go on and on and on talking 2 about Senator Norm Levy and the partnership he 3 had with Joy and with his family and with us. 4 But this is truly a celebration 5 of his legacy and of his memory and we want to 6 remember that. We are here together 7 celebrating his contribution, 28 years with 8 this institution here, 16 years chairing one 9 of the most important committees in this 10 Senate, and doing it in a way that makes 11 everyone that was exposed to him and his work 12 proud. 13 So when we think about this 14 state and we think about his devotion, and we 15 think about his commitment, you can't help but 16 feel good that Norm Levy was serving with us 17 in the Senate and this institution and there 18 isn't any greater legacy that any of us can 19 aspire to than to have that kind of commitment 20 that has gone before and has stayed with us 21 when we are no longer here. 22 Thank you, Mr. President. 23 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, 24 Senator Bruno. 25 Senator Fuschillo. 1 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Senator 2 Bruno, fellow legislators, it is indeed an 3 honor for me to rise and talk about a great 4 man. 5 I had the honor and privilege a 6 few months ago of running for his seat. The 7 first door I went to and knocked on, a woman 8 came to the door and she asked me my shoe 9 size. Innocently I looked down and said ten 10 and a half. She said, "That's not what I 11 mean. You have huge shoes to fill," and I 12 proceeded to tell her that nobody could fill 13 Norman Levy's shoes. 14 He was a no-nonsense legislator 15 pulling out all of the stops when he had a 16 vision to improve our quality of life. He 17 knew when his idea of the seat belt law was 18 first introduced it would be a tough battle. 19 He persevered and won, and we have the 20 nation's first seat belt law here in New York 21 State, a law that is now known across the 22 nation. Traveling on the roads, you see the 23 sign, Buckle Up; It Saves Lives. To those 24 signs, we should add another blip, Thank You, 25 Norman Levy, for the countless number of lives 1 you have saved. 2 Norman Levy spoke out for the 3 children by enacting school bus safety 4 legislation and the helmet law. Ten days ago 5 when I came home on a Saturday morning, I 6 found my son had just gotten into an accident 7 with his bicycle. Rushed him to the hospital 8 and he was bleeding. The first question the 9 doctor asked me when we brought him into the 10 emergency room, Was he wearing his helmet and 11 was it cracked, and I said yes and no, and the 12 doctor said to me, "You know Norman Levy?" I 13 said, Sure. He said, Well, I worked with him 14 to draft that law, and it saved thousands and 15 thousands of kids from head injuries. 16 Norman Levy followed in the 17 footsteps of the late Robert Moses as the 18 chief architect and prime mover of New York 19 State's highways and bridges rebuilding 20 programs which continue to make our 21 transportation system safer and more 22 efficient. 23 When I recently had the honor 24 to run, I presented a grant in honor of Norman 25 Levy at a dinner that I went to recently with 1 my colleague, Senator Balboni, and Joy Levy, 2 and I think Senator Balboni said it best when 3 he got up there and presented the grant, that 4 for the past eight years Norman Levy had been 5 up there by himself. Now it takes two 6 legislators to do what he did so well for 28 7 years. 8 At Norman Levy's service at the 9 Merrick Jewish Center a few months ago, it was 10 so appropriately stated by someone who said 11 that in his 27-plus years as an elected 12 official, he never heard an unkind word said 13 about Norman Levy, and we know in this 14 business it's extremely tough and difficult to 15 go through life like that. 16 The Merrick Light, which is a 17 local newspaper in my district, recently ran 18 an editorial that truly demonstrated how large 19 of an icon Norman Levy ever was, and they 20 said, quote, "Never since John F. Kennedy died 21 has there been such a desire to name a park, 22 school and even parkways for a statesman who 23 died in his prime," and I say to Joy Levy, my 24 friend, thank you for allowing us to be in 25 Norman's life, for he has certainly enriched 1 my life forever. 2 Thank you. 3 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. 4 Senator Skelos. 5 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you, 6 Madam President. 7 This has been a very difficult 8 year for those of us from Nassau County, I 9 know, Long Island and the entire Senate 10 because we've lost two wonderful colleagues, 11 two friends, Mike Tully and Norm Levy, and 12 Joe, I'm going to start off by thanking you 13 for giving us the opportunity today to speak 14 about our good friends, Norman and Joy, 15 because they truly were a team and also for 16 the courtesies that you extended to the Levy 17 family during the period of his illness. 18 Over the week end, I had the 19 opportunity to talk to some of my constituents 20 as we all do from time to time, and they said, 21 "What's coming up this week?" I said, "Well, 22 the regular calendar; we're trying to finish 23 by June 18th, and we are going to pass a 24 resolution and discuss Norm Levy." The person 25 said, "Well, gees, didn't Normie pass away 1 several months ago? I know we -- it was in the 2 papers, we read the obituaries, tributes to 3 Norman." I said, Yes, but today is the day 4 that the Senate as an institution has the 5 opportunity to say thank you to Norman, to say 6 goodbye to Norman, to thank Joy for the 7 sacrifices that she's made, but also to 8 celebrate Norman's contribution to this great 9 institution called the state Senate, an 10 institution that all of us sitting in this 11 room, whether it's Republicans or Democrats or 12 whether we debate with each other vigorously, 13 an institution that we all love. 14 Joy, today you saw the calendar 15 went very quickly, non-controversial. It was 16 as if it was all Norman's bills because nobody 17 ever wanted to debate Norman. Norman would 18 come out on the floor with a stack of papers, 19 his pencil always writing -- Sarah, Jimmy 20 Moriarty, staff with him, and when you looked 21 at Norman with that preparation, you would 22 rarely ask a question. 23 I remember one time when I was 24 first elected to the Senate, we were in 25 conference. Norman chaired the Transportation 1 Committee. I asked a question. He gave me a 2 thorough answer, and afterwards he got me 3 aside and says, "Deano" -- he always referred 4 to me as "Deano" -- he said, "You're chairman 5 of the Aging Committee, aren't you?" I said, 6 "Yes." He says, "Do I ever question you 7 about anything in the aging area?" I said, 8 "No." He says, Norman, don't you think I - 9 "Dean, don't you think I would protect Long 10 Island and the rest of the state when it came 11 to transportation needs?" I never asked him 12 another question concerning transportation. 13 Norman also had a wonderful, 14 wonderful staff. They were always prepared, 15 but I think it speaks for the caliber of Norm 16 Levy, by the fact that his staff members were 17 with him not only from during his days in the 18 Senate, but some from the D.A.'s office in 19 Nassau County, and many of them for Norman's 20 entire career, and I think that speaks well of 21 Norman. We all know at times we can be 22 difficult, but Norman's staff were consummate 23 in their work and also loved Norman. 24 As we traveled through the 25 district and talked to people, Norman was 1 devoted to his district. Sometimes our local 2 daily paper would talk about Norman being 3 overly devoted, parochial, when it came to 4 issues of transportation or school aid, but 5 isn't it our job -- isn't it our job as 6 elected officials to represent our districts 7 with all the vigor that we can, and not only 8 was Norman devoted to his district, the people 9 of that Senatorial District were devoted to 10 Norman. They loved Norman. They miss Norman 11 and certainly I know that all of us in the 12 Senate today, and certainly myself who first 13 learned how to campaign was from Norm Levy. 14 1980, when I ran for the 15 Assembly, Norm Levy was the Senator for that 16 district. He walked with me day after day 17 after day and certainly Norman didn't have 18 to. He had his 70 percent locked up, but he 19 took me door to door. When that first door 20 slammed on your face like we've all had when 21 we first run for office and we have no idea 22 what to do because we think everybody loves us 23 and we're crashed, you turn around and you 24 walk away like this and Norman would give you 25 a smack on the back and say, "Keep going. If 1 they're really bad, just mumble something 2 under your breath and it will go away," but he 3 taught you how to campaign. He taught me how 4 to campaign, and he taught me how to be a 5 legislator. 6 So Joy, today is our 7 opportunity as an institution to say to you, 8 thank you for allowing us to share Norman with 9 you for the past 28 years. We love you. We 10 love Norman, and certainly he'll always be 11 remembered. 12 Thank you, Joy. 13 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, 14 Senator Libous. 15 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, 16 Madam President. 17 I too want to rise and make 18 some brief comments about a friend and a 19 colleague who I sat next to for nine years 20 and, you know, you learn a lot from someone 21 when you spend a little bit of time just in a 22 business setting and seeing how they react to 23 things, and I think both Senator Bruno, 24 Senator Skelos and Senator Fuschillo 25 mentioned, you know, a lot of little things 1 that Norman did really told a lot about the 2 character of the man. 3 Senator Skelos mentioned the 4 pencil. Norman would come here, sit at this 5 desk and he would have a pile of papers in 6 front of him, and they would be letters that 7 the staff had put together and he'd be going 8 through it and putting little pencil marks, 9 little arrows, little gizmos here and there. 10 I'd look at him, and say, "Norman, what are 11 you doing?" He'd say, "Well, you know, the 12 staff does such an outstanding job, and," he 13 says, "they're really great, but there's just 14 some little things that they don't understand 15 because I'm there. I know this constituent 16 personally, I know this person, I want to just 17 put a little note here," and he just had that 18 kinds of dedication that dealt with the little 19 things. 20 I can remember another day 21 where I was sitting here, and I had my leg 22 crossed and my shoe was up, and he looked at 23 my shoe, and he said, "Who is your shoe 24 maker?" And I said, "Why do you ask?" He says, 25 "Well," he said, "your shoes always look good 1 on the bottom, and," he said, "I notice you 2 always have nice heels and I know you must 3 have a shoemaker that takes care of you," and 4 I said, "Yes," and I didn't have the heart to 5 tell him I couldn't afford new shoes and I had 6 to always go to the shoemaker, and he said, "I 7 got a little problem maybe you can help me 8 with," and he says, "Joy has a bit of a 9 problem with one of her shoes, and what 10 happens is, it wears down a little quicker, 11 and we can't seem to find anybody back home 12 who can take care of it and, you know, we've 13 got quite a few pair of shoes and I just 14 wondered if maybe your shoemaker would take a 15 look at it." 16 Well, Joy, as you know, for 17 several week ends we would take several boxes 18 of shoes to Binghamton, Norman would bring 19 them in, bring them to the office. The shoes 20 would go to the shoemaker in Binghamton, and 21 my shoemaker would look at me and say, 22 "Senator, what are you doing? You running 23 another business from the Senate," and I would 24 say, "No, we're only helping a friend." 25 The other thing that I will say 1 before I sit down and let my other colleagues 2 speak, is that I remember one day I came in 3 here, it was right after petition time and I 4 remember, thought I was a big shot, kind of 5 beating my chest a little bit. Norman was 6 here, and I said, "Gee, Norman, I filed 6500 7 names on my petition." I thought that was 8 pretty good, you know, 6500 people signed my 9 petition. Norman looked over at me and he 10 said "Gee, Tom," he said, "that's fantastic." 11 He didn't say anything, and I said, Norman, 12 how many did you file? He said, "17,000." I 13 said, "Norman, 17,000. Nobody files 17,000," 14 and he said, "Well, we did," and I then 15 checked around with some of his colleagues, 16 checked with Senator Skelos and several others 17 and they said, Oh, yeah, not only did he file 18 17,000, he probably got 10,000 of them 19 himself. 20 That's the kind of dedication, 21 hard work, that's the kind of person that 22 Norman Levy was, the things that he stood for 23 and, quite frankly, as someone else said, when 24 he believed in something, you had to get out 25 of his way because he was going to make it 1 happen because it was the right thing to do. 2 Norman, we're going to miss you 3 and the only thing that I can say is that you 4 were one of the good guys. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 6 Senator Balboni. 7 SENATOR BALBONI: Thank you, 8 Mr. President. 9 I was not going to speak except 10 I happened to take a look over in the gallery, 11 and I see Senator Levy's staff, generations of 12 them, people who have been serving with Norman 13 for decades, and I think of all the things 14 you're going to speak about the wonderful 15 legacies that Norman left, in terms of great 16 projects, the legislation he passed, and then 17 I think about the other legacy, the legacy 18 that perhaps we don't talk about a lot in this 19 institution but nonetheless is so important, 20 the legacy of people, that all of us have the 21 opportunity to leave. 22 I had a chance to work almost 23 as a staffer on Norman's staff for a brief 24 period of time, and some of the people up 25 there will remember. I was the legislative 1 representative for Nassau County working on a 2 big bill and I went and I sat in Norman Levy's 3 office and, by gum, for three and a half weeks 4 he treated me just like his staff, and I got a 5 chance to see what Norman was like when he was 6 angry; I got a chance to see what he was like 7 when he wanted something; I got a chance to 8 see what he was like come 6:00, 7:00 o'clock 9 and he's still going back doing more work. 10 You know, we are in a very 11 cynical time. People don't believe any more 12 or don't have faith in government, but yet our 13 future is contingent upon the people who will 14 follow in our footsteps and the people up 15 there have all gone on, most of them to very 16 important influential posts, as many of our 17 staffs and your staffs have done or are going 18 to do, and I can't think of a better role 19 model than someone like Norman Levy - 20 intelligent, honest, hard working, dedicated, 21 persistent and decent. 22 These are times we're going to 23 remember a lot of great stories about Norman 24 and all the accomplishments, but I hope that 25 all of us together can take this moment and I 1 guess as the last most recent staffer to join 2 the Senate, I can tell you all you leave your 3 legacy on all of us. We adopt how you think, 4 how you feel, where your families come from, 5 and you mold us. 6 I hope we take this opportunity 7 when someone like Norman passes from our world 8 to want to do a little bit better and keep on 9 influencing those people who are going to take 10 our shoes one day and follow in our footsteps 11 for the future of the state and this nation. 12 Thank you, Mr. President. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 14 Senator Marcellino. 15 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you, 16 Mr. President. 17 Like many others who have known 18 Norman, served with Norman for years, we all 19 loved him because he was genuine and a real 20 person. 21 Some years ago, I was running 22 for an office in Nassau County and, as we do 23 to a railroad stop and one of the stops, one 24 of the station stops was in Norman's district 25 and I said to him, I called him up and I said, 1 "Norman, can you send me some people to help 2 me out at the railroad station because I'm 3 going to be there early in the morning." He 4 said, "Carlo" -- always called me Carlo. 5 Called Dean "Deano" called me Carlo -- he 6 says, "I'll be there." I said, "Norman, don't 7 worry about it, just send me some people to 8 show up about 5:00 o'clock in the morning, 9 shake a few hands." 10 It was October, and it was 11 cold. Got there in the morning, there's 12 Norman. "Norman, where are your people?" 13 "I'm here." No one else, just Norman, he and 14 I and my person who had come with me to help 15 me get out my flyers stood there for about 16 three and a half hours under that railroad 17 station in the cold morning, freezing, while 18 Norman shook every hand of every person coming 19 off that platform, called each and every one 20 of them by their first name, and I mean this 21 with no exaggeration, he knew each and every 22 commuter getting on and coming off that train, 23 called them by their first names. I think he 24 knew half their spouses and their children's 25 first names. They all knew him. I might as 1 well have stayed home that day, for the good 2 -- it was a great campaign stop for Norman. 3 It didn't do a hell of a lot for me. I lost 4 the election, but that wasn't Norman's fault. 5 That was mine. I'll take full credit for that 6 loss. Norman was just phenomenal. 7 It taught me a lesson what 8 campaigning was all about. It taught me 9 something about what someone who represents a 10 district was all about and what constituent 11 services was all about, because that's what - 12 everybody had a story. Everybody knew Norman 13 in relation to something he had done for them 14 or someone they knew or something that he had 15 done within the community that they were proud 16 of and that they were happy with, and every 17 once in a while a couple of them would come up 18 with something they had a problem with but 19 that wasn't a big deal, Norman handled it. 20 Norman talked to them, and every one of them 21 knew he was talking to them. He wasn't just 22 saying words that would go away in five 23 minutes. He was saying the real thing because 24 he meant it. That was a lesson to be 25 learned. 1 When I got to the Senate, one 2 of the first people to say congratulations was 3 Norm Levy. He said, "Now, aren't you glad you 4 lost that election?" He said, "If that 5 happened you'd be some place else. You 6 wouldn't be here." When I was here and there 7 was a problem with station closings, we were 8 trying to close some railroad stations in the 9 Long Island Rail Road and some of the smaller 10 stations, it was Norman who called me in, and 11 he said, "Look, let me show you something, 12 this is what's going to happen in your 13 district." He said, "These are a few stations 14 that you might want to pay attention to 15 because this is going to impact you and your 16 constituents." 17 I wouldn't have known what to 18 say and where to go with that sort of thing. 19 I followed Norman's lead, Norman taught me 20 what to do and how to do it and led me down 21 the right path. It was good. It was the right 22 thing. He showed me which ones to let go and 23 which ones to keep open. It made sense; we 24 did it. The ones that he recommended to stay 25 open were the right ones for the constituents, 1 were the right ones for the district. They're 2 open today, thanks to no small efforts on 3 Norman's part. 4 He was a complete 5 professional. He was a good friend, and Joy 6 should be as -- his pride and joy was Joy, and 7 I'm sure still is Joy, and God bless you, Joy, 8 and God bless Norman. He was a good friend 9 and a blessed man. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 11 Thank you, Senator Marcellino. 12 Senator Farley. 13 SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you, Mr. 14 President. 15 I also rise to pay tribute to 16 Norman Levy. He was truly a New York State 17 original. As a Senator, I knew him when he 18 was chairman of labor and for many years in 19 transportation. Believe me, when he was 20 chairman of labor he was busy. He worked so 21 hard on everything that he did. 22 I think so many of us were at 23 the temple at his funeral service. We learned 24 that he was truly adored in his district, as 25 Dean said. This man was something else. I 1 still recall when we were at a meeting in Long 2 Island, Senate Majority. It was about a year 3 and a half before the next election. Norman 4 was out there going door to door. He never 5 stopped meeting his constituents. 6 Let me say this: Also for a 7 member, if there was any member that needed 8 something or was in trouble or had a 9 transportation problem, Norman was the first 10 one to step up and try to help him. 11 You know, he -- he was such a 12 kind person, but I think one of the most 13 impressive things about Norman was his wife 14 Joy. That has to be one of the greatest love 15 affairs that ever existed. He absolutely 16 adored his wife, his bride, and I'll tell you 17 and, of course, Joy, they mentioned thank you 18 for letting us share him, but I'll tell you, 19 his major focus was you, whether it was your 20 shoes or whatever it was, Joy was the major 21 focus of his life. 22 But what a Senator he was. 23 I'll tell you, we -- you see a lot of people 24 come and go here, but Norman was truly one of 25 a kind and somebody that we'll miss very, very 1 much. 2 God bless him, and God bless 3 you, Joy. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 5 Senator Hannon. 6 SENATOR HANNON: Mr. President, 7 the people of this state as well as everybody 8 in this chamber has been much better off 9 because of the service of Senator Norman 10 Levy. He's been an advocate for education, 11 labor, transportation, safety, safety big and 12 small, whether it's double-decker trains or 13 little bicycles. 14 The way he got to that and the 15 way he got to all the accomplishments that my 16 distinguished colleagues have spoken about was 17 that he was such a diligent and careful 18 legislaor, and a diligent and careful person. 19 He was truly a craftsman when it came to 20 taking a look at legislation and thinking how 21 would it impact the state, the locality, how 22 it would impact other related areas. 23 Michael Balboni said that he 24 served as a member of his staff for about six 25 weeks. Well, I got adopted when I also was 1 representing the county, but I think I got 2 adopted for about two years. At that point 3 Norman Levy decided that since I was from the 4 county government that I must know a little 5 bit about everything municipal and, therefore, 6 he would call me out of the blue and I would 7 have to go and research everything municipal. 8 I learned more about things I 9 didn't want to know about. I learned more 10 about how one applied that to the matter at 11 hand. I learned more about balancing, and it 12 wasn't balancing by just saying we're going to 13 strike something in the middle. It was 14 balancing in relation to the difficulty of the 15 issue and what was needed to resolve that 16 issue, and what had gone before and trying to 17 relate as many different needs as possible. 18 It was truly learning what happens when you 19 drop a pebble in the water and all those 20 ripples spread out. That's the piece of 21 legislation. That's what I learned about, and 22 he would do it not only for the state, not 23 only as a member of the capital board for all 24 of the capital projects, he would do it for 25 his own district. 1 What I learned about talking 2 from school superintendents in his district or 3 talking from community activists in his 4 district is how much he listened to people and 5 how much he cared for people, but he would 6 also do it for anybody else in the chamber who 7 had a particular problem that needed to be 8 addressed and sometimes he'd know about it 9 before you'd know about it, a closing of a 10 Motor Vehicle office, a problem with the way a 11 freight train was going to be running through 12 the district, and once again he brought wise 13 and judicious decision-making to that, a very, 14 very difficult thing but something he did in 15 such a way that held up such a high standard 16 for all of us, and his legacy is not the many 17 hundreds or maybe thousands of pieces of 18 legislation that he has enacted into law, but 19 a process of how we go about our decision 20 making, how we go about our legislating, 21 something that I am forever grateful that I 22 had a chance to be part of, for his concern. 23 People have mentioned how he 24 did his election. Well, he did that in such a 25 way that it advanced the governmental causes 1 that were before him, that were before the 2 Senate. It was a way of process, of touching 3 people and finding out their concerns. It 4 wasn't electioneering. It really wasn't 5 partisanship. 6 I must close by saying he did 7 all this in partnership with Joy, not 8 partnership in the way we talk about our 9 spouses in general, but partnership of her 10 going with him to the various activities in 11 the district or up here, her making keen and 12 insightful observations, her being a true 13 friend to all of us when we needed a little 14 pat on the back. That's a real partnership. 15 That's something we admire also and a great 16 lesson to all of us, for which we are 17 grateful. 18 I'm better off, and I think 19 everybody else in the state is better off for 20 having had a chance to serve with Senator 21 Norman Levy. 22 Thank you, Mr. President. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 24 Thank you, Senator Hannon. 25 Senator LaValle. 1 SENATOR LAVALLE: Thank you, 2 Mr. President. 3 Norman Levy was a colleague 4 that I think all the of us really want to 5 emulate. He was, of course, a person that was 6 loyal to his friends, loyal to this 7 institution. He loved the Senate. It 8 provided him with a vehicle to accomplish the 9 many things he wanted to do in life. He was a 10 person in perpetual motion. 11 Senator Balboni talked about 12 staff. I had the pleasure of knowing Norman 13 Levy as a staff member, and I can tell you 14 that if you are a staff member of the Senate 15 you were automatically a member of Norman 16 Levy's staff. I remember, as director of the 17 Education Committee spending a lot of time 18 with Norman talking about state aid, talking 19 about individual bills and, when Norman was 20 focused on something, it -- I mean he was just 21 tenacious, and he just moved, as has been 22 said, in a very methodical way until the job 23 was done. 24 We talked about his expertise 25 in the things he's done for transportation but 1 I -- I can say that he has left an enormous 2 mark in education, not only for Long Island 3 but throughout the state. We just can't 4 mention enough times about safety issues, 5 whether it be school bus safety or other 6 issues. Norman interacted with the P-TA for 7 many years and would take their top concerns 8 in terms of education and safety, bring them 9 back, have them drafted properly and move them 10 through the legislative process. 11 No one was mentioned yet 12 Norman's record in the environment. Norman 13 had one of the best voting records year after 14 year on the environment, and so he was just a 15 very, very complete individual and, of course, 16 we've said over and over again a caring and 17 loving person. 18 My daughter Lisa ended up 19 working in the -- in Norm Levy's law firm and 20 Norm said, "Gee, Ken, you didn't tell me that 21 Lisa was working in the law firm," and from 22 that point on when he knew, he and Joy adopted 23 Lisa. They tried on many occasions to play 24 cupid, to move her in the right direction, but 25 it was, like everything that they've done, 1 with people it's done in a caring way and a 2 very, very loving way. 3 Norman was a star when he was 4 here. Sometimes we don't want to recognize as 5 contemporaries that some may be stars here as 6 legislators. Norman is, as we look to the 7 heavens, one of those shining stars and he 8 will be there perpetually smiling down and 9 looking at the accomplishments that have been 10 done and, thankfully, Joy and other people are 11 ensuring that proper recognition will be given 12 to the many, many projects that Norman 13 shepherded through and accomplished in his 14 time here, albeit too brief. We will miss him 15 very, very dearly. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 17 Senator Volker. 18 SENATOR VOLKER: Mr. President, 19 there's a lot has been said about Norman and 20 it is really very, very difficult. One of the 21 things, when Senator Balboni spoke of his 22 staff, I have always contended that staff tend 23 to reflect their boss and, in fact, I must 24 honestly tell you that one of the ways in 25 which Senator -- Norman and I became very 1 close friends was in his manner of attacking 2 issues and attacking various problems. 3 I was former chairman of 4 energy, as some of you may know as I say in a 5 former life, and Norman, when energy was a 6 really heavy issue and, of course, obviously 7 on Long Island it was a difficult one for a 8 lot of us because I was from upstate, Norman 9 was from Long Island, and Norman would call me 10 on many occasions to say, you know, shouldn't 11 we be doing this, shouldn't we be doing that. 12 He would always say, "but I understand, Dale, 13 that you have to look at your end of the state 14 also and you have to do the things that are 15 the right things for you." 16 The typical example of that, by 17 the way, is another example, one -- I think it 18 was late November, out of the clear blue when 19 I got a call from Norman. "Dale, this is 20 Norman. I just wanted to tell you something. 21 You got a problem." 22 "What do you mean, I have a 23 problem?" 24 "You have a transportation 25 problem." I said, "I do?" He said, "Well, 1 there's a bill that's being put in that 2 affects the whole state, and," he said, "it's 3 very good for Long Island and it's pretty good 4 for New York City, but," he said, "you guys 5 could have a problem up there. I'm workin' on 6 it, but I wanted you to know before you ever 7 come down here," because we were coming down 8 some time later in December as we were wont to 9 do sometimes, "I want you to be aware before 10 you ever hear about it because there could be 11 a problem." He explained it to me, went 12 through the whole thing. Bottom line of that 13 story is, I mean he never had to do that 14 obviously. I wouldn't have probably known 15 about it. 16 The interesting thing is the 17 time we reached -- by the time we reached 18 Albany several weeks later, that problem was 19 resolved, and Norman was the one who resolved 20 it, which is typical, it seems to me, of the 21 way he operated, that he was an institution 22 alist. As has been said here, there's no 23 question he was an institutionalist. He loved 24 being here. He loved his constituents which I 25 think is the heart of what we're all about 1 here in a way, and I was telling some of the 2 young staff people here who asked me about 3 resolutions, I said, "Well, you know, as 4 somebody whose father was in the Assembly and 5 who was memorialized here also, I think you 6 have to realize that the process that we go 7 through here, you call it part of the grieving 8 process if you would, but it's also part of a 9 process that is very important to us as an 10 institution," but it is also very important to 11 the family to truly understand. 12 Sometimes I think families 13 don't truly understand how important an 14 individual is to us up here because the family 15 back, obviously, on Long Island, to Joy and 16 the immediate family, no one has to tell 17 anybody about that. We know that and Norman 18 was and will always be, as has been said here, 19 a real part of this institution, and I will 20 predict to you that, when most of us are gone, 21 in years to come, people will still talk in 22 transportation, as Senator Bruno said, they 23 will talk in transportation terms about things 24 that Norman did and things he was involved 25 with, and they will talk in awe, but they will 1 also talk in awe of a gentleman and a person 2 who not only loved his family, not only loved 3 his constituents but I think loved this 4 country and loved this state and was prepared 5 in the end, when you really think about it, to 6 give everything he had right up until his last 7 breath. 8 I will remember him with favor 9 probably as much as anyone in this chamber, 10 but I say this to you. He will not be 11 forgotten and, Joy, we will not forget you and 12 we will not forget those people who served 13 with Norman as his staff who are really now 14 totally part of this institution. 15 So God bless Norman, and God 16 bless you, Joy. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 18 Senator Stafford. 19 SENATOR STAFFORD: Thank you, 20 Mr. President. 21 Joy, we don't mention Norman 22 without mentioning Joy, as has been mentioned 23 here, a union, the best, you can say about the 24 union. 25 I can add a little more after 1 you stand up and you hear what people have 2 said things so well. I'll make a couple - 3 two or three points here though. 4 I would always say it's not 5 pencil, it's pencils, a very large handful of 6 pencils. I always remember that as far as his 7 staff goes, I shared offices with Norman up on 8 the fifth floor, and again it's been mentioned 9 but they worked and if they didn't feel like 10 working, they worked, and if they felt maybe 11 they weren't going to work, they worked, and 12 if they had any questions, they worked. My 13 point is that it wasn't eight to five. It was 14 much longer, with dedication, I might add, 15 that you see very, very seldom. 16 I would just mention a few 17 words here, a couple have been mentioned al 18 ready, but words that Norman invented, and I 19 say this very constructively, but "tenacious", 20 he invented that word. "Persistent", believe 21 you me, he invented that word, and I think 22 that if there was a word that started with 23 Norman it was "relentless" when you were with 24 him and he was a protagonist for any issue, 25 and no one -- and I say this constructively 1 and as a compliment -- no one could wear the 2 opposition down like Norman. If you had to 3 talk with him and had to discuss an issue with 4 you -- with him, you were done before you 5 started because he would discuss it with you, 6 but the point I will make which is an example 7 to all of us, he was always civil -- civility 8 and a gentleman. 9 There were times when he would 10 say "Ronzo" -- that's what he called me, and 11 when he said that, you knew that he was being 12 fairly serious about what he was talking 13 about, but two other points and this has been 14 said over and over again, and it will be said, 15 so committed and, finally, who could enjoy a 16 laugh more than Norman Levy? He laughed from 17 his toes. 18 He set an example for all of 19 us, Joy. Let's hope we can at least follow 20 some of what Norman had started. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 22 Senator Connor. 23 SENATOR CONNOR: Thank you, Mr. 24 President. 25 You know, my earliest 1 association with Norman when I was a 2 relatively new member here, I used to like to 3 debate a lot, talk a lot on the floor, you 4 know. Tend to be much more reticent now, 5 cautious, you know. In those days on the 6 other side of the aisle one of the members 7 would always come to the fore in the debates 8 we used to have was Norman Levy and he was 9 then the chair of the Labor Committee, and I 10 always managed to have a lot to say about 11 anything having to do with the Labor Committee 12 or any of the bills that came out of there, 13 and probably after I was here about three 14 years, maybe in 1980, there was a process. 15 There was an appointee of the then governor 16 who was, for whatever reasons, became the 17 object of great partisan differences about 18 confirmation, and I remember a process then 19 which Norman as chair of the committee led 20 which I, frankly, have not seen since in this 21 Senate in terms of its thoroughness, the 22 length of time it was taking to examine a 23 particular nominee. Numbers, great numbers of 24 witnesses were called both before the 25 committee and before its chair and, as you 1 know, I think it's the Civil Rights Law, in 2 order to swear the witnesses in and to take 3 their testimony, another Senator in addition 4 to the chair had to be present and in the then 5 particularly observed courtesies of the house, 6 a Democrat would always have to be present 7 with Norman, and I kept getting the call and 8 so I ended up spending a lot of time with 9 Norman. 10 It was an interesting process. 11 It was somewhat -- you know, a young member 12 and you know, as a young member I could 13 pretend I really didn't know all that much 14 about what was going on. Norman took me in his 15 office one day, and he said -- he called me 16 "Kiddo" then -- "Kiddo, you know I got my 17 orders," and I said, "I understand, I got 18 mine," and we gave all those witnesses a fair 19 opportunity to be heard. The nominee, 20 although he was foredoomed, I suppose, in his 21 aspirations, did get a fair hearing and I got 22 to know Norman pretty well, and ever after I 23 enjoyed him, enjoyed debating with him when 24 the novelty of debating virtually every other 25 bill that came up wore off for me, for him as 1 well as me, we were always friendly and 2 cordial. 3 I also respected the fact that 4 he cared very, very much, very, very much 5 about his causes, his projects, that he was an 6 unflagging champion for his ideas. Later, 7 when he -- later when he became chair of 8 transportation, something I've never told this 9 body, but my late aunt in New Jersey was a key 10 staff member in the Transportation Committee 11 there in New Jersey. She was a Republican, 12 but those staffs were non-partisan, and so she 13 always had an insight about Senator Levy and 14 his staff that I used to get, I suppose you'd 15 call it through the back door from Trenton, 16 but she certainly sang the praises of Senator 17 Levy when he was but a new chair of 18 transportation. 19 We're going to miss Norm Levy. 20 I think we're all better off for having known 21 him. Joy, thank you for sharing him with us, 22 and the fact that he was so dedicated to the 23 Senate never, never for a moment did any of us 24 doubt what his absolute first love -- who his 25 first love was and what his priority was, and 1 we shall miss him, but as time goes on, we 2 shall -- those of us who served with him will 3 reflect back and realize how wonderful it was 4 to have served with him. 5 Thank you, Mr. President. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 7 Senator Stachowski. 8 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Mr. 9 President, I too rise to say a few things 10 about Norman Levy. 11 I met Norman when I first got 12 here. He was still ranker of labor, so I 13 didn't realize how old he was until you said 14 how long Norman was chairman of 15 transportation. So right away he made a new 16 member feel comfortable when -- and I always 17 will remember that. I also noticed with great 18 interest how, when it was his project, how 19 hard he fought and how, no matter how 20 impossible the obstacle would look, he would 21 find a way to get around it or through it, and 22 my favorite was -- incidentally, I was kind of 23 surprised that you only named a smaller road 24 after him. I thought you'd name the Long 25 Island Expressway after him, because if you 1 recall, for those of us who were here, is when 2 one of the slowest things in a road project is 3 you have to do an EIS study first, and then 4 when that's finished you do the engineering 5 and then you build the road. Well, that was a 6 little too slow for Norman, at least in the 7 expansion of the Long Island Expressway, so he 8 passed a bill which I'll always remember that 9 you did the EIS and the engineering study at 10 the same time, and that was never heard of 11 before, and it passed and we did it and people 12 always remarked about that; but that's what I 13 always remember about Norman that if there was 14 a really major obstacle he found a way to get 15 around it for his roads in Long Island. 16 And I just think he was such an 17 intense man. He was a pleasure to work with 18 that if you wanted to see him smile, all you 19 had to do was mention his wife, Joy, as others 20 have mentioned earlier, and to see them 21 together was a joy, and I got to see that at a 22 few dinners at different conferences, and it 23 was a pleasure to spend time with them, and we 24 thank you very much for letting us share a 25 part of Norman's life. 1 Thank you. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 3 Thank you, Senator. 4 Senator Saland. 5 SENATOR SALAND: Thank you, Mr. 6 President. 7 My colleagues, Joy, I rise out 8 of a sense of respect and admiration for a man 9 who was my colleague, a friend, a man who is 10 perhaps one of the finest, most decent 11 gentleman/human beings that I have ever had 12 the good fortunate to know. 13 In a time and place when we 14 find that those of us in public life seem to 15 far too often have our life styles subjected 16 to questions and perhaps dubious allegations, 17 some of them dubious, Norman, in his life 18 style, his personal life style, his unending 19 devotion, love and affection for his wife Joy, 20 set a standard that would truly be admired by 21 anybody from any walk of life. It transcends 22 this chamber. It transcends any endeavor. My 23 wife Linda, who along with myself, had more 24 than one occasion to share time with Norman 25 and Joy, came away each and every time making 1 me feel that I was less than an adequate 2 spouse simply because of being in Norman and 3 Joy's presence. So sometimes it was painful. 4 Norman was a marvelous man. 5 There are many of us in one way or another who 6 either may have the opportunity or perhaps 7 have had the opportunity to affect the quality 8 of life of those whom we serve. Norman was a 9 bit more than that. There are very few people 10 who dominate an area like Norman Levy 11 dominated the area of transportation. 12 I can recall when I first came 13 to this chamber after having served some ten 14 years in the Assembly, one of the first 15 constituent problems I ran into dealt with the 16 so-called Berkshire Spur, that northern 17 extension of the Thruway, and out of sheer 18 desperation when I was getting nowhere, I 19 contacted Norman and said, "Norman, I need 20 some help. Could you please help me with 21 this?" I explained to him what the problem 22 was. Norman said, "Sure." 23 We had a meeting. Norman held 24 court right outside here in the chamber and 25 dutifully all of the Thruway people showed 1 up. We formed a little enclave around 2 Norman. Norman spoke for a little while, gave 3 them their marching orders which they 4 dutifully accepted and the problems which I 5 could not resolve as a Senator who represented 6 the affected district, miraculously in the 7 space of that very brief conference suddenly 8 were all remedied. I soon learned, thanks to 9 Norman giving me license, that whether it was 10 the Thruway Authority or DOT, if I merely 11 mentioned that I was going to bring in Norman, 12 that somehow or other my problems went to the 13 head of the list and were very, very quickly 14 resolved. 15 Norman was just truly an 16 extraordinary talent. He didn't attain all 17 the admiration that you see here today by way 18 of being bombastic. He didn't do it in some 19 self-absorbed egocentric way. He did it in a 20 fashion which we would all do well to 21 emulate. He was at all times a gentleman. He 22 at all times respected every member of this 23 house. He at all times really respected this 24 institution, and I would say above all, what 25 he respected and admired most was the love of 1 his life, his wife Joy. 2 Joy, may you be for blessing 3 always and may your husband Norman always 4 enjoy the blessings of the Lord. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 6 Senator Maltese. 7 SENATOR MALTESE: Mr. 8 President, I rise with my colleagues and 9 acknowledge the words of Senator Skelos when 10 he said we appreciate this opportunity in an 11 organizational way, in an institutional way, 12 the opportunity to say good-bye to a 13 colleague, to a very close friend. 14 I personally have known Norman 15 for more than 25 years and now a member of the 16 Senate, I find it difficult to picture the 17 Senate without Norman Levy. I echo the words 18 of my colleagues over and over again who have 19 indicated that they never heard an ill word 20 spoken by Norman of others or of Norman by 21 others. He was unique in that regard, I 22 believe. Many of us at times lose tempers but 23 to my recollection not Norman. 24 Norman was always helpful and I 25 felt dutybound to rise and join my colleagues 1 in their accolades for Norman, saying the 2 words that would become as he has a part of 3 the state, a part of the state archives so 4 that perhaps in generations and years and 5 years from now people would look back and say 6 that he was a man truly admired. He was a man 7 truly loved. 8 I also want to echo my 9 colleagues in saying that not very many of us 10 can point with truth to the fact that we were 11 able -- or instrumental in saving the lives of 12 thousands and tens of thousands of fellow 13 citizens not only here in New York State but 14 across the nation and Norman in all due 15 humility could very easily truthfully do that 16 and take full credit for the saving of those 17 lives and like all of you, I want to join in 18 what a pleasure it was to see Norman and Joy 19 together. What a pleasure to be alongside 20 them or be with them or in their company and 21 admire their closeness and it radiated so that 22 it affected those around them. 23 So I thank Norman for being 24 here and thank Norman for being a part of the 25 Senate, enhancing the Senate because of his 1 presence. I thank Joy for giving us the 2 pleasure and privilege of knowing Norman, and 3 may God bless you both. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 5 Senator Marchi. 6 SENATOR MARCHI: Mr. President 7 and Joy, a very splendid mosaic certainly is 8 being created by the different people who have 9 spoken on Norm Levy, and they all add up to a 10 picture that is magnificent. Would it 11 describe him completely? I guess that's 12 beyond our human capacity, but it does measure 13 the enormous affection and respect which he 14 enjoyed in this chamber on both sides of the 15 aisle, the fact that nobody had a -- there was 16 no one who had something wrong to say about 17 Norman but it was also -- the reverse was also 18 true. I never heard him denigrate or 19 depreciate anyone and if he expressed alarm 20 sometimes, he would say, well, I -- I said, 21 gee, that was great. I said it was a 22 monumental achievement and he would sometimes 23 say very wistfully, and I knew he meant it 24 that time, I wish we could have done more and 25 I know he meant it. 1 I go back a ways when the 2 system in transportation, the very subject was 3 very much balkanized. You had your highways 4 committee. You had railroads and there were 5 any number of committees that treated the 6 different aspects, both state and local, of 7 the movement of people on secure, safe and 8 congenial and acceptable style, the movement 9 of people and he was one of the early pioneers 10 that developed transportation as a cosmos, as 11 a force that had to address all of the 12 disparate elements but also had to form a 13 logical hole, to have a logical basis upon 14 which we had selected or discarded or 15 emphasized or de-emphasized the way we were 16 developing our education -- our 17 transportation. 18 There weren't very many. He 19 had a few predecessors and they were excellent 20 but there was -- he was certainly at this 21 early stage in life one of the great 22 institutional figures in this country in 23 developing a rational and complete vision of 24 what should be the objective of sound planning 25 in terms of transportational needs. 1 I know Senator Skelos said very 2 wistfully that this is a celebrity occasion to 3 be here and the testimony that you've heard 4 here today is so heartfelt by everyone here 5 that it must reach you in terrific ways. You 6 who have contributed so much to ennoble and 7 enrich this mosaic and this is a celebratory 8 circumstance in this -- in our mortal sense 9 and I think it also transcends a mortality in 10 terms, I believe -- well, it was Senator 11 Volker that mentioned it -- these are not 12 empty rituals. These are rituals which should 13 give us pride and inspiration and never the 14 sense of despair if occasionally we run into 15 disparagement because he certainly was very 16 composed. He was certainly at peace which is 17 not the absence of war but the tranquility of 18 order, that tranquility of order which comes 19 from ordering one's life in a great way 20 without pain, without suffering, when it's 21 merged into the purpose that they are talking 22 about. 23 I am a firm believer in the 24 hereafter and I'm sure that he's looking down 25 on us with great pride and satisfaction and if 1 all of us individually and otherwise reflect 2 even one half the compassion, the 3 intelligence, the goodness, the humanity that 4 he manifested in his lifetime, we all will be 5 up there celebrating, engaged in a celebration 6 that will have no end. 7 So I wish more of us could 8 reach the public because they would -- it 9 would add dimension, and we do it through the 10 instrumentality of one man who certainly 11 exemplified the best in all of us, but it does 12 say a great deal about the institution that 13 we're serving in and we walk out of here 14 prouder that we belong to it. 15 So God bless Joy, and our 16 prayers are with you and some day we'll have 17 an eternal celebration for which there is no 18 good-bye. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 20 Thank you, Senator Marchi. 21 Senator Gold. 22 SENATOR GOLD: Thank you, Mr. 23 President. 24 Mr. President, I would like to 25 just start by making reference to the last 1 comment by my distinguished colleague from 2 Staten Island. 3 At cocktail parties it's always 4 the "in" thing to make your politician jokes, 5 your lawyer jokes, your doctor jokes and the 6 press doesn't always help but, as we all know, 7 when you get into the districts, you find out 8 that on an individual basis the joking stops 9 and every one of us was impressed on the day 10 of Norman's funeral at the outpouring from his 11 community and believe me when you're in that 12 community, if they make political jokes, it 13 certainly was one category which had nothing 14 to do with their Senator, Norman Levy, and I 15 agree with you, Senator Marchi, he did set a 16 wonderful example for all of us and we all owe 17 him that. 18 When people come into this 19 chamber, the impression you could get from one 20 side of the aisle is that the Republicans own 21 everything, but I'll tell you, Joy, they 22 didn't own Norman Levy because we all had 23 him. It was wonderful the way he smiled at 24 everyone and gave everyone a warm sense about 25 themselves just by knowing him. 1 He was bright. He was a great 2 legislator, and I guess from the point of view 3 of the general public that's important but 4 from my very selfish point of view, I'm glad I 5 knew more than just the Senator who had a 6 great legislative record. 7 I knew a man who had a great 8 soul and a great sense of humor and a great 9 heart and when I think of Norman, I smile and 10 I don't know how anybody today in a time of a 11 little bit of tragedy because we lost him, 12 everybody is smiling because you cannot think 13 of Norman Levy without smiling. 14 I heard almost everybody stand 15 up and say, well, Norman called me this and 16 called me that. Of course, I have been called 17 a lot of things, most of which can't go in 18 this record but, you know, when somebody says 19 Emanuel, I know they don't know me. If they 20 call me Manny, it's usually a friend. Norman 21 from the first time I saw him called me Mendel 22 and I said, How does he know my Yiddish name, 23 but he had a way of finding something to call 24 you that made it a little warmer and a little 25 more personal than just using your name in the 1 way others would do it. 2 I indicated that we all had a 3 relationship with Norman and in this place we 4 all have our egos and we all have our ways of 5 doing things. Norman Levy would come to this 6 floor with a legislative idea and if you laid 7 his bill aside instead of grabbing for all of 8 the files and figuring how he was going to 9 fight you and how he was going to debate you, 10 Norman would reach out for you and say, "What 11 is it? Do you want me to lay it aside? You 12 got an amendment? You got a suggestion", and 13 I think that that is one of the major keys to 14 his success as a legislator. He didn't have a 15 huge ego that got in the way of working 16 through an idea. 17 Senator Stachowski mentioned 18 how there was a problem that everybody's had 19 all over the state and Norman was able to work 20 through it. I saw with my own eyes and I felt 21 with my own heart that's the way Norman was 22 successful. He was goal-oriented. If there 23 was something you had to do, he was going to 24 find a way to do it and if somebody had an 25 objection, he didn't need a Conference 1 Committee with the other side. He would talk 2 and one thing that he knew when he spoke is 3 that he had only one mouth but two ears. So 4 he would listen also in terms of his talking. 5 One of the little things which 6 showed the man in my mind, this man as he's 7 been described by his colleagues is a giant, 8 yet there was a time when, Joy, you became ill 9 and I and others would say to Norman, How's 10 Joy, and he would say, Oh, fine. Thanks for 11 asking, and the way he said thanks for asking 12 was like, Why would you bother with me and my 13 problems and my family? I'm only Norman Levy, 14 and it was the most incredible response. The 15 gratitude was real and the fact that Norman 16 didn't put himself on a pedestal, he let us 17 put him on a pedestal, was so absolutely 18 incredible. 19 I, like so many here, not only 20 liked him but loved him, respected very much 21 the relationship that he had with you, Joy, 22 and I will miss the Senator more -- I'll miss 23 the man, and I would be remiss if I didn't say 24 that in the small way that I know you, you 25 were all that Norman thought you were and 1 that's wonderful. 2 And I want to close by saying 3 that while we're saying things about Norman 4 today and getting this all out of ourselves, 5 you owe Norman also something, Joy. You owe 6 him your continued courage to continue and to 7 be as well as you can be and it is my prayer 8 that that is his -- a major part of his 9 legacy, that you just keep your courage up and 10 let your health gain and so that we have you 11 as well as Norman's wonderful memory. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 13 Senator Dollinger. 14 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Thank you, 15 Mr. President. 16 Unlike many of my colleagues 17 from Nassau County, I did not know Norman Levy 18 for a long period of time, but I just want to 19 share a couple of impressions of him. 20 First of all, when I met him, I 21 knew I would like him immediately because I 22 went to a Transportation Committee hearing and 23 coming from Rochester in Monroe County, the 24 words "MTA" carry a tremendous significance. 25 You think of these tigers from New York City 1 that are going to come in and they're going to 2 tell everybody what to do and there were three 3 gentlemen from the MTA seated across from 4 Norman Levy, and I never watched three guys 5 absolutely together, they reached to their 6 collar and pulled their collar out a little 7 bit. They tussled their hair back and all 8 three of them started to sweat at exactly the 9 same time and the reason was because they knew 10 Norman Levy was about to put them through 11 their paces and he proceeded to use that 12 prosecutorial zeal honed in the Nassau 13 district attorney's office to force them to 14 justify every single statement they made, and 15 I was enormously impressed because Norman Levy 16 brought a combination of being a lawyer and a 17 legislator to a pinnacle in this chamber. He 18 used all the skills that he had as a lawyer to 19 promote getting the truth that was needed to 20 form legislation and make choices. 21 What that means to me is that 22 he was as much a lawyer who relied on the 23 evidence as he was a politician who relied on 24 ideology when making decisions. Certainly the 25 seat belt legislation was an example of that 1 where he had to balance growing evidence that 2 seat belts would save lives with an ideology 3 that said, well, gee, in your own car you 4 ought to be able to do whatever you want to 5 do, but he looked at the evidence and realized 6 that it was overwhelming that the use of seat 7 belts would save lives. 8 He did the same thing with 9 school bus safety, something that he stood on 10 the floor of this chamber and championed a 11 number of times because he was concerned about 12 children riding in buses. It also struck me 13 that I was surprised when I saw the letter 14 from Joy Levy after Norman's death in which 15 she continued his advocacy in this chamber for 16 detection of early hearing problems among 17 youngsters. 18 It was a demonstration that 19 Norm Levy was not only concerned as a lawyer 20 about making sure that the truth -- but he was 21 concerned as a lawyer for those who do not 22 have a voice normally in our society, whether 23 it's children riding school buses or children 24 who need the detection of early hearing 25 problems. 1 It seems to me that the ideal 2 of a lawyer and a legislator is something that 3 we're losing now. There was a time in this 4 chamber that 50 to 60 percent of the people in 5 the chamber were lawyers. That's no longer 6 the case. It's probably a good thing that 7 there's a great diversity of people sitting in 8 this chamber and that it's no longer just 9 those who work with our laws in our courts 10 that are now making our laws in the sanctum of 11 this chamber. 12 As I said, that's probably a 13 good thing, but if there is an epitome of a 14 lawyer/ legislator, it was Norman Levy. He 15 used the skills as a lawyer to promote the 16 truth and he used his sense of a lawyer as 17 someone who has to protect those who don't 18 have a voice to protect themselves. He 19 embodied those rich traditions. 20 And for me at least, I'm not 21 sure that Norman has gone. I think he's 22 somewhere on the Long Island Expressway. It's 23 a clear day. The road is clear ahead. The 24 bridges are safe. The roads are secure. I'll 25 just wish you, Norm, enjoy the drive. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 2 Senator Johnson. 3 SENATOR JOHNSON: Thank you, 4 Mr. President. 5 It was more than a quarter of a 6 century ago when I was first designated to run 7 for the position of Senator in the 4th 8 District. At that time a great part of my 9 district was in Nassau County and when I was 10 designated and when many activities took place 11 in the Nassau County organization, I was there 12 when I met Norman Levy and I met Joy, his 13 beautiful wife, and my wife Christel was with 14 me, and I think we became instant friends and 15 even more so when Norman told me that his 16 cousins lived in Babylon and I went to school 17 with his cousins and I worked for his aunt in 18 her store for a few years when I was going to 19 high school. 20 So we were friends from the 21 beginning, and I tell you, Norman was always a 22 thoughtful, considerate, helpful person. His 23 staff was great and they helped my staff out 24 many times with questions and problems not 25 only in transportation, but I think Sara was 1 our unofficial school aid representative and 2 she told us what was going on when we went to 3 meetings with Norman, we were all very well 4 prepared. We enjoyed his company very much 5 and always did and always enjoyed serving with 6 him. 7 In recent years Norman has run 8 in parts of the town of Babylon because two 9 censuses and two redistrictings later, Norman 10 and Nassau County people ended up in Suffolk 11 County as opposed to when I first ran it was 12 just the opposite equation and Norman ran in a 13 good part of the town of Babylon. He made a 14 lot of friends there and a group of his 15 friends from Babylon sent a letter to me 16 asking me to read it today. For the 17 edification of all of his colleagues, I would 18 like to do so at this time. 19 This is from the Fire Chiefs 20 Association of the town of Babylon. "Dear 21 Senator Johnson: On behalf of the members of 22 the Fire Chiefs Association of the town of 23 Babylon, a vote was taken at the Association's 24 February meeting bestowing posthumously on 25 state Senator Norman Levy the title of 1 honorary member of the Association. This 2 honor was bestowed upon Senator Norman Levy 3 for his dedicated and tireless efforts on 4 behalf of the members of this organization of 5 all firefighters on Long Island. 6 "It is requested that this 7 letter be read on the floor of the Senate so 8 that all of Senator Levy's associates may be 9 made aware of our feelings. 10 "If you have any questions, 11 please feel free to contact me. Very truly 12 yours, Anthony Miles, President." 13 I think that's a very nice 14 testimonial from a group of people in his 15 district who really appreciated him and what 16 he did and what he stood for. 17 So I think we all know and love 18 Norman and we all miss him very much, but it's 19 nice to know that he did make his mark not 20 only in Nassau in his immediate district but 21 in Suffolk County where he was adopted and 22 soon became one of our own. 23 Thank you. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 25 Senator Leichter. 1 SENATOR LEICHTER: Thank you, 2 Mr. President. 3 Norman Levy was not only a very 4 fine legislator but more important and harder 5 to achieve he was an exceptionally fine 6 person. 7 The word that comes to mind 8 when I think of Norman is he was a true 9 gentleman in the best sense of the word. He 10 was a person who was extremely courteous, 11 helpful, friendly. My associations with him 12 were mainly here on the floor in the work of 13 the Senate. I didn't really have an 14 opportunity to know him that well personally, 15 although like everyone who was part of this 16 Senate family, I knew of Norman's very special 17 relationship with Joy, but Norman early on 18 realized when he took over the Transportation 19 Committee that I was interested in the MTA and 20 had some concerns and problems with the MTA 21 and he did the very really unique and 22 exceptional step of inviting me to meetings of 23 the Transportation Committee, of which I was 24 not a member. Whenever there was a 25 confirmation of a member of the MTA, he said, 1 "Franz, I know you're interested. I want you 2 to come. I want you to participate. Feel 3 free to ask questions. I want to hear your 4 opinion about this nominee." Really a very 5 striking, a very amazing act, and I think it 6 shows what Norman was really like as a 7 legislator and as a person, which was that he 8 was non-confrontational, non-partisan. He was 9 somebody who tried to be helpful. Manny Gold 10 said he was goal-oriented. Yes. He was 11 goal-oriented but never in the sense my goal 12 and I'm going to roll over anything or anybody 13 who gets in the way. He was persistent as was 14 said by Senator Stafford, but he did it in a 15 way that was genial, that was always civil. 16 I remember another instance, I 17 was asked by the German consulate to help a 18 German firm that was interested in doing 19 something in regard to the Long Island Rail 20 Road and I right away said to them, Listen, 21 don't do anything on Long Island and 22 particularly in transportation without 23 checking with Norman Levy. So I called 24 Norman. He said, "Franz, if it's important to 25 you, I'll meet with these people. I'll do 1 anything I can to be helpful to them," and, 2 indeed, he did and then to my embarrassment 3 after having asked him to set up this meeting, 4 I couldn't make the meeting. He made excuses 5 for me. He said to these German 6 industrialists, "I'm only doing this because 7 Franz Leichter asked me to do it," but that 8 was Norman. It came easy to him. He wasn't 9 looking for any rewards or any quid pro quo. 10 It really came from his nature and his 11 character. 12 He was a caring person and he 13 was effective in a way and all of us are 14 different in how we approach this job. Norman 15 was very quiet. He really didn't participate 16 that much in debates, and so on. He certainly 17 could defend his bills if he had to, but 18 Norman achieved his legislative work and his 19 goals really by quietness but firmness and he 20 generated so much respect. 21 He was a wonderful colleague, 22 somebody as I think back of my years in the 23 Senate as I think of leaving, somebody that I 24 will certainly remember and I know that he 25 enriched the Senate and he enriched me. He'll 1 be terribly missed but he leaves a wonderful 2 legacy for all the people of the state of New 3 York. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 5 Senator Seward. 6 SENATOR SEWARD: Thank you, Mr. 7 President. 8 My colleagues and Joy, because 9 of your close partnership with Norman for so 10 long, you are also very much a part of this 11 institution and I consider you a colleague as 12 well. 13 Mr. President, I stand here 14 today with very mixed emotions, obviously very 15 sad because Norman is no longer with us and we 16 miss him very much but also I'm very honored 17 and pleased to stand and speak about such a 18 wonderful man, a colleague, a friend and, yes, 19 a mentor. 20 I had the honor of sitting next 21 to Norman for the last ten years and had the 22 opportunity to observe Norman up close in 23 terms of how he operated here on the floor. 24 The resolution that was 25 presented today, of course, outlines many of 1 Norman's accomplishments and you can certainly 2 say about Norman Levy, he did not run away 3 from the tough issues. He tackled them head 4 on. He sponsored often controversial pieces 5 of legislation. 6 It was interesting to watch 7 Norman at work on the floor as I sat next to 8 him. He would lay his bill aside for a day. 9 He would star the bill. He would unstar the 10 bill. He would amend the bill. He would star 11 the bill again, unstar the bill and, boom, 12 before you knew it, it was passed. That's how 13 Norman Levy built up his outstanding 14 legislative record. He knew how to operate on 15 this floor. 16 Of course, Norman also very 17 genuinely respected the dignity of all people 18 that he came in contact with. He treated 19 everyone with the utmost respect regardless of 20 their station in life. 21 I recall early in my Senate 22 career Norman said, James, my man -- that's 23 what he always called me, James, my man -- I 24 want to come down to your district and have a 25 hearing on transportation issues and so we 1 made the necessary arrangements. He came down 2 to Oneonta and Norman had a hearing and he had 3 at this hearing some of the town supervisors 4 from some of the smallest, smallest towns in 5 my district, some of the smallest towns in 6 this state but the way that Norman conducted 7 that hearing and dealt with these people, for 8 that moment that they were speaking to Norman, 9 they were having a tremendous impact on 10 transportation policy in the state of New 11 York. That's the way Norman treated people 12 and that's certainly something that we all can 13 learn from. 14 There's no question, it's been 15 said many times over here today, Norman Levy 16 was intelligent, hard-working, thorough, a 17 caring, compassionate man, a people person. 18 He paid attention to all the details. He 19 epitomized the very best of what it means to 20 be a public servant but more than that, he 21 epitomized what -- the best of what it means 22 to be a caring, sensitive human being. 23 And so, Joy, we join you in 24 mourning Norman's loss. We just pray that you 25 will take comfort in the fact that everyone 1 here, his colleagues love Norman very much. 2 We miss him and we also hope that you will 3 take some comfort in the fact that we all are 4 better for having known Norman and served with 5 him and the people of this state are better 6 because of his long and distinguished career 7 as a Senator. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 9 Senator Wright. 10 SENATOR WRIGHT: Thank you, Mr. 11 President. 12 My colleagues and Joy, I want 13 to share three rather, I think, unique 14 experiences that I had dealing with my 15 colleague and friend Norman. 16 The first was when I was a 17 freshman and new to the Senate, I came to my 18 first Republican Conference and I had 19 established a reputation for one who was 20 punctual and on time when I was in local 21 government, so I made a point of doing that 22 when I arrived here in Albany, thinking that's 23 how I had gotten here, I wanted to make sure I 24 continued that tradition and I walked into the 25 Senate Republican Conference Room and found it 1 to be empty but for Norm Levy and I'm thinking 2 to myself, what's going on here? Norman 3 immediately comes over, introduces himself, 4 welcomes me to the Senate and then introduces 5 me to a concept known as Senate time. Now, 6 this, of course, was pre-Joe Bruno and 7 proceeded to inform me that conference would 8 begin anywhere between the next hour, hour and 9 a half or two hours, depending upon whatever 10 else was going to occur, but as the newest 11 member of the Senate, here is a senior 12 colleague taking the time to not only explain 13 to me some of the intricacies of the internal 14 workings of the Senate but then he also 15 proceeded to sit down and spent another 15 or 16 20 minutes with me just explaining some of the 17 details of what went on in the Senate taking 18 the time to share with me as a person as only 19 Norm could do and then a little bit later in 20 that first year as chair of the Senate 21 Committee on Transportation, of course, we had 22 nominations. 23 Now, I don't think there's a 24 point in New York State further from Long 25 Island than Ogdensburg and you can still 1 remain in this state, but I represent 2 Ogdensburg up on the St. Lawrence River and 3 they have a transportation authority that we 4 confirm members to. 5 Norm would personally greet 6 each of those individuals when they came 7 here. It was a long trip to come to the 8 Capitol. They made it. He made them feel 9 welcome and he, in fact, promised that he 10 would return to Ogdensburg to visit their 11 authority and he did, a long ways from Long 12 Island to travel to Ogdensburg but he made the 13 commitment and he honored that commitment. 14 And the third example I would 15 share is again unique to my North Country and 16 that was the, most of you will remember in 17 this room, evening we passed the beaver bill, 18 a rather controversial bill dealing with 19 wildlife and, of course, again, the views of 20 upstate North Country were significantly 21 different than those of downstate Long Island 22 and as we're counting votes and running around 23 at the end, Norm came over and he said to me, 24 "Do you need the vote?" And I said, "I'm not 25 sure," and he looked me right in the eye and 1 he said, "If you need it, you have mine." I 2 appreciated that. That was the first 3 controversial matter that I had ever brought 4 before this house and we were successful but 5 that kind of commitment that if a colleague 6 needed the help, Norman would be there to 7 provide it. 8 I share those examples because 9 I was just a young man coming to this Senate, 10 inexperienced and Norman took the time to make 11 me feel comfortable, make me feel part of this 12 process, and I truly believe if there were 13 ever an author of a handbook on how to be a 14 proper and appropriate Senator and how to 15 behave appropriately and assume the 16 responsibilities of a Senator, Norm Levy was 17 the author of that book. 18 I'm glad I had the occasion to 19 share, albeit a brief five-plus years with 20 Norman, they were certainly good experiences 21 here in the Senate and, Joy, I'm glad you 22 shared him with us and I'm glad I had the 23 occasion and we're going to miss him. 24 We thank you and, Norman, we 25 thank you. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 2 Senator Smith. 3 SENATOR SMITH: Thank you, Mr. 4 President. 5 My colleagues, first let me 6 start by saying to Joy, thank you for giving 7 Norman the kind of life that made him happy 8 and secure enough to reach out across the 9 aisle to many of us. 10 I remember when there was a 11 problem with the Roosevelt School system. 12 Norman reached out to Senator Montgomery and I 13 to meet with state Ed' and to try to come up 14 with a resolution. 15 Oftentimes in Transportation 16 Committee I marveled at how he would ask 17 questions, questions that would normally come 18 from our side of the aisle and he was 19 tenacious to get the right answers and those 20 answers that would benefit all of us, not just 21 the area that he represented and whenever he 22 saw that we may have a problem, he never 23 failed to reach out and to let us know, but 24 there was one little area, Joy, that I didn't 25 make out so well in. I hear that there was 1 "Deano" and "Carlo" and "Ronzo" and "Kiddo", 2 but somehow I managed to be "Ades" and I don't 3 think that anybody wants to be "Ades", but I 4 still loved him. He was wonderful and he will 5 be truly missed. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 7 Senator Rath. 8 SENATOR RATH: Mr. President, 9 my colleagues, Joy, this is a very public time 10 and it's also a very private and personal 11 time. 12 Someone said recently, "Show me 13 your garden and I will show you the person", 14 and I think that at the memorial service we 15 heard some about Norm's garden. I know you 16 and I have talked about gardens and I think 17 anyone who is interested in gardens knows 18 something about the other persons that they're 19 talking with. Those were wonderful 20 conversations that we had, and I did have them 21 with Norman briefly. 22 Today Senator Marchi spoke 23 about the mosaic. It has been a mosaic. It's 24 something about the private yet public 25 activity that we're going through today and 1 sharing with each other our recollections. 2 There's been a lot of allusion 3 not only today but at that wonderful memorial 4 service of the life hereafter and I tell you, 5 Joy, I am once again convinced that we will 6 see Norman again and let me tell you why. 7 We just heard from Senator 8 Smith. We've heard from "Deano", "Carlos", 9 "Steverino", "Jim, my man". Let me tell you 10 what Norman called me. He called me Mary. 11 The only other person in the world who's ever 12 called me Mary is my mother. He was working 13 on a name. I know he was, and I can hardly 14 wait to hear what it's going to be. I think 15 that's going to be something that we're all 16 going to have some laughs about, those of us 17 who weren't quite finished in learning from 18 Norman because his staff has told us the 19 wonderful names and the wonderful camaraderie 20 and the warm, personal and special feelings 21 that they all had with Norman. So I'm looking 22 forward to what he's going to have for a name 23 for me because it's going to have to be 24 wonderful. I know it will be wonderful like 25 he will -- like he was. 1 A final thought. So much has 2 been said about the seat belt -- about the 3 seat belt legislation. Yesterday my husband 4 and I drove up from Cleveland late in the 5 afternoon. You can imagine what that was 6 like, the thunder, the lightning, the 7 horrendous rain beating up against the 8 windshield. I was so grateful for that seat 9 belt that held me very tightly in the car and 10 every time now after today I click my 11 grandchildren into their seat belts or I reach 12 behind me and pull that seat belt across and 13 click it, I'm going to say thanks, Senator 14 Levy, thanks. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 16 Senator Goodman. 17 SENATOR GOODMAN: Joy and my 18 colleagues, it's hard for me to believe it but 19 I think that with the exception of Senator 20 Marchi, I probably served longer in this 21 chamber with Norman Levy than perhaps any 22 other sitting Senator, and I must say in that 23 respect I count myself exceptionally lucky 24 because Norman Levy was a man's man and a rare 25 individual of enormous acuity and ability and 1 I must say that his passing leaves a 2 tremendous vacuum which can never truly be 3 filled. 4 I would like to comment briefly 5 upon one or two of the very special personal 6 memories that I have of Norman. He arrived in 7 the Senate one term after I did. I guess you 8 could say I was a sophomore in college and he 9 was a freshman. We both served in the bull 10 pen upstairs on the fifth floor of this 11 building which was a unique experience in and 12 of itself and we survived that without 13 checking into the state sanatorium and that 14 was a great accomplishment because the working 15 and living conditions in that bull pen were 16 unique. It was more like a college dormitory 17 than a state Senatorial office. Each of us 18 occupied a closet and by the time we finished 19 we had all either loved one another or felt 20 that it was imperative that we move out. In 21 the case of Norman and myself and a few of the 22 rest of us, we're very, very happy that we 23 have that collegial experience but then as the 24 sands trickle through the hourglass, Norman 25 gained greatly in stature, and I watched with 1 great fascination as he became one of the 2 leading members of this great house and in 3 doing so, he did so with a rare sense of 4 concern for his fellow Senators. 5 I remember particularly when 6 Norman became Chairman of the Transportation 7 Committee, he had in the palm of his hand vast 8 powers involving literally billions of dollars 9 which could be distributed in different ways 10 around the state and had he wished to exercise 11 that responsibility with arrogance or self 12 centeredness, he could have easily done so but 13 there was never a day in his life as a Senator 14 I think in which he allowed his ego to run 15 away with him, nor was there ever a day when 16 he did not consider the needs of his 17 colleagues in this body, and so when I used to 18 go to Norman and say, Norman, there's a matter 19 of the distribution of the funds from the 20 Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority and I 21 don't think the City is getting a fair shake, 22 he would examine the situation objectively and 23 he would come back and he would either say, I 24 think that you may not have a point and spell 25 out the precise reasons why or he would say, I 1 think you do have a point and he would find a 2 way to redistribute the funds in a fair and 3 equitable fashion. 4 Those of us who watched Norman 5 over the years know that he never walked from 6 point A to point B without having a heavy load 7 under his arms of working papers. Without 8 exception I've never known a Senator work 9 harder in a more continuously and more 10 intensively on the responsibilities with which 11 he was charged than Norm Levy but my 12 recollections go far deeper and far beyond 13 that because in him there is a rare sense of 14 good fellowship which is one of the most 15 precious assets that one can possibly leave 16 this chamber with. 17 As we all know, we work under 18 great pressure and at times it becomes very 19 difficult for us to maintain collegiality 20 across the aisle and there's been more than 21 adequate testimony today as to the way in 22 which Norman bridged that gap and did it with 23 a great fellowship and consideration, but I 24 also happen to know of his enormous dedication 25 to his wonderful and unique wife Joy and I'm 1 so happy that she's here today to share with 2 us some of these thoughts because she is a 3 very, very special person. 4 Joy Levy is, in my opinion, one 5 of the great women of our generation. She has 6 suffered much difficulty in various physical 7 problems that she's had to surmount. I've 8 never, ever seen her when she did not have an 9 exquisite smile on her face and when those 10 sensitive brown eyes of hers did not exude 11 sympathy for others and to always think about 12 others rather than being -- dwelling and 13 thinking about herself. 14 So there you have it, a unique 15 couple deeply dedicated to one another and yet 16 able to think far beyond their immediate needs 17 and to consider the problems of other people, 18 to share in them and have empathy with them 19 and that to my mind is one of the rarest gifts 20 that they could have given to any of us. 21 They're a great team, a great, great team and 22 I can remember Norman speaking with me from 23 time to time about various personal problems 24 that he had in which I tried to advise and 25 help him and he was always so appreciative and 1 I always, frankly, got a great benefit from 2 his suggestions about various things we talked 3 about, our families and about various personal 4 matters which ran deep and which tied us 5 together in very, very close concert. 6 So, Mr. President, so much has 7 been said, and I think it would ill-behoove me 8 to go on at any great length but let me just 9 say when those days roll by and we find 10 ourselves far away from this body and think 11 about the people who were really close to our 12 hearts, Norman Levy will be right in the very 13 center and the very core of our beings because 14 of who he was, what he was and how he handled 15 his wonderful sense of good fellowship and 16 empathy with all of us and his wife shared so 17 deeply in that image and, Joy, from the bottom 18 of our hearts we thank you for all that you 19 did for us through your graciousness, your 20 kindness and your dedication to your beloved 21 husband. We'll miss him more than you'll ever 22 know. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 24 Thank you, Senator Goodman. 25 Senator Nanula. 1 SENATOR NANULA: Thank you, Mr. 2 President. 3 It's been approximately four 4 and a half years since I have been elected to 5 this great body and upon being elected, Norman 6 Levy was one of the first people that I had 7 the honor of meeting and I don't come from a 8 political background. My family was not 9 political and, although I had some great 10 mentors that have taken me under their wing 11 over the past several years that I have been 12 in elected office, from literally the day that 13 I came here, Norman was to me somebody that I 14 could look up to, somebody who was 15 ingratiating to me, somebody who treated me as 16 an equal even though I was a newcomer and even 17 though I was on the opposite side, so to speak 18 -- excuse me -- of the aisle, and so many 19 folks have talked about that today, how Norman 20 really reached out regardless of affiliation, 21 regardless of background, regardless of 22 geographical location in the state. I'm from 23 Buffalo in the western portion of the state 24 and there probably aren't too many -- too 25 much, I should say, further distances between 1 two Senate districts than Norman's and mine 2 and so many others have mentioned how beyond 3 being a good legislator, he was a statesman 4 and he was truly a caring man when it came to 5 the people that he served. 6 In Long Island I've had the 7 pleasure of spending some time in Norman's 8 district and I actually have met Democrats in 9 that district who vote for Norman Levy and who 10 voted for Norman Levy because they said Norman 11 cares for us regardless of our affiliation. 12 Senator Goodman mentioned 13 dollars, the highway funds allocated. I met 14 with a Democrat within Norman's district who 15 told me even though this community is 16 predominantly Democratic, when it came to CHPS 17 funding, the money was there. There wasn't 18 any politically-driven formula. There wasn't 19 something that was political in nature that 20 determined how these dollars were dispensed. 21 It was based upon need not political 22 affiliation and when it came to issues, I 23 always looked towards Norman as a leader. 24 I can remember with the 25 65-mile-an-hour speed limit issue, I withheld 1 my direction on that issue until hearing from 2 Norman because I had such faith and confidence 3 in his knowledge and knowing that he would put 4 the research necessary into this issue to 5 ensure that it was the best thing for the 6 people of the state, and I know it's been said 7 by many other people, I want to say it as 8 well, and I don't have the kind of experience 9 with Norman that others do nor do I have the 10 kind of experience with this chamber that 11 others do, but I know this, Senator Levy will 12 be greatly missed as a legislator and as a 13 human being, not only by the people of the 14 Senate but by the people of the state. 15 Thank you. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 17 Senator Oppenheimer. 18 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Hi, Joy. 19 Well, I guess a lot of the things have been 20 said, his unique kindness and assessing of 21 each person for what that person was and he 22 certainly was very interested in most of us, 23 probably all of us on this side of the aisle 24 and that's a very nice thing because we 25 sometimes get too partisanly involved and we 1 don't necessarily reach out to the other side, 2 though I think sometimes we would like to but 3 maybe because of tradition we don't. 4 I thought in the beginning that 5 maybe Norman was being so kind to me because 6 he's friendly with Gloria, my sister, and 7 they've worked together so much in Nassau, but 8 then I realized it was just him and that's 9 just the way he treats people. He just likes 10 people and wanted to be as helpful to people 11 as he could be. 12 Of course, you know, I had the 13 good fortune to be his ranking on Transporta 14 tion Committee for ten years and, my Lord, 15 what that man knew about transportation. It 16 was just awesome, and I remember one day he 17 was trying to go through all the various parts 18 of ISTEA with me, the federal program. I felt 19 like a real dunce, though with most other 20 people I felt I was fairly knowledgeable, but 21 Norman was Mr. Transportation in New York 22 State and he handled it in such an 23 egalitarian, such a systematic and, you know, 24 professional manner and, as has been 25 mentioned, he didn't have to do it that way. 1 He had a lot of clout but he believed in doing 2 things the right way and the honest way and, 3 of course, as far as personal memories, I will 4 never forget when he sent me that little note 5 with a beautiful orchid plant. I couldn't 6 believe the plant and the note said "To the 7 best ranker that a chairman could ever want" 8 and I treasured that orchid, even though I 9 must confess I killed it within about two 10 years, but I felt very lovingly towards him 11 and towards you, and I think I have never seen 12 a marriage that was more close and more caring 13 than yours. 14 So in many ways you were very, 15 very blessed, Joy. It's just too bad we 16 didn't have him longer. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 18 Senator Onorato. 19 SENATOR ONORATO: Thank you, 20 Mr. President. 21 I rise to join my colleagues in 22 singing the praises of Norman Levy. As you 23 can hear from all of us, every adjective and 24 superlative has been mentioned about the 25 character of Norman. He was a doer, a giver, 1 respectful. 2 You know, there's a television 3 program "Touched by an Angel". I think Joy 4 was probably the angel that was blessed enough 5 to touch Norman in guiding him and giving him 6 the strength to do the things that he has 7 done, and I hope and pray that you can touch 8 some of us that are still left in this chamber 9 to carry on the work that he has sought to 10 fulfill and perhaps the great road builder 11 that he is, he will provide the highway to 12 heaven for the rest of us to follow him. 13 Thank you. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 15 Senator Leibell. 16 SENATOR LEIBELL: Thank you, 17 Mr. President. 18 Joy, I was and I am 19 "Vincenzo". I made the trip a few years ago, 20 only four years ago, that short trip from many 21 years in the Assembly chamber to this chamber 22 and actually that trip from the Assembly 23 Minority to the Senate Majority probably one 24 of the larger cultural chasms we have in the 25 world and it was a long trip and it was one 1 that Norman Levy made much easier for me and 2 certainly coming into this chamber and coming 3 into our conference on the first day to be 4 greeted in his warm way as "Vincenzo" and then 5 over the course of time to be able to talk to 6 him and to speak with him about so many things 7 that were knew to me and to receive his kind 8 counsel and to be the beneficiary of his 9 thoughtfulness, is something that I will 10 forever remember. 11 There's very little I can add. 12 You've heard from all of his colleagues today, 13 but I think it has been expressed and I have 14 to echo this, that if I were to think of a 15 Senator, not a Majority or Minority Senator, 16 but a Senator who is a role model for this 17 chamber for now and for many years into the 18 future, it would have to be Norman. 19 Thank you. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 21 Senator Mendez. 22 SENATOR MENDEZ: Mr. President, 23 my dear colleagues, Joy, practically 24 everything has been said about Senator Levy. 25 Yes, he was an excellent 1 legislator. Yes, he was generous with his 2 time and his knowledge to others. Yes, I 3 believe he was -- he had great joy at problem 4 solving and for him problems did not have 5 partisanship. He just was there to resolve 6 problems that affected all of the people in 7 the state of New York and in his district and 8 he would do it lovingly, patiently and seeking 9 the cooperation of everybody that could help 10 resolve that problem. 11 As a woman who is also a widow, 12 Joy, who lost -- I lost my husband many years 13 ago and I thank God I did have a wonderful 14 love experience with him -- you have been a 15 very fortunate woman. There you were married 16 to a great man who loved you very, very deeply 17 and you loved him very, very, very much and 18 the two together were able to contribute in 19 easing the lives of so many people in New York 20 State and in your district. 21 So you will have great, great 22 memories from him as your partner working 23 together in the issues in the district and 24 throughout -- and in the area of 25 transportation where he was so knowledgeable 1 about and also as a woman you own moments with 2 him. 3 So he is resting in peace and 4 he has left a tremendous legacy and he had a 5 tremendously self-fulfilled life of which you 6 participated. We shall miss him and we admire 7 you. 8 Thank you, Mr. President. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 10 Senator Markowitz. 11 SENATOR MARKOWITZ: Thank you 12 very much. 13 Some of the things, I think 14 that we all agree on as we get older, mature, 15 we never think that those that are closest to 16 us will ever leave us. Frankly, I know, I can 17 imagine what Joy and her family have gone 18 through of losing someone so close to you and 19 you can accept at times, of course, other 20 people passing but somehow you never really 21 can ever accept that person or persons closest 22 to you, and so I guess we have to look at it 23 another way and that is that it's inevitable 24 that conclusion. The question is how have we 25 spent the years that we have been blessed to 1 have? 2 On that barometer, Norman 3 reached the heights, the heights of the 4 mountains because the years that he had, he 5 has certainly made the most of it. I don't 6 think there are few of us in this chamber that 7 did not envy in many respects Norman, his good 8 looks, his brilliance, his diversity of 9 interests, a lot of us -- I'm not saying all 10 of us -- a lot of us are very focused on our 11 major business here as public servants, but 12 Norman had a tremendous diversity of 13 interests, that's for sure, that went far 14 beyond this chamber. His genuine concern and 15 care always demonstrated itself, that's for 16 sure, and so all I could say is so many of us 17 also, no matter what our relationships are 18 with our families, also envy that kind of 19 special -- that special thing you guys had, 20 let me tell you. 21 These days in the 1990s you 22 don't see that very often. Believe me. You 23 know that and I know it and you guys had it 24 together and all I can say is that I hope that 25 the days ahead will -- in reflecting on your 1 life and on Norman that the smile will be ever 2 present because, frankly, you're more blessed 3 than most of us. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 5 Thank you, Senator Markowitz. 6 Senator Skelos, would it be 7 your pleasure to add all Senators to this 8 resolution? 9 SENATOR SKELOS: Yes. If we 10 could open sponsorship to all the Senate 11 Minority. Just put every member on the 12 resolution. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 14 The Secretary will add the name to all 15 Senators to the resolution. 16 On the resolution, all those in 17 favor signify big saying aye. 18 (Response of "Aye".) 19 All those opposed say nay. 20 (There was no response.) 21 The resolution is adopted. 22 Senator Skelos. 23 SENATOR SKELOS: Joy, I think 24 you see how Norman's colleagues felt about 25 him. 1 There will be a reception held 2 in the Majority Conference Room. Senator 3 Bruno invites all the members and guests to 4 join us right after session closes. 5 Is there any housekeeping at 6 the desk? 7 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 8 Yes. 9 Senator Marcellino. 10 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you, 11 Mr. President. 12 On behalf of Senator Trunzo, on 13 page number 41, I offer the following 14 amendments to Calendar Number 1011, Senate 15 Print Number 5473-A, and ask that said bill 16 retain its place on the Third Reading 17 Calendar. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 19 The amendments are received. Said bill will 20 retain its place on the Third Reading 21 Calendar. 22 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: 24 Senator Skelos. 25 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 1 in name and in the memory of Senator Norman J. 2 Levy, there being no further business, I move 3 we adjourn until Tuesday, June 2nd, at 3:00 4 p.m. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT FUSCHILLO: On 6 motion, the Senate stands adjourned in the 7 name and memory of Senator Norman J. Levy 8 until Tuesday, June 2nd, at 3:00 p.m. 9 (Whereupon, at 5:34 p.m., the 10 Senate adjourned.) 11 12 13 14 15 16 17