Tuesday, June 2, 1998

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ALBANY, NEW YORK 9 June 2, 1998 10 3:04 p.m. 11 12 13 REGULAR SESSION 14 15 16 17 SENATOR JOHN R. KUHL, JR., Acting President 18 STEVEN M. BOGGESS, Secretary 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 3 Senate will come to order. Ask the members to 4 find their places, the staff to find their 5 places. I'd ask everybody in the chamber to 6 please rise and join with me in saying the 7 Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. 8 (The assemblage repeated the 9 Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.) 10 In the absence of clergy, may we 11 bow our heads in a moment of silence. 12 (A moment of silence was 13 observed.) 14 The reading of the Journal. 15 THE SECRETARY: In Senate, 16 Monday, June 1st. The Senate met pursuant to 17 adjournment, Senator Fuschillo in the Chair upon 18 designation of the Temporary President. The 19 Journal of Sunday, May 31st, was read and 20 approved. On motion, the Senate adjourned. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Hearing 22 no objection, the Journal stands approved as 23 read. 24 Presentation of petitions. 25 Messages from the Assembly. 1 Messages from the Governor. 2 Reports of standing committees. 3 Reports of select committees. 4 Communications and reports from 5 state officers. 6 Motions and resolutions. 7 Senator Skelos. 8 SENATOR SKELOS: If we could do 9 the motions at this time and any substitutions 10 that may need to be made. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 12 Meier, a motion? 13 SENATOR MEIER: Mr. President, on 14 behalf of Senator Skelos, I wish to call up bill 15 Print Number 308, recalled from the Assembly, 16 which is now on the desk. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 18 Secretary will read. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 56, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 308, an act 21 to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, in 22 relation to out-of-state convictions. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 24 Meier. 25 SENATOR MEIER: Mr. President, I 1 now move to reconsider the vote by which this 2 bill was passed. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 4 Secretary will call the roll on reconsideration. 5 (The Secretary called the roll on 6 reconsideration.) 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 37. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 9 Meier. 10 SENATOR MEIER: Mr. President, I 11 now offer the following amendments. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 13 amendments are received and adopted. 14 The Chair recognizes Senator 15 Fuschillo. 16 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Thank you, 17 Mr. President. 18 On behalf of Senator Hannon, 19 please remove the sponsor's star on Calendar 20 Number 479. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The star 22 is removed. 23 Senator Fuschillo. 24 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: On behalf of 25 Senator Padavan, on page number 43, I offer the 1 following amendments to Calendar Number 1075, 2 Senate Print 3192, and ask that said bill retain 3 its place on the Third Reading Calendar. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 5 amendments to Calendar Number 1075 are received 6 and adopted and the bill will retain its place 7 on the Third Reading Calendar. 8 Senator Fuschillo. 9 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: On behalf of 10 Senator Marchi, on page number 7, I offer the 11 following amendments to Calendar Number 243, 12 Senate Print Number 6007-A, and ask that the 13 bill retain its place on the Third Reading 14 Calendar. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 16 amendments to Calendar Number 243 are received 17 and adopted. The bill will retain its place on 18 the Third Reading Calendar. 19 The Secretary will read the 20 substitutions. 21 THE SECRETARY: On page 7, 22 Senator Maziarz moves to discharge from the 23 Committee on Rules Assembly Bill Number 5748 and 24 substitute it for the identical Third Reading 25 Calendar 266. 1 On page 20, Senator Cook moves to 2 discharge from the Committee on Rules Assembly 3 Bill Number 2578-B and substitute it for the 4 identical Third Reading Calendar 686. 5 On page 22, Senator Trunzo moves 6 to discharge from the Committee on Rules 7 Assembly Bill Number 4790-A and substitute it 8 for the identical Third Reading Calendar 716. 9 On page 25, Senator Skelos moves 10 to discharge from the Committee on Rules 11 Assembly Bill Number 10046-A and substitute it 12 for the identical Third Reading Calendar 774. 13 On page 34, Senator Meier moves 14 to discharge from the Committee on Rules 15 Assembly Bill Number 8834-A and substitute it 16 for the identical Third Reading Calendar 932. 17 On page 40, Senator Marcellino 18 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 19 Assembly Bill Number 10253-A and substitute it 20 for the identical Third Reading Calendar 1028. 21 And on page 51, Senator LaValle 22 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 23 Assembly Bill Number 10416 and substitute it for 24 the identical Third Reading Calendar 1165. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 1 substitutions are ordered. 2 Senator Skelos. 3 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 4 if we could return to reports of standing 5 committees, I believe there's a report of the 6 Finance Committee at the desk. I ask that it be 7 read. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We'll 9 return to the report of standing committees. 10 Can we have a little order in the 11 house, please. The staff please take their 12 chairs, the members take their places. If you 13 have to have a conversation, take it out of the 14 chamber. 15 We'll return to the reports of 16 standing committees. The Secretary will read 17 the report of the Finance Committee. 18 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 19 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 20 following nomination: Sheriff of Delaware 21 County, Leonard J. Rutherford, Jr., of Walton. 22 SENATOR SKELOS: Move the 23 confirmation. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 25 question is on the nomination of Leonard J. 1 Rutherford, Jr. to become the sheriff of 2 Delaware County. All those in favor of the 3 nomination indicate by answering aye. 4 (Response of "Aye".) 5 Opposed, nay. 6 (There was no response.) 7 The nominee is confirmed. 8 The Secretary will continue to 9 read. 10 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 11 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 12 following nomination: Sheriff of Montgomery 13 County, Michael J. Amato, of Sprakers. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The Chair 15 recognizes Senator Farley, on the nomination. 16 SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you, Mr. 17 President. 18 I would like to move the 19 nomination of Michael Amato as sheriff of 20 Montgomery County, ably qualified and presently 21 serving. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is there 23 any other Senator wishing to speak on the 24 nomination? 25 (There was no response.) 1 Hearing none, the question is on 2 the nomination of Michael J. Amato to become the 3 sheriff of Montgomery County. All those in 4 favor of the nomination signify by saying aye. 5 (Response of "Aye".) 6 Opposed, nay. 7 (There was no response.) 8 The nominee is confirmed. 9 The Secretary will continue to 10 read. 11 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford, 12 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 13 following bill direct to third reading: 14 Senate Print 7072-B, by Senator 15 Goodman, an act to amend the Education Law, in 16 relation to student financial aid. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 18 objection, the bill is ordered directly to third 19 reading. 20 Senator Skelos. 21 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 22 there will be an immediate meeting of the 23 Consumer Protection Committee in the Majority 24 Conference Room. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 1 Skelos, I couldn't hear you. Will the members 2 please take their chairs, the staff remove 3 themselves from the chamber if you're going to 4 have a conversation. Can we have it quiet in 5 the chamber. 6 Senator Skelos, for an 7 announcement. 8 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 9 there will be an immediate meeting of the 10 Consumer Protection Committee in the Majority 11 Conference Room. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There 13 will be an immediate meeting of the Consumer 14 Protection Committee, immediate meeting of the 15 Consumer Protection Committee in the Majority 16 Conference Room, Room 332. 17 Senator Skelos. 18 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 19 if we could take up the non-controversial 20 calendar. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 22 Secretary will read the non-controversial 23 calendar. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 411, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 332-A, an 1 act to amend the Social Services Law, in 2 relation to access to certain conviction 3 records. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 5 Secretary will read the last section. 6 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 7 act shall take effect on the 120th day. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 9 roll. 10 (The Secretary called the roll.) 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 41. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 13 is passed. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 424, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 6119-A, an 16 act to amend the Public Officers Law, in 17 relation to the qualification for deputy 18 sheriffs. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 20 Secretary will read the last section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 22 act shall take effect immediately. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 24 roll. 25 (The Secretary called the roll.) 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 41. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 3 is passed. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 519, by Senator Velella - 6 SENATOR SKELOS: Lay the bill 7 aside for the day. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 9 bill aside for the day. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 580, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 3982-A, an 12 act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to 13 determination. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 15 Secretary will read the last section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 17 act shall take effect on the 90th day. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 19 roll. 20 (The Secretary called the roll.) 21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 41. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 23 is passed. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 627, by Senator Libous, Senate Print 4227-A, an 1 act to amend the Real Property Tax Law, in 2 relation to including cooperatively owned home 3 dwelling units. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 5 Secretary will read the last section. 6 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 7 act shall take effect immediately. 8 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 10 Skelos. 11 SENATOR SKELOS: For some reason 12 it's very noisy today, and I'm not able to hear 13 you think. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Maybe 15 because I'm not thinking. 16 SENATOR SKELOS: You're not 17 thinking. All right. If we could just have 18 some order so we can move expeditiously through 19 the calendar. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Skelos raises a good point. Ask the members to 22 contain themselves. Be as reticent as you can. 23 Still think. 24 That means you, Senator Maziarz. 25 Call the roll -- read the last 1 section on Calendar Number 627. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 3 act shall take effect immediately. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 5 roll. 6 (The Secretary called the roll.) 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 41. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 9 is passed. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 711, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 6433, an 12 act to amend the Public Housing Law, in relation 13 to sale or lease. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 15 Secretary will read the last section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 17 act shall take effect immediately. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 19 roll. 20 (The Secretary called the roll.) 21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 41. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 23 is passed. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 725, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 5962, an 1 act to permit the reopening of the optional 2 20-year retirement plan. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 4 a home rule message at the desk. 5 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Lay it aside. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 7 bill aside. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 736, by Senator Wright, Senate Print 6954, an 10 act to amend the Mental Hygiene Law, in relation 11 to establishing. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 13 Secretary will read the last section. 14 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 15 act shall take effect immediately. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 17 roll. 18 (The Secretary called the roll.) 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 41. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 21 is passed. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 745, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 6880, an 24 act to amend Chapter 161 of the Laws of 1970. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 1 a local fiscal impact note at the desk. The 2 Secretary will read the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. This 4 act shall take effect immediately. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 6 roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll.) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 41. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 10 is passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 762, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 1987, an 13 act to amend the County Law and the Judiciary 14 Law, in relation to compensation of assigned 15 counsel. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 17 Secretary will read the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 19 act shall take effect on the first day of 20 October. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 22 roll. 23 (The Secretary called the roll.) 24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 41. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 1 is passed. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 765, by member of the Assembly Magee, Assembly 4 Print Number 9686, an act to amend the General 5 Municipal Law, in relation to the publishing of 6 notices. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 8 Secretary will read the last section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 10 act shall take effect immediately. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 12 roll. 13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 15 is passed. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 768, by Senator Maziarz, Senate Print 6595, an 18 act to amend the Volunteer Firefighters Benefit 19 Law, in relation to the payment. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 21 Secretary will read the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 23 act shall take effect July 1. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 25 roll. 1 (The Secretary called the roll.) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 4 is passed. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 789, by Senator Spano, Senate Print 6939, an act 7 to amend the Workers' Compensation Law, in 8 relation to penalties. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 10 Secretary will read the last section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 12 act shall take effect immediately. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 14 roll. 15 (The Secretary called the roll.) 16 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 18 is passed. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 828, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 3543, an 21 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 22 possession of a loaded firearm. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 24 Secretary will read the last section. 25 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 1 act shall take effect on the first day of 2 November. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 4 roll. 5 (The Secretary called the roll.) 6 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 8 is passed. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 831, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 3785-A, an 11 act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law, in 12 relation to motion to dismiss. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 14 Secretary will read the last section. 15 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 16 act shall take effect in 90 days. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 18 roll. 19 (The Secretary called the roll.) 20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 22 is passed. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 838, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 5624, an 25 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 1 sentencing of persistent violent felony 2 offenders. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 4 Secretary will read the last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 6 act shall take effect on the first day of 7 November. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 9 roll. 10 (The Secretary called the roll.) 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 12 the negatives; announce the results. 13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52, nays 1, 14 Senator Leichter recorded in the negative. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 16 is passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 853, by Senator Holland, Senate Print 7277-A, an 19 act to amend the Social Services Law and the Tax 20 Law, in relation to providing. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 22 Secretary will read the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. This 24 act shall take effect immediately. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 1 roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll.) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 5 is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 863, by Senator Holland, Senate Print 5984, an 8 act to amend the Not-for-Profit Corporation Law, 9 in relation to corporations. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 11 a home rule message at the desk. The Secretary 12 will read the last section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 14 act shall take effect immediately. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 16 roll. 17 (The Secretary called the roll.) 18 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 20 is passed. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 880, by Senator Libous, Senate - 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 24 Holland -- excuse me. Senator Holland, why do 25 you rise? 1 SENATOR HOLLAND: There's an 2 immediate meeting of the Civil Service and 3 Pensions Committee in Room 332. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There 5 will be an immediate meeting of the Civil 6 Service and Pensions Committee in the Majority 7 Conference Room, Room 332. An immediate meeting 8 of the Civil Service and Pensions Committee in 9 the Majority Conference Room, Room 332. 10 The Secretary will continue to 11 read the non-controversial calendar. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 880, by Senator Libous, Senate Print 5554-B, an 14 act to amend the Insurance Law, in relation to 15 workers' compensation classification. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 17 Secretary will read the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 19 act shall take effect in 180 days. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 21 roll. 22 (The Secretary called the roll.) 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 25 is passed. 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 891, by Senator Hannon, Senate Print 6973, an 3 act to amend the Civil Service Law, in relation 4 to the age requirement. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 6 Secretary will read the last section. 7 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Lay it aside. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 9 bill aside at the request of the Senator 10 Dollinger. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 938, by Senator Fuschillo, Senate Print 7417, an 13 act to amend the State Finance Law, in relation 14 to permitting. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 16 Secretary will read the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 18 act shall take effect immediately. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 20 roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll.) 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 24 is passed. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 1 996, by Senator Saland, Senate Print - 2 SENATOR HOLLAND: Lay the bill 3 aside for the day. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 5 bill aside for the day at the request of the 6 Majority Leader. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 1022, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 6561, an 9 act authorizing the assessor of the county of 10 Nassau to accept. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 12 Secretary will read the last section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 14 act shall take effect immediately. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 16 roll. 17 (The Secretary called the roll.) 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 19 the negatives; announce the results. 20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52, nays 2, 21 Senators Cook and Dollinger recorded in the 22 negative. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 24 is passed. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 1 1028, substituted earlier today, by member of 2 the Assembly Sidikman, Assembly Print 10253-A, 3 an act in relation to the appointment of a 4 second acting village justice. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 6 Secretary will read the last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 8 act shall take effect immediately. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 10 roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll.) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 14 is passed. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 1040, by Senator Seward - 17 SENATOR HOLLAND: Lay the bill 18 aside for the day, please. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 20 bill aside for the day at the request of the 21 Majority Leader. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 1042, by Senator Seward, Senate Print 6544, an 24 act to amend the Public Service Law, in relation 25 to exempting. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 2 Secretary will read the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 4 act shall take effect in 90 days. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 6 roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll.) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 10 is passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 1044, by Senator Seward, Senate Print 7448-A, an 13 act to direct the Commissioner of Taxation and 14 Finance to prepare a study. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 16 Secretary will read the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 18 act shall take effect immediately. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 20 roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll.) 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 23 is passed. 24 Senator Wright, to explain his 25 vote? 1 SENATOR WRIGHT: Explain my vote, 2 Mr. President. Thank you. 3 I would like to commend Senator 4 Seward on this legislation this afternoon. He 5 was particularly receptive to an amendment that 6 I offered that included real property tax 7 provisions in the study of the impact of the 8 energy -- electric deregulation in the state. 9 I represent Oswego, the city of 10 Oswego, in Oswego County that will lose upwards 11 of 70 percent of their property tax base as a 12 result of deregulation of this field. That's 13 but one example of what will impact a number of 14 communities across this state. 15 So I'm very pleased to see the 16 Senator put forward this legislation as chair of 17 the Energy Committee. I'm very pleased to vote 18 in favor of it. 19 Thank you. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 21 Senator Wright in the affirmative on Calendar 22 Number 1044. Announce the results. 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 25 is passed. 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 1046, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 7167, an 3 act to amend the Environmental Conservation Law, 4 in relation to making technical corrections. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 6 Secretary will read the last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 8 act shall take effect immediately. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 10 roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll.) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 14 is passed. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 1051, by Senator Meier, Senate Print 7419, an 17 act to amend the Executive Law and the Social 18 Services Law, in relation to making reports. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 20 Secretary will read the last section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 22 act shall take effect on the 90th day. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 24 roll. 25 (The Secretary called the roll.) 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 3 is passed. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 1081, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 55... 6 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 8 bill aside. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 1084, by Senator Breslin, Senate Print 6468-B, 11 an act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to the 12 income tax liability. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 14 Secretary read the title to Calendar Number 1084 15 in error. I'll ask the Secretary to read the 16 title again. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 1084, by Senator Meier, Senate Print 6468-B, an 19 act to amend the Tax Law. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 21 Secretary will read the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 23 act shall take effect immediately. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 25 roll. 1 (The Secretary called the roll.) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 4 is passed. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 1113, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 6662, 7 an act to amend the Parks, Recreation and 8 Historic Preservation Law, in relation to works 9 of art. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 11 Secretary will read the last section. 12 THE SECRETARY: Section 9. This 13 act shall take effect on the first day of 14 September. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 16 roll. 17 (The Secretary called the roll.) 18 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 20 is passed. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 1115, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 6240, an 23 act to amend the Agriculture and Markets Law, in 24 relation to certain claims against the 25 agricultural producers. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 2 Secretary will read the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 4 act shall take effect immediately. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 6 roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll.) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 10 is passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 1126, by Senator Present, Senate Print 3753, an 13 act to amend the Public Authorities Law, in 14 relation to exempting information. 15 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside, 16 please. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 18 bill aside. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 1133, by Senator Marchi, Senate Print 6815, an 21 act to amend the Public Authorities Law, in 22 relation to the general powers. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 24 Secretary will read the last section. 25 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 1 act shall take effect immediately. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 3 roll. 4 (The Secretary called the roll.) 5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 7 is passed. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1159, by Senator Lack, Senate Print 4787, an act 10 authorizing the State University of New York to 11 lease and contract. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 13 Secretary will read the last section. 14 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 15 act shall take effect immediately. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 17 roll. 18 (The Secretary called the roll.) 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 21 is passed. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 1162, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 6091, an 24 act to amend the Education Law, in relation to 25 fostering compliance. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 2 Secretary will read the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 4 act shall take effect - 5 SENATOR LEICHTER: Lay it aside. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 7 bill aside. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1174, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 7458 - 10 SENATOR HOLLAND: Lay it aside 11 for the day. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 13 bill aside for the day at the request of the 14 Majority Leader. 15 Senator DeFrancisco, why do you 16 rise? 17 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: May I have 18 unanimous consent to be recorded in the negative 19 on 891. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 21 objection, hearing no objection, Senator 22 DeFrancisco will be recorded in the negative on 23 Calendar Number -- you said 891, Senator 24 DeFrancisco? 25 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I did. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: That 2 bill, I believe, was laid aside and not acted 3 upon yet. 4 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Okay. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Nice 6 try. 7 Senator Holland, if we might get 8 a little order first, then I assume I'll 9 recognize you to proceed. Will the members 10 please take their chairs, the staff please take 11 their seats. 12 Senator Holland, that completes 13 the reading of the controversial calendar -- the 14 non-controversial calendar. Excuse me. 15 SENATOR HOLLAND: Can we have the 16 controversial calendar now, Mr. President. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 18 Secretary will read the non-controversial 19 calendar -- I'll try that again. The Secretary 20 will read the controversial calendar. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 725, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 5962, an 23 act to permit the reopening of the optional 24 20-year retirement plan. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 1 a home rule message at the desk. 2 Senator Saland, an explanation 3 has been requested by, I believe, Senator 4 Dollinger. 5 SENATOR SALAND: Mr. President, 6 this bill has been requested by the village of 7 Red Hook, the purpose of which is to enable one 8 Rexford L. Maine to have the opportunity to 9 avail himself of the reopening of the 20-year 10 optional retirement plan. 11 Apparently through no fault of 12 Mr. Maine's he had made application to the 13 retirement system and apparently for reasons 14 unbeknownst to anybody they never received his 15 application. That application was made some 16 seven or eight years ago and the village mayor 17 has sent me a letter to that effect as has the 18 village attorney, and the legislation has been 19 introduced at their request. 20 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Leichter. 23 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yeah, just 24 very briefly, on the bill. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 1 Leichter, on the bill. 2 SENATOR LEICHTER: I don't want 3 to deny this fine individual or anybody else 4 pension benefits they're entitled to. I just 5 make a plea that's been made particularly well 6 by Senator Gold and at other times I joined in, 7 that we ought to have a procedure for handling 8 these, that these should not be determined by 9 the Legislature because we have absolutely no 10 means to assess the accuracy of the statements 11 that are made and, frankly, the cost to the 12 taxpayers of our passing these bills often 13 exceeds the amount involved in the pension. 14 We did have such a procedure 15 through the comptroller's office which seemed to 16 work. Apparently that law has expired. It 17 certainly ought to be renewed. I understand the 18 problems not so much with this house but in the 19 Assembly, but I think it's unfortunate that we 20 keep on getting these bills before us and having 21 to act on issues and facts that really we have 22 no knowledge of and no way of making an accurate 23 determination. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 Dollinger. 1 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 2 President, just on the bill. 3 I echo the sentiments of Senator 4 Leichter. I'm somewhat surprised to hear that 5 the bill -- did I understand you correctly, 6 Senator, that the bill that we passed had 7 allowed the retirement system to make these 8 adjudications on a case-by-case basis to prevent 9 the exact problem we run into here. 10 First of all, it takes up 11 legislative time and, two, it sets up that 12 unique situation in which a local official who's 13 got local friends in office gets his pension 14 problem remedied at taxpayer expense and the 15 occasional employee who may be outside the 16 political process may not be enrolled in the 17 right political process party, may not be a 18 member of the right group, ends up on the short 19 end of the stick. I thought the whole purpose 20 of our reform ably carried by Senator Trunzo 21 seven years ago -- several years ago was to 22 prevent exactly what's happening here. 23 I'm going to adopt a policy with 24 respect to these kinds of bills. I'm going to 25 vote against them until we go back to the old 1 system. Let the pension system decide whether, 2 through no negligence of his own, he was -- he 3 failed to apply the papers. If the town did not 4 do the paperwork, this individual shouldn't have 5 to carry that cross, but I would rather have an 6 adjudication on those through the system that we 7 set up several years ago rather than do it under 8 this system on the basis of who knows who, who 9 knows their Senator, who knows their local 10 officials. 11 Senator Saland's doing the right 12 thing for his constituent here and the right 13 thing for this individual perhaps, but the real 14 thing to do is to set up a system that takes 15 these out of the political process entirely and 16 adjudicates them on the basis of fairness or the 17 negligence of the town officials that make these 18 applications. 19 I'll be voting in the negative, 20 Mr. President. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is there 22 any other Senator wishing to speak on the bill? 23 (There was no response.) 24 Hearing none, the Secretary will 25 read the last section. 1 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 2 act shall take effect immediately. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 4 roll. 5 (The Secretary called the roll.) 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 7 the negatives; announce the results. 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 56, nays 1, 9 Senator Dollinger recorded in the negative. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 11 is passed. 12 The Secretary will continue to 13 read the controversial calendar. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 891, by Senator Hannon, Senate Print 6973, an 16 act to amend the Civil Service Law, in relation 17 to the age requirement. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 19 Secretary will read the last section. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 21 act shall take effect immediately. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 23 Dollinger, why do you rise? 24 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Just to 25 explain my vote, Mr. President. 1 This is - 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 3 Secretary will call the roll. 4 (The Secretary called the roll.) 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6 Dollinger, to explain his vote. 7 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 8 President, just so I make sure, this is Senator 9 Hannon's bill on the age requirement for the 10 police officers? 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Calendar 12 Number 891, Senate 6973, by Senator Hannon. 13 SENATOR DOLLINGER: That's 14 correct. 15 Mr. President, I just rise, I'm 16 going to vote in favor of this bill. I know 17 there have been a lot of questions asked about 18 what provisions apply with respect to minimum 19 hiring ages for police officers. I'm willing to 20 pick 29 and I guess I'll agree with Senator 21 Hannon and pick 29 but, frankly, I think this is 22 something that we should have a little more 23 study on because is it 29, 28, 30, 31; should it 24 vary depending on the physical circumstances of 25 the applicant? This plunges us into an area of 1 law that's been hotly contested, that is, 2 whether there can be minimum ages of requirement 3 -- as a requirement for hiring by our State 4 Police, by other state agencies. 5 I'll abide with Senator Hannon's 6 determination that 29 is the right year to pick, 7 but it seems to me that we may be inviting a ton 8 of litigation over this very issue. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 10 Dollinger will be recorded in the affirmative. 11 Announce the results. 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 56, nays 1, 13 Senator DeFrancisco recorded in the negative. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 15 is passed. 16 The Secretary will continue to 17 read the controversial calendar. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 1081, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print - 20 SENATOR HOLLAND: Lay it aside 21 temporarily, please, Mr. President. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 23 bill aside temporarily. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 1126, by Senator Present, Senate Print 3753, an 1 act to amend the Public Authorities Law, in 2 relation to exempting. 3 SENATOR PATERSON: Explanation. 4 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: 5 Explanation. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7 Present, an explanation of Calendar Number 1120, 8 Senate 3753, has been requested by both the 9 Acting Minority Leader and Senator Oppenheimer. 10 SENATOR PRESENT: Mr. President, 11 this legislation is introduced at the request of 12 the Environmental Facilities Corporation. 13 The purpose of the legislation is 14 to ensure the confidentiality of information 15 furnished by small businesses to the New York 16 State Environmental Facilities Corporation in 17 connection with the Environmental Facilities 18 Corporation provisions of a multi-media 19 environmental assistance program. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Oppenheimer. 22 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Thank you. 23 I'll just speak on the bill. 24 I'll speak on the bill, because I think - 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 1 Oppenheimer, excuse me just a minute. 2 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: I know it's 3 a little hard to hear me. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: I can't 5 hear -- hello. 6 Senator Oppenheimer -- Senator 7 Oppenheimer, just a minute. There are a lot of 8 members talking, moving. Will the members 9 please take their seats, the staff take their 10 places. 11 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: I 12 understand what the bill is trying to do, but I 13 think it's a very bad precedent that we would be 14 getting into. 15 We're saying to small business, 16 please come and participate in this state 17 program which will give you all kinds of 18 information on how to comply with our 19 environmental regulations and our laws and we're 20 saying in exchange for your coming forward, you 21 don't have to reveal any information. It will 22 all be closed. That will be the end of anyone 23 ever seeing your files. 24 That seems to fly in the face of 25 the fact that we sort of have told the taxpayers 1 of this state that we believe in open 2 government. We believe in the availability of 3 governmental records and here we're saying we 4 are closing our government files and nobody can 5 see them and I mean we are already giving money 6 and assistance to these corporations in order to 7 comply with our laws. 8 So why we are now saying, well, 9 if you comply with our -- if you come forward, 10 we'll see that your files are closed forever, 11 nobody has to see them. I think it's a terrible 12 precedent. We already say that important trade 13 secrets are exempt from the FOIL Law, the 14 Freedom of Information Law and, therefore, the 15 only thing I can think that these companies are 16 wanting to hide is their violations of our 17 environmental regulation and law. 18 I see no reason to say to them 19 that you can violate the law, take our 20 assistance and there will be no scrutiny, 21 nothing will follow after that, and it's a 22 terrible precedent to start. 23 I would also say that many people 24 joined me last time we discussed this issue, and 25 I think I will mention who they are so they can 1 be reminded and that Senators Abate, Connor, 2 Dollinger, Kruger, Leichter, Markowitz, 3 Montgomery, Nanula, Paterson, Santiago and 4 Seabrook, Gold, Smith, also Senators Goodman, 5 Leibell and Levy -- yes, I didn't mean that - 6 and I think to say that we will be secretive in 7 this compact with small businesses who come 8 forth for our assistance is contrary to what we 9 believe in this state. 10 So I'll be voting no. Also EPL 11 has it down as two smokestacks. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is there 13 any other Senator wishing to speak on the bill? 14 SENATOR PRESENT: Mr. President. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 16 Present, why do you rise? 17 SENATOR PRESENT: Mr. President, 18 I would like to contradict what was just said. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 20 Present, on the bill. 21 SENATOR PRESENT: In 1994 the 22 Legislature recognized a similar problem so 23 we're not setting a precedent. "With the small 24 business assistance program, which was part of 25 the small business stationary source technical 1 and environmental compliance assistance, a 2 program being stifled by the fear of future 3 regulatory action, the Legislature exempted 4 information provided by small business from FOIL 5 in Chapter 700 of the Laws of 1994." 6 I think that by opposing this 7 bill we're stifling those small businesses who 8 want to comply and are going to the Facilities 9 Corporation for assistance and guidance in how 10 to bring themselves into compliance and you are 11 just keeping it under the rug. Let them provide 12 the information knowing that it's going to be 13 confidential and move on and clean up our air 14 and waters. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 16 Dollinger, why do you rise? 17 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: I - 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Excuse 19 me, Senator Oppenheimer. Senator Dollinger was 20 next in line here. 21 Senator Dollinger, why do you 22 rise? 23 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 24 President, I'm willing to yield to Senator 25 Oppenheimer. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 Dollinger, do you wish the floor? 3 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I would yield 4 to Senator Oppenheimer. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6 Dollinger, do you wish the floor at this point? 7 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I do. I wish 8 to be recognized. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 10 Dollinger. 11 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Could I now 12 yield to Senator Oppenheimer? 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: No. 14 Senator Dollinger, do you wish the floor or 15 not? 16 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I'll take the 17 floor, Mr. President. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 19 Dollinger. 20 SENATOR DOLLINGER: If Senator 21 Present would yield to a question. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 23 Present, do you yield to a question from Senator 24 Dollinger? The Senator yields. 25 SENATOR PRESENT: Certainly. 1 SENATOR DOLLINGER: As I 2 understand it, Senator Present, this refers to 3 containing information supplied by the small 4 business to the corporation but the records that 5 will actually be exempt are information -- is 6 information that's funded by the state of New 7 York, is that correct? 8 SENATOR PRESENT: No, I don't 9 believe that's true. The small business and - 10 the small business in this is referred to as one 11 who employs less than 100 people. They provide 12 the information of what they're doing, what 13 their needs are to meet a new regulation, a 14 stricter combination of regulations to meet the 15 air quality and water qualities of New York 16 State. 17 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again through 18 you, Mr. President. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 20 Present, do you continue to yield? 21 SENATOR PRESENT: Yes. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 23 Senator continues to yield. 24 SENATOR DOLLINGER: So I 25 understand the process, Senator Present, someone 1 applies for state money for multi-media 2 environmental assistance which includes studies, 3 investigations and analyses, technical 4 assistance, advice and related activities that 5 are provided to the small business by the 6 Economic Development Corporation, correct, or by 7 the Environmental Facilities Corporation? 8 SENATOR PRESENT: Correct. 9 SENATOR DOLLINGER: That's 10 correct. So this is all state money that we 11 expend to help the small business, correct? 12 (Senator Present nods head.) 13 SENATOR DOLLINGER: And such 14 multi-media environmental assistance involves 15 either hazardous waste, solid waste, air 16 emissions and water discharges, is that 17 correct? 18 SENATOR PRESENT: Correct. 19 SENATOR DOLLINGER: And the - 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Dollinger. 22 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Yes, Mr. 23 President. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 Present, do you continue to yield? The Senator 1 continues to yield. 2 SENATOR DOLLINGER: And what this 3 intends to do is to say that the information 4 given to us by the small business which we then 5 incorporate into those studies, in other words, 6 we spend taxpayer money to do all of those 7 studies, that that information that the small 8 business gives us is exempt from disclosure? 9 SENATOR PRESENT: Correct. 10 SENATOR DOLLINGER: How can - 11 through you, Mr. President, if Senator - 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 Present, do you continue to yield? 14 SENATOR PRESENT: Yes. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 16 Senator continues to yield. 17 SENATOR DOLLINGER: How can 18 someone determine whether the state's money has 19 been properly spent without knowing what the 20 small business -- what the information that the 21 small business has given them about their solid 22 waste, hazardous waste, air emissions and water 23 discharges? How can you judge whether it's been 24 properly spent? 25 SENATOR PRESENT: I think we 1 leave those up to the administration of the 2 program. 3 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again through 4 you, Mr. President, if Senator Present - 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6 Present, do you continue to yield? 7 SENATOR PRESENT: Sure. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 9 Senator continues to yield. 10 SENATOR DOLLINGER: In other 11 words, just so I make sure I understand it. The 12 small business gives us a lot of information 13 about all of these environmental issues. We 14 spend a chunk of money developing technical 15 assistance for them based on what they tell us 16 and we produce a report or a multi-media 17 environmental assistance, whatever it may be. 18 My question is, how can a 19 watchdog or the government or anyone determine 20 whether that money has been properly spent, the 21 people's tax money has been properly spent 22 without being able for the public to know what 23 information was given by the small business and 24 if there's a qualification -- for example, if 25 there's a qualification, you have to have such 1 and such a problem in order to qualify for the 2 grant. You have to have a water discharge 3 problem or an air emission problem and the small 4 business gives a bunch of data to the state of 5 New York and says, I want technical assistance 6 and then someone in the Department of 7 Environmental Facilities Corporation says, we'll 8 give you that assistance. The question is did 9 they qualify? How could the public make a 10 judgment as to whether or not they qualified if 11 they didn't know what the information was that 12 was supplied by the small business? They 13 couldn't, could they? 14 SENATOR PRESENT: No. 15 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Okay. 16 Through you, Mr. President, on the bill. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 18 Dollinger, on the bill. 19 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I appreciate 20 Senator Oppenheimer's guidance with respect to 21 the environmental issues that may be involved 22 here, but quite candidly, Senator Present, it 23 seems there's a fiscally conservative reason to 24 be against this bill too, which is that when 25 someone provides data to the state of New York 1 and the state of New York takes that data and 2 spends public money, not my money, not your 3 money, everybody's money, to help that business, 4 be it big or small, to comply with state and 5 federal laws, to comply with regulations, it 6 seems to me that subject to the trade secret 7 protections, subject to the protections which 8 are already in the Freedom of Information Act, 9 which are time tested, challenged in the courts, 10 reasonably well established in this state, 11 subject to those restrictions, that is, we won't 12 give away their trade secrets, it seems to me 13 you strip away from the public the ability to 14 determine whether the money's properly spent if 15 you don't allow them to determine whether the 16 small businesses met the threshold. 17 That's what I've heard on the 18 floor today and it seems to me that a good 19 fiscal conservative would stand there and say, 20 well, the public should be able to find out what 21 the small business gave to the state of New York 22 to determine whether it properly expended its 23 money in technical assistance. 24 It seems to me it's not an 25 unusual request to simply require that subject 1 to trade secrets, if it's something that should 2 be protected under the law, it already is, but 3 for the most part, that information should be 4 available to anyone that wants to find out 5 whether the public's money is being properly 6 spent. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 8 Secretary will read the last section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 10 act shall take effect immediately. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 12 roll. 13 (The Secretary called the roll.) 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 15 the negatives and announce the results when 16 tabulated. Announce the results. 17 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 18 the negative on Calendar Number 1126 are 19 Senators Breslin, Connor, Dollinger, Gold, 20 Kruger, Lachman, Leibell, Leichter, Markowitz, 21 Mendez, Montgomery, Nanula, Onorato, 22 Oppenheimer, Paterson, Sampson, Seabrook, Smith, 23 Stavisky and Waldon. Ayes 39, nays 20. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 25 is passed. 1 Senator Mendez, why do you rise? 2 SENATOR MENDEZ: Mr. President, I 3 was out of the chamber. I wish to have 4 unanimous consent to be recorded in the negative 5 on bill Calendar Number 853. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 7 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Holland 8 -- excuse me-- Senator Mendez will be recorded 9 in the negative on Calendar Number 853. 10 Senator Waldon, why do you rise? 11 SENATOR WALDON: Mr. President, I 12 respectfully request to be recorded in the 13 negative on Calendar Number 838. I was out of 14 the chamber on other necessary business on 15 behalf of the people. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 17 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Waldon 18 will be recorded in the negative on Calendar 19 Number 838. 20 The Secretary will read Calendar 21 Number 1081 on the controversial calendar. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 1081, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 5523, an 24 act to amend the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, 25 in relation to modifying the list. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 2 Secretary will read the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 4 This act - 5 SENATOR PADAVAN: Mr. President. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Excuse 7 me. Senator Padavan, why do you rise? 8 SENATOR PADAVAN: Mr. President, 9 I would simply like to comment on the bill. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 11 Padavan. 12 SENATOR PADAVAN: Thank you. 13 What this bill would allow is if 14 a bar, a liquor license was given - 15 SENATOR GOODMAN: Mr. President, 16 excuse me. Mr. President. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 18 Goodman, why do you rise? 19 SENATOR GOODMAN: I rise because 20 I believe an explanation was requested of the 21 bill, and I would like to explain. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: An 23 explanation has not been requested, but if 24 Senator Padavan would like to request - 25 SENATOR PADAVAN: I defer to 1 Senator Goodman. 2 SENATOR GOODMAN: I think that it 3 might be well if the sponsor explained this 4 bill. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6 Goodman, an explanation has been requested. 7 SENATOR GOODMAN: Thank you. I'm 8 honored. 9 Mr. President, this bill is 10 brought before us at the request of the 11 Governor. It's a program bill and it comes from 12 the State Liquor Authority. It's an act to 13 amend the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, in 14 relation to modifying the list of instances when 15 the alteration of a licensed premises must be 16 approved by the State Liquor Authority. 17 It eliminates the requirement 18 that an application to alter a licensed premises 19 be filed with and approved by the State Liquor 20 Authority when any physical change to the 21 exterior of the licensed premises involves the 22 creation or relocation of any window or door, 23 any change in the physical structure that 24 existed at the time of licensing and any 25 enlargement or contraction of dining or kitchen 1 facilities is occurring. 2 The existing law provides that if 3 the alterations described above as well as any 4 alteration reduces visibility or any change in 5 the interior of a licensed premises that 6 materially affects the character of the premises 7 and in cases of premises licensed for on-premise 8 consumption, any change in the size or location 9 of any bar may not be effectuated until an 10 application is filed. 11 In short, this is an effort to 12 cut red tape and to permit alterations to be 13 made without an attenuated bureaucratic 14 procedure which often the result is great delay 15 and great financial hardship to the owners of 16 bars and for that reason, yes, I would like to 17 yield to Senator Padavan. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 19 Padavan. 20 SENATOR PADAVAN: Thank you, Mr. 21 President. 22 Senator Goodman's reading of the 23 bill engenders a very significant contradiction 24 in terms of what this bill would do. 25 To put it in a context that I 1 think might be more understandable, if a 2 premises were to seek a license, an 3 establishment that would be predominantly a 4 restaurant where perhaps 80 percent of the floor 5 space would be dining tables with an entrance 6 that would be appropriate to that type of 7 facility, and a recommendation which is 8 requested by the SLA from the local governing 9 body in the city of New York, its community 10 planning boards outside the city of New York, 11 its other local entities, they would take a look 12 at that configuration and perhaps within the 13 area specified feel it would be appropriate. 14 Now, in the city of New York we 15 have many commercial strips surrounded one side 16 or the other by residences, sometimes private 17 homes, sometimes apartments and where the 18 Community Planning Board might look with favor 19 upon a restaurant opening up, where alcoholic 20 beverages is a small component but obviously an 21 appropriate one, under this provision, after 22 such a proprietor would get a license, a year 23 later he would be allowed to eliminate virtually 24 all of the dining and turn it into a 25 full-fledged bar, change the entrance, change 1 the awning, do all of those things, even though 2 the remaining law talks about the character of 3 the establishment. The contradiction there is 4 obvious. That place would have a remarkable 5 change in character. 6 In the city of New York taverns 7 or bars are allowed to stay open and serve to 8 4:00 a.m. Before they empty out, the sun is 9 rising and in many communities too many bars and 10 activities associated with them are a problem. 11 It would seem to me that if a 12 change of the type that I describe were to take 13 place, that the local governing body or the 14 Community Planning Board of the city of New York 15 should have an opportunity to be notified and to 16 comment and that's why I feel this bill does not 17 make sense and would be unwise to enact. 18 SENATOR GOLD: Mr. President. 19 SENATOR GOODMAN: Mr. President. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Goodman. 22 SENATOR GOODMAN: May I respond 23 briefly to Senator Padavan by simply reminding 24 him that earlier this year, Senator, we passed 25 Senate Bill 3680 which was signed into law by 1 the Governor and one of the provisions of that 2 bill prevented, first of all, the -- it removed 3 the restrictions on on-premise licensees having 4 any covering preventing a clear view into the 5 premises from the sidewalks. It would also 6 remove the restrictions on swinging doors, 7 boxes, stalls, partitions or any obstructions 8 that prevent a full view of the entire room by 9 any person present. Now, while it's not 10 directly related to the present bill, this bill 11 would permit licensees to make the changes now 12 already permitted without application to the 13 State Liquor Authority for approval. 14 So what's at stake here is not 15 whether they have permission to make changes but 16 rather whether it's necessary in making these 17 changes to apply to the State Liquor Authority 18 for approval. 19 SENATOR PADAVAN: Senator, would 20 you yield to a question? 21 SENATOR GOODMAN: Yeah, sure. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 23 Senator yields. 24 SENATOR PADAVAN: In the bill, 25 without any input from anyone, without there 1 having to go back to the SLA which would then 2 involve obviously a public awareness, under your 3 bill, they could make any enlargement or 4 contraction of dining and kitchen facilities, 5 meaning that they could virtually eliminate the 6 dining room leaving perhaps a couple tables and 7 turn that establishment into a full-fledged bar 8 in every respect and all the problems that some 9 of them engender particularly in residential 10 communities. That's what this bill does. 11 It also says it would provide for 12 an opportunity for the owner to make any 13 physical -- any physical change to the exterior 14 of the licensed premise that involves the 15 creation or relocation of any window or door. 16 So where you might have a very tasteful entrance 17 to an acceptable restaurant, now you have 18 something quite different which a community 19 might find objectionable. 20 So with due respect to the 21 statute that you referred to that was signed by 22 the Governor, we are dealing with the bill 23 before us now and this bill presents problems 24 and would present problems in communities that I 25 represent that currently are attempting, 1 sometimes successfully, sometimes 2 unsuccessfully, to deal with a proliferation of 3 bars and taverns and the problems that some of 4 them produce. 5 SENATOR GOLD: Mr. President. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The Chair 7 recognizes Senator Gold. 8 SENATOR GOLD: Thank you. 9 Mr. President, I have great 10 respect for my colleague from Queens, but I 11 think he's misreading this bill and I intend to 12 support Senator Goodman's bill. 13 The section of law that we're 14 dealing with is a section which was amended a 15 number years ago and I'm glad to say that I 16 carried that law, which said that if you had 17 smaller alterations, we would not have to bother 18 the Liquor Authority at all. 19 Now the Liquor Authority, which 20 is overworked and which is trying to get its 21 ducks in order, says that this is one area where 22 they don't have to be bothered. If you're 23 making alterations and you are not changing the 24 character, there was always concerns about 25 whether you could see in a premises and Senator 1 Goodman protects that in his language and it 2 seems to me if an agency which should be 3 protecting the public as Senator Padavan points 4 out is telling us that there is some kind of 5 paperwork that they don't need done in order to 6 protect the public so their employees can spend 7 more time weeding out the bad premises and 8 weeding out organized crime or all the things 9 that people talk about, giving them more time to 10 handle enforcement provisions of the law, I 11 don't know why we should be fighting the 12 Governor and fighting this agency. 13 There are many of us over the 14 years, and Senator Goodman, I'm glad to say is 15 one of them, who have tried very hard to get 16 this agency into such a condition that it takes 17 care of that industry, protects the good people 18 in the industry and weeds out the bad. 19 I think that Senator Padavan is 20 someone who is concerned and I respect that, but 21 I think it is really stretching this bill out of 22 proportion to think that this is going to do 23 damage to the communities. It defines what is 24 substantial in terms of changes. If there are 25 substantial changes, certain things have to be 1 done. 2 Under the law that was amended 3 prior to this, we said that even if it wasn't 4 more than $10,000, you had to make an 5 application if it was certain kinds of things. 6 All Senator Goodman's bill does 7 is to help save some paperwork that the Liquor 8 Authority itself believes is unnecessary. 9 SENATOR PADAVAN: Mr. President, 10 will Senator Gold yield to a question? 11 SENATOR GOLD: Yes. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 Gold, do you yield to a question? 14 SENATOR GOLD: Yes. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 16 Senator yields. 17 SENATOR PADAVAN: Senator, if 18 I've heard you once, I've heard you a thousand 19 times make a statement that let's read the bill 20 and go by the words on -- thereon and what we 21 are about to vote on. 22 SENATOR GOLD: Is that the 23 question? 24 SENATOR PADAVAN: No. It's a 25 preface to the question. So now I'm going to 1 ask you to read the bill. Any physical change 2 to the exterior, any. That could be anything. 3 Any change in the structure that existed at the 4 time of the licensing and any enlargement or 5 contraction. 6 Now, I would suggest to you that 7 that's a big barn door to go through and 8 whatever - 9 SENATOR GOLD: What about the 10 rest of the language? 11 SENATOR PADAVAN: Senator, the 12 rest of the language, you can read it if you 13 wish. 14 SENATOR GOLD: But the rest of 15 the - 16 SENATOR PADAVAN: I'm pointing 17 out - 18 SENATOR GOLD: I'm sorry. 19 SENATOR PADAVAN: If you want me 20 to read the entire bill, I will. 21 SENATOR GOLD: I'm sorry. 22 SENATOR PADAVAN: I'm pointing 23 out to you the areas that I perceive or the 24 communities that I represent as potential 25 problems. When you, in effect, can allow a 1 licensed premise, which is unique in many ways 2 in terms of what goes on and the fact that a 3 full-fledged bar, as you know, the city of New 4 York, is open to 4:00 a.m. as I discussed 5 earlier and things of that sort, if you are 6 allowing them in an unlimited fashion to go from 7 what might be primarily a restaurant to now 8 primarily a bar in a commercial strip surrounded 9 by residences, I think you have something that's 10 significant and all we are allowing -- all I'm 11 actually asking for is for there to be notice of 12 that change. 13 We're not prohibiting it. I'm 14 not saying that they can't do it, but what this 15 bill does, it eliminates any public awareness of 16 these potential changes by the licensee, and I 17 think that's fundamentally wrong. 18 If they were -- if they were 19 allowed to be aware of it, if they were allowed 20 the opportunity for input at the outset, when a 21 significant change is made, I think they are 22 entitled to the same opportunity. 23 SENATOR GOLD: Mr. President, I 24 didn't hear the question mark, but I would be 25 glad to respond to it. 1 SENATOR PADAVAN: Well, there is 2 one. 3 SENATOR GOLD: I'll be glad to 4 respond. 5 SENATOR PADAVAN: Put it wherever 6 you wish. 7 SENATOR GOLD: Good. Senator, 8 the reason why I wanted you to read the whole 9 bill is because if you read all the language, 10 you'll find out that this bill does no damage. 11 This bill starts out by saying if 12 you're going to make a substantial alteration, 13 you must file with the Liquor Authority. 14 Senator Goodman doesn't change that. He doesn't 15 change it at all, but it says under the old law 16 that a substantial change will be a change, et 17 cetera, et cetera, that affects visibility and 18 what Senator Goodman is saying is as long as 19 you're not affecting the visibility, which is 20 what the Liquor Authority always was concerned 21 about -- the Liquor Authority was concerned that 22 if you had a premises, they could walk along the 23 street and look into the premises and make sure 24 that the activities were legal. That's what it 25 was all about. So they didn't want you to be 1 able to change doors or windows because you 2 might be able to obstruct Liquor Authority 3 employees from doing their job. Senator Goodman 4 takes care of that. Senator Goodman leaves in 5 language that says "that reduces the visibility 6 that exists at the time of the licensing." So 7 he takes care of that. 8 Then it goes on and talks about 9 certain physical changes but he leaves in the 10 words which say that -- where is it -- "or any 11 changes in the" -- et cetera, et cetera -- hold 12 it -- "that changes the character of the 13 premises." 14 So the point of the matter is 15 that all that's been done here is Senator 16 Goodman protects the character of the premises. 17 He protects that if you make a substantial 18 change, you must file with the Liquor 19 Authority. That is not changed under this law. 20 All it's saying is if you make certain kinds of 21 changes and they are not substantial and they 22 don't exceed $10,000, you don't have to do the 23 paperwork. There's nothing wrong with that 24 amendment. 25 SENATOR PADAVAN: Mr. President. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 Padavan, why do you rise? 3 SENATOR PADAVAN: Senator Gold, 4 would you yield? 5 Senator Gold, I heard you and I 6 read that part of the bill and you were here 7 when I first commented. I said there's a 8 contradiction in this bill and the contradiction 9 lies between what you just read, change in the 10 character and what is permitted by the bill. 11 My question to you is simply 12 this: If you are allowed to enlarge or contract 13 without any limitations, which is what this bill 14 provides for, there is no limitation either in 15 dollar value or in square footage. Is that not 16 significant in terms of a change? 17 If you were allowed to change the 18 entrance irrespective of the window, is that not 19 significant? If you were allowed to make a 20 physical change that involves the creation or 21 relocation of any window or door, is that not a 22 significant change? And some, Senator, are not 23 these provisions that are allowed if this became 24 law significant in nature? 25 SENATOR GOLD: The answer is no 1 and I'll explain why. If somebody has a door to 2 a premises and they change that door for under 3 $10,000, they have not ruined the community, all 4 right? All this bill says is that under 5 existing law, even if the change of the door 6 would have cost $3,000, you have to bother the 7 Liquor Authority. 8 What Senator Goodman is saying is 9 if you're not affecting the visibility in the 10 premises and you're not spending more than 11 $10,000, who cares if the change the bill? 12 This bill also says something 13 else. Under existing law, you are not permitted 14 to change the size of a bar in a restaurant no 15 matter how much it costs. So you have somebody 16 and they've got a six-foot bar, they want to 17 make it seven feet, maybe adding that one foot 18 costs $500, under consist existing law, you have 19 to go to the Liquor Authority. Senator Goodman 20 says if you're not spending more than $10,000 21 and if you're not affecting the overall 22 character, you don't have to go. There's no 23 contradiction in Senator Goodman's bill. 24 Senator Goodman's bill is 25 protecting the community. It's protecting the 1 character of the establishment. It is 2 protecting the $10,000 limit. It's just saying 3 that instead of specifying some specifics, which 4 are no longer important and which would cut back 5 on the paperwork, this bill from the Authority, 6 the Pataki-Goodman-Gold bill does really no harm 7 and from here on ask Goodman to answer the 8 questions. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 10 Secretary will read the last section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 12 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 13 President, may I be heard on the bill? 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Excuse 15 me. Senator Dollinger, do you wish to speak on 16 the bill? 17 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Yes, Mr. 18 President. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 20 Dollinger, on the bill. 21 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I rise to 22 support my colleague from Queens. He's right on 23 the nose again and that's why I'm going to vote 24 with Senator Padavan, because the way I read the 25 bill, what it says is it says that you can 1 change the character of a licensed premises from 2 largely a restaurant to largely a bar without 3 the kind of community notice and notification 4 that you need. 5 I think that's a significant 6 change. I think it affects the neighborhoods. 7 It certainly affects the neighborhoods in the 8 19th ward in the city of Rochester where I live. 9 SENATOR GOLD: Mr. President. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 11 Gold, why do you rise? 12 SENATOR GOLD: Will the 13 distinguished gentleman from Rochester yield to 14 a question? 15 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Absolutely, 16 Mr. President. 17 SENATOR GOLD: Senator, is it 18 your position that under existing law if someone 19 in your community who had a restaurant, without 20 spending a dime, decided not to use those tables 21 and, without spending a dime, decided that they 22 wanted to have music, if that's allowed by your 23 local law and if they wanted to have some 24 dancing -- now, in New York you might need a 25 different kind of license, a cabaret license but 1 you wouldn't have to spend any money -- are you 2 saying that they couldn't do that under existing 3 law? 4 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 5 President, the way I read existing law, the way 6 this bill is drafted, the way the current law is 7 drafted, what it says is that it will consider 8 -- it will constitute a substantial alteration 9 in the case of establishments licensed for 10 consumption on the premises if any enlargement 11 or contraction of the dining or kitchen 12 facilities occurs. I interpret that to mean 13 that if you have fewer tables or if you have a 14 smaller restaurant operation, that you have to 15 go back and it's a substantial alteration. 16 That's what the current law says. It triggers 17 the kind of notification provisions that Senator 18 Padavan has made reference to and it seems to me 19 that if we're going to change the character of 20 the small restaurant and bar into a small bar 21 with a tiny restaurant, that that's a change in 22 the character of the operation and it should go 23 to the licensing authority for approval. 24 I don't think that's 25 unreasonable. I agree with Senator Padavan. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 Gold. 3 SENATOR GOLD: Yeah, Mr. 4 President. Just for the edification of my 5 colleague, if you have a restaurant and you add 6 or subtract a few tables, you are not enlarging 7 or decreasing the dining facilities. They are 8 talking about moving walls. They are talking 9 about structural changes. That is what the word 10 "alteration" means. Adding a table is not an 11 alteration. 12 And I want to thank Senator 13 Goodman for giving us the opportunity to have 14 this dialogue while he's over there enjoying 15 myself, and I would urge my colleagues to not 16 only support the bill but to please aim your 17 volleys at the sponsor. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 19 Paterson, why do you rise? 20 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 21 I know I'm addressing the chamber, but I 22 specifically address these remarks to Senator 23 Connor, wherever he may be. Only this 24 conference, only this conference would watch a 25 dispute between two members of the Majority and 1 take the fight over there to over here. I'm 2 sitting here and I'm going to wait outside until 3 this is over. (Laughter) 4 SENATOR GOODMAN: Mr. President. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6 Paterson, you're excused. 7 Senator Goldman -- or Senator 8 Goodman, why do you rise? 9 SENATOR GOODMAN: I rise to make 10 a further comment, Mr. President. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Might I 12 remind the members of the chamber that the rules 13 only allow members to speak twice on a bill. 14 SENATOR GOODMAN: May I explain 15 my vote, Mr. President? 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 17 Secretary will read the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 19 act shall take effect immediately. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 21 roll. 22 (The Secretary called the roll.) 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 24 the negatives, and the Chair recognizes Senator 25 Goodman to explain his vote. 1 SENATOR GOODMAN: I would like to 2 make two observations in explanation of my vote, 3 Mr. President. 4 First of all, I would like to say 5 that it would be my honor to suggest to the 6 Governor that he designate Senator Gold upon his 7 retirement from this chamber which we all regret 8 -- Senator Gold, I'm going to nominate you to 9 be the commissioner of the State Liquor 10 Authority. Thank you for the obvious indication 11 of your high credentials in this area and 12 secondly, I'm reminded of a little thing that I 13 learned when I was a kid on the block. There's 14 an old expression that used to run something 15 like this. Want to fight me, buddy? Meet me 16 buddy. Senator Gold, you're me buddy. 17 Thank you very much. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Announce 19 the results when tabulated. 20 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 21 the negative on Calendar Number 1081 are 22 Senators Dollinger, Fuschillo, Hannon, Maltese, 23 Marcellino, Montgomery, Onorato, Padavan, Skelos 24 and Stavisky. Ayes 49, nays 10. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 1 is passed. 2 The Secretary will continue to 3 read the controversial calendar. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 1162, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 6091, an 6 act to amend the Education Law, in relation to 7 fostering compliance. 8 SENATOR LEICHTER: Explanation. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 10 Larkin, an explanation has been requested by 11 Senator Leichter. 12 SENATOR LARKIN: Yes, Mr. 13 President. 14 This is a very simple bill. This 15 bill would require registration with selective 16 service as a precondition to receipt of New York 17 State aid for higher education. 18 Since 1982, the federal 19 government has conditioned the receipt of 20 federal grants for higher education upon a male 21 applicant's register with the selective 22 service. There are -- 21 states have taken that 23 lead to date. New York would be the 22nd. It's 24 very simple. If you want money from the state, 25 just register. 1 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 2 will Senator Larkin yield, please? 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 Larkin, do you yield to a question from Senator 5 Leichter? 6 SENATOR LARKIN: My good 7 colleague from the City, yes. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 9 Senator yields. 10 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, I'm 11 just interested why we would use as leverage the 12 state making educational grants in this 13 particular area, that is, registering for 14 selective service and not in other areas. For 15 instance, how about -- Senator, why didn't you 16 provide that those who want to apply for 17 education aid from the state of New York also 18 have to certify that they filed their income 19 taxes? 20 SENATOR LARKIN: Well, very 21 simple. There's a federal law that provides for 22 registration for selective service. There's a 23 federal requirement if you want federal dollars 24 for education that you must have registered. 25 It's a simple matter. 21 states have done it. 1 We would be the 22nd and according to national 2 authorities there's about 10 or 12 others that 3 are doing it. 4 You could make any arguments you 5 would like to make on it but this is very 6 simple. Young males who attain an age register 7 for selective service. They cannot obtain 8 federal grants if they don't. We just want to 9 be in conformity with them. 10 SENATOR LEICHTER: Well, Senator, 11 if you would be good enough to continue to 12 yield. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 Larkin, do you continue to yield? 15 SENATOR LARKIN: Yes. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 17 Senator continues to yield. 18 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, I'm 19 not sure that -- I understand why you did 20 selective service. I don't understand why you 21 didn't do income taxes and maybe some other 22 obligations of citizenship. 23 Now, your answer is, well, the 24 federal government does it. Well, certainly. 25 It's a federal law. Selective service is a 1 federal law. Income taxes, state income taxes 2 is a state law. Why don't you show as great a 3 concern for enforcing the state laws as you do 4 of rushing to the federal government and say, 5 Hey, Uncle Sam, let me help you. That's my 6 question. 7 SENATOR LARKIN: Do you really 8 believe that's a good piece of legislation? 9 SENATOR LEICHTER: Your 10 legislation? No, I don't think it's good. 11 SENATOR LARKIN: What you're 12 proposing is to use it for income tax purposes. 13 Do you believe it's a good idea? 14 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator - 15 SENATOR LARKIN: If you put it 16 in, I'll co-sponsor it. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 18 Gentlemen, I would appreciate it if you're going 19 to have a dialogue, that you take it outside the 20 chamber. If you want to have a debate, let's go 21 through the Chair. 22 Do you ask the Senator to 23 continue to yield, Senator Leichter, or would 24 you like to speak on the bill? 25 SENATOR LEICHTER: I will, and 1 may I say that I've done foolish things, but I 2 would never ask Senator Larkin to step outside. 3 Senator -- but, Senator, I'm just 4 trying to see, are we having a particular 5 problem? Do you know the percentage of students 6 that have applied for education aid in the state 7 of New York who have not registered for 8 selective service? 9 SENATOR LARKIN: Well, you know, 10 selective service -- I have a memo here from the 11 Selective Service System which was the basis for 12 our looking at this legislation and it ranks the 13 50 states where they're at and we're about 14 one-third in compliance with the requirements of 15 selective service. 16 We believe that this is very 17 simple. It enables us to be in full compliance 18 and it enables us to ensure that the 19 requirements for registration -- it's a matter 20 of a simple form -- can model it after the 21 federal portion of it. It's not a big deal and 22 I personally cannot see why anybody in this 23 chamber and the other chamber or any of the 24 others who don't have compliance would find it a 25 problem for a young male who is required by 1 federal law to register and if he doesn't 2 register, he should not be entitled to it, 3 period. 4 SENATOR LEICHTER: Would Senator 5 Larkin continue to yield, please? 6 SENATOR LARKIN: Yes, Mr. 7 President. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 9 Senator continues to yield. 10 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, has 11 the Selective Service System or particularly the 12 Defense Department come to the state of New 13 York, come to you and said, We need help. The 14 registration with selective service in the state 15 of New York is poor. We're not able to enforce 16 the federal laws. Please help us. Have they 17 done that? 18 SENATOR LARKIN: Yeah. We've 19 received from the Selective Service Region 3 and 20 we've also received it from Selective Service 21 Region 1, Major General Rosetta Y. Burke, 22 retired state director for New York. 23 SENATOR LEICHTER: And, Senator, 24 would you tell us what this distinguished 25 official said. 1 SENATOR LARKIN: She would like 2 us to enact legislation as done in 21 other 3 states to put us in line with having young 4 people who -- males who want to, who are 5 required to register for the selective service 6 to sign up, period. 7 SENATOR LEICHTER: Okay. 8 Senator, am I correct that the Defense 9 Department which oversees the Selective Service 10 System, I believe, has not asked the state of 11 New York -- has not come and said, We can't 12 enforce the federal laws. We look to you, the 13 state of New York, to help us? 14 SENATOR LARKIN: You know, first 15 of all, the Department of Defense doesn't run 16 the Selective Service System. 17 SENATOR LEICHTER: Well, the 18 Selective Service System is run out of 19 Washington. I believe it's under the Department 20 of Defense, but whoever it is, other than some 21 retired official having written you a letter, 22 has the system as such come and said to the 23 state of New York -- have they come to the 24 Governor, for instance, and said, Governor, 25 we're in real trouble. We can't enforce federal 1 laws in the state of New York. Will you help 2 us? Have they done that? 3 SENATOR LARKIN: You know, two 4 things. We met with a representative of the 5 Selective Service System who came to visit us, 6 General Burke, who some in this chamber knows, a 7 very distinguished member of the state guard for 8 a number of years, General Burke said, quite 9 honestly, we are trying nationally to comply 10 with the federal law and we would like your 11 assistance. We have contacted every state in 12 the Union. There are 21 states that have done 13 it. New York would be 22 and there are 12 other 14 states that hope to enact it during this term. 15 This isn't pressure. You know, I 16 have to be honest with you. I cannot understand 17 your rationale in saying that you're trying to 18 fight or that we're trying to pressure or that 19 we're trying to do something for somebody else. 20 In effect, what we're really doing is trying to 21 encourage people who attain the age of 18 that 22 are required by federal law to register and an 23 incentive for them is to say, Hey, if you don't 24 register, you're not going to get any federal 25 aid and if you don't register, you're not going 1 to get any New York State aid. I -- for the 2 life of me, I cannot understand your negative 3 arguments about assisting our people in doing 4 what they're required to do. 5 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 6 I thank my good friend, Senator Larkin, for his 7 explanation. I understand his motive. 8 Let's be perfectly clear. I 9 think all of us want young people who have to 10 register for the Selective Service System to do 11 so. It's the law. Whether you agree with the 12 universal registration or not, it's the law of 13 the land and it should be obeyed, but I don't 14 know any other instance where we condition state 15 assistance and even you could -- you could call 16 it more than state assistance, an entitlement 17 program that's available to the people of the 18 state of New York if they qualify, where we 19 condition that aid upon conformity with state - 20 with national laws. 21 Now, there are a lot of national 22 laws that we might decide are important. One of 23 them I pointed out is certainly filing income 24 taxes. Even more important is, of course, 25 filing New York State income taxes, but we don't 1 condition -- you don't come in here with a bill 2 and say that they have to certify that they 3 filed their income taxes. You don't come in and 4 say certify that they're not in violation of any 5 other laws of the state of New York or of the 6 national government, and I guess what bothers me 7 in this respect is that, one, that the state of 8 New York should decide on its own really, we're 9 going to enforce the federal laws. The federal 10 government does a pretty good job of enforcing 11 federal laws. 12 Secondly, we're in an area where 13 there's no particular problem. I haven't read 14 that there's a big difficulty that young people 15 in this state of New York are not registering as 16 they're required. 17 Thirdly, to be very honest with 18 you, Senator Larkin, this sort of seems like a 19 throwback to what was happening in the 1960s, in 20 the 1970s. It's like a hangover from the 21 debates that we used to have over the Vietnam 22 War, when we know that many people didn't 23 register and there was a national dispute. 24 People stated their objections very strongly and 25 some did so by refusing to register, but that's 1 behind us. 2 I mean, there's a, to my mind, 3 sort of singling out this area sort of to show 4 and compel patriotism when we don't do it 5 anywhere else. We've had similar bills, I think 6 maybe a little more broadly than yours were 7 drawn. I think Senator Johnson used to propose 8 those bills and maybe they were yours that 9 prohibited admission to, I think, state 10 universities unless you showed that you complied 11 with the registration requirements under 12 selective service, and I know many of us felt it 13 was just wrong to single out this particular 14 law, a federal law, and make it a condition for 15 receiving privileges or rights, however you want 16 to call them, that are available to every person 17 in the state of New York, and that's why I'm 18 going to vote against this bill. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 20 Secretary will read the last section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 22 act shall take effect on the first day of 23 January. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 Stavisky, did you wish to explain your vote? 1 SENATOR STAVISKY: Yes. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 3 Secretary will call the roll. 4 (The Secretary called the roll.) 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The Chair 6 recognizes Senator Stavisky, to explain his 7 vote. 8 SENATOR STAVISKY: I think there 9 is drastic confusion between something that is 10 an issue of state government and something that 11 is mandated by the federal government. It is 12 absolute confusion. That troubles me. 13 Why don't we require before 14 anyone is eligible to receive federal aid in 15 business show that there was compliance with 16 this provision of the federal law? We don't do 17 it in that area, and I think it's an absolute 18 mistake for the state of New York in the area of 19 aid to otherwise qualify applicants for state 20 funding to be required to show compliance with 21 this provision of federal law. 22 It's a mistake, Senator, a 23 dreadful mistake to confuse these two things, to 24 have this as a condition for receiving state 25 assistance. If there is a state law that is 1 being violated, that's one thing, but this is 2 not a violation of state law. It's a violation 3 of federal law and we ought to ask the federal 4 government to enforce its own laws and not to 5 require the state of New York to jump into 6 compliance. 7 I'm going to oppose this 8 legislation as irresponsible meddling by the 9 federal government in the state of New York's 10 business, and I don't think that was Senator 11 Larkin's purpose but that's the net effect of 12 what he's doing in this area. 13 It should be defeated. We should 14 say that Washington has no right to manipulate 15 the state of New York and its policies. Let the 16 federal government find other ways of achieving 17 compliance with federal law. 18 I'm going to vote in the 19 negative. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Stavisky will be recorded in the negative. 22 Announce the results. 23 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 24 the negative on Calendar Number 1162 are 25 Senators Gold, Leichter, Mendez, Paterson, 1 Seabrook, Smith and Stavisky. Ayes 52, nays 7. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 3 is passed. 4 Senator Skelos, that completes 5 the reading of the controversial calendar. 6 Senator Seabrook, why do you 7 rise? 8 SENATOR SEABROOK: Yes, Mr. 9 President. With unanimous consent, I was not in 10 the room when Bill 838 was called, and I would 11 like to be recorded in the negative on Calendar 12 838. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 14 objection, hearing no objection, Senator 15 Seabrook will be recorded in the negative on 16 Calendar Number 838. 17 Senator Sampson, why do you 18 rise? 19 SENATOR SAMPSON: Mr. President, 20 I would like unanimous consent to be recorded in 21 the negative on Bill Number 838. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 23 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Sampson 24 will be recorded in the negative on Calendar 25 Number 838. 1 Senator Smith, why do you rise? 2 SENATOR SMITH: Mr. President, I 3 would request unanimous consent to be recorded 4 in the negative on Calendar Number 838. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 6 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Smith 7 will be recorded in the negative on Calendar 8 Number 838. 9 Senator Montgomery, why do you 10 rise? 11 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Mr. 12 President, I would like unanimous consent to be 13 recorded in the negative on Calendars 838 and 14 853. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 16 objection, hearing no objection, Senator 17 Montgomery will be recorded in the negative on 18 Calendars Number 838 and 853. 19 Senator Skelos. 20 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 21 if we could return to motions and resolutions, I 22 ask that Resolution Number 3665 by Senator 23 Maltese, that the title be read and move for its 24 immediate adoption. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We'll 1 return to the order of motions and resolutions. 2 I'll ask the Secretary to read 3 the title to Resolution Number 3665. 4 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 5 Maltese, Legislative Resolution 3665, commending 6 St. John's University Mock Trial Team on their 7 third place finish in the United States in the 8 National Intercollegiate Mock Trial Tournament. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 10 Maltese, on the resolution. 11 SENATOR MALTESE: Mr. President, 12 the hour is late, so I will be brief, but I 13 would be remiss if I did not not only commend 14 the St. John's University Mock Trial Team who 15 have waited patiently here for this recognition 16 by this august body. 17 They are a group of eight 18 students from St. John's University and their 19 two coaches and their two coaches are present 20 here today, Professor Bernie Helldorfer and 21 Professor Oscar Holt III. 22 The members of the St. John's 23 University Mock Trial Team are Adrienne Croker, 24 who also has received significant individual 25 honors, Kelly Frawley, Patrick Lespinasse, 1 Autumn Levine, Milagros Matos, Dakota 2 Springfields, Kareem Vessup, who has also 3 received individual honors and Frances Wang, who 4 is the captain of the team. 5 Mr. President, they are eight 6 students from a prestigious school, St. John's 7 University, the only New York State college to 8 make the national finals and in those finals 9 beating many, many schools, perhaps of less 10 significance like Harvard and others. They 11 achieved a third place finish out of 250 12 colleges competing from across the United 13 States, and I firmly support this resolution and 14 would respectfully ask those members of the team 15 and the coaches to stand. 16 Thank you, Mr. President. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is there 18 any other member wishing to speak on the 19 resolution? 20 Senator Seabrook, on the 21 resolution. 22 SENATOR SEABROOK: Yes, Mr. 23 President. I too would like to commend the 24 students at St. John's and also one of his 25 coaches who is also a Bronxite, Oscar Holt, who 1 also served as a staff member in the Assembly 2 for many years and commend them for their 3 outstanding accomplishment. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Any other 5 member wishing to speak on the resolution? 6 (There was no response.) 7 Hearing none, the question is on 8 the resolution. All those in favor signify by 9 saying aye. 10 (Response of "Aye".) 11 Opposed, nay. 12 (There was no response.) 13 The resolution is adopted. 14 We welcome these members of the 15 St. John's University Mock Trial Team to the 16 chamber, congratulate you on your achievements. 17 Certainly you have a lot to be very, very proud 18 of and thank you for coming and sharing just a 19 couple of moments with the members in the 20 chamber. 21 Will -- the members of the mock 22 trial team I guess are all standing and we would 23 like to recognize you and thank you for your 24 victorious award. 25 (Applause) 1 Senator Skelos. 2 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 3 would you call up Senator Maltese's Resolution 4 3725. I ask that the title be read and move for 5 its immediate adoption. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 7 Secretary will read the title to Resolution 8 3725. 9 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 10 Maltese, Legislative Resolution 3725, honoring 11 the heroic work done by the Bureau of Emergency 12 Medical Services of the New York City Fire 13 Department. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 15 Maltese, on the resolution. 16 SENATOR MALTESE: Mr. President, 17 today is a day of recognizing significant 18 contributions. Also present here today are the 19 officers of the Bureau of Emergency Medical 20 Services of the New York City Fire Department. 21 Certainly a most significant heroic group. 22 They are represented by Local 23 2507 whose new president Kevin Lightsey is 24 present with them. I would simply, Mr. 25 President, like to read just one brief line. 1 "WHEREAS, in 1995, there were 2 close to one and a half million calls, one and 3 one half million calls for emergency medical 4 assistance for New Yorkers. 5 "In 1997 with just 2500 EMTs and 6 paramedics on board, these ambulances responded 7 to approximately two million alarms", two 8 million alarms protecting the lives of New York 9 City residents, Mr. President. 10 "In addition, they save 11 thousands of lives per year and in 1997 suffered 12 the first verified line of duty death as a 13 result of on-duty service." 14 Mr. President, it is my proud 15 honor today to recognize those officers who are 16 present here -- representatives present here in 17 the chamber. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is there 19 any other member wishing to speak on the 20 resolution? 21 (There was no response.) 22 Hearing none, the question is on 23 the Resolution 3725 by Senator Maltese. All 24 those in favor signify by saying aye. 25 (Response of "Aye".) 1 Opposed, nay. 2 (There was no response.) 3 The resolution is adopted. 4 Again, on behalf of Senator 5 Bruno, Senator Maltese and all the members in 6 the chamber, we welcome these distinguished 7 public servants to the chamber and congratulate 8 the members of the Emergency Medical Service of 9 the New York City for the fine job you do. Keep 10 up the good work. We know you'll continue to 11 make us proud. Thank you for joining us in the 12 chamber. 13 (Applause) 14 Senator Skelos. 15 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, I 16 move to adopt the balance of the Resolution 17 Calendar in its entirety. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 19 motion is to adopt the Resolution Calendar 20 that's on the desk of the members with the 21 exception of Resolution 3665 and 3725. 22 Senator Paterson, why do you 23 rise? 24 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 25 I would like to add Resolution Calendar Number 1 3645 to that list that we would consider 2 separately. 3 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President - 4 Senator Paterson, is that in the form of an 5 amendment to my motion or is it a new 6 resolution? 7 SENATOR PATERSON: It's a request 8 and it's an amendment to your motion. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Excuse 10 me. 11 Senator Paterson, can you 12 explicitly state what you're requesting at this 13 point? 14 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 15 what I'm requesting is that I would like to 16 discuss Calendar Number 3645 so as not to 17 confuse it with the other resolutions on the 18 Resolution Calendar which is what just happened 19 with the Resolutions 3665 and - 20 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, I 21 believe the motion has been to adopt the entire 22 Resolution Calendar. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 24 motion is. To make another motion would be out 25 of order but, Senator Paterson - 1 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 2 I just would like to amend the motion and would 3 like to ask that of the exceptions just cited in 4 Senator Skelos' motion, that we include Calendar 5 Number 3645 because I want to discuss that 6 motion and, if I discuss it, I don't want it to 7 be confused with all the other motions on the 8 calendar which neither myself nor any of the 9 members of the Minority have any problem with. 10 SENATOR LEICHTER: Just point of 11 order, Mr. President. Mr. President. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 Leichter, why do you rise? 14 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 15 I just wanted to help the Chair and the chamber 16 and share my recollection that we've always had 17 a procedure as to resolutions similar to the 18 controversial calendar that if somebody wanted 19 to lay a resolution aside to debate it, it was 20 then laid aside, and I don't remember that it 21 ever took an amendment to any particular 22 motion. Somebody would say I have a problem 23 with a particular resolution, I would like to 24 debate it, it was then put aside and it would 25 seem we ought to follow that procedure, Mr. 1 President. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Thank you 3 for your recollection, Senator Leichter. 4 Senator Skelos. 5 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, I 6 believe the motion has been made to adopt the 7 Resolution Calendar in its entirety. 8 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 9 President. 10 SENATOR GOLD: Mr. President. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 12 motion has - 13 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. 14 President. Mr. President, I have -- we really 15 conduct business here very much by consent. 16 Now, what we could do is we could go through 17 every single resolution on the Resolution 18 Calendar separately, but what we do to try to 19 facilitate time here is that we put all the 20 motions together and we adopt them as a 21 calendar, but I'm asking to discuss one 22 particular resolution and I have amended Senator 23 Skelos' motion. I haven't heard anyone in the 24 chamber give me a reason why we can't separate 25 this. They're all resolutions. They're all the 1 same. They're all offered by different members 2 of the Senate. This particular motion was 3 offered by Senator Bruno and I would like to 4 discuss it separately. I think that I have a 5 right under our procedures to talk about that 6 particular motion, and I don't really understand 7 why this would be any different than the motion 8 in which we properly recognize the work of the 9 EMS workers and the St. John's legal team. 10 So I'm just moving again that my 11 amendment to the motion be heard in which I'm 12 asking to discuss this motion separately. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 Paterson, just so that the Chair may clarify 15 what we're doing here for your benefit and the 16 other members' benefit is we have a Resolution 17 Calendar which is traditionally placed on the 18 members' desks. Senator Skelos has made a 19 motion to adopt the Resolution Calendar in its 20 entirety with two exceptions. You now are 21 making a motion to amend Senator Skelos' motion 22 to exclude another resolution. 23 That motion is before the house 24 to be discussed at this point. If you would 25 like to be heard on that motion, you're entitled 1 to that under the rules of this house. 2 So if you would like to be 3 recognized. If not, we'll take a vote on your 4 motion to amend Senator Skelos' motion. 5 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 6 I am not necessarily interested in bringing this 7 to a vote, to be perfectly honest with you. 8 What I am really putting forth is a request, 9 which I think as a member of the Senate, I feel 10 that I have a right not to have to vote on an 11 entire calendar when I only have issue with one 12 of the separate motions. 13 Now, if this were one bill that 14 had different measures to the actual bill, that 15 would be different, but these resolutions that 16 are on today's calendar came to the calendar 17 separately and I want to discuss this motion 18 separately. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is there 20 anybody else who would like to be heard on 21 Senator Paterson's motion? 22 SENATOR GOLD: Yes, Mr. 23 President. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 Gold, on Senator Paterson's motion to amend. 1 SENATOR GOLD: Mr. President, I 2 every once in a while really do get mystified as 3 to why we elevate certain issues to the point 4 where we're asked to go to the wall on issues. 5 As long as I have been here, the 6 procedures have been exactly as described by 7 Senator Paterson, and that is that if somebody 8 had something on a resolution, we would deal 9 with it. 10 Now, if you want to change it, 11 you see, the problem with the Republican Party 12 in this house is you want to change the rules 13 every other minute that you want to do it and 14 you think we don't have any memories here, but 15 we do. 16 Now, if you want to change the 17 procedure here today and we will never have 18 these consent resolutions again, that's up to 19 you. I can't speak for Senator Connor, but it 20 seems to me that as one offended member, I have 21 a right to retaliate. Why are we going to the 22 wall on this nonsense? We all understand what's 23 at stake here. 24 You want to do something 25 unprecedented which you have no right to do. It 1 violates your own rules which you do all the 2 time and you don't want to be embarrassed by 3 having it out there. So you think you're going 4 to have the Democrats put in the position where 5 you're going to tell me I've got to vote against 6 a resolution honoring the memory of Rosemary 7 Gunning in order to stand up for the principles 8 of this house, but it is foolishness. It is 9 childishness. You think nobody in the press is 10 going to understand what you're doing? No one 11 in the press is going to understand that you 12 violate your own rules? 13 Well, maybe your opinion of the 14 press which must be pretty low is accurate, 15 because that's what you're saying, because the 16 public will not understand what you're doing, 17 but I don't know why you want to go to the wall 18 on it. 19 We have issues that come before 20 this house that are very significant and we 21 differ on those issues and they are good, 22 legitimate debates. The public knows there is a 23 difference between your side of the aisle and 24 our side of the aisle. Very often the public 25 agrees with you or agrees with us, it doesn't 1 matter, but you're going to go to the wall on 2 whether or not one resolution which is ill 3 advised, was put on the calendar and you're 4 trying to bury a Joe Bruno resolution among all 5 those other resolutions hoping nobody is going 6 to see it? 7 If Senator Bruno is the leader of 8 this house and is entitled to our respect, and I 9 hope we do respect our leader, why do we have to 10 camouflage his work by putting it in with a lot 11 of other resolutions? Why is not a resolution 12 carried by the leader of this house able to 13 stand the light of day in scrutiny and stand by 14 itself without being buried? 15 I think that the failure to 16 accede to the wishes of Senator Paterson is an 17 insult to Joe Bruno. I may agree or not agree 18 with Senator Bruno, but I certainly respect the 19 man. I respect the individual. The attempt by 20 the assistant Majority Leader to hide the 21 resolution and to protect Senator Bruno from 22 himself is insulting. 23 Now, if you want to debate the 24 entire Resolution Calendar for whatever period 25 of time is necessary and then go through roll 1 calls and all this nonsense, we could do that. 2 All Senator Paterson is asking to 3 do is to get on with all those resolutions which 4 we all want to do. Rosemary Gunning. There are 5 some other people who are being honored and 6 whose memories are being honored. We get those 7 out of the way. We all agree on that and then 8 we'll discuss whether or not we believe we ought 9 to be doing things for living members of 10 Congress who we've never done before and do 11 things that violate our rules and we'll center 12 on it and we'll take a vote and if I -- if I can 13 be a fortune-teller in this case, I would 14 imagine that the majority of votes in this house 15 will be to vote for the resolution even if it 16 violates the rules, but do it. I mean, do it 17 like men and - 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Excuse 19 me, Senator Gold. Excuse me. 20 Senator Skelos, why do you rise? 21 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 22 just for your edification, in case you don't 23 have the Resolution Calendar in front of you, 24 the resolution by Senator Bruno, which is a 25 public document reported from the Finance 1 Committee with due deliberation, would 2 memorialize Congress to rename Saratoga National 3 Cemetery in honor of Congressman Gerald H. 4 Solomon who is retiring from the Congress, 5 chairman of the Rules Committee of Congress. 6 That's what this resolution that Senator Gold 7 would say we're trying to hide from the press, 8 hide from the public, protect Joe Bruno, slip 9 through. This is a credible resolution that, 10 Senator Gold, I'm amazed that you're so offended 11 by it. 12 SENATOR GOLD: Well, then why 13 don't you put it out by itself and let's deal 14 with it by itself? 15 SENATOR SKELOS: A motion has 16 been made to adopt the Resolution Calendar in 17 its entirety. 18 SENATOR GOLD: Yes. And as I was 19 saying - 20 SENATOR SKELOS: That was the 21 motion. 22 SENATOR GOLD: Yes. Thank you. 23 And as I was saying, Senator 24 Skelos, this proud, quotes-unquotes, 25 "resolution" you're so afraid to get a single 1 vote on it that you won't vote on it by itself. 2 You can wave the flag at me, Senator, but the 3 facts are the facts. 4 The fact is you are afraid to put 5 that thing up for a vote by itself and if you're 6 not so, do it and I will respect that and I'll 7 vote yes or no, but the fact is that you're 8 afraid to do it. So you say I move the whole 9 Resolution Calendar because you don't want 10 anybody here to look at this and say, Oh, my 11 gosh. I've got to vote against the Jubilee Year 12 Celebration of Temple Israel. 13 You know, Senator Skelos, the 14 problem with your side of the aisle is you lost 15 credibility already. I remember when we had a 16 fight in this very house over gubernatorial 17 vetoes and the leadership of our side said let 18 us vote line by line and I think -- what was it 19 -- 300 lines or 200 lines and we said we'll 20 vote 200 times, 300 times if that's what it 21 takes and your leadership says, Oh, no, no, no. 22 The vetoes aren't three bills. You've got to 23 vote yes or no to sustain the vetoes. You get 24 three votes. So after a big debate on this 25 floor over the procedure, which, of course, you 1 won because you have the Majority, we voted 2 three times. Then you instructed the Journal 3 Clerk to record 2- or 300 separate votes which 4 is fantasy land. 5 So there's no doubt in my mind, 6 Senator Skelos, that you'll move the Resolution 7 Calendar as one motion and anyone who votes no, 8 you will then run around to -- I don't mean you 9 personally -- but someone will run around and 10 say, Do you know that Senator Gold voted against 11 the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Jewish 12 community of Bergen Beach? How could that 13 Jewish Senator do that and the fact is, as 14 everybody knows, I would not vote against that 15 resolution. 16 So the answer is, Senator, that 17 if you don't accede to what is the practice in 18 this house, what's the courtesy in this house, 19 number one, you're bringing us into the last two 20 or three weeks of this session and begging us to 21 show you no courtesies and maybe that will be 22 more exciting. I heard there was going to be a 23 yawn at the end of this session anyway. So 24 maybe we'll have a little excitement even if 25 it's only procedure, or else what you're doing 1 is you're saying once you jam your motion down 2 the throats of the people in this chamber, I and 3 others will have to stand up and specifically 4 say, Well, you know, I would vote for the 5 Leibell resolution and I would vote for the 6 second Leibell resolution and go through it all 7 and then we could write to all of these 8 organizations and tell them that unfortunately 9 they had to be cover for an illegal resolution 10 that was put through on the floor of this house. 11 Now, I don't know why you want to 12 do all of that. I mean it's just so nonsense. 13 I don't know why you want to do all of that. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 15 Gold. 16 SENATOR GOLD: Perhaps my 17 distinguished colleague from the North Country 18 will tell me. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Excuse 20 me. 21 Senator Stafford, why do you 22 rise? 23 SENATOR STAFFORD: Thank you. 24 Yes, Mr. President. Thank you, 25 Senator Gold, for yielding the floor. 1 Mr. President, I will now try to 2 make a broad stroke with a conceptual brush 3 trying not to be contentious and trying to ease 4 our feelings as we move on into the evening 5 hours. May I suggest - 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Excuse me 7 -- Senator Stafford, excuse me just a moment. 8 Senator Paterson, why did you 9 rise? Did you wish to withdraw your motion? 10 (Laughter.) 11 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 12 with respect -- Senator Stafford has asked me to 13 yield, so I will wait until Senator Stafford - 14 SENATOR STAFFORD: Thank you, 15 Senator Paterson, also for yielding - 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 17 Stafford. 18 SENATOR STAFFORD: -- as we go 19 into the evening. I would suggest, Mr. 20 President, that possibly I can -- let me just 21 continue. What I feel we'll be able to do here 22 is to share with you that maybe things are not 23 as crucial, critical, serious or the world is 24 not coming to an end. 25 We've been talking about a 1 resolution here and it is a resolution 2 memorializing Congress to name the veterans 3 cemetery in Saratoga the Gerald H. B. Solomon 4 Cemetery. 5 I believe there are two questions 6 that have been raised and we have every right in 7 this body to raise questions. We have the right 8 in this country to raise questions and some of 9 the people who -- no, all of the people who are 10 buried in this cemetery we're talking about have 11 fought so that we could question in this 12 country. I will attempt to answer. 13 I will suggest to you that this 14 is not a resolution without the bounds of the 15 rules of the Senate. First, it memorializes 16 Congress to name the cemetery for Jerry 17 Solomon. It does not memorialize Congress 18 concerning any federal legislation. Our rules 19 -- pardon me? 20 SENATOR DOLLINGER: You have to 21 do it by law. 22 SENATOR STAFFORD: Pardon me? 23 SENATOR GOLD: Point of order. 24 The gentleman has the floor. 25 SENATOR STAFFORD: I was going so 1 well. It's always Senator Dollinger. There we 2 are again. It does not memorialize Congress to 3 do anything concerning legislation. It 4 memorializes Congress to name the cemetery in 5 honor of Jerry Solomon. It also is directly 6 germane to the affairs, business, rights, 7 benefits and obligations of the state of New 8 York because these people who are buried are 9 citizens of the state of New York. 10 Also, I believe a question has 11 been raised and again I reiterate, we have every 12 right in this state, nation and body to raise 13 questions. Wars have been fought so we could 14 raise questions and these people are buried 15 there. 16 SENATOR GOLD: Mr. President, 17 will the gentleman yield to a question? 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 19 Stafford. 20 SENATOR STAFFORD: I would rather 21 not, but I have never done so well. Yes. 22 SENATOR GOLD: Well, Senator, if 23 the statements you're making are accurate and if 24 there is no difficulty legally with this 25 resolution, do you have any idea why this 1 resolution has to be coupled with many, many 2 other resolutions in an attempt to gain votes 3 rather than just stand out there on its own as 4 we have done so many, many times when members 5 have requested separate consideration of a 6 resolution? 7 SENATOR STAFFORD: I will 8 continue and answer Senator Gold. I guess we're 9 here because questions have been raised so now 10 I'm trying to answer the question. 11 It has been said that we should 12 not pass a resolution concerning a sitting 13 public official. I would suggest to all of us 14 that this public official is retiring as Judge 15 Titone is retiring, and I believe that 16 resolution passed on September 1st, retired 17 public official. I believe also a resolution 18 today -- May 12th -- no, no, no -- passed May 19 12th -- see, you broke my train of thought - 20 passed May 12th when he's retiring September 21 1st. 22 Now, I just noticed here a few 23 minutes ago or a second ago -- I even do 24 research myself. I want everyone to know that. 25 I see a resolution honoring a Supreme Court 1 justice who's retiring and that is right in 2 here. 3 SENATOR GOLD: What are we naming 4 him? 5 SENATOR STAFFORD: That is a good 6 question. I think that I would say the spirit 7 of a resolution concerning anyone, whether 8 you're naming something after them or whether 9 you're just recognizing them in a resolution, I 10 suggest there that we're splitting hairs and it 11 really isn't really germane. We're not. We're 12 just memorializing but, of course, memorializing 13 is, in effect, asking to name, but I think 14 that's a valid point. 15 I guess what I'm attempting to 16 say here, Mr. President, that I think we're 17 raising the issues here and balancing the 18 equities and explaining that maybe we don't have 19 as much of a problem as anyone would think. I 20 think the usual resolution was made to pass the 21 resolutions. I know someone is bringing up a 22 question now. 23 I want to say that Senator Skelos 24 was doing his job in an orderly fashion the way 25 we usually do things, and I think we will all 1 say the floor has never been run better. 2 I am attempting to just show 3 exactly what some of the questions are and I'm 4 attempting to give some of the answers and if I 5 do say so -- and I very seldom stand up here and 6 tell you again how well I've done, but I would 7 suggest that I've answered really any of the 8 questions and I think if anything we laid the 9 issues out, and I think everyone understands 10 what we're doing here. 11 I would only say about the person 12 who we're doing this, I have known him a long, 13 long time, as all of you have. He was a 14 supervisor, a county legislator, member of the 15 Assembly, served in Congress, became chairman of 16 the Rules Committee. He has been very involved 17 in international matters and, as a matter of 18 fact, I believe he sponsored the legislation 19 that brought about the veterans -- Department of 20 Veterans Affairs. 21 So this is what we're doing here, 22 and I think that we sort of have it all here and 23 I would suggest that this, I hope, would be - 24 would answer any of the questions and, Senator 25 Gold, I'll answer a question again. 1 What was your question? 2 SENATOR GOLD: My question is 3 simply if this resolution is proper and it's 4 right and it's the right thing to do and it's 5 legal, why can't it be separated and we can vote 6 on it and everyone will know the vote on that 7 resolution versus the vote on other resolutions 8 instead of lumping it the way it's being lumped 9 in order to protect it. 10 SENATOR STAFFORD: Always being 11 the effective protagonist, effective adversary, 12 I would suggest you've done about as good of a 13 job in separating it and bringing it right out 14 by itself as anyone I've ever seen. 15 SENATOR GOLD: But meanwhile the 16 vote won't be recorded that way. 17 SENATOR STAFFORD: Well, I 18 thought that I had explained it so you would 19 want to vote on it. 20 SENATOR GOLD: And, Senator, 21 assuming that you explained it so I would want 22 to vote for it, I would want the public to know 23 that I voted for it, but the way you're doing 24 it, the public would not know that I wanted to 25 vote for it or not vote for it, because it has 1 to be protected, and I think that that is an 2 insult to Jerry Solomon and I think it's an 3 insult to Joe Bruno and from where I come from, 4 I think that the public has a right to know what 5 we do and what we think for better or for worse, 6 and I can only assume that Senator Bruno puts in 7 this resolution because he believes in it and he 8 would stand in front of his constituents and 9 say, This is what I did. This is what I believe 10 in. There's no problem with that. 11 SENATOR STAFFORD: Pardon me for 12 saying "it" because that was something I am 13 always corrected at home about. Whenever I use 14 the word "it", they would correct me and I mean 15 the resolution and I apologize. It's a 16 resolution. 17 We often vote here and much of 18 what we do is joined together. I don't -- let 19 me put it this way. I don't see the real 20 serious problem here, if anyone could explain 21 their position. I think maybe -- I think maybe 22 we're just -- you know, I guess that's a long 23 way of saying I don't agree with Senator Gold. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 Paterson. 1 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 2 I think that there are a few presumptions that 3 have been made here, and I think that they 4 support the need for my amendment to pass. 5 It's already been said that there 6 is a problem voting for this particular 7 resolution. I don't know that there is a 8 problem because the reason that I asked to have 9 it separated was I wanted to ask some questions 10 relative to what the rules of the Senate provide 11 in order to pass this resolution and based on 12 the answers to those questions, I think I've got 13 an open mind as to whether or not I would 14 actually vote for the resolution. 15 I think that I did have a right 16 to ask the questions and in asking the 17 questions, I thought that we would address the 18 resolution separately rather than an aggregate, 19 which is the way we do it to accommodate speed 20 and to accommodate what is really our consent, 21 that there is a consensus of all Senators in 22 that respect. 23 I just would like to reiterate 24 that that's what the strength of my amendment to 25 Senator Skelos' motion is, that we just discuss 1 this resolution separately. 2 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. 3 President. Mr. President, point of order. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5 Leichter, why do you rise? 6 SENATOR LEICHTER: Point of 7 order. I'm going to ask for a ruling of the 8 Chair. I'm going to disagree with my 9 distinguished colleague here, Senator Paterson. 10 I don't think that there is an amendment to be 11 made, and I believe that we have a very clear 12 procedure, Senator, that I remember and maybe 13 Senator Stafford, Senator Marchi remembers. 14 When I came to this chamber, the 15 Resolution Calendar, we would read the name of 16 every resolution. We then decided collectively 17 that that was a waste of time and we would have 18 a Resolution Calendar that would pass on consent 19 and if any member then wanted to discuss a 20 particular resolution, that resolution was laid 21 aside and if we had done it in this instance, we 22 would have been out of here 15 minutes ago. Now 23 we'll probably be here for an hour and a half or 24 longer going through this whole procedure which 25 just doesn't make sense. It is contrary to the 1 way we've proceeded. 2 Mr. President, I pointed out the 3 procedures of the house before which you seem to 4 be underwhelmed by. So I'm going to ask you now 5 for a ruling of the Chair that the resolution - 6 what's the -- Resolution Number 3645 be laid 7 aside at the request -- not amendment -- at the 8 request of Senator Paterson. I ask for a ruling 9 on the Chair that that be done. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 11 Leichter, the -- Senator Leichter, there is a 12 motion on the floor and I haven't heard you 13 state a proper point of order at this point in 14 accordance. So there is no point of order that 15 you're raising that I need to rule on. There is 16 a motion on the floor that the Acting Minority 17 Leader, Senator Paterson, has made to amend a 18 motion which was submitted by Senator Skelos. 19 That is the issue before the body. 20 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. 21 President. Mr. President, I made a point of 22 order. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: State 24 your point of order. 25 SENATOR LEICHTER: My point of 1 order is that his amendment is out of order, 2 that no amendment need to be made, that 3 Resolution 3645 be laid aside at the request of 4 the Deputy Minority Leader that -- under the 5 procedures of this house. That's my -- that is 6 my request for a ruling to you under my point of 7 order. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Your 9 point of order is not well taken. We're on the 10 motion, Senator Leichter. 11 SENATOR LEICHTER: Well, then I 12 appeal the ruling of the Chair. I appeal the 13 ruling that I have not stated a proper point of 14 order. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 16 motion is to -- Senator Paterson, would you like 17 to be heard on the motion to appeal the ruling 18 of the Chair? 19 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 20 if I were to withdraw my motion, then I guess 21 there couldn't be an appeal of your ruling on my 22 motion. Isn't that correct? 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: That 24 would be correct. 25 SENATOR PATERSON: Then, Mr. 1 President, I'm going to ask one more time. I 2 really think so that we never have to have a 3 vote on anything here, that the best procedure 4 at this point is to let the motion be discussed 5 separately. We discussed two other motions 6 separately -- the resolution. I'm sorry. Let 7 the resolution be discussed separately and that 8 way there never has to be recorded in this 9 proceeding that there was ever a motion -- ever 10 a vote taken on anything that would in any way 11 diminish from the character of the individual 12 who this motion is supporting because I don't 13 have any interest in creating that kind of 14 situation. 15 I'm just asking if I can ask my 16 questions about this motion separately, and I 17 know that you can't answer that, Mr. President. 18 I'm really asking the Majority Leader to give me 19 the courtesy that just came to me of being heard 20 and being allowed to ask a couple of basically 21 technical questions about this house's ability 22 to pass that resolution. That's what I'm asking 23 the Majority. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 Skelos, it seems - 1 SENATOR SKELOS: My motion has 2 been to adopt the Resolution Calendar in its 3 entirety. 4 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6 Paterson. 7 SENATOR PATERSON: The Majority 8 Leader's motion is not on the floor right now. 9 The amendment is on the floor and I'm asking the 10 Majority to yield for a question as to whether 11 or not I would be allowed -- he didn't know when 12 he moved. He was unaware when he moved to adopt 13 the Resolution Calendar that I had that concern 14 and I'm now asking Senator Skelos to yield for a 15 question and I'm asking him - 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 17 Paterson, I think that might be just a little 18 premature. We're at the point where Senator 19 Leichter has raised an appeal to the ruling of 20 the Chair. You did indicate that -- you asked 21 the question of the Chair - 22 SENATOR PATERSON: No. I 23 understand that. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: - 25 whether or not that would be appropriate if, in 1 fact, you withdrew your motion. So we're at 2 that point that either the Chair is going to 3 rule -- take a motion or a vote, I should say, 4 on the appeal to the ruling of the Chair or you 5 are going to withdraw your motion to amend; one 6 or the other. 7 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: So that 9 we can proceed in the proper format. 10 SENATOR PATERSON: I understand, 11 Mr. President, and I'm actually considering - 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 Paterson, if you want to have a conversation 14 quickly with Senator Skelos that doesn't 15 necessarily have to go through the Chair as to 16 whether you withdraw or not, that's fine. If 17 not, I'm prepared to take a vote on the appeal 18 to the ruling of the Chair. 19 SENATOR PATERSON: His place or 20 mine? 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Outside 22 or in? 23 SENATOR ONORATO: Mr. President. 24 Mr. President. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 1 Paterson. 2 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 3 respectfully, I withdraw my amendment to Senator 4 Skelos' motion to adopt the Resolution 5 Calendar. 6 At this time I would like to ask 7 for a ruling of the Chair on my request, not 8 amendment, my request under Rule IX -- Rule VI 9 -- excuse me -- Paragraph (9), Subdivision (e), 10 and I would wish, Mr. President, for a reading 11 of that rule by the Secretary. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 Skelos. 14 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, I 15 believe the request has been made, but the 16 request was denied when I made the motion to 17 adopt the Resolution Calendar in its entirety. 18 SENATOR PATERSON: Point of 19 order, Mr. President. I agree, Senator Skelos' 20 motion is on the floor and on the motion I'm 21 asking for a ruling from the Chair. I'm raising 22 this rule and I'll paraphrase it that - 23 SENATOR LEICHTER: Let me read 24 it. 25 Mr. President - 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 Paterson has -- Senator Leichter, I appreciate 3 your help but Senator Paterson does have the 4 floor. 5 SENATOR LEICHTER: And I'm asking 6 -- I'm asking for the floor, Mr. President. Do 7 I have the floor? 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 9 Leichter, you know, one of the real 10 responsibilities, and I take it very seriously, 11 of this position that the -- on the rostrum is 12 to maintain some order and decorum and some 13 proper procedure and for one member to just grab 14 something and say I want the floor is not the 15 proper way in order to proceed. 16 So Senator Paterson does have the 17 floor, and I will recognize him and continue to 18 recognize him as long as he likes the floor. 19 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 20 I'm asking - 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Why do 22 you rise, Senator Leichter? 23 SENATOR LEICHTER: To ask Senator 24 Paterson if he would yield so that I could read 25 Rule IX -- Rule VI. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: If you're 2 asking Senator Paterson to yield to a question, 3 Senator Leichter, then that is the proper 4 procedure. 5 SENATOR LEICHTER: Okay, fine. 6 Then I will ask Senator Paterson if he would 7 yield. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 9 Paterson, do you yield to a question from 10 Senator Leichter? 11 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 12 I will yield to a question from Senator 13 Leichter. I will also yield my rules to Senator 14 Leichter. 15 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes. Senator, 16 I'm reading to you a rule of this house and ask 17 you if this is the rule that you are relying on, 18 and it provides, Rule VI, Section 9 (e), "All 19 resolutions other than those mentioned and 20 treated in the preceding Subdivision C and D of 21 this section and reported by the committee of 22 reference designated by the Temporary President 23 shall be placed on the calendar. When in the 24 order of business the resolutions are reached, 25 the Senate may adopt such resolutions as a group 1 by one vote upon the question of the entire 2 calendar resolution excepting that any member 3 may request that any one or more of the 4 resolutions on such calendar shall be voted upon 5 or debated separately." 6 Senator, was that the rule that 7 you are now invoking? 8 SENATOR PATERSON: Yes. 9 SENATOR LEICHTER: And, Senator, 10 if you'll yield again, was that not the same 11 rule - 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 Paterson, do you yield to another question from 14 Senator Leichter? 15 SENATOR PATERSON: Yes. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: He 17 yields. 18 SENATOR LEICHTER: Was that not 19 the same rule and procedure that I tried to call 20 to the attention of the Chair as being the 21 procedures of this house? 22 SENATOR PATERSON: Generally, 23 yes. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 Paterson. 1 SENATOR PATERSON: Yes, Mr. 2 President. That was the rule I was referring to 3 and that is the rule that I'm asking for a 4 ruling as to whether or not under that rule I 5 now have a right to separate that resolution 6 from the rest of the calendar. I will now hum 7 the Jeopardy theme. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 9 Skelos, do you wish to be heard on that point of 10 order before the Chair rules? 11 Senator Paterson, did you have 12 something that you would like to address the 13 Chair with? 14 SENATOR PATERSON: Yes, Mr. 15 President. You know, I was thinking about it. 16 It's really a point that I want to withdraw my 17 request for a ruling of the Chair at this time. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The Chair 19 will accept the withdrawal of the request. 20 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Skelos. 23 SENATOR SKELOS: I believe at 24 this time there's a motion on the floor to adopt 25 the Resolution Calendar in its entirety. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: That is 2 correct. 3 SENATOR SKELOS: We will now 4 debate -- have you withdrawn your motion to 5 amend? 6 SENATOR PATERSON: Yes. 7 SENATOR SKELOS: Senator Paterson 8 has withdrawn his motion to amend. The only 9 motion now before the Senate is my motion to 10 adopt the Resolution Calendar in its entirety. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: That is 12 correct. 13 SENATOR SKELOS: The Minority now 14 wishes to debate against that motion. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 16 Onorato, why do you rise? 17 SENATOR ONORATO: Mr. President, 18 I would like a little clarification. In the 15 19 years that I have been here, we've always had 20 two calendars, the Third Reading consent 21 calendar and we always had a right to lay a bill 22 aside for discussion. We've never voted on a 23 consent calendar in its entirety in one lump sum 24 without having the opportunity to vote yea or 25 nay on a given particular bill. I believe I 1 should be accorded the same privilege on a 2 Resolution Calendar. 3 Now, there is a calendar -- a 4 resolution there that I would like at this 5 particular time to be laid aside and the 6 Calendar Number -- the Resolution Number that I 7 would like to be laid aside is Calendar - 8 Resolution Number JL3645 so that I can discuss 9 the Resolution Calendar number. 10 SENATOR GOLD: Can I make an 11 inquiry of the Chair, Mr. President? 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Excuse me 13 just a minute, Senator Onorato. 14 Senator Gold, why do you rise? 15 SENATOR GOLD: Yeah. To be 16 helpful to my friend. My understanding is that 17 we are now free to discuss everything on the 18 motion calendar and then, Senator Onorato, we 19 are free to do that without your request, and I 20 think we're going to get our separate vote. 21 So maybe thanks to Senator Skelos 22 and Senator Paterson we can just do the merits, 23 Senator. We seem to be all right. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is that 25 acceptable to you, Senator Onorato? 1 SENATOR GOLD: Yes. He says. 2 May I now address - 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 Gold, on debate on the motion to accept the 5 Resolution Calendar. 6 SENATOR GOLD: Thank you very 7 much, and I'll be very brief, Mr. President. 8 I intend to vote in the negative 9 on Calendar Number 3645 with no disrespect to 10 Mr. Solomon. 11 Mr. Solomon and I have probably 12 serious political differences, but that would 13 never, never cause me to vote not to honor the 14 individual and indeed at an appropriate time if 15 I were a member of this house, which I won't be 16 at an appropriate time, I might very well be 17 able to support this resolution. 18 I only think that it's 19 premature. I think we have honored people who 20 are retiring and we wish them well and we wish 21 them good health, and I want the record to 22 indicate that in the case of Jerry Solomon, I 23 wish him good health and a happy retirement. He 24 has served this country admirably. His votes 25 may be different than mine. They're as honest 1 certainly as any vote I cast and I respect that, 2 but this is improper. It is too early to do 3 this. The kind of thing we're being asked to do 4 here is a step that, I think, is in the wrong 5 direction and, therefore, Mr. President, while I 6 understand there will be a voice vote on this 7 particular resolution, my voice will be in the 8 negative on this resolution and should Mr. 9 Solomon hear about it, I want him to know that I 10 mean it not in any disrespect to him. I mean it 11 in no disrespect to the service he has given his 12 country. I just disagree with the concept of it 13 doing this. 14 I was at the opening of the 15 Benjamin Rosenthal Library at Queens College. 16 We have honored a great Congressman. It 17 happened after he died. I have been at the -- I 18 have seen Assembly Speaker Weprin honored and it 19 was after his death. I hope that Jerry Solomon 20 has many years of good health, and I think at an 21 appropriate time if the -- this chamber or the 22 Congress wants to do something by way of 23 honoring him along these lines, we do it, but it 24 is a precedent which I think is a mistake. I 25 think Senator Bruno means well, and I think 1 Senator Bruno's intentions are honorable. I 2 think it is the wrong thing to do. 3 So when the time to vote comes, I 4 will be voting in the affirmative on every 5 single resolution we have left with the 6 exception of 3645 which I will vote in the 7 negative. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 9 Dollinger. 10 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 11 President, I'm going to join Senator Gold in 12 voting against this resolution because I can't, 13 quite frankly, believe that Jerry Solomon would 14 want this resolution to pass. 15 Jerry Solomon has a long 16 tradition of supporting veterans in the United 17 States Congress, but what this resolution seeks 18 to do is to change the name of a cemetery 19 dedicated to the greatest victory in the 20 American Revolution, the victory that changed 21 the course of the war. 22 I would suggest to you that had 23 not General Gates won that battle against 24 General Burgoyne and prevented the British from 25 dividing the colonies in half, Jerry Solomon 1 would be a member of the English Parliament or a 2 Congressman in the Middle-Atlantic states of 3 America and that there would be -- we would be 4 just as fractured as Europe. 5 The reason why we stand as one 6 nation is because that battle was won by the 7 United States of America by volunteers and 8 militia from Senator Stafford's district. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator 10 Stafford. 11 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I won't 12 yield, Mr. President, with all due respect. 13 I'll yield at the end. 14 I would just suggest - 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 16 Dollinger, you do have the floor. 17 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I would just 18 suggest, Mr. President, that the -- that the 19 Battle of Saratoga and the celebration of the 20 Battle of Saratoga which involved armed regulars 21 from the Albany area, this is a dedication to a 22 battle and a time, quite frankly, that we ought 23 to preserve and even if for some reason it's 24 just the name "Saratoga", it symbolizes a 25 battle. It symbolizes a tradition. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Excuse 2 me, Senator Dollinger. 3 SENATOR STAFFORD: Will Senator 4 Dollinger yield? 5 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Yes, I will, 6 Mr. President. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 8 Senator yields. 9 SENATOR STAFFORD: Senator 10 Dollinger, don't you realize that the turning 11 point in the Revolution and the reason that 12 we're here today was the Battle of Plattsburgh? 13 (Laughter.) 14 SENATOR GOLD: But you were 15 there. (Laughter.) 16 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 17 President, I applaud the member of the North 18 Country who raised this historical revision to a 19 new height but, Mr. President, on a note, I just 20 don't think that Jerry Solomon, who's done so 21 much for veterans -- he's had a distinguished 22 career. I agree with Senator Gold's comments 23 that we shouldn't do this at this time but, 24 quite frankly, Dwight Eisenhower lived in 25 Gettysburg. They never changed the name of the 1 national cemetery there because it celebrates 2 another great battle and people who died for 3 this country 220-plus years ago, a whole bunch 4 of people from this country picked up arms and 5 fought off a British force and made us all 6 free. 7 Jerry Solomon has done a lot of 8 great things but he never anything as great as 9 that little group did up in Saratoga. Let's 10 keep the name "Saratoga" at the national 11 cemetery. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Any other 13 member wishing to speak on the motion? 14 Senator Montgomery. 15 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, Mr. 16 President. I would just like to join my two 17 colleagues in questioning whether or not 18 Congressman Solomon wants his name there. 19 Someone came to me to ask me if 20 the Congressman was deceased and, of course, 21 it's my understanding that he's not. He's very 22 much alive and if his name appears on the gate 23 of that cemetery, people are going to 24 undoubtedly be misled to believe that he is 25 dead. 1 So I'm not sure that this is a 2 good idea for us to be putting this 3 distinguished Congressman who is very much 4 alive, to put his name on the gate of a 5 cemetery. 6 So I think we should all vote 7 against it. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 9 Paterson. 10 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 11 to close the debate on this issue, I would like 12 to point out that we seem to be expanding the 13 definition of what our resolutions memorialize 14 by the passage of this resolution. 15 What we're actually doing is 16 we're memorializing a person who is still a 17 sitting member of our House of Representatives 18 and we are commanding the Congress to pass a 19 law. There has to be some way that our Congress 20 changes the name of the Saratoga National 21 Cemetery to the Gerald B. H. Solomon Veterans 22 Cemetery, and so by doing this we are engaging 23 in a practice that I think that if we look at it 24 in a non-partisan way -- and that's the reason I 25 would like to point out, Mr. President, that I'm 1 going to vote for the resolution. 2 I'm going to vote for the 3 resolution because the real intent of the 4 resolution is to honor an individual for a 5 number of years of service to their district and 6 to this state and to this country, but the 7 problem I have with the resolution is one that I 8 think can be understood and can be addressed in 9 this chamber without us having to take a vote on 10 it, that I would like to honor a Congressman, 11 Charles Rangle, from my particular district. I 12 think he's been an outstanding American. 13 Carolyn McCarthy is someone I think we might 14 honor at some point that she's retiring and we 15 might have a number of people in this chamber we 16 would like to honor, Senator Leichter on the 17 occasion of his retirement. 18 SENATOR LEICHTER: Not on a 19 cemetery. 20 SENATOR PATERSON: We might want 21 to rename - 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 23 Paterson, if we could, let's keep this motion 24 non-controversial. (Laughter.) 25 SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you, Mr. 1 President. 2 And so what we are just pointing 3 out is we don't want to get our resolutions 4 involved in the kind of political realm that is 5 brought to this resolution. 6 We made Martin Luther King's 7 birthday a national holiday but we didn't do it 8 for 18 years after Martin Luther King was shot. 9 The reason is in that period of time his place 10 in our national -- in our national heart became 11 such that we had to take this action. 12 The Congressman, with all due 13 respect, is still a sitting member of the House 14 of Representatives and he still has political 15 points of view. He still speaks. He is still a 16 very visible person in this particular area. To 17 take this kind of an action really is not non 18 controversial considering his current stand. 19 Why don't we let him retire. Why 20 don't we let him take his place alongside all 21 those who have preceded him in the House of 22 Representatives and then come back and decide 23 whether we want to go from honoring his 24 retirement to taking an extra step in naming a 25 national cemetery after him, especially given 1 the rich history that Senator Dollinger 2 described. That was what I was going to say. 3 I'll support the motion because 4 of the great regard that Senator Bruno has for 5 the character of the individual, but I must 6 oppose the process that brings us here today and 7 the one that for so long obfuscated the 8 opportunity for me to address this issue 9 singularly as it should be. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 11 motion is to adopt the Resolution Calendar with 12 the exceptions of Resolutions Number 3665 and 13 3725 which have previously been adopted. All 14 those in favor signify by saying aye. 15 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Yes, 17 Senator Skelos. 18 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 19 at this time I would like to withdraw my motion 20 to adopt the Resolution Calendar in its 21 entirety, and I would like to move at this time 22 to adopt the Resolution Calendar in its entirety 23 with the exception of Resolutions 3665, 3725 24 previously adopted and 3645. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 1 motion is as Senator Skelos has stated to adopt 2 the Resolution Calendar with the exceptions of 3 Resolution 3665, 3725 and 3645. All those in 4 favor signify by saying aye. 5 (Response of "Aye".) 6 Opposed, nay. 7 (There was no response.) 8 The Resolution Calendar is 9 adopted unanimously with those exceptions. 10 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, I 11 would like to move at this time to adopt 12 Resolution Number 3645. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 14 motion is to adopt Resolution 3645. All those 15 in favor signify by saying aye. 16 (Response of "Aye".) 17 Opposed, nay. 18 (Response of "Nay".) 19 The ayes have it. 20 The resolution is adopted. 21 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 22 at this time on Resolutions 3730 and 3731, 23 Senator Wright and myself would like to open 24 them up for co-sponsorship. 3730 concerns 25 United States Small Business Awards and 3731 1 concerns the Biotechnology Association. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Can I see 3 a show of hands of those members who would like 4 to be on the Resolution 37... it seems to be 5 multiple. 6 Senator Skelos, would you like to 7 put all the members on the resolutions with 8 those exceptions that don't wish to be on? 9 (Senator Skelos nods head.) 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: If those 11 members who do not wish to be on either 12 Resolution 3730 or 3731 would indicate to the 13 desk afterwards, we'll make a notation. 14 Otherwise, all members will be placed as 15 co-sponsors of Resolution 3730 and 3731. 16 SENATOR SKELOS: Is there any 17 housekeeping at the desk? 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We have 19 one substitution, Senator Skelos. 20 SENATOR SKELOS: Please make the 21 substitution. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: I'll ask 23 the Secretary to make the substitution. 24 The Secretary will read the 25 substitution. 1 THE SECRETARY: On page 14, 2 Senator Spano moves to discharge from the 3 Committee on Rules Assembly Bill Number 9511-A 4 and substitute it for the identical Third 5 Reading Calendar 514. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 7 substitution is ordered. 8 The Chair recognizes Senator 9 LaValle. 10 SENATOR LAVALLE: Mr. President, 11 can I have unanimous consent to be recorded in 12 the negative on Calendar Number 1081. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 14 objection, hearing no objection, Senator LaValle 15 will be recorded in the negative on Calendar 16 Number 1081. 17 Senator Skelos. 18 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 19 there being no further business, I move we 20 adjourn until Wednesday, June 3rd, at 11:00 a.m. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 22 objection, the Senate stands adjourned until 23 tomorrow, Wednesday, June 3rd, at 11:00 a.m. 24 (Whereupon, at 5:41 p.m., the 25 Senate adjourned.)