Wednesday, June 10, 1998

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ALBANY, NEW YORK 9 June 10, 1998 10 10:03 a.m. 11 12 13 REGULAR SESSION 14 15 16 17 SENATOR RAYMOND A. MEIER, Acting President 18 STEVEN M. BOGGESS, Secretary 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 3 Senate will come to order. I ask everyone 4 present to please rise and repeat with me the 5 Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. 6 (The assemblage repeated the 7 Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.) 8 The invocation will be given by 9 Dr. Mark Chatterton, Pastor of the United 10 Ministry of Delhi. 11 DR. MARK CHATTERTON: Let us 12 pray. 13 Creator God, thank You for the 14 gift of a new day. We come as real imperfect 15 people to do a nearly impossible task in a time 16 and in an environment where too often 17 vulnerability is an invitation to attack rather 18 than an opportunity for compassion. 19 We acknowledge that we are real 20 and imperfect people with real and imperfect 21 spouses, with real and imperfect children. To 22 be here in times of personal chaos can be an act 23 of courage. 24 So today I ask for God's grace. 25 Grace us with the gift of discernment, to 1 discern what is good and just and fair. At the 2 end of this day, may we have no regrets. Amen. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 4 reading of the Journal. 5 THE SECRETARY: In Senate, 6 Tuesday, June 9th. The Senate met pursuant to 7 adjournment, Senator Meier in the Chair upon 8 designation of the Temporary President. The 9 Journal of Monday, June 8th, was read and 10 approved. On motion, the Senate adjourned. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Without 12 objection, the Journal stands approved as read. 13 Presentation of petitions. 14 Messages from the Assembly. 15 Messages from the Governor. 16 Reports of standing committees. 17 Reports of select committees. 18 Communications and reports from 19 state officers. 20 Motions and resolutions. 21 Senator Marcellino. 22 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr. 23 President, can you star my bill, Calendar Number 24 1045, Senate Print 5067-A. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The star 1 will be placed at the request of the sponsor on 2 Calendar 1045. 3 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator 5 Holland. 6 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 7 on behalf of Senator Johnson, please remove the 8 sponsor's star from Calendar Number 1221 and on 9 behalf of Senator Rath, please place a sponsor's 10 star on Calendar Number 1010. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 12 sponsor's star will be removed from Calendar 13 1221 and a sponsor's star will be placed on 14 Calendar 1010. 15 Senator Kuhl. 16 SENATOR KUHL: Yes, Mr. 17 President. On behalf of Senator Spano, on page 18 24, I offer the following amendments to Calendar 19 Number 794, Senate Print 6991, and ask that said 20 bill retain its place on the Third Reading 21 Calendar. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 23 amendments are received and the bill will retain 24 its place on the Third Reading Calendar. 25 SENATOR KUHL: Also, Mr. 1 President, on behalf of Senator Johnson, on page 2 47, I offer the following amendments to Calendar 3 Number 1264, Senate Print 7450, and ask that 4 said bill retain its place on the Third Reading 5 Calendar. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 7 amendments are received and the bill will retain 8 its place on the Third Reading Calendar. 9 The Secretary will read the 10 substitutions. 11 THE SECRETARY: On page 45, 12 Senator Volker moves to discharge from the 13 Committee on Codes Assembly Bill Number 8174 and 14 substitute it for the identical Third Reading 15 Calendar 1239. 16 On page 46, Senator Balboni moves 17 to discharge from the Committee on Rules 18 Assembly Bill Number 10951 and substitute it for 19 the identical Third Reading Calendar 1252. 20 And on page 46, Senator Alesi 21 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 22 Assembly Bill Number 10687 and substitute it for 23 the identical Third Reading Calendar 1255. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 25 substitutions are ordered. 1 SENATOR SKELOS: Please make the 2 substitutions, Mr. President. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 4 substitutions have been ordered. 5 SENATOR SKELOS: Okay. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator 7 Skelos. 8 SENATOR SKELOS: Read the 9 non-controversial calendar, please. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 11 Secretary will read the non- - 12 SENATOR KUHL: Before we do that. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Excuse 14 me. Senator Kuhl. 15 SENATOR KUHL: Before we do that, 16 I have a sponsor's star I would like to place, 17 it's Calendar 583, Senate Print 4333, my bill, 18 place a sponsor's star on the bill. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: A 20 sponsor's star will be placed on Calendar Number 21 583. 22 SENATOR KUHL: Thank you, Mr. 23 President. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 25 Secretary will read the non-controversial 1 calendar. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 337, by Senator Velella, Senate Print 4422-A, an 4 act to amend the Public Health Law, in relation 5 to Human Immunodeficiency Virus infection. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 7 last - 8 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the 10 bill aside. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 422, by Senator Maltese, Senate Print 4351-B, an 13 act to amend the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, 14 in relation to certain types of wine packaging. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 16 last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 18 act shall take effect September 1. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 20 roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll.) 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 37. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 24 is passed. 25 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 36, nays 1, 1 Senator Marcellino recorded in the negative. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 3 is passed. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 510, by Senator Alesi, Senate Print 5941, an act 6 to amend the Correction Law, in relation to work 7 release programs. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 9 last section. 10 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 11 act shall take effect immediately. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 13 roll. 14 (The Secretary called the roll.) 15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 37. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 17 is passed. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 678, by Senator Nozzolio, Senate Print 5181, an 20 act to amend the Correction Law, in relation to 21 state Commission of Correction. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 23 last section. 24 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 25 act shall take effect on the 120th day. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 2 roll. 3 (The Secretary called the roll.) 4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 37. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 6 is passed. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 871, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 7352-B, an 9 act to amend the Banking Law, in relation to 10 participation. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 12 last section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 14 act shall take effect on the first day of 15 January. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 17 roll. 18 (The Secretary called the roll.) 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 37. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 21 is passed. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 888, by Senator Trunzo, Senate Print 6943, an 24 act to amend the Civil Service Law, in relation 25 to suspension. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 2 last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 4 act shall take effect immediately. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 6 roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll.) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 37. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 10 is passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 929, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 395-B, an 13 act to amend the Public Health Law and others, 14 in relation to establishing a program to reduce 15 the risks of residential lead-based paint 16 hazards. 17 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Lay it aside. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the 19 bill aside. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 931, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 22 Assembly Print 8696, an act to amend the State 23 Finance Law, in relation to a payroll deduction 24 plan. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 1 last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 3 act shall take effect immediately. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 5 roll. 6 (The Secretary called the roll.) 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 38. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 9 is passed. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 959, by Senator Alesi, Senate Print 6191-B, an 12 act to authorize payment of transportation aid 13 to the East Rochester Union Free School 14 District. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There is 16 a local fiscal impact note at the desk. Read 17 the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 19 act shall take effect immediately. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 21 roll. 22 (The Secretary called the roll.) 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 38. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 25 is passed. 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 1031, by member of the Assembly DiNapoli, 3 Assembly Print 10301-A, an act to amend Chapter 4 273 of the Laws of 1939. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 6 last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 8 act shall take effect immediately. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 10 roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll.) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 41. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 14 is passed. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 1039, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 17 Assembly Print 11012, an act to amend the 18 General Municipal Law, in relation to urban 19 development action area projects. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 21 last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 23 act shall take effect immediately. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 25 roll. 1 (The Secretary called the roll.) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 41. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 4 is passed. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 1053, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 3534-B, an 7 act to amend the General Business Law, in 8 relation to providing. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 10 last section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 12 act shall take effect on the 120th day. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 14 roll. 15 (The Secretary called the roll.) 16 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 41. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 18 is passed. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 1090, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 6988-A, 21 an act to amend the Tax Law and the Vehicle and 22 Traffic Law, in relation to authorizing. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 24 last section. 25 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 1 act shall take effect immediately. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 3 roll. 4 (The Secretary called the roll.) 5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 41. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 7 is passed. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1093, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 7317-A, 10 an act to amend the Tax Law and the 11 Administrative Code of the city of New York, in 12 relation to allowing. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 14 last section. 15 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 16 act shall take effect immediately. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 18 roll. 19 (The Secretary called the roll.) 20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 41. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 22 is passed. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 1124, by Senator Marchi - 25 SENATOR SKELOS: Lay it aside for 1 the day. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the 3 bill aside for the day. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 1125, by Senator Marchi, Senate Print 3355, an 6 act to amend the Not-for-Profit Corporation Law, 7 in relation to granting. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 9 last section. 10 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 11 act shall take effect on the 30th day. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 13 roll. 14 (The Secretary called the roll.) 15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 42. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 17 is passed. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 1132, by Senator Marchi, Senate Print 6644-A, an 20 act to amend the Not-for-Profit Corporation Law, 21 in relation to prepaid niches. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 23 last section. 24 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 25 act shall take effect in 120 days. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 2 roll. 3 (The Secretary called the roll.) 4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 42. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 6 is passed. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 1138, by Senator Stafford, Senate Print 7421, an 9 act to amend the Public Authorities Law, in 10 relation to authorizing. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There's 12 a home rule message at the desk. Read the last 13 section. 14 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 15 act shall take effect immediately. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 17 roll. 18 (The Secretary called the roll.) 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 42. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 21 is passed. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 1165, by member of the Assembly E. Sullivan, 24 Assembly Print 10416, an act to amend the 25 Education Law, in relation to streamlining. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 2 last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 4 act shall take effect immediately. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 6 roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll.) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 42. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 10 is passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 1174, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 7458-A, 13 an act to amend the Private Housing Finance Law, 14 in relation to contracts. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 16 last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 18 act shall take effect immediately. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 20 roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll.) 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 43. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 24 is passed. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 1 1210, by Senator Stafford, Senate Print 7556, an 2 act to amend the Public Officers Law, in 3 relation to permitting. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 5 last - 6 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the 8 bill aside. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 1229, by Senator Cook, Senate Print 786-A, an 11 act to amend the Facilities Development 12 Corporation Act, in relation to definitional 13 provisions. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 15 last section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 17 act shall take effect immediately. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 19 roll. 20 (The Secretary called the roll.) 21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 43. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 23 is passed. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 1230, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 2402-A, an 1 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 2 criminal sale of a controlled substance. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 4 last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 6 act shall take effect on the first day of 7 September. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 9 roll. 10 (The Secretary called the roll.) 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 43. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 13 is passed. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 1231, by Senator Stavisky, Senate Print 2908, an 16 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 17 penalties. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 19 last section. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 8. This 21 act shall take effect on the first day of 22 November. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 24 roll. 25 (The Secretary called the roll.) 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 43. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 3 is passed. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 1232, by Senator Trunzo, Senate Print 3165, an 6 act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, in 7 relation to the use of head lamps. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 9 last section. 10 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 11 act shall take effect on the first day of 12 January. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 14 roll. 15 (The Secretary called the roll.) 16 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 43. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 18 is passed. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 1233, by Senator Montgomery, Senate Print 21 3860-A, an act authorizing the city of New York 22 to reconvey its interest. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There's 24 a home rule message at the desk. Read the last 25 section. 1 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 2 act shall take effect immediately. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 4 roll. 5 (The Secretary called the roll.) 6 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 43. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 8 is passed. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 1234, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 3929-A, 11 an act to amend the Real Property Actions and 12 Proceedings Law, in relation to a special 13 procedure. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 15 last section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 17 act shall take effect immediately. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 19 roll. 20 (The Secretary called the roll.) 21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 43. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 23 is passed. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 1235, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 4179-A, 1 an act to amend the Highway Law, in relation to 2 transportation. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 4 last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 6 act shall take effect immediately. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 8 roll. 9 (The Secretary called the roll.) 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 43. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 12 is passed. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 1236, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 4462, an act 15 to amend the Executive Law, in relation to the 16 computer system. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 18 last section. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 20 act shall take effect on the 30th day. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 22 roll. 23 (The Secretary called the roll.) 24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 43. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 1 is passed. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 1237, by Senator Bruno, Senate Print 5260-A, an 4 act in relation to the timeliness of the 5 election of the village of Castleton-on-the 6 Hudson. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There's 8 a home rule message at the desk. Read the last 9 section. 10 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 11 act shall take effect immediately. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 13 roll. 14 (The Secretary called the roll.) 15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 43. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 17 is passed. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 1238, by Senator Lachman, Senate Print 5463, an 20 act to amend the Railroad Law, in relation to 21 providing. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 23 last section. 24 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 25 act shall take effect immediately. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 2 roll. 3 (The Secretary called the roll.) 4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 43. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 6 is passed. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 1239, substituted earlier today, by the Assembly 9 Committee on Rules, Assembly Print 8174, an act 10 to amend the Penal Law, in relation to the 11 definition of criminal act. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 13 last section. 14 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 15 act shall take effect on the first day of 16 November. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 18 roll. 19 (The Secretary called the roll.) 20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 22 is passed. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 1240, by Senator Kuhl, Senate Print 6016, an act 25 to amend the Military Law, in relation to the 1 conspicuous service cross award. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 3 last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 5 act shall take effect immediately. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 7 roll. 8 (The Secretary called the roll.) 9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 11 is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 1241, by Senator Marchi, Senate Print 6123, an 14 act authorizing the city of New York to reconvey 15 its interest. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There's 17 a home rule message at the desk. Read the last 18 section. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 20 act shall take effect immediately. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 22 roll. 23 (The Secretary called the roll.) 24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 1 is passed. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 1242, by Senator Trunzo, Senate Print 6142-A, an 4 act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to 5 establishing. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 7 last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 9 act shall take effect on the first day of 10 January. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 12 roll. 13 (The Secretary called the roll.) 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 16 is passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 1244, by Senator Kuhl, Senate Print 6361-A, an 19 act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to the 20 agricultural property tax credit. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 22 last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 24 act shall take effect immediately. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 1 roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll.) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 5 is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 1245, by Senator Meier, Senate Print 6393-A, an 8 act to amend the Military Law, in relation to 9 creating a new state military decoration. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 11 last section. 12 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 13 act shall take effect on the 120th day. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 15 roll. 16 (The Secretary called the roll.) 17 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 19 is passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 1247, by Senator Velella, Senate Print 6438, an 22 act authorizing the city of New York to reconvey 23 its interest. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There's 25 a home rule message at the desk. Read the last 1 section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 3 act shall take effect immediately. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 5 roll. 6 (The Secretary called the roll.) 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 9 is passed. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 1248, by Senator Nozzolio, Senate Print 6522, an 12 act to amend the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, 13 in relation to the exemption. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 15 last section. 16 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the 18 bill aside. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 1249, by Senator Balboni, Senate Print 6648, an 21 act to amend the Local Finance Law, in relation 22 to refunding bonds. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator 24 Markowitz. 25 SENATOR MARKOWITZ: No. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: No. Hi, 2 there. Read the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 4 act shall take effect immediately. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 6 roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll.) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 10 is passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 1250, by Senator Padavan, Senate Print 6655-A, 13 an act to amend the Real Property Tax Law, in 14 relation to clarifying. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 16 last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 18 act shall take effect immediately. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 20 roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll.) 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 24 is passed. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 1 1251, by Senator Kuhl, Senate Print 6742, an act 2 in relation to authorizing the village of Penn 3 Yan. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There's 5 a home rule message at the desk. Read the last 6 section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 8 act shall take effect immediately. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 10 roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll.) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 14 is passed. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 1252, substituted earlier today, by the Assembly 17 Committee on Rules, Assembly Print 10951, an act 18 to amend the Environmental Conservation Law, in 19 relation to the general powers. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 21 last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 23 act shall take effect immediately. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 25 roll. 1 (The Secretary called the roll.) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 45. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 4 is passed. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 1253, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 6937, an 7 act to amend the Penal Law, the Criminal 8 Procedure Law and the Family Court Act, in 9 relation to enhanced penalties. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 11 last section. 12 THE SECRETARY: Section 20. This 13 act shall take effect on the first day of 14 November. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 16 roll. 17 (The Secretary called the roll.) 18 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 20 is passed. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 1254, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 6969, 23 an act to amend the Judiciary Law, in relation 24 to punishments. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 1 last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 3 act shall take effect on the first day of 4 January. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 6 roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll.) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 45. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 10 is passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 1255, substituted earlier today, by the Assembly 13 Committee on Rules, Assembly Print 10687, an act 14 to amend the Social Services Law, in relation to 15 reporting. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 17 last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 19 act shall take effect on the 60th day. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 21 roll. 22 (The Secretary called the roll.) 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 45. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 25 is passed. 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 1256, by Senator Seward, Senate Print 7080, an 3 act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to a 4 reduction. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 6 last section. 7 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the 9 bill aside. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 1257, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 7222-B, an 12 act to amend the General Municipal Law and the 13 Executive Law, in relation to the conduct of 14 games. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 16 -- read the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 19. This 18 act shall take effect on the 180th day. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 20 roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll.) 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 45. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 24 is passed. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 1 1258, by Senator Seward, Senate Print 7320, an 2 act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to 3 excluding stock of subsidiaries. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 5 last section. 6 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 7 act shall take effect immediately. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 9 roll. 10 (The Secretary called the roll.) 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 45. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 13 is passed. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 1259, by Senator Alesi, Senate Print 73... 16 SENATOR SKELOS: Lay it aside for 17 the day. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the 19 bill aside for the day. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 1260, by Senator Santiago, Senate Print 7389-A, 22 an act to authorize the city of New York to 23 reconvey a certain parcel of real property. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: There's 25 a home rule message at the desk. Read the last 1 section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 3 act shall take effect immediately. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 5 roll. 6 (The Secretary called the roll.) 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 45. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 9 is passed. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 1261, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 12 Print 7432, an act to amend the General Business 13 Law, in relation to the licensing. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 15 last section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 17 act shall take effect January 1. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 19 roll. 20 (The Secretary called the roll.) 21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 45. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 23 is passed. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 1262, by Senator Seward, Senate Print 74... 1 SENATOR SKELOS: Lay it aside for 2 the day. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the 4 bill aside for the day. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 1263, by Senator Seward, Senate Print 7447 - 7 SENATOR SKELOS: Lay it aside for 8 the day. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the 10 bill aside for the day. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 1266, by Senator Stafford, Senate Print 7555, an 13 act to amend the Executive Law, in relation to 14 permitting. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 16 last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 18 act shall take effect immediately. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 20 roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll.) 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 45. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 24 is passed. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 1 1268, by Senator Nozzolio, Senate Print 7574, an 2 act to amend the Family Court Act, in relation 3 to increasing the number of Family Court judges. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 5 last section. 6 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 7 act shall take effect January 1. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 9 roll. 10 (The Secretary called the roll.) 11 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 12 President, just to explain my vote. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator 14 Dollinger. 15 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I want to 16 thank my colleagues in the Monroe County 17 delegation and in particular Senator Nozzolio 18 for their work in putting this bill on the floor 19 and getting it through the Senate. 20 This is an issue that a number of 21 us have worked together with for a long time and 22 we have finally reached the end of what has been 23 a long road but for the people in my community, 24 many of whom need the extensive services avail 25 able in the Family Court, this is a blessing for 1 them, and I commend Senator Nozzolio, Senator 2 Alesi and Senator Maziarz for their cooperative 3 work in getting this job done. Long overdue, 4 but the right thing to do. 5 And I'll add just one other thank 6 you and that goes to Monroe County Executive 7 Jack Doyle with whom I've had my discussions in 8 the past, but I think he came to the table and 9 realized after some study that this was the 10 right thing to do. I commend him and the County 11 Legislature for supporting this initiative as 12 well. 13 It's the right thing to do for so 14 many people in my community, and I thank all of 15 you for making it happen. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator 17 Dollinger will be recorded in the affirmative. 18 Senator Nozzolio. 19 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Mr. President, 20 I ask permission to explain my vote. Thank you, 21 Mr. President, my colleagues. 22 I wish to express my thanks for 23 the passage of this measure, particularly my 24 colleagues, Senators Alesi and Maziarz on this 25 side of the aisle and Senator Dollinger on the 1 other side of the aisle, that this is an example 2 where those of us can -- a true example that 3 those of us can work together, that the County 4 Executive of Monroe, Jack Doyle, was steadfast 5 in his analysis and that the proper course was 6 taken, the proper preparation is made so that 7 this Family Court judge will be implemented with 8 -- in a planned way with minimal impact on the 9 county's budget. 10 It's a good process and I want to 11 thank my colleagues and the County Executive of 12 Monroe County for their participation in 13 establishing this very needed Family Court 14 judge. 15 Thank you, Mr. President. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator 17 Nozzolio will be recorded in the affirmative. 18 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 47. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 20 is passed. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 1269, by Senator Fuschillo, Senate Print 7576, 23 an act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, in 24 relation to establishing. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 1 last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 3 act shall take effect on the first day of 4 November. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 6 roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll.) 8 SENATOR GOLD: Lay it aside, 9 please. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the 11 bill aside. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 1270, by Senator Spano, Senate Print 7628, an 14 act to amend the Labor Law, in relation to the 15 definitions of manufacturer, contractor and 16 realtor. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 18 last section. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 8. This 20 act shall take effect immediately. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 22 roll. 23 (The Secretary called the roll.) 24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 47. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 1 is passed. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 1271, by Senator Hannon, Senate Print 5346, an 4 act to amend the Public Health Law and the 5 Insurance Law, in relation to eliminating. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read the 7 last section. 8 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay the 10 bill aside. 11 Senator Skelos, that completes 12 the reading of the non-controversial calendar. 13 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 14 if we could go to the controversial calendar and 15 please start with Senator Volker's bill, 16 Calendar Number 929. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 18 Secretary will go to the controversial calendar 19 and commence with Senator Volker's bill, 20 Calendar 929. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 929, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 395-B, an 23 act to amend the Public Health Law and others, 24 in relation to establishing a program. 25 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Explanation. 1 SENATOR VOLKER: Mr. President. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator 3 Volker, an explanation has been requested. 4 SENATOR VOLKER: Mr. President, 5 this is a bill -- a similar bill has passed this 6 house, I believe twice. This relates to a 7 series of actions that have occurred over a 8 number of years in an attempt to deal with the 9 issue of lead in residential homes throughout 10 the state and previous to this, by the way, we 11 have also taken actions on businesses. 12 Actually, although the -- some of 13 the activists in this area claim that there has 14 not been a great deal of activity in this area, 15 they are totally wrong. We have made dramatic 16 inroads in the issue of lead throughout this 17 state. I won't go into all the details. 18 Art Eve and I have been 19 attempting to deal with this issue since 1975. 20 It is a difficult issue because, although we 21 have made great strides and there is a lot of 22 lead abatement going on in this state, some of 23 which may be at times a bit questionable because 24 of the way in which some of it is done -- what 25 this bill really attempts to do is, number one, 1 set up training in what we call risk assessment 2 procedure in the law and it applies, by the way, 3 to the entire state which is important because 4 the real problem with this bill is -- which this 5 bill would have passed as it is, I believe years 6 ago if it wasn't for the city of New York, and I 7 say -- by the "city of New York", I do not mean 8 the city of New York as an entity because 9 generally speaking the city of New York supports 10 this bill, is not opposed to this bill. In 11 fact, the only real opposition to this bill when 12 you come right down to it, is from two sources: 13 One is the Trial Lawyers who oppose this bill 14 primarily because of what's called constructive 15 notice in this bill. They want constructive 16 notice so they can continue to do their class 17 actions and as a result of that, even though 18 there is no environmental difference essentially 19 or any other difference in this bill from the 20 Assembly bill, the EPL opposes it and NYPIRG and 21 the rest, but really it all has to do with class 22 actions and yet in New York City, for instance, 23 the way the Assembly bill would operate is if 24 you buy a home and/or an apartment building and 25 you -- 30 days goes by and you have not 1 remediated, even though you don't know there's a 2 problem, you are stuck. You could be the 3 subject of a class action and you could be the 4 subject of some heavy lawsuits. 5 What this bill does is say, look, 6 you've got to know and if you know, you've got 7 to take an action and it basically sets up 8 standards for taking those actions because the 9 federal government will be coming in with 10 standards in September -- September 1st, the 11 federal standards will come into place. The 12 major problem is that right now there are people 13 who are doing lead abatement in this state but 14 because we don't have a training process in 15 place, the people that are trained have to go to 16 a different state. Ironically, most of the 17 people that go -- from Albany here go to 18 Connecticut. 19 Connecticut is a state that 20 originally did a lead abatement bill similar to 21 the one that was supported by many of the 22 so-called environmentalists which totally 23 brought Connecticut to a halt in doing any lead 24 abatement because it was completely out of 25 whack. It suggested that the state would only 1 put up 2-, $3 billion they would be able to lead 2 abate. Of course, that was impossible. So 3 Connecticut backed off, basically moved back to 4 a modified kind of schedule and did their 5 training piece similar to this one and now 6 Connecticut is moving on to try to do some lead 7 abatement. 8 So what this bill really tries to 9 do is a major step forward in allowing for the 10 training of people who can do the lead 11 abatement, not bringing the housing stock sales, 12 and so forth, totally to a halt as could well 13 happen if we passed a bill that over-did the 14 issue of lead abatement and thirdly to set up 15 some standards for how the lead abating is done, 16 and that essentially is what this bill does and 17 I must clear one thing up and I know there's 18 going to be an amendment. 19 There's very, very little 20 difference any more between the Senate and 21 Assembly bill and anyone that claims there's 22 some sort of environmental difference or 23 whatever hasn't read the bills. In fact, 24 another bill just went in the last two weeks 25 because there's a lot of interest, especially in 1 the upstate cities where people are getting 2 very, very restive and would prefer to have the 3 state of New York control our destiny rather 4 than the federal government. 5 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Through you, 6 Mr. President. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Senator 8 Dollinger. 9 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Is there an 10 amendment at the desk, Mr. President? 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Yes, 12 there is, Senator. 13 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I would ask 14 that the reading of the amendment be waived and 15 that I be heard on the amendment. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 17 reading of the amendment is waived and you're 18 recognized for the purpose of explaining your 19 amendment. 20 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Thank you. 21 Once again, as yesterday, I 22 appear with an amendment to a bill sponsored by 23 Senator Volker, who has very well explained his 24 underlying bill. I should preface the 25 discussion of this amendment with a -- as I did 1 yesterday with an understanding that I share 2 much of what Senator Volker has described as to 3 the state of what's going on in lead abatement. 4 We have made some advancements in 5 lead abatement, and I think through the work of 6 Assemblyman Eve and Senator Volker, we have 7 driven this issue into the public consciousness 8 and that the problem is being attended to. 9 Unfortunately, the problem 10 continues to proceed at a dramatic level, if you 11 look at the health of the children who are 12 living in homes or apartment buildings that have 13 lead and the presence of lead as a problem in 14 early childhood development is well known and, 15 unfortunately in many of our urban areas, our 16 older areas of this state, the incidence of lead 17 poisoning is continuing to rise. So when we're 18 faced with that difficulty -- and I appreciate 19 Senator Volker's work with Assemblyman Eve to 20 try to deal with this problem. 21 What we're seeking to do today 22 and what this amendment seeks to do, Mr. 23 President, is to simply establish a lead paint 24 certification program. This is one of several 25 bills that Assemblyman Eve carries. It's -- the 1 text of his bill -- it's Assembly bill 7099 - 2 and what it would do is it would simply require 3 that, in order to be involved in a lead paint 4 abatement process, that you would have to have 5 certified workers doing it, so we're assured 6 that it would be properly done, it would be 7 effectively done, that during the period of time 8 of removal, there would be no greater exposure 9 to lead and when the final product is done, we 10 can actually certify, we would know that the 11 work has been properly done and we would end up 12 with a systemic renewal of our neighborhoods in 13 the older portions of our communities where we 14 know that lead paint has been fully and 15 completely abated. 16 Mr. President, we did this 17 amendment last year. It failed. My sense is it 18 may also fail this year. I think that would be 19 unfortunate, because Senator Volker's correct. 20 We do have a problem of marching down the road 21 to lead abatement and reducing lead abatement if 22 we allow the federal government to come in and 23 tell us what to do. We will have a system then 24 that is perhaps dictated by lead abatement 25 problems in Detroit or Philadelphia or Atlanta, 1 Georgia or St. Louis, Missouri and not the kind 2 of lead problems that we have in Rochester, 3 Buffalo, Syracuse, New York City and Albany. 4 It seems to me that we should 5 seize the opportunity to make New York deal with 6 this problem and deal with it in a special way 7 that we understand, that we control, where the 8 destiny and future of lead abatement will be 9 held by this chamber and by the chamber across 10 the way instead of our friends in the 11 Environmental Protection Agency that may be 12 bureaucrats living in our state or, frankly, a 13 Congress based in Washington that doesn't know 14 this problem as well as Senator Volker, 15 Assemblyman Eve and other members of the two 16 houses know it. 17 So my suggestion is that we 18 accept this amendment. We move down the road in 19 discussions with Senator Volker and Assemblyman 20 Eve. We give them the impetus to come to the 21 table with the leadership of both houses to 22 bring a bill out that will achieve the 23 beneficial purpose of improving our record on 24 lead abatement. At the same time -- and I know 25 there are complicated issues. Senator Volker 1 outlined them with respect to notice and 2 instances in which civil recovery might be 3 possible, but those issues, I think can be 4 resolved. I think if we adopt this amendment, 5 we would be signalling to the other house that 6 there's a rapprochement in dealing with this 7 issue and that we're prepared to go forward, 8 hopefully even in the next week, to resolve a 9 bill that will deal with this long-standing 10 problem. 11 Senator Volker says he's been 12 working on this since 1975. I will say one 13 thing about him. He worked on the death penalty 14 which was the subject of our bill since, I 15 believe the early '70s, and he finally got that 16 a couple years ago. 17 Senator Volker, no one would be 18 applauding more than I on this issue, whereas I 19 was perhaps not applauding a couple of years ago 20 when your perseverance on death penalty reached 21 its peak and you were successful but no one 22 would be applauding more than I if we got a bill 23 that did what's necessary in New York, in my 24 judgment. 25 Let's deal with the lead 1 abatement problem. Let's continue the good work 2 that's been started. Let's send a message to 3 our colleagues in the other house that there's 4 an open door to resolving some of these 5 outstanding issues and by accepting this 6 amendment, I think that we might be able to send 7 that message. I would urge all of my colleagues 8 to vote in favor of it. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: On the 10 amendment, all those in favor signify by saying 11 aye. 12 (Response of "Aye".) 13 Opposed, nay. 14 (Response of "Nay".) 15 The amendment fails. 16 Read the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 10. This 18 act shall take effect December 31st. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call the 20 roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll.) 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Announce 23 the results. 24 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 25 the negative on Calendar Number 929 are Senators 1 Balboni, Connor, Dollinger, Fuschillo, Gentile, 2 Goodman, Lachman, Leibell, Marcellino, 3 Markowitz, Onorato, Paterson and Spano. Ayes 4 36, nays 13. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The bill 6 is passed. 7 THE SECRETARY: Also Senator 8 Gold. Ayes 35, nays 14. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 10 bill is passed. 11 The Secretary will read. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 337, by Senator Velella, Senate Print 4422-A - 14 SENATOR SKELOS: Lay that aside 15 temporarily and please take up Calendar Number 16 1210, by Senator Stafford. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 18 bill is laid aside. 19 The Secretary will read 1210. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 1210, by Senator Stafford, Senate Print 7556, an 22 act to amend the Public Officers Law, in 23 relation to permitting. 24 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Explanation. 25 SENATOR STAFFORD: I would 1 immediately point out that Senator Dollinger's 2 point is very, very well taken. They explained 3 to me yesterday you asked, and I, for the most 4 part, think we have to be very, very careful 5 about this, and I think it's a very, very 6 sensitive point and that is people leaving and 7 then coming back into service. 8 I would respectfully suggest that 9 due to the severity of this -- can't hear me? 10 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Now I can. 11 I'm fine. Go ahead. 12 SENATOR STAFFORD: I would 13 respectfully suggest that due to the severity of 14 the problems with the millennium and due to the 15 technical situation as far as people's 16 expertise, I think we're going to have to both 17 in the private and public sector pull in 18 everybody we can, and I just the other day was 19 talking to someone and they're talking about 20 possibly at -- how would it be -- 12:01 on 1999, 21 it's amazing what could happen. 22 I think that we have enough -- I 23 think the issue has a high enough profile now 24 that the country won't shut down, but I suggest 25 that when you talk to people that are in this 1 field and have this problem, that it is 2 something that this exception would prevail. 3 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 4 President. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Thank 6 you, Senator. 7 Senator Dollinger. 8 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Just on the 9 bill. I appreciate Senator Stafford's 10 comments. I'm really torn on this one. I don't 11 quite know what the right thing to do is. 12 My problem with this bill is that 13 here we've got a situation where we know we have 14 a virtual catastrophe if our computers aren't 15 dealing with the year 2000 problem and we've got 16 this group of experts who know how to deal with 17 it. 18 So what do they do? We spend 19 taxpayers' money training them how to deal with 20 it. We give them all the information. They 21 know how to do it. Well, then what do they do? 22 They exercise their right, and I'm not disputing 23 their right to do this is, but they retire from 24 our system and then they -- under normal course, 25 they would be banned by the Public Officers Law 1 prohibition about going back to work as a 2 consultant for their department. Instead they 3 know that they've got the technical knowledge 4 and information to be able to more than better 5 compete with the private industry to solve the 6 problem, they've got -- they're the perfectly 7 situated group to be able to do it. So they 8 retire and they come back on our door and in 9 essence say to us, Well, we've got the 10 solution. We know the machines. We know the 11 technology. We know the people we've got. 12 We're the perfect people to solve this problem 13 except we want to solve it as private 14 consultants at a significant pay rather than 15 members of the state work force if we had stayed 16 and hadn't retired. 17 I really, quite frankly, don't 18 quite know what to do in this instance, but it 19 seems to me that it's somewhat unfair to the 20 people of this state who made an investment in 21 these employees to allow them, even though 22 they're not doing anything illegal, anything 23 improper, but we end up in a situation where 24 we're absolutely beholden to them because 25 they've got the goods on us. 1 I appreciate this bill. I'll 2 simply vote against it perhaps as a personal 3 protest to what seems to be the unfair 4 bargaining position we end up by virtue of law, 5 but we need to solve the 2000 problem. These 6 are probably the right people to do it. It just 7 seems as though our law doesn't quite put the 8 people of this state and the taxpayers who 9 trained them and paid for their training and 10 education in a position to defend themselves 11 when they're now retired and able to leverage 12 their position in the negotiations over solving 13 this problem. 14 The bill ought to pass. If my 15 vote were necessary to have it pass, I would 16 have it pass, but I'm going to vote in the 17 negative because it seems as though we're not 18 getting the right deal. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Read 20 the last section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 22 act shall take effect immediately. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Call 24 the roll. 25 (The Secretary called the roll.) 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 49, nays 1, 2 Senator Dollinger recorded in the negative. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 4 bill is passed. 5 Senator Skelos. 6 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 7 in discussing 1248 with Senator Paterson, I 8 think he has a quick question to ask or a 9 comment to make and just to alert the members on 10 both sides of the aisle, there will then be a 11 conference of the Majority and the Minority upon 12 completion of this bill. So if you're not in 13 the chamber, start heading over. 14 So could you call up Calendar 15 Number 1248, please. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 17 Secretary will read Calendar Number 1248. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 1248, by Senator Nozzolio, Senate Print 6522, an 20 act to amend the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, 21 in relation to the exemption. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 23 Paterson. 24 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 25 on this particular bill, I'm in concurrence with 1 what appears to be not only Senator Nozzolio's 2 feeling but the feelings of other Senators. I 3 saw a bill very similar written by Senator 4 Goodman. There are about three or four bills 5 out here and my statement, even though I'm 6 voting aye, is that if the wall is coming down 7 between the distributor and the retailer of 8 alcohol, if peoples' tastes are changing and if 9 it's getting to the point where we're having the 10 situation now where we have the winery creating 11 the brew pub right on the -- on its area - 12 there's one right here in Albany -- if that's 13 the case, then I think we really need to invoke 14 this as a statewide policy. 15 This particular bill actually 16 addresses one piece of land in one area of the 17 state, and I don't think we need to be doing it 18 that way. I don't think Senator Nozzolio or 19 anyone else should be forced to put these bills 20 in one at a time. Let's put a broad-based 21 policy together and establish some responsible 22 legislating on this subject. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 24 Skelos. 25 SENATOR SKELOS: Senator 1 Nozzolio, are you going to want to explain your 2 vote or make a comment now? 3 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Explain my 4 vote. 5 SENATOR SKELOS: So why don't we 6 have the last section read. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Read 8 the last section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 10 act shall take effect immediately. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Call 12 the roll. 13 (The Secretary called the roll.) 14 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 15 Nozzolio, to explain his vote. 16 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Yes, Mr. 17 President. Thank you for the opportunity. 18 Just for history that the law 19 currently allows winery owners to also own and 20 operate a retail establishment on the same 21 premise or adjacent to each other. It does not 22 allow them to own also a brewery along with a 23 winery in a retail establishment. It's an 24 archaic law. It doesn't make sense. 25 I conclude -- I agree with 1 Senator Paterson that we should have a statewide 2 issue focused on. However, this gentleman is in 3 business and we have only a few weeks in this 4 legislative session left and that we need to 5 make hay while the sun shines in upstate New 6 York and certainly this is very important to 7 this business owner in the Finger Lakes region, 8 and I appreciate the opportunity to support this 9 measure. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Results 11 -- I'm sorry. Senator Padavan, to explain his 12 vote -- Senator Mendez, to explain her vote. 13 SENATOR MENDEZ: Yes, Mr. 14 President. I would like to have unanimous - 15 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: I'm 16 sorry, Senator. We're currently on a roll 17 call. We'll come back to you, Senator. 18 Is there anyone else wishing to 19 explain their vote on 12... Calendar 1248? 20 (There was no response.) 21 Results. 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 24 bill is passed. 25 Senator Skelos. 1 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 2 please recognize Senator Padavan. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 4 Padavan. 5 SENATOR PADAVAN: I would like to 6 be recorded in the negative on Calendar Number 7 422. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Without 9 objection, so ordered. 10 SENATOR PADAVAN: 929. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Without 12 objection, so ordered. 13 SENATOR PADAVAN: And 1257. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Without 15 objection, so ordered. 16 Senator Mendez. 17 SENATOR MENDEZ: Yes. I would 18 like to be recorded in the negative on Calendar 19 Number 1234 -- 1234. 20 Thank you. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Without 22 objection, so ordered. 23 Senator Smith. 24 SENATOR SMITH: Mr. President, I 25 request unanimous consent to be recorded in the 1 negative on Calendar Number 929. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Without 3 objection, so ordered. 4 Senator Kruger. 5 SENATOR KRUGER: Mr. President, I 6 would ask unanimous consent to be recorded on 7 Calendar Number 929 in the negative. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Without 9 objection, so ordered. 10 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 12 Skelos. 13 SENATOR SKELOS: There will be an 14 immediate -- there will be an immediate Majority 15 Conference in the Majority Conference Room and 16 the conferences will last one half hour. 17 Senator Paterson? 31 minutes. 18 Senator Dollinger needs that extra minute. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 20 Paterson. 21 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 22 would you please recognize Senator Mendez. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 24 Mendez. 25 SENATOR MENDEZ: There will be an 1 immediate conference of the Minority in Room 2 314. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: There 4 will be immediate conferences of the Majority 5 and the Minority for one half hour, one minute 6 allocated to Senator Dollinger. The Senate is 7 in recess -- will stand at ease. 8 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at 9 ease from 10:57 a.m. until 12:10 p.m.) 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 11 Senate will come to order. Ask the members to 12 find their places, those who are not in the 13 chamber to come to the chamber. Ask the staff 14 to find their places. 15 The Chair recognizes Senator 16 Skelos. 17 SENATOR SKELOS: Please recognize 18 Senator Hoffmann. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 20 Hoffmann, why do you rise? 21 SENATOR HOFFMANN: Mr. President, 22 I was out of the chamber at the time Calendar 23 929 was taken up. I would request unanimous 24 consent to be recorded in the negative. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 1 objection. 2 SENATOR HOFFMANN: Thank you. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Hearing 4 no objection, Senator Hoffmann will be recorded 5 in the negative on Calendar Number 929. 6 Senator Skelos. 7 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 8 Senator Nanula, please. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The Chair 10 recognizes Senator Nanula. 11 SENATOR NANULA: Thank you, Mr. 12 President. 13 I too would like to request 14 unanimous consent to be recorded in the negative 15 on Calendar Number 929. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 17 objection. 18 SENATOR NANULA: Thank you. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Hearing 20 no objection, Senator Nanula will be recorded in 21 the negative on Calendar Number 929. 22 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr. 23 President. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 Marcellino. 1 SENATOR MARCELLINO: We have a 2 motion. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Return to 4 the order of motions and resolutions, Senator 5 Skelos. 6 The Chair recognizes Senator 7 Marcellino. 8 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you, 9 Mr. President. 10 On behalf of Senator Johnson, I 11 wish to call up his bill, Print Number 2550-D, 12 recalled from the Assembly, which is now at the 13 desk. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 15 Secretary will read. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 256, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 2550-D, an 18 act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 20 Marcellino. 21 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr. 22 President, I now move to reconsider the vote by 23 which this bill was passed. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 25 Secretary will call the roll on reconsideration. 1 (The Secretary called the roll on 2 reconsideration.) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 53. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5 Marcellino. 6 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you, 7 Mr. President. 8 I now offer the following 9 amendments. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 11 amendments are received and adopted. 12 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 Oppenheimer, why do you rise? 15 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: I rise to 16 ask unanimous consent to be recorded in the 17 negative on 9... Calendar 929. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 19 objection, hearing no objection, Senator 20 Oppenheimer will be recorded in the negative on 21 Calendar Number 929. 22 Senator Skelos. 23 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 24 is there any other housekeeping at the desk at 25 this time? 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We have 2 one -- or two substitutions. 3 SENATOR SKELOS: Please make the 4 substitutions. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 6 Secretary will read the substitutions at the 7 desk. 8 THE SECRETARY: On page 13, 9 Senator Present moves to discharge from the 10 Committee on Rules Assembly Bill Number 9238 and 11 substitute it for the identical Third Reading 12 Calendar 499. 13 And on page 21, Senator Trunzo 14 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 15 Assembly Bill Number 10081 and substitute it for 16 the identical Third Reading Calendar 721. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 18 substitutions are ordered. 19 Senator Skelos. 20 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 21 if we could return to the controversial 22 calendar, I believe Calendar Number 1269 by 23 Senator Fuschillo was inadvertently laid aside. 24 If we could take that up at this time. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 1 Secretary will read Calendar Number 1269 by 2 Senator Fuschillo. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 1269, by Senator Fuschillo, Senate Print 7576, 5 an act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, in 6 relation to establishing. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 8 Secretary will read the last section. 9 SENATOR GOLD: Mr. President. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 11 Gold, to explain his vote? 12 SENATOR GOLD: No. Just a minor 13 correction. I didn't inadvertently lay it 14 aside, but I have no objection to the bill. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 16 Secretary will read the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 18 act shall take effect on the first day of 19 November. 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 Senator Skelos. 2 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 3 would you please call up Calendar Number 337, by 4 Senator Velella. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 6 Secretary will read. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 337, by Senator Velella, Senate Print 4422-A, an 9 act to amend the Public Health Law, in relation 10 to Human Immunodeficiency Virus infection. 11 SENATOR PATERSON: Explanation, 12 please. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 Velella, an explanation of Calendar Number 337 15 has been requested by the Acting Minority 16 Leader, Senator Paterson. 17 SENATOR VELELLA: Yes, Mr. 18 President. 19 This is a bill which would 20 establish a name reporting system to track HIV 21 infection in this state and it also makes 22 provisions for confidential partner notification 23 procedures. 24 The way this bill sets up the 25 process is if a person is diagnosed with the HIV 1 virus, a notice would be sent to the 2 Commissioner of Health, who would in turn notify 3 the local health authority. That local health 4 authority would send out a trained health care 5 worker, social worker or health care 6 professional, to discuss with the person who's 7 been diagnosed with the HIV virus the fact that 8 this is a communicable disease, advise them of 9 all of their rights, advise them of all of the 10 services and treatments that are available and 11 request -- and I stress the word "request" - 12 from them a list of potential contacts or 13 possible contacts that they had to which this 14 disease may have been spread. 15 There is no mandatory provision 16 that the infected person must reveal the names 17 of anybody that they either had a physical 18 contact with or shared a needle or any way that 19 the virus might have been transmitted. There is 20 no provision to put anyone on the rack and 21 stretch them until they come clean and confess. 22 That person has the option to say I do not wish 23 to discuss this with you. I consider it a 24 private matter and that's where the conversation 25 ends. 1 If, in fact, that person chooses 2 to let the health care worker know some contacts 3 that they had had that may have been infected, 4 that health care worker will then notify the 5 people that are on that list personally and will 6 then let them know that you have been exposed to 7 the HIV virus. There is a possibility that you 8 have contracted this virus. You ought to get 9 yourself tested. Their names will be held 10 confidential. There's nowhere that this will be 11 published as a list. It will be a strictly 12 confidential reporting system and it will work. 13 The arguments that I have heard 14 against this bill are nothing but fear tactics. 15 It is the same arguments that were raised when I 16 did the baby AIDS bill, that this was a terrible 17 thing. People weren't going to be tested. It 18 was going to make people have babies in 19 alleyways. You know what? We passed the baby 20 AIDS bill. It's working. I think if we all 21 think about it, it is probably one of the most 22 significant votes that we have made to save 23 lives. 24 That bill is working today, 25 thanks to the work of my colleague over in the 1 Assembly, Nettie Mayersohn, who has really done 2 an outstanding job on calling these issues to 3 the public. 4 This bill will do the same 5 thing. It will help us fight the battle. We 6 have to stop treating this disease as a 7 politically protected disease. It is a 8 communicable disease. Why do we want to abandon 9 all of the state policies that have dealt with 10 communicable diseases before, whether it be 11 tuberculosis, whether it be syphilis, 12 gonorrhea. We have put provisions in our laws 13 that have dealt with these diseases and worked 14 and make them almost non-existent, or to at 15 least a low level. Why not for AIDS? Why not 16 for this case? Why do we treat it especially? 17 Because I say to you, there are 18 some people who have financial interests in 19 keeping this the way it is, to obtain all of 20 this counseling money, all the money we see in 21 the budget. Let's do it the good old-fashioned 22 way, the way we've whipped tuberculosis, the way 23 we've controlled syphilis and gonorrhea. Let's 24 treat it the same way. Let's pass this bill. 25 SENATOR GOLD: Mr. President. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 Gold. 3 SENATOR GOLD: Mr. President, 4 it's interesting to hear Senator Velella's 5 reference to an Assemblywoman from Queens. 6 Actually I think that probably everyone that has 7 been involved with this Legislature in recent 8 years would admit that Nettie Mayersohn has been 9 a pain in the neck for years over this issue, a 10 pain, a disturbance, someone who can drive you 11 crazy. And what's the result of all of that? 12 That woman is responsible for saving lives and 13 that's the bottom line, and I think we owe a 14 debt of gratitude to someone who doesn't give up 15 and doesn't mind being cursed out now and then 16 and being avoided in the halls and who dedicates 17 herself to the fact that the cause is important 18 enough that lives are going to be saved and she 19 stayed with it. 20 Which points out something else, 21 and that is that I have a great sympathy for the 22 people who have lobbied this issue and the 23 politics of the whole AIDS/HIV issue, in my 24 opinion, has not worked well over recent years 25 and many people have made the comment that if 1 the politics had worked out differently, perhaps 2 we would have been more aggressive in the way 3 we've handled this whole issue in terms of the 4 health problem that clearly does exist, and I 5 feel badly about that. 6 But I will tell you that one 7 thing I've learned over my years in this 8 Legislature is that there is a difference 9 between being supportive of an issue, supportive 10 of a group that is committed to an issue and 11 being owned or controlled, and I think that as 12 legislators we've got to know where that 13 difference is. 14 I'm certainly not running away 15 from my record on issues that deal with the - 16 with the gay community and the human rights 17 issues involved and in this bill people have 18 raised privacy issues and I'm sensitive to that, 19 but I must tell you that the determining factor 20 as to how I would vote on this bill came as a 21 result of a meeting I had, I think just two 22 weeks ago outside this chamber with a lobbying 23 group that was very much opposed to this bill, 24 and it's irrelevant to name the group, but I 25 listened to their arguments against this bill 1 and people told me about how difficult it is to 2 be notified that you have this terrible disease 3 and that the trauma is huge and then the trauma 4 of having to go back and tell somebody else. 5 People who go through this trauma may need 6 counseling. They may need a certain amount of 7 personal care and attention, and I must tell you 8 without trying to be cruel in any way, that the 9 way I heard the argument was "I, I, I, I" and I 10 said to myself, I have never in my life tried to 11 delineate between love and to criticize anyone 12 who professed to love, and you don't -- and a 13 child loves a parent. A parent loves a child 14 and there are heterosexual relationships where 15 people love and there are homosexual 16 relationships where people love, and I have 17 never in my life ever suggested that one type of 18 love is different or less caring, and I said to 19 myself, if you love, it means you care. I don't 20 know how you can love and not care, and if you 21 love and you care, how can you know a piece of 22 information that can dramatically affect the 23 life of an individual or individuals for whom 24 you say you care and then say, I'm sorry. 25 That's all in the back burner because I need the 1 counseling and I need this and I need that and 2 I'm sorry. I'm sorry. That's not my 3 understanding of reactions. 4 We have seen mothers face certain 5 death to run into a burning house to save a 6 child. We've seen men and women do that for 7 each other. I mean, love is something which 8 when it comes to caring and expressing care, 9 people do irrational things because they care 10 and in this situation, this bill, in my humble 11 opinion, is setting up something that is, 12 indeed, rational, not irrational, but rational 13 and says that there is an obligation that goes 14 past the one individual and it goes to other 15 individuals and maybe even to society as a whole 16 because we have seen the terrible situations 17 where some people who don't care have increased 18 the risk to society in general. 19 So I am sorry that this always 20 gets politicized, but on the other hand as I 21 look around the room, we got elected to take the 22 heat and everything we do is in one way or 23 another political. 24 So I will continue my commitment 25 to try to see to it that AIDS programs are 1 properly funded, that we don't politicize that 2 issue to the point where we don't do everything 3 that's scientifically and medically necessary to 4 deal with that dreadful situation and wipe it 5 out, but it seems to me that this bill is a 6 common sense bill and that this bill does not 7 offend the conscience of people who say, if you 8 love somebody, how do you just not get involved 9 with an activity or a circumstance that can save 10 their lives? 11 I think there are protections in 12 this bill and I'm going to vote very comfortably 13 in favor of the bill. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 15 Hoffmann. 16 SENATOR HOFFMANN: Mr. President, 17 I would like to compliment the sponsor of this 18 bill. I think it is a necessary and appropriate 19 response to a terrible dilemma that we face 20 right now. 21 I'm impressed with some of the 22 things that Senator Gold said because he talked 23 about a concept of love and how loving partners 24 would, in most instances, be so concerned about 25 the health and well-being of the partner that 1 they would take all appropriate steps to see 2 that that individual receives medical care if 3 they were jeopardized by any kind of a disease; 4 but something seems to happen when we're looking 5 at the HIV issue. Is it possible that some 6 people become frightened or embarrassed, or is 7 it possible that on occasion it was not love 8 that motivated the sexual activity in the first 9 place, and they really don't care at all about 10 the infected partners or the potentially 11 infected partners, and those are the issues as 12 policymakers that we've had to look at in this 13 state over the last couple of years. 14 There is no example more 15 startling in this state and possibly the nation 16 than the Nushawn Williams case. This has given 17 all of us quite an education in what can happen 18 in the HIV spectrum of experiences. 19 This individual, using several 20 different names, cut a wide swath of sexual 21 activity across the state of New York, having 22 sexual experience with many young girls, some as 23 young as the age of 13, allegedly even younger. 24 These girls were totally unaware of his status, 25 and probably totally unaware of the risks that 1 they were undertaking when they agreed to have 2 sex with him. The result of his activity is 3 that many of them are now infected with HIV and 4 there have been several infected babies born to 5 some of these girls. It is anticipated that 6 there will be more as well. There are also 7 young men who were the secondary partners of 8 some of these women, young girls, who had slept 9 with Nushawn Williams, and they are infected as 10 well. 11 Now, what happened in that case 12 that we should be learning from? In that 13 instance out in Chautauqua County, a very small 14 health department was able to ascertain that 15 there was a problem, and a couple of very astute 16 individuals were able to piece together the fact 17 that it was quite possibly one individual with 18 an ostensibly diabolical modus operandi to sleep 19 with as many young girls as possible who was, in 20 fact, causing this high rate of infection. 21 Under the current law, it was 22 necessary to achieve access to his victim 23 population through the legal system. There was 24 no medical provision in place that would have 25 compelled all of the doctors who might have 1 encountered any of the victims to put that 2 information in a central repository. It became 3 an issue of law enforcement rather than the 4 medical community in the Nushawn Williams case. 5 This measure, I believe, will put 6 the matter squarely where it belongs, in the 7 hands of the medical and the health community, 8 and it will not have to become a matter of law 9 enforcement responsibility in the future. When 10 people are going to be notified about the 11 prospect of having had a sexual encounter with a 12 person who is infected with a disease like HIV, 13 I conclude that most of those people would 14 prefer to be notified by a health official. 15 They would prefer that rather than have a knock 16 on the door from a sheriff or a member of a law 17 enforcement outfit who is following up on the 18 criminal activity of the individual responsible 19 for the infection. 20 We have learned the hard way in 21 Chautauqua County and the other rural counties, 22 where this one individual cruelly infected so 23 many people, that the responsibility did not 24 exist where it needed to, in the medical and in 25 the health departments and it then fell to law 1 enforcement to try to treat this as a criminal 2 activity. 3 I am confident that this measure 4 will give people who are well qualified, who are 5 sensitive, who are trained and who care about 6 the health and well-being of all citizens, the 7 opportunity to do the right thing at the right 8 time and help head off the type of epidemic that 9 occurred out in western New York. 10 I understand also that there are 11 other states that have attempted with some 12 success to do what we're looking at today and 13 have evaluated what has happened in the area of 14 confidentiality. This isn't always the first 15 question people ask when we talk about any kind 16 of notification of HIV. 17 I had the experience a couple of 18 weeks ago of visiting with some people from the 19 state of Florida at a health-related conference, 20 I and another member of this Senate. Senator 21 Smith and I talked with people who were 22 responsible for implementing, for designing and 23 implementing the statute that's in effect in the 24 state of Florida. 25 We asked the question about 1 breaches of confidentiality. The answer was no, 2 there have been none. We also asked the 3 question about the gay community that had so 4 vigorously opposed any notification laws in this 5 state, and what their role was in the state of 6 Florida and, to our surprise, we were told that 7 several organizations, including the Gay Men's 8 Health Crisis, had actually participated in 9 development of that legislation. This marks a 10 tremendous change, and a coming together of very 11 diverse groups of people whose thinking has 12 often polarized people in this chamber and in 13 other legislatures around the country on the 14 issue of HIV and HIV reporting. 15 I take great comfort in the fact 16 that 28 other states are doing what we are doing 17 now. I feel terrible that we have not had a law 18 in place that might have assisted in the 19 tracking of an individual who was as wantonly 20 irresponsible and callous as Nushawn Williams 21 apparently was in Chautauqua County, New York, 22 but I believe that by passing this bill we will 23 be able to safely say that lives are being saved 24 in the future. 25 I will vote aye. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 2 will read the last section. Excuse me. Senator 3 Dollinger. 4 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Will the 5 sponsor yield to just a couple quick questions? 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7 Velella, do you yield? The Senator yields. 8 SENATOR VELELLA: Yes. 9 SENATOR DOLLINGER: So I 10 understand this, Senator Velella, I call your 11 attention to page 2, section 3, just deals with 12 the transmission of the information which, as I 13 understand it, what this bill will do is the 14 reports will be filed from the physician to the 15 state health commissioner and then routed to the 16 local health commissioners; is that correct? 17 SENATOR VELELLA: I'm sorry. 18 Yes. 19 SENATOR DOLLINGER: O.K. Again 20 through you, Mr. President, it says, the way I 21 read it, that will not only be the name of the 22 individual who is diagnosed. 23 SENATOR VELELLA: Could you cite 24 the line you're talking about. 25 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Line 12, 1 section 3, it says this is the information that 2 will be divulged to the commissioner. It will 3 include not only the name identification of the 4 person diagnosed with HIV, but any contacts of 5 the protected individual as well; is that 6 correct? 7 SENATOR VELELLA: Of any contacts 8 or to protect the individual, yes. 9 SENATOR DOLLINGER: So the 10 information that's transferred from the local 11 physician, the primary care physician or whom 12 ever, to the health commissioner is not just 13 going to be the name of the diagnosed individual 14 but the name of any contact. So my question is, 15 you -- you have an individual who comes in and 16 is diagnosed. There is the question asked, and 17 I know the latter portion of the bill deals with 18 the ability of the physician to make the 19 notification, allows the health commissioner to 20 review that process of notification, but there's 21 a list at that point of names of contacts and 22 there's no -- at the time the information is 23 transmitted to the health commissioner, there's 24 no notice to the -- to the contacts at that 25 point. 1 What your bill provides is that 2 once the health commissioner gets it, that 3 information, person diagnosed and contacts is 4 then relayed to the local health commissioner, 5 who takes the health information and determines 6 whether the contacts have been informed; is that 7 correct? 8 SENATOR VELELLA: Well, I don't 9 know that necessarily the procedure is going to 10 work the way you outline it. The state health 11 officials will notify the local people who will 12 then, in turn, notify the persons that are on a 13 list of contacts which will have been obtained 14 voluntarily from the infected person. 15 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I 16 understand. The -- again through you, Mr. 17 President, if Senator Velella will continue to 18 yield, and just so I understand it, what's going 19 to be transmitted is not just the information of 20 the person who has been diagnosed but the name 21 of all the contacts as well, voluntarily 22 obtained in a consultation with the physician or 23 other person, will be transferred to the state 24 Health Department and then, in turn, transferred 25 to the local Health Department. 1 SENATOR VELELLA: It's my 2 understanding that you may be just generaliz 3 ing too broadly. Obviously this isn't in 4 effect. However, there are other notification 5 provisions for other communicable diseases. 6 It's my understanding that the local health 7 official -- let us just, for example, use me as 8 an example. I live in Bronx County. My local 9 New York City, because we have the five counties 10 would be notified, the official health 11 commissioner of New York City. He would then 12 get the names of anybody I had given that lived 13 within that area. If it was someone that I had 14 a contact with that may have been involved in 15 Chautauqua County, that health official would 16 get that name. He wouldn't necessarily get the 17 names from anywhere outside his own 18 jurisdiction, the idea being he would be 19 responsible to reach out to the people within 20 his jurisdiction. 21 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again I - 22 and again through you, Mr. President. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 24 Velella, do you continue to yield? 25 SENATOR VELELLA: Yes. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 Velella continues to yield. Senator continues 3 to yield. 4 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I want to 5 make sure that it's not just the name of the 6 diagnosed person, the protected individual as 7 it's used in the bill, and I believe used 8 elsewhere in the Public Health Law, but it's the 9 names of the contacts as well that would be 10 transmitted in this chain of information. 11 SENATOR VELELLA: To the 12 commissioners in the area where those people 13 might be found. 14 SENATOR DOLLINGER: O.K. 15 The second thing I'm concerned 16 about, I've read the bill in somewhat -- in some 17 detail. I clearly understand what it does. The 18 -- are you satisfied -- again through you, Mr. 19 President, if Senator Velella will continue to 20 yield. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Velella, do you continue to yield? 23 SENATOR VELELLA: Yes. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 continues to yield. 1 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Are you 2 satisfied, Senator, that the non-disclosure 3 provisions of this bill are sufficient to 4 protect the disclosure of this information 5 either under the Freedom of Information Law in 6 New York State or the disclosure of this 7 information to any other agency of the state of 8 New York; that is, not just the public health 9 commissioner but the housing commissioner, the 10 police commissioner, and are you satisfied that 11 these records would be immune from disclosure to 12 agencies of the federal government? 13 SENATOR VELELLA: Yes. 14 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Can you tell 15 me where your language is that suggests that? 16 SENATOR VELELLA: Well, let me 17 begin by saying that we've tried as much as 18 possible to mirror the language of laws that 19 protect people from this disclosure in other 20 circumstances such as the transmission of 21 syphilis or other communicable diseases, so that 22 while this -- while this would be no new law or 23 new procedure that would guarantee the safety or 24 the security of these names, it would have the 25 same security that other communicable diseases 1 have, which has proven over time not to have 2 published a list of people who have these 3 diseases. So I would rely on the body of law 4 that we have and the case law and -- which 5 section? -- Section 2135, "Confidentiality" 6 which is what I would rely on where we have 7 taken that from the other statutes that protect 8 people from unfair disclosure of their 9 communicable disease. 10 SENATOR DOLLINGER: O.K. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 12 Dollinger. 13 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Just on the 14 bill briefly, Mr. President. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 16 Dollinger, on the bill. 17 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I appreciate 18 the clarifying comments of Senator Velella. I'm 19 somewhat troubled by the notion that it's not 20 just the names of the diagnosed individual that 21 will be in this confidential chain of 22 information, and I should parenthetically add 23 that I believe Senator Velella speaks correctly 24 and accurately when he says that generally 25 dealing with syphilis and other STDs, the chain 1 of confidentiality has not been broken in this 2 state. We have a Health Department that has 3 strongly preserved the confidential nature of 4 this information with respect to other STDs, 5 which gives us the optimism and I think the 6 well-founded optimism and hope that this will 7 continue for HIV. 8 But the notion is, however that 9 it's just not the recording of the individuals 10 diagnosed. It's the reporting of context as 11 well, which I think I understand why that 12 information is going to be supplied, but it just 13 means there are going to be more names in the 14 system, more names that at least at the point of 15 transmission of the information from the 16 physician to the health commissioner, there 17 won't necessarily have been any verification of 18 whether there actually was contact. 19 There will be the statement of 20 the individual diagnosed that he had a contact, 21 it won't have been verified, certainly won't 22 have been verified whether transmission of this 23 disease has occurred or exposure to it has 24 occurred, but it's just that there are more 25 names that will be in this system than I 1 initially anticipated. 2 The other issue that I raised in 3 my questioning of Senator Velella is that you 4 believe the great fear with this bill is the 5 breach of confidentiality, that the state of New 6 York somehow, these names will be exposed to a 7 broader group of people than are absolutely 8 necessary to serve the public health interest 9 and that's why I would suggest, even though the 10 language that Senator Velella has adopted in 11 Section 2135 of this proposed bill renders them 12 confidential, I would suggest if there's any 13 further discussion of this with the other house, 14 I would make them specifically exempt from any 15 disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 16 or any information under our Freedom of 17 Information Act. I would exempt them from 18 disclosure to any other state agency if there's 19 no internal transmission of this information, 20 any police agency, any social service agency, 21 any housing agency, that none of that be 22 expressly provided in this bill; and lastly, I 23 would expressly provide that they could not be 24 disclosed to the federal government under any 25 circumstance, simply to strengthen the wall of 1 confidentiality that I see the sponsor would 2 like to see. I just think it should be more 3 tightly drafted and more positively stated that 4 those restrictions occur. 5 Generally, on this bill, this is 6 a difficult bill. This is an emotional issue. 7 This is a very complicated issue. I am 8 satisfied that the medical evidence in dealing 9 with this question has convinced me that this is 10 the proper way to go to deal with the epidemic 11 that this disease involves. It requires a 12 difficult policy choice, but I believe that when 13 you balance all the factors, our best hope 14 for dealing with HIV and reducing its incidence 15 in all of our communities across New York State 16 is to begin to try to deal with it as we have 17 dealt with other STDs. 18 I would add one other closing 19 comment, and I would say this to my Republican 20 colleagues in the house. There is a tremendous 21 fear in many communities in this state about 22 this bill, and the reason is because there's a 23 perception that HIV, the mere mention of the 24 word, creates fear and changes people's 25 conduct. It changes their conduct in 1 employment; it changes their conduct in health 2 care. It changes their conduct in housing. 3 Merely mention the word and it changes people's 4 behavior. 5 I would suggest to you that one 6 of the reasons why there's a fear amongst 7 certain groups in this state about this bill is 8 because we have never given them -- we have 9 never accepted the fact that they should be 10 treated just like everyone else in this state 11 and prohibited from unlawful discrimination on 12 the basis of their sexual orientation. 13 My feeling is, if we pass the gay 14 rights bill, we would go a long way to 15 alleviating the fears that many people have that 16 this bill is designed against a specific 17 community and designed to punish a specific 18 community, and if we had the guts to do what's 19 necessary to treat the gay community and the 20 issue of sexual orientation the same way we 21 treat the rights of those who have religious 22 beliefs, the same way we treat the rights of 23 those who are African-American, the same way we 24 treat the rights of our Puerto Rican and 25 Hispanic colleagues, if we gave them the 1 assurance that we would not discriminate against 2 them on the basis of their disease or their 3 sexual orientation, they might feel a little 4 less fearful of what this bill entails. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6 Connor. 7 SENATOR CONNOR: Thank you, Mr. 8 President. 9 This is a rather difficult vote 10 for me personally. I think in the 20 years I've 11 been in the Senate, I certainly have advocated 12 for equal treatment for the gay community. I've 13 -- one of the first bills I sponsored involved 14 a non-discrimination provision in the civil 15 service based on sexual orientation, so 16 apologies to know one really. 17 I rise here to explain why I feel 18 compelled to vote in favor of this bill. You 19 know, the tragedy of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and 20 it's been a tragedy these past years, has seen 21 us lose on a large level in our society some of 22 our most talented and respected people. 23 Certainly on a personal basis, I ask you, all my 24 colleagues, whether you be liberal, 25 conservative, upstate, downstate and all, I ask 1 you, is there anyone in this chamber -- is there 2 anyone in this chamber who hasn't known someone 3 who's been the victim of AIDS, who hasn't known 4 a family that's lost a family member? 5 When this disease first came to 6 the fore, when people first became aware of it, 7 the people called it "the gay disease" and then, 8 oh, yes, it was "the gay and Haitian disease". 9 Well, my colleagues, it's 10 neither. As someone pointed out to me earlier 11 today, most people who are HIV-positive, most 12 people with AIDS today are not gay, and it's not 13 an American disease. It's not a -- we don't own 14 it. Unfortunately, it's spread throughout the 15 world in nations that once looked at it as some 16 sort of decadent western disease because of 17 western decadence or mores or whatever. Those 18 countries indeed are now in an AIDS epidemic. 19 It's a stranger to no continent on this earth. 20 It's fortunate that, in this 21 country, it appears that the spread of HIV has 22 slowed down. That's good. That's a testament 23 to some of the measures, and I don't -- as we 24 undo some of the legislation that we put in 25 place to deal with it a decade ago, we need a 1 very clear rationale for doing that, and the 2 good news is there are now treatments. There 3 are now treatment modalities. There are now 4 drug regimens that, at least for some who suffer 5 from AIDS or HI -- or who are infected with HIV, 6 it's been a great help. We've seen some of 7 these for some people. I've known people who 8 appeared to be -- were very incapacitated. 9 Indeed, they appeared to be but a few months 10 away from death, who because of the cocktail 11 regimens, and so forth, so-called "cocktails" 12 they appear healthy, although obviously still 13 infected, who are functioning and living 14 relatively normal lives. 15 So that's been a wonderful 16 miracle and a testament to the researchers and 17 scientists and the many, many people who have 18 contributed to that research financially and 19 with political support and other things. That's 20 good, but it's time that we re-examine. 21 I agree we must re-examine the 22 public health modality we put into place for 23 HIV. Once upon a time I stood over there in 24 supporting the original legislation and said 25 we're not treating AIDS as an ordinarily 1 sexually transmitted disease, public health 2 problem, because there were those that said why 3 don't we just treat it -- at the time, let's 4 just treat it like we do other sexually 5 transmitted diseases with reporting, notifica 6 tion, so on and so forth, and I remember saying 7 it's -- we're treating it differently because it 8 is different. It is different than those other 9 diseases. 10 One of the differences then was 11 that it appeared to have no cure, no treatment 12 that alleviated -- to alleviate it, except very 13 briefly the progress of the disease, and was - 14 appeared to be always fatal. So it was 15 different, and we treated it differently, and 16 yes, some of that different treatment, because I 17 had medical people at the time say to me, you 18 know, this is a disease but you're -- it's not 19 being -- the way we're dealing with it, it isn't 20 being driven by the medical community and 21 medical concerns. It's being driven by 22 politics, and I suppose it was, and I make no 23 apologies for that, because of the understand 24 able concern many, many advocates had at the 25 time for issues like confidentiality, for issues 1 like preventing discrimination in so many ways, 2 and indeed this Legislature has had to deal or 3 subsequently had to deal with little forms of 4 discrimination that arose, whether it be 5 employment, whether it be insurance, lots of 6 other things, renting an apartment or whatever. 7 There clearly was -- it was not a misplaced 8 concern. It wasn't a paranoid fantasy. 9 Certainly when it was perceived 10 as a gay disease, people who had it were treated 11 unfairly, as unfortunately many members of the 12 gay community have been treated, and still - 13 still are often treated unfairly, because this 14 Legislature -- because this part of this 15 Legislature in the Senate has not seen fit in 16 the last 20 years to adopt a civil rights bill 17 that guarantees civil rights to all of our 18 citizens, and that protects people who differ 19 perhaps in their sexual orientation from the 20 majority, that protects them from 21 discrimination. 22 So those weren't misplaced fears, 23 Mr. President. They were well founded, well 24 placed fears that understandably still persist, 25 and that because of the history of these past 1 years, somehow or other is connected to HIV and 2 AIDS in some people's mind; but I suggest, Mr. 3 President, it's not in the popular mind so 4 connected on such a widespread basis as it once 5 was, because AIDS doesn't care about race, 6 religion, ethnicity, economic status or sexual 7 orientation. It -- AIDS doesn't discriminate. 8 While the politics and the 9 understandable concerns and sensitivity, 10 concerns for privacy, for protecting people, for 11 not intruding because, after all, what could you 12 do about it anyway, drove the public health 13 decisions that were first made, the good news is 14 that medical advances made some of the measures 15 we put into effect not relevant or perhaps not 16 the best way to go. 17 Once upon a time when the 18 so-called "baby AIDS bill" was first put out, I 19 was against it. After all, what could you do? 20 What could you do for these infants? You know, 21 what -- why place value on knowledge? Knowledge 22 that is, if anything, disturbing but not 23 offering the possibility of anything that 24 approached either a cure or an improvement in 25 the life expectancy of those infants. 1 Then we saw, and it's good news, 2 we saw that, gee, there were in utero treatments 3 developed; there were early intervention things 4 that actually gave some cause for hope, and so 5 it is with people who are HIV-positive today 6 with adults or who have AIDS, and therefore, we 7 come to a point where perhaps it's appropriate 8 -- not "perhaps", it is appropriate to do all 9 that we can now to identify those who have been 10 exposed to the HIV virus, not so we can point 11 fingers, not so we can ostracize them, not so 12 they can be discriminated against but so that 13 they can get treatment as soon as possible to 14 avoid the destruction and death that this 15 disease has brought on so many people, so many 16 people that we miss, that we miss today and, if 17 there be a testament to those who have paid the 18 ultimate price of this disease, let it be that 19 we rescue -- we rescue people, that we finally 20 get to the point where we can place HIV on the 21 defensive, and the only way to do that is to 22 apply the kind of public health protocols that 23 have worked so well elsewhere with other 24 diseases. 25 Now, I understand the concerns 1 partly in this state because of the failure - 2 the failure of the leadership, of succeeding 3 leaderships in this house to bring a civil 4 rights bill out. There is still among our 5 citizens a concern, a concern that their rights 6 will be lost if they're identified as being gay 7 or lesbian. That's not a misplaced concern, 8 because when we fail to act on something like 9 this, it certainly conveys from this house, from 10 the highest levels of this state government, an 11 attitude, an attitude that you don't really 12 count. You're not really part of it. 13 The failure -- the failure of 14 this house to adopt an anti-bias -- an anti-bias 15 violence bill that includes sexual orientation, 16 that would in effect protect those who we see 17 are more often than not the primary victims or 18 focus of bias violence, bias-related violence, 19 the failure of this house to do that is further 20 cause for concern in the gay community that we 21 really, as a government, as a state government, 22 as a Legislature, ought to be suspect when we do 23 anything in this area, ought to be suspect and 24 are suspect. 25 What's the real motive? What are 1 they really trying to do here? Can we really 2 trust them? Can we trust the state government 3 they set up to really preserve confidentiality? 4 You know, if they're not willing -- if they're 5 not willing to guarantee me my apartment free of 6 discriminatory intent on the part of the renter, 7 if they're not willing to guarantee my job 8 against mindless bias, if they're not willing to 9 respect my personal relationships with those 10 whom I love, if they're not willing to record me 11 and protect my rights that are the same as every 12 other New Yorker's, how can I really trust that 13 they want to do legislation like this because 14 they care so much about me and mine that they 15 want to protect us against -- in the best 16 possible way against the ravages of HIV? 17 So, my colleagues, when you see 18 the opponents of this bill, and you read a New 19 York Times editorial that says it's a good bill 20 and indeed the New York Times as these things 21 go -- and I don't think they have all truth at 22 their disposal, it certainly doesn't appear in 23 their columns all the time, but certainly it's 24 been an editorial page that has been concerned 25 about the rights of our gay and lesbian citizens 1 in the past. They look at it as a public health 2 issue, and I have to look at it as a public 3 health issue. Take the politics out of it, and 4 this is the way to go with the treatments that 5 are available today and, more hopefully, the 6 treatments of a short tomorrow for those who 7 have it. 8 But I say to my colleagues do 9 that civil rights bill, you know. It's 1998. 10 Let's do that civil rights bill. Why not? Why 11 not? Let's face it. The world has changed in 12 the last 20 or 30 years. I asked the question 13 earlier rhetorically of all my colleagues. Let 14 me ask you all, regardless of your political 15 persuasions now, be there one of you who 16 somewhere in your family or your spouse's family 17 or your best friend's family or your extended 18 family, that you don't have someone who now is 19 so-called out and proud and, gee, their family 20 loves them because we've come a long way. We've 21 come a long way these past two or three decades, 22 as we should have, so why can't we start making 23 a big deal about it for politics. Why can't we? 24 Forget about advocacy groups. Yeah, they have 25 their politics, but why can't we as a 1 legislator, as sworn public officials, stop 2 making a political football, stop making a 3 political football. 4 Protect people's civil rights. 5 What's the big deal? You all know it's the 6 right thing to do and you all know you would 7 fight within your own families or your extended 8 families, you would all fight for that cousin or 9 nephew or uncle or whatever who now you -- is 10 willing to say, "I'm gay, I'm gay but I'm me and 11 I'm proud." You'd all fight for their rights if 12 somebody was grossly discriminating against 13 them, so why won't you just pass a law and 14 preserve it to all New Yorkers. 15 But that's not the bill before 16 us. The bill before us, looking at it as a 17 public health measure, and while I respect and 18 understand the concern that advocacy groups have 19 because they don't trust us, and they shouldn't 20 trust us, tend to reflect upon the bill based on 21 its source, and I don't mean the sponsor of this 22 bill. I just mean the state Legislature in 23 general, that hasn't adopted these other 24 things. Can't we all grow up, put aside the 25 politics, do this bill. 1 I'm going to vote for this bill 2 but let's see -- let's see that civil rights 3 bill. You know, it moved from one committee to 4 the other just a week or two ago. Virtually 5 everybody on the committee in both parties voted 6 to advance the bill. If the time is now, the 7 time is now, you know. We're not talking about 8 putting a stamp of approval on anything, any 9 kind of conduct. We're just talking about 10 assuring all New Yorkers their privacy rights. 11 Let's talk about privacy because somebody in the 12 conference said, Well, how much authority would 13 this bill give state officials to investigate 14 people's sexual contacts and relationships? And 15 the answer is a lot. The answer is a lot of 16 authority, but the problem is not in this bill. 17 The problem is not in this bill. The problem is 18 in what we fail to do as a society. 19 If, in a civil -- if, in a civil 20 case, people who are called as witnesses can be 21 asked about their personal conduct, their 22 personal sexual relationships and required under 23 oath to answer truthfully, even when it's not 24 relevant because you don't need -- the questions 25 don't have to be relevant in a deposition and 1 then, you know, grand juries can be impounded 2 and haul people in to ask them all sorts of 3 questions. You know, once upon a time a truth 4 speaker 40 or 50 years ago in those 5 circumstances would have been a cad. There was 6 a description for that. 7 So given the media, given what 8 we're doing now, reputations get besmirched, 9 things that used to not be discussed now get 10 talked about and I've had constituents come up 11 to me, I've had straight constituents who had no 12 agenda before, never particularly to my 13 knowledge involved in advocating a gay civil 14 rights bill, come up to me and say, "Senator, 15 let me ask you something. I see it the news and 16 all, see what's going on in Washington, and you 17 mean somebody's got a right to make me tell 18 about my personal conduct with my girl friend or 19 whatever?" Yeah, under oath, and if you deny 20 it, probably have the right to prosecute you, 21 you know. If they have bad judgment enough to, 22 they have a right to do it, yeah, and 23 unfortunately it just may be somebody has bad 24 enough judgment as well to bring such a case. 25 People react in shock, and I've 1 said to them, Well, don't you think we ought to 2 have the kind of civil rights that protects the 3 guaranteed privacy to consenting adults in their 4 private relationships, all consenting adults, no 5 matter who their partner is? Yeah, they said. 6 Well, we should. So maybe it's 7 time for us to wake up and stop, you know, 8 looking at it as odd. This is just to benefit 9 that group or this thing, you know. Perhaps 10 everybody's privacy is at stake. Perhaps 11 everybody's most personal relationships are at 12 stake as we enter into this new century where 13 everything is on computers, everything is on the 14 TV, everything is in the papers. 15 So I think a first start would be 16 if we brought next week, the last week of 17 session, and I urge my colleagues in the 18 Majority, I'm not going to talk about this. 19 Bring this bill out. Let's do it. No reason 20 not to. You all know in your hearts it's not a 21 big deal. It's not a big deal to your 22 constituents either. They think it's the right 23 thing to do. 24 Thank you, Mr. President. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 1 will read the last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 7. This 3 act shall take effect immediately. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 5 roll. 6 VOICES: Slow roll call. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: If there 8 are five members requesting a slow roll call, 9 please stand. Secretary will ring the bell and 10 read the roll slowly. 11 THE SECRETARY: Senator Abate. 12 (There was no response. ) 13 Senator Alesi. 14 (There was no response. ) 15 Senator Balboni. 16 SENATOR BALBONI: Aye. 17 THE SECRETARY: Senator Breslin. 18 SENATOR BRESLIN: No. 19 THE SECRETARY: Senator Bruno. 20 (There was no response. ) 21 Senator Connor. 22 SENATOR CONNOR: Aye. 23 THE SECRETARY: Senator Cook. 24 (There was no response. ) 25 Senator DeFrancisco. 1 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 2 THE SECRETARY: Senator 3 Dollinger. 4 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Aye. 5 THE SECRETARY: Senator Farley. 6 SENATOR FARLEY: Aye. 7 THE SECRETARY: Senator 8 Fuschillo. 9 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Aye. 10 THE SECRETARY: Senator Gentile. 11 SENATOR GENTILE: Yes. 12 THE SECRETARY: Senator Gold. 13 SENATOR GOLD: Yes. 14 THE SECRETARY: Senator 15 Gonzalez. 16 (There was no response. ) 17 Senator Goodman. 18 (There was no response. ) 19 Senator Hannon. 20 SENATOR HANNON: Yes. 21 THE SECRETARY: Senator 22 Hoffmann. 23 (There was no response. ) 24 Senator Holland. 25 SENATOR HOLLAND: Yes. 1 THE SECRETARY: Senator Johnson. 2 (There was no response. ) 3 Senator Kruger. 4 SENATOR KRUGER: Yes. 5 THE SECRETARY: Senator Kuhl. 6 SENATOR KUHL: Yes. 7 THE SECRETARY: Senator Lachman. 8 (There was no response. ) 9 Senator Lack. 10 (There was no response. ) 11 Senator Larkin. 12 SENATOR LARKIN: Yes. 13 THE SECRETARY: Senator LaValle. 14 SENATOR LAVALLE: Aye. 15 THE SECRETARY: Senator Leibell. 16 SENATOR LEIBELL: Aye. 17 THE SECRETARY: Senator Leichter 18 excused. 19 Senator Libous. 20 SENATOR LIBOUS: Aye. 21 THE SECRETARY: Senator Maltese. 22 (There was no response. ) 23 Senator Marcellino. 24 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Aye. 25 THE SECRETARY: Senator Marchi. 1 SENATOR MARCHI: Aye. 2 THE SECRETARY: Senator 3 Markowitz. 4 SENATOR MARKOWITZ: No. 5 THE SECRETARY: Senator Maziarz. 6 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Aye. 7 THE SECRETARY: Senator Meier. 8 SENATOR MEIER: Yes. 9 THE SECRETARY: Senator Mendez. 10 SENATOR MENDEZ: Aye. 11 THE SECRETARY: Senator 12 Montgomery. 13 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: No. 14 THE SECRETARY: Senator Nanula. 15 SENATOR NANULA: Yes. 16 THE SECRETARY: Senator 17 Nozzolio. 18 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Aye. 19 THE SECRETARY: Senator Onorato. 20 SENATOR ONORATO: Aye. 21 THE SECRETARY: Senator 22 Oppenheimer. 23 (There was no response. ) 24 Senator Padavan. 25 SENATOR PADAVAN: Yes. 1 THE SECRETARY: Senator 2 Paterson. 3 Senator Paterson. 4 SENATOR PATERSON: Yes. 5 THE SECRETARY: Senator Present. 6 SENATOR PRESENT: Aye. 7 THE SECRETARY: Senator Rath. 8 SENATOR RATH: Aye. 9 THE SECRETARY: Senator Rosado. 10 SENATOR ROSADO: No. 11 THE SECRETARY: Senator Saland. 12 SENATOR SALAND: Aye. 13 THE SECRETARY: Senator Sampson 14 excused. 15 Senator Santiago. 16 SENATOR SANTIAGO: No. 17 THE SECRETARY: Senator 18 Seabrook. 19 (There was no response. ) 20 Senator Seward. 21 SENATOR SEWARD: (Affirmative 22 indication. ) 23 THE SECRETARY: Senator Skelos. 24 SENATOR SKELOS: Aye. 25 THE SECRETARY: Senator Smith. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 Smith, to explain her vote. 3 SENATOR SMITH: Mr. President, 4 thank you. Mr. President, to explain my vote. 5 Previously I would have been 6 opposed to this legislation, but after having 7 long hours of discussion with members of the 8 African-American medical community and the 9 Hispanic Puerto Rican medical community, I 10 believe that it is the right thing to do, 11 especially now that the largest growing 12 population of those with AIDS are women and 13 children, and it is our responsibility to 14 protect our young and it is critical that we 15 vote in the affirmative on this bill. 16 Thank you. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 18 Smith will be recorded in the affirmative. 19 Continue the slow roll call. 20 THE SECRETARY: Senator Spano. 21 SENATOR SPANO: Aye. 22 THE SECRETARY: Senator 23 Stachowski. 24 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Yes. 25 THE SECRETARY: Senator 1 Stafford. 2 (There was no response. ) 3 Senator Stavisky. 4 SENATOR STAVISKY: Aye. 5 THE SECRETARY: Senator Trunzo. 6 SENATOR TRUNZO: Yes. 7 THE SECRETARY: Senator Velella. 8 SENATOR VELELLA: Yes. 9 THE SECRETARY: Senator Volker. 10 SENATOR VOLKER: Yes. 11 THE SECRETARY: Senator Waldon 12 excused. 13 Senator Wright. 14 (There was no response. ) 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 16 will call the absentees. 17 THE SECRETARY: Senator Alesi. 18 SENATOR ALESI: Yes. 19 THE SECRETARY: Senator Cook. 20 (There was no response. ) 21 Senator Abate. 22 (There was no response. ) 23 Senator Gonzalez. 24 SENATOR GONZALEZ: Yes. 25 THE SECRETARY: Senator Goodman. 1 (There was no response. ) 2 Senator Hoffmann. 3 SENATOR HOFFMANN: Aye. 4 THE SECRETARY: Senator Johnson. 5 SENATOR JOHNSON: Aye. 6 THE SECRETARY: Senator Lachman. 7 SENATOR LACHMAN: Yes. 8 THE SECRETARY: Senator Lack. 9 (There was no response. ) 10 Senator Maltese. 11 (There was no response. ) 12 Senator Oppenheimer. 13 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Yes. 14 THE SECRETARY: Senator 15 Stafford. 16 (There was no response. ) 17 Senator Stafford. 18 SENATOR STAFFORD: (Affirmative 19 indication. ) 20 THE SECRETARY: Senator Wright. 21 SENATOR WRIGHT: Aye. 22 THE SECRETARY: Senator Maltese. 23 SENATOR MALTESE: Aye. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Announce 25 the results. 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50, nays 3. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 3 is passed. 4 Senator Skelos. 5 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 6 there will be a meeting of the Rules Committee 7 at 1:30 in the Majority Conference Room, and if 8 at this time we could take up Calendar Number 9 1256, by Senator Seward. 10 SENATOR KUHL: There will be a 11 meeting, meeting of the Rules Committee in the 12 Majority Conference Room at 1:30. 13 Secretary will read Calendar 14 Number 1256, by Senator Seward. 15 SENATOR LACHMAN: Explanation. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 1256, by Senator Seward, Senate Print 7080, an 18 act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to a 19 reduction. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Seward, an explanation of Calendar Number 1256 22 has been requested by Senator Lachman. 23 SENATOR SEWARD: Certainly, 24 Mr. - 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 1 Seward, wait just a minute until the members who 2 are going to Rules Committee have exited the 3 chamber and we get a little quiet. 4 Senator Seward. 5 SENATOR SEWARD: Yes, thank you, 6 Mr. President. 7 The legislation before us 8 accelerates the scheduled one percent reduction 9 of the gross receipts tax on utilities and 10 telecommunications providers that we enacted 11 last year to make the reduction fully effective 12 on January 1, 1999 rather than January 1, 2000 13 as current law states. 14 Now, this bill also provides an 15 additional one percent reduction of the GRT from 16 3.25 percent down to 2.25 percent effective 17 January 1, 2000. 18 Now, additionally, the bill on 19 the telephone side, the telecommunications side, 20 provides local telephone companies with GRT 21 relief akin to that provided to long distance 22 carriers by phasing out that portion of the GRT 23 dealing with those carriers. 24 I would point out, Mr. President, 25 that the bill further amends the formula for the 1 distribution of funds received from the GRT to 2 maintain the required funding level for the mass 3 transportation operating assistance funds. 4 That's right in the bill. We're going to 5 maintain that funding by changing the formula to 6 make sure that we live up to the commitment from 7 the GRT to that fund. 8 And finally, the bill requires 9 that any net decrease in cost to the utilities 10 and the telecommunications providers because of 11 this tax reduction would be required to benefit 12 the ratepayers. What we're talking about here, 13 Mr. President, is ratepayer relief. Everyone 14 who receives a utility bill in this state will 15 see a reduction in their rates if this bill is 16 enacted into law, and I would point out that 17 under existing law this gross receipts tax which 18 is so abhorrent and, in my estimation, under law 19 is prohibited from being itemized on our utility 20 bills, this legislation, one final point, would 21 remove that prohibition so that the ratepayers 22 of this state would see exactly as an itemized 23 -- be able to see as an itemized item on their 24 bill just what the GRT tax is rather than being 25 a hidden tax as it -- as it is now under 1 existing law. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 3 Lachman. 4 SENATOR LACHMAN: Thank you, 5 Senator Seward, for that explanation. It was 6 very clear and succinct. 7 Will the Senator yield? 8 SENATOR SEWARD: Sure. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 10 yields. 11 SENATOR LACHMAN: On the New York 12 State Senate introducer's memorandum in support 13 of the bill, it's written that section 5 changes 14 the formula -- I'm going to skip some words - 15 in order to maintain required funding levels for 16 the Mass Transportation Operation Assistance 17 Fund. By maintaining, you mean a save harmless, 18 it will be held harmless? 19 SENATOR SEWARD: That's the 20 intent of the legislation, yes. 21 SENATOR LACHMAN: O.K. Will the 22 Senator continue to yield? 23 SENATOR SEWARD: Certainly. 24 SENATOR LACHMAN: O.K. The SFY 25 for '98-99 is a 50 percent reduction which comes 1 out to $64.8 million or $9.2 million shortfall. 2 The SFY for '99-2000 is a hundred percent 3 reduction from the original 74 million to 45 4 million. That is a 28 million reduction. How 5 does the bill fill that shortfall? 6 SENATOR SEWARD: Well, Senator, 7 the -- some of the concerns you're raising are 8 -- far beyond this legislation. What this 9 legislation does in that section 5 that you have 10 been -- you and I have been discussing, what 11 that deals with is that portion of that funding 12 that actually comes from the gross receipts tax 13 and -- the state gross receipts tax, and so what 14 that -- the change that we're making in the 15 formula would -- would actually increase the 16 percentage of funds raised from the GRT. It 17 would increase the -- those funds raised by GRT 18 that go into the metropolitan mass 19 transportation assistance operating account and 20 after the year 2000, all of the funds raised by 21 the state GRT would go toward that. 22 SENATOR LACHMAN: Will the 23 Senator continue to yield? 24 SENATOR SEWARD: Yes. 25 SENATOR LACHMAN: So what you are 1 saying is it will not be a shortfall only in the 2 area of telecommunications, that the shortfall 3 will be made up by other revenues, this 184. 4 SENATOR SEWARD: That's correct, 5 that's correct. 6 SENATOR LACHMAN: I will support 7 the legislation. 8 SENATOR SEWARD: Thank you. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 10 will read the last section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 8. This 12 act shall take effect immediately. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 14 roll. 15 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 17 Paterson, to explain his vote? Senator 18 Paterson, to explain his vote. 19 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 20 I vote aye. Certainly Senator Seward has taken 21 a leadership position in trying to diminish 22 the gross receipts tax, and there is a real 23 cause to do that with utility rates higher and 24 higher and the gross receipts tax having really 25 such a broad-based effect on all of us. But 1 this is a measure that is going to perhaps 2 reduce revenues by as much as $450 million, and 3 I think when you have a half billion dollar 4 revenue reduction on an item that was already 5 negotiated earlier this year in the budget, it 6 should be part of a supplementary budget 7 process. So if we're going to have a 8 supplementary budget process, I think we should 9 have one where we are assessing whatever our 10 excesses and revenues are in toto, and this 11 would certainly be a good solution, but I just 12 don't think we should do it in a -- in a 13 piecemeal fashion. I certainly agree with the 14 legislation. I think it's time that something 15 to reduce the GRT is accomplished. 16 Senator Seward deserves a great 17 deal of credit for his leadership on this issue, 18 and I agree with it, but I really, with this 19 admonition, I vote aye, Mr. President, and that 20 this is a type of a measure that is something 21 that I think we should do in concert with any 22 other changes we want to make after our budget 23 process that we negotiated earlier this year. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 Paterson will be recorded in the affirmative. 1 Announce the results. 2 (The Secretary called the roll.) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 56. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 5 is passed. 6 Secretary will continue to read 7 the controversial calendar. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1271, by Senator Hannon, Senate Print 5346, an 10 act to amend the Public Health Law and the 11 Insurance Law, in relation to eliminating. 12 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 13 President, I'm willing to waive a question or an 14 explanation just to be heard on the bill. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 16 Dollinger, on the bill. 17 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 18 President, this is a bill that we have seen 19 before in this chamber that creates the -- the 20 inequity of removing the clinical surcharge from 21 certain clinical labs and continuing to have it 22 posted against hospital-based labs, an inequity 23 that tilts the competitive balance that we have 24 spent a long time in this community -- in this 25 chamber trying to titrate, I guess is the word 1 that -- the clinical word, trying to balance the 2 health care system, the need for competition in 3 the health care system, to drive down cost and 4 at the same time provide quality services. 5 This bill upsets that by 6 alleviating the surcharge for a certain group of 7 labs while continuing it, in effect, against 8 hospital-based labs, and the difficulty is that 9 after several years of trying, and I know the 10 chairman of the Health Committee has been one of 11 those who has led the fight to try to introduce 12 a system that is competitively balanced, this 13 bill tilts the balance in the opposite direction 14 by favoring one form of lab and discriminating 15 against other forms. 16 So a number of members voted 17 against this last year, Mr. President. We had a 18 healthy debate on it. I would hope that this 19 issue would be either resolved through 20 conference with the other chamber or that this 21 idea, this notion of upsetting the competitive 22 balance will be consigned to the past where I 23 think it belongs back in those days when we 24 extensively regulated hospitals when we lived in 25 a different health care environment. So as the 1 ranking member of the Health Committee, I would 2 again urge my colleagues to vote against this 3 bill. It's plain and simple unfair. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5 Paterson, why do you rise? 6 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 7 I actually had two points and Senator Dollinger 8 must have read my mind. He covered one of them, 9 but if Senator Hannon would yield just for this 10 question. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 12 Hannon, do you yield for a question from Senator 13 Paterson? 14 SENATOR HANNON: Yes. 15 SENATOR PATERSON: Senator, it's 16 my understanding that, if we do pass this 17 legislation, that the bad debt and charity care 18 pool could wind up in debt as much as $25 19 million, so in light of the fact that we passed 20 through the NYPHRM era that we continue a bad 21 debt and charity pool. So my question is what 22 would happen to the deficit, if you acknowledge 23 that there is one, through the passage of this 24 piece of legislation? 25 SENATOR HANNON: Senator 1 Paterson, I don't believe that through the 2 passage of this we would have a deficit the way 3 the pools are funded, and let me just, in order 4 to come back to that, address the issue of 5 fairness that Senator Dollinger raised. 6 The point is from one analysis 7 you could say you need to have fairness among 8 and throughout the laboratory provider 9 community, and I couldn't agree, you know, more 10 that we should always try to have equity. 11 However, doing that would only exacerbate the 12 drain on the pool and, therefore, lead you into 13 a more and more difficult situation, leading me 14 to have to say that it would put us into a 15 deficit. 16 The other part of it is, and why 17 one should vote for the bill is that the 18 implementation of this assessment which just 19 goes right back into the health care system has 20 been done in such a way that has led to mis 21 understandings of the system, may well cause 22 people to have a lack of confidence in the 23 system, may well cause people to think we are 24 actually doing a tax when we're not, and so that 25 this bill, standing alone, allows us to respond 1 to those charges and to say we are trying to put 2 confidence back in, and that's why I think we 3 should enact the bill. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Any other 5 Senator wishing to speak on the bill? Hearing 6 none, the Secretary will read the last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 10. This 8 act shall take effect immediately. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 10 roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 13 the negatives and announce the results. 14 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 15 the negative on Calendar Number 1271 are 16 Senators Breslin, Connor, Dollinger, Gold, 17 Montgomery, Onorato, Paterson, Rosado, Santiago 18 and Stachowski. Ayes 46, nays 10. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 20 is passed. 21 Senator Present. 22 SENATOR PRESENT: Mr. President, 23 is there any housekeeping needs to be done? 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There 25 is. We could return to the order of motions and 1 resolutions, Senator, and we will. Chair 2 recognizes Senator Holland for some motions. 3 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 4 I wish to call up Senator Farley's bill, Print 5 Number 7352-B, recalled from the Assembly. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 7 Secretary will read. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 871, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 7352-B, an 10 act to amend the Banking Law. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 12 Holland. 13 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 14 I now move to reconsider vote by which this bill 15 was passed. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 17 will call the roll on reconsideration. 18 (The Secretary called the roll on 19 reconsideration.) 20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 56. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Bill is 22 before the house, Senator Holland. 23 SENATOR HOLLAND: That's 24 complete. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Bill is 1 restored to the calendar. 2 SENATOR HOLLAND: Thank you. 3 Third reading. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5 Holland. 6 SENATOR HOLLAND: On page 42, I 7 offer the following amendments to Calendar 8 Number 1164, Senate Print 6602-A, for Senator 9 Volker, and ask that the said bill retain its 10 place on the Third Reading Calendar. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 12 Amendments to Calendar Number 1164 are received 13 and adopted. The bill will retain its place on 14 the Third Reading Calendar. 15 Senator Holland. 16 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 17 on page number 11, I offer the following 18 amendments to Calendar Number 395, Senator 19 Leibell's bill, Senate Print Number 4141, and 20 ask that the said bill retain its place on the 21 Third Reading Calendar. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 23 Amendments to Calendar Number 395 are received 24 and adopted. The bill will retain its place on 25 the Third Reading Calendar. 1 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 2 on page number 35, I offer the following amend 3 ments to Calendar Number 1047, Senator 4 Marcellino's bill, Senate Print 7402, and ask 5 that the said bill retain its place on the Third 6 Reading Calendar. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 8 Amendments to Calendar 1047 are received and 9 adopted, and the bill will retain its place on 10 the Third Reading Calendar. 11 Senator Holland. 12 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 13 on page 45, I offer the following amendments to 14 Calendar Number 1246, Senator Skelos' bill, 15 Senate Print 6416, and ask that the said bill 16 retain its place on the Third Reading Calendar. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 18 Amendments to Calendar Number 1246 are received 19 and adopted, and the bill will retain its place 20 on the Third Reading Calendar. 21 Senator Holland. 22 SENATOR HOLLAND: And Mr. 23 President, on behalf of you, please place a 24 sponsor's star on Calendar Number 495. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Calendar 1 Number 495 is starred at the request of the 2 sponsor. 3 Senator Present, that completes 4 the housekeeping which was at the desk. 5 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: I have 6 a - 7 SENATOR PRESENT: I move that we 8 stand at ease. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 10 Montgomery, why do you rise? 11 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Mr. 12 President, I would like unanimous consent to be 13 recorded in the negative on Calendar Number 14 929. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 16 objection, hearing no objection, Senator 17 Montgomery will be recorded in the negative on 18 Calendar Number 929. 19 Senator Stavisky, why do you 20 rise? 21 SENATOR STAVISKY: Mr. President, 22 I wish also to be recorded in the negative on 23 Calendar Number 929. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 25 objection, hearing no objection, Senator 1 Stavisky will be recorded in the negative on 2 Calendar Number 929. 3 Senator Present. 4 SENATOR PRESENT: Mr. President, 5 I will move that we stand at ease and await the 6 report of the standing Committee on Rules. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 8 Senate will stand at ease awaiting the report of 9 the Rules Committee. 10 (The Senate stood at ease from 11 1:32 to 1:46 p.m.) 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 13 Senate will come to order. Ask the members to 14 take their chairs. 15 Senator Marchi. 16 SENATOR MARCHI: May we please 17 return to reports of standing committees, and I 18 believe that there is a report of the Rules 19 Committee at the desk. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There 21 is. We will return to the order of reports of 22 standing committees, ask the Secretary to read 23 the report of the Rules Committee which is at 24 the desk. 25 THE SECRETARY: Senator Bruno, 1 from the Committee on Rules, reports the 2 following bills: 3 Senate Print 210, by Senator 4 Kuhl, an act to amend the Education Law; 5 1273, by Senator Stachowski, an 6 act to amend the General Municipal Law; 7 1276-B, by Senator Farley, an act 8 to amend the Education Law; 9 2393-A, by Senator Rath, an act 10 to amend the Executive Law and the State Admin 11 istrative Procedure Act; 12 2464-B, by Senator LaValle, an 13 act to amend the General Obligations Law; 14 3549-B, by Senator Saland, an act 15 to amend the Retirement and Social Security Law; 16 3811, by Senator Wright, an act 17 to amend the Tax Law; 18 4290, by Senator Santiago, an act 19 directing the Commissioner of Social Services; 20 4492-A, by Senator Maziarz, an 21 act to amend the General Municipal Law; 22 5029-A, by Senator Farley, an act 23 to amend the Banking Law; 24 5358-B, an act by Senator Wright, 25 an act to amend the County Law; 1 5446, by Senator Montgomery, an 2 act to amend the Emergency Tenant Protection 3 Act; 4 6184, by Senator Kuhl, an act to 5 amend the Private Housing Finance Law and 6 Chapter 596 of the Laws of 1995; 7 6509, by Senator Rath, an act to 8 amend the Real Property Tax Law; 9 6552-A, by Senator Skelos, an act 10 to amend the State Finance Law; 11 6636, by Senator Meier, an act in 12 relation to the creation; 13 6659-A, by Senator Seward, an act 14 to authorize Robert M. Foster; 15 6675, by Senator Alesi, an act to 16 amend the General Business Law; 17 6735, by Senator Balboni, an act 18 to amend the Insurance Law; 19 6754, by Senator Saland, an act 20 to amend the Retirement and Social Security Law; 21 6812, by Senator Volker, an act 22 to amend the Civil Practice Law and Rules; 23 6993, by Senator Maltese, an act 24 to amend the Real Property Law; 25 7052, by Senator Volker, an act 1 in relation to allowing; 2 7097, by Senator DeFrancisco, an 3 act to amend the General Municipal Law; 4 7165-A, by Senator Farley, an act 5 to authorize the city of Schenectady; 6 7187, by Senator Holland, an act 7 to amend the General Municipal Law; 8 7310, by Senator Saland, an act 9 to permit the re-opening; 10 7420, by Senator Seward, an act 11 in relation to granting; 12 7456, by Senator Wright, an act 13 to amend the Real Property Tax Law; 14 7468-A, by Senator Lack, an act 15 to amend the Judiciary Law and the State Finance 16 Law; 17 7472, by Senator Skelos, an act 18 authorizing the assessor; 19 7491, by Senator Stafford, an act 20 to amend the Tax Law; 21 7514, by Senator Goodman, an act 22 to amend the Tax Law and the Administrative Code 23 of the city of New York; 24 7538, by Senator Velella, an act 25 to amend the Administrative Code of the city of 1 New York; 2 7549, by Senator Stafford, an act 3 legalizing and ratifying; 4 7566, by Senator Skelos, an act 5 to amend the Penal Law; 6 7586-A, by Senator Marcellino, an 7 act to amend the Town Law; 8 7589, by Senator Balboni, an act 9 to amend the Domestic Relations Law; 10 7594, by the Senate Committee on 11 Rules, an act to amend the New York State 12 Printing and Public Documents Law; 13 7606, by Senator Balboni, an act 14 to amend Chapter 602 of the Laws of 1993; 15 7612, by Senator Johnson, an act 16 to amend the Public Authorities Law; 17 7616, by Senator Velella, an act 18 to amend the Insurance Law. 19 All bills ordered direct for 20 third reading. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Marchi. 23 SENATOR MARCHI: Mr. President, I 24 move to accept the report. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Motion is 1 to accept the report of the Rules Committee. 2 All those in favor signify by saying aye. 3 (Response of "Aye.") 4 Opposed nay. 5 (There was no response. ) 6 The Rules report is accepted. 7 Bills ordered directly to third reading. 8 Senator Marchi. 9 SENATOR MARCHI: Is there any 10 housekeeping? 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The desk 12 is clean, Senator Marchi. 13 SENATOR MARCHI: Wonderful. 14 There being no further business, I move we 15 adjourn until Thursday, June 11th, at (ten 16 hundred) 1000 a.m. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 18 objection, the Senate stands adjourned until 19 tomorrow, Thursday, June 11th, at 10:00 a.m. 20 Note the time change, 10:00 a.m. 21 (Whereupon at 1:51 p.m., the 22 Senate adjourned.) 23 24 25