Monday, June 15, 1998

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ALBANY, NEW YORK 10 June 15, 1998 11 3:12 p.m. 12 13 14 REGULAR SESSION 15 16 17 18 LT. GOVERNOR BETSY McCAUGHEY ROSS, President 19 STEVEN M. BOGGESS, Secretary 20 21 22 23 24 25 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 THE PRESIDENT: The Senate will 3 come to order. Would everyone please rise and 4 join with me in the Pledge of Allegiance. 5 (The assemblage repeated the 6 Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.) 7 The invocation today will be 8 given by Reverend Jim Burton, who is Pastor of 9 Union Church of Bay Ridge in Brooklyn. 10 Reverend Burton. 11 REVEREND JIM BURTON: Thank you 12 for the privilege of prayer, and I bring you 13 greetings from the Reverend Dr. Douglas 14 Olenberg, who was elected Moderator of the 15 Presbyterian Church in the United States of 16 America this week end. 17 Senators and all present, will 18 you join with me. Let us pray. 19 We give You thanks, O Lord, for 20 this wonderful country and for the Empire 21 State in which we live. Because Your love and 22 Your mercy is from everlasting to everlasting, 23 guide Your Senators and Your state that they 24 may love justice, guide mercy and walk humbly 25 with You. As they direct us in their 1 decisions, grant that they may be followed by 2 Your goodness and mercy, in all the dwelling 3 places of their lives. 4 We ask and call on You, our 5 Lord, the one God of us all. Amen. 6 THE PRESIDENT: Amen. Thank 7 you. 8 The reading of the Journal, 9 please. 10 THE SECRETARY: In Senate, 11 Sunday, June 14th. The Senate met pursuant to 12 adjournment, Senator Farley in the Chair upon 13 designation of the Temporary President. The 14 Journal of Saturday, June 13th, was read and 15 approved. On motion, Senate adjourned. 16 THE PRESIDENT: Without 17 objection, the Journal stands approved as 18 read. 19 Presentation of petitions. 20 Messages from the Assembly. 21 Messages from the Governor. 22 Reports of standing 23 committees. 24 Reports of select committees. 25 Communications and reports from 1 state officers. 2 Motions and resolutions. 3 Senator Marcellino. 4 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you, 5 Madam President. 6 Amendments are offered to the 7 following Third Reading Calendar bills: 8 Senator Cook's bill, on page 7, 9 Calendar Number 274, Senate Print Number 2729; 10 Senator Wright's bill, on page 11 number 12, Calendar Number 442, Senate Print 12 Number 4224-A; 13 Senator Nozzolio's bill, on 14 page number 19, Calendar Number 685, Senate 15 Print Number 7113; 16 Senator Spano's bill, on page 17 24, Calendar Number 788, Senate Print Number 18 6796; 19 Senator Spano's bill again, on 20 page number 24, Calendar Number 802, Senate 21 Print Number 7096; 22 Senator Balboni's bill, on page 23 number 25, Calendar Number 848, Senate Print 24 Number 7150; 25 Senator Larkin's bill, on page 1 number 29, Calendar Number 924, Senate Print 2 Number 7100-A; 3 Senator Hannon's bill, on page 4 number 29, Calendar Number 926, Senate Print 5 Number 7345; 6 Senator Velella's bill, on page 7 number 31, Calendar Number 954, Senate Print 8 Number 3632; 9 Senator Leibell's bill, on page 10 number 37, Calendar Number 1131, Senate Print 11 Number 6642; 12 Senator Lavalle's bill, on page 13 number 39, Calendar Number 1167, Senate Print 14 Number 7036; and, Madam President, I now move 15 that these bills retain their place on the 16 order of third reading. 17 THE PRESIDENT: Amendments 18 received. 19 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank 20 you. 21 Senator Paterson. 22 SENATOR PATERSON: Madam 23 President, on page number 37, I offer the 24 following amendments to Calendar Number 1122, 25 by Senator Santiago, this is Senate Print 1 7449, and ask that it retain its place on 2 third reading. 3 THE PRESIDENT: Amendments 4 received. 5 Senator Spano. 6 SENATOR SPANO: Madam 7 President, on behalf of Senator Rath, please 8 place a sponsor's star on Calendar 1275. 9 And on page - 10 THE PRESIDENT: The bill will 11 be starred. 12 SENATOR SPANO: Madam 13 President, like to call up Calendar Number 14 268, Assembly Print 76. 15 THE PRESIDENT: Secretary will 16 read. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 268, by member of the Assembly Feldman, 19 Assembly Print 76, an act to amend the 20 Workers' Compensation Law. 21 SENATOR SPANO: Move to 22 reconsider the vote by which the Assembly bill 23 was substituted for Senator Farley's bill, 24 Print Number 1689, on March 10th. 25 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll 1 on reconsideration. 2 (The Secretary called the roll 3 on reconsideration.) 4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 37. 5 SENATOR SPANO: Now move that 6 the Assembly bill 76 be recommitted to the 7 Committee on Rules and the Senate bill be 8 restored as to the Third Reading Calendar. 9 THE PRESIDENT: So ordered. 10 SENATOR SPANO: Offer the 11 following amendments. 12 THE PRESIDENT: Amendments 13 received. 14 SENATOR SPANO: Madam 15 President, I wish to call up the following 16 bills: Print Numbers 1189, 5918, 5123-C, 17 6479, 6481, 6343, 5181, 5488-A, 2464-B, 337-A, 18 6156. 19 THE PRESIDENT: Secretary will 20 read. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 90, by Senator Velella, Assembly Print 1189, 23 an act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law; 24 Calendar Number 123, by Senator 25 Holland, Senate Print 5918, an act to amend 1 the Vehicle and Traffic Law; 2 Calendar Number 347, by Senator 3 Alesi, 5122-D, an act to amend the General 4 Business Law and the Executive Law; 5 Calendar Number 487, by Senator 6 Wright, Senate Print 6479, an act to amend the 7 Tax Law; 8 Calendar Number 488, by Senator 9 Wright, Senate Print 6481, an act to amend the 10 Tax Law; 11 Calendar Number 523, by Senator 12 Velella, Senate Print 6343, an act to amend 13 the Insurance Law; 14 Calendar Number 678, by Senator 15 Nozzolio, Senate Print 5181, an act to amend 16 the Correction Law; 17 Calendar Number 930, by Senator 18 Stafford, Senate Print 5488-A, an act to amend 19 the State Finance Law; 20 Calendar Number 1276, by 21 Senator LaValle, Senate Print 2464-B, an act 22 to amend the General Obligations Law; 23 Calendar Number 137, by Senator 24 Balboni, Senate Print 337-A, an act to amend 25 the Penal Law; 1 Calendar Number 650, by Senator 2 Volker, Senate Print 6156, an act to amend the 3 Penal Law. 4 SENATOR SPANO: Madam 5 President, I now move to reconsider the vote 6 by which these bills passed this house. 7 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll 8 on reconsideration, please. 9 (The Secretary called the roll 10 on reconsideration.) 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 46. 12 SENATOR SPANO: I now offer the 13 following amendments. 14 THE PRESIDENT: Amendments 15 received. 16 Senator Holland. 17 SENATOR HOLLAND: Amendments are 18 offered to the following bills: 19 Senator Lavalle's bill, page 4, 20 Calendar 67, Senate Print 5592; 21 Senator Maziarz' bill, page 22 number 23, Calendar Number 763, Senate Print 23 3217; 24 Senator Velella Senator 25 Velella's bill, page number 28, Calendar 904, 1 Senate Print 6519; 2 Senator DeFrancisco's bill, 3 page 28, Calendar 909, Senate Print 6444-A;. 4 Senator Maziarz' bill, page 5 number 29, Calendar Number 919, Senate Print 6 Number 7367-A; 7 Senator Rath's bill, page 8 number 30, Calendar Number 949, Senate Print 9 Number 6914; 10 Senator Volker's bill, page 11 number 33, Calendar Number 1025, Senate Print 12 Number 6739-B; 13 Senator Maziarz' bill, page 14 number 42, Calendar 1280, print Number 4492-A; 15 Senator Cook's bill, page 16 number 18, Calendar 633, Senate Print Number 17 6276-A; 18 Senator Volker's bill, page 8, 19 Calendar Number 281, Senate Print Number 365 20 D; and Senator Lavalle's bill, page number 39, 21 Calendar 1166, Senate Print 6621. 22 THE PRESIDENT: Amendments 23 received. 24 SENATOR HOLLAND: Madam 25 President, I now move these bills retain their 1 place on the order of third reading. 2 THE PRESIDENT: Bills will 3 retain their place. 4 Senator Skelos, may we read the 5 substitutions? 6 SENATOR SKELOS: Yes, Madam 7 President, please make the substitutions. 8 THE PRESIDENT: Secretary will 9 read. 10 THE SECRETARY: On page 11, 11 Senator Saland moves to discharge from the 12 Committee on Rules Assembly bill Number 8836 13 A, and substitute it for the identical Third 14 Reading Calendar 390. 15 On page 30, Senator Marcellino 16 moves to discharge from the Committee on 17 Finance Assembly Bill Number 9765-A, and 18 substitute it for the identical Third Reading 19 Calendar 935. 20 On page 37, Senator Leibell 21 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 22 Assembly Bill Number 10407-A, and substitute 23 it for the identical Third Reading Calendar 24 1130. 25 On page 42, Senator Santiago 1 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 2 Assembly Bill Number 5968-A and substitute it 3 for the identical Third Reading Calendar 4 1279. 5 On page 43, Senator Trunzo 6 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 7 Assembly Bill Number 5116-A, and substitute it 8 for the identical Third Reading Calendar 9 1316. 10 On page 43, Senator Maltese 11 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 12 Assembly Bill Number 892 and substitute it for 13 the identical Third Reading Calendar 1318. 14 On page 43, Senator Stachowski 15 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 16 Assembly Bill Number 8309-A, and substitute it 17 for the identical Third Reading Calendar 18 1323. 19 On page 44, Senator Holland 20 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 21 Assembly Bill Number 9125-B, and substitute it 22 for the identical Third Reading Calendar 23 1325. 24 On page 44, Senator Marchi 25 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 1 Assembly Bill Number 10379, and substitute it 2 for the identical Third Reading Calendar 3 1332. 4 On page 45, Senator Spano moves 5 to discharge from the Committee on Rules 6 Assembly Bill Number 10755 and substitute it 7 for the identical Third Reading Calendar 8 1342. 9 On page 46, Senator Johnson 10 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 11 Assembly Bill Number 8815-B, and substitute it 12 for the identical Third Reading Calendar 13 1346. 14 On page 46, Senator Saland 15 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 16 Assembly Bill Number 10990, and substitute it 17 for the identical Third Reading Calendar 18 1348. 19 And on page 46, Senator Velella 20 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 21 Assembly Bill Number 5750-B, and substitute it 22 for the identical Third Reading Calendar 23 1350. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 25 Substitutions ordered. 1 Senator Skelos. 2 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 3 there is a privileged resolution at the desk 4 by Senator DeFrancisco. May we please have 5 the title read and move for its immediate 6 adoption. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 8 Secretary will read. 9 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 10 DeFrancisco, Legislative Resolution 4039, 11 honoring Vera House, Incorporated of Syracuse, 12 New York, an agency that works to end domestic 13 violence, upon the occasion of the kick-off of 14 its White Ribbon Campaign June 13 through 21, 15 1998. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 17 Senator DeFrancisco. 18 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 19 Each year during this week, I rise to support 20 this resolution and to explain that this is a 21 week long wearing of a white ribbon, a program 22 that was started by Vera House, which deals 23 with domestic violence in the county of 24 Onondaga. It's a program where men wear white 25 ribbons to show their solidarity against 1 domestic violence in our community. 2 I bring it to the Senate each 3 year so that we can make this a statewide 4 event, and I've delivered white ribbons to all 5 of the offices in the -- of the Senators in 6 this house. Apparently they haven't gotten 7 their white ribbons yet, because I don't see 8 many being worn here, but I'm sure that before 9 the day is out everyone will have theirs on 10 and wear it proudly during the week. 11 When you wear it, you always 12 ask what it's about and at least it gives 13 people the awareness that you are, in fact, 14 supporting a very worthwhile campaign. 15 So I seek the unanimous support 16 of this resolution, and hopefully all will 17 wear their white ribbons this week. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 19 question is on the resolution. All in favor 20 signify by saying aye. 21 (Response of "Aye.") 22 Opposed nay. 23 (There was no response.) 24 The resolution is adopted. 25 Senator Skelos, we have two 1 additional motions by Senator Marcellino at 2 this time. 3 Senator Marcellino. 4 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Actually, 5 Mr. President, we have three. 6 Mr. President, on behalf of 7 Senator Farley, on page number 28, I offer the 8 following amendments to Calendar Number 906, 9 Senate Print Number 7168, and ask that said 10 bill retain its place on the Third Reading 11 Calendar. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 13 Amendments received. It will retain its place 14 on Third Reading Calendar. 15 Senator Marcellino. 16 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you, 17 Mr. President. 18 On behalf of Senator Farley 19 once again, on page 28, I offer the following 20 amendments to Calendar Number 903, Senate 21 Print Number 5716, and ask that said bill 22 retain its place on the Third Reading 23 Calendar. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 25 Amendments received. If will retain its place 1 on the Third Reading Calendar. 2 Senator Marcellino. 3 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr. 4 President, on behalf of Senator Kuhl, I wish 5 to call up his bill, Print Number 6184, 6 recalled from the Assembly which is now at the 7 desk. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 9 Secretary will read. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 1284, by Senator Kuhl, Senate Print 6184, an 12 act to amend the Private Housing Finance Law. 13 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr. 14 President, I now move to reconsider the vote 15 by which the bill was passed. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 17 the roll on reconsideration. 18 (The Secretary called the roll 19 on reconsideration.) 20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 21 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr. 22 President, I now offer the following 23 amendments. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 25 Amendments received. 1 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank 2 you. 3 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 4 I believe there's one more substitution to be 5 made. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 7 Secretary will read. 8 THE SECRETARY: On page 13, 9 Senator Kuhl moves to discharge from the 10 Committee on Rules Assembly Bill Number 8437 11 and substitute it for the identical Third 12 Reading Calendar 496. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: So 14 ordered. 15 Senator Skelos. 16 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 17 if we could take up the non-controversial 18 calendar. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 20 Secretary will read. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 9, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 3636-A, an 23 act to amend the General Municipal Law, in 24 relation to alternative methods. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 1 the last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. 3 This act shall take effect on the 60th day. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 5 the roll. 6 (The Secretary called the 7 roll. ) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 10 bill is passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 40, by Senator Alesi, Senate Print 5942-D, an 13 act to amend the General Business Law, in 14 relation to requiring. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 16 the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 18 This act shall take effect on the 90th day. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 20 the roll. 21 (The Secretary called the 22 roll. ) 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 25 bill is passed. 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 213, by Senator Kuhl, Senate Print 3157-B, an 3 act to amend the Environmental Conservation 4 Law, in relation to the use of pesticides. 5 SENATOR LEICHTER: Lay it 6 aside. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Lay 8 that bill aside at the request of Senator 9 Leichter. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 423, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 5563-A, 12 an act to authorize the Commissioner of 13 General Services. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 15 the last section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. 17 This act shall take effect immediately. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 19 the roll. 20 (The Secretary called the 21 roll. ) 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 24 bill is passed. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 1 444, by Senator Wright, Senate Print 6460, an 2 act to amend the Mental Hygiene Law, in 3 relation to providing a uniform operating 4 article. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 6 the last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 8. 8 This act shall take effect immediately. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 10 the roll. 11 (The Secretary called the 12 roll.) 13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 15 bill is passed. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 449, by member of the Assembly Nolan, Assembly 18 Print 10,042, an act to amend the Labor Law, 19 in relation to payroll records. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 21 the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 23 This act shall take effect - 24 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay the 25 bill aside, please. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Lay 2 the bill aside at the request of Senator 3 Stachowski. 4 THE SECRETARY: 480, by Senator 5 Leibell, Senate Print 6281-A, an act to amend 6 the Real Property Tax Law in relation to 7 exemption. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 9 the last section. 10 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. 11 This act shall take effect immediately. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 13 the roll. 14 (The Secretary called the 15 roll.) 16 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 18 bill is passed. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 496, substituted earlier today, by the 21 Assembly Committee on Rules, Assembly Print 22 8437, an act to amend the Agriculture and 23 Markets Law, in relation to agricultural 24 assessment values. 25 SENATOR LEICHTER: Lay it 1 aside. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 3 the - 4 SENATOR LEICHTER: Lay it 5 aside. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Lay 7 the bill aside at the request of Senator 8 Leichter. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 584, by Senator Maziarz, Senate Print 4496-B, 11 an act to amend the Alcoholic Beverage Control 12 Law, in relation to requiring. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 14 the last section. 15 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. 16 This act shall take effect on the 30th day. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 18 the roll. 19 (The Secretary called the 20 roll.) 21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 23 bill is passed. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 737, by Senator Wright, Senate Print 7318-A, 1 an act to amend the Alcoholic Beverage Control 2 Law, the Vehicle and Traffic Law and the 3 Public Health Law. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 5 the last section. 6 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. 7 This act shall take effect September 1st. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 9 the roll. 10 (The Secretary called the 11 roll.) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 14 bill is passed. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 760, by Senator Alesi, Senate Print 6133-B, an 17 act to amend the General Business Law, in 18 relation to prohibiting. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 20 the last section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. 22 This act shall take effect on the 120th day. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 24 the roll. 25 (The Secretary called the 1 roll.) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 4 bill is passed. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 794, by Senator Spano. 7 SENATOR SKELOS: Lay aside for 8 the day, please. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Bill 10 is laid aside for the day. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 887, by Senator Meier, Senate Print 6927-B, an 13 act to amend the Military Law, in relation to 14 credit to members. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 16 the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 18 This act shall take effect immediately. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 20 the roll. 21 (The Secretary called the 22 roll. ) 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 25 bill is passed. 1 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. 2 President. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 4 Senator Skelos. 5 SENATOR SKELOS: If I could 6 interrupt, there will be an immediate meeting 7 of the Rules Committee in the Majority 8 Conference Room. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 10 There will be an immediate meeting of the 11 Rules Committee in Room 332. 12 Secretary will read. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 953, by Senator Balboni, Senate Print 7325-A, 15 an act to amend the State Administrative 16 Procedure Act, in relation to consensus. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 18 the last section. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 8. 20 This act shall take effect on the first day of 21 October. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 23 the roll. 24 (The Secretary called the 25 roll.) 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 3 bill is passed. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 996, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 2726-B, 6 an act to amend the Social Services Law and 7 the Education Law, in relation to the 8 protection. 9 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay aside. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Lay 11 the bill aside at the request of Senator 12 Paterson. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 1104, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 6848-A, 15 an act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 17 the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 19 This act shall take effect immediately. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 21 the roll. 22 (The Secretary called the 23 roll.) 24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 1 bill is passed. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 1263, by Senator Seward, Senate Print 7447, an 4 act to amend the Public Service Law, in 5 relation to unauthorized changes. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 7 the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 9 This act shall take effect on the 120th day. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 11 the roll. 12 (The Secretary called the 13 roll. ) 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 16 bill is passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 1265, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 7500-A, 19 an act to establish the Bay Park Library 20 Funding District. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 22 the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 12. 24 This act shall take effect immediately. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 1 the roll. 2 (The Secretary called the 3 roll. ) 4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 6 bill is passed. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 1273, by Senator Stachowski, Senate Print 9 1273, an act to amend the General Municipal 10 Law, in relation to general requirements. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 12 the last section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 14 This act shall take effect immediately. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 16 the roll. 17 (The Secretary called the 18 roll. ) 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 21 bill is passed. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 1285, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 6509, an 24 act to amend the Real Property Tax Law, in 25 relation to definition. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 2 the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. 4 This act shall take effect immediately. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 6 the roll. 7 (The Secretary called the 8 roll.) 9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 11 Senator Leichter. 12 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes, did the 13 clerk read 1275 or 1285? 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: He 15 read 1285. 1275 was starred earlier today by 16 the sponsor, Senator. 17 SENATOR LEICHTER: O.K. Thank 18 you. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 20 the roll. 21 (The Secretary called the 22 roll. ) 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 25 bill is passed. 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 1295, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 3 7097-A, an act to amend the General Municipal 4 Law, in relation to raffles. 5 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Lay aside. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Laid 7 aside at the request of Senator Dollinger. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1297, by Senator Holland, Senate Print 7187, 10 an act to amend the General Municipal Law, in 11 relation to compensation. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 13 There is a home rule message at the desk. 14 Read the last section. 15 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 16 This act shall take effect immediately. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 18 the roll. 19 (The Secretary called the 20 roll. ) 21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 23 bill is passed. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 1309, by Senator Balboni, Senate Print 7589-A, 1 an act to amend the Domestic Relations Law, 2 the Family Court Act, the Criminal Procedure 3 Law, the Penal Law and the Executive Law. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 5 the last section. 6 THE SECRETARY: Section 18. 7 This act shall take effect on the 90th day. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 9 the roll. 10 (The Secretary called the 11 roll. ) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 14 bill is passed. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 1314, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 500-A, 17 an act to amend the Real Property Tax Law, in 18 relation to establishing. 19 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Lay aside. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Lay 21 Calendar 1314 aside at the request of Senator 22 Dollinger. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 1315, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 2034. 25 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Lay aside. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Lay 2 the bill aside at the request of Senator 3 Oppenheimer. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 1319, by Senator Kuhl, Senate Print 4888, an 6 act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, in 7 relation to including trucks. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 9 the last section. 10 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 11 This act shall take effect immediately. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 13 the roll. 14 (The Secretary called the 15 roll. ) 16 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 18 bill is passed. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 1321, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 21 5338, an act to amend the Public Health Law, 22 in relation to pharmaceutical and optical 23 services. 24 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Lay aside, 25 please. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Lay 2 the bill aside at the request of Senator 3 Dollinger. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 1322, by Senator Montgomery, Senate Print 6 5374-B, an act to amend the Penal Law, in 7 relation to requiring. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 9 the last section. 10 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. 11 This act shall take effect on the first day of 12 November. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 14 the roll. 15 (The Secretary called the 16 roll. ) 17 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 19 bill is passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 1323, substituted earlier today, by the 22 Assembly Committee on Rules, Assembly Print 23 8309-A, an act to amend Chapter 276 of the 24 Laws of 1993. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 1 There is a home rule message at the desk. 2 Read the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 4 This act shall take effect immediately. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 6 the roll. 7 (The Secretary called the 8 roll. ) 9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 11 bill is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 1325, by member of the Assembly Harenberg, 14 Assembly Print 9125-B, substituted earlier 15 today, an act to amend the Education Law, in 16 relation to early intervention. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 18 the last section. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 20 This act shall take effect immediately. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 22 the roll. 23 (The Secretary called the 24 roll. ) 25 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 2 bill is passed. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 1326, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 5 6385-A, an act to amend the Vehicle and 6 Traffic Law, in relation to the 7 applicability. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 9 the last section. 10 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 11 This act shall take effect immediately. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 13 the roll. 14 (The Secretary called the 15 roll. ) 16 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 18 bill is passed. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 1327, by Senator Kuhl, Senate Print 6404, an 21 act to amend the Retirement and Social 22 Security Law, in relation to the partial 23 direct deposit. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 25 the last section. 1 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 2 This act shall take effect immediately. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 4 the roll. 5 (The Secretary called the 6 roll.) 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 9 bill is passed. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 1328, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 6495-A, an 12 act to amend the Real Property Tax Law, in 13 relation to state aid. 14 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Lay that 15 aside, please. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Lay 17 1328 aside at the request of Senator 18 Dollinger. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 1329, by Senator Kuhl, Senate Print 6664, an 21 act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to 22 increasing the rate of hotel and motel taxes. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 24 There is a local fiscal impact note at the 25 desk. Read the last section. 1 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 2 This act shall take effect December 1. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 4 the roll. 5 (The Secretary called the 6 roll.) 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50, nays 2, 8 Senators Dollinger and Gentile recorded in the 9 negative. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 11 bill is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 1330, by Senator Kuhl, Senate Print 6767, an 14 act to amend the Town Law, in relation to 15 installment billing in the Keuka Park Water 16 District. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 18 the last section. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 20 This act shall take effect immediately. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 22 the roll. 23 (The Secretary called the 24 roll.) 25 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 2 bill is passed. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 1331, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 6874-A, 5 an act to amend the Retirement and Social 6 Security Law, in relation to eligibility. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 8 the last section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. 10 This act shall take effect immediately. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 12 the roll. 13 (The Secretary called the 14 roll.) 15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 17 bill is passed. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 1332, substituted earlier today, by member of 20 the Assembly Diaz, Assembly Print 10379, an 21 act to amend Chapter 741 of the Laws of 1985. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 23 the last section. 24 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 25 This act shall take effect immediately. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 2 the roll. 3 (The Secretary called the 4 roll.) 5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 7 bill is passed. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1333, by Senator Alesi, Senate Print 7035-A. 10 SENATOR HOLLAND: Lay aside for 11 the day. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Bill 13 is laid aside for the day. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar 1334, 15 by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 7101, an act 16 to amend the Transportation Law, in relation 17 to the regulation. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 19 the last section. 20 SENATOR LEICHTER: Lay that 21 aside. Lay it aside. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Lay 23 the bill aside at the request of Senator 24 Leichter. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 1 1335, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 7190-A, 2 an act to amend the Executive Law, in relation 3 to directing the Secretary of State. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 5 the last section. 6 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 7 This act shall take effect immediately. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 9 the roll. 10 (The Secretary called the 11 roll.) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 14 bill is passed. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 1336, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 7224-A, 17 an act to adjust certain state aid payments. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 19 There is a local fiscal impact note at the 20 desk. Read the last section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 22 This act shall take effect immediately. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 24 the roll. 25 (The Secretary called the 1 roll.) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 4 bill is passed. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 1337, by Senator Marcellino, Senate Print 7 7297, an act to amend the Education Law, in 8 relation to courses of study. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 10 the last section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 12 This act shall take effect on the first day of 13 August. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 15 the roll. 16 (The Secretary called the 17 roll.) 18 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 20 bill is passed. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 1338, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 7401, 23 an act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law 24 and the Transportation Law, in relation to 25 sanctions. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 2 the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. 4 This act shall take effect in 90 days. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 6 the roll. 7 (The Secretary called the 8 roll. ) 9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 11 bill is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 1339, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 7411, 14 an act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, 15 in relation to mailing of suspensions. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 17 the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. 19 This act shall take effect immediately. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 21 the roll. 22 (The Secretary called the 23 roll.) 24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 1 bill is passed. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 1340, by Senator Nozzolio, Senate Print 7415, 4 an act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to 5 corporate acquisition. 6 SENATOR LEICHTER: Lay aside. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 8 Calendar 1340 is laid aside at the request of 9 Senator Leichter. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar 1341, 11 by Senator Leichter, Senate Print 7463-A, an 12 act to authorize the city of New York to 13 discontinue the use as park land. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 15 There is a home rule message at the desk. 16 Read the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 7. 18 This act shall take effect immediately. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 20 the roll. 21 (The Secretary called the 22 roll.) 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 25 bill is passed. 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 1342, substituted earlier today, by the 3 Assembly Committee on Rules, Assembly Print 4 10755, an act to amend the Local Finance Law, 5 in relation to bonds and notes. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 7 There is a home rule message at the desk. 8 Read the last section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 10 This act shall take effect immediately. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 12 the roll. 13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 15 bill is passed. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 1343, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 7482, 18 an act to amend the Private Housing Finance 19 Law, in relation to loans. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 21 the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. 23 This act shall take effect immediately. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 25 the roll. 1 (The Secretary called the 2 roll.) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 5 bill is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 1344, by Senator Fuschillo, Senate Print 7578, 8 an act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, 9 in relation to requiring. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 11 the last section. 12 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 13 This act shall take effect on the 180th day. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 15 the roll. 16 (The Secretary called the 17 roll.) 18 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 20 bill is passed. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 1343 -- excuse me, Calendar Number 1345. 23 SENATOR HOLLAND: Lay aside for 24 the day, please. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Bill 1 is laid aside for the day. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 1346, substituted earlier today, by member of 4 the Assembly DiNapoli, Assembly Print 8815-B, 5 an act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, 6 in relation to the retail sale. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 8 the last section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. 10 This act shall take effect on the 180th day. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 12 the roll. 13 (The Secretary called the 14 roll.) 15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 51, nays 16 one, Senator Meier recorded in the negative. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 18 bill is passed. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 1347, by Senator Padavan, Senate Print 7605, 21 an act to amend the State Finance Law and 22 others, in relation to the remittance. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 24 the last section. 25 THE SECRETARY: Section 8. 1 This act shall take effect immediately. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 3 the roll. 4 (The Secretary called the 5 roll.) 6 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 8 bill is passed. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 1348, substituted earlier today, by the 11 Assembly Committee on Rules, Assembly Print 12 10990, an act to amend the Domestic Relations 13 Law, in relation to venue. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 15 the last section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 17 This act shall take effect on the 90th day. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 19 the roll. 20 (The Secretary called the 21 roll.) 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 24 bill is passed. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 1 1350, substituted earlier today, by member of 2 the Assembly Nolan, Assembly Print 5750-B, an 3 act to amend the Public Authorities Law, in 4 relation to the composition. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 6 the last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 8 This act shall take effect immediately. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 10 the roll. 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 13 bill is passed. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 1349, by Senator Stafford, Senate Print 7622, 16 an act to amend Chapter 814 of the Laws of 17 1987. 18 SENATOR LEICHTER: Lay it 19 aside. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 21 We're laying aside Calendar Number 1349 at the 22 request of Senator Leichter. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 1351, by Senator Meier, Senate Print 7635, an 25 act to amend the Civil Rights Law, in relation 1 to the right of public petition and 2 participation. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 4 the last section. 5 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay that 6 aside. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Lay 8 that aside at the request of Senator 9 Paterson. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 1352, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 12 7650, an act to adjust certain state aid 13 payments to the Syracuse City School 14 District. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 16 There is a local fiscal impact note at the 17 desk. Read the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. 19 This act shall take effect immediately. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Call 21 the roll. 22 (The Secretary called the 23 roll.) 24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: The 1 bill is passed. 2 Senator Holland, that completes 3 the non-controversial calendar. 4 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. 5 President, can we move on to the controversial 6 reading of the calendar, please. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 8 Secretary will read. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 213, by Senator Kuhl, Senate Print 3157-B, an 11 act to amend the Environmental Conservation 12 Law, in relation to the use of pesticides. 13 SENATOR LEICHTER: 14 Explanation. 15 SENATOR HOLLAND: Will you lay 16 that aside for the day, please. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Bill 18 is laid aside for the day. Secretary will 19 read. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 449, by member of the Assembly Nolan, Assembly 22 Print 10042, an act to amend the Labor Law, in 23 relation to payroll records. 24 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: 25 Explanation. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 2 Senator Spano, an explanation has been 3 requested of Calendar Number 449. 4 SENATOR SPANO: Mr. President, 5 this bill expands upon a bill that we passed 6 in 1997 that requires the reporting of payroll 7 transcripts on a 30-day basis. This one 8 requires contractors and subcontractors on any 9 public works projects to submit a summary 10 transcript at the end of the construction 11 period stating the hours, the days worked, the 12 trade occupations, and the hourly wage rates 13 and supplements that were paid to each worker 14 on that project. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 16 Senator Stachowski. 17 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Mr. 18 President, if Senator Spano would yield to a 19 couple questions. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 21 Senator Spano, would you yield for a question 22 from Senator Stachowski? 23 SENATOR SPANO: Yes. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 25 Senator Stachowski. 1 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Senator, I 2 really don't have trouble with this bill. I'm 3 just wondering why are we doing it if we just 4 put another bill out from Rules that's 5 supposedly a compromise bill off of this bill, 6 to eliminate the opposition from most of the 7 people that were opposed to this bill, the 8 smaller contractors? 9 SENATOR SPANO: Senator 10 Stachowski, I'm not familiar -- what bill are 11 you comparing? 12 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: You're not 13 familiar with Senate 7744? 14 SENATOR SPANO: You talking 15 about -- this is the -- this is Workers' 16 Comp'. That was Workers' Comp'; this is 17 prevailing wage. 18 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Yeah, but 19 this still is different. This hours worked 20 bill, the maintaining the records, I thought 21 that's why the hourly work bill sets what this 22 one is. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 24 Senator Spano, do you yield for another 25 question? 1 SENATOR SPANO: Sure. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 3 Senator Stachowski. 4 SENATOR SPANO: The bill that 5 would be reported out of the Rules Committee 6 is the bill that would place the salary cap 7 that we'll talk about later, I'm sure in the 8 day today. That -- this bill here is 9 specifically trying to give the tools and the 10 information available to prevent prevailing 11 wage law violations, and it goes a bit further 12 so that, in addition to the passage of what we 13 have in 1997, the 30-day requirement gives a 14 summary transcript at the end of the day. 15 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: O.K. 16 SENATOR SPANO: This is just - 17 this is prevailing wage. 18 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Last 19 question. This one's merely to make sure that 20 prevailing wages are kept and that records are 21 kept, but this one wouldn't affect the 22 Workers' Comp' bill, the other one does? 23 SENATOR SPANO: That's 24 correct. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 1 Senator Spano, you continue to yield? 2 SENATOR SPANO: Yes. 3 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Sorry; 4 that was another question off of that. 5 SENATOR SPANO: That's correct; 6 that's the answer. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: Read 8 the last section. I'm sorry. Senator 9 Dollinger. 10 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Yes. Will 11 the sponsor yield to one other question? 12 SENATOR SPANO: Yes. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 14 Senator Spano. 15 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Through 16 you, Mr. President, what does the phrase 17 "completion of the project" mean? Is that at 18 the time of the submission of the certificate 19 of substantial completion of the project? 20 When is that point in the process? 21 SENATOR SPANO: Literally when 22 the construction has been completed and all 23 the final paperwork has been turned in for 24 payment, and when they -- when that paperwork 25 would be turned in, this summary transcript 1 would have to be a part of that document. 2 SENATOR DOLLINGER: O.K. Again 3 through you, Mr. President. Senator spano - 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 5 Senator Spano, you continue to yield? 6 SENATOR SPANO: Yes. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MAZIARZ: 8 Senator Dollinger. 9 SENATOR DOLLINGER: As I 10 understand it, the purpose of this bill is to 11 create a transcript so that someone at that 12 point can verify that all the prevailing wages 13 have been paid; is that correct? 14 SENATOR SPANO: The -- whatever 15 department has jurisdiction would then have 16 that opportunity, yes. 17 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Right. 18 Again through you, Mr. President, if Senator 19 Spano will continue to yield. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 21 Senator Spano, do you continue to yield? 22 SENATOR SPANO: Yes. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 24 Senator yields. 25 SENATOR DOLLINGER: My concern, 1 Senator, is that oftentimes when workers are 2 involved on prevailing wage projects, one of 3 the problems is that they don't find out what 4 the prevailing wage was or that they should 5 have been paid it until long after they've 6 left the site. This, I assume, applies to a 7 contractor or subcontractor may hire someone 8 on a two-year project. They work for the 9 first four months and then they leave or 10 they're taken off the bench or put back on to 11 another project if they're a union employee, 12 and this says that it would -- they'd have to 13 wait basically two years before you'd know 14 that they had been paid the improper wages, is 15 that correct, because they have to wait until 16 the completion of the project? 17 I think it's a good idea. My 18 question is, why wouldn't you do it more 19 frequently than just at the end of the 20 project? 21 SENATOR SPANO: We've got two 22 -- the 1997 statute requires monthly 23 reporting, Senator. This one requires a final 24 summary transcript at the end of the -- the 25 end of the day, at the end of the project. 1 Now, you mention on an annual 2 basis -- every two years. Where -- where are 3 you referring to that? 4 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Well, it - 5 I'm on page 2 of the bill -- again through 6 you, Mr. President. I'm on page 2 of the bill 7 and it says that after completion of the 8 project, the summary transcript specifying the 9 hours, which is the amendment that you're 10 making in that bill, and my question is, I 11 understand that there's a 30-day reporting 12 requirement, and there's an initial 30 days 13 after the project starts where you have to 14 make reports. 15 My question is, why do you do 16 it at the end; why wouldn't you provide this 17 detailed summary transcript on those 30 days 18 or 60 days or 90-day intervals instead of 19 waiting to the end of the project? 20 SENATOR SPANO: We do. We're 21 not repealing -- Chapter 565 is not repealed 22 in this statute. 23 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again 24 through you, Mr. President, then I don't 25 understand what the point of the statute is. 1 If you got a 30-day -- if you're reporting 2 every 30 days, why do you need to do the 3 summary transcript at the end? 4 SENATOR SPANO: In addition to 5 the every 30 -- every 30 days, what this will 6 do will give the agencies that would be 7 overseeing this specific project the tools 8 that they need to make sure that there are no 9 violations of prevailing wage during that 10 course of the entire project, so in addition 11 to the every 30 days statute that we have and 12 getting that information that we have at the 13 end of the course of the project, what we'll 14 do, we'll be able to provide the additional 15 assurances that the contractors and the 16 subcontractors are obeying the prevailing wage 17 laws, and also it will provide the -- in 18 addition to the payroll transcripts, it will 19 help the agencies and contractors identify the 20 costs and the labor that are related to those 21 projects themselves. 22 SENATOR DOLLINGER: O.K. One 23 final question, Mr. President. I appreciate 24 the explanation. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 1 Senator Spano, do you continue to yield? 2 SENATOR SPANO: Yes. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 4 Senator yields. 5 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Will this 6 data be subject to disclosure under the 7 Freedom of Information Act to anyone who wants 8 it? 9 SENATOR SPANO: Yes, this would 10 be FOILable but without names and Social 11 Security numbers. 12 SENATOR DOLLINGER: O.K. And 13 again through you, Mr. President, I assume 14 that that would be FOILable both by 15 individuals, organizations such as organized 16 labor or by another level of government, for 17 example, what I understand will happen is this 18 will be furnished to the Department of Labor, 19 these -- this is our bill, this requires it to 20 be furnished to the Department of Labor. 21 SENATOR SPANO: This will be 22 furnished to the department of jurisdiction, 23 not necessarily the Department of Labor and, 24 yes, it would be FOILable by any individual or 25 corporation. 1 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Explanation 2 satisfactory, Mr. President. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read 4 the last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 6 This act shall take effect on the 60th day. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call 8 the roll. 9 (The Secretary called the 10 roll. ) 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 52. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 13 bill is passed. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 496, substituted earlier today, by the 16 Assembly Committee on Rules, Assembly Print 17 8437, an act to amend the Agriculture and 18 Markets Law. 19 SENATOR LEICHTER: 20 Explanation. 21 SENATOR HOLLAND: Lay it aside 22 for the day, please. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Lay 24 the bill aside for the day. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 1 996, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 2726-B, 2 an act to amend the Social Services Law and 3 the Education Law, in relation to the 4 protection. 5 SENATOR PATERSON: Can we have 6 an explanation of this bill, please. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 8 Senator Saland, an explanation has been 9 requested. 10 SENATOR SALAND: Thank you, Mr. 11 President. 12 Mr. President, this bill is a 13 bill which tends to deal with the issue of 14 abuse that occurs in a school setting, and 15 what it endeavors to do is to create a 16 mechanism which deals with employees of school 17 systems, whether they be professional 18 employees such as teachers or whether they be 19 clerical and other employees, and it attempts 20 to do this in a couple of ways. 21 In the first instance, it 22 attempts to determine by way of the screening 23 process whether anybody who makes application 24 to become a school employee does, in fact, 25 have a criminal record. Our experience, based 1 upon data available from other states, tells 2 us that in New Jersey, for instance, out of 3 some 340,000 applicants over a period of ten 4 years from 1987 to 1997, in excess of 3,000 of 5 those applicants were people had criminal 6 records, some of them extremely serious crimes 7 including homicides and sexual offenses. 8 New York City has a system. 9 This system in the city of New York requires 10 fingerprinting. They fingerprint all 11 employees. They started back, I believe, in 12 the late '30s or early '40s fingerprinting 13 non-teaching employees, and some time in the 14 '60s I believe began fingerprinting teachers 15 as well. The last year for which I have seen 16 data was the 1996 year, and out of 17 approximately 25,000 screens, they had about 18 1200 of those employees who had criminal 19 records, again serious crimes including 20 assaults, abuses and homicides. 21 That screening basically meant 22 about four and a half to five percent of the 23 sample was seeking positions with the New York 24 City School District and at the same time had 25 a serious criminal record. 1 We also attempt here to -- to 2 provide for the ability to -- to determine 3 whether or not an employee of the school has, 4 in fact, been the subject of a report of abuse 5 and neglect by permitting access to the 6 central registry for those purposes. 7 We establish a reporting 8 mechanism. The reporting mechanism is a 9 mechanism which basically would render the 10 so-called "silent resignation" a criminal 11 offense and by "silent resignation", what I 12 mean is those instances in which an incident 13 of physical or sexual abuse occurs in school 14 settings, an employee is permitted to resign 15 for fear that either the school district does 16 not want the notoriety surrounding it or just 17 wants it to sort of go away. That school 18 employee would then go to another district if, 19 in fact, it's a teacher that nothing is noted 20 anywhere that this event has, in fact, 21 occurred and that person then re-offend in yet 22 another community. 23 The reality is that there are 24 probably somewhere in the area of some couple 25 of million young people who go off to school 1 every day, and their parents assume that 2 they're going to receive a quality education, 3 in a safe and secure environment. The reality 4 again is that the vast overwhelming majority 5 of those children will receive what their 6 parents expect. However, in numbers, however 7 small they may be percentagewise, translate to 8 far too many incidents and there have been 9 incidents reported right here in this Capital 10 District where one of the local school 11 districts was required to spend some $2.3 12 million to settle a case involving allegations 13 of abuse in a school setting, in this case 14 sexual abuse. 15 The reporting system is 16 intended to involve law enforcement, to get 17 law enforcement involved at the earliest 18 possible stage. The failure to report would 19 be a misdemeanor. The idea is that law 20 enforcement does far better than would 21 internal school district employees 22 investigation of alleged criminal activity. 23 Teachers teach, administrators administer. 24 They don't investigate crime scenes; they 25 don't investigate allegations of crime, 1 certainly nowhere near as well as one would 2 reasonably expect trained law enforcement 3 personnel. 4 If, in fact, a teacher would be 5 convicted of a child abuse crime under this 6 bill, that teacher would lose his or her 7 certificate and would be unable to then go to 8 another district where they might engage in 9 that very same misconduct again. That would 10 be in lieu of a so-called Part 83 or Article 11 83 hearing which would otherwise be separately 12 required. 13 The beneficiaries of this bill, 14 I believe, are overwhelmingly the young people 15 of all of our communities, the hard working 16 honorable people who teach in our schools and 17 who are otherwise employed in our school 18 districts. The only losers under this system 19 are people who happen to be predators, child 20 sexual abusers or pedophiles. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 22 Senator Paterson. 23 SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you, 24 Mr. President, and thank you, Senator Saland, 25 for an excellent explanation, one that 1 probably is as founded in merit as the greater 2 part of this bill we accept and certainly 3 support. As Senator Saland said, there may 4 not be a great number of these incidents 5 percentagewise, but just what few there may 6 be, their report and the types of situations 7 that we read about and watch on television, as 8 the accusations are made so alarm the general 9 public, so alarm parents, and obviously 10 children who can understand what these charges 11 are, that there really must be greater 12 protections, and as much as we don't like to 13 subject employees, particularly those who have 14 undergone a great deal of education to get to 15 the position that they have, while we don't 16 like to subject them to any type of further 17 scrutiny and fingerprinting, we have to. 18 That's just the reality of the world we're 19 living in today. 20 My -- I have a question for 21 Senator Saland, if he would yield. 22 SENATOR SALAND: Yes, Mr. 23 President. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 25 Senator Saland yields. Senator Paterson. 1 SENATOR PATERSON: It's coming 2 in right now, Senator. 3 Yes. Senator, would you draw 4 for us in a little more detail the distinction 5 between what the penalties would be for a 6 person who has been -- well, would you explain 7 what the convicted person found out about 8 later on, but what punishment that would 9 incur, but I'm interested in what would be the 10 procedure after it's clear that someone has 11 been accused, because on the sexual abuse 12 registry, just a credible evidence would be 13 the threshold test for accusation, and if the 14 accusation has been made and it's in the 15 registry, meaning that it's deemed to be 16 credible, what would happen at that point? 17 SENATOR SALAND: There is no 18 penalty per se. The school district would be 19 apprised of -- the standard for employment 20 purposes, incidentally, is not fair, is not 21 mere credible evidence but a fair 22 preponderance of the evidence. 23 SENATOR PATERSON: Well, 24 Senator, this is the one section of the bill 25 that gives me some concern, and that is that a 1 preponderance of the evidence which is 2 something that would apply more in a civil 3 lawsuit, here is being applied toward -- to an 4 individual such that constructively, if they 5 were to lose their job or lose their license 6 or some way be damaged, it would be tantamount 7 to a criminal charge because the suffering of 8 the loss of reputation could make it very 9 difficult for a person, a teacher, to go some 10 place else and find a job since the dismissal 11 might not altogether be clear through a 12 preponderance of the evidence and, therefore, 13 if the Senator would continue to yield. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 15 Senator Saland, do you continue to yield? 16 SENATOR SALAND: Yes, yes, Mr. 17 President. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 19 Senator yields for a question. 20 SENATOR PATERSON: Well, 21 Senator, my question is, what is -- what is 22 the solution in a situation like this because 23 at the same time that we are trying to protect 24 children, we don't want individuals who may be 25 accused of -- to suffer as well as I'm sure 1 you would agree. 2 SENATOR SALAND: Well, the 3 evidentiary standard, the preponderance of the 4 evidence standard, is the same standard that's 5 used in other administrative hearings and is 6 the same standard that's currently applied to 7 the Part 83 hearings where, if there's an 8 allegation of some type of moral turpitude and 9 there is a challenge to the continued practice 10 of a teacher, under his or her license, you 11 bring this Part 83 hearing, and it's the very 12 same standard that would be used, again not 13 mere credible but by a fair preponderance of 14 the evidence. 15 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. 16 President, if the Senator would continue to 17 yield. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 19 Senator Saland, do you continue to yield? 20 SENATOR SALAND: Yes, Mr. 21 President. 22 SENATOR PATERSON: Senator, are 23 we arriv... 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 25 Senator yields. Senator Paterson. 1 SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you, 2 Mr. President. 3 Senator, are we arriving at 4 this conclusion based on some due process or 5 some kind of hearing that's being conducted, 6 or are we arriving at it based on some 7 determination that relates to the actual 8 charges? In other words, does the person who 9 is being accused have the right to confront 10 their accuser? 11 SENATOR SALAND: Well, that 12 person who is being so accused has the ability 13 through a fair hearing to confront his or her 14 accuser. 15 SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you 16 very much, Senator Saland. 17 Mr. President, on the bill. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 19 Senator Paterson, on the bill. 20 SENATOR PATERSON: It has even 21 been at times determined by the Second Circuit 22 of the Court of Appeals in the case of 23 Velmonte vs. Bain, that in many cases, up to 24 75 percent of the reports that initially come 25 to the sexual abuse registry are later found 1 to be unfounded. It's almost standard in 2 divorce cases, and specifically those cases 3 that apply to custody battles, and Senator 4 Saland and I debated an issue involving 5 changing the name of visitation to -- to 6 parenting time, that there is such acrimony 7 and animosity in these type of cases that at 8 times even the attorneys have hinted or in 9 some way so as not to implicate themselves, 10 recommended that it won't help the other party 11 to be accused, and the '800' number becomes a 12 vehicle more for the buttressing of evidence 13 rather than really bringing forth the types of 14 sexual abuse cases that we as a society would 15 like to ferret out, as was its purpose, and 16 so, in discussing the issue with Senator 17 Saland, I just want to make sure that we are 18 scrupulously fair to the accused because we 19 still have a presumption that the party is 20 innocent. That does not mean that we 21 necessarily have to rely on a great standard 22 to take away their position as a teacher 23 because we don't want to subject the children 24 to someone who is even likely or somewhat 25 likely to be a predator. At the same time, we 1 do want to preserve the rights of individuals 2 such that they are not so labeled or in - 3 their reputations tarnished to such an extent 4 that the innuendo becomes the basis for loss 5 of livelihood, and with the tremendous 6 achievement that Senator Saland has 7 demonstrated by putting together what seems to 8 be some apt regulations coming at this time 9 relating to employees in our school systems, I 10 just think that we need a little more work on 11 the registry for at least on what would 12 constitute the grounds for bringing an action 13 against an employee. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read 15 the last section. 16 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 17 President, on the bill, just briefly. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 19 Senator Dollinger, on the bill. 20 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I'll be 21 very brief, Mr. President. 22 I've voted for this bill in the 23 past. I'm going to vote for it again, but, 24 Senator Saland, this is always one of those 25 bills that I jump up and I can only be 1 astounded by its appearance on the calendar 2 with calendar numbers, make sure I got 'em 3 right here because I think Senator Rath 4 carried these bills, you carried them at at 5 one time, Senator Saland, because we had a 6 lengthy discussion about it. 7 But you know those bills, all 8 those bad mandate bills, all those bills in 9 which we're going to prohibit the state 10 Legislature from passing mandates that require 11 school districts to do things like spend their 12 money in criminal checks and spend their money 13 in reporting to the hot line, all of which are 14 good things. This is a good mandate. This is 15 one of those things that we should tell school 16 districts what to do, but sure enough, I think 17 Senator Rath even carries the Constitutional 18 Amendment that says no mandates whatsoever, 19 and yet here on this calendar passing a big 20 huge mandate for local school districts. 21 Nothing that local school districts couldn't 22 do. Nothing that they shouldn't do, but yet 23 it's just I guess I'm always astounded that we 24 seem to say no mandates in one part of the 25 calendar, and then appropriate and approve and 1 I vote for mandates on the other part. 2 This is a good mandate. This 3 is something we ought to tell school districts 4 to do. We ought to make it uniform. I'd 5 simply ask, I guess, for a little tiny bit of 6 consistency. Maybe the calendar should only 7 have mandate bills on it and we save the no 8 mandate bills for a later time in the session 9 or maybe we just forget that idea that we're 10 going to pass flat no-mandate bills in the 11 future. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read 13 the last section. 14 THE SECRETARY: Section 12. 15 This act shall take effect on the first day of 16 January. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call 18 the roll. 19 (The Secretary called the 20 roll. ) 21 SENATOR SALAND: Mr. President, 22 may I explain my vote. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 24 Senator Saland, for the purpose of explaining 25 his vote. 1 SENATOR SALAND: Mr. President, 2 I just wish to make it clear that this bill 3 specifically in several places says that there 4 shall be no mandates imposed upon school 5 districts with respect to the cost of the 6 fingerprinting that's the subject of this 7 bill, and I encourage all of my colleagues to 8 please support this bill. 9 Thank you. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 11 Senator Saland will be recorded in the 12 affirmative. Record the negatives and 13 announce the results. 14 I'm sorry. Senator Gold, to 15 explain his vote. 16 SENATOR GOLD: Mr. President, I 17 looked at this bill and saw the sponsorship, 18 and right away my inclination was to vote for 19 it because of my deep respect for the -- for 20 Senator Saland, but then I did in shuffling 21 through my papers find the constitutional 22 amendment referred to by the gentleman from 23 Rochester supported by Mary Lou Rath and I 24 said to myself, I owe it to Senator Rath to 25 oppose this bill, because just in case -- in 1 case in the wildest imagination her bill is 2 not accepted and doesn't become law, I wanted 3 her to know that the logic behind that bill 4 has not escaped me. 5 So, in due deference to Senator 6 Rath, I have to vote in the negative. 7 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 8 President. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 10 Senator Oppenheimer, to explain her vote. 11 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: To 12 explain my vote. I certainly don't want to 13 contradict my good friends on this side of the 14 aisle, but having just gone through the 15 experience with my daughter who wants to be a 16 New York City teacher and having just received 17 her Master's at Banks Street, she had to, of 18 course, go and get her fingers printed, so I 19 can tell you that the cost of my daughter's 20 fingerprinting was borne by my daughter and 21 paid $86 for the privilege of getting 22 fingerprinted. So I'm not sure this is an 23 actual cost on the local district. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 25 Senator Dollinger. 1 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 2 President, I'm going to vote yes, as I said 3 earlier, and I appreciate Senator Saland's 4 appropriation. We're not forcing them to pay 5 it. No appropriation in the bill, no money 6 for us to pay for it. When you're down in the 7 local school district, they spell that only 8 one way, m-a-n-d-a-t-e. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 10 Senator Dollinger in the affirmative. 11 Senator Oppenheimer, we need to 12 clarify; you're voting in the affirmative. 13 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: 14 (Affirmative indication. ) 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Any 16 other Senator wishing to explain his or her 17 vote? Record the negatives; announce the the 18 results. 19 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded 20 in the negative on Calendar Number 996 are 21 Senators Connor, Gold, Kruger, Leichter, 22 Markowitz, Montgomery, Paterson, Sampson, 23 Santiago and Waldon. Ayes 45, nays 10. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 25 bill is passed. 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 1295, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 3 7097-A, an act to amend the General Municipal 4 Law, in relation to raffles. 5 SENATOR DOLLINGER: 6 Explanation. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 8 Senator DeFrancisco, an explanation has been 9 requested of Calendar 1295 by Senator 10 Dollinger. 11 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: For many 12 years, raffles done by charitable 13 organizations were illegal, in fact, for all 14 years until 1994 when we passed a bill 15 legitimizing raffles. For the last three 16 years we have been trying to correct the 17 problem dealing with the paperwork that was 18 imposed and the mandates that were imposed 19 upon town clerks in receiving these 20 applications and the like. There were so many 21 small organizations that would have a small 22 raffle or a 50/50 or something, raffle a bike 23 off, that would have to file this four-page 24 form, and it caused a lot of paperwork. So 25 what we tried to do was to set a limit below 1 which only an affidavit would have to be 2 signed that we did a raffle, but it's less 3 than a certain amount of money. 4 We also had a complaint from 5 people conducting raffles that if a raffle was 6 conducted, for example, in one town and 7 immediately across the county border a ticket 8 was sold, that that would be illegal. So we 9 tried to apply it to -- statewide in one of 10 our attempted amendments. The Governor vetoed 11 the bill when we did it -- the corrected bill 12 when we did it before, I think it was last 13 year. 14 This year we worked with the 15 state Racing and Wagering Board and have a 16 bill that we believe the administration is in 17 agreement with, that the town clerks strongly 18 are in favor of which would have a $30,000 19 number below which substantial filing 20 requirements would not be necessary and only 21 an affidavit from the organization at the 22 beginning of the year, that we have raffles - 23 we will have raffles less than a total of 24 30,000 and at the end of the year verifying 25 that that's all that they had, less than 1 30,000. 2 This is the sum and substance 3 of those negotiations not only with the 4 Governor but with the Assembly, Assemblyman 5 Joe Robach, and we are very confident this 6 will pass both houses and the Governor will 7 sign it. 8 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Just one 9 question, Mr. President. I know we - 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 11 Senator DeFrancisco, do you yield to a 12 question? 13 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 15 Senator yields. 16 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I know you 17 worked on a whole bunch of these bills. My 18 question is there's a reference in the memo to 19 the professional raffler. What is it about 20 this bill that prevents that from happening, 21 that is, someone going around peddling 22 raffling services all over the place? 23 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Well, 24 that's what the Governor's concern was because 25 in prior bills there was no basic limit as to 1 where you could sell these particular 2 tickets. Now it's limited to a county or a 3 contiguous county and apparently that is 4 satisfactory at this point. 5 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Thank you, 6 Mr. President. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read 8 the last section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 8. 10 This act shall take effect on the 120th day. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call 12 the roll. 13 (The Secretary called the 14 roll.) 15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 54, nays 16 1, Senator LaValle recorded in the negative. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 18 bill is passed. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 1314, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 500-A, 21 an act to amend the Real Property Tax Law, in 22 relation to establishing. 23 SENATOR DOLLINGER: 24 Explanation, please. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 1 Senator Johnson, an explanation has been 2 requested by Senator Dollinger of Calendar 3 1314. 4 SENATOR JOHNSON: Thank you, 5 Mr. President. 6 There is a problem, I believe 7 around this state and the fact that marinas 8 have to be on the waterfront to serve the 9 general public and their customers selling, 10 repairing and providing dockage space, we find 11 in too many cases marinas are being assessed 12 at the highest and best use, which means the 13 taxes on the property are intolerable. Many 14 marinas are failing. Some more than 20 15 percent have failed in the past couple of 16 years because they couldn't pay the freight, 17 specifically taxes, and we think it's very 18 important for the public to have access to the 19 shoreline, a place to dock their boat, a place 20 to come in and fuel up, and with the 21 properties being sold to developers putting up 22 condos, the only people who have access to 23 that waterfront are those who might buy that 24 condo or rent in that project and the general 25 public is being told essentially there's no 1 place for your boat. 2 It's a very negative attitude 3 for boat owners and it's negative for 4 individuals who would like to go see a piece 5 of waterfront with boats around it once in a 6 while even if they can't buy one. 7 So I think it's important that 8 we advise the assessors that they should 9 consider taxing this property at its present 10 use and present income economic value and not 11 at the highest and best use. 12 That's all this bill says 13 essentially that they should consider that in 14 their assessing practices. 15 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 16 President. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 18 Senator Dollinger. 19 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Will 20 Senator Johnson yield just for a couple quick 21 questions? 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 23 Senator, do you yield to a question? 24 SENATOR JOHNSON: Yes. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 1 Senator Johnson yields. 2 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Senator, 3 are all other properties located adjacent to 4 waterways taxed at the highest and best use? 5 SENATOR JOHNSON: Are all 6 others? 7 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Well, my 8 house would be or a commercial piece of 9 property would be taxed at its highest and 10 best use under available zoning, isn't that 11 correct? 12 SENATOR JOHNSON: Well, I would 13 say that seems to be the general practice, 14 though I don't believe it's the law at this 15 point. It seems to be the general practice. 16 SENATOR DOLLINGER: My question 17 is -- and I have quite a few marinas up on the 18 southern shore of Lake Ontario, but my 19 question is why would we treat marinas 20 differently from homeowners or commercial 21 properties that happen to abut waterways as 22 well? What is it about marinas? 23 SENATOR JOHNSON: Because what 24 they're telling -- what they're telling the 25 marina operators by the practice of assessing 1 highest and best use is that if you can't make 2 it, get out of here and we'll put some housing 3 up which pays better but, I mean, the point is 4 that's a negative policy, I think for the 5 entire community not just for the individual 6 who likes the boat business and can't make as 7 much as he could if he piled up condos or 8 apartment houses on that waterfront property. 9 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Okay, Mr. 10 President. Thank you. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read 12 the last section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 14 This act shall take effect January 1. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call 16 the roll. 17 (The Secretary called the 18 roll.) 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 55. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 21 bill is passed. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 1315, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 2034, 24 concurrent resolution of the Senate and 25 Assembly, proposing amendments to Article IX 1 of the Constitution. 2 SENATOR PATERSON: Explanation. 3 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: 4 Explanation. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 6 Senator Rath, an explanation has been 7 requested of Calendar Number 1315. 8 SENATOR RATH: Mr. President, I 9 noted with some interest a few minutes ago 10 that the "M" word was being spelled by, I 11 believe Senator Dollinger, and I think any of 12 us from local government know that the "M" 13 word is the "mandate" word and the worst part 14 of the "mandate" word is the unfunded mandate 15 part of that word and this bill amends the 16 Constitution to make compliance with unfunded 17 mandates optional and it also establishes a 18 council on local mandates to resolve 19 complaints of unfunded mandates. 20 I don't think that I need to 21 belabor the point that it's unfunded mandates 22 that have caused the cost of the local 23 governments to go up dramatically. I was 24 interested in the debate that revolved around 25 Senator Saland's bill. As he explained at the 1 end, if it's unfunded, it isn't going to 2 happen, and I think that this bill will cover 3 an awful lot of what those of us that come 4 from local government have found to be the 5 absolute bane of your existence when you're 6 trying to make both ends meet. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 8 Senator Oppenheimer. 9 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: I'm going 10 to be supporting this bill, but I want to do 11 an exercise of on the one hand and on the 12 other hand. 13 On the one hand, as a past 14 mayor and an officer in the Conference of 15 Mayors, I certainly understand the pain that 16 we experience on unfunded mandates, and I see 17 that this establishes a council on local 18 mandates. 19 I think I would feel more 20 comfortable if that council had a broader 21 range of, you know -- over which they could 22 control issues coming to them. It seems they 23 can only resolve those which an aggrieved 24 municipality says that this is an unfunded 25 mandate. 1 I think there are certain 2 issues that can come up in the course of 3 municipal life that might cause, if the 4 council had such purview, to have them address 5 other issues that might, for instance, be 6 considered an unfunded mandate but actually 7 have a greater benefit and should be not 8 looked upon solely as an unfunded mandate and, 9 of course, now I would like to turn to the "on 10 the other hand" and on the other hand is 11 environmental protection. 12 Would we have ever gone ahead 13 with our recycling programs in local 14 government which certainly costs more than 15 $20,000 were this bill to pass and while I 16 understand that certain things are exempted 17 from this bill like complying with federal law 18 and complying with our emergency executive 19 orders, I think there just has to be more 20 leeway. I would like to see more leeway in 21 the bill because certainly the recycling 22 programs in the long run have certainly paid 23 for themselves. It saved us a lot of money of 24 our waste going into -- into disposal sites 25 and it really brought in a fair amount of 1 money to government, to municipal government, 2 but -- and that's where we are now. This is a 3 very successful local program that we have in 4 our state, but how would we have started it if 5 we had this restriction? 6 So while I'm voting for it, I 7 understand the intent. I think it can run 8 into some problems down the road and I would 9 like to have some kind of authority that would 10 permit -- that would permit individual laws as 11 passed to be reviewed to see if it really is 12 beneficial to the municipality. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 14 Senator Dollinger. 15 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 16 President, I rise again because Senator Rath 17 properly pointed out, I would assume that if 18 someone was being consistent in voting for 19 this constitutional amendment, someone would 20 have voted against Senator Saland's bill, lots 21 of mandates, telling school districts what to 22 do, not giving them a nickel to pay for it, 23 and frankly, Senator, I'm also going to look 24 for support for two other bills on the 25 calendar. 1 We've got a bill, 1345 from 2 Senator Fuschillo, a new member of the Senate, 3 a bill that will require school districts to 4 review the qualifications of every applicant 5 for the position of school bus attendant. 6 That's 1345. No appropriation on that bill. 7 1344, another bill from our 8 newest member, requires buses transporting 9 children with disabilities to maintain 10 pertinent information about the child, the 11 child's disability, the child's parent or 12 guardian and any other information deemed 13 necessary by the local school board. Another 14 mandate. Not a nickel paid for from this 15 chamber to support that either. 16 As much as I oppose mandates - 17 and I oppose them. How can anybody favor a 18 mandate, yet today I'm going to vote for three 19 of them. I voted for Senator Saland's. I'm 20 going to vote for Senator Fuschillo's. I'm 21 going to vote for the second one from Senator 22 Fuschillo. I'm not so much concerned about 23 the mandate debate. It's an important 24 debate. What I'm looking for is 25 c-o-n-s-i-s-t-e-n-c-y, consistency, so that 1 when we say we don't believe in mandates, we 2 actually do something about it and we don't 3 pass these bills without appropriations to pay 4 for them. 5 It's great politics. It helps 6 us in our newsletters, but the policy seems to 7 me to lack that underlying substance that 8 says, okay, we'll pay for all these things. 9 We'll pay for Senator Saland's bill. We'll 10 pay for both Senator Fuschillo's bills. We do 11 100 of these bills a year, but it seems to me 12 the inconsistency is what we're all 13 comfortable with. Maybe it has something to 14 do with the politics of all of this. 15 I'll be voting in favor, Mr. 16 President. I support -- I don't want to be in 17 favor of mandates. I'm against mandates, but 18 I'm also in favor of Senator Saland's bill, 19 Senator Fuschillo's second bill. I support 20 most of these things because I think it's a 21 good thing that the state of New York, we, the 22 people who sit in this chamber who represent 23 the people of this state should have the 24 authority and do have the authority to tell 25 any other level of government what the public 1 interest in this state is. We do it all the 2 time. I don't think it's a bad thing. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 4 Senator Waldon. 5 SENATOR WALDON: Thank you, Mr. 6 President. 7 Would the gentle lady yield to 8 a question or two? 9 SENATOR RATH: Certainly. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 11 Senator yields. 12 SENATOR WALDON: Senator Rath, 13 I noticed that there's no opportunity for 14 those representing the Minority Conference in 15 this chamber to appoint people to the council 16 on local mandates, yet we represent, I don't 17 know how many million people, 26 of us, 18 represent, I would think times 315,000, an 19 awful lot of people. 20 Was there consideration given 21 to including members of the Democratic 22 Conference in having a say as to who would be 23 the governing bodies in regard to local 24 mandates? 25 SENATOR RATH: No, there 1 wasn't, Senator. 2 SENATOR WALDON: I beg your 3 pardon? 4 SENATOR RATH: There was not, 5 Senator. 6 SENATOR WALDON: Thank you. 7 Mr. President. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 9 Senator Waldon. 10 SENATOR WALDON: Would the lady 11 yield? 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 13 Senator Rath, do you continue to yield? 14 SENATOR RATH: Surely. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 16 Senator yields. 17 SENATOR WALDON: Thank you, Mr. 18 President. Thank you, Senator Rath. 19 This $20,000 threshold seems to 20 me to be an ominous potential for danger. If 21 I understand it correctly -- and I'm asking 22 you to edify me -- as long as the cost is less 23 than $20,000, in an aggregate sense, it 24 conforms to the proposal, is that correct? 25 SENATOR RATH: That's right. 1 SENATOR WALDON: Would the 2 Senator continue to yield, Mr. President? 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 4 Senator Rath, do you continue to yield for a 5 question? 6 SENATOR RATH: Surely. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 8 Senator yields. 9 SENATOR WALDON: Thank you, Mr. 10 President. 11 Senator, if the cost is less 12 than $20,000 and if we say you must do this 13 and the locality says, I don't want to, how 14 will they force the state not to require that 15 they do whatever the mandate is? 16 SENATOR RATH: Well, I think 17 you know, Senator, that the council on local 18 mandates to resolve complaints is one of the 19 items that you mentioned a moment ago, and I 20 would think that they would bring that concern 21 to that council. However, your question 22 raises something that Senator Dollinger 23 brought up that I was about to speak to and 24 then thought, well, maybe it didn't need to be 25 addressed but now your questions raise this 1 even further, and there were huge increases in 2 the dollars that went to schools this year, 3 and I think some of the mandates that we're 4 talking about are not only local governments, 5 which, of course, is what my committee 6 addresses day in and day out throughout the 7 year but, of course, the ones that are applied 8 to the schools and it's been brought to my 9 attention over and over again that we are not 10 as focused on something unless it comes under 11 the microscope, if you will, and when we're 12 talking about the kinds of issues that Senator 13 Saland is talking about, the one that's coming 14 up with Senator Fuschillo, I think that some 15 of these things are being done anyway but 16 they're not being focused on. They're being 17 paid for. They're being done but they're not 18 being focused on, and I think this bill will 19 bring that into focus and if there's a 20 question about the focus, it will come under 21 this council in order to get the review. 22 SENATOR WALDON: Would the 23 Senator continue to yield, Mr. President? 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 25 Senator Rath, do you continue to yield? 1 SENATOR RATH: Surely. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 3 Senator yields. 4 SENATOR WALDON: Thank you very 5 much, Senator. 6 There is a plethora of 7 situations which occur at the local level. 8 Local government is responsible for 9 sanitation, law enforcement training, a whole 10 host of issues. Couldn't we be tied up with 11 litigation as a result of what you're 12 proposing with this if there's a resistance 13 from the local government not to comply with 14 what the state says is, in fact, mandated? 15 SENATOR RATH: If local 16 governments fail to comply now, the 17 circumstance that you outlined, of course, 18 would click into place, but I think, Senator, 19 you're talking about something that is coming 20 into a -- we have a microcosm here and we have 21 a macro picture also and the macro is the 22 governance -- the governance of the 23 communities in the state of New York. 24 There's a bill that I propose 25 -- it won't happen this year, but I'm hopeful 1 to be here next year so we can talk about the 2 larger picture of governance because what's 3 happened is that we have micromanaged so many 4 times, so a council will advise us. We're 5 talking about what's going to happen with the 6 future of revenue sharing. That council -- we 7 passed on that last year. That council is 8 operating now. As you know, we've met three 9 or four times this year to talk about the 10 future of revenue sharing. Local governments 11 are coming into a whole different place and 12 time than they were when they first served 13 this state of New York, and I think it serves 14 us well as a state government to bring a 15 review forward on a lot of levels. 16 Senator Oppenheimer's point 17 about the environmental issues was another 18 focus of the same question, where local 19 governments fit into the larger picture of 20 governance, regional governance, local 21 government and all the myriad of governance 22 and special districts that we have in this 23 state. 24 SENATOR WALDON: Would the 25 gentle lady from the area, I believe it's 1 Rochester, the great city and - 2 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 3 Senator Rath, do you continue to yield? 4 SENATOR RATH: Yeah, but 5 Buffalo, please. 6 SENATOR WALDON: I apologize. 7 A bigger, not necessarily a better, but a 8 bigger city, the city of Buffalo. Would she 9 yield to perhaps two more questions? 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 11 Senator yields, Senator Waldon. 12 SENATOR WALDON: Thank you, Mr. 13 President. 14 Senator, I apologize for the 15 faux pas. I would not move you so. It was 16 just a slip. 17 Was there any study done in 18 regard to what the cost of implementing this 19 measure would be over the next several years? 20 SENATOR RATH: Senator, I will 21 answer your question, but first of all, let me 22 set the record straight just so all my friends 23 in Buffalo don't say when did Mary Lou get 24 elected in the city. I represent the 25 districts north of the city of Buffalo. 1 People like to locate me in Rochester, which 2 is fine with my Rochester colleagues, I'm not 3 -- fine with me. I don't know if it's fine 4 with my Rochester colleagues, but my district 5 is north and east of the city of Buffalo. 6 No, there has not been a study 7 that has been done as to what kind of costs 8 there would be to comply with this piece of 9 legislation. It's an effort to help local 10 governments see some way that they can get 11 some redress for what they consider to have 12 been inequities. 13 SENATOR WALDON: Last question, 14 Senator. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 16 Senator Rath, one last question. Do you 17 yield? 18 SENATOR RATH: Surely. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 20 Senator yields. 21 SENATOR WALDON: Senator Rath, 22 I asked you a question earlier in regard to 23 the Minority Conference, was consideration 24 given to giving them an opportunity, us an 25 opportunity to participate in determining who 1 the people would be on the council on local 2 mandates and you said there was not. This 3 part of our legislative body known as the 4 Senate represents millions and millions of 5 people. Could you tell us if there is any 6 rationale for the exclusion of the Democratic 7 members in participating in that process? 8 SENATOR RATH: Senator, the 9 responsibility of government lying with the 10 Majority, I won't go -- I won't bore all of us 11 with that. Let me ask you if you would like 12 to send me a letter in relation to this, I 13 would consider something next year that would 14 add some people from the Minority. 15 SENATOR WALDON: On the bill, 16 Mr. President. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 18 Senator Waldon, on the bill. 19 SENATOR WALDON: I must most 20 respectfully disagree with the last statement 21 that my dear colleague from the environs of 22 Buffalo made that it is the responsibility of 23 the Majority to governance. It is the 24 responsibility of the Legislature, both Senate 25 and Assembly, all of the people there 1 represented, representative of their 2 respective communities and the Governor to 3 govern the state and with that I close, I 4 cannot support this bill for the reasons that 5 came out in the dialogue with the Senator, and 6 I would respectfully ask my colleagues to also 7 consider the arguments against this proposal 8 are valid and, therefore, we should not vote 9 aye in favor of it. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 11 Senator Leichter. 12 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yeah, Mr. 13 President. 14 Senator Rath, would you yield 15 for a question, please? 16 Senator, let me first say, I 17 was out of the chamber when this debate 18 started. So if this question has already been 19 asked and answered, just tell me and I'll 20 withdraw it, but what happens if a locality 21 determines that an enactment of the 22 Legislature or by some state agency imposes a 23 mandate upon them and takes the position we 24 will not carry out that mandate? It doesn't 25 make a complaint to the council. Just says 1 under Senator Rath's constitutional amendment, 2 this is illegal, not binding on us and we will 3 not take any action on it. What happens? 4 SENATOR RATH: It's the same 5 answer, Senator Leichter, as we mentioned 6 before when the same issue was raised. If 7 municipalities are not in compliance now, the 8 same circumstance would take effect as this 9 would be in -- if this law goes in. 10 SENATOR LEICHTER: Well, excuse 11 me, if you would be so good as to continue to 12 yield. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 14 Senator Rath, do you continue to yield? 15 SENATOR RATH: Surely. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 17 Senator yields. 18 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, 19 with all due respect, I have difficulty 20 accepting that answer because then under my 21 hypothesis, you now have a constitutional 22 amendment. You have a constitutional 23 amendment that says that no mandate may be 24 imposed and if it's a mandate that -- as 25 defined in your constitutional amendment, then 1 it's not binding. Now you have a totally 2 different situation. If a locality says this 3 is an unfunded mandate, the state can go to 4 court. We can compel them. There's things 5 that we can do, but that's not the case under 6 -- once this amendment is in effect. So it's 7 a totally different situation. 8 SENATOR RATH: Senator 9 Leichter, I think all of the exceptions as 10 they are outlined in the legislation address a 11 large portion of what you're talking about. 12 What we're talking about as far 13 as taking a municipality to court if they 14 don't comply, I don't think that -- to my 15 mind, that section does not change. Nothing 16 changes in that regard when you look at the 17 exceptions that are outlined as well as a 18 council that would be constituted to take into 19 consideration problems that might occur as 20 this were going along. 21 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. 22 President, if Senator Rath will be so good as 23 to continue to yield. 24 SENATOR RATH: Surely. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 1 Senator yields. 2 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, 3 would you direct our attention to any 4 provision in this constitutional amendment 5 which says that a locality has to avail itself 6 of this council? I don't see anything that 7 says that they need compliance with it. As I 8 read this, they have the right just to treat 9 it as an unfunded mandate and not to proceed 10 to carry out those provisions of legislation 11 or of regulation. 12 SENATOR RATH: I would think, 13 Senator, that the council would be a place of 14 relief that localities would look to. 15 Recalling the days of 15 -- 10, 15 years ago 16 in the welfare -- what we considered in local 17 government as unfunded mandates from the state 18 of New York, we would have welcomed a forum, 19 partisan or non-partisan, Senate and Assembly 20 combined, anywhere where our issues could be 21 picked up and heard by people who have 22 responsibility for the vote. 23 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. 24 President, if Senator Rath will continue to 25 yield. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 2 Senator, do you continue to yield? The 3 Senator yields. 4 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, why 5 didn't you provide in this constitutional 6 amendment that any locality which considers an 7 enactment to be an unfunded mandate has to 8 file a complaint with this council? As this 9 bill reads, it could just totally ignore what 10 it considers to be an unfunded mandate. 11 SENATOR RATH: Well, I believe 12 that the Attorney General, if they are not in 13 compliance, would be able to take them to 14 court and that's the way it is now. 15 So I think that the council 16 that we're talking about would sort through on 17 the practical level, which is what we're 18 talking about, as a local -- as local 19 governments find themselves the subject of 20 unfunded mandates. 21 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, if 22 you'll continue to yield. Isn't it true that 23 if you look at your constitutional amendment, 24 the council can only act to resolve a 25 complaint by an aggrieved political 1 subdivision? So if a political subdivision 2 says, this is an unfunded mandate, there's no 3 requirement, as you admit, that it goes to the 4 council. The council has no authority to act 5 unless there's a complaint before it. 6 SENATOR RATH: Well - 7 SENATOR LEICHTER: What happens 8 then? 9 SENATOR RATH: Well, Senator, 10 right now the municipalities have a 11 responsibility to those unfunded mandates and 12 if there is a mechanism in place for a redress 13 for them, they will at least have a mechanism, 14 to reuse that word, to see if it is an 15 unfunded mandate in a place that is a viable 16 council that will have access to the 17 government. 18 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. 19 President, again, if Senator Rath is good 20 enough to yield. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 22 Senator Rath, do you continue to yield? 23 SENATOR RATH: Surely. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 25 Senator yields. 1 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, 2 isn't there a big difference, but now there's 3 no constitutional provision as to unfunded 4 mandates. If a locality fails to comply with 5 a requirement of law that's enacted by the 6 Legislature and signed into law by the 7 Governor or by a duly adopted regulation, it 8 goes to court, the court can compel it to act 9 in accordance with the law or the regulation. 10 That would not be the case if your amendment 11 were adopted. Isn't that so? 12 SENATOR RATH: No, I think it's 13 just the reverse, Senator. Frankly, I think 14 as a champion of local governments, which is 15 what I feel one of my roles is in Albany as 16 chairman of the Local Government Committee, 17 that this gives the local governments a place 18 to go if they are saying this is an unfunded 19 mandate. It gives some definition to what you 20 see as an unfunded mandate. 21 SENATOR LEICHTER: Well, 22 Senator, just -- maybe this is repetitive and 23 I'll make it the last question. If that's 24 what you wanted to do, why didn't you put in 25 your amendment that the locality, if it wishes 1 to challenge a mandate, if it says this is an 2 unfunded mandate, that it has to go to this 3 council? You don't require that. 4 SENATOR RATH: This is an 5 optional piece -- unfunded making compliance 6 with unfunded mandates optional. 7 SENATOR LEICHTER: Well, Mr. 8 President, on the bill. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 10 Senator Leichter, on the bill. 11 SENATOR LEICHTER: On the 12 resolution. Let me just say first of all 13 dealing maybe more with the contents of this 14 particular provision just from whether it 15 works or doesn't work, it just seems to me 16 that if the intent of Senator Rath was to 17 provide a mechanism to resolve issues as to 18 whether something is an unfunded mandate or 19 not and you set up a council, that at least 20 the constitutional amendment ought to provide 21 that the locality has to go to the -- to the 22 council. 23 I could see a situation where a 24 locality will say, well, I don't like what's 25 going to happen in the council. Let's not go 1 to the council. Let's not do it and it then 2 comes to the court in a totally different 3 posture than it would if the locality had 4 filed a complaint, the council had acted 5 against or determined in opposition to the 6 complaint of the locality because then it 7 comes, as I read it, to the court in the 8 posture of an Article 78 where you would have 9 to prove that the decision of the council was 10 arbitrary and capricious. 11 I don't want to spend too much 12 time on that because I would be against - 13 against your amendment even if it provided for 14 that mechanism, if it actually compelled the 15 locality to go to the council. I just want to 16 point out that I think as you've written it, 17 this is really not very workable. 18 But I want to address the 19 broader issue, and that is that we're one 20 state. We've all come together as a state, 21 all of the municipalities. I think somebody 22 once told me there's almost 1,000 local 23 governments in the state of New York and we've 24 all come together as localities and we're part 25 of one state and we send our representatives 1 up here to Albany and sometimes they do things 2 that the localities like and sometimes they do 3 things that they don't like, but we're trying 4 to legislate for one state and to say that you 5 cannot impose unfunded mandates would so 6 cripple the ability of state government to 7 function on behalf of all the people of the 8 state that you might just as well disband the 9 Legislature, and we had an example of that 10 just a few minutes before your bill came 11 before us, Senator Rath, when there was a bill 12 by Senator Saland that everybody pointed out 13 was clearly an unfunded mandate. We have 14 hundreds of unfunded mandates each year, most 15 of which are proposed by the Majority and most 16 of which carry out your vision of what should 17 happen throughout the state of New York. 18 Now, state government does 19 provide a great deal of money for localities. 20 We divide it up in different ways. Some 21 localities may benefit more than others but 22 that's also part of the role that we have. 23 That's part of being one state and if in point 24 of fact you had a provision such as yours in 25 the Constitution, we could not serve the 1 interests of the people of the state of New 2 York. It would be a gross error, and I just 3 say maybe repetitively, but it ought to be 4 observed, all of the bills that you people 5 have proposed with unfunded mandates. 6 Obviously, Senator Rath - 7 because I know you to be a person of 8 particular integrity and principle -- you 9 wouldn't put forward bills with an un... that 10 had an unfunded mandate or vote for bills that 11 had an unfunded mandate if you didn't in part 12 agree with me that we have a broader 13 responsibility here which at times requires us 14 to impose what you call unfunded mandates. 15 I'll be happy to yield. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 17 Senator Rath. 18 SENATOR RATH: Senator 19 Leichter, I couldn't agree with you more, that 20 we have a broader responsibility, but I think 21 when we examine that broader responsibility as 22 a state, that competes not from one region of 23 the state to another region of the state. We 24 compete somewhat, of course, with our 25 surrounding states, but as the economy has 1 become a global economy, I think we need the 2 flexibility in order to be able to make and 3 help the regions of New York State grow to 4 their full potential and, frankly, some of the 5 unfunded mandates that have been imposed on 6 the localities through the years have made 7 that very difficult. 8 This is a small step forward to 9 provide a focus and a parameter for getting 10 our hands around unfunded mandates. 11 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator 12 Rath, in answer to what you've said, your 13 argument really is against your bill because 14 it's precisely -- because we're competing in a 15 global economy that we can't hamstring 16 ourselves to the extent of saying, well, if 17 there's an unfunded mandate in this -- for 18 instance, if we require localities throughout 19 the state to do something which is going to 20 make the whole state more economically viable 21 and it may impose some requirements on a 22 locality, to say that we can't do it because 23 it's not going to put an unfunded mandate on 24 the locality. Competitiveness in this state 25 depends on our acting as an entity for the 1 entire state and you're really hindering that 2 competitiveness. 3 I mean, I think it's something 4 that, you know, has a lot of appeal and I know 5 you go through communities throughout New York 6 State and I'm sure in my own city of New York 7 and my district and you say, Hey, they 8 shouldn't impose something on us that we don't 9 want to do, but that's what it means being 10 part of a greater entity is that it may happen 11 that there are -- for the common good, you 12 will have to bear some burden and if you're 13 unwilling do that, we can't function as a 14 state and not only in the area of education, 15 not only in the area of the environment, but 16 in so many different ways in transportation. 17 You could even have a problem insofar as the 18 enforcement of criminal laws are concerned. 19 Can somebody argue that you are 20 imposing a mandate on a locality when you ask 21 it to enforce the death penalty? Doesn't that 22 mean that it's now going to have costs that 23 are going to be greater than $20,000? I could 24 see a locality saying, well, this is an 25 unfunded mandate. We couldn't function. We 1 would be incapable of carrying out the duties 2 and the responsibilities that we have. 3 Maybe it's good political 4 fodder and I don't mean to say you're doing 5 this politically because I know that you 6 sincerely believe this, but I think that when 7 you look at it and you examine it, not only 8 because of some of what I see are some flaws 9 in the process that you've set up in this 10 bill, but the broader concept that you want to 11 handcuff this state government to this extent, 12 we would no longer be able to function as a 13 state. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: On the 15 resolution, the Secretary will call the roll. 16 (The Secretary called the 17 roll.) 18 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded 19 in the negative on Calendar Number 1315 are 20 Senators Connor, Lachman, LaValle, Leibell, 21 Leichter, Markowitz, Montgomery, Paterson, 22 Waldon. Also Senator Sampson, also Senator 23 Santiago, also Senator Seabrook. Ayes 44, 24 nays 12. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 1 resolution is adopted. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 1321, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 4 5338, an act to amend the Public Health Law, 5 in relation to pharmaceutical and optical 6 services. 7 SENATOR DOLLINGER: 8 Explanation. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 10 Senator DeFrancisco, an explanation has been 11 requested of Calendar 1321 by Senator 12 Dollinger. 13 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: By the 14 Health Care Reform Act of 1996, there was a 15 patient assessment that was enacted in order 16 to provide a fund for public good, the public 17 goods pool and one of those -- the area that 18 was hit was basically diagnostic and treatment 19 centers would have this 8.18 percent 20 assessment. 21 Some of the services provided 22 by such centers are pharmaceutical and 23 optometry services. If those services were 24 not provided -- if they're provided elsewhere 25 other than diagnostic centers and when it's 1 provided elsewhere -- when these services are 2 provided elsewhere, there is no 8.18 percent 3 assessment. 4 So the intent of this bill is 5 really to treat diagnostic centers such as 6 this exactly the way people dispensing 7 optometry and pharmaceutical services are 8 treated when they're not part of a diagnostic 9 center; in other words, treat them the same 10 way and that's the intent of the bill, to 11 eliminate the 8.18 percent assessment on these 12 type of centers for these type of services, 13 pharmaceutical and optometry. 14 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 15 President, just a couple quick questions for 16 Senator DeFrancisco, if I can. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 18 Senator DeFrancisco, do you yield for a 19 question? 20 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 22 Senator yields. 23 SENATOR DOLLINGER: What are 24 the anticipated fiscal implications? I know 25 your memo says that there are none to the 1 state, but obviously if we're going to lose 2 some of that money, it would go into the bad 3 debt and charity care pool. 4 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I 5 anticipated that question and I can candidly 6 say I have no answer, but I do know that if 7 there has to be a backfill into this fund, it 8 would have to come from the general revenues 9 and my thought would be that that's fair to 10 treat these types of delivery of services the 11 same whether it's in a diagnostic center or 12 elsewhere and that if we have to pull some 13 money out of the general fund, we should do 14 so. 15 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Again 16 through you, Mr. President. I understand that 17 the intent of the bill is to create a parity 18 between the D and T centers and those 19 community optical services or retail 20 pharmacies that are doing this dispensing. 21 What about the other portion of the market 22 that occurs at other health care facilities? 23 This would seem to create what was probably a 24 lack of full extension of the assessment. 25 We're now going to make the exception bigger 1 and we're going to make the competitive 2 disadvantages of hospitals and community 3 health centers even greater. How do we deal 4 with that problem short of repealing the whole 5 thing? 6 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Well, 7 that's an excellent question and that's the 8 problem with the bill, and the problem with 9 the bill is that when you start, I think it's 10 putting the camel's nose under the tent -- I 11 could spell camel to emphasize it since today 12 is spelling day, but that's always a problem, 13 but I guess in balancing the respective 14 interests, I think in this case this is a 15 substantially unfair situation and at least 16 correct this part and hopefully the camel 17 won't knock down the tent. 18 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Thank you, 19 Mr. President. 20 Just briefly on the bill. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 22 Senator Dollinger, on the bill. 23 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I 24 appreciate Senator DeFrancisco's candid 25 explanation of it. I think he's absolutely 1 right. We have an exception that benefits one 2 party in this competitive health care 3 environment that we try to set up, we try to 4 balance it so that it would be fully 5 competitive so we would reward people who, for 6 their efficiency and ingenuity which is what 7 happens in perfectly balanced and perfectly 8 competitively marketplaces, we found a gap. 9 One person was able to take advantage of it. 10 Now what we're going to do is expand that gap 11 a little broader so that more people can take 12 advantage of it but not everyone, and I 13 appreciate Senator DeFrancisco's attempt to 14 try to restrike part of the competitive 15 balance. I think, unfortunately, that unless 16 you do it for all of the players in this 17 marketplace, we're just going to exacerbate 18 competitive advantages in what we thought was 19 a perfectly competitive system. 20 I also think that because we 21 don't know what the fiscal implication is and 22 how much it's going to cost, I certainly 23 understand what drives this bill but it seems 24 to me that there is a risk associated with it 25 in tilting the competitive forces out of whack 1 and frankly costing money that we don't 2 understand. 3 So I'll be voting in the 4 negative, Mr. President. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read 6 the last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 8 This act shall take effect immediately. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call 10 the roll. 11 (The Secretary called the 12 roll.) 13 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded 14 in the negative on Calendar Number 1321 are 15 Senators Dollinger and Leichter. Ayes 55, 16 nays 2. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 18 bill is passed. 19 Senator Padavan. 20 SENATOR PADAVAN: Mr. 21 President, may I be recorded in the negative 22 on Calendar Number 1295. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 24 Without objection, Senator Padavan will be 25 recorded in the negative on Calendar 1295. 1 The Secretary will read. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 1328, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 6495-A, an 4 act to amend the Real Property Tax Law, in 5 relation to state aid. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read 7 the last section. 8 SENATOR LEICHTER: Can we have 9 an explanation? 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 11 Senator Rath, an explanation has been 12 requested by Senator Leichter of Calendar 13 1328. 14 SENATOR RATH: In 1997 a bill 15 was enacted enabling assessing units to 16 qualify for state aid if a reval' at 100 17 percent of value is completed in '96. 18 However, we had a technical glitch in that 19 some assessing units were unable to qualify 20 because they revalued at less than 100 percent 21 before '97 -- the '97 bill was enacted and so 22 this is just requiring that reval's be at 100 23 percent of value. Once that law went in in 24 '96 because the effective date was 7/13/96, 25 which was after the filing of the 1996 1 assessment rolls, the assessing units had no 2 reason to reval' at 100 percent of value and 3 this is a technical amendment enabling them to 4 take advantage of this opportunity. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 6 Senator Dollinger. 7 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 8 President, would the sponsor yield to just a 9 couple quick questions? 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 11 Senator Rath, do you yield for a question? 12 SENATOR RATH: Sure. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 14 Senator yields. 15 SENATOR DOLLINGER: What towns 16 or communities reassessed will be the 17 beneficiary of the $80,000 benefit? 18 SENATOR RATH: If you'll let me 19 take a look through my file, I'll see if I 20 have those names here. This being a 21 departmental bill, we did not have the names 22 of the towns, but if you would like that 23 information, we can get that for you, Senator. 24 SENATOR DOLLINGER: If you 25 could. 1 SENATOR RATH: Sure. 2 SENATOR DOLLINGER: And the 3 second question is why does it have -- again 4 through you, Mr. President, if Senator Rath 5 will continue to yield. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 7 Senator Rath, do you continue to yield? 8 SENATOR RATH: Surely. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 10 Senator yields. 11 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Why does 12 the bill have to have been deemed to be in 13 full force and effect as of July 13th, 1996? 14 Why that somewhat unusual date? 15 SENATOR RATH: The law was 16 signed that date and so that was the date it 17 became effective. 18 SENATOR DOLLINGER: So it's 19 retroactive to the 1996 law. 20 Again through you, Mr. 21 President. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 23 Senator Rath, do you continue to yield? 24 SENATOR RATH: Surely. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 1 Senator yields. 2 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Just so I 3 make sure I understand it, this $80,000 will 4 allow communities that had revalued prior to 5 that law to be fully reimbursed as though they 6 had done it after the law, is that correct? 7 SENATOR RATH: That's correct. 8 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Okay. 9 Thank you very much, Senator Rath. The bill 10 is acceptable to me. I would be interested in 11 the communities that are affected by that 12 $80,000. 13 SENATOR RATH: We will get you 14 that information, Senator. 15 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Thank you. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 17 Senator Stachowski. 18 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Will 19 Senator Rath yield for one question, maybe 20 two? 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 22 Senator, do you yield? 23 SENATOR RATH: Yeah. Sorry, 24 Senator. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 1 Senator yields. 2 Senator Stachowski. 3 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Senator, 4 the only question I have, to be eligible for 5 these grants, what particular year's value, 6 market value do they have to use on the 7 properties being revalued? 8 SENATOR RATH: I'll take a look 9 in my folder and see if we have that 10 information. Wait a minute. That is not in 11 the bill that we are working with and I would 12 have to take a little closer, deeper look 13 here. It appears that the values that are on 14 the assessment roll at the time of the reval' 15 are what they would use. It would not be that 16 it was any particular level of assessment, if 17 that's what you're aiming to get to. 18 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Mr. 19 President, if Senator Rath will continue to 20 yield. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 22 Senator, do you continue to yield? 23 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Actually I 24 was more interested, I know that certain 25 communities use 1990-whatever assessment 1 values while some other use 1960-something 2 values still today and some others use 1940 or 3 1930-something values on their assessment. I 4 was just wondering if to qualify for these 5 grants you had to be at least in the '90s? 6 SENATOR RATH: No, it did not 7 -- that wasn't part of it. It was just for 8 the assessment units that were working toward 9 a reval' at 100 percent of value completed in 10 1996. 11 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Mr. 12 President, one last question. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 14 Senator, do you continue to yield for a 15 question? 16 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: So if 17 somebody did a revaluation based on 1967 18 values or 1937 values, as long as that's the 19 assessment rolls they're using, then they 20 would qualify. 21 SENATOR RATH: Going up to 100 22 percent, right, and this is the same bill that 23 we did last year and was signed into law. 24 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Thank you. 25 SENATOR RATH: This just 1 enables others who were excluded in last 2 year's bill to be in it this year. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read 4 the last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 6 This act shall take effect immediately. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call 8 the roll. 9 (The Secretary called the 10 roll.) 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 13 bill is passed. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 1334, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 7101, 16 an act to amend the Transportation Law, in 17 relation to the regulation. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read 19 the last section. 20 SENATOR LEICHTER: Explanation. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 22 Senator Johnson, an explanation has been 23 requested by Senator Leichter of Calendar 24 1334. 25 SENATOR JOHNSON: Mr. 1 President, this is going to amend the 2 Transportation Law to bring it into conformity 3 with federal law that preempts the states from 4 regulating rates, routes of services of 5 freight carriers except residential household 6 goods movers. 7 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. 8 President, would Senator Johnson yield to a 9 question? 10 SENATOR JOHNSON: Yes. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 12 Senator Johnson, do you yield? 13 SENATOR JOHNSON: Yes. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 15 Senator yields. 16 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, are 17 all these provisions in here required by 18 federal law? 19 SENATOR JOHNSON: That's 20 correct. 21 SENATOR LEICHTER: Thank you. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Read 23 the last section. 24 THE SECRETARY: Section 17. 25 This act shall take effect immediately. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call 2 the roll. 3 (The Secretary called the 4 roll.) 5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 7 bill is passed. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 9 Senator Seabrook. 10 SENATOR SEABROOK: Yes, Mr. 11 President. I would like to request unanimous 12 consent to vote in the negative on Calendar 13 Number 996. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 15 Without objection, Senator Seabrook will be 16 recorded in the negative on Calendar Number 17 996. 18 The Secretary will read. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 1340, by Senator Nozzolio, Senate Print 7415, 21 an act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to 22 corporate acquisitions. 23 SENATOR LEICHTER: Explanation. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 25 Senator Nozzolio, an explanation has been 1 requested by Senator Leichter of Calendar 2 1340. 3 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Thank you, 4 Mr. President. I would be glad to explain the 5 measure. 6 This bill terminates carry - 7 this bill repeals provisions of the Tax Law 8 which have terminated loss carry-forwards of 9 the investment tax credit and employment 10 incentive credit provisions, that those 11 measures will be repealed for those 12 corporations that are acquired by another 13 corporation. Unfortunately because of some 14 glitch or oversight, a combination, that those 15 corporations that were the subjects of 16 takeovers were not allowed to carry forward 17 those credits that I have mentioned. 18 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. 19 President, would Senator Nozzolio yield, 20 please? 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 22 Senator, do you yield for a question? 23 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Yes, Mr. 24 President. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 1 sponsor yields. 2 Senator Leichter. 3 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, 4 isn't it a fact that the reason that the law 5 reads as it does presently is that we're 6 trying to protect New York companies from 7 takeovers? There was no oversight. Isn't 8 this provision in the law which you're 9 repealing a protection for New York 10 companies? 11 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Mr. 12 President, I don't believe this protects 13 anybody, that it doesn't certainly protect 14 jobs. It doesn't do anything but stifle 15 commerce and initiative, that it makes New 16 York corporations less attractive to 17 corporations who may wish to expand in New 18 York State, in effect, I think has the 19 opposite effect of what Senator Leichter's 20 commentary exhibits. 21 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. 22 President, if Senator Nozzolio would be good 23 enough to continue to yield. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 25 Senator, do you continue to yield? 1 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Yes, Mr. 2 President. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 4 Senator Nozzolio yields. 5 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, 6 isn't it a fact that we've had many instances 7 where corporations in this state have been 8 acquired and then have seen a reduction in 9 employment in many instances, we've seen the 10 whole corporation moved out of the state. 11 Isn't that a fact? 12 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Mr. 13 President, it is a fact, as I see it, that 14 corporations have been taken over, have been 15 the beneficiaries of that takeover where jobs 16 have expanded in New York State. 17 I have also seen corporations 18 that haven't been taken over leaving New York 19 State because of our oppressive tax structure 20 and frankly, this is just another incentive 21 for a corporation to say, no, let's not do 22 business here in New York. Let's leave this 23 state so we may be more attractive for 24 business ventures and opportunities in the 25 future. 1 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. 2 President, if Senator Nozzolio would continue 3 to yield. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: 5 Senator, do you continue to yield? 6 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Yes, Mr. 7 President. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 9 Senator yields. 10 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator 11 Nozzolio, isn't it a fact that presently these 12 corporations that are being taken over, 13 they're doing business in New York State and 14 all you're doing is inducing or enticing, if 15 you will, for foreign corporations to come in 16 and buy New York corporations. Isn't that 17 what you're trying to do? 18 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Mr. 19 President, I don't believe I understood 20 Senator Leichter's question. 21 SENATOR LEICHTER: Well, right 22 now, Senator - 23 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: It's 24 confusing and convoluted and frankly, I would 25 ask him if he's going to ask me for a direct 1 response, I would ask for a direct question. 2 Would you repeat it, Senator? 3 SENATOR LEICHTER: I would be 4 happy to. 5 Senator, your bill applies to 6 corporations that are now doing business in 7 the state of New York. So it's not a matter 8 of trying to save corporations in the state of 9 New York. You have a corporation in the state 10 of New York that's doing business that has 11 received a tax benefit from the state of New 12 York. To protect that corporation and to 13 protect corporations in New York State 14 generally, we do not allow a purchaser of a 15 New York corporation, an out of state purchase 16 of a New York corporation to receive tax 17 benefits that we gave to a New York 18 corporation. 19 So my question to you, very 20 bluntly, is, aren't you by repealing the 21 protection that now exists in law making it 22 attractive for foreign corporations, maybe 23 Japanese corporations or California 24 corporations but certainly not New York 25 corporations to come and purchase New York 1 corporations? 2 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Mr. 3 President, I'll try to respond to that 4 statement that attempts to be a question. 5 Franz, it never ceases to amaze 6 me and we have -- I have -- I won't say I have 7 enjoyed these colloquies over the years but it 8 certainly has been a stimulating exercise 9 whenever I'm questioned by you and it never 10 ceases to amaze me how you never see the 11 forest through the trees. In terms of 12 philosophy, I know you are meaning -- you're 13 well meaning, but frankly what this measure 14 has done is said to New York corporations, you 15 provide -- you are less attractive to 16 takeover, yes, but it's also less attractive 17 for you to do business in New York State as a 18 corporation, that you would be much better off 19 as you're looking for those additional sources 20 of capital, potential mergers, potential 21 acquisitions, if you will, if you were not a 22 New York corporation. That, in fact, says to 23 New York corporations that here in this case 24 the same loss carry-forwards that were allowed 25 for those New York corporations are not going 1 to be allowed for those corporations that come 2 in and infuse capital and infuse potential 3 increases in job production in New York. 4 What we're saying is New York 5 companies are not to be looked to for the 6 infusions of capital, additional sources of 7 revenue -- enterprise, that the rest of the 8 nation is exhibiting and enjoying them. 9 Franz, I note what you're well 10 intended to do and I compliment you on your 11 intention, which is to ensure the continued 12 integrity of New York corporations and maybe 13 at the time that these provisions were 14 enacted, it made sense. Maybe it did, maybe 15 it didn't, but the fact of the matter, I don't 16 disagree with the fact that those intentions 17 were to help jobs in this state. 18 What has happened, though - 19 what has happened now is that because these 20 provisions are not available to acquiring 21 companies, that the current company has one of 22 two decisions. It could decide to leave so it 23 could, in effect -- because it is a less 24 attractive entity, or that the acquiring 25 corporation would, in fact, say, well, maybe 1 this isn't such a good company to buy. Maybe 2 this isn't such a good company to spend our 3 capital with. 4 So from that standpoint, Franz, 5 I think that certainly this may have prevented 6 mergers in the past and acquisitions in the 7 past. I don't think that was all necessarily 8 good for the future of our business 9 opportunity and enterprise in this state, and 10 frankly I think that needs to be changed. 11 That's why we put the bill before us. 12 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. 13 President, if Senator Nozzolio would continue 14 to yield. 15 Senator, I - 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 17 Excuse me, Senator. 18 Senator Nozzolio, do you 19 continue to yield? 20 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Yes, Mr. 21 President. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 23 He continues to yield, Senator. 24 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, one 25 of the -- if you take a look at what's been 1 happening in the state, that more often than 2 not, when a New York corporation is acquired, 3 there's a reduction in the work force or, in 4 fact, there's a total elimination of the work 5 force. 6 Now, it's true that in some 7 instances maybe you can bring in a large 8 corporation that buys a New York corporation 9 and then actually increases business in New 10 York, but isn't there a simple way of dealing 11 with it and providing in your bill that the 12 investment tax credit will be permitted to be 13 carried over as long as the business continues 14 to be located in New York and there's no 15 decrease in the number of employees? Why not 16 put that provision in your bill, Senator? 17 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Well, by 18 definition, Senator, having these loss carry 19 forwards would ensure the future business in 20 New York State for those years. I think that 21 it would be another signal to business that 22 the Legislature and the state government are 23 trying to micromanage what they're going to do 24 and as such say that warning lights to 25 corporate executives making these decisions 1 are that we can't trust government, that New 2 York is -- has too many strings attached to 3 everything that's provided and that frankly 4 we'll spend our money elsewhere. 5 I should also say, Franz, just 6 because a company comes in and acquires a New 7 York corporation, you look at it as a totally 8 negative situation. In many cases there are 9 in this state where that has occurred and it 10 saved that company. It saved the company 11 operating in New York State. It actually 12 served to expand jobs in New York State and 13 that that's really what we're looking at here, 14 that as we continue to revise our tax code, 15 bring our taxes down, we should get rid of 16 these onerous provisions that serve only to 17 deter investment in New York State companies. 18 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator 19 Nozzolio, one final question to you. If your 20 intent -- if your intent is to protect New 21 York jobs and if you're dealing with a 22 situation where that foreign company, Japanese 23 company to take an example buying a New York 24 corporation is going to increase jobs in New 25 York, why not say that that tax credit, that 1 benefit that we gave to New York -- a New York 2 company will continue to be valid and maybe 3 carried forward only if you maintain the 4 jobs? What's unfair about that? Why should 5 we give tax benefits to companies that come 6 in, buy a New York company, get the benefit 7 and then move the jobs out? 8 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. 9 President, I will answer that by saying that 10 those job -- those associations in this state 11 which are dedicated to the promotion of New 12 York and the promotion of business and jobs in 13 this state, most notably the Business Council, 14 the New York Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 15 both support this legislation wholeheartedly, 16 that it affects jobs upstate and downstate and 17 as such I think it's a measure that should be 18 enacted. 19 SENATOR LEICHTER: Good. Thank 20 you, Senator Nozzolio. 21 Let me just say, I mean, this 22 is a pretty simple bill. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 24 Senator Leichter, on the bill. 25 SENATOR LEICHTER: On the 1 bill. Thank you, Mr. President. 2 We now give tax benefits known 3 as an investment tax credit. That goes to 4 companies that spend monies on capital 5 improvements here in the state of New York. 6 To make this available solely to the state of 7 New York companies and to provide protection 8 from New York companies against hostile 9 takeovers, we say that that investment tax 10 credit cannot be enjoyed by another company 11 that comes out of the state and buys the New 12 York company and we do that because we want to 13 protect the New York company because 14 experience has shown that very often when the 15 New York companies are acquired by an out of 16 state company, by a foreign company, that 17 there's a reduction in jobs. There no longer 18 is that nexus. There is not that attachment 19 to the state of New York. There's a reduction 20 in jobs. Very often the whole company has 21 moved out of the state. As I understand the 22 law, you could move the company out of the 23 state and you still would be able to take the 24 investment tax credit. So we have this 25 protection for New York companies and Senator 1 Nozzolio eliminates that protection. 2 Now, he says, well, there's 3 some instances where a foreign company comes, 4 buys a New York company and increases jobs, 5 and I said, well, in that case, why not tailor 6 your bill to that situation? In that case 7 we'll say to the foreign company, if you come 8 to New York and you keep the jobs here or you 9 increase the jobs, you can have the benefit of 10 that tax incentive that we gave to New York 11 corporations. It certainly makes perfectly 12 good sense. 13 If you're trying to preserve 14 jobs in New York, if you're trying to protect 15 New York companies, you can't conceivably be 16 for this bill and you can't go back then and 17 say, I'm trying to better the business climate 18 in New York. You're bettering the business 19 climate for Japanese corporations, for other 20 corporations out of the state that want to 21 capture New York corporations and New York tax 22 benefits. Why would we do that? It doesn't 23 make sense. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 25 Senator Dollinger. 1 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Thank you, 2 Mr. President. 3 I have listened to this debate 4 because this is an issue I wasn't familiar 5 with before we walked into the chamber, but I 6 agree, I guess -- I understand the position 7 articulated by Senator Leichter, but it seems 8 to me that what you're doing in this bill, at 9 least as best I understand it, is to encourage 10 the use of the investment tax credit in New 11 York because if you have a corporation, a New 12 York corporation that makes the investment and 13 gets the investment tax credit, they built 14 jobs, built factories, done other things to 15 establish a presence in New York. The 16 carry-forward of the investment tax credit 17 becomes an asset on the corporate balance 18 sheet. A parent thinking about buying it and 19 perhaps buying it to continue the investment 20 looks at the balance sheet and says there's an 21 asset on there in the form of the 22 carry-forward of the investment tax credit. 23 It makes the New York corporation more 24 valuable and it seems to me that that can only 25 help a New York corporation if they're looking 1 for capital, looking for an inquisitive parent 2 to come in and assist. 3 I would support an amendment 4 that required the corporation to stay here for 5 a longer period of time, but I think the mere 6 fact that this bill, as I understand the 7 language of this section of the tax code, it 8 doesn't differentiate between the hostile 9 takeover and merely the acquiring parent that 10 wants to come in and perhaps make a continued 11 investment in New York. 12 So I look as it as a close 13 question. I clearly see the risk that a 14 parent will suck out the investment tax credit 15 and leave liabilities or leave unemployed 16 people here in New York, but I also see that 17 there's the same possibility that an acquiring 18 parent would look at the balance sheet, say 19 here's a company that has carry-forward 20 investment tax credits that we can use, save 21 money, make a further investment in New York 22 and increase our presence there because 23 they're able to -- the acquiring parent is 24 able to use the investment tax credit as an 25 asset on the balance sheet making the New York 1 corporation more valuable. 2 I agree it's a close question. 3 I would support an amendment that does what 4 you want to do to restrict it, to keep the 5 corporation here, but I think the general idea 6 of allowing the investment tax credit to be 7 carried forward should be encouraged whether 8 it's an out of state foreign corporation or a 9 domestic corporation. 10 The other easy way to do it 11 from my perspective is if I were a company 12 faced with the situation that Senator Nozzolio 13 talks about, I would simply whip together a 14 quick New York subsidiary and have the New 15 York subsidiary acquire the corporation, carry 16 the investment tax credits forward that way 17 and then you get the same benefits. 18 So I think it's a bill that may 19 have mixed results in the marketplace, but I'm 20 not so sure it's bad in and of itself that we 21 allow an acquiring corporation to carry 22 forward investment tax credits which may, in 23 some cases, even in corporations that have 24 limited resources and may be on the down side, 25 it -- maybe their only significant asset is 1 the ability to recognize an investment tax 2 credit carry-forward at some time in the 3 future. 4 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. 5 President. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 7 Senator Leichter. 8 SENATOR LEICHTER: If Senator 9 Dollinger would yield. 10 Senator, will you yield? 11 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Yes, I 12 will. 13 SENATOR LEICHTER: Okay. Do 14 you not agree that as this bill is drafted, 15 that investment tax credit could be acquired 16 along with the acquisition of a New York 17 corporation and then the number of employees 18 could be decreased or the number of employees 19 could be totally eliminated and the general 20 belief is -- and I ask you sort of as a second 21 part of my question -- aren't we generally 22 better off if we have a New York corporation, 23 a New York ownership, a corporation where the 24 management has a history of being part of its 25 community? 1 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Mr. 2 President, in response to that, I agree that 3 an amendment that would suggest that it be a 4 New York corporation, that is, the actual 5 acquiring corporation, would perhaps give a 6 greater chance, create a greater chance that 7 the corporation would have a continuing 8 linkage or a nexus with New York State but 9 that isn't even necessarily true because you 10 could have a situation where the corporation 11 is a New York corporation, makes the 12 acquisition, takes the investment tax credits 13 and then six months later beats a path to 14 North Carolina or South Carolina. 15 So I would support an amendment 16 that does the kinds of things you talk about, 17 but at the same time, I think the notion that 18 the acquiring parent gets to use the 19 investment tax credit carry-forward is not 20 necessarily a bad idea because, remember, the 21 reason why it's there is because someone went 22 out and made an investment in jobs, plants and 23 equipment here in New York State, and I think 24 -- I believe it's a seven-year carry-forward 25 for the investment tax credit or a five-year 1 carry-forward -- it means that the to be 2 acquired corporation has already made an 3 investment in New York. It's probably a 4 better or more likely than not that the 5 acquiring parent won't walk away from that new 6 investment. 7 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. 8 President. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 10 Senator Leichter. 11 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes. With 12 my apologies to Senator Nozzolio, I realized 13 there was one question I forgot to ask him, if 14 you would be good enough to yield, Senator. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 16 Senator Nozzolio, do you yield for a last 17 question? 18 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Yes. 19 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator - 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 21 He yields, Senator. 22 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Thank you, 23 Mr. President. 24 I can't remember if I should or 25 not in this case, maybe. This is his last 1 question? 2 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, why 3 is this bill retroactive to January 1, 1997? 4 Are we trying to benefit a particular 5 corporation? Is there a special takeover that 6 you have in mind that you want to benefit the 7 acquiring corporation? 8 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: There are, I 9 believe three or four companies that have been 10 recently acquired in New York State that would 11 benefit from this provision. 12 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. 13 President, Senator Nozzolio, could you tell us 14 which of these corporations are? 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 16 Senator, do you continue to yield? 17 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: I thought 18 that was the last question, Senator. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 20 Apparently he has one more, Senator. 21 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: The -- I'm 22 informed that the -- there is a company called 23 the International Imaging Materials, Inc., 24 with over 750 employees in Amherst, New York, 25 Gould's Pumps, which has been acquired by ITT 1 Industries, Inc. in Central New York, Dresser 2 Industries in -- with manufacturing plants in 3 Painted Post, Olean and Wellsville and General 4 Motors Delco Chassis Motor and Actuator 5 Operations headquartered in Rochester. 6 SENATOR LEICHTER: Good. Thank 7 you, Senator Nozzolio. You're forthcoming as 8 always. 9 I just want to point out to my 10 colleagues, whatever the merits of the 11 arguments were beforehand -- and I don't 12 disagree with Senator Dollinger's point which 13 really isn't that different from mine which is 14 if you want to put in some protection for - 15 to keep jobs in New York, I would have no 16 difficulty in voting for this, but now it's a 17 totally different kettle of fish. We're 18 giving a benefit to corporations that have 19 already made the acquisition. 20 So if the argument is, Hey, we 21 want to do this to be more competitive, to try 22 to bring in capital, this has already 23 happened. This is a retroactive benefit and 24 gift that we're giving certain corporations. 25 I don't know where they were from. They were 1 out of the state of New York. It would be 2 interesting to know, maybe Senator Nozzolio 3 can tell us if he does, whether any of these 4 corporations have decreased the number of jobs 5 that they have in New York after acquiring the 6 New York corporation, but why in God's name 7 would you throw away taxpayers' money by 8 giving a tax benefit to these corporations? I 9 mean, that really -- it's the worst sort of 10 special interest legislation. Whether or not 11 we should do this -- and I think as it's 12 written you shouldn't do this bill but you 13 certainly shouldn't do it if it's retroactive. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 15 Read the last section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. 17 This act shall take effect immediately. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 19 Call the roll. 20 (The Secretary called the 21 roll.) 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 56, nays 23 1, Senator Leichter recorded in the negative. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 25 The bill is passed with one negative vote. 1 Sorry, Senator Montgomery. Why 2 do you rise? 3 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: I'm rising 4 to vote in the negative with Senator Leichter 5 on that bill that just passed. Am I too 6 late? 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 8 Since the bill was just marked passed, 9 Senator, would you make a request for 10 unanimous consent. 11 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Mr. 12 President, I request to be recorded in the 13 negative on Calendar 13... 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 15 ...40, I believe it is. 16 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: ...40. 17 Thank you. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 19 Without objection, so ordered. 20 The Secretary will read. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 1349, by Senator Stafford, Senate Print 7622, 23 an act to amend Chapter 814 of the Laws of 24 1987, amending the State Finance Law. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 1 Read the last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 9. 3 This act shall take effect January 1. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 5 Call the roll. 6 (The Secretary called the 7 roll.) 8 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: 9 Explanation. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 11 Excuse me, Senator Leichter. 12 Senator, I'm sorry. I could 13 not hear it. 14 SENATOR LEICHTER: Can we have 15 an explanation. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 17 Senator Stafford, Senator Leichter is 18 requesting an explanation. 19 SENATOR STAFFORD: By all 20 means. 21 Mr. President, this bill makes 22 permanent the New York State Governmental 23 Accountability Audit and Internal Control Act 24 which we passed in 1987. It's been temporary. 25 I can go into many, many 1 details but let me try to summarize it. 2 Effective January 1, '99, the following would 3 be permanent. It amends the (inaudible) to 4 make act's -- make the act's definition of 5 internal control. They'll be consistent with 6 the (inaudible) and with that included in 7 generally accepted auditing standards. 8 Now, what that is, you know, 9 you put out a statement and you, in effect, 10 say the state has been audited and within the 11 principles of accounting, here's what we 12 found. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 14 Senator Stafford, with due respect, the 15 stenographer is having difficulty picking up 16 the sound of your voice. 17 SENATOR STAFFORD: Sorry. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 19 Thank you. 20 SENATOR STAFFORD: Want me to 21 start over? 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 23 Yes, please, Senator. 24 SENATOR STAFFORD: All right. 25 Somebody said, Oh, no. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 2 I'm sure Senator Leichter couldn't hear it, 3 so - 4 SENATOR STAFFORD: Right. But 5 he knows the bill already. Anybody who has 6 been educated on the Charles knows accounting 7 much better than I do. 8 Now, it also amends the Finance 9 Law that updates the state comptroller's 10 responsibilities by specifically authorizing 11 the comptroller to issue internal control 12 audit standards. 13 I'm not making light here, but 14 I'm going to mention this, and I'll bet 15 Senator Leichter knows this. This says state 16 comptroller. Is Carl McCall the comptroller 17 or the comptroller? That's in the 18 Constitution, comptroller? 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 20 Senator, are you addressing the Chair because 21 I'm sure I don't know. 22 SENATOR STAFFORD: Right, 23 comptroller, but we know exactly what we're 24 talking about. We're talking about the office 25 that is held now by Carl McCall. It was held 1 before by Ned Regan and before that by Colonel 2 Levitt and before that Frank Moore and before 3 that J. Raymond McGovern. 4 It also amends the Executive - 5 Executive Law and the Public Authorities Law 6 to update the definitions of internal controls 7 related to the responsibilities of the state 8 agencies. 9 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. 10 President, excuse me for interrupting, 11 Senator. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 13 Senator Leichter, why do you rise? 14 SENATOR LEICHTER: If you would 15 yield to a question, that may make your 16 explanation briefer. 17 SENATOR STAFFORD: Always will 18 yield. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 20 The Senator yields. 21 SENATOR LEICHTER: Is the state 22 comptroller, however you spell it -- I spell 23 it c-o-m-p-t-r-o-l-l-e-r, but is he in favor 24 of this bill? 25 SENATOR STAFFORD: Is he? I 1 would be glad to hold the bill and find out - 2 I took for granted that he was in favor of 3 this. It increases his -- I don't want to use 4 the word "power" because that isn't a good 5 word, but let me say it increases his shop. 6 Also it was passed on a bipartisan basis - 7 I'll be serious. It was passed on a 8 bipartisan basis. I remember I had some 9 concerns. I said, are we just adding another 10 bureaucracy here and adding -- passing laws 11 for the sake of passing laws? I do not think 12 so. We get an audited statement of the 13 state. The firm that gets the responsibility 14 -- you're not yawning, Mr. President. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 16 Never, sir. 17 SENATOR STAFFORD: I'm afraid 18 you were, but I certainly understand. We now 19 get an audited statement and I think it's in 20 the 90s. I think we should have an audited 21 statement from a certified public accountant 22 firm. I can't always say that -- I can't 23 always say this, but I've actually read their 24 report and it actually is impressive because 25 someone professionally is saying or setting 1 forth exactly what the books of New York State 2 say. 3 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. 4 President. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 6 Senator Leichter. 7 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator 8 Stafford, I think you're right that it would 9 seem, as I read this, to certainly enhance or 10 be in conformity with the comptroller's power, 11 but let me take you up on your kind offer. 12 Would you lay this aside? 13 SENATOR STAFFORD: I can't 14 believe I would overspeak like that. Amazing 15 but, of course, you and I work on camaraderie. 16 SENATOR LEICHTER: And you're 17 the best. You're the best, the absolute 18 best. 19 SENATOR STAFFORD: I have a 20 memo that says "Opposed, none available." No 21 opposition. 22 SENATOR LEICHTER: All right. 23 Would you mind if we got the views of the 24 comptroller and put this bill over until 25 tomorrow? 1 SENATOR STAFFORD: You know I 2 overstepped on that one. 3 SENATOR LEICHTER: That's 4 because you're the best and I mean that. 5 SENATOR STAFFORD: The 6 comptroller has no position. 7 Now, this bill -- I will say, 8 this bill has been out there. We've had it in 9 effect since 1987 and we're just making it 10 permanent. I certainly understand your 11 interest. 12 SENATOR LEICHTER: Thank you. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 14 Read the last section, please, quickly. 15 THE SECRETARY: Section 9. 16 This act shall take effect January 1. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 18 Call the roll. 19 (The Secretary called the 20 roll.) 21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 23 The bill is passed. 24 SENATOR STAFFORD: I would just 25 mention this also because we all need to learn 1 every day. Senator Cook has been most helpful 2 -- excuse me, Mr. President. Could I just 3 mention this. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 5 If you wish, sir. 6 SENATOR STAFFORD: Senator Cook 7 has been most helpful. It's spelled 8 comptroller c-o-m-p-t-r-o-l-l-e-r, but it is 9 pronounced, as Senator Leichter said, 10 comptroller. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 12 For the record, Senator Stafford's comments 13 will be enshrined -- should be enshrined in 14 the record. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 1351, by Senator Meier, Senate Print 7635, an 17 act to amend the Civil Rights Law, in relation 18 to the right of public petition and 19 participation. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 21 Read the last section. 22 SENATOR LEICHTER: Can we have 23 an explanation, please. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 25 Senator Meier, an explanation has been 1 requested by Senator Leichter. 2 SENATOR MEIER: Mr. President, 3 this bill confers a limited immunity from 4 civil liability for actions which people take 5 to petition their government for a redress of 6 grievances. 7 Let me explain it more 8 particularly by describing the kind of fact 9 pattern where this would come into play. This 10 is something that occurred in my district 11 where some citizens were concerned about the 12 manner in which public funds and public 13 property were being used. They used the 14 Freedom of Information Law and other 15 mechanisms available by law to citizens to 16 question their government about how funds were 17 being used. They gathered that information. 18 The information they gathered later resulted 19 in some public officials being indicted and 20 later convicted. Those public officials, 21 while this was going on, brought a lawsuit 22 against those citizens. Those citizens, 23 because they took an interest in their 24 government and were attempting to stop an 25 improper use of town resources, had to expend 1 funds for attorneys and legal expenses, had to 2 go through the emotional trauma of defending a 3 lawsuit. This bill would provide a limited 4 immunity, which would, in effect, be an 5 affirmative defense. 6 The present state of the law in 7 New York is such that this kind of immunity 8 only applies where the public action being 9 questioned by a citizen would be the granting 10 of a permit, a zoning variance, that kind of 11 thing. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 13 Read the last section. 14 SENATOR LEICHTER: Just one 15 question, please. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 17 Senator Leichter. 18 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator 19 Meier. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 21 Excuse me, Senator. Are you asking Senator 22 Meier to - 23 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 25 Does the Senator yield? 1 SENATOR MEIER: Yes. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 3 He yields. 4 SENATOR LEICHTER: Senator, I 5 appreciate the benefit we get from giving 6 protection to citizens and trying to avoid the 7 slap suit. I'm just concerned -- let me first 8 ask you, except as otherwise provided in 9 Section 76 (a) of this article, what does that 10 provide? 11 SENATOR MEIER: Section 76 (a) 12 of the Civil Rights Law, the exception would 13 apply to cases where the slap suit brought 14 against the citizen -- the exception involves 15 falsity, malice, reckless disregard for the 16 truth. So, in other words, when I say it's a 17 limited immunity, those would be the 18 exceptions where it would not apply. 19 SENATOR LEICHTER: That was 20 precisely what I had in mind. So if I'm 21 correct, you're not eliminating those 22 instances where somebody acts out of malice or 23 acts in a defamatory manner. 24 SENATOR MEIER: No. That's 25 correct, Senator. That's exactly the intent 1 of the bill. 2 SENATOR LEICHTER: Good. Thank 3 you. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 5 Read the last section. 6 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 7 This act shall take effect immediately. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 9 Call the roll. 10 (The Secretary called the 11 roll.) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 14 The bill is passed. 15 Senator Skelos, that finishes 16 the controversial calendar. 17 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 18 would you please call up Calendar Number 13... 19 yes. If we could return to reports of 20 standing committees, I believe there's a 21 report of the Rules Committee at the desk. I 22 ask that it be read at this time. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 24 There is a report of the Rules Committee at 25 the desk. 1 The Secretary will read. 2 THE SECRETARY: Senator Bruno, 3 from the Committee on Rules, reports the 4 following bills: 5 Senate Print 2653, by Senator 6 Kuhl, an act to amend the Tax Law; 7 5098-B, by Senator Skelos, an 8 act to amend the Real Property Tax Law; 9 5477-C, by Senator Goodman, an 10 act to amend the Public Health Law; 11 5696-A, by Senator Smith, an 12 act authorizing the city of New York; 13 5780-A, by Senator LaValle, an 14 act to amend the Mental Hygiene Law and 15 others; 16 6036, by Senator Holland, an 17 act authorizing and directing the Commissioner 18 of General Services; 19 6200, by Senator Volker, an act 20 to amend the Erie County Tax Act; 21 6311-A, by Senator Meier, an 22 act to authorize the city of Utica; 23 6360-A, by Senator Holland, an 24 act to amend the Social Services Law; 25 6391, by Senator Seward, an act 1 to amend Chapter 463 of the Laws of 1995; 2 6528, by Senator Trunzo, an act 3 to amend the General Municipal Law; 4 6638-A, by Senator Santiago, an 5 act to authorize the city of New York; 6 6722-A, by Senator Breslin, an 7 act to authorize the city of Cohoes; 8 6755, by Senator Johnson, an 9 act to amend the Real Property Tax Law; 10 6830, by Senator Leibell, an 11 act to amend the Town Law and the Public 12 Officers Law; 13 6831, by Senator Leibell, an 14 act to amend the Town Law and the Public 15 Officers Law; 16 6926, by Senator Wright, an act 17 to amend the General Municipal Law and the 18 Local Finance Law; 19 7008-A, by Senator Goodman, an 20 act to amend the General Municipal Law; 21 7193-A, by Senator Skelos, an 22 act to amend Chapter 269 of the Laws of 1979; 23 7288, by Senator Leibell, an 24 act to amend the Education Law; 25 7385, by Senator Saland, an act 1 to authorize the town of LaGrange; 2 7388-B, by Senator Saland, an 3 act to amend the Tax Law and the General 4 Municipal Law; 5 7527-A, by Senator Maziarz, an 6 act to legalize, validate, ratify and confirm; 7 7588, by Senator Velella, an 8 act to amend the Insurance Law; 9 7626, by Senator Marcellino, an 10 act authorizing the assessor of the county of 11 Nassau; 12 7627, by Senator Skelos, an act 13 authorizing the assessor of the county of 14 Nassau; 15 7644, by Senator Stafford, an 16 act to amend Chapter 466 of the Laws of 1995; 17 7659, by Senator Volker, an act 18 to amend the Mental Hygiene Law; and 19 7744, by Senator Spano, an act 20 to amend the Workers' Compensation Law and the 21 Insurance Law. 22 All bills ordered direct for 23 third reading. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 25 Senator Skelos. 1 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept 2 the report of the Rules Committee. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 4 All in favor of accepting the report of the 5 Rules Committee signify by saying aye. 6 (Response of "Aye".) 7 Opposed, nay. 8 (There was no response.) 9 The report of the Rules 10 Committee is accepted. 11 Senator Skelos. 12 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 13 at this time would you please call up Calendar 14 Number 1317, Senate 7744, and ask that it have 15 its third reading. It was just reported from 16 the Rules Committee. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 18 The Secretary will read. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 1317, by Senator Spano, Senate Print 7744, an 21 act to amend the Workers' Compensation Law and 22 the Insurance Law. 23 SENATOR SKELOS: Is there a 24 message of necessity at the desk? 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 1 There is a message, Senator. 2 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to 3 accept. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 5 The motion is to move to accept the message of 6 necessity. All in favor signify by saying 7 aye. 8 (Response of "Aye".) 9 Opposed, nay. 10 (There was no response.) 11 The message is accepted. 12 Read the last section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 9. 14 This act shall take effect in 90 days. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 16 Call the roll. 17 (The Secretary called the 18 roll.) 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57 -- ayes 20 56, nays 1, Senator Cook recorded in the 21 negative. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 23 Senator Stavisky too. 24 THE SECRETARY: On Calendar 25 1317, those recorded in the negative, Senators 1 Cook and Stavisky. Ayes 55, nays 2. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 3 Excuse me. Senator, you just wanted to check 4 in? I'm sorry. 5 SENATOR STAVISKY: I also wish 6 to be recorded - 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 8 Senator, can we just finish this bill? We're 9 on a roll call. I'm sorry. 10 Please announce the negatives 11 again so we clarify it. 12 THE SECRETARY: On Calendar 13 Number 1317, those recorded in the negative, 14 Senators Cook and Meier. Ayes 55, nays 2. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 16 The bill is passed. 17 Senator Stavisky. 18 SENATOR STAVISKY: Mr. 19 President, without objection, I shall like to 20 be recorded in the negative on Calendar 996 21 and Calendar 1315. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 23 Without objection, Senator Stavisky will be 24 recorded in the negative on Calendars Number 25 996 and 1313. 1 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 2 I believe there may be some other individuals 3 that want to be recorded in the negative on 4 some bills. If you could recognize them to 5 ask for unanimous consent. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 7 Senator Seward. 8 SENATOR SEWARD: Yes, Senate 9 7744. I'm not sure of the Calendar Number, 10 but Senate Bill 7744. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 12 That's 1317. 13 SENATOR SEWARD: I'd ask 14 unanimous consent to be recorded in the 15 negative. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 17 Without objection, so ordered. 18 Is there anyone else? Senator 19 Meier -- sorry. 20 Senator Skelos. 21 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 22 is there any housekeeping at the desk? 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 24 Yes, there is, Senator. We'll return to 25 motions and resolutions. 1 Senator Fuschillo. 2 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Mr. 3 President, on behalf of Senator Hannon, on 4 page number 9, I offer the following 5 amendments to Calendar Number 334, Senate 6 Print Number 1736-B, and ask that said bill 7 retain its place on the third reading. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 9 The amendments are received and the bill will 10 retain its place on the Third Reading 11 Calendar. 12 Senator Fuschillo. 13 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: On behalf 14 of Senator LaValle, on page number 39, I offer 15 the following amendments to Calendar Number 16 1168, Senate Print Number 7134, and ask that 17 said bill retain its place on the Third 18 Reading Calendar. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 20 So ordered. 21 Senator Fuschillo. 22 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Mr. 23 President, I wish to call up on behalf of 24 Senator Johnson, Print Number 2684-B, recalled 25 from the Assembly, which is now at the desk. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 2 The Secretary will read. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 257, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 2684-B, 5 an act to amend the Insurance Law. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 7 Senator Fuschillo. 8 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Mr. 9 President, I now move to reconsider the vote 10 by which the bill was passed. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 12 Call the roll on reconsideration. 13 (The Secretary called the roll 14 on reconsideration.) 15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 17 Senator Fuschillo. 18 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Mr. 19 President, I now offer the following 20 amendments. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 22 The amendments are accepted. 23 Senator Fuschillo. 24 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Mr. 25 President, on behalf of Senator Libous, I wish 1 to call up Print Number 1122-A, recalled from 2 the Assembly, which is now at the desk. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 4 The Secretary will read. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 1, by Senator Libous, Senate Print 1122-A, an 7 act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 9 Senator Fuschillo. 10 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Mr. 11 President, I now move to reconsider the vote 12 by which the bill was passed. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 14 Call the roll on reconsideration, please. 15 (The Secretary called the roll 16 on reconsideration.) 17 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 19 Senator Fuschillo. 20 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Mr. 21 President, I now offer the following 22 amendments. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 24 The amendments are accepted. 25 Senator Meier. 1 SENATOR MEIER: Mr. President, 2 I wish to call up my bill, Print Number 7426, 3 recalled from the Assembly, which is now at 4 the desk. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 6 The Secretary will read. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 1038, by Senator Meier, Senate Print 7426, an 9 act to authorize the town of New Hartford. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 11 Senator Meier. 12 SENATOR MEIER: I now move to 13 reconsider the vote by which the bill was 14 passed. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Call 16 the roll on reconsideration, please. 17 (The Secretary called the roll 18 on reconsideration.) 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 21 Senator Meier. 22 SENATOR MEIER: Mr. President, 23 I now offer the following amendments. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 25 amendments are accepted. 1 Senator Meier. 2 SENATOR MEIER: Mr. President, 3 I wish to call up Senator Goodman's bill, 4 Print Number 7317-A, recalled from the 5 Assembly, which is now at the desk. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 7 Call the roll -- I'm sorry -- the Secretary 8 will read. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 1093, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 7317-A, 11 an act to amend the Tax Law. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 13 Senator Meier. 14 SENATOR MEIER: Mr. President, 15 I now move to reconsider the vote by which the 16 bill was passed. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: Please 18 call the roll on reconsideration. 19 (The Secretary called the roll 20 on reconsideration.) 21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 23 Senator Meier. 24 SENATOR MEIER: I now offer the 25 following amendments. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 2 amendments are accepted. 3 Senator Meier. 4 SENATOR MEIER: Mr. President, 5 I wish to call up Senator DeFrancisco's bill, 6 Print Number 477-B, recalled from the 7 Assembly, which is now at the desk. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 9 The Secretary will read. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 536, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 12 477-B, an act to amend the Real Property Tax 13 Law. 14 SENATOR MEIER: I now move to 15 reconsider the vote by which the bill was 16 passed. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 18 Please call the roll on reconsideration. 19 (The Secretary called the roll 20 on reconsideration.) 21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 23 Senator Meier. 24 SENATOR MEIER: I now offer the 25 following amendments. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 2 The amendments are accepted. 3 Senator Meier. 4 SENATOR MEIER: Mr. President, 5 on page number 22, I offer the following 6 amendments to Calendar Number 759, Senate 7 Print Number 5975, and ask that said bill 8 retain its place on the Third Reading 9 Calendar. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 11 The amendments are accepted and the bill will 12 retain its place on the Third Reading 13 Calendar. 14 Senator Meier. 15 SENATOR MEIER: Mr. President, 16 on page number 34, I offer the following 17 amendments to Senator Alesi's bill, Calendar 18 Number 1057, Senate Print 6501, and ask that 19 said bill retain its place on the Third 20 Reading Calendar. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 22 The amendments are accepted and the bill will 23 retain its place on the Third Reading 24 Calendar. 25 Senator Meier. 1 SENATOR MEIER: Mr. President, 2 I wish to call up Senator Leibell's bill, 3 Print Number 3929-A, recalled from the 4 Assembly, which is now at the desk. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 6 The Secretary will read. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 1234, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 3929-A, 9 an act to amend the Real Property Actions and 10 Proceedings Law. 11 SENATOR MEIER: I now move to 12 reconsider the vote by which this bill was 13 passed. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 15 Please call the roll on reconsideration. 16 (The Secretary called the roll 17 on reconsideration.) 18 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 20 Senator Meier. 21 SENATOR MEIER: Mr. President, 22 I now offer the following amendments. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MEIER: The 24 amendments are accepted. Thank you, Senator 25 Meier. 1 Senator Seward. 2 SENATOR SEWARD: Yes. If 3 Senator Meier would yield, I would like to - 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 5 The Senator graciously yields. 6 SENATOR SEWARD: On behalf of 7 Senator Velella, Mr. President, I wish to call 8 up Calendar Number 356, Assembly Print Number 9 3169-A. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 11 The Secretary will read. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 356, by member of the Assembly Pheffer, 14 Assembly Print 3169-A, an act to amend the 15 Real Property Tax Law. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 17 Senator Seward. 18 SENATOR SEWARD: I now move to 19 reconsider the vote by which this Assembly 20 bill was substituted for Senator Velella's 21 bill, Senate Print Number 4597-A, on March 11. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 23 Call the roll on reconsideration. 24 (The Secretary called the roll 25 on reconsideration.) 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 3 Senator Seward. 4 SENATOR SEWARD: I now move 5 that Assembly Bill Number 3169-A be 6 recommitted to the Committee on Rules and 7 Senate -- the Senate bill be restored to the 8 order of Third Reading Calendar. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 10 So ordered. 11 Senator Seward. 12 SENATOR SEWARD: Yes, Mr. 13 President. I wish to call up Calendar Number 14 784, Assembly Print Number 4798. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 16 The Secretary will read. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 784, by member of the Assembly Nolan, Assembly 19 Print 4798, an act to amend the Labor Law. 20 SENATOR SEWARD: I now move to 21 reconsider the vote by which this Assembly 22 bill was substituted for Senator Spano's bill, 23 Senate Print Number 2821, on May 6th. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 25 Call the roll on reconsideration, please. 1 (The Secretary called the roll 2 on reconsideration.) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 5 Senator Seward. 6 SENATOR SEWARD: Mr. President, 7 I now move that Assembly Bill Number 4798 be 8 committed to the Committee on Rules and 9 Senator Spano's Senate bill be restored to the 10 order of Third Reading Calendar. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 12 So ordered. 13 SENATOR SEWARD: Mr. President, 14 I now offer the following amendments. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 16 The amendments are accepted. 17 Senator Skelos, may we do some 18 substitutions. 19 SENATOR SKELOS: Please make 20 the substitutions. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 22 The Secretary will read. 23 THE SECRETARY: On page 4, 24 Senator LaValle moves to discharge from the 25 Committee on Rules Assembly Bill Number 8579-A 1 and substitute it for the identical Third 2 Reading Calendar 66. 3 On page 8, Senator Present 4 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 5 Assembly Bill Number 6084-A and substitute it 6 for the identical Third Reading Calendar 295. 7 On page 12, Senator Cook moves 8 to discharge from the Committee on Rules 9 Assembly Bill Number 1664-C and substitute it 10 for the identical Third Reading Calendar 446. 11 On page 18, Senator Cook moves 12 to discharge from the Committee on Rules 13 Assembly Bill Number 9444-A and substitute it 14 for the identical Third Reading Calendar 666. 15 On page 20, Senator Volker 16 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 17 Assembly Bill Number 3998-A and substitute it 18 for the identical Third Reading Calendar 717. 19 On page 29, Senator Leibell 20 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 21 Assembly Bill Number 4328 and substitute it 22 for the identical Third Reading Calendar 913. 23 And on page 33, Senator LaValle 24 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 25 Assembly Bill Number 9181 and substitute it 1 for the identical Third Reading Calendar 1016. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 3 All substitutions are ordered. 4 Senator Skelos. 5 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 6 if we could return to the order of motions and 7 resolutions and please recognize Senator 8 Meier. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 10 We'll return to the order of motions and 11 resolutions. 12 Senator Meier. 13 SENATOR MEIER: Mr. President, 14 on behalf of Senator Volker, I wish to call up 15 Print Number 3358-A, recalled from the 16 Assembly, which is now at the desk. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 18 The Secretary will read. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 314, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 3358-A, 21 an act to amend the Alcoholic Beverage Control 22 Law and others. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 24 Senator Meier. 25 SENATOR MEIER: Mr. President, 1 I now move to reconsider the vote by which 2 this bill was passed. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 4 Please call the roll on reconsideration. 5 (The Secretary called the roll 6 on reconsideration.) 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 9 Senator Meier. 10 SENATOR MEIER: I now offer the 11 following amendments. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 13 The amendments are accepted. 14 Senator Alesi. 15 SENATOR ALESI: Thank you, Mr. 16 President. 17 On page 44, I offer the 18 following amendments to Calendar Number 1333, 19 Senate Print Number 7035-A, and ask that said 20 bill retain its place on the Third Reading 21 Calendar. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 23 The amendments are accepted and the bill will 24 retain its place on the Third Reading 25 Calendar. 1 Senator Skelos. 2 SENATOR SKELOS: Is there any 3 housekeeping at the desk? 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 5 The house is clean, sir. 6 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 7 there being no further business, I move we 8 adjourn until Tuesday, June 16th, at 11:30 9 a.m. sharp. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 11 The Senate will stand adjourned until Tuesday, 12 that is tomorrow, at 11:30 a.m. sharp. 13 (Whereupon, at 6:18 p.m., the 14 Senate adjourned.) 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25