Friday, June 19, 1998

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ALBANY, NEW YORK 9 June 19, 1998 10 10:15 a.m. 11 12 13 REGULAR SESSION 14 15 16 17 SENATOR JOHN R. KUHL, JR., Acting President 18 STEVEN M. BOGGESS, Secretary 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 3 Senate will come to order. Ask the members to 4 take their places, the staff to find their 5 places. I would ask everybody in the chamber to 6 rise and join with me in saying the Pledge of 7 Allegiance to the Flag. 8 (The assemblage repeated the 9 Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.) 10 In the absence of clergy, may we 11 bow our heads in a moment of silence. 12 (A moment of silence was 13 observed.) 14 The reading of the Journal. 15 THE SECRETARY: In Senate, 16 Thursday, June 18th. The Senate met pursuant to 17 adjournment, Senator Cook in the Chair upon 18 designation of the Temporary President. The 19 Journal of Wednesday, June 17, was read and 20 approved. On motion, the Senate adjourned. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Hearing 22 no objection, the Journal stands approved as 23 read. 24 Presentation of petitions. 25 Messages from the Assembly. 1 Messages from the Governor. 2 Reports of standing committees. 3 Reports of select committees. 4 Communications and reports from 5 state officers. 6 Motions and resolutions. 7 Senator Skelos, we have some 8 substitutions. 9 SENATOR SKELOS: Please make the 10 substitutions, Mr. President. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 12 Secretary will read the substitutions. 13 THE SECRETARY: On page 31, 14 Senator Leibell moves to discharge from the 15 Committee on Rules Assembly Bill Number 4327 and 16 substitute it for the identical Third Reading 17 Calendar 1612. 18 On page 31, Senator LaValle moves 19 to discharge from the Committee on Education 20 Assembly Bill Number 7949-C and substitute it 21 for the identical Third Reading Calendar 1613. 22 On page 31, Senator Seward moves 23 to discharge from the Committee on Rules 24 Assembly Bill Number 8893-A and substitute it 25 for the identical Third Reading Calendar 1615. 1 On page 31, Senator Leibell moves 2 to discharge from the Committee on Rules 3 Assembly Bill Number 11040 and substitute it for 4 the identical Third Reading Calendar 1618. 5 On page 31, Senator Skelos moves 6 to discharge from the Committee on Rules 7 Assembly Bill Number 10920 and substitute it for 8 the identical Third Reading Calendar 1622. 9 On page 31, Senator Connor moves 10 to discharge from the Committee on Rules 11 Assembly Bill Number 11084 and substitute it for 12 the identical Third Reading Calendar 1624. 13 On page 32, Senator Goodman moves 14 to discharge from the Committee on Rules 15 Assembly Bill Number 11283 and substitute it for 16 the identical Third Reading Calendar 1627. 17 And on page 32, Senator Hannon 18 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 19 Assembly Bill Number 11301 and substitute it for 20 the identical Third Reading Calendar 1628. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 22 substitutions are ordered. 23 (Pause) 24 The Senate will come to order. 25 Senator Skelos. 1 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 2 if we could go to the non-controversial 3 calendar, Calendar Number 54, I don't believe an 4 active list has been sent around yet but if we 5 could work off of this, starting off with 6 Calendar Number 442. 7 Mr. President, I would also -- I 8 would also ask that the members please come into 9 the chamber, especially if bills are laid aside 10 for debate because Senator Bruno has indicated 11 he wants to close and we will close very 12 shortly. So please come into the chambers so we 13 can move ahead expeditiously and enjoy the 14 balance of the day. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: If the 16 members would please come to the chamber, those 17 who are not here, those who are checked in, 18 please come. As bills are reached, we're going 19 to be expected to take them up. We'll begin 20 with Calendar Number 442 on Calendar Number 54. 21 I'll ask the Secretary to read 22 non-controversial. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 442, by Senator Wright, Senate Print 4224-B, an 25 act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, in 1 relation to the suspension and revocation. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 3 Secretary will read the last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 5 act shall take effect on the first day of 6 November. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 8 roll. 9 (The Secretary called the roll.) 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 37. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 12 is passed. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 660, by Senator LaValle, Senate Print 1401-B, an 15 act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to 16 providing an exemption. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 18 Secretary will read the last section. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 20 act shall take effect on the first day of a 21 sales tax quarterly period. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 23 roll. 24 (The Secretary called the roll.) 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 1 the negative. Announce the results. 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 36, nays 1, 3 Senator Leichter recorded in the negative. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 5 is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 892, by Senator Trunzo, Senate Print 6976, an 8 act to amend the Retirement and Social Security 9 Law, in relation to the date of membership. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 11 Secretary will read the last section. 12 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 13 act shall take effect immediately. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 15 roll. 16 (The Secretary called the roll.) 17 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 37. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 19 is passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 1091, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 7001, an 22 act to amend the Arts and Cultural Affairs Law, 23 in relation to the provision of financial 24 assistance. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 1 Secretary will read the last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 3 act shall take effect April 1. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 5 roll. 6 (The Secretary called the roll.) 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 37. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 9 is passed. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 1116, by member of the Assembly Magee, Assembly 12 Print 9443, an act to amend the Agriculture and 13 Markets Law, the Real Property Law and the Real 14 Property Tax Law. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 16 Secretary will read the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 18 act shall take effect on the first day of July. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 20 roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll.) 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 39. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 24 is passed. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 1 1155, by Senator Libous, Senate Print 1927-B, an 2 act to amend the Education Law, in relation to 3 providing a certification. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 5 Secretary will read the last section. 6 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 7 act shall take effect immediately. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 9 roll. 10 (The Secretary called the roll.) 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 39. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 13 is passed. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 1246, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 6416-A, an 16 act to amend the Civil Practice Law and Rules, 17 in relation to the personal service. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 19 Secretary will read the last section. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 21 act shall take effect immediately. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 23 roll. 24 (The Secretary called the roll.) 25 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 39. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 2 is passed. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 1443, by member of the Assembly Hoyt, Assembly 5 Print 9414-A, an act to authorize the city of 6 Buffalo, county of Erie. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 8 a home rule message at the desk. The Secretary 9 will read the last section. 10 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 11 act shall take effect immediately. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 13 roll. 14 (The Secretary called the roll.) 15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 39. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 17 is passed. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 1504, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 7776-A, 20 an act to amend the General Business Law, in 21 relation to veterans of the Armed Forces. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 23 Skelos. 24 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 25 is there a message of necessity at the desk? 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is. 2 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 4 motion is to accept the message of necessity on 5 Calendar Number 1504. All those in favor 6 signify by saying aye. 7 (Response of "Aye".) 8 Opposed, nay. 9 (There was no response.) 10 The message is accepted. 11 The bill is before the house. 12 The Secretary will read the last 13 section. 14 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 15 act shall take effect September 1. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 17 roll. 18 (The Secretary called the roll.) 19 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 20 the negative on Calendar Number 1504 - 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We'll 22 withdraw the roll call. Lay the bill aside. 23 SENATOR SKELOS: Lay it aside 24 temporarily. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 1 Secretary will continue to call the non 2 controversial calendar. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 1561, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 5 Assembly Print 11073, an act to amend the Tax 6 Law, in relation to establishing. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 8 Secretary will read the last section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 10 act shall take effect immediately. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 12 roll. 13 (The Secretary called the roll.) 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 39. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 16 is passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 1597, by Senator Alesi, Senate Print 7379, an 19 act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to 20 facilitating manufacturing. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 22 Secretary will read the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 24 act shall take effect immediately. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 1 roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll.) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 39, nays 1, 4 Senator Leichter recorded in the negative. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 6 is passed. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 1612, substituted earlier today, by member of 9 the Assembly Galef, Assembly Print 4327, an act 10 to amend the Real Property Tax Law, in relation 11 to providing. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 13 Secretary will read the last section. 14 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 15 act shall take effect immediately. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 17 roll. 18 (The Secretary called the roll.) 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 40. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 21 is passed. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 1613, substituted earlier today, by the Assembly 24 Committee on Rules, Assembly Print 7949-C, an 25 act to amend the Education Law, in relation to 1 providing instruction. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 3 Secretary will read the last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 5 act shall take effect on the first day of July. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 7 roll. 8 (The Secretary called the roll.) 9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 11 is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 1614, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 5663-A, an 14 act to amend the General Business Law and the 15 Education Law, in relation to the registration. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 17 Secretary will read the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 19 act shall take effect July 1. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 21 roll. 22 (The Secretary called the roll.) 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 25 is passed. 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 1615, substituted earlier today, by member of 3 the Assembly Faso, Assembly Print 8893-A, an act 4 in relation to authorizing application for state 5 assistance. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 7 Secretary will read the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 9 act shall take effect immediately. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 11 roll. 12 (The Secretary called the roll.) 13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 15 is passed. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 1616, by Senator Breslin, Senate Print 6434, an 18 act in relation to authorizing the town of 19 Bethlehem. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There's a 21 home rule message at the desk. The Secretary 22 will read the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 24 act shall take effect immediately. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 1 roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll.) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 5 is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 1617, by Senator Seward, Senate Print 6750-A, an 8 act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to 9 exempting telecommunications equipment. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There's a 11 local fiscal impact note at the desk. The 12 Secretary will read the last section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. This 14 act shall take effect on the same date as a 15 Subdivision 26 of Section 124. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 17 roll. 18 (The Secretary called the roll.) 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 20 the negative. Announce the results. 21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 44, nays 1, 22 Senator Leichter recorded in the negative. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 24 is passed. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 1 1618, substituted earlier today, by the Assembly 2 Committee on Rules, Assembly Print 11040, an act 3 to amend the Volunteer Firefighters Benefit Law. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 5 Secretary will read the last section. 6 THE SECRETARY: Section 8. This 7 act shall take effect January 1. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 9 roll. 10 (The Secretary called the roll.) 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 45. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 13 is passed. 14 Senator Leibell, why do you 15 rise? 16 SENATOR LEIBELL: Mr. President, 17 to explain my vote. 18 This bill will establish the 19 Neuner/Goff memorial death benefit program to 20 increase the death benefits provided to the 21 families of deceased volunteer firefighters. 22 Lieutenant Michael Neuner was a 23 35-year-old devoted husband and father of four 24 who was an active community volunteer and a 25 courageous lieutenant of the Brewster Volunteer 1 Fire Department, heroically gave his life in the 2 line of duty while fighting a dangerous and 3 life-threatening residential house fire. 4 Timothy Goff was a volunteer 5 firefighter for the village of Kenmore Volunteer 6 Fire Department. At the age of 27 in the line 7 of duty Mr. Goff sustained critical injuries 8 while gravely fighting a fire. 9 This legislation memorializes 10 these brave men and increases the amount of 11 death benefits provided to surviving families of 12 firefighters who died in the line of duty. 13 I would note that it has been a 14 great many years since these benefits have been 15 increased. It's a recognition of how important 16 the role is that these volunteers play and how 17 critical it is for this legislative body to 18 protect their families in the event that they 19 have a disaster. 20 Thank you. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 22 Secretary will continue to call the non 23 controversial calendar. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 1619, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 7393, an 1 act to amend the Retirement and Social Security 2 Law, in relation to the retirement of members. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 4 a home rule message at the desk. The Secretary 5 will read the last section. 6 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. This 7 act shall take effect January 1, 1999. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 9 roll. 10 (The Secretary called the roll.) 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 47. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 13 is passed. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 1621, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 7502, an 16 act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, in 17 relation to civil penalties. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 19 Secretary will read the last section. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 21 act shall take effect on the first day of 22 September. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 24 roll. 25 (The Secretary called the roll.) 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 47. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 3 is passed. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 1622, substituted earlier today, by the Assembly 6 Committee on Rules, Assembly Print 10920, an act 7 to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 8 prohibiting disguised guns. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 10 Secretary will read the last section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 9. This 12 act shall take effect on the first day of 13 November. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 15 roll.) 16 (The Secretary called the roll. 17 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Lay it 18 aside. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Withdraw 20 the roll call. Lay the bill aside. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 1624, substituted earlier today, by the Assembly 23 Committee on Rules, Assembly Print 11084, an act 24 to require the preparation of an environmental 25 impact statement. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 2 Secretary will read the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 4 act shall take effect immediately. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 6 roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll.) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 47. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 10 is passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 1626, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 13 Print 7741, an act to amend the Education Law, 14 in relation to mandatory continuing education in 15 dentistry. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 17 Secretary will read the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 19 act shall take effect on the first day of 20 January. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 22 roll. 23 (The Secretary called the roll.) 24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 47. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 1 is passed. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 1627, substituted earlier today, by the Assembly 4 Committee on Rules, Assembly Print 11283, an act 5 to amend the Tax Law, in relation to certified 6 capital companies. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 8 Secretary will read the last section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 10 act shall take effect immediately. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 12 roll. 13 (The Secretary called the roll.) 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 47. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 16 is passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 1628, substituted earlier today, by the Assembly 19 Committee on Rules, Assembly Print 11301, an act 20 to amend the Public Authorities Law, in relation 21 to the powers of Terence Cardinal Cooke Health 22 Center. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 24 Secretary will read the last section. 25 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 1 act shall take effect immediately. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 3 roll. 4 (The Secretary called the roll.) 5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 47. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 7 is passed. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1635, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 10 Assembly Print 8534-B, an act to amend the 11 Public Authorities Law, in relation to the 12 construction and financing of facilities by the 13 Dormitory Authority. 14 SENATOR SMITH: Lay it aside. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 16 bill aside. 17 SENATOR MARCHI: Mr. President. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 1636, by member of the Assembly - 20 SENATOR MARCHI: Mr. President. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Marchi, why do you rise? 23 SENATOR MARCHI: I was out of the 24 chamber just briefly when Senator Connor's bill 25 came up, 1824. If the bill isn't out of the 1 house, I would like to recall it. I intend to 2 vote for it, but - 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 Marchi, it's out of the house. 1624 is gone. 5 SENATOR MARCHI: Well, too late 6 for tears. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Too late 8 for tears. Very well put. 9 The Secretary will read Calendar 10 Number 1636. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 1636, by member of the Assembly Brennan, 13 Assembly Print 10061-C, an act to amend the 14 Public Authorities Law, in relation to the 15 powers of New York State ARC, Incorporated. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 17 Secretary will read the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 19 act shall take effect immediately. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 21 roll. 22 (The Secretary called the roll.) 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 47. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 25 is passed. 1 Senator Skelos, we did not have 2 enough members in the house to take up Calendar 3 Number 1504. So if we could go back to that 4 one. 5 SENATOR SKELOS: Take up 1504 at 6 this time. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 8 Secretary will read Calendar Number 1504. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 1504, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 7776-A, 11 an act to amend the General Business Law, in 12 relation to veterans of the Armed Forces who 13 vend in cities having a population of one 14 million or more. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 16 message was previously accepted. The Secretary 17 will read the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 19 act shall take effect September 1. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 21 roll. 22 (The Secretary called the roll.) 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 24 the negatives. Will the negatives on Calendar 25 Number 1504 please raise their hands and be duly 1 recorded. 2 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 3 the negative on Calendar Number 1504 are 4 Senators DeFrancisco, Farley, Fuschillo, Kuhl, 5 LaValle, Maltese, Marcellino, Maziarz, Nozzolio, 6 Rath, Seward, Smith -- excuse me, Senator Smith 7 in the affirmative -- Senator Wright. Ayes 35, 8 nays 12. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 10 is passed. 11 Senator Gentile, why do you 12 rise? 13 SENATOR GENTILE: Yes. Thank 14 you, Mr. President. 15 Just to explain my vote. While I 16 believe there should be no restrictions on 17 veterans, I understand that this is an agreed 18 upon bill between the Assembly and the Senate 19 drafters and also the veterans who are involved. 20 So given that despite my initial 21 -- my initial objection to any restrictions on 22 veterans, since it is an agreed upon bill, I am 23 voting in the affirmative. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 Gentile is recorded in the affirmative. Results 1 were announced. The bill is passed. Can we 2 have a little order in the house, please. The 3 members take their seats. 4 Senator Saland. 5 SENATOR SALAND: Has the roll 6 been closed? 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Why do 8 you rise? 9 SENATOR SALAND: I request 10 unanimous consent to be recorded in the negative 11 on 1504. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 13 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Saland 14 will be recorded in the negative on Calendar 15 Number 1504. 16 Senator Skelos, that completes 17 the reading of the non-controversial calendar. 18 SENATOR SKELOS: Please take up 19 the controversial calendar. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 21 Secretary will read the controversial calendar. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 1622, substituted earlier today, by the Assembly 24 Committee on Rules, Assembly Print 10920, an act 25 to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 1 prohibiting disguised guns. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 3 Skelos, an explanation has been requested by 4 Senator Smith. 5 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 6 this bill would prohibit the use and establish 7 certain crimes based on the possession of a 8 disguised gun. 9 This legislation is necessary due 10 to the fact that a tiny firearm that can look 11 like a key chain has joined the arsenal of off 12 beat -- off-beat and home made weapons 13 challenging security screeners in different 14 venues. 15 SENATOR SMITH: Explanation 16 satisfactory. 17 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 19 Secretary will read the last section. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 9. This 21 act shall take effect on the first day of 22 November. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 24 roll. 25 (The Secretary called the roll.) 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 49. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 3 is passed. 4 (Pause) 5 The Senate will come to order. 6 Ask the members to please take their seats. 7 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, I 8 believe there's one more bill right now that's 9 live on the calendar, Number 1635, by Senator 10 Rules. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 12 Secretary will read. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 1635, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 15 Assembly Print 8534-B, an act to amend the 16 Public Authorities Law, in relation to the 17 construction and financing of facilities. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 19 Secretary will read the last section. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 21 act shall take effect immediately. 22 SENATOR SMITH: I asked for an 23 explanation. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 Smith, are you asking for an explanation? 1 Senator Smith, are you asking - 2 SENATOR SMITH: That's what I 3 asked for. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5 Smith, if you would just merely address the 6 Chair when you ask for an explanation, I did not 7 hear you. I apologize for that but I can't hear 8 it unless somebody speaks to me. 9 Senator Skelos, an explanation of 10 Calendar Number 1635 has - 11 SENATOR SKELOS: Please recognize 12 Senator Leibell for an explanation. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 Leibell will handle the explanation. 15 Senator Leibell. 16 SENATOR LEIBELL: Yes, Mr. 17 President. This is an Assembly hand-down that 18 will permit the Dormitory Authority to provide 19 financing for the construction of educational, 20 administrative and residential facilities 21 constructed or reconstructed by the New York 22 State Rehabilitation Association. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 24 Smith. 25 SENATOR SMITH: Yes. Would the 1 sponsor please yield for a question? 2 SENATOR LEIBELL: Yes. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 Leibell yields. 5 SENATOR SMITH: Are there any 6 facilities enumerated in the bill referred to? 7 SENATOR LEIBELL: No, Senator, 8 there are not and I'm not aware of anything that 9 was specifically indicated by this bill. 10 SENATOR SMITH: Would the sponsor 11 yield for another -- to another question? 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 Leibell, do you yield? 14 SENATOR LEIBELL: Yes. I'm not 15 the sponsor, but I'm pleased to yield. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 17 Senator yields. 18 SENATOR SMITH: Do you know what 19 precipitated this particular bill? 20 SENATOR LEIBELL: No, I'm sorry. 21 I do not. You would have to -- this is 22 sponsored by Assemblyman Dinowitz, and I'm not 23 aware of any. 24 SENATOR SMITH: Thank you. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is there 1 any other member wishing to speak on the bill? 2 (There was no response.) 3 Hearing none, the Secretary will 4 read the last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 6 act shall take effect immediately. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 8 roll. 9 (The Secretary called the roll.) 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 50. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 12 is passed. 13 Senator Skelos, we have a couple 14 of substitutions at the desk, if you would like 15 to call those. 16 SENATOR SKELOS: Please, Mr. 17 President. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Return to 19 the order of motions and resolutions. 20 I'll ask the Secretary to read 21 the substitutions. 22 THE SECRETARY: On page 8, 23 Senator Trunzo moves to discharge from the 24 Committee on Rules Assembly Bill Number 5860-A 25 and substitute it for the identical Third 1 Reading Calendar 349; and on page 23, Senator 2 Balboni moves to discharge from the Committee on 3 Rules Assembly Bill Number 1407-A and substitute 4 it for the identical Third Reading Calendar 5 1019. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 7 substitutions are ordered. 8 Senator Skelos. 9 SENATOR SKELOS: Stand at ease, 10 Mr. President. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 12 Senate will stand at ease momentarily. 13 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at 14 ease from 10:54 a.m. until 11:00 a.m.) 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Can we 16 have a little order in the house,, please, a 17 little order in the house. 18 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 19 can we have an immediate meeting of the Rules 20 Committee in the Majority Conference Room and if 21 we could continue to stand at ease. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There 23 will be an immediate meeting of the Rules 24 Committee, immediate meeting of the Rules 25 Committee in the Majority Conference Room, Room 1 332. Immediate meeting of the Rules Committee 2 in the Majority Conference Room, Room 332 and 3 the Senate will continue to stand at ease. 4 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at 5 ease from 11:01 a.m. until 11:32 a.m.) 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 7 Senate will come to order. Ask the members to 8 find their place, the staff to find their 9 places. If you have to have a conversation, 10 please take it out of the chamber. 11 Senator Skelos. 12 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 13 if we could return to reports of standing 14 committees, I believe there's a report of the 15 Rules Committee. I ask that it be read at this 16 time. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We will 18 return to the order of reports of standing 19 committees and there is a report of the Rules 20 Committee at the desk. 21 The Secretary will read. 22 THE SECRETARY: Senator Bruno, 23 from the Committee on Rules, reports the 24 following bills: 25 Senate Print 2519-A, by Senator 1 Cook, an act to amend the Environmental 2 Conservation Law; 3 2543-A, by Senator Spano, an act 4 to amend the Retirement and Social Security Law; 5 3953-A, by Senator Lack, an act 6 to amend the Retirement and Social Security Law; 7 6705, by Senator Velella, an act 8 to amend the Insurance Law; 9 6818, by Senator Alesi, an act in 10 relation to permitting; 11 6890-A, by Senator Velella, an 12 act to amend Chapter 19 of the Laws of 1994; 13 6975-A, by Senator Trunzo, an act 14 to amend the Retirement and Social Security Law; 15 7161-B, by Senator Maziarz, an 16 act authorizing the county of Niagara; 17 7225-B, by Senator Farley, an act 18 to amend the Banking Law; 19 7287-C, by Senator Leibell, an 20 act to amend the Public Health Law and others; 21 7294, by Senator Velella, an act 22 to amend the Insurance Law; 23 7752, by Senator Connor, an act 24 to amend the Public Authorities Law; 25 7763, by Senator Hannon, an act 1 to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law; 2 7839, by Senator Spano, an act 3 making an appropriation for the support of 4 government; 5 7840, by the Senate Committee on 6 Rules, an act to amend Chapter 50 of the Laws of 7 1998; 8 7842, by Senator Velella, an act 9 in relation to the implementation of the terms 10 of written agreements; 11 5436-B, by Senator Marcellino, an 12 act to amend the Environmental Conservation Law 13 and others; 14 7429, by Senator Wright, an act 15 to amend the Executive Law; 16 7349-B, by Senator Hannon, an act 17 to authorize payments of additional Medicaid 18 funds; 19 7679-A, by the Senate Committee 20 on Rules, an act to amend the Real Property Tax 21 Law and the New York City Charter; 22 7834, by Senator Hannon, an act 23 to amend the Tax Law; 24 7841, by Senator Farley, an act 25 to amend Chapter 3 of the Laws of 1997; 1 7816, by Senator Trunzo, an act 2 to amend the Civil Service Law; and 3 7681-A, by Senator Spano, an act 4 to amend the Workers' Compensation Law. 5 All bills ordered direct for 6 third reading. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 8 motion is to accept the report of the Rules 9 Committee. All those in favor signify by saying 10 aye. 11 (Response of "Aye".) 12 Opposed, nay. 13 (There was no response.) 14 The Rules report is accepted. 15 The bills are ordered directly to 16 third reading. 17 Senator Skelos. 18 SENATOR SKELOS: If we could take 19 up Supplemental Calendar 54-A non-controversial. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 21 Secretary will read the supplemental calendar 22 54-A non-controversial reading. 23 THE SECRETARY: Senator Cook 24 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 25 Assembly Bill Number 4040-A and substitute it 1 for the identical Third Reading Calendar 1623. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 3 substitution is ordered. 4 The Secretary will read the 5 title. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 1623, by member of the Assembly Gunther, 8 Assembly Print 4040-A, an act to amend the 9 Environmental Conservation Law, in relation to 10 the deer management assistance permits. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: As soon 12 as we have a little order we'll proceed. 13 There's no way we can hear at the desk. The 14 members still please take their chairs. Take 15 the conversations, if you have any, out of the 16 chamber. 17 The Secretary will read the last 18 section. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 20 act shall take effect immediately. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 22 roll. 23 (The Secretary called the roll.) 24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 1 is passed. 2 THE SECRETARY: Senator Spano 3 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 4 Assembly Bill Number 5341-A and substitute it 5 for the identical Third Reading Calendar 1637. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 7 substitution is ordered. 8 The Secretary will read. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 1637, by member of the Assembly Weinstein, 11 Assembly Print 5341-A, an act to amend the 12 Retirement and Social Security Law, in relation 13 to peace officers. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 15 Secretary will read the last section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 17 act shall take effect immediately. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 19 roll. 20 (The Secretary called the roll.) 21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 23 is passed. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 1638, by Senator Lack, Senate Print 3953-A, an 1 act to amend the Retirement and Social Security 2 Law, in relation to membership. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 4 Secretary will read the last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 6 act shall take effect on the 30th day. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 8 roll. 9 (The Secretary called the roll.) 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 12 is passed. 13 THE SECRETARY: Senator Velella 14 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 15 Assembly Bill Number 11045-A and substitute it 16 for the identical Third Reading Calendar 1639. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 18 substitution is ordered. 19 The Secretary will read the 20 title. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 1639, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 23 Assembly Print 11045-A, an act to amend the 24 Insurance Law, in relation to the qualified 25 immunity of the excess line association. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 2 Secretary will read the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 4 act shall take effect immediately. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 6 roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll.) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 56, nays 1, 9 Senator DeFrancisco recorded in the negative. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 11 is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 1640, by Senator Alesi, Senate Print 6818, an 14 act in relation to permitting the reopening of 15 the optional 20-year retirement plan. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 17 a home rule message at the desk. The Secretary 18 will read the last section. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 20 act shall take effect immediately. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 22 roll. 23 (The Secretary called the roll.) 24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 1 is passed. 2 THE SECRETARY: Senator Velella 3 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 4 Assembly Bill Number 11044 and substitute it for 5 the identical Third Reading Calendar 1641. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 7 substitution is ordered. 8 The Secretary will read the 9 title. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 1641, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 12 Assembly Print 11044, an act to amend Chapter 19 13 of the Laws of 1994, amending the Insurance Law. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Read the 15 last section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 17 act shall take effect immediately. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 19 roll. 20 (The Secretary called the roll.) 21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 23 is passed. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 1642, by Senator Trunzo, Senate Print 6975-A, an 1 act to amend the Retirement and Social Security 2 Law, in relation to providing three-quarters of 3 pension. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 5 Secretary will read the last section. 6 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 7 act shall take effect 365 days. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 9 roll. 10 (The Secretary called the roll.) 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 13 is passed. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 1643, by Senator Maziarz, Senate Print 7161-B, 16 an act authorizing the county of Niagara to 17 lease certain bonds. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is 19 a home rule message at the desk. The Secretary 20 will read the last section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 22 act shall take effect immediately. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 24 roll. 25 (The Secretary called the roll.) 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 3 is passed. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 1644, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 7225-B, an 6 act to amend the Banking Law, in relation to 7 reforming the licensing procedure. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 9 Secretary will read the last section. 10 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 11 act shall take effect on the 180th day. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 13 roll. 14 (The Secretary called the roll.) 15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 17 is passed. 18 THE SECRETARY: Senator Velella 19 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 20 Assembly Bill Number 11009 and substitute it for 21 the identical Third Reading Calendar 1646. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 23 substitution is ordered. 24 The Secretary will read the 25 title. 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 1646, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 3 Assembly Print 11009, an act to amend the 4 Insurance Law, in relation to binding authority. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 6 Secretary will read the last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 8 act shall take effect on the 30th day. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 10 roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll.) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 14 is passed. 15 THE SECRETARY: Senator Hannon 16 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 17 Assembly Bill Number 11282 and substitute it for 18 the identical Third Reading Calendar 1648. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 20 substitution is ordered. 21 The Secretary will read. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 1648, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 24 Assembly Bill Number 11282, an act to amend the 25 Vehicle and Traffic Law, in relation to 1 licensing operators. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 3 Secretary will read the last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 5 act shall take effect immediately. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 7 roll. 8 (The Secretary called the roll.) 9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 11 is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 1652, by Senator Spano, Senate Print 7839, an 14 act making an appropriation for the support of 15 government. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 17 Skelos. 18 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 19 is there a message at the desk? 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is. 21 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 23 motion is to accept the message of necessity on 24 Calendar Number 1652. All those in favor 25 signify by saying aye. 1 (Response of "Aye".) 2 Opposed, nay. 3 (There was no response.) 4 The message is accepted. 5 The bill is before the house. 6 The Secretary will read the last 7 section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 9 act shall take effect immediately. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 11 roll. 12 (The Secretary called the roll.) 13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 15 is passed. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 1655, by Senator Marcellino, Senate Print 18 5436-B, an act to amend the Environmental 19 Conservation Law and others. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Skelos. 22 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 23 is there a message at the desk? 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is. 25 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 2 motion is to accept the message of necessity on 3 Calendar Number 1655. All those in favor 4 signify by saying aye. 5 (Response of "Aye".) 6 Opposed, nay. 7 (There was no response.) 8 The message is accepted. The 9 bill is before the house. The Secretary will 10 read the last section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 10. This 12 act shall take effect immediately. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 14 roll. 15 (The Secretary called the roll.) 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 17 Marcellino, to explain his vote. 18 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you, 19 Mr. President. 20 This important piece of 21 legislation will go a long way towards cleaning 22 our air, especially in the downstate area where 23 it is very difficult due to the congestion and 24 high population, high density areas, if you have 25 children or family members who suffer from 1 respiratory diseases, this bill will help reduce 2 the causes of those problems. 3 This is a historic piece of 4 legislation, and I wish to thank the Governor 5 and commend him for his efforts in bringing this 6 bill to fruition. 7 I wish to thank Senator Bruno, 8 who is our Majority Leader, who has taken a 9 leadership role in moving this bill along and 10 thank our colleagues in the Assembly. 11 This bill deserves immediate and 12 quick passage. It is a good bill. It is a 13 strong environmental bill. And I urge everyone 14 to vote for it. 15 Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Announce 17 the results. 18 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 20 is passed. 21 THE SECRETARY: Senator Wright 22 moves to -- excuse me. Senator Wright moves to 23 discharge from the Committee on Finance Assembly 24 Bill Number 4590 and substitute it for the 25 identical Third Reading Calendar 1656. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 2 substitution is ordered. 3 The Secretary will read the 4 title. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 1656, by member of the Assembly Tokasz, Assembly 7 Print 4590, an act to amend the Executive Law, 8 in relation to the Office of Fire Prevention and 9 Control. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Read the 11 last section. 12 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 13 act shall take effect immediately. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 15 roll. 16 (The Secretary called the roll.) 17 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 19 is passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 1657, by Senator Hannon, Senate Print 7349-B, an 22 act to authorize payments of additional Medicaid 23 funds to the New York City Health and Hospitals 24 Corporation. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 1 Secretary will read the last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. This 3 act shall take effect immediately. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 5 roll. 6 (The Secretary called the roll.) 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 9 is passed. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 1660, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 7841, an 12 act to amend Chapter 3 of the Laws of 1997, 13 amending the Banking Law. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 15 Skelos. 16 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 17 is there a message at the desk? 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is. 19 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 21 motion is to accept the message of necessity on 22 Calendar Number 1660. All those in favor 23 signify by saying aye. 24 (Response of "Aye".) 25 Opposed, nay. 1 (There was no response.) 2 The message is accepted. The 3 bill is before the house. The Secretary will 4 read the last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 7. This 6 act shall take effect immediately. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 8 roll. 9 (The Secretary called the roll.) 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 11 Farley to explain his vote. 12 SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you very 13 much, Mr. President. 14 This is the "wild card" bill that 15 everybody has been waiting for so anxiously. It 16 is the piece of legislation that extends the 17 power to the Superintendent of Banks, to give 18 any kind of authority that they feel is 19 necessary that national banks have. It's to 20 protect the state charter and the only 21 difference here is that the thrifts are in this 22 legislation for the insurance situation only. 23 I'd also like to -- I know she's 24 going to speak on it -- to applaud Senator 25 Santiago who's been very cooperative and very 1 helpful and the entire Senate that has been very 2 helpful working with the Assembly to put this 3 together and the Governor. 4 This is absolutely crucial for 5 New York State, if we are to maintain state 6 chartered banks which have to be headquartered 7 in New York, which actually provides a lot of 8 jobs and the whole Banking Department is 9 self-funded by the industry itself. 10 So this is a good piece of 11 legislation. I wish it was permanent, but it's 12 the best we could do. 13 Thank you, Mr. President. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 15 Farley will be recorded in the affirmative. 16 Senator Santiago, to explain her 17 vote. 18 SENATOR SANTIAGO: Mr. President, 19 I was hoping not to see this bill again, Senator 20 Farley, certainly not in this form. 21 This legislation -- and I tried 22 to minimize it so you could understand it 23 clearly -- only extends the "wild card" banking 24 law another two years. 25 This means that we will revisit. 1 We will go through this process again in the 2 year 2000 and that part of the bill and that 3 process is something I'm really not looking 4 forward to. 5 I think it's a shame because it 6 will keep state banks resistant to expanding 7 their power for fear of losing them later. This 8 bill keeps banks competitively behind and you 9 need to underscore "behind" national banks. 10 However, we're grateful that it 11 came out of committee. We waited. I would like 12 to thank Senator Farley from the bottom of my 13 heart because he kept me informed every step of 14 the way with good news and bad news. It was 15 probably the best experience I have had in the 16 Senate, and I think the developments of this 17 bill reflect the fact that we worked so closely 18 together, sir, and I want to thank you for that. 19 I vote in the affirmative. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Santiago will be recorded in the affirmative. 22 Senator Leichter, to explain his 23 vote. 24 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes. Mr. 25 President, I hate to rain on this parade. I 1 know that for Senator Farley this bill is just a 2 little bit behind the Holy Grail in significance 3 and importance and I understand how hard he and 4 Senator Santiago, with the best of intentions, 5 have worked on it, but I think the one thing 6 that we need to understand as a body is that we 7 are giving up our legislative powers, powers 8 that, I think are very important be exercised by 9 the Legislature and not by the Banking Board, 10 and when you strip the bill of all of its 11 rhetoric, what does it do? Well, it's going to 12 keep state chartered banks here, and so on, but 13 it means that the state chartered banks will not 14 be under the same control of the Legislature and 15 also will mean that by and large state chartered 16 banks may be given powers of national banks that 17 we feel are not in the interest of New York 18 State consumers. 19 So what do we gain? Well, if 20 they have a state charter, it means they pay 21 some money to the state Banking Department but 22 they don't do what we want them to do and what 23 we think is necessary for the benefit of 24 consumers. 25 We realize we have a real problem 1 because more and more banking is becoming a 2 national operation under national control. It 3 becomes harder and harder for the state really 4 to have any role and for us to exercise the 5 jurisdiction that we would like to, but rather 6 than go along and join the march of defeatists, 7 I would like to see us assert that the New York 8 State Legislature will not give up its powers to 9 the Banking Board to regulate something as 10 important as banking. 11 Mr. President, I vote in the 12 negative. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 Leichter will be recorded in the negative. 15 Senator Gold, to explain his 16 vote. 17 SENATOR GOLD: Yeah. Mr. 18 President, Senator Farley, you have been a 19 gentleman and I appreciate that and I've 20 listened to the remarks of Senator Santiago. 21 So I will tell you, Senator 22 Farley, I will vote for the bill today, but I 23 will not vote for it in the year 2000. 24 (Laughter) 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 1 Gold will be recorded in the affirmative. 2 Announce the results. 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 56, nays 1, 4 Senator Leichter recorded in the negative. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 6 is passed. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 1662, by Senator Spano, Senate Print 7681-A, an 9 act to amend the Workers' Compensation Law. 10 SENATOR SKELOS: Lay it aside 11 temporarily. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 13 bill aside temporarily. 14 Senator Skelos, that completes 15 the non-controversial reading of Supplemental 16 Calendar 54-A. What's your pleasure? 17 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 18 are there any live bills on the calendar needing 19 to be debated? 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Skelos. 22 SENATOR SKELOS: Can we return to 23 motions and resolutions. Would you please 24 recognize Senator Cook. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We'll 1 return to the order of motions and resolutions. 2 The Chair recognizes Senator 3 Cook. 4 SENATOR COOK: Mr. President, on 5 page 14, I offer the following amendments to 6 Calendar 633, Senate Print 6276-B, and ask that 7 said bill retain its place on the Third Reading 8 Calendar. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 10 amendments to Calendar Number 633 are received 11 and adopted. The bill will retain its place on 12 the Third Reading Calendar. 13 SENATOR COOK: Mr. President, for 14 the advice of the members, we expect to vote on 15 this next Tuesday, so they might want to be 16 reading the amendments. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 18 Gold and Senator Leichter have acknowledged that 19 they'll be here. 20 SENATOR MARCHI: Mr. President. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Marchi, why do you rise? 23 SENATOR MARCHI: I seek the 24 consent of this august body to -- the bill that 25 just recently left the house, Calendar Number 1 1624, Senate -- well, 1624 -- we'll let it go at 2 that -- to be recorded in the negative. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 4 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Marchi 5 will be recorded in the negative on Calendar 6 Number 1624. The Senate will stand at ease 7 momentarily. 8 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at 9 ease from 11:58 a.m. until 12:10 p.m.) 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 11 Senate will come to order. 12 Senator Skelos. 13 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 14 on the first active list, would you please call 15 up Calendar Number 1234, by Senator Leibell. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: For the 17 benefit of the members, on the first calendar of 18 the day, Calendar Number 54, Calendar Number 19 1234 on that calendar. 20 The Secretary will read. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 1234, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 3929-B, 23 an act to amend the Real Property Actions and 24 Proceedings Law, in relation to a special 25 procedure. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 2 Skelos. 3 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There's a 5 message of necessity at the desk. The motion is 6 to accept the message on Calendar Number 1234. 7 All those in favor signify by saying aye. 8 (Response of "Aye".) 9 Opposed, nay. 10 (There was no response.) 11 The message is accepted. The 12 bill is before the house. 13 SENATOR LEICHTER: Explanation. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 15 Explanation of Calendar Number 1234 has been 16 requested, Senator Leibell, from Senator 17 Leichter. 18 SENATOR LEIBELL: Lay it aside. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 20 bill aside. 21 Senator Skelos. 22 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 23 would you call up Calendar Number 1653 on 24 Supplemental Calendar 54-A. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 1 Secretary will read. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 1653, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 4 Print 7840, an act to amend Chapter 50 of the 5 Laws of 1998. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7 Skelos. 8 SENATOR SKELOS: Is there a 9 message at the desk? 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is. 11 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 13 motion is to accept the message of necessity on 14 Calendar 1653. All those in favor signify by 15 saying aye. 16 (Response of "Aye".) 17 Opposed, nay. 18 (There was no response.) 19 The message is accepted. The 20 bill is before the house. The Secretary will 21 read the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 23 act shall take effect immediately. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 25 roll. 1 (The Secretary called the roll.) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 4 is passed. 5 Senator Skelos. 6 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 7 on the same calendar, would you please call up 8 Calendar Number 1658. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 10 Secretary will read. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 1658, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 13 Print 7679-A, an act to amend the Real Property 14 Tax Law and the New York City Charter, in 15 relation - 16 SENATOR SKELOS: Is there a 17 message at the desk? 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is. 19 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 21 motion is to accept the message of necessity on 22 Calendar Number 1658. All those in favor 23 signify by saying aye. 24 (Response of "Aye".) 25 Opposed, nay. 1 (There was no response.) 2 The message is accepted. The 3 bill is before the house. 4 SENATOR GOLD: Explanation. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 6 Explanation has been requested. 7 Senator Skelos, who would you 8 like to have explain Calendar Number 1658? 9 SENATOR HANNON: Mr. President. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 11 Hannon, for the purpose of an explanation. 12 SENATOR HANNON: Mr. President, 13 this deals with procedures in regard to the 14 challenge of real property taxes. In effect, it 15 applies only to those who would challenge 16 commercial parcels. It does a number of 17 things. It includes restoring the proofs to 18 what was the proof available as of one year ago 19 and - 20 SENATOR GOLD: Mr. President, 21 it's very hard to hear. I'm sorry. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 23 Gold is having a difficult time hearing as are 24 other members, Senator Hannon. 25 Could we please have the members 1 take their chairs, have the staff their places, 2 curtail the discussions in the chamber. 3 Senator Hannon, as soon as 4 Senator Leibell and Senator Maltese are through 5 with their discussion, we'll proceed. 6 Senator Hannon, for the purpose 7 of an explanation. 8 SENATOR HANNON: Thank you, Mr. 9 President. 10 This bill deals with the type of 11 proof that can be offered in regard to 12 challenges to real property tax assessments. 13 As a matter of fact, it only 14 deals with commercial parcels. It has no effect 15 on the small -- small -- the residential which 16 are still available to go through the small 17 claims assessment review process. 18 It would restore to the statutes 19 the types of proof that were available up until 20 last August when, I believe, in a technical 21 error the -- there was changes made and it only 22 does -- it only affects the two special 23 assessing units in the entire state which are 24 the city of New York and the county of Nassau. 25 It would save significant dollars 1 to each municipality. It would allow for proof 2 still to be offered in appropriate circumstances 3 and what it does, in essence, is remove items 4 that are just inappropriate for the 5 circumstances. 6 SENATOR GOLD: Mr. President. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 8 Gold. 9 SENATOR GOLD: Yeah. Will the 10 gentleman yield to a question? 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 12 Hannon, do you yield to a question from Senator 13 Gold? 14 SENATOR HANNON: Yes. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 16 Senator yields. 17 SENATOR GOLD: Senator Hannon, to 18 break it down in just a little simpler language, 19 my understanding -- by the way, Senator, you're 20 a gentleman. I want you to know that there will 21 be a slow roll call on the bill, but to break it 22 down into simpler language, right now if 23 somebody believes that there is an inequitable 24 assessment against their property, they can use 25 certain methods of showing the inequity and 1 whether they were put into the statute you say 2 as an error or -- I don't know whether it was an 3 error -- it was put into the statute in some 4 way, by passing this, aren't we, in effect, 5 limiting the manner in which somebody who 6 believes they are inequitably assessed, can 7 prove their case? 8 SENATOR HANNON: No. 9 SENATOR GOLD: Senator, let me 10 ask you another question. 11 SENATOR HANNON: I continue to 12 yield. 13 SENATOR GOLD: Pardon me? 14 SENATOR HANNON: I continue to 15 yield. 16 SENATOR GOLD: Thank you, sir. 17 As I understand it, Senator, 18 under the existing law, so-called comparable 19 sales could be used today in challenging the 20 assessment. Is that true? 21 SENATOR HANNON: Yes. 22 SENATOR GOLD: If this becomes 23 law, Senator, will the people affected be able 24 to use comparable sales? 25 SENATOR HANNON: No. 1 SENATOR GOLD: Well, so -- on the 2 bill, Mr. President. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 Gold, on the bill. 5 SENATOR GOLD: I am perplexed by 6 Senator Hannon's answer to my question three 7 questions ago, but maybe he'll explain it. 8 There is unquestionably, based upon his last two 9 answers, a change in the ability of a property 10 owner to prove their case. 11 Now, there are people opposed to 12 this and I respect the city of New York and 13 they're opposed but, you know, I don't know any 14 defendant in any litigated matter who would not 15 like to be able to limit the way a plaintiff can 16 submit their proof and we have cadres of law 17 which define how you can prove cases, and these 18 are set up to do some equity, not to stop 19 plaintiffs or protect defendants or hurt 20 defendants and help plaintiffs but the bottom 21 line issue in these cases is a simple issue. 22 Was there an inequitable assessment of a 23 taxpayer? That's the issue. 24 Now, from the point of view, as I 25 understand the city of New York's memorandum, if 1 the current law remains, it is, quotes "easier", 2 end quotes, for someone who is being handled 3 inequitably to establish what? To establish 4 that they are being handled inequitably. 5 If this law passes, it will 6 eliminate one of the methods by which someone 7 who has property can prove -- can prove what? 8 Can prove that they are being treated 9 inequitably. 10 Now, I don't know why the city of 11 New York or any other municipality would want to 12 be in the situation of saying that if we are 13 treating a taxpayer inequitably we want to make 14 it harder for them to prove - 15 SENATOR HANNON: Senator Gold, 16 may I interrupt? 17 SENATOR GOLD: Yes, sir. 18 SENATOR HANNON: Senator Gold, 19 are you aware that there are continued 20 procedures and there are continued standards for 21 people to make sure that equality can be 22 continued even after this bill is passed and 23 becomes law? 24 SENATOR GOLD: No, no, because - 25 SENATOR HANNON: You're not aware 1 of that. 2 SENATOR GOLD: Excuse me. Excuse 3 me. You asked me a question. I say no because 4 it's a loaded question. The fact is that if 5 this bill becomes law, there will be two methods 6 of proof still available, as I understand it, 7 but those methods of proof are harder than the 8 method of proof that you're eliminating and, 9 Senator, my objection to the bill is that if a 10 taxpayer is being inequitably treated, they 11 ought to be getting some relief. We shouldn't 12 be determining bills that make it harder for a 13 taxpayer to just get equal treatment with the 14 other taxpayers in equal situations. That's all 15 that the bill is talking about and that's all 16 that I'm talking about. 17 If you put in a bill, Senator 18 Hannon, that increased five other ways they 19 could prove their case, I would support it. It 20 doesn't mean that taxpayers are going to get a 21 break they're not entitled to. The only issue 22 in these proceedings is whether or not taxpayer 23 A is being treated on the same basis as taxpayer 24 B, and I don't know why any - 25 SENATOR HANNON: Senator Gold. 1 SENATOR GOLD: Yes. 2 SENATOR HANNON: Let me just 3 interrupt. 4 SENATOR GOLD: Are you asking me 5 to yield, sir? 6 SENATOR HANNON: Yes, sir. 7 SENATOR GOLD: Senator Kuhl, I 8 will yield, Mr. President. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 10 Senator yields. 11 SENATOR HANNON: Do you believe 12 that when somebody's assessed, then they should 13 be able to challenge it on the same basis that 14 they're assessed on? 15 SENATOR GOLD: I think that when 16 somebody is assessed, the bottom line result, 17 which I know you have to agree with me on, the 18 bottom line result is that the assessment should 19 be fair as it is to everybody else in the 20 community. 21 SENATOR HANNON: Second 22 question. Will you continue to yield? 23 SENATOR GOLD: Yes, sir. 24 SENATOR HANNON: Do you know that 25 they're not assessed on sales price right now in 1 the city of New York? 2 SENATOR GOLD: Yes, sir. 3 SENATOR HANNON: Do you know that 4 they're assessed on the basis of the value 5 derived from the income that's produced? 6 SENATOR GOLD: I know, sir, that 7 the attempt over the last few years has been to 8 get an assessment basis that is fair. 9 I know, Senator Hannon, that over 10 the years there has been much question raised, 11 should we be at 100 percent of value? Should we 12 be this; should we be that and all those 13 questions resolved themselves down one issue and 14 the one issue is shouldn't we not be fair to 15 each taxpayer to make sure that as between 16 taxpayers and their neighbors it's fair, and so, 17 Senator, that's more important to me. It really 18 is. That's more important to me than whether or 19 not we are using this particular setup in the 20 city and in Nassau but in Albany and Rochester 21 you can do it any darn way you want. 22 It seems to me that when you're 23 talking about how somebody proves their case, I 24 have to -- my ears perk up because if the bottom 25 line is to correct - 1 SENATOR HANNON: Let me ask you 2 another question. 3 SENATOR GOLD: Let me finish the 4 sentence. -- if the bottom line is that we here 5 are protecting that at least between all of our 6 constituents they be treated equally, I don't 7 know why we would want to limit the manner of 8 proof that somebody gives to show that they're 9 being treated inequitably. 10 SENATOR HANNON: These commercial 11 taxpayers that you're trying to argue for, do 12 you know that they're now assessed based on 13 their income producing stream and if you allow 14 sales, that's an entirely different standard and 15 allows, in fact, inequality if you change the 16 standard? 17 SENATOR GOLD: Senator, I think 18 that the concept that by limiting the proof you 19 are running into a situation of inequality, is 20 something that I have a lot of problem with. 21 I know, as you do, that there are 22 thousands of cases every year where taxpayers 23 bring certiorari cases in order to try to argue 24 that they are in some way being inequitably 25 treated. 1 In seems to me, Senator, that in 2 a situation in Nassau County -- and I look over 3 there at -- and I look back here at our two 4 newest members and I say, My gosh, I've got to 5 protect them -- actually I don't. They protect 6 themselves very well, but in Nassau and in New 7 York City, I don't know how this bill prejudices 8 taxpayers. 9 I do know that from the point of 10 view of the municipalities they are concerned 11 that if the bill doesn't pass they may have to 12 pay people back some of the tax money that they 13 took which perhaps they received in an 14 inequitable way, and that's the way I look at 15 it, and if I were the mayor of the city of New 16 York, maybe I would not want to have this bill 17 pass, although I'll tell you this. With all due 18 respect to the mayor -- he's a fine gentleman - 19 I wouldn't want something on the books that was 20 allowing me to gain income in an inequitable 21 way. 22 SENATOR HANNON: And do you know 23 that if your argument would be to prevail -- and 24 I can go at it at length -- if your argument 25 prevails, Senator, and I know that you should - 1 you're skilled in the courtroom, that you know 2 about standards of proof, that you will be 3 causing an inequality, that you will be causing 4 an unfairness and that's because these 5 properties are assessed on the basis of their 6 value derived from the income they produce. The 7 rent roll, that gives you a certain value. If 8 you use sales, you're changing the standard and 9 sales are very random. They're very rare. 10 What has happened in the city of 11 New York, beginning under, I believe Ed Koch and 12 continued under David Dinkins but under their 13 commissioners of finance, totally revised their 14 system of doing it to try to bring their rolls 15 into an equality and for commercial property, 16 they took a look at their revenue streams and 17 they said the values derived from them will hit 18 a 45 percent assessment ratio. 19 Now, if you change around and in 20 proof -- and in proof allow for sales, you're 21 using a whole different standard and you will 22 create inequality where you have had equality 23 and that's the problem. 24 SENATOR GOLD: Will the Senator 25 yield to a question? Will the Senator yield to 1 a question? 2 SENATOR HANNON: Yes. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 4 Senator yields. 5 SENATOR GOLD: Senator, if this 6 bill becomes law, will the following still be a 7 method of proving the case, using the New York 8 State Board of Property Services class 9 equalization rate? 10 SENATOR HANNON: For part of it. 11 The other part would be dealt by Section 2 of 12 the bill for the city of New York where their 13 established system, which they had worked for 14 decades, the home, would be the ratio 15 established by the commissioner of finance, and 16 which I believe it may or may not be in effect 17 because it's a question of whether last year's 18 last August law overrides it or not. 19 Now, it's been a long time since 20 I have been an expert in doing these things and 21 I don't practice this at all, but I watch it as 22 a taxpayer and I do believe that the fairness 23 you get is by making sure that a few favored 24 commercial property owners don't get an unfair 25 break and rather you get the money distributed 1 to all of the property owners, including to the 2 residential people who we're trying to make sure 3 get a fair break. 4 SENATOR GOLD: Mr. President. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6 Gold. 7 SENATOR GOLD: Yeah. Senator, 8 I'm looking at some legal work on this issue - 9 and I don't practice - 10 SENATOR HANNON: You have the 11 advantage of a memo from some law firm that I 12 don't have the advantage of and if you would 13 share it with me, I would go through it. I 14 could respond appropriately, but I don't have 15 the advantage of that. 16 SENATOR GOLD: Well, Senator, my 17 suggestion -- because I think that there are 18 legitimate questions being raised and - 19 SENATOR HANNON: I offered before 20 the debate -- I heard that you had questions in 21 Rules -- to go over and explain it and I still 22 -- that offer still stands. 23 SENATOR GOLD: Well, what I would 24 do is by way of counter-offer - 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Would the 1 two of you like to go outside? 2 SENATOR GOLD: No. What I would 3 like to do -- what I would like to do is to 4 offer to have him look at the memo and perhaps 5 put this bill over to next week, give us some 6 time to study the issue. 7 I think, Mr. President -- on the 8 bill, Mr. President. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 10 Gold, on the bill. 11 SENATOR GOLD: I believe that 12 it's unfortunate that the issue is coming up 13 today at this time, and I think that this end of 14 session leaves me with a good feeling. I think 15 I've seen the two sides of the aisle cooperating 16 very, very well over the last few days and I 17 think we have been able to work through our work 18 pretty well, but it doesn't mean that there 19 aren't some bills that just need a better look 20 than to come flying out of Rules the last minute 21 and it certainly is no -- I don't mean to cast 22 any aspersions upon Senator Hannon because 23 you're in the same predicament we all are, but 24 I'm looking at one memo and it indicates that 25 one of the methods used here, which would 1 continue, deals with the New York State Board of 2 Property Services and that under their system it 3 is based upon appraisal data and not actually 4 sales, and it seems to me as a non-expert in 5 this field that I don't know why you would set 6 up a system based upon appraisals, quesses, when 7 the fact of the matter is that you have the 8 opportunity to use real sales, real money, and I 9 can tell you that every one of us has experience 10 in buying and selling items and as that old 11 terrible joke where the guy is advised to buy, 12 buy, buy and then he wants to sell and the 13 broker says to who, the sales price of a 14 property is very significant and there are many 15 people who believe that their castles, be they 16 residential or commercial, are worth fortunes 17 until they go to sell it and they find out it's 18 not exactly so. 19 So, Senator Hannon, I'm nervous. 20 I hear what you say, Senator. You may know more 21 about this than I. I don't deny that, but I do 22 know that if the issue is equity here, I don't 23 know why we would want to limit the kinds of 24 proof that a property owner could offer in order 25 to seek equity, not to seek an advantage over 1 their neighbor, not to get a benefit other than 2 to say, Look, this is what's going on. This is 3 what my property is really worth and maybe, 4 Senator Hannon, the city of New York should 5 change the standard altogether. Maybe it 6 shouldn't be "X" standard. Maybe it should be 7 "Y", but I think taxpayers should be taxed on 8 the value of their property. If you're using 9 100 percent, fine, if you're using 45 percent, 10 fine, but at least give them the opportunity to 11 argue that they are being treated inequitably 12 and the way I look at the bill, I think we are 13 taking away one of the options of proof. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 15 Hannon, on the bill. 16 SENATOR HANNON: Yes. Senator 17 Gold raises some interesting objectives for us 18 to meet and I agree with those objectives, 19 equality and fairness. That's what this bill 20 tries to do. 21 When we talk about bills whizzing 22 out of Rules, this is all caused because 23 attached to the STAR program legislation that 24 whizzed out of Rules last year in August, had 25 these changes and standards that nobody looked 1 at and nobody realized the implications and it's 2 a difficult measure to argue because I'm talking 3 about standards of proof, but I think I can 4 argue it because I have some familiarity with 5 the property tax system and the property 6 valuation system, especially in New York and 7 Nassau. 8 If we were to allow the sales to 9 be used here, we actually introduce unfairness. 10 That's because the courts, when they review the 11 assessments of commercial property, say that the 12 municipalities must assess based on the income 13 producing stream and resulting value. That 14 actually is a good thing because it gives you a 15 steady stream, a steady predictability as to 16 what the value is. 17 If we just look at the last ten 18 years downstate, we know that there's been a 19 roller coaster of values. We know that a lot of 20 municipalities have seen widely varying aid to 21 their -- to especially the school districts 22 because the values have swung so widely. So the 23 courts have said we should use the income 24 system. That's still available as questions of 25 proof. 1 If we continue with this, we will 2 be facing the unfair creation of inequality. 3 We'll be giving people who bring the petitions 4 an unfair advantage and we will be causing 5 everybody else who has to pay real property 6 taxes a burden and that burden will be borne by 7 the non-challenging commercial and it will be 8 borne by all of the residential homeowners. So 9 we're trying to save money. 10 This has been the statute since 11 the mid-'80s until last August. This restores 12 it. It affects only Nassau and New York City. 13 It saves a great deal of money. I believe it 14 makes logic. If makes sense. It is fair and it 15 ought to be enacted. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 17 Secretary will read the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 19 act shall take effect immediately. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 21 roll. 22 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 24 Paterson, why do you rise? 25 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 1 we would like a slow roll call on this. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 3 Secretary will call the roll. Ring the bells. 4 Are there five members? There are five 5 requesting a slow roll call. 6 The Secretary will call the roll 7 slowly. 8 THE SECRETARY: Senator Abate. 9 SENATOR ABATE: No. 10 THE SECRETARY: Senator Alesi. 11 SENATOR ALESI: Yes. 12 THE SECRETARY: Senator Balboni. 13 SENATOR BALBONI: Mr. President. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 15 Balboni, to explain his vote. 16 SENATOR BALBONI: To characterize 17 this particular measure as somehow injuring the 18 ability of the plaintiff to bring the case and 19 to somehow disenfranchise the ability of a 20 Nassau County taxpayer, real property taxpayer, 21 to bring these types of suits is frankly just 22 disingenuous. 23 This bill restores the system 24 that's been there for decades. It is a system 25 that in a county where we have the only 1 countywide assessor, in a system -- in a year 2 where we're dealing with STAR and all of the 3 other issues, what this basically does is keeps 4 the playing field level. It provides the same 5 parity. 6 I vote in the affirmative. Thank 7 you. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 9 Balboni will be recorded in the affirmative. 10 Continue the slow roll call. 11 THE SECRETARY: Senator Breslin. 12 SENATOR BRESLIN: No. 13 THE SECRETARY: Senator Bruno. 14 (Affirmative indication.) 15 Senator Connor. 16 (Negative indication.) 17 Senator Cook. 18 SENATOR COOK: Yes. 19 THE SECRETARY: Senator 20 DeFrancisco. 21 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 22 THE SECRETARY: Senator 23 Dollinger. 24 (There was no response.) 25 Senator Farley. 1 SENATOR FARLEY: Aye. 2 THE SECRETARY: Senator 3 Fuschillo. 4 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Aye. 5 THE SECRETARY: Senator Gentile. 6 SENATOR GENTILE: No. 7 THE SECRETARY: Senator Gold. 8 SENATOR GOLD: No. 9 THE SECRETARY: Senator Gonzalez. 10 (There was no response.) 11 Senator Goodman. 12 SENATOR GOODMAN: Aye. 13 THE SECRETARY: Senator Hannon. 14 (Affirmative indication.) 15 Senator Hoffmann. 16 (There was no response.) 17 Senator Holland. 18 SENATOR HOLLAND: Yes. 19 THE SECRETARY: Senator Johnson. 20 SENATOR JOHNSON: Aye. 21 THE SECRETARY: Senator Kruger, 22 excused. 23 Senator Kuhl. 24 SENATOR KUHL: Aye. 25 THE SECRETARY: Senator Lachman, 1 excused. 2 Senator Lack. 3 (There was no response.) 4 Senator Larkin. 5 (There was no audible response.) 6 Senator LaValle. 7 (There was no response.) 8 Senator Leibell. 9 SENATOR LEIBELL: Aye. 10 THE SECRETARY: Senator Leichter. 11 SENATOR LEICHTER: No. 12 THE SECRETARY: Senator Libous. 13 (There was no response.) 14 Senator Maltese. 15 SENATOR MALTESE: No. 16 THE SECRETARY: Senator 17 Marcellino. 18 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Yes. 19 THE SECRETARY: Senator Marchi. 20 SENATOR MARCHI: Aye. 21 THE SECRETARY: Senator 22 Markowitz. 23 SENATOR MARKOWITZ: No. 24 THE SECRETARY: Senator Maziarz. 25 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Yes. 1 THE SECRETARY: Senator Meier. 2 SENATOR MEIER: Yes. 3 THE SECRETARY: Senator Mendez. 4 (There was no response.) 5 Senator Montgomery. 6 (There was no response.) 7 Senator Nanula. 8 SENATOR NANULA: No. 9 THE SECRETARY: Senator Nozzolio. 10 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Aye. 11 THE SECRETARY: Senator Onorato. 12 SENATOR ONORATO: No. 13 THE SECRETARY: Senator 14 Oppenheimer. 15 (There was no response.) 16 Senator Padavan. 17 SENATOR PADAVAN: No. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 19 Paterson, why do you rise? 20 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 21 in alphabetical order was Senator Mendez' name 22 ever called? 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: She was. 24 She was not in her seat. We didn't record a 25 vote for her but, Senator Mendez, how do you 1 vote? 2 SENATOR MENDEZ: No. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: No. 4 Senator Mendez will be recorded in the 5 negative. 6 Continue the slow roll call. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 8 Padavan -- Senator Padavan, how are you voting? 9 SENATOR PADAVAN: Negative. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: In the 11 negative. Senator Padavan recorded in the 12 negative. 13 Continue the slow roll call. 14 THE SECRETARY: Senator Paterson. 15 SENATOR PATERSON: No. 16 THE SECRETARY: Senator Present. 17 SENATOR PRESENT: Aye. 18 THE SECRETARY: Senator Rath. 19 SENATOR RATH: Aye. 20 THE SECRETARY: Senator Rosado. 21 SENATOR ROSADO: No. 22 THE SECRETARY: Senator Saland. 23 (There was no response.) 24 Senator Sampson. 25 (There was no response.) 1 Senator Santiago. 2 SENATOR SANTIAGO: No. 3 THE SECRETARY: Senator Seabrook. 4 (There was no response.) 5 Senator Seward. 6 SENATOR SEWARD: Yes. 7 THE SECRETARY: Senator Skelos. 8 SENATOR SKELOS: Yes. 9 THE SECRETARY: Senator Smith. 10 SENATOR SMITH: No. 11 THE SECRETARY: Senator Spano. 12 (There was no response.) 13 Senator Stachowski. 14 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: No. 15 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford. 16 (There was no response.) 17 Senator Stavisky. 18 (There was no response.) 19 Senator Trunzo. 20 SENATOR TRUNZO: Yes. 21 THE SECRETARY: Senator Velella. 22 (There was no response.) 23 Senator Volker. 24 SENATOR VOLKER: Yes. 25 THE SECRETARY: Senator Waldon. 1 (Negative indication.) 2 Senator Wright. 3 SENATOR WRIGHT: Aye. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 5 Secretary will call the absentees. 6 THE SECRETARY: Senator 7 Dollinger. 8 SENATOR DOLLINGER: No. 9 THE SECRETARY: Senator Gonzalez. 10 (There was no response.) 11 Senator Hoffmann. 12 SENATOR HOFFMANN: No. 13 THE SECRETARY: Senator Lack. 14 SENATOR LACK: Aye. 15 THE SECRETARY: Senator LaValle. 16 (There was no response.) 17 Senator Libous. 18 SENATOR LIBOUS: Yes. 19 THE SECRETARY: Senator 20 Montgomery. 21 (There was no response.) 22 Senator Oppenheimer. 23 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: No. 24 THE SECRETARY: Senator Saland. 25 SENATOR SALAND: Aye. 1 THE SECRETARY: Senator Sampson. 2 (There was no response.) 3 Senator Seabrook. 4 (There was no response.) 5 Senator Spano. 6 SENATOR SPANO: Aye. 7 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stafford. 8 SENATOR STAFFORD: Aye. 9 THE SECRETARY: Senator LaValle. 10 SENATOR LAVALLE: No. 11 THE SECRETARY: Senator Stavisky. 12 (There was no response.) 13 Senator Velella. 14 (There was no response.) 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Announce 16 the results. 17 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 31, nays 22. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 19 is passed. 20 Senator Skelos. 21 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 22 would you call up Calendar Number 1654 on 23 Supplemental Calendar 54-A. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 25 Secretary will read. 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 1654, by Senator Velella, Senate Print 7842, an 3 act in relation to the implementation of the 4 terms of written agreements. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 6 Skelos -- Senator Skelos. 7 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 8 is there a message of necessity at the desk? 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is. 10 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 12 motion is to accept the message of necessity on 13 Calendar Number 1654. All those in favor 14 signify by saying aye. 15 (Response of "Aye".) 16 Opposed, nay. 17 (There was no response.) 18 The message is accepted. The 19 bill is before the house. The Secretary will 20 read the last section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 22 act shall take effect immediately. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 24 roll. 25 (The Secretary called the roll.) 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 3 is passed. 4 Senator Skelos. 5 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 6 would you call up Calendar Number 1659, by 7 Senator Hannon. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 9 Secretary will read. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 1659, by Senator Hannon, Senate Print 7834, an 12 act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to the 13 payment of certain lottery prize. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 15 Skelos. 16 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 17 is there a message of necessity at the desk? 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is. 19 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 21 motion is to accept the message of necessity on 22 Calendar Number 1659. All those in favor 23 signify by saying aye. 24 (Response of "Aye".) 25 Opposed, nay. 1 (There was no response.) 2 The message is accepted. The 3 bill is before the house. The Secretary will 4 read the last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 6 act shall take effect immediately. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 8 roll. 9 (The Secretary called the roll.) 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 11 Gold, to explain his vote? 12 SENATOR GOLD: Do I have to 13 abstain? 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Announce 15 the results. 16 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 18 is passed. 19 Senator Skelos. 20 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 21 would you call up Calendar Number 1661, by 22 Senator Trunzo. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 24 Secretary will read. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 1 1661, by Senator Trunzo, Senate Bill 7816, an 2 act to amend the Civil Service Law, in relation 3 to promotional eligibility. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 5 Skelos. 6 SENATOR SKELOS: Is there a 7 message at the desk? 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There 9 is. 10 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Motion is 12 to accept the message of necessity on Calendar 13 Number 1661. All those in favor signify by 14 saying aye. 15 (Response of "Aye.") 16 Opposed nay. 17 (There was no response.) 18 The message is accepted. Bill is 19 before the house. Secretary will read the last 20 section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 22 act shall take effect immediately. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 24 roll. 25 (The Secretary called the roll.) 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Bill is 3 passed. 4 Senator Skelos. 5 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 6 on Calendar Number 54, would you call up 7 Calendar Number 1334. It's on the main 8 calendar. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 10 will read Calendar Number 1334 on the first 11 calendar of the day. 12 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 13 call up - 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 15 will read. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 1334, by Senator Johnson, Senate Print 7101-A, 18 an act to amend the Transportation Law, in 19 relation to the regulations. 20 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 21 is there a message of necessity at the desk? 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There 23 is. 24 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Motion is 1 to accept the message of necessity on Calendar 2 Number 1334. All in favor, say aye. 3 (Response of "Aye.") 4 Opposed nay. 5 (There was no response.) 6 The message is accepted. 7 Secretary will read the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 17. This 9 act shall take effect immediately. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 11 roll. 12 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 15 is passed. 16 Senator Skelos. 17 SENATOR SKELOS: If we could, I 18 believe there are substitutions to be made, 19 housekeeping to be done. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 21 Housekeeping. 22 SENATOR SKELOS: Please make the 23 substitutions. 24 THE SECRETARY: On page 10, 25 Senator Present moves to discharge from the 1 Committee on Rules Assembly Bill Number 5278 and 2 substitute it for the identical Third Reading 3 Calendar 475. 4 And on page 17, Senator Alesi 5 moves to discharge from the Committee on Rules 6 Assembly Bill Number 8892-A, and substitute it 7 for the identical Third Reading Calendar 759. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 9 Substitutions are ordered. 10 Senator Skelos. 11 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 12 on Calendar Number 54, will you please lay aside 13 for the day Calendar Number 1234, by Senator 14 Leibell. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Calendar 16 Number 1234 will be laid aside for the day. 17 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President - 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 19 Skelos. 20 SENATOR SKELOS: On the original 21 calendar, on page 4, please call up Calendar 22 Number 1079. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Original 24 calendar, page 24, Secretary will read Calendar 25 Number 1079. 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 1079, by member of the Assembly McEneny, 3 Assembly Print 6872-A, an act to amend the New 4 York State Archives Partnership Trust Act. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 6 will read the last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 8 act shall take effect immediately. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 10 roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 14 is passed. 15 Senator Skelos. 16 SENATOR SKELOS: If we could 17 stand at ease again. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senate 19 will stand at ease for a few moments. 20 (The Senate stood at ease from 21 12:55 to 1:18 p.m.) 22 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT NOZZOLIO: 24 Senator Skelos. 25 SENATOR SKELOS: On the original 1 calendar, Calendar Number 54, would you please 2 call up Calendar Number 906, by Senator Farley. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT NOZZOLIO: 4 Secretary -- Calendar Number 906, by Senator 5 Farley. Secretary will read. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 906, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 8 Assembly Print 11218-A, an act to amend the 9 Banking Law. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT NOZZOLIO: 11 Senator Skelos? Read the last section. 12 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 13 act shall take effect January 1st, 1999. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT NOZZOLIO: Call 15 the roll. 16 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 17 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 57. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT NOZZOLIO: The 19 bill is passed. 20 SENATOR SKELOS: Excellent job, 21 Mr. President. 22 Senate will stand at ease. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT NOZZOLIO: Stand 24 at ease. 25 (The Senate stood at ease from 1 1:19 to 1:25 p.m.) 2 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senate 4 will come to order. Senators will take their 5 places. 6 SENATOR SKELOS: On the 7 Supplemental Calendar 54A, would you please call 8 up Calendar Number 1645, by Senator Leibell. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 10 will read the title to Calendar 1645. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 1645, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 7287-C, 13 an act to amend the Public Health Law, Public 14 Officers Law and the State Finance Law. 15 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 16 is there a message at the desk? 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There 18 is. 19 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Motion to 21 accept the message of necessity on Calendar 22 Number 1645. All those in favor, signify by 23 saying aye. 24 (Response of "Aye.") 25 Opposed nay. 1 (There was no response.) 2 The message is accepted. The 3 bill is before the house. Secretary will read 4 the last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. This 6 act shall take effect January 1st, 1999. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Chair 8 recognizes Senator Leibell, to explain his 9 vote. 10 SENATOR LEIBELL: Mr. President, 11 in bill establishes, this legislation, the 12 Spinal Cord Injury Research Trust Fund and 13 Board. 14 First, I'd like to thank Governor 15 Pataki for his tremendous assistance, Senator 16 Bruno, Assemblyman Griffith, our counsel Bob 17 Farley, for a job that's been tremendous in 18 getting this legislation through. 19 This legislation was requested by 20 Paul Richter, who is a New York State Trooper 21 retired who was shot seriously and injured in 22 the line of duty. I'd also like to thank my 23 constituent who I spoke to the other day, 24 Christopher Reeve, who is certainly very well 25 known for his activities in this area. 1 Mr. President, every year 10,000 2 Americans tragically sustain spinal injury. 3 There is now great hope. There is tremendous 4 scientific research in this area. It's the 5 intent of this legislation to further research 6 greatly in this area. This is a tremendous 7 commitment on the part of our state to put some 8 very, very substantial amount of money every 9 year into research. 10 We are all very hopeful and 11 optimistic that, in the not too distant future, 12 there will be found a cure for this terrible 13 injury to spinal cords. 14 This legislation, I believe, is 15 landmark certainly for the Northeast. We hope 16 that it will be a model for our sister states in 17 the region and throughout the country and, as I 18 said, I thank all of those who have been so 19 helpful. This is a great piece of legislation. 20 Thank you, Mr. President. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Volker, to explain his vote. 23 SENATOR VOLKER: Mr. President, I 24 want to compliment Senator Leibell also. I 25 initially, as you know, Senator Leibell I had a 1 problem with this bill, not the intent and all 2 that is wonderful, but initially as I understand 3 this bill it was going to be another surcharge 4 on traffic offenses, and so forth. The problem, 5 so that everybody understands, in my committee 6 there must be 15 or 20 requests for new 7 surcharges on traffic -- on summonses and also 8 on penal -- on crimes. 9 The problem is that, to a certain 10 extent, we already have somewhat of a problem 11 the local justices are telling us it's hard for 12 them to fine anybody because the surcharges are 13 becoming so much that they're eating up a great 14 deal of revenue. This bill, however, does not 15 do that because it takes a part of the revenue 16 that's already in place from -- from a surcharge 17 that's already there. 18 The only reason I point it out is 19 that there is a tendency, I think, on the part 20 of everybody to try to say, well, this is a 21 wonderful thing, so let's -- let's just stick 22 another surcharge on. That's not what's 23 happening here. This is certainly a very noble 24 reason and taking this out of the present 25 surcharge money is fine. 1 The trooper who has been 2 promoting this is a very great fellow who I 3 happen to know, and my compliments to you, 4 Senator Leibell, because I think this is a great 5 bill. 6 I vote yes. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 8 Volker will be recorded in the affirmative. 9 Announce the results. 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 12 is passed. 13 Senator Skelos. 14 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 15 on the same calendar, would you lay aside for 16 the day Calendar Number 1662. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Calendar 18 Number 1662 will be laid aside for the day. 19 SENATOR SKELOS: Stand at ease, 20 Mr. President. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 22 Senate will stand at ease. 23 We do have one substitution, 24 Senator Skelos, before we stand at ease, 25 substitution. Secretary will read the 1 substitution. 2 THE SECRETARY: On page 19, 3 Senator Trunzo moves to discharge from the 4 Committee on Rules Assembly Bill 10684 and 5 substitute it for the identical Senate bill 6 6953. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 8 Substitution is ordered, and the Senate will 9 stand at east. 10 (Senate stood at ease from 1:30 11 to 1:35 p.m.) 12 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senate 14 will come to order. 15 Senator Skelos. 16 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 17 on the original Calendar Number 54, would you 18 please call up Calendar Number 699. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: On the 20 original calendar, Calendar Number 699, the 21 Secretary will read. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 699, by member of the Assembly Canestrari, 24 Assembly Print 10235, an act to amend the 25 Education Law. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 2 will read the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 4 act shall take effect January 1st, 1999. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 6 roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 10 is passed. 11 Senator Skelos. 12 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 13 on the same calendar, would you call up Calendar 14 Number 1160. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 16 will read Calendar Number 1160. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 1160, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 19 Assembly Print 8556-A, an act to amend the 20 Education Law. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 22 will read the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 24 act shall take effect on the first day of 25 September. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 2 roll. 3 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 6 is passed. 7 SENATOR SKELOS: Is there any 8 housekeeping at the desk? 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We're 10 cleaning up here right now. 11 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. 12 President. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 Leichter, why do you rise? 15 SENATOR LEICHTER: Just one 16 second. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 18 Skelos. 19 SENATOR SKELOS: Please call up 20 Calendar Number 1607 on Calendar Number 54. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 22 will read Calendar Number 1607. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 1607, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 7760, an 25 act to amend the Real Property Tax Law. 1 SENATOR SKELOS: Is there a 2 message at the desk? 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There 4 is. 5 SENATOR SKELOS: Move we accept. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Motion is 7 to accept the message of necessity on Calendar 8 Number 1607. All those in favor say aye. 9 (Response of "Aye.") 10 Opposed nay. 11 (There was no response.) 12 The message is accepted. Bill is 13 before the house. Secretary will read the last 14 section. 15 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 16 act shall take effect on the same date as the 17 chapter. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 19 roll. 20 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 23 is passed. 24 Senator Skelos. 25 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 1 on the Farley agenda here, would you please call 2 up Calendar Number 903, by Senator Farley. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 4 will read Calendar Number 903. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 903, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 5716-A, an 7 act to amend the Banking Law. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 9 will read the last section. 10 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 11 act shall take effect on the 180th day. 12 SENATOR PATERSON: Explanation, 13 please. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 15 Farley. 16 SENATOR FARLEY: Somebody ask for 17 an explanation? 18 SENATOR GOLD: Everybody. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: An 20 explanation of Calendar Number 903 has been 21 requested by the Acting Minority Leader, Senator 22 Paterson. 23 SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you, 24 Senator -- Mr. President, Senator Paterson. 25 This sounds like a rather 1 complicated bill. It is not. It's a bill that 2 would enable licensed budget planners to be 3 organized as for-profit entities rather than 4 only being organized as not-for-profit 5 corporations. These entities would be subject 6 to all of the same requirements which currently 7 apply to licensees such as fingerprinting of 8 applicants, maintaining extensive records, 9 submitting regular reports on their activities, 10 being examined by the Department and having 11 their fees subject to the review and adjustment 12 of the Superintendent of Banks. 13 In addition, the bill adds new 14 provisions to ensure that proper regulations of 15 all the licensed budget planners include, they 16 require them to post a bond; it requires them to 17 enter into written contracts which must contain 18 certain information. It establishes criminal 19 and civil penalty for persons that operate 20 without a license, and it tightens the attorney 21 exemption. 22 We believe that, with appropriate 23 regulation and supervision, for-profit companies 24 can offer budget planning services in a 25 responsible and capable manner with appropriate 1 supervision. For-profit entities operate as 2 budget planners in other states, and New York 3 wanted to become part of this. 4 I'll be frank with you. The -- I 5 believe that the non -- not-for-profit budget 6 planning people oppose this, and what else is 7 new? 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 9 Paterson. 10 SENATOR PATERSON: Mr. President, 11 if Senator Farley would yield for a question. 12 SENATOR FARLEY: I'll try. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 yields. 15 SENATOR PATERSON: Senator, with 16 the expanded jurisdiction that would apply to 17 for-profit companies, would this not impinge 18 upon the ability of not-for-profits to act in 19 the marketplace? 20 SENATOR FARLEY: It would 21 impinge. Are you asking me would it impinge? 22 SENATOR PATERSON: Well, let me 23 put it this way. I really -- a few weeks ago, I 24 saw a number of bills in opposition from these 25 not-for-profit credit counseling services and 1 the like. 2 SENATOR FARLEY: Yes. 3 SENATOR PATERSON: And maybe the 4 more direct question would just be to ask you 5 are they still in opposition? 6 SENATOR FARLEY: Yes, they are. 7 Yes, they are. To my knowledge, they are. 8 SENATOR PATERSON: Then I'll 9 refer to my first question. 10 SENATOR FARLEY: Yes. 11 SENATOR PATERSON: And ask you 12 what's the basis for their opposition? 13 SENATOR FARLEY: I think the 14 opposition -- I suppose it's territory as so 15 many areas are. They are in a not -- generally 16 speaking, these budget planners are helping 17 people that are having credit problems, and the 18 not-for-profits, I presume from an altruistic 19 point of view say that they're able to help 20 these people on a very low cost basis for free 21 usually, and they -- you don't need this - 22 these for-profit budget planners, that they only 23 take away from -- actually they probably are 24 taking away from the creditors because they 25 arrange the credit allocation usually or the - 1 and they're taking away mostly from the proceeds 2 that would go to -- to the people, but you know, 3 from my point of view, particularly with credit 4 card debt kind of being a serious problem with 5 our society, if the for-profits can succeed and 6 do a good job and they're certainly well 7 regulated, I think that they should be able to 8 enter the free marketplace. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 10 Gentlemen, excuse me just a minute for the 11 interruption. 12 Senator Holland, why do you rise? 13 SENATOR HOLLAND: There will be 14 an immediate meeting of the Rules Committee in 15 Room 332. Last Rules. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Immediate 17 meeting of the Rules Committee, immediate 18 meeting of the Rules Committee in the Majority 19 Conference Room, Room 332. Immediate meeting of 20 the Rules committee in the Majority Conference 21 Room, Room 332. 22 Senator Paterson, you had the 23 floor. 24 SENATOR PATERSON: Yes, Mr. 25 President, if Senator Farley would continue to 1 yield. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 3 Farley. 4 SENATOR FARLEY: Certainly. 5 SENATOR PATERSON: Now that all 6 those people have left, Senator Farley, and just 7 you and me can talk. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: I don't 9 know what it was he said, Senator. 10 SENATOR FARLEY: He says it's 11 just you and me. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: And 13 thee. 14 SENATOR FARLEY: And thee. 15 SENATOR PATERSON: There are a 16 lot of these not-for-profit types of services 17 have been particularly successful in areas where 18 there's a relatively large credit card debt, and 19 (phone rings) -- hello -- sorry, Mr. President, 20 that was the Office of the Independent Counsel. 21 But I feel that, in these 22 situations, they have not only been able to 23 provide a low cost but they have also been able 24 to bring assurances to people who probably 25 didn't understand the system as well when they 1 got into it, and to some degree I'm not saying 2 they were fraudulently induced but certainly 3 were over-sold on what credit actually does and 4 we had a bill in here the other day where 5 Senator Maziarz wants to limit this kind of 6 application to college students, and I think 7 that's very good actually; but for those who 8 have already been victimized, this has been an 9 avenue of relief for them, and I just wanted to 10 make sure that there would still be some kind of 11 ability on the part of these not-for-profits to 12 actually exist, and I'm a little concerned that 13 the expanded jurisdiction is actually going to 14 run them right out of any - 15 SENATOR FARLEY: Oh, I doubt that 16 very much. From my own perspective, I think 17 that the for-profits would probably have a tough 18 time of it, because the not-for-profits 19 certainly have an advantage. They don't charge, 20 so you know, it's one of those things that, 21 whether you -- it's like the no-load mutual 22 funds and the load mutual funds. They both 23 exist. 24 I think this is a for-profit 25 credit counseling group that wants to get into 1 the marketplace and no one knows whether they'll 2 succeed, but I -- and we have -- I think what we 3 have to be careful of, what this bill does, it 4 provides plenty of safeguards and it -- the 5 Banking Department is going to be looking at 6 them very, very carefully to prevent any 7 concerns that all of us may have. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 9 will read the last section. 10 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 11 act shall take effect on the 180th day. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 13 roll. 14 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes -- ayes 56, 16 nays 2, Senators Connor and Paterson recorded in 17 the negative. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 19 is passed. 20 Senator Holland. 21 SENATOR HOLLAND: Mr. President, 22 on Supplemental Calendar Number 54A, could we 23 take up Bill Number 1647, please. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 25 will read Calendar Number 1647. 1 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 2 Calendar Number 1647, Senator Connor moves to 3 discharge from the Committee on Rules Assembly 4 bill 11354 and substitute it for the identical 5 Senate Bill 7752. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 7 Substitution is ordered. Secretary will read. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1647, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 10 Assembly Print 11354, an act to amend the Public 11 Authorities Law. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 Holland. 14 Secretary will read the last 15 section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 17 act shall take effect immediately. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 19 roll. 20 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 23 is passed. 24 Senator Holland. 25 SENATOR HOLLAND: We'll stand at 1 ease for a couple minutes, sir, please. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senate 3 will stand at ease. 4 (The Senate stood at ease from 5 1:50 to 1:52 p.m.) 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 7 Senate will come to order. Members find their 8 seats, staff their places. 9 Senator Skelos. 10 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 11 on Calendar Number 54, will you please call up 12 Calendar Number 1606, by Senator Cook. 13 THE SECRETARY: On the regular 14 calendar, Calendar Number 54, Secretary will 15 read Calendar Number 1606. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 1606, by Senator Cook, Senate Print 7759, an act 18 to amend the Real Property Tax Law. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 20 Skelos. 21 SENATOR SKELOS: Is there a 22 message at the desk? 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There 24 is. 25 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Motion is 2 to accept the message of necessity on Calendar 3 Number 1606. All those in favor signify by 4 saying aye. 5 (Response of "Aye.") 6 Opposed nay. 7 (There was no response.) 8 The message is accepted. Bill is 9 before the house. Secretary will read the last 10 section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 12 act shall take effect immediately. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 14 roll. 15 (The Secretary called the roll.) 16 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 18 is passed. 19 Senator Skelos. 20 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 21 if we could return to reports of standing 22 committees, I believe there's a report of the 23 Rules Committee at the desk. I'll ask it be 24 read. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We'll 1 return to the order of standing committees. 2 There is a report of the Rules Committee. The 3 Secretary will read. 4 THE SECRETARY: Senator Bruno, 5 from the Committee on Rules, offers up the 6 following bills directly to third reading: 7 Senate Bill 7848, by Senator 8 Balboni, an act to permit the sale or lease of 9 Pond View Homes; 10 7845, by Senator Goodman, an act 11 in relation to creating the Hudson River Park; 12 7846, by Senator Marcellino, an 13 act making appropriations from the Environmental 14 Appropriation Fund; 15 7847, by Senator Seward, an act 16 to amend the Economic Development Law; 17 7408, by Senator Paterson, an act 18 to amend the Public Authorities Law, and 19 1492-A, by Senator Velella, an 20 act to amend Chapter 1976 of the Laws of 1975. 21 All bills directly for third 22 reading. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 24 Skelos. 25 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept 1 the report. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Motion is 3 to accept the report of the Rules Committee. 4 All those in favor signify by saying aye. 5 (Response of "Aye.") 6 Opposed nay. 7 (There was no response.) 8 The report is accepted. The bills 9 are ordered directly to third reading. 10 Senator Gonzalez, why do you 11 rise? 12 SENATOR GONZALEZ: Mr. President, 13 may I be recorded in the negative on Calendar 14 Number 903, without objection. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 16 objection, hearing no objection, Senator 17 Gonzalez will be recorded in the negative on 18 Calendar Number 903. 19 Senator Seabrook, why do you 20 rise? 21 SENATOR SEABROOK: Yes, I ask 22 unanimous consent to be recorded in the negative 23 on Calendar Number 903. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 25 objection, hearing no objection, Senator 1 Seabrook will be recorded in the negative on 2 Calendar Number 903. 3 Senator Rosado, why do you rise? 4 SENATOR ROSADO: Mr. President, I 5 would like to be recorded in the negative on 6 Calendar Number 903. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 8 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Rosado 9 will be recorded in the negative on Calendar 10 Number 903. 11 Senator Onorato, why do you rise? 12 SENATOR ONORATO: I would like 13 unanimous consent to be recorded in the negative 14 on Calendar Number 903. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 16 objection, hearing no objection, Senator Onorato 17 will be recorded in the negative on Calendar 18 Number 903. 19 Senator Skelos. 20 SENATOR SKELOS: Calendar Number 21 54B, if we could take it up controversial 22 beginning with 1649. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: For the 24 benefit of the members on Calendar Number 54B, 25 the Secretary will read the controversial 1 reading beginning with Calendar Number 1649. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 1649, by Senator Balboni, Senate Print 7848, an 4 act to permit the sale or lease of Pond View 5 Homes. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 7 Skelos. 8 SENATOR SKELOS: Is there a 9 message of necessity at the desk? 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is. 11 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Motion is 13 to accept the message of necessity on Calendar 14 Number 1649. All those in favor signify by 15 saying aye. 16 (Response of "Aye.") 17 Opposed nay. 18 (There was no response.) 19 The message is accepted. 20 SENATOR SKELOS: Last section. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 22 will read the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 24 act shall take effect immediately. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 1 roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll.) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 59. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 5 is passed. 6 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 7 will you call Calendar Number 1650, by Senator 8 Goodman. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 10 will read. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 1650, by Senator Goodman, Senate Print 7845, an 13 act in relation to creating the Hudson River 14 Park. 15 SENATOR SKELOS: Is there a 16 message at the desk? 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There 18 is. 19 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Motion is 21 to accept the message of necessity on Calendar 22 Number 1650. All those in favor signify by 23 saying aye. 24 (Response of "Aye.") 25 Opposed nay. 1 (There was no response.) 2 Message is accepted. Bill is 3 before the house. Secretary will read the last 4 section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 18. This 6 act shall take effect - 7 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 8 may I explain my vote, please. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 10 roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 12 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes, Mr. 13 President, my colleagues. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 15 Leichter. Excuse me, Senator Leichter. Senator 16 Leichter, to explain his vote. 17 SENATOR LEICHTER: Yes. Mr. 18 President, my colleagues, this indeed is one of 19 the most significant bills we're passing this 20 session. I think maybe a hundred years from 21 now, of all the actions we've taken, this one 22 will be most cherished by the people of New York 23 State because we're creating a magnificent park 24 along a stretch of the Hudson River in Manhattan 25 where there are now deteriorated piers. We're 1 making that stretch of the river available to 2 the public, that water... wonderful water 3 front. 4 You know, John Kennedy said 5 victory has a thousand fathers, defeat is an 6 orphan, and this victory truly does have a 7 thousand people who truly are the fathers who 8 ought to be thanked for their achievement. I 9 first want to start and thank Senator Goodman 10 who lends his status and persuasiveness and 11 skill to seeing that the bill was passed. I 12 particularly want to thank the Governor. It's 13 obvious to say that it wouldn't have passed 14 without the Governor, but it deserves to be 15 reiterated because the Governor has been such a 16 staunch supporter of the idea that we could 17 create a wonderful public space at this part of 18 the Hudson River waterfront. 19 I thank the Mayor, the Speaker 20 and certainly last but not least, somebody who 21 worked so hard on this, my counterpart 22 Assemblyman Richard Gottfried. We had a lot of 23 contributors, Senator Abate, Assemblyman 24 Stringer and others who worked on it, and I'm 25 really most grateful because we are creating 1 this, what is going to be truly one of the great 2 magnificent parks of the world and will much 3 enhance not only the enjoyment of the river but 4 it will also, I think, be a wonderful magnet to 5 people coming into New York. 6 It will have wonderful economic 7 consequences. I said yesterday that my cup 8 overfloweth, but now it overfloweth in 9 torrents. 10 Thank you. I vote in the 11 affirmative. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 13 Leichter will be recorded in the affirmative. 14 Senator Johnson. 15 SENATOR JOHNSON: Yes, Mr. 16 President. 17 I'd like everyone to know that 18 Senator Leichter and I were together on this 19 issue 14 or so years ago, and he praised a lot 20 of people for helping to make this happen. I 21 think he forgot to praise the striped bass which 22 is the reason we stopped the development 23 initially and the property is there to use 24 today. Congratulations, Franz; you and I were 25 together in the beginning and we're together at 1 the end. It's great. 2 Thank you. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 4 Johnson will be recorded in the affirmative. 5 Senator Goodman, to explain his 6 vote. 7 SENATOR GOODMAN: Mr. President, 8 do you know the old song, East Side, West Side, 9 all around the town? The fact of the matter is 10 that this is an amenity of enormous importance 11 to the entire island of Manhattan and indeed to 12 many people who come to visit Manhattan, and I'd 13 like to tip my hat to Senator Leichter, who has 14 had a consistent and steadfast devotion to this 15 project, and also to Senator Johnson, whose 16 environmental concerns relate to this, and also 17 to say that the Governor has been a driving 18 force behind the development of this legislation 19 and the bringing of it before us today in this 20 house. 21 I don't know that any of you are 22 familiar with the present conditions that exist 23 in the area where this project will exist, but 24 they are unfortunately very bad. They do not do 25 any credit to the city whatsoever, and the 1 bringing on of this great amenity will, I think, 2 transform an area and be consistent with the 3 rebirth and renaissance of New York City in 4 general. 5 Mr. President, I believe strongly 6 that this is an exceedingly fine and worthwhile 7 project, and I'm happy to be its prime sponsor 8 in this house. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Announce 10 the results. 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 13 is passed. 14 Senator Skelos. 15 SENATOR SKELOS: Like to call up 16 Calendar -- I'm sorry. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 18 Stachowski, why do you rise? Senator Stachowski, 19 why do you rise? 20 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Mr. 21 President, could I have unanimous consent to be 22 recorded in the negative on Calendar 903, 23 please. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 25 objection, hearing no objection, Senator 1 Stachowski will be recorded in the negative on 2 Calendar Number 903. 3 Senator Smith, why do you rise? 4 SENATOR SMITH: Mr. President, I 5 request unanimous consent to be recorded in the 6 negative on Calendar Number 903. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Similar 8 request, Senator Breslin? 9 SENATOR BRESLIN: Similar 10 request. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 12 Nanula, similar request? 13 Without objection, hearing no 14 objection, Senators Smith, Breslin and Nanula 15 will be recorded in the negative on Calendar 16 Number 903. 17 Senator Leichter, why do you 18 rise? 19 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. President, 20 would you also record me in the negative on 21 Calendar Number 903. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 23 objection, Senator Leichter will be recorded in 24 the negative on Calendar Number 903. 25 Secretary will read Calendar 1 Number 1651. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 1651, by Senator Marcellino, Senate Print 7846, 4 an act making appropriations from the 5 Environmental Protection Fund, in relation to 6 state parks and lands. 7 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 8 is there a message at the desk? 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There 10 is. 11 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Motion is 13 to accept the message of necessity on Calendar 14 Number 1651. All those in favor signify by 15 saying aye. 16 (Response of "Aye.") 17 Opposed nay. 18 (There was no response.) 19 The message is accepted. Bill is 20 before the house. Secretary will read the last 21 section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 23 act shall take effect immediately. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 25 roll. 1 (The Secretary called the roll.) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 4 is passed. 5 Senator Skelos. 6 SENATOR SKELOS: Would you please 7 call up Calendar Number 1663, by Senator 8 Seward. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 10 will read 1663. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 1663, by Senator Seward, Senate Print 7847, an 13 act to amend the Economic Development Law and 14 the public authorities law. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 16 Skelos. 17 SENATOR SKELOS: Is there a 18 message at the desk? 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There is. 20 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Motion is 22 to accept the message of necessity on Calendar 23 Number 1663. All in favor signify by saying 24 aye. 25 (Response of "Aye.") 1 Opposed nay. 2 (There was no response.) 3 Message is accepted. Bill is 4 before the house. Secretary will read the last 5 section. 6 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 7 act shall take effect immediately. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 9 roll. 10 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 13 is passed. 14 Senator Oppenheimer, why do you 15 rise? 16 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: I'd like 17 unanimous consent to be in the negative on 903. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 19 Gentile, similar request? 20 SENATOR GENTILE: Yes. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Dollinger, similar request? 23 SENATOR GOLD: (Senator Gold 24 raises hand.) 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 1 objection, hearing no objection, Senators Gold, 2 Oppenheimer, Gentile, and Dollinger will be 3 record in the negative on Calendar Number 903. 4 SENATOR SKELOS: Would you call 5 up Calendar Number 1664, by Senator Paterson. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 7 will read Calendar Number 1664. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1664, by Senator Paterson, Senate Print 7408, an 10 act to amend the Public Authorities Law. 11 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President. 12 Mr. President. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Ladies 14 and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, may we 15 please have some quiet. 16 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 17 Senator Paterson is asking for an explanation of 18 his bill. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Would you 20 like to give it to him? 21 Senator Paterson, would you like 22 to ask a question? 23 SENATOR PATERSON: Explanation 24 satisfactory. 25 SENATOR SKELOS: Very good. Last 1 section. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 3 will read the last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 5 act shall take effect immediately. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 7 roll. 8 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 11 is passed. 12 Senator Skelos. Senator Skelos. 13 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 14 on Calendar Number 54, would you please call up 15 Calendar Number 1168, by Senator LaValle. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: On the 17 regular calendar, first calendar today, Calendar 18 Number 54, Secretary will read Calendar Number 19 1168. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 1168, by Senator LaValle, Senate Print 7134-A, 22 an act to amend the Education Law. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 24 will read the last section. 25 THE SECRETARY: Section 7. This 1 act shall take effect on the same date as the 2 Chapter. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 4 roll. 5 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 6 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 58. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 8 is passed. 9 Senator Skelos. 10 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 11 would you please call up Senator -- Calendar 12 1665, by Senator Velella. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 14 will read Calendar 1665. Members please take 15 their chairs, staff please take their seats. 16 We're going to finish this session before 5:00 17 o'clock. 18 Secretary will read. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 1665, by Senator Velella, Senate Print 1492-A, 21 an act to amend Chapter 576 of the Laws of 22 1975. 23 SENATOR GOLD: Mr. President. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 Gold, why do you rise? 1 SENATOR GOLD: Yes. Will Senator 2 Velella yield to just one question? 3 SENATOR VELELLA: Yes, sir. 4 SENATOR GOLD: Senator, I was 5 told that this is the last bill on the last 6 Rules report, that our distinguished leader is 7 on his way in. I've read this bill, it's not 8 that long, and I reread it. 9 Senator, will you please tell me 10 what this has to do with racing? 11 SENATOR VELELLA: Senator, the 12 only thing I can say to that is this may not be 13 the last bill, under that premise. There may be 14 one that the leader is bringing with him and may 15 take out of his pocket in his closing remarks, 16 but then I'm sure you would object to the 17 procedure. 18 However, traditionally, the last 19 bill is a racing bill, and I don't know if our 20 leader has a surprise for us or not. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Stachowski, why do you rise? 23 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Senator, I 24 just rise to remind the members on this side 25 that last year an identical bill was opposed by 1 Senator Breslin, Senator Connor, Senator 2 Gentile, Senator Hoffmann, Senator Kruger, 3 Senator Montgomery, Senator Sampson, Senator 4 Smith, Senator Stavisky and a few on the other 5 side. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 7 will read the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 9 act shall take effect immediately. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 11 roll. 12 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 14 the negatives. Senator Waldon to re - 15 SENATOR WALDON: No, no. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Record 17 the negatives. Negatives, please raise your 18 hands. A lot of activity in the chamber. 19 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 20 the negative on Calendar Number 1665 are 21 Senators Balboni, Breslin, Connor, Fuschillo, 22 Gold, Hannon, Hoffmann, Leichter, Marcellino, 23 Onorato, Paterson, Seabrook, Skelos, Stachowski 24 and Stavisky, also Senator Montgomery. Ayes 43, 25 nays 16. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 2 is passed. 3 THE SECRETARY: Excuse me, also 4 Senator Abate. Ayes 42, nays 17. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 6 is passed. 7 Senator Waldon, why do you rise? 8 SENATOR WALDON: Mr. President, 9 while the chamber was considering Senate 903, I 10 was elsewhere on Senate business. I respectfully 11 request, without objection, unanimous consent to 12 be recorded in the negative on Calendar 903. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 14 Abate, did you want to be recorded negative on 15 Calendar Number 903 likewise. Senator 16 Montgomery also. 17 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, Mr. 18 President. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 20 Stavisky also? 21 SENATOR STAVISKY: (Negative 22 indication.) 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 24 objection, hearing no objection, Senators 25 Waldon, Abate, Montgomery and Senator Stavisky 1 will be recorded in the negative on Calendar 2 Number 903. 3 Senator Velella, why do you 4 rise? 5 SENATOR VELELLA: On calendar 6 1658 - 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Can there 8 be some quiet in the chamber, please. We're 9 very, very close. We have a couple of crosses 10 we have to take care of. We are very, very 11 close to the end. We can do it a lot quicker and 12 a lot more harmoniously if we have some quiet in 13 the chamber. Please help us out. 14 Senator Velella. 15 SENATOR VELELLA: Mr. President, 16 on Calendar Number 1658, Print Number 7679-A, I 17 was out of the chamber. I would like the record 18 to reflect that had I been in here, I would have 19 voted in the negative. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 21 record will so reflect. 22 Senator Skelos. 23 SENATOR SKELOS: If we could 24 return to motions and resolutions, please 25 recognize Senator Farley. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Return to 2 motions and resolutions. Chair recognizes 3 Senator Farley. 4 SENATOR FARLEY: Mr. President, I 5 wish to call up Senator Nozzolio's bill, Senate 6 Print 7574. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 8 will read. 9 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 10 Nozzolio, Senate Bill 7574, an act to amend the 11 Family Court Act. 12 SENATOR FARLEY: I move to 13 reconsider the vote by which this bill was 14 passed, and ask that the bill be restored to 15 third reading. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 17 will call the roll on reconsideration. 18 (The Secretary called the roll on 19 reconsideration. ) 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 21 Farley. 22 SENATOR FARLEY: Mr. President, I 23 now offer the following amendments. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 25 Amendments are received. 1 SENATOR FARLEY: And I now move 2 to discharge the Committee on Rules from 3 Assembly Print 294-B and substitute it for 4 Senator Nozzolio's identical bill. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 6 will read. Substitution is ordered. Secretary 7 will read the title. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1268, by member of the Assembly John, Assembly 10 Print 294-B, an act to amend the Family Court 11 Act. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 13 will read the last section. 14 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 15 act shall take effect immediately. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 17 roll. 18 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 59. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 21 is passed. 22 Senator Stachowski. 23 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Mr. 24 President, I wish to call up Senate Print Number 25 7408, by Senator Paterson, which is now at the 1 desk. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 3 will read. 4 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 5 Paterson, Senate Print 7408, an act to amend the 6 Public Authorities Law. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 8 Stachowski. 9 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Mr. 10 President, I now move to reconsider the vote by 11 which this bill was passed and ask that the bill 12 be restored to the order of third reading. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 14 will call the roll on reconsideration. 15 (The Secretary called the roll on 16 reconsideration.) 17 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 59. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Bill is 19 restored and before the house. Senator 20 Stachowski. 21 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Mr. 22 President, I now move to to discharge from the 23 Committee on Rules Assembly Print Number 8826 24 and substitute it for the identical bill. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: 1 Substitution is ordered. Secretary will read 2 the title. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 1664, by member of the Assembly Wright, Assembly 5 Bill 8826, an act to amend the Public 6 Authorities Law. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 8 will read the last section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 10 act shall take effect immediately. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 12 roll. 13 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 59. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 16 is passed. 17 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 19 Skelos. 20 SENATOR SKELOS: Calendar Number 21 1268, move to reconsider the vote by which it 22 passed. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 24 will read the title to Calendar Number 1628, 25 right? 1268, excuse me. 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 1268, by member of the Assembly John, an act to 3 amend the Family Court Act. 4 SENATOR SKELOS: Lay the bill 5 aside. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Motion is 7 to reconsider the vote by which the bill passed 8 the house. 9 Secretary will call the roll on 10 reconsideration. 11 (The Secretary called the roll on 12 reconsideration.) 13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 59. 14 SENATOR SKELOS: Lay the bill 15 aside. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Lay the 17 bill aside. 18 Bill is laid aside. 19 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 20 Senator Bruno wants to know, does anybody want 21 one more bill? 22 SENATOR BRUNO: Fine, thank you. 23 Thank you, Senator Skelos. Well, we do have one 24 more bill. We have one more bill. 25 SENATOR SKELOS: We have one more 1 bill. 2 SENATOR BRUNO: I think I'll 3 excuse myself, Mr. President. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senate 5 will come to order. 6 SENATOR BRUNO: Can we at this 7 time return to messages from the Assembly. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Return to 9 the special order of messages from the 10 Assembly. I'll hand the message down. Ask the 11 Secretary to read. 12 THE SECRETARY: The Assembly 13 sends for concurrence the following bill: 14 Assembly Bill Number 11352, by the Assembly 15 Committee on Rules, an act to amend the General 16 Municipal Law. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 18 will read. Last section. 19 SENATOR DOLLINGER: What is this 20 bill? 21 SENATOR PATERSON: Explanation. 22 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Can we have 23 an explanation? What is this bill? 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 Hoffmann, why do you rise? 1 SENATOR HOFFMANN: Mr. President, 2 with all due respect to the Assembly Committee 3 on Rules, there are a number of members, on this 4 side of the aisle anyway, who are not speed 5 readers, and the 12 pages of this bill in very 6 fine print are somewhat difficult to comprehend, 7 and speaking for several other members over 8 here, we would request an explanation in some 9 detail. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Excuse 11 me. Excuse me. Senator Bruno. 12 SENATOR HOFFMANN: Thank you. 13 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President, 14 lay it aside. All right? If you would like not 15 to have this done, be my guest. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 17 Bruno. 18 SENATOR BRUNO: All right? 19 That's fine, fine, fine! We're just so 20 congenial and together here this afternoon, I 21 can hardly stand it, Mr. President. 22 Thank you. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Chair 24 recognizes Senator Bruno. 25 (Pause) 1 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senate 2 will come to order. 3 At this time, the Chair would 4 recognize Senator Connor for closing remarks. 5 SENATOR CONNOR: Thank you, Mr. 6 President. 7 I'll be brief, although it's a 8 pleasant task to see the session come to a 9 close, and know that I'll be able to use the 10 sunglasses I put in my pocket today because it's 11 still daylight. 12 It's been an interesting 13 session. This is the earliest close of session 14 I can really remember. Actually this week was 15 the last week of session nine years ago; the 16 19th of June was the next last day of the end of 17 session. I know that because it's my son's 18 ninth birthday today, so I'm glad to get out of 19 here and get home, and he was born on the next 20 last day of session, and I think that was 21 probably the earliest, nine years ago, the 22 earliest we've ever concluded session, and it's 23 a wonderful start that we this year finished the 24 calendar not staying around Albany weeks more. 25 I don't think it would be -- you know, and I 1 leave it to others to judge how productive we 2 have or haven't been -- but I don't know that 3 hanging around here for a few more weeks would 4 change that judgment. 5 It's been an interesting session 6 -- and I will be brief -- but certainly we've 7 seen an important start in the changes in the 8 budget process, a more open process which 9 resulted in a budget, whether you were pleased 10 or displeased with the final result in view of 11 the vetos which in many cases did appear to 12 people to be somewhat politically motivated, 13 somewhat of a lashing out. We now have a new 14 process, and I don't think we'll ever be able to 15 go back on that and everyone from their 16 different partisan viewpoints, their 17 disappointments, appreciation for what they got 18 or didn't get in the budget, knows where to 19 assess the blame. Maybe it's us; maybe it's the 20 other house; maybe it's the Governor, but people 21 have a lot more information as we go to the 22 polls this year. 23 Certainly, in my role as Minority 24 Leader, I can't do it without a very, very 25 strong right arm and that's Senator David 1 Paterson, who day in and day out leads our 2 Conference on the floor with grace, wit and 3 wisdom, and I am grateful to him for doing 4 that. 5 The other, my other strong arm 6 and supporting the work of this Conference deals 7 with the budget, someone who we had a lot to say 8 about yesterday but once again, Manny, thank you 9 for everything, Senator Manny Gold, ranking on 10 Finance. Senator Bill Stachowski fills in in so 11 many ways in the Rules Committee and on the 12 floor as the Assistant Minority Leader, and our 13 Conference is so ably chaired by Senator Olga 14 Mendez. 15 To the others who are in 16 leadership, and I'm -- I don't know whether to 17 name you all and go around, but I guess I got to 18 keep this brief, right, Senator? But I thank all 19 of you. I thank all of my colleagues for my 20 support. 21 I thank Senator Bruno for his 22 leadership, his friendship, his courtesies. I 23 think, Senator, if I may say, in these past 24 years -- and we've commented on this before - 25 sometimes we've gotten a little too partisan in 1 our battles on the floor, I mean generally, our 2 colleagues perhaps. I think yesterday we saw 3 how we can actually in the courtesies you 4 extended to two Minority members who have 5 decades of service here, how we can perhaps 6 restore some of the collegiality and cooperation 7 that used to prevail in this chamber, that 20 8 years ago as a freshman Minority Senator got me 9 19 chapters passed. I don't -- you know, and 10 they were all Republican chairmen putting those 11 bills out, O.K.? 12 So, and I think the people were 13 well served when we cooperated that way when we 14 perhaps reached across the aisle and exchanged 15 ideas informally as well as on the floor much 16 more. It is an election year though, so the 17 election battles ought to be fought in the 18 districts a couple months before the election. 19 They shouldn't be two years of trench warfare on 20 the floor of the Senate. I subscribe to that, 21 and I think we ought to restore that 22 attitude. 23 To my colleagues on this side of 24 the aisle who are not running for reelection, 25 Senator Gold, Senator Leichter and also Senator 1 Abate, I wish you well in all of your future 2 endeavors. To those who are running for 3 reelection, I wish you a win. 4 To my colleagues on the other 5 side of the aisle, I don't wish you ill; I hope 6 you -- I don't wish you win -- place or show, 7 but I hope -- and I'll be very happy. But I do 8 thank you all and Senator Bruno for the 9 leadership. 10 We're only as good as all the 11 staff in the house, and I thank all the staff as 12 well as the Minority, particularly my counsel 13 Michael Boxley, who has done a phenomenal job on 14 behalf of the Senate Democrats; John Ewashko, 15 who was our Secretary to Minority Finance, and 16 we all learned on this side of the aisle at a 17 little party we had the other night that he's 18 quite an accomplished artist, quite an 19 accomplished musician. It's no surprise, 20 though, that we observed in his work here that 21 he does everything he does very, very well and 22 with a great deal of intensity and dedication. 23 To Peter Slocum, my press 24 secretary and policy advisor; to Merci Miglino, 25 my director of communication services, to 1 someone who is not here and I urge all of you, 2 many of you know her -- she served as a staff 3 member in the other house, then as a staff 4 member here, then as a member of the other 5 house, and then as my staff member -- Eileen 6 Hickey, she's been ill these past few months. 7 I'm sure she would appreciate your cards and 8 notes and, more importantly, your prayers that 9 she prevail in a courageous battle she's 10 fighting for her health and, of course, to Amy 11 Solomon, Mona DeMay, Jeff Korman, my thanks for 12 your dedicated efforts. I couldn't do it 13 without all of you. 14 Also to Senator Skelos, the 15 Deputy Majority Leader who is so cooperative and 16 able in interaction with the members of this 17 Conference day in and day out. 18 Mr. President, I look forward to 19 this summer, and I look forward to a good 20 portion of us returning next January, and maybe 21 some new faces as well. 22 Thank you very much. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Chair 24 recognizes Senator Bruno. 25 SENATOR BRUNO: Thank you, Mr. 1 President, and thank you very much, Senator 2 Connor, for your excellent closing remarks and 3 very appropriate in most ways. 4 One of the things, Mr. President, 5 that we're going to quickly review is that Marty 6 got 19 bills in his first year. I didn't get 19 7 bills this year, and that is a problem. Thank 8 you. Thank you. 9 You know, and Marty comments, and 10 thank you, we are here in the middle of the 11 day. It is daylight, quarter of three, and we 12 are winding up this session for the year '98, 13 and we are doing it about 48 days earlier than 14 we wound up last year's session, and last year's 15 session set a record in terms of late budgets 16 and longevity in session. 17 We have this year, in a 18 remarkable timetable, accomplished some truly 19 outstanding things and we did that together. My 20 colleagues here, my colleagues on this side of 21 the aisle who always made some contribution in 22 some way to effect the process hopefully in a 23 positive way, and we did do, Mr. President, my 24 colleagues, we know the first time ever in the 25 history of this state, a budget with almost 1 every member of the Legislature involved in a 2 public forum, and we put together a budget in an 3 open public way with open discussion. First 4 time ever, and never again in this state will a 5 budget for the people of New York be put 6 together behind closed doors. So that's 7 something that all of us can be proud of. 8 Did we learn something from the 9 process? Absolutely. Will we improve it going 10 forward? We certainly will; but it was an 11 accomplishment that all of us can be proud of 12 because the people of this state are the 13 beneficiaries. 14 We did a lot of other good 15 things. In the budget, we passed a record 16 school aid increase, 850 million. Why? Because 17 it's a priority here in the Legislature, 18 priority of the Governor's, to educate our young 19 people. 743 million in tax cuts, business tax 20 cuts, on top of about 13 billion previously 21 enacted by this Legislature in partners with our 22 Governor, to create jobs, stimulate the economy 23 and turn New York State around and make us more 24 competitive. That, again, is something that we 25 can be proud of. 1 We accelerated the STAR program. 2 About a half a billion dollars worth for seniors 3 to keep on their real property taxes. Again a 4 Governor's program. We accelerated it. This 5 year seniors have that much more money that they 6 can spend to enhance their quality of life and 7 the way they live. We have increases TAP - 8 tuition assistance -- for young people to help 9 them get a better education and be more 10 productive. 11 A number of legislative things we 12 did like pension supplementation, that a lot of 13 people feel was overdue. We did that, and it is 14 now law. We did the external review for managed 15 care and the experimental approach giving people 16 an opportunity to get the proper medical 17 attention that people should get here in this 18 state. 19 The child health care initiative, 20 increasing health insurance for young people. 21 Again, we in the Legislature with the Governor 22 did that and that was hard, a difficult thing to 23 do. That will be law very, very shortly, and 24 tens of thousands of young people and families 25 will benefit. 1 We reformed the unemployment 2 insurance laws of this state together. That is 3 going to accrue by the hundreds of millions of 4 dollars worth of benefit for people of this 5 state, lowering the cost of doing business, 6 helping us be more competitive with other 7 states. 8 We did the HIV notification 9 bill. That was a hard thing to do. People feel 10 very strongly. That is done, and again we did 11 that together. 12 And we expanded a lot of what was 13 necessary to ensure that our environment stayed 14 clean and neat for ourselves and for our 15 children and our grandchildren and we did that. 16 Now, there are some things that 17 we didn't do and, like any good things, there 18 are always ways that you can look back and wish 19 that you had been more successful. One of the 20 most disappointing things is that we do not have 21 a Jenna's Law that is going to be signed, at 22 least not now. The Assembly will stay in 23 session, I understand, for a few hours behind 24 us, and they may see fit to pass a bill that we 25 passed for the second time just a couple of days 1 ago, and that was an attempt to meet the 2 Assembly at least halfway towards a bill that 3 they had passed that had put a lot of things in 4 our original Jenna's Law bill, and by the way, I 5 want to comment here that the Jenna's Law that 6 we passed is a bill that was done in this 7 chamber, I think, four years ago the first time, 8 and we've had four years to reconcile any 9 differences with the other house and we haven't 10 been able to. That's a great disappointment, 11 but we are going to continue to try and get 12 something done that can be signed into law 13 because we all believe that violent felons 14 should get sentenced if they're convicted and 15 stay in jail until they serve their term so that 16 they're not back out on the street killing 17 people like Jenna. 18 We failed so far to get a compact 19 bill for the dairy industry which is critically 20 important to the people of New York State. That 21 hasn't happened. But we're going to continue. 22 We're going to continue with some of the 23 juvenile justice reform bills, school violence 24 that didn't happen. We're going to continue and 25 those will be the struggles that we'll work on 1 together, and we'll get there and we'll get 2 there when we are back together. 3 All of the things we did do, we 4 can be proud of. We'll go back to our 5 districts. We're going to face a constituency. 6 We're going to have elections in November, and 7 the public will make their choices and we'll be 8 back here together, but all the good things we 9 did, we did together. We did them with the 10 Speaker and the Assembly, those that are going 11 to the Governor to get signed into law, and I'm 12 indebted to the Speaker and the Assembly for 13 their partnership. 14 We're especially indebted to the 15 Governor for his leadership in the initiatives 16 with the budget, with the budget reform, with 17 the tax cuts, with all of the things that are 18 part of the laws of this state -- this Governor 19 who has helped turn this state around in three 20 and a half years in a way that most people 21 thought was impossible, and we're proud to have 22 partnered with this Governor to move this state 23 forward, so that everyone in this state enjoys 24 an improved quality of life. 25 A lot of people here help us get 1 the job done because we couldn't function 2 without the back-up -- I couldn't -- that I get 3 and I start with -- and I can say to each and 4 every one of you, thank you. Everyone that's 5 standing here, everyone that's sitting in the 6 chairs, thank you, because you are an integral 7 part of everything that happens to make us 8 effective here in this chamber and in the 9 Legislature: 10 Senator Stafford, who chairs 11 Finance, among other things, who has been a 12 friend for a lot of years, and who carries the 13 burden of doing a lot of what has to get done 14 through that Finance Committee, and I thank you 15 for that, and Senator Skelos, who is the deputy 16 here on the floor, spends a lot of time, a lot 17 of hours, and I know he enjoys his work 18 immensely; all of the good things that take 19 place on this floor, and in all of the positive 20 changes he is the greatest beneficiary and 21 that's why he gets the big bucks that he gets. 22 But, Dean, thank you very, very much for really 23 the excellent way that you relate and handle and 24 manage, and Senator Owen Johnson is here, is one 25 of the senior members as the Assistant President 1 Pro Tem, and, Owen, I thank you for your 2 conscientious help and support and as a mentor; 3 and my senior assistant, to pick out one, 4 Senator Velella who is here also chairing the 5 Insurance Committee, and all the other leaders, 6 and Guy does a lot of extraordinary things like 7 debating -- I don't think, Mr. President, I have 8 to say any more. But thank you, thanks very 9 much, Guy, and the other leaders, you all know 10 who you are, that are here in the chamber. I 11 just say thank you because we couldn't function 12 without you. 13 And the front desk, the Journal 14 Clerks and everyone that's up there who worked 15 diligently day and night and when we leave 16 you're still working. Thank you because when we 17 get here, things are prepared for us to do 18 business and we couldn't do that without you. 19 I have John McArdle, director of 20 communications, who helps us all in terms of our 21 ability to communicate, our Steve Boggess, 22 Secretary to the Senate. I think this is Steve's 23 first year in serving as Secretary to the Senate 24 and we're still here and the place looks 25 admirable and everybody is content and happy and 1 I think that's a direct testimony to Steve's 2 ability to act as Secretary to the Senate, and 3 any of you that have any complaints about 4 anything, see Steve. 5 And Pat Stackrow, Pat is here, my 6 executive assistant that many of you have gotten 7 to know as I have, as a very diligent and very 8 efficient and capable and able person who helps 9 us in terms of what goes on in our daily lives 10 and is a great gatekeeper at times and 11 especially in these last two days, so Pat, thank 12 you very, very much. 13 And for those of you that have 14 been trying to have a conversation with Pat, 15 she's here now. Senator Connor, I -- I just 16 want to say that you commented on the 17 cameraderie here, and that is so true. I think 18 that -- I don't know what the days were like, 19 you know, way back, but I know that today 20 whether we are debating, whether we're arguing, 21 whether it takes place in the same way there is 22 a feeling here of togetherness, and we're 23 together in the chamber now and we're winding 24 up. We respect each other. We admire each 25 other, and we recognize that even though, on 1 occasion, a Senator might get overly zealous, 2 Mr. President, with an "explanation please" and 3 we have to lay a bill aside, that happens 4 sometimes, you know, but Mr. President, we may 5 revisit some of those things and, by the way, 6 with the one piece of legislation, we need a 7 message from the Governor, and we're waiting for 8 that message and you have the privilege of 9 listening to me while we wait. 10 Oh, it's here. It just arrived. 11 Our Finance staff, to finish that 12 all up, we have Abe Lackman; Abe, hopefully, is 13 in the chamber, and Mary Louise Mallick, Lee Van 14 Riper, with all of the things that go on and 15 take place, we wouldn't be functioning as 16 efficiently as we do without them, and our two 17 counsels that are here, Dave Dudley and Ken 18 Riddett, who really have to carry the burden of 19 moving the process and keeping some order for me 20 and with you, that is one difficult job, and for 21 that I want to say again thank you. 22 We've got some Senators with us 23 here that are electing not to be back with us 24 again, and I want to say that Senator Leichter, 25 Senator Abate, and Senator Charlie Cook and -- I 1 can never forget Senator Gold, many times I 2 wished I could, but I certainly could not forget 3 Senator Gold or Senator Leichter. You really, 4 I've got to say very sincerely from my heart 5 that we are going to miss you here in this 6 chamber, and I can say to you that this chamber 7 will never be the same and the debates that take 8 place and the changes that take place, the 9 relationships truly will never be quite the same 10 and I think yesterday you commented, Senator 11 Connor, on some of what went on, and I think 12 that's an indication of the respect that we have 13 here for you in this chamber and the really 14 sincere and strong feeling and, as you go 15 forward in your life, I'm sure that we are going 16 to stay in touch because once you're a Senator, 17 it's never out of your life, you're always a 18 Senator. So we will be talking with you and 19 seeing you and, hopefully, and I only say this 20 in jest, the fact that we're ending 48 days 21 sooner with these changes, we might be 48 days 22 even earlier next year. But you've contributed a 23 great deal and you can be proud of your 24 careers. When you look back on your years and 25 how you affected this process, you all can be 1 very, very proud and we are very proud of you. 2 Charlie Cook, who has carried the 3 burden with the Education Committee and having 4 served as the chair of Agriculture and so many 5 things over the years and represented a district 6 that is extremely difficult in upstate New York, 7 Charlie, thank you for being just so stand-up 8 and stand-out and staying with us for the length 9 of time that you have and wish you good health 10 in all the things you're going to be doing in 11 the future, and I'm going to move -- but I guess 12 Marcia White, my press secretary -- is Marcia 13 here? -- who is usually bugging me about 14 something, and I have to say thank you because 15 you did a press conference and we're going to 16 have the press availability after, and I do 17 appreciate all of the difficult things that 18 Marcia has to do when I am saying things that 19 are totally inappropriate and we're always 20 trying to give it the best spin and that keeps 21 her and others awake during the daytime and 22 that's important. 23 And while you are still awake, 24 and you can't help but stay awake because the 25 sun is shining, I think I'm going to just 1 conclude my remarks by sharing with you that 2 we'll all be -- let me rephrase that. We'll get 3 back together in January, '99, and I want to 4 take this opportunity to be the first to wish 5 you all a very happy Thanksgiving, a Merry 6 Christmas and a Happy New Year. 7 And, Mr. President, can we at 8 this time call down Assembly handdown 11352. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Secretary 10 will read the title. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 1667, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 13 Assembly Print 11352, an act to amend the 14 General Municipal Law. 15 SENATOR BRUNO: Is there a 16 message at the desk, Mr. President? 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: There 18 is. The motion is to accept the message - 19 SENATOR BRUNO: Move we accept 20 the message. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: -- on 22 1667 which is at the desk. All those in favor 23 signify by saying aye. 24 (Response of "Aye.") 25 Opposed nay. 1 (There was no response.) 2 The message is accepted. Bill is 3 before the house. The Secretary will read the 4 last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 8. This 6 act shall take effect immediately. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Call the 8 roll. 9 (The Secretary called the roll. ) 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 59. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The bill 12 is passed. 13 Senator Bruno. 14 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President, at 15 this time, I would like to ask that we recommit 16 all the bills that are on the floor back to the 17 Rules Committee. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Bills are 19 recommitted. 20 SENATOR BRUNO: And we are -- Mr. 21 President, we're at the moment where we're going 22 to adjourn, but I wanted to adjourn and just 23 recognize one of our most distinguished Senators 24 who has served, I believe, in the Legislature 25 longer than any living person, Senator John 1 Marchi. 2 (Applause) 3 SENATOR BRUNO: May I ask, Mr. 4 President, before we adjourn, that our 5 colleagues who won't be here on the floor, 6 Senator Abate, Gold, Leichter and Senator Cook 7 just stand up so that we can just properly 8 recognize them with an ovation also. 9 (Standing ovation) 10 SENATOR BRUNO: And Mr. President 11 I hope all our colleagues are leaving here happy 12 and well and safe, and there being no further 13 business to come before the Senate at this time, 14 I move that we adjourn subject to the call of 15 the Majority Leader. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 17 objection, the Senate stands adjourned subject 18 to the call of the Majority Leader. 19 (Whereupon at 3:09 p.m., the 20 Senate adjourned.) 21 22 23 24 25