Monday, March 14, 2005

1 NEW YORK STATE SENATE 2 3 4 THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD 5 6 7 8 9 ALBANY, NEW YORK 10 March 14, 2005 11 3:18 p.m. 12 13 14 REGULAR SESSION 15 16 17 18 LT. GOVERNOR MARY O. DONOHUE, President 19 STEVEN M. BOGGESS, Secretary 20 21 22 23 24 25

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(518) 371-8910 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 THE PRESIDENT: The Senate will 3 please come to order. 4 I ask everyone present to please 5 rise and repeat with me the Pledge of 6 Allegiance. 7 (Whereupon, the assemblage recited 8 the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.) 9 THE PRESIDENT: In the absence of 10 clergy, may we bow our heads in a moment of 11 silence, please. 12 (Whereupon, the assemblage 13 respected a moment of silence.) 14 THE PRESIDENT: Reading of the 15 Journal. 16 THE SECRETARY: In Senate, 17 Sunday, March 13, the Senate met pursuant to 18 adjournment. The Journal of Saturday, 19 March 12, was read and approved. On motion, 20 Senate adjourned. 21 THE PRESIDENT: Without 22 objection, the Journal stands approved as 23 read. 24 Presentation of petitions. 25 Messages from the Assembly.

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(518) 371-8910 1 Messages from the Governor. 2 Reports of standing committees. 3 The Secretary will read. 4 THE SECRETARY: Senator Johnson, 5 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 6 following bills: 7 Senate Print 550D, Senate Budget 8 Bill, an act making appropriations for the 9 support of government, PUBLIC PROTECTION AND 10 GENERAL GOVERNMENT BUDGET; 11 551A, Senate Budget Bill, an act 12 making appropriations for the support of 13 government, LEGISLATURE AND JUDICIARY BUDGET; 14 555D, Budget Bill, an act making 15 appropriations for the support of government, 16 TRANSPORTATION, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND 17 ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION BUDGET; 18 993B, Senate Budget Bill, an act to 19 amend Chapter 728 of the Laws of 1982 and 20 others; 21 994B, Budget Bill, an act to amend 22 the Public Authorities Law and others; 23 995C, Senate Budget Bill, an act to 24 amend the Tax Law and others; 25 3274, Budget Bill, an act to amend

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(518) 371-8910 1 Chapters 50, 53, 54 and 55 of the Laws of 2 2004, making appropriations for the support of 3 government; 4 3275, Budget Bill, an act to amend 5 Chapter 2 of the Laws of 1998, amending the 6 Public Health Law and others; 7 553D, Budget Bill, an act making 8 appropriations for the support of government, 9 EDUCATION, LABOR AND FAMILY ASSISTANCE BUDGET; 10 554D, Budget Bill, an act making 11 appropriations for the support of government, 12 HEALTH AND MENTAL HYGIENE BUDGET; 13 990B, Budget Bill, an act to amend 14 the Penal Law and others; 15 991B, Budget Bill, an act to amend 16 the Public Authorities Law and others; 17 And Senate Print 992B, Senate 18 Budget Bill, an act to amend the Public Health 19 Law and others. 20 All bills ordered direct to third 21 reading. 22 THE PRESIDENT: Without 23 objection, the bills are ordered direct to 24 third reading. 25 The Secretary will read.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE SECRETARY: Senator Johnson, 2 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 3 following nominations: 4 As a member of the New York State 5 Urban Development Corporation, Mark E. 6 Hamister, of Clarence. 7 As a member of the Advisory Council 8 to the Commission on Quality of Care for the 9 Mentally Disabled, Elizabeth Wickerham, of 10 Saratoga Springs. 11 As a member of the State Council on 12 the Arts, David A.A. Ridings, of Syracuse. 13 As members of the Board of Visitors 14 of the Binghamton Psychiatric Center, Frances 15 Felice, of Binghamton, and John J. Wiktor, of 16 Binghamton. 17 As a member of the Board of 18 Visitors of the Central New York Developmental 19 Disabilities Services Office, Virginia M. 20 Ellis, of Auburn. 21 As a member of the Board of 22 Visitors of the Elmira Psychiatric Center, 23 James J. Norton, M.D., of Montour Falls. 24 As a member of the Board of 25 Visitors of the Bernard J. Fineson

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(518) 371-8910 1 Developmental Disabilities Services Office, 2 Sandra J. Rueda, of Astoria. 3 As a member of the Board of 4 Visitors of the Helen Hayes Hospital, Ann C. 5 O'Sullivan, of Stony Point. 6 As a member of the Board of 7 Visitors of the Hudson Valley Developmental 8 Disabilities Services Office, Howard Coron, 9 Ph.D., of Forestburgh. 10 As a member of the Board of 11 Visitors of the Long Island Developmental 12 Disabilities Services Office, Mary Fasano, of 13 Massapequa. 14 As a member of the Board of 15 Visitors of the Manhattan Psychiatric Center, 16 Peter G. Holden, Sr., of New York City. 17 As a member of the Board of 18 Visitors of the Mid-Hudson Psychiatric Center, 19 Theodore J. Lewis, of Godeffroy. 20 As members of the Board of Visitors 21 of the Rochester Psychiatric Center, Martha R. 22 Cucci, of Rochester, and Hilda R. Escher, of 23 Rochester. 24 And as members of the Board of 25 Visitors of the Sunmount Developmental

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(518) 371-8910 1 Disabilities Services Office, Gilbert A. 2 Duken, of Plattsburgh, and Margaret Kolodzey, 3 of Moriah. 4 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Johnson. 5 SENATOR JOHNSON: Move the 6 nominations, Madam President. 7 THE PRESIDENT: All in favor of 8 the nominations as stated by the Secretary 9 please signify by saying aye. 10 (Response of "Aye.") 11 THE PRESIDENT: Opposed, nay. 12 (No response.) 13 THE PRESIDENT: The nominees as 14 stated by the Secretary are hereby confirmed. 15 Senator Bruno. 16 SENATOR BRUNO: Madam President, 17 can we at this time proceed in regular order. 18 THE PRESIDENT: Reports of select 19 committees. 20 Communications and reports from 21 state officers. 22 Motions and resolutions. 23 SENATOR BRUNO: Madam President, 24 I believe that there is a privileged 25 resolution by Senator John DeFrancisco. I

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(518) 371-8910 1 would ask that it be read in its entirety and 2 move for its immediate adoption. 3 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary 4 will read. 5 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 6 DeFrancisco, Legislative Resolution Number 7 810, congratulating the Marcellus Central High 8 School Lady Mustangs Girls Soccer Team and 9 Coach Laurie Updike upon the occasion of 10 capturing the 2004 New York State Class B 11 Championship. 12 "WHEREAS, Excellence and success in 13 competitive sports can be achieved only 14 through strenuous practice, team play and team 15 spirit, nurtured by dedicated coaching and 16 strategic planning; and 17 "WHEREAS, Athletic competition 18 enhances the moral and physical development of 19 the young people of this State, preparing them 20 for the future by instilling in them the value 21 of teamwork, encouraging a standard of healthy 22 living, imparting a desire for success and 23 developing a sense of fair play and 24 competition; and 25 "WHEREAS, It is the sense of this

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(518) 371-8910 1 Legislative Body to recognize and pay tribute 2 to those young people within the State of 3 New York who, achieving outstanding success in 4 athletic competition, have inspired and 5 brought pride to their school; and 6 "WHEREAS, This Legislative Body is 7 justly proud to congratulate the Marcellus 8 Central High School Lady Mustangs Girls Soccer 9 Team and Coach Laurie Updike upon the occasion 10 of capturing the 2004 New York State Public 11 High School Athletic Association Class B 12 Championship for the second consecutive year; 13 and 14 "WHEREAS, The Marcellus Lady 15 Mustangs enjoyed a truly outstanding season. 16 They compiled an overall regular season record 17 of 16 wins, just one loss, and a single tie. 18 In league play, the Marcellus Girls Soccer 19 Team were undefeated, compiling a most 20 impressive record of 10 consecutive victories; 21 and 22 "WHEREAS, Moving on to the 23 post-season, the Lady Mustangs defeated 24 Mount Markham, Cazenovia, and fifth-seeded 25 Skaneateles to earn the Section III

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(518) 371-8910 1 Championship Title and the right to continue 2 competing at regionals. They then went on to 3 defeat both Chatham, 5-0, and Beekmantown, 4 4-2, to win regionals; and 5 "WHEREAS, The Marcellus Girls 6 Soccer Team then faced a huge test in the 7 New York State Class B Semifinals, where they 8 were matched against Babylon. At the end of 9 the regulation time, the teams had played to a 10 1-1 tie, sending the game into overtime. The 11 Lady Mustangs emerged victorious after Katie 12 Young headed a corner kick into the net in the 13 first overtime period, thereby ending the game 14 2-1 and propelling Marcellus into their second 15 consecutive appearance in the New York State 16 Class B Championship Game. It was to be 17 played against Fredonia on November 20, 2004, 18 at Ty Cobb Stadium at Union-Endicott; and 19 "WHEREAS, The Marcellus High School 20 Girls Soccer Team was well aware of the 21 challenges to be faced in their final game 22 against Fredonia. The Section VI champions 23 had compiled a most impressive overall record 24 of 19 wins, 3 losses, and a single tie; and 25 "WHEREAS, The Lady Mustangs took to

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(518) 371-8910 1 the field and outscored Fredonia 2-0 by 2 half-time. Outstanding footwork, passing and 3 a determination to capture a second Class B 4 Title combined to help the Lady Mustangs end 5 the game by shutting out Fredonia by a score 6 of 6-0 and thereby capturing the 2004 New York 7 State Class B Championship; and 8 "WHEREAS, The athletic talent 9 displayed by this team is due in great part to 10 the efforts of Head Coach Laurie Updike and 11 her assistant coaches, Mike Vincent and Lisa 12 MacLachlan, as well as the never-ending 13 encouragement and support of friends, family 14 and the entire Marcellus Central School 15 community; and 16 "WHEREAS, This most exceptional 17 team was proud to have among them Jenna 18 Farneti, who was honored twice by having been 19 named Class B Player of the Year as well as 20 All Central New York Player of the Year; three 21 players who were named to the All-State First 22 Team; one team member who was named to the 23 All-State Second Team; seven All-League First 24 Team Players; five All-League Second Team 25 players and one All-League Honorable Mention;

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(518) 371-8910 1 two members who were named to the All-CNY and 2 one to the Third Team; and five Lady Mustangs 3 who were named to the All-Section III All-Star 4 Team; and 5 "WHEREAS, No team, no matter how 6 gifted one or even a handful of individuals 7 may be, can accomplish all that has been 8 achieved by the Marcellus Central Lady 9 Mustangs without exceptional skills teamwide. 10 The 2004 New York State Class B Champion Lady 11 Mustangs had talented team members throughout 12 its player roster that included Jenna Farneti, 13 Rachel Farneti, Stephanie Gosson, Kelly 14 Hanlon, Sarah Holden, Jocie Jankowski, Megan 15 Kaminska, Lauren Longo, Alyssa MacLachlan, 16 Meghan Mannion, Ashley Martin, Alyse O'Brien, 17 Emmy Potter, Sarah Potter, Catherine Scott, 18 Amanda Stessen, Hannah Vaughn, Katie Walter, 19 Amy Ware, Jennifer Young, Katie Young, Emily 20 Zimmerman, and Katie Zimmerman; and 21 "WHEREAS, The Marcellus High School 22 Girls Soccer Team received a 'Certificate of 23 Academic Achievement' from the New York State 24 Public High School Athletic Association. This 25 honor is accorded only to those teams who

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(518) 371-8910 1 achieve academic excellence while actively 2 participating in varsity-level interscholastic 3 athletics; and 4 "WHEREAS, The 2004 Lady Mustangs 5 shared noteworthy attributes off the field, as 6 well as in competition. Individually and 7 collectively, they constantly exhibited good 8 sportsmanship and scholarship, thereby 9 demonstrating to themselves and to others that 10 they have an enviable combination of talent 11 and character which reflects favorably upon 12 their school and their community; now, 13 therefore, be it 14 "RESOLVED, That this Legislative 15 Body pause in its deliberations to 16 congratulate the Marcellus Central High School 17 Girls Soccer Team and Coach Laurie Updike on 18 their successful season, overall team record, 19 and capturing the New York State Class B 20 Championship; and be it further 21 "RESOLVED, That copies of this 22 Resolution, suitably engrossed, be transmitted 23 to the members of the Marcellus High School 24 Girls Soccer Team and to Coach Laurie Updike." 25 THE PRESIDENT: Senator

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(518) 371-8910 1 DeFrancisco. 2 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Madam 3 President, I'm pleased to rise to congratulate 4 the Lady Mustangs. 5 The resolution actually is a little 6 longer. It gives a little history of the 7 season. But today we're passing budget bills, 8 and we couldn't read all of it. But it will 9 be on the resolution that you receive. It's 10 part of the record, permanent record of the 11 New York State Senate congratulating all of 12 you for an outstanding season. And to do -- 13 to earn a state championship two years in a 14 row is truly remarkable. 15 But what wasn't really mentioned I 16 think is a significant part of this resolution 17 that all of us should be more concerned about, 18 and that is that the Lady Mustangs received a 19 Certificate of Academic Achievement from the 20 New York State Public High School Athletic 21 Association, an honor accorded to only those 22 teams who achieve academic excellence while 23 actively participating in varsity-level 24 interscholastic activities. That's an 25 outstanding achievement.

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(518) 371-8910 1 So I want to thank you. And you've 2 repeated, now let's see if you can three-peat 3 next year. 4 And I was looking very carefully, 5 because someone mentioned this to me, whether 6 there was a Mustang Sally on the team. You're 7 too young to know what that means, but 8 apparently there is not. 9 But hopefully next year you'll be 10 back here and win another championship and 11 keep up the great academic achievement. I'm 12 proud that you're all members of my district. 13 Thank you. 14 THE PRESIDENT: The question is 15 on the resolution. All in favor please 16 signify by saying aye. 17 (Response of "Aye.") 18 THE PRESIDENT: Opposed, nay. 19 (No response.) 20 THE PRESIDENT: The resolution is 21 adopted. 22 Congratulations and best wishes for 23 continued success in all your ventures. 24 SENATOR BRUNO: Madam President. 25 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Bruno.

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(518) 371-8910 1 SENATOR BRUNO: Can we at this 2 time have the noncontroversial reading of the 3 calendar. 4 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary 5 will read. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 60, by Senator Maziarz, Senate Print 120, an 8 act to amend the Environmental Conservation 9 Law, in relation to reducing the -- 10 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Lay it 11 aside. 12 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is laid 13 aside. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 84, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 2151, 16 an act to amend the Estates, Powers and Trusts 17 Law, in relation to an order for the purposes. 18 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last 19 section. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 21 act shall take effect immediately. 22 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll. 23 (The Secretary called the roll.) 24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55. 25 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is

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(518) 371-8910 1 passed. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 102, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 1150A, an 4 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 5 concurrent and consecutive terms of 6 imprisonment. 7 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last 8 section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 10 act shall take effect on the first of 11 November. 12 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll. 13 (The Secretary called the roll.) 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55. 15 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is 16 passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 106, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 1519, an 19 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 20 aggravated harassment. 21 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last 22 section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 24 act shall take effect on the first of 25 November.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll.) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55. 4 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is 5 passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 116, by Senator Marcellino, Senate Print 8 671 -- 9 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside, 10 please. 11 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is laid 12 aside. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 145, by Senator Little, Senate Print 740, an 15 act to amend the Parks, Recreation and 16 Historic Preservation Law, in relation to 17 allowing. 18 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last 19 section. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 21 act shall take effect immediately. 22 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll. 23 (The Secretary called the roll.) 24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55. 25 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is

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(518) 371-8910 1 passed. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 146, by Senator Golden, Senate Print 2192, an 4 act in relation to repealing certain 5 provisions of the Elder Law. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Read 7 the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 9 act shall take effect immediately. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Call 11 the roll. 12 (The Secretary called the roll.) 13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 15 bill is passed. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 155, by Senator Winner, Senate Print 1425, an 18 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 19 leaving the scene of a hunting accident. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Read 21 the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 23 act shall take effect on the first of 24 November. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Call

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(518) 371-8910 1 the roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll.) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 5 bill is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 163, by Senator Meier, Senate Print 2440, an 8 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 9 inciting to riot in the first degree. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Read 11 the last section. 12 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Lay it 13 aside. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Lay the 15 bill aside. 16 Senator Bruno. 17 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President, 18 can we ring the bells. We are going to 19 proceed to the controversial calendar, and we 20 need members in their seats to vote. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 22 Secretary will ring the bell. 23 Senator Bruno. 24 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President, 25 can we at this time recognize Senator Serrano

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(518) 371-8910 1 for the purpose of making a statement. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 3 Serrano. 4 SENATOR SERRANO: Thank you. On 5 Tuesday, March 8th, I was excused from 6 session. Had I been here in the chamber for 7 the debate on Calendar 172, Senate Bill 2727, 8 the death penalty bill, I'd just like the 9 record to reflect that I opposed this bill and 10 would have voted no on it had I the 11 opportunity. 12 Thank you, Mr. President. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Thank 14 you. The record will so note. 15 Senator Bruno. 16 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President, on 17 the controversial calendar, can we start by 18 taking up Calendar Number 116. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 20 Secretary will read. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 116, by Senator Marcellino, Senate Print 671, 23 an act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, 24 in relation to the enforcement of the offense 25 of operating a motor vehicle with a suspended

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(518) 371-8910 1 license. 2 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Explanation. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 4 Marcellino, an explanation has been requested. 5 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you, 6 Mr. President. 7 This bill allows for the offense of 8 operating a motor vehicle with a suspended 9 license to be enforced in a parking lot. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 11 Montgomery. 12 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Thank you 13 for the explanation, Senator. 14 I know that I voted in the past in 15 opposition of this bill. Was there any 16 changes -- Mr. President, through you, if 17 Senator Marcellino would yield. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 19 Marcellino, will you yield for a question? 20 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Surely. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 22 Senator will yield. 23 Senator Montgomery. 24 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Senator 25 Marcellino, was there any change in this

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(518) 371-8910 1 legislation from the last year when you 2 introduced it? 3 SENATOR MARCELLINO: No, Senator, 4 I don't believe so. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 6 Montgomery. 7 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Mr. 8 President, I would like the record to reflect 9 that I'm voting no on this legislation. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Any 11 other Senator wishing to speak? 12 Senator Diaz. 13 SENATOR DIAZ: Mr. President, 14 would the sponsor yield for a question. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 16 Marcellino, will you yield to a question? 17 SENATOR MARCELLINO: I don't want 18 to interfere with the conversation. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: I 20 believe that's a yes. 21 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Yes, I would 22 yield. 23 SENATOR DIAZ: Senator, isn't the 24 parking industry a private thing? 25 SENATOR MARCELLINO: I'm sorry,

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(518) 371-8910 1 Senator, I couldn't hear. I didn't get what 2 you said. 3 SENATOR DIAZ: Isn't the parking 4 industry, people that do parking, isn't that a 5 private industry? 6 SENATOR MARCELLINO: If you're 7 talking about the parking garages, this would 8 be a private industry, yes. And parking lots 9 in some cases would be private industry, yes. 10 SENATOR DIAZ: Mr. President, 11 would the sponsor yield for another question. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 13 Marcellino, do you continue to yield? 14 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Yes, sir. 15 SENATOR DIAZ: Isn't that similar 16 to having someone driving a car in the private 17 property of my house? 18 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Senator, the 19 bill excludes one- and two-family residences. 20 So no, it would not include your private 21 driveway to your single-family or two-family 22 home. 23 SENATOR DIAZ: Thank you. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 25 Diaz, thank you.

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(518) 371-8910 1 The Secretary will ring the bell 2 again. 3 The Secretary will read the last 4 section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 6 act shall take effect on the first of 7 November. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Call 9 the roll. 10 (The Secretary called the roll.) 11 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 12 the negative on Calendar Number 116 are 13 Senators Diaz and Montgomery. 14 Those absent from voting are 15 Senators Balboni, Dilan, Flanagan, Maltese, 16 Maziarz, and Spano. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: 18 Announce the results. 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 50. Nays, 20 2. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 22 bill is passed. 23 The Secretary will read. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 163, by Senator Meier, Senate Print 2440, an

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(518) 371-8910 1 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 2 inciting to riot in the first degree. 3 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: 4 Explanation. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 6 Meier, an explanation has been requested. 7 SENATOR MEIER: Thank you, Mr. 8 President. 9 This bill amends the Penal Law to 10 provide that the felony of inciting riot in 11 the first degree can be charged against 12 someone who has incited a riot within a 13 prison. 14 The courts have interpreted the 15 requirement in the existing statute that the 16 riotous conduct caused public alarm to mean 17 alarm in the broader community. This would 18 amend the law so that causing alarm by the 19 riotous conduct within the prison facility 20 would suffice. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 22 Montgomery. 23 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, Mr. 24 President, I accept the explanation. And I 25 would like to just vote on the bill.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Any 2 other Senator wishing to speak? 3 Debate is closed. 4 Read the last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 6 act shall take effect on the first of 7 November. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Call 9 the roll. 10 (The Secretary called the roll.) 11 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 12 Secretary will announce the results. 13 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 14 the negative on Calendar Number 163: Senator 15 Montgomery. 16 Those absent from voting, Senators 17 Balboni -- excuse me. Senator Balboni is 18 recorded in the affirmative and not absent 19 from voting. 20 Those absent from voting on 21 Calendar Number 163: Senators Dilan, 22 Flanagan, Maltese, Maziarz, and Spano. 23 Ayes, 52. Nays, 1. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 25 bill is passed.

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(518) 371-8910 1 Senator Bruno. 2 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President, 3 can we please take up the noncontroversial 4 reading of the supplemental calendar. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 6 Secretary will read. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 269, Senate Print 550D, Senate Budget Bill, an 9 act making appropriations for the support of 10 government, PUBLIC PROTECTION AND GENERAL 11 GOVERNMENT BUDGET. 12 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 14 bill is laid aside. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 270, Senate Budget Bill, Senate Print 551A, an 17 act making appropriations for the support of 18 government on LEGISLATURE AND JUDICIARY 19 BUDGET. 20 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 22 bill is laid aside. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 271, Senate Budget Bill, Senate Print 555D, an 25 act making appropriations for the support of

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(518) 371-8910 1 government, TRANSPORTATION, ECONOMIC 2 DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION 3 BUDGET. 4 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 6 bill is laid aside. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 272, Senate Budget Bill, Senate Print 993B, an 9 act to amend Chapter 728 of the Laws of 1982 10 and Chapter 710 of the Laws of 1983 amending 11 the Executive Law. 12 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 14 bill is laid aside. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 273, Senate Budget Bill, Senate Print 994B, an 17 act to amend the Public Authorities Law. 18 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 20 bill is laid aside. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 274, Senate Budget Bill, Senate Print 995C, an 23 act to amend the Tax Law. 24 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The

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(518) 371-8910 1 bill is laid aside. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 275, Senate Budget Bill, Senate Print 3274, an 4 act to amend Chapters 50, 53, 54 and 55 of the 5 Laws of 2004. 6 SENATOR PATERSON: Lay it aside. 7 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Lay it 8 aside. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 10 bill is laid aside. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 276, Senate Budget Bill, Senate Print 3275, an 13 act to amend Chapter 2 of the Laws of 1998, 14 amending the Public Health Law and others. 15 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Lay it 16 aside. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 18 bill is laid aside. 19 Senator Bruno, that completes the 20 reading of the noncontroversial supplemental 21 calendar. 22 Senator Bruno. 23 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President, 24 can we at this time have the controversial 25 reading of the supplemental calendar.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 2 Secretary will ring the bells, and we'll begin 3 the reading of the controversial calendar. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 269, Senate Budget Bill, Senate Print 550D, an 6 act making appropriations for the support of 7 government. 8 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: 9 Explanation. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 11 Johnson, an explanation has been requested. 12 SENATOR JOHNSON: Mr. President, 13 this is the Public Protection and General 14 Government Budget. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 16 Bruno. 17 SENATOR BRUNO: Would Senator 18 Johnson defer for two minutes here of -- and 19 thank you, Senator, and Mr. President and 20 colleagues. 21 We're starting the budget process 22 here towards getting something done by 23 March 31st this year. First time in 21 years 24 to have an on-time budget. And I want to 25 thank my colleagues, thank all of the support

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(518) 371-8910 1 that we've had. 2 We have before us the beginning of 3 what will be our openers here in the Senate 4 with a budget. And this budget that you're 5 going to vote on meets all of the Court of 6 Appeals language requirements so that this 7 budget can become law. 8 Right now, it's a one-house budget 9 because it's before the Senate. This does a 10 lot of the necessary things to benefit the 11 people of this state. We won't go into the 12 specifics, but I believe there are half a 13 dozen bills that are the first half of putting 14 this budget in place. 15 As you all know, the Assembly has 16 done a budget resolution. Now, the Assembly 17 is a larger body than the Senate, and they 18 couldn't get bills drafted. They did the 19 resolution, which is a general approach to the 20 budget. 21 These are specific bills. Any 22 resolution has to be put in bill form. We're 23 starting the process tomorrow. We expect to 24 have a meeting of the first conference 25 committee, the general conference committee,

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(518) 371-8910 1 at 10:00 o'clock tomorrow morning, hopefully. 2 I'm going to talk to the Speaker, going to be 3 talking to the Governor. And then activate, 4 while we're going through the process here 5 tomorrow, conference committees. So that all 6 the members in the Legislature here in this 7 house are actively, publicly engaged in the 8 budget process. 9 Now, we're going to have a real 10 challenge to get this done, because these are 11 challenging times. But we think that we are 12 reasonable, we are rational in terms of 13 education, health care, the infrastructure of 14 the state, higher ed, meeting the needs of the 15 people of this state and creating the revenue, 16 which will be in the neighborhood of 106, 17 probably, .7 billion in this one-house budget. 18 And again, I say "one house" 19 because, as you all know, in budget reform 20 each house passes their budget or their 21 resolution, as they see fit, you activate 22 conference committees, the whole process is 23 public, you come to a togetherness, and those 24 bills that you come together on will be passed 25 by March 31st and you have a budget in place

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(518) 371-8910 1 for the people of this state. 2 So this is the process that we're 3 starting. And hopefully we can keep the 4 process moving through tomorrow. And we fully 5 expect to stay right here until Holy Thursday, 6 which is -- Holy Thursday before Easter, it's 7 the 24th of March. That's a week from this 8 Thursday. 9 So that's where we are. That's 10 what we have in place. And hopefully with the 11 cooperation -- and we need the Assembly with 12 the Senate, and the Governor's signature, for 13 the bills that we're going to enact, or the 14 compromise. And compromise is the way we'll 15 get a budget done by March 31st, and the 16 people of this state will have the budget on 17 time, for the first time in 21 years, that 18 they deserve. 19 Thank you, Mr. President. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Thank 21 you, Senator Bruno. 22 We are on Calendar Number 269, 23 controversial calendar. Senator Johnson, an 24 explanation has been requested. 25 SENATOR JOHNSON: Okay. We're

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(518) 371-8910 1 talking about Print Number 550D and the 2 Article VII language that goes with it. And 3 these are some of the things that are included 4 in that bill of public protection and general 5 government: Division of Alcoholic Beverage 6 Control, Department of Audit and Control, 7 Division of the Budget, Capital Defenders 8 Office, Department of Civil Service, Consumer 9 Protection Board, State Commission of 10 Correction, Division of Correctional Services, 11 Crime Victims Board, Division of Criminal 12 Justice Services. 13 And we denied several items that 14 the Governor had in his bill. We restored 15 several other items. Unless you want me to 16 read them all, I won't. 17 Office of Prevention of Domestic 18 Violence, State Board of Elections, Office of 19 Employee Relations, Executive Chamber, Office 20 of General Services, Homeland Security, State 21 Inspector General, Interest on Lawyer Account, 22 Temporary State Commission of Investigation, 23 Judicial Commissions, Department of Law, 24 Office of Lieutenant Governor, Division of 25 Military and Naval Affairs, Division of

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(518) 371-8910 1 Parole, Division of Probation and Correctional 2 Alternatives, Public Employee Relations Board, 3 Division of State Police, Statewide Wireless 4 Network, Office for Technology, Workers' 5 Compensation Board, Local Government, Division 6 of Veterans Affairs, and General State 7 Charges. 8 They're all included in the Public 9 Protection and General Government Budget. 10 That is the budget bill plus the Article VII 11 bill. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 13 Oppenheimer. 14 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Mr. 15 President, I'd like to offer an amendment. Is 16 it at the desk, please? 17 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: There's 18 an amendment at the desk. 19 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Excellent. 20 Thank you. I'd like to waive its reading, and 21 I'd like to have the opportunity to explain 22 it. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 24 reading is waived. You may be heard on the 25 amendment.

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(518) 371-8910 1 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: And I'm 2 putting on my hat, which you've heard before, 3 as League of Women Voters past president, to 4 talk about the HAVA funds. 5 These are the funds, the federal 6 funds that are available to us under the Help 7 America Vote Act. The amendment I'm going to 8 make concerns the training and education of 9 poll workers. We're talking about the 10 possibility of a $10 million addition to our 11 Senate budget. It is already in the Assembly 12 budget. And I think, if anything, it is 13 probably of more significance to us in this 14 house, after what we have been through in the 15 last several months, than to the Assembly. 16 If poll workers had proper 17 training, which we all know they have not had, 18 we would not have run into the kind of mess we 19 had -- quite frankly, it was a mess -- for 20 three months this year. Poll workers that 21 don't know whether to send a potential voter 22 to the left or right, by not even reading what 23 is before them, it just makes no sense. 24 Our poll workers are in need of 25 instruction. We understand that. We know

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(518) 371-8910 1 that. We ought to be putting the $10 million 2 that is in the Assembly budget into our 3 budget, so that we can help our poll 4 workers -- who want to do the right job, but 5 they need some assistance. And we should be 6 putting in $10 million to help them out. 7 Thank you. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Those 9 Senators in agreement with the amendment 10 please signify by raising your hands. 11 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 12 agreement are Senators Andrews, Breslin, 13 Brown, Dilan, Gonzalez, Hassell-Thompson, 14 Klein, L. Krueger, C. Kruger, Montgomery, 15 Onorato, Oppenheimer, Paterson, Sabini, 16 Sampson, Schneiderman, Serrano, A. Smith, 17 M. Smith, Stachowski, Stavisky, Valesky and 18 Senator Diaz. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 20 amendment is not agreed to. 21 Senator Schneiderman. 22 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you, 23 Mr. President. If the sponsor would rise for 24 a few brief questions. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator

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(518) 371-8910 1 Johnson, will you yield to questions? 2 The Senator yields. 3 Senator Schneiderman. 4 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you. 5 Through you, Mr. President, will 6 the sponsor tell us how much funding is in the 7 Public Protection and General Government 8 Budget bill for indigent legal services? 9 SENATOR JOHNSON: $11 million. 10 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Through 11 you, Mr. President. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 13 Schneiderman. 14 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Is that 15 listed as an item for indigent legal services, 16 or is that in the municipal -- the funding for 17 municipalities? 18 SENATOR JOHNSON: It's not listed 19 as a separate item. It is not listed as a 20 separate item. 21 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you. 22 And through you, Mr. President, if 23 the sponsor would continue to yield for one 24 more question. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The

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(518) 371-8910 1 sponsor will continue to yield. 2 Senator Schneiderman. 3 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: And the 4 Governor cut the budget for the capital 5 defenders service down to one-third of what it 6 had previously been. How does the Senate's 7 one-house budget bill deal with that cut? 8 SENATOR JOHNSON: We have 9 accepted the Governor's cut in that instance. 10 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Through 11 you, Mr. President, is there not a further cut 12 made beyond what the Governor cut on -- for 13 the capital defenders service. 14 SENATOR JOHNSON: No, we have not 15 changed it from the Governor's cut. 16 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you. 17 Thank the sponsor and all of his -- our 18 assistants and kibitzers here. 19 On the bill. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 21 Schneiderman, on the bill. 22 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: I think 23 that the failure to adequately fund legal 24 services for indigents and the failure to fund 25 the capital defenders service is a serious

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(518) 371-8910 1 flaw in this bill. We talk about our efforts 2 to provide equal rights under the law. We had 3 a vigorous debate last week on the death 4 penalty. Senator Volker is doing his best to 5 see that that is reinstated. We passed the 6 death penalty bill in this house. 7 Under those circumstances, I think 8 that it is unconscionable not to fully fund 9 the capital defenders service. I would note 10 that the prosecutorial equivalent of the 11 capital defenders service is still funded, in 12 spite of the fact that we are not presently 13 operating with a death penalty statute, and 14 that some more funding for indigent legal 15 services is required. 16 We're going through a process now 17 where the people who are eligible for 18 resentencing under the Rockefeller Drug Laws, 19 which is a tiny number of people under the 20 reform passed last year, do not all have 21 lawyers. And that the legal services and the 22 defenders' offices that would represent them 23 are so strapped for cash that they're unable 24 to even meet this minimal addition. 25 I think it's time for New York

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(518) 371-8910 1 State to live up to its obligation. Senator 2 Bruno referred to us complying with the Court 3 of Appeals where there are Court of Appeals 4 decisions and United States Supreme Court 5 decisions that talk about the right to 6 counsel. In this bill, we fail to provide for 7 that right. 8 So, Mr. President, I will be voting 9 no. Thank you very much. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Are 11 there any other Senators wishing to be heard 12 on the bill? 13 Debate is closed. 14 The Secretary will ring the bell. 15 The Secretary will read the last 16 section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 18 act shall take effect immediately. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Call 20 the roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll.) 22 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 23 Breslin, to explain his vote. 24 SENATOR BRESLIN: Thank you, Mr. 25 President.

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(518) 371-8910 1 I applaud Senator Bruno and Speaker 2 Silver and the Governor -- my leader, David 3 Paterson -- for a much more open process. 4 However, I must say that we've been given 5 thousands of pages over the last several days. 6 And upon a review, there are many good things 7 in this bill as well as the other budget 8 bills. But we still haven't addressed things 9 like school aid runs, HAVA, CFE, HCRA. But we 10 have to have confidence that these things can 11 be worked out in conference committees. 12 On balance, this particular bill 13 that we have in front of us has many good 14 things in it. But as Senator Schneiderman 15 pointed out, indigent legal services is a 16 negative in the lack of funding for it. 17 However, on balance, because I have 18 confidence in the process that we will have in 19 the next few days, that we will be able to 20 accomplish our goal of an on-time budget, I 21 will vote for this bill as well as the other 22 budget bills. And therefore, I will be voting 23 in the affirmative. 24 Thank you, Mr. President. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator

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(518) 371-8910 1 Breslin will be recorded in the affirmative. 2 Senator Montgomery. 3 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, Mr. 4 President. I would just like to comment on 5 the budget bill that we're passing right now. 6 I am also appreciative of the fact 7 that we have come this far this early in our 8 process. But I do want to point to a couple 9 of areas where I think we are proposing an 10 unfair proposal. 11 The first that I want to point out 12 is that the Senate has added funds back into 13 the budget to cover the cost of five 14 facilities that were slated to be closed. 15 We've put in $22.7 million to continue these 16 facilities. They are all upstate. The only 17 one for which there is no funding in this 18 budget is for Fulton, which is the one that is 19 in the Bronx. It's downstate. 20 It's a work-release program. And 21 we need that facility, because if it's not 22 going to be used by DOCS, then we need it to 23 be used by the local criminal justice people, 24 including perhaps the Bronx DA, the Kings 25 County DA. We can use that facility as an

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(518) 371-8910 1 alternative to incarceration. 2 So I'm really very disappointed 3 that we didn't propose to return Fulton, as we 4 have the other facilities, including the 5 Watertown SHU. 6 In addition, lastly, let me just 7 say that I see that the Senate has reduced the 8 Neighborhood Work Project by $2 million. This 9 is a cut in a program that is specifically 10 targeting New York City. We desperately need 11 more, not less, capacity to deal with people 12 who are going to be returning from prison to 13 the City of New York and other parts of the 14 state, but especially New York City. So I'm 15 very, very concerned about that. 16 However, I will be voting for this 17 bill because I think we're moving at least in 18 the right direction. Thank you. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 20 Montgomery will be recorded in the 21 affirmative. 22 Senator Krueger. 23 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you. 24 To explain my vote. 25 I'd also like to point out that in

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(518) 371-8910 1 addition to the cuts for indigent legal 2 services, in this bill this year we've zeroed 3 out civil legal services. And there is no one 4 in this state who does not need to have civil 5 legal services available to constituents in 6 their districts. These funds keep getting cut 7 every year, and this year we're zeroing them 8 out. 9 And again, I would hope that all of 10 my colleagues would think through what it 11 means not to have your constituents who are 12 poor but find themselves in need of legal 13 assistance -- not on the criminal end, but on 14 the civil end. Issues of women attempting to 15 get divorces who have been victims of domestic 16 violence, families in Family Court or civil 17 court proceedings, people facing eviction from 18 their homes -- it's an endless number of 19 functions that civil legal services provides 20 to each and every one of our districts. 21 And despite the fact that there are 22 things in this bill that I am comfortable with 23 and am glad that we have restored that the 24 Governor cut out, in addition to my 25 colleagues' comments on indigent legal

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(518) 371-8910 1 services, we cannot go forward in this state 2 without representation in the civil system for 3 low-income New Yorkers. So I'll also be 4 voting no. 5 Thank you, Mr. President. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 7 Krueger will be recorded in the negative. 8 The Secretary will announce the 9 results. 10 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 11 the negative on Calendar Number 269 are 12 Senators Andrews, Diaz, Gonzalez, 13 Hassell-Thompson, L. Krueger, Onorato, 14 Oppenheimer, Sabini, Schneiderman, Serrano, 15 A. Smith, Stavisky. Also Senator Montgomery. 16 Ayes, 42. Nays, 13. 17 Those absent from voting on 18 Calendar Number 269 are Senators Flanagan, 19 Maziarz, and Spano. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 21 bill is passed. 22 The Secretary will read. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 270, Senate Budget Bill, Senate Print 551A, an 25 act making appropriations for the support of

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(518) 371-8910 1 government, on LEGISLATURE AND JUDICIARY 2 BUDGET. 3 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: 4 Explanation. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 6 Johnson, an explanation has been requested. 7 SENATOR JOHNSON: Mr. President, 8 as far as the Legislature portion of the 9 Governor's bill, we concur with that, with his 10 recommendation. 11 With the judiciary request, we 12 concur with that, with certain changes. We 13 reduce, without prejudice, Nonpersonal Service 14 and Maintenance Undistributed by $30 million 15 and General State Charges by $17.3 million. 16 We concur with the Executive's 17 request to allow quarterly reimbursement to 18 the Office of Court Administration from the 19 Indigent Legal Service funds, up to 20 $6.25 million per quarter. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 22 Schneiderman. 23 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you, 24 Mr. President. If the sponsor would yield for 25 a question.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 2 Johnson. 3 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: One 4 question. 5 SENATOR JOHNSON: Yes, sir. 6 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: What is 7 the reduction in the allocation for the 8 judiciary in this budget bill compared to last 9 year's budget? 10 SENATOR JOHNSON: Maintenance 11 Undistributed is just a general reduction in 12 the judicial budget. And General State 13 Charges refers to pension costs, reduction in 14 the pension costs. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 16 Schneiderman. 17 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Through 18 you, Mr. President. And how much is the 19 reduction in the judiciary budget? 20 SENATOR JOHNSON: It would be 30 21 plus 17.3. $47.3 million. 22 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: 47.3. 23 Thank you. Thank the sponsor for his 24 response. 25 Thirty plus 17.3.

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(518) 371-8910 1 On the bill, Mr. President. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 3 Schneiderman, on the bill. 4 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: I mean, I 5 think that -- I worked as a law clerk in a 6 court when I first graduated from law school. 7 I realize that there is some tension between 8 some of the members of the Majority in this 9 house and what they feel some judges -- with 10 some judges who they feel disagree with them. 11 There is a system of checks and 12 balances in our system of government that is 13 precious to our republic. And I do not think 14 that the way to deal with disagreements with 15 the judiciary is by cutting $47 million from 16 the budget of an already overburdened, 17 overworked branch of government where we have 18 backlogs of cases in many parts of this state 19 that are simply intolerable. 20 I think that, you know, we should 21 be paying our judges what they deserve. We 22 should be funding the law clerks and 23 assistants that they need. We have problems 24 now even getting access to transcripts in many 25 cases.

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(518) 371-8910 1 For us to be cutting the judiciary 2 budget, whether it's an act of pique, 3 decisions that some disagree with, or it's 4 simply negligence, is wholly unacceptable. I 5 am going to vote no for this budget. 6 Thank you. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 8 DeFrancisco. 9 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. First 10 of all, 17 million of the cut is due to a 11 recomputation of the pension needs, the funds 12 that are needed to fund the pension fund. 13 They don't need that money to fund the 14 pensions. So that has nothing to do with any 15 pique that anybody has about the judiciary. 16 Secondly, as one who practices 17 before the judiciary and happens to be 18 chairman of the Judiciary Committee, the other 19 $30 million has nothing to do with the need 20 for more judges and more people in the 21 trenches to move cases, to get things moved in 22 through the courts. 23 We all know that there's a 24 bureaucracy entitled the Office of Court 25 Administration. And a majority of our

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(518) 371-8910 1 house -- I'm not saying whether I agree or 2 disagree -- a majority of our side of the 3 house believes that that part of the budget 4 needs some trimming. And that's what the 5 purpose -- at least as the opening salvo of 6 these budget negotiations. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Is 8 there any other Senator wishing to be heard on 9 the bill? 10 Read the last section. 11 The Secretary will ring the bell. 12 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 13 act shall take effect immediately. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Call 15 the roll. 16 (The Secretary called the roll.) 17 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 18 Secretary will announce the results. 19 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 20 the negative on Calendar Number 270 are 21 Senators Andrews, Diaz, Hassell-Thompson, 22 Klein, L. Krueger, Paterson, Sabini, Savino, 23 Schneiderman, Serrano, A. Smith, Stavisky, 24 Valesky. 25 Those Senators absent from voting

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(518) 371-8910 1 on Calendar Number 270: Senator Gonzalez. 2 Ayes, 44. Nays, 13. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 4 bill is passed. 5 Senator Maltese. 6 SENATOR MALTESE: Mr. President, 7 pursuant to Rule 9, I was required to be at a 8 meeting of the Election/HAVA standing 9 committee. And my attendance caused me to 10 miss the votes on the following bills on the 11 controversial calendar. I cast my votes as 12 follows: 13 Senate Bill Number 671, Calendar 14 Number 116, aye. 15 Senate Bill Number 2440, Calendar 16 Number 163, aye. 17 Thank you. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 19 record will so reflect. 20 Senator Maziarz. 21 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you very 22 much, Mr. President. 23 Pursuant to Rule 9, I was required 24 to be at a meeting of the Help America Vote 25 Act/Elections Conference Committee. And my

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(518) 371-8910 1 attendance caused me to miss the votes on the 2 following bills on the controversial calendar. 3 And I cast my votes as follows: 4 Bill Number 550D, Calendar Number 5 269, I vote in the affirmative. 6 Bill Number 671, Calendar Number 7 116, I vote in the affirmative. 8 And Bill Number 2440, Calendar 9 Number 163, I vote in the affirmative. 10 Thank you, Mr. President. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 12 record will so reflect. 13 Senator Spano. 14 SENATOR SPANO: Mr. President, 15 pursuant to Rule 9 I was required to be at a 16 public hearing of the Elections Conference 17 Committee. My absence caused me to miss the 18 following votes on the following bills on the 19 controversial calendar. I cast my votes as 20 follows: 21 Senate 550D, Calendar 269; Senate 22 671, Calendar 116; Senate 2440, Calendar 163, 23 aye on each of the aforementioned bills. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 25 record will so reflect.

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(518) 371-8910 1 I would request that we keep the 2 conversations down. Admittedly, it's 3 procedural, but we need to have it for the 4 records. 5 Senator Flanagan. 6 SENATOR FLANAGAN: Thank you, Mr. 7 President. I would join my colleagues 8 Maziarz, Spano and Maltese; I was at the same 9 meeting. I would like to be recorded as aye 10 on the bills that they all mentioned. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 12 record will so reflect. 13 Senator Dilan. 14 SENATOR DILAN: Yes, Mr. 15 President, I was also at the HAVA Conference 16 Committee meeting. And if I would have been 17 present, I would be voting yes on 116 and 163. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 19 record will so reflect. 20 We'd like the record to report that 21 the correct vote on Calendar Number 270, 22 Senate 551A was 44 ayes, 13 nay. Thank you. 23 The Secretary will read. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 271, Senate Budget Bill, Senate Print 555D, an

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(518) 371-8910 1 act making appropriations for the support of 2 government, TRANSPORTATION, ECONOMIC 3 DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION 4 BUDGET. 5 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: 6 Explanation. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: An 8 explanation has been requested. 9 SENATOR JOHNSON: This bill is 10 quite a compendious document. But I would say 11 that generally we're adding $30 million to the 12 Governor's -- the money which the Governor 13 proposed to spend. Five million of that is 14 just for various farm programs -- apples, 15 bumblebees, migrant childcare, North Country 16 agriculture, marine resources, et cetera, 17 et cetera. 18 The Banking Department, small 19 reductions there. Empire State Development, 20 we're proposing to eliminate the Governor's 21 Operation SPUR and put a new Excell-New York 22 in its place, with regional centers for 23 innovation. 24 DEC, we -- at the moment we're 25 holding up the $15 million brownfields cleanup

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(518) 371-8910 1 appropriation, subject to a memorandum of 2 understanding between the Executive, the 3 Majority Leader in the Senate, and the Speaker 4 of the Assembly. 5 We're providing a lot of money to 6 landfill closures, municipal recycling, 7 waterfront revitalization. We're adding money 8 all along for those various programs which 9 many of the members have asked for. We're 10 restoring the rural preservation companies, 11 neighborhood preservation companies. 12 We concur with the Executive's 13 recommendation for the MTA. The Department of 14 Motor Vehicles, we concur with the Governor's 15 suggestion. Office of Science and Technology, 16 we concur with the Executive's request. We 17 recommend the following additions, about 18 $12 million -- I could go on and on. Empire 19 Zone program, expanding out in accordance with 20 the Governor's suggestions. And so on and so 21 on, et cetera. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 23 Schneiderman. 24 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you, 25 Mr. President. I believe that there is an

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(518) 371-8910 1 amendment at the desk. I would ask that the 2 reading be waived and ask to be heard on the 3 amendment. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: There 5 is an amendment at the desk. The reading is 6 waived, and you may be heard on the amendment. 7 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: This is 8 the first of two proposed amendments to this 9 budget bill. And this one attempts to keep 10 the spirit of reform alive, to keep that 11 little flame of reform flickering a bit. 12 When we, with much fanfare, went 13 through the process of debating reform 14 proposals earlier this year, many of us felt 15 that the Senate came up short. We went 16 through this process where the Governor 17 proclaimed that we were reforming the budget 18 process by having open meetings of the five 19 leaders, not the three men in a room. We now 20 are facing budget bills that were not produced 21 through any sort of open process, that we have 22 received really with less than a day's notice 23 to certainly the members on this side of the 24 aisle. 25 And I would respectfully suggest

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(518) 371-8910 1 that reform is not something which should be 2 allowed to last through the election cycle and 3 then, when the last votes are counted, fade 4 into the background of the typical Albany 5 system for doing business. 6 This amendment would revive the 7 reform efforts by providing that the memoranda 8 of understanding contemplated by this budget 9 bill, which deal with bridge and highway 10 programs, industrial access programs, and an 11 aviation program, not be restricted to the 12 participation of the Speaker, the Senate 13 Majority Leader, and the Governor. 14 This amendment would provide that 15 all five leaders, including the two minority 16 leaders in the Senate and the Assembly, be 17 allowed to participate in the drafting and 18 approval of these MOUs. These are -- this is 19 the real budget process. The distribution of 20 these funds is very significant. This is an 21 area in which the minority leaders are 22 excluded. And I think that any claim from 23 this house to have reformed the budget 24 process, if you exclude the minority leaders 25 from the MOU process, must ring hollow.

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(518) 371-8910 1 So I urge everyone to keep true to 2 the spirit of reform. Let's get all five 3 leaders in on the MOUs. And I urge everyone 4 to vote for this amendment. 5 Thank you, Mr. President. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: On the 7 amendment, the Senators in agreement please 8 signify by raising your hands. 9 Those recorded in agreement are? 10 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 11 agreement are Senators Andrews, Breslin, 12 Brown, Diaz, Dilan, Hassell-Thompson, Klein, 13 L. Krueger, C. Kruger, Montgomery, Onorato, 14 Oppenheimer, Paterson, Sabini, Savino, 15 Schneiderman, Serrano, A. Smith, M. Smith and 16 Stavisky. Also Senator Sampson. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 18 amendment is not agreed to. 19 Senator Sabini. 20 SENATOR SABINI: Mr. President, I 21 believe there's an amendment at the desk from 22 myself. I ask that the reading of the 23 amendment be waived and that I be heard on the 24 amendment. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: There

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(518) 371-8910 1 is an amendment at the desk. The reading is 2 waived, and you may be heard on the amendment. 3 SENATOR SABINI: My colleagues, 4 very simply, this amendment would add 5 $100 million to the operating budget of the 6 Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 7 The MTA is facing an operating and 8 capital program deficit and a looming crisis 9 in keeping the system in just basic repair. 10 Not including the service improvements that 11 have been promised to the ridership, not 12 including the capital improvements that have 13 been promised to the ridership, but just 14 keeping the system afloat. 15 There was a modest fare increase 16 for certain classifications of riders that was 17 implemented a week ago. Today we saw tolls go 18 up on MTA bridges and tunnels. And what the 19 amendment simply does is add a hundred million 20 dollars in taxpayer funding to the MTA budget. 21 State government has been more and 22 more of an absent player in the funding of the 23 MTA. That's how they got into trouble some 24 years ago when the system started crumbling. 25 And I fear that we're headed down the same

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(518) 371-8910 1 road. We need to be full players in transit. 2 It's an economic development question. To get 3 people to and from work, we have to have a 4 transit system that works. 5 And I think it's time for us as a 6 legislature to take a leadership role and 7 concern ourselves with spending more on mass 8 transit, and I offer that in the form of the 9 amendment. 10 Thank you, Mr. President. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: On the 12 amendment, those Senators in agreement please 13 signify by raising your hands. 14 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 15 agreement are Senators Andrews, Breslin, 16 Brown, Diaz, Dilan, Hassell-Thompson, Klein, 17 L. Krueger, Montgomery, Oppenheimer, Paterson, 18 Sabini, Sampson, Savino, Schneiderman, 19 Serrano, A. Smith, M. Smith and Stavisky. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 21 amendment is not agreed to. 22 Senator Schneiderman. 23 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you, 24 Mr. President. On the bill. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator

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(518) 371-8910 1 Schneiderman, on the bill. 2 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: This 3 legislation deals with transportation and 4 economic development. The bill that comes 5 after it is a language bill that accompanies 6 it as far as economic development and 7 environmental conservation. 8 I think that the points just made 9 by Senator Sabini are sufficient reason to 10 vote against this bill. We have, as a 11 legislature, run the greatest mass transit 12 system in the history of world into the 13 ground. And I know you think it may belong 14 there, but I'm speaking in a less positive 15 sense. 16 The MTA -- the MTA board has issued 17 a capital proposal showing that there is an 18 $11.3 billion gap in the portion of the plan 19 that deals only with basic maintenance, that 20 there's a $4.2 billion shortfall for proposed 21 expansion projects like the Second Avenue 22 subway. Forget those projects for now. Those 23 projects are off the table. A lot of people 24 have taken credit for them in the past. 25 They're not going to happen unless this

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(518) 371-8910 1 legislature steps up to the plate. 2 On top of that, the authority 3 forecasts an operating deficit between 4 $600 million and $700 million next year, and 5 that's after the fare hike that just went into 6 effect. 7 Now, the chairman of the MTA, 8 Chairman Kalikow, has faced the reality, he 9 has begun to raise the issue that we have 10 underfunded the MTA. This is a proposal for 11 operating funds. This is not a capital plan. 12 The reason that we need to provide more 13 operating funds, however, ladies and 14 gentlemen, is that when we passed the last MTA 15 capital plan, the State of New York -- anyone 16 who voted for that capital plan voted to 17 provide zero dollars to capital for our 18 transit system. 19 As a result, the MTA issued 20 $22 billion in bonds, which we are now paying 21 for out of operating revenues. That is like 22 buying groceries with your mortgage money. 23 That is a disgrace. That is no way to finance 24 a system. We have to do better than that. 25 For us to come here in the face of

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(518) 371-8910 1 these deficits that we have created -- these 2 weren't created by the straphangers. People 3 are riding the subways and buses more than 4 ever. This was created here in the State 5 Legislature. For us to come in and say we're 6 going to provide a new tax in the MTA area 7 that will generate $400 million, knowing that 8 that is less than half of what the chairman of 9 the MTA has requested, is a statement by 10 everyone who votes for this bill to the subway 11 and bus riders in New York City that we are 12 respectfully requesting permission to raise 13 your transit fares again. That's what you're 14 doing if you don't provide more funding here. 15 I sincerely hope when we get to 16 conference committees this issue is addressed. 17 We cannot allow the system to go back into the 18 state it was in in the 1970s. That will 19 happen. It will be a worse system. Ridership 20 will go down, revenues will plummet further, 21 and we'll be back into that spiral, that 22 destructive spiral that costs every employer 23 in the City of New York, every employer in the 24 suburbs of New York who rely on the Long 25 Island Railroad and Metro North. It's a tax

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(518) 371-8910 1 on every employer, it's a tax on every worker. 2 It is the worst possible public policy. 3 So I'm going to be voting against 4 the bill. And that's reason enough, but 5 there's an additional reason. This 6 legislation also deals with the Empire Zone 7 program. If there has ever been a program 8 that had drifted away from its intended roots, 9 that has drifted away from its purpose and 10 become a generalized subsidy for 11 well-connected businesspeople, this is it. 12 The Empire Zone program is in need 13 of reform. This legislation would extend the 14 program for 15 years, expand it with no reform 15 to guarantee that the jobs promised are 16 created, to guarantee that -- Empire Zones 17 were a great idea. They were a great 18 conservative idea. They were developed by 19 conservative think tanks to provide tax breaks 20 in poor inner-city communities to encourage 21 businesses to locate there. 22 Under the State of New York's 23 program, we have lost all sense of the purpose 24 of Empire Zones. They're now designated in 25 empty fields. They are designated in areas

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(518) 371-8910 1 that aren't even geographically contiguous 2 with the towns that they're supposed to serve. 3 And we know that they are sometimes being 4 designated in areas where there are people who 5 simply want to do development there and want 6 the tax breaks. That is not a valid economic 7 development program. 8 We could save $75 million every 9 year. We could take $75 million and provide 10 it for buses and subways, we could provide it 11 for schools, if we would reform this program 12 that was documented in the Senate Democrats' 13 alternative budget released a year ago this 14 month. 15 So let's not simply pass on more 16 programs and expand them when we know they 17 don't work and we know that they don't create 18 jobs and we know that they're handled in an 19 unfair way that discriminates against 20 communities across this state. 21 I'm going to vote no for both the 22 transportation and the economic development 23 portions of this bill, and I urge everyone to 24 do the same. And when we get to conference 25 committees, if we do not address this problem

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(518) 371-8910 1 of transit funding, then I think everyone here 2 should feel obligated to communicate to their 3 constituents that they are graciously passing 4 on a fare hike to the MTA riders. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 6 Sabini, on the bill. 7 SENATOR SABINI: Thank you, Mr. 8 President. I just wanted to highlight another 9 problem I have with this bill. 10 While I was delighted to see that 11 the Northeast Queens Nature and Historic 12 Preserve Commission in Senator Padavan's 13 district was put back in the budget, and I 14 think it's a worthwhile endeavor, it made me 15 look at the rest of the wetlands issue 16 regarding spending in this budget. 17 There's really two ways that we 18 could have protected our wetlands. One is to 19 pass S2048, which is the Clean Water 20 Protection and Flood Preservation Act, which 21 is also in the Assembly budget resolution, or 22 accept the Governor's proposal in Article VII. 23 Both of them would go a long way to improve 24 our wetlands. They do so in different ways, 25 but both provide for the fix of the 2001

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(518) 371-8910 1 legislation, which took protected wetlands out 2 of the federal jurisdiction that were smaller 3 than 12.4 acres. 4 In the Northeast, Connecticut, 5 Vermont, Massachusetts, our surrounding states 6 that border us, we have the weakest wetlands 7 laws of any of those states. The irony is 8 that the water coming through Connecticut that 9 goes into our drinking water system in 10 New York City is, by Connecticut law, cleaner 11 than what it has to be when it passes through 12 New York State into our water system. That's 13 really a shame that we rely on other states to 14 be more protective of our own water than we 15 are. 16 New York has really passed off on 17 protecting wetlands. And now we have an 18 opportunity yet. In this budget proposal, 19 Article VII is denied. A million-dollar 20 appropriation for staff for DEC wetland 21 protection is denied. And I think it's a step 22 in the wrong direction when it comes to our 23 environment. 24 So in addition to the problems I 25 have with mass transit funding in this budget

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(518) 371-8910 1 bill, I also think that we are being sort of 2 dismissive of the need to protect our 3 wetlands, and I'll be voting in the negative. 4 Thank you. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 6 Krueger. 7 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you. 8 If the sponsor would yield, please. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Will 10 the sponsor yield to a question? Senator 11 Johnson? 12 SENATOR JOHNSON: Yes, Mr. 13 President. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 15 Krueger. 16 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you, 17 Mr. President. 18 This bill is filled with new monies 19 as well as concerns that my colleagues have 20 raised about the monies that aren't there for 21 public transportation, the monies that aren't 22 there for the environment, including not 23 putting in $15 million in appropriation for 24 brownfields grants, which are desperately 25 needed to move forward on our commitment to

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(518) 371-8910 1 brownfields. 2 But I'd like to ask the sponsor, 3 because I'm a tad confused, this bill has 4 $100 million for something called 5 Excell-New York. What will that money be for, 6 Senator? 7 SENATOR JOHNSON: Well, that 8 is -- we have a program like that already, and 9 we're going to expand that program, called 10 Regional Centers for Innovation, mostly 11 affiliated with colleges and not-for-profits, 12 in place of the SPUR program, which the 13 Governor has proposed. 14 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: And if the 15 sponsor would continue to yield, please, Mr. 16 President. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 18 sponsor continues to yield. 19 Senator Krueger. 20 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you. 21 And I believe you're referencing, Senator 22 Johnson, that it's like the Gen*NY*sis 23 program. Is that what you meant? 24 SENATOR JOHNSON: I'm sorry, I 25 didn't understand what you just said.

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(518) 371-8910 1 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Is the 2 Excell-New York program like -- when you said 3 it's like another program we have, is that the 4 Gen*NY*sis Centers for Excellence program? Or 5 you meant another program? 6 SENATOR JOHNSON: Well, we have 7 an Excell program already. And this is going 8 to enlarge the regional centers for innovation 9 we already have. 10 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Through 11 you, Mr. President, if the sponsor would 12 continue to yield. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: You're 14 recognized, Senator Krueger. Continue. 15 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you. 16 So, Senator Johnson, how much do we 17 already have in the Excell program? This bill 18 seems to add a hundred million. How much is 19 already there? 20 SENATOR JOHNSON: All right. We 21 have a program now in New York State, NYSTAR, 22 technical and whatever -- technology and 23 research, that's correct. That's the -- we 24 use the appellation all the time, New York 25 State Center for Technology and Research.

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(518) 371-8910 1 We're really incorporating that 2 into this new regional Excell-New York 3 program. And they're going to have one 4 not-for-profit in each of the six regions of 5 the state. And their job is to develop and 6 execute regional economic development 7 strategies for each center's respective 8 region. They'll have state funding combined 9 with private sector and federal funds, and 10 they'll provide seed money and capital for 11 innovative businesses in all economic sectors, 12 including major industries and high 13 technology, manufacturing, agricultural 14 services and tourism. 15 And they will work closely with 16 regional economic development partners from 17 academic and research institutions. So we're 18 really getting some high-powered economic 19 development by working with the existing 20 institutions in those areas of the state. 21 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Mr. 22 President, if through you the sponsor would 23 continue to yield. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Will 25 the sponsor continue to yield?

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(518) 371-8910 1 SENATOR JOHNSON: Yes. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 3 Krueger. 4 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you. 5 So do we also continue to fund 6 NYSTAR? And how much money are we continuing 7 to put into that program? Where would I find 8 that in the budget? 9 SENATOR JOHNSON: The existing 10 NYSTAR programs will be continued. And this 11 will be a supplement to NYSTAR, which already 12 is there. 13 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: No, how 14 much money do we have in that program that's 15 already there that will continue? 16 SENATOR JOHNSON: Let me see. 17 NYSTAR has received money over the past 18 several years up to the sum of $200 million. 19 And they only spent about $40 million of that. 20 So that money is going to be available for 21 this program. 22 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Through 23 you, Mr. President. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: You're 25 recognized, Senator Krueger.

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(518) 371-8910 1 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you, 2 Senator. 3 So we're not continuing new funding 4 to NYSTAR, but we've put $200 million in, of 5 which $40 million has been spent? Would that 6 be accurate on my part? 7 SENATOR JOHNSON: Senator, I'm 8 sorry, we don't have all the papers right 9 here. But the Governor has proposed adding 10 $200 million to NYSTAR. They already have 11 $200 million. That money is going to go -- 12 we're not cutting the Governor's money, we're 13 just redirecting it from the operation called 14 SPUR to what we call Excell-New York. 15 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you. 16 Mr. President, if through you the 17 sponsor would continue to yield. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: He does 19 yield. 20 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you. 21 My understanding was that we were 22 taking the Governor's $100 million SPUR 23 proposal and turning that into the 24 Excell-New York. Are you saying that NYSTAR 25 is still remaining in the Governor's budget as

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(518) 371-8910 1 an additional 200 million and that it is not 2 the proposal of the Senate to change that? So 3 that would be on top of anything we're talking 4 about in changing SPUR proposed new program to 5 Excell program? 6 SENATOR JOHNSON: As I mentioned 7 in my original statement, that we're not going 8 on with the Governor's SPUR program, but we 9 are using the money that he put in that 10 program. 11 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: No, I think 12 we agree on that. My concern is are we 13 talking about also having an additional 200 -- 14 SENATOR JOHNSON: No, it's an 15 additional 100 million. Plus the original 16 200 million, of which they spent 40, which I 17 guess allowed 160. 18 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: So that's 19 160. So that's from previous years that's 20 still available for -- 21 SENATOR JOHNSON: Right. 22 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: -- NYSTAR. 23 But you are saying we are not putting 24 additional money into -- add into the NYSTAR 25 pot.

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(518) 371-8910 1 SENATOR JOHNSON: Well, the 2 Governor is doing that, and we are too. They 3 haven't used it very effectively. 4 And when we get this new structure 5 called Excell-New York, they will use that 6 money effectively for regional innovation. 7 Cooperating with business and the academy, 8 et cetera, et cetera. 9 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Mr. 10 President, through you, if the sponsor would 11 continue to yield. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: You're 13 recognized, Senator Krueger. Continue. 14 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you. 15 So just so I get this right, 16 there's also still money in the proposed 17 budget to continue NYSTAR with additional tax 18 revenue in the 2005-2006 fiscal year. 19 SENATOR JOHNSON: That's correct. 20 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: And that's 21 an additional 200 million. 22 SENATOR JOHNSON: It's an 23 additional 100 million. 24 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Additional 25 100 million, thank you, on top of that.

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(518) 371-8910 1 SENATOR JOHNSON: We're learning 2 as we go along. 3 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Mr. 4 President, if the sponsor would continue to 5 yield. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 7 sponsor continues to yield. 8 SENATOR JOHNSON: Yes, Mr. 9 President. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: You may 11 proceed. 12 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you. 13 We also have in this proposed 14 budget $175 million for the Gen*NY*sis program 15 in addition, and $175 million for the RESTORE 16 program in addition. Is that your 17 understanding? 18 SENATOR JOHNSON: We have that in 19 the capital funds part of the budget, yes. 20 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Okay, 21 within this budget. 22 And through you, Mr. President, if 23 the sponsor would continue to yield. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 25 sponsor will continue to yield.

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(518) 371-8910 1 Senator Krueger. 2 SENATOR JOHNSON: Yes, Mr. 3 President. 4 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you. 5 And we also have, I guess, in this 6 bill as well an issuance of $250 million in 7 bonds to establish the New York State 8 Technology and Development Program, to be 9 administered by the New York State Urban 10 Development Corporation. And that's new money 11 and a new program; is that your understanding, 12 Senator? 13 SENATOR JOHNSON: That's the 14 Governor's proposal, as you know. And we're 15 not making any changes to that. 16 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: So we're 17 supporting that in this bill. 18 SENATOR JOHNSON: Right. 19 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Yes, okay. 20 Thank you. 21 Mr. President, if through you the 22 sponsor would continue to yield. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: 24 Continue to be recognized, Senator Krueger. 25 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: When I also

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(518) 371-8910 1 looked in the revenue package, we're also 2 giving tax credits for companies who 3 participate and invest in Excell, and that's 4 to the tune of about $60 million. And again, 5 it talks about high technology, as does the 6 New York State Technology and Development 7 Program, as does some of the language around 8 the Excell program, as does some of the 9 language around NYSTAR and Gen*NY*sis and 10 RESTORE. 11 Why are we funding -- why is some 12 of the Excell money going to historic parks 13 and trails? How does that correlate to high 14 technology/economic development? It's about 15 $3 million in this bill. 16 SENATOR JOHNSON: Well, of 17 course, anything which enhances the economy of 18 the state would be subject -- a possible 19 subject for Excell-New York. And tourism is a 20 big industry in parts of our state. And they 21 feel that will help augment the income from 22 the tourist industry. 23 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Mr. 24 President, if, through you, the sponsor would 25 continue to yield.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 2 Krueger, continue. 3 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: But might 4 we not agree that -- historic trails are good 5 for tourism, I won't disagree. But what do 6 they have to do with the high technology and 7 biotech model of funding? 8 SENATOR JOHNSON: Of course, you 9 know -- I guess you didn't really understand 10 the broad impact of Excell-New York. It's not 11 just high tech. Everybody is into high tech. 12 But there's other aspects of this which would 13 be beneficial to the economy. 14 And I just mentioned here some of 15 the things that they would get involved in 16 also. It says, besides, innovative businesses 17 in all economic sectors, including the major 18 industries and high tech, manufacturing, 19 agricultural services and tourism. 20 It's not just high tech. Everybody 21 is on a high-tech kick, but we have other 22 virtues in this state to be exploited and 23 developed into economic engines. 24 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you, 25 Mr. President. On the bill.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 2 Krueger, on the bill. 3 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Well, 4 clearly I am confused about how we use our 5 money for economic development. I've learned 6 today we can't use the money for mass transit, 7 which we know creates jobs and continues and 8 assures people can get to jobs and assures 9 that businesses want to locate in our state 10 because there's an ability of people to get to 11 their jobs and get to whatever it is they're 12 selling. 13 And we can't support environmental 14 protection at the level that we have in the 15 past. We don't have the money for wetlands, 16 we don't have the money for brownfields. 17 We're reducing our commitment to environmental 18 protection by expanding what DEC is supposed 19 to do with the same dollars. 20 And yet I look through the budget 21 this year and I see enormous pots of money 22 that, frankly, when I do my homework before I 23 get to this chamber and when I get to this 24 chamber, it is a mystery to me how we're 25 spending the money and whether we're in fact

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(518) 371-8910 1 generating economic development for the State 2 of New York through the money. 3 We have in this bill -- and the 4 associated language bills that we'll deal with 5 at another time -- we've got another 6 $175 million for Gen*NY*sis. And it's not at 7 all clear how that differs from Excell, how 8 that differs from New York State Technology 9 and Development, how that differs from NYSTAR, 10 how it differs from RESTORE. 11 We have $175 million more for the 12 RESTORE program. We've got $100 million for 13 the Excell-New York program, a new program 14 that will apparently run better than the 15 NYSTAR program, but we'll throw another 16 hundred million into NYSTAR, which we say 17 doesn't work well, but we'll throw another 18 $100 million in there too. And we've got 19 $160 million apparently left unspent in that 20 program. 21 Maybe it's good that it's unspent 22 if it doesn't work very well. But I argue 23 maybe we should pull the money out if we 24 didn't spend it and it doesn't work very well. 25 Maybe we shouldn't put another $100 million in

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(518) 371-8910 1 if it doesn't work very well. 2 I don't understand the difference 3 between these different models and the new 4 New York State Technology and Development 5 Program, another $250 million in bonds. When 6 I've gone to hearings and asked the agencies 7 to explain to me how they've spent that money, 8 what the process is, what we've gotten for the 9 money, I get very little information. 10 And yet this year, supposedly in a 11 year where yet again we don't have enough 12 money for our schools, we don't have enough 13 money for public transportation, we don't have 14 enough money for health care, we've got, just 15 in the discussion today, all right, 16 $350 million for Gen*NY*sis and RESTORE, a new 17 $100 million for Excell. That's $450 million. 18 Another $60 million in tax credits to go along 19 with Excell. That's $510 million. A new New 20 York State Technology and Development. That's 21 another -- we're up to $800 million. The 22 continuing NYSTAR, another hundred million. 23 $900 million plus the $160 million that was 24 left, $1.6 billion. 25 And I didn't even get into the

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(518) 371-8910 1 multimodal programs, which also seems to be 2 related programs that just sort of go out 3 there when someone chooses. 4 You can't convince me we should 5 pass a budget with over a billion dollars in 6 it, in theory all for parallel or the same 7 programs, with no review of what we've gotten 8 for our dollars before, with an admission that 9 some of them don't work so well so we're 10 creating new ones. 11 I find it outrageous that the 12 definition of the economic development budget 13 in this state is to just create, year after 14 year, new slush founds while we continue to 15 fund the old ones and no one asks the 16 questions. Senator Schneiderman earlier 17 talked about the Empire Zones, another example 18 of where we know we went wrong, we refuse to 19 revisit the question and fix the problems. 20 I went to the hearings to discuss 21 the Empire Zone, and when somebody asked the 22 reasonable question, "Why don't we make the 23 entire State of New York an Empire Zone?" -- 24 two years ago I laughed at that question. Now 25 I think it's a reasonable proposal.

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(518) 371-8910 1 We're starting border wars between 2 our towns over these models of who can get the 3 biggest tax exemption from moving their 4 business. It's like rearranging deck chairs 5 on the Titanic, so why do we even bother. 6 Again, I think this state needs to 7 reevaluate every dollar we put into economic 8 development. We are not doing justice to the 9 people's tax dollars. We are certainly not 10 using our money effectively to expand our 11 economy. Because to expand our economy, we 12 would have good public transportation, we 13 would have good quality education, and we 14 would have affordable housing. It's not brain 15 surgery. And yet none of this money goes 16 towards any of that. 17 So I'm very disturbed about this 18 budget bill. I hope others may also be. And 19 I'll be voting no. 20 Thank you, Mr. President. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 22 Montgomery. 23 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, through 24 you, Mr. President, would the sponsor yield 25 for a question, inquiry.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 2 Johnson, will you yield to a question? 3 SENATOR JOHNSON: Certainly. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 5 Johnson will. 6 Senator Montgomery. 7 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Thank you, 8 Mr. President. 9 Senator Johnson, I'm trying to find 10 out exactly what is the allocation in this 11 budget for the administration of the Empire 12 Zones. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Will 14 you please take the conversations outside. 15 Thank you. 16 SENATOR JOHNSON: We think it's 17 possibly $2.3 million. 18 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: And I'm 19 looking in the budget, and I find that there's 20 reappropriations from last year. Does that -- 21 is that 2.3 million additional funds, or are 22 we -- 23 SENATOR JOHNSON: It's just a 24 restoration which the Governor has cut in his 25 budget. And we restored what he cut out.

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(518) 371-8910 1 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: So there's 2 no new additional funding for administration. 3 SENATOR JOHNSON: That's correct. 4 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Through you, 5 Mr. President, just to ask another related 6 question, if the Senator would yield. 7 SENATOR JOHNSON: Yes, Mr. 8 President. 9 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: You have -- 10 I see that there's language in the budget that 11 speaks to new Empire Zone programs. 12 SENATOR JOHNSON: That's true. 13 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: And one of 14 them is referred to as a Flex College 15 Opportunity Empire Zone. Is that supposed to 16 be "acreage"? Flex Acreage College 17 Opportunity Empire Zone. And another one is 18 Flex Acreage Agri-Business Opportunity Empire 19 Zone. 20 And my question to you is, what 21 exactly does that mean? Where will these 22 Empire Zones be created? 23 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 24 Montgomery. 25 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Oh, I didn't

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(518) 371-8910 1 get an answer. Did you answer me? I didn't 2 hear you. 3 SENATOR JOHNSON: You asked me 4 multiple questions. I wasn't sure just what 5 your question was that you wanted answered. 6 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Oh, I'm 7 sorry. 8 I was trying to find out exactly 9 what this Flex Acreage College Opportunity 10 Empire Zone is, and what exactly is the Flex 11 Acreage Agri-Business Opportunity Zone. 12 SENATOR JOHNSON: There are 13 really two programs side by side. One is for 14 colleges. And that's a competitive situation 15 between colleges who want to start Empire 16 Zones surrounding their campus no more than 17 one square mile. 18 And also for agri-business, if they 19 want to set one up, there will be a 20 competition to get the money and the revenues 21 for that zone, the agricultural zone or the 22 zone around colleges. 23 And also one mile -- they could 24 expand it each year by another square mile if 25 they get that busy and prosperous. But that's

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(518) 371-8910 1 what's in the bill. 2 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Oh. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 4 Montgomery. 5 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Mr. 6 President, through you, if Senator Johnson 7 would continue to yield. 8 SENATOR JOHNSON: Yes, Mr. 9 President. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 11 Johnson continues to yield. 12 Senator Montgomery. 13 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Based on the 14 funding that you have indicated for the 15 administration of the Empire Zones in this 16 budget, Senator Johnson, and we intend to 17 expand the Empire Zone program, as indicated 18 here, it seems that in 2005 we anticipate four 19 additional Empire Zones. 20 Are we anticipating expanding the 21 administrative cost of those, or are we just 22 now spreading the cost, the same money, over a 23 larger number of zones? 24 SENATOR JOHNSON: Senator, there 25 is a competitive process of applying for and

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(518) 371-8910 1 lobbying for and finally achieving an Empire 2 Zone. They won't run out of money before the 3 end of the year because the process takes so 4 long. We have enough money to do whoever gets 5 approved this year. We'll worry about next 6 year's appropriation next year. 7 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: All right. 8 Thank you, Senator. 9 Mr. President, briefly on the bill. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 11 Montgomery, on the bill. 12 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: I raise this 13 issue in particular because I see that we have 14 four new zones. And based on this new -- this 15 new programs proposal, the flex acreage and 16 the flex acreage, I'm not sure how or whether 17 or not we'll have any new Empire Zones in 18 New York City -- certainly in Brooklyn, where 19 we need them. 20 Now, I'm -- I understand, I want to 21 look at the whole state as my responsibility, 22 so to speak. And I'm happy when we do 23 whatever is required in any part of the state. 24 But if we're just going to expand the number 25 of Empire Zones -- and they're extremely

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(518) 371-8910 1 important, but they don't work unless there is 2 an administrative aspect to them -- then we're 3 just throwing good money after bad. 4 And these are really very, very 5 important entities as it relates to local 6 economic development. So I'm very much in 7 favor of Empire Zones, but I do not -- I would 8 not like to see us use it as a little 9 patronage operation rather than a real and 10 truly effective economic development program. 11 So I'm concerned we're going to 12 have four new ones this year. And you talk 13 about competitive bidding. That means the new 14 zone that is going to be developed in Buffalo 15 is going to be competing with my zone in 16 Brooklyn and -- my two zones in Brooklyn. 17 Both of those zones are very important, but 18 now there is a possibility that their 19 administration will be weakened because they 20 now have to compete with Buffalo or some other 21 part of the state where there is a Republican 22 Senator who has more clout than I do, more 23 seniority than I do. 24 So that's a problem. That is a 25 problem. And we should not be putting our

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(518) 371-8910 1 Empire Zones up to compete against each other 2 in that way. So I'm very concerned about 3 this, Mr. President. 4 And I think that we should find a 5 better way. Use some of the other new funds, 6 the slush funds that keep being proposed for 7 this, that and the other, and target those 8 funds specifically to administer our economic 9 development Empire Zones. It's a good 10 program, even though it needs reforming. I 11 certainly am sorry we didn't reform it. But 12 if it's going to continue, it should be done 13 in a way that strengthens it and that does not 14 weaken the administration. 15 Thank you. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Is 17 there any other Senator wishing to be heard on 18 the bill? 19 That will conclude debate. 20 The Secretary will ring the bell. 21 The Secretary will read the last 22 section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 24 act shall take effect immediately. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Call

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(518) 371-8910 1 the roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll.) 3 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 4 Marcellino, to explain his vote. 5 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Mr. 6 President, to explain my vote. 7 We've heard reference to a number 8 of things today relative to the environmental 9 section, about cutting $15 million out. We 10 did not appropriate that $15 million because 11 there is $30 million in the program that has 12 been unspent -- for the simple reason that we 13 can't get the Assembly to the table to agree 14 on an MOU as to how to spend it. So to put 15 more money into the program when there's 16 $30 million sitting there is kind of silly. 17 The comments about our water not 18 being as clean as it should be because of the 19 wetlands, that we struck out that section of 20 the Governor's proposal, is absolute nonsense. 21 The water in the state of New York is as clear 22 as can be and as clean as can be. 23 And the wetlands proposal will be 24 taken care of by legislative action the way it 25 should be. And I'm carrying the bill, and

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(518) 371-8910 1 hopefully -- and we have an Assembly sponsor, 2 and hopefully that bill will be passed before 3 the end of the session and everything will be 4 fine. 5 This is the -- this is silly to 6 make these comments, because the other side 7 full well knows the idea of the relativity of 8 the money. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 10 Krueger, to explain her vote. 11 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you, 12 to explain my vote. 13 As I mentioned, I'll be voting no. 14 But I appreciated my colleague's comments 15 about why you put more money into a program if 16 you don't think it's working and it's not 17 getting spent. 18 So again, to vote no, why are we 19 putting more money into the NYSTAR program, 20 which apparently we admit doesn't work and has 21 a lot of money sitting there already? 22 So I would concur with Senator 23 Marcellino's point about why he votes for the 24 bill and why I vote against it. Same issue, 25 different outcome.

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(518) 371-8910 1 Thank you. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: 3 Announce the results. 4 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 5 the negative on Calendar Number 271 are 6 Senators Andrews, Diaz, Dilan, 7 Hassell-Thompson, Klein, L. Krueger, 8 Montgomery, Onorato, Padavan, Paterson, 9 Sabini, Savino, Schneiderman, Serrano, 10 A. Smith, and Stavisky. 11 Those Senators absent from voting 12 on Calendar Number 271 are Senators Gonzalez 13 and Sampson. 14 Ayes, 40. Nays, 16. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 16 bill is passed. 17 Senator Morahan, why do you rise? 18 SENATOR MORAHAN: Thank you, Mr. 19 President. I'd like to be recorded in the 20 negative on Calendar Number 60, Senate Bill 21 120. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: 23 Senator, we have not passed that bill yet. 24 You're fine. 25 SENATOR MORAHAN: Oh, okay.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 2 Secretary will read. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 272, Senate Budget Bill, Senate Print 993B, an 5 act to amend Chapter 728 of the Laws of 1982. 6 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: 7 Explanation. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 9 Johnson, an explanation has been requested. 10 SENATOR JOHNSON: This bill, Mr. 11 President, is the Article VII or the language 12 bill pertaining to Senate 555D and 994B. So 13 it's just the words that put into effect the 14 budget we've discussed for the last half hour. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Thank 16 you, Senator Johnson. 17 Senator Schneiderman. 18 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Mr. 19 President, on the bill very briefly. 20 I just want to note that this is a 21 language bill on environmental conservation 22 and economic development that actually does 23 contain language implementing the -- on the 24 issue that Senator Sabini spoke about so 25 eloquently a few moments ago.

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(518) 371-8910 1 This is an unusual moment for me, 2 because I rise to speak in praise of Governor 3 Pataki. His proposal in Article VII that is 4 undone by this legislation would actually 5 provide significantly more protection for 6 New York's wetlands than are provided for in 7 the Senate bill. Similarly, the Assembly's 8 resolution, although operating through a 9 different mechanism, would provide more 10 protections. 11 It is unassailable that we have the 12 weakest wetlands protection law in the 13 Northeast. While other states protect 14 wetlands regardless of size, we only protect 15 wetlands that are 12.4 acres or of, quote, 16 unusual local significance. 17 Senator Sabini's comments about the 18 last bill obtain equally with regard to this 19 bill. And it is something that, again, I hope 20 we will take up in conference committee. I 21 would hate for the Senate to be the only 22 reason we can't provide additional wetlands 23 protection when the Governor has proposed 24 something significantly better. 25 Thank you, Mr. President.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Is 2 there any other Senator wishing to be heard on 3 the bill? 4 That will end debate. 5 The Secretary will ring the bell. 6 The Secretary will read the last 7 section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 9 act shall take effect immediately. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Call 11 the roll. 12 I remind the members to remain in 13 their chairs for the record of the vote. 14 (The Secretary called the roll.) 15 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: 16 Announce the results. 17 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 18 the negative on Calendar Number 272 are 19 Senators Andrews, Diaz, Dilan, L. Krueger, 20 Onorato, Paterson, Sabini, Savino, 21 Schneiderman, Serrano, A. Smith and Stavisky. 22 Those Senators absent from voting 23 on Calendar Number 272 are Senators Gonzalez 24 and Klein. 25 Ayes, 44. Nays, 12.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 2 bill is passed. 3 The Secretary will read. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 273, Senate Budget Bill, Senate Print 994B, an 6 act to amend the Public Authorities Law and 7 others. 8 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: 9 Explanation. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 11 Johnson, an explanation has been requested. 12 SENATOR JOHNSON: Mr. President, 13 this bill you just called up is the bill that 14 implements the transportation budget, which we 15 have already discussed. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 17 Savino. 18 SENATOR SAVINO: Mr. President, I 19 believe there's an amendment at the desk. I 20 ask the reading of the amendment be waived, 21 and I ask to be heard on the amendment. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: There 23 is an amendment at the desk. The reading is 24 waived, and you may be heard on the amendment. 25 SENATOR SAVINO: Thank you, Mr.

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(518) 371-8910 1 President. 2 The proposal would allow for state 3 private-sector contracts to lapse without 4 renewal and mandate that the State Department 5 of Transportation subsequently hire an 6 additional 800 state employees to provide 7 engineering services over a five-year period 8 starting in state fiscal year 2006-2007. 9 It is estimated that the state will 10 save between $50 million and $70 million over 11 a five-year period through the implementation 12 of this proposal. 13 In 1990, State Comptroller Ned 14 Regan compared the cost of DOT engineers with 15 consulting engineers and concluded the State 16 Department of Transportation could save 17 millions of dollars by reducing its reliance 18 on outside contractors and outside engineering 19 services for design, supervision and 20 inspection and instead increase its own 21 engineering staff. 22 In May 1998, former State 23 Comptroller Carl McCall issued a report which 24 concluded: "The number of in-house 25 engineering positions has declined by

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(518) 371-8910 1 10 percent since 1995, and the use of 2 consultants is on the rise. The department 3 has not determined, through cost analysis or 4 other means, that using consultants rather 5 than in-house engineers is cost-effective or 6 produces improved services for taxpayers." 7 In March 1999, in what was widely 8 viewed as an effort to refute the 9 comptrollers' reports, the Department of 10 Transportation hired the international 11 accounting firm of KPMG to perform a 12 state-of-the-art, activity-based costing 13 analysis to compare the costs of in-house 14 engineers versus consulting engineers. The 15 study found that the consultants are 16 approximately 50 to 75 percent more expensive 17 than using in-house resources. 18 Mr. President, I urge my fellow 19 Senators to support this amendment, which 20 would lead to substantial savings to the state 21 in the tens of millions of dollars. 22 Thank you. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Thank 24 you, Senator. 25 Any other member wishing to be

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(518) 371-8910 1 heard on the amendment? 2 Those Senators in agreement please 3 signify by raising your hands. 4 Announce the results. 5 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 6 agreement are Senators Andrews, Breslin, 7 Brown, Diaz, Dilan, Hassell-Thompson, Klein, 8 L. Krueger, C. Kruger, Montgomery, Onorato, 9 Oppenheimer, Paterson, Sabini, Sampson, 10 Savino, Schneiderman, Serrano, A. Smith, 11 M. Smith, Stachowski, Stavisky and Valesky. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 13 amendment is not agreed to. 14 Senator Krueger. 15 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you, 16 Mr. President. If I could ask the sponsor to 17 yield to a question. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 19 Johnson, will you yield to a question? 20 SENATOR JOHNSON: Yes, Mr. 21 President. 22 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you. 23 Thank you, Mr. President. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 25 Krueger.

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(518) 371-8910 1 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Part I of 2 this bill is actually a criminal bill 3 involving aggravated loitering in a transit 4 facility. And I understand that it's in 5 theory to decrease the number of people who 6 are trying to illegally sell Metro cards. 7 But why would we have a criminal 8 penalty bill or a misdemeanor bill within a 9 budget language bill? What's it doing here? 10 SENATOR JOHNSON: Senator, this 11 bill covers crimes on MTA property. This is 12 related to transportation, and those crimes 13 relate to crimes on transportation property. 14 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you. 15 Mr. President. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 17 Krueger. 18 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you. 19 I'll accept the argument that 20 because it relates to crimes on transportation 21 property, it should be in a budget language 22 bill for the moment. Although I guess I would 23 argue that criminal bills and misdemeanor 24 bills should be handled as individual bills 25 and that while language bills too often end up

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(518) 371-8910 1 being public policy documents, as opposed to 2 language matching to the budget, that when we 3 get to the point where we're actually doing 4 loitering bills within a budget bill, we 5 really ought to be rethinking what the role of 6 the budget is versus the role of the 7 Legislature in determining policies involving 8 public protection and vandalism and criminal 9 justice. 10 Thank you, Mr. President. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 12 Volker. 13 SENATOR VOLKER: I just want to 14 say that I agree with you. The problem is 15 this was part of the Governor's budget bill. 16 And, I mean, I just think it is kind of silly 17 myself. But that's the problem with the 18 process in these Article VII bills. 19 And technically, we could strike it 20 out or whatever, I suppose. But the problem 21 is we can't amend it. And what we're trying 22 to do here is do as much of the Governor's 23 bills as we can. 24 But I personally agree with you. 25 You may not remember, but last year I was

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(518) 371-8910 1 pulling stuff out of the budget and passing 2 them here, just to point out that I happen to 3 agree with that. But there isn't a great deal 4 we can do about it. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Any 6 other member wishing to be heard on the bill? 7 The Secretary will ring the bell 8 and read the last section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 10 act shall take effect immediately. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Call 12 the roll. 13 (The Secretary called the roll.) 14 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 15 Montgomery, to explain her vote. 16 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, Mr. 17 President, just briefly to explain my vote. 18 I'm going to not vote no on this, 19 but I do have concerns that the Thruway 20 Authority is looking to increase the funding 21 to pay for their bridge and highway program, 22 bond cap. And at the same time, they are 23 seeking a 35 percent increase in the toll on 24 commercial vehicles and a 25 percent increase 25 on regular car vehicles.

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(518) 371-8910 1 So it means that we are being asked 2 to pay twice for the Thruway Authority. We're 3 asked to pay as individuals, especially -- we 4 enjoy having upstate farmers come to the city 5 to sell their produce. I have several in my 6 district; they come every week. Many of them 7 come several times during the week. It's 8 going to be an additional tax on people who 9 are trying to do business in New York State, 10 while at the same time they're raising their 11 bond cap and requiring us to pay the debt 12 service over a long period of time. 13 So I think that we need to make 14 this very clear to the authority -- certainly 15 I intend to -- that this is an unfair double 16 tax on the citizens of New York State who use 17 the authority to travel all over the state to 18 do business and at the same time we're going 19 to be required to pay the debt service on 20 their bonds. 21 So I hope that members of this 22 Legislature will make it clear to them that we 23 object to that process. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: 25 Senator, how are you voting?

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(518) 371-8910 1 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: I'm voting 2 yes. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 4 Montgomery will be recorded in the 5 affirmative. 6 Senator Hassell-Thompson. 7 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Just 8 very quickly on the bill, Mr. President. 9 A couple of years ago, several 10 hundreds of thousands of dollars were cut out 11 of this CHIPS program, and it disallowed local 12 communities from being able to do some of the 13 kinds of roadwork and sidewalks and whatever 14 that was very, very necessary for 15 municipalities. 16 And many of our communities have 17 county roads and state roads that go through 18 our cities. And if anybody has tried to drive 19 in their communities these last weeks and have 20 not had almost an axle broken or some damage 21 to their vehicles, they're very, very 22 fortunate. Because we've had some potholes 23 that the whole stove could go in. We're not 24 talking potholes, we're talking about the 25 whole kitchen sink.

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(518) 371-8910 1 And so I am -- this is one of the 2 few bills that I will be supporting in this 3 budget, because it is critical for us to 4 really take a look at what it is that we're 5 doing. We're a surface community in the 6 Bronx, and we don't have the advantage of 7 having quite the subway system that most of 8 New York enjoys. And we have to appreciate 9 our bus services. And so we need our buses to 10 be able to get from one end of the Bronx to 11 the other. So certainly, silly as it may 12 appear to be to some people, try traversing 13 some of those roads in the Bronx and you'll 14 understand exactly what I mean. 15 Thank you, Mr. President. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 17 Hassell-Thompson will be recorded in the 18 affirmative. 19 Announce the results. 20 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 21 the negative on Calendar Number 273 are 22 Senators Paterson and Schneiderman. 23 Those Senators absent from voting: 24 Senator Gonzalez. 25 Ayes, 55. Nays, 2.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 2 bill is passed. 3 The Secretary will read. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 274, Senate Budget Bill, Senate Print 995C, an 6 act to amend the Tax Law and others. 7 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: 8 Explanation. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 10 Johnson, an explanation has been requested. 11 SENATOR JOHNSON: This budget 12 includes almost a billion dollars in business 13 tax reductions over the next four years to 14 create job strength in the economy, a 15 high-tech small business health insurance 16 credit, direct school property tax rebate. 17 Manufacturing jobs, there will be a single 18 sales factor to boost manufacturing jobs. 19 Investment in emerging technologies. The 20 state taxpayers would save $273 million in 21 2005-2006, increasing to $2.3 billion in four 22 years. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Thank 24 you. 25 Senator Brown.

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(518) 371-8910 1 SENATOR BROWN: Mr. President, I 2 believe there's an amendment at the desk. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: There 4 is an amendment. 5 SENATOR BROWN: I ask that the 6 reading of the amendment be waived, and I ask 7 to be heard on the amendment. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 9 reading is waived, and you may be heard on the 10 amendment. 11 Senator Brown. 12 SENATOR BROWN: Thank you. This 13 amendment would create a personal income tax 14 credit for first-time homebuyers, essentially, 15 a tax cut. 16 This proposal would provide a 17 New York State personal income tax credit of 18 $1,000 or $1,250 for only first-time 19 homebuyers who purchase a primary residence in 20 New York State. This proposal provides a 21 $1,250 personal income tax credit for 22 households with gross household incomes less 23 than $150,000, and a $1,000 tax credit for 24 households with a gross income of between 25 $150,000 and $200,000.

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(518) 371-8910 1 Home ownership provides and 2 generates many social and economic benefits 3 that ultimately benefit almost all 4 New Yorkers. The state should encourage home 5 ownership by providing a personal income tax 6 credit for first-time homebuyers that purchase 7 their primary residence in New York whose 8 household income gross income is more than 9 $200,000. 10 Now, certainly we all know that in 11 communities that encourage home ownership, 12 that makes for stronger communities. This 13 supports people in being able to become 14 homeowners all across the State of New York. 15 And as I said, this is essentially a tax cut 16 that would generate tens of millions of 17 dollars in economic activity. 18 I urge all of my colleagues in the 19 Senate to support this amendment. 20 Thank you, Mr. President. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Is 22 there any other member on the amendment? 23 On the amendment, those Senators in 24 agreement please signify by raising their 25 hands.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 2 agreement are Senators Andrews, Breslin, 3 Brown, Diaz, Dilan, Hassell-Thompson, Klein, 4 C. Kruger, Montgomery, Onorato, Oppenheimer, 5 Paterson, Sabini, Sampson, Savino, 6 Schneiderman, Serrano, A. Smith, M. Smith, 7 Stachowski, Stavisky and Valesky. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 9 amendment is not agreed to. 10 Senator Hassell-Thompson. 11 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Thank 12 you, Mr. President. 13 I believe there's an amendment at 14 the desk. And I ask that the reading of the 15 amendment be waived. And I'd like to be heard 16 on the amendment, very briefly. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: There 18 is an amendment at the desk. The reading is 19 waived, and you may be heard on the amendment. 20 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Thank 21 you, Mr. President. 22 This amendment is just an attempt 23 on our part to ask us to rethink and to look 24 at the enhanced STAR exemption for our senior 25 citizens. And this proposal would increase

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(518) 371-8910 1 the proposed $50,000 to $75,000 on the first 2 $75,000 on home ownership. 3 For those of you who may or may not 4 be aware, this proposal is for persons 65 and 5 older with incomes that are at or below 6 $64,650, who are currently receiving an 7 enhanced credit on their properties if they're 8 eligible for a regular STAR rebate. 9 The standard STAR credit is an 10 exemption for the first $30,000 of the value, 11 and the enhanced STAR exempts the first 12 $50,000. Both amounts are higher in counties 13 where median home prices are higher than the 14 statewide median. So with our rising local 15 property taxes at present, a very real burden 16 continues to exist for all homeowners in the 17 state, but it is one that impacts seniors 18 especially hard. 19 Our measure would help seniors stay 20 in their houses and to mitigate the growing 21 tendency of not being able to afford to live 22 in one's own home, a syndrome that is 23 increasingly apparent in many of our counties, 24 including Westchester, around the state. 25 Furthermore, our tax cut would

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(518) 371-8910 1 increase direct local economic activity. 2 There is a fiscal impact, 3 obviously, to doing this, but it certainly is 4 significantly worth it to those seniors who 5 have worked and who have paid their dues to us 6 in the State of New York. 7 Thank you, Mr. President. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Thank 9 you, Senator. 10 On the amendment, those Senators in 11 agreement please signify by raising your 12 hands. 13 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 14 agreement are Senators Andrews, Breslin, 15 Brown, Diaz, Dilan, Hassell-Thompson, Klein, 16 L. Krueger, Montgomery, Onorato, Oppenheimer, 17 Paterson, Sabini, Sampson, Savino, 18 Schneiderman, Serrano, M. Smith, Stavisky and 19 Valesky. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 21 amendment is not agreed to. 22 Senator Serrano. 23 SENATOR SERRANO: Mr. President, 24 I believe there's an amendment at the desk. 25 And I ask the reading of the amendment to be

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(518) 371-8910 1 waived and ask to be heard on the amendment. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: There 3 is an amendment at the desk. The reading is 4 waived, and you may be heard on the amendment. 5 Senator Serrano. 6 SENATOR SERRANO: Thank you, Mr. 7 President. 8 This amendment makes permanent the 9 sales tax exemption on clothing and shoes 10 under $110. This sales tax is probably the 11 most regressive of taxes. While there are 12 some who wish to expedite tax breaks for the 13 wealthy, we need to support and look at the 14 tax cuts that will help those who need it 15 most, our poor and working-class families in 16 the state. 17 I ask my colleagues to support this 18 amendment. And I thank you, Mr. President. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Thank 20 you. On the amendment, those Senators in 21 agreement please signify by raising their 22 hands. 23 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 24 agreement are Senators Andrews, Breslin, 25 Brown, Diaz, Dilan, Hassell-Thompson, Klein,

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(518) 371-8910 1 L. Krueger, C. Kruger, Montgomery, Onorato, 2 Oppenheimer, Paterson, Sabini, Sampson, 3 Savino, Schneiderman, Serrano, M. Smith, 4 A. Smith, Stachowski, Stavisky and Valesky. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 6 amendment is not agreed to. 7 We're on the bill. Any Senator 8 wishing to speak on the bill? 9 Senator Krueger. 10 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you. 11 On the bill, Mr. President. I apologize for 12 my delay. 13 I'm not going to question the 14 sponsor on this bill, because the time is late 15 in the day. But I would like to highlight if 16 I were to ask him how much money is in this 17 revenue bill, how much money we are losing in 18 taxes from this bill, I hazard to say no one 19 in this room would be able to answer the 20 question what is the total dollar value of new 21 tax cuts in this bill, what is the total 22 dollar value of new revenue. 23 Because in fact, several of the 24 proposals in our revenue package don't even 25 have a financial impact named -- including,

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(518) 371-8910 1 specifically, a new tax credit for a small 2 businesses' health insurance program, which we 3 have also debated in this house as a separate 4 freestanding bill. It does talk about an 5 estimated 31, 32 million in new costs 6 associated with it through stop-loss pull 7 funds, but it doesn't talk about the tax 8 impact. 9 When I total up some of the other 10 impacts here, I can add up to about 11 $1.5 billion in tax cuts. And I have to say, 12 given what we are dealing with this week, what 13 we are dealing with in not having the money 14 for, again, public education, transportation, 15 housing, health care, why we are deciding to 16 cut $1.5 billion in our tax revenue through 17 this bill is, at best, confusing and I suppose 18 at its worst case is the worst kind of 19 pandering to give special interests tax cuts 20 at a time when the State of New York can't 21 meet our basic obligations to our constituents 22 at the same time as we come up with huge new 23 slush funds of revenue -- excuse me, of 24 expenditures under our economic development 25 budget.

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(518) 371-8910 1 But again, when you look through 2 this revenue bill, and I hope everyone does, 3 and I hope everyone feels like they can 4 explain at home why they were giving special 5 tax credits and tax exemptions and tax 6 reductions for targeted businesses and for 7 individuals with incomes above a certain 8 level, and why we are reversing our commitment 9 on sales tax for clothing and shoes and why we 10 are reversing our commitment on any number of 11 other programs in the budget, that you are 12 comfortable making these types of tax cuts and 13 these specific tax cuts. 14 I urge my colleagues not to pass 15 this bill. We can't afford this amount of tax 16 reduction this year. We can't afford in any 17 year these types of tax reductions for special 18 interests and categories of people who are not 19 those most in need in our state. 20 And again, I'm not comfortable 21 voting for a bill that doesn't even tell me 22 how much some of these items will really cost 23 the taxpayer. I think we should have the 24 financial information in front of us when we 25 are changing our tax policies.

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(518) 371-8910 1 So I will be voting no. The hour 2 is late. I hope my colleagues will join me in 3 voting no, even if you accept the argument 4 that you ought to know what's in this bill 5 before you pass it. 6 Thank you, Mr. President. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Thank 8 you, Senator. 9 Is any other Senator wishing to be 10 heard on the bill? 11 That will end debate. 12 The Secretary will ring the bell; 13 there will be a vote on the bill. 14 Read the last section. 15 THE SECRETARY: Section 7. This 16 act shall take effect June 1, 2005. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Call 18 the roll. 19 (The Secretary called the roll.) 20 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 21 Oppenheimer, to explain her vote. 22 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: I will be 23 voting in favor. 24 But the one thing that has been 25 disturbing me very much is that the Governor

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(518) 371-8910 1 is going to go ahead -- it's not in this bill, 2 but he's going to go ahead with the surcharge 3 that was put on the sales tax two years ago -- 4 was it two years ago? -- two years ago of a 5 quarter of a percent. And many people in the 6 health care field feel that this quarter of a 7 percent should not be eliminated this year, 8 which seems to be what is in the Governor's 9 mind. 10 And this quarter of a percent sales 11 tax could go a long way to save many of our 12 hospitals that are in very dire shape, dire 13 condition. And I do not know if we'll be able 14 to maintain some of these hospitals. 15 One is a tertiary care hospital, 16 and it's a very difficult operation to 17 maintain because it is so costly. It's 18 located in Westchester County, but it deals 19 with seven counties throughout the entire 20 Hudson River Valley. And it has been of major 21 importance to us, and we simply don't know how 22 we can continue to fund it unless we have the 23 maintenance of this one-quarter of 1 percent 24 sales tax. 25 I'll be voting in favor.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 2 Oppenheimer will be recorded in the 3 affirmative. 4 Announce the results. 5 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 6 the negative on Calendar Number 274 are 7 Senators Andrews, Diaz, Hassell-Thompson, L. 8 Krueger, Onorato, Paterson, Sabini, Savino, 9 Schneiderman, Serrano, A. Smith, and Stavisky. 10 Those Senators absent from voting: 11 Senator Gonzalez. 12 Ayes, 45. Nays, 12. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 14 bill is passed. 15 The Secretary will read. 16 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 17 Calendar Number 275, Senator Johnson moves to 18 discharge, from the Committee on Finance, 19 Assembly Bill Number 6451 and substitute it 20 for the identical Senate Bill Number 3274, 21 Third Reading Calendar 275. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 23 substitution is so ordered. 24 The Secretary will read. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number

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(518) 371-8910 1 275, Assembly Budget Bill, Assembly Print 2 Number 6451, an act to amend Chapters 50, 53, 3 54 and 55 of the Laws of 2004, making 4 appropriations. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 6 Secretary will ring the bell. 7 Senator Brown. 8 SENATOR BROWN: On the bill, Mr. 9 President. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 11 Brown, on the bill. 12 SENATOR BROWN: Thank you very 13 much. 14 Mr. President, there is a portion 15 of this bill that relocates employees at the 16 General Donovan State Office Building in 17 Buffalo. The building will be demolished as 18 part of the Bass Pro project in Buffalo. And 19 I certainly am very much in favor of the 20 project. 21 I am concerned that there is not 22 language contained that will guarantee this 23 the workers will be relocated in Buffalo. I 24 made the same point during the Finance 25 Committee meeting earlier today, and I

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(518) 371-8910 1 appreciate Senator Johnson and Senator Volker 2 indicating that they believe that these 3 workers will be relocated in Buffalo and that 4 steps will be taken to make sure that this is 5 guaranteed. 6 So I just wanted to make that point 7 for the record. Thank you. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Thank 9 you, Senator Brown. 10 Any further comments on the bill? 11 The Secretary will ring the bell. 12 Read the last section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 14 act shall take effect immediately. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Call 16 the roll on the bill. 17 (The Secretary called the roll.) 18 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: 19 Announce the results. 20 THE SECRETARY: Those Senators 21 absent from voting on Calendar Number 275: 22 Senator Gonzalez. 23 Ayes, 57. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 25 bill is passed.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 2 Calendar Number 276, Senator Johnson moves to 3 discharge, from the Committee on Finance, 4 Assembly Bill Number 6452 and substitute it 5 for the identical Senate Bill Number 3275, 6 Third Reading Calendar 276. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 8 substitution is so ordered. 9 The Secretary will read. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 276, Assembly Budget Bill, Assembly Print 12 Number 6452, an act to amend Chapter 2 of the 13 Laws of 1998, amending the Public Health Law 14 and others. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Read 16 the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 14. This 18 act shall take effect immediately. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: 20 The Secretary will ring the bell. 21 The roll will be called on the 22 bill. 23 (The Secretary called the roll.) 24 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: 25 Results?

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE SECRETARY: Those Senators 2 absent from voting on Calendar Number 276: 3 Senator Gonzalez. 4 Ayes, 57. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 6 bill is passed. 7 Senator Skelos. 8 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 9 on the active list, would you please lay aside 10 Calendar Number 60 for the day. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: 12 Calendar Number 60 is laid aside for the day. 13 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 14 is there any further business at the desk? 15 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: There 16 is none. 17 SENATOR SKELOS: I believe 18 Senator Valesky has a motion to petition. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 20 Valesky. 21 SENATOR VALESKY: Mr. President, 22 I have a motion at the desk. I'd like to have 23 it called up at this time, please. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 25 Secretary will read.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 2 Valesky, Senate Print Number 1452, an act to 3 amend the Legislative Law. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Senator 5 Valesky. 6 SENATOR VALESKY: Thank you, Mr. 7 President. 8 We have, as we all know in this 9 chamber, been working on a record of 20 years 10 in a row of late state budgets. And while we 11 are beginning a process today that hopefully 12 will put an end to that dubious distinction -- 13 and in fact, if we look back over the past 14 couple of months, when we look at five-way 15 leaders' meetings covered by the media, when 16 we talk about one of the earliest meetings 17 ever on revenues, when we are prepared to go 18 to joint Senate-Assembly conference committees 19 on the budget in the next day or two for the 20 first time in a number of years, those are all 21 very positive signs and I'm sure give all of 22 us encouragement that perhaps this might be 23 the year that we break that 20-year 24 distinction. 25 But I think that we need to enact

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(518) 371-8910 1 structural reform of how we adopt budgets in 2 the State of New York. And in fact, the first 3 two bills that I voted on back in January, 4 Senate Bills 2 and 3, which were comprehensive 5 budget reform legislation, I would hope the 6 Assembly would take up either of those bills 7 in the near future. 8 But if we look to a couple of years 9 ago, in increasing the pressure to bring about 10 an on-time budget in this state, we went to a 11 system where legislators pay is now withheld 12 after April 1st and until a budget is passed. 13 And there are some who thought that that would 14 provide the kind of pressure to bring about 15 on-time budgets. It obviously has not. And 16 in fact, last year's August 11th budget was 17 the latest in history. 18 My bill, Senate Print 1452, would 19 simply require the Legislature to remain in 20 session after April 1st, each weekday after 21 April 1 that the budget would not be passed. 22 It is my hope that rank and file 23 legislators, who would be prevented from 24 meeting with their constituents in the 25 district and attending to the important

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(518) 371-8910 1 business of the people in their Senate and 2 Assembly districts, by being here would give 3 us one more tool to ratchet up the pressure in 4 regard to adopting on-time budgets. 5 So, Mr. President, I encourage my 6 colleagues to support this motion to petition 7 bringing Senate Bill 1452 to the floor. 8 Thank you. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: Thank 10 you, Senator. 11 All those Senators in favor of the 12 petition out of committee please signify by 13 raising their hands. 14 Results? 15 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 16 agreement are Andrews, Breslin, Brown, Diaz, 17 Dilan, Hassell-Thompson, Klein, L. Krueger, 18 Montgomery, Onorato, Oppenheimer, Paterson, 19 Sabini, Sampson, Savino, Schneiderman, 20 Serrano, A. Smith, M. Smith, Stachowski, 21 Stavisky and Valesky. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: The 23 petition is not agreed to. 24 Senator Skelos. 25 SENATOR SKELOS: There being no

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(518) 371-8910 1 further business to come before the Senate, I 2 move we stand adjourned until Tuesday, 3 March 15th, at 1:30 p.m. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT WRIGHT: On 5 motion, the Senate stands adjourned until 6 Tuesday, March 15th, at 1:30 p.m. 7 (Whereupon, at 6:15 p.m., the 8 Senate adjourned.) 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

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(518) 371-8910