Wednesday, March 30, 2005

1 NEW YORK STATE SENATE 2 3 4 THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD 5 6 7 8 9 ALBANY, NEW YORK 10 March 30, 2005 11 11:55 a.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 Tuesday, March 29, the Senate met pursuant to 18 adjournment. The Journal of Monday, March 28, 19 was read and approved. On motion, Senate 20 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 Reports of select committees. 4 Communications and reports from 5 state officers. 6 Motions and resolutions. 7 Senator Skelos. 8 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President, 9 I believe there are substitutions at the desk, 10 if we could make them at this time. 11 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary 12 will read. 13 THE SECRETARY: On page 7, 14 Senator DeFrancisco moves to discharge, from 15 the Committee on Judiciary, Assembly Bill 16 Number 5770 and substitute it for the 17 identical Senate Bill Number 1396, Third 18 Reading Calendar 80. 19 And on page 8, Senator Bonacic 20 moves to discharge, from the Committee on 21 Commerce, Economic Development and Small 22 Business, Assembly Bill Number 3627 and 23 substitute it for the identical Senate Bill 24 Number 1833, Third Reading Calendar 130. 25 THE PRESIDENT: Substitutions

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(518) 371-8910 1 ordered. 2 Senator Skelos. 3 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President, 4 if we could go to the noncontroversial reading 5 of the calendar. 6 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary 7 will read. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 92, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 35, 10 an act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 11 the payment of reparation. 12 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last 13 section. 14 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 15 act shall take effect immediately. 16 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll. 17 (The Secretary called the roll.) 18 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 52. 19 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is 20 passed. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 150, by Senator Maziarz, Senate Print 691, an 23 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to the 24 crime of obstructing firefighting operations. 25 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last

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(518) 371-8910 1 section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 3 act shall take effect on the first of 4 November. 5 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll. 6 (The Secretary called the roll.) 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 52. 8 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is 9 passed. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 294, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 1568, an 12 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 13 civil liability for false reporting. 14 SENATOR SABINI: Lay it aside, 15 please. 16 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is laid 17 aside. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 382, by Senator Meier, Senate Print 2313, an 20 act to amend the General Municipal Law, in 21 relation to allowing school districts. 22 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last 23 section. 24 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 25 act shall take effect immediately.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll.) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 52. 4 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is 5 passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 383, by Senator LaValle, Senate Print 2599, an 8 act to amend Chapter 668 of the Laws of 1977, 9 amending the Volunteer Firefighters Benefit 10 Law. 11 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last 12 section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 14 act shall take effect immediately. 15 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll. 16 (The Secretary called the roll.) 17 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 53. 18 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is 19 passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 387, by Senator Balboni, Senate Print 3095, an 22 act authorizing the assessor of the County of 23 Nassau to accept an application. 24 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last 25 section.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 2 act shall take effect immediately. 3 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll. 4 (The Secretary called the roll.) 5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 52. Nays, 6 1. Senator Bonacic recorded in the negative. 7 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is 8 passed. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 388, by Senator Fuschillo, Senate Print 3223, 11 an act authorizing the Merrick Jewish Centre 12 to retroactively apply. 13 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last 14 section. 15 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 16 act shall take effect immediately. 17 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll. 18 (The Secretary called the roll.) 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 52. Nays, 20 1. Senator Bonacic recorded in the negative. 21 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is 22 passed. 23 Senator Skelos. 24 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President, 25 if we can continue now with Calendar Number

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(518) 371-8910 1 397. 2 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary 3 will continue to read. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 397, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 6 Print Number 3669, an act to amend Chapter 728 7 of the Laws of 1982. 8 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last 9 section. 10 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 11 act shall take effect immediately. 12 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll. 13 (The Secretary called the roll.) 14 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Krueger, 15 to explain your vote. 16 Senator Schneiderman, to explain 17 your vote. 18 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you, 19 Madam President. I know we look similar. 20 This piece of legislation, which is 21 the language bill on economic development and 22 environmental conservation, has some good 23 things in it. But there are a lot of good 24 things that are missing. And unfortunately, I 25 think this house has taken a step in the wrong

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(518) 371-8910 1 direction with regard to several important 2 environmental protection programs. 3 There were several proposals on the 4 table before we closed the budget process for 5 improving New York's wetland protection -- the 6 Clean Water Protection/Flood Prevention Act, 7 which is essentially included in the 8 Assembly's budget resolution and Governor's 9 Pataki's proposal in Article VII. Both 10 proposals would improve New York's wetland 11 protections, they just did so in different 12 ways. 13 The Senate, unfortunately, has 14 taken a stand against wetland protection. We 15 removed this fix from the one-house budget 16 bill. And it's not included in today's 17 Article VII bill. So it's clear in this case 18 that the Assembly and the Governor favor 19 wetlands protection, and our house is standing 20 in opposition. 21 There's also a fee increase for 22 companies sending their legal proceedings to 23 the Superintendent of Insurance, a doubling of 24 the annual insurance license fee for property 25 and casualty agents and for brokers and life

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(518) 371-8910 1 agents, from $20 to $40. 2 This is not as good an 3 environmental bill as I believe it should be, 4 and we all know that the most -- arguably the 5 most important element of our environmental 6 protection has been left on the table. I 7 realize that there are still negotiations 8 going on, and I'm hopeful that we will be able 9 to resolve the problem with the Environmental 10 Protection Fund. 11 The economic development portion of 12 this bill makes some significant steps, and 13 I'll speak more about that this afternoon when 14 we get to the appropriation bill. But I still 15 think it reflects a general lack of 16 accountability in New York's economic 17 development programs. 18 We do not have a guarantee that 19 money invested by the state through either tax 20 credits or direct loans or grants actually 21 produces the jobs we need. And our system of 22 economic development is really a low-road 23 system of attempting a race to the bottom of 24 reducing tax burdens and reducing regulations 25 without stimulating the kind of high-road

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(518) 371-8910 1 economic growth the state needs. 2 Accordingly, for all those reasons, 3 while there are some good things in this bill, 4 I am going to be voting no on it. I think 5 we'll have a more thorough discussion of those 6 issues when we debate the appropriation bill 7 later today after it's passed the Assembly. 8 But on balance, I think that this 9 is a bill that falls far short of what we 10 should be doing and makes a statement that I'm 11 very disappointed with, that this house is not 12 really keeping up with the Governor and the 13 Assembly when it comes to environmental 14 programs. 15 Thank you, Madam President. 16 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Krueger. 17 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you, 18 Madam President. I rise to explain my vote. 19 I share some of my colleague's 20 concerns that he raised about what we haven't 21 done in this bill. I'll start off by saying 22 some of the things I'm glad about in this 23 bill. I'm glad that we took out of -- both 24 out of appropriations and in language, that we 25 took the money out of the Governor's budget

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(518) 371-8910 1 that would have been used for a sports stadium 2 on the west side of Manhattan. And I'm glad 3 that we actually put that money back into 4 other uses, as opposed to pouring it into some 5 other category of undefined slush funds that 6 we so often do in the state budget. 7 So there are some good points about 8 this bill. But I also have so many concerns 9 about what we still did and what we still have 10 not explained in this language bill. 11 For one, we continue to allow the 12 Urban Development Corporation to, with almost 13 no oversight or explanation, have $32 million 14 for the Empire Development Fund working 15 capital grants, another $32 million we ought 16 to be asking far more questions about or 17 asking whether we ought to be spending at all. 18 We continue to allow them to have 19 additional lines that never get explained to 20 us, either in appropriations or 21 reappropriations. And my understanding is 22 that there are huge amounts of 23 reappropriations money through to UDC in this 24 budget, as in previous budgets. And we should 25 be doing a much better job of asking those

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(518) 371-8910 1 questions. 2 I'm also very concerned about 3 the -- while I am pleased to some degree that 4 we are taking on the challenges of what was 5 NYSTAR, I am equally concerned that we are 6 creating a new public benefit corporation, a 7 new public authority, we're just not calling 8 it that today. And we're talking about 9 transferring approximately $90 million of what 10 the Governor had proposed for his SPUR 11 program, which I also did not support, into a 12 new model. 13 But it's not clear to me the State 14 of New York should be spending money on 15 either. And my understanding is we may also 16 be taking the $50 million of what would then 17 be a defunct state agency, NYSTAR, and putting 18 it into this public benefit corporation. 19 Again, the concern here that I 20 continue to raise in every budget process is 21 we hear constantly from businesses throughout 22 New York State that they believe that their 23 taxes are too high and that is a disincentive 24 for them to come here or stay here, and that 25 they don't have an even playing field. And

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(518) 371-8910 1 actually we hear, I think, most frequently 2 from businesses that the primary goal for them 3 is an even playing field. 4 And yet we in the State of New York 5 continue to be taking taxpayers' money and 6 putting it into what we call economic 7 development funds or programs or foundations, 8 where all we do is take taxpayers' dollars and 9 in fact make the playing field less even with 10 each of these. And the corporations and the 11 businesses who can hire the most sophisticated 12 attorneys and accountants figure out how they 13 can get a piece of this. 14 But it's not necessarily in the 15 best interests of actually ensuring more jobs 16 for New York. And we continue to find 17 ourselves in a situation where what we in the 18 Legislature seem to be doing is actually 19 establishing range wars between suburbs and 20 cities, between towns on one side of a line 21 versus another, specific deals for Company A, 22 who has friends in the Legislature, and 23 Company B, who doesn't. 24 And I think that there should be 25 far more work done to really evaluate any of

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(518) 371-8910 1 these programs -- the new names, the old 2 names, the NYSTAR versus the New York State 3 Foundation for Science, Technology and 4 Innovation, the questions of Excell and 5 New York CEEs and regional innovation. Again, 6 we come up with new names, we claim that 7 they're new programs -- this year and last 8 year's theme seems to be high technology -- 9 but without really any information or, to be 10 sincere, any knowledge about what actually 11 works in economic development and doesn't. 12 And at the risk of losing my 13 credentials as a liberal, I would argue that 14 across-the-board tax reductions for businesses 15 that treat everybody equally is a better model 16 than any of these proposals that take 17 taxpayers' dollars and pretend that we in 18 government can have a positive impact on a 19 market economy through our program under this 20 name or our program under that name, and then 21 again we never really evaluate the programs we 22 created last year or the year before. 23 Jumping back to environmental 24 issues within this bill, beyond economic 25 development, Senator Schneiderman raised some

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(518) 371-8910 1 the concerns we ought to have about the 2 Environmental Protection Fund and what will or 3 will not happen. I want to reemphasize how 4 disturbed I am that we are not addressing the 5 Clean Water Protection/Flood Prevention Act 6 issues in this bill. 7 It is confusing to me why the 8 Senate, the Assembly and the Governor cannot 9 come to agreement on something that we all say 10 we agree on, and how important it is for us to 11 truly evaluate and move forward with these 12 wetland protections, and finally also that we 13 could not come to agreement on language 14 involving air fees and the potential that we 15 now face of allowing polluters not to actually 16 have to pay their fair share of the costs of 17 being polluters and leave us in a situation 18 where we are in a confused relationship with 19 the federal government and their laws. And we 20 should have addressed that in this bill also. 21 Since we're speaking briefly on the 22 bill, I will skip the rest of my comments for 23 now and perhaps save them for the 24 appropriations bill. But I too, while there 25 are good things in this bill, and things we

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(518) 371-8910 1 can be proud of, there are too many things 2 missing and some things in there that I don't 3 believe should be there. So I'll be voting 4 no. 5 Thank you very much, Madam 6 President. 7 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Krueger, 8 you will be recorded as voting in the negative 9 on this bill. And Senator Schneiderman as 10 well. 11 Will the negatives please raise 12 their hands. 13 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 14 the negative on Calendar Number 397 are 15 Senators Andrews, L. Krueger, Parker, Sabini, 16 Savino, Schneiderman and A. Smith. 17 Ayes, 53. Nays, 7. 18 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is 19 passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 398, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 22 Print Number 3670, an act to amend the 23 Transportation Law and others. 24 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last 25 section.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE SECRETARY: Section 11. This 2 act shall take effect only in the event of a 3 chapter of the Laws of 2005. 4 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll. 5 (The Secretary called the roll.) 6 THE PRESIDENT: Senator 7 Schneiderman, to explain your vote. 8 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you, 9 Madam President. 10 This, the transportation language 11 bill, I must say came as a pleasant surprise 12 in many respects to a lot of people who were 13 transit advocates, as I was before I was in 14 the Senate. I'd like to think I still am. 15 When the process began, there was a 16 strong sense of, frankly, it doesn't go too 17 far to say a sense of crisis in the MTA, 18 reflected by the chair of the MTA board, Peter 19 Kalikow, who should be credited with calling 20 attention to this even though it was perhaps 21 politically inconvenient at the time, to the 22 advocacy groups from the Straphangers 23 Campaign, the Regional Plan Association and 24 others, all of whom pointed to something that 25 I raised five years ago when we did the last

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(518) 371-8910 1 MTA capital plan, which is you can't expect 2 the system to survive if you don't provide any 3 money for a capital plan. 4 We put the MTA on the brink of 5 bankruptcy when we passed the capital plan 6 five years ago with a zero state contribution 7 to capital. We forced the agency to issue 8 $22 billion of bonds, which the agency now has 9 to pay off out of operating expenditures. 10 That was our fault. We still have a big hole 11 to dig our way out of. 12 But I must say, I have to give 13 credit to everyone who participated, this 14 legislation is a step in the right direction. 15 This legislation does provide permanent -- 16 nothing is permanent, but repeated sources of 17 revenue on a steady basis, dedicated taxes for 18 the MTA to pay off debt. In fact, it provides 19 slightly more than the minimum amount that the 20 MTA made it clear they needed. 21 This also takes a step in the right 22 direction, I believe, by taking state 23 responsibility in the form of front-door debt 24 away from the MTA. We cannot allow the agency 25 to issue any more debt that is to be paid off

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(518) 371-8910 1 by fare-box revenues. That's killing our 2 system. This is a crisis for every employer 3 in the City of New York, for every business in 4 the City of New York. You do not build an 5 economy in this state with a transit system 6 that is facing further service cuts and the 7 downward spiral of bad service, decreased 8 ridership and decreased revenues. 9 So this bill remarkably -- and I 10 think it is much improved since the Senate 11 passed a one-house bill some weeks ago -- this 12 bill takes on front-door debt, state support 13 for the MTA, provides tax revenues. And I 14 know that this is a hard lift, for people to 15 raise taxes in this atmosphere. So I have to 16 give tremendous credit to those who made it 17 possible. 18 There were -- I must say regional 19 prejudices exist. And I don't like them, but 20 they exist. And I must say that there was 21 some sense of people in the downstate area 22 saying: Well, what's the story with this new 23 Transportation chair? Is he one of these 24 roads and bridges are more important than 25 transit guys?

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(518) 371-8910 1 And the answer is in this bill. 2 The answer is no. He's covered roads and 3 bridges and transit. I, as a former attorney 4 for the Straphangers Campaign, don't find any 5 basis for suing anybody in this legislation, 6 and that's really an extraordinary failing on 7 my part. 8 I will continue to review it, Madam 9 President. But in the interim, I'm going to 10 vote yes. And I encourage everyone else to 11 vote yes. 12 THE PRESIDENT: You will be so 13 recorded as voting in the affirmative, Senator 14 Schneiderman. 15 Senator Sabini, to explain his 16 vote. 17 SENATOR SABINI: Thank you, Madam 18 President. 19 I too want to say that the finished 20 product that's the result of this bill is a 21 good one, and I commend Chairman Libous and 22 the other conferees for realizing -- it took a 23 little while, but for realizing that not only 24 can the MTA not continue to pay operating 25 expenses through bonding -- that's what got

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(518) 371-8910 1 New York City in trouble several decades 2 ago -- but also that the need was real, that 3 Chairman Kalikow was not asking for 4 pie-in-the-sky stuff but rather just making 5 sure that the system ran in a condition that 6 gets workers to work and people to their 7 destinations safely and reliably. If we don't 8 have a safe and reliable transit system within 9 the downstate region, the economy of this 10 state would be in peril. 11 So while the amounts of money and 12 attention to things in the MTA isn't perfect, 13 I think it was a good collaborative effort. 14 There were people on the conference committee 15 who were looking out for commuter railroads, 16 for roads and bridges upstate, for upstate 17 transit systems and for the MTA. And I think 18 that the final process turned out to be one 19 that was a good one. 20 And I want to echo the comments of 21 Senator Schneiderman and commend Chairman 22 Libous on his work and our colleagues in the 23 Assembly for their work on this. It's not 24 perfect; I wish there was more money for 25 expansion. I don't think that the end-result

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(518) 371-8910 1 dollar figure for the Second Avenue subway 2 makes it any closer to being a reality. I 3 know people don't like to hear that. But I'm 4 concerned about the federal commitment on so 5 small a dollar figure. 6 But on the whole, we're a lot 7 better off than we were two weeks ago, and 8 I'll be voting in the affirmative. Thank you. 9 THE PRESIDENT: You will be 10 recorded as voting in the affirmative, Senator 11 Sabini. 12 Senator Spano. 13 SENATOR SPANO: Thank you, Madam 14 President. To explain my vote. 15 Nothing has been more important to 16 a commuter when you can meet them in a 17 railroad station and they're standing there 18 waiting for a train and it doesn't show up. 19 Or it does show up in the summer and it's hot 20 and there's no air-conditioning. Or it shows 21 up in the winter and it's cold because there's 22 no heat. 23 Those are just very anecdotal 24 reasons why it's so important for us to come 25 up with a multiyear capital plan that provides

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(518) 371-8910 1 real relief in terms of on-time performance in 2 the efficiency of the railroad, making sure 3 that we encourage people in the metropolitan 4 area and the suburban counties to utilize our 5 commuter railroad system, and at the same time 6 pay attention to keeping our fares down. 7 We should give credit to the chairs 8 of our Transportation Committees, recognizing 9 that we do have to make tough decisions with 10 regard to finding the revenues to pay for the 11 efficiencies that are so necessary. But 12 that's what we get paid the little bucks for, 13 to be up here to make those tough decisions, 14 to stand up for those commuters who are 15 working hard, who leave early in the morning, 16 get home late at night and frankly don't have 17 time to reach out to us and say, Make sure our 18 trains are running on time. 19 It's our job to represent them up 20 here, and that's what we're doing very 21 effectively with the passage of this entire 22 package today. 23 I vote aye. 24 THE PRESIDENT: You will be so 25 recorded, Senator Spano, as voting in the

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(518) 371-8910 1 affirmative. 2 Senator Libous. 3 SENATOR LIBOUS: Madam President, 4 thank you. 5 And I want to thank my colleagues 6 for all the effort and hard work that went 7 into this five-year transportation plan. 8 And as the new chairman of the 9 Transportation Committee, I got a crash course 10 right away over the first couple of months, 11 and certainly I want to thank the staff for 12 their help and effort. 13 But what we accomplished here, and 14 we should all be very proud, is a five-year 15 plan that both is very effective when it comes 16 to supporting the MTA, which is critically 17 important to our state, and a highway, road 18 and bridge program, along with rail, for 19 freight, and aviation. And those components 20 are critical for keeping our state in the 21 forefront for economic development. 22 You know, as I said in some of the 23 earlier meetings when we were first given this 24 budget, if we looked at the amounts of money 25 that were proposed, the dollar amounts were

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(518) 371-8910 1 frozen. They were the same as the last five 2 years. And we all know and recognize that 3 costs have gone up, the cost of labor has gone 4 up, certainly gasoline and fuel costs have 5 gone up, concrete -- I can go on and on -- 6 steel. And in order to put New York State in 7 the forefront, we needed to make a commitment. 8 Now, part of this plan is a 9 $2.9 billion bond issue. And I bring that up 10 because it's critical. We all decided that we 11 did not want to do any back-door borrowing, 12 that the right way to do this was to take it 13 to the voters -- because we cared about 14 accountability, accountability is the key word 15 here -- and let the voters decide. But we 16 will sell to them the proposal so that they 17 can see, unlike 2000 -- unlike 2000, when they 18 were asked to vote on a bond and didn't know 19 what was going to be in it. That will not be 20 the case this time. And then they can make 21 the decision as to how we move forward in 22 supporting this great transportation system 23 that we have in New York State. 24 So, Madam President, I am very 25 honored to stand here today and certainly

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(518) 371-8910 1 support this proposal. And again, I would 2 like to thank the staff, the Senate staff that 3 has been very supportive to me, and certainly 4 all of my colleagues, those who served in the 5 committee and those in this room who have been 6 supportive. 7 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Libous, 8 you will be recorded as voting in the 9 affirmative. 10 Senator Wright. 11 SENATOR WRIGHT: Thank you, Madam 12 President. Just to quickly explain my vote. 13 I want to extend my congratulations 14 to Chairman Libous, because this bill is about 15 jobs, creating jobs, because roads and bridges 16 are essential throughout upstate New York. 17 And while I appreciate my 18 colleague's prior comments about the balance, 19 and that's certainly something we strove to 20 achieve, and I want to credit the joint 21 conference committee on having achieved that 22 balance, the bottom line is transportation is 23 critical to the economy of upstate New York. 24 It's all about jobs, particularly in our rural 25 regions, where we literally will drive a half

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(518) 371-8910 1 an hour, 45 minutes to be gainfully employed. 2 So we appreciate the effort, and 3 we've seen the adverse impact that the cost of 4 inflation has had on our ability to maintain 5 and improve our roads and bridges. 6 So I'm very supportive of the 7 leadership demonstrated here in this house to 8 recognize the roads and bridge commitment and, 9 more importantly, look forward to seeing it, 10 over the course of the next five years, 11 improve the upstate economy. 12 I'll be voting aye. 13 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Wright, 14 you will be recorded as voting in the 15 affirmative. 16 Senator Hassell-Thompson. 17 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Thank 18 you, Madam President. Just to explain my 19 vote. 20 THE PRESIDENT: To explain your 21 vote. 22 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: I will 23 in fact be voting for the bill. And I've 24 heard all the accolades that everybody has 25 given each other, and the patting on the back.

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(518) 371-8910 1 But I still think that I would like to 2 interject the concern that I have that this 3 bill will authorize the MTA to bond out its 4 pension obligations. That needs to be 5 addressed, and at least it needs to go on the 6 record so that everybody knows that that's 7 what's happening. 8 We are not able to do -- 9 unfortunately, because we are not able to do 10 two generals in the election in November, that 11 this will not go before the public. But I 12 think that we ought to -- we ought -- this is 13 a bailout, no question. We are bailing out 14 MTA. 15 And all of us who know -- the 16 portion of the district that I represent in 17 the Bronx is a surface district. Therefore, 18 we need our buses. We need them to be in more 19 than good repair. In Westchester County, as 20 we have seen these several weeks, with this 21 bus strike, what it means to the working class 22 and the communities. 23 So certainly I am one who is not 24 supportive of making sure that all of our 25 transportation systems work and work well and

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(518) 371-8910 1 that we do whatever it is that we're supposed 2 to. But when we find ourselves bailing out 3 our authorities in this manner, I just think 4 that it raises a specter that is not a 5 behavior that I would like to see us continue 6 to do. 7 Thank you, Madam President. 8 THE PRESIDENT: You will be 9 recorded as voting in the affirmative -- in 10 the negative, excuse me, Senator 11 Hassell-Thompson. 12 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: No, 13 no, no, I'm voting in the affirmative. 14 THE PRESIDENT: That was my 15 original understanding. 16 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Thank 17 you. 18 THE PRESIDENT: So you will be so 19 recorded as voting in the affirmative. 20 The Secretary will announce the 21 results. 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 60. 23 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is 24 passed. 25 Senator Skelos.

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(518) 371-8910 1 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President, 2 we are not going to go to the controversial 3 calendar at this time. So the Senate will 4 stand at ease until 2:30 p.m. 5 THE PRESIDENT: The Senate now 6 stands at ease until 2:30 p.m. 7 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at 8 ease at 12:32 p.m.) 9 (Whereupon, the Senate reconvened 10 at 3:22 p.m.) 11 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Senator 12 Skelos. 13 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 14 before we start the controversial calendar, 15 number one, if we could have the bells rung at 16 this time. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The 18 Secretary will ring the bells. 19 SENATOR SKELOS: Also, an 20 announcement that there will be a meeting of 21 the Elections Committee in Room 816 of the LOB 22 immediately following session. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: There 24 will be a meeting of the Elections Committee 25 in Room 816 immediately after session.

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(518) 371-8910 1 SENATOR SKELOS: Just for the 2 members, again, the bells are ringing, and we 3 will commence the controversial calendar. 4 I believe Senator Fuschillo has a 5 motion. 6 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Mr. 7 President, on behalf of Senator Morahan, on 8 page number 14 I offer the following 9 amendments to Calendar Number 259, Senate 10 Print Number 1965, and ask that said bill 11 retain its place on Third Reading Calendar. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The 13 amendments are received, and the bill will 14 retain its place on the Third Reading 15 Calendar. 16 Senator Skelos. 17 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 18 if we can now start with Calendar Number 294, 19 by Senator Rath. I believe the Minority laid 20 it aside, asking for an explanation. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The 22 Secretary will read. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 294, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 1568, an 25 act to amend the Penal Law.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Senator 2 Rath, an explanation has been requested. 3 SENATOR RATH: Surely. 4 This bill came about as a result of 5 a prank that was played in one of the schools 6 in my district maybe six or eight years ago. 7 An envelope with white powder was placed, and 8 of course a phone call was made. And this was 9 really before the anthrax scares that we're 10 all so familiar with. And the emergency 11 vehicles rushed out, and all of the people 12 were deployed in case this was a real 13 circumstance and there was a serious threat. 14 Well, as I said, it was kids and it 15 was pranksters. And the dollars had been 16 spent in order to get the emergency responders 17 there. And fortunately there were no 18 incidents or real problems; no one was hurt. 19 But there was, of course, a lot of cost for 20 the emergency responders to go out. 21 And this bill allows the 22 municipality or other providers of emergency 23 services to seek restitution for their costs 24 if something like this happens in the future. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Senator

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(518) 371-8910 1 Duane. 2 SENATOR DUANE: Thank you, Mr. 3 President. If the sponsor would yield. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Senator 5 Rath, will you yield? 6 SENATOR RATH: Surely. 7 SENATOR DUANE: Under present 8 law, is not a victim entitled to go to the 9 Crime Victims Board to get -- to be reimbursed 10 for expenses? 11 SENATOR RATH: Yes, there are, 12 Senator. And you're correct on the term 13 "victim." But having a municipality or a 14 first-responder unit as a victim is a 15 different way of approaching the term 16 "victim." And this piece of legislation 17 clears that up. 18 SENATOR DUANE: And through you, 19 Mr. President, if the sponsor would continue 20 to yield. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Senator 22 Rath, will you yield? 23 SENATOR RATH: Surely. 24 SENATOR DUANE: I'm wondering, 25 then, if perhaps taxes are actually the

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(518) 371-8910 1 funding stream that should be used to 2 reimburse a victim. 3 SENATOR RATH: The feeling when 4 we drafted the bill was that knowing that it 5 might come back at their parents if kids did 6 stuff like this, that it would act as a 7 deterrent. And that we need to have a 8 reliable source of revenue. And so coming 9 back at the parents or the responsible parties 10 was the feeling when we drafted this bill. 11 SENATOR DUANE: Through you, Mr. 12 President, if the sponsor would continue to 13 yield. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Senator 15 Rath, will you continue to yield? 16 SENATOR RATH: Surely. 17 SENATOR DUANE: I'm hoping that 18 the sponsor could take me through the process 19 of what happens now, in the absence of this 20 law being passed and put into effect. 21 SENATOR RATH: Without this going 22 into effect, the municipality would have to 23 pay for any kinds of circumstances that were 24 to happen to the responders or their 25 equipment.

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(518) 371-8910 1 SENATOR DUANE: And through you, 2 Mr. President, if the sponsor would continue 3 to yield. 4 SENATOR RATH: Surely. 5 SENATOR DUANE: Again, it seems 6 to me that funds which are held by a 7 municipality, school, fire district, fire 8 company or other entity, they already have 9 funds which are paid for from tax dollars. 10 And I'm again wondering why it is that they -- 11 it seems that they have the opportunity to 12 double-dip now. 13 SENATOR RATH: If, in the 14 circumstances that I described a few minutes 15 ago in my district, if there had been a 16 serious physical injury to a responder or 17 there had been a piece of equipment that was 18 damaged, or even the fact that if it's a 19 hazmat unit that goes out, some of the pieces 20 of equipment, clothing, et cetera, that they 21 use, they can use them only once. 22 And this indeed was a prank. And 23 the message here is that pranksters are not 24 allowed to get away with this kind of 25 activity.

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(518) 371-8910 1 SENATOR DUANE: And through you, 2 Mr. President, if the sponsor would continue 3 to yield. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Senator 5 Rath, will you continue to yield? 6 SENATOR RATH: Surely. 7 SENATOR DUANE: I would put 8 forward that false alarms, though, you know, 9 ranging from unpleasant to dangerous, 10 responding to them is actually part of the job 11 of responders, of a fire department or an 12 emergency vehicle. So why is it that we would 13 take this kind of situation and set it aside 14 for an exceptional use of the law and 15 remuneration to a victim? 16 SENATOR RATH: When this piece of 17 legislation was drafted -- again, in response 18 to a circumstance in my district -- there are 19 other ways, as you point out, that the costs 20 could be recouped. 21 But this would put in place what I 22 feel is a much better way of recouping the 23 cost because it is a message of deterrence to 24 anyone who thinks that they can place a bomb 25 or an envelope that looks like anthrax or do

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(518) 371-8910 1 anything that would cause a first-responder 2 unit to rush to the scene, with the possible 3 jeopardy of life and limb, because someone 4 thinks it's funny or they want to get a day 5 off of school or they want to scare a whole 6 community by sending -- let's say someone sent 7 white envelopes filled with a dusty substance 8 to every one of us. I think we would be very 9 concerned about what would happen if we had to 10 shut down state government in order to have 11 everything cleaned and checked through. Who 12 would pay for it? 13 If someone is convicted. Please 14 note that this is if someone is convicted. 15 SENATOR DUANE: Mr. President, on 16 the bill. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: On the 18 bill. 19 SENATOR DUANE: I believe that we 20 already have deterrents in place for 21 offenders, and I would even say that the 22 deterrents that are in place for juvenile 23 offenders are already extremely sharp and 24 harsh. 25 And in fact that a juvenile doesn't

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(518) 371-8910 1 get the chance to go to Family Court and have 2 that judge decide whether or not he or she 3 should keep the case in their courtroom -- 4 instead of the system that we have here where 5 a young person is sent to criminal court and 6 the criminal court judge gets to make the 7 decision -- I think is frankly inhumane and 8 not -- I think it's something that should be 9 changed in our law. 10 But that potential for harsh 11 penalty that could be given out by a criminal 12 court judge I believe is a strong enough 13 deterrent. 14 I've said this before, that I 15 believe that the reason we pay taxes is 16 exactly to pay for these kinds of 17 situations -- false alarms, emergencies, 18 whatever the situation is. That's what we pay 19 our taxes for. You know, crime victim 20 remuneration is meant for person-on-person 21 crimes, not property crimes. And that has 22 been our philosophy, and I don't see any 23 reason to change it. 24 I could also see a situation where 25 the family of a kid who had to -- when there

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(518) 371-8910 1 was, you know, a large expense to the 2 response, that kind of money could bankrupt a 3 family. 4 I believe that the deterrents in 5 place are beyond more than adequate to deter a 6 young person from committing this kind of 7 crime. And for that reason, I'm going to vote 8 no on the bill, both because, as I say, I 9 think that's what our tax dollars should be 10 used for, and also because I think we should 11 be -- that we should not be piling on our 12 already too harsh laws against young people. 13 Thank you, Mr. President. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Does 15 any other member wish to be heard on the bill? 16 The debate is closed. 17 The Secretary will ring the bell. 18 Read the last section. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 20 act shall take effect immediately. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Call 22 the roll. 23 (The Secretary called the roll.) 24 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 25 the negative on Calendar Number 294 are

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(518) 371-8910 1 Senators Andrews, Duane, Hassell-Thompson, 2 Montgomery and Parker. 3 Ayes, 56. Nays, 5. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The 5 bill is passed. 6 Senator Skelos. 7 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, I 8 believe there's a substitution at the desk, if 9 we could make it at this time. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The 11 Secretary will read. 12 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 13 Calendar Number 271, Senator Johnson moves to 14 discharge, from the Committee on Finance, 15 Assembly Bill Number 555C and substitute it 16 for the identical Senate Bill Number 555E, 17 Third Reading Calendar 271. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: 19 Substitution ordered. 20 Senator Skelos. 21 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 22 would you please call up Calendar Number 271 23 at this time. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The 25 Secretary will read.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 271, substituted earlier, Assembly Budget 3 Bill, Assembly Print Number 555C, an act 4 making appropriations for the support of 5 government. 6 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: 7 Explanation. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Senator 9 Johnson, an explanation has been requested. 10 SENATOR JOHNSON: This is the 11 budget bill companion to 3669, which passed 12 yesterday or earlier today. 13 And this is a budget bill that has 14 the money for all the Article VII factors in 15 the other bill: transportation, economic 16 development, and environmental conservation. 17 Thank you. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Senator 19 Krueger. 20 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you. 21 On the bill. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: On the 23 bill. 24 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: So again 25 the dilemma, assuming we are passing this bill

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(518) 371-8910 1 today and it's agreed upon in both houses, as 2 we know, that we made some progress from the 3 original Governor's proposal. 4 I am delighted to see that we have 5 restored the funding for housing preservation 6 programs, both urban and rural, in the State 7 of New York. It's a critically important 8 program in every community. 9 I am very pleased that we put in 10 $25 million capital for expanded housing 11 programs. Last year we all felt very good 12 when we put $57 million in, only to see the 13 Governor veto those monies out. 14 So it is with optimism, I suppose, 15 that I hope that those monies will remain in 16 the budget when there is a formal agreement 17 made. Because in fact, for the record, the 18 State of New York has increased its funds to 19 expand affordable housing by technically, 20 statistically nothing for the last twenty 21 years. Occasionally we get another million 22 here or a million there. 23 But I don't believe there's anyone 24 who the State of New York who doesn't 25 recognize the importance of expanding the base

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(518) 371-8910 1 of affordable housing and the crisis level 2 that it is at, not only in my City of New York 3 but in the Hudson Valley and in Long Island 4 and in other sections of the state. 5 And so the fact that I am pleased 6 to see $25 million additional in capital money 7 to expand potential models for affordable 8 housing is in some degree a statement also of 9 my disappointment that in the 21st century, 10 after decades of failing to address the 11 problems we ought to of expanding affordable 12 housing and in fact replicating successful 13 programs, that in fact the best we can do 14 today is putting back some money for housing 15 preservation that was lost last year and 16 putting $25 million into capital that I hope 17 we will see staying in the budget after we 18 complete a three-way negotiation with the 19 Governor. 20 And yet I want to talk about the 21 fact that there's so much more we should be 22 doing in housing and that we're not. And 23 there's no other section in the budget where 24 we're going to see any additional money for 25 housing.

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(518) 371-8910 1 One, we actually have documentation 2 that when you talk about economic development, 3 one of the models that works is building 4 housing. It creates immediate jobs in 5 construction. It creates long-term revenue to 6 communities through expanded -- an expanded 7 housing base of taxpayers. It ensures that 8 working people can remain living in 9 communities where they hope to work. 10 It is one of the real issues that 11 the business community looks at when they make 12 decisions about whether to move into an area 13 of the state or leave an area of the state: 14 Is there housing that their workers can 15 afford. 16 And as I often explain to 17 businesses in my own community when I tell 18 them why they should care about the 19 affordability of housing, I explain, one, that 20 if they don't have any workers who can afford 21 to live near them, they won't have good 22 workers. And, two, if everybody is spending 23 all their disposable income on housing, 24 whatever it is that they, the business, are 25 trying to sell, nobody will have any money to

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(518) 371-8910 1 buy it from them. 2 So the fact is when we talk about 3 economic development, and we do a lot of that 4 in the state budget, there's very few areas 5 where I actually find myself agreeing with the 6 model of spending taxpayers' dollars to 7 support specific parts of the economy through 8 a business model. But building housing is one 9 of the places that has in fact been 10 documented, time in and time out, to have a 11 multiplier effect and is a win-win for all of 12 our communities. 13 So I'm basically making this speech 14 saying what a shame that we only see 15 $25 million in the state budget for additional 16 housing, after decades of seeing no increases. 17 What a shame that if we spent more time really 18 looking at the monies we spend in our budget, 19 that we might not find that some of the monies 20 we've decided to spend in other ways we should 21 be spending on expansion of housing. 22 We should be looking at a 23 Mitchell-Lama II program. We should be 24 looking at expanding the successful 25 New York/New York supportive housing programs

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(518) 371-8910 1 that we have talked about for years but not 2 put any money in, that addresses the needs of 3 not only expanding affordable housing but also 4 addressing the needs of people who are on SSI 5 and SSD, people who are mentally ill, people 6 who are coming out of our prisons, people who 7 are on the streets of our towns because 8 they're homeless. 9 And so what a shame that that's all 10 we're talking about, $25 million. And yet I 11 appreciate that it's there. 12 I also think that this bill doesn't 13 go far enough in a number of other areas that 14 we had talked about earlier today when we were 15 dealing with language bills. Again, I 16 supported the transportation bill, but no one 17 should imagine that we've done enough four 18 public transportation. And that we're still 19 not going to be facing the problems that those 20 of us who live in New York City know our 21 constituents face every day. Our fares go up 22 on our buses and our subways, our token booth 23 clerks aren't there anymore, increasing safety 24 problems underground. And we seem to have 25 breakdowns in our system on a daily basis.

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(518) 371-8910 1 So we also, in this appropriations 2 bill, are addressing some of the capital needs 3 of public transportation, but please don't 4 think that anyone should go home saying we 5 solved that problem. We did not. We -- as I 6 think one of my colleagues said earlier today, 7 we averted perhaps a major crisis, but we have 8 not addressed what we should. 9 So I am struggling about whether to 10 vote for the bill, because it doesn't go far 11 enough in important areas. And yet it is 12 better than the bill that we voted on I 13 believe two weeks ago. It is better than the 14 bill that the Governor offered us. 15 So I will vote for this bill with 16 hesitancy, having realized that a budget done 17 on time is perhaps -- even a bad budget done 18 on time is better than a bad budget many 19 months late. And perhaps we have more 20 opportunities over the next few months to go 21 back and look at the progress we made and the 22 progress we failed to make and deal with some 23 of those issues between now and the end of 24 session. 25 Thank you, Mr. President.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Can we 2 have a little order in the chamber, please. 3 Senator Schneiderman. 4 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you. 5 I concur in much of what Senator 6 Krueger said. I would also like to add that 7 I'm very happy that we have made improvements 8 in several areas over the bills passed in the 9 Senate, the one-house bills, a few weeks ago. 10 We have restored money for the Hudson River 11 Park that was not in the bill we voted on 12 before. We've restored money for brownfields. 13 Obviously the most significant gap 14 here, in addition to the issues that Senator 15 Krueger raised, is the Environmental 16 Protection Fund. And I will support this 17 legislation with the understanding that we are 18 going to continue negotiations, that we are 19 not going to consider the budget complete 20 until we have dealt with that critical issue. 21 I gather that is our position in this house. 22 I'm confident that's the position of the 23 Assembly. 24 What the Governor proposed, what's 25 unacceptable, I'm supportive of the

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(518) 371-8910 1 Legislature attempting to do a better version. 2 But we cannot honestly say we have finished 3 the budget in the area of environmental 4 protection until we address that issue. 5 So I will support this bill, but 6 with the understanding that we are going to 7 deal with the looming problem of the need to 8 address most of the environmental issues that 9 we address in this Legislature through the 10 EPF. Let's get that on the table, let's keep 11 the negotiations going. And whatever is going 12 on on the second floor, we can't allow this 13 session to end without funding this critical 14 program. 15 Thank you, Mr. President. I will 16 be voting yes. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Does 18 any other member wish to be heard on the bill? 19 The debate is closed. 20 The Secretary will ring the bell. 21 Read the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 23 act shall take effect immediately. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Call 25 the roll.

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(518) 371-8910 1 (The Secretary called the roll.) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 61. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The 4 bill is passed. 5 Senator Skelos. 6 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 7 is there any further business to come before 8 the Senate? 9 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: There 10 is none. 11 SENATOR SKELOS: If you would 12 recognize Senator Schneiderman for a petition 13 and bill out of committee. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Senator 15 Schneiderman. 16 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you, 17 Mr. President. 18 I have a motion at the desk. I 19 would like to have it called up at this time. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The 21 Secretary will read. 22 THE SECRETARY: Senate Print 23 1967, by Senator Schneiderman, an act to amend 24 the Workers' Compensation Law. 25 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you.

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(518) 371-8910 1 Mr. President and colleagues, this 2 is a motion to bring to the floor a bill to 3 raise the maximum payment for workers' 4 compensation claims from $400 per week to the 5 state's average weekly salary and to raise the 6 disability payment from $170 per week to the 7 state's average weekly salary. 8 We have attempted to address some 9 issues relating to the working poor in this 10 state. But until we deal with the inadequate 11 workers' compensation and disability payment 12 system, we are leaving millions of New Yorkers 13 in danger every day of being thrown into 14 poverty. You cannot support a family on $400 15 a week. 16 If you are in most other states in 17 the country, you have a wage that is equal to 18 or greater than the average weekly salary, 19 calculated based on the statewide average. In 20 New York, in New York we now are at the bottom 21 of the pile. The workers' compensation 22 benefit currently is 51 percent of the average 23 weekly wage. 24 Now, if you look at states that we 25 consider ourselves to be more progressive

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(518) 371-8910 1 than, in many cases, Mississippi is at 2 64 percent; Arizona, 57 percent; Georgia, 3 55 percent. New York's maximum benefit, which 4 hasn't changed since 1992, puts us at the 5 bottom of the barrel. When you compare the 6 cost of living in this state to the amount we 7 pay in workers' compensation, it is the worst 8 in the country. 9 We can't adjourn this session 10 without dealing with this issue. We did last 11 year raise the minimum wage, which resulted in 12 immediate benefit to millions of New Yorkers. 13 This year let's change the workers' 14 compensation and disability system. It is 15 lower than any of the neighboring states. And 16 quite frankly, as both a matter of economic 17 policy and a matter of morality, it's an 18 obscenely low amount. 19 This is a high priority for the 20 state AFL-CIO. It is a high priority for many 21 members of the clergy in this state. And as 22 we did with the minimum wage, it's time to 23 make a change. 24 We haven't changed it since 1992. 25 Let's address it this year. I urge everyone

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(518) 371-8910 1 to support this motion, bring this bill to the 2 floor. Let's change the workers' compensation 3 and disability laws this year and send a 4 message that New York State is not attempting 5 to grow businesses on the backs of disabled 6 workers. That is a travesty. 7 And if you put money into these 8 people's pockets, I assure you, it's all spent 9 right here in New York, so it's good for the 10 economy as well. 11 Thank you, Mr. President. I urge 12 everyone to vote yes. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: All 14 those Senators in favor of the petition please 15 signify by raising your hands. 16 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 17 agreement are Senators Andrews, Breslin, 18 Brown, Diaz, Dilan, Duane, Gonzalez, 19 Hassell-Thompson, Klein, L. Krueger, 20 C. Kruger, Montgomery, Onorato, Oppenheimer, 21 Parker, Paterson, Sabini, Sampson, Savino, 22 Schneiderman, Serrano, A. Smith, M. Smith, 23 Stachowski, Stavisky and Valesky. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The 25 petition is not agreed to.

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(518) 371-8910 1 Senator Skelos. 2 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you, Mr. 3 President. There will be a conference of the 4 Majority tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. 5 And there being no further business 6 to come before the Senate, I move we stand 7 adjourned until Thursday, March 31st, at 8 11:00 a.m. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: On 10 motion, the Senate stands adjourned until 11 11:00 a.m. Thursday, March 31st. 12 There will be a Majority conference 13 tomorrow at 10:00 a.m., and session will start 14 at 11:00 a.m. 15 (Whereupon, at 3:56 p.m., the 16 Senate adjourned.) 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

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(518) 371-8910