Monday, January 30, 2006

1 NEW YORK STATE SENATE 2 3 4 THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD 5 6 7 8 9 ALBANY, NEW YORK 10 January 30, 2006 11 3:38 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 Saturday, January 28, the Senate met pursuant 18 to adjournment. The Journal of Friday, 19 January 27, 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 Reports of select committees. 4 Communications and reports from 5 state officers. 6 Motions and resolutions. 7 Senator Meier. 8 SENATOR MEIER: Thank you, Madam 9 President. 10 On behalf of Senator Golden, on 11 page number 11, I offer the following 12 amendments to Calendar Number 44, Senate Print 13 Number 5756, and ask that said bill retain its 14 place on the Third Reading Calendar. 15 THE PRESIDENT: The amendments 16 are received. The bill will retain its place 17 on the Third Reading Calendar. 18 SENATOR MEIER: Thank you, Madam 19 President. 20 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, 21 Senator Meier. 22 Senator Skelos. 23 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President, 24 I believe there's an amendment at the desk -- 25 or there's substitutions.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE PRESIDENT: I'd ask for 2 order. I'm having trouble hearing. 3 Senator Skelos. 4 SENATOR SKELOS: I was wrong. No 5 amendments, no substitutions. 6 If we could go to the 7 noncontroversial reading of the calendar. 8 THE PRESIDENT: There are no 9 substitutions. 10 And we will now read the 11 noncontroversial calendar. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 41, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 2481, an 14 act to amend the Education Law, in relation to 15 authorizing the State University trustees. 16 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last 17 section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 19 act shall take effect on the first of April. 20 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll.) 22 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Farley, 23 to explain your vote. 24 SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you, Madam 25 President.

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(518) 371-8910 1 This is a bill that is sponsored by 2 almost every member of this Senate. And it's 3 a bill that I expect that we're going to get 4 signed today. It's been around for a lot of 5 years. 6 It was vetoed because they -- and 7 actually, the current Governor was a sponsor 8 of this bill. And we're going to get it 9 through the Assembly this year. Senator Diaz 10 and a few others are going to be working on 11 that over there. 12 So this is a good piece of 13 legislation, one that has allowed senior 14 citizens to take courses at the State 15 University on a space-available basis without 16 charge. 17 It's a good piece of legislation. 18 I thank my colleagues for supporting it. 19 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary 20 will announce the results. 21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 50. Nays, 22 1. Senator Duane recorded in the negative. 23 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is 24 passed. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number

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(518) 371-8910 1 50, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 3593A, an 2 act to amend the Retirement and Social 3 Security Law, in relation to the employment of 4 retired persons. 5 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last 6 section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 8 act shall take effect immediately. 9 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll. 10 (The Secretary called the roll.) 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 51. 12 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is 13 passed. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 51, by Senator Robach, Senate Print 4295, an 16 act to amend the Civil Service Law, in 17 relation to the appointment of members. 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, 54. 25 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is

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(518) 371-8910 1 passed. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 52, by Senator Robach, Senate Print 4508, an 4 act to amend the Civil Service Law, in 5 relation to representation of public 6 employees. 7 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last 8 section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 10 act shall take effect immediately. 11 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll. 12 (The Secretary called the roll.) 13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 54. Nays, 14 1. Senator Meier recorded in the negative. 15 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is 16 passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 53, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 6379, an 19 act to amend Chapter 729 of the Laws of 1994, 20 relating to affecting the health insurance 21 benefits. 22 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last 23 section. 24 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 25 act shall take effect May 15, 2006.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll.) 3 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Farley, 4 to explain your vote. 5 SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you, Madam 6 President. 7 This is another piece of very 8 significant legislation. It's the number-one 9 priority of the New York State United 10 Teachers. It is a piece of legislation that 11 protects all retired teachers that their 12 health insurance benefits cannot be changed 13 unless they do it for everybody. 14 It's a major piece of legislation. 15 I would hope that it would be permanent, but 16 this is a one-year extender. We've done it 17 every year. It passes unanimously. And it's 18 very significant. 19 I only wish that -- and we're 20 working on it, to do it for all public 21 employees and not just teachers. And that 22 bill will be coming shortly. 23 Thank you, Madam President. 24 THE PRESIDENT: You will be 25 recorded as voting in the affirmative, Senator

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(518) 371-8910 1 Farley. 2 Senator Schneiderman, to explain 3 injury vote. 4 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you, 5 Madam President, to explain my vote. 6 I'd just like to echo one thing 7 that Senator Farley, the sponsor, just 8 mentioned. This bill has passed the Assembly 9 and the Senate, or a comparable bill, 10 unanimously -- with no negative votes -- for 11 12 years. 12 Ladies and gentlemen, let's not 13 play games with our retirees. Let's not keep 14 this on the table. Let's make this a 15 permanent law so we can stop with the annual 16 ritual. It's nice to have a chapter on your 17 wall every year for something. Let's do 18 something for the retirees to give them the 19 security they deserve long-term. Let's make 20 this permanent. 21 I'm going to vote yes, but I concur 22 in the sponsor's suggestion that it is time 23 for us to make this permanent. 24 Thank you, Madam President. 25 THE PRESIDENT: You will be

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(518) 371-8910 1 recorded as voting in the affirmative, 2 Senator. 3 The Secretary will announce the 4 results. 5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 6 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is 7 passed. 8 Senator Skelos, that completes the 9 calendar. 10 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you, Madam 11 President. Is there any other business at the 12 desk? 13 THE PRESIDENT: No, there is not, 14 Senator. 15 SENATOR SKELOS: There being no 16 further business to come before the Senate, I 17 move we stand adjourned until Tuesday, 18 January 31st, at 11:00 a.m. 19 THE PRESIDENT: On motion, the 20 Senate now stands adjourned until Tuesday, 21 January 31st, 11:00 a.m. 22 (Whereupon, at 3:45 p.m., the 23 Senate adjourned.) 24 25

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(518) 371-8910