Wednesday, March 1, 2006

1 NEW YORK STATE SENATE 2 3 4 THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD 5 6 7 8 9 ALBANY, NEW YORK 10 March 1, 2006 11 11:18 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, February 28, the Senate met pursuant 18 to adjournment. The Journal of Monday, 19 February 27, was read and approved. On 20 motion, 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 Fuschillo. 8 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Thank you, 9 Madam President. 10 On behalf of Senator Winner, on 11 page number 27 I offer the following 12 amendments to Calendar Number 352, Senate 13 Print Number 2453, and ask that said bill 14 retain its place on Third Reading Calendar. 15 THE PRESIDENT: The amendments 16 are received, and the bill will retain its 17 place on the Third Reading Calendar. 18 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Madam 19 President, on behalf of Senator Padavan, I 20 move to recommit Senate Print Number 1055A, 21 Calendar Number 380 on the order of first 22 report, to the Committee on Environmental 23 Conservation, with instructions to said 24 committee to strike out the enacting clause. 25 THE PRESIDENT: So ordered.

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(518) 371-8910 1 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Thank you. 2 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Skelos. 3 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President, 4 I believe there are substitutions to be made 5 at this time. 6 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary 7 will read. 8 THE SECRETARY: On page 28, 9 Senator Johnson moves to discharge, from the 10 Committee on Finance, Assembly Bill Number 11 9566A and substitute it for the identical 12 Senate Bill Number 6466A, Third Reading 13 Calendar 397. 14 THE PRESIDENT: Substitution 15 ordered. 16 Senator Skelos. 17 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President, 18 there's a resolution at the desk by Senator 19 DeFrancisco. If we could have it read in its 20 entirety and move for its immediate adoption. 21 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary 22 will read. 23 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 24 DeFrancisco, Legislative Resolution Number 25 3711, congratulating the 2005 North Syracuse

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(518) 371-8910 1 Babe Ruth 15-Year-Old All-Stars for advancing 2 to the Babe Ruth World Series. 3 "WHEREAS, Excellence and success in 4 competitive sports can be achieved only 5 through strenuous practice, team play and team 6 spirit, nurtured by dedicated coaching and 7 strategic planning; and 8 "WHEREAS, Athletic competition 9 enhances the moral and physical development of 10 the young people of this state, preparing them 11 for the future by instilling in them the value 12 of teamwork, encouraging a standard of healthy 13 living, imparting a desire for success and 14 developing a sense of fair play and 15 competition; and 16 "WHEREAS, It is the sense of this 17 Legislative Body to recognize those young 18 people among us and within the State of 19 New York who achieve excellence and success in 20 competitive sports; and 21 "WHEREAS, One such group of young 22 people is the North Syracuse Babe Ruth 23 15-Year-Old All-Stars, which consisted of team 24 members who had prior experience as players in 25 the North Syracuse Babe Ruth League, but who

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(518) 371-8910 1 had never played together as a team. In 2005, 2 they achieved a most outstanding season; and 3 "WHEREAS, This remarkable group of 4 elite athletes consisted of players from seven 5 different schools in the greater Syracuse 6 area. The purpose of building such a team is 7 to provide these top athletes an organized 8 baseball program in the summer months when 9 schools are closed and when skills are honed 10 in competition with others of outstanding 11 abilities; and 12 "WHEREAS, These extraordinary 13 gifted young men had all proven themselves to 14 be an outstanding combination of athletic 15 prowess and discipline before being named a 16 part of this All-Star team. They had already 17 brought much pride to their parents, their 18 schools, their friends and their communities; 19 and 20 "WHEREAS, The team members and 21 coaches of the 2005 North Syracuse Babe Ruth 22 15-Year-Old All-Stars were just one of almost 23 3,000 other talented teams that had the goal 24 of winning the national World Series title, to 25 be determined in August 2005. The road to the

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(518) 371-8910 1 World Series was filled with many stops where 2 the North Syracuse All-Stars had to prove to 3 themselves and to others their exceptional 4 talents; and 5 "WHEREAS, The race to the World 6 Series began in early July of 2005 with the 7 District 2 Championship, where competition was 8 held among teams from Central New York. North 9 Syracuse emerged from the double elimination 10 competition, which was held in Syracuse, by 11 sweeping three games. The North Syracuse Babe 12 Ruth 15-Year-Old All-Stars thereby earned the 13 right to move on to the Western New York State 14 Championship; and 15 "WHEREAS, A familiar North Syracuse 16 Junior High School baseball field was the site 17 of the Western New York State Championship. 18 Teams from the Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo 19 and Ithaca areas participated and, once again, 20 the North Syracuse All-Stars swept their 21 series, this time in four games, to move on to 22 the Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships, which 23 were held in Frederick, Maryland; and 24 "WHEREAS, Only the best of Babe 25 Ruth 15-year-olds from throughout the

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(518) 371-8910 1 Northeast participated in the regional 2 competition. The North Syracuse Babe Ruth 3 15-Year-Old All-Stars again faced the 4 challenge of competing with increasingly 5 talented teams, just as they had in the 6 earlier rounds. For the regionals, that 7 included the top teams from eastern New York, 8 New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and 9 Maryland; and 10 "WHEREAS, As they had in the past, 11 the North Syracuse Babe Ruth 15-Year-Old 12 All-Stars swept another four games and were 13 named the Mid-Atlantic Regional Champions, 14 having brought their tournament record to 15 11-0. Most importantly, they earned the 16 distinction of being just one of ten teams 17 from all 50 states to qualify to play in 18 Abbeville, Louisiana, with the hope of winning 19 the 2005 15-Year-Old Babe Ruth World Series; 20 and 21 "WHEREAS, In Louisiana, the North 22 Syracuse Babe Ruth 15-Year-Old All-Stars 23 played four games in five days in 'pool play.' 24 They went 2-2 and thereby qualified as one of 25 just four teams to advance to the final

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(518) 371-8910 1 elimination; and 2 "WHEREAS, The North Syracuse Babe 3 Ruth 15-Year-Old All-Stars next took on a most 4 talented team from Norwalk, Connecticut. 5 North Syracuse's outstanding pitching made the 6 difference as the All-Stars went on to win 7-5 7 and head to the semifinals on Friday, August 8 19; and 9 "WHEREAS, North Syracuse was 10 matched with Oahu, Hawaii, in the semifinal. 11 Oahu surprised North Syracuse early and led by 12 8-0 after the first inning. North Syracuse 13 was unable to recover, and the game ended with 14 a 12-4 win for Oahu. Overall, the North 15 Syracuse Babe Ruth 15-Year-Old All-Stars ended 16 tied for third place in the World Series 17 competition; and 18 "WHEREAS, No matter how gifted any 19 one team member may be, no team can accomplish 20 all that the North Syracuse Babe Ruth 21 15-Year-Old All-Stars accomplished on the 22 field. Its team members, and the schools they 23 attend, include Brett Botsford 24 (Baldwinsville), Dom Caruso (Liverpool), Paul 25 Conte (Baldwinsville), Joe Ilacqua

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(518) 371-8910 1 (Cicero-North Syracuse), David Kernan 2 (Cicero-North Syracuse), Matt Marra (Central 3 Square), Alex Nodzo (Henninger), Pat O'Brien 4 (Cicero-North Syracuse), D.J. Pastuf 5 (Cicero-North Syracuse), Ryan Poplawski 6 (Bishop Ludden), Aaron Schuldt (Liverpool), 7 Dan Sisto (CBA), Matt Wessinger (Liverpool), 8 Aaron Wirth (Liverpool), and Jakob Wirth 9 (Liverpool). Special mention is also made of 10 the team's official World Series Bat Boy, 11 Andrew Gaudette, the grandson of the team 12 manager, Joe Sacco; and 13 "WHEREAS, The success of this team, 14 which was formed just two months prior to 15 traveling to Louisiana, is due in large part 16 to the efforts of Manager Joe Sacco and his 17 coaches Mark Botsford, John Ilacqua and Dan 18 Pastuf, as well as the never-ending 19 encouragement and support of friends, family 20 and the entire community; and 21 "WHEREAS, This tribute to the team 22 does not end with their last game. About one 23 month later, the team learned that one of its 24 host families in Louisiana was virtually wiped 25 out by the devastation of Hurricane Rita. The

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(518) 371-8910 1 team showed its true spirit by organizing a 2 fundraiser for Huey and Carla Delcambre of 3 Abbeville, Louisiana. They and their 4 7-year-old son were flown to Syracuse by the 5 team, not knowing what the team had planned; 6 and 7 "WHEREAS, On Saturday, November 5, 8 2005, the Mattydale VFW was the site of a 9 'surprise' fundraiser which raised a 10 significant amount for the Delcambres. 11 Approximately 300 people attended, four 12 professional comedians donated their time, and 13 numerous donations of food and merchandise, 14 much of which was won by those attending but 15 turned over by them to the Delcambres, helped 16 to make the event a success; now, therefore, 17 be it 18 "RESOLVED, That this Legislative 19 Body pause in its deliberations to 20 congratulate the North Syracuse Babe Ruth 21 15-Year-Old All-Star Team, their coaches and 22 supporters on their successful season, overall 23 team record, and outstanding efforts that 24 culminated in their third-place finish in the 25 2005 Babe Ruth 15-Year-Old World Series

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(518) 371-8910 1 Championship, and for the outstanding 2 citizenship these individuals, who just months 3 earlier had never been together as a team, 4 displayed by assisting one of their host 5 families; and be it further 6 "RESOLVED, That copies of this 7 resolution, suitably engrossed, be transmitted 8 to Manager Joe Sacco, Coaches John Ilacqua, 9 Mark Botsford and Dan Pastuf, as well as the 10 members of the 2005 North Syracuse Babe Ruth 11 All-Star Team." 12 THE PRESIDENT: Senator 13 DeFrancisco. 14 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Thank you, 15 Madam President. 16 You know, we have a lot of 17 champions in Central New York, and we keep 18 bringing these championship teams here to 19 congratulate them for their outstanding 20 seasons and for the competition that they 21 participated in and became winners. 22 Well, this group of young people 23 that we're honoring today came in third; they 24 didn't win the World Series of the All-Star 25 Babe Ruth League. There were 3,000 teams

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(518) 371-8910 1 throughout the country; they came in third. 2 To me, they're winners. 3 But the real reason I brought them 4 here is what was stated in one of the 5 paragraphs. And that is that they probably 6 learned a lesson, and gave us a lesson for us 7 to learn, that these competitive sports are 8 much more than who gets that final victory. 9 When you hear about how a host team 10 in Louisiana was virtually wiped out by a 11 hurricane and what this team did to bring the 12 family to Syracuse to have a fundraiser for 13 them, and to have them be able to participate 14 in a fundraiser showing that we care in 15 Central New York about their plight and, more 16 than just caring, we're going to do something 17 about it. And these are young people that not 18 only learned a great lesson but are teaching 19 us a great lesson today in not only how to 20 win, how to compete, but also how to care for 21 others who are truly in need. 22 So I brought them here for that 23 reason. They're true champions in not only 24 their final success in the tournament, but 25 also in how they dealt with a very, very

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(518) 371-8910 1 serious situation. 2 So thank you all for what you've 3 done, and congratulations on your exploits. I 4 played a little baseball in my day, and you're 5 going to remember this the rest of your life. 6 Is Manager Joe Sacco here? I 7 played ball with Joe Sacco since I was 9 years 8 old. We're the same age. I look much better. 9 (Laughter.) 10 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: But he was 11 a great ballplayer and a great human being, 12 and I'm sure it's in large part because of him 13 and because of the assistant coaches and the 14 parents that the success of this team was such 15 as it was. And I thank them for everything 16 they've done. 17 Thank you. 18 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Valesky. 19 SENATOR VALESKY: Thank you, 20 Madam President. I rise to join my colleague 21 from Onondaga County, Senator DeFrancisco. 22 Senator, thank you for your efforts 23 in bringing the team here to Albany and for 24 offering this resolution today. 25 I would just add my comments and

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(518) 371-8910 1 congratulations to the Babe Ruth 15-Year-Old 2 All-Star League from North Syracuse, and 3 remind my colleagues that this is a team as an 4 All-Star team that did not have an opportunity 5 to play with each other very much before 6 competitive competition. 7 And their success in what they 8 accomplished throughout last summer's All-Star 9 season, how they came together as a team 10 certainly reminds all of us of the importance 11 of teamwork and working together. 12 And Senator DeFrancisco is 13 absolutely correct in suggesting that the life 14 lesson that they learned throughout that 15 process, when one of their host families was 16 virtually devastated by Hurricane Rita, they 17 stepped up to the plate, as it were, back in 18 Syracuse, hosted a number of events, 19 fundraisers, brought the family to Syracuse to 20 show their support for the devastation that 21 occurred in the state of Louisiana to their 22 host family. 23 So congratulations on your success 24 in baseball. Congratulations and we look 25 forward to many more great things from you as

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(518) 371-8910 1 leaders in the community as you grow older. 2 Thank you, Madam President. 3 THE PRESIDENT: On the 4 resolution, all in favor please signify by 5 saying aye. 6 (Response of "Aye.") 7 THE PRESIDENT: Opposed, nay. 8 (No response.) 9 THE PRESIDENT: The resolution is 10 adopted. 11 Congratulations and best wishes for 12 your continued success. We're confident, 13 based on your record, that you will be 14 successful in your future endeavors. Have a 15 great celebration. 16 (Applause.) 17 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Skelos. 18 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President, 19 can we go to the noncontroversial reading of 20 the calendar, please. 21 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary 22 will read. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 64, by Senator Morahan, Senate Print 5733A, an 25 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to

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(518) 371-8910 1 possession of gambling devices. 2 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last 3 section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 5 act shall take effect immediately. 6 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll.) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 45. 9 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is 10 passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 96, by Senator Bonacic, Senate Print 6415A, an 13 act to amend the Environmental Conservation 14 Law, in relation to requiring. 15 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last 16 section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 18 act shall take effect immediately. 19 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll. 20 (The Secretary called the roll.) 21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 45. 22 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is 23 passed. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 163, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print

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(518) 371-8910 1 4856, an act to amend the Estates, Powers and 2 Trusts Law, in relation to the right of 3 election. 4 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last 5 section. 6 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 7 act shall take effect on the first of January. 8 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll. 9 (The Secretary called the roll.) 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 46. 11 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is 12 passed. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 219, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 4761A, 15 an act directing the Commissioner of Labor to 16 issue a report. 17 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last 18 section. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 20 act shall take effect immediately. 21 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll. 22 (The Secretary called the roll.) 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 46. 24 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is 25 passed.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 248, by Senator Robach, Senate Print 3186, an 3 act to amend the Civil Service Law, in 4 relation to the authority of the Civil Service 5 Commission. 6 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last 7 section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 9 act shall take effect on the first of January. 10 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll.) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 46. 13 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is 14 passed. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 251, by Senator Maziarz, Senate Print 302A, an 17 act to amend the Highway Law, in relation to 18 the designation of the "General Casimir 19 Pulaski Interchange." 20 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last 21 section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 23 act shall take effect immediately. 24 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll. 25 (The Secretary called the roll.)

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 46. 2 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is 3 passed. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 255, by Senator Alesi, Senate Print 2272, an 6 act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, in 7 relation to additional penalties. 8 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last 9 section. 10 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 11 act shall take effect on the first of 12 November. 13 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll. 14 (The Secretary called the roll.) 15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 46. 16 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is 17 passed. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 268, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 3313, an 20 act to amend the General Municipal Law, in 21 relation to municipal cooperative activities. 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, 46. 4 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is 5 passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 271, by Senator Little, Senate Print 6384, an 8 act in relation to creating the Dodge library. 9 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last 10 section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 8. This 12 act shall take effect immediately. 13 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll. 14 (The Secretary called the roll.) 15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 46. 16 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is 17 passed. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 298, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 20 5999A, an act to amend the Public Health Law, 21 in relation to promotion. 22 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last 23 section. 24 SENATOR DUANE: Lay it aside, 25 please.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is laid 2 aside. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 313, by Senator Maziarz, Senate Print 691, an 5 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to the 6 crime of obstructing firefighting operations. 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, 47. 15 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is 16 passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 327, by Senator Alesi, Senate Print 5023, an 19 act to amend the Retirement and Social 20 Security Law, in relation to option election. 21 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last 22 section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 24 act shall take effect immediately. 25 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll.

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(518) 371-8910 1 (The Secretary called the roll.) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 47. 3 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is 4 passed. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 328, by Senator Golden, Senate Print -- 7 SENATOR SKELOS: Lay it aside for 8 the day, please. 9 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is laid 10 aside for the day. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 396, Senate Budget Bill, Senate Print Number 13 6465, an act to amend the Racing, Pari-Mutuel 14 Wagering and Breeding Law. 15 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last 16 section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 18 act shall take effect immediately. 19 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll. 20 (The Secretary called the roll.) 21 SENATOR DUANE: Lay it aside, 22 please. 23 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is laid 24 aside. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number

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(518) 371-8910 1 397, substituted earlier today, Assembly 2 Budget Bill, Assembly Print Number 9566A, an 3 act to amend Chapter 55 of the Laws of 2005, 4 making appropriations for the support of 5 government. 6 SENATOR DUANE: Lay it aside, 7 please. 8 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is laid 9 aside. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 398, by Senator Robach, Senate Print 6806, an 12 act to amend the Retirement and Social 13 Security Law, in relation to investments. 14 THE PRESIDENT: Read the last 15 section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 17 act shall take effect immediately. 18 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll. 19 (The Secretary called the roll.) 20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 47. 21 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is 22 passed. 23 Senator Skelos, that completes the 24 noncontroversial reading of the calendar. 25 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you, Madam

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(518) 371-8910 1 President. If we could go to the 2 controversial reading of the calendar. 3 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary 4 will ring the bell, and the members should 5 return to their seats so we can continue with 6 the controversial calendar. 7 The Secretary will read. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 298, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 10 5999A, an act to amend the Public Health Law. 11 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: 12 Explanation. 13 THE PRESIDENT: Senator 14 DeFrancisco, an explanation has been 15 requested. 16 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Thank you, 17 Madam President. 18 This bill would provide for the 19 establishment of a public cord blood banking 20 program. And it calls upon the Department of 21 Health to promote public awareness of the 22 potential benefits of public cord blood 23 banking and to promote research in the use of 24 cord blood, and to facilitate the donation of 25 umbilical cords for use in research and also

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(518) 371-8910 1 for use for individuals who may need this 2 blood based upon some disease that they may 3 have. 4 Basically, what the bill is doing 5 is to preserve rather than to throw away 6 medical waste that is being thrown away 7 routinely in the State of New York, and to 8 provide that material, which has been proven 9 to save lives -- to have that material placed 10 in some public bank for the use of others, to 11 cure diseases. It also is going to be used 12 for research. 13 Just about a month ago in Syracuse, 14 New York, there was a young child who ended up 15 going to Duke Hospital, since there was no 16 such facility here, in order to get umbilical 17 cord blood, and was cured of a very serious 18 disease. That is the purpose of the bill. 19 There is a same-as in the Assembly 20 sponsored by Assemblyman Joe Lentol. 21 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Krueger. 22 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you, 23 Madam President. If the sponsor would please 24 yield. 25 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE PRESIDENT: The Senator does 2 yield. You may proceed, Senator Krueger, with 3 a question. 4 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you. 5 I certainly can support ensuring 6 that there is a mechanism for more people to 7 be able to store and donate their umbilical 8 cords from their children, in the hope that 9 future research will find that this is a 10 valuable research option that may in fact lead 11 to both cures for illnesses and treatment for 12 illnesses. 13 But I do have several questions 14 about the bill. Senator, on page 2, line 6, 15 paragraph D, it says that one of the 16 responsibilities of the Department of Health 17 will be to "promote research through public 18 and private funding sources in the potential 19 benefits of cord blood as an alternative to 20 tissue transplantation as a source of stem 21 cells in the treatment of disease." 22 Is it your intent in this 23 legislation to discourage people from donating 24 their tissue? 25 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: No, it's

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(518) 371-8910 1 not. 2 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: It is not, 3 thank you. 4 If, through you, Madam President, 5 the sponsor would continue to yield. 6 THE PRESIDENT: Senator 7 DeFrancisco, do you yield for a question? 8 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 9 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed, 10 Senator, with a question. 11 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you. 12 And while you've changed the cover memo to 13 your bill since earlier today -- and so 14 concerns that I had with your previous memo I 15 have to say I don't have anymore, because 16 you've changed your memo. 17 But I would like to ask you, for 18 the record, is it the intent of this 19 legislation to in any way prohibit embryonic 20 stem cell research in the future in the state 21 of New York? 22 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, I did 23 change the memo. Because apparently there was 24 a lobbyist running around Albany 10 minutes 25 ago, at the last minute, saying that there's

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(518) 371-8910 1 some objectionable language in the bill 2 memo -- without coming to me to suggest maybe 3 I could correct that language. 4 There was language in the bill memo 5 that was intended to say that there's a debate 6 on ethical grounds and other grounds as to 7 whether or not embryonic blood cells should be 8 collected and used for this type of purpose. 9 The intent of the memo, what I was 10 trying to say was that we may be debating that 11 issue in the future, it may be held up because 12 of various opposition from some parties, but 13 there is no opposition from anyone that I know 14 of with respect to using umbilical cord blood. 15 And the point in my prior memo was 16 rather than wait for this debate to develop 17 and rather than to postpone further research 18 and rather than to not be in a position to 19 help young kids that have diseases, like this 20 young child in Syracuse that has to go out of 21 state to find some cord blood for a cure, that 22 we should get this done now. 23 It certainly does not -- so I 24 changed the language to be more politic about 25 that, stating what I just said.

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(518) 371-8910 1 But my point was to be, namely, 2 that let's not hold this up. The future 3 debate is going to happen, no doubt, at some 4 point in time, and when it happens the cards 5 will fall as they may based upon the number of 6 votes that are available on both sides of that 7 issue. 8 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Madam 9 President, if the sponsor would continue to 10 yield. 11 THE PRESIDENT: Senator, do you 12 yield? 13 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 14 THE PRESIDENT: He does yield. 15 You may proceed, Senator Krueger. 16 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you. 17 And I appreciate your explanation. But again, 18 just since the intent of the Legislature 19 sometimes gets used in debates after bills 20 have become law, can I just ask you, with a 21 yes or no, does this bill intend to prohibit 22 embryonic stem cell research in the state of 23 New York? 24 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: It does not 25 intend to prohibit that.

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(518) 371-8910 1 It intends to have this lifesaving 2 umbilical cord available for research and 3 saving lives now, rather than wait for that 4 debate to develop and materialize one way or 5 the other. 6 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you. 7 Madam President, on the bill. 8 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed 9 on the bill, Senator. 10 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you. 11 I want to thank Senator DeFrancisco 12 for his explanation and thank him for the 13 bill. New York State clearly should be moving 14 forward with legislation that ensures that any 15 kind of research this is going to lead us down 16 the road of curing diseases, of preventing 17 diseases, of saving lives should be allowed in 18 New York State. 19 And in fact, he has answered the 20 two concerns that I did have about the bill. 21 One, would it discourage tissue donation. And 22 he said no, it is not intended to discourage 23 tissue donation. 24 Which is an important issue for us 25 to highlight on the record, because in fact,

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(518) 371-8910 1 according to the Musculoskeletal Transplant 2 Foundation, at least 750,000 tissue 3 transplants occur in the United States each 4 year. This has more than doubled annually 5 since the early '90s. 6 Often, individual donors make 7 possible more than a hundred tissue 8 transplants. In 1998, donated tissue from one 9 volunteer firefighter ended up being 10 transplanted to help 422 individual people. 11 Between 1994 and 2003, in the United States 12 the number of donors of blood and related 13 tissues more than tripled, rising from 6,000 14 to 20,000 donors. 15 These tissue transplants save limbs 16 from being amputated, give sight to the blind, 17 allow recipients to walk without pain, lift up 18 their child, or perform other functions in 19 employment and in their lives. In fact, I 20 would argue that we need to do everything we 21 can to expand public knowledge about the 22 importance of donating tissue and organs 23 because the waiting lists are far greater than 24 the number of donors available. 25 He also answered another important

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(518) 371-8910 1 question for me, is this bill in any way an 2 attempt to discourage moving forward with the 3 option for embryonic stem cell research in the 4 state of New York. And again, I would argue, 5 as I have before -- and I carry a bill that I 6 hope this house will take up sometime in the 7 near future, or someone else's version 8 therein, that would establish regulatory 9 guidelines for what would and wouldn't be 10 appropriate in doing embryonic stem cell 11 research in the state of New York. 12 Because the scientists in the 13 country have made it clear that while there 14 are many options that they hope will come out 15 of umbilical cord blood cell research, that it 16 is a much more limited option in research than 17 embryonic stem cell research. And that it is 18 critical for this state, as so many other 19 states now have already moved forward, to move 20 forward with passing legislation that would 21 establish what is appropriate research in the 22 state of New York, what will we encourage, 23 what will we limit. 24 In my law, we could exclude any 25 option for human cloning, but we would

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(518) 371-8910 1 absolutely allow donations of embryonic cells 2 from fertility clinics, with the full 3 knowledge of the donors that this is what 4 their surplus embryonic cells would be used 5 for. We would establish a scientific 6 committee that would be there to evaluate, on 7 an ongoing basis, since medical research is a 8 dynamic field, what is moving forward, what is 9 not, what is successful, what is not. We 10 would have bioethicists involved who would 11 evaluate where are the lines that perhaps the 12 State of New York should not cross, who will 13 be overseeing the type of research that goes 14 forward, who will be ensuring that the right 15 kind of research goes forward without putting 16 any of us and our futures at risk. 17 So I am happy to have had the 18 debate today with Senator DeFrancisco. I will 19 be voting for the bill. I urge my colleagues 20 to do so. But I again strongly, strongly urge 21 this house to take up a discussion and a 22 debate of the importance of passing a broader 23 stem cell research law for the State of 24 New York. 25 Thank you, Madam President.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Ada 2 Smith. 3 SENATOR ADA SMITH: Thank you, 4 Madam President. 5 I too join with my colleague 6 Senator Krueger in commending Senator 7 DeFrancisco for this bill. 8 Many of us have heard, read, or 9 have personal knowledge of how beneficial this 10 can be, especially to young people. And any 11 doubts that I may have had, Senator 12 DeFrancisco has allayed all of those fears by 13 his answers. And I want to personally thank 14 him for this. 15 And I will be voting yes, and I 16 look forward to working with him closer to 17 make sure that we can go forward to ensure 18 that other bills come to the floor that will 19 be of benefit to our constituents. 20 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Diaz. 21 SENATOR DIAZ: Thank you, Madam 22 President. On the bill. On the bill. 23 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed 24 on the bill, Senator Diaz. 25 SENATOR DIAZ: It is well known

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(518) 371-8910 1 that the use of embryos in the stem cell 2 research is the killing of life. And the use 3 of embryos is -- to some of us is 4 unacceptable, by killing embryos and using 5 their parts. 6 According to Senator DeFrancisco, 7 this bill is not intended to prohibit the use 8 of embryos. But if we can prove that 9 umbilical cord blood is effective and that we 10 don't have to kill embryos by using umbilical 11 cords, even though the bill does not prohibit 12 the use of embryos, but if in the future we 13 could prove that the umbilical cord is 14 sufficient to cure many illnesses and we don't 15 have to use embryos, let it be. It will be a 16 godsend. 17 So I congratulate you, Senator 18 DeFrancisco. I'm voting for this bill. We 19 all know that the umbilical cords have been 20 used, have been effective curing many 21 illnesses, including lymphoma, leukemia, and 22 many others. So it is a good move. Again, I 23 repeat myself: If we could prove that we 24 don't need to use the embryos, let it be. 25 This is a good bill. I'm voting

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(518) 371-8910 1 yes. 2 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Duane. 3 SENATOR DUANE: Thank you, Madam 4 President. 5 I'm going to vote in favor of this 6 bill. However, I want to note a couple of 7 things. 8 The Governor and my colleagues on 9 the other side of the aisle have proposed 10 $200 million in this year's budget to expand 11 biomedical studies, which is an excellent 12 step. The Assembly is proposing $300 million 13 for stem cell research. That's a terrific 14 step. 15 I'm hopeful that in the budget 16 process we can work out what's best for the 17 people of this state, because the issue of 18 biomedical research, which I hope will include 19 stem cell research, is very important just for 20 humanitarian purposes, but is also very 21 important to the economy of our state, from 22 Long Island to New York City to Roswell Park. 23 So I'm assuming that will be worked 24 out as we move forward in the budget. And I'm 25 hoping that that will happen, because we

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(518) 371-8910 1 really have to get ahead of this issue. Other 2 states are already working on this issue, and 3 we really need to be competitive. And let's 4 face it, New York is the best place to conduct 5 this kind of research. And we can't let any 6 time go by. 7 I personally have concerns about 8 this bill, though I'm going to vote in the 9 affirmative, because of the language that 10 says -- talks about the potential benefits of 11 cord blood as an alternative to tissue 12 transplantation. It's hard to tell whether or 13 not if this bill and the companion bill, which 14 is introduced by Assembly Member Lentol in the 15 Assembly, passes, if that would have the 16 impact of discouraging tissue donation and an 17 impetus towards stem cell research. I think 18 that that would be a mistake. 19 And while I have, and I think they 20 know this tremendous esteem, for the sponsor 21 here in this house and also the Assembly 22 sponsor, I think we would do a disservice to 23 the state and do a disservice to people in 24 general and hoped-for cures for diseases and 25 better treatment for diseases if we did

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(518) 371-8910 1 discourage tissue donation in any way or 2 having a focus on stem cell research as well. 3 I also would be remiss if I didn't 4 mention that my colleague Senator Krueger has 5 a bill on this topic as well, and her bill 6 would authorize the conducting of stem cell 7 research. And it would have safeguards. 8 There would be informed consent, and there 9 would be a prohibition against human 10 reproductive cloning, which I know is 11 appropriately a concern to people as well. 12 I also think this is an issue that 13 deserves hearings. And I think we could have 14 hearings quickly. I think people would be 15 more than happy, experts in the field, to come 16 and testify on this issue. I think it would 17 be educational for all of us. I personally am 18 not an expert in biomedical issues; I know 19 some of my colleagues probably are, but I am 20 not. But for those of us who are not, I would 21 be interested to hear what experts in the 22 field had to say on this issue. 23 And I think if we did do that, one 24 of the outcomes would be is that while this is 25 good-intentioned and something we should vote

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(518) 371-8910 1 for, it's not enough. And even if the 2 Assembly companion bill passed, it would not 3 be enough. 4 So I'm going to vote yes on this 5 bill, in the hope that no one here thinks that 6 we have done our job on this issue and that we 7 will come back to together -- both houses, 8 both parties -- and really make the best 9 investment we possibly can and the most 10 inclusive investment we possibly can in 11 biomedical research. 12 Thank you, Madam President. 13 THE PRESIDENT: Does any other 14 member wish to be heard? 15 Then the debate is closed. 16 The Secretary will ring the bell, 17 and the members should return to their seats 18 so we can vote on this bill. 19 Read the last section. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 21 act shall take effect on the 180th day. 22 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll. 23 (The Secretary called the roll.) 24 THE PRESIDENT: Senator 25 DeFrancisco, to explain your vote.

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(518) 371-8910 1 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, I rise 2 to explain my yes vote. 3 I want to thank all those who spoke 4 and those that didn't that have the same 5 beliefs as those that spoke. 6 And I think -- I want to make very 7 clear that probably should be hearings on some 8 of the issues concerning the use of embryonic 9 cells and that type of donation and the like. 10 There should be hearings on that. And those 11 hearings may take some time. And whatever 12 results from those hearings in an ultimate 13 bill, an ultimate vote, will come someday, 14 there's no question about that. 15 But my whole point in doing this 16 bill is that we can do this now, and we can 17 create a public bank of umbilical cord blood. 18 Right now many of you know that there are 19 private banks where people can actually take 20 the umbilical cords and store them for use of 21 their own children or their own family 22 members. 23 Well, there's a lot of people in 24 the general public that don't have that 25 ability. And if we can start creating such a

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(518) 371-8910 1 bank today, while whatever other debate goes 2 forward, and provide the education and try to 3 encourage people to donate this medical waste, 4 is what it is right now, we can truly do a 5 great service, not only in research but also 6 in curing people right here and now as they've 7 been cured. 8 And I appreciate what Senator Diaz 9 says. You know, maybe this will affect the 10 ultimate debate on further type of use of 11 materials that many, many feel should not be 12 used. If this is as successful as I think it 13 would be, that could be a relevant factor in 14 the ultimate debate on use of other types of 15 blood cells. 16 So I vote yes, and I again thank my 17 colleagues for their support. 18 THE PRESIDENT: You will be 19 recorded as voting in the affirmative, 20 Senator. 21 The Secretary will announce the 22 results. 23 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 24 Calendar Number 298, those absent pursuant to 25 Rule 9: Senators Breslin and Johnson.

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(518) 371-8910 1 Those absent from voting: Senators 2 C. Kruger and Montgomery. 3 Ayes, 51. Nays, 0. 4 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is 5 passed. 6 The Secretary will read. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 396, Senate Budget Bill, Senate Print 6465, an 9 act to amend the Racing, Pari-Mutuel Wagering 10 and Breeding Law. 11 SENATOR DUANE: Explanation. 12 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Larkin, 13 an explanation has been requested. 14 SENATOR LARKIN: Madam President, 15 this bill is a technical amendment to the 16 Racing and Wagering Law, Section 208B, which 17 modifies the provisions that govern the 18 Nonprofit Racing Association's Oversight 19 Board. 20 This board, as we all know, was 21 established last year, and aspects of it are 22 to observe and address the NYRA until NYRA's 23 franchise ends on 31 December, '07. 24 Basically what this law does, it 25 creates the oversight board that assumes the

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(518) 371-8910 1 responsibility of the State Thoroughbred 2 Racing Capital Investment Fund, which was a 3 public benefit corporation. The oversight 4 board, when it was created, was not designated 5 as a public benefit corporation. This bill 6 corrects that discrepancy. 7 Also, as a public benefit 8 corporation, it must abide by all of the 9 public authority's transparency laws. 10 THE PRESIDENT: Does any member 11 wish to be heard on this bill? 12 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Yes, I'm 13 just out of my place. I'm so sorry. 14 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Krueger. 15 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you. 16 I apologize. I seem to be over there with the 17 Republicans today, so I -- and they're over 18 here. It's all very confusing. Sorry, Madam 19 President. 20 If the sponsor would please yield 21 for a question. 22 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Larkin, 23 will you yield for a question? 24 SENATOR LARKIN: Yes ma'am. 25 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed,

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(518) 371-8910 1 Senator Krueger, with a question. 2 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you 3 very much. 4 How does changing to a public 5 benefit corporation actually change anything 6 about the way we're operating with this 7 situation? 8 SENATOR LARKIN: First of all, 9 you have to recognize now they'll have to 10 abide by other laws. They don't have any 11 bonding authority. But they have the 12 oversight, which we didn't have before, and 13 which was the cause of the problems that we 14 have, because we didn't have a definitive 15 board observing and interacting with NYRA. 16 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Madam 17 President, if the sponsor would continue to 18 yield. 19 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Larkin, 20 do you continue to yield? 21 SENATOR LARKIN: Yes. 22 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed, 23 Senator. 24 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you. 25 It's my understanding from the bill

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(518) 371-8910 1 and from your explanation that this would 2 require that they do quarterly reports to the 3 Legislature -- 4 SENATOR LARKIN: Yes. 5 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: -- and 6 therefore we would actually have the 7 opportunity -- 8 SENATOR LARKIN: It will be 9 accountability, Senator. 10 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Yes. Thank 11 you. 12 Thank you, Madam President. 13 Speaking on the bill. 14 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed 15 on the bill. 16 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: I'm very 17 pleased we're moving forward with this 18 legislation. I think it highlights how 19 important it is for the Legislature to play an 20 oversight role in overseeing agencies and 21 public authorities. 22 And I think it's exactly what many 23 of us have been talking about in the State of 24 New York of having, as Senator Larkin just 25 said, more accountability for the people's

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(518) 371-8910 1 money and the process. That public 2 authorities should go through careful scrutiny 3 and oversight and tracking. And the 4 Comptroller's office would have a role here, 5 the State Legislature would have a role here. 6 And that we should be following our own 7 lessons from this legislation on any number of 8 other areas of the state where we have not 9 been careful enough in providing oversight and 10 evaluation and asking the hard questions. 11 So I'm very happy to support this 12 bill. Thank you, Senator Larkin. 13 Thank you, Madam President. 14 THE PRESIDENT: Does any other 15 member wish to be heard? 16 Then 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 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll. 22 (The Secretary called the roll.) 23 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary 24 will announce the results. 25 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in

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(518) 371-8910 1 the negative on Calendar Number 396: Senator 2 Duane. 3 Those absent pursuant to Rule 9: 4 Senators Breslin and Johnson. 5 Those absent from voting: Senators 6 C. Kruger and Montgomery. 7 Ayes, 50. Nays, 1. 8 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is 9 passed. 10 The Secretary will continue to 11 read. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 397, substituted earlier today, Assembly 14 Budget Bill, Assembly Print Number 9566A, an 15 act to amend Chapter 55 of the Laws of 2005, 16 making appropriations for the support of 17 government. 18 SENATOR SABINI: Explanation. 19 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Larkin, 20 an explanation has been requested. 21 SENATOR LARKIN: Madam President, 22 this is a budget bill that authorizes the 23 Division of Lottery to loan, to loan to NYRA 24 up to $20 million so that NYRA can remain in 25 operation and assist the system as the current

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(518) 371-8910 1 operator of the state racing franchise in its 2 construction of VLTs at Aqueduct. 3 The money will be paid back to the 4 Division of Lottery with a 4 percent interest 5 rate when the VLTs are up and running. 6 However, before any money is transferred to 7 NYRA, the Nonprofit Racing Association's 8 Oversight Board that we just talked about -- 9 to prove that we will have accountability and 10 transparency, John -- will approve any of 11 these transfers. 12 The money will be gradually lent to 13 NYRA depending upon NYRA's accomplishing the 14 goals that were stated in this bill. Among 15 the standards NYRA will need to comply with 16 include the development of a cash management 17 plan so that NYRA revenues will equal NYRA 18 expenses; develop a plan to reduce NYRA's 19 expenses to minimize further losses; NYRA is 20 to increase the amount of money that it 21 retains from each bet to increase its revenue; 22 alter NYRA's cash management statement so that 23 the oversight board may review its cash 24 management practices on a real-time, 25 continuing basis.

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(518) 371-8910 1 Implementing this bill is essential 2 to retain stability in New York's racing 3 industry, while the future of the management 4 of the state's racing franchise to operate 5 their tracks at Aqueduct, Belmont, and 6 Saratoga is resolved by the law in existence 7 which terminates 31 December, 2007. 8 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Sabini. 9 SENATOR SABINI: Madam President, 10 if the sponsor will yield for a question. 11 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Larkin, 12 will you yield for a question? 13 SENATOR LARKIN: Yes, Madam 14 President. 15 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed, 16 Senator, with a question. 17 SENATOR SABINI: Through you, 18 Madam President, I'm wondering if the sponsor 19 can tell me, if there is so much debt and 20 mismanagement at the New York Racing 21 Association, how are they going to pay off 22 this loan before their franchise ends in 2007? 23 SENATOR LARKIN: I think a couple 24 of things that I said, John, just a few 25 minutes ago, what we've been talking around

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(518) 371-8910 1 this Capitol since December when this concept 2 was first originally proposed. If you recall, 3 the original concept was for $30 million, was 4 to sell land, to sell paintings. But there 5 was no estimate of how to repay it. 6 What we structured here is, one, up 7 to $20 million; two, when they do the 5,000 8 slot machines at Aqueduct, we're talking about 9 a revenue of a billion dollars. They'll be 10 able to pay that back at an interest rate of 11 4 percent. 12 I don't know who you're talking to, 13 but the people that I'm talking to in the 14 financial market assure us that this is a 15 concept based on the fact that they're not 16 going to get $20 million, they're going to get 17 up to 20. 18 The oversight board is in place. 19 You know, the Assembly just appointed their 20 people. They'll be able to start monitoring, 21 as a concept of the Governor, Senate Majority, 22 Senate, and Assembly. This board has the 23 oversight responsibility. 24 So they're not going to get a pile 25 of money thrown at them. They're going to get

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(518) 371-8910 1 money, as they request it, based on what is 2 thought to be needed and how the oversight 3 board reviews it. 4 SENATOR SABINI: Madam President, 5 will the sponsor continue to yield. 6 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Larkin, 7 will you yield for another question? 8 SENATOR LARKIN: Yes, Madam 9 President. 10 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed 11 with a question. 12 SENATOR SABINI: I'm wondering if 13 the sponsor is aware of the fact that NYRA 14 claims they can't pay their New York State tax 15 this year. 16 SENATOR LARKIN: John, you and I 17 both sit on the same committee, and we've been 18 observant of this for a number of years. 19 This concept that we're doing here 20 today was the vehicle to try to straighten 21 that management up. You know, when you start 22 to look at the number of people that are 23 employed in the racing industry just in those 24 three tracks, you're talking 35,000 people. 25 Are we going to lay 35,000 people off? Or are

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(518) 371-8910 1 we going to do good management, reorganize it, 2 put it in place, and allow it to be invested 3 and the return? 4 They're going to pay this back at 5 4 percent. That's better than banks are doing 6 today. 7 SENATOR SABINI: Thank you, Madam 8 President. On the bill. 9 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed 10 on the bill, Senator. 11 SENATOR SABINI: Thank you, Madam 12 President. 13 I don't know if my new colleague to 14 my right, Senator Coppola, has been to a 15 racetrack of a thoroughbred nature. But if 16 you go to the track and you're serious about 17 horse racing, you buy the Racing Form, look at 18 past performances. Just like a business would 19 go and look at a credit report or a management 20 report before investing money in another 21 business, if we were in the investing 22 business. 23 It is my assertion that NYRA's past 24 performance is dismal. They're a nag. I 25 heard the chairman of the committee in June of

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(518) 371-8910 1 2004 talk about a bill, if we just passed this 2 bill, everything would be fine, Aqueduct would 3 be up and running. We passed another bill in 4 the August of 2004. The chairman said if we 5 passed that bill, Aqueduct would be up and 6 running. Well, let's look at the record. 7 In 2003, the New York Racing 8 Association lost $22 million. In 2004, they 9 lost $15 million. They currently owe us, 10 without this money, $60 million. They are 11 $100 million in debt. As of the end of 2004, 12 NYRA's accumulated deficit totaled 13 $102.2 million. That's the Comptroller's 14 figure -- not NYRA's, not mine, but the 15 Comptroller's, based on his audit about their 16 franchise fee calculations and related 17 operations of 2002 and 2003. 18 And their condition continues to 19 deteriorate. The Comptroller determined that 20 NYRA underpaid their franchise fee to us, to 21 the State of New York's taxpayers, at least 22 $25.7 million and maybe as high as 23 $27.7 million, from the Comptroller's 24 observations. They are now $13 million behind 25 in the pension fund to the workers that we all

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(518) 371-8910 1 care about. 2 And the chairman is right, horse 3 racing is a big business here. We don't want 4 to see the business fold up, we just think 5 someone else maybe could do it better. 6 Because the people that are doing it now, in 7 some of the crown-jewel locales of racing, 8 aren't doing the job properly. 9 They're even behind $17.6 million 10 in property tax to Nassau County and New York 11 City, because part of their franchise 12 agreement is they're supposed to pay their 13 property tax and the water bill on the tracks. 14 They recently received a tax 15 warrant for $1.25 million for taxes generated 16 at Aqueduct. They want to sell the paintings 17 off the walls. They're talking about selling 18 the tracks that we don't know if they own. 19 And I could get into a debate here 20 at length as to who owns the racetracks. 21 Oddly enough, the chair of the oversight board 22 that we just memorialized, J. Patrick Barrett, 23 says that we own them. So why would we do 24 business with an organization that won't even 25 agree with us as to what we own and what they

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(518) 371-8910 1 own? 2 We make compacts with Indian tribes 3 and Native Americans over what land they own, 4 and yet we have less honest dealings with NYRA 5 than we do with some of the tribes who are our 6 adversaries. 7 Last year, Comptroller Hevesi 8 called NYRA the poster child for mismanagement 9 and corruption. They gave a $700,000 no-bid 10 contract to the former CEO's son-in-law and 11 daughter, a $1.6 million no-bid PR contract, 12 and spent $400,000 in that one year on 13 trophies alone. 14 In 2003 they agreed to a plea 15 bargain from federal prosecution for tax 16 evasion and agreed to pay a $3 million fine 17 and submit to a court-appointed monitor. 18 They've been investigated by the 19 Attorney General, who said they lack 20 appropriate financial and operational controls 21 and have rampant criminal activities at 22 state-owned thoroughbred racetracks. Notice 23 he said "state-owned," so I guess the Attorney 24 General recognizes that we may own that land 25 as well.

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(518) 371-8910 1 Perhaps most onerous of all, or 2 most scandalous of all, is that there are 3 several NYRA officials now under indictment 4 for rigging the scales. That goes right to 5 the heart of our pari-mutuel wagering industry 6 and tells the bettors that the races may not 7 be honest, that there were jockeys riding who 8 may not be at the weight they're supposed to. 9 Not in minor races in January at Aqueduct, but 10 as big a race as the Cigar Mile, which is a 11 major stakes, Class 1 stakes race. 12 And that really -- if that 13 continues to happen, we won't a thoroughbred 14 racing pari-mutuel industry in New York, 15 because the bettors won't want to come. 16 When New York State extended NYRA's 17 franchise in 1997 -- even then people 18 complained -- it required NYRA to operate in a 19 sound, economical, efficient, effective manner 20 so as to produce reasonable revenue for the 21 support of our government, because that's what 22 they're supposed to do. They're not doing it. 23 Now, I've heard from other people 24 that, well, they're getting better. Well, 25 this Comptroller's report was released on

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(518) 371-8910 1 February 17th, not that long ago. Just a 2 couple of weeks ago. And in it the 3 Comptroller stated: "NYRA has made little 4 effort to produce realistic budgets or rein in 5 its expenses." 6 The Comptroller reported NYRA 7 inappropriately categorized certain expenses 8 as promotional or extraordinary and 9 nonrecurring and improperly excluded these 10 costs from tests for excess expenses. They 11 improperly included operational expenses such 12 as $800,000 for trophies for next year in this 13 category. They have done everything they can 14 do to violate their franchise, which could be 15 terminated today if it was so seen. 16 In July of 2003 the Attorney 17 General concluded in a report that the 18 Legislature and the Governor should end NYRA's 19 franchise now, that the current structure has 20 not, does not, and will not work. And that 21 was before all the convictions and indictments 22 and plea bargains I mentioned before. 23 It's time for this to end. That is 24 not a business plan that you would loan money 25 to. That is not an entity you would loan that

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(518) 371-8910 1 kind of money to. And it's about time that we 2 got realistic about the fact that their 3 franchise has to end. 4 My colleague, the distinguished 5 chairman of the committee, wrote an op-ed in 6 the New York Post, and I read it with 7 interest. He said: "We need fresh ideas, new 8 energy, and a new model for racing in New 9 York." I agree with him. 10 This is not the new model. This is 11 an extension of the old model. And when I 12 heard the explanation about how they need this 13 money to get better, it sounded an awful lot 14 like a guy borrowing money at a racetrack. 15 You know, "if you just get me through this 16 next race, I'll have the money to pay you back 17 for all the other money you loaned me." And 18 how often does that happen that that money 19 comes back? 20 I know, and I think you all know, 21 that this is a bad investment. NYRA has taken 22 what was the jewel locations of thoroughbred 23 racing in America -- Saratoga, Belmont, and 24 Aqueduct -- so important to the economy of 25 this state, so important to the economy of our

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(518) 371-8910 1 agriculture upstate, because horse farms need 2 other things, and squandered the goodwill of 3 the betting public, squandered the goodwill of 4 this Legislature. And I believe that we can't 5 continue to pour money down this hole. 6 So, Madam President, I will be 7 voting no. 8 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Bruno. 9 SENATOR BRUNO: Thank you, Madam 10 President. And thank you, Senator, for your 11 comments. 12 And what's great about what goes on 13 in this chamber is that all of us are 14 representative and we can all talk about our 15 opinions, and we don't have to be right. 16 That's what's good about it. And you are 17 about as wrong in what you are saying as 18 anybody can be, in all due respect to you, 19 sir. 20 Saratoga is in my district. 21 Saratoga is the premier racing place in the 22 whole world. People come from all over the 23 world. Forty thousand people work in 24 agriculture and in racing in this state. And 25 the Senator is right, the model doesn't work.

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(518) 371-8910 1 The model is broken. And we are fixing it 2 together -- with the Assembly, with you, with 3 the Governor. We're fixing it. 4 We passed the law that says we have 5 a nine-member committee that will review all 6 of the bids that will be put in between now 7 and December 31, '07, when the NYRA franchise 8 expires. By law. That's the law. 9 That committee has had open 10 hearings. There are nine members functioning. 11 And the rest of what will happen is they will 12 take -- put together a new model, a model that 13 will work. 14 Because you've had some extremely 15 successful, bright people, CEOs and chairmen 16 of NYRA -- and you're right, Senator, they all 17 fail. They all lose money. It doesn't take a 18 genius to know that if you get some of the 19 most successful people in the country in 20 charge and they still lose $30 million, 21 $40 million, $50 million, something is wrong 22 with the model. And shame on us that we 23 didn't change it a long time ago. But we're 24 changing it now. 25 But the option is not to do this

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(518) 371-8910 1 legislation. Don't do it. That's an option. 2 And let NYRA go bankrupt, let them go 3 bankrupt, and then let them operate under the 4 federal courts. Let the federal judge 5 dictates what happens out there in the lives 6 of the 40,000 people who are grooms, who are 7 growing crops, who are walking the horses, who 8 are making $7 and $8 and $9 an hour. Let the 9 federal judge say what's going to happen. 10 That's an option. But it's a very poor 11 option. 12 So this money that we are voting on 13 will help bridge getting NYRA, with their 14 broken model, to the VLTs which should have 15 been operative already. And the state has 16 lost about a billion and a half dollars for 17 education because they're not up and running. 18 So this will help get them running. 19 And MGM should be operating, when 20 this is done, by February of next year, which 21 is about two years-plus later than they were 22 supposed to. And we lose about a half a 23 billion dollars a year. 24 So it's simple arithmetic. And 25 this money is for education, it's to help

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(518) 371-8910 1 finance CFE, it's to help finance the 2 high-need districts of this state. 3 So an alternative is let them go 4 bankrupt. Let the feds take over horse racing 5 in New York State. It's an option. Because 6 they don't have the cash flow to continue. 7 So in the wisdom of Senator 8 Larkin -- and I think you participated, 9 Senator -- and the Speaker and the Governor 10 and all of the others involved, this plan was 11 put together. And is it a bailout of NYRA? 12 No, it's an investment in NYRA, in horse 13 racing, and it will be paid back. The dollars 14 will be paid back. 15 You're right, have they paid back 16 in the past? No. Why? Because they 17 couldn't. Why? Because they don't have the 18 money. That's why. 19 So where will the final word be on 20 how this franchise continues? Where will it 21 be? Right here in this chamber. That's the 22 procedure. That's the law. When the bids are 23 put out and the responses are there -- and 24 you'll have responses. I hope NYRA is one of 25 them, with whatever partners partner with

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(518) 371-8910 1 them. I hope people come in from all over the 2 world and bid. 3 And the committee, with some very, 4 very bright people, will make a recommendation 5 to the Legislature, the Assembly, and the 6 Senate, and we will vote on how to proceed, 7 how to select, how to go forward and fix what 8 is wrong and has been wrong with horse racing. 9 Because, Senator, you're right. 10 This should be -- New York State should have, 11 and we do have, despite all of the failures, 12 we have some of the best racing in the 13 country. And we will have the best racing in 14 the world. Not just to have racing, but 15 because it is a sport, it creates jobs, more 16 and more jobs, it stimulates the economy with 17 tourism. 18 And tourism still is the 19 second-largest industry, second only to 20 agriculture, thanks to Senator Young and all 21 the others that maintain agriculture as the 22 most viable, largest industry in this state. 23 And racing is part of agriculture, and it's 24 part of tourism, and it will also be part of 25 the funding of education that is so critical

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(518) 371-8910 1 in the city and in the rest of the state. 2 So thank you, Senator, for sharing 3 your point of view. And thank you to my 4 colleagues -- Senator Duane, are you going to 5 speak? What does this mean, Senator? Does 6 that mean that I'm talking too much? 7 SENATOR DUANE: Never. I would 8 never say that. 9 SENATOR BRUNO: What does it 10 mean? 11 Thank you. I respectfully sit 12 down. When my esteemed leader here on my left 13 goes like this, I'm sitting down. Because I 14 hope I've made my point, sir. 15 Thank you. Thank you, Madam 16 President. 17 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, 18 Senator Bruno. 19 Senator Ada Smith has the floor. 20 SENATOR ADA SMITH: Thank you, 21 Madam President. 22 My district stops at the Home Depot 23 which is next door to Aqueduct. So it is of 24 grave importance to my community and my 25 constituents what happens there.

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(518) 371-8910 1 And in listening to both sides of 2 the argument, I'm even more perplexed. 3 Because it's my understanding that NYRA is 4 supposed to be the money machine to generate 5 funds to pay for public education. And I'm 6 well aware that the CFE decision mandates that 7 we give more money to the City of New York for 8 the children there. 9 But if NYRA is wasting $60 million 10 and we're giving them another $20 million and 11 we're not giving anything to the children of 12 the City of New York, who's losing? We're 13 throwing good money after bad money, and we're 14 not getting a win, place, or show bet out of 15 it. And our children, who haven't even begun 16 to get an education, are losing. 17 I'm even more perplexed that I'm 18 told that the VLTs at Aqueduct will begin to 19 pay back the $20 million. The $20 million on 20 top of the $60 million that they haven't paid, 21 and they're going to do all of this in 22 22 months. Well, in all the years that 23 they've existed, they haven't paid back any. 24 So why in 22 months, all of a sudden, they're 25 going to be made whole again?

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(518) 371-8910 1 But what concerns me even more is 2 it's my constituents who live next door to 3 Aqueduct that's going to be spending the money 4 that they can ill afford to spend on the VLTs. 5 So not only do they lose in the educational 6 funding, but they're losing out by spending 7 money on these VLTs that they can ill afford. 8 So they're in essence, as we would say in the 9 community, screwed twice. 10 I don't understand how we, as 11 supposed lawmakers, can make a decision to 12 give money to NYRA, who has proven themselves 13 to be a bad bet. Because I believe that when 14 you place a bet, you place it to win. And in 15 placing a bet on NYRA, we are certainly 16 losing. 17 Thank you, Madam President. 18 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Duane, 19 would you like to speak? 20 SENATOR DUANE: I thought you'd 21 never ask, Madam President. 22 THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed. 23 SENATOR DUANE: Thank you. 24 It's the universal symbol of 25 chatting. Don't bring up the Scouts.

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(518) 371-8910 1 (Laughter.) 2 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Duane, is 3 your microphone on? 4 SENATOR DUANE: Yes, Madam 5 President. Thank you. 6 You know, it's no secret I don't 7 like gambling. I don't like gambling. I 8 don't like horse racing less than I don't like 9 gambling in general. And I have to say that 10 Saratoga is wonderful. And I know that it's 11 absolutely something that Senator Bruno, 12 appropriately, is very proud of and we should 13 be proud of what happens there as a state. 14 And I like the sport, I just don't like the 15 gambling part of it. 16 And the other thing I don't like 17 with what's happened at the tracks is this VLT 18 thing. And I have been to a VLT place in 19 Monticello, and I'm sorry to say the buffet is 20 horrible. 21 (Laughter.) 22 SENATOR DUANE: And the other 23 tragedy is that it's supposed to be a place 24 where people, you know, from out of state or 25 all around the state come and spend some

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(518) 371-8910 1 money, maybe have the buffet -- although, 2 again, I don't suggest it. But there's a 3 really sad part of it too. I believe that it 4 sucks money from people who can least afford 5 it. 6 And I've seen Access-A-Ride vans 7 pull up to the VLT place in Monticello. And 8 if you are coming by Access-A-Ride and you're 9 spending your Social Security check, that's a 10 problem. I know that's different than horse 11 racing, but the VLTs go where the horse racing 12 is. 13 You know, we're supposed to swallow 14 gambling because it's supposed to fund 15 education. But in this case, the lottery, 16 which is supposed to be funding education, 17 is -- instead of giving millions to education, 18 they're loaning it to NYRA so that they can, I 19 think, lose it. 20 You know, I don't know much about 21 gaming. I don't know much about the odds. I 22 really don't. But what I do know about NYRA 23 is they are always in trouble -- with us, with 24 the law, right, with localities, with the 25 feds. Always in trouble. And they lose

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(518) 371-8910 1 money. And, you know, I know that this is a 2 "we," and we're all working on it together. 3 But actually, that's not true. We don't have 4 any appointments to any of the three boards 5 over here. We don't have an appointment to 6 NYRA or the ad hoc or that other thing that 7 they have, the Nonprofit Racing Association 8 Oversight -- don't blame us. We don't have 9 any people on that. Senator Sabini's not on 10 that. He'd be a welcome addition on any of 11 them. But we don't have anybody. Don't blame 12 us. 13 NYRA loses money. It's a big 14 problem. We know it's a big problem, but 15 somehow the admitting that it's a big problem 16 doesn't really get us to do anything about the 17 problem. Right? What's the definition of 18 insanity? Doing the same thing over and over 19 again and expecting different results. Like 20 gambling. Keep spending money, think you're 21 going to win, but you don't. 22 The house is supposed to win. The 23 state's not winning. Enough already. Let's 24 get rid of it. Vote no. 25 Thank you.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Krueger. 2 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you, 3 Madam President. On the bill. 4 I thought Senator Sabini did an 5 excellent analysis for us about what's wrong 6 with continuing to try to bail out NYRA. 7 Senator Tom Duane said it very well. 8 So I will just repeat, somebody 9 recently said it was lunacy to want to put all 10 this new money into public education in 11 New York City and underutilized high-need 12 areas of the State of New York. And I have to 13 say it's lunacy for the State of New York to 14 keep putting more money into gambling that's 15 losing money. 16 There are different debates on this 17 floor about the ethical issues of supporting 18 gambling or government funding of operation of 19 gambling. But if it's supposed to be for 20 public education, and instead we're taking 21 money out of the lottery for public education 22 to give it to an entity that keeps losing it, 23 I don't understand this at all. This is 24 completely counterintuitive to what our 25 mission is supposed to be.

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(518) 371-8910 1 So I'll agree that we have great 2 racetracks, and I would suspect somebody is 3 making a lot of money somehow on racing in 4 New York State. So it constantly escapes my 5 understanding why we would use children's 6 education money to continue to bail out an 7 entity that, as others have pointed out, keeps 8 getting in trouble with us and with the law, 9 never seems to be able to figure out how to 10 avoid the next set of problems, and keeps 11 coming begging the Legislature for money. 12 We have so many unmet needs in the 13 State of New York because we say "we don't 14 have the money for you." It's very confusing 15 to me why we would waste more of the 16 taxpayers' money bailing out a gambling 17 industry. I also say vote no. 18 Thank you, Madam President. 19 THE PRESIDENT: Does any other 20 member wish to be heard? 21 Senator Sabini. 22 SENATOR SABINI: Thank you, Madam 23 President. Again, on the bill. 24 I just want to point out that as 25 Senator Krueger said, we are taking money out

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(518) 371-8910 1 of the Division of Lottery to pay this loan. 2 And we heard about how the money is going to 3 be paid back, by the sponsor, based on the 4 VLTs. 5 Let me just also point out to my 6 colleagues, you know, there's an old story 7 about a guy at the racetrack, walks along and 8 meets someone. The guy says: "Listen, I'd 9 like you to help me, I need a thousand dollars 10 for my wife's operation." And he says: 11 "Well, if it's serious, I'd be happy to do it, 12 but how do I know you won't use it for 13 gambling money?" And the guy says: "Well, I 14 have gambling money." 15 (Laughter.) 16 SENATOR SABINI: The money for 17 the VLTs, based on legislation passed in this 18 house, was supposed to help education. And 19 some of it, based on action by this house and 20 the other house, was supposed to do track 21 improvements, money for the breeders, money to 22 the horsemen, improvements on the tracks' 23 perimeters, making the racing industry better. 24 One-third of that was supposed to go to that. 25 And then the rest was supposed to go to

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(518) 371-8910 1 education. 2 But now we're putting in more money 3 to pay off the money we're lending them to get 4 to that point. It's a very vicious circle 5 that I think they will never get out of. And 6 in fact, I suspect we'll be back debating 7 their franchise and they'll be holding all 8 this money over our head and saying, Well, you 9 got to keep us around, we owe you so much 10 money. 11 So while I respect the arguments of 12 the chair and the Majority Leader, I just 13 don't see how doing this helps matters. I am 14 concerned about a federal judge as well. But 15 you know what? The pension fund's in debt 16 now, they're selling off assets to the track. 17 I don't know that a judge could do worse. 18 Thank you, Madam President. 19 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Bruno, to 20 close debate. 21 SENATOR BRUNO: I just want to 22 clarify, Madam President. I agree with some 23 of the other Senators: I hate gambling. I 24 hate gambling. I am probably one of the few 25 people in this chamber that originally voted

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(518) 371-8910 1 against the lottery because it was gambling. 2 Okay? I just want to make that clear. 3 Most of our colleagues hate 4 gambling. Hate it. The fact of the matter 5 is, if we, anybody here was king of the whole 6 world, there would be no gambling anywhere. 7 None. But you're not king of the world. 8 Sorry. I'm not king of the world. 9 So go to Pennsylvania, 61,000 VLTs 10 activated to fund education. Go to 11 New Jersey, by the tens of thousands you can 12 gamble, 45 minutes out of New York City from 13 your home. Go to Connecticut, Foxwood and 14 Mohegan Sun, 2 hours and 15 minutes from here, 15 the two biggest casinos in the whole world. 16 Go to Canada, to Montreal, Toronto, Niagara, 17 the other side of the river. Gambling. 18 The fact of the matter is, New York 19 is an island surrounded by gambling. And you 20 know what is tragic and sad? The biggest 21 exporters of gamblers are in New York State, 22 second only to California. Okay? You know 23 what that means? That means that our bettors 24 that you'd like to keep home, that you would 25 like to keep home, that I would like to keep

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(518) 371-8910 1 home are funding education in New Jersey -- 2 our bettors -- in Connecticut, in Canada, in 3 Pennsylvania. Those are our dollars that 4 people are funding education all around us. 5 So I hate gambling. And if there's 6 any way that you could stop it in Canada, let 7 me know. Okay? If you can stop it in 8 Connecticut, let me know. If you can stop it 9 in New Jersey, let me know. Okay? 10 Pennsylvania, 61,000 of them all over. But if 11 anybody here has an idea on how we can limit, 12 stop it, I'm your partner. Okay? We can't. 13 Common sense tells us we can't. 14 So common sense tells me that this 15 is the right thing to do. It's not a bailout. 16 This is equity. This is representative of the 17 taxpayers of New York State, so that they have 18 equity in that we are able to step up and fund 19 education and not see our dollars flow in all 20 of the other countries and states that 21 surround us. 22 I hate gambling, Madam President, 23 and I wish it wasn't necessary anywhere in the 24 world. There shouldn't be gambling. But 25 there is. So I deal in common sense. I deal

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(518) 371-8910 1 in reality. And I would urge a vote on this, 2 my colleagues, to support the children of 3 New York State. 4 THE PRESIDENT: The debate is 5 closed. 6 The Secretary will ring the bell. 7 Read the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 9 act shall take effect immediately. 10 THE PRESIDENT: Call the roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll.) 12 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Diaz, to 13 explain your vote. 14 SENATOR DIAZ: Thank you, Madam 15 President. 16 In explaining my vote, I have to 17 say that I heard Senator Bruno's speech on 18 Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Jersey. So 19 everybody is making money out of gambling. 20 Therefore, because everybody is making money, 21 we should also make money. 22 I am opposing this piece of 23 legislation because I don't believe in 24 gambling. In my neighborhood and in New York 25 City, in New York State, there are parents and

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(518) 371-8910 1 people that use children to sell drugs because 2 they make money. And because they make money, 3 therefore I have to make money, then I should 4 pay my children to go and sell drugs to 5 compete with the others? And that's the kind 6 of mentality that we are having. 7 The other day I heard before, on 8 the stem cell research, somebody says that 9 it's good, beneficial; embryos, stem cell 10 research will financially benefit New York 11 State. So because it's financially good, 12 let's kill children and living creatures. 13 And I hate to think that we are 14 doing things because everybody is making money 15 or because everybody is doing it, let's do it. 16 We have to have some kind of standard, some 17 kind of belief or moral belief and ethics, not 18 saying because people are making money out of 19 gambling so we should gamble too. 20 I oppose this bill. Ladies and 21 gentlemen, gambling is no good, gambling is 22 disastrous to our society. So I'm voting no. 23 THE PRESIDENT: You will be so 24 recorded as voting in the negative, Senator. 25 Senator Onorato, to explain your

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(518) 371-8910 1 vote. 2 SENATOR ONORATO: To explain my 3 vote, Madam President. 4 I've been listening to the debates 5 here quite a bit. I remember a few years ago 6 I got up to debate about how we were balancing 7 our budget. And I reminded the crowd that we 8 had a built-in $5 billion deficit because we 9 were premising it on the Lotto money -- not 10 only Lotto money, but the video lottery 11 terminals that were not online. They weren't 12 online three years ago, and here we are today 13 trying to lend money to NYRA. 14 You know, in this particular case 15 in private industry, when the bookmaker's 16 runners don't come back with the money that 17 they took from bets, that runner is no longer 18 operating for that bookmaker. He's out of 19 business. 20 Well, we're the bookmakers here for 21 NYRA. They work for us. And they've been 22 losing money for all of these years, and we've 23 still got them in business. Why? Why haven't 24 we gotten rid of them, gotten new runners, got 25 new operators of the thing?

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(518) 371-8910 1 Plus, again, we're still hoping 2 that they're going to pay us back with video 3 lottery terminals from the Aqueduct Racetrack 4 that are still not online. When are we going 5 to learn? 6 When they're online and you got the 7 money, you expend it. But let's stop betting 8 with "if" money. I am going to vote no. Put 9 the video lottery terminals on, and I'll vote 10 for the bill. 11 THE PRESIDENT: You will be 12 recorded, Senator, as voting no. 13 Senator Stavisky. 14 SENATOR STAVISKY: Madam 15 President, to explain my vote. 16 I too vote no. There are many 17 institutions facing bankruptcy or in 18 bankruptcy, particularly those serving the 19 most vulnerable of our society, whether they 20 be healthcare institutions or whatever. 21 And when we lend money, it seems to 22 me this is wrong. One person's investment is 23 another person's bailout. And I think when we 24 have so many institutions, particularly in the 25 healthcare field, in bankruptcy, it seems to

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(518) 371-8910 1 me that this is not a wise investment, and 2 instead it's a bailout. 3 And that perhaps these institutions 4 should start going into the lottery business, 5 because that seems to be the way to do it. I 6 think it's wrong, and I vote no. 7 THE PRESIDENT: You will be so 8 recorded as voting in the negative, Senator. 9 The Secretary will announce the 10 results. 11 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 12 the negative on Calendar Number 397 are 13 Senators Andrews, Connor, Coppola, Diaz, 14 Dilan, Duane, Gonzalez, Klein, L. Krueger, 15 Montgomery, Onorato, Padavan, Parker, 16 Paterson, Sabini, Sampson, Savino, Serrano, 17 A. Smith, Stavisky and Valesky. 18 Those absent pursuant to Rule 9: 19 Senator Breslin. 20 Those absent from voting: Senator 21 C. Kruger. 22 Ayes, 32. Nays, 21. 23 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is 24 passed. 25 Senator Bruno, that completes the

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(518) 371-8910 1 controversial calendar. 2 SENATOR BRUNO: Can we recognize 3 Senator Paterson, Madam President. Thank you. 4 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Paterson. 5 SENATOR PATERSON: Madam 6 President, it's always great to be recognized 7 by the Majority Leader and by you. 8 And it is my honor today to 9 introduce to all of you our newest member. He 10 served for seven years in the Buffalo City 11 Council. He became the majority leader of the 12 City Council. And who knows, maybe one day 13 he'll be the majority leader right here in 14 this Senate. 15 And we are very proud to have him 16 among us, and I would like to introduce to 17 everyone our new Senator from Buffalo, Senator 18 Marc Coppola. 19 (Applause.) 20 THE PRESIDENT: Senator, 21 congratulations and welcome. 22 Senator Spano. 23 SENATOR SPANO: Madam President, 24 on behalf of Senator Bruno, in consultation 25 with Senator Paterson, I'd like to hand up the

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(518) 371-8910 1 following leadership and committee assignment 2 changes. 3 THE PRESIDENT: They will be 4 recorded in the Journal, Senator. 5 SENATOR SPANO: Can you please 6 recognize Senator Johnson for a motion. 7 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Johnson. 8 SENATOR JOHNSON: Madam 9 President, pursuant to Rule 9, I was required 10 to be at a meeting of the Finance Committee 11 and cast my votes as follows for the bills on 12 the controversial calendar: 13 5999A, Calendar Number 298, in the 14 affirmative; 6465, Calendar Number 396, in the 15 affirmative. 16 Thank you. 17 THE PRESIDENT: You will be so 18 recorded, Senator Johnson. 19 Senator Golden, with a motion. 20 SENATOR GOLDEN: Madam President, 21 on page number 25 I offer the following 22 amendments to Calendar Number 328, Senate 23 Print Number 6624, and ask that the said bill 24 retain its place on the Third Reading 25 Calendar.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE PRESIDENT: The amendments 2 are received, and the bill will retain its 3 place on the Third Reading Calendar. 4 SENATOR GOLDEN: Thank you, Madam 5 President. 6 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Spano. 7 SENATOR SPANO: Thank you, Madam 8 President. 9 Just two announcements. We want to 10 remind the members that the Senate picture 11 will be taken on Monday, March 6, promptly at 12 3:00 o'clock. 13 And also we'd like to announce that 14 after session that we will have a father from 15 the Cathedral Church who will be giving ashes 16 in the east lobby, east lobby of the Assembly. 17 That's after session, but that's actually at 18 1:30 today in the east lobby of the Assembly. 19 I'd like to recognize Senator 20 Sabini for a motion. 21 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Sabini. 22 SENATOR SABINI: Thank you, Madam 23 President. 24 I have a motion at the desk. I'd 25 like to have it called up at this time.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary 2 will read. 3 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 4 Sabini, Senate Resolution Number 2302, 5 amending Section 1 of Rule XI of the Senate 6 Rules. 7 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Sabini. 8 SENATOR SABINI: Thank you, Madam 9 President. 10 This is a motion to discharge a 11 resolution, something we haven't done. 12 Normally we discharge bills. But I think this 13 is perhaps more important to the framework of 14 what we do in this chamber than almost any 15 bill we could propose for discharge. 16 This resolution amends Senate 17 Rule XI to delete language that was added in 18 January of 2005. We heard a lot of talk in 19 2004 -- as my leader, Senator Paterson, often 20 says, there were more press conferences in 21 October of 2004 on reform than in the twenty 22 years before. And we came here in January, 23 and we passed a few measures that changed or 24 tinkered with the Senate rules and gave the 25 appearance of change.

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(518) 371-8910 1 One thing that was done here, which 2 I believe will make sure that there will never 3 be real change here, is to put the rules of 4 the Senate into the Rules Committee and not be 5 allowed to be discussed on the floor. The 6 intent of that was clear. The intent of it 7 was to avoid any discussion in the future on 8 reform in this house. 9 Now, despite making some mild 10 progress on reform, the State Legislature 11 continues to be called dysfunctional by people 12 that look at it and many of us who are in it. 13 Giving the Senate Rules Committee more 14 authority is a step backward. In short, 15 making the Rules Committee stronger fails the 16 test of reform. 17 Debates over Senate rules, if we 18 ever have a debate again on Senate rules, will 19 be consigned to Room 332 of the Capitol, the 20 Majority Leader's office, outside the view of 21 the public who might be watching now on the 22 Internet or on television. 23 Earlier this year, Citizens Union, 24 Common Cause/New York, the League of Women 25 Voters, NYPIRG, and the Brennan Center for

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(518) 371-8910 1 Justice at NYU Law School issued a document 2 entitled "2005 Midterm Report Card on Reform 3 for New York State Government." And they 4 stated the problem pretty succinctly: "Most 5 disturbing about the Senate approach to rules 6 reform in 2005 was the cynical decision to 7 require all future rules changes to be 8 considered and approved by the Rules Committee 9 of the Senate rather than raised and approved 10 in the full chamber at the beginning of 11 session. That reform" -- air quote -- 12 "effectively killed any rules reform in the 13 Senate for the future." 14 The Senate received an F grade on 15 reform in that report. 16 This proposal brings back Senate 17 rules onto the Senate floor and empowers all 18 of us -- those on the Rules Committee, as I 19 am, and those not -- to talk about reform, act 20 on reform, and takes it out of the centralized 21 situation that that so-called reform, which 22 was a step backwards, did. 23 And I urge all my colleagues to 24 vote yes to discharge this resolution. 25 Thank you.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE PRESIDENT: All those 2 Senators in favor of the petition out of 3 committee please signify by raising your 4 hands. 5 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 6 agreement are Senators Coppola, Connor, Diaz, 7 Dilan, Duane, Gonzalez, Klein, L. Krueger, 8 Montgomery, Onorato, Parker, Paterson, Sabini, 9 Sampson, Savino, Serrano, A. Smith, Stavisky 10 and Valesky. 11 THE PRESIDENT: The petition is 12 not agreed to. 13 Senator Spano. 14 SENATOR SPANO: Madam President, 15 there being no further business, I would ask 16 that we adjourn until Monday, March 6th, 17 3:00 p.m., intervening days to be legislative 18 days. 19 THE PRESIDENT: On motion, the 20 Senate stands adjourned until Monday, 21 March 6th, 3:00 p.m., intervening days being 22 legislative days. 23 (Whereupon, at 12:58 p.m., the 24 Senate adjourned.) 25

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