Monday, April 3, 2006

1 NEW YORK STATE SENATE 2 3 4 THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD 5 6 7 8 9 ALBANY, NEW YORK 10 April 3, 2006 11 3:07 p.m. 12 13 14 REGULAR SESSION 15 16 17 18 LT. GOVERNOR MARY O. DONOHUE, President 19 STEVEN M. BOGGESS, Secretary 20 21 22 23 24 25

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(518) 371-8910 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 THE PRESIDENT: The Senate will 3 please come to order. 4 I ask everyone present to please 5 rise and repeat with me the Pledge of 6 Allegiance. 7 (Whereupon, the assemblage recited 8 the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.) 9 THE PRESIDENT: In the absence of 10 clergy, may we bow our heads in a moment of 11 silence, please. 12 (Whereupon, the assemblage 13 respected a moment of silence.) 14 THE PRESIDENT: Reading of the 15 Journal. 16 THE SECRETARY: In Senate, 17 Sunday, April 2, the Senate met pursuant to 18 adjournment. The Journal of Saturday, 19 April 1, 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 Farley. 8 SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you, Madam 9 President. 10 On behalf of Senator Morahan, on 11 page 30 I offer the following amendments to 12 Calendar Number 596, Senate Print Number 6853, 13 and I ask that that bill retain its place on 14 the 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 Skelos. 19 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President, 20 I believe there's a substitution at the desk. 21 THE PRESIDENT: Yes, there is. 22 The Secretary will read. 23 THE SECRETARY: On page 24, 24 Senator Spano moves to discharge, from the 25 Committee on Corporations, Authorities and

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(518) 371-8910 1 Commissions, Assembly Bill Number 9344A and 2 substitute it for the identical Senate Bill 3 Number 6004A, Third Reading Calendar 489. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 5 substitution is so ordered. 6 Senator Skelos. 7 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President, 8 there will be an immediate meeting of the 9 Rules Committee in the Majority Conference 10 Room. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: There 12 is an immediate meeting of the Rules Committee 13 in the Majority Conference Room. 14 Senator Skelos. 15 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President, 16 if we could go to the noncontroversial reading 17 of the calendar. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank 19 you. 20 The Secretary will read. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 104, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 61A, an 23 act to amend the Education Law, in relation to 24 suspending. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read

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(518) 371-8910 1 the last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 3 act shall take effect immediately. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call 5 the roll. 6 (The Secretary called the roll.) 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 43. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 9 bill is passed. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 284, by Senator Marcellino, Senate Print 654, 12 an act to amend the Labor Law, in relation to 13 waiting periods. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read 15 the last section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 17 act shall take effect immediately. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call 19 the roll. 20 (The Secretary called the roll.) 21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 45. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 23 bill is passed. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 383, by Senator Marcellino, Senate Print --

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(518) 371-8910 1 SENATOR SPANO: Lay it aside 2 temporarily. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 4 bill is laid aside temporarily. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 489, substituted earlier by Member of the 7 Assembly Brodsky, Assembly Print Number 9344A, 8 an act to amend Chapter 698 of the Laws of 9 1991 amending the Public Authorities Law. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read 11 the last section. 12 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 13 act shall take effect immediately. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call 15 the roll. 16 (The Secretary called the roll.) 17 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Senator 18 Duane, to explain your vote. 19 SENATOR DUANE: Thank you, Madam 20 President. 21 I'm going to vote in support of 22 this bill, which will allow the Dormitory 23 Authority to finance construction of 24 facilities such as the Hawthorne Country Day 25 School. And I'm positive that this

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(518) 371-8910 1 construction will help the children who are 2 students or who use the Hawthorne Country Day 3 School, because obviously children deserve our 4 help. 5 That's why I'm so baffled that we 6 don't pass Timothy's Law, which, if it had 7 been in law, would have helped Timothy 8 O'Clair, who died because his family couldn't 9 afford mental health treatment. 10 And I don't understand why the 11 Senate is blocking passage of Timothy's Law, 12 but I'm going to vote yes on this anyway, 13 because it helps children. But let's really 14 help children and pass Timothy's Law. 15 I vote aye, Madam President. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank 17 you. 18 Senator Duane will be recorded in 19 the affirmative. 20 The Secretary will announce the 21 results. 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 50. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 24 bill is passed. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number

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(518) 371-8910 1 537, by Senator LaValle, Senate Print 2621, an 2 act in relation to granting the Wading River 3 Historical Society. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read 5 the last section. 6 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 7 act shall take effect immediately. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call 9 the roll. 10 (The Secretary called the roll.) 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 52. Nays, 12 1. Senator Bonacic recorded in the negative. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 14 bill is passed. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 558, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 878 -- 17 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Lay it 18 aside. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 20 bill is laid aside. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 564, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 2159, an 23 act to amend the Civil Rights Law, in relation 24 to the confidentiality. 25 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Lay it

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(518) 371-8910 1 aside temporarily. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 3 bill is laid aside temporarily. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 568, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 3911, an 6 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 7 trespassing in a motor vehicle. 8 SENATOR SPANO: Lay it aside 9 temporarily. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 11 bill is laid aside temporarily. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 620, by Senator LaValle, Senate Print 1552, an 14 act to amend the Correction Law, in relation 15 to requiring. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read 17 the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 19 act shall take effect immediately. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call 21 the roll. 22 (The Secretary called the roll.) 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 53. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 25 bill is passed.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 621, by Senator Morahan, Senate Print 2385, an 3 act to amend the Executive Law, in relation to 4 requiring. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read 6 the last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 8 act shall take effect immediately. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call 10 the roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll.) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 14 bill is passed. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 622, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 6934, an 17 act to amend the Correction Law, in relation 18 to making the offense of compelling 19 prostitution. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read 21 the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 23 act shall take effect immediately. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call 25 the roll.

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(518) 371-8910 1 (The Secretary called the roll.) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 4 bill is passed. 5 Senator Spano, that completes the 6 reading of the noncontroversial calendar. 7 SENATOR SPANO: Can we just stand 8 at ease for a few moments awaiting the 9 completion of the Rules Committee. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank 11 you. 12 The Senate stands at ease. 13 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at 14 ease at 3:13 p.m.) 15 (Whereupon, the Senate reconvened 16 at 3:18 p.m.) 17 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Senator 18 Skelos. 19 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President, 20 if we could return to the noncontroversial 21 calendar, I believe there were three bills 22 laid aside temporarily. 23 Could you please call up Calendar 24 Number 383. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank

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(518) 371-8910 1 you. 2 The Secretary will read. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 383, by Senator Marcellino, Senate Print 671, 5 an act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read 7 the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 9 act shall take effect on the first of 10 November. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call 12 the roll. 13 (The Secretary called the roll.) 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 53. Nays, 15 2. Senators Duane and Montgomery recorded in 16 the negative. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 18 bill is passed. 19 Senator Skelos. 20 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President, 21 would you please call up Calendar Number 564 22 and then Calendar Number 568. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank 24 you. 25 The Secretary will read.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 564, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 2159, an 3 act to amend the Civil Rights Law, in relation 4 to the confidentiality. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read 6 the last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 8 act shall take effect immediately. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call 10 the roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll.) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 55. Nays, 13 1. Senator Duane recorded in the negative. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 15 bill is passed. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 568, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 3911, an 18 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 19 trespassing. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read 21 the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 23 act shall take effect on the first of 24 November. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call

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(518) 371-8910 1 the roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll.) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 54. Nays, 4 2. Senators Duane and Montgomery recorded in 5 the negative. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 7 bill is passed. 8 Senator Montgomery. 9 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, Madam 10 President. I was at an official meeting with 11 the Rules Committee when Calendar 622 was 12 passed, and I would like to be recorded in the 13 negative on that bill. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 15 Secretary will read the controversial section 16 of the calendar. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 558, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 878, an 19 act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law, in 20 relation to police officer statements. 21 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: 22 Explanation. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: An 24 explanation has been requested, Senator 25 Volker.

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(518) 371-8910 1 Could we have quiet in the chamber, 2 please. 3 SENATOR VOLKER: Madam President, 4 I want to congratulate you also. The back row 5 court of appeals here just agreed you said it 6 right, that it's not the controversial 7 calendar, it's a part of the controversial 8 calendar that's controversial. 9 Got that? Okay. 10 (Laughter.) 11 SENATOR VOLKER: Anyways, this is 12 a bill that actually was part of the last two 13 or three budgets, I believe, which was 14 rejected -- well, frankly, it was rejected by 15 the Assembly in the public protection part of 16 the budget. 17 There are two pieces of this bill. 18 One relates to business records that can be 19 received in grand jury proceedings as 20 evidence, with -- well, with an oath or 21 whatever and with a written statement and so 22 forth. 23 The other relates, and it's more 24 controversial, that police officers -- and 25 this, in this case, would be primarily State

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(518) 371-8910 1 Police -- would be able to do the same thing, 2 and that is give a sworn statement and would 3 appear before the -- or would not have to 4 appear before the grand jury. It could save a 5 considerable amount of money. 6 The argument is that -- I realize 7 that many people believe that there should be 8 an opportunity to question law enforcement 9 officers in the grand jury. Actually, we 10 amended this bill to put in a situation where 11 if there's any real controversy involving that 12 testimony -- and I point out that it says 13 "may" be accepted -- that a police officer or 14 trooper could be called before that grand 15 jury. So it is not -- I believe first it said 16 "will" or "must." But we did change it to 17 "may." 18 Now, I realize that that's still 19 going to create some problems, because I think 20 a lot of people on defense would say, Yeah, 21 but the problem is that most of the time they 22 don't even realize that those statements are 23 going to be used until the actual grand jury 24 is empaneled and they're before the grand 25 jury.

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(518) 371-8910 1 So that is what this bill is. It 2 can save considerable money for the counties, 3 the City of New York and so forth, the State 4 of New York. And that's what the bill is. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Senator 6 Schneiderman. 7 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you, 8 Madam President. Briefly on the bill. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: On the 10 bill. 11 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: We've seen 12 this two-part bill for several years, and 13 there are quite a few of us who vote against 14 it. And I would make a simple suggestion. 15 Senator Volker has honestly stated 16 the problems with the second portion of this 17 bill, which would allow police officers, 18 unlike every other witness that appears in 19 front of a grand jury, to be able to come in 20 by affidavit. 21 We do have a problem, in many parts 22 of this state, of public confidence in the 23 criminal justice system, a sense that 24 sometimes things are unfairly slanted against 25 the accused. Grand juries provide little

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(518) 371-8910 1 enough protection. Let's not take away of one 2 of the essential elements that allow the grand 3 jurors to assess the credibility of a law 4 enforcement officer accusing someone of 5 wrongdoing, which is what this bill would do. 6 It would save, in the scheme of our 7 budget, not a great deal of money. By the 8 Governor's estimate, I think it was 9 150 million, maybe it's more -- $150,000, 10 excuse me, $150,000 a year. Maybe it's more. 11 But even if it is, our criminal justice system 12 is not a profit center, and we shouldn't be 13 adjusting it based on a cost evaluation. The 14 fact is that jury trials, right to counsel, 15 all these things cost money. 16 So let's not weaken further the 17 grand jury system. Let's enable grand jurors 18 to assess the credibility of police officers, 19 law enforcement officers, and ask questions if 20 they want to. 21 But the first portion of this bill, 22 I would urge the sponsor everyone that I know 23 supports this, for businesses, small 24 businesses in particular, to be able to put in 25 business records through an affidavit rather

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(518) 371-8910 1 than have someone come down to testify that 2 those are in fact the business records. 3 Let's separate these two parts of 4 the bill. Every year we have this discussion. 5 Every year the bill comes back with this 6 poison pill in it. Let's do something that 7 will save time and money for the businesses of 8 this state, allow them to submit business 9 documents by affidavit rather than providing a 10 live witness. It's especially burdensome on 11 small businesses. 12 And I certainly am among those who 13 would vote for it if you can separate it out 14 from the provision about police officers in a 15 grand jury. So that is my suggestion. 16 I know this is a Governor's program 17 bill. But the days of this Governor 18 submitting this program bill are behind us, so 19 I would request that the sponsor, perhaps next 20 year, separate these out so we can actually 21 pass something that would do some good for the 22 businesses of this state, streamline the 23 process. We talk about wanting to save money 24 for businesses and make this a pro-business 25 environment. Let's do it with this

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(518) 371-8910 1 legislation. 2 I'm going to vote no in the 3 meantime, Madam President, in the hopes that 4 the sponsor will next year come before us with 5 two separate bills -- or maybe even this year 6 come with a separate version of the first part 7 of this bill. Ah. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank 9 you, Senator. 10 Senator Volker. 11 SENATOR VOLKER: Madam President, 12 could I ask a question of Senator 13 Schneiderman? 14 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank 15 you. 16 Senator Schneiderman, do you yield? 17 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: I would be 18 happy to yield. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank 20 you. 21 The Senator yields. 22 SENATOR VOLKER: That's quite a 23 persuasive argument. 24 Let me ask you this. If I amend 25 this bill to only have the business records

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(518) 371-8910 1 part of it, will you help me pass it in the 2 Assembly? 3 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: I would -- 4 I would -- I'll tell you, I would be glad to 5 cosponsor it, as would many of my colleagues, 6 and then that would enable us to be very 7 persuasive in the Assembly. It's hard for us 8 to be as vigorous advocates as you sometimes 9 want us to be when we're not allowed to put 10 our names on bills. But I would absolutely be 11 an advocate for this in the Assembly. 12 And the Speaker does not always do 13 everything that I ask him to do, but I would 14 certainly use what little influence I have. 15 But yes, I would welcome that and 16 welcome the opportunity to work with you to 17 pass it. 18 SENATOR VOLKER: I think we 19 better pass the bill. But, Senator, I think 20 you have an excellent idea. And I think you 21 may see this bill come back a little later on 22 in the session with just business records. So 23 I just want you to know that. 24 But I feel constrained to at least 25 pass the bill here for, you know -- so I would

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(518) 371-8910 1 like to pass the bill, if we could. And then 2 we'll do whatever has to be done after that. 3 Okay? Thank you. 4 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you. 5 Thank you, Madam President. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank 7 you, Senator Volker. 8 Is there any other Senator wishing 9 to be heard on the bill? 10 The debate is closed. 11 The Secretary will ring the bell. 12 Read the last section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 14 act shall take effect on the first of 15 November. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call 17 the roll. 18 (The Secretary called the roll.) 19 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Senator 20 Connor, to explain your vote. 21 SENATOR CONNOR: Thank you, Madam 22 President. 23 I'm voting no on this iteration of 24 this bill. I do look forward to Senator 25 Volker bringing out the bill as Senator

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(518) 371-8910 1 Schneiderman suggested. 2 But I would make a further 3 suggestion, Madam President, to Senator 4 Volker, and that is that hearings be scheduled 5 to get input on whether or not we should 6 abolish the grand jury. 7 We -- 15 years ago, it was 8 suggested a grand jury would indict a ham 9 sandwich if the DA wanted it. I'm not sure in 10 the modern day that a grand jury really 11 protects the individual's rights against the 12 state. 13 Other states have done it. 14 California has no grand jury. They do require 15 a preliminary hearing in court to make a 16 determination of probable cause -- thank you, 17 Madam President -- and I think we could follow 18 that. I think they do preserve the grand jury 19 for some exceptional cases of a heavy 20 investigative nature. 21 But I think the routine, the 22 requirement that in every felony case there be 23 a grand jury indictment I think has probably 24 outlived its usefulness. 25 What I would suggest is if you

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(518) 371-8910 1 abolish the grand jury, you put penalties in 2 should the district attorney fail to make a 3 case in the preliminary hearing, to avoid DAs 4 from simply hauling people into judicial 5 proceedings. The penalties could be, you 6 know, you pay the defendant's costs or legal 7 fees or whatever if there's insufficient 8 evidence to hold the person for trial. 9 But I would make that suggestion, 10 Madam President. 11 I vote no on the bill. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank 13 you. 14 Senator Connor will be recorded in 15 the negative. 16 Senator Volker. 17 SENATOR VOLKER: Madam President, 18 I know it's kind of unusual to explain my 19 vote. 20 It's interesting that Senator 21 Connor mentioned that. I think that's not a 22 bad idea at all. 23 I believe one of the first hearings 24 I ever did as chairman of Codes, I believe we 25 went statewide with hearings on grand jury.

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(518) 371-8910 1 We got a strange mix where there were some 2 real left-wing liberals thought it was a good 3 idea, real right-wing conservatives thought, 4 and then there was a lot of people in the 5 middle. And law schools were arguing 6 vociferously about whether to do it or not. 7 But it is an interesting question 8 about the system and something that I 9 certainly will take into consideration, 10 because I think it could be valuable. The 11 only problem is we've got so many other 12 problems that seem to go on at the same time, 13 it's tough to get into those esoteric things. 14 But it's a very serious question we should 15 probably look at. 16 I vote aye. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank 18 you. 19 Senator Volker will be recorded in 20 the affirmative. 21 The Secretary will announce the 22 results. 23 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 24 the negative on Calendar Number 558 are 25 Senators Andrews, Breslin, Connor,

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(518) 371-8910 1 DeFrancisco, Diaz, Duane, Gonzalez, 2 L. Krueger, Montgomery, Paterson, Savino, 3 Schneiderman, Serrano and A. Smith. 4 Those Senators absent from voting: 5 Senator Parker. 6 Ayes, 45. Nays, 14. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 8 bill is passed. 9 Senator Skelos. 10 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President, 11 if we could return to reports of standing 12 committees, there's a report of the Rules 13 Committee at the desk. I ask that it be read 14 at this time. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank 16 you. 17 The Secretary will read. 18 THE SECRETARY: Senator Bruno, 19 from the Committee on Rules, reports the 20 following bill direct to third reading: 21 Senate Print 7193A, by the Senate 22 Committee on Rules, an act in relation to the 23 exemption. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Senator 25 Skelos.

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(518) 371-8910 1 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President, 2 move to accept the report of Rules Committee. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: All 4 those in favor of accepting the report of the 5 Rules Committee signify by saying aye. 6 (Response of "Aye.") 7 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: 8 Opposed, nay. 9 (No response.) 10 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 11 report is accepted. 12 Senator Skelos. 13 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President, 14 if we could take up Calendar Number 627. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 16 Secretary will read. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 627, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 19 Print Number 7193A, an act in relation to the 20 exemption for clothing and footwear from sales 21 and compensating use taxes. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read 23 the last section. 24 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 25 act shall take effect immediately.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call 2 the roll. 3 (The Secretary called the roll.) 4 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Senator 5 Schneiderman, to explain your vote. 6 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you, 7 Madam President, to explain my vote. 8 This bill allows local governments 9 the option to participate or not participate 10 in the permanent sales tax exemption on 11 clothing for items less than $110. This 12 corrects what I felt and many of us felt was 13 an omission from the budget last week. 14 Again, this is the kind of 15 progressive tax cuts that my conference has 16 favored, and I'm glad to see us following up 17 on it. A lot better than some of the other 18 proposals floating around there. We need to 19 get tax cuts to the working people of this 20 state. This will enable local governments to 21 follow up on the sales tax for clothing under 22 $110. 23 I will be voting yes. Thank you. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank 25 you.

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(518) 371-8910 1 Senator Schneiderman will be 2 recorded in the affirmative. 3 The Secretary will announce the 4 results. 5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 7 bill is passed. 8 Senator Skelos. 9 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President, 10 is there any further business at the desk? 11 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: No, 12 there is not, Senator. 13 SENATOR SKELOS: Would you please 14 recognize Senator Montgomery. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Senator 16 Montgomery. 17 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, Madam 18 President. I have a motion at the desk. I 19 would like to have it called up at this time. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 21 Secretary will read. 22 THE SECRETARY: Senate Print 23 1305, by Senator Montgomery, an act to amend 24 the Social Services Law. 25 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: I would like

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(518) 371-8910 1 to explain my motion. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank 3 you. To explain the motion, Senator 4 Montgomery. 5 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, thank 6 you. 7 Madam President, this is 8 legislation that I have introduced along with 9 my colleague in the Assembly, Assemblyman Bill 10 Scarborough, which would very simply and 11 specifically provide automatic Medicaid 12 eligibility to independent foster-care 13 adolescents who are under age 21 and who are 14 in foster care on their 18th birthday. 15 This legislation is aimed to make 16 sure that we do not leave young people who are 17 aging out of foster care at the age of 18, 18 between 18 and 21, without coverage for their 19 healthcare and their mental health care under 20 Medicaid. 21 The health and mental health 22 services are extremely vital. And there are 23 almost 1,000 -- according to one of the 24 organizations that is supporting this 25 legislation, COFCCA, they say that there are

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(518) 371-8910 1 almost 1,000 youth who leave foster care each 2 year in New York State. And a majority of 3 these leave to independent living, they are 4 discharged to independent living. 5 They are young people who, as was 6 found in a recent Casey Family Programs study, 7 found that youth who are leaving foster care 8 experience trauma symptoms at almost twice the 9 rate of veterans of wars in Vietnam and Iraq. 10 So these are young people who really need 11 coverage, need healthcare. 12 And in addition, I have another 13 statement from the Federation of Protestant 14 Welfare Agencies, which is also supporting 15 this legislation. And they stress that 16 regular access to reproductive health services 17 and prescription coverage are crucial to the 18 young adult population, and their children 19 also need coverage. Many of them leave foster 20 care, they already have children, and the 21 children need healthcare as well. 22 So this legislation seeks to 23 protect those children in particular. It is 24 not going to be costly to the state. It is 25 supported by those organizations, as I have

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(518) 371-8910 1 named, COFCCA, Federation of Protestant 2 Welfare Agencies, along with the NASW, the 3 New York State Chapter, Citizens Committee for 4 Children, and I have many other support 5 letters for this legislation. 6 So I ask my colleagues to consider 7 this. It's for our young people, for their 8 protection. It's a small price to pay. And 9 we all understand the importance of healthcare 10 for teens, older teens. This just includes 11 another group of young people who may or may 12 not have had health coverage in their schools, 13 because we don't have nearly enough 14 school-based healthcare, but certainly they 15 should have access to healthcare once they 16 leave foster care. 17 So I thank you, and I hope my 18 colleagues will join me in supporting this. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank 20 you. All those Senators in favor of the 21 petition out of committee please signify by 22 raising their hands. 23 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 24 agreement are Senators Andrews, Breslin, 25 Connor, Coppola, Diaz, Dilan, Duane, Gonzalez,

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(518) 371-8910 1 Klein, L. Krueger, C. Kruger, Montgomery, 2 Onorato, Oppenheimer, Paterson, Sabini, 3 Savino, Schneiderman, Serrano, A. Smith, 4 M. Smith, Stachowski, Stavisky and Valesky. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 6 petition is not agreed to. 7 Senator Volker. 8 SENATOR VOLKER: Madam President, 9 I just wanted to say that I was cleaning out, 10 believe it or not, my office this weekend, for 11 the first time in a decade or so, and I did 12 realize that -- I came up with some material, 13 and I realized that today is the anniversary 14 of John Brendan Daly's death, April 3, 1999. 15 It's for -- most of you knew John; 16 he was a very close friend of mine. And 17 ironically, he lived on Lancaster Street, 18 right up from where I stay. And one of the 19 his tenants was the former Senator or late 20 Senator Patricia McGee, who died April 2nd of 21 2005. 22 I also noticed that the Pope died 23 on the same day, Pope John Paul II, and I said 24 I firmly believe the Pope waited for Pat McGee 25 to die, because she died earlier, and then

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(518) 371-8910 1 said, I guess it's time for me to go too. 2 But I remember -- I still have 3 troubles with Lancaster Street, because I 4 think of some nights when I went there rather 5 late when the light was on and the three of us 6 had a few -- a few imbibing pops and so forth. 7 But I do want to say that I've 8 often said that there's an old saying that 9 John Wayne had in a movie, and he said -- they 10 said, "Those people are dead," and he said: 11 "No, they're really not dead." As long as the 12 Senate is around, those people will still be 13 around with us. 14 So I just wanted to say we could 15 terminate the Senate today with the thought of 16 Patricia McGee and John Daly. 17 Thank you. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank 19 you, Senator Volker. 20 Senator Skelos. 21 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you very 22 much, Senator Volker. 23 Madam President, there being no 24 further business to come before the Senate, I 25 move we stand adjourned until Tuesday,

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(518) 371-8910 1 April 4th, at 3:00 p.m., in memory of Senators 2 Patricia K. McGee and John B. Daly. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: On 4 motion, the Senate stands adjourned until 5 Tuesday, April 4th, at 3:00 p.m., in memory of 6 Senators Patricia McGee and John Daly. 7 (Whereupon, at 3:45 p.m., the 8 Senate adjourned.) 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

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(518) 371-8910