Monday, April 16, 2007

1 NEW YORK STATE SENATE 2 3 4 THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD 5 6 7 8 9 ALBANY, NEW YORK 10 April 16, 2007 11 3:08 p.m. 12 13 14 REGULAR SESSION 15 16 17 18 SENATOR ELIZABETH O'C. LITTLE, Acting 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 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 3 Senate will 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 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 10 invocation today will be given by Rabbi Joseph 11 Potasnik, of Congregation Mt. Sinai in 12 Brooklyn. 13 RABBI POTASNIK: Thank you, 14 Senator. 15 I want to share a true story with 16 all of you here. Some time ago I was invited 17 to the installation of Archbishop Edwin 18 O'Brien, which was held at St. Patrick's 19 Cathedral in New York City. I arrived that 20 day, and I had two tickets with me. 21 And an elderly Catholic woman came 22 over to me, and she said: "Do you have an 23 extra ticket? I don't have one, and I'd like 24 to attend." And I reached in my pocket, and I 25 said, "Please, take this one." And she said,

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(518) 371-8910 1 "Oh, thank you so much. Who are you?" And I 2 said, "I'm a rabbi." 3 And she said, "You know, only in 4 New York, in order to get into St. Patrick's 5 Cathedral, do you need a rabbi to give you a 6 ticket." 7 The lesson there is, I think, that 8 all of us need rabbis in life. But more 9 importantly, we need people to open doors for 10 us. 11 So please remember, as you recall 12 Jackie Robinson, that shortly before he played 13 his first game, he went into the stands and he 14 said to his wife: "You will easily recognize 15 me on that field, because I will be wearing 16 Number 42." 17 So we are here today as people of 18 different faiths and people of different 19 faces, but hopefully we all recognize that 20 there comes that moment when we all must 21 realize we are part of one family. 22 Amen. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank 24 you, Rabbi Potasnik. 25 The reading of the Journal.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE SECRETARY: In Senate, 2 Sunday, April 15, the Senate met pursuant to 3 adjournment. The Journal of Saturday, 4 April 14, was read and approved. On motion, 5 Senate adjourned. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Without 7 objection, the Journal stands approved as 8 read. 9 Presentation of petitions. 10 Messages from the Assembly. 11 Messages from the Governor. 12 Reports of standing committees. 13 Reports of select committees. 14 Communications and reports from 15 state officers. 16 Motions and resolutions. 17 Senator Farley. 18 SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you, Madam 19 President. 20 On behalf of Senator Young, I have 21 a motion to recommit and to strike the 22 enacting clause, and I move that this bill be 23 discharged from its respective committee and 24 be recommitted with instructions to strike the 25 enacting clause. It's Senate Number 410.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: So 2 ordered. 3 SENATOR FARLEY: On behalf of 4 Senator Maziarz, Madam President, on page 5, 5 Calendar Number 63, Senate Print 947A, I now 6 offer the following amendments. 7 And also for Senator Maziarz, on 8 page 5, Calendar Number 66, Senate Print 957, 9 I offer an amendment. 10 I offer an amendment to Senator 11 Marcellino's bill, which is on page 8, 12 Calendar Number 144, Senate Print 699A. 13 And I also would like to amend 14 Senator Volker's bill, on page 10, Calendar 15 Number 194, Senate Print 1977. 16 And I also would like to amend 17 Senator Maltese's bill, on page 24, Calendar 18 Number 461, Senate Print 3600. 19 And I would ask that these bills 20 will retain their place on the Third Reading 21 Calendar. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 23 amendments are received and adopted, and the 24 bills will retain their place on the Third 25 Reading Calendar.

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(518) 371-8910 1 Senator Duane. 2 SENATOR DUANE: Thank you, Madam 3 President. 4 On behalf of Senator Stavisky, I 5 move that the following bills be discharged 6 from their respective committees and be 7 recommitted with instructions to strike the 8 enacting clause: 2608 and 2609. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: So 10 ordered. 11 Senator Skelos. 12 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President, 13 if we could go to the noncontroversial reading 14 of the calendar. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 16 Secretary will read. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 23, by Senator Maziarz, Senate Print 112, an 19 act to amend the Criminal -- 20 SENATOR SKELOS: Lay it aside 21 temporarily. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 23 bill is laid aside temporarily. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 92, by Senator Flanagan, Senate Print 691, an

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(518) 371-8910 1 act to amend the Education Law, in relation to 2 providing. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read 4 the last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 6 act shall take effect immediately. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call 8 the roll. 9 (The Secretary called the roll.) 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 38. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 12 bill is passed. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 111, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 1582, an 15 act to amend the Civil Service Law, in 16 relation to retaliatory actions. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read 18 the last section. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 20 act shall take effect immediately. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call 22 the roll. 23 (The Secretary called the roll.) 24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 38. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The

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(518) 371-8910 1 bill is passed. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 129, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 1478, an 4 act to amend the General Business Law, in 5 relation to real estate syndication offerings. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read 7 the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 9 act shall take effect immediately. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call 11 the roll. 12 (The Secretary called the roll.) 13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 37. Nays, 14 1. Senator Duane recorded in the negative. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 16 bill is passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 235, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 907, an 19 act to amend Chapter 672 of the Laws of 1993, 20 amending the Public Authorities Law. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read 22 the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 24 act shall take effect immediately. 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, 40. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 5 bill is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 256, by Senator Griffo, Senate Print 3253A, an 8 act to amend the Agriculture and Markets Law, 9 in relation to agricultural assessment values. 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 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 42. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 19 bill is passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 268, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 236, an 22 act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to 23 eligibility. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read 25 the last section.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 2 act shall take effect immediately. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call 4 the roll. 5 (The Secretary called the roll.) 6 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 41. Nays, 7 1. Senator Duane recorded in the negative. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 9 bill is passed. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 272, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 917, an 12 act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to 13 requirement. 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 25 281, by Senator Seward, Senate Print 2073, an

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(518) 371-8910 1 act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to 2 extending the authorization. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read 4 the last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 6 act shall take effect immediately. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call 8 the roll. 9 (The Secretary called the roll.) 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 45. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 12 bill is passed. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 283, by Senator LaValle, Senate Print 2516, an 15 act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to 16 excluding. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read 18 the last section. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 20 act shall take effect on the first day of the 21 sales tax quarterly. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call 23 the roll. 24 (The Secretary called the roll.) 25 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 48.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 2 bill is passed. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 324, by Senator Stachowski, Senate Print 2754, 5 an act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 6 definition. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read 8 the last section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 10 act shall take effect on the first of 11 November. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call 13 the roll. 14 (The Secretary called the roll.) 15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 49. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 17 bill is passed. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 326, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 20 2877, an act to amend the Penal Law and the 21 Criminal Procedure Law. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read 23 the last section. 24 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 25 act shall take effect on the first of

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(518) 371-8910 1 November. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call 3 the roll. 4 (The Secretary called the roll.) 5 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 6 the negative on Calendar Number 326 are 7 Senators Duane, Hassell-Thompson, L. Krueger, 8 Montgomery and Perkins. Also Senator 9 Schneiderman. 10 Ayes, 44. Nays, 6. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 12 bill is passed. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 336, by Senator Morahan, Senate Print 2898, an 15 act to amend Chapter 631 of the Laws of 1997, 16 amending the Social Services Law. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read 18 the last section. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 20 act shall take effect immediately. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call 22 the roll. 23 (The Secretary called the roll.) 24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 50. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The

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(518) 371-8910 1 bill is passed. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 345, by Senator Little, Senate Print 1120, an 4 act to amend the Real Property Tax Law, in 5 relation to taxation of forest lands. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read 7 the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 9 act shall take effect immediately. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call 11 the roll. 12 (The Secretary called the roll.) 13 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 14 the negative on Calendar Number 345 are 15 Senators Duane, Hassell-Thompson, and 16 L. Krueger. 17 Ayes, 47. Nays, 3. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 19 bill is passed. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 346, by Senator Wright, Senate Print 1555, an 22 act in relation to authorizing. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: There 24 is a home-rule message at the desk. 25 Read the last section.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 2 act shall take effect immediately. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call 4 the roll. 5 (The Secretary called the roll.) 6 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 50. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 8 bill is passed. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 420, by Senator Bonacic, Senate Print 479, an 11 act to amend the Correction Law, in relation 12 to requiring. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read 14 the last section. 15 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 16 act shall take effect on the 120th day. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call 18 the roll. 19 (The Secretary called the roll.) 20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 50. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 22 bill is passed. 23 The Secretary will read. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 23, by Senator Maziarz, Senate Print 112, an

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(518) 371-8910 1 act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law, in 2 relation to enacting criteria. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Read 4 the last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 6 act shall take effect on the first of 7 November. 8 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Explanation, 9 please. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call 11 the roll. 12 (The Secretary called the roll.) 13 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 14 roll call is withdrawn. Senator Montgomery 15 asks for an explanation. 16 The bill is laid aside. 17 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President, 18 if an explanation has been requested, then we 19 should go to the controversial reading of the 20 calendar. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank 22 you. 23 The Secretary will ring the bell to 24 bring Senators into the chamber for the 25 controversial calendar.

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(518) 371-8910 1 The Secretary will read. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 23, by Senator Maziarz, Senate Print 112, an 4 act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law. 5 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Explanation. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Senator 7 Maziarz, for an explanation. 8 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you, 9 Madam President. 10 This legislation would expand the 11 scope of criteria judges are allowed to 12 consider when setting bail. This bill would 13 give the judge certain discretion to decide if 14 the individual is a possible threat to the 15 alleged victim, if the individual has made any 16 prior threatening comments to the alleged 17 victim. 18 This legislation would also allow 19 the judge to consider whether or not the 20 individual has violated past court orders when 21 setting bail. The judge would also be able to 22 consider if the defendant has a pattern of 23 violence or threats of violence against the 24 victim or towards others. 25 This legislation is named after an

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(518) 371-8910 1 individual who I've talked about many times on 2 the floor here, Jill Cahill, whose husband 3 repeatedly beat her. The second to the last 4 time that he beat her, he sent her to a 5 hospital in Syracuse for several weeks. And 6 while she was there recovering, he 7 surreptitiously snuck into the hospital and 8 poisoned her to death and murdered her in an 9 extremely horrific way. 10 The husband had been through the 11 Family Court, had had numerous orders of 12 protection, had been through the system and 13 none of that helped, and was actually out on 14 bail at the time that he murdered her, for the 15 beating that he inflicted upon her. 16 Thank you, Madam President. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank 18 you, Senator Maziarz. 19 SENATOR MAZIARZ: I might also 20 add that this bill is supported by Senator 21 Duane and Senator Ruben Diaz, Madam President. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank 23 you. 24 Senator Schneiderman. 25 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Yes, Madam

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(518) 371-8910 1 President, on the bill. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank 3 you. Senator Schneiderman on the bill. 4 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: I 5 appreciate the growing Maziarz coalition. 6 I have voted against this bill in 7 the past, I will continue to vote against it, 8 and I'd urge my colleagues to vote against it 9 for a very simple reason. This is a classic 10 example of the old expression "Hard cases make 11 bad law." 12 Obviously this is a tragic 13 situation where this individual was a 14 wife-batterer and made threats and then was 15 released on bail, for whatever reason, and 16 killed his wife. 17 I would urge that this bill does 18 absolutely nothing to add to the likelihood 19 that that tragedy could have been prevented 20 and potentially does a great deal of harm, 21 particularly to poor defendants in this state 22 who will be unable to meet the burden that 23 could be imposed on them by prosecutors who 24 wanted to turn a bail hearing into an 25 open-ended inquiry on the mental state of the

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(518) 371-8910 1 defendant. 2 Right now what bail is for is to 3 determine if someone is going to show up for 4 trial. This is something that is tremendously 5 important in our criminal justice system. But 6 New York's current statutes allow the judge to 7 take into account every single thing that this 8 bill would allow the court to take into 9 account. 10 What the current statutes do, 11 though, is frame those inquiries in a way so 12 that you don't have an open-ended hearing with 13 witnesses called on issues that would be 14 permitted by this bill, including -- and 15 again, I'm going to read from the language of 16 the bill, because I don't think that the 17 description of the distinguished, elegant 18 sponsor and head of the Maziarz coalition 19 provided us. 20 This bill would allow someone to be 21 held if the court finds that they are a danger 22 to some third party, someone who has nothing 23 to do with the crime. This would allow a 24 prosecutor, if they were inclined, to say: 25 You know, this person got into a fight with

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(518) 371-8910 1 Joe Smith down the street and we think he 2 should be held in jail for that, and would 3 tremendous discretion for the judge. 4 And again, I think this would be 5 discretion that would work to the detriment of 6 the poorest defendants, who would not be able 7 to have lawyers capable of calling witnesses 8 and rebutting these charges. 9 This would allow the judge to hold 10 someone in jail for something that had 11 absolutely nothing to do with the crime 12 charged. That, ladies and gentlemen -- first 13 of all, I think it's unconstitutional. Second 14 of all, I would urge that it's not the way to 15 solve this problem. 16 If we want to have a tougher 17 standard for people who perpetrate domestic 18 violence, if we want to have a tougher 19 standard for letting them out on bail, let's 20 bite that bullet, let's deal with that. 21 Remember the work that went into 22 crafting the bill on civil confinement. 23 Remember the work that went into protecting 24 the due process right of those accused or that 25 the court would hold after their sentences

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(518) 371-8910 1 were served. That inquiry and that effort is 2 completely absent from this piece of 3 legislation. 4 This would turn every bail hearing 5 into an open-ended inquiry on whether this 6 defendant had ever posed a danger to anyone 7 else, including to himself. This is a bill 8 that would require the court to look at the 9 issue of whether or not this defendant might 10 be suicidal. 11 Again, who suffers? Poor 12 defendants, mostly defendants who are people 13 of color in the state of New York who cannot 14 afford fancy defense lawyers to call rebuttal 15 witnesses. If a prosecutor wants to keep 16 someone in jail, this gives that prosecutor 17 open-ended discretion to keep someone in jail. 18 And that's the reason I'm opposed 19 to it -- not because I want people who are 20 dangerous out on the loose; I don't. But this 21 is a bill that is a one-house bill. 22 Suggestions are made every year, they're never 23 adopted, it's the same language. It never 24 comes out of committee in the Assembly and, 25 frankly, is not taken very seriously in the

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(518) 371-8910 1 Assembly. 2 Our bail laws already allow the 3 consideration of all these factors. What our 4 bail laws now do not do is allow the 5 prosecutor to go on a vendetta to say, I'm 6 keeping this guy in jail pending his trial no 7 matter what I have to do, and I'm going to 8 raise issues that he can't deal with related 9 to third parties and other allegations and the 10 fact that maybe he's considered to be somewhat 11 suicidal or something like that. 12 All of these factors are things 13 that would change the nature of our bail 14 hearings. If I'm going to jail, I can afford 15 a good defense lawyer, I can call witnesses, 16 I'm getting out pending my trial. A poor 17 person wouldn't be able to do this. 18 This is a situation, as I say, in 19 which hard cases make bad law. This would be 20 bad law. And I'd urge all of my colleagues to 21 vote against it. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank 23 you. 24 Is there any other Senator wishing 25 to be heard?

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(518) 371-8910 1 Senator Diaz. 2 SENATOR DIAZ: Thank you, Madam 3 President. 4 This bill was introduced because a 5 man by the name of Jeff Cahill had viciously 6 attacked with a baseball bat, seven times, his 7 wife. He was arrested, according to the bill, 8 and while she was in the hospital, he was 9 released on bail. He went into the hospital, 10 made believe that he was a maintenance person 11 in the hospital, and worked out to poison his 12 wife. So he did that. He killed her. 13 In the 32nd Senatorial District, 14 which I represent, in the county of the Bronx, 15 there are black and Hispanic majority of the 16 residents, what we call brown and black. And 17 somebody today told me -- asked me to wake up 18 and smell the coffee. My colleague, Senator 19 Ruth Hassell-Thompson, she asked me to wake up 20 and smell the coffee. 21 And I want to tell you and respond 22 to my colleagues in the Democratic side that 23 will oppose this bill and those in the other 24 side that will oppose this bill. In my 25 district there are women, a lot of women that

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(518) 371-8910 1 get killed and get beaten by their spouses, by 2 their in-laws or whatever. 3 There are statistics here that say 4 that in the United States, 32 percent of all 5 the female murders, women killed in this 6 country, 32 percent of them were killed by 7 their husbands or by their boyfriends. 8 And here in New York State, in 9 2002, 194 women were killed. Out of those 194 10 women, 66 were murdered, killed by their 11 spouse, by their common-law spouse, by their 12 sexual partner or by their ex-sexual partner. 13 So we in the Democratic Party, we 14 brag about that we defend women and that we 15 are the defenders of women. And when a piece 16 of legislation like this comes to the floor, 17 we then say that most of the defendants cannot 18 afford the bail. But let me tell you 19 something, to all of you -- and I have to be 20 careful because nowadays, if you say things 21 that you're not supposed to say, even in a 22 joke, they kick you out of your job. But I 23 want to take my chances. 24 In the 32nd Senatorial District 25 that I represent, we are majority black and

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(518) 371-8910 1 Hispanic. But you know who are the ones 2 killing the bodegueros? Us, black and 3 Hispanic. You know who are the ones killing 4 the taxi drivers? Us, black and Hispanic. Do 5 you know who are the ones raping women? Us, 6 black and Hispanic. 7 Let me wake up and smell the 8 coffee. And as soon as I wake up and smell 9 the coffee, ladies and gentlemen, I can assure 10 you that that coffee is going to stink. 11 Because it's us who are committing the crimes 12 against our people. 13 But then we don't want us to pay 14 for the crime. We come and we say, oh, the 15 black and Hispanic will never afford the bail. 16 Who's the one beating the women in our 17 communities? Who is the one committing the 18 crimes? With all due respect to all of you 19 and to all my colleagues, my community, in my 20 district, the whites are not the ones 21 committing the crimes. It's us, black and 22 Hispanic. Brown and black. 23 So when the year gets out, guess 24 who are the majority of people in jail? Black 25 and Hispanic. But why? Hello. Why? Because

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(518) 371-8910 1 we are the ones. 2 So now this piece of legislation 3 calls for stronger bail or giving the judge 4 the authority to hold someone. But we say, 5 oh, but that person would be black and 6 Hispanic and would be poor and will not be 7 able to afford the bail. Anybody, any man, 8 any man that physically abuses a woman 9 deserves to be in jail as strongly -- with a 10 strong bail. If I abuse my wife and she 11 complains and they arrest me, I cannot 12 complain, Oh, I can't afford the bail. Why 13 did I abuse my wife? Why did you abuse a 14 woman? So if you don't want to pay the price, 15 don't commit the crime. 16 And as long as we don't come strong 17 forward to our community and to send a 18 message, stop the nonsense that the system 19 is -- stop the nonsense that we cannot pay the 20 bail, stop the nonsense that we have to be 21 easy with them. They are not being easy with 22 our women, they are not being easy with our 23 bodegueros, they are not being easy with our 24 taxi drivers, they are not being easy with our 25 senior citizens. We are being abused by our

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(518) 371-8910 1 own. 2 Ladies and gentlemen, Senator 3 Maziarz, I am supporting your bill. And I'm 4 going to get heat because of what I'm saying, 5 but I'm supporting your bill. And it is a 6 good bill. And whoever abuse a woman, lock 7 him up and throw the keys away. 8 Thank you. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank 10 you, Senator. 11 Senator Hassell-Thompson. 12 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Thank 13 you, Madam President. 14 I think that when we come into 15 these chambers, many times in our zeal and our 16 zest to do the right things for the right 17 reasons, we sometimes do so without regard for 18 the fact that there is a constitutionality 19 that must also be considered. 20 In my comments here on this floor, 21 I always want to make sure that no one goes 22 away believing that I do not believe that the 23 victim is entitled to justice. But I also am 24 smart enough -- whether that's a belief or not 25 by most -- that we use language not only to

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(518) 371-8910 1 cover the victim, but we also lend ourselves 2 to the opportunity to expand on our judicial 3 powers to cover crimes that sometimes in the 4 language is not understood. 5 I don't purport to be an attorney, 6 but I do purport to be a student of language. 7 And when I suggested to my colleague Senator 8 Diaz that he wake up and smell the coffee, I 9 do so because I want us to always be clear 10 that when we're throwing out a net to catch 11 tuna, that we don't catch a dolphin. 12 And for anyone who does not believe 13 that we are in the business of language, then 14 they don't understand what we're here to do. 15 Language is very powerful. And within the 16 language that is written, there are also 17 nuances that are sometimes not written but is 18 understood by very few. 19 So my contention is that when I 20 look at a bill, if I do not understand it, I 21 will ask questions continually until I not 22 only understand the language that is being 23 written but the language that is being 24 presumed. And I presumed very correctly, I 25 believe, each time that I have voted no on

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(518) 371-8910 1 this bill, that this language goes way beyond 2 that which is necessary to give judicial 3 discretion to our courts. 4 And therefore it is not a concern 5 of duplicativeness, but it is because within 6 it is contained the ability to go beyond what 7 appears on the surface. And I think maybe the 8 language is called prima facie; more than what 9 we see is contained in this bill. 10 So therefore I have voted no. I 11 have encouraged many of my colleagues to vote 12 no. And I will continue to vote no. Not 13 because I am not concerned about the numbers 14 of the crimes that are permitted against women 15 not only in my district but across the State 16 of New York -- I'm not passing laws for the 17 36th Senatorial District. I'm interested in 18 laws that go beyond the boundaries of the 36th 19 for women across this state, and for men who 20 are abused across this state. And because men 21 don't come forward does not mean that the 22 numbers of cases of abuse and deaths among men 23 does not occur. That's not the issue. 24 This is not a gender issue. This 25 is not a boundary issue. But it is an issue

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(518) 371-8910 1 of law that says yes, protect the victim, but 2 not at the expense of perhaps another criminal 3 act's constitutionality. And that's what I 4 see in this bill, and that's what I have voted 5 against in the past. And that's what I will 6 vote against in the future, because I see my 7 job as being sure that the action that I take 8 does not cross the boundaries of the 9 constitutionality of all the citizens of the 10 State of New York. 11 Thank you, Madam President. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank 13 you, Senator. 14 Is there any other Senator wishing 15 to be heard? 16 The debate is closed. 17 The Secretary will ring the bell. 18 Read the last section. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 20 act shall take effect on the first of 21 November. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Call 23 the roll. 24 (The Secretary called the roll.) 25 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The

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(518) 371-8910 1 Secretary will announce the results. 2 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 3 the negative on Calendar Number 23 are 4 Senators Breslin, Dilan, Gonzalez, 5 Hassell-Thompson, L. Krueger, Montgomery, 6 Perkins and Schneiderman. 7 Ayes, 43. Nays, 8. 8 Absent from voting: Senators 9 Huntley and Parker. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: The 11 bill is passed. 12 Senator Skelos, that completes the 13 reading of the controversial calendar. 14 SENATOR SKELOS: Madam President, 15 is there any further business at the desk? 16 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: No, 17 there is not, Senator Skelos. 18 SENATOR SKELOS: If you would 19 recognize Senator Griffo, please. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Thank 21 you. Senator Griffo. 22 Could we have some quiet in the 23 chamber, please? 24 Senator Griffo. 25 SENATOR GRIFFO: Thank you,

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(518) 371-8910 1 Senator Skelos, Madam President. 2 Last Thursday evening in the city 3 of Utica, New York, Police Officer Thomas 4 Lindsey, in the performance of a vehicle and 5 traffic stop, was killed in cold blood in the 6 line of duty. A veteran of the United States 7 Marine Corps with over five and a half years 8 of service to the Police Department of the 9 City of Utica, an extraordinary young man who 10 gave his life to protect others. 11 I ask today that we join together 12 as we remember this fine police officer, offer 13 our condolences to his family and to the 14 members of the Utica Police Department, and 15 ask that we keep Officer Lindsey in our 16 prayers, as well as a random senseless act of 17 murder that occurred today, for all those who 18 have been hurt and killed at Virginia Tech 19 University -- this outrageous, ridiculous 20 violence that permeates our society. 21 So I ask that we adjourn in a 22 moment of silence for Officer Lindsey and to 23 remember those other victims today wounded and 24 killed at Virginia Tech. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: Senator

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(518) 371-8910 1 Skelos. 2 SENATOR SKELOS: I thank Senator 3 Griffo for the suggestion. 4 And if we could rise in a moment of 5 silence and adjourn until Tuesday, April 17th, 6 at 3:00 p.m. 7 (Whereupon, the assemblage rose and 8 respected a moment of silence.) 9 ACTING PRESIDENT LITTLE: On 10 motion, the Senate stands adjourned until 11 Tuesday, April 17th, at 3:00 p.m. 12 (Whereupon, at 3:48 p.m., the 13 Senate adjourned.) 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

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(518) 371-8910