Senate Transcript - May 22, 2007

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1 NEW YORK STATE SENATE 2 3 4 THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD 5 6 7 8 9 ALBANY, NEW YORK 10 May 22, 2007 11 11:02 a.m. 12 13 14 REGULAR SESSION 15 16 17 18 LT. GOVERNOR DAVID A. PATERSON, 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 MARCELLINO: The 3 Senate will come to order. 4 I ask that everyone present please 5 rise and repeat with me the Pledge of 6 Allegiance to our Flag. 7 (Whereupon, the assemblage recited 8 the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.) 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 10 invocation today will be given by Father 11 Charles J. Beirne, Society of Jesus, president 12 of Le Moyne College in Syracuse. 13 FATHER BEIRNE: From Psalm 15: 14 "Yahweh, who has the right to enter your tent 15 or to live on your holy mountain? The one 16 whose way of life is blameless, who always 17 does what is right, who speaks the truth from 18 his heart, the one who does good for all 19 people and gives credit to the neighbor, and 20 the one who honors those who hold God in awe, 21 and the one who stands by the pledge at any 22 cost. If they do all this, nothing can ever 23 shake them." 24 Let us pray. 25 Loving God, we ask Your blessing on

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(518) 371-8910 1 the New York State Senate, all its staff 2 members, its members and all the constituents, 3 and all those with responsibility for our 4 community. 5 We ask them to take special care of 6 the poor and to help us all to help them. 7 Amen. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: May 9 we have the reading of the Journal, please. 10 THE SECRETARY: In Senate, 11 Monday, May 21, the Senate met pursuant to 12 adjournment. The Journal of Sunday, May 20, 13 was read and approved. On motion, Senate 14 adjourned. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 16 Without objection, the Journal stands approved 17 as read. 18 Presentation of petitions. 19 Messages from the Assembly. 20 Messages from the Governor. 21 Reports of standing committees. 22 Reports of select committees. 23 Communications and reports from 24 state officers. 25 Motions and resolutions.

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(518) 371-8910 1 Senator Bonacic. 2 SENATOR BONACIC: Thank you, 3 Mr. President. 4 On behalf of Senator Larkin, we'd 5 like to amend a bill on the calendar third 6 reading. Page number 36, I offer the 7 following amendments to Calendar Number 605, 8 Print Number 573, and ask that said bill 9 retain its place on the Third Reading 10 Calendar. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 12 amendments are received. The bill will retain 13 its place on the Third Reading Calendar. 14 Senator Bonacic. 15 SENATOR BONACIC: In addition, 16 Mr. President, we'd like to amend a bill 17 recalled from the Assembly. On behalf of 18 Senator Farley, I wish to call up Print Number 19 4799, recalled from the Assembly, which is now 20 at the desk. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 22 Secretary will read. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 897, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 4799, an 25 act to amend the Real Property Tax Law.

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(518) 371-8910 1 SENATOR BONACIC: Mr. President, 2 I now move to reconsider the vote by which 3 this bill was passed. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 5 Call the roll on reconsideration. 6 (The Secretary called the roll.) 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 41. 8 SENATOR BONACIC: Mr. President, 9 I now offer the following amendments. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 11 amendments are accepted. 12 SENATOR BONACIC: Thank you. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 14 You're welcome. 15 Senator Skelos. 16 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, I 17 believe there are substitutions to be made at 18 the desk. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 20 There are. The Secretary will read. 21 THE SECRETARY: On page 26, 22 Senator Seward moves to discharge, from the 23 Committee on Housing, Construction and 24 Community Development, Assembly Bill Number 25 4367 and substitute it for the identical

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(518) 371-8910 1 Senate Bill Number 3022, Third Reading 2 Calendar 364. 3 And on page 62, Senator Griffo 4 moves to discharge, from the Committee on 5 Investigations and Government Operations, 6 Assembly Bill Number 360A and substitute it 7 for the identical Senate Bill Number 2320, 8 Third Reading Calendar 1015. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 10 substitutions are ordered. 11 Senator Skelos. 12 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 13 if we could adopt the Resolution Calendar, 14 with the exception of Resolutions 1969, 2329, 15 and 2352. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: All 17 in favor of adopting the Resolution Calendar 18 with the exception of Resolutions 1969, 2329, 19 and 2352, signify by saying aye. 20 (Response of "Aye.") 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 22 Opposed, nay. 23 (No response.) 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 25 Resolution Calendar is adopted.

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(518) 371-8910 1 Senator Skelos. 2 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 3 if we could take up Resolution 1969, by 4 Senator Breslin, have it read in its entirety 5 and move for its immediate adoption. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 7 Secretary will read. 8 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 9 Breslin, Legislative Resolution Number 1969, 10 congratulating Constance Walsh Crummey upon 11 the occasion of her designation as Teenager of 12 the Year by the Colonie Elks Lodge. 13 "WHEREAS, It is the sense of this 14 Assembled Body to act, in accord with its 15 long-standing traditions, honoring the youth 16 of today and leaders of tomorrow whose 17 character and achievements best exemplify the 18 ideals and values cherished by this great 19 state and nation; and 20 "WHEREAS, Attendant to such 21 concern, and in full accord with its 22 long-standing traditions, this Assembled Body 23 is justly proud to congratulate Constance 24 Walsh Crummey upon the occasion of her 25 designation as Teenager of the Year by the

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(518) 371-8910 1 Colonie Elks Lodge, to be celebrated on 2 Tuesday, May 22, 2007; and 3 "WHEREAS, Shaker High School senior 4 Constance Crummey, daughter of the Honorable 5 and Mrs. Peter Crummey of Loudonville, 6 New York, has been selected as Shaker High 7 School's Teenager of the Year; and 8 "WHEREAS, Constance Crummey was 9 selected for this special honor because of her 10 strong academic performance, her service to 11 the school, and her commitment to the 12 community; and 13 "WHEREAS, Constance Crummey is a 14 recipient of numerous awards and honors, such 15 as Scholar Athlete Award for Tennis, Indoor 16 Track, Outdoor Track, Fall/Winter/Spring 17 2003-2007; High Honor or Honor Status for 18 academic achievement in all four quarters, 19 2003-2007; finalist for Presidential Classroom 20 Scholarship, Spring 2006; Leadership Award for 21 Student Government and Visions, Spring 2006; 22 and member of Who's Who Among American High 23 School Students, Spring 2005/Spring 2006, to 24 name a few; and 25 "WHEREAS, Constance Crummey has

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(518) 371-8910 1 been nominated for the following: membership 2 in National Society of High School Scholars, 3 Winter 2006; induction into Spring 2006 4 National Honor Roll; Congressional Student 5 Leadership Conference, Winter 2006; People to 6 People Sports Ambassador Program, Winter 2006; 7 and Global Young Leaders Conference in either 8 the U.S. or Europe, Spring 2005; and 9 "WHEREAS, A 2005-2006 Times Union 10 Tennis All-Star, Constance Crummey's sense of 11 civic duty and her commitment to others 12 represents the best development of the 13 potential which is inherent in our most 14 precious resource, our youth; now, therefore, 15 be it 16 "RESOLVED, That this Legislative 17 Body pause in its deliberations to honor 18 Constance Walsh Crummey upon the occasion of 19 her designation as Teenager of the Year by the 20 Colonie Elks Lodge; and be it further 21 "RESOLVED, That a copy of this 22 resolution, suitably engrossed, be transmitted 23 to Constance Walsh Crummey." 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 25 Senator Breslin, on the resolution.

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(518) 371-8910 1 SENATOR BRESLIN: Thank you, 2 Mr. President. 3 It's my honor to rise. Rarely do 4 we have someone that we honor in a resolution 5 that blends leadership, scholarship and 6 athleticism. But with Constance Crummey, we 7 have all three, and exemplified by her 8 all-star status as a tennis player, a 9 participant in both indoor and outdoor track, 10 her academic achievements through all four 11 years, and her exhibited leadership skills. 12 It's just a tremendous accomplishment. 13 And I'd be remiss if I didn't look 14 up and see your grandmother there. And if she 15 didn't tell you, I will, that she was one of 16 the best tennis players in the Capital 17 District for many years, and you should be 18 very proud of that tradition. 19 And if anyone doesn't know, we 20 happen to have, for some reason, the mother of 21 Constance here with us, who would be Karen 22 Crummey. Her father would be here, but he's 23 serving judicial duties, Judge Crummey from 24 Colonie. 25 So I commend you, Constance, I wish

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(518) 371-8910 1 you every success in the future for your 2 wonderful accomplishments to date. 3 Thank you, Mr. President. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: All 5 in favor of the resolution please signify by 6 saying aye. 7 (Response of "Aye.") 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 9 Opposed, nay. 10 (No response.) 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 12 resolution is adopted. 13 (Applause.) 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 15 Senator Skelos. 16 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 17 Resolution 2329, by Senator Valesky, is at the 18 desk. If we could have the title read and 19 move for its immediate adoption. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 21 Secretary will read. 22 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 23 Valesky, Legislative Resolution Number 2329, 24 paying tribute to Father Charles J. Beirne, 25 S.J., for his distinguished service as

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(518) 371-8910 1 President of Le Moyne College, upon the 2 occasion of the announcement of his new 3 assignment helping to establish the first 4 Jesuit university in Africa. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 6 Senator Valesky, on the resolution. 7 SENATOR VALESKY: Mr. President, 8 thank you very much. 9 We were honored today to have 10 Father Charles Beirne open our Senate session 11 with the beautiful prayer that he offered just 12 10 or 11 minutes ago. And this resolution 13 that is before us today acknowledges the 14 tremendous work that he has done over the 15 course of his lifetime. 16 Most recently, in Syracuse, he has 17 served for the past seven years as the 18 president of Le Moyne College, the 19 second-longest-serving president of Le Moyne 20 College in its history. Throughout that time 21 he has instituted a number of projects and 22 programs on that campus, including developing 23 new mission statements, a 20-year 24 architectural master plan for the campus, and 25 has launched the largest capital campaign in

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(518) 371-8910 1 college history entitled "Achieving New 2 Heights." 3 Under his leadership, both the 4 campaign and the college community of Le Moyne 5 is moving like it never has done before. 6 He has somehow found time over the 7 last seven years to serve as a member of the 8 board of directors of organizations such as 9 Syracuse 20/20, the Syracuse Symphony 10 Orchestra, the Metropolitan Development 11 Association, the Greater Syracuse Chamber of 12 Commerce, and many, many other civic 13 organizations. 14 We found out recently that the 15 Jesuits have asked him to take a sabbatical 16 from Le Moyne and embark upon a new endeavor 17 to help them develop their dream of opening 18 the first Jesuit university on the African 19 continent. 20 And so we send Father Beirne off 21 from this Senate chamber today on that new 22 endeavor, wish him all the best, all of our 23 best wishes in establishing the finest in 24 Jesuit education to the African continent. 25 Father Beirne, thank you for being

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(518) 371-8910 1 here with us today, and thank you for your 2 service. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: All 4 in favor of this resolution please signify by 5 saying aye. 6 (Response of "Aye.") 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 8 Opposed, nay. 9 (No response.) 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 11 resolution is adopted. 12 Congratulations, Father Beirne. We 13 welcome you and wish you well in your 14 endeavors. 15 (Applause.) 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 17 Senator Skelos. 18 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 19 there's a Resolution 2352 at the desk by 20 Senator Smith. If we could have the title 21 read and move for its immediate adoption. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 23 Secretary will read. 24 THE SECRETARY: By Senator Smith, 25 Legislative Resolution Number 2352, honoring

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(518) 371-8910 1 the life and accomplishments of William 2 Hallett Greene, the first black graduate of 3 the City University of New York and member of 4 the United States Signal Corps. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 6 question is on the resolution. All in favor 7 signify by saying aye. 8 (Response of "Aye.") 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 10 Opposed, nay. 11 (No response.) 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 13 resolution is adopted. 14 Senator Skelos. 15 SENATOR SKELOS: If we could go 16 to the noncontroversial reading of the 17 calendar. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 19 Secretary will read the noncontroversial 20 reading of the calendar. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 54, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 637, an 23 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 24 establishing the Class E felony. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:

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(518) 371-8910 1 Read the last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 3 act shall take effect on the first of 4 November. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 6 Call the roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll.) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 40. Nays, 9 1. Senator Duane recorded in the negative. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 11 bill is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 136, by Senator Fuschillo, Senate Print 2360B, 14 an act to amend the General Business Law, in 15 relation to towing of vehicles. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 17 Read the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 19 act shall take effect on the 90th day. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 21 Call the roll. 22 (The Secretary called the roll.) 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 41. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 25 bill is passed.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 172, by Senator Maltese, Senate Print 1237A, 3 an act to amend the General Municipal Law, in 4 relation to certain lung disabilities. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 6 Read the last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 8 act shall take effect on the first of July 9 next succeeding. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 11 Call the roll. 12 (The Secretary called the roll.) 13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 42. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 15 bill is passed. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 173, by Senator Lanza, Senate Print 2174, an 18 act to amend the Retirement and Social 19 Security Law, in relation to the retirement of 20 certain peace officers. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 22 Read the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 11. This 24 act shall take effect on the first of April 25 next succeeding.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 2 Call the roll. 3 (The Secretary called the roll.) 4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 42. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 6 bill is passed. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 362, by Senator Bonacic, Senate Print 466, an 9 act to amend the Private Housing Finance Law, 10 in relation to the farmworker housing. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 12 Read the last section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 14 act shall take effect immediately. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 16 Call the roll. 17 (The Secretary called the roll.) 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 19 Senator Nozzolio, to explain his vote. 20 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Thank you, 21 Mr. President. 22 Mr. President and my colleagues, I 23 rise on this important legislation because 24 it's particularly involved with the number-one 25 industry of New York State, that number-one

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(518) 371-8910 1 industry being agriculture. 2 That today, in the gallery viewing 3 the proceedings, is a group of young people 4 from the Dana West High School in Port Byron, 5 New York. And Port Byron is located in Cayuga 6 County, one of the largest producers of 7 agricultural products in all of New York State 8 and one of the most productive agricultural 9 counties in all of the United States. 10 Today, this group of the criminal 11 justice class and law class at Dana West is 12 accompanied by their tremendous teacher, 13 Dr. Linda Townsend. Dr. Townsend has 14 continually, through her career, demonstrated 15 real practical applications of education. And 16 that's part of the students' education today 17 in coming to this hallowed chamber to learn 18 about how laws are being made. 19 This particular group of students 20 is deeply involved in the legislative process, 21 in that they have petitioned the state 22 government to designate an official state 23 vegetable. 24 And, Madam President, you as the 25 presiding officer today, but also as a

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(518) 371-8910 1 chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, 2 I know you are very interested in all 3 endeavors which help promote New York 4 agriculture. 5 I point to Senate Bill 3919, 6 accompanying legislation in the State Assembly 7 also, to designate sweet corn as the official 8 vegetable of the State of New York. 9 Now, whether or not this vegetable 10 becomes the official state vegetable is not as 11 important as the fact that these young people 12 are learning about their government, they're 13 taking their responsibilities as citizens very 14 seriously and are participating in the 15 greatest democracy that the world has ever 16 seen. 17 Madam President, I welcome these 18 fine young individuals from the Port Byron 19 Central School District, right in the heart of 20 most productive agriculture community in the 21 nation. That the Dana West High School street 22 law class, accompanied by Dr. Linda Townsend, 23 are what we are doing in trying to make our 24 government better for their future. And their 25 future hopefully will be in participating in

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(518) 371-8910 1 our great democratic process. 2 I vote aye on Senator Bonacic's 3 bill. And thank you, Madam President, for 4 welcoming this great group to our hallowed 5 chamber. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT YOUNG: Thank 7 you, Senator Nozzolio. And you will be 8 recorded in the affirmative. 9 And I want to give my special 10 greetings to this group as chair of the Senate 11 Agriculture Committee. It's great to see so 12 many young people very interested in 13 agriculture. And I hope you have a great day 14 here at the Capitol. 15 Announce the results. 16 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 50. Nays, 17 0. 18 (Applause.) 19 ACTING PRESIDENT YOUNG: The bill 20 is passed. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 364, substituted earlier today by Member of 23 the Assembly Magee -- 24 SENATOR DUANE: Lay it aside, 25 please.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT YOUNG: The bill 2 is laid aside. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 564, by Senator Robach, Senate Print 4291, an 5 act to amend the Retirement and Social 6 Security Law. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT YOUNG: Read the 8 last section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 10 act shall take effect immediately. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT YOUNG: Call the 12 roll. 13 (The Secretary called the roll.) 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 50. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT YOUNG: The bill 16 is passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 608, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 1581, an 19 act to amend the Racing, Pari-Mutuel Wagering 20 and Breeding Law and the Workers' Compensation 21 Law, in relation to workers' compensation 22 benefits. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT YOUNG: Read the 24 last section. 25 THE SECRETARY: Section 11. This

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(518) 371-8910 1 act shall take effect immediately. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT YOUNG: Call the 3 roll. 4 (The Secretary called the roll.) 5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 52. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT YOUNG: The bill 7 is passed. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 629, by Senator Lanza, Senate Print 3584A, an 10 act to amend the General Business Law, in 11 relation to purchase of valuable metal. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT YOUNG: Read the 13 last section. 14 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 15 act shall take effect on the 180th day. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT YOUNG: Call the 17 roll. 18 (The Secretary called the roll.) 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 52. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT YOUNG: The bill 21 is passed. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 630, by Senator Little, Senate Print 3814A, an 24 act to amend the General Business Law, in 25 relation to cyber piracy protections.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT YOUNG: Read the 2 last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 4 act shall take effect on the 120th day. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT YOUNG: Call the 6 roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll.) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 53. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT YOUNG: The bill 10 is passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 694, by Senator Maziarz, Senate Print 4786, an 13 act to amend the Labor Law, in relation to 14 enacting the Jobs and Trade Act. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT YOUNG: Read the 16 last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 18 act shall take effect on the 120th day. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT YOUNG: Call the 20 roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll.) 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 54. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT YOUNG: The bill 24 is passed. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number

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(518) 371-8910 1 780, by Senator Golden, Senate Print 4889, an 2 act to amend the Civil Service Law, in 3 relation to permitting children of 4 firefighters. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT YOUNG: Read the 6 last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 8 act shall take effect immediately. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT YOUNG: Call the 10 roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll.) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 54. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT YOUNG: The bill 14 is passed. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 781, by Senator Robach, Senate Print 5287A, an 17 act to amend the Retirement and Social 18 Security Law, in relation to investment. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT YOUNG: Read the 20 last section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 22 act shall take effect immediately. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT YOUNG: Call the 24 roll. 25 (The Secretary called the roll.)

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT YOUNG: Senator 2 Robach, to explain your vote. 3 SENATOR ROBACH: Yes, Madam 4 President, very quickly. 5 I rise to support this bill. And 6 first, on the topic itself, I think we all 7 agree, through international groups, 8 humanitarian groups, the faith-based community 9 as well as the media, we're all aware of the 10 unfortunate displacement and genocide that's 11 going on inside the Sudan of women, children, 12 men, all across the board. 13 So I'm glad we are taking this step 14 to do all we can to stop this. Similar to 15 earlier attempts that seemed to work, albeit 16 in a very lengthy time period, in what was 17 going only in South Africa. In some regards, 18 I would almost make the argument that this is 19 more dire, due to the amount of violence that 20 these poor people had to endure. 21 And I had an individual who was 22 from the Sudan whose family was living in 23 Rochester, New York -- they moved out here 24 from their own volition -- and saw firsthand 25 some of the videotape that he took of what was

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(518) 371-8910 1 going on there that, had it been found on his 2 person, probably would have resulted in the 3 loss of his life, of the atrocities going on 4 there. So I'm glad as a body we're moving 5 this bill. 6 And, secondly, I just briefly 7 wanted to say I wanted to thank my colleague 8 Senator John Sampson, who is ahead of the 9 curve on this, the legislation; Comptroller 10 Tom DiNapoli, who's been working very closely 11 with us to try and do all we can financially 12 and inside the realm of constitutionality to 13 deter the activity that's going on there 14 economically; and, lastly, my colleague Darryl 15 Towns in the Assembly, who was also an early 16 champion of this bill. I'm happy to stand up 17 that we have it here today and support this 18 important measure. 19 Thank you, Madam President. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT YOUNG: Thank 21 you, Senator Robach. You will be recorded in 22 the affirmative. 23 Senator Marcellino, to explain your 24 vote. 25 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you,

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(518) 371-8910 1 Madam President. I rise to explain my vote on 2 this important issue. 3 I am a proud cosponsor of this 4 particular bill. It is long overdue. 5 Unfortunately, what is going on in the Sudan 6 is not receiving the kind of press and the 7 kind of attention that it should on a 8 worldwide stage. The war in Iraq is 9 overwhelming this in the papers and the press, 10 and the genocide, the murder, the killings, 11 the rape and the torture of innocents is being 12 carried on, and very little if anything, 13 nothing is being actually done to stop it. 14 Some words are spoken, but nothing serious is 15 on the horizon. 16 This is a step that New York State 17 can take. Our Comptroller can pull back 18 funding from any business that does business 19 in the Sudan. We can stop that. We can make 20 a statement very clear that New York State 21 will not support in any way, shape or form 22 this kind of horrific behavior against 23 individuals for any reason. 24 This piece of legislation, as I 25 said, may be considered by some as a small

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(518) 371-8910 1 step but it's a very important step that we 2 make a stand and take a stand on this very 3 important issue. So I proudly vote aye on 4 this bill and urge everyone else to do the 5 same. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Senator 7 Marcellino will be recorded in the 8 affirmative. 9 Senator Sampson. 10 SENATOR SAMPSON: Thank you, 11 Mr. President. 12 I rise in support of this bill. 13 And I want to commend you on your leadership 14 with respect to the passage of this bill. And 15 as Senator Marcellino said, it is very 16 important that we take strides and steps to 17 show the world that through our pension funds 18 we will divest in any companies that are 19 involved in anything involving those militias 20 who are involved in the desecration and 21 massacre of individuals in the Sudan. 22 So I just want to commend the 23 sponsors and the cosponsors. But most of all, 24 I want to commend the Comptroller for pulling 25 back those funds for individuals who are

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(518) 371-8910 1 lending to the death and destruction of those 2 in Darfur. 3 Thank you very much, Mr. President. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Thank 5 you, Senator Sampson. 6 Senator Montgomery. 7 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, 8 Mr. President. I would like to rise to also 9 thank you for this legislation, you and 10 Senator Sampson, for your leadership on here. 11 And I would just respectfully 12 request that this be a unanimously sponsored 13 legislation, because I think it really speaks 14 for every single member in this house. It 15 probably speaks for every member in the other 16 house. And I would like to request, 17 therefore, that we all are listed as 18 cosponsors on both sides of the aisle. 19 Thank you, Mr. President. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Senator 21 Montgomery will be recorded in the 22 affirmative. 23 Senator Stewart-Cousins, to explain 24 her vote. 25 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: Thank

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(518) 371-8910 1 you, Mr. President. 2 I do want to congratulate you on 3 the leadership here, both you and Senator 4 Sampson, and just say yesterday we were proud 5 to have a teacher from the Yonkers Public 6 School, Beth Quinn, who received an award from 7 the State Education Department because of the 8 things that she's been doing with the school, 9 meeting hate with humanity. 10 But what's more important is that 11 there are students who are collecting in high 12 school, under her leadership, for the Sudanese 13 people -- just simple notebooks and pencils 14 and so on and so forth. 15 So I stand to say that I'm proud 16 that we can contribute our part as a state to 17 making sure that the atrocities in the Sudan 18 are recognized. And I certainly will be 19 wanting to be recorded in the affirmative. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Thank 21 you, Senator Stewart-Cousins. 22 Senator Hassell-Thompson, to 23 explain her vote. 24 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Thank 25 you, Mr. President.

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(518) 371-8910 1 Very quickly, I just want to 2 congratulate you and to offer my support in 3 terms of this legislation. I think that most 4 of my colleagues have already articulated for 5 me why I think it's important. 6 But I think as we look at behaviors 7 across the world, I want us to always be sure 8 that as we stand for something, that our own 9 behavior too is always tantamount to that 10 which we preach. 11 But certainly I think that this is 12 a tremendous step, sending a message to the 13 world that we do believe in freedom, that we 14 do believe in the rights of all people, and 15 that we try, in our own humanity, to do the 16 right thing and to support the right things. 17 And I thank you for your leadership 18 in this issue. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Thank 20 you, Senator Hassell-Thompson. 21 Announce the results. 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 54. Nays, 23 0. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The 25 bill is passed.

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(518) 371-8910 1 Senator Skelos. 2 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 3 if we would put all members on the legislation 4 as cosponsors. If anybody wishes not to 5 cosponsor the legislation, they should notify 6 the desk. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: We 8 would be happy to do that, but still, at this 9 point, unlike a resolution, anybody that 10 wishes to be on the bill, if they want to fill 11 out a buck slip, they can do that. We will 12 certainly accommodate them on this important 13 bill. 14 Thank you, Senator Skelos. 15 The clerk will continue to read the 16 noncontroversial calendar. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 864, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 35, 19 an act to amend the General Business Law, in 20 relation to fraudulent sale. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Read 22 the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 24 act shall take effect on the first of 25 November.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Call 2 the roll. 3 (The Secretary called the roll.) 4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 53. Nays, 5 1. Senator Duane recorded in the negative. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The 7 bill is passed. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 876, by Senator Robach, Senate Print 4292A, an 10 act to amend the Highway Law, in relation to 11 designating. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Read 13 the last section. 14 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 15 act shall take effect immediately. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Call 17 the roll. 18 (The Secretary called the roll.) 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 54. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The 21 bill is passed. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 877, by Senator Griffo, Senate Print 4424, an 24 act to amend the Highway Law, in relation to 25 designating a portion of State Route 840.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Senator 2 Skelos. 3 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 4 if we could just pause for one minute while 5 certain individuals come into the chamber. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: We'll 7 just pause momentarily here and resume. 8 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Senator 10 Skelos. 11 SENATOR SKELOS: If we could now 12 take up the bill and please reread the title. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The 14 Secretary will read. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 877, by Senator Griffo, Senate Print 4424, an 17 act to amend the Highway Law, in relation to 18 designating a portion of State Route 840 as 19 the Officer Joseph D. Corr Memorial Highway. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Read 21 the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 23 act shall take effect immediately. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Call 25 the roll.

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(518) 371-8910 1 (The Secretary called the roll.) 2 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Senator 3 Griffo, to explain his vote. 4 SENATOR GRIFFO: Thank you, 5 Mr. President. Thank you, Senator Skelos. 6 Today is a very difficult day 7 because, while this honor is very significant 8 and it's appropriate that we memorialize and 9 remember this very brave and courageous police 10 officer who on a February night in 2006 was 11 murdered in the line of duty, also today we 12 will be going to the wall, the memorial wall 13 in the park just outside, to remember all 14 those who were killed in the line of duty. 15 Today we have with us the family 16 members of Officer Joseph Corr. And this 17 tribute that we pay, and this designation, is 18 something that I feel is appropriate and 19 important because it continues to remind 20 people of this brave and courageous young man 21 who paid the ultimate sacrifice in defending 22 and protecting and serving the public 23 interest. 24 Today we are very honored to have 25 with us in this chamber -- and this is a very

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(518) 371-8910 1 difficult thing for these family members to 2 do. They know that it is essential that they 3 continue to be present and to remember Officer 4 Corr and to remind people of what needs to be 5 done to protect officers in the future. But 6 it's also a family who, despite suffering 7 great pain, has had the opportunity many times 8 to provide solace and comfort to others as 9 they sometimes, as they reflect on the events 10 of that tragic night and remember the great 11 life of this police officer, try to come to 12 grips. 13 So I want to recognize today in 14 this chamber the family of Officer Joseph 15 Corr: His dad and mom, Dave and Kathy; his 16 sisters, Kelly and Sherry; his wife, Tracy; 17 his beautiful daughter, Caitlin; the 18 grandparents and other members of the extended 19 family who are there, as well as New Hartford 20 Police Chief Ray Philo, Lieutenant O'Neil, 21 Officer Colburn, who is also here, Sergeant 22 Colburn from the New Hartford Police 23 Department, because that is also part of the 24 family. 25 And today what we do in our area is

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(518) 371-8910 1 to dedicate and remember this great police 2 officer, to remember and celebrate his life in 3 memory by designating this portion of this 4 highway in his honor forever posthumously. 5 And I want to extend again our condolences to 6 the family, but also our thanks and 7 appreciation for your courage, for your 8 willingness to be involved to ensure that this 9 does not happen to other officers, and to 10 always remember this great person -- because 11 he was not only an excellent police officer, 12 he was an extraordinary human being. 13 And this body again sends its 14 condolences to the family, but also we applaud 15 you and will keep you in your prayers and wish 16 you the best. And today this is one more 17 fitting memory and tribute to a great human 18 being. 19 Thank you to the Corr family. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: 21 Announce the results. 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 56. Nays, 23 0. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The 25 bill is passed.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 921, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 3791, an 3 act to amend the Not-for-Profit Corporation 4 Law, in relation to maintenance. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Read 6 the last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 8 act shall take effect on the 60th day. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Call 10 the roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll.) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 57. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The 14 bill is passed. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 974, by Senator Golden, Senate Print 1148, an 17 act to amend the Executive Law, in relation to 18 designating. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Read 20 the last section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 22 act shall take effect on the first of January. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Call 24 the roll. 25 (The Secretary called the roll.)

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 57. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The 3 bill is passed. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 975, by Senator Robach, Senate Print 1699, an 6 act to amend the Executive Law, in relation to 7 members of the State Police. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Read 9 the last section. 10 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 11 act shall take effect on the 180th day. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Call 13 the roll. 14 (The Secretary called the roll.) 15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 57. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The 17 bill is passed. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 980, by Senator Marcellino, Senate Print 5307, 20 an act to amend the Education Law, the 21 Business Corporation Law, and the Limited 22 Liability Company Law. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Read 24 the last section. 25 THE SECRETARY: Section 16. This

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(518) 371-8910 1 act shall take effect two years after the date 2 on which it shall have become law. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Call 4 the roll. 5 (The Secretary called the roll.) 6 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 57. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The 8 bill is passed. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 1015, substituted earlier today by Member of 11 the Assembly Destito, Assembly Print Number 12 360A, an act authorizing the Office of General 13 Services to convey. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Read 15 the last section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 17 act shall take effect immediately. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Call 19 the roll. 20 (The Secretary called the roll.) 21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 57. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The 23 bill is passed. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 1017, by Senator Young, Senate Print 3001, an

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(518) 371-8910 1 act to amend the Public Officers Law and the 2 Village Law, in relation to qualifications. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Read 4 the last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 6 act shall take effect immediately. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Call 8 the roll. 9 (The Secretary called the roll.) 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 57. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The 12 bill is passed. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 14 1028, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 15 Print Number 4204, an act to amend the Tax 16 Law, in relation to extending. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Read 18 the last section. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 20 act shall take effect immediately. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Call 22 the roll. 23 (The Secretary called the roll.) 24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 57. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: The

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(518) 371-8910 1 bill is passed. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 1176, by Senator Padavan, Senate Print 5902, 4 an act to amend the Penal Law and others, in 5 relate to human trafficking. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Read 7 the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 14. This 9 act shall take effect on the first of 10 November. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Call 12 the roll. 13 (The Secretary called the roll.) 14 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Senator 15 Padavan, to explain his vote. 16 SENATOR PADAVAN: Thank you, 17 Mr. President. 18 I'm just going to take a few 19 minutes to talk about this bill because we 20 have discussed it on many other occasions, 21 most recently in February, and the bill before 22 us today is essentially that bill, with some 23 changes to accommodate both the Assembly and 24 based on recommendations made by them and the 25 Governor.

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(518) 371-8910 1 Basically we have two major 2 components in this bill, tough penalties for 3 those who promote, engage in, facilitate, 4 operate human trafficking activities, with 5 sentences, depending on the particular act, 6 ranging from one year to 25 years. 7 We deal with sex tourism, this 8 horrible commercial activity of arranging for 9 individuals to travel to far places and to 10 engage in sex with children. 11 We have a variety of punitive 12 measures in this bill that will hit hard at 13 the traffickers and any other ancillary 14 activity associated with the traffickers. 15 There was a high-profile case 16 recently a week ago of a couple out in 17 Muttontown, of having two Indonesian 18 individuals trafficked into this country, put 19 in bondage, in slavery, over a period of many 20 years. Under this legislation, if it becomes 21 law, those individuals could have sentences up 22 to 25 years for having conducted that type of 23 activity. 24 The other major component of this 25 bill deals with treatment and assistance and

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(518) 371-8910 1 aid to those who are the victims in a whole 2 host of ways, providing not only compensation 3 directly but also housing, healthcare, a whole 4 host of services that social service agencies 5 would be required under these provisions to 6 provide. In addition, facilitating 7 interaction with the federal government that 8 would deal with their status in this country, 9 including green cards and citizenship. 10 So there are many, many things in 11 this bill that are both positive and 12 beneficial not only on the law enforcement 13 side, not only in dealing with the human 14 traffickers, a modern-day form of slavery, but 15 also dealing with the victims themselves. 16 One final point. We create in this 17 legislation an interagency task force on human 18 trafficking. We involve the Office of 19 Temporary and Disability Assistance, which 20 includes housing, healthcare, mental health 21 counseling, drug treatment, language services, 22 and job training. So there's a great deal in 23 here involving help to those who are victims 24 of this terrible, terrible activity. 25 We require that in a year from now

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(518) 371-8910 1 the task force come back to the Legislature, 2 along with the other agencies I mentioned, and 3 give us an update on how this bill, this law 4 is being applied, making recommendations that 5 maybe appropriate for any additions, changes 6 or modifications. 7 That is the essence of the bill, 8 Mr. President. However, before I sit down, I 9 want to take this opportunity to thank the 10 many advocates in the state and elsewhere who 11 played a major role over the period of five or 12 more years that I've been involved, and 13 perhaps even longer than that, in seeing that 14 this legislation becomes law. People like the 15 New York State Anti-Trafficking Coalition, 16 Equality Now, the National Organization of 17 Women, Safe Horizons, and of course the 18 New York City Bar Association. 19 And, in addition, my good friend 20 and colleague Senator Dale Volker, chairman of 21 Codes Committee, who was extremely helpful 22 over a long period of time in helping us get 23 to this point. 24 Thank you, Mr. President. I vote 25 aye.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Thank 2 you, Senator Padavan. 3 Senator Sabini, to explain his 4 vote. 5 SENATOR SABINI: Thank you, 6 Mr. President. 7 I want to congratulate Senator 8 Padavan in moving forward with this bill and 9 be willing to compromise, as did the Assembly 10 on a couple of items. 11 I think the sponsor is a hundred 12 percent correct that the bill has got the two 13 components that we really needed in a tough 14 human trafficking bill -- strong penalties for 15 those engage in this heinous crime and human 16 services for those who are the victims of the 17 crime. 18 The victims of this crime are not 19 normal criminal evidence or burglar's tools, 20 they're human beings. And they're human 21 beings who have been robbed of their identity, 22 robbed of their health, robbed of their 23 immigration status. And what this bill will 24 do for them is allow them to become human 25 beings again -- achieve social services,

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(518) 371-8910 1 achieve medical care, dental care, access to 2 education, access to benefits. And the state 3 will allow them to come as close to achieving 4 a T visa as is humanly possible if they choose 5 to stay in this country and avail themselves 6 of the American dream, because up till now 7 their presence in America by and large has 8 been a nightmare. 9 The agreement on this bill came 10 literally a day after the incident that was 11 exposed in Muttontown where two women from 12 Indonesia had been held captive by a family 13 for domestic servitude. This crime of human 14 trafficking takes on many forms -- 15 ACTING PRESIDENT ROBACH: Excuse 16 me, Senator Sabini. 17 If we could just get a little bit 18 of quiet in here. This is a very important 19 topic, and I'm sure we all want to hear our 20 colleague. 21 Continue, Senator. 22 SENATOR SABINI: This crime 23 involves many different forms of it, whether 24 it's enslavement for prostitution, as the 25 Carreto brothers did in the Corona section of

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(518) 371-8910 1 my district in bringing women in with promises 2 of the American dream and perhaps marriage, 3 and they wound up being enslaved as 4 prostitutes; the deaf Mexicans of Jackson 5 Heights in my district, who were brought in 6 from Mexico to beg in the subway and then have 7 the alms taken from them every day that they 8 came home -- but again, not being able to run 9 away, because they had no papers. If they 10 went to authorities, they felt they had no 11 identity to be nothing but prosecuted on their 12 own. 13 We have a new situation now that a 14 group of women from the Ukraine who are 15 disabled have been brought into the South 16 Asian parts of my district, dressed up to 17 appear South Asian and beg for alms and then 18 they're picked up every night and their money 19 is taken from them, the money that they've 20 begged for during the day. 21 So that whether it's in the tony 22 suburbs of Muttontown or in the streets of 23 Queens or on Park Avenue, we've seen this 24 crime in various forms. 25 I want to, as Senator Padavan did,

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(518) 371-8910 1 thank the dogged efforts of the folks in the 2 New York State Anti-Trafficking Coalition and 3 all their member groups for persisting in this 4 fight. 5 But I especially want to thank the 6 Governor for bringing us together on this, 7 because for the last two years the two bills 8 that passed each house were never seemingly 9 coming together. And with all due respect, 10 this is not an issue that we can afford to 11 ignore anymore. It's not screw-thread 12 regulation, it's not the Bottle Bill. There 13 are human beings involved. And the fact that 14 we were doing sort of the Albany shuffle on 15 this and not making a bill come to law was 16 really a shame. 17 So I want to thank the Governor for 18 his role, as well as Senator Padavan and 19 Assemblyman Dinowitz for making this finally 20 come to fruition. 21 But again, I think that citizen 22 action in this case, the work of the member 23 groups of the New York Anti-Trafficking 24 Coalition, Equality Now, the National 25 Organization of Women, Safe Horizons, the bar

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(518) 371-8910 1 associations, both New York Bar Association 2 and the Asian Bar Association, really should 3 be commended for their work on this. 4 I'll be voting aye. Thank you. 5 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Sabini 6 will be recorded in the affirmative. 7 Senator Marcellino, to explain his 8 vote. 9 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you, 10 Mr. President. I rise to explain my vote on 11 this important issue. 12 I thank Senator Padavan for 13 bringing it forward. I represent Muttontown, 14 the area where most recently a couple was 15 found to be holding two young women, 16 apparently against their will. Slavery, in 17 this day and age, in Muttontown, Long 18 Island -- something unheard of. Most people 19 would never even perceive it as a possibility. 20 Certainly I didn't. 21 But nonetheless, it's a reality: 22 What has been described as the ability to 23 bring people here and to abuse them, misuse 24 them, to lie to them, lure them to this 25 country with the potential of participating,

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(518) 371-8910 1 as my colleague Senator Sabini said, in the 2 American dream and then treating them in the 3 foulest and most heinous ways. 4 This is something that we must do 5 all in our power to stop. It goes back to 6 what we did before with the bill on Darfur. 7 This kind of thing, this kind of behavior 8 cannot in any way, shape or form be allowed to 9 exist in any civilized country in any place, 10 let alone the United States of America. This 11 is an abomination which we must do all in our 12 power to stamp out with everything we can. 13 So I thank again Senator Padavan 14 and, yes, the Governor for bringing the issue 15 to the forefront, Senator Bruno for moving it 16 in this chamber, and for all my colleagues who 17 I'm sure will support this unanimously. This 18 is an important bill. 19 And again, I stress it shows what 20 we can do when we come together and work 21 together in a cooperative, collegial, 22 respectful manner. I vote aye, and I know 23 every one of my colleagues will do the same. 24 Thank you, Mr. President. 25 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you,

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(518) 371-8910 1 Senator Marcellino. 2 Senator Marcellino will be recorded 3 in the affirmative. 4 Senator Volker, to explain his 5 vote. 6 SENATOR VOLKER: Mr. President, 7 briefly let me just -- I want to commend 8 Senator Padavan also. I also want to commend 9 a number of the people in this chamber on both 10 sides of the aisle. 11 We had a hearing in New York City 12 here last year on this issue, and I have to 13 admit to you, it opened my eyes. Even though 14 I had sent my counsel down there to look into 15 it, I didn't realize the extent until we got 16 there. And we had a very emotional hearing. 17 And frankly, it is kind of interesting, I was 18 watching as the Assembly -- and I'm not 19 knocking the Assembly, except they were the 20 ones that had a terrible problem with this, 21 because there were three or four different 22 views. 23 I want to commend the Governor too. 24 Because we were planning on having joint 25 hearings. Assemblyman Lentol and I, he

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(518) 371-8910 1 admitted to me that he had a problem in his 2 house, so we had decided we were going to have 3 problems in New York City, Albany, and Buffalo 4 as well as Long Island because of the issue. 5 You say, why Buffalo? Well, I found out in 6 talking to police and immigration people that 7 we had a lot of people being brought across 8 from Canada who in effect were indentured 9 slavery, it was really slavery. And in fact, 10 there was a raid, if I'm not mistaken, on a 11 farm in upstate New York where they thought 12 they had illegal aliens, and they found out 13 that they were illegal aliens all right, but 14 they were slaves, is what they were. And I 15 understand they ended up busting a whole bunch 16 of people involved in an international ring, 17 apparently. 18 So this is not just New York City. 19 And I admit to you that when I first looked 20 into it, I thought that that's what we were 21 finding. 22 The good thing about this is that 23 after we were about ready to schedule 24 hearings, I was told: Hold up a little bit, 25 because we may have something happening here.

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(518) 371-8910 1 The next thing I knew, the Governor got 2 involved and all of a sudden the Assembly 3 decided that maybe they could agree. 4 I'm happy about that. I'm very 5 happy. A lot of effort is -- but I will say 6 this one thing. Senator Padavan was always a 7 tiger on this issue. The people that 8 represented the city on both sides of the 9 aisle, I don't think there was ever any real 10 dispute here, just an attempt to come up with 11 a solution. 12 I will say one funny thing, if I 13 might, and that's that one union did kind of 14 surprise me. And the only way I can describe 15 this union is I was -- it was described as the 16 union of night people. I found out that there 17 was an actual union of people who sell their 18 bodies, if you know what I mean. And I 19 thought, now there's one that I never ran into 20 before, a union of prostitutes. 21 And they were afraid that what we 22 would do is make it tough on their trade. I 23 said "Wow." I'm telling you, I learned 24 something when I went down to New York City, 25 I'll tell you that right now.

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(518) 371-8910 1 In any case, this is a very much 2 needed bill. I commend the Governor. I 3 commend everyone that was involved. We need 4 to do this sort of thing. 5 There's going to be more, I think, 6 in the enforcement area, because this is a 7 huge issue. And it's not only a state issue, 8 it's an international issue. And the federal 9 government is going to have to get more 10 involved in this, because a lot of people are 11 being tortured and are being held hostage and 12 so forth and we got to deal with this. 13 So I thank everybody in this 14 chamber, and I congratulate the Governor and 15 Senator Padavan. Thank you. I vote aye. 16 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Volker 17 will be recorded in the affirmative on 18 Calendar Number 1176. 19 Senator Hassell-Thompson, to 20 explain her vote. 21 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Just 22 briefly. Mr. President, thank you. 23 I too rise to support this 24 legislation. And it would be very 25 uncomfortable if I did not. Any form of

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(518) 371-8910 1 slavery is unacceptable. And I just 2 appreciate the fact that New York State is 3 standing up to this issue. 4 Three years ago the women's caucus 5 made an effort to put forward a national -- 6 became part of a national movement to begin to 7 look at the issue of human trafficking. And I 8 just appreciate the fact that the Governor and 9 those in this house thought it not robbery to 10 deal with an issue that is of critical 11 importance to people who do come to this 12 country thinking that they have found a haven 13 and, rather, find hell. 14 And so therefore it gives me great 15 pleasure to be part of a body that looks at 16 this 21st century issue of slavery and makes 17 an effort to seriously do something about it. 18 THE PRESIDENT: Senator 19 Hassell-Thompson will be recorded in the 20 affirmative. 21 Senator Young, to explain her vote. 22 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you, 23 Mr. President. To explain my vote. 24 First of all, I want to 25 congratulate and sincerely thank Senator

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(518) 371-8910 1 Padavan for his persistence, his dedication. 2 This is an issue that he has put his heart and 3 soul into, and we should thank him very much 4 for that hard work that he's put in on this 5 bill. 6 The Farm Bureau actually strongly 7 supports this legislation. And you may say 8 why, why is that? Because you think of this 9 as more of an issue that may affect urban city 10 areas, heavily populated areas. But actually 11 it's a rural issue also, because there are 12 many migrant farmworkers in this state who 13 have been taken advantage of by unscrupulous 14 people who bring them into farms under false 15 pretenses and victimize them. 16 And that's why this is so 17 important, because this is an issue that 18 affects the entire state, not just certain 19 parts of the state. 20 We as lawmakers and human beings 21 have an obligation to other human beings to 22 make sure that they're not victimized, preyed 23 upon, and made into slaves. And so I commend 24 not only Senator Padavan but all the Senators 25 in this chamber who have worked so hard on

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(518) 371-8910 1 this, and also the Assembly and the Governor 2 for working this out. 3 And I think it proves that when we 4 can get together, we can have results. And 5 this is one of those cases. 6 So, Mr. President, I vote yes. 7 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Young 8 will be recorded in the affirmative. 9 Senator L. Krueger, to explain her 10 vote. 11 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you, 12 Mr. President. 13 I also rise to applaud the people 14 who have worked so hard to get this bill 15 passed. It is one of fundamental human 16 rights. 17 But I want to add one thing to the 18 discussion today in my statement. Some people 19 are confused why we needed a state law. They 20 said we had a federal law against trafficking 21 and therefore it was duplicative for us to 22 have a state law. But I think it's so 23 critical for people to understand this wasn't 24 the kind of issue that the federal law 25 enforcement officials were going after. This

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(518) 371-8910 1 is a question of enforcement. 2 So we have accomplished a goal in 3 passing this bill today and knowing that it's 4 agreed upon and that the Governor will sign 5 it. But the challenge awaiting us is ensuring 6 that this new law gets enforced. Because many 7 of my colleagues have described some of the 8 horrendous things that have been going on 9 throughout the state of New York -- 10 exploitation, slavery, forced prostitution, 11 forced drug addiction, murder growing out of 12 this activity. 13 But unless we now take the next 14 step to ensure that our law enforcement 15 officials are trained and educated, follow 16 through and stop this behavior, in the future 17 we'll just be talking about the law we passed. 18 So it is a good day. Everyone who worked so 19 hard on this should be applauded. And now the 20 real work begins for us. 21 So I vote yes. Thank you, 22 Mr. President. 23 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Krueger 24 will be recorded in the affirmative. 25 Senator Adams, to explain his vote.

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(518) 371-8910 1 SENATOR ADAMS: Thank you, 2 Mr. President. 3 I think this bill and the one that 4 preceded it, the bill on Darfur, I think is as 5 important for us as it is for the individuals 6 who would benefit from the bill. 7 As I stated yesterday and I will 8 continue to state, America has historically 9 set the tone for decency across the globe. 10 And you think of that old commercial when the 11 man walked out of the hospital with his child 12 and he says "What can one man do?" 13 So the question becomes "What can 14 one state legislator do?" There's so many 15 much we can do to clearly not allow ourselves 16 to be consumed by the enormity of the problems 17 that we're facing on a global proportion. We 18 can set a tone across the globe that no matter 19 what happens elsewhere, we're going to ensure 20 that it doesn't happen here. 21 We're not going to allow our 22 dollars to be used to invest in those 23 countries that are abusive and have draconian 24 measures to handle their citizens. We're not 25 going to allow people to kidnap individuals

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(518) 371-8910 1 and bring them to our country and allow them 2 to be exploited, abused and misused. 3 So this bill is important, and I 4 commend all those who put the energy together 5 to make it happen. It's a real issue. It's a 6 real incident. This allows our law 7 enforcement community to do their jobs, to 8 make sure that this country remains the most 9 important land of the free and not a land that 10 would be exploited by anyone. 11 Thank you, Mr. President. 12 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Adams 13 will be recorded in the affirmative. 14 The Secretary will announce the 15 results on Calendar Number 1176, sponsored by 16 Senator Padavan. 17 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59. Nays, 18 0. 19 THE PRESIDENT: The bill is 20 passed. 21 That completes the noncontroversial 22 reading of the calendar. 23 Senator Skelos, we have a bill that 24 has been laid aside here. 25 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,

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(518) 371-8910 1 if we could return to motions and resolutions. 2 There's a resolution at the desk by 3 Senator Bruno. If we could have the title 4 read and move for its immediate adoption. 5 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary 6 will read. 7 THE SECRETARY: By Senator Bruno, 8 Legislative Resolution Number 2406, honoring 9 Terrance L. Brewer upon the occasion of his 10 retirement as Superintendent of the East 11 Greenbush Central School District, after 12 34 years of dedicated service in education. 13 THE PRESIDENT: The question is 14 on the resolution. All those in favor please 15 indicate so by saying aye. 16 (Response of "Aye.") 17 THE PRESIDENT: Opposed, nay. 18 (No response.) 19 THE PRESIDENT: The resolution is 20 carried for Terrance L. Brewer of the East 21 Greenbush Central School District. 22 Senator Skelos. 23 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, I 24 believe Senator Farley has a motion to make at 25 this time.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Farley. 2 SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you, 3 Mr. President. 4 On behalf of Senator Skelos, on 5 page 63 I offer the following amendments to 6 Calendar Number 1022, Senate Print 3857, and I 7 ask that this bill retain its place on the 8 Third Reading Calendar. 9 THE PRESIDENT: The amendments 10 are received and adopted, and the bill will 11 retain its place on the Third Reading 12 Calendar. 13 Senator Skelos. 14 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 15 if we could go to the controversial reading of 16 the calendar. 17 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary 18 will ring the bell and alert the members. 19 The Secretary will read. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 364, substituted earlier today by Member of 22 the Assembly Magee, Assembly Print Number 23 4367, an act to amend the Executive Law. 24 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: 25 Explanation.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Seward, 2 an explanation has been requested by Senator 3 L. Krueger. 4 SENATOR SEWARD: Certainly, 5 Mr. President. 6 This bill would exempt structures 7 that are used in conjunction with a farm 8 operation from the definition of "building" 9 for the building code compliance purposes. 10 Starting January 1st, the 11 Department of State issued new regulations 12 that require the inspection of all 13 nonresidential buildings for code compliance. 14 But the unique nature of farm buildings was 15 not specifically contemplated or exempted as 16 part of these new regulations. And in many, 17 many cases these new regulations are going to 18 be very costly and burdensome and would 19 provide little if any protection in a 20 farm-operation-style building. 21 So this legislation would provide 22 clarification by specifically exempting 23 working, operating farm buildings from these 24 new property maintenance code provisions. 25 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Krueger.

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(518) 371-8910 1 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you, 2 Mr. President. If, through you, the sponsor 3 would yield. 4 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Seward, 5 will you yield to a question from Senator 6 Krueger? 7 SENATOR SEWARD: Yes, I will. 8 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you 9 so much. Actually, I'll have a few questions. 10 But to start, through you, 11 Mr. President, in your explanation you said 12 that this would be buildings on farms that 13 were not for residential use. But when I read 14 the section of the law your bill is amending 15 of the definition of buildings, on-farm 16 buildings, it doesn't specifically exclude 17 residential buildings. 18 So is it your understanding that 19 farmworker buildings, farmworker housing, 20 wouldn't be excluded under your bill from the 21 fire codes and the building codes? 22 SENATOR SEWARD: Mr. President, 23 this legislation deals with the nonresidential 24 buildings. So we're talking about, you know, 25 the farm buildings themselves. It has nothing

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(518) 371-8910 1 to do with any residential building that may 2 happen to be on a farm property. 3 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Mr. 4 President, if through you the sponsor would 5 continue to yield. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 7 Senator Seward, do you continue to yield? 8 SENATOR SEWARD: Yes. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: He 10 yields, Senator. 11 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you. 12 I may go back to the farmworker question 13 because in fact the definition is "the land 14 and on-farm buildings, equipment and practices 15 which contribute to the production, 16 preparation and marketing of crops and 17 livestock." So I'm not sure I totally agree 18 with that. 19 But my follow-up question is, so 20 any other building on a farm, under this 21 definition, would not be required to follow 22 either building code or fire department 23 inspection requirements? Is that your 24 understanding of the bill? 25 SENATOR SEWARD: Well,

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(518) 371-8910 1 Mr. President, the buildings that we're 2 talking about under this legislation have 3 traditionally been exempt from these codes. 4 The difficulty has arisen with the 5 recently promulgated regulations at the 6 Department of State with the revising of the 7 property maintenance code, which does require 8 these nonresidential buildings to be inspected 9 for code compliance. 10 That's the difficulty, because 11 these newly revised regulations did not 12 specifically exempt these farm buildings. And 13 so we're seeking to provide that 14 clarification, which has traditionally been 15 there through regulation in the past, from 16 these new requirements. 17 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you, 18 Mr. President. If through you the sponsor 19 would continue to yield. 20 SENATOR SEWARD: Yes. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 22 sponsor yields. 23 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you. 24 So is it your understanding that if 25 your bill were to pass, that farm manure,

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(518) 371-8910 1 liquid manure, storage facilities and other 2 large-capacity chemical storage sites or large 3 chemical storage, fertilizer, pesticide, 4 herbicide combustible material storage in 5 buildings on farms, that all of those 6 buildings would be exempt from the building 7 codes and the fire department reviews? 8 SENATOR SEWARD: Mr. President, 9 as the bill states, if their buildings are 10 involved with a farm operation, 11 nonresidential, then under the provisions of 12 Article 25A(a) of the Agriculture and Markets 13 Law, then they would be exempt. 14 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you. 15 Mr. President, to speak on the bill. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 17 Senator Krueger, on the bill. 18 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you. 19 I want to thank the sponsor for his answers. 20 And granted, I have no farms in my 21 district. But I am very concerned about 22 safety and the risk of fire and the risk of 23 harm to humans and the growing concerns about 24 hazardous material and hazardous waste 25 storage, whether it's in a rural setting or an

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(518) 371-8910 1 urban setting. 2 And so when I decided to do some 3 homework, as the Democratic ranker on the 4 Housing and Construction Committee after the 5 bill came through committee, I learned that 6 according to the U.S. Department of 7 Agriculture, the Fire Safety Bureau, the Rural 8 Health and Safety Bureau, throughout the 9 country, that actually farms can be dangerous 10 places. 11 They have large quantities of 12 combustible items, items that are needed for 13 good, safe, modern farming, but there's large 14 quantities of things like pesticides, 15 fertilizers, herbicides, what are called 16 combustible materials that are defined under 17 federal law and state law as hazardous 18 materials. 19 And if they're stored incorrectly, 20 without somebody reviewing the situation, they 21 can result in large explosions, both fires 22 that risk the humans and the animals in the 23 immediate area and toxic impact on the 24 environment, both through the air and through 25 the water.

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(518) 371-8910 1 I also started to do some homework 2 about the concern of what happens on farms who 3 have manure storage facilities that may leak. 4 They can be aboveground buildings or tanks or 5 they can be in-ground storage facilities. And 6 we now know that by the nature of the 7 products, they produce gases, including 8 ammonia, carbon dioxide, methane, which is 9 highly flammable, hydrogen sulfide, which is 10 extremely poisonous, particularly if it's 11 ignited, that there are very specific 12 recommendations for maintaining adequate 13 ventilation and protections in the way that 14 the storage tanks and facilities are built and 15 maintained. There's -- 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 17 Excuse me, Senator. 18 Can we have some order in the 19 house, please. Thank you. 20 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you, 21 Mr. President. 22 There are charts on the human 23 impact and the animal impact from being 24 exposed to these various toxins if they're in 25 fact produced as an outcome of manure storage

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(518) 371-8910 1 or if they are a combustible item, as I 2 mentioned before, that could blow up. 3 I also started to look into what 4 does it mean to have a building that is 5 involved with a farm. Because of course the 6 initial concept is we're talking about a barn. 7 And if it's a barn, why should we really all 8 be that concerned about the individual 9 farmer's barn; obviously, they won't want it 10 to burn down. But no, it turns out in 11 modern-day farming you can have whole 12 processing and manufacturing plants physically 13 on your farm. 14 In fact, there's all kinds of 15 reasons that modern New York farmers are doing 16 that, things that I think we support for 17 expanded agricultural business, agricultural 18 processing. We want modern, successful farms 19 in New York State. But modern, successful 20 farm technology also means they can actually 21 be building physical factories on their 22 property, which I'm not objecting to in any 23 way, shape or form. I want our farm industry 24 to expand and be healthy and prosperous, and I 25 want the City of New York to buy New York

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(518) 371-8910 1 State farm products. 2 But I think it's important to 3 recognize that we're not that 19th century 4 model of farming, we're in a 21st century 5 model of farming, and that the definitions of 6 buildings that would be used for the 7 production, preparation and marketing of 8 crops, livestock and livestock products as 9 commercial enterprise on the land that is a 10 farm or affiliated with a farm can be large, 11 modern and potentially dangerous facilities -- 12 not dangerous at the level that no one should 13 be building them or using them, but I think 14 it's more important than ever that we've got a 15 building code and we've got fire inspectors 16 who go and review and make sure these are 17 safe -- 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 19 Excuse me, Senator. 20 Senator Young, why do you rise? 21 SENATOR YOUNG: Will the speaker 22 yield for a question? 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 24 Will the speaker yield? 25 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Yes, I

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(518) 371-8910 1 will. Thank you, Mr. President. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: She 3 yields. 4 SENATOR YOUNG: Senator, I was 5 just curious about the time that you've 6 actually spent on farms. Have you visited 7 farms in the past? 8 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: I have 9 visited farms. I even spent the summer 10 working on a farm. 11 SENATOR YOUNG: You did. Where 12 was that at? 13 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: In Israel, 14 on a kibbutz. 15 SENATOR YOUNG: In Israel. 16 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Yes. 17 SENATOR YOUNG: Have you ever 18 spent any time -- 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: Are 20 you asking the Senator to yield, Senator 21 Young? 22 SENATOR YOUNG: Yes. Will the 23 speaker continue to yield? 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 25 Will you continue to yield, Senator?

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(518) 371-8910 1 She yields. 2 SENATOR YOUNG: Senator, have you 3 spent any time on New York State farms 4 upstate? 5 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: I have 6 visited New York State farms, absolutely. 7 SENATOR YOUNG: And you've spoken 8 to a lot of farmers about their operations and 9 understand their buildings and so on as far as 10 what their needs are to operate? 11 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: No, I 12 didn't. I read the materials being produced 13 by the government about their recommendations 14 and the realities of modern-day farms. 15 SENATOR YOUNG: Will the Senator 16 continue to yield. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 18 Senator, will you continue to yield? 19 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Yes, I 20 will, Mr. President. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: She 22 yields. 23 SENATOR YOUNG: I guess the 24 question I have is that you're talking, you're 25 comparing a lot of the farm buildings to

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(518) 371-8910 1 commercial buildings. And certainly we're 2 trying to do value-added operations on many of 3 our farms upstate. 4 But there's a distinct difference 5 between commercial buildings and a lot of 6 these farm buildings. And I guess my question 7 is I'm not sure that you understand that and 8 that you can't compare the two, because you're 9 comparing apples to oranges or apples to 10 watermelons. I mean, it's not -- and to have 11 the same standards for commercial buildings 12 that you have for farm buildings I think is a 13 little bit ridiculous. 14 So I guess my question is I'm not 15 sure that you've spent enough time on the 16 farms. And how do you come to this analysis 17 that they're one and the same? 18 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you, 19 Mr. President. I'm happy to answer the 20 question. Thank you, Senator, for the 21 question. 22 That's true, I don't think these 23 are commercial in the sense of an urban 24 commercial facility. But again, I'm reading 25 reports about rural health and safety and farm

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(518) 371-8910 1 manure storage. I don't think we have farm 2 manure storage anywhere but on farms, so I 3 don't think it's a parallel with any kind of 4 nonfarm commercial. 5 I don't believe when I'm reading on 6 farm fire safety from the Farm Safety 7 Association of America that I'm reading about 8 commercial types of operations that are not 9 farm-based. The research I am reading from, 10 the research I have done, is actually specific 11 to farms. 12 So I do think it is perfectly 13 reasonable, as you are proposing, to say that 14 it's different on farms, yes. 15 I think, though, that it is also 16 perfectly reasonable for us to agree that 17 there are specific hazards and dangers that 18 grow out of any kind of activity, and our job 19 in the government is to help protect people 20 and to ensure that we have standards of 21 safety. 22 And while I would be completely 23 open to broader discussion of should there be 24 different standards for building codes on farm 25 structures or manure storage tanks versus

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(518) 371-8910 1 high-rises, yes. Would I be totally open to 2 the argument that there should be different 3 evaluations of hazardous material and fire 4 department inspections for rural farm 5 facilities versus high-rises? Yes. 6 But my reading of the Senator's 7 bill here before us is not different standards 8 but to exempt them from the standards. That's 9 specifically what this bill would do. And I 10 have to tell you that from a human safety, 11 from an environmental protection and in fact 12 from an animal safety perspective, I would 13 argue that we don't want to exempt any 14 building or structure on a farm from any 15 standards of health and safety through 16 building codes or hazardous material or fire 17 department standards. 18 SENATOR YOUNG: Mr. President, 19 will Senator Krueger continue to yield? 20 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Yes, I 21 would be happy to. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: She 23 yields. 24 SENATOR YOUNG: Senator, I was 25 very interested to hear you talk about

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(518) 371-8910 1 environmental issues. Are you familiar with 2 the fact that those environmental issues are 3 already covered under environmental 4 conservation laws in New York State? 5 And so my question is are you aware 6 of that. And also, if that's the case, then 7 why do you continue to think that this 8 legislation is not necessary? 9 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you. 10 My understanding of environmental 11 conservation laws is that they have standards 12 for what you can't do or what you can't 13 release into the water table or into the air, 14 but that this is actually a building code and 15 inspection. 16 So if -- there is a correlation, 17 absolutely, Senator. If the law says you 18 can't release toxic chemicals from manure 19 production into the environment, that's, I 20 think we both agree, a good. But if nobody is 21 going out to inspect and say the way you've 22 built your storage tank doesn't meet the 23 standards to protect from the possible either 24 leaking or creation of toxic gases, I think 25 they go hand-in-hand.

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(518) 371-8910 1 And there's a reason we have 2 building codes, there's a reason we have fire 3 department inspections. And there's of course 4 reasons why we have environmental conservation 5 laws. So I think they all merge. 6 And again, I think in a discussion 7 about what would be the right type of 8 standards, if it ought to be different for 9 agricultural sites versus urban or commercial 10 or suburban houses, yes, again, I think that 11 would be very worthy of discussion. 12 Although if I would just also add, 13 my understanding is -- and I believe Senator 14 Seward said this when he was presenting -- the 15 New York State government spent years 16 developing the new building codes and fire 17 department standards and that they only went 18 into effect in January 2007. So it's possible 19 that exactly the type of discussion you're 20 concerned that needs to happen did happen in 21 this context; I just don't know. 22 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you, 23 Mr. President. Will Senator Krueger continue 24 to yield? 25 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Yes, sir.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: She 2 continues to yield. 3 SENATOR YOUNG: Senator Krueger, 4 first of all, I think you did answer your own 5 question, and DEC does inspect farms for these 6 type of violations already. 7 But as a follow-up question, you 8 talk about hazards and safety and things like 9 that, and maybe structures aren't built 10 correctly or whatever. I guess my question to 11 you is, have you had any particular cases that 12 you can think of where buildings have fallen 13 down on someone or someone has been injured by 14 that? 15 Because I have to tell you, I grew 16 up on a farm, I've lived in upstate my entire 17 life, and I cannot think of one instance where 18 that has happened. So if you have something 19 that you can share with us, I would be very 20 interested in that. 21 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you, 22 Mr. President. I'm happy to answer that. 23 Yes, I can certainly get you those results. 24 Again, not on buildings falling down on 25 people. I must admit the actual collapse of a

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(518) 371-8910 1 building was not anything I came across. 2 But in fact, through the U.S. 3 Department of Agriculture, the Farm Fire 4 Safety Association, the Rural Health and 5 Safety Association at various cooperative 6 extensions who have done research, they talk 7 about the fact that in fact farm fires are not 8 uncommon, that farmers lose their lives every 9 year in this country from fires and other 10 toxic accidents. 11 Now, I'm certainly not proposing 12 that farms should be conceived of as dangerous 13 places or places people shouldn't live and 14 work and visit. But there are risks involved 15 with anything. You and I both of course know 16 that. And all I'm suggesting is that in a 17 21st-century model of both governance and 18 regulation and, in fact, modern-day farming 19 techniques, that it is a reasonable and 20 practical idea to have both building codes for 21 the buildings and storage facilities that are 22 being built on farms and that it is reasonable 23 to have the fire department do inspections. 24 Again, not to catch anyone, but to 25 say, you know, if you put all of these

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(518) 371-8910 1 chemicals together, you risk having a fire. 2 You don't want one; we don't want you to have 3 one. If you don't build your manure storage 4 facilities correctly to code, you risk having 5 these problems that you don't want to have, 6 that we don't want to have. 7 There's also some research I found 8 about the phenomenon of spontaneous combustion 9 when vegetable and animal oils, fibers, flax, 10 wool, hay under certain conditions, if not 11 stored correctly in the right kind of silos, 12 can actually result in spontaneous combustion 13 and blowing up and fires. 14 No one wants any of these things to 15 happen on their farm. I think our job is to 16 try to make sure some reasonable standards are 17 followed to protect everyone from this 18 happening to them. 19 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you, 20 Mr. President. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 22 Thank you, Senator. 23 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you, 24 Mr. President. Just to complete my statement. 25 Again, I don't think it's in the

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(518) 371-8910 1 best interests of farmers, of the people who 2 work on farms, of the people in the immediate 3 environment of farms to be exempt from any 4 standards of building codes or fire 5 inspection. 6 And so I respectfully will vote 7 against this bill and ask my colleagues to 8 think through whether they want to exempt an 9 entire arena of our state from any kind of 10 building code or fire inspection regulation. 11 Thank you, Mr. President. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 13 Thank you, Senator. 14 Senator Little. 15 SENATOR LITTLE: Thank you, 16 Mr. President. 17 I certainly would like to speak on 18 behalf of this bill and in support of this 19 bill. 20 I represent six counties, three of 21 whom are mostly agriculture counties. And 22 what we're hearing today is a lack of 23 understanding of the agricultural community of 24 rural New York. 25 The buildings that we are talking

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(518) 371-8910 1 about are not a manure storage building or a 2 new building for chemical storage that has 3 taken place. What we're talking about today 4 are the old sheds -- the tool shed, the hay 5 shed -- the buildings that have been there for 6 years that have always been exempt from this 7 building code, in recognition of agriculture 8 and agricultural buildings needed for a farm 9 operation. 10 What will happen if we do not pass 11 this bill is I will tell that you on many of 12 the farms in my district, they will take down 13 all of these old buildings rather than have to 14 be subjected to this new enforcement. 15 I have a letter from the board of 16 supervisors from Washington County. And if I 17 may, I would like to include in the transcript 18 a paragraph that really explains their 19 reasoning for supporting this bill and the 20 need for Senator Seward's bill today. 21 I quote: "For many years an 22 exemption from the building code has 23 recognized the unique nature of farm buildings 24 compared to other nonresidential buildings 25 such as commercial office buildings.

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(518) 371-8910 1 Standards for buildings used for housing dairy 2 cattle are vastly different from standards 3 necessary for public assembly areas. 4 Unfortunately, this recognition was not 5 carried forward to all aspects of the uniform 6 code. This means that, inadvertently, 7 standards that have been established without 8 consideration for agriculture will now be 9 enforced on farms through Department of State 10 regulations." 11 My understanding is that this is a 12 misunderstanding of the need on agricultural 13 buildings and a misappropriation of that code. 14 No one is more concerned about the safety of 15 the buildings on their property than our 16 farmers. And no one is more concerned about 17 needing these buildings for their farm 18 operation. 19 These people are good stewards of 20 the land, they are good stewards of the 21 buildings that they have there. They need 22 this exemption, and they need it now. 23 Hopefully everyone here will vote for this 24 bill in an understanding of our agricultural 25 community in New York State.

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(518) 371-8910 1 Thank you. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 3 Senator Farley. 4 SENATOR FARLEY: Yes, thank you, 5 Mr. President. 6 I rise to enthusiastically support 7 this bill. This legislation passed 8 unanimously in the Assembly, and for good 9 reason. 10 Senator Little said it all. I 11 don't think that there's -- the farms, and I 12 have a number of them in my district, my 13 four-county district, it's a very marginal 14 business to start with. Many of these people 15 are in this because they're traditional family 16 farms. And particularly the dairy farmers and 17 so forth, it's financially very marginal. And 18 to meet these requirements is absolutely 19 financially ruinous. To put sprinklers in 20 barns and so forth is not practical and it's 21 not responsible. 22 The farm community that I represent 23 has contacted me on this. This is very, very 24 important to the farm community, New York 25 State's largest industry. I don't think that

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(518) 371-8910 1 there's a working family that is more 2 concerned about fire, the property, than 3 farmers. They have grown up with this. 4 Senator Young has grown up on a 5 farm; she knows something about being part of 6 the farm community. 7 This legislation is absolutely 8 essential to exempt them, because they need 9 it. Not only is it impractical financially, 10 it's impractical to bring it about to meet the 11 fire codes on some of these buildings. 12 And as I said, I support it 13 enthusiastically. And I really think that 14 anybody that has visited a farm or knows 15 something about farming should be able to 16 support this legislation. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 18 Senator Bonacic. 19 SENATOR BONACIC: Thank you, 20 Mr. President. 21 What we're trying to do to the 22 agricultural industry is to try to make it 23 continue to survive. I have four counties. 24 All of them, portions of them have agriculture 25 as a main industry.

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(518) 371-8910 1 It's really not a dangerous place 2 to spend time unless you get into the arena 3 with a bull or a frisky horse. Then it might 4 be dangerous. Or if you ride a tractor on a 5 hill and you have turnovers. 6 But I don't know of any farm 7 building in my four counties for the last 35 8 years that had an explosion because of fire 9 regulation omissions. 10 The Farm Bureau, which is the 11 watchdog over the agricultural industry, 12 supports this bill. They watch out for the 13 safety of the workers and the people that live 14 on and own farms. 15 But the sounds that I'm hearing 16 from the other side are disturbing because it 17 shows that there's no appreciation or 18 understanding of the upstate culture. We've 19 seen it on hunting issues, we've seen it on 20 small business issues, now we see it on 21 anti-agricultural issues. 22 The other thing is, there isn't a 23 regulation that you don't like or embrace. 24 And what's the purpose of this regulation? If 25 it's truly for public safety and the

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(518) 371-8910 1 protection of workers and farm owners and 2 children, it's good and healthy. But 3 everything has to be tempered with common 4 sense and a balance of public safety versus 5 overregulation. 6 Now, the farm industry, in energy 7 costs, pays four times higher than other 8 states. Taxes are four times higher than 9 other states. It's the leading economic 10 industry in the State of New York. It would 11 be interesting to see a Democratic Senator get 12 up from upstate that has agriculture within 13 their district and talk the way a particular 14 Senator is talking from New York City, where 15 all there is is concrete. There probably 16 isn't a lawn or a tree or a farm. 17 It shows a lack of appreciation or 18 trust, trust in the Senators that represent 19 the people and the farms upstate, whether 20 they're Republican or Democratic Senators. 21 In the Assembly, the bill has 22 passed unanimously. 23 And I will sum up some of the 24 remarks of my good friend and Democratic 25 colleague. When you talked about the storage

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(518) 371-8910 1 of manure, believe me, there was a lot of 2 manure being thrown around this chamber today. 3 And I think I will say, in 4 conclusion, this will cripple the farm 5 industry, it will aggravate the industry, it 6 will create pit bulls and harassment on the 7 industry, and it will drive it further into 8 the ground. And this is something none of us 9 want, because it's the leading industry in the 10 State of New York. 11 And do you recall that we have just 12 recently, in this budget, gave $30 million, 13 due to the good leadership of Senator Young 14 and others here, to help the dairy industry, 15 who's been depressed for the last three years? 16 And we are losing farms by the hundreds in 17 this state. Now, if you want to lose them by 18 the thousands, keep imposing these expensive 19 mandates that have never been there in farming 20 for the last 200 years. 21 This is about common sense. This 22 is not about the world is coming to an end if 23 we don't exempt these farm buildings and old 24 sheds. I vote aye. 25 Thank you, Mr. President.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 2 Senator Winner. 3 SENATOR WINNER: Thank you, 4 Mr. President. 5 I certainly am kind of surprised at 6 this debate. I'm certainly surprised that the 7 leading opposition to this legislation is from 8 an area that doesn't really have much of an 9 appreciation of agriculture. 10 While it's certainly -- you're free 11 to raise these particular issues -- and 12 actually, I kind of thank you for it, because 13 last week we kind of heard a debate from that 14 side of the aisle that was decidedly 15 anti-business, small business, and today we're 16 hearing a debate that's decidedly 17 anti-agriculture. 18 So to that extent, I want to thank 19 you for at least making it pretty clear what 20 would happen, if you guys were in the 21 majority, to small business and to 22 agriculture. 23 And that certainly this legislation 24 demonstrates that there is a reflection, at 25 least on this side of the aisle, that there

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(518) 371-8910 1 are unreasonable regulations when it comes to 2 the agricultural community. 3 You know, I know it might come as a 4 surprise to you from Manhattan, but -- you 5 know, someday maybe, you know, I'll invite you 6 up to Big Flats and you can meet a cow 7 face-to-face and we can talk about some of 8 those particular issues. 9 But there's a provision in the 10 code, Senator, that says that you can't store 11 dry vegetation because it might pose a hazard. 12 Now, I don't know if you know, but every once 13 in a while, you know, farmers put hay in 14 barns. And I know that comes as a radical 15 type of an idea, but hay is -- the other thing 16 that might come as a surprise to you, you have 17 to dry hay, too, before you put it in the 18 barn. Otherwise, you might cause a fire. 19 But the farmer knows that. And so 20 as a result, these are the kinds of things 21 we're trying to say you ought to be able to 22 do. 23 Now, I don't know -- I mean, if you 24 don't want to have hay in barns, I mean, 25 that's your position. But I kind of think

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(518) 371-8910 1 that those of us that represent areas that 2 have dairy farms and horse breeding operations 3 or horse operations certainly think that hay 4 is an important thing. You may have even seen 5 it on TV or in the movies. You know, they 6 have hay wagons and hay rides and, you know, 7 people fall down in the hay or whatever. 8 But nonetheless, Senator, I just 9 think that -- again, I want to thank you for 10 bringing this opposition to the floor, because 11 it's very helpful in making the State of 12 New York realize what's important on your mind 13 as far as your side of the aisle is concerned. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 15 Senator Young. 16 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you, 17 Mr. President. 18 I want to commend Senator Seward 19 for putting this very important piece of 20 legislation forward. 21 And I think that the debate today 22 shows that some members of this chamber are 23 out of touch with agriculture. They're out of 24 touch, they have a lack of understanding. And 25 frankly, I think there's a lack of support.

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(518) 371-8910 1 Because I'm thinking back to 2 March 13th, earlier this year, when we passed 3 our budget resolution in this house, and other 4 members on the other side of the aisle voted 5 against the dairy assistance program and every 6 single agriculture program that we provide in 7 this state. And that really, really concerns 8 me. 9 I am in touch. I'm chair of the 10 Senate Agriculture Committee. Recently I was 11 at a forum with the New York State Grange, and 12 they brought to the forefront their concerns 13 about this building code regulation and what 14 it does to farmers in this state. They 15 already are struggling; that's why we did the 16 dairy assistance program this year. But we 17 need to encourage, support, and grow 18 agriculture in this state because it's still 19 our number-one industry. 20 It was interesting to hear Senator 21 Krueger talk about the manure and talk about 22 pesticides. These already, already are 23 heavily regulated by the Department of 24 Environmental Conservation in this state. 25 There's no need to add another layer of

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(518) 371-8910 1 bureaucracy on top of what's already there, 2 because it hurts the farmers. 3 And I can speak personally to 4 fires, because at our farm when I was 14 years 5 old, an arsonist burned down our barns, 6 torched them in the middle of the night. I 7 can assure you that no amount of inspection 8 would ever have averted that incident, because 9 it was a deliberate act against our family and 10 it was a crime. And you could not avoid that 11 type of crime. 12 So yes, this particular regulation 13 that's in place now, as Senator Winner said, 14 would actually prohibit hay from being stored 15 in barns. That's ludicrous. It's absolutely 16 ludicrous. 17 And I think that we need to do the 18 right thing today and have some common sense. 19 You know, Senator Krueger was 20 concerned about people getting hurt in these 21 structures. I have statistics right here, 22 it's from the New York Center for Agricultural 23 Health and Medicine that's located in upstate. 24 And during 1996 to 2000, 171 people were 25 reported killed as a result of

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(518) 371-8910 1 agriculture-related injuries. An average of 2 34 persons died each year. Tractors were the 3 source of 43 percent of the fatalities. And 4 that's why the Senate Majority put into place 5 the tractor rollover program to help with 6 those incidents. Machines were the second 7 leading source, at 18 percent, and motor 8 vehicles were the third leading source. Out 9 of 171 of those deaths over that time period, 10 not one was because a building fell in or one 11 of these farming structures fell down. 12 So I think that the arguments 13 against this legislation are weak at best. 14 And I would encourage and urge all of my 15 colleagues to do the right thing and support 16 agriculture in this state. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 18 Senator Padavan. 19 SENATOR PADAVAN: Thank you very 20 much, Mr. President. 21 Senator Krueger, in the City of 22 New York we have the toughest building code 23 anywhere probably in the country, far tougher 24 than the state building code. And for valid 25 reasons.

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(518) 371-8910 1 But you should know that in the 2 City of New York, contrary to what Senator 3 Bonacic said, we have a farm, a 50-acre farm. 4 So it's not all concrete. 5 Now, on this farm there are a 6 number of buildings. The primary building is 7 a 1772-circa farmhouse. And on the 50 acres 8 there are many other buildings. Now, there's 9 one building, it's about 10 feet by 15 feet, 10 in which reside about 150 chickens, where they 11 lay their eggs every day and they're collected 12 and sold. 13 Now, that building does not have a 14 certificate of occupancy. It does not have an 15 inspection. It's been there as long as I can 16 remember, and no one seems to mind, not the 17 least of which are the chickens. Nor the 18 100,000 people every year who come to visit 19 the farm. 20 There's also another, smaller 21 building in which resides four pigs. That 22 building doesn't have a certificate of 23 occupancy, nor is it subject to the New York 24 City Building Code, by law. 25 And I can take you around that

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(518) 371-8910 1 50-acre farm and talk about different sheds 2 and buildings, all of which fall in that same 3 category. 4 As a matter of fact, right now 5 they're in the process of building a shed to 6 house the tractors, which have been out in the 7 open and they want to get them under cover, 8 for obvious reasons. That shed is not subject 9 to the building code, does not have a building 10 permit and will not have a certificate of 11 occupancy. 12 Now, Senator, therefore, you know, 13 this bill makes a lot of sense. And I am 14 telling you this somewhat tongue-in-cheek so 15 you know that in the City of New York, not 16 just upstate, we have already in place 17 exemptions for these outbuildings on a farm, a 18 working farm, a functioning farm, and it's 19 been fine. The farm's been there for over 20 200 years. And nobody has complained. There 21 have been no problems. 22 You understand that, Senator? You 23 do, because you're laughing. 24 So, Mr. President, I strongly 25 support this bill. And again, I remind my

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(518) 371-8910 1 upstate colleagues that the oldest 2 continuously operating farm in the State of 3 New York is in Queens, in the 11th Senatorial 4 District. And I invite you all down to pay us 5 a visit. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 7 Senator Serrano. 8 SENATOR SERRANO: Thank you, 9 Mr. President. 10 I can't say I'm surprised by the 11 condescending remarks from the other side 12 regarding our desire to see the state's 13 agriculture move forward. We all care about 14 the agricultural industry. We care about 15 farms. 16 But this is not about liking 17 agriculture or disliking it, it's about 18 safety. And when you speak in absolutes in 19 that tone, you sound very similar to our 20 president, who says you're either for us or 21 against us. We are definitely for farms, but 22 we are also for safe work environments. 23 Now, I ask you, who is the main 24 individual on these farms? These are workers, 25 mainly immigrant workers, and it's about

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(518) 371-8910 1 safety in the workplace. Now, there may not 2 be anyone complaining, but we often hear from 3 Senator Maltese every year as he eloquently 4 talks about the unfortunate shirtwaist factory 5 fire in which very unsafe conditions proved to 6 create a very hazardous condition. And these 7 are the same issues that we're talking about 8 here. 9 If there aren't some standards -- 10 and I agree with Senator Krueger that maybe 11 there should be a different set of standards, 12 because we're not talking about same type of 13 dwelling as a city building. But there should 14 be some standards in place to ensure that 15 there is at least a minimum code of safety 16 involved so that there isn't problems with 17 carbon monoxide, that there isn't problems 18 with fire or hazardous materials or weak 19 structures. 20 So I think it's very important that 21 we protect the workers so that we can have a 22 thriving agricultural industry here in the 23 State of New York. And let's not treat our 24 immigrant workers as second-class citizens. 25 We all know that they spend a lot of time in

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(518) 371-8910 1 these barns. There's more than just hay 2 there, there's more than just animals there. 3 There's immigrant workers that have to go in 4 and out of these barns all the time. So I 5 think it's very important that we keep that in 6 mind when voting on this bill. 7 Thank you. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 9 Senator Krueger. 10 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you. 11 Thank you, Mr. President. 12 I appreciate Senator Padavan's 13 comments about the farm in Queens. And the 14 image that he drew of that 200-year-old farm 15 in Queens is perhaps the misperception of my 16 concerns about modern-day farming. And that 17 is a working farm and primarily a tourist 18 farm. 19 And so no, my points were never 20 about whether the barn was at risk per se, or 21 the chicken coop, but rather the reality -- 22 and I heard several of my colleagues on the 23 other side of the aisle actually agree with 24 me, even though they didn't think they were, 25 because they were saying that perhaps the code

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(518) 371-8910 1 as it's been written -- that only went into 2 effect in January '07, so I'm curious how, 3 perhaps as Senator Bonacic described it, the 4 agricultural industry is in collapse between 5 January and May because of the new building 6 code. I'd be interested to see whether 7 anybody actually has declared that because of 8 this the world has ended. 9 But my recognition that even if 10 there should be different standards for farm 11 buildings, that I don't think the State of 12 New York wants to have no standards. And 13 that's what this bill would do. It would 14 remove from the language of the existing new 15 law, the building code that was actually 16 implemented by Governor Pataki -- this was 17 going on during a Republican plan for the 18 building code for the State of New York, so 19 I'm a little confused why nobody thought to 20 change the rules if they thought there should 21 be different standards for agricultural 22 buildings all during I believe it was a 23 three-year timeline that that process was 24 going forward. 25 But we put that law into effect

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(518) 371-8910 1 pre-the new administration but effective 2 January 2007. I don't know that any of the 3 issues that were raised about the problems of 4 the New York State agricultural industries 5 have anything to do with this code so soon 6 after it was put into effect. 7 But again, the concerns I have are 8 that in fact farms can and should be, should 9 be commercial enterprises for the 21st century 10 that involve production, manufacturing, 11 preparation, marketing, commercialization of 12 larger-scale farms that can compete both in 13 this state and throughout the country. 14 What I'm suggesting is we need to 15 have health and safety standards and a review 16 of those buildings, of those facilities, of 17 those warehouses, of those production and 18 manufacturing sites, whether they're on a farm 19 or on a highway off of the farm. And that 20 this bill doesn't address the need to perhaps 21 have different standards recognizing we're 22 talking different kinds of facilities; it does 23 away with standards completely. And I think 24 that a serious mistake. 25 And it has nothing to do with what

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(518) 371-8910 1 part of the state you live in, whether or not 2 you spend large amounts of time on a farm or 3 not. It is looking at what are the realities 4 in the modern world, what are the types of 5 chemicals used, what are the types of 6 equipment used, what do we know about fire, 7 hazardous material, health and safety 8 standards for the workers on farms, as my 9 colleague just pointed out, and for the 10 overall community. 11 So again, I think it is a worthy 12 discussion to evaluate, now that the new 13 standards are in place as of January 2007, 14 whether or not someone thought them through 15 carefully or not, whether or not they are 16 having the negative impact that some of you 17 believe they are having out there in their 18 first five months of implementation throughout 19 agricultural New York. 20 But I don't accept the argument 21 that we should have no health and safety 22 standards in law because farms are different. 23 They are different, and the people who work 24 there are equally entitled to have protections 25 from the government.

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(518) 371-8910 1 I continue to vote no. Thank you, 2 Mr. President. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 4 Senator Skelos. 5 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 6 if I could just mention this, not by way of 7 cutting off debate or comments, but the police 8 memorial is at 1 p.m. today. And I know that 9 members of both sides of the aisle would like 10 to attend. 11 This will be the last bill on the 12 controversial calendar. There will be a Rules 13 Committee meeting which will report one bill 14 that I believe is noncontroversial. 15 So if it's possible -- and again, 16 I'm not looking to cut off debate -- to if we 17 could have the roll call taken at this time, 18 members want to explain their vote, that's 19 fine. And that's just a suggestion. If 20 anybody wishes to question, that's fine too. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 22 Senator Nozzolio. 23 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Thank you, 24 Mr. President. On the bill. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:

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(518) 371-8910 1 Senator Nozzolio, on the bill. 2 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: I had not 3 intended to speak because of the eloquence of 4 my colleagues on this side of the aisle. I 5 believe they covered the landscape very well. 6 However, when Senator Krueger 7 indicated that she wanted to take us into the 8 modern era, I could not sit by the wayside 9 without suggesting to her and to Senator 10 Serrano that, yes, we are in the modern era. 11 And let's discuss the modern era of 12 agriculture. 13 Agriculture is a high-volume, 14 low-margin business. The competition is not 15 just within New York State, farm to farm, it's 16 not just within New York-produced product to 17 the Northeastern-produced product. The 18 farmers in this great state of New York 19 compete with agriculture all across the world. 20 Your apple juice is likely to be coming from 21 China. Your milk is likely to be coming to 22 the grocery store not from a New York producer 23 but from somebody in Wisconsin. 24 The realities of the modern day are 25 that the world is flat and has been flat with

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(518) 371-8910 1 agriculture for over a generation. And if the 2 other side of the aisle is so concerned about 3 worker safety, as we are -- we just want to 4 have workers to be safe with. Because right 5 now, if we continue to accept the kinds of 6 dialogue that are placed in this chamber, that 7 there will be no agricultural workers to 8 protect. That's the bottom line. 9 Our farmers are at severe stress. 10 They cannot sell their products. They're 11 competing with companies, with processors and 12 producers that use DDT, that have no 13 environmental regulation, have substandard 14 housing, have no wage rates. And yet you 15 persist in adding regulation, adding cost, 16 adding things that, as Senator Padavan even 17 said, wouldn't exist in the City of New York. 18 Mr. President, I will not belabor 19 the point. But I do wish to say that our 20 farmers are competing on a global stage. It's 21 a global marketplace. And next time you go to 22 the grocery store, you make sure that your 23 apple is produced in New York State and you 24 make sure that the milk that you buy or the 25 ice cream you purchase is produced in New York

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(518) 371-8910 1 State. Because I daresay it is likely not to 2 be. 3 It's likely to be produced by 4 farmers that had state legislatures or no 5 legislature that did not produce onerous 6 requirements on them, that did not produce 7 environmental regulations on them, that did 8 not produce additional costs on them. 9 Where is the seriousness about the 10 upstate economy? Frankly, I have heard 11 rhetoric up the yinyang over the last few 12 months about the upstate economy on your side 13 of the aisle, yet no plan. And it seems like 14 the only plan that you have regarding the 15 upstate economy is to put more regulation and 16 more costs on the number-one industry that we 17 still have upstate. 18 Mr. President, Senator Seward's 19 bill is reasonable, it's a good approach, it 20 enhances the upstate economy. And I frankly 21 resent the fact that we had to extend the 22 debate to this length. 23 It's a good bill, Mr. President. 24 Thank you. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:

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(518) 371-8910 1 Senator Nozzolio, we'll provide a spelling for 2 the stenographer on "yinyang." 3 (Laughter.) 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: Any 5 other Senator wishing to be heard? 6 Seeing none, debate is closed. 7 The Secretary will ring the bell. 8 Read the last section, please. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 10 act shall take effect immediately. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 12 Call the roll. 13 (The Secretary called the roll.) 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 15 Senator Skelos. 16 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 17 we're in the process of a roll call? 18 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 19 Yes, we are, Senator. 20 Senator Hassell-Thompson, to 21 explain her vote. 22 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Thank 23 you, Mr. President. 24 Just very quickly, I had to be -- I 25 was called off the floor for a moment, but I

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(518) 371-8910 1 did listen extensively to the discussion prior 2 to my leaving, and I think -- I want to try to 3 be a problem-solver here. 4 I understand the concern that each 5 of those who represent farms in their 6 districts are having about being asked to 7 comply with a rule that pertains more to a 8 commercial property than to the actual 9 facilities that are on this land. And I 10 wanted to hope that there was a way in which 11 we could change the ruling so that the 12 specificity is to the kinds of properties that 13 are on farms. 14 My concern is that I believe that 15 every structure should come into compliance. 16 But I also do not believe that the 17 comparisons -- I don't believe that the 18 comparisons that we're making are appropriate. 19 I don't believe that what is necessary for 20 commercial properties are necessary for farms. 21 And I think that structurally that's one of 22 the problems with this problems with this 23 particular bill, that there may not be a way 24 for us to ask farms to come into compliance. 25 But I certainly would not like to

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(518) 371-8910 1 believe that any farmer would not want to have 2 the fire department at least looking over 3 their shoulder to ensure that there is a safe 4 containment for the way in which they're 5 stored. 6 So I'm going to be voting no, 7 because I don't think the bill is -- I don't 8 think that this is properly written. I think 9 that we're comparing apples to oranges, as I 10 heard Senator Young saying. But the bill 11 speaks to the necessity to do away with any 12 kind of compliance that is a safety issue, and 13 I certainly cannot vote to do that. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 15 Senator Hassell-Thompson will be recorded in 16 the negative. 17 Announce the results, please. 18 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 19 the negative on Calendar Number 364 are 20 Senators Duane, Hassell-Thompson, L. Krueger, 21 and Serrano. 22 Ayes, 55. Nays, 4. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 24 bill is passed. 25 Senator Skelos.

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(518) 371-8910 1 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 2 there will be an immediate meeting of the 3 Rules Committee in the Majority Conference 4 Room. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 6 There will be an immediate meeting of the 7 Rules Committee in Room 332, the Majority 8 Conference Room. 9 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 11 Senator Skelos. 12 The Senate will come to order, 13 please. 14 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 15 if we could return to reports of standing 16 committees, there's a report of the Rules 17 Committee at the desk. I ask that it be read 18 at this time. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 20 Secretary will read the report of the Rules 21 Committee. 22 THE SECRETARY: Senator Bruno, 23 from the Committee on Rules, restores the 24 following bill to the order of third reading: 25 Senate Print 5050B, by Senator

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(518) 371-8910 1 Fuschillo, an act to amend the General 2 Business Law. 3 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to accept 4 the report of the Rules Committee. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: All 6 in favor signify by saying aye. 7 (Response of "Aye.") 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 9 Opposed, nay. 10 (No response.) 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 12 report of the Rules Committee is accepted. 13 Senator Skelos. 14 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 15 if we could take up the bill at this time. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 17 Secretary will read. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 755, by Senator Fuschillo, Senate Print 5050B, 20 an act to amend the General Business Law. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 22 Read the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 24 act shall take effect on the first of January 25 next succeeding.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 2 Call the roll. 3 (The Secretary called the roll.) 4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 6 bill is passed. 7 Senator Skelos. 8 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 9 if we could return to reports of standing 10 committees, I believe there's a report of 11 Finance Committee at the desk. I ask that be 12 taken up at this time. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 14 Secretary will read. 15 THE SECRETARY: Senator O. 16 Johnson, from the Committee on Finance, 17 reports the following nominations. 18 As Commissioner of the Department 19 of Transportation, Astrid C. Glynn, of 20 Guilderland. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 22 Senator O. Johnson. 23 SENATOR JOHNSON: I rise to move 24 the nomination. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:

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(518) 371-8910 1 Senator Libous. 2 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, 3 Mr. President. 4 I want to second the nomination 5 that Senator Johnson moved. And we had a 6 vigorous conversation here about agriculture. 7 And while agriculture is a very important 8 industry, a key component of agriculture is 9 transportation. And I am very pleased to 10 stand before you and speak on the Governor's 11 nominee, Astrid Glynn, to be the next 12 Commissioner of Transportation. 13 The nominee brings with her a very 14 vast and complete experience in the 15 transportation field, coming from the State of 16 Massachusetts, serving as executive officer of 17 transportation there, and including her 18 responsibilities as deputy chief of the 19 department. 20 Astrid Glynn brings a fresh, new 21 approach, Mr. President, to the Department of 22 Transportation, which as you know and as the 23 members in this chamber know, covers a vast 24 and wide part of our overall commerce, whether 25 it be the MTA, whether it be roads and bridges

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(518) 371-8910 1 or reconstruction or our railroads or our 2 airports. 3 It is an extremely important 4 responsibility, and it is critical to many of 5 the issues that we discuss here, as it 6 pertains to the economic viability of our 7 state, whether it be in upstate or in New York 8 City or on Long Island or in the Hudson 9 Valley. 10 One of the things that I've been 11 very impressed with with the nominee is that 12 she has taken an extensive amount of time to 13 meet with a number of the members of the 14 industry, to listen to their concerns, to hear 15 about the needs, some of the problems, some of 16 the successes of the transportation programs 17 that now exist and where we are to go in the 18 future. 19 So, Mr. President, I am very 20 pleased to stand before this body and second 21 the nomination of Astrid Glynn to be our next 22 Commissioner of Transportation. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 24 Senator Breslin, on the nomination. 25 SENATOR BRESLIN: Thank you,

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(518) 371-8910 1 Mr. President. 2 And I concur with everything that 3 my colleague Senator Libous has said about 4 Astrid Glynn. 5 She brings a rich background, 6 starting as a maritime lawyer with extensive 7 experience in that area, and with the 8 Department of Transportation in Massachusetts, 9 from intermodal to multimodal to 10 administrative background. And in addition to 11 that, she's an Albany Law School graduate. 12 But she brings that kind of talent 13 and breadth to the Department of 14 Transportation. She's probably laughing that 15 I referred to Albany Law School. 16 But she's going to make a 17 wonderful, wonderful Commissioner of 18 Transportation, and I applaud the Governor for 19 that nomination. 20 Thank you Mr. President. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 22 Senator Nozzolio. 23 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Thank you, 24 Mr. President. On the nomination. 25 That I first wish to thank Senator

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(518) 371-8910 1 Libous for conducting an extremely extensive 2 confirmation process where we heard from many 3 who are concerned about transportation issues, 4 and thank him for his leadership on utilizing 5 that process for positive results. 6 On the nomination of Astrid Glynn, 7 that I heard Ms. Glynn both at the 8 Transportation Committee hearing as well as 9 the hearing of Senate Finance. And I can tell 10 you that my focus during those two hearings 11 was a focus of the notion of transportation 12 meaning job development in New York State. 13 Transportation from the beginnings 14 of our history -- the Erie Canal, the New York 15 Central Railroad, the Thruway -- all those 16 elements of making the Empire State the Empire 17 State, first in commerce, was because of our 18 focus on transportation. 19 And I must say that I'm very 20 pleased that the new commissioner is focused 21 on this issue and has demonstrated willingness 22 to work with the Legislature in forging 23 important transportation project developments 24 throughout New York State, and particularly 25 focused on the upstate economy, where we know

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(518) 371-8910 1 transportation is so important and 2 particularly roads are critically important 3 for the development of commerce in the upstate 4 area. 5 With that willingness, 6 Mr. President, I believe that this 7 commissioner will be an outstanding one, 8 focused on that particular mission of the 9 department, to help grow jobs in New York 10 State. 11 I move the nomination and thank you 12 very much for the opportunity to indicate my 13 support. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 15 Thank you, Senator. 16 Senator Sabini. 17 SENATOR SABINI: Thank you, 18 Mr. President. 19 I wanted to rise and second the 20 nomination of Astrid Glynn to be Commissioner 21 of Transportation. 22 Senator Libous's comments are 23 well-taken. Ms. Glynn comes to us with a 24 background in multimodal transportation, 25 management. She understands that we have a

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(518) 371-8910 1 vast network of roads, bridges, tunnels, 2 airports, ports, our canal system, all 3 important things for New Yorkers, for the 4 New York economy, for people to get to work 5 every day, for people to enjoy their lives. 6 Transportation now takes up more 7 and more time in our life in terms of 8 commutation hours. And I know she understands 9 that getting people to and from work, getting 10 products in and out of our state is important 11 to the economy of the state. 12 She returns to the Capital 13 District -- she went to law school at Albany 14 Law at Union College. And we lent her to 15 Massachusetts for a few decades, but she's 16 back. And I think the Governor has made a 17 very smart appointment in bringing someone in 18 who has experience in state government -- not 19 this state government, but in state 20 government -- and a record of success where 21 she was. I think the Governor in this case 22 has gone to get some of the brightest talent 23 in the country. 24 And I am confident that 25 Commissioner Glynn, when we confirm her

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(518) 371-8910 1 appointment, will go on to be one of the 2 outstanding members of the Spitzer cabinet, 3 and I second her nomination. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 5 Senator Thompson. 6 SENATOR THOMPSON: Yes, 7 Mr. President, I rise in strong support of 8 this very important commissioner today. 9 We've heard a lot about the upstate 10 economy. And I think yesterday's newspaper 11 talking about the continuous economic decline 12 of upstate cities is very much of importance 13 and also of interest to myself. 14 A couple of things that in Finance 15 today that I did raise, and I was glad to hear 16 the responses of our new commissioner. 17 Some of these issues that affect 18 upstate cities include bridges and overpasses. 19 There have been a number of reports that talk 20 about the need to get more money to fix our 21 bridges and overpasses. Many of the Western 22 New York media have reported on these. And 23 hopefully we can get some financial assistance 24 and relief to address some of those issues. 25 The other thing that I believe that

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(518) 371-8910 1 really hurts upstate cities is the need for 2 more infrastructure development. Many of our 3 older cities -- I know in parts of Buffalo and 4 parts of Niagara Falls we actually have wooden 5 pipes underground. 6 I believe that over the next couple 7 of years we need to come up with an 8 infrastructure redevelopment fund. Also for 9 road improvements. We actually have some 10 streets in Buffalo that actually have wooden 11 curb. Imagine that in the 21st century. So I 12 think that that's something that we could also 13 look at as well. 14 Lastly, Commissioner, I was glad to 15 hear that you would look into the issue of the 16 Niagara Falls Amtrak train station, in 17 addition to the Niagara Falls Airport. This 18 year we were fortunate to have some of the 19 first planes to land in the city of Niagara 20 Falls in a long time. There was always a lot 21 of contention about having an airport where 22 planes don't land. And fortunately, we've 23 made some progress, but we still have a long 24 way to go as an international city. 25 So I congratulate you on this

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(518) 371-8910 1 appointment. We look forward to working with 2 you. And I agree with my colleagues on both 3 sides of the aisle that the issue of 4 transportation infrastructure is so important 5 to the upstate economy. And my colleague 6 Senator Stachowski stated earlier that upstate 7 we have this thing called winter, so we need 8 to make sure that our projects start earlier 9 so that we can keep people working. 10 Thank you. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 12 Senator Stachowski. 13 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Yes, 14 Mr. President, I too rise to second the 15 nomination of Astrid Glynn. 16 I believe the Governor has made a 17 fine selection. Her background looks like 18 she'll be fully equipped for this job. The 19 diversity of New York State's transportation 20 system will be easily handled by her due to 21 her background in Massachusetts, I believe. 22 I think that she shows a 23 willingness to work with everybody. In 24 listening to her answers to the various 25 questions in Finance, she seemed to have a

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(518) 371-8910 1 comprehension of the issues and a willingness 2 to address them. 3 And I look forward to working with 4 her in the future, and I congratulate both her 5 on her appointment and the Governor on her 6 selection. 7 Thank you. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: Are 9 there any other Senators wishing to be heard 10 on this nomination? 11 Seeing none, the question is on the 12 nomination of Astrid C. Glynn, of Guilderland, 13 to serve as Commissioner of the Department of 14 Transportation. 15 All in favor signify by saying aye. 16 (Response of "Aye.") 17 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: All 18 opposed, nay. 19 (No response.) 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 21 Astrid Glynn is hereby confirmed as 22 Commissioner of the Department of 23 Transportation. 24 We wish you luck in all your 25 endeavors for the people of the State of

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(518) 371-8910 1 New York. 2 (Applause.) 3 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 4 Secretary will read. 5 THE SECRETARY: As members of the 6 Industrial Board of Appeals, Anne P. Stevason, 7 of Brooklyn, and J. Christopher Meagher, of 8 New York City. 9 As a member of the Board of 10 Visitors of the Capital District Psychiatric 11 Center, Myrna Sanders, of Albany. 12 As a member of the Board of 13 Visitors of the Pilgrim Psychiatric Center, 14 Barbara G. Roth, of Old Bethpage. 15 And as a member of the Board of 16 Visitors of the Staten Island Psychiatric 17 Center, Linda B. Wilson, of Staten Island. 18 SENATOR SKELOS: Move the 19 nominations. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 21 question is on the nominations as previously 22 read. All in favor signify by saying. 23 (Response of "Aye.") 24 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 25 Opposed, nay.

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(518) 371-8910 1 (No response.) 2 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: The 3 nominees are confirmed. 4 Senator Skelos. 5 SENATOR SKELOS: First of all, is 6 there any further business at the desk? 7 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: 8 There is none. 9 SENATOR SKELOS: Just for the 10 advice of the members, there will be a meeting 11 of the Transportation Committee following 12 session in Room 124. 13 Commerce and Economic Development 14 will meet immediately following session in the 15 Majority Conference Room, and the 16 Investigations Committee will meet at 1:30. 17 There being no further business to 18 come before the Senate, I move we stand 19 adjourned until Tuesday, May 29th, at 20 3:00 p.m., intervening days being legislative 21 days. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO: On 23 motion, there being no further business to 24 come before the Senate, the Senate stands 25 adjourned until Tuesday, May 29th, at

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(518) 371-8910 1 3:00 p.m., intervening days being legislative 2 days. 3 (Whereupon, at 1:18 p.m., the 4 Senate adjourned.) 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

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Transcript

Bills on the floor