Monday, March 3, 2008

1 NEW YORK STATE SENATE 2 3 4 THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD 5 6 7 8 9 ALBANY, NEW YORK 10 March 3, 2008 11 3:47 p.m. 12 13 14 REGULAR SESSION 15 16 17 18 SENATOR JOSEPH A. GRIFFO, Acting President 19 STEVEN M. BOGGESS, Secretary 20 21 22 23 24 25

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(518) 371-8910 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 3 Senate will come to order. 4 I ask everyone present to please 5 rise and repeat with me the Pledge of 6 Allegiance to our Flag. 7 (Whereupon, the assemblage recited 8 the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.) 9 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 10 invocation today will be given by the Reverend 11 Peter G. Young, of Mother Theresa Community. 12 Father? 13 REVEREND YOUNG: Thank you very 14 much, Senator. 15 May we pray for one of our former 16 colleagues, Howard Nolan, who is now in the 17 operating room for a quadruple bypass. 18 God, by Your love, You made a world 19 where we have become neighbors to each other 20 and we are enabled to love one another. 21 Grant that we too may use this 22 Senate to strive toward a way of life in 23 keeping with Your plan, O God. 24 Amen. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The

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(518) 371-8910 1 reading of the Journal. 2 THE SECRETARY: In Senate, 3 Friday, February 29, the Senate met pursuant 4 to adjournment. The Journal of Thursday, 5 February 28, was read and approved. On 6 motion, Senate adjourned. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Without 8 objection, the Journal stands approved as 9 read. 10 Presentation of petitions. 11 Messages from the Assembly. 12 Messages from the Governor. 13 Reports of standing committees. 14 Reports of select committees. 15 Communications and reports from 16 state officers. 17 Motions and resolutions. 18 Senator Fuschillo. 19 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Thank you, 20 Mr. President. 21 On page number 14 I offer the 22 following amendments to Calendar Number 169, 23 Senate Print Number 5543C, and ask that said 24 bill retain its place on the order of Third 25 Reading Calendar.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 2 amendments are received and adopted, and the 3 bill will retain its place on third reading. 4 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Mr. 5 President, on behalf of Senator Little, on 6 page number 21 I offer the following 7 amendments to Calendar Number 261, Senate 8 Print Number 5302B, and ask that said bill 9 retain its place on the order of Third Reading 10 Calendar. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 12 amendments are received and adopted, and the 13 bill will retain its place on the Third 14 Reading Calendar. 15 Senator Skelos. 16 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 17 there's Resolution Number 4470 at the desk, by 18 Senator Stewart-Cousins. If we could have it 19 read in its entirety and move for its 20 immediate adoption. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 22 Secretary will read. 23 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 24 Stewart-Cousins, Legislative Resolution 25 Number 4470, honoring the members of the

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(518) 371-8910 1 North East Knights Softball Team, which 2 captured the Bronze Medal at the 2007 Special 3 Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai, 4 China. 5 "WHEREAS, It is the sense of this 6 Legislative Body to recognize and pay tribute 7 to those individuals with disabilities from 8 the State of New York who have inspired and 9 brought pride to their community by achieving 10 outstanding success in athletic competition; 11 and 12 "WHEREAS, Attendant to such 13 concern, and in full accord with its 14 long-standing traditions, this Legislative 15 Body is justly proud to honor the members of 16 the North East Knights Softball Team, which 17 captured the Bronze Medal at the 2007 Special 18 Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai, 19 China; and 20 "WHEREAS, Special Olympics provides 21 an opportunity for year-round sports training 22 and athletic competition in a variety of 23 Olympic-style sports for 43,000 children and 24 adults with intellectual disabilities, 25 complimentary to the athletes, their family

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(518) 371-8910 1 and caregivers; and 2 "WHEREAS, Special Olympics in the 3 State of New York began in 1969. It was 4 started nationally the year before when the 5 first Games were held in Chicago by founder 6 Eunice Kennedy Shriver; and 7 "WHEREAS, On Wednesday, 8 September 26, 2007, the North East Knights 9 Softball Team departed to compete in the World 10 Games. They trained vigorously and are proud 11 to represent Special Olympics New York, and 12 served as goodwill ambassadors at these 13 esteemed global games; and 14 "WHEREAS, Over 7,000 athletes from 15 165 different countries, including 450 16 Americans, competed in the 2007 Special 17 Olympics World Summer Games; and 18 "WHEREAS, The North East Knights 19 were led by Frank Ragusa, Team Captain, and 20 the team escaped elimination and finished in 21 third place behind Australia and China; and 22 "WHEREAS, Coaches Nancy Troiano, 23 Donna Ascher and Joe Bellini have done a 24 superb job in guiding, molding and inspiring 25 the outstanding athletes toward their goals.

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(518) 371-8910 1 Prior to this achievement, the members of the 2 team also competed in the 2005 World Games and 3 won Gold Medals in the floor hockey 4 championship; and 5 "WHEREAS, True assets to their 6 society, their courage, determination and 7 pride stands as superb examples to all, and as 8 ambassadors they have represented New York and 9 the United States in an admirable fashion; and 10 "WHEREAS, Through their 11 participation in Special Olympics New York, 12 the members of the North East Knights Softball 13 Team have gained confidence and have built 14 positive self-images, which have expanded into 15 their home, their workplace and their 16 community; now, therefore, be it 17 "RESOLVED, That this Legislative 18 Body pause in its deliberations to honor the 19 members of the North East Knights Softball 20 Team upon the occasion of capturing the Bronze 21 Medal at the 2007 Special Olympics World 22 Summer Games in Shanghai, China; and be 23 further 24 "RESOLVED, That copies of this 25 resolution, suitably engrossed, be transmitted

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(518) 371-8910 1 to the members of the North East Knights 2 Softball Team." 3 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 4 Stewart-Cousins. 5 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: Thank 6 you, Mr. President. 7 It is really an honor for me to 8 rise today and to present this resolution on 9 behalf of the North East Knights Softball 10 Team. 11 This fall I had an opportunity to 12 meet three of their members: Frank Ragusa, 13 who is the team captain, and Andrew Sawicki 14 and Richard Hunt. They represented my 15 district, the 35th District. But what they 16 did was make sure that I understood that they 17 represented so much more than that. 18 These three were just members of a 19 team that went to Shanghai, China, and 20 competed with thousands of other Special 21 Olympians and managed to win the Bronze Medal 22 for their athleticism. And I felt that it was 23 really selfish of me to just honor the three 24 from my district when there are so many from 25 all over the state who have not only shown an

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(518) 371-8910 1 amazing amount of courage, an amazing amount 2 of discipline, an amazing amount of 3 leadership, and have acted as ambassadors for 4 us in China. 5 We all know how difficult it is for 6 us to go out of our comfort zones. So can you 7 imagine these great athletes leaving their 8 comfort zone, the United States, and going to 9 China? Not only did they learn the culture, 10 they learned that teams work wherever they 11 are, and they brought honor to all of us. 12 So I wanted to take this 13 opportunity to say what they taught me today, 14 "Ni hao," which in Chinese means "hello," and 15 to thank you for being such an exemplary 16 example of the very best that can be, not only 17 as athletes, but as people. We honor the 18 Special Olympians. 19 I also wanted to make special note 20 of their coaches, Nancy Troiano, Donna Ascher, 21 and Joe Bellini, because clearly, without 22 great leadership, even the best team can't 23 win. 24 So again, on behalf of all of my 25 colleagues, we want to congratulate you.

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(518) 371-8910 1 And I'd like to open the resolution 2 for all of my colleagues to join. 3 Congratulations. 4 (Sustained applause.) 5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: We 6 welcome you, we congratulate you, and we wish 7 you best wishes. 8 On the resolution, all in favor 9 signify by saying aye. 10 (Response of "Aye.") 11 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: 12 Opposed, nay. 13 (No response.) 14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 15 resolution is carried. 16 Senator Skelos. 17 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 18 would you please recognize Senator Smith. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 20 Smith. 21 SENATOR SMITH: Thank you very 22 much, Mr. President. 23 Members, colleagues in the 24 chambers, visitors -- "Ni hao ma" to our 25 Chinese contingency up there -- it is with

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(518) 371-8910 1 great pleasure today that we welcome a new 2 member to this chamber. 3 As it has been said throughout the 4 times of my life, as has been said throughout 5 many places in this country, there is no 6 chamber like the chamber that the State Senate 7 holds in the State of New York. The 8 individual members all have a certain 9 confident level, they all have a certain level 10 of intellect, they all provide a great deal of 11 representation on behalf of the constituents 12 that they serve. 13 Today we are here to welcome a 14 member to our conference, a conference that 15 has for many years seen a number of 16 individuals come and go. We are so proud of 17 this gentleman by the name of Darrel 18 Aubertine. 19 Darrel Aubertine has recently won a 20 special election in the North Country, 21 representing Oswego, Jefferson and 22 St. Lawrence. He comes from the New York 23 State Assembly, where he served them very 24 proud. He comes with a background and 25 interest not only for the common person, but

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(518) 371-8910 1 also to do what's best for this one state of 2 New York which we all represent. 3 So, ladies and gentlemen, it is my 4 pleasure for me to introduce to some of you, 5 and to reintroduce to many of you, the newest 6 member to this august body, Senator Darrel 7 Aubertine. 8 (Standing ovation.) 9 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 10 Skelos. 11 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, I 12 too want to welcome you, on behalf of the 13 Majority and Senator Bruno, to the chamber. 14 Elections are elections, and 15 sometimes people are happy, sometimes people 16 are a little less happy. 17 But I know that you're going to 18 enjoy being with this chamber. We are a great 19 legislative body, and we do welcome you. 20 SENATOR AUBERTINE: Thank you. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: 22 Welcome, Senator Aubertine. 23 SENATOR AUBERTINE: Thank you. 24 Mr. President, if I might. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator

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(518) 371-8910 1 Aubertine. 2 SENATOR AUBERTINE: I certainly 3 want to thank all my colleagues for that 4 wonderful warm welcome. And I certainly look 5 forward to working with each and every one of 6 you on all the issues that come before us over 7 the next year. 8 So again, thank you very much, 9 Mr. President. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank 11 you, Senator. 12 Senator Skelos. 13 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 14 if we could go to the noncontroversial reading 15 of the calendar. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 17 Secretary will read. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 56, by Member of the Assembly John, Assembly 20 Print Number 9473, an act to amend Chapter 433 21 of the Laws of 2007 amending the Labor Law. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 23 the last section. 24 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 25 act shall take effect immediately.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 2 the roll. 3 (The Secretary called the roll.) 4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 6 bill is passed. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 176, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 678, an act 9 to amend the Family Court Act, in relation to 10 orders of disposition. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 12 the last section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 14 act shall take effect immediately. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 16 the roll. 17 (The Secretary called the roll.) 18 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 20 bill is passed. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 181, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 23 1271, an act to amend the Estates, Powers and 24 Trusts Law, in relation to the right of 25 election.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 2 the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 4 act shall take effect on the first of January. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 6 the roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll.) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 10 bill is passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 226, by Senator Padavan, Senate Print 6542, an 13 act in relation to the authorization for a 14 city with a population of one million or more. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 16 the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 18 act shall take effect immediately. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 20 the roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll.) 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 24 bill is passed. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number

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(518) 371-8910 1 240, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 1918, an 2 act to amend the General Business Law and 3 others, in relation to peddling New York 4 agricultural products. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 6 the last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 8 act shall take effect on the 180th day. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 10 the roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll.) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 14 bill is passed. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 253, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 189, an 17 act to amend the Education Law, in relation to 18 suspending the pay of any tenured person. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 20 the last section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 22 act shall take effect immediately. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 24 the roll. 25 (The Secretary called the roll.)

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 3 bill is passed. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 255, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 1096, an 6 act to amend the Education Law, in relation to 7 involuntary transfer. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 9 the last section. 10 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 11 act shall take effect immediately. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 13 the roll. 14 (The Secretary called the roll.) 15 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 16 Hassell-Thompson, to explain her vote. 17 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Yes, 18 thank you, Mr. President. 19 I was excused in 2007 when this 20 bill was passed, and had I been present, I 21 would have voted no. And I intend to vote no 22 today on this bill. 23 I do believe that there is a major 24 concern about violent students in the 25 classroom, and I can understand the cause for

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(518) 371-8910 1 alarm and concern. 2 However, I am very concerned that 3 we have added disruptive as well as violent 4 students to this bill. And I have found that 5 in too many instances, teachers use the 6 definition too loosely of "disruptive" in 7 order for me to vote and to support this bill. 8 I would hope that my colleagues 9 would think this through and amend this bill 10 and put the category of "disruptive" in a 11 totally different set of language. 12 Therefore, Mr. President, I will in 13 fact be voting no. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 15 Hassell-Thompson to be recorded in the 16 negative. 17 Senator Montgomery. 18 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, 19 Mr. President. I'm going to continue to 20 oppose this legislation, as I have in the 21 past. 22 And we now are looking at changing 23 the language to include transfer of pupils to 24 another school under the so-called appropriate 25 educational setting in another school.

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(518) 371-8910 1 This presumes that the students 2 will receive a quality environment wherever 3 they're transferred to. I have had students 4 who have been transferred to other schools 5 involuntarily. Already, they do it in 6 New York City. 7 These young people have no one to 8 advocate for them, and they lose the 9 opportunity to continue uninterrupted in their 10 school. Because why? They've been 11 disruptive. Perhaps. Now, "disruptive" is a 12 subjective characterization of a young 13 person's behavior. 14 And, too, we have done nothing in 15 New York City -- certainly not enough -- to 16 make sure that every single young person has 17 access to mental health crisis intervention 18 services. 19 So I am totally opposed to this. 20 And I certainly hope that my colleagues will 21 take a step back -- Senator Saland, take a 22 step back -- and consider what this means to 23 young people in our city and in our state. 24 So I'm going to continue to oppose 25 this. No.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 2 Montgomery to be recorded in the negative. 3 Announce the results. 4 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 5 the negative on Calendar Number 255 are 6 Senators Adams, Duane, Gonzalez, 7 Hassell-Thompson, Montgomery, Parker and 8 Perkins. 9 Ayes, 51. Nays, 7. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 11 bill is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 260, by Senator Little, Senate Print 4963A, an 14 act to amend the Real Property Tax Law, in 15 relation to definition. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 17 the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 19 act shall take effect September 1, 2008. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 21 the roll. 22 (The Secretary called the roll.) 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 25 bill is passed.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 265, by Senator Libous, Senate Print 1591, an 3 act to amend the Religious Corporation Law, in 4 relation to sale, mortgage and lease. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 6 the last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 8 act shall take effect immediately. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 10 the roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll.) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 57. Nays, 13 1. Senator Duane recorded in the negative. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 15 bill is passed. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 290, by Senator Flanagan, Senate Print 3885, 18 an act to amend the General Municipal Law, in 19 relation to games of chance. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 21 the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 23 act shall take effect immediately. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 25 the roll.

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(518) 371-8910 1 (The Secretary called the roll.) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 56. Nays, 3 2. Senators Duane and Padavan recorded in the 4 negative. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 6 bill is passed. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 307, by Senator Maziarz, Senate Print 257A, an 9 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to the 10 crime of surreptitious surveillance. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 12 the last section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 14 act shall take effect on the first of 15 November. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 17 the roll. 18 (The Secretary called the roll.) 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 21 bill is passed. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 349, by Senator O. Johnson, Senate Print 5928, 24 an act to authorize the commissioner of 25 transportation to alienate and convey.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 2 the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 4 act shall take effect immediately. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 6 the roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll.) 8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 10 bill is passed. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 350, by Senator Griffo, Senate Print 6748, an 13 act authorizing the Town of Vernon. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: There 15 is a home-rule message at the desk. 16 Read the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 18 act shall take effect immediately. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 20 the roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll.) 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 24 bill is passed. 25 Senator Skelos, that completes the

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(518) 371-8910 1 noncontroversial reading of the calendar. 2 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 3 is there any further business at the desk? 4 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: There 5 is no further business at the desk at this 6 time. 7 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 8 Senator Bruno hands up the following committee 9 assignments and asks that they be filed in the 10 Journal. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: 12 Received and filed. 13 SENATOR SKELOS: There being no 14 further business to come before the Senate, I 15 move we stand adjourned until Tuesday, 16 March 4th, at 3:00 p.m. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: On 18 motion, the Senate stands adjourned until 19 Tuesday, March 4th, at 3:00 p.m. 20 (Whereupon, at 4:07 p.m., the 21 Senate adjourned.) 22 23 24 25

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(518) 371-8910