Monday, December 15, 2008

1 NEW YORK STATE SENATE 2 3 4 THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD 5 6 7 8 9 ALBANY, NEW YORK 10 December 15, 2008 11 3:17 p.m. 12 13 14 REGULAR SESSION 15 16 17 18 SENATOR GEORGE H. WINNER, JR., 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 WINNER: The 3 Senate will come to order. 4 I ask everyone present to please 5 rise and repeat with me the Pledge of 6 Allegiance. 7 (Whereupon, the assemblage recited 8 the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.) 9 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: In the 10 absence of clergy, may we bow our heads in a 11 moment of silence. 12 (Whereupon, the assemblage 13 respected a moment of silence.) 14 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 15 reading of the Journal. 16 THE SECRETARY: In Senate, 17 Sunday, December 14, the Senate met pursuant 18 to adjournment. The Journal of Saturday, 19 December 13, was read and approved. On 20 motion, Senate adjourned. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Without 22 objection, the Journal stands approved as 23 read. 24 May we have some order, please. 25 Presentation of petitions.

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(518) 371-8910 1 Messages from the Assembly. 2 Messages from the Governor. 3 Reports of standing committees. 4 Senator Libous. 5 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President, I 6 believe there's a report of the Judiciary 7 Committee at the desk. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 9 Secretary will read the report of the 10 Judiciary Committee. 11 THE SECRETARY: Senator 12 DeFrancisco, from the Committee on Judiciary, 13 reports the following nominations: 14 As justice of the Supreme Court of 15 the Second Judicial District, Honorable Lewis 16 Bart Stone, of New York City. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 18 DeFrancisco. 19 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Thank you. 20 I'm proud to rise and explain that 21 the three nominees that will be presented to 22 the full Senate today all have been thoroughly 23 reviewed by not only the Governor's office but 24 also by the State Senate; in fact, reviewed so 25 carefully that we didn't get these on the

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(518) 371-8910 1 floor when they really wanted to come here a 2 couple of weeks ago. 3 In addition, each of the nominees 4 went before the Senate Judiciary Committee 5 this morning and all were determined to be 6 well-qualified, and with the unanimous 7 recommendation for all three to be sent to the 8 full Senate. 9 With respect specifically to Judge 10 Lewis Bart Stone, I just want to mention that 11 Judge Stone has been a Court of Claims judge 12 since 2000, and he's got an extremely 13 distinguished career before that, including a 14 partner in the firm of Rogers & Wells. 15 What I found particularly 16 interesting was that not only did he go to 17 Harvard Law School, but he went to RPI and had 18 a degree in biomedical, I guess, chemical 19 engineering. And I've always felt that people 20 with engineering backgrounds always make the 21 best lawyers. 22 And with that said, I'm proud to 23 move his nomination. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 25 question is on the nomination of the Honorable

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(518) 371-8910 1 Lewis Bart Stone as justice of the Supreme 2 Court of the Second Judicial District. All 3 those in favor signify by saying aye. 4 (Response of "Aye.") 5 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 6 Opposed, nay. 7 (No response.) 8 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Justice 9 Stone is hereby confirmed as justice of the 10 Supreme Court of the Second Judicial District. 11 Justice Stone is here today and is 12 accompanied by his wife, Gretchen. 13 My congratulations to you, Justice. 14 (Applause.) 15 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 16 Secretary will read. 17 THE SECRETARY: As a judge of the 18 Court of Claims, Honorable Frank P. Milano, of 19 Delmar. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 21 DeFrancisco. 22 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I also move 23 the nomination of the Honorable Frank P. 24 Milano for the position of judge of the Court 25 of Claims.

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(518) 371-8910 1 And I would request that you 2 recognize Senator Breslin for a second. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 4 Breslin. 5 SENATOR BRESLIN: Thank you very 6 much, Mr. President. 7 I rise to support and second the 8 nomination of Frank Milano, who back in 2006 9 was a Governor Pataki appointment, one of many 10 Governor Pataki's appointments who were 11 extremely well-qualified for the position. 12 He's had an exemplary record while on the 13 bench for the past two years. 14 Prior to that, he had served in any 15 number of different legal capacities, 16 including but not limited to as a town judge. 17 He'd been the partner in a major Albany law 18 firm, had worked -- as a matter of fact, to 19 show you how much experience he had, he worked 20 for the Senate Majority back in the early 21 '80s, was deputy Secretary of State and 22 general counsel. 23 But most importantly, extremely 24 well-qualified, nonpartisan, and -- which I 25 hope doesn't affect the other side -- a friend

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(518) 371-8910 1 of mine. And I'm happy to second that 2 nomination of Frank Milano. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 4 question is on the nomination of Frank P. 5 Milano as a judge of the Court of Claims. All 6 in favor signify by saying aye. 7 (Response of "Aye.") 8 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 9 Opposed, nay. 10 (No response.) 11 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Judge 12 Frank P. Milano is hereby confirmed as a judge 13 of the New York State Court of Claims. 14 He is also accompanied by his 15 father, Frank, and his son, Peter. 16 My congratulations to you, Judge. 17 And good luck to you. 18 (Applause.) 19 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 20 Secretary will read. 21 THE SECRETARY: As a judge of the 22 Court of Claims, Michael H. Melkonian, of West 23 Sand Lake. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 25 DeFrancisco.

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(518) 371-8910 1 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I'd move 2 the nomination of Michael H. Melkonian, of 3 West Sand Lake, as a judge of the Court of 4 Claims. 5 I know he was concerned during the 6 Judiciary Committee meeting about whether or 7 not his children were going to behave in 8 Senate chambers, but they're behaving better 9 than he is, I believe. 10 And with that said, I would request 11 that you call on Senator Maltese to second the 12 nomination. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 14 Maltese. 15 SENATOR MALTESE: Yes, 16 Mr. President, I'm very pleased and honored to 17 second the nomination of Mike Melkonian. 18 He graduated cum laude from Marist 19 College. He is a St. John's Law School 20 graduate. He worked on staff as my chief 21 counsel in 1992 to 1994. 22 His experience is varied, 23 certainly, serving with the New York State 24 Department of Law, in the Litigation Bureau; 25 he worked there for two years. He was with

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(518) 371-8910 1 the New York State Office of Mental Health as 2 assistant counsel for two years. 3 In addition, at the same time, he 4 served for seven years as a judge advocate and 5 headquarters commander with the United States 6 Army Reserve, was also two years with the 7 New York State Army National Guard as a 8 military liaison. 9 And he served as assistant counsel 10 to the Majority for eight years here in 11 Albany. 12 He's definitely one of our own, a 13 man of high integrity. He has also served as 14 deputy counsel for four years with the 15 Rensselaer County Legislature, and most 16 recently he was with the New York State 17 Legislative Bill Drafting Commission as a 18 commissioner. 19 Certainly he's someone I've come to 20 know over the years, both personally and 21 professionally. I'm very pleased that he met 22 his wife, Caroline, while both were serving in 23 my office. 24 It's my great pleasure and honor 25 today to second the nomination of Mike

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(518) 371-8910 1 Melkonian as a judge of the Court of Claims. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Thank 3 you, Senator Maltese. 4 Senator Flanagan. 5 SENATOR FLANAGAN: Thank you, 6 Mr. President. I just wanted to speak on the 7 nomination. 8 Mike I think is a very good example 9 of a lot of things that we don't often read 10 about. You look at government generally and 11 you look at people who work in the public 12 sector, and oftentimes if we succeed it's 13 because we work with good people, people who 14 are sometimes behind the scenes more than they 15 are in front. 16 I think he is a perfect example of 17 someone who has been a terrific team player, 18 incredibly loyal, diligent. I had a chance to 19 work with him extensively when I chaired the 20 Election Law Committee when we were dealing 21 with some very thorny and delicate issues 22 involving HAVA. He was the consummate 23 professional. I think he speaks volumes about 24 what it means to be in public service. 25 And frankly, he's a good guy, and

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(518) 371-8910 1 it's just nice to see somebody who's a good 2 guy succeed. 3 Mike, congratulations. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 5 Farley. 6 SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you. I 7 rise also to support the nomination of 8 Michael, who not only is a member of this 9 Senate family, he's served with great 10 distinction in a lot of roles here. 11 You know, I don't think I've seen 12 any judge ever being appointed that's brought 13 nine members of his family here with him. 14 That just shows you what a family guy he is. 15 But Mike is not only a great person 16 and a loyal -- as John was saying, is a loyal 17 member of this house, but you've served with 18 distinction in our bill drafting area and in a 19 nonpartisan, bipartisan way. 20 And I'm pleased to support your 21 nomination, Mike. Good luck to you. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 23 Volker. 24 SENATOR VOLKER: Yeah, I just 25 want to say -- and my voice is a little shaky

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(518) 371-8910 1 today because I got a nasty cold that I 2 brought back from western New York. 3 Mike Melkonian is one of the people 4 who we call a go-to guy. If you need help in 5 a whole series of areas, he was a guy who 6 would -- you'd go to to help you. 7 Just recently, he was supposed to 8 be sent over to Iraq, and some of us were a 9 little concerned about security around here. 10 And whatever happened, they didn't send him. 11 And he walked in one day and I said, "Jeez, 12 thank goodness, I didn't feel safe with Mike 13 not being here." And the guy next to me said, 14 "I didn't even know who he was." I said, 15 "Well, that just goes to show you." 16 And Mike's been around for here for 17 a lot of years -- a fine gentleman, a very 18 bright and erudite guy. He'll be perfect for 19 the Court of Claims. 20 And I wish you the best of luck. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 22 Maziarz. 23 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you very 24 much, Mr. President. 25 I rise too to second this

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(518) 371-8910 1 nomination of Judge Melkonian. It's great to 2 see him here today with his family. Mike, as 3 Senator Farley said, is a member of this 4 Senate team, the whole team, and has done a 5 great job. 6 And I know, particularly on the 7 criminal justice issues, a family in my 8 district had a son who was killed by a drunk 9 driver, and the father happened to be involved 10 in the military, and he really connected well 11 with Mike. And you really helped that family 12 over a very, very -- the most tragic incident, 13 of course, in their entire life. 14 And you're going to be a great 15 judge on the Court of Claims, Mike. We're 16 going to miss you here, but this is a great 17 step for you. Congratulations to you and to 18 your family. 19 Thank you, Mr. President. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 21 Libous. 22 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, 23 Mr. President. I too want to join my 24 colleagues in seconding the nomination of Mike 25 Melkonian.

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(518) 371-8910 1 I worked with Mike when I chaired 2 the Mental Health Committee, and Mike was 3 instrumental in helping us put together and 4 author a number of major pieces of legislation 5 to help people with mental illness and 6 developmental disabilities in this state. 7 And, Mike, for your commitment and 8 assistance, I want to say thank you there. 9 And certainly for your service to our country, 10 I want to again, on this floor, say thank you. 11 And I know that you're going to make an 12 outstanding Court of Claims judge. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 14 question is on the nomination of Michael H. 15 Melkonian as a judge of the Court of Claims. 16 All in favor signify by saying aye. 17 (Response of "Aye.") 18 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 19 Opposed, nay. 20 (Response of "Nay.") 21 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Michael 22 H. Melkonian is hereby confirmed as a judge of 23 the New York State Court of Claims. 24 Congratulations, Judge. 25 He's accompanied by his wife,

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(518) 371-8910 1 Caroline; his children, Olivia and Max; his 2 parents, Cedric and Alice; his brother Ken and 3 his wife Lucinda; and his sister Karin and her 4 husband Russ. 5 Again, my congratulations and best 6 wishes to you. 7 (Applause.) 8 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Reports 9 of select committees. 10 Communications and reports from 11 state officers. 12 Motions and resolutions. 13 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 15 Libous. 16 SENATOR LIBOUS: Could we adopt 17 the Resolution Calendar, with the exception of 18 Calendar Number 7195, 7363 and 7463, please. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: All in 20 favor of adopting the Resolution Calendar 21 signify by saying aye. 22 (Response of "Aye.") 23 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 24 Opposed, nay. 25 (No response.)

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 2 Resolution Calendar is adopted. 3 Senator Libous. 4 SENATOR LIBOUS: Could we have 5 Resolution 7195 and have its title read, 6 please. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 8 Secretary will read. 9 THE SECRETARY: By Senator C. 10 Johnson, Legislative Resolution Number 7195, 11 mourning the death of Rhoda Amon, a woman of 12 singular distinction and extraordinary 13 accomplishment. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 15 Johnson. 16 SENATOR CRAIG JOHNSON: Thank 17 you, Mr. President. 18 This resolution honors the life of 19 Rhoda Amon, a Port Washington resident, 20 newspaper reporter for more than four decades, 21 and a trailblazing member of her profession. 22 She passed away on October 25th of this year, 23 leaving Long Island, New York State, and 24 newsrooms everywhere much better places than 25 she found them.

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(518) 371-8910 1 For 42 years, Rhoda worked at 2 Newsday, earning a reputation as an intrepid 3 features reporter with a thirst for travel. 4 She reported from foreign countries and 5 interviewed those who control the levers of 6 power. However, it was the humanity and the 7 care that she took when writing about everyday 8 Long Islanders and her drive for equality were 9 what distinguished her as a journalist and as 10 a person. 11 Rhoda managed not only to break the 12 glass ceiling in the newsroom, but also 13 managed to tear down a few walls as well. She 14 was among a group of female reporters who were 15 tired of being constrained to the society 16 pages and paid less than their male 17 counterparts, who filed a federal lawsuit that 18 resulted in changes to Newsday's hiring 19 practices. And it was actually through pay 20 equity, a goal she continued to seek decades 21 after her own legal action, that led our paths 22 to cross. 23 In my interactions with Rhoda, she 24 was always fair and never flinching in her 25 questions. Her attention to detail and

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(518) 371-8910 1 dedication to accuracy were second to none, as 2 was her commitment to see what was just. 3 It was these qualities that Rhoda 4 had instilled in the reporters that she had 5 mentored, including her grandson, Michael, who 6 for the last few years sat a couple of desks 7 away from her at Newsday. 8 Last month I joined hundreds of 9 others at a memorial service honoring Rhoda. 10 For nearly two hours, person after person 11 detailed the tremendous impact that she had on 12 their lives. What stuck out in my own mind 13 was one woman, a wife of a soldier who had 14 returned from Iraq and was denied medical 15 treatment that he needed. 16 In reporting out a story about this 17 struggle, this woman talked about how Rhoda 18 put her and her husband at ease as they were 19 talking about what had become a deeply 20 personal situation. The woman said that the 21 resulting article not only did them justice, 22 but that her husband would not be alive today 23 without Rhoda. 24 That was only one story. I know 25 there are many more like it. We are all

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(518) 371-8910 1 richer for having Rhoda in our life. She is 2 missed by those who knew her, by those who 3 loved her, and all of those who she touched 4 through her work, through her words, and 5 through her pursuits. I count myself as one 6 of them. 7 Thank you very much, Mr. President. 8 I certainly open up this resolution for 9 cosigners. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: All 11 those in favor of Resolution 7195 signify by 12 saying aye. 13 (Response of "Aye.") 14 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 15 Opposed, nay. 16 (No response.) 17 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 18 resolution is adopted. 19 The Secretary will read. 20 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 21 Larkin, Legislative Resolution Number 7363, 22 paying tribute to the many accomplishments of 23 President John F. Kennedy and memorializing 24 the 45th anniversary of his death on 25 November 22, 2008.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 2 Larkin. 3 SENATOR LARKIN: Thank you, 4 Mr. President. 5 You know, I had hoped to do this on 6 the 18th of November, but, you know, 7 circumstances beyond my control prohibited, so 8 we're here today. 9 You know, my relationship with 10 President Kennedy was small but sincere. In 11 April 1963, we were informed by Ambassador 12 Goodell that President Kennedy would visit 13 Europe in June of 1963. The accomplishments 14 and turmoil of doing such a job that 15 encompassed all the armed forces that were 16 then stationed in Europe and assembled them to 17 Germany and pay specific attention to some of 18 the things that the president wanted. 19 The president wanted to visit with 20 troops at the troop level. The president 21 wanted to eat with the enlisted men, not the 22 officers. The president wanted to talk to 23 some airborne people. 24 To one airborne gentleman, the 25 president said: "I see you've jumped a lot."

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(518) 371-8910 1 He said, "Yes, but they won't let me jump 2 anymore, because I'm 57 years old." President 3 Kennedy turned around to the commander of the 4 airborne unit, and said "Why not?" He said, 5 "I've been here two weeks, sir, but he'll jump 6 tomorrow." 7 He said, "Thrill jumping" -- the 8 master sergeant says to the president, "It's 9 the biggest thrill you'll ever get in your 10 life." And ladies and gentlemen, the 11 president looked at him and said, "There are 12 people who will differ with you." 13 Who laughed? 14 But President Kennedy's attitude 15 while he was in Europe, the immense personal 16 feeling he had about the troops, talking to 17 them at every level, making sure that they 18 were comfortable -- when you talked to the 19 Secret Service, they told you about when he 20 was first elected in '60 and going down to 21 Miami and having all of those accommodations 22 for the Secret Service. 23 Everybody that was there in those 24 functions in Europe knew that the president 25 was a combat veteran, PT-109, and they

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(518) 371-8910 1 respected him. Those of us who were on that 2 detail from April till June got a special 3 respect for the president. And when we went 4 through Germany, we went to Ireland. When we 5 went to Berlin before Ireland, the turnout was 6 the greatest I've ever seen in my life. 7 Personal respect for a man who deserved their 8 respect. 9 Most of my Army friends at that 10 time were registered as an independent, 11 because you didn't want to tick off anybody at 12 the top. But November 22nd of '63 I arrived 13 back in the States, and the first thing I 14 heard was that the president was shot. I 15 thought it was an Orson Welles comedy, and 16 then I found out it wasn't. 17 I that night went to the Pentagon, 18 my assignment station, and the mood was so 19 somber, you could have seen people from one 20 side of -- you never knew what side of the 21 aisle they were on. But the feeling that they 22 had for the president -- people were talking 23 to people all over the world, what were we 24 doing, what we should be doing, and everybody 25 had one thing to say. Those who met him,

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(518) 371-8910 1 those who had the privilege of greeting him 2 were astonished at how he personally made you 3 feel like you were the most important person 4 there was. 5 In five days, from the date of his 6 assassination till his burial, I had never 7 seen a nation in such awe of such an 8 individual. I never saw young individuals -- 9 you could take the cameras that were being 10 shown and see the lines; the lines were two 11 and three and four hours to get in to view his 12 casket. 13 He taught a lot of us a lot of 14 things. A lot of people in this room probably 15 weren't even born when he was assassinated. 16 But I think a lot of them should remember one 17 thing: He was a great American, he loved his 18 country. And I am honored I had the privilege 19 of being the project officer for his visit to 20 the United States Army Europe. 21 Thank you. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: All 23 those in favor of Resolution 7363, by Senator 24 Larkin, signify by saying aye. 25 (Response of "Aye.")

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 2 Opposed, nay. 3 (No response.) 4 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 5 resolution is adopted. 6 This resolution, as the prior 7 resolution, are available for sponsorship by 8 all members. Those that do not wish to be on 9 either of those resolutions please contact the 10 desk. 11 The Secretary will read. 12 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 13 Maltese, Legislative Resolution Number 7463, 14 horning Ronald James Sorenson upon the 15 occasion of his special recognition for 16 honorable service and dedication to ensuring 17 the memory of victims of terrorism. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 19 Maltese. 20 SENATOR MALTESE: Mr. President, 21 I rise in support of this resolution, 22 recognizing and honoring Ronald James 23 Sorenson. 24 Ron James is well-known among all 25 the veterans and the legislators here in the

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(518) 371-8910 1 Capitol, constantly lobbying on behalf of the 2 veterans. 3 He has, in addition, been extremely 4 active with the Citizens Flag Alliance and as 5 a matter of fact is the designer and chief 6 proponent of a flag "Missing in Attack on Our 7 Nation," which has been the subject of 8 legislation in this house, legislation Senate 9 7139A, which passed this body, indicating that 10 the flag can be flown on September 11th at the 11 State Capitol and all official buildings of 12 the state. 13 Ron James is a veteran of the 14 United States Marine Corps. He has been 15 putting aside a great deal of his life, not 16 sparing of his own time and effort and 17 diligence and dedication, as a proponent not 18 only of this flag but as a proponent of 19 remembering the victims of September 11th. 20 This resolution today is indeed 21 fitting that it honors Ron James, who is 22 present here with this body, and I support 23 this resolution, Mr. President. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: All 25 those in favor of Resolution 7463 signify by

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(518) 371-8910 1 saying aye. 2 (Response of "Aye.") 3 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 4 Opposed, nay. 5 Excuse me, the roll call is 6 withdrawn. 7 Senator DeFrancisco. 8 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I just want 9 to stand up very briefly and congratulate Ron, 10 who's really worked so hard on his time, and 11 for no compensation, for all the causes for 12 veterans. He's constantly around Albany 13 advocating for veterans, and that's -- we need 14 more people like Ron James. 15 So I'm very proud to support this 16 resolution and give my congratulations to Ron 17 and ask him to please keep up the great work. 18 Thank you. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: All 20 those in favor of Resolution 7463 signify by 21 saying aye. 22 (Response of "Aye.") 23 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 24 Opposed, nay. 25 (No response.)

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 2 resolution is adopted. 3 This resolution is also open for 4 cosponsorship, and those that do not wish to 5 be on this resolution please contact the desk. 6 (Applause.) 7 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 8 Libous. 9 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President, 10 there will be an immediate meeting of the 11 Rules Committee in Room 332, please. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 13 Immediate meeting of the Rules Committee in 14 Room 332. The Senate stands at ease pending 15 the return of the Rules Committee report. 16 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at 17 ease at 3:44 p.m.) 18 (Whereupon, the Senate reconvened 19 at 3:58 p.m.) 20 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President, 21 can we return to reports of standing 22 committees for the report of the Rules 23 Committee, please. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Reports 25 of standing committees.

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(518) 371-8910 1 The Secretary will read the Rules 2 Committee report. 3 THE SECRETARY: Senator Skelos, 4 from the Committee on Rules, reports the 5 following bills: 6 Senate Print 4996B, by Senator 7 Volker, an act to amend the General 8 Obligations Law; 9 6084A, by Senator Stewart-Cousins, 10 an act to amend the Town Law; 11 6096A, by Senator C. Johnson, an 12 act to amend the Town Law; 13 6647, by Senator Valesky, an act in 14 relation to permitting; 15 7086, by Senator Aubertine, an act 16 to amend the Public Authorities Law; 17 7430, by Senator Farley, an act to 18 amend the Banking Law; 19 7452, by Senator Valesky, an act to 20 amend the Village Law; 21 7631A, by Senator Aubertine, an act 22 in relation to making certain findings and 23 determinations; 24 8128A, by Senator O. Johnson, an 25 act to amend the Executive Law and the

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(518) 371-8910 1 Criminal Procedure Law; 2 8506, by Senator Griffo, an act to 3 amend the Public Service Law; 4 8743, by Senator Farley, an act to 5 amend Chapter 148 of the Laws of 2001; 6 8783, by Senator Fuschillo, an act 7 to adjust certain state aid payments; 8 8786, by Senator Bonacic, an act to 9 amend Chapter 271 of the Laws of 2006; 10 And Senate Print 8798, by Senator 11 Skelos, an act to amend the Tax Law. 12 All bills are ordered direct to 13 third reading. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 15 Libous. 16 SENATOR LIBOUS: Move to accept 17 the Rules report, please. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: All in 19 favor of accepting the Rules report signify by 20 saying aye. 21 (Response of "Aye.") 22 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 23 Opposed, nay. 24 (No response.) 25 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The

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(518) 371-8910 1 report is accepted. 2 Senator Libous. 3 SENATOR LIBOUS: May we have the 4 noncontroversial reading of the calendar, 5 please. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 7 Secretary will read. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 2267, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 8798, an 10 act to amend the Tax Law. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: This 12 calendar number is being taken out of order. 13 Read the last section. 14 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 15 act shall take effect immediately. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Call 17 the roll. 18 (The Secretary called the roll.) 19 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 20 Schneiderman. 21 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you. 22 I appreciate the courtesy, Mr. President. 23 Because this bill was taken out of order, I 24 think some of my colleagues may be unaware 25 that it's coming to the floor at this time.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 2 Schneiderman, do you wish me to withdraw the 3 roll call? Or are you explaining your vote? 4 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: I'm 5 explaining my vote. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Thank 7 you, Senator. 8 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you, 9 Mr. President. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: You're 11 welcome. 12 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Good to 13 see you up there. 14 The reason that I have concerns 15 about this bill is that we're here in a 16 situation where our state is facing a fiscal 17 crisis, we're here in a situation where our 18 national economy is suffering greatly because 19 of a philosophy of government that essentially 20 has been embodied in the Bush administration 21 but has had its adherents going back to Andrew 22 Mellon and others in the 1920s, which 23 basically says get rid of regulations, 24 concentrate all of the wealth and power in the 25 hands of a few, and we will flourish.

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(518) 371-8910 1 I think that that has been 2 demonstrated to be false, Mr. President. I 3 think our current financial crisis is a result 4 of that sort of philosophy. And I find it 5 difficult to support measures in this bill -- 6 while there may be some things in it that may 7 be commendable -- that essentially embodies 8 that philosophy. 9 I don't think we need a new 10 commission to just look at reducing 11 regulations without having a balance of a 12 commission to see if there are some 13 transactions that need to be regulated. I 14 mean, we just went through that with the 15 banking and financial services industry. And 16 the push to end regulations is not an 17 unalloyed positive, and I don't think anyone 18 in the public or in academia is any longer 19 fooled by that. 20 I also have a concern with us 21 providing for essentially very narrow tax 22 loopholes that further complicate our tax 23 code, reduce provisions to ensure that some 24 companies who can jump through loopholes don't 25 have a pay a minimum tax. This is the kind of

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(518) 371-8910 1 complex manipulation of the tax system that 2 has put us in the situation we're in today. 3 I think what we need is 4 broad-based, equitable, progressive tax policy 5 that treats like transactions alike, that 6 means that the rich pay their fair share and 7 that every business, no matter how small, gets 8 a fair shot. That's not what's embodied in 9 the provisions here. 10 I think we need to have smart, good 11 regulations on business to make sure that 12 everyone is protected from the violence in the 13 market. That's part of our job as the 14 government. That's not what's embodied in 15 this bill. 16 And finally, the provisions about 17 the UDC I think are really essentially an 18 end-run around good public policy in terms of 19 who should serve there and how long they 20 should serve. 21 So, Mr. President, with all due 22 respect to this as the last gesture in 23 one-house session, I am going to vote no. 24 Happy holidays. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator

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(518) 371-8910 1 Montgomery. 2 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, 3 Mr. President, thank you. 4 I'm going to join my colleague 5 Senator Schneiderman in voting no on this 6 legislation. The Governor is coming out with 7 a budget, his version of the state's budget 8 for the upcoming year, and I think all of us 9 are going to be involved in that debate. We 10 will be discussing it over the next few 11 months, and hopefully before the end of the 12 budget fiscal year we will all be able to come 13 to some conclusion on what will be in that 14 budget. 15 So I think this is an unnecessary 16 move, even though perhaps the Senator is 17 looking for a way to address the budget issues 18 that we're confronted with. The fact of the 19 matter is this is not doing that. We're not 20 accomplishing that. And so Senator Skelos is 21 way off-base with this proposal. 22 And whatever we do, I hope that it 23 is going to be in the context of looking for 24 ways of improving the economic state of our 25 state and looking for revenue, looking for

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(518) 371-8910 1 ways of having the budget be balanced without 2 so much pain to citizens and our families and 3 our middle-income citizens across the state. 4 So let's do that together. And 5 let's do it with every deliberation that is 6 possible. And let's come up with a meaningful 7 budget in a timely fashion. 8 So I'm going to oppose this. I 9 think the process is wrong. And certainly 10 there are aspects of this proposal that are 11 very, very harmful to our state's government 12 and our budget. So I'm going to vote no. 13 Thank you. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 15 Montgomery will be recorded in the negative. 16 Senator Krueger, to explain her 17 vote. 18 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you, 19 Mr. President. I too rise to briefly explain 20 why I'll be voting no on the bill. 21 It's an interesting bill. It's a 22 little bit of everything. I might argue this 23 isn't really the way to do legislation, where 24 you combine housing policy and health 25 insurance and some tax-revenue reductions and

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(518) 371-8910 1 some UDC change. But that's how it was given 2 to us. 3 And so I feel I must vote no, and 4 just to highlight a few things that my 5 colleagues didn't already. 6 I have spoken frequently on the 7 floor about these "freedom" health policies. 8 One again is included in this complex bill. 9 Freedom health policies have been proved to be 10 freedom to go without healthcare, freedom to 11 not be able to afford healthcare, and freedom 12 to go bankrupt from health expenses if you get 13 sick. So freedom health plans are great for 14 the healthy, not so good for anyone else. 15 So again I urge my colleagues, as I 16 always do when we try to slide these bills in, 17 don't fall for that proposal. 18 It also has a housing section. And 19 on its first read, it just gives the 20 localities some powers in their own right to 21 do bonds and notes and tax incremental 22 financing programs. Again, housing and TIFs 23 are -- the devil's in the details. 24 In this bill, it appears we'd be 25 circling around to allow IDA-type entities to

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(518) 371-8910 1 do their own financing. We have our own 2 concerns about needing IDA reform in this 3 state; I don't think we want to slide around 4 that. 5 It's not specifically for 6 affordable housing, but in fact market-rate 7 housing could also be subsidized. It's also 8 very unclear what the liability for the 9 municipal bonds would be. And of course we 10 all know loans for housing is a little risky 11 in today's market, and we should really 12 understand what we're doing before we actually 13 walk down that road. 14 There's also some real concern in 15 here in the second section on housing around 16 the differences in new construction and 17 rehabilitation. And under the rehab section 18 of the housing bill, it looks like it's an 19 attempt to get around multiple-family-dwelling 20 laws, particularly in New York City, and 21 rent-regulation protections. 22 So again, lots of questions. Not 23 enough answers. Not what we need to do right 24 now in facing a $15 billion deficit, waiting 25 for the Governor's budget bill tomorrow. I'll

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(518) 371-8910 1 vote no and urge my colleagues to vote no. 2 Thank you, Mr. President. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 4 Krueger will be recorded in the negative. 5 Announce the results. 6 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 7 the negative on Calendar Number 2267 are 8 Senators Breslin, Diaz, Dilan, Duane, 9 Gonzalez, Hassell-Thompson, L. Krueger, 10 C. Kruger, Montgomery, Perkins, Savino, 11 Schneiderman, Stavisky and Thompson. 12 Ayes, 44. Nays, 14. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 14 bill is passed. 15 The Secretary will read. 16 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 17 Calendar Number 2253, Senator Volker moves to 18 discharge, from the Committee on Rules, 19 Assembly Bill Number 6421B and substitute it 20 for the identical Senate Bill Number 4996B, 21 Third Reading Calendar 2253. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 23 Substitution ordered. 24 The Secretary will read. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number

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(518) 371-8910 1 2253, by Member of the Assembly Weinstein, 2 Assembly Print Number 6421B, an act to amend 3 the General Obligations Law. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Read 5 the last section. 6 THE SECRETARY: Section 21. This 7 act shall take effect on the first of March 8 next succeeding. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Call 10 the roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll.) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 14 bill is passed. 15 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 16 Calendar Number 2254, Senator Stewart-Cousins 17 moves to discharge, from the Committee on 18 Rules, Assembly Bill Number 8317A and 19 substitute it for the identical Senate Bill 20 Number 6084A, Third Reading Calendar 2254. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 22 Substitution ordered. 23 The Secretary will read. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 2254, by Member of the Assembly Brodsky,

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(518) 371-8910 1 Assembly Print Number 8317A, an act to amend 2 the Town Law. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Read 4 the last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 6 act shall take effect immediately. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Call 8 the roll. 9 (The Secretary called the roll.) 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 12 bill is passed. 13 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 14 Calendar Number 2255, Senator C. Johnson moves 15 to discharge, from the Committee on Rules, 16 Assembly Bill Number 8938A and substitute it 17 for the identical Senate Bill Number 6096A, 18 Third Reading Calendar 2255. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 20 Substitution ordered. 21 The Secretary will read. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 2255, by Member of the Assembly Schimel, 24 Assembly Print Number 8938A, an act in 25 relation to permitting.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: There 2 is a home-rule message at the desk. 3 Read the last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 5 act shall take effect immediately. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Call 7 the roll. 8 (The Secretary called the roll.) 9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 11 bill is passed. 12 May we have some order, please. 13 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 14 Calendar Number 2256, Senator Valesky moves to 15 discharge, from the Committee on Rules, 16 Assembly Bill Number 9560 and substitute it 17 for the identical Senate Bill Number 6647, 18 Third Reading Calendar 2256. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 20 Substitution ordered. 21 The Secretary will read. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 2256, by Member of the Assembly Magee, 24 Assembly Print Number 9560, an act in relation 25 to permitting.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: There 2 is a home-rule message at the desk. 3 Read the last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 5 act shall take effect immediately. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Call 7 the roll. 8 (The Secretary called the roll.) 9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 11 bill is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 13 Calendar Number 2257, Senator Aubertine moves 14 to discharge, from the Committee on Rules, 15 Assembly Bill Number 9436 and substitute it 16 for the identical Senate Bill Number 7086, 17 Third Reading Calendar 2257. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 19 Substitution ordered. 20 The Secretary will read. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 2257, by Member of the Assembly Barclay, 23 Assembly Print Number 9436, an act to amend 24 the Public Authorities Law. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Read

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(518) 371-8910 1 the last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 3 act shall take effect immediately. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Call 5 the roll. 6 (The Secretary called the roll.) 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 9 bill is passed. 10 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 11 Calendar Number 2258, Senator Farley moves to 12 discharge, from the Committee on Rules, 13 Assembly Bill Number 11030 and substitute it 14 for the identical Senate Bill Number 7430, 15 Third Reading Calendar 2258. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 17 Substitution ordered. 18 The Secretary will read. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 2258, by Member of the Assembly Peralta, 21 Assembly Print Number 11030, an act to amend 22 the Banking Law. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Read 24 the last section. 25 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This

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(518) 371-8910 1 act shall take effect immediately. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Call 3 the roll. 4 (The Secretary called the roll.) 5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 7 bill is passed. 8 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 9 Calendar Number 2259, Senator Valesky moves to 10 discharge, from the Committee on Rules, 11 Assembly Bill Number 10417, and substitute it 12 for the identical Senate Bill Number 7452, 13 Calendar Number 2259. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 15 Substitution ordered. 16 The Secretary will read. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 2259, by Member of the Assembly Magee, 19 Assembly Print Number 10417, an act to amend 20 the Village Law. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Read 22 the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 24 act shall take effect immediately. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Call

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(518) 371-8910 1 the roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll.) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 5 bill is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 7 Calendar Number 2260, Senator Aubertine moves 8 to discharge, from the Committee on Rules, 9 Assembly Bill Number 8216B and substitute it 10 for the identical Senate Bill Number 7631A, 11 Third Reading Calendar 2260. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 13 Substitution ordered. 14 The Secretary will read. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 2260, by Member of the Assembly Townsend, 17 Assembly Print Number 8216B, an act in 18 relation to making certain findings and 19 determinations. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: There 21 is a home-rule message at the desk. 22 Read the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 24 act shall take effect immediately. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Call

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(518) 371-8910 1 the roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll.) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 5 bill is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 7 Calendar Number 2261, Senator O. Johnson moves 8 to discharge, from the Committee on Rules, 9 Assembly Bill Number 11721 and substitute it 10 for the identical Senate Bill Number 8128A, 11 Third Reading Calendar 2261. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 13 Substitution ordered. 14 The Secretary will read. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 2261, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 17 Assembly Print Number 11721, an act to amend 18 the Executive Law and the Criminal Procedure 19 Law. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 21 Krueger, to explain her vote. 22 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you 23 so much, Mr. President. 24 So this bill is actually being 25 supported by the Division of Probation and

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(518) 371-8910 1 Correctional Alternatives but is opposed by 2 the Office of Court Administration, so it 3 leaves me in a dilemma that the courts are 4 saying this is putting too strict a set of 5 requirements on us -- even though I understand 6 why the Department of Probation and 7 Corrections would want more restrictions on 8 delinquency of a probationer. 9 I'm concerned that we don't have 10 enough information about what the financial 11 costs would be if we are in fact increasing 12 the number of prisoners that might be going 13 back into prison. I'm concerned that we have 14 two state agencies in opposition. 15 And so it's a one-house bill, so I 16 know we have some time to deal with this, 17 perhaps next session. But I'm going to vote 18 no because I think when you've got two key 19 agencies in disagreement about where you're 20 going on a one-house bill -- you're saying 21 it's a two-house bill, Mr. President. My memo 22 says it's a one-house bill. 23 Even more reason for me -- thank 24 you so much for clarifying, Mr. President -- 25 more reason for me to decide to vote no for

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(518) 371-8910 1 now, because I'm concerned that we are sending 2 and getting mixed messages from our agencies. 3 Thank you, Mr. President. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Read 5 the last section. 6 Excuse me, Senator Schneiderman, 7 may I have the last section read? I neglected 8 to do that before Senator Krueger. And then 9 I'll be glad to recognize you to explain your 10 vote. 11 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Certainly. 12 Thank you, Mr. President. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Read 14 the last section. 15 THE SECRETARY: Section 7. This 16 act shall take effect on the first of 17 November. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Call 19 the roll. 20 (The Secretary called the roll.) 21 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 22 Schneiderman, to explain his vote. 23 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you. 24 I also rise to call my colleagues' 25 attention to the fact that this is a bill

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(518) 371-8910 1 that -- I must say I'm not clear as to whether 2 or not it is a one-house bill, because I'm not 3 aware of an Assembly sponsor. This is 4 something that -- 5 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 6 Schneiderman, for your information, we 7 substituted it, and so the Assembly bill is 8 before the house. 9 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Oh, okay, 10 thank you, Mr. President. I appreciate your 11 clarification. 12 Then I agree with Senator Krueger, 13 I think that makes it all the more necessary 14 for us to go cautiously here. 15 This is something that restricts 16 the rights of probationers. And quite 17 honestly, I understand very well why the 18 Office of Court Administration is opposed to 19 this. I think that we should really be very 20 reluctant in the current atmosphere and the 21 current environment, particularly 22 economically, to impose any more requirements 23 that could increase the costs of our probation 24 system. 25 And I think OCA's objections are

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(518) 371-8910 1 right on point. We have 9800 people in prison 2 in New York State who are there only for 3 technical violations of parole or probation. 4 This is something that I promise you we will 5 address in next year's legislative session, 6 but this is something that we shouldn't be 7 compounding now. 8 I would urge all my colleagues to 9 vote no on this bill. I think we should try 10 and work with OCA to develop a better 11 procedure that saves the state money and 12 improves public safety. I vote no, 13 Mr. President. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 15 Announce the results. 16 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 17 the negative on Calendar Number 2261 are 18 Senators Adams, Dilan, Gonzalez, 19 Hassell-Thompson, L. Krueger, Montgomery, 20 Parker, Perkins, Schneiderman. Also Senator 21 Diaz. Also Senator Sampson. 22 Ayes, 47. Nays, 11. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 24 Assemblyman Aubry's bill is passed. 25 The Secretary will read.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 2262, by Senator Griffo, Senate Print 8506, an 3 act to amend the Public Service Law. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Read 5 the last section. 6 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 7 act shall take effect immediately. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Call 9 the roll. 10 (The Secretary called the roll.) 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 13 bill is passed. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 2263, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 8743, an 16 act to amend Chapter 148 of the Laws of 2001, 17 relating to authorizing. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: There 19 is a home-rule message at the desk. 20 Read the last section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 22 act shall take effect immediately. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 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 WINNER: The 3 bill is passed. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 2264, by Senator Fuschillo, Senate Print 8783, 6 an act to adjust certain state aid payments. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Read 8 the last section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 10 act shall take effect immediately. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Call 12 the roll. 13 (The Secretary called the roll.) 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 16 bill is passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 18 Calendar Number 2265, Senator Bonacic moves to 19 discharge, from the Committee on Rules, 20 Assembly Bill Number 11168 and substitute it 21 for the identical Senate Bill Number 8786, 22 Third Reading Calendar 2265. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 24 Substitution ordered. 25 The Secretary will read.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 2265, by Member of the Assembly Cahill, 3 Assembly Print Number 11168, an act to amend 4 Chapter 271 of the Laws of 2006 amending the 5 Environmental Conservation Law. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Read 7 the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 9 act shall take effect immediately. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Call 11 the roll. 12 (The Secretary called the roll.) 13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 15 bill is passed. 16 Senator Libous, that completes the 17 reading of the noncontroversial calendar. 18 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President, 19 at this time I'd like to call a Finance 20 Committee meeting in Room 332, please. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: There 22 will be an immediate meeting of the Finance 23 Committee in Room 332. 24 The Senate stands at ease pending 25 the return of the Finance Committee report.

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(518) 371-8910 1 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at 2 ease at 4:22 p.m.) 3 (Whereupon, the Senate reconvened 4 at 5:50 p.m.) 5 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 6 house will come to order. 7 Senator Libous. 8 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President, 9 if we could return to reports of standing 10 committees. 11 And I believe the Finance Committee 12 has met, and could you have the Secretary read 13 the report, please. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Reports 15 of standing committees. 16 The Secretary will read the Finance 17 Committee report. 18 THE SECRETARY: Senator 19 O. Johnson, from the Committee on Finance, 20 reports the following nominations. 21 As president and CEO of the Urban 22 Development Corporation and commissioner of 23 the Department of Economic Development, Marisa 24 Lago, of New York City. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator

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(518) 371-8910 1 Libous. 2 SENATOR LIBOUS: Move the 3 nomination. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 5 Johnson. 6 SENATOR O. JOHNSON: Move the 7 nomination. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Thank 9 you, Senator Johnson. 10 Senator Schneiderman. 11 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you, 12 Mr. President. 13 I rise to strongly support the 14 nomination of Marisa Lago to joint 15 appointments. The principal duty that she is 16 assuming is I think the most important job 17 that exists now in New York State, which is 18 coordinating our economic development 19 strategies to revive our economy, to pull us 20 out of this unbelievable slump that we're in. 21 Things have been bad in quite a few 22 parts of the state, including Central and 23 Western New York, for many, many years. I 24 think it's fair to say, by any objective 25 analysis, our economic development policy has

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(518) 371-8910 1 largely been a failure. There have been some 2 programs that have worked well, but a lot of 3 it just hasn't worked at all. 4 Marisa is someone I have known 5 for -- and I cringe when I say this -- almost 6 30 years. We attended law school together. 7 And I will tell you, I've followed her career 8 since then. There is no one better prepared 9 to undertake this project, to undertake this 10 trust that we're really placing in her than 11 Marisa Lago. 12 She has experience in every aspect 13 of the public sector -- New York City economic 14 development corporation, was the leading 15 economic development officer in the City of 16 Boston, worked in the Securities and Exchange 17 Commission, understands the federal 18 government, has worked in the private sector 19 at law firms and banking, understands 20 everything you need to understand to try and 21 turn our state around. 22 And I will tell you this. I have 23 tepid support for some nominees and strong 24 support for some nominees, but I very rarely 25 have the depth of feeling and the sort of

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(518) 371-8910 1 overwhelming support that I feel for Marisa 2 Lago. She is a great nominee, will make a 3 great commissioner. 4 And I promise all of you, whatever 5 your concerns, wherever you come from or 6 whatever your ideological beliefs are, she 7 will give you a fair hearing, she will make 8 the decisions and call them as she sees them. 9 This is a great addition to our 10 team, and I look forward to working with her 11 for many years to come. Thank you, Senator 12 Johnson, for moving this fine nominee. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 14 question is on the nomination of Marisa Lago 15 as president and CEO of the Urban Development 16 Corporation and commissioner of the Department 17 of Economic Development. All those in favor 18 of the nomination signify by saying aye. 19 (Response of "Aye.") 20 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 21 Opposed, nay. 22 (No response.) 23 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 24 nominee is confirmed. 25 Marisa Lago is joined by her

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(518) 371-8910 1 husband, Ronald Finiw. 2 And we welcome her to the chamber 3 and congratulate her on her appointment and 4 look for great things to be coming from that 5 office. 6 Thank you very much, and 7 congratulations. 8 (Applause.) 9 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 10 Secretary will read. 11 THE SECRETARY: As a member of 12 the Public Service Commission, James L. 13 Larocca, of Sag Harbor. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 15 Johnson. 16 SENATOR O. JOHNSON: Move the 17 nomination. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 19 Maziarz. 20 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you. 21 Thank you very much, Mr. President. 22 Earlier this morning the Senate 23 Committee on Energy and Telecommunication met, 24 we examined the qualifications of Mr. Larocca 25 and found him to be eminently qualified for

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(518) 371-8910 1 this position. 2 As we all know, clearly, in our 3 economic crisis that we're in, you know, 4 energy is perhaps the answer for providing and 5 creating many jobs in New York State. And 6 Mr. Larocca clearly has a great background in 7 that area. 8 So we certainly offer our 9 congratulations to him and wish him well and 10 look forward to working with him. 11 Thank you, Mr. President. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 13 LaValle. 14 SENATOR LaVALLE: Thank you, 15 Mr. President. I rise to second the 16 nomination. 17 The Governor should be 18 congratulated on this nomination because Jim 19 Larocca has enormous experience, not only in 20 the energy area but in government. And I 21 think one of the jobs with PSC commissioners 22 is being able to make the proper inquiries 23 with staff, ask the right questions, so that 24 the ratepayers are getting the proper 25 decision.

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(518) 371-8910 1 So, Jim, congratulations on your 2 appointment. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 4 Larkin. 5 SENATOR LARKIN: Thank you, 6 Mr. President. 7 I've had the privilege of knowing 8 Jim since the Carey days. I guess the most 9 important thing I remember about him, and I 10 mentioned this just in the Finance Committee 11 meeting, was when you had an issue or you had 12 a problem and you went to him, you didn't get 13 a call back from a staff member, you got a 14 call back from the commissioner. 15 Because he always felt and told me 16 and others that "If it was important enough 17 for you to call me, it was important enough 18 for me to call you." And my first phone call, 19 I said, "Yeah, I bet it's the commissioner." 20 And he said, "You lost the bet, Lark." 21 Jim, congratulations. And thank 22 you very much for in your dedicated service 23 over the years. And also thank you for your 24 combat service in Vietnam. You are a 25 distinguished American.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 2 question is on the nomination of James L. 3 Larocca as a member of the Public Service 4 Commission. All those in favor signify by 5 saying aye. 6 (Response of "Aye.") 7 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 8 Opposed, nay. 9 (No response.) 10 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: James 11 L. Larocca is hereby confirmed as a member of 12 the Public Service Commission. 13 Congratulations. 14 (Applause.) 15 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 16 Secretary will read. 17 THE SECRETARY: As commissioner 18 of the State Civil Service Commission, Joseph 19 Dennis Hanrahan, of Latham. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 21 Johnson. 22 SENATOR OWEN JOHNSON: Move the 23 nomination. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 25 question is on the nomination of Joseph Dennis

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(518) 371-8910 1 Hanrahan, of Latham, as a commissioner of the 2 State Civil Service Commission. All those in 3 favor signify by saying aye. 4 (Response of "Aye.") 5 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 6 Opposed, nay. 7 (No response.) 8 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Joseph 9 Dennis Hanrahan is hereby confirmed as a 10 commissioner of the State Civil Service 11 Commission. 12 Our congratulations and best wishes 13 to you. 14 (Applause.) 15 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 16 Secretary will read. 17 THE SECRETARY: As a member of 18 the State Commission of Correction, Phyllis 19 Harrison-Ross, M.D., of New York City. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 21 Johnson. 22 SENATOR O. JOHNSON: Move the 23 nomination. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 25 Adams.

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(518) 371-8910 1 SENATOR ADAMS: Thank you. Thank 2 you. Thank you, Mr. President. 3 I just want to rise in support of 4 the nomination for Dr. Ross. I believe that 5 she's going to bring a level of expertise and 6 an innovative outlook on how we should deal 7 with mental illness as another aspect of our 8 correctional facility. 9 Her resume -- I'm sure all of my 10 colleagues have read it -- is extremely 11 impressive, and I think she's a great asset to 12 our team here in the state. I'm looking 13 forward to working closely with her. Thank 14 you for the opportunity on her behalf. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 16 Perkins. 17 SENATOR PERKINS: Yes, I'd also 18 like to join my colleague in representing my 19 support for Dr. Ross, who I've had the 20 privilege of knowing and working with over the 21 years and have great, great, high expectations 22 of the wonderful things that she'll be able to 23 do in this new position. 24 And I'm glad that it has finally 25 concluded in the way that it has, and I want

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(518) 371-8910 1 to commend the Governor for his 2 recommendation. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 4 Hassell-Thompson. 5 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Thank 6 you, Mr. President. 7 I too rise to add my voice to the 8 nomination of Dr. Harrison-Ross. In our 9 opportunity this morning when she came before 10 the committee, we talked extensively about 11 some of the reforms and the kinds of things 12 that she would like to see happen. 13 And certainly, as one who has 14 expressed in this chamber and other places the 15 concerns for the health issues that regard 16 inmates and how those translate to our broader 17 community when they return home I think make a 18 significant difference to us, particularly as 19 we talk about HIV and AIDS and some of the 20 other concerns that she has, in her 33 years 21 as a member, has addressed and now, as the 22 chair, will have an opportunity to really put 23 some things in motion. 24 So I congratulate the Governor on 25 his choice and certainly to her for the energy

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(518) 371-8910 1 and spirit that she brings to this post. 2 Thank you, Mr. President. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 4 question is on the nomination of Phyllis 5 Harrison-Ross as a member of the New York 6 State Commission of Correction. All in favor 7 signify by saying aye. 8 (Response of "Aye.") 9 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 10 Opposed, nay. 11 (No response.) 12 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Phyllis 13 Harrison-Ross is hereby confirmed as a member 14 of the New York State Commission of 15 Corrections. 16 She is joined here today by her 17 godson, Dr. Michael Pratts. 18 Congratulations. 19 (Applause.) 20 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 21 Secretary will read. 22 THE SECRETARY: As a member of 23 the SUNY Board of Trustees, Pedro A. Noguera, 24 of New York City. 25 As a member and chairman of the

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(518) 371-8910 1 New York State Foundation for Science, 2 Technology and Innovation, Robert B. Catell, 3 of Garden City. 4 As director of the State of 5 New York Mortgage Agency, William Myers, of 6 Ithaca. 7 As a member of the Battery Park 8 City Authority, Frank J. Branchini, of 9 New York City. 10 As members of the Dormitory 11 Authority, Jacques Jiha, of Woodbury, and 12 Anthony B. Martino, of Buffalo. 13 As members of the New York State 14 Energy Research and Development Authority, 15 Kevin Burke, of New York City, and Roger B. 16 Kelley, of East Amherst. 17 As a member of the New York State 18 Olympic Regional Development Authority, Robert 19 Francis Flacke, of Lake George. 20 As a nonvoting member of the 21 Capital District Transportation Authority, 22 Michael Stammel, of Rensselaer. 23 As members of the Niagara Frontier 24 Transportation Authority, Peter G. Demakos, of 25 Buffalo, and Michael P. Hughes, of West

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(518) 371-8910 1 Seneca. 2 As commissioner of the Port 3 Authority of New York and New Jersey, Stanley 4 E. Grayson, of New York. 5 As a member of the 6 Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation 7 Authority, Henry Smith, Jr., of Albion. 8 As a member of the Advisory Board 9 on Public Work, William F. Shannon, Jr., of 10 Oswego. 11 As a member of the Administrative 12 Review Board for Professional Medical Conduct, 13 Richard D. Milone, M.D., of Rye. 14 As a member of the Public 15 Employment Relations Board, Sheila Cole, of 16 Delmar. 17 As a banking member of the State 18 Banking Board, Thomas S. Buerkle, of 19 Larchmont. 20 As a member and chairman of the 21 Freshwater Wetlands Appeals Board, Lemuel 22 Srolovic, of Brooklyn. 23 As a member of the State Board of 24 Real Property Services, Cathy Bell, of Mount 25 Vernon.

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(518) 371-8910 1 As a member of the Long Island 2 State Park, Recreation and Historic 3 Preservation Commission, Bryan Erwin, of 4 Mattituck. 5 As a member of the Stewart Airport 6 Commission, F. Edward Devitt, of Montgomery. 7 As a member of the Veterans Affairs 8 Commission, John Batiste, of Rochester. 9 As members of the New York 10 Convention Center Operating Corporation, 11 Stephen L. Drummond, of Queens Village, and 12 Gary Lavine, of Fayetteville. 13 As director of the Urban 14 Development Corporation, Stanford Lipsey, of 15 Buffalo. 16 As a member of the Continuing Care 17 Retirement Community Council, Clari Gilbert, 18 of Brooklyn. 19 As members of the Mental Health 20 Services Council, Kunsook Song Bernstein, 21 Ph.D., of Baldwin; Luis R. Marcos, M.D., of 22 New York City, and Katherine L. Moshier, of 23 Albany. 24 As a member of the State Council on 25 the Arts, Daniel D. Simmons, of Brooklyn.

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(518) 371-8910 1 As members of the State Hospital 2 Review and Planning Council, Christopher C. 3 Booth, of Pittsford; Renee Garrick, M.D., of 4 Bedford; Jeffrey A. Kraut, of East Meadow; and 5 Malcolm D. Reid, of Briarcliff Manor. 6 As a member of the Board of 7 Visitors at the New York State Home for 8 Veterans and Their Dependents at Batavia, Mary 9 Ann O'Coin, of Rochester. 10 As a member of the Board of 11 Visitors of the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center, 12 Judy Grubin, of Jackson Heights. 13 As a member of the Board of 14 Visitors of the Agricultural and Industrial 15 School at Industry, Paul C. Brule, of Webster. 16 As a member of the Board of 17 Visitors of the New York Developmental 18 Disabilities Services Office, Mildred 19 Holley-Davis, of the Bronx. 20 As members of the Board of Visitors 21 of the Rochester Psychiatric Center, Marcia J. 22 Boyd, of Rochester; George Follett, of Albion; 23 and John C. Owens, of Henrietta. 24 As a member of the Board of 25 Visitors of the Rockland Psychiatric Center,

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(518) 371-8910 1 James Scaringe, of Orangeburg. 2 And as a member of the Board of 3 Visitors of the Western Developmental 4 Disabilities Services Office, Ann L. Scherff, 5 of LeRoy. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 7 Johnson. 8 SENATOR OWEN JOHNSON: Move the 9 nominations. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 11 Stavisky. 12 SENATOR STAVISKY: Mr. President, 13 I think the record should reflect the fact 14 that Dr. Pedro Noguera was here, he came 15 before the Committee on Higher Education and 16 the Finance Committee, and he brings, as a 17 trustee of the State University of New York, a 18 wealth of background, a very impressive 19 resume, and great potential to serve on this 20 important body. 21 Thank you. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Thank 23 you, Senator Stavisky. 24 The question is on the nominations 25 as presented. All those in favor signify by

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(518) 371-8910 1 saying aye. 2 (Response of "Aye.") 3 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 4 Opposed, nay. 5 (No response.) 6 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 7 nominations and the nominees are confirmed. 8 Senator Libous. 9 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President, 10 could I call an immediate meeting of the Rules 11 Committee in Room 332, please. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: There 13 will be an immediate meeting of the Rules 14 Committee in Room 332. 15 The Senate stands at ease pending 16 the return of the Rules Committee. 17 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at 18 ease at 6:07 p.m.) 19 (Whereupon, the Senate reconvened 20 at 6:28 p.m.) 21 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 22 house will come to order. 23 Senator Libous. 24 SENATOR LIBOUS: Can we return to 25 reports of standing committees, please.

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(518) 371-8910 1 There's a report of the Rules 2 Committee at the desk. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Reports 4 of standing committees. 5 The Secretary will read the Rules 6 Committee report. 7 THE SECRETARY: Senator Skelos, 8 from the Committee on Rules, reports the 9 following bill direct to third reading: 10 Restored, Senate Print 7497B, by 11 Senator LaValle, an act to amend the Education 12 Law. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 14 Libous. 15 SENATOR LIBOUS: Move to accept 16 the report of the Rules Committee, please. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: All in 18 favor of accepting the report of the Rules 19 Committee signify by saying aye. 20 (Response of "Aye.") 21 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 22 Opposed, nay. 23 (No response.) 24 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 25 report is accepted.

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(518) 371-8910 1 Senator Libous. 2 SENATOR LIBOUS: Can we please 3 take the bill up, noncontroversial. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 5 Secretary will read. 6 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 7 Calendar Number 1529, Senator LaValle moves to 8 discharge, from the Committee on Rules, 9 Assembly Bill Number 11696A and substitute it 10 for the identical Senate Bill Number 7497B, 11 Third Reading Calendar 1529. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 13 Substitution ordered. 14 The Secretary will read. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 1529, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 17 Assembly Print Number 11696A, an act to amend 18 the Education Law. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Read 20 the last section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 11. This 22 act shall take effect on the 180th day. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Call 24 the roll. 25 (The Secretary called the roll.)

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 2 LaValle. 3 SENATOR LaVALLE: Thank you, 4 Mr. President. To explain my vote. 5 This accountancy bill that we have 6 before us, the present law was enacted in 7 1947, and we have basically had the same law. 8 What brought this about was the 9 Enron situation. And our committee, myself 10 and Senator Stavisky, held a series of 11 hearings in New York City and throughout the 12 state to talk about how we would deal with 13 some of the problems that confronted the 14 accountancy profession. 15 The profession was under a cloud 16 that they were cooking the books, that in 17 their auditing function that they kind of 18 glossed over and were really representing the 19 person that hired them but the bigger prize 20 was other kinds of contract work that that 21 accountant or firm would be doing. 22 Here, under this legislation, we 23 clearly have a review of the auditing 24 functions so that those functions would be 25 done in a straightforward way and that the

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(518) 371-8910 1 accountant has, to his or her license, the 2 greatest focus and commitment. 3 The New York State Society of CPAs 4 and many of the people here asked, you know, 5 "How do your accountants feel?" Well, they 6 have been working with our committee, and we 7 have passed a version of this I think three 8 different times. 9 So this is a bill that will protect 10 the public, that will protect the profession 11 and will ensure that, as accountancy grows and 12 creates other niches, that there will be a 13 review and that people will be putting forth 14 the most professional job that they can 15 because their license is one that will be 16 under scrutiny. 17 I vote in the affirmative, 18 Mr. President. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 20 Stavisky, to explain her vote. 21 SENATOR STAVISKY: Thank you, 22 Mr. President. 23 As Senator LaValle indicated, 24 hearings were held on this legislation. And 25 sometimes legislation can pass very quickly,

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(518) 371-8910 1 other times it takes a little longer. But I 2 must commend Senator LaValle for all of the 3 work that he and his staff did on this bill, 4 meeting with the various stakeholders. 5 Scope-of-practice bills are some of 6 the most contentious because when you take 7 power from one group and give it to another, 8 it's like pressing a balloon, and it sort of 9 bulges in another spot. 10 The practice of accountancy is an 11 important one, but the beneficiaries are going 12 to be the consumers, the people who read the 13 reports, the people who use both professional 14 accountants and CPAs. 15 The state society has been in touch 16 with me; I know they worked very closely with 17 Senator LaValle. And this is an important 18 consumer-protection bill. It protects the 19 consumer by providing transparency. 20 And I'm delighted to support this 21 measure, and hopefully the Governor will sign 22 it and in six months it will become law. 23 Thank you, Mr. President. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 25 Announce the results.

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(518) 371-8910 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59. Nays, 2 0. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 4 bill is passed. 5 Senator Libous. 6 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President, 7 there will be an immediate meeting of the 8 Finance Committee in Room 332, please. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 10 Immediate meeting of Finance in Room 332. 11 The Senate stands at ease until the 12 return of the Senate Finance Committee. 13 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at 14 ease at 6:35 p.m.) 15 (Whereupon, the Senate reconvened 16 at 6:42 p.m.) 17 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 18 Libous. 19 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President, 20 can we go back to reports of standing 21 committees. 22 I believe there's a report from 23 Finance Committee at the desk. Could it be 24 read, please. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Reports

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(518) 371-8910 1 of standing committees. 2 The Secretary will read the Finance 3 Committee report. 4 THE SECRETARY: Senator Johnson, 5 from the Committee on Finance, reports the 6 following nominations. 7 As members of the Capital District 8 Transportation Authority, Denise A. Figueroa, 9 of Cohoes, and Joseph M. Spairana, Jr., of 10 Wynantskill. 11 As a member of the State Board of 12 Historic Preservation, Joanne B. Arany, of 13 Rochester. 14 As a member of the Stewart Airport 15 Commission, Thomas Schaaff, of Middletown. 16 As director of the New York 17 Convention Center Operating Corporation, E. 18 Scott Gilbert, of New York City. 19 As a member of the Board of 20 Visitors of the Central New York Developmental 21 Disabilities Services Office, Mary E. 22 Patricia, of Oneida. 23 And as a member of the Board of 24 Visitors of the Staten Island Developmental 25 Disabilities Services Office, Joanne Certo, of

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(518) 371-8910 1 Staten Island. 2 Senator Libous. 3 SENATOR LIBOUS: Would you move 4 the nominations. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: All 6 those in favor of the nominations in the 7 report of the Finance Committee signify by 8 saying aye. 9 (Response of "Aye.") 10 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: 11 Opposed, nay. 12 (No response.) 13 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: The 14 nominations and the nominees are confirmed. 15 Senator Smith. 16 SENATOR SMITH: Thank you very 17 much, Mr. President. 18 I rise to speak about a couple of 19 my colleagues, one of which I want to offer 20 some brief remarks. And obviously, my members 21 and colleagues, I have the right to do so as 22 well. 23 This year we are going to miss one 24 of this body's most esteemed colleagues, one 25 who has distinguished himself as a lawyer

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(518) 371-8910 1 second to none, who clearly has a reputation 2 in front of many judges to be one of the 3 brightest legal minds when it comes to 4 election law. 5 He served as the Senate Minority 6 Leader in this house, distinguished himself in 7 that capacity as well. He has been here now 8 for 30 years, serving the 25th District in the 9 City of New York, a person who has been 10 extremely, extremely forceful when it comes to 11 certain legislation. He created the Senate's 12 Puerto Rican and Hispanic Task Force when he 13 was the Minority Leader. 14 He also served as Minority Leader 15 for eight years, and during the time he was in 16 that capacity, I had pleasure of being 17 introduced to this body by him. He broke me 18 into the Senate, he taught me much of what I 19 have learned today about the rules of the 20 Senate as well as what it means to be a member 21 and how one conducts himself in such an august 22 body as this. 23 Senator Marty Connor was always a 24 person and will always be a person that I 25 consider to be a friend.

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(518) 371-8910 1 There are some elected officials 2 that are described by their colleagues and by 3 their friends by how smart they are or what 4 pieces of the legislation they accomplished or 5 what programs they established. And while all 6 of those things are tremendous in terms of 7 what Senator Connor has accomplished, one 8 thing that I think stands out for many of us 9 is his heart. 10 You never had to question or 11 second-guess Senator Connor as to what his 12 motivations were. When he brought forth a 13 piece of legislation or an idea, you knew it 14 was something that he meant from his heart, it 15 was for the greater good, and it was also one 16 that many of us could be proud to be a part of 17 and partner with him in doing so. 18 This is a day that we will remember 19 as a loss. And while I do accept the new 20 member that will be in this chamber, for me 21 personally, and for many of us, having Marty 22 Connor leave this chamber is one that brings 23 some sadness to us as well. 24 But I say to Marty Connor, that 25 chair will always be yours. And that in this

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(518) 371-8910 1 house, if any of these stones which have been 2 here for years represent longevity, a portion 3 of these stones belong to you, Marty Connor. 4 And it will always represent it to me and 5 represent to, I'm sure, many members that are 6 here what you have meant to this institution, 7 what you will continue to mean to this 8 institution. 9 As long as this institution is 10 authorized with the authority to do the 11 people's business, we will forever remember 12 all that you have done on behalf of the people 13 of this state. Nineteen million will never 14 forget the contributions you made to this 15 state. 16 And it is my hope that come the 17 first of January, or the first session in 18 January, that we will have a fitting statement 19 as well as a dedication to all that you have 20 done for this august body. 21 Thank you very much, Mr. President. 22 (Standing ovation.) 23 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Let the 24 record reflect the standing ovation in support 25 of Senator Smith's remarks.

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(518) 371-8910 1 Senator Connor. 2 SENATOR CONNOR: Thank you, 3 Mr. President. If I can have the privilege of 4 the floor for a few minutes -- and I'll try 5 and speak not so long that people are throwing 6 shoes at me. 7 (Laughter.) 8 SENATOR CONNOR: But, you know, I 9 do want to say this is the 231st session of 10 this body, and I have been privileged to serve 11 for the last 31 of those sessions. It is 12 7.5 percent of the existence of this body 13 since our New York republic was founded. 14 I first -- I can remember the day I 15 took my seat, sat right where Diane Savino 16 sits now, just being so awed, thinking how did 17 I get here. This was my childhood dream. My 18 father worked in a factory, I worked in 19 factories next to get through college and law 20 school. My wonderful alma mater, Catholic 21 University, gave me full-tuition scholarships 22 for the whole seven years. And that's sort of 23 how I got here. 24 But I didn't do it alone. First of 25 all, our wonderful system -- you know,

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(518) 371-8910 1 politics is a meritocracy. It usually works 2 that way. And there is merit in winners and 3 leaders in elections. Those who compete merit 4 that. 5 And I remember -- I told this story 6 to a few who were with me primary night -- I 7 was running in a special election. There was 8 a blizzard two weeks before Election Day; it 9 shut down New York City. And a young woman 10 wandered into my campaign headquarters 11 because, you know, she didn't have to go to 12 work that day because things were shut for a 13 couple of days and said, "What's going on 14 here? Anybody need any help? Can I 15 volunteer?" And my campaign manager said, 16 "Yeah, we're doing a mailing tonight." 17 And this young woman came back that 18 night -- because that's when you did a 19 mailing. No mailhouses. You know, you put 20 the labels on the envelopes and the stamps on. 21 And as we were breaking up at about 1:00 in 22 the morning, my campaign manager said, "Oh, 23 we're doing the subway stop at the St. George 24 tomorrow." And somebody said to her, "Well, 25 you've been working too hard, somebody should

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(518) 371-8910 1 do it with him." 2 This young lady said, "Well, what's 3 a subway stop?" It was like, you know, me, 4 him at 7:30 in the morning, and you give out 5 literature. And she did. And on primary 6 morning she did that same subway stop with me, 7 because she's been at my side ever since. 8 And I'm talking about my wife, 9 Christine, without whom I could not have 10 served here for 31 years or really done half 11 of what I've done without her support. 12 You know, last week of session, 13 we're in session nights, a zillion bills come 14 up. I have two wonderful sons, two years 15 apart. They were each born, in the respective 16 years, next-to-last night of session. Boy, I 17 missed a lot of votes rushing back there. 18 And I remember then coming back -- 19 and this is going to sound so politically 20 incorrect now -- passing out cigars. It's 21 what you did then when you became a dad. And 22 yes, in those days people lit them up and 23 smoked them here, too. That's what these 24 things are. 25 (Laughter.)

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(518) 371-8910 1 SENATOR CONNOR: So, you know, my 2 entire family has been involved and 3 supportive. My wonderful sons, Marty and 4 Brian, have supported me all these years. 5 And they have given up so much 6 because I don't need to tell all of you how 7 much time -- the public really doesn't get it. 8 They wouldn't want to know our real hourly 9 wage if they take into account the evenings, 10 weekends, and everything that you have to do 11 to do this job well and serve your 12 constituents. 13 You know, in all those years -- I 14 did a rough estimate the other day. I believe 15 I have voted more than 60,000 times. You 16 know, you vote a couple of thousand times a 17 session. I'm sure I've spoken on this floor, 18 Lord knows, a couple of thousand times. 19 I've served with -- I tried to do a 20 rough calculation. How do you remember 21 everybody who's been in and out? But I think 22 I've served with over 160 wonderful men and 23 women who were elected to serve here at 24 various times in those 31 years. Dedicated, 25 committed, wonderful, wonderful people. Some

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(518) 371-8910 1 giant intellects, some wonderful, 2 compassionate people. 3 A couple of rogues, a couple of 4 fakers. But, you know, that's no different -- 5 that's no different than life out there. And 6 in fact, I think we reach a higher standard 7 than what you see in the marketplace, so to 8 speak, out there in terms of people's 9 integrity, commitment, and hard work. 10 And it is hard work. I've had good 11 days here and bad days here. Sad days. I 12 tried to count, at least 15 days that I can 13 recount where we came in this chamber and 14 there were red roses on a desk and we lost a 15 colleague. And those were tough days here. 16 For me, they were. 17 Political high points and some low 18 points. You know, my colleagues on this side 19 of the aisle gave me the privilege in 1995 to 20 commence being the Minority Leader. I look 21 around here, I only see two members here who 22 helped me get to that magic number. Thank 23 you, Efrain. Thank you, Velmanette. And 24 thanks to the rest of you who supported me 25 subsequently.

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(518) 371-8910 1 You know, there are no enemies 2 here. I've always believed in politics there 3 are no enemies. There are foes, and then 4 everybody is a friend, because we're all 5 motivated by the same thing. 6 So I have, on high days and low 7 days, just loved every minute of it. It has 8 just absolutely -- you know, as Minority 9 Leader I probably had dinner at the White 10 House five or six times. I got to go places 11 where I just never dreamed, as a kid in 12 Trenton, New Jersey, working a night shift in 13 a factory while I was going to school, that 14 I'd ever get to go. 15 And I owe that to the people who 16 elected me, the people who supported me all 17 those years, the wonderful staff I've had, 18 certainly my family. My grandmother and 19 grandfather got to see me here in 1978. My 20 grandmother was my inspiration for politics. 21 Quit school at fourth grade, went to work in a 22 factory at 12 -- lied, because you had to be 23 14. Worked in Woodrow Wilson's campaign for 24 governor of New Jersey. 25 So, you know, it's just been a

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(518) 371-8910 1 wonderful, wonderful experience. I urge you 2 all, remember, you have your disputes here, 3 you have your battles, so to speak. Sometimes 4 heated words are exchanged. When you leave, 5 you're colleagues, you're friends. 6 I urge you to go back to something 7 we haven't done that much in more recent 8 years, and that is socialize together across 9 party lines. 10 One of the first major bills I 11 passed, which someone just reminded me of, 12 involving loans to podiatry students -- for 13 which I got an honorary degree a few years 14 later -- I owe to Senator LaValle and I having 15 a discussion over dinner. And it was in his 16 committee, and it got moving. 17 So you can accomplish things. My 18 advice to those who may find themselves in the 19 minority -- and I jokingly said to someone, 20 I'm going to start a consulting business 21 because I have more experience than anybody in 22 this room on how to survive in the minority. 23 So I don't know -- but I'm not predicting the 24 future. But maybe, you know, a little advice, 25 a consultant to tell you what it's like to be

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(518) 371-8910 1 in the minority, might be a possible career 2 path for next year. 3 (Laughter.) 4 SENATOR CONNOR: And I do feel a 5 little bit -- and nothing is certain, I know. 6 But I feel a little bit like Moses. You know, 7 I wandered in the desert of the minority for 8 31 years, and then I got to the edge and I 9 look down and I think I see the promised land, 10 but I can't go in. 11 (Laughter.) 12 SENATOR CONNOR: But that said, I 13 do want to thank all of you, my colleagues, 14 for all the many courtesies that you've 15 extended me over the years and extended to my 16 family. 17 I want to thank the many, many 18 staff members without whom I could have done 19 nothing. I can still remember my first three 20 staff members when I first got here. I'm 21 married to one of them; I'd better remember 22 her. 23 But the fact is that staff of all 24 the members and the staff of the Senate, the 25 central staff -- at every level, from the

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(518) 371-8910 1 people who deliver things to your office to 2 whatever -- have always been so courteous and 3 so professional. And, my colleagues, I've 4 observed enough to know we as a class, elected 5 officials, we ain't easy to work for 6 sometimes. You know, we sometimes make 7 demands on people's time and patience that 8 they may not find in other lines of work. 9 So that said, I have loved every 10 minute of it. And I won't say farewell, I 11 will say adieu. 12 (Extended standing ovation.) 13 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 14 Smith. 15 SENATOR SMITH: Yes, 16 Mr. President, thank you. 17 Before I make comments on my next 18 colleague, I do want to -- and I know Majority 19 Leader Skelos will do the honor, but I do want 20 to, to Senator Maltese, Senator Trunzo, and 21 Senator Mary Lou Rath, want to also extend the 22 best wishes of our conference to these members 23 who have also served in distinction to this 24 body. 25 And just as Senator Connor said,

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(518) 371-8910 1 this is more about our contribution and what 2 we do on behalf of this state. All of you 3 have served here longer than I have been here. 4 You have contributed much to the betterment of 5 the state. And there are many things that you 6 should feel proud of within your district and 7 around the state, all that you've done on 8 behalf of the 19 million people that are here 9 at present. 10 Most people talk about this being 11 the former Empire State. Well, I would only 12 challenge them to know that with colleagues 13 such as yourself, who have given up so much of 14 your personal life for public benefit, that 15 because of you this state is still the Empire 16 State and will always be the Empire State, and 17 it was definitely my honor to serve in this 18 body with each and every one of you as well. 19 Senator Gonzalez. Mis amigo. Mis 20 hermano. Mucho trabajo all the time. A man 21 who, as many of you know, came to the Senate 22 because he lived in a district where many 23 people felt that there was very little 24 representation for the Hispanic population as 25 well as those who basically felt that they

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(518) 371-8910 1 were just cast aside from the norms of what 2 government was supposed to do. 3 Senator Gonzalez, who has now 4 served in this body 20 years -- 20? 5 SENATOR GONZALEZ: Nineteen 6 years. 7 SENATOR SMITH: I say 20. Leader 8 prerogative, 20 years. But he has clearly 9 served in the 33rd District in the Bronx. 10 Someone who -- and while I won't read all his 11 accomplishments, but you know he established 12 the Democratic Task Force on International 13 Trade. He developed that New York-Cuba 14 Economic Development Task Force. 15 Also, when it wasn't popular, 16 helped sponsor legislation that established 17 the office of healthcare with regard to AIDS. 18 And many of us know how critical that 19 particular disease is to many of our 20 communities today. He had the passion, the 21 foresight, and the vision to understand what 22 was important to the people around this state. 23 Senator Gonzalez is a humble man. 24 He is not someone who will be loud. You don't 25 see him standing in front of the microphone or

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(518) 371-8910 1 the press having dozens of press conferences. 2 But he has been extremely effective. When you 3 go to his district or you walk through the 4 district with him, everybody knows him. They 5 know him for his passion, for his caringness. 6 They know him for somebody who works 24 hours 7 a day. 8 There was never a time that I would 9 reach out to Senator Gonzalez, no matter what 10 time of day, where, surprisingly, he would 11 answer the phone. And most people know I 12 don't get sleep, and I try not to. And I can 13 tell you, whether it was 1 o'clock or 14 2 o'clock or 3 o'clock, he was answering that 15 phone and always ready to give some advice. 16 The thing that Senator Gonzalez 17 does very well, and some of you may know, is 18 he is a shy teacher. I mean that to say some 19 of us will come when you come to this floor, 20 and you have members who will immediately 21 embrace you and tell you what to do, what not 22 to do, how to do it and when to do it. 23 Senator Gonzalez doesn't do that. 24 Senator Gonzalez waits, he watches. He will 25 give you a passing remark as you're walking

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(518) 371-8910 1 out of the chamber or coming out of your 2 office. You may not pay much attention to it, 3 but then the next day it will click, because 4 you made the mistake that he tried to tell you 5 not to make. 6 And so he has been the kind of 7 passionate legislator that is very calm about 8 what he likes to accomplish, but yet and still 9 very firm and committed to his goals and 10 objectives, which was for the betterment of 11 people who have not been served. 12 Senator Gonzalez, while many of my 13 colleagues will want to not miss you, we will 14 miss you. And I know many will try not to 15 miss you, because it hurts when you miss 16 someone that you're so fond of. And so you 17 try to push it to the side like it's not 18 there. It's like pain sometimes. We will 19 miss you. We will miss you. The body will 20 miss you, I will miss you, your colleagues 21 will miss you. 22 And understand, as with Senator 23 Connor, this chamber is always considered to 24 be your chamber. There's not a member in this 25 house that will not take the time to listen to

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(518) 371-8910 1 you, to spend time with you. And the chair 2 that you sit in, you have to pay for that 3 yourself. 4 (Laughter.) 5 SENATOR SMITH: But we will 6 always be your colleague. 7 These are not easy moments. And I 8 say that for Senator Connor and Senator 9 Gonzalez as well as Senator Maltese, Senator 10 Trunzo, and Senator Mary Lou Rath. It's not 11 always easy to say goodbye to colleagues. But 12 the thing that allows us to move on to the 13 next day is that what you have contributed to 14 this body and to the betterment of this state 15 will be forever. 16 The archives will always have your 17 names in it, will always have the legislation 18 that you passed, and the lives that you 19 impacted, whether they are still living in 20 this state or moved beyond, will always 21 remember what you did for each and every one 22 of us. 23 Mis hermanos always. I love you 24 and will always be a friend of yours. 25 Thank you very much, Mr. President.

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(518) 371-8910 1 (Standing ovation.) 2 SENATOR GONZALEZ: Mr. President. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 4 Gonzalez. 5 SENATOR GONZALEZ: Thank you. 6 To my colleagues, thank you. 7 Nineteen years in the Senate, but I think 34 8 years as either a staffer I've been around 9 this Senate body. I think that Senator 10 LaValle and I were staffers at the same time 11 back then. 12 And so I've always been someone 13 that, whether both sides of the aisle, very 14 true to staff, because they're the ones that 15 you do the work. You help us be who we are. 16 And I say that because, my colleagues, I mean 17 it's so important how I've worked to make my 18 staff -- not mine only, but central staff on 19 both sides of the aisle. 20 Through the years, I've gotten to 21 serve under four minority leaders and four 22 majority leaders. But I've always looked to 23 reach out on both sides of the aisle so that 24 we can do things together. And that's what 25 we've got to do more of as you move forward.

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(518) 371-8910 1 We've got to do these things together for the 2 people of the State of New York. 3 So there are many of our colleagues 4 who are not here and who have gone, but I've 5 always taken their inputs and their thoughts 6 and working so that we work together as 7 passionate as we can be. And boy, I've been 8 passionate about our issue. But it's working 9 together, it's the only way that we can get 10 through the hard times that we're about to 11 face. 12 So I thank you all from the bottom 13 of my heart. Thank you. 14 (Applause.) 15 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 16 Skelos. 17 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you, 18 Mr. President. 19 Today this body comes together not 20 as members of the Majority, the Minority, 21 Republicans or Democrats, we come together as 22 fellow colleagues to say goodbye but also to 23 say thank you to five individuals who have 24 served in this chamber. 25 Efrain, I wish you the best.

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(518) 371-8910 1 And, Marty, needless to say, you've 2 had a great career. The first time I ran for 3 the Senate, you were head of the campaign 4 committee and you beat me. Not that I will 5 ever remember that. 6 (Laughter.) 7 SENATOR SKELOS: But always a 8 worthy advocate. And we wish you well. 9 To our colleagues on this side of 10 the aisle, Mary Lou Rath, Serf Maltese, and 11 Caesar Trunzo, all of you have distinguished 12 yourselves in your career. You know, your 13 record speaks for itself. I'm not going to go 14 through all the wonderful bills that you have 15 passed. 16 Mary Lou, in terms of your service 17 in local governments, protecting our local 18 governments, smart growth, so many areas that 19 you've been involved with. You have a 20 tremendous legacy, and I know how proud we are 21 of you and certainly your family. 22 Serf, defender of New York City. 23 Just a gentleman, an absolute gentleman who 24 all of us in this conference respect 25 tremendously. In terms of the arts, bills

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(518) 371-8910 1 that you've passed, we say thank you to you 2 for your wonderful service. 3 And to Caesar, our neighbor on Long 4 Island -- was it 32 years? 5 SENATOR TRUNZO: Thirty-six. 6 SENATOR SKELOS: Thirty-six years 7 of wonderful service. 8 And you think about all the 9 wonderful progress that members of labor have 10 made in terms of respect for themselves, 11 decent wages, I believe agency shop, the 12 original agency shop bill. All of those, 13 Senator Caesar Trunzo was the sponsor of. 14 And, Caesar, we thank you for your wonderful 15 service. 16 As Senator Smith mentioned, it's 17 always difficult to say goodbye to a 18 colleague. You know, sometimes we battle in 19 this chamber. Sometimes we come together. 20 But I do believe there's always that mutual 21 respect that we've all had the great privilege 22 of sitting right here in this beautiful Senate 23 chamber. 24 And I'm here now 24 years, and 25 every so often I'll just sit and you start

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(518) 371-8910 1 looking around at the beautiful decor here. I 2 never noticed that individual who's there, and 3 I'll have to find out who it was. 4 But that's what we do every day. 5 Besides just staring at the ceiling, we do a 6 lot of good work. 7 (Laughter.) 8 SENATOR SKELOS: But it is 9 difficult to say goodbye. 10 And to our colleagues that are 11 leaving, we wish you all good health, all good 12 health that you've earned, retirement to enjoy 13 life as you wish now, not having to be here on 14 every controversial bill, not having 15 necessarily to go to all those committee 16 meetings or the chicken dinners that we've had 17 so much of over the years. But you've earned, 18 you've earned good health. 19 And to all of you, I pray that God 20 gives you the good health and the happiness 21 with your families that you've all earned. 22 So I congratulate you again on 23 behalf of a united body -- not Republicans or 24 Democrats, Majority or Minority -- in saying 25 thank you. To our three colleagues, we thank

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(518) 371-8910 1 you and we love you. 2 (Standing ovation.) 3 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 4 Rath. 5 SENATOR RATH: Someone is going 6 to have to take care of Senator Larkin now 7 that I'm gone. All of you promise. 8 No, it's been wonderful being back 9 here in the back row with you, Bill, really, 10 and with Carl and with all of you. And this 11 has been like that movie "The Long Goodbye." 12 I think when I made my announcement at the end 13 of January, it just has been goodbye, goodbye. 14 And as I've been drawing myself 15 together for saying goodbye to my constituents 16 in my last newspaper article that I wrote for 17 the Amherst Bee, I thought to myself what is 18 it that I can say that is important after all 19 that's been said for 15 years in the Senate 20 and 15 years in the county legislature, 30 21 years in public life. 22 And I would sit here on nights like 23 this and listen to Manny Gold and Franz 24 Leichter when they said their goodbyes. And 25 who could forget John Marchi or Joe Bruno.

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(518) 371-8910 1 And John Daly, eloquent as the day was long. 2 So I'm not going to try to be 3 eloquent or repeat what Efrain has said or 4 Marty has said, because those sentiments are 5 there. But what did I say to my constituents? 6 I said to them I think if there's anything 7 that I have learned -- and again, from another 8 eloquent man who I've quoted many times -- 9 I've always liked Thomas Jefferson's thoughts. 10 And he said that, if I can paraphrase it, the 11 price of liberty is eternal vigilance. 12 And if that's what we do here, if 13 that's what we do here, then it's a small 14 price that we together pay for the liberty 15 that we hold so dear, the liberties and the 16 freedoms. And we do that on behalf of our 17 constituents. We do that with each other, 18 back and forth. 19 And as Efrain just said, when times 20 are tough, we work together. We just saw a 21 wonderful bill come from Senator LaValle and 22 Senator Stavisky who worked together to get 23 that bill done. That's how our shining 24 moments show up. 25 And so if eternal vigilance is the

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(518) 371-8910 1 price that we pay, and if our process and our 2 system -- and it's easy when you're talking 3 globally, but when we're talking on state 4 government's level or local government's 5 level, the vigilance of keeping the system 6 going and keeping it straight and keeping it 7 fair for all of our constituents -- then I'm 8 proud to have been a part of that, and proud 9 to have served with all of you who have really 10 enriched my life and all of you who have 11 served so much and so well for the people of 12 the great State of New York. 13 Thank you. 14 (Standing ovation.) 15 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 16 Trunzo. 17 SENATOR TRUNZO: I didn't expect 18 this, but so be it. You know, 36 years up 19 here has been quite an experience for me, 20 something that I've enjoyed very much. 21 Really, it's been my life, so to speak. 22 And before that, I was eight years 23 as a councilman for the town of Islip. So for 24 45 years I've been an elected official. 25 And I remember at various functions

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(518) 371-8910 1 that during the campaign when I was being 2 introduced, and at one point somebody turned 3 around and said, you know, I actually had 4 50 years of government work. Because back in 5 1959, I was appointed as a member of the Islip 6 Town Planning Board, and I served on that five 7 years. 8 And so I sat with the individual 9 after he finished speaking, saying, you know, 10 "You said I spent my life here." I said, "If 11 I include those five years that I have at the 12 planning board, I'd have to be a hundred years 13 old. I'm only 82." 14 (Laughter.) 15 SENATOR TRUNZO: And so really, 16 half my life has been as an elected official. 17 And these days I've been going 18 around thinking as to what I have to do. This 19 morning I spent time filling out retirement 20 papers and that kind of stuff. And it's very 21 sad in my life and what am I going to do with 22 myself. When I get up in the morning, what, 23 I've got to go down to the basement? I have 24 no office to go to, anything of that sort. 25 But believe me, it has been an

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(518) 371-8910 1 experience here. I know my opponent during 2 the campaign just made one statement, 3 indicated -- at least his people might have 4 stated that I never spoke too much; in fact, I 5 didn't say a word two years in this 6 Legislature. 7 Now, all these years, many years -- 8 and I remember one of the Newsday reporters 9 many, many years ago said to me, "I've got to 10 write something about you." I said, "Why is 11 that? "You keep passing bills without any 12 debate." 13 But I have good bills, and 14 therefore you guys over there don't want to 15 debate me. 16 (Laughter; applause.) 17 SENATOR TRUNZO: So that's what 18 it's all about. 19 You know, and then we hear the 20 "Hail, Caesar," the "Hail, Caesar." Evidently 21 a number of the people said "The hell with 22 Caesar." 23 (Laughter.) 24 SENATOR TRUNZO: And so that's 25 it.

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(518) 371-8910 1 And so with that, I'm really going 2 to miss all of this. But God bless all of you 3 for the work that we've done together and many 4 of the things that we have done. 5 And my colleagues who were elected 6 with me, Senator Johnson, you know, you're 7 going to reach that age pretty soon and -- 8 (Laughter.) 9 SENATOR TRUNZO: In fact, you 10 look older than I do, so -- 11 (Laughter, catcalls.) 12 SENATOR TRUNZO: Anyway, look, 13 I'll end it with that. You know, the -- so 14 "the hell with Caesar" has happened, 15 eventually would happen. 16 And I hope to be around for a 17 number of more years. And with that, God 18 bless all of you for all the work we've done 19 together. Thank you. 20 (Standing ovation.) 21 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 22 Maltese. 23 SENATOR OWEN JOHNSON: Is this 24 thing working? 25 Caesar and I and Frank Padavan are

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(518) 371-8910 1 the only three left of about 20 new Senators 2 that came in in '72. Took office in '73, 3 really. 4 And when I was first elected, I was 5 mostly in Nassau County and part of Babylon. 6 Every 10 years when they had a census, it 7 moved a little further east, a little further 8 east. Caesar said, "Every time you move, you 9 take part of my district away. Every time, 10 you take a part of my district away." 11 But we always got along well, 12 really. Caesar was a great leader and a great 13 friend. And I don't know what to say. I told 14 him, and he didn't keep his word. He said 15 he's going to keep serving here as long as I 16 do. So I'm a little disappointed in that, but 17 I'll see you around home, I'm sure. 18 And you're a great guy, a great 19 friend to everybody. And we all love you, 20 Caesar. 21 Thank you. 22 (Applause.) 23 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 24 Maltese. 25 SENATOR MALTESE: Mr. President,

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(518) 371-8910 1 first of all, I want to wish Godspeed to my 2 colleagues, all of you, and certainly those 3 that are leaving with me, Marty and Efrain and 4 of course Mary Lou and Caesar. Certainly you 5 couldn't be in better company. 6 Many, many years ago -- over 50, as 7 a matter of fact -- I first came up to Albany 8 with my high school group. And when I saw the 9 Senate chamber, I fell in love with it. And I 10 wasn't smart enough to say at the time that 11 I'd be back, but the fact is that I was. I 12 did come back. 13 In 1965, I ran for the State 14 Senate. That was that odd year. And I like 15 to say to some of the school groups that 16 23 years later, I won. 17 (Laughter.) 18 SENATOR MALTESE: And persistence 19 pays. 20 But the fact is that I've always 21 been among those that felt that politics and 22 government is certainly a noble calling. And 23 everything I've seen these last 40 years, and 24 the last 20 in the Senate, have certainly 25 proven that.

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(518) 371-8910 1 I've enjoyed it. My wife, 2 Constance, of 53 years has stood beside me all 3 that time -- sometimes a little ahead of me. 4 And it's been a very pleasant, pleasant 5 experience. 6 I've enjoyed working with you, I 7 think my staff have become my friends. 8 They've endeavored to make me look good, 9 sometimes under difficult circumstances. 10 But the fact is that I many times 11 wondered at the fact -- and some of you may 12 not like this -- but that they pay us to do 13 this. That it's so much fun to represent the 14 people. 15 We do accomplish a great deal. I 16 know all of you do, through many, many 17 difficulties. I think this is a great body. 18 I've enjoyed working with all of you. I 19 subscribe to the saying that Buckley had, you 20 can disagree without being disagreeable. I 21 admire what you do. I admire all of you, my 22 colleagues and my friends. God bless you, and 23 please persevere in giving the people the type 24 of government that they need and deserve. 25 Thank you all for everything you've

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(518) 371-8910 1 done. Thank you. 2 (Applause.) 3 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: Senator 4 Skelos. 5 SENATOR SKELOS: If I could, 6 there's going to be an immediate short 7 conference of the Majority in the Majority 8 Conference Room. 9 Is there any further business at 10 the desk? 11 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: No, 12 there is not, Senator Skelos. 13 SENATOR SKELOS: I wish, first of 14 all, everybody happy holidays. 15 I know this is an interesting time 16 of year, and look forward to seeing you on 17 January 7th. 18 There being no further business to 19 come before the Senate, I move we stand 20 adjourned until the call of the Majority 21 Leader, intervening days being legislative 22 days. 23 Thank you very much, and God bless. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT WINNER: On 25 motion, the Senate stands adjourned until the

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(518) 371-8910 1 call of the Majority Leader, intervening days 2 being legislative days. 3 (Whereupon, at 7:26 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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(518) 371-8910