Saturday, July 4, 2009

1 NEW YORK STATE SENATE 2 3 4 THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD 5 6 7 8 9 ALBANY, NEW YORK 10 July 4, 2009 11 11:05 a.m. 12 13 14 EXTRAORDINARY SESSION 15 16 17 18 SENATOR ANDREA STEWART-COUSINS, Acting President 19 ANGELO J. APONTE, Secretary 20 21 22 23 24

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(518) 371-8910 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 3 The Senate will please come to order. 4 Senator Smith. 5 SENATOR SMITH: Yes, Madam 6 President. Would you please recognize my 7 esteemed colleague Senator Skelos, please. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 9 Senator Skelos. 10 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you, 11 Senator. 12 Before I do my regular routine, I 13 would ask, as we celebrate the Fourth of July 14 and the great nation that we live in, if each 15 of the members who have served in the Armed 16 Forces, veterans, if they would come forward 17 and lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 19 Thank you, Senator. 20 SENATOR SKELOS: Senator Larkin. 21 Colonel Larkin. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 23 So we have to lead us in the pledge Senator 24 DeFrancisco, Senator Larkin, Senator Owen

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(518) 371-8910 1 Johnson, Senator Padavan, Senator Farley, 2 Senator Leibell, Senator McDonald, Senator 3 Nozzolio, Senator Monserrate, Senator Onorato. 4 (Whereupon, the assemblage recited 5 the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.) 6 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 7 In the absence of clergy, may we all bow our 8 heads for a moment of silence. 9 (Whereupon, the assemblage 10 respected a moment of silence.) 11 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 12 Thank you. 13 The Senators will come to order. 14 Senator Smith. 15 SENATOR SMITH: Yes, Madam 16 President. 17 Is there a proclamation from the 18 Governor that is at the desk that needs to be 19 read? 20 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 21 Yes, Senator Smith, there is a proclamation 22 here at the desk. 23 The Secretary will read. 24 THE SECRETARY: "I hereby amend

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(518) 371-8910 1 the proclamation issued on the first day of 2 July, two thousand nine, pursuant to the power 3 vested in me by Article IV, Section 3 of the 4 Constitution, convening the Senate of the 5 State of New York in Extraordinary Session, at 6 the Capitol, in the City of Albany, on the 7 fourth day of July, two thousand nine, to 8 change the time for such extraordinary session 9 from three o'clock p.m. to eleven o'clock a.m. 10 "Given under my hand and the Privy 11 Seal of the State in the City of Albany this 12 third day of July in the year two thousand 13 nine, by the Governor, David A. Paterson." 14 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 15 Senator Smith. 16 SENATOR SMITH: Yes, Madam 17 President. Would you please recognize my 18 colleague Senator Skelos. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 20 Yes, certainly. 21 Senator Skelos, excuse me just one 22 moment. 23 The proclamation having been read, 24 the Senate is in extraordinary session.

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(518) 371-8910 1 Senator Skelos. 2 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you. Good 3 morning, Senator Stewart-Cousins. 4 This extraordinary session is 5 convened at the call of the Governor, in 6 keeping with the decision of the court. 7 On June 8th, a majority members of 8 this body elected Senator Pedro Espada as 9 temporary president and myself as majority 10 leader. Under the rules adopted that day, we 11 do not recognize you as the appropriately 12 designated presiding officer. 13 Despite that, I would still like to 14 point out your beautiful scarf in celebration 15 of Independence Day and would like to wish 16 everybody a happy Fourth of July. 17 That being said, I would remind 18 everybody that we will be joining each other 19 tomorrow at the call of the Governor at 20 6:00 p.m., and I would ask at this time that 21 the bills be laid aside and move that we 22 adjourn this extraordinary session sine die. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 24 Thank you, Senator.

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(518) 371-8910 1 Senator Smith. 2 SENATOR SMITH: Thank you, Madam 3 President, duly recognized. 4 I would like to read a brief 5 statement in the spirit of today. As we know, 6 this is the Fourth of July. Our colleagues 7 are here looking refreshed, looking forward to 8 getting to spend time with their family. 9 But I do just want to remind us 10 that 236 years ago, on this day, a band of 11 courageous patriots, representing the hearts 12 and minds of a new world, gave birth to our 13 nation. Founded upon the sacred principles of 14 life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, an 15 ideal was born, one that has lit the world 16 over two centuries. 17 Today that idea lives on in each 18 and every one of us. It is heard in this 19 chamber when a Senator stands up to speak on 20 behalf of his or her constituents, as it is 21 demonstrated around the globe by brave men and 22 women of our armed services who have chosen to 23 put themselves in harm's way to protect our 24 country.

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(518) 371-8910 1 We may celebrate this day with 2 barbecues, fireworks, salutes to our Flag, but 3 more than that, it is also about the 4 declaration that was signed by 56 individuals 5 of the Continental Congress, including four 6 New Yorkers, two of which became members of 7 this esteemed body, Senator Philip Livingston 8 and Senator William Floyd. 9 Madam President, this is a great 10 day for our country, it's a great day for all 11 of us. To all of my colleagues, to my 12 friends, to those who are visiting, to all 13 those who are now seeing and hearing us 14 vis-a-vis the media, I wish each and every one 15 of you a wonderful Fourth of July. God bless 16 you. We will all continue to pray for you as 17 we move forward. 18 In regard to that, Madam President, 19 I ask that we adjourn sine die. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 21 Thank you, Senator Smith. 22 Before we adjourn, I did want to 23 recognize Senator Morahan. I know you were 24 here as a veteran, and I think I neglected to

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(518) 371-8910 1 mention you. So thank you. 2 On motion of Senator Smith, we will 3 adjourn till tomorrow, 6:00 p.m., sine die. 4 (Whereupon, at 11:11 a.m., the 5 Senate adjourned.) 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

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(518) 371-8910