Monday, July 6, 2009

1 NEW YORK STATE SENATE 2 3 4 THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD 5 6 7 8 9 ALBANY, NEW YORK 10 July 6, 2009 11 3:06 p.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 I ask everyone present to rise and 5 recite with me the Pledge of Allegiance to our 6 Flag. 7 (Whereupon, the assemblage recited 8 the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.) 9 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 10 In the absence of clergy, may we all bow our 11 heads for a moment of silence. 12 (Whereupon, the assemblage 13 respected a moment of silence.) 14 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 15 Thank you. 16 Senator Smith. 17 SENATOR SMITH: Yes, Madam 18 President. Is there a proclamation from the 19 Governor at the desk? 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: "Pursuant to the

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(518) 371-8910 1 power vested in me by Article IV, Section 3 of 2 the Constitution, I hereby convene the Senate 3 of the State of New York in Extraordinary 4 Session, at the Capitol, in the City of 5 Albany, on the sixth day of July, two thousand 6 nine, at three o'clock p.m., for the purpose 7 of considering legislation I will submit with 8 respect to various subjects, and considering 9 gubernatorial nominations. 10 "Given under my hand and the Privy 11 Seal of the State in the City of Albany this 12 first day of July in the year two thousand 13 nine, by the Governor, David A. Paterson." 14 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 15 The proclamation having been read, the Senate 16 is in extraordinary session. 17 Senator Smith. 18 SENATOR SMITH: Yes, Madam 19 President, would you please recognize my 20 colleague Senator Dean Skelos. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 22 Senator Skelos. 23 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you. 24 Good afternoon, Senator

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(518) 371-8910 1 Stewart-Cousins. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 3 Good afternoon. 4 SENATOR SKELOS: At the 5 Governor's request, and in keeping with the 6 decision of the court, we convene this 7 extraordinary session. 8 As I've stated before, the 9 designation of a presiding officer should be 10 made by Senator Espada or myself pursuant to 11 the votes which took place on June 8th. 12 Accordingly, we do not recognize that you are 13 the appropriately designated presiding 14 officer. 15 Therefore, I'd request that the 16 agenda be laid aside and move that the Senate 17 adjourn this special session sine die. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 19 Thank you, Senator Skelos. 20 Senator Smith. 21 SENATOR SMITH: Yes, thank you, 22 Madam President. So good to see you this 23 afternoon. 24 Before we move on this day, I would

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(518) 371-8910 1 like to at least acknowledge the fact that 2 today a lot of our Fellows, who have served 3 the Senate very well on both sides of the 4 aisle, are here today. Some of them have 5 moved on, some will be moving on, some are 6 still here at the Senate. 7 They have had obviously an 8 extraordinary experience this year. It is one 9 that provides them with the ability to learn 10 not only what state government is about, but 11 also to see how the inner workings of one of 12 the most distinguished bodies in this country 13 performs. 14 I do want to acknowledge some of 15 those who are here and who they've worked for. 16 We had Matthew Gass, who worked in our press 17 office. We had Sara Bangs, who worked in 18 Majority Counsel. We had Linda Cohen, who 19 worked for Senator Bill Perkins. 20 We had Katherine Milcarek-Burke, 21 who I believe might be still in her office. 22 Justin Giffuni, who worked for Senator 23 Marcellino. We had Dilay Watson, who worked 24 for Senator Sampson. Martin McGuinness, who I

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(518) 371-8910 1 don't think is here right now. 2 We also had Burton Phillips, who 3 worked for Senator Maziarz; Catherine Price, 4 who I believe is still in the office; 5 Elizabeth Navran; Jane Tsamardinos, who 6 actually worked for Senator Hannon -- I think 7 Senator Hannon is here also -- Gregory Myers 8 and Ryan Spelman. 9 We just want to say congratulations 10 to you for doing a great job. We're looking 11 forward to your continued service in 12 government. It is a great place to be; it's a 13 noble profession. 14 (Applause.) 15 SENATOR SMITH: Now, Madam 16 President, would you please recognize Senator 17 Hassell-Thompson for an announcement. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 19 Senator Hassell-Thompson. 20 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Yes, 21 thank you, Madam President. 22 Immediately following session, 23 there will be a meeting of the Majority in the 24 Majority Conference Room, 332.

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(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 2 Thank you. There will be an immediate meeting 3 of the Majority in the Majority Conference 4 Room, Room 332. 5 Senator Smith. 6 SENATOR SMITH: Yes, Madam 7 President. That being the case, I ask that we 8 would move to adjourn sine die this special 9 extraordinary session. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 11 Thank you. 12 On motion of Senator Smith, we 13 adjourn sine die this extraordinary session. 14 (Whereupon, at 3:10 p.m., the 15 Senate adjourned.) 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

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(518) 371-8910