Monday, January 25, 2010

1 NEW YORK STATE SENATE 2 3 4 THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD 5 6 7 8 9 ALBANY, NEW YORK 10 January 25, 2010 11 3:12 p.m. 12 13 14 REGULAR SESSION 15 16 17 18 SENATOR NEIL D. BRESLIN, Acting President 19 ANGELO J. APONTE, Secretary 20 21 22 23 24

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: The 3 Senate will please come to order. 4 I ask all to rise and recite the 5 Pledge of Allegiance. 6 (Whereupon, the assemblage recited 7 the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.) 8 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: In the 9 absence of clergy, may we bow our heads for a 10 moment of silence. 11 (Whereupon, the assemblage 12 respected a moment of silence.) 13 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: The 14 reading of the Journal. 15 The Secretary will read. 16 THE SECRETARY: In Senate, 17 Sunday, January 24, the Senate met pursuant to 18 adjournment. The Journal of Saturday, 19 January 23, was read and approved. On motion, 20 Senate adjourned. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: 22 Without objection, the Journal stands approved 23 as read. 24 Presentation of petitions.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Messages from the Assembly. 2 Messages from the Governor. 3 Reports of standing committees. 4 Reports of select committees. 5 Communications and reports from 6 state officers. 7 Motions and resolutions. 8 Senator Klein. 9 SENATOR KLEIN: Mr. President, 10 there will be an immediate meeting of the 11 Rules Committee in Room 332. 12 Pending the return of the Rules 13 Committee, may we please stand at ease. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: There 15 will be an immediate meeting of the Senate 16 Rules Committee in Room 332. 17 Pending the return of the Rules 18 Committee, the Senate will stand at ease. 19 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at 20 ease at 3:13 p.m.) 21 (Whereupon, the Senate reconvened 22 at 3:41 p.m.) 23 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: 24 Senator Klein.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR KLEIN: Mr. President, I 2 believe there's a report of the Rules 3 Committee at the desk. I move to adopt the 4 report of the Rules Committee at this time. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: The 6 Secretary will read. 7 THE SECRETARY: Senator Smith, 8 from the Committee on Rules, reports the 9 following bill direct to third reading: 10 Senate Print 4480C, by Senator Dilan, an act 11 to amend Chapter 549 of the Laws of 1994, 12 amending the Public Authorities Law. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: All 14 those in favor of accepting the Rules 15 Committee report please signify by saying aye. 16 (Response of "Aye.") 17 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: 18 Opposed, nay. 19 (No response.) 20 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: The 21 report of the Rules Committee is adopted. 22 Senator Klein. 23 SENATOR KLEIN: Mr. President, at 24 this time can we please move to a reading of

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 the calendar. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: The 3 Secretary will read. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 11, by Senator Hassell-Thompson, Senate Print 6 4018, an act to amend the Penal Law, in 7 relation to assault. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: Read 9 the last section. 10 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 11 act shall take effect on the first of 12 November. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: 14 Senator DeFrancisco, to explain his vote. 15 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: To explain 16 my vote. 17 I vote no -- 18 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: Oh, 19 excuse me. We'll call the roll first. 20 Call the roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll.) 22 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: 23 Senator DeFrancisco, you may explain your 24 vote.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I vote no, 2 as I do always on these bills, because if you 3 look at the number of people that this offense 4 turns out to be a felony for, the assault 5 offense, this just about covers everybody, I 6 think, except legislators and Ray in the food 7 room. 8 So I'm voting no not because nurses 9 are not worthy of getting this treatment, if 10 there's an assault on them, to get it to the 11 felony. But if we've got so many different 12 people or different occupations that are 13 included, it really should include everybody 14 and just raise the assault offense up to 15 assault that's a felony assault rather than 16 having the receptions eat up a general rule. 17 Thank you. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: 19 Senator DeFrancisco will be recorded in the 20 negative. 21 Senator Hassell-Thompson, to 22 explain her vote. 23 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Thank 24 you, Mr. President.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 I rise to indicate my support of 2 this bill, not just as a person who is the 3 sponsor of the bill, but also as a former 4 nurse who has done emergency room medical 5 services. 6 And just for the record, I'd just 7 like to add something to the record. The fact 8 that RNs and LPNs have the highest proportion 9 of injuries to healthcare workers, according 10 to the U.S. Department of Justice, nearly a 11 half million nurses per year of victims of 12 violent crimes in the workplace. 13 The other thing that I'd like to 14 just indicate for the record also is that 15 historically nurses, which is a 16 female-dominated profession, has not been 17 considered as dangerous as traditionally 18 male-dominated professions, such as law 19 enforcement -- 20 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: Excuse 21 me, Senator Hassell-Thompson. 22 May we have some quiet. Thank you. 23 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: -- 24 such as law enforcement officers, as well as

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 our firefighters. 2 I think that this bill is important 3 because the risk of violent attack is a big 4 factor in the shortage of nurses that is 5 facing the State of New York as well as 6 nationally. 7 Thank you, Mr. President. I vote 8 aye. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: Thank 10 you, Senator Hassell-Thompson. 11 Senator Hassell-Thompson will be 12 recorded in the affirmative. 13 Announce the results. 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 57. Nays, 15 1. Senator DeFrancisco recorded in the 16 negative. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: The 18 bill is passed. 19 The Secretary will continue to 20 read. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 12, by Senator Stachowski, Senate Print 4550, 23 an act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law, in 24 relation to expanding.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: Read 2 the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 4 act shall take effect on the first day of the 5 calendar month next succeeding. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: Call 7 the roll. 8 (The Secretary called the roll.) 9 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: 10 Announce the results. 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: The 13 bill is passed. 14 The Secretary will continue to 15 read. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 13, by Senator Schneiderman, Senate Print 18 4667 -- 19 SENATOR KLEIN: Mr. President, 20 can we lay the bill aside for the day. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: The 22 bill is laid aside for the day. 23 The Secretary will continue to 24 read.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 14, by Senator Montgomery, Senate Print 2969, 3 an act to amend the Public Health Law, in 4 relation to death certificates. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: Read 6 the last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 8 act shall take effect on the 180th day. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: Call 10 the roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll.) 12 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: 13 Senator Diaz, to explain his vote. 14 SENATOR DIAZ: Thank you, 15 Mr. President. 16 This is one piece of legislation 17 that I have to vote against just because I 18 don't believe that -- even though, 19 Mr. President, even though I do believe that 20 nurse practitioners, they do a great job. But 21 to equalize them to a doctor and to take the 22 doctor's authority away to be given to a nurse 23 practitioner I don't think is right. 24 I think that nurse practitioners

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 should keep doing what they're doing. And 2 doctors, they went to college and they 3 graduated and they have a license to do this. 4 And that's why I'm voting against the bill. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: Thank 6 you, Senator Diaz. 7 Senator Diaz will be recorded in 8 the negative. 9 Senator Montgomery, to explain her 10 vote. 11 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, 12 Mr. President. I am voting for this. As a 13 matter of fact, I'm the sponsor of this, along 14 with a number of my colleagues: Senator 15 Duane, Senator Hassell-Thompson, Senator Liz 16 Krueger, Senator Onorato, Senator Oppenheimer, 17 Senator Parker, Senator Perkins, Senator 18 Stewart-Cousins, and Senator Thompson. 19 And we have introduced this bill 20 and are very pleased that it's being 21 considered today because -- 22 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: Excuse 23 me, Senator Montgomery. 24 Can we please have some quiet.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Because as 2 we know, nurse practitioners are an extremely 3 important and central, pivotal member of the 4 health delivery system in our state. And 5 fortunately they have been really the backbone 6 in many areas, especially with health to 7 children, school-based health clinics, they 8 run them. And they care for the elderly a lot 9 and are in attendance, very often, when people 10 pass away. 11 This is the health professional 12 that's there on-site. And what we're doing 13 today is making sure that at the end of life, 14 this particular health professional, nurse 15 practitioners, who are adequately trained -- 16 they diagnose, they treat -- they can also 17 now, with this legislation, be able to 18 actually sign the death certificate. 19 So thank you, Mr. President. And 20 certainly I support the legislation. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: Thank 22 you, Senator Montgomery. 23 Senator Montgomery will be recorded 24 in the affirmative.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Senator Perkins, to explain his 2 vote. 3 SENATOR PERKINS: Thank you, 4 Mr. President. 5 I just wanted to echo the remarks 6 of my colleague and fellow sponsor Senator 7 Montgomery with respect to this bill. 8 You know, we have here some of the 9 unsung heroes and sheroes of the medical 10 profession who are, to say the least, worthy 11 of this kind of recognition by virtue of their 12 practices, by virtue of their skills. 13 And frankly, for those who have any 14 reservations, clearly where there needs to be 15 a challenge there are ways in which any 16 mistakes that may have been made or any 17 considerations for a second opinion can be 18 done. 19 So I don't see any reason why we 20 should not be passing this legislation to 21 allow them to have the authority that this 22 bill offers. And I would daresay as many 23 cases as with respect to regular 24 practitioners, regular doctors, they would be

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 accurate. 2 And so I want to again join my 3 colleague in support of this legislation, and 4 I want to say I vote aye. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: Thank 6 you, Senator Perkins. 7 Senator Perkins will be recorded in 8 the affirmative. 9 Senator Oppenheimer, to explain her 10 vote. 11 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Thank you, 12 Mr. President. 13 I just wanted to straighten 14 something that was said earlier by Senator 15 Diaz. 16 Right now, Senator Diaz said that 17 it was only doctors that could sign these 18 death certificates. As it happens to be, the 19 mortician or the undertaker can also sign 20 them. And they do not have the medical 21 background that doctors and nurse 22 practitioners have. 23 I think we should note that in five 24 states, nurse practitioners do sign these

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 death certificates. And indeed they are the 2 states around us, in Connecticut, in 3 New Jersey, as well as other states. 4 And the fact is that in some of our 5 rural areas, and indeed in some of our inner 6 cities, it is not so easy to find a doctor 7 readily available. And nurse practitioners 8 are usually more available, more on the spot, 9 and more with the patient and, in this case, 10 the deceased patient. 11 So I firmly believe that this will 12 be a big improvement. And I hope we will pass 13 it, and I vote aye. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: Thank 15 you, Senator Oppenheimer. 16 Senator Oppenheimer will be in the 17 affirmative. 18 Senator Farley, to explain his 19 vote. 20 SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you. 21 I rise in support of this bill, as 22 somebody that has four counties, some of which 23 are very rural. I used to have Hamilton 24 County in my Senate district, in the last

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 reapportionment. 2 Let me just say in many of those 3 counties up in the Adirondacks, they don't 4 have a doctor, they only have nurse 5 practitioners providing all the medical care. 6 And for a doctor to go hundreds of miles to 7 sign a death certificate is a little bit 8 ridiculous. 9 I understand that the Medical 10 Society might consider this some sort of a 11 turf situation. But this is really a 12 practical piece of legislation, particularly 13 for the rural areas, as was mentioned. And I 14 rise in support of it. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: Thank 16 you, Senator Farley. 17 Senator Farley will be recorded in 18 the affirmative. 19 Senator Duane, to explain his vote. 20 SENATOR DUANE: Thank you very 21 much, Mr. President. 22 This is an excellent bill. As I 23 think many of us know, currently nurse 24 practitioners, they do everything but sign the

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 death certificate. They pronounce that 2 someone has died, they mark the time, they in 3 many cases determine the cause of death. And 4 this really is a change in the law whose time 5 is long overdue. 6 And, you know, as we continue to 7 transform our healthcare system, we're doing 8 it when there is unfortunately a lack of 9 healthcare personnel in many parts of the 10 state, interestingly in rural and in urban 11 areas. So it's a similar problem. And 12 allowing nurse practitioners to sign the death 13 certificate just makes sense. 14 And so because this bill is so long 15 overdue, I'm very pleased that Senator 16 Montgomery worked to get this bill to the 17 floor. And I am in total agreement and very 18 pleased to vote in the affirmative. 19 Thank you, Mr. President. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: Thank 21 you, Senator Duane. 22 Senator Duane will be recorded in 23 the affirmative. 24 Senator Hassell-Thompson, to

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 explain her vote. 2 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Thank 3 you again, Mr. President. 4 I think that one of the concerns 5 that we need to put to rest is whether or not 6 nurse practitioners have the training that's 7 necessary to be able to do the job that this 8 bill is asking of them to do. 9 This is not your standard nurse on 10 bedside nursing duty, but these are nurses who 11 have had additional training and are very 12 close to almost having their doctorate in 13 medicine. Some of them are just shy of having 14 at least the educational training, and 15 certainly many of them have had more 16 experience. 17 I think the thing that becomes 18 important for us to remember is that if we're 19 talking about New York City, we have the 20 advantage of having coroners and a large staff 21 that is capable of providing this service. 22 But in rural areas, there are not as many 23 doctors available. 24 And the death certificate is not

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 something that you would do on a strange death 2 or a sudden death. These death certificates 3 are based upon chronic illnesses, where there 4 is an awareness that death is imminent. 5 So I think that we need not confuse 6 what the reality is here, that these are 7 well-trained people who have as much -- as in 8 many cases they have more experience than some 9 of the doctors even have in terms of the 10 patients that they see, even if they don't 11 have the M.D. credentials. 12 So I think that we really need in 13 these chambers to become a little bit more 14 updated about the sophistication that has 15 occurred in the nursing profession, and then 16 we would be more enlightened when these bills 17 come before our desks. 18 Thank you, Mr. President. I will 19 be voting in the affirmative. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: Thank 21 you, Senator Hassell-Thompson. 22 Senator Hassell-Thompson will be 23 recorded in the affirmative. 24 Announce the results.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 2 the negative on Calendar Number 14 are 3 Senators Diaz, Golden and Lanza. 4 Ayes, 56. Nays, 3. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: The 6 bill is passed. 7 Senator Klein, that completes the 8 reading of the noncontroversial calendar. 9 SENATOR KLEIN: Mr. President, at 10 this time can we have a reading of the 11 supplemental calendar. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: The 13 Secretary will read. 14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15 15, by Senator Dilan, Senate Print 44 -- 16 SENATOR KLEIN: Lay it aside for 17 the day, please. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: The 19 bill is laid aside for the day. 20 Senator Klein, that completes the 21 reading of the supplemental calendar. 22 SENATOR KLEIN: Mr. President, at 23 this time can we return to the order of 24 motions and resolutions.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 I believe Senator Sampson has three 2 resolutions at the desk. I ask that the title 3 of the resolutions be read and move for their 4 immediate adoption. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: 6 Senator Klein, have these three resolutions 7 been deemed privileged and submitted to the 8 office of the Temporary President? 9 SENATOR KLEIN: Yes, 10 Mr. President, they have. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: Thank 12 you, Senator Klein. 13 The Secretary will read. 14 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 15 Sampson, Senate resolution establishing a plan 16 sitting forth an itemized list of grantees for 17 the New York State Economic Development 18 Assistance Program established pursuant to an 19 appropriation in the 2008-2009 state fiscal 20 year and in Part QQ of Chapter 57 of the Laws 21 of 2008. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: The 23 Secretary will call the roll on the 24 resolution.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 (The Secretary called the roll.) 2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59. Nays 3 0. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: The 5 resolution is adopted. 6 The Secretary will continue to 7 read. 8 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 9 Sampson, Senate resolution amending a plan 10 setting forth an itemized list of grantees for 11 the New York State Economic Development 12 Assistance Program established pursuant to an 13 appropriation in the 2008-2009 state fiscal 14 year and in Part QQ of Chapter 57 of the Laws 15 of 2008. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: The 17 Secretary will call the roll on the 18 resolution. 19 (The Secretary called the roll.) 20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59. Nays, 21 0. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: The 23 resolution is adopted. 24 The Secretary will continue to

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 read. 2 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 3 Sampson, Senate resolution amending a plan 4 setting forth an itemized list of grantees for 5 the New York State Economic Development 6 Assistance Program established pursuant to an 7 appropriation in the 2008-2009 state fiscal 8 year and in Part QQ of Chapter 57 of the Laws 9 of 2008. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: The 11 Secretary will call the roll on the 12 resolution. 13 (The Secretary called the roll.) 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59. Nays, 15 0. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: The 17 resolution is adopted. 18 Senator Klein. 19 SENATOR KLEIN: Mr. President, 20 before we proceed, would you please recognize 21 Senator Montgomery for just a brief 22 announcement. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: 24 Senator Montgomery.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, thank 2 you, Mr. President. 3 It gives me great pleasure and 4 pride to acknowledge one of our former 5 colleagues, some of us who served with him a 6 few years back when he was here, who is now 7 mayor of the City of Buffalo. 8 Former Senator, currently mayor of 9 Buffalo, welcome, Senator Byron Brown. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: You'll 11 always be our Senator, Senator Byron Brown. 12 (Applause.) 13 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: 14 Senator Klein. 15 SENATOR KLEIN: Mr. President, 16 can you please recognize Senator Libous for 17 another brief announcement. 18 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President, 19 do you recognize me? 20 (Laughter.) 21 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: 22 Senator Libous. 23 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, 24 Mr. President.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 There will be an immediate 2 Republican conference following session. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: 4 Immediately following session, there will be a 5 Republican conference in the Republican 6 Conference Room. 7 Senator Klein. 8 SENATOR KLEIN: Mr. President, is 9 there any further business at the desk? 10 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: 11 Senator Klein, the desk is clear. 12 SENATOR KLEIN: There being none, 13 I move that we adjourn until Tuesday, 14 January 26th, at 3:00 p.m., intervening days 15 to be legislative days. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT BRESLIN: There 17 being no further business, on motion, the 18 Senate stands adjourned until Tuesday, 19 January 26th, at 3:00 p.m. 20 (Whereupon, at 4:00 p.m., the 21 Senate adjourned.) 22 23 24

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