Tuesday, August 3, 2010

1 2 3 THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD 4 5 6 7 8 ALBANY, NEW YORK 9 August 3, 2010 10 12:50 p.m. 11 12 13 EXTRAORDINARY SESSION 14 15 16 17 SENATOR DIANE SAVINO, Acting President 18 ANGELO J. APONTE, Secretary 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: The 3 Senate will please come to order. 4 I ask everyone present to rise and 5 recite with me the Pledge of Allegiance. 6 (Whereupon, the assemblage recited 7 the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.) 8 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Today's 9 invocation will be provided by the Reverend 10 Peter G. Young, of Mother Teresa Community in 11 Albany. 12 REVEREND YOUNG: Thank you, 13 Senator. Let us pray. 14 As we gather here on this August 15 the 3rd day, we ask You, O God, to guide our 16 Senators with wisdom and a special prayer, 17 too, for our deceased Senator Morahan. 18 With all of the tensions that are a 19 daily part of a Senator's life, public service 20 is difficult, and we pray that You will give 21 them strength and good health to handle their 22 many, many responsibilities. 23 Amen. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: The 25 Senate remains in extraordinary session.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 The reading of the Journal. 2 The Secretary will read. 3 THE SECRETARY: In Extraordinary 4 Session Number 2, Monday, August 2, the Senate 5 met pursuant to adjournment. The Journal of 6 Saturday, July 31, was read and approved. On 7 motion, Senate adjourned. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Without 9 objection, the Journal stands approved as 10 read. 11 Presentation of petitions. 12 Messages from the Assembly. 13 Messages from the Governor. 14 Reports of standing committees. 15 Reports of select committees. 16 Communications and reports from 17 state officers. 18 Motions and resolutions. 19 Senator Klein. 20 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 21 there will be an immediate meeting of the 22 Finance Committee, followed by a meeting of 23 the Rules Committee. 24 Pending the return of the Rules 25 Committee, may we please stand at ease.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: There 2 will be an immediate meeting of the Finance 3 Committee, followed by a meeting of the Rules 4 Committee in Room 332. 5 Pending the return of the Rules 6 Committee, the Senate will stand at ease. 7 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at 8 ease at 12:53 p.m.) 9 (Whereupon, the Senate reconvened 10 at 1:46 p.m.) 11 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 12 Parker. 13 SENATOR PARKER: Madam President, 14 would you please recognize Senator Libous. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: I do 16 recognize Senator Libous. 17 Senator Libous. 18 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, Madam 19 President. 20 There will be an immediate 21 conference in the Republican Conference Room 22 that will last about ten minutes. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: There 24 will be an immediate meeting of the Republican 25 Conference in the Republican Conference Room.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 The Senate will continue to stand 2 at ease. 3 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at 4 ease at 1:47 p.m.) 5 (Whereupon, the Senate reconvened 6 at 2:41 p.m.) 7 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 8 Klein. 9 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 10 I believe there's a report of the Rules 11 Committee at the desk. I move that we adopt 12 the report at this time. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: There 14 is a report of the Rules Committee at the 15 desk. 16 The Secretary will read. 17 THE SECRETARY: Senator Smith, 18 from the Committee on Rules, reports the 19 following bills: 20 Extraordinary Session Senate Print 21 Number 5, by the Senate Committee on Rules, an 22 act to amend the Real Property Tax Law and 23 others; 24 6, by the Senate Committee on 25 Rules, an act to amend the Education Law and

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 the State Finance Law; 2 8, by the Senate Committee on 3 Rules, an act to amend the Tax Law; 4 9, by the Senate Committee on 5 Rules, an act to amend the Multiple Dwelling 6 Law; 7 And Extraordinary Session Senate 8 Print Number 11A, by the Senate Committee on 9 Rules, an act to amend the State Finance Law. 10 All bills ordered direct to third 11 reading. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: All 13 those in favor of adopting the Rules Committee 14 report please signify by saying aye. 15 (Response of "Aye.") 16 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: 17 Opposed, nay. 18 (No response.) 19 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: The 20 Rules Committee report is adopted. 21 Senator Klein. 22 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 23 may we now move to a reading of the 24 extraordinary session calendar. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: The

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Secretary will read. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 1, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 4 Print Number 5, an act to amend the Real 5 Property Tax Law, the Education Law, and the 6 General Municipal Law. 7 SENATOR LIBOUS: Lay it aside. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: The 9 bill is laid aside. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 2, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 12 Print Number 6, an act to amend the Education 13 Law and the State Finance Law. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Read 15 the last section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 17 act shall take effect immediately. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Call 19 the roll. 20 (The Secretary called the roll.) 21 SENATOR LIBOUS: Lay that bill 22 aside. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: The 24 bill is laid aside. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 3, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 2 Print Number 8, an act to amend the Tax Law. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Read 4 the last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 6 act shall take effect immediately. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Call 8 the roll. 9 (The Secretary called the roll.) 10 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: 11 Announce the results. 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: The 14 bill is passed. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 4, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 17 Print Number 9, an act to amend the Multiple 18 Dwelling Law. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Read 20 the last section. 21 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 22 act shall take effect immediately. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Call 24 the roll. 25 (The Secretary called the roll.)

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: 2 Announce the results. 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: The 5 bill is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 5, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 8 Print Number 11A, an act to amend the State 9 Finance Law. 10 SENATOR LIBOUS: Lay it aside. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 12 Libous, before we lay the bill aside we'd like 13 to take up the message of necessity from the 14 Governor. 15 SENATOR LIBOUS: I apologize, 16 Madam President. I got a little anxious. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 18 Klein. 19 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 20 is there a message of necessity at the desk? 21 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Yes 22 Senator Klein, there is a message of necessity 23 at the desk. 24 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 25 I move to accept the message of necessity at

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 this time. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: The 3 question is on the acceptance of the message 4 of necessity. All those in favor please 5 signify by saying aye. 6 (Response of "Aye.") 7 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: 8 Opposed, nay. 9 (No response.) 10 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: The 11 message is accepted. 12 The bill is laid aside. 13 Senator Klein, that completes the 14 reading of the noncontroversial calendar. 15 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 16 at this time can we please move to a reading 17 of the controversial extraordinary session 18 calendar. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: The 20 Secretary will ring the bell. 21 All members are asked to return to 22 the chamber for the reading of the 23 controversial extraordinary session calendar. 24 The Secretary will read. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 1, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 2 Print Number 5, an act to amend the Real 3 Property Tax Law, the Education Law, and the 4 General Municipal Law. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 6 Libous, why do you rise? 7 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, Madam 8 President. 9 I believe there's an amendment at 10 the desk by Senator LaValle. I ask that you 11 waive its reading and please call on Senator 12 LaValle. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 14 LaValle, your amendment is at the desk. 15 Without objection, the reading is waived and 16 you may speak on the amendment. 17 SENATOR LaVALLE: Thank you, 18 Madam President. 19 It's a very, very simple amendment. 20 It reduces the cap from 4 percent to 21 2.5 percent, or 120 percent of the CPI, 22 whichever is less. 23 This amendment is very similar to 24 an amendment that I offered up previously that 25 dealt with a cap on real property taxes for

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 school districts. This amendment, in 2 accordance with the bill, would cover other 3 municipal taxes capped at, in my amendment, 4 2.5 percent; in the bill, at 4 percent or 5 120 percent of the CPI. 6 This bill would make us 7 consistent -- again, as I had said previously 8 on the floor -- with both New Jersey and 9 Massachusetts, and I believe other states are 10 moving in this direction. 11 During the Finance Committee it was 12 brought up, I think by Senator Klein, that the 13 lesser, if we go to the CPI, is somewhere 14 between a 1 and 2 percent cap. But I think 15 what we need to have in the law is that the 16 cap is at 2.5 percent or, if the CPI is less, 17 then we go to that. 18 So I would hope that this is an 19 amendment that everyone could support. 20 Thank you, Madam President. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Are 22 there any other Senators wishing to be heard 23 on the amendment? 24 Seeing none, the question is on the 25 nonsponsor motion to amend Calendar Number 1.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Those Senators voting in support of the 2 nonsponsor amendment please signify by raising 3 your hands. 4 Announce the results. 5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 28. Nays, 6 31. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: The 8 motion fails. 9 We return to the bill in chief. 10 Any Senators wishing to be heard? 11 Senator Klein. 12 SENATOR KLEIN: On the bill, 13 Madam President. 14 This is, I think, a very positive 15 step in us finally achieving a property tax 16 cap in the State of New York. I'd be less 17 than honest if I wasn't frustrated that this 18 is the second time within a five-month period 19 that this legislative body has passed a 20 property tax cap. 21 I believe that this is going to go 22 a long way towards finally giving homeowners 23 around the State of New York the ability to be 24 able to alleviate this horrible tax burden 25 which actually exists. Needless to say, I

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 don't think it's too much to ask when a local 2 school district or a local government manage a 3 budget. We're asking taxpayers each and every 4 day around the State of New York to balance 5 their own checkbooks, tighten their belts. 6 And I think just the threat that we 7 were going to implement a property tax cap in 8 the State of New York I think went a long way 9 towards keeping budgets under 4 percent. I 10 believe the average school budgets around the 11 State of New York didn't increase more than 12 3.5 percent. I believe we need take this one 13 step further and actually implement a property 14 tax cap in the State of New York. 15 I also think it's very important 16 for another reason presently we have the STAR 17 exemption program in the State of New York. 18 Originally the STAR exemption program cost 19 about $2 billion. It's now risen to about 20 $3.5 billion. That is taxpayers' money being 21 put in through our budget to help people pay 22 their property tax bill in the form of an 23 exemption. It's a great program. 24 That program will continue to grow, 25 day after day, year after year, unless we

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 finally put a cap on property taxes. So I 2 think in order to keep the STAR exemption 3 valid, in order to keep the STAR exemption 4 more affordable or at least affordable so we 5 can continue it, we have to cap property 6 taxes. 7 I know a lot has been said and a 8 lot has been covered over the last couple of 9 weeks in the news about New Jersey passing an 10 historic property tax cap. Well, when you 11 look at the specifics of the cap that we're 12 going to pass today, ours is a lot more strict 13 and a lot more fiscally sound. 14 I know Senator LaValle's amendment 15 talked about having, instead of a 4 percent, a 16 2.5. However, as in this legislation, if we 17 go to the CPI and if the cap was in effect 18 right now in the State of New York, we 19 wouldn't have a 4 percent, we would have a 20 2 percent property tax cap. And the way 21 things are going, unfortunately, next year the 22 CPI will hold, we'll probably even have a 23 lower than 2 percent property tax cap. 24 So while Jersey did do the 2.5, I 25 believe that having that property tax cap in

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 place and the loophole of the 120 percent of 2 the CPI makes sure that we have the lowest 3 property tax cap possible. 4 Also, New Jersey, in comparison to 5 this legislation, in order to override the cap 6 or spend more money or bust the cap, you need 7 a simple majority in New Jersey. Under this 8 legislation, it must be approved by 60 percent 9 of the votes. Sixty percent of the voters 10 have to agree that they want to spend more 11 than the proposed budget that was proposed by 12 the school district. So ours is a lot tougher 13 and I think a very, very important piece. 14 Also, we have to look very, very 15 carefully at the exemptions when you compare 16 the two bills. Our only exemption is capital 17 costs. New Jersey has pension costs, 18 healthcare costs, something called emergency 19 costs. It goes on and on. I think in many 20 cases a lot of the exemptions they have make 21 the property tax cap sort of null and void. I 22 think we were very careful to just make sure 23 we only excluded capital costs. 24 So I think at the end of the day it 25 is up to the Assembly now. This is clearly

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 something that this body has supported; this 2 will be the second time. The Governor has 3 come on board and tried -- of course earlier 4 when we were in the minority -- to pass a 5 property tax cap. So we do have the Governor 6 now supporting a property tax cap. 7 It is now incumbent, incumbent upon 8 the Assembly to follow suit and finally give 9 needed property tax relief to the residents of 10 New York State. 11 I vote yes, Madam President. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 13 Klein will be recorded in the affirmative. 14 Senator C. Johnson. 15 SENATOR CRAIG JOHNSON: Thank you 16 very much, Madam President. 17 I rise today to speak on the bill 18 and support this important piece of the 19 legislation. I want to commend the deputy 20 majority leader, Senator Klein, for his 21 leadership on this issue. 22 This has been an issue that has 23 really resonated with the residents of my 24 district, and it's something that I have 25 fought for since my election to this body.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 And in fact I remember vividly sitting on the 2 opposite side of the aisle in 2008, having a 3 very vivid debate with my good friend Senator 4 Bonacic about legislation that we were 5 offering, and we had a debate as to the 6 parameters of what we called our triple-play 7 bill with respect to our property tax cap. 8 And I remember our amendment being 9 defeated, and I remember them voting yes on 10 the proposal put forth by the then-Republican 11 majority that was a 4 percent property tax cap 12 or a 120 percent CPI less. 13 What we've done today is take the 14 same figure, 4 percent or 120 percent of the 15 CPI. And as Senator Klein said, this bill is 16 a strict bill. If enacted today and if in 17 effect, it would be a 2 percent property tax 18 cap without the exemptions that we see that 19 Massachusetts and New Jersey put into place. 20 I think today what's important for 21 our public to see is this is a victory for the 22 overburdened property taxpayers in Long 23 Island, in Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, all 24 the way through upstate New York who face 25 crippling property taxes. But more

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 importantly, in my opinion, it's a blow to 2 some of those special interests who for far 3 too long have been trying to prevent the 4 imposition of a property tax cap and who far 5 too long control the power here in Albany. 6 But what we need to do in working 7 together is make sure that the Assembly now 8 does the right thing, and that's simply to 9 bring this piece of legislation before its 10 house and have a simple up-or-down vote. 11 Today our constituents and the 12 residents of New York State are going to see 13 whether their elected Senators support a 14 property tax cap and support property tax 15 relief or don't. Those same constituents 16 deserve to hear and see how their Assembly 17 members feel on this issue. 18 Now, as we know, much work needs to 19 be done here in Albany, but property tax 20 relief must take and must be our top priority. 21 And I think to the credit of this entire body, 22 this body, both Republicans and Democrats, has 23 been in the forefront on this issue. Earlier 24 this year this body came together and voted 25 and passed a comprehensive property tax relief

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 bill that included a cap and that included a 2 circuit breaker, that included mandate relief. 3 But what's happened all too often is the 4 Assembly leadership failed to take up that 5 package, failed to bring it up for an 6 up-or-down vote. 7 Well, I think with today's vote, 8 ladies and gentlemen of this body, the 9 Assembly leadership has an opportunity to make 10 amends and it has a chance to show the 11 residents of New York State that it too is 12 serious about capping property taxes. Not 13 just school taxes, but county taxes, town 14 taxes, and something that's not often talked 15 about but seen, village taxes, which 16 oftentimes we see, if you live in a village, 17 grow exponentially. 18 And so I commend my colleagues on 19 both sides of the aisle who are going to 20 support this bill and who are going to provide 21 real property tax relief to the residents who 22 live in this great state of ours. 23 I'll be voting yes, Madam 24 President. Thank you very much. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 C. Johnson to be recorded in the affirmative. 2 Senator DeFrancisco. 3 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Would the 4 sponsor yield to a question, please. I don't 5 know -- would Mr. Rules yield to a question, 6 or Senator Klein? 7 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 8 Klein will. 9 SENATOR KLEIN: I'll be happy to 10 yield, Madam President. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: He'll 12 answer the questions. 13 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Senator 14 Klein, it's my understanding, especially from 15 hearing what Senator Johnson just said, this 16 is not an agreed-upon bill. Is that correct? 17 SENATOR KLEIN: It's not an 18 agreed-upon bill. 19 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Okay. 20 SENATOR KLEIN: But just to 21 finish what I would like to say -- and I said 22 it earlier, and I guess I'll repeat it -- this 23 is the second time that this body has passed a 24 cap. 25 And again, I don't think it's any

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 secret that it's going to be, I believe, very, 2 very difficult for some of my Assembly 3 colleagues who represent the suburbs and 4 upstate New York, people who are very 5 concerned about property tax relief, to vote 6 no or at least not to take this legislation up 7 and get a fair vote on this important bill. 8 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Thank you. 9 I have nothing further. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 11 DeFrancisco, on the bill now? On the bill. 12 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I believe 13 that this is a very good bill and sometimes 14 imitation is the greatest form of flattery, 15 because we passed this bill in 2008 two years 16 ago. And interestingly enough, at that time 17 there were only seven Democrats who voted in 18 favor of it. 19 So it's nice to see that when you 20 have a good idea and it percolates among the 21 public that eventually there's enough votes to 22 make sure -- I'm sure there will be many, many 23 more than seven votes this year from the 24 Democrat side in order to make this happen. 25 And I would join with what Senators

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Klein and Johnson said, is that the Assembly 2 owes it to the public to at least put the bill 3 on for a vote, owes it for to the Governor who 4 presented the bill, owes it to the public to 5 vote yes or no. If they don't think it's a 6 good idea, then they can vote no. 7 So this is a good bill, and I'm 8 going to be voting yes. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 10 DeFrancisco to be recorded in the affirmative. 11 Senator LaValle. 12 SENATOR LaVALLE: Thank you, 13 Madam President. 14 I just want to reinforce something 15 that Senator DeFrancisco talked about that we 16 did when we held the majority, brought this up 17 in 2008, with the same provisions of the over 18 and under to allow the voters to participate 19 by certain percentages. 20 In 2008 we could not get the 21 Assembly to pass this bill. Again, with the 22 support of the Governor, we have not been able 23 to move it beyond this house. So, Senator 24 Klein, we have passed a tax cap bill three 25 times, not twice: 2008, 2009, and 2010, three

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 years. 2 But one of the provisions that you 3 didn't mention is that this actually, for 4 school purposes, has an available carry-over 5 provision that would allow districts that have 6 saved money to be able to spend that money 7 beyond whatever the cap is. 8 The time has come for the Democrat 9 majority to get -- whether it is bargaining, 10 whatever methodology -- to get the Assembly to 11 pass this bill. We have certainly -- today 12 this bill is going to pass, even though it 13 should be 2.5 percent, will pass this house. 14 But I believe, despite all the rhetoric here, 15 it is not going to pass in the Assembly. So 16 once again, the voters are going to hear a lot 17 of nice things, but in the final analysis the 18 job's not going to get done. 19 So I think that we need to, as 20 members of our body, to get our Assembly 21 members to really act responsibly and get it 22 done in the Assembly. 23 Thank you, Madam President. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 25 LaValle to be recorded in the affirmative.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Senator Oppenheimer, on the bill. 2 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Thank you. 3 As was mentioned earlier by Senator 4 Klein, last March we did vote on a property 5 tax cap, and that particular bill included 6 restoring Senior STAR and a new property tax 7 circuit breaker, both of which I strongly 8 support. 9 The 4 percent cap in this bill is 10 actually a good deal higher than most of my 11 school district increases this past May. In 12 fact, a couple of my school districts in my 13 bigger cities came in with a minus 1.5 percent 14 from last year's budgets. So they are very, 15 very mindful of the property tax burden. 16 And I do believe that our economy 17 is not going to be very much better for a 18 number of years, and therefore I do not 19 foresee that our school districts will be able 20 to come forth with budgets that are very large 21 indeed. The average, I think, in my Senate 22 district was a 1.5 percent increase. 23 So that's the reality. And to tell 24 you the truth, I don't think the tax cap is an 25 adequate solution. I think it kind of

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 maintains the status quo. I think my bills do 2 more because they cut the costs of schools, my 3 bills being the mandate relief bill and the 4 consolidation and shared services bills. That 5 cuts the costs that the schools have to bear. 6 But this is a one-house bill, and 7 we will need a two-house solution that 8 hopefully will reduce the mandates and bring 9 direct relief like STAR which actually would 10 benefit the property taxpayer. 11 But I think we need to do 12 something, and we need to do something around 13 reducing the property tax. And as many of you 14 heard already, particularly, particularly in 15 my county, because my county is the highest 16 property-taxed county in the United States. 17 And so I am going to be supporting 18 this, and hopefully we will make some progress 19 on reducing the burden that exists for almost 20 every taxpayer in the county of Westchester. 21 Thank you. I'll be voting yes. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 23 Oppenheimer to be recorded in the affirmative. 24 Senator Padavan. 25 SENATOR PADAVAN: Thank you,

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Madam President. 2 Senator Klein, would you answer 3 just a brief question. This bill does not -- 4 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 5 Klein. 6 SENATOR KLEIN: Yes, Madam 7 President. 8 SENATOR PADAVAN: This bill does 9 not affect the City of New York or any of the 10 other dependent school districts, am I 11 correct? 12 SENATOR KLEIN: Through you, 13 Madam President, the cap would not apply to 14 the five -- the Big Five school districts, 15 correct. 16 SENATOR PADAVAN: A second 17 question, if I may, Madam President. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 19 Klein, do you continue to yield? 20 SENATOR KLEIN: Yes, Madam 21 President. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 23 Klein yields. 24 SENATOR PADAVAN: As you know, in 25 the City of New York -- I'm not sure of the

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 other cities around the state -- we've had 2 multiple increases in both rates and 3 assessments, and so homeowners are feeling 4 that pinch. 5 Do you have any idea as to how we 6 can expand this -- I realize we're dealing 7 with a tough situation in regard to the 8 Assembly, and the other incarnations of this 9 bill also did not cover those cities -- how we 10 could deal with that problem in similar 11 fashion? 12 SENATOR KLEIN: Through you, 13 Madam President, I would love to figure out a 14 way that we can alleviate the tax burden of 15 those in New York City, which of course isn't 16 as high as those in the suburbs, but still 17 growing. 18 Unfortunately, this can only be 19 applied to those school districts that 20 actually vote and pass their own budgets. And 21 again, as you probably know, Senator Padavan, 22 applying this to New York City, New York City 23 does not fund their school system through a 24 property tax but rather the income tax and 25 other funding.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 2 Fuschillo, on the bill. 3 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Would the 4 sponsor yield for a quick question. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 6 Klein, will you yield? 7 SENATOR KLEIN: Yes, Madam 8 President. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 10 Klein yields. 11 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Thank you, 12 Senator. I was just reading the bill itself. 13 On page 25 it deals with reserve accounts. 14 Could you just explain what the changes are? 15 SENATOR KLEIN: Twenty-five, 16 Senator? 17 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Page 25. 18 Does that allow them to utilize reserve 19 accounts now without any additional 20 legislative approval if this was a two-house 21 bill? 22 SENATOR KLEIN: You're referring 23 to page 25? Any specific line on page 25? 24 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: It deals with 25 reserve accounts. My question to you is, does

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 that now allow them to spend down their 2 reserve accounts without having to come back 3 to us for legislative approval if this was a 4 two-house bill? 5 SENATOR KLEIN: I know the bill 6 talks about keeping reserve accounts, unused 7 tax levies, would be available for future 8 years to increase the levy up to 1.5 percent. 9 But that's the most that they can actually 10 bank for future use. 11 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Thank you, 12 Senator. 13 SENATOR KLEIN: Again, just for 14 clarification, this is another example where 15 our legislation is a lot harsher or stricter 16 than the State of New Jersey, who can actually 17 bank far more money than the 1.5 percent for 18 additional years. 19 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Thank you. 20 On the bill. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 22 Fuschillo, on the bill. 23 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: A Newsday 24 editorial today states "New Yorkers deserve a 25 debate on capping tax growth," and it goes

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 into that this is a long-overdue issue that 2 should be taken up on this floor. 3 And it talks about all the 4 gubernatorial candidates, attorney general 5 candidates, candidates for comptroller and 6 other races all supporting a tax cap. And it 7 says we should do this today just to put -- 8 and I'll echo what Senator DeFrancisco and 9 others said -- to put the pressure and the 10 blame where it should be laid, on the 11 Assembly, for not having to take this up. 12 Whether I was in the majority or 13 the minority party, as a Republican or as a 14 Democrat, capping property taxes and reducing 15 property taxes should be a nonpartisan issue. 16 There's no greater issue that I hear every 17 single day in my district when I walk the 18 streets, and it's property taxes. And people 19 are being squeezed out of their houses. And 20 unless we do something, we fail the voters, we 21 fail the residents. 22 We're doing our part today. This 23 bill should pass, and the Assembly should have 24 the heat and the pressure to put it on the 25 floor at least for an up-or-down vote, at

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 least for a discussion, to debate it, to see 2 what the people of the districts in the 3 Assembly want to talk about. And if it's not 4 property taxes, then they're not hearing their 5 people. It's the number-one issue. 6 People are moving out of this state 7 in droves. We are the number-one state in 8 interstate migration for the last decade, for 9 the last ten years. And that means people are 10 leaving our state and going to other states 11 throughout the United States. And it's wrong. 12 And we should do our part, what we can do to 13 keep residents here where they've lived all 14 their lives. 15 Madam President, I'll be voting in 16 favor of the property tax cap. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 18 Fuschillo to be recorded in the affirmative. 19 Senator L. Krueger, on the bill. 20 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you, 21 Madam President. 22 As my colleague Suzi Oppenheimer 23 already stated, we have visited variations on 24 this bill several times in this house. And to 25 be honest, I have preferred earlier versions.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 I have preferred exploring a circuit breaker 2 model of dealing with property tax control. I 3 do prefer a number of other options that 4 didn't make it into this bill. 5 But I also know that for my 6 colleagues from outside the Big Five cities 7 where this bill would impact, I have heard 8 from them how crucial it is for their 9 districts, for their constituents. 10 And so in fact, even though I 11 recognize this bill in itself is not where we 12 ultimately should go, I do believe we need to 13 have a circuit breaker. Senator Klein and I 14 have worked on that. And I believe that going 15 forward with the Assembly and the Governor, we 16 are going to be able to do more than just this 17 bill today. 18 But because this is so crucial for 19 so many areas of the state and because it 20 still does allow the local districts options 21 to make decisions to override this if they 22 think that this is not an adequate option for 23 them in their school districts in their 24 communities, I am comfortable voting for this 25 bill, hoping that we can move forward with an

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 agenda that is not one bill alone, but that 2 finally gets our arms around changing the tax 3 policies of the state such that we do not find 4 ourselves with families and seniors being 5 priced out of their own homes because they 6 cannot afford their local property taxes. 7 So I'll be voting yes, Madam 8 President. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 10 L. Krueger to be recorded in the affirmative. 11 Are there any other Senators 12 wishing to be heard on the bill? 13 Senator McDonald. 14 SENATOR McDONALD: Thank you, 15 Madam President. On the bill. 16 I've had some experience in 17 property taxes at the grassroots level. I 18 heard a few comments in reference to higher 19 taxes. I'm very proud to have been part of a 20 team in Saratoga County that in 1986 21 officially made it the lowest-taxed county in 22 the state. It still is. 23 I was the chairman of that budget 24 that year. A tax cap is critical. But it's 25 got to be more than that. If you think that's

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 the answer, we're going to be back here next 2 year responding to the same people who are 3 upset. 4 I commend everybody for taking the 5 first step, but it's spending and it's also 6 revenue. You cannot allow revenue to leave 7 the state. You cannot allow businesses or 8 programs and services not to be collected, 9 like the VLT money for the last several years. 10 I also had the opportunity to be 11 the supervisor of a town that almost 25 years 12 ago limited property taxes for the local town 13 general and highway funding monies. Which 14 saves that taxpayer today approximately $2,000 15 a year. Now, that's not a rebate check on 16 some program at the state that they send you 17 $150 for, that's $2,000 on an averaged 18 assessed house. Not a high-middle-class 19 house, but an average assessed house. 20 It can be done. But you've got to 21 realize that mandates are part of the problem 22 and that mandates start right here in this 23 building. You also have to realize it's not a 24 one-time shot and that maybe a little better 25 communications with all the local governments,

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 so they can explain to you that one size 2 doesn't fit all. Programs and services that 3 might be necessary in New York City may not be 4 necessary in the smaller community. Programs 5 and services that are necessary upstate may 6 not be needed downstate. 7 So if anybody's walking out of here 8 thinking that they're going to have lower 9 property taxes, or if that's going to be the 10 presentation in the paper tomorrow, it isn't 11 going to happen. It's going to be a lot 12 harder work. 13 I've done this myself and can show 14 you the results. And just for the 15 notification, people in my county are moving 16 in. So the tax structure, lowering it, 17 exploded the population. So not everything is 18 negative in New York State. There is positive 19 areas. And I'm sure there's positive areas in 20 your district. But it's a little ridiculous 21 to sit here and hear what's come out of these 22 buildings for the past 30 or 40 years and say 23 we're going to stop it now. 24 Well, I'll challenge anybody; we 25 know how to stop it up on the other side of

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 the Mohawk River. It's called Saratoga 2 County. You want to see low taxes? You want 3 to see corporations moving in and expanding, 4 people moving in? That's the place to go. 5 Ask them how they're doing it despite what 6 this state has done to them in the last three 7 decades. 8 Thank you, Madam President. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 10 McDonald, how do you vote? 11 SENATOR McDONALD: I vote yes. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 13 McDonald to be recorded in the affirmative. 14 Are there any other Senators 15 wishing to be heard on the bill? 16 Seeing none, debate is closed. The 17 Secretary will ring the bells. We ask all 18 members to return to the chamber. 19 Read the last section. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 25. This 21 act shall take effect immediately. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Call 23 the roll. 24 (The Secretary called the roll.) 25 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Robach, to explain his vote. 2 SENATOR ROBACH: Yes, Madam 3 President. I rise to support this bill I 4 think not only for the topic of controlling 5 property taxes, which so many of my colleagues 6 have very eloquently alluded to, but I'm also 7 happy to vote for this because I think it's 8 significant in this way. 9 We desperately in this Legislature 10 in this chamber need to show the public that 11 we are listening to what they want. And 12 clearly anywhere in upstate New York, 13 certainly in Rochester and Monroe County, 14 property taxes are the number-one talked-about 15 item, polled item of what people want to 16 control. 17 So today we are moving in the right 18 direction in being responsive to the public. 19 But it's also been pointed out we can't stop. 20 Not only do we have to work with our 21 colleagues in the Assembly and make them 22 responsive to the public, but really for 23 whoever is watching and listening, I'm calling 24 on the public as well to also make sure that 25 the Assembly does the right thing by the

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 people and does something to try to control 2 property tax which, as my colleague Senator 3 Chuck Fuschillo pointed out, is the number-one 4 reason why people are voting with their feet 5 and leaving this state. 6 So we're on the right track; that's 7 good. But there's plenty of work to get done. 8 But I gladly cast my vote in the affirmative, 9 Madam President. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 11 Robach to be recorded in the affirmative. 12 Senator Seward, to explain his 13 vote. 14 SENATOR SEWARD: Thank you, Madam 15 President. I rise to explain my vote. 16 No question high property taxes are 17 a huge problem for homeowners throughout the 18 State of New York. I know in my own district 19 that's the number-one complaint that I hear 20 from my constituents. Senior citizens having 21 a tough time staying in their homes, young 22 families just starting out that have a tough 23 time because of high property taxes even 24 owning a home or breaking into the housing 25 market, and of course everyone in between

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 facing high property taxes -- a huge problem. 2 I'm going to support this 3 legislation before us today, but I must point 4 out that I believe this is only half the 5 solution. The property tax cap is fine, but a 6 tax cap alone is not the total answer. We 7 have to in the State of New York get serious 8 about mandate relief. What's driving up local 9 government costs and local taxes? It's 10 mandates from the State of New York are a huge 11 part of that. 12 And so I'm going to support the tax 13 cap. I think it's a step in the right 14 direction. But we've got to finish the job by 15 having meaningful and serious mandate relief. 16 Let's take the burden off the backs of local 17 governments and school districts so that they 18 can lower their expenses and thus lower their 19 taxes and stay well within any property tax 20 cap. 21 Madam President, I vote aye. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 23 Seward to be recorded in the affirmative. 24 Senator Saland, to explain his 25 vote.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR SALAND: Thank you, Madam 2 President. 3 Madam President, I too rise in 4 support of this measure. This house over the 5 course of the past two decades has certainly 6 had a long and I think certainly accomplished 7 history of trying to drive the issue of not 8 only property tax relief but also mandate 9 relief. 10 And we now have before us the 11 Governor's program bill. We have, I believe, 12 virtual unanimity in this house. We have seen 13 a near unanimity on tax cap bills previously. 14 The problem today, as it was last year, as it 15 was five years ago, as it was 10 years ago, as 16 it was 15 years ago, remains the intransigence 17 of the Assembly. And we can continue to 18 hammer away and we can continue each and every 19 day in every way possible to drive this 20 message, and yet when it comes to the very 21 doorstep of the Assembly: No response. It 22 falls upon deaf ears. And there's a vast 23 injustice in that. 24 This weekend I walked a parade line 25 with probably hundreds of fireman, a number of

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 whom raised questions with me about property 2 tax relief. And I said the problem is not 3 this house, the problem is in the Assembly. 4 And we continue to fight that fight. And I 5 hope that somehow or other this message will 6 resonate sufficiently to divide the waters and 7 bring this miraculous change, much like Moses 8 brought us to the Promised Land. 9 I would be more than pleasantly 10 surprised, because I fear it will take divine 11 intervention to get the Assembly to move on 12 this. But I do in fact echo the comments that 13 I've heard virtually everybody here make and 14 believe there's no time like the present. So 15 if we're going to have that divine 16 intervention, may it please occur before it's 17 too late for far too many people. 18 Thank you. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 20 Saland to be recorded in the affirmative. 21 Senator Farley, to explain his 22 vote. 23 SENATOR FARLEY: Yes, I rise in 24 support of this legislation because if there's 25 any issue that so many have said that is being

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 said loud and clear throughout the state, 2 particularly in the upstate area, is we have 3 to do something about real property taxes. 4 They are killing us. 5 And every poll that exists says 6 that people overwhelmingly, in the high 80s, 7 want something to be done about a tax cap. 8 Actually, it's all spending. This 9 is something that we can address, because we 10 don't seem to be addressing spending. 11 But, Madam President, I vote in 12 favor of this legislation. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 14 Farley to be recorded in the affirmative. 15 Senator Alesi, to explain his vote. 16 SENATOR ALESI: Thank you, Madam 17 President and my colleagues. 18 I think it's gratifying that we can 19 look on both sides of the aisle today and see 20 that there is widespread support for an 21 initiative that started actually a couple of 22 years ago. And finally today it seems as 23 though we all agree that we can at least get 24 behind a bill that caps property taxes in this 25 state.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 I think that we should all take the 2 same effort and energize ourselves to go over 3 to the other house, into the Assembly, and 4 make them see the same wisdom. Because our 5 constituents and their constituents are the 6 same people. They are the same homeowners, 7 they are the same ones who are suffering under 8 the burden of these high taxes that we've had 9 in New York State. 10 And so while I congratulate my 11 colleagues, both Republicans and Democrats 12 alike, I would remind them that there are 13 still people out there that, no matter how 14 much we cap, will be paying high taxes in this 15 state. And as Senator Seward pointed out, 16 there are other things that we can do to help 17 lessen the property taxes that we have in this 18 state -- mandate relief, consolidation of 19 services, and a number of other things. 20 But we can't do that unless we have 21 a cooperative effort not only between 22 Democrats and Republicans but a cooperative 23 effort between the Senate and the Assembly, 24 along with the cooperative effort of the 25 Governor.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 So as I think of a young couple, a 2 young man in particular, my niece's husband, 3 who served two terms in Iraq and came back 4 here to be with his wife and his two children 5 and had only one dream, and that was to own a 6 home. And the more they looked, the more they 7 realized that even though they could afford 8 the down payment, the real struggle for them 9 would be property taxes. 10 And that delayed their buying a 11 home. That delayed their part of the American 12 dream, and it put off for some time their 13 children's ability to live in a home and have 14 a back yard and live in a nice neighborhood. 15 And I'm happy to say that they 16 finally now have had that. But it was 17 property taxes alone that kept them from being 18 able to enjoy that. 19 My colleagues, I congratulate each 20 and every person here who not only votes on 21 this bill but those who drafted this 22 legislation a few years ago. Without regard 23 to who's in the majority then and who's in the 24 majority now, we have done it here in the 25 Senate. Let's work to get it done in the

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Assembly. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 3 Alesi to be recorded in the affirmative. 4 Senator Foley, to explain his vote. 5 SENATOR FOLEY: Thank you, Madam 6 President. 7 I stand in strong support of this 8 particular legislation. Property tax relief 9 is important on the minds of New Yorkers from 10 Niagara Falls to Montauk Point. As a matter 11 of fact, throughout the suburban areas of our 12 state there's not a bigger issue than property 13 taxes. 14 When you think for a moment, Madam 15 President, that anywhere from 65 to 70 percent 16 of one's property tax bill is geared towards 17 our school taxes, we need to have a tax cap in 18 that particular area, which is what this bill 19 will achieve. 20 Also, as some of our colleagues 21 have stated, combining this effort with the 22 effort to have shared services among school 23 districts, particularly through the BOCES 24 supervisory district, along with efforts to 25 finally have collective regional bargaining

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 arrangements as well. Those are things that 2 will also help to tamp down the increase in 3 expenses. 4 But certainly this property tax cap 5 bill is a very important component to the 6 overall effort to bring property tax relief to 7 the citizens of our great state, so I support 8 this bill. Thank you, Madam President. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 10 Foley to be recorded in the affirmative. 11 Are there any other Senators 12 wishing to explain their vote? 13 Seeing none, announce the results. 14 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 15 the negative on Calendar Number 1 are Senators 16 Parker, Peralta, Perkins, Schneiderman and 17 Thompson. Also Senator Diaz. Also Senator 18 Huntley. 19 Those Senators absent from voting: 20 Senator Duane. Excused, Senator Golden. 21 Ayes, 52. Nays, 7. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: The 23 bill is passed. 24 The Secretary will continue to 25 read.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 2, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 3 Print Number 6, an act to amend the Education 4 Law and the State Finance Law. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Are 6 there any Senators wishing to be heard on the 7 bill? 8 Seeing none, debate is closed. The 9 Secretary will ring the bells. 10 Could we have some order in the 11 chamber, please. 12 Read the last section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 14 act shall take effect immediately. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Call 16 the roll. 17 (The Secretary called the roll.) 18 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 19 Diaz, to explain his vote. 20 SENATOR DIAZ: Madam President, 21 to explain my vote. Even though -- even 22 though, Madam President, I wanted to speak on 23 the bill, because it will give me more time. 24 So you went too fast. So please bear with me. 25 Because today is a day of shame.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 2 Diaz, I will give you a certain amount of 3 leeway to extend beyond the two minutes. 4 SENATOR DIAZ: Thank you. 5 Today, on this bill, make us -- 6 made me to call this a day of shame. It was 7 the Democratic Party and the Democratic 8 philosophy that created an opportunity for 9 minorities, for poor people, black and 10 Hispanic especially, to give us in the state 11 universities the opportunity for those 12 families that cannot afford to pay for the 13 higher tuition at private universities to be 14 able to send their children to college. 15 And I want to repeat this, Madam 16 President. This is -- this is a Democratic 17 idea, created by Democrats. So today I would 18 love to stand here and blame the Republicans, 19 but I cannot. I would love to be here and 20 say, You Republicans, you are always against 21 us minorities. 22 I can't do that, because this bill 23 has been introduced in the Committee on Rules 24 by -- at the request of the Governor of the 25 State of New York, a Democrat governor. And

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 this bill requires, requires to give the 2 authority to the State University to increase 3 tuition on everybody. I want to read 4 something here on the bill. 5 It says "General tuition policy 6 shall mean a policy established by the board 7 of trustees governing a homogeneous tuition 8 increase or decrease across all campuses 9 equally for resident undergraduate students." 10 This also reads: "The trustees shall not 11 impose a differential tuition charge based 12 upon need or income. All student enrolled in 13 programs leading to like degrees at 14 state-operated institutions of the State 15 University shall be charged a uniform rate of 16 tuition." 17 Meaning that when Juana and Pepe 18 from the community cannot have the opportunity 19 to send their children, there's no 20 opportunity. Doors have been closed today. 21 It's a day of shame. There is no way that a 22 Democrat could vote for this. There's no way 23 that a Democrat could vote for something like 24 this. 25 Let me tell you something else that

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 says. "The trustees shall be authorized to 2 implement a general tuition policy that shall 3 apply in a uniform manner for all 4 state-operated institutions to increase annual 5 tuition within each academic year 2011, 2012, 6 2013, 2014, for resident undergraduate 7 students." 8 So Madam President, again, I'm 9 going say this is a day of shame. And I 10 love -- I would love to stand here and blame 11 the Republicans. I'm going to repeat myself 12 again. I would love to stand here and say, 13 well, you Republican people, you always 14 against us. You -- you -- you know, you have 15 no feeling. You don't care about us 16 minorities. I would love to say that. But I 17 cannot. I cannot. 18 Because this bill is not a 19 Republican bill. This is a Democrat Governor 20 who introduced this bill to stop our minority 21 communities from getting an education. And 22 again, I'm saying there is no way that a 23 Democrat in this chamber could vote for this. 24 Let the Republicans vote for it. Let the 25 Republicans vote for it. But we cannot blame

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 the Republicans no more, telling the people 2 that the Republicans are against us. 3 This is a -- this is a -- this is 4 shameful. This is a very painful bill that 5 will hurt our people, my people in the South 6 Bronx, my people, my black and Hispanic with 7 kinky hair and broken language. No, it's -- 8 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 9 Diaz -- 10 SENATOR DIAZ: No, this -- no, 11 let me -- let me -- let me -- I got to vent. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 13 Diaz, I've given you more than enough time. 14 So I would like to ask you. 15 SENATOR DIAZ: You didn't give me 16 a chance to explain the bill. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Yes, I 18 did. If you would -- 19 SENATOR DIAZ: See, I -- 20 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: How do 21 you vote, Senator Diaz? 22 SENATOR DIAZ: With all due 23 respect, Madam President, when you talk on the 24 bill, you get all the time you need. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: But

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Senator Diaz -- 2 SENATOR DIAZ: When you explain 3 your vote, you only get two minutes. But you 4 didn't give me time to speak on the bill. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 6 Diaz, we called the bill up, we asked if any 7 members wanted to speak on it. No members 8 indicated they wanted to speak on the bill. 9 Decent was closed. 10 We are now on the vote. I have 11 given you significant leeway, way beyond the 12 two minutes, because I recognize that you 13 might not have heard me call the bill. But we 14 do need to move on. 15 So, Senator Diaz, how do you vote? 16 SENATOR DIAZ: I need to move on 17 and I need to ask my Democratic colleagues to 18 stop this bill. Thank you. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 20 Diaz will be recorded in the negative. 21 Senator Stachowski, to explain his 22 vote. 23 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Yes, Madam 24 President. I don't like to get up to disagree 25 with my colleague Reverend Diaz, but I think

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 that he's read this bill wrong. I think that 2 what he's missing out on is that rather than 3 less access, there will be more access for 4 minority students with SUNY empowerment. 5 The fact is that out of every 6 tuition increase, 20 percent of the increase 7 goes into a pot of the money that's laid aside 8 for more student aid besides the TAP and the 9 probable TAP increase that's going to take 10 place, to match up with any of the increases 11 in tuition. 12 So there will be TAP, an increase 13 in TAP, the pot of money that we for now will 14 call Beyond TAP. And then also Pell grants 15 currently are larger than ever, and those are 16 also available for minority students. And the 17 bottom line is that more likely than not, the 18 students will not only be able to afford to go 19 to SUNY without an increase, but based on the 20 fact of the increased Pell grant, they may 21 even have a little money on the side after 22 they pay all their expenses. 23 So quite honestly, I wish that 24 maybe the bill was laid out better, that 25 Senator Diaz would have had a chance to read

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 it in its entirety or discussed it with the 2 people from SUNY that would have been happy to 3 explain all of these facts. 4 And as a matter of fact, after this 5 is finished, there's a young man up front that 6 would be happy to go over all the increases 7 and the corresponding aid accessible for any 8 student. 9 So because of those reasons and 10 because of the fact that SUNY needs our help 11 and this gives them a chance to stand on their 12 own two feet and move forward and grow as a 13 university, to be the university system that 14 we want it to be, and to become even a better 15 university, stronger and have more access for 16 minority students and in-state students, I 17 support this bill and I vote aye and hope that 18 all my colleagues will vote yes also. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 20 Stachowski to be recorded in the affirmative. 21 Senator Thompson, to explain his 22 vote. 23 SENATOR THOMPSON: First I want 24 to thank my colleagues for supporting the 25 bill.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 There's a lot of effort that has 2 gone into working out some of the details and 3 some of the concerns that people have related 4 to expanding the educational opportunities but 5 also the community development and economic 6 development opportunities. 7 I think that this is a compromise 8 bill. It does allow some of the campuses to 9 grow. It also puts some caps in on how much 10 tuition can increase. It also makes sure that 11 we keep college affordable. 12 As someone who graduated from SUNY 13 Brockport who was an Educational Opportunity 14 student, who in 1988, tuition was $687.50, and 15 my mother at that time could not afford 16 $687.50 to send me to college. And so I 17 cannot support a bill that I believe would 18 deny students who come from similar 19 backgrounds from which I have come to not go 20 to college. 21 So I think that there's a lot of 22 progress. There were a number of labor issues 23 that were of concern that I think many of 24 those labor issues have been worked out. No 25 one gets a hundred percent of what they would

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 like, but I think this is a great step in the 2 right direction and I vote aye. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 4 Thompson to be recorded in the affirmative. 5 Are there any other Senators 6 wishing to be heard? 7 Senator Foley, to explain his vote. 8 SENATOR FOLEY: Thank you, Madam 9 President. I rise in strong support of this 10 Empowerment piece of legislation. 11 Over a period of months we've been 12 discussing this issue of SUNY and CUNY. As we 13 all well know, our flagship institutions in 14 this state system are among the finest in the 15 country. And we think for a moment 16 particularly of the two bookends of our state, 17 but also the rest of the constellation of 18 universities and colleges. 19 But for one moment, when we think 20 for one moment of the University of Buffalo 21 and the University of Stony Brook, that have 22 students from throughout our state attending 23 both universities, considered among the very 24 best of our country. And they're the very 25 best for a variety of reasons. Their

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 intellectual pursuits, the academic research, 2 certainly have those two institutions at the 3 top of their particular fields. 4 But it's also important for another 5 reason -- perhaps not as important as the 6 intellectual and academic mission, but they 7 also are prime economic engines within their 8 given regions. And when you think for a 9 moment, Madam President, that on Long Island 10 the University of Stony Brook is the largest 11 single-site employer of any employer on Long 12 Island, with the over $5 billion-a-year impact 13 it has on the bi-county region. 14 When you think in those terms, as 15 well as its primary mission of education and 16 research and the like, and you also combine 17 that with the fact that it is in a very unique 18 geographic area, one of the few anywhere in 19 the country where, within a short driving 20 distance, you have two magnificent 21 laboratories of international acclaim -- you 22 have Brookhaven National Laboratory to the 23 east, you have Cold Spring Harbor to the west. 24 When you think of these three 25 institutions, when you think of the vision

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 that Empowerment will help them realize, that 2 they can have even greater achievements going 3 forward, greater achievements in research but 4 also greater achievements, as Senator 5 Stachowski said, for access for students -- 6 and we as New Yorkers believe in equality. We 7 as New Yorkers believe that every person of 8 every background has an equal right to a great 9 education. 10 And if and when we pass 11 Empowerment, and hopefully the Assembly would 12 do the same, we're going to give our students 13 even greater access to the best higher 14 education available anywhere in not only the 15 State of New York but anywhere in our great 16 Union. That's why some of us have been as 17 persistent, have been insistent and passionate 18 about this higher-education issue. 19 Because this is one of those unique 20 opportunities, Madam President, where the door 21 of reform opens only for a very short period 22 of time, and it's going to slam shut pretty 23 soon. That's why we've been doing what we've 24 been doing for a number of months. And we 25 hope, really hope, to the marrow of our bones,

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 that we will receive the support that we need 2 to pass this today, in order to give our 3 students and our researchers and our 4 professors all the means they need in order to 5 keep our state the Excelsior State. 6 I vote in the affirmative. Thank 7 you, Madam President. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 9 Foley to be recorded in the affirmative. 10 Senator Breslin, to explain his 11 vote. 12 SENATOR BRESLIN: Thank you very 13 much, Madam President. I rise to join with 14 Senator Stachowski, Senator Foley, Senator 15 Thompson in espousing and proclaiming the 16 benefits of this bill. 17 It's taken into consideration all 18 of the different factors, particularly, as 19 Senator Reverend Diaz pointed out, to ensure 20 that no student, no student is not able to go 21 to a state university because they can't 22 afford it. The TAP monies have been 23 increased, a revision of the bill. The 24 additional money set aside out of tuition 25 increases, as Senator Stachowski said, the

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 20 percent. The economic development that 2 will result from these improvements and the 3 ability of the State University system and the 4 individual campuses to raise tuitions 5 appropriately and not suffer the vicissitudes 6 of the State Legislature when we raise them 7 precipitously at times when they're 8 inappropriate. 9 This will give the planning for 10 each of the individual campuses to do things 11 properly, do things for the students, and do 12 things in conjunction with the economic 13 development of the community. 14 I vote aye, Madam President. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 16 Breslin to be recorded in the affirmative. 17 Senator Marcellino, to explain his 18 vote. 19 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you, 20 Madam President. 21 I hear my colleagues talking about 22 reform -- want to reform the educational 23 system, want to reform SUNY. SUNY was built 24 by taxpayers, with taxpayers' money, to 25 educate the poor and the middle class. Those

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 youngsters, those young people who come from 2 families that couldn't afford to send them to 3 the more expensive private colleges. 4 If you permit, if we permit, by 5 this legislation, SUNY to increase each and 6 every year as they see fit, or with a schedule 7 as proposed, sooner or later you're going to 8 price the group of people right out of those 9 schools that the schools were built for. 10 We do not need to compete with 11 Harvard, Yale and Berkeley. We don't have to 12 compete with them. We don't need Harvard-lite 13 here. We need SUNY to be a quality public 14 education system built for and to serve the 15 young people who cannot afford to go to 16 Harvard. 17 Once you exclude them, they're 18 gone. TAP will not increase and meet the 19 needs. You're going to see the sale of 20 properties to private interests. Those 21 publicly owned lands are going to be sold to 22 private interests, and that's not good. 23 That's not good. We're going to look at and 24 you will see, if this bill passes, in my 25 mind -- and I will predict it -- you will see

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 the destruction of SUNY and CUNY and the 2 destruction of the public education system for 3 higher education in this state if this bill 4 goes forward. 5 This is a bad concept. This is a 6 bad idea. If SUNY needs money, let them come 7 to us, justify it, and we will give it to 8 them. We always have in the past, and we 9 always will. 10 We support public colleges. My 11 wife could not have gotten an education 12 without CUNY and SUNY being where they were. 13 Many youngsters could not have gone to college 14 without these public schools. We need to keep 15 them, we need to preserve them. 16 This bill is not the way to go. 17 Madam President, I vote no. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 19 Marcellino to be recorded in the negative. 20 SENATOR DIAZ: [Inaudible.] 21 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 22 Maziarz, to explain his vote. 23 SENATOR MAZIARZ: I'm sorry, did 24 Senator Diaz want to say something, Madam 25 President?

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 (Laughter.) 2 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: 3 Senators, please do not engage in 4 across-the-floor discussions. 5 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you very 6 much, Madam President. 7 Madam President, I'd be remiss if I 8 did not talk a little bit about the genesis of 9 this bill, which really started out in Western 10 New York as UB 2020, by a great team of 11 educators led by Dr. John Simpson, who put 12 together a five-year -- studied this, worked 13 on this for a five-year period to change the 14 face of the University of Buffalo, change the 15 economy of Buffalo and Western New York in a 16 very positive way. 17 And because of the culture of 18 Albany and the me-tooism of Albany, you know, 19 a whole lot of other things had to be done to 20 get this bill to the point where it's at 21 today. But I want to congratulate Dr. Simpson 22 and that team at the University of Buffalo. 23 I think, as some of my other 24 colleagues said, this is a very positive 25 moment for SUNY. This is going to help

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 improve higher education in the State of 2 New York. And I very proudly vote in the 3 affirmative, Madam President. Thank you. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 5 Maziarz to be recorded in the affirmative. 6 Senator LaValle, to explain his 7 vote. 8 SENATOR LaVALLE: Thank you, 9 Madam President. I rise because I'm not going 10 to support this bill, and I will articulate my 11 reasons. 12 I have not heard once on the other 13 side of the aisle that State University has 14 been stripped down $500 million. Not once, to 15 say Governor -- and the silence on the other 16 side of the aisle to replace a part of that 17 $500 million that has been taken away from the 18 State University. 19 State University, throughout my 20 career, and I have said this over and over, is 21 the economic engine for this state, whether it 22 be because of one of the four-year schools in 23 a community or on Long Island and in Western 24 New York, the role it plays. Or in 25 Binghamton, very critical, or here in Albany.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 During the last two years, with 2 this bill, the other side of the aisle has 3 increased tuition -- not once, but twice. A 4 $600 tuition, the Governor took it, put it in 5 the budget. Now, again, we are increasing 6 tuition: 2 percent, 7 percent, 7 percent, 7 7 percent -- 23 percent. That, off the top of 8 my head, translates to $1,675 in tuition. 9 Senator Diaz is right. We have 10 always protected those in need. Access and 11 affordability have been the linchpins of our 12 system. What is not here, what is not here is 13 any coverage for middle-income students. 14 None. They're going to bear the full brunt. 15 Full brunt. 16 Lastly, last week Senator Ruth 17 Hassell-Thompson articulated something that 18 was on the mark. She said this bill should 19 have been divided in three parts and we should 20 have focused and debated and discussed, had 21 roundtables, had hearings on this. 22 This change in one bill is 23 overwhelming. I think that the tuition hikes 24 alone, if we just focused on that, for 25 middle-income students is devastating. I vote

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 no. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 3 LaValle to be recorded in the negative. 4 Senator Alesi, to explain his vote. 5 SENATOR ALESI: Thank you, Madam 6 President. 7 I am hanging on the words of 8 Senator LaValle because he was so much on the 9 money in describing his concerns about the 10 possibility of this bill passing. I share 11 those concerns, for all the reasons that he 12 gave. 13 And I would simply point out the 14 fact that our SUNY system provides a public 15 education for everyone. That was the original 16 purpose behind them. And if you look not 17 private schools, you'll see that there's a 18 trend where they're now accepting only the 19 best and the brightest, and even more of the 20 best and the brightest, to try to elevate 21 their own educational entities, so that they 22 can demand even better students and become 23 even more exclusive. 24 And I fear that if the SUNY system 25 gets that kind of autonomy over their

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 operation, that those people that have an 2 average education, who are not at the very top 3 of the educational lists or however you want 4 to put it, that they'll be excluded from the 5 opportunity of going to our state schools. 6 And that's absolutely wrong, because that's 7 not what our state schools were established 8 for. 9 People in the middle class who are 10 drawn to the SUNY system primarily because 11 they offer an excellent education at an 12 affordable rate are going to be completely 13 excluded from this. And for those people that 14 are financially marginal, they're not even 15 going to be able to come in at a 2 or 16 3 percent increase. They'll be left out of 17 this process entirely. 18 I am fearful for the kind of 19 approach, when they talk about economic 20 development -- when it hasn't even been 21 described as to how that will happen at all of 22 these different campuses -- what that really 23 means. Senator Marcellino talked about the 24 wholesale selling off of facilities and land 25 and things of that nature. That could

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 seriously devastate jobs within the SUNY 2 system, cost people jobs, and at the same 3 time, keeping some students out of an 4 educational opportunity, cost them jobs down 5 the road. 6 And then finally, if you look at 7 our SUNY system, this is something that is 8 owned, these properties are owned by the State 9 of New York. They're owned by the people of 10 this state. Much as our public parks, much as 11 the Adirondack Park, much as all of the public 12 lands. And why should they be taken out of 13 the same kind of oversight that this 14 Legislature has traditionally and historically 15 had and be allowed to be sold off or 16 marginalized in other different ways? 17 I'm absolutely opposed to this. I 18 do think that when it comes to education, we 19 have a place for private schools and driving 20 excellence and shrinking student bodies so 21 that they can have a more excellent school 22 system. But for the public education at the 23 college level, we have to maintain SUNY and we 24 have to maintain it, as Senator LaValle said, 25 by sustaining them with more funds where

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 necessary and demanding better results. 2 I am opposed to this. I vote no. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 4 Alesi to be recorded in the negative. 5 Senator Stavisky, to explain her 6 vote. 7 SENATOR STAVISKY: Thank you, 8 Madam President. 9 I really wasn't going to speak, but 10 I must respond to some of the points that my 11 colleagues have raised. 12 First, TAP is going to be increased 13 under the provisions of this bill, and that 14 certainly helps middle-class students. The 15 federal Pell grants have been increased, and 16 that's going help the middle and lower-class 17 students. We have a program here which is 18 finally developing called New York Helps, and 19 that's going to help middle-class students. 20 The question of tuition was raised. 21 I'd like to remind my friends on the other 22 side of the aisle that the last five tuition 23 increases -- in 2008, the increase was 24 14.3 percent. In 2003, it was 27.9 percent. 25 And in 1991 and '92 it went up 43.3 percent.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Compare that to 2 percent in the first year 2 and 4 percent in the ensuing four years. And 3 in fact the tuition increases at CUNY were 4 even higher. 5 And lastly, we have had, over the 6 past -- well, let's say 2006, the SUNY 7 instructional budget next year will be less 8 than what was expended in 2006-2007. And 9 where is that coming from, where are the cuts 10 coming from? The students have paid more 11 money. The state, for the 40 years where we 12 were in the minority, the state systematically 13 reduced its contribution to SUNY, and more and 14 more of the burden has fallen on the students. 15 So to politicize this I think is a 16 dreadful, dreadful mistake. We are one 17 university system with SUNY. We have CUNY. 18 And we are one state. And I think that to 19 politicize it is wrong. And I'm delighted 20 that this is going to pass -- I hope in a 21 bipartisan manner -- because young people's 22 education, it must remain affordable and 23 accessible and certainly not politicized. 24 Do I think this is a perfect bill? 25 Of course not. There are many things here

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 that I do have a problem with. For example, I 2 do not like the idea of CUNY having 3 differential tuition by campus. I think that 4 is wrong. 5 But on balance, we are showing some 6 leadership here, and hopefully the Governor's 7 office and the Assembly will take the better 8 parts of this bill and we can have a three-way 9 agreement so that the children's future, the 10 young people's future will be enhanced. 11 Thank you, Madam President. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 13 Stavisky to be recorded in the affirmative. 14 (Extended pause.) 15 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 16 Kruger, why do you rise? 17 SENATOR CARL KRUGER: Thank you, 18 Madam President. I would like to explain my 19 vote. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 21 Carl Kruger, to explain his vote. 22 SENATOR DIAZ: [Inaudible.] 23 SENATOR CARL KRUGER: Thank you 24 for my low-key chorus in the background. 25 Today I think we've demonstrated

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 something that should be abhorrent to all of 2 us. Today what's happened is that we have 3 taken as what we know to be a one-house bill 4 and used and abused the system in some 5 diabolical plot to try to extract support on 6 other pieces of legislation. That's not fair, 7 that's not right, that's wrong for the system 8 and it's wrong for good government and 9 everything that we're all about. 10 So today what I've done is 11 something that I've only done one time before 12 in my entire career here in the Senate. And 13 although I am philosophically opposed to this 14 legislation, I recognize that it's legislation 15 that will never see the light of day in the 16 Assembly, but it sends a clear and compelling 17 message that we as the Senate, the upper 18 house, we as the Democratic majority have a 19 broader and more important objective and a 20 broader and a more important plan ahead of us. 21 So as we move forward with that 22 plan, what we should be doing is not using and 23 abusing the privilege that's been given to us 24 by the voters of this state by being part of a 25 Democratic majority. We should respect that

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 majority, we should respect each other, and we 2 should respect what is right in governing and 3 in being governed. 4 So, Madam President, I would ask 5 permission to change my vote to yes, with a 6 clear understanding -- 7 SENATOR DIAZ: [Inaudible.] 8 SENATOR CARL KRUGER: Just a 9 second -- 10 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 11 Diaz -- Senator Kruger, you may -- Senator 12 Diaz -- 13 SENATOR DIAZ: [Inaudible.] 14 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 15 Diaz -- 16 SENATOR DIAZ: [Inaudible.] 17 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 18 Diaz, you can take your private conversation 19 outside the chamber. 20 SENATOR CARL KRUGER: Senator 21 Diaz -- 22 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 23 Kruger -- 24 SENATOR CARL KRUGER: -- I have 25 the floor.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 2 Kruger, you have the floor. 3 SENATOR CARL KRUGER: Senator 4 Diaz, I have the floor and I'm explaining my 5 vote. 6 So what I am doing today is I am 7 recording my vote in the affirmative. And by 8 recording my vote in the affirmative I want to 9 send out a very, very clear and compelling 10 message to my colleagues on both sides of the 11 aisle that they should not abuse and use the 12 gift that's been given to them, their right to 13 sit in this chamber and to vote their 14 conscience and the prerogative and the 15 pragmatic vote of the communities that they 16 represent. 17 So in that regard, I vote yes, 18 knowing this is a one-house bill, knowing that 19 it will never become law, and knowing that we 20 can come back and do a better bill, a better 21 bill that addresses the needs of the SUNY as 22 well as the CUNY community, that addresses the 23 community of the students and the faculty that 24 make up one of the strongest and best 25 university systems in this state.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 This is a bad bill. It's a flawed 2 bill. But it's a bill that should not be used 3 to extract votes on other pieces of 4 legislation. I vote yes. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 6 Kruger to be recorded in the affirmative. 7 Senator DeFrancisco to explain his 8 vote. 9 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I'm going 10 to vote yes, but I'd like to interpret what 11 happened today to the general public. 12 Number one, this is a one-house 13 bill, and it's going nowhere. In fact, the 14 Assembly has adjourned already subject to the 15 call of the Speaker. 16 What I don't understand, for the 17 life of me, you either -- you have a position 18 on a vote, you vote your conscience and you 19 vote your position. How changing your vote 20 from the way you thought it should be because 21 of undue influences that others are going 22 about so that the bill will pass, and how that 23 shows something positive for the system, I 24 don't get it. I mean, I truly don't get that. 25 So I think we should be voting like

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 we used to in the past. You debate a bill, 2 you vote your conscience, it goes up or it 3 goes down. This bill is going to go up, 4 apparently, now. It's meaningless in view of 5 the fact that the Assembly is adjourned. 6 Thank you, Madam President. I vote 7 aye. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 9 DeFrancisco to be recorded in the affirmative. 10 (Pause.) 11 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 12 Klein. 13 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 14 would you withdraw the roll call and lay the 15 bill aside for the day, please. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: The 17 roll call is withdrawn. The bill is laid 18 aside for the day. 19 The Secretary will read. 20 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 21 Calendar Number 5, Senator Smith moves to 22 discharge, from the Committee on Rules, 23 Assembly Bill Number 11A and substitute it for 24 the identical Senate Bill Number 11A, Third 25 Reading Calendar Number 5.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: 2 Substitution ordered. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 5, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 5 Assembly Print Number 11A, an act to amend the 6 State Finance Law. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Are 8 there any Senators wishing to be heard on the 9 bill? 10 SENATOR FLANAGAN: Madam 11 President, which bill -- 12 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 13 Flanagan, this would be Calendar Number 5, 14 Print Number 11A. 15 SENATOR FLANAGAN: Madam 16 President, on the bill. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 18 Flanagan, on the bill. 19 SENATOR FLANAGAN: Thank you, 20 Madam President, on the bill. A little tough 21 act to follow just in light of what happened 22 on that last bill. 23 But the bill that is before us is 24 commonly referred to as the FMAP bill, and I 25 think there are some grave concerns with this

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 piece of legislation, not only on its own, but 2 as it relates to the context of the overall 3 budget that we have been working on for now 4 over four months. 5 I'm going to explain my misgivings 6 on this bill and I'm hopefully going to be 7 consistent with the positions that I've taken 8 relative to the budget that's before us. I'll 9 repeat and reiterate that this is another step 10 forward in the process that has not worked. 11 We did not have fair and open dialogue. We 12 did not have conference committees. And I 13 know that keeps coming up and up again, but 14 when you're talking about -- 15 SENATOR LIBOUS: Madam President, 16 could we have some order in the chamber, 17 please. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Yes, we 19 can, Senator Libous. 20 I would ask all members to please 21 take your private conversations outside. 22 Senator Flanagan, continue on the 23 bill. 24 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, Madam 25 President.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR FLANAGAN: Thank you, 2 Madam President. Thank you, Senator Libous. 3 The point being that we are acting 4 on a bill that I think has some serious 5 problems. And I'm going to start off by just 6 saying that this is now referred to as FMAP, 7 it's over a billion dollars, and there's been 8 a whole discussion about the contingency 9 nature of this funding. 10 I believe that even when the 11 federal government has been helpful to us, 12 that they are largely to blame for the 13 predicament that we find ourselves in relative 14 to this bill. 15 I am probably out of step with some 16 of my colleagues in suggesting that I don't 17 think that we necessarily should be taking 18 this action. I believe that the federal 19 government, largely through our senior elected 20 officials in the State of New York, made 21 representations not only to the Governor of 22 this state but to the mayor of the City of 23 New York, and I think Governor Paterson and 24 Mayor Bloomberg acted in good faith reliance 25 on representations in particular by Senator

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Schumer that this money would materialize. 2 And now we find ourselves in a predicament and 3 in a mess that was largely not of our own 4 making. 5 Even as we are discussing this 6 legislation, this issue has arisen on at least 7 three separate occasions at the federal 8 level -- I think as recently as yesterday or 9 today, and it potentially may be taken up as 10 early again as tomorrow -- and it has gone 11 down each successive time. And again, I'll 12 repeat, while I believe our colleagues at the 13 federal level have tried to help the State of 14 New York, they have fallen far short on this 15 issue. 16 Now, the Governor put a billion 17 dollars in his budget. This is about 18 $600 million to the City of New York. And I 19 believe, if we pass this bill, that we're 20 sending a message that what has happened is 21 okay. To me, that's bad public policy, it 22 sends the wrong message and allows people at 23 the federal level who made serious 24 representations to step back from what I think 25 is their obligation. So that's problem number

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 one. 2 Number two, there's language in 3 here that provides exemptions for certain 4 areas of the budget. And I'm going to make a 5 distinction now between CUNY and SUNY. We are 6 setting up a diametrically opposed system, and 7 here we just had a whole lengthy discussion 8 about SUNY Empowerment. 9 Under this bill, CUNY is exempt 10 from any potential reductions, but not SUNY. 11 That's bad public policy, it's bad government, 12 and it's bad politics. SUNY in particular 13 over the last couple of years has taken more 14 of a disproportionate hit than any section or 15 any part of the state budget. Now we're going 16 to exacerbate that by allowing for the 17 opportunity for CUNY to be held harmless but 18 not the State University of New York. 19 That's not good for me, that's 20 certainly not good for my constituents, and 21 it's not good for the people who are here in 22 the State of New York, most notably our 23 taxpayers. 24 So it's a bad distinction and a 25 distinction that can and should have been

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 changed, and there were discussions about it, 2 but frankly it hasn't happened. So that sets 3 up a bifurcated structure that pits areas of 4 the state against one another when that's not 5 what we should be doing. 6 Third, we have given and are 7 potentially giving extraordinary authority, 8 latitude, and discretion to the director of 9 the Division of the Budget. Now, Mr. Megna is 10 a career public servant. He's a good guy. 11 He's a hard worker. But he's not elected. 12 And if this money doesn't materialize, we're 13 now giving him -- not the Governor, because 14 the language in the bill says the director of 15 the Division of the Budget. Not the chief 16 executive of the state, but rather the 17 director of the Division of the Budget. 18 We are abdicating our 19 responsibility to an unelected official. 20 That's not what the public expects, that's not 21 what the public deserves, and it continues to 22 set a bad precedent for how we're doing 23 business in the State of New York. 24 There could be all kinds of 25 pressures brought to bear on the director of

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 the Division of the Budget, things that I 2 don't think would necessarily be appropriate 3 in the context of the fiscal dilemmas that 4 we're facing. 5 And there is language in the bill 6 that, while it talks about uniform reductions 7 for various portions of the budget, it says 8 that the budget director has to do that, make 9 uniform reductions, to the extent practicable. 10 What the heck does that mean? 11 If it's going to be uniform, it 12 should be uniform. If it's going to be a 13 piece for education or a piece for higher ed 14 or a piece for the environment or 15 transportation, it should be uniform. We 16 should not be giving that kind of discretion, 17 again, to someone who's unelected. 18 And I'll close on this point. And 19 I'm giving my own opinion, I'm speaking for 20 anybody else. There's a section in this bill 21 which provides an exemption for the MTA 22 payroll tax. I voted against the MTA payroll 23 tax, and if I had a chance to vote against it 24 again, I would. And frankly I'm getting a 25 chance to do so now.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 This provides an exemption and 2 protects the continued existence of that tax 3 while we are giving discretion to the director 4 of the Division of the Budget to potentially 5 cut up to $400 million in aid to education. 6 It doesn't say exactly how that might happen, 7 but it certainly gives that one individual -- 8 not the Senate, not the Governor, not the 9 Assembly -- the wherewithal and the authority 10 to take actions that could be detrimental to 11 our constituents and our property taxpayers 12 and we don't have an appropriate say. 13 We should not be abdicating our 14 responsibility. I understand that this is 15 part of the overall budget, but this is a 16 contingency plan that has a number of faulty 17 aspects to it. This is going to come back to 18 haunt us, and I think it's going to happen as 19 quickly as possible because the federal 20 government is either going to walk away from 21 the money that they promised or earnest, or 22 they're going to reduce it considerably, which 23 would be abdicating their responsibility. 24 Madam President, I will be voting 25 no.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 2 Flanagan to be recorded in the negative. 3 Senator Hannon, on the bill. 4 SENATOR HANNON: Thank you, Madam 5 President. 6 Somewhere in September 2010 there 7 will be some program, some agency, some school 8 that will receive a cut in funds and everybody 9 will say "How in God's name did that ever 10 happen?" Well, it happened or will happen 11 because of this extraordinary power that is in 12 this bill, a bill which is more complicated 13 than I have ever seen. And why? Not because 14 it's very long. It's six pages. But it uses 15 constantly a phrase I always tell people I'm 16 adamantly against, and that's the phrase 17 "notwithstanding any other provision of law." 18 This has at least two and maybe 19 three phrases that contradict each other and 20 wipe out everything else. We not only -- not 21 only that, we start as a premise of this bill 22 with something that I don't even know exists. 23 It talks about the 2010-2011 financial plan. 24 Where is that plan? There is no budget. It's 25 not a state of art. It's not a defined term.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Every now and then the Budget Office puts 2 something out, but we haven't seen anything 3 since the 21-day amendments in February. 4 So we're starting off with a 5 premise that we're going to be making a cut 6 based on a projected federal Medicaid payment 7 that back in sometime -- and we don't even 8 know that number as a base. 9 Then we have exemptions. And the 10 exemptions, as Senator Flanagan already 11 discussed, only exempts CUNY, it does not 12 exempt SUNY. Well, why not? In the Finance 13 Committee I was told by the secretary, "Well, 14 it's because this bill doesn't deal with the 15 General Fund of the state, it only deals with 16 aid to localities." But I pointed out and got 17 no answer that on line 4 of page 2 that it 18 talks about undisbursed General Fund revenues. 19 Well, we're either dealing with the 20 General Fund of the state or we're not dealing 21 with the General Fund of the state. Once 22 again, we do not have a premise for the 23 actions that are supposed to take place in 24 this bill. 25 Another exemption seems to be that

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 any Medicaid payments that would be affected 2 are subject to the receipt of all necessary 3 federal approvals. That's ridiculous. We pay 4 a billion dollars a week, but the federal 5 Medicaid is under an approved Medicaid program 6 that the federal government approves every 7 year. To get it changed, you have to make an 8 application. Then the application has to be 9 approved. Six months, 12 months, 18 months -- 10 those are the normal order of things. Trying 11 to get it done between September 1 and 12 March 31st of 2011, that's not workable. 13 Why was I talking about programs 14 that are going to be cut back? Because of two 15 of the "notwithstanding" provisions. Page 3 16 talks about notwithstanding inconsistent 17 provisions of law referring to hospital 18 payments, referring to home care payments, 19 referring to workers' comp, referring to 20 personal care. 21 It says that "The time frames for 22 notice, approval or certification of the rates 23 of payments are hereby suspended and without 24 force or effect for purposes of implementing 25 this act." Any one of the provider payments

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 for those purposes can be changed unilaterally 2 by the Division of Budget if they send a note 3 to the head of the fiscal committees. That's 4 an awfully powerful power. 5 And the next is the 6 "notwithstanding" concerning school aid, and 7 it talks about delaying the school aid that 8 could be able payable in the month of 9 September. All on page 4, starting on line 10 30. You start doing the movement of the 11 school aid, you make all of that school aid 12 subject to the uniform reduction earlier 13 referred to. 14 Folks, this is an extraordinary 15 piece. Yes, this state has to cut. Yes, if 16 we don't get a billion dollars from the 17 federal government we're not going to be able 18 to make payments. But you know what? It 19 ought to be done in a democratic fashion with 20 a notice of what's going to be done, a public 21 discussion of what's going to be done, and let 22 people make the decision accordingly. 23 This is not the appropriate 24 vehicle, and I'm going to be not supporting 25 it.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 2 Hannon to be recorded in the negative. 3 Senator Saland, on the bill. 4 SENATOR SALAND: Thank you, Madam 5 President. 6 I'm not going to dwell on the 7 comments of Senator Flanagan and Senator 8 Hannon. I certainly am very concerned about 9 the really unfettered autonomy and authority 10 that we're giving to the budget director here. 11 I truly anticipated, prior to 12 reading this bill, being supportive of the 13 concept and supporting the idea that we needed 14 a contingency to deal with the $1.1 billion in 15 FMAP money. It harkens back to the horrible 16 reality that this budget was built on some 17 rather faulty revenue presumptions -- not only 18 the FMAP presumption, but the Indian sales tax 19 presumption, the Aqueduct presumption. 20 Cumulatively, you're probably 21 talking about $1.8 billion. So even if and 22 when we manage to deal with the FMAP issue, we 23 will not be out of the woods, regardless of 24 what action may be taken later today. 25 But what concerns me is that

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 $1.1 billion or $1.085 billion is really going 2 to have a far greater impact than that number 3 just staring us in the face would seem to 4 imply, because this kicks in around 5 September 16. Now, we will be nearly halfway 6 through our fiscal year, and we are going to 7 have to -- not we, the budget director to whom 8 we're defaulting and giving this autonomy is 9 going to have to figure out how to deal with 10 the reality of this $1.1 billion shortfall and 11 also with the reality of hundreds of millions 12 of dollars in other make-believe revenue 13 that's not going to be in our revenue stream. 14 So what we've done may get us 15 through the day, and what we've done may in 16 fact be enough that we can vote on whatever 17 remains to be done in what will certainly be 18 one of the most slipshod, unruly, undemocratic 19 budgets ever to have been witnessed in this 20 house or perhaps any other house of any 21 legislature in the country. But it's not 22 going to resolve our problem. It is at best a 23 Band-Aid over what is a gaping wound. 24 And we serve no public policy by 25 doing what we're doing other than the ability

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 to mercifully get out of town. And that's 2 pretty much what the people of the State of 3 New York would like us to do, is get out of 4 town, get out of their way, do something that 5 actually is meaningful. And this certainly 6 gets us out of town, but it's not anything 7 that's particularly meaningful. 8 Thank you, Madam President. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 10 Saland to be recorded in the negative. 11 Are there any other Senators 12 wishing to be heard on the bill? 13 Seeing none, debate is closed. The 14 Secretary will please ring the bells. All 15 members will return to the chamber. 16 Read the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 18 act shall take effect immediately. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Call 20 the roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll.) 22 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 23 Winner, to explain his vote. 24 SENATOR WINNER: Thank you, Madam 25 President, to explain my vote.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 I would ordinarily be inclined to 2 support a bill like this because just 3 generally I believe it's the right thing to do 4 to provide for a contingency to make up for a 5 stopgap in funding that you don't have, and 6 it's responsible budgeting. 7 However, notwithstanding the fact 8 that we had nothing on this side of the aisle 9 with regard to negotiating the provisions of 10 this bill, I think that the problem here is 11 the fact that we're leaving such unfettered 12 discretion up to the Division of the Budget to 13 make these cuts, actually very devastating 14 cuts to education and healthcare, that 15 ordinarily members of your side of the aisle 16 would never even consider to be agreeing to, 17 more or less authorizing this. 18 I just think it must be somewhat a 19 little bit of guilt, probably, for passing a 20 budget that contains $1.085 billion worth of 21 the money that you didn't have any real 22 expectation of being able to receive and only 23 felt that you were going to get it somehow by 24 accident. So, you know, I can understand 25 you're guilty and therefore perhaps this is

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 the easy way out. 2 But to give this type of discretion 3 to the Division of the Budget to make the 4 types of cuts that ordinarily you wouldn't 5 have even considered making yourselves I think 6 is disingenuous at best. 7 And while I supported the measures 8 to cut the budgets in the DRP in the past and 9 support reductions in state spending, I just 10 think we need to be responsible and to put up 11 those cuts to let the public know what is 12 specifically going to happen to them, and 13 taking responsibility and ownership for them 14 rather than hiding behind the skirts of the 15 Division of the Budget to be able to take 16 whatever heat there is for the reduction 17 making these reductions. 18 For those reasons, Madam President, 19 I vote in the negative. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 21 Winner will be recorded in the negative. 22 Senator DeFrancisco, to explain his 23 vote. 24 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Week after 25 week, as we debated the various budget bills,

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 the Republican conference kept presenting 2 various amendments where cuts could be done, 3 and each one was ignored summarily. And then 4 the budget was prepared behind closed doors, 5 without any public debate, and we end up with 6 an imbalanced budget, as we've said week in 7 and week out on this floor. 8 Now, if the imbalance is because of 9 Medicaid money not coming in, it seems pretty 10 logical that if you're going to cut, you would 11 cut in the Medicaid area. And we provide more 12 optional coverages than any state. We spend 13 more than the states of California and Texas 14 combined. That's where the cuts should be 15 made. 16 If we're responsible, we don't give 17 the discretion to somebody else to fill a 18 budget hole that the Senate majority created, 19 unfettered discretion, and then hope for the 20 best and end up cutting the groups that have 21 already been cut -- education, hospitals, 22 healthcare and the like. It's just the wrong 23 way to go. 24 For that reason, I'm going to vote 25 no.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 2 DeFrancisco to be recorded in the negative. 3 Are there any other Senators 4 wishing to explain their vote? 5 Seeing none, announce the results. 6 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 7 the negative on Calendar Number 5 are Senators 8 Bonacic, DeFrancisco, Farley, Flanagan, 9 Fuschillo, Hannon, Huntley, Lanza, Larkin, 10 LaValle, Marcellino, McDonald, Padavan, 11 Parker, Peralta, Robach, Saland and Winner. 12 Recorded in the negative also Senators Diaz, 13 O. Johnson, Leibell, Perkins and Seward. 14 Absent from voting: Senator Duane. 15 Excused, Senator Golden. 16 Ayes, 36. Nays, 23. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: The 18 bill is passed. 19 Senator Klein, that completes the 20 reading of the controversial extraordinary 21 session calendar. 22 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 23 can we please stand at ease. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: The 25 Senate will stand at ease.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at 2 ease at 4:47 p.m.) 3 (Whereupon, the Senate reconvened 4 at 5:51 p.m.) 5 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 6 Klein. 7 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 8 can we withdraw the lay aside for the day on 9 Calendar Number 2 and put the bill before the 10 house. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: The 12 Secretary will remove the lay aside for the 13 day on Calendar Number 2 and put the bill 14 before the house on the controversial 15 extraordinary session calendar. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 2, by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senate 18 Print Number 6, an act to amend the Education 19 Law and the State Finance Law. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Debate 21 is closed. The Secretary will ring the bells. 22 The debate is reopened. Senator 23 Diaz, on the bill. 24 SENATOR DIAZ: Thank you, Madam 25 President. Are we on?

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 2 Diaz, I said you may speak on the bill. 3 SENATOR DIAZ: Thank you. 4 Here we go again, the second time 5 in a day where a bill that was not supposed to 6 be, a bill introduced by the Governor, a 7 Democratic governor, and pushed by a 8 Democratic chamber, a bill that will take away 9 the opportunities for black and Hispanic and 10 poor people in the State of New York to get an 11 education. 12 This is a bill that was -- that is 13 taking away what the Democratic Party 14 organized and did many years ago to create an 15 opportunity for poor people, black and 16 Hispanic, to go to the University of the State 17 of New York at a lower cost because blacks and 18 Hispanics cannot compete and cannot -- some of 19 them, some of them -- many people in the State 20 of New York, even white people in the State of 21 New York cannot send their children to a 22 private college. They cannot afford it. 23 So the state universities were 24 created to give the opportunity to parents, 25 poor people, that they could send their

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 children to get a college education at a lower 2 cost. 3 But now, today, we defeated this 4 bill before. We defeated the bill. The bill 5 didn't have the votes. Some of my colleagues, 6 their arm has been twisted. And it is a 7 shame, it is a shame for a Democrat in the 8 State of New York to allow their arm to be 9 twisted and to change their votes. 10 It's a shameful thing to call 11 themselves Democrats and then come here to say 12 they want to kill the opportunity of black and 13 Hispanic and poor children, poor youth, poor 14 children in the State of New York to get a 15 college education because somebody says oh, we 16 got to do this and we got to please the 17 Governor. 18 Their arm has been twisted. Now we 19 are bringing the bill back to the floor 20 because somebody changed their vote, because 21 somebody got something for it. It's shameful, 22 it's a shame that we do this today. This 23 bill, this bill has no reason to be on this 24 floor today. 25 And I'm calling on all my

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 colleagues -- especially, especially the 2 Senators from the City of New York, the ones 3 that represent neighborhoods where black and 4 Hispanic and poor people are -- don't come 5 here to vote for this bill and tell me that 6 you are not selling out your community. If 7 you vote for this bill, you are selling out 8 your community. And then you go "Vote for me 9 because I'm a Democrat"? 10 But anybody from the State of 11 New York to vote for this, believe me, believe 12 me, people will know. Because you voted no 13 before and now you're changing your vote, 14 people will know. People will know. Because 15 you represent poor people. You go there 16 campaigning saying "Vote for me, I'm a 17 Democrat" -- and then you come here to do 18 this? What more are you afraid -- you're 19 going to go back to your neighborhood and say 20 "Oh, I'm protecting you." Protecting whom? 21 Madam President, to be a Democrat, 22 it is not just to say "I'm a Democrat." To be 23 a Democrat is to fight for the poor no matter 24 what, no matter what the issue. As long as 25 you fight for the poor, the needy and the

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 oppressed. "Oh, I cannot support a Republican 2 because he's Republican." But I heard some 3 Republicans here today, I heard some 4 Republicans here today in this chamber 5 fighting for our people. I heard some 6 Republicans here fighting for us while I heard 7 some Democrats killing us. 8 So I'm asking you guys, this is a 9 bill against black and Hispanic youth, black 10 and Hispanic students in the majority. And 11 poor. But the majority are black and 12 Hispanic, and this is a bill against them. 13 So, ladies and gentlemen, I'm 14 asking you, stop this. This bill was already 15 done, cooked, and was taken away. Now you're 16 bringing it back. You're bringing it back 17 because they went there and whatever they did, 18 somebody changed their mind. Carl Kruger 19 changed his mind before. The second time on 20 the floor that Carl Kruger changed his mind. 21 Last time he changed it because after he voted 22 no, he changed it to give another vote. Now 23 today he did it again. 24 And I'm tired of these so-called 25 Democrats, and then they call me to tell me --

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 they tell me because when I do my philosophy 2 and what I believe, what I believe because of 3 my Bible or my beliefs, they tell me that I'm 4 not a Democrat. Show me today that you're a 5 Democrat. 6 Thank you, Madam President. I'm 7 voting no. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 9 Diaz to be recorded in the negative. 10 Are there any other Senators who 11 wish to be heard? 12 Seeing none, debate is closed. The 13 Secretary will ring the bells. 14 (Pause.) 15 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Read 16 the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 18 act shall take effect immediately. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Call 20 the roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll.) 22 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 23 Diaz, to explain his vote. 24 SENATOR DIAZ: Yes, thank you, 25 Madam President.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Again, I'm standing over here to 2 ask my colleagues to vote no. The only 3 Democrat that I heard speaking today on this 4 bill were Democrats in favor of the bill. I 5 have not heard one Democrat to stand up here 6 speak against this bill. Not one, except me, 7 to stand here and speak against this bill. 8 You know why? Maybe because if we 9 do this, we could get paid today. It's 10 immoral. It's immoral to do this because 11 we're going to get paid, go home to sell out 12 the community. 13 So I don't hear those big 14 Democrats, those big Democrats, liberal 15 Democrats standing here talking about this 16 bill against the bill. 17 Thank you. I'm voting no. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 19 Diaz will be recorded in the negative. 20 Any other Senators wishing to 21 explain their vote? 22 (Extended pause.) 23 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 24 Klein. 25 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President,

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 can we please withdraw the roll and lay the 2 bill aside for the day. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: The 4 roll call is withdrawn, and the bill is laid 5 aside for the day. 6 Senator Klein, that completes the 7 controversial reading of the extraordinary 8 session calendar. 9 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 10 is there any further business at the desk? 11 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: No, 12 Senator Klein, the desk is clear. 13 SENATOR KLEIN: There being no 14 further business, I move that we adjourn at 15 the call of the Temporary President, 16 intervening days being legislative days. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: There 18 being no further business to come before the 19 Senate, on motion, we stand adjourned at the 20 call of the Temporary President. 21 (Whereupon, at 6:30 p.m., the 22 Senate adjourned.) 23 24 25

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