Gaveled in 6:31 PM · Albany, New York · 2009–10 session
1 NEW YORK STATE SENATE 2 3 4 THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD 5 6 7 8 9 ALBANY, NEW YORK 10 August 3, 2010 11 6:31 p.m. 12 13 14 REGULAR SESSION 15 16 17 18 SENATOR DIANE SAVINO, Acting President 19 ANGELO J. APONTE, Secretary 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 all those present to rise 5 with me and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. 6 (Whereupon, the assemblage recited 7 the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.) 8 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: In the 9 absence of clergy, may we all please bow our 10 heads for a moment of silent prayer. 11 (Whereupon, the assemblage 12 respected a moment of silence.) 13 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: The 14 reading of the Journal. 15 The Secretary will read. 16 THE SECRETARY: In Senate, 17 Monday, August 2, the Senate met pursuant to 18 adjournment. The Journal of Saturday, 19 July 31, was read and approved. On motion, 20 Senate adjourned. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Without 22 objection, the Journal stands approved as 23 read. 24 Presentation of petitions. 25 Messages from the Assembly.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Messages from the Governor. 2 Reports of standing committees. 3 Reports of select committees. 4 Communications and reports from 5 state officers. 6 Motions and resolutions. 7 Senator Klein. 8 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 9 there will be an immediate meeting of the 10 Finance Committee, followed by a meeting of 11 the Rules Committee in Room 332. 12 Pending the return of the Rules 13 Committee, may we please stand at ease. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: There 15 will be an immediate meeting of the Finance 16 Committee, followed by an immediate meeting of 17 the Rules Committee in Room 332. 18 Pending the return of the Rules 19 Committee, the Senate will stand at ease. 20 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at 21 ease at 6:32 p.m.) 22 (Whereupon, the Senate reconvened 23 at 8:03 p.m.) 24 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 25 Klein.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 2 I believe there's a report of the Rules 3 Committee at the desk. I move that we adopt 4 the report at this time. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 6 Klein, there is a report of the Rules 7 Committee at the desk. 8 The Secretary will read. 9 THE SECRETARY: Senator Smith, 10 from the Committee on Rules, reports the 11 following bills. 12 Restored: Senate Print 6610C, 13 Senate Budget Bill, an act to amend the Tax 14 Law. 15 Reported: Senate Print 1863B, by 16 Senator Klein, an act to amend the Private 17 Housing Finance Law; 18 2251, by Senator L. Krueger, an act 19 to amend the Emergency Tenant Protection Act; 20 5296A, by Senator Squadron, an act 21 to amend the Administrative Code of the City 22 of New York; 23 5509, by Senator Klein, an act to 24 amend the Private Housing Finance Law; 25 8129B, by Senator Thompson, an act
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 to suspend; 2 8131, by Senator Dilan, an act to 3 amend the Private Housing Finance Law; 4 8182, by Senator Espada, an act to 5 amend Chapter 576 of the Laws of 1974; 6 8223, by Senator Espada, an act to 7 amend the Labor Law; 8 8415, by the Senate Committee on 9 Rules, an act to amend the Correction Law; 10 8424, by Senator Hassell-Thompson, 11 an act to amend a chapter of the Laws of 2010; 12 8431, by the Senate Committee on 13 Rules, an act to amend the Emergency Tenant 14 Protection Act; 15 8451, by Senator Schneiderman, an 16 act to amend the Civil Practice Law and Rules; 17 8454, by Senator Schneiderman, an 18 act to amend the Labor Law; 19 And Senate Print 8465, by the 20 Senate Committee on Rules, an act to repeal 21 Part KK of a chapter of the Laws of 2010. 22 All bills ordered direct to third 23 reading. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: All 25 those in favor of adopting the report of the
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Committee on Rules please signify by saying 2 aye. 3 (Response of "Aye.") 4 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: 5 Opposed, nay. 6 (No response.) 7 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: The 8 Rules Committee report is adopted. 9 Senator Klein. 10 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 11 upon unanimous consent, I ask that the roll be 12 opened for the two bills on the active list so 13 that Senator Montgomery can vote on those 14 bills. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Upon 16 unanimous consent, the Secretary will open the 17 roll for each bill on the active list in order 18 for Senator Montgomery to vote. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 772, by Member of the Assembly Bing, Assembly 21 Print Number 859, an act to amend the Private 22 Housing Finance Law. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Read 24 the last section. 25 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 act shall take effect immediately. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Call 3 the roll. 4 (The Secretary called the roll.) 5 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 6 Montgomery, how do you vote? 7 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 9 Montgomery to be recorded in the affirmative. 10 The roll is closed on Calendar 11 Number 772 and the bill is laid aside. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 1421, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 14 Assembly Print Number 11523, an act to amend 15 the Economic Development Law. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Read 17 the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 19 act shall take effect immediately. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Call 21 the roll. 22 (The Secretary called the roll.) 23 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 24 Montgomery, how do you vote? 25 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 2 Montgomery will be recorded in the 3 affirmative. 4 The roll is withdrawn; the bill is 5 laid aside. 6 Senator Klein. 7 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 8 upon unanimous consent I ask that the roll be 9 opened for the 15 bills on the supplemental 10 calendar so that Senator Montgomery can vote 11 on those bills. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Upon 13 unanimous consent, the Secretary will open the 14 roll for each bill on the supplemental 15 calendar in order for Senator Montgomery to 16 vote. 17 The Secretary will read. 18 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 19 Calendar Number 1291, Senator C. Kruger moves 20 to discharge, from the Committee on Rules, 21 Assembly Print Number 9710D and substitute it 22 for the identical Senate Bill Number 6610C, 23 Third Reading Calendar 1291. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: 25 Substitution ordered.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 The Secretary will read. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 1291, Assembly Budget Bill, Assembly Print 4 Number 9710D, an act to amend the Tax Law. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Read 6 the last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 8 act shall take effect immediately. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Call 10 the roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll.) 12 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 13 Montgomery. 14 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes. 15 (Pause.) 16 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 17 Klein. 18 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 19 can we also, upon unanimous consent, allow 20 Senator Griffo to vote on the same bills. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: By 22 unanimous consent, the Secretary will open the 23 roll for each bill on the active list in order 24 for Senator Griffo and Senator Montgomery to 25 vote.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 The Secretary will read. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 772, by Member of the Assembly Bing, Assembly 4 Print Number 859, an act to amend the Private 5 Housing Finance Law. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Read 7 the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 9 act shall take effect immediately. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Call 11 the roll. 12 (The Secretary called the roll.) 13 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 14 Griffo, how do you vote? 15 SENATOR GRIFFO: No. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 17 Griffo will be recorded in the negative. 18 The roll is withdrawn; the bill is 19 laid aside. 20 The Secretary will continue to 21 read. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 1421, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 24 Assembly Print Number 11523, an act to amend 25 the Economic Development Law.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Read 2 the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 4 act shall take effect immediately. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Call 6 the roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll.) 8 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 9 Griffo, how do you vote? 10 SENATOR GRIFFO: Yes. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 12 Griffo to be recorded in the affirmative. 13 The roll is withdrawn; the bill is 14 laid aside. 15 The Secretary will open the roll 16 for each bill on the supplemental calendar in 17 order for Senator Montgomery and Senator 18 Griffo to vote. 19 The Secretary will read. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 1291, Assembly Budget Bill, Assembly Print 22 Number 9710D, substituted earlier today, an 23 act to amend the Tax Law. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Read 25 the last section.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 2 act shall take effect immediately. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Call 4 the roll. 5 (The Secretary called the roll.) 6 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 7 Griffo, how do you vote? 8 SENATOR GRIFFO: No. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 10 Griffo to be recorded in the negative. 11 Senator Montgomery previously voted 12 in the affirmative. 13 The roll is withdrawn; the bill is 14 laid aside. 15 The Secretary will continue to 16 read. 17 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 18 Calendar Number 1425, Senator Klein moves to 19 discharge, from the Committee on Housing, 20 Construction and Community Development, 21 Assembly Bill Number 9854 and substitute it 22 for the identical Senate Bill Number 1863B, 23 Third Reading Calendar 1425. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: 25 Substitution ordered.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 1425, by Member of the Assembly Rosenthal, 3 Assembly Print Number 9854, an act to amend 4 the Private Housing Finance Law. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Read 6 the last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 8 act shall take effect immediately. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Call 10 the roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll.) 12 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 13 Montgomery, how do you vote? 14 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 16 Montgomery to be recorded in the affirmative. 17 Senator Griffo, how do you vote? 18 SENATOR GRIFFO: No. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 20 Griffo to be recorded in the negative. 21 The roll is withdrawn; the bill is 22 laid aside. 23 The Secretary will continue to 24 read. 25 THE SECRETARY: In relation to
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Calendar Number 1426, Senator L. Krueger moves 2 to discharge, from the Committee on Housing, 3 Construction and Community Development, 4 Assembly Bill Number 465A and substitute it 5 for the identical Senate Bill Number 2251, 6 Third Reading Calendar 1426. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: 8 Substitution ordered. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 1426, by Member of the Assembly Jeffries, 11 Assembly Print Number 465A, an act to amend 12 the Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 1974 13 and the Administrative Code of the City of 14 New York. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Read 16 the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. 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 Montgomery, how do you vote? 24 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Montgomery to be recorded in the affirmative. 2 Senator Griffo, how do you vote? 3 SENATOR GRIFFO: No. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 5 Griffo to be recorded in the negative. 6 The roll is withdrawn; the bill is 7 laid aside. 8 The Secretary will continue to 9 read. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 1427, by Senator Squadron, Senate Print 5296A, 12 an act to amend the Administrative Code of the 13 City of New York. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Read 15 the last section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 17 act shall take effect immediately. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Call 19 the roll. 20 (The Secretary called the roll.) 21 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 22 Montgomery, how do you vote? 23 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 25 Montgomery to be recorded in the affirmative.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Senator Griffo, how do you vote? 2 SENATOR GRIFFO: No. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 4 Griffo to be recorded in the negative. 5 The roll is withdrawn; the bill is 6 laid aside. 7 The Secretary will continue to 8 read. 9 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 10 Calendar Number 1428, Senator Klein moves to 11 discharge, from the Committee on Housing, 12 Construction and Community Development, 13 Assembly Bill Number 2361 and substitute it 14 for the identical Senate Bill Number 5509, 15 Third Reading Calendar 1428. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: 17 Substitution ordered. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 1428, by Member of the Assembly V. Lopez, 20 Assembly Print Number 2361, an act to amend 21 the Private Housing Finance Law. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Read 23 the last section. 24 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 25 act shall take effect on the 90th day.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Call 2 the roll. 3 (The Secretary called the roll.) 4 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 5 Montgomery, how do you vote? 6 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 8 Montgomery to be recorded in the affirmative. 9 Senator Griffo, how do you vote? 10 SENATOR GRIFFO: No. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 12 Griffo to be recorded in the negative. 13 The roll is withdrawn; the bill is 14 laid aside. 15 The Secretary will continue to 16 read. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 1429, by Senator Thompson, Senate Print 8129B, 19 an act to suspend hydraulic fracturing. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Read 21 the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 23 act shall take effect immediately. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Call 25 the roll.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 (The Secretary called the roll.) 2 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 3 Montgomery, how do you vote? 4 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 6 Montgomery in the affirmative. 7 Senator Griffo, how do you vote? 8 SENATOR GRIFFO: No. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 10 Griffo to be recorded in the negative. 11 The roll is withdrawn; the bill is 12 laid aside. 13 The Secretary will continue to 14 read. 15 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 16 Calendar Number 1430, Senator Dilan moves to 17 discharge, from the Committee on Rules, 18 Assembly Bill Number 11408 and substitute it 19 for the identical Senate Bill Number 8131, 20 Third Reading Calendar 1430. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: 22 Substitution ordered. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 1430, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 25 Assembly Print Number 11408, an act to amend
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 the Private Housing Finance Law. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Read 3 the last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 5 act shall take effect on the 60th day. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Call 7 the roll. 8 (The Secretary called the roll.) 9 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 10 Montgomery, how do you vote? 11 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 13 Montgomery to be recorded in the affirmative. 14 Senator Griffo, how do you vote? 15 SENATOR GRIFFO: No. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 17 Griffo to be recorded in the negative. 18 The roll is withdrawn; the bill is 19 laid aside. 20 The Secretary will continue to 21 read. 22 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 23 Calendar Number 1431, Senator Espada moves to 24 discharge, from the Committee on Rules, 25 Assembly Bill Number 11410 and substitute it
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 for the identical Senate Bill Number 8182, 2 Third Reading Calendar 1431. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: 4 Substitution ordered. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 1431, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 7 Assembly Print Number 11410, an act to amend 8 Chapter 576 of the Laws of 1974 amending the 9 Emergency Housing Rent Control Law. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Read 11 the last section. 12 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 13 act shall take effect immediately. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Call 15 the roll. 16 (The Secretary called the roll.) 17 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 18 Montgomery, how do you vote? 19 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 21 Montgomery in the affirmative. 22 Senator Griffo, how do you vote? 23 SENATOR GRIFFO: Yes. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 25 Griffo to be recorded in the affirmative.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 The roll is withdrawn; the bill is 2 laid aside. 3 The Secretary will continue to 4 read. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 1432, by Senator Espada, Senate Print 8223, an 7 act to amend the Labor Law. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Read 9 the last section. 10 THE SECRETARY: Section 16. This 11 act shall take effect immediately. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Call 13 the roll. 14 (The Secretary called the roll.) 15 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 16 Montgomery, how do you vote? 17 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 19 Montgomery to be recorded in the affirmative. 20 Senator Griffo, how do you vote? 21 SENATOR GRIFFO: No. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 23 Griffo to be recorded in the negative. 24 The roll is withdrawn; the bill is 25 laid aside.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 The Secretary will continue to 2 read. 3 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 4 Calendar Number 1433, Senator Smith moves to 5 discharge, from the Committee on Rules, 6 Assembly Bill Number 11597 and substitute it 7 for the identical Senate Bill Number 8415, 8 Third Reading Calendar 1433. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: 10 Substitution ordered. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 1433, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 13 Assembly Print Number 11597, an act to amend 14 the Correction Law. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Read 16 the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 18 act shall take effect on the same date and in 19 the same manner as a chapter of the Laws of 20 2010. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Call 22 the roll. 23 (The Secretary called the roll.) 24 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 25 Montgomery, how do you vote?
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 3 Montgomery to be recorded in the affirmative. 4 Senator Griffo, how do you vote? 5 SENATOR GRIFFO: No. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 7 Griffo to be recorded in the negative. 8 The roll is withdrawn; the bill is 9 laid aside. 10 The Secretary will continue to 11 read. 12 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 13 Calendar Number 1434, Senator Hassell-Thompson 14 moves to discharge, from the Committee on 15 Rules, Assembly Bill Number 11612 and 16 substitute it for the identical Senate Bill 17 Number 8424, Third Reading Calendar 1434. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: 19 Substitution ordered. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 1434, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 22 Assembly Print Number 11612, an act to amend a 23 chapter of the Laws of 2010 enacting the 24 Health and Mental Hygiene Budget. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Read
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 the last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 3 act shall take effect immediately. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Call 5 the roll. 6 (The Secretary called the roll.) 7 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 8 Montgomery, how do you vote? 9 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 11 Montgomery to be recorded in the affirmative. 12 Senator Griffo, how do you vote? 13 SENATOR GRIFFO: Yes. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 15 Griffo to be recorded in the affirmative. 16 The roll is withdrawn; the bill is 17 laid aside. 18 The Secretary will continue to 19 read. 20 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 21 Calendar Number 1435, Senator Smith moves to 22 discharge, from the Committee on Rules, 23 Assembly Bill Number 2498 and substitute it 24 for the identical Senate Bill Number 8431, 25 Third Reading Calendar 1435.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: 2 Substitution ordered. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 1435, by Member of the Assembly Pretlow, 5 Assembly Print Number 2498, an act to amend 6 the Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 1974. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Read 8 the last section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 10 act shall take effect immediately. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Call 12 the roll. 13 (The Secretary called the roll.) 14 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 15 Montgomery, how do you vote? 16 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 18 Montgomery to be recorded in the affirmative. 19 Senator Griffo, how do you vote? 20 SENATOR GRIFFO: No. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 22 Griffo to be recorded in the negative. 23 The roll is withdrawn; the bill is 24 laid aside. 25 The Secretary will continue to
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 read. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 1436, by Senator Schneiderman, Senate Print 4 8451, an act to amend the Civil Practice Law 5 and Rules. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Read 7 the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 9 act shall take effect on the same date and in 10 the same manner as a chapter of the Laws of 11 2010. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Call 13 the roll. 14 (The Secretary called the roll.) 15 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 16 Montgomery, how do you vote? 17 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 19 Montgomery to be recorded in the affirmative. 20 Senator Griffo, how do you vote? 21 SENATOR GRIFFO: No. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 23 Griffo to be recorded in the negative. 24 The roll is withdrawn; the bill is 25 laid aside.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 The Secretary will continue to 2 read. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 1437, by Senator Schneiderman, Senate Print 5 8454, an act to amend the Labor Law and a 6 chapter of the Laws of 2010. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Read 8 the last section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 10 act shall take effect immediately. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Call 12 the roll. 13 (The Secretary called the roll.) 14 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 15 Montgomery, how do you vote? 16 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 18 Montgomery to be recorded in the affirmative. 19 Senator Griffo, how do you vote? 20 SENATOR GRIFFO: Yes. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 22 Griffo to be recorded in the affirmative. 23 The roll is withdrawn; the bill is 24 laid aside. 25 The Secretary will continue to
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 read. 2 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 3 Calendar Number 1438, Senator C. Kruger moves 4 to discharge, from the Committee on Finance, 5 Assembly Bill Number 11678 and substitute it 6 for the identical Senate Bill Number 8465, 7 Third Reading Calendar 1438. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: 9 Substitution ordered. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 1438, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 12 Assembly Print Number 11678, an act to repeal 13 Part KK of a chapter of the Laws of 2010. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 15 Klein. 16 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 17 I believe there's a message of necessity at 18 the desk. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 20 Klein, there is a message of necessity at the 21 desk. 22 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 23 I move that we accept the message of necessity 24 at this time. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: The
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 question is on the acceptance of the message 2 of necessity. All those in favor please 3 signify by saying aye. 4 (Response of "Aye.") 5 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: 6 Opposed, nay. 7 (No response.) 8 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: The 9 message is accepted. 10 The Secretary will read the last 11 section. 12 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 13 act shall take effect immediately. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Call 15 the roll. 16 (The Secretary called the roll.) 17 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 18 Montgomery, how do you vote? 19 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 21 Montgomery to be recorded in the affirmative. 22 Senator Griffo, how do you vote? 23 SENATOR GRIFFO: Yes. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 25 Griffo to be recorded in the affirmative.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 The roll is withdrawn; the bill is 2 laid aside. 3 Senator Klein. 4 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 5 at this time I would like to call up Calendar 6 Number 1432, Senate Print 8223 on the 7 noncontroversial calendar. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: The 9 Secretary will read. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 1432, by Senator Espada, Senate Print 8223, an 12 act to amend the Labor Law. 13 SENATOR LIBOUS: Lay it aside. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: The 15 bill is laid aside. 16 Senator Klein. 17 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 18 I would like to call up Calendar Number 1291, 19 Senate Print Number 6610C on the 20 noncontroversial calendar. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: The 22 Secretary will read. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 1291, substituted earlier today, Assembly 25 Budget Bill, Assembly Print Number 9710D, an
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 act to amend the Tax Law. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Read 3 the last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 5 act shall take effect immediately. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Call 7 the roll. 8 (The Secretary called the roll.) 9 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 10 DeFrancisco, to explain his vote. 11 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, this 12 is the long-awaited revenue bill. And I'm 13 going to vote yes -- excuse me, to vote no. 14 Don't want to get too excited. 15 (Laughter.) 16 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Just wanted 17 to get everybody's attention. 18 I'm going to vote no on this bill. 19 And without belaboring the point, we've 20 discussed this on many occasions that many, 21 many new taxes, to the tune of about 22 $1.8 billion to $2 billion in new taxes are in 23 this bill. Tax credits that provide jobs and 24 were relied on by businesses have been 25 eliminated or at least suspended if they ever
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 come back. 2 And in this time of austerity, we 3 should be cutting our spending. And during 4 the course of these budget discussions, we've 5 outlined many amendments that would have 6 reduced spending of the state, all of which 7 were rejected. 8 So we're not just voting no on this 9 revenue bill, we had alternatives that would 10 have avoided these new taxes. And for that 11 reason, I'm voting no on this bill. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 13 DeFrancisco to be recorded in the negative. 14 Announce the results. 15 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 16 the negative on Calendar Number 1291 are 17 Senators Alesi, Bonacic, DeFrancisco, Farley, 18 Flanagan, Fuschillo, Griffo, Hannon, 19 O. Johnson, Lanza, Larkin, LaValle, Leibell, 20 Libous, Little, Marcellino, Maziarz, McDonald, 21 Nozzolio, Padavan, Ranzenhofer, Robach, 22 Saland, Seward, Skelos, Volker, Winner and 23 Young. 24 Ayes, 32. Nays, 28. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: The
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 bill is passed. 2 Senator Klein. 3 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 4 I would like to call up Calendar Number 1438, 5 Senate Print Number 8465 on the 6 noncontroversial calendar. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: The 8 Secretary will read. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 1438, substituted earlier by the Assembly 11 Committee on Rules, Assembly Print Number 12 11678, an act to repeal Part KK of a chapter 13 of the Laws of 2010 amending the Tax Law. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Read 15 the last section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 17 act shall take effect immediately. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Call 19 the roll. 20 (The Secretary called the roll.) 21 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: 22 Announce the results. 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 60. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: The 25 bill is passed.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Senator Klein. 2 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 3 at this time I would like to go back to 4 Calendar Number 1432, Senate Print Number 8223 5 on the controversial calendar. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: The 7 Secretary will read. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1432, by Senator Espada, Senate Print 8223, an 10 act to amend the Labor Law. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Are 12 there any Senators wishing to be heard on the 13 bill? 14 Senator Young, on the bill. 15 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you, Madam 16 President. 17 I can't think of a worse bill to 18 bring up at this time that hurts New York 19 State's economy so badly. This bill would 20 kill agriculture in New York State. 21 Agriculture is a $4.2 billion 22 industry. That's how much money it pumps into 23 the economy. And it's not just farmers, it's 24 food processors. We have 22,000 food 25 processors in New York State. They provide
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 hundreds of thousands of dollars for our 2 state. They provide jobs. Small businesses 3 will close if this bill passes, things like 4 equipment dealers, hardwares, feed suppliers, 5 seed suppliers. 6 And it just does not make sense. 7 New York State's upstate economy has been hit 8 very, very hard. It was suffering before the 9 recession, and now it's dying. So I would 10 urge my colleagues not to vote for this. 11 You know, last fall I was marching 12 in a parade in Sinclairville, which is a small 13 rural town in my district. And as I was going 14 along the parade route, there was a man seated 15 in a lawn chair. And as I went by, he grabbed 16 my hand, he clutched my hand. He said, "I'm a 17 farmer, I'm a dairy farmer." He said, "The 18 milk prices are so bad I don't know what to 19 do." And he looked up at me and his eyes 20 filled with tears, and he said: "Is there any 21 hope?" 22 This bill takes away any hope that 23 we have for our farms surviving in New York 24 State, and I would urge you to vote no. 25 Thank you.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 2 Young to be recorded in the negative. 3 Senator Volker, on the bill. 4 SENATOR VOLKER: Madam President, 5 let me just speak very quickly. 6 As the senior Senator for all of 7 upstate New York, I have to speak for a 8 district which I represent which is about 9 two-thirds a farm district. Over the last 10 couple of years since this bill was put 11 together, more people have said to me this 12 bill represents a death knell for upstate's 13 small farmers, particularly small farmers, for 14 the potato farmers in particular, for a whole 15 bunch of farmers. 16 And these are people, by the way, 17 who have people that come from all over the 18 country and serve on their farms. They are 19 not, by the way, anti-immigrant, as some 20 people believe; they are pro. 21 What this bill will do is finish 22 the use of immigrants in New York. And the 23 reason is that the cost will be so high that 24 they will take people from the state itself, 25 and the bargaining and all the rest of the
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 stuff that this bill entails will mean that 2 they will no longer have immigrants on the 3 farms in this state. 4 The sad part of this is that the 5 religious people, who are the ones who are 6 really pushing this bill, love people to 7 death. They don't understand this is a death 8 knell, not just for the farmers themselves, 9 but for the people who they want to help, the 10 seasonal employees. 11 I can't think of a worse bill at 12 this time of the session for us to pass other 13 than the one we just did pass, which was the 14 budget bill. This bill, if it passes, will be 15 recognized by upstate newspapers as the death 16 knell for small farmers in New York, and there 17 will be a huge attempt to get the Governor to 18 veto it. 19 But the best way to deal with this 20 is to understand something. If this is what a 21 Democratic Senate is going to do, then you'd 22 better watch yourselves, because a Republican 23 Senate is never going to pass a bill like 24 this. And there's a reason for it: Because 25 we can't afford to have people that can't be
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 afforded in this state. We have to learn 2 sometime. 3 There's many things we'd like to 4 do. We'd love to do it. I've been on many of 5 the farms on many, many occasions in upstate 6 New York -- particularly, as I say, in the 7 western New York area -- and we have a ton of 8 farm people. And I want to say to you that 9 yes, we need to help these seasonal workers 10 wherever possible. And I in fact have 11 cooperated with the groups in doing that. 12 But what we can't do is push the 13 price of food up so high that, ironically, the 14 people in New York City who use this food, if 15 this bill passes, you'll see the cost of your 16 food go up dramatically, I'll tell you right 17 now. Because that's the problem with milk in 18 this state. 19 This bill is a bombshell for food 20 prices, it's a bombshell for small farmers and 21 also for large farmers. Because the large 22 farmers that have a lot of people in their 23 operation are going to find they won't be able 24 to afford them and they will have to make 25 dramatic changes in the way that they farm in
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 this state. 2 This is a bad bill, and I ask all 3 my colleagues to vote no. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 5 Volker to be recorded in the negative. 6 Senator Espada, on the bill. 7 SENATOR ESPADA: Madam President, 8 thank you very much. 9 I just wanted to spend a brief 10 moment thanking a number of people. Firstly, 11 Conference Leader Sampson, Senator Sampson, 12 whose word and commitment I trust, I trusted, 13 and it's here in living proof. This bill is 14 here, he promised that it would get here and 15 the debate should be had. 16 But it should be had and should be 17 led with the truth, so let's take some 18 backstrokes first and go back to the period of 19 time in the Great Depression where the 20 agriculture workers were left behind 70 years 21 ago, exempted. No other category of employees 22 failed to get the protections accorded most 23 employees, but farmworkers were left out. 24 That was 70 years ago. And the 25 arguments then were Jim Crow arguments,
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 because most of the agriculture workers were 2 African-American workers. And the issues of 3 this business model, the echoes still ring 4 here today. 5 So the arguments haven't changed 6 very much. This is not an anti-farm, an 7 anti-farmer bill. This is a human rights bill 8 that seeks to provide basic protections to 9 farmworkers, employees, like employees that we 10 have in other sagging recession-hit-hard 11 industries. 12 Some would want to draw 13 distinctions about seasonal work. Tourism is 14 a seasonal industry. Construction is a 15 seasonal industry. The bottom line is this is 16 about employees, this is about workers, this 17 is about worker rights. 18 During the '60s and the '70s, one 19 man, one movement, led by Cesar Chavez, 20 awakened the consciousness of America. And so 21 we had, during that great period in our 22 American history, we visited the streets, we 23 marched, we prayed, the vigils were had, the 24 protests were had, the consciousness of 25 America was awakened. And many states,
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 California in particular, the largest, passed 2 laws that protected farmworkers. The business 3 model was visited then. There would be a 4 meltdown of the agricultural industry, so they 5 said then. 6 And in every state since then -- 7 and, Madam President, you recall that you had 8 landmark legislation with 33 votes in this 9 chamber not too long ago, where arguments were 10 made about whether we should provide basic 11 protections to domestic workers. 12 And so we have been on this journey 13 for quite some time, with mixed success. But 14 in your legislation, your landmark 15 legislation -- and God bless you, and I thank 16 you -- we were the first state in the nation 17 to lead with that kind of protection for 18 domestic workers. With regard to farmworkers, 19 we're way behind. We've been lagging behind. 20 And so other states have provided 21 these protections and other states are 22 suffering not because farmworkers have basic 23 rights, but because this federal government 24 and its policies vis-a-vis farmers and 25 vis-a-vis that industry need to be reshaped,
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 need to be incentivized. Farmers need help. 2 These protections in no way violate 3 that covenant that we should adhere to, and 4 that is that farm work and the farming 5 industry in all its component parts -- a 6 $4 billion industry in this state -- deserves 7 our support and protection. 8 And any argument that this bill is 9 terrible for the industry is not dealing with 10 the reality of what afflicts that industry. 11 The issue is not its workers. The issue may 12 be pricing, the issue may be how we market, 13 how we promote, how we support it. But it 14 certainly is not the people that toil in the 15 fields and deal with the work that produces 16 the meals that we eat on our dinner tables. 17 And so let's be clear about what 18 we're talking about. This bill deals with 19 various provisions. And I know folks want to 20 talk, and we're going to talk. But let me get 21 my piece in, because we've had a protracted 22 debate on this for decades. We've had, you 23 know, public hearings, we've had compromises. 24 And we need to know what we're talking about. 25 In 1999 I was on a task force,
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 along with Senator Olga Mendez and many others 2 that are still here, that dealt not with 3 whether we should pay overtime or we should 4 have disability benefits or workmen's 5 compensation benefits, but hand-washing 6 facilities, access to toilets, minimum wages. 7 So not too long ago, 10 years ago, we were 8 talking about whether or not people could have 9 access to clean drinking water and toilets. 10 And we still have all sorts of 11 rules that don't even respect gender. When we 12 talk about women's rights, we can't for one 13 moment, for one moment -- if we talked about 14 it in domestic workers, we have to repeat that 15 argument here tonight. Because these women 16 that have spoken to us in public hearings, in 17 transcripts of those hearings we have here, 18 have told us -- let me just go right to it. 19 Because when we talk about human rights, 20 that's what we're talking about. When we're 21 talking about basic protections, this is what 22 we're talking about. 23 Senator Young asked the question at 24 a public hearing about housing accommodations, 25 and then Senator Young moved to a question:
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 "Did you see anybody get sexually assaulted 2 when you were a farmworker?" And a Latina 3 farmworker says: "I'm sorry, I don't 4 understand." 5 "Did you see anyone sexually 6 assaulted? Do you know of anybody who was 7 sexually assaulted?" And Ms. Paz says: "Yes. 8 I mean, yes, I was one of them." 9 The response from Senator Young 10 was: "Well, did you report it? Did you 11 report the assault?" Because if you didn't 12 report it, then it didn't happen. 13 Now, we expelled a member of our 14 body here whose victim or alleged victim said 15 it never happened. But we acted on it. Fine, 16 we acted on it. Why are we waiting for the 17 reports to come in? We know what happened in 18 the case of domestic workers with the abuse 19 that was taking place in those apartment units 20 and in those housing accommodations. We knew, 21 we believed those women. 22 And I believe these women. There's 23 a reason why they don't report. Their 24 immigration status, fear of loss of job, shame 25 of having to go public. But they've broken
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 down those barriers by themselves. They have 2 reported to me and to anybody that gives them 3 a fair hearing that it happens all the time 4 there. That it happens on the farms. That 5 the crew supervisors do it. That there's an 6 exchange of sexual favors for some of the 7 protections that are inherent in this bill; 8 you may get some time off. 9 Imagine, 110 degrees -- we all went 10 through that heat wave -- no rest day, no time 11 off. Young children without protection of 12 that. And the argument is that we must be 13 this inhumane because the business model would 14 be upset. Because somehow, if we introduce 15 basic rights into this equation, and basic 16 protections, that the farm industry -- a 17 $4 billion industry in this state -- would 18 evaporate, have a meltdown, and this bill 19 would be responsible for that decline. That 20 is utter nonsense. That is the outrage in 21 this debate. 22 And so this bill, what it does do, 23 very simply, is it provides for what our 24 Constitution provides: Collective bargaining 25 protections and rights, an overtime threshold.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Forty weeks? No, we say -- excuse me, 2 40 hours? No, we say 55 hours. Compromise. 3 On piece-rate workers, compromise. On farm 4 employees with respect to giving notice on 5 work stoppages, a 21-days cooling-off period. 6 And 96 percent of the farms are 7 exempt, 96 percent of the farms are exempt. 8 We're talking about big farms, agribusiness 9 here. We're not talking about mom and pop 10 farmers. We're not talking about that dairy 11 farmer or worker that asked those questions of 12 Senator Young or others. No, we're talking 13 about big business here. 14 Big business needs to be fair. 15 Farmworkers need to be accorded that respect. 16 And the time has come. We've had the prayers, 17 as I said, we've had the lobbying, we've had 18 the negotiations. The only question here is 19 will we continue to ration out human rights to 20 certain people and not to others based on the 21 fear-mongering that goes on or based on the 22 misconceptions about a business model that 23 can, can tolerate, can flourish with increased 24 worker protections. 25 They deserve that. We deserve
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 that. Agribusiness and farmers deserve that. 2 We are better than what we have now. And I 3 ask for the support of my colleagues. 4 Thank you, Madam President. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 6 Espada to be recorded in the affirmative. 7 Senator Nozzolio, on the bill. 8 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Thank you, 9 Madam President, on the legislation before us. 10 There are many misconceptions 11 proffered by Senator Espada on the merits or 12 so-called merits of this legislation. Before 13 I discuss and dispel some of those, I wish to 14 talk about the process by which this measure 15 came before the Senate. 16 With all the talk and rhetoric 17 about process and reform, we are taking up a 18 bill that was analyzed extensively by the 19 Senate Agriculture Committee in at least a 20 four-hour hearing earlier this year. And it 21 is my understanding the topic was dealt with 22 by the Senate Agriculture Committee, dismissed 23 and defeated. 24 Yet for some reason, this measure 25 comes before us at the 11th hour to discuss,
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 when in fact it was discussed extensively by 2 the committee, dealt with during the 3 deliberations by the committee in a 4 nonpartisan fashion in the official record of 5 the hearing of which Mr. Espada references. 6 So I think the process as to why 7 measure is before us is seriously flawed. And 8 those who brought it before us should be 9 questioned about their commitment to 10 legislative reform that we have heard so much 11 about during the earlier portion of this 12 legislative term. 13 New York agriculture competes in a 14 worldwide market. What grows in Wayne 15 County -- and whether that be a beautiful 16 apple that is desired by many, the competitors 17 for the consumer's dollar in purchasing that 18 apple see much competition from Canada, from 19 other states, from China, and from other 20 countries in the globe. And for Senator 21 Espada to say that New York agriculture can 22 withstand or be sustained or needs to market 23 itself better as a way to calm the problems 24 and the challenges facing New York agriculture 25 is extremely naive.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 The truth of the matter is that the 2 wages of farmworkers in New York State is 3 56 percent above the national average. That 4 the accommodations of agriculture workers in 5 New York State are regulated by the New York 6 State Department of Agriculture and Markets, 7 by the Department of Labor, by the United 8 States Department of Agriculture, by the 9 United States Environmental Protection Agency, 10 by the United States Occupational Safety and 11 Health Administration as well as New York 12 OSHA. All these agencies are regulating the 13 conditions of farmworkers. 14 What this bill is trying to do is 15 regulate not the conditions of their housing 16 or other amenities provided the seasonal 17 worker in New York State, but actually 18 regulate the hours worked, the choice of those 19 hours worked, and mandating collective 20 bargaining of all those workers. 21 Senator Espada cites other states 22 that have achieved this legislation. What 23 Senator Espada doesn't say is that the state 24 of Wisconsin -- which is a dairy state, 25 competes with New York dairy aggressively --
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Wisconsin actually repealed this type of 2 legislation because it found itself and this 3 legislation so detrimental to the agriculture 4 community, and made milk and cheese produced 5 in Wisconsin uncompetitive with cheese and 6 other milk products produced in other states, 7 that it found itself repealing this very 8 legislation that is proffered today. 9 The bottom line is the bottom line. 10 And the bottom line says that this bill 11 increases the cost of products produced by 12 New York farmers. The bottom line says this 13 bill will actually require fewer jobs, because 14 there will be fewer opportunities because 15 there will be fewer products sold by New York 16 farmers. Because New York farmers will not be 17 able to compete with not just other states, 18 but other nations, Canada to the north, Mexico 19 to the south, and of course now the global 20 competition of Chinese agricultural products. 21 One thing that should also be made 22 clear is that when Senator Espada mentioned 23 Jim Crow and the entire subject, that was also 24 mentioned at the hearing that we saw conducted 25 by the Senate Agriculture Committee. Senator
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Aubertine chaired that committee. Senator 2 Young is the ranking member of the Senate 3 Agriculture Committee. We all heard testimony 4 that was mind-boggling that talked about many 5 types of abuses of agriculture workers by 6 farmers in this state. 7 Yet when pressed by Senator Young, 8 when asked the question and asked the question 9 time and again -- asked by Senator Young not 10 to agriculture workers, but asked to 11 Ms. Kennedy, who was there to talk on behalf 12 of agriculture workers and made a sweeping 13 indictment of the farmers of this state -- 14 when pressed to present any evidence that 15 there were particular sexual assaults or other 16 assaults or other abuses of farmworkers, 17 Ms. Kennedy, at the questioning of Senator 18 Young, could not produce one, one specific 19 fact where there was such an abuse of 20 workers -- in fact, indicated that there were 21 a few anecdotes that were discussed, but she 22 did not present any of those such anecdotes to 23 the appropriate authorities. 24 If someone is alleging sexual 25 assault and they heard evidence of such a
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 violation, any member of this chamber 2 receiving such information would have an 3 immediate responsibility to present that 4 information to the appropriate prosecutorial 5 authorities. 6 So I think -- and, Senator, I 7 really understand your compassion, but I do 8 not understand why you would taint this issue 9 by presenting that fact which was in fact 10 dispelled at the committee and was presented 11 for what it was, a sham. A sham indictment on 12 the hardworking, God-fearing farmers in this 13 state. 14 Madam President, this type of 15 legislation presents New York farmers, who are 16 working 14-hour days, seven days a week with 17 their families, a few hired workers per farm, 18 trying to make ends meet, trying to compete in 19 a global marketplace, trying to fight 20 elements -- we don't have the best weather in 21 New York State. We don't have the best 22 climate to grow. We have very short growing 23 seasons. Yet our farmers are the most 24 dedicated, most educated, most hardworking of 25 any farmers in any state in the country.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 To place this onerous regulation, 2 for government to say you now must establish 3 not just minimum wages, not just standards of 4 housing, but hours and working conditions, 5 makes New York agriculture uncompetitive. 6 As such, we must say we cannot 7 tolerate this onerous proposal placed on the 8 number-one industry in our state, because 9 frankly, if it is placed on our number-one 10 industry, agriculture will no longer be our 11 number-one industry. Agriculture will decline 12 in New York State, agriculture will not be 13 competitive, agriculture jobs will leave 14 New York State for other states like Wisconsin 15 that had the wisdom, even after they enacted 16 this legislation, to repeal it because it did 17 not make sense. 18 Madam President, I urge everyone to 19 reject this proposal and vote no. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 21 Nozzolio to be recorded in the negative. 22 Senator Ranzenhofer, on the bill. 23 SENATOR RANZENHOFER: Thank you, 24 Madam President. 25 Just briefly, I rise in opposition
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 to this bill for a number of reasons. And 2 quite frankly, I thought we had addressed many 3 of these issues which are being raised this 4 evening in very extensive hearings earlier in 5 the year. 6 At the hearings earlier in the year 7 it became pretty apparent to anybody who 8 attended or read the transcripts that this is 9 a bill which is bad for the farmers and it's 10 bad for the farmworkers. This is a bill 11 that's great for other states. This bill is 12 good for Pennsylvania. This bill is good for 13 Massachusetts, for Canada. Because what will 14 happen is you will take those farmworkers and 15 those farms that are now in New York, you will 16 close down the farms in New York and all the 17 workers will go to another state. 18 This is bad for business. As a 19 matter of fact, during the hearing not only 20 was this bill opposed, or a very similar form 21 of this bill opposed by the Governor's labor 22 commissioner, it was also opposed by the 23 agricultural commissioner, because it's not 24 good for New Yorkers. 25 In dealing with some of the issues
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 that we talked about there, right now you have 2 farmers in this state who, in order to attract 3 workers, have to provide health benefits, have 4 to provide days off, have to provide overtime 5 right now. So what you have is -- and this 6 was -- we did some commentary after the bill 7 was rejected. And one of the farmers in my 8 district, Dale Stein, said, "Where can you go 9 in New York State without a high school 10 education and earn $35,000 a year with 11 benefits?" This is what you have here. 12 You have farmworkers who are not in 13 favor of this, you have farmers who are not in 14 favor of this. And I just want to talk a 15 little bit about the allegations that were 16 made here this evening and again at the 17 hearing about all the different forms of 18 harassment and abuse that has taken place. 19 In my district we have a reporter 20 from Genesee County who went undercover for 21 the summer in response to a lot of these 22 allegations, went to the farms throughout my 23 community. No one knew that he was a 24 reporter. And each and every one of you has a 25 copy of his book on your desk; it was
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 delivered to you earlier in the year. I don't 2 know if anybody read the book. But if you 3 took the time to read the book, you'll hear 4 the accounts of what really happens. Not 5 what's exaggerated, not what's fabricated, but 6 by somebody who went and lived among the 7 farmworkers for a long period of time and 8 dispelled a lot of these notions and a lot of 9 these rumors and a lot of these reports which 10 are being made here tonight, which were being 11 made at the hearing. 12 I'm not saying that an isolated 13 case doesn't exist here and there. But this 14 report, unbiased, by a reporter, no ax to 15 grind one way or the other, reported that this 16 is a bunch of nonsense, it doesn't happen. 17 And this is an individual who lived among the 18 farmworkers for months. 19 So in summary, what I'd like to say 20 is bad bill, bad process, bad for the workers, 21 bad for the farmers, bad for New York State. 22 I'll be voting against this bill. Thank you. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 24 Ranzenhofer to be recorded in the negative. 25 Senator Larkin, on the bill.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR LARKIN: Thank you, Madam 2 President. 3 You know, I've listened to this. I 4 remember a hearing about 10 or 12 years ago. 5 And the biggest charade about it was that they 6 had all these advocates, and all these 7 advocates belonged to a special-interest 8 group. And what they were worried about was 9 they wanted to go to court and they wanted to 10 sue the farmer. 11 And the outcome of it was the fact 12 that the awards that they were making and the 13 courts were awarding them, my big question to 14 this one lawyer was, "And now what happens to 15 this $350,000 that you achieved?" And, quite 16 honestly, he looked at me and he said, 17 "Senator, that belongs to our legal 18 organization. We represented them." 19 You represented them, you got the 20 350, and what did you do with it? You put it 21 in your pocket. You did nothing for the 22 farmworkers. 23 And I'm insulted when someone 24 knocks these farmers. I'd like to know how 25 many people have ever gone out to some of our
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 farms upstate and really talked to some of the 2 farmers and talked to some of the people. 3 Two weeks ago I went out to Goshen, 4 in my district, and I asked some of them would 5 you like this to happen and leave? And this 6 gentleman said to me in perfect English -- 7 he's been here 15 years -- he said, "My 8 children go to St. Joseph's School, they 9 participate in this here, I would never want 10 to change it." He said, "If I owned this 11 farm, I got news for you. People would be 12 working harder." 13 He said, "If I go back to the 14 country where I was, my children wouldn't have 15 this school opportunity. My wife wouldn't 16 have a refrigerator, a dishwasher. And I 17 wouldn't be treated like a decent human being 18 like I am." 19 What we're saying here tonight is 20 that our farmers are the bottom of the pit of 21 a cesspool, that all they're doing is greed 22 for money. Probably the only one here that 23 knows where it's at is Senator Breslin. I 24 worked over in Menands at Harry Abel's farm -- 25 you probably don't remember, you're too young,
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Neil -- and there were a bunch of us from 2 Troy, Menands, went to that farm to work. 3 And we worked Saturdays. We worked 4 Sundays. Because you know why? Our families 5 didn't have a lot. Harry Abel treated us as 6 decent people, paid us every day that we 7 worked. 8 But what you're trying to do here, 9 Senator Espada -- and I appreciate what you're 10 trying to do because of a special feeling and 11 compassion. Nobody is going to deny you that. 12 But when you try to tell and demean 13 our farmers, make them as if they are the 14 world's worst -- what would happen if we 15 closed the farms? Well, the vegetable growers 16 of Orange County will tell you: We will close 17 up, we'll leave. Why will we? Because we 18 can't produce the vegetables and market them 19 and make decent salary to pay our employees 20 and to have something for ourselves. 21 I mean, I think this is asinine. 22 It's already gone through a lot of hearings. 23 And Senator Espada is talking about someone 24 that had an incident and didn't do it. Come 25 on. If one person seen it on the farm, a lot
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 of the others did. 2 Some of you ought to go and visit 3 some of the farms, and you'll find these 4 people, they're very happy with their 5 quarters. They're very happy that they're 6 involved in everything in the community. Lot 7 of our places, we have community centers where 8 we make sure that whatever is needed is 9 provided to them. 10 And I take offense. I don't sit on 11 the Ag Committee anymore, but I used to years 12 ago. And I know a lot of these farmers and I 13 know a lot of their workers who come back 14 continuously. When we talk about some of the 15 problems we have in agriculture, some of you 16 ought to talk to your Congressmen and United 17 States Senators from New York and tell them to 18 do something about helping us with our storms 19 that they talk big and do press releases and 20 do not a damn thing to help the farmers. 21 Because when you don't help the farm owners, 22 you don't help the employees. 23 I think to pass this bill, in my 24 district it will be the end of a lot of farms. 25 Right now, with the competitiveness that's out
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 there and what's coming in from China, South 2 America, a few other places, our farmers are 3 struggling to make ends meet. And when you 4 start to demean them, my question is why do 5 they come back if we're so bad? Why out 6 there, I can tell you names of five farms that 7 are trying to bring somebody in. They can't 8 come in. The federal government's got rules 9 and regs on them. 10 But why are you so aggressive about 11 saying we're going to do something for the 12 worker, we're going to do A, B, C and D? 13 ACTING PRESIDENT CRAIG JOHNSON: 14 Senator Espada, why do you rise? 15 SENATOR ESPADA: I would just ask 16 that my beloved Senator Larkin yield for a 17 question. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT CRAIG JOHNSON: 19 Senator Larkin, will you yield for a question? 20 SENATOR LARKIN: I most certainly 21 will, Senator. 22 SENATOR ESPADA: I have great 23 respect for you, Senator. Just go with me for 24 a moment. 25 Fifty-five hours a week, 60 hours a
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 week, 70 hours a week, 80 hours a week, seven 2 days a week, do you not think that any worker 3 in our state deserves a day of rest? 4 SENATOR LARKIN: I most certainly 5 do, Senator. 6 And just knowing that you were 7 going to ask that, I prepared myself before, 8 and I went out to eight farms in my district. 9 Some of them are working 40, 45 hours, 10 sometimes 50. Don't forget, when the 11 weatherman says it's going to pour rain on 12 Monday and here's this crop that's got to be 13 done and Monday you'll never get to it, they 14 work Sundays. 15 Now, if you owned a business and 16 someone said it's going to flood tomorrow, or 17 it's going to snow, you open up so that they 18 can have shovels or whatever else there is. 19 I'm not saying it doesn't exist. 20 Let's address that problem. But what you're 21 doing is taking -- just like the media does 22 and says we're dysfunctional, instead of 23 identifying who "they" is. 24 SENATOR ESPADA: Through you, 25 Mr. President, if I could just follow up.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT CRAIG JOHNSON: 2 Do you wish to ask Senator Larkin to yield 3 again, Senator Espada? 4 SENATOR ESPADA: Yes, I do, 5 Mr. President. 6 SENATOR LARKIN: Yes. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT CRAIG JOHNSON: 8 Senator Larkin yields. 9 SENATOR ESPADA: Thank you, 10 Senator Larkin. 11 You are aware that in this bill 12 that the worker can waive that rest day; that 13 is, they would be going back to the fields 14 after a very long week after all those long 15 days, and they would continue to work, but the 16 only reciprocity that they would have is 17 time-and-a-half that is available to every 18 other worker in our state. 19 Is there any good reason to exempt 20 them from that? 21 SENATOR LARKIN: You know, the 22 Farm Bureau has told me, and I'm sure others, 23 that they agree with the day of rest. 24 But what you're trying to pin 25 down -- and I say, again, I appreciate your
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 compassion for them. But don't you think the 2 farmers who own that farm have appreciation of 3 their workers? I know farmers who've had 4 people 15 and 20 years. If they were not 5 good, Pedro, I think you'd agree with me that 6 you wouldn't want to go back to work where 7 your conditions were that bad. Or if you were 8 here and your home and others were provided 9 for you, you would be proud to go and work for 10 some of these people. 11 I mean, a lot of people in this 12 chamber here who are talking about this have 13 never visited a farm, never. And I'm saying 14 to you there's a time and a place. But I also 15 think that what you're going to do here is 16 you're going to diminish the opportunities for 17 these individuals that come here on an annual 18 basis, and some that have stayed here for 19 years. Their opportunity for pride, 20 progression of their families, will diminish 21 because there will be no farm there. 22 And I don't think that that's your 23 intention. I know that personally that that's 24 not your intention. But what you're doing 25 here tonight, I would suggest to you that
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 somebody's worrying about saving face. I 2 don't think there's a thing about saving face. 3 But if you really want to do this, 4 I think that you, Senator Aubertine, Cathy, 5 and a group of the rest of us here that have a 6 clear interest in it really take this on the 7 road and do a site evaluation ourself. 8 Because you'll get people to say if there's 9 something wrong. 10 You might not think so, but when 11 you say that -- and my good friend Senator 12 Nozzolio covered it. If there are as major 13 issues that we think they are, maybe we'd 14 better start looking at Farmer's Almanac and 15 we'll find out how bad the weathers are going 16 to be and find out what we're going to do. 17 But what we're trying to do here is 18 take a little beetle and slam him with a 19 sledgehammer. And that's going to kill him. 20 And that's going to kill this industry that is 21 so vital to us in America. 22 SENATOR ESPADA: Again, through 23 you, Mr. President, I will reserve -- in the 24 interest of time and out of respect for you, 25 Senator, I will reserve many of these comments
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 that I'm trying to make through these 2 questions when I explain the bill further 3 later on. 4 But if I might just ask one more 5 question. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT CRAIG JOHNSON: 7 Senator Larkin, do you yield for one more 8 question? 9 SENATOR LARKIN: Certainly, 10 Senator. 11 SENATOR ESPADA: We know each 12 other, we've served -- well, I've served here 13 four terms. You've been here more terms. But 14 each of those terms that I've served here, I 15 had the distinct pleasure of serving with you. 16 And you know that it is not the 17 intent of this legislation to bring harm and 18 disrepute to farmers. The intent of this 19 legislation, says the commissioner of the 20 Department of Labor, in that very same hearing 21 that you referenced that came before the 22 Agriculture Committee, is to give very basic 23 protections to workers -- the same kind of 24 protections, again, that all other workers 25 enjoy.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 And also I should note that the 2 Labor Committee had this very bill that you 3 referenced that was before the Agriculture 4 Committee. And since this is a labor issue, 5 the Labor Committee did analyze it and did 6 pass it. And in defiance of Senate rules, 7 somehow the bill made its way to another 8 Senator here who I have utmost respect for but 9 clearly has an inherent conflict of interest, 10 in my opinion -- a colleague of mine, a member 11 of my conference, the Democratic Conference -- 12 and then testimony was had. But testimony had 13 been had throughout the state. 14 But with reference to this 15 particular hearing, you will note that the 16 Commissioner of Labor said we needed these 17 protections, that the Governor has said that 18 he would sign them, that the Assembly has 19 passed, that Senator Aubertine as an 20 Assemblyman voted for these protections. 21 And so there is, beyond this 22 so-called rhetoric of trying to bring harm to 23 farmers, there are farmers themselves, I have 24 letters from farmers saying the time has come 25 for these protections. There are editorial
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 boards throughout the state. Every labor 2 union in this state is for this, interfaith 3 councils are for this. 4 So I ask you, isn't it, isn't it 5 clear and evident that this is not about 6 hurting anyone, it's about helping to usher in 7 a new era of worker protections for 8 farmworkers. 9 SENATOR LARKIN: I still 10 appreciate your compassion. But when you say 11 to me the editorial boards -- you know what, 12 show me an editorial board that's ever been 13 out picking corn, picking apples, going out 14 protecting from mudslides. They're sitting 15 behind a white desk in a nice coffee shop and 16 telling you about it. 17 Mr. Espada, if you want to do 18 something for the farmworkers, I think you'd 19 go back to step one and say I've never seen 20 anybody from the Department of Labor in this 21 administration or the previous in the farms in 22 my area. And I've checked them. Have you 23 ever seen them? No, the only time they come 24 by is when the advocates come by to say are 25 you working too many hours, are you doing
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 this, and the next thing you know there's a 2 lawsuit. 3 And as I said before, that advocacy 4 picked up X number of dollars. And what did 5 the insulted individuals get? They got zero. 6 SENATOR ESPADA: Thank you, 7 Senator Larkin. 8 Thank you, Mr. President. 9 SENATOR LARKIN: Madam President, 10 all I have to say is if we're really serious 11 about the industry, the agriculture industry, 12 and we're interested in the workers -- we keep 13 talking about the workers. But nobody talks 14 about the person who has to do the 15 organization of the farm, pay the bills, do 16 all of the other things. We forget him. 17 Because without that individual, you wouldn't 18 need all these workers. 19 Thank you. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 21 Larkin to be recorded in the negative. 22 Senator Saland, on the bill. 23 SENATOR SALAND: Thank you, Madam 24 President. 25 Madam President, Senator Espada
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 certainly was appropriate in making reference 2 to the legacy of Cesar Chavez and what he did 3 in California. But I would respectfully 4 submit that comparing California, and 5 certainly California in the 1970s, and 6 New York would be like comparing apples and 7 oranges or, perhaps more appropriately, apples 8 and grapes. They have very little in common, 9 as do the agricultural practices in either of 10 the states have very little in common. 11 California and a number of other 12 states -- states in the Midwest, some areas of 13 the South -- have large corporate farms. 14 New York lacks for large corporate farms. 15 New York's agricultural industry is based on 16 small family farms, people barely getting by, 17 people who have in all likelihood a legacy or 18 a tradition that binds them to the earth, that 19 binds them to the practice of farming. 20 They're doing what their fathers did, they're 21 doing perhaps what their grandfathers or their 22 great-grandfathers did. 23 The likelihood is if they stood 24 back and looked at their plight, the extremely 25 high cost of electricity, property taxes, the
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 vagaries of the weather -- New York is not 2 exactly a Sunbelt state. It's not California. 3 It's certainly not the Southeast. New York is 4 subject to weather -- they would probably 5 scratch their heads and say why am I doing 6 this. 7 Now, the community I grew up in at 8 one time was very heavily agricultural. And 9 as the outflow from the metropolitan area came 10 out, folks couldn't afford to hang onto their 11 property and farm. Many of those farms right 12 now are shopping strips, they're subdivisions. 13 But I do have a number of farms in both the 14 Dutchess County portion of my district and 15 even more so in the Columbia County portion. 16 Not a single solitary one of them is a 17 corporate farm. 18 Now, it's easy to use the 19 expression "dirt poor." Nobody is making a 20 lot of money farming in my district. They're 21 doing it because, in effect, it is virtually 22 their heritage, it's what they do, it's what 23 they know how to do. 24 When Senator Espada said -- and I 25 don't know how he got there; his assertion, if
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 it's correct, is that it doesn't apply to 2 96 percent of the farms. Well, if that's the 3 case, there's no need for this bill. Why 4 would you need this bill if it doesn't apply 5 to 96 percent of the farms? I mean, that's an 6 oxymoron. So obviously it applies to more 7 than 96 percent of the farms. 8 And in fact, in your bill you 9 reduce from $20,000 to $6250 the threshold per 10 quarter for the payment of unemployment 11 insurance, and I believe also workers' comp, 12 another burden on that poor farmer, the one 13 who you imply is ravaging innocent women. 14 When you say there's no intention 15 to disrepudiate, it certainly seemed to me 16 from your comments -- I didn't attend the 17 hearing -- that was one of the things you at 18 the very least were implying. 19 And I would respectfully submit to 20 you that when it comes to editorial boards, if 21 in fact they've ever set foot on a farm, it's 22 when they visited a friend's winery or perhaps 23 their horse farm. The likelihood that they've 24 ever set foot on a real farm is pretty slim, 25 I'd say slim to none, particularly those who
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 write for the New York City newspapers, who in 2 all likelihood get the bends when they get 3 north of the Bronx unless they're visiting 4 their friends in Westchester or in the 5 Hamptons. And I'm not sure there's any farms 6 left in either Westchester or the Hamptons 7 unless of course they're horse farms. 8 This is about small business. Now, 9 there is nothing that I have heard in my 10 district nor one single solitary complaint 11 that I have received that says somehow or 12 other the people who work in these farms are 13 being abused. I've been to a number of farms. 14 To the extent that they have a modest number 15 of temporary workers and some perhaps 16 full-time workers, they certainly seem 17 comfortable in their jobs. 18 We have daycare centers that work 19 with the children in my district that work on 20 these farms. There's every effort to try and 21 accommodate the people who work on these farms 22 where in fact the farmer can afford to hire 23 these people. 24 So for those of you who haven't 25 gotten north of the Bronx or haven't gotten
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 beyond Westchester County, what you should 2 do -- it would be very enlightening -- is to 3 drive up to Central New York, drive up to the 4 Adirondacks, drive out to Western New York. I 5 was just in the Finger Lakes region several 6 weeks ago. Some lovely towns, some lovely 7 towns in the area. A disproportionate number 8 of boarded-up stores, areas that certainly 9 look like they desperately needed economic 10 development, not really a formula or 11 legislation that was going to detract from 12 their economic well-being. 13 The cornerstones of upstate 14 New York historically were manufacturing and 15 agriculture. Well, manufacturing at best is a 16 shadow of its former self. And we won't delve 17 into why that has happened. Farming remains a 18 mainstay. And what you will do here will be, 19 as I believe was mentioned a bit earlier, be 20 part of the death knell, something akin to 21 driving a stake through the heart of the 22 agricultural industry in upstate New York. 23 This is an issue that certainly has 24 great popularity in the media. This is an 25 issue that certainly can tug at heartstrings.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 But when people from my district first went 2 north because they couldn't afford to farm in 3 my district any longer, further north and 4 further west, and when people move out of 5 state if they want to continue to farm -- 6 because, again, it's a heritage thing for 7 many -- we cannot continue to put obstacles in 8 their paths. 9 We cannot continue to create 10 disincentives for them to do what has been 11 part of their -- who wants to get up at that 12 godawful hour in the morning and go and either 13 work the fields or worry about bringing a 14 harvest in, trying to beat the weather, 15 worrying about when you have to milk your 16 cows? There's no one in this room, with the 17 possible exception of Senator Aubertine, who 18 knows what it's like or, if they knew what it 19 was like, would be willing to do it. Oh, I 20 take -- Senator Young, also, I should mention. 21 So why would you want to dance on 22 the grave of upstate New York? I'll leave you 23 with that. Why would you want to dance on the 24 grave of upstate New York? 25 Thank you, Madam President.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 2 Saland to be recorded in the negative. 3 Senator Little, on the bill. 4 SENATOR LITTLE: Thank you, Madam 5 President. 6 First of all, I join my colleagues 7 in being quite surprised to have this bill 8 presented to us this late in the day, this 9 late in the year, especially after this 10 bill -- a similar bill -- failed in the 11 Agriculture Committee. 12 But my greatest concern is for the 13 farmers in my district. I represent six 14 counties, three of whom have a great number of 15 farms: Washington, Clinton County, and 16 Franklin County. However, they have far fewer 17 farms than they had five, six, 10 years ago, 18 because each and every year we can document 19 that the number of farms in the North Country 20 gets smaller and smaller. And the reason it 21 gets smaller is because of the expense of 22 trying to manage a farm and make it profitable 23 when you have property taxes, high 24 regulations, all kinds of increased costs with 25 your ancillary products, and the weather to
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 contend with all at once. Utilities cost; 2 energy for our farmers in New York State is 3 very high as well. So the cost goes up and up 4 and up, and yet the profit and the revenue 5 from their product does not go up. 6 I have many apple orchards in the 7 Champlain Valley in Washington County, and 8 those farmers producing the apples in those 9 apple orchards have to contend with bringing 10 in workers from a foreign country in order to 11 pick the apples for that five or six weeks in 12 the fall. They pay adverse impact minimum 13 wages, which is much higher than the average 14 minimum wage in New York State. They also pay 15 the transportation, they provide housing, and 16 many of them provide special meals and cooks 17 to come in with them. 18 They also have increased 19 regulations on what they can use on their 20 land, pesticides that they can use, and how 21 they grow their apples, how they store their 22 apples, and how they bring their apples to 23 market. 24 And yet when they get to the market 25 in the cities, they are side by side with
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 apples from foreign countries that are not 2 under those regulations, that do not have 3 those costs, and they have to compete with 4 that price, which becomes harder and harder to 5 do. 6 The bill before us is going to 7 increase their costs enormously. Farmers in 8 my district have all spoken to me about how 9 onerous this bill is to them and the fact that 10 it's going to really make them question 11 whether or not they can remain in the farming 12 business. 13 We all talk about New York State 14 wine and making that a better product for 15 New York State. We're increasing the cost of 16 producing wine in New York State through this 17 bill. 18 I have a cheese plant in northern 19 New York. It's Cabot Cheese; it's the pride 20 of New York. We're increasing the cost to 21 them of being able to produce it. 22 So I would have to question all of 23 my colleagues -- you know, I know many of you 24 from the city look at this differently. But 25 today we have big promotions that say buy
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 locally, know where your food is being 2 produced, know what kind of food and what 3 regulations and how the food is grown. You 4 are going to find yourselves purchasing food 5 from other states, other countries, and no 6 longer being able to buy your product from 7 New York State if we continue to make 8 agriculture in New York State more and more 9 expensive while the profit gets smaller and 10 smaller. And we're going to lose more farms 11 as a result. 12 Certainly I vote no, and I hope 13 that most of my colleagues here will vote no, 14 understanding what they are doing with this 15 piece of legislation. Thank you. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 17 Little to be recorded in the negative. 18 Senator Maziarz, on the bill. 19 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you very 20 much, Madam President. On the bill. 21 You know, I think we all come here, 22 we're very passionate. My friends on the 23 other side of the aisle are very passionate 24 about their issues, and we are about ours. 25 And, you know, we hold these hearings and we
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 have advocates who are also very passionate, 2 and they come in and they attempt to convince 3 us of the righteousness of their cause and of 4 their opinion on a particular issue. 5 And, you know, I think sometimes 6 reality, reality is put in the background, or 7 it's not -- you know, the reality of jobs and 8 of trying to do business in New York State 9 takes a back seat to everyone's passion. 10 You know, I live in an area where 11 my neighbors are all farmers. Some of my 12 family members operate farms in this state. 13 And the reality is -- let's just take an 14 instance of the dairy industry. And I know 15 that Senator Young and Senator Volker and 16 Senator Nozzolio and others represent farm 17 areas; I think they know this. You know, 18 New York used to have hundreds and hundreds of 19 dairy operations. My wife's family had a 20 dairy operation. 21 You know, today, with technology 22 and with the improved processing of milk, they 23 can ship milk into New York today from Ohio, 24 from Indiana, from West Virginia, particularly 25 from Pennsylvania, and it stays on the store
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 shelves now much longer than what it used to 2 be. So there's a lack of that dependence on 3 that small farmer down the street. 4 What the reality of this bill is 5 going to be is that it's going to drive more 6 small farmers out of business in New York. 7 It's going to improve the farming community in 8 our surrounding states, because that's where 9 the food products are going to be coming from. 10 And I know and I respect my 11 colleagues on the other side of the aisle, but 12 the reality is that this is going to result in 13 less farms. It's certainly going to put out 14 small family farms; I think this is probably 15 the death knell for them. 16 But the purpose of this bill is to 17 help farmworkers. This is actually going to 18 hurt farmworkers. There are going to be less 19 opportunities in New York State, I guarantee 20 you, if this bill is successful here today. 21 And I think it's important -- 22 Senator Nozzolio mentioned it -- you know, 23 because I think there's this perception again 24 out there that farmworkers in New York State 25 are totally unregulated, that nobody looks out
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 for their best interests. First of all, the 2 reality is -- and I have sat at kitchen tables 3 with farmers and their farmworkers, all eating 4 at the same table at the same time, with all 5 of their kids involved. 6 But the reality is that -- and 7 Senator Nozzolio I think pointed it out very 8 correctly -- that there are federal farm labor 9 standards, there are New York State farm labor 10 standards, there are DEC standards, there are 11 EPA standards, there are so many standards, so 12 many protections in place today that it just 13 doesn't jibe with reality that farmworkers are 14 not protected in this state today. 15 I don't know, I think this vote is 16 probably going to be very close. It's getting 17 very late. Madam President, I would just say 18 to my friends on the other side of the aisle, 19 take it from somebody who lives with farm 20 families, who talks with farm families every 21 day that I happen to be at home -- and I wish 22 that was more days than I am -- this bill is 23 not good for the agriculture industry in the 24 State of New York, and I will be voting in the 25 negative.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Thank you very much, Madam 2 President, for the time. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 4 Maziarz to be recorded in the negative. 5 Senator Young, on the bill. 6 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you, Madam 7 President. I just want to set the record 8 straight on something that Senator Espada 9 said. 10 He said, according to what one of 11 the staff members wrote down as he was 12 speaking, that during the hearing that we had 13 I allegedly said to someone who said she was 14 sexually assaulted, he said that I said "if 15 you didn't report it, it didn't happen." That 16 is patently false. That is just another 17 outrageous statement from Senator Espada. And 18 those are the kinds of arguments that really 19 demean any kind of debate. 20 So I just want to the set the 21 record straight in this chamber. And again, I 22 will be voting no on this legislation because 23 it's a job killer, it kills upstate, it kills 24 Long Island farms, and it's a very, very bad 25 bill.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Thank you, Madam President. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 3 Young continues to be in the negative. 4 Senator Schneiderman, on the bill. 5 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you, 6 Madam President. I rise in support of this 7 legislation. 8 And I think we are losing sight of 9 what we're talking about here. We're talking 10 about fundamental rights that are owed to 11 every human being that works in the State of 12 New York. We're talking about the essential 13 American idea that all men and women should be 14 created equal. 15 What's in this bill is that the 16 workers at the very largest farms, only the 17 top 4 percent of farms, will be entitled to 18 collective bargaining protections that are 19 available to every other type of worker. 20 We're talking about one day of rest in 21 seven -- and an optional day of rest, at that. 22 We're talking about overtime pay if you work 23 more than 55 hours a week -- not 40 hours a 24 week, as is provided for other workers. We're 25 talking about minimum standards of decency for
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 our fellow human beings. 2 And I think -- I feel as though 3 this argument that, well, this is going to be 4 expensive, this is going to cost money, is 5 really missing the point. And I know that 6 there are my colleagues here who are people of 7 good conscience who have concerns, but I feel 8 like we're in a little bit of a time warp. 9 Justice costs money, ladies and 10 gentlemen. The idea of the United States is 11 we are going to spend money to make sure we 12 have a just society. Jury trials cost money. 13 Making sure all of our children have schools 14 where they can get a sound basic education 15 costs money. And justice for working people 16 costs money. 17 When we decided as a nation that 18 working men and women would have collective 19 rights to organize and fight for themselves, 20 some workers were left out for reasons that 21 had to do with racism, for reasons that had to 22 do with a lot of things that we should be 23 ashamed of today. 24 This bill corrects a historic 25 wrong. Earlier this year we took one of those
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 categories of workers, domestic workers, and 2 under the leadership of Senator Savino we 3 brought them forward into the American ideal 4 of equal justice under law. This bill would 5 take the last group of workers, farmworkers, 6 and bring them forward to participate fully in 7 our society, to be treated fully as human 8 beings as every other working man and woman 9 should be in this country. 10 This bill is about basic justice. 11 Do not get sidetracked. There are states that 12 provide overtime. The largest agricultural 13 state in the country, California, already does 14 it. They haven't gone out of business. 15 We're not -- and people are saying, 16 oh, we're going to have to buy fruits and 17 vegetables from China. Our goal is not to pay 18 people the same wages and provide the same 19 benefits that are provided in China. And 20 anyone who's making that argument I think is 21 falling off the train that is the United 22 States as we move forward towards more 23 equality, towards more justice, towards making 24 Thomas Jefferson's words ever more true that 25 all men and women are created equal.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Let us move forward again tonight. 2 Ladies and gentlemen, justice costs money. 3 The enterprise of the United States costs 4 money. All who contribute, all who work 5 should share in the collective wealth that we 6 create together. This corrects a wrong and 7 bringings farmworkers into the same sunshine 8 as other workers in this country. I think 9 it's inconsistent with our duties as Americans 10 to vote against this bill, quite frankly. 11 And I'd like to close with a 12 statement that I think tells us what we have 13 to do on this bill: "Labor of human beings is 14 not a commodity nor an article of commerce and 15 shall never be so considered or construed." 16 Labor of human beings is not a commodity. 17 This is not from the Communist Manifesto, this 18 is from Article 1, Section 17 of the 19 Constitution of the State of New York. 20 Let's live up to our constitutional 21 duties. I urge everyone to vote yes. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 23 Schneiderman to be recorded in the 24 affirmative. 25 Senator O. Johnson, on the bill.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR OWEN JOHNSON: Thank you, 2 Madam President. 3 You know, I heard before that only 4 one fellow here ever lived or worked on a 5 farm, but I was born on a farm. I lived on a 6 farm a good part of my life until I joined the 7 Marines at 17. And it was my grandfather's 8 farm. 9 And I know that there's a lot of 10 difference between New York and California, 11 and we have seasons here -- the spring, 12 summer, fall and the season to plow your 13 fields, the season to plant your crops, the 14 season to cultivate the crops, the season to 15 pick the crops. 16 And that's got nothing to do -- 17 this bill is very impractical when you think 18 about. You can't work more than so many hours 19 a day, you can't work on the weekends. You 20 plant when you have to. And we are also 21 subject to something called the weather -- not 22 only the climate, but the weather. And when 23 the weather lets you, you go out in the field 24 and you do it, and when it doesn't, you can't. 25 Now, it would be very hard for a
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 small farmer, a dirt farmer, which we had 2 18 acres of weeds and crops and everything 3 like that. When you have that much work to 4 do, you have to do it when it has to be done. 5 Mother Nature tells you. And the crops, 6 depending on how fast they grow, they show you 7 when to pick them. And when the weeds start 8 getting in there, they show you when to 9 cultivate and get the weeds out of the rows of 10 the food. 11 So the simple fact is this bill is 12 impractical. There are already so much 13 regulations, so many restrictions that you 14 could hardly run a small farm like we had 15 years ago. You certainly couldn't hire anyone 16 to work because they want a certain day off 17 every week. You can't do that. Then you want 18 the weekend off when you have to take the crop 19 in. 20 So I'm saying it's very impractical 21 and I think it's very difficult and it would 22 make a lot of farmers discouraged to think 23 that they can have some interloper come and 24 tell them, You made this guy work too many 25 hours last week, you've got to get out of here
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 and fill these papers out. 2 We don't need all that stuff. 3 Small farmers, a big part of this state, small 4 farmers, they really know how to run their 5 business. They have workers' comp, they have 6 disability, they have all the other things 7 that you have to have. But they don't need 8 somebody else looking over their shoulder and 9 telling them you let that guy work too many 10 hours in addition to that. 11 It just -- what can I say? It was 12 a great life on the farm. I grew up to be a 13 nice boy. And that's about it. So -- but I 14 think the bill should not be adopted in its 15 present form. 16 Thank you. I vote no. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 18 O. Johnson to be recorded in the negative. 19 Senator Bonacic, on the bill. 20 SENATOR BONACIC: Thank you, 21 Madam President. 22 I will be brief. I think my 23 colleagues on this side of the aisle have 24 spoken eloquently of the activities of 25 farming.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 I will just tell you that I was 2 born and raised in Manhattan. I came to 3 Orange County and I ran as a county 4 legislator, and I got elected and my district 5 was the black dirt industry. Now, the black 6 dirt is in Pine Island. I didn't know 7 anything about farming. But I found myself, 8 in order to do my job better as a legislator, 9 going to the farms, including produce farms, 10 dairy farms, milking a cow and trying to 11 trying to understood their life and their 12 habits. 13 What I did see was the farmers put 14 health centers in to take care of the workers. 15 They had daycare. They had extended families. 16 These same workers came from all different 17 parts of the world, and they kept coming back 18 to the same farms for 10 to 20 years. So for 19 the farmer, this was his extended family that 20 provided the work so he could survive. 21 If we were to proceed with this 22 legislation on the smaller farmers, it is the 23 kiss of death and it is a job killer. The 24 John Deere people who sell equipment to the 25 farmers -- farmers don't have the money to pay
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 for the equipment to run the farms; they give 2 them paper. Livestock, the grain, the feed, 3 they give it to the farmers all on credit. 4 And you know who really owns the 5 farms? The banks own the farms. Because 6 what's happened to the dairy industry, you 7 heard it over and over again. The milk prices 8 which you get on the open market doesn't pay 9 for their costs of production. So what did 10 they do? They say, "Boy, we've hit a terrible 11 time, we're going to go borrow some more. 12 Let's hope the bank gives us some more money 13 so we can get through the next 12 months, this 14 recessionary period. Maybe the milk prices 15 will go up and we can keep our farms." 16 So if we put this level of expense 17 on top of the farms, the banks will own the 18 farms, they will foreclose, because the 19 farmers will not have the ability to pay. 20 When the upstate banks own the farms, there's 21 not much demand for the subdivision market 22 upstate because, you know, I don't have to 23 tell you about what's happened to the real 24 estate market. New construction is probably 25 nil.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 So you don't realize the ripple 2 effect of what this will do to put farms out 3 of business. I'm not even talking about the 4 quality and the safety of the food. It will 5 certainly drive consumer prices up if this 6 bill gets passed. If we have less farms and 7 we import more, whether it's China, Chile, or 8 any other foreign countries, we have -- and 9 I'm not here to throw a new element in, but 10 agricultural terrorism is something that we 11 have looked at over the years as a form of 12 hurting America. And I'm not dramatizing. 13 My point is food grown in New York 14 is watched closely for quality, safety. And 15 if you put this layer of expense on, you will 16 not only kill the farmer but all those 17 horizontal industries who service the farms. 18 It will be a job killer. 19 I know your heart is in the right 20 place, Senator. You want to be more humane. 21 But when Senator Schneiderman stands up and 22 talks about the philosophy of justice -- 23 social justice, by the way, should be borne by 24 society as a whole and not as employers who 25 are struggling to create jobs and are trying
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 to survive. And the philosophy of the 2 Constitution on social justice does not pay 3 the farmers' bills. And I don't have to tell 4 Senator Aubertine the costs of energy in this 5 state and the tax burden in trying to make a 6 living. 7 So for all those reasons, this is a 8 very bad public policy bill. It shows a lack 9 of understanding of the culture of Manhattan 10 and the culture of upstate. As an Assemblyman 11 I tried to get my Assembly people from the 12 city to come up to the farms, spend a day, do 13 a tour, get more acquainted. We didn't have 14 much luck with that. 15 I know your intentions are noble, 16 but it's not going to work for this particular 17 industry. I think it will do much more 18 economical devastation than it will be for the 19 rising tide of the workers you're trying to 20 protect. 21 And the last point I want to 22 make -- I didn't make the argument with 23 domestic workers, but it's the same argument 24 with farmworkers or domestic workers -- they 25 come to this country for opportunity. And
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 whether they're legals or illegals, let's 2 leave that aside. But they find a job here, 3 they survive. And, you know, their children 4 get medical benefits if they go into the 5 hospital, and they get into our education 6 system. And they're getting opportunities 7 that they could never get from the country 8 from whence they came. 9 Now, maybe they would like to do 10 better, like all of us would like to do 11 better. But they -- when you start talking of 12 social justice to the extent that they're 13 being punished or somehow deprived or 14 degraded, if things were better in their 15 country, they would never come here, they 16 would stay there, and take the jobs and have a 17 better quality of life. 18 So I would say, in conclusion, this 19 would be a devastating job killer for upstate 20 New York. I vote no. 21 Thank you, Madam President. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 23 Bonacic to be recorded in the negative. 24 Senator Espada, again on the bill. 25 SENATOR ESPADA: Again, thank
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 you, Madam President. 2 I neglected in my opening comments 3 to thank labor champion Senator Onorato. I 4 thank him especially for allowing me the room 5 to give this voice and advocacy the same kind 6 of voice and advocacy that he gave so many 7 years and continues to apply to these 8 endeavors. 9 I wish to thank also the Justice 10 for Farmworkers campaign so who for so many 11 years toiled in the vineyards to get 12 attention, to answer many of the questions. 13 The arguments haven't changed, 14 Madam President. Seventy years ago the 15 business model arguments were the same. In 16 fact, you could go back to -- and I know folks 17 don't want to hear this. The truth is 18 painful. But the fact of the matter is there 19 are direct parallels with slave labor. It was 20 cheaper, it was better. Folks that understood 21 their own benevolence thought that they 22 weren't doing any harm. 23 And comparisons about what happens 24 in other states, let me just say California 25 has these provisions in this bill; they're
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 doing fine. Hawaii has these provisions; 2 they're doing fine. Maryland's doing fine, 3 Minnesota's doing fine. My birthplace, 4 Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico 5 is doing fine. 6 I'm a city kid from the South 7 Bronx, but my grandparents had to toil in the 8 fields dealing with sugarcane and tobacco in 9 Puerto Rico. I was born on a farm. 10 So there are no unique experiences 11 here. No one owns complete truth. But the 12 facts, the facts are that the business model 13 argument has prevailed for far too long. 14 There will not be an economic meltdown of the 15 agricultural farming industry in this state. 16 And the question has been asked and 17 I think it should be answered who supports 18 this besides people who know no better. Well, 19 the people we represent support this. In a 20 statewide poll, protection for farmworkers and 21 equal rights, 79 percent -- upstate, rural, 22 downstate, across the state, Republican, 23 Democrat, Independent, 79 percent in favor of 24 extending overtime protections. Ninety-one 25 percent in favor of day of rest. Almost
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 70 percent in favor of collective bargaining. 2 Eighty-five percent in favor of disability 3 insurance. 4 And yet the boogeyman is still let 5 out of the closet: Fear. Fear is the weapon 6 and the adversary here to the truth. The 7 truth is clear. People across this state 8 support this. Farmworkers that do this, they 9 should not be the only category that is 10 exempted from basic human rights and 11 protections. 12 And then, just to finish off, we 13 don't know how this vote is going to turn out. 14 But rest assured, rest assured that the 15 struggle to provide basic protections for 16 these workers will continue no matter what the 17 vote. 18 But I especially want to thank this 19 chamber for taking up this debate. It never 20 happened. It happened tonight, and I'll be 21 forever grateful. And so will the farmworkers 22 and hardworking people of the State of 23 New York. 24 I thank you, Madam President. I 25 thank the chamber for its attention.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 2 Espada to be recorded in the affirmative. 3 Senator Aubertine, to close. 4 SENATOR AUBERTINE: Thank you, 5 Madam President. 6 On the bill, I certainly would 7 never question the motives of those who 8 advocate for farmworkers. Farmers, I believe, 9 are farmworkers too, and we need to advocate 10 for them as well. 11 But there are some facts that have 12 been thrown around I think that are subject to 13 question for sure. One of the facts, the 14 first bullet on this fact sheet, says 15 collective bargaining protections are limited 16 to workers on farms with sales exceeding 17 $650,000, exempting over 96 percent of the 18 farms and covering only agribusiness. 19 Well, Madam President, that's 20 difficult for me to believe. And I can give 21 you some numbers just to kind of illustrate 22 why it's so difficult for me to believe. A 23 250-cow dairy would produce gross sales well 24 in excess of $650,000 a year. There are a lot 25 of dairies in New York State that have far
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 more that would be far less than 4 percent of 2 this total number. Ninety-six percent is 3 erroneous at best. The number of farms that 4 would be affected in this state would be huge. 5 You know, and I talk about dairy 6 mainly because dairy is the one sector of 7 agriculture that I know best. But in 2009 -- 8 without question one of the worst years in 9 dairy, not only in New York State but in the 10 country -- there isn't a dairy farm in this 11 state that cash-flowed, that made money, that 12 could pay its bills. And it was illustrated 13 earlier. And I would go so far as to say 14 there would be very few dairy farms in this 15 nation that cash-flowed. 16 Well, a lot of those 250-cow 17 dairies and above do have hired labor. And 18 I'd be willing to bet that all the labor on 19 that farm was paid. And most of the labor was 20 probably provided housing and provided other 21 benefits as well. And you ask, well, how 22 could a farm that doesn't cash-flow pay its 23 labor. And again, it was pointed out earlier 24 the way that's done is you borrow back into 25 your equity.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 The only guy on the farm in 2009 on 2 a dairy farm that didn't get paid was the 3 owner. All the labor got paid. The labor was 4 looked out for. And the guy who in my opinion 5 is labor, lost, the owner. 6 So I think that with all the best 7 of intentions, the biggest problem we've got 8 here is the lack of understanding as to what 9 actually goes on on a farm. For the most 10 part, it's not a hobby, it's a business. It's 11 a business like any other business. And it 12 was carved out back when the labor laws were 13 put together for a reason. 14 The work on a farm is not easy, 15 necessarily. It does take long hours, it is 16 hard work, and people should be compensated 17 for it. And no one should be exploited by it. 18 But this bill does not address any 19 shortcomings that exist on farms today. This 20 bill is a step in the wrong direction. 21 Ultimately, I believe it will hurt 22 farmworkers. Farmworkers run the potential of 23 losing their jobs, losing their livelihoods. 24 It will hurt farmers. Farmers run the risk of 25 losing their businesses, their homes. It will
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 hurt consumers. Consumers run the risk of not 2 being able to buy locally and being forced to 3 buy food that's produced elsewhere in the 4 world. 5 So again, with all the best of 6 intentions, I do believe that this legislation 7 will be harmful to the agriculture community. 8 Agriculture has suffered mightily in the last 9 30 years. This state has lost nearly a farm a 10 day for 30 years. That's not something we can 11 sustain. And I believe that this legislation 12 would lead to that trend continuing. 13 Thank you, Madam President. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT SAVINO: Senator 15 Aubertine to be recorded in the negative. 16 Are there any other Senators -- I 17 didn't think so. 18 Hearing none, the debate is closed. 19 The Secretary will ring the bells. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Read 21 the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 16. This 23 act shall take effect immediately. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Call 25 the roll.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 (The Secretary called the roll.) 2 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: 3 Senator Onorato, to explain his vote. 4 SENATOR ONORATO: Yes, 5 Mr. President. I rise to vote aye and explain 6 my vote. 7 Many states have already included 8 the collective bargaining -- California, 9 Oregon, Kansas, Louisiana, Hawaii, Maine, 10 Nebraska, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Arizona 11 and New Jersey -- and they're all thriving 12 today. They have not been negatively affected 13 by this legislation. 14 Like New Jersey, the New York State 15 Constitution states unequivocally that all 16 employees shall have the right to collective 17 bargaining. "Labor of humans is not a 18 commodity nor an article of commerce and shall 19 never be so considered or construed. 20 Employees shall have the right to organize and 21 to bargain collectively through 22 representatives of their own choosing." 23 New York State Constitution, Article 1, 24 Section 17. 25 I vote aye and I urge you all to
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 vote aye also. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: 3 Senator Onorato to be recorded in the 4 affirmative. 5 Senator Serrano, to explain his 6 vote. 7 SENATOR SERRANO: Thank you, 8 Mr. President. 9 I would like to thank the sponsor 10 for ensuring that this bill came to the floor 11 for a vote. 12 And it does provide some very basic 13 protections for workers. I believe there's 14 nothing special here. This is just some basic 15 protections that in this country we believe 16 should be afforded to all workers. 17 And historically there's always 18 been resistance to any workers' rights 19 movement. But yet and still, if we look at in 20 the relatively short amount of time this 21 nation has grown to be the strongest nation in 22 the world because of our industries, our 23 industries being so strong. 24 So I believe that this bill will 25 not in any way weaken our wonderful farm
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 industry; indeed, it will make it stronger, 2 because it will create and maintain an 3 experienced workforce, a workforce that feels 4 respected, a workforce that feels that they 5 are vested in the industries that they are a 6 part of. 7 So I believe that our role as 8 Senators is not only to protect industries and 9 the industries and their profit margins, but 10 we are also Senators to protect people. And 11 it is important that we move on this bill and 12 vote yes on this bill to provide some very 13 basic, basic rights to the very hard workers 14 on the farms here in New York. 15 Thank you. I will vote yes. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: 17 Senator Serrano to be recorded in the 18 affirmative. 19 Senator Perkins, to explain his 20 vote. 21 SENATOR PERKINS: Thank you very 22 much, Mr. President. 23 First I want to commend Senator 24 Espada for the extraordinary leadership that 25 he has provided, how well he has articulated
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 what is a very, very important concern that we 2 all have in terms of making sure that the 3 American ideal, especially as it relates to 4 workers, is fulfilled by farmworkers as well 5 as any other worker. 6 Again, it puts this Legislature, 7 this Senate body, in the right place as 8 happened with the domestic workers' bill in 9 terms of recognizing the rights of the least 10 amongst us and not accepting the fact that 11 even as we are sensitive to the struggles of 12 the farm industry and the need for support for 13 that industry, we cannot allow that need to be 14 at the expense of the needs of the workers who 15 are also deserving of a fair wage. 16 I want to thank the movement for 17 their vigilance and their persistence in 18 bringing in matter before us, and I look 19 forward to seeing this ultimately passed and 20 ultimately seeing farms and the farm industry 21 doing better by the farmers as well, because 22 it's all good for all of us. 23 So thank you again, Senator Espada, 24 for the work you've done, and thank the 25 farmworkers for bringing this to our
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 attention. I vote aye. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: 3 Senator Perkins to be recorded in the 4 affirmative. 5 Senator Alesi, to explain his vote. 6 SENATOR ALESI: Thank you, 7 Mr. President. 8 This really is a fairly heavy issue 9 for me because I understand what the Senator 10 is trying to do here. And on the surface of 11 it, it's very humanitarian. 12 But if you look at the ripple 13 effects of what this is, not just from the 14 standpoint of labor but from the standpoint of 15 business as well, every farm that goes out of 16 business because they can't afford the labor 17 to sustain itself is going to have an effect 18 on those people that sell livestock, the 19 people that sell grains, the people that sell 20 commodities, the people that drive the trucks, 21 the people that have the refrigeration plants 22 and the food processing plants. 23 All of those places are going to 24 have a negative effect because farms are going 25 to go out of business in upstate New York and
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 other areas around this state. 2 And unfortunately for that -- and I 3 only have a minute to explain my vote -- if 4 you think about this, someone told me, an 5 apple farmer recently, that they can get 6 4 cents a gallon for concentrated apple juice 7 out of China, China, which has an unlimited 8 labor supply. Samoa, American Samoa just 9 closed another cannery because they can have 10 it done cheaper in Thailand, cheaper labor. 11 So as much as I'd like to protect 12 the small businesses and the farms themselves, 13 what we're really going to do here is have a 14 devastating effect on those migrant laborers, 15 those migrant laborers that are coming here to 16 make a relatively decent living. The jobs 17 won't exist for them. That's who we're going 18 to hurt. 19 We're going to hurt everybody on 20 that list that I just mentioned, and at the 21 end of the day the migrant workers that have a 22 better quality of life here and better earning 23 potential here than they have at home. We 24 will eliminate those jobs for those people, 25 and they will have nothing.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 As much as we think we want to help 2 them, we are hurting them. I have to vote no. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: 4 Senator Alesi to be recorded in the negative. 5 Senator Diaz, to explain his vote. 6 SENATOR DIAZ: Thank you, 7 Mr. President. 8 You know, today I'm proud, I'm 9 proud being a cosponsor of this bill. And I 10 congratulate the sponsor, Pedro Espada, 11 because of all the things that he had to do, 12 all the things that he had to do to come to 13 this point. He was relentless to be sure that 14 today, tonight, this piece of legislation came 15 to the floor. 16 Just a simple thing in the State of 17 New York we are denying, we are denying human 18 beings simple things like one day of rest in a 19 week. So we are forcing people to work seven 20 days -- no rest, no overtime, no sick days, 21 nothing in the State of New York. 22 And Pedro Espada, Senator Pedro 23 Espada is a champion for the needy tonight. 24 And we are here saying we have to amend this 25 thing and give the people the dignity that
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 they deserve. 2 And I hear people saying, oh, but 3 if we do this, those people will have no jobs. 4 So if we give them a day off and we give some 5 basic benefits, they will have no job. 6 I'm pretty sure that then we have 7 to keep bringing people from the outside. 8 Because suppose that this goes through and we 9 have all the rights, would you treat the 10 American people, the people from the State of 11 New York, the same way? So we have to bring 12 them so we can exploit them and oppress them 13 so we could have farms? 14 Well, if we do the benefits, then 15 they at no time have jobs and don't take the 16 jobs so the people from the state will take 17 them. And you would not do that to them, 18 right? 19 I'm voting yes. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: 21 Senator Diaz to be recorded in the 22 affirmative. 23 Announce the results. 24 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 25 the negative on Calendar Number 1432 are
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Senators Alesi, Aubertine, Bonacic, 2 DeFrancisco, Farley, Flanagan, Foley, 3 Fuschillo, Griffo, Hannon, C. Johnson, 4 O. Johnson, C. Kruger, Lanza, Larkin, LaValle, 5 Leibell, Libous, Little, Maziarz, McDonald, 6 Nozzolio, Ranzenhofer, Saland, Seward, Skelos, 7 Stachowski, Valesky, Volker, Winner and Young. 8 Absent from voting: Senator Dilan. 9 Ayes, 28. Nays, 31. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The 11 bill fails. 12 Senator Klein. 13 SENATOR KLEIN: Mr. President, at 14 this time can we briefly stand at ease. We 15 expect to return at 10:30. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The 17 Senate will stand at ease until 10:30. 18 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at 19 ease at 10:16 p.m.) 20 (Whereupon, the Senate reconvened 21 at 10:37 p.m.) 22 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: 23 Senator Klein. 24 SENATOR KLEIN: Mr. President, at 25 this time I would like to call up Calendar
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Number 1427, Senate Bill Number 5296A on the 2 noncontroversial calendar. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The 4 Secretary will read. 5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 6 1427, by Senator Squadron, Senate Print 5296A, 7 an act to amend the Administrative Code of the 8 City of New York. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Read 10 the last section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 12 act shall take effect immediately. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Call 14 the roll. 15 (The Secretary called the roll.) 16 (Pause.) 17 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: 18 Senator Squadron. 19 SENATOR SQUADRON: Mr. President, 20 would you withdraw the roll call and lay the 21 bill aside for the day, please. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The 23 roll is withdrawn, and the bill is laid aside 24 for the day. 25 Senator Klein.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR KLEIN: Mr. President, at 2 this time I'd like to call up Calendar Number 3 1426, Assembly Bill Number 2251 on the 4 noncontroversial calendar. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The 6 Secretary will read. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 1426, substituted earlier today by Member of 9 the Assembly Jeffries, Assembly Print Number 10 465A, an act to amend the Emergency Tenant 11 Protection Act of 1974. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Read 13 the last section. 14 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 15 act shall take effect immediately. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Call 17 the roll. 18 (The Secretary called the roll.) 19 (Pause.) 20 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: 21 Senator Klein. 22 SENATOR KLEIN: Mr. President, 23 can you please withdraw the roll call and lay 24 the bill aside for the day. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 roll is withdrawn, and the bill is laid aside 2 for the day. 3 Senator Klein. 4 SENATOR KLEIN: Mr. President, 5 can we please go to a reading of the remaining 6 bills on the noncontroversial calendar. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The 8 Secretary will read the noncontroversial 9 calendar, beginning with Calendar 1425. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 1425, substituted earlier today by Member of 12 the Assembly Rosenthal, Assembly Print Number 13 9854, an act to amend the Private Housing 14 Finance Law. 15 SENATOR KLEIN: Lay the bill 16 aside for the day, please. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The 18 bill is laid aside for the day. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 1428, substituted earlier by Member of the 21 Assembly V. Lopez -- 22 SENATOR KLEIN: Lay the bill 23 aside for the day, please. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The 25 bill is laid aside for the day.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 1429, by Senator Thompson, Senate Print 8129B, 3 an act to suspend hydraulic fracturing. 4 SENATOR LIBOUS: Lay the bill 5 aside. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The 7 bill is laid aside. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 1430, substituted earlier today by the 10 Assembly -- 11 SENATOR KLEIN: Lay the bill 12 aside for the day, please. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The 14 bill is laid aside for the day. 15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 16 1431, substituted earlier today by the 17 Assembly Committee on Rules -- 18 SENATOR KLEIN: Lay the bill 19 aside for the day, please. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The 21 bill is laid aside for the day. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 1433, substituted earlier today by the 24 Assembly Committee on Rules, Assembly Print 25 Number 11597, an act to amend the Correction
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Law. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Read 3 the last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 5 act shall take effect on the same date and in 6 the same manner as a chapter of the Laws of 7 2010. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Call 9 the roll. 10 (The Secretary called the roll.) 11 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: 12 Announce the results. 13 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 14 the negative on Calendar Number 1433 are 15 Senators Alesi, Bonacic, DeFrancisco, Farley, 16 Flanagan, Fuschillo, Griffo, Hannon, 17 O. Johnson, Lanza, Larkin, LaValle, Leibell, 18 Libous, Little, Marcellino, Maziarz, McDonald, 19 Nozzolio, Padavan, Ranzenhofer, Robach, 20 Saland, Seward, Skelos, Volker, Winner and 21 Young. 22 Ayes, 32. Nays, 28. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The 24 bill is passed. 25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 1434, substituted earlier today by the 2 Assembly Committee on Rules, Assembly Print 3 Number 11612, an act to amend a chapter of the 4 Laws of 2010 enacting the Health and Mental 5 Hygiene Budget. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Read 7 the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 9 act shall take effect immediately. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Call 11 the roll. 12 (The Secretary called the roll.) 13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 60. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The 15 bill is passed. 16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 17 1435, substituted earlier -- 18 SENATOR KLEIN: Lay the bill 19 aside for the day, please. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The 21 bill is laid aside for the day. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 1436, by Senator Schneiderman, Senate Print 24 8451, an act to amend the Civil Practice Law 25 and Rules.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Read 2 the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 4 act shall take effect on the same date and in 5 the same manner as a chapter of the Laws of 6 2010. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Call 8 the roll. 9 (The Secretary called the roll.) 10 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: 11 Announce the results. 12 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 13 the negative on Calendar Number 1436 are 14 Senators Alesi, Bonacic, DeFrancisco, Farley, 15 Flanagan, Fuschillo, Griffo, O. Johnson, 16 Lanza, Larkin, LaValle, Leibell, Libous, 17 Little, Marcellino, Maziarz, McDonald, 18 Nozzolio, Ranzenhofer, Robach, Saland, Seward, 19 Skelos, Volker, Winner and Young. 20 Ayes, 34. Nays, 26. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The 22 bill is passed. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 1437, by Senator Schneiderman, Senate Print 25 8454, an act to amend the Labor Law and a
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 chapter of the Laws of 2010. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Read 3 the last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 5 act shall take effect immediately. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Call 7 the roll. 8 (The Secretary called the roll.) 9 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: 10 Announce the results. 11 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 12 the negative on Calendar Number 1437 are 13 Senators Alesi, Bonacic, DeFrancisco, 14 Flanagan, Fuschillo, Hannon, O. Johnson, 15 Lanza, Larkin, LaValle, Leibell, Libous, 16 Marcellino, Maziarz, Nozzolio, Onorato, 17 Ranzenhofer, Saland, Skelos and Volker. 18 Ayes, 40. Nays, 20. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The 20 bill is passed. 21 Senator Klein, that completes the 22 reading of the noncontroversial calendar. 23 SENATOR KLEIN: Mr. President, at 24 this time can we please go to a reading of the 25 calendar.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The 2 Secretary will read the two-bill active list, 3 noncontroversial. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 772, by Member of the Assembly Bing -- 6 SENATOR KLEIN: Lay the bill 7 aside for the day, please. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The 9 bill is laid aside for the day. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 1421, by the Assembly Committee on Rules, 12 Assembly Print Number 11523, an act to amend 13 the Economic Development Law. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Read 15 the last section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 17 act shall take effect immediately. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Call 19 the roll. 20 (The Secretary called the roll.) 21 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: 22 Senator Maziarz, to explain his vote. 23 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you very 24 much, Mr. President. Just very briefly; I 25 know's it's late.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 I will be reluctantly voting yes on 2 this bill. It's a real shame that the 3 Assembly refused to give certainty to the 4 Power for Jobs program. There was an 5 excellent bill that passed this house. 6 And, you know, a lot of times -- 7 and I hope some of the members of the press 8 are listening -- we, we, the Senate members, 9 all of us have taken a lot of hits this year 10 for lack of bipartisanship, for some maybe not 11 too respectful comments to each other and 12 arguments and disagreements on the floor. But 13 one area where we were really on the side of 14 business, the side of employers, the side of 15 employees, the side of labor, the side of just 16 about every clear-thinking individual in this 17 state, the Governor agreed with us on the 18 Energize New York program, which would have 19 given seven years of certainty to businesses 20 to invest in the State of New York, and 21 Assembly Speaker Silver turned it down. 22 And this is what we are left with 23 yet again, another one-year extender to the 24 Power for Jobs program, which is going to cost 25 us jobs, cost us economic investment. It's
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 just a really sad yes vote. 2 Thank you, Mr. President. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: 4 Senator Maziarz to be recorded in the 5 affirmative. 6 Senator Foley, to explain his vote. 7 SENATOR FOLEY: Thank you, 8 Mr. President. I certainly would like to echo 9 Senator Maziarz's comments. 10 On Long Island the business 11 community, with almost near unanimity, was in 12 strong support of the Senate bill, which would 13 have targeted more power in that particular 14 region of the state. It was the one that 15 garnered the most support. But as was just 16 mentioned, we in sense have one-house bill 17 support for it, so we need to do the extender 18 for another year. 19 It's our hope and expectation 20 moving forward that working with the business 21 community both in our region and across the 22 state that we can prevail upon the other house 23 to support the superior legislation that will 24 put more people to work, that will save jobs 25 and will grow the economy of the State of
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 New York. 2 So I will be reluctantly supporting 3 the bill before us today. However, efforts 4 will be made going forward in the meanwhile to 5 try to persuade the other house to eventually 6 pursue and to adopt the Senate bill, which is 7 the far more preferable bill. 8 Thank you, Mr. President. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: 10 Senator Foley to be recorded in the 11 affirmative. 12 Announce the results. 13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 60. Nays, 14 0. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The 16 bill is passed. 17 Senator Klein, that completes the 18 reading of the noncontroversial calendar. 19 SENATOR KLEIN: Mr. President, at 20 this time can we please go to a reading of the 21 controversial supplemental calendar. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The 23 Secretary will ring the bells and place 24 Calendar Number 1429 from the supplemental 25 calendar before the house, controversial.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 The Secretary will read. 2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 3 1429, by Senator Thompson, Senate Print 8129B, 4 an act to suspend hydraulic fracturing. 5 SENATOR LIBOUS: Explanation. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: 7 Senator Thompson, an explanation has been 8 requested. 9 SENATOR THOMPSON: First let me 10 thank you for recognizing me on this very 11 important piece of legislation. 12 This bill provides for a temporary 13 suspension of issuance of new permits for 14 horizontal drilling, often known as 15 hydrofracking. It utilizes the practices of 16 hydraulic fracturing in the state, it halts it 17 until May 15th of 2011. 18 By delaying DEC's ability to issue 19 permits until May 15, 2011, this bill provides 20 the Legislature with the opportunity to 21 consider a number of safeguards to make sure 22 that, if we have drilling in New York, that we 23 take the necessary precautions. 24 As many of you may or may not know, 25 I did have the opportunity as the chair of the
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 En Con Committee to go to Pennsylvania twice 2 to see both the positives and some of the 3 shortcomings of hydraulic fracturing in 4 Pennsylvania. We also had hearings and 5 roundtables across the state to hear both 6 sides of the issue. 7 I think that this proposal to make 8 sure that we do not surrender our legislative 9 authority to DEC, as some would suggest, gives 10 us the opportunity to look at some of the 11 things that have happened in the positive and 12 some of the shortcomings in Pennsylvania and 13 figure out, between now and next spring, what 14 are the various pieces of legislation that we 15 believe need to take place if we're going to 16 have this type of function take place in the 17 State of New York. 18 There are those who wanted us to 19 wait three years or some may say four or five 20 years, until the EPA study, which has been 21 requested at the national level, takes place 22 before we have it in New York. 23 I think this is a fairer way to go. 24 It protects the leaseholders who are working 25 with land companies, but also it protects the
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 environment. 2 We know that there's a number of 3 positive things that happened in Pennsylvania, 4 but we also know in Pennsylvania there have 5 been shortcomings. We also know that there 6 have been more than 1,000 cases of 7 contamination documented in various states 8 where this type of drilling has taken place. 9 It's an emerging technology. In 10 fact, when we were in Pennsylvania it used to 11 take them a couple of months to dig a well; 12 now it takes them about 28 days. So as they 13 learn from their mistakes, we have to make 14 sure that we put all the safeguards in place. 15 One of the things that I think that 16 is important, we all know about what happened 17 down in the Gulf. And people say, well, you 18 know -- as I said to some of the drilling 19 companies, people never ask the question about 20 when things go right. It's about that 1 or 2 21 or 3 percent of the times when things go wrong 22 that they say, well, where was government? 23 Where was the oversight? How did this happen? 24 And the same is true to the 25 individuals, not just people in the more
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 popular place of Dimock, Pennsylvania, but 2 there are people out in various parts of 3 Pennsylvania that have experienced 4 shortcomings as a result of the drilling. 5 And we have to make sure that if 6 this is done in the State of New York that 7 we've done our due diligence as a legislature 8 and not say that we're going to wait and hope 9 that DEC does it right. 10 We can't have it both ways. We 11 can't say in one instance, you know, that DEC 12 has too much control but on something of this 13 magnitude that we say that we're going to 14 surrender our legislative responsibility to 15 DEC. 16 And so I think that this is a fair 17 way to go. It gives the new governor a chance 18 to come in, figure out what they want to do. 19 And at the same time we can look at the more 20 than 20-plus bills that are in the Assembly 21 that have not been picked up in the Senate. 22 We can look at a two-year review of the 23 different things that have happened in 24 Pennsylvania. And so that by the time that 25 January comes along, we can really work
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 through the details and figure out where the 2 state is going to go. 3 So any other questions, I'll take 4 them. Thank you. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: 6 Senator Libous. 7 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, 8 Mr. President. 9 Senator Thompson, would you yield 10 for a series of questions. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: 12 Senator Thompson, do you yield? 13 SENATOR THOMPSON: Yes. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: 15 Senator Thompson yields. 16 SENATOR LIBOUS: Do you know how 17 long hydrofracking has been around? 18 SENATOR THOMPSON: For many 19 decades. This form of drilling is different, 20 but hydrofracking has been around for a while. 21 SENATOR LIBOUS: And would the 22 Senator continue to yield. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: 24 Senator Thompson? 25 SENATOR THOMPSON: Yes.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: He 2 yields. 3 SENATOR LIBOUS: On your tours of 4 Pennsylvania, did -- you said you went to 5 Dimock, Pennsylvania, and you said there was 6 some contamination of wells. What did you 7 learn there, Senator? Why were those wells 8 contaminated? 9 SENATOR THOMPSON: There were a 10 number of defects that happened. We went to 11 Towanda, Pennsylvania, where that was kind of 12 like the showplace place, but we also went to 13 Dimock. 14 Part of the challenge is that over 15 there, just like over here, they would drill 16 24 hours a day. Most state workers at some of 17 our facilities, our inspectors, unless we 18 change -- they drill seven days a week. So if 19 we have it in New York, we need to make sure 20 that inspections are taking place seven days a 21 week, which that was not happening in parts of 22 Pennsylvania. 23 And so once they dug more than a 24 mile underground and you don't have 25 inspections taking place, you have defective
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 wells. And once they're defective, it's hard 2 to fix something that's already been cast a 3 mile underground. So they had some defective 4 wells. 5 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President, 6 would the Senator continue to yield. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: 8 Senator Thompson? 9 SENATOR THOMPSON: Yes. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The 11 sponsor yields. 12 SENATOR LIBOUS: Senator 13 Thompson, based on your visit to Dimock, who 14 would you say was responsible for those 15 defective wells? 16 SENATOR THOMPSON: I think that 17 there's a combination of negligence. I'm not 18 a lawyer, but just from my analysis -- and we 19 put a 40-page report on our website -- I think 20 it's a combination. Many of the industry 21 people believe that Cabot Gas and Oil Company 22 did an inferior job. But they're not the only 23 ones that made mistakes. 24 Also I believe that because the 25 State of Pennsylvania was so thirsty to get
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 this development opportunity that they did not 2 have enough infrastructure in place making 3 sure that they were inspecting the wells 4 properly, making sure that landowners were 5 protected. 6 We have certain protections on the 7 books right now for our landowners, but we 8 need additional ones, which I think I 9 mentioned both publicly and privately. 10 So I think it's not just on the 11 fault of the gas and oil companies, but also I 12 believe that the state government did not do 13 enough to protect the landowners and the folks 14 who have to wait for gas and oil companies to 15 bring them water each and every day. 16 SENATOR LIBOUS: Would the 17 Senator continue to yield. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: 19 Senator Thompson? 20 SENATOR THOMPSON: Yes. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The 22 sponsor yields. 23 SENATOR LIBOUS: So, Senator 24 Thompson, I believe you're saying that -- who 25 in the State of Pennsylvania was responsible
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 for this negligence? 2 SENATOR THOMPSON: I believe 3 it's -- I think there are two entities that 4 people are holding I think most accountable. 5 One is their Department of Environmental 6 Protection. And also I think that the state 7 attorney general might be in a little hot 8 water over this as well. But I think mainly 9 the state Department of Environmental 10 Protection is the most in hot water for not 11 doing enough on this issue. 12 SENATOR LIBOUS: Would the 13 Senator continue to yield. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: 15 Senator Thompson? 16 SENATOR THOMPSON: Yes. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The 18 sponsor yields. 19 SENATOR LIBOUS: Senator, the 20 exact number of wells that you saw 21 contaminated in the entire state of 22 Pennsylvania was how many? 23 SENATOR THOMPSON: I think maybe 24 about three or four. But I didn't visit every 25 well, but I can tell you that we did see a
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 number of them. 2 We also did see a lot of the 3 erosion on some of the local roads. In fact, 4 we went up in December or late November and we 5 came back in the spring. In fact, the day we 6 were out there they were actually fixing some 7 of the roads that were, I would say, severely 8 damaged as a result of the drilling. 9 We have to make sure that all of 10 those issues, not just the water, the ponds, 11 and some of the adjacent properties -- but 12 also the infrastructure was severely damaged. 13 I know that there are a number of people in 14 the chamber that went there. We have to make 15 sure that those things are adequately 16 addressed, not just through the GEIS process 17 but through legislative authority, through 18 this body. We need to make sure that it's in 19 the law, not just through the regulatory 20 process. 21 SENATOR LIBOUS: So, 22 Mr. President, through you again to Senator 23 Thompson, your answer to that question was a 24 couple of wells in the entire state of 25 Pennsylvania were contaminated?
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR THOMPSON: My answer was 2 that those that I witnessed. And I'm not an 3 engineer, I'm not a geologist. But I had the 4 opportunity to see about three or four that 5 had been impacted. And that was only over a 6 two-day period of time. 7 And I think there's a lot of 8 documentation out there on different websites, 9 both governmental and nongovernmental, 10 documenting some of the shortcomings. 11 As I said earlier, that there were 12 successes. I mean, we had an opportunity to 13 see a lot of the workers coming through the 14 state in the region, traveling, lots of cars, 15 lots of vehicles, lots of vendors, lots of 16 suppliers. So there's some good. 17 But there's also some protections. 18 For example, we witnessed wells being drilled 19 right next to ponds, right next to farms. In 20 fact, one of the houses that we went to, you 21 can literally walk out the front door and walk 22 about 50 or 60 steps and you will be at the 23 front of the drill pad. 24 We must make sure that not only 25 through the regulatory process but through the
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 legislative process that those issues are 2 addressed in the State of New York. 3 So there were some positives, and I 4 think I've been very clear about that. But I 5 believe we've got to make sure we take all the 6 precautions as well for our folks. Because 7 again, people don't remember, when they go buy 8 aspirin, when it's good. And when you buy 9 that one bottle of aspirin and it's bad, they 10 say where was the federal regulators or where 11 was the EPA or FDA or whomever else when it 12 goes bad. 13 SENATOR LIBOUS: Would the 14 Senator continue to yield. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: 16 Senator Thompson, do you continue to yield? 17 SENATOR THOMPSON: Yes. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The 19 sponsor yields. 20 SENATOR LIBOUS: Senator, could 21 you share some of the positives that the folks 22 in Pennsylvania shared with you, like the 23 number of jobs that were created, the number 24 of economic opportunities, the number of maybe 25 millions of dollars in financial investment?
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Did they share any of that with you in 2 Pennsylvania? 3 SENATOR THOMPSON: Yeah, 4 definitely. As I stated earlier, we witnessed 5 firsthand some of the positives of the 6 individuals who have leased land. There were 7 some that, you know, have been able to make a 8 lot of money. 9 But then there's also the 10 individuals who put up their land and actually 11 had to basically sign their land over, and 12 then they didn't find the gas that they had 13 envisioned. 14 So you have the pros and the cons. 15 But in terms of individuals working, we had a 16 chance to -- I went on the rigs. It was a 17 very interesting experience. And I believe 18 that it will create some jobs. However, it's 19 at what cost? 20 So we have to make sure, again, 21 that, you know, the same way those young men 22 and women went into the Gulf and they were 23 making good money, we have to make sure that 24 those folks who live, you know, who live a 25 couple of miles down the road, downstream,
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 that the water that they drink is going to be 2 safe. 3 We have to make sure as well what I 4 witnessed, when they -- you know, when you 5 live out in some of these rural areas, when 6 your well gets contaminated, you have to -- in 7 Pennsylvania right now you have to wait until 8 the oil or gas company brings you water to 9 take a shower, to cook, to wash your clothes, 10 et cetera, once your well is contaminated. 11 And if they can prove that their well is 12 outside of the buffer zone, then you're up 13 you-know-what's creek. 14 So we have to make sure that we do 15 everything. And there are a lot of vendors 16 and suppliers from across the state of this 17 state right now that do business in 18 Pennsylvania that look forward to it coming 19 here. And so that's why I said I think it can 20 be positive. 21 We have to make sure that if it 22 happens in New York that we have a tax, a 23 severance tax. In Pennsylvania they didn't do 24 it right, so they let them drill, and now the 25 governor is leaving and they're trying to get
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 the money that many of us I think on both 2 sides of the aisle would like to see to go for 3 economic development and education and 4 environmental protection. Well, they didn't 5 do that first. And you know how that goes; 6 once you let the cat out of the bag, it's hard 7 to reel him back in. 8 And the governor of that state, who 9 happens to be a Democrat, who was very 10 supportive, is now trying to put the genie 11 back in the bottle. So they messed up on the 12 environmental aspect. 13 And then on the governmental side, 14 in terms of trying to make sure they can hire 15 more staff and they can do all those other 16 good things, it's hard to get that -- get it 17 back through the senate now in Pennsylvania. 18 SENATOR LIBOUS: Would the 19 Senator continue to yield. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: 21 Senator Thompson? 22 SENATOR THOMPSON: Gladly. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The 24 sponsor yields. 25 SENATOR LIBOUS: Senator, your
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 bill is an extended moratorium, which tells me 2 you have a lack of faith or confidence in the 3 work that the Department of Environmental 4 Conservation is now doing in the State of 5 New York. 6 Why would the Legislature need to 7 tell them how much time to take? I would 8 think that the scientists and the experts 9 there know more than anybody in this room. 10 And I find it somewhat amusing that we have to 11 get into politics to tell them how much time 12 to take. 13 Wouldn't you think that 14 Commissioner Grannis and his people will make 15 that determination based on the safety of the 16 people of the State of New York, like they 17 always have in the very strict way that they 18 protect our environment? 19 SENATOR THOMPSON: Well, let me 20 say this, sir. I believe that in terms of the 21 DEC, I have a lot of respect for the DEC. And 22 I believe that I have made it clear that we 23 still have a legislative responsibility to 24 provide direction and also legislative intent. 25 That has not taken place at this
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 point. We have not passed any bills related 2 to the implementation process of hydraulic 3 fracking in this state. So while the DEC is 4 doing its part of examining the pros, the 5 cons -- right? -- we also have a number of 6 things that are happening outside of New York, 7 both good and bad, as relates to this form of 8 drilling. 9 So we're simply suggesting that as 10 the DEC looks to finish its report later this 11 year, and as many people submit various bills, 12 and when at the same time we have a transition 13 from one governor to another governor taking 14 place, and as our neighbor next door in 15 Pennsylvania will complete I believe their 16 second year of drilling, we can assess two 17 years of the pros and cons of Pennsylvania, we 18 can look at some of these other states that 19 had explosions and hiccups with drilling. And 20 in addition to that, we can allow for the 21 transition from one governor to another 22 governor. 23 In addition to that, we can also 24 examine the more than 25 bills that have been 25 submitted on both sides of the aisle as
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 relates to this issue and figure out what's 2 the best way to proceed. So that we're not 3 moving in a hasty type of way, in a rushed 4 kind of way, and that we do something that's 5 fair and that's responsible, that's good for 6 business and that's also very good for the 7 environment and for the people who live here 8 now and that will come after us. 9 That's why this way is a fairer, 10 more responsible way. Unless, you know, 11 unless we decide that we should wait for the 12 EPA, which would be a three-to-five-year 13 proposal. 14 SENATOR LIBOUS: Well, if you 15 would continue to yield. 16 So then you're saying that the DEC 17 is not going to come up with a fair and 18 responsible way to determine the safety of 19 hydraulic fracking, that it has to be done by 20 a political body? And you even include the 21 fact that a new governor is coming in. Why 22 should that make any difference on a 23 scientific determination on safety of 24 hydraulic fracking and whether or not it 25 should proceed on any timetable?
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Maybe the DEC feels that it might 2 need to take two or three years to do it in a 3 safe manner. Why does the Legislature once 4 again have to get involved, politics has to 5 get involved? You referenced the fact there 6 will be a different governor. I don't see 7 what that has to do with the health and safety 8 of hydraulic fracturing. And I happen to have 9 complete faith and confidence in the 10 Department of Environmental Conservation and 11 the scientists and the professionals that work 12 there, and I just don't understand why you 13 don't. 14 SENATOR THOMPSON: Is there a 15 question, sir? 16 SENATOR LIBOUS: Yeah, that's a 17 question. I don't understand why you don't. 18 (Laughter.) 19 SENATOR THOMPSON: Through you, 20 Mr. President. Senator Libous, there are a 21 couple of things I can think of just off the 22 top of my head that are important. 23 SENATOR LIBOUS: Senator, I want 24 very much to listen to you, but there seems to 25 be, Mr. President, a lot of chitter chatter in
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 the back. I know the hour is late, but this 2 is very serious for Senator Thompson, very 3 serious for me and some of the members in the 4 chamber, and I would like to hear the 5 Senator's answers. 6 SENATOR THOMPSON: Just a couple 7 of quick things. There are a couple of things 8 that the department is supporting that some of 9 the local governments across the state are 10 very concerned about. 11 For example, the commissioner and 12 his department right now are positioning their 13 final report to take away local control. 14 Meaning that if you get a permit, right, you 15 get a state permit, and say a local town, 16 right now, through zoning -- which many of us 17 understand, particularly those who have come 18 from local government -- once that permit is 19 approved in Albany, they give up all their 20 rights for permitting and zoning at the local 21 level. 22 That is something that I think that 23 has not been resolved through their proposal. 24 And if they figure at the end of the day on 25 their way out that they still support it, are
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 we saying that we're going to give that right 2 up and the 62 members of this body then have 3 to go back and say, well, the former 4 commissioner of DEC, we gave him the authority 5 to allow drilling in your town or village even 6 though you have local zoning laws for 7 everything else except for some of these A, B, 8 C, D and E? I don't think we can do that. 9 And there are a number of things in 10 that proposal that would be a surrendering of 11 authority from the State Legislature. So I 12 think that we have to look at a number of 13 these bills. 14 Some of the bills that have been 15 submitted are good bills to make sure that we 16 provide certain protections for local 17 governments, for local taxpayers. There are 18 landowner rights issues. We need to tweak 19 some of those bills, discuss them, have some 20 roundtables and figure out what are the best 21 ways to move in the event that the DEC's final 22 report doesn't meet our satisfaction. 23 So that's all I'm merely 24 suggesting, that there are going to be things 25 that you may say, "Antoine, I don't like that.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 What are we going to do to fix it?" Or "They 2 didn't go far enough." 3 For example, the Farm Bureau, I 4 thought our report was strong, but their 5 recommendations were a lot tougher than the 6 recommendations that I put forward. And some 7 of the things the DEC has moved on as 8 recommendations from the Farm Bureau, some of 9 them they have not. And they are going to 10 look to us to say that, Well, they gave us the 11 first round, now what is the Legislature going 12 to do to fix it. 13 And that's why I believe we have a 14 responsibility to make sure that if the DEC 15 falls short, or if they go too far in certain 16 areas, that we need to make those necessary 17 adjustments. 18 SENATOR LIBOUS: Will the Senator 19 continue to yield. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: 21 Senator Thompson? 22 SENATOR THOMPSON: Yes. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The 24 sponsor yields. 25 SENATOR LIBOUS: Senator
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Thompson, when the DEC put out requests and 2 comments, do you know how many comments they 3 got back from the general public of the State 4 of New York? 5 SENATOR THOMPSON: I think they 6 had approximately 10,000-plus comments. I 7 know that we gave comments of almost 50 pages 8 or so ourselves. 9 So I know they received a lot of 10 comments. And whether -- and I believe they 11 tried to make recommendations to some of 12 those. But they have staff, they figure out 13 what they like, what they don't like. And 14 there are some things that they will 15 ultimately agree with, some things they don't. 16 And you can be certain that if 17 there's a constituent in one of these 62 18 districts that feel that their comments 19 weren't adequately addressed, they're going to 20 call their member of the Legislature or the 21 Senate and say, "This issue is very important. 22 I want you to submit a bill to address this 23 issue." And we can't say then, "Well, the 24 commissioner and his department made their 25 decision, I'm not submitting a bill on that
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 particular issue." 2 I just don't think that that's, 3 one, fair to the constituent, and I also don't 4 believe that one agency should have total 5 control over the future of our state. 6 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, 7 Senator. 8 If I could speak on the bill. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: 10 Senator Libous, on the bill. 11 SENATOR LIBOUS: Senator, 12 actually they got about 14,000 comments, and 13 the commissioner and his agency not only are 14 going to answer every one of those in the 15 process, but they're actually going out in 16 some cases and hiring health and scientific 17 experts beyond the expertise of the department 18 to answer those. 19 Senator Thompson, we probably are 20 in more agreement than disagreement on the 21 issue of hydraulic fracking, but where we 22 disagree is when the political environment has 23 to get involved, where we have to put this 24 bill on the floor of the Senate and decide how 25 much time an agency that specializes in
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 environmental protection in every aspect of 2 the State of New York -- whether it comes to 3 our brooks and streams and rivers or 4 underground wells or any type of pollution or 5 air pollution or ground pollution that could 6 take place, they are the experts. This is 7 what they do for a living. They're not 8 legislators that get involved in a little bit 9 of everything, but they are scientists and 10 experts who are dealing with this. 11 Senator, I agree that they screwed 12 up badly in Pennsylvania. I'm glad that you 13 went to Pennsylvania. And I know that the DEC 14 in New York is looking very carefully -- and 15 I've said this time and time again, and I'll 16 say it again tonight: Shame on the State of 17 Pennsylvania, shame on their Department of 18 Environmental Protection, as they call it, 19 because they screwed up badly. They didn't 20 keep an eye on those who are drilling. They 21 didn't keep an eye on environmental factors on 22 behalf of the citizens of that state. 23 And I know that the people at the 24 Department of Environmental Conservation in 25 the State of New York not only are learning
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 from that but are going to make sure that when 2 we regulate and we begin the process of 3 hydrofracking that it's going to be done in a 4 safe, safe, safe manner and it's going to be 5 done in a manner that protects the 6 environment. 7 And, Senator, I always get 8 concerned when I hear people say they worry 9 about the water table and that's important. 10 And as the commissioners told me, the water 11 table goes down -- and again, I'm not a 12 scientist or an expert -- about 800 feet, and 13 in hydrofracking goes down about 2 miles, well 14 below the water table. 15 So, you know, when I hear those 16 arguments from time to time, I just wonder if 17 the people who -- and I'm not saying you, sir, 18 the people who bring those arguments up about 19 contaminating the water table really 20 understand what they're talking about. See, I 21 believe that the DEC is the best agency in 22 this state to move forward with safe drilling 23 and in this case hydrofracking. 24 Now, let me take the other side of 25 the issue that talks about the economics. I
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 too, like everybody in this chamber, care very 2 deeply about the air quality, the drinking 3 water. 4 And, Senator Thompson, you're 5 right, I don't want to contaminate one well. 6 And when someone does take that bad aspirin, 7 you're right, you hear about how bad the 8 company is and what takes place. And 9 certainly the disaster, the shameful disaster 10 in the Gulf does not help this whole process 11 as we look to move forward. 12 But let me ask all of you in this 13 chamber this. Please keep an open mind. 14 Don't let the political process get involved 15 here. Let the experts, let the people that we 16 talk about day in and day out in the various 17 conversations that take place on this floor 18 about protecting our environment at the DEC, 19 let them make the determination. 20 They're the people who understand. 21 Let them make the scientific determination as 22 to whether or not hydrofracking is going to be 23 safe, and when it is going to be safe and 24 we're going to move forward, how we do it in 25 that process so that we don't contaminate any
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 wells. 2 Now let's talk about the economy. 3 I live in upstate New York. I live in Broome 4 County, and my district is Chenango, Broome 5 and Tioga County. Some of you have to come to 6 that part of the state. It's a beautiful part 7 of the state. There's probably about 10, 12 8 counties in upstate New York, maybe a few 9 more, that are involved in the drilling 10 process and where Marcellus Shale for 11 hydrofracking is actually one of the richest 12 in the country, one of the richest in the 13 country. They claim there's enough gas in the 14 Marcellus Shale under upstate New York that 15 can provide natural gas for this country for 16 decades, many decades to come. 17 From an economic standpoint, the 18 community I live in has been devastated. We 19 used to be the central community for defense 20 contracting. And as a matter of fact, a 21 couple of years ago we got the presidential 22 helicopter at Lockheed Martin. They hired 23 almost 2500 people, average salary at about 24 $90,000 a year, and then President Obama 25 decided he was going to eliminate that
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 project. They laid those 2500 people off and 2 another thousand on top of that. 3 Not only did that hurt us, but it 4 also hurt the effect with local businesses. 5 And it was unfortunate, because billions were 6 spent across the country on stimulus money, 7 and all they had to do was keep that project 8 going. 9 Where am I going with this? We 10 need jobs. The people that I represent, the 11 farmers -- let's talk about them. The farmers 12 have signed lease opportunities in some cases 13 bringing hundreds of thousands, in some cases 14 millions of dollars to them. Opportunities to 15 pay off the back taxes on their farm. We 16 talked about farmworkers rights a few minutes 17 ago. We talked about the struggle that 18 farmers have. 19 Well, many of the farmers in 20 upstate New York now have an opportunity to 21 pay the taxes off, to pay the high cost of 22 agriculture, the equipment that they have to 23 go -- those of you, Senator Aubertine and 24 others, Senator Young, who have been involved 25 in the process know the capital expenditure
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 that our farmers have to make. They now have 2 an opportunity because there's an economic 3 opportunity that has come to them, because 4 their land is precious. Underneath their land 5 is a very, very valuable mineral, and someone 6 wants to pay them for that. 7 Now, I understand to extract that 8 mineral it has to be done in a safe manner. 9 And I think we're all on the same page there. 10 It's just a matter of who controls that, 11 whether the legislative body should control 12 that or the DEC, the experts, should control 13 it. 14 Let me just share some numbers with 15 you in the community that I live in, Broome 16 County, New York, a study that the county had 17 done. Over the course of the next several 18 years hydrofracking could spend, on 4,000 19 wells, $14 billion, $14 billion in the 20 community. And that $14 billion, already our 21 local governments have already decided that 22 they've got to plan so that those roads, 23 Senator, get fixed. Unlike in central 24 Pennsylvania where they did destroy the roads. 25 Because again, we want to be smarter than
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 them. 2 And the roads get fixed and 3 companies start up, trucking companies, 4 welders -- you know, I talked to the people at 5 BOCES the other day and I said if we begin the 6 process of hydrofracking in upstate New York, 7 we'll have to start a new division of 8 Broome-Tioga BOCES just to train welders. We 9 could use maybe 2000, 3000, 4000 of them in 10 the course of the next several years. 11 So this is a huge economic 12 development opportunity. That's why I stand 13 here extremely passionate at 11:30 at night. 14 Over 65 percent of the people in my district 15 support hydrofracking. Now, they support safe 16 hydrofracking. They support it in a manner 17 that it's not going to contaminate wells like 18 they did in Pennsylvania, in a manner that 19 it's not going to hurt the environment. 20 Because as I said to somebody the 21 other day, who knows more about our 22 environment than our farmers? Our farmers 23 have been protectors of our environment for 24 generations. So why now would they want to 25 ruin the environment and the beautiful
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 landscape of the rolling hills of upstate New 2 York and surrounding areas that have Marcellus 3 Shale? 4 So, Madam President, I stand here 5 very passionate on behalf of the people that I 6 represent, all 300,000, those who are for 7 drilling and those who are against drilling. 8 Because like those who are against drilling 9 for the environment, I too care about the 10 environment. And those who are for drilling 11 for the economic benefit and the future of our 12 communities, I support them too. 13 I want to do this in the right way. 14 But unlike some of my colleagues here, I have 15 faith and confidence in the Department of 16 Environmental Conservation of the State of 17 New York. I believe they will be tougher. I 18 believe they will be safer. And I believe 19 they will overregulate. And I don't think 20 that's a bad thing when it comes to hydraulic 21 fracking, because others in the state of 22 Pennsylvania and other places have made 23 mistakes. 24 So, Madam President, on behalf of 25 the people I represent, I stand here and say
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 that I am disappointed that the Legislature or 2 politics needs to get involved in this 3 process. I wish we would let those who are 4 the experts, those who we hire in the 5 department, those who are the scientists, 6 those who are the geologists, those who 7 understand -- not those of us who are 8 generalists, who think that we understand what 9 hydrofracking means and what hydrofracking 10 does. 11 So, Madam President, I am going to 12 have to oppose this bill vigorously tonight 13 and into the future. I hope that it doesn't 14 pass. Because I believe for the economic 15 future of upstate New York, and quite frankly 16 for the environmental safety, I want the DEC 17 to make those decisions and not a legislative 18 body. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 20 Thank you, Senator. 21 Senator Winner. 22 SENATOR WINNER: Thank you, Madam 23 President. 24 Four years ago Eliot Spitzer was 25 running around upstate New York and referring
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 to areas such as mine and Senator Libous's as 2 Appalachia, and even took some video of 3 closed-down storefronts and the like and 4 indicated that, you know, without the vision 5 of him, I guess, that, you know, the economic 6 prosperity would not recur in upstate 7 New York. 8 And, you know, a lot of people 9 bought into that message. And a lot of people 10 have also indicated that there are problems in 11 our region as far as jobs and economic 12 development and opportunity. 13 And then comes along one of the 14 biggest opportunities that we've ever seen 15 probably in our lifetimes for our area, and 16 there's oh, no, let's not go there, the 17 environment's going to be ruined and you're 18 going to experience these adverse economic 19 impacts. And when asked to explain what are 20 these adverse economic impacts that you don't 21 want, we hear things like, well, you're going 22 to have too much money and too many jobs and 23 too much economic activity and therefore 24 that's going to be an environmental problem 25 for you.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 And after all, as one environmental 2 group said, after all, upstate is New York 3 City's backyard, and we need to protect you 4 from yourselves because you don't obviously 5 have any idea what you're doing and therefore 6 we need to protect you from having that pesky 7 economic growth with all those jobs and other 8 benefits. 9 And so, you know, I really -- while 10 I recognize that Pennsylvania has made some 11 mistakes, I also recognize that the history of 12 what has gone on in New York has been very 13 positive. And one thing I do know that 14 Pennsylvania has experienced, and that is 15 thousands and thousands of jobs, hundreds of 16 millions of dollars if not billions of dollars 17 in economic activity as a result of 18 exploration for natural gas. And that is only 19 supposed to be the tip of the iceberg as far 20 as what can be experienced in our particular 21 area. 22 And with the confidence that I have 23 in the Department of Environmental 24 Conservation, as Senator Libous so eloquently 25 pointed out, this unfortunately is politics
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 rather than science. And I know that we have 2 an opportunity to do this right, as we have 3 done it right as far as the exploration that 4 we have already undertaken in New York. 5 My district will not experience, 6 probably, the Marcellus experience because 7 it's just -- apparently the geology is not 8 there. But we have certainly experienced the 9 traditional Trenton-Black River exploration. 10 And according to the recent statistics, two 11 counties in my district are the largest gas 12 producers right now in the State of New York, 13 although it's declining. 14 And Marcellus will be an 15 opportunity that of course will occur in other 16 areas of the state, but predominantly in the 17 east of my district. And it is extraordinary 18 as far as its potential for economic growth 19 and fundamental economic health for a state. 20 I mean, what we just went through -- what was 21 the bill we just went through? We just went 22 through having to cut contingently a billion 23 dollars out of our budget because we don't 24 have any money, and money that we were 25 counting on.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 And here we have this tremendous 2 resource opportunity to achieve great revenues 3 for the State of New York on a safe basis with 4 the confidence that we have bestowed on the 5 Department of Environmental Conservation in 6 the past, which has been successful. 7 Because I don't know -- and people, 8 if they have, they can point them out; I don't 9 think they have -- but we haven't had or 10 experienced any of these horror stories that 11 you hear anecdotally from other areas, other 12 states, including Pennsylvania. We have been 13 doing this exploration very safely and 14 environmentally sound, and we will continue to 15 do so. I am tremendously confident in the 16 ability of the Department of Environmental 17 Conservation to do that. 18 So, you know, it really is 19 unfortunate that we're going to continue the 20 onslaught on upstate New York in the spirit of 21 Eliot Spitzer. Eliot's not back to help us 22 get out of this Appalachia category, but 23 hopefully cooler heads will prevail and that 24 the science will trump politics as we go 25 forward in this debate.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 With that, if I could ask Senator 2 Thompson if he would be willing to yield to 3 just a couple or two or three questions to 4 clarify some of the impact that you would see 5 and the legislative intent here of this bill. 6 I would be appreciative, because I don't know 7 how this is supposed to work, and perhaps you 8 can help us. Will the Senator yield. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 10 Senator Thompson, will you yield? 11 SENATOR THOMPSON: Yes. 12 SENATOR WINNER: Senator, as you 13 are obviously aware, a couple of years ago 14 there was a debate over changing the spacing 15 and whatever over in anticipation of, I think, 16 perhaps some of this type of drilling. And in 17 that there was a requirement that there be, I 18 guess for leases, that certain leases be 19 drilled out or there be production or 20 exploration within a certain time period. 21 Now, this bill imposing a 22 moratorium on permitting, how will that impact 23 on several thousand leases that will otherwise 24 expire between now and the expiration date or 25 the sunset of the moratorium bill that you're
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 promoting? What will be the impact on those 2 thousands of leases? 3 SENATOR THOMPSON: Through you, 4 Madam President. In terms of the folks that 5 have leases related to Marcellus Shale and 6 hydrofracking, those folks will continue, I 7 would imagine will continue to have leases if 8 the companies choose to continue to lease with 9 them. I'm certain many of them will. That's 10 part of the reason why we felt that the 11 one-year aspect would be a more fair ground. 12 But there's also recommendations by 13 local governments and by the Farm Bureau which 14 is in support of natural gas drilling. For 15 example, there are a number of protections in 16 the draft statement that was released by the 17 DEC that did not give the landowners all the 18 protections that they would like. 19 So, for example, in the 2010 list 20 of legislative priorities by the New York 21 State Farm Bureau it says "We support DEC 22 requiring gas drilling companies to disclose 23 their proprietary recipe for hydraulic 24 fracturing fluid to the agency and to disclose 25 to the public the list of chemicals in there."
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 It also talks about some of the licensing and 2 regulation of gas and oil leasing agents. 3 It also talks about a number of 4 things from Social Security numbers from 5 leasing companies. When they do a lease right 6 now, they can actually have your Social 7 Security number in the county clerk's office. 8 So there are a number of things 9 that need to be reformed that is from the 2010 10 list of the Farm Bureau. They put out a 11 number of recommendations, everything from 12 minerals, making sure that those landowners' 13 mineral rights are protected, as well -- and 14 I'm sure, as someone who is learned as you are 15 on this issue, that there are a number of 16 remedies that need to be protected. 17 But the short answer is they can 18 keep their leases, they just will not have a 19 permit until May 15th, which they probably are 20 not going to get anyway because the DEC at the 21 earliest won't finish until sometime in 22 November or early December when we're out of 23 session. 24 SENATOR WINNER: Well, will the 25 Senator yield.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 2 Senator, do you continue to yield? 3 SENATOR THOMPSON: Yes. 4 SENATOR WINNER: Well, Senator, I 5 share your concern and your support for and I 6 personally support most of those Farm Bureau 7 recommendations, particularly the disclosure 8 of the fracking fluids and the other types of 9 things that we would expect and anticipate 10 will be contained in the department's 11 regulations. 12 But I think my question was -- 13 again, I'd like to clarify -- in the event 14 that a lease is to expire by its terms for its 15 primary term between now and May of 2011, is 16 it your statement that that lease will not on 17 its face expire and will be tolled for the 18 period of the moratorium? 19 SENATOR THOMPSON: I believe that 20 the state is -- at least some of the folks 21 have suggested that they want to stay in 22 New York. That's between the landowners and 23 the companies. This is a commodity that's not 24 going away any time soon. 25 Clearly I understand that people
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 want the jobs. I've heard from landowners. 2 And some landowners understand that even in 3 Pennsylvania that landowners who thought that 4 the big day was coming, the big payday didn't 5 come. Some people were lucky. In 6 Pennsylvania, for example, people had leases. 7 Some of those leases were not that detailed, 8 they were two-page leases, which I'm sure you 9 probably heard about. And some of those 10 expectations were not realized. 11 So we -- yes, they have leases. I 12 believe that the issue of whether or not those 13 companies will continue to lease from them, I 14 think one company may not continue to lease 15 and another company will step forward. I 16 think going to the five-year proposal or 17 waiting for EPA is a risk for New York for a 18 couple of reasons, and that's why I wanted to 19 go with the one-year bill. Because the EPA -- 20 we may not agree with everything that the EPA 21 sets forward. They may not give us the amount 22 of protections that New York may need. You 23 know, they have to do a national bill. Right? 24 And as we all know, some of our laws are a lot 25 more stringent than in other states.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 And so that's why I have said that 2 I would prefer for us to hammer out some of 3 the details so that we can have a good 4 standard and that if there are concerns on the 5 part of the industry, homeowners, and rank and 6 file residents, that we work through that. 7 We tried to work through the DEC's 8 comment period. Over 10,000 comments have 9 been submitted. Some person may say they 10 agree, some person may say they disagree. 11 Then we bring those recommendations, then it 12 comes into our lap and we decide whether or 13 not we have the votes to address any 14 unresolved issues. 15 And so on the charge of the 16 leasing, I think that people will continue to 17 lease. It's a very precious commodity. I 18 think Senator Libous is absolutely correct 19 that it's a precious commodity, but we can't 20 rush into it and then have to fix it and clean 21 it up later. 22 And I can tell you this, Senator, 23 that I've heard the concerns of landowners 24 that do support it. They say we want to see 25 drilling happen now, but we want it done the
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 right way. And I said to them that if we do 2 it in New York, you can be certain, as long as 3 I am involved, that I will make sure that we 4 look at the total picture and that we take all 5 the corrective steps. 6 And that's why I talked about the 7 leasing issue, because there are a lot of 8 problems with the leases in Pennsylvania. For 9 example, in terms of one of the things that 10 people should know is that in Pennsylvania 11 right now they -- people sign a lease, they 12 get a signing bonus and they don't know when 13 they're going to get their first royalty 14 check. There's no provisions in place to tell 15 the landowner how much they're going to get 16 every year and every month. All right? They 17 always give them a generic number, and there's 18 not like an annual reporting mechanism. 19 DEC is looking at some of those 20 issues, but we have a responsibility to make 21 sure that if DEC doesn't go far enough, that 22 we don't have in a county a lot of folks 23 having leases and they think that big payday 24 is going to come and they don't even know how 25 much gas is coming out of the well each and
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 every day. 2 And right now, in Pennsylvania, the 3 person who has the well there, they don't know 4 that information in an easily accessible way. 5 SENATOR WINNER: Will the Senator 6 yield. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 8 Senator Thompson, do you continue to yield? 9 SENATOR THOMPSON: Yes. 10 SENATOR WINNER: Senator, back in 11 2008 I believe that there were some 670 12 permits to drill gas wells issued in New York 13 State. And I think there was something like 14 580 wells permitted for drilling in 2009. 15 Of those permits, do you know how 16 many of them involved hydro fracturing? 17 SENATOR THOMPSON: I don't have 18 the numbers in front of me, but I know that a 19 significant number of well permits have been 20 submitted. And they're basically on hold 21 until we get through this process. 22 And I believe that people are 23 anticipating this process coming to -- moving 24 forward, but they understand that there are 25 protections that need to be addressed.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR WINNER: Will the Senator 2 yield. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 4 Senator, do you continue to yield? 5 SENATOR THOMPSON: Yes. 6 SENATOR WINNER: Senator, you 7 said that they were permitted but held. Those 8 were permitted and drilled wells, were they 9 not? 10 SENATOR THOMPSON: I don't have 11 the information in front of me. I do know, as 12 relates to this subject matter, that people 13 have submitted permits. I don't have the 14 exact number. 15 Oh, there are 58 hydrofracking 16 permits before the DEC right now. 17 SENATOR WINNER: Before the DEC. 18 However, of the wells that were drilled in 19 2008 and 2009, a large percentage of which 20 were done by hydrofracking, do you have any 21 statistics or indication as to whether or not 22 there were any incidents, adverse 23 environmental incidents with respect to any of 24 those wells that were drilled in New York 25 State in 2008-2009?
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR THOMPSON: I'm not -- I'm 2 not -- give me one second. Were you talking 3 about vertical wells or -- vertical wells? 4 SENATOR WINNER: Yes. 5 SENATOR THOMPSON: Yeah, I don't 6 have -- I don't have that information in front 7 of me, but I can look into in. 8 SENATOR WINNER: But to your 9 knowledge, you -- 10 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 11 Are you asking Senator Thompson to continue to 12 yield? 13 SENATOR WINNER: Yes. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 15 Senator Thompson, do you continue to yield? 16 SENATOR THOMPSON: I do continue 17 to yield. 18 But before I yield, I just want 19 Senator Winner to understand that there's a 20 fundamental difference between vertical 21 drilling and horizontal drilling. And I'm 22 certain you're aware that vertical drilling 23 has been going on for many, many years. 24 There's a fundamental difference 25 from going two miles down and a mile over. So
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 if we're going two files miles down and then 2 we're going to go over a mile, you know 3 there's a fundamental difference. The big 4 issue is the fact that we have to push down 5 two miles and then push over a mile. And 6 that's where you get a lot of complications. 7 And that's not to suggest there 8 have been not been complications with vertical 9 drilling. It's just in America, and not just 10 in this state, we have been doing vertical 11 drilling in various forms for many, many 12 years. 13 SENATOR WINNER: Thank you. 14 Thank you, Senator. 15 SENATOR THOMPSON: Thank you. 16 SENATOR WINNER: Again, I just 17 would hope that as we go forward with this 18 debate that, again, science prevails and that 19 we allow the DEC, who is extraordinarily 20 capable and has been up-to-date, to be able to 21 do their job and to be able to allow us, 22 particularly in that so-called Appalachia area 23 of upstate New York, to be able to receive the 24 economic benefits that we so sorely need and 25 that we so sorely deserve, and that we can do
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 so with fair, responsible, and environmentally 2 safe natural gas exploration. 3 Thank you, Madam President. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 5 Thank you, Senator. 6 Senator Parker. 7 SENATOR PARKER: Thank you, Madam 8 President. On the bill. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 10 Senator Parker, on the bill. 11 SENATOR PARKER: I'll try to be 12 brief because I know that the hour is late. 13 But this is a critical issue, and my activity 14 on the Energy Committee and some of the 15 comments I've heard today compel me to just 16 address some of these issues. 17 You know, first in the context of 18 energy and trying to talk about natural gas, 19 the question is do we really need this kind of 20 natural gas even if it's going to be, you 21 know, creating all of this supposed economic 22 activity. 23 And then the question next is what 24 are we willing to give up for this level of 25 economic activity. And I know that we all
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 want to see economic development, you know, 2 upstate and around the country, but is it 3 really worth it? That's the question tonight 4 that we need to ask ourselves: Is it really 5 worth it? 6 In the shadows of BP, where we are 7 still cleaning up oil and still trying to 8 figure out how you cap the well, is Marcellus 9 Shale really worth it? The question is in the 10 ruined rivers of Michigan, where, you know, 11 they wiped out entire industries around 12 fishing and tourism and people's drinking 13 water, is Marcellus Shale really worth it? 14 We a couple of weeks ago in 15 Pennsylvania -- and let me congratulate 16 Senator Thompson both on his legislation but, 17 more importantly, on his preparation for this 18 debate. He really has been kind on the issue 19 because he has not talked about the 20 catastrophes and the loss of human life and 21 spills and all kinds of things they've had in 22 Pennsylvania doing this kind of hydrofracking 23 work. And the question is, is it really worth 24 it to do this? That we will be penny-wise and 25 pound-foolish to take up this course of action
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 of allowing hydrofracking in the Marcellus 2 Shale without proper study and preparation for 3 both the energy use, the economic development, 4 and more importantly the cleanup. 5 You are talking about endangering 6 the watershed of New York City -- not just the 7 single largest economic engine for the State 8 of New York, but for the country. You are 9 talking about also, in Syracuse, dealing with 10 their watershed. Is it worth it to endanger 11 our watersheds without proper preparation? 12 This bill does not say never do 13 hydrofracking. In fact, just the opposite. 14 It's saying, look, let's slow down, let's have 15 a cooling-off period. Let's decide whether in 16 fact it is really worth it, Madam President, 17 to endanger the watersheds of New York City 18 and Syracuse. It is in fact saying let's slow 19 down and look at the opportunities that are 20 here, and let's prepare for those economic 21 opportunities. 22 Let's in fact slow down and give 23 DEC a chance to properly look at this. 24 Because, let's be clear, over the last two or 25 three budget cycles we have decimated the
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 staffing of DEC and they are really not, 2 frankly, quiet as it's kept, and maybe still 3 quiet after, you know, a debate at 12:00 a.m., 4 they're really not prepared to start dealing 5 with this stuff in the manner in which it 6 needs to be dealt with in terms of the scope 7 and breadth and magnitude of the studies that 8 need to be done in order to properly evaluate 9 whether hydrofracking in the Marcellus Shale 10 is in fact going to cause an ecological 11 disaster that endangers the watersheds of 12 New York City and Syracuse. 13 Now, as we start talking about 14 watersheds, people should go back a couple of 15 years to the state of Georgia and what it went 16 through when it had a water shortage. People 17 in New York City, are you prepared not to be 18 able to have water run through your tap that 19 you can drink? We right now currently both 20 some of the best water in the entire nation. 21 And although a lot of us, like Tom Duane, 22 drink bottled water, everybody doesn't really 23 need to in New York City. Up here in Albany, 24 I can't really vouch for it, but down in 25 Brooklyn, the water is fresh. Right? Oh,
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Saratoga, all right. Economic development, 2 right, for upstate. Right? 3 But the reality is that, you know, 4 this high-pressure drilling using undisclosed 5 chemicals, many of which we know are 6 radioactive, many of which we know are 7 carcinogens, many of which we know are toxic, 8 many of which we know are poisonous, it is 9 unsafe and really irresponsible for this 10 Legislature to in fact go forward and allow 11 DEC to go forward without a proper evaluation 12 of what the circumstances are going to be 13 behind doing hydrofracking in Marcellus Shale. 14 I think, frankly, it's something 15 that we ought to seriously look at. I think 16 this might be a great opportunity for the 17 entire state. But it will not be worth it if 18 we have another BP situation like they're 19 dealing with in the Gulf Coast, Madam 20 President. It will not be worth it if we just 21 create another ecological disaster as they 22 have created with oil spills in Michigan. It 23 will not be worth it if we have a loss of life 24 and explosions like they had in Pennsylvania. 25 And so this bill is a good bill. I
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 hope that my colleagues will do the right 2 thing and slow down the process and make sure 3 that we look before we leap on this important 4 legislation. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 6 Thank you, Senator. 7 Senator L. Krueger. 8 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you, 9 Madam President. 10 I know the time is late, and I want 11 to thank Senator Antoine Thompson for 12 sponsoring this bill and the excellent 13 presentation he made tonight about why we need 14 to do this. 15 And I've heard my colleagues talk 16 about all the potential good that can come 17 economically from hydrofracking. 18 But the reason for this bill and 19 the importance of a moratorium is we need to 20 learn more before we continue down a road that 21 can have devastating impacts on all our 22 communities and all the people of New York 23 State. 24 The one thing you need to remember 25 when you're talking about environmental risks
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 and the impact of environmental harm is it 2 doesn't have boundaries. For the good and the 3 bad, there will be no boundary of a specific 4 community or a specific county or a specific 5 Senate district. If something goes wrong, the 6 community will pay for it, the people who's 7 land it is will pay for it, an extremely broad 8 area of the state will pay for it, the health 9 and safety of all New Yorkers will pay for it. 10 The future of security, of whether we have 11 clean water or have contamination that can 12 last decades, will be paid for by all of us. 13 And Senator Thompson and Senator 14 Parker just highlighted and reminded us again 15 about some of the experiences that have gone 16 on in other states, our neighboring states 17 who, okay, we say we're going to do better, 18 we're not going to make the mistakes of 19 Pennsylvania, we're not going to have the 20 disasters that we have seen there. But the 21 thing is, government and the science of 22 government isn't always fast enough to keep up 23 with the changes in technology. 24 So for the record, I have a great 25 deal of faith in our DEC. I actually voted to
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 confirm the commissioner of DEC, Pete Grannis, 2 when many of my colleagues did not, because I 3 have so much faith in him. 4 And yet I still don't think we 5 should be satisfied with the DEC regulations 6 that came out. I still believe it is a 7 perfectly reasonable argument that we should 8 have this moratorium, get more facts, do more 9 research, recognize that the EPA under the 10 Bush administration wasn't doing real science, 11 the kind of science we need to do to ensure 12 the protection of the people of New York 13 State. 14 So for me, this is simple. Do the 15 homework, give ourselves some more time to 16 make sure we are not doing anything to do harm 17 to the people of New York State or the future 18 of the environmental stewardship of our state. 19 That's all we're asking with this bill. Make 20 sure we do it right, because the price to be 21 paid if we get it wrong is beyond what any of 22 us want to have to explain to our 23 constituents. 24 I vote yes. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Thank you, Senator. 2 Senator Thompson. 3 SENATOR THOMPSON: Yes, just on 4 the bill. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 6 Senator Thompson, on the bill. 7 SENATOR THOMPSON: Just a couple 8 of quick things. 9 First, the Farm Bureau, why waiting 10 for the DEC report is not enough. The Farm 11 Bureau says: "We support an amendment to 12 state law requiring that oil and gas leases on 13 state lands should be subject to competitive 14 bidding for royalties and bonus payments and 15 be subject to audit and controlled by the New 16 York State Comptroller." 17 They also support tracking and 18 monitoring of all gas pipelines by the Public 19 Service Commission. They also say that the 20 New York State Department of Environmental 21 Conservation Draft Supplemental Generic 22 Environmental Impact Statement does not go far 23 enough: 24 "We recommend that the DEC at the 25 very least include the following" -- meaning
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 these issues were not addressed in their 2 original proposal -- "a comprehensive 3 assessment of impacts on the environment and 4 human health by numerous gas wells." 5 In the town of Dimock, the town of 6 Towanda they have a large concentration of 7 wells in some of these very small towns, which 8 is something that needs to be addressed. 9 A practical plan for the disposal 10 of all wastewater that will be generated by 11 hydraulic fracturing of numerous horizontal 12 gas wells. That all expenses to county and 13 local governments to implement these various 14 studies be covered by the oil and gas 15 companies. To develop and publish a statewide 16 strategy to train and hire the many additional 17 staff needed to enforce the final 18 environmental impact statement by the DEC, 19 because they recognize that the DEC does not 20 have the amount of staff necessary to enforce 21 this. 22 The last thing I want to talk about 23 is when things go wrong. I understand that 24 this is very important, and that's why I 25 thought it worthy enough to go to Pennsylvania
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 not once but twice. I found it worthy enough 2 to not only write comments but to actually 3 make sure that we put together a 40-plus page 4 report on this very important subject matter. 5 In Pennsylvania, in the month of 6 July, two people were killed as a result of an 7 explosion. We also know about in other states 8 where people -- where there have been 9 explosions, there has been contamination, and 10 where people have asked the question where was 11 government. 12 So without further ado, I just ask 13 that we do the right thing, we give the new 14 commissioner coming in in January the 15 opportunity to examine this issue, give the 16 Governor a chance to examine it. Let's look 17 at the 20-plus bills and make sure that if it 18 happens in New York, that it's done in a 19 responsible way that none of us will have to 20 go to Pennsylvania or go to your district or 21 someone else's district and look at families 22 and say that we could have done a better job. 23 So thank you, and I encourage my 24 colleagues to support this piece of 25 legislation.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 2 Senator Schneiderman. 3 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Very 4 briefly, Madam President. 5 I think this bill is as reasonable 6 a way to deal with the difficult problem as 7 you could possibly propose. Senator Thompson 8 has simply introduced a bill that I strongly 9 support that says let's hit pause. We're not 10 hitting stop, let's hit pause. 11 This is a dangerous process. The 12 stakes are tremendously high. The drinking 13 water that sustains our cities, that sustains 14 our industry, that sustains our agriculture -- 15 and we heard a lot about the problems and the 16 benefits of New York's agriculture earlier 17 tonight -- is at risk. We have to take every 18 step necessary to ensure that this is done 19 right. 20 All this does is provide a delay. 21 We're in a transition period where people are 22 leaving the DEC. A new administration is 23 coming in. Senator Thompson is suggesting the 24 most prudent possible alternative. We know 25 this is a dangerous technology. Madam
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 President, let's do it right. 2 I vote yes. I urge everyone here 3 to vote yes. There is no one who is at risk 4 more than our children. Let's do something 5 for them. Let's take care of the earth, which 6 is only entrusted to us, which we do not own. 7 Let's take care of our water supply. Vote yes 8 for Senator Thompson's bill. 9 Thank you, Madam President. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 11 Thank you, Senator. 12 Senator Oppenheimer. 13 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Just very 14 briefly also. 15 As Senator Schneiderman said, I 16 think this is a moderate approach. The one 17 that I had favored for quite a while was 18 waiting for the EPA to come out with their 19 determination. And that is further down the 20 line. That is probably over two years away. 21 So considering what is at stake 22 here, I think this is a moderate approach and 23 I think one that we all should be following 24 because there are so many potential mishaps 25 along the way.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 I vote yes. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 3 Are there any other Senators wishing to be 4 heard on the bill? 5 Hearing none, the debate is closed. 6 The Secretary will please ring the bells. 7 Read the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 9 act shall take effect immediately. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 11 Call the roll. 12 (The Secretary called the roll.) 13 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 14 Senator Seward, to explain his vote. 15 SENATOR SEWARD: Yes, thank you, 16 Madam President. 17 Approximately one-half of my 18 seven-county district lies in an area of the 19 state where Marcellus Shale is located below 20 our surface, and the debate has raged the last 21 two or so years, as has interest in that area 22 on the part of gas companies looking to sign 23 leases to drill. There's been a great debate 24 locally, pros and cons of this entire process, 25 and I have listened very intently to my --
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 2 May we have order, please. 3 SENATOR SEWARD: I have listened 4 very intently to my constituents and done a 5 lot of research on the issue. 6 And I certainly recognize that 7 there are tremendous economic benefits to gas 8 drilling for my region. There are obvious 9 energy benefits. This is a clean-burning 10 domestic source of energy, very important. 11 But there are also risks that need 12 to be recognized and mitigated. And the DEC 13 has been updating their rules and regulations 14 governing the hydrofracking, the horizontal 15 drilling, these new processes that will be 16 associated with the Marcellus Shale. I want 17 them to take all the time they need to study 18 the science and develop a good rules and 19 regulations to properly protect our area. 20 I'm going to vote yes on this piece 21 of legislation because I believe that the 22 May 15th date is a reasonable date that will 23 accomplish a number of things. It says, to 24 the DEC, take all the time that you need to 25 fully explore the issues, review those 14,000
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 comments, to develop the right rules and 2 regulations. 3 And once they release their final 4 report, this May 15th date will give the 5 public an opportunity to react to the product 6 that DEC comes up with. It will give this 7 Legislature also an opportunity to review and 8 to fill any gaps or deal with any omissions. 9 And, finally, it will give local governments 10 an opportunity to get ready for gas drilling 11 that may occur in their municipalities. 12 So I think this May 15th date is a 13 reasonable compromise to the issue that, if 14 gas drilling does come to our area, that it 15 can be done right if we give it the proper 16 time to do so. 17 So, Madam President, I vote aye. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 19 Senator Seward to be recorded in the 20 affirmative. 21 Are there any other Senators 22 wishing to explain his or her vote? 23 (Multiple "no's" from the floor.) 24 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 25 Senator Alesi, to explain his vote.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 (Groaning; laughter.) 2 SENATOR ALESI: Thank you, Madam 3 President. 4 After listening for what seems like 5 an eternity to some of my colleagues' 6 comments, I appreciate the two minutes that I 7 will take to explain my vote. 8 (Groaning.) 9 SENATOR ALESI: Make that a 10 minute and a half now. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 12 1:41. 13 (Laughter.) 14 SENATOR ALESI: But who's 15 counting, really. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 17 I am. 18 SENATOR ALESI: Madam President 19 and my colleagues, this bill really doesn't 20 ask for any kind of a report, it simply 21 provides a moratorium until May 15th of next 22 year before any applications can be processed. 23 Some people think that that's 24 unreasonable. I think it's consistent with my 25 feelings where, when it comes to the siting of
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 windmills in this state, we have no real 2 regulatory pattern, everything is done on a 3 very local basis. And I can see from our 4 experience with the siting of windmills that 5 we might have moved too fast in some areas at 6 great expense to local business and to our 7 environment. 8 With that in mind, not because I'm 9 opposed to fracking, and not because I'm 10 opposed to the possible benefits that can be 11 derived by exploiting the natural-gas shale 12 that's available here, but because I think 13 that it would provide us an opportunity -- 14 even though no report is required, 15 unfortunately, in this bill -- an opportunity 16 to gain more knowledge on the subject. 17 So I'll vote yes on this. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 19 Senator Alesi to be recorded in the 20 affirmative. 21 Announce the results. 22 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 23 the negative on Calendar Number 1429 are 24 Senators Aubertine, Griffo, Lanza, Libous, 25 Little, Maziarz, Volker, Winner and Young.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Absent from voting: Senators Diaz 2 and C. Kruger. 3 Excused from voting: Senators 4 Golden and Savino. 5 Ayes, 48. Nays, 9. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 7 The bill is passed. 8 (Applause from gallery.) 9 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 10 Senator Klein, that completes the reading of 11 the controversial calendar. 12 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 13 just briefly, can we return to motions. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 15 Returning to motions and resolutions. 16 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 17 on behalf of Senator Espada, I wish to call up 18 Print Number 6291, recalled from the Assembly, 19 which is now at the desk. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 21 The Secretary will read. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 1264, by Senator Espada, Senate Print 6291, an 24 act to amend the Social Services Law. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Senator Klein. 2 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 3 I now move to reconsider the vote by which 4 this bill was passed. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 6 The Secretary will call the roll on 7 reconsideration. 8 (The Secretary called the roll.) 9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 11 Senator Klein. 12 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 13 I now offer the following amendments. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 15 The amendments are received. 16 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 17 on behalf of Senator Parker, on page number 27 18 I offer the following amendments to Calendar 19 Number 1204, Senate Print Number 8296B, and 20 ask that said bill retain its place on Third 21 Reading Calendar. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 23 Please allow us to just complete the 24 housekeeping. 25 So ordered.
Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 2 on behalf of Senator Klein -- myself -- I move 3 that the following bill be discharged from its 4 respective committee and be recommitted with 5 instructions to strike the enacting clause: 6 Senate Number 8232. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 8 So ordered. 9 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 10 is there any further business at the desk? 11 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 12 Senator Klein, the desk is clear. 13 SENATOR KLEIN: There being no 14 further business, Madam President, I move that 15 we adjourn at the call of the Temporary 16 President, intervening days to be legislative 17 days. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 19 The Senate is adjourned to the call of the 20 Temporary President, intervening days being 21 legislative days. 22 (Whereupon, at 12:20 a.m., the 23 Senate adjourned.) 24 25
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Highest impact first.
Not yet analyzed. Open the bill for its official title.
Not yet analyzed. Open the bill for its official title.
Not yet analyzed. Open the bill for its official title.
Not yet analyzed. Open the bill for its official title.
Not yet analyzed. Open the bill for its official title.
Not yet analyzed. Open the bill for its official title.
Not yet analyzed. Open the bill for its official title.
Not yet analyzed. Open the bill for its official title.
Not yet analyzed. Open the bill for its official title.