Wednesday, March 30, 2011

1 NEW YORK STATE SENATE 2 3 4 THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD 5 6 7 8 9 ALBANY, NEW YORK 10 March 30, 2011 11 10:19 a.m. 12 13 14 REGULAR SESSION 15 16 17 18 SENATOR JOSEPH A. GRIFFO, Acting President 19 FRANCIS W. PATIENCE, 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 GRIFFO: The 3 Senate will come to order. 4 I ask all present to please rise 5 and join with me as we recite the Pledge of 6 Allegiance to our Flag. 7 (Whereupon, the assemblage recited 8 the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.) 9 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: In the 10 absence of clergy, I ask all present to please 11 bow their heads in a moment of silent 12 reflection. 13 (Whereupon, the assemblage 14 respected a moment of silence.) 15 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 16 reading of the Journal. 17 THE SECRETARY: In Senate, 18 Tuesday, March 29, the Senate met pursuant to 19 adjournment. The Journal of Monday, March 28, 20 was read and approved. On motion, Senate 21 adjourned. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Without 23 objection, the Journal stands approved as 24 read. 25 Presentation of petitions.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Messages from the Assembly. 2 The Secretary will read. 3 THE SECRETARY: On page 18, 4 Senator Saland moves to discharge, from the 5 Committee on Children and Families, Assembly 6 Bill Number 88 and substitute it for the 7 identical Senate Bill Number 1428, Third 8 Reading Calendar 217. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 10 substitution is so ordered. 11 Messages from the Governor. 12 Reports of standing committees. 13 Reports of select committees. 14 Communications and reports from 15 state officers. 16 Motions and resolutions. 17 Senator Libous. 18 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President, 19 I'm about to call a meeting of the Finance 20 Committee. But before I do that, I would like 21 to take a moment and talk about a 22 long-standing policy that we have had in this 23 chamber, at least for the 23 years that I have 24 been here, and I know longer than that for 25 some other members.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 We do not allow anyone to take 2 pictures on the floor of the Senate. Members 3 are not allowed, staff members on either side 4 of the aisle are not allowed, and only the 5 official Senate photographers are those who 6 are authorized to take pictures of Senators on 7 the floor. And press, if they're allowed and 8 they have their credentials. 9 In consultation with Senator 10 Breslin, and I'll let him speak in a minute, 11 we would ask that that not happen and that if 12 it does happen, the Sergeant-at-Arms will be 13 asked to remove you from the chamber. 14 SENATOR BRESLIN: Mr. President. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 16 Breslin. 17 SENATOR BRESLIN: I join with 18 Senator Libous in the admonition that any kind 19 of photography in this chamber without the 20 authorization of our Senate photographers is 21 prohibited, and we will do everything in our 22 power to make sure that's enforced on our side 23 as well. 24 Thank you, Mr. President. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 you, Senator Breslin. 2 It is so noted and the 3 Sergeant-at-Arms is so instructed. 4 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, 5 Mr. President. Thank you, Senator Breslin. 6 With that said, it's on to moving 7 forward with the state budget. There will be 8 an immediate meeting of the Finance Committee 9 in Room 332. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: There's 11 an immediate meeting of the Finance Committee 12 in Room 332. 13 The Senate stands at ease. 14 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at 15 ease at 10:22 a.m.) 16 (Whereupon, the Senate reconvened 17 at 10:41 a.m.) 18 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 19 Senate will come to order. 20 Senator Maziarz. 21 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you very 22 much, Mr. President. 23 At this time, Mr. President, could 24 we take up the noncontroversial reading of 25 today's calendar, please.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 2 Secretary will read. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 112, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 1541, an 5 act to amend the Penal Law. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 7 the last section. 8 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 9 act shall take effect on the first of 10 November. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 12 the roll. 13 (The Secretary called the roll.) 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 16 bill is passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 217, substituted earlier today by Member of 19 the Assembly Paulin, Assembly Print Number 88, 20 an act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 22 the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 24 act shall take effect on the 30th day. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 the roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll.) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 5 bill is passed. 6 Senator Maziarz, that completes the 7 noncontroversial reading of the calendar. 8 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you very 9 much, Mr. President. 10 May we please return to the order 11 of reports of standing committees. I believe 12 there's a report of the Finance Committee at 13 the desk. I ask that it be read at this time. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 15 Secretary will read the report of the Finance 16 Committee. 17 THE SECRETARY: Senator 18 DeFrancisco, from the Committee on Finance, 19 reports direct to third reading: 20 Senate Print 2807C, Senate Budget 21 Bill, an act to amend Chapter 887 of the Laws 22 of 1983; 23 And Senate Print 2811C, Senate 24 Budget Bill, an act to amend the Abandoned 25 Property Law.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 2 bills are reported to third reading. 3 Senator Maziarz. 4 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you very 5 much, Mr. President. 6 At this time could we just stand at 7 ease for a couple of minutes. Thank you. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 9 Senate will stand at ease. 10 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at 11 ease at 10:44 a.m.) 12 (Whereupon, the Senate reconvened 13 at 10:49 a.m.) 14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 15 Senate will come to order. 16 Senator Maziarz. 17 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you very 18 much, Mr. President. 19 Just one note of housekeeping. 20 There was an Agriculture Committee meeting 21 scheduled for 11:00 a.m. this morning. That 22 will be postponed, called later on off the 23 floor. 24 Mr. President, may we please take 25 up the noncontroversial reading of

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Supplemental Calendar A at this time. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 3 Secretary will read. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 284, Senate Budget Bill, Senate Print 2807C, 6 an act to amend Chapter 887 of the Laws of 7 1983. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 9 Maziarz. 10 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Mr. President, 11 is there a message of necessity at the desk? 12 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: There 13 is a message of necessity at the desk. 14 SENATOR MAZIARZ: I move to 15 accept the message of necessity at this time. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 17 motion has been made to accept the message of 18 necessity. All in favor signify by saying 19 aye. 20 (Response of "Aye.") 21 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: 22 Opposed? 23 (No response.) 24 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 25 message is accepted.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR BRESLIN: Lay it aside. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Lay it 3 aside. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 285, Senate Budget Bill, Senate Print 2811C, 6 an act to amend the Abandoned Property Law. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 8 Maziarz. 9 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Yes, 10 Mr. President, is there a message of necessity 11 at the desk? 12 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: There 13 is a message at the desk. 14 SENATOR MAZIARZ: I move to 15 accept the message of necessity. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: All in 17 favor of accepting the message signify by 18 saying aye. 19 (Response of "Aye.") 20 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: 21 Opposed? 22 (No response.) 23 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 24 message is accepted. 25 SENATOR BRESLIN: Lay it aside.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Lay it 2 aside. 3 That completes the noncontroversial 4 reading of the supplemental calendar. 5 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you very 6 much, Mr. President. 7 At this time can we take up the 8 controversial reading of the calendar. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 10 Secretary will ring the bell. 11 The Secretary will read. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 284, Senate Budget Bill, Senate Print 2807C, 14 an act to amend Chapter 887 of the Laws of 15 1983. 16 SENATOR BRESLIN: Explanation. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 18 DeFrancisco, an explanation has been requested 19 by Senator Breslin. 20 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, 2807C 21 is the public protection budget bill. And 22 everyone should have their memos concerning 23 the content of this budget bill. 24 The first major -- Part A, the 25 first area, deals with the Governor wanted to

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 extend the operation of the Interstate Compact 2 for Adult Supervision, the ability of state 3 corrections facilities to house inmates, et 4 cetera, et cetera. It's in the memo for three 5 years. We rejected that and had the extension 6 for two years to provide some more legislative 7 oversight of the operations of these 8 organizations. 9 Part B deals with funds that are 10 recovered by district attorneys in New York 11 City. And approximately $75 million of the 12 funds come to the State of New York, the rest 13 is split between New York City and the DAs for 14 monies recovered in various civil actions done 15 by the district attorney's office. 16 All this part of the bill does is 17 to amend when those funds are received by the 18 recipients. It used to be doled out annually. 19 Monies are needed during the course of the 20 year. Each of the stakeholders have agreed to 21 the new payment schedule, which is 22 advantageous to each of them. 23 Part C, this is that 60 days notice 24 for prison closures, and that's only for one 25 year. It will go back to the one year

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 notification. We debated that somewhat 2 yesterday. 3 Part D, we rejected the Governor's 4 request to or his proposal to transfer a 5 million and a half dollars from the Public 6 Safety Communications Account to the Emergency 7 Service Revolving Loan Fund, because that 8 fund, the second of the funds, has sufficient 9 dollars in it and there's no need for such a 10 transfer. We deny the transfers for a period 11 of two years since there are sufficient funds 12 in that account. 13 Part E, changing the composition of 14 commissioners of the State Liquor Authority. 15 It was felt by the Governor and the 16 Legislature, which concurred with the 17 Governor, that the chairman is the individual 18 who performs most of the responsibilities for 19 this particular board, and his salary would 20 remain the same. The other commissioners 21 would be relegated to a per-diem fee of $260 a 22 day. That saves $220,000 a year. Not a lot 23 of money, but every little bit counts in a 24 situation, budget problem that we've got right 25 now.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 The Governor wanted to eliminate 2 the requirement that election results be 3 printed in newspapers. The Legislature 4 rejected that. That's Part F. 5 Part G, this has to do with 6 workers' compensation, the self-insured funds. 7 This has been an ongoing problem where some of 8 these funds went bankrupt. There's some 9 changes in the language. It relieves fully 10 and partially funded trusts from assessments 11 since they really had little to do with the 12 problem since their funds are fully or 13 partially funded. They're relieved from that 14 assessment until 2016. It lessens these exit 15 fees that were part of prior law. And 16 apparently, from what I understand, that all 17 the stakeholders that were involved in these 18 discussions were at least not dissatisfied 19 with this solution to remedy some of the 20 burden on these employers who created these 21 trusts. 22 Part H is similar to the proposal 23 concerning the ABC commissioners, in that the 24 commissioners of -- the State Civil Service 25 commissioner will go a per-diem compensation.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Part I, everyone has been aware 2 since the Governor's original proposal of the 3 reduction in AIM funding, Aid and Incentives 4 to Municipalities. The Legislature concurred 5 with those proposals. 6 The video lottery terminals -- and, 7 you know, let me just stop right there. I may 8 be going in too great of depth because 9 everyone's got this memo. And maybe I'll stop 10 at this point and ask if there's any questions 11 and that way we might be able to eliminate 12 some of the areas that people are not 13 interested in talking about. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank 15 you, Senator DeFrancisco. 16 Is there any Senator wishing to be 17 heard? 18 Senator Krueger. 19 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you very 20 much. 21 First off, thank you, Senator 22 DeFrancisco for the explanation. And yes, we 23 all appreciate that now we're getting memos to 24 look at before we're asked to vote on bills. 25 And it does certainly help us, given how short

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 the timeline is from bill printing to coming 2 to the floor. 3 Mr. President, through you, I do 4 have a few questions on this bill if the 5 sponsor will yield. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 7 DeFrancisco, do you yield? 8 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, I do. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 10 Krueger. 11 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 12 Senator, in your presentation you 13 did go over Part F, elimination of election 14 law print and publication, which had been in 15 the Governor's original budget but was 16 ultimately rejected. Can you tell me what the 17 cost or the savings from that proposal would 18 have been both to the state and to the 19 localities? 20 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: 21 Approximately $75,000 would have been the 22 savings had we not eliminated the Governor's 23 proposal. 24 SENATOR KRUEGER: Mr. President, 25 if through you the sponsor would continue to

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 yield. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 3 sponsor yields. 4 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 5 Would there have been a local 6 savings as well? Because my understanding was 7 this was printing by election districts in 8 their local papers of specific information. 9 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: No, there 10 would not have been. This was strictly a 11 state expense. 12 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 13 Mr. President, if the sponsor would 14 continue to yield. 15 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 16 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 17 In Section I, AIM funding, reducing 18 Aid and Incentives to Municipalities, this 19 bill zeros out the $302 million AIM funding 20 for one year to the City of New York. Is that 21 correct? 22 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: That's 23 correct. 24 SENATOR KRUEGER: If, through 25 you, the sponsor would continue to yield.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 2 sponsor yields. 3 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 4 And as I recall in last year's 5 budget, when we also zeroed out approximately 6 $302 million in AIM funding to the City of 7 New York, we -- the State of New York 8 explicitly committed to putting AIM funding 9 back for the for the City of New York at the 10 same reduction share as other local 11 municipalities in this budget year. Is that 12 the sponsor's recollection as well? 13 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I don't 14 know who "we" is, but I didn't make any such 15 commitment. You never know from year to year 16 what the circumstances are going to be. You 17 can hope to do the best you can. But 18 obviously we've received about $6 billion less 19 money from the federal government in education 20 alone, and sometimes those hopes are never 21 realized. 22 SENATOR KRUEGER: Mr. President, 23 through you, for the record, I do believe that 24 last year's budget language explicitly made a 25 commitment to restore AIM funding to the City

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 of New York. And of course my colleague is 2 right that you go year to year and you have 3 new realities to deal with. But we did make 4 that commitment, Senators on both sides of the 5 aisle. Certainly Senators from New York City, 6 Republicans and Democrats. So I'm disturbed 7 that we're not making good on that. 8 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Excuse me 9 one moment. 10 SENATOR KRUEGER: Yes. 11 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I believe 12 every Republican voted no on the budget, which 13 means they voted no on all provisions of it, 14 including the one to which you refer. So we 15 did not commit on this side of the aisle to 16 any such thing. 17 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 18 Mr. President, if the sponsor would 19 continue to yield. 20 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 22 sponsor yields. 23 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 24 Section L clarifies the state will 25 assume responsibility for payments in lieu of

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 taxes for certain lands I guess in or around 2 the City of Rochester. Can you tell me what 3 new expenses the state has committed to with 4 this section and for how long a period? 5 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I have 6 absolutely no clue, so let me check it out for 7 you. 8 SENATOR KRUEGER: Okay. 9 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Well, what 10 I have been informed that there was -- the 11 state entered into an agreement with these 12 localities to pay in lieu of taxes because 13 these are watershed areas. It was actually 14 purchased by the state, and when the state 15 purchased it there was agreement with the 16 localities to pay and, since there will be no 17 taxes, that the state is not taxable, to make 18 payments in lieu of taxes in return for the 19 ability of the state to purchase these 20 watershed lands. 21 That's the best I can do. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 23 Krueger. 24 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you, 25 Mr. President. If through you the sponsor

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 will continue to yield. 2 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 4 sponsor continues to yield. 5 SENATOR KRUEGER: I appreciate 6 the sponsor's answer. I believe it is 7 correct. But the follow-up of my question was 8 and what will it cost the state this year and 9 in future years, for how long when we are 10 paying some amount of PILOTs in lieu of taxes 11 or taking on the commitment of responsibility 12 for PILOT payments. 13 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: It's a 14 $600,000 appropriation this year, and it's an 15 annual appropriation. So apparently it's 16 going to go for several years. I don't know 17 the exact number of years. But it has to have 18 an annual appropriation. And for this year 19 it's $600,000. 20 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 21 Mr. President, quickly on the bill. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 23 Krueger on the bill. 24 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 25 I appreciate very much the

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 sponsor's answers to my questions. 2 By and large, this document is 3 almost identical to the Executive's original 4 proposal to the Legislature, and so I don't 5 think there is areas for wide disagreement on 6 this piece of legislation. So I'm planning on 7 voting yes. 8 Thank you very much. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank 10 you, Senator Krueger. 11 Senator Farley. 12 SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you. 13 I just want to bring up the fact 14 that much of this particular bill was the 15 result of my conference committee that 16 addressed this, and we addressed several very 17 serious problems, one of which I want to bring 18 up, the VLTs. 19 Seventeen communities upstate are 20 now going to -- I know that's where you 21 stopped, Senator. And 17 communities are 22 going to get support, including Saratoga, 23 which was omitted. And for $6 million it's 24 going to make a tremendous difference for 17 25 communities upstate.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 And also in this Yonkers has been 2 fully funded for their schools. And, Senator, 3 the Yonkers School Districts are going to be 4 fully funded as a result of the VLTs. I did 5 want to mention this. There was a spirit of 6 cooperation. This just shows on this 7 particular budget bill that the conference 8 committees work. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 10 DeFrancisco. 11 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, I 12 forgot to mention one thing. During the 13 discussion of our one-house bill Senator 14 Stewart-Cousins was extremely upset with the 15 fact that Yonkers lost money from some VLT 16 revenues. And I told her at the time that our 17 conference would look into that, see what 18 could be done in order to correct that, and 19 that was corrected in this bill as well. 20 Thank you. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Is 22 there any other Senator wishing to be heard? 23 Seeing none, the debate is closed. 24 The Secretary will ring the bell. 25 Read the last section.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 2 act shall take effect. 3 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 5 Libous. 6 SENATOR LIBOUS: If we could just 7 pause for a couple more seconds. 8 (Pause.) 9 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 10 Secretary will read the last section. 11 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 12 act shall take effect immediately. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 14 the roll. 15 (The Secretary called the roll.) 16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 17 Adams to explain his vote. 18 SENATOR ADAMS: Thank you, 19 Mr. President. I want to explain my vote. 20 I'm going to vote no on this bill. 21 And I think that as we talk about reform, the 22 first area of reform is to deal with the 23 well-known secret in government where we bunch 24 items together. We need to vote on each item. 25 Each item should stand alone.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 And I'm going to vote no on this 2 bill because of the AIM funding for New York 3 City. We're punishing a municipality that 4 handled its finances in an appropriate way. 5 New York City had to cut back, they had to do 6 without. And because they did that, now 7 they're going to be punished by not receiving 8 any AIM. We stated that we were going to 9 refund the AIM this year in 2010. We're not. 10 So I believe this is the wrong 11 message to send. All municipalities must 12 tighten their belt, and when they do so they 13 should not be penalized by the state. And I 14 think we're penalizing New York City. 15 Although there are other items in this bill 16 that I'm happy are in the bill, but that's not 17 the right thing to do to state that because 18 they're bunched together I'm going to ignore 19 the fact that New York City is being denied 20 AIM. 21 New York City deserves to receive 22 their fair share of AIM. They send a large 23 amount of money to the state government. 24 We're not receiving that money back. And our 25 communities were hurt because of that. So I

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 have to vote no on this bill. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 3 Adams to be recorded in the negative. 4 Senator Hassell-Thompson to explain 5 her vote. 6 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Thank 7 you, Mr. President. 8 I went to commend our Governor and 9 the Assembly, my Assembly colleagues, for 10 attempting to minimize the pain in a terrible 11 budget year, particularly in the indigent 12 legal services. The continued existence of a 13 centralized office to distribute funding was 14 something that many of us fought very hard 15 for, and to change a flawed system of funds 16 distribution was long overdue. 17 I would also like to commend my 18 colleagues across the aisle for standing firm 19 against the merger of OPDD, OVS, and SCOC, 20 three virtually important offices, and for 21 restoring these offices to their full funding. 22 This public protection budget may 23 not be perfect, but I do want to give credit 24 where credit is due. Hard work went into 25 making sure that we did a good job on this

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 table, and I want to commend all who 2 participated in making it happen. 3 Thank you, Mr. President. I will 4 be voting yes. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 6 Hassell-Thompson to be recorded in the 7 affirmative. 8 Senator Stewart-Cousins to explain 9 her vote. 10 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: Yes, 11 thank you, Mr. President. 12 I too will be voting for this, but 13 I did want to mention two things. First, the 14 fact that there is some sort of carrot, and I 15 want to commend the Governor for extending 16 some kind of a carrot to municipalities that 17 are looking at consolidation and merging 18 services. It's one thing to say to do it, but 19 without motivation sometimes it's not as easy. 20 So it's good that there is that. 21 And secondly, I do want to extend 22 some gratitude to Senator DeFrancisco, who 23 indeed when I stood up and talked about how 24 the damage to the Yonkers schools was just 25 inevitable due to the cut of $19.6 million

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 from the proposed budget that the Republicans 2 put forward, he immediately asked how I could 3 give him more information, sent the analyst 4 over. 5 And I really thank you, Senator 6 DeFrancisco, and certainly all my colleagues 7 on both sides who understood that 8 schoolchildren and cutting streams that are 9 going directly to these schools -- and 10 certainly as a result of the raceway, which is 11 doing so well -- was something that we could 12 not jeopardize. 13 So again, my commendations to 14 Senator DeFrancisco, certainly everyone on the 15 other side of the aisle and certainly to my 16 own leader and my Democratic Senators here who 17 fought tooth and nail at every opportunity to 18 say no, this can't stand. 19 So again, I will be supporting 20 this. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 22 Stewart-Cousins to be recorded in the 23 affirmative. 24 Senator Diaz to explain his vote. 25 SENATOR DIAZ: Yeah,

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Mr. President, this is a budget that I have to 2 vote no, especially -- and not because I'm 3 opposing the closing of prisons. Not for that 4 reason. 5 But when we as a Legislature give a 6 blank check to the Governor to play with our 7 rice and beans, not knowing where he's going 8 to close a prison, not knowing what area is 9 going to be hurt, not knowing nothing, just to 10 give a blank check to the Governor -- here, 11 Governor, close at your pleasure -- this 12 doesn't speak well of us. 13 The people upstate that depend, 14 many of them depend on those earnings from 15 those prisons and whatever, they don't even 16 know what's going to happen. But we are 17 trusting the Governor. Close this thing 18 whenever you please, whatever you please. 19 That is wrong. This is not a way 20 of doing legislation, for the sake of an 21 on-time budget that we give the Governor this 22 blank check. This is wrong. I think this 23 is -- the people of the State of New York have 24 not elected us to do this kind of business. 25 Maybe we should abolish the whole Senate and

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 the whole Legislature and give the Governor 2 the command to do as we did with the 3 Lieutenant Governor. 4 So I'm voting no. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 6 Diaz to be recorded in the negative. 7 Is there any other Senator 8 wishing -- Senator Stavisky. 9 SENATOR STAVISKY: Yes. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: To 11 explain her vote. 12 SENATOR STAVISKY: To explain my 13 vote very briefly. 14 I too thank Senator DeFrancisco for 15 his answers last evening. And while there are 16 still a number of unanswered questions, I 17 appreciate the time he took to explain them. 18 I am concerned about two parts of 19 this bill that deal with the State University 20 of New York. The Long Island College 21 Hospital, which is presumably going to come 22 under the jurisdiction of SUNY Downstate, and 23 the Community General Hospital, if it's 24 acquired by SUNY Upstate, it's my hope that 25 the employees will be part of the SUNY system

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 and will retain their collective bargaining 2 rights and their pension rights, et cetera, so 3 that they become part of the SUNY system. 4 And I vote aye. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 6 Stavisky to be recorded in the affirmative. 7 Announce the results. 8 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 9 Calendar Number 284, those recorded in the 10 negative are Senators Adams, Diaz, Duane, 11 C. Kruger and Perkins. 12 Absent from voting: Senator 13 Parker. 14 Ayes, 56. Nays, 5. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 16 bill is passed. 17 The Secretary will read. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 285, Senate Budget Bill, Senate Print 2811C, 20 an act to amend the Abandoned Property Law. 21 SENATOR KRUEGER: Explanation. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 23 Krueger has requested an explanation, Senator 24 DeFrancisco. 25 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. All

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 of you should have on your desks the memo on 2 the revenue bill, Senate 2811, the first 3 provision of which deals with abandoned 4 property. 5 There are several instances that 6 are described in the bill where we amended the 7 Governor's proposal but cut back the time 8 period in which the specific provision was in 9 effect. Each of those are the same rationale, 10 to try to maintain a closer legislative 11 oversight over those various activities that 12 are listed in the memo. 13 There is a series of proposals 14 concerning lotteries. And one of the most 15 significant, I believe, is one that we 16 concurred with the Governor on, in that 17 lottery award winners cannot only have 18 outstanding tax liabilities, et cetera, 19 deducted from their winnings and taxes and the 20 like, but the new provision also authorizes 21 lottery winners awards to be intercepted for 22 the payment of outstanding child support and 23 repayment of public assistance benefits, a 24 perfectly logical approach. 25 And in any event -- I apologize, I

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 was incorrect. All of the areas that were 2 discussed are already interceptable under the 3 current law, but what's added is outstanding 4 tax liabilities as an additional item that 5 could be paid for out of lottery winnings. 6 There are a series of other tax 7 issues that I could go through, but one of the 8 things I want to highlight is that there are a 9 whole series of efforts where we concurred 10 with the Governor in order to make it easier 11 to pay taxes, to file tax returns and the 12 like, all electronically. And there's a 13 series of provisions in this bill to allow 14 municipalities to participate, and if they 15 don't have the wherewithal to do their own 16 electronic system, to allow localities to pay 17 third-party vendors to do that. 18 So the concept is to eliminate a 19 lot of the paperwork. And in the long run, 20 this is going to be a substantial savings for 21 the State of New York. 22 Another thing I wanted to mention 23 was the cigarette registration fee. A fee was 24 imposed in the past charging vendors $1,000, 25 $2,500, and $5,000 in order to register to be

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 able to have the luxury of selling cigarettes. 2 That was brought to litigation. The prior 3 registration fee, I believe, was $100. That 4 litigation is pending, and while it's been 5 pending we've only been collecting $100 6 because there's been an injunction. 7 Well, what was agreed to in this 8 bill that's agreed to by the vendors as well 9 is to change the fee to a flat $300 fee, which 10 will actually result in more revenue since 11 we're only collecting $100 now. And it will 12 also result, I believe, in the termination of 13 the lawsuit. 14 I had referred to yesterday when we 15 talked about prison closures that the 16 Legislature, especially the Senate, was 17 insisting on an economic transformation fund, 18 dollars and also tax credits for those 19 localities who are affected by the prison 20 closures. And part of that -- the $50 million 21 is not in this bill, we'll talk about it in 22 another bill. But the series of tax credits 23 that are set forth on the last page of the 24 memo shows the benefits taxwise there would be 25 to he businesses locating within a specific

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 distance from the facility, depending upon, 2 you know, whether it's a dense area where the 3 facility takes place or population is actually 4 spread out more. And these tax credits will 5 be available for a five-year period. They're 6 listed on the last page of the memo. 7 With that said, I'd be happy to 8 answer any other questions about those topics 9 or whatever I can try to answer on the rest of 10 the bill. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 12 Krueger. 13 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you, 14 Mr. President. If through you the sponsor 15 would yield. There is going to be I think 16 quite an extensive series of questions on this 17 bill. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 19 DeFrancisco, do you yield? 20 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I yield to 21 all of the extensive questions. Without 22 having to be asked again. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: We will 24 allow some leniency. 25 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you so

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 much. 2 Of course because when you start to 3 deal with the questions of revenue for the 4 state budget, you're really getting into the 5 questions of the overall size of the budget, 6 what we're bringing in, what we have to spend. 7 So I had saved some questions specifically 8 around the overall budget to be discussed in 9 the context of this bill. 10 What is the exact overall size of 11 the budget when you add all the different 12 bills together that we are passing yesterday 13 and today? I'm assuming we're done today. 14 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: You're 15 talking about the overall budget? 16 SENATOR KRUEGER: Yes, sir. 17 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: $132.5 18 billion, which is a 2 percent reduction of 19 overall spending from last year. 20 SENATOR KRUEGER: Mr. President, 21 through you. The Governor's original proposed 22 budget was how much? 23 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I'm not 24 quite sure, but I know it's a reduction 25 overall year to year.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Does somebody have that number? 2 SENATOR KRUEGER: I believe he 3 said it was $132.5 billion. But your staff 4 could correct me. 5 Is it correct that the 6 Legislature's version of the total budget 7 added $250 million, as was said at the 8 conference committee? 9 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I don't -- 10 I don't -- I'm not quite clear on that. I 11 believe, if the Governor's budget was 12 $132.5 billion and our budget is the same, 13 whatever additions there were at various 14 conference committees would be offset by 15 reductions in other areas. 16 SENATOR KRUEGER: Mr. President, 17 if through you -- I appreciate the sponsor's 18 confusion. I too am confused at -- 19 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I don't 20 think I'm confused. I think I was very clear. 21 SENATOR KRUEGER: To restate, I 22 do believe that the Governor's original 23 proposal was a $132.5 billion All Funds budget 24 that there was discussion of through 25 negotiations with the Legislature having added

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 $250 million in total to the All Funds. But I 2 believe I just heard the Senator say that this 3 budget, all funds, is $132.5 billion. 4 Therefore, I guess my follow-up question is 5 where did we subtract $250 million? Because 6 apparently we added $250 million. 7 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Well, the 8 Executive Budget was 132.534 million. The 9 legislative additions were $505 million, and 10 the reductions to the Legislature was 11 $631 million. The net from federal funds, 12 $126 million, which resulted in a legislative 13 budget total identical to the Governor's. 14 And by the way, I was just informed 15 that these aren't the Senate numbers, these 16 are the numbers that were agreed to from the 17 Division of Budget. It's not only us saying 18 this, it's the Governor's Budget Department 19 saying the same. 20 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you, 21 Mr. President. If through you the sponsor 22 would continue to yield. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 24 sponsor yields. 25 SENATOR KRUEGER: And I do

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 appreciate the sponsor's answer to my 2 question. And we will be following up because 3 we believe that the Governor announced in the 4 final announcement about the budget deal that 5 $250 million had been added to the General 6 Fund. So there may be some language 7 disagreement -- on All Funds, excuse me, 8 $250 million had been added to All Funds. 9 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: May I just 10 make a comment to clarify? 11 SENATOR KRUEGER: Please. Yes. 12 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: There was 13 $250 million added to the General Fund, but 14 All Funds resulted in the same All Funds 15 number that the Governor came up with. 16 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 17 Thank you. Mr. President, if through you the 18 sponsor will continue to yield. 19 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 20 SENATOR KRUEGER: Jumping to 21 General Fund, my understanding was that the 22 net change in spending for General Fund was 23 $608 million in increases. Can we confirm 24 that that's correct? 25 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: General

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Fund, net change was four hundred -- excuse 2 me, there's $498 million in additions. The 3 net change was a negative 118 million. 4 SENATOR KRUEGER: If the sponsor 5 would continue to yield. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: You may 7 continue, Senator Krueger. 8 SENATOR KRUEGER: When I'm doing 9 my tally -- and, you know, obviously in a 10 budget it's important to understand the pluses 11 and the minuses -- there was an addition of 12 $272 million for education. Is that correct? 13 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: There was 14 270 what? 15 SENATOR KRUEGER: A $272 million 16 education add for General Fund. 17 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: That is 18 correct. 19 SENATOR KRUEGER: $86 million for 20 higher education? 21 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: 86 million 22 is correct. 23 SENATOR KRUEGER: $180 million 24 for health and Medicaid? 25 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, that's

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 correct. 2 SENATOR KRUEGER: $33 million for 3 other? 4 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yup. 5 SENATOR KRUEGER: $91 million for 6 human services? 7 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Correct. 8 SENATOR KRUEGER: That adds up to 9 have $662 million of adds to General Fund. 10 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: That's 11 correct. But there were other cuts that made 12 the numbers match what the Governor's 13 Executive Budget amounted to, an All Funds 14 budget amounted to. 15 SENATOR KRUEGER: I appreciate 16 that. Again, I'm staying focused on the 17 General Fund money now. 18 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Okay. 19 SENATOR KRUEGER: Okay? And then 20 reductions to the General Fund between the 21 Governor and Legislature's negotiations, a 22 $21 million reduction from DAI litigation? 23 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I'm sorry, 24 I -- 25 SENATOR KRUEGER: That's okay. I

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 was just reviewing that we've reduced General 2 Funds by $21 million in the DA litigation 3 category. 4 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Correct. 5 And the total of that column would be 6 $54 million. 7 SENATOR KRUEGER: Right. I think 8 we're actually looking at the same statistics. 9 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, we 10 are. 11 SENATOR KRUEGER: Okay. Thank 12 you. So in fact the same chart shows that the 13 net change in General Fund spending was 14 $608 million added. Is that your 15 understanding? 16 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: That is 17 correct. But the difference is in the 18 health/Medicaid category, the $180 million of 19 adds. 20 SENATOR KRUEGER: Yes. 21 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Those 22 $180 million of adds were financed in the MRT 23 by other savings. Because the Governor made 24 certain that the MRT was an entity in and of 25 itself. And as a result, if there were

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 additions, those additions had to be funded 2 through other savings in that pot. And that 3 bill will be showing up hopefully this 4 afternoon. 5 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 6 So as I understand it, that 7 $608 million chart is actually reduced to 8 $428 million new General Fund spending, 9 accepting your explanation that the 10 $180 million health/Medicaid add is actually 11 covered by something else in the MRT plan of 12 the Governor. Is that correct? 13 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: That's 14 correct. 15 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 16 Mr. President, if through you the 17 sponsor would continue to yield. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 19 Krueger, Senator DeFrancisco continues to 20 yield. 21 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 22 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. I 23 appreciate it. 24 So I think we have established that 25 approximately -- and we're in agreement on how

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 much the General Fund is and how much the 2 All Funds budget is. How much of our General 3 Fund spending is coming from the personal 4 income tax in the new fiscal year? 5 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Two-thirds 6 of the spending is financed by the personal 7 income tax. 8 And we are opposed to the 9 millionaire's tax. Because that's going to be 10 the last part of your questions, I assume. 11 SENATOR KRUEGER: I didn't get to 12 the punch line yet. Don't jump ahead of me. 13 Mr. President, if through you you would tell 14 him not to take my lines, please. 15 (Laughter.) 16 SENATOR KRUEGER: Could you ask 17 the sponsor to clarify what the dollar amount 18 to that two-thirds to General Fund projection 19 adds up to? 20 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: 21 Approximately $50 billion. 22 SENATOR KRUEGER: Is two-thirds, 23 thank you. What percentage -- Mr. President, 24 if through you the sponsor will continue to 25 yield.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 2 sponsor yields. 3 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 4 Whether we agree or disagree on the 5 policy on taxes, I assume that includes the 6 high-end-earners' supplement to our taxes 7 through December of this year, is that 8 correct? We are depending on that? 9 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: We are 10 depending upon the -- yes. 11 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 12 Mr. President, if through you the 13 sponsor would continue to yield. 14 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 15 SENATOR KRUEGER: So two-thirds 16 of the General Fund is received through the 17 personal income tax. What percent of the 18 General Fund is collected through business 19 taxes? What percentage and dollar amount of 20 the General Fund is collected through business 21 taxes? 22 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: 23 Approximately 10 percent, I'm told. 24 SENATOR KRUEGER: Which would be 25 approximately how many dollars?

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Five 2 billion, with a B. 3 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. And 4 as follow-up, what percentage and what is the 5 amount collected towards the General Fund from 6 user fees and other taxes? 7 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Nine 8 billion, 15 percent. 9 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 10 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: We're 11 giving you estimates. We could give you an 12 exact sheet if you'd like. But we're giving 13 you estimates at this point. 14 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 15 And what is the estimated revenue 16 from the MTA payroll tax in this coming year? 17 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: That's 18 $1.4 billion. 19 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. And 20 does this bill propose any changes or repeals 21 to any portion of the MTA payroll tax? 22 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: No. It 23 would have been much better if it wasn't 24 imposed in the first place and we cut our 25 spending over the last two years. But now

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 that we are stuck with that spending and we 2 have such a high deficit, we cannot afford 3 getting rid of that tax this year. Although 4 we would love to. 5 SENATOR KRUEGER: Mr. President, 6 if through you the sponsor would yield to 7 additional questions. 8 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 9 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 10 Given that you've stated on the 11 record you don't like the high-end-earner 12 supplement tax, nor do you like the MTA 13 payroll tax, what would you suggest we use to 14 alternatively provide funds to the General 15 Fund to pay for the budget that is being 16 proposed here today? 17 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Well, the 18 budget that's being voted on here today is 19 properly funded. The revenues are sufficient 20 to pay the indebtedness because of the cuts we 21 made. 22 So there's two ways to take care of 23 the budget this year. Number one is cutting 24 spending, as is the case in this particular 25 budget. And the best way to do it for future

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 years is to provide economic development 2 incentives -- lower taxes, lower fees, lower 3 the cost of doing business so we have 4 businesses actually coming to the State of 5 New York and, God forbid, making money and 6 then, making money, hiring employees. The 7 more employees, the more the tax base. The 8 more the tax base, the less the burden on 9 individuals because there's more individuals 10 to pay taxes. 11 That's the way to do it. And 12 that's what we tried to explain over the last 13 couple of years. And fortunately, with a 14 partner in the Governor, we're able to do it 15 this year. 16 SENATOR KRUEGER: Mr. President, 17 if through you the sponsor would continue to 18 yield. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 20 sponsor continues to yield, Senator Krueger. 21 SENATOR KRUEGER: So despite the 22 sponsor and I having differing opinions about 23 how to collect tax revenue, I think -- but I 24 don't want to put words in his mouth -- that 25 he's actually agreeing with me that if we

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 didn't have the $1.4 billion in MTA tax or the 2 revenue through December from the 3 high-end-earner personal income tax, we would 4 not actually be able to balance our budget and 5 we would take much greater cuts. Is that a 6 fair analysis of your statement? 7 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: No, it is 8 not. We would definitely be able to balance 9 the budget. We may have had to cut more 10 spending -- because of the increases in 11 spending over the last two years, we might 12 have had to cut more spending to reach the 13 goal, but we would have done that. 14 But we felt that you had to make a 15 balance in the first year of changing the 16 financial direction of the state. There's a 17 lot of pain in this budget. We didn't feel 18 that it would be wise to do another 19 $1.4 billion in pain for this calendar year, 20 and we decided that this was the best balance. 21 And the Governor, quite frankly, had a very 22 similar, almost identical concept in his own 23 budget. 24 SENATOR KRUEGER: Mr. President, 25 if through you the sponsor would continue to

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 yield. 2 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 4 sponsor yields. 5 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 6 Following up on your point, so 7 hypothetically would the sponsor agree with me 8 that if we were to continue the high-end 9 millionaire tax beyond its sunset date we 10 could actually end the MTA payroll tax? Would 11 that be true? 12 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: We hope to 13 be able to end the payroll tax without raising 14 other taxes. This side of the aisle has said 15 repeatedly no new taxes, and that's what we 16 meant, what we said. So by substituting one 17 tax for the other doesn't, in my judgment, 18 honor that pledge. 19 Secondly, one thing that's 20 extremely important that hasn't been mentioned 21 yet, and I was just reminded of it, the cuts 22 we're making this year, including the caps on 23 Medicaid and the other caps that are in the 24 budget, it reduces next year's projected 25 deficit from $15 billion to $2 billion. By

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 taking the hard choices now, the long-range 2 deficit is decreased. 3 If we decided to take more money 4 through any other tax, it would simply be 5 another tax. It would contradict the economic 6 philosophy of trying to create jobs in the 7 state. But what we're doing now is already 8 reducing the deficit next year by $13 billion. 9 And hopefully some of the other things that 10 are done in the budget will help create some 11 jobs. And if economy kicks back in, maybe we 12 won't have a deficit at all and we can start 13 providing more funding for the groups that are 14 no longer -- are not getting the funding that 15 they were used to in the past. 16 SENATOR KRUEGER: Mr. President, 17 if through you the sponsor would continue to 18 yield. 19 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 21 DeFrancisco yields. 22 Senator Krueger. 23 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 24 So as I understand the sponsor's 25 answers, there was a decision to continue the

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 MTA tax and end the tax for millionaires in 2 the state, so that was a decision being made 3 by this Legislature. 4 And I agree we would all love to 5 reduce everybody's taxes and end taxes 6 ultimately, except I just don't think we could 7 to that and fund government and provide the 8 public services we need. 9 So since the sponsor has explained 10 that they don't agree with continuing the 11 supplement on millionaires and they agree to 12 continue the payroll tax, but they would like 13 to end the payroll tax as well, where could we 14 have cut an additional $1.4 billion out of the 15 budget so that we could accomplish both your 16 goals? 17 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Well, first 18 of all, we can go through all types of 19 hypotheticals and give you answers. However, 20 we don't have to do that hypothetical. 21 And besides, you should probably 22 know that the $1.4 billion in the MTA tax is 23 revenue that doesn't go to the General Fund. 24 If we cut that tax, it would not go -- if we 25 kept that tax rolling, it still doesn't go to

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 the General Fund, it goes to the MTA. The 2 MTA. 3 So we're comparing apples to 4 oranges, a millionaire's tax that would go 5 into the General Fund and an MTA tax that goes 6 to fund one organization in downstate 7 New York. 8 SENATOR KRUEGER: Mr. President, 9 if the sponsor would continue to yield. 10 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 12 sponsor yields. 13 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 14 So again, to follow the logic of 15 this questioning, if we cut the $1.4 billion 16 from payroll tax and didn't replace it with 17 money from, say, the wealthiest earners in 18 New York State, we would cut transportation, 19 buses, subways, rails in the 12 counties in 20 the MTA region instead. So in fact, that's 21 the answer, that we would end up cutting those 22 services throughout the population-heavy 23 region of 12 counties? 24 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: The MTA tax 25 is not being cut here. So we're not cutting

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 services to the downstate residents. So I'm 2 not sure where you're going. 3 That was imposed in order to fund 4 one entity. And we didn't cut that. It's 5 here. We're hoping in the future it can be 6 done when the economy kicks in so we can find 7 funding for the MTA -- and, God forbid, roads 8 and bridges upstate as well -- from an economy 9 that's got more revenues. So right now we 10 can't do it. The revenue isn't there. 11 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you, 12 Mr. President. 13 I think the point of this section 14 of questioning was to highlight that we make 15 decisions. We made a decision or we as the 16 Legislature are making a decision, with the 17 Governor, to end an existing tax on one 18 segment of our population, the highest -- 19 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 20 Krueger, are you on the bill now? 21 SENATOR KRUEGER: No, I will be 22 following up with a question, thank you. 23 So we have -- as I understand the 24 answers, we have made the decision to end the 25 tax on the highest earners in New York State

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 and as a result have made a decision that we 2 can't cut the MTA payroll tax. And of course 3 we -- speaking for myself, we don't want to 4 cut the transportation services. 5 But shifting to my next section of 6 questions, if the sponsor would continue to 7 yield. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 9 DeFrancisco, do you yield for an additional 10 set of questions? 11 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, I will 12 yield. 13 And by the way, we're not -- when 14 that tax, the millionaire's tax was imposed, 15 there was an expiration date. And an 16 expiration date means the tax is over on that 17 date. And all that's happening in this budget 18 is nothing. We're not even addressing it. It 19 expires according to the law that the majority 20 passed last year to impose the millionaire's 21 tax. 22 So we're not -- this budget is 23 silent on the millionaire's tax. But it's 24 loud and clear that we're not imposing a new 25 tax. Which this would be by starting a new

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 millionaire's tax after the expiration. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 3 Skelos, why do you rise? 4 SENATOR SKELOS: Would Senator 5 DeFrancisco yield for a question? 6 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 7 DeFrancisco, will you yield to a question from 8 Senator Skelos? 9 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: No. 10 (Laughter.) 11 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. Yes, 12 I will. 13 SENATOR SKELOS: Would the former 14 chairman of the Finance Committee yield for a 15 question. 16 (Laughter.) 17 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Does 18 the former chairman yield? 19 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Well, if 20 you put it that way, yes, I will. 21 (Laughter.) 22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 23 DeFrancisco yields, Senator Skelos. 24 SENATOR SKELOS: Senator 25 DeFrancisco, I have been listening to the

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 questions being asked of you and the 2 responses, and I just want to clarify 3 something for myself. 4 The so-called millionaire's tax, 5 which started at $200,000, people making 6 $200,000, small businesses that have been 7 negatively impacted, was that passed under 8 all-Democrat control in this state? 9 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. It 10 was a party-line vote, Democrats yes, 11 Republicans no. 12 SENATOR SKELOS: Was there an 13 expiration date, just to clarify it, of that 14 surcharge? 15 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: December 16 31, 2011, correct. 17 SENATOR SKELOS: If I could, 18 Mr. President, ask Senator DeFrancisco another 19 question. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 21 DeFrancisco, do you continue to yield? 22 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 24 Skelos. 25 SENATOR SKELOS: The MTA payroll

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 tax, was that imposed on the MTA region when 2 the Democrats controlled every branch of 3 government in New York State? 4 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: That is 5 correct. 6 SENATOR SKELOS: Was there an 7 expiration date on the payroll tax when it was 8 passed by the all-Democrat-controlled 9 government in New York State? 10 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: There was 11 no expiration date. 12 SENATOR SKELOS: So if I could 13 just follow it up, and I'm sure you can answer 14 it yes or no, there was an expiration date for 15 millionaires but there was no expiration date 16 for the payroll tax that impacts every person 17 paying anything -- charities, school 18 districts, not-for-profits, libraries, anybody 19 that's paying the payroll tax, but there was 20 no expiration date on that? 21 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: That is 22 correct. 23 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank 25 you.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Senator Krueger. 2 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: You 4 were asking if Senator DeFrancisco would 5 continue to yield; correct? 6 SENATOR KRUEGER: I am. Thank 7 you very much, Mr. President, I am asking -- 8 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 9 DeFrancisco, will you yield to a series of 10 questions from Senator Krueger? 11 SENATOR KRUEGER: Apparently 12 there's some agreement about whether Senator 13 DeFrancisco is still the chair. May I ask him 14 some questions? 15 (Laughter.) 16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 17 DeFrancisco yields, Senator Krueger. 18 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. I'm 19 delighted you're still in your chair, Senator. 20 For the record, theoretically, I 21 appreciate Senator Skelos' point. This budget 22 could enact an expiration date on the payroll 23 tax, but I don't believe it does. 24 Following through with the next set 25 of questions, what is the estimated debt for

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 this coming fiscal year that the state owes? 2 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: You mean 3 debt service, how much money has to be paid on 4 the debt? 5 SENATOR KRUEGER: Okay. How 6 large is our debt and how much is the debt 7 service in this coming budget year? 8 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: There's 9 $52 billion of outstanding debt, $6 billion in 10 debt service. 11 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 12 Mr. President, if the sponsor will 13 continue to yield. 14 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 16 sponsor yields. 17 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 18 I think we will both agree that the 19 debt nearly doubled in the last 10 years. Is 20 there anything in this budget that provides 21 for increased paying down of the debt? 22 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: There's 23 $250 million put in a reserve fund to reduce 24 the outstanding debt of 50-whatever-it-was 25 billion. Fifty billion? So it would be a

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 relatively small amount of reduction if those 2 funds are used for that purpose. 3 SENATOR KRUEGER: Mr. President, 4 if the sponsor would continue to clarify for 5 me on that question. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 7 DeFrancisco, would you continue to elaborate 8 on that? 9 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I would be 10 happy to elaborate on it as soon as they give 11 me the answer. 12 SENATOR KRUEGER: So -- 13 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: You may 14 want to allow him to get the information 15 before posing an additional question. 16 SENATOR KRUEGER: I am always 17 happy to give Senator DeFrancisco time to get 18 answers. I also get answers here from my 19 side. 20 My understanding, then, is we're 21 paying $6 billion of our state budget on debt 22 payments? 23 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: That is 24 correct. 25 SENATOR KRUEGER: But we may be

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 actually be reducing that somehow by a 2 speedier payment of up to $250 million in this 3 fiscal year? 4 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. Off 5 the principal, I would assume. Yes, correct. 6 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you very 7 much. 8 Excuse me, I am just moving on for 9 one second. 10 We spend a lot of time talking 11 about improving our budget from year to year. 12 And we've actually, many of us on both sides 13 of the aisle, carried varying bills to improve 14 the budget process. Particularly in light of 15 the amount of debt we're paying and what we 16 are able to pay off or not pay off and whether 17 taxes have expiration dates and the decisions 18 that are made about which taxes stay and which 19 taxes go. 20 Is there anything in this budget 21 that incorporates generally accepted 22 accounting principles, GAAP budgeting? 23 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, we 24 support GAAP budgeting. 25 SENATOR KRUEGER: Okay. But, I'm

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 sorry, to clarify, is this budget actually 2 based on GAAP principles? 3 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: It is not. 4 You need three parties to GAAP. You've got to 5 change the law. Our one-house bill did have a 6 GAAP budgeting; it was rejected during the 7 negotiations and did not happen. But we voted 8 for it in the one-house budget, we support it, 9 and we would like to see it happen. 10 SENATOR KRUEGER: I want to thank 11 the sponsor. I think I may have some other 12 questions -- you know what, I do have some 13 other questions. I apologize. I have to go 14 through more. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 16 DeFrancisco, do you continue to yield? 17 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I already 18 told you I did. 19 (Laughter.) 20 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 21 DeFrancisco will continue to yield. 22 SENATOR KRUEGER: You know, we 23 have rules. Every once in a while we try to 24 follow them here. 25 You went through the explanation of

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 the revenue bill before. Are there any 2 changes that were made in this revenue bill 3 from what the Governor originally proposed? 4 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, there 5 are. And if I could find my notes, I could 6 answer your next question. 7 Okay, I have it. Thank you. 8 SENATOR KRUEGER: The question on 9 the floor is what changes were made to this 10 revenue bill from the original Governor's 11 version to the version that we're being asked 12 to vote on here today. 13 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: On the memo 14 that we handed out, Part A, for example, says 15 the Legislature concurs with the Executive 16 proposal but changes from three to five years 17 the amount of time. There's one change for 18 that. 19 In the next section we talk about 20 amending the tax sheltering reporting to lower 21 the number of years once again. That's for 22 better oversight. 23 And we go on. Each section that 24 says "concurs," if there's no -- we agreed 25 exactly to what the Governor said. If there's

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 some amendment to it, it will be explained in 2 each one of these sections. 3 And, for example, virtually the 4 whole page 2 is concur, concur. But there are 5 some changes, and each one is outlined. If 6 there's a specific one you want to refer to, 7 I'll try to answer any backup questions on it. 8 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 9 Perhaps I'll fine-tune the question. 10 Did we actually reject any revenue 11 increases from the original bill as proposed 12 by the Governor to the bill we have before us 13 today? 14 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, we 15 rejected one. There was some disagreement 16 among our conference on that, but we did 17 reject one. It's Section 8, limit the 18 exemption provided for town or county 19 cooperative insurance corporations. The 20 Governor had some additional revenue coming 21 from extending that tax to these types of 22 insurance corporations, and the Senate 23 rejected it. And the Assembly did as well, 24 and the Governor agreed. 25 In addition, same with Quick Draw.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 There was some additional revenue that was 2 projected by the Quick Draw proposal that we 3 rejected. The Assembly wanted to eliminate 4 restrictions on hours -- no, the Governor 5 wanted to eliminate the restrictions on hours 6 and the types of foods that were provided and 7 all of that in order to encourage more people 8 to come in and I assume use the video 9 terminals. The Assembly rejected that. It 10 was a suggestion that that would bring in more 11 revenues. 12 So those were the only ones that 13 were, I believe, rejected in this bill. 14 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 15 If the sponsor would please 16 continue to yield. 17 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: By the way, 18 we did not reject the millionaire's tax 19 because the Governor didn't propose it. We 20 concurred with him in not having it. 21 Yes, I'll be happy to continue to 22 answer. 23 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 24 And I believe you did mention this 25 in your opening presentation on the bill.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 There was a change in the cigarette 2 registration fee. How much money are we not 3 collecting because that change was made? 4 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: What I 5 explained earlier was that the fee was going 6 to be 1,000, 2,500 or 5,000 depending upon the 7 gross sales of the establishment. The lawsuit 8 was brought immediately, an injunction was 9 placed on us collecting anything more than the 10 existing fee of $100. 11 So in view of the court injunction, 12 that's all we collected, was $100. Had we 13 lost the lawsuit, that's all we would have 14 collected would be $100 per establishment. 15 What was agreed to in the budget 16 was an increase from $100 to $300, which was 17 agreed to I believe to settle the lawsuit as 18 well. And we'll be able to collect $300. So 19 it actually results in tripling the revenue 20 that we were receiving before this budget went 21 into effect. 22 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 23 I appreciate the sponsor's answers 24 to my questions. As I said, I may have some 25 additional later, but I know that some of my

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 other colleagues would like to ask questions 2 of the sponsor. Thank you, Mr. President. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank 4 you, Senator Krueger. 5 Senator Rivera. 6 SENATOR RIVERA: Thank you, 7 Mr. President. If the sponsor would continue 8 to yield. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 10 DeFrancisco, do you yield? 11 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 13 DeFrancisco yields, Senator Rivera. 14 SENATOR RIVERA: Thank you, 15 Mr. President. I just want to make sure that 16 the -- what you said before about the extended 17 yielding is still in effect. So that's the 18 only time I'm going to ask. 19 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: That 20 applies to you as well. 21 SENATOR RIVERA: Thank you so 22 much, Senator DeFrancisco. 23 I want to actually follow up on a 24 couple of the things that Senator Krueger 25 asked.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 First of all, and we keep obviously 2 going back to the millionaire's tax. We've 3 had a similar conversation before. And just 4 to review, how much is the PIT surcharge? How 5 much does the personal income tax surcharge 6 produce in a year? How much is it expected to 7 generate in a year? 8 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Four to 9 $4.5 billion. 10 SENATOR RIVERA: Four to $4.5 11 billion. So let's say. 12 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: But if 13 millionaires leave, the revenue goes down and 14 it goes to other states. 15 SENATOR RIVERA: Very well. But 16 it is about $4 billion. 17 And the Senator yielded -- 18 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 19 SENATOR RIVERA: The sponsor 20 continues to yield. 21 Now, one thing I ant to clarify. 22 This tax, this personal income tax surcharge 23 is to taxable income as opposed to gross 24 income tax, is that correct? 25 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yeah, it's

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 your bottom line. Whatever your adjusted 2 gross income tax is, that's what the tax would 3 be on. 4 Well, we're having an argument 5 about what adjustable gross income means. 6 Taxable income. 7 SENATOR RIVERA: Taxable income 8 is the one that we're talking about. 9 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I thought 10 it was adjustable gross, but maybe I'm wrong. 11 SENATOR RIVERA: So the taxable 12 income that would produce about 4 -- between 13 $4 billion and $4.5 billion of revenue, we 14 talked about a couple of different choices 15 that had been -- because that is, in all 16 honesty, what they are, choices. We talked, 17 for example, you mentioned about bridges and 18 highways, maintenance and other such things in 19 upstate New York. Do you know how much this 20 4.5 billion would be able to cover of those 21 things, of maintenance of bridges, highways 22 and roads in upstate New York? 23 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Well, I 24 don't have that number. But the fact of the 25 matter is is that the tax, as we mentioned

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 before, is scheduled to expire and we're not 2 imposing a new tax after December 31. We have 3 used the funds, we will be using the funds 4 until the expiration date. 5 SENATOR RIVERA: Thank you, 6 Senator DeFrancisco. 7 It would probably be about nearly 8 two years of state funding for bridges, 9 highways, road maintenance and DMV operations. 10 It would probably pay for all of that. 11 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Excuse me, 12 if I could just make a point there. 13 SENATOR RIVERA: Please, Senator. 14 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: We will 15 have collected that $4.5 billion or $4 billion 16 by the end of December of this calendar year, 17 and we haven't fixed any roads, bridges, 18 highways or whatever. It's been used for 19 other stuff because of the spending that was 20 out of control. 21 So theoretically you could pick any 22 area of the budget that it could fund, but in 23 reality it hasn't done that because of the 24 other costs of government that fortunately are 25 starting to be cut this year.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR RIVERA: So -- and thank 2 you, Senator. And I agree with you, that 3 obviously we're making different -- as was 4 said before, we've made different choices 5 about where we put our funding. But 6 theoretically, as you accepted, it could fund 7 nearly two years of state funding for bridges, 8 highways, maintenance, et cetera. 9 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I'll stand 10 by my last answer. 11 SENATOR RIVERA: Very well. 12 Would you also agree that it would 13 cover maybe two years of state funding for 14 foster care, adoption, childcare, child 15 protective services? 16 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Again, I'll 17 say that it could fund a lot of things. But 18 it's not funding a lot of those things in view 19 of the fact that it's being used for just 20 general purposes in the state budget. 21 SENATOR RIVERA: Thank you, 22 Senator. 23 So it could also fund 20 percent of 24 the state aid to schools statewide. 25 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO:

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Theoretically it could do that. But if you 2 have a better tax structure, the long-term 3 economic viability of the state creates 4 more -- I believe and the Republican 5 conference believes creates more jobs, more 6 taxpayers, and in the long run more revenue. 7 SENATOR RIVERA: Thank you, 8 Senator. 9 It could probably pay for 3 and a 10 half years of social services for low-income 11 families as well. 12 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: The same 13 answer. 14 But I just want to remind you of 15 one point. Governor Paterson had the idea, at 16 least before he changed his mind on this 17 one -- and fortunately he did -- he had the 18 idea of taxing -- of having a surcharge on 19 bonuses of brokers on Wall Street. This was 20 last year or the year before. And what 21 happened was almost the day after, the 22 governor of Connecticut starting making 23 overtures to all the brokers in the City of 24 New York to maybe just cross the border and 25 enjoy the same electronic services that they

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 might have from their office in New York and 2 not pay this additional tax for the bonuses 3 that were imposed. Well, the Governor saw the 4 light on that one and pulled it back. 5 So you can -- I think the same 6 principle applies. 7 SENATOR RIVERA: But we are 8 debating a -- Governor Paterson is no longer 9 the governor. We're debating the choices that 10 we're making now; is that correct? 11 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. But 12 the analogy is inescapable and so logical it 13 is -- 14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 15 Krueger, why do you rise? 16 SENATOR KRUEGER: I'm sorry, 17 could I ask Senator Rivera to yield for me to 18 do a follow-up to Senator DeFrancisco on that 19 question? 20 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 21 Rivera has the floor at this point in time, 22 Senator Krueger. 23 SENATOR KRUEGER: I was asking 24 Senator Rivera to yield to me. 25 SENATOR RIVERA: I yield to

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Senator Krueger. I will have a couple of 2 questions afterward. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 4 chair is exercising great flexibility and 5 latitude today, so I would ask the members to 6 be mindful and respectful of that. 7 I will call on Senator Krueger. 8 And, Senator DeFrancisco, will you yield to 9 that question? 10 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 12 Krueger. 13 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 14 Just a point of clarification, because Senator 15 Rivera was not with us in the Senate last 16 year. 17 I believe that Senator 18 DeFrancisco's point actually referred to a 19 proposal the Governor made to have a 20 $50 million tax on hedge funds, not a bonus on 21 brokers. And it was at that time that the 22 governor of Connecticut made an invitation for 23 the out-of-state hedge fund owners to bring 24 their businesses to Connecticut, just for the 25 record.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Thank you. 2 I'll stand corrected. But that analogy is as 3 good as the one I gave. The same principle 4 applies. 5 SENATOR KRUEGER: We don't agree 6 on the analogy. But I just wanted to go on 7 record to clarify what the issue was, because 8 Senator Rivera wouldn't have been here to know 9 what the issue was. 10 Thank you very much, and I cede 11 back to Senator Rivera. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 13 Rivera. 14 SENATOR RIVERA: Thank you, 15 Senator Krueger. Thank you, Mr. President. 16 If the sponsor would continue to 17 yield. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 19 sponsor yields. 20 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 21 SENATOR RIVERA: Thank you, 22 Senator DeFrancisco. 23 So as we have discussed, the PIT 24 surcharge will sunset. And do you 25 characterize this as tax relief?

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: No, I 2 characterize that as following the law and not 3 imposing a new tax in this budget year. 4 SENATOR RIVERA: So it would 5 not -- Senator DeFrancisco, it would not be 6 relief for certain -- do you agree that there 7 are folks today, and up to the 31st of 8 December of this year that will have a 9 surcharge on themselves and their families and 10 will not have it after the 31st of December of 11 this year? 12 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: 13 Unfortunately, it is the case that people over 14 $200,000 -- that's small businesses, that's 15 couples that earn -- that are clearly not 16 millionaires at that level, are -- a tax is 17 imposed upon them. And I agree with you that 18 at the end of this year, when that tax 19 expires, according to the law when it was 20 supposed to expire, it will not be renewed or 21 it will not be a new tax imposed. 22 SENATOR RIVERA: So you would 23 characterize that as tax relief for these 24 taxpayers? 25 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: No, I think

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 it was an ill-advised imposition on taxpayers 2 for the last period of time that it was in 3 effect, and that we're going back to a more 4 rationale approach as far as taxation in the 5 State of New York. 6 SENATOR RIVERA: Correct me if 7 I'm wrong, Senator, but as I understand the 8 concept of tax relief, if there is a taxpayer 9 that currently has a tax imposed on him or 10 her, or a business, and then we in government 11 act to take that tax away, that would be 12 considered tax relief, would it not? 13 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: That is 14 correct. If there was a tax -- let's suppose 15 we reduce the tax on the highest income owners 16 by 1 percent. That's a tax reduction. That's 17 tax relief. 18 This is not, because this is a tax 19 that was going to expire. We're not giving 20 relief, we're just letting the law expire. 21 And we're not imposing a new tax. 22 SENATOR RIVERA: You obviously 23 would disagree that by choosing not to extend 24 it, we are not providing a tax relief. 25 SENATOR DEFRANCISCO: Well, by

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 that argument you could say by choosing not to 2 create a 12 percent sales tax, we're giving 3 people tax relief. Or not imposing an income 4 tax of 50 percent of incomes, since we're not 5 doing it, we're giving them tax relief. I 6 don't buy that argument. 7 What I say is that this law 8 expires. According to law, we're not going to 9 impose another tax. That's not tax relief, 10 that's letting the law expire. Because that's 11 what the majority decided when your side was 12 in control, that that was a tax that should 13 have expired. It's going to expire. 14 SENATOR RIVERA: Thank you, 15 Senator. 16 But do you know how much, on 17 average, there would be a decrease, let's say, 18 to the residents who have more than $1 million 19 in taxable income, what the amount that they 20 will pay in this year, how much less it would 21 be in the following year when the surcharge -- 22 if we let the surcharge expire. 23 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Well, the 24 surcharge is going to expire. And the amount 25 is the amount that would have been recovered

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 if a new tax was imposed on January 1 and that 2 amount was $4 billion to $4.5 billion, as I 3 discussed earlier. 4 SENATOR RIVERA: And it would 5 amount to about $86,000 per taxpayer for those 6 that have more than a million dollars in 7 taxable income. 8 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I don't 9 believe that. Someone much smarter than me is 10 shaking her head. And I don't believe it 11 either. If she doesn't believe it, I don't 12 believe it. 13 SENATOR RIVERA: Someone much 14 smarter than me told me that information. So 15 we've just got to get those smart people 16 together to kind of debate this thing. 17 But on average, the information 18 that I have is that it would be approximately 19 $86,000 dollar per individual that has a -- 20 individual or family that has a taxable income 21 of more than a million dollars. 22 But actually -- so let's talk 23 about -- I want to ask you a few questions 24 about the impact of the choices that we are 25 making in this budget as it relates to

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 education or healthcare or public protection. 2 There are some serious decisions that we're 3 making in this budget to cut many of these. 4 Is that correct? 5 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Very 6 serious decisions. 7 SENATOR RIVERA: And I agree with 8 you 100 percent on that, as well as the rest 9 of my colleagues. These are very serious 10 decisions. 11 Now, you argued that it was not tax 12 relief. We will disagree on that. But I have 13 a question. Of the taxpayers who are -- let's 14 say a teacher making $50,000 a year, would he 15 or she, having taxable income of $50,000, 16 would he or she after December 31st of this 17 year pay -- have a surcharge -- pay less 18 taxes? Would they get what I consider tax 19 relief -- and you would call something else, 20 but would they have a tax relief -- 21 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: If they're 22 not a $200,000 millionaire, then there would 23 be no change in their taxes. But there may be 24 a superintendent, maybe. 25 SENATOR RIVERA: But a teacher,

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 teacher. Or even, let's say, a correction 2 officer, like the one that we were talking 3 about in the last couple of days, him or her 4 having $100,000 taxable income, would they pay 5 less taxes after December 31st of this year? 6 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: The people 7 that were subject to the ill-advised 8 millionaire's tax will be paying less when 9 that tax expires by operation of law on 10 December 31, 2011. 11 SENATOR RIVERA: So individuals 12 that earn $30,000 a year, $50,000, $70,000, 13 what have you, in all sorts of different 14 professions across the state would not receive 15 a tax cut, would not have a tax relief on 16 their tax bill? 17 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Nobody is 18 receiving a tax cut on December 31st. A tax 19 that was in existence expires. 20 SENATOR RIVERA: And as it 21 expires, it is being obviously -- since we are 22 making the choice not to renew it, we are 23 cutting it. 24 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Well, if 25 you wanted to have a permanent millionaire's

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 tax -- or, excuse me, $200,000 millionaire's 2 tax, that could have been made permanent. And 3 then there would be a decision whether to get 4 rid of it by a separate law. 5 The decision made by the majority 6 party in the house last year or the year 7 before, whenever it went into effect, was to 8 make it expire. And it will expire, and we're 9 not going to impose another such tax. 10 SENATOR RIVERA: So according to 11 this logic we could choose to enact an 12 expiration on the current rate -- we could say 13 there's a rate for tax filers making less than 14 $200,000, and we could actually set that to 15 expire. We could say -- they're at a 16 particular tax rate, we could say within two 17 years we would then lower the tax rate for 18 individuals making less -- having a gross 19 taxable income less than $200,000 a year. 20 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: You could 21 choose to impose $14 billion in new taxes like 22 the Democrat majority imposed over the last 23 two years and end up with a $10 billion 24 deficit this year. Or you could choose not to 25 tax, not to overspend and not to overtax, and

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 the choices are -- there's clear choices. And 2 there's a clear distinction between your 3 position and our position. 4 Our position is we choose not to 5 continue overtaxing and spending. And that's 6 a choice in the long run that's going to 7 benefit schoolteachers, children, and every 8 other group that is now being hurt by this 9 budget, because we're going to have a 10 healthier economic climate in the State of 11 New York in the long run. 12 This one year, two year thoughts on 13 how to have policy has to stop. We have to 14 look at the long term. And that's what I 15 believe the Governor and now both houses, 16 after the negotiations have been completed, 17 are doing in this budget. 18 SENATOR RIVERA: So to speak a 19 little bit about those individuals, then, that 20 you just referred to, the teachers, the 21 students, the children, the elderly who are 22 going to be impacted by the choices that we're 23 making here. 24 And by the way, I just want to 25 clarify that all of us in this house

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 understand very clearly that responsibility 2 and sacrifice are the two words that are kind 3 of leading our entire conversation. We all 4 understand that this has to happen, that we 5 have to share the respond and the burden for 6 some changes and that we have to sacrifice. 7 But let's talk a little bit about 8 where that sacrifice is going to be, who is it 9 going to be impacting. 10 In Senate District 57, I believe 11 it's Senator Young, the -- and we had a 12 similar conversation previously, but let me 13 ask you this. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 15 Rivera, are you going to pose a question or 16 are you speaking on the bill now? 17 SENATOR RIVERA: I'm posing a 18 question. I'm posing a question. 19 On Senate District 57, are you 20 aware of how many individuals would be 21 impacted by the taxes that currently exist and 22 will no longer have a tax burden on them after 23 December 31st of this year? 24 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I don't 25 know how many people in each Senate district

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 would be impacted by the $200,000 2 millionaire's tax. I have no idea. But I 3 know there's people that are small businesses 4 that may be making that amount of money that 5 are paying taxes rather than investing their 6 money in their businesses and hopefully create 7 a better business to create jobs. I know that 8 for a fact. I can't give you the numbers in 9 each Senate district. 10 SENATOR RIVERA: In that 11 particular district it would be 441 12 individuals of over 113,000 that filed taxes 13 in that district. 14 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Are you -- 15 is this a one million dollar -- is this 16 starting at $1 million or a $200,000 17 millionaire's tax? 18 SENATOR RIVERA: Well, the PIT 19 surcharge starting at $200,000 of taxable 20 income, yes. 21 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Okay, thank 22 you. 23 SENATOR RIVERA: As far as above 24 a million, it would be 32 individuals. 25 We could actually go through many,

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 many districts, but I have just a few more 2 questions and then I will speak briefly on the 3 bill. 4 So do you agree that the rationale 5 of the millionaire's tax -- or, I'm sorry, of 6 the -- see, I'm buying into the messaging 7 now -- the personal income tax surcharge on 8 wealthier New Yorkers, the rationale of the 9 establishment of it, of the enacting of it, 10 was to help dig us out of a recession, was it 11 not? 12 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: That was 13 your rationale -- I mean your side's 14 rationale; I know you weren't here. Our 15 rationale is the best way to dig ourselves out 16 of recession is to cut spending and be able to 17 have a government that is fiscally sound. 18 Just like a family, when they lose income, 19 they don't just keep spending, they actually 20 have to cut things because they don't have the 21 income that they had before. So it's a 22 difference of philosophy. 23 SENATOR RIVERA: Certainly. And 24 as you made clear earlier, there was a choice 25 made between keeping the MTA payroll tax as

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 opposed to extending this one. 2 But let me ask you this. This is 3 the question I have for you -- 4 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: The two are 5 mutually exclusive. Because the millionaire's 6 tax, the money goes to the General Fund. The 7 MTA tax goes to the MTA. If we didn't extend 8 the MTA tax, they wouldn't have the revenues 9 they need to operate. So they either cut 10 capital or cut operations, cut some routes 11 down there. I don't know how they would deal 12 with it. They wouldn't have the money. It 13 wouldn't be an effect on the General Fund of 14 the State of New York. 15 SENATOR RIVERA: So as someone 16 who's obviously much experienced than I am in 17 financial matters, do you believe that we are 18 currently -- that we are out of a recession or 19 we are coming out of this recession? 20 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I have no 21 clue. I have no clue. You listen to six 22 economists and they'll give you seven answers. 23 I don't know. It seems like most of the 24 pundits are saying that things are starting to 25 move in the right direction, and then we end

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 up with a new war not started by President 2 Bush. That's amazing. I thought -- you know, 3 but in any event, that's another story. But 4 there's a new war, gas prices are going up, 5 who knows where this is all going to end. 6 But it seemed like the economy was 7 moving in the right direction and then you 8 have a disaster in Japan. So I don't know 9 what that all adds up to. 10 SENATOR RIVERA: One last 11 question for you, sir. And referring to the 12 earlier district that I referred to, District 13 57, Senator Young's district, do you know how 14 many folks file taxes in that district that 15 actually have less than $50,000 in taxable 16 income? 17 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: What 18 district is this? 19 SENATOR RIVERA: District 57. 20 Senator Young's district. 21 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I don't 22 know that. 23 SENATOR RIVERA: It amounts to 24 almost 100,000 individuals. Less than 25 $20,000, 53,000 people, so less than $20,000

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 of taxable income. From $20,000 to $30,000, 2 15,000. And from $30,000 to $60,000, 27,000. 3 So thank you. Mr. President, on 4 the bill. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 6 Rivera on the -- 7 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Excuse me, 8 may I -- 9 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 10 DeFrancisco, you may respond. 11 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Would 12 Senator Rivera yield to a question? 13 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 14 Rivera, do you yield? 15 SENATOR RIVERA: Certainly. Not 16 only that, I will yield to any question. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Okay. 18 Senator DeFrancisco. 19 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Were you 20 aware of the fact that low-income earners in 21 the State of New York are given an earned 22 income tax credit? 23 SENATOR RIVERA: Yes, sir. 24 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: And were 25 you also aware that the amount of earned

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 income tax credit paid by the taxpayers of the 2 State of New York throughout the state last 3 year was $915 million? 4 SENATOR RIVERA: I was not aware 5 of that exact number, sir, no. 6 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: And one 7 other fact I will ask you if you are aware of, 8 that of that $915 million, $800 million is not 9 used just to offset the taxes that the 10 taxpayer, the low-income taxpayer ordinarily 11 would have to pay, the $800 million is 12 actually in refund checks, in checks sent out 13 to low-income taxpayers. Were you aware of 14 that? 15 SENATOR RIVERA: Yes, sir. 16 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Okay. But 17 my point simply being that low-income 18 taxpayers, there's tax breaks for low-income 19 taxpayers as well. So to say that the State 20 of New York is not being fair across the board 21 I don't think is quite correct. 22 Thank you. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 24 Rivera on the bill. 25 SENATOR RIVERA: On the bill.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Well, first, I thank Senator 2 DeFrancisco for the conversation and certainly 3 for the debate. There are some basic 4 disagreements that we have, and that is pretty 5 obvious. 6 The first thing I'd like to say is 7 that regarding that $800 million that we spoke 8 about, $800 million is certainly less than 9 $4.5 billion. 10 But I would like to just start by 11 underlining something which I said during the 12 questions that we were asking. And that has 13 to do with two words that I believe each 14 person in this house is very, very aware of as 15 we debate this very important budget. Those 16 two words are "responsibility" and 17 "sacrifice." 18 We are all very aware that we live 19 in tough fiscal times. And that we have to 20 share the responsibility. And we have to 21 share the sacrifice. And that is what we are 22 talking about here today. 23 This bill that is before us does 24 not create a situation in which the 25 responsibility and the sacrifice is shared.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 We must remember a few things. First of all, 2 the federal government already gave a tax cut 3 to wealthier people all across America. It 4 was an extension of the Bush tax cuts. 5 Now we are making the choice, we 6 are making the choice not to extend, not to 7 extend a surcharge which would give us between 8 $4 billion and $5 billion if it is at the 9 current level. 10 And let's say that it's actually 11 the other level, as a few members of your 12 conference have suggested, and we make it a 13 true millionaire's tax. That would mean that 14 we would have $780 million in this next half 15 of the fiscal year and $3 billion annually. 16 Now, we're being asked to make very 17 tough choices about the education that our 18 children get, about the healthcare that we 19 have access to, about whether we're going to 20 fix those bridges and those tunnels and those 21 roads upstate, whether we're going to fund the 22 MTA and other mass transportation systems 23 downstate. We're making very tough choices 24 here. But unfortunately we're not having a 25 conversation about how those tough choices are

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 going to impact the majority of the 2 population. 3 In my district, of those numbers 4 that I spoke about before, there's only 391 5 individuals that would impacted by the 6 continuation of this surcharge. Over 7 50 percent of the people that live in my 8 district are taxpayers that have less than 9 $20,000 of taxable income. Now, certainly if 10 they file their taxes they get an earned 11 income tax credit. 12 But to make the argument that in 13 the City of New York and in the State of 14 New York to have $20,000 of taxable income as 15 your income, and that that would give you the 16 ability to give to your family, to take care 17 of your family and to thrive -- everybody 18 always is in different financial -- you know, 19 financial situation of different people. We 20 know that there's people that struggle. And 21 those people that struggle want and need 22 access to some of the services that we provide 23 as a safety net. And those are the ones that 24 we are cutting today. 25 These are tough choices. The

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 responsibility and the sacrifice must be 2 shared. 3 Just a few numbers and I will 4 finish. In the district that I spoke about 5 earlier, in District 57, 441 individuals. In 6 Senate District 60, Senator Grisanti's 7 district in Buffalo, 578 individuals. In 8 Senator Maziarz's district, District Number 9 62, 619 individuals. 10 Now, as I stated in our former 11 debate, I have not seen the hard evidence that 12 tells me that these are the people that are 13 leaving. The people that are leaving this 14 state are people that cannot afford to 15 continue to live here. They're not the folks, 16 they're not the folks that would be impacted 17 by this. 18 And let's say we put a true 19 millionaire's tax, as we call it. These folks 20 are not going leave. We would extend the same 21 thing that they are paying right now. And I 22 have said it before, this is not a new tax. 23 We are not imposing something that they are 24 not paying at this moment. 25 Ladies and gentlemen, I would only

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ask that you consider one more thing. This 2 budget is going to pass. On this bill in 3 particular, even though it is a paradox, I 4 will be voting in the affirmative. The reason 5 I will be voting in the affirmative is because 6 I believe that there are things in here that 7 will fund at least to the level that they need 8 to be funded. But I do not believe that it 9 produces enough revenue for us to lessen the 10 impact on the communities that most of us 11 represent. 12 The majority of the individuals 13 that we represent are going to be impacted by 14 this, and this bill unfortunately does not 15 provide enough revenue. But we still have an 16 opportunity. I do hope that after this 17 process is done that we can come back to this 18 house and continue to have this conversation. 19 And before December 31st you consider the 20 impact that it had in your schools, in your 21 hospitals, in your police departments, that we 22 come back here and we say we have -- we can 23 establish something where responsibility for 24 the pain that we have to go through is shared, 25 that the sacrifice that we have to take is

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 shared. 2 I thank you for your time today. 3 And I will just finish with this one thing. 4 Remember that we are making choices here. 5 This is all about choices. And we can make 6 some choices in the near future that will have 7 an impact on the choices that our constituents 8 make so that they don't have to be impacted as 9 negatively as they are by some of these cuts. 10 Shared responsibility and shared sacrifice. 11 Thank you, Mr. President. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Is 13 there any other Senator wishing to be heard? 14 Senator Squadron. 15 SENATOR SQUADRON: Thank you, 16 Mr. President. 17 If Senator DeFrancisco would yield 18 for a few questions, please. 19 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 20 SENATOR SQUADRON: Thank you very 21 much. 22 Senator DeFrancisco, is there an 23 increase this year, year to year, in the 24 low-income housing tax credit in this budget? 25 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, there

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 is. And I believe it's in the revenue bill 2 summary someplace. 3 SENATOR SQUADRON: I believe it's 4 Part F. 5 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Part F, 6 you're right. Okay, yes. 7 SENATOR SQUADRON: Would Senator 8 DeFrancisco continue to yield? 9 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: He will 11 yield. 12 SENATOR SQUADRON: And that 13 increase is $4 million. And is it true that 14 the low-income housing tax credit is a tax 15 credit that encourages the creation and 16 expansion of low-income housing in New York 17 State and that this would be a $4 million 18 increase, close to a 20 percent increase in 19 the program for this coming year? 20 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, it's 21 correct. 22 SENATOR SQUADRON: Thank you. 23 Would Senator DeFrancisco continue 24 to yield? 25 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR SQUADRON: Thank you. 2 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I've been 3 informed it's been increased every year. Each 4 Governor proposes this, such an increase. 5 SENATOR SQUADRON: Thank you. 6 And let me ask -- and I was struck 7 by the conversation between Senator Rivera and 8 Senator DeFrancisco because of how important 9 it was to make clear that there is no tax 10 relief in this bill, which is a different sort 11 of argument than we often have on this floor. 12 And certainly the low-income housing tax 13 credit is something that's meant to provide 14 relief to people of low income who need 15 housing. 16 Let me ask Senator DeFrancisco, is 17 there anything in this budget bill that gives 18 relief or extends relief to renters in the 19 City of New York who are covered by the 20 Emergency Tenant Protection Act? 21 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: No. Nor 22 are there any relief for renters in upstate 23 New York either. 24 SENATOR SQUADRON: Thank you. 25 Would Senator DeFrancisco continue

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 to yield? 2 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 4 Senator yields. 5 SENATOR SQUADRON: Thank you. 6 And is there anything in this 7 budget that would provide property tax relief 8 to folks who own homes anywhere in the State 9 of New York? 10 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: No. We 11 passed the property tax cap, but that -- and 12 had it as part of our one-house budget, but 13 there was no three-way agreement on that. 14 SENATOR SQUADRON: Thank you very 15 much. 16 On the bill, Mr. President. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 18 Squadron on the bill. 19 SENATOR SQUADRON: Thank you very 20 much. 21 As Senator DeFrancisco says, there 22 isn't tax relief in this budget for the 23 2.5 million renters who, thanks to the state 24 government, basically have what is, in effect, 25 protection from the state government that will

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 be a massive, massive tax increase for them if 2 rent regulations are not extended and 3 expanded. That's not in this budget. 4 And similarly, a year ago and two 5 years ago we heard an enormous amount about 6 property tax relief and the need for property 7 tax relief. We heard it both here on the 8 floor and around the 62 Senate districts. And 9 as Senator DeFrancisco says, there's nothing 10 in this budget that provides property tax 11 relief across the state. 12 It's a tough, tough budget. And 13 the increased low-income housing tax credit is 14 something that the Governor and the Assembly 15 and the Majority Leader and the members of 16 this house deserve an enormous amount of 17 credit for and we're appreciative of. But we 18 need relief for people who are having trouble 19 staying in their homes, whether they're 20 renters in the downstate region or the upstate 21 region, or homeowners in the downstate region 22 or the upstate region. And we just simply 23 don't it have that relief in this bill. 24 It's not always possible. 25 Certainly the last two years it was very

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 difficult as well. I just wanted to highlight 2 that again in this budget it's been very 3 difficult to provide that relief. 4 Thank you, Mr. President. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 6 Krueger, do you wish to speak? 7 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you, 8 Mr. President, I do. And I appreciate that 9 you noticed I jumped up too quickly before my 10 colleague Senator Squadron. 11 If the sponsor would continue to 12 yield, please. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 14 DeFrancisco, do you yield? 15 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 17 Krueger. 18 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 19 Senator DeFrancisco, we're here 20 talking about the revenue bill, where we 21 collect taxes, where we don't collect taxes, 22 how we pay for the programmatic expenditures 23 of all the other bills. 24 Do you know how much we don't 25 collect because of tax expenditures in our tax

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 and budget code, or how much we expect not to 2 collect due to the tax expenditures we have on 3 the books in New York State? 4 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: How much -- 5 how many taxes are due that are not collected? 6 SENATOR KRUEGER: When we pass 7 laws, we pass laws to collect taxes and 8 revenue, as we've been discussing this 9 morning, and we also put into law different 10 tax expenditures, credits, even refundable 11 credits in our tax code, do you know what they 12 total for the coming fiscal year? 13 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I don't 14 know. The only one I'm sure of is the 15 $915 million for the earned income tax credit. 16 But I'm sure there's substantially more than 17 that. And if you would like that number, I'd 18 be happy to get it for you. 19 If you're suggesting that -- to 20 eliminate some of those tax credits, that's a 21 policy decision and dependent upon the tax 22 credit and what advantage that credit has done 23 as far as creating business. There's tax 24 credits, as I discussed before, additional 25 ones in here for those areas that are going to

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 be affected by prison closures. 2 SENATOR KRUEGER: Mr. President, 3 if through you the sponsor would continue to 4 yield. 5 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 6 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. And 7 I agree, my question was a hard one. I have 8 before you the Annual Report on New York State 9 Tax Expenditures, and it's a fascinating 10 document. But they actually forget to add up 11 all the dollars from each of the programs. 12 And it's a multi-hundred-page document. But I 13 actually went through and added them up. And 14 it's $29 billion in the 2010-2011 year. They 15 don't have, obviously, the final report going 16 out of this budget. 17 But I'm curious, are we 18 discontinuing any of the tax expenditures in 19 this budget? 20 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: You know, 21 I'm sorry, I just don't understand the 22 question. Discontinuing tax expenditures? 23 What are -- I don't know that what means, I 24 really don't. 25 SENATOR KRUEGER: Okay. So every

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 year -- Mr. President, through you, may I 2 explain? I believe I'm answering a question. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: You may 4 explain, Senator Krueger. 5 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you so 6 much. 7 Every year we do a budget and we 8 put in revenues and we reject revenues. We've 9 been having that discussion now on the floor 10 for quite a while on this bill. And we also 11 put in tax expenditures. As Senator 12 DeFrancisco just pointed out, in this budget 13 bill or bills there is a new tax credit 14 opportunity tied into the regional economic 15 development groups. There's also some model 16 for tax credits to assist communities that may 17 be losing prisons. So those are two we're 18 adding. 19 But these would also be a place in 20 the revenue bill where you would potentially 21 discontinue programs. As has been discussed 22 multiple times, there are expiration dates on 23 lots of programs. There was an expiration 24 date, as discussed, on the high-end 25 supplement. There's expiration dates on any

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 number of different programs or enactments of 2 permanency for any number of different 3 programs in the budget. 4 So I'm asking have we discontinued 5 any of the tax expenditure programs within 6 this revenue bill. 7 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I -- once 8 again, the term "tax expenditure," I don't 9 get. If you're meaning tax credits, if you're 10 meaning deductions of taxes for mortgage 11 payments or various -- or at one time we had a 12 clothing tax moratorium. We don't have that 13 anymore. 14 Are you talking about tax 15 expenditures meaning the credits and benefits 16 given on a tax return to people? 17 SENATOR KRUEGER: Mr. President, 18 if the sponsor would continue to allow me -- 19 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 20 sponsor yields. Senator Krueger, I would ask 21 that you be explicit in your questioning, 22 please. 23 SENATOR KRUEGER: Yes, thank you. 24 The tax expenditure budget is right 25 there. The state defines tax expenditures as

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 provisions in the tax code such as exclusions, 2 deductions, credits, deferrals that are 3 designed to encourage certain kinds of 4 activities or to aid taxpayers in certain 5 special circumstances. 6 Some tax expenditures are designed 7 to accomplish certain public goals and should 8 be evaluated in the context of the loss to 9 state revenue versus the public gain from 10 allowing them to have, again, exclusions from 11 their taxes, deductions from their taxes, tax 12 credits from the state or deferrals for paying 13 their taxes. That's the definition in the tax 14 expenditure report. 15 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Now that I 16 understand the issue, what is the question? 17 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. In 18 this year's budget, in this revenue bill are 19 we in fact reducing any of the tax 20 expenditures? 21 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: No, we're 22 not. 23 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 24 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: And if some 25 of those tax expenditures, as defined, are bad

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 policy decisions, that certainly could be the 2 topic in a budget season. And it's probably a 3 fair topic in a budget season. The only tax 4 issue that I've heard is the millionaire's tax 5 being discussed. 6 But if there are some of those that 7 should, at least arguably, be eliminated, that 8 should be proposed by anyone in the house that 9 might want to do that. Unfortunately, it's a 10 little late at this point. 11 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you, 12 Mr. President. 13 Well, in fact that is the point I 14 am getting at. And I appreciate Senator 15 DeFrancisco's answers to my questions. So 16 I'll speak on the bill. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 18 Krueger on the bill for the second time. 19 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you. 20 So this is a revenue bill, which 21 means we're supposed to be evaluating -- the 22 State Legislature, the Governor -- where we 23 get our revenue to spend the money on 24 important public services. And we know that 25 we're talking about cutting $10 billion out of

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 the budget. And we have heard extensively 2 back and forth about one specific item that 3 some people think we should be extending or 4 redefining specifically for millionaires 5 moving forward when the existing law expires. 6 But we're at the date where we're 7 being asked to vote for this budget. And I am 8 extraordinarily disappointed that in very 9 difficult economic times, with a new 10 commitment to remodeling how we do state 11 business and state government, we completely 12 ignored the $29 billion on the table that the 13 State of New York decides in its wisdom -- or 14 perhaps not always such good wisdom -- not to 15 put on the table as a mechanism to collect 16 revenue and avoid making some of the very 17 large cuts we're making to our programs. 18 And I have spoken on this many 19 times. I ran a committee, no longer, but on 20 tax and budget policy. It came out with any 21 number of reports that were nonpartisan or 22 bipartisan reports supported by my colleagues. 23 We did a specific report on property tax 24 exemptions and exclusions. I will highlight 25 Senator Bonacic's excellent work on that issue

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 over the years. When you exclude certain 2 people from paying their property taxes, as we 3 know, somebody else has to make that up or you 4 cut other services. 5 We did a tax report on the 6 inequities in tax policy when it came to 7 telecommunications, the fact that satellite TV 8 companies don't actually pay taxes in New 9 York, while cable TV companies, because they 10 have a cable in the ground, do. And it's an 11 equity question and it's also a question of 12 whether we collect revenue or we don't, 13 whether we then have to cut our schools 14 because we're not collecting revenue. 15 We have -- I heard earlier, in 16 response to a question on the bill, from the 17 sponsor that we collect $9 billion in business 18 taxes. And in fact many people argue our 19 business taxes are too high and are 20 discouraging people from staying in New York 21 or starting new businesses in New York. But 22 we also have over $5 billion in business tax 23 exemptions or expenditure deferrals or even 24 credits for businesses in New York State, 25 Mr. President.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 And I asked the question and I 2 think all of us should be asking the question, 3 in a time when we're talking about cutting 4 billions from education and healthcare and 5 human services and we're telling localities 6 you're on your own for many issues where 7 you've depended on the state for help before, 8 that they're asking and I'm asking why didn't 9 we look at any of those items -- $29 billion 10 that were on the table in our law that we 11 could have explored collecting money from. 12 General Electric -- we of course 13 don't know anything about individual 14 companies' tax returns, and I am not privy to 15 them. No one here is, but there was a recent 16 spate of articles about the fact that General 17 Electric, a very large corporation with a 18 large presence here in New York State -- and 19 I'm glad they're here in New York State, I'm 20 sure we all are -- they had $15 billion in 21 profits -- and I'm delighted. They don't pay 22 any taxes. In fact, they got $3 billion in 23 refunds or credits without paying any taxes. 24 Now, when you analyze the tax 25 expenditures at the federal level and the

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 state level, you actually see that the vast 2 majority of them go to large corporations and 3 large businesses. And I hear from my 4 colleagues every day that the help that is 5 needed, and I want to provide it, is to small 6 new businesses, medium-sized businesses who 7 technically are the job creators and the job 8 engines for our economy. 9 So I am disturbed that we're not 10 doing any evaluation of the good, the bad, the 11 ugly in our tax expenditure tax code. And I 12 am disturbed that we are moving forward to get 13 an on-time budget -- and I respect the 14 importance of that -- by cutting billions of 15 dollars without asking the questions about 16 money that was on the table and perhaps more 17 fairly and equitably should be paid to the 18 State of New York so that we weren't just 19 arguing about one tax question, a 20 millionaire's tax, we were asking the hard 21 questions about billions of dollars in revenue 22 that we, the State of New York, have decided 23 to give as tax credits, deferrals, refundable 24 money back to businesses without asking the 25 hard questions: Is that the right answer in

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 bad economic times? Is that the right answer 2 in job creation? 3 So I really wish -- I'm sorry, 4 Senator DeFrancisco -- 5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 6 DeFrancisco, why do you rise? 7 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Would 8 Senator Krueger yield to a question? 9 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 10 Krueger, will you yield? 11 SENATOR KRUEGER: Happily, 12 Mr. President. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 14 DeFrancisco. 15 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: We've had a 16 process that's gone on for some time now since 17 the Governor released the budget, including 18 conference committees and the like. We're now 19 passing the budget. The question is, any of 20 those tax expenditures in your book that 21 you've got there with over a hundred pages, 22 did you or anyone else make any suggestions to 23 anyone to remove any of those tax expenditures 24 from the budget or give reasons why they 25 should be or advocate for any of those

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 specific items that you're now talking about 2 that you're upset that are not in the budget? 3 SENATOR KRUEGER: Yes, 4 Mr. President, I did. 5 Now, of course I moved into the 6 ranker position quite late in the process. 7 But I actually submitted all of the reports 8 from our tax committee, many of which focus on 9 specific tax expenditure issues and the 10 questions, to the Governor, Lieutenant 11 Governor and both houses. 12 And in fact I also submitted my 13 proposal to ensure that we evaluate the value 14 and the cost of tax expenditures on a regular 15 basis, each and every one of them to be 16 included in the budget. 17 Earlier I asked some questions 18 about did we have GAAP budgeting in this 19 budget, did we include performance-based 20 budgeting. And some people might remember 21 that the Senate Democrats carried a package of 22 budget reform that also included evaluating 23 the effectiveness and the cost to the State of 24 New York of tax expenditures. 25 So I did make sure in this new year

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 to move that package through to everyone who 2 might have a role to play in this. 3 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Would 4 Senator Krueger yield to another question. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 6 Krueger, do you continue to yield? 7 SENATOR KRUEGER: Yes. 8 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: My question 9 is were there any specific tax credits, any 10 specific deductions, any specific use of -- or 11 tax expenditures, as the term is defined, that 12 you proposed to anyone in order to include in 13 this budget? 14 SENATOR KRUEGER: Yes. As I 15 said, there was a package of materials that 16 included individual proposals. But I -- in 17 follow up, when I say that they are not here, 18 I would agree, in a both houses and the 19 Governor, these were not put on the table to 20 going into this budget. 21 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: And did you 22 provide me one? Because I honestly do not 23 remember. 24 SENATOR KRUEGER: And I honestly 25 don't remember whether you were on the list

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 either. But I will certainly happily make 2 sure you get the package. But I'm not sure 3 you were cc'd. 4 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Okay, thank 5 you. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 7 Krueger, are you concluding comments now? 8 SENATOR KRUEGER: I'm continuing 9 on the bill. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: I think 11 you were close to conclusion? 12 (Laughter.) 13 SENATOR KRUEGER: Yes, sir, I am. 14 I know you're fascinated by what I'm going to 15 say, so I am sure that you're not really 16 rushing me. 17 Excuse me, Mr. President, you made 18 me lose my train of thought. 19 So in conclusion -- 20 (Laughter.) 21 SENATOR KRUEGER: -- having gone 22 through so many issues of why I know we could 23 have done better on this most important 24 fundamental assignment, the revenue for the 25 State of New York, the revenue we could, with

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 a better revenue bill, be collecting, that 2 would have ensured that without raising 3 taxes -- because these are special exemptions 4 and credits that never get looked at each year 5 the way we look at every other program -- 6 without ever really doing the homework asking 7 the questions which I have been urging for 8 years, under Republican and democratic 9 Governors and under Democratic and Republican 10 leadership in these houses, that in this year 11 where we have said we're doing business a new 12 way, we are dealing with the third-rail issues 13 in budgeting and government that haven't been 14 dealt with, that we could, we could have come 15 up with significant revenue to help pay for 16 the public services we need. We could have 17 come up with alternatives that would have 18 ensured we weren't taking such huge cuts to 19 education, higher education, human services, 20 agriculture, so many programs that people care 21 so much about. 22 And because of that, because we 23 flunked a critical test for me, I find myself 24 determined that I must vote no on this bill. 25 Thank you, Mr. President.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Is 2 there any other Senator wishing to be heard? 3 Seeing none, the debate is closed. 4 The Secretary will ring the bell. 5 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 7 Libous. 8 SENATOR LIBOUS: Are we ringing 9 the bell at this time? 10 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 11 bell is ringing. 12 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: I would 14 also like to remind members at this point in 15 time that this will be on explanation of 16 votes, and we will be looking to Rule 9(3)(e) 17 for a two-minute explanation. 18 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, 19 Mr. President. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 21 the last section. 22 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 23 act shall take effect immediately. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 25 the roll.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 (The Secretary called the roll.) 2 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 3 Adams to explain his vote. 4 SENATOR ADAMS: Mr. President, 5 I'm going to vote no on this bill. 6 And again, you know, New York State 7 is a family, and all families should share the 8 pain. One aspect of the family should not be 9 better off than the other. 10 The consistent tone that has 11 resonated during this budget is that this is a 12 tough budget. That has been a consistent 13 tone. The only group in New York State who 14 cannot say that are the millionaires. The 15 only group that can't say this is a tough 16 budget are the millionaires. That, to me, is 17 astonishing. Alex Rodriguez just bought a 18 condo, paid $6 million for that condo. Only 19 $1,200 in property tax he's going to pay -- 20 $1,200, when he's supposed to pay $60,000. 21 That which is normal has become 22 abnormal, and that which is abnormal has 23 become normal. When you advocate on behalf of 24 schoolchildren, they're special interests. 25 When you advocate on behalf of Alex Rodriguez,

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 you're a special person. I'm not going to 2 accept that. 3 This is a terrible budget. At a 4 minimum, we should have had millionaire's 5 continued and extend this tax. I am not going 6 to vote for a budget in a year when we all 7 have to give back and the only group that 8 doesn't are the millionaires in the State of 9 New York. 10 That's not the legacy that I'm 11 going to live, and that's not the legacy that 12 the people who sent me to Albany expect me to 13 vote on. This budget is wrong not to force 14 millionaires to pay their fair share during 15 these tough and difficult times. I vote no on 16 this budget. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 18 Adams to be recorded in the negative. 19 I remind the house to please keep 20 order so that we can hear all of the members 21 speak. 22 Senator Young to explain her vote. 23 SENATOR YOUNG: Thank you, 24 Mr. President. To explain my vote. 25 You know, I listened intently to

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Senator Rivera argue in favor of taxing the 2 60,000 small businesses in this state. And he 3 used the argument that, oh, gee, there's only 4 441 people who would qualify, under the 5 personal income tax surcharge, in my district. 6 That's true. And, Senator Rivera, we used to 7 have more. But they've been driven out of the 8 state. I've lost small business after small 9 business. 10 And I'll give you just one example. 11 A month ago a company by a name of Luminite, a 12 family-owned business that's been in the City 13 of Salamanca for 85 years, decided to move out 14 of New York State. And they said to us, "You 15 know what, we know some people in Albany like 16 you and the Governor are trying to change the 17 business climate, but we can't take the heavy 18 taxes anymore. We can't take the heavy 19 regulations anymore." So they're picking up 20 their company and they're moving it across the 21 border in Pennsylvania, along with their 22 60 jobs, which hurts my constituents. 23 You talk about people not being 24 able to afford to live in New York State? 25 That's true. And I guess I'm not surprised to

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 hear you argue in favor of continuing to tax, 2 because that's what that side of the aisle, 3 the Senate Democrats, have consistently done 4 over the past two years. You raised 124 new 5 tax and fees, $14 billion in taxes and 6 spending at a time when people could least 7 afford it. 8 Senator Squadron talks about 9 property tax relief and how important that is. 10 I think that's a farce, because last year you 11 took away and the year before you took away 12 people's property tax rebate checks that gave 13 them property tax relief. 14 People can't afford to live here 15 because when they have trouble paying their 16 utility bills, you tax them even more. When 17 they have trouble paying their property taxes, 18 you tax them even more. When they have 19 trouble paying their health insurance 20 premiums, you tax them even more. You taxed 21 them on their motor vehicle registrations. 22 One hundred twenty-four taxes that you imposed 23 on people. 24 In Western New York we have lost 25 tons of population. And in fact, in

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Charlotte, North Carolina, it's now known, 2 nicknamed Little Buffalo because so many 3 people have left. 4 We've got to turn this state 5 around, and that's what this budget is about. 6 Because it's sending a clear message to the 7 people of this state and the people of this 8 country that this heavy taxation will not 9 continue. We are changing the direction of 10 the state -- 11 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 12 Young. 13 SENATOR YOUNG: We are focusing 14 on revitalizing the economy, helping our small 15 businesses. And that's why I'm voting yes on 16 this bill. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 18 Young to be recorded in the affirmative. 19 Senator Peralta to explain his 20 vote. 21 SENATOR PERALTA: Thank you, 22 Mr. President. I commend the Governor for 23 about to get an on-time budget. I agree with 24 parts of it, I disagree with other parts. But 25 as responsible policymakers, we know that

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 being on time is just one part of what makes a 2 good budget. The other part, the more 3 important part, is whether the budget 4 accurately represents our best ideals and 5 highest priorities. 6 I do not believe that this revenue 7 bill represents what most New Yorkers want. 8 In fact, I believe this revenue bill will hurt 9 our future competitiveness and place further 10 burdens on the backs of our most vulnerable 11 and our middle class. 12 So what happened to the notion of 13 shared sacrifice? Actually, only the wealthy 14 will benefit from this revenue bill. The 15 failure to extend a temporary surcharge on the 16 highest income earners is deplorable. We're 17 about to pass a devastating cut to education 18 that could largely have been avoided with the 19 temporary extension of the high-income-earners 20 surcharge. Providing a tax cut to 21 millionaires while laying off teachers and 22 cutting education programs hardly seems to be 23 shared sacrifices. 24 And most New Yorkers agree with me. 25 A recent Marist poll found that 64 percent of

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 state voters support extending this surcharge. 2 And this same poll found that as people's 3 income increases, so does their support for 4 the tax. 5 Moreover, the Fiscal Policy 6 Institute found that as a result of the Bush 7 tax cuts extended in December, those whose 8 incomes are over $1 million will pay an 9 average of $34,000 less in taxes. 10 And this is not just a moral 11 question, it's an economic one as well. One 12 of the most important ingredients in growing 13 our economy long term is a strong education 14 system. These cuts could have long-term 15 ramifications. 16 Yes, my colleagues, spending cuts 17 are necessary, absolutely. But so are common 18 sense and compassion, and that's what we need 19 to have here today. 20 I will vote nay on this bill. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 22 Peralta to be recorded in the negative. 23 Senator Espaillat. 24 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: Thank you, 25 Mr. President.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Once again, the poor, the 2 working-class and middle-class New Yorkers of 3 this great state are saddled with the 4 responsibility of balancing the budget, of 5 plugging the deficit. Much has been said 6 about the disparity in the approach, how the 7 mobility tax, also known as the payroll tax, 8 imposed on 12 counties across the State of 9 New York has continued. This is a tax that 10 affects small businesses, charities, 11 not-for-profits, people that are providing 12 goods and services in the 12 counties serviced 13 by the MTA. But of course the millionaires 14 get a break. 15 Aid to municipalities is cut. And 16 this is funding that often goes to the poor 17 and working class, assisting them with 18 programs that are vital to their existence in 19 those municipalities. But of course the 20 millionaires get a cut. 21 Cuts to education and Medicaid, we 22 will be discussing those as we move forward. 23 And while the big CEOs of the pharmaceutical 24 companies and the big CEOs of the insurance 25 companies and the bankers benefitted from the

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 stimulus package and the extended Bush tax 2 cuts, these cuts will have a disproportionate 3 impact on working-class and middle-class 4 New Yorkers. And again, the rich get a cut. 5 Shared sacrifice? Shared 6 responsibility? Sharing the pain? Not a 7 chance. The rich will continue to get a 8 break. The rich will continue to get a cut. 9 They will not leave in droves. The 10 Metropolitan Opera House will still be housed 11 in Manhattan. The Metropolitan Museum of 12 Modern Art will be still on Fifth Avenue. 13 Folks will not leave in droves. They have not 14 left in droves. They will still continue to 15 gravitate towards the cultural centers of New 16 York City and New York State. But they will 17 continue to get a cut. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 19 Espaillat, how do you vote? 20 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: I will be 21 voting in the negative, Mr. President. Thank 22 you. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 24 Espaillat to be recorded in the negative. 25 Senator Carlucci to explain his

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 vote. 2 SENATOR CARLUCCI: Thank you, 3 Mr. President. 4 First I just want to commend 5 Governor Andrew Cuomo and my colleagues here 6 in the Legislature for specifically amending 7 the Excelsior jobs program. Specifically in 8 there, amending the new jobs tax credit to 9 make it a percentage of the wages paid, I 10 think is extremely important in rewarding 11 quality employers that are really providing 12 quality jobs and high-paying jobs to 13 New Yorkers. New Yorkers deserve great-paying 14 jobs, and they need them right now. 15 And specifically when we talk about 16 taxpayers, this program is putting a return on 17 investment for taxpayer money that's going to 18 companies that in return will provide 19 great-paying jobs. 20 Another great program here is by 21 increasing the tax credits for research and 22 development. This positions New York to be 23 the leader when it comes to emerging 24 technologies, to high-tech companies. With 25 research and development I believe we can be

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 the leaders not just in this nation, but in 2 the global economy. 3 So, Mr. President, I'll be voting 4 in the affirmative. Thank you. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 6 Carlucci to be recorded in the affirmative. 7 Senator Kennedy to explain his 8 vote. 9 SENATOR KENNEDY: Thank you, 10 Mr. President. Please record me in the 11 negative on this vote. 12 Our state is in a severe fiscal 13 crisis, we're all very well aware of that. 14 And our government is taking many steps to get 15 our fiscal house in order. And at the same 16 time, New York's middle-class families and 17 small businesses are overburdened with taxes. 18 They're desperate for tax relief. 19 I rise today because the 20 hardworking men and women of Western New York 21 and all of New York State have been clamoring 22 for us to help them make everyday life more 23 affordable as they struggle to make ends meet. 24 This bill does not ease the tax burden they've 25 been enduring. It does, however, provide a

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 tax bailout for Wall Street millionaires. 2 As I've said, the budget takes 3 money away from Western New York's families, 4 students and seniors and sends it directly in 5 the pockets of Wall Street millionaires. It 6 gives a tax break for millionaires while the 7 rest of our state, especially middle-class 8 families, are forced to pay the same but get 9 less. 10 With New York's business tax 11 climate known as one of the worst in the 12 nation, wouldn't it make more sense to target 13 tax relief to struggling small businesses 14 rather than giving hefty tax breaks to 15 millionaires? 16 What about Western New York's 17 middle-class families? They're bearing the 18 burden of this budget deficit because their 19 taxes remain high while services they rely on, 20 like their kids' schools and their kids' 21 educations, are suffering severe cuts. 22 This budget plan fails to implement 23 a tax cap, guts education funding, and gives a 24 tax bailout to millionaires. In the 25 Cheektowaga-Sloan School District, one of --

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 which I represent, the school board has cut 2 the fat, cut through the muscle and now 3 they're stuck trying to cut through the bone. 4 They've cut to the point where they really 5 can't cut anymore, and now they're forced to 6 consider depleting educational programs. 7 In the Hamburg, West Seneca, Eden, 8 Lackawanna and Buffalo School Districts that I 9 represent, the financial outlook is just as 10 dire. But by simply holding the line on taxes 11 for millionaires, as this budget does, with 12 taxes for the rest of the state -- 13 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 14 Kennedy, how do you vote? 15 SENATOR KENNEDY: I vote no 16 because this bill takes money away from 17 Western New York families and puts it in the 18 pocket of Wall Street millionaires. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 20 Kennedy to be recorded in the negative. 21 Senator Parker to explain his vote. 22 SENATOR PARKER: Thank you, 23 Mr. President. Within two minutes, to explain 24 my vote. 25 I'm actually unfortunately voting

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 no on this revenue bill. I'd like to be 2 voting yes, but -- and I think my colleagues 3 have made the point very aptly that this 4 revenue bill in particular is unacceptable 5 because it balances the budget on the backs of 6 the most vulnerable people in our society -- 7 on schoolchildren, on people with 8 disabilities -- you know, and there's no 9 fairness in it. 10 You know, I can go on and on, as my 11 colleagues have indicated, about the fair 12 share tax plan that we're now abandoning, 13 something that would actually give us an 14 additional -- forget this year, next year it 15 would provide $5 billion in the budget and 16 would actually give us a surplus of $2 billion 17 simply by just doing what is fair to the 18 taxpayer. 19 And we could do that simply -- in 20 fact, we ought to restructure it, frankly, and 21 not start it at $200,000, we ought to probably 22 raise it to $750,000 or maybe even make it a 23 million. But we certainly ought to have that 24 surcharge in place to in fact do the right 25 thing by the people of the State of New York.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 I want to just, you know, have 2 Senator Young just be correct about this. 3 Because I'm from Brooklyn, and we have an 4 expression there about keeping it real. And 5 to keep it real, from 1989 to 2008, under 6 Republican control, taxes went up in this 7 state by $131 billion. Let me say that again. 8 Under Republican control, taxes went up by 9 $131 billion from 1998 to 2008. 10 The STAR program in this budget is 11 being cut by $125 million. In this budget 12 that you're voting for today. 13 So I want to make sure that 14 everybody knows what we're doing in this 15 budget and why I'm voting no. Because that's 16 the wrong choice for my community. And it's 17 the wrong choice, frankly, for your 18 communities. 19 And I put out some things that we 20 ought to do. We could have actually collected 21 10 percent of the stock transfer tax, and that 22 would have gave us $1.5 billion. We could 23 have done -- you know, gotten rid of a number 24 of the tax loopholes that we find, you know, 25 for corporations --

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 2 Parker. 3 SENATOR PARKER: -- and we could 4 have collected some money on that. 5 So there were lots of the options 6 that we said no to, and that's why I'm saying 7 no to this revenue budget, Mr. President. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 9 Parker to be recorded in the negative. 10 Senator Ball to explain his vote. 11 SENATOR BALL: I'll be voting in 12 the affirmative. And I'll just give a little 13 background. 14 I have a white collar today, but my 15 collar is as blue as it comes. I grew up, my 16 parents were caretakers on the Kennedy estate, 17 Jean Kennedy and Steve Smith, in Pawling, 18 New York. First in my family to graduate from 19 college. 20 You know, it may sound fun that we 21 were caretakers on the Kennedy estate. That 22 meant that we got to cut the grass and, when 23 they weren't around, get into the swimming 24 pool. When we weren't there, my parents went 25 paycheck by paycheck, we lived in my

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 grandmother's basement. Now, I'm not talking 2 about a furnished basement, I'm talking about 3 concrete, little tiny windows, bedsheets up 4 instead of walls. That's how I grew up. 5 Now, we're talking about Bush tax 6 cuts. Bush has -- he's not president anymore, 7 folks. And these tax cuts have nothing to do 8 with George Bush. 9 On the MTA payroll tax, which 10 really affects my district, at the end of the 11 day that issue certainly has to be addressed. 12 We had an opportunity in this budget to do 13 that. On our side we fought for a forensic 14 accounting of the MTA. It would have been 15 nice to have your support on that. 16 And moving forward for a full 17 repeal of the MTA payroll tax, it's going to 18 be important that you walk over to the other 19 chamber to make sure that it's a priority just 20 like it seems to be a priority in the debate 21 today. 22 Furthermore, on the tax cap, we 23 have got to address the crisis of the property 24 tax. But you have to understand something 25 very real about what's been called the

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 millionaire tax today, folks making between 2 $200,000 to a million dollars a year. Many of 3 these folks that live in my district, these 4 are the people who are creating the jobs. 5 They have dirt under their fingernails. They 6 are being forced out of the state. They are 7 losing their businesses. We have lost 8 1.8 million New Yorkers. 9 You can blame the Senate majority 10 for what you call a millionaire tax. It is 11 not a millionaire tax. It's a job-killing 12 tax. And at the end of the day, it's your 13 governor, Governor Cuomo, who stands solidly 14 on this issue because he knows that we have no 15 future in this state continuing to be number 16 one in all the wrong ways -- number one in 17 killing jobs, number one in taxing, number one 18 in outmigration. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 20 Ball. 21 SENATOR BALL: People are voting 22 with their feet -- 23 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 24 Ball, how do you vote? 25 SENATOR BALL: I vote yes. Thank

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 you. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 3 Ball to be recorded in the affirmative. 4 Senator Fuschillo to explain his 5 vote. 6 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Just briefly. 7 Thank you, Mr. President. And let me thank my 8 colleague Senator DeFrancisco for his work on 9 the floor here today. 10 New York State has a spending 11 problem. And if we continue that, we're going 12 to continue the mass exodus that we've seen 13 over the last decade where more people move 14 out of our state than any other state in the 15 nation. 16 I've heard arguments from the other 17 side of the aisle about the MTA payroll tax. 18 We agree. Where were you two years ago when 19 you implemented the tax? It's a job-killing 20 tax. And just because our budget may get 21 completed today or tomorrow, our work isn't 22 done to eliminate the tax that you put on. 23 So don't tell us you're against it 24 today when two years ago those of you that 25 were in the Senate, or in the Senate today who

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 were in the Assembly, you voted for it. This 2 side of the aisle, when we were over there, 3 voted against the MTA payroll tax. You gave 4 it to us. 5 We're number one, in the State of 6 New York -- actually, number two, almost 7 number one -- in the state and local tax 8 burden. New Jersey is number one by 9 0.1 percent over New York State. 10 The state business tax climate in 11 the nation, we're the worst. We're at the 12 bottom. State individual income tax 13 collection, New York State is number one. 14 I'm a little confused. You're for 15 the tax, you're against the tax. Every minute 16 somebody else gets up: We need to tax, we 17 don't need to tax. If we keep taxing, we're 18 going to keep running people out of the State 19 of New York. 20 You know, the last two years -- and 21 I've heard comments about the last decade -- 22 New York state spent more than $14 billion in 23 new taxes and fees the first two years I voted 24 against the budget. If we continued on that 25 trend, our state of the economy would be worse

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 than it is today. 2 The Governor has taken some bold 3 moves. And if we don't eliminate this 4 $10 billion deficit, we'd in worse condition 5 next year. It does that, it doesn't raise 6 taxes, and it cuts spending to get the state 7 back to where it fiscally should be in the 8 right direction. 9 I'll be voting in the affirmative, 10 Mr. President. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank 12 you, Senator Fuschillo. You will be recorded 13 in the affirmative. 14 Senator Diaz to explain his vote. 15 SENATOR DIAZ: Thank you, 16 Mr. President. 17 You know, to me what's amazing is 18 that we in our communities, black and Hispanic 19 communities especially, where I come from, we 20 all are Democrats. And we -- no Republican, 21 no Republican will win in our district, 22 especially in my district. Democrats. 23 Democrats. And we -- and you know why we do? 24 Because we do like Chuck Schumer. We educate 25 our community that Republican are the bad

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 guys. And sometimes you are, guys. 2 But what's amazing is that today we 3 are having a Democratic Governor getting away 4 with not putting taxes, not extending taxes on 5 the rich, giving New Jersey $350 million, 6 giving Connecticut money, giving Pennsylvania 7 money, and killing the black and the Hispanic, 8 the poor and the needy and the senior 9 citizens. This is done by a Democratic 10 Governor. Supported by Republicans. 11 But ladies and gentlemen, we in our 12 community, we have to learn, we're going to 13 have to learn that we cannot keep being taken 14 for granted. During election time, Oh, vote 15 for me, I'm Democrat. Oh, vote for me, I'm 16 going to take care of you. And then, when 17 they get elected, this is what they do to us. 18 And it's amazing to see that all 19 Republicans are the ones supporting this 20 Governor's budget. And we Democrats that 21 voted for him, that supported him, that 22 campaigned for him, we are the ones saying 23 huuuh, huuuh. Amazing. Amazing. A 24 Democratic Governor giving rich people a 25 break --

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 2 Diaz, how do you vote? 3 SENATOR DIAZ: -- and forcing us 4 to close hospitals, to close our senior 5 centers, to cut education. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 7 Diaz, how do you vote? 8 SENATOR DIAZ: How I'm voting? 9 Don't you know yet? 10 (Laughter.) 11 SENATOR DIAZ: Do I have to tell 12 you how I'm voting? 13 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: I want 14 to ensure that we have this accurately. 15 SENATOR DIAZ: Well, in English 16 it's no, in Spanish it's no -- 17 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 18 Diaz to be recorded in the negative. 19 Senator Marcellino to explain his 20 vote. 21 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you, 22 Mr. President. 23 I rise to support this bill because 24 124 new taxes is not the way to continue, 25 $14 billion in the last two years in new

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 spending is not the way to continue. Yes, 2 Senator, the Metropolitan Opera will have 3 people attending it, the Museum of Modern Art 4 will still have people attending it. The only 5 problem is they'll be coming from Connecticut, 6 New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, not from 7 New York. Because they're leaving New York. 8 They're leaving New York. 9 We have to send a message. We have 10 to send a message to the small businesspeople 11 who are contemplating leaving because of the 12 high taxes and regulations that we want them 13 to stay because they employ our citizens. We 14 want to send a message to the people who are 15 contemplating moving out of their homes 16 because they can't afford the property taxes 17 that we want them to stay because we need 18 them. We've got to create jobs in the private 19 sector, not in the public sector. 20 This is a painful budget, we agree 21 with that. We understand that. We don't want 22 to make these decisions, we have to make these 23 decisions. I commend the Governor for working 24 with Senator Skelos and the other leaders to 25 put forth a budget that solves a problem that

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 was created not by us but by the world and by 2 the situation that's around us. But the 3 taxing and spending ways of New York State 4 have to end. Let it end here, let it end 5 today, and let us move forward in a 6 responsible way, creating jobs and keeping our 7 citizens employed and in this state, not 8 driving them out of the state because they 9 can't afford to live here. 10 Mr. President, I vote aye. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 12 Marcellino to be recorded in the affirmative. 13 Senator Farley to explain his vote. 14 SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you, 15 Mr. President. 16 I rise to support this because, my 17 colleagues, we have a $10 billion deficit. We 18 have to live in the real world. I am proud of 19 my colleagues on this side of the aisle that 20 are supporting this and for my enlightened 21 colleagues on the other side of the aisle that 22 will support it. 23 But we have a problem. And I am 24 proud of the Governor, Governor Cuomo, for 25 standing up and addressing this. We are

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 solving a $10 billion deficit with no new 2 taxes. That is a remarkable accomplishment. 3 When I first addressed this budget 4 I said I don't know how we're going to do it. 5 Yes, there's pain. There's pain for 6 everybody. But we are solving a huge problem 7 and we're bringing back New York State to 8 become the Empire State again. 9 I vote aye. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 11 Farley to be recorded in the affirmative. 12 Senator Ranzenhofer to explain his 13 vote. 14 SENATOR RANZENHOFER: Thank you, 15 Mr. President. Just briefly, I do want to 16 rise and explain my vote. 17 It's amazing that for the second 18 time in 30 years a budget spends less money 19 that it did the year before. I think it's 20 reflective of what is going on in our society 21 and the people that live in our districts. 22 Economic times have changed. People in their 23 own households are getting their spending 24 under control. But for some reason in the 25 past, New York State has not been able to do

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 that, and my colleagues have eloquently talked 2 about the problems of population loss and job 3 loss. 4 I also want to commend the 5 Governor, who gets it. He understands that 6 you can't keep on spending money that you 7 don't have. The Comptroller indicated over 8 the last couple of years that that level of 9 spending was not sustainable. 10 So I rise today by saying that this 11 is a good start. It's a good start for the 12 first time in many, many, many years that 13 we're not spending more money than we have, 14 that we're not continuing to increase taxes on 15 the hardworking people of this state. 16 For those reasons, I will be voting 17 in favor of the budget. Thank you. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 19 Ranzenhofer to be recorded in the affirmative. 20 Senator Grisanti to explain his 21 vote. 22 SENATOR GRISTANTI: Yes, thank 23 you, Mr. President. 24 I can tell you, my friends and 25 colleagues, that in my district there will be

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 some that are happy with this budget and some 2 that are not. But however, this is not a time 3 of easy choices. In fact, they're not choices 4 at all. Our state is in a state of chaos. I 5 come from the private sector, and that's what 6 my people see in my district. But I see the 7 infant stages of turning this state around, a 8 state that has not been friendly in the past 9 to taxpayers, business, in utter and complete 10 dysfunction. 11 This budget does not cover 12 everyone's needs, but it does offer a new 13 beginning to once again make this state the 14 Empire State again. We are open for business. 15 And instead of bickering for our own spotlight 16 and personal needs, you need to compromise. 17 The sooner you realize that, that we're moving 18 in the right direction by not taxing, by 19 creating the opportunity for job growth, 20 cutting government waste, duplicative 21 services, and -- most importantly -- realizing 22 that it is a privilege and not a right to be 23 here representing your district, the sooner 24 this state will be a catalyst for not only the 25 taxpayers of New York but the nation.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 History tells us that we are often 2 looked upon as the one who will lead. Once 3 again, we can make that a reality. As this 4 state grows, we can all look proudly on what 5 we accomplished, although painful, as it is 6 today. I've stated a quote, and I'll state it 7 again. No state has ever spent themselves 8 into prosperity. The taxes and the fees that 9 were issued the last two years were ridiculous 10 in the eyes of the voters and the people of my 11 district, fees that people couldn't even 12 believe that were raised. 13 We have to work harder and together 14 to free up restrictions on businesses. But 15 let's remember one thing, because I know my 16 time is short. Our conference was not looking 17 and the Governor was not looking at a one-year 18 fix to a problem. This is a fix that is 19 carried on to the future, a $15 billion 20 deficit next year reduced down to $2 billion. 21 We're not only tackling the deficit this year 22 but tackling the future deficits. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 24 Grisanti, how do you vote? 25 SENATOR GRISTANTI: I vote yes.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 2 Grisanti to be recorded in the affirmative. 3 The Secretary will announce the 4 results. 5 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 6 Calendar Number 285, those Senators recorded 7 in the negative are Senators Adams, Diaz, 8 Duane, Espaillat, Kennedy, L. Krueger, 9 Montgomery, Parker, Peralta, Perkins. Also 10 Senator Rivera. 11 Ayes, 51. Nays, 11. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 13 bill is passed. 14 Senator Libous. 15 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President, 16 would you call on Senator Ruth 17 Hassell-Thompson for an announcement. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: I will, 19 Senator Libous. 20 Before I do that, I would ask and 21 remind all of our guests in the gallery that 22 they need to remain seated at all times. 23 I will now recognize Senator Ruth 24 Hassell-Thompson for purposes of an 25 announcement.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Thank 2 you. There will be an immediate meeting of 3 the Democratic Conference in the Democratic 4 Conference Room. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: There 6 is an immediate meeting of the Democrat 7 Conference in the Democrat Conference Room. 8 Senator Libous. 9 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President, 10 there will be a Finance Committee meeting at 11 1:45 in Room 332. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: There 13 will be a Finance Committee meeting in 14 Room 332 at 1:45 p.m. 15 SENATOR LIBOUS: Pending the 16 report of the Finance Committee, the Senate 17 will stand at ease. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Pending 19 the report, the Senate stands at ease. 20 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at 21 ease at 1:35 p.m.) 22 (Whereupon, the Senate reconvened 23 at 2:01 p.m.) 24 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 25 Senate will come to order.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Senator Libous. 2 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President, I 3 believe there's a report of the Finance 4 Committee at the desk. May we have the report 5 read, please. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 7 Secretary will read the report of the Finance 8 Committee. 9 THE SECRETARY: Senator 10 DeFrancisco, from the Committee on Finance, 11 reports the following bill direct to third 12 reading: 13 Senate 2804D, Senate Budget Bill, 14 an act making appropriations for the support 15 of government: CAPITAL PROJECTS BUDGET. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 17 bill is reported to third reading. 18 Senator Libous, the report has been 19 accepted and brought to third reading. 20 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you. Can 21 we go to I believe it would be Calendar B, the 22 noncontroversial reading. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 24 Secretary will read the substitution. 25 THE SECRETARY: Senator

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 DeFrancisco moves to discharge, from the 2 Committee on Finance, Assembly Bill Number 3 4004D and substitute it for the identical 4 Senate Bill Number 2804D, Third Reading 5 Calendar 286. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 7 substitution is so ordered. 8 Senator Libous. 9 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President, 10 is there a message of necessity at the desk? 11 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: There 12 is a message of necessity at the desk. 13 SENATOR LIBOUS: Can we move to 14 accept the message of necessity, please. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: All in 16 favor of accepting the message of necessity 17 signify by saying aye. 18 (Response of "Aye.") 19 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: 20 Opposed? 21 (No response.) 22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 23 message of necessity is accepted. 24 The bill is before the house. 25 The Secretary will read.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 THE SECRETARY: Assembly Print 2 40004D, Assembly Budget Bill, an act making 3 appropriations for the support of government: 4 CAPITAL PROJECTS BUDGET. 5 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Last 6 section. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 8 the last section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 10 act shall take effect immediately. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 12 the roll. 13 (The Secretary called the roll.) 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 62. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 16 bill is passed. 17 Senator Libous. 18 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President, 19 could -- I know we hastily passed the bill, 20 but if we could still be on the vote for a 21 second, please. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 23 Libous, with permission, I will temporarily, 24 without objection, temporarily withdraw -- 25 SENATOR LIBOUS: Actually, you

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 don't have to do that, Mr. President. It's on 2 first reading, so if the member wants to come 3 in and vote no, it will still be recorded at 4 the desk. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank 6 you. 7 SENATOR LIBOUS: So I believe the 8 bill is passed? 9 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 10 bill is passed. 11 Senator Libous. 12 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President, 13 things are moving a little too quickly. 14 (Laughter.) 15 SENATOR LIBOUS: I would ask 16 for -- I would ask for -- we really are. 17 Early budget, early voting. 18 Mr. President, I would pause for a 19 second and ask my colleagues for unanimous 20 consent to allow Senator Duane to vote, 21 please. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Without 23 objection, unanimous consent is granted to 24 Senator Duane. 25 There being no objection, Senator

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Duane has cast his vote in the negative. 2 Correct? 3 Senator Diaz in the negative. 4 Senator Perkins in the negative. 5 SENATOR LIBOUS: How are we 6 doing, Mr. President? 7 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: We're 8 doing good. 9 The Secretary will announce the 10 results. 11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59. Nays, 12 3. Those recorded in the negative are 13 Senators Diaz, Duane and Perkins. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 15 bill is passed. 16 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President, 17 if we could just stand at ease for a second 18 here. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 20 Senate stands at ease momentarily. 21 (Pause.) 22 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 24 Senate will come to order. 25 Senator Libous.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR LIBOUS: There will be an 2 immediate meeting of the Agriculture Committee 3 in Room 332. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: There 5 will be an immediate meeting of the 6 Agriculture Committee in Room 332. 7 SENATOR LIBOUS: And until the 8 Agriculture Committee meeting is complete, the 9 Senate will stand at ease. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Until 11 that committee is complete, the Senate stands 12 at ease. 13 I want to again remind all of our 14 guests and visitors that you must remain 15 seated at all times in the gallery. 16 The Senate is at ease. 17 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at 18 ease at 2:09 p.m.) 19 (Whereupon, the Senate reconvened 20 at 2:39 p.m.) 21 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 22 Senate will come to order. 23 I ask all in the gallery to please 24 remain seated and to remain silent. 25 Senator Libous.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, 2 Mr. President. 3 There will be an immediate meeting 4 of the Rules Committee in Room 332. 5 The Senate will stand at ease 6 pending the report of the Rules Committee. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: There 8 will be an immediate meeting of the Rules 9 Committee in Room 332. 10 The Senate stands at ease. 11 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at 12 ease at 2:40 p.m.) 13 (Whereupon, the Senate reconvened 14 at 3:01 p.m.) 15 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 16 Senate will come to order. 17 Senator Libous. 18 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President, 19 if we can return to reports of standing 20 committees, please. There's a report of the 21 Rules Committee at the desk. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 23 Secretary will read. 24 THE SECRETARY: Senator Skelos, 25 from the Committee on Rules, reports the

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 following bills. 2 By Senator Young, Senate Print 754, 3 an act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law; 4 By Senator Saland, Senate Print 5 1414A, an act to amend the Criminal Procedure 6 Law; 7 By Senator Saland, Senate Print 8 4222, an act to amend the Social Services Law; 9 By Senator Saland, Senate Print 10 4244, an act to amend the Criminal Procedure 11 Law. 12 All bills reported direct to third 13 reading. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 15 Libous. 16 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, 17 Mr. President. Can we move to accept the 18 report of the Rules Committee, please. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: All in 20 favor of accepting the report of the Rules 21 Committee signify by saying aye. 22 (Response of "Aye.") 23 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: 24 Opposed? 25 (No response.)

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 2 committee report is accepted. 3 Senator Libous. 4 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, 5 Mr. President. 6 At this time could we read the 7 noncontroversial reading of Supplemental 8 Calendar Number 27C. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 10 Secretary will read. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 289, by Senator Young, Senate Print 754, an 13 act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 15 the last section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 17 act shall take effect immediately. 18 SENATOR LIBOUS: Call the roll. 19 (The Secretary called the roll.) 20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 62. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 22 bill is passed. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 290, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 1414A, an 25 act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 2 the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 4 act shall take effect on the first of 5 November. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 7 the roll. 8 (The Secretary called the roll.) 9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 62. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 11 bill is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 13 Calendar Number 291, Senator Saland moves to 14 discharge, from the Committee on Rules, 15 Assembly Bill Number 627 and substitute it for 16 the identical Senate Bill Number 4222, Third 17 Reading Calendar 291. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: 19 Substitution so ordered. 20 The Secretary will read. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 291, by Member of the Assembly Weinstein, 23 Assembly Print Number 627, an act to amend the 24 Social Services Law. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 the last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 3 act shall take effect immediately. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 5 the roll. 6 (The Secretary called the roll.) 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 62. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 9 bill is passed. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 292, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 4244, an 12 act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 14 the last section. 15 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 16 act shall effect on the first of November. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 18 the roll. 19 (The Secretary called the roll.) 20 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 21 Saland to explain his vote. 22 SENATOR SALAND: Thank you, 23 Mr. President. 24 Mr. President, as I think everybody 25 in the chamber is aware, and notwithstanding

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 the fact that we're consumed by budget 2 matters, attempting to deliver an effective 3 and on-time budget, the fact of the matter is 4 that today is March 30th, and it's Domestic 5 Violence Advocacy Day. And both in the 6 Assembly and in our house a number of measures 7 have been passed attempting to deal with this 8 issue which causes such enormous trauma, such 9 enormous tragedy and often, as is the case in 10 my district, the loss of life. 11 There have been four separate 12 instances in my district in the past eight 13 months in which incidents that are domestic- 14 violence-related have resulted in the death of 15 the victim and in one instance not only the 16 victim, a wife, but also a police officer. 17 During my entire service in this 18 house and the other house, I've long dwelled 19 on the subject of child abuse and domestic 20 violence and made every effort to try and tip 21 the playing field in a fashion that would 22 benefit victims, as have so many others in a 23 bipartisan fashion attempted to do so. 24 What we are accomplishing here 25 today, and I believe most of these bills

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 certainly are going to be bills that are 2 ultimately going to make their way to the 3 Governor's desk, is accomplishing that very 4 end. We are trying to ensure that victims 5 will not be victimized as frequently as has 6 occurred in the past. We're trying to provide 7 means to further protect victims, we're trying 8 to provide means for court and law enforcement 9 intervention long before it becomes a tragic 10 story that we learn about in the news. 11 So I would merely say to my 12 colleagues we've taken the time to divorce 13 ourselves from matters fiscal, but these 14 matters are certainly extraordinarily every 15 bit as important and each and every one of us 16 in our districts knows of, I'm sure, multiple 17 incidents that have resulted in enormous 18 personal tragedy not only to the victim but to 19 the victim's family. 20 I thank you. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 22 Saland to be recorded in the affirmative. 23 Announce the results. 24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 62. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 bill is passed. 2 Senator Libous, that completes the 3 reading of the noncontroversial supplemental 4 calendar. 5 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, 6 Mr. President. 7 Is there any cleanup work to be 8 done at the desk at this time? 9 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: There 10 is no housekeeping before the desk at this 11 time. 12 SENATOR LIBOUS: No housekeeping? 13 Thank you, Mr. President. 14 At this time the Senate will stand 15 at ease till 5:00 p.m. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 17 Senate will stand at ease till 5:00 p.m. 18 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at 19 ease at 3:06 p.m.) 20 (Whereupon, the Senate reconvened 21 at 5:10 p.m.) 22 ACTING PRESIDENT ZELDIN: Senator 23 Libous. 24 SENATOR LIBOUS: We're awaiting 25 Senator Breslin, Mr. President.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 (Pause.) 2 ACTING PRESIDENT ZELDIN: Senator 3 Libous, why do you rise? 4 SENATOR LIBOUS: President 5 Zeldin, I stand before you to let the members 6 of this body know that we are at ease and we 7 will remain at ease until further notice. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT ZELDIN: The 9 Senate stands at ease until further notice. 10 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, 11 Mr. President. 12 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at 13 ease at 5:11 p.m.) 14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 15 Skelos. 16 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 17 there will be a 7:45 Majority conference in 18 the Majority Conference Room. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: 20 Conference of the Majority at 7:45 in the 21 Majority Conference Room. 22 (Whereupon, the Senate reconvened 23 at 8:42 p.m.) 24 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 25 Senate will come to order.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Senator Libous. 2 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President, 3 there will be an immediate meeting of the 4 Finance Committee, an immediate meeting of the 5 Finance Committee in Room 332. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: There 7 is an immediate meeting of the Finance 8 Committee in Room 332. 9 The Senate will stand at ease. 10 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at 11 ease at 8:43 p.m.) 12 (Whereupon, the Senate reconvened 13 at 9:38 p.m.) 14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 15 Senate will come to order. 16 Senator Libous. 17 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, 18 Mr. President. May we have the doors closed 19 and order in the house, please. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Will 21 the Sergeant please close the doors. 22 Please bring order to the house. 23 The Senate is in session. 24 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, 25 Mr. President.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Can we go to the reports of 2 standing committees, please. I believe 3 there's a report of the Finance Committee at 4 the desk. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 6 Secretary will read. 7 THE SECRETARY: Senator 8 DeFrancisco, from the Committee on Finance, 9 reports the following bills: 10 Senate Print 2803E, Senate Budget 11 Bill, an act making appropriations for the 12 support of government: AID TO LOCALITIES 13 BUDGET. 14 Senate Print 2808C, Senate Budget 15 Bill, an act to amend the Education Law; 16 Senate Print 2809D, Senate Budget 17 Bill, an act to amend the Elder Law; 18 And Senate Print 2801A, Senate 19 Budget Bill, an act making appropriations for 20 the support of government: LEGISLATURE AND 21 JUDICIARY BUDGET. 22 All bills ordered direct to third 23 reading. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: 25 Reported to third reading.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Senator Libous. 2 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President, 3 could we go back to motions and resolutions, 4 please. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: On 6 motions and resolutions. 7 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, 8 Mr. President. 9 On behalf of Senator DeFrancisco, 10 on page 1 I offer the following amendments to 11 Calendar Number 294, Senate Print 2808C, and 12 ask that said bill retain its place on the 13 Third Reading Calendar. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 15 amendments are received and adopted, and the 16 bill will retain its place on the Third 17 Reading Calendar. 18 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 20 Libous. 21 SENATOR LIBOUS: At this time 22 could we have the noncontroversial reading of 23 Senate Supplemental Calendar 27D. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 25 Secretary will read.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 293, Senate Print 2803E, Senate Budget Bill, 3 an act making appropriations for the support 4 of government. 5 SENATOR BRESLIN: Lay it aside. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Lay it 7 aside. 8 We will accept the message of 9 necessity, Senator Libous. 10 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President, 11 is there a message of necessity at the desk? 12 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: There 13 is a message of necessity at the desk. 14 SENATOR LIBOUS: I move that we 15 accept the message of necessity, 16 Mr. President. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: All in 18 favor of accepting the message signify by 19 saying aye. 20 (Response of "Aye.") 21 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: 22 Opposed? 23 (No response.) 24 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 25 message is accepted.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR LIBOUS: The bill is laid 2 aside? 3 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 4 bill is laid aside. 5 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 7 Secretary will continue to read. 8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 9 294, Senate Print 2808D, Senate Budget Bill, 10 an act to amend the Education Law. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 12 Libous. 13 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, 14 Mr. President. Is there a message of 15 necessity at the desk? 16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: There 17 is a message at the desk. 18 SENATOR LIBOUS: I move we accept 19 the message. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: All in 21 favor of accepting the message signify by 22 saying aye. 23 (Response of "Aye.") 24 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: 25 Opposed?

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 (No response.) 2 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 3 message is accepted. 4 SENATOR BRESLIN: Lay it aside. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Lay it 6 aside. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 295, Senate Print 2809D, Senate Budget Bill, 9 an act to amend the Elder Law. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 11 Libous. 12 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, 13 Mr. President. Is there a message of 14 necessity at the desk? 15 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: There 16 is a message at the desk. 17 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you. Can 18 we move to accept the message, please. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: All in 20 favor of accepting the message say aye. 21 (Response of "Aye.") 22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: 23 Opposed? 24 (No response.) 25 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 message of necessity is accepted. 2 Read the last section. 3 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 4 act shall take effect immediately. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 6 the roll. 7 (The Secretary called the roll.) 8 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: All 9 those voting in the negative, would you please 10 signify by raising your hands. 11 Announce the results. 12 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 13 Calendar Number 295, those recorded in the 14 negative are Senators Diaz, Duane, 15 Hassell-Thompson, Parker and Perkins. 16 Ayes, 57. Nays, 5. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 18 bill is passed. 19 The Secretary will read. 20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21 296, Senate Print 2801A, Senate Budget Bill, 22 an act making appropriations for the support 23 of government. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 25 Libous.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President, 2 is there a message of necessity at the desk? 3 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: There 4 is a message at the desk. 5 SENATOR LIBOUS: I move that we 6 accept the message, please. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: All in 8 favor of accepting the message signify by 9 saying aye. 10 (Response of "Aye.") 11 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: 12 Opposed? 13 (Response of "Nay.") 14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 15 message of necessity is accepted. 16 Read the last section. 17 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 18 act shall take effect immediately. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 20 the roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll.) 22 SENATOR BRESLIN: Lay it aside. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Lay it 24 aside. 25 Senator Libous, that completes the

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 noncontroversial reading of Supplemental 2 Calendar 27D. 3 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, 4 Mr. President. Can we now have the 5 controversial reading of the calendar. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 7 Secretary will ring the bell. 8 The Secretary will read. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 293, Senate Print 2803E, Senate Budget Bill, 11 an act making appropriations for the support 12 of government: AID TO LOCALITIES BUDGET. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 14 Oppenheimer, why do you rise? 15 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: I would 16 like to ask some questions of the Finance 17 chair. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 19 DeFrancisco, do you yield to questions from 20 Senator Oppenheimer? 21 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, I do. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 23 Oppenheimer. 24 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Can we have 25 an explanation, please.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: An 2 explanation has been requested. 3 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Everyone 4 should have been provided with a memo that 5 should be on the desks that outlines the 6 various provisions of the bill. I'll 7 highlight a couple of them, and then if you 8 have any questions on some of the others. 9 There was various aging programs 10 that the Governor attempted to eliminate or 11 wanted to eliminate. We ended up restoring 12 and creating a competitive grant program. 13 Well, the Legislature believed that that was 14 not the way to go, that we should line out the 15 various organizations that were receiving the 16 money, as was done in the past, because it's 17 difficult for many of these organizations to 18 continue without knowing what their next 19 year's funding is going to be. 20 So that was -- those items were 21 lined out. However, we were only able to 22 restore one-half of the cuts that Governor 23 gave to each of those programs. 24 Similarly, there was a competitive 25 grant program with respect to agriculture. I

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 think Senator Kennedy asked this on another -- 2 at another time about the competitive grants 3 in agriculture. 4 Well, the Legislature denied that, 5 those competitive grants, and funded, in 6 accordance with the memo on page 2, separate 7 agriculture programs in the same manner that 8 they were provided in the past. Because once 9 again, many organizations live from year to 10 year, and to not know whether they're going to 11 get funding would probably end the programs. 12 There are changes in the children 13 and family services budget. The Legislature 14 denied the Executive proposal to create a 15 $35.4 million primary prevention program and 16 once again broke those down, provided the 17 funding to the various organizations to 18 provide some stability with those 19 organizations. 20 And that's found in several other 21 areas in this portion of the budget. There 22 are legislative restorations to the Education 23 Department that are found, I believe, on page 24 5 -- these pages weren't numbered. But there 25 were additional funds going to the various

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 school districts totaling about $270 million. 2 And when we get into -- we can get into that a 3 little later, Senator, if you need more 4 detail. Senator Flanagan is the expert in 5 that area and will provide you some more 6 details as far as that's concerned. 7 I can go over some of these areas, 8 unless you have specific questions. 9 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Yes, I 10 think that is sufficient. I thank you. 11 Now, if you would yield for a few 12 questions. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 14 Senator yields. 15 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: When he 16 stops drinking. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: You may 18 ask your question, Senator Oppenheimer. 19 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Well, I'd 20 like to know what are the overall 21 appropriations for education in the ELFA 22 budget, both the All Funds and the General 23 Funds. 24 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: What was 25 the question?

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: What is the 2 overall appropriation for education in the 3 ELFA budget, both in -- 4 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I think 5 I'll defer that to Senator Flanagan. I 6 believe you're in a position to answer that 7 question, Senator Flanagan, having negotiated 8 this? 9 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Without 10 objection, the floor will recognize Senator 11 Flanagan. 12 Senator Flanagan, you're 13 recognized. 14 SENATOR FLANAGAN: Thank you. 15 Senator Oppenheimer, I want to make 16 sure I understood the question. Would you 17 repeat it, please? 18 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: In the Aid 19 to Localities budget, I'm just asking what are 20 the total appropriations for education both in 21 the General Fund and also in the All Funds. 22 SENATOR FLANAGAN: General 23 support for public schools is approximately 24 $19.6 billion. 25 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: And how

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 does that compare with last year's aprops? 2 Through you, Mr. President. 3 SENATOR FLANAGAN: There's a 4 $697 million year-to-year reduction. 5 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: And what 6 had the Governor proposed in total cuts to 7 education? 8 SENATOR FLANAGAN: Mr. President, 9 if I might. Senator Oppenheimer, I think, if 10 I could take the liberty, if I just explained 11 what was proposed and what's actually been 12 done, I think that might be a little bit more 13 beneficial. 14 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Yes, that 15 would be beneficial. 16 SENATOR FLANAGAN: Mr. President, 17 if I may. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 19 Flanagan. 20 SENATOR FLANAGAN: The Governor 21 came out with a budget proposal that has been 22 modified in a number of different ways, and I 23 think it's very important to talk about where 24 we started from and where we've ended up. 25 And, frankly, where we might be going as well.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 When the Governor came out, 2 everybody talked -- including us, the Assembly 3 and the Governor -- about a $1.5 billion cut, 4 approximately, in state aid to education. The 5 school aid runs that we see here and the final 6 agreement that has been reached has been 7 modified in a number of different ways, most 8 notable of which is last year there was 9 $600 million that came from the federal 10 government, as you well know, called EduJobs 11 funding. That was a one-shot source of 12 revenue that was similar but separate to the 13 ARRA money that we had gotten to help offset 14 some of the problems in the prior budgets. 15 That money from the last two years 16 was not considered as part of the base or as 17 part of the school aid run, so in consultation 18 with the Assembly and the Governor, we have 19 taken that out of the run because it's a 20 one-shot source of revenue and frankly it 21 should not have been built into the base. 22 Taking that into account, the 23 Governor's proposed year-to-year cut in state 24 aid was $929 million. Based on the actions 25 that we've taken, that has been reduced to

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 $697 million. 2 There are a couple of things in 3 relation to that that I think are very 4 important. And while they're separate, they 5 certainly are worthy of mention. 6 All of our colleagues are well 7 aware of some of the proposed cost shifts that 8 were in the Governor's budget -- the 4201 9 schools, to the tune of $98 million; summer 10 school special education, $57 million; and the 11 Office of Children and Family Services, while 12 it's separate, it clearly affects school 13 districts -- that was about $37 million. 14 So independent of anything we did 15 relative to the school aid run, there was 16 about $190 million in cost shifts that were 17 avoided. That did not go back to the local 18 property taxpayer, and the distribution of 19 those funds is an important component of what 20 we did. 21 In relation to the proposal that 22 the Governor advanced, there were winners and 23 there were losers. I would respectfully offer 24 that working with the Assembly and with the 25 Executive, that we took a bad situation and we

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 made it better. You know it's not perfect, I 2 know it's not perfect. Certainly anybody who 3 pays attention and does a fair assessment will 4 have to recognize that we put money back in. 5 And here's how we did it. And in fact, it 6 ended up being very similar to what we had 7 advanced in our one-house resolution. 8 There's $272 million in 9 restorations in school aid; $57 million of 10 that represents the cost of funding the summer 11 school special education program that I had 12 talked about. Approximately $161 million of 13 that for this year's fiscal year makes up part 14 of that balance. And the rest of the money is 15 tied to things like teacher centers, 16 libraries, nonpublic schools. 17 So when you look on a direct year 18 to year -- meaning school year -- restoration 19 of money, it's $230 million that we drove back 20 into the formula all across the State of 21 New York. 22 We achieved regional balance. 23 Certainly coming from the County of 24 Westchester, you can look at the runs and see 25 restorations. I know Senator Stewart-Cousins

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 had spoken in detail not only outside the 2 chamber but here today in terms of some 3 restorations that have been made. More money 4 is driven to Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, 5 Yonkers, the City of New York, our rural 6 districts, and our suburban districts. So 7 it's spread out. 8 And you know how it works. You try 9 and come up with a formula that provides some 10 fairness and equity and you push here, you 11 prod there, and sometimes it works in one way. 12 The final resolution I think is very similar 13 to what we had advocated in our one-house 14 budget resolution. 15 Now, I know, Senator Oppenheimer, 16 you in particular have been acutely sensitive 17 to the issue of the 4201 schools. I want to 18 address that in particular. 19 There are some who may walk out of 20 here and think, Well, wait a second, we 21 haven't really appropriated money to address 22 this problem. We have absolutely addressed 23 the problem of the 4201 schools in working 24 with the Executive. The school districts are 25 going to pay the money in the first instance.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 They will get 50 percent of that money 2 reimbursed during the 2011-2012 school year, 3 and they will get the other 50 percent in the 4 2012-2013 school year. 5 The reason there's no formal 6 appropriation in here is because it's part of 7 next year's fiscal year. So I'm 8 representing -- and you know this, because 9 everyone is aware of it -- that is properly 10 funded, it's taken out of the local school 11 districts, taking the burden off their back. 12 And while it is certainly not perfect, we have 13 to work on that separately, it clearly is 14 something that was very much a concern for a 15 number of our colleagues in all communities 16 across the State of New York. 17 So I think, as I said, we took a 18 bad situation and frankly we made it better. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 20 Oppenheimer. 21 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Thank you, 22 Senator. 23 I would like to add on that 24 particular issue, if I can ask another 25 question. While the payment will come this

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 year, at least, not on the formula for the 2 first half of the year, the second half is on 3 the formula. And do you believe that in 4 future years it will be on the formula so that 5 the school districts will themselves be paying 6 the full amount for and getting reimbursed -- 7 maybe 50 percent, maybe more -- over the 8 course of the year for their payment to send 9 that child to the 4201? 10 SENATOR FLANAGAN: No, I would 11 differentiate and disagree to an extent. I 12 don't believe the second year is on the 13 formula. I think I'm making a fair 14 representation that in essence what we did was 15 we had a $98 million problem. 16 And there are those who will say, 17 Well, why wasn't it the same way? The bottom 18 line is if we wanted to come up with 19 additional money to drive to our school 20 districts, we had to find a way to perhaps do 21 this creatively, maybe finesse it a little 22 bit. But the bottom line, again, is that 23 these schools are going to be made whole. 24 And I think this gives us an 25 opportunity and a window to work with all the

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 stakeholders -- the schools, the Regents, the 2 State Education Department, the Division of 3 the Budget. Because, Senator Oppenheimer, you 4 know this as well as I do, there isn't really 5 anybody who's hugely happy with how the 6 program was working in terms of its financing 7 long before the Governor's proposal. 8 This in a perverse way may provide 9 a window for people who are frankly of good 10 faith, and willing to compromise and 11 negotiate, to sit down and come up with 12 something that I hope will continue to be a 13 direct state appropriation but work out the 14 details in terms of the financing and the 15 methodology so the kids, who are supposed to 16 be our ultimate and primary concern, are 17 properly taken care of and these schools don't 18 have to worry about whether or not they're 19 going to have the cash to meet their bills. 20 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: I 21 appreciate your answer, but I'd like to pursue 22 one more question on this subject. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: An 24 additional question by Senator Oppenheimer. 25 Senator Flanagan, do you yield?

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR FLANAGAN: I do. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 3 Oppenheimer. 4 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: When we 5 talk about a rate methodology, though, it is 6 frightening when you think of what has 7 happened with the 853 schools and with the 8 special act schools where the rate methodology 9 has been a catastrophe and they've had to be 10 loaning money from the banks and now the banks 11 aren't even loaning to them. 12 So do you feel that the rate 13 methodology used on those other two 14 special-needs schools would be something that 15 you would suggest for the 4201s? 16 SENATOR FLANAGAN: Absolutely 17 not. I have no -- in fact, I'm going to use 18 it in a different direction. I think the 19 example of the 853 schools is something that 20 we should look at and say we're not going to 21 do that. We should be doing something 22 different and better. And frankly, we need to 23 include the 853 schools in that type of 24 discussion. 25 If you look -- and it doesn't

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 matter if it's me or anyone in this chamber. 2 We talk about education, these are our 3 frailest of children. Whether they have 4 disabilities, whether they have learning 5 problems, whether they have behavioral 6 problems. If we're going to look in terms of 7 how we're going to educate kids in the State 8 of New York, there is no more acute area of 9 need and sensitivity. 10 So I don't think the 853 situation 11 is working out the way it should either. But 12 we are obviously in the throes of this budget. 13 The Governor did not make any proposed changes 14 to the 853 schools. So we have to live within 15 the confines and the structure of what he 16 presented to us. 17 Do I think it's worthy of 18 discussion? Yes. And I think that's 19 something that we can be doing right after we 20 enact this budget. 21 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Thank you, 22 Senator. 23 I'm going to limit my questions. 24 I'll probably only have a couple more. So 25 would the Senator still yield.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 2 Senator yields. 3 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: As you 4 know, in the past two years when I was chair 5 of Education I did a lot of work around 6 unfunded mandates and around sharing of 7 services. Is there anything in this budget 8 limiting or eliminating a number of unfunded 9 mandates on localities, like consolidating 10 transportation of schools or utilizing a 11 single superintendent for several school 12 districts? Is there anything in the budget? 13 Which I haven't been able to read. 14 SENATOR FLANAGAN: Senator 15 Oppenheimer, I'd be happy to answer that 16 question. Unfortunately, I have everyone 17 cheering me on in the background here. 18 (Laughter.) 19 SENATOR FLANAGAN: To your point, 20 this is Groundhog Day in a bad way. The 21 Assembly has not advanced anything -- I'm 22 going to repeat, anything. Nothing 23 meaningful, nothing substantive, nothing 24 qualitative, nothing quantitative. They have 25 not offered one approach whatsoever with

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 regard to mandates. 2 The Governor -- we have been 3 working on language to do a direct ban on 4 unfunded state mandates. The Governor was on 5 board. And we had discussions about not only 6 do we not but looking at a review of all 7 existing plants to see which ones work and 8 maybe where we should be picking up the costs. 9 So there's a good-faith effort, 10 but -- I'm telling you something you already 11 know, but it bears repeating. I will tell you 12 I have talked to many of my colleagues, this 13 is an area of tremendous concern to all of us. 14 We need to engage the Assembly. 15 And you know what? There should be 16 nothing wrong with having a debate on these 17 issues. If it gets contentious and it gets a 18 little out of hand at times, so be it. 19 Everybody talks about it. You tried to 20 advance it. We tried to advance it. We're 21 trying to advance it now. 22 I don't think I'm going out on the 23 proverbial limb to suggest that you will be 24 seeing, in the coming weeks, mandate relief 25 proposals on the floor of this house that will

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 address a myriad of concerns, not only in the 2 area of education but I know Senator Martins, 3 Senator Little have been extremely active in 4 putting together ideas for the body's 5 consideration that I'm comfortable and 6 confident that we will pass. 7 And then we will have to of course 8 send it over to the Assembly and see if 9 they're willing to engage. 10 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: If he would 11 yield for another question. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 13 Senator yields. 14 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: I think I 15 heard you say that teacher centers were going 16 to be funded in this budget. They weren't 17 funded last year. The prior year, they'd been 18 funded at $35 million. But are they funded in 19 this budget? 20 SENATOR FLANAGAN: Senator 21 Oppenheimer, they are funded. It is slightly 22 over $14 million. I think it's -- thank you. 23 Senator Farley informs me it's $14.3 million. 24 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: -- included 25 even if it's at half the amount.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Now, if I could just look for a 2 moment at libraries. I haven't had the a 3 chance to see how much they have been 4 improved. They have such great need. And 5 years ago, like four, five, six years ago, 6 they were up like $102 million. And we had 7 them cut back to like $74 million. Do you 8 know if they are improved in this current 9 budget? 10 SENATOR FLANAGAN: Yes, they are. 11 There's $3 million added back. And I have 12 checked with my resident ambassador to the 13 libraries, Senator Farley. While they, like 14 everyone else, would like more money, they are 15 very gratified that $3 million was added back 16 in the final budget. 17 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: And I'm 18 trying to cut down my questions. I think my 19 last question would center around BOCES. 20 Does the budget eliminate BOCES 21 aids to the local school districts for certain 22 shared services which are now aidable? And 23 the Governor's suggestion was to remove that 24 aid, which seemed so contrary to our idea of 25 trying to promote shared services. I mean,

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 they're the ultimate shared services for 64 2 years now. 3 Do you know if aid has been put in? 4 SENATOR FLANAGAN: Yeah, the 5 Governor had proposed two primary changes to 6 BOCES. Fortunately, both of them were 7 prospective. But regardless, we have rejected 8 both of them. 9 One is changing of the 10 reimbursement methodology to go more tied to 11 the foundation formula, which would have a 12 beneficial effect on some districts and 13 adverse impact on others. Certainly you're 14 aware of that. We have rejected that. 15 And we have rejected the Governor's 16 elimination of aid for approximately 25 17 different types of shared services. I'm going 18 to take the Governor at the good faith that 19 they are really looking for ways to find 20 efficiencies, promote consolidation. And that 21 proposal didn't go that way. We have rejected 22 it. 23 But I think we can move forward in 24 a way -- and personally, I think we should be 25 looking for ways to enhance the BOCES model by

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 looking at the reimbursement. Because if 2 we're going to give incentives to school 3 districts, the way we do it is through money. 4 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Thank you 5 very much. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank 7 you, Senator Flanagan. 8 Is there any other Senator wishing 9 to be heard? 10 Senator Montgomery. 11 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, thank 12 you, Mr. President. I wonder if the sponsor 13 would yield for a couple of questions. 14 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, I 15 would. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 17 sponsor yields. 18 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Thank you. 19 Senator DeFrancisco, this part of 20 our budget includes funding for programs -- I 21 should say excludes funding -- for the Work 22 Advantage Program. Or it would, it should. 23 But unfortunately it does not. So the 24 35 million in funding that we have excluded 25 from this budget for that purpose, which would

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 go to New York City to use for homeless 2 families, primarily, that funding is no longer 3 going to be available for New York City. 4 And my question is how many 5 individuals or how many families would be 6 affected by the loss of these funds? Do we 7 have any idea? Has the city been able to give 8 us some idea as to what's going to -- how many 9 families are going to be affected by the loss 10 of these funds? 11 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I don't 12 have any idea. I just know that it was one of 13 the cuts that we concurred with the Governor 14 Cuomo on in order to balance the budget. I 15 don't know the number of families. 16 But there's $15 million added for 17 two things, to include two things, a rent 18 supplement and homeless eviction 19 intervention -- excuse me. All right, 20 homeless eviction prevention and rent 21 supplements to try to help mitigate some of 22 the problems that you're talking about. 23 That's $15 million, but that's all that's in 24 there. 25 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: So through

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 you, Mr. President, I have another follow-up 2 questions. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 4 Senator yields. 5 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: So, Senator 6 DeFrancisco, do you think that or has there 7 been any indication that the city would be 8 able to in fact use the $15 million in the new 9 homeless programs that you're talking about to 10 sort of replace some of the services that the 11 Work Advantage Program provides to homeless 12 families? 13 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. The 14 answer is yes. 15 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Through you, 16 Mr. President, if I can ask in another area. 17 Senator DeFrancisco, as you know, 18 one of the areas in this budget that -- in 19 fact, I want to thank the team that really 20 were responsible for making sure that the 21 juvenile justice reform part of the agenda 22 remained pretty close to what the Governor had 23 proposed in the beginning. And I'm very happy 24 about that. 25 I would like to ask you, however,

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 there is a new sort of arrangement in terms of 2 the funding. One, there's funding that is set 3 aside for the purpose of reimbursement, the 4 state's reimbursement to localities for 5 detention, both secure and nonsecure. And the 6 same funding is also available in a flexible 7 way, it seems, for reimbursement to localities 8 for something that is referred to as 9 alternatives to detention. 10 They have different rates of 11 reimbursement. Alternatives being 62 percent 12 reimbursement, I believe, and the detention 13 funding 49 percent. 14 In addition to that, there's a 15 dedicated fund for the purpose of providing 16 supervision and treatment for juvenile 17 services to juveniles through community-based 18 programs. 19 My question to you is given this 20 new configuration of funding for services and 21 programming in those areas, can we be assured 22 that the local Youth Bureaus who also serve 23 young people, some in prevention and other 24 kinds of services and treatment, will those 25 Youth Bureaus also be able to utilize funding

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 under the first two categories that I 2 mentioned? 3 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: They are 4 able to do that, yes. 5 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Okay. 6 That's very important. I appreciate that. 7 And will they also continue to be 8 eligible for funding under YDDP and SDDP funds 9 as well? 10 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: They will. 11 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Okay. That 12 being the case, I am assured that local 13 counties throughout the state are now going to 14 be able to provide more and much more 15 effective and efficient services and 16 programming to young people. So I thank you 17 for that, and I'm very pleased. 18 Just one last question in that 19 area, follow-up. 20 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 21 Senator, just one question. You're not going 22 to agree with Senator Nozzolio and me in 23 consecutive days, are you? 24 (Laughter.) 25 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Well, it

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 sounds like I'm about to, but -- 2 (Laughter.) 3 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: All right, 4 thank you. 5 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Miracles 6 never cease to happen. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 8 Montgomery, do you still have another 9 question, a last question? 10 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, I do. 11 If I may pursue. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 13 Senator yields. 14 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: All right. 15 Senator DeFrancisco, there is an additional 16 program that was referred to in the Governor's 17 budget, and I'm just trying to see where it is 18 in the final version. 19 It was $13.5 million proposed for 20 enhanced medical, mental health, and health 21 and education services within juvenile 22 facilities. And it really was to try and 23 address the Justice Department's findings that 24 the state was violating the constitutional 25 rights of the young people in those facilities

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 primarily because we did not provide these 2 programs. 3 I don't see it, and I guess perhaps 4 you know where it is and I just am not able to 5 find it. 6 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: The funding 7 is in the government operations, state 8 operations bill that we passed earlier. 9 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Okay. Thank 10 you. I appreciate that. That's a good 11 answer. 12 So, Senator, again, I thank you and 13 I look forward to working with you as we 14 implement these aspects of juvenile justice 15 reform in our state. 16 Thank you, Mr. President. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 18 Krueger. 19 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you, 20 Mr. President. I'm going to actually cede to 21 my colleague Senator Duane first. Thank you. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 23 Duane. 24 SENATOR DUANE: Thank you, 25 Mr. President. As we debate --

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 2 Duane, are you on the bill or are you asking a 3 question? 4 SENATOR DUANE: No, 5 Mr. President, I'm on the bill. Thank you. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 7 Duane on the bill. 8 SENATOR DUANE: As we debate this 9 section of the budget, Mr. President, I want 10 to just begin by raising the issue, although 11 it's been spoken about before, of the really 12 misnamed millionaire's tax. Sadly, it should 13 only have been millionaires and not -- but the 14 issue really isn't about the millionaire's 15 tax. It's too much of a shorthand. It's 16 about how it is that we fairly bring revenue 17 into the state. 18 And we used to have a much more 19 progressive system of taxation, not just in 20 the state but in the nation. And that also 21 provided a way for the federal government to 22 send more money back to the states, and then 23 the states to send money to localities for 24 programs that really there was consensus each 25 time one was created or funded or eliminated

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 and a new one that there was a need for. And 2 we learned that some were great and some were 3 good and some not so good, but that's how the 4 funding was accomplished. 5 And people who make more than 6 $5 million a year -- not people that even have 7 $5 million in the bank, but people that make 8 $5 million a year should pay more in taxes 9 than people who make a million dollars a year. 10 And people who make a million dollars a year 11 should pay more taxes than a family that makes 12 under a quarter-million dollars a year. 13 That's fair, that's progressive. 14 We had a system more like that in 15 this nation and this state, and we 16 unfortunately don't have that anymore. And 17 what's happened is we have a more regressive 18 system of taxation and we've depended more on 19 property tax, which I guess sort of cuts both 20 ways. It's both regressive and I guess it's 21 not regressive. There's a history of funding 22 education through property tax in the state 23 and in the nation. 24 But sales tax, which is pretty darn 25 regressive -- and these are limited, finite

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 pools of money. We hear people complain about 2 their property taxes because there isn't as 3 much state aid as there used to be. And there 4 isn't as much state aid not just because of 5 what we do with our tax policy in New York 6 State but because of what's happened on a 7 national level and what the federal government 8 has been doing. 9 But sales tax is going to shrink 10 even more because people can do more on the 11 Internet, and municipalities -- it's become 12 more of a race to the bottom with mom-and-pop 13 stores and -- I just think this is a terrible, 14 terrible trend. And I don't know how we got 15 into this downward spiral, but maybe New York 16 is, you know, afraid to do something different 17 than what other states are sadly doing. 18 Because all states are having the same issue. 19 This money is going to dry up. And 20 we're going to come back year after year and 21 be in the same fix over and over again. And I 22 just -- I think that we're being foolish about 23 that. 24 And, you know, this budget has been 25 a very tough call for me. And, you know, I

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 know we had conference committees this year. 2 And we should have had them when this side of 3 the aisle was running the show, but the fact 4 is we had trouble doing a lot of things. And, 5 you know, unfortunately it was the same -- I 6 mean, really, you know, I'm going to say 7 something and then I'm going to say maybe this 8 is the last time we can talk about it. You 9 know, I am claiming to have the last word on 10 it. 11 The terrible thing that happened 12 here two years ago, the fuse was lit by that 13 side of the aisle, but we weren't better 14 actors over here. Everybody wanted someone so 15 they could have the majority, and that person 16 was very problematic. And the fuse got lit 17 and the bomb went off, and nothing good came 18 in terms of how we govern. Good things 19 happened in government. I mean, good things 20 happened in this house. But there are no 21 angels or -- no one looked good on either side 22 of the aisle. It was a terrible, horrible, 23 embarrassing, dreadful thing, and we are all 24 culpable. So let's just drop it. Enough. 25 Now that said, I believe -- and if

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 someone disagrees, I'd like to hear it -- that 2 I reached across the aisle a great deal. And 3 maybe I could have done more, but I think I 4 really tried to have the courage of what my 5 conviction had been, which was a body where 6 there was really a bipartisan spirit that 7 we -- you know, that we act like a real 8 deliberative Senate. And as I say, maybe I 9 fell short, but I don't think -- I mean, I 10 hope that no one who was here on the other 11 side of the aisle could say that I behaved in 12 any different way from that. And I don't 13 think anyone who was here on this side of the 14 aisle could say that I behaved in any 15 different way than that either. 16 And I have to say that the whole -- 17 the conference committee system that we did 18 there year -- I mean, come on. There was 19 nothing to be proud of in that either. 20 So, you know, I'll redouble my 21 efforts. But I would like to ask everybody on 22 both sides of the aisle if we could redouble 23 our efforts to reach across the aisle and 24 leave the past behind us and start again with 25 a fresh slate. Because we have a lot of

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 problems and a lot of issues that we need to 2 deal with going forward. And let's remember 3 the good things that we've done over -- you 4 know, I've been here much longer than I 5 thought I was going to be here, and many fine 6 things have happened here. So let's focus 7 on -- let's accentuate the positive. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank 9 you, Senator Duane. 10 Senator Rivera. 11 SENATOR DUANE: I'm not -- 12 Mr. President, I'm very sorry, I'm not -- I'm 13 really -- I don't -- I did not conclude. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: I'm 15 sorry, Senator Duane, I thought you were 16 concluding. 17 SENATOR DUANE: No, I don't think 18 you did think that. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Well, I 20 was wondering whether to the germaneness. But 21 speak to the bill, then, Senator. 22 SENATOR DUANE: Would you really 23 like me to explain it, Mr. President? Or 24 would you please just accept that it's 25 germane.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: I will 2 accept. Please continue. 3 SENATOR DUANE: Thank you. 4 You know, by the way, I never did 5 anything like that when I chaired. That's 6 really -- you know, I know the hour is late. 7 I have not spoken before this. I don't think 8 I've taken up an inordinate amount of time. 9 So patience, Mr. President. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Indeed. 11 SENATOR DUANE: With no 12 interruptions, I'll be able to have my say. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: 14 Continue to speak, sir. 15 SENATOR DUANE: Thank you, 16 Mr. President. 17 I think it's great that we're 18 having an on-time budget. I do. And 19 congratulations to the Governor and 20 congratulations to the Assembly and 21 congratulations to us on both sides of the 22 aisle, because there have been far more votes 23 on this side of the aisle in the minority 24 than, you know, what happened recently and 25 even some of the time when the present

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 majority was the majority. So congratulations 2 to all of us on that. 3 Having an on-time budget is very 4 important. It's not that I don't love all of 5 you, but I don't really like spending any 6 extra time with you. And I hope you feel the 7 same about me. I've got people I love at home 8 that I want to see. And I just -- I would 9 like everyone on both sides of the aisle to 10 let me finish, though, without -- and then you 11 can all do all the commenting you want. 12 So, you know, there are a number of 13 really excellent pieces of this budget. You 14 know, it's no secret. I spoke out on it, the 15 cap on noneconomic damages and the Title 20 16 funding. We can all go home and, you know -- 17 as you know, my -- anyone that has elderly 18 parents, you can look them in the eye. We did 19 great stuff with the restoration of TANF and 20 pre-K. And, you know, I'm very happy about 21 the continued emphasis on primary care and our 22 work on medical homes. I don't see Senator 23 Hannon here, but, you know, we worked 24 extremely collegially together on health 25 issues.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 But -- and of course there is a 2 but. Otherwise, I'd be voting yes. You know, 3 this eliminating the -- shall we say the 4 exceptionalism around drugs dealing with 5 rejection or behavioral health and HIV, I 6 think that that's penny-wise and 7 pound-foolish. While I know it may not seen 8 seem like a big deal to some to have a get a 9 physician's override, it can in fact be a 10 burden. And it's hard sometimes for people 11 still today in managed care to find or to have 12 enough time with the physician for the 13 prevail. 14 And those that need those drugs are 15 the ones that have the greatest problems: 16 Anti-rejection and people who are trying to 17 recover from mental illness and people with 18 HIV. I mean, I think those are exactly the 19 areas where we shouldn't have taken away the 20 ability to automatically have a physician 21 prescribe what they think is best. 22 And, you know, I would be remiss -- 23 you know, I know that people are -- the issue 24 around rent regulation is a tough, tough 25 issue. But I would argue, and this is a local

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 issue, that the areas where there's rent 2 regulation -- and that is rent regulation of 3 units to make sure that they are habitable. 4 It's not just about price controls, it's about 5 habitability also. 6 And I believe that actually New 7 York City's rental housing, and the rental 8 housing in the other counties surrounding 9 New York City that have a rent regulation, 10 that their housing stock is better than in 11 other places I've seen in the state. So I am 12 unhappy that we are marching to the brink of 13 dismantling it rather than strengthening it, 14 because I believe it works well and helps keep 15 housing affordable. 16 And, you know, the -- again, the -- 17 within the constraints of the amount of 18 revenue we have, of the things I talked about, 19 our progressive system -- and also the 20 millionaire's tax, which I don't think should 21 have been sunsetted. And here we are, it's 22 sunsetting. Right? Now it's sunsetting. But 23 we would have had more revenue. And we 24 wouldn't have had to make such difficult 25 choices.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 And, you know, I've never met the 2 guy, but you know what, I don't really care if 3 Golisano moved to Florida. Good riddance. 4 Why do I care whether he feels better? He's 5 probably happier in Florida. It's warmer, 6 whatever. 7 But I do believe that we could have 8 provided more assistance to localities, to 9 people who need help, to middle-class families 10 if we hadn't have done that. 11 And tough, tough call -- I'll say 12 on the one hand congratulations to us for an 13 on-time budget. Congratulations because we've 14 done well in many areas. And we could always 15 do better, and so could I. But on balance -- 16 and there are some other problems in this 17 budget. And I've -- I'm going to have to vote 18 no, as I have on other parts of the budget. 19 And here again, I'm going to vote no. 20 Thank you, Mr. President. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank 22 you, Senator Duane. 23 And my apologies for interrupting 24 you earlier. I thought you had been 25 concluded.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Senator Rivera. 2 SENATOR RIVERA: Thank you, 3 Mr. President. On the bill. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 5 Rivera on the bill. 6 SENATOR RIVERA: My colleagues, 7 as I stated earlier, there are a few words 8 that guide our deliberations here tonight: 9 Responsibility, sacrifice, and one word which 10 I mentioned more than a few times, which is 11 choices. 12 Now, this is a budget in which 13 we've had to make very tough choices. This 14 particular bill that is before us tonight, I 15 will be voting in the affirmative. But I 16 wanted to explain that vote. 17 As an educator, I actually teach 18 college. I've been living in New York for 19 almost 13 years and have taught college for 20 about 12 of those, both in public universities 21 and private universities. And I stand before 22 you because of education. Both my parents 23 were both the first graduates from high school 24 and college of their respective families. And 25 both of them are children of single mothers

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 who didn't graduate from grammar school. So I 2 am here because of education. 3 And so I have serious concerns 4 about what the choices that we are making in 5 this budget can do to the education system in 6 the entire state. 7 But in this particular bill, as we 8 have split up -- as obviously this is what 9 happens in this process, different bills get 10 split up. In this case, this particular bill 11 has a few things which I believe are positive 12 for the state and that I congratulate both the 13 Assembly and the Senate and the Governor for 14 coming to an agreement to putting them on the 15 bill. 16 This particular one here creates a 17 standard of living for home health aides. As 18 we've discussed previously, it establishes 19 partial restorations for 4201 schools. It 20 restores Title 20 funding which is so 21 important to the senior centers back home. 22 Four of them in my district would have closed 23 if we didn't reach an agreement on this 24 restoration. Summer youth employment, which 25 is also incredibly important -- in my

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 district, in the Bronx, and certainly across 2 the state. All of these are in this bill, and 3 it is the reason why I will be voting in the 4 affirmative for it. 5 But I would be remiss both as a 6 representative of a very poor district, of a 7 district that has serious challenges in its 8 education system, and as an educator myself, 9 if I did not point out that I have serious 10 concerns about what this budget would 11 ultimately do to the education system across 12 the state. 13 I don't think I have to go over 14 again what I think the lack of revenue in this 15 budget will do to us and what are the things 16 that I believe we need to do to remedy that 17 situation, at least partially. I've already 18 made that point. 19 In this one, the only thing that I 20 will say is that in a bill that we will vote 21 on very shortly that deals with Article VII 22 language, I will be voting in the negative. 23 But on this one I will be voting in the 24 affirmative because of those programs that are 25 in it. These are things that I agree with,

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 these are things that I think are positive for 2 the state, will be positive for my 3 consistency. And they are part of the tough 4 choices that we have to make. 5 So I would encourage some of my 6 colleagues to consider their vote. I 7 certainly would encourage them to vote one way 8 or the other but only to do so with full 9 consideration of what is in each legislation 10 before us. 11 And in this case, because of this, 12 but still expressing serious concerns about 13 what this budget overall does to our education 14 system, I will be voting in affirmative on 15 this bill. 16 Thank you, Mr. President. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 18 Diaz. 19 SENATOR DIAZ: Thank you, 20 Mr. President. 21 Tonight is the -- on the bill, 22 Mr. President. On the bill. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 24 Diaz on the bill. 25 SENATOR DIAZ: Tonight is the

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 day -- tonight is the night when we are 2 rushing, rushing to make Governor Cuomo look 3 good. There are late budgets, there are 4 on-time budgets, and there are early budgets. 5 Early budgets, the last one that happened in 6 this city, this state, was in 1983. So since 7 1983 there has not been -- 1983, there has not 8 been an early budget. Meaning, early budget, 9 that we have one hour and 25 minutes before 10 12:00 midnight. If we pass 12:00 midnight, 11 there will be an on-time budget. 12 But we've got to beat the clock. 13 We've got to beat that clock and rush so we 14 could have an early budget. And Governor 15 Cuomo and the leaders of both houses and some 16 minority and black and Hispanic legislators 17 could stand here tomorrow or maybe at 12:00 18 midnight and take on the press or have a press 19 conference and say we have an early budget. 20 Not an on-time budget. Not an on-time budget, 21 not a late budget, we have an early budget. 22 But let me tell you something. In 23 our race to get an early budget, we have made 24 all kind of mistakes, take down the wrong 25 information, information being left out,

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 rushing here, rushing there -- we got to do 2 it, we got to do it -- because the guy on the 3 second floor, the master, said "I want an 4 early budget. 5 And we are going to have an early 6 budget. We have people here from our 7 communities, especially black and Hispanic 8 communities, since this morning, chanting, 9 crying "Help, help." Especially, that cry 10 goes especially to us black and Hispanics. It 11 is a shame to see black and Hispanic joining 12 to kill our communities, joining in the rush: 13 I'm voting yes, so whoa, ho, ho. 14 So we have an early budget. And 15 those people out there crying, maybe they 16 haven't eaten since this morning. And all for 17 the last two weeks and for the last month, 18 they've been coming here -- children, 19 handicapped, senior citizens -- everybody has 20 come here asking us from our communities, 21 "Hey, help me, don't do this, don't do this." 22 And I ask you if every black and 23 Hispanic legislator, if every black and 24 Hispanic legislator would have stood up and 25 joined forces and said no in the Assembly and

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 in this chamber, this budget would not happen. 2 We could have done it. We could have done it. 3 Black and Hispanic, we could have done it. It 4 is our shame. It is not their shame, it is 5 our shame. Black and Hispanic, we are the 6 ones doing it. And then we're going to stand 7 up, explaining it: I've got no choice, I 8 could have this, I voted yes, it's either/or. 9 Hey, come on, please stop this 10 hypocrisy. Black and Hispanic -- I'm not 11 talking to you guys. Not tonight. I spoke to 12 you last night. I'm talking now to this side, 13 to my people, black and Hispanic. We could 14 have stopped it. We could have stopped it. 15 And not until we put our foot in the ground 16 and decide that we're going to protect our 17 communities, our communities are never, ever 18 going to come forward and going to improve. 19 Because we go to our communities, 20 to our neighborhoods, and we're there, while 21 we're there, we eat lions. In our community 22 we eat lions. And we eat tigers. [Growling] 23 "Oh, vote for me." We come here, the master 24 calls: "Hey, you know, I need you to do 25 this." "Oh, yes, master."

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 The time of masters has long time 2 passed already, ladies and gentlemen. We're 3 here to protect the needy and the poor and to 4 act as Democrats if we're going to be one. 5 This budget, this budget that you 6 are all rushing to pass tonight is going to 7 affect our children's education, it's going to 8 affect hospitals that are going to close. 9 People are going to suffer. And it is not 10 other people, it's especially the people in 11 the black and Hispanic communities. 12 So all those people out there that 13 are crying all day long, putting theirself to 14 be arrested, I'm telling them: I'm with you 15 guys. I'm with you guys. And even if I'm the 16 only one. Last year I did, I was the only one 17 last year. And this year again -- I'm 18 consistent. This year again, I'm here. The 19 people of the 32nd Senatorial District voted 20 for me and sent me here to protect them and to 21 fight for them and not to come here and kiss 22 nobody's ring. 23 So in an hour and 20 minutes we 24 will have an early budget. Not an on-time 25 budget, an early budget. So all of you that

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 are preparing yourself with your nice dress 2 for tomorrow morning, join the Governor to 3 claim victory, you are killing them, you're 4 killing people that need you. People that 5 sent you here. People that voted for you, 6 people that trusted you, you are hurting them. 7 So, Mr. President, my pain and my 8 diatribe, as my fellow Senator DeFrancisco 9 called it last night a diatribe -- if this is 10 a diatribe, I love this diatribe. And last 11 night I was talking diatribe. I loved last 12 night. Every newspaper picked it up. 13 So I'm not talking -- again, and 14 I'm going to repeat myself again, I'm not 15 talking to you guys tonight, I'm talking about 16 the black and Hispanic in the Assembly. That 17 I heard only one, only one black and Hispanic, 18 only one member of the black and Hispanic 19 delegation in the Assembly voted against. 20 And I'm talking about the black and 21 Hispanic in this chamber. We could have done 22 it. We could have joined forces. We could 23 have stood together. We, we. I'm not talking 24 about you. We black and Hispanic, we could 25 have said no. No. No. Basta ya.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 But no, no, we play the same game 2 that every year, playing game. We talk, talk, 3 talk, talk. And when the time comes: Yes. 4 I'm going to end so I can 5 contribute a little bit with the time so we 6 can have an early budget. And Governor Cuomo, 7 Governor Andrew Cuomo tomorrow could claim 8 that since 1983 it is the first time that we 9 have an early budget. And now, ladies and 10 gentlemen, we are functioning. This body, 11 that to everybody it was a dysfunctioning 12 body, now we're going to be a functioning 13 body, killing the black and the Hispanic and 14 the poor and the needy. We're going to be -- 15 that's functioning. That's a function. And 16 having an early, early budget. 17 Thank you, Mr. President. I'm 18 voting no. I'm voting no with honor. I'm 19 voting no with distinction. I'm voting no 20 even though I'm making enemies and people will 21 say [retching sound]. I don't care. I don't 22 care. Black and Hispanic could have stopped 23 this. And after I finish, I know there are 24 some people are going to start all the time 25 criticizing. Whatever it is, it is. It is

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 what it is. 2 Black and Hispanic, learn how to 3 fight for your community, for your people. 4 And stop selling yourself so cheap. 5 I'm voting no. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 7 Stavisky. 8 SENATOR STAVISKY: If Senator 9 DeFrancisco would yield, I'd like to ask 10 really one question. 11 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Okay. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 13 DeFrancisco to yield. The Senator yields. 14 SENATOR STAVISKY: In the 15 proposals there has been talk that language is 16 going to be added to provide TAP under the 17 Higher Education Services Corporation part of 18 the budget for schools that are not under the 19 direct supervision of the State Education 20 Department. The religious, presumably 21 religious institutions, what has been referred 22 to as rabbinical TAP. Has this been included 23 in the budget? 24 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, 25 $3 million in TAP.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR STAVISKY: Three billion 2 in TAP. 3 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Not 4 $3 billion, $3 million. 5 SENATOR STAVISKY: I'm sorry -- 6 $3 billion? I wish -- $3 million in TAP. 7 Then a follow-up question. I don't 8 see it in the budget. Is this included in the 9 lump-sum appropriation? In a lump-sum 10 appropriation. 11 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. Yes, 12 it is. In the lump-sum appropriation. 13 SENATOR STAVISKY: Thank you, 14 Mr. President. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank 16 you, Senator Stavisky. 17 Senator Espaillat. 18 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: Yes, 19 Mr. President, would the sponsor yield for a 20 couple of questions on the education part. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Will 22 the sponsor yield for a couple questions? 23 Senator DeFrancisco yields. 24 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I do. 25 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: Thank you,

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Senator DeFrancisco. 2 Now, earlier on, Senator Flanagan 3 said that there was a $697 million cut to 4 education for New York City. 5 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: No. 6 Overall cut. Total cut, entire state, 697. 7 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: What 8 percentage of that will be for New York City? 9 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I believe, 10 if I recall correctly, about 35 percent. I'm 11 sorry, 38. Which was the same percentage of 12 the increases when there were years of 13 increases. 14 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: And through 15 you, Mr. President, if the Senator will yield. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 17 Espaillat, you may ask your question. 18 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: And how much 19 funding was not restored through the gap 20 elimination adjustment, through the GEA? 21 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: How much 22 was not restored? 23 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: Yes. 24 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: $3.5 25 billion.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: And through 2 you, Mr. President, if the Senator will yield. 3 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: You may 5 continue. 6 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: And what 7 percentage of that over $2 billion was not 8 restored to New York City? 9 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: $850 10 million. And I'd have to calculate what 11 percentage that is. 12 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: So through 13 you, Mr. President, if the sponsor will yield. 14 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 16 sponsor yields. 17 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: So you're 18 saying that $850 million were not restored to 19 New York City through the GEA, and 38 percent 20 of the $697 million were also cut for 21 education for New York City? 22 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, that's 23 correct. 24 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: So in 25 essence -- through you, Mr. President, if the

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 sponsor will yield. 2 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 4 sponsor yields. 5 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: So in 6 essence, what you're saying is that there is a 7 total cut of over a billion dollars for 8 New York City. 9 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: The 10 year-to-year cut is $270 million. 11 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: And the GEA? 12 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Senator 13 Flanagan can give you a much better answer, 14 because I am not able to understand the advice 15 I'm being given at this point. If you don't 16 mind, I can yield to Senator Flanagan. 17 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: I don't mind. 18 Of course not. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 20 Flanagan. 21 SENATOR FLANAGAN: Senator 22 Espaillat, you mentioned two different things. 23 You're talking about the gap elimination 24 adjustment -- 25 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: That's

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 correct, yes. 2 SENATOR FLANAGAN: -- and you're 3 talking about overall cuts to state aid. I 4 want to be very, very clear. The state 5 statewide -- not New York City -- the 6 statewide cut is $697 million. 7 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: Yes. 8 SENATOR FLANAGAN: So that 9 compiles everything, including New York City. 10 The gap elimination -- and I have 11 the school runs, just as every member in the 12 chamber has received this. The gap 13 elimination adjustment for the City of New 14 York is $891 million. Approximately 15 $51 million of that was restored, leaving a 16 gap elimination adjustment to the tune of 17 $840.5 million. 18 But I would also want to make it 19 clear, because I think I understand part of 20 what you're talking about, no one should labor 21 under the misimpression that every school 22 district in the State of New York doesn't have 23 a gap elimination adjustment as well after 24 what was done in the budget. New York City's 25 happens to be larger, of course, because of

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 its sheer size. 2 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: Through you, 3 Mr. President. 4 I understand that, Senator 5 Flanagan. But I'm trying to get at the actual 6 number, the total number of funding that the 7 City of New York will not have for its 8 education. And you're saying that there's a 9 $697 million cut for the entire state, out of 10 which $271 million are cut to New York City, 11 or 38 percent, and that through the gap 12 elimination the city will be out approximately 13 $840 million. 14 My math shows me that that's over a 15 billion dollars that the school system will 16 not have this year in this fiscal year. Am I 17 correct to say that? 18 SENATOR FLANAGAN: Absolutely 19 not. I have right in front of me a state aid 20 run that says total for '10-'11, City of 21 New York, approximately $7.93 billion. The 22 total for this year is $7.662 billion, 23 representing a decrease of $271 million. 24 You're focusing on components 25 within that. You should be looking at the

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 total aid. So let's be very clear. The City 2 of New York is getting $7.662 billion from the 3 State of New York. That's a reduction over 4 last year of $271 million. 5 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: But is the 6 gap elimination not part of the school aid 7 formula? 8 SENATOR FLANAGAN: The gap 9 elimination adjustment is absolutely part of 10 the school aid formula. But to look at that 11 in isolation is totally inappropriate, in my 12 opinion, because there are a number of factors 13 that are involved -- expense-driven aids, gap 14 restoration. There are a number of factors 15 that not only affect the City of New York but 16 suburban and rural districts. 17 So it would be inappropriate, in my 18 opinion, for someone to go out and say that 19 New York City got shortchanged $840 million, 20 because I could say that for Senator 21 Marcellino's district, Senator Young's, 22 Senator Oppenheimer's district. Everybody has 23 a gap elimination adjustment. 24 What I believe you should be 25 looking at more appropriately is the total

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 year-to-year changes and recognize that where 2 we came from where the Governor started is far 3 better for the City of New York and every 4 other community in the state. 5 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: Through you, 6 Mr. President. 7 So what you're saying, in essence, 8 is that the gap elimination adjustment does 9 not exist and that in fact doesn't translate 10 into actual dollar cuts for education, not 11 only in New York City but across the State of 12 New York, as you well said. That it doesn't 13 impact New York City exclusively, but that it 14 impacts other counties and other regions as 15 well. 16 SENATOR FLANAGAN: No. Senator 17 Espaillat, you may try and parse my words, but 18 let's be very clear. The gap elimination 19 adjustment does exist. I didn't say it didn't 20 exist whatsoever. It's real, it's palpable, 21 it has an effect on every single school 22 district. 23 So when you're talking about 24 numbers, you want to go out -- my colleague 25 Senator Lanza is from Staten Island, which you

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 well know. He can go out and say tomorrow 2 that this $7.66 billion that's going to the 3 City of New York, based on efforts that he and 4 everybody else in this chamber made -- is it a 5 reduction from last year? You bet it is. But 6 there's a reduction for every member in every 7 community in this state. And there's a gap 8 elimination adjustment. 9 We all went through the school 10 runs. No one is going to walk out of here 11 saying "I'm extraordinarily happy." The gap 12 elimination adjustment does exist. But it's 13 part of an overall package that includes a 14 number of different factors, many of which 15 help the City of New York. 16 Let me give you an example. While 17 it's not on the run, we talked about certain 18 things like the 4201 schools. New York City 19 is a better beneficiary of that program than 20 any other school district in the state. 21 Summer school special education, New York City 22 is a better beneficiary under that program 23 than any other school district in the State of 24 New York. And you know what? They deserve 25 the money. They have the students. That

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 that's where the money should go. 2 That's well over -- those two 3 programs alone represent $93 million of 4 additional money that's not on this run. 5 So if you want to talk about 6 factors that are involved, I can go beyond the 7 school run and talk to Senator Lanza and 8 Senator Golden and bring up factors that 9 affect the City of New York that make you more 10 unique because you have a disproportionate 11 share of these children, in large part based 12 on the size of the New York City School 13 District. 14 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: Through you, 15 Mr. President. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 17 Espaillat. 18 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: That's true, 19 but that's a different appropriation. 20 A cut is a cut is a cut by any 21 other name. And whether it is a GEA item that 22 was not restored to the tune of over 23 $800 million, or a cut, a percentage, a 24 38 percent of the actual $697 million cut that 25 you have actually stated that is occurring,

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 it's still a cut to an educational system, 2 whether it is in New York City or in any 3 county throughout the State of New York. 4 Senator Flanagan, you are familiar, 5 obviously, with the Campaign for Fiscal Equity 6 lawsuit that started back in 1993? 7 SENATOR FLANAGAN: Yes, I am. 8 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: And you know 9 that in fact that lawsuit -- which, by the 10 way, originated in my district, in the 34th 11 Senatorial District, took about 13 years. 12 That litigation went on for about 13 years. 13 It actually was -- we actually got a decision 14 from the Supreme Court and the Court of 15 Appeals in November of 2006. And that 16 decision called for our Legislature to provide 17 funding for a sound and basic education. 18 Am I correct with that 19 interpretation, Senator Flanagan? 20 SENATOR FLANAGAN: So far I'm in 21 general agreement, yes. 22 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: Furthermore, 23 that lawsuit challenged the constitutionality 24 of our education funding formula here in 25 New York State.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 And would you say that this year's 2 funding for education is a complete U-turn 3 from the instructions that we got from the 4 Court of Appeals to provide funding and 5 provide a sound and basic education not just 6 for New York City schoolkids, because we were 7 large enough to understand that we had to 8 address the need of high-needs districts in 9 Buffalo, in Syracuse, in Yonkers and in other 10 areas? 11 Although the lawsuit initiated in 12 New York City, and its intent, original intent 13 was to address a disparity in funding for 14 education exclusive to New York City, when we 15 finally dealt with the lawsuit here we were 16 large enough to understand that other regions 17 of the state also needed help. 18 Would you say that this budget, 19 this funding that we have concluded cuts 20 New York City by $271 million and through the 21 GEA, the gap elimination adjustment, denies 22 the city another over $800 million, is a 23 complete U-turn from our commitment and the 24 mandate that the court vested upon us to 25 comply with?

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR FLANAGAN: Absolutely 2 not. 3 Senator Espaillat, would you yield 4 to a question? 5 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: Yes, I would. 6 SENATOR FLANAGAN: When you were 7 in the Assembly in the last several years, did 8 you vote in favor of the budgets? 9 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: Not all the 10 budgets. Some of the education budgets I 11 voted against because I felt that we were not 12 in compliance with the mandate that was given 13 to us by the Court of Appeals to provide a 14 sound and basic education for schoolchildren 15 in New York State. 16 SENATOR FLANAGAN: I believe that 17 we are continuing to provide a sound, basic 18 education. 19 And I would go back to part of what 20 you said. The obligation that came to us as a 21 result of the Court of Appeals case had 22 nothing to do with the entire State of 23 New York. That case was principally decided 24 about educating children in the City of 25 New York. And at the time that the case was

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 decided, there had been recognition that we 2 were already making strides in that direction. 3 We drove a lot more money, there was the 4 creation of the foundation formula, and that 5 was advanced by Governor Spitzer. 6 And then I would say thereafter, 7 with Democratic governors, with Democratic 8 Assemblymembers and with Republicans and 9 Democrats, there were changes made to that 10 foundation aid formula recognizing that we had 11 to live within certain fiscal constraints. 12 Do I think we've made a U-turn? 13 Absolutely not. Am I thrilled with the idea 14 that we're limiting the funds in education 15 compared to many other years? No, I'm not. 16 But there's a fiscal reality that we have to 17 deal with, and I believe that we're still 18 meeting the obligations of that court case in 19 relation to the City of New York, and we've 20 gone beyond that in meeting those obligations, 21 which frankly didn't exist to the balance of 22 the State of New York. 23 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: Thank you, 24 Senator Flanagan and Mr. President. Thank you 25 for your answers to my questions.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 On the bill. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 3 Espaillat on the bill. 4 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: Yes, 5 Mr. President. 6 Justice Leland DeGrasse affirmed on 7 November 30th of 2005, when he made some 8 recommendations to the Legislature, that in 9 order to provide a sound and basic education, 10 New York City needed to gain $5.6 billion for 11 operating expenses and another $9.2 billion 12 for facilities, for capital. Clearly, that 13 has not happened. 14 This budget bill, although it 15 restores some of the items that I think are 16 very important to all of us -- Title 20, 17 summer youth jobs, many of us have already 18 highlighted what they are -- fails to provide 19 adequate funding for education. And in fact, 20 if we are to overcome this economic crisis, if 21 in fact we are preparing ourselves to have the 22 best qualified and competitive workforce once 23 we overcome this economic crisis, we must 24 invest in education. 25 The best investment that we can

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 make in this Legislature to prepare ourselves 2 for the next generation to be competitive when 3 the economy turns around is to invest in 4 education. And this bill, this aid to 5 locality bill does not do that. 6 That's why I will be voting in the 7 negative, Mr. President. I think that this 8 bill falls far short of where we need to be 9 with regards to education funding. It has 10 clearly been stated that New York City will be 11 short over a billion dollars in education 12 funding. 13 I represent a district that built 14 over 15 new schools, and many of those schools 15 have empty classrooms and empty floors and 16 overcrowded classrooms in those floors that 17 are not empty because we lack operating funds 18 to hire new teachers and to have gifted 19 programs and arts programs and to provide the 20 best possibilities for our students. 21 So, Mr. President, once again, I 22 will be voting in the negative on this bill. 23 I feel that we have fallen very short of where 24 our children ask us to be. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Is

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 there any other Senator wishing to be heard? 2 Senator Krueger. 3 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you very 4 much, Mr. President. 5 So we have heard here on this floor 6 tonight angry legislators, upset legislators. 7 We're hearing from the people of New York 8 State outside of our chambers here and now in 9 this great Capitol. There is tough choices in 10 this budget. I started the day talking about 11 the revenue bill, talking about how even in a 12 world of tough choices there could have been 13 better choices made about how we raised our 14 money in a variety of ways that would have 15 helped us avoid specifically many of the cuts 16 and much of the pain that we are going to be 17 moving through this budget, much of which are 18 in this bill tonight. 19 Senator Espaillat just very 20 articulately discussed the concerns for public 21 education in his and my great City of 22 New York. But Senator Flanagan is right when 23 he says these cuts are everywhere. They will 24 impact every community, I agree with you, 25 Senator Flanagan.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 What I'm suggesting is we didn't 2 have to end up here. We didn't have to end up 3 here with these cuts to education, which we 4 know will do harm to every one of our 5 communities no matter whether we come from 6 upstate or downstate, a big city or a small 7 rural town. 8 And there are more cuts in this 9 budget. My colleague Senator Velmanette 10 Montgomery talked about the impact on human 11 services, the complicating factors of cutting 12 services to the lowest-income New Yorkers when 13 the unemployment rate does not appear to be 14 going down and job opportunities are scarce. 15 And these budget cuts will not only 16 do enormous harm to particularly poor 17 families, mostly women and children, but 18 ironically those cuts are in categories of 19 programs -- in fact, this entire bill is 20 filled with cuts that actually move money into 21 the communities to be spent as economic 22 development money. 23 Because the one thing we can say 24 about the aid to localities budget, the list 25 of items of appropriation in this bill, is

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 these monies go directly to local governments 2 and local communities where they are spent 3 primarily on jobs for people or to provide 4 basic living needs, which means people go out 5 and go and shop in their food store, pay their 6 rent, meet their children's basic needs, 7 provide them with all the things we all want 8 to provide our families. 9 So when I realize that in a 10 $132 billion budget with other alternatives 11 for revenue -- including those $29 billion in 12 tax expenditures we never looked at or 13 considered as options -- and yet we're going 14 to make these level of cuts in education, 15 human services, and real jobs for real people, 16 I also find myself sharing the frustration of 17 many of my colleagues and the emotional 18 discussion you heard tonight. And I also will 19 be voting no on this budget bill. 20 Thank you, Mr. President. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Seeing 22 no other Senator wishing to be heard, debate 23 is closed. 24 The Secretary will ring the bell. 25 Senator Oppenheimer, why do you

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 rise? 2 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: To explain 3 my vote. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: We have 5 not called the roll yet, Senator Oppenheimer. 6 I will remind all members of the 7 Senate, though, that we will be enforcing the 8 two-minute explanation of votes. 9 Read the last section. 10 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 11 act shall take effect immediately. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 13 the roll. 14 (The Secretary called the roll.) 15 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 16 Zeldin to explain his vote. 17 SENATOR ZELDIN: Thank you, 18 Mr. President. 19 During my campaign I committed to 20 cut taxes, control spending, and assist with 21 this private-sector job creation that was so 22 important all across Long Island and around 23 New York State. I stand to say thank you, 24 thank you to Senator Skelos, thank you to 25 Senator Flanagan for all of your work on this

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 education issue. 2 I am proud to say that I have three 3 school districts -- William Floyd, South 4 Country, and Hauppauge -- that actually are 5 going to end up with more money next year than 6 they did this year. 7 I went to public school, my 8 daughters are about to start public school, my 9 mother's a retired teacher, grandparents were 10 teachers. I went to SUNY, my chief of staff 11 went to SUNY, my deputy chief of staff went to 12 SUNY. I believe in public school education. 13 And I'm happy that we have closed a 14 $10 billion budget deficit for next year. And 15 the following year's budget deficit, which was 16 projected to be $15 billion, has been reduced 17 to $2 billion. 18 Our work is not done here, but this 19 is a good start. And I look forward to the 20 dialogue about a tax cap, to get that tax cap 21 done, to get mandate relief done, to get the 22 MTA payroll tax repealed, hopefully get our 23 school aid formula changed. Because Long 24 Island should not be an ATM machine for 25 New York City and elsewhere.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 Republican or Democrat, upstate or 2 downstate -- 3 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 4 Zeldin, how do you vote? 5 SENATOR ZELDIN: -- Assembly or 6 Senate, we need to stick together. I vote 7 aye. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 9 Zeldin to be recorded in the affirmative. 10 Senator Oppenheimer to explain her 11 vote. 12 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Very 13 briefly. 14 The reality is that we are living 15 in very difficult times for our economy and 16 for the state and local governments all across 17 this nation. And there is no doubt that we 18 need to change direction. And we should all 19 applaud Governor Cuomo for providing strong 20 leadership to turn the state government 21 around. 22 There is no doubt that vital 23 services will be badly impacted because this 24 year is a crisis year and it's much larger 25 than we would have thought. The need for a

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 change in direction is greater than ever. And 2 the importance of the Legislature successfully 3 working together is more paramount than ever 4 before. 5 Going forward, I want to bring to 6 your attention the challenges that will 7 continue to face education throughout our 8 state. Reduced funding for school districts, 9 the need to improve schools that fail and 10 protect excellence where it exists, these 11 present a multitude of pressures that we will 12 have to address this year and next. Property 13 taxpayers are already overtaxed. State 14 resources are declining. But there are 15 children who are in school now, one grade at a 16 time, one year at a time, one childhood at a 17 time. There are no do-overs. 18 We need to work together and with 19 Governor and give special attention to the 20 delicate, precarious place we have put our 21 schools into. We need to help them reduce 22 costs, provide mandate relief, improve 23 teaching, make sure we protect a system that 24 has already suffered incredible cuts. And you 25 all know what I know, they are cutting in all

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 of our school districts -- music, art, 2 physical ed, pre-K, full-day kindergarten -- 3 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 4 Oppenheimer, how do you vote? 5 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: All right. 6 I just want to say that our work is much ahead 7 of us. I'm voting yes. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 9 Oppenheimer to be recorded in the affirmative. 10 Senator Carlucci to explain his 11 vote. 12 SENATOR CARLUCCI: Thank you, 13 Mr. President. I'll be voting in the 14 affirmative on this bill. 15 However, I stand here tonight 16 disappointed. I'm disappointed that the 17 funding restoration to the Office of People 18 with Developmental Disabilities that we fought 19 here in this chamber to restore fell on deaf 20 ears in the Assembly. And, you know, we're 21 not talking about cutting bloated government 22 salaries, we're talking about cutting vital 23 services to our most vulnerable population. 24 However, I know that the people in 25 my district and throughout New York State, the

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 good community services, the people that work 2 everyday towards servicing our most vulnerable 3 population when it comes to people living with 4 developmental disabilities, I plan on working 5 with them to make sure that our most 6 vulnerable population does not fall through 7 the cracks. 8 So with this, I vote in the 9 affirmative. Thank you, Mr. President. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 11 Carlucci to be recorded in the affirmative. 12 Senator Stewart-Cousins to explain 13 her vote. 14 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: Yes, to 15 explain my vote. 16 Tomorrow morning at about 7:00 a.m. 17 hundreds of children will get up early so that 18 they can rally in Yonkers because they don't 19 have gym, they don't have art, they don't have 20 music, they don't have psychologists, they 21 don't have social workers. And where we are 22 today with this budget, we will lay off 23 possibly 600 people in the Yonkers School 24 District. 25 I understand there's a lot of pain.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 But for this school district, the pain has got 2 to stop. I look at a run where there's 3 percentages and it's all shared pain. But 4 among the Big Five, I look at a school 5 district like Yonkers that loses $6 million 6 while another school district gains 7 $6 million. I still don't understand how this 8 continues to be called equitable and fair. 9 So I'm standing here voting no, 10 walking with those children symbolically 11 tomorrow, because education matters. Funding 12 it right matters. We can no longer afford to 13 keep deciding that it is something that maybe 14 we'll get right. It's not right yet. 15 I vote no. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 17 Stewart-Cousins to be recorded in the 18 negative. 19 Announce the results. 20 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 21 Calendar Number 293, those recorded in the 22 negative are Senators Adams, Diaz, Duane, 23 Espaillat, Hassell-Thompson, L. Krueger, 24 Parker, Peralta, Perkins and Stewart-Cousins. 25 Ayes, 52. Nays, 10.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 2 bill is passed. 3 Senator Libous. 4 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President, 5 could we please take up Calendar Number 296, 6 please. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 8 Secretary will read. 9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 10 296, Senate Print 2801A, Senate Budget Bill, 11 an act making appropriations for the support 12 of government: LEGISLATURE AND JUDICIARY 13 BUDGET. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 15 the last section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This 17 act shall take effect immediately. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 19 the roll. 20 (The Secretary called the roll.) 21 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 22 Hassell-Thompson to explain her vote. 23 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Thank 24 you, Mr. President. Just very quickly. 25 I will be voting for this bill, but

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 I wanted to state for the record my concern 2 and disappointment that as a part of the 3 additional savings that OCA was asked to come 4 up with, a program for civil legal services 5 was cut 50 percent, or $12.5 million. 6 I commend the Chief Judge for being 7 an advocate for civil legal services. And I 8 know he is deeply concerned with the prospect 9 of layoffs in an already strained court 10 system. However, I too must express my 11 disappointment that such deep cuts took place 12 in civil legal services even though I 13 understand the position that Judge Lippman 14 finds himself in. 15 Thank you, Mr. President. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: How do 17 you vote, Senator Hassell-Thompson? 18 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: I said 19 in the affirmative, sir. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 21 Hassell-Thompson to be recorded in the 22 affirmative. 23 Announce the results. 24 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 25 Calendar Number 296, those recorded in the

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 negative are Senators Adams, Diaz, Duane, 2 Parker and Perkins. 3 Ayes, 57. Nays, 5. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 5 bill is passed. 6 Senator Libous. 7 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President, 8 can we please take up Calendar 294. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 10 Secretary will read. 11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 12 294, Senate Print 2808D, Senate Budget Bill, 13 an act to amend the Education Law. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 15 the last section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 17 act shall take effecting immediately. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 19 the roll. 20 (The Secretary called the roll.) 21 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 22 Dilan to explain his vote. 23 SENATOR DILAN: I just want to 24 indicate that during the Finance Committee I 25 had concern with language in this bill as it

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 pertains to the MTA. Namely, that language is 2 on page 95, starting line 53 through 56, and 3 page 96, line 1 through 9, where it appears 4 that the MTA is taking a $200 million cut. 5 However, members of the Majority 6 and members of the Majority staff and my staff 7 have also spoken to the MTA, and they assured 8 me that at the end of the day the MTA will 9 only wind up with the $100 million cut that 10 was discussed at our table. And as a result 11 of maybe some additional revenues, that they 12 may actually have additional revenue of 13 $45 million, maybe. 14 So I'm going to accept those 15 assurances and vote yes on this bill. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 17 Dilan to be recorded in the affirmative. 18 Senator Kennedy to explain his 19 vote. 20 SENATOR KENNEDY: Yes, thank you, 21 Mr. President. 22 I will be voting against this bill. 23 I'm deeply disappointed this budget does not 24 include policy reforms necessary to spark the 25 economic growth in Western New York with the

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 UB 2020 plan. 2 I appreciate Governor Cuomo's 3 commitment to helping us rebuild the Western 4 New York economy, and I look forward to the 5 summit he'll host to discuss how we'll make 6 UB 2020 a reality. But this budget is a 7 budget of priorities. And the budget bill 8 that we are voting on right now does not 9 include UB 2020 as a priority of this Senate. 10 And UB 2020 is arguably the 11 number-one priority piece of legislation for 12 the people of Western New York that I 13 represent and that my colleagues across the 14 aisle represent. We have argued in favor of 15 this bill on both sides of this house, on both 16 sides of this chamber, out of Western 17 New York. 18 It is absolutely essential that 19 UB 2020 be enacted. I am extremely 20 disappointed that it is not a part of this 21 budget. And therefore I will be voting in the 22 negative. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 24 Kennedy to be recorded in the negative. 25 Senator Diaz to explain his vote.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 SENATOR DIAZ: Just a few words, 2 Mr. President, to address myself of what my 3 colleague Senator Kennedy just said. 4 I am from downtown, from lower 5 New York, and UB 2020 supposed to be a remedy 6 to help the Western New York. Senator 7 Grisanti introduced this bill. And there was 8 a, you know, like big thing because we were -- 9 first time we were going to help Western 10 New York. And now there is no UB 2020. 11 So Senator Grisanti, what happened? 12 No UB 2020. I'm voting no. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 14 Diaz to be recorded in the negative. 15 Senator Hassell-Thompson to explain 16 her vote. 17 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Thank 18 you, Mr. President. 19 Again, I think you've heard it 20 several times already tonight, but I must 21 reiterate that as someone who signed onto the 22 CFE lawsuit, it is incumbent upon me to 23 continue to vote against any budget that does 24 not keep good faith with that. 25 It also would not be in the

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 interests of my district to vote for a budget 2 that is going to cut $8 million out of the 3 school budget for the City of Mount Vernon, 4 which is a high-needs district. 5 When I tried to leave this 6 afternoon -- many of you were able to duck out 7 the other way, you were diverted. But I 8 walked through the crowd. And I walked 9 through and I met a lady that I didn't know 10 but who knew me. And she said, "I'm trusting 11 you to vote no against this budget because 12 it's bad for us. This is my son. We're going 13 to stay here all night. And I want him to see 14 government and how it works." 15 And so I can't vote on behalf of 16 this budget, on behalf of that 7-year-old who 17 does not have instruments in his school, who 18 doesn't have enough textbooks in his 19 classroom, who doesn't have enough computers 20 for him to be able to learn. 21 And for us to stand fast and look 22 at the budget cuts that are going to affect 23 New York City, of which I also represent, is 24 not in my best interests and is certainly not 25 in the best interests of the people that I

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 serve. 2 Thank you, Mr. President. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 4 Ruth Hassell-Thompson to be recorded in the 5 negative. 6 Senator Parker to explain his vote. 7 SENATOR PARKER: I get that 8 everybody wants to give the Governor a win. 9 And I don't mind the Governor having a win. 10 But the least you guys could have done is give 11 people a chance to speak on the bill. Real 12 basic. 13 I get we're in the minority. I 14 know my little vote doesn't mean anything. I 15 know the little votes of all the people who 16 are making a lot of noise tonight don't mean 17 anything to anybody. I get it. I get it. 18 Suck it up, go home, you don't get anything in 19 the budget, you got nothing. 20 But I'm not going -- you know, I've 21 come here because people elected me at least 22 to speak truth to power and to say that this 23 is not right. And I'm annoyed now because you 24 guys rushed this thing through so you can get 25 this thing -- I know everybody wants to get it

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 early, and I don't know why that's like such a 2 big deal. Nobody's going to get elected or 3 unelected, and nobody's going to hold on to 4 the majority or lose the majority or gain the 5 majority based on the floor debate on the 6 budget in 2011. 7 You guys could have gave us a 8 chance to talk on the bill. I mean, this what 9 we're doing right now is not correct. What 10 we're seeing happening right now with the 11 gallery being closed is not correct. What we 12 see with the police being walked around this 13 building as storm troopers is not correct. 14 This is the people's house. And as much as we 15 talk about we're here to represent people 16 tonight, we've denied people their voice. 17 That's why people are here angry. And that's 18 why I'm angry, because there's no reason for 19 this to happen in this manner. 20 Politics is a place where not just 21 what you do matters, but how you do it is 22 absolutely critical. And how dare us deny 23 people voice? How dare us? You guys have 24 been -- when I say you guys, all of us. We've 25 been pushing through B.S. on the people of

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 this state for hundreds of years without -- 2 you know, without denying them basic access to 3 democratic rights. 4 And so what we're doing here 5 tonight is a disgrace and I'm ashamed to be 6 part of this body. I'm voting no, 7 Mr. President, because -- not just because 8 this budget is bad and it's bad for my 9 community, but this process is horrible. 10 I have more to say, but I know I'm 11 only limited to two minutes. And my only 12 regret is I only have two minutes to speak on 13 behalf of not just the people of my district 14 but everybody who's being disenfranchised and 15 people who will be put out on the street 16 because of this vote. 17 I vote no. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 19 Parker to be recorded in the negative. 20 Senator Grisanti to explain his 21 vote. 22 SENATOR GRISTANTI: I'm going to 23 vote yes on this bill. 24 And one thing that I want to say to 25 my friends across the aisle who doubt UB 2020,

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 if you want to have and sit there and denounce 2 the commitment of your own Governor, who has 3 stated five times in a press conference that 4 there will be a summit in Buffalo -- you don't 5 have to attend. That's fine. If you want to 6 doubt what happened here in this Senate of a 7 55-to-1 vote, that's fine. 8 But what I didn't see is I didn't 9 see the Democrats on that side talking to 10 their Democratic friends in the Assembly to 11 push that bill forward, as I was doing not 12 only with the Republicans but meeting with 13 Debra Glick and other members. 14 This bill is not dead. This bill 15 has moved faster in the last 90 days than it 16 has in three years. When the Democrats were 17 in the majority, the bill couldn't even pass. 18 I've been here 90 days and this bill has gone 19 further than ever. 20 It is not dead. We have talked to 21 the Governor. We have commitments. There's a 22 summit. If you want to use it for political 23 gain, that's fine. But I've talked to the 24 people at UB 2020 about this bill, I've talked 25 to the tradespeople and they are ecstatic as

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 to where UB 2020 lays at this point in time. 2 So if you want to have shame and 3 shoot me down for UB 2020, go ahead. We'll 4 see what happens at the end of session. But 5 UB 2020 is not dead, it's alive. I know it's 6 important to Western New York. But I'm not a 7 one-issue person. There are other things in 8 bill -- restoring funding to Roswell Park -- 9 that the Senate did on this side, no help from 10 the Assembly, no help from the Governor. 11 Restoration of basically Darwin 12 Martin House, Olmsted Park Highway, Hoyt Lake 13 projects, restoring funding to education. 14 These are things we did on this side. And I 15 appreciate what the Senate did, but don't 16 doubt my word. UB 2020 is not dead. It's 17 alive and well. 18 I will be voting in the 19 affirmative. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 21 Grisanti to be recorded in the affirmative. 22 Senator Stavisky to explain her 23 vote. 24 SENATOR STAVISKY: Yes, 25 Mr. President, I'd like to correct the Senator

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 on the other side of the aisle that when I 2 chaired the Committee on Higher Education in 3 2009, with the help of Senator Maziarz and 4 Senator Stachowski and a whole host -- Senator 5 Volker -- that bill passed this house. You 6 are mistaken. You are wrong. 7 I vote aye. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 9 Stavisky votes in the affirmative. 10 Senator Adams to explain his vote. 11 SENATOR ADAMS: Did you hear them 12 tonight? Did you hear them? They're staying 13 over tonight. They're staying over. They're 14 going to sleep in the rafters tonight. 15 And I don't care -- don't tell me 16 about rules, because you all don't follow 17 rules. I got my pillow and my blanket. I'm 18 going to join them. I'm going to sleep with 19 them tonight. Because when people get so 20 angry, they don't drop bombs, they don't fight 21 wars, they use their voices. I'm going to 22 sleep on that hard slab up there with them. 23 What we did tonight was wrong. 24 They all participated. When Strahan tackled 25 to get his last sack, there was an asterisk

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 next to it. You know that? Because it was 2 cheating. So we're going to beat the clock. 3 You rushed it through, you didn't allow us to 4 debate it, you didn't allow us to argue it, 5 all for one reason only, because we've got to 6 beat the clock. 7 So I'm going to sleep with those 8 children, those college students, those people 9 who are losing their homes, those people who 10 are concerned, those people who are being 11 locked out. I'm going to lay down on that 12 concrete with them and I'm going to stay with 13 them throughout the entire night. Because 14 what we did to them during this budget cycle, 15 it was wrong. 16 And I'm uncharacteristically calm 17 by saying it. We were wrong. And we should 18 be ashamed of ourselves as Democrats. Don't 19 tell me I'm voting for a bill because I like 20 something in the bill. This is wrong. What 21 happened during this cycle is wrong. 22 I'm voting nay. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 24 Adams to be recorded in the negative. 25 Senator Gallivan to explain his

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 vote. 2 SENATOR GALLIVAN: Thank you, 3 Mr. President. 4 My colleagues, both the product and 5 process of this budget are a testament of the 6 leadership provided by the Governor and the 7 bipartisan recognition in the Legislature that 8 business as usual in state government has 9 become unsustainable and unacceptable. 10 It took years of shortsighted 11 governance to deliver New York into its 12 current condition, but tonight marks the first 13 step down a new path. This budget eliminates 14 our current deficit, markedly improves the 15 state's outlook for the next fiscal year, 16 consolidates and eliminates inefficient 17 bureaucracy, and encourages private-sector job 18 growth, particularly in Western New York, the 19 district I represent. 20 One year's budget will not erase 21 decades of poor fiscal management, but this 22 year's budget agreement, the manner in which 23 it was reached, signifies there's just cause 24 to be optimistic in New York's future. The 25 Legislature and the Governor were able to work

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 together with a sense of common purpose to 2 make the difficult but responsible choices to 3 ensure New York's future is brighter today 4 than it was before. 5 I vote in the affirmative. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 7 Gallivan to be recorded in the affirmative. 8 Maziarz to explain his vote. 9 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you very 10 much, Mr. President. 11 I rise not to make a similar 12 announcement that Senator Adams made, but just 13 to reference very briefly UB 2020. 14 There are aspects of UB 2020 in 15 this budget. There's a lot of differences 16 between what the UB 2020, Senator Stavisky, 17 that was passed in 2009 and the UB 2020 bill 18 that was sponsored by Senator Grisanti. 19 Obviously that bill, I think, had almost 20 20 members in opposition. This one had but one. 21 There is a great deal of 22 satisfaction with the support of the Governor. 23 That is different. We didn't have that 24 before. The Buffalo News editorial board is 25 satisfied with the direction that we are going

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 in. Funding to implement UB 2020 is contained 2 in this budget. I think it's a lot further 3 ahead than it's ever been before. 4 Thank you, Mr. President. It 5 should be permanent, by the way. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 7 Maziarz to be recorded in the affirmative. 8 Senator Martins to explain his 9 vote. 10 SENATOR MARTINS: Thank you, 11 Mr. President. 12 You know, one of the priorities 13 that we had through this budget process was to 14 remember that there are people out there that 15 are in real need throughout New York State and 16 to try and reach a balance between the needs 17 of those people -- our constituents, our 18 residents, our neighbors, our friends, our 19 family -- that are in need throughout New York 20 State but at the same time remember those 21 people who have simply been taxed to the 22 breaking point and have been enduring more and 23 more taxes. We are the highest-taxed state in 24 the entire country. 25 And we made one commitment to them,

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 we would balance those two interests. And I 2 have heard time and time again the need for us 3 to focus on the needs of those people who are 4 most in interest. And I agree with you, that 5 is our commitment, all of our commitment. You 6 do not balance a budget on the backs of those 7 people who are most in need. 8 But at the same time, we have an 9 equal commitment to those people who have 10 continuously reached into their pockets and 11 paid, time and again, more and more taxes. We 12 have a commitment to both. 13 I believe that this budget 14 addresses both needs. I believe that you do 15 not just continue to spend more and more money 16 in the hopes that you get a better result. 17 And I believe that we have met not only our 18 commitment to those people who are most in 19 need but to the taxpayers of this state 20 because we have finally restored fiscal order 21 to New York State, and that's why I'm voting 22 in the affirmative. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 24 Martins votes in the affirmative. 25 Announce the results.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 2 Calendar Number 294, those recorded in the 3 negative are Senators Adams, Diaz, Duane, 4 Espaillat, Hassell-Thompson, Kennedy, 5 L. Krueger, Parker, Peralta, Perkins, Rivera, 6 Smith and Stewart-Cousins. 7 Ayes, 49. Nays, 13. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 9 bill is passed. 10 Senator DeFrancisco. 11 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, I just 12 want to stand and thank everyone who has been 13 involved in this budget process, especially 14 staff, who have worked tirelessly to get the 15 product together so that we can vote in an 16 orderly fashion. 17 And I also want to thank members of 18 both sides of the aisle and, as far as for the 19 Minority, Senator Liz Krueger. She was always 20 prepared, always asked good questions, and 21 always cordial. And that's the way that this 22 process should work. And hopefully it will 23 work like this in the future in all future 24 years as well. 25 Thank you.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank 2 you, Senator DeFrancisco. 3 Senator Sampson. 4 SENATOR SAMPSON: Thank you very 5 much Mr. President. 6 Before I speak, I would just like 7 all of my colleagues to take a moment and 8 really congratulate our staffs for doing a 9 phenomenal job these last couple of days to 10 make sure they had all the information and got 11 the work done. So we need to give them a 12 round of applause, my colleagues. 13 (Applause.) 14 SENATOR SAMPSON: They want a 15 raise, yeah. Senator Skelos, they want a 16 raise. 17 First of all, I want to say when 18 you look at New York State, it's at a 19 crossroads. Governor Cuomo deserves credit 20 for his leadership to bring us to an on-time 21 budget but most of all restore New York's 22 standing as the Empire State. 23 Meeting a deadline may not seem 24 like much of an accomplishment outside of 25 Albany. Every day you have workers across

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 this state do it because that's what they do. 2 They go to work, do their job, go home and 3 enjoy their family. 4 But an on-time budget, my 5 colleagues, is important because it gives 6 New Yorkers a reason to begin to trust their 7 leaders enough to follow them towards a 8 brighter future. 9 Was this a tough budget? Is this 10 tough times? And we made tough choices. I am 11 supporting this budget, but I cast my vote 12 with eyes wide open to the choices we are 13 making and the political impact on 14 middle-class families and working poor. 15 History will judge us all by those choices, by 16 whether we stood up to ease the burden on 17 middle-class families or sat back while they 18 continued to carry the sole burden of the 19 shared sacrifices needed to solve these fiscal 20 crisis. 21 The severity of these economic 22 challenges facing New York demand a new 23 direction, a new beginning. And Governor 24 Cuomo is leading us in that direction. 25 We were sent here to make the tough

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 choices, to solve the tough problems, and 2 above all never forget our districts. The 3 budget did not raise taxes. But I wish it did 4 not give a tax break to what I call the true 5 millionaires, 70,000 people who are making 6 over a million dollars, at a time when we have 7 3 million schoolchildren facing these deep 8 cuts at this time. 9 We were successful in making some 10 educational restorations. And I want to 11 commend Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins for 12 helping rectify the unfair treatment Yonkers 13 received. But I fear the educational 14 restorations don't go far enough. Sacrificing 15 the promise of tomorrow by delaying the 16 fulfillment of the promise of the Campaign for 17 Fiscal Equity is incorrect. Allowing critical 18 programs such as art, music, athletics, 19 language arts means that our children will 20 only read about the Renaissance and not 21 experience the Renaissance. 22 We cut spending, we consolidated 23 agencies to deliver a government that works 24 better, costs less, and even restored vital 25 funding for human services like Title 20 to

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 our seniors and also summer youth employment. 2 And our children will commend us for that. 3 But I wish we had done more to cut with care, 4 to balance the budget in line with our values, 5 protecting our most vulnerable citizens. 6 There were significant restorations 7 to CUNY and SUNY critical to building the 8 well-educated workforce that we desperately 9 need especially during these economic times. 10 But I wish we had included UB 2020 to build a 11 stronger university system and a stronger 12 economy for Western New York. 13 Senator Grisanti, I love your 14 passion and I agree with your passion. And I 15 trust your word. Working along with my 16 colleague Senator Kennedy and the rest of our 17 colleagues from Western New York, I believe it 18 will become a reality. 19 As I said, this was a hard vote for 20 me, a hard vote especially in my district. 21 But these are hard choices facing New York, 22 that they had to be made to put us on the 23 right track. My colleagues, the only reason I 24 voted this way is because I trust and I have 25 faith in the Governor that these choices that

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 we are making today will put us on the road to 2 fiscal prosperity. 3 As I vote for this budget, I hope 4 the spirit of bipartisanship that we have 5 experienced these last couple of days will 6 continue and our promises will be kept. My 7 conference is here; we made hard choices in 8 supporting parts of this budget that goes, 9 some of us, against our grain. But we knew we 10 had to make tough choices. 11 Senator Skelos, I commend you for 12 your leadership, I commend all my colleagues 13 for their leadership for getting us to this 14 point. But now I'm asking that you join us in 15 making equally hard choices as we move 16 forward. 17 I'm asking that you work with all 18 of us and pass the extension of the rent 19 regulation laws to present a disaster, what I 20 call a tenant tax for 2.5 million people not 21 only in New York City but in Nassau County, 22 Rockland County and in Westchester. 23 I'm asking you also to work 24 together so we can reach an agreement -- we 25 talk about property tax, but at the same time

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 we need mandate relief, especially to help 2 those middle-class families. 3 I'm asking that you work with all 4 of us to pass an ethics package that restores 5 faith in the Legislature and gives New Yorkers 6 a reason to believe in a New York where 7 anything is possible. We made the first step 8 tonight by passing an on-time budget. The 9 next step is ethics reform. 10 And I'm asking that you work with 11 us to keep the promise that 54 out of 62 of us 12 made that we pass a nonpartisan redistricting 13 bill to make sure that politics are out of the 14 way of drawing our electoral lines. 15 And I'm asking -- and I'm glad 16 Senator Diaz is not here tonight -- that you 17 partner with all of us to end the inequality 18 same-sex couples face by bringing marriage 19 equality to the floor. 20 Now that this budget is complete, 21 we have the time, we have the responsibility 22 to work on this in a bipartisan manner. I say 23 to my colleagues: Is this ambitious? Yes, it 24 is. Is this impossible? I say no. Is it 25 essential? I say absolutely yes.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 So, my colleagues, we're on the 2 right track. Let's continue to be on the 3 right track to make sure that New York State 4 is on the road to being the Empire State, on 5 the road to fiscal prosperity, but most of all 6 investing in one of the most precious 7 commodities that we have, and that is our 8 children. 9 So once again, thank you, 10 Mr. President. And thank you, all my 11 colleagues. Now tomorrow is the time we get 12 back to work. Thank you very much, 13 Mr. President. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank 15 you, Senator Sampson. 16 Senator Skelos. 17 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you very 18 much, Mr. President. 19 And I'm delighted that this chamber 20 has passed not only an on-time budget but an 21 early budget. And I'm hopeful that the 22 Assembly Democrats will be able to accomplish 23 the same thing that we have accomplished so 24 that we do have an early budget. 25 You know, this is a responsible

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 budget that has met the goals of our 2 conference: Cut spending, reduce taxes, and 3 empowering the private sector to create jobs. 4 Many of you in this chamber, especially those 5 within the Republican Conference, have heard 6 me say this on more than numerous occasions. 7 And in fact, when we were sitting on that side 8 of the aisle, I think you heard me say it on 9 more than numerous occasions. And I think 10 that's why we are now on this side of the 11 aisle. 12 But what I do want to thank is 13 Senator John DeFrancisco, chair of the Finance 14 Committee, who has done just a great job in 15 debating the bills that have come before this 16 chamber. John, I congratulate you on a great 17 job. 18 (Applause.) 19 SENATOR SKELOS: Senator Krueger, 20 we thank you for your spirited debate. I 21 think it is totally appropriate and what 22 should occur in this chamber when Republicans 23 and Democrats gather and exchange ideas. So I 24 congratulate you also on this spirited debate, 25 and certainly all of us in this chamber for

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 participating in this great duty that we have 2 in putting a budget together. 3 I want to thank Robert Mujica, 4 secretary of the Finance Committee, and Diane 5 Burman, our counsel. And all the members, the 6 Senate, the Assembly, staff, Republican side, 7 Democrat side, everybody did work together to 8 make this day possible. 9 I'm also pleased that we partnered 10 with Governor Cuomo, who really did set the 11 right tone and worked with both Democrats and 12 Republicans to get a sound budget in place. 13 And, Senator Sampson, I thank you 14 for your cooperation and certainly your 15 leadership in accomplishing what is very 16 difficult choices for all of us in this 17 chamber. 18 I also want to thank the Speaker 19 for his cooperation, all of us who 20 participated in the joint conference 21 committees. It worked. We talked about the 22 Budget Reform Act of 2007. You probably heard 23 me say it so many times last year. Well, we 24 followed the law this year, and we have an 25 early budget. So it shows if you follow the

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 law, it works, and you can have an on-time 2 budget. 3 You know, in the past unfortunately 4 New York leaders have shouted past each other 5 and have left critical challenges unmet. This 6 budget, which has charted a new course and has 7 made Albany functional -- and yes, Senator 8 Diaz, I'm delighted to say it's functional and 9 accountable to the people. And I believe that 10 we will continue on that course. 11 Today we have enacted in this 12 chamber, at least, the first early budget 13 since 1983. And because of the hard work of 14 all the Senators in this chamber, I think we 15 should all be very proud of that. 16 As we move forward, we are 17 committed to passing a responsible ethics 18 reform bill. We are prepared to pass mandate 19 relief, which is critically necessary for all 20 local levels of government. I'm very proud 21 that our conference was able to restore 22 millions and millions of dollars that would 23 have been cost-shifted to local governments. 24 I'm proud of our conference that we've done 25 that.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 And as we move forward, we have to 2 deal with pension relief and other issues that 3 are critically important not just to this 4 chamber but for the people of the State of New 5 York. 6 And finally, jobs. It's about 7 jobs. I believe we've set the right tone now 8 with the business community that they see this 9 chamber, the Assembly means business, the 10 Governor in particular. No new taxes. You 11 can't tax your way into prosperity. You can't 12 tax your way out of economic problems. You 13 have to cut spending in a responsible way. 14 We've done that. We've sent the message to 15 the business community that we want you to 16 stay here, we want you to invest here, we want 17 you to grow here and we want you to create 18 jobs here. 19 And yes, we will, as Governor Cuomo 20 indicated, finally have a UB 2020 plan before 21 this session is over. The Governor has 22 guaranteed it, and I believe that when the 23 Governor guarantees something, it will occur. 24 So again, I thank all of my 25 colleagues here. I look forward to seeing you

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. 1 tomorrow. 2 And if I may, is there any other 3 further business to come before the Senate? 4 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: There 5 is no further business before the Senate, 6 Senator Skelos. 7 SENATOR SKELOS: Senator Libous, 8 am I doing this okay? 9 SENATOR LIBOUS: Keep going. 10 Eleven a.m. tomorrow. 11 SENATOR SKELOS: I move that we 12 stand adjourned until 11:00 a.m. Thursday, 13 March 31st, 11:00 a.m. And there will be a 14 Republican conference at 10:30. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: There 16 will be a Republican conference at 10:30 17 tomorrow. 18 On motion, the Senate stands 19 adjourned until Thursday, 11:00 a.m., 20 March 31st. Senate is adjourned. 21 (Applause.) 22 (Whereupon, at 11:50 p.m., the 23 Senate adjourned.) 24 25

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