Gaveled in 3:28 PM · Albany, New York · 2015–16 session
NEW YORK STATE SENATE
THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD
ALBANY, NEW YORK
March 30, 2015
3:28 p.m.
REGULAR SESSION
SENATOR JOSEPH GRIFFO, Acting President
FRANCIS W. PATIENCE, Secretary
P R O C E E D I N G SACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Senate will come to order.
I ask all present to please rise and join with me as we recite the Pledge of Allegiance to our Flag.
(Whereupon, the assemblage recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Today's invocation will be offered by the Reverend Peter G. Young, of the Mother Teresa Community here in Albany.
Father?
REVEREND YOUNG:Thank you, Senator.
Let us pray.
Today, O God, we come together with an agreed budget that we hope will meet the needs of New York State. However, with the many emergency needs that an upcoming year might bring, we call upon our Senators to pray for a new beatitude: blessed are the flexible, for they are less likely to get bent out of shape.
(Laughter.)
REVEREND YOUNG:O God, we ask You that our Senators, may you always be there for a listening ear and a friendly smile and a helping hand to meet the duties of our New York State positions and leadership.
Amen.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The reading of the Journal.
THE SECRETARY:In Senate, Sunday, March 29th, the Senate met pursuant to adjournment. The Journal of Saturday, March 28th, was read and approved. On motion, Senate adjourned.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Without objection, the Journal will stand approved as read.
Presentation of petitions.
Messages from the Assembly.
Messages from the Governor.
Reports of standing committees.
Reports of select committees.
Communications and reports of state officers.
Motions and resolutions.
Senator LaValle.
SENATOR LaVALLE: Mr. President, there will be an immediate meeting of the Finance Committee off the floor in Room 332.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:There will be an immediate meeting of the Finance Committee off the floor in Room 332.
Senator LaValle.
SENATOR LaVALLE: Mr. President, we will have the noncontroversial reading of the calendar.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 225, by Senator Ortt, Senate Print 2957, an act to amend the Penal Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY:Section 3. This act shall take effect on the 180th day.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY:Ayes, 52. Nays, 1. Senator Montgomery recorded in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 226, by Senator Young, Senate Print 2990, an act to amend the Penal Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY:Section 2. This act shall take effect on the first of November.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY:Ayes, 53.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 259, by Senator LaValle, Senate Print 2928, an act in relation to authorizing.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:There is a home-rule message at the desk.
The Secretary will read the last section.
THE SECRETARY:Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY:Ayes, 53.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:So Senate Bill 2957 is passed, Senate Bill 2990 is passed, and Senate Bill 2928 is passed.
The Secretary will continue to read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 268, by Senator Croci, Senate Print 2938A, an act to amend the Real Property Tax Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY:Section 3. This act shall take effect on the 2nd of January.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY:Ayes, 53.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 295, by Senator Carlucci, Senate Print 2306, an act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY:Section 2. This act shall take effect on the 180th day.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY:Ayes, 53.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
Senator LaValle, that completes the reading of the noncontroversial active list for today, March 30th.
SENATOR LaVALLE: Mr. President, we're going to stand at ease and await the report from the Finance Committee.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Senate will stand at ease temporarily.
(Whereupon, the Senate stood at ease at 3:32 p.m.)
(Whereupon, the Senate reconvened at 4:34 p.m.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Senate will come to order.
Senator LaValle.
SENATOR LaVALLE: Mr. President, can we return to reports of standing committees, and can we go to the report of the Finance Committee.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:We will return to reports of standing committees.
And there's a report of the Finance Committee before the desk which the Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Senator DeFrancisco, from the Committee on Finance, reports the following bills:
Senate Print 2001A, Senate Budget Bill, an act making appropriations;
Senate 2003C, Senate Budget Bill, an act making appropriations;
Senate 2005B, Senate Budget Bill, an act to amend the Executive Law;
Senate 2007B, Senate Budget Bill, an act to amend the Public Health Law;
Senate 2008B, Senate Budget Bill, an act to amend Part U1 of Chapter 62 of the Laws of 2003;
And Senate 2009B, Senate Budget Bill, an act intentionally omitted.
All bills reported direct to third reading.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Thank you.
Senator LaValle.
SENATOR LaVALLE: Mr. President, can we accept the report of the Finance Committee.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:All in favor of accepting the report of the Finance Committee signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Opposed?
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The report is accepted and before the house.
Senator LaValle.
SENATOR LaVALLE: Can we take up now the nominations that are at the desk.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Senator DeFrancisco, from the Committee on Finance, reports the following nominations:
As member and chairman of the Public Employment Relations Board, Seth Hugh Agata, of Kinderhook.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Move the nomination.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator DeFrancisco moves the nomination.
Senator Nozzolio on the nomination.
SENATOR NOZZOLIO:Thank you.
Mr. President and my colleagues, I rise with enthusiastic support of this fine nomination.
Those of us in this chamber that have had the opportunity to work with Seth Agata know of his great acumen, his ability to work through problems, his concern about ensuring that the law is respected and that any changes in the law are done with a consensus. That that type of approach is exactly the type of approach that will serve him well as chairman of the Public Employee Relations Board.
On a personal note, Mr. Chairman, I'm especially proud this day as a graduate of Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, a small school within a very large university, to take great pride as a graduate to have another graduate, Seth Agata, be named to the most important labor relations board in the State of New York.
That this accomplishment of Seth's is one that should be noted, an accomplishment that began many, many years ago when he decided to attend the Cornell ILR school, the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, a school -- a statutory division of Cornell, but a school designed by state government officials many, many years ago that focused attention on the need to have better employee-employer relations.
And in effect now to have one of its graduates serve in this capacity is a day of pride for the ILR school.
That, again, congratulations to Governor Cuomo for making this nomination, and that the nominee, Seth Agata, is extremely well qualified -- uniquely qualified, in fact -- to serve in this important position.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Gianaris.
SENATOR GIANARIS:Thank you, Mr. President. I rise to second the nomination.
And echoing Senator Nozzolio's words, as a graduate of the New York State Assembly staff myself, I want to say that I served with Seth when he was there, and his competence, his intelligence, and his demeanor have served him well. He's risen through the ranks of state government and is more than qualified to be the chairman of the Public Employment Relations Board.
I'm sure that anyone that's worked with him in this chamber has had nothing but positive things to say about him, and I look forward to his confirmation today.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, I want to echo what's already been said.
I've worked with Seth on several things over the years, and most recently part of this budget -- and a very difficult part of the budget.
And being the chairman of the Public Employment Relations Board requires someone to have the qualification of being open-minded, listening to both sides, and be practical to try to resolve an issue between the parties that are in a dispute. And Seth has all of those qualities, and he's extremely bright and someone who's going to do a wonderful job for this state.
Thank you, Seth, for being willing to take this job, and I know you're going to be fantastic.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Marchione.
SENATOR MARCHIONE:Thank you.
Seth Agata lives in Kinderhook, which is in my district. And as usual, when a name comes across my desk that the person lives within my district, I immediately start making calls into that area to ask "What can you tell me about Seth Agata?"
And what you hear this afternoon from both sides here is what I heard from the people who live in Kinderhook. They told me what a fair individual he was. They told me how much he gives back to his community. They told me that he was eminently qualified for this position.
So I'm so pleased to be able to also put his name into nomination.
Congratulations. Governor Cuomo has made a great choice in you.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The question is on the motion to confirm the nomination of Seth Hugh Agata as a member and chairman of the Public Employment Relations Board. All in favor signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Opposed?
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Seth Hugh Agata is hereby confirmed as a member and chairman of the Public Employment Relations Board.
Seth is in the audience along with his wife, Gail. Congratulations and best of luck, Seth.
(Standing ovation.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will continue.
THE SECRETARY:John P. Melville, of Middletown, as commissioner of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I move the nomination.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The nomination has been moved.
Senator Bonacic.
SENATOR BONACIC:Thank you, Mr. President.
It's an honor for me to stand here today and support the nomination of John Melville.
I have known this gentleman for many, many years, and he started as a State Trooper and worked probably every facet in moving up the ladder. He's graduated from the FBI Academy, he graduated also with the DEA. He worked in a variety of activities, including counterterrorism, drug task force, internal affairs. After 9/11, they sent John Melville down there to conduct operations with the State Police.
He became a major in Troop F, which is one of the busiest troops in the State of New York. Then he was elevated to the superintendent here in Albany.
In addition to that, he's a SUNY product. He graduated from Cortland and got his criminal justice degree from the University of Albany.
He retired from the State Police in 2011. And what does he do? He stays in law enforcement. He becomes the chief investigator, criminal investigator in the Orange County District Attorney's office.
This is a man that is exceptional in all that he does. And what I said in the Finance Committee, I know many state troopers and I know many BCI investigators. You will never hear a negative word about this gentleman's honesty, integrity and character. So I congratulate Governor Cuomo on this appointment.
And I would be remiss if I didn't say a lot of his success is due to his bride, Monica, and his three children: Amy, Kathleen, and John. And John, Jr., who's now serving in the military, did a tour in Afghanistan protecting our freedoms.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Thank you, Senator Bonacic.
Senator Croci.
SENATOR CROCI:Thank you, Mr. President.
I'd like to join my colleagues and Senator Bonacic in his comments about John Melville. I had the opportunity to get to know John over the past few months.
This certainly is not a time in government for the faint of heart, but particularly when it comes to the commissioner of Homeland Security and Emergency Services for the State of New York.
He is a career public servant who has distinguished himself in the very, very worst of times in New York. And we are looking for someone who is up to the task of managing what is a gathering storm around us in this state. I believe John Melville to be up to that task, and I'm proud today to rise to support his nomination.
Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Thank you, Senator Croci.
Senator Farley.
SENATOR FARLEY:Yes, thank you, Mr. President.
I rise to support this nomination. We're in very perilous times, and this is one of the most important positions in the State of New York. And the Governor could not have chosen a more capable person, somebody that has served law enforcement with distinction, as a former superintendent and every role in the State Police.
John, we're lucky to have you. Thank you for your service. And we wish you well.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Larkin.
SENATOR LARKIN:Thank you very much, Mr. President.
You know, I concur with the remarks of those who have already spoken on John's behalf.
I've known John for over 35 years. I learned from him through his father-in-law, who was a county legislator in Orange County and served with John Bonacic.
The big thing about John was that John cared about people. He showed it from the day he became a trooper. And right now he's taken on a job that everybody in this world is worried about who are they going to attack next. I wouldn't want anybody in the position we have here but John Melville.
And as John Bonacic said, think about it tonight. You're taking on this job and here your son has already been in combat in Afghanistan and he's now on a special mission. Leadership doesn't fall far from the tree.
John, congratulations.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The question is on the nomination of John P. Melville as commissioner of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services. All in favor signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Opposed?
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:John P. Melville is hereby confirmed as commissioner of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services.
The commissioner is in the audience. Commissioner Melville, please stand and be recognized.
Thank you, and best wishes.
(Standing ovation.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will continue.
THE SECRETARY:Joanne M. Mahoney, of Fayetteville, as member and chair of the New York State Thruway Authority.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Please move the nomination. You already have? So then I'll go right on to what I wanted to say --
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:You're recognized, Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: -- because I wasn't paying attention.
I would like to speak on behalf of Joanie Mahoney, who is my county executive. And I'm her Senator. So we've known each other for many, many years. And she not only is county executive, she used to serve on the city council and she used to practice law. And she's involved with various other government activities in my community.
But most importantly, she gets things done. And it was mentioned at the committee meeting by Senator Valesky that she's been the steward of an incredible fiscal stability and fiscal strength during her tenure in Onondaga as county executive. And it's something that our community feels very strongly and very positively about.
I tried to convince her that chairman of the Thruway Authority was not a good career path, in view of we have a bridge one-third built down -- the Tappan Zee Bridge, or whatever it's going to be called, with no way to pay for it, or at least we don't know the way yet. We've got people clamoring about reducing and not increasing Thruway fees. And we're just over a sad time in the Thruway Authority where a lot of repair has to be done to its image.
But she wants to forge ahead. And she says "If I'm 10 percent in, I'm all the way in," and she's all the way in. And I feel comfortable that all the problems that the Thruway has will be maybe not totally solved, but be put in a much better position than before she got there.
So I move and I also strongly urge others to vote for Joanie Mahoney as chairman of the Thruway Authority.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Valesky.
SENATOR VALESKY:Thank you, Mr. President.
I'm happy to second the nomination of Joanie Mahoney as chair of the New York State Thruway Authority Board.
And I join my colleague Senator DeFrancisco from Onondaga County and can certainly vouch, as he has, for the outstanding job that she has done and the leadership that she has provided in guiding Onondaga County, one of the largest counties in upstate New York, on a clear and sound fiscal path.
And I am certainly confident that with the expertise that she has developed in that role, she will bring those skills and talents to the many challenges that we face here in this state at the New York State Thruway Authority.
So I look forward to continuing to work very closely with her, thank Governor Cuomo for his nomination, and wish the county executive all the best.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Nozzolio.
SENATOR NOZZOLIO:Thank you.
Mr. President and my colleagues, I rise in support of the nomination and to echo the comments of Senator DeFrancisco and Senator Valesky.
That I'd also like to mention, as John did in the committee, that John served with Joanie's father in the city council in the City of Syracuse. I was honored to serve with Joanie's father when he was an Assemblyman, and I concur with Senator DeFrancisco's assessment that her dad is a man of the highest integrity. And that certainly I know he must be very proud of the accomplishments, the significant accomplishments of his daughter.
The county executive has done great things in Central New York. And as one who represents myself the largest amount of -- length of Thruway and length of Erie Canal, I believe of any Senator in this body, I certainly look forward to working with Chairman Mahoney as she takes this new responsibility as head of the Thruway Authority.
Mr. President, I thank you for the opportunity to comment about this excellent nomination and congratulate Governor Cuomo for making it.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Ranzenhofer.
SENATOR RANZENHOFER:Thank you, Mr. President.
I'd also like to join my colleagues in commenting on Joanie Mahoney. One of the things that impresses me is that the Governor has chosen a nominee who understands the importance of the Thruway Authority, not only to upstate New York but to the entire state as a whole.
And we've had numerous conversations. She understands the importance of balancing a budget, as she's done in Onondaga County. She understands the importance of being able to communicate with local officials when you deal with snow emergencies.
And I think that the Thruway Authority needs a fresh face. I think she is the fresh face that it's needed and looking forward to serving with her as she assumes this new position.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Young.
SENATOR YOUNG:Thank you, Mr. President.
I rise as a Western New Yorker in support of a Central New Yorker in this very key position.
I have had the privilege of getting to know Joanie Mahoney over the past several years. She is a person of great integrity, leadership, management skills. And that's exactly what the Thruway Authority needs at this critical juncture.
This is an awesome undertaking and great responsibility because the Thruway Authority actually has 570 miles of superhighway, and it stretches -- I like to believe that it begins in my district in Ripley, New York, along the Pennsylvania border, but goes from Ripley all the way to New York City.
And so, Joanie, I just want to personally thank you for undertaking this great job, look forward to working with you. And I know the people of Chautauqua County are going to be thrilled that someone of your quality and caliber has undertaken overseeing the Thruway Authority.
Congratulations and good luck.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The question is on the nomination of Joanie M. Mahoney as member and chair of the New York State Thruway Authority.
All in favor signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Opposed?
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Joanie M. Mahoney is hereby confirmed as member and chair of the New York State Thruway Authority.
Let's welcome County Executive Mahoney. Congratulations and good luck.
(Standing ovation.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will continue.
THE SECRETARY:William C. Thompson, Jr., of New York, as director and chairman of the State of New York Mortgage Agency and member and chairman of the New York State Housing Finance Agency.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Move the nomination.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Espaillat.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:Thank you, Mr. President.
I rise to support the nomination of William C. Thompson. We all know him as Billy, and someone that has served with integrity and distinction in the City of New York at different levels.
He was first the president of the New York City Board of Education for many years, serving the five boroughs of the City of New York and one of the biggest school systems in the nation. And then he was New York City Comptroller for two terms, running and administering perhaps the second largest pension fund perhaps in the world. And he's done all of that with distinction, honesty, transparency.
We also know that he comes from Brooklyn and his dad -- he comes from fine stock. His dad happened to be a former Senator of this chamber, back in 1965 was elected, the first African-American Senator from that borough.
And of course we're happy to have his nomination. He has a great background in finance. And we all know that the housing arena has become a very expensive endeavor, whether to build affordable housing, to preserve affordable housing, to ensure that young families are homeowners. It has become a real serious endeavor, and it has gotten away from us in some way.
I am sure that with his expertise in finance and in government, he will be a stellar, a stellar leader in that endeavor. And I'm happy to stand here and nominate him for this position as chair of the New York State Housing Finance Agency, HFA, and the State of New York Mortgage Agency, SONYMA.
I'm happy to stand up in his support, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Young.
SENATOR YOUNG:Thank you, Mr. President.
I rise as chair of the Senate Standing Committee on Housing, Construction and Community Development to strongly support the nomination of William Thompson in a dual role. Not only is he nominated by the Governor to be the head of the State of New York Mortgage Agency, a very important agency, but also the Housing Finance Agency. And I know that he will do an incredible job at the helm of both organizations.
There's no greater need in New York State for every New Yorker than to have a safe, affordable place to call home. And that's what these two agencies do. They give people the resources or the opportunity to have a safe, affordable place in which to live.
And as the head of SONYMA, I know that you will help so many people starting out, low- and moderate-income earners who are scrimping and saving, not able to have the dream of affording their own place to buy and live. And you'll be able to do that now through SONYMA, and I can't think of a more rewarding endeavor.
And also to allow people to have the opportunity to live in multifamily dwellings, to preserve what we have but also build new ones across the state. And I want to thank you for your willingness and openness to talking about HFA having more projects across upstate in addition to the urban areas.
So I just want to say to the Governor, you've made an excellent choice once again in Mr. Thompson.
I look forward to working with you, and sincere congratulations. Because you are taking that experience, that wealth of knowledge that you have, that incredible record, and now serving the people of the State of New York. And there's no greater endeavor than that.
So congratulations.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Hassell-Thompson.
SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON:Thank you, Mr. President.
I rise too to add my voice to those who are congratulating the Governor on making an extraordinary choice for these two positions, particularly to the Housing Finance Agency, which makes sure that many of our older housing that's aging out, such as our Mitchell-Lamas and some others, get the proper financing necessary to sustain affordable housing in the State of New York.
But also the role that I'm hoping that he will play in helping us to develop a housing policy that is so very badly needed in this state. It's been many, many, many years and several governors since we've had a real housing policy that is driven toward ensuring that our young people can afford to stay in the State of New York. Many of them go to college out of state and don't come back because they can't afford to live here.
And our workforce housing needs to really have a good policy about where that housing is developed so that our nurses and firefighters and other blue-collar workers can afford to live in the communities in which they work.
And so I know that we're asking him to take on an extraordinary task, but I also know, with his background and experience, he's up to it. And for those and many other reasons, I'm very happy to be a part of those nominating him today for this position.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Klein.
SENATOR KLEIN:Thank you, Mr. President.
It's truly an honor to stand up and second the nomination of William Thompson to another prestigious position.
I think everyone who knows Bill Thompson knows he's truly a public man, has spent his entire career dedicated to public service. As a deputy borough president, chief of staff to a member of Congress, two terms as New York City comptroller, of course runs for mayor, it's only natural I would get up and speak on his behalf because I know him so well and respect him so much.
There has never been anything that Billy hasn't run for where I haven't jumped up and become one of his first supporters. He's someone who understands public service. More importantly, he understands the right way to govern. And I think he will, as Senator Hassell-Thompson said, be able to help and develop a comprehensive policy for housing in New York State, something that recognizes that we have to make sure that our low-income housing remains intact, recognizing that we have to build new middle-income housing all over our state.
And I think that he's certainly the person to do that, and I proudly second his nomination.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Díaz.
SENATOR DIAZ:Thank you, Mr. President.
This is a great opportunity that I take today, as a Puerto Rican, to congratulate a the Governor. I know not usually, not every time I congratulate the Governor. But today I am here congratulating the Governor for appointing, selecting Mr. William Thompson to be the chairman of the New York State Housing Finance Agency.
You heard my colleagues, they spoke about how well-qualified he is. He was elected, they said, to serve two consecutive terms as the City of New York chief financial officer, leading a team of 720 employees and managing a $66 million annual operating budget, $36.5 million capital budget, and the fifth largest multi-billion-dollar pension fund in the United States. He took that fund, $80 billion, and in seven years he made it $100 billion.
So his qualifications, Mr. Chairman and ladies and gentlemen, are well-known. My colleagues have spoken about him. But as I said in the Finance Committee, the biggest and best qualification that Mr. Thompson has is a person that treats everyone with respect and with dignity regardless, Mr. President, regardless of position, personal position or whatever.
I, for one, I have many disagreements in position with Mr. Thompson -- same-sex marriage, abortion, you name it. However, I live in the City of New York and Mr. Thompson also is from the City of New York. And the City of New York, we all know, is a very liberal city. And the elected officials and the leaders in the City of New York tend to reject anyone that don't think like them. And they talk to you, they talk to you when they are alone with you. But when they're in groups, they don't want people to see you with people like me, because we disagree on different issues.
Mr. Thompson has been a gentleman. Mr. Thompson is a person that no matter who is present, no matter the situation, no matter how great we disagree, he always has treated me with respect, with dignity, showing, Mr. President and ladies and gentlemen, showing that character and that quality needed to be appointed to the chairman of this important agency.
Because we all know that with the way he treats people, we all know that every single individual in the State of New York will have the open door, will have a person that they could go to and talk to and that will listen, regardless of their position, regardless of their beliefs, regardless of their political party. Mr. Thompson has proven to be a person that listens and treats everyone equally.
And that, together with all his qualifications, made Mr. Thompson the most qualified person, the best qualified person, and made the Governor a genius by appointing or choosing Mr. Thompson.
I'm honored to stand here, I'm honored to say that I heartily support Mr. Thompson and I wish him well. I will be praying for him, my church will be praying for him, and we will be asking God to continue leading him and continue making him that outstanding person that he has always been.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Krueger.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you, Mr. President.
Remember the term from your college and graduate school papers, ibid, I-B-I-D? Everyone has said such wonderful things and accurate things about Bill Thompson that my comment will be "ibid."
(Laughter.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Montgomery.
SENATOR MONTGOMERY:Yes, Mr. President. No ibid for me.
I want to thank, also, the Governor for this appointment. And when we speak of William Thompson we're generally, from the County of Kings, talking about Judge Thompson. So in order to distinguish between Judge Thompson and William Jr., we usually refer to him as Billy Thompson.
So I will -- if you would allow me Mr. President, I will rise to congratulate the Governor for appointing Billy Thompson, Jr., for this position with the New York State Housing Finance Agency and SONYMA. And as I said before, Billy Thompson is really a favorite son of Brooklyn. He went to public school in Brooklyn. He graduated from high school in Brooklyn and left Brooklyn only to pursue his higher career goals and attainments. However, he never left the City of New York.
He was always a public servant, and as deputy borough president and as chair of the Board of Education and as comptroller of the City of New York and having run for mayor of the City of New York, one can only imagine the extent and degree of education that he comes with, especially vis-a-vis campaigning. So any one of those areas would have given him a huge perspective in terms of the citizens and the interests and needs of citizens in the City of New York.
So it is a grand prize and honor to have someone who is so steeped in the culture and in the competence of what the needs are, especially in the city and I presume in other areas -- urban areas, suburban areas, as well as all over this state -- because he does have the breadth and depth of understanding vis-a-vis his experiences in public life.
So I am pleased to second his nomination, and I look forward to working with him as we continue in our state to develop and devise the best possible practices as it relates to how do we build quality affordable housing, how do we make access and opportunity to housing by all of the citizens of our state, no matter what part of the state they live in. And so this is the person, I believe, who brings with him the understanding and the experience to be able to do that.
So, Mr. President, I gladly give my support to this nominee in his new role and look forward to working with him way into the future.
Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Hamilton.
SENATOR HAMILTON:Thank you, Mr. President.
I rise also to support the nomination of William Thompson. I happened to work with Mr. Thompson over two decades ago when he was the president of the Board of Education and I was the president for Community School Board 17.
As the president of the Board of Education, Mr. Thompson had a passion for making sure our children were educated. And in working with him, we had the fifth best school in New York State, Public School 161, the Crown School for Law and Journalism.
Also when Mr. Thompson was the president of the Board of Education, I said: "Mr. Thompson, we still have coal-burning furnaces in our schools." He eliminated all the coal-burning furnaces. I said: "Mr. Thompson, we don't have all our schools wired for the Internet." He made sure all our schools were wired for the Internet.
And so his passion for being a public servant has always been in the forefront. I have supported him for every campaign he's run for. When he became comptroller of New York City, one of the largest pension systems in the country, he increased our pensions as far as getting a great return on investment. And he was a great steward. He had finance workshops throughout New York City. And I also worked on financial workshops when it came down to property assessments and making sure that everybody paid their fair share of taxes.
So I congratulate the Governor for picking Mr. Thompson for being in charge of SONYMA and Housing Finance Agency. As we know, now many of us are living the American dream of owning a house, but there are a lot many more New Yorkers who are not able to buy a home right now due to the high costs, especially in New York City and especially in God's country, Kings County, Brooklyn.
So I just want to say the Governor has made a great selection in choosing William Thompson, known in Brooklyn as Billy Thompson because his father was one of the first Senators from Brooklyn of color and also a Supreme Court justice of the Appellate Division.
So I just want to say I thank him. I also second the nomination for Mr. Thompson and just praise the Governor for picking a man so greatly qualified to lead us in finance and mortgages and housing in this great state in this great country, the United States of America.
Thank you very much.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Serrano.
SENATOR SERRANO:Thank you very much, Mr. President.
I rise also to support the nomination of William Thompson. And all of the comments that we have heard pretty much sum it up, the great career of performance by Mr. Thompson.
The only thing I'd like to add, and I know this is something that all my colleagues share with me, is that I've been struck over the years by his thoughtfulness and his kindness and how that has weaved itself into all the work he's done over the years. Very few times have I met a person as thoughtful and as caring as William Thompson.
And I wish him in this new task, which I know he'll do very well at. Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Okay. The question before the house today is on the nomination of William C. Thompson, Jr., as director and chairman of the State of New York Mortgage Agency and as member and chairman of the New York State Housing Finance Agency.
All in favor signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Opposed?
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:William C. Thompson, Jr., has hereby been confirmed as a director and chairperson of the State of New York Mortgage Agency and as member and chairman of the New York State Housing Finance Agency.
(Standing ovation.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Congratulations, Mr. Thompson. Best of luck.
The Secretary will continue.
THE SECRETARY:Howard Zemsky, of Buffalo, as commissioner of Economic Development and president and CEO of the Empire State Development Corporation.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Move the nominations.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The nominations have been moved.
Senator Kennedy.
SENATOR KENNEDY:Thank you very much, Mr. President.
It is a distinct honor to stand here today to nominate Howard Zemsky as commissioner of Economic Development and president and CEO of Empire State Development Corporation.
Those of you that have not had an opportunity to get to meet Howard Zemsky in your own community, what I can tell you and promise you is that you have an individual coming your way that has helped to transform an entire city and an entire region in Western New York.
Howard Zemsky is a man of incredible integrity and honor and passion for Buffalo and Western New York. But he wasn't born in Buffalo, he was born in Brooklyn. Then he moved to Long Island. And he came to Buffalo and he set up roots over 30 years ago with his wife, raising a beautiful family, his family investing into business in Western New York and then investing into the infrastructure of our community by putting their own commitment in dollars and cents into the revitalization and breathing new life into entire neighborhoods that have come to be known in our community as Larkinville that had just a few short years ago been nothing but history in the history books of our community.
And what's transpired because of the investment that he and his family have made on their own has been thousands of people coming into the City of Buffalo, coming into the Larkin district, Larkinville, to go to work, for entertainment, to set up shop with their own businesses. It has also spurred millions of dollars in spinoff in other individuals that have invested their own private equity into the community that was leveraged off of the investment initially made by Howard Zemsky and his family.
But this is just a microcosm of his investment into our community. His investment in his time and his energy and his passion and his resources into civic duty, volunteerism, helping Buffalo State College, helping the famed and historic Richardson Complex, the Olmsted Park, the Olmsted Conservancy. There's so many different ways that Howard Zemsky has helped to transform the City of Buffalo and Western New York that I could spend until midnight tonight speaking on it, but we've got a lot of work to do in this chamber today.
But his commitment to our community is unmatched. And I can promise you, as sure as we're standing here, that his commitment to the rest of the state will be just as unmatched, because I have seen his passion. I have seen his work with my own eyes. And I know that over the course of the last several months since the Governor has put this nomination forward, Howard Zemsky has spent countless hours and days and weeks on the road, moving around the State of New York, learning about economic development in the various regions of the State of New York, as diverse as we all are.
And as the cochair of the Regional Economic Development Corporation out in Western New York, he knows the process that is being put in place, that's being implemented from New York State, and is able to grasp the process across the rest of the state, in effect making him -- giving him the great ability to serve as both commissioner of Economic Development and as president and CEO of Empire State Development.
I can't say enough about Howard Zemsky and his commitment to our community and our state. And it is an extraordinary honor to stand here and to vote on Howard Zemsky.
And we look forward to your continued success and the fruits of your labor, along with each and every one of us in this chamber, and the various economic development initiatives to create jobs all across New York State as you've helped to create jobs in Western New York. Thank you, and congratulations.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Boyle.
SENATOR BOYLE:Thank you, Mr. President.
As chairman of the Commerce Committee, I'm pleased to forward Howard Zemsky's name for president and CEO of the Empire State Development Corp. and commissioner of Economic Development.
During his time as president and CEO of Russer Foods, Mr. Zemsky was able to grow the business at three times the industry rate. And more recently he served as cochair of the Western New York Regional Economic Development Council, which has created 4,000 jobs and lowered unemployment from 8.4 to 5.8 percent.
Mr. Zemsky, as was said, is originally from New York City, lived formative years on Long Island, and has been a successful businessperson in the Buffalo area. That sounds like the resume of someone who should be running for governor. But today we're going to nominate you for commissioner.
Thank you very much.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Nozzolio.
SENATOR NOZZOLIO:Thank you, Mr. President, on the nomination.
My colleague Senator Kennedy said it very well about the dynamic background and experience of the nominee. I am particularly interested in Howard Zemsky's discussions with us in the Senate Finance Committee about the intersection of our state's number-one industry, which is agriculture, with the development of new markets and new products through food processing.
Howard Zemsky comes extremely qualified in many different areas of economic endeavor as well as civic responsibility. But I was most impressed with his background in food processing. That background in the place where food becomes ready to go to the table -- to the market first, then to the table -- it's a very important component of our New York economy that frankly had been lost to this state about 25 years ago.
We're seeing resurgence, a renaissance, if you will, of food processing in New York with our great success stories in yogurt, our expansion of the wine industry in New York State. Another place where intersection occurs is where the wine industry has become a very important component of our tourism industry.
Those are industries that produce jobs, and they're industries that need the attention of economic development as well, particularly defined as new opportunities for New York growers, New York developers of product. And that that is something that this nominee is extremely qualified to meet. And that we hope that he will work very hard to establish and reestablish and expand those opportunities for our citizens to succeed in this state.
Thank you, Mr. President. I look forward to working with the new Economic Development chair to ensure that New York agriculture can expand and jobs within our New York agriculture will expand and that value added will be the result.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Panepinto.
SENATOR PANEPINTO:Yes, Mr. President, I rise to join in the comments.
Mr. Zemsky is a constituent of mine. And I've known him for about three or four years. But before I knew him, I watched his vision unfold in Buffalo. He turned a mostly abandoned industrial building, which sat abandoned for 50 years along the Thruway, and it was the old Larkin Soap Company. And he turned that into a vibrant office building. But more importantly his vision became someplace called Larkinville.
And he turned around an entire neighborhood and made an office building a cultural destination. Every Wednesday, beginning in June, running through September, there are concerts, there are family activities, people are coming into the City of Buffalo to a part of the city they never, ever knew existed, and it's called Larkinville. And that's based upon his vision.
He put his own money up for that effort, and he turned this vision into a cultural destination which we can be proud of. And as Senator Nozzolio said, he's got a diverse background, from food processing to development. And he will do wonders at the Empire State Development Corporation.
I applaud the Governor for this nomination.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Ranzenhofer.
SENATOR RANZENHOFER:Thank you, Mr. President.
I'd also like to join in on the chorus of members that have spoken very positively about this nominee as we've moved him through various committees. And as chairman of the Corporations and Authorities, I'd just like to weigh in on that.
I'd like to congratulate the Governor also on nominating someone to be in charge of economic development for the state who has actually done economic development -- not only in his private life, in terms of Larkinville, as was just alluded to, but also as chair of the Western New York Regional Council.
It's a unique opportunity for someone to put their private experience together with their public experience and then to head that agency.
One of the things that I was most impressed with, as this nominee went through committee, is his willingness to listen and understand that the needs of urban areas are different than the needs of agricultural and rural areas. And his commitment to meet with each and every member, from no matter where they are in the state, but to understand that we don't have a one-size-fits-all economic development policy. What's important in Genesee County in terms of yogurt, as Senator Nozzolio alluded to, food processing may not be as important to somebody in the New York City area.
But his vision of connecting people throughout the state, of bringing food to hungry mouths, to making sure that we are a leader in economic development I think bodes well for this community.
So, Howard, I commend you for volunteering for this position. This is quite an undertaking.
As the nominee indicated in committee, he hasn't spent more than one night in the same place since he's served as acting commissioner. And I think that is a real tribute to his dedication and the hard work that we're going to see over the next couple of weeks, months and years.
I commend the Governor for a truly excellent nominee.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Gallivan.
SENATOR GALLIVAN:Thank you, Mr. President.
I rise to support the nomination of Howard Zemsky to this incredibly important position. We've heard from many of our colleagues Howard's background, his successes over the years; in particular, his success as cochair of the Western New York Regional Economic Development Council.
He is very well-suited for this position. I particularly am interested in continuing the conversation that we had in committee and other times, a little bit earlier, about the state's regulatory environment and its impediment to economic development. Mr. Zemsky has expressed his understanding of this, his willingness to work with us.
If you remember not last session but the year before, many people in this room put an incredible amount of effort and participated in a series of industry-specific hearings across the state where we identified over 2,000 regulations as impediments to business.
So it's certainly something that I look forward to taking on together. And if I take it back to Howard Zemsky the person, he is an outstanding individual, and I think it starts with that. A good person, an outstanding citizen involved in his community, and no doubt he'll take these talents to the rest of the state.
So I congratulate you, I wish you the best of luck, and thank the Governor for this appointment as well.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Little.
SENATOR LITTLE:Thank you, Mr. President.
I join my colleagues in seconding the nomination of Howard Zemsky to the position for Empire State Development.
I've had the pleasure of meeting you in my office, and I appreciate that. And I also believe that you bring to the table so many things that we have heard about here today -- your business background, your private contributions to the community and your involvement in the community, as well as what you've done through the Regional Economic Development Councils for Buffalo.
I represent one of the largest areas of New York State, known as the North Country and the Adirondack Park. And although we are an absolutely wonderful place for tourism, studies have shown that what we need the most is more year-round residents. And you're not going to get year-round residents without more jobs.
So while we have done well in our Regional Economic Development Councils and our awards, winning three out of four years, I look forward to continuing to work with you as we continue this momentum and really put some of your expertise that you used in Buffalo to use in the North Country.
Congratulations on the appointment, and thank you very much.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Young.
SENATOR YOUNG:Thank you, Mr. President.
I'm proud to rise, as a Western New Yorker, in support of Howard Zemsky in this position.
Howard is someone who I have gotten to know over the years in his role especially as cochair of the Western New York Regional Economic Development Council. And I want to say Mr. Zemsky has always been very approachable, willing to listen, willing to help, and I want to thank you for that.
Mr. Zemsky is someone who cannot only talk the talk as far as job creation and economic growth go, but he's walked the walk. And we've seen it in his success in the private sector, and now he's able to take these skills to a different level to help every region of Western New York and actually the entire state.
We had a great conversation the other day, and I want to thank you for that also, because I know you understand in the Southern Tier of western New York especially, we need a little bit of extra attention and love as far as job creation goes. And so I look forward to working with you on those critically important issues, and sincere congratulations on this undertaking.
Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, I'll just conclude this, I think, by congratulating the Governor on outstanding, outstanding appointments. Government does best when it has people that have a broad range of experience and expertise in areas from their private lives. And each one of these individuals has that characteristic.
In addition, they are people that will move New York State forward. So in addition to congratulating the Governor, I want to say thank you to all of you for being willing to serve in these positions, which are not easy ones, when you could be on the beach in Florida during the winter. And I know what that feels like.
(Laughter.)
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: So congratulations all of you, and I also vote in the affirmative.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The question is on the nomination of Howard Zemsky as commissioner of Economic Development and president and CEO of the Empire State Development Corporation.
All in favor of Mr. Zemsky please signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Opposed?
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Howard Zemsky is hereby appointed and confirmed as commissioner of Economic Development and president and CEO of the Empire State Development Corporation.
(Standing ovation.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Congratulations, Mr. Zemsky, and best of luck.
Senator LaValle, that completes the appointments for confirmation consideration.
SENATOR LaVALLE: Thank you, Mr. President.
Mr. President, everyone has on their desk Supplemental Calendar Number 27A. We're going to do the noncontroversial reading. And if we can take up Calendar Number 312.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:We'll be turning now -- can I have some order in the house, please.
We'll be turning to Supplemental Senate Calendar 27A and beginning with Calendar Number 312.
And the Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 312, Senate Budget Bill, Senate Print 2008B, an act to amend Part U1 of Chapter 62 of the Laws of 2003.
SENATOR GIANARIS:Lay it aside.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Lay the bill aside.
Senator LaValle.
SENATOR LaVALLE: Mr. President, can we now have the controversial reading of Calendar Number 312.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will ring the bell.
The Secretary will read Calendar Number 312.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 312, Senate Budget Bill, Senate Print 2008B, an act to amend Part U1 of Chapter 62 of the Laws of 2003.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Krueger.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you. If the sponsor would please yield to some questions.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator DeFrancisco yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you.
Can you please explain what is in this bill that extends the authorization for minority and women-owned business enterprises and how that has changed from current law?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I don't know the answer to that. I'll have to check on it.
I do remember, now that I've been -- my mind has been jogged here. The disparity study that had to be performed was extended, the due date extended for six months.
SENATOR KRUEGER:And through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor would continue to yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:In the past it has taken up to 16 months to complete a study. Does the sponsor have any concern that we are not providing adequate time to get a study done?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: No. And under our new efficient state government that gets five budgets done on time in a row, we expect the efficiencies to carry over to the administration as well. So we believe this is plenty of time.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor would continue to yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you.
It appears that we are extending yet again the compliance deadline for the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act, DERA. The final budget I believe extends the compliance for all covered heavy-duty vehicles from December 2015 to 2016.
This has already been extended multiple years. How can we justify keeping the dirtiest, most polluting state vehicles in operation without the proper filters for yet another year and push back the requirement for DEC to report on the state's progress in meeting full compliance?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: You know, in government it's important to make good policy. And it's important also to be practical about that good policy in implementing it.
And the fact of the matter is while these delays have occurred, more and more vehicles, such as the ones we're concerned about, have been taken off the road rather than requiring businesses to make substantial changes to old vehicles.
And I think the extension is a good one. I've got a feeling by the time we actually do this, we're not going to burden business with unnecessary costs when their fleets are changing and the new environmental technology will be in the new vehicles.
So I frankly believe that this is a good policy to extend it so that companies will have a better chance to renew their fleet by having more modern vehicles with the right environmental equipment, rather than spending millions of dollars in the State of New York when the vehicles are going to be changed in a relatively short period of time.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor would continue to yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:So basically the sponsor thinks we're very efficient and can get an MWBE study done in quicker-than-ever time, but we're not efficient enough to get dirty polluting diesel vehicles fixed or off of our roads. Is that my understanding?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: It may be your understanding, but it's wrong. Because this is not an issue of efficiency, this is an issue of practicality and not requiring needless retrofits to a fleet of trucks by those truck companies that are going to be replacing these vehicles in a very short time.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor would continue to yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you.
Where's the money in this bill?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: There is no money in this bill. This is the Article VII. And the appropriations bill will be forthcoming.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor would continue to yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:It's true it's not an appropriations bill, it's an Article VII bill. But it does reduce state operations appropriation, or references that. But it continues a nearly $85 million bailout for the Thruway Authority to offset related expenses for the Canal Corporation.
Does the sponsor think we should actually be committing additional monies to one project when we actually haven't seen any of the of the appropriations proposals for roads, bridges, the Thruway Authority, the MTA, any of the above?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Well, it is a little bit difficult, I've got to concede.
However, I think, going back to our efficiency theme, rather than being here till 3 a.m. Wednesday, April 1st, we thought we'd get the bills out that were ready to go and vote on those. If you don't agree with the appropriation or if you don't agree with that -- first of all, if you don't agree with that policy, you can obviously vote no or you can vote no on the appropriations bill if it doesn't comply with your requirements that you would need.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Well, I appreciate the sponsor's response.
And yes, it's true, when you vote on budget bills you assume that you're voting on the language in the policy changes or the language on how the money is going to be spent. And perhaps one hopes, in some state capital somewhere else, you actually have the appropriation language that goes with it so you actually know what money there is or there isn't that might be going into this.
So again, through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor would yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you.
Am I correct in believing that so far, there's no fix to upstate transit funding or revenue streams in this bill and no establishment of a long-term capital plan for upstate transit properties; is that correct?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Not in this bill. But I can assure you that that will be in one of the bills to follow, because that is one of the most important parts of the budget that is important to both the Assembly and the Senate. Namely, upstate transit systems, since they received zero operating increase and zero capital increase in the Governor's budget, as opposed to what the MTA received. So we had to get some type of balance.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, will the sponsor continue to yield?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you.
At one time there was language for the RGGI program in this bill, tying into sweeping some money into a new program. Can the Senator clarify where the discussion language or appropriation of RGGI money is now? Because I can't find it in this bill.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: It's a sweep and transfer. I don't know exactly which bill.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President. So the sponsor's answering there's no language for RGGI at all in this bill?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: In this bill, correct.
SENATOR KRUEGER:And we don't know what bill we might find that in.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: No, but it will be in there somewhere.
But it's a sweep. I know there are many people that were concerned about sweeping monies from that fund. But that did survive the budget.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, since we haven't seen the appropriations bill language, how does the sponsor know it's somewhere being swept?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I have faith. I have faith in the system.
(Laughter.)
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: And I know it was being finalized with another bill, and I've been assured that the sweep did occur and will appear in a future budget bill.
SENATOR KRUEGER:We had a recent discussion, I think on another bill, when it was explained to me that --
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Krueger, are you on the bill?
SENATOR KRUEGER:I'm on the bill momentarily.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Krueger on the bill.
SENATOR KRUEGER:I had it recently explained to me that one should just have faith or one knows without seeing it in writing. And just to remind my colleague and friend, budget bills really aren't done that way. Budgets are done through language, through appropriations, through the people of New York State getting to see what is and what is not in a budget bill.
The TEDE bill is a critically important part of the budget -- again, for people who might be watching but don't know -- that involves transportation, economic development and environmental conservation.
There are many different issues for the State of New York, from the north to the south, about those sections of our state budget. And yet we are being asked to vote on a bill that, as my colleague answered, doesn't tell us what's going to happen with upstate transit properties or the funding streams. It doesn't have a five-year capital program or discuss fixes to it. It doesn't have new transparency language for a five-year capital plan.
But there might be an MOU that comes out -- and I'm not even sure under budget law whether we're allowed to do MOUs anymore. But I can't debate that, because that's not in this bill either.
It doesn't have Thruway Authority transparency language for the Thruway finances. And my colleague just earlier today in a Finance Committee meeting discussed his concern that the Tappan Zee Bridge financing or the use of Thruway stabilization money for the Tappan Zee Bridge has not been resolved even as the bridge is being built.
It does not deal in any way with MTA, which I will leave for a moment to one of my colleagues.
So that we're being asked to pass a bill that's missing all the meat, so to speak, because it's not correlating to a yet-to-be-seen appropriation bill that may or may not have money for all of these important programs and issues, that may or may not sweep money that we would approve or disapprove of sweeping money from.
We're doing some extensions of specific programs without actually seeing whether we're putting adequate money in to move those programs forward. We are creating a new capital investment fund, but we're not -- transit assistance for capital investment fund -- but we're not explaining what kind of money might go into it and for whom.
We omitted sections on toll violations, which has been a continuing issue for the revenue on transportation. We have omitted the authority on a statutory exemption from traditional public bidding requirements. We are authorizing DOT to provide certain kinds of assistance without actually explaining the cost impact.
We are throwing in a number of items that, in fairness, I actually like, and yet not explaining at all how we're going to pay for it or who's going to pay for it, whether it's going to be a loss to ratepayers or a gain to ratepayers. We're expanding and extending programs that -- they have nice names; I think I should like them -- extend the Cleaner Greener New York Act. But it's not explaining where the money is coming from to extend the Cleaner Greener New York Act.
It frankly is about a third of the bill I would have expected it to be. And if we compare it to other years, I think we might find it's missing mistake about two-thirds of its sections. Or even compared to the proposed budget bill that the Governor originally sent us as the Executive TEDE bill.
So I don't think it's a good idea to guess what you think might come out in other bills that might help you explain what's not in this bill. I don't think it's a good idea to guess how much of the state's revenue is going to be used for things described in this bill or not described in this bill.
I think it's frustrating to many of us that our leader was not involved in the budget negotiations on the second floor so she couldn't bring back information to share with us.
And I think even it's interesting that I don't believe we ever had a report closing down the budget conference committees where there were different tables that in theory were negotiating some proposed changes which might or might not be in this bill, which might or might not be in future bills we haven't seen. We just know that that process actually didn't play out as the budget requires and leaves us in even a greater quandary of what the heck is TEDE this year, or TED.
So I have to say, in the absence of full information, in the absence of knowing what the dollars and cents to be spent on these programs or not spent on these programs are, in the absence of our reviewing a package in total which would perhaps help us guess the answers -- or get beyond guessing to actually knowing the answers -- that I cannot recommend my colleagues vote for this bill.
And I cannot vote for this bill, Mr. President. Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Squadron.
SENATOR SQUADRON:Thank you, Mr. President. If the sponsor would yield.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator DeFrancisco, do you yield?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR SQUADRON:As we look at this budget -- Transportation, Economic Development and Environmental Conservation -- I just wanted to get a sense of what support is in this bill for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Are you talking about financial support?
SENATOR SQUADRON:Yes.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: There's nothing in here about financial support.
SENATOR SQUADRON:If the sponsor would continue to yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR SQUADRON:Is there any non-financial support for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in this bill?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Oh, there definitely will be. They never lack for support. But it will be in another bill.
SENATOR SQUADRON:If the sponsor would continue to yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
SENATOR SQUADRON:What bill?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: It will be in two bills, the capital bill and the Aid to Localities.
SENATOR SQUADRON:If the sponsor will continue to yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR SQUADRON:I don't have access to either of those bills at the moment.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: You don't, you don't have access to it. Nor do I.
SENATOR SQUADRON:And --
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Squadron, are you asking the sponsor to yield?
SENATOR SQUADRON:I am.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR SQUADRON:Thank you. I was in the middle of that prior yield. And --
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Excuse me, I was mistaken. The Aid to Localities is online. It's been printed.
SENATOR SQUADRON:Thank you.
I did not have a representative of my conference in the budget negotiations, so I don't have as much access to that information as the sponsor does.
What can we expect for support from the MTA in the unprinted bill and in the bill that's online?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Well, first of all, you do have access to anything online if you have a computer. Or an iPad or something else. That's number one.
Number two, as far as the actual dollar amount, that has not been resolved yet. Could you grab him before he -- oh.
The other bill is not -- the capital bill is not online yet. They're still working on language. That you don't have access to, nor do I at this point.
SENATOR SQUADRON:If the sponsor would continue to yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR SQUADRON:So it won't be possible, in the interest of consolidating debate and discussion, to discuss the overall support for the MTA in this budget at this time; is that fair to say?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I'll give you a number that's going to be in the bill. She's checking on it right now.
SENATOR SQUADRON:Thank you.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: If you go on to the next question, we'll get back to that.
SENATOR SQUADRON:Sure. If the sponsor would continue to yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR SQUADRON:And I am interested in that number. But it's fair to say that that number is not going to fill the entire $15 billion deficit in the five-year capital plan of the MTA; is that right?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: The capital number is what I can't give you. I can give you the operating numbers. And that's what -- we're getting that right now.
But I would suspect, in view of the amount of money that's being said to be necessary, it will not meet all of the needs, nor will all of the needs of the upstate transit authorities also be met entirely.
SENATOR SQUADRON:If the sponsor will continue to yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR SQUADRON:And I know we're getting specific dollar amounts. Is there any significant new operating support for the MTA? I know these dollar amounts are coming, but any new lines?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: That's what we're looking for.
SENATOR SQUADRON:Great.
I'll speak on the bill for a moment, and then I'll yield back when we have an answer.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Squadron on the bill.
SENATOR SQUADRON:Thank you.
So we have the beginning of a budget here that we're beginning to debate and vote on. We don't have even the entire budget printed. And so it's hard to assess exactly what's happening in this budget this year on a number of important issues. One of those is the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the MTA, which runs our buses and subways.
And the MTA, as we know, has significant operating needs and capital needs. Operating needs are the ability to run the subways every day. Capital needs are the ability to run the subways tomorrow and next year and the year beyond that.
Unfortunately, right now we are facing a moment with our public transit system throughout the region -- this is not just New York City -- from Suffolk County to Rockland County and everywhere in between, where we saw significant concerns in the last couple of years. Obviously there's the high profile incidents on Metro-North Railway that we've seen. There are concerns about increased congestion and delays on Long Island Railroad.
And on New York City subways, over the last 12 months we saw nearly a doubling of long gaps between trains, we saw only 74 percent of subway trains arriving at their terminal at the end of the line on time, down significantly from the prior year. And we saw a 36 percent increase, 36 percent increase in total delays.
When the buses and subways and commuter rails start to go downhill, the entire region suffers. It is the economic driver for our region, it is the driver for equity and opportunity for folks throughout the region. It changes the calculation on housing, on jobs, on economic development. And it is a concern that every one of us in this house should take on.
It is unfortunate to be debating part of the budget without knowing the entire consequence. But I do appreciate very much the sponsor being clear that when we do see the entire budget, we are not going to see a solution, either, as the sponsor said, for the upstate road and bridge program, the DOT capital program, which is critical for the state as well, nor for the MTA's five-year capital plan.
The MTA's five-year capital plan is close to $30 billion. We had, thanks to a hearing organized by the Senate Majority, a very informative hearing on MTA finances. Some good information given to us by the chair and the president of the MTA.
We need $22 billion of those $29 billion just to keep the system in good repair. That means that today we are $7 billion short of just having a system that runs decently. The additional dollars after that are for basic expansions of the system that we need.
You know the number-one cause of those delays? Overcrowding. We have more people using the system today than we have had certainly in generations. And an expansion of the system for East Side access for Long Island Railroad, for more and newer cars, for the ability to be more weather resistant, not less weather resistant -- that's what we're talking about with the $7 billion or so between $22 billion and $29 billion.
So to walk away from this year's budget with an MTA capital plan that has no way to keep the buses and subways and commuter rails running is an enormous gap in this budget. And that's something that we should deal with.
I don't know if the sponsor has found the operating supports or if there's anything new.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, I have.
The total operating budget which is in this year's budget, or will be when it's available, $4.3 billion for operating.
Just to compare, an additional -- the non-MTA transit downstate is $286 million. The entire budget for upstate transit, which is also in trouble -- my authority is talking about cutting a substantial number of routes and they can't make it till the end of the year. The total for Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany in comparison to the $4.3 billion plus 286 downstate is a total right now of approximately $188 million.
So I'm just as concerned about the transit authorities upstate as you are downstate, and hopefully we will get more funds than we got last year.
SENATOR SQUADRON:Thank you. If the sponsor would yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
SENATOR SQUADRON:Are those dollar amounts for the non-MTA-region transit authorities an increase from last year or flat from last year?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, it is. That did not represent an increase.
They are getting capital increases in the amount of $14 million.
SENATOR SQUADRON:Thank you. And for the MTA operating, is that an increase from last year?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: MTA increase, $32 million.
SENATOR SQUADRON:Increase on an over $4 billion number?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Correct.
SENATOR SQUADRON:Thank you.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: And they got $114 million in capital.
SENATOR SQUADRON:A hundred fourteen -- if the sponsor would continue to yield -- in the capital bill that we haven't seen? That's going to be the capital money?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: That's correct.
SENATOR SQUADRON:Thank you. And I agree with the sponsor absolutely, this is about transit systems throughout the state.
When you look at scale, the MTA is at a scale unlike any of the others. And the MTA capital program does, by the way, lead to 80,000 jobs outside of the MTA region because of where we purchase much of our equipment from.
So the MTA program itself is a statewide program, as Senator Dilan, the ranker on the Transportation Committee has pointed out many times on this floor. It is also, though, as the sponsor points out, not just a downstate issue. It's about upstate transit authorities. We just confirmed Howard Zemsky for a new and bigger job; he knows those troubles well in the western part of this state from the NFTA.
Senator DeFrancisco just spoke about them in Onondaga and in the Syracuse area. And it is true that we don't have a plan for a road and bridge program.
The absence of a plan in one part of the state for one system is not a justification not to have a plan in another part of the state for another system. And the MTA is unique in terms of what it does in driving tax revenues, commerce, and a very large region of our state in which more than 11 million New Yorkers live.
So all that said, we don't have the whole budget here. We don't even have the whole budget printed yet. We still have a couple of hours to maybe right this wrong, get back into that room, maybe expand who's in that room, make sure that every conference is represented. And let's make sure that we do have an MTA capital program that at least has a path toward funding. Because walking out of this budget with an MTA system with buses and subways and commuter rails that are doomed to get worse, cannot even be kept in a state of good repair, is an unacceptable outcome.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Hoylman.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:Thank you, Mr. President. Would the sponsor yield to a few questions?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:Thank you.
Through you, Mr. President, I have a few questions about the delay of the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act. I know Senator Krueger asked a couple. But specifically I wanted to know -- Mr. President, through you -- how many vehicles are remaining to be retrofitted according to the terms of DERA, which was passed by this body back in 2006?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Seven hundred.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:Seven hundred.
Mr. President, through you.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:And would the sponsor tell me what the approximate cost of that retrofit would be?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I do not know.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:Thank you.
Through you, Mr. President, would the sponsor continue to yield?
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Excuse me. I've just been informed -- I can vouch for her honesty, but I can't vouch for sure that this is an exact number. But about $30,000 per truck.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:Would the sponsor continue to yield, Mr. President?
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:Does the sponsor -- we had a conversation about DERA and the delay of its implementation last go-round when it was the one-house bill. And the sponsor said, Mr. President, that there was no direct proof -- and I'm reading from the transcript -- that everybody who has asthma got it because they were near a diesel truck. Does the sponsor stand by that statement?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, I do. I'd like to know the person who was standing by the truck, and when, and maybe we can come to an agreement if it's true or not.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:Would the sponsor continue to yield?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:So there are literally billions of measurements that show the correlation between diesel toxins, which include mercury and heavy metals, and a range of diseases -- chronic bronchitis, asthma, premature mortality, emphysema, lung cancer, respiratory and cardiovascular disease. There's a study out that shows that there's actually change in gene expression. That was just a couple of months ago.
Does the sponsor discount the weight of medical evidence from institutions like the National Cancer Institute and the National Institutes of Health?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Do those numbers and conclusions that you drew deal with studies that actually had people get those diseases from standing next to a diesel truck? Or from, generally, general problems that exist in the communities from all types of air pollution?
SENATOR HOYLMAN:Mr. President, I was unclear. Is the sponsor asking me a question now?
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:I think the sponsor was answering your question and elaborated on that. Senator Hoylman, do you have another question?
SENATOR HOYLMAN:Answering in the form of a question, like Jeopardy.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Would you like to -- well, it's done a lot in the chamber, unfortunately.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: No, I -- it's --
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:So give him a -- Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Let me answer it a different way.
I'm trying to answer your question. You're throwing out all of these studies by the Cancer Society and others. The specific issue here is whether people got these diseases because of the diesel truck emissions. Or is it just generally there's a linkage between the exhaust of a diesel engine and cancer or the diseases in general? That I could answer.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:So, Mr. President, would the sponsor continue to yield?
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:So the sponsor --
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Excuse me. Excuse me.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: No, go ahead. Go ahead.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:So the sponsor still disputes, as far as I can understand, the correlation between diesel emissions by trucks, which is what we're talking about in DERA, and the range of health ailments that are on record as having an impact on communities across the State of New York.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I can't answer that question unless I know the studies to which you are referring are with diesel trucks idling in one location and people standing there causing this disease.
Because all this bill does is retrofit diesel trucks. And it depends on what those studies are all about.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:On the bill, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Hoylman on the bill.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:Thank you.
So I thank the sponsor for this elucidation of your earlier comments and letting this chamber know that we're talking about 21 million bucks to retrofit 400 vehicles in order to be compliant with the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act.
Mr. President, I would argue that $21 million is a small price to pay to address serious health concerns that have been connected to diesel emissions by the most reputable of scientific institutions.
And what concerns me, Mr. President, is this kind of antiscience posturing when it comes to this bill and this issue, a posturing that attacks the validity of science itself. It's a denialism that goes to the heart of what we as public policymakers should be relying on in terms of evidence.
You can dispute one or two reports, I guess. But when you have the battery of studies linking diesel emissions to chronic bronchitis, to asthma, to premature mortality, to emphysema and lung cancer, to me it is really problematic.
Mr. President, facts can be stubborn things. But in this chamber I think we need to base our analysis on them. And the studies show time and time again that diesel particulates cause great harm to our communities.
By delaying DERA for yet another year, for the fifth year, we're talking about another 1500 premature deaths, 2,000 nonfatal heart attacks, almost 40,000 asthma attacks, over 800 cases of chronic bronchitis, 180,000 lost workdays, and 812 asthma-related emergency room visits by kids. I think that is an enormous cost that would outweigh $21 million to retrofit 400 trucks.
I'm very concerned about this portion of the bill and will be voting no as a result.
Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Hassell-Thompson.
SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON:Thank you, Mr. President. Just on the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Hassell-Thompson on the bill.
SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON:I had anticipated that the discussion about MWBE would be somewhere other than here in the TEDE. But since it's the number-one issue for me, anyway, I have to express my deep concern for the fact that a disparity study that in the last round took close to 20 months, that this budget now calls for a six-month study. When, number one, the awarding of that contract came very, very late in the process, was just awarded in February, and the full announcement came at the end of February. And to have the cutoff point so short in the process is very suspicious. And I think that's the nicest thing I can say about it.
The other thing that I'm deeply disturbed about is the amount of money that has been allocated based upon the numbers of MWBEs in this state.
For those of us who may not be aware what the disparity study does, it is an opportunity for this state to study participation by minority and women on government contracts through each of the many agencies operated by the State of New York.
And in that process, in the last process of the disparity study we found that there were some elements that were eliminated and had hoped to make corrective adjustments when we did the follow-up disparity study; i.e., a few months ago we just passed an addition to the MWBE which was to talk about women-owned businesses and the numbers of employees that made women businesses eligible. And not only the number of employees, but also the net worth.
And so in looking at this and other issues that happened as a result, more was added to the disparity study in terms of what the study needed to be able to do.
New York State is one of only 11 states across the country that has ever done a statewide disparity study. Most states have done them by county. But to do a state as large as New York with the numbers of minority- and women-owned businesses that have yet to be identified, it is, as I said, deeply disturbing that we have allocated, number one, so little time to the ability to do that study, and also the amount of money that has been allocated.
I know that originally there was a greater amount set to be made available. But there also does not lend itself -- this budget does not lend itself to the technical assistance that's necessary for new businesses coming into the process of doing business with the State of New York.
The reason it's important, for those of you who may or may not be owners of small businesses, but the first three years of owning a business and doing business with the state particularly is very onerous because the state doesn't pay on time. And anybody who has a contract with the State of New York knows that very, very well. And so the businesses being reimbursed and being able to work through those contracts puts those businesses at a tremendous disadvantage.
I'm also concerned what impact that will have on the lending piece as well as the bonding. Because some of these tables were closed, as my colleague Senator Krueger identified, without many of these kinds of things being resolved, it was quite surprising to find that a conclusion was so abruptly brought. Which hence makes me, as the state's tallest if not the biggest conspiracy theorist around, very suspicious.
But I'm deeply concerned if we do this, because it makes me believe that this is a deliberate attempt for us to get rid of the program.
It's also very interesting that at the beginning of the year when the Governor did his State of the State and he did an MWBE workshop, he talked about the fact that he was increasing the goals for the State of New York from 20 to 30 percent. And I'd really like to know, without recruitment and without participation of additional businesses and correcting some of the things that we found faulty, how this is going to be successful in happening.
So those of you who think along the lines that I've lined up, you should understand why I would be suspicious and therefore it would rouse my conspiracy theories.
I think this is ample reason -- I mean, I came into the chamber, you know, all set to vote for most aspects of the budget. But it's clear to me that perhaps if Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who is the leader of the Democratic Conference, had been in the room -- and as somebody who was on the Governor's original task force on minority- and women-owned businesses, if she had been in the room, some of these things probably would have been corrected and I therefore wouldn't have the need to be as suspicious as I am.
But her absence from the room, however, just codifies what I believe to be a very deliberate attempt to silence the voice of 8 million people in the State of New York.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Sanders.
SENATOR SANDERS:Thank you, Mr. President. On the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Sanders on the bill.
SENATOR SANDERS:I think that there are many things in this bill that are good. But I think that the bad outweighs the good on it.
But I would be remiss if I did not take a moment to express my dismay -- in fact, my disgust -- over the antitransparent and antidemocratic, both small and large D, ways that the leader of my conference has not been allowed to participate in the budget negotiation.
Having said that, let me point to one of the problems on this bill, the MWBE study again. It took 24 months to do the first one, 24 months. And 39 agencies were examined. We are going to jam pack that and, at best, do a little bit more than six months to look at more than a hundred agencies.
My friends, this is a recipe for disaster. We need to be very clear on what we're doing. If we don't want to do something, we should -- it would be easier and better and safer for all parties not to do it. But if we are going to do something in New York State, we should do it in New York State fashion. We should start with success in mind and aim and go towards these things.
It would also be useful to look at the lending mechanism of this program. That we make sure that in the appropriations bill we have enough money in it to make sure that we are able to fulfill our obligations if we go on this path.
So again, I will end -- I'm sure we're going to have a long night, and I don't want to be part of it too much. But I have to end as I began. Had the leader of my conference been in there, perhaps we would have caught some of these problems.
And I have to denounce again the lack of transparency and the antidemocratic, small and large D, method in which this budget was created. I certainly cannot vote for such a budget, and I urge my colleagues to do likewise.
Thank you very much, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Espaillat.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:Thank you, Mr. President. Will the sponsor yield for some questions?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:Thank you. Through you, Mr. President.
This is the first budget bill that we got since we got the debt services bill done last week; correct?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I don't know. I don't know when you actually got it. I know that they were available -- this bill was available Friday night before midnight.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor will yield.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:Is this 982-page budget bill the first bill that we're taking up today?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: If it's Senate 2008B, yes.
SENATOR HAMILTON:Thank you. Mr. President, through you again.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:Let's take this back now. Since this is the first budget bill that we do today and it's 982 -- I'm sorry, 892 pages long --
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Excuse me, before you go on. Do you have Senate Bill 2008 in front of you?
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:I have this document here, which has 892 pages.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: But whether it's got 800 pages or one page, I've got to make sure I'm talking about the same bill. What we're discussing now is S2008B.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:Well, this is the first discussion that we're having on a budget bill today; correct?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: That is correct.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:The TEDE bill.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Correct. I think it's TED.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:TED. I hope it's not the Tet Offensive, but --
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Gentlemen, can you please direct through the chair. Senator Espaillat, let's keep your comments germane to the bill.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:Okay, through you, Mr. President. And so we started this discussion with our own one-house bill and the Assembly's one-house bill and the Governor's budget.
What is our estimated budget cost? How much are we going to spend? At the end of the day once we're done after April the 1st, what do you expect that the budget will be?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: All Funds budget, $149,172,000,000.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:Close to -- through you, Mr. President, again, close to $150 billion; correct?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Correct.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:Does that include the $5 billion surplus that was projected earlier this session?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:Through you, Mr. President, again.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:So what that means is that for the first time in many years, many years, perhaps since World War II, we've had in our disposition, in our discussions, a $5 billion surplus; is that correct?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I don't know -- I was a young child during World War II. I don't know whether this is the first time we've had a surplus. I'm not sure about that.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:Through you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:Has this been the largest surplus we've had since you've been here in the State Senate?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:Thank you.
So we have -- Mr. President, through you again -- $150 million that we're spending --
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Billion.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:Billion, I'm sorry, $5 billion of which come through a surplus that was -- do you know, Senator, how we got that $5 billion?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I most certainly do. By wonderful legal work by the legal profession to get a settlement in the case -- so lawyers aren't all bad -- to get a settlement to the tune of $5.4 billion for the state.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:That is correct.
And so we have a $5 billion surplus that we got through a settlement gotten through litigation between the Attorney General's office and some of the banking institutions in New York State, to the tune of $5 billion.
Are we expecting additional monies to come from that type of litigation?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. In fact, more good legal work was done by another group of lawyers, and there's approximately another $600 million surplus that should be coming in. But that was not counted in this budget.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:So through you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:You know, I used to watch cowboy movies as a kid, and I used to watch Bonanza. And "bonanza" means that you have money at your disposition, that you have money readily available.
So since you've been here, has this been the biggest budget that we've spent on, $150 billion, including $5 billion from the settlement money and an additional potential $600 million that could come in?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Six hundred million, correct. Yes, during the time I've been here, yes.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:Okay. Well -- through you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:So it is obvious that this is probably one of the years that we had the best opportunities to address many of the fiscal issues facing the state. Has the minority conference leader of the Senate been involved in these discussions?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: She hasn't been involved in the discussions that I've been involved in. You're going to have to ask the Senate leader whether she's been involved in any others.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:Through you, Mr. President. So in this March, Women's Month, our leader, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, has not been involved in a discussion of the biggest budget that we've spent since you've been in the State Senate; is that correct?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: As far as my dealings with the budget and the parts I helped negotiate, she wasn't involved in those. Whether it was Women's History Month or Men's History Month, that's irrelevant.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:Through you, Mr. President. And so this TEDE bill --
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Are you asking the sponsor to continue to yield, Senator Espaillat?
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator DeFrancisco, do you yield?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:This TEDE bill has some expenditures for the agricultural business; is that correct?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I'm sorry, I missed the question.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:This TEDE bill includes some expenditures for the agricultural business; is that correct?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I don't know. TED bill, is there money in here for agriculture?
No, there's no money in here for anything. The appropriation bill will have all the amounts for agriculture, economic development, et cetera.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:So this is a -- through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor will yield again.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:He yields.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:So this is a skeleton bill that has lots of smokes and mirrors but doesn't have actual money behind it, is that what you're saying?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: No, it is an Article VII bill which has the language. The money is always in the appropriations bill.
And the whole budget is not smoke and mirrors, it's a budget of 10 budget bills, maybe more, depending upon how it's broken down. And we always do one at a time.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:Thank you, Mr. President. On the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Espaillat on the bill.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:This bill is the beginning of a serious discussion about the most important, perhaps the most important work that we do here every year, which is to approve the budget.
Clearly stated by the chair of the Finance Committee, this year we will spend more money than we've ever spent before. In fact, this year we have contemplated spending an additional $5 billion that came as a result of litigation between the New York State Attorney General and some of the banking institutions that were responsible, to some degree, of the foreclosure crisis that impacted our state and country.
Yet I feel that we are missing great opportunities to address our moral compass, our moral mission in this house, because many of the needs of working-class New Yorkers and middle-class New Yorkers will not be addressed. In fact, whereas monies will come in to impact the agricultural business in a favorable way, nothing will go to farmworkers that are working on farms --
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Espaillat, we're dealing with the transportation/ environmental bill. Please stay germane to the bill. There's much before the house tonight and many hours before us. I would ask you to just comply with Rule 10, please.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:Well, there's $300,000 for the MWBE revolving fund. And if you do the numbers and you consider that 7,000 businesses participate, are registered and certified to do business with the state, if you do the numbers, that will show that each business, if they chose to apply, will get $43.86.
But the budget will continue to be a document of importance to all of us. We're spending lots of money. Our leader has not been a part of this discussion. Therefore, many of the decisions that will take place in this chamber will not have the opinions of a good chunk of the representatives of New York State and of this body.
So many of the issues as we move forward -- higher education, the lack of the DREAM Act, food pantries, school-based clinics -- will not be taken seriously by this body because we failed to have a representative at the table to convey our concerns and our opinions in this very important work that our voters send us here to do, which is to adopt an on-time budget and a budget for all New Yorkers.
Again, Mr. President, because of the lack of transparency, because our leader has not been included in this very expensive budget, because funding that came through the surplus acquired through the Attorney General's litigation will not be spent in the correct way, I am compelled to vote in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Stavisky.
SENATOR STAVISKY:Thank you, Mr. President.
Previous speakers have outlined what's missing in this budget. And there's a lot of empty space, a lot of unanswered questions. I was particularly concerned about the MTA and the lack of the five-year capital budget as well --
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Stavisky, are you on the bill?
SENATOR STAVISKY:Yes, I am.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Stavisky on the bill.
SENATOR STAVISKY:I will have one question at the end, Mr. President.
So I'm concerned about the lack of a five-year capital program, which is so necessary. The infrastructure issues are very apparent. They need help. I represent a district which, while it has some subway lines, many parts are not covered by the New York City Transit Authority.
For example, the buses, they're breaking down. We need new buses. There's no room for people to board these buses. We have a Long Island Railroad station in downtown Flushing that is not accessible to the disabled. It's an anachronistic station. There's money in the budget, there had been some money in the budget, and yet the station remains available only to people who can climb the very steep staircases.
There are a lot of other areas which I'm not going to go into. But I took a look at the bill, and it's 72 pages long. And if the sponsor would yield to a question, I would appreciate it.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Senator yields.
SENATOR STAVISKY:The 72 pages that are before us, who was involved in the negotiation that -- where this was the finished product?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Well, they were here a moment ago. They're all sitting -- two of them are sitting in the back row there, two lovely ladies in the back.
SENATOR STAVISKY:Would you identify them for the record, please?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Mary Clark has the nice sweater, the red sweater. She's next to Kemp Hannon. And I'm sorry, I drew a blank. Allison Bradley. How I could forget? They were two at the table. Of course there were others along the way.
SENATOR STAVISKY:Well, if you could tell me, Mr. President, what districts they represent.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I think they live in Albany.
(Laughter.)
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: They don't represent a district. They're not a Senator. They're -- they're staff members.
SENATOR STAVISKY:Ah, they're staff. So this is a budget -- if the Senator would continue to yield -- that was written by staff.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: As it was when you were in the majority in 2009-2010. I doubt there was much writing of bills by the actual Senators. This is always the way it's done.
SENATOR STAVISKY:I understand that. If the Senator would continue to yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Senator yields.
SENATOR STAVISKY:Somebody tells them what to put into the language. Can you tell me who told them what to put into the bill, Senate 2008?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Well, the way we do it in the Senate is we look at the Governor's budget, we break it down into parts. And those Senators that represent -- that do work, whether committee chair for Health or the committee chair for Education or whatever, they'll break it down, we'll get more information from the budget hearings. Then we get into subcommittees, and the subcommittees make reports to the entire Republican Conference.
And we share those with the Independent Democratic Conference. Then at that point we have conferences. And we try to reach a consensus as to what our priorities are.
Then we've got our priorities, we do a one-house bill, and then we start negotiating with the Assembly as well as the Governor. We don't get everything we want. They don't get everything they want. And somehow during this process we're able to reach a consensus that no one's happy with because no one got exactly what they want.
And then we print those bills as soon as we can get those words down, and we debate them on the floor.
SENATOR STAVISKY:Would the Senator continue to yield.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Senator yields.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
SENATOR STAVISKY:Senator Dilan is the ranking member on the Transportation Committee and our representative on the conference committee. Was he involved? Was he asked for his opinions and his priorities?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: He was at all the budget hearings on transportation, I know that -- or the one budget hearing. He was in other ones. I'm not so sure whether he submitted his priorities to one of us.
Oftentimes members of the minority conference will suggest something that should be in the budget that's in the mix in that sense.
SENATOR STAVISKY:So you're suggesting -- if the Senator would yield to one last question.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Sure.
SENATOR STAVISKY:Was Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins consulted on this 72-page bill?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Not by me. I don't know if the leader did or any other Senators did. Not with me.
SENATOR STAVISKY:Thank you, Mr. President. On the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Stavisky on the bill.
SENATOR STAVISKY:Obviously if Senator Stewart-Cousins had been included, she would have brought up the issues of the MTA and the MWBE and the agriculture and all of the other parts of the TEDE bill. She was not.
And that, to me, is a deficiency in this project. Everybody should be contributing, not just a few select people. And to deny somebody who represents, as the leader of a 24-member conference, 8 million New Yorkers, I think that's a serious mistake and a deficiency in our process.
And, Mr. President, can I ask Senator Dilan to yield to a question?
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Dilan has not spoken on the bill, so Senator Stavisky may continue. He is on the list to be heard, though, to be called upon.
SENATOR STAVISKY:When you speak, Senator Dilan, I hope you will discuss your involvement with this 72-page bill.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Thank you, Senator Stavisky.
Senator Peralta.
SENATOR PERALTA:Thank you, Mr. President.
This is not a portion that I was going speak on, but I will anyway.
There's a lot of unanswered questions -- on the bill, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Peralta on the bill.
SENATOR PERALTA:A lot of unanswered questions that are here today.
Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson talked about some of the bad parts of this bill that extends authorization for the MWBE statutes and the due date of a disparity study for six months rather than the year requested by the Executive.
Senator Hoylman talked about how this extends the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act compliance for an additional year, meaning that this bill will keep the dirtiest and most polluting state vehicles in operation without proper filters for an additional year.
Senator Krueger talked about how thin this bill was and how there should be more in this bill.
And I guess the common theme around this side of the aisle is the fact that our leader, the Democratic leader, was not involved in budget negotiations. And I don't understand how this is a fact when we constantly talk about the divide of upstate versus downstate and we constantly talk about how we should make sure that New York City doesn't control the agenda.
Well, here we have a representative that represents over 8 million people, and she was not allowed to negotiate this budget. That is startling to me.
Now, there is a lack of transparency, a lack of respect, a lack of equity. And yet here we are, we got this bill last night. And we know that it's very thin. And we haven't been able to go through every single item, and yet you expect us to vote for this.
Well, I am tired of having my vote taken for granted. Because year after year, this is what happens. Our vote is taken for granted. And what we're going to do is we're going to continue having these discussions and then later we're going to take a break, we're going to eat. And then again, around midnight, we're going to be thrown a few other bills that we're not going to have an opportunity to discuss or read. And then, again, the leader of the Democratic Conference had not an opportunity to be part of the budget discussions.
And the expectation is that we should all vote for it because there are certain things in there that we should vote for.
Well, I'm tired of having my vote taken for granted, and this ends today. So, Mr. President, I am voting nay. As many of my colleagues have said eloquently, the leader, the Democratic leader was not involved in these budget negotiations. She is someone who represents over 8 million people of the State of New York, and yet she was not given that opportunity to sit down and to negotiate this budget, which would have resolved a lot of the bad issues that many of my colleagues have brought up today.
So, Mr. President, I am voting nay.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Comrie.
SENATOR COMRIE:Mr. President, on the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Comrie on the bill.
SENATOR COMRIE:I rise today to vote no against the TEDE bill.
I am disappointed in many of the things that are missing in the bill. Senator Hassell-Thompson and Senator Sanders spoke eloquently on the issues of the MWBE statutes and what will happen to decimate an effective plan that was really necessary to ensure that minority vendors in this state finally get a real opportunity to benefit from the over $50 billion in expenditures that this state spends every year, but which they get a paltry less than 1 percent of that. And they're New York State residents and New York State -- members of this state that are trying to get a leg up. And we hope that this state would help them.
I have to vote against this bill also because of the delaying of DERA, which affects our communities, my community, which has one of the highest asthma rates in this state and is going to continue due to the lack of this state wanting to fund an opportunity to reduce the particulates in the vehicles that we drive.
I have to vote against this bill, as my colleagues said, because we've had a lack of participation and transparency in the process. The leader of our conference has not been able to participate -- the leader of our conference has not been able to participate in the discussions.
The transparency and the paltriness of this bill, with only 72 pages, with a lot of things left out that we can really delve into to understand, makes it difficult for many of us to vote on this bill.
I'm very specifically concerned about the lack of funding for transportation, roadway fixes, when we've had one of the harshest winters and many potholes and many streets that need to be repaired throughout the state. And we have this paltry funding for transportation and repair of our streets in there as well.
And as other members have said, there are buses in my district, we have some of the worst and oldest buses that are moving people back and forth with the highest emissions already in a high asthma area, and we can't get the buses replaced. The MTA capital funding is a major concern for us, especially in Queens, where they're trying to talk about congestion pricing to put an additional burden on the people that have the worst transportation opportunities in the state, I would dare to suggest.
So I'm standing up today to unfortunately say that I must vote against this TED bill. I must ask for more transparency. And I must also request that the leader of our conference be included in all discussions on any issues that come before this body.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Díaz.
SENATOR DIAZ:Me? No, I'm not talking.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Okay, Senator Dilan.
SENATOR DILAN:Thank you, Mr. President. On the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Dilan on the bill.
SENATOR DILAN:Okay, I rise as the ranking member on Transportation to indicate that I am voting no on a budget bill which deals with TED because I'm getting a bill that deals with how to implement or spend appropriations that as of this moment we have not seen and may or may not appear in some other portion of bills that we may vote on tonight or this morning or tomorrow morning.
But if there are any concerns by any colleagues on my side of the aisle, first I would like to indicate as the ranker I participated in two TED conference table discussions. And the conclusion of the final meeting was that our staff or, joint, all staffs would be working out details, and I expected that there would be closure. But lo and behold, over the weekend I discovered that the TED table was closed. There was money that was put on the table that we don't know how it was allocated.
But here is how the Democrats outlined their priorities in spending in the transportation portion of the budget. And we did submit that to the conference table through our staff.
First of all, we requested a $900 million stimulus program to provide low-wage workers with a one-time tax relief rebate of up to $2,800 per worker.
We requested $50 million to reimburse local and state law enforcement agencies that purchase wearable body cameras to ensure these agencies do not bear the cost of these investments.
We also requested $1.1 billion in transportation capital that would create over 30,700 jobs.
We requested $500 million in environmental capital that would be invested in various programs throughout the state.
We requested a billion dollars in educational infrastructure capital that would provide payments for school districts' infrastructure needs associated with health and safety.
We requested $50 million to provide credit banking services.
And we requested information with respect to mortgage settlement money and how some of that should be spent towards transportation.
And as I indicated previously, staff was supposed to be working on these issues over the weekend. We did not hear anything. And for all those reasons, I will be voting no on this budget.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Stavisky, why do you rise?
SENATOR STAVISKY:I rise if Senator Dilan would yield to a question.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Dilan, do you yield?
SENATOR DILAN:Yes.
SENATOR STAVISKY:Through you, Mr. President. You indicated that there were two conference committee meetings. Were you notified of -- did you participate in a closing statement of any sort for the conference committee?
SENATOR DILAN:No.
SENATOR STAVISKY:Then to your knowledge -- if the Senator would continue to yield --
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Dilan, do you continue to yield?
SENATOR DILAN:Yes.
SENATOR STAVISKY:-- the conference committee is still open?
SENATOR DILAN:As far as I believe, yes.
SENATOR STAVISKY:If the Senator would continue to yield.
SENATOR DILAN:Yes.
SENATOR STAVISKY:Was Senator Stewart-Cousins invited to participate and provide her insights into what should happen in the final work product, the 72-page bill we're discussing now?
SENATOR DILAN:With respect to the conference committee?
SENATOR STAVISKY:No, with -- yes, with respect to the conference committee or the leadership, so-called mothership.
SENATOR DILAN:Well, as far as -- I'm not aware of that. But as far as the conference committee, I was the representative for our conference and Senator Squadron was the delegate. And to my knowledge, he was not informed of any closures or -- I'm not even aware if our leader was informed in any way, shape or form.
SENATOR STAVISKY:Would the Senator continue to yield?
SENATOR DILAN:Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Senator yields.
SENATOR STAVISKY:The 72-page bill before us, was Senator Stewart-Cousins or you asked to contribute their insights into the final product?
SENATOR DILAN:As I indicated, there was no final conference table. We did submit our priorities. But in respect to any dollar amount, which is lacking in this 72-page statement, this is only showing us or indicating how the money should be spent, but there's no money within this budget bill.
SENATOR STAVISKY:Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Senator Dilan.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Thank you both.
Seeing and hearing no other Senator who wishes to be heard, the debate is closed and the Secretary will ring the bell.
The Secretary will read the substitution.
THE SECRETARY:On page 2, Senator DeFrancisco moves to discharge, from the Committee on Finance, Assembly Bill Number 3008B and substitute it for the identical Senate Bill Number 2008B, Third Reading Calendar 312.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The substitution is so ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar 312, Assembly Budget Bill, Assembly Print 3008B, an act to amend.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY:Section 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Can I have some order in the chamber, please.
Senator Skelos to explain his vote.
SENATOR SKELOS:Mr. President, thank you. And to explain my vote.
I've been listening very carefully to the woe-is-me debate that has gone on in this chamber. And I would just like to remind my good friends that are all voting no -- or most -- on this legislation that right now the leaders' meetings including Jeff Klein is because we have a Majority Coalition.
And I go back to a few years ago when we were sitting on that side of the aisle and we were excluded from those meetings. But we didn't sit there and go "woe is me." What happened during that time -- and I'm just wondering, when you were in the majority, why didn't you pass a DREAM Act? Why didn't you increase the minimum wage? Why didn't you do marriage equality? And I could go through a whole list of things that when you were in majority, you failed to do.
Now, both Speaker Heastie and myself have indicated that we have no problem with either Senator Stewart-Cousins or Assemblyman Brian Kolb being at the leaders' meetings. And I can understand your frustration, having been there when I was the minority leader.
But I can tell you why it would have been important there for us to have been in that room: Because you would not have increased -- we would not have increased taxes and fees by $14 billion. We would not have left a deficit of $10 billion -- which, working on a bipartisan basis with the Governor and the Assembly, is now a surplus in the state. There would not have been an MTA payroll tax. There would not have been a Gap Elimination Adjustment, which has killed our school districts throughout the state. And certainly the STAR rebate checks, which you took away from middle-income families, would still be there today.
So as we move forward through this budget process, let's not "woe is me" because you were in the majority when you could have done many of the things that you were talking about and railing about today.
So again, this budget process has included Republicans, it's included Democrats in the Assembly. And certainly if there are certain shortcomings that you see in this budget, you should have discussed it with Speaker Heastie.
You know, you claim that 8 million people are not being represented. The Assembly represents many of those people. We represent many of those individuals.
So again, I think as we move through this budget process, let's talk about the issues. And this is not a woe-is-me-type budget. I vote in the affirmative.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Skelos to be recorded in the affirmative.
Senator Gianaris to explain his vote.
SENATOR GIANARIS:Thank you, Mr. President.
I've been in this chamber a little over four years now, and the number of times I've heard the majority in the Senate refer back to things that now happened I guess six years ago -- I understand the political benefit of doing that. But I have to think the statute of limitations has long since expired on the last time the Democrats were in the majority. I suppose we can go back and accuse the Republicans of not supporting the New Deal in the '40s. But we're here --
SENATOR HANNON:-- the '30s.
SENATOR GIANARIS:Kemp, for members, then it was the '30s.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:I'm going to ask for everyone to conduct themselves with decorum, please, in the chamber.
Senator Gianaris, please continue to be mindful of the two-minute rule too. You may continue.
SENATOR GIANARIS:Thank you, Mr. President, for enforcing that rule selectively.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:It's not being enforced selectively. Do you have a stopwatch on you, Mr. Gianaris? I have it here. Please continue.
SENATOR GIANARIS:Okay. Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Let's follow and observe decorum.
SENATOR GIANARIS:The point is we are in 2015 now. We are in a point where the first female leader in the history of this state is representing a conference. And so while I appreciate that Senator Skelos had said that he welcomes her to the budget negotiations, not all the parties who call the budget negotiations apparently agree.
And so we are forced to make our point that a female voice, for the first time, should be a part of that. And maybe many of the shortcomings that we see would have been addressed had that been the case.
Now, if the Senate majority wants to continue to talk about the past, they can do that. We're interested in talking about the present and the future of this state. And in this case, this bill and many aspects of the budget that we're going to vote on in the next two days come up woefully short.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:How do you vote, Senator Gianaris?
SENATOR GIANARIS:I vote in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Gianaris to be recorded in the negative.
Senator Espaillat to explain his vote.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:Thank you, Mr. President, to explain my vote.
Again, this is a budget bill, this TEDE bill, that includes issues that impact minority- and women-owned businesses. Let me repeat this again, minority- and women-owned businesses. And a woman was not at the table to have her say in this discussion.
I think all New Yorkers, including those that are represented by the majority, want greater transparency in government. They want our house to be more accountable to them. They want to see what we do on a regular basis. And having a limited discussion without our leader there, I think that is not a testament of the best work that we can do here as a chamber.
As we move forward to spend $150 billion, $5 billion of which we got through the foreclosure crisis, we will see that the programs that many of us stand for in the minority will be nickel-and-dimed. They will be nickel-and-dimed. And the largesse of that budget will be spent in other things that have nothing to do with the housing crisis, with the foreclosure crisis, with the families that lost their homes, with tenants that cannot live in affordable housing, with NYCHA tenants that are having a difficult time living in their apartments with leaky roofs and chipping paint.
This is the work that we were sent here to do, to be fair to all New Yorkers. If we got $5 billion because of a housing crisis, because of a foreclosure crisis, because the banks engaged themselves in risky business that put the economy of this nation if not the world in peril, then we should be responsible enough to spend this money in a righteous way. Not to truncate the dreams of Dreamers, not to leave women out of the discussions where they're going to be impacted and then blame it on partisan politics.
We should do the right thing and make sure that all New Yorkers see our discussion, that all leaders in this chamber are included in the discussion, and that we'll be able to do a budget for all New Yorkers.
I will be voting in the negative, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Espaillat to be recorded in the negative.
Senator Hassell-Thompson to explain her vote.
SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON:Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I stand by my vote of no. I stand by the complaints and concerns that I raised. I raised them because when we were in the majority, I passed one of the landmark bills in this state for minority and women businesses to do business in this state.
And so therefore I take umbrage with the fact that anyone would disparage the work that we worked very hard to make happen in this state. We passed one of the best social-justice agendas in this state. So I will continue to vote no in any situation where I think an unfair and undue pressure was brought to bring a budget to a close, no matter who the parties are who participated, that did not include my leader in the room, did not include the discussion of minority and women business in this state and their ability to fully participate in all of the bounty of this state.
I do not apologize to anybody for the two years that I participated in the majority, because I know I did some of the finest work in the history of the State of New York.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Hassell-Thompson to be recorded in the negative.
Senator Krueger to explain her vote.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Sorry, Mr. President. Thank you, I rise to explain my vote, to put it in some historical context as well.
One, as I mentioned earlier, it's not a full bill. It doesn't have the answers to most of the questions one ought to have before one agrees to vote for a budget bill.
Second, in the brief period we were in the majority, Senator Skelos was right, there was X, Y and Z. We also, for the record, inherited a $17 billion deficit thanks to Governor Pataki and the Senate Republicans.
And as I recall, my colleagues on this side of the aisle primarily voted no on all the budget bills, including the debt limit bill, which if that didn't pass would actually have resulted in New York State being unable to pay its debts, causing chaos throughout our entire economy.
So it really does matter what are in these bills, what are not in these bills, and who's making the decisions. Because we each can tell our stories of very bad things that have happened because we didn't do it the right way.
I remain a no, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Krueger to be recorded in the negative.
Senator Peralta to explain his vote.
SENATOR PERALTA:Thank you, Mr. President.
I too will be voting in the negative. This is not a woe-is-me moment. Let's be clear. This is not a woe-is-me moment. Because we understand that we are in the minority. We do understand that. But at the same time, someone who represents over 8 million people is not in the room negotiating the budget. And that sends a loud message, in particular when we talk about MWBE issues.
Let's be very clear. I don't understand and I don't know how many of you want to own marriage equality. I don't. Because many of you voted on it reluctantly, or some of you voted on it reluctantly. And if you had to do it again, you probably wouldn't do it. Okay? It was reluctant. So don't say that marriage equality was something that you passed. The Democrats provided the majority for marriage equality. That's how it got passed. So let's be real about what we're talking about.
And DREAM? When you talk about DREAM, well, the reason DREAM wasn't brought up was because I got elected in 2010 and this version was not introduced until after 2010. That's why when we were in the majority DREAM wasn't there.
So I, Mr. President, will continue to vote no. Because as long as my leader, as long as the Democratic leader of this conference is not in the room negotiating a budget, then what's the purpose? Let's not go back and forth, because we can all go back and forth with what you should have done, what we shouldn't have done, because we all can point fingers at each other.
But the bottom line is let's talk about the issues. The issues here are transportation, economic development, and environmental conservation. Those are the issues that matter here. That's what we're addressing here. And we have a lot of questions that are unanswered that we still won't have answers to probably after midnight tonight.
So, Mr. President, I continue to vote in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Peralta to be recorded in the negative.
Senator Rivera to explain his vote.
SENATOR RIVERA:Sorry, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. President, to explain my vote.
I have to echo a couple of comments that Senator Peralta made. This is not a woe-is-me moment. For as good a hearing as I know Senator Skelos has, maybe he was not hearing as carefully as he said he was. Because what we were doing, we were pointing out all the ways in which this bill fails to acknowledge the real issues that impact our communities.
That is what our job is, that is why we're up here, and that is the reason why I am so disappointed. And I think the word was used "disgusted" a little bit earlier at the fact that our leader was not in that room to be able to express these concerns.
As far as the fact that you keep bringing back -- and as was said, definitely Senator Skelos brings it back quite often, the fact that when the Democrats were in the majority -- that was six years ago, as Senator Gianaris said. And if I look around, most of the folks on this side of the room were not here. And the folks who were I remember were fighting for good things and passed good things. And certainly, as Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson said, when she was in the majority she passed a hell of a bill related to MWBEs.
So let's -- and lastly, when Senator Skelos referred to us speaking to our Assembly colleagues, well, we are not in a unicameral legislature in this state. We're a bicameral legislature. And the point that has been made over and over again -- and certainly as far as this bill, Mr. President -- is that the concerns of 8 million people in this state that are represented by the folks on this side were not in that room. And if they were, this bill would have looked different. It would have more evenly addressed the concerns that we have, which are real concerns.
So, Mr. President, I remain as a negative on this bill. Because again, our concerns were not really in that room. And if we're going to look back in the past and not look towards the future, we're limiting ourselves. But we're also forgetting what has happened since then and the fact that the concerns that we have are not being really discussing as relates to this budget process.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Rivera to be recorded in the negative.
Senator Díaz to explain his vote.
SENATOR DIAZ:Thank you, Mr. President.
Today is an unusual day for me, because I have kept quiet. And I'll tell you why I have kept myself quiet. For four years, four years consecutively, I have been the lonely voice in the desert voting against the budget. The only one that -- the only Democrat that joined me was Tom Duane, Senator Tom Duane, because of the DREAM Act was not included. Four years in a row, I have been asking my colleagues, let's do this. Only Tom Duane.
Today, you should know that I have been writing many columns in my "What You Should Know," criticizing the issue that the Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins has not been included and that our conference with 25 Senators have no representation in any dealing. Twenty-five Senators. So I've been writing about it, and I've been asking.
Today is a wonderful day. This Democratic Conference today is standing up. They say: Enough. And I'm glad. And I'm glad. And I'm also, here, I would like to take a little bump to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Because somebody talked about a $5 billion surplus. And that $5 billion surplus is because of the work of Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. So thanks to him, we have a $5 billion surplus.
So, Mr. President, today I join my colleagues voting no because -- oh, no, no. No, no, no.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Díaz, how do you vote?
SENATOR DIAZ:No, no. I am --
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Díaz, how do you vote?
SENATOR DIAZ:I'm voting no in support of my leader, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and supporting my colleagues because she has not been included in these negotiations, the woman, the leader of 25 Senators --
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Díaz to be recorded in the negative.
SENATOR DIAZ:-- thank you very much.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Sanders.
SENATOR SANDERS:Thank you, Mr. President.
I stand as -- on the bill, of course. I stand as more of the -- let's start that one again. I stand representing the more than 50 percent of the Democratic Conference here who wasn't even here during the time of the troubles, as I'm hearing.
I understand that the Democrats had it for perhaps four years and the Republicans had it for 42 --
SENATOR STAVISKY:Two.
SENATOR SANDERS:Okay. We didn't even have it for four years, and the Republicans had it for more than 40. So whatever budget deficits that we're talking about, certainly they can't all come from the approximately two years that we speak of.
But the truth is that New Yorkers deserve better than this. They deserve not partisan politics, but when it comes to this budget, we all need to own it. We all need to get up there and wrestle and say this is the best that we can do for the people of New York. This is something that all of us have contributed to, and we all need to say this is the best that we can do.
Now, part of that is that $5 billion surplus that we've been hearing about. A $5 billion surplus that came, to a large degree, from communities like mine, where predatory lenders took us to the cleaners in more ways than one. And yet out of this $5 billion, my community got precious little to aid those people who lost their homes and lost all of those. Perhaps that would have been dealt with had there been a leader, one of our leaders in the room speaking of the victims.
It is -- I must point out the irony, however, that during Women's History Month we're excluding a woman leader from in there, and yet we will celebrate Woman's History Month.
To my Republican colleagues, my friends, if you did not exclude the leader from meeting -- and I've heard that you have not -- then you should not take this personal. You shouldn't own it. If you didn't do it, don't own it. Let whoever did it own it.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Sanders --
SENATOR SANDERS:Thank you very much, sir. I'm voting no.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Sanders to be recorded in the negative.
Announce the results.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to --
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Comrie? Senator Comrie to explain his vote.
SENATOR COMRIE:Thank you, Mr. President.
I wanted to rise to affirm my no vote on this bill. And I wanted to further echo what Senator Sanders said and Senator Espaillat and others said about the $5 billion surplus.
As my district, adjoining Senator Sanders', was one of the hardest-hit from the foreclosure, that $5 billion surplus, that is not a surplus. It's the blood and sweat and tears of people that were robbed by the system, people that were hoodwinked by the system. And we in government should do our best to ensure that the majority of that surplus is given to programs that can prevent foreclosures, that can keep people in their homes, to provide opportunities for people to stay in their apartments, to create more affordable housing and not to do anything else with that money.
So I am a resounding no on this bill because it's leaking that money into it. And as I said earlier of the asthma rates in our communities, the same communities that are hit by high foreclosure rates, by neglect of government, are not being served in this bill.
I vote no.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Comrie to be recorded in the negative.
Announce the results.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar 312, those recorded in the negative are Senators Addabbo, Breslin, Comrie, Díaz, Dilan, Espaillat, Gianaris, Hamilton, Hassell-Thompson, Hoylman, Krueger, Latimer, Montgomery, Parker, Peralta, Perkins, Rivera, Sanders, Serrano, Squadron, Stavisky, and Stewart-Cousins.
Ayes, 40. Nays, 22.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
Senator LaValle.
SENATOR LaVALLE: Mr. President, can we have the noncontroversial reading of Calendar Number 310 on our Supplemental Calendar 27A that we have on our desks.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read the substitution.
THE SECRETARY:On page 1, Senator DeFrancisco moves to discharge, from the Committee on Finance, Assembly Bill Number 3005B and substitute it for the identical Senate Bill Number 2005B, Third Reading Calendar 310.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The substitution is so ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 310, Assembly Budget Bill, Assembly Print 3005B, an act to amend the Executive Law.
SENATOR GIANARIS:Lay it aside.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Lay the bill aside.
SENATOR LaVALLE: Mr. President, can we have the controversial reading of Calendar Number 310 on the supplemental calendar.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will ring the bell.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 310, Assembly Budget Bill, Assembly Print 3005B, an act to amend the Executive Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Gianaris.
SENATOR GIANARIS:Mr. President, I believe there's an amendment at the desk. I ask that the reading of the amendment be waived and that Senator Addabbo may be heard on the amendment.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Gianaris, upon review of the amendment before the desk, I rule it nongermane to the bill and therefore out of order.
SENATOR GIANARIS:I appeal from the decision of the chair, Mr. President, and I ask that Senator Addabbo be heard on the appeal.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The decision of the chair has been appealed. I call upon Senator Addabbo to be heard.
SENATOR ADDABBO:Thank you, Mr. President.
My amendment to this legislation is germane because it does maintain the same purpose and the same areas of law as the underlying bill.
Today we have an opportunity to take this state from living in the '80s and moving it to the 21st century. The paid family leave legislation, which has passed the Assembly twice, would enact a comprehensive paid family leave program that would provide all employees 12 weeks of paid benefits.
By using an existing system we can pay for these benefits with an employee contribution of 45 cents a week. That's $24.40 a year. Important to this inclusion of this amendment is an increase of the temporary disability insurance, which currently stands, for a person who takes leave, the employee would get $170 a week, $170 a week. That amount has not been changed since 1989.
Workers in New York should be pleased that there has been great momentum regarding the paid family leave. The Assembly has passed the bill, this house has put it into the one-house resolution -- and I want to thank Senator Klein and Senator Skelos for putting it in there and raising the awareness of the bill. Senator Martins and Senator Carlucci had a hearing just last week, and the paid family leave took up a majority of the discussion at that hearing. And the Governor has even acknowledged it.
In the 21st century it's hard to believe that New Yorkers have failed to be provided paid family leave for critical family care in bonding with their child in these formative months that define the life of their child. It would increase the efficiency and job satisfaction of the employees and therefore benefit the employer as well.
As Women's History Month ends tomorrow, without paid family leave, women and families have to make the choice of forgoing the family issues to keep their job, taking unpaid leave under the federal law, or giving up their job altogether. No one, no one should be forced to be put in that situation to make those hard decisions.
I am proud to sponsor this amendment, Mr. President, to the underlying legislation. I call upon my colleagues to join me now in approving this amendment and stopping the state from living in the '80s. Thank you very much.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Thank you, Senator Addabbo.
The ruling of the chair is before the house. This is a procedural vote. All those in favor of overruling the ruling of the chair signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
SENATOR GIANARIS:Show of hands, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:May we have a show of hands, please. A show of hands has been requested and so ordered.
Results?
THE SECRETARY:Ayes, 25.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The ruling of the chair stands.
The bill in chief is before the house. Read the last section.
Senator Squadron.
SENATOR SQUADRON:Thank you, Mr. President. I apologize; I thought you had a list. If the sponsor would yield.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator DeFrancisco, do you yield to Senator Squadron?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: The answer is yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator DeFrancisco yields.
Could I have some order in the house? I think it's difficult for the members to hear one another right now. And there's a lot of staff here, we have much before the desk, as we indicated earlier. So I'd ask for some cooperation here. If we can have some order, please.
Senator Squadron, you may pose your question.
SENATOR SQUADRON:Thank you.
I note that in the -- what was Part E of the Governor's original submission of this bill was omitted. What was in that section?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: It dealt with the Governor's proposal to modify campaign contributions and oversight in public finance campaigns.
SENATOR SQUADRON:Thank you. If the sponsor would continue to yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I will.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR SQUADRON:Has any part of that been pushed forward to a future bill that we have not yet seen or had not seen as of the time we started session?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: No, that will not be part of the final budget.
SENATOR SQUADRON:If the sponsor would continue to yield.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I've been informed that there's a small part of it concerning limitations on independent expenditures.
SENATOR SQUADRON:If the sponsor would continue to yield. Well, I guess you were yielding.
In what bill will that appear?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: There will be a separate ethics bill.
SENATOR SQUADRON:If the sponsor will continue to yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR SQUADRON:Will that ethics bill also take another portion of what was originally part of it, which is to equate limited liability companies as corporations?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: No.
SENATOR SQUADRON:If the sponsor would continue to yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR SQUADRON:I'll ask a multipart question that I think will have a single-part answer, unfortunately.
So does that mean that neither this bill nor that ethics bill nor any part of this budget will close the LLC loophole, or what is commonly referred to as the LLC loophole in any way, meaning that you'll still be able to have some contributions of $150,000, contributions to statewide candidates per election of over $60,000 to State Senate candidates, of nearly $17,000 to Assembly candidates, of over $8,000 from each limited liability company even if a single individual owns all of them?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: There's nothing in the budget. But as we've argued at the one-house budget time, I would not call it a loophole. It was a well-considered law when passed.
SENATOR SQUADRON:If the sponsor would continue to yield.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR SQUADRON:And would the sponsor tell me what, when the law was passed, that allowed LLCs to do this?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I have no idea.
SENATOR SQUADRON:If the sponsor would continue to yield.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR SQUADRON:Is it also true, therefore, that there will be no way to identify the underlying ownership of limited liability companies, either for the public in general or for those who are particularly interested in the issue of campaign finance?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: There is no change in existing law.
SENATOR SQUADRON:Thank you.
If the sponsor would yield for one more question.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR SQUADRON:Is the sponsor aware that this is not actually how LLCs are defined in the Election Law or in any other part of the law, it's an interpretation of law after LLCs were created, made by the Board of Elections in 1996 that is out of compliance with what the Federal Election Commission and most other states do?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I don't know about that. I just know, again, that there's no change in the law in this budget.
SENATOR SQUADRON:Thank you.
On the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Squadron on the bill.
SENATOR SQUADRON:Look, much has been said and I'm sure much will be said about reform in this year's budget. It is disappointing that campaign finance reform, more broadly, did not make it into the budget, did not make it into the one-house put forward by the majority in this house.
But specifically this provision, which is about campaign finance but is about so much more, is really unconscionable to leave out of this year's budget.
At a time when ethics reform has been put forward as a necessity in the budget, at a time when both houses and the Governor are clear that we must restore faith in how our government operates, we must restore faith in our public officials, the idea that we would allow this loophole to continue without ever having addressed it legislatively is a major, major gap in this budget -- because this is where the Governor originally proposed this -- and in the upcoming ethics bill that none of us on this side of the chamber have yet seen. And as has been pointed out, the reason for that is because our representative, Leader Stewart-Cousins, was not part of these negotiations.
And this is no small thing. This is not the details and the inside Albany way of passing a bill or the arcana of some piece of election law. This is specific and clear. There is a consensus, Democrat and Republican, that there should be transparency and disclosure when it comes to campaign contributions. Limited liability corporations in New York State ensure there is no transparency when it comes to campaign contributions.
There is a near-consensus and certainly broad popular support for the idea that there should be campaign contribution limits, that individuals or corporations shouldn't be able to contribute unlimited sums of money into the election system because it perverts the process, because it raises too many questions about whether public officials are answering to their constituents or to the special interests who are contributing unlimited amounts of monies.
The LLC loophole in New York means that there are, in essence, no contribution limits, unlimited contributions into the system.
There's consensus that we should be regulating elections, that it should be election law and that should be driven by the Legislature and that should be driven in a process that deals with our representative role with our constituents across the state.
This LLC loophole does not exist as law, it exists as an anachronistic misinterpretation of the law that is now 20 years old that was corrected on the federal level, that has been corrected in just about, just about -- not quite, but just about every corner of this country. But here in New York State, we are stuck with this bad interpretation because the Board of Elections won't take it on and because this Legislature won't take it on.
There's a lot in this budget and a whole lot of money being distributed. And it's important. We've talked about some of the things that aren't in this budget. But the biggest item that people are talking about in this budget is a bill we haven't seen yet, it's the ethics reform. And the fact that that bill, whenever it's printed -- and I thank the sponsor for being clear about this so that we can have a discussion today, a few hours before we see that bill.
The fact that when that bill is printed it will not have this critical reform is a lost opportunity and is an outcome for this state that actually is inconsistent with our consensus. And that's really a shame. We should have transparency about who's contributing money into the political process. We should know who's doing it. That should be something that the average citizen, that reporters and the media, that each of us should be able to see. There should be limits, reasonable limits on how much people can contribute to candidates, to parties. There's a near-consensus on that.
Unfortunately, by failing to deal with the LLC loophole, we are failing to deal with one of the most pernicious and destructive parts of our system. And it's a real shame we're not going to do it. It's the reason that I'm going to be voting no on this, Mr. President. And I thank you for the time.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Is there any other Senator wishing to be heard? Seeing none, hearing none, debate is closed. The Secretary will ring the bell.
(Pause.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY:Section 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Gianaris to explain his vote.
SENATOR GIANARIS:Thanks, Mr. President.
I'll be voting no on this legislation for a lot of the reasons we've already heard. Senator Squadron was very articulate in pointing out that this is really just a shell of a bill of the type we'd usually see. A lot of the substance has been taken out of it. I think the total length of this bill was in the 30-some-odd pages area, whereas normally we'd see many more. Why is that? Because a lot of things that should be in here are not.
I said earlier that this budget is shaping up to be little more than a glorified extender. We're doing enough to keep government running, but all the substance has been pulled out of it. And so for that reason I'll be voting no on this bill as well.
Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Gianaris in under two minutes, to be recorded in the negative.
Senator Rivera to explain his vote.
SENATOR RIVERA:Thank you, Mr. President. I can speak very slowly if you so wish.
No, I will also be voting in the negative on this piece of legislation, Mr. President. As Senator Squadron pointed out very eloquently, this bill lacks some of the basic concepts of campaign finance reform that we -- that as a matter of fact our constituents have come to expect from us.
One of the reasons that we're up here is to make sure that we can be trusted. And we know that there's been some crises in the last couple of years. We have proposed, as the Democratic Conference, many packages which address some of these concerns, whether it be in ethics or in campaign finance reform. Many of these were in discussion at the beginning of the process. But unfortunately, again, because our leader was not in the room having a conversation and expressing the concerns of this conference, none of what we would have had in there was ultimately included in this bill.
So unfortunately, that is the way that it happens. And we need to make sure that going forward the interests and the concerns of our conference -- which, again, correspond to 8 million people in the State of New York -- are actually part of the conversation. Unfortunately, they were not. And it is the reason why I'm voting in the negative on this piece of legislation.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Rivera to be recorded in the negative.
Senator Hoylman to explain his vote.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:Thank you, Mr. President.
I'll be voting no --
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Excuse me, Senator Hoylman.
May we have some order in the chamber, please.
Senator Hoylman.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:Thank you, Mr. President.
I'll be voting no because the exclusion of the closing of the LLC loophole really does indeed allow corporations to do an end-run around our campaign finance law.
The fact of the matter is corporations are not people. And allowing corporations to act as if they're individuals in campaign contribution scenarios really undermines our democratic principle of one person, one vote.
And remember, the Governor proposed this in his bill. The Assembly proposed it in their one-house bill. It was the Senate -- we are led to believe it was the Senate that took it out.
So perhaps we should agree with the sponsor. Maybe it isn't the LLC loophole, Mr. President. Maybe we should call this the LLC New York State Senate exception. Because that's what this body is affirming today, that corporations are entitled to undermine our campaign finance system.
We did not hear a policy justification for this provision. And to me, Mr. President, that's for a very cynical reason, because it gives one party perhaps an electoral advantage over another. And that's no reason to support a law such as this. So I'll be voting in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Hoylman to be recorded in the negative.
Senator Krueger to explain her vote.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you, Mr. President.
I will also be voting no on this bill for very similar reasons. It's not an actual PPGG bill. We just call it that so we feel good that somehow we passed some budget bills on time.
There are things in this bill that I like. I'm glad to see that it is finally providing pay parity for the M/C titles who have waited so long. I'm glad to see we have finally improved the current medical parole situation.
But voters don't believe us or trust us. We all know that. We all see that in the press every day, and we hear it at home. And so in a later bill, supposedly, we will be doing ethics reform, but the truth is the fundamental issue of cleaning up Albany has to include getting money out of politics.
I often have said it's amazing how many people are actually found guilty of anything, since the laws are so loose here you can get paid to do legislation or to kill legislation and not break any laws.
And the fact that we threw out all of campaign finance reform from this bill is basically a statement by this house and perhaps by both houses that we're not serious about reforming the culture of corruption in this town. I'm sorry, it's not about swipe cards, it's about money in politics. And this bill reflects that we are not serious about doing something about the fundamental problem.
And I vote no. Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Krueger to be recorded in the negative.
Announce the results.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar 310, those recorded in the negative are Senators Breslin, Comrie, Dilan, Espaillat, Gianaris, Hamilton, Hoylman, Krueger, Montgomery, Parker, Peralta, Perkins, Rivera, Sampson, Sanders, Serrano, Squadron, Stavisky and Stewart-Cousins.
Ayes, 43. Nays, 19.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
Senator Serrano -- Senator LaValle.
SENATOR LaVALLE: Mr. President, would you recognize Senator Gianaris.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Gianaris.
SENATOR GIANARIS:You were right the first time. Senator Serrano, please.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Serrano.
SENATOR SERRANO:Thank you, Mr. President.
There will be an immediate meeting of the Senate Democratic Conference in Room 315.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:There will be an immediate meeting of the Senate Democrat Conference in Room 315.
Senator LaValle.
SENATOR LaVALLE: Mr. President, we will stand temporarily at ease and return promptly at 10 minutes past 8 o'clock.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Senate will stand temporarily at ease and return at 8:10 promptly.
Senate is at ease.
(Whereupon, the Senate stood at ease at 7:42 p.m.)
(Whereupon, the Senate reconvened at 8:29 p.m.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Senate will come to order.
Senator LaValle.
SENATOR LaVALLE: Mr. President, may we have a reading of the noncontroversial Calendar Number 311 on Supplemental Calendar 27A.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read Calendar Number 311.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 311, Senate Budget Bill, Senate Print 2007B, an act to amend the Public Health Law.
SENATOR GIANARIS:Lay it aside.
SENATOR LaVALLE: Mr. President, is there a message of necessity at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Okay, there is a message. There is a message of necessity before the desk.
SENATOR LaVALLE: I move to accept the message.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:All in favor of accepting the message of necessity signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Opposed?
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The message is accepted, and the bill is before the house.
And did I hear somebody say lay it aside, Senator Gianaris? The bill is laid aside.
SENATOR LaVALLE: Can we now have the controversial reading of Calendar Number 311.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will ring the bell, and the Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 311, Senate Budget Bill, Senate Print 2007B, an act to amend the Public Health Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Rivera.
SENATOR RIVERA:Thank you, Mr. President. If the sponsor would yield for a few questions.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Hannon, do you yield?
SENATOR HANNON:Yes, sir.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Hannon yields.
SENATOR RIVERA:Thank you, Mr. President. I just have a few questions through you, Mr. President.
On the issue of the health insurance exchange marketplace, there was a proposal in the original Executive Budget to fund it -- to identify $69 million funded in a particular way. The final -- could you tell us what is in this final budget proposal as far as those $69 million to fund the healthcare exchange?
SENATOR HANNON:We rejected the tax on all of the health insurance plans in the state, not just the ones that are within the exchange. There was a proposed tax on all of the health insurance plans, which meant every New Yorker.
And within the existing -- we are told that it can be funded through the existing appropriations for the monies that are available to the exchange.
SENATOR RIVERA:Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor will continue to yield.
SENATOR HANNON:Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR RIVERA:That was going to be my second question. And just to clarify, so how will the operational expenses of the exchange be funded?
SENATOR HANNON:Through the revenues that are there through the HCRA expenditures.
I might add that with the adoption, which this budget does, of the Basic Health Plan, there are some people who project that the individuals who will be covered by the Basic Health Plan will come from the exchange, almost 200,000 people. Which we have asked that it be studied as to the future viability of the exchange, since there's only 400,000 people through the qualified health plans now in the exchange. All of the others who people have claimed gained insurance are really new admittees to the state's Medicaid program.
SENATOR RIVERA:Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor will continue to yield.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR RIVERA:I just have one more question, related to the End of AIDS Task Force. I know that the disagreement -- the budget bill that we're looking at right now accepts several of the Governor's policy exchanges but not all of them. In particular as it relates to syringes, could you tell us, as it relates to syringes, the possession of syringes as it relates to programs of harm reduction, what exactly this bill does regarding that?
SENATOR HANNON:There's three things that we did in regard to the so-called End of AIDS program. First of all, it's not the End of AIDS program. There was a workgroup set up, there is a report pending, and that has not been issued. Upon asking where it is every week, it's next week, mañana, whatever. It's not there yet.
The second part is we did not accept any of the recommendations on the syringes, not because of the inherent nature of the syringes, but rather the thought was in this era where we have rampant increased heroin use and addiction in this state, now is not the time just to do one thing, now is the time to address the current problems. Because we already have, in some places, needle exchanges, and we do have the availability of syringes through pharmacies right now.
We decided to focus, rather, on the fact of where is 90 percent of the transmission of AIDS. I'm told that's through the nonuse of the condoms. We allowed for the acceptance of the recommendations on condoms.
SENATOR RIVERA:Mr. President, on the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Rivera on the bill.
SENATOR RIVERA:I want to thank the sponsor for answering just a few questions that I had on it, and I will speak briefly on the bill.
The problems that we discussed before regarding the other pieces of the budget are unfortunately still present on this bill. I would say for the record that we were lucky that in this particular instance -- I've been looking through it, and although there are some things that I disagree with, in balance, this is actually -- we're actually -- this is actually a pretty good bill and I'm going to be supportive of it.
I want to point out a couple of things it does, which I think again are positive. And I certainly thank Senator Hannon. We have had some conversations about some of the things that ultimately made it to the budget bill. And it would have been great had my leader been in the conversation, because I think even more would have made it there. But I am thankful to Senator Hannon for having some of these included in there.
We've got what I've been calling the bucket problem for the last couple of years -- public health programs that were line-itemed. The Executive proposal wanted to eliminate it, create a series of buckets or pools, et cetera. It has been a program that they've proposed for the last couple of years. We have pushed it back, as we did in this budget, and I'm thankful for that.
The private equity pilot program that we have discussed in the past, and the Democratic Conference has been consistently opposed to it, ultimately this budget bill rejects the Executive proposal to create this pilot program.
Some of the Medicaid redesign recommendations, whether it's the Basic Health Plan, negotiating supplemental rebates for prescriptions directly with manufacturers, and the creating of the general hospital quality pool, all of these things are positive. As well as the increase of money for Doctors Across New York. All of these are positives in there.
I would say that related to HIV funding, not necessarily the ending HIV by 2020 workgroup but the HIV funding, there is $1.05 million of HIV/AIDS-related services, including $525,000 for community service programs and $525,000 for community-based organizations and Article 28 diagnostic and treatment centers in neighborhoods or areas with a high concentration of populations that are at risk. So all of those are good things.
Some of the things we disagree on, and we talked about it briefly, the $69 million health insurance exchange marketplace assessment. The original proposal by the Executive was something that the Democratic Conference agreed with. I look forward to see how it's going to get funded, since it needs to continue operating.
As we talked about, the ending the HIV or AIDS epidemic in New York, you are correct, Senator Hannon, there was no -- the report has not been issued yet. But a lot of the recommendations are known to many of us and it would have been good to include them in this budget, particularly as it relates to syringes. The decriminalization of the possession of syringes would have been a positive step forward, and I don't think that we moved far enough on this one.
And finally -- well, actually two things, because I wanted to as a question at the end just for the record. But I will also say that I was very glad to see that we managed to repeal Section 2801H of the Public Health Law. I'm very glad that we were able to get rid of it this year.
But I had one question. Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor would yield for one question.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Hannon, do you yield?
The Senator yields.
SENATOR RIVERA:Thank you, Mr. President. I had a question regarding the capital funding for hospitals in Brooklyn.
Many of my colleagues that are Brooklyn representatives that have serious concerns about healthcare delivery in Brooklyn have been concerned about how much money ultimately we're going to have. They're going to certainly be asking questions about this, not only today but tomorrow as well. We're talking about capital programs.
But if you could give us a sense of where that is, since it is so important to many of my colleagues and certainly the constituencies that they represent in Brooklyn as far as healthcare delivery down there.
SENATOR HANNON:The capital program is not in this bill, nor are local governments. It is still being discussed. So that I really am just going to say we don't know yet. We go back to what I said when we did the one-house bill on March 12th, go back to what we said in the budget conference committee. We're trying to look for equitable and we're trying to look for uniform scoring, and we recognize that that is a big obligation and we're trying to meet that.
SENATOR RIVERA:Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. President. Just a couple of sentences on the bill again.
Thank you for that, Senator Hannon. It is incredibly essential for my colleagues in Brooklyn and more importantly for the people that they represent that this money is there to make sure that the healthcare delivery system in Brooklyn is stabilized. I am glad that there's discussions. It is again something that we would love to be in the room for so that we can have a conversation with the individuals that represent the hundreds of thousands if not millions of people in Brooklyn that would be impacted directly by this money.
But, Mr. President, overall, although I do think that it would have been -- I don't think, I know that our direct participation in the negotiations would have made for a better product, I do think that there is enough in this bill to be supportive of it and so I will be voting in the affirmative.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Any other Senator wishing to be heard?
Seeing and hearing none, the debate is closed and the Secretary will ring the bell.
(Pause.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read the substitution.
THE SECRETARY:On page 1, Senator DeFrancisco moves to discharge, from the Committee on Finance, Assembly Bill Number 3007B and substitute it for the identical Senate Bill Number 2007B, Third Reading Calendar 311.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The substitution is so ordered, and the Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 311, Assembly Budget Bill, Assembly Print 3007B, an act to amend the Public Health Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY:Section 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Hannon to explain his vote.
SENATOR HANNON:Thank you, now that you've uncrossed them and subbed them.
So I just wanted to comment to explain my vote that this has been an incredibly complicated subject and is going to -- and has, as a major change, a lot of increased legislative oversight.
And while this administration, for health, has been relatively open-minded in regard to sharing facts, the other part of it is there is more change projected for this healthcare system in the next 12 months than we've ever seen before in this state. And as the state goes through turning our healthcare delivery system inside out and upside down, with a process known as DSRIP, for the $6 billion federal waiver, we're going to require a lot more watching as to what's happening, a lot more being attuned to the sensibilities of the communities, and a lot of challenges as we move forward.
We did reject the tax to the exchange because we're holding the Executive to its word that they would not have any cost to the taxpayer for the exchange.
Meanwhile, we do have those challenges ahead. And for that reason, I'm going to vote yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Gianaris to explain his vote.
SENATOR GIANARIS:Thank you, Mr. President.
I want to acknowledge at the outset that what I'm about to say in explaining my vote is not germane to this bill. But during the break for conference I did some research and I wanted to tell Senator Hannon that in fact the Republicans nationally were rolling back the New Deal in the '40s even though it was established in the '30s.
I'll be voting yes on this bill. Thank you.
(Laughter.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Gianaris to be recorded in the affirmative.
Senator Hannon.
SENATOR HANNON:Request unanimous consent to make one little statement.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Without objection, Senator Hannon.
SENATOR HANNON:My comment about the Fair Deal was when it was created. And it wasn't in the '40s, as has been admitted, it was in the '30s.
(Laughter.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:So noted.
Can I have some order in the chamber, please.
Senator Serino to explain her vote.
SENATOR SERINO:I rise today in support of this bill, not only as the representative of the 41st District, but on behalf of seniors all across New York.
Since taking office I have heard from countless seniors who feel disenfranchised and too often forgotten during this process. As the chair of the Aging Committee, I made it my priority during these budget negotiations to not only listen to their needs but to really hear them.
I am confident that this new state budget truly delivers for our seniors by investing in programs that will empower them to live out their lives right here in New York.
This bill includes full funding of over $120 million for the state EPIC program, which enables our seniors to pay for the prescriptions that they need. It includes an historic $26 million investment in elder health, including an unprecedented commitment to initiatives to combat Alzheimer's disease. It adds millions of dollars to the Community Services for the Elderly program and adds $500,000 to the Ombudsman Program as well, which provides an effective advocate and resource for those in assisted living and nursing homes.
And those wins are just the tip of the iceberg. As a newly elected State Senator, I am incredibly proud of what we have been able to accomplish, and I thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for supporting these critical initiatives.
Today we are sending a strong message to our seniors that we know that they are an asset to our communities and that we place great value on their staying right here in New York. Today our seniors have been heard.
Thank you, and I vote yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Serino to be recorded in the affirmative.
Announce the results.
THE SECRETARY:Ayes, 60. Nays, 1. Senator Parker recorded in the negative.
Senator Perkins absent from voting.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
Senator LaValle.
SENATOR LaVALLE: Mr. President, may we please have, on the supplemental calendar, the noncontroversial reading of Calendar Number 313.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read the substitution.
THE SECRETARY:On page 2, Senator DeFrancisco moves to discharge, from the Committee on Finance, Assembly Bill Number 3009B and substitute it for the identical Senate Bill Number 2009B, Third Reading Calendar 313.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The substitution is so ordered, and the Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 313, Assembly Budget Bill, Assembly Print 3009B, an act intentionally omitted (Part A).
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator LaValle.
SENATOR LaVALLE: Mr. President, is there a message of necessity at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:There is a message of necessity before the desk.
SENATOR LaVALLE: I move we accept the message.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:All those in favor of accepting the message of necessity signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Opposed.
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The message of necessity is accepted, and the bill is before the house.
The Secretary will read.
SENATOR GIANARIS:Lay it aside.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Lay the bill aside.
Senator LaValle.
SENATOR LaVALLE: May we now have the controversial reading of Calendar Number 313.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will ring the bell, and the Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 313, Assembly Budget Bill, Assembly Print 3009B, an act intentionally omitted (Part A).
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Krueger.
SENATOR KRUEGER:If the sponsor would please yield to some questions.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator DeFrancisco, do you yield?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, I would.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Senator yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Can I have some order in the house, please.
SENATOR KRUEGER:In the Executive's original proposed bill there was a Part W which imposed new transparency and approval requirements on IDAs if they were providing state tax exemption benefits. Is this still in this bill?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: It is not.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor would continue to yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:So how much revenue are we losing because we reject the proposal of the Governor?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: We're not losing revenue, since the Governor's proposal was a change in what revenue would be received. So we're getting the same revenues as last year.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor would continue to yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:I don't think that's accurate, because each year there would be some new IDA proposals and they would go through a process where either the state got to say "No, you can't have a tax exemption," or "Yes, you can," under the new system that we rejected.
So they would now not have to ask us and would in fact get the tax exemption. So I think it's a every year is the question.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Well, the fact of the matter is that at least the Senate and apparently the Governor and the Assembly has agreed that we're more concerned about local control, local decision-making at the local level. And they're in a better position to make decisions on what's needed to get an economic development proposal become a reality. So that's the basis for rejecting what the Governor proposed.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you -- oh, the presidents are changing. One moment.
Hello, Mr. New President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:I was going to say -- and I can't say it.
(Laughter.)
SENATOR KRUEGER:Don't do it. Don't go there.
Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor would continue to yield.
ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:Will the sponsor yield?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:He yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you.
Well, it's interesting that the sponsor thinks localities want this power. I actually think they want the power to decide their own taxes and to have funding for infrastructure and for AIM and other things. But instead, we just leave them the power to have their taxes taken away from them. So we disagree on how this program is impacting the localities.
But in Part R was a Brownfield Cleanup Program. What happened to that?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: There was an agreement on brownfields; it's just not in this bill.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Where might we -- excuse me, Mr. President. Through you, if the sponsor would yield.
ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:I'm sure he yields.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I'm being told that it's now in the ELFA bill.
SENATOR KRUEGER:The ELFA bill. Can the sponsor tell me what the details of this Brownfield Cleanup Program are or is?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: We'll have to get another analyst here, because he's not aware of the wording and neither am I.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Okay. I'll wait.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Okay. Do you have another question?
SENATOR KRUEGER:I'm sorry. Through you, Mr. President, am I waiting? Am I going to ask a new question?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: If you don't mind, if you can ask another question. We're getting the answer for you.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Okay. There was a Part JJ in this bill that would have created a new program to aid in enforcing past due tax liabilities by preventing applicants who hadn't paid their taxes from renewing professional or business licenses if they owed a certain amount of past-due tax liabilities. What happened to that proposal?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: It was not agreed to by the Senate and the Assembly.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Oh. What a shame. Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor would continue to yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you.
There was a proposal to create a circuit breaker property tax relief program that was anticipated to provide, oh -- I'm just trying to remember the exact number -- $1.7 billion in property tax relief, particularly to those people who were most in trouble of being able to pay their property taxes because of their being, quote, house rich but cash poor.
What happened to that program?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: What section was it?
SENATOR KRUEGER:Part G.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Part G? One second.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Sure.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: It's in another bill. You're going to ask me what other bill it's in?
SENATOR KRUEGER:I am becoming obvious, apparently.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, very obvious.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Yes.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: And what bill is it? The ELFA bill?
SENATOR KRUEGER:So brownfields we think might be in ELFA, but ELFA is not in print yet --
ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:Excuse me. But for the record, do we have a response to that question before you move on so the stenographer can get it?
SENATOR KRUEGER:Certainly.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I can't intelligently give you a good answer on the brownfields. However, I promise I will when we get to the ELFA bill.
And the -- there's going to be a difference, however, I know this, between the brownfields bill in New York City and upstate. And my understanding is there's going to be a limitation on the tangible property tax credit for New York City but not for upstate. But the details of which, I'm sorry, I can't provide it at this moment.
SENATOR KRUEGER:And just to confirm, Mr. President, the answer to the other question on the table was the circuit breaker is also going to be included in the ELFA bill even though it's a tax exemption --
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: No. No, it's -- I don't think there's an agreement on that. My understanding is that it might not be in any bill.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Oh. I thank the sponsor for his clarification of his first answer.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: First answer?
SENATOR KRUEGER:Well, first you said it was the ELFA bill, so that's why I was glad that you clarified.
There was a proposal for a New York City corporate tax reform package that would have basically allowed the City of New York to have a parallel track of business to corporate taxes with the state reform that was passed several years ago. I don't see that in this bill either. Could the sponsor clarify? Is there a New York City corporate tax reform?
ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:I presume you're being asked to yield, Senator.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Oh, yes, I am asking him to yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, I'll yield. But once again, that's in the ELFA bill that hasn't been printed yet, and I can't give you an honest answer as to what it's going to look like until it's printed and I can explain from reading that section.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, I appreciate the sponsor's frustration. I think he's frustrated like I am frustrated. Why are all these revenue tax issues not in the revenue tax bill but perhaps in a future bill that we haven't seen yet?
So I empathize with his inability to answer, but I really don't understand why all these tax and revenue proposals are not in the tax and revenue bill.
But I will continue --
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Let me just respond to that.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Sure.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: It is difficult, I admit, to try to explain clearly when the bill has not been printed. But again, what we're attempting to do is to get done what is done and can be debated and explained and answered. And as the bills come in, I can answer more specific questions than I can now.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor would continue to yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you.
Again, it is the challenge of doing a budget that isn't really a budget and budget bills which aren't really budget bills and don't really have numbers or the sections that should be --
ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:Senator, are you asking a question or are you going to talk on the bill?
SENATOR KRUEGER:I'm on the bill and I will come back to questions. Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:Good. We just want to make sure we know where we are here.
SENATOR KRUEGER:No, no, I appreciate that.
ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:Thank you.
SENATOR KRUEGER:No, I am voicing frustration on behalf of my colleague and myself.
ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:We hear your frustration. Can we get to the issue? It's getting late.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Okay. An aviation sales tax exemption popped up in this budget bill. May I ask what the origin of this section was? It is Section TT, sales tax exemption for the sale of private airplanes.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Did you ask me another question?
SENATOR KRUEGER:I did. I was asking the sponsor if he could explain the origin of the newly proposed sales tax exemption for the sale of airplanes. I can expand. How many jobs will it create? Where will these airplanes be sold?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: The origin -- you're asking who suggested it or where --
SENATOR KRUEGER:Yeah, how did it get in the budget? It wasn't there --
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Well, it got in the budget -- it was proposed by the Independent Democrat Conference. Did you say the aircrafts?
SENATOR KRUEGER:Yes, the aircraft sales tax exemption.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: No, it was proposed by one of our members on the Republican side. I made a mistake.
The logic behind it is that we are not doing well in the aircraft industry and other states have taken away business from this state. And the concept is just like the film tax credit and other credits -- although this is just no tax -- in that the concept is to try to create an industry here that has -- whatever industry we had has gone to other states. And the economic development factor is the benefits are going to other states rather than this state.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor will continue to yield.
ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:Does the sponsor yield?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:He yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:So this is a sales tax on the sale at the retail of airplanes. So it's not the building of airplanes in the State of New York or even the storing of airplanes or refilling with gas or maintenance or repair. It's just the, quote, unquote, car dealerships for private airplane sales. That is the only thing this sales tax exemption would impact.
So how many jobs do we think we'll create at new, I guess, airplane car dealerships, airplane dealerships? How many new jobs do we think we'll create at airplane dealerships?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Well, you've got to have airplanes to deal with them and to sell them. And the concept is that each business that sells aircrafts is creating up to five direct jobs. And on airport jobs, approximately $1 million in annual economic activity. That's each business aircraft.
So the economic impact is -- you could obviously, if you come to the State of New York and you sell a plane, you don't normally go to a car dealer but you go to the manufacturer of the plane. And if there's no sales tax, they can compete with other states.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President. But again, this is not on --
ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:Does the sponsor yield?
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you.
This is not on the -- will you yield? He's asking you to yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, I yield.
ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:He yields. Thank you for the help.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you.
This isn't on the manufacturer, this is just on the sale. The airplanes could be build anywhere around the world. And if they're sold here, then it would be a sales tax exemption. That's my understanding of this.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: There's also a use tax benefit as well. It's not only the sales tax, but the tax on using aircraft here. So there's two parts of it.
SENATOR KRUEGER:There's two parts of it.
Mr. President, through you, if the sponsor would continue to yield.
ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:I believe the sponsor will yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you.
And we also had a new sales tax exemption pop up for boats and vessels with a retail value of above $230,000. Am I correct in envisioning this is the same sales tax exemption model for yachts as it is for private airplanes?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, same model. But there's a cap on the sales tax benefit.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, what is the cap on the benefit?
ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:I believe the sponsor is yielding.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: The amount of tax relief on these sales is up to $230 million -- $230,000.
SENATOR KRUEGER:I'm sorry, can you repeat that?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: The cap -- once you get to a vessel over -- a $230,000 tax on that vessel, once you get over that, the additional tax has to be paid. The opposite way. I mean, the tax -- you have to have a vessel over 250,000 in taxes. Then the rest are exempt; correct?
SENATOR KRUEGER:The value of taxes or the value of the boat?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: The first $250,000 -- no, the sale of -- the sales price, the first $250,000 is taxable. And that beyond the $250,000 purchase price is not taxable.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Okay. So if I might repeat how I understood the answer and ask the sponsor to agree or disagree.
So I go out to buy my yacht. If it's up to $250,000, then I am paying taxes on that.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Correct.
SENATOR KRUEGER:And then the next million dollars' worth of boat I don't pay taxes?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: That is correct.
SENATOR KRUEGER:So bigger boats are better.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Well, if you can afford them, yes.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Yes. And I think if you can afford a private airplane or a yacht valued at more than $250,000, those would be defined as luxury items and you could probably afford to pay your taxes as well.
But to continue, Mr. President, on the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:Senator Krueger on the bill.
SENATOR KRUEGER:I'm so sorry, I misspoke. If I might ask the sponsor to yield for additional questions.
ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:I apologize. It was wishful thinking.
(Laughter.)
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you.
So there's another section, Part WW, that provides an additional year where a VLT vendor of Monticello Raceway gets to keep 41 percent of the total revenue wagered at the track after payout for prizes, and that is dramatically more than the vendor payout at other racetracks. Why do we continue to give one racetrack a bigger share of the purse, so to speak?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Well, this was existing law that was extended for one year.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor would continue to yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:He yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:I understand we seem to extend it every year. Again, why is the State of New York giving one vendor a much larger share of gambling revenue than any other vendor?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Because there was an agreement, three-way agreement.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor would continue to yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:He yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Does the sponsor know what the original intent of giving one VLT site a better deal than anywhere else was? Since we keep doing it, but there must have been an original reason.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I don't -- I don't remember or I never knew the original reason. But I'm sure it had something to do with providing extra revenue so they can expand and reinvest. But why this was singled out I don't know.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor would continue to yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Might the sponsor share my concern that we're apparently doing some kind of special favor for one particular gambling outlet in the State of New York versus any other gambling outlet in the State of New York, and of course it is the state that loses the revenue that otherwise would be going to education?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: No, I -- you know, to get a three-way agreement on anything this year has been very, very difficult. And if there's a three-way agreement, both leaders plus the Governor believe it's necessary for this one track, then I -- I would support it.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor would continue to yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:There's a Part MM this bill -- and that also, as he will point out, is a three-way agreement -- that would continue an additional percentage of winnings to be used exclusively for capital upgrades at VLT facilities. And that also continued to be extended, although here it's for all of the sites, since 2008 on a year-by-year basis.
It's $2.5 million of VLT receipts that otherwise would be returned to the state for education. So it's seven sites; that's about $15 million a year.
Can the sponsor explain why we continue to allow this program to continue year in, year out, although it was originally intended to support some capital upgrades when we were changing the rules of VLTs going to racing sites, or allowing VLTs at racing sites?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Well, this is another extender that the Governor proposed, in this case. And once again, it allows for those facilities to continue to provide capital upgrades to the facilities.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor will continue to yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:So my understanding is at one site, the Saratoga site, they're actually using it to build a hotel. Do we think it's good public policy to provide gambling revenue that was supposed to be, by statute, for education, to allow specific vendors to expand their business models, such as building a hotel?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Well, see, that's the general difference of opinion that some of us have. And the reason people proposed this and are extending this is to provide capital upgrades so more money can be made by the additional upgrades. In this case, a hotel, which will provide sales taxes, which will also provide an opportunity for people to visit the area from longer distances and make more video gaming revenue.
So it's a question of whether you believe in investment in any industry, whether it be airplanes or vessels or gambling, whether it's worth it to invest in it with state money and try to increase revenues.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor would yield for one last question.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:He yields for one last question.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Would it be an accurate analysis to say that your explanations to me tonight have been maybe some of these things should be in this bill, but they're not, and we need to keep the process going so that we have an on-time budget? And maybe I don't agree with him about any number of things that made it into this bill or were dropped out of the bill, but that, quote, unquote, is what makes horse racing, and that's where we disagree on the goods and the bads and the missing in this revenue bill.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: That wasn't what I said. And there were about five or six separate questions that led to that answer that you just gave. I'll just stand on the answers that I gave before.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, on the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:Senator Krueger on the bill.
SENATOR KRUEGER:I want to thank my colleague for his answers, as frustrating as some of them are to me because I don't feel that I got answers. But I'm not sure that I can argue he should have known, because apparently those answers to all those questions are magically going to appear in some later bill or bills not called the tax or revenue budget bill.
I've often pointed out on this floor it's particularly odd to do revenue after we spend money, because you're supposed to know how much you get in revenue before you spend it. At least that's what we were all taught by our parents when we were learning to budget our own money.
I suppose this year I can say, well, actually we do seem to be doing the revenue bill earlier than we're actually spending money, because so far tonight we did multiple language bill that didn't really seem to have money attached to them, and now we're doing the revenue bill, so I guess I have one victory. But the victory I feel is empty because the revenue bill also isn't the revenue bill and excludes all kinds of proposals that were in there and taken out, and we might find them later and we might not.
And I would just like to go on record to highlight that these are the kinds of problems that got us to the point we're at today in 2015. Yes, maybe we will have an on-time budget, but it's not clear what's going to be in it.
We know that during the years '96 to 2008 the state budget grew nearly 100 percent, from $62 billion to $121 billion, because nobody was looking carefully enough at revenue versus expenditures. And that despite talking about spending controls between 1996 and 2008, there were regular violations of the commitment of this house to have state spending caps. In fact, 24 out of the last 28 times the Republicans were in control of this house.
And between '97 and 2008 the state's debt grew from $31 billion to $54 billion, causing the debt load attributable to each and every man, woman and child in New York to soar from $1,774 to $2,675.
And we passed a debt service bill last week, and I highlighted that in fact it's very hard to explain anyone ever voting no on the debt service bill. But for the record, during the years '97 to 2009, there was a doubling of the state's annual debt service from $3 billion to $5.8 billion. And disturbingly, it has grown rapidly under the last several years with a Democratic governor as well.
In fact, besides the overspending and debt, we have voted to enact approximately $25 billion in one-shots and sweeps during the last 40 years, of which my party only sat in the majority two years. We are letting our property taxes get out of control despite our claims to have tax caps, that have disproportionately impacted particular high-needs areas of the state. We disappeared a tax credit from this bill that would have provided targeted circuit breaker-type tax relief to those most in need. But that has either disappeared or perhaps will show up in a later bill, we don't know.
What we do know is New Yorkers are paying almost twice the national average in local taxes. Westchester now has the highest property taxes in the nation. In Long Island, the property taxes have risen 320 percent in Nassau County and 550 percent in Suffolk County over the past 25 years. And eight of the 10 top ten counties in the nation with the highest property taxes as a percent of home value are now in upstate New York.
So we have flunked the test on addressing the issue of property taxes, and I fear we flunk it again here tonight. We have flunked the test of keeping our debt under control. We overspend in relation to our revenue. And perhaps it's because we don't do the revenue bills the right way and get all of that worked out before we spend.
And so we are borrowing and spending our way into greater and greater debt. It's interesting, because I'm a proud liberal Democrat, and yet I find myself thinking if I'm accused of being a tax-and-spend liberal Democrat, at least I'm not a borrow-and-spend conservative.
This revenue bill puts us even further behind where we ought to be. We have billions of dollars in settlement money. We don't even know what we're going to be doing with that this year. Perhaps we will learn about that in a capital bill, but perhaps we won't. Perhaps that will also come out in some unusual secret MOU-type arrangement.
This really isn't the way to do a budget. It's not honest or fair to the constituents we all must go home and explain ourselves to. Because whether you voted yes or no on any of the bills that came before you tonight, you can't really say that you know what was going to be spent in the State of New York on those topics or what was going to be raised in revenue, because everything's just sort of a mishmash waiting for the next part of the story to come out.
This part of the story isn't good enough for me. I'll be voting no, and I urge my colleagues to vote no.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:Senator Klein.
SENATOR KLEIN:Thank you, Mr. President.
I know Senator DeFrancisco did a very good job in explaining the boat sales tax. I just wanted to just elaborate just a little bit. This is not clearly -- the intent of this change is not to in some way help somebody save some money on taxes if they're very, very wealthy. It really is a competition issue.
Over the years we have not changed our sales tax structure while other states have done so and are really doing a boom business in large boats. Florida, for example, several years ago changed their sales tax to have an $18,000 maximum. In the process, they have generated over $15 million over the last two years in additional sales tax revenue.
Right now because of the high tax, what individuals are doing is people from New York are buying these boats, registering them in Florida. We lose the sales tax and we lose everything that goes with it. Most people may know if you have a boat -- I don't -- they are very high-maintenance. You have to dock the boat. You have to winterize the boat. You have to hire people to clean the boat. All of this is now done in other states like Rhode Island and Florida because that's where people are actually registering their boats.
So I believe and I think many, especially the boat dealers across our great state, realize that this is going to now lend a more competitive atmosphere to their industry. As a matter of fact, in Newsday just today an article came out and says that they actually now feel that they're going to be able to compete with Florida because now individuals who would more like to keep their boats here because they live in New York would now actually hire all of those people to actually carry out the services to maintain their boats.
I believe this is sort of a win/win. One of the numbers that sort of jumped out at me is that the largest, most expensive yachts purchased anywhere in the United States are actually purchased in three zip codes in Manhattan. And these are people that each and every one of them, even though they live in Manhattan, their boats are not in Manhattan because they purchased them out of state to get that lower sales tax.
I'm sure that once this change in the law takes place, we will once again become a mecca for the boating industry, especially those very large boats. I wouldn't be surprised if some large manufacturers across the world actually would want to come to New York and actually not only maintain their boats that they're selling, but also build their boats here, have more marinas here. These are all things that I think will benefit waterfront areas throughout our great state.
So I of course support this change because I don't think this is a tax giveaway to the rich but a common-sense approach in changing an industry, breathing life into an industry, and thus creating jobs.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Hoylman.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:Thank you, Mr. President. Would the sponsor yield to a few questions?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:Thank you.
Through you, Mr. President, I'm asking about Part TT of the bill, which exempts the purchase of a private airplane that seats fewer than 20 people and carries less than 6,000 pounds from sales tax. I assume the sponsor knew this would be controversial, so I assume he's well-versed on it.
Could the sponsor tell me what the annual cost to the State of New York would be for this tax exemption?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Well, under my theory the annual cost would be a negative cost, since there will be more revenues from the industry receiving the benefits of the additional jobs and the additional dollars that will be generated from the businesses that can expand or businesses that can come here in the aviation industry.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:Through you, Mr. President, would the sponsor continue to yield?
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:But surely, given the, again, controversy surrounding this bill and understanding that colleagues would be a little shocked that it would be before us, given the hard times that so many of our constituents are facing, surely there's a number that the sponsor has researched in terms of direct economic activity that would result from the removal of the sales tax on private airplanes.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Well, the initial cost the first year before we get going with the sales of more aircraft is approximately $10 million.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:Ten million.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: That's correct.
And the idea is the poor people who don't have jobs that are on public assistance or that only can get menial jobs, the concept is if you grow the economy, there's more opportunity for people. And it was mentioned earlier with respect to the boat issue, is that in the long run, you're gaining business and gaining jobs.
So it's a question of whether you want to take an opportunity to develop the economy or leave it exactly the way it is where more people are getting further down in the hole.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:Through you, Mr. President, would the sponsor continue to yield?
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:I'm familiar with that concept, Mr. President, where economic growth is supposed to lead to job creation. It's called trickle-down economics. I think we've heard of it before. And we also know its failings.
Does the sponsor know how many jobs would be created in the first year of this tax exemption on private airplanes?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Well, first of all, about trickle-down economics, there's all kinds of tax credits in the budget. Some of it benefits New York City almost exclusively, like the film tax credit. And upstate doesn't benefit from that at all. Very, very little, I should say.
And the fact of the matter is it's thought of as highly as it is because of what has been described as an economic boom in this industry that we're starting to compete with other states and compete very well.
So your argument about trickle-down economics could be applied to any economic development benefits given by coming to the State of New York. You may agree with some; I may agree with others.
But the fact of the matter is the amount of jobs in the beginning isn't going to be that many. It isn't going to flip overnight. But the concept, from the examples of other states, is that in the long run you're hoping, you don't know for sure, that the benefit of new jobs is going to be much more attractive than not having the business and collecting some sales tax from the few people that still do business in New York State.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:Through you, Mr. President, would the sponsor continue to yield?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:I think the definition of trickle-down economics is when a very rich person gets a tax break and that, in theory, filters down and down and down and down to those folks you call menial. And I don't think it's been proven --
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Hoylman --
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Excuse me, I just would like to clarify that. I called --
SENATOR HOYLMAN:Menial labor.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I called no one menial. I said who may have to have menial jobs. If there's more jobs, there's more opportunity.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:Yeah, menial. I heard you.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Hoylman, are you asking the sponsor to continue to yield?
SENATOR HOYLMAN:Yes. Yes, sir, would the sponsor continue to yield?
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor does yield. Can you pose the question, please.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President.
And I still have not heard from the sponsor, Mr. President, what the economic activity would be -- what level of economic activity would be generated in the first year of this tax exemption, in the fifth year of this tax exemption. What is the number? Other than the hope that the sponsor has stated for economic activity.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Well, there is nobody who could tell you today or on any other economic development program that you expect and you hope that it will work. If it doesn't work, then you change it. At least that's what I think makes sense, rather than not trying it in the first place.
The best estimate I can give you, that after three or four years the direct jobs are going to be -- what I'm informed, by whomever did the studies and negotiated this bill, in the next three or four years it will be approximately 5,000 jobs.
Now, it may be more than that, it may be less. But it's certainly more than -- we're losing more than we're gaining, or we wouldn't have this program in this budget and it wouldn't have been agreed to by both the Assembly, controlled by Democrats, the Senate, controlled by Republicans, and the Governor of the State of New York.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:Mr. President, on the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Hoylman on the bill.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:I think, Mr. President, we have to really take a look at ourselves and consider what the people of New York think about a bill like this when it exempts the global super-rich from paying taxes on their private jetliners.
I mean, could you get any more stereotypically bad or comical or misguided than a proposal like that? I mean, is John Stewart listening? Because he should be.
This is a bill that benefits the Thurston Howells of my district and a number of other districts, cloaked in some sort of economic development package. At the same time, folks are struggling in my district and different districts. Twenty percent of New Yorkers live in poverty, one in three kids. One-third of Rochester children are in poverty. This is not just a downstate issue.
And yet we're giving a tax break for the superwealthy to purchase jets? I mean, really.
I think, Mr. President, that we need a reality check on bills like this. And we shouldn't come into this chamber without solid economic data, if we're going to give tax breaks, that proves, proves to everybody listening and watching us that we're going to create jobs.
And I don't think we've done that, so I'll be voting no.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Peralta.
SENATOR PERALTA:On the bill, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Peralta on the bill.
SENATOR PERALTA:Thank you.
I think tonight we're going from the ludicrous to ridiculous to redonkulous, because we are -- we are asking members to vote on giving a tax break to yachts and planes. Now, we couldn't include a provision that would help people not only get an education but also generate millions in taxes when they graduate called the DREAM Act, but yet we can put in a revenue bill that talks about giving tax breaks to the rich and those who can afford to fly across the world.
Now, the majority has complained time and time again that they're not going to give money to people that are here illegally so they don't get an advantage over those kids who their parents are hardworking blue-collar individuals.
But the problem here is that the majority also has the power to increase income eligibility for the Tuition Assistance Program from $80,000 to let's say anywhere to a $100,000 to $150,000, so that these kids who are children of these blue-collar hardworking individuals won't be able to take out loans.
And yet we are here today trying to pass a bill -- and I'm pretty sure you'll be successful at it -- trying to pass a bill that will give tax breaks to the ultra-rich. This, again, has gone from ridiculous to ludicrous to redonkulous.
Again, I am going to vote no on this bill because my leader, the Democratic leader, was also not part of this discussion. And if she was part of this discussion, I think she would have brought up the optics -- even though if there was a misconception on intent, the optics does not look right on this issue.
And I understand that we're trying to compete with Florida and we want to make sure that we as New Yorkers can kind of corner the market, somehow, or benefit from this. But the bottom line is that the optics do not look right, especially during this time when we're trying to ensure that kids can get a higher education.
So, Mr. President, I'm going to be voting no.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Sanders.
SENATOR SANDERS:Thank you, Mr. President. On the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Sanders on the bill.
SENATOR SANDERS:In particular, the aviation sales tax exemption, a great Republican leader, George Bush Sr., once called a proposal of trickle-down economics "voodoo economics." He was later backed by another economist, Republican David Stockman, who said that no one had a clue on how to make it work.
I'm trying to figure out how am I going to go to my hardworking community of taxpayers of middle-class and working-class people and explain to them that we could not raise the minimum wage, we couldn't do anything about the minimum wage, but we can give taxpayers' money so that the rich can get a larger plane or a larger yacht.
I tried to find out the Yacht Owners Association of my district. I was unable to find that group. So I looked to see how many jet owners I had in my district. Unfortunately, I came up short there also. So I didn't -- there was no lobby pushing me to do these things.
There are studies on stimulus. There's good economic understanding on how to stimulate the economy. The best stimulus, of course, is construction and things of that nature. I mean, we could be working on fixing all the potholes that we have from this harsh winter, from one end of our state to the other. We could be working on the roads -- if not those roads, how about broadband? How about things that can help us compete in this economy?
A handful of people buying nicer planes for themselves is not going to help us in this global economy where America is fighting for its life and we're worried about how much more money can we give to the super-rich.
We need to really look at this, my friends. I mean, there's so many questions here. These jobs, how many of these people live in New York State? I mean, there's a hundred questions. If we're going to do stimulus, let's get serious about it. There may be a time and a place for it. Let's look and see seriously how many jobs we would generate versus how much of the hardworking people's money we're going to take away.
Of course I have to vote no on this. How could I go back to my neighborhood and tell those people "I gave your money to the super-rich -- but don't worry, they're going to fly over you headed to the Caribbean."
Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Boyle.
SENATOR BOYLE:Mr. President, on the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Boyle on the bill.
SENATOR BOYLE:I'd like to address Section TT that's been discussed here, the Aviation Jobs Act. This is not about the superwealthy, it's about creating jobs. And we will create jobs in New York State almost immediately after this becomes law.
As was said, we don't know exactly how much we've lost in revenue, because the Taxation Department in New York State does not keep records on sales tax of aircraft sales. But we do know that we've lost, in the last 10 years, 700 airplanes, 700. And as was said, approximately five jobs for each airplane making $80,000 or more. Over a million of economic activity from each airplane.
Where are they going? They're going to -- not conservative states, they're not going to Texas and Utah, they're going to Massachusetts, Connecticut and Maine, among others in New England. We need to change the dynamic here.
I can tell you that, as was discussed before, the sales tax, you have to pay it if you're going to buy a plane in New York State. But there's also the use tax. And this is a crazy tax. If you do not base your aircraft in New York State and you fly your plane into or out of any New York airport, you have to pay the use tax. If you do not fly the airplane into the county that you live in, then the use tax is 4 percent. If you fly the aircraft into the county you do live in, you pay the 4 percent plus the local tax, which ranges from 2.25 percent to 4.5 percent.
Why are these companies not coming here? Because they don't want to pay the tax. You've all heard of the company NetJets, a leader in international planes, business planes. They have over 400 aircraft in this country, but they don't bring them to New York. They do not have economic activity in buying and selling these planes in New York State. They won't do it because of this tax.
And as was discussed before, this is the big bad conservatives, this is trickle-down economics. Well, I can tell you this is bipartisan. In the State Assembly we have 33 cosponsors of this bill. Real conservatives. We have Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton. I've always considered Barbara the Rick Santorum of Ithaca.
(Laughter.)
SENATOR BOYLE:Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo. I've always considered Carmen the Rick Perry of the Bronx. And Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, who I personally refer to as the Ted Cruz of Manhattan.
(Laughter.)
SENATOR BOYLE:This is not conservative, this is liberal. This is jobs for New York.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Panepinto.
SENATOR PANEPINTO:Yes, I'm going to vote in support of the revenue bill, but I can't --
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Panepinto on the bill?
SENATOR PANEPINTO:On the bill, I'm sorry.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Panepinto on the bill.
SENATOR PANEPINTO:I'm going to vote in support of the revenue bill, but I really can't believe we're having a discussion about, you know, economic activity from tax breaks for yachts and planes. We can't fill the GEA imbalance, we can't raise the minimum wage, and we're going to give tax breaks to the 1 percent.
SENATOR DIAZ:Why are you voting for it?
SENATOR PANEPINTO:Well, we've got to make the government run, Senator. And I didn't speak when you were speaking, so I'd like a little courtesy.
But it's an embarrassing piece of this legislation. And so, you know, it shouldn't be in there. And it's a sop to the 1 percent, it's nothing more.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Gianaris.
SENATOR GIANARIS:Thank you, Mr. President. On the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Gianaris on the bill.
SENATOR GIANARIS:As we sit here approaching 10:00 p.m., I'm beginning to think we are existing in a bizarro world. We're still waiting to see the language on an ethics bill that's supposed to be up about transparency, and yet we're in the middle of the night the day before it's supposed to pass and have seen nothing.
Let's talk about the bill we have before us. We're dealing with a bill that is subsidizing yacht and luxury airline purchases. Now, I understand the arguments. I've heard them, yes. If you pay rich people to buy planes, they will buy more planes. I understand that. But we're here doing a budget which is about choices. So if we gave money to hospitals, they'd probably hire more nurses, we could create jobs. If we gave more money to schools, they'd hire more teachers or faculty, we'd create more jobs.
We can make that argument about anything we spend money on in this state. But it's about choices. So why are we making it easier for people who can completely afford to buy these luxury goods to buy more of them when there are working people in this state who are suffering and don't have enough? Why are we taking a minimum wage hike out of this budget and instead inserting language to give rich people tax breaks? Why are we taking paid family leave out of this budget and yet inserting language to give people who want to buy yachts more money? This is crazy, my colleagues.
Now, we sit here and we debate a lot of things and we disagree on a lot of things, but the level with which we are showing how out of touch we are with the working people of this state right now is astounding to me.
I will be voting no on this bill, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Díaz.
SENATOR DIAZ:Thank you, Mr. President.
Mr. President, would Senator Liz Krueger take one or two questions from me?
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Krueger, do you yield?
SENATOR KRUEGER:Certainly.
SENATOR DIAZ:Senator Krueger, are you the ranking member in the Finance Committee?
SENATOR KRUEGER:Yes, Mr. President, I am the ranking member in the Finance Committee.
SENATOR DIAZ:Mr. President, would Senator Krueger take another question from me?
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Krueger, do you yield?
SENATOR KRUEGER:Certainly I do.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Díaz.
SENATOR DIAZ:Senator Krueger, as the ranking member in the Finance Committee, representing the Democratic Conference, is your job to advise us and to educate us on what's good for the community or what is bad?
SENATOR KRUEGER:I think the Senator knows I'm not shy with my opinions and sharing my opinions about what we should be doing here in Albany.
SENATOR DIAZ:Would Senator Krueger --
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Senator yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Certainly.
SENATOR DIAZ:My problem here tonight is that I could understand Senator DeFrancisco and the other side defending this bill. My -- my -- what I can't understand, Senator, is I heard Senator Hoylman speaking bad about this bill about saying that it's a tax break for the rich and we shouldn't do that. I heard many of you, Democrats, saying this is bad. But I heard another Democrat, Senator Klein, saying this is not --
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Díaz, do you have a question for Senator Krueger?
SENATOR DIAZ:Yes, I'm going there. So I heard the other Democrat, Senator Klein, saying this is not a tax break for the rich. So you, Senator Krueger, please, as the ranking member in our conference, tell me, please, who should I believe, you or Senator Klein?
(Laughter.)
SENATOR DIAZ:Who's right?
SENATOR KRUEGER:Well, clearly I'm right, Senator, but thank you for asking.
(Laughter.)
SENATOR DIAZ:Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Thank you.
Senator Espaillat.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:Thank you, Mr. President.
And again, we're engaging on a bill, on a budget bill, another one of these -- this is another one of these budget bills, a revenue bill that makes up this $150 billion budget, a budget that was again developed, discussed, adopted without the presence of our leader in the minority conference, Democratic Conference.
This reminds me a little bit of the time when I was in the criminal justice field and I came across -- I became acquainted with a confidence game that was called three-card monte. And for those that live in the city, sometimes you go to Times Square or you go to Lexington Avenue, or you go to a place where there's a lot of tourists and you have these perpetrators engaged in what's called three-card monte. It's a confidence game.
And it involves a team. It involves a very quick, sharp guy that moves three balls. One of them is red, and the other two are black. They're covered by a plastic cup. And he moves them around, and he tells the tourists that are walking by "Where's the red?"
And of course the tourists are very enthusiastically looking at this confidence game, and they're trying to figure out where the red ball is. And they want to place a bet, but they're scared. But these folks work in a team. And they have a lookout, they have somebody that places the bet and they know where the red is. So when they see the tourists looking to place their bet and afraid to place the bet, that person who's part of the team comes and places the bet and wins. They know where the red is.
And then of course the tourist, feeling encouraged, because they saw somebody win at this confidence game, they go ahead and they place the bet. And they are sure they know where the red is, but they're taken for their money.
And so we passed earlier a budget bill that was a skeleton bill, with language but no money. And when we asked questions about where the funding is, we were referred to a potential -- another bill that may show up later on. That's a three-card monte game. That's a shell game, if you may. Because we're placing confidence in something that we're not seeing with our own ayes, and we're not sure if it's going to come back.
And now here we placed another bet, those of us that are tourists in this chamber and that are facing a team that is involved in a budget confidence game. And that is to say that we want you, the tourist, us, the ones in the minority that were not in that room when the decisions were made, we want you to place a bet on this tax for Lear-jet-riding people. And if you do that, you know, it's going to trickle down such a robust economic activity that surely you'll know where the red is.
I say this is a confidence game, Mr. President. I will be voting no against this bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Seeing and hearing no other Senator that wishes to be heard, debate is closed.
The Secretary will ring the bell.
(Pause.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY:Section 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Rivera to explain his vote.
SENATOR RIVERA:Thank you, Mr. President.
I was going to get up and actually debate the bill, but I didn't need to, because Senator Gianaris nailed it.
Budgets are about choices, budgets are about priorities. Certainly creating this tax might create some economic activity that might create a few jobs -- and maybe create many jobs. But we have to make the choices that are impacting our constituency. And the folks that live in my district are not the ones that are going to be impacted positively by this.
We should be putting money into the minimum wage, we should be putting money into hospitals, we should be putting money into schools. Budgets are about choices and compromises and making the right choices. This is the wrong one. I vote in the negative.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Rivera to be recorded in the negative.
Announce the results.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar Number --
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Can those voting in the negative please raise your hands again?
Senator DeFrancisco to explain his vote.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I just want to mention something very briefly that I did not do a good job on and Senator Boyle did.
This will affect many, many people positively, people who are looking for jobs. Every plane that has to pay the use tax and can land in New Jersey and not pay it is losing the -- since the planes aren't coming, jobs around an airport to service planes aren't being created if someone can just go across the border to another state. These are a lot of jobs from low-income, lower jobs to $80,000-a-year jobs.
So it's not simply the sale of planes, it's the capability to service planes who bypass New York -- and New York is the economic capital of the world -- in order to bring their planes to the state and go off on new trips in New York State rather than across the border.
I vote aye.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator DeFrancisco to be recorded in the affirmative.
Senator Latimer, did you want to explain your vote?
SENATOR LATIMER:Thank you, Mr. President.
I rise in support of this bill. The bill has been projected as a referendum on the yacht and the aircraft community. But what's in this bill that's very valuable to my voters is a rejection of the Governor's change to the STAR program. That is a significant rejection that was necessary, I believe. And I think for many of us who feel the heavy pressure of property taxes anywhere in this state, primarily in the suburbs and parts of upstate, to reject those changes were essential.
And for that reason, I'm in favor of this bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Latimer to be recorded in the affirmative.
Announce the results.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar 313, those recorded in the negative are Senators Breslin, Comrie, Díaz, Dilan, Espaillat, Gianaris, Hassell-Thompson, Hoylman, Krueger --
SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON:I did not vote no.
THE SECRETARY:Senator Hassell-Thompson in the affirmative.
-- Krueger, Montgomery, Parker, Peralta, Rivera, Sampson, Sanders, Serrano, Squadron and Stavisky.
Absent from voting: Senator Perkins.
Ayes, 44. Nays, 17.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
Senator LaValle.
SENATOR LaVALLE: Mr. President, may we please have the noncontroversial reading of the supplemental calendar, Calendar Number 309.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read the substitution.
THE SECRETARY:On page 1, Senator DeFrancisco moves to discharge, from the Committee on Finance, Assembly Bill Number 3003C and substitute it for the identical Senate Bill Number 2003C, Third Reading Calendar 309.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The substitution is so ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 309, Assembly Budget Bill, Assembly Print 3003C, an act making appropriations.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator LaValle.
SENATOR FLANAGAN:Mr. President, is there a message of necessity at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:There is a message of necessity at the desk.
SENATOR LaVALLE: I move we accept the message.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:All in favor of accepting the message of necessity signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Opposed?
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The message of necessity is accepted and the bill is before the house.
Senator LaValle, we'll have the noncontroversial reading.
SENATOR GIANARIS:Lay it aside.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Lay the bill aside.
SENATOR LaVALLE: May we have the controversial reading of the supplemental calendar, Calendar Number 309.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will ring the bell. The Secretary will read, on the supplemental calendar, Calendar Number 309.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 309, Assembly Budget Bill, Assembly Print 3003C, an act making appropriations.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Latimer.
SENATOR LATIMER:Thank you, Mr. President. On the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Can I have some order in the chamber, please.
Senator Latimer.
SENATOR LATIMER:Thank you, Mr. President.
We've talked tonight so far about three-card montes and about LLC loopholes and about luxury yachts, but I'll tell you something we haven't talked about very much at all in this house or the other house as part of this budget, and that is an appropriate time to have that conversation in this budget, Aid to Localities -- and that is the way we are treating our municipal governments in this state.
This budget -- and I'm going to vote for this section of the budget because there are good things in this budget. However, we have been silent on the issues that face villages, towns, counties and industries in this state. And those governments -- many of us served in those levels of government before we came into this room -- have had the same fiscal pressures that we talk about in the state government: Problems in terms of delivering basic services with the amount of revenues that's there.
Now, I'm sure for those of you who represent those types of governments -- not all of us do. Some of us have a large city urban environment. But for those of us who do represent village, towns, counties, and small cities, we go from meeting to meeting with those folks, and they tell us how hard it is for them to make their budgets work.
We're beginning the process right in many villages and a number of cities that are on off-fiscal-year calendar years who are putting together budgets right now, and they're talking about pressures on them, not only the problems that this winter gave their roads, but the problems that this winter gave in terms of overrunning their snow removal and overtime budgets.
And yet we have established a tax cap on these governments and we've said you cannot raise more than 2 percent of your property tax levy and the calculations often, in the last two years, have been below 2 percent. We have said to those communities, we will not authorize an additional hotel tax to Community A, even if your next-door community, Community B, has a hotel tax, and you're not taxing your residents to help bring some revenue into the community.
We have legislation, Senator Martins has one that would allow greater flexibility for these governments to benefit from naming rights and advertising rights. But as of yet, as a state, we have not provided that authority to towns and villages and counties and cities to be able to get some revenue for that.
We know that there are many unfunded mandates that they suffer from, from Medicaid at the county level all the way on down. Mr. President, you were county executive of a county. No doubt that was a major part of your budget in your county that you're responsible to put together every year. And we don't have that discussion while we talk about the things that we're talking about on this floor.
We have to understand something very important here. We may be the state government in the aggregate, but the local governments are not separate corporations from us. The people they serve and represent are the people that we serve and represent. And their problems cannot be put at arm's length and say straighten out your own house or merge or take some other action, as if we don't care what happens. At the very least, we're fathers to sons, and we don't want to starve our children. But that's the effect of us not, Mr. President, looking honestly and realistically.
We're prepared to look at the Comptroller's reports on stressed communities. But what do we do about it when we realize that Community A does not have a strong tax base?
One of my colleagues a year from now may be mayor of a small city which has a very stressed tax base. What are we saying to communities like that? And in the formula that we currently have for the distribution of AIM, we underfund villages and towns as if they don't have the same problems that most of our small cities do as well. And we know that's true. And you know that it's true for those of you who have ever served on a town council. Village mayors are in this, former village mayors are in this room.
So in this budget, while we don't raise AIM but we talk about what will drive people out of the state, we also know not only will higher taxes push people out of this state, not only will a diminishment of quality of education put people out of this state, but diminishment of municipal services will put people out of this state.
I have a border district, and others do as well. I constantly hear people making comparisons between Connecticut and New York. And I suspect my colleague from Rockland County, his people constantly make comparisons of New Jersey versus New York. Or if you're in the Southern Tier, Pennsylvania versus New York. Or Massachusetts and Vermont.
In every one of those cases, the quality of life that's delivered by local government -- police, fire, sanitation, snow removal -- is as important to the decision of John and Mary to stay in New York as are the macro issues that we deal with here.
So while I intend to vote for this bill because there are some good things in this bill, I think we have neglected collectively our responsibility to these local governments. We have not talked about their problems, we have ignored their problems, and their problems are our problems.
So, Mr. President, I appreciate the opportunity to share those thoughts on the bill. I do intend to vote for the bill. But I hope in our macro concern about the things that affect all of us in the state, we revisit what we're not doing for our local municipal governments.
Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The chamber is getting a little noisy. If we could please take conversations outside the chamber.
Senator Squadron.
SENATOR SQUADRON:Thank you, Mr. President. On the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Squadron on the bill.
SENATOR SQUADRON:There's been a lot of talk tonight about the consequences of what happens when we don't work together. But I think it's also important to talk about the consequences of what does happen when we do work together.
This bill is certainly far from perfect, and I certainly continue to worry about my municipality, New York City, and what has seemingly become the annual failure to restore aid to that municipality. And that's one issue.
But a positive part of this bill that comes from working together is the Nurse-Family Partnership. The Governor made a proposal for the first time to fund the Nurse-Family Partnership out of the General Fund, a program that was created six years ago using TANF dollars.
In a bipartisan or tripartisan way in this house, we supported an increase in what the Governor proposed: Senators Gallivan and Hannon, Senator Savino, myself, many members of the Democratic Conference, all together, supported this Nurse-Family Partnership program, a home visiting program for high-risk first-time moms that changes lives. The partnership lasts for two years. The improvements last for decades beyond. Fifteen years later, moms and their kids are half as likely to be involved in the criminal justice system. Eighteen years later, outcomes for the kids are significantly better. It's truly a life-changing program.
And, it bears noting, though it is not a large dollar amount relative to the budget, because of the collaborative way that we made it happen. This was something that we worked on together, we worked on across the aisle, and the outcome is going to be significant. The $4 million for Nurse-Family Partnership, the 16 million new dollars for a Pay for Success program that we hope ends up going to the Nurse-Family Partnership.
And so I wanted to thank any colleagues on the other side of the aisle and sort of the middle area of the aisle and on my side of the aisle, all together, for that improvement.
I also do want to say there's some other important programs in here that I've long supported: Settlement House funding, Community Services for the Elderly, the Emergency Homeless Program, and a big pot of money for all kinds of housing programs, including STEP, that needed more money, all have increases in those budget. Those were all agreed to with Democrats, Republicans, and the Governor. And for that I say thank you.
I'll be voting yes on this bill. Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Rivera. Excuse me, Senator Rivera.
Senator Hoylman.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:Thank you, Mr. President.
While we don't agree on everything, I do want to thank my colleagues. That last bill, I thought we were basically subsidizing lifestyles of the rich and famous. This bill, on the other hand, I think does the right thing in helping homeless kids. And I want to thank my colleagues in every conference for your support in this effort.
There are kids, Mr. President, who go to shelters every day in the State of New York and they get turned away because there aren't enough shelter beds. And that happens to the tune of 5,000 instances a year. And those kids, because they don't have a shelter bed, have to find another place to sleep. Some of them do drugs, some of them end up in the sex trade.
And quite literally in my district, Mr. President, predators will wait outside a well-known youth shelter in advance of kids being turned away at the door, and then they will pick them up and ruin their lives, quite frankly.
This bill includes the first appreciable increase in funding for homeless youth since the funding was cut back in 2008. And that's been a 66 percent decline since 2008, and now we're back up to an additional $2.1 million, for $4.5 million total.
Now, that's a very small amount in a $150 billion budget, but it will make a big difference to a lot of homeless kids. So I want to thank all of my colleagues for your support.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Krueger.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Good evening, Mr. President. If the sponsor would please yield.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Does the sponsor yield?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you.
We call this the Aid to Localities bill. But if my history is correct, we always see education money in this bill. Can the sponsor show me where in this bill the State Education Department's budget is and how much here they're getting this year?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: First of all, I thought you were going to get up and thank us over here, because everybody else did. And I was looking forward to it.
But in lieu of that, that part of the bill that you're looking for is in another bill. But the most important thing is that there are only four or five bills left, so you'll soon be getting all your answers.
(Laughter.)
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor would continue to yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Will those bills be available after we complete the budget or before we complete the budget?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: In order to get a budget passed, you have to pass all bills to make it a budget. So I can confidently say that you'll have them before we pass a final budget.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor would continue to yield.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:So we don't have the State Education Department budget in here. Is there any funding for education or school aid in this bill at all?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yeah, there's some in -- in this section we add $3 million for the Higher Education Opportunity -- HEOP; $1.55 million for Liberty Partnerships, $1.33 million for Science and Technology Entry Program, namely, STEP; $1 million for Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program, C-STEP; and $1.5 million for Foster Youth College Success, a STEM initiative. Fortunately, we've got acronyms for every single one of them.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Yes, we do.
Through you, Mr. President, on the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Krueger on the bill.
SENATOR KRUEGER:I want to thank my colleague for his answers.
I am going to end up voting for this bill, even though I would like to highlight there are lots of good things in local aid and various programs that many New Yorkers are hoping and praying we get through this year.
But again, we're not doing education aid in the budget bill that usually we do education aid in. We might see three or four other bills. We might, after the fact, perhaps even after we've completed voting on a budget, eventually conclude all the information for a normal type of state budget eventually showed up. But this is sort of upside-down land this year, where we're asked to vote on bills with titles that have nothing to do with what's in them, and far more is not in them than what is in them.
And so people who are deciding to vote yes, they know there's lots of things missing. People who vote no know there's lots of things missing and lots of things wrong. This one is wrong also, Mr. President, but not wrong enough to warrant a no vote by me. So I vote yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Stavisky.
SENATOR STAVISKY:Thank you, Mr. President. This --
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Stavisky, are you on the bill?
SENATOR STAVISKY:I'm sorry, yes, on the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Stavisky on the bill.
SENATOR STAVISKY:This bill provides a lot of aid for the City University of New York, because CUNY is funded differently than SUNY.
There are a couple of things that are missing, or as far as I can tell are not in this budget. For one thing, there are certain mandated costs that CUNY has incurred -- contractual, et cetera. For example, there's fringe benefits of $25 million I don't see anywhere in this Aid to Localities bill. And these are contractual obligations that CUNY has incurred. The state budget, when we eventually see the ELFA bill, will probably have these benefits for SUNY but not for CUNY.
The other areas in the mandated costs are $8 million for the increases in salary and other mandated costs, energy costs, and the cost of rental of buildings. That totals $51 million. And I haven't seen it in this Aid to Localities bill.
Having said that, there are a lot of good things in here. For one thing, base aid for community colleges is increased by $100 per full-time equivalent. The program that I am particularly interested in is called ASAP, and it's a wonderful program at the CUNY community colleges which was cut in the Executive Budget, has been restored here.
And the reason it's so successful is that it works. And it works because there is constant interaction between the community colleges and the students, and in fact was praised in the New York Times in an editorial recently. There was a national study on the ASAP program. And it really should be replicated throughout the country. That has been restored.
Joseph Murphy Institute has been restored. College Discovery, SEEK, all of these opportunity programs have been restored, and I think that is a very, very good sign.
However, what is missing from here is the DREAM Act. That is not in this Aid to Localities bill.
And what's missing is also the impact of our conference leader making her contributions in the field of higher education. She was not asked her wish list, so to speak. Or me, I had no impact on this as the ranking member on the Committee on Higher Education. So this is a problem that we have dealt with in each and every part of the budget.
And lastly, I want to commend Senator Latimer for his comments about how we are ignoring the localities. Because we are made up of so many different kinds of localities -- small cities, big cities, villages, and so on. And we have to be as mindful of those villages as we are of the big cities such as New York. Because each and every part of the city and the state, we have to work together.
And the lack of AIM money I think is unfortunate. New York City hasn't had AIM money in a long time, but that's not a reason to deny it to the people in Westchester County or the people on Long Island.
But all in all, Mr. President, I think this is a good step in the right direction, and I will be voting aye.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Díaz.
SENATOR DIAZ:Thank you, Mr. President. This bill --
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Díaz, are you on the bill?
SENATOR DIAZ:On the bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Díaz on the bill.
SENATOR DIAZ:This bill, 309, is a three-way budget agreement called Aid to Localities. Three-way budget agreement means that Senator Skelos, Assembly Speaker Heastie, and the Governor, the three of them has agreed on this bill.
Mr. President, as the ranking Democrat in the Aging Committee, I today am excited about this. We have things that could be better, and there's always room for improvement. But in this particular bill, as the ranker Democrat on the Aging Committee, I have to say that this bill adds $2.5 million for the Community Services for the Elderly; adds $500,000 for the Long Term Care Ombudsman Program; $312,000 for the Jewish Community Council of Greater Coney Island; $200,000 for the Hebrew Home of Riverdale; $200,000 for the Lifespan Elder Abuse Prevention Program; $100,000 for the Riverdale Senior Services, Inc.; $100,000 for the Emerald Isle Immigration Center; $50,000 for the Meals on Wheels Programs and Services of Rockland, Inc.; $100,000 for the Samuel Field YM& YWHA; and $31,500 for the New York State statewide Senior Action Council for their patient rights hotline and advocacy project.
So as the ranker again, Mr. President and ladies and gentlemen, as the ranking member in the Aging Committee, I am here to support this particular bill and thank Senator Skelos, Assemblymember Heastie, and the Governor in the agreement and thinking especially of the senior citizens. Senior citizens deserve to be taken care of. Senior citizen deserve always to be protected. And I'm glad that not one penny, not one penny has been cut out of the senior department. On the contrary, money has been added to senior citizen issues.
So I'm glad again, and again one more time, as the ranker, the Democrat ranker on the Aging Committee, again, I thank the three men in that room. It would have been better, it would have been a lot better if we could have had us a woman there, and I would be twice as glad to stand here today and say I thank not only the three men in the room but also the woman in the room.
But nonetheless, nonetheless, I take what I can. And today I am supporting this piece of legislation, Bill Number 309, in particular for the help and subsidies and importance that they are giving to senior citizens in the State of New York.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Seeing and hearing no other Senator that wishes to be heard, debate is closed and the Secretary will ring the bell.
The Secretary will read the last section.
THE SECRETARY:Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Roll has been called. Announce the results.
THE SECRETARY:Ayes, 60. Nays, 1. Senator Parker recorded in the negative.
Absent from voting: Senator Perkins.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
Senator LaValle, that completes the controversial reading of the supplemental calendar before the house.
SENATOR LaVALLE: Is there any further business at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:There is no further business at this time before the desk.
Could I have some order in the chamber, please.
SENATOR LaVALLE: Would you recognize Senator Gianaris.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Gianaris.
SENATOR GIANARIS:Mr. President, before we adjourn, can you call on Senator Serrano for an announcement for the Democratic Conference.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Serrano.
SENATOR SERRANO:Thank you.
There will be a meeting tomorrow morning, 9:00 a.m., of the Senate Democratic Conference in Room 315.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:There will be a meeting at 9:00 a.m. on March 31st, tomorrow, in the Senate Democratic Conference Room, Room 315.
Senator LaValle.
SENATOR LaVALLE: Mr. President, before I make a motion, Republican conference at 10:30 a.m.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:There will be a Republican conference tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. in Room 332.
SENATOR LaVALLE: Mr. President, I move that we adjourn until Tuesday, March 31st, at 11:00 a.m.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:On motion, the Senate will stand adjourned until Tuesday, March 31st, at 11:00 a.m.
The Senate is adjourned.
(Whereupon, at 10:29 p.m., the Senate adjourned.)
Highest impact first.
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Not yet analyzed. Open the bill for its official title.
Not yet analyzed. Open the bill for its official title.