Gaveled in 1:55 PM · Albany, New York · 2015–16 session
NEW YORK STATE SENATE
THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD
ALBANY, NEW YORK
June 25, 2015
1:55 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.
On this beautiful sunny Thursday afternoon, we gather with optimism and prayer for closure of agreements on current legislation before going back again to our constituents with the good news.
Sometimes our district supporters are unaware of the most difficult days of reaching consensus in a democratic system. We, O God, pray that the Senators continue to have strength and energy to again hear the message and hear the constituents and then try to help them understand our important role of democracy and the pride of being in a free country.
We ask you this now and forever, amen.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Thank you, Father.
The reading of the Journal.
THE SECRETARY:In Senate, Wednesday, June 24th, the Senate met pursuant to adjournment. The Journal of Tuesday, June 23rd, 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 DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: You okay?
(Laughter.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:I already recognized you.
(Laughter.)
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: All right.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:I think Father Young had left a collection plate here, so --
(Laughter.)
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Oh, all right.
I'd like to hand up the following committee assignments.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The committee assignments are received and shall be ordered to be placed in the Journal.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I would like to now call an immediate meeting of the Finance Committee in Room 334. Pending which -- in Room 332.
Pending the return of the Finance Committee, we'll be at ease.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:There will be an immediate meeting of the Senate Finance Committee in Room 332. Immediate meeting of the Senate Finance Committee in Room 332.
The Senate will stand at ease.
(Whereupon, the Senate stood at ease at 1:58 p.m.)
(Whereupon, the Senate reconvened at 2:23 p.m.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Senate will come to order.
Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: It's my understanding you have a report of the Finance Committee at the desk.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:There is a report of the Finance Committee before the desk.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Can we take up the report.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:We can.
The Secretary will read.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Will you?
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:We will.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Senator DeFrancisco, from the Committee on Finance, reports the following nomination.
As a member of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Lawrence Schwartz, of White Plains.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Move the nomination.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The question is on the nomination of Lawrence Schwartz as a member of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. All in favor signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Opposed?
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Lawrence Schwartz has been confirmed as a member of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Mr. President, can we now remain at ease.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator DeFrancisco, I would like -- Senator DeFrancisco, before we go at ease, I want to just acknowledge something.
We are celebrating today the birthday of our distinguished parliamentarian and astute counsel here, Dave Previte. Let's wish him a happy birthday.
(Applause.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Senate is at ease.
(Whereupon, the Senate stood at ease at 2:24 p.m.)
(Whereupon, the Senate reconvened at 4:24 p.m.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Senate will come to order.
Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, Mr. President, good news. The good news is that I'm going to call a meeting of the Rules Committee for 5:30, 5:30, in Room 332, which shows progress is being made.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:So there will be a meeting of the Rules Committee in Room 332 at 5:30 p.m.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: That is correct.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:So a meeting of the Rules Committee in Room 332 at 5:30 p.m. 5:30.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: 5:30, yeah.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:P.m.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: And could we also stand at ease until we receive the report of the Rules Committee.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Senate will stand at ease until such time as the Rules Committee reports.
The Senate is at ease.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: For clarification, that's Eastern standard time.
(Whereupon, the Senate stood at ease at 4:25 p.m.)
(Whereupon, the Senate reconvened at 7:08 p.m.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Senate will come to order.
Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, I would like to announce that there will be a Rules Committee meeting in Room 332 at 7:30 sharp.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:There will be a Rules Committee meeting in Room 332 at 7:30 sharp.
Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, would you please recognize Senator Gianaris, please.
SENATOR GIANARIS:Thank you, Mr. President.
There will be a Democratic Conference at 7:15 in the Democratic Conference Room.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:There will be meeting of the Democratic Conference in the Democratic Conference Room at 7:15.
Senator DeFrancisco, anything else?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: We will be at ease until then.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Senate will stand at ease.
(Whereupon, the Senate stood at ease at 7:09 p.m.)
(Whereupon, the Senate reconvened at 8:07 p.m.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Senate will come to order.
Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: It's my understanding that you have a Rules Committee report at your desk.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:There is a Rules Committee report before the desk.
And I will ask the Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Senator Flanagan, from the Committee on Rules, reports the following bills:
Senate Print 24, by Senator DeFrancisco, an act to amend the Judiciary Law;
Senate 29A, by Senator DeFrancisco, an act to amend the Insurance Law;
Senate 220A, by Senator LaValle, an act to amend the Education Law;
Senate 911A, by Senator Libous, an act to amend the Civil Practice Law and Rules;
Senate 1989, by Senator Young, an act to amend the Workers' Compensation Law;
Senate 4049B, by Senator Lanza, an act to amend the Insurance Law;
Senate 4134, by Senator Stewart-Cousins, an act to amend the General Municipal Law;
Senate 4444B, by Senator Seward, an act to amend the Insurance Law;
Senate 4628, by Senator Lanza, an act to repeal paragraph (b) of subdivision 2 of Section 75-b of the Civil Service Law;
Senate 4632, by Senator Golden, an act to amend the Retirement and Social Security Law;
Senate 4825, by Senator Golden, an act to amend the Administrative Code of the City of New York;
Senate 5025, by Senator Golden, an act to amend the Workers' Compensation Law;
Senate 5089, by Senator Golden, an act to amend the Local Finance Law;
Senate 5273, by Senator LaValle, an act to repeal;
Senate 5535, by Senator Hannon, an act to amend the Public Health Law;
Senate 5608A, by Senator Golden, an act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law;
Senate 5701A, by Senator Golden, an act to amend the Tax Law;
Senate 5761, by Senator Griffo, an act to amend the Highway Law;
Senate 5795, by Senator Marcellino, an act to amend the Education Law;
Senate 5914, by Senator Felder, an act to amend the General Municipal Law;
Senate 5979, by the Senate Committee on Rules, an act to amend the Workers' Compensation Law;
Senate 5986, by Senator Golden, an act to repeal;
Senate 5989, by Senator Griffo, an act to amend the Public Health Law;
Senate 5996A, by Senator Comrie, an act to allow;
Senate 5998, by Senator Lanza, an act to amend Chapter 154 of the Laws of 1921;
Senate 6004, by Senator Seward, an act to amend the Insurance Law;
Senate 6006, by Senator DeFrancisco, an act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law;
Senate 6010, by Senator Lanza, an act to amend the Social Services Law;
Senate 893A, by Senator Avella, an act to amend the Real Property Tax Law; and
Senate 6012, by Senator Flanagan, an act to amend Chapter 576 of the Laws of 1974.
All bills reported direct to third reading.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Move to accept the report of the Rules Committee.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:All in favor of accepting the Committee on Rules report signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Opposed?
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Rules report is accepted and before the house.
Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Mr. President, can we now take up Calendar 1910.
And do you have a message of necessity at the desk?
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read Calendar 1910, and there is a message of necessity at the desk.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1910, by Senator Flanagan, Senate Print 6012, an act to amend Chapter 576 of the Laws of 1974.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator DeFrancisco, I'll entertain a motion to accept the message.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Move to accept the message of necessity.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:All in favor of accepting the Governor's message of necessity indicate by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Opposed?
(Response of "Nay.")
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The message of necessity is accepted.
The bill is before the house.
The Secretary will 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 Espaillat to explain his vote.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:Thank you, Mr. President.
Here we are now facing what many have called the Big Ugly. Many in this chamber and across the state have called this bill --
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Excuse me, Senator Espaillat.
Can we have some order in the house, please.
You may continue.
SENATOR ESPAILLAT:Thank you, Mr. President.
And so this bill is like a big ball of wax. It includes many, many different pieces of legislation that are important to this state, but perhaps the most important in it is the extension of the rent laws.
And so what we have to ask ourselves is, does the Big Ugly include an elimination of vacancy decontrol? Does the Big Ugly reform dramatically major capital improvement and individual apartment improvement practices? Does the Big Ugly eliminate the 20 percent bonus for landlords? Does the Big Ugly codify the Tenant Protection Unit? Does it eliminate preferential rent?
And so here we are. With regards to vacancy decontrol, the Big Ugly increases vacancy decontrol, its threshold, from $2500 to $2700 rent per month. Meaning that it's only a $200 a month increase for an apartment to be withdrawn from the rent-stabilized rent rolls.
It is attached to the New York City Rent Guidelines Board, the Municipal Rent Guidelines Board. So for this year it will mean that if it was passed right now and it would go into effect this very moment, it would increase the threshold to $2,727. And so that's what the Big Ugly has for vacancy decontrol. It does not eliminate it.
Does it reform major capital improvement practices dramatically? The Big Ugly says that in buildings with 35 or less units, MCI increases will jump from 184 to 196. And for buildings with 35 or more units, it will jump to the 108th percentile. And it will be spread out from seven years to nine years.
The tenants will perhaps pay a little less per year, but at the end of the run, the amount of the money they up will be the same. And in fact this increase, again, will be in perpetuity, way beyond the time that the owner has captured -- recaptured the investment that he or she may have made.
With regards to the vacancy bonus, the 20 percent bonus, this bill does not attach it to a regular apartment, it only attaches it to preferential rent. And what it does, it says that if a tenant leaves an apartment for which he or she had a preferential rent lease, that the landlord will not get immediately the 20 percent bonus if it's over the legal rent, he will get it in different brackets -- 5 percent, 10 percent, 15 percent and then 20 percent.
So this does not apply to the average lease held by the average -- or the majority of the rent-stabilized-apartment tenants.
So in fact although we may have moved an inch, we are so far away from where we need to be to protect tenants.
And we have given away so much. Because this bill includes an extension, a potential extension, permanent extension of 421-a, a handsome benefit given to landlords, to developers, that could amount to over a billion dollars a year for the City of New York. Many believe that this particular proposal, in the span of seven to eight years, will be perhaps $2.3 billion more than in the past.
It also provides a much-needed tax cap for suburban homeowners. It also increases the cap for charter schools and provides $250 million for private and parochial schools. So everybody gets a big chunk of the pie -- except the tenants, who walk out of here with an anemic, let me say it again, an anemic extension of the rent bill.
That's why, Mr. President, I will be casting my vote in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Espaillat to be recorded in the negative.
Senator DeFrancisco, for the purposes of an announcement.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, I just wanted to mention, in case people are wondering, we have waived the 2-minute rule to give everybody an adequate time to express their opinion on the bill.
And secondly, something happens at the end of every session that's sort of refreshing. Well, that thing has started right now, just for everybody to know.
Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:I thought you were referring to the end of session.
Senator Espaillat is recorded in the negative.
We will exercise leniency and flexibility in the explanation of votes.
Our next speaker will be Senator Hamilton to explain his vote.
SENATOR HAMILTON:Yes, Mr. President. I rise not in favor of this bill.
I rise for the 8 million people in New York City who have been shut out of this process. I've been hearing unity in the Senate chambers, but right now I only see a Senate that is one-dimensional. And right now the City of New York has been shortchanged once again.
I ran for office to be part of a democratic process that I have not seen yet. What's happening here today is not democratic at all.
If New York City, 8 million people -- if you look at the size of New York City -- people kind of tend to forget the enormous size of New York City. But just think about it. If the states of Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Delaware, Montana, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Maine were shut out of the political process, there would be an uproar throughout the United States.
New York City has the population of 10 states. Just think if 20 percent of the states were shut out of the democratic process. And that's what's happening here today.
Rent decontrol is a step in the right direction, but it has not been enough. Right now in my district, in the central part, studio apartments go for $2,200 a month. So it won't be a long period of time before we will lose, in my district alone, anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 units based on the current formula. Which to me is a slow process to eliminate the working-class people in my district.
I've heard many times in these chambers we need to have consistency in home rule, we need to have consistency in home rule. When Senators speak about their own districts, they say do not infringe upon our districts. But yet for the district of New York City, we've been left out.
So there's only -- home rule only applies when it's advantageous for those whose laws are applying to their home district. The home rule does not apply to other districts, be it New York City, which has the largest population of any city in the State of New York, has been shut out of this process.
Mayoral control for our million-plus children was never discussed among Senate Democrats. We have approximately a million children going through the educational process that we had no input in whatsoever. We all know the State Education Department has been failing our children, and now our children are being failed again on the city level.
Teacher evaluation is a great concern of mine. I believe there will be a brain drain of teachers coming into inner cities for fear of getting a poor evaluation and being fired from their job.
I have many struggling schools in my district. Not because the kids aren't intelligent, it's because they're not getting the resources they need to be viable educationally in our society. Many of our children are being shortchanged by the system, and now they're going to be shortchanged by the process that we are voting on today.
This is my first year as a Senator, and I heard that this is a refreshing process. There's nothing refreshing about this process today. They call it the Big Ugly, and it's more than a Big Ugly. It's the diminishing effect of the democratic process. We have been shut out. Eight million people's voices are not being heard.
And so I cannot vote on this bill, for the mere fact that I got it less than two hours ago. I would be negligent to my constituents to vote on something that I have not read, that I've only been given two hours to look at. And so I don't know what's refreshing about that. To me, with good conscience I cannot vote on something that was given to me literally two hours prior to the vote.
So I, Jesse Hamilton III, here today with my son, Jesse Hamilton IV, stand up for my child, stand up for other children, stand up for the hardworking men and women in my district who are now being shown that democracy has failed them today.
And so, Mr. President, I vote in the negative today.
Thank you very much.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Hamilton to be recorded in the negative.
Senator Krueger to explain her vote.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you, Mr. President.
I rise to explain why I am voting no tonight.
Several of my colleagues already spoke, and they outlined what we don't have in the housing changes that we need. My district, on the East Side of Manhattan, is estimated to lose I think 18,000 units of affordable housing within the four-year extender period that this law will create.
My district, because it already has apartments dramatically near the $2500 mark, nothing will be accomplished by $2700 or the interesting COLA, which might move us to $2800 by the four-year mark. It's completely unacceptable.
The MCI issues do almost nothing for my residents. But it's nice that the real estate got themselves another tax abatement as part of the deal.
Harassment fines would mean something if we ever were able to find anyone guilty under harassment. But because the language is so poor of the definition of harassment, we really can't find a housing lawyer or a housing court judge who's finding anyone guilty of harassment. So I don't think increasing the penalties means anything.
And of course the fundamental issue of not doing away with vacancy decontrol, not doing anything about limiting the vacancy bonuses that we're watching with MCIs and IAIs, doubling the rent between Tenant A and Tenant B.
The 421-a program is completely unacceptable. New York City should have urged all of us to simply let the program die.
A couple of changes were made between last night and tonight, certainly not to justify my support for the 421-a package or the entire bill.
It will probably cost the city, I don't know, close to $2.5 billion a year. And I guarantee we will see far more units coming out of affordability because of the damage that continues to be done under rent regulation laws compared to the growth in affordability from this 421-a-type model.
Also, interestingly, under the old system, while very few 421-a's were built, affordably built, at least they stayed in rent regulation. Under this law, if you hit that $2700 mark, you don't even have to stay in rent regulation. So another piece of damage we've done to New York City housing laws.
Education. New York City wanted a simple thing up here, continuation of mayoral control. We've done it twice for six years' time each. We changed mayors, our schools continue to get better, but suddenly we will give a one-year continuation of mayoral control.
I'm just curious which one of us on the floor is planning on going down and announcing they're running the New York City school system effective a year from September, because that's what it would mean to end mayoral control. One of us, or perhaps, on the second floor, the Governor would need to show up every day at the New York City Department of Education and say "I'm running the schools now." Guarantee that is not the right answer for the children in New York City.
Despite the fact that almost nothing was done, and I believe future real harm was done to the public school system and the assurances that teachers want to teach in our system, we're allowing a major reversal of public policy, moving towards allowing uncertified teachers in charter schools. We worked very hard in this state to move into a system of certification of teachers and increasing teacher standards. And frankly, I cannot understand why we would decide to reverse ourselves for the charter schools or why we would allow preferential enrollment of students whose parents work for charters or the educational corporation or the charter management organization of a charter school.
These are supposed to be public schools for public school children through a lottery system. They are not supposed to be set up like private prep schools where, if a family member is involved with the school or the board, you get to go there. It's outrageous.
You know, we're also learning about this great new STAR rebate, with checks coming in the mail right before election. Politicians always like that. We're doing it outside the budget process; I thought that was against the rules. We are not explaining how we're coming up with I believe it's $3.4 billion annually by the fourth year. We're not explaining who loses because this money is going there.
For the record, none of it goes to New York City. No one in New York City will be eligible. No renters, no matter where they live in the State of New York, will be eligible. There will be some winners, huge losers. And if anyone imagines that the major motivation for this one isn't being able to say "I sent you a check right before the election," you haven't been watching the policies and patterns of New York STAR programs over the years.
Just one more failed opportunity to deal with perhaps a real circuit breaker for poor residents, whether they're tenants in apartments or owners of houses who literally can't afford to pay their taxes and live in their homes. So one more failed opportunity.
It's the Big Ugly. It didn't come after midnight. Usually my rule is when bills come after midnight with a message of necessity, I know they stink and I vote no. This one came earlier. It still stinks, and I vote no.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Krueger to be recorded in the negative.
Senator Rivera to explain his vote.
SENATOR RIVERA:Thank you, Mr. President.
A couple of days ago I stood on this floor when we introduced a bill related strictly to rent regulation. I made a case then, and I will make it briefly again now before I go into this particular bill.
Most of the individuals, overwhelmingly, the number of individuals that are going to be impacted by rent regulation, by the laws that we are extending tonight, live in our districts. Just in my district alone, 70,000 units, hundreds of thousands of individuals.
And certainly a couple of days ago when we did not extend laws or we voted on the -- on the bill that we had before we had the five-day extender, my concern then was that people were going to wake up and not know whether they had a rent-regulated apartment and what was going to happen with the laws.
At this point we are voting on a bill that will pass in the other house. And I am sad to say that even though when my constituents wake up tomorrow they will have rent-stabilized apartments, in just a few years maybe they won't.
The extender that we're voting on today without any major changes -- because there are changes, but they're really around the edges. And the concern that we've always had is that the amount of apartments that are available to poor and working-class people in the City of New York are a limited number. And they're getting smaller and smaller every year.
We think that between 87,000 and 89,000 apartments in total will be lost in the next four years. We are kicking the can down the road and by doing that making it less likely that working-class people will have a place to live in the City of New York.
That is a major issue that I have with the first part of this Big Ugly. Some of my colleagues are calling it the Big Beautiful. I think it is certainly big; there is nothing beautiful about it.
My colleague Senator Hamilton pointed out about the fact that we did not participate in the conversations leading up to this. We only had the final version just a few hours ago. And as we we're looking through it, we find out that we work at the -- again, at the edges, but the core of it, as it relates to rent regulation, was not changed, and ultimately what that would mean for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers in just a few years. It makes me quite angry.
Vacancy decontrol, the main thing. We did tweak it a little bit, $2700 as opposed to $2500. But there's still hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers that will not have a home because the landlords that have those apartments that will then become market rate will probably say, Well, I'm going to charge you so much. You can't afford it? Well, that's too bad for you.
421-a. We've had many conversations about that tax abatement. And the core of the conversation is about whether this tax abatement actually creates affordable housing units. And most of the data tells us that it does not. And the conversations that we were having or that we will have in the next six months about potentially extending it, I hope that that is the core of the conversation.
Certainly whether the people that build these type of apartments get union labor that actually builds these apartments, I welcome that conversation. But the core of the conversation always has to be whether this tax abatement that goes to developers that get rich off of them, or I should say more rich off of them, whether it leads to the creation of affordable housing units -- which, again, is the difference between a working-class family having a place to live in the City of New York or not.
Then we move on to the second part of the bill, which has to do with education. Whether we're talking about the increase in charters, which was -- that was a nifty move, I got to give it to you. That was a nifty move. No cap charter -- the charter cap stayed where it was, but you just shifted a couple of the ones that were not happening in other parts of the state. Nifty move.
Fifty more charter schools, with no changes in regulations as far as transparency, with no mandates on whether ELLs -- so English language learners or high-needs students go to these schools, and just as my colleague Senator Krueger said, it is disgraceful that we are giving them this 15 percent cap. Right?
We're saying to them 15 percent of your students can be some of the students from your family members from the principals, the teachers, the administrators, et cetera, therefore telling them you have 15 percent less of students of need, of high needs, that might need the education that these charter schools supposedly, you know, provide that is superior to so many other public schools. We're telling them you can fit even less of them.
That's great. Great for them, but not great for the kids that live around some of these charter schools. We needed to have a larger conversation about that as opposed to just shoving it into this Huge Ugly.
Mayoral control, my colleague spoke about it as well. We get a one-year extension when previously the former mayor was given six or seven years or however much the extension was for. And for some reason, for some strange reason, this mayor gets only one year.
And I will be the first to admit that I've had some issues with mayoral control. And I've been a critic of it at times. But the fact that we have not it extended it for a longer period of time than just one year, it makes me wonder why that is in this particular case.
Last but not least, Mr. President, there are so many things that we left right till the end of the session, that we were talking about all year, that impact or would have impacted millions of New Yorkers. Whether we're talking about minimum wage, whether we're talking about raising the age, whether we're talking about an independent prosecutor that this body saw fit not to do.
And so we had to go in other ways. Whether it's raising the age, which we again dealt only with the corners of it, or the independent prosecutor for police misconduct, which we only dealt on the edges of it.
Ultimately, Mr. President, I'm sad to say that this is a bad bill. It was negotiated without our participation. It was put in front of us just a few hours ago. And ultimately just goes at the edges of things that are core to constituencies that we serve but that ultimately we all represent.
It is unfortunate that this is what we have to vote on. But since it's what we have to vote on, I will be voting in the negative.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Rivera to be recorded in the negative.
Senator Squadron to explain his vote.
SENATOR SQUADRON:Thank you, Mr. President. I rise on the bill, to explain my vote, I guess.
Look, like many who have spoken before me, I am disappointed tonight. You know, when you talk about rent regulation, it's not just another issue to get negotiated in a backroom in Albany, it's a big part of who we are in New York City. And this deal continues the loss of rent regulation in New York City. In fact, it's designed to do that.
And it continues the incentive for the worst landlords to destabilize people's homes and communities and neighborhoods so that they can get to the bonanza of a vacancy threshold.
The real concern that I have on this is it's my colleagues who don't represent very many or any rent-regulated constituents who seem so bent on getting rid of rent regulation.
So I say to my colleagues please, just leave us be. On behalf of 2 million New Yorkers, please, whatever your interest is in this issue, let New York City be who it is. Let us continue the programs that have been fundamental to having a city that maintains diversity and opportunity.
I don't understand why it is that we have a large number of folks who represent no rent-regulated tenants who drive the conversation on rent regulation. It's an unanswered question. It's never been answered on this floor. And the victims, the consequences, are the city that I represent and my constituents.
The victims, the consequences, are nearly 40 percent of rent-regulated units in the Manhattan part of my district under risk during the period of this law. Nearly a third of the units in the Brooklyn part of my district under risk during the period of this law.
And that's a decision that's been made, according to all the news reports -- I of course was not in that backroom, but according to all the news reports, that's a decision that's been made by colleagues of mine who do not have a single constituent impacted by this decision. And that's just wrong. It's not how government should work.
You know, in a lot of ways this bill, Mr. President, feels like more of the same in Albany. Now, in some cases that's a good thing. We're extending tax abatements in Lower Manhattan at a time that we have 6.5 million square feet at the World Trade Center site that we still need to lease up. We're still rebuilding from September 11th. We have momentum in Buildings 1 and 4. We have momentum to get Buildings 2 and 3 built. But we also have changes happening in Lower Manhattan. We're extending those, we did that in a bipartisan way, and I thank everyone who pushed for that extension.
We're extending eligibility for the Loft Law, which means a small group of tenants, an important one, one that has helped to rebuild neighborhoods, will continue to have access to the Loft Law program. That's a positive thing. I thank my colleagues for that.
There is one thing in this bill that's new and different for Albany. You know, I remember 2009 well. I was on the other side of the aisle. I stood with many folks across the aisle to support the reauthorization of mayoral control of the schools. In fact, at the time Leader Skelos said you have to continue mayoral control, it's been a success. Senator Golden said we wouldn't have a committee run the Parks Department, now we've done that with education and it's what we should have done.
But on this issue, things have changed. Suddenly my colleagues across the aisle don't support mayoral control. We're only getting one year. And it's strange to me because it has worked. One thing about mayoral control is the schools are controlled by the mayor, whoever that mayor is.
And I never believed we were passing mayoral control for a single individual. I thought we were passing it because, as Senator Golden and others said, we believe that the school system should be run in an accountable way. Apparently that's changed.
I wish that instead we'd had a change on closing the LLC loophole which allows anonymous, unlimited dollars to flood our political system to pervert the process, to raise questions for those tenants and so many others about what exactly is driving the agenda in Albany. But we haven't done that. In fact, we haven't even gotten a vote on closing the LLC loophole, despite every possible attempt, every rule in this house.
And we are here, as has been mentioned, debating a bill that I have to admit I read large parts of earlier drafts of, but I have not been able to read the full draft of this bill because we simply haven't had time. And there have been changes in every draft.
You know, we've stayed here a week past the scheduled end of session, it's late in the night. What would be so terrible about enough time for the public and the members -- even, goodness, the media -- to read the bill, to consider it and to understand it at the time we vote on it?
421-a, there's a lot of questions and impacts, potentially significant ones, in my district. I've discussed some of the other issues in this bill. It's too rushed, Mr. President, it's too important, it's too fundamental to who we are.
I'll be voting no.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Squadron to be recorded in the negative.
Senator Hoylman to explain his vote.
SENATOR HOYLMAN:Thank you, Mr. President. I rise to explain my vote.
I'll be voting in the negative. You know, Mr. President, it's great having these iPads. But when you don't get the information soon enough, you might as well just have a brick on your desk.
And I really think that we have been remiss in providing the members of this body timely information about the so-called Big Ugly so we can make an informed decision. So you're putting us in the position almost of having to vote no because of that issue.
I wanted to also speak on behalf of the tenants of the 50,052 units of rent-stabilized apartments in my district. They've been calling me over the last few weeks. And as we dithered over the extending of the rent laws, they worried. There was a young person who called in to say that she relies on rent stabilization to afford to live in New York. She said that she has such high student loans that she could never afford market rent housing even with a full-time job.
There was a senior who called me who's living on a fixed income with medical expenses, saying that the rising cost of living, the food and the rent, puts him on the brink of not having enough money to keep up. His apartment is shifting out of rent stabilization and MCIs are going to push him over the line into having to choose between rent, medicine and food. Between rent, medicine and food. I think everyone can agree that that's an unacceptable situation.
There was an elderly woman who called my office. She was once a famous journalist, and she's lived in a rent-regulated apartment in the Village for over 30 years. But the lure of profits by landlords and the urgency to push tenants out through vacancy decontrol has led her landlord, as she put it, to hang her out to dry. Her apartment has gone unpainted and damages unrepaired in an effort to push her out. The conditions are so unbearable, she said, that she only goes into her apartment to sleep and spends most of her other waking hours sitting in the lobby.
I don't think we've addressed it in this bill. We haven't addressed vacancy decontrol. Over 100,000 apartments are due to be decontrolled in New York City in the next four years, and thousands of those are in my district: 11,000 in Chelsea, 35,000 in Midtown East and Murray Hill, part of Senator Krueger's district, Stuyvesant Town. In Lower Manhattan and TriBeCa, 48 percent of those rent-stabilized units -- that's over 8,000 -- are due to be decontrolled.
We haven't addressed the issue of MCIs being charged in perpetuity. Someone said today in conference that it's the only thing he knows that violates the law against perpetuities, the MCI charge.
And it doesn't address, as you heard from my tenant, the elderly woman in the Village who is being harassed by landlord, it doesn't address that inherent disadvantage that tenants have. And Senator Espaillat or Senator Perkins aren't in the chamber right now, but I wonder, along with them, whether it was really worth getting arrested a couple of weeks ago in defense of the rent laws, because I don't think we've risen to the occasion.
On 421-a, you know, I'm glad that we have six months to look at the issue. I would suggest a modest proposal. Let's end the program. Let's end the program and charge, instead, the developers the value of the subsidy. We can use the cash from that to create a city-driven program that's going to be faster and cheaper to build affordable housing.
We don't need 421-a any longer, Mr. President. It's not the 1970s. The Bronx isn't burning, it's beautiful. And the need for a governmental subsidy simply doesn't exist. We know, from personal understanding, that it invites corruption, it's not transparent, and it costs the city over a billion dollars a year. And that's money we could use, of course, for fire, police and schools. So I hope that we'll be sitting down with the interested parties and discussing how we can reform 421-a out of existence.
And then finally, as it's been said, the double standard at work here when it comes to mayoral control. Mr. President, my daughter is going to be going into kindergarten in the fall, I'll be a proud new public school parent. And like a lot of public school parents, I'm going to want to know who's in control of our public school system.
Well, we're going to have one year of that in New York City. And conveniently, it's going to end in an election year. We didn't have the public hearings, we didn't have the discussion or the debate with the stakeholders on how long we should extend mayoral control.
As far as I understand, every leader was in favor of extending mayoral control and you had everyone from Rudy Giuliani to the CEOs of major corporations in the City supporting it. So are we limiting mayoral control, Mr. President, simply because we can? Are we just showing the mayor of the City of New York who's boss?
Because that's a really poor excuse, in my opinion, to deny the parents of over 1.1 million school kids a long-term strategy that gives them accountability over their kids' education. I don't think anyone here would argue that a one-year extension is good public policy or good educational policy. And the whole thing reeks of political payback.
It's sad because really the people we're hurting by this one-year extension aren't the politicians or the people who are in the backrooms discussing this deal. We're hurting the people who have nothing to do with the political gamesmanship, all of those innocent school kids whose future and the future of New York depends on a quality public education.
And it is the Big Ugly, it is indeed aptly named. Because we didn't discuss the Child Safe Products Act on this floor. We didn't ban microbeads. We don't have a comprehensive ethics reform package. We didn't raise the minimum wage. We don't have the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act that Senator Squadron carries that would allow transgender people the same rights and responsibilities as everyone else in this room. We didn't fully fund the MTA capital plan. We didn't Raise the Age.
I wish it wasn't the Big Ugly, Mr. President. I wish it was the Big Gorgeous. But it's not, and so I'll be voting no.
Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Hoylman to be recorded in the negative.
Senator Sanders to explain his vote.
SENATOR SANDERS:Thank you, Mr. President.
Not too long ago, when we first came to these chambers at the beginning of this session, we had dreams and possibilities, hopes and wishes. We said to ourselves that we would stake out a claim to do something different for the people of this great state.
There was talk that we may raise the age and make sure that people, young people would not be in inappropriate juvenile settings. We spoke of farmworkers may get a day off. Some of us spoke of a religious garb bill. The DREAM Act was a part of what we were talking about.
Ethics reform. Oh, do we remember ethics reform. We spoke of getting a permanent prosecutor in the case, a permanent special prosecutor, mind you, in the case of police causing a fatal death.
We spoke of the leader of my conference being able to go into the room and participate. We had a lot of dreams. Increasing the minimum wage, closing the LLC loophole.
Well, seemingly those dreams have been deferred. What did we get? What did we get?
Seemingly, we've got a bill, we've got a -- we're about to pass a budget that goes out of its way to embarrass the mayor of the City of New York. Seemingly, the Executive has taken great delight in these things.
This does not work well for the people of New York State. We need to find a way to work together, because these people sent us here to do exactly that. You'd have to work hard to get a worse budget for the people of New York.
When you speak of the Rent Act and you speak of a straight four-year extender, you have a series of issues that have been brought up, especially vacancy decontrol, that just has not been dealt with. We haven't wrestled with that one.
If you speak of 421-a, we missed an opportunity to create affordable housing. We could have taken that bill, we could have taken that law and we could have used it to create and help solve some of the homelessness that we have in New York City and New York State.
We did not do that. We've managed to ensure that those who have will get more, but we did very little to ensure that people, working people who simply don't have enough and don't make enough to survive in New York City, would have affordable housing. We had a chance to do that. We didn't do it.
In fact, we're doing some strange concoction where we're going to let the contractors and the developers speak to certain unions and come up with something that -- this may not even be legal at the end of the day. But we'll see about that as time goes on.
If we don't watch ourselves, my friends, we are going to do more to create a type of gentrification in these big cities -- and whatever happens in New York City is going to happen in the rest of the state. It's going to happen here first, whether it's something good or something bad. And we could do something about this if we had the will.
When we speak of education, mayoral control -- now, again, I have problems with mayoral control. But I have a larger problem when we pick and choose which mayor will get what. If the norm was giving mayors seven years, then let's give the mayor seven years and not the one year. What can you really do in one year?
We have created a type of tax credit that -- you'll have to study this one well. $250 million, if done wrong, we're going to -- we're going to pay for this one.
Fifty more charter schools. I think that was that card game that I saw in the streets in New York where you moved it here and moved it there, and who could keep up with it. You created 50 more without moving any -- man, I tell you, that's creative.
Then we may be creating a friends-and-family club with this 15 percent of the students where you can find 15 percent that can go into the charter schools.
Well, there's so many more. I could tell you about the Common Core and how we really needed to address it. Everyone in here knows of the clamoring of the people of New York State over the issue of Common Core, and yet that can we too kicked down the street. We put that one off.
However, my friends, the hour is late. The president is worthy, so I am not going to speak long. I will say this. I will take this opportunity to encourage my colleagues to think well on what we have done, the good as well as the bad, and to enjoy their break as they go back.
Mr. President, I too must vote in the negative on this one. Thank you very much and enjoy your summer.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Sanders to be recorded in the negative.
Senator Klein to explain his vote.
SENATOR KLEIN:Thank you, Mr. President.
Putting together a comprehensive piece of legislation like this requires a lot of compromise, a lot of balance and trying to meet the needs of all the interests in our state. I think, by and large, in some ways we have achieved that. That's why I'm going to vote yes.
But clearly there are certain aspects of every part of this legislation where I really think it could have been a lot better.
First and foremost, I think rent regulations -- we talk about vacancy decontrol, we talk about MCIs. There is some improvements in this legislation which I think will stem the tide of making some units unaffordable in our city.
One thing that I think we missed an opportunity on, and I know a lot of my Democratic colleagues spoke about, harassment that takes place. I think, by and large, in the real estate industry most owners treat their buildings well and they respect their tenants. But there's always going to be some that use vacancy decontrol or especially the 20 percent bonus increase on vacancies as a reason or a way to harass tenants. And I see that unfortunately a lot over the last years.
I think what we should have done as far as the vacancy bonuses, if indeed a landlord is found guilty of harassing a tenant, clearly in getting them out so they can get that 20 percent bonus, I think the penalty shouldn't be some type of increase in the civil penalty, but that specific landlord should lose their ability to get a 20 percent bonus when that tenant vacates. That's something that I think should have been a minimum.
I wanted to talk about 421-a, because again, I respect the opinion of all of my colleagues in this chamber, but I just think that this legislation, our 421-a changes, I think is a major, major improvement.
First and foremost, I think everyone knows that Mayor de Blasio made changes to the 421-a, one of his key components of building thousands and thousands of units of affordable housing. He has a very bold plan, I hope he achieves it. It's what we need in the City of New York desperately. That's the best way we can keep working families in our city, by putting a good roof over their heads. If we didn't achieve this 421-a bill that we have before us today, the mayor's plan would have stopped cold.
By and large, almost every piece of the mayor's original plan on improving 421-a is in this legislation. Minus the mansion tax, which would have taxed homes above $1.5 million. I think it's $1.7 million.
I came out very early -- and I said it once, I'll say it again, we would not have built thousands and thousands of units of affordable housing in the City of New York if we did not have the 421-a program. This legislation actually makes it possible to build even more.
Remember something. I stand here today, would love to be able to figure out a way that we can subsidize more and more housing. But unless there's some type of profit motive that exists in building houses, especially in the City of New York, the 421-a is an answer. It's the way we get affordable units in exchange for building units that I guess are considered market rate or in some cases luxury, especially in Manhattan.
But at the same time, to think that somehow we can take the $1.7 billion that it costs to do the $421-a program and build housing is just pie in the sky. Unfortunately, we see the problems with subsidized housing. We see the problems with our New York City Housing Authority, which needs probably hundreds of millions of dollars to make repairs, that presently I consider the worst landlord in the City of New York. That's what we do when we just build straight-out subsidized housing.
So I think this is something that's very, very important. I know I spoke to the mayor, I spoke to his deputy mayor, his housing commissioner when they were crafting this bill. And one of the things that I wanted to make sure was in this legislation is to figure out a way that we can have more income levels living under one roof.
You know, when we talk about affordable housing, especially in the Bronx, usually it's families that make under $40,000 a year. That's important. We have to make sure that there's housing for everyone. But how about somebody who makes $65,000 a year? How about someone who makes $100,000 a year? You know, maybe a firefighter and a teacher starting out, where are these people going to live?
By allowing it to go up to 130 percent of the AMI, you're going to be able to have those individuals who make under $40,000 and those individuals who make up to $110,000 or $125,000 living under one roof. That's how we're going to make New York City more affordable. And I think that's something that's very, very important that's been pointed out in this legislation.
The other issue I want to talk about is the property tax relief, the STAR rebate check program. You know, I've always been a big supporter of the property tax cap. I always felt that we couldn't do any form of property tax relief, be it a circuit breaker or a check or anything that the Governor has now developed, without a cap. Otherwise, in essence what we're doing is we're paying to lower somebody's property taxes in the form of a check and if you don't have a cap, you keep spending and spending and spending. So I think they work hand in hand.
I think this is outstanding that we are in essence bringing back the rebate check, which has been gone for a while. I think it will be even better now that we still have the 2 percent property tax cap in place for the next four years.
But one thing I will say is unfortunately New York City, under this legislation, is shortchanged. Under the old STAR rebate system, when there was a check, New York City residents got a check also. Granted, it was not as large as people outside of New York City, because let's face it, we don't pay as high a property tax in New York City.
But if you go to some communities, you will see that it's going up more and more each and every year. But at the same time, while we may not pay high property taxes in the City of New York, we do pay a personal income tax.
So I believe what we should have done to make sure that more people are qualified in New York City for some type of property tax relief is to not only include what we pay in property taxes but also include the fact that we pay a personal income tax. By combining the two, we can actually make sure that more and more people, especially senior citizens, would benefit under this program.
The next issue is mayoral control. I'm a firm believer that mayoral control works. You know, I always got tired, you know, over the years before we had mayoral control, of various mayors of New York City throwing their hands up in despair and saying "There's nothing I can do about the school system." You know, "It's the Board of Education, it's not me."
Well, mayoral control has worked very, very well. I know myself and my colleagues in the Independent Democratic Conference put forth some ideas where we can actually even make it better. Parental engagement, parental involvement is still lacking.
I think there's ways, through the various committees, especially the CECs, that we can further engage parents by localizing it even further, by having the CECs as part of our local community boards in New York City. That way they have a staff. That way they have monthly meetings that they can educate the public on, as far as education, and get input.
So I'm hopeful that this one-year extension is really a one-year extension to study the issue. It's not about some kind of political vendetta, but we're going to sit down and figure out a way how we can extend mayoral control for at least three, four, five years like every other mayor has had the opportunity, but also make some concrete changes to make the law even better.
So with that, Mr. President, I think all in all, as I said, balance is always a tough thing. Compromise and negotiation is sometimes considered a dirty word, but I think it's an important aspect of governing. But I vote yes on this legislation.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Klein to be recorded in the affirmative.
Senator Panepinto to explain his vote.
SENATOR PANEPINTO:Yes, I stand to speak on this legislation.
It's my first time going through the Big Ugly process as a freshman legislator. And I don't have any rent-controlled apartments in my district in upstate New York, but I feel for my Democratic colleagues that they didn't get enough on rent. We don't have mayoral control in the City of Buffalo, but Mayor de Blasio deserved more than a one-year extension.
There are good things in this Big Ugly. As an upstate Senator, we've got $3.1 billion in tax relief for homeowners over the next four years, and that's a positive thing.
On the last subpart of the Big Ugly, subpart H provides $19 million in funding for coal-conversion power plants that may or may not, you know, go out of existence. And that's a little-known piece of the energy puzzle in New York State that has a significant impact for upstate legislators.
There's a big coal-fired plant in my district in Tonawanda, there's a big one in Senator Ortt's district. And we have to prepare for the eventuality that those plants may go away. We don't want them to go away, but they would make a devastating hit to the local tax base if they did. So that's a positive thing in this bill.
On education, you know, we took big hits in education in the budget bill. But this Big Ugly does a couple of things that I'm very happy with. It releases the test questions from these private testing companies, and so children can learn from this mandatory overtesting that we engage in in this state.
It also requires the Commissioner of Education to do a comprehensive evaluation of standards. Both of those things are things that I've called out for in legislation, and I'm happy to see that they've landed in this piece of legislation.
But at the same time, where you've got good, you've got some bad. We give away $250 million to nonpublic schools over two years, and we have not fully funded the GEA. That's disappointing.
So there are good things, there are bad things. I'm voting aye. But I'm disappointed that we didn't take up, you know, four things that were near and dear to my heart. We didn't do anything on the minimum wage. We did nothing on IDA reform, corporate welfare. We did nothing on paid parental leave, something that was talked about back in the budget bill. We failed to act on it. And we did no sensible reforms to the SAFE Act.
And those are things that this body should have taken up in the Big Ugly. We had an opportunity to address those items, we did not.
I'm voting aye.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Panepinto to be recorded in the affirmative.
Senator Kennedy to explain his vote.
SENATOR KENNEDY:Thank you, Mr. President.
Tonight we've proven once again that Western New York's voice has been heard in Albany, a voice that for far too long has been ignored. While much of the final days of the legislative session has centered around mayoral control in New York City and a rent control agreement, the final package passed by both houses tonight shows that substantial help is also on the way for hardworking middle-class families in Buffalo, Cheektowaga, Lackawanna and all of Western New York and upstate.
With $3.1 billion in property tax relief coming to upstate homeowners, the support taxpayers have been waiting on for years is finally within sight. New Yorkers currently pay some of the highest property taxes in the entire nation, putting homeownership out of the reach of many working families.
In Western New York property taxes are squeezing the budget of local families, threatening to price them out of their homes and push them out of our region and our state and endangering the economic comeback that we're all fighting so hard for.
The statistics are staggering. Since 1977, New York's had the highest combined state and local tax burden in the nation for every year but three. New York is sadly home to the highest-taxed counties in the nation. On average, New Yorkers pay approximately $54 for every $1,000 of personal income in property taxes. That's a whopping 56 percent above the national average.
These statistics must change, and it starts tonight. With the passage of this bill, in my district, the town of Cheektowaga, for example, a family with a household income of $75,000 is looking at an additional $185 in their pocket in 2016. In 2019, it goes up to $430. That's real money. That's money that's going to be fed right back into the local economy, and it's going to help middle class families make ends meet.
With this agreement we're fulfilling our commitment to Western New York families who have been overtaxed for far too long. We're taking a major step in the right direction and providing much-needed tax relief to working families across the state. It's about time that we do so.
And while I look around and I hear the passionate pleas of colleagues on both sides of the aisle, while they're supporting this bill and while they're not supporting this bill, Mr. President, I have 3.1 billion reasons why I'm supporting this bill.
I will vote aye, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Kennedy to be recorded in the affirmative.
Senator Díaz to explain his vote.
SENATOR DIAZ:Thank you, Mr. President.
I was not going to speak. I wasn't going to speak. But listening to my colleagues, I have to say something, especially now that we are about time to go home.
We heard, I heard my colleagues talking about how the City of New York has been shortchanged, how 2 million people in the City of New York have been ignored. And I -- you know, Senator, I would like to say again that I'm confused. But not because I'm Puerto Rican. I'm confused because we are having, ladies and gentlemen, a -- we are voting in a budget -- on a bill that in order for us to be voting on this bill, it was supposed to be approved. There's a three-way -- I don't know if Jeff Klein was there too, four ways. There's supposed to be three people in the room and three different entities, the Assembly, the Governor, and the Senate.
But all my colleagues here are talking about how bad is this thing and how the city was ignored and the 2 million people in the city have been shortchanged.
But the Assembly, the Assembly approved this. The Assembly is controlled by Democrats. The Assembly has more city representatives than we do. So they approved that. Every single, every single, every single Democratic member of the Assembly voted for this except one, Charles Barron. Everybody else voted for it.
So when we are here, ladies and gentlemen, my colleagues, when we're here criticizing this, are we criticizing the Senate or are we criticizing the Assembly? Or are we criticizing the Governor? Who are we criticizing? I'm confused.
Because all the Democratic Senators have stood up here tonight and been talking about how bad is it. I'm happy - -- I'm not happy completely, but I -- at least I got -- we've got 50 charter schools for the City of New York. So I always said that charter schools is a godsend for black and Hispanic children in our areas.
So there are 50 charter schools. There are $250 million for private and religious institutions. And we should have gotten them more. But if we -- if we -- if the other house and the Governor, who is a Democrat, and the Assembly, who are controlled by Democrats, would have stopped this, we wouldn't be here now criticizing the other side.
So when we are here standing up and criticizing, who are we criticizing? The Republicans? The Democrats? The Governor? Who, who are we criticizing? Who are we talking about who is at fault? Who ignored the City of New York? Who shortchanged the City of New York? Please let me know. Because I would like to know who did it.
If the Democrats in the Senate that have spoken tonight are right, then the Assembly Democrats are wrong. But if the Assembly Democrats are right, then the Senate Democrats that have spoken here are wrong.
Do you see why I'm confused? Not because I'm Puerto Rican, but because I am not stupid. I'm tired of the games that people play in this business. I'm 73 years old. And I hate ugly. And God hates ugly too. So let's be honest and let's be fair and let's be -- and let's blame who wants to be blamed, but don't come here trying to blame other people for something that we have done.
And I'm voting yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Díaz to be recorded in the affirmative.
Senator Montgomery to explain her vote.
Senator Comrie to explain his vote.
SENATOR COMRIE:Thank you, Mr. President.
I'm voting no on the Big Ugly bill, on 1910. I'm disappointed that we were not able to have real discussions on this bill. And to many of the elements of the legislation that needed to be discussed, it needed to have public forums, it needed to ensure that there was an opportunity for the people of New York City to be heard, for the Democratic Caucus to be heard, for our leader to be involved in the meetings.
There are too many things that are happening that are shortchanging the over 2 million residents that will be impacted by rent control, over 1 million students that will be impacted by mayoral control that's only being done for one year.
We need to be focused on making sure that legislation happens, that things can happen to improve our city and improve our state. And while there are some things here that improve some areas of our state, we need to work together as a legislative body to make sure that the entire state is taken care of.
And as coming from another legislative body where open discussion and debate was part of the norm, was looked to and utilized to make things better, it's been a unique experience for me to come here to find out that debate is only happening on the floor after a decision has already been made.
I would hope that we could change that, because this state deserves better than what we're giving them. The opportunities that could happen from having open debate and open discussion, to make sure that the nuances and changes that could be made to improve this state, is too critical to keep suppressed.
The opportunities to make sure that the things that are critical to make sure that we can improve this state so that people will want to stay here and live here and work here, that we can keep a working class in this state, is too important to continue to be suppressed.
This bill will only continue to make it harder for working-class people to stay in the City. This bill will only make it harder for teachers to want to stay in underperforming schools. This bill will only make it harder for the mayor to continue to move forward in a real affordable housing plan.
Because it is late, I'm not going to spend five minutes to speak to the bill, but I think that we can all do better as a legislative body to ensure that we can make sure that all of the people that need help in our state, to encourage participation, to encourage real dialogue. I hope we can do better in the next legislative session.
I vote no.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Comrie to be recorded in the negative.
That concludes the explanation of votes. The Secretary will tabulate the votes.
I'd ask all voting in the negative to please raise your hands.
The Secretary will announce the results.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar 1910, those recorded in the negative are Senators Comrie, Dilan, Espaillat, Gianaris, Hamilton, Hoylman, Krueger, Montgomery, Rivera, Sanders, Serrano and Squadron.
Ayes, 47. Nays, 12.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: May we now take up Calendar Number 1884, on Senate Supplemental Calendar 59A.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1884, by Senator Young, Senate Print 1989, an act to amend the Workers' Compensation Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: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, 58. Nays, 1. Senator Panepinto recorded in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Can we now take up 1886, by Senator Stewart-Cousins, Supplemental Calendar 59A.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:We are on Senate Supplemental Calendar 59A. We will take up Calendar Number 1886, by Senator Stewart-Cousins.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar 1886, Senator Stewart-Cousins moves to discharge, from the Committee on Rules, Assembly Bill Number 2801 and substitute it for the identical Senate Bill 4134, Third Reading Calendar 1886.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:There is a home-rule message at the desk.
The substitution is so ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1886, by Member of the Assembly Pretlow, Assembly Print Number 2801, an act to amend General Municipal Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: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, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: May we now go to 1890, by Senator Golden.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:We will look at Calendar Number 1890. We are still on Senate Supplemental Calendar 59A.
And the Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar 1890, Senator Golden moves to discharge, from the Committee on Rules, Assembly Bill Number 7394 and substitute it for the identical Senate Bill Number 5025, Third Reading Calendar 1890.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The substitution is so ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1890, by Member of the Assembly Mosley, Assembly Print Number 7394, an act to amend the Workers' Compensation Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: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, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: May we now go to Calendar Number 1892, by Senator LaValle.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Calendar Number 1892, the Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar 1892, Senator LaValle moves to discharge, from the Committee on Rules, Assembly Bill Number 7573 and substitute it for the identical Senate Bill Number 5273, Third Reading Calendar 1892.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The substitution is so ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1892, by Member of the Assembly Magnarelli, Assembly Print Number 7573, an act to repeal.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: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, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Next, Calendar Number 1894, by Senator Golden, please.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1894, by Senator Golden, Senate Print 5608A, an act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read the last section.
THE SECRETARY:Section 7. This act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Stavisky to explain her vote.
SENATOR STAVISKY:Thank you, Mr. President.
I am concerned about this legislation because there are certain parts of Queens County where the roads are very narrow. However, I will support the extension of the bus express lanes, with the idea that people will --
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Stavisky. Senator Stavisky, excuse me.
Can we have some order in the house, please. Thank you.
Senator Stavisky, please continue.
SENATOR STAVISKY:I have been assured by the City that people will have a warning for 60 days, there will be a 60-day grace period. Motorists who violate the rules concerning the bus lanes will receive a warning.
And I vote aye, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Stavisky will be recorded in the affirmative.
The Secretary will announce the results.
Please raise your hands again if you're in the negative. (Pause.)
Again, we are on Calendar Number 1894, by Senator Golden.
The Secretary will read the results.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar 1894, those recorded in the negative are Senators DeFrancisco, Felder, Hamilton, Hassell-Thompson, LaValle, Marchione, Montgomery, O'Mara, Ranzenhofer, Savino and Serino.
Ayes, 48. Nays, 11.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: If we can now go to Calendar Number 1895, another Senator Golden bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:We are on Calendar Number 1895, Senate Print Number 5701A, by Senator Golden.
And the Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1895, by Senator Golden, Senate Print 5701A, an act to amend the Tax Law.
SENATOR GIANARIS:Lay it aside.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Lay the bill aside.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Can we now take up Calendar Number 1896, please.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read Calendar Number 1896.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar 1896, Senator Griffo moves to discharge, from the Committee on Rules, Assembly Bill Number 7892 and substitute it for the identical Senate Bill Number 5761, Third Reading Calendar 1896.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The substitution is so ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1896, by Member of the Assembly Brindisi, Assembly Print Number 7892, an act to amend the Highway Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: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, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Next, please, Calendar Number 1897.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:We are now on Calendar Number 1897 on the Senate Supplemental Calendar 59A, Calendar Number 1897, by Senator Marcellino.
And the Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1897, by Senator Marcellino, Senate Print 5795, an act to amend the Education Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read the last section.
THE SECRETARY:Section 7. This act shall take effect on the first of July.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Carlucci to explain his vote.
Can I have some order in the house, please.
SENATOR CARLUCCI:Mr. President, I rise to speak in favor of this legislation.
And this legislation, like the legislation before us here tonight, has been the culmination of work and negotiations between both chambers of this Legislature and the Governor to come to a compromise to help millions of New Yorkers across this great state.
But what we won't find on the agenda tonight is a bill that would help tens of thousands of New Yorkers in Rockland County. And I fear that the voices of the students, parents and families of East Ramapo have fallen on deaf ears.
And unfortunately, over the past few years, teachers have been laid off, important programs like extracurricular activities, core curriculum courses that would provide a pathway to a Regents diploma, have been cut.
And my colleagues in the Legislature, in the Assembly and community members worked to provide a bill that would put a monitor in the East Ramapo School District. And this would provide guidance and a long-term strategic plan to get the district on the right track.
And unfortunately we don't see that bill here tonight. And how do we tell an entire community that we let politics get in the way of doing what's right for our children? And the tensions are at an all-time high. People are frustrated. And we need to act to help to start to heal this community.
And I've said it over and over again, that the issues of East Ramapo, they shouldn't be about politics, they shouldn't be about special interests, it should be fighting for the 33,000 students in East Ramapo and making sure that we're doing the right thing for them.
But this fight isn't over, and I'm going to continue to fight for our students. And I'd ask my colleagues in the Senate to partner with me to make sure we're providing the best opportunities for the children of East Ramapo.
Thank you, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Carlucci, how do you vote?
SENATOR CARLUCCI:Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Carlucci to be recorded in the affirmative.
Announce the results.
THE SECRETARY:Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Could you go next to 1899, by Senator Golden.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read Calendar 1899, by Senator Golden.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1899, by Senator Golden, Senate Print 5986, an act to repeal.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: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:Senator Krueger to explain her vote.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President.
I'm fairly torn about this bill because, on the one hand, it would cost the City of New York approximately, I think, $780 million a year in tax revenue. Certainly not tax revenue they can afford to lose when this house just tonight continues to fail to provide for what the City of New York does need.
And on the other hand, it's a bill to lower commercial rent taxes. In fact, in the Big Ugly we did extensions on several commercial rent taxes -- an extension of repealing them in Lower Manhattan. And despite my voting no for the bill, I wasn't opposed to that continuation of those tax exemptions.
So actually I think this is a one-house bill -- I'm quite sure at this hour. I am actually going to vote yes for the bill because I recognize how important it is for small businesses to be able to afford their rents and not go out of business.
And I urge the City of New York to sit down and evaluate its entire property tax system, including commercial rent taxes. We are literally making many sections of New York City too expensive to be able to stay and live in or to continue to have small businesses in.
So I know that this would be a problem if I were to vote yes if I thought it was going to pass tonight and become law. But hopefully it does send a message to our city, to our great city, that we need to address the incredibly high tax rate on small businesses.
Thank you, Mr. President. I vote yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Krueger to be recorded in the affirmative.
Announce the results.
THE SECRETARY:Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Please call up Calendar 1900, by Senator Comrie.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:We're on now Calendar Number 1900, by Senator Comrie.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1900, by Senator Comrie, Senate Print 5996A, an act to allow.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: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:Announce the results.
THE SECRETARY:Ayes, 57. Nays, 2. Senators Croci and Martins recorded in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Next, Number 1901, by Senator Lanza, please.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:We are now on Calendar Number 1901, by Senator Lanza.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar 1901, Senator Lanza moves to discharge, from the Committee on Rules, Assembly Bill Number 8298 and substitute it for the identical Senate Bill 5998, Third Reading Calendar 1901.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The substitution is ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1901, by Member of the Assembly Brennan, Assembly Print Number 8298, an act to amend Chapter 154 of the Laws of 1921.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY:Section 6. This act shall take effect upon the enactment into law by the State of New Jersey.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY:Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Next, Calendar 1902, by Senator DeFrancisco.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Calendar Number 1902, by Senator DeFrancisco.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1902, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 6006, 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 first of January.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY:Ayes, 57. Nays, 2. Senators Ranzenhofer and Serino recorded in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Calendar Number 1903, by Senator Griffo.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Calendar Number 1903. The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar 1903, Senator Griffo moves to discharge, from the Committee on Rules, Assembly Bill Number 8258 and substitute it for the identical Senate Bill 5989, Third Reading Calendar 1903.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The substitution is so ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1903, by Member of the Assembly Gottfried, Assembly Print 8258, an act to amend the Public Health Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY:Section 2. This act shall take effect on the same date and in the same manner as a chapter of the Laws of 2015.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Announce the results.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar 1903, those recorded in the negative are Senators Croci, DeFrancisco, Díaz, LaValle and Savino. Also Senator Nozzolio.
Ayes, 53. Nays, 6.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Next, Calendar 1905, by Senator LaValle.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:We are now on Calendar Number 1905.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar 1905, Senator LaValle moves to discharge, from the Committee on Rules, Assembly Bill Number 5962A and substitute it for the identical Senate Bill 220A, Third Reading Calendar 1905.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The substitution is ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1905, by Member of the Assembly Glick, Assembly Print 5962A, an act to amend the Education Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY:Section 5. This act shall take effect April 1, 2016.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY:Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Calendar Number 1906 would be next, by Senator Lanza.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read Calendar Number 1906, by Senator Lanza.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar 1906, Senator Lanza moves to discharge, from the Committee on Rules, Assembly Bill Number 7951 and substitute it for the identical Senate Bill 4628, Third Reading Calendar 1906.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The substitution is ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1906, by Member of the Assembly Abbate, Assembly Print 7951, an act to repeal.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: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, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Next, Calendar Number 1907.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:We are now on Calendar Number 1907.
And the Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar 1907, Senator Flanagan moves to discharge, from the Committee on Rules, Assembly Bill Number 8259A and substitute it for the identical Senate Bill Number 5979, Third Reading Calendar 1907.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The substitution is ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1907, by Member of the Assembly Morelle, Assembly Print Number 8259A, an act to amend the Workers' Compensation Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: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, 57. Nays, 2. Senators Hannon and Ranzenhofer recorded in the negative.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Would you next do Calendar Number 1908, by Senator Seward, followed by 1909, by Senator Avella.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read Calendar 1908, by Senator Seward.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1908, by Senator Seward, Senate Print 6004, an act to amend the Insurance Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Can we have a little order in the chamber, please.
The Secretary will read the last section.
THE SECRETARY:Section 5. This act shall take effect on the same date and in the same manner as a chapter of the Laws of 2015.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY:Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
The Secretary will now move to Calendar Number 1909, by Senator Avella.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1909, by Senator Avella, Senate Print 893A, an act to amend the Real Property Tax Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY:Section 26. This act shall take effect on the first of January.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:I'm going to ask again for some order in the house, please.
Senator Krueger to explain her vote.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you, Mr. President.
Not unlike the last bill I spoke on, with commercial rent tax, I will tell you that this is a fundamentally flawed bill because it requires neutrality in property tax, meaning it wants to reduce somebody's property taxes -- in this case, co-op condos, but requires then that somebody else's property taxes go up by the same amount.
Nonetheless, it's another lesson in the fact that for 20 years, perhaps 25 years, New York City's government has been discussing the need to redo, review and redo its property tax system because it is filled with inequities, it is filled with stories of some people paying too much in taxes, others paying too little in comparison. There's really no rhyme or reason anymore with the way the property tax system operates in New York City.
So I'm going to vote yes, knowing this isn't going to become law, but again hoping at this late hour to send a message to my friends and colleagues in New York City government, the City Council and the Mayor, that really, New York City, if you don't figure out how to modernize and make equitable and justifiable your property tax system, Albany is going to do it for you. And I think this whole night has been a lesson in why New York City government really doesn't want Albany making its decisions for them.
But I will vote yes, Mr. President. Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Krueger to be recorded in the affirmative.
Announce the results.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar 1909, those recorded in the negative are Senators Comrie, Hamilton, Hassell-Thompson, Hoylman, Kennedy, Rivera, Sanders, Serrano and Squadron.
Ayes, 50. Nays, 9.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Would you now go to Calendar Number 1898, by Senator Felder.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:We'll go to Calendar 1898, by Senator Felder.
And the Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar 1898, Senator Felder moves to discharge, from the Committee on Rules, Assembly Bill Number 8238 and substitute it for the identical Senate Bill Number 5914, Third Reading Calendar 1898.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The substitution is ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1898, by Member of the Assembly Joyner, Assembly Print Number 8238, an act to amend the General Municipal Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: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, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: On Calendar 1894, by Senator Golden, I would like to move to reconsider the vote by which this bill was passed.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:We'll call the bill up first, Senator DeFrancisco.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1894, by Senator Golden, Senate Print 5608A, an act to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Now I'd like to move to reconsider the vote by which the bill was passed.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:We will now call the roll on reconsideration.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY:Ayes, 59.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I believe there's a substitution at the desk, is that correct?
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:We'll order the Senate bill to be restored to third reading.
The substitution will be read.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Thank you.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar 1894, Senator Golden moves to discharge, from the Committee on Rules, Assembly Bill Number 7996A and substitute it for the identical Senate Bill Number 5608A, Third Reading Calendar 1894.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The substitution is ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1894, by Member of the Assembly Rozic, Assembly Print 7996A, 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 immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar 1894, those recorded in the negative are Senators DeFrancisco, Felder, LaValle, Marchione, O'Mara, Ranzenhofer, Savino and Serino.
Ayes, 51. Nays, 8.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Calendar Number 1895, by Senator Golden, was laid aside. Could you please call that bill up.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator DeFrancisco, are we taking that up controversial?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: It was laid aside once, so I guess it would be controversial.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will ring the bell.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1895, by Senator Golden, Senate Print 5701A, an act to amend the Tax Law.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Explanation.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Krueger has requested an explanation, Senator Golden.
SENATOR GOLDEN:Thank you, Mr. President.
As we've done in the past on this bill, although it is different from years previous, this is very similar to the distribution of illegal cigarettes across the State of New York.
In late 2014, NYPD officers stopped a van in Staten Island and seized 500,000 packs of Virginia-stamped cigarettes. The value of the seized cigarettes exceeded $300,000. As of July 14, 2014, the State Cigarette Strike Task Force had confiscated over 12,000 cartons of illegal cigarettes and 24,773 illegal cigarette stamps.
Had the seized cigarettes been sold in New York City, the state would have lost $532,000 of tax revenue and the city would have lost another $183,000 in tax revenue on the second seizure.
Altogether, we lose about $2 billion a year in revenue to untaxed cigarettes. If we only recovered a billion dollars of that, or $500 million, a quarter of that, imagine how much money we could bring into the City of New York and to the State of New York.
It is more lucrative than heroin. It is more lucrative than drugs. You can sell these cigarettes and not go to jail. The sale of illegal cigarettes in New York hurt our cigarette stamping agents, our wholesalers, our retailers and the sale of New York-stamped cigarettes. Just bend down in the streets and pick up any empty pack of cigarettes you see, and six to eight out of 10 will be stamped from outside the State of New York or unstamped.
Just think about the number I just gave you. We need to stop the flow of illegal cigarettes into New York markets. This bill will provide additional revenue to increase the state's efforts to stop the illegal cigarettes trade here in New York. This bill would also provide for the sale of those seized cigarettes. And going into the increased enforcement and the sale of the seized cigarettes would also increase the tax revenues which I spoke of earlier.
But the other point I want to hit here are jobs, jobs, jobs. When we spoke earlier two years ago, three years ago, we talked about 4,000 jobs. There used to be 8,000 jobs. We're down to under 3,000 Teamster jobs because these companies are leaving the State of New York. We need to be able to keep those jobs here.
And what this bill does, it sets up an actual reward program of $5 a carton of cigarettes that would be forfeited that would be able to be returned to the individual who turns in an individual that's selling these cigarettes by the carton.
In funding for an enforcement fund, an agent would be paid 4 cents per stamp and the enforcement fund would be used as a cigarette tax and cigarette marketing standards act, and there's a forfeiture sales part in here as well where we can actually take the forfeited cigarettes and they can go back to the wholesaler -- or the manufacturer, rather, and the manufacturer would pay $2.25 for them. And if he didn't want them, then the wholesaler or the stamping agent could purchase those cigarettes for $2.25 a pack. The counterfeit cigarettes will still continue to be destroyed.
So that's $5 for anybody that turns it in. We believe that there's a lot of money here that will go to enforcement. We believe we can bring down the illegal cigarettes here in the State of New York and we can have more proceeds going into the State of New York.
And I was very happy that Senator Krueger voted on the earlier bill that would have saved the taxpayers in the City of New York $793 million. Hopefully she will do the same here and help us bring in over a billion dollars and possibly $2 billion in revenue for our cities across this great, great state.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor would yield.
SENATOR GOLDEN:Yes, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
And I'm going to ask again, we have a number of extra staff and visitors as well as members in the chamber. So please let's keep the noise down so that the two members can hear each other and our stenographer can continue to do her good work.
So Senator Golden yields. Senator Krueger, what is your question?
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you.
So when we had a debate on a similar bill two years ago and I was told that companies were leaving, and in the explanation Senator Golden says they have left, what are the names of the companies left in New York that do cigarette stamps on the bottom of the products?
SENATOR GOLDEN:I'm sorry, your question again, Mr. President?
SENATOR KRUEGER:The name of the companies left in New York State who are the agents, the cigarette stamp companies.
SENATOR GOLDEN:We have a number of companies that are still here in the State of New York. Which companies have left, I do not have a list. You have one in Long Island, you have one in Syracuse, you have one in Brooklyn, you have a number of them across the State of New York.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor would continue to yield.
SENATOR GOLDEN:I do, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:So if I'm understanding the sponsor right, he is making the argument that we will be able to collect more penalties on catching more unstamped cigarettes and that will bring money into a unit to catch more.
Can the sponsor just explain to me how much money we're going to be able to make available for increased enforcement and where that money exactly comes from?
SENATOR GOLDEN:The money would be $650 million, of which the General Fund, the Comptroller would transfer $600 million from the General Fund when we had reached that $650 million threshold by the seizure of cigarettes here in the State of New York, and that $600 million would go to the State Police, and they would be the enforcement tool to go out there and to enforce these rules and regulations.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor would continue to yield.
SENATOR GOLDEN:Yes, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:So in the bill a couple of years ago we were talking about $6 million for enforcement and now we're jumping to $650 million for enforcement? Is that correct?
SENATOR GOLDEN:It comes out to 2 cents -- it's 4 cents a stamp that would -- per pack of cigarettes. Which would come to about $10 million.
It's $6 million, I apologize, not $600 million. I apologize. That's $6 million, $6.5 million, of which the first $6 million would go to the -- this operation of the State Police, the cigarette enforcement unit.
SENATOR KRUEGER:And through you, Mr. President, how much would the revenues go up for the taxing agents in this bill per pack of cigarettes, compared to now?
SENATOR GOLDEN:Four cents a pack.
SENATOR KRUEGER:What do they -- oh, excuse me, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Go ahead, Senator Krueger, we'll give you some flexibility.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you.
What do they get paid now per pack?
SENATOR GOLDEN:Two cents. Mr. President.
SENATOR KRUEGER:So it would triple what they receive now, is that correct?
SENATOR GOLDEN:Yes, it's similar to us, the last raise they got was in 1999.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor would continue to yield.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR GOLDEN:Yes, Mr. President.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you.
Why isn't the sponsor offering us a bill for New York State to move into the high-tech tax stamp model that four or five other states have done already and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention is actually recommending to successfully come down on false or unstamped cigarettes? California has made major effect of it, as have Massachusetts and -- I'm just looking here, late at night, at the CDC report -- a multitude of other states are in the process of going that route.
Why aren't we looking at that instead of simply increasing the amount of money we pay somebody to do what they're already doing and hope that some additional revenue will come in to help us catch more people the way we have been doing it already?
SENATOR GOLDEN:I don't think anybody, Mr. President, thinks that we may bring in more income. We will bring in more income.
And this CMSA adjustment is agent to wholesaler, agent to retailer, agent to chain, wholesaler to retailer, wholesaler to chain, and retailer to consumer. So we're talking about a stream that has all of the industry working together to bring this power, this force, down on the illegal cigarettes that are coming into the State of New York.
This would help us recover that money that I spoke of, which is close to $2 billion in lost revenue. If we think we shouldn't be doing anything about lost revenue of $2 billion in the State of New York, I dare to say we have a lot of work to do. That is money that's just hanging out there, low-hanging fruit, and all we have to do is send out and enforce it and bring that money into the State of New York.
It's plain wrong to leave -- and to lose the jobs that we've lost and will continue to lose and the companies that we will lose because we've failed the State of New York in enforcement of these cigarette -- illegal cigarette trade.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, I certainly don't think any of us want to allow counterfeit cigarettes, unstamped cigarettes to continue. I think we all would agree we want to increase the ability of law enforcement to capture the bad guys and the revenue that should be going through the right system.
I was pointing out, one, there seems to be models working in other states that I don't understand why we're not looking at.
And two, to continue my questioning, will the sponsor yield?
SENATOR GOLDEN:Yes, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you.
All right, so the agents would get triple what they get now to put the same old stamp on the same old package of cigarettes. And yet we're going to be able to collect all this new revenue from captured illegal cigarette activity.
Now, the agents, the tax stampers, they're not involved with capturing anybody, are they?
SENATOR GOLDEN:I'm sorry, repeat the question?
SENATOR KRUEGER:Are the agents, which in this world are the people who put the tax stamps on the packages of cigarettes, they're not involved in the capturing of any of the criminals, are they?
SENATOR GOLDEN:No, not at all, Mr. President.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Okay. So through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor would continue to yield.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR GOLDEN:Yes, Mr. President.
SENATOR KRUEGER:So looking at page 4, line 13 of the Senator's bill, the language makes all cigarettes forfeited to the state upon publication in the State Registry available to manufacturers for inspection to determine if they are of saleable quality, and offered for sale to those manufacturers. And if the manufacturers do not inspect and purchase them within five days of the publication in the registry, they're made available to the agents for purchase at $2.20 per pack.
Am I understanding that section of the bill correctly?
SENATOR GOLDEN:Yes. Yes, Mr. President.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor would continue to yield.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:What's the definition of saleable quality?
SENATOR GOLDEN:Pardon me, Mr. President?
SENATOR KRUEGER:What is meant by saleable quality as defined -- or described in the section of the bill I just read?
SENATOR GOLDEN:The cigarette could be fabricated and made in another country. It could be a cigarette that is a -- not a cigarette that has been manufactured by a manufacturer here in this country or around the world that is recognized by the manufacturers of tobacco.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, I believe the sponsor just described what would be an unsaleable quality. But here in his bill, even if the manufacturer has not inspected and said yes, these are saleable, somehow they would be defined as saleable after a five-day period. How would they be defined as saleable?
SENATOR GOLDEN:Well, if the man -- if the manu -- one second, please.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Sure.
SENATOR GOLDEN:Yes, Mr. President. The cigarette is defined by the manufacturer whether it's saleable. If it's not saleable, it's destroyed.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor would continue to yield.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you.
Yes, but your bill says if the manufacturer has not inspected within five days, it's going to be for sale to the agents. Who is going to determine whether it's saleable quality? Because these are cigarettes that have not been inspected by the manufacturers.
SENATOR GOLDEN:The agent will do that, Mr. President.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor would continue to yield.
SENATOR GOLDEN:Yes, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you.
So the agent will be able to determine it's of saleable quality even though they're not cigarette manufacturers, and then they'll be able to approve them being sold to themselves; is that correct?
SENATOR GOLDEN:That's correct, Mr. President. It's $2.25 per pack to the manufacturer or to the stamper.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President. Why does the manufacturer have only five days to inspect and purchase back these cigarettes if they wish to?
SENATOR GOLDEN:Mr. President, if the good Senator Krueger wishes us to get more days, I'll gladly do a chapter to give them 30 days if they need it.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President. So the agents could self-declare, although they're not manufacturers or makers of cigarettes, that these are saleable cigarettes, and then have them -- then buy them for $2.20 per pack.
What do they buy the legal cigarettes wholesale for when they are in the business, which I believe they are, of buying from manufacturers, putting the stamps on, and then selling them exactly to retailers? What's their usual price if they do it the legal way?
SENATOR GOLDEN:The manufacturer price is $51.50 per carton.
But I've got to tell you, the cigarettes that are on the street that are illegal cigarettes, the stamper or the tax agent has been in the industry for a number of years. These companies have had the experience of seeing both legal and illegal cigarettes, stamped and unstamped.
Right now if you take a look at it, the winner here is the manufacturer, right, of cigarettes. He gets to destroy all of the cigarettes and then resell all those cigarettes -- or I should say make new cigarettes and sell them.
This is an opportunity for the industry to retain those cigarettes and not destroy them if in fact those cigarettes are marketable and sellable. And we believe that that's the right thing to do.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, an additional question or two.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Additional question? Absolutely.
SENATOR GOLDEN:-- I did, I asked them. I said $51.50 for a carton.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Mr. President, when I go on Tax and Finance's website and I look up what the price per carton for sale from agent to retailers is, I show $99.55.
And so in this case the agent would be able to get these cigarettes for $22.20 per carton and sell them to the retailer for $99.55; is that correct?
SENATOR GOLDEN:No, that's not correct, Mr. President. That's with the markups that you are quoting, the $95. The actual cost, the manufacturer's list, is $51. Excise tax is $43. The cost of the cigarettes is $95.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Through you, Mr. President, if the sponsor would continue to yield.
SENATOR GOLDEN:Yes, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The sponsor yields.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:
I think this is -- you said a couple of questions, right, Senator Krueger?
SENATOR KRUEGER:Yes.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Okay. So Senator Golden, you ready?
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:All right. Senator Krueger.
SENATOR KRUEGER:So again, the agents who are not qualified by the industry to evaluate whether these are appropriate saleable cigarettes, were not involved in the capture or confiscation of the cigarettes, can then sell them, at enormous profit, to retailers.
Why is that good for the State of New York or for law enforcement in the State of New York?
SENATOR GOLDEN:Well, it's good for the State of New York because we get $43.50 a carton. So I believe that would be really good for the State of New York. That's number one.
Number two, I believe that we have to, instead of letting these cigarettes be destroyed, I do believe we should be able to recover those cigarettes and let them be resold.
I do believe we have to get the cigarettes, the illegal cigarettes off of the street, Senator Krueger. And I know you didn't like the bill the previous years either, but we do have to do what's right for the people of this great state.
Two more questions, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:No, I think Senator Krueger had said -- she had already said that was going to be her last couple of questions. So are you concluding now, Senator Krueger?
SENATOR KRUEGER:No, I still have one more question.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Okay. Senator Golden, do you yield for that question?
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you.
SENATOR GOLDEN:I would love to, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Okay.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you very much.
Who is Leonard Schwartz, and how is he involved in this bill?
SENATOR GOLDEN:Pardon me, Mr. President? Who is Lenny Schwartz?
Lenny Schwartz is the owner of Globe Wholesale in the County of Kings, in Brooklyn. And he has been up here on a regular basis as one of -- he's also the head of the industry for the State of New York, and he's been up here to try and get us to pass a bill that would do the right thing in bringing this industry and keeping this industry alive here in the State of New York.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Okay, thank you, Senator Golden.
Senator Krueger.
SENATOR KRUEGER:On the bill, Mr. President.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Krueger on the bill.
SENATOR KRUEGER:Thank you.
So the right answer for New York State, of course, is to stop illegal cigarette sales, collect what it should in cigarette taxes and revenue, protect the quality of the cigarettes we sell -- although of course I personally think we should just outlaw the entire product.
There are models that the federal government and other states are recommending that would be far more effective than what this bill would outline. But apparently we're not looking at that proposal at all. But I would urge my colleagues to take a look at the research that's been done on the high-tech modern tax stamp.
We would allow a specific universe, a relatively small universe of wholesale agents to increase the profit on sale of these cigarettes, as opposed to how they have to buy them now, by up to 450 percent profit, even though no manufacturer has deemed them saleable cigarettes. We would increase their profit on putting the old-fashioned failed stamp model per pack, we would multiple that by three times.
Which again, increasing the price of cigarettes doesn't necessarily bother me. But what bothers me is when people spend an enormous amount of money -- I believe one company over $600,000 in campaign contributions -- to get themselves a bill that will increase their profits by over 450 percent on one part of their business, and multiply it three times over on the other side of their business.
You know, it's ten after 10:00 on the last night of session. I've been urged to speed things along. Earlier I said bills that come out with messages of necessity late at night the last day of session usually stink. This bill's come out last minute twice in the last three years. The bill is not going anywhere in the Assembly, happily.
Many people should be looking at this bill with many, many questions. But I would urge them not to be associated with voting yes on it.
I vote no, Mr. President. Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Klein.
SENATOR KLEIN:Thank you, Mr. President.
I wasn't going to speak on the bill, but clearly, listening to Senator Krueger spew her venom without -- absolutely knowing nothing about the issue of tax collection or cigarette taxes in the millions and millions of dollars that we lose in revenue every year, I think it's important to get up and talk about the bill.
First of all, over the years I have prided myself on making sure that New York State collects every penny of revenue that's entitled to them. I wrote the law that actually bans cigarette sales through mail order and Internet sales -- really, I think, saving us millions and millions of dollars, because anything that's sold through mail order or over the Internet is sold tax-free, especially on some Native American reservations.
Also we found that those types of sales, especially through the Internet and through mail order, was being sold to young people, because there's no reason to verify someone's age.
This issue is unfortunately an issue that still exists, thus Senator Golden's bill. Unfortunately, there still is a nefarious trade of selling untaxed cigarettes.
Every time we raise the tax on cigarettes, we hope that more and more people stop smoking because of the high tax. But in many cases what they do is they turn to the black market and purchase untaxed cigarettes. You can go into almost any grocery store or bodega downstate and see the problem of untaxed cigarettes. That in other words, people are still buying cigarettes, they're not quitting smoking, as the intent would be by raising the tax, but they're just buying cigarettes tax-free, which really prevents any legal dealer to be able to even be in the market.
The cigarette tax issue is very different than most other products that we sell. Because a wholesaler, as Senator Krueger alluded to, are people who are the tax collectors. They pay the tax even before they sell the cigarettes. They do these -- buy these tax stamps. So if more and more tax-free cigarettes are sold, there's more and more revenue that's going uncollected because their stamps are not being affixed to the cigarettes.
This is an issue which has even larger impacts, because a lot of terrorist activity, believe it or not, is funded through untaxed cigarettes. The original World Trade Center bombing, when they arrested those individuals who committed that atrocity the first time, they found stamping machines, untaxed cigarettes. This is a way to really engage in illicit trade and make an awful lot of money.
So what this legislation is doing is very, very simple. It's a slight increase in the tax. The money is then going into an enforcement fund to hire more enforcement agents to make sure more and more individuals are collecting uncollected revenue. There's no nefarious thing that's going on here like Senator Krueger always likes to talk about. And it's really wrong.
Because I think, you know, one of the things I think we should pride ourselves in this house is to be able to be advocates -- advocates for taxpayers, advocates for industries. And to right away say everything we do is motivated by contributions is something that Senator Krueger is very fond of saying. It's wrong. It doesn't belong in any kind of dialogue.
And I vote yes, and I thank Senator Golden for bringing forth this bill.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Seeing and hearing no other Senator that wishes to be heard, debate is closed and the Secretary will ring the bell.
Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY:Section 8. This act shall take effect on the first day.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Montgomery to explain her vote.
SENATOR MONTGOMERY:Yes, Mr. President, very briefly.
I just would like to rise and join my colleagues who are voting no. They vote no for various reasons, but I'm going to vote no on this bill -- it's a cigarette tax bill. And while I certainly understand the argument that Senator Klein has made, I want to vote no in the name of Eric Garner, who was killed because he was trying to sell one cigarette at a time -- two cigarettes? What are you telling me, two minutes or two cigarettes?
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:That wasn't for you, Senator Montgomery. That's okay. You may continue.
SENATOR MONTGOMERY:Thank you. Thank you.
He lost his life, and it was because of our insisting that he needed to -- we need to collect taxes, to the extent that if someone like him is selling loose cigarettes, they can lose their lives.
So I'm voting in the name of Eric, in his memory tonight, Eric Garner. I vote no. Thank you.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Thank you, Senator Montgomery.
Senator Montgomery to be recorded in the negative.
We were attempting to get Senator Sanders' eye to let him know he's up to speak, correct, and explain his vote.
SENATOR SANDERS:I appreciate the cleverness of the signal, sir.
I too want to be associated with my Senator's comments of voting no in the name of Eric Garner.
Thank you very much, sir.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator Sanders to be recorded in the negative also.
The Secretary will announce the results.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar 1895, those recorded in the negative are Senators Amedore, Breslin, DeFrancisco, Funke, Gianaris, Hassell-Thompson, Krueger, LaValle, Marchione, Montgomery, Nozzolio, O'Mara, Ortt, Ranzenhofer, Rivera, Sanders, Serino, Serrano, Squadron.
(Pause.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:We'll try this one more time.
The Secretary will announce the results.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar 1895, those recorded in the negative are Senators Amedore, Breslin, Comrie, DeFrancisco, Funke, Gianaris, Hannon, Hassell-Thompson, Krueger, LaValle, Marcellino, Montgomery, Nozzolio, O'Mara, Ortt, Ranzenhofer, Rivera, Sanders, Serino, Serrano, Squadron and Stavisky.
Absent from voting: Senators Bonacic, Espaillat, Latimer, Little, Parker and Sampson.
Ayes, 32. Nays, 22.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. Can we call up Calendar Number 635, by Senator Golden.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:We'll go to the regular calendar and call up Calendar Number 635 on the regular calendar. Calendar Number 635 on the regular calendar.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: That's the yellow calendar.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Otherwise known as the Golden calendar today.
(Laughter.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 635, by Senator Golden, Senate Print 5088, an act to amend the Real Property Tax Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Read the last section.
THE SECRETARY:Section 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY:Ayes, 60.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: We have a -- little administrative things that have to be done at the desk. We're at ease very shortly. Unless there's another debate, but -- while we're at ease.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Senate will pause.
(Whereupon, the Senate stood at ease at 10:25 p.m.)
(Whereupon, the Senate reconvened at 10:32 p.m.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes. Is the desk ready? No.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Just a couple more minutes, Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Okay.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator DeFrancisco, we can do Calendar Number 1891.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: That's exactly what I wanted to happen.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Okay. We will now go to the supplemental calendar again, Supplemental Calendar 59A. And it is Calendar Number 1891, by Senator Golden.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar 1891, Senator Golden moves to discharge, from the Committee on Rules, Assembly Bill Number 7632 and substitute it for the identical Senate Bill Number 5089, Third Reading Calendar 1891.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The substitution is so ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1891, by Member of the Assembly Farrell, Assembly Print 7632, an act to amend the Local Finance Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: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, 60.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, there are several resolutions at the desk, the first one being Resolution Number 3048. Can we call up that resolution, please.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will call up the resolution.
Would you like us to read the title only?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Please.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Senate Resolution Number 3048, by Senators Flanagan and Klein, establishing a plan setting forth an itemized list of grantees for certain appropriations for the 2015-2016 state fiscal year.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Move the resolution.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:All in favor of the resolution signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Opposed?
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The resolution is adopted.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: On each of the following resolutions, I would like only the short title read.
The next resolution is 3049.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Senate Resolution Number 3049, by Senators Flanagan and Klein, establishing a plan setting forth the methodology for allocating a certain appropriation for the 2015-2016 state fiscal year.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Move the resolution, please.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The question is on the resolution. All in favor signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Opposed?
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The resolution is adopted.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Next, there's Resolution 3050.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Senate Resolution Number 3050, by Senators Flanagan and Klein, establishing a plan setting forth an itemized list of grantees for certain appropriations in the 2015-2016 state fiscal year.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Move the resolution.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:All in favor of Resolution 3050 signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Opposed?
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The resolution is adopted.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Next, Resolution 3051, please.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Senate Resolution Number 3051, by Senators Flanagan and Klein, establishing a plan setting forth an itemized list of grantees for a certain appropriation for the 2015-2016 state fiscal year for grants.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Move the resolution.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The question is on Resolution 3051. All in favor signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Opposed?
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Resolution 3051 is adopted.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Please take up Resolution 3052.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Senate Resolution Number 3052, by Senators Flanagan and Klein, establishing a plan setting forth an itemized list of grantees for certain appropriation for the 2015-2016 state fiscal year for services.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Move the resolution.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The question is on Resolution 3052. All in favor signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Opposed?
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The resolution is adopted.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Please take up Resolution 3053.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Senate resolution Number 3053, by Senators Flanagan and Klein, establishing a plan setting forth an itemized list of grantees for a certain appropriation for the 2015-2016 state fiscal year.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Move the resolution.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The question is on Resolution 3053. All in favor signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Opposed?
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Resolution 3053 is adopted.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Next, Resolution 3054, please.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Senate Resolution Number 3054, by Senators Flanagan and Klein, establishing a plan setting forth an itemized list of grantees for certain appropriations for the 2015-2016 state fiscal year.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Move the resolution.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The question is on Resolution 3054. All in favor signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Opposed?
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Resolution 3054 is adopted.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: And the final resolution, Number 3055, would you take that up.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Senate Resolution Number 3055, by Senators Flanagan and Klein, amending Senate Resolution R6136 of 2014 establishing a plan setting forth an itemized list of grantees for the New York State Economic Development Assistance Program.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The question is on Resolution 3055. All in favor signify by saying aye.
(Response of "Aye.")
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Opposed?
(No response.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The resolution is adopted.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: And I'll move the resolution.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Resolution 3055, adopted.
The desk is still preparing, Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Right. And what's going on is really we're preparing for hand-downs and substitutions from the Assembly.
And since we have all of these bills and there's eight bills, in our Senate high-technology iPad -- we're not going to be printing 63 of them, one for every desk, so we can move this process. But we'll announce the substitutions slowly so you can use your computers. And you will all be tested on it afterwards.
(Laughter.)
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: So as soon as the substitutions are here, we will notify you of those last eight bills.
(Whereupon, the Senate stood at ease at 10:38 p.m.)
(Whereupon, the Senate reconvened at 10:53 p.m.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Senate will come to order.
I would urge all the members to use their iPads on the desks. You can access the information both by the Assembly number and the calendar number.
Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Could you return to messages from the Assembly, please.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:We will return to messages from the Assembly.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:The Assembly sent for concurrence the following bills, and said bills ordered to a third reading:
Assembly Bill 82, Assembly Print 217, Assembly Print 221, Assembly Print 2008, Assembly Print 5157, Assembly Print 5556, Assembly Print 6556, and Assembly Number 8288A.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Could we please take up each of these bills one at a time. First, Assembly 82.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bills are so ordered to third reading, on motion and without objection.
And the Secretary will begin to read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1911, by Member of the Assembly Mayer, Assembly Print 2008, an act to amend the Tax Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: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.)
(Pause.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:I'm going to ask the members to please remain in their seats in order for us to accommodate the results.
The Secretary will announce the results.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar 1911, those recorded in the negative are Senators Amedore, Carlucci, Croci, Funke, Gallivan, Griffo, Lanza, Marchione, Martins, Murphy, Ortt, Panepinto, Ranzenhofer, Serino, Venditto and Young. Also Senator O'Mara. Also Senator Nozzolio. Also Senator Ritchie.
Ayes, 40. Nays, 19.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1912, by Member of the Assembly Buchwald, Assembly Print 217, an act to amend the Tax Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: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:This is Assembly Print 217. (Pause.) Again, for those that are using the technology, it's Assembly Number 217.
Announce the results.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar 1912, those recorded in the negative are Senators Amedore, Carlucci, Croci, Funke, Gallivan, Griffo, Marchione, Martins, Murphy, Nozzolio, O'Mara, Ortt, Panepinto, Ranzenhofer, Serino, Venditto and Young. Also Senator Lanza.
Ayes, 41. Nays, 18.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1913, by Member of the Assembly Skoufis, Assembly Print 5157, Assembly Print 5157, an act to amend the Tax Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read the last section on Assembly Print 5157.
THE SECRETARY:Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will announce the results.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar 1913, those recorded in the negative are Senators Amedore, Boyle, Carlucci, Croci, Felder, Funke, Gallivan, Griffo, Lanza, Marchione, Martins, Murphy, Nozzolio, O'Mara, Ortt, Panepinto, Ranzenhofer, Serino, Venditto and Young. Also Senator DeFrancisco.
Ayes, 38. Nays, 21.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
The Secretary will continue.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1914, by Member of the Assembly Paulin, Assembly Print 82, Assembly Print 82, an act to amend the Tax Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:This is Assembly Print 82. The Secretary will read the last section.
THE SECRETARY:Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
(Pause.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The read is under review. (Pause.) The read is under review.
Upon further review, the bill before the house is Assembly Number 82, Print Number 82. The first bill taken by the house was Assembly Print 2008. So the first bill that the house considered was Assembly Bill 2008. The current bill before the house is Assembly Print 82.
The Secretary will announce the results.
If you'd again raise your hands if you're in the negative.
We'll do this one more time, slowly, for everybody.
Assembly Print 82, the Secretary will read the last section. The Secretary will read the last section.
THE SECRETARY:Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:He will call the roll again.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:If you're in the negative, please raise your hand.
Announce the results.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar 1914, those recorded in the negative are Senators Amedore, Boyle, Carlucci, Croci, DeFrancisco, Funke, Gallivan, Griffo, Hannon, Lanza, LaValle, Marchione, Martins, Murphy, Nozzolio, O'Mara, Ortt, Panepinto, Ranzenhofer, Serino, Venditto and Young. Also Senator Ritchie.
Ayes, 36. Nays, 23.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
Again, I would ask the members to -- we please request that you stay at your desks. And when we do take the roll, to please indicate if you are in the negative by raising your hand to facilitate the desk.
The Secretary will continue with both the calendar number and the print number.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1915, by Member of the Assembly Buchwald, Assembly Print 221, Assembly Print 221, an act to amend the Tax Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read the last section on Assembly Print 221.
THE SECRETARY:Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Announce the results.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar 1915, those recorded in the negative are Senators Amedore, Carlucci, Croci, DeFrancisco, Funke, Gallivan, Griffo, Hannon, Lanza, LaValle, Marchione, Martins, Murphy, Nozzolio, O'Mara, Ortt, Panepinto, Ranzenhofer, Ritchie, Serino, Venditto and Young.
Ayes, 37. Nays, 22.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1916, by Member of the Assembly Otis, Assembly Print 5556, Assembly Print 5556, an act to amend the Tax Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read the last section on Assembly Print Number 5556.
THE SECRETARY:Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Announce the results.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar 1916, those recorded in the negative are Senators Amedore, Boyle, Carlucci, Croci, DeFrancisco, Funke, Gallivan, Griffo, Hannon, Lanza, LaValle, Marchione, Martins, Murphy, Nozzolio, O'Mara, Ortt, Panepinto, Ranzenhofer, Ritchie, Serino, Venditto and Young.
Ayes, 36. Nays, 23.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1917, by Member of the Assembly Otis, Assembly Print 6556, Assembly Print 6556, an act to amend the Tax Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read the last section on Assembly Print 6556.
THE SECRETARY:Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Announce the results.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar 1917, those recorded in the negative are Senators Amedore, Carlucci, Croci, DeFrancisco, Funke, Gallivan, Griffo, Hannon, Lanza, LaValle, Marchione, Martins, Murphy, Nozzolio, O'Mara, Ortt, Panepinto, Ranzenhofer, Ritchie, Serino, Venditto and Young.
Ayes, 37. Nays, 22.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1918, by Member of the Assembly Pretlow, Assembly Print 8288A, Assembly Print 8288A, an act to amend the Tax Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read the last section on Assembly Print 8288A.
THE SECRETARY:Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Announce the results.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar 1918, those recorded in the negative are Senators Amedore, Carlucci, DeFrancisco, Funke, Gallivan, Griffo, Hannon, Lanza, Marchione, Murphy, Nozzolio, O'Mara, Ortt, Panepinto, Ranzenhofer, Serino, Venditto and Young.
Ayes, 41. Nays, 18.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
Senator DeFrancisco, that completes the noncontroversial reading of the messages from the Assembly hand-down bills.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: One moment, please.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:We'll pause.
(Pause).
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Would you please call up Calendar Number 635.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 635, by Senator Golden, Senate Print 5088, an act to amend the Real Property Tax Law.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I move to reconsider the vote by which the bill was passed.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will call the roll on reconsideration.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
THE SECRETARY:Ayes, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is restored to third reading.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I believe we have a substitution.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:On page 16, Senator Golden moves to discharge, from the Committee on Rules, Assembly Bill Number 7936 and substitute it for the identical Senate Bill Number 5088, Third Reading Calendar 635.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The substitution is so ordered.
The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 635, by Member of the Assembly Farrell, Assembly Print Number 7936, an act to amend the Real Property Tax Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: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, 59.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: We have one more hand-down that is being ran over here, it's being run over here as fast as he possibly can get here. So if you want to get into your computers to save some time, the bill is A992. And then you'll see what we're talking about.
And as soon as this gentleman comes forward, I assume it's a gentleman, and we have the document -- we're all waiting. When he comes in give him a hand, will you?
(Laughter.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:It's Mercury, similar to Mercury arriving here to bring Assembly Print 992.
(Applause.)
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I'm sorry, I asked them to do that. We're not making fun of you.
(Laughter.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Senator DeFrancisco, we'll return to messages from the Assembly, without objection?
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: That would be a good idea.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Okay. The Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:The Assembly sent for concurrence the following bill, and said bill ordered to a third reading: Assembly Print Number 992.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:It is so ordered to third reading.
And the Secretary will read.
THE SECRETARY:Calendar Number 1919, by Member of the Assembly Abinanti, Assembly Print 992, an act to amend the Tax Law.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:We will call the last section on Assembly Print 992.
THE SECRETARY:Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Call the roll.
(The Secretary called the roll.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Announce the results.
THE SECRETARY:In relation to Calendar Number 1919, those recorded in the negative are Senators Amedore, Carlucci, Croci, DeFrancisco, Funke, Gallivan, Griffo, Lanza, LaValle, Marchione, Murphy, Nozzolio, O'Mara, Ortt, Panepinto, Ranzenhofer, Ritchie, Serino, Venditto and Young. Also Senator Hannon. Also Senator Martins.
Ayes, 37. Nays, 22.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:The bill is passed.
Senator DeFrancisco.
SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Mr. President, I now move to recommit the remaining bills on the Third Reading Calendar to the Committee on Rules.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:It is so ordered.
I'd ask if we could have some order in the house, and if members would please take their seats. We will momentarily be recognizing the leaders. So again, I'm going to ask members to please take their seats and that I have some order in the house, please. Thank you.
Senator Stewart-Cousins.
SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS:Thank you, Mr. President.
I guess we've been waiting for this for a very, very long time. And so I won't say that I'm speechless and I won't say that I will take too long, but I do of course want to say thank you.
I want to first thank Senator Flanagan. Senator Flanagan, I promised him as the day progressed that I would say nicer and nicer things about him.
(Laughter.)
SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS:And with this last thing that happened, I can only tell you how much I appreciate your ability to navigate through difficult things, to stay in contact, to make appropriate changes, to say yes when it's yes and no when it's no and even yes when it's no sometimes.
It gives me great hope. I know you took over at a very, very difficult time, and I think that you've done a great job in the chamber. So I thank you for the partnership and I look forward to next year doing great things.
I also want to thank Senator Klein. It's always good to work in collaboration with you and hope that we will be able to have a growing working partnership with you and the independent Democrats.
And of course my conference, who are just, you know, such an incredible group of real advocates, really committed people who understand why they're here, never lose sight of who sent us here, and always fighting for the very best. You really make all of us proud in New York State. And certainly as a leader I am honored to be able to say thank you to you and really, really appreciate all that you've done, not only again in support of me, but in support of the people that we represent.
Both of us, all of us have staff that are incredible that make us look really good. And this is a difficult job. Under really, really difficult circumstances, all of our staffs rose to the occasion. So I'd like to applaud all of our staffs on each side of the aisle for doing such a great job.
(Applause.)
SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS:And I know during budget times certainly the big emphasis is on our Finance staff and Louie Tobias doing incredible things on that side. And during this time of the year, it is our legislative team, led by Shontell Smith, that has really been incredible. Shontell, thank you so much for everything.
(Applause.)
SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS:I want to thank my deputy, Senator Gianaris, just because you run the floor so well.
And I know, you know, Senator DeFrancisco, nothing to take away from you, but Senator Libous isn't here and I just wanted to give a shout-out to him because he's always also been a great, great partner.
So we're at that point where we thank everyone. I thank the Governor on another successful legislative session. I want to thank him also for keeping that promise to Yonkers. And again, I thank my colleagues in the Legislature, both houses, for delivering on that promise.
I also want to thank Speaker Heastie, another new leader on the other side in the other house, who really, really I know stood up for the democratic values that we all so treasure. And so again, I want to thank him for really helping to move the conversation forward.
My colleagues on this side of the aisle have talked about the things that we could have done better. And of course we could have done a lot of things better. I think when the Governor started, he had an Opportunity Agenda -- and so much, frankly, was missed.
We missed the opportunity just in terms of rent, and you've heard it discussed so eloquently. We didn't really save the apartments that we could have because we did not have real significant changes or rollbacks of vacancy decontrol. We didn't figure out a meaningful way to create more affordable housing. We didn't even find a real significant way to cut down on some of the expenses that plague our tenants.
We didn't find a way, scandal after scandal, to do what we could have done with ethics reform. We could have done more. And we can still do more. I'm talking about things that we couldn't do because we've done good things, and we will hear about those things.
But what I saw tonight again was an opportunity where, if we really pay attention, there's things that we can do. We can still raise the minimum wage. We still have over a million people who are stuck in bone-crushing poverty.
We can still do something with our criminal justice system. We can still do something beyond just moving young people into another facility. We can do something to raise the age.
We can do so much more in terms of mandate relief. We were able to give some relief to the Catholic and the parochial schools in terms of mandates that have been put on them, but we can do for our local governments in relieving those mandates. We can find a way to create tax relief for our working families. We can do more.
But what I've seen today and what I've seen through this session this whole year, where the improbable happened, the impossible happened, and yet we were able to find ways to cobble together agreements and to really rise to the occasion. And we disagree. That's why we are on different sides of the aisle. But I've seen time after time that we've been able to collaborate in the best interests of our constituents, all of our constituents, and do what has to be done.
So I thank you again for serving the people of New York in this honorable body with integrity. I look forward to coming back next year to see what else we can do together to make it better. And in the meantime, I wish all of you a wonderful summer. Enjoy. And when we come back in January, we'll be getting back to work.
Thank you.
(Standing ovation.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Thank you, Senator Stewart-Cousins.
Senator Klein.
SENATOR KLEIN:Thank you, Mr. President.
The hour is late, and I know we worked very, very hard. But I do want to say a very special thank you to all of my colleagues in the Senate. I think everyone knows this was an extremely difficult year. Circumstances that were put upon us really threatened our institution.
And one of the things that I always try to pride myself on, especially as someone who's served in the Senate now for 10 years, is making sure that the Senate works. That's extremely important to me.
We have different opinions on things, but I think coming together as one to do the people's business is something that's extremely important. And I want to thank my two colleagues, Senator Stewart-Cousins, Leader Flanagan, for really allowing that to happen. Because I think all of us coming together in a very, very short period of time to actually move our state forward, work together and get things done, I think both of them deserve a tremendous round of applause.
(Applause.)
SENATOR KLEIN:I also want to thank the members of the Independent Democratic Conference. I think I've been extremely lucky to lead a small but very potent force, people who really care about governing, dedicated public servants who are really focused on getting things done. Always trying to find a way we can move our state forward, always finding a way that they can make a better life for their constituents.
And I want to thank Senator Savino, Senator Carlucci, Senator Valesky and Senator Avella. Let's give them a round of applause, everyone. Thank you.
(Applause.)
SENATOR KLEIN:I also want to thank the staff at the Independent Democratic Conference. As said before, we are a separate conference and a small conference, but nonetheless we're responsible for an awful lot, just like the Republican and Democratic Conference. And even though this is a small staff, I will match them against any conference staff each and every day.
And I want to thank our chief of staff, John Emrick; policy director, Dana Carotenuto; my executive assistant, Bridget McBrien; deputy communications director, Candice Giove; budget director, Fransesc Marti; counsel, Shelley Andrews; and the dozens more dedicated individuals on our team. Thank you all.
(Applause.)
SENATOR KLEIN:You know, with every legislative session there's victories, there's things we're extremely proud of, and then of course there's things we don't get done. And what we do as leaders, what we do as Senators is roll up our sleeves and work hard to get it done the following session. We are judged by two-year sessions. That's when they renew our contract, every two years.
And I do want to say I'm very proud of the fact that in 2015 the Independent Democratic Conference put forth a bold agenda which we called Invest New York. Part of that agenda was responsible for increasing education aid. For the first time in our history, a record amount, a $1.6 billion increase in education.
We pumped $100 million into the New York City Housing Authority. Public housing that should be second to none unfortunately has become in disrepair. And I think that $100 million hopefully will be spent wisely, it will be spent on things that individuals need to improve their quality of life.
I'm very proud of the fact that we were able to put forth the first of its kind middle-income housing program, a moderate-income loan program where we're now going to create Mitchell-Lama housing once again in the State of New York, the first time after 30 years. We're calling it Mitchell-Lama 2020.
Mitchell-Lama is based on a very simple premise, that various income levels can live under one roof. That's what works. That's what makes sure that we have affordable places to live. And I think partners, being a partner with Mayor de Blasio on our new 421-a plan, in conjunction with our moderate-income loan program, is going to go a long way towards building more affordable housing, not only in the City of New York but across the state.
I'm also very proud that this session we in the Independent Democratic Conference took on the subprime auto loan industry. This is a problem waiting to happen. It may not be as large as the mortgage foreclosure crisis, but at the same time we're taking advantage of people and we're sending a message that if you have no money, you have no credit, you have no job, you can still get a car loan. That's the problem we had with the mortgage crisis.
And I think the legislation that we passed this year is going to go a long way towards helping them.
But as I said, you know, there's always things we celebrate and there's also things that we're disappointed we didn't get done.
One of the issues that I've worked very hard on over the last several years with our Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, is zombie property legislation. These are abandoned properties, these are properties that are in limbo. They're not in foreclosure, because in many cases banks don't want to put them in foreclosure because they don't want to be responsible for maintaining these properties.
But they become a burden. They're costing our localities millions of dollars in repair. And instead of having the banks pay the bill, we're putting that burden on our localities.
First of all, we should know better. We should know who's responsible, we should know who caused the problem in the first place. And it certainly isn't our localities, it's the banks who gave these bad loans to people in the first place.
The other issue that we worked very hard on and unfortunately we didn't get done, and I'm going to redouble my efforts this year, is a very simply piece of legislation called Justice for Job Seekers. This is making sure that low-wage workers, this is making sure that immigrant workers who are looking for low-wage jobs don't get ripped off by phony agencies, agencies that promise them that they're going to get a job, in many cases take money up-front, and they send them no place -- in many cases never even giving back their original fee, and they actually never get a job.
Again, if we're going to be serious about making sure that everyone around our state has the part of the American Dream which I think is most sacred to each and every one of us, that we all have a job, we have to make sure that we have legitimate agencies. We have to monitor these employment agencies to make sure these people are able to get work and not get ripped off in the process.
But at the end of the day, that's what legislative sessions are about. We advocate the things that we want, we celebrate our victories and, as I said before, we get to work in the next legislative session on the things we weren't able to do.
But again, I want to say thank you to each and every one of you. Because as I said, being part of the New York State Senate is something that's very important to me and I know it's very important to many of you. We do belong to a very exclusive club. I think sometimes we forget that. And I think as long as we keep our eye on the prize and we remember that our constituents are first and foremost in our minds, we'll continue to do the people's business.
Thank you, Mr. President.
(Standing ovation.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Thank you, Senator Klein.
Senator Flanagan.
SENATOR FLANAGAN:Thank you, Mr. President.
Actually, simply, I'll just start off by thanking you, Senator Griffo. I know you love presiding, and you do a great job on everyone's behalf. So thank you very much.
And getting a chance to listen, you get -- you know, you start thinking of things along the way. I want to make sure that I start by thanking the Governor.
We have had a tumultuous couple of weeks for sure, but at the end of the day we work closely together, we work well together. Certainly disagreements. He is tenacious, as he will often tell people. And look forward to working with him again on a wide variety of issues that are important to every community in the State of New York.
I also want to thank Speaker Heastie. I said this yesterday or the day before -- it doesn't really matter -- Carl Heastie is a good guy. He's a gentleman. He's a fair broker. He certainly was very passionate on issues like rent and certainly on issues involving the City of New York, but he was also very passionate about property tax and upstate issues. So he has been good to work with, plain and simple.
And I'm just looking, I want -- this is where I know we're in a good place. Now, this has nothing to do with state government per se. But Senator Hamilton is here today. And what's really cool is that we have the next Senator Jesse Hamilton visiting right over here.
(Laughter; applause.)
SENATOR FLANAGAN:So, Jesse, you are our future. It's wonderful to see you here. If you haven't had a chance to talk to this young man, he's remarkably poised, and that's a good thing for all of us.
To my colleagues here, Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, I've said this time and time again, she is a lady in every sense of the word. She is very easy to work with. And we certainly have our differences, but we do have very, very good communication. And anything that she would say nice about me, I can certainly return in kind very easily and for sure.
So to Senator Stewart-Cousins, we have a lot more work we need to do. I think today in particular we end in a way that hopefully is going to keep you smiling through the rest of the night.
SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS:I'm happy for you.
SENATOR FLANAGAN:Okay, good. Good.
Senator Klein. Senator Klein is also a gentleman. He is very straightforward.
And one of the things I appreciate about Senator Klein in particular, he comes up with very unique subjects. You know, Justice for Jobs, the subprime mortgage issues. Every time I talk to him I think to myself, where does he come up with this? I mean, but they're real, legitimate issues that do have an impact. And he plugs away and plugs away and does a lot of good work on behalf of his conference and the communities they represent.
Here, we obviously are in a chamber that has a tremendous amount of history, and I'm in awe. I'm in awe on many occasions being here, coming in the chamber, its splendor, its beauty. The fact that this is where we do the people's business and where we're charged to do that business is something that none of us takes lightly.
And the way we are able to do that is because we work with terrific people. There are so many good people who work in government that nobody even knows about. The people who help clean our buildings, the people who maintain the place, the people who change all these light bulbs and do all of these things that actually do make a difference.
And here, right in the chamber, in no particular order, I'm just going to say thank you to Rebecca and -- Rebecca, yes.
(Applause.)
SENATOR FLANAGAN:She -- and I'm not sure if she's here, but Lisa Harris as well. Lisa Harris.
(Applause.)
SENATOR FLANAGAN:And the guy standing back there, he's, you know, wily, he moves around, but he always gets things done. That's Joe Messina. I call him "the fixer." He gets the votes on the floor.
(Applause.)
SENATOR FLANAGAN:Now, the two people seated immediately to my left, I have known their value before; I have only grown to know more about them and their talents and skill sets.
And it was mentioned before we sort of have a bifurcated session, and I keep that in mind. So you do a lot of Finance work in the budget, and then a lot of counsel's work during that and thereafter. But the good news is we have just phenomenal people.
And I'm going to mention Robert Mujica first. He is just extraordinary to work with. And he is unbelievable in remembering things, advocating for things. He drives the Governor crazy, which I certainly appreciate, as do our members.
(Laughter.)
SENATOR FLANAGAN:Yes, Robert, take credit for that.
(Laughter.)
SENATOR FLANAGAN:And I also really want to thank Beth. Beth is -- she is extraordinarily bright, she knows her issues, and she is a fantastic ambassador for our conference, both internally and externally.
So please thank them for the work that they do.
(Standing ovation.)
SENATOR FLANAGAN:Beth is going to kill me for doing that, but it's worth it.
Now I'm just going to quickly mention three people that I work with directly who are my team, who went through a phenomenal series of changes since the beginning of May. And I needed them before -- I need them now even more. And that's Robin Mueller, Carl Mills, and Sydney Gross. So my guys.
(Applause.)
SENATOR FLANAGAN:Senator Gianaris, I forgot to thank you for helping get things done on the floor.
And I think we did a pretty good job lately about -- and all year, frankly -- but just getting the people's business done internally in the chamber. And there's no way it could happen without the support of the minority and Senator John DeFrancisco. The good news is -- yeah.
(Applause.)
SENATOR FLANAGAN:You know it's the end of the session, you know it's the last day when the lemon ice comes out. So that's a time-honored tradition that everybody loves.
But as a colleague, he's outstanding. As an ally, he is outstanding. And as a friend, Johnny D. and I actually get along very well. And we talk about a lot of different things. I had a fantastic discussion with him the other day about work that he's done in the past, some of the incredible trials that he's been involved in.
And it's just -- I know we are blessed and I know I am lucky to call him a colleague. But to have him as our floor leader, the chair of the Finance Committee, he makes an extraordinary difference for us here and for the people in the State of New York.
So, John, thank you very much again.
(Applause.)
SENATOR FLANAGAN:By the way, he told me I was only allowed to speak at length if I was talking about him, so I may have to go on a little.
(Laughter.)
SENATOR FLANAGAN:So we are at a juncture where I think we have accomplished a tremendous amount. This has been a crazy session, everybody knows it. When you think, just go back to the beginning of the year, the Governor put out a budget proposal that was basically a budget proposal and about 85 policy proposals, which made our budget timing, the Finance hearings and all things like that, frankly a lot more challenging.
But at the end of that cycle, we got the business of the budget done, fifth year in a row for an on-time budget. Which I think is a very, very good thing, but in reality that's our job, so we should be getting it done on time. But doing the people's business in a timely fashion is always beneficial.
And then of course as session moved on, we accomplished a lot of things, including what we just did in the last couple of days as well as today. I think in the budget some of the things that we can't quickly forget, a $1.4 billion increase in aid to education, the largest increase in the state's history and the largest percentage of growth in the New York State budget this year and the last several years before.
Our primary obligation is proper funding of public education. We are meeting that commitment. There'll always be a debate about more. But doing that, getting rid of the GEA, looking at property taxes and dealing with issues that are important to people, I think we accomplished a lot.
And we did some very good things in educational policy during the budget. And the better news is this week we came to a resolution on issues that we all heard about while we were home during the budget and our, quote, unquote, break. So I'm very proud to have worked with my colleagues in particular and to have listened to our parents, to our teachers, and to our students.
And we tried to do reforms that were parent-and-student-centered, and I believe we accomplished that. And there was no way that was going to happen if we didn't listen to our constituents. They came at us, we came back, we pushed and we got it done.
Certainly there are a lot of other things that we achieved as well. I could spend time on the Women's Equality Agenda. The logjam on that broke, we passed all the bills. And we got a lot of cooperation from the Assembly and actually advocated for things that frankly were long overdue, but I think our stick-to-it-iveness in that area enabled these things to get done, unlike the fact that they hadn't really happened in the past.
Controlling spending. For the fifth year we have lived with, in essence, a self-imposed state spending cap. So now we're in a position where we can go to the taxpayers and say, We're asking you to have the tax cap, which the public strongly supports, but we're leading by doing the same thing at the state level. If we were increasing spending at 5, 6, 8 percent, we would have no right to ask municipalities and school districts to do the same.
So controlling state spending, the extension of the property tax cap, since 2011 the numbers are something like $7.6 billion in savings to the taxpayers of the State of New York. That's a really, really positive thing. And despite some of the consternation, people really do still strongly support the tax cap.
Property tax rebates. Think about this. I want to be in a situation where we create a climate for economic development where jobs are growing -- so we're not talking about rebate checks, which are absolutely great, $1.3 billion next year -- but we'll be in such a capacity where we can actually cut the tax rates in the State of New York, the marginal tax rates for residences, for individuals, for corporations. That's what we should be aspiring to.
So there are a number of things. I'm looking at this not just as a glass half-full, I think it's more than half-full. We accomplished a great deal, and there are plenty of things that we need to work on as we move forward.
So I wish everyone a fantastic summer, wherever you're going. Senator LaValle is going to Italy in a couple of weeks. Wherever you think fun is going to be, please enjoy whatever you do with your family.
And in closing, I want to thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for being the professionals that you are, for representing your constituents well. I want to thank the members of our own conference and give a shout-out to my good friend Simcha Felder, who caucuses with us and is a fantastic ally and colleague.
(Applause.)
SENATOR FLANAGAN:So the one person or one group that I really want to thank as well are the people of the State of New York. They have entrusted us with their well-being.
And our responsibilities are awesome, they are diverse, they are complex, they are real. And this is why we do this work. We do this stuff because we like it. We actually do want to help people. And I know that sometimes it gets lost in the mix, but I really do believe that at the beginning and the end of the day, that's what we're trying to do.
So I know we're fortunate to serve in these capacities, and I do want to thank the people that we represent, because they're the ones who put us here and they're the ones who can keep us here. And whenever we don't listen, they're the ones that can take us out of here as well. So they deserve good government. We're trying to deliver that.
Now, people talked about things that they want to do. I could talk about a whole bunch of things. But I'm going to leave on this note.
I believe one of the things I really want to work on with my colleagues for next year is organ donation. I could talk about a hundred different things. Senator Hannon knows this subject matter very well. We are 50th in the country, which is abysmal. For as progressive a state as we are and the things that we advocate, I find it reprehensible that we are not better at that subject matter, at that issue.
And I would hope that my colleagues would think about that very seriously. And I know everyone in the room believes in this and takes it seriously. These are literally life-and-death issues. So I could talk about a lot of things, but when we talk about aspirations and where we want to go, that's something that I think we could all work on very easily together and do the right thing by the people.
So thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving me this opportunity to serve, and I hope I have the opportunity to make my colleagues and everyone in this chamber, and by extension our residents, proud of the work we do.
And again, have a great summer.
Mr. President, thank you very much.
(Extended standing ovation.)
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:Thank you, Senator Flanagan.
Senator Flanagan.
SENATOR FLANAGAN:This is the news that everyone has been waiting for.
(Laughter.)
SENATOR FLANAGAN:Mr. President, I think it's time that the Senate adjourn.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:There is no further business before the desk.
(Laughter.)
SENATOR FLANAGAN:And that we reconvene at a very long distance from where we are right now.
ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:On motion, the Senate will stand adjourned, at the call of the Temporary President, intervening days being legislative days.
The Senate stands adjourned.
(Whereupon, at 11:54 p.m., the Senate adjourned.)
Highest impact first.
Not yet analyzed. Open the bill for its official title.
Not yet analyzed. Open the bill for its official title.
Not yet analyzed. Open the bill for its official title.
Not yet analyzed. Open the bill for its official title.
Not yet analyzed. Open the bill for its official title.
Not yet analyzed. Open the bill for its official title.
Not yet analyzed. Open the bill for its official title.
Not yet analyzed. Open the bill for its official title.
Not yet analyzed. Open the bill for its official title.