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1 NEW YORK STATE SENATE
2
3
4 THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD
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8
9 ALBANY, NEW YORK
10 April 18, 2023
11 4:30 p.m.
12
13
14 REGULAR SESSION
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16
17
18 SENATOR JAMAAL T. BAILEY, Acting President
19 ALEJANDRA N. PAULINO, ESQ., Secretary
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1 P R O C E E D I N G S
2 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: The
3 Senate will come to order.
4 I ask everyone present to please
5 rise and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
6 (Whereupon, the assemblage recited
7 the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.)
8 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: In the
9 absence of clergy, let us bow our heads in a
10 moment of silent reflection and/or prayer.
11 (Whereupon, the assemblage respected
12 a moment of silence.)
13 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Reading
14 of the Journal.
15 THE SECRETARY: In Senate, Monday,
16 April 17, 2023, the Senate met pursuant to
17 adjournment. The Journal of Friday, April 14,
18 2023, was read and approved. On motion, the
19 Senate adjourned.
20 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Without
21 objection, the Journal stands approved as read.
22 Presentation of petitions.
23 Messages from the Assembly.
24 Messages from the Governor.
25 Reports of standing committees.
2302
1 Reports of select committees.
2 Communications and reports from
3 state officers.
4 Motions and resolutions.
5 Senator Gianaris.
6 SENATOR GIANARIS: Good afternoon,
7 Mr. President. I move to adopt the
8 Resolution Calendar, with the exception of
9 Resolution 733.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: All those
11 in favor of adopting the Resolution Calendar,
12 with the exception of Resolution 733, please
13 signify by saying aye.
14 (Response of "Aye.")
15 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Opposed,
16 nay.
17 (No response.)
18 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: The
19 Resolution Calendar is adopted.
20 Senator Gianaris.
21 SENATOR GIANARIS: Can we begin
22 with Resolution 733, by Senator Gounardes, read
23 that resolution's title, and recognize
24 Senator Gounardes.
25 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: The
2303
1 Secretary will read.
2 THE SECRETARY: Senate Resolution
3 733, by Senator Gounardes, memorializing
4 Governor Kathy Hochul to recognize April 20,
5 2023, in honor of the 246th Anniversary of the
6 adoption of the first New York State
7 Constitution.
8 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Senator
9 Gounardes on the resolution.
10 SENATOR GOUNARDES: Thank you,
11 Mr. President.
12 My colleagues, this Thursday is
13 New York's 246th birthday. As many of you know,
14 for the last few years I've stood on this floor
15 to commemorate April 20th as New York
16 Constitution Day, the anniversary of the
17 ratification of New York's first constitution
18 after we joined the other colonies in declaring
19 independence from England in 1777.
20 This year I want to spend my time
21 talking a little bit about that first
22 constitution and something that I think is both
23 interesting and actually somewhat relevant to an
24 issue that this body has spent quite a bit of
25 time on this year, the judiciary. And more
2304
1 specifically, the Court of Appeals.
2 But at the outset, I want to
3 acknowledge and thank the Law Librarian in the
4 Legislative Library, Jeff Buckley, for his help
5 in researching this year's topic with me.
6 The Court of Appeals was not created
7 until the Constitutional Convention of 1846. So
8 I actually want to talk about the predecessor to
9 the Court of Appeals, which was the Court for the
10 Trial of Impeachment and the Correction of
11 Errors.
12 This court was to be the first --
13 the court of final appeals in New York, a chance
14 to literally review the errors of the lower
15 courts below and to issue final judgments. It
16 was a holdover from the colonial judicial system,
17 which itself was an imitation of the
18 English House of Lords, which up until 2009 was
19 the final arbiter of judicial appeals in the
20 United Kingdom.
21 The Court for the Trial of
22 Impeachment and the Correction of Errors -- which
23 is quite a mouthful of a name, if you ask me --
24 was composed of the Lieutenant Governor, the
25 Chancellor of the Court of Chancery, who at that
2305
1 time was the highest judicial officer in the
2 state, the judges of the Supreme Court, and the
3 32 members of the New York State Senate.
4 The constitution said that when
5 cases came up on appeal, if there was a case that
6 was previously decided by the Supreme Court
7 judges, those judges could not vote on the appeal
8 itself but only explain their rationale to the
9 other members of the Court of Errors for their
10 contemplation and consideration.
11 Similarly, the same held for the
12 chancellor on any cases on appeal from his prior
13 decisions.
14 And the thinking at that time was
15 that an assemblage of the large, nearly 40-person
16 body of esteemed preeminent government officials
17 could hear these appeals, and that their
18 collective wisdom would lead to the correct
19 result.
20 But in practice, actually, there was
21 an expectation that the nonjudicial members of
22 the Court of Errors -- namely, the Senators --
23 would be deferential to the judicial wisdom of
24 the other judges and would simply rubber-stamp
25 their decisions.
2306
1 I'm going to come back to that point
2 in a minute, but first I want to just pause for a
3 second to reflect on this idea that was enshrined
4 in our very first constitution, that members of
5 the legislature would simultaneously serve as
6 members of the judiciary. Just think about that:
7 The people who wrote the laws were also the same
8 people who would have the final say as to whether
9 those laws were or were not valid.
10 That really strikes at our
11 understanding of the separation of powers, which
12 is a defining feature of the American system of
13 government and one of the strokes of genius that
14 shaped our founding fathers in Philadelphia a
15 decade later.
16 But, on the other hand, maybe we
17 shouldn't be so surprised, because at that
18 time -- and we're talking about the 1770s,
19 1780s -- courts primarily decided cases about
20 common law and equity. It wasn't until 1803, in
21 Marbury versus Madison, that the idea of judicial
22 review of executive and legislative actions was
23 even established as a judicial power.
24 Nevertheless, for some 40-odd years,
25 from 1803 until 1846, the members of the Senate
2307
1 would write laws and then hear judicial cases on
2 appeal, often about the validity and
3 constitutionality of the very laws they
4 themselves wrote. That's fascinating.
5 Now, separation of powers aside, the
6 problems with the Court of Errors were many. For
7 starters, there was no consistency in how the
8 court heard cases. On any given case, there'd be
9 anywhere from 20 to 25 members of the court who
10 would vote. And when it came time to issue a
11 decision, the members of the court never actually
12 consulted each other. Each Court of Errors judge
13 would reach their own decision, based on their
14 own rationale, and that was it.
15 So if the 20 judges heard a case,
16 they'd sit around a table and then vote to affirm
17 or reverse, and that was the end of it. No
18 deliberations, no discussions, no unified written
19 decisions, nothing. Each judge was free to write
20 and publish their own opinions, but there was no
21 way to know if the rationale that persuaded one
22 judge applied to any other judge, let alone a
23 majority.
24 You know, we spent a lot of time in
25 the Judiciary Committee yesterday and today
2308
1 talking about stare decisis and the value of
2 precedent. But under the Court of Errors, which
3 existed in this state for 70 years, there was no
4 way to know what each ruling meant for creating
5 precedent and how to decide future cases. In
6 fact, in a great deal of cases, the Court of
7 Errors -- or, more accurately, the lay members of
8 the court, the Senators -- would vote to reverse
9 lower courts often for reasons that were
10 specious, frivolous, or even flat-out contrary to
11 principles of settled law.
12 In one case, Smith & Hoe v. Acker,
13 Senator Hopkins, in voting to reverse a lower
14 court, openly admitted that his vote would
15 directly conflict with the whole course of the
16 decisions of the Supreme Court, but that he knew
17 better because his mind was not embarrassed by
18 the past decisions that should have dictated
19 affirming the lower court's ruling.
20 This led a judge on the
21 Supreme Court, Justice Bronson -- therefore also
22 a member of the Court of Errors -- to go so far
23 as to say that the decisions of the Court of
24 Errors, "although final as between the parties,
25 are so far from being conclusive by way of
2309
1 authority that they are entitled to much less
2 weight than the judgments that those courts which
3 consider themselves bound by legal adjudications,
4 in this case, the judgment is entitled to no
5 weight at all."
6 In other cases, it was not uncommon
7 for Senators to rule in favor of litigants who
8 were also their own constituents -- or, even
9 worse, their own political allies. In fact, some
10 savvy litigants would go see their Senator, as if
11 during constituent open hours, and really go talk
12 about the case that they had pending before the
13 Court of Errors.
14 By the 1830s and 1840s the problem
15 with the court was well known. And as one
16 commentator, writing in 1843, charitably
17 described it, he said "The Court of Errors is
18 frequently constituted of the Senate alone, and
19 yet in the absence of every judicial officer, the
20 gravest matters are often discussed, and
21 questions of law which have tasked the wisdom of
22 the ages are reviewed and settled by men who, if
23 they have any acquaintance with the high matters
24 placed under their cognizance, must have it only
25 instinctively."
2310
1 As we know, in 1846 New York held a
2 Constitutional Convention, and the records of
3 that convention tell us "the necessity of
4 revising and reorganizing the judiciary system
5 was one of the principal causes of calling the
6 Convention."
7 The records continue:
8 "Dissatisfaction had long existed with regard to
9 the construction of the present Court for the
10 Correction of Errors. It was believed by many to
11 be too numerous for securing the strict attention
12 of all its members to the elaborate arguments
13 frequently made before it in complicated and
14 difficult cases. Its connection with the
15 legislative branch of government was justly
16 regarded by many as a fault in its organization,
17 and particularly so with respect to the decision
18 of all causes in which the constitutionality of
19 an act of the legislature was drawn in question."
20 And so, at the conclusion of that
21 convention, a new constitution was proposed, the
22 third in our state's history. And Article VI,
23 Section 2, of that constitution provided that
24 "There shall be a Court of Appeals, composed of
25 eight judges, of whom four shall be elected by
2311
1 the electors of the state for eight years, and
2 four selected from the class of justices of the
3 Supreme Court having the shortest time to serve."
4 So here we are. The Court of Errors
5 lasted for 70 years, and in the years since then,
6 the Court of Appeals has been our highest court
7 in this state. By now, most if not all of the
8 Court of Error's decisions have been superseded
9 by relevant and more modern Court of Appeals
10 decisions, and they're rarely cited. And at
11 times in our state's history, our Court of
12 Appeals has been considered the preeminent state
13 court in this country.
14 So as we consider the nomination
15 that's before us today and potential nominations
16 that will come before this body in the future for
17 members of that court, and as there is a renewed
18 focus not just on our state judiciary, but on the
19 role of state courts generally, let's remember
20 not just this history that I shared today, but
21 the importance of our state's entire
22 constitutional history. We should study it. We
23 should know it. And yes, we should even talk
24 about it, like I am here today.
25 So with that, Mr. President, thank
2312
1 you for your indulgence for letting me take some
2 time. I'll close out by saying to my colleagues:
3 Happy Constitution Day; Happy Birthday, New York!
4 Thank you.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Thank
6 you, Senator Gounardes. Happy Constitution Day
7 indeed.
8 The question is on the resolution.
9 All in favor signify by saying aye.
10 (Response of "Aye.")
11 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Opposed?
12 (No response.)
13 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: The
14 resolution is adopted.
15 Senator Gianaris.
16 SENATOR GIANARIS: Mr. President,
17 I'm sure, after that, that Senator Gounardes
18 wants to open that for cosponsorship.
19 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: The
20 resolution is most definitely open for
21 cosponsorship. Should you for some reason choose
22 not to be a cosponsor on the resolution, please
23 notify the desk.
24 Senator Gianaris.
25 SENATOR GIANARIS: Mr. President,
2313
1 we're going to come back to motions and
2 resolutions in a little bit, but at this time I
3 believe there's a report of the
4 Judiciary Committee at the desk.
5 Can we please take that up and call
6 on Senator Hoylman-Sigal.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: The
8 Secretary will read.
9 THE SECRETARY: Senator
10 Hoylman-Sigal, from the Committee on Judiciary,
11 reports the following nomination:
12 As Chief Justice of the Court of
13 Appeals, Rowan D. Wilson.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Senator
15 Hoylman-Sigal.
16 SENATOR HOYLMAN-SIGAL: Thank you,
17 Mr. President.
18 I rise to move the nomination of
19 Judge Rowan Wilson as Chief Judge of the New York
20 State Court of Appeals.
21 I wanted to acknowledge that we're
22 joined by Judge Wilson, as well as his colleagues
23 on the Court of Appeals.
24 I want to thank first
25 Governor Hochul for nominating Judge Wilson, and
2314
1 my colleagues for conducting what I think we can
2 all agree was a fair and thorough hearing
3 yesterday, which lasted a little over three
4 hours. You know it's thoughtful when the dormant
5 Commerce Clause is a major topic of discussion.
6 And one of our colleagues said he
7 likes to chill out and watch Senate confirmation
8 hearings, Senator Lanza.
9 (Laughter.)
10 SENATOR HOYLMAN-SIGAL: We've known
11 Judge Wilson since he was first considered by
12 this body over six years ago, when he was
13 nominated for his current position as an
14 associate judge. In 2017 this body confirmed
15 Judge Wilson by a unanimous voice vote, and since
16 then Judge Wilson has more than lived up to our
17 expectations.
18 In his more than 150 authored
19 opinions, concurrences and dissents, not to
20 mention thousands more motions, Judge Wilson has
21 proven himself to be one of the most thoughtful,
22 well-written and persuasive jurists in the nation
23 and in the history of the Court of Appeals.
24 Even when you don't always agree
25 with his holdings, Judge Wilson will change the
2315
1 way you think about a legal issue. And that's
2 something I think my colleagues on the
3 Judiciary Committee can agree with after
4 yesterday's hearing.
5 Judge Wilson is the embodiment of
6 the American dream. He shared much of his
7 personal story with the committee yesterday --
8 which I won't repeat in full here -- but suffice
9 to say Judge Wilson is known as something of a
10 legal rock star. He attended Harvard College and
11 Harvard Law School, clerked for a federal
12 appellate judge, joined Cravath, Swaine & Moore,
13 one of the most prestigious law firms in the
14 country. And I can say when I was a third-year
15 law student, just the mention of Cravath sent
16 chills up my spine. He became both the youngest
17 and the first Black partner in the law firm's
18 history.
19 And finally, in 2017, to gloss over
20 his incredible private-sector career, he was
21 confirmed as an associate judge of the Court of
22 Appeals. If confirmed today, he will be the
23 first Black Chief Judge in the court's history.
24 During the course of our
25 conversations yesterday, we discussed the dire
2316
1 issue of the lack of diversity on the bench with
2 Judge Wilson. I'm confident that he will do
3 whatever he can as Chief Judge, in partnership
4 with the Legislature and the profession, to
5 recruit new diverse candidates to the bench so
6 that we can ensure Latino, Asian and Black
7 representation where we so desperately need it.
8 Judge Wilson's elevation will also
9 put our Court of Appeals back on track to being
10 the most preeminent appellate court in the
11 nation.
12 Yesterday we were able to dive into
13 the weeds on Judge Wilson's jurisprudence, from
14 labor law to civil rights to criminal law to
15 animal rights. No matter the issue or difficulty
16 of the question, Judge Wilson kept a calm, cool
17 demeanor. Hemingway called it "grace under
18 pressure." He thoughtfully answered every
19 question with detailed explanations.
20 He also showed a willingness to
21 listen to the concerns of Senators and their
22 constituents, even reflecting on the spot about
23 his record, like an errant footnote that may not
24 have accurately reflected the gravity of the case
25 before the court.
2317
1 At a time when federal courts are
2 making rash and radical departures from
3 longstanding precedent and literally ripping away
4 our rights, New Yorkers can be assured that with
5 Judge Wilson at the helm, our judiciary will have
6 their best interests at heart, the best interests
7 of New Yorkers; that he will act with integrity
8 and lead the nation in thoughtful and intelligent
9 development of the law.
10 When the time comes, Mr. President,
11 I will be voting aye and encourage my colleagues
12 to do the same. I proudly move this nomination
13 to the floor and ask you, Mr. President, to
14 recognize any Senator that wishes to be heard on
15 the nomination.
16 Thank you.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Thank
18 you, Senator Hoylman-Sigal.
19 Senator Gianaris on the nomination.
20 SENATOR GIANARIS: Thank you,
21 Mr. President.
22 You know, what we do here in the
23 Senate, policymaking, is not always neat and
24 clean. But what is important is what is the
25 final product, where we do end up and what
2318
1 direction does that take our state. And in that
2 regard, this is a day that is among the proudest
3 that I have served in this chamber, because we're
4 about to confirm Rowan Wilson to be the
5 Chief Judge of the New York State Court of
6 Appeals.
7 I think whatever people might
8 believe about his philosophy, there's universal
9 agreement that Judge Wilson is a man of the
10 utmost integrity, leadership and intellect. His
11 lengthy opinions are well-documented and have
12 been discussed at length over the last several
13 weeks.
14 And Senator Hoylman-Sigal mentioned
15 his work, on his way through his legal
16 profession, working at Cravath, Swaine & Moore.
17 I was also a third-year Harvard Law student, and
18 that name also sent chills down my spine, but I
19 think for different reasons than Senator
20 Hoylman-Sigal's did. I wanted nothing to do with
21 the place, because they were known as a place
22 where you will be working 24/7, you will be
23 immersed in your law books doing the work. And
24 it's a credit to Judge Wilson that he signed up
25 for that and rose up the ranks of that incredibly
2319
1 prestigious firm.
2 Also, if you realize that not only
3 is his legal intelligence among the highest of
4 anyone I've ever met, but I think he's going to
5 be more than just an intellect on that court.
6 He's going to be a philosopher. Because if you
7 read his decisions, you see an understanding not
8 just of the case before him but of what it means
9 in the context of the broader community.
10 And that is what the Court of
11 Appeals has historically been in New York -- a
12 place where other states and indeed the federal
13 government and the federal judiciary can look for
14 guidance, for direction. It has been a court
15 throughout history that has been among the most
16 respected and admired in the entire nation. And
17 I know that Rowan Wilson is the person who is
18 going to restore that reputation, restore that
19 integrity to this court and, once again, have the
20 New York Court of Appeals, our highest court, be
21 an example for the entire nation to look at.
22 I know many of my colleagues want to
23 add their comments as we move this nomination.
24 But I'm going to be so thrilled to support
25 Rowan Wilson's nomination and vote yes in a few
2320
1 moments, and to applaud him for being a
2 ground-breaking, history-making leader who is
3 going to make us incredibly, incredibly proud.
4 Thank you, Mr. President.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Thank
6 you, Senator Gianaris.
7 Senator Myrie on the nomination.
8 SENATOR MYRIE: Thank you,
9 Mr. President.
10 And let me offer my congratulations
11 to Judge Wilson. Also my apologies for missing
12 the hearing. As you might be able to hear, I am
13 dealing with a volatile case of food poisoning,
14 and so I was not able to make the hearing. But I
15 did watch it, and I thought it was very important
16 to be here on this day because of this historic
17 vote.
18 There are many reasons to support
19 the nomination of Judge Wilson. He'd be the
20 first Black chief justice of our Court of Appeals
21 in this state's history. That is a good enough
22 reason to support him, but that's not the only
23 reason that I will be voting yes.
24 As you have heard, he has trailed a
25 path in Big Law, as we call it, at one of the
2321
1 premier law firms. And I'm supporting him for
2 that reason, but that is not the only reason.
3 You have heard about his ability to
4 communicate by way of his opinions and his
5 eloquent style of writing. That is one reason to
6 support him, but that is not the only reason.
7 I'm going to try to make plain to my
8 constituents why I am voting for Judge Wilson and
9 why I urge all of my colleagues to do the same.
10 For my constituents who have been wrongly
11 convicted, it was Judge Wilson's dissent in
12 People vs. Tiger that pointed out the injustice
13 that this state still upholds in that space.
14 For victims of police misconduct --
15 and I count myself in that crowd -- Judge Wilson
16 has stood up for their rights.
17 For those who care about the
18 relationship between tenants and landlords, and
19 the power dynamic, Judge Wilson has written and
20 stood up for the rights of tenants.
21 For those who care about government
22 intrusion and the offense to our Fourth Amendment
23 rights, Judge Wilson has written and stood up for
24 our constitutional protection.
25 If you care about the environment,
2322
1 Judge Wilson has stood up for that protection.
2 And to my constituents who read
3 Harry Potter, Judge Wilson, in Hinton v.
4 Village of Pulaski, quoted Harry Potter in his
5 dissent. And if I count myself in that crowd as
6 well.
7 (Laughter.)
8 SENATOR MYRIE: So I say all this
9 with a raspy voice, a volatile stomach, but with
10 incredibly great enthusiasm that I will be
11 supporting Judge Wilson.
12 We are proud of you.
13 Congratulations to your family and to your
14 colleagues. I'll be voting aye.
15 Thank you.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Thank
17 you, Senator Myrie.
18 Senator Palumbo on the nomination.
19 SENATOR PALUMBO: Thank you,
20 Mr. President.
21 So we did have a lengthy hearing
22 yesterday, and I don't think anyone can really
23 dispute the intelligence and education of
24 Judge Wilson. He worked at a very prestigious
25 law firm and I'm sure he was a very, very fine
2323
1 lawyer. And he was also unanimously confirmed in
2 2017 to be an associate judge.
3 But from what we've seen from that
4 date forward is a type of judge who has gone
5 outside the boundaries of what the duties of a
6 judge are. So unfortunately, I'm going to speak
7 against the nomination of Judge Wilson for a
8 number of reasons.
9 And I think that he would make
10 certainly a fine law professor. As I said, he's
11 got very artful decisions, and I said this
12 publicly. He has a lot of very interesting
13 prose; he makes it simple, he makes it
14 entertaining. And I get that. But this isn't a
15 think tank. This isn't some law review. This is
16 a body of law where judges are constitutionally
17 mandated to abide by precedent, stare decisis,
18 and to be judges of the law, not creators of the
19 law.
20 And there was much to do about a
21 recent decision from about a month ago, a rape
22 case, People vs. Regan. And just so my
23 colleagues that weren't there or didn't watch the
24 actual hearing -- this was a rape case where
25 there were two couples, the defendant raped his
2324
1 friend's girlfriend, a 22-year-old woman, and the
2 prosecution delayed. She had an immediate
3 outcry, the prosecution precharged -- and this is
4 the distinction, and this is the important part.
5 And this is what my point is, that we have a body
6 of law and we have statutory time frames for due
7 process that all exist. We have statutes of
8 limitations. Obviously we have speedy trial,
9 30.30, Mr. President. We've got all these other
10 constraints that ensure due process for someone
11 who is accused.
12 But prior to a charge, really the
13 only statutory rules are you have a statute of
14 limitations. And rape in the first degree has no
15 statute of limitations.
16 But in any event, it took the
17 prosecution a couple of years to get a DNA sample
18 from the suspect. And then after they received
19 those results, I believe they took even longer.
20 But it was a total of 48 months. And on
21 appeal -- and he went to trial after being
22 indicted, was found guilty unanimously by
23 12 jurors. And the case was appealed, affirmed,
24 and now it came to the Court of Appeals.
25 And the process for reviewing such a
2325
1 conviction has five factors. It's called --
2 People vs. Taranovich, so those Taranovich
3 factors are essentially the extent of the delay;
4 the reason for the delay; the nature of the
5 underlying charge, meaning the seriousness of the
6 crime; whether or not there's been an extended
7 period of pretrial incarceration; and, lastly,
8 whether or not there's any indication that the
9 defense has been impaired by reason of the delay.
10 To give you the short answer, it was
11 conceded that there was no prejudice to the
12 defendant, no bad faith about a prosecution, and
13 in fact, of course, this is about as serious as
14 crime gets. And he even acknowledged on later
15 questioning that obviously victims of horrendous
16 sex crimes and heinous crimes like this are
17 affected the rest of their lives. They suffer
18 with that trauma. So this is as big as it gets.
19 This is as serious as it gets.
20 And for the precharge delay, the
21 judge relied on a case, People vs. Singer -- and
22 I just read it again -- which is a Court of
23 Appeals case from the early '70s. And in Singer,
24 it actually was reversed because of an improper
25 confession, that the DA's office held the case
2326
1 for an individual who was incarcerated, they
2 waited until he got out -- and quite frankly
3 foreclosed the opportunity of maybe a concurrent
4 sentence, so that was considered as well. But it
5 was reversed and remanded for a new trial. It
6 wasn't dismissed. So that reliance on Singer is
7 misplaced.
8 Yet Judge Wilson's decision in Regan
9 said because the prosecution pretrial -- he was
10 never in custody. He was accused, yes, but there
11 were no charges filed -- because of a 48-month
12 delay in the prosecution of a rape in the first
13 degree, the case is dismissed and thrown out.
14 So that result I think is egregious.
15 I think it's a misapplication of the law. But
16 there's a more important story to be told about
17 the type of justice we're talking about. Again,
18 remarkably intelligent man, I get it. But he
19 found a time constraint that he imposed after a
20 trial conviction on the prosecutors that doesn't
21 exist, does not exist in law.
22 And when you look through that
23 Singer case, they refer to a bunch of -- they
24 call it pre-indictment or post-indictment, really
25 pre-charge versus post-charge time constraints.
2327
1 And in that case they refer to a bunch of
2 United States Supreme Court cases and say they
3 have recognized that to a very, very limited
4 extent that that may, on occasion, apply. But
5 when you weigh those five Taranovich factors,
6 giving them all equal weight, there are at least
7 three of them in favor of the prosecution.
8 This was a divided court. Madeline
9 Singas, who dedicated her -- essentially her
10 entire adult life to being a prosecutor had a
11 very scathing dissenting opinion.
12 So the point of it is in a serious
13 rape-in-the-first-degree case such as this, he's
14 willing to toss it and create new law, be an
15 activist judge creating law where there is none.
16 He can run for Senate and make all the laws that
17 he would like. But you cannot do that from the
18 bench.
19 And if you're doing it in a rape
20 case, what do we expect from this judge on a
21 civil case? To just throw the baby out with the
22 bathwater and he will be the new creator of the
23 law in this state however he sees fit.
24 And so it really doesn't have to do
25 with ideology, it has to do with doing your job
2328
1 and a dereliction of duty when you go outside of
2 the scope of your authority. We have a
3 Legislature, we have a distinct separation of
4 powers. And some of that I think it's lost in
5 the intellectual exercises of writing decisions.
6 Because I actually pointed out and
7 one of our colleagues just referenced that I
8 pointed out a footnote in a case. It was a case
9 to confine a pedophile, a convicted pedophile who
10 had a long history of attempted rape -- rape,
11 sexual misconduct, sexual harassment, and he was
12 abusing his preteen stepdaughters who were under
13 his charge for a period of years. That
14 individual was held under Article 10 of the
15 Mental Hygiene Law. It was -- Floyd was his
16 first name. And that's the matter of State of
17 New York against Floyd Y.
18 And Justice Wilson dissented and
19 said he should have been released. And I get it.
20 And again, notwithstanding that position that I
21 disagree with, they heard that he said that he
22 had sexual desires towards his preteen
23 12-year-old -- preteen stepdaughter and acted
24 upon it, and I get what I want -- he said, "I
25 want what I want when I want it."
2329
1 Now, egregious facts. I get it.
2 But what I brought up at the hearing was a
3 footnote where Judge Wilson had referenced pop
4 culture and opera, some other songs, and said
5 sometimes athletes use this language. In the
6 decision: "Fourth, his 'I want what I want when
7 I want it' statement was made more than a decade
8 ago. Doubtless countless celebrities, investment
9 bankers, sports stars, politicians and perhaps
10 even lawyers and psychiatrists have felt the same
11 way." Footnote 5: "Although not admirable, such
12 sentiments are regrettably mainstream enough to
13 fail as evidence of a mental abnormality causing
14 a lack of control." Because that was part of the
15 standard that this person could not control their
16 desires toward children.
17 But we all know what Floyd meant
18 when he said "I want what I want when I want it."
19 That was to molest his stepchildren. However, in
20 a footnote there are a number of other references
21 'I want what I want when I want it' also happens
22 to be the title of a song opening the second act
23 of an operetta Mademoiselle Modiste." Further,
24 quoting Paul McCartney and John Lennon, "I want
25 you, I want you so bad it's driving me mad, it's
2330
1 driving me mad." And again, Mick Ralphs, "Can't
2 Get Enough of Your Love," 1974: "Well, I take
3 whatever I want, and baby, I want you." Isaac
4 Hayes, "I take what I want, I'm a bad go-getter,
5 yeah, yes, I am. I'm never a loser and I'm never
6 a quitter yet, oh, no. 'Cause I take what I want,
7 baby, I want you, yeah, you." And lastly, a
8 quote from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
9 So again, I'm not trying to
10 embarrass the judge on this, but that is so
11 insensitive and degrading to that victim.
12 Because those victims were adults when this
13 decision came down. And they were waiting and
14 reading this decision with bated breath to see if
15 Floyd was going to be released from civil
16 confinement.
17 So my point is that on serious cases
18 like this, it's a little too glib for me. The
19 fact that we are creating new laws, an activist
20 judge is acting in a way that I think is contrary
21 to common sense and the law in the Regan case,
22 throwing out a rape case last month -- I'm very,
23 very concerned.
24 Outside of that, Judge Wilson had
25 some limited administrative experience, but I
2331
1 don't think, quite frankly, nearly the experience
2 that the candidate we spoke to today has.
3 So I will be a no on Judge Wilson's
4 confirmation, and I urge my colleagues to be
5 the -- to do the same.
6 Thank you.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Senator
8 Mayer on the nomination.
9 SENATOR MAYER: Thank you,
10 Mr. President.
11 I rise with great pride to support
12 the nomination of Judge Wilson as the Chief Judge
13 of the Court of Appeals. I couldn't feel better
14 about the nomination. I'm thankful for the
15 Governor's nomination, and I was pleased to sit
16 in the hearing and hear your thoughtful,
17 down-to-earth and yet brilliant responses to the
18 array of questions you faced.
19 I don't think we can ignore the
20 moment we are at in this country where people
21 realize that judges are capable of making
22 decisions that influence the lives of ordinary
23 people.
24 Tomorrow the United States
25 Supreme Court is going to decide whether to lift
2332
1 the stay on the distribution of medication that
2 millions of American women depend on. Talk about
3 legislating from the bench.
4 My colleagues have it wrong. Their
5 judges are taking away the rights of millions of
6 American women and using the law as a defense for
7 their own partisan decisions and agenda.
8 That's not what Judge Wilson did,
9 and that's not who Judge Wilson is. His record
10 demonstrates a penchant for independent thinking
11 and a commitment to the rights of all
12 New Yorkers, including those who are most
13 vulnerable.
14 I believe he's the right person to
15 lead our court forward, and I'm so pleased to see
16 his colleagues are here to support him as well.
17 I've also been clear that we need a
18 Chief Judge who will prioritize the work of
19 making our court system work better for all
20 New Yorkers, especially those without attorneys.
21 Again, most New Yorkers encounter our court
22 system without lawyers when they go to contest a
23 parking ticket, have a Family Court matter, or
24 are facing investigation proceedings. They're
25 faced with the daunting task of navigating the
2333
1 system without a guide.
2 Judge Wilson understands this
3 challenge that he will face as Chief Judge, and
4 he has made clear that he is committed to
5 changing our court system and improving how it
6 works for all litigants, including those without
7 lawyers.
8 Again, I'm so pleased to support
9 your nomination. I look forward to your
10 leadership. I'm very convinced you are the Chief
11 Judge we need at this moment in time, and I
12 proudly vote aye.
13 ACTING PRESIDENT PERSAUD:
14 Senator Bailey on the nomination.
15 SENATOR BAILEY: Thank you,
16 Madam President.
17 "The Art of Cherry Picking" should
18 be a novel that is written by some of my
19 colleagues on that other side of the aisle. I
20 wonder if the same energy happened when an
21 activist Supreme Court decided to overturn
22 something called Roe vs. Wade.
23 But that is not the point of today.
24 The point of today is not to cast aspersions or
25 insults or speak about decisions or cherry pick
2334
1 decisions, as it were, Madam President. The
2 point of today is to salute the accomplishments
3 of an eminently qualified man that is on the
4 verge of becoming our Chief Judge.
5 And it's not just about him being
6 the first Black Chief Judge in the history of
7 this great state. It's not just about that. It
8 is a critically important moment, but it is about
9 his keen intellect, his responses -- that he was
10 sitting there yesterday being bombarded with
11 questions that ranged from asinine to asinine,
12 and he was able to respond from asinine to
13 asinine without -- with recall (snapping fingers)
14 like that.
15 That is the person that we need in
16 charge of our state's highest court. That is the
17 person that you should want in our state's
18 highest court.
19 But it's not just about his
20 responses yesterday. It's not just about his
21 responses six years ago. It's not just about his
22 career in private practice, being the first Black
23 partner, dedicating his life to the Harlem
24 Neighborhood Defender Service. It's not just
25 about those things.
2335
1 It's not just about when I saw Judge
2 Wilson at the Judicial Friends Gala and he asked
3 me, without contact, saying, Senator, what can we
4 do about visiting more prisons, about seeing the
5 incarcerated, about how things are really
6 happening? I didn't prompt that. He prompted
7 it.
8 If you understand someone that
9 understands the downtrodden, that understands
10 that the law is the law, but how you interpret
11 the law is predicated upon context. It's
12 predicated upon life experience, Madam President.
13 Life experience. We all don't experience the
14 same things.
15 I have referenced Baldwin before:
16 To be Black in America is to be in a constant
17 state of rage. But it's not rage, it's joy
18 today. In the church they say "Joy come in the
19 morning." And joy has come in the afternoon,
20 Madam President.
21 It is so refreshing for a young
22 Black lawyer -- who, when you first went to
23 observe arraignments, was mistaken as a
24 defendant -- to see a Black man as Chief Judge?
25 That's something else, Madam President. That's
2336
1 something else.
2 To witness Judge Wilson at events,
3 to see him in the public, he is one of the most
4 unassuming, kind individuals that you can see.
5 No airs upon him at all, Madam President.
6 Someone who walks amongst us because he is one of
7 us.
8 If you see soon-to-be Chief Judge
9 Wilson at an event, unless you know what he looks
10 like, he's not walking around "I am the judge."
11 As a matter of fact, he introduces himself: "Hi,
12 I'm Rowan." A title does not define you. It is
13 what you do with your title that will define you,
14 Madam President.
15 I want to take you back to six years
16 ago, February 6, 2017, his initial unanimous
17 confirmation under a different majority.
18 Unanimous confirmation under a different
19 majority, Madam President.
20 Judge Wilson said a couple of things
21 that have never left me. He was asked a question
22 about housing and the importance of housing and
23 he talked about how important it was to make sure
24 that pro se litigants were given a fair
25 opportunity. And he thought for a second about
2337
1 weighing the difficulties between housing and
2 family. And if he had to go without one and go
3 with another, unequivocally he would go with
4 family.
5 That's the kind of person that you
6 want as your Chief Judge. It's the person that
7 you need as your Chief Judge.
8 And lastly, Madam President, when I
9 asked him what were his extracurricular
10 activities, he responded: "In addition to the
11 things that you can read about on my resume --
12 that's fine -- I am in charge of laundry and
13 dishes in my house."
14 Madam President, as the presiding
15 officer of laundry and dishes in my house as
16 well, I can appreciate someone who puts family
17 first. And if Judge Wilson is going to put
18 family first, he's for sure going to put New York
19 first.
20 I proudly support this nomination.
21 I am proud to be standing here today.
22 Congratulations, Judge Wilson.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT PERSAUD: Senator
24 Stec on the nomination.
25 SENATOR STEC: Thank you,
2338
1 Madam President.
2 This is my 11th year in the
3 Legislature, my third in the Senate. I am
4 astounded when I think about how we got to where
5 we are today: When I look over the history of
6 the last several years, the direction that the
7 Legislature has taken in criminal justice. The
8 legislative gymnastics that occurred in January
9 to stack the Judiciary Committee to make sure
10 that the Governor's first chief justice
11 appointment -- who would have also been another
12 first -- was defeated. You had to go to court,
13 and you lost in court.
14 And the doubling down and the
15 defending of your failed criminal justice
16 policies. Polls across the state -- upstate,
17 downstate, Democrat, Republican -- all want a new
18 direction when it comes to criminal justice.
19 Now we're -- the timing of this is
20 interesting, in that we're three weeks late on a
21 budget and the budget is being held up over these
22 criminal justice policies of yours that have
23 failed. We certainly have different ideas of
24 what passes for asinine around here.
25 I represent St. Lawrence County. I
2339
1 don't think it's difficult for a jurist, a
2 Harvard-educated jurist -- any lawyer -- to sit
3 in a room and answer questions about their own
4 past and their profession of study from a bunch
5 of politicians for a couple of hours.
6 I think what must have been really,
7 really challenging, horrific, difficult,
8 unbearable -- I wouldn't want to be in those
9 shoes -- is what happened in August of 2009 in
10 St. Lawrence County. I'm proud to say I'm not a
11 member of the bar, so I'm not interested in what
12 anyone -- any other member of the bar thinks of
13 me. But I do care what the people of
14 St. Lawrence County and the rest of my district
15 think about what passes for asinine in this
16 chamber.
17 A woman was raped. Her assailant
18 was brought to trial, convicted by a jury of
19 12 people. That went to appeal. The appellate
20 level upheld that conviction. And then last
21 month -- and this is really important. Last
22 month, not six years ago when this attorney was
23 elevated to the Court of Appeals unanimously.
24 I'm talking about what happened 30 days ago when
25 your pick for chief justice decided that they
2340
1 were going to cast a deciding vote and write the
2 opinion that released a convicted rapist back
3 into my community.
4 We are a state of 20 million
5 people -- thousands of attorneys that are
6 qualified to do this job. What kind of message
7 are we sending the women of this state when
8 you're going to elevate somebody that will let a
9 rapist off back onto the streets?
10 That's the best we can come up with?
11 We can do much better. And I will be in the
12 negative.
13 ACTING PRESIDENT PERSAUD: Senator
14 Ryan on the nomination.
15 SENATOR RYAN: Thank you,
16 Madam President.
17 To Governor Hochul, thank you for
18 nominating Judge Wilson.
19 To Senator Hoylman-Sigal, great job
20 running committee meetings. You've been at it a
21 few days now, but really happy with the result.
22 And to Judge Wilson, I was
23 impressed, you know, by your writings before I
24 met you. And I read over some of your cases.
25 And I have to say I was more impressed when we
2341
1 sat in the conference room and you answered
2 question after question. You have a keen
3 intellect, a memory that is quite -- quite
4 shocking. You seem to have a command of every
5 decision you wrote, and then decisions that you
6 didn't write. But you understood how the law
7 interacts with society, the impact of the
8 decisions that are made in courts.
9 There's two sides to the job of
10 being a Chief Judge. One's the jurisprudence
11 part -- Appellate Division, Court of Appeals.
12 And, you know, that's just one part. But the
13 second part is, you know, the administrating of a
14 large and sprawling judiciary system.
15 And as one of my colleagues
16 mentioned before, there is the high law that
17 takes place in the Court of Appeals and the
18 Appellate Division, but then there is where sort
19 of people interact with the judiciary system.
20 That's in city courts and housing courts and
21 family courts.
22 And you expressed an understanding
23 of the gravity of what goes on in those courts.
24 You've been to visit diversion courts. You've
25 been to visit other courts in the New York State
2342
1 system. So I'm confident that you have a command
2 of understanding the jurisprudence part of the
3 job, but also the part of the job of how hundreds
4 of thousands of New Yorkers interact with various
5 parts of the court system, day in and day out, to
6 settle civil and criminal disputes.
7 So I'm happy with your nomination.
8 I'm confident that you have the skills necessary
9 to handle both parts of those jobs. I look
10 forward to watching your career as a Chief Judge,
11 and I will proudly support your nomination.
12 And I wish you congratulations to
13 you and to your family, Judge Wilson.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Senator
15 Murray on the nomination.
16 SENATOR MURRAY: Thank you,
17 Mr. President.
18 So I heard another speaker use the
19 term "cherry picking." And I was amazed to hear
20 that when describing this process, considering it
21 was just a couple of weeks ago we were sitting in
22 this very chamber with an extremely qualified
23 judge who went through the same process and had
24 hundreds if not over a thousand decisions on his
25 record, and they cherry-picked a couple that they
2343
1 felt were questionable to then vote him down.
2 Another, by the way, historic nomination, in the
3 first Hispanic nominated as chief justice to the
4 appellate court.
5 So here we are today -- so I just
6 found that ironic. But here we are today, three
7 weeks late on a budget, and the major hang-up, as
8 has been widely reported, is bail reform. And
9 the question is in the sticking point -- the big
10 sticking point is the Governor's desire to allow
11 judges to consider the dangerousness of the
12 crimes when setting bail, and consider the safety
13 of the public.
14 And it's no secret that the Majority
15 leadership and many members on the other side of
16 the aisle were adamantly opposed to this
17 happening. I mean, how dare these judges
18 consider the dangerousness of the crime and
19 consider the safety of the public when trying to
20 set bail.
21 So I guess while it's extremely
22 disappointing, it's not surprising that we're
23 voting on a judge that, as has been mentioned,
24 just last month made the decision to free a
25 convicted -- not accused, a convicted rapist.
2344
1 Convicted by a jury of his peers.
2 And that sent a clear message and a
3 frightening message to crime victims all across
4 this state that he perfectly fits the bill of
5 what some Majority members have been very public
6 in saying that they wanted in a chief judge, and
7 that is an advocate for the accused.
8 So I've heard other members
9 congratulate this judge today. That's your
10 message to him. My message is to crime victims
11 all across this state, and I say my condolences
12 to you.
13 I will be voting no.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Senator
15 Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick on the nomination.
16 SENATOR CANZONERI-FITZPATRICK:
17 Thank you, Mr. President.
18 Over the past two days during our
19 Judiciary meetings we have talked extensively
20 about the separation of powers between our
21 judicial branch and the legislative branch.
22 We've talked about respect for stare decisis and
23 precedent. And we've talked about the role of
24 the Judiciary to apply the law as it exists out
25 of the Legislature.
2345
1 We've also talked about the role of
2 the Chief Judge to build consensus and to
3 collaborate with their colleagues.
4 I do not believe that Judge Wilson
5 is the right choice for this role. He's written
6 over a hundred dissents, and he openly stated
7 that he likely would never disagree with his
8 colleague Justice Madeline Singas. And one of
9 the decisions that you've heard about today,
10 People vs. Regan, is incredibly telling about
11 Justice Wilson's decision-making regarding
12 choices before him.
13 Madeline Singas was a -- Justice
14 Singas had 24 years experience in the DA's office
15 and wrote a blistering dissent disagreeing with
16 Judge Wilson's decision because -- she stated
17 very clearly that this decision was a stunning
18 nullification of a jury's first-degree rape
19 conviction and the reinforcement of the bleak
20 history of the treatment of sexual assault
21 victims.
22 In her dissent she went through the
23 history, and it was stunning to read that sexual
24 assault victims, alone, their word is not taken;
25 there must be corroborating evidence. This was a
2346
1 case that there was -- there was DNA evidence
2 that tied this defendant to this crime. And I
3 think that Justice Singas, who is steeped in
4 criminal law experience, should have been given
5 more deference and should have been respected
6 more in this process.
7 Justice Wilson wrote that societal
8 interests have to be considered and that they
9 might outweigh the victim's rights. Yet when I
10 asked him what specific societal interests were
11 served by this decision, he could not give me a
12 good answer.
13 The reality is that he made new law.
14 The law as it states did not require a dismissal
15 of this conviction. But he decided that that's
16 what should happen in this case. He went outside
17 the bounds of law. And it will have a stunning
18 effect to deter future rape victims from coming
19 forward.
20 I find this so troubling and so
21 impactful that I cannot vote for this candidate
22 in good conscience, because the judiciary's role
23 is to apply the law and not broaden it.
24 So for that reason I will be voting
25 no. Thank you.
2347
1 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Senator
2 Stavisky on the nomination.
3 SENATOR STAVISKY: Thank you,
4 Mr. President.
5 As a member of the Judiciary
6 Committee, I am not an attorney, but I sat
7 through the three-hour hearing yesterday and
8 found it quite, quite interesting. By
9 background, I was a high school history teacher.
10 But the -- I fail to understand the
11 connection between the fact that we are coming
12 very close on a budget and this nomination today.
13 Secondly, it seems to me that the
14 People v. Regan case is a tragedy. There's a
15 victim out there because the district attorney in
16 St. Lawrence County failed to provide the DNA
17 request for three or four years.
18 In contrast, we have a supremely
19 prepared attorney -- private practice with a
20 large firm -- and I think he's going to take this
21 Court of Appeals, understanding the precedent --
22 we spent a lot of time listening to testimony
23 today on precedent. And yes, obviously that's
24 important. But we would not have other landmark
25 cases if we didn't expand upon precedent.
2348
1 I congratulate Judge Wilson, and I
2 look forward to his confirmation.
3 Thank you, Mr. President.
4 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Senator
5 Tedisco -- Senator Gianaris, excuse me.
6 SENATOR GIANARIS: Mr. President,
7 before we hear from Senator Tedisco, let me just
8 remind my colleagues each side has 30 minutes to
9 discuss nominations, and there's a little less
10 than 10 minutes remaining for each side. So for
11 the remaining members, I don't want to have to
12 cut them off, so I just wanted to make them
13 mindful of the time constraints.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Thank
15 you, Senator Gianaris. Mindful of time.
16 Senator Tedisco.
17 SENATOR TEDISCO: Thank you,
18 Mr. President.
19 Mr. President and my colleagues, I
20 think anybody -- I know I'm shocked. But I think
21 anybody who's listening or watching, from the
22 media to the 19.5 million people who we
23 represent, would be shocked to hear some of the
24 things that were said on that side of the aisle.
25 Not that they're not true. They would be shocked
2349
1 that you said them on this floor and admitted to
2 them. And I'm glad they're in the record today.
3 We heard early on that we need a
4 philosopher as a judge, as the chief judge of the
5 Court of Appeals, highest court. We need a
6 philosopher. We don't need a philosopher as a
7 judge in this state or anywhere else, on a local
8 level or on a federal level. We need a judge
9 that is learned of the laws we make, a separate
10 branch of government, the intent of those laws,
11 and asked to protect the freedoms and liberties
12 embedded in this state but, more importantly, the
13 greatest Constitution, the greatest document in
14 the world, the Constitution of the United States
15 of America. Which embodies all those freedoms
16 and liberties.
17 We don't need a judge that makes
18 amendments to the laws we make, which we could
19 make if we wanted to, as an activist. I'm
20 shocked that on the record we think we need a
21 philosopher as our chief judge.
22 Then I heard the other side say we
23 don't do everything all the time neat and clean.
24 You're right. That's on the record too. And I
25 appreciate the majority leader putting that on
2350
1 the record. You don't do things neat and clean.
2 But what you said is: I don't do
3 them neat and clean, but it's the outcome that
4 matters. That's basically the ends justifying
5 the means. That's never a reason to take means
6 to do something. The ends should never justify
7 the means.
8 Now, I'm not surprised about the
9 fact that that's the truth. I'm surprised your
10 majority leader said it on the floor. You don't
11 use things in a neat and clean manner to get
12 things done. The reason why I'm not shocked is
13 because I saw the redistricting last year. And
14 that's what this is all about. You know that, I
15 know that, the media knows that, and the public
16 should understand that.
17 You're trying to get an activist
18 judge to roughshod the rest of the courts to turn
19 over the unconstitutional redistricting that
20 you're saying took place with the
21 unconstitutional district -- redistricting that
22 you put in place to begin with.
23 What they told you, the highest
24 court, was that basically it wasn't even a
25 redistricting, it was a savage attack on our
2351
1 representative democracy. They were right.
2 Now you want to use the not so neat
3 and clean process by appointing an activist judge
4 to go back, maybe try to get in Congress -- I
5 don't know what else you're trying to do. But
6 that's not the way we get things done. And you
7 know what you're doing when you don't use those
8 neat and clean processes to get things done? You
9 get 30 percent of the people in New York State
10 saying in five years they're going to walk out of
11 this state. That's what you get, 30 percent.
12 You know, you can go "But we got
13 70." You know, three out of 10 people want to
14 leave the State of New York and you think your
15 agenda is working?
16 You've had control the last four
17 years. In 48 years, in the past 48 years, you're
18 the first political party who controlled all
19 levers of power. You've got a supermajority
20 here, you've got a supermajority in the Assembly.
21 Schumer -- when Spitzer was here, you had it for
22 a little bit, then they had that consolidation.
23 But consistently, you haven't been able to pass
24 an on-time budget.
25 Now, you never said when -- give us
2352
1 full control and we'll pass a good late budget.
2 You said you'd have an on-time budget, you said
3 you'd incentivize people to stay here and live
4 here. They're leaving in droves. We're number
5 one in outmigration. We're one of seven states
6 that lost another representative. Thirty percent
7 say they want to leave this state. We're behind
8 Florida in population now. We were one of two or
9 two to create jobs and economic development.
10 When enough people leave this state
11 that can afford to leave the state -- and I've
12 said this before, U-Haul's doing pretty good in
13 this state right now, one of the businesses.
14 When middle-class and lower incomes are the only
15 people left, when you pass a 226, $230 billion
16 budget, how are you going to pay for
17 infrastructure, education, healthcare, daycare,
18 libraries? It's not going to be possible. It's
19 not sustainable.
20 It's not I love New York anymore,
21 it's I leave New York. And if you continue to do
22 not so neat and clean things to get things done,
23 that's going to continue to happen. Because the
24 end never justifies the means.
25 And that's the statements we heard
2353
1 on the floor today. And that's why I'm voting no
2 on this particular candidate.
3 Thank you, Mr. President.
4 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Senator
5 Gianaris.
6 SENATOR GIANARIS: Mr. President, I
7 don't have the time to correct all the gross
8 misstatements that we just heard. But as a point
9 of order, I am the deputy majority leader, not
10 the majority leader. The Majority Leader is
11 Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who is the first woman to
12 ever lead a legislative body, something that
13 never happened all those glorious years when you
14 were in charge.
15 Thank you, Mr. President.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Thank
17 you, Senator Gianaris.
18 I want to remind our colleagues on
19 the other side of the aisle that there are
20 approximately five minutes remaining for this for
21 the party -- point of order, please.
22 I just want to remind individuals
23 there are approximately five minutes remaining
24 for your side to continue the conversations.
25 With that being said, Senator
2354
1 Borrello on the nomination.
2 SENATOR BORRELLO: Thank you,
3 Mr. President. You know, some people would say
4 that manufacturing is dead in New York State, but
5 not so with Rowan Wilson. He's been able to
6 manufacture a lot of things in his time as a
7 judge. He's manufactured rights that don't
8 exist, he's manufactured laws that don't exist.
9 He's basically treated our constitution and our
10 laws as an Etch-a-Sketch that he can shake up and
11 start over again.
12 That's what we heard in the release
13 of a rapist. He created, he manufactured a right
14 that didn't exist, and then was told that he was
15 in fact in violation of that right and that's why
16 he was released.
17 He wanted to release an elephant.
18 Now, I'm a big fan of animal rights, but he
19 wanted to give this elephant human rights. An
20 elephant that spent 40 years living quite
21 comfortably in a zoo. He wanted to apply the
22 human right of him being able to be released.
23 Now, I can't imagine what would
24 happen to an elephant that's lived 40 years in a
25 zoo being released into the wild. It would have
2355
1 been a disaster. And he wrote a 74-page opinion
2 as to why an elephant has human rights. That's
3 no exaggeration. That's an issue, I think.
4 We need prudent jurists that
5 actually judge the Constitution and the law, not
6 based on whatever the progressives like or the
7 liberals like or the special interests like.
8 That's not the role of the judiciary. The role
9 of the judiciary is to judge the law and the
10 Constitution.
11 This is not who is going to take the
12 role of chief judge today. It's very concerning
13 to me. It should be concerning to all of us.
14 And I'll be voting no. Thank you.
15 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: To my
16 colleagues on this side of the aisle, we have
17 approximately seven minutes.
18 Senator Breslin.
19 SENATOR BRESLIN: Thank you,
20 Mr. Chairman.
21 I've been hearing all about moving
22 to Florida, I've been hearing all about reforms
23 in criminal justice -- everything but focusing on
24 this candidate.
25 As many of you know, I'm the
2356
1 longest-serving member of the Judiciary
2 Committee. And in my 25 years I have not seen
3 someone with the integrity, the intelligence, the
4 work ethic, the ability to communicate as we all
5 would want judges to be. A very, very special
6 citizen and jurist.
7 He came before us, we asked every
8 question imaginable for almost four hours. He
9 did not have a stack of cases, as many judges
10 have. He had his intellect. He had his honesty.
11 And he answered questions.
12 And I was compelled to believe,
13 after reading about this case, that he did the
14 right thing. I know the other side doesn't like
15 that. But we have a process to follow in
16 criminal justice, and that process leads to not
17 acceptable outcomes at times.
18 But the ones that set the proper
19 precedents, the DAs and people on the prosecution
20 side have an obligation, an obligation to do
21 things right and properly. That didn't -- that
22 didn't happen here. And you don't want to set an
23 example at times to say to other prosecutors,
24 it's okay, take a few years, it's a rape case, no
25 one cares about that. Take another year. Those
2357
1 are the cases that would multiply if this judge
2 didn't make the proper decision.
3 And all decisions judges make,
4 they're not acceptable by all. They -- people
5 reach out and say, I can twist this a little.
6 And as I stand here, and for those people in the
7 room, I believe they know how qualified this
8 judge is. And they know how different he is than
9 the great majority of judges we've approved in
10 this room for many years.
11 And as I started with, this judge is
12 special. This judge will make a reputation as
13 the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals and turn
14 that Court of Appeals into a body -- it has very
15 talented judges there already. He will turn it
16 into what it was in the past, after the Supreme
17 Court -- and sometimes, people felt, ahead of the
18 Supreme Court -- the finest court in the
19 United States.
20 And I very willingly vote in favor
21 of the judge.
22 Thank you, Mr. President.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Thank
24 you.
25 Senator Rhoads on the nomination.
2358
1 SENATOR RHOADS: Thank you,
2 Mr. President. I know our time is limited.
3 Courts are supposed to be the final
4 guardians against tyranny -- the final guardians,
5 really, against tyranny of the majority. And
6 what we've seen since January is really the
7 process of selecting our judges, and particularly
8 our chief judge, manipulated to become an arm of
9 the tyranny of the majority.
10 With Hector LaSalle we had someone
11 who was nominated to become the chief judge,
12 someone who actually has administrative
13 experience as the presiding judge of the busiest
14 judicial department in the State of New York.
15 And my colleagues on the other side of the aisle
16 cherry-picked a handful of decisions out of
17 thousands to argue that somehow he was
18 unqualified.
19 And the reason that we're bringing
20 up cases like Regan is because it's a part of an
21 overarching theme which seems to take place with
22 the majority that we want judges not who are
23 going to be fair and impartial, but we want
24 judges who are going to see the world the way we
25 want it to be seen.
2359
1 And when we talk about courts being
2 the final guardians against tyranny of the
3 majority, that's exactly what we want to make
4 sure that we fight against. We want judges who
5 are not going to not advocate for anything. We
6 want judges who are going to look at the facts,
7 who are going to look at the law, and who are
8 going to interpret the law the way it was
9 intended to be interpreted.
10 And the reason that we're raising
11 the Regan case is because it's the perfect
12 example of legislating from the bench. This
13 Legislature decided, back in 2006, that we were
14 not going to have a statute of limitations on
15 rape. And yet after the Regan decision, we now
16 have a statute of limitations on rape. It's four
17 years.
18 The judge didn't have to make the
19 decision that he made. There were five factors
20 that the court could have considered. He could
21 have sent a message to prosecutors by simply
22 putting in his decision to prosecutors, We
23 weren't happy about what the district attorney's
24 office did in this particular instance.
25 That's not what happened. That rape
2360
1 case, for example, could have been brought today.
2 If the victim came forward today and made her
3 allegation and there was a prompt prosecution,
4 that person could be convicted and sentenced to
5 jail today, even from 2009.
6 But as a result of this decision, as
7 a result of the decision in the Regan case, now
8 the law has changed. And it wasn't the
9 Legislature that did it, it was the courts that
10 did it.
11 And the reason that I'm voting
12 against Justice Wilson has nothing to do with his
13 background, it has nothing to do with his
14 experience, it has to do with his philosophy --
15 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Senator
16 Rhoads, your time is beginning to lapse. Please
17 conclude your statements, please.
18 SENATOR RHOADS: Yes, thank you. I
19 appreciate it, Mr. President.
20 -- his philosophy of expanding the
21 strike zone.
22 And when we have a Legislature which
23 for the last four years has concentrated its
24 efforts on making people, residents of the State
25 of New York, less safe, I can't have a chief
2361
1 judge doing the same thing.
2 So I'll be voting no.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Thank
4 you.
5 Senator Ramos on the nomination.
6 SENATOR RAMOS: Thank you,
7 Mr. President.
8 I wasn't really planning on speaking
9 today, but today I rise as a survivor of rape.
10 It's not something that I've talked about
11 publicly before, and it's not something that is
12 easy for me to talk about. But I felt it very
13 important to share in light of so many remarks
14 that I'm hearing from across the aisle. Such a
15 false sense of outrage from so many of you when
16 you've had the opportunity to actually make
17 lasting policy change in this body to help
18 victims.
19 I want to let you know that you
20 don't speak for me, and you don't speak for many
21 people who have been raped. Perhaps most of you
22 don't know what it's like to be pinned down by
23 someone who supposedly loves you and to be taken
24 advantage of in that way.
25 You see, I want my rapist to see
2362
1 justice. But due process is justice. And it's
2 very important that we respect the procedures
3 that we've actually outlined in our constitution
4 and that we respect everybody's individual right
5 to due process, to be heard, and to be seen by
6 the court fairly.
7 I can't believe that you guys use
8 this political theater. I understand that you're
9 in the Minority. I understand that getting these
10 clips so that you can post them on social media
11 is very important for your constituents to see.
12 But what a false sense of outrage when you
13 actually don't help us enact any actual change.
14 It's a joke. And deeply offensive to me
15 personally.
16 Judge Wilson, I know you will do us
17 proud. I tried to ask you some hard questions
18 myself. I've been so impressed with your body of
19 writing. You know, I haven't voted for many
20 judges here on the floor, even predating my being
21 a member on the Committee of the Judiciary. But
22 having written more than 150 decisions, more than
23 any that I've -- more than any judge that I've
24 seen here, I've greatly appreciated, as a
25 non-attorney, being able to understand in very
2363
1 layman's terms exactly what it is that you mean
2 to convey when you are considering the future of
3 the defendant.
4 So I want to thank you for setting
5 that as an example of work for many future
6 jurists, and certainly for jurists of color who
7 will surely follow in your footsteps to the Court
8 of Appeals.
9 So thank you, everyone. And I will
10 be voting aye for Judge Wilson. Thank you.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Thank
12 you, Senator Ramos.
13 Senator Krueger on the nomination.
14 SENATOR KRUEGER: I'm not sure I
15 want to follow Senator Ramos. Thank you for
16 standing up for so many women today.
17 So this is political theater on this
18 floor today. We all know this. But I urge
19 people who are really trying to follow this
20 question and understand why I proudly vote for
21 Senator -- excuse me, Senator? -- for
22 Judge Wilson to be the Chief Judge of the State
23 of New York, is, as you've heard, we believe this
24 is one of the most important votes we can take,
25 one of the most important decisions we can make
2364
1 on behalf of the people of New York.
2 And if the people of New York want
3 to see and understand why we are making the
4 decision to vote for Judge Wilson, I urge them to
5 turn on the tape online of the three hours of
6 questioning that he went through yesterday by the
7 Judiciary Committee, to look at some of those
8 decisions. And I have no question, people will
9 see exactly who he is -- an extraordinarily,
10 extraordinarily qualified attorney to lead this
11 state's judicial system. And it needs his help.
12 And he will do us so proud, as you
13 have already heard today. And no one needs to
14 turn on the clips of right now. They should turn
15 on yesterday's three hours and hear the answers
16 he gave to the people of New York, because nobody
17 could have done it better.
18 So I'm very proud to stand here and
19 say I vote for this judge.
20 Thank you.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Majority
22 Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins to close on the
23 nomination.
24 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: Thank you
25 so much, Mr. President.
2365
1 And I do want to thank
2 Governor Hochul for putting forward this nominee.
3 And I also want to thank
4 Senator Hoylman and our Judiciary -- I'm sorry,
5 how did I do that to you -- Senator Hoylman-Sigal
6 and the members of our Judiciary Committee for
7 advancing this nomination.
8 I'm happy to be here today for this
9 historic moment in New York State. I love
10 serving the people of New York, and in this
11 chamber I certainly love celebrating firsts.
12 Because, quite frankly, we've broken many, many
13 barriers. And once again, we're shattering
14 another barrier.
15 However, I am disappointed in the
16 tone and the tenor from some of my colleagues on
17 the other side of the aisle. This chamber is
18 better than this.
19 But I'm going to go back to the good
20 news. We're officially confirming the first
21 Black judge to serve the State of New York as the
22 Chief Judge of the Appeals Court. Judge Rowan
23 Wilson has spent decades as a practitioner of
24 law, and he's spent six of those years as a judge
25 on the New York State Court of Appeals.
2366
1 During that time -- and I think he
2 very, very clearly demonstrated during the more
3 than three hour hearing yesterday, he has carried
4 himself with grace and poise. And in that
5 hearing it was amazing how his patience was on
6 display constantly, his intellect on display
7 constantly. I heard over and over again that no
8 matter what was asked, not a note was referred
9 to. Because it lives in your head and it lives
10 in what you do, and you knew exactly what the
11 response was in every case, in every point that
12 was made. It was amazingly impressive.
13 Judge Wilson, as we've heard, is a
14 prolific writer. And whether you agree with his
15 rulings or not, he has consistently, again,
16 demonstrated that he wants you to understand
17 exactly what the law dictates and how he has
18 concluded what his ruling would be.
19 It's so important -- we talk about
20 transparency; we talk about people feeling
21 disconnected from the legal process. To have
22 someone that's prolific and able to defend,
23 whatever the position, so that everyone
24 understands, will be incredibly important for
25 uplifting not only the understanding but the
2367
1 relationship we have with the court.
2 Judge Wilson will bring honor to our
3 court and will help lead our court, yes, in a new
4 direction that will stand up for all New Yorkers.
5 Now more than ever, the role the judiciary plays
6 is crucial in securing our most basic freedoms.
7 In the past year we've seen antidemocratic seeds
8 planted at the state level that have grown all
9 the way up to the Supreme Court. We've witnessed
10 barbaric attacks on settled law, the evisceration
11 of Roe v. Wade, rollbacks to reproductive
12 healthcare, criminalization of basic voting
13 rights, proliferation of guns through our
14 country. These regressive attacks would not have
15 been possible without judges tipping the scale.
16 New York must lead the way against
17 radical rulings and reversals.
18 We look forward to working with you,
19 judge, to safeguard the progress that we've made
20 in New York while at the same time elevating the
21 important role that state courts play in our
22 nation.
23 I'm very, very proud to stand in
24 support of your nomination and to congratulate
25 you as the Chief Judge Rowan Wilson for your
2368
1 historic role, your historic confirmation today.
2 I wish you and your colleagues the very best in
3 making sure that New York is the very best.
4 Thank you so much. I vote aye.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Thank
6 you, Madam Leader.
7 The question is on the historic
8 nomination. Call the roll.
9 (The Secretary called the roll.)
10 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Announce
11 the results.
12 THE SECRETARY: In relation to the
13 nomination of Rowan D. Wilson as Chief Justice of
14 the Court of Appeals, those Senators voting in
15 the negative are Senators Ashby, Borrello,
16 Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick, Griffo, Helming, Lanza,
17 Martins, Mattera, Murray, Oberacker, Ortt,
18 Palumbo, Rhoads, Rolison, Stec, Tedisco, Walczyk,
19 Weber and Weik.
20 Ayes, 40. Nays, 19.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: The
22 nominee is confirmed.
23 (Extended standing ovation.)
24 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Senator
25 Gianaris.
2369
1 SENATOR GIANARIS: Thank you,
2 Mr. President. Back to motions and resolutions
3 now.
4 Can we please take up previously
5 adopted Resolution 281, by Senator Kennedy, read
6 its title, and recognize Senator Kennedy.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: The
8 Secretary will read.
9 THE SECRETARY: Senate Resolution
10 281, by Senator Kennedy, congratulating the
11 Lewis J. Bennett/Olmstead/Middle Early
12 College/East High School Varsity Football Team
13 upon the occasion of capturing the 2022 New York
14 State Public High School Athletic Association
15 Football Class AA Championship on December 4,
16 2022.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Senator
18 Kennedy on the resolution.
19 SENATOR KENNEDY: Thank you,
20 Mr. President.
21 I rise today to honor the Lewis J.
22 Bennett/Olmstead/Middle Early College/East High
23 School Varsity Football Team and cheerleaders,
24 the Bennett High Tigers.
25 These student-athletes are to be
2370
1 celebrated for so many reasons. I'll start with
2 the reason they visited the Capitol earlier
3 today. They clinched the 2022 New York State
4 Public High School Football Class AA Championship
5 this past December.
6 I was thrilled to welcome them to
7 Albany today, not only to recognize this
8 outstanding athletic achievement, but to applaud
9 the talent and hard work that was put in, day in
10 and day out, to get these young athletes to this
11 point.
12 We all know the power of teamwork,
13 something we all try to emulate here at the
14 Capitol -- the idea of working together to
15 accomplish something big. It takes
16 collaboration, it takes drive, and it takes a
17 whole lot of heart. That's something this
18 football team has plenty of. And we saw that on
19 full display on a statewide level back in
20 December.
21 When the No. 6-ranked Tigers
22 defeated No. 9-ranked Newburgh Free Academy in a
23 decisive 42-8 victory to capture their first
24 state championship at the JMA Wireless Dome in
25 Syracuse, they turned the football world upside
2371
1 down, and they made all of Buffalo and Western
2 New York and the great State of New York so
3 proud.
4 We also know that behind every good
5 team is a great coach or, in many cases, coaches.
6 That's certainly the case here. I want to
7 recognize Head Coach Stevenson McDuffie for his
8 leadership in getting his team to this point, as
9 well as Assistant Coaches Patrick Foster, Bob
10 O'Connor, Anthony Scott, Gary Wheeler, Aaron
11 Young, Clifford Scott, Arthur Jordan,
12 D'Juan Todd, Jordan Fayson, and Alex Clemons.
13 I also want to recognize
14 Cheerleading Coach Genah Lasby.
15 The insight and advice they have
16 provided these young men and women, both on and
17 off the field, is changing their lives for the
18 better. I couldn't be more thrilled to celebrate
19 them with my Senate colleagues here earlier
20 today, and I want to thank my dear friend
21 Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes
22 for organizing their visit here to the Capitol
23 today.
24 To the Tigers, well done. May this
25 championship win be the first of many.
2372
1 And with that, Mr. President, I vote
2 aye.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Thank
4 you, Senator Kennedy.
5 The resolution was previously
6 adopted on January 24th.
7 Senator Gianaris.
8 SENATOR GIANARIS: Mr. President, I
9 believe Senator Kennedy would like to open that
10 resolution for cosponsorship.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: The
12 resolution is open for cosponsorship. Should you
13 choose not to be a cosponsor, please notify the
14 desk.
15 Senator Gianaris.
16 SENATOR GIANARIS: Can we please
17 take up the reading of the calendar.
18 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: The
19 Secretary will read.
20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11,
21 Senate Print 612A, by Senator Mayer, an act to
22 amend the Election Law.
23 SENATOR GIANARIS: Lay it aside for
24 the day.
25 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Lay the
2373
1 bill aside for the day.
2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
3 132, Senate Print 280, by Senator Gounardes, an
4 act to amend the Executive Law.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Read the
6 last section.
7 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
8 act shall take effect immediately.
9 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Call the
10 roll.
11 (The Secretary called the roll.)
12 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Senator
13 Griffo to explain his vote.
14 SENATOR GRIFFO: Thank you,
15 Mr. President.
16 As we're voting on this legislation
17 today to honor our State Constitution
18 appropriately, it's been three weeks now that
19 there's been a failure to fulfill our
20 responsibility to vote on a state budget. We're
21 required by our State Constitution to pass a
22 budget for the state's new fiscal year, and the
23 State Finance Law sets April 1st as that deadline
24 for the state's fiscal year.
25 So as we recognize and honor the
2374
1 Constitution, it should be equally as important
2 and significant to respect and to fulfill our
3 constitutional and statutory obligations.
4 I vote aye.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Senator
6 Griffo to be recorded in the affirmative.
7 Announce the results.
8 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
9 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: The bill
10 is passed.
11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
12 303, Senate Print 1794, by Senator Hinchey, an
13 act to amend the Town Law.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: There is
15 a home-rule message at the desk.
16 Read the last section.
17 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
18 act shall take effect immediately.
19 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Call the
20 roll.
21 (The Secretary called the roll.)
22 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Announce
23 the results.
24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
25 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: The bill
2375
1 is passed.
2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
3 363, Senate Print 3261, by Senator Hoylman-Sigal,
4 an act to repeal Section 470 of the
5 Judiciary Law.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Read the
7 last section.
8 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
9 act shall take effect immediately.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Call the
11 roll.
12 (The Secretary called the roll.)
13 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Announce
14 the results.
15 THE SECRETARY: In relation to
16 Calendar Number 363, voting in the negative:
17 Senator Skoufis.
18 Ayes, 58. Nays, 1.
19 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: The bill
20 is passed.
21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
22 425, Senate Print 2988, by Senator Harckham, an
23 act to amend the Public Service Law.
24 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Read the
25 last section.
2376
1 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
2 act shall take effect on the 30th day after it
3 shall have become a law.
4 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Call the
5 roll.
6 (The Secretary called the roll.)
7 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Senator
8 Harckham to explain his vote.
9 SENATOR HARCKHAM: Thank you very
10 much, Mr. President.
11 Vines choking telephone poles. To
12 many, it may just be unsightly as we see them
13 from transit corridors on trains and cars and
14 right of ways. Even more galling, the utilities
15 are required to spend millions in vegetation
16 management, cutting the vegetation back from
17 around the wires, but they never touch the
18 vegetation, the invasive vines on the poles,
19 because they don't own them.
20 Well, it's not just about
21 aesthetics. This is about resiliency. And this
22 is about the reliability of the grid. Because
23 these vines hold water in on the wooden poles and
24 rot them. So that when storms come, the poles
25 are not as strong as they need to be. We've had
2377
1 storms in my district where we've lost over a
2 thousand poles in a weekend. And it takes weeks
3 to rebuild the grid.
4 This is simply about people shirking
5 their responsibility. They're required to
6 inspect these poles every five years. This
7 simply requires the folks who own the poles to
8 maintain the poles every five years.
9 This is a win for resiliency and for
10 reliability of the grid. I vote aye.
11 Thank you, Mr. President.
12 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Senator
13 Harckham to be recorded in the affirmative.
14 Announce the results.
15 THE SECRETARY: In relation to
16 Calendar 425, those Senators voting in the
17 negative are Senators Ashby, Borrello,
18 Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick, Griffo, Helming, Lanza,
19 Martins, Mattera, Murray, Oberacker, Ortt,
20 Palumbo, Rhoads, Rolison, Stec, Tedisco, Walczyk,
21 Weber and Weik.
22 Ayes, 40. Nays, 19.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: The bill
24 is passed.
25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
2378
1 564, Senate Print 2376, by Senator Persaud, an
2 act to amend the Penal Law.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Read the
4 last section.
5 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This
6 act shall take effect on the 90th day after it
7 shall have become a law.
8 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Call the
9 roll.
10 (The Secretary called the roll.)
11 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Announce
12 the results.
13 THE SECRETARY: In relation to
14 Calendar Number 564, voting in the negative:
15 Senator Brisport.
16 Ayes, 58. Nays, 1.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: The bill
18 is passed.
19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
20 566, Senate Print 2832, by Senator Breslin, an
21 act to amend the Penal Law.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Read the
23 last section.
24 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
25 act shall take effect immediately.
2379
1 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Call the
2 roll.
3 (The Secretary called the roll.)
4 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Announce
5 the results.
6 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: The bill
8 is passed.
9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
10 582, Senate Print 722, by Senator Serrano, an act
11 to amend the Parks, Recreation and Historic
12 Preservation Law.
13 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Read the
14 last section.
15 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
16 act shall take effect immediately.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Call the
18 roll.
19 (The Secretary called the roll.)
20 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Announce
21 the results.
22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: The bill
24 is passed.
25 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
2380
1 585, Senate Print 4026, by Senator
2 Scarcella-Spanton, an act to amend the
3 Navigation Law.
4 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Read the
5 last section.
6 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
7 act shall take effect immediately.
8 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Call the
9 roll.
10 (The Secretary called the roll.)
11 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Senator
12 Scarcella-Spanton to explain her vote.
13 SENATOR SCARCELLA-SPANTON: This
14 legislation, which will create an act to amend
15 the Navigation Law in relation to providing an
16 exemption from certain laws for operators of
17 law enforcement and fire department vessels
18 responding for emergencies on the navigable
19 waters of the state, prioritizes first responders
20 traveling via waterways.
21 Our first responders need to be able
22 to get to an emergency as efficiently and swiftly
23 as possible. The fact that our current law does
24 not account for first responders traveling via
25 waterways has been an oversight for far too long.
2381
1 These exemptions already exist in the New York
2 State Vehicle and Traffic Law concerning police
3 and emergency vehicles, and I am glad that this
4 bill will correct the oversight for first
5 responder vessels.
6 Protecting our first responders that
7 command fire and law enforcement vessels should
8 always be a priority, and I am confident that
9 this legislation will prioritize their safety
10 moving forward.
11 I proudly vote aye. Thank you.
12 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: Senator
13 Scarcella-Spanton to be recorded in the
14 affirmative.
15 Announce the results.
16 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: The bill
18 is passed.
19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
20 590, Senate Print 1213B, by --
21 SENATOR LIU: Lay it aside for the
22 day.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: The bill
24 will be laid aside for the day.
25 Senator Liu, that completes the
2382
1 reading of today's calendar.
2 SENATOR LIU: Is there any further
3 business at the desk?
4 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: There is
5 no further business at the desk.
6 SENATOR LIU: I move to adjourn
7 until Wednesday, April 19th, at 3:00 p.m.
8 ACTING PRESIDENT BAILEY: On
9 motion, the Senate stands adjourned until
10 Wednesday, April 19th, at 3:00 p.m.
11 Go New York, Go New York, Go!
12 (Whereupon, at 6:04 p.m., the Senate
13 adjourned.)
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