Regular Session - June 3, 2009
5046
1 NEW YORK STATE SENATE
2
3
4 THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD
5
6
7
8
9 ALBANY, NEW YORK
10 June 3, 2009
11 3:26 p.m.
12
13
14 REGULAR SESSION
15
16
17
18 SENATOR DAVID J. VALESKY, Acting President
19 ANGELO J. APONTE, Secretary
20
21
22
23
24
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1 P R O C E E D I N G S
2 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
3 Senate will please come to order.
4 I ask everyone present to please
5 rise and recite with me the Pledge of
6 Allegiance.
7 (Whereupon, the assemblage recited
8 the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.)
9 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: In the
10 absence of clergy, may we bow our heads in a
11 moment of silence.
12 (Whereupon, the assemblage
13 respected a moment of silence.)
14 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
15 reading of the Journal.
16 The Secretary will read.
17 THE SECRETARY: In Senate,
18 Tuesday, June 2nd, the Senate met pursuant to
19 adjournment. The Journal of Monday, June 1st,
20 was read and approved. On motion, Senate
21 adjourned.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
23 Without objection, the Journal stands approved
24 as read.
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1 Presentation of petitions.
2 Messages from the Assembly.
3 Messages from the Governor.
4 Reports of standing committees.
5 Senator Klein.
6 SENATOR KLEIN: Mr. President, I
7 have three motions.
8 The first is a motion to reconsider
9 substitution and amend a Senate bill. On
10 behalf of Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson, I
11 wish to call up Calendar Number 391, Assembly
12 Print Number 3664.
13 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
14 Secretary will read.
15 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
16 391, by Member of the Assembly Aubry, Assembly
17 Print Number 3664, an act to amend the Penal
18 Law and others.
19 SENATOR KLEIN: I now move to
20 reconsider the vote by which this Assembly
21 bill was substituted for Senate Print 4366 on
22 May 26th.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Call
24 the roll on reconsideration.
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1 (The Secretary called the roll.)
2 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 57.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
4 bill is before the house and restored to its
5 place on the Third Reading Calendar.
6 SENATOR KLEIN: I now move that
7 Assembly Bill Number 3664 be recommitted to
8 the Committee on Codes and the Senate bill be
9 restored to the order of Third Reading
10 Calendar.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: So
12 ordered.
13 SENATOR KLEIN: I now offer the
14 following amendments.
15 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
16 amendments are received.
17 SENATOR KLEIN: The second, on
18 behalf of Senator Foley, on page 30 I offer
19 the following amendments to Calendar Number
20 329, Senate Print Number 4025B, and ask that
21 said bill retain its place on Third Reading
22 Calendar.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: So
24 ordered.
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1 SENATOR KLEIN: The third, on
2 behalf of Senator Montgomery, on page 21 I
3 offer the following amendments to Calendar
4 Number 179, Senate Print Number 3423, and ask
5 that said bill retain its place on Third
6 Reading Calendar.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: So
8 ordered.
9 SENATOR KLEIN: Mr. President,
10 are there any substitutions at the desk?
11 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
12 Senator Nozzolio, why do you rise?
13 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Thank you,
14 Mr. President.
15 On page number 36, I offer the
16 following amendments to Calendar Number 399,
17 Senate Print Number 4201, and ask that said
18 bill retain its place on Third Reading
19 Calendar.
20 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: So
21 ordered.
22 Senator Klein.
23 SENATOR KLEIN: Are there any
24 substitutions, Mr. President?
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1 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Yes,
2 there are substitutions.
3 The Secretary will read.
4 THE SECRETARY: On page 19,
5 Senator Diaz moves to discharge, from the
6 Committee on Aging, Assembly Bill Number 1968
7 and substitute it for the identical Senate
8 Bill Number 1555, Third Reading Calendar 78.
9 On page 38, Senator Parker moves to
10 discharge, from the Committee on Energy and
11 Telecommunications, Assembly Bill Number 7736
12 and substitute it for the identical Senate
13 Bill Number 3712, Third Reading Calendar 417.
14 On page 39, Senator C. Johnson
15 moves to discharge, from the Committee on
16 Investigations and Government Operations,
17 Assembly Bill Number 8175 and substitute it
18 for the identical Senate Bill Number 3886,
19 Third Reading Calendar 433.
20 On page 43, Senator Serrano moves
21 to discharge, from the Committee on Cultural
22 Affairs, Tourism, Parks and Recreation,
23 Assembly Bill Number 7803 and substitute it
24 for the identical Senate Bill Number 3351A,
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1 Third Reading Calendar 469.
2 On page 43, Senator Serrano moves
3 to discharge, from the Committee on Cultural
4 Affairs, Tourism, Parks and Recreation,
5 Assembly Bill Number 7432A and substitute it
6 for the identical Senate Bill Number 5483,
7 Third Reading Calendar 471.
8 On page 43, Senator Stewart-Cousins
9 moves to discharge, from the Committee on
10 Local Government, Assembly Bill Number 8501
11 and substitute it for the identical Senate
12 Bill Number 5661, Third Reading Calendar 472.
13 On page 44, Senator C. Johnson
14 moves to discharge, from the Committee on
15 Finance, Assembly Bill Number 1356A and
16 substitute it for the identical Senate Bill
17 Number 714A, Third Reading Calendar 477.
18 On page 44, Senator Serrano moves
19 to discharge, from the Committee on Commerce,
20 Economic Development and Small Business,
21 Assembly Bill Number 4277 and substitute it
22 for the identical Senate Bill Number 1329,
23 Third Reading Calendar 480.
24 On page 44, Senator Stewart-Cousins
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1 moves to discharge, from the Committee on
2 Finance, Assembly Bill Number 4092 and
3 substitute it for the identical Senate Bill
4 Number 1787, Third Reading Calendar 483.
5 On page 45, Senator
6 Hassell-Thompson moves to discharge, from the
7 Committee on Finance, Assembly Bill Number
8 4810 and substitute it for the identical
9 Senate Bill Number 1799, Third Reading
10 Calendar 485.
11 On page 46, Senator Squadron moves
12 to discharge, from the Committee on Finance,
13 Assembly Bill Number 7449 and substitute it
14 for the identical Senate Bill Number 3638,
15 Third Reading Calendar 493.
16 And on page 46, Senator Duane moves
17 to discharge, from the Committee on Health,
18 Assembly Bill Number 6858A and substitute it
19 for the identical Senate Bill Number 3845A,
20 Third Reading Calendar 496.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
22 Substitutions ordered.
23 Returning to the regular order of
24 business, let the record reflect that there
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1 are no reports of select committees or
2 communications and reports from state
3 officers.
4 Senator Klein.
5 SENATOR KLEIN: Mr. President, I
6 believe there's a report of the Finance
7 Committee at the desk.
8 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: There
9 is. Returning to reports of standing
10 committees, there is a Finance Committee
11 report at the desk.
12 The Secretary will read.
13 THE SECRETARY: Senator Kruger,
14 from the Committee on Finance, reports the
15 following nominations:
16 As a member of the State Banking
17 Board, Franz Leichter, of New York City.
18 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
19 Senator Kruger.
20 SENATOR CARL KRUGER: Please move
21 the nomination.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Are
23 there any Senators who wish to be heard on the
24 motion to confirm the nomination?
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1 Seeing none, the question is on the
2 motion to confirm -- excuse me.
3 Senator Liz Krueger, on the motion.
4 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you
5 very much. I rise briefly to speak on behalf
6 of Senator Franz Leichter.
7 First off, welcome back to the
8 Senate chambers, Senator Leichter. I know
9 we're all delighted to see you here today and
10 to recognize that you are continuing your
11 lifelong commitment to the people of New York
12 by agreeing to serve on the Banking
13 Commission.
14 I did not serve with you in the
15 New York State Senate. But for the seven
16 years that I have been here, your name is
17 spoken with great frequency. And I believe,
18 in the highest compliment, sometimes your
19 colleagues on the other side of the aisle talk
20 about missing Senator Leichter's very
21 articulate if sometimes lengthy debate on the
22 floor.
23 I always take it as a compliment on
24 your behalf and am very proud to be able to
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1 stand to recognize you today not only as a
2 great previous Senator of the State of
3 New York but now, very happily, as a
4 constituent in my district.
5 So congratulations.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
7 you, Senator Krueger.
8 Senator Schneiderman, on the
9 motion.
10 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you,
11 Mr. President. I also rise in support of this
12 nominee.
13 I have to say that Senator
14 Leichter, who was my predecessor, is a true
15 trailblazer in terms of public policy in the
16 area of banking, in the area of lending, but
17 also really a trailblazer in terms of this
18 house.
19 I mean, he was a great Senator and
20 really the person who taught all of us what
21 healthy and vigorous dissent should be like.
22 It was really one of the proudest moments of
23 my life when Senator Maziarz and others
24 determined that I was such an irritant to the
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1 then-majority that they led, at the Senate
2 Club Dinner, when Franz entered, a chant of
3 "Bring back Franz."
4 (Laughter.)
5 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you
6 all, ladies and gentlemen. And
7 congratulations for your continued service.
8 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
9 you, Senator Schneiderman.
10 Senator Farley.
11 SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you,
12 Mr. President. I do rise in support of my
13 friend Franz Leichter, who I've known for
14 many, many years, I'll just put it that way.
15 You know, prior to me being the
16 chairman of Banks, which I was chairman for a
17 lot of years, he was the thorn in the side of
18 every Banking chairman they ever had. He was
19 also considered one of the most loquacious
20 senators that ever sat in this chamber.
21 But I'll tell you, he was a guy
22 that did his homework. He was a person that
23 was very well-informed. And you know, he's
24 mellowed over the years also. After leaving
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1 here, he went to work in banking.
2 And you know, he does have the
3 interest of the consumer at heart, he does
4 have the interest of the state-chartered
5 banking system at heart. He'll be a good
6 member. He'll do his homework. And we're
7 lucky to have him.
8 And, Franz, congratulations, and
9 you know that I do support you. I know that
10 you'll be a great member of the Banking Board.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
12 you, Senator Farley.
13 Senator Volker, on the motion.
14 SENATOR VOLKER: Mr. President, I
15 also must commend the Governor for sending
16 back the biggest pain the banks ever saw in
17 the Senate.
18 I have to say that I debated Franz
19 on many occasions. Those were days of
20 memorable debates. Usually, they were civil.
21 But one thing about Franz Leichter, he was
22 always bright, knowledgeable, and ready to
23 take the initiative.
24 And it's always good to see him
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1 back. Because some of the people who were
2 here previously who knew exactly what they
3 wanted to do, we miss him.
4 And so my very best to you, Franz,
5 and good luck for the future.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
7 you, Senator Volker.
8 Senator DeFrancisco.
9 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, I rise
10 to support the nomination of Franz Leichter.
11 And I want to say with all
12 sincerity the years that I've been here -- and
13 I can't believe it's been 17 -- that the years
14 I've been here, I don't think I ever saw a
15 more articulate, intelligent person serve in
16 the New York State Senate.
17 We may have disagreed, and many
18 times agreed to disagree. But his arguments
19 were exceptional, his command of the subject
20 was always exceptional, and the Governor made
21 a wonderful, wonderful decision in this
22 nomination.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
24 you, Senator DeFrancisco.
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1 Senator Onorato, on the motion.
2 SENATOR ONORATO: Thank you,
3 Mr. President. I too rise to congratulate the
4 Governor on this wonderful, wonderful
5 nomination.
6 Having served with Senator Leichter
7 and sharing many an evening at the dinner
8 table with him, he's not only a good talker,
9 but he's a pretty good eater.
10 But I do want to congratulate you,
11 and I want to reminisce about the times that
12 we spent in this chamber at 2 o'clock in the
13 morning when you asked for an explanation for
14 every bill that was presented, so we got out
15 of here about 5 o'clock in the morning. But
16 you kept me awake with all of your questions
17 and delving into those pieces of legislation.
18 I hope that you do the same thing
19 now that you're on the Banking Commission.
20 Congratulations and good luck.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
22 you, Senator Onorato.
23 Senator Padavan.
24 SENATOR PADAVAN: Thank you,
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1 Mr. President.
2 Let me echo the comments of Senator
3 Volker and Senator Farley and others, and
4 Senator DeFrancisco, relevant to the intellect
5 and the ability of the nominee when he served
6 here in the Senate.
7 I always found listening to him an
8 education on whatever subject he might be
9 dealing with. And he was very erudite, to say
10 the least. He was ubiquitous, no doubt about
11 that. He was broad-based in his approach to
12 things.
13 Every person in the City of
14 New York should be grateful to Senator
15 Leichter, if for no other reason than the
16 Pooper Scooper Bill --
17 (Laughter.)
18 SENATOR PADAVAN: -- where he
19 stood on the floor waving a pooper scooper in
20 the air, and passing that bill very narrowly.
21 And we're grateful, because it's been with us
22 ever since.
23 He was also sharp in terms of
24 rising with a pointed question that would
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1 bring the house down. I recall a bill by
2 Senator Stafford dealing with rogue bears,
3 going on at great length why it was important
4 to deal with these bears who were destructive,
5 chasing them with dogs out of season.
6 And Senator Leichter got up and
7 said: "I have one question. When the dog is
8 chasing the bears through the forest, how does
9 he know it's a good bear or a bad bear?" And
10 of course there was no answer to that
11 question.
12 But on a personal basis, I was
13 grateful, and always will be, for him reaching
14 out to me during times of personal crisis that
15 we shared, and for him demonstrating time and
16 time again that he was a human being who had
17 empathy and understanding. And undoubtedly in
18 his new position he will demonstrate all those
19 qualities.
20 Thank you, Mr. President.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
22 you, Senator Padavan.
23 Senator Owen Johnson.
24 SENATOR OWEN JOHNSON: Thank you,
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1 Mr. President.
2 And I'd like to congratulate the
3 Governor for choosing Franz Leichter to serve
4 on that committee. I'm sure he's going to do
5 a fine job. As everyone said, he has the
6 intellect, he has the charm, he has the
7 ability, and he has all those ingredients.
8 And to think that we get his service for
9 nothing is wonderful.
10 (Laughter.)
11 SENATOR OWEN JOHNSON: Besides
12 that, they say opposites attract. Now, when I
13 came into the Senate, I was kind of on the
14 right side of things.
15 (Laughter.)
16 SENATOR OWEN JOHNSON: And Franz
17 was on the left side of things. And we had
18 many interesting conversations.
19 And I had one bill that he was
20 opposed to year after year. And then finally
21 one year I mentioned the word that this would
22 empower a woman to carry a spray in her
23 pocketbook to defend herself against a mugger.
24 He said: "Oh, Owen, empowering somebody.
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1 Yes, yes, I'm in favor of that."
2 So thanks a lot, Franz; your vote
3 helped carry it through.
4 And all the best of luck to you.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
6 you, Senator Johnson.
7 Senator Libous, on the motion.
8 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you,
9 Mr. President. I certainly rise and join all
10 of my colleagues in praising the Governor's
11 appointment here of Franz Leichter.
12 And Senator Leichter had that
13 unique quality of you could debate him on the
14 floor, and you would be at the opposite end of
15 where he was. And when the debate was over,
16 you wanted to go over and shake his hand.
17 That is a rare quality, and a quality that I
18 wish existed more often.
19 But, Senator, I want to say thank
20 you. Because I watched your debating, and you
21 taught me, you taught me how to debate from
22 this side of the aisle. Thank you very much.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
24 you, Senator Libous.
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1 Senator Maziarz.
2 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you very
3 much, Mr. President.
4 And, Senator Leichter, it's good to
5 see you back here. I wish you were here,
6 because that means Senator Schneiderman would
7 not be here, but --
8 (Laughter.)
9 SENATOR MAZIARZ: But besides
10 that, to finish or to make another point to
11 follow up on what Senator Padavan said about
12 that hunting story with the bear, Senator
13 Stafford, who sat where Senator Kruger is
14 sitting today -- at sort of toward the end of
15 that debate, I think, Senator Padavan --
16 Senator Stafford got a little anxious, and he
17 turned to Senator Leichter, and he said:
18 "Franz, have you ever hunted bear?"
19 And Franz said: "No, I've always
20 hunted with my clothes on."
21 (Laughter.)
22 SENATOR MAZIARZ: This is a great
23 appointment of a true gentleman. And I'm sure
24 he's going to do a great job for the consumers
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1 in this state.
2 Thank you, Mr. President.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
4 you, Senator Maziarz.
5 Senator Saland, on the motion.
6 SENATOR SALAND: Thank you,
7 Mr. President.
8 Mr. President, I rise to add to the
9 chorus of accolades. I have said this to
10 Franz on more than one occasion. Among the
11 variety of attributes appropriately attributed
12 to him, there's one other that I would, with
13 the deepest respect, attribute to him, that
14 Franz was always a true believer.
15 Franz did what he did because he
16 truly believed in it. He debated bills
17 because he truly was either troubled by the
18 purpose or the tone of the bills or because he
19 genuinely sought answers. He did it not
20 merely to attempt to be in the face of his
21 colleagues on the other side of the aisle.
22 And I've always felt that this
23 would be a far better institution, as would
24 any other legislative institution, if people
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1 came to their task with the same devotion, the
2 same commitment, and the same spirit --
3 certainly with the same intellect that Franz
4 brought to the task.
5 I commend the Governor for a very
6 wise choice and wish Franz continued success.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
8 you, Senator Saland.
9 Are there any other Senators who
10 wish to be heard?
11 Senator Foley.
12 SENATOR FOLEY: Yes, if I just
13 may speak briefly on a number of the
14 appointees today.
15 They have stellar reputations, as
16 was mentioned earlier. Some are former
17 members of this august body who comported
18 themselves well over a period of close to 25,
19 in fact, of 30 years.
20 So their appointments to the
21 variety of boards that they intend to serve
22 our state will do well for those boards as
23 well as for the whole State of New York, and
24 we are very, very pleased that they could be
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1 with us here today.
2 And certainly their past example I
3 think is an inspiration for all of us as to
4 how we can work today and in the future doing
5 the people's business here in the State of
6 New York.
7 So I also want to just put on the
8 record, as the chair, particularly, of the
9 Banking Committee and a member of the Higher
10 Education Committee, that we have fine
11 outstanding New Yorkers who will do well in
12 both of those fields in order to do well for
13 the people of this state who see New York
14 State as one of the finest places to live, to
15 work and to educate our children.
16 Thank you very much.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
18 you, Senator Foley.
19 Senator Stavisky, on the motion.
20 SENATOR STAVISKY: Thank you,
21 Mr. President. I too want to congratulate
22 Senator Leichter.
23 He likes to remind me that I grew
24 up in an area just south of his old Senate
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1 district.
2 And I too remember the days where
3 he would get up, 3 o'clock in the morning, and
4 discuss various arcane issues that I never
5 even knew existed, on legislation and on other
6 issues.
7 And if you take a look at the
8 material in front of us, it says "Major
9 Legislative Initiatives and Accomplishments of
10 Franz S. Leichter." Who else can talk about
11 campaign finance reform, environmental issues,
12 tenants rights? He issued a report called:
13 "MTA: The Art of the Deal" -- I think we're
14 ready for a revision. So many different
15 issues.
16 Franz was surely the renaissance
17 man. And the Governor, I think, has made an
18 outstanding appointment to the Banking Board
19 because he brings such a depth of knowledge on
20 that and so many other issues. And I'm sure
21 he'll issue a report on the bears in the
22 banking business.
23 So again, congratulations.
24 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
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1 you, Senator Stavisky.
2 Are there any other Senators who
3 wish to be heard?
4 Seeing none, the question is on the
5 motion to confirm the nomination of Senator
6 Franz Leichter as a member of the State
7 Banking Board. All in favor signify by saying
8 aye.
9 (Response of "Aye.")
10 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
11 Opposed, nay.
12 (No response.)
13 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
14 motion carries. The nominee is hereby
15 confirmed.
16 Senator Leichter is with us in the
17 gallery. Congratulations.
18 (Standing ovation.)
19 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
20 Secretary will continue to read.
21 THE SECRETARY: As a member of
22 the Board of Trustees of the State University
23 of New York, John L. Murad, Jr., of
24 Jamesville.
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1 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
2 Senator Kruger.
3 SENATOR CARL KRUGER: Please move
4 the nomination.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Are
6 there any Senators who wish to be heard on the
7 motion to confirm the nomination?
8 Senator DeFrancisco.
9 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, I'd
10 just like to compliment the Governor again for
11 a fine appointment.
12 I know John Murad, and he's an
13 outstanding attorney, extremely qualified
14 person for this position, and a Central
15 New Yorker whose voice is well-needed on this
16 board.
17 And I congratulate him and the
18 Governor for the appointment, and him for
19 being willing to do this very important
20 service for the State of New York in view of
21 all the other things he does in his life.
22 So I strongly support this nominee.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
24 you, Senator DeFrancisco.
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1 Senator Stavisky.
2 SENATOR STAVISKY: Very briefly,
3 let me just comment together on the two SUNY
4 nominees who are here today.
5 This is a very exciting time for
6 SUNY. We have a new chancellor; she visited
7 the chamber on Monday. We have new
8 opportunities in higher education. We have an
9 economic situation that SUNY is going to
10 participate in the resolving of some of our
11 economic problems. We have legislation that's
12 going to be considered today and next week on
13 SUNY.
14 And these are interesting times
15 that require qualified people. And I thank
16 both gentlemen, Mr. Staller and Mr. Murad, for
17 their willingness to participate in the new
18 resurgence of SUNY.
19 SUNY is such a wonderful
20 institution. I'm very proud of it. And I'm
21 very proud that the Governor has chosen two
22 individuals for the board with such remarkable
23 credentials.
24 Thank you.
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1 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
2 you, Senator Stavisky.
3 Are there any other Senators who
4 wish to be heard?
5 Seeing none, the question is on the
6 motion to confirm the nomination of John L.
7 Murad, Jr., as a member of the SUNY Board of
8 Trustees. All in favor signify by saying aye.
9 (Response of "Aye.")
10 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
11 Opposed, nay.
12 (No response.)
13 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
14 motion carries. The nomination is hereby
15 confirmed.
16 John Murad is with us in the
17 gallery. Congratulations, John.
18 (Applause.)
19 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
20 Secretary will continue to read.
21 THE SECRETARY: As a member of
22 the Board of Trustees of the State University
23 of New York, Cary F. Staller, of Old Field.
24 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
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1 Senator Kruger.
2 SENATOR CARL KRUGER: Please move
3 the nomination.
4 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Are
5 there any Senators who wish to be heard on the
6 motion?
7 Senator LaValle.
8 SENATOR LaVALLE: Mr. President,
9 I rise to support the nomination of Cary
10 Staller as trustee of the State University of
11 New York.
12 He has a stellar background, both
13 educationally and professionally. And he is
14 not new to State University. He sits on the
15 Foundation Board at State University at Stony
16 Brook and also on the oversight board of the
17 University Hospital. And he will now be on
18 the State University Board of Trustees.
19 Heretofore, he has been acting from the
20 university level up to the board.
21 And I know Cary will do just an
22 incredible job for all of the people of the
23 State of New York in his position as SUNY
24 trustee.
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1 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
2 you, Senator LaValle.
3 Senator Foley.
4 SENATOR FOLEY: Yes, I'd like to
5 join with Senator LaValle in extolling the
6 great work that Mr. Staller has completed
7 during his time as a member of the Foundation
8 Board over at Stony Brook.
9 In fact, his philanthropic efforts
10 as well as his general concern for the Stony
11 Brook area, the Three Village area, as well as
12 education and higher education throughout the
13 State of New York, now culminates in his
14 appointment to the Board of Trustees. We know
15 that he'll do an outstanding job in that
16 capacity.
17 And as much as he has focused his
18 time, talent and energy with the Stony Brook
19 University, we know that the state as a whole,
20 from Buffalo to Stony Brook, will benefit from
21 his tenure in office as a member of the Board
22 of Trustees. So I also heartily endorse and
23 support this particular appointment.
24 Thank you, Mr. President.
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1 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
2 you, Senator Foley.
3 Are there any other Senators who
4 wish to be heard?
5 Senator Flanagan, on the motion.
6 SENATOR FLANAGAN: Thank you,
7 Mr. President. I apologize for the delay.
8 I just want to add my voice to
9 those who have already spoken to congratulate
10 Cary Staller, who is a constituent and someone
11 who I think has distinguished himself as a
12 truly dedicated public servant in the private
13 sector, in the public sector. His family is
14 philanthropic almost beyond belief in many
15 respects.
16 And he will be a welcome addition
17 and someone who will be a passionate advocate
18 and also remain a gentleman as a member of the
19 Board of Trustees.
20 Cary, congratulations.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
22 you, Senator Flanagan.
23 Now, are there any other Senators,
24 either inside or outside of the chamber, who
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1 wish to be heard on the nomination?
2 Seeing none, the question is on the
3 motion to confirm the nomination of Cary F.
4 Staller as a member of the Board of Trustees
5 of the State University of New York. All in
6 favor signify by saying aye.
7 (Response of "Aye.")
8 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
9 Opposed, nay.
10 (No response.)
11 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
12 motion carries. The nominee is hereby
13 confirmed.
14 Congratulations, Mr. Staller. Best
15 wishes.
16 (Applause.)
17 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
18 Secretary will continue to read.
19 THE SECRETARY: As a member of
20 the State Banking Board, John M. Scarchilli,
21 of Latham.
22 As a member of the Industrial Board
23 of Appeals, LaMarr J. Jackson, of West
24 Henrietta.
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1 As a member of the New York State
2 Foundation for Science, Technology and
3 Innovation, Russell W. Bessette, of Orchard
4 Park.
5 As director of the State of
6 New York Mortgage Agency, Naomi Bayer, of Rye
7 Brook.
8 As a nonvoting member of the
9 Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Ira
10 Greenberg, of Sunnyside.
11 As a member of the Ogdensburg
12 Bridge and Port Authority, Steven J. Barlow,
13 of Ogdensburg.
14 As a member of the New York State
15 Thruway Authority, Richard Simberg, of Oneida.
16 As a member of the State Banking
17 Board, William C. McGarry, of Williston Park.
18 As a member of the Board of
19 Trustees of the State University of New York
20 College of Environmental Science and Forestry,
21 Leslie Talbot, of New York City.
22 As a member of the Board of
23 Trustees of the New York Higher Education
24 Services Corporation, Charles Delaney, of
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1 New York City.
2 As a member of the Correction
3 Medical Review Board, Robert S. Kurtz, M.D.,
4 of Riverdale.
5 As a member of the Stewart Airport
6 Commission, Jon P. Decker, of Highland.
7 And as a member of the Citizen's
8 Policy and Complaint Review Council, Reverend
9 Jimmie Seright, of Niagara Falls.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
11 Senator Kruger.
12 SENATOR CARL KRUGER: Please move
13 all the nominations.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
15 Senator Farley.
16 SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you.
17 I do support all the nominees, but
18 I do want to just say a word to second the
19 nomination of John Scarchilli, president and
20 CEO of Pioneer Bank here, a state-chartered
21 bank, also a former president of the Community
22 Bankers, and one of the finest men I've ever
23 known.
24 John has been truly an example of
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1 somebody that can lead the upstate small banks
2 to success. They are respected, they're
3 sound. And I think it's so important that we
4 have somebody on the Banking Board that really
5 understands the value of a state-chartered
6 institution.
7 And I enthusiastically support this
8 nomination.
9 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
10 you, Senator Farley.
11 Senator Craig Johnson.
12 SENATOR CRAIG JOHNSON: Thank you
13 very much, Mr. President. I rise to second
14 the nomination of William C. McGarry to the
15 New York State Banking Board.
16 Bill -- I can't think of a better
17 nominee than Bill McGarry. Bill is the
18 chairman, president and chief executive
19 officer of the Ridgeway Savings Bank. He has
20 more than 35 years' financial experience in
21 the banking industry. He is involved in his
22 community, he is involved with various
23 philanthropic organizations.
24 He would bring important expertise
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1 to the Banking Board at a time when the
2 Banking Board needs as much experience and as
3 much insight as possible as we go through
4 these problems in the U.S. banking system.
5 So I wholeheartedly support and
6 second the nomination. Thank you very much.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
8 you, Senator Johnson.
9 Are there any other Senators who
10 wish to be heard?
11 Seeing none, the question is on the
12 motion to confirm the nominations of
13 individuals as previously read by the
14 Secretary. All in favor signify by saying
15 aye.
16 (Response of "Aye.")
17 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
18 Opposed, nay.
19 (No response.)
20 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
21 motion carries. The nominations are hereby
22 confirmed.
23 Senator Klein.
24 SENATOR KLEIN: Mr. President, I
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1 believe Senator Larkin has a resolution at the
2 desk. I ask that the title of the resolution
3 be read and move for its immediate adoption
4 and allow Senator Larkin to speak on his
5 resolution.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
7 Secretary will read.
8 THE SECRETARY: By Senator
9 Larkin, Legislative Resolution Number 2224,
10 commemorating the 65th anniversary of the
11 D-Day Invasion on June 6, 2009.
12 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
13 Senator Larkin, on the resolution.
14 SENATOR LARKIN: Thank you,
15 Mr. President.
16 Ladies and gentlemen, my
17 colleagues, in three days we will celebrate
18 the 65th anniversary of the invasion in
19 Europe. Now, some people are looking at it at
20 different pictures today, but just so every
21 member of the body -- I have placed two copies
22 of some very important information, details
23 that I hope you will use in the event this
24 weekend you're with veterans or veterans
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1 groups and talking about honoring them for
2 service 65 years ago.
3 You know, this was one of the major
4 battles that our country participated in
5 jointly with our allies. It was a great
6 event, but it had trouble from start to
7 finish -- the number of units, how many should
8 we have, the number of ships, the number of
9 aircraft, who would be in the chain of
10 command, who would be the number-one hero, who
11 would be the number one in air, navy, how
12 would we have the control of all of these
13 various elements.
14 You have to understand that there
15 was over 200,000 troops who were in the first
16 package. There was 150 echelons long in nine
17 locations. In the first 24 hours, 9,000
18 troops, U.S. troops were killed or wounded in
19 combat. So it tells you right away that we
20 had something to do.
21 And you know that they took three
22 months to decide what day they would actually
23 attack, because they were talking about the
24 water and the channel, the air coverage, the
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1 rain that was coming. As a matter of fact, on
2 the 5th of June, when they were trying to put
3 something in order, one-half of the fleet was
4 in the channel and had to be called back
5 because they were worried about the air drops.
6 There were 13,000 paratroopers
7 dropped in advance of the divisions of the
8 82nd and 101st Airborne. There were some 1900
9 gliders what we -- you know, some of you see
10 today in glider parks, that were taking down
11 the troops. It was a horrendous battle.
12 Ranger battalions, special battalions that
13 today we call Delta Forces that were all
14 involved in it. You know, in the first wave
15 there were 13,000 bombs dropped on the beaches
16 of France -- 13,000, just think about it.
17 The invasion was a success. But,
18 you know, to make the invasion a success, a
19 lot of things had to take place. For example,
20 we had floats that we blew up and looked like
21 tank. It looked like an airborne unit, it
22 looked like assaults. It looked all bigger
23 than it was, and it was at another location.
24 And that's where the Germans thought we were
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1 going to make the greatest concentration,
2 which we didn't. We put it on the other
3 beaches.
4 You know, I did some survey on
5 thinking about the ages. How many people in
6 this room were born before the 6th of
7 June 1944? Oh, George, come on.
8 Well, on the 6th of June 1944, I
9 don't know where George was, but at 5:30 in
10 the morning we were raked out of our sack at
11 Fort Dix, New Jersey, and they said: "Have we
12 got a challenge for you." And we all knew
13 that that was the end of basic training. So I
14 didn't know what the challenge was; I thought
15 it was how quick do we get to a bus or a train
16 station to go home. And he said: "D-Day has
17 commenced."
18 There were 225 people in my company
19 that day. In December 1944, there were 50 of
20 us left. So you can see the spread. Because
21 they not only went to Europe, but they went to
22 the Far East.
23 An experience I think that
24 everybody here should take a few moments this
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1 weekend, because you'll see it on the history
2 channels and you'll see it on others. Because
3 we talk today about stress, we talk about
4 traumatic brain injury. All of those things
5 were even worse during World War II because we
6 didn't have the medical knowledge that we have
7 today. And a lot of our troops that died in
8 World War II, had we had the same capabilities
9 as today, a lot of them would have survived.
10 But when you start to think of what
11 we did -- Eisenhower was made the
12 commander-in-chief, Montgomery from the
13 British. We had troops all over. Some of the
14 great battles they talked about -- the Rhine,
15 the Battle for Berlin after it -- but it all
16 started at D-Day. It all centered that if we
17 did our work right, we would be marching
18 forward and we wouldn't be hit in the
19 casualties.
20 Our greatest casualties were
21 because the Germans were defined, they were
22 dead-in to what they were doing. If you just
23 look at some of the history channels that are
24 coming out now about the size of the bunkers,
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1 the concrete size of the bunkers, and what was
2 it all about.
3 New York had one of the largest
4 percentages of GIs in World War II. There's a
5 gentleman that came from Watervliet, New York,
6 Dalessandro, Congressional Medal of Honor
7 winner, and he served right here in this
8 chamber. Right, Tommy?
9 So, you know, just take a good look
10 at -- you know, many of you get a lot of mail
11 and you say, "Throw that in the garbage." But
12 for the people that fought in D-Day and gave
13 their lives, take a moment and read that.
14 It's not Bill Larkin's writing, it's writing
15 by some individuals who had a direct knowledge
16 of what went on.
17 And it might encourage you to
18 discuss it with young people, because what
19 went on in 1944 and the bravery of our men and
20 women -- this morning Andrea Stewart-Cousins
21 showed me a piece of paper about a black
22 woman's battalion, the only battalion of black
23 women that went as whole to Europe. And the
24 funniest thing about it, we were smiling and
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1 she said, "Do you remember, Bill, they got the
2 mail." They had a mail crisis, M-A-I-L
3 crisis. And that unit separated all of the
4 problems and resolved it. Thank you, Andrea,
5 for bringing it to my attention.
6 Ladies and gentlemen, we could talk
7 for hours on D-Day. I wasn't at D-Day; I was
8 in New Guinea and the Philippines. And I
9 looked at my brave friends that were in
10 Europe, and I thought: Good wine, good
11 cheese, good bread, make sure you keep your
12 head low. Because we in the Pacific were
13 fighting mosquitos, rats, ants, and
14 everything.
15 But the biggest thing is we
16 survived as a nation because of the intensity,
17 the commitment and the desire and the hope for
18 America from them GIs. May those who passed
19 on, God bless them.
20 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
21 you, Senator Larkin.
22 Are there any other Senators who
23 wish to be heard?
24 Senator Craig Johnson.
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1 SENATOR CRAIG JOHNSON: Thank
2 you, Mr. President.
3 Thank you, Senator Larkin, for your
4 service to our country and, today, this
5 resolution.
6 I thank you because when I was a
7 boy of 14 years old, I went and visited the
8 beaches of Normandy. And I would urge all of
9 us in the chamber and all New Yorkers, if they
10 travel abroad and they have an opportunity, to
11 go see Normandy and visit the Utah and Omaha
12 Beaches, where our soldiers of ages 17, 18,
13 19 -- think about it, 17, 18, 19. Young boys.
14 You can look around the room and
15 see some of our young staff members -- young
16 men younger than them, storming the beaches,
17 on landing crafts that when the landing crafts
18 opened, they faced machine gun bullets, they
19 faced explosives and hand grenades. Never to
20 come home, many of them.
21 I urge you, when you go to visit,
22 to walk the cemetery and look at the names on
23 the gravestones, and recognize those men and
24 women who gave their lives in that invasion
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1 allow us to be here today to debate. Those
2 men and women who gave their lives did so for
3 freedom, the freedom that we enjoy as we pass
4 resolutions, as we second nominations, as we
5 begin to debate bills today.
6 Senator Larkin, I thank you for
7 championing this cause. This date,
8 June 6th -- you talked about it -- it's
9 unimaginable what went through. Things were
10 so bad that the history books note that Dwight
11 Eisenhower, then the commander of all allied
12 forces, soon to be the president a few years
13 later, actually prepared a statement to be
14 read about the failure of the D-Day landing.
15 But it was the resiliency of our
16 men and women on the beaches, on the ships, in
17 the air, behind enemy lines, paratrooped over
18 there, with our Canadian and British and
19 French allies, who started the final push to
20 victory over Nazi Germany.
21 So again, Senator Larkin, I thank
22 you, from the bottom of my heart, as someone
23 who never met a grandfather who served in the
24 United States Air Force who passed away before
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1 I could be born, who served in the European
2 Theater, I thank you again for this
3 resolution.
4 Thank you very much, Mr. President.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
6 you, Senator Johnson.
7 Are there any other Senators who
8 wish to be heard?
9 The question, then, is on the
10 resolution. All in favor signify by saying
11 aye.
12 (Response of "Aye.")
13 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
14 Opposed, nay.
15 (No response.)
16 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
17 resolution is adopted.
18 At Senator Larkin's request, it is
19 open for multisponsorship by all Senators.
20 Anyone wishing not to cosponsor the resolution
21 should notify the desk.
22 Senator Klein.
23 SENATOR KLEIN: Mr. President, I
24 believe Senator Squadron has a resolution at
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1 the desk. I ask that the resolution be read
2 in its entirety and move for its immediate
3 adoption and allow Senator Squadron to speak
4 on his resolution.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
6 Secretary will read.
7 THE SECRETARY: By Senator
8 Squadron, Legislative Resolution Number 2382,
9 honoring Christopher Rivera upon the occasion
10 of being named as the 2009 Boys and Girls Club
11 Youth of the Year.
12 "WHEREAS, Christopher Rivera was
13 recognized today as a Boys and Girls Club
14 Youth of the Year; and
15 "WHEREAS, Christopher was raised in
16 Rutgers Houses, a public housing development
17 as dynamic as the neighborhoods of Chinatown
18 and the Lower East Side on which it borders,
19 reflective of the rich history of New York
20 City and the opportunity available to its
21 youth; and
22 "WHEREAS, Christopher considered
23 himself a shy and quiet youth before joining
24 the Educational Alliance 'Edgies Teen Center,'
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1 an official Boys and Girls Club program and a
2 home away from home for teenagers in the
3 community; and
4 "WHEREAS, In the Educational
5 Alliance program and his involvement in
6 community activities, Christopher found his
7 voice and grew into a mature, engaged young
8 man; and
9 "WHEREAS, Christopher has developed
10 many talents, including capoeira, karate, and
11 yoga; and
12 "WHEREAS, Christopher aimed high by
13 applying to Fordham University and was
14 accepted with a scholarship in recognition of
15 his hard work and extraordinary potential; and
16 "WHEREAS, Christopher is already
17 giving back to his Lower East Side Community
18 with an evening Teen Club that he organized
19 and created, giving teenagers in his
20 neighborhood a better option than spending
21 time on the street; and
22 "WHEREAS, Christopher has already
23 accomplished an enormous amount but has much
24 more to give in years to come; and
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1 "WHEREAS, Being named Youth of the
2 Year is the highest honor a Boys and Girls
3 Club member can achieve, an award that
4 recognizes outstanding contributions to a
5 member's family, school, community and Boys
6 and Girls Club, as well as personal challenges
7 and obstacles overcome; now, therefore, be it
8 "RESOLVED, That this Legislative
9 Body pause in its deliberations to honor
10 Christopher Rivera upon the occasion of being
11 named as the 2009 Boys and Girls Club Youth of
12 the Year, and to wish him continued success in
13 all his future endeavors; and be it further
14 "RESOLVED, That a copy of this
15 resolution, suitably engrossed, be transmitted
16 to Christopher Rivera and to the Educational
17 Alliance."
18 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
19 Senator Squadron.
20 SENATOR SQUADRON: Thank you,
21 Mr. President.
22 Yesterday we had the pleasure of
23 hosting here members of the Boys and Girls
24 Clubs from across the State of New York. And
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1 this is a resolution honoring Christopher
2 Rivera, who was named yesterday here in Albany
3 the Youth of the Year. And it's meant to
4 honor him, and by honoring him, to honor all
5 of the Boys and Girls Clubs in this state, all
6 of the people who make them work, all of the
7 young people who find refuge and solace,
8 capoeira skills and educational skills in Boys
9 and Girls Clubs across the state.
10 Christopher's story is an
11 incredible one. He told me yesterday that
12 early in high school he had been quiet. He
13 said he was in a shell that he didn't know how
14 to break out of. And by joining the Boys and
15 Girls Club teen program, by being supported
16 and mentored by the folks there, he was able
17 to find himself and find his voice.
18 He told me that at one point he
19 never imagined he would go to college, and
20 then he imagined that if he went to college he
21 would go to the same place that the few people
22 he knew who had gone to college went to. But
23 the members of the Boys and Girls Club, his
24 mentors, the people who taught him, pushed him
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1 to apply to Fordham University, where he was
2 accepted on full scholarship.
3 He said that he never could have
4 imagined he ever would have applied or tried
5 to be Youth of the Year. And yet he did, and
6 he was named Youth of the Year in his local
7 Boys and Girls Club. And he came up here
8 yesterday and was awarded with the Youth of
9 the Year Award, and now he's going to go on to
10 the regionals and nationals on that.
11 And so the story of Christopher
12 Rivera is a great story for the Lower East
13 Side, it's a great story for our state, but
14 it's a story that's much larger than
15 Christopher. It's a story that is about all
16 of the young men and young women with
17 incredibly long odds and major challenges who
18 overcome them in order to succeed, who look
19 beyond the easy or the obvious next step and
20 aim high, are willing to risk losing or
21 falling behind to do it.
22 So Christopher Rivera is absolutely
23 worthy of our honor today, and all of the
24 young men and women who are in Boys and Girls
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1 Clubs in this state are worthy of our honor
2 today.
3 And so I'd like to take a moment to
4 congratulate Christopher on his award, to
5 congratulate the other nominees, and to
6 congratulate everyone who works to help young
7 people expand their horizons and find success
8 that seems otherwise impossible.
9 Thank you, Mr. President.
10 THE SECRETARY: Thank you,
11 Senator Squadron.
12 Are there any other Senators who
13 wish to be heard on the resolution?
14 Seeing none, the question is on the
15 resolution. All in favor signify by saying
16 aye.
17 (Response of "Aye.")
18 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
19 Opposed, nay.
20 (No response.)
21 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
22 resolution is adopted.
23 Senator Squadron has asked that it
24 be open for multisponsorship. Any member
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1 wishing not to multisponsor the resolution
2 should notify the desk.
3 Senator Klein.
4 SENATOR KLEIN: Mr. President,
5 can we please move to a reading of the
6 calendar.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
8 Senator Klein, before we get to the active
9 list, I'd just like to take a moment to
10 acknowledge the presence of a special guest
11 here today.
12 We're joined by Michael Ford Mayer,
13 who is the 91-year-old father of Shelley
14 Mayer, who of course is the counsel to Senate
15 Majority Leader Malcolm Smith.
16 Mr. Mayer, welcome. Thank you for
17 being here today.
18 (Applause.)
19 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
20 Secretary will proceed with the
21 noncontroversial reading of Senate Calendar
22 Number 54.
23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
24 53, by Member of the Assembly Bradley,
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1 Assembly Print Number 3123, an act to amend
2 the Tax Law, in relation to authorizing.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: There
4 is a home-rule message at the desk.
5 Read the last section.
6 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
7 act shall take effect immediately.
8 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Call
9 the roll.
10 (The Secretary called the roll.)
11 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 62.
12 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
13 bill is passed.
14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
15 292, by Senator Klein, Senate Print --
16 SENATOR LIBOUS: Lay it aside,
17 please.
18 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
19 bill is laid aside.
20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
21 300, by Senator Stavisky, Senate Print 1735B,
22 an act to amend the Real Property Tax Law and
23 the Administrative Code of the City of
24 New York, in relation to authorizing.
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1 SENATOR KLEIN: Lay the bill
2 aside for the day.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
4 bill is laid aside for the day.
5 THE SECRETARY: In relation to
6 Calendar Number 314, Senator Little moves to
7 discharge, from the Committee on
8 Investigations and Government Operations,
9 Assembly Bill Number 7008 and substitute it
10 for the identical Senate Bill Number 3427,
11 Third Reading Calendar 314.
12 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
13 Substitution ordered.
14 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
15 314, by Member of the Assembly Duprey,
16 Assembly Print Number 7008, an act to amend
17 the Tax Law and Chapter 179 of the Laws of
18 2007, amending the Tax Law.
19 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: There
20 is a home-rule message at the desk.
21 Read the last section.
22 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
23 act shall take effect immediately.
24 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Call
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1 the roll.
2 (The Secretary called the roll.)
3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 62.
4 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
5 bill is passed.
6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
7 317, by Senator Winner, Senate Print 4096, an
8 act to amend the Tax Law, in relation to
9 extending the authorization.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: There
11 is a home-rule message at the desk.
12 Read the last section.
13 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
14 act shall take effect immediately.
15 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Call
16 the roll.
17 (The Secretary called the roll.)
18 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 62.
19 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
20 bill is passed.
21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
22 339, by Senator Thompson, Senate Print 4916,
23 an act to amend the Local Finance Law, in
24 relation to the sale of bonds and notes.
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1 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: There
2 is a home-rule message at the desk.
3 Read the last section.
4 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
5 act shall take effect immediately.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Call
7 the roll.
8 (The Secretary called the roll.)
9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 62.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
11 bill is passed.
12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
13 368, by Member of the Assembly Barron,
14 Assembly Print Number 7087A, an act to amend
15 Chapter 514 of the Laws of 1983 amending the
16 Private Housing Finance Law.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Read
18 the last section.
19 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
20 act shall take effect immediately.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Call
22 the roll.
23 (The Secretary called the roll.)
24 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
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1 Senator Espada, to explain his vote.
2 SENATOR ESPADA: Thank you,
3 Mr. President.
4 I rise to give thanks to the body
5 for enabling the New York City Housing
6 Development Corporation to continue to finance
7 affordable housing in New York City. Since
8 1971, over 135,000 units of affordable housing
9 have been the by-product of this effort, and
10 now we extend it for two more years.
11 But I rise particularly because of
12 a historic note. We're joined today by
13 Assembly colleague Assemblyperson Inez Barron,
14 and this happens to be her first bill. And I
15 salute her, and I know we salute you for your
16 fine work.
17 Thank you.
18 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
19 Senator Espada to be recorded in the
20 affirmative.
21 Announce the results.
22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 62. Nays,
23 0.
24 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
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1 bill is passed.
2 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
3 372, by Senator Huntley, Senate Print 3146A,
4 an act to amend Chapter 667 of the Laws of
5 2006 relating to providing for the
6 establishment.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Read
8 the last section.
9 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This
10 act shall take effect immediately.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Call
12 the roll.
13 (The Secretary called the roll.)
14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 62.
15 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
16 bill is passed.
17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
18 376, by Member of the Assembly Cook, Assembly
19 Print Number 4166, an act to amend Chapter 174
20 of the Laws of 1968 constituting the New York
21 State Urban Development Corporation Act.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Read
23 the last section.
24 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
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1 act shall take effect immediately.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Call
3 the roll.
4 (The Secretary called the roll.)
5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 62.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
7 bill is passed.
8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
9 387, by Member of the Assembly Pretlow,
10 Assembly Print Number 2500, an act to amend
11 the General Obligations Law, in relation to
12 money deposited.
13 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Read
14 the last section.
15 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
16 act shall take effect immediately.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Call
18 the roll.
19 (The Secretary called the roll.)
20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 61. Nays,
21 1. Senator Ranzenhofer recorded in the
22 negative.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
24 bill is passed.
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1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
2 388, by Senator C. Johnson, Senate Print 2753,
3 an act to amend the General Business Law and
4 the Civil Practice Law and Rules, in relation
5 to prohibiting.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Read
7 the last section.
8 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
9 act shall take effect on the 60th day.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Call
11 the roll.
12 (The Secretary called the roll.)
13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 62.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
15 bill is passed.
16 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
17 390, by Member of the Assembly Englebright,
18 Assembly Print Number 6784, an act to amend
19 the Navigation Law, in relation to the wearing
20 of personal flotation devices.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Read
22 the last section.
23 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
24 act shall take effect on the first of
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1 November.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Call
3 the roll.
4 (The Secretary called the roll.)
5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 62.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
7 bill is passed.
8 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
9 411, by Senator C. Johnson, Senate Print
10 4234A, an act to amend the Tax Law, in
11 relation to extending the authorization.
12 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: There
13 is a home-rule message at the desk.
14 Read the last section.
15 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
16 act shall take effect immediately.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Call
18 the roll.
19 (The Secretary called the roll.)
20 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 62.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
22 bill is passed.
23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
24 429, by Senator Squadron, Senate Print 3639,
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1 an act to amend the Real Property Tax Law, in
2 relation to notice of commencement.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Read
4 the last section.
5 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
6 act shall take effect immediately.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Call
8 the roll.
9 (The Secretary called the roll.)
10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 62.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
12 bill is passed.
13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
14 472, substituted earlier today by Member of
15 the Assembly Silver, Assembly Print Number
16 8501, an act to amend the General Municipal
17 Law and others.
18 SENATOR LIBOUS: Lay it aside.
19 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
20 bill is laid aside.
21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
22 487, by Senator Stachowski, Senate Print
23 2020C, an act to amend the Education Law and
24 others.
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1 SENATOR LIBOUS: Lay it aside,
2 please.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
4 bill is laid aside.
5 Senator Klein, that completes the
6 noncontroversial reading of the active bills
7 on Senate Calendar Number 54.
8 SENATOR KLEIN: Before we move
9 on, I do want to have one announcement,
10 Mr. President.
11 One of our colleagues is
12 celebrating his 56th birthday. I hope you all
13 can wish happy birthday to Senator Aubertine.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Happy
15 56th birthday, Senator Darrel Aubertine.
16 (Applause.)
17 SENATOR KLEIN: A Senator
18 representing his district for many years to
19 come.
20 (Laughter.)
21 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
22 Senator Klein.
23 SENATOR KLEIN: Mr. President,
24 can we now move to the controversial calendar.
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1 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
2 Secretary will ring the bells.
3 The Secretary will proceed with the
4 controversial reading of the calendar.
5 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
6 292, by Senator Klein, Senate Print 706C, an
7 act to amend the Tax Law.
8 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
9 Senator Padavan, do you request an explanation
10 from Senator Klein?
11 SENATOR PADAVAN: No, I'd like to
12 speak on the bill.
13 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
14 Senator Padavan, on the bill.
15 SENATOR PADAVAN: I think the
16 bill is quite clear; it requires no
17 explanation. But what it's clear in is that
18 once again, this body expands gambling venues
19 in this state.
20 Just a little background for those
21 who may have not been here when VLTs were
22 first adopted. They are slot machines which
23 are hooked up to the lottery terminal. When
24 they first became a factor, a legal action was
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1 initiated by the Chamber of Commerce, the City
2 of Saratoga, along with a number of other
3 complainants, including several legislators,
4 myself included.
5 Our contention was and still is
6 that slot machines are not permitted under our
7 State Constitution and accepting the old adage
8 of "if it talks like a duck, walks like a
9 duck, it's a duck," these were slot machines.
10 We were successful at the
11 lower-level courts. But when it reached the
12 Court of Appeals, State Court of Appeals, we
13 lost the case. They ruled because these were
14 tied into our state lottery network, they were
15 not slot machines. In my view -- a split
16 decision -- but in my view, an absurdity.
17 And so now we have these racinos
18 around the state: Saratoga, Yonkers, and
19 others are of course on the drawing board,
20 such as Queens County. And what this bill
21 will do is extend the number of hours that
22 those racinos will be in operation. Up to 20
23 hours a day, with a four-hour break. I guess
24 the amount of time you need to clean up the
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1 place.
2 And they will allow machines that
3 replicate casino games -- roulette, blackjack,
4 poker, baccarat. So in effect what you have,
5 in terms of the reality of what people are
6 dealing with, is a full-fledged casino. Which
7 are not permitted under our State
8 Constitution, other than those that have been
9 allowed under Indian land grant claims and the
10 like.
11 We have over a million people in
12 this state who are either problem or
13 compulsive gamblers. And if you listen to the
14 State Council on Problem Gambling and read
15 their reports, they will tell you that the
16 number increases every year.
17 And the more gambling venues we
18 provide, the more expansion we provide, the
19 more opportunities we provide in various
20 communities around the state -- whether it's
21 Aqueduct in Queens County or Saratoga up here
22 in the North Country or wherever it may be --
23 the more you provide those venues and the more
24 hours those venues are available, the more
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1 people get sucked into the whole gambling
2 venue.
3 The fastest-growing crime in this
4 state in terms of category are related to
5 people who become gambling addicts.
6 Embezzlement, theft to cover their gambling
7 debts, social service programs -- families
8 being disrupted, businesses being lost -- all
9 directly related to this.
10 And New York State has the unique
11 distinction, on a per-capita basis, of being
12 the worst state in the nation. Worse than
13 Nevada, which is outrageous, but it is a fact.
14 So this bill again is an extension
15 of what we've been doing year after year and
16 obviously just adds further fuel to the fire.
17 And I'm standing here to simply say once
18 again, as I've done on other occasions
19 unsuccessfully -- and there's no doubt I'll be
20 unsuccessful today -- preventing something
21 from happening that shouldn't.
22 Thank you, Mr. President.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
24 you, Senator Padavan.
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1 Senator Bonacic.
2 SENATOR BONACIC: Thank you,
3 Mr. President.
4 I'm pleased that this bill is
5 before us today. The Monticello Raceway in
6 the Sullivan County and the Catskill area is
7 struggling, and our racinos are not
8 competitive with the gaming in the states
9 around us. And we have to expand recreation
10 activities to increase tourism for the tracks
11 all over the state.
12 Whether you're for gaming or
13 against gaming, that's not the issue. Gaming
14 is here. And the issue is are we going to
15 allow our racinos to survive, and the racing
16 tracks around them. These racinos bring jobs.
17 They create economic vitality.
18 So I want to thank Senator Klein
19 for sponsoring this bill. I had done it last
20 year, and I'm a coprime with Senator Klein.
21 And I look forward to working with Senator
22 Klein and Senator Adams in helping the racing
23 and breeding industry in the State of
24 New York. I vote aye.
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1 Thank you, Mr. President.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
3 you, Senator Bonacic.
4 Senator Klein, on the bill.
5 SENATOR KLEIN: Mr. President, on
6 the bill.
7 I want to thank Senator Bonacic for
8 supporting this legislation. I know how
9 important this bill is to his area in the
10 Catskills.
11 If you look at the numbers, they're
12 quite startling on how much money we raise
13 from lottery. Just last year, 13 percent of
14 the education dollars that went to school
15 districts around the State of New York were
16 from the Division of Lottery, either the
17 racinos or the actual lottery games --
18 scratch-off lotteries, things of that nature.
19 Also, the total to education last
20 year was $2.6 billion just from lottery. If
21 you just look at the video lottery facilities,
22 the racinos around the state, last year they
23 generated $480 million that went directly to
24 education.
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1 According to the estimates on my
2 legislation, we can generate an additional
3 $150 million a year earmarked just for
4 education with the expansion of the types of
5 games we can play at the racinos as well as
6 expanding the hours.
7 I think, unfortunately, during
8 these fiscal times we need to do everything
9 possible to generate increased revenue for the
10 State of New York, especially education
11 dollars. And I think Senator Bonacic said it
12 best. If you look at the numbers, it's quite
13 startling. Twenty-three percent of the people
14 who gambled in Atlantic City last year were
15 New York State residents.
16 And if you do look at the numbers,
17 even though with the expansion of racinos and
18 the various scratch-off lottery games, we've
19 seen a very, very tiny increase in gambling in
20 New York State since the '70s. And that was
21 based on a Harvard study that was written a
22 couple of years ago.
23 So I think this is a very important
24 piece of legislation. It allows us to be
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1 competitive with neighboring states. And if
2 people choose to gamble, they should do it in
3 New York to benefit education, and that's
4 where the revenue is going.
5 So I'm happy this legislation is
6 before us today. I think this is an
7 innovative and smart approach to generate
8 additional revenue for our state. And I hope
9 the Assembly quickly follows suit and passes
10 it and then the Governor signs it into law.
11 Thank you, Mr. President.
12 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
13 you, Senator Klein.
14 Senator Diaz.
15 SENATOR DIAZ: Thank you,
16 Mr. President. On the bill.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
18 Senator Diaz, on the bill.
19 SENATOR DIAZ: I take this
20 opportunity to express my position on the
21 bill.
22 I have no doubt, I have no doubt
23 that this bill, if it comes into effect, will
24 bring money. And I have no doubt and I know
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1 that the State of New York is in a very
2 difficult financial situation. However, I'm
3 always opposed to gambling. I cannot vote for
4 gambling.
5 And you could tell me: "But,
6 Senator, you're a Senator; you have to bring
7 money to the state." I have proposed two
8 bills, two bills that bring money to the state
9 that have nothing to do with gambling.
10 One of them has to do with
11 purchasing direct prescription drugs from
12 Canada, saving 40 percent to the state. And
13 the City of Schenectady is already doing it,
14 and the state will save $800 million there.
15 No one cares. No one cares.
16 That's a good bill. That brings
17 money to the state. That's an easy bill.
18 Schenectady is already doing it. The same
19 prescription drugs that is manufactured here
20 in the state, or from the same company,
21 Pfizer, the same prescription drugs, the same
22 brand that is purchased here is purchased in
23 Canada for 40 percent less. So why are we
24 submitting our senior citizens, subjecting our
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1 senior citizens -- they have to decide, they
2 have to buy food, they have to pay their rent,
3 they have to pay their other bills or buy
4 their prescription drugs when we could help
5 them and we could help the state's fiscal
6 crisis. But no one cares.
7 So to me, it's better, that bill,
8 than a bill that brings gambling. And because
9 I'm opposed to gambling -- it has nothing to
10 do with the sponsor, it has nothing to do with
11 anything, any other reason. I oppose
12 gambling.
13 Another bill that I have proposed
14 that will bring money to the state and will
15 help the situation in the state is to allow or
16 submit the credit card companies to send the
17 taxes back to the state, not to the merchants.
18 When you purchase, the credit card companies
19 take the taxes and they send the taxes back to
20 the merchants and not to the state. And the
21 state is losing $500 million there. Easy
22 money. Easy money. Let's force them to send
23 the money straight to the state.
24 $800 million in prescription drugs
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1 from Canada, $500 million from forcing the
2 credit cards -- more than $1 billion there.
3 Nobody cares.
4 So it would be better for some
5 people stop gambling where people are going to
6 have to go and play and sometimes play their
7 children's tuition, their children's food,
8 their children's clothes, their rent, and get
9 the habit of gambling to produce money than to
10 do this thing.
11 That's why I am not supporting this
12 bill. That's why I'm opposing this bill,
13 because I oppose gambling in any shape or
14 form.
15 Thank you.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
17 you, Senator Diaz.
18 Senator Saland.
19 SENATOR SALAND: Thank you,
20 Mr. President.
21 Mr. President, I've always viewed
22 gambling, whether it be casinos, racinos,
23 really as zero-sum game. There's only so many
24 of those dollars that are available. And
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1 whether New Yorkers are gambling in New Jersey
2 or New Yorkers are gambling in Pennsylvania,
3 the pie is just going to move. It's not going
4 to expand greatly; it's going to be primarily
5 the same pie.
6 There are no windfalls that are
7 going to be found by resort to gambling or
8 expanding gambling as somehow or other curing
9 our fiscal ills. And in fact, if anything,
10 it's going to burden with us yet additional
11 ills, the kinds of problems I believe that
12 were either alluded to earlier by Senator
13 Padavan or certainly have been alluded to in
14 more than one instance here on this floor.
15 I can well recall the initiation of
16 the video game which I think in large part
17 thanks to Senator Padavan has become known as
18 video crack. I can recall the discussions at
19 the time -- I believe it was during the Pataki
20 administration -- and those discussions were
21 to the effect, well, it's going to be limited,
22 we'll only allow certain hours, we'll require
23 certain square footage, we'll require that
24 they can't be merely in a bar, there has to be
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1 food service.
2 Well, one by one, the limitations
3 went by the wayside. One by one, they just
4 slipped away and evaporated. And the time
5 that was permitted between games was narrowed
6 so that the games could be played more
7 frequently -- all of this in our lust for
8 revenue.
9 What we see here today is pretty
10 much a replication of what we've seen with
11 video crack. The simple fact of the matter is
12 is we are hoping to secure more revenue by
13 inducing people to gamble more. That's the
14 bottom line. That's really, I would think
15 from a policy perspective, not exactly a
16 desirable way to balance your books, not
17 exactly a desirable way to support whatever
18 spending you might have in mind.
19 I know we're not particularly big
20 on reducing spending; certainly haven't been
21 this year. But to somehow or other look to
22 support additional spending by, in effect,
23 relying upon frailties of people, relying upon
24 the compulsiveness of people, I think is just
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1 a God-awful signal for us to be sending.
2 However desperate we may be, we should not be
3 that desperate.
4 Thank you, Mr. President.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
6 you, Senator Saland.
7 Are there any other Senators who
8 wish to be heard on the bill?
9 Seeing none, the debate is closed,
10 and the Secretary will ring the bells.
11 The Secretary will read the last
12 section.
13 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
14 act shall take effect on the 30th day.
15 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Call
16 the roll.
17 (The Secretary called the roll.)
18 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
19 Senator LaValle, to explain his vote.
20 SENATOR LaVALLE: Thank you,
21 Mr. President.
22 For a number of years I have
23 followed the lead -- I think we share a
24 similar philosophy with Senator Padavan, who
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1 articulated, I think, a position on this bill.
2 I think, and I hope the members -- I'm going
3 to make an analogy here, that when your
4 children tell you, Oh, it's okay because
5 Johnny or Mary did it, you should remember
6 your vote on this bill. Because Connecticut
7 does it, or New Jersey, or anyone else,
8 doesn't make it right.
9 And I think this state really needs
10 to begin to come to grips with this issue and
11 either amend the Constitution to allow gaming
12 or stop going through the lottery because it
13 yields money for education.
14 It's not the right thing to do, and
15 I vote in the negative.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
17 Senator LaValle to be recorded in the
18 negative.
19 Senator Marcellino, to explain his
20 vote.
21 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you,
22 Mr. President.
23 I could not agree more with my
24 colleague Senator LaValle. The point he makes
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1 is well-taken. What we are doing is little
2 bitty nibbles. We're nibbling at the whole
3 thing, we're skirting around the edges, and
4 we're not really helping the situation.
5 Senator Padavan points out the
6 problems with the gambling as a whole. If
7 we're going to do it, let's bite the bullet
8 and do the thing the correct way and the
9 proper way, not this nickel-and-dime approach,
10 not this half piece now, a quarter piece
11 there, a little bit there, and hope we get it
12 right.
13 This is not a good way to approach
14 this situation. It's much too serious. The
15 social impacts and the economic impacts are
16 much too serious for the state and our people.
17 Mr. President, I vote no.
18 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
19 Senator Marcellino to be recorded in the
20 negative.
21 Senator Adams, to explain his vote.
22 SENATOR ADAMS: Thank you,
23 Mr. President.
24 As the chair of the committee that
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1 deals with many gaming issues, I'm in full
2 support of this. I respect the view of my
3 colleagues, and I agree that we should move
4 forward to look at gaming.
5 Gaming is legal in many states. I
6 think that we need to have responsible gaming,
7 and I think that this is one way of doing
8 that. The law allows us to do that via video
9 lottery and as well as any other way that's
10 within the law.
11 And as the chair of the committee,
12 I am going to put my energies to moving
13 towards having legalized gaming in New York
14 State. There's no reason, the entertainment
15 capital of the globe, that we are eating the
16 crumbs off the floor of Las Vegas and other
17 states.
18 Gaming is legal. We should do it
19 responsible. We should make sure that those
20 that are using the Internet for sports betting
21 and other methods to siphon millions and
22 billions of dollars out of New York State
23 taxpayers, we should not permit that to
24 happen.
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1 I think this is a step in the right
2 direction, and I fully support it and I hope
3 my colleagues do so also.
4 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
5 Senator Adams to be recorded in the
6 affirmative.
7 Senator Stewart-Cousins, to explain
8 her vote.
9 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: Thank
10 you, Mr. President.
11 I rise to support this legislation,
12 and I also want to thank Senator Klein for
13 looking at ways to expand revenues especially
14 for education.
15 I would be remiss in not stating
16 again that I am terribly sorry that we very
17 often have to depend on gambling dollars to
18 educate our children. I think that certainly
19 sends a message that should not be sent.
20 However, I will say that the City
21 of Yonkers has been able to fill educational
22 gaps and financial problems with the use of
23 these revenues.
24 And so as we look to correct what
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1 is wrong with funding education -- and I think
2 we are going a far way to make those
3 corrections -- I am pleased that we are able
4 to continue to get dollars through the VLTs --
5 and certainly Yonkers Raceway is an example of
6 one that's doing very, very well -- and hope
7 as we increase those revenues we will be able
8 to increase those dollars that go to the city
9 to be able to support education and the other
10 things that are required.
11 So I will be supporting the bill.
12 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
13 Senator Stewart-Cousins to be recorded in the
14 affirmative.
15 The Secretary will announce the
16 results.
17 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in
18 the negative on Calendar Number 292 are
19 Senators Hannon, LaValle, Marcellino, Padavan,
20 Saland, Volker. Also Senator O. Johnson.
21 Also Senator Monserrate.
22 Ayes, 54. Nays, 8.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
24 bill is passed.
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1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
2 472, substituted earlier today by Member of
3 the Assembly Silver, Assembly Print Number
4 8501, an act to amend the General Municipal
5 Law and others.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
7 Senator Libous.
8 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President,
9 there's an amendment at the desk. I would
10 waive its reading, please.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
12 Senator Libous, there is an amendment at the
13 desk. Without objection, the reading of the
14 amendment is waived and you are recognized to
15 speak on your amendment.
16 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you,
17 Mr. President.
18 This amendment would deal with the
19 fire districts that are going to be affected
20 in this consolidation bill. There are a
21 number of factors when it comes to pure
22 consolidation, but something that I think
23 would be detrimental to moving this bill
24 forward would be to include fire districts.
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1 I'd like to explain why.
2 If you look at the number of
3 volunteer firefighters in those fire companies
4 across the state, the key word in many of them
5 is "volunteer." And as we all know, there is
6 a problem in finding volunteers in our
7 communities all over New York. It's not just
8 an upstate or downstate thing, it's a problem
9 everywhere. We had at one time 140,000
10 volunteer firefighters in this state; we're
11 now down to 90,000.
12 By giving an opportunity to
13 consolidate fire districts, it would be, I
14 think, detrimental to the system of volunteer
15 firefighters throughout the state. Because
16 what it would do if those districts were
17 consolidated, it would eliminate those
18 volunteers.
19 Let me give you an example.
20 Volunteers join a fire company -- or, for that
21 matter those who are involved in emergency
22 management services, same thing -- because
23 they care about their town, village, their
24 community. If a district was to be
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1 consolidated, it is probably unlikely that the
2 volunteers would then go to volunteer in a
3 consolidated district, because it's something
4 they care about in the particular small town
5 that they live in.
6 To put something together that
7 would be a detriment to volunteers I think
8 makes no sense.
9 And the other point is that the key
10 word here is "volunteer." There's not a lot
11 of cost here. They volunteer their time to
12 help save lives and work for the community.
13 And their cost is usually a cost that is very
14 minimal. They receive their funds in many
15 cases through voluntary efforts, through
16 fundraising. And a very, very small
17 percentage, if any in some cases, comes from
18 tax dollars.
19 So for that reason, while I
20 certainly personally am not against the
21 concept of consolidation, I do fear that we
22 have a system of volunteers that is declining
23 in this state. And to keep fire districts in
24 this piece of legislation I think would be
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1 detrimental to every community that we serve
2 across this state.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
4 you, Senator Libous.
5 Are there any other Senators who
6 wish to be heard on the amendment?
7 Seeing none, the question then is
8 on the nonsponsor motion to amend Calendar
9 Number 472. Those Senators voting in support
10 of the nonsponsor amendment please indicate so
11 by raising your hand.
12 The Secretary will announce the
13 results.
14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 30. Nays,
15 32.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
17 motion fails.
18 Senator Libous.
19 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President, I
20 believe there is another amendment at the
21 desk. I would ask that you waive its reading
22 and call on Senator Farley.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
24 Senator Libous, Senator Farley does have an
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1 amendment at the desk. Without objection, the
2 reading is waived and Senator Farley is
3 recognized to speak on the amendment.
4 Senator Farley, before you speak,
5 may we have some quiet in the chamber, please.
6 SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you very
7 much, Mr. President.
8 This is not a hostile amendment,
9 this is a friendly amendment.
10 The New York Library Association
11 opposes this situation and this bill. You
12 know, consolidation is fine and it's great.
13 And like everything, libraries are governed by
14 the Education Law.
15 And I want to applaud my
16 colleagues. Everybody on both sides of the
17 aisle in this house has been so supportive of
18 libraries. And libraries in New York State
19 are our crown jewel, as far as the rest of the
20 nation is concerned. They're chartered,
21 they're covered by the Education Law, they're
22 chartered by the Board of Regents, like all
23 educational institutions.
24 You know, schools and the education
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1 institutions are exempted from this
2 consolidation, as should be libraries.
3 Traditionally, we haven't had any great
4 problem with overtaxation or anything else
5 like that.
6 I just want to bring up one other
7 example. And I don't want to use Albany
8 County as an example, but let's say that a
9 library district in Bethlehem, which is right
10 near here, and Guilderland and so forth, if
11 you start consolidating this thing and
12 bringing in one library, the poor, the elderly
13 that do not have access to information will be
14 shut out because of not being able to get to
15 that particular institution. This
16 consolidation would certainly limit access.
17 And, you know, libraries, generally
18 speaking, when you're talking about local
19 government, they generally speaking are the
20 last to be funded and the first to be cut.
21 And they think if they can save some money by
22 not funding libraries, by consolidating them
23 and so forth, I think it would be a very, very
24 bad thing.
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1 Now, none of us really want to do
2 anything to hurt libraries. And consequently,
3 I think this is a very important amendment and
4 one that should be supported. Because as I
5 say, the libraries have been a friend of this
6 Legislature, and they do oppose being included
7 in this bill. And they think they should be
8 treated like the schools, because they
9 certainly are part of the education system.
10 I move this amendment.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
12 you, Senator Farley.
13 Are there any other Senators who
14 wish to be heard?
15 Seeing none, the question is on the
16 nonsponsor motion to amend Calendar Number
17 472. Those Senators voting in support of the
18 nonsponsor amendment should signify by raising
19 your hand.
20 Announce the results.
21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 30. Nays,
22 32.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
24 motion fails.
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1 Senator Libous.
2 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you,
3 Mr. President.
4 I believe there's another amendment
5 at the desk. I would ask that you would waive
6 its reading and call on Senator DeFrancisco,
7 please.
8 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: There
9 is another amendment at the desk. However, I
10 have reviewed Senator DeFrancisco's amendment
11 with counsel and am ruling it out of order as
12 not germane to the bill.
13 It relates to a different subject
14 matter than the bill at hand, which relates to
15 the issue of consolidation, a process to
16 consolidate or dissolve local governments.
17 Senator DeFrancisco's amendment relates to the
18 issue of the New York State budget process
19 and, in particular, levels of state spending.
20 Senator Libous.
21 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President,
22 point of order. I believe Senator DeFrancisco
23 would like to debate the germaneness of this
24 particular amendment.
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1 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
2 Senator DeFrancisco is recognized to appeal
3 the ruling of the chair.
4 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I believe
5 you're mistaken on your ruling. As you know,
6 the amendment would deal with adding the
7 Governor's -- not our previously introduced
8 and announced spending cap, but the Governor's
9 Program Bill 16 that would cap spending by the
10 growth of -- only by the growth for the last
11 three years of inflation, the average rate of
12 inflation for the last previous calendar
13 years. And it would increase the reserve fund
14 from 3 to 10 percent, thereby making a cushion
15 for future years.
16 And the reason it's relevant and
17 germane is simply this, that the whole purpose
18 of this consolidation effort and the purpose
19 of the bill -- and I believe the sponsor will
20 admit it -- the purpose of it is to save money
21 so that we can in the future be able to save
22 the amount of dollars that has to be spent by
23 the state government on various things to
24 localities. In other words, save money. It's
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1 the same concept.
2 I'm a cosponsor of the bill. This
3 would make the bill of Senator Stewart-Cousins
4 even better. And I as a cosponsor will state
5 on the record that this is germane to my bill
6 that I'm cosponsoring, insofar as it's a
7 question of trying to save money.
8 And therefore, I would appeal the
9 ruling of the chair. Thank you.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
11 you, Senator DeFrancisco.
12 The question before the house,
13 then, is whether the decision of the chair
14 shall stand as judgment of the Senate. All in
15 favor of overruling the decision of the chair
16 please signify by raising your hands.
17 The Secretary will announce the
18 results.
19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 30. Nays,
20 32.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Having
22 failed to obtained the necessary votes, the
23 ruling is sustained and the appeal is denied.
24 Senator DeFrancisco.
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1 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I just
2 wondered if I could ask for a recount.
3 (Laughter.)
4 SENATOR LIBOUS: Explanation of
5 the bill, please.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
7 Senator Stewart-Cousins, an explanation of the
8 bill has been requested by Senator Libous.
9 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: Thank
10 you, Mr. President.
11 As chair of the Local Government
12 Committee, at the request of Attorney General
13 Cuomo I introduced Legislative Program Bill
14 Number 1, the "New New York Government
15 Reorganization and Citizen Empowerment Act."
16 Reform is something we've talked
17 about. We never stop talking about it. And
18 every once in a while, when we all put our
19 minds to it, we actually do reform. This is
20 one step, and it's a very big step in that
21 process.
22 The bill, first of all, was
23 cosponsored by the ranking member of the Local
24 Government Committee, my colleague Senator
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1 Betty Little, who's also worked very, very
2 hard on these issues for many, many years.
3 We passed this piece of legislation
4 out of our committee last week, and we feel
5 that it's very important. Important because
6 it gives a very solid road map, a blueprint
7 for not only local officials who might want to
8 consolidate entities of government but also
9 the electorate who might want to consolidate
10 levels of government.
11 If there was a question about how
12 one could do that, this particular piece of
13 legislation shows you clearly that you can and
14 shows you clearly how it can be done. It does
15 not compel anyone to do anything. There are
16 no mandates here. It does not threaten anyone
17 or anything.
18 What it simply does is establishes
19 a uniform and user-friendly process by which
20 you can consolidate or dissolve entities
21 should you desire to do so.
22 The act reforms existing law -- and
23 when I saw existing law, I should probably say
24 it in the plural, because there are so many.
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1 It repeals and amends and supersedes outdated
2 laws and establishes, in a single article of
3 the General Municipal Law, uniform procedures.
4 The bill will help, again, local
5 governments or the voters themselves to
6 facilitate consolidation or dissolutions. It
7 gives citizens power. It gives all of us a
8 clear direction. And hopefully we will
9 support, again, this very first but very
10 important step towards reform and towards
11 easing a tax burden should communities wish to
12 consolidate or dissolve entities.
13 Thank you.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
15 you, Senator Stewart-Cousins.
16 Senator Saland.
17 SENATOR SALAND: Mr. President,
18 would Senator Stewart-Cousins please yield.
19 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
20 Senator Stewart-Cousins, do you yield?
21 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: I do.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
23 sponsor yields.
24 SENATOR SALAND: Through you,
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1 Mr. President, I have some questions for
2 Senator Stewart-Cousins.
3 Senator Stewart-Cousins, I'm
4 looking at page 2 of the bill, Section 13,
5 beginning at line 47. And the language of the
6 bill excludes certain local entities from the
7 provisions of this legislation. Could you
8 tell us which those entities might be?
9 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: I mean,
10 I guess I could tell you which they are, but
11 is there some entity that you are particularly
12 concerned about?
13 SENATOR SALAND: I just want, for
14 the purposes of the record that we're going to
15 establish here, to have from the sponsor the
16 entities. Or if you'd like, I'll identify
17 them and you can tell me --
18 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: Well, I
19 mean, you know, cities, counties, school
20 districts?
21 SENATOR SALAND: Now, Title 2 is
22 "Consolidation of local government entities."
23 And you provide that "two or more local
24 government entities, whether within the same
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1 county or different counties."
2 Now, I know the County Law provides
3 for the ability to articulate boundaries to
4 accommodate these type of changes. But could
5 you tell me, if there were two local entities
6 that wished to consolidate, what would
7 determine which county they would be in at the
8 conclusion of the consolidation? And what
9 would that do to the tax base of both of the
10 counties?
11 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: Senator
12 Saland, the county boundary lines would not
13 change. So I guess what you're asking is
14 should this consolidation happen, where would
15 the various entities be within either of those
16 counties? Is that what you're asking?
17 SENATOR SALAND: I'm asking the
18 question because I simply don't know the
19 answer. If you have to consolidate --
20 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: I'm
21 not -- I was asking you was that the question
22 you were asking.
23 SENATOR SALAND: Okay. There's
24 Town A and Town B on different sides of the
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1 county border between County 1 and County 2.
2 Town A and Town B decide that they're going to
3 consolidate and become Town AB. For purposes
4 of governance, for purposes of, for example,
5 representation in a county board of
6 supervisors or in a county legislature, the
7 area that currently was a municipality in
8 County 2 is now a municipality in County 1.
9 How does the governing structure
10 work, and what impact if any does that have on
11 the healthcare of services? And if there's a
12 snowstorm and the county is responsible for
13 providing plowing services on a county road,
14 is County 1 responsible or is County 2
15 responsible?
16 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: Well, I
17 could only say -- without being able to
18 predict the outcomes of your question
19 definitively, I can say that before any of
20 that happened, there would have to have been a
21 plan. And within the construct of that plan,
22 those types of details are worked out.
23 So again, I want to continue to
24 emphasize -- and I know that you clearly
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1 understand that this is a blueprint to begin
2 the process if one wished to consolidate. But
3 there are many, many steps beyond just
4 suggesting it might be time to consolidate.
5 And before any of those things
6 arose, there would have had to have been a
7 plan in place that would take care of all of
8 the jurisdictional issues.
9 SENATOR SALAND: Well, if in fact
10 there were jurisdictional issues -- and I'm
11 only talking about the instances in which
12 there are contiguous municipalities on either
13 side of a county line -- would the counties
14 have to be party to whatever that agreement
15 was? Or could the town -- or town or village,
16 as the case may be -- bind the county by its
17 actions?
18 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: Would
19 the county be bound by the town's or village's
20 action, you're asking?
21 SENATOR SALAND: In the absence
22 of being a party to whatever this agreement
23 is --
24 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: Yes.
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1 SENATOR SALAND: -- could the
2 town and/or --
3 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: Yes.
4 SENATOR SALAND: They could bind
5 the county?
6 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: Yes.
7 SENATOR SALAND: If you'd permit
8 me an observation, I'm not sure if that might
9 not necessarily be the case, absent the
10 willingness of the county to be bound. But
11 I'll let that be for the lawyers to resolve.
12 There are several references in the
13 bill to --
14 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: Do you
15 want me to continue to yield?
16 SENATOR SALAND: If you would,
17 please. Thank you.
18 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
19 senator continues to yield.
20 SENATOR SALAND: Thank you.
21 There are several references in the
22 bill, as part of the either the consolidation
23 plan or the dissolution plan, to providing
24 estimates of fiscal savings. Who or what
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1 entity would be the entity responsible for
2 providing that information?
3 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: Well,
4 it would depend on who initiated the process.
5 Should the process be initiated by the
6 governing bodies, then it would be the
7 governing bodies that would have to provide
8 what the impact would be, including the
9 proposed savings.
10 When it comes to the
11 electorate-initiated process, they would go
12 through the petition-gathering process and
13 then, once there were enough signatures
14 gathered to pose the question, the question
15 would be posed. And should the majority of
16 the electorate decide that this might be a
17 good idea, then the process of putting the
18 plans together begins.
19 SENATOR SALAND: Excuse me.
20 Thank you. Thank you.
21 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: So it
22 would depend.
23 SENATOR SALAND: Would it be done
24 by some type of fiscal officer? Would it be
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1 done by some type of an --
2 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: The
3 local board would be responsible and would of
4 course do -- the local governing board would
5 draw on the resources that boards would
6 normally draw upon to give that type of
7 information.
8 SENATOR SALAND: So basically it
9 would be a board decision.
10 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: Yeah,
11 it would be information.
12 SENATOR SALAND: Thank you.
13 If the Senator would continue to
14 yield.
15 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
16 Senator Stewart-Cousins, do you continue to
17 yield?
18 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: I do.
19 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
20 sponsor continues.
21 SENATOR SALAND: Over on page 16,
22 "Dissolution of Local Government Entities,"
23 you provide that -- when I say "you," I
24 realize it's an Attorney General's bill -- the
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1 proposed dissolution plan shall specify, and
2 you enumerate a number of things. And one of
3 the things you enumerate is a fiscal estimate
4 of the cost of dissolution.
5 And yet in a number of the other
6 provisions of this legislation, you provide
7 for a fiscal estimate of the savings that's,
8 for example, used in the consolidation.
9 Is there a reason why you only want
10 a fiscal estimate of the cost of the
11 dissolution as distinguished from the savings
12 when it comes to a dissolution?
13 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: Well, I
14 think that the reference that you're making
15 include those things that are the minimum
16 level of information that must be provided.
17 As we all know, sometimes there are
18 unexpected costs. And so the minimum is to
19 let people know what it might cost actually to
20 dissolve a government, which could, in many
21 ways, begin to tell the story of what could be
22 saved.
23 But this is a minimum requirement.
24 It is by no means the maximum. And it's part
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1 of the process that must be complied with.
2 SENATOR SALAND: If the Senator
3 will continue to yield.
4 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
5 Senator Stewart-Cousins.
6 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: And I
7 think also, just if I might, I think it's also
8 hard -- I mean, one could -- and I think we've
9 had this discussion on both sides of the
10 aisle. You know, it's very hard to qualify
11 what precisely will be saved. And I think we
12 can, and I would hope all these governments
13 would strive in their best possible way to
14 make sure that the facts about what it would
15 cost to dissolve is there.
16 SENATOR SALAND: Thank you,
17 Senator.
18 I would merely suggest that the
19 distinct differences between the language
20 either constitutes a drafting error or, in
21 fact, somebody is looking for different
22 information. Because what I would think would
23 be of relevance to an elector, as is referred
24 to in this bill, would be is there a savings
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1 and what is it. That would seem to be what's
2 relevant.
3 And in two or three other places in
4 this bill, that is the language that is used.
5 Only in this place in this bill do we talk
6 about the fiscal estimate of the cost of
7 dissolution. Perhaps someone in the Attorney
8 General's office could tell us why there's a
9 difference.
10 Senator, someplace in this bill,
11 and it may have been at the beginning of the
12 bill, there's provision --
13 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: Do you
14 want me to continue to yield?
15 SENATOR SALAND: If you will.
16 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: Thank
17 you.
18 SENATOR SALAND: Thank you.
19 Someplace in this bill, and I
20 believe at the beginning of the bill, there's
21 a provision that certain districts do not have
22 to be contiguous in order to be consolidated.
23 And I'm wondering what districts
24 might be in mind for that type of
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1 consolidation, and why would it be beneficial
2 that they not be contiguous?
3 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: Maybe
4 sewer districts.
5 SENATOR SALAND: Ah, page 4.
6
7 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: Sewer
8 districts. Did you hear my answer?
9 SENATOR SALAND: But the
10 language, if I may, does not limit itself to
11 sewer districts.
12 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: No, you
13 asked me a question, so I gave you a
14 possibility.
15 SENATOR SALAND: I'm looking
16 at -- if you'll continue to yield, I'm looking
17 at lines 2 through 4 on page 4. "The
18 requirement that local government entities be
19 contiguous to consolidate does not apply to
20 entities other than towns and villages."
21 So I would assume -- and please
22 correct me if I'm wrong -- that if you're not
23 a town or village, if you're a water district,
24 if you're a fire district --
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1 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: Right.
2 The special districts.
3 SENATOR SALAND: Oh, the special
4 districts.
5 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: Special
6 districts don't have to be contiguous, whereas
7 the towns and villages do.
8 SENATOR SALAND: And could you --
9 if you'll continue to yield --
10 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS:
11 Absolutely.
12 SENATOR SALAND: -- explain to me
13 what the value would be in merging
14 noncontiguous fire districts. Given that one
15 has to respond to a fire rather rapidly, or an
16 emergency situation, I don't know --
17 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: Senator
18 Saland, I don't know either. And the beauty
19 of this is that I don't have to know, and
20 neither do you.
21 The reality is that this is a
22 blueprint and a road map. And should people
23 make the decision to go down that path, they
24 would have their reasons, and this would be an
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1 opportunity for them to be able to do it
2 without the hurdles that existed before.
3 SENATOR SALAND: Thank you.
4 Thank you, Senator.
5 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: Thank
6 you, Senator.
7 SENATOR SALAND: On the bill.
8 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
9 Senator Saland, on the bill.
10 SENATOR SALAND: I must confess I
11 am genuinely interested in trying to be
12 supportive of this bill and quite literally
13 haven't made up my mind. And I'm assuming
14 there's going to be further comment on the
15 bill before this is over.
16 One of the things that I heard
17 Senator Stewart-Cousins say in the course of
18 her introductory remarks was she referred to
19 this as a very big step. I'm not quite sure
20 that that might not be overamplifying to a
21 considerable degree the value of this
22 legislation. I would more or less have to
23 define it as being a rather small if not
24 minute step that's truly playing at the edges.
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1 Because once you eliminate school
2 districts, once you eliminate cities, once you
3 eliminate counties, you are talking about a
4 modest amount that's left on the table. For
5 most of us -- certainly people in my area --
6 the school tax bill will run you close to
7 two-thirds of your overall tax bill. So I
8 think it's realistic to use a 65 percent
9 number.
10 If you live in a city and you also
11 are -- I'm sorry, if you're living in a
12 county, if the county tax is also not part of
13 this equation, I have to assume that you've
14 probably taken, before batting an eye,
15 70 percent of your overall property tax burden
16 easily out of the equation.
17 Now, when I see estimates -- and I
18 have a couple of memos, and I'll read from --
19 and you'll excuse me for laughing -- a
20 Citizen's Action memo in support. It says:
21 "Published reports from various state agencies
22 have stated that consolidating special taxing
23 districts can actually save statewide
24 homeowners up to 22 percent on their property
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1 taxes."
2 Well, if the rest of the universe
3 is 32 percent, 22 percent would amount to the
4 majority of that 30 percent. It just isn't
5 going to happen. It's not going to happen.
6 There's no way in the world. I mean. This is
7 so ludicrous as to be laughable.
8 I mean, if you want to be realistic
9 about it, it's nice to talk about this as
10 being a step -- and it is a step. And
11 consolidation is important. But when you use
12 numbers like 22 percent, my God, that borders
13 on lunacy, idiocy. There can't be anybody
14 with half a brain who could believe this.
15 Whoever made this up should go back and use
16 their Ouija board and come up with another
17 number.
18 And then I've got a NYPIRG memo
19 saying it can reduce your town tax bill by
20 20 percent. Well, that's every bit as much of
21 a stretch, although not as ludicrous as
22 22 percent of your total tax bill.
23 If you turn back the pages of time,
24 when Willie Sutton, probably back in the '50s,
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1 was asked why he robbed banks, he said,
2 "That's where the money is." Well, where the
3 money is is where the school tax is. The
4 money is not in consolidation; you're truly
5 playing on the edges. The money is where the
6 school tax is.
7 The bottom line is without dealing
8 meaningfully with the issue of your school
9 property tax, there is no reform that's going
10 to be accomplished. Can this be helpful? I
11 would certainly hope so. And I would hope
12 that I would be able to support this bill.
13 But the simple fact of the matter is to call
14 this a major step, a big step, is a result
15 only of using magnifying glasses and
16 amplification.
17 The bottom line, basically, is we
18 are truly here, at most, just playing on the
19 periphery of an issue that has plagued this
20 institution, has plagued this state for years,
21 certainly more than a decade.
22 To advance this as somehow or other
23 a major reform or making any significant
24 difference in anybody's property tax bill is
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1 truly an enormous reach and an injustice to a
2 problem that still cries out, cries out every
3 single day in every one of our constituencies,
4 particularly where you have so-called
5 independent school districts, and begs for
6 reform that this doesn't come close to even
7 touching.
8 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
9 you, Senator Saland.
10 Senator Marcellino.
11 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you,
12 Mr. President. On the bill.
13 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
14 Senator Marcellino, on the bill.
15 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Would you
16 buy a car without looking under the hood?
17 Would you buy a car without test driving,
18 kicking the tires, turning on the engine to
19 see if the motor works? Would you buy a car
20 without knowing the mileage, the gas mileage,
21 especially today?
22 What this bill is asking us to do
23 is to buy, literally, a pig in a poke. We
24 don't know what this bill will achieve. There
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1 is no -- as has been explained by Senator
2 Saland's questioning, there is no real savings
3 to be pointed to here that we can identify
4 that makes any difference.
5 The savings is in the state. We
6 tax too much and we spend too much. We should
7 be consolidating state agencies. We should be
8 consolidating state workforce, state business.
9 We should be consolidating what we do here in
10 Albany and eliminating waste and duplication.
11 That's our problem.
12 We shouldn't be meddling around in
13 water districts, in local communities, which
14 are run usually very efficiently and very
15 effectively and deliver a quality product.
16 I live on Long Island. We drink
17 the water beneath our feet. We're very
18 concerned about its quality. The people in
19 the districts that handle that stuff handle it
20 carefully and under great scrutiny, because
21 the people of Long Island care about their
22 water and they understand its important and
23 significance.
24 I live in the Jericho Water
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1 District. It is a water district that has
2 never issued a bond to pay any bills. It is
3 the best-run water district on Long Island, in
4 my mind. It is one of the most effective, and
5 amongst all of them -- they're all very
6 effective. But the commissioners of that
7 district have never sought to raise money by
8 issuing bonds. It's been pay as you go. And
9 they do it well, they have excess water, and
10 they deliver a good product.
11 Why would we want to lose that?
12 Why would we want to put that at risk? We
13 talked about fire districts before. The key
14 element in fire districts is response time.
15 If you consolidate Fire District A with Fire
16 District B, you still have to get to where the
17 fire is. What house are you going to close?
18 What equipment are you going to sell off?
19 Because that's where the savings is going to
20 be.
21 And if we start reducing the number
22 of firehouses within your community, within
23 our areas, we now run the risk of extending
24 response time. Response time, as everybody
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1 knows, is life and death. If you can't get
2 there on time when the fire is going to rescue
3 the people in the home or to protect and save
4 the home, you have a problem. No amount of
5 consolidation is worth putting someone's life
6 at risk.
7 And when you're doing that, you're
8 putting someone's life at risk for a savings
9 which, as was pointed out so eloquently by
10 Senator Saland, is extremely minimal at best.
11 The process belies, you know,
12 explanation. The public is asked to vote on
13 the concept of consolidation. No plan, just
14 the concept. After the vote is taken, should
15 it be successful, then a plan will be formed.
16 By whom?
17 The only way the voters who
18 supported the concept, according to this bill,
19 can get a look at the plan is by doing another
20 referendum with another petition with even
21 more signatures required. It's not automatic.
22 It doesn't go back to those voters.
23 I'm reminded of the Wizard of Oz
24 movie where we saw the Emerald City, where you
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1 heard the loud voice of the wizard, but when
2 you got in there you saw the little old man
3 throwing the levers and pulling the strings
4 admonishing everybody, "Don't look at the man
5 behind the curtain." Don't worry about the
6 facts, don't worry about the details, just
7 remember the wizard. Just believe in the
8 wizard.
9 Well, I don't think we should be
10 doing that to our taxpayers. I think it's
11 dangerous. I think it's selling a bill of
12 goods that isn't there.
13 We have to be very careful.
14 Consolidation is important. Everybody wants
15 to save money. I believe the Attorney General
16 is working hard. I believe he wants to do the
17 right thing, I really do. I don't believe
18 this bill is crafted well enough. I believe
19 it needs a lot more work before it should be
20 put out there and before it should be passed
21 to become law.
22 It's dangerous to put this sort of
23 thing forward without a proper vetting,
24 without the proper really hard look and full
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1 explanation. When are we going to vote on
2 this bill? Consolidation, according to this,
3 will be done in a special election. Well,
4 special elections are notoriously low-turnout
5 elections. We've all experienced it. We've
6 all run, in some cases -- I know I did. The
7 turnout in that special that got me elected
8 the first time in 1995 was about 20 percent of
9 what turned out in the general election. I
10 got the same percentage, by the way.
11 But the point being, the point
12 being something like this should not be -- and
13 as serious as this, as important as this,
14 should not be the subject of a minority of
15 votes and a very small amount of signatures.
16 It should be done, in my mind, in the general.
17 It should be put up for a vote in a
18 general election, where a majority of the
19 voters are going to come out and a large
20 number will turn out. Hopefully educated.
21 Hopefully a full debate in the public, in the
22 light of day, will be done by people running,
23 where this issue can be fully vetted by the
24 taxpayers. Who are the ones who are going to
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1 have to pay the price for this.
2 Because once you've done it, once
3 you've done this consolidation or the
4 dissolution of these districts, you're not
5 going to go back. You're not going to go back
6 and put them back. Once the damage is done,
7 it's over. And you have to live with that
8 problem for years and years to come.
9 So, ladies and gentlemen, I
10 strongly suggest that we look behind the
11 curtain here, that we lift the hood up on that
12 car and see what is actually there and make
13 sure that it truly works and does what it's
14 going to do.
15 And if we're going to ask our
16 people and say that we're doing this in the
17 guise of voter empowerment, I want to truly
18 empower the voter. I want to make sure that
19 voter knows what they're voting for. Not some
20 mythical savings which isn't real. They
21 should understand what the reality is before
22 this thing is done. It's much too important,
23 the issue is much too important for us to do
24 this like this.
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1 I suggest this bill go back for
2 revision. And I'm not talking about chapter
3 amendments, I'm talking about revision
4 beforehand, before it's done. I think this
5 bill should be recalled. And I think it
6 should be redone so that we can have all of
7 the problems that have been pointed out here
8 fixed to everybody's satisfaction before it
9 comes to a vote on this floor.
10 If comes in this form, if it stays
11 in this form, I will be voting no because I
12 don't think this is the -- I don't think this
13 is the true thing that it's pretending to be.
14 As I said earlier, this isn't the real issue.
15 This isn't the real thing. This is a wish.
16 And I don't think we should be voting on a
17 wish.
18 I'm going to vote no on this bill
19 if it stays the way it is, Mr. President. And
20 I urge everyone else to do the same. Thank
21 you for your patience.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
23 you, Senator Marcellino.
24 Senator Little.
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1 SENATOR LITTLE: Thank you,
2 Mr. President. On the bill.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
4 Senator Little, on the bill.
5 SENATOR LITTLE: Thank you.
6 I would like to begin by thanking
7 Senator Stewart-Cousins for asking me to be a
8 cosponsor on a bill and for recognizing the
9 fact that this is an issue that I have talked
10 about and worked on and suggested legislation
11 for for a number of years -- actually, since
12 I've been in the Senate.
13 I believe that we have to look at
14 ways of being more efficient, as was spoken,
15 at the state level as well as at the local
16 level. I believe there are many local
17 governments that would like to look at how
18 they can be more efficient and that they also
19 need help in making the process easier and
20 having the state be a partner with local
21 government in getting to the end result.
22 I appreciate this legislation. I
23 think that as we go forward we will see that
24 much of this legislation can already be done
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1 at the local level. But what it actually is
2 trying to do is to streamline the process.
3 For every different entity that you
4 want to do a consolidation or a merger for and
5 have a vote on, you need a different
6 percentage of signatures. So what this does
7 is say that not 5 percent of those who voted
8 in the last election but 10 percent of the
9 eligible voters in a district would be allowed
10 to petition that particular government.
11 There are two ways that you can
12 reach this consolidation in this, and it's
13 laid out step-by-step with what has to be
14 included, hearings and the whole works.
15 The one is that an elected body
16 would put forth a consolidation proposal or a
17 dissolution of a village. And I have two sets
18 of village-towns who are looking at this type
19 of thing.
20 When they put it forth, if it's
21 from the elected body, they have to have a
22 consolidation plan with a fiscal note as to
23 what the savings are, what the process is,
24 what happens to the property, how everything
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1 is going to work. And then it would go --
2 have hearings as well, publications, and then
3 it would go a vote.
4 The other one is when a percentage,
5 10 percent of the eligible voters would come
6 forward with a petition. Now, when that
7 petition is brought, the elected body then
8 sets a time to go to a vote. Certainly there
9 will be a lot of discussion between then.
10 But as to having to come up with a
11 full-scale plan, you might want to do that,
12 but you might not want to do that if you know
13 that this consolidation and this petition is
14 from a real minority and is not going to pass
15 anyway. So why do the plan and then put it to
16 the voters.
17 Once those voters have decided that
18 they want to pursue a consolidation, then a
19 plan has to be devised that you have to have
20 hearings, you have to have publications, you
21 have to meet with all kinds of people and come
22 up with how you would do it. That elected
23 body can -- there can be another petition to
24 go to a second vote, or that elected body can
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1 call for a referendum and have that.
2 There are many opportunities here
3 that could be taken by local governments.
4 They may; they may not. This is a very
5 emotional issue. It's an issue that affects a
6 lot of people in a district. Some want it,
7 some won't want it. But it gives an
8 opportunity to bring this to a vote, and it
9 really clarifies the process in a step-by-step
10 way.
11 I have seen in my own district a
12 lot of duplication. We talked about the
13 counties. I have one village, the Village of
14 Saranac Lake, which is in three towns and two
15 counties. Now, there are layers upon layers
16 of government in that area.
17 And as to trying to work together,
18 we now have the village looking at becoming
19 one unit with the town, the town that it is --
20 has the greatest part of the village.
21 So whether that happens or not, I
22 don't know. But throughout my district I've
23 had two village police departments combine. I
24 have, as I said, two villages and two towns
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1 that are looking at how they can avoid the
2 duplication and have a more efficient
3 government.
4 Are there savings? There are
5 savings in many of these districts, sewer
6 districts, water districts, all kinds of
7 districts, just in the administration. The
8 people want the service. You're still going
9 to have all the service. But you might be
10 able to save in the administration of the
11 operation that goes on. I have towns that
12 have three and four water districts. You
13 could have all those water districts being
14 administered by one group.
15 So there are savings that can be
16 generated by this. In the long run, you may
17 be able to, through attrition, reduce the
18 number of people that are employed by the
19 village or the town. And especially if you
20 dissolve a village, you're going to see some
21 savings in that.
22 It is an emotional issue. But I
23 really commend the Attorney General for
24 putting forth this piece of legislation. I
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1 served on the Lundine Commission, called the
2 Commission on Government Efficiency. And
3 many, many, many issues were discussed. And
4 trying to move a couple of those issues
5 forward is what's happening in this piece of
6 legislation.
7 As I said, much of this can be done
8 anyway by those local governments who choose
9 to do it. We talk about initiative and
10 referendum. We're giving people the
11 opportunity, making it a little easier for
12 them to petition government, to look at some
13 consolidation.
14 And I believe that this is a good
15 bill. I think that there are probably some
16 things in it that need to be tweaked and will
17 be, going forward. But I think that we as
18 elected representatives owe it to our
19 communities to be a partner in helping them in
20 becoming more efficient if they choose to.
21 And there is no mandate, as Senator
22 Stewart-Cousins said, in this bill, absolutely
23 no mandate anyplace that would require anyone
24 to do anything. But if there is a petition or
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1 there is a decision made, the steps are all
2 laid out.
3 So thank you. And I will be voting
4 in the affirmative on this bill.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
6 you, Senator Little.
7 Senator Libous.
8 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you,
9 Mr. President.
10 I put an amendment on the floor
11 earlier that I believed in. And it is my hope
12 that when this bill passes that Senator
13 Stewart-Cousins and the Attorney General will
14 work with me to protect those fire districts,
15 because I care very deeply about them and I
16 will continue to pursue that issue.
17 I would like now talk about the
18 main bill and consolidation. You've heard a
19 number of points for and against the bill, and
20 I certainly have great respect for all of my
21 colleagues and their positions.
22 Mr. President, I stand here to support the
23 bill, and I want to share why.
24 Consolidation is an issue that's
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1 always talked about, but then when it comes to
2 implementing, people get nervous because there
3 may be a loss of a job or two or a merging of
4 various departments. But yet everybody talks
5 about consolidation. Even the local officials
6 who run for office talk about consolidation.
7 In my district the people have
8 spoken in the Village of Johnson City.
9 They've actually petitioned -- as Senator
10 Little said, you can do it now. They've
11 petitioned, and they are moving forward. And
12 I can tell you that not only are they moving
13 forward with great speed, but they got the
14 local governments to begin to talk about
15 various mergers of departments, whether it be
16 the water treatment facility or the police
17 department or the fire department. They're
18 now talking about two village fire departments
19 merging together. But it was because the
20 people spoke.
21 And, Mr. President, I support and
22 have supported initiative and referendum. And
23 I sometimes wonder why people get nervous when
24 the voters want to have a say. They're the
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1 same people who put us here, every one of us
2 here in the Senate. The same people who made
3 wise choices in electing us to the positions
4 we hold. Why not allow them to make decisions
5 in their own towns and villages as it pertains
6 to their local governments?
7 As Senator Little said, and I think
8 Senator Stewart-Cousins said, this legislation
9 isn't mandating a thing. As a matter of fact,
10 most of it is in law anyway.
11 I think the people need to have
12 more opportunities to speak. They are the
13 taxpayers. They are the men and women who not
14 only provide the money that pay our salaries,
15 but they pay the salaries of the local
16 officials. And they certainly have a right to
17 an honest say into how those dollars spent
18 locally.
19 I applaud the Attorney General for
20 taking a leadership move. I hope that he will
21 be open to amendments, because many of my
22 colleagues have brought up some very valid
23 points. And I think that there needs to be
24 some chapter amendments to this legislation.
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1 But I stand here to support the
2 effort. I think consolidation is an important
3 issue. And at least this will begin and has
4 begun the discussion. Everyone at the local
5 level is talking about the issue, and that's
6 positive. So if the Attorney General has done
7 anything, at least he's brought a new
8 awareness to the issue of consolidation. And
9 hopefully we can amend the bill so that we can
10 take care of some of the issues that were
11 brought up today.
12 But we need to look at
13 consolidation seriously in New York State.
14 Many of our governments are overbloated. And
15 as we need to continue to trim state
16 government, we need give the locals an
17 opportunity -- not force them, but give them
18 their own opportunity to reduce and
19 consolidate governments.
20 I vote aye.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
22 you, Senator Libous.
23 Senator Craig Johnson.
24 SENATOR CRAIG JOHNSON: Thank you
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1 very much, Mr. President. On the bill.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
3 Senator Johnson, on the bill.
4 SENATOR CRAIG JOHNSON: I first
5 want to thank my neighbor and colleague and
6 the chairwoman of the Local Governments
7 Committee, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, for
8 sponsoring this initiative.
9 I would be remiss if I did not
10 thank the Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, and
11 in particular his staff, Hank Greenberg and
12 Jim Malatras, who throughout the process have
13 had constant open lines of communications with
14 respect to this issue.
15 And I think we can all say in this
16 body that we all agree of the need to lower
17 the cost of government here in New York State.
18 The way I look at it, reasonable people are
19 going to differ on reasonable positions. And
20 notwithstanding the fact of hearing the
21 proponents of the bill on the bill today, I
22 believe that this piece of legislation
23 contains some potential flaws and pitfalls
24 that I don't see as being reconcilable at this
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1 juncture.
2 Before I get into that, I think
3 it's important just to quickly discuss the
4 amendments that failed earlier today. And I
5 commend you, Senator Libous, on the amendment
6 that you brought up with respect to the fire
7 districts. But it fell a little bit short
8 because the bill, your amendment didn't exempt
9 fire protection districts or village fire
10 departments.
11 I've got village protection
12 districts in my district. I've got village
13 fire departments in my district. Many of us
14 do. And notwithstanding the good intention of
15 the amendment, we didn't include those. And
16 so it's kind of hard to split the baby
17 Solomon-like.
18 But I think, as you said, I am
19 hopeful that you will work with us, and
20 hopefully the Attorney General's office, on
21 chapter amendments to address the issue of the
22 volunteer firefighters. And whether it's
23 through an exemption or creating a process
24 where we give a full and fair opportunity --
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1 through an arbitrator, a mediator,
2 something -- to let the people understand
3 what's going on, I'm hopeful we can get to
4 that process.
5 And there's no doubt, Senator
6 Farley, your issue on library districts and
7 the important role that they play. But like
8 my good friend Senator Marcellino talked
9 about, water districts play a very important
10 role in Long Island and in other places.
11 Police districts. There are other special
12 districts that impact the lives of our
13 residents.
14 And so my concern on the library
15 district is maybe look at other exemptions.
16 And again, a positive piece of this
17 legislation is that the effective date is not
18 for 270 days after it's been signed into law.
19 That gives us nine months to work together, to
20 work together on addressing those particular
21 issues.
22 And so it was hard, obviously, and
23 you addressed great points. But the need to
24 address them going forward is just as
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1 compelling.
2 A lot of the discussion both inside
3 this chamber and the halls of the Capitol, all
4 across the state, is the need to reduce the
5 size of government. The concern is that we
6 all represent different areas of the state.
7 And my concern is what this bill could start
8 is creating big government.
9 And I'll give you an example. And
10 it's on example I picked up on in reading the
11 various editorials in support of this
12 legislation. They discussed a particular
13 village. I think the village was by the name
14 of Tully -- coincidentally, my predecessor's
15 predecessor in the 7th Senatorial District.
16 And the editorial page took issue with the
17 mayor of the Village of Tully for claiming of
18 thwarting a consolidation into the Town of
19 Tully. The population of Tully was in the
20 hundreds; the Town of Tully was in the
21 thousands, the low thousands. Interesting
22 point.
23 My concern is take a village in my
24 district -- and I rent 33 of them, ladies and
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1 gentlemen, 33 villages. They range in size
2 from the high hundreds to the tens of
3 thousands. Consolidating a village in my
4 district into one of the three towns I
5 represent -- I represent towns with population
6 over 200,000, over 700,000, over 300,000.
7 Talk about big government. Talk about big
8 government.
9 I think what we need to do is take
10 some time. I think what we need to do is take
11 some time. I think that the well-intentioned
12 provisions of this law unfortunately
13 potentially create some mischief. There's no
14 doubt there have been instances and examples
15 of villages, under the current threshold of
16 the law, 33 percent of the owners of real
17 property have had efforts to consolidate under
18 the law. And they've tried. And there have
19 been instances, and I think there are members
20 in the Senate body who have been involved in
21 some of those efforts in the past in other
22 roles.
23 Now what we're doing is we're
24 dropping the initiative to 10 percent, one out
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1 of 10 individuals who live in the district,
2 who are electorates in the district, live in
3 the district. One out of 10. I don't know if
4 that's really indicating something. One out
5 of three, one out of three persons, maybe, to
6 bring a referendum. But one out of 10, I
7 don't know.
8 But the other concern I have is
9 that these referendums, these referendums can
10 become special elections, which have
11 notoriously low turnout. It doesn't
12 necessarily accurately reflect whether the
13 electorate wants to undertake something.
14 I don't know what the efforts will
15 be to address the issue of if somebody is
16 angry at village hall, to have them undertake
17 paid canvassers to go around and collect
18 signatures and start the process. I don't
19 know.
20 I know that Senator Little
21 discussed the issue of the plan first versus
22 the referendum. I also know that all of us
23 here are experienced in campaigns, and things
24 many times are said in campaigns.
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1 But I think it's important that
2 regardless if you took the plan first or the
3 plan second, you have to be allowed to vote on
4 the plan. And it shouldn't be triggered by a
5 permissive referendum. Right now the
6 legislation says that if a referendum passes
7 and you now start the process of a
8 consolidation or dissolution, start it by
9 voter electorates, that at the end of the day
10 that plan takes place unless you have another
11 petition drive.
12 Never mind the fact that the
13 original petition drive has no cutoff date on
14 signatures -- you can collect them for
15 months -- and the vote on a plan has a short
16 cutoff date, you have to rush out and get
17 signatures after 45 days. Put that aside, and
18 put aside the fact that you have different
19 higher thresholds. Why wouldn't the
20 proponents of a consolidation or dissolution
21 want to put their plan immediately up for a
22 vote?
23 And by the way, ladies and
24 gentlemen, we talk about nothing is mandated.
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1 Well, what this actually does is create a
2 little bit of an unfunded mandate that we talk
3 about that we want to prevent. The unfunded
4 mandate is, if you read it, the villages or
5 the entities that are being consolidated or
6 dissolved have to pay for the plan. There's
7 no incentive.
8 When I served on the Lundine
9 Commission and when we talked about these
10 issues, one of the things talked about quite a
11 bit was if people want to consolidate or
12 dissolve, you've got to offer incentives. So
13 one of the things that has to be taken into
14 account in any kind of fiscal impact has to be
15 what's the cost going to be for actually
16 putting this plan together. And it's going to
17 take a lengthy process.
18 And then we have to look at the
19 result. And then we have to look at the
20 issues. What about labor costs? What about
21 union contracts? What happens to them? A lot
22 of it's open-ended, and I understand that.
23 It's a process, we're starting a process. But
24 there are a lot of questions, ladies and
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1 gentlemen. A lot of questions.
2 And so my concern as I'm here today
3 is I agree, Senator Libous, it's about the
4 people, letting the people decide. But we
5 need to do it in a way that we correct the
6 pitfalls.
7 When we are involved in a petition
8 process to get on the ballot, there is a right
9 to challenge the signatures. I think we've
10 even had debates here this session on changes
11 to the Election Law that people brought up
12 that very point.
13 Is there a way to challenge those
14 signatures in here? I don't know. I don't
15 think so. I think the village clerk or the
16 clerk in the town who takes the petitions
17 takes and checks them off. Is there a way for
18 people to challenge those signatures other
19 than to look at it?
20 So there are questions, ladies and
21 gentlemen, there are questions. I had hoped
22 and I had wished to do hearings on this. We
23 spent a year on the Lundine Commission going
24 around and talking about this and listening to
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1 both sides, to both sides. And obviously
2 there can and should be ways to address these
3 issues, because they are important. Because
4 we do want to reduce the cost of government
5 and give relief to our constituents.
6 But my concern is today, as we vote
7 on this bill, there are just too many
8 unanswered questions. And so as much as I
9 regret, I am going to have to break ranks with
10 my friend Andrea Stewart-Cousins and I am
11 going to have to oppose this legislation for
12 the reasons I've set forth.
13 Thank you, Mr. President.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
15 you, Senator Johnson.
16 Senator Morahan.
17 SENATOR MORAHAN: Thank you,
18 Mr. President.
19 Much has been said about this bill,
20 pro and con, which clearly indicates it's not
21 a perfect bill. But in all the years I'm
22 here, I never had the opportunity to vote for
23 a perfect bill.
24 We hear these questions and these
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1 specters looming up in front of us like
2 they're insurmountable. I believe over the
3 next nine months we will continue to get input
4 from local villages, from constituents, on and
5 on, to indicate what we may have to do to
6 tweak this bill. Because there are some
7 concerns.
8 But overall what we're doing is
9 we're giving people, the taxpayers, something
10 to say about their own destiny. And what I
11 hear from those who are not supporting the
12 bill today is that we know best, we know of
13 all the foibles, and we have to protect the
14 people from themselves because they may not be
15 as smart or as wise as we are, that they won't
16 see these same pitfalls that some point out in
17 this chamber.
18 I believe this is the start of
19 something good. I have concerns, I had
20 concerns, and I spoke for the Attorney
21 General's office as well. And I believe that
22 after the commissions -- the Suozzi
23 Commission, Governor Spitzer, now the Attorney
24 General all coming out with this thrust of
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1 what we can do to deal with the magnitude of
2 the sheer numbers of local districts and local
3 municipalities -- that maybe it is time for
4 that in-depth review.
5 And I think people in the villages
6 know what they want, know what they will pay
7 for, know what is excessive. We have seen
8 already mergers. We've seen villages pass off
9 to towns the police departments because of
10 economic drivers. So I give them full credit
11 on how to deal with this particular bill.
12 What we've done, in essence --
13 because all of the things that we propose in
14 this bill are doable under current law -- what
15 we're doing here is just making this a little
16 bit less onerous and burdensome. Some of the
17 original law was driven so people would be
18 discouraged. Villages were a creation of
19 votes, they were a creation of the people, not
20 by any constitution. And therefore, the same
21 people have the right to dissolve, they have
22 the right to merge, they have the right to
23 dictate their own destiny.
24 And while all of us have some
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1 reservations, I have trust in the people,
2 certainly in my district, and the people in
3 the State of New York that they're just as
4 smart as we are, they're just as knowledgeable
5 and will become more knowledgeable, and they
6 will move this process where it is appropriate
7 and it won't move where it would be
8 inappropriate.
9 I will cast my vote in the
10 affirmative, Mr. President.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
12 you, Senator Morahan.
13 Senator Larkin.
14 SENATOR LARKIN: Thank you,
15 Mr. President.
16 I've read this bill twice. I've
17 read parts of it three or four times. And I
18 haven't been a local government official. I
19 have some serious questions.
20 The intent is perfect. Some
21 members in this chamber remember Senator
22 Charlie Cook, late Senator Cook. I was in the
23 Assembly, he was in the Senate, and we tried
24 to put this package together. And we found
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1 stumbling blocks all over. Most of it came
2 from turf. Some of it came from strong-armed
3 outside agencies.
4 But one of the things that we
5 included in our proposal was the financing.
6 Because if two units are going to merge -- and
7 this goes back to when we used to talk of
8 revenue-sharing, not AIM -- we provided a
9 structure in there so that AIM money would go
10 into the two or more prospective units to be
11 consolidated for a period of five years.
12 Now, we don't talk about that in
13 here. We don't talk about that. And we don't
14 talk enough about the indebtedness.
15 I've seen water districts that went
16 to the comptroller in 1976 and the comptroller
17 said you can't dissolve them, what you need to
18 do is to take Water District 11 and make part
19 of it Water District 11A and Water District
20 11B. The same thing with the Attorney
21 General.
22 So I don't see this in here. If
23 it's in here, I'm blind, because I'm not
24 reading it. And I think these are some of the
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1 things that the public should know before any
2 of this is done.
3 The original concept we had 20,
4 25 years ago is still good today. The intent
5 of this bill, I give Senator Stewart-Cousins a
6 lot of credit and Betty Little and John
7 Bonacic and DeFrancisco and a lot of others.
8 And Tom Libous too. But the point that I'm
9 making is that we're losing some factors here
10 that the public should know about.
11 I couldn't in good conscience tell
12 my people to vote for this when there's
13 something left out of it, something that
14 affects their pocketbook. I hear people say
15 this will save us 22 to 24 percent. I say,
16 sit down and show me. Well, we'll do this,
17 we'll do this, we'll do -- no, you're not.
18 That's not in here.
19 The plan to dissolve it as it was
20 projected years ago was laid out so
21 everybody -- and while we're talking about it,
22 why are we saying, well, we'll eliminate this,
23 we'll eliminate that, we'll eliminate this,
24 we'll eliminate? That goes back to the
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1 problem that some of us in the MTA area had
2 when we said we'll excuse you, we'll excuse
3 you, but we'll tighten it up on someone else.
4 Now, to the people New York City,
5 why don't we consolidate boroughs? I read in
6 the papers where they say the borough
7 president is strictly a ceremonial position.
8 And he does this, that and the other, but he
9 has no effective management of the City of
10 New York. That's the mayor. You want to save
11 some money? Start right there.
12 Why are we just sticking to towns
13 and villages? What's the matter with cities?
14 There was a plan here about 15
15 years ago to make elements of government
16 within so many years continuous. Look at some
17 of our school districts upstate in the small
18 areas. We have school districts with less
19 than a thousand students. Yet we keep them.
20 I think it's a mistake to not take a good hard
21 look at these.
22 This is serious business. And I
23 appreciate the effort that's been put forth.
24 But I'm saying we are not doing enough to
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1 ensure that we're providing the people of this
2 state with specific information on what you're
3 buying.
4 You read this book, you read it,
5 and it tells you we'll do this, we'll do that,
6 we'll do this, we'll do that, we'll do this.
7 But what are we doing to ensure that the
8 public has the knowledge?
9 The original concept was
10 Municipality A and B want to get together.
11 Each one of them have a separate hearing.
12 Then they have the board decision. Then they
13 have a consolidated. And then the agreement
14 was signed as to what was going to be done.
15 That's not in here. When you talk
16 about the fire districts -- I have a fire
17 district that serves five municipalities. How
18 do you take them out and separate them and let
19 them see what's going on? You can't. No
20 matter what we want to say here, politically
21 or not, if you don't think there's ego and
22 there's turf you've got to be worried about in
23 here, you're foolish. If you think CSEA is
24 going to stand by, PEF and a lot of others,
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1 because they do not feel they're getting a
2 fair shake -- anybody can tell me, I have a
3 thousand emails from Long Island alone that
4 says this is not in the best interests of the
5 taxpaying public.
6 We keep talking about what we're
7 going to save, but I don't see it here. Do I
8 agree we need to do some consolidation? Five
9 hundred percent I do. But we're going at it
10 ass backwards. Excuse my language, ladies.
11 I think what we need to do is start
12 to say we want to have a consolidation, and
13 here's the elements of consolidation. Now,
14 John Flanagan can tell you this, because when
15 he was a young boy they wanted to consolidate
16 his school district, and his father said to
17 him: John, you'll never play for that school
18 and wear pink and gray. And somebody else
19 will say: And you'll never wear black and
20 blue. They bruised up a little bit.
21 But if you don't think that those
22 are real issues, you're fooling yourself. You
23 go to a firehouse, and Senator Johnson just
24 mentioned it very clearly. These firehouses,
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1 we're talking about volunteers. We're not
2 talking about someone who's getting a check.
3 We're talking about someone who gives their
4 whole life to protecting their fellow
5 citizens -- winter, summer, sleet, storm,
6 whatnot. They don't get -- the pride they get
7 is what what's it. There's no paycheck there.
8 But then we're going to say to
9 them: Well, we're going to take care of you.
10 Take care of you how? Why are we so damn
11 closed eyes, closed ears, to sit down -- why
12 don't we have the Attorney General and the
13 people in this house and the other sit down,
14 sit down with the Association of Counties,
15 Association of Towns, the Conference of
16 Mayors, some of our chambers of commerce.
17 They would all want to be partners in this.
18 This is a rush job. Do I
19 appreciate what the Attorney General is trying
20 to do? Most certainly. I don't know if the
21 Governor will even sign it if we pass it,
22 because you have to realize the Governor has
23 his proposal. This is the Attorney General's
24 proposal.
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1 And what are we really doing?
2 We're making a big political show because we
3 haven't produced this year for the people of
4 the State of New York. And they know it. I
5 have not one, not one piece of correspondence
6 from the 31 municipalities in my district or
7 my 18 school districts that says to me:
8 Support this consolidation. They have
9 constantly said to me, This is a shame.
10 Start from ground zero. If you
11 don't start from ground zero, you're not going
12 to accomplish anything. It's nice to say
13 we're going to save money. But if you were
14 buying an estate plan, wouldn't you go in and
15 want to find out what the plan is going to do
16 for you? You wouldn't walk in and say, here's
17 a hundred thousand dollars and throw it on the
18 table. You want to know what it's going to
19 give you.
20 We don't know here. And we're
21 blind-eyed because we say, you know, this is
22 consolidation, this is what the public wants.
23 They want -- they may want consolidation, but
24 they want it done in a manner which will
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1 reflect on something positive for the State of
2 New York.
3 How does it help our remaining
4 municipalities? What will they be doing?
5 What will be the jurisdiction? Where will our
6 law enforcement come from?
7 We have plenty of things today if
8 you want to dissolve a unit. It's in the
9 books. You can do it. But we don't want to
10 do it, we're looking for a quick fix. And a
11 quick fix, that's what drug dealers do, quick
12 fixes. We're legislators. We were sent here
13 to do a job, not to play politics. We were
14 sent here to do something that will increase
15 the quality of life of the people of this
16 state.
17 Mr. President, I would love to
18 support this bill because I think it's got
19 some good avenues of approach. But until we
20 correct that and let the public know what
21 they're buying, I cannot vote for this bill.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
23 you, Senator Larkin.
24 Before recognizing Senator
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1 Stewart-Cousins to close the debate, are there
2 any other Senators who wish to be heard?
3 Senator Owen Johnson.
4 SENATOR OWEN JOHNSON: Yes, thank
5 you, Mr. President.
6 Well, we've heard a lot, but we
7 don't know a lot. And the reason is because
8 we haven't had too much discussion about this
9 bill. It's been rushed to the floor for a
10 vote.
11 You know, it's not always good to
12 hear something you think is a great idea and
13 rush in and do it. My mother said to me once,
14 act in haste, repent at leisure. That's what
15 you're going to be doing if you vote for this
16 bill. Because the simple fact is that we
17 don't know all the mischief that could be
18 created by this bill.
19 We don't know what the cost is
20 going to be. And some lawyers here will be
21 smiling, I'm sure. They'll have a lot of work
22 in their communities because it's going to
23 create a lot of legal action, activity. And
24 whether there's any profit, nobody knows.
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1 Ten percent of the people can
2 decide that some consolidation measure,
3 whatever it might be -- and if the people vote
4 for the idea, good. But they don't have any
5 particulars. They won't find out till later,
6 until after you adopt the thing, that they can
7 create something that maybe they haven't even
8 anticipated taking place.
9 There's no security about voting.
10 What are the regulations about voting? When
11 and how are you going to vote? Who's going to
12 do it? Who's going to check the petitions and
13 all that business, the board of elections or
14 some other group that we set up to count the
15 votes and know who came in to vote and who
16 didn't come in to vote?
17 So a small minority of people could
18 really create a chaotic situation in many of
19 our communities. And it's been suggested that
20 this change should take place and that change
21 should take place. In fact, we already said
22 that we want to change it for the fire
23 districts, change it for the libraries. Maybe
24 we're going to make other changes. But once
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1 this becomes law, you might not ever get a
2 chance to make those changes. Think about
3 that.
4 This is not a perfect thing.
5 Everybody knows it's imperfect. We're going
6 to adopt it because somebody said we're in a
7 hurry to save money. We don't know what the
8 costs are going to be, we don't know what the
9 benefits are going to be. This is really
10 blindsiding everybody.
11 And the media may think it's a
12 wonderful thing, but don't let them buffalo
13 you and push you around. Tell them when this
14 bill is perfected, we'll bring it up again and
15 then we'll vote on it. Till then, we're not
16 going to do it.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
18 you, Senator Johnson.
19 Senator Stewart-Cousins, to close.
20 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: Thank
21 you, Mr. President.
22 I really appreciated the debate and
23 certainly appreciate the commitment that all
24 of my colleagues have on both sides of the
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1 aisle to tackle the things that we all know
2 that the people sent us here to tackle. And
3 we know, whether or not it's a big step or a
4 little step or whatever, that it is an
5 important step, because today is the step that
6 we take where we actually stop studying an
7 issue and start really doing something about
8 it.
9 I looked at how long we've been
10 talking about this issue. It seems that in
11 1935, the Commission for Revision of Tax
12 Laws -- because even in 1935, they were a
13 mess -- we studied. And then in 1970 we had a
14 Temporary State Commission on Powers of Local
15 Government to study how to do what we are
16 beginning to do today. That was in 1973.
17 In 1990 through 1992, we had a
18 Local Government Restructuring Project that
19 was convened by the Rockefeller Institute.
20 And from 1990 to 1993, the Commission on
21 Merging Local Governments, by Governor Cuomo,
22 was convened.
23 2002 to 2004, the Commission on
24 Local Government Reform, Governor Pataki. And
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1 then the Commission on Local Government
2 Efficiency and Competitiveness, chaired by
3 former Lieutenant Governor Stan Lundine,
4 brought us from 2007 to 2008. Clearly, we
5 have done a lot of studying on this issue.
6 So today, ladies and gentlemen, we
7 are closing the book on those studies and
8 walking forward in terms of actually creating
9 an environment that allows people, the
10 electorate, those people that we trusted
11 enough -- yes, even during special
12 elections -- to vote for the right person and
13 send them here, these people can also look at
14 their governments, look at their special
15 districts, and make decisions.
16 And we are in a position where
17 through our legislation, through this
18 initiative, we are able to help people walk
19 through the process and, yes, do the things
20 that they think are necessary.
21 I think that before we close I need
22 to thank a lot of people. And the first
23 person I do want to thank is our Majority
24 Leader, Senator Smith, for his leadership on
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1 the issue. I also want to thank my colleagues
2 on both sides of the aisle for their support.
3 My staff members, who worked so hard on this.
4 My legislative director, Kate Glazer; counsel
5 to my committee, Susan Grelick; the Senate
6 Policy Committee staff members: Tonya Cantlo,
7 Dave Marcus, Dave Krakauer; our counsel to the
8 Majority, Shelley Mayer.
9 I want to thank the Attorney
10 General for the work that he's done and his
11 staff, who I think many of you have heard have
12 always had a listening ear. And I want to
13 thank Hank Greenberg and Jim Malatras for
14 their support. I also want to thank the
15 Attorney General for working alongside of
16 Governor Paterson.
17 And of course I want to thank the
18 other house of this Legislature for passing
19 this bill.
20 I thanked my ranker, Betty Little,
21 already, but I will thank her again for being
22 steadfast and supportive.
23 And more than that, I really want
24 to thank the people of New York State, because
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1 we are all hire through their good graces and
2 we are making these initiatives and these
3 steps because of their will to see us act in
4 ways that will help them. Their demand for
5 change and reform helped us get to this place.
6 And I'm confident that, again, these initial
7 steps will be the beginning of real reform,
8 real relief in property taxes, and real
9 empowerment for the citizens of our
10 government.
11 So I thank you, Mr. President.
12 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
13 you, Senator Stewart-Cousins.
14 The debate is closed.
15 The Secretary will ring the bells.
16 The Secretary will read the last
17 section.
18 THE SECRETARY: Section 19. This
19 act shall take effect on the 270th day.
20 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Call
21 the roll.
22 (The Secretary called the roll.)
23 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
24 Senator DeFrancisco, to explain his vote.
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1 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes,
2 there's been a lot of debate on this bill to
3 consolidate or at least give the people of our
4 respective Senate districts the right to vote
5 on whether to consolidate various governmental
6 and other entities.
7 And this bill is certainly not
8 perfect. I don't know of any bill that's ever
9 been passed here that's been perfect. But on
10 the other hand, whenever you can give the
11 localities and the taxpayers the right to make
12 a decision when there's stagnation by
13 government, I think it's a good thing. That's
14 why I've always supported the initiative and
15 referendum bill.
16 I think those who are opposed or
17 some of the arguments that I heard of those
18 that were opposed I don't think give the
19 taxpayers and the voters enough credit to make
20 a decision in a right way whether it's a good
21 thing or not a good thing to consolidate.
22 For those reasons, I'm going to
23 support this bill and I do support this bill.
24 And I'll give you one example of how important
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1 it is. We had a police department in Onondaga
2 County, the Clay Police Department, and their
3 supervisor decided to bring that to the
4 voters. Well, there was a big debate, just as
5 much argument on both sides as there were in
6 the chambers today. The people decided to
7 consolidate. And now the Town of Clay is
8 saving about a million dollars as a result of
9 the Clay Police Department now merging with
10 the sheriff's department.
11 If that's what people want, we
12 should allow them to have that choice.
13 Lastly, we should take the example
14 of this bill, of what we're giving the people
15 locally, to pass initiative and referendum
16 here so people can put bills on the agenda
17 dealing with state issues. And also we should
18 provide more savings to the people of our
19 communities by way of consolidating areas in
20 state government as well.
21 Thank you, Mr. President.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
23 Senator DeFrancisco to be recorded in the
24 affirmative.
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1 Senator LaValle, to explain his
2 vote.
3 SENATOR LaVALLE: Thank you,
4 Mr. President.
5 Certainly real property taxes are
6 important to all of our constituents. The
7 Attorney General deserves a lot of credit for
8 going out and trying to put forth a proposal
9 to address that problem, as he has done, you
10 know, in saving students money through the
11 SLATE bill that he put forth, and again on
12 proposals to deal with superintendents
13 double-dipping and independent contractors who
14 were full-time individuals.
15 If you had asked me yesterday
16 morning how I would vote on this bill, I would
17 have told you yes. But I began to look at the
18 bill and listen to some of the individuals.
19 My colleague Owen Johnson really raised a
20 consciousness about we represent communities.
21 And you start to think about the communities
22 that we represent and what people are saying
23 in those communities about the government that
24 they want.
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1 I remember being out in the
2 Mattituck School District, 200 people. And
3 Matt Crossen, who is the president of the LIA,
4 made a presentation, basically on this bill,
5 how we needed to consolidate. When I followed
6 Matt Crossen, I asked the 200 people, "How
7 many people in this room want to consolidate
8 any district or special district?" Not one
9 hand went up.
10 I'm concerned about the village
11 provision that has counties playing a key
12 role, even though there are safeguards that
13 the village can override what the county
14 wants. And the volunteer firefighters, who
15 volunteer, are not paid, and have said to me
16 that this is not a good bill.
17 In my own district we are doing a
18 dissolution process of a fire district, Gordon
19 Heights Fire District. So there is a process
20 for dissolution. There is a process for
21 villages to combine.
22 And so I wish we had more time and
23 resolved some of these problems, and I am
24 going to vote in the negative.
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1 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
2 Senator LaValle to be recorded in the
3 negative.
4 Senator Foley, to explain his vote.
5 SENATOR FOLEY: Thank you,
6 Mr. President.
7 Certainly this issue has captured
8 the imagination of many in our state,
9 particularly in the area of how we can work
10 together in order to consolidate services.
11 When we read the math on this
12 particular measure, no doubt it will be
13 approved today. I will be supporting this
14 particular measure, and I want to commend the
15 Attorney General for the outstanding service
16 that he's done to our state and on this
17 particular issue.
18 But I think it's important to note
19 that over the next nine months there will be a
20 number of us within the Senate who will be
21 working very closely with our Attorney General
22 in order to put forward chapter amendments
23 that will particularly address the concerns
24 raised by our volunteer fire services, whether
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1 it's volunteer fire departments or fire
2 protection districts. We know that there have
3 been a number of issues that they have raised,
4 and that many of us have expressed today in a
5 bipartisan fashion that we intend to address
6 those concerns over the next number of months
7 through chapter amendments.
8 So with that particular
9 understanding, I will be supporting the
10 measure today. I look forward to making
11 improvements. It's been said earlier,
12 particularly by Senator Morahan, there's been
13 no in the history of either our state or of
14 our country that is absolutely perfect. But
15 we will, moving forward, make it less
16 imperfect by adopting chapter amendments that
17 will address concerns that were raised today,
18 raised by men and women who have volunteered
19 their time and effort in order to protect the
20 lives and property of our different
21 constituencies.
22 I will vote in the affirmative.
23 Thank you, Mr. President.
24 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
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1 Senator Foley to be recorded in the
2 affirmative.
3 Senator Stachowski, to explain his
4 vote.
5 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Yes,
6 Mr. President, I too would like to
7 congratulate Senator Stewart-Cousins. Also
8 the Attorney General, for not only putting the
9 bill together but also traveling across the
10 state making presentations on the bill and
11 showing us that, yes, I know a lot of these
12 things are already in law, but it's a mishmash
13 and a mess the way they all are constructed.
14 And as someone said earlier, and
15 I'm going to give him credit but not mention
16 his name -- he'll know who he was -- that all
17 these localities then say, Well, it's the
18 state's fault we can't do this. We'd be happy
19 to look into the consolidation, but the state
20 won't let us.
21 So although there might be some
22 problems in this bill -- and I've heard from
23 my fire districts also, and we're looking
24 forward to working with them and see if it's
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1 necessary to work on some kind of chapter in
2 the future -- I think it's very important that
3 we pass this bill now. And then if we need to
4 do a chapter, we can do it, to clean up
5 anything that we think needs to be cleaned up.
6 And I think that in the case of the
7 volunteer fireman that may come true, because
8 a lot of us have heard from our firemen and
9 we've listened to them and we've already been
10 talking. So with that in mind, and the fact
11 that the Attorney General did so much work on
12 this, I'm glad to stand here today and vote in
13 the affirmative.
14 Thank you, Mr. President.
15 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
16 Senator Stachowski to be recorded in the
17 affirmative.
18 Senator Schneiderman, to explain
19 his vote.
20 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you,
21 Mr. President. I rise in support of this
22 legislation. And I guess listening to this
23 debate today, it makes me appreciate all the
24 more Senator Stewart-Cousins, Senator Little,
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1 and the others who have led us in this effort.
2 And our Attorney General, who has provided
3 terrific leadership.
4 Boy, is it hard to get something
5 done in this state. That's my reaction to
6 this debate. Ladies and gentlemen, we have to
7 do something. We cannot sit here in Albany
8 and say we can't cut this agency, we can't cut
9 that agency, we can't do anything about taxes,
10 we can't do anything about local governments.
11 The people of the state want us to
12 take action in all of these areas. And this
13 bill is a modest, prudent step towards
14 reducing one aspect of the burden on the
15 people of the State of New York, which is that
16 we have over 10,000 taxing jurisdictions. So
17 thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your
18 leadership.
19 And to all my colleagues who are
20 concerned about this, we all have concerns
21 about everything. But the gridlock of Albany
22 has to stop. And with this bill, in one small
23 way we put an end to it.
24 I vote yes, Mr. President, and urge
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1 everyone to support Senator Stewart-Cousins in
2 her ongoing work to streamline government, to
3 make it more efficient and effective. And I
4 think we need more legislation like this, not
5 less.
6 Thank you.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
8 Senator Schneiderman to be recorded in the
9 affirmative.
10 Senator Winner, to explain his
11 vote.
12 SENATOR WINNER: Thank you,
13 Mr. President.
14 You know, in areas such as mine
15 that I represent, which is a large part of
16 rural New York, there's nothing more than
17 important than the provision and the
18 maintenance of our volunteer firefighter
19 services and our EMS responders. Those
20 individuals perform the types of services that
21 cannot be replaced without the expenditure of
22 billions of dollars.
23 And let's not be mistaken. The
24 circumstances surrounding the existence of
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1 volunteer firefighter services and EMS
2 providers in this state is at a crisis level.
3 The level of volunteers are shrinking. The
4 protection that is out there for communities
5 such as mine are in peril because of the lack
6 of volunteers.
7 And while I am, you know, and
8 everyone in this room -- I don't know how
9 anybody can say that they're opposed to
10 consolidation and saving the real property
11 taxpayer money -- I think that first and
12 foremost you have to make sure that you're
13 providing for the public safety of the
14 citizens that we serve.
15 And I feel that this measure is
16 imperiling and potentially imperils the public
17 service that is occurring, particularly in
18 rural New York. And as such, I am disposed to
19 oppose it.
20 You know, I think it's unfortunate
21 that I've heard that, well, you know, this is
22 not great, and we'll fix it later. You know,
23 I think rather than taking a step forward that
24 is potentially going to place our volunteer
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1 firefighter services and our EMS provider
2 services at peril with an acknowledgment that
3 it needs to be fixed, why would anyone ever go
4 down that road? Why aren't we fixing it
5 before we go down that road and imperil the
6 continuing delivery of those vital services to
7 rural New York in particular?
8 So for those reasons, my
9 colleagues, I just think that this measure
10 should now be revised to take care of those
11 concerns, rather than hoping down the road
12 that we're going to take care of it later.
13 So I vote in the negative,
14 Mr. President.
15 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
16 Senator Winner to be recorded in the negative.
17 Senator Klein, to explain his vote.
18 SENATOR KLEIN: Thank you,
19 Mr. President.
20 I rise in support of this
21 legislation today. And I want to thank my
22 colleague Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins and
23 our Attorney General for putting forth this
24 program bill.
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1 You know, everyone, I think by now
2 knows, of course, about the Suozzi Commission
3 report, which talked about ways to save on
4 property taxes. But one of the things we
5 don't always know about is the Lundine report,
6 which was released before the Suozzi report,
7 which talked about ways we can consolidate
8 government.
9 When our constituents look at their
10 property tax bill, it's very important to
11 point out that 60 percent, on average, may be
12 the school tax, but 40 percent is the local
13 government tax. So anything we can do to save
14 our taxpayers money as far as property tax is
15 concerned is something we should be looking
16 at.
17 The thing I don't understand -- and
18 I listened to the entire debate here, of
19 course, today -- is if our local governments
20 are performing efficiently, our water
21 districts, our fire districts, what do they
22 have to hide? There is no chance that the
23 local voters would want to petition for
24 consolidation.
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1 So I think one of the things of the
2 importance of this bill, I believe, is sort of
3 keeping local governments, school districts,
4 special districts honest, so to speak, where
5 they have to be efficient, they have to make
6 sure they what they're supposed to be doing in
7 a cost-effective manner.
8 So I think this is allowing, I
9 believe, the voters in our districts to play a
10 greater role in keeping local governments and
11 special districts much more efficient. And I
12 think the result will certainly be, at the end
13 of the day, a reduction in property taxes,
14 which I know we all want.
15 I vote yes.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
17 Senator Klein to be recorded in the
18 affirmative.
19 Senator Seward, to explain his
20 vote.
21 SENATOR SEWARD: Thank you,
22 Mr. President.
23 I rise to congratulate the Attorney
24 General as well as the sponsors on both sides
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1 of the aisle of this legislation before us,
2 because it does bring to the forefront the
3 whole issue of consolidation, and that's very,
4 very important to do that.
5 There are many very positive
6 aspects to this legislation. As a supporter
7 of initiative and referendum, I find the
8 provisions in terms of giving the public and
9 the voters more of a say in this whole matter
10 of consolidation, that's very positive in this
11 bill.
12 And I certainly believe that
13 consolidation should take place in terms of
14 our local governments when there is local
15 support for the consolidation, when it
16 actually saves money, lowers local taxes and
17 still maintains vital services.
18 However, the legislation before us,
19 in my estimation, misses the mark in a number
20 of ways which I feel need to be corrected
21 before supporting this legislation. For
22 example, the inclusion of the fire districts
23 and library districts in this legislation.
24 I think particularly in the rural
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1 areas where we have large districts, it could
2 very well interrupt the important vital
3 services that are provided by our fire
4 departments, emergency squads, and our local
5 libraries.
6 And I have concerns that when a
7 petition is filed to trigger a vote for
8 consolidation that there's no plan or
9 cost-benefit analysis required under the bill
10 before that vote is taken so that everyone
11 will have full knowledge of the finances and
12 what the plan would look like before they take
13 that initial vote.
14 So for these and other reasons, I
15 find, Mr. President, I shall vote no, but
16 doing so with the hope that eventually we will
17 be able to pass a better bill in the best
18 interests of all concerned in the State of
19 New York.
20 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
21 Senator Seward to be recorded in the negative.
22 Senator Saland, to explain his
23 vote.
24 SENATOR SALAND: Thank you,
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1 Mr. President.
2 Mr. President, this bill, as has
3 been alluded to by others, is anything but
4 perfect. And certainly I think we all
5 recognize that its benefit is modest at best.
6 It does, however -- it doesn't
7 reinvent the wheel, it perhaps creates a
8 different sort of wheel, in that it affords a
9 mechanism whereby people will have the
10 opportunity, where they deem it appropriate,
11 to seek consolidation of districts. I think
12 that, in essence, has the potential to work
13 some modest savings in certain instances.
14 I'm as troubled as anybody is about
15 this being somehow or other viewed as a major
16 reform. I think it certainly doesn't rise to
17 anything even approaching that level. We are
18 all playing at the margins. There can be no
19 real reform, as I mentioned in my earlier
20 remarks, without dealing with certainly the
21 issues surrounding school taxes.
22 I would certainly like to believe
23 that with all the expressions that have been
24 made here today -- we had 30 votes for an
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1 amendment that would have omitted fire
2 districts. I've heard some of my colleagues
3 from the other side of the aisle talk about
4 the importance of including or omitting fire
5 districts in a chapter amendment. I would
6 hope that these expressions are more than
7 platitudes, that they are expressions of
8 reality, and that in fact we will revisit this
9 and accomplish just that.
10 I commend the Attorney General for
11 being the catalyst to bring this before us.
12 But please let us not think that by any
13 stretch of imagination we have accomplished
14 real property tax reform. We have tinkered at
15 the margins, we have made it easier for people
16 to in effect exercise something akin to
17 initiative and referendum where they deem it
18 appropriate. There are some provisos in here
19 that provide safeguards to a threatened entity
20 such as a village.
21 Mr. President, I on balance find
22 myself supporting this bill and vote in the
23 affirmative.
24 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
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1 Senator Saland to be recorded in the
2 affirmative.
3 Senator Bonacic, to explain his
4 vote.
5 SENATOR BONACIC: Thank you,
6 Mr. President.
7 I cosponsored the legislation with
8 Senator Stewart-Cousins, so obviously I
9 support the legislation.
10 And the reason I support the
11 legislation is that it preserved home rule. I
12 trust the wisdom of the people to know their
13 communities. I think this is the start of
14 something good, and I want to thank the
15 Attorney General for putting it out there. I
16 think this is a building block to look for
17 bigger and better things.
18 Now, will the savings happen at
19 what the -- everybody has different
20 projections? Maybe not. But so what? If
21 there's any savings and there's a momentum for
22 efficiency and cost savings, why wouldn't we
23 support the legislation?
24 So I wholeheartedly support the
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1 legislation. And if we have little bumps in
2 the road that we have to correct, we'll so do
3 it.
4 I want to talk a little bit about
5 the firefighters, because that has always been
6 a concern with me.
7 We have about a thousand fire
8 districts. The value that they give to their
9 communities is between $7 billion and
10 $9 billion. As a practical matter, do you see
11 anybody, any of the towns in the rural areas
12 voting to eliminate fire districts and
13 diminishing volunteer firefighters? I don't
14 think that's realistic.
15 I'll tell you what will happen as a
16 result of the acts of this Legislature.
17 You're going to see shared services. They're
18 going to get ahead of the curve, the villages,
19 the towns. They're going to say, you know, I
20 like being the head of my domain. I don't
21 really maybe want consolidation, I don't want
22 to tempt my constituents to put up a petition,
23 so I'm going to get more efficient. I'm going
24 to share services with other municipalities.
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1 So as I said before, this is the
2 start of something good, and I think we can do
3 better and build on this. I vote yes.
4 Thank you, Mr. President.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
6 Senator Bonacic to be recorded in the
7 affirmative.
8 Senator Farley, to explain his
9 vote.
10 SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you,
11 Mr. President.
12 I rise on this issue because it has
13 been a very wrenching decision. I think
14 Senator LaValle and I spoke, we were like
15 Ping-Pong balls whether we'll vote for it,
16 vote against it, and so forth.
17 I, like so many, applaud the
18 Attorney General for addressing this very
19 thorny issue and, incidentally, going around
20 the state, coming to Schenectady and so forth
21 and talking about this issue. Consolidation
22 has to be addressed. It's a good thing.
23 But let me just say this. I'm
24 gravely concerned -- and I don't want to keep
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1 beating this issue -- about the fire
2 districts. You have no idea -- in my
3 judgment, this could be a mortal blow to
4 volunteerism. It just sends a message out
5 there that we don't want to deliver. And, of
6 course, libraries that have spoken to me about
7 please, to exempt them.
8 I think that really my negative
9 vote is to send a message that we've got to
10 have these chapter amendments for the fire
11 districts, for the libraries, and make it a
12 piece of legislation that can really make a
13 difference to encourage consolidation and cost
14 savings.
15 When you're talking about real
16 savings, it's going to be modest. But it's
17 the idea that we have to do things not only at
18 the local level but at the state level we've
19 got to do some consolidating if government is
20 going to become more efficient.
21 Unfortunately, I'm going to send a
22 message and vote no on this one.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
24 Senator Farley to be recorded in the negative.
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1 Senator Marcellino, to explain his
2 vote.
3 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Yes.
4 Mr. President, thank you. I rise to
5 explaining my vote.
6 In listening to the debate, we
7 heard some very good points, both pro and con.
8 And I think if there's anything good that
9 comes out of this, it has been the debate, it
10 has been the exposure of the issue, and it has
11 been discussed.
12 What I'm hearing in the explaining
13 of the votes is how we're going to fix the
14 bill. How we're going to fix the bill. We
15 have a bill which, if you pass it in its
16 current form, and I believe you will, you have
17 very minimal savings. And all the explaining
18 of the votes is we're going to take the fire
19 districts out, which will reduce the savings;
20 we're going to take the libraries out, which
21 will reduce the savings. Why not the
22 villages? Want to take the villages out,
23 we'll have even less savings.
24 Where are the savings? They were
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1 minimal to begin with in this bill. And from
2 what I'm hearing, what's going to come in nine
3 month is a whole bunch of chapter amendments,
4 If they materialize, that will make this bill
5 even less effective than it is now.
6 So, Mr. President, this bill should
7 have come forward with all of these
8 considerations. If it was so important, if
9 it's so important now, they should have been
10 put in the bill in the beginning, before we
11 vote on this thing.
12 I vote nay, and I urge my
13 colleagues to consider and vote no until we
14 get the right bill.
15 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
16 Senator Marcellino to be recorded in the
17 negative.
18 Senator Nozzolio, to explain his
19 vote.
20 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Thank you,
21 Mr. President. To explain my vote.
22 When Alex de Tocqueville came to a
23 new America, he was impressed with the fact
24 that America, unlike European areas, as he
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1 traveled through New York State the difference
2 was that in New York, in America, we had
3 strong units of local government and people
4 made the decisions closest to the government.
5 I trust the people. We all trust
6 the wisdom of the citizenry, of the
7 electorate. That citizenry is going to be
8 more empowered by this legislation because
9 they will, in effect, make the decisions most
10 important to them.
11 It's the people's government, not
12 the Senate's government, not the Governor's
13 government, not New York State government.
14 It's the people's government. And that's what
15 separates this issue apart, in that it
16 provides citizens with the opportunity to make
17 decisions close to their home.
18 That's why I support the
19 legislation, Mr. President.
20 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
21 Senator Nozzolio to be recorded in the
22 affirmative.
23 Senator Alesi, to explain his vote.
24 SENATOR ALESI: Thank you,
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1 Mr. President and my colleagues.
2 I respect the views of both sides
3 of this issue. But the thing that I am forced
4 to respect the most is the view of the vast
5 majority of my constituents who, over the last
6 several years, have been crying out for some
7 kind of tax relief, property tax relief, even
8 just the opportunity for them to find a way to
9 lower their property taxes.
10 And for those people that say that
11 perhaps the fire departments or the libraries
12 might be imperiled by this, I would simply say
13 this. There were 30 votes here that would
14 have helped those entities. But having failed
15 that amendment, there's nothing that should
16 prevent us from moving forward to help the
17 overall population to try to do something at
18 their own will, something akin to initiative
19 and referendum without having to change the
20 Constitution of this state, to help lower
21 their own property taxes if they so choose.
22 And I would also say to my
23 colleagues what I asked myself when it came to
24 the fire department volunteers and the
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1 libraries and others: Who is a better friend
2 to the local fire departments than me, or to
3 my libraries than me? And I'll bet every one
4 of us could say the same thing. We have all
5 helped those entities because we appreciate
6 the things they do for us on a day-to-day
7 basis.
8 I don't see us imperiling them, the
9 volunteers, the people that work in the
10 libraries, the others that supposedly would be
11 impacted by this. And I agree with Senator
12 Bonacic, I don't see any of those towns or
13 villages closing down their fire departments.
14 The people that volunteer and work
15 on our libraries are property taxpayers too.
16 They are the 90 percent or so of the people
17 that I hear from on a regular basis that say
18 please help us do something about property
19 taxes.
20 The bill could do more. But we
21 have to start somewhere. And this is the
22 starting point. Because if we don't support
23 this bill and pass this bill, then this is the
24 failing point.
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1 I vote aye.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
3 Senator Alesi to be recorded in the
4 affirmative.
5 Senator Leibell, to explain his
6 vote.
7 SENATOR LEIBELL: Thank you,
8 Mr. President.
9 I doubt there's anyone in this
10 chamber who hasn't at one time or another
11 argued in favor of some degree of
12 consolidation.
13 It is somewhat surprising, as I've
14 listened to this debate, to think back that
15 only a period of a few short weeks ago, during
16 the state budget, we had the opportunity in
17 this house and the other house to do some
18 consolidation in state government, state
19 programs, and this Legislature chose not to do
20 it in this year's state budget. So there may
21 be just a touch of hypocrisy with this
22 legislation.
23 But beyond that, we send out a very
24 bad signal to our constituents who are
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1 interested in tax reduction, are interested in
2 efficiency in government, by indicating to
3 them that in some way this legislation will
4 lead to that.
5 It's true that there's probably
6 never been a piece of legislation that's gone
7 through this Legislature that's perfect. But
8 this really stretches that saying. This is a
9 very imperfect piece of legislation.
10 And as we talk here today about all
11 the chapter amendments, all the changes that
12 need to be made, it seems to me that we have
13 sufficient time left in this legislative
14 session to make those changes and to do it
15 with integrity and to present a more finished
16 and more polished piece of legislation, a
17 better bill than we have before us here today.
18 We can still do that.
19 In addition to which, we should
20 give our constituents more of an opportunity
21 to take a closer look at this. I'll tell you,
22 I've received a tremendous amount of mail only
23 in the last 10 days or so on this proposal,
24 and it's overwhelmingly against it. So we
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1 should possibly get ourselves in the habit of
2 listening to our constituents out there. And
3 that's exactly what I intend to do.
4 I'm more than prepared to listen to
5 this legislation when it's been revised, when
6 we have the necessary amendments. I don't
7 want to take it on faith that there will be
8 chapter amendments. This is more than
9 imperfect. We need a finished bill before we
10 vote on it. I vote in the negative.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
12 Senator Leibell to be recorded in the
13 negative.
14 The Secretary will announce the
15 results.
16 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in
17 the negative on Calendar Number 472 are
18 Senators Farley, Fuschillo, Hannon,
19 C. Johnson, O. Johnson, Larkin, LaValle,
20 Leibell, Marcellino, Maziarz, McDonald,
21 Seward, Skelos, Volker and Winner.
22 Ayes, 47. Nays, 15.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
24 bill is passed.
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1 THE SECRETARY: In relation to
2 Calendar Number 472, voting in the negative,
3 Senator Young.
4 Ayes, 46. Nays, 16.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
6 bill is passed.
7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
8 487, by Senator Stachowski, Senate Print
9 2020C, an act to amend the Education Law and
10 others.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
12 Senator Libous.
13 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you,
14 Mr. President.
15 I believe there's an amendment at
16 the desk. I would ask that you waive its
17 reading and call on Senator LaValle.
18 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
19 Senator LaValle has an amendment at the desk.
20 Without objection, the reading is waived.
21 Senator LaValle, you are recognized
22 to be heard on the amendment.
23 SENATOR LaVALLE: Thank you,
24 Mr. President.
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1 Just very briefly, this legislation
2 would amend Senator Stachowski's legislation
3 to include all four University Centers and the
4 Downstate and Upstate Medical Centers.
5 It is called the SUNY Innovation
6 and Economic Growth Act, and it will allow
7 those institutions that I mentioned to seek a
8 more rational tuition policy with regular
9 increases and an acknowledgment that it costs
10 more to educate students at research
11 universities and medical colleges.
12 The ability to retain the revenue
13 generated by tuition, spending and contracting
14 flexibility, as recommended by the New York
15 State Commission on Higher Education, that I
16 had the privilege to serve on, and to better
17 serve students, faculty, researchers and staff
18 in a timely manner.
19 Access to capital markets, to
20 enable campuses to build the infrastructure
21 necessary to support the state's economic
22 development mission.
23 It will also build on the
24 flexibility legislation that we passed in the
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1 mid-1980s and to allow the institutions
2 greater flexibility to end micromanagement and
3 to allow the system, hopefully, to achieve
4 excellence in the competitive marketplace.
5 And we have to remember, and I'll
6 probably say this many times, that each of
7 these institutions compete with peer
8 institutions not only throughout this country
9 but throughout the world.
10 And lastly -- key provision -- that
11 this legislation allows the trustees who
12 manage the entire system to deal with tuition
13 rates.
14 That's the amendment,
15 Mr. President.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
17 you, Senator LaValle.
18 Senator Breslin, on the amendment.
19 SENATOR BRESLIN: Thank you,
20 Mr. President.
21 On the amendment, which would
22 include one of the universities in my
23 district, the University at Albany. You would
24 expect that I would give this full
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1 consideration, as it would assist Albany. And
2 I do.
3 However, Senator Stachowski and the
4 other western Senators have worked a great
5 deal on this bill, and we've heard 2020 over
6 and over and over and over again. It's an
7 economic development engine for Western
8 New York. It's changing the way we look at
9 the university system. And I believe that
10 this should be, at this point in time, a
11 stand-alone.
12 However, I believe that this house,
13 this Senate in the coming weeks, in a very
14 collegial way, with Democrats and Republicans,
15 looking at Binghamton University, looking at
16 Stony Brook, looking at the University at
17 Albany, will come to a resolution that will
18 make this a very, very comprehensive
19 educational plan for all of New York.
20 So on this occasion, and trusting
21 that in a collegial way we will do that, I
22 vote no on the amendment.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
24 you, Senator Breslin.
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1 Are there any other Senators who
2 wish to be heard on the amendment?
3 Senator Farley, on the amendment.
4 SENATOR FARLEY: I rise in
5 support of this amendment.
6 As somebody who lives in the
7 Capital District and has spent my adult life
8 working for the University at Albany, I'm very
9 concerned that these four institutions have
10 been considered University Centers and always
11 treated equally.
12 I don't think there's any reason to
13 make Stony Brook or the University at Albany
14 or the University at Binghamton second-class
15 citizens. And basically, that's what you're
16 doing, there's no doubt about it.
17 I want to do everything we can to
18 support the University at Buffalo, because it
19 is so important for economic development in
20 Western New York, but not at the expense of
21 the other University Centers. They are all
22 great institutions, and they should be treated
23 equally. And as long as I've been here, in
24 the 33 years, the four units, the four
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1 University Centers have always been treated
2 equally. And this breaks that bond.
3 I'm going to vote for the
4 amendment.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
6 you, Senator Farley.
7 Senator Libous, on the amendment.
8 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you,
9 Mr. President.
10 I rise to support Senator LaValle's
11 amendment, and for all the reasons that
12 Senator Farley just mentioned. I support it
13 because of Binghamton University. I think
14 that all of the University Centers should be
15 included in one bill, and will certainly have
16 more to say about to it on the main bill.
17 But I just think it's absurd not to
18 have all of the University Centers included
19 along with the Upstate and Downstate Medical
20 Centers. Because we are a state university
21 system, they should work together, and
22 particularly its centers and its medical
23 facilities.
24 So I want to stand in support of
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1 this amendment.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
3 you, Senator Libous.
4 Senator Ranzenhofer, on the
5 amendment.
6 SENATOR RANZENHOFER: Yes,
7 Mr. President, very briefly. Thank you.
8 I do support the concept of all the
9 Universities being treated equally and
10 certainly would be willing to support that
11 type of legislation.
12 But I do agree with the comments
13 that were made before, is that 2020 has been a
14 program which has been around for some time.
15 The University of Buffalo is in my district.
16 I've seen it grown where they had four
17 buildings on the academic spine to what it is
18 today. So I don't believe we should do
19 anything to stop that progress which has been
20 made. This has been a great, great effort for
21 Western New York.
22 And again, I'm supportive of
23 legislation that will give other University
24 Centers the same opportunities that 2020 is
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1 being afforded, but I think that should be a
2 stand-alone proposition for today.
3 Thank you, Mr. President.
4 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: Thank
5 you, Senator Ranzenhofer.
6 Are there any other Senators who
7 wish to be heard on the amendment?
8 Seeing none, the question is on the
9 nonsponsor motion to amend Calendar Number
10 487. Those Senators voting in support of the
11 nonsponsor amendment please raise your hand.
12 The Secretary will announce the
13 results.
14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 27. Nays,
15 35.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY: The
17 motion fails.
18 Senator Libous.
19 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President,
20 would the sponsor please explain the bill?
21 ACTING PRESIDENT VALESKY:
22 Senator Stachowski, an explanation has been
23 requested by Senator Libous.
24 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Yes,
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1 Senator.
2 This bill is a bill that the
3 University at Buffalo has worked on for five
4 years, ever since the report came out. And we
5 had a bill in Albany, and they started working
6 on their own bill just in case, because
7 nothing was moving as a combination bill for
8 all the research universities.
9 So the university in the last two
10 years has picked up its pace, worked on
11 getting the whole community involved, and has
12 spent the last two years putting the bill
13 together and building community support. They
14 have Friends of 2020 that includes people from
15 all walks of life in Western New York.
16 This is considered by the people in
17 Western New York the single biggest economic
18 development piece possible for the Western
19 New York area.
20 They feel if this bill passes both
21 houses and is signed, it has the capability of
22 creating 25,000 construction and
23 infrastructure jobs, 10,000 net long-term
24 jobs, $650 million in new funding for academic
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1 research, and establishment of a 1300-person
2 world-class medical research treatment
3 facility.
4 Now, in the budget, had we been in
5 a position to pass the amendment, those
6 provisions were all in the budget. They were
7 taken out during the negotiations because
8 there wasn't enough support for everything to
9 move at once.
10 UB, anticipating that -- and the
11 reason they started working on their own was
12 that if they could build consensus and be put
13 out there as more or less a pilot to test the
14 waters and single-handedly move forward, not
15 with any lack of respect for their colleagues
16 or to get an advantage over their colleagues,
17 just to move forward and hopefully use the
18 fact that this is the economic engine that may
19 turn Western New York around -- put this bill
20 together and has been working on it. And, in
21 the process, working on various sections of it
22 with various parties that had problems with
23 it.
24 So what this bill does, in the
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1 tuition part, it amends a lot of sections --
2 and if you want me to do that, I can do that
3 for you -- amending the Education Law, the
4 State Finance Law, the Tax Law, the Public
5 Authorities Law, and the General Municipal Law
6 to grant greater regulatory flexibility and
7 autonomy to the State University of New York
8 at Buffalo in the areas of procurement,
9 contracting for services, leasing, purchasing
10 and the selling of real property and capital
11 construction.
12 In addition, the bill would
13 authorize the president of the University at
14 Buffalo to implement differing tuition rates
15 by class year and degree program annually,
16 based on the rates charged by peer
17 institutions, but not to exceed 1 1/2 times
18 the percentage increase of the most recently
19 published HEPI index.
20 In the tuition area, the president
21 has the capability of raising the tuition
22 based on what courses you're taking. It would
23 be a much more rational way of doing it. It
24 would be small increases. The president has
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1 to announce by September 15th of the preceding
2 year whenever he's going to do an increase so
3 that the people can get ready for it the
4 following year. It would be according to what
5 courses you're in.
6 And besides the money that would
7 come back to the university and stay in the
8 fund, they would also establish a fund to help
9 students. Ten percent to 20 percent of that
10 money would be put in a program that would
11 help students that couldn't afford to be in
12 those programs be in those programs.
13 In the area of capital
14 construction, that reform would take this
15 capital construction program and let the
16 university use -- in that construction on
17 their three campuses, they could have their
18 campus-related not-for-profit organizations
19 doing the construction, which would procure
20 financing through the Dormitory Authority of
21 the State of New York.
22 In another section, Section 6, the
23 bill would then put into existence
24 requirements that would provide that wages
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1 paid to contractors employed in conjunction
2 with such construction and renovations shall
3 be at prevailing wage rates, in accordance
4 with the Labor Law, and that such construction
5 or renovation complies with certain safety
6 precautions set forth in the Labor Law, and
7 that a competitive process is employed in
8 selecting contractors to perform such
9 construction or renovation.
10 In Section 7, the bill provides for
11 certain construction or renovation projects at
12 the University at Buffalo to be undertaken
13 pursuant to project labor agreements, provided
14 a study determines that a project labor
15 agreement will benefit such construction or
16 renovation.
17 In Section 8, the bill provides for
18 the creation and implementation of a diversity
19 plan for the University at Buffalo at UB, UB's
20 2020 initiative, and periodic responding
21 regarding such diversity plan.
22 In Section 9 and 10 of Part A, the
23 bill amends the General Municipal Law to allow
24 future capital projects on the three campuses
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1 at the University at Buffalo to proceed
2 through campus-related nonprofit
3 organizations, through local industrial
4 development agencies.
5 In Section 11, it provides that the
6 university can have future projects by
7 allowing the university to utilize alternative
8 modes, more cost-advantage construction
9 delivery models, including design and build
10 construction manager at risk, which are
11 presently not allowed under existing state
12 law.
13 In section 14, Part A, which is an
14 important part for everybody here, the
15 proposed legislation requires the president of
16 the University of Buffalo to report annually
17 to the Governor and the Legislature on the
18 effectiveness of these reforms.
19 In leasing, acquisition and
20 disposition of real property, Part B, the bill
21 would amend the Education Law to provide the
22 University at Buffalo with more flexibility to
23 lease, acquire and dispose of land under the
24 auspices of the SUNY trustees, so as to
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1 maximize the educational and commercial
2 development opportunities associated with the
3 UB's 2020 initiative.
4 Section 3, Part B amends the
5 Education Law to permit participation by the
6 University at Buffalo in public/private
7 partnerships, arrangements with public
8 not-for-profit and business entities to
9 further the objectives of the University of
10 Buffalo, including UB 2020 initiative.
11 Procurement and flexibility. Part
12 C of the Education Law permits the university
13 to purchase goods and services without prior
14 state agency approval. Part 1 through 4 and 8
15 of Part C are designed to provide greater
16 autonomy to the University at Buffalo in
17 procuring goods and services by replacing the
18 State Comptroller's procurement guidelines
19 with the guidelines put forth by the SUNY
20 trustees and by exempting University at
21 Buffalo contracts from prior State Comptroller
22 approval. Such transactions would remain
23 subject to post-audit review by the
24 Comptroller.
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1 Sections 5 and 6 of Part C are
2 designed to allow SUNY-affiliated nonprofit
3 corporations to take advantage of centralized
4 state purchasing.
5 Section 7 permits SUNY to establish
6 rules for sole-source procurements of goods
7 and services in lieu of state-mandated
8 sole-source procurement policies in
9 recognition of the unique nature of goods and
10 services procured by SUNY educational
11 institutions.
12 Revenue retention is the part that
13 talks about UB retaining the money that they
14 save and raise through these various sections.
15 There's also a section on alumni leases, which
16 means the alumni association can lease
17 property from the University at Buffalo.
18 The fiscal implications. There's a
19 minor increase in the amount of TAP that may
20 be drawn because of tuition increases, but
21 when matched up against the money that will be
22 saved by these other reforms, it's a net gain
23 for the state.
24 The impact on Western New York, as
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1 I said previously, is vast. It's supported by
2 the whole community. And that's pretty much
3 the general outline of the legislation,
4 Senator.
5 SENATOR PADAVAN: Would Senator
6 Stavisky yield to a question? I'm sorry.
7 Stachowski, sorry.
8 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: She's
9 Stavisky.
10 SENATOR PADAVAN: My S got
11 slipped. Freudian.
12 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:
13 Senator Stachowski, do you yield?
14 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Yes, I would
15 yield.
16 SENATOR PADAVAN: Senator, you
17 mentioned several times the selling of
18 property would be authorized by this bill. To
19 whom would the property be sold, and for what
20 purpose?
21 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: In this
22 bill, the buying and selling of property --
23 it's the buying of property, too, and leasing
24 of property. Sometimes you might buy
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1 properties in the city where they're going to
2 do some development. There's also some
3 properties on either south or north campus
4 that may be sold. Most of it will probably be
5 leased.
6 But the selling of it would be in
7 the intentions of advancing the university and
8 the buildings that they would put there.
9 SENATOR PADAVAN: If the Senator
10 would yield. I heard that part earlier. But
11 my question is, to whom would the property be
12 sold?
13 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: I imagine,
14 Senator, the provision is in there to allow
15 the university to sell a piece of property to
16 a developer who would then develop something
17 that would be used in the good of the
18 university. For example, a new conference
19 center or maybe dormitories built by a private
20 agency.
21 SENATOR PADAVAN: Thank you.
22 Would the Senator yield?
23 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:
24 Senator Stachowski, do you continue to yield?
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1 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Yes, I
2 continue to yield.
3 SENATOR PADAVAN: Are there any
4 particular developers currently involved in
5 this process?
6 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: I don't
7 believe there's any chosen developers. And
8 this process is available to any developers.
9 I think the university will do a selection
10 just like everybody else. And as you saw,
11 competitive bids are involved in a lot of
12 these things, and everybody will have an
13 opportunity to work with the university.
14 I know that it's important to be
15 able to buy property also, because that's part
16 of the part necessary to expand it to the City
17 of Buffalo section near the AOC Building that
18 they want to expand the university.
19 SENATOR PADAVAN: Will the
20 Senator yield?
21 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:
22 Senator, do you continue to yield?
23 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Yes, I
24 continue to yield.
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1 SENATOR PADAVAN: You mentioned,
2 I think in passing, construction of a sort not
3 currently permitted by state building code or
4 law. Could you explain what that really is?
5 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Well, for
6 example, Senator, there's a part where it's
7 designed to develop and build at the same
8 time. And as you know now, in the SUNY
9 system, to do a project, you have to have an
10 18-month advance audit and review, which eats
11 up money, and you have to do all the design up
12 front.
13 This would let you design and build
14 at the same time. You, being a -- I think you
15 have an engineering background, would
16 understand it's time saving. You would also
17 eliminate that up-front audit.
18 But the Comptroller still has full
19 auditing at the end of the project. And
20 obviously, if anything was not done properly,
21 it would still be discovered by the
22 Comptroller and dealt with accordingly.
23 SENATOR PADAVAN: Will the
24 Senator yield?
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1 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:
2 Senator, do you yield?
3 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Yes, I
4 continue to yield.
5 SENATOR PADAVAN: So it would be
6 after the construction is done, then they
7 would determine that it was not either done by
8 code or properly or appropriately; is that
9 right?
10 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Well,
11 Senator, the way I'm going to answer that
12 question -- through you, Madam President -- is
13 with all the negotiations that put this bill
14 together, and most of those negotiations took
15 place in the building part of this, with the
16 building trade unions in Western New York, who
17 were very active in these negotiations and
18 with the fact that everything is going to be
19 done by prevailing wage.
20 SENATOR PADAVAN: That I
21 understand.
22 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Everything's
23 going to be -- a lot of other projects are
24 going to be done with a PLA. There's MWBE
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1 provisions in this. They still will be doing
2 standard -- there will be no substandard
3 construction. There won't be below-standard
4 building materials.
5 This is trying to make this
6 university a first-class research university
7 in -- compared to not just people in the State
8 of New York but compared with the people in
9 the United States. With that in mind, I don't
10 believe they have any intention of allowing
11 things to be built substandard or out of code.
12 SENATOR PADAVAN: Will the
13 Senator yield?
14 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:
15 Senator Stachowski?
16 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: I continue
17 to yield, Madam President.
18 SENATOR PADAVAN: I think I heard
19 you say, also in passing, that there would be
20 the purchase of goods and services without
21 prior state approval. Now, can you explain
22 what that means?
23 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: I think
24 that -- I think, I know that means in the one
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1 section, if it's a thing that's specific for
2 the university -- for example, some sort of
3 microscope, some sort of piece of equipment --
4 that they currently have to put in and sit
5 18 months waiting to buy it. They won't have
6 to wait 18 months to buy anymore.
7 I know that in the procedure that
8 they have to follow now, the best example I
9 can give you of something that happened that
10 really highlights the problem with the way
11 procedure is done now is when the university
12 was going to have Al Gore speak in a speaker
13 series, they had to put out to bid and find
14 out if there were more than one Al Gore and
15 reach out to contact them to see if they were
16 the Al Gore that wanted to speak at the
17 University of Buffalo. Because that's what
18 the rules currently say.
19 SENATOR PADAVAN: One final
20 question, if the Senator would yield.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:
22 Senator, do you continue to yield?
23 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Yes, Madam
24 President.
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1 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:
2 Before your question, can I please ask those
3 who would want to continue talking to go
4 outside the chamber.
5 Thank you.
6 SENATOR PADAVAN: You mentioned
7 also, I believe, if I heard you correctly, the
8 development of public-private partnerships in
9 this whole venture. Can you give us an idea
10 of who the private components of this
11 partnership might be?
12 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Actually, I
13 can I give you a perfect example of what a
14 private-public partnership would be for the
15 University at Buffalo.
16 In our budget there was a piece in
17 there that allowed them to start moving
18 forward on one of their first buildings, which
19 is a vascular unit to be built in downtown
20 Buffalo in a medical corridor. Their partner
21 in that is Kaleida Health System.
22 And so that that is being built
23 through -- and what this lets them do is put
24 their money together.
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1 SENATOR PADAVAN: What's the
2 system? I'm sorry, I didn't hear.
3 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Kaleida.
4 SENATOR PADAVAN: Would you spell
5 that?
6 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: It's
7 K-A-L-E-I-D-A.
8 The Kaleida system is actually a
9 combination of hospitals that used to be
10 Buffalo General, Buffalo Gates Circle, ECMC,
11 and Children's Hospital. And DeGraff --
12 DeGraff --
13 SENATOR MAZIARZ: DeGraff Number
14 One.
15 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Yeah.
16 That's Kaleida.
17 SENATOR PADAVAN: Thank you very
18 much, Senator.
19 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: You're
20 welcome, Senator.
21 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:
22 Senator LaValle.
23 SENATOR LaVALLE: Yes. On the
24 bill, Madam President.
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1 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:
2 Senator LaValle, on the bill.
3 SENATOR LaVALLE: I was going to
4 ask Senator Stachowski a lot of questions, but
5 he went through the bill in great detail.
6 I was heartened by the remarks made
7 by Senator Breslin that we'll be working
8 together to have a four-center solution along
9 with the Upstate and Downstate Medical Center.
10 That is a "One New York" approach.
11 The approach that we are taking
12 today is not in the best interest of all of
13 the campuses, all of the people of the state.
14 We are -- and Senator Stachowski in
15 his legislation and the legislative intent
16 talks about the economy of Western New York.
17 And every one of us in this room have been
18 focused and understand that a part of our
19 state is not doing as well as other parts of
20 the state and we need to do whatever we can to
21 remediate that.
22 UB is certainly a major part of
23 whatever happens in the Western New York
24 economy. It generates $1.5 billion. That's
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1 the effect of UB in the Western New York
2 economy.
3 And certainly Senator Stachowski --
4 and all the people who have worked on that,
5 Senator Volker, Senator Maziarz, Senator
6 Ranzenhofer, and the Assembly members -- he
7 has articulated what has taken place in the
8 Western New York area with the business
9 community, et cetera. And that is very good
10 and the way things should happen. And he
11 talked about and described five years that
12 they have been working on this.
13 But I want to tell you, Madam
14 President, that the other four institutions
15 and the medical centers have not been sitting
16 idly during that period of time. They have
17 developed Centers of Advanced Technology,
18 Centers of Excellence. They have developed,
19 as at Binghamton and at Stony Brook, research
20 development parks as part of the campus and as
21 part of the strategy to use their research
22 capabilities.
23 Here at Albany, Senator Breslin has
24 worked very hard, and Senator McDonald,
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1 Senator Farley, and certainly Senator Bruno,
2 when he was here, to ensure that the nanotech
3 facility has generated lots of jobs, research
4 capability. And they have moved, certainly,
5 in trying to help themselves.
6 So UB has not been the only campus
7 in the State of New York that has been working
8 towards an economic development strategy.
9 What is important is this week we
10 have had, for the first time in 24 months, a
11 chancellor, a new chancellor, Chancellor
12 Zimpher. And we have to try and help her
13 develop the system. And all of its components
14 are part of a system.
15 And so I think that ultimately a
16 four-center solution is proper, and also
17 dealing with the components at Downstate and
18 Upstate Medical, critically important because
19 of their teaching facilities and the cost.
20 And all of this will fit in.
21 In my years here, I have not seen a
22 bill in higher education move through the
23 committee process and out onto the floor with
24 memos in opposition from UUP, NYSUT, PEF,
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1 CSEA. And I never thought I would see a
2 NYPIRG memo in opposition. And so there are
3 concerns in the constituencies there, in the
4 stakeholders. And certainly those
5 stakeholders, in any piece of legislation,
6 their concerns need to be addressed.
7 I know, Senator Stachowski, that in
8 the amendments to your bill you put in PLAs
9 and other things to deal with that segment of
10 the labor community. And you should be
11 complimented on that, because I think that
12 that was a good provision.
13 I mention that -- and you went
14 through in great detail about the flexibility
15 pieces. And I believe that State University,
16 through the Governor, advanced in the budget
17 process many of the identical provisions that
18 are in your bill. Those were rejected in the
19 budget process.
20 Now, it doesn't mean -- and
21 actually in the amendments that I handed up,
22 there are many of those that are incorporated
23 in that. And we will ultimately have to go
24 through and see what -- you mentioned
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1 purchasing. That is like a no-brainer. But
2 there are other things there of concern.
3 In the bill that I filed, which was
4 the Stony Brook 2020, unfortunately a
5 provision got into my bill that I did not
6 want, and that's the leasing provision.
7 Leasing of land, Senator Padavan went through,
8 asked questions.
9 Senator Marcellino learned
10 firsthand by going around a process at Old
11 Westbury. It's now that's the cry across the
12 state on that particular issue. If we remove
13 ourselves from that process, the only thing
14 that can happen is not good things. So that's
15 a piece of flexibility that I think we need to
16 listen to a lot of the people that say that's
17 very, very dangerous. And I know because I
18 worked with Senator Marcellino to remediate
19 that disaster that happened at Old Westbury.
20 There are other things in the
21 legislation that certainly need to be
22 resolved. But I know that Senator Stavisky
23 will be calling roundtables and involving
24 people and getting people involved, and we
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1 need that.
2 But my last point here is this. We
3 need, as a system, to stay strong. We have
4 made, over the years, incremental investments
5 in the State University of New York. The
6 strength is the system, to have the components
7 working with one another.
8 And it's a shame that we kind of
9 got off a track, and I believe because we
10 didn't have a chancellor in these 24 months.
11 We should all be partners. We should all be
12 part of one New York State and one SUNY system
13 and strengthen the whole thing. And I know
14 you, through your sports background and your
15 personality, are a team player. And
16 ultimately, as a team, we will benefit.
17 I wish I could support this
18 legislation. But because we have partners
19 left behind -- and it doesn't resonate. It's
20 not a good message. We will repair it, you
21 know, when we get back home and we will talk
22 about the positive things, things that Senator
23 Breslin talked about, the things I know
24 Senator Stavisky will be doing.
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1 But certainly this is a good
2 message for Western New York. People have
3 worked hard. And so at least it's a good
4 beginning for the people of Western New York.
5 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:
6 Thank you, Senator.
7 Senator Ranzenhofer.
8 SENATOR RANZENHOFER: Thank you,
9 Madam President. I rise in support of this
10 legislation, as I said earlier.
11 This university, where it's
12 currently constituted, is in the heart of my
13 district and has grown enormously during the
14 last 30 years. As a graduate of the State
15 University, and actually with connections to
16 all the universities in the State of New York,
17 I don't see anything wrong with conducting a
18 pilot program, which this really is, to see
19 how this is going to work.
20 I know that all the university
21 centers, as Senator LaValle indicated, have
22 been working very hard on their particular
23 projects. And this project is ready to move
24 today, and I rise in support of the project.
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1 One of the things which I think is
2 important is the private-public partnership
3 between trying to do things a little bit
4 differently than have been done for the last
5 20, 40, 50 years. Sometimes you have to do
6 things differently if you're going to be
7 successful. And I think the University of
8 Buffalo, with the leadership of John Simpson,
9 has done that.
10 They have spent an awful lot of
11 time, as have the other communities and the
12 other universities and the other university
13 presidents, and done their due diligence, but
14 the University of Buffalo has also done that.
15 They have reached out extensively to the
16 community, to all segments to the community,
17 and this project is ready to move forward.
18 On the point that was raised by
19 Senator LaValle, I mean, there's one important
20 difference between what happened down on Long
21 Island and what happened in Buffalo. This is
22 in the heart of the city, where they are
23 starving for development. People in the
24 communities that surround this particular
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1 university can't wait to have this type of
2 development.
3 This is going to mean jobs for
4 Western New York, all sorts of jobs, whether
5 they're construction jobs, technology jobs,
6 people that will be working at the university
7 to maintain the building. This is really a
8 way to grow the community and to provide jobs
9 for the community for the people that are
10 already living there and don't have jobs.
11 One of the things that I learned
12 before I actually came to the Senate, and I
13 was talking to some of the people that worked
14 at the university, is they themselves are very
15 frustrated by the bureaucracy that they have
16 to go through. And one of the things that
17 this legislation does is tear away some of
18 those impediments to actually getting things
19 done.
20 Again, this is a model project,
21 this is a pilot program. There are going to
22 be some steps and some bumps along the way.
23 But I think this is a good indicator of let's
24 see how the other universities will do as well
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1 once this project moves forward.
2 As I said, Western New York is a
3 little bit different than the other parts of
4 the state. Our unemployment rate is higher.
5 Our economic malaise has been longer than
6 other parts of the state. And the infusion of
7 jobs and capital into the region, into
8 Buffalo, into Amherst, into Western New York I
9 think is just going to be so important.
10 So I stand here to support the bill
11 wholeheartedly, as I indicated earlier. I'll
12 be fully supportive of initiatives for other
13 universities. But I think the day has
14 arrived. I think the people at the university
15 and the community are to be commended for
16 their efforts today. And I will be voting yes
17 on this legislation.
18 Thank you.
19 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:
20 Thank you, Senator.
21 Senator Volker.
22 SENATOR VOLKER: Madam President,
23 let me first of all say that -- to Senator
24 LaValle, as he knows very well, I have always
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1 tried to lead the Western New York delegation
2 in collaboration with the rest of the state.
3 And in fact, Senator LaValle and I have worked
4 together on many, many projects.
5 What happened here is that the
6 business community, the SUNY Buffalo
7 community, both campuses -- I say both
8 campuses because you must remember there's one
9 of the campuses in Amherst and one part of it
10 in Buffalo, the city of Buffalo -- even the
11 media got together. And as some of us said,
12 you must understand that some people call
13 Buffalo "Beirut by the Lake."
14 It is rare, in my time, that an
15 entire community in Buffalo was able to get
16 together on a single project or in a single
17 thrust. We were called together -- we meaning
18 the legislators, Democrats and Republicans.
19 And admittedly at the time there was a
20 different governor who was pushing for
21 movement in several campuses. SUNY Buffalo
22 took up the cudgel and, with the help of
23 people in the business community and with the
24 help of all sorts of experts, put together
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1 this bill.
2 Now, let me say to my colleagues, I
3 am more than willing to collaborate with the
4 rest of the SUNY system. Although I will say
5 this. The SUNY system itself did not seem to
6 react well to collaborating with 2020 or in
7 fact many times, it seems to me, has not been
8 readily willing to do innovation. Of course,
9 as Senator LaValle said, there was a problem
10 because of the gap in the leadership at SUNY.
11 And that was absolutely true.
12 Nobody in this Capitol has worked
13 harder for the SUNY system than Senator Ken
14 LaValle. No one has to tell me about that.
15 But I must say that this legislation is
16 extremely critical, not just to the
17 development of SUNY Buffalo but to the entire
18 Western New York region.
19 This bill, which is supported
20 bipartisan-wise in Western New York -- and
21 that's hard to do too, by the way, in many
22 cases. And I don't just mean in the
23 Legislature, I mean in the city, in the
24 county, and everybody -- is an attempt to put
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1 together a plan not just for this year and
2 next year but, obviously, for the next
3 20 years.
4 This is, we hope the beginning of
5 an entire renaissance for Western New York.
6 We already have a beginning of a renaissance
7 with the biomedical campus. Which, by the
8 way, this house was primarily responsible for
9 over the last five to ten years. Sometimes no
10 one paid too much attention to that, because
11 the credit was taken by other people. But it
12 was really this house, people in this house
13 who really developed the process for the
14 biomedical corridor.
15 But what this bill does -- and I
16 understand the concern that it is not done
17 along with other areas of the state that would
18 like something similar. My suggestion is that
19 we pass this bill, get this done, and then
20 work together. And I personally -- and I
21 think the entire delegation -- is ready, ready
22 and willing to work together with all the rest
23 of -- with the major campuses and with the
24 health facilities and try to make sure that we
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1 do have one SUNY that is for the best
2 interests of all the students of this state.
3 I ask my colleagues, despite the
4 unusual nature of this, to please support us.
5 Because we need this legislation. We need it
6 for Western New York, we need it for SUNY
7 Buffalo. At the same time, I promise that I
8 will do whatever I can to assist the other
9 campuses, the other parts of the state in
10 putting this whole thing together and coming
11 up with a total plan.
12 Thank you.
13 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:
14 Thank you, Senator.
15 Senator Maziarz.
16 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you very
17 much, Madam President and my colleagues.
18 And I just want to, like Senator
19 Volker, note the great respect that I have for
20 the knowledge of Senator LaValle. I think one
21 of the foremost experts in the country on
22 higher education.
23 But, you know, support for this
24 particular piece of legislation for the
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1 University at Buffalo doesn't necessarily mean
2 that we are opposed to similar legislation for
3 Binghamton, Albany, or for Stony Brook.
4 The new chancellor on her first day
5 on the job, which was Monday, wrote an op-ed
6 piece where she call the SUNY the engine of
7 the Empire State. And she said that Albany
8 can help with resources for the SUNY system
9 but also giving our campuses flexibility so
10 that they can become more entrepreneurial and
11 better compete in the workplace.
12 That's exactly what this
13 legislation today does for the University at
14 Buffalo. We had the good fortune, we were
15 very fortunate to have a visionary, Dr. John
16 Simpson, become president of the University of
17 Buffalo a few years ago and started down the
18 road and on this process of changing the
19 University at Buffalo. And he did that --
20 again, not to leave out any of the other
21 universities, but he got the community
22 together, he got a planning process together.
23 He got, as Senator Volker aptly pointed out,
24 very, very different parts of the community to
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1 come on board and support this particular plan
2 for changing all of Western New York.
3 So again, I look forward to future
4 legislation involving Binghamton and Stony
5 Brook and Albany and doing some similar
6 things. But I don't think it should be
7 done -- I don't think Buffalo should have to
8 stop its process or interrupt its process in
9 going forward. Because, you know, time is of
10 the essence in Western New York for the
11 economy of Western New York.
12 So I wholeheartedly support this
13 particular piece of legislation. And, Madam
14 President, I do want to note for the record
15 that I promised Senator Marty Dilan -- Senator
16 Dilan -- for the record, I wanted you to note,
17 Madam President, that I promised Senator Marty
18 Dilan that I would speak on this bill about
19 Western New York and I would not mention the
20 Power Authority. So my promise was kept.
21 (Laughter.)
22 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:
23 I'm not sure about that promise being kept.
24 (Laughter.)
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1 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:
2 Senator Libous.
3 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you, Madam
4 President. I want to speak on the bill.
5 Senator Stachowski certainly did a
6 good job of outlining what is in it. I do
7 disagree with the direction he and my
8 colleagues Senator Maziarz and Senator Volker
9 and Senator Ranzenhofer are going. Because if
10 you listen to what Senator LaValle said, I
11 think it makes an awful lot of sense that we
12 are beating up the integrity of the SUNY
13 system.
14 The system has been built by men
15 and women who are serving here now and have
16 served here before. It is one of the finest
17 university systems in the country and rivals
18 those across the world. And we have been very
19 proud of the flagships, the four University
20 Centers, of which I am very proud to have one
21 in my district, Binghamton University.
22 And as my colleague Senator
23 Ranzenhofer said, he said that Western
24 New York is hungry for jobs. I understand
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1 that. And I understand why each of you are
2 defending the areas that you live in. I would
3 expect you to do no less. But New York State
4 is starving for jobs, Senator, starving.
5 They're starving in Binghamton and in Syracuse
6 and in Long Island. And even New York City is
7 starting to have its problems. So the state
8 is starving for jobs.
9 And I applaud the men and women
10 from Western New York who came up with this
11 concept. I think that's outstanding that they
12 put a plan together. But if the plan is good
13 for Western New York -- and as many of you
14 said from time to time that we are one
15 New York -- then it should be good for the
16 other university centers, it should be good
17 for the medical centers and then help this
18 state.
19 Because believe me, and I'll speak
20 for Binghamton, we're starving for jobs.
21 Unfortunately, just recently Secretary of
22 Defense Gates announced that the presidential
23 helicopter program that Lockheed Martin in
24 Owego is doing is going to end.
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1 Puzzling to me, because as
2 President Obama talks about stimulus and
3 invests trillions, billions of dollars, a
4 program that has created some 800 jobs at
5 lucrative salaries to build the defense and
6 quite frankly to improve upon the
7 transportation system of the President of the
8 United States, the program has stopped and we
9 will lose 800 jobs. And the effect of that
10 will trickle down to the many small
11 manufacturers in our area and throughout the
12 state who are part of that $10 billion
13 program.
14 Binghamton University is now
15 stepping in and working with Lockheed Martin
16 and trying to come up with ways to keep those
17 800 people in the Southern Tier, to keep them
18 in New York State.
19 Obviously, to be partners in this
20 program throughout the university system would
21 be wonderful. It would be a great
22 opportunity. I would hope that, as Senator
23 Stachowski and Senator Stavisky have said,
24 that we could come to a compromise plan that
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1 is good for Western New York, good for the
2 Southern Tier, good for the two medical
3 centers, good for Stony Brook and Long Island,
4 good for the Capital District, good for
5 everybody.
6 Because when we start drifting away
7 from the concept of what made the State
8 University system great, it's going to be a
9 real problem, because it's going to have an
10 effect on the quality of education.
11 Now, one of the items in this
12 particular proposal talks about UB setting
13 their own tuition policy. That's a horrible
14 idea, to have them set their own tuition
15 policy different from the other centers, the
16 other colleges. We have fought on this floor
17 time in and time out about tuition, trying to
18 keep tuition in the State University
19 affordable so that all individuals at all ages
20 could afford to go to college in the state.
21 And I'm puzzled that now Senator
22 Stachowski is proposing a bill that would
23 allow BU to set -- UB. BU, UB. I'm BU, he's
24 UB -- to set their own tuition standard. But
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1 yet earlier this year, he and his colleagues
2 on that side of the aisle voted to sweep the
3 tuition paid by SUNY students and put it in
4 the General Fund. That didn't help UB.
5 I think this is a very, very
6 dangerous path that we're on. I understand
7 that Western New York needs help. Central New
8 York needs help. The Southern Tier is in dire
9 need of help, and so are all parts of the
10 state. We need to put legislation together
11 that helps everywhere, that helps every part
12 of the state but yet keeps the university
13 system intact.
14 To start breaking off and giving
15 special consideration to one of the centers
16 over the others is bad public policy. I hope
17 that in the coming weeks before the end of
18 session, that level heads will prevail, that
19 we can sit down and come up with a plan for
20 all of the university centers and the medical
21 centers, upstate and down, so that we can
22 create the same opportunity for the rest of
23 the state that you want to create for Western
24 New York.
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1 I respect what you're trying to do
2 here. I ask for your help. I ask you to help
3 the rest of us put this plan together.
4 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:
5 Thank you, Senator.
6 Senator Flanagan.
7 SENATOR FLANAGAN: Thank you,
8 Madam President. On the bill.
9 I want to join in the comments of a
10 number of my colleagues, but I want to start
11 off by just mentioning something about Senator
12 LaValle.
13 I've had the good fortune of being
14 a member of this house now for seven years,
15 and in that time I have had the privilege of
16 representing Stony Brook, the core of which is
17 right in the heart of the 2nd Senate District.
18 And it's been great working with them on a lot
19 of different things.
20 But it's like a one, two punch.
21 When you have the chair of the Higher Ed
22 Committee, and now the ranker on that
23 committee, someone who's been a champion, it's
24 like a tag team. So there have been a lot of
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1 very good things that have happened.
2 And I raise that point in two
3 contexts. One is to reiterate part of the
4 comments that were made that I think could be
5 said about Binghamton, it could be said about
6 Albany. I know dealing with Dr. Kenny and the
7 administration at Stony Brook, they've been
8 talking about this stuff for a long time and
9 in very positive ways. So that's a good
10 thing.
11 And when we talk about UB, I don't
12 really care which university system it is.
13 Part of this, I just don't like a little bit
14 of the tone, because I want to start from a
15 different premise, and the premise is that
16 they're all darn good. And we shouldn't
17 apologize for anything. What we're trying to
18 do is to take something that works, that's a
19 jewel right here in this state and across the
20 country, and we're trying to make it better.
21 So I think when we talk about this,
22 no matter what the university center may be,
23 or the medical center, let's start with all
24 the positive stuff and just see how we can
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1 move forward in a positive light.
2 Having said that, I do believe that
3 when we do separate, we are going to create
4 potential problems. And I'll say this to my
5 colleagues in Western New York in particular.
6 The upshot of this whole thing may be that
7 this bill may get accomplished what a lot of
8 people have been trying to do all along, and
9 that may be to have real changes for all of
10 our university centers.
11 But I will close on this point. I
12 have had the opportunity to work closely with
13 Senator LaValle. And I think all of you who
14 know him, he's like a nurturer. And
15 periodically, it will drive some people crazy,
16 because he takes a very keen and strong
17 interest in things. Right? Okay?
18 But, you know, he looks at the
19 university system like a family, like we're
20 all either brothers or sisters or children
21 that's part of a larger group, and everybody
22 needs to be taken care of. And in so doing, I
23 think he has avoided splitting things off.
24 So no one should mistake the fact
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1 that we haven't seen a major bill that's been
2 signed into law for a lack of effort or lack
3 of trying. I personally believe that our
4 greatest obstacle is not on this side of the
5 aisle, and it's not on this side of the aisle.
6 Because I think cooler heads will prevail and
7 that we will make the progress we need.
8 Our greatest obstacle is across the
9 hall. We'll come up with something that will
10 work for everybody in this house, but if we
11 don't have a true partner in the New York
12 State Assembly, it doesn't mean anything.
13 So where we really need the
14 leadership, it's not from SUNY, because we
15 have a new chancellor, and I think she's a
16 bright light and will do a wonderful job. And
17 it's not going to be here. We're going to
18 need help in the New York State Assembly,
19 because they have to change their mindset on a
20 lot of very basic things if we're going to be
21 able to accomplish all the positive goals of
22 this legislation.
23 Thank you.
24 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:
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1 Thank you, Senator.
2 Senator Marcellino.
3 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you,
4 Madam President.
5 I had not intended to rise on this
6 particular piece of legislation, but since
7 Senator LaValle pointed out some of the
8 experiences that I had with the College at Old
9 Westbury -- which is part of the SUNY system
10 in my district, and in need of help, as is
11 Farmingdale, which I abut, which is in Senator
12 Fuschillo's district, also in need of help.
13 And since we took money out of the
14 system in the budget, since we limited the
15 kind of construction that these colleges can
16 do in the budget, there doesn't seem to be
17 anything in this bill or even in the proposed
18 compromise bill that Senator LaValle talked
19 about that would help Old Westbury in any way,
20 shape or form.
21 I have a problem with giving the
22 universities the ability to raise their own
23 tuitions without checking with this
24 Legislature. These colleges are a trust.
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1 They were paid for by the taxpayers of the
2 state for the purpose of educating those who
3 could not afford to going to the higher-priced
4 private schools. These were colleges for the
5 people, all the people.
6 Now we're going to price some of
7 these people out of these colleges, and I
8 don't think that's a good thing. I personally
9 don't think that's a good thing. I want to
10 keep it affordable. I understand the need for
11 the development of Western New York. I
12 understand SUNY Stony Brook wanting to be in
13 development; it's a great university. I
14 understand the medical schools want to do
15 their thing; they're great schools.
16 But they're made great schools and
17 have been supported and been subsidized by the
18 taxpayers of this state in order to allow the
19 students and the families that couldn't afford
20 the higher-priced institutions with the
21 fancy-schmancy names so that they could go to
22 quality educational institutions. We possibly
23 could see that ending right here, right now,
24 and I don't think that's a good idea.
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1 I also don't think it's a good idea
2 without checks, without careful checks and
3 balances. I'm not happy with a report coming
4 from the president of a college to the state.
5 When you get the greedy hand of developers
6 into something, it can get out of hand. Their
7 interest is making money, let's make no bones
8 about that.
9 And I have no problem with problem
10 with that. I have absolutely no problem with
11 people making money. But I want to be careful
12 because they're going to make money using the
13 land, using the facilities that were bought
14 and paid for by the taxpayers of this state.
15 And if a private developer is going to make a
16 living on that, that's wrong. That's wrong.
17 I want to see the check and
18 balance. I want to see that every college in
19 the system benefits. Senator Libous said it
20 right. If we're going to move ahead, let's
21 move ahead as a group. Let's protect, as
22 Senator Flanagan called it, the jewel that we
23 have, and that is the State University of the
24 State of New York. It is well recognized
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1 wherever you go as the creme de la creme of
2 the university systems in this country.
3 And I would hate to see anything
4 happen that would put that at risk. That
5 would be a problem. This former schoolteacher
6 is not about to support anything that's going
7 to put that at risk.
8 Thank you, Madam President.
9 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:
10 Thank you, Senator.
11 Are there any other Senators
12 wishing to be heard on the bill?
13 Senator Stachowski, to close for
14 the majority.
15 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Yes, Madam
16 President, thank you. I Just wanted to make a
17 few remarks, some of them in response to some
18 of the things that were said.
19 And believe me, this legislation
20 was never put forward to leave anybody behind.
21 We had -- UB had waited, along with everybody
22 else, for some movement on the four centers to
23 move. When the community got activated by the
24 new president to start moving this idea
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1 forward, especially in a time when the state
2 was not going to be in a position to give them
3 financial assistance that they would need,
4 because they knew the state were going to be
5 in difficult economic times. So they started
6 on UB 2020 as a way to business the university
7 through mandate relief and relief from some
8 other processes that maybe are somewhat
9 outdated.
10 I think it's important to
11 mention -- and I mentioned it when I talked
12 about the bill, but I think I have to repeat
13 it, because two people have talked about the
14 fact that there's no oversight on leasing or
15 selling of land. But that is done under the
16 auspice of the SUNY trustees.
17 So that the University at Buffalo
18 still can't just say "We're going to do this";
19 the SUNY trustees have to take a look at it
20 first before they can do it. That says that
21 right there, and I mentioned it.
22 The tuition increases, the maximum
23 in an average course is $270, much less than
24 the SUNY board just did on their own. Without
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1 anything coming from the Legislature whether
2 they could raise it or not, they raised it.
3 So that argument is a little bit off.
4 And as Senator Volker said, and I
5 will also repeat, that we feel it's necessary
6 to pass this legislation. We think we would
7 be letting our community down not to do it.
8 We think it's good for the university. We
9 think that because of the difficulty we've
10 always had in moving the whole package
11 together, to mention what Senator Ranzenhofer
12 said, this is kind of like a pilot project.
13 But it doesn't have to be a long-term ahead of
14 everybody else.
15 As Senator Volker said, we'll also
16 be happy to work with everybody else to move
17 along the other university system
18 institutions, that we're not shortchanging
19 them, we're just pushing this one ahead to get
20 it out there as an example because they did
21 the work in the background to get us in the
22 position.
23 And when Senator LaValle mentioned
24 a lot of those memos against -- with the
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1 exception of NYPIRG's, because I find it
2 interesting that NYPIRG has a memo against it
3 when the student body voted in favor of that
4 tuition policy. And they voted pretty
5 substantially in favor of that tuition policy.
6 But the fact is we're willing to
7 still continue to work even after we pass this
8 bill to alleviate any concerns that CSEA or
9 PEF or UUP would have with this kind of
10 legislation and the possible ramifications.
11 As far as we can see, and in
12 talking with the people that I worked with at
13 the university to put this together, this is a
14 win-win for UUP, and for some reason they
15 don't want to see it. And I was sitting in a
16 meeting once, and the person from Buffalo kept
17 saying, "If it's going to create more jobs for
18 you and it's going to create more UUP
19 full-time professors, why are you still
20 against it?" And it was a question that we
21 really didn't get a good answer for.
22 Even that being said, we're still
23 going to continue to work with everybody to
24 try to alleviate any concerns they have, try
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1 to clear up any problems they have. But we
2 feel it's necessary to move forward with this
3 and to pass this bill today.
4 I thank everybody that rose to
5 speak for it. I appreciate everything
6 everybody said that stated their interests in
7 their area, and understandably so.
8 I think that the tone of Senator
9 Breslin's remarks was especially appropriate,
10 because he talked about the fact that we're
11 going to still get together and try to do
12 something to move all the other institutions
13 together.
14 And I know, under Senator
15 Stavisky's leadership, she has a real
16 interest, as did Senator LaValle, and Senator
17 LaValle still does have, in the whole SUNY
18 system. But she also realizes the importance
19 of this bill, and I thank her for her help in
20 moving this bill along.
21 And I am especially thank Senator
22 Breslin and Senator Foley and Senator Johnson
23 nor their understanding that this bill has
24 advanced because they did so much work on it,
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1 but we won't be leaving them behind.
2 I also -- the only member from
3 Western New York that wasn't thanked on this
4 was Senator Thompson. And he has been very
5 active in this, and obviously is one of the
6 main reasons that the minority business and
7 women business piece is in there and it's in
8 there so strong.
9 So the fact is that everybody has
10 participated from Western New York, the whole
11 community. I know that everybody weighed in.
12 We will continue to work to try to move the
13 whole system forward, because we do believe in
14 one New York.
15 But I thank everybody for the work
16 they did on this bill. I congratulate John
17 Simpson for being the visionary that saw that
18 this was a good way to go and the state was in
19 poor financial condition, that this would make
20 his university stronger and could make up for
21 a funding that maybe we couldn't provide
22 because of the situation we find ourselves in.
23 And I thank him and his team for
24 all the work they did on this and working
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1 together with everybody to get this bill to
2 the point it's at and continue to hope to work
3 with them as we move this bill out of this
4 house and along to the Assembly, where we may
5 have been see this again because to get it
6 through the Assembly, it may require some
7 other changes and it may be back here.
8 But we're in a position, I think,
9 to keep continuing to work with everybody as
10 we have. And I thank everybody for all the
11 help.
12 And, Madam President, I hope that
13 everyone will see fit to vote for this bill.
14 Thank you.
15 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:
16 Thank you, Senator Stachowski, for those
17 closing remarks.
18 The debate is closed.
19 I'd ask the Secretary to please
20 ring the bells.
21 Read the last section.
22 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This
23 act shall take effect immediately.
24 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:
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1 Call the roll.
2 (The Secretary called the roll.)
3 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:
4 Senator Thompson, to explain his vote.
5 SENATOR THOMPSON: Yes. First, I
6 want to thank you, Madam Chairwoman, for
7 recognizing me.
8 I also want to thank Senator
9 Stachowski for his leadership on this bill, in
10 addition to Chairwoman Stavisky for her
11 leadership as well in bringing people
12 together.
13 We still have more work to do, but
14 I think that this is a great step in the right
15 direction for Western New York. We still have
16 to recognize that Western New York needs
17 strong leadership, and today the Senate is
18 providing leadership in a bipartisan way to
19 move Western New York forward to make UB an
20 even greater flagship university, not only in
21 the state but in the nation as well.
22 We've worked out a number of
23 details to provide project labor agreements to
24 increase diversity. There are still some
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1 remaining issues as relates to concerns
2 related to organized labor that work within
3 the State University system. I am confident
4 and cautiously optimistic that we will push to
5 get some of those other considerations
6 addressed.
7 I strongly support this bill. This
8 is great for Western New York. And too often
9 it's said that Albany fails Western New York;
10 that is not true. And today we are providing
11 good and strong leadership.
12 And I strongly vote aye on this
13 bill. Thank you.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:
15 Thank you, Senator.
16 Senator Thompson will be recorded
17 in the affirmative.
18 Senator Foley.
19 SENATOR FOLEY: Thank you, Madam
20 President.
21 Certainly the great work that's
22 been put together on this resolution is to be
23 noted, particularly of Senator Stachowski.
24 I think it should also be mentioned
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1 for the record that this bill, while a pilot
2 in nature, is also turning out to be a
3 catalyst. It's a catalyst wherein we will be
4 forging, over the next several weeks, from the
5 testimony, if you will, by members of both
6 conferences, a more, let's say, comprehensive
7 and holistic approach to the four major
8 research facilities in our state.
9 So it's my hope and expectation
10 that in the remaining time of this session
11 that we will see forged, through hard work, a
12 follow-up resolution that addresses the needs
13 and issues of the other research centers so
14 that we can then, at the end of session, say
15 that this is one New York. That, yes, the
16 first resolution is the University at Buffalo,
17 but that as we move forward, we will be
18 addressing the other universities, and in so
19 doing bringing all the research centers to new
20 levels of excellence, which is what this state
21 is all about.
22 I'll be voting in the affirmative,
23 Madam President.
24 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:
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1 Senator Foley to be recorded in the
2 affirmative.
3 Senator Craig Johnson, to explain
4 his vote.
5 SENATOR CRAIG JOHNSON: Thank you
6 very much, Madam President.
7 I wish to congratulate Senator
8 Stachowski. I know how hard he has worked in
9 this process for the past couple of years, as
10 well as some of the Senators from the other
11 side of the aisle.
12 I think we need to take the benefit
13 of their hard work and labor as we move
14 forward. And echoing my friend and colleague
15 Brian Foley, we just can't leave the other
16 research centers behind, be it in Albany,
17 Binghamton, or, for us, Stony Brook.
18 But we also have to recognize that
19 we need to move forward, that efforts in the
20 past that have been stalled when dealing with
21 this, we just can't simply rest on that. We
22 need to move forward. And this way we begin
23 the process.
24 But as so eloquently stated by my
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1 colleague Brian Foley, something good has come
2 out of this. And hopefully by the end of
3 session we'll be able to address the other
4 three, using the fruits of Senator
5 Stachowski's labors.
6 Congratulations, Senator
7 Stachowski. I'll be voting yes.
8 Thank you very much.
9 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:
10 Senator Craig Johnson will be recorded in the
11 affirmative.
12 Is there any other Senator who
13 wishes to explain his or her vote?
14 Announce the results.
15 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in
16 the negative on Calendar Number 487 are
17 Senators DeFrancisco, Farley, Flanagan,
18 Fuschillo, Griffo, Hannon, O. Johnson, Lanza,
19 Larkin, LaValle, Libous, Marcellino, McDonald,
20 Padavan, Robach, Seward and Winner.
21 Absent from voting: Senator
22 Little.
23 Ayes, 44. Nays, 17.
24 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:
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1 The bill is passed.
2 Senator Klein.
3 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President,
4 can we just recognize Senator Ruth
5 Hassell-Thompson for a brief announcement.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:
7 Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson.
8 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Thank
9 you, Madam President. I just want to announce
10 that at 10 a.m. in the morning there will be a
11 conference of the Majority in Room 332. There
12 will be no conference tonight.
13 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:
14 Thank you.
15 There will be a conference of the
16 Majority, 10:00 a.m., Room 332. No conference
17 this evening.
18 Senator Klein.
19 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President,
20 is there any further business at the desk?
21 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:
22 Senator Klein, the desk is clear.
23 SENATOR KLEIN: There being none,
24 I move we adjourn until Tuesday, June 4th, at
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1 11:00 a.m.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:
3 On motion, the Senate stands adjourned until
4 Thursday, June 4th, at 11:00 a.m.
5 (Whereupon, at 8:13 p.m., the
6 Senate adjourned.)
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