March 12, 2008

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Date: 03/12/2008 Session: Regular

665 1 NEW YORK STATE SENATE 2 3 4 THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD 5 6 7 8 9 ALBANY, NEW YORK 10 March 12, 2008 11 3:17 p.m. 12 13 14 REGULAR SESSION 15 16 17 18 SENATOR JOSEPH A. GRIFFO, Acting President 19 STEVEN M. BOGGESS, Secretary 20 21 22 23

24 25 Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 666 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 3 Senate will come to order. 4 I ask that we all rise and join 5 with me as we recite the Pledge of Allegiance 6 to our Flag. 7 (Whereupon, the assemblage recited 8 the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.) 9 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: In the 10 absence of clergy today, I ask that we bow our 11 heads in a moment of silent prayer for our 12 state. 13 (Whereupon, the assemblage 14 respected a moment of silence.) 15 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 16 reading of the Journal. 17 THE SECRETARY: In Senate, 18 Tuesday, March 11, the Senate met pursuant to 19 adjournment. The Journal of Monday, March 10, 20 was read and approved. On motion, Senate 21 adjourned. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Without 23 objection, the Journal stands approved as 24 read. 25 Presentation of petitions.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 667 1 Messages from the Assembly. 2 Messages from the Governor. 3 Reports of standing committees. 4 Reports of select committees. 5 Communications and reports from 6 state officers. 7 Motions and resolutions. 8 Senator Farley. 9 SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you, 10 Mr. President. 11 On behalf of Senator Rath, on 12 page 33 I offer the following amendments to 13 Calendar Number 407, Senate Print 2322, and I 14 ask that that bill retain its place on Third 15 Reading Calendar. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 17 amendments are received and adopted, and the 18 bill will retain its place on Third Reading 19 Calendar. 20 SENATOR FARLEY: On behalf of 21 Senator Fuschillo, Mr. President, on page 36 I 22 offer the following amendments to Calendar 23 Number 444, Senate Print 6799, and I ask that 24 that bill retain its place on Third Reading 25 Calendar. Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 668 1 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The

2 amendments are received and adopted, and the 3 bill will retain its place on Third Reading 4 Calendar. 5 SENATOR FARLEY: Mr. President, 6 as a point of personal privilege, I'd like my 7 colleagues to know that today is the birthday 8 of Senator Andrew Lanza. 9 Happy birthday. 10 (Applause.) 11 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Our 12 best wishes, Senator Lanza. 13 Senator Skelos. 14 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 15 there's a resolution at the desk, 4663, by 16 Senator LaValle. If we could have the title 17 read and move for its immediate adoption. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 19 Secretary will read. 20 THE SECRETARY: By Senator 21 LaValle, Legislative Resolution Number 4663, 22 congratulating the William Floyd High School 23 LifeSmarts Team upon the occasion of 24 qualifying for 2008 New York State LifeSmarts 25 Finals. Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 669 1 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: On the 2 resolution, all in favor signify by saying 3 aye. 4 (Response of "Aye.")

5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: 6 Opposed, nay. 7 (No response.) 8 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 9 resolution is carried. 10 Senator Skelos. 11 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 12 there will be an immediate meeting of the 13 Finance Committee in the Majority Conference 14 Room. 15 And if we could stand at ease. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: There 17 will be an immediate meeting of the Finance 18 Committee in the Majority Conference Room. 19 The Senate stands at ease. 20 (Whereupon, the Senate stood at 21 ease at 3:20 p.m.) 22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 23 Skelos. 24 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 25 there will be an immediate meeting of the Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 670 1 Judiciary Committee in the Majority Conference 2 Room. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: There 4 will be an immediate meeting of the Senate 5 Judiciary Committee in the Majority Conference 6 Room. 7 The Senate stands at ease.

8 (Whereupon, the Senate reconvened 9 at 3:38 p.m.) 10 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 11 Senate will come to order. 12 Senator Skelos. 13 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 14 if we could go to the noncontroversial reading 15 of the calendar. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 17 Skelos, we have one substitution that will 18 need to be read first. 19 SENATOR SKELOS: Then if you 20 would please make the substitution at this 21 time. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank 23 you, Senator Skelos. 24 The Secretary will read. 25 THE SECRETARY: On page 17, Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 671 1 Senator Seward moves to discharge, from the 2 Committee on Insurance, Assembly Bill Number 3 9883 and substitute it for the identical 4 Senate Bill Number 6655, Third Reading 5 Calendar 143. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: 7 Substitution ordered. 8 The Secretary will now conduct the 9 reading of the noncontroversial calendar. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number

11 44, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 902A, an 12 act to amend the Public Health Law, in 13 relation to penalties. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 15 the last section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 17 act shall take effect on the 60th day. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 19 the roll. 20 (The Secretary called the roll.) 21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 57. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 23 bill is passed. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 25 63, by Senator Farley, Senate Print 6457, an Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 672 1 act establishing the task force on retiree 2 health insurance protection. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 4 the last section. 5 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 6 act shall take effect immediately. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 8 the roll. 9 (The Secretary called the roll.) 10 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 57. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 12 bill is passed. 13 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number

14 143, substituted earlier by Member of the 15 Assembly Morelle, Assembly Print Number 9883, 16 an act to amend Chapter 340 of the Laws of 17 2005, amending the Insurance Law. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 19 the last section. 20 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 21 act shall take effect immediately. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 23 the roll. 24 (The Secretary called the roll.) 25 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 57. Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 673 1 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 2 bill is passed. 3 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 4 225, by Senator Maltese, Senate Print 6331A, 5 an act to amend the General Municipal Law, in 6 relation to annual statements. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 8 the last section. 9 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 10 act shall take effect immediately. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 12 the roll. 13 (The Secretary called the roll.) 14 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 57. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 16 bill is passed.

17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 291, by Senator Larkin, Senate Print 3898, an 19 act to amend the Racing, Pari-Mutuel Wagering 20 and Breeding Law, in relation to hearings. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 22 the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 24 act shall take effect immediately. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 674 1 the roll. 2 (The Secretary called the roll.) 3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 57. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 5 bill is passed. 6 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 7 396, by Senator Skelos, Senate Print 1772A, an 8 act to amend the Correction Law, in relation 9 to maintenance of information. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 11 the last section. 12 THE SECRETARY: Section 11. This 13 act shall take effect on the first of 14 November. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 16 the roll. 17 (The Secretary called the roll.) 18 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The

20 bill is passed. 21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 22 404, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 4693, an 23 act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law, in 24 relation to determining. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 675 1 the last section. 2 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 3 act shall take effect on the 30th day. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 5 the roll. 6 (The Secretary called the roll.) 7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 9 bill is passed. 10 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 11 415, by Senator Rath, Senate Print 1761, an 12 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 13 establishing. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 15 the last section. 16 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 17 act shall take effect on the first of 18 November. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 20 the roll. 21 (The Secretary called the roll.) 22 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 57. Nays,

23 1. Senator Duane recorded in the negative. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 25 bill is passed. Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 676 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 416, by Senator Volker, Senate Print 1977A, an 3 act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law, in 4 relation to receiving. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 6 the last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 8 act shall take effect on the first of 9 November. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 11 the roll. 12 (The Secretary called the roll.) 13 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 57. Nays, 14 1. Senator Duane recorded in the negative. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 16 bill is passed. 17 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18 417, by Senator Golden, Senate Print 2034, an 19 act to amend the Penal Law, in relation to 20 endangering the welfare of a child. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 22 the last section. 23 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. This 24 act shall take effect on the first of 25 November.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 677 1 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 2 the roll. 3 (The Secretary called the roll.) 4 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 6 bill is passed. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 421, by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 9 3077, an act to amend the Penal Law, in 10 relation to creating. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 12 the last section. 13 THE SECRETARY: Section 4. This 14 act shall take effect on the first of 15 November. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 17 the roll. 18 (The Secretary called the roll.) 19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 57. Nays, 20 1. Senator Duane recorded in the negative. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 22 bill is passed. 23 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 24 428, by Senator Leibell, Senate Print 5986, an 25 act to amend the Criminal Procedure Law, in Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 678 1 relation to issuance.

2 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 3 the last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This 5 act shall take effect immediately. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 7 the roll. 8 (The Secretary called the roll.) 9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 11 bill is passed. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 446, by Senator Saland, Senate Print 1466, an 14 act to amend the Education Law, in relation to 15 voting procedures. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 17 the last section. 18 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 19 act shall take effect on the 30th day. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 21 the roll. 22 (The Secretary called the roll.) 23 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 25 bill is passed. Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 679 1 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 2 447, by Senator Fuschillo, Senate Print 1543, 3 an act to amend the Education Law, in relation 4 to the transportation of children.

5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 6 the last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 8 act shall take effect on the first of July. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 10 the roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll.) 12 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 58. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 14 bill is passed. 15 Senator Skelos, that completes the 16 reading of the noncontroversial calendar. 17 SENATOR SKELOS: If we could just 18 wait one minute. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 20 Skelos. 21 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 22 if we could return to reports of standing 23 committees and take up the report of the 24 Judiciary Committee at this time. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Reports Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 680 1 of standing committees. 2 The Secretary will read. 3 THE SECRETARY: Senator 4 DeFrancisco, from the Committee on Judiciary, 5 reports the following bill direct to third 6 reading: 7 Senate Print 7134, by Senator

8 Bruno, Concurrent Resolution of the Senate and 9 Assembly proposing an amendment to Article 7 10 of the Constitution. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Ordered 12 direct to third reading. 13 Senator Skelos. 14 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 15 if we could take up Concurrent Resolution 7134 16 at this time. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 18 Secretary will read. 19 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20 560, by Senator Bruno, Senate Print 7134, 21 Concurrent Resolution of the Senate and 22 Assembly proposing an amendment to Article 7 23 of the Constitution. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: On the 25 resolution, all in favor signify by saying Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 681 1 aye. 2 (Response of "Aye.") 3 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: 4 Opposed, nay. 5 (No response.) 6 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 7 Secretary will announce the results. 8 THE SECRETARY: In relation to 9 Calendar Number 560, ayes, 59. Nays, 0. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The

11 resolution is adopted. 12 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: What was 13 that? Mr. President, what was that? 14 SENATOR DUANE: Mr. President. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 16 Duane. 17 SENATOR DUANE: Thank you, 18 Mr. President. 19 On a rather confusing and 20 complicated day, I think that we were under 21 the impression that that was a report on that 22 resolution. Can you please clarify what that 23 was? 24 And if not, I think we'd like to 25 withdraw the roll call. Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 682 1 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 2 committee report was received and adopted, and 3 then the question was on the concurrent 4 resolution, Senator Duane. 5 But you're making a request for 6 reconsideration? 7 SENATOR DUANE: Yes, 8 Mr. President, I would make that request. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Can we 10 have order in the chamber. 11 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 13 Bruno.

14 SENATOR BRUNO: Can we at this 15 time reconsider the vote on Calendar 560. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: On 17 Calendar 560, the Secretary will read. 18 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19 560, by Senator Bruno, Senate Print 7134, 20 Concurrent Resolution of the Senate and 21 Assembly. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 23 Secretary will call the roll on 24 reconsideration. 25 (The Secretary called the roll.) Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 683 1 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 61. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: On 3 Resolution 7134, the resolution is under 4 reconsideration and will be laid aside. 5 The Secretary will now read 6 Concurrent Resolution 7134. 7 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 8 560, by Senator Bruno, Senate Print 7134, 9 Concurrent Resolution of the Senate and 10 Assembly proposing an amendment to Article 7 11 of the Constitution. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 13 question is on the concurrent resolution. All 14 those in favor signify by saying aye. 15 (Response of "Aye.") 16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO:

17 Opposed, nay. 18 (Response of "Nay.") 19 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Please 20 raise your hand. 21 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 22 the negative on Calendar Number 560 are 23 Senators Adams, Breslin, Diaz, Dilan, Duane, 24 Gonzalez, Hassell-Thompson, Huntley, 25 L. Krueger, Montgomery, Onorato, Parker, Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 684 1 Perkins, Sabini, Sampson, Schneiderman, 2 Serrano, Smith, Stachowski, Stavisky and 3 Thompson. 4 Ayes, 40. Nays, 21. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 6 resolution is adopted. 7 Senator Bruno. 8 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President, 9 can we at this time take up the report of the 10 Finance Committee. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 12 Secretary will read the report of the Finance 13 Committee. 14 THE SECRETARY: Senator O. 15 Johnson, from the Committee on Finance, offers 16 the following report: 17 By Senator Bruno, Concurrent 18 Resolution Number 4655; 19 And direct to third reading, Senate

20 Print 6802A, Senate Budget Bill, an act making 21 appropriations for the legal requirements. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Ordered 23 direct to third reading. 24 Senator Bruno. 25 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President, at Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 685 1 this time can we take up Calendar Number 559. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 3 Secretary will read Calendar Number 559. 4 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 5 559, Senate Budget Bill, Senate Print 6802A, 6 an act making appropriations for the legal 7 requirements of the state debt service. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read 9 the last section. 10 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 11 act shall take effect immediately. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call 13 the roll. 14 (The Secretary called the roll.) 15 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 61. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 17 bill is passed. 18 Senator Bruno. 19 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President, 20 can we at this time take up Budget Resolution 21 4655. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The

23 Secretary will read. 24 THE SECRETARY: By Senator Bruno, 25 Concurrent Resolution 4655, adopting a budget Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 686 1 resolution proposing amendments to the 2 2008-2009 Executive Budget submission. 3 SENATOR DUANE: Lay it aside, 4 please. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 6 resolution is laid aside. 7 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 9 Bruno. 10 SENATOR BRUNO: Can we at this 11 time take up the controversial reading of the 12 calendar. 13 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 14 Secretary will ring the bell. 15 SENATOR BRUNO: And if we can 16 take up Resolution 4655. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 18 Secretary will read. 19 THE SECRETARY: By Senator Bruno, 20 Concurrent Resolution Number 4655, adopting a 21 budget resolution proposing amendments to the 22 2008-2009 Executive Budget submission. 23 SENATOR DUANE: Explanation. 24 SENATOR BRUNO: This is the 25 budget resolution that we are proposing for

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 687 1 Senate adoption. The Assembly will be passing 2 their budget bill or resolution. And we will 3 formally get engaged in conference committees 4 as of tomorrow, but more Monday, by committee. 5 So in this resolution that's before 6 us, in the overall budget submission by the 7 Governor we are, overall, spending slightly 8 under, $13 million or so under. 9 We take out all of the tax 10 increases and fee increases that the 11 Governor's budget proposes, that's about 12 $1.7 billion, recognizing that the Governor 13 had said no new taxes on the people of this 14 state. We eliminate that in this budget. 15 At the same time, we add about 16 $545 million to school aid, taking that number 17 up to about $2 billion, a 10 percent increase 18 over last year, which is a record. 19 Why is that necessary? Because in 20 the Governor's budget proposal he totally 21 distorts the distribution of education funds 22 with the Island, with the City, and with 23 upstate. So we have to add dollars to fix 24 that. 25 We restore the cuts to CUNY that Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 688 1 the Governor made, we restore the cuts to the

2 community colleges, I think it's $50 per 3 student. 4 We restore $319 million of property 5 tax rebates to seniors, middle income and low 6 income, that the Governor took out of present 7 law. So if you vote against that, you are 8 voting against the seniors out there who 9 $319 million is better spent with them than in 10 other ways. 11 So that's a very broad view of what 12 we're doing. But what's important for us to 13 know is we're not over the $124 billion, we're 14 taking all the tax increases and fees out, 15 giving the seniors back a property tax rebate, 16 and restoring the cuts in education, higher 17 ed: CUNY, SUNY and community colleges. 18 Thank you, Mr. President. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank 20 you, Senator Bruno. 21 SENATOR BRUNO: Senator 22 Hassell-Thompson. 23 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Thank 24 you, Mr. President. Just to explain my vote. 25 I can appreciate the issues that Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 689 1 Senator Bruno has raised on the floor today in 2 terms of how we want to not create new 3 taxation for residents of the state. 4 And certainly as someone who was an

5 attendee of the CUNY system and who has 6 encouraged both CUNY and SUNY schools in order 7 to ensure that we educate the children of the 8 State of New York, also looking at the issues 9 of healthcare, looking at the restorations 10 that have been made in those areas, it would 11 seem contradictory for me to vote against this 12 resolution. 13 But the major concern that I have 14 is that -- two steps. First is the process, 15 the timeliness with which the Senate Minority 16 had the opportunity to explore these budgetary 17 concerns and to be able to agree, as some 18 others have, that this is the best possible 19 remedy for us to explore. 20 And the second piece is certainly 21 this budget does not satisfactorily, for my 22 benefit, explain how we're going to be able to 23 pay for many of the restorations that have 24 been recommended. 25 So therefore, at this time I will Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 690 1 be voting no on this resolution. 2 Thank you, Mr. President. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank 4 you, Senator Hassell-Thompson. 5 Just as a point of clarification, 6 we are on the controversial debate of the 7 resolution.

8 Senator Krueger. 9 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you, 10 Mr. President. If through you the sponsor 11 would yield to a question. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 13 Bruno, would you yield for a question? 14 SENATOR BRUNO: Yes, 15 Mr. President. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 17 Krueger. 18 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you. 19 When did this bill arrive on our 20 desks? 21 SENATOR BRUNO: I don't have an 22 answer to that. 23 When did it arrive, do we know? 24 Last night? 25 Last night, Senator. Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 691 1 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Mr. 2 President, if through you the sponsor would 3 continue to yield. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 5 Bruno? 6 SENATOR BRUNO: Yes, 7 Mr. President. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 9 Krueger. 10 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you.

11 That was last night after we had 12 left the building and the doors were locked? 13 I'm going to take a leap that the doors were 14 locked to the Senate last night. 15 SENATOR BRUNO: Not to my 16 knowledge. But I don't lock the doors, and I 17 don't keep track of when they do. 18 (Laughter.) 19 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Fair 20 enough. I've seen them locked, and you're 21 right, you do not lock the doors. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 23 Krueger. 24 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you, 25 Mr. President. If through you the sponsor Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 692 1 would continue to yield. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 3 Bruno, would you continue to yield? 4 SENATOR BRUNO: Yes, 5 Mr. President. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 7 Krueger. 8 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: When I 9 looked on the computer today for the budget 10 revision for the Senate Republicans changing 11 the entire budget of the State of New York, I 12 found one page. Not even the 50 pages that, 13 in theory, were here on my desk last night.

14 But I'm not sure I had access to my desk last 15 night. I'm pretty sure 19 million New Yorkers 16 did not. 17 Is it normal practice that we move 18 a budget document with the public seeing one 19 page and then our being asked to vote for it 20 on the same day that even a small number of us 21 have seen all 50 pages? 22 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 24 Bruno. 25 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President and Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 693 1 Senator, I'm being informed that the staff, by 2 7 o'clock last night, all the people that 3 support us here, had all the information 4 that's before us. 5 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you, 6 Mr. President. If the sponsor would continue 7 to yield. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 9 Bruno? 10 SENATOR BRUNO: Yes. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 12 Krueger. 13 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: To clarify 14 my question, for the 19 million New Yorkers 15 minus the staff of the Senate, is it correct 16 that when they went online today to try to get

17 information about this budget resolution, only 18 one page, the introductory page, was the only 19 thing available in our computer system 20 available to the public to see? 21 SENATOR BRUNO: I'm told, 22 Mr. President, that that's the procedure 23 that's normally followed by the Senate and by 24 the Assembly. 25 This document is how many pages? Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 694 1 It's a lot, hundreds of pages. So that's 2 typical. That's usually what happens. 3 And, Senator, you have voted on 4 budgets before in a same time frame. 5 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you, 6 Mr. President. If the sponsor would continue 7 to yield. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 9 Bruno, do you choose to continue to yield? 10 SENATOR BRUNO: Yes, 11 Mr. President. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 13 Krueger. 14 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you, 15 Mr. President. 16 I'm not sure what normal is in this 17 town, to be honest, or in this building. But 18 in the six years that I've been here, even 19 though it is true we've had a shorter timeline

20 for budget documents than what I think the 21 public expects of us, this is my first 22 experience with a budget resolution, as 23 opposed to budget bills, and less than three 24 days' timeline. 25 Of course, we're not discussing Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 695 1 messages of necessity, because this is a 2 one-house budget resolution. 3 But again, I'm not familiar with it 4 being normal for the public to have zero 5 access to a budget resolution being brought to 6 the floor for a vote on the same day that most 7 Senators have seen it for the first time. 8 So I'd like the Senator to clarify 9 what's normal about this or when else we've 10 done it this way. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: What is 12 your question, Senator Krueger? 13 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: My question 14 is, when else have we done a budget resolution 15 under a one-day timeline with absolutely no 16 access by the public to the proposal? 17 SENATOR BRUNO: If you review 18 time frames, Mr. President and colleagues, 19 over the last 10 years you will see that it's 20 been more typical than not, given all the work 21 that goes into preparing a budget. 22 And a lot of pieces of what's here

23 have been out there. The rebate for seniors, 24 been out there since last year. That's part 25 of present law. Education has been out there Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 696 1 since the Governor proposed his budget, so you 2 could have reviewed the deficiencies in the 3 education format. 4 But, Mr. President and Senators, we 5 can be here for as many hours as you'd like 6 talking procedure. The fact of the matter is 7 we have a resolution on the floor before us. 8 And if you want to be supportive of 9 eliminating $1.7 billion in taxes and fee 10 increases, you ought to step up. If you want 11 to give $540 million more in education, you 12 ought to step up. If you want to give back 13 $319 million to seniors who desperately need 14 it to pay their property taxes, you ought to 15 step up. If you want to return the money to 16 CUNY, SUNY, community colleges, then you ought 17 to step up. 18 Now, if you want to spin our wheels 19 here talking about procedure, be my guest. 20 That's what, you know, this is all about. 21 But I would suggest, Mr. President, 22 and to you, our time would be more 23 productively spent talking the merits of the 24 legislation and the resolution that's before 25 us. Because until we pass this resolution --

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 697 1 and the Assembly is passing theirs -- by law, 2 conference committees that are established to 3 take place don't happen. 4 So if you want to follow the law 5 that you all voted for last year in budget 6 reform, that's what is before us here to start 7 this procedure. 8 Now, I know that it gets rather 9 difficult to sometimes vote against these 10 things that are just so important to your 11 constituents. And to yours. And to yours. 12 Very difficult to vote against them. 13 So I would encourage you to vote 14 for what's before us, and let's get on with 15 the process and let's get into a public 16 discussion and debate on all of the issues 17 that we will be accountable for, through 18 conference committees, starting Monday. 19 Thank you, Mr. President. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank 21 you, Senator Bruno. 22 Senator Krueger. 23 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you, 24 Mr. President. I appreciate the sponsor's 25 comments. I will speak on the budget Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 698 1 resolution.

2 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: On the 3 resolution. 4 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: I 5 appreciate the sponsor's answer that it's not 6 a budget bill and that he is suggesting that 7 this is a beginning point in some way to start 8 the actual process of a public discussion 9 about a budget. 10 And he references the budget 11 conference committees, which I look forward to 12 participating in fully, and hope that in the 13 budget conference committees will be a full 14 discussion of what is currently a $124 billion 15 proposed budget. 16 And if I understand the sponsor 17 correctly, he's not significantly changing the 18 bottom line of the $124 billion number. 19 Although since he's cutting out quite a bit of 20 the new revenue projected and he's actually 21 proposing some increases, I look forward to 22 learning where the money is coming from 23 because there is no way to learn where the 24 money is coming from for a balanced budget in 25 this 50-page resolution which none of the Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 699 1 19 million New Yorkers have had a chance to 2 look at. 3 I do take the budget process very 4 seriously. I would argue it is our most

5 important function up here as a Legislature, 6 and in fact have argued for years that because 7 it is such an important process, that any 8 budget bill should actually be on our desk for 9 10 days rather than the three days mandated 10 for regular bills. 11 Of course, this isn't a bill. It's 12 not a budget. It's not even technically a 13 full budget proposal. It's a wish list that 14 may or may not add up. Because, 15 unfortunately, there are not dollars and cents 16 attached to this like a real budget bill, 17 where we can see whether in fact it is a 18 balanced budget, whether or not we're being 19 asked to violate our constitutional obligation 20 in voting for this bill to move towards a 21 balanced budget. 22 The Senator raises some examples of 23 what he thinks are good in his document, and 24 says that we should stand up. I think I would 25 like to sit down when it comes to the Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 700 1 $300 million cuts in affordable housing that 2 are not in this budget resolution. I think I 3 would like to sit down when it comes to the 4 fact that it doesn't address the Medicaid 5 funding realities that we are facing in tough 6 times and that it does not address the bad 7 debt and charity pool.

8 I think I do not agree with the 9 Senator's analysis that this is a good budget 10 for public education. In fact, my minimal 11 reading of the 50 pages -- at least I have the 12 50 pages; most people do not -- does not show 13 that this is a budget that is good for public 14 education. And I don't think I agree that 15 it's a good budget proposal for seniors as 16 well. 17 So we do disagree, Senator. And 18 we're entitled to disagree. But I think on 19 behalf of the people of New York State and 20 good government, and the commitment we did 21 make in budget reform legislation last year, 22 that it is not acceptable budget practice to 23 put out one piece of paper on a Tuesday night, 24 bring a bill to the floor for a vote on a 25 Wednesday afternoon where the staff of our Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 701 1 offices perhaps got the 50 pages last night, 2 the people of New York State have had no time 3 to see any of the proposals -- and in fact, if 4 they were to see some of the proposals, I 5 suspect they would have the same question I 6 have: What does it mean to have a 7 one-sentence proposal with no dollar figure 8 attached and no explanation of what it would 9 mean or when it would be implemented or how we 10 would pay for it?

11 So I do think that I take the 12 budget very seriously and my responsibility in 13 having a vote on the budget very seriously. 14 What I don't accept is that this is a serious 15 budget document. This is a one-house press 16 release that has a wish list of everything 17 that some members of this conference hope 18 would take place in New York State. 19 There are many things in here that 20 I'm sure I agree with. There are many things 21 that I'm quite sure I don't agree with. What 22 I am very confident of is this is not the way 23 you pretend to do a budget in the State of 24 New York in the 21st century. 25 We have serious problems, we have a Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 702 1 serious economic gap. We are in a recession 2 in this country and in this state. And I 3 frankly find it, on behalf of my constituents, 4 insulting that rather than dealing with the 5 real budget and the real problems at hand, 6 we're having a theater afternoon. 7 Thank you, Mr. President. I will 8 be voting no during the vote period. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 10 Stachowski. 11 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Yes, 12 Mr. President. On the bill. 13 I happen to agree that Senator

14 Bruno is right and everything that everybody 15 wants back in is in. No fees, no taxes, no 16 increases. The problem we're having is in all 17 the information that we've got so far from 18 your guys -- and actually, he's just slightly 19 off. I think we got the stuff at about 7:30 20 last night, I want to share that with 21 everybody. The staff did, at least, and 22 started working on it. 23 However, we don't have the numbers 24 yet that show us how you actually spend less 25 money than the Governor does. And that's Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 703 1 troublesome because, as everyone knows, this 2 side of the aisle is under tremendous scrutiny 3 to see how we're going to react in different 4 kinds of situations and how we would be 5 perceived if we were ever put in a leadership 6 spot for real and how would we react to that 7 and what would be the end result. 8 And the problem I'm having is I 9 love the idea of giving the seniors their 10 rebate check against this year. Everybody 11 likes that. And I like the put-backs to 12 education, because we're taking your word -13 because there's no school runs, so we're 14 taking your word that all the money goes where 15 it's supposed to go. And districts in my area 16 will all be happy because they'll get an

17 increase. 18 And I'm a big supporter of SUNY and 19 also CUNY, because they do a good job in the 20 City, and I'd like to see those cuts also 21 replaced. And all the other places that money 22 is put back. 23 But the problem I'm having, knowing 24 that I'm under tremendous scrutiny, 25 particularly because I happen to have the job Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 704 1 of being ranker on Finance, is I'm not quite 2 sure that we're really paying for all this. 3 And it's hard for me to stand up 4 and support -- even though it's only a budget 5 resolution. And I can argue against anybody 6 who can put a piece out and say, you know, he 7 voted against this increase in school 8 education and he voted against this. And the 9 fact is, a budget resolution is just a 10 resolution. It just gets the process going. 11 And I'll be among all those 12 supporting all these put-backs if we can 13 actually show how we pay for it. And during 14 all the conference committees -- and I get the 15 joy of backing up everybody, so I'll be at all 16 of them saying we should be doing all these 17 put-backs, just make sure at that one 18 committee where we've got to show how we pay 19 for them, we can pay for them.

20 And I'd be happy to say we can pay 21 for them without any of these increases -22 more supportive than anybody, because I'm a 23 very conservative person. So the fact is I 24 would be all yahoo for this whole package if 25 we had the numbers that showed us how you pay Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 705 1 for it. And we haven't yet gotten that. 2 So until we get that, I can't in 3 good conscience stand up, knowing everybody is 4 watching what we're doing, and trying to be 5 responsible in our role as legislators -- and 6 particularly in my role as ranker on Finance, 7 I'm supposed to be very responsible and 8 balance the numbers. And since my staff guys 9 tell me we haven't gotten those numbers yet, 10 not specifically -- we've got ballpark 11 figures, but, you know, ballpark figures, I 12 like to do my checkbook in ballpark figures. 13 And for a while, I used to, and then I got 14 better at it. 15 (Laughter.) 16 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: But the fact 17 is that I love the put-backs. And we'll be 18 supporting as many as we can, as long as we 19 have the finances to do them. 20 So because of those reasons -- and 21 I want to see this process move along, so I'm 22 glad that we're taking this up. And the fact

23 is we didn't have budget bills in this house 24 ready in time, so that we have no choice but 25 to do it this way. Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 706 1 So until we can show how we pay for 2 it, I'm not going to be able to support this. 3 But I'm glad to see that the issue is going 4 on. So I'm probably going to be voting in the 5 negative when that time comes. 6 Thank you. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 8 Schneiderman. 9 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you, 10 Mr. President. 11 If the sponsor could -- I can't 12 imagine anything more pleasurable than 13 speaking with our leader, Senator Malcolm 14 Smith, but if -15 SENATOR BRUNO: I can. 16 (Laughter.) 17 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: -- the 18 sponsor would spare just a moment. 19 You can? As demonstrated by this 20 document, sir, you are a very imaginative 21 fellow. You're a very imaginative fellow, 22 Senator Bruno. 23 SENATOR BRUNO: Thank you. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 25 Schneiderman.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 707 1 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: If the 2 sponsor would yield for one question. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 4 Bruno, will you yield for one question? 5 SENATOR BRUNO: One question, 6 Mr. President. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 8 Schneiderman. 9 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you. 10 It has eight parts. 11 (Laughter.) 12 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: No, it 13 doesn't. 14 SENATOR BRUNO: Typical. 15 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: You have 16 enumerated several facts which I don't quite 17 understand in the context of this resolution. 18 You say that this resolution 19 eliminates $1.7 billion in fees and taxes that 20 the Executive Budget proposed, and yet it 21 restores $545 million in school aid, 22 $319 million in property tax rebates and other 23 sums, but it still comes out at very slightly 24 less than the Executive Budget. 25 What is being cut? What are you Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 708 1 cutting from the Executive Budget, if you

2 could please enumerate the largest items, in 3 order to make sure that happens? 4 SENATOR BRUNO: The largest 5 items, Senator, are a 3 percent cut across the 6 board. That's about $300 million. Another 7 $600 million in cuts. And we eliminated a lot 8 of the new programs that the Governor proposed 9 where there was no plausible explanation as to 10 how the money was going to be used. 11 So I think that was a billion-four 12 or something that we moved around. 13 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: I realize 14 I said one question. 15 Just to clarify, a 3 percent cut 16 across the board of what? 17 SENATOR BRUNO: Of the state 18 agencies. 19 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Of all 20 state agencies? 21 SENATOR BRUNO: Yes. 22 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you. 23 I'd like to thank the sponsor for his answers, 24 and I'd like to speak on the resolution. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 709 1 you, Senator Bruno. 2 Senator Schneiderman, on the 3 resolution. 4 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: I must

5 admit that I've seen a lot of strange things 6 since I've been in Albany. But this document 7 is one of the most bizarre items ever to come 8 across my desk. 9 I arrived here and I looked at it 10 and my first reaction was, oh, Senator Huntley 11 left her copy of The Onion on my desk, and 12 this is a parody. But no, it wasn't that. 13 Then I thought: Wait, is it 14 April 1st? Then I thought no, it's not April 15 Fool's Day. 16 This is a document where, to the 17 extent there are numbers, they don't add up. 18 This is not, I would suggest, ladies and 19 gentlemen, what it purports to be in any way, 20 shape or form. 21 It says that it's a report of the 22 Senate Finance Committee. Senator Stachowski, 23 the other members of the Finance Committee who 24 are on our side of the aisle, they haven't 25 been included in this. The Senate Finance Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 710 1 Committee does still include Democrats. They 2 weren't involved in this report. This is not 3 a report of the Senate Finance Committee. 4 This is not a budget resolution in 5 the sense that we all know, whether resolution 6 or bills. By law, our budget has to add up. 7 The spending and the revenue has to balance.

8 It doesn't here. 9 And I would suggest, ladies and 10 gentlemen, that in a period of time in which 11 the credibility of our state government has 12 taken a lot of hits, we don't need to be 13 adding to the public cynicism about the lack 14 of transparency, democracy and efficacy in 15 Albany by putting out a budget resolution that 16 doesn't add up. 17 So we're pretending that we're 18 restoring cuts. We don't tell people how we 19 pay for it. We're pretending that we can cut 20 $1.7 billion in fees and taxes and make up for 21 it with a 3 percent cut across the board in 22 agency funding. Well, that's something we 23 could debate at great length. Who is hurt by 24 that? Where does it show up? You can't tell 25 in here. And does that even add up? I don't Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 711 1 have the numbers. 2 Our staff, far more sophisticated 3 and knowledgeable than I, have reviewed this 4 document. You cannot tell, by looking at the 5 document we're voting on today, where the 6 money comes from. And it certainly does not 7 appear, from looking at it -- there's no 8 evidence in this document that it actually 9 adds up to the total amount of money you are 10 now claiming we're spending.

11 This is not a budget resolution. 12 This is -- I suppose this could be some sort 13 of a draft of a budget resolution. But if a 14 student submitted it to me, I think they'd 15 probably get a D. 16 This does not answer the questions 17 of the people of the State of New York. 18 Forget about the bad public policy -- the lack 19 of brownfield reform, the cuts to affordable 20 housing. Forget about the bad public policy 21 that this breaches the most important 22 commitment we made last year to the people of 23 the State of New York, that we would fund good 24 schools in every community. 25 Fifteen years ago the school board Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 712 1 in my neighborhood, in Washington Heights, 2 started the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case 3 because they were sick of overcrowded 4 classrooms, lack of books and equipment, 5 undertrained teachers, and students graduating 6 from the 12th grade with a 8th grade reading 7 level. They litigated it, and last year we 8 said to them, as a government, we're finally 9 going to come through, we're going to make 10 sure there's a good school in every community. 11 This breaches that promise. 12 I'm not even that agitated about it 13 because it is such an absurd document that I

14 don't really take it seriously. So I'm urging 15 everyone not to worry about what it says, 16 because I don't think it's really, honestly, 17 worth the paper it's printed on. 18 I think anyone here who's a 19 serious, principled fiscal conservative should 20 vote against it because it's a sham, should 21 vote against it because it doesn't add up, 22 should vote against it because it is a 23 fundamentally dishonest piece of work that 24 pretends to people in the State of New York 25 that they're getting money for school aid or Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 713 1 for property tax rebates -2 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 3 Saland, why do you rise? 4 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: -- that 5 they are not getting -6 SENATOR SALAND: Would he yield? 7 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 8 Schneiderman -9 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: I would be 10 glad to yield as soon as I'm done. I always 11 enjoy colloquy with Senator Saland. 12 So Senator Bruno said we ought to 13 step up. I agree we ought to step up. We 14 ought to step up and stand for honesty and 15 integrity in the budget process. 16 There's no reason we had to get

17 this late last night. There's no reason we 18 haven't had a chance to review this. Maybe 19 just because it's such a shoddy piece of work, 20 its authors did not want it to have to 21 withstand the scrutiny. Well, we've given it 22 enough scrutiny to reject it. 23 I urge everyone on both sides of 24 the aisle to reject this. We've got to 25 restore public credibility for this Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 714 1 institution and for the state government. 2 This is the last thing we need under the 3 current circumstances. I urge everyone to 4 vote no. 5 And I'll be glad to take a question 6 from my esteemed colleague from Mylan [ph]. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 8 Saland. 9 SENATOR SALAND: Thank you, 10 Senator Schneiderman. 11 Senator Schneiderman, I'm just 12 going to focus in on your comments with regard 13 to the education portion of the budget. And I 14 might ask you if you could recall back to last 15 year when we adopted the foundation formula. 16 And at that time I think it was much 17 ballyhooed in all quarters -18 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: I'm sorry? 19 SENATOR SALAND: I said I think

20 it was well received, much ballyhooed in all 21 quarters as being -- I think the way it was 22 described was fair, transparent, and 23 predictable. And I'm not exactly sure that 24 that foundation formula that we saw last year 25 is the foundation formula that we saw this Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 715 1 year. 2 And I would ask you whether you 3 could describe for me the differences between 4 last year's version of the foundation formula 5 and this year's foundation formula as 6 proposed, and what were the policy issues that 7 might have driven the changes in that formula. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 9 Schneiderman. 10 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: You mean 11 as proposed by the Executive? 12 SENATOR SALAND: As proposed by 13 Governor Spitzer, correct. 14 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you. 15 I'm not going to drag this out. And I 16 understand that this is something that we are 17 going to have time to discuss after, I assume, 18 the Majority passes this and we get on with 19 actual budget negotiations. 20 I personally do not agree with the 21 proposal by the Executive when it comes to 22 this. I think that in and of itself, the

23 Executive Budget did not fulfill the promise 24 for the high-needs school districts in poor 25 communities such as the ones in my district. Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 716 1 But I will say this. This does not 2 provide more funding for high-needs school 3 districts. If anything -- you can't tell, 4 because the numbers don't add up -- it appears 5 that more funds are being allocated to 6 lower-needs school districts. That, I think, 7 is adding insult to injury. 8 I think we should be restoring the 9 funds to the formula that was proposed last 10 year that we promised the people of the State 11 of New York -- we promised, frankly, the 12 plaintiffs in the case. Because this is by 13 way of settling a case. This is not just, you 14 know, sort of casual Albany promises. This is 15 something that was done to settle the 16 litigation. 17 I think we have to return to that 18 formula. The Governor took a step in the 19 wrong direction with the Executive Budget. 20 This takes another step in the wrong 21 direction. 22 And -- oh, sorry. Ah. He did? If 23 I might pause -- finish with a question. Did 24 my esteemed colleague vote for the education 25 budget last year?

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 717 1 SENATOR SALAND: No, I did not. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 3 Schneiderman, a question is being asked of you 4 now. 5 SENATOR SALAND: No, I spent a 6 considerable amount of time reshaping the 7 budget. But you may recall there was an issue 8 about charter schools, an issue which stuck in 9 many people's craws. It stuck in my craw 10 perhaps far worse than it did others'. 11 And as a matter of principle, 12 despite all the good things we did in that 13 budget, I couldn't see fit to swallow that 14 hard on charter schools. Others may have felt 15 they had to. 16 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 18 Lanza, why do you rise? 19 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Mr. 20 President -21 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 22 Lanza rises. Why do you rise, Senator Lanza? 23 SENATOR SALAND: May I continue? 24 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 25 Lanza, why do you rise? Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 718 1 SENATOR LANZA: I'll defer to

2 Senator Saland. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 4 Saland. 5 SENATOR SALAND: Senator 6 Schneiderman, I greatly appreciate your 7 comments. And perhaps I might add a little 8 bit of reality to them. 9 First, this budget resolution 10 proposes not to decrease any funding to the 11 City of New York but in fact increase that 12 funding to the City of New York. There are 13 significant additional dollars that would go 14 to the City of New York, including, if you 15 take a look at the resolution, provision for 16 something called educational improvement 17 grants, which would add to the funds that the 18 Governor provided by somewhere in the area of 19 $120 million in that item alone. And that's 20 without changes in the foundation aid portion 21 of the formula. 22 Let me -- well, you have the floor, 23 Senator Schneiderman, so I really can't -- I 24 would merely suggest to you that contrary to 25 what we all thought had occurred with the Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 719 1 adoption of last year's budget, when the 2 revised data became available in November of 3 this past year, what the Governor had told us 4 he would be doing this year sort of fell by

5 the wayside. And it was driven by a formula. 6 It was the foundation formula -- the clear, 7 fair, predictable foundation formula. 8 And the desired result would have 9 really caused enormous pain to the City of 10 New York because what had happened was the 11 city's wealth had increased significantly over 12 the preceding year, as a result of which that 13 clear, fair, predictable formula would have 14 required that the city not get as much of the 15 increase as it had hoped to get and as the 16 Governor had hoped to provide it. 17 And the sole purpose of my raising 18 that point is the very things that so many 19 people railed against and found to be horrific 20 in the prior system, with the variety of 21 formulae, was not to back into a result. 22 The Governor basically decided that 23 in order to drive additional dollars to the 24 City of New York, he was going to have to take 25 money from the rest of the state. And very Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 720 1 sadly, that's what the Governor did. 2 And there's nobody on this side of 3 the aisle who begrudges that additional money 4 to the City of New York. And there's nobody 5 on this side of the aisle who doesn't want to 6 give yet additional money to the City of 7 New York. But what we do --

8 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Can I get 9 a question? Is there a question? 10 I'm just trying to move this along. 11 I'm happy to take a question. But if he wants 12 to speak on the bill, I'm happy to let him do 13 that later also. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: I 15 believe there was a counter-question both 16 ways. 17 But, Senator Saland, if you would 18 like to -19 SENATOR SALAND: I'll conclude my 20 comments with a question. 21 I think what everybody on this side 22 of the aisle feels, regardless of their 23 geography, is that it was, to say the least, 24 unfair, insensitive and beyond the capacity of 25 any of us to accept that we would stand by Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 721 1 idly and let the Governor reorder the 2 foundation formula in such a fashion as to 3 prejudice countless districts in the rest of 4 the state. 5 And to you I would say, Senator 6 Schneiderman, that if you can find from this 7 resolution where the City of New York has seen 8 its aid reduced by any amount of money, please 9 feel free to point out where that might be. 10 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you.

11 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 12 Schneiderman. 13 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: In 14 response -- and then I will conclude, because 15 I know the hour is late and people want to get 16 on with things -- there are many things I 17 can't find in here. I don't think there's any 18 question that there are some increases. The 19 question in school aid is always what is the 20 amount of the increase, what are the 21 proportions of the increase, and where are the 22 increases going. 23 I would urge my colleagues that if 24 we're going to solve the problems of the 25 state, we have to go to Senator Smith's theme Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 722 1 of "One New York." It is absolutely false 2 that the Governor directed money to the City 3 of New York and took it from everywhere else 4 in the state. He directed money to high-needs 5 districts, which include places like Syracuse, 6 Rochester, Yonkers, Buffalo. 7 The City of New York is a part of 8 the state, we're happy to pay our fair share. 9 We currently pay about $12 billion a year more 10 into the state than we get back. But every 11 child in every community -- rural poor 12 districts, urban poor districts -- deserves a 13 sound, basic education. That's a

14 constitutional requirement that we violated 15 for years. 16 Last year the Governor said "I'm 17 going to meet my obligations." This year his 18 proposal did include a 5 percent increase for 19 high-needs school districts in order to 20 fulfill that promise. That is something that 21 the Senate is attempting to back away from. 22 And I would urge my colleagues, as 23 we debate this, let's not get into this 24 divisiveness of the City of New York, upstate, 25 Western New York, the suburbs. One state, Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 723 1 good schools in every community. 2 This resolution, in addition to 3 every other problem -- that it doesn't add up, 4 that it's not a report of the Finance 5 Committee -6 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 7 Robach, why do you rise? 8 SENATOR ROBACH: Would Senator 9 Schneiderman yield for a question? 10 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Actually, 11 I'd like to just finish my comments, 12 Mr. President. 13 This budget, in addition to all the 14 other problems I've noted, absolutely breaks 15 the promise to high-needs school districts, 16 including those in Rochester. I vote no. I

17 urge everyone to vote no. 18 I love to debate with my 19 colleagues, but in the interest of moving 20 things along -- and there are so many of them 21 on their feet now -22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 23 Schneiderman, we have a number of requests for 24 you to yield for questions. 25 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: I think Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 724 1 I'm going to pass on that at this point, 2 Mr. President. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 4 Schneiderman refuses to answer questions. 5 Senator Saland. 6 SENATOR SALAND: Thank you, 7 Mr. President. 8 Let me just pose this question 9 rhetorically, and you can answer it at your 10 convenience, Senator Schneiderman. 11 I would like you to stand up at 12 some point and tell every one of your 13 colleagues on both sides of the aisle that 14 under present law, the law that we adopted 15 when we passed the budget last year, that in 16 fact $192 million, close to $200 million which 17 would have gone to districts throughout the 18 state, districts outside of the City of 19 New York, was not redirected to the City of

20 New York under the Governor's formula. 21 And again, that's not to say the 22 city doesn't need the money and that we should 23 not provide the money. But why take it from 24 districts that desperately need it? 25 And, Senator Schneiderman, when you Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 725 1 take a look at the save-harmless districts, I 2 will show you dozens of districts that are 3 poorer than the City of New York, districts 4 with wealth ratios that start off with .5, .6, 5 .7. And the Governor threw more of them onto 6 save-harmless when he pulled that money out of 7 the rest of the state, the very poor and 8 high-needs districts that you profess to be 9 concerned about. 10 Feel free, when you have the time. 11 I'll stand up and admit I'm wrong. I hope 12 you're man enough to stand up and admit that 13 you're wrong. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 15 Stavisky. 16 SENATOR STAVISKY: Mr. President, 17 I would have hoped that we continue to debate 18 the issues and not resort to personal attacks. 19 And I think that's perhaps one of the problems 20 with this -- I can't call it a budget bill. 21 The several-hundred -- the wish list, whatever 22 you want to call it.

23 My problem, though, is more with 24 the process as has been described here. One 25 of the real problems is that it's not broken Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 726 1 down, so we have to vote on each item in the 2 whole. In other words, we don't get the 3 option to pick and choose. This is an 4 all-or-nothing -- accept it all, reject it 5 all. We can't vote the way we normally do on 6 a budget, the eight or nine budget bills with 7 the accompanying Article 7 explanations. 8 Instead, this is an all-or-nothing bill, which 9 I think is a mistake. 10 I was listening very carefully to 11 Senator Bruno. And nobody wants to cut aid 12 for senior citizens, nobody wants to take away 13 property tax reductions. At the same time, we 14 want to be sure that every child -- whether 15 that child lives in Oswego or Jamestown or 16 Staten Island, every child is entitled to a 17 sound, basic education. And unfortunately, 18 this -- whatever you want to call it, this 19 document does not do that. 20 Instead, we're starting to pit one 21 group against another. And I think that is a 22 very, very unfortunate approach, to pit older 23 Americans against young children. Nobody 24 benefits. It doesn't fit in with the idea 25 that we are one state.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 727 1 And the state -- quite frankly, now 2 we are facing very unusual circumstances. We 3 are almost in a crisis. And yet we are here 4 today to debate the bills -- not each other, 5 but the bill, to discuss the merits of whether 6 it is good for all of the people in our state, 7 not just one particular area. 8 The lack of transparency is a 9 problem to me. And also the concept that 10 we've got to be able to start to return our 11 state to the sense of integrity that seems to 12 be lacking, the lack of confidence that people 13 seem to have. I think we've got to put aside 14 our differences and work -15 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 16 Skelos, why do you rise? 17 SENATOR SKELOS: Will Senator 18 Stavisky yield for a question. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 20 Stavisky, will you yield for a question? 21 SENATOR STAVISKY: Yes, sir. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 23 Skelos. 24 SENATOR SKELOS: Senator 25 Stavisky, you indicated that with this budget Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 728 1 resolution that we're attempting to pit one

2 side of the state against another side of the 3 state, seniors against the young, and we're 4 one state. And I understand that. All right? 5 I truly understand that. 6 But how are we doing that when 7 we're adding $540 million more in education 8 aid so that all regions of the state can be 9 treated fairly? Fairly. How are we doing 10 that when we're adding $319 million more in 11 property tax relief for individuals? 12 So I just can't get it through my 13 head how we're hurting seniors, how we're 14 hurting young people, how we're hurting the 15 city, how we're hurting upstate, how we're 16 hurting the Island when we're doing all these 17 positive things. 18 Now, my suggestion is if you think 19 it's horrible, if Senator Schneiderman's 20 comments about the resolution -- it's 21 terrible, it's wrong -- then I would urge all 22 members of the Minority, vote against it. 23 Every single one of you. If you're people of 24 courage and you believe that we're wrong, vote 25 against it. Vote against adding the rebate Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 729 1 money. Vote against adding aid to education 2 that helps all school districts throughout the 3 state, especially how Senator Saland mentions 4 many of the low-wealth districts that are

5 struggling and hurting in upstate New York. 6 So again, if you all believe you 7 should be voting against it, if this is 8 horrible and this is the wrong way to go, we 9 urge every single one of you -10 SENATOR STAVISKY: Is there a 11 question? Mr. President, is there a -12 SENATOR SKELOS: My question was 13 very simple. How does this hurt the people of 14 the State of New York when we're looking -15 when the people are crying out for property 16 tax relief? 17 SENATOR STAVISKY: My response is 18 very simple. Cutting the budget by 3 percent 19 is not helping people throughout the state. 20 But perhaps you can answer a 21 question for me, if the Senator would yield. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 23 Skelos, do you choose to yield? 24 SENATOR SKELOS: Sure. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 730 1 Stavisky. 2 SENATOR STAVISKY: What funding 3 is going in school aid to, let's say, parts of 4 Nassau County such as Rockville Centre? 5 SENATOR SKELOS: I think that 6 Senator Bruno indicated, number one, where the 7 money is coming from. And I know like my own

8 community of Rockville Centre -9 SENATOR STAVISKY: I love 10 Rockville Centre. 11 SENATOR SKELOS: It is a 12 beautiful community. 13 SENATOR STAVISKY: Absolutely. 14 SENATOR SKELOS: Under Governor 15 Spitzer's proposal, they were going to lose 16 over 3 percent of school aid. Right? 17 SENATOR STAVISKY: But how much 18 are they getting if we pass this document? 19 SENATOR SKELOS: Under the 20 formula and the restorations that we're going 21 to make, I guarantee you they're not going to 22 be losing money. And the people of Rockville 23 Centre are going to be getting their rebate 24 checks. And -25 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: I'll Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 731 1 ask the members to please address the chair. 2 SENATOR STAVISKY: Mr. President. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 4 Stavisky. 5 SENATOR STAVISKY: Not losing 6 money doesn't seem like a very specific amount 7 to me. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 9 Stavisky, are you making a comment or asking a 10 question?

11 SENATOR STAVISKY: Yes, I'm 12 asking -- the question I'm asking is, how can 13 you quantify not losing a lot of money? 14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 15 Skelos, do you yield for a question? 16 SENATOR SKELOS: I do. 17 I believe when you look at the 18 restorations we're making in terms of BOCES 19 aid, when you look at the restorations that 20 we're going to make in terms of high 21 foundation aid -- I don't have it exactly here 22 with me, but I can guarantee you when I look 23 at the lines that show the losses -- and I'm 24 just speaking now for Rockville Centre -- I 25 guarantee you that there's going to be a plus Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 732 1 to the people of Rockville Centre. 2 And, you know what, as Senator 3 Saland said, also in terms of many of the 4 school districts, in particular upstate, 5 coming off of save-harmless. The Governor's 6 proposal last year, by what our Majority did 7 in adding money -- I forget the exact number, 8 Senator Saland -- but a number of schools went 9 off of save-harmless. And we actually drove 10 high tax aid to school districts that need 11 assistance. 12 SENATOR STAVISKY: Thank you for 13 answering my question. Thank you for the

14 answer. Thank you for -15 SENATOR SKELOS: So the question 16 is in the formula and the way this money is 17 going to be driven. 18 SENATOR STAVISKY: Thank you -19 SENATOR SKELOS: But again, vote 20 no. If you think it's bad, vote no. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 22 Stavisky. 23 SENATOR STAVISKY: Thank you for 24 your response. Let me continue. 25 The point I was getting at, what I Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 733 1 was leading up to when I said that I fear we 2 are pitting one group against another, is the 3 idea that there is a mechanism to resolve 4 these disputes, and it's called conference 5 committees. And they can be resolved through 6 negotiation. 7 The other area that bothers me, 8 Mr. President, is -- and I started to discuss 9 the lack of confidence, the general feeling 10 that Albany is dysfunctional. And I think 11 what we have to take a look at is in this 12 document we are eliminating the Office of the 13 Inspector General. I find that very 14 troubling. 15 To me, that cannot be justified, 16 eliminating the person who's going to take a

17 look at some of the ethical transgressions, to 18 take a look at what is going on and perhaps 19 help to restore confidence in our government. 20 Because I think for the most part we are 21 law-abiding, and I think we are good and 22 decent people who are trying to do what's best 23 throughout the entire state. But to eliminate 24 the Office of the Inspector General and 25 transfer those duties to the Attorney General Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 734 1 to me is a very serious mistake. 2 And to reduce the budget for the 3 Commission on Public Integrity -- this is a 4 time when we need the commission, not reduce 5 the funding. 6 There are many other issues, and I 7 look forward to perhaps working together with 8 all of my colleagues throughout this entire 9 one state. 10 Thank you. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 12 Diaz. 13 SENATOR DIAZ: Thank you, 14 Mr. President. 15 We all know that we could be here 16 all night complaining or telling how good it 17 is or how bad it is. We are all know that 18 this is the budget procedures. The Assembly 19 will submit its proposal. The Governor

20 already submitted his. Now we are supposed to 21 submit ours. And then the three groups, 22 starting tomorrow, committees will be sitting 23 down and something going to be chopped, 24 something going to be increased, something 25 going to be cut. And at the end, we're going Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 735 1 to get one budget that we all agree. 2 However, Senator -- my good friend 3 from Long Island, Senator Skelos, when you 4 said vote no, I am ranking in the Senior 5 Citizen Committee. And when I was a City 6 Council member in the City of New York, I was 7 chairman of the Aging Committee. And I have 8 been fighting and working with senior citizens 9 for more than 30 years. That's my main goal, 10 my only -- not my only goal, my main purpose, 11 to protect seniors. 12 When I see a proposal saying that 13 you are -- that the Governor submitted a 14 proposal cutting money for senior citizens, 15 you know, it hurts. So when I see something 16 that is reinstituting the money that the 17 Governor was cutting for senior citizens, 18 restoring the money for senior citizens, I'm 19 glad to see this. And I'm glad to see that we 20 are intending to, in this proposal, intending 21 to reinstitute the money for education on SUNY 22 and CUNY. And no tax and no more fees, that's

23 good. 24 However, Senator Skelos, when we go 25 back to negotiations, when we go back to Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 736 1 negotiations and the three parts, there is 2 something that this proposal is cutting that I 3 would like all of you, all the Senators to 4 take a real good look on it and be sure or at 5 least try to put this money back. 6 You are suggesting to cut some new 7 initiatives that the Governor put in his 8 budget. And one of them is after-school 9 funding, after-school funding. And let me 10 read it the way you have presented it. 11 There's no pages on here. This is under 12 "Education." 13 "The Senate rejects the following 14 new initiative within the Executive Budget 15 proposal: After-school funding, a new 16 $10 million appropriation is eliminated 17 intended for children in high-needs, 18 low-performing schools." 19 I'm going to vote yes today. I'm 20 voting yes. But I want all of you to know, I 21 want all of you to know that when we go back 22 into committees, you are -- you are -- you are 23 trying to cut an initiative that really, 24 really affects the people that really, really 25 need it. A new $10 million appropriation is

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 737 1 eliminated intended for children in 2 high-needs, low-performing schools. We need 3 that money. We really need that money. 4 One million dollars is cut, 5 $1 million for student mentoring is rejected. 6 And, Senator Skelos, the Governor, 7 in his proposal, he was requesting the closing 8 of four youth-detention facilities, one in 9 Great Valley, the Great Valley residential 10 center, the Auburn residential center, the 11 Brace residential center, and one in my 12 district, Pyramid residential center. 13 You took care of upstate. And you 14 are rejecting the closing of three of the four 15 facilities -- the one in Great Valley, the one 16 in Auburn, the Auburn center, and the Brace. 17 The one in my district, there's nothing about 18 it. 19 So let's talk about the whole state 20 as one. Let's go back to the drawing board. 21 And if you are rejecting the closing of three 22 upstate, please reject closing the one in my 23 district too. And then we'll talk about 24 fairness and we'll talk equality for 25 everybody. Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 738 1 I will be voting yes, with these

2 recommendations. Thank you. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank 4 you, Senator Diaz. 5 Senator Volker. 6 SENATOR VOLKER: Mr. President, 7 very quickly. 8 I just wanted to say that Senator 9 Aubertine here, the newest member of this 10 chamber, you've got to realize, this is called 11 the budget dance. In the Assembly it's a lot 12 more yelling and screaming and so forth. But 13 the thing about this resolution, it is far 14 more balanced than the budget that the 15 Assembly is trying to pass, I can assure you 16 of that. 17 And the real problem here is, 18 that's so nerve-racking to some people on your 19 side of the aisle, they don't want to vote 20 against tax cuts and fee cuts. For those of 21 us that are upstaters, I can only warn you, 22 not a bad idea to vote in favor of a 23 resolution that gets rid of that kind of 24 stuff. Just a word of advice. 25 But I have to tell you, when I Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 739 1 listened to this, I'm fascinated. First of 2 all, there is no recession in this state yet. 3 It's coming, we know that. 4 And the $4.5 billion deficit

5 actually is a mystical deficit, because there 6 are billions of dollars that two governors -7 not just this one, but the one before -- money 8 was authorized and never went out. A billion 9 dollars' worth of upstate bonds and so forth, 10 that never went out. A billion dollars' worth 11 of money for upstate, that didn't go out. And 12 then there's hundreds of millions of dollars 13 that was supposed to go to New York City that, 14 because the foundation aid was so fouled up, 15 it never got there. Now we're putting it 16 back, in effect, in this budget resolution. 17 But the real issue here is when 18 people say, well, there's no transparency -19 there's a lot of transparency here. But this 20 is the beginning of the budget process as 21 mandated by law. 22 Now, there were many people, 23 including, I know, some of my friends in the 24 Assembly, who said: Don't do it today, wait 25 till next week, it's embarrassing to do this Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 740 1 after what just happened. We said, Look, it 2 has nothing to do with embarrassment or 3 whatever, it has to do with the budget 4 process. This is March 11th, I think -- or 5 the 12th, 12th, which is even worse. We need 6 to get it done. 7 And I think our new Governor,

8 Governor Paterson, would agree with that. He 9 wants to get it done, I'm sure, too. 10 The only way to really do that is 11 to get this resolution passed. The Assembly 12 has got billions of dollars in new spending 13 and new taxes. Well, that's fine, but I don't 14 think the people of this state will appreciate 15 that. I'll tell you who else doesn't 16 appreciate it, Wall Street. 17 We'd better understand one thing. 18 Passing new tax increases will not help the 19 recession, not just this in state but 20 throughout the nation. 21 We have to look at what we're doing 22 here. This is New York. This is the Empire 23 State. It's time for us to realize that we 24 better restrain ourselves one way or another, 25 or we're going to help to plunge this nation Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 741 1 into a much worse recession than we need to. 2 There's no subprime problem in this 3 state because the banks in this state had 4 enough brains, for the most part, not to put 5 out our mortgages and all the rest of that 6 stuff. The New York Times somehow forgets to 7 tell that. The Buffalo News, my paper, did 8 tell that. They said it's Pennsylvania got a 9 problem, and Virginia. 10 Whether that's true or not, it was

11 that crisis that plunged this country and 12 beginning to plunge this country, plus a lot 13 of media that kept saying, We need a 14 recession, we need a recession, there's a 15 recession. They seemed to want a recession. 16 I don't know why, but they want one. So we're 17 probably going to get one. 18 But this year, as the numbers come 19 down on Wall Street, we've got to do the stuff 20 we need to do to make sure that next year we 21 don't get into real, real trouble. But to sit 22 back and say, well, we're not going to do 23 anything this year because we already have a 24 deficit -- by the way, if we spend all that 25 money that was put out before and never Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 742 1 released, it won't make one increase in the 2 deficit, because that money has already been 3 figured into Tom DiNapoli's deficit. 4 Which is a fascinating thing; never 5 happened before that I know of. Two governors 6 held that money up, and that money is still 7 there. So I just mention that, that we 8 actually do not have a full $4.5 billion 9 deficit. And we're not supposed to say that, 10 I realize, but it's true. 11 But it's time for us to realize, 12 though, we better do a fiscally responsible 13 budget. Forget the taxes and fees and all

14 that stuff. As a representative of upstate 15 New York, I want to tell you, that's the last 16 thing we need. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank 18 you, Senator Volker. 19 Senator Parker. 20 SENATOR PARKER: Thank you, Mr. 21 President. On the bill -- on the resolution. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: On the 23 resolution. 24 SENATOR PARKER: Which leads me 25 to, I guess, my point. I guess I was struck Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 743 1 by what Senator Krueger indicated about how 2 important this is. This is literally the most 3 important thing we do up here. I mean, we 4 pass a lot of things that are important, but 5 we have here, in the State of New York, the 6 third-largest budget in the country, after the 7 federal government's budget and the State of 8 California. 9 This year we're looking at a budget 10 of approximately $126 billion. That's a lot 11 of money. We have a $5 billion deficit that 12 all of us are concerned about and trying to 13 close and trying to figure out how we in fact 14 do that. 15 What a budget is is not a document 16 of numbers. What a budget is is a document of

17 priorities. It states your values. And you 18 give a numerical value, right, to those 19 values. 20 And I guess I am disappointed in 21 that someone who really does believe that 22 there is one state here in New York and that 23 we can in fact care for people everywhere, 24 from Buffalo to Brookhaven, Long Island, that 25 we in fact continue to put forth budgets in Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 744 1 documents and all kinds of forms, whether 2 they're bills or resolutions, that in fact 3 don't do that. That in fact says to the 4 people of my district and to the people of 5 New York City that you are not as worthy of 6 education dollars and healthcare dollars and 7 housing dollars and transportation dollars as 8 your counterparts in other parts of the state. 9 But first, about the process. My 10 late father always used to tell me, "Garbage 11 in, garbage out." You can't start a process 12 poorly and expect to get to a good result. 13 Colleagues, this is a bad process. Putting 14 forth a document like this in the dead of the 15 night that does not, in fact, enumerate in 16 some kind of specificity -- is that the right 17 word? Detail, how about that -- is 18 problematic. 19 You heard both Senator Saland and

20 Senator Skelos not be able to come up with 21 numbers when they were asked about what's 22 going to happen, because we have no runs yet. 23 And then you want me to take a vote about 24 allocating money based on education, but we 25 don't have any runs? How am I supposed to Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 745 1 take a responsible vote in this chamber and 2 properly represent my district and the people 3 of New York City and the people of New York 4 State without making sure there are runs and 5 knowing exactly where money is going to? 6 I am all for funding high-needs 7 districts everywhere. And I believe we can do 8 it. Because again, I don't believe this is 9 about, you know, a fixed pie. I think that in 10 fact if we believe that we can in fact fund 11 education and we say that education is our 12 highest priority, then we fund it. 13 Just like, you know, hopefully most 14 of us believe that, you know, taking care of 15 our homes is a good thing, so we put our money 16 in and we pay our rent. My father -- again, 17 something my father always told me, he said: 18 "Son, always pay your rent first. Because 19 people may not know if you're hungry, but 20 they'll know if you're homeless." 21 So, you know, if we believe -- and 22 a budget statement is about values. And I'm

23 saying that our value, if our value is 24 education, then we should put the money there. 25 And I think that the children in Buffalo and Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 746 1 Rochester and Syracuse and Albany and 2 Watertown and Brookhaven and Staten Island, 3 they all deserve an opportunity to get a 4 higher education. 5 And really, frankly, as we look at 6 economic development and how do we in fact 7 attract businesses to this state. Right? And 8 as the ranker on Energy, I've been talking to 9 people about green-collar jobs and we've been 10 looking at how do we in fact -- you know, as 11 we visited the wind farms up past Syracuse, we 12 can see these 200-some-odd windmills, which 13 were literally built in Vietnam. People in 14 New York State can build those things. 15 But you need an educated, skilled 16 workforce in order to make that happen. And 17 we cannot do that unless every part of the 18 state has enough dollars to put towards 19 education so we can make sure that our young 20 people are the best trained and the best 21 educated, competing not just in a national 22 workplace but in a global marketplace where 23 labor can move from place to place and where 24 capital around labor can move from really 25 international country to country.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 747 1 And so it's critical that we make 2 this an important thing. And the fact that we 3 haven't done it -- and frankly, this 4 government hasn't shown and this Legislature 5 hasn't shown that it can be trusted when it 6 comes to this regard. Because it took a 7 20-year lawsuit to in fact get the issue 8 resolved, then three appeals in court. And 9 then even after we got the three appeals, my 10 colleagues across the aisle had the nerve to 11 come here and say, well, you won a lawsuit, 12 try to get the money. 13 I mean, it's out of control. I 14 mean, the reality is we ought to be funding 15 kids in every area of the state. And I really 16 see that this is problematic -17 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 18 Flanagan -19 SENATOR PARKER: -- if you in 20 fact don't do that with this document. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 22 Flanagan, why do you rise? 23 SENATOR FLANAGAN: Will Senator 24 Parker yield? 25 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 748 1 Parker, will you yield to a question from

2 Senator Flanagan? 3 SENATOR PARKER: Absolutely. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 5 Flanagan. 6 SENATOR FLANAGAN: Senator 7 Parker, I listened to your comment about how 8 the colleagues on this side of the aisle 9 somehow said "Now you're going to have to 10 fight to get your money." 11 If we could go back to last year 12 for just a second, because it is relevant to 13 this discussion, you are aware that the 14 Governor's budget last year, his proposal was 15 significantly less than the proposal put forth 16 by the Senate Majority and what we ultimately 17 enacted as well. 18 Out of the three budget proposals 19 from last year, the Senate Majority proposal 20 provided the largest amount of financing to 21 education to every corner of the state. So 22 how can you say with a straight face that 23 somehow we didn't have the interests of every 24 student across the state when we put the most 25 money on the table? Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 749 1 SENATOR PARKER: Through you, 2 Mr. President, and Senator Flanagan -3 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 4 Parker.

5 SENATOR PARKER: I am aware that 6 we did not have school runs when we were asked 7 to vote on that as well, is the first thing I 8 remember. 9 The second thing is that you in 10 fact can talk about numbers that you put into 11 the budget all over the state. That in fact 12 did not deal with the CFE matter and did not 13 in fact add more money for CFE, which it 14 needed to do. 15 And so we were happy -16 SENATOR FLANAGAN: Senator 17 Parker -- excuse me. Will Senator Parker 18 yield? 19 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 20 Parker, will you yield for an additional 21 question? 22 SENATOR PARKER: Yes. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 24 Flanagan. 25 SENATOR FLANAGAN: The Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 750 1 cornerstone of the CFE decision was the 2 foundation aid. The Senate proposal that was 3 advanced last year had the foundation aid as 4 its cornerstone. Our runs, our budgetary runs 5 were higher than any other conference, 6 including the Governor. The budget we 7 ultimately enacted was closer to the Senate

8 proposal than anything that was put out by 9 anyone else. 10 And in fact, that proposal, when it 11 was enacted, with the support of the Senate 12 Majority, at our insistence from the 13 beginning, gave $168 million more to the City 14 of New York than the Governor's proposal. So 15 I think we've earned our credentials and, you 16 know, shown our mettle for fighting for all 17 students across the State of New York. 18 And I know that we added more money 19 to Long Island, $109 million, $200 million to 20 the rest of the state. We took a bad 21 educational proposal, in my estimation, and we 22 made it a lot better. 23 And frankly, that's what we're 24 trying to do here. So to suggest that somehow 25 we're making people fight for their money is Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 751 1 just grossly off base. 2 SENATOR PERKINS: Through you, 3 Mr. President. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 5 Parker. 6 SENATOR PARKER: I certainly 7 appreciate your comments. I think we have 8 different versions of what happened. 9 And also, I'm glad you're taking 10 credit for the Governor's work last year.

11 Because he actually began with his Executive 12 Budget taking care of CFE even before we got 13 to either our proposal or the Assembly 14 proposal. 15 That being the case is that wasn't 16 the first year we had the conversation. So 17 again, if you want to be ahistorical about it, 18 we can start at 2007. I can only be 19 responsible as long as I've been here. So if 20 we go back to 2003, this body did not put 21 forth a budget that dealt with CFE. If you go 22 back to 2004, this body did not put forth a 23 budget that dealt with CFE. If you go to the 24 2005, this body did not put forth a proposal 25 to deal with CFE. Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 752 1 And so, you know, again, if we want 2 to talk about history, then let's talk about 3 history and not break it down and parse it in 4 a way that in fact shines good light on it, 5 you know. 6 And so again, with the process, let 7 me just continue that this is not a good 8 process. And then, secondly, the outcomes 9 that we're asking for, Mr. President, I'm 10 disappointed in. I think that we can do 11 better. 12 I think that this body, you know, 13 is a good body and the people here are good

14 people. We want to help everybody. I think 15 that we get held up because we think that 16 there's a fixed pie. And we think that, you 17 know, there's -- you know, I hear we're not in 18 a recession. I think some of the out-of-work 19 people in my district might disagree with 20 Senator Volker. 21 But we have to figure out how do 22 we -23 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 24 Saland, why do you rise? 25 SENATOR PARKER: -- deal with Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 753 1 these things collectively. 2 SENATOR SALAND: Will Senator 3 Parker yield to a question? 4 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 5 Parker, will you yield to a question from 6 Senator Saland? 7 SENATOR PARKER: I absolutely 8 will. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 10 Saland. 11 SENATOR SALAND: Thank you, 12 Senator Parker. 13 Senator Parker, are you aware that 14 thanks to the changes that the Senate made in 15 last year's proposal in the foundation formula 16 that the City of New York this year,

17 2007-2008, got $100 million more that it would 18 not have gotten had it not opted to use the 19 ultimate sharing formula that our Senate 20 formula provided for? 21 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 22 Parker. 23 SENATOR PARKER: Through you, 24 Mr. President, yes, I am aware. 25 And again, if you -- again, if we Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 754 1 want to talk about -- I mean, last year was a 2 great victory for us, for all of us, because 3 we did the right thing, finally. 4 My fear is that this year in the 5 Governor's proposal he's not doing the right 6 thing. In this year's budget, in the 7 Governor's budget proposal, he's looking at 8 cutting upwards of $400 million statewide out 9 of the proposal, $193 million out of New York 10 City's portion of it. 11 And I'm not clear, given at least 12 the numbers that I see in here and, frankly -13 not the numbers, the lack of numbers. And the 14 lack of runs that you're asking me to vote on 15 today. Right this moment, you're asking me to 16 cast a vote up or down on this proposal that 17 does not have any details. 18 So it's hard for me to have 19 confidence, not -- you guys are great, you

20 know. But trust you with no numbers, I 21 really -- I would love to see something a 22 little bit more concrete. 23 So I'm hoping that the goodwill 24 that happened last year and all the things 25 that were done will continue this year. I'm Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 755 1 looking forward to working with both you and 2 Senator Flanagan on making sure this happens. 3 But I would love to see better evidence of 4 that so that we can both work in good faith. 5 SENATOR SALAND: Well, we agree 6 at least on two things. One is that the 7 Senate formula did benefit the city this year. 8 And, secondly, we agree that the Governor's 9 formula has left a lot to be desired. 10 Whether we would get to the same 11 place in the same time with our remedy for 12 that obviously is what will be discussed when 13 we get together in conference committees. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 15 Parker. 16 SENATOR PARKER: Just in 17 conclusion, I'm hoping that we will get to a 18 conference committee and really be able to 19 hammer out some of these details. But until I 20 see those details, unfortunately, when we go 21 to voting, I'm not going to be able to support 22 this resolution.

23 Thank you, Mr. President. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 25 Sabini. Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 756 1 SENATOR SABINI: Thank you, 2 Mr. President. On the resolution. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: On the 4 resolution. 5 SENATOR SABINI: One of my 6 colleagues on the other side of the aisle who 7 I have a lot of respect for said that this was 8 part of the budget dance. He's right. It 9 used to be known as the hustle. 10 (Laughter.) 11 SENATOR SABINI: You know, the 12 sponsor of this resolution got up today, in 13 defending it, and said that this comes as a 14 result of the Budget Reform Act of last year. 15 Do you ever wonder why people 16 outside this building have a lack of 17 confidence in government? To say that 18 something that's put on your desk the night 19 before, a 55-page Cliff Note budget -- because 20 that's what this is, because it's just a 21 resolution -- is in the interest of budget 22 reform and an example of budget reform, on a 23 day when the people of the State of New York 24 are crying out for integrity in government and 25 for some confidence in the institutions in

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 757 1 this building -- that's why they lack 2 confidence in us. 3 I understand it's an outline. I 4 understand it's how we get to work. There's 5 no reason we can't get to work now. There's 6 no reason we can't get together in tables and 7 discuss what goes into our final budget. 8 We're leaving town now as a new 9 Governor is coming in. We should be staying 10 here and staying here until April 1st, 11 frankly, to get this done. This is like just 12 throwing something out and saying, "Oh, we did 13 our work for the week, here's an abstract of a 14 budget," and leave. That's not budget-making. 15 That is an attempt to fulfill the 16 constitutional mandate without doing real 17 work. 18 Let me give an example of what's in 19 here, because the devil is in the lack of 20 details. You heard Senator Stavisky mention 21 the Commission on Public Integrity was going 22 to be reduced by $800,000. You heard Senator 23 Stavisky mention that the Office of the State 24 Inspector General was going to be folded into 25 the Attorney General's office, thereby saving Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 758 1 $7.2 million.

2 What wasn't mentioned is that one 3 arm of the ethics part of our government, the 4 Temporary State Commission on Investigation, 5 is actually receiving an increase in funding 6 in the budget of $47,000, a modest increase. 7 That commission has six members on 8 it, two appointed by George Pataki, two 9 appointed by the Majority Leader, two 10 appointed by Speaker Silver. And the law that 11 created that commission, which has been around 12 now for about five governors, sunsets in 13 September. 14 Well, this abstract says as soon as 15 that sunsets, we're eliminating the office. 16 Well, gee, isn't that coincidental that we're 17 eliminating the office once the new Governor 18 gets to appoint two members. Interesting 19 coincidence. 20 We're taking -- we're defanging two 21 arms of government that are supposed to be 22 taking care of our ethics, taking money away 23 from them, and the third that's there, while 24 one group controls it, we're increasing its 25 budget. When another group gets to control Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 759 1 it, we're eliminating it. 2 With regard to school aid -- and 3 we've heard a lot of back and forth. And I 4 find it interesting that some of the people

5 that are defending the actions of the Senate, 6 which I voted for last time, are people who 7 were critical of it at the time it was 8 happening. 9 But under the aid to New York City 10 schools, it says: "The Senate Majority 11 increases the amount for New York City and 12 rejects the Executive's late aid claim offset 13 proposal," $118.9 million. 14 Well, those of us in New York City 15 know -- and both sides of the aisle represent 16 New York City -- and the folks that work in 17 our schools and the parents will tell you that 18 one of the complaints they get continually is 19 that there is -- while there was no 20 accountability under prior years, when there 21 was no mayoral control, now money gets put in 22 and not used for the things we want to see it 23 used for. And there are more loosening of 24 pre-K regulations in this budget resolution as 25 well. Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 760 1 So I believe the devil is in the 2 details. I don't feel we have enough details 3 here. I think we go could go to tables right 4 now and negotiate a budget and be on time and 5 be done with it. I'm confident we could that. 6 Frankly, on some of the transportation things 7 that I'll be involved with, I'm pretty happy

8 with some of the things in here. 9 But I don't think that in the 10 interests of calling this a reform-oriented 11 document, to give it to us last night and 12 expect us to digest it and see the holes that 13 are in it -- of which there are many -- and 14 call it reform, that's Alice in Wonderland 15 talk. That's not reform. That's just window 16 dressing of more of the same. 17 If we want to change the way we're 18 viewed, and if we want to have people restore 19 their confidence in their government, we 20 should be doing our work and we should be 21 doing a budget that is transparent, that has 22 input from both sides -- because we know this 23 has no input from our side of the aisle 24 whatsoever -- and that we come together in a 25 concert of ideas to make things work. Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 761 1 This is a very critical time in our 2 state's history. People will look back, 3 historians will look back at these moments and 4 judge what we do, because this is a very 5 unusual time here. We need to stand up, we 6 need to grow a little and we need to take some 7 responsibility. 8 I don't believe this does that, 9 despite some good intentions, so I'll be 10 voting no. And I urge us to rededicate

11 ourselves to getting the process moving. I 12 know you'll say this does, but no one out 13 there believes that. 14 I'll be voting no. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank 16 you, Senator Sabini. 17 Senator Lanza. 18 SENATOR LANZA: Thank you, 19 Mr. President. On the resolution. 20 You know, I'm still trying to 21 appreciate why Senator Schneiderman would be 22 so critical of a document that he says he 23 hasn't had the time to read. 24 But I am sensitive to the comments 25 about the process and the timeliness of this Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 762 1 resolution, and I think there's merit to a 2 discussion on that point. 3 I was hoping to have Senator 4 Schneiderman answer this question, but he 5 refused to yield, and so I'm left to 6 speculate. And I suppose that the plan from 7 him and from my colleagues across the aisle 8 was to simply rubber-stamp Governor Spitzer's 9 budget. 10 Because if we're going to talk 11 about process and timeliness, Governor Spitzer 12 proposed his budget at the end of January. 13 And I've searched my desk and I cannot find a

14 resolution or a response or a document from 15 Senator Schneiderman, from Senator Smith, or 16 from any Senator across the aisle with respect 17 to what their priorities are, with respect to 18 what their response is, and with respect to 19 how they would prioritize this budget. 20 So I'm going to be voting for this 21 resolution for a number of reasons. First, 22 because it restores the $1.7 billion in fees 23 and taxes to the hardworking people and 24 families of this state. 25 Governor Spitzer last year promised Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 763 1 to hold the line on those taxes and fees. And 2 his budget proposal, the one which I'm left to 3 surmise would be rubber-stamped by my 4 colleagues across the aisle, represents 5 nothing more than a fat broken promise. 6 This resolution begins the process 7 of keeping that promise to the people of the 8 State of New York. 9 I am going to vote for this 10 resolution because it restores monies to CUNY 11 and SUNY, and they need it and deserve it. 12 I'm going to be voting for this resolution -13 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 14 Thompson, why do you rise? 15 SENATOR THOMPSON: To ask if the 16 speaker would yield for a question.

17 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 18 Lanza, will you yield to a question? 19 SENATOR LANZA: Yes, 20 Mr. President. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 22 Thompson. 23 SENATOR THOMPSON: Through you, 24 Mr. President, I want to know if the sponsor 25 receives copies of all the letters from the Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 764 1 various lawmakers on both sides of the aisle 2 that go to the Majority Leader, if he reads 3 all the correspondences that go to the 4 Majority Leader in relation to the budget. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 6 Lanza. 7 SENATOR LANZA: Mr. President, if 8 I'm cc'd on a letter from a colleague, then I 9 read it. 10 SENATOR THOMPSON: Through you, 11 Mr. President. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 13 Lanza, do you continue to yield? 14 SENATOR LANZA: Yes, 15 Mr. President. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 17 Thompson. 18 SENATOR THOMPSON: Have you 19 requested from the Majority Leader whether or

20 not he's received letters from people from 21 this side of the aisle regarding restorations 22 to the budget? 23 SENATOR LANZA: Have I requested 24 from the Senate -- no, I have not. 25 SENATOR THOMPSON: Also -Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 765 1 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 2 Thompson, do you wish the Senator to continue 3 to yield? 4 SENATOR THOMPSON: Yes. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 6 Lanza, will you continue to yield? 7 SENATOR LANZA: Yes. 8 SENATOR THOMPSON: Are you aware 9 that this resolution does not provide for the 10 brownfields legislation that the Governor put 11 in his initial budget proposal? 12 SENATOR LANZA: Mr. President, 13 I'm aware of the fact that this resolution 14 presents a budget which is vastly different 15 and improved for the people of the State of 16 New York than that which was proposed by 17 Governor Spitzer. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 19 Thompson. 20 SENATOR THOMPSON: Through you, 21 Mr. President -22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Would

23 you continue to yield, Senator Lanza? 24 SENATOR LANZA: Yes, 25 Mr. President. Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 766 1 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 2 Thompson. 3 SENATOR THOMPSON: Are you aware 4 that brownfields redevelopment is one of the 5 key things for places like Buffalo and Niagara 6 Falls, Rochester, and Syracuse? Are you aware 7 that to bring economic prosperity to these 8 areas, that the brownfields legislation is 9 absolutely critical to these areas in addition 10 to tax relief? Are you aware of that? 11 SENATOR LANZA: Mr. President, I 12 know my colleague has not made a response to 13 the Governor's budget that would include a 14 restoration for monies for the brownfield 15 restorations or cleanups in his district. 16 SENATOR THOMPSON: Through you, 17 Mr. President. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: You 19 wish to continue to ask questions, Senator 20 Thompson? 21 SENATOR THOMPSON: Yes. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 23 Lanza, will you continue to yield? 24 SENATOR LANZA: Yes. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 767 1 Thompson. 2 SENATOR THOMPSON: Are you aware 3 that this budget, as well, many of us, 4 including myself, also sent the Majority 5 Leader and the Minority Leader memos as well 6 requesting restoration to the Higher Education 7 Opportunity Program, which provides needy 8 students based on their income -- not based 9 solely on their race, but on their income -10 from all over the state, to have these 11 programs restored? 12 Many of us sent those letters when 13 our kids from all over the state, including 14 kids from all of our districts, requested that 15 those restorations be made. Do you know if 16 that is in this budget resolution, restoration 17 to the Higher Education Opportunity Program 18 and the Education Opportunity Program? Do you 19 know if that is in this budget resolution? 20 SENATOR LANZA: Mr. President, to 21 whom were those letters sent? 22 SENATOR THOMPSON: To the 23 Majority Leader of the Senate and the Minority 24 Leader of the Senate. 25 SENATOR LANZA: I'll take my Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 768 1 colleague at his word that those letters were

2 sent. 3 SENATOR THOMPSON: So on the 4 bill -- on the resolution -5 SENATOR LANZA: Mr. President, I 6 have the floor. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 8 Thompson, excuse me. Senator Lanza has the 9 floor. 10 SENATOR THOMPSON: Just checking. 11 (Laughter.) 12 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Do you 13 want to be recognized to speak later? 14 SENATOR THOMPSON: No, that's all 15 right. Thank you. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 17 Lanza. 18 SENATOR LANZA: That was a nice 19 try, Senator. 20 (Laughter.) 21 SENATOR LANZA: I will vote for 22 this resolution for one final reason, because 23 I think the recent events, the revelations 24 concerning the conduct of Governor Spitzer 25 over the last year while he's been in office, Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 769 1 underscore something very important. That 2 we've got to get beyond the political 3 stranglehold that has been placed upon the 4 necks of the best interests of the people of

5 this state. We've got to get beyond the 6 posturing and the sound bites and the petty 7 complaints about process and get to the work 8 of the people. 9 And so I vote yes on this 10 resolution, because I know it will allow to us 11 get to conference and to do what the people 12 have sent us here to do, to do their work. 13 Not some political agenda of a single person, 14 their work. And that's what voting yes on 15 this resolution does, it allows us to do the 16 people's work. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank 18 you, Senator Lanza. 19 Senator Robach. 20 SENATOR ROBACH: Yes, 21 Mr. President. Believe me, at this point in 22 the game I can speak long, but I'll try to be 23 expeditious, given the late hour. 24 Had Eric Schneiderman been here -25 oh, maybe he is. My question I would have Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 770 1 asked him if he'd gave me the courtesy to 2 yield simply would have been if he thinks this 3 budget resolution is more beneficial than the 4 Executive's budget for the students in the 5 Rochester City School District. And I would 6 have gone from there to say clearly, it's not. 7 Much of this -- maybe we can say

8 "beauty" is in the eyes of the beholder. 9 Maybe a better way to say it is what lens you 10 want to look for. But the bottom line, what I 11 judge this on is how this resolution compares 12 to what the Executive proposed. And that 13 isn't a lens, that is a fact. 14 This Executive Budget was an 15 assault on Rochester, New York. It took money 16 out of our school district to drive it 17 somewhere else of what was pledged and we all 18 applauded the Governor for last year, stood 19 with him and said yes, we're for foundation 20 aid. We increased it, we said it would run 21 for four years, and now in the second year, 22 already reneging. 23 That's wrong for the people of 24 Rochester. That's bad. This resolution 25 addresses that in some regard, and it's my Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 771 1 obligation to support that. I could go on and 2 on again. 3 Secondly, the increased mass 4 transit spending will undercut Rochester 5 9 percent in the Governor's budget. This 6 resolution restores that. And I could go on 7 and on and on. 8 Is it perfect? No. But is this 9 resolution a start to stake out positions as 10 we go to budget negotiations that will make

11 the results much better for the people I have 12 the honor and privilege of representing? The 13 answer is clearly yes. That is not 14 dysfunction, that is not smoke and mirrors, 15 that is doing the job and voting the way is 16 the best interest of the people you represent. 17 So I can assure you, at least from 18 this Senator, this is a geographical vote to 19 move to a better place than what was put out 20 by the Governor. 21 And there's nothing political about 22 it. Check out the numbers, look at it. 23 Everything I'm saying is exactly right. We 24 increased aid to localities to Rochester and 25 rectified many categories that were being Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 772 1 increased in other parts of the state but 2 decreased in the City of Rochester. 3 So I am very happy to join with all 4 those on both sides of the aisle that are 5 voting yes for this resolution, because I 6 think it will take to us better place for all 7 New Yorkers but, most importantly, rectify 8 some of the inequity that was done or 9 suggested to be done by the Executive to the 10 people of Rochester. 11 Thank you, Mr. President. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank 13 you, Senator Robach.

14 Is there any other Senator wishing 15 to be heard? 16 Senator Stewart-Cousins. 17 SENATOR STEWART-COUSINS: Yes, I 18 just wanted to rise to talk a bit about the 19 process and about where we're going. 20 So much passion has been portrayed 21 about whether it's petty or not. But as we're 22 challenged to vote against this or vote 23 against that or vote for this or vote for 24 that, I think the reality is is that we are 25 all here to serve our constituents, all of us Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 773 1 collectively. 2 And I always say to my colleagues 3 across the aisle, since the things that you 4 are presenting are so good, invite us to join 5 you during the process. Because indeed we all 6 want to support all the good things. 7 And just as we have Senator Skelos, 8 who can say that his particular area is going 9 to do better, and we have certainly Senator 10 Lanza or Senator Robach saying that his 11 particular district is going to do better, I 12 can assure you that had we been part of the 13 process, we would all be standing here saying 14 we know, with this vote, our particular 15 districts will be doing better too. 16 Because, frankly, that's what it's

17 all about. We all want all New York to do 18 better. And the information that you have 19 would certainly benefit the information that 20 we need in order to support the very good work 21 that you are doing. 22 In the absence of that, however, we 23 are forced to think that we might be making 24 bad choices. And we are forced to be 25 chastised if indeed, because we have been shut Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 774 1 out of the process, we make a bad choice. 2 I'm with you, however. I want to 3 bring a process forward that we can begin to 4 discuss. I want to applaud you for doing 5 something such as restoring the basic 6 foundation aid to the districts. 7 But I do want to ask you about high 8 tax aid. Certainly last year high tax aid was 9 a big problem for many of the counties that 10 were left out. And certainly I see that 11 according to the document there will be a new 12 regional factor, and I am assured that this 13 new regional factor will indeed benefit 14 counties that have high tax. 15 Well, I stand here to say that I 16 represent Westchester County, one of the 17 highest-taxed counties in the country. And I 18 am so happy that this new formula with the new 19 consideration with high tax aid, and certainly

20 your concern last year that things didn't 21 quite work out, that this year we're going to 22 begin not only with this wonderful good work 23 of bringing so much tax abatement to our 24 seniors and so much education aid and so much 25 healthcare, that we will also look at all of Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 775 1 the components and give the proper focus to 2 the proper areas. And certainly one of those 3 areas is high tax aid. 4 So I will be joining you in this 5 very, very good beginning and certainly hope 6 that all of the issues that mean so much to us 7 will be brought forward, will be positively 8 voted on. And that the process that we talked 9 about now we won't be talking about next year, 10 because the process will be more inclusive. 11 Thank you. 12 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank 13 you, Senator. 14 Senator Hannon. 15 SENATOR HANNON: Mr. President, I 16 just wanted to make a comment, because people 17 were talking about the process and I got more 18 and more puzzled as people went on and on. 19 Last year, in the month of 20 January -- that would be over a year ago -- we 21 passed budget reform. And budget reform, 22 which I've looked up -- I have the roll

23 calls -- everybody on this side of the aisle 24 as well as everybody on this side of the aisle 25 supported Senator Bruno's bill. Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 776 1 That budget reform says that we set 2 a schedule as soon as we get the Governor's 3 budget, receive it. And we lay out when we're 4 going to start to go to conference committees. 5 We lay out when the budget hearings will be 6 held. We lay out when the agreements will 7 come as to the fiscal estimates will be 8 arrived. 9 That schedule has been out. It's 10 been out since January of this year right 11 after we received the Governor's budget. I 12 can't figure out why you didn't know today, 13 because I've been telling everybody I've been 14 talking to that we would be doing this 15 resolution today, the resolution or the bill 16 specifically called for in budget reform, 17 today. 18 I went to the budget hearings. 19 There are members of the Minority on the 20 Finance Committee. I didn't see many there. 21 We've had full discussion. All the people 22 have framed the issues. 23 In regard to health, this budget 24 restores cuts that I think would have a 25 devastating impact in different polices

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 777 1 throughout the state. And in the information 2 that I know you have from the Governor's 3 office about places there'd be cuts, I read -4 and they ranked it. This is the Governor 5 ranking -- who gets the most money and 6 increase under his budget, who gets hurt the 7 most. 8 Let me read a few of these and you 9 tell me where they're located. Because I 10 know, but I'm not going to read it on the 11 floor. Woodhull Medical loses $11.5 million. 12 Metropolitan Hospital Center, almost 13 $7 million. Bellevue, almost $7 million. 14 St. Luke's, $6.1 million. Interfaith, 15 $5.6 million. Queens Hospital Center, 16 $5.1 million. Do I have to go on? 17 We're doing good things for 18 everybody in this state: kids who need 19 education, seniors who need drugs, people who 20 need hospitals. That's what's in this 21 resolution. There's no surprise. 22 You want to be inclusive, you've 23 got to speak up. You've got to speak up, 24 you've got to go to the meetings, you've got 25 to be heard. You want to object to things, do Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 778 1 it on the merits. I haven't heard one piece

2 of merit yet spoken. 3 I'm in support of this resolution, 4 Mr. President. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Debate 6 is closed. 7 The Secretary will ring the bell. 8 On the resolution, Senator 9 Nozzolio, to explain his vote. 10 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Thank you, 11 Mr. President. I rise and ask permission to 12 explain my vote. 13 My colleagues, we have before us a 14 document that taxes less, that spends less, 15 and that does more for our citizens. We're 16 very proud that we reordered the priorities 17 that were thrown upon us in the Governor's 18 budget proposal. 19 And by reordering those priorities, 20 we ensure that upstate motorists do not have 21 to pay additional gas taxes. That it is 22 unconscionable that in this focus on the 23 upstate economy, state government could be so 24 unfocused to put before the Legislature a 25 budget proposal that actually raises the Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 779 1 gasoline tax. That is unconscionable. 2 That's why I'm so proud of my 3 colleagues for standing tall against this. 4 It's the only way that we can hope that we can

5 revitalize the upstate economy. 6 I join Senator Robach's concern for 7 the loss of education aid for the greater 8 Rochester region. He articulated very well 9 the fact that school aid from the Rochester 10 area schools is being diverted, in the 11 Governor's budget proposal, to New York City 12 schools. That's not fair, it's not right, and 13 we will not stand for it. That's why we're 14 supporting the resolution before us that 15 rectifies the situation. 16 Mr. President, this is a good 17 resolution. It's a good step. It provides 18 hope for our upstate economy, and that's why I 19 support it and urge its passage. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank 21 you, Senator Nozzolio. You will be recorded 22 in the affirmative. 23 The question now is on the 24 concurrent resolution. The Secretary will 25 call the roll. Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 780 1 (The Secretary called the roll.) 2 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 3 Bonacic, to explain his vote. 4 SENATOR BONACIC: Thank you, 5 Mr. President. 6 Throughout the state, I think these 7 are recessionary times. People are concerned

8 about their job security, they're concerned 9 about the rising price of gasoline that may 10 hit $4 a gallon come this summer. They're 11 concerned about the pain they went through to 12 heat their homes. 13 This is a beginning, this 14 resolution. And it starts with the first 15 premise: No more pain, no new taxes or fees. 16 That's the primary message of this resolution. 17 We are nothing not going to add the slightest 18 bit of more economic pain on the people we 19 represent. That's point number one. 20 The other priorities are more for 21 education, strengthen the healthcare system, 22 and property tax relief. They're our 23 priorities, that's what we stand for, that's 24 what this resolution says in the beginning, as 25 our budget negotiations proceed. Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 781 1 Thank you, Mr. President. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 3 Bonacic to be recorded in the affirmative. 4 Senator Stachowski, to explain his 5 vote. 6 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Mr. 7 President, briefly to explain my vote. And I 8 don't want to repeat everything I said 9 earlier. 10 But I happen to support all the

11 wonderful put-backs that are in here, 12 including the health ones. I think Senator 13 Hannon did a great job putting money back into 14 hospitals and nursing homes and places it was 15 needed. And the school aid put-backs, without 16 seeing runs, I have to take their word that 17 they're all good. And the fact that there's 18 not going to be new taxes, and obviously we're 19 all against increasing gas taxes, et cetera. 20 But my only problem is, and the 21 thing that's holding me back from supporting 22 this, is the numbers showing how you're paying 23 for it aren't there. 24 And I would love to trust people on 25 that. There's nobody I trust more than Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 782 1 Senator Bruno. I've known him a long time, 2 good friend. However, when we ask for the 3 numbers, the documents we have are just too 4 sketchy. They're not in detail enough. 5 I wish I could take your word that 6 we have this amount of cuts, we're going to 7 have this much money recovered from 8 Medicaid -- an all-time record, by the way, in 9 Medicaid fraud recovery -- and all the other 10 places that -- and even with those numbers 11 that we have, they still don't add up to pay 12 for all the wonderful things. 13 I wish I could support this. I

14 will be working very hard to support all those 15 put-backs and to make sure that those taxes 16 don't happen during the course of the 17 conference committees. But at this time I 18 can't support this particular resolution. I 19 vote no. 20 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 21 Stachowski to be recorded in the negative. 22 Senator Hassell-Thompson, to 23 explain her vote. 24 SENATOR HASSELL-THOMPSON: Thank 25 you, Mr. President, to explain my vote. Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 783 1 I've sat here for the period of 2 discussion and listened very carefully and 3 closely to each of the comments and responses 4 that have been made today about this budget, 5 pro and con. 6 And I find it extraordinarily 7 interesting that our staff received this 8 budget at 7:30 last night, we were briefed on 9 this budget today, and yet some of my 10 colleagues on the other side can speak so 11 knowledgeably about the amounts of money that 12 are going to be restored to their districts. 13 And if I had been as participatory 14 as you, I could be as positive about this 15 budget as you can. But because I was not 16 involved in the process and I don't know the

17 runs that are going to happen in my school 18 district, and I don't know whether or not the 19 $5 million -- that I did not support -- that 20 the Governor cut in hospitals and nursing 21 homes in my district are going to be restored, 22 I don't have the confidence that you have that 23 the kinds of things that would make me a good 24 representative of my district are going to be 25 restored. Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 784 1 And therefore, without that kind of 2 assurance and information, I will continue to 3 vote no for this resolution. And for anyone 4 else who is as in the dark as I am about this 5 budgetary process in this resolution, you 6 ought to be voting no too. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 8 Hassell-Thompson to be recorded in the 9 negative. 10 Senator Schneiderman, to explain 11 his vote. 12 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: If you 13 want -14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: No, I 15 don't, but you requested. 16 (Laughter.) 17 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: You had 18 your hand up. 19 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: No, I was

20 complimenting Senator Hassell-Thompson on her 21 explanation. 22 I would like to explain my vote, 23 but I'll yield to Senator Stavisky. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 25 Stavisky. Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 785 1 SENATOR STAVISKY: Thank you, 2 Mr. President. 3 This resolution is sort of like a 4 pilot starting out on a flight without a 5 flight plan. So he doesn't really know where 6 he's going, but at least he's up in the air. 7 I noticed when -- I don't know, just spur of 8 the minute. 9 Seriously, I recall earlier today 10 Senator Skelos said that if you don't like 11 this resolution, you should vote no. But I 12 notice the total unanimity on the other side 13 of the aisle that everybody there is voting 14 no -- voting yes, I'm sorry. Voting yes. 15 And yet if you take a look at the 16 people on this side, we are a large umbrella 17 welcoming all people with different points of 18 view. They've expressed it here. There is 19 no -- we are not a monolithic kind of 20 conference. 21 We are people who are concerned 22 about these issues. And we look forward, I

23 think all of us would agree, to resolving them 24 in the conference committee, where really 25 that's the purpose of the conference Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 786 1 committee. 2 I vote no. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 4 Stavisky to be recorded in the negative. 5 Senator Montgomery, to explain her 6 vote. 7 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Yes, 8 Mr. President. 9 In addition to the issues around 10 the process, which we all, I think -- if we're 11 honest with ourselves, we agree that this is a 12 very bad process. However, I just want to 13 point out one thing that particularly disturbs 14 me, one aspect of this, among the many others. 15 There is an attempt -- there has 16 been under Governor Pataki, and now under the 17 current Governor -- to begin to reduce the 18 size of the Corrections Department. In fact, 19 there was a proposal in the Executive Budget 20 to close the operations, discontinue 21 operations at several of the facilities, which 22 this budget rejects. 23 There is a proposal in the 24 Executive's budget to reduce the size of the 25 youth facilities by eliminating some, closing

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 787 1 some of the facilities and making a transition 2 into another kind of program. Now, this 3 proposal eliminates all of the savings 4 associated with those proposals, this 5 resolution. 6 At the same time -- so we have this 7 system where the upstate economy depends on 8 young people in particular, young men in 9 particular, black and brown men, who come from 10 places like I represent, to move them up 11 north. So that's a problem for me, obviously. 12 Now, the other thing that I see 13 here, however, is that you restore funding and 14 you eliminate reentry funding, all of the 15 reentry funding which would help districts 16 like mine to be able to accommodate people who 17 are returning from the prisons upstate and 18 keep them from recidivating so they have to go 19 back. 20 So then you restore, however, I 21 see -- you know, you restore some reentry 22 programs, obviously. Wyoming County, Finger 23 Lakes, Onondaga, Erie, Dutchess, Nassau, 24 Westchester. Where are my programs where the 25 prisoners are going to return when they're Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 788 1 released? So there's a clear message in this

2 document, as far as I'm concerned. 3 On the other hand, when I look at 4 this economic development funding, you deny 5 $11.5 million for economic development, 6 $3.5 million for the UDC program, which is a 7 an economic development program, $7 million 8 for Centers for Excellence, which is an 9 economic development program. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 11 Montgomery -12 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: And so, 13 Mr. President -14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 15 Montgomery, may I remind you we are on 16 explanation of votes, please. 17 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: My time is 18 up, I understand. 19 But I want to say that we deny 20 funds for economic development which would 21 help to raise and lift the economy in upstate 22 so that we're not depending on people from 23 downstate to come upstate and fill up the 24 prisons so that you have an economy built on 25 that. Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 789 1 So I am rejecting this, for that 2 and many other reasons. I vote no. 3 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 4 Montgomery to be recorded in the negative.

5 Senator Schneiderman, do you wish 6 to be heard for an explanation? 7 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Well, I 8 will explain my vote. Thank you, 9 Mr. President. There's some things I can't 10 explain, but I'll explain my vote. 11 It's great to be popular, and after 12 many years of people trying to quiet me, it's 13 good that everyone wants to speak with me now. 14 I'm looking forward to debate in the rest of 15 the session and looking forward to continuing 16 this. 17 It would be great if we had a 18 chance to debate while there was still an 19 opportunity to actually have input, as many of 20 my colleagues observed, on the legislation or 21 resolutions before us. 22 I just want to close by saying one 23 thing, one last-ditch pitch for integrity in 24 government and for voting against this 25 resolution. I disagree with things in the Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 790 1 Executive Budget, but at least the Governor 2 had the integrity to show where his money came 3 from and where it went. I disagree with 4 things in the Assembly's budget bills, but at 5 least they have the integrity to show where 6 they would raise the money. 7 The big lie in Albany is we are

8 going to increase spending but we're not going 9 to impose new taxes. And ever since I've been 10 here, I've been watching this bizarre process 11 where people attempt to hypnotize their 12 constituents and say the state budget grows 13 every year, the spending of local governments 14 grows every year, and yet we're tax-cutters. 15 According to the Pataki administration, they 16 cut $16.5 billion in taxes in the course of 17 their regime. 18 These tax cuts, where did the -19 how did -- how come the state budget keeps 20 growing? How come the local government 21 budgets keep growing? Not because the 22 economy's doing well. It's because we are 23 forcing the local governments of this state to 24 raise their taxes, and then we act shocked 25 that property taxes are high. Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 791 1 Let's have the integrity in this 2 house, as we move through this project, to do 3 what the Assembly has done and the Governor 4 has done. Let's show how we pay for things. 5 Let's not lie to people and tell them we're 6 not increasing their taxes or fees as we 7 increase spending and we force local 8 governments to raise property and sales taxes. 9 I vote no. I urge everyone who is 10 a serious fiscal conservative or concerned

11 about the integrity of this process to vote 12 against this resolution. 13 Thank you, Mr. President. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 15 Schneiderman to be recorded in the negative. 16 Senator Adams, to explain his vote. 17 SENATOR ADAMS: Thank you, 18 Mr. President. I just want to explain my vote 19 dealing with the restitution of educational 20 aid. 21 It's important that when we return 22 money back to the city area, that we attach 23 the criterias that we attached previously. 24 Many of the parents and teachers want to make 25 sure that we continue to focus on class size Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 792 1 and we don't simply return money back to the 2 chancellor and the mayor without some form of 3 specific things that we want, as state 4 legislators, to be attached to that funding. 5 I vote no. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 7 Adams to be recorded in the negative. 8 Senator Seward, to explain his 9 vote. 10 SENATOR SEWARD: Thank you, 11 Mr. President. 12 I'm very pleased to rise in support 13 of this budget resolution because I think it's

14 very important and significant that 15 particularly in the events of this past 48 to 16 72 hours that this house, this Legislature, is 17 moving forward with the budget process. 18 Governing is happening, and we're moving 19 forward with the process. 20 There was no question that we 21 needed to make some changes in what the 22 Executive had presented to us back in January, 23 particularly on the tax and fee side of the 24 ledger. Because as I read the Governor's 25 proposal to the Legislature when it comes to a Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 793 1 new budget, if you buy a home, if you own a 2 home, if you drive a car, if you purchase 3 health insurance, if you go to the doctor or 4 have to go into a nursing home, if you own a 5 small business, you were going to be paying 6 more under the Governor's plan. 7 And this budget resolution and 8 where we are staking out a position as a 9 Senate, and particularly the unanimous side on 10 this side of the aisle, is saying we need to 11 back out those new taxes, $1.7 billion of new 12 taxes and fees, back them out of a new state 13 budget. 14 I disagree with Senator Montgomery. 15 Our upstate economy does not depend on 16 prisons. It depends on lowering the cost of

17 living and doing business in the upstate 18 region. This budget resolution does exactly 19 that, by rejecting taxes and fees and also 20 including some critical tax relief in the area 21 of property taxes. 22 How do we pay for it? We hold the 23 line on spending. We hold the line on 24 spending in this budget resolution, and we 25 also make some common-sense, I call them Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 794 1 common-sense investments in critical areas 2 like education and healthcare. 3 Mr. President, this budget 4 resolution meets the needs of the people of 5 this state. It does in my region of the 6 state. It's balanced. We're ready to proceed 7 with the budget process. Let's get it done 8 and produce a positive result for the people 9 of this state. 10 I vote aye. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 12 Seward to be recorded in the affirmative. 13 Senator DeFrancisco. 14 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, during 15 the course of debate there's been criticism of 16 various aspects of the budget. As I stand 17 here today, I can't honestly say that I agree 18 with every single line in the budget that's 19 being proposed by the Senate. I don't. It's

20 as simple as that. 21 However, in comparing it to what we 22 were given by the Governor, a budget that 23 included so many hidden taxes and fees, and 24 especially the repeal of the limit on gas tax, 25 taking that cap off, the $2 cap -- I mean, Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 795 1 it's just not common sense. When you're in 2 recession, you've got to relieve the burden of 3 people so they can continue to work, continue 4 to make a living, so that small businesses can 5 actually try to make money even though their 6 expenses are going up as it is. You know, 7 that's what you have to do. 8 So when we reject, for example, the 9 Governor's 1800-plus new jobs that he has in a 10 budget, that makes a lot of sense. When 11 you're a family member and you've got more 12 expenses, you don't create still more expenses 13 by spending more. It doesn't make any sense 14 whatsoever. You try to make sure you do with 15 what you have. They can't just say "I'm going 16 to go out and take some more money from my 17 neighbor," and we shouldn't do the same thing. 18 So this may not be a perfect 19 proposal that we have in the Senate, but it's 20 certainly leaps and bounds above the proposal 21 of the Governor. And I support it generally. 22 We'll ferret out all the different issues

23 during the course of the committee meetings. 24 And the most important thing, 25 however, is we shouldn't be spending more, we Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 796 1 can't spend more, and we can't afford new 2 taxes. We must hold the line and actually cut 3 taxes in this budget year. 4 Thank you, Mr. President. I vote 5 aye. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 7 DeFrancisco to be recorded in the affirmative. 8 Senator Skelos. 9 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you, 10 Mr. President. 11 I'm going to vote yes on this 12 resolution because I think one of the 13 important things of our Majority is we try to 14 bring balance throughout the State of New York 15 and treat each region fairly. 16 Senator Adams, we're showing you 17 the money when it comes to school aid. And 18 we're showing you the money when it comes to 19 helping our seniors and middle-income families 20 in terms of real property tax relief. 21 Senator Stavisky, you mentioned 22 about us being monolithic. We care about each 23 region of the state. And I recall last year 24 every single member of your conference raised 25 their hands and supported Governor Spitzer's

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 797 1 cuts to healthcare, every single one. And 2 when a bill came up to set up a commission in 3 terms of judicial pay raises that every single 4 one of you sponsored, you all voted no against 5 it. 6 So don't lecture us about being 7 monolithic and not being sensitive, because I 8 sense a little bit of hypocrisy in that. 9 So I think it's critically 10 important that this resolution be adopted, 11 that we move forward, because today is Day One 12 of the legislative side of the negotiations of 13 our budget. It's not about dysfunction. 14 Today is not the day that we should be talking 15 about dysfunction in government. It's a day 16 that we should be moving forward as a 17 legislative body and put a budget together and 18 do the right thing for the people of the State 19 of New York. 20 So, Mr. President, I'm very happy 21 to vote yes on this resolution. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 23 Skelos to be recorded in the affirmative. 24 Senator Krueger, to explain her 25 vote. Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 798 1 SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER: Thank you,

2 Mr. President, to explain my vote. 3 I carry a bill for an independent 4 budget office. We have not moved on that 5 bill. I think today, this afternoon, is a 6 perfect example for why we need an independent 7 budget office. 8 I too don't agree fully with the 9 Executive Budget. I didn't agree with the 10 Executive Budget when Governor Spitzer 11 submitted it; I'll be letting the new Governor 12 know on Monday that I have problems with this 13 budget as well. 14 But again, I know what's in there 15 and what's not in there. Today we're not 16 voting on something where we know what's in 17 there and what's not in there. 18 Now, we know this is one house, we 19 know it's a resolution, and I would argue we 20 sort of know today was about TV commercials. 21 So there's a website called Factcheck.org that 22 evaluates the truthfulness of political TV 23 commercials, and I would argue that their 24 research will show at a later date and time 25 that the facts were not correct in the TV Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 799 1 commercials that were practiced here today. 2 Thank you. I will be voting no, 3 Mr. President. 4 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator

5 Krueger to be recorded in the negative. 6 Senator Saland, to explain his 7 vote. 8 SENATOR SALAND: Thank you, 9 Mr. President. 10 Mr. President, for many of the 11 reasons that my colleagues have stated on this 12 side of the aisle -- certainly the macro 13 issues -- I have enormous comfort in 14 supporting this budget resolution. Certainly 15 from the vantage point of my chairmanship of 16 the Education Committee, I think it remedies a 17 number of shortcomings of the Governor's 18 budget. 19 But on another level, on a much 20 more micro level, I rise to say how critically 21 important this is for those in my district who 22 are battling mightily to stave off the closure 23 of a facility, a correctional facility, a 24 facility which is running at capacity, a 25 facility which seems to be an anomaly in the Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 800 1 sense that it's being proposed for closure. 2 It has a whole community scratching 3 its head and wondering why they have been 4 targeted for this closure when it gets 5 extraordinarily high grades for the manner in 6 which it operates and, when it's graded out as 7 a correction facility, it's getting superb

8 grades. 9 So to that particular community, 10 the Governor's proposal to close this facility 11 has left it stunned, has left several hundred 12 people greatly at risk, and has left a 13 somewhat challenged financial community in the 14 City of Hudson and the County of Columbia even 15 greater at risk. 16 And our proposal, I think to its 17 credit, would restore that facility and 18 provide the funds with which to sustain that 19 facility, and I believe that in and of itself 20 is a marvelous accomplishment. And I hope 21 during the coming negotiations we can prevail 22 upon the Assembly to join us. 23 Thank you, and I vote aye. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator 25 Saland to be recorded in the affirmative. Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 801 1 The Secretary will announce the 2 results. 3 THE SECRETARY: Those recorded in 4 the negative on Concurrent Resolution Number 5 4655 are Senators Adams, Breslin, Connor, 6 Dilan, Gonzalez, Hassell-Thompson, Huntley, 7 L. Krueger, Montgomery, Onorato, Parker, 8 Perkins, Sabini, Schneiderman, Smith, 9 Stachowski, Stavisky and Thompson. Also 10 Senator Sampson.

11 Absent from voting: Senators 12 Duane, C. Kruger and Serrano. 13 Ayes, 39. Nays, 19. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The 15 resolution is adopted. 16 Senator Skelos. 17 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 18 is there any further business at the desk? 19 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: There 20 is no further business. 21 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President, 22 there being none, I move we stand adjourned, 23 at the call of the Majority Leader, 24 intervening days being legislative days. 25 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: On Candyco Transcription Service, Inc. (518) 371-8910 802 1 motion, the Senate stands adjourned until the 2 call of the Majority Leader, intervening days 3 being legislative days. 4 (Whereupon, at 5:57 p.m., the 5 Senate adjourned.) 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

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