WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, 2020 1:45 P.M. ACTING SPEAKER AUBRY: The House will come to order. Reverend Elia will offer a prayer. REVEREND DONNA ELIA: Let us pray. O Holy God, our times are in Your hands. And even in our weariness and need for resilience, we pause to praise You. Receive our gratitude. Be the source of strength and healing mercy that we need You to be. Thank You for legislators and staff working tirelessly during these trying times. Keep them and their loved ones out of harm's way. We pray for healing for those infected by the coronavirus and for those who have lost loved ones. Bring healing and peace to all. We give You thanks for those on the front line, from medical and nursing home staff to grocery employees to custodians working in the building 1 NYS ASSEMBLY MAY 27, 2020 hoping to keep it safe for all who enter here. Once again, bless this Assembly. Thank You for their collaboration and cooperation, for their willingness to discuss and make decisions in new and innovative ways. Continue to fill them with wisdom and energy, compassion, and a large measure of problem-solving skill. Give them the support and resources they need for the work at-hand. And thank You for the well of experience and solid relationships which give them strength. Holy One, God of love and peace, bring peace and healing to the world and be as near to us as breathing. In Your holy name we pray. Amen. MEMBERS: Amen. ACTING SPEAKER AUBRY: Visitors are invited to join the members in the Pledge of Allegiance. (Whereupon, Acting Speaker Aubry led visitors and members in the Pledge of Allegiance.) A quorum being present, the Clerk will read the Journal of Tuesday, May 26th. Mrs. Peoples-Stokes. MRS. PEOPLES-STOKES: Mr. Speaker, I move that we dispense with the further reading of the Journal of Tuesday, May the 26th and ask that the same stand approved. ACTING SPEAKER AUBRY: Without objection, so ordered. Mrs. Peoples-Stokes. MRS. PEOPLES-STOKES: Thank you, Mr. 2 NYS ASSEMBLY MAY 27, 2020 Speaker. I'd like to, as I have traditionally done since the beginning of this Session, offer a quote. This quote today comes from Madame Marie Curie. Many of us remember her from our elementary school days. "Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less." Again, Mr. Speaker, that is from Madame Marie Curie. Mr. Speaker, this is the first day of the 19th pre-COVID week, and the 14th interim COVID week of the 243rd Legislative Session in the State of New York. It is a pleasure to see you and my colleagues, both those that are here and -- and out remote in their offices. Just happy that they are participating. We will -- are here today to take up a series of measures designed to meet some of the needs, some of the needs of New Yorkers during our ongoing common struggle against the COVID-19 virus and its impact on our State. Today we convene in the first remote Assembly Session in the history of New York State. Mr. Speaker, while we are able to convene this way to get our work done, I am prayerful and hopeful that soon we will all be back in the Chambers together. I do miss the comradery when we're all here. I'm joined in the Chamber today by the Speaker Pro-Tem, Mr. Aubry; the Minority Leader, Mr. Goodell; and a few others. Most of our members will attend and fully participate remotely. Those members who are in Albany have been encouraged to participate in our Session via Zoom from their offices. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Speaker for his amazing 3 NYS ASSEMBLY MAY 27, 2020 leadership during this extraordinary time. And I must also take this time to thank our -- his amazing staff, our amazing staff, headed up by LouAnn Ciccone, Amy Smith and Brian Coyne and their teams. They have done a fabulous job in pulling us together to be here today, to be able to vote remotely and continue our work as a Session. They've done a -- we've already seen what -- the great work they have done through our Conferences as well and through public hearings, and now here we are in a full legislative Session. I also want to thank members in advance for their cooperation as we begin our work today. This is different. This is not something we've done before. But COVID is something we've never experienced before as well. Members have on their desks a main Calendar. Yesterday and this morning there were a series of remote committee meetings that produced the 32-bill -- 32-bill A-Calendar. At this time, Mr. Speaker, I would like to move to advance the A-Calendar. ACTING SPEAKER AUBRY: On Mrs. Peoples-Stokes' motion, the A-Calendar is advanced. MRS. PEOPLES-STOKES: The A-Calendar being our principal work for today. At the conclusion of our work today, Mr. Speaker, we will take up two privileged resolutions; one by Mr. Otis honoring first responders and another by Mr. McDonald memorializing those who have lost their lives through this pandemic. In a few moments we will begin our work on consent of the A-Calendar, but Mr. Speaker, before our work commences I should take a few minutes just to review our procedures for today. We will 4 NYS ASSEMBLY MAY 27, 2020 continue to operate under the provisions of Assembly Resolution No. 854 which we adopted in March. Attendance in the Chambers is limited to 30 people at any one time, which will be strictly enforced by the Sergeant-at-Arms. Members here in Albany who wish to come into the Chambers to participate in our proceedings will be admitted at the discretion of the Sergeant-at-Arms, and they should exit the Chambers as soon as they have completed their debate and/or voting. Again, we encourage members to participate through the remote technology available to them. All remotely-participating members are currently muted and will remain muted until recognized by you, Mr. Speaker. On debate, all members will have the ability to speak on the bill or ask a question for 15 minutes once. To be recognized for the purpose of debate, members attending remotely should use the "raise hand" function. Mr. Speaker, when you recognize a member that has raised their hand you will unmute them in accordance with our debate rules. Mr. Speaker, members may have questions of the sponsor or they simply may make a statement. When the member's time has expired, the member will again be muted. Votes will now be a fast roll call unless a slow roll call is requested. In a traditional fast roll call every member in attendance base -- in the attendance base will be recorded as a yes. Members who do not wish to vote yes should contact their floor leader previously, provided that no votes will be announced for the record. You can call my office, you can call Mr. Goodell's office and we will make sure that your no vote is recorded and a part of the record. In the case of a Party vote, members who 5 NYS ASSEMBLY MAY 27, 2020 wish to vote contrary to their conference's position should contact their floor leader, and the exceptions will be announced, again, for the record. Members who wish to explain their votes should use the raise hand function to seek recognition from the Chair. That would be you, Mr. Speaker. The raise hand function is to be used only if a member wishes to explain the member's vote, and it is not a way to vote. You cannot vote by pushing the raise hand function on your computer. Fast roll calls will be open for a sufficient period for members to notify the floor leaders of an exception. However, it is important that members be monitoring the proceedings to note when a roll call has been called. In the case of a slow roll call, the Clerk will read through the roll of members alphabetically. When a member's name is called, the member will be unmuted, the member should state his or her name to allow the camera to pick up the member and then state his or her vote. At the end of the first call of the roll, the Clerk will call the absentees following that same procedure. With that, Mr. Speaker, I believe we are ready to proceed with considering the important business before us. We're going to begin on page 3, Rules Report No. 24 on consent. ACTING SPEAKER AUBRY: Thank you, Mrs. Peoples-Stokes. I also want to recognize that Mr. Goodell is ably assisted by Assemblywoman Mary Beth Walsh. Glad to see you. It's a tempering process that we love to have. Thank you so very much. Mr. Goodell. 6 NYS ASSEMBLY MAY 27, 2020 MR. GOODELL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Majority Leader for her thoughtful and comprehensive analysis and explanation of how we're proceeding under unusual circumstances. Just one minor clarification. If any of the Minority members wish to express how they want to vote on any particular bill, I'd request that they call the Minority Leader's office. Mr. Barclay's office rather than my office since my one staff member is running back and forth as the case may be.