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The New York state Senate meets in June 2013. On Tuesday, the Senate approved 52-8 yogurt as the state's official snack.

(The Associated Press)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The New York State Senate on Tuesday approved yogurt as the official state snack.

Hold your applause. The New York State Assembly must also approve the legislation, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo must sign it into law, before yogurt makers and eaters can truly celebrate.

But the fun, lively and appetizing debate on yogurt brought about an interesting question: Did the state's senators spend more time on Tuesday debating the calorie counts, lactose tolerance and inclusiveness of snacks than they did discussing the NY Safe Act back in January 2013?

The answer is yes. The yogurt debate and vote took about 44 minutes. The Safe Act? Just less than 30 minutes.

Tuesday's yogurt debate was wide-ranging and affable. Serious questions concerned whether a dairy product would exclude lactose-intolerant New York snackers. At one point, a soliloquy on the history of the state's official muffin (the apple) sparked giggles.

Not all senators were amused. "It's almost 7 o'clock and we're here discussing yogurt," said Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr., D-Bronx. "This is a great body."

In the end, the bill passed, 52-8.

In January 2013, the Senate did not debate the NY Safe Act on the floor. Instead, senators passed a message of necessity and moved straight to explaining their votes. It's a time when each senator can talk about why he or she is voting yea or nay, but not a time for debate about the changes to state laws. During the Safe Act vote, each member was limited to two minutes of comments. In the end, it passed 43-18.

The Senate has stifled floor debate on other controversial issues, including same-sex marriage. During that 2011 vote, Senate leaders allowed only two Democrats to speak on the bill, virtually shutting down debate.

Watch for yourself. The Safe Act vote on the Senate floor lasted just less than 30 minutes. The action starts at minute 22:00. The bill is approved by 51:27.

The vote on yogurt as the state's official snack starts at 2:24. The bill is approved by 3:08.

Contact Teri Weaver at tweaver@syracuse.com, 315-470-2274 or on Twitter at @TeriKWeaver.