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About this blog

Senator Tom O'Mara's ( R- NY 58th ) weekly column. 

Entries in this blog

New Budget Of Missed Opportunities And A Troubling Future

New Budget Of Missed Opportunities And A Troubling Future

In the weeks leading up to the adoption of the new, 2021-2022 state budget, I kept repeating that we had an opportunity and a responsibility to utilize a massive, one-time flood of federal stimulus aid, nearly $13 billion, in a fiscally responsible way.  We faced an unprecedented chance to commit New York State to a short- and long-term strategy for the post-COVID rebuilding, restoring, and resetting of local communities, economies, environments, and governments for the long term. Equa
Senator Tom O'Mara

Senator Tom O'Mara

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Local Roads Are Essential

Local Roads Are Essential

Since the adoption of the 2021-2022 state budget, I have been outspoken in my strong criticism of this massive $212-billion, tax-and-spend fiscal plan that sets in motion a whole host of future, long-term commitments to massive new spending and taxing by New YorkState government. There are places in this budget, however, that do address the right priorities and that deserve to be highlighted as positive and vital to the future. As I’ve also noted, that better be the case with $18 billi
Senator Tom O'Mara

Senator Tom O'Mara

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Protecting Those That Protect Us

Protecting Those That Protect Us

Over the past three years, the home security consumer awareness and research organization Safewise conducted a “The State of Safety in America” nationwide survey of “more than 15,000 Americans to see how safe they feel.” According to the group’s final report, issued in March, “New York is by far the most concerned state.” New York is the “most worried about safety” state in the nation, the survey found, with 70 percent of New Yorkers reporting that they are “concerned daily” about their saf
Senator Tom O'Mara

Senator Tom O'Mara

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Courage And Conviction Honored On Memorial Day

Courage And Conviction Honored On Memorial Day

From Arlington to Gettysburg to Woodlawn and hundreds of other national veterans’ cemeteries and monuments across this land, Americans will gather once again to observe Memorial Day. The nation’s long-standing Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in the nation’s capital is highlighted by a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, on which the following words are inscribed, “Here rests in honored glory an American solider known but to God.” Therein lies
Senator Tom O'Mara

Senator Tom O'Mara

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A Session Of Turning Points In The NYS Legislature

A Session Of Turning Points In The NYS Legislature

The State Legislature’s 2021 regular session, which ended late last week, will have long-lasting ramifications for our region and for all New Yorkers. Without question, it will be remembered as a year of turning points -- the biggest one, of course, being that we have finally started turning the corner on the COVID-19 pandemic with steadily dropping infection rates and rising numbers of vaccinations. I’ll get back to the pandemic emergency later in this column. The new 2021-2022 state
Senator Tom O'Mara

Senator Tom O'Mara

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State Government Cannot Be Left To Cuomo Legacy Building

Late last week, after New York State reached a 70% vaccination rate statewide, Governor Cuomo ran with that benchmark as a reason to celebrate – fireworks included. He didn’t declare the end of the state of emergency, keep in mind, or the executive emergency powers that he still holds. The governor just saw fit to gather a group of cheering supporters at the World Trade Center in Manhattan to kick off a daylong, campaign-style celebration of...Governor Cuomo and his administration’s charade
Senator Tom O'Mara

Senator Tom O'Mara

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Governing From One Cuomo Emergency To The Next

Governing From One Cuomo Emergency To The Next

Governor Andrew Cuomo declared another State of Emergency in New York State last week – just about 14 days after finally calling an end to the COVID-19 emergency declaration -- and immediately began issuing a new round of the “Cuomo executive orders” that have now become the way of governing in this state.  Not surprisingly the governor touted his new “Disaster Emergency on Gun Violence” with what’s become his go-to playbook while he eyes a fourth term in office and fights for political sur
Senator Tom O'Mara

Senator Tom O'Mara

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Strengthening Public Safety Must Be A Priority

Strengthening Public Safety Must Be A Priority

The state Senate Republican conference recently unveiled a comprehensive package of legislation aimed at protecting crime victims. It follows our efforts throughout the past year to push back against the rise of violent crimes and increasing criminal activity in cities and communities throughout New York resulting, in our view, from an overall pro-criminal, anti-police climate fostered under all-Democrat rule in state government – and actions still being pursued by Governor Andrew Cuomo and
Senator Tom O'Mara

Senator Tom O'Mara

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Honoring The Memory Of The 11th Day

Honoring The Memory Of The 11th Day

The years keep passing, twenty now, and Americans of all ages will never forget. Two decades later, we can never forget. Throughout this 20th Anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks that forever altered our nation and the world, we will, in the words of former President George W. Bush, pause to “honor the memory of the 11th day.” There will be solemn observances at the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial in Washington, at the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania,
Senator Tom O'Mara

Senator Tom O'Mara

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Dark Spots In Governor's Vision For NY's Energy Future

Dark Spots In Governor's Vision For NY's Energy Future

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has now put forth one of her administration’s most ambitious public policy proposals to date and, in doing so, gave all of us a good look at her administration’s vision for addressing one of our state’s most urgent short- and long-term challenges: energy.  With that in mind, it’s fair to say at this juncture that the Hochul administration is squarely following in the footsteps of the Cuomo administration – which only continues to raise serious and troubling qu
Senator Tom O'Mara

Senator Tom O'Mara

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Never Tire In Honoring America's Heroes

Never Tire In Honoring America's Heroes

This week’s Veterans Day observance could not arrive at a more important time for our nation -- as a reminder and as a reflection.  If there is a single national day of honor on the calendar that can and should serve to unite us, it’s this one.  Veterans Day offers a chance to pause to remember the fundamental greatness of the United States of America and those who have made it so, and then to keep pushing forward – pushing forward to find solid ground again during a time that has upended s
Senator Tom O'Mara

Senator Tom O'Mara

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Upending And Uprooting The Fabric Of Our Community

Upending And Uprooting The Fabric Of Our Community

New York State governors continue to be full of surprises. Governor Kathy Hochul is the latest.   Early last week, she abruptly announced that the Southport Correctional Facility in the Southern Tier, the Willard Drug Treatment Campus and the Rochester Correctional Facility in the Finger Lakes, two North Country facilities, and a prison in the mid-Hudson Valley are slated to close on March 10, 2022.  Six correctional facilities in total impacting and uprooting more than a thousand stat
Senator Tom O'Mara

Senator Tom O'Mara

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Need For Balance, Common Sense ON New York's Energy Future

Need For Balance, Common Sense ON New York's Energy Future

The cost of a gallon of gas keeps climbing.  The warnings keep coming over significantly higher home heating costs this winter and who knows how many winters to come.    All of this, as well as the fast approaching start of a new legislative session in January, helped make for good timing on last week’s listening session in the Southern Tier on a piece of legislation that, if it’s enacted, could reach into the wallets of everyday New Yorkers and cut into the bottom lines of New York employe
Senator Tom O'Mara

Senator Tom O'Mara

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Nourish NY Emerges As A Highlight Of Effective Government

Nourish NY Emerges As A Highlight Of Effective Government

One of the most positive state-level actions heading into this holiday season was the recent enactment of a new law I helped co-sponsor and strongly supported to make the “Nourish New York” program a permanent fixture of New York government moving forward.  It is the product of legislation (S4892/A5781, Chapter 631 of the Laws of 2021) that received overwhelming bipartisan support in the state Senate and Assembly, where it was unanimously approved earlier this year, and was recently signed
Senator Tom O'Mara

Senator Tom O'Mara

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Watch Your Wallet Heading Into A New Year In NYS Government

Watch Your Wallet Heading Into A New Year In NYS Government

Following the November 2018 elections, when New York State government fell under total, one-party, Democrat control, then-Governor Andrew Cuomo exclaimed that he felt “liberated” without a state Senate Republican Majority left standing in his way.   The former governor’s feeling was no doubt shared by the longstanding Assembly Democrat majority and, of course, the newly crowned Senate Democrat leadership. And, indeed, liberated they have been, especially when it comes to spending taxpa
Senator Tom O'Mara

Senator Tom O'Mara

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Spreading The Word About Lyme Disease

Spreading The Word About Lyme Disease

May is officially designated as Lyme Disease Awareness Month because, according to the Lyme Disease Research Foundation, it is the “most commonly reported tick-borne disease in the United States.”  Several years ago, when I was serving as a member of the Senate Task Force on Lyme and Tick-Borne Diseases, as well as chairing the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee, the Southern Tier was identified as a hotbed for Lyme disease, according to data released by the state Department of Hea
Senator Tom O'Mara

Senator Tom O'Mara

0
God Bless America And God Bless Our Troops

God Bless America And God Bless Our Troops

From Arlington and Gettysburg to Woodlawn and Bath and hundreds of other national veterans’ cemeteries and monuments across this land, Americans will gather once again to observe Memorial Day.  The nation’s long-standing Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in the nation’s capital is highlighted by a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, on which the following words are inscribed, “Here rests in honored glory an American solider known but to God.” 
Senator Tom O'Mara

Senator Tom O'Mara

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Taking Back NY Is More Important Than Ever

Taking Back NY Is More Important Than Ever

To kick off the 2022 session of the State Legislature – one that we believed represented one of the truly pivotal sessions in modern history, with New York at a crossroads in so many areas – the Senate Republican Conference put forth a comprehensive set of goals to help rebuild and strengthen local and state economies, focus on the financial challenges facing many middle-class families and small business owners, and make public safety a top priority. It was called “Take Back New York” and w
Senator Tom O'Mara

Senator Tom O'Mara

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Step Outside And Grow The Economy

Step Outside And Grow The Economy

Among numerous other designations, the month of June is recognized as National Great Outdoors Month.  It is worth some attention here in the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes. At a time when we need to stay in pursuit of every possible ray of hope, it is one bright spot in an otherwise cloudy and unsettled economic future.  The Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) gets right to the point, “Outdoor recreation is an economic force.”  It’s a point well taken and one that governmental lead
Senator Tom O'Mara

Senator Tom O'Mara

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Keep Turning The Page This Summer

Keep Turning The Page This Summer

Numbers help tell every story.  For example, many studies have helped make the case that children who read during the summer months make greater academic gains in the following school year than children who do not.   In fact, statistics on the “summer slide” jump right off the page, including that:  Students can lose up to 25 percent of their reading level over the summer;  Children who don’t engage in summer reading lose approximately two months of instructional time, or rou
Senator Tom O'Mara

Senator Tom O'Mara

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Opioid Crisis Remains Major Area Of Concern

Opioid Crisis Remains Major Area Of Concern

We were reminded not long ago, as part of the most recent National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, of just how serious and deadly the opioid crisis remains across our region, state, and nation.  The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has noted the dramatic impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on opioid addictions. According to the CDC, nearly 84,000 Americans overdosed during the latest 12-month period.  It is a stark reminder of an ongoing crisis that continues
Senator Tom O'Mara

Senator Tom O'Mara

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The Worst Of NY's COVID Response Belongs To Two Governors

The Worst Of NY's COVID Response Belongs To Two Governors

In the end, when the retrospectives of New York’s COVID-19 response have been completed – and, eventually, they will be – what transpired within the state’s nursing homes and the loss of more than 15,000 lives will finally be granted the total, transparent scrutiny it demands.  Sadly, at the moment, this desperately needed assessment and examination appears not to be a priority for Governor Kathy Hochul, despite her reassurances a few months back that her administration would be reexamining
Senator Tom O'Mara

Senator Tom O'Mara

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The Albany Mindset Refuses To See What's Happening

The Albany Mindset Refuses To See What's Happening

The extreme Albany Democrat mindset refuses to see what’s happening all around us and that it can happen anywhere.  Every day.  On the night of Thursday, July 21, in the city of Rochester, two police officers were ambushed and shot, an attack which took the life of Officer Anthony Mazurkiewicz, a 29-year veteran of the police force.   Rochester Police Chief David Smith would later say, “I was asked by the media, ‘How dangerous is it out there for the officers of the Rochester Poli
Senator Tom O'Mara

Senator Tom O'Mara

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NY's Spending Spree Already Proving Unsustainable

NY's Spending Spree Already Proving Unsustainable

It didn’t take long and it’s not good news for future taxpayers.  In April, when Governor Kathy Hochul and the Democrat legislative majorities in the Senate and Assembly finished stocking up what would become New York’s largest-ever state budget, many of us warned about its irrational spending.  Remember that the final 2022-2023 budget rang in at over $220 billion, hiking New York government spending by at least $8 billion over last year while simply ignoring the overriding need for ma
Senator Tom O'Mara

Senator Tom O'Mara

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NY Not Addressing Root Causes Of Ongoing Economic Uncertainty

NY Not Addressing Root Causes Of Ongoing Economic Uncertainty

I was pleased recently to have New York’s leading small business association, the National Federation of Independent Business of New York (NFIB/NY), reaffirm my commitment to the future of small business and revitalizing our state and local economies overall.  As part of the organization’s 2021-2022 legislative review, I was one of seven state senators to earn a 100% rating on how priority issues were addressed for small business owners across New York.  The NFIB/NY “Voting Record” can
Senator Tom O'Mara

Senator Tom O'Mara

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