Senator Tom O'Mara

For all of us, the crisis at the nation’s southern border is no longer just a story on the nightly news. And if you still don’t think the migrant crisis could be headed our way across the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions, it’s time to take off the blindfolds. “New York is now a border state,” Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt said last week at a Capitol news conference, where we gathered to propose steps to counteract its potential impact on communities statewide. He’s right. For the moment, set aside the finger pointing, and the cultural and partisan divides that have surrounded immigration policy for years now, producing nothing but gridlock in Washington and political grandstanding everywhere else. Instead, focus on what’s happening on the ground in New York City and, slowly but surely, finding its way throughout the state. Since last spring, New York City has received an influx of at least 60,000 migrants. It is already overwhelming the city’s ability to find housing and provide social services. New York City Mayor Eric Adams has declared it out of control and projects it will already cost the city at least $4 billion. I'll remind you that, long ago, New York City declared itself a sanctuary city. They opened their arms to shelter undocumented immigrants. They asked for it and they should not, now, push their self-created problem to areas of the state that did not. Nor should we be footing the bill for it. In other words, it’s just the beginning here in New York State. The recently enacted state budget included a billion dollars to help the city respond. That’s right, state taxpayers are already footing the bill and, consequently, it seems fair to ask all of the who, what, when, where, and why questions underpinning this worsening crisis. That’s what our Republican conference started doing last week. In a letter to Governor Hochul we wrote, “We are gravely concerned by the lack of transparency around the placement of migrants throughout our state…Specifically, we would like to know how long migrants will be housed for, where specifically they will be housed, how much is being paid for their housing, and what services they are receiving and for how long. We also request that information about potentially moving migrants is communicated from you or your administration directly to the municipalities.” The city of New York is already shipping hundreds of newly arrived migrants to hotels, motels, and other makeshift shelters in nearby, suburban counties. Reports have surfaced that Governor Hochul is eyeing other locations around the state including, for example, dormitories on State University of New York campuses. Our immediate focus falls, once again, on the lack of transparency coming out of the Hochul administration. The governor recently said, “It’s no surprise that there will literally be thousands of more individuals coming across the border and ultimately finding their way to the state of New York.” That’s exactly the point governor: We don’t want any surprises but we’re suspicious that your administration is going to be full of surprises moving forward. Localities share this suspicion, including a number of counties across the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions that have declared states of emergency hoping to head off any surprises from the state. Governor Hochul and her Democrat, New York City allies in the Legislature appear ready and willing to once again override local decision making -- just like they did throughout the COVID-19 pandemic -- and begin shipping migrants all over New York. In fact, right now, it looks like the only plan on their table. Our Republican conference believes that localities must have the ability to say no. Furthermore, we don’t believe the state can randomly displace homeless New Yorkers, families of domestic violence, or other vulnerable populations from their current places of shelter just to make room for migrants being bussed out of New York City. We have introduced legislation, which I co-sponsor, to achieve each of these goals. “Local elected officials should have the option to decline hosting migrants in their communities should they not have the necessary accommodations and other resources,” we wrote to the governor. Welcome to New York’s border crisis.

Early last week, when it became increasingly clear that Governor Hochul and the Legislature’s Democrat leaders were not going to stick around at the State Capitol to enact a budget now a month overdue, we renewed our call for desperately needed accountability in this process. While the governor stepped out on her own Friday night to announce a “conceptual” agreement with legislative leaders on a final budget, as of this writing it remains a Governor Hochul “take my word for it” budget. There’s no legislation for the public to review. Keep in mind that the enactment of a new state budget is the most impactful action that state legislators take every year. It reaches into the pockets and the everyday lives of all New Yorkers. That will be especially true this year when Governor Hochul and Albany Democrats finally put the finishing touches on a new state budget pushing state spending to its highest level ever and, at the same time, including far-reaching, non-budget-related policy initiatives that many good government groups believe should not even be considered as part of the budget adoption process. Yet, negotiations go on entirely behind closed doors. That becomes especially troubling – and dangerous -- in this era of complete one-party control of state government where there is an unprecedented lack of legislative checks and balances. The public is kept in the dark like never before. We know that taxpayers will be shouldered with their heaviest-ever burden footing the bill for at least a nearly $230-billion spending plan, one of the world’s largest governmental budgets! We know that there will be tax and fee increases. We know that there will be new mandates. We know that debt will increase. We know that there will be winners and losers. And we know that it’s poised to include monumental policy actions like banning natural gas hookups in the construction of new homes and buildings by 2026, an even higher state minimum wage (a move that farmers, small business owners and others have been warning against, and rightly so) and some sort of attempt (will it even begin to go far enough?) to address the failed bail reform that continues to devastate public safety and security across this state. What we still do not know, however, with any specificity, is exactly how Governor Hochul and legislative Democrats intend to carry it all out – or, for that matter, what surprises are still in store. The bottom line is that we don’t know and that’s the point Senate and Assembly Republicans are making clear: Before any legislator votes on this year’s final budget, our constituents deserve to know what’s in it. Specifically, we called on Governor Hochul and legislative Democrats to reject the use of so-called “messages of necessity” once the budget legislation is printed and ready for a vote. The State Constitution includes a vital “aging” provision that essentially requires a three-day waiting period (commonly called “aging”) before legislation can receive a final vote. While three days is not nearly enough time in the context of a stack of budget legislation as thick as dictionaries, it at least gives individual legislators, the press, the public, and all interested parties the chance to review the plan’s details. However, a longstanding loophole in the law authorizes governors to issue a “message of necessity” to bypass this three-day waiting period and allow for an immediate vote on any piece of legislation once introduced. It’s time to bring this state’s budget adoption process out into the light of day. Fundamental checks and balances have effectively gone by the wayside in this state government. This budget demands a full public airing and the appropriate time for review and debate, but that’s not where we are headed. It's a broken process that keeps producing bloated state budgets that taxpayers will never be able to afford.

The last time New York’s farmers and agricultural leaders warned Governor Hochul that a misguided, politically motivated state action risked undermining farming as a way of life and a foundation of so many local economies, she effectively covered her ears and turned her back. That was last October, when the governor gave the final go-ahead to a recommendation from the state’s Farm Wage Board, established under a 2019 law known as the “Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act,” to lower the mandatory overtime pay threshold for farm workers from the current 60 hours to 40 hours. For months on end, we urged Governor Hochul to listen to common sense. We called on her to heed the warnings. We asked her to carefully consider the hundreds of hours of testimony from farmers, farm workers, industry advocates, and concerned citizens, as well as local, state, and federal representatives, including me, who overwhelmingly sought to deliver one message: Stay At 60. We provided facts from the front lines. For example, Cornell University experts issued a report last November detailing the potential and very troubling consequences of lowering the threshold to 40 hours, including that two-thirds of the dairy farms they interviewed indicated they would move out of milk production, and one of every four fruit or vegetable farm will relocate their operation outside of the state. Around the same time that Cornell released its findings, Farm Credit East estimated dire economic impacts to farms from lowering the threshold to 40 hours. This report showed that lowering the threshold “could have a significant economic impact on New York’s farms, and that taken together with the scheduled increases in minimum wage, is estimated to increase labor expenses $264 million, or 42%, causing a reduction in farm income of 20%.” It didn’t matter in the end. The fix was in. Now, with the ink barely dry on that fateful decision, farmers are already facing the next so-called “progressive” move on the agenda. Governor Hochul and the state’s Democrat legislative leaders are looking to immediately make New York State’s minimum wage the highest in the nation at $21.25 while also indexing the minimum wage to inflation to allow for annual cost-of-living adjustments. In a recent letter to the governor and legislative leaders, Grow NY Farms, a leading farm advocacy organization comprised of the New York Farm Bureau, the Northeast Dairy Producers Association, and others, wrote, “The fact remains that an increased minimum wage disproportionately impacts small business, including family farms and smaller wood manufacturers, and the supply chain. We believe that New York State should pause any plans for a minimum wage increase to allow farms and small businesses to catch their financial breath, assess economic impacts and plan for the future.” Remember that New York approved a phased-in minimum wage increase in 2016 that has already had a negative impact on the state’s farmers, manufacturers, and small businesses. Apparently, it doesn’t go high enough, fast enough for the progressive mindset currently controlling New York government. Far from being a progressive mindset, it’s instead a forget-the-consequences approach to governing that is driving this state into the ground. New York Farm Bureau President David Fischer recently said, “If (the minimum wage) is increased, the alternatives for farms will be to find ways to cut employee hours, move away from labor intensive crops or simply close up shop, something more than 2,000 farms have done since lawmakers passed the last wage hike. Let’s push pause on higher mandated labor costs, giving small businesses the time to catch up to the high inflation and protecting our local food system from further demise.” Once again, words of responsible caution and common sense from those on the front lines. Will Albany Democrats listen this time? Or will they once again carelessly ignore the warnings and keep delivering an even more uncertain future?

Four years ago, when then-Governor Andrew Cuomo and the Democrat majorities in the Senate and Assembly enacted what’s known as the “Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act” (CLCPA), many of us started warning that Albany Democrats are pushing ahead with a radical agenda of energy mandates that ignores the cost to all New Yorkers. New York State has been a leader in clean energy and reducing emissions and we should continue our advancement. Here's just a few facts highlighting that we lead in these efforts: • New York State consumes less total energy per capita than all but two other states; • New York State’s per capita energy consumption for the transportation sector is the lowest in the nation; • In 2020, New York State’s per-capita, energy-related carbon dioxide emissions were lower than those of any other state. However, New York State's energy-related CO² emissions have since increased about 24% due to the 2021 closing of the Indian Point nuclear plant - a glaring example of the lack of foresight and rationality in New York's energy plan. Further, as is, our state emissions account for only 0.4% of total global emissions. In other words, even if we get to zero, at astronomical expense and devastation to New York's economy, we will have zero impact on global climate. Governor Hochul took the reins from Cuomo and remained all-in. The trouble has been that their plan never included a straightforward cost-benefit analysis of its feasibility, affordability, or reliability. And up to now, what New Yorkers have been left facing are mountainous costs and dire consequences. For their part, the governor and her top energy officials have simply denied it. They have insisted over and over that the benefits would far outweigh costs. That was their story and they stuck to it for the better part of four years – until a week or so ago when, suddenly, it was like the lights came back on in Albany. The word was out that the governor wanted to revise a key provision of the original CLCPA, one that will directly reduce the plan’s cost of implementation. The governor finally focused on the fact that New York is currently one of only two governmental entities worldwide utilizing an irrational and unfeasible accounting metric as the basis for examining the effect of carbon emissions and determining the timeline for actions to address it. Maryland is the only other state to have enacted a climate law using this metric. All other states, as well as nations and countries undertaking emissions reduction efforts, base their actions on a standard, internationally accepted, science-based accounting metric. On April 3, in an opinion article published by the USA Today Network, the co-chairs of New York’s Climate Action Council, Basil Seggos, Commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation, and Doreen Harris, President and CEO of the NYS Energy Research and Development Authority, signaled a dramatic change in the administration’s thinking. “When the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act was passed in 2019, it included a way of counting New York’s emissions that differs from the scientific standard used by nearly every other state and country in the world. In addition, NO COST ANALYSIS WAS COMPLETED (emphasis mine) at that time, and as we all know, the economic landscape has changed dramatically since 2019,” Seggos and Harris wrote. “The reality is that we are advancing this transformation to fight climate change at a time in which many New Yorkers are struggling financially and economically. Now, under Hochul's direction, we are taking a close look at consumer cost impacts to ensure we will reach our climate goals while protecting New Yorkers. As it stands today, the climate act’s emissions accounting method is certain to be a major driver of future costs for New York families (emphasis mine).” In a subsequent Capital Tonight television interview, Seggos also said that the plan, as currently constructed, will impose extraordinary costs across the board on New Yorkers, including causing home heating costs to increase by 80% and gasoline prices will rise by 62 cents per gallon. Yes, you read that right: home heating cost increases by 80% and gas prices higher by 62 cents per gallon under the current plan. Finally recognizing this, the chairs of the Senate and Assembly Energy Committees quickly introduced legislation (S.6030/A.6039) that would make the change to the internationally accepted accounting metric. Initial reports were that the governor and legislative supporters wanted the accounting metric changed as part of this year’s budget. By the end of the week, inexplicably but not surprisingly for this administration, the governor quickly backed off making it a budget priority in the face of mounting pushback from staunch supporters of the current plan and their legislative allies. Nevertheless, the stunning change of thinking remains: The Hochul administration, and some top legislative Democrats, finally acknowledge that, left as is, the CLCPA will cost everyday New Yorkers and their families far too much on everything, upend lives, and devastate local businesses and economies. They finally recognize that the current plan holds massive consequences, on so many levels, and that it’s time to pump the brakes on an out-of-control climate strategy that New Yorkers don’t want, can’t afford, and, most importantly, know won’t make a bit of difference for the climate in this state, the nation, or anywhere around the world. From day one, that is what Senate and Assembly Republicans have been saying. Far too many New Yorkers have been kept in the dark about these potential costs and consequences, largely because Governor Hochul and her top aides either did not truly know or really didn’t want to shine any light on it. Now that they have, however, it remains more important than ever for more citizens, communities, businesses, families, and workers to fully understand where New York’s energy future is headed and to demand a desperately needed rethinking and slowing down of this process.

With Governor Hochul and the Legislature’s Democrat majorities starting negotiations over a new state budget, the battle lines are drawn and alarms are sounding throughout the halls of the State Capitol. From criminal justice to health care to workforce development, advocacy groups and their legislative supporters make it clear that they are all-in – forget the consequences – on moving New York State in an extremely liberal, often radical, big spending, high taxing, so-called “progressive” direction. On so many critical challenges, it’s a far-left, progressive free-for-all. Or, depending on your point of view, it’s a progressive free fall resulting in this state’s decline. Pay attention. Upstate United led off one recent news release this way, “With progressive legislators in the Capitol pushing bills that will drastically hike the state’s minimum wage and lead to significant job losses, reduced worker hours, income reductions, and closures across New York, business groups gathered in the Capitol this afternoon to urge caution and common sense.” Caution and common sense out of Albany? That’s about as far as you can get from accurately defining New York government under one-party, all-Democrat control. Let’s stay focused on this extreme push for a higher minimum wage, keeping in mind that New York’s minimum wage has been steadily rising since 2016. It’s not on a fast-enough track for some progressive legislators, who would immediately jack it up to $20 per hour (and even higher in some parts of the state). The consequences? According to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), raising the minimum wage this way would lead to at least 128,000 lost jobs over the coming decade, with 65% of the losses suffered by small businesses. The lost economic output for small businesses alone would approach $12 billion. We know what a hard hit that would be for small, rural communities throughout the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions, and across Upstate where small businesses are already struggling to remain the backbone of local economies. The future for manufacturing workers? One recent report revealed that since 2016, when the state began implementing its current minimum wage escalation, nearly 40% of manufacturers have increased automation at their factories. In other words, fewer jobs and less weekly hours for the manufacturing workforce. Keep in mind also, as Upstate United highlights, this “ill-advised legislative drive comes on the heels of New York’s complete failure to restore the Unemployment Insurance (UI) Trust Fund, which was depleted by the COVID pandemic and state-mandated business shutdowns and restrictions.” The consequences for family farmers and the agricultural industry as a whole? Let’s not forget that this push for a higher minimum wage arrives on the heels of the Hochul administration giving the go-ahead to reducing the threshold for farmworker overtime pay from 60 to 40 hours – a move that already puts at risk the future of many family farms. What would be the result of piling a 40% increase in the minimum wage on top of that misguided move? New York Farm Bureau President David Fisher states, “If it is increased, the alternatives for farms will be to find ways to cut employee hours, move away from labor intensive crops or simply close up shop, something more than 2,000 farms have done since lawmakers passed the last wage hike. Let’s push pause on higher mandated labor costs, giving small businesses the time to catch up to the high inflation and protecting our local food system from further demise.” According to the Grow NY Farms Coalition, “Any increase in farm wages will cripple our rural communities and put the security of our state’s food supply and the economic viability of the entire agriculture industry at risk. With inflation and farm inputs still on the rise, now is not the time to double down and increase costs further. We urge our state leaders to consider the current economic landscape and uniqueness of critical industries like agriculture before making rushed decisions.” Those are words of common sense, however, as I noted above, caution and common sense are given no heed whatsoever in the out of control, “progressive” free fall driving this state down.

Approaching final negotiations over a new state budget, it’s critical to begin stressing that this year’s budget must address the right priorities – and one of the top priorities, in my view, is the future of our local roads and bridges. It’s a priority that I and Assemblyman Phil Palmesano have long worked to strengthen. Since 2013, in fact, we have stood together with New York’s county and town highway superintendents, and many other local leaders, to do everything we can to raise awareness and call for legislative support. Last week, like we have for over a decade now, we gained the support of more than 70 state senators and members of the Assembly to get behind the call for increased state support for local roads, bridges, and culverts. This annual advocacy campaign, known as “Local Roads Are Essential,” is sponsored by the New York State Association of County Highway Superintendents (NYSCHSA) and the New York State Association of Town Superintendents of Highways, Inc. (NYSAOTSOH). In a March 7, 2023, letter to Governor Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders, we wrote, “We believe that New York State's investment in local transportation infrastructuremust be a foundation of the nation's most aggressive infrastructure program in order for this program to achieveits envisioned generational goals. Unfortunately, theExecutiveBudget proposes local road, bridge, and culvert funding to remain flat for this second year of the five-year, Department of Transportation (DOT) Capital Plan. First and foremost, in our view, the Governor’s proposal fails to recognize or understand the impact of a 22% construction inflation rate. For example, New York State Department of Transportation’s July 2020 to July 2022 price adjustments show significant cost increases. Fuel costs are nearly 260% higher, asphalt nearly 80% higher, and steel costs have increased by approximately 115%.” We’re calling for the final 2023-2024 state budget to take critical steps and provide the funding necessary to move forward on this priority, as well as to adequately recognize (which Governor Hochul’s proposed Executive Budget does not) the impact of a 22% construction inflation rate and how the exorbitant, inflationary cost increases for fuel, asphalt, and steel are severely straining county and town transportation budgets. According to NYSCHSA President Kevin Rooney, “Construction inflation means less work will get done. Our dollars won’t go as far meaning fewer critical projects will be completed and more will be delayed. Less work for our contractors means fewer construction jobs and likewise fewer contracts for MWBE firms. Our equipment and materials suppliers will try to recover their inflationary cost through higher prices. Delays in highway and bridge maintenance means more costly rehabilitation and reconstruction down the road. State funding needs to be increased to avoid the worst impacts of the unprecedented construction inflation on our already aging and ailing local transportation systems.” Specifically, we are calling for the new state budget to increase the base fundinglevel for CHIPS by $200 million to a total of $738 million; increase Extreme WinterRecoveryfunding by $70 million to $170 million; increase the CHIPS bidding threshold from $350,000 to $750,000; and restore the Dedicated Highway and Bridge Trust Fund (DHBTF) to its originally intended purpose as a dedicated, pay-as-you-go funding source for critical transportation repairs and capital projects. According to one analysis by the New York State Association of Town Superintendents of Highways, the local highway system outside of New York City faces an annual funding gap of $1.7 billion. Perhaps most frustrating is that New York State has the resources thanks to the federal Infrastructure Bill—which delivered an historic 52% increase in federal funding for New York’s roads and bridges over five years, or $4.6 billion more. Unfortunately, as Washington stepped up, Governor Hochul and the Albany Democrats stepped back and grew the NYSDOT Capital Plan by only $2 billion over the same five-year period, according to Mike Elmendorf, President and CEO of the Associated General Contractors of New York State (AGC). Assemblyman Palmesano and I will remain committed and working to prioritize the state’s commitment to the effective maintenance and improvement of local transportation infrastructure in every region of New York. State investment will be essential to the future of local communities, economies, environments, governments, and taxpayers.

To kick off the 2023 session of the State Legislature – one that we believe finds New York at unprecedented crossroads in so many critical areas – the Senate Republican Conference put forth a comprehensive set of goals to help rebuild and strengthen local and state economies, focus on the affordability challenges facing everyday New Yorkers and their families, and make public safety a top priority. We’re calling it “Rescue New York” which, in our view, undeniably defines where we find ourselves at this moment in the state’s history: a rescue and recovery mission for this state’s future. From combating crime to job creation to tax relief, one-party control of New York State government has been a disaster for Upstate New York communities, economies, and taxpayers. The Albany Democrat direction for New York is producing billions upon billions of dollars of short- and long-term spending commitments requiring billions upon billions of dollars in new taxes, fees, and borrowing for future generations of state and local taxpayers. A relentless pursuit of a far-left, extreme-liberal agenda remains, as it has been for the past three years, the first order of business in New York government over a long-term, sustainable future for middle-class communities, families, workers, businesses, industries, and taxpayers. Among many others, the overriding goals of Rescue New York would: instilling a better quality of life for all New Yorkers by restoring public safety and security as one of the state’s highest responsibilities; making New York more affordable by cutting the state’s highest-in-the-nation tax burden and one of the country’s heaviest burdens of debt; putting a stop to out-of-control government spending that has defined the current era of NY government and threatens to make the nation’s highest population losses even worse; rethinking a process underway to quickly implement radical energy mandates that ignore affordability, reliability, and feasability; transforming the state-local partnership by making good on a promise made over a decade ago to address the outrageous practice of unfunded state mandates; refusing to take any actions that risk the future of New York’s family farms, including lowering the farmworker overtime threshold from 60 to 40 hours; finally, fully, and honestly reassessing New York’s COVID response, including its tragic failures and shortcomings, especially within the state’s nursing homes; combating an exploding fentanyl crisis; and restoring accountability to state government in the aftermath of disgraced ex-Governor Andrew Cuomo’s rampant abuses of executive power. None of the above is where we are heading in the current legislative session under continued one-party, all-Democrat rule. Last year’s enacted state budget, for example, increased spending by nearly $20 billion – the annual state budget, for the first time in history, surpassed $200 billion – and raised taxes by more than $4 billion. Governor Hochul has already proposed starting negotiations on a final 2023-2024 state budget that would be $7 billion higher than the current budget – and that’s before the willingly reckless, big-spending Democrat leaders in the Senate and Assembly get their hands on it. There simply has been no turning back from this explosive tax-and-spend path under Governor Hochul and the Democrat legislative leaders. Far from it, in fact. Most reasonable New Yorkers also recognize that rising crime and violence, and weakened public safety and security, are the result of the pro-criminal policies being enacted and pushed by this governor and a State Legislature under one-party control. They have emboldened the criminal element throughout this state through failed bail reform, lenient parole policies, an out-of-control Parole Board, cowing to the “defund the police” movement, and a “no consequences” approach to criminal justice. It has been alarming to district attorneys, law enforcement officers, and criminal justice experts. It shows no signs of letting up. Our alarm calls have gone unheard. Nevertheless, the fight for restoring a more responsible and reasonable approach to governing goes on. You can read more about “Rescue New York” on my Senate website, omara.nysenate.gov.

Budget adoption season is underway at the State Capitol, which means, first, that joint Senate-Assembly public hearings on Governor Kathy Hochul’s 2023-2024 Executive Budget proposal have started and will remain underway until March 1. Conducted jointly by the Senate Finance Committee, and the Assembly Ways and Means Committee, these forums examine and critique the governor’s proposal in detail and solicit testimony from state agency officials, public policy and fiscal experts, local government representatives, business leaders, educators, farmers, law enforcement, and many other advocates. I have served as the Ranking Member on the Finance Committee since 2021 and continue to welcome having a direct voice on the legislative committee most responsible for overseeing the adoption of the state’s annual budget. These hearings highlight the course that New York’s government is looking to set for short- and long-term fiscal practices and responsibilities. Equally important, the hearings begin setting the stage for the Legislature’s negotiations with the governor over the final state budget. They are a chance for the public to learn more about what’s being planned by Governor Hochul and legislative leaders. Remember that the governor has proposed a 2023-24 budget that starts at $227 billion, already a $7-billion increase over the current, record-setting $220-billion budget. In other words, the governor and the Democrat leaders of the Senate and Assembly majorities will start final negotiations over a new state budget looking to increase state spending by at least $7 billion – and so it’s likely to go significantly higher! My initial reaction to the Hochul proposal stated, “Governor Hochul’s proposed budget remains a spend, spend, spend strategy that shells out billions of taxpayer dollars but remains a billion miles away from making New York State more affordable for taxpayers. It largely ignores the reality that New York State remains one of America’s highest-taxed, least affordable, most debt-ridden and overregulated states, and that we’re leading the nation in population loss. The spending habits of this government under one-party, all-Democrat control can only make New York a more expensive place to live and do business. There is nothing in this plan that seriously addresses the need for lower taxes across the board, less regulation, debt reduction, mandate relief, or any of the other strangleholds on state and local taxpayers, small businesses and manufacturers, and continually hard-pressed upstate communities, economies, and workers.” Senate Republicans will continue to be a voice for lower taxes, less regulation, greater accountability, economic growth, job creation, and more common sense on state fiscal practices. I welcome the start of this year’s budget hearings, at this critical time, to put a spotlight on a range of policies and programs that will decide the future and strength of our local communities and economies. In my view, we need to keep working against a New York State tax and regulatory mindset that puts our businesses and manufacturers at a competitive disadvantage, imposes red tape that strangles local economies, or prioritizes higher and higher spending, overtaxing, outrageous mandates, and burdensome overregulation. At the start of the new legislative session in early January, our Senate conference unveiled a “Rescue New York” legislative agenda that proposes a range of policies focusing on public safety and security, economic growth and job creation, tax relief and regulatory reform, and affordability initiatives to try to reverse New York’s nation-leading population loss. The Senate Republican analysis of Governor Hochul’s proposed budget has been posted on my Senate website, www.omara.nysenate.gov. The first budget hearings were held last week and covered transportation, public protection, elementary and secondary education, economic development, and taxes. Archived videos of each hearing will be available on the state Senate website at www.nysenate.gov/events. This week’s hearings, beginning on Monday, February 13, will cover human services, environmental conservation, local/general government, and mental hygiene. They can be viewed on the Senate website listed above, or on www.omara.nysenate.gov.

A recent joint Senate-Assembly public hearing helped make it clear where New York State is headed on a radical remaking of our energy landscape: nobody truly knows. Remember that last December, the state’s Climate Action Council released final recommendations to implement far-reaching renewable energy mandates for all New Yorkers. These mandates were set in motion four years ago by the “Climate Leadership and Climate Protection Act” (CLCPA) signed into law by then-Governor Andrew Cuomo and the Legislature’s Democrat majorities. Since Governor Hochul took over after Cuomo resigned in August 2021, she has pushed the pedal to the floor on these extreme energy orders. At the daylong public hearing in Albany on January 19, comments from many Democrat majority members of the Senate and Assembly committees on Finance, Energy and Telecommunications, and Environmental Conservation -- as well as those who testified in favor of the plan as it stands – revealed that this Legislature isn’t exactly sure how much it’s going to cost, isn’t all that concerned whether it’s practical (we’ll just figure it out as we go along), and has no idea if it’s remotely sustainable for future ratepayers, taxpayers, manufacturers, or local economies. Furthermore, they are clearly willing to consider whatever tax it takes, to sacrifice jobs, and to grant unilateral authority to the executive branch to keep moving forward on this radical plan as rapidly as possible, whatever the consequences may be. For example, to help the state afford it, proposals have already been introduced that would raise gasoline costs by an additional 55-cents-per-gallon and drive up home heating fuel costs by another 26%. It’s a runaway train. New Yorkers already bearing a heavy burden for state government mandates imposed under extreme executive control throughout the COVID-19 pandemic better be ready for much more of the same, and then some, if these energy mandates keep marching forward. The hearing made it clear that this plan, which advocates readily admit will cost at least $270 billion, has never been accompanied by any credible cost-benefit analysis of the impact of these actions on energy affordability, reliability, or sustainability. It’s more than likely to be a much higher price tag. Soon, for example, millions of homeowners could be forced to convert their natural gas, propane, or heating fuel oil furnaces to electric at estimated costs of as much as $40,000 per household. In just two years, 2025, you will no longer be able to build a new single-family home or low-rise residential building anywhere in New York with a natural gas, propane, or fuel oil furnace or boiler. The continued use of natural gas/propane/fuel oil appliances for home heating, cooking, water heating, or clothes drying will be banned in 2035. I have joined legislative colleagues and others over the past several years to sound the alarm on what’s coming, particularly over how these irrational and unsustainable mandates will come at great costs and consequences. Far too many New Yorkers remain in the dark about the plan’s extreme efforts to eliminate reliable, affordable sources of energy. Many of us who have raised these concerns have also fully encouraged New York’s past efforts to increase cleaner and renewable power. These efforts have been remarkably successful. They have already made our state a national and worldwide leader accounting for just 0.4% of global carbon emissions. Nevertheless, this new plan will have no impact on the actions of neighboring states or, even more critically, on China, India, or Russia, which account for 40% of global emissions. To say it another way (and it’s a critical point): Even if New York State reaches zero emissions, there will be zero impact on our own climate or the global climate at large -- yet all New Yorkers will pay a heavy, heavy price. New York State should continue to be a leader. At the same time, it remains important to keep sounding the alarm that the state’s energy strategy as it stands is not realistic or achievable, and unreasonably risks grid reliability, affordability, and sustainability. Governor Hochul is about to unveil her proposed 2023-2024 state budget and work with her Democrat partners in the Senate and Assembly to put the final additions on what will wind up being New York’s largest-ever spending plan. It bears watching, for all of us, especially on the energy front.

Governor Hochul delivered her State of the State message to the Legislature last week. Now we wait and see how she plans to pay for it. Those answers start to arrive later this month when she unveils her proposed 2023-2024 state budget. My initial reaction to the governor’s broad outline of her priorities for New York’s future is this: Governor Hochul highlighted the affordability crisis facing all New Yorkers, but every agenda item she spoke of will only make New York a more expensive place to live and do business. She appears intent on spending every last taxpayer dime, and then some. New York State remains one of America’s highest-taxed, least affordable, most debt-ridden and overregulated states, and we’re leading the nation in population loss. It is mind-boggling how Governor Hochul and legislative Democrats can boast about higher and higher state government spending. One highlight of her address I do applaud is her commitment to improving New York's woeful mental health care system. Unfortunately, she only commits to one half of one percent of the state budget to restoring mental health beds statewide. This meager allocation of state resources – one half of one percent -- won't even make up for the bed closures that ex-Governor Cuomo forced over the last decade in our state mental health facilities. Mental health care is a significant need for far too many New Yorker with its consequences of homelessness, addiction, and crime. This effort deserves a far greater commitment. The day before Governor Hochul delivered her message, our Senate Republican conference proposed a plan called “Rescue New York.” We have offered a broad range of policies focusing on public safety and security, mental health care, economic growth and job creation, tax relief and regulatory reform, and affordability initiatives to try to reverse New York’s distressing outmigration. New Yorkers across the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions I represent, and statewide, are worried about making ends meet. They see this state becoming less safe, less affordable, less free, less economically competitive, less responsible, and far less hopeful for the future. Albany Democrats readily acknowledge the affordability crisis causing the exodus of citizens to more affordable states, however the Democrats can’t give up increasing handouts to their base. They have no interest in reining in out-of-control spending, eliminating taxes, lowering costs, cutting burdensome regulations and mandates, or restoring public safety. We need to rescue New York by restoring the right priorities, rebuilding stronger and safer communities, and working toward a more responsible and sustainable future for middle-class communities, families, workers, businesses, industries, and taxpayers. In short, the “Rescue New York” agenda is a comprehensive plan to do just that. Among many initiatives, the plan focuses on: Restoring common sense and sanity to our criminal justice system; Increasing efforts to address the opioid and fentanyl crisis; Expanding economic opportunities and strengthening our workforce; Cutting New York’s highest-in-the-nation tax burden and controlling state government spending; Improving New York’s worst-in-the-nation business climate; Enacting energy policies that are affordable, reliable, and sustainable; Addressing the burgeoning Unemployment Insurance crisis; and Confronting long-neglected obstacles to local economic growth and tax relief like unfunded mandates, unreasonable overregulation, and the steady erosion of local decision-making. I’ll be working with legislative colleagues across the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions, together with local leaders and concerned citizens, to keep attention focused on the goals and priorities we share for stronger and safer communities. As noted at the outset, the next key benchmark arrives later this month when Governor Hochul begins rolling out her 2023-2024 proposed state budget. That’s where we truly begin finding out how her broad State of the State promises get implemented and, especially, paid for. I was recently reappointed as the Ranking Republican member on the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees the Legislature’s annual budget adoption process. I hope to utilize this post to at least give a voice to the challenges and crises facing our region and all of Upstate New York. Remember that you can find more details on the Rescue New York agenda – as well as information and updates on other state government news and actions throughout the 2023 legislative session – on my Senate website, www.omara.nysenate.gov.

Above all else this week, I hope that this column will find you and your families, friends, and neighbors well and doing your best to have a memorable and meaningful holiday season. Approaching the start of another new year in New York State government, we could focus on looking ahead to the debates that always await the governor and legislators in ordinary times -- traditionally difficult challenges on education, economic development, environmental protection, fiscal policies, infrastructure, public safety and security, and so many more. But these remain far from ordinary times. Consequently, the beginning of 2023 will arrive during what continues to be an incredibly long and hard road back to community and economic renewal. As always, this hoped-for revitalization will continue to hinge on strong regional teamwork on the goals and the priorities we share across the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions. The experience we have gained and the bonds we have cemented over the past few difficult, unexpected, unprecedented years will continue to serve us well in 2023. This teamwork will remain fundamental to our success throughout the year ahead. We need to keep pushing forward. We need to get more and more sectors of local economies moving again. We need to keep getting more and more workers back on the job as soon as possible. And we need a state government that’s focused on addressing the right priorities. At the start of the New Year, I look forward to beginning my representation of the newly redefined (as a result of redistricting) 58th Senate District. This redefined district continues to include the core of the district I have represented since 2011 – Chemung, Schuyler, Steuben, and Yates counties – with the addition of Seneca and Tioga counties, and a part of Allegany County. It is one of New York’s geographically largest legislative districts. Nevertheless, the communities and citizens comprising the 58th District harbor common strengths and share fundamental goals, and I look forward to working with all of you to be a strong voice in Albany – and to keep fighting to secure our priorities for stronger and safer communities. On the economic front of this ongoing battle to reclaim solid ground across our region and within individual communities, we will need the Hochul administration to better recognize that our regional revitalization can and must move forward with greater clarity, common sense, and fairness. Many of us across the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions -- government officials, business owners, and workers and families alike – continue to believe this revitalization can and should be accomplished more effectively and rapidly. In 2023, we will need to redouble our emphasis on the need for fairness. I’ve had this discussion with many local leaders and citizens. We will continue pushing the administration to recognize specific regional concerns and suggestions -- and the need for sensible compromises and effective, safe resolutions. There is enormous work facing us to fix what’s broken and keep providing fundamental assistance. On the legislative front, we must continue to hear the voices of small business, farming, tourism, manufacturing, and other foundations of local economies. Moving forward, these ongoing discussions, on a bipartisan basis, will become increasingly critical. As I have said repeatedly, one way we stay together is by staying informed. Finally, as we continue this week that has traditionally had as its centerpiece a reflection on the year past, we still focus on this: Thank You. Thank you to everyone throughout the public and private sectors providing diligent public outreach and service. Because of these incredible and inspiring efforts, local citizens and communities have been able to persevere, stay together, remain hopeful, move forward, and keep planning for better days. Let’s all keep doing our part. These will remain the rays of hope at the beginning of the New Year, the silver lining of strength that has and will keep seeing us through. Happy New Year.

It’s fitting this week that New York’s ongoing leap into the energy unknown arrives on winter’s doorstep. On December 19, the state’s “Climate Action Council” plans to release final recommendations to implement far-reaching renewable energy mandates for all New Yorkers. Winter officially starts two days later, although some might argue that it’s been winter in New York for several years now. Remember that these mandates were set in motion in 2019 by the “Climate Leadership and Climate Protection Act” (CLCPA) signed into law by then-Governor Andrew Cuomo and the Legislature’s Democrat majorities. When she took the reins after Cuomo resigned, Governor Hochul continued full speed ahead on this radical remaking of energy policy. What does it mean? More than you might expect. Soon, for example, millions of homeowners could be forced to convert their natural gas, propane, or heating fuel oil furnaces to electric at estimated costs of as much as $40,000 per household. In just two years, 2025, you will no longer be able to build a new single-family home or low-rise residential building anywhere in New York with a natural gas, propane, or fuel oil furnace or boiler. The continued use of natural gas/propane/fuel oil appliances for home heating, cooking, water heating, or clothes drying will be banned in 2035. Furthermore, the plan anticipates negative impacts to school and local government property tax bases. It anticipates industries being shuttered and job losses. To help the state afford it, proposals have been introduced that would raise gasoline costs by an additional 55-cents-per-gallon and drive up home heating fuel costs by another 26%. On top of today’s already inflated prices, Governor Hochul’s ambition to impose clean energy mandates on all New Yorkers remains pie-in-the-sky high. Her unwillingness to explain how much it will cost or how the state intends to pay for it is shocking. Consumers have no idea what’s coming at them. The Climate Action Council’s plan has never been accompanied by any cost-benefit analysis of the impact of these actions on energy affordability, reliability, or sustainability. I have joined legislative colleagues and others over the past three years to sound the alarm on the CLCPA, particularly over how these irrational and unsustainable mandates will come at great costs and consequences. Far too many New Yorkers remain in the dark about it, largely because Governor Hochul and her clean energy czars either don’t truly know themselves or really don’t want to say. Our Senate Republican conference has steadfastly highlighted the plan’s extreme efforts to eliminate reliable, affordable sources of energy that are vital for the citizens and communities we represent. We have also fully encouraged New York’s past efforts to increase cleaner and renewable power, efforts that have been astoundingly successful. New York State is already a national and worldwide leader accounting for just 0.4% of global carbon emissions. Nevertheless, New York’s CLCPA will have no impact on the actions of neighboring states or, even more critically, on China, India, or Russia, which account for 40% of global emissions. In other words: Even if New York State does reach zero emissions, there will be zero impact on our own climate or the global climate at large -- yet all New Yorkers will pay a heavy, heavy price. The Independent Power Producers of New York State (IPPNYS), the state Business Council and others have been calling on Governor Hochul to address the strategy’s shortcomings before it’s too late. The group recently wrote, “The current draft (CLCPA plan) is complicated, could greatly impact affordability for ratepayers, has no comprehensive analysis of implementation costs for ratepayers, and could have a detrimental effect on the economy and ALL New Yorkers.” While I believe New York State should continue to be a leader on reducing emissions, it remains important to keep sounding the alarm that the state’s strategy as it stands is not realistic or achievable, and unreasonably risks energy grid reliability and affordability. It remains important for more citizens, communities, businesses, families, and workers to fully understand where New York’s energy future is headed and to demand a desperately needed rethinking and slowing down of this process.

Approaching a new legislative session in January, we unfortunately continue to face the same set of challenges and crises that many of us fought to address at the beginning of 2022. In other words, the agenda remains the same. We must stay committed to a comprehensive set of goals to help grow local and state economies, focus on the financial burdens facing middle-class families and small business owners, and make public safety an urgent priority. From combating crime to job creation to tax relief, one-party control of New York government has been a disaster. The Albany Democrat direction for New York is producing billions upon billions of dollars of short- and long-term spending commitments requiring billions upon billions of dollars in new taxes and borrowing for future generations of state and local taxpayers. It simply continues to fail to produce any hope for a long-term, sustainable future for Upstate, middle-class communities, families, workers, businesses, industries, and taxpayers. At the opening of the 2022 legislative session last January, when our Senate Republican Conference unveiled a “Take Back New York” agenda, I said, “New York remains one of the highest-taxed states in America. We are one of the most overregulated states in the nation. Our local governments and local property taxpayers continue to foot the bill for one of the country’s heaviest burdens of unfunded state mandates. It’s no coincidence that New York led the nation last year in overall tax burden and population loss. Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers are heading for the exits. This state is at a crossroads and we must enact an across-the-board agenda to cut taxes, address affordability, and rebuild stronger and safer communities.” The exact sentiment rings true approaching 2023. This state continues to neglect critical shortcomings, including the need, among many others, to: offer a safer and better quality of life for all New Yorkers by repealing bail reform and supporting law enforcement, corrections officers, crime victims and communities as a whole; make New York more affordable by cutting the state’s highest-in-the-nation tax burden and enacting a series of measures that lower the cost of living; get New York off the bottom of the list of states in America with the worst business friendly climates; expand economic opportunity by cutting regulations and unfunded mandates, and refocusing on a revitalization of New York’s manufacturing sector; provide equity and fairness in New York’s ongoing investments in physical infrastructure and broadband; ensure greater security for vulnerable populations by addressing the needs of veterans, providing resources to seniors and caregivers, combating a still-rampant opioid epidemic, and enhancing mental health programs and services; and restore accountability, transparency, and local decision-making to New York government after nearly three years of unprecedented overreaches of executive power. The upcoming legislative session once again presents a pivotal agenda. The state budget under one-party control, for example, has accelerated state spending at a massive rate -- for the first time, the state budget surpasses $200 billion -- and raised taxes by billions. Could Governor Hochul and the Legislature’s Democrat majorities eye yet another huge budgetary leap? Will Governor Hochul continue refusing to change course on lowering the current farmworker overtime threshold from 60 hours to 40 hours? It’s a move that risks changing the face of New York State agriculture as we have known it for generations. In recent columns, I have likewise addressed the ongoing crisis in public safety and security, as well as a radical remaking of energy policy that lacks accountability, feasibility, or transparency. It remains, in my view, an overriding priority to take back Upstate’s rightful place in this government and restore a more responsible and reasonable approach to governing.

It’s been an unrelenting reality for the past two years: New York is not safe. Yet Albany’s powers that be still don’t get it. Public opinion polls keep sending the message: Too many New Yorkers, in too many places throughout this state, do not feel safe where they live, work, and raise their families. Albany ignores it. New York’s citizens blame state government policies for creating a pervasive climate of lawlessness and for emboldening society’s violent, out-of-control criminal element. Albany refuses to see it. It’s right there in front of them, day after day, in headlines from every corner of this state. Another violent criminal released on bail. Another cop-killer released on parole. Another shocking video of a brutal attack on an innocent bystander, or another brazen robbery in broad daylight. Despite the daily barrage, Governor Hochul and Albany Democrats controlling the state Legislature won’t act. The fact is, it doesn’t take another poll to reinforce the reality for too many of New York’s citizens and communities: Public safety and security, and law and order, have taken a back seat in this New York State government under one-party, all-Democrat (and mostly downstate) control. A prime example continues to stand out. Ask any correctional officer or employee at Elmira, Five Points, Auburn, or any other state correctional facility where the climate inside the prison walls is nothing short of a powder keg since the implementation earlier this year of a law known as the “Humane Alternatives to Solitary Confinement (HALT) Act.” The HALT Act took effect in April. It was approved in 2021 by the Legislature’s Democrat majorities and signed into law by former Governor Andrew Cuomo. The New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association (NYSCOPBA) has repeatedly called on current Governor Kathy Hochul to not move forward on implementing HALT. So have many legislators, including me, whose districts include a correctional facility and who could see and hear firsthand where this was heading. We did so again late last week outside the Auburn Correctional Facility in Cayuga County. Nevertheless, Governor Hochul just keeps following in the footsteps of her disgraced predecessor in a relentless pursuit of a so-called “progressive” approach to criminal justice. HALT severely limits the use of special housing units in correctional facilities and restricts the ability of prison officials to discipline the state’s most violent inmates, who commit criminal acts in prison, by separating them from the general population. NYSCOPBA has warned since the law’s enactment that it puts officers at even greater risk within a prison system where inmate attacks on prison staff reached record numbers in 2021 and are on pace to be even more serious this year. In fact, according to numbers reported by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS), since April 1, 2022, overall violence in New York State correctional facilities has risen over 35%. Inmate-on-staff violence has increased approximately 37%, while inmate-on-inmate violence has increased roughly 30%, since April 1. According to the data, the single-week high of inmate-on-staff assaults was set during the week ending May 22, 2022, as 41 staff members were assaulted. The monthly average number of staff members assaulted in 2022 prior to the implementation of the HALT Act on April 1 is 98. Post HALT, the monthly average has jumped to 129 staff assaulted. Additionally, the single-week high of inmate-on-inmate assaults was set during the week ending May 1, 2022, as 37 inmates were assaulted by other incarcerated individuals. The monthly average number of inmates assaulted by other inmates in 2022 prior to the implementation of the HALT Act on April 1 is 99. Post HALT, the monthly average rose to 131 inmates assaulted by other inmates. The Elmira Correctional Facility is now the second-most dangerous prison for staff and inmates. Earlier this month, following the latest round of attacks inside Elmira, NYSCOPBA Western Region Vice President Kenny Gold said, “Since April 1, assaults on staff have increased by forty percent and the number of injuries to staff that are considered ‘moderate to severe’ has increased by ninety-eight percent. The statistics don’t lie – the HALT Act has single-handedly made state correctional facilities more violent, and less safe. Inmate-on-staff and inmate-on-inmate violence has rapidly increased since the disastrous legislation went into effect. How much violence at Elmira alone within such a short period will it take before any legislator that supported this ridiculous legislation will acknowledge this Act was a failure?” Albany Democrats nor Hochul can understand the word failure. NYSCOPBA launched a “Repeal HALT campaign” back in May to raise awareness of the dangerous working and living conditions inside New York State’s correctional facilities. Since then, NYSCOPBA representatives have stood with our Senate and Assembly Republican conferences to announce legislation that we have introduced and sponsor (S. S.S9378/A.10593) to repeal the HALT Act. Albany’s response? Silence. And in this instance, silence equals more violence, more injuries, and a more dangerous environment within our facilities. According to NYSCOPBA, the spike in assaults, in conjunction with declining officer recruitment numbers and increased retirements since HALT’s implementation, amounts to a crisis inside correctional facilities. Governor Hochul and the Legislature’s Democratic majorities have been solely focused on coddling violent criminals by severely hampering disciplinary sanctions, finding ways to parole more and more inmates, and diminishing the ability of correctional officers to deal with violence inside prisons. Ongoing, unrelenting attacks inside Elmira and prisons across this state should serve as a stark reminder that steps are needed to better protect corrections officers, prison staff, inmates themselves, and the overall safety and security within the walls of our prisons. It starts with repealing HALT. Governor Hochul and New York’s current Democrat legislative leadership keep moving in the completely opposite and wrong direction. Our correctional officers remain extremely alarmed about rising violence inside prisons and we share their concern. They deserve better. We all do. It is a careless approach to criminal justice and corrections, it’s irresponsible, and it’s dangerous. What can you do about it? Vote on November 8th.

It wasn’t long ago in this column -- in early September in fact – that I asked the question, “Will Governor Hochul turn her back on farmers?” I asked it after a New York State Wage Board, established under a 2019 law known as the “Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act,” finalized its recommendation to lower the mandatory overtime pay threshold for farm workers from the current 60 hours to 40 hours. Following the Wage Board’s action, Governor Hochul was given 45 days to send down the final word. It didn’t take long to get our answer. The governor herself didn’t do the dirty work, of course. She turned that over to state Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon, a holdover from the former Cuomo administration, who late on the afternoon of Friday, October 1, sent down the Hochul administration’s decision to lower the threshold to 40. But this is all on Governor Hochul now, be clear on that, it is her decision and the consequences of moving forward with it will always be pinned to her. Remember that it was on September 6 that the three-member Wage Board finalized its recommendation, by a vote of 2-1, to lower the threshold. The lone vote in opposition came from Board member David Fisher, President of the New York Farm Bureau, who said that “the deck was stacked” against the farm community from the outset of this process and that the board’s final report “does not reflect the data, research and scope of the full testimony that was provided” in opposition. In other words, Governor Hochul and Commissioner Reardon can claim all they want that the Wage Board report was factual, and that careful consideration was given to the hundreds of hours of testimony from farmers, farm workers, industry leaders and advocates, and concerned citizens, as well as local, state, and federal representatives, including me, who overwhelmingly sought to deliver one message to Governor Hochul: Stay At 60. We urged her to listen to common sense. We called on her to listen to the warnings. We urged her to at least delay any final decision until the next United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Census is released in 2024 when more up-to-date and extensive data will be available to assess the state of the agricultural industry, including the economic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic. We provided facts from the front lines. For example, Cornell University experts issued a report last November detailing the potential and very troubling consequences of lowering the threshold to 40 hours, including that: Two-thirds of the dairy farms they interviewed indicated they would move out of milk production; One of every four fruit or vegetable farm will relocate their operation outside of the state; Seventy percent of H-2A workers said they would consider going to another state without capped hours if the state moves to a 40-hour overtime threshold. Around the same time that Cornell released its findings, Farm Credit East estimated dire economic impacts to farms from lowering the threshold to 40 hours. This report showed that lowering the threshold “could have a significant economic impact on New York’s farms, and that taken together with the scheduled increases in minimum wage, is estimated to increase labor expenses $264 million, or 42%, causing a reduction in farm income of 20%.” Many already hard-pressed family farms simply will not survive such a devastating reduction in farm income. In the end, the suspicions that many of us had from the beginning – when former Governor Cuomo went all-in on getting behind what was a top priority for New York’s far-left, city-based, extreme-liberal faction of the Democrat party – that the fix was in, proved to be correct. Keep in mind that the “Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act” was, in fact, conjured up by socialist leaning Democrat legislators from Queens, New York City.To try to provide themselves political cover, ex-Governor Cuomo and the state’s all-Democrat legislative majorities created an unelected, unaccountable Wage Board -- authorized to take unilateral action without the need for legislative approval – and ensured that there would always be two votes on the three-member board in favor of lowering the threshold. Cuomo resigned in disgrace, however Governor Hochul quickly signaled her determination to walk hand in hand with the Wage Board and finish what Cuomo and the New York City socialist legislators from Queens started. In late July, she went as far as to state that if New York moves forward with forcing farmers to pay overtime after 40 hours, state taxpayers will pick up the tab and subsidize the move, indefinitely, to the tune of at least $130 million annually – even though many farmers question whether the tax credit will even begin cover their higher labor costs or offset the anticipated consequences. In other words, New York State's hardworking families and taxpayers will foot the bill to pay seasonal migrant farmworkers more to send home to their families in Central and South America. Governor Hochul and her Cuomo-appointed labor commissioner had the opportunity to choose the future of farming over the so-called “progressive” ideology that is driving this state into the ground. Instead, they rejected farmers, farm workers, farm advocates, agricultural representatives, community leaders, and legislators who spoke in near-unanimous opposition to this move. They rejected the industry’s top advocates, including the New York Farm Bureau, the Northeast Dairy Producers Association, Grow NY Farms, Upstate United, and numerous others. They decided to go ahead and carelessly risk undermining an industry and a way of life that has defined the regions we represent, as well as the face of New York State agriculture as we have known it for generations. They will jeopardize the future of high quality, local food production. They will shamelessly require state and local taxpayers to pay for yet another bad decision out of Albany. They are fine with setting in motion the loss of more family farms and the livelihoods these farms support across the industry and throughout hundreds of local economies. At the worst possible time, Governor Hochul is mandating an even more uncertain future for family farmers, farm workers, farm communities, and New York’s agricultural industry overall. Following the final announcement that New York will reject the concerns and fears of the agricultural community and lower the threshold to 40, Farm Bureau President Fischer stated, “This is a difficult day for all those who care about New York being able to feed itself. Commissioner Reardon’s decision to lower the farm labor overtime threshold will make it even tougher to farm in this state and will be a financial blow to the workers we all support. Moving forward, farms will be forced to make difficult decisions on what they grow, the available hours they can provide to their employees, and their ability to compete in the marketplace. All of this was highlighted in the testimony and data that the wage board report and the commissioner simply ignored.” The Farm Bureau gets right to the heart of it: Governor Hochul has “simply ignored” New York agriculture.