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Senator Tom O'Mara

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Senator Tom O'Mara last won the day on March 5 2023

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  1. It was back to the races for Senate Democrats at the Capitol last week – the race, that is, to see who can be first to inflict yet another energy mandate on New Yorkers. In fact, since the 2019 enactment of what’s known as the “Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act,” we’ve watched the one-party control of the Albany Democrats move at world record speed trying to pile one unaffordable mandate on top of another unworkable mandate on top of the next unrealistic mandate in their race to try to inflict the devastating consequences of a zero-emissions economy on this entire state. As this state’s energy strategy currently stands, it's a race to unaffordability and to run manufacturing out of the state. Yet they were at it again last week with the approval of a piece of legislation known as the “New York Heat Act.” For her part, Governor Hochul included a version of the same legislation in her proposed state budget and calls it the “Affordable Gas Transition Act.” There will be nothing affordable about it. That’s the point our Senate and Assembly Republican conferences have been making since the start of this disaster in the making five years ago. Natural gas bans. All-electric school bus fleets. No sales of gasoline-powered vehicles. Round and round the Albany Democrats go and you know the rest, nobody knows where they’re going to stop. What we do know, what’s becoming as clear as the clearest sky, is that we’re all going to pay a heavy, heavy price once the bills truly start coming due -- and it’s going to be a cold, hard truth. During a news conference Senate Republicans held after the Senate Democrats approved the Heat Act last week (you can view the full news conference on omara.nysenate.gov), I once again stressed the important reality that keeps getting overlooked (or ignored) by the other side: Albany Democrats want 70 percent renewable energy by 2030 and zero emissions by 2040 -- despite our state emissions accounting for just 0.4% of total global emissions and recognizing that, even if we could somehow get to zero through the imposition of these drastic, draconian measures imposing untold hardships on New York’s communities, residents, industries, and local economies, it will have virtually zero impact on the statewide, national, or global climate. Furthermore, it will require gigantic taxpayer-funded, government subsidies, impose heavier and heavier burdens on ratepayers, and fuel a whole new set of environmental consequences and crises, many of them currently unforeseen. And again, our state-level actions on their own -- our solo, utopian leap into the energy unknown -- will make a pittance of a difference to addressing the global climate challenge. Many of us have called it a perfect storm of higher costs and drastic consequences and that’s exactly what’s playing out. The bottom line is that we can’t continue to overlook the better because we want the perfect. The perfect does not exist. The Heat Act, for example, calls for capping utility costs for 25 percent of the lowest-income New Yorkers, according to the plan’s supporters. What they don’t highlight is that the funding needed to continue to operate the state’s energy grid will come out of the pockets of the 75 percent of the ratepayers who won’t receive any assistance under the legislation. In other words, a small group of citizens will benefit while hard-working, middle-class families largely bear the burden. Further, the Heat Act would eliminate the “100-foot rule” for gas service and put at risk thousands of local jobs for utility workers. 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 but then, the Albany Democrats closed the Indian Point nuclear energy plant and CO2 emissions have increased over 40% in the New York City area since the closure. New York State has been a champion in this arena and we should continue to be a leader on reducing emissions, yet it has become fundamentally important to keep sounding the alarm that the all-Democrat energy strategy as it stands is not realistic or achievable, it’s not responsible or rational, it lacks critical foresight, and it unreasonably risks energy grid reliability and affordability. Senator Tom O'Mara represents New York's 58th District which covers all of Chemung, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Tioga and Yates counties, and a portion of Allegany County.
  2. The April 1 deadline for enacting a new state budget is fast approaching and the Democrat majorities in the Senate and Assembly are adopting their respective “one-house budget resolutions” to highlight the priorities they will bring to the negotiating table. It’s a crucial step in the process. Most importantly, it gives the public a chance to see where state leaders want to take New York. Remember that Governor Hochul kicked off this budget season by proposing an Executive Budget totaling approximately $233 billion which, if enacted, would be the largest-ever state budget and simply continue the out-of-control fiscal practices that will forever define this era in state government under one-party, all-Democrat leadership. Consequently, our Senate Republican Conference last week sent a letter to the Democratic Majority Leader of the Senate to at least give voice to the priorities and policies we believe should serve as the foundation of any new budget. In part, we wrote, “The lack of affordability in the Empire State has clearly reached crisis proportions, with thousands of New Yorkers fleeing to more affordable states. The high taxes in our State have exacerbated this crisis, while also directly contributing to our poor business climate. The Senate Republican Conference is committed to reversing these dangerous trends…We are also committed to common sense reforms to address New York’s criminal justice crisis, as well as the growing illegal immigrant fiasco that appears to be spinning completely out of control. In addition, we continue our fight for smart, sustainable and workable energy policies, a stronger mental health system, and a public education system that will ensure a brighter, better future for millions of children throughout New York State.” Our agenda builds on the legislative agenda we released at the start of this new year, “A New Hope for NY,” that we believe helps point the way to a better, stronger, and safer state for more New Yorkers. Among many calls to action, we think the next state fiscal plan must: reject the additional $2.4 billion in funding Governor Hochul has proposed for migrants — $4.3 billion over two years; reject the Governor’s plan to alter the School Aid formula to eliminate the “save harmless” clause for Foundation Aid – a misguided change that would result in direct funding cuts for 337 largely rural and suburban school districts statewide, including many across the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes; reject the Governor’s plan to permit the closure of five more state prisons, which would undermine public health and safety, destabilize local economies, and lead to more dangerous working conditions for correctional officers; reject the Governor’s proposed cuts for New York’s critical transportation infrastructure, especially a significant cut for local roads and bridges through the Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program (CHIPS) program; permanently cap state spending by reinstating a two-percent spending cap, the lifting of which has cost New Yorkers approximately $35 billion over the last three years; eliminate costly unfunded mandates that drive up local property taxes, including blocking the all-electric school bus mandate on local school districts; require full accountability from the state’s Climate Action Council, especially to require a full and transparent cost-benefit analysis of any and every mandated action. You can read our full letter on my Senate website, omara.nysenate.gov. New York State faces an affordability crisis. We face a border crisis. Law and order are in free fall. We must enact an across-the-board agenda to cut taxes, control spending, address affordability, and start truly rebuilding stronger and safer communities.” Senator Tom O'Mara represents New York's 58th District which covers all of Chemung, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Tioga and Yates counties, and a portion of Allegany County.
  3. The more this state keeps blindly moving ahead to impose outrageous energy mandates on all New Yorkers, the clearer it becomes that the current plan is not affordable, feasible, or reliable. To say nothing of realistic. Let’s focus on the impact on school districts and school property taxpayers coming down the line in the very near future -- because that’s the latest debacle coming to light and it’s getting more expensive by the minute. In 2022, Albany Democrats enacted a new law mandating that, starting in 2027, all school buses purchased in this state will have to be electric. We’re beginning to find out what that mandate truly means. Last week at the State Capitol, our Republican legislative conferences gathered with school district representatives to begin spelling it out for everyone (Note: You can view the entire news conference on my Senate website, www.omara.ny.senate). First, it will be enormously expensive. Electric buses cost up to three times as much as conventional diesel buses. Additionally, schools will be required to undertake significant electrical infrastructure and distribution line upgrades, as well as address major workforce transitions. The cost of the conversion has been conservatively estimated at between $8 billion and $15.25 billion more than the cost of replacing them with new diesel buses. For already overburdened local property taxpayers, it’s emerging as yet another hard hit from yet another unfunded state mandate out of Albany. Furthermore, it would be unworkable right now. The existing electric grid can’t support it. Electric vehicles are showing an inability to operate or charge in frigid temperatures, and it does get cold in New York. Designed to operate best in 70-degree temperatures, electric vehicles lose up to 40 percent of their traveling range in extreme cold and the time required to charge them is much longer. A pilot program in Vermont found traveling range decreased by 80 percent in some instances. The current timeline raises far too many troubling questions on affordability, as well as on reliability and safety for student transportation. In short, it seems reasonable and fair to reassess and reexamine the current timeline and its potential impact on school districts, students and families, and local communities. With that in mind, I have joined Assemblyman Phil Palmesano to introduce and sponsor legislation (S8220/A8447) to delay the mandate on school districts until 2045 or until all state agencies convert their own fleets of vehicles first, so that we could at least have the experience of that conversion before dumping this mandate on schools and ultimately the school property taxpayer. Additionally, the legislation would: authorize the state Commissioner of Education, in consultation with the state’s top energy regulators, to override the mandate if it is determined that zero-emission school buses are not feasible for a particular application; direct the state Commissioner of Education to complete a cost-benefit analysis for each school district that considers the costs necessary to comply with the zero-emission school bus mandate; and direct the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority (NYSERDA) to consult with the state Office of Fire Prevention and Control to develop appropriate fire suppression and safety procedures related to lithium and hydrogen-based fires. One of the local school district superintendents who joined us last week in Albany to help sound the alarm, Dr. Thomas J. Douglas, Superintendent of Horseheads Central School District, summed it up very effectively, “The total cost will ultimately be borne by the local tax base since this is really an unfunded mandate. The sad fact is that there is no guarantee that this technology will work predictably in Northeastern winters. All the governor, NYSERDA, and PSC need do is look to the Midwest this past winter to see electric vehicles and chargers not being able to run in frigid temperatures. We cannot risk that with our children. Put simply, the state must pump the brakes on electric busing.” Senator Tom O'Mara represents New York's 58th District which covers all of Chemung, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Tioga and Yates counties, and a portion of Allegany County.
  4. There are two nomination processes underway across the Senate district I represent that I’d like to bring to your attention and encourage your participation. As a reminder, the 58th Senate District encompasses Chemung, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Tioga, and Yates counties, and part of Allegany County (the towns of Alfred, Almond, Amity, Andover, Birdsall, Burns, Grove, Independence, Scio, Ward, Wellsville, and Willing). The first process will help select our region’s 2024 inductee into the New York State Senate “Veterans Hall of Fame.” The Veterans Hall of Fame is an online tribute to the military service and civilian lives of distinguished veterans from here at home and throughout New York State. It was established in 2005 and honors veterans whose service in the United States Armed Forces has been accompanied by service to the community and accomplishments as a civilian. I’ve been grateful to induct numerous local veterans including, among others: Anthony J. “Tony” Specchio, Sr., a distinguished Korean War veteran and widely respected for his long-standing and active service to veterans and government in Watkins Glen and throughout Schuyler County; Warren A. Thompson, a World War II United States Army veteran, lifelong Steuben County resident and farmer, and stalwart in the county’s civic and veterans affairs; Paul C. “Digger” Vendetti of Elmira, a World War II United States Navy veteran and longtime caretaker at Woodlawn National Cemetery; Dennis L. “Denny” Wolfe, Sr. of Chemung County, a well-known area Vietnam War veteran and founder of the Vietnam War Museum in Elmira; and, last year, Andrew Swarthout of Yates County, a highly decorated Vietnam War veteran and mainstay of local veterans’ organizations. Nominations for the Veterans Hall of Fame will be accepted until Friday, March 1st. Nomination letters should include a short biography highlighting the nominee’s military service, and civilian service awards and achievements, and be e-mailed to me at: omara@nysenate.gov. The second ongoing nomination process is to help choose this region’s representative for the Senate’s 2024 “Women of Distinction tribute. The "Women of Distinction" program, now in its 26th year, offers the opportunity to honor local women making outstanding contributions to area communities. My Senate colleagues and I annually select a “Woman of Distinction” honoree from our respective legislative districts. It’s a meaningful recognition. We all know someone who makes an enormous difference to the community at large. Whether she is a service provider, a law enforcement officer going above and beyond the call of duty, a teacher, a nurse, a business leader, or simply a community resident known for her good deeds, I'd like to see her recognized. My past “Women of Distinction” honorees have included, among others: Carol Berry of Hornell, a regional library professional and director of the Dormann Library in Bath; Beverly “Bev” Stamp, co-owner and operator of Lakewood Vineyards in Watkins Glen, a beloved ambassador of New York State’s nationally and internationally renowned wine and grape industry; Lauren R. Snyder, a public health professional from Penn Yan who served as the Yates County Public Health Director; Dawn R. Smith, Transition and Care Management (TCM) Program Manager at the Bath VA Medical Center and local veterans advocate; Carmella Hoffmann, Owner and Operator of Sunset View Creamery in Odessa (Schuyler County); Kathryn J. Boor, a native of Chemung County and the former Ronald P. Lynch Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) at Cornell University; Pauline “Polly” Holbrook, a longtime stalwart of civic affairs in the city of Hornell and the Canisteo Valley; Natasha Thompson, former President and Chief Executive Officer of the Food Bank of the Southern Tier; and, last year, Nancy Kirby, a longstanding advocate and leader for small businesses and entrepreneurship throughout the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions. The deadline for submitting a nomination for this year’s Women of Distinction recognition is Friday, February 23rd. Nominations can be submitted online on my Senate website, omara.ny.senate.gov. Senator Tom O'Mara represents New York's 58th District which covers all of Chemung, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Tioga and Yates counties, and a portion of Allegany County.
  5. One of the most controversial actions of Governor Kathy Hochul’s proposed 2024-2025 state budget is her move to cut education aid to more than half of New York State’s school districts outside of New York City. If enacted, the governor’s proposed education cuts would fall most heavily on certain regions, including many small, largely rural school districts across the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes. Here's a few of the most staggering cuts to schools in the 58th Senate District: Hammondsport would suffer a 30.7% or $1.6M cut; Penn Yan, 18.5% or $2.2M cut; Watkins Glen, 16.8% or $1.9M cut; and South Seneca, 16% or $1.5M cut. The governor’s education proposal can’t stand. The property tax increases required to ameliorate these cuts would be prohibitive. That’s the message my Senate Republican colleagues and I delivered at the Capitol last week. As I’ve stressed time and again, New York State has been steadily moving closer to the edge of an economic and fiscal cliff – due in large part to the spending appetites of former Governor Cuomo, Governor Hochul and, since 2018, the Democrat-controlled, biggest-spending Legislature in state history. The bottom line is that the state budget, between 2018 and 2023, has grown by upwards of $60 billion! This growth is in the first five years of one-party Democratic control of both houses of the state Legislature, and the offices of Governor, Comptroller, and Attorney General. Just that growth alone is larger than the budgets of more than 30 states. It is larger than the states of Florida and Texas combined, each of which has a larger population than New York. It spends 1½ times more per capita than California which has more than twice our population. From the outset, many of us have warned about this out-of-control spending, that it would never be sustainable and puts a new generation of state and local taxpayers at risk of shouldering an even heavier burden far into the future (keeping in mind that New York is already recognized as one of the highest-taxed, least affordable to live, and most unfriendly to business states in America). In fact, the bill’s already coming due for Democrat overspending. We start the current year facing a state budget gap of $4.3 billion, with ongoing deficits in the next three years projected to be $5 billion, $5.2 billion, and $9.9 billion, respectively. Consequently, Governor Hochul – suddenly painting herself as a diligent fiscal disciplinarian and watchdog -- unveiled her 2024-2025 state budget proposal with the following statement, “We can't spend like there's no tomorrow, because tomorrow always comes.” That’s true, however the governor needed to stand for it long before now. And it’s equally important to understand the context of the governor’s full game plan this year. Her opening gambit offers a $233-billion spending plan, an increase of $4 billion over New York’s current budget that represents a significant increase and, if enacted without any changes at all (and I've yet to see the Legislature come back with a budget that spends less than the Executive's proposal) will be the largest-ever state budget. There are proposed cuts and negligible belt-tightening, but not truly for the sake of any long-term fiscal discipline in this state. It’s being done, instead, to accommodate higher (and long-term) spending elsewhere – while, at the same time, knowing full well that the Legislature is left with no choice but to demand restorations in key areas. As I noted at the start, education is the prime example of this gamesmanship. Governor Hochul’s proposed budget calls for the elimination of what’s known as the “save harmless” provision of the state education aid distribution formula. “Save harmless” is utilized to ensure fiscal stability for school districts, especially high-need districts, and has long been critically important to small and rural schools. According to our Senate Republican budget analysis, this move would cut nearly $170 million from approximately half of the state’s school districts and result in particularly hard hits in specific regions of the state, including, as I said, small and rural districts across the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes. The Governor made much fanfare of “consumer protections” in both her State of the State and Executive Budget presentations. However, her education budget proposal is nothing short of “Bait and Switch” lacking “Truth in Advertising.” While local school districts get cut in excess of $400 million in this budget, she includes another $2.4 billion (bringing the two-year total to $4.3 billion) to provide taxpayer-funded assistance and services to the ever-growing surge of asylum-seeking migrants flowing into New York from the nation’s southern border. In addition, to add insult to injury, the state will pay the federal government $15 Million to rent a former military base, Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, for use as a migrant shelter to house migrants the federal government has allowed to flow illegally across the Rio Grande! Her budget also spends $150 Million for floating pools in the rivers of New York City (I kid you not) and $45 Million for planting trees, to name just two. These may be nice things, but not in times of what should be fiscal austerity and in the midst of staggering cuts to rural, suburban, and small city school districts. That’s just one example of the shell game going on here. In other words, Governor Hochul’s proposed budget is not truly aiming for long-term fiscal discipline and responsibility. It’s a budget that in the name of fiscal discipline attempts to take away from some to keep giving away far more to others. That’s a game we can never play, in my opinion, with the quality of education for our small, rural school districts across the Upstate region, or any school district at all for that matter. The Senate Republican budget analysis reaches this conclusion, “As proposed, the Executive budget includes few proposals to deal with the high cost of the everyday lives of New Yorkers. There is little in the category of affordability proposals advanced, that work towards mitigating the increased costs in food, home fuel or transportation that everyday New Yorker’s face. There is little in the way of improving New York’s business climate which has been rated one of the worst in the nation. There is little in the way of addressing the State’s outmigration problem which, according to a study in October of 2023 by the Economic Innovation Group, has caused New York to lose $24.8 billion in net adjusted gross income (AGI) during the pandemic.” That's a significant loss of tax revenue. We desperately need to get New York State’s fiscal house in order. But it’s outrageous for Governor Hochul to target small, rural school districts. That’s not an answer to this state’s deep-rooted fiscal irresponsibility. It’s just redirecting misguided priorities that won’t move us any closer to fiscal stability, taxpayer relief, or long-term affordability and sustainability for most New Yorkers. I need you to join in the fight opposing Governor Hochul's budget cuts to our schools and handouts to illegal immigrants. Please contact the Governor directly by calling 518-474-8390 and by emailing at: governor.ny.gov/contact.
  6. Budget adoption season is underway at the State Capitol, which means, first, that joint Senate-Assembly public hearings on Governor Kathy Hochul’s 2024-2025 Executive Budget proposal have started and will remain underway until mid-February. 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 government is looking to set for short- and long-term fiscal practices and responsibilities. They also begin setting the stage for the Legislature’s negotiations with the governor over a final state budget. Most importantly, they are a chance for the public to learn more about what’s being planned by Governor Hochul and legislative leaders for the future direction of New York State. On that note, you can also find the Senate Republican Conference analysis of the governor’s proposed budget on my state Senate website, www.omara.ny.senate.gov. Remember that the governor has proposed a 2024-25 budget that starts at $233 billion, already an approximately $4-billion increase over the state’s current, record-setting budget. In other words, the governor and the Democrat leaders of the Senate and Assembly majorities – the biggest-spending Legislature in state history -- will start final negotiations over a new budget looking to increase state spending by at least $4 billion. In other words, it’s likely to go significantly higher. My initial reaction to the Hochul proposal was the following, “This state already faces multibillion-dollar deficits well into the future because the Albany Democrats can’t stop spending and Governor Hochul still proposes a spend, spend, spend strategy. It’s been uncontrolled spending to the point that having put in place massive, long-term spending commitments -- and with massive commitments looming in the Democrats’ pursuit of a radical climate agenda and the provision of untold services to an ever-surging migrant population -- New York State taxpayers already face multiyear, multibillion-dollar deficits. It ignores the reality that New York remains one of America’s highest-taxed, least-affordable, most debt-ridden, and overregulated states that leads the nation in population loss.” 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 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. Our Senate conference also recently unveiled a “New Hope for the Empire State” 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 first budget hearings were held last week and covered Health/Medicaid, transportation, and public protection. During the week ahead, we’ll examine economic and workforce development, human services, and elementary and secondary education. Archived videos of each hearing will be available on the state Senate website at www.nysenate.gov/events. These hearings take a lot of time -- and they cover plenty of complex and detailed ground – but they provide the first glimpse inside this critical decision-making process underway at the state capital. They can be viewed on the Senate website listed above, as well as on my previously mentioned Senate website, www.omara.nysenate.gov.
  7. Now it’s our turn. Over the past few weeks, Governor Hochul has had her say and put forth her priorities for New York in both a State of the State message and, most recently, in last week’s unveiling of her proposed 2024-2025 executive budget. Ultimately, she will undertake negotiations with her Democrat counterparts in the Senate and Assembly leadership to put in place a final state budget that will carry New Yorkers forth into the ongoing, all-Democrat vision for New York’s future – a future, by the way, that too many New York residents keep telling us they’re not happy with. But now there’s another vision for this state’s future. Last week at the Capitol, the Senate Republican Conference unveiled a plan that we’re calling, “A New Hope for the Empire State.” It’s a comprehensive legislative agenda that, we believe, pinpoints the failings and shortcomings of New York government under all-Democrat control, which speaks to challenges and crises that one-party government is not addressing, and that begins proposing alternative priorities and solutions for where we want to take this state. It's a legislative agenda putting forth ideas and strategies for fighting back against the high taxes and excessive cost of living that have delivered to New York the dubious and devastating distinction as the state with the highest population losses in America. It’s a legislative agenda putting forth ideas and strategies for fighting to reclaim some sense of law and order again in New York, a state under all-Democrat leadership where the criminal element runs rampant, rising crime and violence rules too many streets and neighborhoods, and a “no consequences” approach to criminal justice has made a mockery of public safety and security. It's a legislative agenda putting forth a bolder and stronger commitment to responsible fiscal practices including spending restraint, across-the-board tax relief, regulatory reform, commonsense investment, serious mandate relief for local governments, and the value of local decision-making. In other words, it’s a legislative agenda giving voice to priorities and responsibilities in New York government that, to put it as simply and straightforwardly as possible, have been handed a death sentence by Albany’s current powers that be. In putting forth a detailed report on “A New Hope for the Empire State” last week, we wrote, “Over the last five years, New Yorkers have had a front-row seat to what unaccountable government looks like. One-party control has made New York increasingly unaffordable. Residents feel unsafe and are unsure that things will get better in the future. Far too many New Yorkers have looked at this sad reality and decided the only option was to leave the state for somewhere they can make a better life for their families.” You can find out more about “A New Hope for the Empire State” and read our full report on my Senate website, www.omara.nysenate.gov. In announcing the plan, Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt said, “New Yorkers are deeply dissatisfied with the direction of our state and our Conference is here to provide an alternative path forward. I have traveled throughout the state and people are tired, frustrated, and angry. They feel forgotten.” Here at the outset of the 2024 legislative session, these ideas demand and deserve a place in this government. We face an affordability crisis. We face a border crisis. Law and order are in free fall. The Albany Democrat direction for New York simply fails to produce any hope for a long-term, sustainable future for communities, families, workers, businesses, industries, and taxpayers. New York is a state in decline that continues to become less safe, less free, less affordable, less economically competitive, less responsible, and far less strong for the future. We are at a dangerous crossroads and we must enact an across-the-board agenda to cut taxes, address affordability, and rebuild stronger and safer communities – and we’ll be fighting for this new direction and a new hope every step of the way in the weeks and months ahead. Senator Tom O'Mara represents New York's 58th District which covers all of Chemung, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Tioga and Yates counties, and a portion of Allegany County.
  8. To kick off the 2023 legislative session – one that we believed represented a pivotal session 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. At that time back in early January, I said, “New Yorkers across the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions, 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 acknowledge that New York State has an affordability crisis causing the exodus of our citizens to more affordable states, however the Democrats are intent on raising taxes to increase 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 to turn things around, rebuild stronger and safer communities, and work toward a more responsible and sustainable future." We called it “Rescue New York” and we began rolling it out at the very start of this session — a session that New York’s Democrat legislative leaders will bring to a close later this week — with a focus on fiscal responsibility and affordability for all taxpayers, rebuilding and revitalizing New York’s local economies, and addressing rising crime and public safety. Albany Democrats have gone in a completely different direction. It continues to put this state’s future on high alert. Their 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. The overriding goals of our Rescue New York agenda would have: Offered a safer and better quality of life for all New Yorkers by repealing bail reform and supporting law enforcement and crime victims; Made New York more affordable for every resident by cutting the state’s highest-in-the-nation tax burden and taking other actions to lower the cost of living in New York; Improved the state’s business climate and expanded economic opportunity by cutting burdensome regulations; Moved more responsibly and sensibly toward a cleaner energy future without ignoring affordability, feasibility, and reliability like the strategy currently set in motion under Governor Hochul is doing; and Restored accountability and local decision making to state government in the aftermath of rampant abuses of executive power throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. But that’s not where we have gone this session under continued one-party, all-Democrat rule. The size of the state budget continues to skyrocket. There was no turning back from this explosive tax-and-spend path this year. Far from it, in fact. The new state budget, as I have detailed in previous columns, took yet another huge leap in size and will burden state and local taxpayers for years to come. The same goes for law and order. Albany Democrats are turning criminal justice on its head. Most reasonable New Yorkers recognize that rising crime and violence, and weakened public safety and security, are the direct 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 an overall careless approach to criminal justice. In short, our calls to make New York more affordable, responsible, safer, and sustainable have, once again, gone unheard this session. Nevertheless, the fight goes on to rescue and restore a more reasonable approach to governing this state. It's more urgent than ever.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. 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?
  12. 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.
  13. 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.
  14. 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.
  15. 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.
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