Senator Tom O'Mara

In case you haven’t noticed over the past 18 months, there’s a lot to keep an eye on in state government. If we have learned anything, in fact, we better have learned that the need for aggressive and vocal legislative oversight in New York State government has never been more critical. The perfect storm of a government under one-party control, which automatically diminishes legislative checks and balances, and the fact that the Legislature’s current Democrat leaders have willingly, almost embarrassingly allowed Governor Andrew Cuomo to run this government purely by executive order, has raised so many red flags. We’ve been reading and hearing about the obvious areas of concern, but let’s not let anything else go unchecked under the radar – and that includes the future of our family farms. That’s right, the future of farming in New York State still hangs in the balance thanks to a law enacted in 2019 that was pushed by then-Governor Andrew Cuomo as a cornerstone of his so-called “progressive” remake of New York government. This signature action of the 2019 legislative session was controversial legislation (S6578/A8419, Chapter 105 of the Laws of 2019) known as the “Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act,” conjured up by two Democrat legislators from the farming heartland of Queens, New York City and pushed hard by Cuomo. Throughout the year prior to this law’s enactment, I joined many opponents, including the New York Farm Bureau, to warn about its consequences. We feared that mandatory overtime pay and other provisions of the new law, especially the creation of a three-member Farm Wage Board granted the authority to unilaterally change the law’s provisions, without legislative approval, could worsen the impact of farm labor costs on farm income at a time when the farm economy is already struggling. We warned that it could increase already exorbitant farm labor costs by nearly $300 million or close to 20%, resulting in an across-the-board drop in net farm income of 23% -- keeping in mind that over the past five years, New York State has already lost 20 percent of our dairy farms. I debated and voted against this move when the Senate approved it in June 2019. The bottom line is that this misguided action by a state government triumvirate of leaders under one-party, largely downstate-based control -- guided on many current issues by a far-left, extreme-liberal governing philosophy -- has profound implications throughout local farm economies across rural, upstate New York, including driving more family farms out of business. And that was the case even before COVID-19, which we now know has taken its own toll on our farmers and the entire agricultural industry, and heightened the burdens. Unfortunately, we could see the worst consequences of this law play out, later this fall, as we feared. The three-member Farm Wage Board held a series of virtual public hearings in late 2020 that appeared to be paving the way for lowering the current 60-hour threshold requiring farmers to pay their employees overtime. The Wage Board ultimately delayed any changes to the law but is set to revisit it before the end of this year when it could, again without legislative approval, move to lower the 60-hour threshold. That would be yet another economic disaster for New York’s farmers and farmworkers. It is critical for upstate legislators, for whom the farm economy is a foundation of communities we represent, to continue keeping close watch on a Wage Board still holding the future of so many farmers and rural economies in its hands. This is the worst possible time to risk mandating and regulating more farms out of business, and that is exactly what will be at stake. If this Wage Board drives more farmers out of business, ex-Governor Cuomo and the Democrat legislative majorities will be responsible. Let’s not forget the reaction of New York’s farm community on the day in the summer of 2019 when Cuomo officially signed the new law. Remember that he didn’t hold the signing ceremony at an upstate New York family farm. Instead, he went to Manhattan to the offices of the New York Daily News, a liberal big city daily newspaper that had long advocated for the law. It might have been good at the time for Cuomo’s big city politics, but New York’s farm community spoke for itself that day. “Common ground should have considered what farms can afford and the opportunities our employees will lose as a result of this law. In the end, our reasonable requests were cast aside… What was also dismissed by many of New York's leaders is the dignity and respect our farm families have long provided to the men and women we need and work alongside every day…(the law) will still lead to significant financial challenges for farmers and the continued erosion of our rural communities,” said Farm Bureau President and dairy farmer David Fisher. In a statement, Grow NY Farms, a statewide coalition, wrote, “For months, hundreds of farmers and farmworkers spent countless hours seeking to find a balance with elected officials on measures that will change working conditions on farms across New York State. However, the measure that ultimately passed the Legislature and was signed by the Governor did not address the challenges and needs of farmers and farmworkers. (The law) does not create a path that will assure and economically viable New York agricultural industry.” No attempt to find common ground. No common sense. That’s where we still stand. At the very least, the must be continued, aggressive legislative oversight of this law’s implementation, including an ongoing assessment of its impact on the rural, upstate farm economy before there’s any move by an unelected, unaccountable Farm Wage Board to change the law and make it even more onerous on farmers and farmworkers. It has been reported that farm labor costs in New York State increased 40 percent over the past decade and that the 2019 law could result in another crippling 44-percent increase in wage expenses. Total farm labor costs are at least 63 percent of net cash farm income in New York, compared to 36 percent nationally. In my view, before even considering any changes, the Wage Board must allow adequate time to collect and assess data that would provide a more definitive picture of the impact of the 60-hour threshold on the finances and operations of New York farms, as well as consider additional factors including COVID-19’s ongoing impact on the agricultural industry. Now is no time to make this worse.

During a rare question-and-answer session with reporters at an event at Yankee Stadium last week to announce a new vaccination program, Governor Cuomo continued to defend his administration’s actions on the spread of COVID-19 in New York’s nursing homes, where the pandemic has already taken the lives of nearly 16,000 seniors. Some viewed the governor’s latest eye-popping comments as a victory lap – that the governor was pounding his chest and declaring himself absolved of any and all wrongdoing. Not so fast. In particular, the governor seemed to point to a recent decision by the federal Department of Justice (DOJ) to not undertake one specific investigation into the nursing homes crisis in New York and several other states as somehow proof that inquiries and investigations over the past year were all simply an “outrageous allegation,” “politically motivated,” “political hyperbole,” and “toxic politics” that “violated the basic concept of justice in this nation.” Cuomo also let loose with this doozy, “I am telling you as I sit here – I have told you the facts on COVID from day one. Whether they were easy, whether they were hard, I told you the truth.” As they say, sometimes you just can’t make it up. We also can’t just sit back and watch and listen to this governor try to keep selling his own version of history by fabricating his own facts, like he did with his now infamous book on New York’s “leadership” during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the governor’s suggestion that the recent DOJ decision somehow exonerates him on the nursing homes tragedy, that’s simply not true. The DOJ has refused to investigate possible violations of what’s known as the “Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act” – a narrow scope of inquiry that would have only covered approximately 30 government-run nursing homes out of New York’s more than 600 facilities statewide. Let’s not forget that the governor and his inner circle remain under criminal investigation by the FBI and the United States Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn for an apparent cover-up of the COVID-19 death toll in nursing homes and its link to the governor’s $5.1-million book deal, a book in which he sought to portray New York’s handling of the crisis in a more favorable light than what we now know the reality to be. In other words, the 11th hour decision by the DOJ was limited in scope and did nothing to dissolve the clear and convincing evidence, in my opinion and in the view of many others, that the Cuomo administration engaged in an illegal cover-up of COVID-19 deaths in New York State’s nursing homes. Many of us will continue to fight for justice on this front. There are other, ongoing investigations at the state and federal levels that should and I believe will fully examine and expose this cover-up by Governor Cuomo and his inner circle, as well as other misconduct. Last week, Governor Cuomo said that when all is said and done on all of the ongoing investigations, that New Yorkers will be “shocked” by the facts that will come out. New Yorkers have already been shocked by the facts that have been exposed over the past year on the Cuomo administration’s mishandling, dishonesty, misinformation, lying, whitewashing, and abuses of power. No amount of desperate doublespeak by this governor or his top aides can ever do anything to change those facts now.

The state Senate Republican conference recently unveiled a comprehensive package of legislation aimed at protecting crime victims. It follows our efforts throughout the past year to push back against the rise of violent crimes and increasing criminal activity in cities and communities throughout New York resulting, in our view, from an overall pro-criminal, anti-police climate fostered under all-Democrat rule in state government – and actions still being pursued by Governor Andrew Cuomo and the Legislature’s Democrat majorities. We’re not alone in our alarm. Take, for example, Albany County District Attorney David Soares, a Democrat and former head of the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York, who recently wrote, “It was barely two years ago when Cuomo signed into law sweeping criminal-justice reforms that have transformed the state’s public safety landscape – for the worse. At the time, law enforcement professionals, led by the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York, warned that the reforms would lead to rising crime and a surge of gun violence. As DAASNY’s then-president, I cautioned that the ‘reckless and irresponsible’ legislation would come back to haunt us. But the pleas of those of us who have spent our lives fighting crime fell upon deaf ears; the reformers and their media allies framed us as ‘fear mongers’ and hidebound enemies of progress.” District Attorney Soares goes on to target New York’s misguided bail and discovery reform enacted by Cuomo and the Legislature’s Democrat majorities in 2019. “In 48 other states,” he wrote in an opinion piece for the New York Post, “judges have discretion to consider danger to the community in setting bail. In New York, they are absolutely forbidden to do so.” He concludes that “one common-sense step stands out: New York must give judges discretion to keep dangerous offenders in jail.” Keep in mind these words from DA Soares, “The pleas of those of us who have spent our lives fighting crime fell upon deaf ears.” They fell upon the deaf ears of Governor Cuomo and they fell upon the deaf ears of the Democrat leaders of the state Senate and Assembly. I can tell you, however, that they have been heard loud and clear by me and my colleagues in the Senate and Assembly Republican conferences. We heard them two years ago when this so-called progressive madness began spinning out of control, and we hear them to this very moment. Our conferences have, in fact, called upon the state to undertake and release a full examination and study, based upon the available data, of bail reform’s impact on public safety and rising crime statewide. It’s a move recently backed by the New York State Association of Chiefs of Police and the New York State Sheriffs Association. The Senate GOP “Victims’ Justice Agenda” adds to our ongoing efforts to strengthen protections for law enforcement and first responders through a “Protect Those Who Protect Us” package of legislation. We have also advanced a series of Parole Reform measures recognizing the dangers of an out-of-control state Parole Board that continues to release cop killers, child murderers, and other violent inmates back into society – as well as Democrat legislation on the table that seeks to pave the way for the release of more and more incarcerated violent criminals. Our message is straightforward: Enough is enough. We need to stand up, speak out, and fight against the pro-criminal, anti-police mentality and policies that keep going too far in New York State. Governor Cuomo and the Democrat supermajorities in control of the State Legislature show absolutely no signs of letting up in their push for a far-left agenda that only stands to embolden society’s criminal element and, therefore, will keep making this state and our communities less safe. We need to enact legislation that puts crime victims and community safety first. In fact, safeguarding crime victims is another critical part of an ongoing criminal justice agenda geared towards restoring commonsense and strengthening public safety in New York.

Governor Andrew Cuomo declared another State of Emergency in New York State last week – just about 14 days after finally calling an end to the COVID-19 emergency declaration -- and immediately began issuing a new round of the “Cuomo executive orders” that have now become the way of governing in this state. Not surprisingly the governor touted his new “Disaster Emergency on Gun Violence” with what’s become his go-to playbook while he eyes a fourth term in office and fights for political survival amidst numerous criminal and ethical investigations and scandals: first-in-the-nation rhetoric; establishing an expensive state bureaucracy; another task force; a new advisory council. It represents the latest Cuomo grandstanding. But it goes far beyond grandstanding and power grabbing because it perpetuates what’s become a dangerous era in New York government since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Governor Cuomo is making it clear where New York State is headed under his continued reign should he win a fourth consecutive term in office in November 2022 – from one emergency disaster declaration to the next so that he and he alone can continue to govern by issuing executive orders, controlling public policy, infringing on constitutional rights and individual liberties, dictating the allocation of taxpayer dollars, and running this entire state out of his office. That is what we faced for the 15-plus months this governor ran the show under the COVID-19 emergency declaration. From March 2020, when Cuomo was first granted the emergency authorization, to June 23, 2021 when the COVID-19 emergency declaration was called off, the governor’s nearly 100 Executive Orders allowed him to unilaterally change hundreds of state laws, as well as implement rules and regulations and make spending decisions, without legislative approval. We saw the failures of state government by Cuomo executive order throughout the COVID-19 crisis – a nursing home tragedy, shuttered small businesses, out-of-work citizens, and last but far from least, rising crime and violence. Our local Upstate communities, economies, workers, and taxpayers will be paying the price for years to come. Too many will never recover. Now this governor can’t bear to think of governing in any other way. He can’t live without the unilateral power so he immediately issues a new emergency and a new round of executive orders that allow him to, for starters, allocate nearly $140 million where and how he, and he alone, sees fit – no legislative approval, no local decision-making required. He’s creating a new State Office of Gun Violence Prevention and we know that new state bureaucracies always demand more and more resources. He’s putting new mandates on police departments. Believe me, it’s just the beginning. “Just like we did with COVID,” Governor Cuomo proclaimed last week, “New York is going to lead the nation once again with a comprehensive approach to combating and preventing gun violence, and our first step is acknowledging the problem with a first-in-the-nation emergency on gun violence.” “Just like we did with COVID” conjures up plenty of nightmares. Just like we did with COVID in nursing homes? Just like we did with COVID devastating local economies and small businesses? Just like we did with COVID silencing local decision-making? “Just like we did with COVID” failed this state in many, many ways. Let’s not forget. We haven’t yet tallied the true cost. Now here we go again with more state government by Cuomo executive order? The most serious state of emergency in New York is Governor Cuomo’s ongoing abuses of power for political and personal gain. It doesn’t take another Cuomo state of emergency, another Cuomo executive order to recognize that rising crime and violence, and weakened public safety and security, is the result of the pro-criminal policies and philosophies being enacted and pushed by this governor and a State Legislature under one-party control. Emergency executive action should not be based upon a self-created circumstance resulting from the three-year effort by this Governor and the Democrat-controlled legislative majorities to coddle criminals and reduce criminal sanctions. Let’s start there. They have emboldened the criminal element throughout this state through failed bail reform, lenient parole policies, an out-of-control Parole Board, a growing ‘defund the police’ movement, and an overall careless approach to criminal justice. No state of emergency declaration changes that reality.

Late last week, after New York State reached a 70% vaccination rate statewide, Governor Cuomo ran with that benchmark as a reason to celebrate – fireworks included. He didn’t declare the end of the state of emergency, keep in mind, or the executive emergency powers that he still holds. The governor just saw fit to gather a group of cheering supporters at the World Trade Center in Manhattan to kick off a daylong, campaign-style celebration of...Governor Cuomo and his administration’s charade of leading us through the dark days of COVID-19. There’s reason to cheer (because it’s been a long year) the apparent end of most COVID-related restrictions across New York State. Most restrictions have been lifted, for now, but not all. Under one still-in-place Cuomo edict, for example, children in school are still required to wear masks, a mandate that many of us believe no longer makes any rational, reasonable or scientific sense for the health and well-being of our children. Other restrictions remain in effect and the governor warned about keeping watch on future flare-ups of variants and the like. In other words, the governor was eager to celebrate and tout a worthy milestone, however he made it clear that his COVID-19 emergency powers – through which over the past 15 months he has issued nearly 100 Executive Orders that have allowed him to unilaterally change hundreds of state laws, as well as implement rules and regulations, and make spending decisions, without legislative approval -- are alive and well, and he will therefore continue to exercise control as he sees fit. What about that? First, let’s focus on what we all have been waiting, working, and sacrificing toward. It has been clear throughout the past fifteen months, and it bears repeating, that communities here in the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions, and across New York State, could not have kept moving forward since the onset of the pandemic emergency last March without the compassion, perseverance, sacrifice, and undeniable strength of frontline workers, essential employees and volunteers in health care, agriculture, businesses large and small, law enforcement and public safety, education, community and social services, and so many other fields. Our gratitude to our frontline heroes cannot be measured and, in my view, their example will continue to show the way to a better and stronger future. We have demonstrated that by working together, pulling for each other, and staying informed, our communities will always be resilient and, in the face of whatever comes our way, never lose hope in recovering. That will be the case here. The work of rebuilding and getting our communities back on solid ground again should begin in earnest now. Most importantly, it needs to be delivered through local decision-making. Governor Cuomo wouldn’t say it last week – and he’s not about to relinquish it on his own -- but we have reached the point of being able to fully declare an end to the state of emergency that has ruled our lives since last March. We have reached the point of fully rescinding Governor Cuomo’s unilateral emergency powers. It is time to restore legislative checks and balances, and local input. Many of the governor’s actions have now gone well beyond the necessary scope of the COVID-19 emergency response to the unwarranted infringement of individual liberties and the detriment of the fundamental fabric of local communities and economies. Governor Cuomo’s pandemic emergency powers remaining in place at this moment benefit the governor and the governor alone. That’s not what state government needs to be about during the critical days and months ahead of reassessing, rebuilding, resetting, and restoring. Moving forward in New York State cannot be left to the risk of Governor Cuomo continuing to abuse the powers of his office and state resources for his ongoing political survival and legacy building. The multiple investigations and scandals surrounding the Cuomo administration -- and the tragic shortcomings of one-man rule throughout this pandemic -- have already done more than enough to darken the skies over New York State in many ways. No amount of fireworks can ever change that reality for far too many New Yorkers.

The State Legislature’s 2021 regular session, which ended late last week, will have long-lasting ramifications for our region and for all New Yorkers. Without question, it will be remembered as a year of turning points -- the biggest one, of course, being that we have finally started turning the corner on the COVID-19 pandemic with steadily dropping infection rates and rising numbers of vaccinations. I’ll get back to the pandemic emergency later in this column. The new 2021-2022 state budget, as I have pointed out numerous times in this column, increased state taxes by nearly $5 billion and hiked state government spending by a whopping $18 billion (to an eye-popping total of $212 billion – a budget more than the budgets of the more populous and growing states of Florida and Texas combined). In fact, the Albany Democrat giveaway in this new budget went far beyond any reasonable sense of fairness, responsibility, or sustainability for hard-working, taxpaying citizens. Governor Cuomo and the legislative Democrat supermajorities enacted a tax-and-spend plan that will force future generations of taxpayers to foot an enormous bill for the pursuit of a so-called progressive, far-left, extremely liberal, largely New York City-based agenda. It’s an outrageous wish list. In a state long known as one of the highest-taxed, highest-spending states in America, this Albany Democrat vision for New York’s future sets a new standard of foolhardiness, including a new taxpayer-financed, $2.1-billion fund to provide lump-sum payments of up to $15,600 to illegal immigrants who were excluded from receiving federal stimulus checks or unemployment benefits since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. We had an opportunity and a responsibility to utilize a one-time windfall of roughly $13 billion in federal stimulus aid under a fiscally responsible, short- and long-term strategy for the post-COVID rebuilding, restoring, and resetting of local communities, economies, environments, and governments for the long term. Equally important, we needed to recognize the fiscal cliffs New York could face for the foreseeable future, steer clear of any massive new taxing and spending, and bolster the state’s emergency reserve funds. That’s not what this budget did. It sets up an economic and fiscal disaster. This year’s budget is another turning point, in my view, one that moves New York toward an even more unsustainable future for generations of taxpayers. Recall the "Gap Elimination Adjustment" draconian cuts to education Albany Democrats imposed in 2010, the last time they held majorities in both houses of the State Legislature. They've set us up for similar cuts two years from now after the Democrats blow through the federal COVID-19 relief windfall and this year's record increase in state spending. The same goes for this state government’s direction on issues of criminal justice and corrections, and law and order. Bail and discovery reform, parole reform, prison inmate violence, a building “defund the police” movement within the highest levels of state government, over the past two years under one-party control of state government, we have seen a pro-criminal mentality take hold, one that has gone too far and keeps going too far in New York. It also marks a dangerous and disturbing turning point for public safety and security. We need to keep standing up, speaking out, and working against it. Back to the pandemic. One of the year’s most egregious turning points, for me, is that the Albany Democrats left town last week without declaring an end to the COVID-19 state of emergency declaration in New York State and without bringing an end to Governor Cuomo’s one-man rule. The so-called repeal action by the Legislature’s Democrat supermajorities back in March was nothing more than a smokescreen to allow the continuation of government by Cuomo edict. In fact, that action removed the April 30, 2021 date when the governor’s powers were supposed to automatically expire and, instead, extended Cuomo’s unilateral powers indefinitely until he declares it. Don’t hold your breath. In short, at a time when our local communities and economies should be facing an optimistic turning point in the COVID-19 pandemic and fully making their own reopening decisions, they are faced with continuing to be at the arbitrary, non-scientific, non-sensible whims of this governor who continues to flail under several mounting investigations of his abuse of power. The continued mask mandate for children in schools is just the latest outrageous example. Under current rules, the Legislature can rescind Cuomo’s pandemic emergency powers by approving a Concurrent Resolution. Senate and Assembly Republicans put forth a resolution to do just that, but the Democrat majorities ended the session without acting. In other words, they have left Governor Cuomo completely in control for the foreseeable future – even while this governor is scandal-scarred and facing multiple investigations. That’s an unthinkable abandonment of legislative responsibility. There was a need for flexible and swift executive action at the start of the pandemic in March 2020, when so much was unknown. But that time quickly passed. Since the onset of the pandemic over fifteen months ago, when the governor was first granted the emergency authorization, he has issued nearly 100 Executive Orders that have allowed him to unilaterally change hundreds of state laws, as well as implement rules and regulations, and make spending decisions, without legislative approval. Many of the governor’s actions have now gone well beyond the necessary scope of the COVID-19 response. Over the past 15 months, since May 2020, the Senate GOP has advanced more than 50 motions on the Senate floor to execute a straight-out repeal of the governor’s emergency pandemic powers. Every single one of these Senate Republican motions was rejected by the Senate Democrat majority without one Democrat voting to end Cuomo’s tyrannical control. Endless executive orders have failed and keep failing New York’s local communities, families, economies, and workers. It’s unthinkable that the Albany Democrats will continue to let Governor Cuomo sit in Albany, exert total control, and issue directive after directive without any regard for legislative checks and balances, or local input. This Legislature’s majorities ignored the most critical turning point of all, which would have been to go all-in on ending Cuomo’s unilateral powers, restore local decision-making, and get fully on board with a safe, practical, sensible, and badly needed reopening of our local communities and economies.

From Arlington to Gettysburg to Woodlawn and hundreds of other national veterans’ cemeteries and monuments across this land, Americans will gather once again to observe Memorial Day. The nation’s long-standing Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in the nation’s capital is highlighted by a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, on which the following words are inscribed, “Here rests in honored glory an American solider known but to God.” Therein lies the essence of Memorial Day: To pause in our daily lives, in our own ways, in our own places, and to remember the American soldiers who now rest “in honored glory” in service to us, our families, our communities, state, and nation. The New York State Senate opens its daily legislative sessions by standing and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, which is then followed by an Invocation or a moment of silence. Several years ago, in late May 2016, Assemblyman Phil Palmesano and I invited the late Reverend Lewis Brown of Painted Post, who passed away last September, to join us at the Capitol to deliver the Opening Prayer in the Senate and Assembly. Some of you may recall Father Lew. He was the Chaplain of the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Elmira and a member of the Knights of Columbus. He served a number of parishes including, in his last assignment, All Saints Parish in Corning. Prior to all of that, however, he served 22 years of active duty as a United States Navy Chaplain in various capacities including with the Marines in Okinawa, Japan; as ship’s company aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz; and at the Washington Navy Yard inWashington, D.C., with duty at Arlington National Cemetery. Five years ago, Father Lew offered one of the most-well-received Invocations ever delivered in our Chamber. It was a “Prayer for the Military” – one so fitting as we prepared for Memorial Day that year – which included the inspiring words “to strengthen our conviction and give us the courage to be a home for the brave and a land for the free.” In fact, Father Lew received a standing ovation in the Senate that day following his invocation. I'd never witnessed a standing O for an invocation in the Senate prior or since, and many of my more senior colleagues at that time commented that they had never seen one either. It was truly an amazing prayer from a great American in memory of so many great Americans! Particularly memorable for me were those repeated words, conviction and courage. It is conviction and courage, after all, that has led and will always lead our soldiers into battle. And it is through our own personal conviction and courage, in our own ways and walks of life, through which we can best honor the sacrifices of our military men and women. Toward that end, we continue to raise the American Flag. We proudly recognize New York State as the “Birthplace of Memorial Day,” which our nation has observed since the time of the Civil War Of course, we always turn enduring thoughts and prayers to the young soldiers, the heroes, who have been recently lost. We honor wounded warriors and we support the men and women serving in harm’s way at this very moment -- shining examples of bravery and eternal honor. We salute all New York State veterans and the millions more across the nation. I have been privileged to pay tribute to the service of outstanding local veterans through the New York State Senate Veterans’ Hall of Fame, into which more than 400 veterans have been inducted since 2005. This includes the following area veterans that I have had the privilege to induct since 2011: Philip C. Smith of Schuyler County; J. Arthur “Archie” Kieffer, Chemung County; former Painted Post Mayor Roswell L. “Roz” Crozier, Jr.; Anthony J. “Tony” Specchio, Sr., Schuyler County; P. Earle Gleason, Yates County; Warren A. Thompson, Steuben County; and Paul C. “Digger” Vendetti, Chemung County. The Senate’s online Veterans’ Hall of Fame can be viewed on my Senate website, www.omara.nysenate.gov. Because of our veterans, we can look into the eyes of the young people in our lives this Memorial Day, the faces of the future, and have faith that they, too, will be instilled with the spirit to keep America strong, to keep believing that the American way is a good, decent, worthwhile way. In the end, perhaps this is the greatest justice for all of the missions flown, the foxholes dug, the hills taken, and the battles fought on land and sea. America’s Armed Forces have made and will continue to make the ultimate sacrifice to keep America free, so that she can lead the way to a more free world. The sacrifices of our military will keep alive America’s promise, so that people throughout the world will look to her for inspiration. Our servicemen and servicewomen will keep America strong, so that other nations will draw courage from her strength. For as long as we remember and keep them alive in our hearts, we will stand as we do -- free in a land of opportunity and promise. The spirit of this salute will endure and remain strong for the future. God Bless America and God Bless our troops.

Over the past three years, the home security consumer awareness and research organization Safewise conducted a “The State of Safety in America” nationwide survey of “more than 15,000 Americans to see how safe they feel.” According to the group’s final report, issued in March, “New York is by far the most concerned state.” New York is the “most worried about safety” state in the nation, the survey found, with 70 percent of New Yorkers reporting that they are “concerned daily” about their safety. Additionally, only 40 percent of New Yorkers feel safe in their everyday lives, while 78 percent think crime is increasing. You can view the full report here: www.safewise.com/state-of-safety. In the terrible aftermath of the George Floyd tragedy last May, I wrote, “There can be no place anywhere, in any of our institutions, for racial discrimination, injustice, abuse of authority, or violence…and there is not a place for the intolerable anarchy, rioting, looting, destruction, and anti-police rhetoric and violence.” Unfortunately, we have seen a troubling and extremely dangerous escalation of anti-police rhetoric and violence throughout this state, upstate and downstate -- from the hotbed of New York City to Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo, and many places in between. In short, this heightened anti-police activity and the continued impact of disastrous pro-criminal public policies like the “No Bail” reform law that took effect earlier this year, ongoing parole reform, and other actions have exacerbated unrest. It threatens the men and women in blue everywhere. Many of them tell us that there has never been a more difficult or dangerous time to serve. Last summer, county sheriffs from throughout the Southern Tier and statewide sounded the alarm over this heightened violence and ongoing, unworkable public policies that go against law enforcement. I agree with their deep concern. In response, I stood together with many Senate colleagues and law enforcement officers to endorse a package of legislation known as the “Protect Those Who Protect Us Act.” It is aimed at deterring violence against law enforcement by strengthening penalties for existing crimes and establishing new crimes to prevent attacks on police officers. Our Senate Republican Conference attempted to move the legislation to a vote on the floor of the Senate last year, but our effort was rejected by the Senate Democrat Majority. Last week, we renewed this call for action. Among other provisions, we seek the approval of legislation to: Strengthen criminal penalties for assaulting a police officer and make them crimes for which a judge could require the posting of bail; Withhold state funding from any municipality that abolishes, disbands, or significantly reduces its police department; Create new crimes for harassing police and peace officers by striking them with any substance or objects including bottles, rocks, bodily fluids, flammable liquids or other hazardous or dangerous substances; Make any crime committed against a police officer because of his or her status as a police officer a hate crime; Establish a crime for doxxing (publishing private or identifying information on the Internet, i.e. addresses, phone numbers, etc.) of a police officer or peace officer because of the officer’s status as an officer; Establish a crime for falsely accusing a police or peace officer of wrongdoing in the performance of his or her duties; and Eake Police Memorial Day on May 15 a state holiday in honor of the more than 1,500 police officers who have died in the line of duty in New York. We cannot sit back and simply accept and tolerate the ongoing attacks on the men and women in law enforcement serving to protect our communities and neighborhoods. They risk their lives around the clock, every day and every night, in an increasingly hostile environment, to keep us safe from violent criminals who have no respect whatsoever for the law or for other lives. Anyone who would simply shrug and say it’s not happening here, or that it can’t happen there, isn’t paying attention. It can happen anywhere else in this state or nation. Furthermore, violence against a police officer anywhere is an attack on police officers everywhere. We have to take steps to let our police officers, peace officers, corrections officers, all officers of the law, across the board, know that we stand with them and that we have their backs, as well as to ensure that we are doing everything possible to prevent a complete breakdown of our society. The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington D.C. was dedicated in 1991, during the presidency of then-President George H.W. Bush. The spirit of America’s monument to law enforcement officers who have fallen in the line of duty is captured by the words of then-President Bush, words that still ring true at this very moment, “Carved on these walls is the story of America, of a continuing quest to preserve both democracy and decency, and to protect a national treasure that we call the American dream.”

Here we go again. The ink on the new state budget is barely dry and the Albany Democrats are already eyeing their next tax hike opportunities That’s right. New York’s out-of-control Democrat supermajorities just enacted a $212-billion state budget that blew through a one-time $13-billion windfall of federal aid, increased state government spending by $18 billion, and raised taxes by nearly five billion dollars. Already, it’s not enough for them. Already, it’s being made clear that we’re in for an unending search for more tax dollars to afford more spending and every taxpayer will pay the price. Their latest target includes a newly proposed 55-cents-per-gallon hike in the state tax on gasoline to help generate revenue to implement a radical, unsustainable, impractical climate change agenda. Specifically, the legislation (S4264/A6967), known as the “Climate and Community Investment Act,” calls for accelerated state-level actions to achieve broad and far-reaching climate change policies. It includes the 55-cents-per-gallon increase in the gas tax as well as increased taxes on heating oil, propane, and natural gas, which is estimated to increase home heating fuel costs by 26%. In short, the legislation would implement regressive taxes that would leave lower- and middle-income families and workers, motorists, truckers, farmers, manufacturers and other industries, and seniors among the hardest hit. Especially across Upstate New York. According to the Tax Foundation, New York currently has the 7th highest gas tax in the country, at 43.12 centers per gallon withCalifornia currently the highest at 62.47 cents per gallon. This legislation would raise New York’s tax to 98.12 cents per gallon, an increase of more than 127 percent, and would make New York’s gas tax more than 57 percent higher than any other state. New York’s business tax climate has long been noted by the Tax Foundation as one of the nation’s worst. Greg Biryla, Senior State Director of the National Federation of Independent Business of New York (NFIB of NY), recently said, “COVID-19 continues to present unimaginable and unprecedented challenges for New York’s local businesses and job creators…Albany should be concentrating all its efforts on identifying policies and solutions to support and sustain those small businesses still hanging on rather than imposing new burdens or exploring new ways to increase costs. Significantly higher taxes on gasoline, transportation, and heating fuel is the wrong idea at the worst possible time.” The just-released Census numbers made it clear, once again, that the exodus from New York remains well underway and because of it, we will, among other negative consequences, lose one Congressional seat next year. Different pundits can hem and haw about why -- and they are -- but clearly the most significant fact it’s underway is because of New York State government policies. Governor Andrew Cuomo and the Legislature’s Democratic supermajorities may well have state government under lock and key at the moment. They can boast all they want about how the voters have spoken and willingly, according to them, chosen to live under one-party, largely downstate Democratic control. Many New Yorkers, however, continue to vote with their feet. They are leaving New York because of our high cost of living, high taxes, out-of-control spending, oppressive business tax climate, and, especially now, because they see a scandal-scarred state government in full pursuit of an out-of-touch, pie-in-the-sky, unsustainable, dangerous, and disastrous so-called progressive agenda. Earlier this year, the well-respected Upstate advocacy organization, Upstate United (previously known as Unshackle Upstate), once again sounded the alarm on the tax burden. Upstate United Executive Director Justin Wilcox said, “As special interests keep calling on Albany to raise taxes, our organization is committed to fighting for much-needed tax relief. Overburdened taxpayers continue to flee New York due, in part, to the state’s extraordinary tax burden. Returning to the days of massive tax hikes and bloated budgets isn’t progressive, it’s problematic.” It’s an alarm sounding louder than ever.

Since the adoption of the 2021-2022 state budget, I have been outspoken in my strong criticism of this massive $212-billion, tax-and-spend fiscal plan that sets in motion a whole host of future, long-term commitments to massive new spending and taxing by New YorkState government. There are places in this budget, however, that do address the right priorities and that deserve to be highlighted as positive and vital to the future. As I’ve also noted, that better be the case with $18 billion in increased state spending. Consequently, one of the most positive parts of the new state budget is that it provides significantly stronger and long-overdue state support for local roads, bridges, and culverts. In short, this budget recognizes that local roads are essential, a state commitment 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. In early March, like we have throughout the past decade, we rallied the support of more than 60 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, renamed this year 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 1, 2021 letter to Governor Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders, we wrote, “We once again stress that New York State’s direct investment in local roads and bridges through the Consolidated Highway Improvement Program (CHIPS) remains fundamental…It deserves priority consideration in the final allocation of state infrastructure investment the Executive proposes for the 2021-22 fiscal year. CHIPS is the key difference for local communities, economies, governments, motorists and taxpayers throughout the Empire State, including New York City and surrounding metro areas, and we should no longer ignore this fact. This legislative session we believe the opportunity exists to strengthen our investment to address the tremendous, still unmet needs and challenges facing the effective maintenance and improvement of local roads, bridges and culverts in every region of New York State.” The final 2021-2022 state budget includes critical steps and increased funding to move forward on this priority. According to NYSCHSA President Joe Wisinski, “This year’s state budget includes an extraordinary investment in transportation infrastructure. With the unwavering efforts of our partners in the Senate and Assembly, and the support of Governor Cuomo, local road and bridge programs will receive more than $1 billion in the coming fiscal year. This essential funding will help keep millions of motorists safe and create tens of thousands of jobs. New York State County Highway Superintendents Association members are ready get to work on these critical projects and move New York forward.” Specifically, the new budget increases base level funding for CHIPS by $100 million to a total of $538 million, the first baseline increase since 2013. It increases funding for Extreme Winter Recovery to $100 million and for the PAVE-NY program to $150 million. It also creates a new, $100-million City Touring Roads program to provide an additional source of funding dedicated to cities, towns, and villages. Overall, CHIPS funding will increase by upwards of 20% to 30% in most instances for individual counties, cities, towns, and villages. Funding through both the Extreme Winter Recovery and PAVE-NY categories will increase by approximately 50%. In other words, it’s a solid budget for local roads, bridges, and culverts. Nevertheless, this work needs to keep moving forward. It’s very positive and it’s important. Viewed in the context of the overall $212-billion fiscal plan, however, these are relatively tentative steps toward meeting the long-term challenge. According to a recently updated 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. We must remain focused on unmet needs and challenges in the future. Assemblyman Palmesano and I will remain committed. We look forward to continue working to prioritize the state’s commitment to the effective maintenance and improvement of local roads, bridges, and culverts in every region of New York. It is as straightforward as this: State investment in our local transportation infrastructure will be essential to the post-COVID future of local communities, economies, environments, governments, and taxpayers.

In the weeks leading up to the adoption of the new, 2021-2022 state budget, I kept repeating that we had an opportunity and a responsibility to utilize a massive, one-time flood of federal stimulus aid, nearly $13 billion, in a fiscally responsible way. We faced an unprecedented chance to commit New York State to a short- and long-term strategy for the post-COVID rebuilding, restoring, and resetting of local communities, economies, environments, and governments for the long term. Equally important, we were presented with the possibility to recognize the fiscal challenges New York will face for the foreseeable future, steer clear of any massive new taxing and spending, and bolster the state’s emergency reserve funds. Those were the opportunities we faced, and we missed every one of them. Instead, the Albany Democratic supermajorities in the Legislature took full advantage of having scandal-plagued Governor Cuomo over a barrel and have set us up for an economic and fiscal disaster. It is incredible how far New York State has fallen since Governor Cuomo delivered his inaugural State of the State address in 2011. “The State of New York spends too much money,” Governor Cuomo said at the start of his administration. “It is that blunt and simple.” A decade later, with a Cuomo administration embroiled in controversy and weakened, this year’s state budget hikes state government spending by a whopping $18 billion and in a way that could bring New York State and our schools to the edge of the fiscal cliff in the not-too-distant future. Remember the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA) from 2010? The one that resulted in our school districts losing out on more than $8 billion the last time the Democrats had full control of the Legislature? Here’s one other thing Governor Cuomo proclaimed in 2011: “We have to hold the line on taxes for now and reduce taxes in the future. New York has no future as the tax capital of the nation. Our young people will not stay. Our business will not come. This has to change.” Fast forward to 2021 and what’s changed is that Governor Cuomo has enacted a new state budget increasing taxes by more than $4 billion, planting New Yorkers firmly in the highest-taxed state in America. Simply put, in my view, New York’s new $212-billion fiscal plan increases state spending by over eight percent and sets in motion a whole host of future, long-term commitments to massive new spending and taxing. It’s irresponsible. Clearly there are pieces of the budget that we all can point to as good things that we’ve wanted -- in some cases even commendable. How could that not be the case with $18 billion in increased spending? At its core, however, this budget demonstrates the threat that lies ahead with a state government under one-party, so-called progressive control. The undercurrent of far-left progressivism has always existed in this Legislature but it was long kept in check by a Republican-controlled Senate and, for a time, a governor who was at least willing to talk the importance of restraint. No more. With Governor Cuomo desperately trying to save his political skin, he now willingly joins the legislative Democrat supermajorities to enact an outrageous tax-and-spend plan. It will force future generations of taxpayers to foot an enormous bill because the Socialist-leaning, far-left, extremely liberal, largely New York City-based wing of the Democratic party is in control of the agenda and scoring victory after victory on a Socialist wish list heading toward a fiscal and economic train wreck. This budget sets New York loose on an irresponsible, radical, out-of-control course. It blows through a one-time federal windfall and then hopes to pay for a future of unsustainable spending with higher and higher taxes. They will claim that they are only soaking the rich to pay for it but make no mistake: Sooner or later, every taxpayer, across the board, will pay the price and foot the bill. This new Albany Democrat vision for New York sets a troubling standard of recklessness. Take, for example, a $2.1-billion, taxpayer-financed fund to deliver lump-sum payments to undocumented immigrants who were excluded from receiving federal stimulus checks or unemployment benefits since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The new fund, being called the “Excluded Workers Fund,” could deliver one-time, lump-sum state payments of up to $15,600 to some recipients. It’s the latest example of just how out of touch it’s becoming. You read that right, New York Democrats have raised taxes on New Yorkers by $4 billion and are giving $2.1 billion of that to illegal immigrants. And we thought giving them drivers’ licenses was too much. It also points to where we’re headed. “Welcome to the latest episode of progressives gone wild,” the Wall Street Journal editorialized, “All of this demonstrates the end of Mr. Cuomo’s utility as a check on the progressive left. Now that Mr. Cuomo is politically weak…he is an open door for progressives. New York will pay the price.”

Coming off the approval of a new state budget that blows through a one-time windfall of $13 billion in federal aid, increases spending by an unprecedented $18 billion, and raises taxes by more than $4 billion, I’m not expecting this state government under one-party control to take a breath. The relentless pursuit of a so-called progressive agenda will continue while the Legislature’s Democrat supermajorities continue to exert their political leverage over a scandal-plagued Governor Andrew Cuomo. I fully expect, for example, that many legislators will be eager to get back to a pro-criminal agenda that over the past two years has made New York State less safe, put far too many law enforcement officers in harm’s way, and emboldened society’s criminal element. Despite strong warnings from many state legislators, including me, local district attorneys, county sheriffs, and many others, in early 2020 a new law eliminating cash bail and pretrial detention for 90% of all crimes took effect. The law, championed by Governor Cuomo and this far-left Legislature, radically redefined criminal justice in New York. Despite some minor rollbacks, it has created a system that releases violent criminals back into the community. It has been like a statewide jail break. It has been irresponsible public policy but it’s exactly the kind of legislating becoming the norm under one-party control – particularly when New York’s brand of one-party control is resulting in a “progressive,” Democrat Socialist agenda anchoring itself within the highest levels of state government decision making. We have commenced this decade – and the recently enacted state budget is the strongest proof yet – with a stronger Socialist, far-left faction pulling the levers in the State Legislature. A carefree approach to what has clearly been a misguided bail reform law is taking root in other places. Instead of a strict and sensible system of criminal justice that recognizes public safety above all, which it should, we are getting a system that willingly fails to recognize that some criminals belong behind bars. It didn’t stop with a failed No Bail law. Last June, this Legislature and Governor Cuomo repealed longstanding confidentiality protections for the personnel records of law enforcement officers. There is no denying that we need to keep standing up and taking actions against intolerable police abuse and brutality anywhere in New York State or anywhere across this nation. Period. I and other opponents argued, however, that we do not achieve this goal by taking actions that risk enflaming public mistrust and making good officers the increasing target of unsubstantiated allegations, lies, false accusations, and other bad intentions designed simply to keep attacking and undermining the overriding integrity and overriding legitimacy of our local police departments. The men and women in blue deserve the same due process of law as anyone else. We do not move forward by tearing down institutions devoted to the protection of public safety. Most recently, Governor Cuomo signed a misguided new law limiting the use of solitary confinement in New York’s correctional facilities despite noting in his own approval message that the law will need to be amended in order to protect correctional officers and prison staff from violent inmates. If it poses a threat to correctional officers and prison employees (and, by the way, other inmates), as the officers have long noted in their opposition to this move, how does this governor in good conscience sign it into law? The answer seems clear to me: because he’s concerned with saving his own political skin above all else. Soon this Legislature will turn again to the state Parole Board, a board that has rightly come under fire over the past two years by many of us for its leniency in releasing convicted cop killers and other violent criminals. NYPD Police Benevolent Association President Patrick J. Lynch has said of the Parole Board, “Under Governor Cuomo and the Albany Democrats, New York has become a state that puts criminals first and crime victims last…For far too long, these radical parole commissioners have hidden behind bureaucracy while they pursued their radical, pro-criminal agenda.” Many in this Legislature would like to keep going in this pro-criminal direction. One piece of legislation that could gain traction starting this week when the Legislature resumes its post-budget session would make it easier for inmates, 55 years old and older, to gain parole once they have served 15 years of their sentences. A second measure seeks to weaken the standards for Parole Board decisions by, among other steps, diminishing the Board’s consideration of the seriousness or violence of an inmate’s original crime and the length of time served. I’ve said it many times throughout these past few years of one-party control and it bears repeating now: What in the name of justice is going on?

Together with my regional legislative colleagues, state Assembly representatives Marjorie Byrnes, Chris Friend, Joe Giglio and Phil Palmesano, we are sending a message to Governor Andrew Cuomo: It’s time. We believe it is time to allow every local school district throughout the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions we represent -- and, in our view, districts across New York State – to return to full-time, in-person classroom instruction. School administrators and staff are ready. Teachers are ready. Most importantly, students and their families are ready. All that is left standing in the way is for Governor Cuomo and the state Department of Health to give the go-ahead, reissue the guidance and protocols that most accurately reflect current COVID-19 conditions, and, finally, authorize the necessary local flexibility that will allow district administrators and their school communities to accomplish a complete return to the classroom effectively, efficiently, safely, and successfully. Recently, we have joined school superintendents from throughout the region urging the Cuomo administration to do just that. Superintendents rightly note that while some, mostly smaller districts have been able to fully resume daily, in-person learning, most districts, especially larger ones, cannot do the same for their students and families because New York’s current Executive Order requiring a minimum distance of 6 feet between students in classrooms prevents it. Until New York State revises this mandate and reduces the distancing requirement from 6 feet to 3 feet – a move now supported by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), many physicians and public health experts, as well as scientific studies and data -- students in too many districts will remain shut out from returning to their classrooms full time. On March 17th, 23 regional school superintendents representing the Greater Southern Tier BOCES expressed their collective support for the move from 6 to 3 feet distancing in a letter to Governor Cuomo. They wrote, in part, “It is our sincere hope that you and the Department of Health will consider a more equitable approach in adjusting the density requirements that are prohibiting full in-person daily learning from occurring. Our students need more connection, instruction, and interaction. Our school communities need to see that there is light at the end of this pandemic tunnel.” On March 19th, the CDC, acknowledging a growing body of public health data surveying the experience of school systems over the past year of the COVID-19 pandemic, revised its guidelines to permit 3-foot distancing in school classrooms. The new CDC guidelines also include reduced distancing guidelines for performing arts education participants, from 12- to 6-feet apart, a move that we as legislators had also called for in a February 19th letter to Governor Cuomo. Adopting this new distancing guideline would allow for more students to participate in the performing arts. Consequently, we are calling on Governor Cuomo to immediately move forward to allow the requested change in state regulations. On February 25, during a joint Senate-Assembly public hearing, New York State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker stated that guidance for reopening schools would be forthcoming as early as the week following the hearing. It’s now more than one month later and there is still no revised guidance or clarity on one of most important post-COVID actions that New York State must engage. This ongoing delay and uncertainty is unacceptable. It is time for the Cuomo administration to move this priority to the top of the list. It is time to fully acknowledge just how central and how critical this action is to the educational development and mental health of our students. In short, if New York State provides the necessary flexibility, area superintendents are confident they are in a position to immediately reopen, fully and safely. We are proud to highlight the success of the regional COVID-19 response. We praise the work of local officials and the ongoing cooperation of local citizens and communities to follow the safety guidelines recommended for stopping the spread of the coronavirus and demonstrating the feasibility of safe reopening. The knowledge and experience gained over the past year leave all of us confident about implementing full and safe school reopenings – if, we stress again, the state releases the necessary protocols and gives districts ample flexibility to thoroughly prepare their facilities and staff. Our local county leaders, health professionals, educators, teachers and communities have demonstrated enormous dedication, discipline, and responsibility throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Our communities’ leaders have demonstrated they can be trusted with a careful and thorough reopening of schools that is focused on safety, first and foremost. No one cares more about the health and well-being of our students, families and school communities. What has been accomplished by administrators, teachers and parents to help students throughout this public health crisis has been remarkable. These year-long efforts, we believe, have earned the right to local decision making to now determine the long-term health and well-being of our young people and their families. Nothing can replace our children being in school. It’s central to quality education, our ongoing economic recovery, and the strength of our social fabric. Governor Cuomo needs to release the revised guidelines so that all school administrators have the ability to implement a safe, full-time reopening of our schools. He should no longer leave administrators, staff, teachers and, especially, students and their parents waiting.

Last March, right around this time, we were at the beginning stages of a COVID-19 response that would turn the world and our individual lives upside down in ways most of us never envisioned at the start. It was also at this time last year that Governor Cuomo and legislative leaders in the Senate and Assembly were negotiating a new state budget. Once the details of the state’s 2020-21 fiscal plan began to leak out, I issued the following warning on March 23, 2020, “We are facing an unprecedented shutdown of New York State’s government, economy, individual communities, and day-to-day life. Everyone’s attention is focused and needs to remain focused on getting through this public health crisis. We can do a budget that keeps this state running and meeting its obligations throughout this emergency. Once we have weathered this storm, we can get to work assessing the damage, determining who and what needs repair, and have an open and full discussion on the best way to move forward for this entire state, upstate and downstate. That would be common sense. That would be responsible. That would be fair. I hope that’s the course Governor Cuomo and legislative leaders will take.” One year later, the same warning holds true. All signs point to the fact that we have weathered the worst of this pandemic. We are reopening economies, schools, and the everyday fabric of our communities. Vaccine supplies are ramping up and distributions are expanding. In short, there is, finally, real hope that life as we knew it before last March, in large measure and after great pain and sacrifice, can and will return. This week, legislative conferences in both houses of the Legislature – Senate Republicans and Senate Democrats, Assembly Republicans and Assembly Democrats – will put forth “one-house” budget documents essentially spelling out each conference’s fundamental priorities for the final 2021-2022 New York State budget. This year’s final budget, the first that can at least begin to look ahead to the post-COVID future, still needs to be a budget of restraint, I believe. In other words, the newly enacted federal stimulus relief package delivers a windfall to New York’s state and local governments, somewhere in the neighborhood of $25 billion. It is a massive, one-time infusion of federal aid that, in my opinion as well as in my position as the ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, needs to be utilized responsibly. One of New York’s leading fiscal watchdogs, the Empire Center, puts it this way, “The highest priority of state and local officials should be to avoid plowing the federal money into recurring spending commitments that will create bigger budget deficits in the future. In an ideal world, New York pols will embark on a careful, painstaking assessment of needs, weighing short-term relief against recurring long-term benefits.” That’s well said and I would largely reissue my March 2020 warning about not going too far too fast in this upcoming state budget until “we can get to work assessing the damage, determining who and what needs repair, and have an open and full discussion on the best way to move forward for this entire state, upstate and downstate. That would be common sense. That would be responsible. That would be fair. I hope that’s the course Governor Cuomo and legislative leaders will take.” As far as I know or have seen, there has not yet been a full, thorough, transparent accounting and assessment of the deep-rooted, grassroots-level impact COVID-19 has had and will continue to have on New York and all of our communities, in every region of the state, over the next several years. And yet, the clouds are already forming that Governor Cuomo and the Democrat majorities in the Senate and Assembly are preparing to grab hold of this one-time federal funding and still embark on a wild goose chase for even more, new, unneeded revenue – through massive tax increases and other actions – in order to move forward with massive new spending with New York State already facing potential budget shortfalls and other fiscal burdens for years to come. Furthermore, and equally alarming to me and many others around the Capitol: We are very concerned that Governor Cuomo, who is hanging on by his fingernails under the weight of multiple and growing scandals, will not hesitate to use this budget process, through which he can exercise extraordinary power, to buy off the Democrat legislative majorities from aggressively pursuing his removal from office. These next several weeks will be telling and critically important for future generations.

If you haven’t been following the daily developments on the Cuomo administration’s nursing homes disaster, following are just a few highlights from the past week: Nine Democratic members of the state Assembly, in a letter urging support for stripping Governor Cuomo’s COVID-19 emergency powers, accused the governor with federal obstruction of justice, calling it a “criminal use of power”; Governor Cuomo responded by publicly attacking one of the letter’s signers, Assemblyman Ron Kim of Queens, who in turn revealed that the governor, in a series of phone calls, threatened to “destroy” his career; The Albany Times-Union broke the story that the FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn have launched an investigation into the Cuomo administration’s COVID-19 response in nursing homes and long-term care facilities; The governor’s top aide, Melissa DeRosa, touts Dr. Michael Osterholm, a nationally renowned health expert, as one of the governor’s “chief advisors” who speaks to the governor on a “regular basis” only to have Dr. Osterholm publicly debunk that claim by stating, “I’ve had one five-minute conversation my entire life with Governor Cuomo”; Assembly Republicans call for an impeachment commission to gather facts and evidence. Most notably, one government watchdog, the Albany-based Empire Center, conducted an exhaustive analysis of the available data on COVID-19-related deaths in nursing homes and long-term care facilities (data, by the way, which the Cuomo administration has kept limited and incomplete). The new analysis finds that the administration’s March 25,, 2020 directive forcing nursing homes to accept the transfer of COVID-positive hospital patients back into their facilities was “associated with a statistically significant increase in resident deaths.” The analysis reaches a conclusion that “transfers from hospitals to nursing homes were significantly associated with nursing homes deaths upstate” and, overall, likely “made a bad situation worse” statewide. Those are just a few development since February 10 when the New York Post broke the story of a secret meeting of top legislative Democrats and members of Governor Cuomo’s inner circle where the governor’s top aide, Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa, admitted that the administration intentionally withheld a true accounting of the COVID-19 death toll in New York’s nursing homes for months on end in an effort to steer clear of federal prosecutors. Timely, accurate information is critical to public health – especially during a pandemic. The governor’s top aide admitted that information was intentionally withheld for fear that it could be used against them and that the public was purposely misled. In fact, we still do not know precisely what information has been forthcoming. This remains a fast-moving crisis with plenty of moving parts. For me, there’s clear evidence of a cover-up. I’m certainly not alone in this assessment. The governor and members of his inner circle purposely withheld data, during the height of this pandemic, that was important to the protection of public health – in particular to the safety and well-being of the residents of nursing homes and long-term care facilities. Still, the Cuomo inner circle continues to stonewall, threaten, whitewash and, most of all, set up the usual scapegoats to avoid any inquiry – that it’s a Republican witch hunt, a Trump conspiracy theory and the like. The past week has been a constant drip, drip, drip of scandal that leaves New Yorkers increasingly suspicious of their government. The only way to close the faucet is through a full investigation, at every level – criminal and otherwise. Since the January 28th report from state Attorney General Letitia James that revealed significant under-reporting by the Cuomo administration, many have been pushing for subpoenas to compel testimony and obtain all records related to the crisis. These efforts intensified last week. Governor Cuomo said in his Friday press conference, while chastising the Legislature for looking into this cover-up, that if legislative leaders wanted the information sooner they should have subpoenaed it. That’s what Republicans have been demanding for over a half year while the Democrat supermajorities dragged their feet kowtowing to the governor. At the same Friday press conference, Governor Cuomo doubled down on his story touting that everything he did, he would do again. Does he have no concept of the deadly result of his order sending in excess of 9,000 Covid-positive hospital patients back into nursing homes? And all the while that the Javits Center, USNS Comfort and Samaritan’s Purse field hospital sat empty, more than 15,000 nursing home and adult day care facility residents died. Someone’s not telling the truth and most of the indicator lights point to Governor Cuomo and his inner circle. In short, there is a crisis in leadership in New York State. During a pandemic, we desperately need leadership we can trust and have faith in. Governor Cuomo concludes the introduction to his book, “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic,” with the following line: “New York didn’t do everything right, but there are lessons we can learn that will lead to victory.” That’s exactly the endgame many of us are seeking: to determine what wasn’t done right, why it wasn’t, and what are the lessons we need to learn to ensure that it does not happen again.

Albany at the moment may best be described by a few lines from All The President’s Men, “It leads everywhere. Get out your notebook. There’s more.” In fact, there was a lot more at the State Capitol last Thursday night when reporters from the New York Post dropped a bombshell scoop detailing a secret virtual meeting of top legislative Democrats and members of Governor Cuomo’s inner circle. The Post obtained an audio recording of the Democrats-only meeting and the story quotes one of the governor’s top aides, Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa, admitting that the administration intentionally withheld a true accounting of the COVID-19 death toll in New York’s nursing homes for months on end in an effort to steer clear of federal prosecutors. “We were in a position,” DeRosa said, “where we weren’t sure if what we were going to give to the Department of Justice…was going to be used against us.” Among other numerous, incriminating statements, DeRosa tells key Democratic lawmakers, including those who chair the committees directly responsible for overseeing nursing homes, that “I do understand the position (legislative Democrats) were put in…It was not our intention to put you in that political position with the Republicans.” In other words, the Cuomo administration finally apologized, but not for the horrific loss of life. Not for the pain of the families who lost loved ones. Not for deliberately misleading the public at large. Only for putting Democratic allies in a “political position” with me and my Senate and Assembly GOP colleagues who have been fighting to uncover the truth. Remarkable – and very possibly criminal. This secret meeting was nothing more than a desperate attempt by Governor Cuomo’s inner circle to circle the wagons with legislative allies, get everybody on the same page, make sure that they all stick to the same script. And many did stick to it coming out of the meeting. Top Senate Democrats even went as far as to release a statement calling the meeting “productive” while charging that Republicans were being “shamefully” political. Sadly, they never mentioned that the Cuomo administration admitted what many of us have been seeking to expose for months now – a massive and unconscionable cover-up of New York’s COVID-19 nursing home and long-term care facility scandal. The very next day, they were exposed by the Post’s reporting. Now they are all complicit. It demands an immediate, full investigation at every level – criminal and otherwise – because the longer this drip, drip, drip of scandal goes on, the more it erodes New Yorkers’ trust of government. In the end, that’s one of the great dangers here. So our ongoing pursuit of the truth remains twofold: Justice for the families and loved ones of the more than 15,000 elderly New Yorkers we’ve lost to this pandemic – including steps to try to ensure that it will not ever again happen to other families. Accountability for those responsible. Since the January 28th report from state Attorney General Letitia James that revealed significant under-reporting by the Cuomo administration, we have been pushing for subpoenas to compel testimony and obtain all records related to the crisis. These efforts intensify now and include New York’s GOP Congressional delegation calling for a federal investigation. Equally important, the AG report targeted Governor Cuomo’s now fateful March 25, 2020 order forcing nursing homes to accept COVID-positive patients – more than 9,000 by the time his order was rescinded, according to recent reporting by the Associated Press. Furthermore, the order prevented homes from testing for COVID as a condition of admittance. The very next day, on March 26th, the American Medical Directors Association, Society for Long Term Care Medicine objected to Cuomo’s order declaring that it was “over-reaching, not consistent with science, unenforceable, and beyond all, not in the least consistent with patient safety principles.” The devastating impact of the March 25th Cuomo executive order must be fully exposed and examined – and that will require full records of what transpired within the administration in those earliest months and afterwards. The New York Post story exposing the collaboration between the Cuomo inner circle and top legislative Democrats makes it clear that full investigations must be started immediately. We should not be finding out the truth of this tragedy through leaks of secret Democrat-only meetings. All of this needs to be aired, fully and forthrightly, in public. In the meantime, hats off to all of the reporters keeping their notebooks out.

It turns out my column’s headline last week -- “Attorney General report a beginning, not the end” – was quite an understatement. In fact, the AG’s report has sparked nothing short of a firestorm since its release on January 28. It revealed, among many findings, that the Cuomo administration was underreporting COVID-19 nursing home deaths by potentially as much as 50 percent – and the findings were based on a review of just ten percent of the state’s nursing homes. After requests for months on end from lawmakers, reporters, good government groups, family advocates and others for detailed information on what has happened and why, the AG’s report clearly targets the stonewalling that Governor Cuomo, state Health Commissioner Howard Zucker and other top Cuomo administration officials have engaged in since early last year. Equally important, the report targets Governor Cuomo’s now fateful March 25, 2020 order forcing nursing homes to accept COVID-positive patients and, further, preventing homes from testing for COVID as a condition of admittance. The very next day, the American Medical Directors Association, Society for Long Term Care Medicine objected to Cuomo’s order declaring that it was “over-reaching, not consistent with science, unenforceable, and beyond all, not in the least consistent with patient safety principles.” As I said last week, the AG’s report raises unanswered questions and marks a clear starting line for further inquiry. A full investigation must move forward, now. Keeping in mind that this is a fast-changing story, as of this writing here’s what has transpired over the past week. Last Monday, three days after the release of the AG’s report, in my position as the Ranking Member on the Senate Investigations Committee, I moved a motion for a vote by the committee to immediately issue subpoenas to the Cuomo administration. Subpoenas are needed to compel testimony and obtain documents, emails, phone records and all other information related to the administration’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in nursing homes. The committee’s chair, Senator James Skoufis of the Hudson Valley, who for months has publicly threatened subpoenas, strenuously objected to the move, falsely cited a Senate rule to prevent a committee vote, and even allowed my microphone to be muted to cut off a full debate and discussion. I have made it clear that we will not stop in this effort or be muted in any way. It is time for the Senate Democrat Majority to stop protecting Governor Cuomo. Their failure to immediately subpoena the Cuomo administration completely abandons legislative responsibility. It makes the Senate Democrats complicit in this tragedy. At the federal level, New York’s GOP Congressional delegation, including Congressman Tom Reed, have called on the federal Department of Justice to immediately issue subpoenas to Governor Cuomo and members of his inner circle. The New York Times reported that at least nine of Governor Cuomo’s top health experts have left the administration, seemingly dissatisfied, in at least some instances, with the politicized nature of the COVID-19 response. In May, just weeks after Cuomo’s deadly March 25 order, the long-time and well-respected director of DOH’s long-term care division departed. It was reported at the time that he was “not involved in crafting that fateful directive.” Then who was? Finally (and importantly), the week closed with the Albany-based Empire Center (empirecenter.org) scoring a victory in state Supreme Court requiring the release, this week, of a trove of data and information that will shed important light on the COVID-19 death toll in nursing homes. The Empire Center’s Bill Hammond, who has doggedly pursued the truth of this tragedy, said in response to the ruling, “The people of New York—especially those who have lost loved ones in nursing homes—have waited much too long to see this clearly public information about one of the worst disasters in state history.” One of the worst disasters in state history. An article last week in the National Review perhaps summed it up best: "But we know for certain that the governor was hiding data that showed his culpability... To fail is human. But to lie about it, when tens of thousands of your fellow citizens died from the illness, is a level of moral depravity and social disregard that this country should not stand for." At the start of this new week, the bottom line remains the same: The AG’s report was clearly not the final word on this tragedy. Instead, we’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg.

To summarize where we stand in our months-long effort to better understand the tragedy that is New York’s COVID-19 nursing home crisis -- and the Cuomo administration’s response to it – we now have a report from the state attorney general. It arrived last week after months and months of repeated requests -- from legislators (including myself), Democrat and Republican, reporters, watchdog groups, and from family members who have lost loved ones in nursing homes – for the most basic of information from the governor’s office. Prior to AG’s report, for example, we could not get a straight answer from Governor Cuomo, state Health Commissioner Howard Zucker, or any other top Cuomo administration official on even the most straightforward question: How many COVID-19 deaths have there been in nursing home facilities and among those transferred from nursing homes who then died in hospitals? For months, the Cuomo administration constantly pointed to its own number (the most recent being 8,677) and then utilized that number in daily briefings and elsewhere to tout New York State’s admirable standing in this regard in comparison to other states around the nation. Except that was false. Many of us long suspected that the number was much higher, that it did not include the number of nursing home residents who were transferred from a nursing facility to a hospital and died there. When we asked the administration to provide that fuller number – including at a joint Senate-Assembly hearing last August – the answer was: We’re working on it. It went on like this for month after month after month. Until last week. The AG’s report last Thursday blew the lid off the Cuomo administration stonewalling by revealing that the administration has been undercounting COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes by as much as 50 percent. According to the AG’s numbers, that means the total number of nursing homes deaths is not the governor’s 8,677, but something closer to 13,000. And lo and behold, later on the very same day the AG’s report was released, the state produced new data confirming, in fact, that the preliminary total number of confirmed and presumed COVID deaths in nursing facilities and among nursing home residents who died after being transferred to a hospital was 12,743, or approximately 46 percent higher. Why was the Cuomo administration able to suddenly produce, within hours, what many of us have been requesting for months? Why did it take this outside report, which generated national attention, to finally get the governor to sit up straight? Why was he couching the most basic facts on this tragedy for so long? And, of course, what else is there that we still don’t know, but should know? Is it coincidence that the governor finally releases stats the very same day remarkably consistent with the AG’s findings? Is the AG’s report the full picture? Or is it an attempt to throw the dogs off the scent, so to speak? The governor, in a follow-up press briefing last Friday, downplayed the report’s significance, said only “partisan politics” is behind any criticism of the state’s handling of the COVID-19 response in nursing homes, that New York is no different than any other state (still even better than most states, according to him), that the federal government was negligent, and so on. The bottom line is that thanks to the AG’s report, we finally have a clear starting line. It is critical to know how many have died and where in order to better understand the why and how part of this tragedy that is going to help us put in place the policies that could prevent it from ever happening again. That’s the purpose of accountability and transparency: better and stronger responses for the future. This has been a tragedy and not just in New York State, we know that. The COVID-19 toll on the elderly, everywhere, is the great horror and the terrible sadness of this pandemic – which makes it all the more vital that we understand what has happened as fully as we possibly can, as straightforwardly as it takes, and with as much toughness as it demands. It has been terrible everywhere and that reality includes the fact that it has been horrific here in New York State – much worse than Governor Cuomo was touting for months on end, for still unknown reasons. The attorney general’s report does not mark the end of this inquiry. It marks an important beginning.

The 2021-2022 state budget adoption process marks my first as the Ranking Member on the Senate Finance Committee. It’s shaping up as one of the most consequential state budgets New York has ever faced. After a year when the COVID-19 pandemic has turned everything upside down, the choices made and the direction charted in this new budget could be transformational for the future of local communities, economies and taxpayers. In my view, here’s the fundamental question: Will it be transformational in some long-overdue, positive sense, or will it end up compounding the crises that have long stood in the way of a true turnaround in this state? The Legislature’s fiscal committees -- Senate Finance, and Assembly Ways and Means -- once again take the lead this year in examining Governor Cuomo’s just-released budget plan. Beginning this week and continuing through February 23, committee members will hear testimony from state agency heads, local leaders, public interest groups, and other organizations and advocates to get a stronger sense, in detail, of how the executive’s proposed strategy would impact specific programs, services, communities, employers, not-for-profit service providers, economies, taxpayers and much more. What we hear and what we learn over the course of these 13 public hearings sets the stage for final negotiations on a new state budget. Last week, after legislators first received Governor Cuomo’s roughly $193-billion spending plan, my first reaction was a warning – a warning that the governor is charting a course for New York that could leave a future generation of state and local taxpayers holding a hefty bill for a questionable agenda of overspending. For starters, to achieve his hoped-for budget this year Governor Cuomo counts on New York receiving $15 billion in federal funding in the next COVID-19 stimulus package. In what can only be called one of the most bizarre moves ever by any New York Stategovernor, Governor Cuomo plans to sue the federal government if he doesn’t get it. Nevertheless, if New York does receive a $15-billion federal bailout, this governor intends to just go ahead and spend it. Keep in mind that any federal funding will be a one-time, non-recurring infusion of cash. It will be here and gone back out the door as quick as the governor can sign the spending authorizations. Make no mistake, however, the spending done now on grand new programs or big new projects (mainly downstate-oriented in the governor’s plan, by the way) will incur costs that will remain as the responsibility of taxpayers long after this governor has left the scene. We are staring at another year of ignoring the fiscal warning signs and throwing caution to the wind at the worst possible time, instead of re-setting the unsustainable direction New York State keeps heading. Under Governor Cuomo’s plan as it stands, future New Yorkers could be left footing an outrageous bill for this governor’s and this Legislature’s overspending and overtaxing. That’s my starting point. Details on the governor’s budget proposal are available on the state Division of the Budget (DOB) website, www.budget.ny.gov. The Legislature’s fiscal hearings start this week with specific examinations of the governor’s proposed plans for transportation, environmental conservation, elementary education and housing. The schedule of virtual hearings and live streams can be found at: https://www.nysenate.gov/events (video archives of all the hearings will also be located here). The hearings can also be viewed on the Legislative Cable Channel on most local cable systems (view the statewide channel listing here: https://www.nysenate.gov/about-legislative-cable-channel). As I stated at the start, this year’s legislative hearings are crucial. The next state budget could have a transformational impact on most of the key issues facing us. In my new role as the top Republican member on the Finance Committee – where we face an uphill fight as a minority party in a state government firmly under one-party control at the moment – I’m hopeful to continue being a voice for lower taxes, less regulation, greater accountability, economic growth, job creation, and more common sense on state fiscal practices.

In yet another reminder of these COVID-19 times, the 2021 legislative session kicks into high gear on Monday when Governor Andrew Cuomo delivers New York’s first-ever virtual State of the State address to New Yorkers. Nevertheless, what won’t change about this annual speech is that we’ll get a better sense of the direction Governor Cuomo intends to try to take this state in the months and possibly years ahead. We’re expecting to hear a direction not just to continue steering this state through the COVID-19 pandemic, but also to begin the rebuilding and recovering of local communities and economies that needs to start now, in my opinion. Toward that end, I joined my colleagues at the Capitol last week to unveil a “Reset New York State” agenda identifying the broad outlines of our conference’s priorities for the new legislative session and beyond. I can promise you that the Senate GOP plans to be a voice for local economies, taxpayers, job creators, workers, and communities. We need to keep working against a New York State tax and regulatory climate that puts our businesses and manufacturers at a competitive disadvantage, imposes red tape that strangles local economies, and prioritizes higher and higher spending, overtaxing, outrageous mandates, and burdensome overregulation. So I look forward throughout this new legislative session to our Senate Republican Conference giving voice to the need for rebuilding local economies, focusing on stronger and safer communities, and resisting what threatens to be a devastating expansion of a business-as-usual, tax-and-spend direction in state government. This “Reset New York State” strategy serves to highlight our commitment to more fiscally responsible, commonsense government that works better for taxpayers, builds and protects livelihoods, honors public safety and security, and focuses like never before on the restoration of Upstate’s rightful place in New York government. Make no mistake that our conference, together with the Assembly Republican Conference, will be fighting an uphill battle against a New York State government now squarely under one-party, mostly downstate-based, Democratic control. Furthermore, an extremely liberal, far-left wing of the party has clearly made inroads and established itself at the highest levels of leadership and will continue to push what I see as radical policies within the arenas of criminal justice and law enforcement, taxation and economics, environmental protection and energy, and health care, to pinpoint just a few. That won’t stand in our way of fighting for what we believe represents the best direction for this state and the regions we represent. Our initial blueprint highlights several broad strategies to address mounting economic and fiscal challenges facing communities statewide -- many of which were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic -- and to help forge a better path forward for all New Yorkers. We will be introducing and focusing on specific proposals throughout the coming weeks and months that prioritize restarting local economies, rethinking the operation of state government, and renewing a commitment to stronger, safer, and revitalized communities. The broad outline of the overall strategy seeks to restart local economies by safely reopening small businesses to help them get back on their feet, get their employees back to work, and offer employment opportunities for local residents; ensuring that schools and colleges stay open; and making renewed investments in infrastructure – including broadband, and local roads and bridges-- to rebuild the state’s competitiveness. We’re seeking to rethink the operation of New York State government by addressing New York’s long-standing reputation as a high cost of living state; restoring fiscal responsibility and confronting state government’s culture of overspending; and reasserting the Legislature’s constitutional authority as an equal branch of government. Finally, we’re looking to renew New York State’s commitment to local residents by fostering the growth of vibrant local communities; developing a robust economy with diverse opportunities; and creating safer neighborhoods with commonsense public safety measures.

It was a relief last week when New York’s newly created Farm Labor Wage Board chose not to immediately lower the state’s current 60-hour overtime threshold for farm workers. The relief is only temporary, however. The three-member Board made it clear that it will revisit the potential change next November with an eye toward moving ahead on a lower, likely 40-hour threshold. A lot can happen between now and next November, but make no mistake this is where we stand: farmers and their advocates, including me and many other Upstate legislators, must continue making the case that now is no time to risk the future of any of our farmers. Equally important, in my opinion, will be the need to keep working against the power given to this unelected, unaccountable Farm Wage Board to unilaterally decide, without legislative approval, a move that could change the face of New York Stateagriculture as we have always known it. In short, among the most important work ahead of us this new year will be the need to keep close watch on the future of our family farms. The case against the Farm Wage Board has not and will not change between now and November. The controversial legislation (S6578/A8419, Chapter 105 of the Laws of 2019) that established the Board is known as the “Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act.” It was pushed hard as a “progressive” benchmark by Governor Andrew Cuomo and its New York City legislative sponsors. Repeatedly throughout the past year, I joined many opponents — including, among numerous others, the New York Farm Bureau, Unshackle Upstate, and the Northeast Dairy Producers Association — to warn about its potential consequences, especially its impact on farm labor costs and the ramifications for farm labor, the food supply chain, and local economies that absolutely depend on a strong agricultural sector. Keep in mind that statistics show that farm labor costs in New York State increased 40 percent over the past decade and that the 2019 law could result in another crippling 44-percent increase in wage expenses. Total farm labor costs are at least 63 percent of net cash farm income in New York, compared to 36 percent nationally. This burden has already led to many farm losses, particularly within the critical dairy industry. I debated and voted against this move when the Senate approved it in June 2019. The bottom line, for me, is that this Board’s existence will continue to have profound implications throughout local farm economies across rural, upstate New York, including the risk of driving more family farms out of business. That was the case even before COVID-19, which we now know has taken its own toll on our farmers and the entire agricultural industry. For starters, then, one priority in this new legislative session will be to enact legislation to delay any action by the Board to lower the overtime threshold for at least several years, which is the timeframe that the Farm Bureau and others have argued is necessary to fully and fairly assess the economic impact. I fully agree. For example, I currently co-sponsor legislation that would prevent the Board from acting until 2025, thereby allowing the time necessary to collect and assess data that would provide a more definitive picture of the impact of the 60-hour threshold on the finances and operations of New York farms, as well as consider additional factors including the COVID-19 impact on the agricultural industry. In a November letter to Governor Cuomo, a large coalition of New York State agriculture and farming leaders, including the Farm Bureau, Northeast Dairy Producers Association, New York Wine Industry Association, Empire State Council of Agricultural Organizations, and many others, delivered a strong, compelling message that read, in part, “Please know that if the overtime threshold for New York farm workers is lowered to a level below 60 hours per week, the face of New York agriculture will be irreparably altered and we will no longer remain economically competitive in the crops and commodities that require a labor force. As farmers testified this year before the wage board, varieties of vegetables that require hand labor will continue to disappear, increasingly relying on imports from places that do not have strong worker protections like inNew York State. Orchards will be pulled in lieu of field crops that only require machines for planting and harvest. Dairy farms will turn to robotic milking machines at a faster rate than today. Our regional and worldwide competitors—who have no such requirements—will only gain advantage from these changes, not New York farmers. We recognize that New Yorkis leader in the nation in many areas, and even though we currently may be leading other states when it comes to farm labor protections, we are on the precipice of policy that will lead farmers out of business. We the undersigned organizations respectfully request that the 60-hour overtime threshold be made permanent. Our industry’s future, particularly the next generation of New York farmers and the communities they support, are dependent upon it.” It will be important to keep these words in mind as we move through this legislative session because they will be as true and relevant next November as they are right now.

Finally. Heading toward the beginning of a new year, the ongoing distribution of more widespread COVID-19 vaccinations appears to be the long-awaited mile marker on this incredibly long and hard road back to public health and economic renewal. First and foremost, make no mistake that reaching this point of potential renewal is the product of personal responsibility, and enormous perseverance and sacrifice on the part of so many. Every single one of you who have heard the public health guidelines, and then honored them, made the difference. This public health emergency has called for all hands on deck and you have responded. Keep holding the line and listening to our local public health departments. Public health has been and remains the top priority because it is paramount to being able to fully attack the economic crisis that has and is inflicting enormous pain and upheaval. A true reopening will be the product of strong regional teamwork on public outreach and care. This teamwork will remain fundamental to our success throughout the weeks and months ahead. The experience gained and the bonds cemented over the past ten months will continue to serve us well. Now we need to keep pushing forward, reopening more sectors of local economies, and getting more workers back on the job as soon as possible. On the economic front of this battle to reclaim and regain solid ground in our lives, we will need the Cuomo administration to better recognize that our regional reopening can and must move forward with greater clarity, common sense, and fairness. Many of us here in the region – government officials, business owners, and workers alike -- believe this reopening process can be accomplished more effectively and rapidly without jeopardizing public health. Guidelines that may be absolutely necessary in downstate regions, for example, shouldn’t be unreasonably applied upstate. We will need to redouble our emphasis on this 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. Coming out of this COVID-19 response and shutdown, these ongoing discussions, on a bipartisan basis, will become increasingly critical. Since the beginning of the state shutdown in mid-March, a “One-Stop” webpage on omara.nysenate.gov has provided, in one place, access to a wide range of information and resources from across the spectrum of federal, state, and local agencies and organizations. This page will remain available as new guidelines, recommendations, and updates are continually issued. Pay attention to them. As I have said repeatedly throughout these long months, one way we stay together is by staying informed. Finally, as we begin this week that has traditionally had as its centerpiece a reflection on the year past, we focus on this: Thank You. A single list here can never begin to cover them all, but let’s keep foremost in our hearts and minds and prayers the doctors and nurses, all health care workers and first responders, public health departments, food banks, mail carriers, police officers, bus drivers and grocery store workers, transportation and sanitation crews, delivery drivers, long-haul truckers, service organizations, business leaders, bank and credit union employees, educators and librarians, farmers, government officials at every level, the men and women of our military, and an absolute army of other essential employees, neighbors, and, of course, incredibly selfless volunteers — throughout the public and private sectors – providing diligent public outreach, every day and every night. Only because of these incredible and inspiring efforts have local communities been able to persevere, stay together, remain hopeful, move forward, and keep planning for better days. They remain the rays of hope at the beginning of a New Year, the silver lining of strength that has and will keep seeing us through. For all of them, let’s all keep doing our part. Thank you, and may you and your families, friends, and neighbors be well and stay safe.

The headline of the week, the start of COVID-19 vaccinations across America, might at first appear unrelated to the state comptroller’s announcement last week of divesting the New York State Pension Fund of investments in fossil fuel companies. Under the surface, however, there’s a connection between the two that’s critical to the future of manufacturing in New York. We have been hoping and praying for a COVID-19 vaccine. The fact that starting this week we’re on the doorstep of widespread vaccinations is remarkable, faster than any time in history. The obvious point is that it will save and protect lives, but the arrival also holds even more that is important to our collective sense of hope, relief, and a true belief that we will find solid ground again and someday get back to normal. Consequently, let’s remember and pay tribute to the central role that Corning Incorporated is playing in this vaccine distribution that will dominate our attention and actions in the months ahead. You’ll recall that back in June, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services turned to Corning and awarded the company a contract to ramp up domestic production of Valor Glass vials as the primary vessel for holding these long-awaited vaccines. Cornell CEO Wendell P. Weeks said at that time, “Corning is ready to do our part in the fight against the pandemic, as well as to help prepare for future public health emergencies.” In other words, without question it is a center stage production in American history. The pharmaceutical industry is entering uncharted territory and Corning’s Valor Glass vials play a leading role in the safety, protection, quality, and speed of vaccine deliveries. Amazing. Corning’s manufacturing facility in Big Flats, Chemung County is literally going full blast to produce the vials that will deliver health and hope for Americans everywhere. An article in the latest edition of The New Yorker magazine notes, “A Corning factory in upstate New York is running around the clock to help meet the urgent demand.” It is a fascinating story and an historic effort – one in which all of us here at home can and should take enormous pride and satisfaction. Furthermore, it showcases the preeminence of American manufacturing like little else in recent memory. Even so, it’s also a reminder how seemingly unrelated actions could have such an impact on the future of manufacturing in America, which leads to the state comptroller’s announcement. Because while workers at Corning’s manufacturing facility are all systems go producing vials in Big Flats that will carry COVID-19 vaccines across the nation, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli dropped a significant announcement last week. He unveiled that the New York State Common Retirement Fund, the nation’s third-largest and most solidly funded pension fund, currently valued at approximately $226 billion, will move away from making investments in energy- sector companies in the fossil fuel industry, in what will be an ongoing, targeted reassessment of investing in, among others, natural gas exploration and production. In other words, the comptroller’s investment strategies are being driven by politics. Pension fund divestment as a political weapon has long been eyed by the far-left, extreme-liberal wing of New York’s Democrat party. I have long believed that divestment guided in any way whatsoever by political pandering poses a troubling threat to the strength of our state retirement fund, as well as to our state and national economy when companies are politically targeted. Heading into 2021, however, this wing of the party is clearly entrenched in the highest levels of state government decision making – in the executive branch, in the office of the attorney general, certainly in the Senate and Assembly majorities and, as evidenced by this latest move, in the state comptroller’s management of the pension fund. Keep in mind that the office of comptroller, above all, has an independent, Constitutional responsibility and fiduciary duty as the sole trustee of the pension fund for the benefit of retirees and all member beneficiaries. In other words, it is an office that’s supposed to steer clear of politics in administering the fund, with the primary objective of maximizing return on investment. A comptroller’s actions always impact the fund’s investment returns and, ultimately, the burden on state and local taxpayers to meet the fund’s current and future obligations. The pension fund has a targeted rate of return, which, if not met, the shortfall is made up by all taxpayers (whether you are in the retirement system or not). The state makes up the shortfall from all state taxpayers and local governments make up their portion with your sales and property taxes. Wrong moves by the comptroller risk serious and costly consequences for pension fund members, retirees, and all taxpayers. There’s plenty to unpack here. But at the moment, for me, it serves once again to highlight a central debate surrounding the future of energy in New York State and the nation. Consider these two observations: 1.) Comptroller DiNapoli’s divestment strategy will explicitly target (and influence) investment in natural gas exploration, development, and production. 2.) Corning Inc.’s Valor Glass vials – vials that in the end will help see our nation and the world through this pandemic – are being produced at its factory in Big Flats with furnaces powered by natural gas. This scenario helps drive home a point I have raised many times in the past. The move toward renewable, sustainable sources of energy is underway, rightly so, and there’s no turning back, nor should we. And the state should invest in alternative renewable and clean energy for the good of our environment and because it makes sense. Still, for the foreseeable future, there is simply no source of renewable energy on the horizon that could ever replace fossil fuels, in particular readily available and cheap natural gas, to heat our homes and allow for the high-load manufacturing that produces so many of the goods and services that we depend on. American manufacturing, including prominent New York State manufacturers, cannot be competitive in a global economy and create good jobs for workers here at home without a supply of relatively inexpensive, plentiful energy that only natural gas currently provides. We have seen a significant increase in American manufacturing in recent years, in large part due to America’s leadership position and innovation in natural gas production providing low-cost energy in a portfolio of energy supply which is cleaner than ever before. There may well be a time to divest from fossil fuels, but the market should drive that move AND IT WILL as clean energy technology and availability meets the high-load demands of manufacturing. It can’t be achieved simply as a desire to appease environmental zealots and there’s great risk in proceeding that way to both manufacturing in New York and to taxpayers supporting an underperforming pension fund. Corning’s manufacturing of Valor Glass vials would not be possible at this critical moment in time without natural gas powering the factory’s furnaces; nor would a plethora of other manufacturing in New York and America. This timely example of the world we live in must remain a part of the larger debate and discussion moving forward. There’s amazing hope for today in the Valor Glass vials moving across America this week, and it deserves celebration. There’s also a warning for tomorrow. These vials, and so much more in the foreseeable future, are not possible in the absence of energy policy that recognizes the need for common sense, caution, and a solid dose of realistic thinking.

We need to keep close watch on the future of our family farms. A key action of the 2019 legislative session was the approval of controversial legislation (S6578/A8419, Chapter 105 of the Laws of 2019) known as the “Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act,” sponsored by two New York City legislators and pushed hard as a “progressive” hallmark by Governor Andrew Cuomo. Throughout the year prior to this law’s enactment, I joined many opponents, including the New York Farm Bureau, to warn about its potential consequences. We feared that mandatory overtime pay and other provisions of the new law, especially the creation of a three-member Farm Wage Board granted the authority to unilaterally change the law’s provisions, without legislative approval, could worsen the impact of farm labor costs on farm income at a time when the farm economy was already struggling. In fact, in early 2019, prior to the law’s enactment, area Assemblyman Phil Palmesano and I wrote to legislative leaders warning that “the misguided and misrepresented Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act poses an extreme action at a time of already severe economic struggle for New York State farmers. Worse, the Act’s consequences would produce a nightmare of a ripple effect across local communities in every region of this state and profoundly diminish the future of high quality, local food production.” I debated and voted against this move when the Senate approved it in June 2019. The bottom line is that this misguided action by a state government triumvirate of leaders under one-party, largely downstate-based control -- guided on many current issues by a far-left, extreme-liberal governing philosophy -- has profound implications throughout local farm economies across rural, upstate New York, including driving more family farms out of business. And that was the case even before COVID-19, which we now know has taken its own toll on our farmers and the entire agricultural industry. The consequences of this new law could be about to come home to roost. The three-member Farm Wage Board has held public hearings that the industry fears could be paving the way for quickly lowering the current 60-hour threshold requiring farmers to pay their employees overtime. In a letter last week to Governor Cuomo, a large coalition of New York State agriculture and farming leaders, including the Farm Bureau, Northeast Dairy Producers Association, New York Wine Industry Association, Empire State Council of Agricultural Organizations, and many others, delivered a strong, compelling message that reads, in part, “Please know that if the overtime threshold for New York farm workers is lowered to a level below 60 hours per week, the face of New York agriculture will be irreparably altered and we will no longer remain economically competitive in the crops and commodities that require a labor force. As farmers testified this year before the wage board, varieties of vegetables that require hand labor will continue to disappear, increasingly relying on imports from places that do not have strong worker protections like in New York State. Orchards will be pulled in lieu of field crops that only require machines for planting and harvest. Dairy farms will turn to robotic milking machines at a faster rate than today. Our regional and worldwide competitors—who have no such requirements—will only gain advantage from these changes, not New York farmers. We recognize that New York is leader in the nation in many areas, and even though we currently may be leading other states when it comes to farm labor protections, we are on the precipice of policy that will lead farmers out of business. We the undersigned organizations respectfully request that the 60-hour overtime threshold be made permanent. Our industry’s future, particularly the next generation of New York farmers and the communities they support, are dependent upon it.” Our farmers are sending a clear, straightforward message that needs to be heeded: This unelected, unaccountable Wage Board now holds the future of so many farmers, farmworkers, and rural economies in its hands. This is the worst possible time to risk mandating and regulating more farms out of business, and that is exactly what’s at stake here. It would be an economic disaster for New York State agriculture. The perfect storm of a government under one-party control, which automatically diminishes legislative checks and balances, and the fact that the Legislature’s current leaders continue to willingly allow Governor Cuomo to run this government purely by executive order, raises many red flags, especially this one at this time. If this Wage Board drives more farmers out of business, Governor Cuomo and the Democrat legislative majorities will be responsible. There has been no attempt to find common ground with New York’s agricultural and farming leaders, and there has, so far, been a failure of common sense. It has been reported that farm labor costs in New York State increased 40 percent over the past decade and that the 2019 law could result in another crippling 44-percent increase in wage expenses. Total farm labor costs are at least 63 percent of net cash farm income in New York, compared to 36 percent nationally. In response, I currently co-sponsor legislation, supported by many farm advocates, to stress that the Farm Wage Board must take adequate time and have the appropriate data to assess the law’s full impact – as well as the impact of COVID-19 -- before recommending changes. For starters, the legislation (S8944) would extend the date for the Board to submit its final report from December 31, 2020 to December 31, 2024, thereby allowing the time necessary to collect and assess data that would provide a more definitive picture of the impact of the 60-hour threshold on the finances and operations of New York farms, as well as consider additional factors including the COVID-19 impact on the agricultural industry. Now is no time to make this worse, but that’s exactly where we stand at the moment: on the brink of making it worse for farmers.