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Senator Tom O'Mara

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Blog Entries posted by Senator Tom O'Mara

  1. Senator Tom O'Mara
    The April 1 deadline for enacting a new state budget is fast approaching and the Democrat majorities in the Senate and Assembly are adopting their respective “one-house budget resolutions” to highlight the priorities they will bring to the negotiating table.
    It’s a crucial step in the process. Most importantly, it gives the public a chance to see where state leaders want to take New York.
    Remember that Governor Hochul kicked off this budget season by proposing an Executive Budget totaling approximately $233 billion which, if enacted, would be the largest-ever state budget and simply continue the out-of-control fiscal practices that will forever define this era in state government under one-party, all-Democrat leadership.
    Consequently, our Senate Republican Conference last week sent a letter to the Democratic Majority Leader of the Senate to at least give voice to the priorities and policies we believe should serve as the foundation of any new budget.
    In part, we wrote, “The lack of affordability in the Empire State has clearly reached crisis proportions, with thousands of New Yorkers fleeing to more affordable states. The high taxes in our State have exacerbated this crisis, while also directly contributing to our poor business climate. The Senate Republican Conference is committed to reversing these dangerous trends…We are also committed to common sense reforms to address New York’s criminal justice crisis, as well as the growing illegal immigrant fiasco that appears to be spinning completely out of control. In addition, we continue our fight for smart, sustainable and workable energy policies, a stronger mental health system, and a public education system that will ensure a brighter, better future for millions of children throughout New York State.”
    Our agenda builds on the legislative agenda we released at the start of this new year, “A New Hope for NY,” that we believe helps point the way to a better, stronger, and safer state for more New Yorkers. Among many calls to action, we think the next state fiscal plan must:  
     reject the additional $2.4 billion in funding Governor Hochul has proposed for migrants — $4.3 billion over two years; reject the Governor’s plan to alter the School Aid formula to eliminate the “save harmless” clause for Foundation Aid – a misguided change that would result in direct funding cuts for 337 largely rural and suburban school districts statewide, including many across the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes; reject the Governor’s plan to permit the closure of five more state prisons, which would undermine public health and safety, destabilize local economies, and lead to more dangerous working conditions for correctional officers;  reject the Governor’s proposed cuts for New York’s critical transportation infrastructure, especially a significant cut for local roads and bridges through the Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program (CHIPS) program;  permanently cap state spending by reinstating a two-percent spending cap, the lifting of which has cost New Yorkers approximately $35 billion over the last three years;  eliminate costly unfunded mandates that drive up local property taxes, including blocking the all-electric school bus mandate on local school districts; require full accountability from the state’s Climate Action Council, especially to require a full and transparent cost-benefit analysis of any and every mandated action. You can read our full letter on my Senate website, omara.nysenate.gov.
    New York State faces an affordability crisis. We face a border crisis. Law and order are in free fall. We must enact an across-the-board agenda to cut taxes, control spending, address affordability, and start truly rebuilding stronger and safer communities.”
    Senator Tom O'Mara represents New York's 58th District which covers all of Chemung, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Tioga and Yates counties, and a portion of Allegany County.
  2. Senator Tom O'Mara
    The more this state keeps blindly moving ahead to impose outrageous energy mandates on all New Yorkers, the clearer it becomes that the current plan is not affordable, feasible, or reliable. To say nothing of realistic.
    Let’s focus on the impact on school districts and school property taxpayers coming down the line in the very near future -- because that’s the latest debacle coming to light and it’s getting more expensive by the minute. In 2022, Albany Democrats enacted a new law mandating that, starting in 2027, all school buses purchased in this state will have to be electric.
    We’re beginning to find out what that mandate truly means. Last week at the State Capitol, our Republican legislative conferences gathered with school district representatives to begin spelling it out for everyone (Note: You can view the entire news conference on my Senate website, www.omara.ny.senate).
    First, it will be enormously expensive. Electric buses cost up to three times as much as conventional diesel buses. Additionally, schools will be required to undertake significant electrical infrastructure and distribution line upgrades, as well as address major workforce transitions. The cost of the conversion has been conservatively estimated at between $8 billion and $15.25 billion more than the cost of replacing them with new diesel buses. For already overburdened local property taxpayers, it’s emerging as yet another hard hit from yet another unfunded state mandate out of Albany.
    Furthermore, it would be unworkable right now. The existing electric grid can’t support it. Electric vehicles are showing an inability to operate or charge in frigid temperatures, and it does get cold in New York. Designed to operate best in 70-degree temperatures, electric vehicles lose up to 40 percent of their traveling range in extreme cold and the time required to charge them is much longer. A pilot program in Vermont found traveling range decreased by 80 percent in some instances.
    The current timeline raises far too many troubling questions on affordability, as well as on reliability and safety for student transportation. In short, it seems reasonable and fair to reassess and reexamine the current timeline and its potential impact on school districts, students and families, and local communities.
    With that in mind, I have joined Assemblyman Phil Palmesano to introduce and sponsor legislation (S8220/A8447) to delay the mandate on school districts until 2045 or until all state agencies convert their own fleets of vehicles first, so that we could at least have the experience of that conversion before dumping this mandate on schools and ultimately the school property taxpayer. Additionally, the legislation would:
     
    authorize the state Commissioner of Education, in consultation with the state’s top energy regulators, to override the mandate if it is determined that zero-emission school buses are not feasible for a particular application;  
    direct the state Commissioner of Education to complete a cost-benefit analysis for each school district that considers the costs necessary to comply with the zero-emission school bus mandate; and  
     direct the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority (NYSERDA) to consult with the state Office of Fire Prevention and Control to develop appropriate fire suppression and safety procedures related to lithium and hydrogen-based fires. One of the local school district superintendents who joined us last week in Albany to help sound the alarm, Dr. Thomas J. Douglas, Superintendent of Horseheads Central School District, summed it up very effectively, “The total cost will ultimately be borne by the local tax base since this is really an unfunded mandate. The sad fact is that there is no guarantee that this technology will work predictably in Northeastern winters. All the governor, NYSERDA, and PSC need do is look to the Midwest this past winter to see electric vehicles and chargers not being able to run in frigid temperatures. We cannot risk that with our children. Put simply, the state must pump the brakes on electric busing.”
    Senator Tom O'Mara represents New York's 58th District which covers all of Chemung, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Tioga and Yates counties, and a portion of Allegany County.
  3. Senator Tom O'Mara
    There are two nomination processes underway across the Senate district I represent that I’d like to bring to your attention and encourage your participation.
    As a reminder, the 58th Senate District encompasses Chemung, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Tioga, and Yates counties, and part of Allegany County (the towns of Alfred, Almond, Amity, Andover, Birdsall, Burns, Grove, Independence, Scio, Ward, Wellsville, and Willing).
    The first process will help select our region’s 2024 inductee into the New York State Senate “Veterans Hall of Fame.”
    The Veterans Hall of Fame is an online tribute to the military service and civilian lives of distinguished veterans from here at home and throughout New York State. It was established in 2005 and honors veterans whose service in the United States Armed Forces has been accompanied by service to the community and accomplishments as a civilian.
    I’ve been grateful to induct numerous local veterans including, among others: Anthony J. “Tony” Specchio, Sr., a distinguished Korean War veteran and widely respected for his long-standing and active service to veterans and government in Watkins Glen and throughout Schuyler County; Warren A. Thompson, a World War II United States Army veteran,  lifelong Steuben County resident and farmer, and stalwart in the county’s civic and veterans affairs; Paul C. “Digger” Vendetti of Elmira, a World War II United States Navy veteran and longtime caretaker at Woodlawn National Cemetery; Dennis L. “Denny” Wolfe, Sr. of Chemung County, a well-known area Vietnam War veteran and founder of the Vietnam War Museum in Elmira; and, last year, Andrew Swarthout of Yates County, a highly decorated Vietnam War veteran and mainstay of local veterans’ organizations.
    Nominations for the Veterans Hall of Fame will be accepted until Friday, March 1st. Nomination letters should include a short biography highlighting the nominee’s military service, and civilian service awards and achievements, and be e-mailed to me at: omara@nysenate.gov.
    The second ongoing nomination process is to help choose this region’s representative for the Senate’s 2024 “Women of Distinction tribute. The "Women of Distinction" program, now in its 26th year, offers the opportunity to honor local women making outstanding contributions to area communities. My Senate colleagues and I annually select a “Woman of Distinction” honoree from our respective legislative districts.
    It’s a meaningful recognition. We all know someone who makes an enormous difference to the community at large. Whether she is a service provider, a law enforcement officer going above and beyond the call of duty, a teacher, a nurse, a business leader, or simply a community resident known for her good deeds, I'd like to see her recognized.
    My past “Women of Distinction” honorees have included, among others: Carol Berry of Hornell, a regional library professional and director of the Dormann Library in Bath; Beverly “Bev” Stamp, co-owner and operator of Lakewood Vineyards in Watkins Glen, a beloved ambassador of New York State’s nationally and internationally renowned wine and grape industry; Lauren R. Snyder, a public health professional from Penn Yan who served as the Yates County Public Health Director; Dawn R. Smith, Transition and Care Management (TCM) Program Manager at the Bath VA Medical Center and local veterans advocate; Carmella Hoffmann, Owner and Operator of Sunset View Creamery in Odessa (Schuyler County); Kathryn J. Boor, a native of Chemung County and the former Ronald P. Lynch Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) at Cornell University; Pauline “Polly” Holbrook, a longtime stalwart of civic affairs in the city of Hornell and the Canisteo Valley; Natasha Thompson, former President and Chief Executive Officer of the Food Bank of the Southern Tier; and, last year, Nancy Kirby, a longstanding advocate and leader for small businesses and entrepreneurship throughout the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions.
    The deadline for submitting a nomination for this year’s Women of Distinction recognition is Friday, February 23rd. Nominations can be submitted online on my Senate website, omara.ny.senate.gov.   
    Senator Tom O'Mara represents New York's 58th District which covers all of Chemung, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Tioga and Yates counties, and a portion of Allegany County.
  4. Senator Tom O'Mara
    Budget adoption season is underway at the State Capitol, which means, first, that joint Senate-Assembly public hearings on Governor Kathy Hochul’s 2024-2025 Executive Budget proposal have started and will remain underway until mid-February.
    Conducted jointly by the Senate Finance Committee, and the Assembly Ways and Means Committee, these forums examine and critique the governor’s proposal in detail and solicit testimony from state agency officials, public policy and fiscal experts, local government representatives, business leaders, educators, farmers, law enforcement, and many other advocates.
    I have served as the Ranking Member on the Finance Committee since 2021 and continue to welcome having a direct voice on the legislative committee most responsible for overseeing the adoption of the state’s annual budget. These hearings highlight the course that New York government is looking to set for short- and long-term fiscal practices and responsibilities. They also begin setting the stage for the Legislature’s negotiations with the governor over a final state budget.
    Most importantly, they are a chance for the public to learn more about what’s being planned by Governor Hochul and legislative leaders for the future direction of New York State. On that note, you can also find the Senate Republican Conference analysis of the governor’s proposed budget on my state Senate website, www.omara.ny.senate.gov.
    Remember that the governor has proposed a 2024-25 budget that starts at $233 billion, already an approximately $4-billion increase over the state’s current, record-setting budget. In other words, the governor and the Democrat leaders of the Senate and Assembly majorities – the biggest-spending Legislature in state history -- will start final negotiations over a new budget looking to increase state spending by at least $4 billion. In other words, it’s likely to go significantly higher.
    My initial reaction to the Hochul proposal was the following, “This state already faces multibillion-dollar deficits well into the future because the Albany Democrats can’t stop spending and Governor Hochul still proposes a spend, spend, spend strategy. It’s been uncontrolled spending to the point that having put in place massive, long-term spending commitments -- and with massive commitments looming in the Democrats’ pursuit of a radical climate agenda and the provision of untold services to an ever-surging migrant population -- New York State taxpayers already face multiyear, multibillion-dollar deficits. It ignores the reality that New York remains one of America’s highest-taxed, least-affordable, most debt-ridden, and overregulated states that leads the nation in population loss.”
    Senate Republicans will continue to be a voice for lower taxes, less regulation, greater accountability, economic growth, job creation, and more common sense on state fiscal practices. I welcome this year’s budget hearings, at this critical time, to put a spotlight on a range of policies and programs that will decide the future and strength of our local communities and economies.
    In my view, we need to keep working against a New York State tax and regulatory mindset that puts our businesses and manufacturers at a competitive disadvantage, imposes red tape that strangles local economies, or prioritizes higher and higher spending, overtaxing, outrageous mandates, and burdensome overregulation.
    Our Senate conference also recently unveiled a “New Hope for the Empire State” legislative agenda that proposes a range of policies focusing on public safety and security, economic growth and job creation, tax relief and regulatory reform, and affordability initiatives to try to reverse New York’s nation-leading population loss.
    The first budget hearings were held last week and covered Health/Medicaid, transportation, and public protection. During the week ahead, we’ll examine economic and workforce development, human services, and elementary and secondary education. Archived videos of each hearing will be available on the state Senate website at www.nysenate.gov/events.
    These hearings take a lot of time -- and they cover plenty of complex and detailed ground – but they provide the first glimpse inside this critical decision-making process underway at the state capital. They can be viewed on the Senate website listed above, as well as on my previously mentioned Senate website, www.omara.nysenate.gov.
     
  5. Senator Tom O'Mara
    Now it’s our turn.
    Over the past few weeks, Governor Hochul has had her say and put forth her priorities for New York in both a State of the State message and, most recently, in last week’s unveiling of her proposed 2024-2025 executive budget.
    Ultimately, she will undertake negotiations with her Democrat counterparts in the Senate and Assembly leadership to put in place a final state budget that will carry New Yorkers forth into the ongoing, all-Democrat vision for New York’s future – a future, by the way, that too many New York residents keep telling us they’re not happy with.
    But now there’s another vision for this state’s future. Last week at the Capitol, the Senate Republican Conference unveiled a plan that we’re calling, “A New Hope for the Empire State.”  It’s a comprehensive legislative agenda that, we believe, pinpoints the failings and shortcomings of New York government under all-Democrat control, which speaks to challenges and crises that one-party government is not addressing, and that begins proposing alternative priorities and solutions for where we want to take this state.
    It's a legislative agenda putting forth ideas and strategies for fighting back against the high taxes and excessive cost of living that have delivered to New York the dubious and devastating distinction as the state with the highest population losses in America.
    It’s a legislative agenda putting forth ideas and strategies for fighting to reclaim some sense of law and order again in New York, a state under all-Democrat leadership where the criminal element runs rampant, rising crime and violence rules too many streets and neighborhoods, and a “no consequences” approach to criminal justice has made a mockery of public safety and security.
    It's a legislative agenda putting forth a bolder and stronger commitment to responsible fiscal practices including spending restraint, across-the-board tax relief, regulatory reform, commonsense investment, serious mandate relief for local governments, and the value of local decision-making.
    In other words, it’s a legislative agenda giving voice to priorities and responsibilities in New York government that, to put it as simply and straightforwardly as possible, have been handed a death sentence by Albany’s current powers that be.
    In putting forth a detailed report on “A New Hope for the Empire State” last week, we wrote, “Over the last five years, New Yorkers have had a front-row seat to what unaccountable government looks like. One-party control has made New York increasingly unaffordable. Residents feel unsafe and are unsure that things will get better in the future. Far too many New Yorkers have looked at this sad reality and decided the only option was to leave the state for somewhere they can make a better life for their families.”
    You can find out more about “A New Hope for the Empire State” and read our full report on my Senate website, www.omara.nysenate.gov.
    In announcing the plan, Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt said, “New Yorkers are deeply dissatisfied with the direction of our state and our Conference is here to provide an alternative path forward. I have traveled throughout the state and people are tired, frustrated, and angry. They feel forgotten.”
    Here at the outset of the 2024 legislative session, these ideas demand and deserve a place in this government. We face an affordability crisis. We face a border crisis. Law and order are in free fall. The Albany Democrat direction for New York simply fails to produce any hope for a long-term, sustainable future for communities, families, workers, businesses, industries, and taxpayers. New York is a state in decline that continues to become less safe, less free, less affordable, less economically competitive, less responsible, and far less strong for the future.
    We are at a dangerous crossroads and we must enact an across-the-board agenda to cut taxes, address affordability, and rebuild stronger and safer communities – and we’ll be fighting for this new direction and a new hope every step of the way in the weeks and months ahead.
    Senator Tom O'Mara represents New York's 58th District which covers all of Chemung, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Tioga and Yates counties, and a portion of Allegany County.
  6. Senator Tom O'Mara
    For all of us, the crisis at the nation’s southern border is no longer just a story on the nightly news. And if you still don’t think the migrant crisis could be headed our way across the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions, it’s time to take off the blindfolds.
    “New York is now a border state,” Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt said last week at a Capitol news conference, where we gathered to propose steps to counteract its potential impact on communities statewide. He’s right.
    For the moment, set aside the finger pointing, and the cultural and partisan divides that have surrounded immigration policy for years now, producing nothing but gridlock in Washington and political grandstanding everywhere else. Instead, focus on what’s happening on the ground in New York City and, slowly but surely, finding its way throughout the state.
    Since last spring, New York City has received an influx of at least 60,000 migrants. It is already overwhelming the city’s ability to find housing and provide social services. New York City Mayor Eric Adams has declared it out of control and projects it will already cost the city at least $4 billion.
    I'll remind you that, long ago, New York City declared itself a sanctuary city. They opened their arms to shelter undocumented immigrants. They asked for it and they should not, now, push their self-created problem to areas of the state that did not. Nor should we be footing the bill for it.
    In other words, it’s just the beginning here in New York State. The recently enacted state budget included a billion dollars to help the city respond. That’s right, state taxpayers are already footing the bill and, consequently, it seems fair to ask all of the who, what, when, where, and why questions underpinning this worsening crisis.
    That’s what our Republican conference started doing last week. In a letter to Governor Hochul we wrote, “We are gravely concerned by the lack of transparency around the placement of migrants throughout our state…Specifically, we would like to know how long migrants will be housed for, where specifically they will be housed, how much is being paid for their housing, and what services they are receiving and for how long. We also request that information about potentially moving migrants is communicated from you or your administration directly to the municipalities.”
    The city of New York is already shipping hundreds of newly arrived migrants to hotels, motels, and other makeshift shelters in nearby, suburban counties. Reports have surfaced that Governor Hochul is eyeing other locations around the state including, for example, dormitories on State University of New York campuses.
    Our immediate focus falls, once again, on the lack of transparency coming out of the Hochul administration. The governor recently said, “It’s no surprise that there will literally be thousands of more individuals coming across the border and ultimately finding their way to the state of New York.”
    That’s exactly the point governor: We don’t want any surprises but we’re suspicious that your administration is going to be full of surprises moving forward. Localities share this suspicion, including a number of counties across the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions that have declared states of emergency hoping to head off any surprises from the state.
    Governor Hochul and her Democrat, New York City allies in the Legislature appear ready and willing to once again override local decision making -- just like they did throughout the COVID-19 pandemic -- and begin shipping migrants all over New York. In fact, right now, it looks like the only plan on their table.
    Our Republican conference believes that localities must have the ability to say no. Furthermore, we don’t believe the state can randomly displace homeless New Yorkers, families of domestic violence, or other vulnerable populations from their current places of shelter just to make room for migrants being bussed out of New York City. We have introduced legislation, which I co-sponsor, to achieve each of these goals.
    “Local elected officials should have the option to decline hosting migrants in their communities should they not have the necessary accommodations and other resources,” we wrote to the governor.
    Welcome to New York’s border crisis.
     
  7. Senator Tom O'Mara
    Early last week, when it became increasingly clear that Governor Hochul and the Legislature’s Democrat leaders were not going to stick around at the State Capitol to enact a budget now a month overdue, we renewed our call for desperately needed accountability in this process.
    While the governor stepped out on her own Friday night to announce a “conceptual” agreement with legislative leaders on a final budget, as of this writing it remains a Governor Hochul “take my word for it” budget. There’s no legislation for the public to review. 
    Keep in mind that the enactment of a new state budget is the most impactful action that state legislators take every year. It reaches into the pockets and the everyday lives of all New Yorkers. That will be especially true this year when Governor Hochul and Albany Democrats finally put the finishing touches on a new state budget pushing state spending to its highest level ever and, at the same time, including far-reaching, non-budget-related policy initiatives that many good government groups believe should not even be considered as part of the budget adoption process.
    Yet, negotiations go on entirely behind closed doors. That becomes especially troubling – and dangerous -- in this era of complete one-party control of state government where there is an unprecedented lack of legislative checks and balances. The public is kept in the dark like never before. We know that taxpayers will be shouldered with their heaviest-ever burden footing the bill for at least a nearly $230-billion spending plan, one of the world’s largest governmental budgets! We know that there will be tax and fee increases. We know that there will be new mandates. We know that debt will increase. We know that there will be winners and losers.
    And we know that it’s poised to include monumental policy actions like banning natural gas hookups in the construction of new homes and buildings by 2026, an even higher state minimum wage (a move that farmers, small business owners and others have been warning against, and rightly so) and some sort of attempt (will it even begin to go far enough?) to address the failed bail reform that continues to devastate public safety and security across this state.
    What we still do not know, however, with any specificity, is exactly how Governor Hochul and legislative Democrats intend to carry it all out – or, for that matter, what surprises are still in store.
    The bottom line is that we don’t know and that’s the point Senate and Assembly Republicans are making clear: Before any legislator votes on this year’s final budget, our constituents deserve to know what’s in it.
    Specifically, we called on Governor Hochul and legislative Democrats to reject the use of so-called “messages of necessity” once the budget legislation is printed and ready for a vote. The State Constitution includes a vital “aging” provision that essentially requires a three-day waiting period (commonly called “aging”) before legislation can receive a final vote. While three days is not nearly enough time in the context of a stack of budget legislation as thick as dictionaries, it at least gives individual legislators, the press, the public, and all interested parties the chance to review the plan’s details.
    However, a longstanding loophole in the law authorizes governors to issue a “message of necessity” to bypass this three-day waiting period and allow for an immediate vote on any piece of legislation once introduced.
    It’s time to bring this state’s budget adoption process out into the light of day. Fundamental checks and balances have effectively gone by the wayside in this state government. 
    This budget demands a full public airing and the appropriate time for review and debate, but that’s not where we are headed. It's a broken process that keeps producing bloated state budgets that taxpayers will never be able to afford.
  8. Senator Tom O'Mara
    The last time New York’s farmers and agricultural leaders warned Governor Hochul that a misguided, politically motivated state action risked undermining farming as a way of life and a foundation of so many local economies, she effectively covered her ears and turned her back.
    That was last October, when the governor gave the final go-ahead to a recommendation from the state’s Farm Wage Board, established under a 2019 law known as the “Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act,” to lower the mandatory overtime pay threshold for farm workers from the current 60 hours to 40 hours.
    For months on end, we urged Governor Hochul to listen to common sense. We called on her to heed the warnings. We asked her to carefully consider the hundreds of hours of testimony from farmers, farm workers, industry advocates, and concerned citizens, as well as local, state, and federal representatives, including me, who overwhelmingly sought to deliver one message: Stay At 60.
    We provided facts from the front lines. For example, Cornell University experts issued a report last November detailing the potential and very troubling consequences of lowering the threshold to 40 hours, including that two-thirds of the dairy farms they interviewed indicated they would move out of milk production, and one of every four fruit or vegetable farm will relocate their operation outside of the state.
    Around the same time that Cornell released its findings, Farm Credit East estimated dire economic impacts to farms from lowering the threshold to 40 hours. This report showed that lowering the threshold “could have a significant economic impact on New York’s farms, and that taken together with the scheduled increases in minimum wage, is estimated to increase labor expenses $264 million, or 42%, causing a reduction in farm income of 20%.”
    It didn’t matter in the end. The fix was in.
    Now, with the ink barely dry on that fateful decision, farmers are already facing the next so-called “progressive” move on the agenda. Governor Hochul and the state’s Democrat legislative leaders are looking to immediately make New York State’s minimum wage the highest in the nation at $21.25 while also indexing the minimum wage to inflation to allow for annual cost-of-living adjustments.
    In a recent letter to the governor and legislative leaders, Grow NY Farms, a leading farm advocacy organization comprised of the New York Farm Bureau, the Northeast Dairy Producers Association, and others, wrote, “The fact remains that an increased minimum wage disproportionately impacts small business, including family farms and smaller wood manufacturers, and the supply chain. We believe that New York State should pause any plans for a minimum wage increase to allow farms and small businesses to catch their financial breath, assess economic impacts and plan for the future.”
    Remember that New York approved a phased-in minimum wage increase in 2016 that has already had a negative impact on the state’s farmers, manufacturers, and small businesses. Apparently, it doesn’t go high enough, fast enough for the progressive mindset currently controlling New York government.
    Far from being a progressive mindset, it’s instead a forget-the-consequences approach to governing that is driving this state into the ground.
    New York Farm Bureau President David Fischer recently said, “If (the minimum wage) is increased, the alternatives for farms will be to find ways to cut employee hours, move away from labor intensive crops or simply close up shop, something more than 2,000 farms have done since lawmakers passed the last wage hike. Let’s push pause on higher mandated labor costs, giving small businesses the time to catch up to the high inflation and protecting our local food system from further demise.”
    Once again, words of responsible caution and common sense from those on the front lines.
    Will Albany Democrats listen this time? Or will they once again carelessly ignore the warnings and keep delivering an even more uncertain future?
  9. Senator Tom O'Mara
    Four years ago, when then-Governor Andrew Cuomo and the Democrat majorities in the Senate and Assembly enacted what’s known as the “Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act” (CLCPA), many of us started warning that Albany Democrats are pushing ahead with a radical agenda of energy mandates that ignores the cost to all New Yorkers. 
    New York State has been a leader in clean energy and reducing emissions and we should continue our advancement. Here's just a few facts highlighting that we lead in these efforts: 
      • New York State consumes less total energy per capita than all but two other states;  
      • New York State’s per capita energy consumption for the transportation sector is the lowest in the nation; 
     • In 2020, New York State’s per-capita, energy-related carbon dioxide emissions were lower than those of any other state. However, New York State's energy-related CO² emissions have since increased about 24% due to the 2021 closing of the Indian Point nuclear plant - a glaring example of the lack of foresight and rationality in New York's energy plan.  
    Further, as is, our state emissions account for only 0.4% of total global emissions. In other words, even if we get to zero, at astronomical expense and devastation to New York's economy, we will have zero impact on global climate. 
    Governor Hochul took the reins from Cuomo and remained all-in. The trouble has been that their plan never included a straightforward cost-benefit analysis of its feasibility, affordability, or reliability. And up to now, what New Yorkers have been left facing are mountainous costs and dire consequences.  
    For their part, the governor and her top energy officials have simply denied it. They have insisted over and over that the benefits would far outweigh costs. That was their story and they stuck to it for the better part of four years – until a week or so ago when, suddenly, it was like the lights came back on in Albany. The word was out that the governor wanted to revise a key provision of the original CLCPA, one that will directly reduce the plan’s cost of implementation.  
    The governor finally focused on the fact that New York is currently one of only two governmental entities worldwide utilizing an irrational and unfeasible accounting metric as the basis for examining the effect of carbon emissions and determining the timeline for actions to address it. Maryland is the only other state to have enacted a climate law using this metric. All other states, as well as nations and countries undertaking emissions reduction efforts, base their actions on a standard, internationally accepted, science-based accounting metric. 
    On April 3, in an opinion article published by the USA Today Network, the co-chairs of New York’s Climate Action Council, Basil Seggos, Commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation, and Doreen Harris, President and CEO of the NYS Energy Research and Development Authority, signaled a dramatic change in the administration’s thinking. 
    “When the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act was passed in 2019, it included a way of counting New York’s emissions that differs from the scientific standard used by nearly every other state and country in the world. In addition, NO COST ANALYSIS WAS COMPLETED (emphasis mine) at that time, and as we all know, the economic landscape has changed dramatically since 2019,” Seggos and Harris wrote. “The reality is that we are advancing this transformation to fight climate change at a time in which many New Yorkers are struggling financially and economically. Now, under Hochul's direction, we are taking a close look at consumer cost impacts to ensure we will reach our climate goals while protecting New Yorkers. As it stands today, the climate act’s emissions accounting method is certain to be a major driver of future costs for New York families (emphasis mine).” 
    In a subsequent Capital Tonight television interview, Seggos also said that the plan, as currently constructed, will impose extraordinary costs across the board on New Yorkers, including causing home heating costs to increase by 80% and gasoline prices will rise by 62 cents per gallon. Yes, you read that right: home heating cost increases by 80% and gas prices higher by 62 cents per gallon under the current plan. 
    Finally recognizing this, the chairs of the Senate and Assembly Energy Committees quickly introduced legislation (S.6030/A.6039) that would make the change to the internationally accepted accounting metric. 
    Initial reports were that the governor and legislative supporters wanted the accounting metric changed as part of this year’s budget. By the end of the week, inexplicably but not surprisingly for this administration, the governor quickly backed off making it a budget priority in the face of mounting pushback from staunch supporters of the current plan and their legislative allies.  
    Nevertheless, the stunning change of thinking remains: The Hochul administration, and some top legislative Democrats, finally acknowledge that, left as is, the CLCPA will cost everyday New Yorkers and their families far too much on everything, upend lives, and devastate local businesses and economies. They finally recognize that the current plan holds massive consequences, on so many levels, and that it’s time to pump the brakes on an out-of-control climate strategy that New Yorkers don’t want, can’t afford, and, most importantly, know won’t make a bit of difference for the climate in this state, the nation, or anywhere around the world. 
    From day one, that is what Senate and Assembly Republicans have been saying. Far too many New Yorkers have been kept in the dark about these potential costs and consequences, largely because Governor Hochul and her top aides either did not truly know or really didn’t want to shine any light on it. Now that they have, however, it remains more important than ever for more citizens, communities, businesses, families, and workers to fully understand where New York’s energy future is headed and to demand a desperately needed rethinking and slowing down of this process. 
  10. Senator Tom O'Mara
    With Governor Hochul and the Legislature’s Democrat majorities starting negotiations over a new state budget, the battle lines are drawn and alarms are sounding throughout the halls of the State Capitol. 
    From criminal justice to health care to workforce development, advocacy groups and their legislative supporters make it clear that they are all-in – forget the consequences – on moving New York State in an extremely liberal, often radical, big spending, high taxing, so-called “progressive” direction. 
    On so many critical challenges, it’s a far-left, progressive free-for-all. Or, depending on your point of view, it’s a progressive free fall resulting in this state’s decline.  
    Pay attention. 
    Upstate United led off one recent news release this way, “With progressive legislators in the Capitol pushing bills that will drastically hike the state’s minimum wage and lead to significant job losses, reduced worker hours, income reductions, and closures across New York, business groups gathered in the Capitol this afternoon to urge caution and common sense.” 
    Caution and common sense out of Albany? That’s about as far as you can get from accurately defining New York government under one-party, all-Democrat control. 
    Let’s stay focused on this extreme push for a higher minimum wage, keeping in mind that New York’s minimum wage has been steadily rising since 2016. It’s not on a fast-enough track for some progressive legislators, who would immediately jack it up to $20 per hour (and even higher in some parts of the state). 
    The consequences? According to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), raising the minimum wage this way would lead to at least 128,000 lost jobs over the coming decade, with 65% of the losses suffered by small businesses. The lost economic output for small businesses alone would approach $12 billion. We know what a hard hit that would be for small, rural communities throughout the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions, and across Upstate where small businesses are already struggling to remain the backbone of local economies.  
    The future for manufacturing workers? One recent report revealed that since 2016, when the state began implementing its current minimum wage escalation, nearly 40% of manufacturers have increased automation at their factories. In other words, fewer jobs and less weekly hours for the manufacturing workforce. 
    Keep in mind also, as Upstate United highlights, this “ill-advised legislative drive comes on the heels of New York’s complete failure to restore the Unemployment Insurance (UI) Trust Fund, which was depleted by the COVID pandemic and state-mandated business shutdowns and restrictions.” 
    The consequences for family farmers and the agricultural industry as a whole? Let’s not forget that this push for a higher minimum wage arrives on the heels of the Hochul administration giving the go-ahead to reducing the threshold for farmworker overtime pay from 60 to 40 hours – a move that already puts at risk the future of many family farms. What would be the result of piling a 40% increase in the minimum wage on top of that misguided move? 
    New York Farm Bureau President David Fisher states, “If it is increased, the alternatives for farms will be to find ways to cut employee hours, move away from labor intensive crops or simply close up shop, something more than 2,000 farms have done since lawmakers passed the last wage hike. Let’s push pause on higher mandated labor costs, giving small businesses the time to catch up to the high inflation and protecting our local food system from further demise.” 
    According to the Grow NY Farms Coalition, “Any increase in farm wages will cripple our rural communities and put the security of our state’s food supply and the economic viability of the entire agriculture industry at risk. With inflation and farm inputs still on the rise, now is not the time to double down and increase costs further. We urge our state leaders to consider the current economic landscape and uniqueness of critical industries like agriculture before making rushed decisions.” 
    Those are words of common sense, however, as I noted above, caution and common sense are given no heed whatsoever in the out of control, “progressive” free fall driving this state down. 
     
  11. Senator Tom O'Mara
    Approaching final negotiations over a new state budget, it’s critical to begin stressing that this year’s budget must address the right priorities – and one of the top priorities, in my view, is the future of our local roads and bridges. 
    It’s a priority that I and Assemblyman Phil Palmesano have long worked to strengthen. Since 2013, in fact, we have stood together with New York’s county and town highway superintendents, and many other local leaders, to do everything we can to raise awareness and call for legislative support.  
    Last week, like we have for over a decade now, we gained the support of more than 70 state senators and members of the Assembly to get behind the call for increased state support for local roads, bridges, and culverts. This annual advocacy campaign, known as “Local Roads Are Essential,” is sponsored by the New York State Association of County Highway Superintendents (NYSCHSA) and the New York State Association of Town Superintendents of Highways, Inc. (NYSAOTSOH). 
    In a March 7, 2023, letter to Governor Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders, we wrote, “We believe that New York State's investment in local transportation infrastructuremust be a foundation of the nation's most aggressive infrastructure program in order for this program to achieveits envisioned generational goals. Unfortunately, theExecutiveBudget proposes local road, bridge, and culvert funding to remain flat for this second year of the five-year, Department of Transportation (DOT) Capital Plan. First and foremost, in our view, the Governor’s proposal fails to recognize or understand the impact of a 22% construction inflation rate. For example, New York State Department of Transportation’s July 2020 to July 2022 price adjustments show significant cost increases. Fuel costs are nearly 260% higher, asphalt nearly 80% higher, and steel costs have increased by approximately 115%.” 
    We’re calling for the final 2023-2024 state budget to take critical steps and provide the funding necessary to move forward on this priority, as well as to adequately recognize (which Governor Hochul’s proposed Executive Budget does not) the impact of a 22% construction inflation rate and how the exorbitant, inflationary cost increases for fuel, asphalt, and steel are severely straining county and town transportation budgets.  
    According to NYSCHSA President Kevin Rooney, “Construction inflation means less work will get done. Our dollars won’t go as far meaning fewer critical projects will be completed and more will be delayed. Less work for our contractors means fewer construction jobs and likewise fewer contracts for MWBE firms. Our equipment and materials suppliers will try to recover their inflationary cost through higher prices. Delays in highway and bridge maintenance means more costly rehabilitation and reconstruction down the road. State funding needs to be increased to avoid the worst impacts of the unprecedented construction inflation on our already aging and ailing local transportation systems.”   
    Specifically, we are calling for the new state budget to increase the base fundinglevel for CHIPS by $200 million to a total of $738 million; increase Extreme WinterRecoveryfunding by $70 million to $170 million; increase the CHIPS bidding threshold from $350,000 to $750,000; and restore the Dedicated Highway and Bridge Trust Fund (DHBTF) to its originally intended purpose as a dedicated, pay-as-you-go funding source for critical transportation repairs and capital projects. 
    According to one analysis by the New York State Association of Town Superintendents of Highways, the local highway system outside of New York City faces an annual funding gap of $1.7 billion. 
    Perhaps most frustrating is that New York State has the resources thanks to the federal Infrastructure Bill—which delivered an historic 52% increase in federal funding for New York’s roads and bridges over five years, or $4.6 billion more. Unfortunately, as Washington stepped up, Governor Hochul and the Albany Democrats stepped back and grew the NYSDOT Capital Plan by only $2 billion over the same five-year period, according to Mike Elmendorf, President and CEO of the Associated General Contractors of New York State (AGC). 
    Assemblyman Palmesano and I will remain committed and working to prioritize the state’s commitment to the effective maintenance and improvement of local transportation infrastructure in every region of New York. State investment will be essential to the future of local communities, economies, environments, governments, and taxpayers. 
     
  12. Senator Tom O'Mara
    To kick off the 2023 session of the State Legislature – one that we believe finds New York at unprecedented crossroads in so many critical areas – the Senate Republican Conference put forth a comprehensive set of goals to help rebuild and strengthen local and state economies, focus on the affordability challenges facing everyday New Yorkers and their families, and make public safety a top priority.

    We’re calling it “Rescue New York” which, in our view, undeniably defines where we find ourselves at this moment in the state’s history: a rescue and recovery mission for this state’s future.

    From combating crime to job creation to tax relief, one-party control of New York State government has been a disaster for Upstate New York communities, economies, and taxpayers.  The Albany Democrat direction for New York is producing billions upon billions of dollars of short- and long-term spending commitments requiring billions upon billions of dollars in new taxes, fees, and borrowing for future generations of state and local taxpayers.

    A relentless pursuit of a far-left, extreme-liberal agenda remains, as it has been for the past three years, the first order of business in New York government over a long-term, sustainable future for middle-class communities, families, workers, businesses, industries, and taxpayers.

    Among many others, the overriding goals of Rescue New York would: 
    instilling a better quality of life for all New Yorkers by restoring public safety and security as one of the state’s highest responsibilities;   making New York more affordable by cutting the state’s highest-in-the-nation tax burden and one of the country’s heaviest burdens of debt;   putting a stop to out-of-control government spending that has defined the current era of NY government and threatens to make the nation’s highest population losses even worse;   rethinking a process underway to quickly implement radical energy mandates that ignore affordability, reliability, and feasability;   transforming the state-local partnership by making good on a promise made over a decade ago to address the outrageous practice of unfunded state mandates;   refusing to take any actions that risk the future of New York’s family farms, including lowering the farmworker overtime threshold from 60 to 40 hours;   finally, fully, and honestly reassessing New York’s COVID response, including its tragic failures and shortcomings, especially within the state’s nursing homes;  combating an exploding fentanyl crisis; and   restoring accountability to state government in the aftermath of disgraced ex-Governor Andrew Cuomo’s rampant abuses of executive power.  None of the above is where we are heading in the current legislative session under continued one-party, all-Democrat rule.

    Last year’s enacted state budget, for example, increased spending by nearly $20 billion – the annual state budget, for the first time in history, surpassed $200 billion – and raised taxes by more than $4 billion. Governor Hochul has already proposed starting negotiations on a final 2023-2024 state budget that would be $7 billion higher than the current budget – and that’s before the willingly reckless, big-spending Democrat leaders in the Senate and Assembly get their hands on it. 

    There simply has been no turning back from this explosive tax-and-spend path under Governor Hochul and the Democrat legislative leaders. Far from it, in fact. 

    Most reasonable New Yorkers also recognize that rising crime and violence, and weakened public safety and security, are the result of the pro-criminal policies being enacted and pushed by this governor and a State Legislature under one-party control. They have emboldened the criminal element throughout this state through failed bail reform, lenient parole policies, an out-of-control Parole Board, cowing to the “defund the police” movement, and a “no consequences” approach to criminal justice.

    It has been alarming to district attorneys, law enforcement officers, and criminal justice experts. It shows no signs of letting up.

    Our alarm calls have gone unheard. Nevertheless, the fight for restoring a more responsible and reasonable approach to governing goes on.

    You can read more about “Rescue New York” on my Senate website, omara.nysenate.gov.
  13. Senator Tom O'Mara
    Budget adoption season is underway at the State Capitol, which means, first, that joint Senate-Assembly public hearings on Governor Kathy Hochul’s 2023-2024 Executive Budget proposal have started and will remain underway until March 1. 
    Conducted jointly by the Senate Finance Committee, and the Assembly Ways and Means Committee, these forums examine and critique the governor’s proposal in detail and solicit testimony from state agency officials, public policy and fiscal experts, local government representatives, business leaders, educators, farmers, law enforcement, and many other advocates.  
     I have served as the Ranking Member on the Finance Committee since 2021 and continue to welcome having a direct voice on the legislative committee most responsible for overseeing the adoption of the state’s annual budget. These hearings highlight the course that New York’s government is looking to set for short- and long-term fiscal practices and responsibilities. Equally important, the hearings begin setting the stage for the Legislature’s negotiations with the governor over the final state budget.  
     They are a chance for the public to learn more about what’s being planned by Governor Hochul and legislative leaders.  
     Remember that the governor has proposed a 2023-24 budget that starts at $227 billion, already a $7-billion increase over the current, record-setting $220-billion budget. In other words, the governor and the Democrat leaders of the Senate and Assembly majorities will start final negotiations over a new state budget looking to increase state spending by at least $7 billion – and so it’s likely to go significantly higher!  
     My initial reaction to the Hochul proposal stated, “Governor Hochul’s proposed budget remains a spend, spend, spend strategy that shells out billions of taxpayer dollars but remains a billion miles away from making New York State more affordable for taxpayers. It largely ignores the reality that New York State remains one of America’s highest-taxed, least affordable, most debt-ridden and overregulated states, and that we’re leading the nation in population loss. The spending habits of this government under one-party, all-Democrat control can only make New York a more expensive place to live and do business. There is nothing in this plan that seriously addresses the need for lower taxes across the board, less regulation, debt reduction, mandate relief, or any of the other strangleholds on state and local taxpayers, small businesses and manufacturers, and continually hard-pressed upstate communities, economies, and workers.” 
     Senate Republicans will continue to be a voice for lower taxes, less regulation, greater accountability, economic growth, job creation, and more common sense on state fiscal practices. I welcome the start of this year’s budget hearings, at this critical time, to put a spotlight on a range of policies and programs that will decide the future and strength of our local communities and economies. 
     In my view, we need to keep working against a New York State tax and regulatory mindset that puts our businesses and manufacturers at a competitive disadvantage, imposes red tape that strangles local economies, or prioritizes higher and higher spending, overtaxing, outrageous mandates, and burdensome overregulation. 
     At the start of the new legislative session in early January, our Senate conference unveiled a “Rescue New York” legislative agenda that proposes a range of policies focusing on public safety and security, economic growth and job creation, tax relief and regulatory reform, and affordability initiatives to try to reverse New York’s nation-leading population loss. 
     The Senate Republican analysis of Governor Hochul’s proposed budget has been posted on my Senate website, www.omara.nysenate.gov.  
     The first budget hearings were held last week and covered transportation, public protection, elementary and secondary education, economic development, and taxes. Archived videos of each hearing will be available on the state Senate website at www.nysenate.gov/events.  
     This week’s hearings, beginning on Monday, February 13, will cover human services, environmental conservation, local/general government, and mental hygiene. They can be viewed on the Senate website listed above, or on www.omara.nysenate.gov. 
  14. Senator Tom O'Mara
    A recent joint Senate-Assembly public hearing helped make it clear where New York State is headed on a radical remaking of our energy landscape: nobody truly knows.  
    Remember that last December, the state’s Climate Action Council released final recommendations to implement far-reaching renewable energy mandates for all New Yorkers. These mandates were set in motion four years ago by the “Climate Leadership and Climate Protection Act” (CLCPA) signed into law by then-Governor Andrew Cuomo and the Legislature’s Democrat majorities. Since Governor Hochul took over after Cuomo resigned in August 2021, she has pushed the pedal to the floor on these extreme energy orders.  
    At the daylong public hearing in Albany on January 19, comments from many Democrat majority members of the Senate and Assembly committees on Finance, Energy and Telecommunications, and Environmental Conservation -- as well as those who testified in favor of the plan as it stands – revealed that this Legislature isn’t exactly sure how much it’s going to cost, isn’t all that concerned whether it’s practical (we’ll just figure it out as we go along), and has no idea if it’s remotely sustainable for future ratepayers, taxpayers, manufacturers, or local economies. Furthermore, they are clearly willing to consider whatever tax it takes, to sacrifice jobs, and to grant unilateral authority to the executive branch to keep moving forward on this radical plan as rapidly as possible, whatever the consequences may be. 
    For example, to help the state afford it, proposals have already been introduced that would raise gasoline costs by an additional 55-cents-per-gallon and drive up home heating fuel costs by another 26%. 
    It’s a runaway train. New Yorkers already bearing a heavy burden for state government mandates imposed under extreme executive control throughout the COVID-19 pandemic better be ready for much more of the same, and then some, if these energy mandates keep marching forward.  
    The hearing made it clear that this plan, which advocates readily admit will cost at least $270 billion, has never been accompanied by any credible cost-benefit analysis of the impact of these actions on energy affordability, reliability, or sustainability. It’s more than likely to be a much higher price tag. 
    Soon, for example, millions of homeowners could be forced to convert their natural gas, propane, or heating fuel oil furnaces to electric at estimated costs of as much as $40,000 per household. In just two years, 2025, you will no longer be able to build a new single-family home or low-rise residential building anywhere in New York with a natural gas, propane, or fuel oil furnace or boiler. The continued use of natural gas/propane/fuel oil appliances for home heating, cooking, water heating, or clothes drying will be banned in 2035. 
    I have joined legislative colleagues and others over the past several years to sound the alarm on what’s coming, particularly over how these irrational and unsustainable mandates will come at great costs and consequences. Far too many New Yorkers remain in the dark about the plan’s extreme efforts to eliminate reliable, affordable sources of energy.  
    Many of us who have raised these concerns have also fully encouraged New York’s past efforts to increase cleaner and renewable power. These efforts have been remarkably successful. They have already made our state a national and worldwide leader accounting for just 0.4% of global carbon emissions. Nevertheless, this new plan will have no impact on the actions of neighboring states or, even more critically, on China, India, or Russia, which account for 40% of global emissions.  
    To say it another way (and it’s a critical point): Even if New York State reaches zero emissions, there will be zero impact on our own climate or the global climate at large -- yet all New Yorkers will pay a heavy, heavy price. 
    New York State should continue to be a leader. At the same time, it remains important to keep sounding the alarm that the state’s energy strategy as it stands is not realistic or achievable, and unreasonably risks grid reliability, affordability, and sustainability.  
     
    Governor Hochul is about to unveil her proposed 2023-2024 state budget and work with her Democrat partners in the Senate and Assembly to put the final additions on what will wind up being New York’s largest-ever spending plan. It bears watching, for all of us, especially on the energy front.  
     
  15. Senator Tom O'Mara
    Above all else this week, I hope that this column will find you and your families, friends, and neighbors well and doing your best to have a memorable and meaningful holiday season. 
    Approaching the start of another new year in New York State government, we could focus on looking ahead to the debates that always await the governor and legislators in ordinary times -- traditionally difficult challenges on education, economic development, environmental protection, fiscal policies, infrastructure, public safety and security, and so many more. 
    But these remain far from ordinary times. Consequently, the beginning of 2023 will arrive during what continues to be an incredibly long and hard road back to community and economic renewal. As always, this hoped-for revitalization will continue to hinge on strong regional teamwork on the goals and the priorities we share across the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions. The experience we have gained and the bonds we have cemented over the past few difficult, unexpected, unprecedented years will continue to serve us well in 2023. This teamwork will remain fundamental to our success throughout the year ahead. We need to keep pushing forward. We need to get more and more sectors of local economies moving again. We need to keep getting more and more workers back on the job as soon as possible. 
    And we need a state government that’s focused on addressing the right priorities. 
    At the start of the New Year, I look forward to beginning my representation of the newly redefined (as a result of redistricting) 58th Senate District. This redefined district continues to include the core of the district I have represented since 2011 – Chemung, Schuyler, Steuben, and Yates counties – with the addition of Seneca and Tioga counties, and a part of Allegany County. It is one of New York’s geographically largest legislative districts. Nevertheless, the communities and citizens comprising the 58th District harbor common strengths and share fundamental goals, and I look forward to working with all of you to be a strong voice in Albany – and to keep fighting to secure our priorities for stronger and safer communities. 
    On the economic front of this ongoing battle to reclaim solid ground across our region and within individual communities, we will need the Hochul administration to better recognize that our regional revitalization can and must move forward with greater clarity, common sense, and fairness. Many of us across the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions -- government officials, business owners, and workers and families alike – continue to believe this revitalization can and should be accomplished more effectively and rapidly. 
    In 2023, we will need to redouble our emphasis on the need for fairness. I’ve had this discussion with many local leaders and citizens. We will continue pushing the administration to recognize specific regional concerns and suggestions -- and the need for sensible compromises and effective, safe resolutions. 
    There is enormous work facing us to fix what’s broken and keep providing fundamental assistance. On the legislative front, we must continue to hear the voices of small business, farming, tourism, manufacturing, and other foundations of local economies. Moving forward, these ongoing discussions, on a bipartisan basis, will become increasingly critical. As I have said repeatedly, one way we stay together is by staying informed. 
    Finally, as we continue this week that has traditionally had as its centerpiece a reflection on the year past, we still focus on this: Thank You. 
    Thank you to everyone throughout the public and private sectors providing diligent public outreach and service. Because of these incredible and inspiring efforts, local citizens and communities have been able to persevere, stay together, remain hopeful, move forward, and keep planning for better days. Let’s all keep doing our part. These will remain the rays of hope at the beginning of the New Year, the silver lining of strength that has and will keep seeing us through. 
    Happy New Year. 
  16. Senator Tom O'Mara
    It’s fitting this week that New York’s ongoing leap into the energy unknown arrives on winter’s doorstep.  
    On December 19, the state’s “Climate Action Council” plans to release final recommendations to implement far-reaching renewable energy mandates for all New Yorkers. Winter officially starts two days later, although some might argue that it’s been winter in New York for several years now.  
    Remember that these mandates were set in motion in 2019 by the “Climate Leadership and Climate Protection Act” (CLCPA) signed into law by then-Governor Andrew Cuomo and the Legislature’s Democrat majorities. When she took the reins after Cuomo resigned, Governor Hochul continued full speed ahead on this radical remaking of energy policy.  
    What does it mean? More than you might expect. Soon, for example, millions of homeowners could be forced to convert their natural gas, propane, or heating fuel oil furnaces to electric at estimated costs of as much as $40,000 per household. In just two years, 2025, you will no longer be able to build a new single-family home or low-rise residential building anywhere in New York with a natural gas, propane, or fuel oil furnace or boiler. The continued use of natural gas/propane/fuel oil appliances for home heating, cooking, water heating, or clothes drying will be banned in 2035. 
    Furthermore, the plan anticipates negative impacts to school and local government property tax bases. It anticipates industries being shuttered and job losses. To help the state afford it, proposals have been introduced that would raise gasoline costs by an additional 55-cents-per-gallon and drive up home heating fuel costs by another 26%. 
    On top of today’s already inflated prices, Governor Hochul’s ambition to impose clean energy mandates on all New Yorkers remains pie-in-the-sky high. Her unwillingness to explain how much it will cost or how the state intends to pay for it is shocking. Consumers have no idea what’s coming at them. The Climate Action Council’s plan has never been accompanied by any cost-benefit analysis of the impact of these actions on energy affordability, reliability, or sustainability. 
    I have joined legislative colleagues and others over the past three years to sound the alarm on the CLCPA, particularly over how these irrational and unsustainable mandates will come at great costs and consequences. Far too many New Yorkers remain in the dark about it, largely because Governor Hochul and her clean energy czars either don’t truly know themselves or really don’t want to say. 
    Our Senate Republican conference has steadfastly highlighted the plan’s extreme efforts to eliminate reliable, affordable sources of energy that are vital for the citizens and communities we represent. We have also fully encouraged New York’s past efforts to increase cleaner and renewable power, efforts that have been astoundingly successful. New York State is already a national and worldwide leader accounting for just 0.4% of global carbon emissions. Nevertheless, New York’s CLCPA will have no impact on the actions of neighboring states or, even more critically, on China, India, or Russia, which account for 40% of global emissions. In other words: Even if New York State does reach zero emissions, there will be zero impact on our own climate or the global climate at large -- yet all New Yorkers will pay a heavy, heavy price. 
    The Independent Power Producers of New York State (IPPNYS), the state Business Council and others have been calling on Governor Hochul to address the strategy’s shortcomings before it’s too late. The group recently wrote, “The current draft (CLCPA plan) is complicated, could greatly impact affordability for ratepayers, has no comprehensive analysis of implementation costs for ratepayers, and could have a detrimental effect on the economy and ALL New Yorkers.” 
    While I believe New York State should continue to be a leader on reducing emissions, it remains important to keep sounding the alarm that the state’s strategy as it stands is not realistic or achievable, and unreasonably risks energy grid reliability and affordability.  
    It remains important for more citizens, communities, businesses, families, and workers to fully understand where New York’s energy future is headed and to demand a desperately needed rethinking and slowing down of this process.  
  17. Senator Tom O'Mara
    Approaching a new legislative session in January, we unfortunately continue to face the same set of challenges and crises that many of us fought to address at the beginning of 2022. 
    In other words, the agenda remains the same. We must stay committed to a comprehensive set of goals to help grow local and state economies, focus on the financial burdens facing middle-class families and small business owners, and make public safety an urgent priority. 
    From combating crime to job creation to tax relief, one-party control of New York government has been a disaster. The Albany Democrat direction for New York is producing billions upon billions of dollars of short- and long-term spending commitments requiring billions upon billions of dollars in new taxes and borrowing for future generations of state and local taxpayers. It simply continues to fail to produce any hope for a long-term, sustainable future for Upstate, middle-class communities, families, workers, businesses, industries, and taxpayers. 
    At the opening of the 2022 legislative session last January, when our Senate Republican Conference unveiled a “Take Back New York” agenda, I said, “New York remains one of the highest-taxed states in America. We are one of the most overregulated states in the nation. Our local governments and local property taxpayers continue to foot the bill for one of the country’s heaviest burdens of unfunded state mandates. It’s no coincidence that New York led the nation last year in overall tax burden and population loss. Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers are heading for the exits. This state is at a crossroads and we must enact an across-the-board agenda to cut taxes, address affordability, and rebuild stronger and safer communities.” 
    The exact sentiment rings true approaching 2023. This state continues to neglect critical shortcomings, including the need, among many others, to: 
    offer a safer and better quality of life for all New Yorkers by repealing bail reform and supporting law enforcement, corrections officers, crime victims and communities as a whole;  make New York more affordable by cutting the state’s highest-in-the-nation tax burden and enacting a series of measures that lower the cost of living;  get New York off the bottom of the list of states in America with the worst business friendly climates;  expand economic opportunity by cutting regulations and unfunded mandates, and refocusing on a revitalization of New York’s manufacturing sector; provide equity and fairness in New York’s ongoing investments in physical infrastructure and broadband;  ensure greater security for vulnerable populations by addressing the needs of veterans, providing resources to seniors and caregivers, combating a still-rampant opioid epidemic, and enhancing mental health programs and services; and  restore accountability, transparency, and local decision-making to New York government after nearly three years of unprecedented overreaches of executive power.  The upcoming legislative session once again presents a pivotal agenda. The state budget under one-party control, for example, has accelerated state spending at a massive rate -- for the first time, the state budget surpasses $200 billion -- and raised taxes by billions. Could Governor Hochul and the Legislature’s Democrat majorities eye yet another huge budgetary leap? 
    Will Governor Hochul continue refusing to change course on lowering the current farmworker overtime threshold from 60 hours to 40 hours? It’s a move that risks changing the face of New York State agriculture as we have known it for generations. 
    In recent columns, I have likewise addressed the ongoing crisis in public safety and security, as well as a radical remaking of energy policy that lacks accountability, feasibility, or transparency. 
    It remains, in my view, an overriding priority to take back Upstate’s rightful place in this government and restore a more responsible and reasonable approach to governing.
  18. Senator Tom O'Mara
    It’s been an unrelenting reality for the past two years: New York is not safe. 
    Yet Albany’s powers that be still don’t get it. 
    Public opinion polls keep sending the message: Too many New Yorkers, in too many places throughout this state, do not feel safe where they live, work, and raise their families. 
    Albany ignores it. 
    New York’s citizens blame state government policies for creating a pervasive climate of lawlessness and for emboldening society’s violent, out-of-control criminal element. 
    Albany refuses to see it. 
    It’s right there in front of them, day after day, in headlines from every corner of this state.  
    Another violent criminal released on bail.  Another cop-killer released on parole. Another shocking video of a brutal attack on an innocent bystander, or another brazen robbery in broad daylight. 
    Despite the daily barrage, Governor Hochul and Albany Democrats controlling the state Legislature won’t act.  
    The fact is, it doesn’t take another poll to reinforce the reality for too many of New York’s citizens and communities: Public safety and security, and law and order, have taken a back seat in this New York State government under one-party, all-Democrat (and mostly downstate) control. 
    A prime example continues to stand out. 
    Ask any correctional officer or employee at Elmira, Five Points, Auburn, or any other state correctional facility where the climate inside the prison walls is nothing short of a powder keg since the implementation earlier this year of a law known as the “Humane Alternatives to Solitary Confinement (HALT) Act.” 
    The HALT Act took effect in April. It was approved in 2021 by the Legislature’s Democrat majorities and signed into law by former Governor Andrew Cuomo. The New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association (NYSCOPBA) has repeatedly called on current Governor Kathy Hochul to not move forward on implementing HALT. So have many legislators, including me, whose districts include a correctional facility and who could see and hear firsthand where this was heading. 
    We did so again late last week outside the Auburn Correctional Facility in Cayuga County.  
    Nevertheless, Governor Hochul just keeps following in the footsteps of her disgraced predecessor in a relentless pursuit of a so-called “progressive” approach to criminal justice. 
    HALT severely limits the use of special housing units in correctional facilities and restricts the ability of prison officials to discipline the state’s most violent inmates, who commit criminal acts in prison, by separating them from the general population.  
    NYSCOPBA has warned since the law’s enactment that it puts officers at even greater risk within a prison system where inmate attacks on prison staff reached record numbers in 2021 and are on pace to be even more serious this year. 
    In fact, according to numbers reported by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS), since April 1, 2022, overall violence in New York State correctional facilities has risen over 35%. Inmate-on-staff violence has increased approximately 37%, while inmate-on-inmate violence has increased roughly 30%, since April 1. According to the data, the single-week high of inmate-on-staff assaults was set during the week ending May 22, 2022, as 41 staff members were assaulted. The monthly average number of staff members assaulted in 2022 prior to the implementation of the HALT Act on April 1 is 98. Post HALT, the monthly average has jumped to 129 staff assaulted. Additionally, the single-week high of inmate-on-inmate assaults was set during the week ending May 1, 2022, as 37 inmates were assaulted by other incarcerated individuals. The monthly average number of inmates assaulted by other inmates in 2022 prior to the implementation of the HALT Act on April 1 is 99. Post HALT, the monthly average rose to 131 inmates assaulted by other inmates. 
    The Elmira Correctional Facility is now the second-most dangerous prison for staff and inmates. 
    Earlier this month, following the latest round of attacks inside Elmira, NYSCOPBA Western Region Vice President Kenny Gold said, “Since April 1, assaults on staff have increased by forty percent and the number of injuries to staff that are considered ‘moderate to severe’ has increased by ninety-eight percent. The statistics don’t lie – the HALT Act has single-handedly made state correctional facilities more violent, and less safe. Inmate-on-staff and inmate-on-inmate violence has rapidly increased since the disastrous legislation went into effect. How much violence at Elmira alone within such a short period will it take before any legislator that supported this ridiculous legislation will acknowledge this Act was a failure?” 
    Albany Democrats nor Hochul can understand the word failure. 
    NYSCOPBA launched a “Repeal HALT campaign” back in May to raise awareness of the dangerous working and living conditions inside New York State’s correctional facilities. Since then, NYSCOPBA representatives have stood with our Senate and Assembly Republican conferences to announce legislation that we have introduced and sponsor (S. S.S9378/A.10593) to repeal the HALT Act.  
    Albany’s response? Silence.
    And in this instance, silence equals more violence, more injuries, and a more dangerous environment within our facilities. 
    According to NYSCOPBA, the spike in assaults, in conjunction with declining officer recruitment numbers and increased retirements since HALT’s implementation, amounts to a crisis inside correctional facilities.  
    Governor Hochul and the Legislature’s Democratic majorities have been solely focused on coddling violent criminals by severely hampering disciplinary sanctions, finding ways to parole more and more inmates, and diminishing the ability of correctional officers to deal with violence inside prisons. 
    Ongoing, unrelenting attacks inside Elmira and prisons across this state should serve as a stark reminder that steps are needed to better protect corrections officers, prison staff, inmates themselves, and the overall safety and security within the walls of our prisons.  
    It starts with repealing HALT.  
    Governor Hochul and New York’s current Democrat legislative leadership keep moving in the completely opposite and wrong direction. Our correctional officers remain extremely alarmed about rising violence inside prisons and we share their concern.  
    They deserve better. We all do. 
    It is a careless approach to criminal justice and corrections, it’s irresponsible, and it’s dangerous. 
    What can you do about it? Vote on November 8th. 
  19. Senator Tom O'Mara
    I was pleased recently to have New York’s leading small business association, the National Federation of Independent Business of New York (NFIB/NY), reaffirm my commitment to the future of small business and revitalizing our state and local economies overall. 
    As part of the organization’s 2021-2022 legislative review, I was one of seven state senators to earn a 100% rating on how priority issues were addressed for small business owners across New York. 
    The NFIB/NY “Voting Record” can be viewed online at http://www.nfib.com/new-york/. 
    NFIB’s New York State Director Ashley Ranslow said, “Our voting record is meant to show our members and the small business community whether their legislators support New York’s job creators and our local economies…The latest national NFIB Optimism Index data show the number of small business owners expecting conditions to improve in the next six months is the lowest it’s been since the 1970s, and we’re looking to the state legislature to step up and support Main Street businesses in New York on issues like crushing and unfair pandemic-induced hikes in UI taxes and suffocating overregulation. On behalf of our thousands of members and struggling small business owners across the Empire State, I want to sincerely thank the legislators who time and again backed their words with action, voting in support of homegrown job creation every opportunity available to them.” 
    At the moment, the COVID-induced Unemployment Insurance (UI) tax crisis facing New York’s employers is especially alarming, and Governor Kathy Hochul and the Democrat-controlled majorities in the Senate and Assembly have turned their collective back on it. 
    Remember that the COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent economic shutdowns produced a massive, record number of unemployment insurance (UI) claims in New York and other states. New York’s UI fund didn’t have the funds to pay the escalating claims and began borrowing from the federal government in May 2020. Many states did the same, but New York is one of only seven states or territories still in debt to the federal government, to the tune of $8.1 billion (only California’s outstanding loan balance is higher). As of last May, New York State had only paid back $1.2 billion of its federal loan, which many of us have been highlighting as unacceptable and a serious threat to employers and economies alike. If New York doesn’t fully repay its outstanding balance by this November, interest costs will go on accumulating and, consequently, the federal portion of employers’ 2022 tax bills will continue to rise. 
    According to a June report from the state comptroller, “Absent any significant federal or State action, employer costs will continue to grow, potentially impeding the State’s employment recovery amid growing economic uncertainty.” 
    The Senate and Assembly Republican conferences have been clamoring for action on this UI front. For Governor Hochul and legislative leaders to continue ignoring this building UI crisis – especially after just approving the largest-ever state budget that’s spreading around billions upon billions of taxpayer dollars, including federal aid, on a questionable if not downright irresponsible spending spree – is yet another abandonment of fiscal responsibility and all New Yorkers pay the price. 
    Following the comptroller’s assessment, Upstate United Executive Director Justin Wilcox stated, “The findings of Comptroller DiNapoli’s updated Unemployment Insurance report are extremely alarming. New York’s unemployment insurance crisis will continue to hurt employers and consumers at the worst possible time. Millions of families who are already being squeezed by historic inflation rates will ultimately pick up the tab for New York’s remaining $8.1 billion debt to Washington. Governor Hochul and legislative leaders owe struggling New Yorkers an explanation as to why they decided to pass along this massive hidden tax rather than use federal aid to pay down this burdensome debt.” 
    The UI crisis is just one example of how Governor Hochul and one-party, all-Democrat control of New York State government have fallen down on the job of rebuilding, revitalizing, and strengthening the post-COVID future of state and local economies, short and long term. They have ignored this state’s massive tax burden and enormous debt and done little more than shrug their shoulders at the longstanding need for mandate relief and regulatory reform. 
    As a previous recipient of NFIB/NY’s “Guardian of Small Business Award, I take considerable pride in being a strong and steady voice in the state Legislature for our small, independent businessmen and businesswomen.  
    Small business is the economic lifeline for thousands of local workers. The surest way to revitalize upstate communities is through private-sector, manufacturing, small business job creation.  
    I’m grateful for NFIB/NY’s ongoing recognition of my commitment to a future of economic and fiscal sanity in state government.  
    Priority number one moving forward must be to stay focused on the upstate economy, upstate jobs, and the long-term economic rebuilding, recovery, and security of upstate workers and their families.  
    That means supporting – not neglecting -- policies and programs that strengthen our small businesses. 
     
     
  20. Senator Tom O'Mara
    The cost of a gallon of gas keeps climbing.  The warnings keep coming over significantly higher home heating costs this winter and who knows how many winters to come.   
    All of this, as well as the fast approaching start of a new legislative session in January, helped make for good timing on last week’s listening session in the Southern Tier on a piece of legislation that, if it’s enacted, could reach into the wallets of everyday New Yorkers and cut into the bottom lines of New York employers even more.  
    Specifically, we hosted a roundtable discussion in Corning on legislation (S4264/A6967), known as the “Climate and Community Investment Act” (CCIA). Introduced earlier this year by the Democrat majorities in both the state Senate and Assembly, the measure proposes accelerated state-level actions to achieve broad and far-reaching climate change policies.  Of course, to help pay for it, it includes a new 55-cents-per-gallon 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%. 
    The CCIA is projected to raise $15 billion annually in new and increased fees and taxes levied on New Yorkers individually, hospitals, schools, colleges, and businesses.  Keep in mind that New York State accounts for just approximately 0.5% of global carbon emissions and the CCIA will only apply to New York -- not to neighboring states. Nor does it apply to China, India or Russia, which account for 40% of global emissions.   Further, a true, full cost-benefit analysis to show the public in a transparent way what this will cost them, and what we’ll gain, has not been required of the precursor of the CCIA, the previously enacted Climate Leadership and Climate Protection Act (CLCPA) and the Climate Action Council (CAC), which has not completed their recommendations.  We have sponsored legislation (S7321/A7524) to required this full cost-benefit analysis for the public.  It is imperative that it be required and completed. 
    The CCIA is a bad move, to say the least, in our view.  New Yorkers are already being hit by so many higher costs across the board and now is no time for state government to make it worse, all in the name of progressive politics. And especially not when the Albany powers that be already raised taxes in this year’s state budget by more than $4 billion to help pay for a whopping $18 billion in increased spending – with $2 billion of that increase going to illegal immigrants for COVID unemployment benefits for the loss of jobs they weren’t legally allowed to have in the first place (and, all the while, New York still owes the feds $9 billion for unemployment funds borrowed during COVID and no effort has been made to pay it down.  This inaction has resulted in significantly increased unemployment insurance rates to all businesses, despite state tax and revenue receipts exceeding budgeted expectations by $8 billion this year.)   
    It has set in motion an unending search for more tax dollars to afford higher and higher spending -- and every taxpayer will pay the price at the pump, to heat homes, and in a lot of other places and ways.   
    Our recent roundtable – and similar listening sessions that the Senate and Assembly Republican conferences have held around the state – makes it clear that any move in this direction would be disastrous. Participants at last week’s forum in Corning all pointed to the ever-increasing burden of escalating costs and the risk to the reliability of our electricity delivery. 
    They’re not alone. 
    The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), which represents more than 10,000 small businesses in New York Stateand hundreds of thousands more across the nation, has also stated its strong opposition to the CCIA in testimony at our roundtables. 
    The NFIB writes, “(Our opposition) is not a reflection of small business’ indifference to climate change or its commitment to addressing it, but rather that the economic impacts to those actually investing and hiring in New York’s economy must be understood and valued in coordination with environmental goals…Increases in the costs to do business anywhere in the economy will ultimately be felt across the economy by every employer, and felt most by members of NFIIB…New York State needs to take a step back and seriously consider the effects this proposal will have on small businesses and consumers.” 
    They highlight one of the key points: Even without the CCIA, New York State has already established aggressive renewable energy goals.  Working groups are underway on how best achieve the current targets to tackle New York’s 0.5% impact on global climate change.   
    The CCIA even expects job losses and negative impacts to school and local government property tax bases.  It establishes a “Just Fund” which will provide compensation for displaced workers up to three years of wages, and payments to school districts and local governments for lost tax revenues resulting from industries being shuttered. 
    It’s our belief that, every step of the way, there must be a constant recognition of the need for balance and common sense in pursuit of the overriding goals for New York’s energy future.  There absolutely must be a meaningful analysis of the costs versus the benefits of these actions and the impacts they will have on our energy system’s reliability as well as affordability. 
    The CCIA, CLCPA and CAC fail in this regard. 
    New Yorkers already pay the ninth-highest gas tax in America at 46.19-cents-per-gallon, according to the Tax Foundation.  If the proposed gas tax of 55 cents were added, New York would have the highest overall gas tax in America.  
    To add to the alarm, home heating costs, even without this additional action, are already projected to increase by upwards of 25% to 40% this winter. 
    If the environmental extremists have their way, homeowners will not be able to burn wood or pellets to heat their homes and will have to convert their natural gas, propane or heating fuel oil furnaces to electric at estimated costs in excess of $30,000 per household. 
    New York’s tax climate has long been noted by the Tax Foundation as one of the nation’s worst.  
    Instead of raising another tax or fee, Governor Kathy Hochul should immediately suspend the state’s gas tax, as our Senate and Assembly Republican conferences have recently called for. 
    Ignoring the realities, New York’s downstate-controlled Democrat supermajorities enacted a state budget this year raising taxes by nearly $5 billion.  It looks like they will just go on looking for more tax dollars to afford more and more of their out of control and out of touch, so-called “progressive” agenda.  Along the way, every New Yorker will pay the price at the pump, to heat homes, and in a lot of other ways and places with across-the-board price increases on everything from food to toilet paper.   
    The ongoing implementation of these regressive taxes will leave lower- and middle-income families and workers, motorists, truckers, farmers, small businesses, manufacturers and many other industries, and seniors among the hardest hit. 
     
    t’s the pursuit of a future looking more and more like New York being left stranded by the side of the economic road while having no discernible impact on the global climate. 
  21. Senator Tom O'Mara
    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.
  22. Senator Tom O'Mara
    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.”
  23. Senator Tom O'Mara
    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.”
     
  24. Senator Tom O'Mara
    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.
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