\n"); echo(' Colleagues, today marks the one-month anniversary of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, the second deadliest shooting in United States history. Let us pause for a moment of silence to remember the twenty children and six faculty members who were mercilessly gunned down on that day.

Now, let us turn our thoughts to lighter things.

Majority Leader Morelle, may I once again convey to you, on behalf of the members of this House and our staff, our great joy and congratulations on your ascension to the post of Majority Leader of the New York State Assembly.

Joe, thank you for accepting this challenge.

Given your body of work over the last 22 years, the strength of your character, your proven ability to lead and your loyalty to this institution, I have every confidence that you will capably guide the work of this floor with respect for your colleagues and for the traditions and the history of this Chamber.

It is only fitting that I make to you the traditional promise I have made to your predecessors:

The promise that the members will be in their seats on time for each and every vote and that we will do all that we can to make your job as easy as possible for the rest of this month, maybe longer … maybe.

Best of luck to you, my friend, and thank you.

Let us also take a moment to recognize a colleague whose leadership will be integral to the completion of our work in this session. I am appointing the new Speaker Pro Tem of the People's House, Assemblyman Jeff Aubrey.

Jeff, my compliments to you as well, for taking on this new leadership role.

Like our Majority Leader, your more than two decades of service in this House have been exemplary and extraordinary.

Your intellect and integrity, your eloquence and your easy going, "no-nonsense" style have earned you the respect of your colleagues on both sides of the aisle.

We believe you will be an outstanding Speaker Pro Tem and an exceptional ambassador to our family members, friends, constituents and visitors who will come to this Chamber to experience our proceedings.

Thank you, Jeff.

Colleagues, as we commence with this, the 236th session of the New York State Assembly, let me extend to each and every one of you, your loved ones and our staff, my best wishes for a peaceful and prosperous new year.

At the beginning of each year, I remind you that we are the "People's House of the State Legislature."

In the big picture of government, it is all of us, together, who most accurately reflect the will, the wants and the worries of New Yorkers upstate and downstate, farmer and financier, the newly arrived immigrant and the families who have been here for generations.

We are citizen-legislators, heirs to a noble tradition of leadership, achievement and service, students in a great university of learning. The process through which we do our work, the committee process, is as critical to our Democracy as the legislation that is ultimately enacted.

I revere the legislative process. I've said it before, we are the scientists in the great laboratory of American Democracy.

What I have learned in my time as an assemblyman and as Speaker, I could have learned no other way.

I am proud to be a state legislator. It is a privilege to share this responsibility with you, my colleagues, and I am honored and proud to be the Speaker of the People's House.

Now, may I ask the House to give a warm welcome to our newest colleagues, the Assembly Class of 2013.

First-year members, we are delighted to welcome to the House your families and your friends who are here to celebrate this momentous occasion, what I have referred to over the years as "the best day you will ever have in the Assembly."

Ladies and Gentlemen, we know how proud you must be to see you loved ones take their place in this august body. Please know that you are always welcome in this Chamber and please accept the cordialities of the House on this very special day.

In a few minutes, Majority Leader Morelle and Minority Leader Kolb will formally introduce each of the new members to the House, but before they do that, let me take this opportunity to personally congratulate all 23 of you on the considerable effort you made to reach this day.

We veterans of the Assembly commend your willingness to serve, your commitment to make a difference in our state government, and your desire to improve the quality of life in your communities and throughout the Empire State.

The men and women with whom you are seated, I am proud to say, are among the brightest, most passionate and dedicated public servants I have ever known.

Each and every one of them is a leader who has devoted years, if not decades, to serving the people of this state.

Thanks to our diversity we have long been the originators of big ideas and the champions of progressive government.

Together, we have advanced and fought to make possible some of the more important achievements in the recent history of our state government:

• Universal pre-K;

• The "Marshall Plan" for Lower Manhattan which was key to the revitalization of my community after the 9/11 terrorist attacks;

• Marriage Equality;

• The reform of the Rockefeller Drug Laws;

• The Women's Health and Wellness Act;

• Tenant protections that have kept tens of thousands of New Yorkers from losing their homes;

• The Millionaire's Tax and the Middle Class Tax Cut;

• And last year's increase in the Public Assistance Grant; to name but a few.

It was our investment in something called the National Center for Interconnects, back in the late '90s, that launched the Capital Region and our state into the nanotechnology stratosphere.

Clearly, there is a wealth of wisdom and good will here, on both sides of the aisle, and I strongly suggest that you make the most of it.

As we celebrate your arrival, we cannot forget the colleagues and the friends we have lost.

The Honorable James D. Conte fought a long and courageous battle with cancer.

Throughout his years as a member of this House, he served his hometown of Huntington Station, the 10th Assembly District, and all New Yorkers with honor, grace and integrity.

Jim was, at all times, a gentleman, and we will miss his kind spirit and his good humor. It was a privilege to serve in the Assembly with him. We will keep him fondly in our memories as we proceed with our work in this session.

Joining us in the balcony - and accompanied by their instructor, Dr. Dennis Smith of the NYU Robert Wagner Graduate School of Public Policy - are the members of the Assembly Intern Class of 2013.

Let's give them a warm welcome.

My colleagues, some of you may remember that we also opened our legislative session two years ago with a moment of silence for the victims of the shooting in Tucson, Arizona.

As we prayed for the life of then-Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, elected leaders here in New York and throughout the country were once again asked the question that has been asked after Columbine, after Virginia Tech, after Binghamton, after Aurora, and especially now after Newtown:

What will it take for government to halt this gun madness?

Sadly, we know the answer now.

Since the Newtown massacre and the Webster attack on our first responders, Governor Cuomo, legislative leaders and staff have been working on an agreement to make New York State's gun-control-related laws, already the toughest in the nation, smarter and tougher still.

The Governor made his case clearly and passionately last week and he is right. Assault weapons were built for the battlefield, not for hunting and not for the classroom.

I expect that we will take action on a comprehensive, anti-gun-violence agenda very shortly.

Speaking of leadership in times of tragedy, I want to commend the Governor for his leadership before, during and after Super Storm Sandy. He has been and continues to be the strong, visible presence that our still-struggling storm victims need in this difficult time.

While we applaud the Administration, the first responders and all of the New Yorkers who travelled to our storm-ravaged communities to provide assistance and relief, let me take this opportunity to commend the members of this House who represent and reside in these communities, for all of your hard work on behalf of the victims of Sandy.

Although we were not recognized last week for our efforts after the storm, I want the public record to reflect my appreciation for the exceptional leadership, demonstrated by members on both sides of aisle, when our people needed it the most.

As we consider the Governor's proposals for protecting New York from future storms, I hope that we can establish a "Homeowner's Bill of Rights" to better protect disaster-struck families from unscrupulous insurers.

Last week, the Governor presented us with a broad vision for the future of New York State and an ambitious blueprint for our legislative session.

While we await his plan for funding these proposals, generally speaking, we should be pleased with the contents of the speech.

After all, many of the proposals he discussed are initiatives that this House has worked on and advanced for years:

• Raising the minimum wage;
• Investing in Universal pre-K;
• Guaranteeing equality and reproductive freedom for women;
• Instituting electoral reform;
• Ensuring that our public health system keeps pace with emerging health care issues;
• Providing affordable housing;
• Advancing statewide public campaign financing;
• Banning assault weapons and high-capacity clips;
• Expanding innocence programs;
• Ending the abuses associated with "stop and frisk;" Decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana;
• Tech transfer and workforce development.

All of these ideas advanced by the Governor have been and are elements of the Assembly's agenda.

In fact, I have been promoting "tech transfer" since the day, nearly two decades ago, when I discovered that a patented medical technology invented at the University of Buffalo, was being manufactured in the State of Michigan.

The revitalization of our economy, particularly our Upstate economy, demands that we translate the innovations created in our labs and our clean rooms into jobs and opportunity in our cities, towns and villages.

All of that being said, I was delighted that the Governor embraced the idea of raising the minimum wage, which we alone passed and fought for last year.

Acknowledging the dignity of work and raising the standard of living for the working poor is critical, but we also know that the value of wages has eroded significantly over time.

So, along with "raising the wage," we will insist that it keeps pace with inflation.

As we work to raise the standard of living for working families, we must also continue our fight to ensure the fair treatment of our immigrant families, and to ensure that their children have enhanced access to higher education.

Of course, our first task is to pass a third consecutive state budget that is balanced, fiscally prudent, and on-time, if not early again.

In tackling this mission, we are fortunate to have the best guide in the business, our Ways and Means Committee Chairman, Denny Farrell.

Denny, I cannot imagine navigating the budget-making process without you.

Year after year, you deliver with a grace, a thoughtfulness, and a level of excellence that are greatly admired by our colleagues on both sides of the aisle and throughout our government.

To our new members, let me suggest that you make the time to get to know Denny Farrell. His legacy of public service includes many of the most important fights for justice, human dignity and equal rights.

Denny's wit, wisdom, his yearning for knowledge and his dedication to the legislative process are the gold standard of Assembly service and are therefore, worthy of emulation.

My friend, you are my most trusted advisor. Your friendship has always been a blessing to me. You are an inspiration to all of us. We thank you and wish you continued success in the coming year.

To my friend and our Minority Leader, Brian Kolb, I will repeat what I said at the close of our session last year.

I have worked with many Assembly minority leaders in my time as Speaker, you, my friend, are the best.

You have the respect and the admiration of the members on both sides of the aisle, and speaking for the Majority, we look forward to working with you and with your colleagues to deliver the better government our people deserve.

Thank you, Brian.

In closing, my colleagues, we have worked with the Governor and with the Senate to deliver two of the more productive sessions in the history of our state.

We have proven that Albany can set aside its differences, work in a bipartisan fashion, and make life better for all New Yorkers. Let's keep that ball rolling. Thank you.