As we ring in 2010, I wanted to take this time to wish everyone a Happy New Year! As we look forward to new beginnings, I wanted to reflect on this past year and what occurred in Albany during, what turned out to be, quite a tumultuous 2009 Legislative Session.
The 2009 Legislative Session began with great promise. Along with the New Year came new Assembly members and exciting ideas for a new direction for New York state. The excitement was short-lived though as a declining economy and the problems that came with it took center stage. Three New York City legislative leaders created and negotiated the 2009-2010 State Budget in closed-door meetings and the result was more fee hikes, a dangerous ten percent hike in government spending, the elimination of STAR property tax rebate checks, increased health care taxes, a 25 percent increase in select DMV fees, 41 new license and fee hikes for sportsmen, a $620 per pupil tuition hike on all SUNY/CUNY schools, a $520 million increase in taxes on energy, and all of this without a plan to put an end to the wasteful spending of valuable tax dollars. I saw the writing on the wall that this budget was a disaster for New York and its taxpayers so I voted against it. Unfortunately, the budget passed and resulted in the creation of a budget deficit to the tune of $3.2 billion.
The summer months came and the economy continued its downward spiral. My colleagues and I in the Assembly Minority Conference urged the governor not to break for summer recess and to continue to work to come up with solutions to deal with the state’s ailing financial sector. Unfortunately, the recommendation fell on deaf ears and the Legislature adjourned as scheduled in June.
The state’s financial woes continued to worsen and the state’s leaders were forced to call the Legislature back for Extraordinary Session. Stricter DWI laws and a Deficit Reduction Plan that fell $500 million short of closing the budget deficit and took money away from next year’s education funding was the end result of the special session.
The 2010 Legislative Session is almost upon us and with it comes a chance to change the way New York state government operates. We cannot afford to continue with the status quo of spending now and paying later; clearly this is not working! Our state is struggling with a fiscal crisis of astronomical proportions and state leaders are producing legislation that serves to only rob Peter to pay Paul. We need to consolidate state agencies and ban unfunded mandates to reduce the financial burden on our local governments and schools, and this is just the beginning.
I am looking forward to continuing my work for the people of the 117th Assembly District. I pledge to listen to our local concerns and bring them to Albany in hope of bringing about real change to New York. As always, if you have any questions or concerns on this or any other state issue, please don’t hesitate to contact me at either my Johnstown office at (518) 762-6486, or my Herkimer office at (315) 866-1632.