State of the State

January 9, 2013

Governor Cuomo once again presented a vision of the future of New York State and outlined an agenda to help us reach that future with his annual State of the State address today. I look forward to working closely with the governor and Senate to continue the strong progress we’ve made.

We’ve proven that Albany can get lasting results in a bipartisan fashion in order to make life better for all New Yorkers. From delivering the lowest middle-class tax rate in 58 years to increasing the public assistance grant, the Assembly has long championed issues important to local families

While the House leadership in Washington twice took us to the brink of a fiscal cliff and refused to pass a Hurricane Sandy relief bill in a timely manner, New York’s government has passed fiscally responsible, on-time budgets and progressive legislation to move our state forward over the past several years.

Together with the governor I hope to, among other things:

• Raise the minimum wage and index it to inflation because nobody who works full-time should be poor
• Fight for more state aid for our schools, so our children can have the bright future they deserve without further burdening local property taxpayers
• Strive for women’s equality, including equal pay
• Fight for fair treatment of immigrants and their children, including enhancing access to higher education
• Further protect the health and safety of our families by passing commonsense gun safety measures and reforming our justice system, including the expansion of innocence programs and ending the abuses associated with stop and frisk
• Reform our electoral system so more citizens can participate and have confidence in our democracy
• Foster economic opportunity and create good-paying, permanent jobs, because while our economy is improving, it is improving slowly and too many families are still struggling

Now that the governor has set the tone for this year’s legislative session, we turn our focus toward crafting a fiscally responsible state budget that closes our deficit without overburdening the middle class and poor.

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