Dear Friends and Neighbors,

I hope that you enjoyed your summer! The crackling sound of leaves and the fresh crisp cool air only means that the next legislative session is approaching quickly. It’s once again time to review our accomplishments of this past legislative session and begin planning for the needs of next year. The legislature worked on further reforms of state government including ethics and campaign finance reform, civil confinement for sexual predators, workers’ compensation reform and providing property tax cuts.

The legislature has made a determined effort to address the needs of people throughout Madison, Oneida, and Otsego counties, whether it was working with our local businesses to keep people working, assisting local governments with their funding needs, helping farmers remain viable or assisting senior citizens with the care they need. This newsletter will provide you with an update on the important issues we faced during the legislative session, both affecting the state as a whole and local towns and villages as well.

Whether it is the issues raised in this newsletter or other suggestions and concerns you may have, I would encourage you to contact me at one of my offices in Madison County (315-361-4125), Otsego County (607-432-1484) or Albany (518-455-4807) with your thoughts, comments and ideas.

Distilleries and farmers working hand in hand. Just as the New York wine industry has reinvigorated the grape growing regions of the State, a bill aimed at growing and expanding New York State’s distilled spirits industry utilizing New York grown fruits and produce has passed the Assembly. This bill specifically creates a new Farm Distillery license to encourage fruit and other farmers to begin manufacturing products out of apples, grapes, berries and others products to create vodka, whiskey and other spirits. Additionally, this bill would allow these farm distilleries to offer tastings as well as sell their products directly from the distillery. This bill, having also passed the Senate, has been signed by the Governor.

Bill to assist small business with meeting environmental goals passes. There is no doubt that the protection of our environmental resources is a top priority for everyone including our small businesses. In an effort to assist them, legislation has passed the Assembly that would expand the regional offices of the Department of Economic Development to ensure that they are able to adequately provide small businesses with information about programs that will assist them with their environmental compliance and pollution prevention efforts. This bill, having also passed the Senate, is awaiting action by the Governor.

Growing NY’s small business technology companies. Seeking to position New York State as a mecca for small energy and environmental companies and technology, the Assembly has passed legislation that would provide early stage development funding to assist businesses with developing and commercializing innovative energy and environmental technologies. Too often, small businesses are unable to complete in-depth research and development due to the lack of early stage funding. This bill is awaiting action by the Senate.

Family relief fund. In New York State many individuals who volunteered for the National Guard did not anticipate that they would be called to serve for such extended periods of time, spending months and months away from their homes. This situation has created financial hardships for many members of the armed services and their families since military pay is, more often than not, substantially less than the amount such individuals receive in civilian pay. In an attempt to address this, legislation has passed the Assembly which establishes the New York Military Family Relief Fund. This fund would assist New York residents who are members of the Militia, National Guard or Armed Services Reserves and who have been called to active duty for at least 30 days and assigned away from their homes. This bill, having also passed the Senate, is awaiting action by the Governor.

Bill to simplify veterans’ tax exemption vetoed. Our veterans are America’s greatest pride as they have and continue to protect the freedom of this country throughout the World. To recognize their contribution, New York State has for many years authorized municipalities to offer property tax exemptions for veterans. Unfortunately, these exemptions were not immediately available to veterans who had just purchased a home as they had to wait until the taxes were levied upon the tax roll created after the next taxable status date. In an effort to correct this, the Assembly has passed legislation that would ensure that a veteran, who is justly entitled to this property tax exemption, may receive the benefit of the exemption from the date he or she takes ownership of the property. This bill, which also passed the Senate, was vetoed by the Governor.

Expanding Recruitment Scholarship considered. Our volunteer firefighters and ambulance personnel serve without compensation and are called upon no matter the time of the day or night, saving us and our property from destruction. To recognize the work of our volunteers, several years ago the state created the Volunteer Recruitment Service Scholarship to provide that each volunteer emergency organization may nominate one of their members to receive a renewable scholarship to attend college. Given the great success of this program in not only recruiting new volunteers, but assisting those volunteers with their college expenses, legislation has been introduced in the Assembly that would expand the program by allowing fire departments and ambulance companies to nominate up to three of their members for this award. This bill is being considered by the Assembly Higher Education Committee.

Making “Tag Days” official. We have all traveled through towns and villages and have been slowed down or stopped by our local volunteer firefighters collecting money for the fire department on public roadways. They rely on fundraising in an effort to obtain the equipment and supplies they need to operate this important volunteer service. Certainly, so-called tag days are a popular and inexpensive way to raise funds and should be recognized as legal across the state for our volunteer firefighters. Recognizing that, legislation has been introduced that would make official these tag days and allow them to continue as an important and viable fundraising opportunity for volunteer fire departments. This bill is being considered by the Assembly Transportation Committee.

Lowering fire and ambulance companies electric rates proposed. There is no doubt that our volunteer fire and ambulance companies provide a needed and essential service to communities all across New York State. The actual buildings which house the equipment, meeting rooms and other related facilities for the fire and ambulance services often have volunteers in them twenty-four hours a day depending on when the emergency bell rings and some serve as emergency shelters and for other needed community functions.

Given this, volunteer ambulance corps and fire companies should be granted the lowest fees, rates, and charges available. As part of that, legislation has been introduced in the Assembly that would grant the lowest possible electric rates to volunteer fire companies and ambulance services. This bill is being considered by the Assembly Energy Committee.

Assemblyman Bill Magee with his classic parade cruisin’ vehicle – a 1960 Sanford fire truck.

Changes coming to EPIC. This year a number of changes were made to the EPIC program in an effort to provide greater assistance and cost savings to senior citizens. These changes, which took effect July 1, 2007, include:

• All EPIC enrollees must join a Medicare Part D drug plan.

• EPIC will cover drugs excluded by Medicare Part D drug plan and all expenses that fall within the Medicare Part D gap.

• For seniors enrolled in the EPIC fee plan and Medicare Part D, EPIC will pay up to $24.45 for Part D premiums and reduce drug co-pays. Enrollees pay the EPIC fee (waived if they have full Extra Help) and a portion of every prescription filled.

• Seniors enrolled in the EPIC deductible plan and Medicare Part D will pay reduced deductibles and drug co-pays. Enrollees pay the plan’s premium, the reduced deductible and a portion of every prescription filled.

Assemblyman Bill Magee discussing local issues with constituents in Albany.

Alzheimer’s outreach expansion proposed. According to the New York State Task Force on Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias, 300,000 older New York State residents have dementia. With this number projected to grow rapidly, we must ensure that those directly affected are aware of early identification signs and have the most recent information and research available to them. Assembly bill A.4149 has been introduced to create the Alzheimer’s Disease Outreach and Education Program. This program was designed to promote earlier identification of the disease, provide information and assistance on where to find community support, and to promote public awareness concerning Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia. This bill has been referred to the Assembly Ways and Means Committee for their consideration.

Lifelong learning encouraged. There is no doubt that lifelong learning should be encouraged and that is especially true of our senior citizens as it allows them the opportunity to accomplish new goals and undertake new experiences. In recognition of that, legislation has been introduced in the Assembly (A.4820) that would authorize the State University of New York to allow senior citizens to take courses for credit, without charge, at State-operated campuses. This bill is being considered by the Assembly Higher Education Committee.

Coordinating services a priority. The services for deaf, deaf-blind and hard-of-hearing persons are provided by many agencies of the State government as well as a number of private agencies and providers. In an effort to coordinate these services and make them as effective as possible, a bill has passed the Assembly (A.2461) which would establish an Interagency Council for Services to Persons Who are Deaf, Deaf-Blind or Hard of Hearing. The goal of this Council would be to coordinate the collection of related information, engage in strategic planning and prepare legislative and policy recommendations that would serve to improve the information and services available to this population. By encouraging such a discussion and review of services, it will also seek to further identify the needs of the deaf community and better match these needs to state resources and programs. This bill, having also passed the Senate, has been signed by the Governor.

Ensuring access to handicap parking. Currently, there are many drivers who needlessly use the access aisles that lie adjacent to handicap accessible parking spaces as additional parking. Often times these access aisles have no conspicuous signage designating them as a no parking zone and when disabled drivers who have properly parked in an handicap parking space return to their vehicles, they find that they may be unable to get into their vehicles because someone has blocked the entrance by parking in the access aisle.

In an effort to rectify that, a bill has passed the Assembly (A.7110) which would require that these access aisles be prominently marked with “No Parking” signs to ensure that those with disabilities are not left unable to either get into their cars or unable to park in a designated handicap parking space. Moreover, by requiring the placement of these signs, it would also allow for an enforcement mechanism for those who park in access aisles. This bill is awaiting action by the Senate.

Agriculture assessments capped. Farming is a difficult way to make a living as there are many obstacles that may occur out of one’s control. This past year was an extremely difficult year with low commodity prices combined with high costs and bad weather that created a situation where many farms were facing severe financial hardship. However, because of the methodology used in determining the agricultural assessment value, these historic lows were not included in this year’s assessment values. To address this, the Assembly passed legislation (A.6866) which would provide that the base agricultural assessment value increases shall not exceed ten percent of the base agricultural assessment value from the previous year thereby ensuring that there are not severe year-to-year spikes in farm assessments. This bill, having also passed the Senate, has been signed by the Governor.

Assemblyman Bill Magee conducting the 2007 Cheese Auction at the New York State Fair.

Dairy farmers receive assistance. It was very clear to see that 2006 was one of the worst years for our dairy farmers as they faced a prolonged period of low milk prices. Many dairy farmers struggled to keep their businesses going wondering if they would have enough money to pay the bills and able to plant corn in the spring. Looking to provide a shot in the arm to our dairies, the legislature worked vigorously to ensure passage of the Dairy Assistance Program including $30 million in funding for dairy farmers.

All New York dairy farmers who produced milk in 2006 and were in operation as of April 1, 2007 were eligible to apply for the Dairy Assistance Program. The funds were paid directly to New York producers in two checks in May and July. As of August, the New York State Dairy Assistance Program had issued checks to 5,007 eligible dairy farmers statewide with the average total payment under the Dairy Assistance Program being approximately $5,991.

Workers’ comp reformed/improved. Having heard the overwhelming concern raised by businesses throughout New York State, the Assembly passed legislation (A.6163) that sought to reform, improve and lower the cost of the workers’ compensation system. This bill included new and stronger anti-fraud measures increasing the penalties for those trying to defraud the system as well as facilitating greater communication between agencies investigating fraud, eliminating hundreds of millions of dollars in cost as well as raising the maximum weekly benefit for injured workers. It has been estimated that these reforms will reduce the cost of workers’ compensation premiums by ten to fifteen percent. This bill, having also passed the Senate, has been signed by the Governor.

Ethics reform approved. Earlier this year, the Assembly passed the Public Employee Ethics Reform Act of 2007 (A.3736) aimed at providing the first major overhaul of the ethics laws in New York State in many years. It reforms both the ethical standards that public officials must observe as well as the oversight bodies charged with enforcing those standards. These sweeping reforms are intended to ensure that New York State officials adhere to the highest possible ethical standards in an effort to restore public trust and confidence in government. Among other things, this act banned gifts from lobbyists to public officials, strengthened the revolving door provisions that apply to legislative employees by prohibiting them from lobbying for two years, banned elected officials and candidates from appearing in taxpayer funded advertisements as well as dramatically increased the penalties for violating this act.

Moreover, this bill also creates a permanent watchdog on ethics issues by merging the Temporary State Commission on Lobbying and the State Ethics Commission into a new entity, the Commission on Public Integrity. Under the bill, both the Commission on Public Integrity and the Joint Legislative Ethics Commission would be required to maintain Web sites and make public notices of reasonable cause to initiate an investigation, disposition agreements, settlement agreements and summaries of advice. This bill, having also passed the Senate, was signed by the Governor.