“Andrew Cuomo’s 2020 agenda looks more like damage control after a year of ineffective one-party rule than it does a blueprint for future success. These are not proposals of promise, but rather a misguided mishmash of ideas that fails to confront the real issues we face and the reasons people are leaving New York in droves.

Taking steps to address opioid addiction, sexual abuse and protecting the health of young New Yorkers are all commendable initiatives. But in general, his legislative agenda presented in today’s State of the State largely ignores too many core issues hampering our quality of life.

Even the legislative majority members who originally voted for and celebrated criminal justice reforms are finally waking up to the fact that the new laws went too far, too fast. This is the greatest threat to public safety I’ve seen during my career in the Assembly. Revisiting these misguided reforms must be our Day One priority, and every minute we allow them to continue represents valuable time wasted.

It is a travesty that Gov. Cuomo, who has now been the executive for almost a decade, continues to ignore the affordability crises New Yorkers must endure. New York’s property taxes are among the worst in America, outmigration has severely diminished our tax base and New York continues to lag other states that are enjoying a strong national economy. Any speech that fails to address these obstacles to prosperity in our state is incomplete and inexcusable.

While he’s mismanaged us into a $6.1 billion budget hole, I didn’t hear the governor mention two important words, ‘Spend. Less.’ Instead of looking for ways to cut wasteful spending, this agenda calls for unnecessary, job-killing regulations and recycles some of the worst parts of a failed economic development agenda that is historically full of promises but yields minimal results.

The Assembly Minority Conference stands ready to work collaboratively on proposals designed to protect New Yorkers. However, today’s announcements cannot be taken seriously as a roadmap for our future. It is sorely lacking in substance, and I’m hopeful that as the year progresses the Legislature will account for the executive’s lack of ambition for the new decade.”