Assemblymember
Reports to the Community
Summer 2009
Assemblymember Mark Weprin and Friends of Cunningham Park announce a free family concert, featuring jazz, R&B, Brazilian, blues, and swing music, in Cunningham Park on Wednesday, August 5, at 8 p.m. The concert will take place near the bocce courts; enter the park through the parking lot on Union Turnpike at 196th Place, and bring lawn chairs.
Following the tragic gas explosion that killed a young mother and destroyed the home of the Boodram family in Floral Park, Queens, Assemblymember Mark Weprin called on the Eastern Queens community to come to the aid of the family of Ghanwatti Boodram. Assemblymember Weprin asked those who could help to bring gift cards or gift checks to Public School 115Q, the Glen Oaks School, where the late Ghanwatti Boodram’s sons are students. The outpouring of support from the community was tremendous, and the donations were helpful to the Boodram family.
“This tax credit will spur growth in an exciting, new industry that has tremendous potential,” said Assemblymember Weprin, Chair of the New York State Assembly Committee on Small Business. “There is no reason New York cannot be a dynamic center for biotechnology companies.”
With nine world class research institutions, twenty-six medical centers, one hundred seventy-five hospitals, and an unparalleled talent pool, New York City has a natural advantage in the bioscience industry. Yet it lags behind other cities, such as Boston and San Diego, in commercialization of new technologies.
The tax credit is designed to work with New York State’s Qualified Emerging Technologies Credit (QETC). Firms will be provided with a refundable credit for facilities, operations and training. The credit is limited to small firms engaged in research and development that meet New York State standards as qualified emerging technology companies.
Qualified companies will be eligible for the credit for up to four years. The credit will help a young firm equip a lab, train technicians and fund access to high tech equipment. The allowable expenses and the credit based on those expenses will be the same as for the New York State credit for businesses that increase their employment by at least five percent, compared to a base year. Those that do not grow will still be eligible for the credit but at half the rate.
“In these difficult economic times, the City needs to encourage the growth of diverse and emerging industries in an effort to create new jobs,” said City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn. “When you consider the wealth of resources at our disposal—research facilities, medical centers and a tremendously diverse talent pool—the real question is: why aren’t we at the front of this field already? Enacting this tax credit will begin our City’s effort to lead the way when it comes to emerging bio-technologies.”
Additionally, the credit will compliment recent City investments in the East River Science Park and BioBAT at the Brooklyn Army Terminal and other smaller spaces, which provide two million square feet of laboratory space for biotechnology firms.
Assemblymember Weprin was the legislative host at Continuing Care Leadership Coalition’s Queens Town Hall Forum at Parker Jewish Institute in New Hyde Park.
Assemblymember Mark Weprin joined Assemblymember Grace Meng and Assemblymember Michael G. DenDekker at an event honoring Yong-Hwa Ha, who was recently elected President of the Korean American Association of Greater New York (KAAGNY).
Mark Weprin participated in a ceremony to dedicate two benches in memory of longtime Little Neck resident Evelyn Deutsch in front of the office of Deepdale CARES, a naturally occurring retirement community (NORC) in the Deepdale Gardens apartment complex in Little Neck, New York. Assemblymember Weprin was instrumental in the establishment of Deepdale CARES. He also secured funding for the expansion of the office space and is represented on the Deepdale CARES Advisory Board. Mrs. Deutsch, who passed away last year, was one of the founders of Deepdale CARES.
At Public School 188Q, The Kingsbury School, Assemblymember Weprin joined representatives from the Long Island Business Institute (LIBI) and the Queens Chamber of Commerce (QCC) to recognize LIBI’s donation of computers to the school.
In a special ceremony at Queens High School of Teaching (QHST), in Bellerose, Mark Weprin honored a group of students who traveled to New Orleans, Louisiana. The students volunteered building houses with Habitat for Humanity for people who lost their homes during hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
NO BUS OR SUBWAY SERVICE CUTS
A key piece of legislation enacted this session was the restructuring of the financially strapped
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). The measure averted the MTA’s proposals for drastic
fare increases and severe service cuts, which would have been hard on working families and would
have delivered a blow to the economy at a time when New Yorkers already face a serious economic
downturn. The state provided enough funding to reverse the MTA’s plan to eliminate twenty-one local
bus routes and two subway lines. In our community, the MTA agreed not to cut service on the Q26,
Q30, Q31, Q75, Q76, and Q79 buses.
In addition, the law includes protections for future homeowners. It requires lenders to consider borrowers’ ability to repay the loan, addresses lender scams, and sets standards for home loans so that brokers must act in the best interests of borrowers. The law mandates registration of all businesses servicing mortgage loans, establishes the crime of residential mortgage fraud, and provides funding for legal representation and mediation for lending victims.
SUPPORTING NEW YORK’S FAMILIES
New York has been hit especially hard by the economic downturn, a fact reflected in the growing number
of unemployment claims. Assemblymember Mark Weprin announced that the state budget directs federal
stimulus funds to aid unemployed workers by increasing benefits by twenty-five dollars per week. The budget
also continues through December 31, 2009 the extended unemployment benefits program, which grants eligible
applicants a total of fifty-nine weeks of benefits. In addition, the state will pay sixty-five percent of COBRA
premiums for nine months for eligible workers. COBRA allows workers and their families who lose their health
benefits the right to continue to receive those benefits for a limited period of time.
NEW PRESCRIPTION SAVER CARD
The New York State Department of Health is now accepting applications for the new free New York Prescription
Saver Card, which Assemblymember Weprin helped to create last year. The program will offer significant discounts
on thousands of prescription medications, with savings of more than sixty percent on generic drugs and thirty percent
on brand name drugs.
To be eligible for the card, you must be between the ages of fifty and sixty-four, and your annual income must be less than thirty-five thousand dollars (fifty thousand for married couples). Medicaid recipients or those enrolled in the Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage (EPIC) program are not eligible for the Prescription Saver Card.
To learn more about the Prescription Saver Card or to apply, visit https://nyprescriptionsaver.fhsc.com/ or call (800) 788-6917. TTY users should call (800) 290-9138.
PROTECTING EPIC COVERAGE FOR SENIORS
Mark Weprin fought for a budget that preserves critical aspects of the Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance
Coverage (EPIC) program, helping to keep prescription medications affordable for thousands of New York
seniors. The enacted budget preserves more than fifty million dollars in “wrap-around” coverage, which pays
for EPIC enrollees’ prescription drugs when the drugs are not covered by a Medicare Part D plan. Not only
does the coverage help keep seniors healthy by giving them access to the medications they need, it saves
taxpayers millions of dollars a year by decreasing the number of emergency room visits and nursing home
admissions.
If you are a New York State resident, age sixty-five or older, with an income below thirty-five thousand dollars per year (fifty thousand for married couples), you are eligible for EPIC. For more information, call the EPIC hotline at (800) 332-3742.
ASSISTANCE FOR CRIME VICTIMS
Crime victims have experienced trauma and pain, both mentally and physically. Assemblymember Weprin
helped pass legislation that would enable crime victims to be reimbursed for transportation costs for necessary
court appearances. He also supported a measure that would establish an address confidentiality program for
domestic violence victims, allowing the Department of State to accept victims’ mail on their behalf so that they
can keep their location unknown to the abusers. In addition, the Legislature passed bills that would prohibit
discriminatory practices against victims of domestic violence in regards to housing and in the workplace.
Assemblymember Weprin relinquished his role as legislator for one day to a student who won his annual “Assemblymember for a Day” Essay Contest. Local students were invited to submit essays on the following topic: President Barack Obama gave a historic inauguration speech. Write the inauguration speech that you would give if you became President of the United States.
Contest winner Laura Blondi, a seventh grader from Our Lady of the Snows School in Floral Park, Queens, wrote a moving speech that channeled President Obama’s inspiring rhetoric. “I take great honor in creating a better America for the good of all citizens,” Laura wrote. “Any problems we face will be endured with dignity and strength.”
Mark Weprin joined a group of elementary and middle school students at Citi Field after they were selected in a drawing from hundreds of students who completed his Fitness Challenge. As he does every year, Mr. Weprin sponsored a Winter Fitness Challenge for local students. The goal of the program is to introduce creative incentives to promote physical fitness and a healthier lifestyle for students throughout New York State. Assemblymember Weprin, along with an organization called Nutrition and Fitness for a Healthy New York, works to encourage youngsters to participate in more physical activity, adhere to a sensible diet and develop an improved sense of wellness.
The Queens Council on Developmental Disabilities (QCDD) gave Assemblymember Mark S. Weprin the Meritorious Effort Award “in recognition of outstanding commitment to making a difference in the lives of people with developmental disabilities.”
