Senator Fred Akshar. (Photo provided by the Office of Senator Fred Akshar)
The Governor’s State of the State address was, like much of my first few weeks in the Senate, a learning experience. This was my first experience attending, and it was a lot to take in.
The Governor delivered his speech in front of a convention hall filled with my fellow state senators and assembly members, along with other guests, all representing every corner of New York State. Outside, activists supporting various issues crowded the Capitol concourse waving signs and chanting their slogans to passers by.
The speech itself didn’t start until after a long series of introductions, a blessing and an invocation from religious leaders, the pledge of allegiance and the national anthem, even more introductions and a 10-minute video showing the progress our state has made in the last five years. After that, the speech began.
Governor Cuomo went through an hour and a half PowerPoint presentation summarizing his priorities for the Legislative Session ahead. Shortly after his speech started, an Assemblyman from the Bronx started a shouting match with the Governor. It brought everything to a halt until he was escorted out of the room. You’d never see that during a speech at the Sheriff’s Office.
As I listened throughout his presentation, throughout each of the proposals and initiatives, I kept asking myself the same questions: “How does this proposal affect the people I represent? Does this help or hurt the people who sent me to Albany?” As your representative, it’s essential for me to remember that these proposals affect real people – families, business owners and employees across the Southern Tier. We need to ensure that whatever measures we take will help make their lives better, will help them find and keep good paying jobs, will help provide their children with the education they deserve and help make our community a place where everyone can succeed.
I still need to take a closer look at the Governor’s proposals, but here’s what stood out to me:
Making New York a Better Place to Do Business: Some positive steps have been taken to point New York in the right direction, but if you speak with small business owners in Broome or Tioga County, farmers in Chenango County or quarry workers in Delaware County, so much more needs to be done. Traveling throughout the district, I repeatedly hear how high and complicated taxes, outdated regulations, and administrative policies are hurting business owners and their employees.
The Governor has proposed another round of Regional Economic Development Council grants and other competition-based incentives. Targeted state investment has its place in stimulating growth, but sustainable growth means broad-based tax relief and regulatory reform to make our community’s attractive to prospective businesses and keep our current employers from leaving the area.
In the coming weeks, I’ll be releasing my own package of bills my team and I put together to help businesses thrive and survive in my district and across the state.
Another crucial step to reducing taxes is getting our own fiscal house in order. Just as families across my district live within their means each month, the State needs to hold the line on spending and make it permanent. One of my first votes was YES to the permanent spending cap. We can’t ask local governments, teachers, businesses owners and families to tighten their belts without doing so ourselves.
Improving Education: To attract businesses and employers to our area, we have to support a quality education for our children. As I said in my campaign, we need bring school funding levels for our upstate schools back where they should be and give teachers, students and parents the tools they need to succeed. The Governor also proposed a tax credit to help teachers pay for school supplies. That’s not a bad idea.
Fair Treatment for Upstate NY: The Governor proposed a sweeping infrastructure plan for Upstate roads and bridges. It’s what I, and others have called for, and I hope the details of this proposal reflect what we’ve asked for, but I’ll need to learn more.
Fighting the Heroin Epidemic: I didn’t hear anything from the Governor on fighting the heroin scourge attacking our communities across the state. This might not be a top priority in the Executive Branch, but it is for me. I’ll be introducing my own legislation to support the education, treatment, prevention and enforcement components of fighting this epidemic.
Restoring Ethics & Integrity in Government: The Governor proposed a number ethics reforms, including capping outside income at 15 percent for lawmakers. I’ll be examining these proposals carefully, but one thing I cannot support is using taxpayer dollars to pay for campaign commercials, campaign mail and robocalls.
Listening to You: None of the ideas above matter to me if I don’t hear from You, the people I represent. Just as I’ve done before and since taking office, I pledge to continue traveling the district to listen to the community. I want to hear your priorities, what you think of the Governor’s proposal and how we can put our area on the right track.
Fred Akshar is the recently elected Senator representing the 52nd District, including Broome, Tioga, parts of Chenango and parts of Delaware Counties.
