By their nature, emergencies are unusual circumstances. Responding to an emergency using everyday tactics isn’t just ineffective- it ultimately makes you look like an insane person. If your house is burning down, you don’t start brainstorming about what material your new kitchen counters should be. You call the fire department and run of out of your house.

In New York state, we’re in the throes of an escalating public health emergency that’s unprecedented in recent memory. Our state budget process must reflect that. New Yorkers expect us to take decisive, bipartisan action. That means keeping state government running. That means prioritizing resources for our healthcare system, and it means providing needed relief for small businesses and hardworking families whose livelihoods are on the line.

What it shouldn’t mean is the sort of partisan policy debates that the governor and the majority leaders have continually inserted into the budgetary process in recent years. There is no time for a spirited debate on paid gestational surrogacy when our hospitals in New York City are teetering at capacity. There is no way to justify wasting time debating the merits of a $100 million taxpayer-funded campaign system when state revenues could be down as much as $15 billion. And it would be reckless to hold up a state budget that will fund an emergency response to a deadly respiratory pandemic to debate the merits of smoking marijuana.

As the ranking Minority member on the Ways and Means Committee, I’m promoting targeted, detailed solutions that provide a lifeline to New Yorkers who have seen their economic fortunes upended through no fault of their own. Recently, our Conference unveiled The Small Business Recovery Act of 2020. It would provide small business owners with new tax credits and access to emergency capital. It would waive regulatory fees. It would redirect all of the state’s current economic development resources to help the small firms, restaurants and shops that strengthen our communities and power our economy.

Right now, what New Yorkers want from their government is action. The last thing they want to see is wasted time, missed opportunities and partisan fighting over issues that can wait when emergency help for our healthcare system, our workers and sick family members can’t. Let’s put politics aside and do the right thing.