With the New Year upon us, now is a great opportunity to reflect on what we have accomplished in the last 12 months, and where we can make improvements for the year ahead. In the legislature, 2015 held some significant accomplishments along with a number of missed opportunities. This upcoming year, we must strive to do better; it’s time to give New Yorkers the tools they need to live a safe and prosperous life and give them a government they can trust.

First, we need to launch major repair initiatives for critical infrastructure in upstate New York. The failing condition of our upstate roadways and bridges is impacting the well-being of our people, our communities, and our economy. New York City continues to eat up the lion’s share of funding, receiving more than $16 billion for luxury infrastructure wants over our basic needs. Some villages in my district are lacking adequate sidewalks, so residents are forced to walk in the road and trek through snow, ice, and other dangerous conditions simply to gain access to the services they need. Upstate can’t be ignored anymore; it’s time for Gov. Cuomo and the Legislature to do the right thing and seriously invest in our upstate roads and bridges in 2016.

Secondly, we must work to secure essential funding to help our agricultural industry thrive. Agriculture is a critical component of our economy; it’s imperative that we continue to fight for better state policies and funding to support this important industry and allow for new innovations. As the Ranking Minority Member of the Assembly Committee on Agriculture, I will continue to strongly advocate for our family farmers and issues impacting the agricultural industry throughout our region and statewide this coming year.

Third, we need to have a new drive to eliminate unfunded mandates that raise our property taxes. New York State homeowners are needlessly burdened by ever-increasing property and school taxes as a result of Albany mandates. This burden is often too much for many residents to bear, so they are forced to move out of their homes and uproot their families to more affordable parts of the country. We need to enact serious mandate relief in 2016 so that our friends and neighbors can afford to live and raise their families right here in New York State.

Last, but certainly not least, is ethics reform. If there’s anything we can learn from 2015, it’s that we need to hold our elected officials to a much higher standard. I hope the guilty verdicts in the trials of former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos will serve as a sobering wake-up call to legislators that violating the public’s trust will no longer be tolerated. I urge my colleagues in the Assembly Majority to take up two of my sponsored bills, The Public Officers Accountability Act and pension forfeiture legislation, as some of the first orders of business this session. The Public Officers Accountability Act would enact some of the toughest ethics laws in the nation, while the pension forfeiture bill would close the loophole that allows felons to collect public pensions. We need to start 2016 on the right foot, and that begins with giving New Yorkers a government they can trust.

This year, I promise to fight for a safer and more prosperous New York. For more information on any of these initiatives or any other state issue, please call me at 493-3909 or email me at blankenbushk@assembly.state.ny.us to share your ideas.