With the recent passage of the Assembly Majority’s one-house budget proposal, it’s obvious there is something wrong going on in Albany. Their budget wish list proposed near doubling the state spending cap yet decreased funding for some of upstate’s most important issues. Agriculture, infrastructure and small businesses were all short-changed. Because this deal was brokered behind closed doors by New York City politicians, it’s not out of line to think: If only the North Country and Mohawk Valley had a voice at the table.

The inclusion of minimum wage on their dream list is deplorable. Upstate legislators know small businesses can’t afford to pay entry level workers $15 an hour, yet they continue to push this issue. We have already seen the reports from the American Action Forum and the Empire Research Center for New York, which say raising the minimum wage will cost New Yorkers jobs and New York businesses millions. The Assembly Majority should worry less about giving free college tuition to illegal aliens and arbitrarily raising the minimum wage and focus on how to lower taxes and make New York more business-friendly.

The proposed infrastructure budget for upstate and the DOT is another puzzling piece of the Assembly Majority’s budget proposal. How the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is continually overfunded baffles me. A $6 billion discrepancy is no coincidence; it is highway robbery. The upstate legislators who voted for this proposed budget know just how bad the bridges and roads in upstate are, yet pretend to have no clue.

Finally, it is unconscionable that a 50 percent cut to local farmers was included. The heart and soul of this state must continually fight for the funding it deserves. Some of my upstate colleagues seem to be “less than concerned” with how funding will turn out – well, I am concerned. I’m concerned for the livelihoods of a significant portion of our community. If our agriculture industry continually has to fight to get what it is owed, how will it ever get ahead? I’m not satisfied with keeping things the way they are. I want to evolve practices and improve, making us better tomorrow than we are today. That means supporting our family farms – fairly.

The Assembly needs more fighters in upstate’s corner. We need representatives with the same concerns as their constituents and the same vision for this state’s future. Right now, that’s lacking. I will continue to fight because I want the same thing as all of you: a vibrant, safe and successful community for future generations.

I welcome your thoughts on these or any other legislative matter. Please contact me by emailing blankenbushk@assembly.state.ny.us or by calling my office at 315-493-3909.