“The governor laid out a broad and ambitious agenda in his annual State of the State address. While I welcome his thoughts as a starting point for discussions on important policies that will affect all New Yorkers, I think it’s important to withhold final judgment until seeing more specific details when he presents his budget proposal in two weeks. However, I do have some reservations as to how he plans to pay for some of his new proposals when the state is facing a $4 billion budget deficit.

“This legislative session and budget process will be about making hard choices and sticking to important priorities. Just like how families must live within their means, it’s imperative that state government does the same. For me, it’s important that we look to advance policies that will provide bold and aggressive tax, regulatory and unfunded mandate relief that will help foster economic development, job creation and reduce the property tax burden so that families, farmers, small businesses and manufacturers will stay here and grow here, right in the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes region. It’s about making sure we adequately support and fund our schools, libraries, local infrastructure, first responders and the important care and services we provide to our most vulnerable New Yorkers, the developmentally disabled. Finally, it’s about making sure we partner with every level of government, law enforcement and local community organizations to aggressively attack the growing and deadly opioid and heroin epidemic that is taking lives and destroying families all across our state.”