Last week, the state Legislature met in joint session to elect four members to the state Board of Regents. The Board of Regents is responsible for the general supervision of all educational activities within New York State, including the implementation...

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, use of illicit drugs in the United States has been increasing. In their Nationwide Trends report (updated January, 2014), in 2012, an estimated 23.9 million Americans aged 12 or older--approximately...

Assemblyman Will Barclay (R,C,I—Pulaski) voted yesterday to reform the controversial Common Core standards and curriculum. Assembly bill 8929 prohibits Common Core testing from counting against students’ permanent records or on teacher evaluation...

Assemblyman Will Barclay (R,C,I—Pulaski) was joined today by fellow lawmakers from the state Senate and Assembly and Upstate Poison Control officials at a press conference to ban synthetic drugs. Joining these officials at the press conference was Teresa...

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the first Surgeon General’s report on Smoking and Health. That report, issued in 1964, was the first federal government report linking smoking to ill health, including lung cancer and heart disease. The news...

Remington Arms announced last week that it will open a large manufacturing plant in Alabama. It will create 2,000 jobs for the southern state. While I don’t begrudge another state from securing these high-paying manufacturing jobs, I do begrudge our...

Assemblyman Will Barclay (R,C,I-Pulaski) today expressed disappointment over the failure of the Assembly Majority to pass meaningful welfare reform, costing the state $120 million in federal aid. Barclay is a co-sponsor of several welfare reform bills...

“We should not be using taxpayer dollars to help prisoners receive a college education. If the purpose of prison is for convicted criminals to pay for the crime they committed, they should do just that, not earn a college degree on our dime. The Governor’s...

The Board of Regents approved changes to Common Core last week, including delaying full implementation of the graduation requirements by five years—from 2017 to 2022. This means that instead of ninth graders being the first class to graduate with a...

Assemblyman Will Barclay (R,C,I--Pulaski) released the following statement today following the news that the State Board of Regents has recommended full implementation of Common Core standards be delayed by five years, among other recommendations: "I'm...

The Governor’s 2014-15 proposed budget contains, among other things, details relating to his funding and programmatic requests in regards to environmental conservation. As with much of his proposed budget, there are some good ideas and some not so...

Assemblyman Will Barclay (R,C,I—Pulaski) today criticized the Governor’s proposal of publicly-financed campaigns in his executive budget. “This is not the direction our state should be headed. Passing this measure in the budget will unnecessarily...

The Governor's proposed budget contained details on education spending. As I stated last week, this was a status quo budget that does not change the state aid distribution formula which puts lower-wealth school districts at a disadvantage. The Governor...

Assemblyman Will Barclay (R,C,I--Pulaski) announced today that New York is now third in the nation in milk production, surpassing Idaho. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, New York milk production has grown for four years, after experiencing...

Assemblyman Will Barclay (R,C,I-Pulaski) today informed members of volunteer fire departments and students about a tuition reimbursement program available through the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York (FASNY). FASNY has developed the Higher...

As he is constitutionally required to do, the Governor proposed his 2014-15 budget last week. It was a status quo budget proposal that did not contain any revolutionary ideas or reforms, but it does keep spending in check and does contain some positive...

I am pleased to hear about the tax cuts for Upstate manufacturers. Cutting corporate taxes will give businesses more reason to stay as well as attract others. I’m also glad to hear talks about addressing property taxes, as New York’s middle-class...

This past week, Governor Cuomo presented his 2014 State of the State address. For the first 30 minutes of the approximately one-and-a-half hour speech, the Governor reviewed what he saw as successes during his first three years in office. During this...

I was pleased to hear the words “zero-out corporate taxes for manufacturers in Upstate New York.” This is something my colleagues and I have advocated for years. This would provide real incentive for manufacturers to re-invest in our region and bolster...

The Governor recently signed a number of bills into law. I wanted to take some time this week to make you aware of a few new ones that will or have recently become effective. One new law that I sponsored will enable military to receive sales tax exemptions...