“After hearing the governor’s State of the State and budget presentation, I’m hopeful that 2016 will be a year of important investments in our local communities. I’m excited about the continued focus on Upstate New York and the level of funding to help provide for new and improved infrastructure. As a civil engineer, I know how critical it is to make investments to repair and maintain aging roads and bridges, water and wastewater service facilities, and to modernize infrastructure with the best methods and materials available. As we move into the new session, I’ll work to keep the focus in our upstate communities.

“I’m encouraged by the governor’s plan to hold Thruway tolls flat until at least 2020 for all users; cutting tolls in half for 1 million frequent travelers of the Thruway; and eliminating tolls for agriculture vehicles. The Thruway is a vital artery for commerce and transportation throughout the upstate area, so delivering major toll relief to families and agribusiness will help to stimulate the economy and keep more hard-earned money in the hands of working families. I hope to build on this by working to reduce or eliminate some tolls entirely to provide additional relief for families in the Mohawk Valley traveling to work daily.

“I’m also encouraged by the increased investment in education. However, the proposed $2.1 billion increase over two years simply is not enough to provide our children with the quality education they deserve, especially in the hard-hit rural communities and small cities in our area. And I strongly believe the GEA needs to be eliminated now, not over two years. This is something that’s long overdue and takes funding from where it’s needed most – our schools. I’ll continue to work on behalf of teachers and students for fair funding, which will remain a top priority in addition to ending the GEA. Fair funding is the key to provide schools the resources they need to better prepare our students for the 21st Century.

“In addition, I support investing $20 billion to grow jobs in Upstate New York and promote business growth. This will help our ongoing efforts to revive the upstate economy and upstate cities, like Schenectady and Amsterdam. Locally, I’m proud to say that the Rivers Casino in Schenectady will create 1,200 new jobs, and the Mohawk Harbor project at the same site will also add 800 jobs.

“I fully support cutting taxes for small businesses by a total of $300 million. Ninety-seven percent of businesses in New York employ fewer than 100 people, and this would reduce the taxes on those businesses, the backbone of our economy, from 6.5 to 4 percent.

“The proposal to bring more transparency and accountability to state government is a good first step, but there’s more to do. I fully support closing the LLC loophole and have already sponsored legislation in the Assembly that would do just that. I also support the proposed Congressional model, which would limit outside income for state legislators to 15 percent of their base salary. I have authored a bill that goes even further and eliminates any outside income for state legislators entirely to avoid potential conflicts, and I continue to sponsor common-sense legislation that would strip the pensions of legislators convicted of crimes.

“We are elected to serve the people we represent that send us here to work for them, and we need to make sure that the people serving in the state Legislature are committed to doing the work they are sent here to do; that the job is a top priority for them; and that they are held to the highest possible standards.

“I’m very encouraged by the continued focus on Upstate New York, but our work is just getting started. In the coming months, I’ll continue fighting for our families, businesses and students to ensure that significant investments in infrastructure, economic growth and education are made in our area.”