With one-party control in Albany, this legislative session made for a difficult year. Single-party control usually does not work out well for the masses, regardless of which party is in charge. Unfortunately, this year has been dominated by a downstate agenda and one aimed more at retaliating against the federal government than trying to work together for the needs of many. This has left the constituents of our district – and the rest of upstate – reeling.

For years now, New Yorkers across upstate have wondered how Albany can be so out of touch with our priorities and have hoped that things would improve. This session has gone in the opposite direction, starting by expanding entitlements for convicted criminals and persons in our nation illegally. The budget produced billions in new taxes and fees. Sadly, session has concluded with Albany focused on more entitlements – providing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants – and implementing devastating mandates that will cripple thousands of New York’s family farms, which provide a $5 billion boost to our economy. Lawmakers left discouraged, without many major accomplishments for New Yorkers north of the Mario Cuomo Bridge.

Many lawmakers and constituents feel offended by these policies and, quite often, the statements from the executive chamber and downstate leaders. They are offended that their priorities have been ignored, and that new taxes, fees, mandates and burdensome regulations will make their lives even harder. As your representative, I continue to fight hard to make sure our community’s voices are heard, and I will give credit where it is due, so did several of my upstate colleagues on the other side of the aisle. Believe it or not, we do often band together for the sake of our local communities.

Though I have been hard-pressed to find many statewide highlights, there were some substantial successes that I am proud to deliver. I was able to pass some important legislation that will help local communities throughout our seven-county district, including measures to improve flood mitigation, bring in economic development funds, provide financial aid for schools and authorize property tax exemptions for not-for-profits that do so much good in our community.

I was also very pleased to be able to stand up to defend our military, particularly our Gold Star families. I want our troops and veterans to always know I have your back, and now you won’t have to worry about your kids being able to afford to go to college because we fought back and delivered a new scholarship program for them. We also fought back during the budget and restored the governor’s proposed elimination of the Joseph P. Dwyer Veterans Peer-to-Peer Counseling program. This program saves lives and I am so proud we were able to restore it.

My colleagues and I were also successful in restoring the budget’s cuts to library construction aid and the Extreme Winter Recovery program for our local roads as well as maintaining a middle-class tax cut and making the state’s two percent property tax cap permanent. Though there is much more that needs to be done to break Albany’s “tax and spend” mentality, these are solid steps that will protect taxpayers in the long run.

Though this session was difficult it continues to be my privilege and honor to fight for you and our ways of life. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of further assistance.