“While there were some announcements to be applauded in today’s executive budget address, just as was the case with her State of the State speech, there was a glaring absence of direct solutions to critical problems. When confronting the issue of crime in our state, Gov. Hochul has been skillful in her ability to blame rising violence on anything but what’s actually driving it—our dangerous bail reform law and the hollowing out of our police departments in the wake of the “defund the police” movement. Using guns as a scapegoat to avoid confronting what’s really endangering our communities is incredibly unhelpful and will only enable the further victimization of innocent people. New York needs urgent action to jump-start its economy and clean up its streets, but today the governor put forward an unambitious vision that would make our state’s next decade no better than its last. Enough is enough, let’s make crime illegal again!”