Assemblyman Chris Tague (R,C,I,Ref-Schoharie) is demanding the Legislature return to session to resume its constitutional responsibilities and address the needs of New Yorkers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tague says New Yorkers deserve representation from the people they elected to voice their concerns during these trying times, and the need for the governor’s vast emergency powers no longer exists. Tague wants the Legislature to come back to respond to several concerns, some of which include:

• Restoring religious rights of the people to attend services at places of worship.
• Allowing people to get dental work done by classifying dental services as essential healthcare services.
• Working with the federal government to expand broadband to rural areas.
• Providing guidance and support to local businesses, school districts and governments
• Expanding and extending the Nourish NY program to continue connecting farmers to food banks.
• Compensating landlords who have been unable to collect rent.
• Establishing a law that only allows milk from a lactating mammal to be labeled as “milk” within the state.
• Establishing independent investigations into the Department of Labor’s handling of unemployment claims and the Health Department’s handling of nursing homes during this pandemic.

“People are scared, and people are hurting, and the problems caused by this pandemic are too complicated for one man to deal with,” said Tague. “As compassionate as the governor tries to seem during his self-aggrandizing press conferences, he does not know what it’s like to be a small farmer in upstate New York, or someone who has never been on unemployment before, and cannot properly represent and resolve the concerns of all people across this large and diverse state. There is work to be done on many issues, and to address these issues effectively we need the input of the people who live with them and represent them. I feel it is important to say that these investigations aren’t about politics, they’re about looking into the issues which have brought about financial hardship and loss of life and assuring this never happens again to our people.”