“I want to thank Governor Hochul for holding her State of the State address in the Assembly Chamber. This gesture symbolizes her commitment to work with us in the Assembly to solve the many issues New Yorkers face.When the former Governor moved the State of the State to the Convention Center, Senator Tedisco and I introduced legislation to return it to the Assembly Chamber.I am very pleased to see that realized.

“I applaud the Governor’s $1 billion plan to overhaul our mental health system.As Chair of the Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Committee, I look forward to working with her on this and my proposal to infuse the 12 Addiction Treatment Centers operated by the state with mental health services to make them centers for the treatment of co-occurring disorders. My proposal is very cost effective.There should be room for $3-5 million in the $1 billion proposal.

“I am very encouraged to hear Governor Hochul’s plan to build more than 800,000 new homes in a decade. Working families are struggling to find housing; if they do, most of their monthly expenses are on housing.The unusually high cost of housing, both rental and home ownership, is very detrimental to the economy, because it reduces the amount of money people have to spend on other goods and services.

“Governor Hochul invoked the image of Eleanor Roosevelt at the end of her speech.Sometimes we forget that Eleanor was not just a symbolic leader for women but, with her husband Franklin, a progressive leader in building an economic New Deal for American families.The Roosevelts had the courage to find the revenue to pay for all the New Deal programs.The revenue will not drop from the sky like manna from heaven.Governor Hochul will need the courage to find new and redevelop old sources of revenue that were discarded no matter their past success (like the Stock Transfer Tax which New York had from 1905 to 1981 without the slightest adverse consequence).