Assemblyman Scott Gray (R,C-Watertown) released the latest episode of “The Gray Area” video series. In this week’s episode, Gray discusses the lack of a New York state budget and frustrating ad nauseam debates on meaningless bills. Additionally, Gray gives an overview of the 10 budget bills.

“Here we are first week of April, still no budget with no anticipation it will be completed next week. In the meantime, we are debating bills ad nauseum that have been around for years—we’ve debated bills this week that have a shelf life of 27 years, 12 years and 16 years. It’s frustrating when we should be doing a budget.”

“Let’s talk a little bit about the budget that doesn’t exist: there are 10 budget bills in total. Five are appropriations bills where we’re actually allocating state revenue to different programs, and there are five public policy bills.” In the Gray Area, Assemblyman Gray breaks down each of the 10 budget bills and gives a quick snapshot of how your taxes contribute to state revenue.

“There were no visitors in the Capitol this week, but we had a lot of events going on back in the district this last weekend. We had a retirement party on Thursday for Beth O’Meara, superintendent of Cape Vincent Correctional. We had fire department dinners on Friday and Saturday in the Town of Clayton and in Rensselaer Falls. We also took a tour of the Pepsi-Cola bottling company up in Ogdensburg—thank you to the Wright family. We met over in Clarkson University with some of the professors and the Center of Excellence regarding the algae bloom issue in Hyde Lake, so hopefully we’ll get some resolution to that.”

“Look out for next week’s episode of The Gray Area as we continue to update you on what you care about. We always appreciate the opportunity to serve you and to work with you. Don’t hesitate to call my office staff with questions, comments or concerns—see you soon,” Gray concluded.

Watch the full episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4zx7KlTCq0.