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 planning that has led to legislators going back and forth between Albany and their districts to pass two more budget extenders and the policies holding up progress on passing a state budget.

“This week has been a yo-yo week for legislators as we have been called to convene in Albany on Sunday, Tuesday and Friday to take votes. It’s disappointing that instead of staying in Albany to get work done, we are spending taxpayer dollars to extend and delay this process. Schools are running up against deadlines for their own budgets and are grappling with the uncertainty of the carnage that will come out of the enacted state budget. Hopefully, next week when we come back to you, we will have a budget or at least one that’s in progress in terms of passing.”

“What’s holding up progress to the best of our knowledge is the housing package and good cause eviction—a terrible policy, especially for upstate New York. It puts tremendous restrictions on landlords to evict nonpaying tenants. We already know we have problems with squatters, couple that with good cause eviction and we will have people in apartments not paying rent for years. Despite the name, good cause eviction is not good, it’s simply bad policy. The basic premise should be: you rent an apartment, you pay for an apartment.”

“Although there were no visitors in Albany this week, I attended Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos’s retirement party last night. Basil is a great friend of the North Country, and we wish him well in his future endeavors.”

“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://shorturl.at/IOUWY