Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay

The 2013 legislative session has ended.  In this week’s column, I want to share my thoughts on some positive steps the Legislature took to enact change and also highlight a few matters that will, unfortunately, remain status quo for now.

At the end of session both the Assembly and Senate unanimously voted to enact the Lt. Col. Todd Clark Memorial Flag Presentment Program. Lt. Col. Clark was recently killed on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan. A 17-year veteran of the United States Army, Clark was a Purple Heart recipient and sadly, was killed after confronting a terrorist threat to his unit.

Utica police have been searching for a toddler since he was reported missing on June 11. Sadly, the 9-month-old child was reported missing two weeks after his disappearance by his father. Police have involved some members of the public to help search for the child and asking anyone with information to call. This case is an example of why New York needs to pass Caylee’s Law.

Understanding that his success as governor greatly depends on whether he can provide the leadership to help turn around New York’s languishing economy, Cuomo is pushing the legislature to pass what he calls “a game-changing initiative.”  I disagree with the Governor and think that this program, while it may provide some economic stimulus, it is really more of the same of what has been proposed in New York in the past and fails to accomplish what our state really needs – which is, broad-based tax relief.

My end-of-session priorities include getting tax breaks for farmers and active military. We need harsher laws for synthetic drug users and dealers on par with our current controlled substance penalties. We need to create laws that establish a protocol for inappropriate and unethical behavior for lawmakers, instead of leaving ethics up to the powers that be.

The New York City sponsors of this legislation have billed it as the DREAM Act.  However, because it will place an increased burden on our State’s Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), this could become a financial nightmare for the state and for those lower-and middle-class families who are already struggling to afford the ever increasing cost of higher education.

As the cliche goes, when it rains it pours. This certainly holds true as a description of the numerous scandals that have arisen as of late in both Albany and Washington. This week in Albany, most attention was rightfully focused on the release of a report by the Joint Committee on Public Ethics that summarized its investigation of sexual harassment claims against Vito Lopez – the now former Assemblyman.

On the same day farmers were bracing for a cold streak, the Assembly passed a bill that imposes factory-like mandates on family farms, and failed to recognize the unique industry heavily dependent on weather and harvest schedules. The Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act passed the Assembly 83-53. I voted against it. The bill imposes new labor mandates, regulations and financial burdens for farmers, without considering the environment or circumstances it takes to run a successful farm.

There have been quite a few newsworthy items coming out of Albany in recent weeks. I want to share a few of them with you in this column pertaining to health services funding, insurance fraud, and tourism.