Politics

The 2013-14 New York State budget passed with total spending at $141.2 billion. Overall, we missed our opportunity to create a better state and left things status quo. We missed the chance to make our state friendlier to all businesses and provide real relief for taxpayers. Instead, we extended energy taxes for all residents, while providing tax credits to the film industry.

Our state government can make a big difference just by doing little things for active duty military and veterans. We should use our resources to further their careers and express our appreciation for their years of service and sacrifice.

I recently joined several local highway officials in Albany to advocate for an increase in state aid for local roads and bridges. With budget negotiations under way, we cannot short change our localities and provide them with funding that is inadequate to keep roads and bridges passable.

Public financing of political campaigns is on the Governor’s agenda this year. Cuomo said in his State of the State address in January, the state should mimic what New York City has done and publicly fund campaigns. In this column, I want to outline for you why I believe publicly financing campaigns is a bad idea

On Feb. 28 there was a gun rally in Albany. There was an estimated 10,000  people who attended from across the state.The rally represented not only those advocating for Second Amendment rights but those fighting for democracy.

The Governor has set forth his Economic Development plan in his proposed 2013 budget. While there are some ideas that I can support, overall our state would benefit from policies that are fair to all businesses.

The Affordable Care Act or Obamacare is on its way to becoming policy. On June 28, 2012 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that “individual mandate was a valid exercise of Congress’ ability to levy taxes.”

There are two initiatives I want to highlight this week.  Both would reform the public assistance benefits system and reinstate integrity for everyone’s sake.

The 2009 budget contained a new tax for utilities. This, in turn, was unfortunately passed down to ratepayers. The “Temporary State Energy Utility Service Conservation Assessment” or 18-A was scheduled to sunset in March 2014.