LISTENING IN

This week the Legislature’s fiscal committees commence joint, public hearings on Governor Andrew Cuomo’s 2015-16 proposed state budget. These extensive, often daylong hearings will continue throughout February. 

That means we’re going to keep learning more and more about the governor’s plan for New York’s future, short and long term, as the hearings highlight additional information and dissect detail after detail.

Like I said, they can stretch into daylong affairs, but for anyone interested in tuning in, I’ve posted the schedule and links to livestreams HERE. [Note that the previously scheduled Tuesday, January 27th hearing has been postponed due to the severe winter storm that's hitting the downstate region. The January 27th hearing has been rescheduled to Wednesday, February 25th, beginning at 9:30 a.m.]

My first reaction after listening to the governor deliver his new fiscal plan in Albany last week still holds: The governor’s blueprint is not aggressive enough on addressing Upstate’s priority challenges, and it’s not aggressive enough on creating Southern Tier jobs. I don’t see where he’s going aggressively enough after the root causes of Upstate’s decline, which means high taxes, overregulation and unfunded state mandates that have driven up property taxes.

That’s the fundamental shortcoming as I see it, and it’s where I’ll be urging my colleagues to focus.

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