O’Mara receives key committee assignments at start of 2023 legislative session

Albany, N.Y., January 13—State Senator Tom O’Mara (R,C-Big Flats) has received several key committee assignments at the start of the 2023 legislative session on committees that will impact the direction of state fiscal policies as well as criminal justice and law enforcement, energy and broadband development, regulatory reform, and government investigations and oversight.

“It’s a full plate and Senate Republicans are fighting uphill in a state government squarely under one-party, downstate Democrat control. But these assignments place my focus squarely at the center of several of the most challenging and critical debates over the future direction of our state. I look forward to being a voice for the Senate Republican Conference as we focus on the policies that we believe would most effectively represent the best interests of taxpayers, workers, small business owners, manufacturers, farmers, schools, law enforcement, and all the other foundations of the local communities we represent,” said O’Mara.

O’Mara was recently reappointed by Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt as the top Republican member on the Senate Finance Committee, the Senate committee most responsible for overseeing the adoption of the state’s annual budget and setting the course for New York’s short- and long-term fiscal practices and responsibilities. Throughout his Senate service, O’Mara has been a strong voice in the State Legislature for more responsible and effective state fiscal practices. He has consistently pointed to high taxes, unrestrained spending, unfunded mandates, and overregulation as key obstacles to sustained economic growth and job creation throughout the Upstate region.

O’Mara said, “We need to keep working against a New York State tax and regulatory climate that puts our businesses and manufacturers at a competitive disadvantage, imposes red tape that strangles local economies, or prioritizes higher and higher spending, overtaxing, outrageous mandates, and burdensome overregulation.”

O’Mara has also been reappointed as the Ranking Member on the Senate Investigations and Government Operations Committee. He was first named as the top Republican member on the Investigations Committee in July of 2020, as the Senate and Assembly were preparing to begin public hearings that August on the COVID-19 nursing home crisis. Significant questions were raised, and continued to be raised, by O’Mara and many others over the former Cuomo administration’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York State’s nursing homes.

The future of state energy policies will remain under the spotlight in 2023 as the Hochul administration moves forward on what many, including O’Mara, consider a radical remaking of New York’s energy future, and O’Mara will serve as a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Telecommunications. He noted that the committee also plays a prominent role in the development of legislation and initiatives to advance broadband expansion, an issue that he has long advocated as critical to the future of Upstate, rural regions.

Additionally, O’Mara has earned appointments to two of the key committees governing the areas of criminal justice and law enforcement, the Codes Committee and the Judiciary Committee.

“From misguided bail and parole reform to an ever-growing ‘defund the police’ movement, we have seen over the past several years this Legislature move in directions that many of us believe pose a serious danger to public safety and security throughout New York State,” O’Mara said. “New York State has become less safe, and we need to keep working against anti-law enforcement policies, stand behind our police officers, and resist radical efforts that threaten the safety and stability of our communities and neighborhoods.”

O’Mara’s other Senate committee assignments include posts on the Insurance Committee and the Rules Committee.