Sen. Griffo Appears on WUTQ's "Talk of the Town"

Sen. Joseph Griffo joined Mark and Frank on the WUTQ 100.7FM's "Talk of the Town" morning show to discuss the State of the State. You can listen to the full interview on WUTQ's website.

The senator's initial thoughts are below.

"I thought it, overall, had broad themes about the agenda for the year. I thought there were some exciting and interesting proposals and initiatives that the governor is advancing. In two weeks, on the 21^st of January, he will detail some of these initiatives when he gives his budget address. So that will be very important – so we have an opportunity to examine and delve into this.

"But conceptually, talking on the focus being on the economy with tax relief and creating job opportunities really have to be the number one priority of this session. Then, looking to invest in education with some new ideas whether it’s the bond act for technology or the other aspects of looking at what we could do to continue to make education funding better. That’s going to be important. We’re going to have a lot of debate on what’s the best way to do that. Obviously, we would like to see a formula change. But continued investments there.

"Using money from disaster preparedness and some of the Sandy money to repair bridges, including upstate. That’s going to be important so we need to know how that will transpire.

"Overall, the property tax relief, the corporate tax to zero is phenomenal for manufacturers, particularly here in upstate. That focus is important. And also talking about the needs in the future and where there will be economic opportunity. I think where we’re positioning ourselves well in this region is both from a nanotechnology and also from a cyber security perspective – both of which he discussed also in his speech.

"So, overall, there was a lot to digest. A lot of good things to consider. Now we’ll have to communicate and hopefully we’ll arrive at consensus. Because as we said in the past on your show, we need to deliver results. I think for the last three years both sides have worked together and found a common ground and gotten things done."