Op-Ed: A successful first session in state Senate

In November, the people of Erie County elected me to represent New York’s 60th State Senate District. After serving as a member of the New York State Assembly, I was excited to take on the new challenges and responsibilities my new role would bring. Now, six months later, we have wrapped up a successful first session focused on ending the pandemic and getting the economy back on track.

Despite the many challenges posed by COVID-19, the Senate majority was able to make a great deal of positive, substantive changes for our state in 2021. I’m confident that the work we have done will improve the lives of people in every corner of New York.

We passed a great budget for the people of Western New York that prioritized tax fairness, providing a major tax cut for the middle class while ensuring that millionaires and billionaires in our state pay their fair share. On top of that, we added a personal income tax credit to reduce the net cost of property taxes for overburdened middle-class homeowners.

The budget also included an array of measures specifically designed to help New Yorkers affected by the pandemic. We committed billions of dollars to helping small businesses, renters, landlords and homeowners. And after a difficult start, we ended up with an equitable and efficient vaccine rollout that has led to 64% of eligible residents in Erie County getting at least one dose so far. As we can see, the more people are vaccinated, the more our lives are getting back to normal. After New Yorkers turned out in droves for early voting in 2020, we took action to permanently make voting easier for all New Yorkers at a time when many states are passing unnecessary restrictive voting laws. Voting is the cornerstone of our democracy, and the steps we took will help ensure that all New Yorkers can make their voices heard.

I worked hard to ensure that upstate and Western New York were well represented in budget negotiations and throughout the session, and I am proud to have passed several bills that will directly help my constituents in the 60th District.

We enacted my bill, the Comprehensive Broadband Connectivity Act, which will be the first step to bringing reliable, high-speed internet service to the rural and urban areas that are currently overlooked by broadband internet providers. We also pushed for a transformative $90.7 million increase in funding for the 60th District’s schools, and increased the district’s road-repair funding by 30%.

While we made a significant amount of progress during my first legislative session in the Senate, there are still plenty of things to accomplish in the months ahead. I look forward to continuing to advocate for the people of Erie County as we work to finally put an end to the pandemic and return to a normal way of life.