STATEMENT FROM SENATOR SUE SERINO

ALBANY, NY – Following the conclusion of the 2021 Legislative Session, Senator Sue Serino released the statement below:

“To say this session has been anticlimactic would be an understatement. To leave Albany without rescinding the Governor’s Emergency Powers—or taking any meaningful steps to hold him accountable for his many misdeeds—does an incredible disservice to the people of New York.

Our offices are being inundated with calls from parents and school officials who cannot get answers on mask mandates, from families of those who lost loved ones in nursing homes who want answers, from employers that are hanging on by a thread because they have not seen any real relief, and so many more. Yet, in the closing days of this session, the Legislature’s Supermajority took up no measures to address any of the issues that are on the forefront of New Yorkers’ minds.

Instead, they prioritized new laws to further erode our criminal justice system, advanced almost 150 Gubernatorial nominees, further cementing the Governor’s power over state operations for years to come, and moved no measures to provide significant tax relief, truly reduce the cost of living in New York, or get people back to work.

Albany has always lived in a bubble, but this period of pandemic isolation seems to have made it even worse. While I am proud of the wins I had on behalf of our local community this session, so much more needs to be done to develop a bold plan to rebuild and move our communities, and our state, forward. While this session may have adjourned, our work on this front is far from over.”