Hochul listed several million- and billion-dollar initiatives designed to help New Yorkers, their businesses and families weather the pandemic and stabilize family life. These include $100 million in relief to nearly 200,000 small businesses, plans to expand access to affordable childcare to 100,000 more working families and invest $75 million in childcare worker wages, a $1 billion middle-class property tax rebate to more than 2 million homeowners, tax credits for COVID-related purchases for bars and restaurants, and a promise to accelerate a $1.2 billion-dollar tax cut originally scheduled to take effect before 2025.

Local state legislators all said they are glad Hochul’s speech addressed many of the hardships their North Country constituents face, and said they’re awaiting more details on how she plans to solve these problems.

Assemblyman Billy Jones, D-Chateaugay Lake, said Hochul’s speech hit many of the key areas that are of concern to North Country residents, and he trusts that she’ll put in the work to carry out the solutions she proposed.

“This was our first interaction with the governor as a legislature today,” Assemblyman Matt Simpson, R-Horicon, said. “We’ll see how this translates to reality in this coming legislative session. I’m hoping it’s a change in the way things have been done in New York in the past.”

Governor Kathy Hochul delivers her 2022 State of the State address in the Assembly Chamber at the State Capitol Wednesday. (Photo courtesy of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office)

State Sen. Dan Stec, R-Queensbury, said the speech was light on details, specifically the costs of all Hochul’s proposals, and he felt that specific North Country issues could have been mentioned a bit more. But he said he sees “encouraging differences” between Hochul and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

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A ‘New New York’

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Jones said with inflation rates “skyrocketing,” families need help like the relief initiatives outlined by Hochul.

Hochul mentioned North Country hospitals when talking about how health care workers have been strained by the coronavirus pandemic.

“They’re not only physically exhausted — they’re emotionally exhausted too,” she said. “I’ve seen it in their eyes, in hospitals from Buffalo to Potsdam just last week.”

She proposed a $3,000 retention bonus for health and direct care workers who stick with their tough jobs. She also said these people “doing God’s work” should not just do it for a minimum wage.

Her goal is to grow the healthcare workforce by 20% over five years.

Stec felt this health care worker shortage was self-inflicted by Hochul and the vaccine mandate for health care workers.

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‘Most business-friendly’

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Hochul said she looks up to President Franklin Roosevelt and his New Deal, which she said birthed the American middle class. She said she wants New York to be “the most business-friendly and worker-friendly state in the nation.” Her proposals included new state spending toward meeting that goal.

Stec said the state already has a big budget. It can’t keep spending without making cuts, he said.

“There’s always the question, ‘How are you going to pay for that?'” Simpson said.

He said the details of how her programs will be implemented will be very important, adding that improving systems rather than funding patches is a better path.

“Are we making sustainable changes?” Simpson asked. “Or are we just doing one-offs? That has been proven time and time again that it doesn’t work, to just throw money at it without true, foundational policy change.”

Hochul will produce her budget for the next financial year in the coming weeks and present it to the Legislature for edits.

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Environment

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The first proposal Simpson thought of, looking back on the speech, was Hochul’s plan to increase the Environmental Bond Act from $3 billion to $4 billion, an increase New York voters will vote on when they go to the polls in November. Hochul first announced her intention to increase the EBA by $1 billion this past September.

Simpson said this money is “critically needed, especially in the Adirondacks.”

Simpson said clean water infrastructure funding for small towns is important.

Some New York local governments are under consent orders from the state Department of Environmental Conservation requiring them to provide a certain level of quality water service, but with a small population, it’s hard for them to finance the maintenance on these systems.

The hamlet of Bloomingdale in the town of St. Armand are municipalities Simpson mentioned in this situation, but he said there’s towns like this all over New York.

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Differences from predecessor

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In her speech, Hochul attempted to distance herself from her predecessor, Cuomo. She served as the lieutenant governor under Cuomo until he resigned in August amid several controversies.

“The days of New Yorkers questioning whether their government is actually working for them are over,” she said. “The days of governors disregarding the rightful role of this legislature are over.”

All local legislators took this as a good sign.

“I think her willingness to work with the legislature strikes me because, obviously, I’m a legislator,” Jones said.

He said throughout Cuomo’s time as governor, he felt Cuomo fought with the legislature more and communicated with its members less.

“We don’t have to talk about Cuomo’s style. Everyone knows his style. It was more of a ‘me,’ top-down instead of a collaborative effort,” Jones said. “He micromanaged a lot of things. You need to entrust some people to do their jobs.”

Hochul also promised to replace the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics with a new watchdog group, one with “teeth.”

When the state’s executive branch was in control of JCOPE, Jones said it had “no teeth.”

He said it needs to be independent and more transparent.

Stec noticed differences in how Hochul and Cuomo gave their State of the State addresses, starting with the venue. Hochul spoke in the Assembly chamber, as traditional, while Cuomo moved his speeches to a convention center.

Simpson said while Cuomo used lots of slide show visuals, Hochul stuck to the “purest form” of the speech.

But Stec felt this style lacked detail, specifically dollar amounts for her proposals.

Stec was glad Hochul acknowledged that 300,000 New Yorkers left the state last year. He said Cuomo always blamed this all on the weather while Stec believes it also has to do with high taxes and criminal justice reforms.

But he said Hochul left mention of complaints about criminal justice reforms — like bail and prison reforms — from her speech purposefully. He said these reforms have “weakened public safety” and caused some to move away.

Simpson said Hochul’s speech was focused more on the state as a whole than the region-by-region speech Cuomo usually gave.

Is that good or bad? He’s not sure yet, but he said it’s different.

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Internet, homelessness

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In her speech, Hochul said the state is putting $1 billion into expanding access to high-speed internet — “especially in our most remote communities.”

She also proposed increased support systems and protections from homelessness.

Hochul announced a five-year housing plan to create and preserve 100,000 affordable homes, including 10,000 units with supportive services for high-risk populations, like runaway youth and formerly incarcerated individuals.

Hochul mentioned the Adirondacks toward the end of her speech, praising its “unsurpassed beauty” along with other areas of the state, including Niagara Falls and the New York City skyline at night.

She presented these places as symbols of New York’s beauty, boldness, past and future.

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