Governor Hochul Rolls out her Agenda at the State of the State Ad

(1/11/2023, Albany, NY) IgniteLI Executive Director Patrick Boyle joined state lawmakers and leadership at Governor Hocuhl’s State of the State address where she unveiled her agenda for 2023. “My goals are straightforward and clear,” Hochul said. “We will make New York safer. We will make New York more affordable. We will create more jobs and opportunities for the New Yorkers of today and the New Yorkers of tomorrow.” With 147 separate proposals addressing a vast array of issues, IgniteLI Executive Director Patrick Boyle identified a few points that Long Island’s Manufacturing Community should keep our eyes on due to their positive or negative impacts on our business environment.

Boyle said, “As a region, our first concerns are always safety and affordability, both of which the Governor vowed to address in her Inauguration speech last week, I am pleased to see she has outlined her plan here in the State of the State,” he said. “By and large the 147 measures the Governor addressed are positive for Long Island, we are especially encouraged by section 8 “Attracting and growing New York State Businesses” but concerned about a few initiatives which could be harmful to business,” said Boyle. Below, is his outline of the positives and negatives of the State of the State for Long Island’s Manufacturing Community.

Positive

· Increased Achievable Housing for New York’s workers. Building 800,000 New Homes. New York is approaching a housing crisis as rent payers and mortgage holders are under burdened by paying more than 30% of their income to housing. Affordable housing for workers is unattainable, which drives workers away. ***IgniteLI does have a concern over how the state aims to achieve its ambitious housing goals, this measure seeks to “override local governments” taking away local control over communities and development meaning that local governments will have less say in how and where these projects will be implemented.

· Keeping New Yorkers Safe- Last year’s dramatic rise in crime can be attributed to many factors but the controversial “bail reform” legislation took the brunt of the criticism. More bail reform laws are forthcoming with the addition of 4 new State Police Academy Classes, growing the number of police on our streets.

· Attracting and Growing New York State Business- Investment in high-tech growth sectors creates high-quality jobs, Hochul aims to do this by modernizing the states training and employment infrastructure, matching Federal Tech Innovation Funding, Improving the Excelsior Program to attract businesses and jobs, and establishing a new state focus on supply chain resiliency.

· Providing High-Quality Education- There are many initiatives in section 7 of the State of the State that we can look forward to supporting. Our skilled workforce pipeline is perhaps one of the greatest weaknesses we face as a region, that is why we support historic new investment in public education, the creation of new early college high school and P-Tech programs, creating a robust high school-college workforce pipeline, and continued commitment to prekindergarten expansion, allowing workers to get back to work after growing their families.

Points of Concern

· Automatic Minimum Wage Increases This measure would take away the lawmaker’s ability to control minimum wage, rather than tying it to the Consumer Price Index for the Northeast region, meaning if the index goes up 5% from one year to the next, so would the minimum wage. This initiative would increase costs to businesses that are already struggling to make payroll in one of the most overburdened states in the country. New York is experiencing a net business loss as business leaders look to more affordable regions of the country to either grow or expand their businesses.

· Making Buildings more Sustainable Governor Hochul will seek an ambitious set of policies designed to usher New York into a new, electrified future. The Governor is calling for all new construction to be fully sustainable, with no on-site fossil fuel combustion by 2025. While we applaud the bold step forward to control New York’s carbon footprint, we are concerned that the legislation would make investment, growth, and operation unaffordable in New York State. This measure would likely increase consumer costs upfront in construction and overall operation through the life of the equipment. Furthermore, having a single-source electric energy policy could be dangerous, especially with unreliable electricity generation.

To learn more about IgniteLI’s Legislative Agenda click here