New York Governor Kathy Hochul's 2025 State of the State address is getting a mixed reaction from lawmakers close to the capitol.
110th district state Assemblymember Phil Steck says at first listen fellow-Democrat Hochul's annual address sounds like a campaign speech.
"In order to realize the various proposals that she was putting out there in the state of state, you need a lot of revenue for that. And all we heard was tax cuts, not any raising of revenue. Further, the proposal to give everyone $300 checks as an offset of inflation. We've had past experience with that under Governor Cuomo and I think my constituents always thought through things like that as being kind of a gimmick. I think people are looking for things of meaningful value, such as, for example, universal pre-kindergarten, which we still do not have in this state,” said Steck.
107th district Republican Assemblymember Scott Bendett says the governor clearly outlined all of her goals.
"It was interesting," Bendett said. "Some of the things that she spoke about were some of the things that we've been talking about here at the Republican conference. But the problem with some of her comments and some of her goals and her hopes and her aspirations is, will she be able to accomplish these things? And will she be able to accomplish this, these things, without worsening the affordability crisis in our state?”
Republican state Senator Jim Tedisco represents the 44th district.
"To stand up in our fourth year just before reelection and say 'hey did you know we have an affordability problem in New York State' She's in the wrong line of work really she shouldn't be running for governor. She should become a comedian. Because it's laughable to stand up now and say we have an affordability problem," said Tedisco, who contends the situation has worsened under Hochul.
"She caused the affordability problem and now she said she wants to fix it, and maybe she can. She's gotta convince them [Democratic house leadership] to cap spending and have spending priorities. I wanna see that happening and I will support her in that and the good news is the policies will be pretty good. But there's no way when you don't talk about where the money is gonna come from," said Tedisco.
Steck says the governor is on the right track with her focus on childcare, but how she proposes to fund it remains to be seen.
“If you had listened to the opening of the Assembly session, you know who the speakers were in favor of affordable childcare? Republicans. So it's clearly a need across the state, but the revenue to establish affordable child care, it doesn't fall from the sky like manna from heaven, you know. So you can’t, on the one hand, say taxes are ruining affordability in this, they do, and say that the taxes are going to be cut. It's just a disconnect there, and I think we've got a long way to go to develop innovative policies that will, for example, bring us affordable child care and bring us affordable housing," Steck said.
108th district Assemblymember John McDonald, a Democrat, is pleased to hear the governor focus on the cost of living. But he says there are other issues that caught his ear.
“I thought the community college initiative, particularly for displaced workers those individuals between the ages of 25 and 55 to go back, with free tuition at community colleges to restore a career particularly in those fields that we have a shortage, like the trades, like healthcare makes good sense and it speaks to the opportunity. On public safety, although it will be a difficult conversation the reality is there are many individuals that are struggling with behavioral health issues and the goal is not to incarcerate or arrest. The goal is to get them connected to services and that may involve some draconian actions to do it but it's worth it. It's a conversation we need to have,” said McDonald.
Hochul proposes changing the state's mental hygiene laws to make it easier to involuntarily commit a person experiencing a dangerous mental health crisis.