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New York state lawmakers awaiting Governor Hochul’s budget proposal after State of the State address

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul presents her 2025 executive state budget in the Red Room at the state Capitol Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024, in Albany, N.Y. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink)
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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul presents her 2025 executive state budget in the Red Room at the state Capitol Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024, in Albany, N.Y. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink)

New York Governor Kathy Hochul gave her State of the State address Tuesday and legislators are reacting to the Democrat's proposals.

Governor Hochul spent the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s speech outlining her so-called “affordability agenda.” Hochul presented some proposals that would support working- and middle-class families including a tax cut for joint filers earning under $320,000 as well as “inflation refund” checks for more than 8 million New Yorkers.

Republican Assemblywoman Mary Beth Walsh of the 112th district says she wants to know how these programs will be funded before getting behind them.

“She’s talking about the inflation refund, the $300 or $500 checks that are going to go out to people. To me, that just sort of strikes me as gimmicky. And I think if you go to the grocery store or you pay your National Grid bill or whatever in a given month, that’s going to eat all of that up. I appreciate the effort that she’s trying to make I don’t know how she’s planning on paying for it. If you’re going to do a sweeping tax cut on the middle class, somebody’s got to pay for that,” said Walsh.

Republican Assemblyman Robert Smullen of the 118th district sits on the Ways and Means Committee. He’s happy to see support for working New Yorkers but he also views the inflation refund checks as a “gimmick.”

“What I would’ve liked to have seen in the State of the State address from the governor is some revenue—where the revenue is going to come from. I think that there are many areas of the state budget where we could have cut spending. And that way we wouldn’t have to match taxes to revenue. We could just give more money back to people or pay more of our debt off,” said Smullen.

Hochul said she wants to change the state's mental hygiene laws to make it easier to involuntarily commit people who may become dangerous during a mental health crisis. Walsh says she supports the move in theory but is unsure it’s realistic.

“I’ve got concerns about that because I think that—where are we going to put them? If we’re going to be picking people up or involuntarily committing people, she made a statement that there were more doctors and more beds but I disagree. I’d have to see the data but I don’t think so. I think we’re really lacking both right now. So, if we’re going to try and pick people up off the street and get them help, I appreciate the need to get people help but they also have to be willing to some extent to receive it. And we need to have the people and the places and the programs to do it,” said Walsh.

Democratic state Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner represents the 113th district. She applauds Hochul’s focus on mental health, but says there’s still plenty of work to be done.

“I will say that it is my observation that even though we have made advancements in expanding the mental health beds available across the state over the last couple of years, it is not nearly enough. And I hear from our hospitals, I hear from families, I hear from parents, who have a family member, a neighbor, somebody in their life that is struggling with severe and persistent mental illness for whom there are no resources,” said Woerner.

Woerner’s district encompasses portions of Saratoga, Washinton, and Warren counties.

She says she would have liked to hear the governor focus on supporting healthcare infrastructure in the rural parts of her district.

“Hospitals and nursing homes are on a financial precipice. We have a shortage of primary care physicians. We have a shortage of dental providers in rural communities and other shortage areas in upstate. And these challenges mean that people are not getting the consistent care that they need which puts pressure on our hospital system and ultimately on our nursing home system. We need investments in our healthcare system and we need hospital rates to be raise, we need nursing home rates to be raised. And without those investments, this system is really going to start to crumble,” said Woerner.

Hochul’s budget plan is due in the coming days.