Write a commentAssemblyman Will Barclay (R,C,I-Pulaski) issued the following statement today following Gov. Cuomo’s State of the State address:
“I was pleased to hear the Governor’s State of the State address today but I’m concerned about much of its content. It included a litany of liberal policies, many of which I am troubled by, particularly on minimum wage increases and public financing of campaigns. Overall, there were no real surprises in the speech.
“The Governor spent a fair amount of time today talking about capital projects and infrastructure improvements and these are always intriguing. I was glad to hear him mention investments in Upstate roads and bridges but I want to make sure that Upstate gets its fair share of capital investments in comparison to Downstate mass transit and improvements proposed at LaGuardia and JFK. I look forward to supporting the small business tax cuts proposed and I am glad that he proposes to eliminate the GEA (gap elimination adjustment) for schools so they can count on the dollars they are owed from previous budget shortfalls.
“I was disappointed that though he talked about job creation through renewable energy, he didn’t mention the jobs created by existing nuclear energy plants. We’re in jeopardy of losing FitzPatrick and other Upstate nuclear generating facilities that directly and indirectly support 25,000 jobs in our region. We need state policies that support nuclear.
“I look forward to sharing more on the proposed budget in my upcoming column.”
