The O’Donnell & Associates team pulled together the top provisions from the 2022 State of the State Address. If you have additional questions on anything here, including how it might impact your business or organization, feel free to reach out to any of our team members.
Ethics Reform:
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- Term Limits of two terms for statewide officials
- Limits on outside income for elected officials
- Replace JCOPE with “a rotating board of five members made up of the 15 state- accredited law school deans or their designees”
Education:
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- Increase funding for K-12 schools and take action to increase the number of teachers, staff, and bus drivers
- Make available federal grants to local school districts to help students with mental health
- Expand Eligibilities for Tuition Assistance Program
- Establish UB and Stony Brook as flagship institutions in the SUNY system
Healthcare:
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- $10 billion to grow NYs medical workforce by 20%
- Relax some licensing rules and regulations for health-care workers that were suspended during the pandemic emergency to make it easier to treat people
- $6 billion for wage supports, worker-retention bonuses, and capital infrastructure like lab facilities
Climate:
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- $500 million investment in offshore wind infrastructure
- Develop plan to double NY’s energy storage capacity by 2030
- State investment portfolios at net-zero carbon emissions by 2040
Tax:
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- $100 million tax relief for 195,000 small businesses
- $1 billion tax rebate to 2 million homeowners
Criminal Justice and Public Safety:
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- Expressed support for the Clean Slate Act- would expunge the records of hundreds of thousands of people across the state
- Triple state resources for State Police’s gun tracing efforts
- Provide additional training to law enforcement on the state’s Red Flag law
Housing:
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- Expressed support for eliminating the controversial 421-a tax break for developers to include affordable units in new buildings
- proposed a five-year housing plan that involves creating or preserving 100,000 affordable rental and co-op units across the state
Voting Rights:
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- Proposed the State Voting Rights Act which is very similar to the federal voting rights Bill being pursued by Dems
- Urged Legislature to pass same-day registration and no-excuse absentee voting
Transportation:
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- Create new passenger rail system on existing 14-mile stretch of freight tracks between Bay Ridge, Brooklyn and Jackson Heights, Queens
- Supported ongoing efforts to renovate Penn Station
- $175 million in the next five years to expand charging stations for electric vehicles while requiring that all state vehicles and school buses be electric by 2035.
