The state Assembly legislative session has come to an end.
I feel honored and privileged to have served the residents of the 16th Assembly District.
Your calls, emails and letters have guided me in making the legislative decisions that positively affect the lives of the residents of our district.
I always strive to focus on substance and policy and work hard to make my constituents proud.
I am pleased to report during my inaugural session I sponsored multiple bills of which two-thirds of them passed, and also co-sponsored and supported many others that will positively impact our community.
Here are the legislation that I introduced this year that have passed:
Removing the 10-year limitation for real property tax exemptions for cold war veterans, designating a portion of the state highway system as “Sergeant James J. Regan Boulevard,” authorizing the Town of North Hempstead to change the date of the election for special district commissioners for December 2017, extending the authority of the Department of Environmental Conservation to manage black sea bass, authorizing a property tax exemption for Truth Center Ministries International, amends the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law in relation to defining a hotel license and authorizing a property tax exemption for Kollell OHR Hamet.
I also introduced and fully intend to bring back next year the following legislation: Enhancing the criminal history background check process, directing the Department of Environmental Conservation to renew certain well permits in a county having a population of two million or more and wholly encompassed by a city, for a period of not more than two years, and increasing the imposed courts mandated fines on a corporation for felonies defined within the penal law. (These fines were not raised for more than 52 years.)
State Assemblyman Steve Englebright, chair of the Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee and I co-sponsored legislation to prohibit the chemical 1,4 Dioxane, a known carcinogen, from being used in the production of household cleaning products.
We are hoping to prohibit the distribution, selling, offering and exposure of household cleansing products that contain 1, 4- Dioxane, exempting trace concentrations that are authorized in regulations which are determined by the state Department of Environmental Conservation in consultation with the state Department of Health.
The Environmental Protection Agency has determined that the maximum for a cancer-causing chemical: is 0.35 parts per billion.
This session was a very productive one.
My colleagues and I have worked hard to pass important legislation for our fellow New York State Residents.
Among these legislation are: the New York Health Act, banning e-cigarettes from use in public places, Child Victims Act, Reproductive Health Privacy, Elder Abuse, Buy American Act, Raise the Age, the New York State Liberty Act and Dream Act.
We also worked diligently to provide a budget that included $2.5 billion in water quality improvements, an increase in education aid of $1.1 billion, bringing the new education aid total to $25.8 billion, a middle class tax cut — saving taxpayers $250 on average next year, and six million New Yorkers $700 annually when fully effective, enhancement of the middle class child care tax credit, amongst numerous other quality of life improvements.
Thank you for the honor and privilege of serving as your Assemblyman.
I could not have done any of this without our dialogue and your ongoing support. Feel free to contact me if I can be of any further assistance.
