LEADERS GATHER
Area legislators share thoughts on Capitol issues at event in Troy
TROY >> The Rensselaer County Chamber of Commerce hosted a panel discussion Thursday, with local representatives in the state Legislature speaking on current issues they are addressing in Albany.
State Sens. Neil Breslin, D-Albany, and Kathleen Marchione, R-Halfmoon, and Assemblyman John McDonald, D- Cohoes, shared their thoughts on several issues, including infrastructure investment, increasing in minimum wage, paid medical leave and ethics in government. The discussion at the Hilton Garden Inn was moderated by Liz Benjamin, host of Time Warner Cable News’ “Capital Tonight.”
During his combined State of the State and budget address earlier this month, Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed spending $22 billion on improving roads and bridges throughout upstate New York. While the money was welcomed by Marchione, she said local governments need more help.
“I am thrilled that the governor did propose all this money for infrastructure upgrades, but we have people from both the Democratic side and the Republican side who agree that the government should be using the [federal Comprehensive Highway Improvement Program] formula,” she said. “The local cities all have such great transportation needs, and they all are not getting funding without using this formula.”
Breslin concurred that the state needs to find a
"We need more funding provided to more local cities and towns."
— State Senator Neil Breslin
way to provide more infrastructure funding.
“City and town roads and bridges are struggling throughout the Capital Region,” he said. “We need more funding provided to more local cities and towns.”
Cuomo’s proposal to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour was made Thursday with the same divided response that it has seen at the Capitol.
“We all realize the minimum wage needs to change, but to date, we are still unsure how the state would be able to afford an increase like this proposed one,” McDonald said.
While on opposite sides of the political aisle, Breslin and Marchione agreed that legislators have to consider
not only the needs of the workers, but the impact on employers, especially small businesses.
“I don’t think enough discussion has been raised for the need to increase minimum wage,” Breslin said. “I also don’t think that enough discussion has been said about how this would affect local businesses.”
“We’re here to make sure that an increase in minimum wage doesn’t hurt businesses,” Marchione added. “I see businesses hiring less people and letting more workers go. Notfor-profits are telling me that they would probably have to go out of business if the minimum wage increases.”
The same concern was raised over a proposal to allow employees to take paid leave to care for a family member.
“Paid family leave is im-
portant to me, but I also realize businesses would be losing employees for periods of time,” Breslin said.
With the high- profile convictions last year of former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos on corruption charges, ethics remains a front-burner issue in Albany, and Marchione said
she and her fellow legislators should be scrutinized more thoroughly.
“I think that everyone should be against corruption,” said Marchione. “We need to take more time to see who our leaders really are and how our leader’s money is being spent.”