As far as Gov. Andrew Cuomo is concerned, last year is old news.
In his State of the State address Jan. 4, Cuomo applauded the many benchmark reforms issued by his administration and the New York state Legislature in 2011, but reminded lawmakers and constituents that there is still a vast amount of work to be done.
“We have accomplished much, there is no doubt. We have been through much, there is no doubt. But there is also no doubt that we have only just begun,” Cuomo said, according to a prepared version of his speech.
The three-pronged plan unveiled by Cuomo to address the ongoing challenges facing New York state includes additional economic development initiatives and a number of reforms aimed at boosting government efficiency.
However, the governor was largely silent on the topics of mandate relief and hydraulic fracturing, which figure to be two of the more controversial issues of the 2012 legislative session.
Cuomo said he hoped to build on the successes of his first year in office.
“We chose to begin to change the culture of Albany,” he said, later calling the 234th Legislative session “one of the most productive for our state government in modern political history.”
For an encore, Cuomo detailed a number of initiatives that would be aimed at economic development and job growth, including:
- A second round of economic development awards to support job-creating projects throughout the state. “We will keep the momentum going this year. We will be launching a $200 million second competitive round of regional economic development awards.”
- An infrastructure fund to address projects around the state that are in dire need of repairs. “Today, I am announcing the New York Works Fund and Task Force to master plan, coordinate, leverage and accelerate capital investment and put thousands of New Yorkers to work in every corner of the state.”
- A comprehensive plan to allow an expansion of casino gambling. “It”™s estimated that over $1 billion of economic activity from gaming can be generated in our state. Therefore, let”™s amend the constitution so that we can do gaming right.”
Highlighting Cuomo”™s proposals to retool the state government apparatus was a call to establish a statewide Education Commission to identify reforms that will increase teacher accountability and student achievement.
“We cannot fail in our mission to reform public education, because we simply cannot fail our children.”
On the topic of mandate relief ”“ which has been a source of tension between municipal government officials and the Cuomo administration following the tax cap passage ”“ Cuomo said only that Mandate Relief Council would issue a package of recommendations by the end of the legislative session and did not elaborate further.
He was equally soft-spoken on the topic of hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking.
While dozens of anti-fracking protesters gathered outside the convention hall where Cuomo delivered his speech, the governor himself deferred all decisions to the Department of Environmental Conservation, which is currently in the process of reviewing the impact of hydrofracking in New York state.
