(This column was originally published in the Evening Sun’s Progress Chenango special edition on February 7. Read a new “Updates from Albany” column on Monday, March 3 in the regular Evening Sun.)

ALBANY - This year, I am entering my fifth year serving you as your assemblyman and your voice in Albany. It is an honor to represent our shared upstate values in the Legislature. I also want to thank the Evening Sun for allowing me to discuss "progess" this upcoming year and what it means for the region.

Some of you may remember I wrote a weekly column for The Evening Sun for a few years before being elected. While my time now is hectic, representing 133,000 constituents over five counties, I would like to announce I’ll again be writing a monthly column piece for this newspaper. A monthly piece is much more manageable for me because I would prefer quality over quantity.

While the definition of progress can mean different things to different people, for me, moving this region forward means making New York more affordable, safer, and a better place to both live and raise a family. We need to work to stem the tide of population loss across upstate New York.

The facts couldn’t be more clear, most New Yorkers feel the state is on the wrong path. They don’t feel safe in their neighborhoods, and taxes are too high making our home state so unaffordable New York leads the entire country in outmigration. Too many of our friends and neighbors have moved to states with more freedoms, less taxes, and where their dollars go further.

As a former police officer, my passion is public safety, and it pains me deeply to see the rising crime in our state and the demonization of my brothers and sisters in law enforcement who put themselves between the good citizens and those with evil intent. The solutions are right in front of us, we need to repeal bail reform, which has led to criminals being left to roam our streets. Judges have their hands tied and cannot keep them behind bars.

New York is the only state where a judge cannot consider an offender’s danger to the community when contemplating pretrial confinement. We must also put the defund the police rhetoric in the rearview mirror, a police force with a high morale is the most effective thing we have to fight crime. Officers should know their representatives in Albany have their backs.

Progress for our region means making life more affordable for families so they stay in the area and do not flee to other states where the cost of living is much lower. This is accomplished by lowering taxes, encouraging businesses to stay here, and making it easier for them to hire and retain talented and trained employees. Affordability isn’t a singular issue. It stems from years of poor decisions in energy, healthcare, insurance, taxes, and business regulations. Making New York affordable won’t happen in one legislative session it will require undoing years of policy missteps.

A step toward progress in the City of Norwich may come through legislation I authored at the request of the City’s Common Council and Mayor to help with housing and boosting the tax base. I am proud to have sponsored and passed legislation (A.5898-E) to allow the City of Norwich to exempt new home construction from having to pay property taxes during the construction of a residential building. During construction, the property will be tax-exempt and once completed, reduced taxes for four years. This will help encourage the development of vacant land in our neighborhoods and increase the city’s tax base. Most of the homes in the city limits were built before World War II, and many others in the 19th century. We’ve all seen a house on a block become run down, and even abandoned, eventually being torn down. Many streets have at least one vacant lot where a home once stood. The hope is this tax exemption will help facilitate investment in new homes being built and attract more people to the area.

In the area of education of our workforce, I’m happy to hear the Governor is planning a tuition-free opportunity for folks to achieve micro-credentials at SUNY Broome and other community colleges. This is a kick-start for people to obtain good employment and remain in the area and a use of our tax dollars that will benefit all of us. Micro-credentials are something businesses in our area have told me time and again is needed to help maintain their workforce. Micro-credentials in areas of healthcare, technology, computer programming, and even stenography will open the door for people to get good-paying jobs right here at home. It will also help local businesses such as Amphenol, Raymond, Chobani, hospitals, nursing homes, and the New York State Veterans Home in Oxford, all desperately in need of new employees. There is also a need for many local manufacturers for tradesmen and women such as welders, linemen, and electrical workers. These micro-credentials should help local businesses identify, hire, and retain hard-working employees.

I also want to touch on something that should be done to help businesses, and that is the repeal or delay of the mandates found in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA). The mandate for electric vehicles, particularly school buses is a great idea, but now is not the time. A phased-in approach is what is needed. We need time for upgrades to the electrical grid and battery technology to make this a feasible transportation alternative to fossil fuel. It is not just businesses that are impacted. But local municipalities as well. There is a municipality within the 121st Assembly District that ordered a diesel-powered dump truck but because of regulations cannot receive it until the company that manufactured the truck sells an electric heavy-duty truck in New York. Listen, we all want cleaner air and water, but New York is trying to save the world at the expense of the state’s economy, and it is simply not realistic, especially when you consider New York contributes less than a tenth of 1% of global carbon emissions. The fact of the matter is: if New York became completely carbon-neutral, global emissions would virtually remain unchanged thanks to the pollution coming from places such as China and India, so why would we decimate our economy for essentially no benefit to the planet?

Let me end by saying how proud and humbled I am to be the assemblyman for the 121st District.