Albany, N.Y., February 11 –  In a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul, State Senator Tom O’Mara (R,C-Big Flats), Ranking Member on the Senate Finance Committee, has joined Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt and members of the Republican Conference urging the governor to include key proposals from their “Save New York” legislative agenda in her 30-day Executive Budget amendments in an effort to make New York safer and more affordable.

Hochul unveiled her proposed 2026-2027 Executive Budget on January 20 and a monthlong series of joint Senate-Assembly hearings are currently underway examining various portions of the governor’s plan. Under the state’s budget adoption process, governors have 30 days to offer amendments to their initial budget plan.

At the start of this year’s legislative session in early January, O’Mara and Senate Republicans unveiled “Save New York,” a comprehensive legislative agenda of policy goals the conference is prioritizing to restore affordability, strengthen public safety and security, and build a stronger and safer New York focused on overriding policy goals including: providing affordability and economic opportunity; creating a safer, healthier New York; enacting more commonsense energy policies; and calling for government accountability.

The Senate GOP letter (see attached copy above) to the governor this week reads, in part, “In every region of the State, we hear from New Yorkers that are struggling to pay everyday bills. Unfortunately, we do not believe the current Executive Budget does enough to reduce the costs of basic necessities, such as utilities, housing, food, and insurance. By advancing the aforementioned proposals, we can begin to provide real relief to New York families and businesses,” the letter reads. 

Ortt said, “The Senate Republican Conference has policies ready to go that offer New Yorkers real relief that they desperately need. The governor has said over and over that she is fighting to make our state more affordable and safer – if she is serious, she’ll consider our solutions that will do just that. It’s time we work together to deliver for our constituents,” said Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt. 

O’Mara said, “Governor Hochul and the Democrat majorities talk about New York State's affordability crisis but their actions continue to show that they have no interest in reining in out-of-control spending, eliminating taxes, lowering costs, restoring common sense on energy policies, cutting burdensome regulations and mandates, or restoring public safety. Their vision for New York remains a vision built on irresponsibly spending billions upon billions of taxpayer dollars. Senate Republicans will continue to be a voice for lower taxes, less regulation, greater accountability, affordability, economic growth, job creation, and more reasonable state fiscal practices. We will continue to put forth a range of policy actions that we believe will better serve the short- and long-term future and strength of local communities and economies. It is long past time that the state put an end to gimmicks that put some money back in taxpayers’ pockets and chart a course forward to not taking it out of their pockets in the first place.”

Among the items Senate Republicans are calling on Hochul to include in her amended budget are proposals to: 

> Provide the largest personal income tax cut in state history, totaling $30 billion in tax relief for New Yorkers; 

> Return $2 billion in unspent green energy funds directly to ratepayers, as proposed under legislation sponsored by O’Mara, and provide a one-year Utility Bill Tax and Surcharge Holiday to deliver real, immediate relief as families face skyrocketing utility bills;

> Freeze property taxes for three years;

> Lower housing costs by repealing the all-electric buildings mandate and allow developers to use the less expensive 2020 Energy Code;

> Repeal burdensome and costly green energy mandates such as the electric vehicle and electric bus mandates;

> Conduct an independent audit of government programs, especially Medicaid, to strengthen investigations to root out fraud and abuse and refer wrongdoing to the appropriate law enforcement agencies;

> Provide comprehensive regulatory reform that would eliminate unnecessary and burdensome mandates that drive up the costs of doing business;

> Enact the PROTECT Act that would create a risk assessment instrument which could be used by courts to make decisions regarding pretrial custody and prevent reoffending during pretrial release;

> Reform the state parole processes to ensure public safety; and

> Expand access to Gifted & Talented programs in schools.

Additional details on the “Save New York” plan can be found HERE and the conference's follow-up "Affordable New York" report HERE.