The event, sponsored by the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association and the state Assembly Minority Conference, is designed to bring together gun owners and Second Amendment supporters from around the state to meet with their state representatives. It will feature exhibits and presentations by advocates and experts.

The scheduled keynote speaker is Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president and chief executive officer of the National Rifle Association.

In the past, the Onondaga and Oswego county federations of sportsmen’s clubs have teamed to organize charter buses for those who want to attend. I’ll keep readers posted when I find out more.

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By JIM MILLER Finger Lakes Times

This spring, the state Legislature passed an un-Albany-like whirlwind of legislation. Now, having taken some time to catch their breaths, legislators are just a month away from reconvening.

The big question? How will they — and Gov. Andrew Cuomo — follow up?

As they return to the statehouse, legislators will face renewed calls for mandate relief, especially when the tax cap they enacted last year begins to affect schools. They will also face the usual Albany cash crunch, which could make it difficult to deliver such relief, or much else.

Against that backdrop, Gov. Andrew Cuomo will have to show how much staying power his influence has, which could create conflict if the Legislature tries to flex its own muscles.

This year, Cuomo got his three priority bills (same-sex marriage, rent reform and the tax cap) through the Legislature, a success rate seldom seen in Albany. He also got an on-time budget.

Next year, he’ll have to sustain that momentum or risk looking like a sprinter running in a marathon — a speed demon who fades as the miles pile up.

Keeping up his speed could prove challenging. No matter how many bills he manages to get passed or how many agenda items he manages to tick off his list, it will be hard to meet the bar he set for himself this spring.

At the same time, Cuomo and the Legislature will have to deal with the repercussions of what they have already done. That will likely take up more and more of their time in early 2012, when school districts begin developing their first tax-capped budgets.

Unlike municipalities, schools cannot exceed the cap without voter approval. With their mandated costs rising and their budgets already tight, that will be a problem for many districts, and it’s a fair bet that legislators will be hearing from them.

If the schools have to cut their budgets deeply enough, those legislators may also be hearing from irate voters.

The Republicans, meanwhile, will bring their own agenda back to Albany. Minority Leader Brian Kolb, R-129 of Canandaigua, outlined part of it last week.

Among other things, he called for a cap on state spending tied to the Consumer Price Index. He argued for a ban on new unfunded state mandates and for suspending existing mandates not related to health and safety. He suggested a simpler, fairer and flatter tax code.

The fact that most of this isn’t new shows how successful the Republicans have been in getting their agenda through in recent years.

Given the fact that they control only the Senate, this isn’t surprising.

But it won’t stop the party from pushing again. And if Cuomo looks lackluster or his big bills backfire, voters might just get behind the Republicans’ plans.

How will it all shake out?

This is Albany: The surest way to look dumb is to say you know what’s going to happen. But it’s a fair bet it’ll be interesting, and it sure looks like Cuomo has as much influence, if not more, than he did last year.

Another productive year could signal a new normal and the departure, for now, of Albany’s traditional gridlock. It could also signal that Cuomo’s power is here to stay.

But a return to old patterns — a late budget, say — would cast this spring as more of an aberration and Cuomo as a governor who may have done his best running during the first 100 yards of a very long race.

Miller’s “Eye on Government” appears weekly in the Sunday Finger Lakes Times. Contact him at jmiller@fltimes.com or 789-3333 ext. 258.

His victory is also significant for his Republican colleagues in the Assembly. The abbreviated campaign for the seat vacated by James P. Hayes maintains a 51-seat presence by the GOP, preventing a Democratic super-majority in the 150-member Assembly. The biggest benefit to Republicans is that Democrats cannot override a veto by the governor without a two-thirds vote in the Assembly.

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40 hear pitch: Assembly Minority Leader Kolb tells Lewis County residents he supports redistricting, term limits, spending cap.

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Fall into the Finger Lakes
with
Assembly Republican Leader Brian M. Kolb

Enjoy wine tastings, food pairings, an interactive kitchen demonstration & the delight of culinary masterpieces!

October 28, 2011

7:00 – 10:00pm

New York Wine & Culinary Center

800 South Main Street, Canandaigua NY 14424

$300 Individual / $500 Couple

$1,000 Event Sponsor

Space is VERY limited.  Please call (518) 462-2606 to reserve your spot immediately!

Assist the State’s Storm Victims

Flood relief is an appropriate use for economic development funds

Source: Buffalo News Editorial

Brian Kolb may be onto something. The Assembly minority leader suggested this week that Albany cut into its new economic development fund to help rebuild communities that were laid low by the torrential remnants of Hurricane Irene.

Kolb, a Republican from Canandaigua, said Albany should divert one-quarter of the new $200 million economic development fund to help in recovery from the storm that took upstate by surprise. He didn’t mention it at the time — because it hadn’t happened — but the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee have added a new layer of misery to parts of the Northeast, including parts of upstate New York.

Estimates are that Irene did more than$1 billion worth of damage from the mid-Hudson Valley to the Adirondacks. Lee will add to the sum of destruction.

It’s a crisis that demands immediate action and, in a time of state revenue shortfalls, that calls for creative use of funds to help these areas recover.Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo last week said that most recovery costs would be borne by the private sector, but government must look for ways to ease the pain.

“Everyone is going to have to do their part at the end of the day,” the governor said.

He’s right, of course, but Kolb’s idea would allow the state to do more than it could otherwise. It’s an appropriate diversion of funds to alleviate suffering and disruption caused by catastrophic events.

The fund was created this year as part of Cuomo’s regional development strategy. The $200 million pot is to be distributed competitively among 10 new regional development councils. Kolb’s approach would use $50 million of that money for storm relief, which would still leave $150 million to launch the economic development effort.

There is an important, if obvious, point to be made here: Storm relief counts as economic development. Preserving jobs is a key component of development efforts and if business and agriculture grind to a halt, then jobs and tax revenues will take a hit. This may not be the kind of development Cuomo and the Legislature had in mind when they created the economic fund, but that was before the devastation caused by Tropical Storms Irene and Lee.

This is a matter for Albany to act upon quickly. The governor and legislative leaders should get behind Kolb’s plan, or come up with a better one. Government’s ability to respond may be diminished in this time of financial weakness, but it needs to respond, nonetheless.

Legislative column from Assembly Minority Leader Brian M. Kolb (R,I,C-Canandaigua)

Much of the news these past few weeks has focused on our nation’s capitol with its heated back-and-forth discussions about raising the nation’s debt limit, passing real spending cuts and enacting structural reforms to programs that will finally bring the federal budget back into balance. As expected, a great deal of the “debt debate” in Washington has been dominated by partisan politics and political rhetoric.

NEW YORK NEEDS AN ADULT CONVERSATION ABOUT FISCAL REALITY

What seems to have gotten lost in Washington’s partisan squabbling is the genuine need to restore fiscal sanity at ALL levels of government. Here in New York State, I genuinely believe that we need an adult conversation about getting our Empire State back on track and headed toward long-term financial health. This journey begins – and ends – with restoring fiscal accountability that will lead to a stronger, more affordable and prosperous New York State.

While the 2011-12 State Budget achieved some progress on this front, New York State still faces massive financial challenges. Those challenges are not far off on some distant horizon – they are right here, today, and are as follows:

State government still spends too much;
New York’s tax code is too confusing, complex and costly for taxpayers and businesses and acts as a disincentive to private sector job creation; Albany continues to pass its buck – along with its costs – onto the backs of local governments and school districts leading to higher property taxes;
Our economy remains stuck in neutral and there are not enough good-paying private sector jobs to keep our kids here.

Fortunately, there is a real solution to every problem – and solving New York’s financial problems are no exception. I believe that the solutions are straightforward: cap state spending; reform New York’s tax code so it is fairer and flatter; prevent Albany from continuing to pass unfunded mandates, and remove regulatory barriers to private sector jobs creation.

CAP STATE SPENDING
New York State government does not have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem. Case in point: over the past decade, state spending has risen by nearly 50 percent!

Without question, Albany must learn how to live within its means and stop spending more than it takes in. Liberal politicians in Albany always promise to cut spending but we all know what those promises are worth. The true solution requires enacting a state spending cap that imposes fiscal discipline on Albany. I have introduced legislation – Assembly Bill A.5370 – that would establish a cap limiting the growth of state spending to no more than the average rate of inflation of the three previous calendar years. This cap will make fiscal accountability a reality and prevent Albany from continuing to run up the public credit card.

REFORM NEW YORK’S TAX CODE
New York’s tax code is nearly six thousand pages long and requires an advanced degree in accounting, economics and the law to comprehend fully. It is no exaggeration to say that our state’s complex, complicated and costly tax code is a major disincentive to job creation. Businesses look to other states with less complicated tax codes that do not penalize earnings, savings, investment and innovation the way New York does. We need to move forward with real tax reform that leads to a simpler, fairer and flatter tax code resulting in lower tax rates for everyone. Fixing New York’s tax code will reduce tax rates for families and businesses and it’s what President Reagan achieved as part of bi-partisan tax reform during his administration. Our economy would benefit as real tax reform could unleash a wave of private sector job creation.

BAN ALBANY’S UNFUNDED MANDATES
Whenever Albany tells local governments to do something – start a program, provide a service, meet a perceived need – and doesn’t provide any funding, that is an “unfunded mandate.” The increased costs caused by unfunded mandates are absorbed by local governments and school districts and lead to increased local property taxes for homeowners. I have introduced two legislative initiatives – Assembly Bills A.4811 and A.8447 – that would place a permanent moratorium on certain unfunded state mandates imposed on local governments and school districts; require fiscal notes on bills stating the estimated annual costs to affected communities; and create the “Unfunded Mandate Reform Plan” to identify unfunded mandates that need to be repealed. My bills would target unfunded mandates and stop Albany’s continued cost shift.

REMOVE BARRIERS TO PRIVATE SECTOR JOB CREATION

As we wait for Governor Cuomo’s Regional Economic Development Councils to get moving, almost 800,000 unemployed New Yorkers continue hurting. We need to get Albany’s focus back where it needs to be: jobs, jobs, jobs. This means removing regulatory barriers to private sector job creation and transforming State Agencies so they work with, instead of against, job creators and support the job-creation environment New Yorkers have been demanding.

Capping spending, reforming the tax code, banning Albany’s unfunded mandates, and removing regulatory barriers to private sector job creation – these are common sense steps that we can, and should, take to move New York forward and increase prosperity here in the Empire State. We already know the problems; now is the time for Albany to get moving on real solutions!

As always, constituents wishing to discuss this topic or any other state-related matter should contact my district office at (315) 781-2030, or e-mail me at kolbb@assembly.state.ny.us. You can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter for the latest news and informational updates regarding state government and our Assembly Minority Conference.

Lyons, N.Y. —

State Assemblyman Robert Oaks, (R-C Macedon) will hold an interactive Tele-Town Hall meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 8. The event will feature discussion on New York’s 2011-12 budget. He will hear questions, comments and concerns from residents of the 128th Assembly District, and share his thoughts and priorities.

Other critical issues, including proposed property tax caps, economic development and job creation, mandate relief, Medicaid redesign and other reforms, will also be topics of conversation.

Those who would like to participate in the Tele-Town Hall are asked to call the assemblyman’s office at 946-5166 or emailoaksr@assembly.state.ny.us prior to March 7.  On March 8, the event’s phone system will dial participants to join them to the call.
Additionally, Assemblyman Oaks will host a “People’s Convention to Reform NY” Town Hall meeting at 7 p.m. March 3, at the Wayne County Courthouse, 26 Church St., Lyons. Assembly Minority Leader Brian M. Kolb will join Assemblyman Oaks that evening to discuss holding a People’s Convention to Reform New York.