Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul

Although the sub-zero, wind-chilled temperatures served as a topic of note during Kathy Hochul’s speech Friday at the Clarion Hotel, such weather didn’t stop area residents and representatives from packing the conference center to hear the lieutenant governor highlight Andrew Cuomo’s State of the State address given only two days prior.

“People talk about having to brave the cold to come here,” Hochul began in her address, a presentation considerably shorter than the governor’s. “What cold? I thought this was a spectacular day out there. We can handle this. Go to New York City; they’ll be paralyzed all month.”

Her weather jokes out of the way, and after congratulating the Buffalo Bills for breaking their 17-year playoff drought, Hochul got down to business, highlighting last year’s accomplishments for New York while expounding on future state programs particular to the Chautauqua County region. While Hochul covered a slew of topics ranging from the promises of Athenex in Dunkirk and the Comedy Center in Jamestown, a good deal of attention was spent on what she characterized as dire situations, namely the recently passed “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” and the opioid epidemic.

Discussing the Tax Act, Hochul said, “What just occurred is something I never would have predicted in my lifetime, that the federal government, Congress — our members of Congress here — supported double taxation on the people they represent.”

Hochul said that she and Cuomo believe the act to be “unconstitutional because you have already paid for your state and local taxes.”

“Now to have them subjected to federal tax by not being able to deduct them is going to increase the cost for every single New Yorker,” she said.

How will this affect local residents?

“This is going to hurt this county and you’re members of Congress need to know about this. One quarter of your county revenues come from properties around the lake, so that $10,000 cap is not going to help them because these properties are valued more than that.”

According to a recent New York Times’ article, “Taxpayers may deduct only up to $10,000 total, which may include any combination of state and local income taxes and property taxes (or sales plus property taxes in states where there is no income tax). But don’t bother trying to prepay your state and local income taxes for 2018 before year-end to circumvent the new limit. The proposal is one step ahead of you and your accountant and won’t allow it.

The tax act will threaten all the work Cuomo’s administration has done in lowering New York’s tax rates, Hochul said.

“We now have the lowest corporate tax rate since 1968, lowest manufacturing rates since 1917 and a middle class tax cut for the people who need it the most, the lowest since 1947.”

Hochul said the federal government’s tax act will undo the incredible hard work that has gone into changing our reputation of being a high tax state. All the work to reduce taxes and all of a sudden it’s out the window because you’ll have the impact of a 20 to 25 percent increase if you can no longer (make these deductions).”

Hochul called the tax plan a “crisis for the state of New York, and we’re going to be asking all of you to create pressure to help use change it.”

As bad as Hochul characterized the Tax Act, the lieutenant governor was even more grim regarding the opioid crisis.

“The number one cause of death in America today for people under 50 is drug overdose, primarily opium-based drugs,” Hochul said. “For the first time since 1950, our life expectancy has gone down because of this.”

As a response to the crisis, Hochul highlighted the governor’s plan to “continue to invest in treatment facilities.

“We have to do more for education, prevention, treatment and housing support,” she said.

Hochul commended the local leadership “of the mayors, the county together working with us” in creating more resources to help addicts and limit the supply of opioids.

Hochul, who is co-chairing the governor’s Task Force on Heroin and Opioid Abuse, reiterated Cuomo’s call for holding the pharmaceutical companies accountable for their part in creating the crisis.

“They have created an entire society of people who have become addicted. There has to be consequences. You can’t do this to us and get away with it in the state of New York. We’re going to work with our attorney general and look at enforcement action to take.”

In highlighting other aspects of Cuomo’s State of the State address, Hochul presented a breakdown of how various programs will be funded.

These include the following:

¯ Excelsior Scholarship Program: an additional $118 million.

¯ Infrastructure: $2.5 billion.

¯Regional Economic Development Council program: an additional $750 million.

¯ Internet broadband programs: $1 billion.

¯ Niagara Falls: $21 million.

¯ Algal bloom mitigation for Chautauqua Lake and other lakes: $65 million.

Lastly, Hochul discussed the governor’s plan to end taxpayer funded sexual assault settlements.

“Up until now, taxpayer dollars have been used to settle claims when there has been harassment by public officials,” Hochul said. “No more. That era is over. We’re going to end that. We’re going to protect public dollars from being used to settle sexual assault harassment claims.”

Hochul said the settlements will no longer be confidential.

“We have to bring (harassment) out of the shadows. It will go a long way towards preventing this behavior when they know they can’t get away with it. Our state discloses how many sexual harassment cases they’ve had. That ought to change the culture.”