Local legislators are teaming up on bipartisan telecommunications infrastructure legislation.
State Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner, D-Round Lake, on Jan. 4, reintroduced legislation to establish a uniform state siting process for the placement, co-location, modification and maintenance of wireless telecommunications equipment.
Assemblyman Matt Simpson, R-Horicon, is one of six co-sponsors.
State Sen. Dan Stec, R-Queensbury, introduced companion legislation in the Senate.
The legislation has been introduced perennially in the Assembly since 2016.
Establishing a uniform state siting process will reduce administrative costs for local governments and encourage telecommunications companies to co-locate their equipment at existing sites, according to the legislation memo.
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In other regional political news:
Simpson appointment
State Assemblyman Matt Simpson, R-Horicon, announced that he has been appointed the ranking Republican on the Assembly Conservation Committee.
“It is an honor to be appointed by the (Assembly minority) leader to a committee so important to the North Country,” Simpson said, in a news release.
Simpson also will be a member of the Local Government; Social Services; and Tourism, Parks, Arts and Sports Development committees.
Inflation check
U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, on Thursday announced that she and other Republican leaders introduced legislation to require the federal Council of Economic Affairs and Office of Management and Budget to prepare a report about the impact on inflation of any executive order which has an estimated impact of $1 billion or more.
“The White House would then have to report these findings to Congress each year to increase transparency and accountability over executive actions,” Stefanik said, in a news release.
Farm to cafeteria line
Gov. Kathy Hochul wants to increase the volume of locally-grown food used in school cafeterias.
In her State of the State plan for this year’s legislative session, Hochul proposed creating a new $50 million grant program to establish regional commissary-type kitchens to purchase, store, process and prepare food from scratch and distribute it to school cafeterias.
Many school cafeterias only have the ability to heat and serve food, rather than prepare it on site from scratch.
The regional kitchens would improve nutrition in school meals and expand the market fo local farms and food producers, the governor said.
Gov. Kathy Hochul wants to “take dangerous drivers off the roads.”
In her State of the State address, Hochul proposed directing the state Department of Motor Vehicles to increase the number of points associated with dangerous driving and to reduce the threshold of points a driver can accumulate before the DMV revokes the driver’s license.
Hochul also proposed reducing the threshold for revoking a license for repeated convictions of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Details of the proposal are expected to be announced later this month as part of the state budget proposal.
Thoughts on Jeffries
Warren County Democratic Chairwoman Lynne Boecher said she was puzzled the first time that U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-Brooklyn, contacted her more than a decade ago.
“I just thought, ‘Why is he calling me?’” Boecher said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
Jeffries, who was recently elected House minority leader, has held quarterly conference calls with county Democratic chairs from around the state for the last 11 years.
“He never looked to get anything for himself except information,” she said.
Boecher said the experience gives her confidence that Jeffries will be responsive nationwide in his new role as minority leader.
“I think he is particularly the right man at the right time,” she said.
Maury Thompson covered local government and politics for The Post-Star for 21 years before he retired in 2017. He continues to follow regional politics as a freelance writer.
