The Long Island Association State of the Region

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul delivered remarks at the Long Island Association State of The Region breakfast.

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr page will post photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

 Thank you very much. Thank you, everyone. Hello Long Island. You know, Matt, I'm getting the feeling that these 1,200 people did come to hear me. Alright, let's set the record straight on that.

Happy 100th anniversary, Long Island Association, a powerhouse. Before this was an extraordinary place to live, it was a little bit of a rural community. It was people starting to realize that this is a great place to live and raise their families, and that has not changed at all. So, I thank you, Matt, and all the leaders, the past leaders like Mr. Long Island himself, Kevin Law, who's in the house, I'm sure. I worked a long time with Kevin Law. But also I have to give a special shout out to a public official who I have long admired. His dedication and his demeanor and his just desire to get it right on behalf of the State of New York, is Long Island's favorite son, Tom DiNapoli.

You know, I was coming out here this morning — not a long drive, a very nice ride. Didn't this have as many potholes as it used to have? How does that for $1 billion of fixing potholes on Long Island feel? But I was thinking about how often I come out to Long Island. It is a different place. It is a place where there's a tighter sense of community, where the businesses stick together with a common vision, where you know you have world-class, natural beauty. The fact that this is an island gives us a special responsibility to protect the waters and the environment. So, I cherish coming out here, but — because I know you can't govern Long Island from Albany sitting in an office, and you'll ask my staff how little time I actually want to spend in that office. But I also had to have a team on the ground that are my eyes and ears when I cannot be here, but someone who's at my side day and night, is someone who is from Long Island who reminds me about Long Island issues every minute of the day, and that is my top leader, the Secretary to the Governor, Karen Persichilli Keogh from Baldwin. And if you're really smart, you'll have her cell phone number, although I'm not giving it out here.

But I realized we had to do more on Long Island, so I started building out a team, Rob Calarco, and I want to give him a special shout out for being an incredible liaison from Patchogue. He quarterbacks our team. Gordon Tepper from Long Beach. He's my Press Secretary, so only say really good things to Gordon about me. And also Stevens Martinez is our Glenn Clove resident, who handles our Intergovernmental Affairs. So, I know he has all of you on speed dial, all the elected officials in the room.

And I want to give a special shout out to my friends in government at all levels. I started out as a town board member, so I've cut my teeth in local government. I have such respect for board members and supervisors and the mayors all the way on up to most county executives. No, don't read that wrong. Come on. Come on, people work with me here. Hi, Ed Romaine. How are you doing out there? Good to see you.

But listen, I know what's essential to life on Long Island. It is the Long Island Rail Road. That is the connection that allows this place to grow and prosper. And since I've been Governor, we've invested a brand new $10 billion in the Long Island Rail Road to make sure it continues to be one of the premier commuter railroads in our nation. Bigger increase in ridership on this railroad than anywhere else in our system. And we've actually hit post-pandemic records. Records of riders now. But I also want to say this, we have to keep finding new ways to grow and expand. And this is something I talk to the County Executive about all the time about. We broke ground on a brand new Yaphank Station in Suffolk County. How about that? That was something you asked for. But that comes from us listening to what the leaders on Long Island want. We don't sit there and say, “Oh, let's do a new station there,” that comes from the local community that's telling us their priorities and also.

I don't know if she's in the house, but she is one of my favorite supervisors in the entire state. Angie Carpenter, are you out there? Angie? For some reason, I can't say no to this woman. $150 million asked for by the County Executive and Angie to redo MacArthur Airport and locked all the potential and the economic opportunity that is going to bring and link that to our Ronkonkoma station. So, that's what smart planning is all about. It's a game changer for economic growth here. So, I want to thank both of them for helping lead this.

Now, as I mentioned, we're making a lot of improvements on the roads over 50 miles — like the Sunrise Highway, the Hempstead Turnpike, Jericho Turnpike, Route 110. I mean, these were hell holes before. Do you guys remember these roads? They're much nicer now. So, I'm working on that. It’s how we get people around, right? We have to get people around safely on the road — expand the transit. But also, if we do not keep every corner of our state safe, then we're at a strategic and economic disadvantage because people will go elsewhere. And I have been so committed to supporting law enforcement here on Long Island and across the state with every fiber of my being. $3 billion that was never spent before to support local law enforcement — we are spending. We're investing in drone technology to stop criminals — license plate readers, computers on people's dashboards and police stations. I've been out here, I was just out here in Garden City looking at what half a million dollars investment did for their police department and how much safer they can keep people. So, we're going to keep that up.

And now I also believe in really supporting and not undermining our local law enforcement. My family has come through law enforcement, my husband, my son, or prosecutors, many members of my family. I'm just going to put this out there. I have faith in the Long Island Police Department, a great relationship with them. I find it undermining to think that you need a separate militia to do something that they do anyhow, or to divert the resources to doing ICE enforcement and not stopping shoplifters in your downtowns or catching the speeders that are harming our families. Just an observation folks.

But also these are other priorities that I don't share. I will say this, we had to make some tough law changes in Albany. And I thank my partners in Albany, from Albany here, our Assemblymembers and Senators. It was a brutal fight to say that those bail laws are just not working. People are being cycled back out in the streets, who've committed serious crimes and that can no longer be. We changed that. Now, it was not easy — took two sessions of the legislature. And when everybody says, “Oh, Hochul is into overtime on the Budget, my God, she's two weeks late, five weeks late.” That is when I can get the changes I need. The results are born out in those final minutes of overtime.

And I'm a sports fan. I'm going to digress here a minute to my Jets and Giants fans, it's a rebuilding year. Okay? Okay. There's always the next year. No, no, take hope. I mean, New England only won four games last year, right? So, no hope springs eternal. But in the meantime — [...] Thank you. I didn't have to say it. Go Bills. Let's bring home a big victory next weekend.

Okay, let me get back to the topic at hand. What was I talking about? Bail. Well, when I'm in overtime with the Budget, we get things done. We changed the bail laws this past year, an epic battle to change the discovery laws. Now, you probably didn't go about your everyday thinking about those discovery laws, but you know what was happening? Thousands and thousands of cases where the local police did their job, the prosecutors did their jobs. The victims had to come forward and tell a story. And you know what? Based on the law, the judges were saying, sorry to do this folks, but I'm having to dismiss this and throw it out on technicalities. And in domestic violence cases, 90 percent of them were thrown out on technicalities when a victim had to come up forward and talk about something that happened in the sanctity of her own home. That era is now over. We got those laws changed, and they're just starting to feel the effects right now. So, I don't mind going in, taking on the big fights, going after the interests that are on the other side because I know my job, my number one job as the Governor of this state is to keep people safe — and what that does for you is residents and your families, but it also creates the stability that our businesses need.

After the pandemic, retail theft was off the charts. I walked through many of your downtowns, and that's what I heard from shop owners. How are we going to stop these organized gangs from sweeping product off the shelves, and selling it online. We had a strategic effort — gave money to our DAs. We focused on money for local law enforcement. Retail theft is now down 14 to 16 percent depending on the power of the State. Instead of going up 14 to 16 percent, it has gone down that much. So that's the level of commitment that you're going to see from me and my administration to keep us safe.

And I want to thank the Nassau County Village Officials Association because they actually stepped up on this issue. They stepped up for me and weighed in significantly, and it made a difference for us. And the red flag laws, Suffolk County, you are number one in the state for red flag laws, and what that does is it says that we have — any kind of sign that someone could do harm to themselves or to others —- stop the crimes before they're committed, go in and get those guns removed from their home so that we don't have to go there and bring a body bag because someone got murdered in their home. That's exactly what we're doing here, and I'm proud of those efforts. No other state in the nation is as aggressive as we are in preventing and solving crimes.

Also one more, last thing, and I mentioned law enforcement. We have to support law enforcement because what they see and endure on a daily basis is something none of us ever have to encounter. Knocking on the door of a family member whose teenager was killed in a car accident just down the road or where someone who's been a victim of a terrible crime and has to spend time in a hospital or rehab center instead of being home for the holidays. It takes its toll on their mental health. And I want you to recognize it takes courage for them to step forward and say, “I do need help. This is tough. I don't want to lose my job, but I do want to get support.” And so I was really proud to welcome Tommy Shevlin and leaders from the Nassau Police Department to my office in New York City to sign what is known as the Lieutenant Banish Mental Health Act, that ensures confidentiality for law enforcement who participate in peer-to-peer counseling. Now, that may not sound like a big deal to you, but when you're in law enforcement trying to keep your job and not disclose that you might need some help and some support, this means you're going to keep your job, and I am proud of that. So, let's give another round of applause to all the men and women, our Suffolk County, Nassau County Police Departments, our Sheriffs, everybody who's out there on the front lines, and that's so important to me.

But keeping Long Island safe — Job number one, we're doing it. But affordability — now this is not something we just dreamed up in the last six months, last year. We've been talking about this and I'm proud to hear others echo my desire and my plan and my efforts and success in putting money back in people's pockets. You may have even heard that here this morning.

What we did over the last year was extraordinary. In my State of the State address, which is almost exactly one year ago, because I'm doing it again on Tuesday, we announced that in order to help families stay in places like Long Island, let's just put more money back in their pockets. And I'll tell you how: The largest middle class tax rate cut in 70 years. You're feeling that this year. So, let's give that a round of applause. Middle class taxes are going down, and if you're a parent with a child under the age of four, anybody in that category? Any grandkids under the age of four. Oh, a lot more hands. This is an older crowd. I'm in that category. I have two babies under the age of four. $1,000 for each of those families. You know why? Because before there was a mom Governor, nobody recognized the most expensive years, yeah the college years. But before that, it's when you're buying diapers and formula and they outgrow their clothes every three to six months. So, we're putting money back in our parents' pockets.

We also said, and I announced this here on Long Island, and I was so proud to do that here — free school, breakfast and lunch for every child in the state. And what touched my heart was that a Republican member of the Senate came up to me and said, “This is transformational.” I said, “Why? Why are you telling me this? What does that mean?” He says, “I was that kid whose parents had to get the subsidized school lunches. The stigma was so great. The embarrassment was so great that I skipped lunches every single day. This allows kids to feel appreciated and understood and not stigmatized and singled out because their parents don't have money.” And for the parents who could afford it, they're coming up to me on the street and saying, “Thank you for giving me time back in my life. I don't have to make breakfast. I don't have to pack the peanut butter jelly lunches.” And it saves per child $1,600 a year. We also gave an inflation rebate. Why? Because the cost of everything went up so much. You all paid more in sales tax. That wasn't your fault. I said “That money we collected, one time, will go back as a rebate.” 1.2 million families on Long Island got upwards of $400. And you know what? That may not sound like a lot to you, and if it doesn't, that's because you're doing pretty good. But for most families, that was less stress at the end of the month when they're having to pay all their bills. It's extraordinary.

And I'm going to tell you one of the bills that's just too damn high here on Long Island in particular, your car insurance. Why are car insurance rates so high here on Long Island and in the State of New York? Why do we have to be? I like being number one. I don't want to be number one in that category anymore.

So, here's what we're doing and it's bold and it's going to be controversial putting that out there right now. We're going to announce on Tuesday that there's going to be major changes to how we approach this in the court system, okay? That's the biggest teaser I'm going to give you, but it's going to be hard to get done. I'm going to need your support. We have a lot of ideas on this all. I just wanted to put that out there. You can hear more on Tuesdays I said. But this is really important to me, that we start driving down everywhere we can find to put more money back in people's pockets. We'll continue investing record numbers in school aid, because one of the reasons people love Long Island is you have the best schools anywhere. And I want to applaud the teachers and professionals in the school system. You're doing an extraordinary job. Thank you for educating our kids.

But, does anybody have middle school or teenagers out there? They weren't happy about the cell phone ban — I admit it, day one, but you know what? You see a difference they're making sometimes. When one girl told me — my first friend ever in person. Kids are talking to each other with the cell phone ban. And I'll tell you, this was wildly controversial. I was told, “Don't go there.” You're going to start a war with teachers and not the teachers — teacher support, but administrators, school boards, parents, kids — “Everybody's going to hate you.” Hey, it's my job. My job is to make the tough decisions, and this is one I am so proud of. Every other governor in the state should do this because we're taking our kids back. They're not sitting there getting bullied and mocked out all day long in school and saying, “How come I'm not invited to the party on Friday that everybody's talking about?” It was so real. The pressure on our kids today is enormous. So we're going to keep protecting our kids here in New York. Better outcomes in our schools, but now they're actually listening to teachers.

So my friends, this is a game changer. So tell your kids. They'll someday thank you. In the future, and maybe they'll even thank me someday, but I want those kids to come back when they graduate. They are educated here, that's great. There's incredible schools we have here, but if we don't build more housing, they're not coming back.

They're going to places that have more ambition, and I hate to say this. But places like New Jersey and Connecticut and Pennsylvania, those are three of the top five destinations. And people leave our state, not because of better weather, not because of lower taxes, not because they have nicer governors — but they're nice people too, I like them. They're leaving because we don't have housing here and Long Island is so desirable. People want to stay here. As your kids are getting older and get married and they bring grandkids. Don't you want to see those kids? Yes. The answer is yes. Well, you guys don't like kids in this room? What the heck? Come on, give me a break. I want to see my grandkids. They live in a different state, but not for those reasons. They're born elsewhere.

But listen, I'm rejecting the false choice that you have to have extreme mandates in order to force housing on everybody. What I have seen is a transformation of people's attitudes here on Long Island, and I'm grateful to the many supervisors who sat down with me and talked about specific pieces of land and what they need to get the shovels in the ground to build more housing, because growth done right really strengthens our communities. I believe that to my core. So we've partnered with communities who are willing to do the work and putting money on the table. I promised this two years ago. You want to work with us, have pro housing communities designed the way you want to, but have growth. $750 million is on the table for downtown revitalization Main Street, and now we're laying in what has always been the barrier. When I talked to Ed Romaine and my supervisors, particularly out in Long Island, money for sewers, right?

If you had money for sewers, you can build. In the right places, the right way, protect the environment, but we have to stop holding ourselves back. My friends we're the only barrier to unlocking the incredible potential of Long Island because it is still being suppressed by this barrier of not enough housing. So I'm committed to this. I am going to make this happen with all of you. And again, I've sat down all the way out in Montauk, they want buildings like you wouldn't believe because they say, you know what? Our workers in hospitality are having to come in from New York City because they cannot find a place to live on Long Island.

Now you can brag about high housing prices. Some people might be proud of that. I happen to think that's a little bit of a challenge for most families, so let's try to get more supply, start driving the prices down for that first apartment or a home. And it breaks my heart to know that, the average age for home ownership in this country now is 40 years old. That wasn't how it was when we were growing up. Everybody had that hope of getting a house. It might take a few years, but it was never outside your reach for the rest of your life. We have to change that.

Now there's other areas we've had to make some tough decisions, challenges in housing. Also, when I see a problem, I'm going to go fix it. And I'm talking about a hospital system that was failing the people of its community, failing the patients, failing the workers, and how numeric really became, and I'm sorry to say this, but it's true, a patronage pit, and we had to go in and shake it up. I mean, this is not something I expect to do as Governor, but when I see failures at a local level to do it right and there's state money being asked to support a failing system, I'm going to jump right in and roll up my sleeves. And that's what we did.

So it was ignored for a long time. We got it done. We had a shift control from county leadership. And let those years of instability be stabilized once again. So we have a new CEO Tom Stokes. I also am proud of the board being led by Stuart Rabinowitz, former Hofstra President, who I have a deep relationship with. And we're going to have more accountability because when taxpayer dollars are being spent on something, we're going to make sure it is not being abused, that there's more accountability. So we'll continue doing that because this is an essential safety net hospital for all of us. But I just want to wrap up in a couple minutes and talk about something else.

The environment of Long Island, it is everything. It means more here than most places because as an island, it's all about clean water. The systems that support the homes and the businesses, but make sure they're not leaking into our beautiful waterways. There's a lot of more need for environmental spending and protecting it here with our thousand miles of coast. And now, this last summer, last July, I announced $30 million in funding for homeowners to upgrade their septic systems. Made the cover of Newsday. It was a very positive story working on that with Ed Romaine and our supervisors. But you're hearing it from me here. $30 million is a lot of money, but my philosophy is go big or go home.

I'm announcing it here. It's going to be in my State of the State, but we're announcing a historic five year, $3.75 billion commitment for water infrastructure. And that includes building the sewers. So we're going big, we're going big, friends. So the towns and the villages can fulfill their dreams without this bearing while they're protecting the environment. So, we're going to keep this up. I'll keep working with our localities and that's on top of the resiliency that we're building from Fire Island to Montauk $1.7 billion being spent to protect that as well.

But while we're on environment, I have to bring up wind power. Billy, I just heard from you. How's this working out for you, Billy? Yeah. There were great opportunities for our local businesses like Billy Haugland and his company, which are doing extraordinary work. A lot of businesses through the supply chain network are excited about this. Thousands and thousands of good-paying jobs, people can support their families all in this space of promoting clean energy, wind power.

So we're moving along great. Got projects ready to open just next year. I'm counting on them in my grid when I'm talking about where my energy's coming from, I'm already factoring in the wind power from sunrise in Empire Wind. All of a sudden, the administration arbitrarily just shuts it down — a stop work order. So I call immediately, “Well what's this all about?” “National security.” Okay, how does that work out? Because if you're telling me there's a national security threat off the shores of New York State, you damn well better give me a briefing on it because I deserve to know what's going on or what is going on.

Radar disruptions that we won't be able to find incoming. I don't know. Who do they think is going to be coming after Long Island? I don't know, it's Russia. You guys piss off Russia or something? I feel pretty confident we're okay. So it's absolutely made up. There's a hostility to clean energy in this administration. And I'm counting on it as part of my “all-of-the-above” approach because I have to do it because I am damn committed to keeping the lights on here on Long Island and across the state. Because we are vulnerable, the lights must stay on and it is frightening to know how close we came last summer during a heat wave and the power companies represented in this room. The energy companies will tell you the truth. He called us up and said, “We need to get through tonight. because tomorrow we may have to have brownouts and ultimately blackouts.” That's how close we were. That is a real challenge. I spend more time thinking about energy than any other topic other than crime in the state.

I never thought I'd be so consumed with this, but we have no choice. And so to take away a critical element of our energy strategy to ensure energy independence, was just cruel and unfounded. We're going to court and we better win because I have to make sure that Billy and his employees can still work on this. And our union workers who are building this can keep — ask Maddie and see how they feel, but ask John Durso how they feel about this attack. And all the electricians and iron workers and people went to the apprenticeship programs that were partially paid for by the state and paid for by the companies. I want to support economic development. It creates jobs. It creates vitality. I want to support all the businesses in this room, but by supporting them, supporting you, I have to make sure you have the power for you to turn your lights on in the morning. And so I'm committed to getting this right.

So team up with us, lock arms with us as we fight to save this industry. You don't have to love it, but you love all the businesses and the jobs that are being created here on your beloved Long Island in the process. So don't overlook that as well.

So I've got a lot more. I'm not giving you anymore. You've been sitting here as a great audience and I appreciate you, but stay tuned for the State of this State address. You're all welcome. I'll be at your party on Monday night when I should be working on my speech. I'll be hanging out with Long Island Association friends up in Albany because I can't help myself. It's always a fun bunch. But I just want to close by saying I'm grateful to every one of you. You are what makes this state, this beautiful part of our state, Long Island, so exceptional. Your belief in your community, your faith, your desire to build a business, whether it was started by your great grandparents, your parents, or yourself. I need to make sure you are wildly successful because your success will help drive this success of the entire state.

Are you with me? When we work together into 2026, we can get a lot more done. Thank you very much everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate you. Our best days are still ahead of us. Thank you Long Island Association, and to celebrate 100 years and 100 more, Matt, I have a really long proclamation, which I'm going to either read every single word or liberate all of you. Let's take a vote on it. Those who want me to read it say, aye. The Nays. The Nays have it. Let's not read this. Happy 100 years.