Of the 800-plus bills passed by both houses during the recent legislative session in Albany, six stand out at the top of Assemblyman Karl Brabenec’s list of good legislation, including one that addresses the suicide rate in rural areas and another that aims to protect children’s data online.
A Deerpark politician first elected to the Assembly in 2013, Mr. Brabenec has served as the Republican whip within the minority leadership since January 2023. His district covers the southwestern part of Orange County, including Deerpark, Warwick, and Tuxedo, as well as a portion of Rockland County.
Another bill passed in June calls for a new council tasked with decreasing suicides in rural towns through a variety of avenues, including policies, resources, and laws.
Mr. Brabenec also praised the Child Data Protection Act, which originated from Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office, won support from both legislative chambers, and was signed into law on June 20.
“It is pretty much to protect minors’ data from being collected by online sites like Facebook and Instagram,” he told The Epoch Times. “That is a pretty good thing.”
The other bills highlighted by Mr. Brabenec would allow direct interstate shipment of liquors up to a certain amount to the benefit of local distillers, create a task force to review income guidelines in state public assistance programs, and—as part of a budget bill—keep state foundation aid cuts at bay for individual local school districts.
Ms. Hochul has until the end of December to sign into law any bills passed by the Legislature.
Mr. Brabenec said Ms. Hochul’s last-minute halting of the congestion toll was good for his constituents, but there remained the challenge of filling a financial hole as large as $1 billion for the Metropolitan Transportation Agency.
The toll program proposes charging most drivers $15 for entering the busiest part of Manhattan, with the stated dual goal of easing traffic and raising money for the cash-strapped agency.
“I am pretty sure that we are going to be called back into session in the next two months to address that issue,” he said. “My recommendation would be that there needs to be an audit of that entire agency to find cost savings.”
As to unaddressed problems, Mr. Brabenec pointed to rising anti-Semitism amid the ongoing Israel–Hamas war, one-sided environmental legislation, a lack of meaningful tax reduction solutions, and the ever-expanding state budget.
“When I started in the legislature, the budget was about $130 billion, and now we are up to $237 billion. That is a huge increase over 10 years and a major, major problem,” he said.
“I’ve always called for a statewide independent audit to check out where all the money is being spent in the general funds and other funds that the state manages,” he said. “They really, really need to take a look at which programs are ineffective and where we can save money.”
Plus, this year’s state budget, despite an increase of billions from the past year, failed to deliver the much-called-for new investments—a regional bipartisan group of lawmakers had urged an extra $100 million—to fix up roads in Hudson Valley, he said.
“Just in my district, we are talking about state Route 209, Route 284, Route 94, Route 17, and Route 211,” he said.
He pointed out that his office receives calls about potholes and craters “every single day” and forwards all the information to the Department of Transportation. “They assure us they are fixing everything they can—they are just not allocated enough funds,” he said.
“We are going to keep fighting to fix our roads,” he added. “Hopefully, we are going to get a better result next year.”
Mr. Branenec is running unchallenged in a reelection bid in the 98th Assembly District.
