FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: June 18, 2025
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SEMPOLINSKI: LATE BUDGET AND LEGISLATIVE SESSION HIGHLIGHT ALBANY DYSFUNCTION
One-Party-Rule Once Again Fails to Address the Needs of New Yorkers
ALBANY – Assemblyman Joe Sempolinski said even though he has served in Congress, his first legislative session representing the 148th District in the New York Assembly was a learning experience.
“Seeing how things work, or more to the point, don’t work in Albany was an education,” he said. “We had a budget that was weeks upon weeks late and at one point, the governor said the budget was done when it really wasn’t done. Albany isn’t working for the people of New York.”
The budget was 38 days late. It was due April 1 but was passed on May 8.
“I voted ‘No’ on the budget because I couldn’t in good conscience support a budget that’s more than a quarter of a trillion dollars that doesn’t address the real-world needs of New Yorkers,” Assemblyman Sempolinski said. “We spend so much more than our peer states. Yet with all that spending, New Yorkers are struggling to pay their utility bills and put food on the table. How does that make sense?”
Assemblyman Sempolinski said one bright spot was when he joined Assembly and Senate Republicans early in the legislative session to stop a Democrat proposal to change New York’s election laws. The change would have allowed the governor to delay special elections until the General Election in November.
At the time, Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, who represents New York’s 21st Congressional District, was under consideration to be President Trump’s U.N. Ambassador. The election law change would have left her district unrepresented in Congress for nine months.
“It was a blatantly political bill that would have disenfranchised more than 750,000 voters in New York’s 21st Congressional District and deny them representation in Congress,” Assemblyman Sempolinski said. “It’s always a win in Albany when you can stop something bad from happening. This was bad. It was nothing but a political power grab.”
Assemblyman Sempolinski said he will continue to fight policies like the electric school bus mandate and attempts to limit the number of cows dairy farmers can have that hurt upstate, rural regions like the 148th Assembly District.
“I don’t work for anyone in Albany. I work for the folks back home,” Assemblyman Sempolinski said. “New York has no future if we continue to be the spending and crime capital of America. I will continue to fight for responsible budgets and common-sense policies that help families and businesses grow and thrive.
“The people of the 148th District are tough, smart and resilient and I know we will flourish if we can just get Albany off our backs.”
Assemblyman Joe Sempolinski represents the 148th New York Assembly District, which consists of all of Cattaraugus and Allegany counties and portions of Steuben County. For more information, visit Assemblyman Sempolinski’s website.
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