Newcomer to the legislature weighs in on his first months in office
Freshman Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin, R-Melrose, has something in common with freshmen in college: They were both slammed with reading this past January.
The newly minted legislator admitted that on his first day in the Assembly chamber, he was somewhat overwhelmed.
The first week or two I was there, I’m showing up on the floor and these bills are here, and I’m like how the heck are we supposed to vote on these things? he said.
But after four months in office (his first in any elected office), McLaughlin shows a great deal more confidence when he speaks about the goings on at the Capitol. He’s gained a handle on how bills work their way to the floor, what his strengths are and the best way to be prepared.
`I learned pretty quickly to read and read and read,` he said.
Though he’s part of a large class of freshman legislators, McLaughlin was one of the few candidates in the Capital District to displace an incumbent in November, defeating Assemblyman Tim Gordon for control of the 108th Assembly District, which includes Bethlehem, Coeymans and parts of Columbia, Greene and Rensselaer counties.
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`As a class, I think, it’s very refreshing to see how vocal we are. There’s not a lot of freshmen members sitting on their hands. Everybody got up and debated the budget, every one of the freshman class got up and spoke,` McLaughlin said.
And while he said he was fairly pleased with the budget this year (he voted against the Assembly version, saying it was inequitable to Upstate schools), McLaughlin was adamant that changes must be made to the state of New York, especially when it comes to controlling property taxes and making the state more business friendly.
Though lawmakers seemed poised to at long last enact a property tax cap this year, this popular proposal took a dive after Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver announced he would not bring a cap to the floor of that body. McLaughlin sees this as a prime example of the Upstate vs. Downstate battle that’s always ongoing at the Capitol, and took Silver to task for blocking it.
`I think it’s clearly time to get this thing to a vote,` he said. `Stop giving the members protection. You have to stand up and be counted. One way or another, you have to stand up and say we’re going to do it, or not going to do it.`
The Assemblyman was also critical of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s much-lauded mandate relief efforts. Without a serious change in the way the state controls local governments and schools, he said, a property tax cap would be a win for taxpayers but a death knell for schools and towns.
`To me, they do go hand in hand,` he said.
`I was a vocal critic of that. There’s not a lot of meat on the bone here; it’s all window dressing,` McLaughlin said of the mandate relief efforts. He added there should be more private sector input, and bureaucrats should be cut out of the picture.
In fact, the assemblyman has made modernizing government a key agenda point. He’s cosponsored a bill from Assemblyman Jim Tedisco, R-Schenectady, that would see legislation and other paperwork be used only as digital copies, greatly reducing the millions state government spends on printing every year.
He also said government should adopt a 401(k)-type retirement plan for new employees and do away with the pension system, which accounts for a hefty share of state and local government spending.
McLaughlin is a member of the following committees: banks, children and families, real property taxation, small business and tourism, parks, arts and sports development.
McLaughlin invited constituents to contact him through his office in Albany (455-5777), Castleton-on-Hudson (479-0542) or by email at [email protected].“
