Making New York More Affordable by Cutting Taxes for More Than 8.3 Million Middle Class New Yorkers, Sending Inflation Refund Checks and Expanding Child Tax Credit

Prioritizing Subway Safety by Partnering With New York City To Increase NYPD Presence on Platforms and Trains; Investing in Safety Upgrades

Supporting New York Kids By Launching ‘Unplug And Play’ To Help Them Get Off Of Their Phones and Stay Active

Tackling the Housing Crisis by Taking On Corporate Forces That Raise Home Prices and Rents, Building On Last Year’s Transformative Housing Deal

To Build The Workforce of Tomorrow, New York Will Offer Free SUNY and CUNY Community College for Adult Students Pursuing In-Demand Careers

201 Transformative Proposals To Put Money in New Yorker’s Pockets, Make New York More Affordable and Make Our Streets and Subways Safer

2025 State of the State Book Available Here

Thank you to our clergy for reminding us of the presence of God in our lives…

I want to thank Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins. Speaker Carl Heastie, thank you for hosting me for the last three years in the Assembly chamber. Attorney General Tish James, Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado, Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt, Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay, Judges of the New York Court of Appeals, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, and Mayors and County Executives from across the State, Representatives from labor and distinguished guests, members of my Cabinet, Secretary Karen Persichilli Keogh, the Executive Chamber senior team, and I’m very proud to acknowledge New York’s First Gentleman William Hochul.

My fellow New Yorkers as we reflect on the State of our great State, the Empire State, two things are very clear to me. Our future depends on the ability of every family to afford the essentials of life, and our ability to protect the safety and security of our residents. But we will not achieve these goals without a fight.

So my commitment to every New Yorker is this: Your family is my fight. That has been the inspiration and impetus for everything we have done for the last three years.

When we raised the minimum wage and tied it to inflation, it was because I believe that when costs go up your wages should too.

When we added jobs and boosted tuition assistance, education funding, and public transit investments to the highest levels in history, it was because your family deserves the best opportunity for success.

When we battled insurance companies and ended copays for insulin, it was because your family’s health was more important than insurance companies’ profits.

When we fought for paid prenatal leave, it was so pregnant women can get medical care without losing their income because the health of your baby and your family should always come first.

When we took on social media giants, stood up against an army of lobbyists and lawsuits and we won, it was to stop the addictive feeds that put corporate profits over your children’s mental health.

When we secured the most consequential statewide housing policy in fifty years and affirmed that New York City is the City of Yes, it signaled that we understand that a home for your family means everything.

We did all of this because your family deserves more money in their pockets and a place they’re proud to call home.

But I know our work isn’t done.

Worries about crime and struggles to make ends meet are too common. Our state has to be livable and people have to be able to afford to live in it. We must keep fighting for the families and children of New York. And continue delivering for them.

Safe streets and subways.

Good jobs and higher wages.

Housing that’s truly affordable.

And fast public transit and dependable infrastructure.

Today, I’m going to share MY vision for a New York where hardworking people can get ahead, where children can play safely in their neighborhoods, where opportunities are plentiful, and where champions are forged.

That’s how I felt growing up.

Parents could put food on the table because they had good union jobs at the steel mills or the Ford or GM plant. They always believed that their children would have the same opportunities or even better.

That’s not to say it wasn’t hard sometimes. My parents started married life in a trailer park where my brother was born. When I came along, we moved to a cramped apartment in the shadow of the steel plant where my dad and uncles and grandpa worked.

Mom scrimped and saved to feed what eventually became a family of eight. She made those spam sandwiches on expired bread from the freezer and bought our clothes on layaway. But we never felt trapped by our circumstances. And we never gave up hope.

When I was 13, I had my eye on this very stylish red plastic raincoat in a women’s store on Main Street. It was an extravagance that I knew I could never ask my parents to pay for. So, I saved every penny I made babysitting – 50 cents an hour – until I could pay it off by myself. It took months but buying that coat with my own money felt like such an achievement. Proof to a young teenager that with hard work and perseverance anything was possible.

But just a few years later that store and many of the stores around it went dark. The five and dime, the soda counter, the last of the remaining clothing stores: all gone. It was the 1970s. Inflation was at 13 percent. Crime was out of control. Factories were shutting down. Our land and our air and our water were so polluted. The world was changing.

And so many communities lost the factory, took the hit, and struggled to get back up. Whether people labored at Bethlehem Steel in Buffalo, Kodak in Rochester, Carrier in Syracuse, Endicott Johnson in the Southern Tier or Northup Grumman on Long Island, over the years, people felt betrayed. Every single one of my five siblings had to leave home because the jobs were more plentiful in other states.

That really hurt. It wasn’t just the jobs that were leaving. Hope left too.

I tell you this not to give you a history lesson but to reinforce why these fights are so personal to me. I still feel like this happened yesterday. This is not just history. It’s the same way millennials felt in 2008 when the Great Recession undermined their futures.

I don’t ever want the people of this State, our neighbors, to have that same sense of anxiety that was so pervasive when I was younger. That’s why I decided to stay and fight. Witnessing the struggles and pain of those left behind, inspired me to run for office, to be a voice for communities that had fallen on hard times, because I had lived that experience.

Today, I know all too well… New Yorkers are struggling. Inflation. Sky-high rents. Wages that just feel like they can’t keep up. A changing economy. An influx of unexpected arrivals with great needs and an unsettled world.

That’s why I fight day in and day out to make New York safer, healthier, cleaner, and more affordable for you and your family.

Because, as I said: your family is my fight.

Yesterday, I met with over 200 high school seniors and Hudson Valley Community College students from all over the Capital District. They shared their hopes and questions about the future. Let’s hear from them directly!

[Video Segment]

My visit yesterday was a reminder of who we are fighting for and that we must show them, these young people, that they can thrive here – that this is where their future is.

Let me say this— a state of the state address can be full of flowery rhetoric and still fail to address the needs of the people. I believe it needs to be much more than just lofty words. It should be a concrete blueprint that will deliver actual results that the people will feel. That’s what New Yorkers expect and that is what you will see today: a bold, actionable plan for 2025 that addresses affordability and public safety head on.

Let’s start with affordability and how I plan to put money back in your pockets.

First, I’m calling for a sweeping middle-class income tax cut benefitting 8.3 million taxpayers making less than 323,000 dollars. The tax cut I propose today and will fight for in the coming months will deliver the lowest tax rates in seven decades and save hardworking tax payers 1 billion dollars.

By itself, it’s a monumental win for New Yorkers in the battle for affordability. But that’s just the start.

The fact is that many Americans, not just New Yorkers, have been hit hard by inflation since COVID. Because prices went up our sales tax revenue went up as well. But I believe this: that extra money does not belong in state coffers, it belongs back in your pocket.

And that’s why I proposed the nation’s very first-ever inflation refund. Under my plan, we’ll return BILLIONS and BILLIONS of dollars in surplus sales tax revenue directly to 8.6 million hardworking New Yorkers. I’m talking about seniors, recent grads, families bringing in less than 300,000 dollars a year. This makes a difference. Three hundred dollars for individuals. Five hundred dollars for families. That’s real money back in your pocket.

So let’s check: what do we have so far? An historic middle class tax cut, inflation rebate checks… but that’s not all.

Families with children need additional relief. And as New York’s first Mom Governor, I know personally that the earliest years are the most expensive: diapers, formula, clothes that are outgrown every three months. And that’s why in 2023, I said let’s make our Child Tax Credit available for kids under age four for the first time, extending a financial lifeline to over 600,000 families. Because it made zero sense to me that this credit only started when kids were almost in kindergarten.

Just a few days ago, I met Tasia Brown, a mom of three including a two-year old. She said that when she received a check last year, it felt like her birthday. She paid her utility bill, bought some extra groceries and even treated her kids to dinner without worrying.

This year I want to support our families even more by tripling the maximum benefit to 1000 dollars for babies and kids up to the age of four. And in 2026 we’ll boost the credit for school-age children to 500 dollars. For parents, it means more food on the table and more supplies in the backpacks of 2.7 million children.

If you think about it, it makes good economic sense. Every dollar invested in the child tax credit will generate a dollar and 25 cents in economic activity. That’s spent in local stores, helping our local businesses.

There is another driver of costs for families we need to confront:

child care. Daycare can cost over 21,000 dollars a year. Think about it: that’s 155 percent higher than a public college tuition. It’s like paying a second rent for so many families.

And I know how hard it is to make life work without childcare because I lived it. When my kids were young I had to leave my job because I couldn’t find accessible, affordable daycare. Everything I had worked for was derailed. I didn’t know how I’d get my career back on track. And I know that so many moms across New York can tell the same story.

I want to partner with the legislature and put our state on a pathway to universal childcare.

This really matters.

We’re going to dedicate 110 million dollars to build new child care centers, renovate existing ones, and expand options for families and communities all over New York. And we will establish a corps of substitute child care professionals so someone’s always on call.

As little ones become older, we also have to support them once they’re in school. That starts with the first, most important meal of the day: breakfast and then lunch.

The research is abundantly clear. Children who grow up hungry score lower on tests and underperform. It pains me as a mom to think of little kids’ stomachs growling while they’re in school while they’re supposed to be learning. In the wealthiest country in the world this can no longer be tolerated. Not in America and definitely not in the great state of New York.

Under my proposal, every child will get free breakfast and free lunch at school so children who are in need will be spared the embarrassment and the stigma of standing out among their classmates.

And I’m proud to say that there are some people here who are going to make this dream a reality: the school lunch staff of Albany School District. They work so hard. Please stand and let’s give them a round of applause.

And if you’ve ever had to get kids ready for school in the morning then you know that not having to prepare breakfast and lunch is a gift of time, the most precious commodity for harried parents. Plus the savings: as much as sixteen hundred dollars per child each year back in your wallet.

My friends, everything I’m talking about all adds up to nearly 5000 dollars. Oh, you don’t believe me? Pull out your cellphone or calculator and you can check it.

Let’s see what this means for a family with let’s say… two little ones (that’s $2,000) and one school aged (another $500). Annual school meal savings ($1,600), throw in $500 for your family rebate, plus tax cut savings. Now we’re approaching $5,000 real dollars back in your pocket.

That’s how we make our state more affordable. And we will never stop finding ways to put money back in the pockets of New Yorkers. This is something I’ve done every year as Governor.

But there is another fight I will continue to take on: our State must be livable and safe. My fight for your family also means that New Yorkers feel secure on the streets, on our subways, and in our communities.

We’re going to do this with common sense measures that everyone can get behind. Because people should be able to get to work in the morning, attend a play, enjoy our incredible restaurants without the fear of random violence or dodging someone in the midst of a mental health crisis.

We cannot allow our subway to be a rolling homeless shelter. We’ve already invested 1 billion dollars into reforming our mental health system, more support than any time in New York history. And I want to thank the legislature for partnering with me on that. As part of this investment, dedicated teams work day and night to help get the severely ill and homeless off our subways and into supportive housing.

But we know it’s not enough. Our laws must be even stronger. And that’s why I’m willing to stand up and say we need to expand involuntary commitment into a hospital to include someone who does not possess the mental capacity to care for themselves such as refusing help with the basics: clothing, food, shelter, medical care.

Now critics will say this criminalizes poverty or homelessness. I say that is flat out wrong.

This is about having the humanity and the compassion to help people incapable of helping themselves, fellow human beings who are suffering from mental illness that is literally putting their lives and the lives of others in danger.

Julie LeClaire Neches is a tireless advocate who knows the importance of compassionate care. She lost her daughter Alix after a long battle with mental illness. Alix was a bright young woman who attended Dartmouth and NYU and dreamt of being a writer. Julie believes that her daughter would still be with us today if there had been stronger laws around involuntary commitment and had her daughter not been released from the hospital prematurely. Please stand, Julie. And we thank you for your voice.

We also need to strengthen Kendra’s Law so those with serious mental health challenges get into long term treatment instead of cycling in and out of the system or living on the streets.

I know the phrase “involuntary commitment” reminds people of the prison-like institutions of the past. But that’s not the objective of these proposals. We’re in a different time now. As a result of our policies over the last three years we’ve reshaped our mental health system with more doctors, more beds, more effective treatment options and a more compassionate attitude toward care.

Let’s just be honest: there’s nothing compassionate about letting people suffer without treatment on the streets. And there’s nothing compassionate about letting people put themselves or others at risk.

Now, let’s turn to subway safety. To reduce crime and the fear of crime we’ve deployed over 1,250 state personnel, including the State Police and National Guard, to support the NYPD’s efforts on the subway. And I insisted that every single subway car have cameras. We’ve strengthened the laws against assaulting commuters and MTA workers and we’ve streamlined the coordination between our DAs and law enforcement to ensure crimes are swiftly punished. We’ve put barriers in stations to prevent people from being pushed onto the tracks. But, we need to accelerate these efforts.

First, working with Mayor Adams, we’ll surge law enforcement even more. I want to see uniformed police on the platforms, but more importantly, we will put an officer on every single train, overnight – 9 p.m. to 5 a.m – over the next six months and the state will support these efforts financially.

The physical infrastructure must be made safer as well. At my direction, the MTA will be installing even more barriers in 100 additional stations along with bright LED lighting in every station by the end of this year. And the shameless fare evaders will finally be stopped with modernized gates. This will not only make the subway less chaotic, it will help strengthen the financial footing of the MTA. And we’ll establish triage centers at the end of all the major routes where people can get off and get assistance 24/7.

This is the game plan: More police where they’re needed, safety infrastructure, and critical interventions to help the homeless and mentally ill get the help they need instead of languishing on trains and frightening commuters.

Because I say enough is enough. The chaos must end.

In my continuing fight for the safety of your family, I’m also cracking down on domestic violence – especially when it occurs in homes with children. My Mom was a champion for survivors of domestic violence. Before she died, we worked side-by-side to create a safe haven for women and children who had been abused. She would be so proud of the work we are doing today. We’re also working with law enforcement to apprehend and prosecute rapists and keep guns out of abusers’ hands.

And when it comes to repeat offenders, I want them off the streets. And I want judges statewide to use all the powers under our recent bail law changes to stop the rinse and repeat cycle of offenders being released over and over without consequences only to commit crimes again. And I’ll fight to finally close the loopholes that were created in our discovery laws that delay trials and lead to cases being thrown out for minor technicalities.

Protecting children online is another way I’m going to fight for your family.

As I referenced earlier, New York was the very first state in the nation to shield young people from addictive social media algorithms – succeeding where other states had failed. Now, we’ll take on the new and evolving dangers and defend our kids against harmful AI bots posing as friends. This is part of our continuing efforts to make youth mental health a top priority including by investing more in mental health first aid and clinics in schools.

But to truly free our children from social media we must give them safe places to simply be kids. It’s just common sense.

That’s why I’m launching the “Unplug and Play” initiative.

We’ll build new playgrounds and create hundreds of thousands of new opportunities for kids to join music and drama clubs, youth volunteer organizations, and sports teams.

These activities are transformative. Just ask Brian Hernandez-Lopez who’s with us here today. Brian wandered into the Ring of Hope Boxing Club in Schenectady at the age of 13. He told coaches at the time, “I just need some way to defend myself.” And he fell in love, not just with the sport but with how it made him feel. Strong and Hopeful. Confident he could take anything on, inside the ring and out. Today, Brian’s finishing his Associate’s Degree as a high school senior while coaching younger kids at the club. Oh, his future is so much brighter now. And that’s the power of our youth programs. Brian–please stand up.

I’ve spoken thus far about our affordability and public safety agenda. Now let’s turn to something that I also believe is just common sense.

A stable home is the foundation for a stable life. But for far too many New Yorkers, it’s a dream that feels impossibly out of reach. And I’m not the first one to say this, but the rent is too damn high! And that goes for people’s mortgages as well. Housing is the number one driver of our affordability crisis. And the only way to decrease housing costs is to increase supply. We need to build, and build, and build some more.

In my first State of the State address I unveiled an ambitious plan to build or preserve 100,000 units in five years. I’m proud that we are half way to our goal and ahead of schedule. But more needs to be done. Let’s invest an additional 100 million dollars in local development on top of the 650 million dollars we invested for pro-housing communities last year.

This targeted home-ownership strategy includes: 100 million dollars to build starter homes and provide down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers. And I’m proposing a housing development ombudsman to streamline approvals and get shovels in the ground sooner.

And we have to take a hard stance against the private equity firms that have strangled housing markets across the country. We’ve all seen it: A young family finds the home they’ve been searching for, they scrape together every dollar they have, and then they lose out to an all cash offer from a faceless, nameless corporation with no connection to the community. Corporate landlords co-opt our housing stock for short-term rentals or even worse they just let homes sit vacant while the values soar.

That’s why New York is going to do something that no other state in the nation has done and ban private equity companies from bidding on properties the first 75 days that they’re on the market. That’s how we ensure single and two-family homes remain available for the families they were built for. And that’s how we make homeownership possible for more New Yorkers. We’ll also ban price fixing software that inflates rents and costs tenants nationally 3.8 billion dollars a year.

As we’ve seen in our past battles, we can’t unleash the full potential of the housing market without a fight. That’s the way it is. But that’s what New Yorkers expect of us. I cannot and I will not back down.

And we’re showing the same ambition in our investments in transportation because our job is to get you where you need to go on safe roads, and bridges, and buses, and trains and subways. And wherever possible, put more time back in your day.

Just last week I rode Metro North where I told commuters I want to upgrade the stations and reduce commute times between Manhattan and Poughkeepsie. As much as 15 minutes each way. That’ll save commuters up to 130 hours a year. This benefits people like Helene Brown who’s with us today. She works at CUNY and commutes into the city every day from Yonkers. And to all those riders I met on the Long Island Rail Road Friday, our strategy delivers better commutes for you as well.

Since I’ve become Governor we’ve been building great public works, decades in the making, and creating tens of thousands of good union jobs. Projects like the Gateway Tunnel under the Hudson, the largest funded infrastructure project in America today, as well as extending the Second Avenue Subway in East Harlem, eliminating a transit desert and creating access to better paying jobs, and the Interborough Express to connect Brooklyn and Queens. Reconnecting communities like Syracuse which has been severed by I-81 and building a new Livingston Avenue Bridge right here in Albany.

This year I’m backing an MTA Capital Plan. We must end decades of failure to make the hard but necessary investments in this critical infrastructure. If we come up short, the future of our transit system and the economic strength of our state could be jeopardized.

We can’t talk about the future without talking about education. It is the great equalizer unlocking opportunity for all.

My dad’s college degree lifted my family out of poverty and opened doors to better paying jobs. Working with the legislature over the last two years we’ve more than DOUBLED tuition assistance at SUNY and CUNY and expanded eligibility.

And now we’re going even bolder: we’re going to make community college completely free for students ages 25-55 who enter high-demand fields like advanced manufacturing, education and healthcare. This is real savings for New Yorkers pursuing new careers and puts money back in their pockets while filling job openings in these critical industries.

We never forget that New York’s small businesses are the cornerstone of strong communities. Having helped my mom and sister start their businesses I understand the challenges they face. We must create an environment where small businesses feel that the government is not on their backs but on their sides.

The Industrial Revolution galvanized cities all across New York. But that economic progress came at a heavy cost. Factories spewed waste and chemicals into Lake Erie. I saw it. I remember as a kid, stepping over dead, smelly fish on the beach and seeing the skies filled with orange smoke. Today as we usher in a new innovation revolution we must learn from those mistakes.

We need look no further than the deadly fires in Los Angeles for a reminder of how fragile our world is and what the future will hold if we sacrifice mother nature on the altar of profit. Our hearts go out to everyone in California who has lost homes and lost loved ones. I’m grateful for the firefighters who worked 24-hour shifts to defend their communities from walls of fire. And I’m really proud of the New York National Guardsmen who have been deployed to assist in California. I know you’ll join me in saying a silent prayer for their safety and all those afflicted by this horrific tragedy.

Today we also have one of OUR brave firefighters here with us: Chief Alex Nicholas. Just a few months ago in the Catskills he was on the front lines battling one of the worst wildfires our state has ever seen.

And it’s not just wildfires. In the last few years we’ve experienced record heat, droughts, floods, tornadoes, blizzards, hurricanes. My fight for your family also means preventing these catastrophes from becoming our new normal. For we are truly the first generation to experience the effects of climate change and we are the last generation who can do anything about it. That’s why, despite intense opposition, I signed the Climate Change Superfund Act passed by the legislature and declared it should be the big corporate polluters who should pay for the consequences of climate change instead of New York taxpayers. And every other state should follow our lead.

We’ve recommitted to reducing carbon emissions with offshore wind off the coast of Long Island and hydroelectric power coming in from Quebec to power New York City. And this year I’m calling for an historic $1 billion investment to further the transition to a zero emission economy.

We’re also going to build power-ready sites for green industry, the kind of effort that helped us land Micron’s historic, 100 billion dollar investment creating 50,000 jobs in Upstate New York. The economy of the future: Microchip fabs, data centers and the supercomputers that power AI need tremendous amounts of energy. To support these industries, we’ve already started developing an advanced nuclear strategy. This is a good investment.

Artificial Intelligence alone is projected to drive 320 BILLION dollars of economic growth in our state by 2038, transforming fields from agriculture to medicine. That’s why we launched Empire AI last year: to build the most powerful supercomputer in the country for academic research and harness this technology for good.

This is all part of our effort to create a sustainable economy that can withstand the test of time – because there is no plan B if we fail.

Why is this so important to me? Because my fight for your family includes making sure your kids and grandkids can have the jobs of the future right here, powered by clean energy.

Now I’ve highlighted just a few elements of my battle plan. I assure you there are more than 200 proposals in our State of the State book, and I’m sure you all are looking forward to reading it tonight. That’s our 2025 blueprint as we continue the fight for New York’s children and families.

So let’s recap: Driving down crime, lowering taxes, investing in childcare and education, jobs, new homes, clean energy, small businesses and building a strong economy that will endure for generations.

Yes, it is bold: but as Wayne Gretzky famously said “you miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.” And I will always take the shot.

I’ve spoken a lot today about families and the shots I have taken and will take. And that caused me to think about my own family, especially my father who unexpectedly died when I was en route to Israel in the wake of the October 7th terrorist attack.

Right before I was boarding that late-night flight to a war zone I made what ended up being my final call to him. He said, “Dolly… I’m so proud of you. But keep your ******** head down.”

I’m sorry, Dad, I can’t keep my head down. Because you taught me you don’t keep your head down – you charge into the necessary fights. And you always said, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. You compete and you compete hard. And among all the values my parents instilled in me, the most important is that you always fight the good fight. That’s the fighting, competitive spirit of New York that makes us so great.

We see this spirit in the greatness of our champions like the New York Liberty, who went from playing before a few thousand fans in the Westchester County Center to three years later becoming national champions in front of wildly enthusiastic sold-out crowds – cheered on by those incredible Timeless Torches.

We see it in the Buffalo Bills written off after years of play-off drought, now poised for greatness with our own MVP Josh Allen leading the charge, uniting New Yorkers everywhere to Bill-ieve again.

But it’s NOT the winning that defines champions. It’s what they do when they get knocked down. Getting back into the fight.

And it’s not just our star athletes who embrace that competitive spirit. It’s embedded in the DNA of everyone who calls themselves a New Yorker. Tough, gritty, resilient, proud, undaunted in the face of adversity. This is the New York I’ve witnessed in every corner of this State.

I am in awe of the strength of our families, our seniors, our students, our teachers, our farmers, our veterans, our entrepreneurs.

As Jillian Hanesworth said in her poem “in our home, the sun always rises.” Yes it does, Jillian. The sun ALWAYS rises in New York. I am so proud to lead this State through adversity.

Three years ago when I took office, our state was in crisis and we took decisive action to right the ship. And despite the many challenges that remain, we still see that the sun is shining.

We see it in the more than 1 million new businesses that have opened across our state since I took office. In the 740,000 private sector jobs we’ve added. We see it when our LGBTQ+ community feels safe to be themselves. We see it when New Yorkers with disabilities feel supported and empowered. And we see it in the vibe and vitality that have returned to our great cities from Buffalo to New York City where the sidewalks are crowded, the restaurants are packed, and Broadway is back.

So even as we continue to focus on the many New Yorkers who need help, let us resolve today to take on the problems with a heart and soul filled with optimism… and a faith in our future.

That’s how we overcame the Great Depression, inflation in the ‘70s and the downfall of industry, 9/11, the Great Recession and a Global Pandemic. Because this is the Empire State: a place of comebacks. We overcome adversity. It’s who we are. And we’ll make sure that when people get knocked down that they can get right back up again.

Because your family is my fight, and I will never stop fighting for the people of the great State of New York.