Assemblywoman "Missy" Miller visits Oceanside Library

In a talk that covered a wide range of topics, first-year Assemblywoman Melissa “Missy” Miller offered roughly 20 attendees a newcomer’s behind-the-scenes look at the New York State budget process during an April 18 question-and-answer session at the Oceanside Library.

Part of a monthly series sponsored by the library that brings in local government officials for informal talks, the chat focused on a variety of issues in addition to the budget, including Miller’s advocacy for people with severe mental disabilities, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s free college tuition program and the heroin epidemic.

Miller recounted her first time being part of the process of assembling an annual operating budget in Albany, and candidly described it as “very non-transparent.” She took issue with what has been described as three-men-in-a-room negotiations where the governor, the State Assembly speaker and State Senate majority leader do most budget talks behind closed doors.

She said the process involved hours of waiting on the Assembly floor while negotiations occurred elsewhere, and remarked that it was like “being held hostage.” Miller, a Republican, said members of both parties expressed displeasure with Gov. Cuomo, a Democrat, and his method of governing, which she said rarely included input from the state’s two legislative bodies.

Another issue that dominated the talk was the governor’s free public college tuition scholarship, which, starting in the fall of 2017, would provide free tuition to public state or city colleges for students of families making less than $100,000 a year. By 2019, the bar for eligibility would increase to $125,000.

Attendee Rosemary Enright asked Miller what she thought about the program.

The assemblywoman described it as “awful” and “almost embarrassing,” and asked residents to read the legislation closely. She took issue with the plan’s restrictions, which require that students maintain a 30-credit annual workload, and that they stay in the state after graduation for as many years as they receive the scholarship funds, in order to ensure it isn’t revoked and turned into a loan that must be repaid. “It’s a trap,” she said.

While Miller indicated that advocacy for people with severe mental and physical disabilities — a main component of her campaign platform — is still a priority for her, she admitted she was still getting a feel for what issues are most important to her constituents.

She revealed her plan to have an additional traffic light installed on Davison Avenue, the street on which the library is located. She also noted the increase in heroin-related deaths as a problem in the district, and added that she knew of friends and family members who had lost loved ones to overdoses.

Though other issues were raised, the assemblywoman is a minority representative in the Assembly — meaning her power is limited — an issue she said she shared with State Sen. Todd Kaminsky, a Democrat from Long Beach and former assemblyman of the district. She added that fact has been a boon to their working relationship in advocating for additional state funds for their districts, which share significant overlap.

Tony Iovino, the library's supervisor of community services, said he thought the hour-long chat went well. “She was wonderful, frank and down to earth,” he commented. “She really expressed her goals and frustrations. I thought she came across wonderfully.”

Correction: An earlier version of this story labeled Tony Iovino, the library's supervisor of community services, as the library director. We regret the error.