Monday, January 20, 2025
Steve Rhoads is a familiar face in the 5th State Senate District. A former Nassau County legislator for the 19th district, Rhoads took on his current position in 2022, winning the seat over the Democratic incumbent, John Brooks.
Rhoads’s legislative priorities this election cycle haven’t changed much, he told Herald reporters during a Roundtable interview, and a main point of concern for him is affordability. He was critical of the state’s cost of living and business climate.
“Right now, whether it’s our seniors, young people — everyone seems to have their New York exit plan,” Rhoads said. “As a state government, as long as we continue to make New York state unaffordable and uncompetitive for businesses and for residents, we’re going to continue to suffer — and that has to change. What I’ve been doing over the course of the last two years is trying to promote polices and legislation that will actually address those issues of affordability, of taxes.”
He called for “common sense” surrounding the issue of bail reform and cashless bail in New York, which has allowed many repeat offenders to be released from jail without paying bail.
Rhoads opposed Prop 1 being put on the state ballot this year, which seeks to expand the Equal Rights Amendment in New York’s Constitution. The proposition includes mention of pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, gender identity and gender expression.
He voted against it, he said, not because he doesn’t believe in protecting a woman’s access to abortion, but because he believes the bill is poorly drafted, and there are potential First Amendment violations to consider.
Rhoads said that the proposal’s passage could take autonomy away from health care organizations, like Catholic Health, which could be punished for violating the state Constitution if it refuses to support abortion care.
“You have parental rights considerations,” he added. “If a school refuses to allow a transgender male access to a girls’ bathroom, or to be able to play in girls’ sports, is that school district now violating the state Constitution?”
New York, Rhoads said, has extremely liberal abortion policies. “So the idea that abortion is somehow in jeopardy in the state of New York is a fallacy,” he said.
Rhoads also said he worries that the legislation “creates more questions than answers.”
Another issue in the 5th District? Nassau University Medical Center, in East Meadow, the county’s only public hospital, which boasts a Level 1 trauma center, a burn center and other vital resources. The hospital has lost millions of dollars in state funding since 2019, and Rhoads has been an outspoken advocate for ensuring that it gets the money it needs to stay open, and to sustain its 2,600 health care workers.
As a Republican, Rhoads is in the minority in the State Legislature, and said that one-party rule, regardless of the party, doesn’t solve any problems. Conflict, he said, is sometimes a good thing, because it forces people to work together.
“That’s not what we’re seeing in Albany right now,” he said.
In general, Rhoads said, New York needs to find solutions that make sense for its residents. “I’m up there in Albany fighting for common-sense solutions that don’t favor one party or the other,” he said. “People want common-sense solutions to solve the real-world problems that they’re facing every day.”
