A lot has happened since Jack Martins left the state senate in 2016. Some of it has been for good, but it’s the bad that has prompted the Republican to try once again for his old job in Albany.
Government spending has gone up significantly, yet that money has not found its way back to the people.
That has left small businesses high and dry, Martins said, and it will need him and other GOPers to take control, cut spending, and streamline the process for small business owners to get licenses and permits.
“Like everything else, it comes down to cutting red tape and cutting spending,” Martins recently told reporters during a Herald Roundtable session. “Although we have a $220 billion budget, at the end of the day, that gets spent on different programs, although there’s certainly not enough that’s getting spent on small businesses.”
During his tenure in the senate, the legislature had agreed to limit state spending increases to 2 percent of the yearly revenue, asserting this kind of fiscal discipline has been lax in the last few years. And that spending hasn’t been responsible either, Martins said, leaving government services understaffed and poorly operated.
“Although spending has increased, things like spending on adding additional personnel to these agencies to allow for quicker turnaround times just hasn’t materialized,” Martins said. “They are spending, it’s just not showing up in a way that actually makes sense.”
A lot of that emphasis seems to instead be directed toward more eco-friendly energy systems, such as wind and solar. But while Martins is for climate-oriented initiatives, he worries New York may be pushing too hard and too fast. While leaving the world a clean and healthy place is a priority, it can’t risk compromising the energy requirements and safety of the people the legislature is charged to represent.
For example, the All Electric Buildings Act is intended to prohibit new buildings under seven stories that are not all electric beginning in 2024, to be expanded to all buildings over seven stories two years later. But moving to less well-established power sources could cause serious problems, Martins said, from higher electricity costs to blackouts.
“I think sometimes in the urge to get to a certain result, people in the legislature haven’t thought about the consequences of making certain decisions without having something in place,” Martins said. “The idea of changing and moving to a different paradigm without making sure we are secure I think is foolhardy. And the risk is borne by all of us.”
Martins has promised to defend women’s right to abortion and health care access, which puts him at odds with fellow Republicans. It’s a right he thinks about a lot, but won’t support expanding laws past what the original U.S. Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade originally allowed.
“I have not voted against reproductive rights, I have supported a woman’s right to choose,” Martins said. “I will protect my daughters’ right to make a choice for themselves.”
