State of Greater Western New York Report Interview with Joseph Giglio, Assemblyman, 148th District – April 15, 2021

This week on the State of Greater Western New York Report chats with New York State Assemblyman Joseph Giglio. Assemblyman Giglio represents the 148th District covering all of Cattaraugus County and Allegany County and portions of Steuben County.

In the show’s first segment, Giglio talks about the budget process and how, outside of the three people who crafted the budget (the Governor, the Senate Leader, and the Assembly Leader), the remaining state-wide elected officials only had three days to read and absorb the details. In addition, he outlined the billions of federal dollars New York State received and how the bulk of that money went to New York City. Giglio explains that the State failed to account for Covid in last year’s budget, which was passed precisely when the financial damages of the pandemic were quite apparent. Worse, the governor went into this year’s budgetary planning process assuming a 20% shortfall and didn’t change his stance on tax increases despite the unplanned infusion of Federal money and the fact that 2020 revenues were not as bad as expected.

In the second segment, Giglio takes us on a historic journey from the Founding Fathers to Abraham Lincoln to Theodore Roosevelt. He then ties those historic figures back to the State and its history. He also goes into some recent history, including how the budget process got to where it is today and how New York City ended up with more per capita representation than the Greater Western New York Region. Finally, he offers an overview of the obstacles inherent in any effort to reclaim our autonomy as a region and he suggests what citizens can do to help push forward the DiPietro and Hawley bills discussed in earlier State of Greater Western New York Report broadcasts.

As usual, several live audience members were able to ask their questions of Assemblyman Giglio. Would you like to be a member of our live audience so you can ask our guests questions? Click here to join the growing number of members who share your feelings on StateOf.GreaterWesternNewYork.com because then we can automatically send you the link to watch our shows live.