ALBANY, N.Y. -- A public protection budget hearing focusing on crime and opioid addiction is underway at the Capitol.
For upstate lawmakers, there's scrutiny on how the state will continue to combat heroin and opioid addiction.
Senate Republicans are leading a task force on the issue, and they're hoping to increase funding for treatment and law enforcement.
"It's incredibly important that we allocate new funds this year to continue the progress that we're making. We have more work to do. No one can argue that. The numbers are still trending in the wrong direction. We're still losing people," said Sen. Fred Akshar, R-Binghamton.
Democratic lawmakers are raising concerns with the effort to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 18, which Gov. Cuomo has included in his $152 billion budget plan.
Generally, Republicans have been in favor of enforcement, while Democrats in the Assembly have raised issues over fair sentencing.
The heroin crisis being a statewide issue has made some GOP lawmakers more sympathetic to arguments for treatment.