Affordable energy, clean water and a place to live for all New Yorkers - these are just some of the causes New York State Senator Michelle Hinchey has advocated for since she was elected to the state senate in 2020.
She discusses her role as chair of the state’s agriculture committee and her efforts to promote more development for the state’s farms while making locally-grown food more accessible. Hinchey also breaks down her efforts to make housing more accessible, through a $200 million budget proposal that would increase the supply of affordable homes both for purchase and for rent here in upstate New York, in both rural and urban areas.
Hinchey also discusses her push for the creation of a statewide registry of short-term rentals, like Airbnb, and the implementation of a sales tax that would go directly to local and county governments.
Sen. Hinchey is concerned with more than just getting New Yorkers into homes – also focusing her efforts on lowering monthly bills. She discusses a bill she’s sponsoring that aims to put an end to the big fluctuations in utility bills that New Yorkers have been seeing, which she says have swung as much as 46% month-to-month.
A staunch advocate for clean water, Hinchey also discusses two bills of hers that would place stricter oversight on the health, safety and overall business practices of small private water companies, which are common in upstate New York. The first requires the public service commission and the department of environmental conservation to conduct audits of private water companies and the second establishes the New York Water Authority. Each of these bills has passed both chambers.
You can watch the full interview with New York State Sen. Michelle Hinchey on our website or the Spectrum News App. And be sure to tune in for a look inside the biggest issues impacting Upstate New York, on In Focus with JoDee Kenney, every Sunday on Spectrum News 1.