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Dear Lucas,
As the New York State Legislative session comes to a close, I wanted to give
you a brief update on some of my top priorities over the past year:
1) Raising minimum wage for more than 1 million New Yorkers:
The Assembly passed legislation to increase the minimum wage, which will
improve the quality of life for more than 1 million New Yorkers. Over the past
five years, New York's minimum wage has only increased 10 cents per hour, which
is not enough for Queens families to pay for things like rent, heat, gas, food
and prescription drugs.
2) Advocating for senior citizens and the disabled: I
advocated for several measures, which the Assembly passed, related to
strengthening the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE) program and the Disabled
Rent Increase Exemption (DRIE) program. Both programs offer eligible tenants an
exemption from rent increases and the owners of the apartments receive a credit
against their real estate taxes. These bills will help to ensure
that our seniors and neighbors with disabilities don't have to wait months to
get the rent savings they deserve.
3) Campaign finance reform: I supported a landmark bill that
would establish New York State as a national leader in campaign finance reform.
The legislation provides a regulatory system of optional public financing for
all state office primary, general, and special election campaigns-- returning
the focus of elections to the substance of the issues and the candidates.
4) Supporting children and children of immigrants: The
Assembly passed legislation to establish the DREAM Fund, which would award
scholarships to college-bound children of immigrants. This legislation would
create a DREAM Fund commission that would raise scholarship money, determine
criteria for scholarship recipients, create and advertise a training program
for educators and develop a public awareness campaign for DREAM fund awards.
5) Advocating for children with disabilities: Raising a child
with disabilities comes with unique challenges. That's why in the final 2012-13
budget, I fought to ensure that vital Early Intervention funding was protected.
These are just some of the issues that are critical to the people of Queens and
throughout New York State. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to represent
and serve you in Albany. I hope I can count on your support in November to
continue this important work. To learn more about my campaign or to get
involved, please contact Lisa at (212) 531-2858 or lisa@dynamicsrg.com .
Sincerely,
David I. Weprin
New York State Assembly