>> From WXXI News.

This is Connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

We continue our series of conversations with your elected leaders.

Now that Governor Kathy Hochul has put out her state budget, and it's up to the legislature to debate the budget, to iron out the edges, to change the priorities that they think should be changed, and to pass a budget, ideally on time.

At the beginning of April.

We'll see.

And this is our chance to talk at length to lawmakers about what they see in the budget, what they want prioritized, what they want, removed, what their district supports and what they support.

And this is a chance to talk this hour to Assemblyman Stephen Hawley from district number 139.

It's a district that includes Medina and the West Brockport in the East Albion, Batavia.

Leroy, Assembly member Hawley, welcome back to the program.

Good to have you, sir.

>> It's great to be back on Evan.

I'm a little under the weather, as I indicated to you young lady that welcomed me, but, I'll do my best.

And it's we've had some rough weather over the last couple of weeks, haven't we?

>> Well, look, you're under the weather.

We've had rough weather.

Everyone's under the weather.

Well, under a very rough winter.

So here's to better weather for you and for all of us.

I'm curious to know, as a member.

Hawley, how has your district changed during your tenure in the Assembly?

How many more?

How many years now in the Assembly?

>> Too many to count.

If you're a high school graduating from high school if you even know who your assemblyman is.

And I'm sure that over 90% of all graduating seniors know that they they don't know anyone else.

We'll just leave it at that.

So I I've been since February of 2006.

How have things changed?

Well, Governor Pataki was in his last ten months of of, being our governor.

we've had since then.

Gosh, we've had Spitzer.

We've had Paterson, we've had Cuomo.

And now Hochul.

So I may have missed 1 or 2 in there, but we, we we've had a lot of different folks in the Executive Mansion.

And it's just a great honor to be able to represent my neighbors as best I can.

as you say, initially, I had one town in Niagara County Somerset.

I had all of Orleans County.

I had the west side, mostly of Monroe, which was Hamlin and Clarkson.

I had Parma for a little bit of time.

and then down to Riga and of course, all.

Well, no, it wasn't all of Genesee County.

It was that it was didn't include the four bottom most southern towns.

today, as you said, I've got most of the west side of Monroe, no longer Riga.

Harry Bronson, my friend, has that.

but if you skip over Riga, just below that is is Wheatland.

And so I've got new school districts in Clermont and Wheatland.

Chili.

I've got the Mumford area and that great Genesee Country Village.

And I now have all of Genesee County, still all of Orleans, and none of Niagara.

So there you have it.

>> And before we dive into things like affordability and the cost of energy, things that are really top of mind for you, I am curious to know about the job base in your district so you know, the better part of a couple decades ago, you started it certainly wasn't sort of a manufacturing boom time, but what are the manufacturing or what are the job hubs now?

And where have the jobs gone?

I mean, how is your district doing economically?

>> Well, I don't think any of New York is doing too well, unfortunately, economically speaking whether you're in an urban area or a suburban area or a rural area, by and large what I represent, other than Brockport and the city of Batavia most of it is suburban or rural.

most of the jobs are agriculture related.

whether it's actually on a farm or whether it's a business that depends on agriculture, purchasing goods and services, services from them whether it's equipment, whether it's energy whether it's feed or animals it's a mostly rural agricultural type base.

We continue to try to attract folks to come into not only my assembly district, but because I live in Western New York and I call Western New York any place to the from Rochester west and down through Ontario County, et cetera.

I call that our region.

And anytime anything is located, regardless of the geographic location if a business comes in we like to think of that as a regional win for everybody.

Lots of folks drive to Rochester from my district.

Lots of folks, unfortunately, drive to Buffalo and Erie County.

but we continue to try to attract new businesses.

here and yeah, that's that's there's not too many manufacturing jobs, although cheapen manufacturing has been in Western New York and actually located in Batavia, founded by the Chapin family, I believe 100 years ago.

And they manufacture Chapin sprayers that are sold at Ace Hardware and under different names.

in some areas.

But they employ about hundred and 50, 175 people.

So very proud of that long standing relationship that Chapin Manufacturing has with our area.

>> All right.

So that's a picture of the district.

And at the top of mind, I know for you and a lot of your colleagues is affordability.

In what way.

So so take me through what you see as sort of the state of affordability.

If you think it's a crisis, the state of the crisis and what can happen in Albany that would start to address that?

>> Well, I mean ask anybody in a grocery store, ask anybody in in a mall if the very few malls that are left ask anyone at church, ask anyone anywhere, and it could be a different answer from every single individual in folk, because we've got gas prices that are out of sight.

We have energy prices electric that are out of sight.

we have vehicles costing out of sight.

We have insurance, which is what I do for an occupation.

out of sight.

And we just it's not a very affordable site.

And, of course, we can always talk about taxes, whether it's the income taxes, whether it's the property taxes and part of property taxes or school taxes.

So name a topic.

And unfortunately, it's unaffordable in the state of New York.

I'm not a doomsayer, and I always look at a glass half full as opposed to half empty.

And there are ways we can fix that and and try to pull that, that those unaffordable type things that have occurred under the last 6 to 8 years and specifically the last five years, we've had a state budget that's increased from when Governor Hochul, who, by the way, is a friend and my former congresswoman since she's taken office, we've had a budget that's ballooned from 186,000,000,000 in 2021, all the way up to a proposed budget this year of 260 billion.

That's with a B, as in brother O, brother.

it's just unsustainable.

We don't live that way as families or as businesses.

If we don't have if we don't have the revenue coming in, we don't create new ways to tax people to bring revenue in, to support stole.

So many programs like Medicaid and and so on and so forth.

A lot of the lot of that energy bill, by the way, that we have is a result of taxes.

And we ought to be returning excess excess monies held by the state of New York to taxpayers.

>> So let's kind of go issue by issue with affordability.

The governor has said this year that one way to make this state more affordable for New Yorkers is in insurance.

She's talking about auto insurance, and she's talking about the parameters for which you can claim pain and suffering after an accident.

And the governor says this state is basically too permissive, too broad with who can claim pain and suffering beyond basic damages in a car accident.

And as a result, everyone's premiums go up.

We've got some of the highest premiums in the country, and it's time for some reform there.

Do you agree with her?

>> I do and so there I am.

there are points of agreement.

and one thing I would like to say is we need to start respecting one another.

Whether we agree with someone or not, whether it's in our church group, whether it's in a in a gathering that we have, whether it's political or anything else, we need to understand that it's okay to disagree, but we need to do it with respect.

And so I've tried to do that over the 19 years or so that I've been in the assembly.

and as I said, my business, my occupation, I look at representation as an avocation, spending a good amount of time at it.

But being a good delegator auto insurance premiums, oddly enough, I'm going to be calling people on.

You and I are done.

have risen exponentially.

and so I do agree with her.

We've got rampant fraud.

And she said that in her state of the state we have auto companies that are charging an arm and a leg because of not only the fraud, but because of the kinds of things that you can sue for.

We call that a lottery mentality, a dollar and a dream.

if you have a fender bender in a parking lot or just sitting at a stoplight and your rear ended in a very short way, you might recover hundreds of thousands of dollars.

and so we have to put a curb on that.

My son's a lawyer.

So all my friends out there who are attorneys are probably saying, oh, no, no, no, no, no, we don't want to do any restrictions on the amount that we can recover.

but we do need to do that so that folks can afford to drive to work.

>> Do you think this is going to be a political battle?

I mean, or do you expect more Republicans to line up with the governor on this particular issue?

>> I would think this is a an issue where many people can agree on both sides of the aisle.

And I would expect that to, to have some sort of ramifications.

I am going to, by the way, just as a matter of curiosity, I have a zoom call with the acting superintendent of financial services today.

I do sit on the insurance committee in the state assembly.

and I had a very good relationship with her predecessor, Adrian.

can't remember her last name.

Off the top of my head.

She was only here two years.

She came from California.

and she had a very good working knowledge of insurance.

She helped to found an insurance company in California and came here to to see how she could help.

what we were doing here in in in New York.

So I'm looking forward to that.

We've got the litigation reduction that she mentioned.

We've got strengthening anti-fraud programs and and, and we have to certainly have some reductions in premium if you have a a dash cam premium reduction, if you've got a dash cam in your vehicle.

>> Okay.

Well, that's one we're certainly going to follow.

Now, let's talk about energy.

You brought up energy here.

What is driving the cost of energy and what do you want to see changed?

>> Well, a lot of things, that are driving the cost of energy.

one is the amount that's being used.

It's called supply and demand and economics 101 course.

we have dramatic increases in demand because of the climate action plan that was voted into voted on and supported back in 2019. and continues to be pushed by this governor and the majorities in both the Senate and the Assembly.

I had a friend who worked for National Grid for, I don't know, 25 years or so.

And he came in about a year and a half ago, and we had him in for a zoom call and in my conference room in person.

and he was in charge of not only all of New York, but new Jersey and Connecticut as well.

And he wanted to relate to people how it was unattainable and unrealistic.

The time frame that we have for becoming all electric and not dependent on fossil fuel, all laudable types of philosophies, of course.

But at the same time, we need to be realistic the governor, to give her credit again pulled back on the new housing starts being all electric, not being able to use gas.

on one one of 26 of course, that was just a pullback.

We don't know how long that's going to be.

but I brought him in, and he related to me and those that listened of which were there were only about 28 out of 150 assembly people that either came or checked in by zoom.

he related that there was one time back in the day, probably 8 or 10 years ago, where the entire state almost went dark because of the unbelievable strain on the grid.

And so we need to look at different types.

We need to be realistic.

We need to push that back, that time frame of becoming all electric.

We need to have the state lead the citizens and the businesses of this state.

We need them to put their talk.

They need to walk it.

We need them to have all of their their fleet, including the governors be all electric.

If we're going to tell us that we need to do that, then they need to show us how to do that and how it works.

And it won't work because of the demand on the grid.

>> Well, you're certainly right that the governor has pulled back on the timeline, and that upset some people who have been you know, working towards what they would call cleaner standards and energy.

And one of your colleagues on this program last week, Assembly Member Andrea Bailey, who you know well, said that you know, she thinks that that's probably related to the fact that the governor has a challenge from Bruce Blakeman this year, and the governor is reading the political tea leaves.

Do you agree?

>> Well, I think folks act differently.

some folks I try to be the same representative, year in and year out, day in and day out.

But, when you're talking about the leading the state of New York we've seen over the years folks change and I'm sure Governor Pataki did it back in his day, but we've watched this occur since I've been there for 18 years or so.

19 years.

I've watched the election years every four years for governor be a little bit different.

And you referenced the state budget being due on April Fool's Day, April 1st.

We will do that tongue in cheek.

Of course.

We we we certainly hope that for taxpayers that we set the example by doing what's constitutionally called for, we require our businesses and individuals to pay their taxes on time.

We certainly should have a budget on time.

So, yeah, I think people change at the state level and national level.

when it's an election year.

And that's kind of sad because we ought to maintain who we are so that people who are looking to vote for us can see consistency and stability and not rolling with election year differences to get reelected.

So.

>> Okay.

well, here's another proposal from Governor Hochul.

And she, in talking to our colleagues, Samuel King, among other reporters, said that some of her critics have said this is also a political calculation.

And she said it's not.

The governor said that the districts that have the highest number per capita of farms tend not to be big supporters of her.

But she says it's not about politics.

Our farmers are hurting.

And the governor says a big reason our farmer farmers are hurting is because of the president's tariffs.

The governor wants to set aside $30 million to support New York farmers to help mitigate some of that hasn't exactly been spelled out how, but that's, you know, perhaps to be worked out in future months.

Would you would you agree with the governor that tariffs have hurt our farmers?

And would you support a $30 million fund to help our farmers?

>> I would support anything that would help to support farmers.

I don't know if 30 million.

I don't know if 30 million out of a $260 billion budget says much about her ability to care for farmers her congressional district, by the way, was largely like mine.

It was largely small businesses and agriculture and ag related business.

And so she knows full well that that amount of money isn't going to do much whether it's the tariffs or whether it's the affordability crisis, the energy prices, the taxes that they pay right now, many farmers are talking about the fact that they that they pay fire fees on vacant land.

and they would like to not have to do that.

So there are a lot of things that that need to be done for with farmers.

And that is take the taxes away, take the onerous mandates and fees away.

they aren't looking for a handout.

They're looking to be able to earn a living without excessive government interference in their everyday lives.

>> Just briefly, on tariffs specifically, do you think the new tariffs have hurt farmers?

>> I think that probably have had some effect on them.

Yes.

>> Okay.

And when it comes to specific mandates and fees, you say that $30 million in a big state is not going to make a big difference.

What would really help is reducing some of these mandates and fees.

What are some examples?

>> Well, I'm introducing legislation for at the behest of a farm in in in western Monroe County where there are different electric rates charged for farms based on either demand or a regular price by the electric provider.

And so they're looking to have the same price rather than a higher on demand price.

and so that that's one of the areas I'm going to be working on the taxes we continue to ask for budgets that don't raise taxes.

we've got a business tax rate that has now, it was temporary, a 7.25% business tax rate, and now it's extended through not just through next year, 27, but through 2029.

And that happens an awful lot.

utility companies have a, have a two 2.5% tax rate that was done temporarily back in David Paterson's time, the former lieutenant governor who became governor, similar to this governor.

And that's continued to be there.

It was only a temporary tax.

>> All right.

And before we move on to public safety, which is another issue I know you want to talk about, I want to just ask you a little bit about taxes in general.

Here's an area, another area that I think you're going to side with the governor.

I'm going to presume that you are on the governor's side.

When the governor says to her party, no, to a super wealth tax this year, the governor says, we don't need a, you know, so-called mega millionaires tax or a super wealth tax.

A number of Democrats in Albany want that.

I don't know if there's enough groundswell of support to try to get that passed.

Perhaps not, especially with the governor's opposition.

So I'm going to assume that you're with the governor on that.

But I want to ask you for in your district, I don't know if there's a whole lot of people, there's probably not very many who would qualify for, you know, sort of a super wealth tax.

What do you think the rank and file citizens in your district would say about a super wealth tax?

>> Well, frankly, it's a philosophical argument.

In the beginning, before anything like that would ever possibly take place, former Governor Cuomo talked about it and brought about new taxes on on those that have realized the American dream through hard work, through borrowing, through long hours and no longer do we have Tom Golisano living in the state of New York.

And that's been for 12, 15 years.

he at one point he was saving $10,000 a week or something like that on income taxes.

so having an income tax it's just counterproductive in many, many ways.

We ought to have a holiday on that.

so it's taxing those that have done.

Well they will they will give money to charities and others other organizations and individuals.

I'm going.

I'm not one of those guys or gals, by the way, but I'm going to a function where a guy in the laundromat just said to me, hey, if you're not doing anything Saturday, ha ha ha.

You you you can come over to Le Roy because we're having a pause for whatever you called it.

for animals for volunteers, for animals.

They're having a fundraiser.

And so people can help themselves and they don't look to government, or they shouldn't look to government.

I call looking to government, being addicted to the drug known as government hands out instead of hands on.

I heard an individual in the state assembly on Monday say, I don't know where she was from.

She's relatively new and she, as part of her dialog and message, said every single American and every single New Yorker should have a guaranteed income.

Where's that coming from?

Is that the tax?

Those that have been successful, if we aren't careful, we aren't going to have anyone trying to realize the American dream here in this state.

We had a million folks leave this state ten years ago.

Over the last ten years, and we had almost a million come in.

I don't I know where most of those folks that left one, they want a warmer climes.

They want to places where they don't have excessive government interference or property taxes or income taxes.

And they took the retirement income with them, or they took their business with them, and therefore their families.

I have two sons.

One lives here in New York, the other lives in South Carolina.

And my grandchildren are in both places.

That makes it difficult.

And that's what folks are facing every day here.

>> One other question on that.

And then we're going to move to public safety.

Jack, I'll grab your phone call in just a second to watch.

I was watching yesterday an interview with the CEO of Microsoft A.I.

So the A.I.

division of Microsoft, and he said yesterday that within the next 12 to 18 months, his prediction is that most of the tasks done by accountants, lawyers and many other professionals will be fully automated by A.I., he says.

We're a year to a year and a half away from that.

Now, many people who work in the field have questioned the timeline and they say that's way too aggressive.

Others are saying, well, it may be a year, maybe a year and a half, maybe three years.

And so I want to just ask you briefly, Assemblymember Hawley, I mean, until we see this revolution of A.I.

jobs, it's hard to imagine.

I mean, it is happening, but certainly some jobs have been eliminated already.

But we're talking about possible society wide disruption in jobs.

And I understand the idea of a UBI or a guaranteed basic income, a universal basic income being sort of anathema to small c conservatives.

You know, people perhaps in all kinds of different walks of life.

But if we see a job disruption where half the jobs in this country that existed over the last 20 years have been eaten up by A.I., what are we going to do?

What does that change the calculus at all?

>> Of course it does.

no question about it.

we need we we need to have people working at productive jobs and contributing to our society.

That's the way families and businesses, have been able to live year in and year out and in the future.

we talk, you know, we've talked about taxes and unaffordability in the state of New York.

and people leaving for that reason.

if we have that, that kind of A.I.

explosion, if you will that's going to have a dramatic impact on who we are, not just in this state, but in this nation and the world.

And so we have to have a modicum of review to assure that it doesn't have the kind of negative effect that you're talking about and that that whoever it was you referenced said would be happening in the next year and.

>> A half.

Yeah.

But for example, the but the Trump administration says they don't want states to be able to do that, that individual states that seek to try to curb it.

If the federal government won't.

Well, the administration is saying you can't do that.

We're not going to regulate it that way.

Do you?

Does that kind of run against what you'd like to see?

>> Well, it there's states rights and then there's federal and we need to have a, we need to have a, a meeting of the minds.

it does have countrywide implications, obviously, but we need to certainly take into consideration duly elected leaders and businesses in each state.

and that ought to be some sort of commission that's formed sooner than later.

>> All right.

Let me grab a phone call from Jack in Greece.

Hello, Jack.

Go ahead.

>> Oh, thanks.

Seven.

Representative Hawley, you mentioned you've been representing New York state residents for a number of years now.

I live in a town of Greece.

You're not my representative, but I'd be interested to hear your perspective as a long time representative in this state.

You mentioned the budget and how much it's grown.

And what I'm looking for is, you know, we're losing population.

As you referenced, I have four adult children who live in New York State live right here in Monroe County, four grandchildren.

I want them to have a future here.

So we're losing population.

So what are the as you analyze the budget and look at it and look at the major categories.

I know when I worked, I looked at the budget and I always looked at what was 80.

Where's 80% of the money going?

Where's 20%?

I'm not going to waste my time on the 20%.

Let's look at the big bucket areas.

What would you cut?

How much would you cut from those large budget areas if you had control, if it was under your control, what would you do and what would be the impact that we would feel as citizens if you made those cuts?

>> All right.

Thank you Jack.

Go ahead.

Assembly member Hawley.

>> Jack from Greece, thanks so much for the call.

And and congratulations on the fact that your your children and grandchildren are still here.

that's what we all strive for and wish for.

I think the probably the number one area that I would hone and look in on is the Medicaid budget that increased exponentially over the years New York state opt in to almost every optional program the federal government tells each of the states, in essence, what you have to provide for in the Medicaid program.

And then they give you some other options, like an a la carte menu at a restaurant.

and of course, just like an a la carte menu at a restaurant if you want a vegetable, you have to pay for it.

If you, if you want a salad with your entree, you have to pay for it.

And so the final bill, unlike a restaurant that you might go to where you always get fries and a salad becomes a great deal more and so, the Medicaid budget, with all the optional programs has ballooned just unbelievably, over the years.

It's almost half of our $260 billion budget.

and and you can't continue to be all things to all people.

You have to use common sense, and you don't need to continue.

at the rate that we've done over the past number of years, the total Medicaid spending this year, for instance comprised of a lot of optional programs, we have 122 122.6 billion out of 260.

Our Medicaid program is larger than Florida and Texas combined.

And each of those states by themselves, each state has more population than we do in the state of New York.

the state share increases 10% year after year after year.

And since this governor has been in, it's increased by 75%.

And by the way, when you look at your county tax bill, and I'm a former county legislator your tax bill from the county is 80 to 90% because of mandates by the state of New York, primarily Medicaid.

And so it's a very, very it's a tough area.

And and if you if you had to pick, I mean, there are thousands and thousands of programs that are supported Good programs that are supported by Medicaid.

But as I said, we can't have that type of spending continue unabated.

We need to look at it.

>> Depth Assembly member 122 billion for Medicaid.

What should the number be for Medicaid?

>> What's that again?

>> If it's 122 billion now for Medicaid in this state, what should the number be?

>> Well, as I say, you've got to you can't just pick a number out of the sky.

You have to look into the programs that are offered and then and take a look at which ones you need.

You can continue to do.

And those that you can't continue to do and I don't, I don't I mean, God it would take it would take months and months to take a look at it.

But that kind of spending and that type of increase cannot go on unabated.

>> Okay.

And you know, as you know, a lot of people in your district rely on Medicaid.

So to the to the idea that it is like an a la carte restaurant and we're just taking everything.

What are a few of the specific examples?

Again, I don't need like a full list or a full expenditure list, but what's an example of a medicaid service where you go, there's no reason Medicaid is paying for this.

What is it?

>> Yeah, well, again, I don't have any of those programs in front of me.

So it would be I can't come up with anything right now.

And that sounds like a typical politician, doesn't it?

Well, cut the spending.

But where are you going to cut?

I can't identify it.

but I can certainly get back to you.

And we could have another program where I could come up with some of those.

>> you know what?

In the future, let's do that.

I mean, I and I'm not trying to do a gotcha here.

Assemblymember.

I think you know us well enough.

I'm just curious to know, because I think I certainly understand when people look at the overall Medicaid budget.

And then to your point, they look at Texas, they look at Florida, they look at other states.

It's tempting to say that's outrageous.

But I think it's also instructive to say, here's where it's outrageous.

So on a different day, let's talk about that.

Let's dig in and we'll do that on a different day.

We have to take our only break of the hour.

We'll come right back with Assembly Member Stephen Hawley from number 139, and we've got questions about public safety and more questions from the audience as well.

We'll come right back on Connections.

Coming up in our second hour, we bring on one of the coauthors of a new book called How to Feel Loved The Five Mindsets That Get You More of What Matters Most.

And it turns out a lot of us are making a lot of common mistakes, especially in the age of technology in which we are distracted.

We're not focused on partners or potential partners.

We don't really know how to go deep or how to reveal more of ourselves.

And we'll talk about it next hour.

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>> This is Connections.

I'm Evan Dawson Assembly member Stephen Hawley is joining us from district 139.

As we talk about not only the governor's proposed budget, but the priorities that the Assembly members and the New York State senators who are joining us these weeks, what they would like to see happen this year and near the top of your list, according to your office, is Public Safety Assembly Member Hawley.

So tell me about the issue of public safety.

What's going on in your district and what do you want to see?

>> Well, it's not just my district.

You know, everybody represents in the Assembly roughly 133,000 folks.

and so that's who we look to first, because that's who sends us to Albany to represent us.

but it's also New York state representatives.

So it's not just a per district thing.

And sometimes we forget that we need to think of the entire state and the ramifications and implications, both positively and negatively, on the state of New York.

But public safety has been an issue.

as we all know since we passed which needed to be done bail reform but just like so many other things.

And what I said on the Genesee Valley Boces Board of Education, I remember an issue down in Long Island where a school district just had a great deal of money showing up, not showing up was missing.

And so they had to call an auditors and the state of New York because of that, one instance went overboard and required every school district to not just have one auditor, but to have an additional expense of an outside auditor.

so just like bail reform needed to be done, they went overboard, and the state.

Did I say they those that supported the bail reform in its entirety it doesn't allow judges any discretion whatsoever.

in terms of dangerousness to society.

and that that needs to be looked at in depth and needs to be changed because that's what we are.

you know, there need to be repercussions for bad behavior.

and, and not just a slap on the hand.

This is very, very the message that sent to people is you can pretty much do anything you want to and including some serious things.

and, and there won't be any repercussions.

So we've gone too far.

We need to rein that back in and have some support for law enforcement.

more than we do right now.

And look at some bail reform of the bail reform, if you will.

>> Is there political momentum for what you're describing?

>> Well, I think that probably there will be to a certain extent, because it's a gubernatorial election that you referenced earlier.

so we'll see.

We need to expand mental health units to get folks that need mental health care.

we need to install more platform barriers at 85 additional locations across the state.

we need to maintain enhanced police patrols down in New York City.

and we need to ensure that handguns can't be converted into automatic firearms.

I mean, those are those are just not are things that we need to do, but we also need to support the Second Amendment of the right to keep and bear arms should not be infringed upon.

So that's that's gone too far.

Guns don't.

We've had this discussion before.

Guns don't pull that trigger by themselves.

It takes a person who wants to do harm to someone else to pull that trigger.

And many of them are illegal in the first place.

>> Well, you and you have long advocated for gun rights for New Yorkers, for expanding gun rights.

You've been a critic of the Safe act.

For example, I want to listen to a short compilation of sound that we have here.

on the subject of gun rights, President Trump has also long said that he supports expanding gun rights.

And in the first half of this short clip, you're going to hear some of the president's remarks about the Second Amendment over the years.

And then at the end, you're going to hear the president explain that Alex Pretti, who was killed by Ice in Minneapolis, should not have had a gun on his person.

And that was a problem, even though Pretti had a legal concealed carry permit.

I want to listen.

Oh, we got a we got a crash system there, so we'll see if we can pull that up here in just a second.

But while we do that, let me just start with this.

Assembly member Hawley.

the president said that you just you can't have a gun on you if you go to a protest.

Do you agree with that?

>> I think that anybody that goes to a party is creating is creating a party foul.

If they're carrying a loaded weapon and in this case, two full magazines full of full of gun, full of ammunition.

What happened is absolutely inexcusable.

we don't need to have another civil war in this.

In this, in this country.

and citizens harming other citizens and killing them is absolutely unacceptable.

And I know that they're now looking very, very carefully and seriously at what happened not only in Minneapolis but trying to prevent anything like this from happening again.

>> So you're saying I want to make sure I understand this.

I'll ask it a different way so I can make sure I'm clear on this.

Do you think the shooting and the killing of Alex Pretti was justified?

>> again, just like anything else, I have not sat down and review the tapes.

I don't know what transpired.

what was said?

What was inferred?

What?

The police, the Ice agents saw but killing of someone at a protest who is not threatening other citizens or law enforcement is something that should never happen.

>> Okay now, the reason I ask about the president's remarks is I was surprised because, for example, when we saw the protests, the Covid protests in Michigan against Governor Whitmer and some of the Covid lockdowns there, there were not only people protesting with guns, they were openly carrying guns.

They were not concealed carry.

And, you know, you didn't really see Republican leaders like Donald Trump at the time saying that that was menacing or that was dangerous or that was inappropriate.

And, you know, people can decide whether they like Alex Pretti or not.

But he didn't brandish a gun at someone.

He did have a concealed carry permit.

So why is it why do you think it is not a good idea for someone who has a legal permit to carry the gun on them if they are legally allowed to do so?

>> It's a fine line.

I have a concealed carry myself.

but I can tell you this.

If I were going to go to a rally where you.

Where I knew there were going to be many, many folks and that there would be law enforcement, I would use my head and I would never, ever bring that concealed carry, which I'm legally allowed to do to a large gathering.

of folks where there might be repercussions.

It makes no common sense.

Did he deserve to die?

You've asked me that.

Of course not.

No one deserves to die unless.

Unless they've broken the law and are threatening others with bodily harm and serious injury.

>> Okay, I think there are probably gun rights advocates who would disagree with you, who would say whether you're in Michigan at a protest about Covid, whether you're in Minneapolis protesting Ice, if you are behaving responsibly as a gun owner and within the law, the gun doesn't Remember Hawley.

But why then say that the gun inherently makes people less safe as long as that person is well-trained, is responsible, is following the law, then simply having the gun on their person wouldn't make them less safe.

>> Having the gun on your person is a legal.

Concealed carry is one thing.

When you carry it to a. And I went through this before just a moment ago, when you take it to a party, that's a party foul.

And there were two loaded magazines in his book bag.

As I understand it, and that's just irresponsible.

and to pull it out of if he pulled it out of his pocket, that could be construed as being menacing.

And that that's where you draw the line.

>> Okay.

And so, for example, in Michigan, where we saw people openly carrying protesting, Governor Whitmer, you would also say that that's over the line.

>> It would seem to me that that would be.

Yes.

But if they're not being threatening then so be it.

that's that's their right.

And my sister lives in the state of Wyoming, and Casper, and they have open carry.

Everybody can.

So the death rate out there, and we've had this discussion as well from guns as far less pro rata than it is here in this country.

>> All right.

So let's talk a little bit about what's happening in your district because Gary writes actually a couple people writing in and asking, you know, if Ice is operating in your district.

And of course, they are in Batavia, for example.

That is, there's a facility there where people who are detained might be taken to Batavia.

We've seen people from Rochester taken to that facility.

So Ice is certainly operating.

Are you comfortable with what Ice has been doing in your district?

>> I have not seen any incidents.

in this district.

So I am comfortable with what they're doing.

If you're here illegally then you need to go through a process like every other legal immigrant has gone through.

That's what the law is.

So I haven't heard or seen of any incidents here that have any repercussions in a negative fashion.

So I in that case, I, I'm good with it.

>> Okay.

And how do you feel about the facility in Batavia?

Do you think everything is being run well there?

From what you understand.

>> From what I understand, yes.

That was the facility was put in.

I'm thinking, gosh, more than 25 years ago it's called the Buffalo Detention Center, if you will.

but it's actually in Batavia.

just out just off the Thruway interchange in Batavia.

So yeah, I think everything's fine there.

I haven't heard anything to the contrary.

I think I would people tend to relate to me and tell me all kinds of stuff that's going on around around the area.

>> Okay.

And there are proposals by some of your colleagues in the Democratic side of the aisle in the state Assembly.

We heard Assemblymember Damon Meeks, for example, saying they want to see legislation passed that says if Ice is operating in this state, they cannot wear facial coverings, that they cannot hide their identities as individual agents.

Would you support that?

>> Well, again, I'm a state representative.

I have asked several of my colleagues who have been in law enforcement, either the NYPD or other law enforcement areas across the state.

and who many of whom are veterans as well about face coverings and have asked them if they've ever been able to wear face coverings.

And they said no, unless it's really an undercover thing or whether they're going into a domestic violence situation.

then occasionally there might be, but I think that's under review now.

And again, it's a federal issue.

not a state issue.

So I'm going to leave that up to the federal representatives to see whether there should be camouflaged uniforms, whether they should be able to have guns on both sides of their hips, and whether they should be allowed to wear masks.

>> And finally, when it comes to individual jurisdiction locally, I don't know that there are any sanctuary cities in your district.

Rochester is not in your district.

but the federal government has said there should not be on the local level, sanctuary counties, there should be sanctuary cities, there shouldn't be sanctuary states that everyone at every level should work with the federal agents if they're called upon.

In the city of Rochester, the mayor says, we're not going to block ice, but we're not going to work alongside them to do their jobs.

They will be allowed to do their jobs.

We're not going to step in and help them.

And I wonder how you feel about the notion of sanctuary cities, sanctuary jurisdictions.

>> I'm in favor of every organization being able to, whether it's federal, state, county, city, village.

I'm in favor of all functions of government, governance, being able to work together in a cooperative way so that not only are we safe, but we have budgets that are responsible, that we have studies that go on.

And I'm in favor of having law enforcement, regardless of whether it's federal or state, being able to work together.

And I do not support sanctuary anything.

>> All right.

So that's where we are on ice.

Let's let's get some more feedback.

MJ writes to say, as a small business owner, MJ says as a struggling small business owner, we're often caught in the middle here, often needing assistance with health care costs, yet frustrated with increasing costs such as increasing minimum wage and a whole host of policies for workers that we are forced to pay, such as sick leave policies, et cetera., all unseasonable seasonal seasonal employment.

I despise the statement that if we can't take on all these costs, we shouldn't be in business at all.

If that's the case, all will be left with in this state is Walmart and other change beyond frustrating as when we go to the voting booth, any vote seems to be against us.

That is from MJ.

What would you say to that Assembly member Hawley.

>> I feel your pain as a businessman myself.

and it doesn't matter what type of business you're in, small business is the background of every single area of the state of New York, and we need to be supportive of it.

We need to make it, not make it more difficult to make a profit so that we can pay our our help mandating what employers have to pay to their employees is absolutely counterproductive.

when we started talking about the minimum wage here a number of years ago and increasing it dramatically and exponentially, of course, when you do that, then everyone else that's in the chain of being an employee says, what about me?

And so it's really counterproductive.

That ought to be up to employers to be able to decide what employees are going to be paid, depending on their expertise.

depending on their education, depending on their years of service and so on and so forth.

So that people actually want to improve themselves and the business that they work for.

>> Should there be a minimum wage?

>> Of course.

I grew up on a farm just outside the city of Batavia.

We had an upland farm.

We had chickens.

We were the largest white Leghorn chicken farm east of the Mississippi.

we raised hogs, and we worked long and hard hours.

and I can tell you that our farm actually got split and taken by eminent domain by the New York State Thruway back when, when that went through.

And I used to have my friends from school were just outside the city of Batavia who always wanted to come out and work for minimum wage, whether it was baling hay, baling straw, whether it was actually pitching manure.

Evan.

And some may say that I'm still pitching manure.

>> But you set yourself up for that as.

>> A little tongue in cheek, a little tongue in cheek.

>> But yeah, we need we need folks that can have a minimum wage, but that's, that's to start and it's to supplement and to earn your way up as you move along through life's employment.

>> Okay.

Fair enough.

So briefly, if the minimum wage is too high right now and too onerous on small businesses like Mjs, what should the minimum wage be?

>> Well, the minimum wage ought to be what what what an employee employers ought to be able to pick it.

Yes.

There needs to be a ground level.

this is 2026.

I can remember we were paying our employees 17, 18, 20, $22 an hour in my business.

And then the minimum wage.

Slowly but surely went up.

And you could flip burgers for $15 an hour, minimum wage.

It takes away the incentive, really, to try to strive to do better.

So I don't think there's a specific I can't come up with one off the top of my head maybe $8.73, I don't know, that's kind of a an.

>> Interesting question.

>> That's very specific.

873 yeah.

Last 30s Gregory emailed asking if you are if you think our Gini and other utilities have been a problem when it comes to energy, and that's a complex subject.

We only got about about 30s.

But how do you feel about the work of the utilities like Randy and others?

>> Well their their hands are pretty much tied, just like many other businesses in this state with overregulation and manipulation and fees and so on and so forth.

I've watched I don't happen to have I don't believe anywhere servicing in my district, maybe in Leroy.

not sure Bergen has has their own.

So, they've been trying to work a little bit better and be more responsive.

>> You blame the conditions they're working in, though.

More than the utilities themselves.

What's up?

You blame the conditions?

Like the state working and sort of the business environment of the state more than the utilities themselves?

>> Yeah, I blame I yes I do.

Yep.

>> All right.

Assembly member Stephen Hawley district 139, a little bit under the weather and stepped up and still coming on the program.

We appreciate it as always, sir.

Let's come back and talk soon.

We always appreciate it.

>> Bye.

Thanks so much Ivan.

Have a great day.

Great day everybody else.

God bless America.

>> Assembly member Stephen Hawley more Connections coming up in just a moment.

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