Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul announced details of key proposals from her Fiscal Year 2024 Executive Budget to grow jobs and boost the economy in the Mid-Hudson region of New York. In line with the 2023 State of the State, the budget includes a major investment to increase housing supply and expand economic opportunity and innovation in the region.

VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO of the event is available here.

PHOTOS of the event are available on the Governor's Flickr page.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

President Krislov, I want to thank you for welcoming us. Although walking into a law school, I had a little bit of PTSD, I felt like it was a long time ago, all those all nighters and cramming for the exams and wishing I had paid attention a little bit earlier in the semester. So I'm all okay now, but it's great to be back at PACE University and thank you for all you do here as well - all of the specializations you have at the law school show that you're really at the forefront of combating societal challenges, whether it's the land use challenges we have, which we will talk a great deal about, but also people who are victims of sexual assault and domestic violence - I thank you for that. I thank you for training the next generation of young people who have heart and a sense of purpose when they leave here. So, thank you.

I'm also delighted to be here with so many leaders of our community. I want to first of all give credit to someone who's not an elected official but has tremendous influence in our administration. That is Hope Knight, our President and CEO of Empire State Development. If youneed money, go to Hope. She's done an amazing job.

I've spent a lot of time in this county, enormous amount of time, and I want to thank George Latimer for his years of service, his years of friendship to me, and what a great leader he is. And a lot of people are called leaders, but when you are the kind of individual that inspires others to make the kind of changes we're talking about here today, that is right up there in the definition of a quality individual, of a true public servant, and that's our county executive. You also have a new county executive, Jen Metzger, is in our presence here, the County Executive of Ulster County, Jen.

And a whole lot of mayors. I was in local government for 14 years. I was in a town of about 65,000. We had two mayors in our midst, and you always had to give our respect to the mayors. But Tom Roach, the Mayor of White Plains right here. Now, I want to thank you for what you have done and your story of what you've done, how you've embraced opportunities for people who grew up here and lived here and also want to be here. To be a mayor of a community that people want to be in is quite extraordinary because it doesn't happen everywhere. And I thank you for what you've done to make sure that the homes are built that people can live in, so let's give another round of applause to our hometown mayor, Mayor Roach.

Mayor Spano, who's the Mayor of Hollywood on the Hudson here. All the work we're doing with studios and production is just extraordinary, how you can take a community with the right leadership again and draw a whole new industry that years ago people never would've envisioned here. So, thank you for creating the jobs and thank you for creating the housing for those people to work and live in. So, thank you. A round of applause for our mayor, Mike Spano.

Noam Bramson, the Mayor of New Rochelle. Again, New Rochelle has its own edgy way about them. They're building so much housing, it's creative the way they can expedite projects to get through. Again, in 14 years in local government, I was on a planning board, traffic safety board, zoning board, economic development, all the boards that knew how to say no to projects, but also, I knew how to get them to yes. And so, thank you for being that kind of community leader that gets people to yes, so thank you for all you do, Mayor Bramson.

And we have Joe DeStefano. I've been to Middletown so many times, okay? Thank you for all you do Joe, your leadership as well. And Steve Noble, the Mayor of Kingston is here. Where'sSteve? I spent a lot of time in Kingston last winter, every single weekend, it was an ice storm. So, thank you. We're almost through the winter. Thank you. The power's on. Yay!

And Torrance Harvey, the Mayor of Newburgh, a great community as well, and I want to thank him for joining us. And Dr. Kristine Young for being the co-chair of the Regional Economic Development Council - I've been to many of those meetings as well, and to all the members who have joined us here today. And anybody I've missed, I'm really sorry.

As mentioned, PACE'S Land Use Law Center is the reason we're here today - that you're training individuals in the art of the possible, to look at land and reimagine uses and to just do something that's quite extraordinary that leaves a legacy. So, I thank you for helping us have sustainable communities since this was founded in 1993. That is significant. And promoting innovative land use strategies that we look to for guidance in state government and local communities. So, this is fantastic, so thanks again.

I've been here so often, please don't tell the other areas, but I love this area, I really do. And when you come from Western New York, we don't spend a lot of time in the Hudson Valley region, so it's been a joy of mine for the last 10 years to be able to explore the charm that we have here and the identity, the personality of all the communities. They're also unique, but boy, they have something special to offer. When you look at the jobs that are coming here, like I said, Lionsgate Film studios, that's amazing, that's amazing. And also, iPark in Ulster County, I mean, just taking land that people had given up on. County Executive, we were just there, jobs were disappearing, going elsewhere, and now we live through a time when the exact opposite is true, that people want to be here. So that can be, iPark as a whole new cutting-edge technology campus. So many projects. But we also have to make sure that we have the workers for these jobs - and that's the missing link right now.

And unemployment since I became governor - when I first became governor in August of 2021, unemployment was about 7.1 percent, not as bad as when I grew up in Buffalo, about 17, 18percent, but that still was pretty high. Today it's 3.8 percent, so we've had a significant drop, but it gets better. In the Mid-Hudson Region, it's 2.5 percent. Those are numbers we've created just in that year and a half. 586,000 new jobs created, over 27,000 right here in the Mid-Hudson area as well.

So, again, I grew up in a time when all you heard was losing the jobs, losing the people, losing the businesses. You used to open up the paper every day. I was like, "Who's leaving today?" The phrase was, "Last one here, turn out the lights." Everybody I knew worked at the Bethlehem Steel Plan and still it was gone. So, let's not take for granted the place we are right now. But what does that mean? How does that challenge us to seize the possibilities to make legacy changing decisions about this region?

So, the main thing is we have to have infrastructure to support local growth. We have to have places for people to live. We have to be very thoughtful about this. And think about the fact that during the pandemic, no one could foresee what the pandemic would do, no one, 33,000 people have now moved to this region since the pandemic started because they have discovered the quality of life here, working remotely or finding a business here, finding a whole new life that they didn't want to be in the rat race anymore. They wanted to find something quite different.

So, how do we use that as well? And the problem is where are they living? We have less than 1 percent vacancy in our housing stock, 1 percent in this region. So, that doesn't add up. People want to live here, can't blame them. It's fabulous. But you have 1 percent vacancy. So, a young person is going to take a new tech job at iPark, or go up to IBM, or do something - you know, wants to work in film production.

They have no place to live. And if we don't recognize that as a crisis situation, then we're missing something very significant here. That is what I define as a crisis, and I want to thank the local leaders who gathered last month, gathered again with me just a few minutes ago, and to be the leaders, the elected leaders, the community leaders, the housing leaders, the business leaders, the labor leaders.

I mean, I've never seen such a powerful coalition of people committed to one purpose, and that is to be agents of change. I know change can be scary. It can be scary. The status quo is always easier, but the status quo means you're not moving ahead. Status quo means stagnation. So, I look in this room and the people we've been convening in our round tables as the change agents that we need, and I want to keep the momentum moving forward.

Momentum is important. We have the momentum now, so how do we keep it moving forward? Now, as I was in local government, I say, "Show me the money." How about $150 million for a brand-new Mid-Hudson Momentum Fund? Now, Mayors, I'm not just handing this out to all of you and County Executives. Okay? So, the purpose of this would be to help alleviate the housing shortage, ensure an equitable housing supply, and upgrade the infrastructure throughout the region. So that's dedicated to this part of the state only for those purposes. So, that is our brand-new announcement I wanted to make sure you all knew about that today.

Now, who can apply for this? Municipalities can apply, public benefit corporations, private companies, nonprofits. They can apply for anything from $2 million to a $10 million grant. So, the possibilities are there and we're opening up applications this spring, and this can really be game-changing for the counties of the Mid-Hudson Region to come up with a plan, a vision with your community, and to apply for this funding.

And I don't want this money sitting around. I want to see it out there. Living and breathing in these communities, helping us foster change. So, I've been talking about how to make the entire state, but also this region more affordable, safer, more livable. These are all goals we share. And as I mentioned a couple times, and I'm going to talk about this for a long time, you know, but our state is facing a housing crisis.

So, I introduced, and you heard about this, our housing compact, which will deliver 800,000 new homes over the next decade. That's a lot of homes. That's a lot of new, New Yorkers or existing New Yorkers. And you know why this is so personal to me? Because I'm a grandma and I know there are a lot of people getting up in age like I am who have the joy of a baby in the family or grandchildren.

And what a tragedy it is that your own child, an adult child, wants to raise their kids in the same community they grew up in - great education, great public institutions, great private colleges, universities, charming downtowns, outstanding lifestyle. And they have to say, "Sorry, mom and dad, I have to move somewhere else and raise your grandchild because we can't afford to live here."

That is heartbreaking to me at a personal level, and I want to change that, but also to the employers who are ready to come here, who are excited about the energy created in this post-pandemic world, how New York has just risen up. They want to come here. Other cities are in decline, and I won't name them on the West Coast, but it's heartbreaking, the ones that we all look to. But those individuals who work in technology and worked in those businesses and entrepreneurs, they want to be here. And we have to say no to them because we wouldn't build housing?

We've also decided that we had to focus on a couple of areas. Last year I put $25 billion on the table to build more affordable housing, low-income housing, affordable housing. We have to get that done. That is on the table, but also, we're focused on transit-oriented development. A lot of parts of our state don't have public transit, so they don't even know what I'm talking about. But this region thrives because of its connectivity from our trains, our public transit systems, and the MTA and our trains, Metro North, et cetera. And they connect us to great jobs and opportunity and a chance to have a little bit of quiet as you're commuting to your job. So, if we don't make investments in that, we're missing the ship and I'm going to make a lot of investments.

But in order to keep our communities strong, we're going to have to ask our communities to recognize that there has been tremendous value created in your community. Your property values are high because you can offer residents easy access to transportation. So, transit-oriented development - the whole premise behind this is saying, does the community really benefit when you have the end of the day, an empty parking lot with tumbleweed blowing through it? Would that be better used as a place people could live and you can include parking. On my vision, I've seen this in many parts of the state, including right here in Westchester County. First floor, retail, little shops, get a cup of coffee, get the newspaper, get your hair done, pick up some takeout for dinner. Next floor up could be your couple of ramps of parking - two, three levels, so you can double, triple, quadruple your housing. I'm sorry -- parking. The housing, market rate, luxury, affordable, all in one building. You create a community right there in something that was just a wasteland. And guess what? You don't even need to own a car because you've got your transportation right out the door. That to me is smart. That's what they do in Europe. They've always done that in Europe. You build up around the transportation systems. Like I said, we're going to keep investing in transportation. We're spending a lot of money to keep investing in our transportation and the communities benefit who are adjacent to it. But now it's time to say we're open to more people living there as well.

So, let's just be smart about this. Let's encourage people to undertake the rezoning necessary. And then if you want models, look at White Plains, look at Yonkers, look at New Rochelle. Just look at them. Have they been harmed by having housing near the station and all over downtown? No. That's where people want to be. So, that's the story to be told, not succumb to fear of change. But say, why not? Why not have every community benefit like this, especially those near train stations? So, I thank Mayors, Roach, Spano, and Bramson for their leadership, but also that we can talk about their success. And again, thanks to our County Executive. This is - the people in that front row are the champions of what we're talking about doing for the rest of the state.

But also, you need money to build roads. I get it. Local government, I know this. And if someone told me there's a pot of $250 million statewide to help me achieve those goals, I would've said, "That's amazing." And $20 million to help with the planning because I know not every community has a large planning department that's really sophisticated. Our smaller communities don't have that. So again, I said as, we're sitting at the table, "Let's help them out. Let's make it easier for them." So, our $20 million Planning Assistance Fund is going to be able to provide the services you need to get this done. So, we're also proposing a neighborhood and rural housing program, $1.5 million right here in this community, and that's going to help provide housing assistance and rental subsidies for people.

And then we will build housing, but you also have to have safe neighborhoods. Right? That's all we've been talking about. Safety, public safety. It's so important. That's the cornerstone. You have to have that personal sense of security. And we've been working tirelessly on this. Tirelessly since day one, we're to get guns off the streets, strengthening our gun laws, real hands-on approach to working with local law enforcement, our district attorneys. We are starting to see significant changes, and I'm proud of that, but we're not anywhere near done. So, that's why this year's budget includes $337 million to continue our efforts to reduce gun violence and support the local communities that are out on the front lines. And that's an increase of over $110 million last year. So, we're going to keep putting money out there. Keep putting money out there to make sure that the localities have the resources they need to keep our communities safe. We're doubling our investment to alternatives to incarceration because we can turn people's lives around by putting them on a different path right off the bat. We're going to have a thoughtful conversation about our bail laws. I want one simple change this year. It makes all the sense in the world to provide clarity for our judges because right now they have inconsistency in the law of what they're supposed to consider for serious offenders.

But also, one other dynamic is the crisis of mental health. For many individuals, this is a driver that takes them to the streets, or homelessness, or to crime or just an unfulfilled life because they're dealing with something that most of us do not have to deal with. So, part of making our communities safe is also making sure that individuals don't have to succumb to the illness of mental health. And so, we've been divesting from that for far too long. No one even leans into it. No one talked about it. I remember the '70s, our policy as a state was just to open up the doors of the institution and say, "You're on your own. Good luck. Have a good life." No more treatment, no supportive services. You're on your own. That was an epic failure. You started to see a rise in homelessness right after that. So, no one has taken this on except New York - right here and now. That's why I'm putting $1 billion toward mental health services.

Thank you. As I have said, the era of ignoring mental health needs is now officially over. We're changing our attitudes and we're going to have a whole continuum of care. Not just people who are on the streets, but people that are in schools, our kids making sure that our education includes mental health services for all of our kids because they have been hit so hard by the ravages of the pandemic and they're still feeling the effects. I also want to have more patient inpatient beds, 1,000 more beds. We have such a shortage of health care workers, beds, and also meaningful wraparound services, as I've talked about. So, we're going to have $57 million for this regional loan, $57 million for the Mid-Hudson Region to invest. Plus, also $8 million in federal grants to help addiction treatment recovery services for those who really need our help.

And you think about mental health, who it affects - it has really hurt our veterans. Our veterans. I spent time over in Afghanistan when I was on the Armed Services Committee and I had a chance to talk to a round table of all New Yorkers who are serving. They're afraid. They're afraid that they would be very different when they left there, especially those who've had two or three different tours, you know, Iraq, Afghanistan, back again. It was really, really hard on people. And you can't see and experience much of what they did without having an effect. Every one of them. Some adjust different ways.

We need to be there for them, and that's why we're directing $1.3 million for the Joseph Dwyer Veteran Peer to Peer Services program because that's named in honor of a veteran who took his life. And for someone who is willing to put on a uniform and lose his life on the battlefield to come home and think his life was so full of despair that he took his own life. We have to stop that. And we should be recommitted to making sure we do that.

So, let's talk about our kids. Nothing makes me happier than walking into a classroom full of little kids. We know how important education is. We heard about what President Krislov talked about. Education, whether it's higher level or K-12, it's so important. It can change people's lives. And it's our responsibility to prepare the next generation of New Yorkers and making sure that our kids get back on track - the ones who fell off.

So, we've invested. If money's going to make the difference, we are all in. $34.5 billion - the largest increase in school aid in our state's history. And that's, for the Mid-Hudson Region, $3.6 billion more. That's an increase of $520 million for this region - almost a 17 percent increase from last year, which is an historic year. So, the money's there and also increasing foundation aid by $2.7 billion. And that's almost a half a billion dollars increase here as well, a 22 percent increase over last year.

So, I said, "I want no excuses. I want to make sure you have the resources, the money." And any school district that's feeling pretty good - cut your taxes. Use the opportunity, if you've invested, you spent all the money, you're going to be able to, why don't you find a way to also give some relief for your taxpayers as well? So we're putting enough money out there, world class, high quality education, but also encouraging school districts that have met their needs to be able to cut the taxes for our residents, especially in our high tax areas. When you look at a property tax bill, it's mostly school taxes, right? Right. Okay. I know I used to do this for my living. They're always mad at me as a town board - what we do is only 7 percent of your bill. But we want to make sure our schools have what they need, number one. And so school districts will have that option to reduce their taxes as well.

Also, let's continue investing in our community colleges - Ulster Community College, Dutchess, Orange, Sullivan, Westchester, all receiving additional money this year because that's where it starts. We have to get more young people into the schools, get those couple years under their belt, transfer to four-year institutions or to get the apprenticeship programs or the skills they need to be able to work in our thousands of jobs we need to build this city. We talk about building, building our state back. We need people that are trained in those skills as well. So, we're going to continue making those investments.

And also, one thing I'm real excited about, no one would've thought a few years ago that New York State would be the capital of the semiconductor industry. I declared it such, so therefore it is. It's fun to be Governor. But these are great jobs. Great jobs. It's a whole new ecosystem that we're going to be developing and we know how to manufacture. It's in our DNA. We've been building since the beginning of time. We know how to do this. And there's a whole new chapter of manufacturing. You heard about the Micron investment, and people say, "Well, that's Central New York." That is not just Central New York. That is a hundred billion dollars in our state over the next 20 years. And it will be the largest memory chip manufacturing facility in the world. So, let's go big or go home. This is New York. 50,000 jobs. But also, it's the supply chain that excites me. Global Foundries in the Capital Region, and also right here in the Mid-Hudson, IBM investing $20 billion in semiconductor and quantum computing. We were here with the President to announce that. That's going to bring more money and opportunity throughout the Mid-Hudson area. Global Foundries has a chip fab site in Dutchess County, preserving a thousand jobs, adding 100 new jobs. SEEQC in Elmsford, one of the five companies in the world that are successfully building - to have built the quantum computer.

Now, someone someday is going to explain all that to me, but in the meantime, as long as you're creating jobs and paying your taxes, I'm good. But it is the fastest quantum computer in the world. I think that's pretty neat as well.

So, this is the new New York, and it's happening right in this region. So, in order to capitalize on this, we have to build a pipeline, train people, get them into the system, especially starting in schools, lower level. And so we're having the first ever office - the Governor's Office of Semiconductor Expansion, Management, and Integration. Actually, just want to call it GO SEMI. It's a little bit shorter, but that's what it's called.

So that's another opportunity to establish this program where we're going to be leaning hard on it. And I was in Washington speaking to the Secretary of Commerce who's making the big decisions on where money is going from the CHIPS bill, the federal CHIPS bill. And when she said - I said, "Well, you know, we just created an office, $45 million." Her jaw almost dropped. She says, "Okay, now, you guys get it. You guys get it." So, I think that - I know that that positions us very well. We're trying to get the nation's first and only national training center for semiconductors, and Senator Schumer and I are working very aggressively on that.

So, we're excited about this. This is going to be transformative. Again, infrastructure too. We know a lot about bridges across the Hudson. I'm going to bring a boat here next summer. Just so you know that. I'm a boater. I'm used to boating up on Lake Erie. It's kind of rough. The waves kind of crash over. So, I haven't had a calm experience in life on a boat. So, I'm looking forward to enjoying the communities along the Hudson River. But the bridges we have need to be maintained. We have to continue investing in them and making sure that we can take care of our roads as well. So, $240 million for a variety of capital projects in this region. Repairing bridges, $51 million for that, the stone bridges on the Palisades, bridges over Route 52 on Interstate 84 in Newburgh. So, lots of money coming there. Rehab work on the Wurts Bridge in Kingston. There you go, Mayor. You got your bridge getting fixed there. And also, interchange ramps, $30 million for Route 17. We committed to taking care of Route 17. So, that's all happening.

And also, I hate potholes. Just want to let everybody know that. Just hate them. Comes from traveling around the world about 15 times, mile wise. That's not an exaggeration. When I was lieutenant governor, I drove everywhere. I had a personal encounter with every pothole in the state, and so I said, "I'm coming after you." So, this region alone, $27 million. Last year I started this initiative. We filled 248,000 potholes in this region alone. So, I just wanted you to know that. So, they're gone. Gone for good.

But also, our parks and historic sites are second to none. They're so beautiful here. $60 million we're announcing for Bear Mountain State Park to upgrade the parade center, the visitor center, a number of other amenities. Not a lot of snow, but how about almost $15 million for Belleayre improvements as well? Making sure that that retains its charm and its accessibility. And also, the John Jay Historic Home, $4 million for this beautiful home. As we think about the birth of our nation and history, we have to preserve these treasures and make sure we can add this to our list of places people will be attracted and come to.

So, we've been talking a lot, but there's one more program that I want to talk about because one of my favorites. It's the Downtown Revitalization Initiative. I was able to announce countless communities as being the winners. And you go into an opportunity to select the winner of $10 million. I also realized there's smaller communities out there, smaller communities who said to me, "We can't quite find enough uses for $10 million. Do you have a - can you have a smaller program?" So, last year we launched the New York Forward program, and what that does is give smaller communities a chance to apply for $4.5 million. So, these are so exciting to the communities that win, and it shows our commitment to investing in downtowns.

I know when I was in local government, if someone had said, "You can have 4.5 million or even 10 million," I would've fallen off the chair because that never happened. And what it does is it allows a community that has a vision for itself - they have plans they want to execute, you know, creating connections to waterfronts and building streetscapes and connectability, and fixing up the downtowns, the facades. But it takes a decade to get it done because you only have enough money each time. You know, next year's budget, you'll add some more. This is a chance to do it, one shot all at once. And that's how we can quickly transform our communities. And I've seen it all over. You need to go visit some of the communities that have been transformed by this number of the leaders are in this room.

So, this is a great announcement here that we have. The City of Port Jervis is going to receive the $10 million grant. There you go, Mayor Kelly Decker. Mayor Kelly Decker is here. Stand up, Mayor. Stand up. Thank you for laying out such an incredible vision with your application. Anybody from Port Jervis here? I think there's - okay.

Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations. Congratulations. That's great. We're going to have - keep your historic charm with the modern upgrades, and you're going to have housing and new and existing buildings, safer streets for pedestrians and bicyclists and drivers. Energy efficiency is a top priority as well.

So, that's really important and really making a great destination for locals, visitors, tourists. So, I believe in this community, and I look forward to coming back and making some other announcements about, you know, how we roll this out over the next year. So, very excited. Congratulations to Port Jervis as well.

Let's announce our New York Forward award. The Village of Sleepy Hollow will receive 4.5 million. Sleepy Hollow Mayor Ken Wray, stand up. Sleepy Hollow Mayor Ken Wray, congratulations. It is a charming community with a strong arts and culture background to it, and it's an incredible comeback story. And there was a time when urban renewal was kind of rough, like it was on many communities and, you know, destroyed the charm of the downtown commercial corridor. The local GM plant left, and things were a little bit tough after that. I know that. But a major reinvestment now. People have recognized that this is a community that is worth protecting, preserving, and really positioning for a better future. So, you know, with its regional health centers and Regeneron in the area, this area is really important to us. So, congratulations, Mayor, as well.

All right, let's wrap it up with one more, congratulations the Town of Cornwall and the Village of Cornwall-on-Hudson will receive $4.5 million. Mayor James Gagliano, Supervisor Josh Wojehoski, congratulations to both of you. It's such a beautiful area. The attractions, you really punch above your weight. A smaller community, but access to the Storm King State Park and the Storm King Art Center and the Black Rock Forest, I mean, you have so much going for you. So, you see a lot of visitors coming through, but you want to make sure that they have the amenities and all the little shops that you can have.

So, investing in tourism and entertainment right in your little charming downtown. So look forward to, you know, connecting the two downtowns. I mean, I think that's an important part of the plan is to create a vibrant connection for these communities that are only two miles apart. So, congratulations once again. We're going to be announcing how that'll be spent over the next year as well.

But to all the electeds in this room who've stepped up and applied for this to your - whoever you designated and the outreach you've done to your communities - because I know these are not just mayors sitting in a room by yourselves, it doesn't happen that way. You bring in your community leaders, the resident visionaries, who really do believe that your community's going to have a better outcome. So, now, we've got a lot of work. This budget's important to me. Your voices behind this budget are important. I need you to be the champions, the advocates for this budget, because I really do believe this serves our entire state.

But really, as you heard today, the areas that we specifically call out is the Mid-Hudson Region, because this is an area that has amazing growth potential. But while keeping it growing, but also keeping that innate charm, you cannot sacrifice the charm for the growth. And that's what we're going to make sure we do, but also let's just make it more affordable, make it safer, more livable. And that's what the future holds for all of us. So, congratulations everybody who was an award winner.

And with that, I'll bring up our county executive - Tom Roach is here. Tom Roach, our Mayor of White Plains is going to tell you what's on his mind. Mayor