Press release:
Assemblyman Steve Hawley recently joined the Assembly Republican Conference in signing a letter for Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Speaker Carl Heastie, among other political and agricultural leaders in New York, imploring them for quick and immediate action to ensure the relief for local farms, which have been feeling the negative repercussions of the state’s response to the COVID-19 virus outbreak.
“Farmers are one of our most important working groups, especially in a situation as dire as this one,” Hawley said. “If there’s any way to give them more support and more relief during this troubling time, we’re obligated to do so. It’s about keeping the supply chain running, keeping a small family farm’s doors open, and making sure everyone has food on the table. We can all agree we need to protect our farmers.”
Some of the policies that the letter calls for are extending the Milk Producers Security Fund, using the federal stimulus to invest in rural broadband infrastructure, suspending highway use taxes and tolls for transporting agricultural products, provide vouchers from food banks to purchase local dairy and agricultural products, and suspending, for one year, the 60-hour overtime threshold for farm laborers. Small steps like these are designed to support these farmers in a time when they need it more than ever.
Here's the letter
Dear Governor Cuomo, Legislative Leaders & Commissioner Ball:
As New York’s elected leaders, our responsibilities to constituents have never been moreimportant. Your efforts to provide leadership and stability during the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis are genuinely appreciated.
With more than 180,000 cases of the virus, no state has felt the social, economic, and public health effects of the virus like New York. As we identify ways to manage and minimize the devastating impacts of the virus, we must consider immediate steps to provide critical relief to New York State’s agricultural industry.
