ALBANY – Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo used his State of the State address today to announce the establishment of a $100 million genomic research facility in Buffalo that will link gene researchers in Manhattan with scientists at the University at Buffalo and Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
The investment is the latest installment of Cuomo’s pledge to spend $1 billion in special state aid on the Buffalo area to create jobs.
Previous “Buffalo Billion” announcements already have led to five companies either pledging to locate or expand operations in Western New York, most on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.
The new effort announced today envisions use of UB’s high-end computer research facilities with the New York Genome Center in lower Manhattan, a facility described as a biomedical research center, to help with everything from new drug research to cancer treatments.
“It will allow New York to forge a path to saving lives with the new genome discoveries while creating new jobs and new businesses," according to Cuomo’s State of the State message, delivered this afternoon to lawmakers.
Cuomo is due in Buffalo on Thursday or Friday to promote the new genome initiative.
The governor’s speech also outlined a plan for a modest cut in property taxes, which won’t fully kick in until 2016, as well as reductions in various corporate income and other taxes that include a $25 million special tax break carve-out for upstate manufacturers.
He also proposed a $2 billion borrowing program to rehabilitate public schools with new technological advances to expand everything from wireless abilities in classrooms to reliance on computer tablets instead of textbooks.
But some Democratic battle lines were forming today.
Bill de Blasio, the new mayor of New York, made the rounds to push his plan to offer pre-kindergarten classes in all New York City schools by raising $500 million a year through a tax hike on residents there making over $500,000 a year. Cuomo so far has opposed that plan.
A cheerful Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver again announced his support for the new mayor, after the two met in private for a half-hour this morning at the Capitol.
Elsewhere in his speech, Cuomo also pledged to make more areas of the state accessible to hunters through installation of new boat launches, hunting blinds and trails.
The governor’s State of the State also calls for:
• The state to take over the operations of Kennedy and LaGuardia airports in New York City, which are now run by a joint authority run by New York and New Jersey officials.
• New incentives for solar energy development and quicken regulatory approval of plans to upgrade New York’s aging electricity transmission system that includes a number of bottlenecks upstate, which reduces the ability to transmit energy from Western New York to high-demand areas downstate.
• Making pre-kindergarten available throughout New York State, though he did not immediately say how he would pay for such an expansion, and creating a Teacher Excellence Fund to give “highly effective teachers” up to $20,0000 in annual stipends.
• Requiring schools to notify the state Education Department and the State Police if there are patterns of discrimination or harassment, “including bullying, taunting or intimidation,” on their school grounds.
• Giving state university scholarships to the top 10 percent of high school graduates if they agree to pursue college degrees in science, technology, engineering or math.
Cuomo is again asking lawmakers to expand abortion rights and to approve a program of taxpayers helping to fund political campaigns, which he believes will reduce the role of money in New York’s elections. Cuomo has at least $30 million on hand in his own campaign account.
After his handpicked anti-corruption panel caused an uproar by lawmakers whey they sent subpoenas seeking information about their outside employment work, Cuomo again wants lawmakers to provide more disclosure about their private businesses to deter conflicts of interest.
email: tprecious@buffnews.com
The investment is the latest installment of Cuomo’s pledge to spend $1 billion in special state aid on the Buffalo area to create jobs.
Previous “Buffalo Billion” announcements already have led to five companies either pledging to locate or expand operations in Western New York, most on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.
The new effort announced today envisions use of UB’s high-end computer research facilities with the New York Genome Center in lower Manhattan, a facility described as a biomedical research center, to help with everything from new drug research to cancer treatments.
“It will allow New York to forge a path to saving lives with the new genome discoveries while creating new jobs and new businesses," according to Cuomo’s State of the State message, delivered this afternoon to lawmakers.
Cuomo is due in Buffalo on Thursday or Friday to promote the new genome initiative.
The governor’s speech also outlined a plan for a modest cut in property taxes, which won’t fully kick in until 2016, as well as reductions in various corporate income and other taxes that include a $25 million special tax break carve-out for upstate manufacturers.
He also proposed a $2 billion borrowing program to rehabilitate public schools with new technological advances to expand everything from wireless abilities in classrooms to reliance on computer tablets instead of textbooks.
But some Democratic battle lines were forming today.
Bill de Blasio, the new mayor of New York, made the rounds to push his plan to offer pre-kindergarten classes in all New York City schools by raising $500 million a year through a tax hike on residents there making over $500,000 a year. Cuomo so far has opposed that plan.
A cheerful Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver again announced his support for the new mayor, after the two met in private for a half-hour this morning at the Capitol.
Elsewhere in his speech, Cuomo also pledged to make more areas of the state accessible to hunters through installation of new boat launches, hunting blinds and trails.
The governor’s State of the State also calls for:
• The state to take over the operations of Kennedy and LaGuardia airports in New York City, which are now run by a joint authority run by New York and New Jersey officials.
• New incentives for solar energy development and quicken regulatory approval of plans to upgrade New York’s aging electricity transmission system that includes a number of bottlenecks upstate, which reduces the ability to transmit energy from Western New York to high-demand areas downstate.
• Making pre-kindergarten available throughout New York State, though he did not immediately say how he would pay for such an expansion, and creating a Teacher Excellence Fund to give “highly effective teachers” up to $20,0000 in annual stipends.
• Requiring schools to notify the state Education Department and the State Police if there are patterns of discrimination or harassment, “including bullying, taunting or intimidation,” on their school grounds.
• Giving state university scholarships to the top 10 percent of high school graduates if they agree to pursue college degrees in science, technology, engineering or math.
Cuomo is again asking lawmakers to expand abortion rights and to approve a program of taxpayers helping to fund political campaigns, which he believes will reduce the role of money in New York’s elections. Cuomo has at least $30 million on hand in his own campaign account.
After his handpicked anti-corruption panel caused an uproar by lawmakers whey they sent subpoenas seeking information about their outside employment work, Cuomo again wants lawmakers to provide more disclosure about their private businesses to deter conflicts of interest.
email: tprecious@buffnews.com