Joel On The Issues
Economy | Tax Relief | Healthcare | Communities | Education | Accountable Government
BOOSTING OUR ECONOMY & CREATING JOBS Assemblyman Joel Miller wants smaller government that spends less and results in lower taxes. Less taxes means families and businesses can once again afford to call New York home. Joel Miller advocates for money-saving, job creating provisions such as::- cutting taxes and fees, in fact, Joel Miller has voted 46 times to do just that saving taxpayers $18.5 billion and this year voted against an inflated unrealistic state budget once again bucking party leaders and special interests;
- reducing wasteful state spending through Medicaid fraud recovery that could save state taxpayers $4.5 billion annually;
- attracting, retaining and creating new jobs by providing incentives to help businesses, particularly small ones, with tax breaks, regulatory reforms and reducing health cost; and
- promoting the use of all energy sources that will eventually help businesses reduce energy costs and move toward energy independence.
TAX RELIEF FOR STRUGGLING FAMILIES. Assemblyman Joel Miller has long been a champion for change, especially when it comes to the archaic system of funding education with property taxes. Joel Miller advocates to collect school taxes based on an individual’s ability to pay, not on the arbitrary value of a person’s home. Our Assemblyman understands there is no easy, simple solution. Joel Miller has a multifaceted comprehensive plan to reform the property tax system, which includes:
- targeting property tax relief to overtaxed homeowners via a property tax circuit-breaker that will greatly benefit people on limited or fixed incomes;
- eliminating unfunded state mandates on municipalities and school districts that cost more than $10,000 a year or have a statewide price tag of more than $1 million; and
- utilizing zero-based budgeting, whereby school districts begin with a yearly budget of zero and add expenses on an “as needed” basis rather than the traditional method of adding money to already existing expenditures which causes school budgets to become inflated and excessive.
AFFORDABLE, ACCESSIBLE HEALTHCARE. As a healthcare provider, Assemblyman Joel Miller knows how expensive health insurance is for you and your family. That’s why he supports extending access to quality affordable heath care for all New Yorkers by rolling back premiums, eliminate waste and fraud in medicaid and reducing prescription drug costs. This year Joel Miller voted to give an additional 400,000 children in New York State access to health insurance. To further help struggling families, Joel Miller is fighting for:
- greater doctor and patient controls over insurance policies, making the system more consumer-oriented with more choice regarding physicians and medical procedures;
- insurance executives to focus more on preventative care rather than waiting for disease to ravish our bodies and our pocketbooks; and
- the New York State Commissioner of Insurance to have the authority to approve all rate increases by any health insurance companies and to roll back some of the premiums
PROTECTING OUR COMMUNTIES. Recent reports show that violent crime is down in Dutchess County. Assemblyman Joel Miller is working hard to keep our loved ones safe from harm and keep dangerous criminals off our streets by supporting legislation that will:
- expand Megan’s Law to ensure that sex offenders meet current registration requirements, and mandate notification of school districts when a sex offender moves into a community;
- incarcerate serial rapists for consecutive sentences for each conviction since under current law, concurrent sentencing allows a serial rapist, though convicted of multiple attacks, to serve time for only one;
- create tougher anti-luring laws that makes it more difficult for sexual predators to entice a minor into a vehicle or home;
- increase penalties for individuals who repeatedly are convicted of driving under the influence as a well as an increased revocation period of their license;
- require defendants who have been separately convicted and sentenced for three or more violent felonies, and who are determined to by a court to be persistent violent felony offenders, to be sentenced to life in prison; and
- enhance the DNA database to help law enforcement identify criminals and ensure only the guilty are punished.
QUALITY EDUCATION FOR ALL. Assemblyman Joel Miller has a longstanding reputation with the education community having worked with administrators, teachers and parents for years. He currently serves as the Ranking Member of the Assembly Higher Education Committee and sits on the Assembly Education Committee. Joel Miller wants to ensure our children get a quality education at a price you can afford by:
- helping parents of special education children to find appropriate and suitable placement within the school districts by walking them through the arduous process every step of the way;
- stopping the “brain drain” with loan forgiveness programs and tax exemptions for those who graduate college and decide to call New York home for an extended length of time;
- creating high-tech jobs by expanding computer and nuclear science curriculums at our state universities; and
- advocating for a rational tuition policy so that all that want to go to college, can afford to do so.
TRANSPARENT, ACCOUNTABLE GOVERNMENT. Assemblyman Joel Miller understands that government should be transparent and accountable to the people. That is why he is fighting to change the way Albany does business by supporting the following reforms:
- debt reform that would ban “backdoor borrowing” without voter approval, while requiring that 10 percent of any budget surplus be used to decrease the state’s debt;
- “truth in borrowing” that requires any ballot proposition that authorizes state debt to include information on both the principal and interest that would be incurred by taxpayers; and
- campaign finance reform that limits the amount of money that can be “bundled” to politicians, helping to end the “pay-to-play” mentality in Albany.
To learn more, click here to watch Joel Miller’s videos. If you have a specific question or would like to voice your opinion, email Assemblyman Joel Miller.