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(WNY News Now) – In a recent interview with WNY News Now, Andrew Molitor, Assembly Candidate for New York’s 150th District, derided the current legal reforms and out of control spending by New York State.

Andrew Molitor is the 1st Assistant District Attorney for Chautauqua County and is currently running for the 150th District Seat in the New York State Assembly as the Republican and Conservative candidate. As 1st ADA, he prosecutes some of the most severe cases in the county, such as burglaries, robberies, armed assaults, and drug offenses. He sat down with WNY News Now to discuss some of the primary concerns of residents in the state, such as public safety and state spending.

Molitor noted that after Democrats in the state gained a supermajority in the legislative branch, many legal system reforms have been put into place, such as bail reform, discovery law, parole law, and the Halt Act, which aims to limit the use of solitary confinement in prisons.

These reforms, Molitor states, have caused significant issues for law enforcement. With bail reform, many misdemeanor offenses and even some felony offenses are no longer eligible for bail, resulting in offenders being released from custody. This has led to an increase in repeat offenders, straining police resources as they have to continually respond to these incidents. Molitor advocates for restoring judicial discretion, allowing judges to resume setting bail for these offenses to restore a continuity to the legal process.

Another reform that Molitor states has complicated the legal process are the changes made to discovery law, which he says has placed a large burden on police and prosecutors, who must now turn over any and all pieces of discovery regardless of significance within a shorter timeframe, or else risking the defense filing a motion to dismiss the case. Molitor believes that the timeframes to turn over discovery materials should be extended and loopholes closed to alleviate this concern.

Molitor also noted his issues with parole reform and the Halt Act, which he states has prioritized criminals at the expense of the correction officers inside the prisons and the communities that parole violators revictimize without fear of significant consequences.

Increased spending by the state is another concern that Molitor is cognizant of. Since the supermajority democrats achieved in 2019, the budget has ballooned from ~$173 billion to ~$239 billion, an increase of about $66 billion.

Combining this with the high inflation that citizens are suffering from and the fact that New York has the highest combined tax rate in the country, and it’s no wonder that the state has the highest out-migration rates in the country, above even California. To make things worse, Molitor notes, the people leaving the state are primarily younger residents who can’t afford to raise a family in the state with the high cost of living.

Molitor stressed the need to cut back state spending in order to stem the bleeding the state is suffering from. One of the biggest contributing factors is the state’s Medicaid mandates, which have resulted in New York state spending more on Medicaid than any other state despite having less citizens than California, Texas, or Florida. These high Medicaid prices are also one of the biggest expenses that counties in the state have to contend with, resulting in the higher property taxes that New York is known for.

If New York can cut back on the high expenditures, Molitor notes, taxes would be able to be reduced for both individuals and businesses, which would incentivize companies who want to operate in the state but are scared away by the existing tax structure.

One worry that Molitor has, though, is the proposal to decrease sales tax in Chautauqua County. Molitor stated that his opponent has gone on record promising to lower the sales tax rate. Decreasing the sales tax rate from 8% to 7% would decrease sales tax revenue by 12.5%, and property taxes in the county would need to be increased by 28% in order to make up for that lost revenue, which would further increase the tax burden on homeowners in the area. Additionally, municipalities might need to cut public services like police, the fire departments, plowing services, and sanitation services and increase local taxes in order to compensate.

If we truly want to lower local taxes, we need to first address the spending performed at the state level, Molitor states. Lowering taxes without first reducing spending would only exacerbate the economic issues residents are currently experiencing.

Molitor wished to inform viewers that early voting begins in Chautauqua County on Saturday and will continue through November 3rd. You can visit votechautauqua.com to learn more and find polling places in your area.