Assemblyman Ed Ra (R-Franklin Square) today called for a portion of funds from a recently-disclosed bank settlement to be used for local infrastructure projects on Long Island. Ra said he was disappointed with the lack of infrastructure funding provided for Long Island in this year’s Executive Budget proposal, and that these funds would allow the state to make a greater investment in Long Island’s roads and bridges.

“This year’s budget proposal had little focus on Long Island’s infrastructure, and I believe it would be common sense to use this bank settlement to fund much-needed local road, bridge and highway repairs,” said Ra. “Despite the many calls to invest in rebuilding our local infrastructure, there still are many crumbling roads and bridges in need of improvement. Long Island daily commuters and visitors deserve to travel safely; and to make this happen, we must receive much-needed additional infrastructure funding. To keep travel and business development moving in the right direction, we must invest in our local roads.”

The New York State Department of Financial Services is receiving $610 million in penalty fees from Commerzbank in Germany after it was discovered that the institution had committed accounting fraud.