DiPietro: START-UP NY Lacks Transparency; Still Won’t Solve Economic Woes

Assemblyman David DiPietro (R,C – East Aurora), a long-time detractor of the controversial START-UP NY program ushered in by Gov. Cuomo in 2013, is criticizing the program for failing to meet a deadline within the law to provide a report on the law’s success. The report, originally due on December 31, 2014, now has been rescheduled for April 1, 2015.

“We have a law here in START-UP NY that is required to provide the legislature and the people of this state a yearly update on its effectiveness,” DiPietro said. “There’s been 21 months to prepare the report, but now more time is needed? That’s ridiculous. You don’t get to just wait until the numbers might be more favorable to your program. If we really wanted to help Upstate and Western New York, we’d cut taxes across the board and reduce regulations. Instead, we received a program we don’t know is working that also could be benefiting the politically connected.”

Assemblyman DiPietro is a small-business owner and the Ranking Minority Member of the Small Business Committee.