An Update for Westchester County
Travel Safe This Holiday Season
Help Stop DWI in Westchester County
Greg Ball is proud to announce that his efforts to crack down on DWI have now gained the
attention of Assembly leaders. New legislation passed the Assembly to make it a felony to
drive with a passenger who is a child under the age of 15, while intoxicated with a blood
alcohol content of .08, subjecting the defendant to a possible prison sentence of up to 1-1/3
to 4 years for a first offense. This is the toughest sentence in the nation for any first time
DWI offense with a child passenger.
Greg has been leading the charge in Putnam County to enact zero tolerance common-sense laws
to keep our roads safe from drunk drivers. He announced the formation of a new coalition of
law enforcement, elected officials and business owners who came together to crack down on DWI.
Together with the Putnam coalition, Greg announced the Zero Tolerance Plan, which includes local
and state legislation to heighten penalties for driving under the influence as well as create
awareness and prevention education programs for bartenders through the Putnam Sheriff’s office.
To learn more about the plan and how you can help bring the plan to Westchester County, e-mail
Greg at
ballg@assembly.state.ny.us.
This holiday season, please remember to always have a designated driver or
safe ride home.
Update: Strides Made for Autism
This year was a landmark year in terms of getting Albany lawmakers’ attention focused on Autism.
Greg introduced historic legislation to ensure all children affected with Autism have health
insurance. This bill gained bipartisan support thanks to his legislative lobby day and by him
hosting the first-ever statewide legislative conference on Autism at the State Capitol.
To help promote research and services for children with Autism in our area, Greg delivered two
state grants for the Devereux Millwood Learning Center totaling $30,000, and for his efforts to
increase awareness of Autism, our Assemblyman was honored by the Foundation for Educating
Children with Autism.
Protecting Our Jobs
Greg’s efforts to protect the current and former employees laid off by IBM gained a lot of media
attention this year, but there was much more work done behind the scenes to improve our
regional economy as well. Greg worked with local chambers of commerce to help small businesses
increase profits and create jobs in the Hudson Valley.
One of Greg’s bills,
A.5677, would help keep jobs in our state by prohibiting the state from
giving taxpayer-funded incentives to businesses that offshore jobs. This bill would prevent
companies like IBM from receiving $50 billion in taxpayer dollars while outsourcing American
jobs.
License Plate Mandate Halted
When the Governor announced his plan for DMV fees to be increased, and mandated new plates
starting in April 2010, Greg Ball was one of the first to openly oppose this unnecessary and
expensive mandate. After months of rallying against the plan, the Governor agreed to rescind
the new plate mandate...for now.
Greg would like to thank the public and Dutchess County Clerk Bradford Kendall for helping stop
this plan! Let’s keep working against future enactment of this unnecessary mandate!
We Need Affordable Housing
We need more affordable housing. But the federal government’s plan to bring in low-income
tenants to Northern Westchester is not the right plan. Greg knows that what we need are
solutions that address the needs of residents currently living here. In addition to fighting
this plan, Greg was successful in stopping the unfair taxation of condo properties in our region
(
A.4588-A).
Thanks to Greg’s pressure, the senate sponsor pulled the bill from the agenda, preventing it
from becoming law. We need to keep up the pressure to ensure this bill is not introduced again.
Greg Delivers for Local Veterans
As the former Ranking Minority Member of the Assembly Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Greg is
passionate about protecting veterans. In addition to helping pass landmark legislation, such as
the Veterans Tuition Program, Greg also delivered a $14,000 state grant to the Mahopac Veterans
of Foreign Wars Post, $5,000 state grant for Brewster’s VFW Post 672, $2,000 state grant for
Putnam Lake Am Vets, $7,000 in state grants for the Mahopac American Legion, and a $5,000 state
grant for the Wounded Warrior Project.
2009 Legislative Wrap-Up
This legislative year, Greg sponsored over 380 pieces of legislation, many of which are original bills drafted to address the specific needs of our community.
New Law Enacted to Help Firefighters
Greg sponsored legislation that helped save our local fire departments time and money by allowing qualified and trained persons, such as volunteer firefighters, to operate a fire truck without possessing a commercial driver’s license: this bill became a law.
Legislation Passes to Help Those with Disabilities
Greg is proud to have sponsored many pieces of legislation to assist those living with disabilities and thrilled that some of these bills were passed this year, including to: clearly mark handicapped parking spots; improve access to handicapped parking spaces; and require buildings to establish emergency evacuation plans for the disabled.
Some Other IMPORTANT Bills Drafted by Our Assemblyman
- Prohibits a member of the Legislature from engaging in any outside paid activity during his or her term of office
- Prohibits the use of lottery funds for any purpose other than education
- Eliminates taxes on alternative energies
- Limits the term of a legislative committee chair to no more than four consecutive years
- Creates a safe “lockbox” for public college and university tuition dollars to avoid the “sweeping” of tuition dollars into the state’s general fund
- Denies tax benefits and incentives to any corporation that outsources jobs to a foreign country
- Allows localities to freeze real property taxes for seniors and disabled residents
- Establishes the “War on Terror Expeditionary Medal” to honor soldiers currently returning from overseas combat
- Prevents contractors from misclassifying in order to obtain illegal taxpayer-funded benefits and tax incentives
