Koetz (R)

On the Issues

Endorsements

Record in Office

Currently: Sustainability Consultant

Previous Work: 

Education: 

On the Issues

*Source for Maureen Koetz's issue stances: Gotham Gazette Questionnaire 

• Top 5 Legislative Priorities↓

   

  1. "Corruption Control

  Once labeled as half of the most dysfunctional legislature in the nation, the New York State Assembly remains crippled by leadership that blocks reforms while giving tax breaks and other favorable legislation and budget items to cronies and contributors who provide millions in campaign donations for these pay-to-play preferences. Worse yet, the Speaker continues to blatantly violate Section 74 of the Public Officers Law through employment and investments that are illegal under conflict of interest laws.

  To fight this debilitating corruption as the Assembly representative of the 65th District, Maureen Koetz will:

  -Assure enforcement of existing ethics and conflict of interest rules through establishment of a permanent, independent, and public investigatory commission with non-partisan and term-limited membership.
  -Support creation of an independent budget review office on the model of the federal Congressional Budget Office and the City's Independent Budget Office
  -Introduce and advocate legislation to reform pension entitlements for elected officials convicted of, or censured for, violations of the Public Officer Law
  -Work to revise Assembly legislative procedures as recommended by the Brennan Center for Justice to secure the legislative due process to which all citizens of New York are entitled"

  2. "Women's Equality

  Since her first days of working as a teenager, and throughout a career that including many years as a working single Mom, Maureen Koetz knows what it means to be paid less than a man while also dealing with legal inequities and the indignities of sexual harassment. Nor can there be anything but a No Tolerance policy for sexual abuse and harassment of any kind, whether direct or suggested, verbal or physical, male or female in any workplace, but especially in Albany. Those who coverup for sexual perpetrators should be considered as aiding and abetting the underlying offenses.

  To support Women's Equality as the Assembly representative of the 65th District, Maureen Koetz will:

  -Advocate bipartisan passage of the Women's Equality Act
  -Assure stringent enforcement of investigatory and ethics rules regarding allegations of sexual harassment by supporting the Cahill Plan for a dedicated division in the Attorney General Office for domestic violence and sexual harassment cases
  -Introduce legislation to limit use of taxpayer funds to pay damages for sexual harassment, forcible touching, or other violations of law by legislative members and their staffs."

  3. "Schools and Education

  As one of the many New Yorkers who become the first in their family to graduate college and then law school, Maureen Koetz understands the role of education in giving every child a chance at fulfillment and success. New York must have schooling options and choices that deliver high-quality and committed instruction at all levels of learning in safe, well kept infrastructure.

  To support Schools as the Assembly representative of the 65th District, Maureen Koetz will:

  -Develop legislation to recoup and redirect revenues from ineligible or inappropriate 421-a property tax abatements to school construction and recapitalization
  -Reform tort and construction liability laws that needlessly increase construction and insurance costs to sustain, repair, and build schools
  Work to revamp or eliminate Common Core state standards
  -Raise the cap on charter schools and continue co-location in available public school buildings
  -Support statewide universal pre-kindergarten and reform of funding allocation formulas"

  4. "Historic Preservation for Distinctive and Irreplaceable Lower Manhattan Assets

  The Lower Manhattan Community has the longest, most diverse, and most unique history of all New York neighborhoods. That heritage traces from the first settlements on Governor's Island to the post-9/11 revitalization as Silicon Alley, supporting the expanding Technology, Advertising, Media, and Information (TAMI) industry at the same time more and more residents and families rediscover the built and natural infrastructure that makes Lower Manhattan the ideal community in which to live and work.

  To support the Lower Manhattan economy, ecology, and habitat as the Assembly representative of the 65th District, Maureen Koetz will:

  -Assure South Street Seaport Development that comports with its irreplaceable, low-scale historic character and value
  -Evaluate repurposing of the Battery Park City Authority to support and sustain Lower Manhattan built and natural infrastructure assets
  -Continue funding for Governor's Island Park
  -Support adaptation programs such as NY Rising to protect valuable and vulnerable LoMa infrastructure assets
  -Secure construction liability reforms that assure sustainable, resilient, and energy efficient infrastructure is available for LoMa businesses and residents"

  5. "Sustainable and Resilient Lower Manhattan

  Manhattan Island is a marvel of efficiency, sustainability, and resiliency that must meet newer and greater challenges in the 21st Century. These 21st Century needs and requirements can't be met with 19th century models for insider development and crony politics that sap resources and assets for the exclusive benefit of the billionaire classes.

  To assure the sustainability and resiliency of Lower Manhattan, as the Assembly representative of the 65th District, Maureen Koetz will:

  -Amend state law to require threshold energy efficiency requirements in developers' existing portfolios as a condition of new or additional construction
  -Reform tort and construction liability laws to reduce construction and insurance costs to sustain, repair, and build infrastructure in Lower Manhattan
  -Revamp or eliminate property tax abatements to private residential development
  -Maximize sustainable development capacity at existing housing and other public realty assets
  -Create natural capital inventories for all public realty assets to assure transparent sales, use, and transfer that support sustainable development
  -Develop and assign natural capital credits to green infrastructure such as mass transit, clean energy production, and conserved use"

   

• Budget↓

   

  In addressing how to utilize NYS' multibillion dollar surplus by, stated: "America's 50 state governments reportedly owe $4.19 trillion, including outstanding bonds, unfunded pension commitments and budget gaps. NY is No. 2 with $300.1 billion. A significant portion of this money should be used to buy down or pay off the State's most costly debt. The rest should be used on top priority education needs."

   

• Civil Rights↓

   

  Would vote yes on the full, ten-point Women's Equality Agenda.

   

  In addressing the strategy of removing the 10th point in the WEA, which deals with abortion access, in order to push for passage of the other 9 points with less controversy, stated: "Updating New York's abortion law to take into account the health of the Mother is appropriate; medical necessity abortions have been legal even before Roe v. Wade in many jurisdictions and circumstances. However, as currently written, the provision may go too far in limiting whether and when providers can be found to have violated law, and further negotiation of the provision to achieve bi-artisan support is needed."

   

• Economy↓

   

  Supports a statewide minimum wage at $10.10.

   

  Stated that municipalities such as NYC should not be able to set their own minimum wage.

   

  Stated that a NYS jobs program should feature:

  • "Local/State hiring preference for any enterprise receiving tax credits, NYPA electricity, or reduced cost access to NY State assets (physical, natural, or financial) for use by the enterprise
  • Affordable energy to attract and keep enterprise and jobs
  • Re-balanced tax categories and rates to attract and keep enterprise and jobs
  • Elimination of Start-Up NY and other targeted, and potentially discriminatory, tax programs in favor of an across-the-board rate reduction for all enterprise, established or new."

   

• Education↓

   

  Supports implementing Common Core state standards with changes.

   

  In addressing the cap on charter schools, stated preference to "Raise the cap, and assure appellation of proven practices from successful charter schools."

   

  Regarding charter school locations, stated: "Tax money that validly collected to publicly educate children should be allocated among existing public schools for both private and charter institutions, s well as additional space as needed for public school children attending charters."

   

  Supports statewide universal pre-kindergarten.

  In addressing what the legislature can do to ensure that adequate funding is distributed to all school districts, to comply with the Campaign for Fiscal Equity decisions, stated: "The legislature must limit tax breaks for ineligible development (such as the 421a abatements written into legislation by Sheldon Silver for five contributor developments) that were investigated by the Moreland Commission, to assure sufficient revenue is available for schools. The formulas should be adjusted to allow monies to follow population growth by area not just borough, and liability law reform is needed to so more funds can be spent to hire teachers, fix, and build schools, and less spent on massive insurance premiums."

   

• Environment↓

   

  Supports hydrofracking in NYS, and stated: "Hydrofracking is key for energy affordability (particularly for working families and the economically disadvantaged), enhanced tax revenue collection (from severance taxes) to offset current tax burden, and economic development. Energy extraction companies should post bond to over any form of damage to natural or physical capital, and be subject to an administrative claims process that includes direct and punitive damage payments, as well as fines in the event any leakages, harm to human health, or unauthorized use of air, land, or water assets occurs."

   

  Stated that municipalities should decide, via zoning processes, whether hydrofracking occurs in their jurisdiction.

   

• Good Government↓

   

  Regarding reducing individual campaign contribution limits, stated: "I support mandatory voting as the first key step in campaign finance reform. This shifts the burden to raise money for voter turnout away from the candidates and to the citizens whose responsibility it is. I am not opposed to limiting individual contribution limits, but I do think the LLC loophole should be eliminated."

   

  Regarding instituting a public-matching campaign-financing systems statewide, stated: "I support but in conjunction with elimination of the LLC loophole."

   

  Regarding whether Governor Cuomo should have dissolved the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption, stated: "Intolerable betrayal of the public trust. Permanent independent investigatory body needed."

   

  Supports implementing the following reform measures to increase voter participation and reduce barriers to voting: 

   

  • Same day voter registration,
  • Early voting,
  • Reforming special elections,
  • No-excuse absentee ballots,
  • Consolidating state and federal primaries,
  • Mandatory voting.

   

  In addressing how to properly monitor and enforce ethics laws and appropriate conduct of legislators, stated: "A permanent independent review board is needed to enforce the existing state ethics rules, as well as criminal statutes such as Forcible Touching in the case of sexual harassment. Currently, the Speaker of the Assembly is paid by a tort law firm while his duties give him sole discretion to vote on tort reform legislation. Blatant conflicts of interest such as these that violate Section 74 of the Public Officer Law should be investigated and halted as part of a 'Broken Albany' police policy similar to 'Broken Windows.'"

   

  In addressing legislative oversight of public authorities such as the MTA and Port Authority, stated: "Public enterprise...transportation, sanitation, education, communication, purification, protection...require investment and sustainment from a common and limited pool of human, natural, physical, and financial capital assets. The first requirement for oversight is understanding of why and how governments operate these enterprises, which I have bester than most. Another necessity is more and better oversight hearings, including field hearing in and around the operational territory of the transit and other utilities. There must be better public review of budgets (not the current closed door dealmaking), and improved asset inventory and management criteria to include natural capital value (e.g. use rate per passenger of mass transit compared to vehicle). Finally, more integrated management that relates, compares, and balances physical, financial, and natural capital use levels from one system with the others to assure sustainable operations and development. For example, if subway traffic increases, does that generate emission savings from automobiles that can be applied to additive electric generation facilities needed for new subways?"

   

• Health↓

   

  In addressing challenges with the NYS Health Exchange rollout and the high cost of Medicare, stated: "there need to be more and better oversight hearings to enforce cost controls and prevent fraud and waste. A review by federal Medicaid officials found that New York couldn't justify some of its reported costs of caring for about 1,300 developmentally disabled people—about $2 million per patient in 2013—in state facilities. The health exchange itself must grow its younger participant rolls to balance the aging population costs and provide affordable services to all."

   

• Housing and Development↓

   

  In addressing stance on mandatory inclusionary zoning, stated: "I oppose use of tax breaks to incentivize private building. Instead, the air rights and other natural capital elements in the NYC real estate portfolio should be inventoried and developed by the City to generate affordable housing, especially in NYCHA and other areas with underutilized capacity."

   

  Supports reforming the Scaffold Law from absolute liability to comparative negligence.

   

  Supports reforming the Urstadt Law.

   

  In addressing the affordable housing needs in the state and city, stated: "As a former acting Ass't Secretary of a military department in charge of installations, I know the problems that occur when an organization lacks knowledge as to the full asset value of it holdings. Public housing assets throughout the state have not been effectively assessed, appraised or optimized. First and foremost, municipalities must know the full extent of the value of properties they hold (including air or water rights, views, etc) and then take steps to leverage these equities to reinvest in these facilities and make as many affordable units available as possible. (The value assessment applies to police and fire stations, schools, libraries, hospitals, and all government-owned properties for which leaders are making sustainment and/or liquidation decisions for areas other than housing). Second, the 421a program must be revamped or scrapped in favor of other incentive mechanisms to build, including direct financing by the state from an infrastructure bank."

   

  In addressing the rising cost of commercial rents and the loss of local retail businesses, stated: "A core concept of our entire legal and economic system is the right of private property ownership. At the same time, strong consideration must be given to the risks inherent in business tenancy from escalating rental costs, as well as energy and other fixed elements that make doing business in New york expensive and job-limiting. Currently, the City of New York foregoes $1 billion per year in revenues from property tax abatements related to housing, and more in the form of reduced or rebated ground rents. Industrial and commercial zones are increasingly subject to up zoning and other market forces that drive increased rents and escalate prices for goods and services. To address this, first, tenants need better market data, including information on the rates of increase by landlords in an area over time, in order to understand the risks they face when signing a lease for a certain duration and cost. Second, insurance products should be available to cover risk of increased cost above a certain rate. Over the longer term, a review program similar to that for utility cost increases could be developed to assess rent hikes and their relationship to real cost growth for landlords to level out market volatility and price gouging while assuring fair rate of return for owners."

   

• Immigration↓

   

  Would abstain from voting on the DREAM Act.

   

  Opposes non-citizen voting.

   

  Opposes drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants.

   

• Infrastructure↓

   

  Stated that the biggest infrastructure needs in the district are threefold:

  • "First, resiliency and sustainment improvements to the coastal configuration are needed to adapt Lower Manhattan to changing sea levels and storm intensity;
  • second, historic assets like the South St. Seaport must be sustained for their historic value; and third, buildings must be upgraded for energy efficiency. All require changes to liability laws that impede affordable infrastructure improvement and restoration, and better regulatory implementation that gets past the split incentive problems. To address, the Battery Park City Authority charter and jurisdiction should be reviewed and revised to apply operating surpluses to long-term investment in resiliency, preservation, and sustainability for all infrastructure assets below Canal Street.
  • Also, building permits for new development should not be issued to developers unless all assets in the applican't's portfolio meet energy efficiency criteria. For example, I live in Gateway in BPC where multiple resident suits are ongoing to compel replacement windows and measures to seal the buildings thermal envelope and avoid excessive tenant electric costs. The Lefrak Organization should not receive permits for their planned 57th Street development (which drove the demise of the Rizzolli Bookstore sad to say) until Gateway's failing building envelope is recapitalized."

   

• Policing and Criminal Justice↓

   

  Regarding broken windows policing, stated: "Strongly support, starting in Albany. We need Broken Windows approaches to violations of the Public Officer Law (especially conflict of interest prohibitions) and full enforcement of all ethics restrictions. Small crimes in Albany lead to big ones."

   

  Regarding legalization of marijuana, stated: "Data from Colorado should be reviewed as to revenues, violations, health effects and be used to consider legality in NY."

   

  In addressing whether there is a role for state government in overseeing the conduct of municipal police forces, stated: "The first responsibility of the legislature and its members in law enforcement is to obey the law themselves as an example to all. When criminal and other illegal behavior is openly practiced in Albany, citizens come to believe crime is acceptable. The Broken Windows theory must first be applied in Broken Albany.
  The second responsibility of the legislature is to ensure that the laws are clear and enforceable for both the police and the citizenry in both criminal and civilian damage situations. State government can and should do everything it can to support police training, community outreach, and best policing practices. Legislative budgeting should first support job creation and growth so the drivers of crime and misdemeanor behavior are reduced."

   

• Transportation↓

   

  In addressing road safety, and the appropriate approach to balancing the needs of pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers, stated:

  • "Enforcement by all police officers, not just traffic. Our first line of defense is to enforce the rules we have, and not rely on a change in intensity or consequence for rules that are not enforced.
  • Continued street re-design to allow flow for all forms of transit
  • Segregated avenues and thoroughfares for bus and cycle traffic.
  • Re-evaluation of delivery windows for trucks."

   

Endorsements

Organizations: 

Individuals: