State Sen. Cathy Young, R-Olean, will no longer serve as chairperson of the Senate’s Finance Committee, but she will hold several positions in the statewide Republican hierarchy.

Among her committee assignments, announced recently by John Flanagan, Senate minority leader, are assistant minority leader for conference operations as well as the position of ranking committee member on the Senate’s committees on elections and ethics and internal governance.

“I am enthusiastic about continuing my leadership efforts as Assistant Minority Leader for Conference Operations. In this new political environment where all three branches of government are now controlled by New York City interests, assuring the strength and voice of upstate has never been more important.” Young said. “As the ranking Republican member on the Elections and Ethics committees, I look forward to tackling difficult issues that are vital to ensuring the integrity of our electoral system and our political leaders and processes.

“The public should be able to have trust in their government and elected officials. Yet, polls show that public confidence is at an all-time low. We clearly have our work cut out for us.”

“The Elections committee is poised to be one of the most active in this new session. Controversial issues such as early voting and public financing of campaigns which would further burden taxpayers and open up opportunities for fraud and abuse have been repeatedly cited by New York City Democratic leaders as top priorities,” Young said. “Working to safeguard New Yorkers from proposals like these as well as advancing new initiatives aimed at improving and strengthening New York’s election laws will be key goals. Last January, following the revelations of the #MeToo movement, I was the first one to introduce a comprehensive sexual harassment proposal which eventually became the framework for New York’s historic new law. There is clearly more that can and should be done in this area and as the Ranking member on the Ethics Committee, I look forward to working in partnership with my colleagues to build on the foundation we laid last year. Ethics and public accountability are front and center in the public dialogue right now and they should be. The Senate passed many good government reforms in 2018 with bi-partisan support which represents a strong starting place for action in 2019. There are many opportunities in front of us and I am eager to get to work.”

“I am very much looking forward to the upcoming legislative session and working with this team to move our agenda forward. Even though Senate Republicans now make up the Minority of this chamber, our voice on issues important to hardworking middle-class families will be more critical than ever,” Flanagan said.