Governor Hochul: “We are lifting the minimum wage, starting January 1. And if you’re a minimum wage worker, you check your paycheck and you make sure it went up. And … for the first time – over time, we’re going to be indexing it to inflation. What does that mean? Because you can earn more money, right? But if the cost of everything from diapers to formula for new parents and the cost of sneakers and the backpacks and your eggs and your bread are all going up, you’re not getting ahead. And that’s what we’re trying to solve here. Help people get ahead.”
Hochul: “I’m going to keep working for you and working for your families and working for your children. And with great partners like Reverend Bernard, everyone will know that the priorities of the State of New York are to give everyone that opportunity and the promise of a better life, please keep in your prayers.”
Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul delivered remarks on the minimum wage increase set for January 1st and the signing of the Clean Slate Act at the Christian Cultural Center.
VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.
AUDIO of the Governor’s remarks is available here.
PHOTOS of the event will be available on the Governor’s Flickr page.
A rush transcript of the Governor’s remarks is available below:
Praise be to God. Thank you, Lord, for allowing me to find my way early this morning from Albany to your church, your people here in Brooklyn. I’ve come here often, in fact, our great Senator Roxanne Persaud, says why aren’t you just taking up an apartment here? You’re here so often. So, that’s a possibility, if you’ve got a nice place I can rent. I want to thank her for her service to our state and to this community. Also, our Councilor Farah Louis has joined us as well. I thank her for her leadership and stepping forward to make sure that people in this district have a voice.
But more than anything, I want to thank Reverend Bernard. I want to thank you for saying yes. Yes, to the call to serve God, and that happened many decades ago. But thank you for your willingness to step up and be not just my spiritual advisor. We could always use a lot of advice, right? Can you use some good advice sometimes? Amen to that. But also, just recently, I named him the President of the Interfaith Council, the Executive Committee that is going to lead the messaging around the State of New York and my Office of Faith-Based Services led by CauraWashington, Pastor Caura Washington. Please stand up and take a round of applause here.
So, this is the team because the clergy, the faith leaders have a special connection with the people, right? You build a trust, a confidence, a love, a belief, and that’s what I need – for people to go out, like Reverend Bernard, to go out and take that message of what we’re doing to lift people up, to lift God’s people up every single day across the state. So, you know we are working for you.
One thing that’s so important to me is to make sure that everybody, all New Yorkers have that opportunity and promise that Reverend Bernard just spoke of. And I was touched by the fact that one of the earlier video clips talked about Asking the Lord, Apostles asking God to teach us how to pray. And he gave us the Lord’s prayer. And one of the asks in that was give us our daily bread. Now anybody expecting to see a loaf of bread delivered at their house every day, you’re probably going to wait a long time. That daily bread is not coming that way, right? But daily bread means the opportunity to have the money to take care of yourselves and your families.
But for too long, people are working to get that daily bread, sometimes they’re working one, two jobs while they’re trying to get an education, trying to take care of their kids, trying to take care of their parents, and visit grandma in the nursing home, all in one day, and guess what? They’re still living below the poverty line. How do you work a full-time job and still live below the poverty line?
So, I am changing that, working with our legislature. I said, “No, no, no, no, no, not here in the State of New York. No more.” So, we are lifting the minimum wage, starting January 1. And if you’re a minimum wage worker, you check your paycheck and you make sure it went up. And if it didn’t, you let us know. Because that means they’re stealing your wages. We’re not going to let that happen either.
But not only are the wages going up, and I want you all to know this, but for the first time – over time, we’re going to be indexing it to inflation. What does that mean? Because you can earn more money, right? But if the cost of everything from diapers to formula for new parents and the cost of sneakers and the backpacks and your eggs and your bread are all going up, you’re not getting ahead. And that’s what we’re trying to solve here. Help people get ahead. So, that’s one of the policies I want you to know about directly from me.
The other one is, the way you get your daily bread is the dignity of a job. Am I right about that? It’s a job. It’s how you get the money for the bread. Now, what if you’ve committed an offense, you’ve committed a crime, you went through the justice system, you spent your time in jail, and you come out? Okay, that’s good, you paid your debt to society, it’s all we ask, but then you are kept from being able to work because of the record that’s on your slate.
That they say, “I’m sorry, no, no, no, you don’t count anymore, so go take care of yourself but you cannot have a job.” Now people say to me, “Well, that means all these people are going to commit crimes. We can’t let that happen.” I said, “Wait a minute. Do you understand what I just said? They paid their debt to society. They’re out in our community now. And if you’re worried about crime, I think the best crime fighting tool we can have, is a job. Give everybody a job because if you’re working in a factory, working at a restaurant, working in a hotel, working at a technology office. You’re not out there committing crimes.” It’s just common sense. Am I right about that?
So, I had to change the law, had to change the law. November 16th, I took a pen. I don’t have a pen. Nobody uses pens anymore. I actually took a pen. And with the support of our legislature and Senator Persaud, I signed a bill that said that after a period of time, if you come out, with specific crimes, you will now have a clean slate. You walk in and fill out that job application. You go get that job and you take care of your family. That’s how we lift God’s people up because the Lord’s Prayer doesn’t just talk about the daily bread, right? It’s forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. That’s what I believe.
So, I’m going to continue the conversation with you. This isn’t political. I’m not up for election for a long time, thank God. This is a good news day for me. I’m just here to talk to you as a friend of CCC. Someone whose heart is filled with the gratitude because I came here within the first month of becoming your Governor unexpectedly.
And I asked for your prayers. And it was a dark time in our state, COVID was still swirling around, the kids weren’t back at school, people weren’t at their jobs, and I came here to ask for your prayers, your humble support, but also to let you know that I’ll fight for you every single day. And I’m going to keep working for you and working for your families and working for your children.
And with great partners like Reverend Bernard, everyone will know that the priorities of the State of New York are to give everyone that opportunity and the promise of a better life, please keep in your prayers. I’m your humble servant. Thank you very much.
December 10 2023 Albany New York
Source: https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/video-audio-photos-rush-transcript-governor-hochul-delivers-remarks-minimum-wage-increase-and
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