Senator Martin J. Golden has represented Brooklyn’s 22nd Senate District in New York City since 2002. During his terms in the State Legislature, Senator Golden has to date authored over 75 laws, notably in the areas of public safety, tax cuts, economic development and senior citizen issues. As Chairman of the Senate Ageing Committee, he has championed the rights of senior citizens through the Assisted Living Law of 2004.

Under his leadership a number of significant bills affecting older Americans have been enacted, including a new Elderlaw; Long Term Care Reform; internet posting of retail prescription drug prices; and a single EPIC/Medical prescription drug card. His Standing Committee assignments for 2007 are Ageing (Chair); the Senate Majority Task Force on Critical Choices (Chair); Banks; Codes Crime Victims; Crime and Corrections; Education; Insurance; Investigations and Government Operations; Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs.

 
Senator Golden had a distinguished ten year career as New York City Police Officer, from which he was forced to retire in 1983 after suffering a serious injury whilst making a narcotics related arrest. From 1998 to 2002 he represented the 43rd Councilmanic District in the New York City Council, serving on the Committees on Finance, Parks and Recreation, Public Safety and State and Federal Legislation as well as on the Select Subcommittees on Senior Citizen Centers and the Waterfront. After 9/11, he was heavily involved in the support of volunteers working at Ground Zero.

 
Marty Golden attended St John’s University and is married with two children. 

New York City has always been a city of immigrants – my own family came here from Ireland. This is legal immigration we are talking about and new communities emerging is what creates part of the vibrancy of the city, as well as encouraging economic growth. The latest trend is an increasing movement of Eastern Europeans. Generally they are bringing skills from the professional, academic community to fill skills gaps. In particular we are seeing applications from the medical profession, engineers and the legal community.

Language can be an issue and one there is a lot of sensitivity about. In Brooklyn alone eighty different languages and dialects are spoken; in our school district alone there are twenty-two. This can however provide many opportunities. For example, there is a great need for nursing and teaching staff. The overwhelming majority of Spanish speaking teachers in New York City were born and raised here and are bi-lingual, so the fact that they speak Spanish is simply an added benefit, but there is also a surplus of teachers in Spain, particularly science teachers, keen to move here for a period, which gives an added pool. We also attract a lot of nurses from the Philippines where the level of spoken English is excellent.

At the same time it is very important that we continue to improve the system of public education here, and in particular make college education more affordable. With such an importance being placed on having the skills necessary to compete in today’s knowledge-based economy, obtaining a college degree has never been more critical. However, educating our students should not break the family budget.

I recently introduced a comprehensive package of proposals that would make obtaining a college education more affordable for New York’s students, help families with soaring tuition expenses, provide new incentives to college students to keep them living and working in New York when they graduate and recognize the sacrifices and service of our military personnel by making it easier for New York’s servicemen and women to attend college.

The proposals include expanding the eligibility for the state’s Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), enhancing the tuition tax credit for families, establishing a student loan debt relief program, providing assistance to help our veterans afford college tuition and creating a math, science and engineering technology retention initiative for New York’s students. It provides hundreds of millions of US dollars in relief to assist New York’s overburdened taxpayers with paying for the cost of a college education.

The changing economic circumstances in New York and throughout the nation, particularly in relation to the costs of a college education, require that these programs be upgraded to alleviate the financial burden being placed on New York’s hardworking families. This package will help us retain and utilise a skilled workforce that enhances New York’s competitiveness in a technology-driven global economy. New Yorkers are very keen on continuing education and that is also something we seek to promote.

I also spend a lot of time on health issues. Right now we are offering the local community 300 free flu shots – important both to protect the vulnerable but also to keep the workforce at work. We are also developing a bulk purchasing program for prescription drugs which would provided significant discounts to those participating. The drugs would be purchased from domestic as well as foreign drug companies that meet all federal requirements.

Public safety is another very important concern for me, especially given my years in the New York City Police force. The 9-11 terrorist attacks and the subsequent attacks throughout the world have raised many important questions about the readiness of our state and local communities in preparing for, responding to, and pursuing and punishing the people responsible for terrorist attacks. The threat of a future terrorist attack is still a very harsh reality and, unfortunately, we live in a time where we need to be ready for the unthinkable. We recently held an event sponsored by the American Red Cross of Greater New York and the New York City Office of Emergency Management designed to help families and individuals to better protect themselves in times of emergency.

My colleagues and I in the Senate have passed legislation that would give New York the toughest, most comprehensive anti-terrorism laws in the nation, providing law enforcement the resources they need to capture and punish terrorists. This programme includes the creation of two new anti-terrorism crimes -- cyber terrorism and agri-terrorism -- that will protect vital information on computers and safeguard our food supply and food production facilities. It would also strengthen authority of law enforcement to prosecute terrorists; punish the possession and use of chemical or biological weapons; increase penalties for stealing ID and impersonating public officials, especially at transportation facilities; protect our water supply by criminalizing intentional defilement of drinking water; and punish people who place false hazardous materials or devices.

In the 2007 to 2008 Legislative Session I am serving as the Chairman of the Senate Ageing Committee and sponsoring a number of pieces of legislation. For example, we have introduced an Elder Law, which relates to prohibiting the diminution of certain employee benefits on the grounds of the age of the worker. If seniors choose to get back into the workforce it should not be an issue and especially they should not be discriminated against. 

Senator Golden spoke to Sarah Woodward, Editor of the International Review of Employment.