On behalf of the Co-Chairs, Trustees, Directors and, most important, the members, of the New York State Public Employee Conference (NYSPEC), it was my distinct honor and privilege to welcome many of you to our 48th Annual Legislative Breakfast. It is important to note that this would have been our 49th annual breakfast; however, we were compelled to cancel the event five years ago because of the pandemic.

We host this event to give our government officials an opportunity to see firsthand the broad spectrum of our membership, and to provide the opportunity for those who attend to become familiar with our current legislative agenda. The event is held in Albany early in each year’s legislative session to bring together our elected officials and the leadership and key individuals from our public employee member unions and groups. This event is the capstone of NYSPEC’s annual events calendar.

Our distinguished list of speakers this year, led by Governor Kathy Hochul herself, included New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, Chair of the Senate Standing Committee on Civil Service & Pensions Robert Jackson, Chair of the Assembly Standing Committee on Governmental Employees Stacey Pheffer Amato, Chair of the Senate Standing Committee on Labor Jessica Ramos, Chair of the Assembly Standing Committee on Labor Harry Bronson, Senate Minority Leader Robert Ortt, Ranking Minority Member of the Assembly Standing Committee on Governmental Employees Joseph DeStefano (representing Assembly Minority Leader William Barclay), and City of Albany Deputy Mayor Chris Ellis (representing City of Albany Mayor Dorcey Applyrs).

Also joining us again this year was our staunchest supporter, former Assemblyman Peter Abbate. Peter served in the assembly for 36 years until his retirement in 2022, and capped his career as Chairman of the Assembly Standing Committee on Governmental Employees, which he led for more than two decades. During that time, he fostered innumerable measures that favorably impacted the lives of millions of public employees.

Along with the above, many NYSPEC sponsors/providers who offer valuable services to our member units were in attendance.

Our diverse membership formulated NYSPEC’s 2026 Legislative Agenda at our annual meeting and convention in December. As a guide to all who are interested, the agenda encapsulates our goals for the upcoming legislative session; this is to ensure that public sector employees are recognized, appreciated, and appropriately protected, compensated and rewarded for the extraordinary work they perform on a daily – and ongoing – basis, for the people of the great State of New York. Our membership committed to continue prioritizing Tier / Pension Enhancement as our number one legislative priority. NYSPEC’s 2026 Legislative Agenda is viewable on the public portion of our website – nyspec.org – and we welcome everyone to refer to it now and as the year progresses.

Our Conference was formed in 1977 with just 13 member unions; because of the tenacious representation of our members, we have grown significantly, and can now boast almost 100 member unions and groups representing more than one million active and retired public employees!

We, as an umbrella organization, have been and are fighting the erosion of public employee benefits on many fronts. We commit to redoubling our endeavors to ensure that legislation beneficial to all public employees is enacted, and, conversely, legislation detrimental to them is blocked. We appeal to all elected officials to carefully consider the impact of all legislative proposals on our members, who continue to show their commitment to the people of this state. I reiterate: the issues delineated in our legislative agenda were developed and unanimously approved by all the unions and groups comprising our conference.

Generally speaking, the New York State legislature has been supportive of our legislative agenda, chiefly because it is essentially an agenda of fairness for the people who work for the improvement and protection of the public good. The New York State Public Employee Conference commits to continue working in harmony with you, our elected officials – yourselves dedicated public employees! – to obtain positive results for our membership.

You are encouraged to visit our website – nyspec.org – to stay updated on NYSPEC’s efforts to protect New York’s public employees!

Thank you!