James is pushing to make sure Wall Street and billionaires pay their fair share so our Hudson Valley families can catch a break. During his time in the State Legislature, he broke with his party 251 separate times to vote against middle-class tax hikes.

James believes we must find a new and improved way to fund our schools and local governments: the property tax system is broken and needs an overhaul. Right now, the same people who fought for our freedom, built our homes, cared for our sick, and taught our children are those that are paying a disproportionate amount of their income to property taxes. There is a better and more equitable way forward, and James is committed to achieving it.

As State Senator, he has worked every day to ensure that Hudson Valley schools get their fair share of funding, stood strong against the misuse of standardized testing, and fought to improve the Governor’s Excelsior Scholarship that only benefits 4% of SUNY and CUNY undergraduates. He also voted to successfully end a draconian teacher evaluation system that would lead to more teaching to the test.

He also secured targeted 9W and Route 202 maintenance in Haverstraw; a full repaving of Route 32 in Woodbury; resurfacing of Route 52 between Pine Bush and Walden, Route 32 in Plattekill, Route 32 in New Windsor, Route 44/55 in Plattekill, Route 9W in Marlborough, and Route 94 in New Windsor. Millions of additional dollars were secured to repair or replace six bridges along Route 9W in New Windsor, Cornwall, and Highlands.

James authored legislation to update the state’s antiquated village incorporation laws that have allowed communities to be taken hostage by hostile developers. He also authored and passed legislation to unmask shady, anonymous real estate LLCs and successfully fought to enact a new law that requires additional oversight of all public water wells, including the Kiryas Joel-owned well in Mountainville.

In his first few years leading the investigations committee, James scrutinized lax building code enforcement; drug company middle-men who were ripping off our seniors; so-called economic development agencies that were ripping off our taxpayers; anti-consumer event ticketing practices; pandemic mismanagement in nursing homes and healthcare settings, and illegal housing discrimination.

James has also supported important legislation that looks to take money out of politics and return our democracy to where it belongs: the people.

Alongside Town of Montgomery residents, James called on Medline Industries to withdraw their tax-break application and announced a formal investigation into their lucrative proposal. Just one day before Medline’s deadline to respond to the investigative inquiry, the corporation withdrew its tax-break proposal, resulting in $10 million in savings for taxpayers. In 2021, when Medline sought once again to fleece taxpayers by suing to reduce their property tax assessment, James pressured them publicly and the company withdrew its assessment litigation.

In Albany, James introduced a package of bills to better protect taxpayers when corporations seek taxpayer-funded incentives including: banning subsidies when the project occupant is kept secret, prohibiting elected officials from serving on boards that hand out incentives, banning tax breaks to projects that are already under development, and closing a loophole that allows tax breaks to be used to lure companies from one part of the state to another.

At a time when many women continue to be forced out of the workplace – often permanently – due to motherhood and the pressures of the pandemic, James championed a nation-leading paid family leave law that ensures women never have to choose between taking care of a newborn and paying the bills. He also helped pass legislation that requires equal pay for equal work so women don’t earn less for doing the same job as their male counterparts.

James also believes medical decisions ought to be made between a woman and her doctor, which is why he helped pass legislation that codifies Roe vs. Wade into New York State law. He also successfully championed the Comprehensive Contraception Coverage Act that requires all insurance companies cover the cost of contraception in their health plans.

James was appointed to a small legislative group that developed the Climate Leadership Community Protection Act, the most aggressive state climate change plan in the entire nation.

In 2021, his nation-leading clean water testing legislation was signed into law, ensuring every community in New York knows what’s in their water. In 2020, James called on the State Department of Health to implement the Water Quality Council’s recommended PFAS levels, and a week later, the DOH Commissioner accepted the recommendations. He’s a strong supporter of preserving open space in the Hudson Valley and will always fight to protect our natural resources from over-development.

Over the past few years, James stood up to three of the largest property management companies in the country when they tried to price senior citizens out of their homes. James took the fight to the executives directly, resulting in all three companies slashing their rent increases.

During his time in the State Legislature, James has stood up to those who have tried to cut the Enhanced STAR program and other benefits that seniors rely on. James also successfully worked to save Valley View Nursing Home when adversaries in the Orange County Legislature tried to sell the facility to the highest bidder.

For decades, Albany catered to special interests and refused to pass the Child Victims Act. That changed when James Skoufis arrived in the State Senate. In his very first month, James successfully fought to pass the Child Victims Act, protecting our children and ensuring offenders of these atrocious acts are brought to justice. Additionally, he has introduced legislation to make cyberflashing, the practice of sending lewd images without a recipient’s consent, a crime.

Last session, James authored and enacted two key bills: one extends a property tax benefit to active members of the armed forces who are severely disabled, and the other enables closed captioning on televisions in public areas for visually-impaired New Yorkers.

James served as Chairman of the Task Force on People with Disabilities and authored a constitutional amendment to include disability rights under the equal protection requirement. James additionally introduced and enacted a law that ensures students with disabilities have the opportunity to participate in high school graduation ceremonies.

When COVID-19 first hit, James immediately got to work to make sure the community was fully equipped with accurate information, secured and distributed thousands of PPE to frontline workers, donated plasma after recovering from COVID-19 himself, and to this day, continues to coordinate recovery efforts for those in need.

With the statewide unemployment rate skyrocketing since the onset of COVID-19, James faced this crisis head on and helped thousands of constituents with unemployment insurance challenges.

As Chairman of the Senate’s investigations committee, James also led over 40 hours of state oversight hearings on the state’s response to COVID-19, demanding answers on nursing home, hospital, and workplace concerns.