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The Student News Site of Ithaca College

The Ithacan

The Student News Site of Ithaca College

The Ithacan

Senator: NY State Senate District 52

Democrat Lea Webb is running for reelection for her seat as the senator for New York State Senate District 52. She is being challenged by Republican Mike Sigler, Tompkins County Legislator. New York state will have its Senate elections Nov. 5.

Webb’s key issues are reproductive justice, housing, the environment, education and support for working families. Sigler is running on crime and policing, inflation, job creation, energy and climate and fighting the drug epidemic.

Equal Rights Amendment:

The Equal Rights Amendment, also called Prop 1, will be the only New York state proposal on the ballot, and would amend article I section 11 of the New York state Constitution.

Webb voted in favor of the ERA in the New York Senate. 

“When New Yorkers go to the polls to vote this coming November, they will have the opportunity to protect the right to abortion in our state constitution,” Webb said via email. “In addition to codifying the right to abortion in our state constitution, passing the ERA will ensure equal protection from discrimination to women, LGBTQI+ individuals and many more New Yorkers.”

Sigler said he sees the proposal as a “Trojan horse” that masks what the bill actually does with abortion protections.

“​​Abortion has been legal in New York state for half a century,” Sigler said.No Republican in the state legislature is suggesting a change to what the law is right now, and yet, what they’ve done is they put that forward, and they’ve attached a bunch of other things to it, like allowing boys into girls sports that a lot of people don’t support. … So they’re kind of masking what the bill actually does with something that most people agree with.”

Sigler is referring to the part of the ERA that prevents discrimination based on gender identity and gender expression. Critics of the ERA see the vague language it uses as leaving room for interpretation. The protections on gender identity and gender expression can be interpreted as protecting transgender athletes’ right to participate in school sports with cisgender athletes. 

Health care

Webb helped eliminate copays for insulin in New York and her campaign site said she passed medical debt reforms that protect people from being denied care. She said she is committed to protecting and increasing access to reproductive and maternal health care.

As chair of the NYS Senate Committee on Women’s Issues, I have been able to pass legislation addressing a wide range of issues impacting women, including menstrual product accessibility, improved maternity health services, reinforced reproductive rights, enhanced protection against fibroids and ovarian cancer, and stringent measures to prevent human trafficking,” Webb said via email. 

Sigler said he wants to provide resources to fight opioid addiction, suggesting putting a detox center in every county. His campaign site said he would like to see the state put forward bills that would fully cover cancer treatment in the New York state budget. He said he wants to address mental health, mentioning how New York has lost 990 beds at inpatient psychiatric facilities and that only 222 have been recovered.

“We talk about mental health locally,” Sigler said. “We’re trying to build a mental health stabilization unit in partnership with a hospital. … [The state is] not addressing mental health, I think, to the extent that we need to.”

Economy

Webb’s campaign site states that she helped pass $350 million for the Refundable Child Tax Credit in the 2024–25 New York State budget. Her campaign site said she delivered $150,000 for workforce development initiatives with the Broome, Cortland and Tompkins County Chambers of Commerce as part of that budget. She said she prioritizes the needs of working families and wants to make New York more affordable.

Our region has been reeling from years of significant underinvestment, and un-doing that underinvestment takes time,” Webb said. “I am committed to making our region and state more affordable by expanding housing for low and middle-income families, lifting up wages, continuing to invest in our public schools, and supporting our small businesses.”

Sigler’s campaign site says he has experience making job creation easier through his role on the Industrial Development Agency in Tompkins County. He said he prioritizes giving funding to local governments over the state, citing the state withholding federal aid for Medicaid from counties.

“We used to get federal Medicaid Assistance Program money,” Sigler said. “The state came along and decided to pocket that money instead of sending it down to the counties. … What I wanted to do was go into Albany and get that money back.”

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