Good afternoon and Happy New Year.

First, let me congratulate my friend and colleague, Senator Malcolm Smith, on his historic election as Majority Leader of the Senate.

Although there has been a lot of speculation, let me state for the record that I have great confidence in Senator Smith’s ability to lead as the first Democratic Majority Leader of the State Senate since 1964.

Speaking for my colleagues in the Assembly Majority, I look forward to working with him and with the Senate Majority to address the serious challenges before our State and to usher in a new era of cooperation between the houses of this Legislature.

As for the State of the State Address, I – and my Assembly Majority colleagues – wholeheartedly congratulate the Governor on what was a sobering yet uplifting message to the People.

Like the Governor, we, too, are eagerly awaiting the inauguration of the new president.

It is important, however, that we acknowledge the history that was made in the People’s House of the Legislature just a short time ago.

On this first day of this 232nd Session of the New York State Legislature, New York State’s first African American governor delivered his first State of the State Address.

The Governor’s speech was a truly momentous occasion and I am proud, as Speaker of the Assembly, to have been on the rostrum with him and with Majority Leader Smith.

Given the events of 2008, surely, one cannot help but be impressed by the leadership the Governor has displayed in the face of an economic calamity unparalleled in our lifetimes.

The Members of the Legislature and our staffs have been working – and continue to work – tirelessly on our analysis of the Governor’s budget presentation and its impact on all of the segments that comprise New York State’s population.

Poised as we are to commence with the legislative hearings on the Governor’s proposal, there is no escaping the stark reality that balancing the budget will require tough cuts, tough choices, and tough sacrifices.

As I told you following the Governor’s budget presentation, my Assembly colleagues and I are anxious to work with the Governor and with our colleagues in the Senate to address this challenging economy head on.

As we work to pass a fair, balanced and on-time budget, we will ensure that the burden of addressing the current crisis does not fall disproportionately on to the backs of New York’s working families, but there is no way to sugar coat the situation.

Inevitably, there will be fewer resources for government programs that New Yorkers count on and some of the goals we have been working for and sponsoring as individual legislators, as a body, and as a state, will have to be delayed.

What will never change are the objectives that have defined the Assembly Majority and our leadership for more than a decade:

A sound, basic education for every child;

The opportunity to earn a college degree within the reach of every New Yorker;

Access to health care for every man, woman and child;

More affordable housing and stronger protections for those families living in rent-regulated housing;

Investments in the physical and economic growth of our great upstate cities from Western New York to the Hudson Valley, the North Country to the Southern Tier – and that means jobs;

Holding the state and the nation to its moral obligation to rebuild Ground Zero and the surrounding Lower Manhattan community;

Infrastructure investments, including a plan to rescue the MTA, and to pay for needed improvements to mass transit, roads and bridges;

And clearly, it is time to reform the draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws.

These are the core elements of the Democratic vision for New York State.

Now that the People have spoken, we Democrats have a rare opportunity to implement that vision and a tremendous obligation to carry through on our promises. How we respond will determine how we will be judged.

Yes, in this time of conflict and worldwide financial collapse, it is easy to see only the darkness that looms on our horizon when, in fact, we stand together on the doorstep of an incredible moment in American history.

In 13 days, the Governor and I – along with a number of New York leaders – will be carrying the hopes of all New Yorkers to our nation’s capital for the inauguration of President-Elect Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.

So will begin a new era of hope, a new era of change, a new era of American government that is committed to giving working families and our least fortunate citizens the opportunity for a better and more dignified quality of life.

That is our calling. The Assembly stands ready to respond to it.