Affordability and the Economy

Assemblyman Josh Jensen believes every New Yorker should be able to afford to live, work and raise a family in the community they call home. With families and small businesses facing rising costs for groceries, housing, health care, energy and taxes, he supports practical policies that provide meaningful and lasting relief—not temporary fixes. His priorities include controlling the growth of state spending, using taxpayer dollars efficiently, delivering long-term property-tax relief and opposing unfunded mandates that increase costs for residents, employers and local governments. He has also advocated for more affordable and reliable energy, greater transparency in utility pricing and policies that strengthen New York’s economic competitiveness. For Josh, affordability means respecting taxpayers, protecting household budgets and creating an environment where families and businesses can build a future without being forced to leave New York.

Josh believes New York’s economy succeeds when people can find good-paying careers, local businesses can grow and communities have the infrastructure needed to attract responsible investment. His approach focuses on making New York more competitive by controlling taxes, reducing unnecessary regulations, maintaining reliable energy and helping employers overcome workforce shortages.

Josh supports expanding career and technical education, apprenticeships, union training programs and partnerships among schools, community colleges and local employers. Students should understand that there are many paths to success—including the skilled trades, health care, manufacturing, technology and public service—not only a traditional four-year degree.

Josh has also made rebuilding the health-care workforce a priority. He supports practical reforms that help New York recruit and retain nurses, home-care workers, emergency medical personnel and other essential professionals.

Josh favors economic-development investments that are transparent, locally supported and tied to measurable results. Rather than offering blank checks to politically connected corporations, state programs should help existing small businesses expand, encourage innovation and attract emerging industries. New York should welcome opportunities in advanced manufacturing, clean energy, data infrastructure and life sciences while ensuring development strengthens the surrounding community.

His broader economic approach emphasizes long-term tax relief and restoring New York’s competitiveness, along with support for stronger small businesses and local communities.

Public Safety
Assemblyman Josh Jensen believes government’s foremost responsibility is protecting the safety and security of its citizens. He supports establishing a dangerousness standard that allows judges to consider whether an individual poses a threat to the public when making pretrial decisions, particularly in cases involving violence or repeat offenders. Josh has also consistently advocated for ensuring police officers, firefighters and other first responders have the personnel, training, equipment and resources necessary to serve their communities safely and effectively.

At the same time, Josh understands that lasting public safety requires more than arresting the same individuals repeatedly. He supports effective rehabilitation, mental-health and substance-use treatment, educational opportunities and job training that address the causes of criminal behavior. By helping formerly incarcerated individuals successfully reenter their communities, find employment and become contributing members of society, New York can reduce recidivism, prevent future crime and build safer neighborhoods for everyone.
 

Assemblyman Josh Jensen believes New York can support lawful immigration while maintaining public safety and respecting the rule of law. He opposes blanket state policies that prevent local law enforcement from communicating or cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, particularly when an individual has been charged with a serious crime, is a repeat offender or presents a danger to the community. Local officials should have the discretion to work with federal authorities when doing so makes their communities safer.
 

At the same time, Josh believes immigration enforcement must be lawful, humane and focused on genuine public-safety threats—not used to indiscriminately target peaceful, hardworking people who are contributing to their communities. Federal authorities must respect constitutional rights and due process, while state and local policies should preserve trust between law enforcement and the residents they serve. Josh supports a balanced approach that targets dangerous offenders, protects law-abiding families and recognizes the important contributions immigrants make throughout New York.

Education and Schools
Assemblyman Josh Jensen believes every child deserves access to a high-quality education that prepares them for a successful future. He has consistently voted for the portions of the New York State Budget that increase funding for the Greece, Hilton, Spencerport, Brockport and Churchville-Chili school districts, helping local schools provide strong academic programs, student services and safe learning environments. Josh also supports expanding access to prekindergarten, addressing the child-care challenges facing working families and ensuring education funding is used effectively in the classroom.

As someone who personally benefited from speech therapy as a child—and whose son also received similar support—Josh has become one of the Legislature’s strongest voices for Early Intervention. He continues to advocate for higher provider reimbursement rates, a stronger workforce and timely access to speech, occupational and physical therapies so children with developmental delays receive life-changing services when they need them most.

Josh believes affordable, dependable child care is essential for children, working families and New York’s economy. Parents should not be forced to choose between earning a paycheck and finding a safe, nurturing place for their children to learn and grow.

As a member of the Assembly Committee on Children and Families, Josh supports expanding child-care capacity, strengthening the provider workforce and helping families manage the cost of care. He has proposed creating child-care options during evenings, overnight hours and weekends for nurses, first responders, service workers and other parents whose jobs do not follow a traditional nine-to-five schedule.

Healthcare
As the Ranking Member of the Assembly Health Committee, Assemblyman Josh Jensen has become a leading voice for accessible, affordable and sustainable health care. He believes every New Yorker—regardless of age, income, disability or ZIP code—should be able to receive quality care from a trusted provider in their own community.
Josh supports strengthening the entire continuum of care, including hospitals, nursing homes, primary and behavioral health providers, emergency medical services and home- and community-based care. His priorities include addressing workforce shortages, improving reimbursement rates, lowering costs for patients and ensuring Medicaid dollars are directed efficiently toward services that produce better outcomes. He has also advocated for protecting community pharmacies, expanding the health-care workforce and preserving patient choice.

Assemblyman Jensen believes every New Yorker deserves access to affordable, dependable and high-quality health care. However, he opposes the New York Health Act because replacing existing coverage with a government-run, single-payer system would require enormous new taxes, eliminate many employer- and union-negotiated insurance plans and place Albany in control of patients’ health-care choices.
Josh believes rejecting the New York Health Act is not enough—state leaders must advance practical reforms that address the problems patients and providers face today. He supports lowering premiums and out-of-pocket costs, increasing competition and transparency, protecting patient choice and strengthening community hospitals, nursing homes, pharmacies, emergency medical services and home-care providers. He has also championed efforts to address workforce shortages, improve access to mental-health and substance-use treatment, increase reimbursement for essential services and help New Yorkers receive care closer to home.

Josh approaches health policy pragmatically and works across party lines to find solutions. He believes reform should be transparent, guided by patients and providers, and focused on building a health-care system that remains dependable for today’s families and sustainable for future generations.

Housing
Assemblyman Josh Jensen believes every New Yorker should have access to a safe, stable and affordable place to call home. Addressing the housing shortage requires building more homes, lowering the cost of construction and creating meaningful pathways from renting to homeownership—while respecting the character and decision-making authority of local communities.

Josh supports incentives that help communities develop housing where infrastructure and local planning can responsibly support it. He opposes one-size-fits-all mandates imposed by Albany that override local zoning or burden existing taxpayers without providing resources for roads, water, sewers, schools and public safety.

Josh also believes housing assistance should promote long-term stability and opportunity. He supports pairing rental assistance with financial literacy, job support and homeownership preparation so families who are able can build credit, save for a down payment and ultimately purchase a home. At the same time, seniors, people with disabilities and families facing hardship must have access to dependable housing support.
His approach recognizes the needs of both tenants and responsible property owners, encourages construction and rehabilitation, and focuses on helping more New Yorkers put down roots in the communities they love. Jensen has previously advocated for delivering relief directly to renters and landlords experiencing financial hardship.

Energy
Assemblyman Josh Jensen believes New York needs an energy policy built around three equally important goals: affordability, reliability and environmental sustainability. Families should not have to choose between paying their utility bills and meeting other household needs, while businesses and employers need dependable power to remain competitive and create jobs.

Josh supports modernizing the electrical grid, expanding transmission capacity and developing enough generation to meet growing demand. He favors a diverse, technology-neutral energy portfolio that includes nuclear power, hydropower, natural gas, solar, wind, energy storage and emerging technologies. Rather than prematurely eliminating reliable sources, New York should expand clean baseload power—including advanced nuclear energy—while ensuring the grid can support electrification, new businesses and data-intensive industries.

Josh opposes arbitrary mandates and deadlines that exceed the grid’s capacity or shift unaffordable costs onto ratepayers. He also supports greater transparency and accountability for utilities, returning surplus climate funds to consumers and giving local communities a meaningful voice in energy siting decisions. His goal is straightforward: cleaner energy, a stronger grid and lower costs—without sacrificing reliability.

Mental Health Care and Addiction
Assemblyman Josh Jensen believes mental health care is health care and should be accessible before a personal struggle becomes a crisis. As the Ranking Member of the Assembly Health Committee, he supports building a stronger continuum of behavioral health services—from early intervention and outpatient counseling to mobile crisis response, inpatient treatment and long-term recovery support.

Josh’s priorities include addressing the shortage of mental health professionals, improving insurance coverage and reimbursement, expanding school- and community-based services, and ensuring children and families can obtain care without months-long delays. He also supports stronger suicide-prevention efforts and better coordination among hospitals, providers, schools, first responders and law enforcement.

Josh recognizes that untreated mental illness and substance-use disorders can contribute to homelessness, family instability, emergency-room overcrowding and involvement with the criminal justice system. He believes compassionate treatment and public safety must work together. People experiencing a crisis should receive appropriate care, while individuals who pose a danger to themselves or others must not be abandoned without intervention.

Seniors
Assemblyman Josh Jensen believes older New Yorkers deserve the opportunity to remain independent, secure and connected to the communities they helped build. His experience working at one of Upstate New York’s largest nursing homes, combined with his leadership on the Assembly Health Committee, gives him a practical understanding of the challenges facing seniors, families and caregivers.

Josh supports strong home- and community-based services that allow seniors to remain safely in their homes for as long as possible. He has been a leading advocate for protecting the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program, including fighting to prevent a rushed state transition from disrupting care for elderly and disabled New Yorkers.
 

His priorities also include strengthening the home-care workforce, supporting family caregivers, making prescription drugs and health care more affordable, providing property-tax relief and protecting seniors from fraud and financial exploitation. When a higher level of care becomes necessary, Josh believes assisted-living facilities and nursing homes must have adequate staffing, responsible oversight and sustainable funding to provide residents with dignity and quality care.

Environment
Assemblyman Josh Jensen believes protecting New York’s natural resources is a responsibility shared across generations. From Lake Ontario and Braddock Bay to local parks, wetlands and waterways, he supports investments that improve water quality, restore habitats, combat invasive species and preserve the places that make Western New York a special place to live. His commitment includes hands-on participation in community conservation efforts, such as removing invasive water chestnuts from Braddock Bay.

Josh also believes environmental progress must be both achievable and affordable. He opposes rigid, one-size-fits-all mandates that raise utility bills, strain the electrical grid or impose unsustainable costs on families, businesses, schools and local governments. Instead, he supports a diverse energy strategy that reduces emissions while maintaining reliability—one that includes renewable resources, expanded nuclear power, modernized infrastructure and continued technological innovation.

For Josh, environmental stewardship and economic responsibility are not competing goals. New York can protect its air, land and water while keeping energy affordable, preserving jobs and ensuring communities have a meaningful voice in the decisions that affect them.

Agriculture and Food
Assemblyman Josh Jensen believes New York’s farms are essential to the state’s economy, food supply and quality of life. He supports family farms, agricultural businesses and food producers by working to reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens, address workforce shortages, preserve productive farmland and keep energy, equipment and operating costs manageable.

Josh also believes healthy food should be accessible and affordable in every community. As a leading voice on health policy, he recognizes that nutrition and food security are critical forms of preventive health care. He supports strengthening connections among New York farmers, schools, food banks, senior programs and community organizations so locally produced fruits, vegetables, dairy products, meat and other foods reach families who need them.

His priorities include supporting farmers markets and farm-to-school initiatives, maintaining strong food-safety standards and expanding nutrition education without limiting individual choice. Programs that purchase food from New York producers for distribution through local food banks can simultaneously support farmers, reduce hunger and strengthen community health.

For Josh, sound agricultural policy means keeping farms economically viable, protecting the local food supply and making nutritious food easier for New Yorkers to find and afford.

Veterans
Assemblyman Josh Jensen believes honoring veterans requires more than words—it requires ensuring they and their families receive the support they have earned. Veterans should be able to access quality health care, mental-health services, employment assistance, education, housing and benefits without being lost in government bureaucracy.

Josh supports expanding the PFC Joseph P. Dwyer Peer Support Program, which connects veterans with other veterans who understand the challenges of military service. He also supports Veterans Treatment Courts that combine accountability with specialized treatment for eligible veterans whose mental-health or substance-use challenges contribute to involvement with the justice system.

His commitment extends to active-duty personnel, reservists and the New York National Guard. Josh has urged the state to provide paid-family-leave protections for Guard members called to domestic emergencies so citizen-soldiers and their families do not face unnecessary financial or job insecurity while serving New Yorkers.

Josh also believes the state should help veterans translate military experience into civilian credentials, employment and educational opportunities. His district office remains available to help veterans and their families navigate state agencies and connect with available services.
His record includes advocacy for the Dwyer Peer Support Program and Veterans Treatment Courts, as well as workplace protections for National Guard members.

Government Spending
Assemblyman Josh Jensen believes every tax dollar should be treated with the same care families and small businesses give their own budgets. New York can fund strong schools, reliable infrastructure, quality health care and essential public services without accepting unchecked spending growth, waste or programs that fail to deliver meaningful results.

Josh reviews the state budget on its merits. He has consistently supported individual budget measures that benefit local schools, strengthen health care and invest in Western New York, while opposing overall spending plans he believes are excessive, unsustainable or insufficiently transparent. He supports controlling annual spending growth, evaluating programs for effectiveness and eliminating duplication, fraud and waste.

Fiscal responsibility does not mean abandoning people who need help. It means setting priorities, protecting essential services and ensuring resources reach the residents and communities they are intended to serve. Josh believes responsible budgeting today will make New York more affordable, protect taxpayers and preserve the state’s ability to respond to future needs without continually raising taxes or shifting costs to local governments.

Ethics
Assemblyman Josh Jensen believes public office is a public trust—and that taxpayers deserve a state government that is honest, transparent and accountable. For too long, major decisions in Albany have been negotiated behind closed doors, rushed to a vote and buried in massive budget bills before the public has a meaningful opportunity to review them.

Josh has introduced legislation to create an Office of Fiscal Transparency so New Yorkers can better understand how state government collects and spends their money. He supports stronger independent ethics enforcement, meaningful oversight of state agencies, greater disclosure of government contracts and economic-development spending, and sufficient public review before major legislation is brought to a vote.

Josh also believes accountability must apply equally to both parties. Corruption is not Democratic or Republican—it is a betrayal of the people government is supposed to serve. He will continue challenging waste, secrecy, political favoritism and abuses of power while working to make state government more open, responsive and worthy of the public’s trust.

Federal Government

Assemblyman Josh Jensen believes his responsibility is to the people he represents—not to any president, governor or political party. When a presidents advances policies that strengthen the economy, improve public safety or benefit our community, Josh is willing to support them. But when the administration pursues actions that threaten health-care access, raise costs for families and businesses, disregard constitutional safeguards or harm the communities he serves, Josh will speak out and push back.

Josh believes public officials should be judged by their decisions, not their party labels. That means demanding accountability, rejecting divisive rhetoric and standing up for the rule of law regardless of who holds power. He will continue working with leaders of either party when cooperation produces results, while never serving as a rubber stamp for Washington—or allowing partisan loyalty to come before the needs and values of his constituents.