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By Melanie Lekocevic

Capital Region Independent Media

State Sen. Sue Serino, R-41, is running for re-election in the newly created 41st state Senate District.

The Senate’s district lines were redrawn by the state earlier this year.

“With redistricting, I’ve actually had three maps,” Serino said. “With the final map, it goes from Hyde Park north, where I live in Dutchess County, and all of Columbia and Greene counties and the river side of Ulster County. That’s the map we have right now.”

Serino began working early in life and said she understands the financial struggles many families are going through.

“I’m somebody who started working at the age of 15,” she said. “I was a single mom for a period of my life, and that’s why I think, especially today, I understand what is going on with people — living paycheck to paycheck — and that panic that sets in when you are confronted with so many bills. A lot of people are in that situation right now and there is a lot of fear going on coming up on winter with high utility costs, fuel oil costs, especially for seniors.”

Serino owned several businesses during her career.

“I had opened up a childcare business so I could be home with my son during the day and later on I opened up a real estate business to help people make their dreams come true, and I’ve been doing that ever since. I absolutely love it,” Serino said. “But it was because of my real estate business that I got involved in politics.”

Serino said she and her husband bought an 1800s house and went to the town for approvals to renovate it. They were told there were numerous requirements but that the planning board only meets once a month.

“That was something that didn’t make sense to me so I ran and served on the town board, then the county Legislature, and then the Senate asked me to run,” Serino said, adding that serving in public office was not something she had planned.

During her time in the state Senate, Serino has worked to bring several improvements to the district, she said.

“The Pudding Street overpass [on the Taconic State Parkway] was a huge endeavor,” Serino said. “A woman started that, Sue Kelly, over 20 years ago, trying to get that done. I got on a school bus with reporters and local elected officials to drive across the Taconic to show how dangerous it was and we were able to get funding and now it’s completed. We’ve named it the First Responders’ Bridge.”

Serino said she also worked to bring the Vet to Vet peer assistance program to Dutchess County.

“But I think my biggest accomplishment is our constituent services — ours are second to none,” she said. “In fact, we have other constituents call us for help. That is what I am most proud of — we have a great team that we put together and everybody cares as much for our neighbors as I do.”

Moving forward, Serino thinks one of the top issues facing the district is making things more affordable.

“There is so much spending, wasteful spending, taxes,” Serino said. “There are so many things we can work on, and we should be working on, to make it more affordable. I think about our seniors — I always go back to our seniors, but they made our community what we love today and we want to be able to keep them here, so to make it more affordable for them, those are the kinds of things we need to work on.”

Crime is another issue the state Legislature needs to address, she said.

“Public safety is a huge issue,” according to Serino. “When the bail reform legislation passed, I had domestic violence advocates, DAs (district attorneys), law enforcement — Democrats and Republicans — come to me and talk to me about the loopholes and they really sounded the alarm. Bail reform started with the best of intentions — people with low-level offenses should not be held because they don’t the means. It just went too far.”

She would like to see the state take a fresh look at bail reform.

Mental health is another issue Serino would like to work on.

“Mental health help is something we need to address. It’s something we have been talking about for years. We need to be in the schools more. Kids are asking for it — they are begging for help,” she said, adding that addressing the opioid and substance abuse issue is also critical.

The state has made progress on bringing broadband to areas that are currently lacking access, but more needs to be done, Serino said.

“We put a large amount of money into broadband when Gov. [Andrew] Cuomo was in office. It’s crazy that there are still pockets of places that don’t have broadband services,” she said. “We have to make it where it’s less expensive, less taxes. The fiber optic tax was something we worked on last year and we were successful with, and we have to do more. I also talked to some of the companies and asked them about giving senior discounts.”

The issue of abortion and reproductive rights has been in the national spotlight with the overturning of the Roe v. Wade decision by the Supreme Court in June.

“This is a very, very sensitive subject on both sides,” Serino said. “We had a bill that came before us called the Equal Rights Amendment and I voted for it. That bill would put it out for a vote because I don’t believe politicians should be telling women what to do, so that’s really the fair way to do it because it’s sensitive on both sides.”

Serino said she opposed legislation known as the Reproductive Health Act that codified the Roe v. Wade decision into New York state law because of its provision for late-term abortions.

“That bill would actually allow abortions up until the ninth month and would allow non-doctors to perform them,” Serino said. “That is something I could not support, and 80% of the public does not support that either.”

Watch the full interview with Republican candidate state Sen. Sue Serino, running for the 41st state Senate District, at www.theupstater.com

Election Day will be Nov. 8.