Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Announces First Long Island Investment Fund Award of $10 Million to Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul announced the $350 million Long Island Investment Fund awarded its first grant to the The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research to construct 40,000 square feet of new state-of-the-art labs to support medical and infectious disease research. The $10 million Long Island Investment Fund grant complements an additional $30 million in State support previously awarded to the Feinstein Institutes to modernize 20,000 square feet of its Institute of Bioelectronic Medicine, which Governor Hochul opened today. New York State's assistance is part of an $85 million modernization effort at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research in Manhasset, Nassau County, and a broader initiative to highlight the growing life science industry on Long Island. The Feinstein Institutes is the research arm of Northwell Health and is one of the leading laboratory and research centers in the country, conducting cutting-edge studies that seek to cure diseases.

VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO of the event is available here.

PHOTOS of the event are available on the Governor's Flickr page.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks are available below:

Thank you, everyone. Thank you, Michael. You will always be an individual that we have such admiration and gratitude for, the way you and Northwell stepped up to help us get through a global pandemic, and that was a real test. And you are an individual that we are proud that we call our own here in New York State, but the global reach of the work that's done in the many, many facets of Northwell, particularly in the research, is transformative and saving lives. So again, let's give round of applause to Michael Dowling, the President and CEO of Northwell.

And you gave a shoutout to Sharon and to Chad here. I want to thank you for just being so strong and overcoming so much. And you go through life thinking everything's going to be on a certain path, and one day it's not. And to you and to Casey, who I saw story profiling his journey this morning in Newsday, it's humbling for the rest of us to know there's people out there who are so tough and so resilient, and your story gives hope to others. So, let's give them both the applause, Sharon and Chad, for what you've done.

You also are blessed with extraordinary elected officials here, and I know what I'm talking about because I get to travel the entire state. They are committed, they're dedicated, they are hardworking, and they are passionate about making sure that the needs of Long Islanders are met. And I know that because I heard a lot from them in the entire year I've been the Governor of the State of New York. So, let me acknowledge Anna Kaplan, who you'll be hearing from shortly. She's the 17th district. Anna, thank you for all you do. You're going to be hearing from Assemblymember Gina Sillitti. She's the 16th district. But also our friend, Senator Kevin Thomas, thank you for everything you have done. Senator John Brooks, an important part of this initiative, and Jim Gaughran as well. And I will say that Todd Kaminsky was also, as a senator, was very involved in helping us get the resources for this.

I also want to mention to Michael, Kevin Tracey, I mean, everybody has their own superheroes. People they look up to and sometimes our superheroes, they're actually wearing not a cape, but a lab coat. And to the people who innovated this whole new field of medicine, of bio electronics. And 10 points to anybody out in the street who knows what that is. I know you all know what it is in here, but that is extraordinary and that's what gives me such pride as a New Yorker to know that that work is being done right here. Started in 1996, really didn't come into its full existence until about 10 years ago. But Kevin, stand up and take a bow. Kevin Tracey, the President of the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. Thank you.

And Kevin Law, who's the Chair of Empire State Development, knows a little bit about Long Island. We recruited him from Long Island intentionally because we knew he knew the needs of the entire state, but also a special emphasis on a part of our state that sometimes feels a little bit overlooked, and wants to make sure that they get the full attention they deserve. And someone who's a well-known around this state, a rockstar in her work, a true leader of an organization that is making economic development decisions that are lifting New Yorkers up every day, and that is the President of ESD, Hope Knight. Let's give Hope Knight a round of applause as well.

Well, I just want to say I had a really smooth ride out here. I didn't used to be able to say that before we tackled the potholes. Oh, Taylor Darling. I didn't acknowledge Taylor Darling. I'm sorry, I forgot I didn't mention you. Taylor, the pothole person. The person who I was on a phone call with last year and I said, "Where are you? Where are you, Assemblymember?" So I remember she goes, "Well, I'm sitting at a tire repair shop right now because another $500 of repairing another tire that was a victim of a pothole on Long Island." And I said, "We're going to go at it." And so, we actually put a billion dollars into the State's fund to go after the potholes. We will be - so, I thought a little bit smoother right out there. I'm used to getting jostled around in the back seats of trucks all over the state. And we will be making an announcement to talk about our progress. And I'm really proud that we've done over 300 miles of lane miles since I've been Governor, but it's been extraordinary.

So, that's just one investment. That's just one quality of life investment that we've been making, realizing that that's important to people. I know on Long Island it's about people talk about a couple of things. You talk about potholes, you talk about property taxes, and you talk about the Islanders. Okay, I get it, I get it. I spend a lot of time here. But I also want to talk about the future of Long Island overall and the investments we've made. And one of them is in education. That is an area where we have the opportunity to lift people up out of their circumstances. People come from all over. People like my grandparents had nothing, but when they're able to give their kids a good public education, and my parents were able to benefit, I was able to benefit as well. So, I want to make sure that we do that. We increased school aid to Long Island, increased by $457 million in our last budget. And again, I thank our members of our delegation. That's 12 percent more than the previous year. But also I mentioned property taxes.

So, we also decided that we would help give some relief with our property tax rebate, on average of $1,300 for over a half a million of Long Islanders benefited from that as well. So, we're very attuned to the concerns they have in a time of inflation. We want to put that money back in people's pockets. And we also have some challenges after the pandemic in particular and different parts of our state were hit harder than others, but the whole epidemic of the opioid crisis and how people are succumbing to addiction, people like my own nephew a few years back. This is personal to a lot of families and I want to make sure that we have the resources here. So, we allocated over $63 million, just to Long Island alone, of prevention and services there as well. But as we lift up our people, we invest in our people with education and health care and making sure that they have needs if they have particular challenges like we're also working to lift up the overall economy, putting that front and center, number one, in our transition to clean energy. You've heard me out here nonstop talking about our investment in offshore wind, and it's not just what's going to happen off the shores, it's the supply chain. It's over $500 million we've invested to create an ecosystem where there was none to say, we will put that investment here because it's going to benefit people all over, but particularly those who will be building the transmission lines and doing the work here and helping the men and women in labor here as well. So, that'll ultimately create over 2,000 green jobs right here. That's a lot of economic activity, but also how we get people around.

We're almost done with the Third Track, LIRR's Third Track. I met Kevin Law back in 2014 when I was just becoming a Lieutenant Governor, and I was Chair of the Regional Economic Development Council. They went to all the meetings. So, I knew all the products that were coming out of Long Island, and all I heard about, "If we can get this third track done, it'll be transformative." And we're just almost finished with that too as well. So, we're investing in the infrastructure, making sure the trains run more often. But also, there's that element, but also economic development, transforming our downtowns, looking at vacant properties and seeing a new project that could be incredible for a community and bring people jobs and opportunities. So, we decided that we didn't have the exact projects at the time and the budget, but why not set aside a fund, and this was working closely at the advocacy of your senators and your assemblymembers in particular. They were coming into my office every day during the budget process, and I congratulate them on our collective success of being able to find and allocate $350 million for projects that'll help the regional economy right here on Long Island, and that'll start delivering economic benefit all across Long Island.

So, that's what this fund is all about. And again, for the individuals who got this over the finish line, I'm grateful. And one thing we're focusing on, this is one of the industry clusters that we talked about with the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council. A big part of it truly is the booming life sciences sector. It is enormous here. This space owns it. This part of our state owns this, and the future of science and medicine, it's being innovated right here in this building, in this very building. So, we want to make sure that we continue to be, and will always be, the premier destination for life sciences, research and innovation. Such is why we're gathered here today.

What an extraordinary space this is, the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. And you think about the connectivity, the research corridor from here, Cold Spring Harbor, Brookhaven, Stony Brook. I mean, name another part of our country that has this. Now, some may think they have a little triangle, a triangle's kind of limiting, you know what I'm saying? It's not a big deal. We're a whole corridor. I think that sounds a lot better, don't you Kevin? And it sounds like there's unlimited possibilities as we build linkages into this corridor. So, I'm very excited about this. And we've made major progress in therapeutics and technology, and you don't have to look very far for incredible, world-class talent because it's all right here. And you think about the jobs we've created, the life-changing research, brand new technologies, and that's why we're here today to celebrate the completion of this project. It was a long time coming. A lot of people believed in this. So, we're celebrating that today and how this shows what real investments can do. So, this is, as I mentioned, a whole, whole new field of science. It was born here, grew up here. I don't know if it's in its teenage years, maybe young adult, you'd have to tell us. I'm not sure of the lifespan of a new field of science and medicine.

But this was just inconceivable a few years ago, and I want everybody to appreciate that. No one could have imagined that you could help people walk again. People come into a facility after something devastating, come in in a wheelchair, and see the path to be able to walk out with the assistance of the work that's being done right here. That is powerful. That is transformative. And that's really, when you think about why we are where we are, those who chose a life in science and medicine and research, and those of us who chose a path in public service, we're all aiming toward the same objective. And that is to give people a better outcome in life.

And so that's why we're here. And it's all happening right here on Long Island in this very space. And I'm excited about the fact that we're recruiting people from around the world, across the nation, across the road. Over 100 new people will be working here. These are good paying jobs. They'll be able to bring their families here and grow and can be part of the whole Long Island success story. And the State made over $30 million investment in this project to bring it to life. But again, we couldn't do without the people here today. I want to thank also the people who built this building, the trades people who work so hard to make sure that this is an exceptional building.

So, we put up the building. That's great. Okay. Nice, nice. We got a building, but we're not stopping there. I mentioned the Long Island Investment Fund at $350 million, when we talk about how we can target that money to make it really be impactful. And so I'm excited to announce that today, the fund's very first grant, a $10 million grant, is going right here to this facility to Feinstein. We are going to - thank you - we're going to renovate existing lab space and construct 10 new ones - state-of-the-art facilities. It'll support the center, and also, the ability to secure more federal grants from NIH. I mean, that's what's important. They're going to check out the facilities, and also to continue our recruitment of the very best and brightest across the world. So, it'll be cutting edge research in cancer, neuroscience, autoimmune diseases, and of course, our favorite, bioelectronic medicine. So my view is, and this goes back to an old baseball movie I love — if you build it, they will come. And now they're coming. And now they're coming. And that's so exciting. And I'm so energized by this.

This will be another 70 highway jobs - not highway jobs, high wage jobs. If they're not busy, I'll have them out in the highway working on the potholes too, because I'm not done with the potholes yet. But we're going to continue making these investments, but I also want to let you know we are - everybody get ready - because we're going to be launching a $50 million life sciences business competition right here on Long Island. So, get the word out. So, it's not just about the research, which is fabulous, but it's also about the commercialization of the innovations. And there's often a disconnect, and we want to make sure that through this competition, we make that connection tighter. And we'll be working collaboratively with local universities and research institutions, and it really will be a catalyst for startups. And that's what we're excited about as well, allowing people to come here in our research quarter and know that we can have great jobs created. So we're continuing our investment. Statewide, we have $620 million for the Life Sciences Initiative and we're going to just keep expanding it. It's amazing what we're doing here.

So, I want to thank everybody here because I say, "Why not Long Island? Why not Long Island?" And this is the place that is going to be known across the nation for not just having the smartest people, but the greatest facilities and the businesses that blossom as a result of the brilliant people that are working in the lab coats right here as we speak. So, this is a great day for Long Island. All the doers, the thinkers, this is where you want to congregate. And again, this is not just one reputation, it is an expanded reputation. People know that Long Island is where the future is being imagined, but also, we are now living in the future. We are now living in the future. And I find that very exciting. So, thank you very much. And with that we'll bring up, I believe Senator Anna Kaplan to give a few remarks.