Governor Hochul: “You know, extraordinary amounts of money have been spent: over $1 billion committed by me my first year, and it's going into everything from assistance on our subways with SOS teams, to making sure we have more psychiatric beds open to make sure that we have all kinds of treatment paths once someone is discharged so we don't have people cycle in and out which has happened — and we've done a lot.”

Hochul: “Thank you for being out there. It gives me this great sense of comfort to know that you're out there taking care of our people and bringing them the best services that they deserve. And I'm a New Yorker and I always want to do better. Always raising the bar. That's how we operate.”

Governor Kathy Hochul met with U.S. Representative Dan Goldman and local, Brooklyn-based New York-Presbyterian clinicians to discuss the Governors' executive budget proposal to strengthen laws that allow providers to issue care and treatment for individuals with severe mental illness.

B-ROLL of the Governor participating in the roundtable discussion with U.S. Representative Dan?Goldman is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr page will post photos of the event here.

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

?It is great to see everybody. And we think about our challenges to our health care system, the disinvestment in mental health for decades that has led us to where we are today, and the people that are on the front lines. The people that you work with. The question becomes, “What can we do to make your jobs easier to protect New Yorkers and keep all of them safe? What changes in law are necessary to get to the results where we don't have horrific incidents of people being hurt on subways?” But also that people get the compassionate care they deserve, and those are not inconsistent values.

And I want to thank Congressman Goldman, who has been a real champion in Congress. And he'll talk about his initiatives, but I have a lot of confidence in his commitment to working with the State to ensure that we're doing everything we can in our power, funding wise. You know, extraordinary amounts of money have been spent: over $1 billion committed by me my first year, and it's going into everything from assistance on our subways with SOS teams, to making sure we have more psychiatric beds open to make sure that we have all kinds of treatment paths once someone is discharged so we don't have people cycle in and out which has happened — and we've done a lot.

And Doctor Sullivan has been my partner in this, and I want to thank her for just being out there and talking to our allies in the community so they understand my priorities. And so we have some suggested ideas on some legislation that I believe will help us help you be able to get the results we need — which is not to cycle people in and out, because the standards are someone needs help, they present themselves in the hospital, but they leave because there's not determined to be a threat to their health or the health of others; the safety.

We're just saying there's another layer here that you need to look at. Are they able to take care of themselves? Are they starving themselves? Are they living in squalor conditions? Are they not able to take care of their own physical needs? And for us to leave a person on the subway or street in that condition — it seems very cruel to me when we have professionals who know how to take care of them.

So, that's what we want to talk about. And I just want to, again, appreciate all of you and our Assemblymember Bobby Carroll here, who's been a great friend on these issues as well. But I'll just turn it over to the Congressman and just, you know, talk about some of the work you're doing.

But I just want to listen for a few minutes. We've got a little abbreviated schedule because— there's always something, I'll just say that. We got some, you know, some situation has risen out of Washington that's independent from everything else in the City. So I need to address that, but I'll certainly allow the conversation to continue and get back the data.

But I'm just here to say thank you. Thank you for being out there. It gives me this great sense of comfort to know that you're out there taking care of our people and bringing them the best services that they deserve. And I'm a New Yorker and I always want to do better. Always raising the bar. That's how we operate.

Alright, Congressman.