State lawmakers stand with Steuben County’s Tobia family
A weekly Column by NY State Senator Tom O’Mara
The numbers are startling: A 2023 report found that the suicide rate in rural New York was twice that of urban New York and is increasing at a significantly greater rate. According to the report, the suicide rate increased 17% in rural areas of the state between 2019 and 2020.
The numbers are alarming enough on their own, yet they don’t truly begin to tell the story of this crisis.
Corning resident and Steuben County Legislator Joe Tobia has been telling his personal story and raising awareness for all of us since August 2021, when he and his wife, Elisa, lost their son Matt to suicide following a long, tough, ultimately heartbreaking battle with schizophrenia exacerbated by addiction – an all-too-common dual diagnosis of mental illness and addiction.
In a recent interview with WENY-TV, Joe said, “(The proposed Rural Suicide Prevention Council) is a brand new way to investigate suicide fatalities and look at that path, the last five, six, seven months of these individuals who died by suicide, and determine: Where did we lose them? How did we fail them? Where could we have saved them? What services did they have? What services didn’t they have? My son met several barriers. A key part of the bill is finding those barriers and eliminating them.”
Over the past five years, Joe has been the driving force behind the development, sponsorship, and advancement of legislation to create a statewide Rural Suicide Prevention Council. Assemblymen Phil Palmesano, Assemblyman Joe Sempolinski, and I will join Joe once again later this week in Corning to renew our call to Governor Kathy Hochul to finally sign the legislation into law. The legislation (S3610A/A8434), which I co-sponsor with our Finger Lakes legislative colleague, Senator Pam Helming, has steadily gained strong bipartisan support in the Legislature over the past several years and was approved unanimously by the Senate and Assembly during the closing days of this year’s legislative session.
Governor Hochul vetoed similar legislation in 2024, citing fiscal concerns and stating her belief that existing state-level mental health programs and services already sufficiently address the issue. She has said that it’s an action that can only be addressed as part of the annual state budget adoption process, yet she has repeatedly failed to include it in her annual proposed budget.
We believe the governor’s “cost” excuse to be without merit as the Council members are not paid and the state Office of Mental Health is already studying suicide generally. However, the Democrat Majorities controlling the Legislature, with the ability to influence budget priorities, have likewise not prioritized the inclusion of this task force in the past several budgets.
So, we keep fighting. Standing alongside Joe, we have long championed this initiative to strengthen suicide prevention efforts in rural communities and regions like those we represent across the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes.
If signed into law by the governor once it’s delivered to her desk before the end of this year, the new law would establish a 15-member Rural Suicide Prevention Council to examine the epidemic of suicide in rural New York and develop a comprehensive plan to address it. The Council would be comprised of the commissioners of the state departments of Agriculture, Health, and Mental Health, and 12 other members appointed by legislative leaders.
We remain proud to join Joe and once again renew our call to Governor Hochul to sign this legislation into law. The creation of a state-level Rural Suicide Prevention Council could make the difference in confronting this challenge and crisis. It would serve as a badly needed lifeline for addressing the epidemic of rural suicide. Governor Hochul should join the Legislature this year in recognizing the need and the potential effectiveness of this strategy. We have stood proudly with Joe throughout this effort. His perseverance has been heartfelt, steadfast, and tireless since the loss of his son, Matt. He has remained determined to do anything and everything he can to try to ensure that no other family has to face this tragedy alone, and we have welcomed the opportunity to help build bipartisan, strong support within the State Legislature. Now we need to convince Governor Hochul that this is the right thing to do. Rural suicide prevention deserves this attention and action. It’s time for the governor to act this year.
Joe believes his son Matt is the true driving force behind the effort.
“Sometimes I think he’s pushing me along, saying, ‘Hey, get this done, Dad,’” Joe told WENY. “So that keeps me going.”
If you’d like to share your own support and call on Governor Hochul to sign the law establishing the Rural Suicide Prevention Council, contact the governor:
- By phone: 518-474-8390;
- By e-mail via the following link to the Governor’s contact page: https://governor.ny.gov/content/governor-contact-form; or
- By mail: The Honorable Kathy Hochul, Governor of New York State, NYS Capitol, Albany, New York 12224.
