Kemp Hannon

Kemp Hannon 

Republican

BACKGROUND: Hannon, 72, of Garden City, is running on the Republican, Independence, Conservative and Reform party lines. He is the chairman of the state Senate Health Committee and has been a member of the State Senate since 1989, and previously served on the Assembly for 12 years. Hannon received his bachelor’s degree from Boston College and his law degree from Fordham University. He is married with two children.

ISSUES: Hannon was among the lead sponsors on a bill that eventually became the $2.5 billion Clean Water Infrastructure Act passed in 2017 by the State Legislature and signed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, which included the creation of the Drinking Water Quality Council to make recommendations on new state standards for certain contaminants. As recent as October 2018, Hannon pushed for new requirements for the state to publicly post information about emerging contaminants that could affect people’s health, complimenting a series of drinking water safeguards enacted over his last term. Hannon’s Drug Take Back Act also became state law requiring chain pharmacies to offer collection services of unused medication and holding pharmaceutical companies responsible for the cost of proper drug disposal. He was also among a bipartisan group of state senators who earlier this year called for an overhaul of regulations governing the retention and handling of rape kits, including the creation of a central storage facility where the forensic evidence would be kept for at least 20 years. If re-elected, Hannon vows to push for a “truly independent inspector general in the state” and because he would like for the state comptroller to conduct “pre-audits” before state contracts are awarded.