Skoufis Pushes Road Fix Bills, Expands Pothole Reporting Tool

MIDDLETOWN, N.Y.—State Sen. James Skoufis is aiming to fix up Orange County’s roads with two pieces of legislation.

Skoufis is sponsoring the Safe Roads Act to change the fact that New York is not liable for damages suffered from road conditions on state roads between Nov. 16 and April 30. New York is the only state with a specific liability-free window; some harsh-winter states, such as Maine and Michigan, have “notice and negligence” standards that hold the state responsible if there was clear negligence with knowledge of road conditions.

The bill specifies that the state would not be liable for injury or damage caused by exemptions such as a lack of railings on a state highway, if the damage happened on a highway sidewalk, if it happened during highway construction or repairs, or if the damage was caused by ice or snow on a road that was otherwise safe for travel.

Skoufis is also sponsoring the Interactive Highway Defect Reporting Bill, which would require the commissioner of transportation to create a website where residents can report potholes and other defects on public highways. The Department of Transit would have 120 days to implement the website after the law is established.

Skoufis told The Epoch Times on April 6 that there is no way to contact the department to report potholes, except through a phone number that residents can leave a voicemail at to report the location of the damaged road conditions. The voicemails are transcribed and then sent to a maintenance crew in a process that could take several days.

Skoufis said many people find the voicemail approach outdated.

His office runs a pothole report survey, through which residents can submit locations for fixing directly to Skoufis’s office.

His office has been running the survey for several years, and he said it typically receives hundreds of responses.

Skoufis said that once a pothole is flagged, the Department of Transportation can get out and fix it quickly. He said he finds the online survey to be an effective method for gathering information.

Potholes are a serious issue, especially after winter, Skoufis said.

“Once we get through the winter, the snow melts, the roads are in the worst shape imaginable,” he said.

“The permanent fix comes in the form of repaving these deteriorating roads, and the Hudson Valley [roads], and really the entire state, are in unacceptable condition.”

The Reason Foundation, a libertarian public policy think tank, listed New York as having one of the worst overall highway systems among the 50 states in its 2026 annual Highway Report, ranking ahead of only Washington, California, and Alaska.

Skoufis mentioned that his office has to compete for the department’s attention, as other legislative offices have similar needs and goals. What he said he can do is affect the department’s funding in the state budget and introduce legislation to help people in Orange County and other New Yorkers.

Skoufis highlighted several major repaving projects scheduled in the state in 2026, including Routes 94/17A through the towns of Warwick and Goshen, Route 17 in Wallkill and Goshen, and Route 209 in Port Jervis and Cuddebackville.

Keeping Orange County roads clean is also a focus for Skoufis, who is soon to introduce a bill to allow cameras on state highways that would automatically ticket vehicles caught littering.