This Week in Government Affairs
January 13, 2012

TOP STORY

The Business Council continues its advocacy efforts to promote development of the Marcellus Shale formation. On Tuesday, we participated in a press conference with Clean Growth Now, a coalition of labor, business, landowners, and agriculture, that urged timely finalization of the Department of Environmental Conservation’s proposed regulatory program.

Business Council of New York State President Heather Briccetti said, “capitalizing on the tremendous opportunity offered by Marcellus shale development will help reduce our dependence on foreign oil, produce private-sector jobs, and attract investment. We’re confident development can be done safely and must be done in a timely manner.”

On Wednesday, The Council called for amendments that create a more workable and more certain approval process in detailed technical comments submitted in response to the DEC draft revised generic environmental impact state, proposed regulation, and proposed general permit for wastewater discharges. The industry is seeking final approval, and commencement of permitting in 2012. The Business Council and others have projected significant investments and jobs resulting from new, environmentally protective natural gas exploration. 

Staff contact: darren.suarez@bcnys.org

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Key Legislation

The Business Council is working on the following bills, which are set to move on a legislative committee agenda or Senate or Assembly floor calendar next week.  We urge members to weigh in with their Senate and Assembly representatives if these bills affect your business:

  • We oppose A.2474-A (Canestrari) on the Assembly Health Committee agenda for Thursday, January 19.  This bill allows health care providers, including physicians, to collectively bargaining with health plans on most major plan design elements and, in some instances, reimbursement rates.  This same bills, S.3186 (Hannon), passed the Senate in 2011.  Staff contact: maggie.moree@bcnys.org
  • We oppose A.7489 (Gottfried) which will impose yet another cost mandate on group health plans, by imposing a new mechanism to set mandatory  reimbursement rates for out-of-network providers.  Last week, its companion, S.5068-A (Hannon), passed the Senate Health Committee.  Staff contact: maggie.moree@bcnys.org 

Legislative Budget Hearings Announced

The legislature will commence its joint hearings on the Executive Budget on January 23, with thirteen issue specific hearings scheduled between then and February 14. The Business Council will be testifying at the Tuesday, January 31 hearing on economic development issues, and will be soliciting input from members once the Executive Budget is released next Tuesday. The full hearing schedule is available here.  
Staff contact: ken.pokalsky@bcnys.org

Minimum Wage

In his state of the city speech this week, Mayor Michael Bloomberg supported Assembly Speaker Silver’s call for an increase in the state minimum wage, which according to state Labor Law is the higher of the federal wage or $7.15/hour.  Eighteen states now have minimum wages higher than the federal standard. Neither Silver nor Bloomberg have made a specific proposal yet; in 2008, the Assembly passed legislation increasing the state minimum wage to $8.25/hour in three steps. This Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics site has detailed data on minimum wage earners at the national and state levels. 

Staff contact: tom.minnick@bcnys.org.

Legislative Session Calendar

The Legislature's calendar for session days is available here showing 62 scheduled session days, and breaks the weeks of February 20th, April 2nd and 9th.

REGULATORY UPDATE

Siting Law Rules

The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is proposing new regulations adopting carbon dioxide emission standards and environmental justice review criteria for new and modified power plants, as required by last year’s siting law. The new Part 251 will set CO2 emission standards for new major electric generating facilities (generating capacity of at least 25 MW), and for increases in capacity of at least 25 MW at existing electric generating facilities. The proposed Part 487 will establish the regulatory framework for undertaking an analysis of environmental justice issues associated with the siting of a major electric generating facility, including the evaluation of significant and adverse disproportionate environmental impacts, if any, which may result from the facility’s construction or operation. The Business Council will be reviewing and commenting on both proposals, and we welcome your input; the comment deadline is Thursday, March 15, 2012. Additional information is available here.

Staff contact: darren.suarez@bcnys.org

POLITICAL UPDATE

Oppenheimer Announcement

Senator Suzi Oppenheimer (D-Mamaroneck) has announced that she will not seek re-election, after 28 year career as a Westchester-area Senator. Oppenheimer has faced tough opponents in the past two elections; the 2010 election results were not declared until early December. Her Republican opponent, small business owner Bob Cohen, lost to the incumbent Oppenheimer by just seven hundred votes. Cohen is expected to run again and to make a formal announcement soon.  Democratic Assemblyman George Latimer who has represented the 91st Assembly District for the past 7 years, is also expected to run.  Redistricting may play a big role in his decision since no one knows where the district lines will fall yet.  This is the first open seat up for election in 2012 as the Republican led Senate tries to retain their slim majority over the Democrats.

Ranzenhofer Event

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos is hosting an event for Senator Mike Ranzenhofer in New York City on Wednesday, January 25, 2012. The event will be held at The Grand Havana Room located on 666 Fifth Avenue (between 52nd and 53rd Streets) on the 39th Floor in New York. For more information and to RSVP for this event please call 716-907-4485.  For more information, or a list of all scheduled fundraisers, contact heather.jung@bcnys.org.

Special Elections

Governor Cuomo has called special elections on March 20, 2012 to fill one vacant Senate seat and four Assembly seats. Few people have officially announced their candidacy; please check back for more information as they announce and for more information on the Special Elections on March 20, 2012. These seats include:

  • SD 27: The seat that was held by State Senator Carl Kruger since 1994 became vacant when Kruger resigned after pleading guilty to charges of corruption and bribery. Democratic City Councilman Lew Fidler has been selected to run against Republican attorney David Storobin.
  • AD 93: This seat became vacant after Assemblyman Mike Spano, a Democrat, successfully ran for Mayor of Yonkers. Former Chief Counsel to the Senate Democratic Conference Shelley Mayer will run; no GOP challenger has been named yet.
  • AD 100: Assemblyman Tom Kirwan, a Republican, passed away in November. He was first elected in 1994, lost his seat in 2008 and then won it back again in 2010.
  • AD 103: Assemblyman Marc Molinaro, a Republican, ran successfully for Dutchess County Executive after serving in the Assembly since 2006. 
  • AD 145: Assemblyman Mark Schroeder, a Democrat, ran unopposed for Buffalo City Comptroller. He was first elected to the Assembly in 2004.

BUSINESS COUNCIL EVENTS

Please note our full 2012 events calendar is available here.

Presidents Council/Government Affairs Council

Robert Megna, Director of the NYS Division of Budget, will be the guest speaker at our upcoming President's Council/Government Affairs Council meeting on Monday, January 23, at the new Hotel Albany (formerly Albany Crowne Plaza) in downtown Albany. The meeting will run from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm. 

Director Megna will provide an overview of, and answer questions on the newly released Executive Budget proposal for FY 2012-13. The agenda will also include new Business Council President Heather Briccetti, and Council staff reports on key legislative and regulatory issues for the 2012 session. Note that the day’s agenda also includes meetings of the Council’s Environment, Financial Services and Energy Committees, and concludes with our Annual Legislative Reception. 

We look forward to seeing you on January 23rd. While there is no charge for Business Council members, it would be appreciated if you would preregister online here for the GAC meeting and other sessions.

Regional Budget Briefings

Please join us for one of our upcoming regional briefings on the proposed New York State budget and the 2012 state legislative session. These briefings, done in conjunction with major regional business groups, are an opportunity to meet new Business Council President Heather Briccetti, to hear about and discuss key business issues in the proposed budget and before the state legislature, and discuss political and election issues for 2012. 

We have schedule six events, with several more to be announced shortly. The schedule is available here.  All are no charge to members of The Business Council and our co-host organizations (except the Rockland event on February 16). We ask participants to pre-register using our online system and look forward to seeing you in February. 

Staff contact: ken.pokalsky@bcnys.org

FEDERAL ISSUES

"500 Shareholder Bill"

Legislation is moving in Congress to amend to the so-called “500 Shareholder Rule.” Section 12(g)(1) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Act”) forces a private company to become a public reporting company once the company exceeds 499 shareholders of record and has more than $10 million in assets at the end of any fiscal year.  To remedy this outdated and economically-limiting threshold, bipartisan legislation has been introduced in the House and Senate.  Representatives Schweikert and Himes introduced H.R. 2167 and Senators Carper and Toomey introduced S.1824, both titled, “The Private Company Flexibility and Growth Act.”  These bills would raise the existing SEC threshold, currently 499, to 1000 (H.R. 2167) or 2000 (S.1824), when private companies would be required to file SEC reports. Companies which could benefit from updating this rule include those that were recently not much more than an entrepreneur with an innovative idea to others that have been proven job creators for years.  The House has passed H.R. 2167 out of committee and the Senate Banking Committee has held two hearings in December, which included testimony regarding S.1824.  Both bills would also exempt certain employee shares from these increased thresholds.  If you are interested in supporting either bill or require additional information to better understand the potential impact, please contact Maggie Moree. 

Affordable Care Act

While states await final rulemaking on health exchanges and essential health benefits, briefs are being filed by interested parties at a record pace with the US Supreme Court, which will hear arguments in March on the Affordable Care Act. Three large patient advocacy groups filed an amicus brief in support of the individual mandate; 480 state legislators representing every state in the country also filed in support of the individual mandate; and the American Hospital Association in support of the individual mandate and not supporting either side on the issue of severability. In a brief filed on behalf of twenty-six states in opposition to the Affordable Care Act, states argued that the Medicaid expansion was so coercive to the states that it exceeds Congressional power to spend.

BRIEFLY NOTED

We thought you would find the following to be of interest.

  • The Empire Center has issued a new report explaining the origins and impact of the infamous “Triborough Amendment,” which extends many provisions of expired public works contracts.