 |
Building on the firm Business Council foundation established by Ray Schuler and Dan Walsh, over the past year we have worked hard to increase the capacity of this organization to serve your needs effectively in a changing Albany environment. Our vision is to be the most effective state business association in America. Our mission is to provide high-value services to you, our members; to improve business conditions in New York State and to revitalize the Upstate economy. And we’re moving forward in each of these areas. Membership Here is a snapshot of where we are today: The Business Council has 3,110 members; 72 percent are small businesses (fewer than 50 employees) and our largest industry subset is manufacturers, who make up 35% of our membership. Three-quarters of our members joined this organization to take advantage of our insurance products, while the other 25 percent came on board because of the Business Council’s advocacy and public policy efforts. We should note that these “advocacy members”, while fewer in number, tend to be larger firms and provide 67% of the Business Council’s dues revenue. So far this year, we have seen significant growth in the number of major corporate members (those paying dues greater than $10,000 per year) joining the Business Council—in January we had 50 corporate members; today we have 70. Government Affairs You all know about—and shared in—our success this past spring in workers’ comp reform. The reform legislation was signed into law March 13. In June, the State Insurance Department announced a rate reduction averaging 20.5%. Projected savings for all New York State employers total over $1 billion per year. Business Council staff member Ken Pokalsky leads our participation in the three work groups created by the governor to drive further reforms and savings in the comp system. We will report back to you on these continuing efforts in January. In the meantime, Ken and I would like to recognize Steve Scotti of Con Edison for his leadership of our Business Council Workers’ Comp Committee. Now I want to remind you that beyond comp, we have been busy on many additional government affairs fronts. In energy we helped secure a one-year extension of the state’s low-cost power programs—Power for Jobs and the Energy Cost Savings Benefit. And with the support of many of you in this room, we defeated several proposed “loophole closings” proposed in the governor’s budget that would have been the equivalent of major tax increases for many vital business and industries. While ideally we would like to devote all our time and effort to our pro-active, member-driven agenda, we are, as you know, often called into action to play defense. Here is a small sampling of bills and proposals that we worked to defeat this year, sometimes in the legislature, or in some cases, thanks to the Governor’s veto pen:
Organizational progress Earlier this year, I laid out a plan to our Board of Directors that featured three essential strategies for building capacity, and making the Business Council a stronger, more influential organization: strengthening our government affairs operation; improving communications; and enhancing marketing and increasing sales to build membership. We have recruited excellent new lobbying talent and we’re not done yet. Mark Amodeo, Walter Pacholczak and Jim Malatras have been hired for key staff positions. Staff rebuilding will continue into the fall. Seven of eight new, Board-led priority action committees are up and running; the eighth, our new Tax Committee, is currently being launched. Business Council co-chair Kirk Gregg has led a revitalizing governance effort this summer that resulted in our new by-laws and new Board committee structure. Finally, partnerships have been fundamental to our recent public policy success, and I want us to keep building on these important relationships. Several examples include our work with Unshackle Upstate on workers’ comp; CANYS, New York Farm Bureau and NFIB on the Scaffold Law (sections 240 & 241 of the labor law); General Building Contractors and Wicks Law reform, and the U.S. Chamber on tort reform issues. We are improving communications by publishing distinctive research and data through our affiliate, the Public Policy Institute—please see the article on our recent Economic Growth Index. And we continue to use our new “Connect” newsletter, our redesigned Web site, and our Knickerbocker Blog to explore new opportunities for two-way communication with you, our members. Our sales and marketing strategies are under review, and will soon be enhanced by a number of new elements: new membership department staff member Mark Kessler; new marketing collateral with an enhanced corporate identity in the works; and an expanded range of membership levels including affiliate memberships and special recognition for our major corporate members. Thank you all for your support of and involvement in the Business Council. We do this all for you, for the broader business community and for our great state. I welcome your feed-back, suggestions and advice as we move forward. |
|
|
