ALBANY—The Business Council today unveiled a "Vote for Jobs Index" to help citizens and businesses evaluate the voting records of individual legislators on issues that affect the health of New York's business climate.

Three of 210 state legislators received a grade of A on the index in recognition of their support of policies that would improve New York's business climate. Sixty-three legislators earned a B; 132 received a C; and 12 earned a D. No legislators received a grade of F.

Legislators' grades on the Vote for Jobs Index reflect their actions or inactions on bills that address legislative priorities identified by The Council earlier this year. All legislators' grades and voting records on the priority bills, along with an explanation of how the Vote for Jobs Index works, are posted at www.voteforjobsnewyork.com. The index is also being distributed through The Council's grass-roots network.

The Vote for Jobs Index is based on bills in five priority areas: taxes, energy, the environment, economic development, and employee benefits. Legislators' scores ranged from a high of +19 to a low of -8 on a scale from a high of +21 (which could be earned with a favorable vote on all bills) and a low of -21. This range was divided into fifths, each of which was the basis for a letter grade:

• A (for scores of +21 to +13)
• B (scores of +12 to +4)
• C (scores of +3 to -5)
• D (scores of -6 to -14)
• F (scores of -15 to -21)

Legislators earned points for a vote that is consistent with The Council's position and lost points for votes at odds with The Council's position. Additional points could be awarded to (or taken away from) legislators who sponsored and championed bills of interest to The Council. If legislators had no record on a priority issue, they received a "0" on that issue. This is designed to address the fact that many priority issues are never addressed because relevant bills are not allowed onto the floor for a vote.

The three grades of A went to: Sen. Sen. James Wright (R-Watertown), Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Rensselaer County), and Sen. Raymond Meier (R-Utica). The complete list of grades on the Vote for Jobs Index is available at www.voteforjobsnewyork.com/reportcard/index.cfm.

Assembly scores tend to be lower than Senate scores because many priority bills never made it to the floor of the Assembly and the members therefore could not earn (or lose) points by voting on them. Conversely, more anti-business bills were taken up by the Assembly.

The Council's Board of Directors voted last week to produce and publish information on legislators' achievements or failures on measures to improve New York's business climate. The initiative, the first of its kind by The Council, was developed in response to The Council's 2003 survey of its members. Respondents to that survey emphasized the importance of state government action on high-priority business issues and the need for The Council to respond more aggressively to governmental failures in dealing with these issues.

The Vote for Jobs Index is posted at www.voteforjobsnewyork.com.

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