ALBANY— Medicaid reform and the causes of New York's high costs of doing business will be the key topics at The Business Council's annual Small Business Day Tuesday, March 22, at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center in Albany.

The day's agenda will feature a 10 a.m. rally for Medicaid reform that is expected to include business leaders, county officials, and agricultural leaders. County executives from the Capital Region and around the state are expected to join Business Council Vice President Ed Reinfurt and representatives of the New York Farm Bureau in discussing the need for cost-cutting Medicaid reform for New York's counties, for business and individual taxpayers, and for farmers.

The agenda also includes an 11 a.m. panel discussion on the economic roadblocks that New York's businesses face. Scheduled speakers in this session on the high costs of doing business in New York State include: Mark Bitz, president of Plainville Farms and a high-profile reform advocate; Gerard Conway, director of governmental affairs for the Medical Society of New York; Jay Gallagher, capitol bureau chief of the Gannett News Service and author of a soon-to-be published book on New York; and E.J. McMahon, Jr., director of the Manhattan Institute's Empire Center. David Shaffer, president of the Public Policy Institute, will moderate.

The luncheon will feature the presentation of the Small Business Advocate of the Year award and the Chamber Alliance of New York States "On the Map" grant awards.

Background on Small Business Day: Small Business Day is conducted each March by The Business Council. The Chamber Alliance of New York State and the National Federation of Independent Business cosponsor the event. Small Business Day gives small-business operators a chance to discuss priority issues with lawmakers and staff. Each year, several hundred representatives of small businesses and local chambers participate. The agenda includes opportunities for them to meet and lobby lawmakers and their staff.

In past years, these meetings have been critical to business' efforts to convince lawmakers to make more affordable health insurance available to sole proprietors, reduce taxes, reform workers' compensation and unemployment insurance, and make other critical improvements to New York's business climate.

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