Staff Contact: Ken Pokalsky
The Business Council is New York’s leading business organization, representing nearly 3,000 private sector employers and business organizations across the state and in all major sectors of the New York economy.
Our 2024 advocacy agenda focuses on removing barriers to private sector investment and job growth and avoiding costly new mandates and restrictions on the private sector, with a goal of advancing our organization’s mission statement, “Advancing economic growth, creating good jobs and strong communities across New York State.”
Alcohol & Beverage Control Law
• Adopt key recommendations of the Governor’s ABC Revision Commission,
including allowing bars and restaurants to purchase limited quantities from
liquor stores, allowing an individual to hold more than one liquor store
license, and modernizing some licensing procedures as part of the 2022
Budget.
Construction
• Support additional funding to offset impact of inflation on highway
improvement projects and contracts.
• Increase MWBE engagement for prime contracts.
Consumer Affairs
• Support legislation to adopt more effective penalties against organized retail
theft.
Contract Procurement
• Support efforts to make NYC & NYS M/WBE status reciprocal.
Economic Development
• Expand workforce development efforts to grow the manufacturing sector
through training and educational partnerships.
Energy
• Oppose the HEAT act and other proposals to impose excessive restrictions on
natural gas infrastructure
Environment
• Adopt a workable, effective “expanded producer responsibility” law that
focuses on improving material recovery and recycling rates. Oppose EPR
legislation that imposes unnecessary bans or restrictions on use of specific
materials.
• Adopt a “clean fuel standard” to provide incentives for expedited mobile
source emission reductions.
Financial Services
• Oppose excessively broad compliance and enforcement standards regarding
“unfair and abusive“ business practices..
Health Care & Health Insurance
• Oppose new mandates, taxes, and additional unnecessary penalties
that contribute to increasing health care premiums for businesses and
individuals.
Hospitality/Gaming
• Support issuance of the three remaining casino gaming licenses.
Housing
• Support legislation and regulations to accommodate the deployment of
artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.
• Support legislation on the development of affordable housing and extending
421-a.
Information Technology/Telecommunications
• Support legislation and regulations to accommodate the deployment of
artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.
• Support a workable data privacy law that models recently enacted legislation
in Connecticut.
Labor/Human Resources
• Repeal “temporary” additional paid sick leave for COVID, as state law already
mandates paid sick leave for all employees.
• Eliminate application of wage theft laws to cases of violations of the “weekly
pay” mandate for manual workers where full wages were paid, including
retroactive elimination of the ability to seek liquidate damages, whether
through legislation or case law.
• Oppose prohibitions of non-complete clauses in contracts for high-earning
employees.
• Oppose additional mandates and restrictions on employers’ ability to
manage their workforce, including so-called “good cause termination”
legislation, broad mandates on scheduling,” and others.
• Oppose expansion of wage boards and use of wage boards to impose
additional wage and benefit mandates on specific economic sectors
Legal Reform
• Oppose legislation to adopt a “abuse of market share” standard for the
state’s antitrust statute.
• Oppose broad, costly “wrongful death” legislation.
Miscellaneous
• Oppose legislation that places additional restrictions on employers’
participation in political advocacy.
• Support a SNAP minimum benefit program to provide a minimum amount
of supplemental assistance program benefits that is higher than the
amount of federal SNAP benefits.
Taxes
• Support adoption of a zero income-based tax rate for business income
earned by nonincorporated manufacturers.
• Make the “pass through entity tax” more taxpayer-friendly by modifying the
election deadline and allow use of allocation-based payment of estimated
taxes.
• Adopt a state counterpart to the federal “Work Opportunity Tax Credit” to
provide an incentive for the hiring of persons facing challenges entering the
workforce.
• Oppose any increase in major tax laws and oppose creation of new taxes
and assessments, including the greenhouse gas “superfund”, tax wealth
taxes, capital gains surcharge, and a digital ad tax
Transportation
• Provide necessary exemptions for business transportation activities under
any “congestion pricing” program.
• Begin the implementation of the Empire Corridor Improvement program
which would encompass high speed rail.
Unemployment Insurance
• Provide UI tax relief to employers now paying record-high federal and state
UI taxes, as our federal debt continues to exceed $7 billion.
• Avoid imposing any increased costs on the UI system until system financial
stability is restored, this includes increased maximum benefits or lower
thresholds for UI benefits for striking workers.
Workforce Development/Education
• Continue to support and fund “early college in the high school” programs.
• Address the “benefit cliff” to eliminate a financial disincentive for persons’
return to the workforce.
• Support expanded access to high quality childcare to support employment
and reemployment.
• Restore recent cuts to the tuition award program (TAP)