New York's hefty investment in public schools and school
aid increases at twice the inflation level "have not
purchased significant achievement," according to a new
analysis by the Rochester-based Center for Governmental Research.
New York has raised school aid over the past decade at twice
the rate of inflation leading to per pupil spending that is
41 percent above the national average, the analysis said
The
Republican Senate Majority has launched a new push for a package
of tax cuts and tax credits it says would be valued at $1
billion when fully effective.
"Some
critics might say it's late in the session to be talking about
tax cuts, but there is never a bad time to cut taxes," Senate
Majority Leader Joseph Bruno said at a June 15 news conference
touting the plan
U.S. small businesses pay up to 68 percent of all tort liability
costs borne by business, even though they bring in only 25
percent of the nation’s total business revenue, according
to a new survey by the United States Chamber of Commerce Institute
for Legal Reform
ALBANY—Hatch
Leonard Naples, Inc., a full-service insurance agency headquartered in
Rochester and with offices in Buffalo, Syracuse, and Albany, has received
the Business Council Insurance Fund's 2003 Top Producer Award.
The honor
was presented to the agency in May in recognition of the organization's
outstanding sales performance and contributions to the growth of The Council's
Insurance Fund
To
help rein in workers' comp costs that are among the nation's
highest on a costs-per-case basis, New York State should
require the use of objective medical guidelines to evaluate
injuries and illnesses in workers' comp cases, according
to the latest in a series of reports on workers' compensation
reform from The Business Council
A set of stringent environmental emissions rules adopted
by the Department of Environmental Conservation last year
were deemed invalid by a State Supreme Court Judge last Tuesday
for violating a 1984 environmental statute.
The emission rules, designed to curb acid rain by requiring
additional reductions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen emissions
at power plants, would have raised statewide wholesale power
rates by 5 percent, according DEC estimates
The last
thing New York's economy needs is a government mandate telling us what
kind of power we must buy and driving up our costs.
But that's
what the state Public Service Commission (PSC) is being asked to do. In
today's recommended decision sent to the PSC, a state administrative law
judge has urged the administration to require consumers and businesses
to buy energy from sources dictated by government and at costs that are
now well above already-high market prices
The
Business Council is urging lawmakers to reject a proposal
to expand the state's "bottle bill" because it would effectively
add a new tax on consumers and impose a new burden on supermarkets
and the beverage industry
A "recommended decision" issued by an administrative law
judge urges the state Public Service Commission (PSC) to require
consumers and businesses to buy electricity from renewable
sources-power that is generally more costly than electricity
generated by conventional energy sources
ALBANYCommunity School 92, in Community School District 12 in the
Bronx, will receive The Business Council's 2004 Pathfinder Award in
a ceremony at 1 p.m. June 16 at the school. The award honors schools
that show high improvement from one year to the next as measured by their
students' scores on state tests