A
new national study of manufacturing shows that this sector
ir the key factor in the nation's continuing growth and prosperity.
The finding echoes a similar study of manufacturing in New
York released by The Public Policy Institute in September
2002
ALBANYKenneth Adams, president of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce,
has become chairman for the Chamber Alliance of New York State (CANYS). Adams
succeeds Ray San Fratello, former president of the Genesee County Chamber
of Commerce.
Adams has led the Brooklyn Chamber for eight years
A
controversial proposal to require health insurance to cover
expanded health coverage for mental illness and substance
abuse would significantly increase costs of health insurance,
a new analysis shows.
The
Business Council is strongly opposing the bill (A
The
Business Council is strongly supporting a new reform bill
that would help rein in New York's above-average workers'
compensation costs by enacting four key reforms.
The
bill (S.5320-Libous) is in part a response to three other
workers' compensation bills that propose significant benefits
increases without any essential cost-cutting reforms, said
Kerry Kirwan, The Council's legislative analyst specializing
in workers' comp
The
Business Council is urging lawmakers to modify a sweeping
new anti-smoking law because it severely penalizes businesses
that have invested heavily in work areas that could accommodate
smokers.
In
March, lawmakers abruptly passed a new anti-smoking law that
prohibits smoking in any workplace that has even a single
employee
Legislative
leaders and the Pataki administration have been discussing
options for refinancing the state Superfund and adopting a
statewide brownfield program, but prospects for a resolution
are uncertain, according to Ken Pokalsky, The Council's director
of environmental and economic development programs
ALBANYNew York continued to pull out of the population decline of the
1970s during the last decade, but growth in the state still lagged behind
most of the country, according to a new report by The Public Policy Institute,
the research affiliate of The Business Council of New York State
ALBANYSchool
districts across New York State plan to raise spending more than 2.5 times
the rate of inflation, and increase property taxes more than 7 percent, a
new "School Tax Watch" study by The Public Policy Institute finds.
The increase in property-tax levies, more than four times the rate of inflation,
comes despite the Legislature's imposition of a $1
Amid
reports that the state is considering a significant increase
in average workers' comp costs, The Business Council is stepping
up its efforts to highlight the need for cost-cutting reforms
and to oppose actions that would worsen the burden of comp
costs
The
Legislature overrode Governor George Pataki's vetoes to impose
the first increases in state personal-income and sales taxes
in three decades, along with targeted increases in business
taxes.
Despite
multi-million-dollar lobbying campaigns by public-employee
unions, however, The Business Council was successful in persuading
legislators not to adopt the "New Jersey plan" of
major, across-the-board corporate tax increases