New York State must move
aggressively to address concerns about its energy future - because "if
we do nothing, tomorrow could be awful," U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New
York) told a July 2 energy roundtable in New York City.
A number of officials
representing state and federal government, industry, and environmental
organizations participated in the panel, which was organized by US Sen
The Business Council
is urging lawmakers to reject two bills that would weaken the state's educational
system by lowering certain standards for high school students.
The first bill (A.9053/Green)
would exempt students enrolled in a Career Education Program from certain
Regents examinations
The state Senate has approved
several bills which The Council is strongly supporting.
The first bill (S.3795B-Seward)
would give sole proprietors access to more affordable health insurance by
letting them buy group-rate insurance through chambers and other associations.
The Assembly is mulling a similar bill (A
The Business Council is urging
lawmakers to reject three health-care bills that would increase costs and
reduce quality of care for consumers.
On June 20, the Senate passed
a bill (S.5627-LaValle) which would require all health-insurance policies
to cover costly treatments for infertility
The Business Council is urging
lawmakers to enact comprehensive Superfund refinancing and reform legislation,
including a permanent refinancing of the state Superfund and a statewide,
incentive-based voluntary cleanup program.
The Council outlined its
preferred approach to Superfund refinancing and reform in a June 20 letter
to Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno
The Senate has unanimously
approved its Gen*NY*sis proposal, which would create a life-sciences technology
development program and a new economic-development zone in New York.
The bill, the centerpiece
of the Senate's economic development program, passed June 18 as the Senate
moved toward a long-planned cessation of operations at the end of last week
The Business Council is urging
legislators to enact comprehensive Superfund refinancing and reform legislation,
including a permanent refinancing of the state Superfund and a statewide,
incentive-based voluntary cleanup program.
The Council outlined its
preferred approach to Superfund refinancing and reform in a June 20 letter
to Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno
ALBANYNew
York should add at least 10,000 megawatts of new, more efficient, and environmentally
friendly electricity-generating capacity within five years, and that priority
should be the focus of the state's revised Energy Plan, The Business Council
has told the state's Energy Planning Board
Three top leaders of New
York State's business community and of The Business Council
have strongly reaffirmed business's support for tough education standards
and tests based on them.
"It is extremely important
that we stand behind our standards and the tests that back them up,"
the three business leaders said in a letter delivered June 6 to Governor
Pataki, Commissioner of Education Rick Mills, members of the state Board
of Regents, and leaders and members of the state Assembly
The state Office of Science,
Technology, and Academic Research (NYSTAR) has awarded Albany Law School
a three-year contract to support the school's Science and Technology Law
Center.
The center will receive $350,000
a year for three years.
The center, the only one
of its kind in the state, will help companies develop and market new technologies
while strengthening the state's business infrastructure, the Governor said
in a release