The Senate Majority has released the report of its task force on privacy, including more than 50
different policy recommendations.
At a news conference Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno said the task force had
investigated a range of privacy issues to understand how personal information is collected and
distributed and "how to balance the need for putting protections in place with the legitimate
needs of businesses to have certain information, and the ability of government to function
The Assembly has unanimously voted to continue the state's Power for Jobs program for three
more years by providing an additional three-year term for each of 330 contracts made in the first
year of the program. These contracts, representing 267 megawatts of power, will begin to expire
next March
A member of The Council's Workers' Compensation Committee will represent The
Council on a state commission studying special funds in New York's workers' comp
system.
Patrick McLaughlin, training manager for United Parcel Service for upstate New York, was named to the commission by the Governor, who created the commission last March with strong Council support
The Council is seeking members' input on a bill to give tax
credits for the construction or rehabilitation of buildings that meet certain
environmental standards.
"We have concerns about this bill, and we'll use our members' input to decide whether to take a formal position on it," said Ken Pokalsky, The Council's environmental specialist
Upstate growth beats national average for first time in 11 years; Pataki credits tax cuts
Private-sector job growth both upstate and statewide exceeded private-sector job growth
nationally last year, Governor Pataki said today.
Final 1999 data from the state Department of Labor show that New York's private-sector
employment grew by 2
New York has made more progress in deregulating energy than all other states except
Pennsylvania, a comprehensive new study of energy deregulation nationwide shows.
New York is outpacing all other states in deregulating energy, the new Retail Energy
Deregulation (RED) Index 2000 said. The index was done by the Center for the Advancement of
Energy Markets, an independent think tank that promotes the transition from monopoly to
competition in energy
Senate Majority
Leader Joseph Bruno today proposed new tax cuts worth $1.7 billion. His
package includes repeal of the state's gross receipts tax (GRT) on energy,
other key business-tax cuts, and a new $1,000 exemption on personal income
tax for all taxpayers.
Nearly $1
ALBANY Senator Bruno's leap-year proposal could mean a giant leap forward
for New York's economy.
New York's surplus came from the bottom lines and household budgets of New York taxpayers. We agree with Senator Bruno that returning those dollars to taxpayers is the best use of that surplus, and we applaud his creative and strategic proposals for doing that
Assembly Minority Leader John Faso says the state Thruway Authority would need
no toll hike if it gave responsibility for state canal operations back to the
state.
On Tuesday, Governor Pataki asked the Thruway Authority to reconsider its proposed toll
increase.
"The Governor has asked us to look at alternatives to toll increases to fund vital capital projects
on the Thruway, and we are doing so," Thruway Authority Chairman Lou Tomson said
Bill addresses labor concern and preserves key '98 reforms
that save business millions
Governor Pataki has signed into law a bill that modifies
the state's 18-month-old unemployment insurance (UI) system
while preserving key elements of the historic UI reforms
of 1998