In separate initiative,
Council agrees to survey and advise employers on privacy
Attorney General
Eliot Spitzer has proposed new restrictions on the use and sale of personal
information about consumers.
He also announced
an "enforcement agenda" focusing on companies and organizations that violate
existing privacy laws or fail to conform to their stated policies on the
use of data
The Business Council
is asking the state Health Department to investigate why no standards for
evaluating hospitals and doctors have been produced since lawmakers allocated
money for that purpose in 1996.
With Business
Council support, the Health Care Reform Act (HCRA) of 1996 included funding
to develop quality-measurement tools to help consumers and employers evaluate
hospitals and doctors
Governor Pataki's
budget proposal contains significant changes to the state's "superfund" program,
including new enforcement provisions opposed by The Council, and it would
impose over $30 million in new fees on facilities that store petroleum and
generate hazardous wastes.
Overall, the
Governor's proposal would provide about $140 million annually for state-financed
cleanups of hazardous waste and hazardous substance disposal sites
Governor Pataki
announced Tuesday a proposed new state budget that would cut energy taxes
on manufacturers retroactive to January 1, provide other new tax cuts, restrain
the growth of state debt, and limit new spending.
"We're on the
right path - the path of limited government, controlled spending, lower
taxes, and more jobs," the Governor said in his budget address to the Legislature
Following is The Business Council's 2000 Legislative Program. It identifies legislative, regulatory, and administrative issues to be worked on by the Committees and Councils during the coming year.
**To view the text of any bill listed below, click here and enter the bill number and year.
Issue Areas:
Business Law / General Counsel
Construction
Consumer
Contract Procurement
E-Commerce
Economic Development
Education and Job Training
Energy
Environmental Conservation
Financial Services
General
Health
Insurance
Labor & Human Resources
Manufacturing
Occupational Safety & Health
Small Business
State Administrative Procedures Act (SAPA)
Taxation
Telecommunications
Transportation
Unemployment Compensation
Workers' Compensation
Overview:
Since the mid-1990's tax cuts, employee-benefit reforms and an improved attitude toward business have helped New York generate an economic recovery
Acknowledging
that school districts' tax increases may be soaking up property-tax relief
intended for homeowners, Governor Pataki has proposed that the state take
over the distribution of tax-relief payments and impose caps on school spending
increases.
The Governor
said the state will spend $2 billion in the next fiscal year to support
property-tax relief under the STAR program, which provides exemptions to
homeowners
New Yorkers
continued to move away from home, and the state continued to lose population
relative to the rest of the nation, from July 1998 to July 1999, new data
from the U.S. Census Bureau show.
Domestic migration
out of the state-net of residents who moved here from other states-totaled
nearly 168,000, far more than in any other state
Governor Pataki and the Legislature have agreed to a major expansion of health-care entitlements, while preserving most of the state's unique
subsidies for the hospital industry.
The so-called Health Care Reform Act 2000 was adopted in quick special sessions of the
Assembly and Senate last month
Governor Pataki's proposed "21st Century Upstate Economic Agenda" urges repeal
of the state's Gross Receipts Tax on energy.
Additional elements of his economic growth incentive include:
Additional energy tax changes
Taxation of all energy companies based on net income.
Repeal of the current utility franchise tax based on gross receipts and dividends
State auditors
found inaccuracies in public school attendance records across the state,
raising questions about state aid allocation and educational performance,
state Comptroller H. Carl McCall has reported.
The state Education
Department and the New York City Board of Education "have to crack down
on inaccurate and false reporting," the Comptroller said in releasing audits
of schools in the city and in six districts elsewhere in the state