Editor's note: For a PDF file of tables showing proposed tax and
spending increases in individual school districts in New York State,
see http://www.ppinys.org/taxes/schooltax2004.pdf.
ALBANYSchool districts across New York State plan to raise spending
by 2
The
Assembly Democratic sponsor of key tort reform bill has made
an important procedural move that will prompt the Assembly
Labor Committee to consider his bill to reform the state's
notorious "Scaffold Law."
Assemblyman
Joseph Morelle (D-Rochester) ask the Labor Committee to consider
his bill, which means the committee will vote on it before
the end of the legislative session
Senate
Republicans have proposed requiring health insurers to provide
coverage for most mental illnesses, but with exemptions for
small businesses, and for other employers that could show
the mandate increased premiums by at least 2 percent
ALBANY—The leadership of New York State's business community has
urged state policymakers not to weaken the state Board of Regents' graduation
requirements or diminish the use of standardized tests based on those
requirements as a means of measuring student achievement
State
lawmakers have proposed 80 new health insurance mandates in
the current legislative session alone, according to an analysis
by the New York State Conference of Blue Cross and Blue Shield
Plans.
Health
insurance mandates are laws that require health insurance
policies to cover visits to specific practitioners or coverage
for specific ailments
Two
state Senators from Long Island have warned that a state takeover
of counties' Medicaid costs could require increases in the
state's income tax - an increase that could be disproportionately
high for Long Island
If
the state had taken over all county costs for Medicaid, Long
Island taxpayers in 2002 "would have paid $1
ALBANYNew York State's economy has performed more poorly than the
nation's both during the current recession, and over the longer term,
according to a new analysis by the Public Policy Institute, the research
affiliate of The Business Council of New York State, Inc.
And the report says the state's economy has been heavily dependent on
taxpayer-funded employment to provide job growth -- something it warns
is not sustainable over the long run
"Exit
exams," a kind of standardized test that students must pass
to graduate from high school, do not reduce graduation rates,
according to a new Manhattan Institute analysis of 24 states.
The
Institute also said its research shows that neither reducing
class sizes nor increasing education spending leads to higher
graduation rates
ALBANY—Empire Zones are New York State's most valuable economic-development
tool, and state lawmakers should extend the Empire Zone program, preserve
its current strengths, ensure program accountability, and offer zone benefits
to manufacturers that make major capital investments in an effort to retain
jobs, The Business Council's economic-development specialist said Monday
ALBANY—The Business Council is strongly opposing new federal legislation
that would allow states and localities to impose taxes on the Internet.
The bill, S.2084, sponsored by U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee)
and U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Delaware), would allow state and local
governments to impose a tax of up to 15 percent on consumers purchasing
Internet access