ALBANY—Former New York State Governor Hugh L. Carey has agreed
to chair Stop the Amendment, a new coalition of think tanks,
fiscal-policy experts, good-government groups, former state budget
officials, and business groups that is united in its opposition to a proposed
constitutional amendment that would radically change New York’s
budget-making process
New York's spending has grown nearly three times the rate of inflation
since 2001, according to a new report from state Comptroller Alan
Hevesi.
The report, an annual analysis of state finances, found that state
spending totaled $101.1 billion in fiscal 2005, “an increase
of $3
ALBANY—Significant changes must be made to the proposed Regional
Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) to minimize impacts on the economy of
the Northeast, business association leaders in nine northeastern states
wrote in a collective letter to their respective Governors.
In the September 22 letter to Governor George Pataki and his counterparts
in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey,
Rhode Island and Vermont, the organizations criticized the plan as likely
to drive electric prices higher for businesses and residents
The proposed constitutional amendment is not real reform and, if
passed by voters this November, would virtually guarantee higher
spending and late budgets, said Alair Townsend, publisher of Crain’s
New York Business.
“New York spends too much, and it has the second-highest state
and local tax burden in the nation to support this spending,”
Townsend wrote in the September 26 issue of the influential business
weekly
The proposed state constitutional amendment on the budget is a
“perfidious power grab by the most dysfunctional legislature
in the nation,” Assemblyman Patrick Manning (R-Dutchess County)
told business leaders gathered at The Business Councils Annual Meeting
last week in Bolton Landing
ALBANY - Linda Sanford, senior vice president for enterprise on
demand/transformation and information technology at IBM, has been elected
chairman of The Business Council of New York State for the next 12 months.
Kirk Gregg, executive vice president and chief administrative
officer for Corning, Inc
Although New York State government needs to be more helpful to
the private sector and more accountable to all New Yorkers, a controversial
proposed amendment to the state Constitution would make state government
less accountable and should be rejected, state Attorney General
Eliot Spitzer told business leaders at The Business Council’s
Annual Meeting Sept
New York State can address its business-climate challenges and
position itself to be a leader in future technology-based growth
by embracing a comprehensive "innovation agenda," The
Council’s chairman told business and government leaders at
The Council’s Annual meeting
Carp: As Kodak met the challenge to embrace new technology, New
York can change, rebound
Kodak has successfully evolved from an exclusively film-based company
to become a leader in digital imaging while remaining a force in
film—and New York can also become a leader again if it makes
the same kind of commitment to positive change
ALBANY - Linda Sanford, senior vice president for enterprise on
demand/transformation and information technology at IBM, has been elected
chairman of The Business Council of New York State for the next 12 months.
Kirk Gregg, executive vice president and chief administrative
officer for Corning, Inc