ALBANY—U.S.
Rep Thomas M. Reynolds (R-Erie County) will be the keynote speaker at
The Business Council's business-to-business conference on homeland security
issues scheduled for Tuesday, October 19, at the University of Rochester.
The conference
is a reprise of a heavily attended homeland-security conference held last
spring in collaboration with Empire State Development (ESD)
Business Council President Daniel B. Walsh has invited state
legislators to comment on the Vote for Jobs Index and their
individual scores. Legislators' comments would be posted on
their own individual report cards.
The index, which was launched by The Business Council on
September 30, scores legislators based on their actions or
inactions on bills that address legislative priorities identified
by The Council earlier this year
ALBANYDavid F. Shaffer, president of the Public Policy Institute of New York State, will discuss Medicaid and other factors that drive up local government costs and local taxes in New York State at a panel discussion at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, October 7, at the GreenField Manor in Lancaster, Erie County
ALBANY - Philip A. Teel, sector vice president for Northrop Grumman
on Long Island, has been elected chairman of The Business Council of New
York State for the next 12 months. Linda Sanford, a senior
vice president of IBM, has been elected vice chair of The Business Council,
and is in line to succeed Teel as chair next year
State spending in New York rose 32 percent from 2000 to 2004,
an increase that was three times the rate of inflation, Comptroller
Alan Hevesi reported.
The state's debt is also increasing rapidly, the Comptroller
said in releasing two reports on the state's finances and
economic trends
New York's local governments and school districts increased
spending by 30 percent, or 13 percent after accounting for
inflation, from 1997 to 2002, state Comptroller Alan Hevesi
reported.
"The costs of operating a local government continue
to rise," the Office of the State Comptroller said in
its 2004 Annual Report on Local Governments
Student achievement is lower in New York's public schools
than in most states when measured in light of dollars spent
and students' preparedness, a new study finds.
New York ranked 48th among the states in a School Efficiency
Index compiled by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research
Seventeen rank-and-file Democrats in the state Assembly have
proposed a series of reform measures they say would improve
the way their house conducts its business.
The two main proponents of the package are Scott Stringer
(D-Manhattan) and Sam Hoyt (D-Buffalo)
The Business Council's Board of Directors Wednesday approved
the preparation and release of new legislative report cards
to help voters and businesses evaluate the voting records
of individual legislators on issues that affect the health
of New York's business climate
A
budget analyst for Standard & Poor's said the credit-rating
agency expects the "temporary" tax increases the
Legislature enacted in 2003 will remain in place, instead
of phasing out as scheduled starting in 2005