The Assembly Majority has
proposed a plan that couples a crackdown on auto-insurance fraud with a
two-year freeze in insurance rates and a 17 percent cut in personal injury
premiums.
The plan, announced May 2,
also includes measures designed to crack down on fraud, which the Assembly
release said costs New York drivers more than $1 billion a year
The state has announced two
more major investments in regional high-tech research and development initiatives.
On April 27, the Governor
announced plans for a new Center of Excellence in Information Technology
on Long Island. He said support for this center from all sources would reach
$100 million
IBM will invest $100 million
in a new nanoelectronics research center at the State University of New
York at Albany, and the state has committed another $50 million to the center.
The new private and public
funding for the university's planned Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics
was announced Monday at a university event attended by Governor Pataki,
Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver,
along with John E
New York State insurers'
losses due to personal-injury auto accidents increased by 79 percent from
1995 to 2000, a significantly steeper increase than other states with no-fault
insurance, a new study
has found.
During that
period, the average increase in other no-fault states studied was only 25
percent, according to Elizabeth Sprinkel, senior vice president of the Insurance
Research Council (IRC), which produced the report
Yet another energy expert
has warned that New York State must add significant new electricity generating
capacity soon to avoid skyrocketing electricity prices and setbacks to competitiveness
in energy markets.
David B. Patton, the independent
market advisor of the New York State Independent System Operator (ISO),
issued a market assessment April 17 at a meeting of the ISO board
New York State
manufacturers last year won elimination of the gross receipts
tax (GRT) on energy, but they will benefit only if they fill
out and submit a new state tax form created for this purpose.
Businesses
classified by the state as "industrial and manufacturing businesses"
must submit new state tax form DTF-623 to receive a new credit
against their business income taxes
New York State taxpayers
paid more than $1.3 billion in state taxes on private health insurance last
year, according to a new report by the state Conference of Blue Cross and
Blue Shield Plans.
Among business taxes, only
one, the corporate franchise tax, cost business taxpayers more, the report,
"The Facts About Taxes on New York's Privately Insured," said
The Business Council is offering
a new seminar series designed to help businesses understand property-tax
assessments and how they can be challenged to reduce those taxes.
The one-day seminars will
be offered June 13, and 19 in Syracuse, and Saratoga Springs, respectively.
The seminar will help managers
understand how real-estate assessments are determined and how employers
can make informed decisions on steps that might lead to reductions in those
taxes
ALBANY-The Business
Council of New York State will present a "Pathfinder Award" to Public School
# 19 of the Bronx Friday, April 6, at the school.
The Business
Council created the Pathfinder Awards in 2001 to recognize schools that show
the most improvement from one year to the next as measured by the state's
new academic standards
The Superfund refinancing
and reform proposal advanced in the Senate's budget resolution is "a major
step forward that reflects our mutual goals of protecting both the environment
and the economy," according to Ken Pokalsky, director of environmental and
regulatory affairs for The Business Council