The Council's Spending Watch campaign,
urging spending restraint in the new state budget, has begun advertising
on the World Wide Web.
The Council has entered into an agreement with Chichester's Empire Page,
widely read by the political community in Albany and statewide, to include
a link to the Spending Watch section of The Business Council's
own website, www
Bulletin #6: May 17, 1999
Back to the future? Not
This seems familiar--haven't we been here before? Sure enough. Only 11 years ago, New York lawmakers were debating what to do with a sizeable surplus. Predictably, pro-spending advocates swarmed in Albany, eventually persuading legislators to enact huge increases in spending
Leaders of business and government from across New York attended The
Council's Annual Dinner and The Public Policy Institute's Issues Forum at the Empire State Plaza in Albany.
The Issues Forum focused on tort reform and featured keynote addresses
by state Senator Dale Volker and Assemblyman Joseph Morelle, sponsors
of the Volker-Morelle Civil Justice Act
Governor Pataki has nominated Arthur J. Roth as Commissioner of the
Department of Taxation and Finance. The nomination is subject to Senate
confirmation. He would succeed Michael Urbach.
Roth has served as deputy commissioner for operations since March 1996.
He was founder and managing director of Roth Nobis & Company, P
Releases of toxic chemicals to New York State's environment fell five
percent in 1997, according to the annual Toxic Release Inventory (TRI)
Report released May 5 by the state Department of Environmental Conservation
(DEC).
The DEC report found that manufacturing plants in New York State released
29
ALBANY—The Coalition for Mandate Reform has concluded its information-gathering
on the state's most onerous mandates on local governments and school
districts and is preparing a report on the mandate problem in New York
State.
"We're learning a great deal about state mandates on local governments
and school districts and how they waste taxpayer dollars," said Denise
Murphy McGraw, director of regional affairs for The Business Council
and coordinator of The Council's participation in the coalition
New worker training programs and brownfield redevelopment incentives
would help bolster the upstate economy, Business Council President Daniel
B. Walsh told an Assembly hearing in Albany Tuesday.
Walsh testified at one of four hearings on the upstate economy being
held this month in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany, chaired by
Assembly members Robin Schimminger and Joseph Morelle
Albany, New York
May 11, 1999
Testimony of:
Daniel B. Walsh, President
The Business Council of New York State, Inc.
Assemblyman Morelle, Assemblyman Schimminger, and honorable members of the committees:
Thank you for the opportunity to testify on the upstate economy. The Business Council is the largest broad-based association representing business in New York State
The upstate economy has turned the corner and will continue to add tens
of thousands of new private-sector jobs as a result of recent state tax
cuts, a new study by Governor Pataki's chief economist has concluded.
Poor upstate job growth for 25 years is the direct result of heavy state
and local taxes, the study said
ALBANY—Raymond T. Schuler, founding president of The Business
Council, was honored today as one of the most important 20th-century
business leaders in New York State at ceremonies during which The Council's
landmark Albany headquarters building was renamed in his honor.
A plaque renaming 152 Washington Avenue "The Schuler Building" was unveiled
at a late-morning ceremony attended by past and present leaders of state
government and New York's business community