News

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New York State must move aggressively to adopt a health-care quality-measurement program that includes regular public report cards on hospitals and other health-care institutions, according to The Business Council's specialist in health-care issues

Issue Areas: Construction Education Energy Environment Health Insurance Labor & Human Resources Manufacturing Small Business Taxation Unemployment Compensation Workers' Compensation To view the text of any bill mentioned below, click here and enter the bill number

What's the bottom line? Because of a one-month crash project organized by The Business Council, some 2,506 New York employers pre-paid a total of $171,692,326.14 of their 1998 unemployment insurance taxes before the end of calendar 1997. This automatically triggered a $420 million reduction in UI tax rates

Our wrap-up includes final action on major issues of concern to the business community. Please call or e-mail the designated Business Council staff person for further details on any of these issues or to receive copies of any legislation. Issue Areas: Business Law/General Counsel Construction Consumer Affairs Contract Procurement Economic Development Education Energy Environment Financial Services Health Insurance Labor & Human Resources Manufacturing Occupational Safety & Health Small Business State Administrative Procedures Act Taxation Transportation Unemployment Compensation Workers' Compensation To view the text of any bill mentioned below, click here and enter the bill number

Let's Get in the Game In early 1995, it was revealed that the state government had promised to give over $70 million of the taxpayers' hard-earned money to a giant, highly profitable corporation from out of state. Was the reaction one of outrage? No — it was elation. The state was Virginia, the corporation was Motorola, and the deal was the announcement that the company would build a new chip-making facility outside Richmond

The transition to deregulated hospital rate-setting in New York is working as planned, so New York should continue moving toward a fully deregulated environment, according to The Business Council's specialist in health-care issues. That means that $1.38 billion in "temporary" surcharges on health-care bills should expire on schedule at the end of next year, Elliott Shaw, director of government affairs, said in a speech at a conference on health care at Pace University

Chambers of commerce and other business groups from Buffalo, Syracuse, the Capital District, and many other parts of the state have declared their strong support for the "Upstate Agenda for Growth" proposed by The Business Council. Executives from seven prominent business groups strongly endorsed the Upstate Agenda at a press conference at the state Capitol Nov

Business Council President Daniel B. Walsh is asking New York State businesses to consider supporting the New York Special Olympics (NYSO). Walsh has agreed to serve as chair of the development committee for the NYSO Summer Games, which will be held in Albany for the next two summers. Walsh is urging business leaders in the Capital Region and statewide to consider supporting the Special Olympics by becoming an event sponsor and/or by asking their employees to become volunteers for the Summer Games

ALBANY — Chambers of commerce and other business groups from Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, and Schenectady today urged lawmakers to enact an "Upstate Agenda for Growth" proposed by The Business Council. At a press conference at the state Capitol, Daniel B. Walsh, president of The Business Council was joined by representatives of the Greater Buffalo Partnership, the Rochester Metro Chamber of Commerce, the Fulton County Chamber of Commerce, the Schenectady Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Rensselaer County Chamber of Commerce, and the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce