policy agenda 2013

7/30/2019 Policy Agenda 2013

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A MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Since Unshackle Upstate was ounded in 2006, our highest priority has been improving theUpstate economy. We have worked on behal o the taxpayers and employers o this state inour communities and in Albany to promote policies that will help our state thrive.

I am pleased that New York has improved in recent years, most notably with the enactment

o a statewide real property tax cap and public employee pension reorm. Te states progresson these two measures should be viewed as critical rst steps toward correcting the problemscaused by years o scal mismanagement and bad policy decisions. Additionally, we were aninstrumental orce in ensuring that the Truway Authority did not ultimately enact a 45%toll hike on commercial vehicles. New York State is nally beginning to put in place the toolswe need to regain the prosperity that we once enjoyed.

In 2013, our overarching goals remain unchanged. We continue to oppose unnecessary state spending, as well as anyeorts to increase taxes or impose new or increased ees. We continue to push or relie rom ununded state mandatesand regulatory burdens that impede job creation. And we continue to oppose relying on state borrowing where the long-term return on investment is not justied.

Te cooperation and leadership over the last two years demonstrates what can be achieved in Albany. We do not believethat New York State is destined to be a high tax state that continues to lose population. We know that New York cando better. We expect that it will. With your continued support, we will keep working and make New York State a betterplace to live, work, raise a amily and grow a business.

Please visit our web site (UnshackleUpstate.com), where you can join the Unshackle Upstate Army a group otaxpayers who are committed to keeping lawmakers ocused on lowering taxes and spending, promoting job creationand improving New Yorks economy.

I look orward to a successul 2013 or Upstate New York.

Sincerely,

Brian SampsonExecutive DirectorUnshackle Upstate


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UNSHACKLE UPSTATES CORE PRINCIPLES

REDUCE SAE SPENDING

As a state we still spend too much, and get too little or what we spend. New York must continue its recenttrend o enacting state budgets that spend less than the rate o ination. Many amilies and business havetightened their belts, and state and local government must do so as well.

REDUCE AXES, FEES AND ASSESSMENSFor many years, excessive spending was ueled by higher taxes and ees. But the last two state budgets havetaken a strong step in the right direction, as they did not rely on increased taxes or ees. Tis trend shouldcontinue in 2013.

REDUCE MANDAES

Local governments and school districts have long been plagued by ununded state mandates that underminetheir ability to provide important services. Likewise, New York States business community is over-burdenedby regulations that hinder private sector job creation. Tese items must be addressed in 2013, bothlegislatively and through the regulatory process.

REDUCE SAE BORROWING/DEBContinued reliance on borrowing will only exacerbate the already poor nancial condition that plagues ourstate. We cannot borrow our way into prosperity. As the state continues to control spending, it should notrely on irresponsible borrowing which will urther long-term debt.


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REDUCE STATE AND LOCAL SPENDING

New York State still has a spending problem. We are pleased that the lasttwo state budgets started a trend in spending reductions, an aspect thatUnshackle Upstate enthusiastically supports and advocates or on an annualbasis.

Additional savings can be realized through urther consolidation o stateagencies and by streamlining services.

Education and Medicaid spending which make up a signicant part o thestate budget were capped in recent years. Unshackle Upstate supports theexploration and implementation o additional recurring savings in utureyears.

Continue to Promote Government Eciencies Te Spending andGovernment Eciency (SAGE) Commission was launched in 2011to streamline state government through consolidation; to identiy

opportunities or improvements such as shared services; and to help makegovernment more open, transparent and accountable.

Unshackle Upstate will continue to identiy cost-saving items o this natureand will support uture SAGE initiatives.

Protect the Property ax Cap Local property taxes are higher in New Yorkthan anywhere else in the country, and placing limits on annual propertytax levy increases and requiring a super-majority vote in order to exceedthose limits was a critical rst step. Te property tax cap encourages localgovernments to explore all avenues to reduce spending and enact eciencies

beore resorting to a tax increase. We must make sure that the property taxcap remains in place, and no that no additional exceptions are enacted.

Further, i local governments use assessment changes as a means tosupersede the tax cap, then the state must promulgate laws that also limitassessment growth.

REDUCE STATE

BORROWING

While recent responsible scal policiesin Albany have been positive, debt stillremains a major issue in New York State.According to the State Comptroller,New York is currently responsible or$63.3 billion in state-unded debt. Tis

results in $3,253 per person in publicborrowing.

As New York continues to address itsinrastructure needs, we must do so in ascally responsible manner. Moreover,borrowing and bonding should neverbe implemented as revenue streams ornon-inrastructure projects or proposalsdeemed critical to New Yorks survival.

REDUCE TAXES, FEES AND ASSESSMENTSNew York must improve the economic climate by enacting policies thatwill reduce the tax burden on individuals and businesses. Te last two statebudgets did not include any new taxes and ees which must continue.

Eliminate the 18-a Assessment New Yorks extraordinarily high energycosts were urther increased in 2009 when the 18-a energy assessment wasimposed. We urge the immediate repeal o this onerous, hidden, job-killingtax in 2013, and or the Governor and Legislature to stop imposing taxesthrough utility bills.


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Eliminate the Health Care Reorm Act (HCRA) Surcharge New Yorks Health Care Reorm Act (HCRA) imposes asurcharge on charges or patient care provided by state licensed health care providers. New York State businesses have beenacing skyrocketing health care costs or years, making it more and more dicult or employers to provide employees withaccess to employer-sponsored health insurance plans. Repealing this surcharge will make employer-sponsored health caremore aordable.

Repeal on Mileage ax on rucking Te ton-mile tax is based on the specicweight o trucks and is intended to osetwear and tear on roads by chargingees or miles traveled in the state. Tisnearly 60-year-old levy is applied tovehicles with maximum gross weights oat least 18,000 pounds operating in thestate. Tis tax is a barrier to competitionwith neighboring states and a majorreason or trucking operations movingout o the state.

Avoid Increasing Truway olls Aferinitially proposing a modest tollincrease o 45% on commercial truckers,the Truway Authority ultimatelyabandoned this disastrous plan. Te Truway Authority must continue to get its scal house in order, and that starts withundergoing a thorough, independent audit o its operations to explore potential additional areas o savings.

REDUCE MANDATES

State-imposed mandates limit the ability o local governments and school districts to provide essential services, and theyprevent private-sector businesses rom ourishing in New York. UnshackleUpstate supports proposals that will alleviate these burdens to make ourcommunities more aordable by eliminating ununded state mandates andwill promote job growth through streamlining the states complex regulatoryscheme.

Making our Communities More AfordableLet New York Work Agenda Unshackle Upstate is a leader in the Let New York Work coalition, which includesrepresentatives rom the business community, local government organizations and members in public education. Tisgroup has identied the core cost drivers or local government and the education systems that must be addressed. Wecontinue to urge the states elected ocials to support the adoption o the Let New York work agenda, which will provide

relie rom ununded mandates or local governments and school districts. For more inormation on the Let New YorkWork agenda, visit www.unshsackleupstate.com/let-ny-work.

Promoting Private Sector Job CreationOppose Minimum Wage Increase Increasing the states minimum wage as New York continues to recover rom recentnancial crisis is the wrong approach. Te state should ocus on enacting proposals to increase private sector job growth.A minimum wage increase will only increase the cost o doing business in the state, and will harm some low-wage workers.

Wage Tef Prevention Act Tis law imposes onerous compliance requirements that are o questionable value in termso protecting employees. Imposing mandates o this nature on businesses run counter to the undamental changes theGovernor and Legislature are trying to implement, and to promote through the nation and beyond. Tis statute should


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be revisited to determine whether it is addressing the problem it was intended to deal with, or i it should be substantiallyrevised to be less burdensome on the vast majority o law-abiding businesses.

Unemployment Insurance Reorm New Yorks Unemployment Insurance program is low-benet and high cost, and it isunctionally insolvent. As a result, employers have been hit with annual assessment ees that cover the interest on ederalloans the state took to cover unemployment insurance payments. We have to x our Unemployment Insurance programby eliminating our debt to the Federal government and lower the Unemployment Insurance costs.

Base Period Calculation- Unshackle Upstate also supports correcting an Unemployment Insurance loophole,which can unairly raise the unemployment rate or some businesses. In 2012, legislation was advanced that would solvethis problem S.6850 (Ritchie)/A.9725 (Morelle).

Workers Compensation Reorm New York State must continue toimprove the administration and operation o the workers compensationprogram and avoid undermining the important reorms achieved in 2007.Tese reorms imposed a cap on permanent partial disability benetsand raised the maximum benet to workers. Te cap and other reormswere pegged to deliver savings o as much as 10 percent to 15 percent oremployers. However, a 2012 national study o average premiums rankedNew York 5th highest in the nation, up rom 19th in 2008.

Additional work needs to be done to ensure that employers receivethe savings necessary to help improve New Yorks economy. Clear andobjective medical guidelines must be adopted to ensure that injuredworkers have their cases properly classied and treated airly.

SEQR Reorm Te State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) processhas ofen been cited as a main impediment in the project development process, too ofen being used to stie economicdevelopment. SEQR should be reviewed and updated to establish an ecient, predictable and air environmental reviewprocess. ransparency in the process should also be addressed, as well as the inclusion o denitive timelines.

Health Care Quality and Cost Containment Commission In 2007, the Health Care Quality and Cost ContainmentCommission was created to review o all current and proposed mandated health insurance benets. Tis review was toprovide an objective cost-benet analysis beore legislative action would be taken on specic proposals. Tis commissionexists only in law, and not in reality. At a time when all New Yorkers are grappling with rising health care costs, the needor this commission to ulll its legislative charge could not be clearer.

MAKE NEW YORK MORE BUSINESS FRIENDLY

Prevailing Wage Wage mandates such as prevailing wages impede economic development eorts and should be rejected.Most particularly, eorts at attaching prevailing or living wage requirements to private construction projects/IDAsupported can only hinder eorts to re-build New York.

Project Labor Agreements Mandating regionally negotiated PLAs should also be rejected. Replacing one ill-advised anti-business mandate (prevailing wages) with another is not sound public policy.

Paid Family Leave - A one size ts all mandate o this nature does not adequately actor in the wide range o employmentsituations that are in place throughout New York State. Legislation that does not provide any exibility or specicemployers to craf their own amily leave policies based on the needs o the company or its workers will not work.

Call Centers Bills that require regulated entities, such as telecommunications companies and utilities, to provide certaincall center services to customers rom centers located within their respective in-state service territories drive up customercosts, while providing no benets to the employers. Businesses should be ree to locate their call centers in any location otheir choice especially Upstate.


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Physician Collective Bargaining Allowing or collective negotiation by physicians and other health care providers willraise the health care costs or all privately insured New Yorkers. Te Governor and Legislature should reject this proposal,which will also reduce innovation in health care, while decreasing access or New York consumers, without providingcountervailing benets.

Out o Network Health Coverage Mandates Legislation that would require health insurers to reimburse out-o-networkproviders at certain minimum rates will result in dramatic increases in the cost o insurance or many New Yorkers.Furthermore, we are concerned that proposals o this nature will ultimately lead to private health insurance becoming lessaordable, leading employers to drop coverage.

ransportation Industry Fair Play Act Tis proposal would put all independent owner-operator truckers out o businessin New York State, and would have a substantial negative eect on the Upstate economy. Further, consumers will see theircost or goods and services increase due to higher trucking costs.

Design-Build & Public Private Partnerships New York State recently took steps in implementing design-build projectdelivery or certain inrastructure projects. Unshackle Upstate supports the expansion and continuation o this practice todeliver projects aster, more eciently, and at a lower cost to the taxpayers.

VoIP Reorm - Unshackle Upstate supports modernizing and improving the states telecommunications inrastructure byeliminating the states regulatory authority over Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) communications. New York shouldencourage investment in Internet-based telephony by eliminating the states unused regulatory authority in the area.

Scaold Law New York should pass legislation to apply a comparative negligence standard (liability proportional to ault)under the Scaold Law in situations where a workers injury is caused by a ailure to ollow saety training, intoxication orcommission o a crime.

Wicks Law Currently most public construction projects in New York are subject to separate bidding requirements. In2008, the Wicks Law was amended that set an exemption threshold o only $500,000 or Upstate projects (while New YorkCity receives a threshold o $3 million and Long Island and Westchester County receive a threshold o $1.5 million). TeUpstate threshold remains ar too low to generate any real savings to Upstate taxpayers.

Unshackle Upstate proposes to increase the Wicks Law threshold to uniorm $10 million across the state.

Economic Development Unshackle Upstate continues to support the Regional Economic Development Council process.In order to restore our economy and keep talented people in New York, we must continue to promote private sector jobgrowth.

Tis eort should continue. Locally driven economicdevelopment will help maintain momentum and ocustoward important job creation eorts across the state. Wesupport the continuation o regionally-ocused economic

development programs with input rom local businessleaders.

Natural Gas Development Unshackle Upstate believesthat the Marcellus Shale gas deposit can be developedresponsibly, and that New York State must begin to take ulladvantage o this tremendous economic opportunity. Testate should nalize its comprehensive review o the potentialenvironmental impacts o natural gas development and adopt regulations that strike an appropriate balance betweeneconomic development and environmental protection as soon as possible.


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