Goal: defeat of IDA "reform" bill A.3659/S.1241

The Hoyt IDA bill has been reintroduced for 2009 as A.3659 - an identical bill has been introduced by Senator Thompson, S.1241. The Partnership opposed this legislation in a letter to the WNY state delegation, and also in by submitting testimony at a March 4 public hearing on IDA reform hosted by the Assembly Standing Committee on Local Governments, and a Buffalo News editorial of April 14.

At the local level, the Partnership supported a proposal by Erie County Executive Chris Collins that would allow the county's Industrial Land Development Corporation to fill the hole caused by the state, and provide financing for not-for-profit projects. The Erie County Legislature, unfortunately, duplicated the state's failure on the issue by amending the proposal to include a prevailing wage mandate, effectively nullifying the benefit of the program to not-for-profits.

Despite the fact that the IDA "reform" bill has been identified as organized labor's #1 issue in Albany, the Partnership and Unshackle Upstate were successful in advocating that this job-killing legislation not move forward during the 2009 legislative session.

The Partnership, in collaboration with a statewide group of business and not-for-profit organizations, continues to push the extension of the IDA civic facilities legislation as an economic stimulus (NYSEDC estimates that over $2.3B in projects are being held up) - with the emphasis that the bill be extended "as-is", i.e. without wage mandates attached to IDA incentives. Advocacy will focus on the "Upstate 5" majority Democrats, who the coalition believes have the political influence to keep the "reform" bill from passing and to put Upstate's workforce to work on these projects.