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Albany Under a Microscope: Vigilance on your behalf
May 12, 2009

There's an awful lot of disinformation out there about what's happening in state government; and, in particular, about what Albany has and has not done to us. From the media reports to pundits' blogs to communication from state legislators and the governor, everything seems to come with some "spin." That's why we work hard to stay on top of Albany for you - to keep our membership informed of what actually is happening.
 
While most of this vigilance comes in utilizing our wide network of contacts, sometimes the "spin" comes directly to us. If you participated in our most recent VoterVoice campaign, you received a response e-mail from Senator Bill Stachowski. While most of the responses to these VoterVoice e-mails are of the "Thank you for your interest. You can be sure that I'm working on your behalf" ilk, Stachowski (obviously because of the intense heat we all have put on him) prepared a more deliberate response; one which, as is most often the case, has the "devil in the details."
 
I urge you to take a moment to read our response to Senator Stachowski. We believe that with each employer electing to leave New York State, with each family that can no longer afford health insurance and with each job lost - any spin - starting with Stachowski's - on this awful budget is completely unacceptable.
 
With several weeks to go in the current session of the state legislature, vigilance still is the name of the game. Indeed, over the past few weeks, there has been a flurry of destructive proposed legislation (much of it sponsored by our own Sen. Antoine Thompson). Unfortunately, most of it doesn't get any attention until/unless it comes to the floor of the legislature - at which point, it's already guaranteed to pass. Even when voting records are evaluated at election time, the legislature's "process" (remember, it was ranked the worst in the nation!) doesn't reflect many of the unbelievable things our legislators have supported. Here's a current sampling:
 
S.4110 Expansion of Unemployment Benefits - For years, organized labor has attempted to pass an expansion to the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to allow employees paid time off for family circumstances. To date, it was unsuccessful. This proposed legislation, however, takes advantage of the expanded unemployment coverage given to New York State through federal stimulus funding, and would expand benefits to cover those taking "voluntary separations from work for compelling family reasons." For small businesses struggling to exist under the weight of new state taxes, this carte blanche attitude toward employees taking time off is a huge negative. Unshackle Upstate will be weighing in on this issue shortly - we'll keep you posted.
 
NY Wetlands - What this proposed legislation does under the guise of protecting wetlands - something I think we all believe is important - is lowering the state's jurisdictional threshold on wetlands from the current 12.4 acres to one acre. This means every development project - including those on property already privately owned - will have to undergo wetlands review if it's over one acre. Moreover, there's also no clear definition of wetlands, so that review will be subjective. (see our letter in opposition)
 
A.3423/S.1635 (The "Environmental Access to Justice Act" - what a "great" name!?) - This proposed legislation, which has already passed the Assembly, would allow any individual to bring action against a project - i.e. to hold up the project - by alleging violations of environmental quality review provisions. However, there already is an environmental process - SEQR - attached to economic development projects, which is the proper setting for any individual or group to raise environmental concerns. There is no need to give free reign to anyone to roadblock a project they don't like for whatever reason. Our developer members are calling this the "it never ends" bill. (see our letter in opposition)
 
On your behalf, we will continue to utilize our network of Unshackle Upstate, other partner organizations throughout the state, contacts in state government and our lobbyists to keep track of, "un-spin" for you, and work to minimize Albany's impact on your business. If you'd like more information on - or would like to get involved in - one of these issues, please contact our public policy director, Craig Turner.
 
For the latest Partnership and Unshackle Upstate advocacy updates and insights, check out the Partnership's blog and follow us on Twitter.

 
Andrew J. Rudnick