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State Senate changes? Let's make sure Upstate is represented this time!
June 17, 2009

Reports that a bi-partisan group is (or is NOT, depending on who you talk to or what you read) working out details of the “coalition” Senate leadership structure and committee posts leave me to ask one obvious question on behalf of 2,500 Buffalo Niagara employers - and the 250,000 taxpayers who work for them:  WILL UPSTATE BE REPRESENTED?
 
While a “bi-partisan” leadership structure might be a new concept in Albany, our focus is on whether those making the leadership decisions will put Upstate Senators – and, honestly, we don’t care from which party - in leadership posts. This is critical. A good start would be naming a WNYer chair of the Senate finance committee – something that supposedly was in the works when the Democrats took control back in January.

Regardless of who is in power in the state senate, however, our priorities do not change. If it’s a new group, some of our proactive initiatives may require identification of new sponsors. More importantly, however, for the defensive issues we continue to work on, our message stays the same. Nevertheless, vigilance remains utmost priority, especially right now, and the Partnership and Unshackle Upstate have an army of staff, volunteers and lobbyists closely monitoring the latest goings-on.

In addition, last week the Unshackle Upstate coalition announced its newest member – Tom Golisano. Up until now, Unshackle Upstate has been primarily a policy-based advocacy coalition, weighing in on Upstate issues and having some success in steering legislation. Golisano’s involvement going forward doesn’t change that – it just adds significant new clout to the coalition. It’s no mystery that politics comes first in Albany, and as a result, if you’re going to make change in Albany, you have to engage politically. We’re engaging by working collaboratively with those across the entire state – business groups and people in the political arena – who have similar business economics priorities to our own - lower taxes, smaller government and fiscal accountability.

So what are we particularly focusing on in these remaining days of the legislative session? Here’s a quick update on our June 2009 agenda items:

UB2020 – The NYS Senate made a strong statement of its support for the proposal by passing the S.2020 bill 45-16 in its chamber on June 3rd, less than a week before the current battle over the Senate erupted. Approval of the legislation now rests with the Assembly, where we continue to leverage the support of the broad based coalition of support of influential business, labor, community and university groups supporting the UB 2020 initiative as this region's best strategy for economic development and regional job creation.

NYPA Proceeds Bill – Assemblyman Dennis Gabryszak and Senator Bill Stachowski have sponsored the legislation, which would create the Western New York Economic Development Fund to keep the proceeds derived from regional hydropower assets within 30 miles of the Niagara Power Project. A press event was held in support of this legislation on June 13.

Historic Preservation Tax Credit – This legislation passed the State Senate at the end of July, and is awaiting action in the Assembly. As with any tax credit program, the advocacy effort will surround convincing the Governor and Department of Budget that this legislation, which is in line with the Framework for Regional Growth, will have sufficient return-on-investment.

Tax Increment Financing (TIF) – An Unshackle Upstate priority spun off last year’s brownfield reform, there is hope that this legislation would move forward as a development aid to Upstate in the wake of the negative impact of the state budget, particularly for its “no-cost” benefit to the state.

“Playing Defense” – The Partnership advocated in opposition to a number of pieces of legislation before the State Legislature, including:

• Wage mandates related to IDA incentives (check out our release from yesterday’s press conference)
• Expansion and indexing of unemployment benefits
• “Environmental Access to Justice Act” - Would allow an individual to use SEQRA hold up an economic development project through litigation
• NY Wetlands Bill – Would require wetlands review by DEC for every parcel of land being developed over 1 acre (currently 12.5 acres)

We will keep you posted on developments – you can stay in touch with the Partnership’s blog, and get Unshackle Upstate updates on Facebook and Twitter.

Andrew J. Rudnick