ALBANY—The Business Council today launched a new radio advertising campaign to persuade the state Legislature to abandon what The Council is calling "Albany's Attack on Jobs."
A 60-second commercial will air on various radio stations in Buffalo, Syracuse, Utica, Binghamton, the Capital District, and Rochester between now and the end of the current legislative session. The ad debuted over the weekend.
The campaign is intended to alert New York State voters and taxpayers to a burgeoning campaign by special-interest groups to convince legislators to adopt four last-minute proposals that would hurt New York's economy.
"Thousands of jobs especially in upstate New York hang in the balance," Business Council President Daniel B. Walsh says in the advertisement.
The proposals in question would:
- Dramatically increase workers' compensation benefits without cost-cutting reforms to offset the price tag.
- Increase and index the state's minimum wage.
- Increase tort claims by trial lawyers and inflate their contingency fees in medical malpractice cases.
- Extend unemployment insurance (UI) benefits, adding more than $1 billion in unfunded costs to the UI system and increasing business taxes as a result.
"New York should know better," Walsh says in the ad. "A decade ago, Albany piled on the taxes and chased away our jobs. These bills are great news for New Jersey, Texas, and Florida, but they're disastrous for New York."
The advertisement encourages New Yorkers to visit The Business Council's Web site, www.bcnys.org. The Council has introduced a new "electronic-advocacy" campaign, which lets visitors to the Web site generate e-mails to lawmakers urging them to reject the proposals.
Here is the full text of The Business Council's radio advertisement:
Here we go again! The Legislature in Albany is considering four last-minute bills that would hurt New York's economy.
Thousands of jobs especially in upstate New York hang in the balance.
One bill would inflate workers' compensation costs, already among the highest in the nation.
Another would saddle small businesses with continual, mandated wage increases.
A third would enrich trial lawyers and make all New Yorkers pay more for lawsuit abuse.
Then there's the bill to add more than a billion dollars in costs to the unemployment insurance system without the money to pay for it.
New York should know better. A decade ago, Albany piled on the taxes and chased away our jobs. These bills are great news for New Jersey, Texas, and Florida, but they're disastrous for New York.
I'm Dan Walsh from The Business Council. Please e-mail or call your elected representatives and tell them to keep jobs in New York, for New Yorkers.
Announcer: A message brought to you by The Business Council of New York State.