Nearly
half of all states are responding to budget challenges in
the current fiscal year by reducing state spending in net
enacted budgets, a new analysis shows.
The
National Governors Association (NGA) and the National Association
of State Budget Officers (NASBO) released their biannual report,
The Fiscal Survey of States, on Nov
The
National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that oversees
the nation's labor relations law, has expressed "serious concerns"
about the legality of state's new "labor neutrality law" -
the same concerns The Business Council voiced last summer
in vigorously opposing the union-backed bill
How
the state created the current state budget offers a strong
case for spending restraint in dealing with the state's current
fiscal challenge - because only spending restraint in previous
years made this year's $5 billion spending increase possible,
the latest state budget analysis by The Public Policy Institute
of New York State shows
To
combat skyrocketing health-care costs, New York State should
embrace a bold new approach to containing these costs: a government-wide
effort to reduce costs of both health-care and health insurance
by 10 percent, The Council has urged Governor George Pataki
If
New York had only as many state and local government workers
per capita as the national average and paid them only 3 percent
above the national average, the state's taxpayers would save
almost $14 billion a year, according to the latest state budget
analysis by The Public Policy Institute of New York State
New
York City's apparent determination to raise taxes makes it
even more important that to avoid state tax increases, a top
expert on city and state finances has told The Council.
"In
the years ahead, New York City's problems will case an especially
large shadow over Albany," said E
Leaders
from business, labor, and energy associations joined Business
Council President Daniel B. Walsh at an Albany press conference
at which The Council renewed its call for an improved process
for siting electricity-generating plants in New York State
In
confronting a budget shortfall estimated at $5 billion or
more, New York State lawmakers should ignore pressure for
higher taxes already coming from pro-spending groups, according
to the latest state budget analysis by The Public Policy Institute
of New York State
The
Business Council's Manufacturing Council will conduct a series
of regional events around New York State to identify legislative
issues of greatest importance to industry, and to intensify
the involvement of manufacturing companies and executives
in manufacturing-related advocacy in Albany
To
successfully close a state budget gap estimated at $5 billion
or more, state lawmakers must reject the "perennial myth"
that Albany is inadequately funding public schools, a new
analysis by The Public Policy Institute of New York State
argues