NYS Business Council meets to address “economic freefall”
A weekly COLUMN by NY State Senator Tom O’Mara,
“What was made clear to us as we traveled the state and spoke to business owners, leaders and organizations is this: rather than being treated as a partner or lifted up by government, businesses feel dragged down by high costs and excessive regulation.”
That was the assessment of the New York State Economic Development Council (NYSEDC) upon last week’s release of a critical and timely report called “Blueprint for New York – Creating a Roadmap for Change.”
It’s the product of a long-overdue effort by NYSEDC and the Public Policy Institute, an arm of The Business Council of New York State, together with 40 associations and more than 500 business leaders statewide, including many from right here at home. Amo Houghton, former chairman and CEO of Corning Glass Works, was a founder of The Business Council of New York State in 1980.
Nearly a dozen in-person forums were held across the state, including in the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions, and an additional 11 video conferences focused on specific areas including manufacturing, energy, tourism, the food industry, transportation, healthcare, housing, and small and independent businesses.
The overriding goal, according to the group, was to document and put forth a plan aimed at addressing New York State’s “economic freefall.” Their report comes seven years after New York State government fell under complete, all-Democrat, one-party control in 2018, and the direction and the discussion that has dominated state government throughout this time has been focused on how government can spend more and how to find the tax increases and other revenue to pay for it. Remember that state spending has risen by 55%, more than $90 billion, over the past seven years of one-party control.
This new report spells out the consequences for state and local economies, and why a misguided, questionable, unsustainable pursuit of a so-called progressive direction in state government – which above all has progressively expanded spending, taxing, mandating, and regulating – must stop.
“As business leaders, we want to partner with government to provide expertise, jobs, economic growth, and opportunity to everyone in the state,” said Business Council President Heather Mulligan. “We have work to do…to address these challenges and make necessary changes to enhance our business climate, quality of life, and ultimately, strengthen our economic competitiveness to improve economic opportunities for all New Yorkers.”
In short, the priority of improving economic opportunities for all New Yorkers has taken a back seat in state government and, as the report notes, the results are alarming. Just two percent of business owners surveyed for the report believe that state government represents their interests. Only three percent believe that state legislators and regulators understand and support what they do.
From the report:
- “While New York had a great run for more than a century, economic and qualitative data demonstrate that as a state, New York isn’t ‘losing its edge,’ but has ‘lost its edge’ in competitiveness relative to other states.”
- “New York’s economic performance and population metrics more closely resemble the economic and demographic trends of Louisiana or Michigan as opposed to some of the fastest-growing states, particularly Texas and Florida.”
- “Over the past ten years, jobs in the state have grown 7.3 percent, less than the United States’ 12.0 percent and about one-third of growth in Florida (24.9%) or Texas (20.3%).”
While there are no surprises here to me as I’ve consistently advocated for these changes, the report offers a comprehensive agenda of priorities to begin turning New York around, including finally and fulling addressing what business owners identified as their No. 1 concern: overregulation.
“As part of the survey to business owners, when asked what would help improve the business climate in the state, the #1 answer was ‘reduce state and local regulations,’” the report states. “At over 300,000 regulations containing more than 17 million words, no wonder it is impossible for firms in New York to keep up.”
Overregulation is a top concern but there are numerous others including population losses, the prohibitive cost of living, and stagnant job growth plaguing New York and not getting the attention needed from state government. You can find the full report on the Business Council of New York website at: https://www.ppinys.org/blueprint-new-york-creating-roadmap-change.
Approaching the start of a new legislative session in January, this report, many of us hope, will stand as a wake-up call and a call to action. Already the talk from key legislative Democrats has been geared toward even higher spending in the new year and how to raise the revenue to afford it, including higher taxes.
“Blueprint for New York” seeks to inject a dose of economic reality and fiscal common sense into the discussion – economic reality and fiscal common sense that, if they remain only afterthoughts in Albany, will haunt this state’s future for the next generation.
The report concludes, “The writing on the wall is clear – if these issues are not addressed, the state will continue to not just fall in the rankings, but its people and businesses will suffer and ultimately, leave.”
