Durant: The new Temporary Commission to Review the State's Business Climate has a job to do on behalf of small business owners—will it do it?
An Update from Your NFIB/New York State Director
On April 14th, Governor Cuomo and leaders of the
State Senate and State Assembly announced the creation of a Temporary
Commission to Review the State’s Business Climate.
The commission is tasked with conducting a
comprehensive review of New York’s business climate and to make recommendations
to address those concerns by June 3rd. The commission is made up of seven
individuals, though it should be said a few of them are not friendly to business
by any stretch. In fact, outside of our friends at the State Business
Council and Farm Bureau, the other five members all supported the enacted
minimum wage increase and paid leave mandate.
Our view is that this is largely in response to
the overwhelming criticism by the business community after the state budget was
finalized on April 1st. While we are skeptical that any meaningful reform
could be agreed upon and passed for the legislative session ends, we will be
submitting some items we hope are addressed.
Our submission will include scaffold law and
medical liability reform as well as serious tax reform targeting small
businesses and reform to reign in the high costs of our worker’s compensation
system. These are lofty goals for sure, but if the Governor and legislative
leaders are serious about fixing our poor business climate, these are some of
the top issues that need to be addressed.
Anything short of serious and impactful reform,
than this commission cements itself as merely political pandering and window
dressing. We will be doing our part, let’s hope commission does theirs.
Mike Durant
