New York spends $100M a week as Uncle Sam shores up plan; top benefit is one of nation’s stingiest.

By James M. Odato

Nancy Golin, unemployed the past two years, lives in modest quarters in Albany on an unemployment insurance check of $128 a week. That includes a temporary $25 stipend from federal stimulus money. It doesn’t pay the bills and she hopes a Legal Project lawyer can help her hold off creditors.

“I have prayed diligently,” the 59-year-old receptionist said recently at a Department of Labor job center. “I want to work. I really want to work.”

She’s among more than 500,000 New Yorkers causing a mountain of debt at the Labor Department. Even though they receive some of the smallest weekly checks in the nation for unemployment benefits, the state’s costs for the unemployed are expected to reach $5 billion and put the state $2 billion in the red by year end.

The state is paying $100 million a week from its Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund for claims, compared with $44 million a week last year.

The biggest check an unemployed worker can draw is $405, the same level it’s been for a decade. With the $25 stimulus boost, it still is one of the smallest maximum payouts in the nation.

The average check is $314, said Nancy Dunphy, deputy labor commissioner for employment security, which is the lowest average in the nation.

She says it’s time the rate was raised. The maximum has not increased since 1999, when it received a modest adjustment.

“It’s just not enough to meet the needs today,” Dunphy said. “We’re below most of the country — New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut are far above us in the range of $600, and in Massachusetts they have a dependent allowance and can add a bit more so it can go over $900 a week.”

She said because the maximum is so low, benefits collected by workers who lose lower paying jobs is also lower. Even with the stingy payouts, the state fund is insolvent because unemployment taxes are relatively light. The state taxes employers only on the first $8,500 of an employee’s salary. As a result, the state fund can’t build up the amount needed to supply the unemployed with the small sums available in New York.

“We have a taxable wage base that is frozen in time,” said James Parrott, a New York City-based economist with the Fiscal Policy Institute, a union-backed think tank.. “The fact that it is so low . . . leads to more job loss, a downward spiral.”

He said the weekly rate must be raised, which means unemployment taxes will rise, but increased jobless benefits will help stimulate the economy because the money is spent after it is received.

The checks were always meant to be economic stabilizers so that job loss doesn’t mean spending on consumable goods comes to a total halt .

Nancy Golen, who is at the Job Center regularly, isn’t stimulating the economy much. She’s borrowing from friends and getting help from her church for basic necessities while working out payment schedules with power companies. “I’m behind on everything,” she said. A $30 gas card from the federal government helped fill her fuel tank recently and was much appreciated.

Two matching bills aimed to address the situation. Labor Committee heads in the two chambers, Assemblywoman Susan John and Sen. George Onorato, had been hopeful of passage. Momentum for change was lost when Republicans staged a coup in the Senate.

The measure proposed would have raised the taxable wages in steps, starting this year at $9,500, $11,500 next year and $13,000 the next year. Parrott said $13,000 is already common nationally.

The maximum payout would rise in July to $475 and the minimum would be $75. The maximum would rise next July to $525; a year later to $575: and $625 in 2012. In 2013 and thereafter, the rate would be half the average weekly wage in New York.

The formula for people not making the maximum would result in higher payments for them, too. Even a small increase would be welcome, recipients say.

“I’ve been looking every day,” said Robert Cristo, 39, a writer and public relations officer out of work since October. He collects $336 weekly, including the $25 stimulus boost. “It’s demoralizing. I have to understand that it’s not all my fault. We are in a difficult situation right now and it is very difficult to get back into the job market right now.”

He said he’s lucky to be living in the Capital Region, because $336 a week in New York City would be nearly impossible to manage.

Dunphy said not only is the low rate hurting the economy, but it also cuts the amount of stimulus money flowing into the state because the federal aid is based on the payment rates . The state is expecting $400 million.

She said about a million different people would have received benefits this year as they enter and leave the system.

In all, the state owes $1.3 billion to the federal government through mid-June, one of 15 states that have borrowed $9.4 billion to meet unemployment insurance obligations. That’s behind Michigan’s borrowing of $2.18 billion and California’s $1.52 billion.

The good thing is the state won’t have to pay the federal government interest on the debt it is building to pay obligations. Under the stimulus legislation, states go without interest in 2009 and 2010.

The bad news is the state’s obligations will likely cause insolvency beyond 2010, Dunphy said, resulting in a need for “a special assessment on employers” to bail out the fund.

The Business Council of New York State objects to raising the taxes and the maximums as proposed, although the employers’ group said it would be willing to negotiate. Gov. David Paterson lists the issue as a priority.

The leading proposals in the Legislature, the council says, would hurt stable employers as much as those who commonly shed jobs.

The proposals would socialize the benefit and raise taxes for unemployment insurance 14.7 percent in year one alone, the group says.

New York State has not increased its maximum unemployment benefit — a meager $405 a week — in a decade, and a drive to raise payment levels has been derailed by the legislative chaos in Albany. While the politicians squabble, victims of the economic downturn are struggling to make ends meet. The governor and legislative leaders should increase unemployment benefits without further delay.

New York State was once a leader in providing unemployment insurance. Now it is a laggard — nationally and in the region. Connecticut pays up to $576 a week, and New Jersey up to $584. Even with an additional $25 a week temporarily added by the federal stimulus program, New York’s payments do not begin to equal the cost of living in one of the most expensive states.

Bills have been introduced in the Legislature to raise the maximum benefit to $625 over the next few years, and then to index it to 50 percent of the average weekly wage. Indexing is necessary to ensure that benefit levels, never a legislative priority, do not fall behind again. Business interests have been fighting the raises, which would be financed by reasonable tax increases.

New York’s unemployment rate was 8.2 percent last month, a 16-year high, and the number of jobless people in the state is the highest it has been in 33 years. An adequate system of unemployment insurance, which is an important part of the social safety net, is particularly necessary now. It can also be a powerful form of economic stimulus since it puts money into the hands of people who can be counted on to spend most of it right away.

The State Senate’s recent escapades are interfering with important work for the people of New York. If the state’s elected officials want to show that they care about their constituents, and not merely their own power machinations, increasing unemployment insurance benefits would be a good place to start.

A campaign to increase New York’s unemployment benefits for the first time in a decade has been sidetracked by the political stalemate in Albany — possibly for the rest of the recession.

Despite having the support of the governor, labor leaders and advocates for the unemployed, a bill to raise weekly jobless benefits on July 1 and close the gap in the state’s unemployment trust fund was not addressed by state lawmakers before their regular session ended this week.

The maximum benefit, which had been $405 a week for about 10 years until the federal economic stimulus program temporarily added $25 a week, is significantly smaller than those available to residents of New Jersey and Connecticut. New Jersey’s maximum is $584 a week; Connecticut’s is $576.

Negotiations to make the bill more palatable to employers continued through the weekend, giving its supporters hope that Gov. David A. Paterson would present a compromise that could be enacted. But with party leaders distracted by the battle for control of the State Senate, no progress was made.

The issue was not among those taken up by the Assembly in the final hours of the session that ended early Tuesday, nor was it on the governor’s list of measures to be considered by the Senate in special sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Assembly is not currently scheduled to convene until January.

The lack of action left advocates worried about the fate of the growing ranks of unemployed New Yorkers.

“Meanwhile, the unemployment rate keeps going up, and more and more people are losing their jobs,” said James Parrott, chief economist for the Fiscal Policy Institute, a research group that focuses on tax, budget and economic issues. “New York doesn’t look good compared to its neighboring states.”

Last week, the state’s Labor Department said that more New Yorkers were out of work than at any time in more than 30 years. For May, the state’s unemployment rate rose to 8.2 percent and the city’s hit 9 percent.

For certain groups, the situation is much bleaker, Mr. Parrott said. He said that the official unemployment data showed that more than 23 percent of all black men in New York City were either unemployed, working less than full time or had become too discouraged about their prospects to look for work.

With many economists forecasting that the national recession will end by late summer, the recovery could begin before additional relief arrived for New York’s unemployed.

The rapid rise in unemployment has also strained the state’s trust fund that provides the weekly benefits. The fund has been borrowing from the federal government to cover a shortfall this year.

To fill the gap, which is projected to grow through next year, the bill before the State Legislature would have increased the amount of a worker’s annual pay that is taxed. Only the first $8,500 is currently taxed to finance the unemployment insurance system, a much lower limit than those in New Jersey and some other states.

The bill called for annual increases in benefits, starting next Wednesday, July 1, that would raise the maximum weekly benefit to $625 and adjust it for inflation each year after that. Along the way, it would have also gradually raised the payroll tax that goes into the unemployment trust fund.

But representatives of employers, led by the Business Council of New York State, have opposed the bill, arguing that the automatic annual increases would make the payroll tax too onerous for some businesses. Last week, the Business Council called the legislation a “job-killing proposal” that would raise the tax by almost 15 percent in a year.

The governor’s office had signaled that it would create a revised bill that both sides could support, but hopes for a compromise before July 1 faded as the chaos in the Senate dragged on.

“It’s a big problem that we’ve fallen so short in terms of not doing this,” said Andrew Stettner, deputy director of the National Employment Law Project, which advocates for the unemployed. “What was nice about this legislation was it got the benefits out during the recession and it had a plan for paying back the fund over several years. It was a smart approach.”

by Sylvia Saunders - New York Teacher

NYSUT’s Dick Iannuzzi stops in at an after-school program where kindergartners work on math skills.
Left, student Genia Reed works with teacher Amy Vargason. Photo by Lauren Long.

It’s 4:20 p.m. on a Thursday at Dr. Martin Luther King Elementary School in Syracuse and the place is still bustling.

Every seat in an after-school computer lab is filled as a teacher and teaching assistant help eager youngsters.

Down the hall, students in various classrooms, working with a college-age tutor, practice math flashcards and count in Spanish. A chorus is singing an uplifting spiritual in the music room.

Students here, for the first time, are being exposed to new enrichment offerings: leadership classes, kung fu, yoga, step dance, African art and drumming.

In the health office, pediatric nurse practitioner Theresa Zimmer tends to an 8-year-old boy’s bleeding mouth, providing a salt water rinse and a warm hug of encouragement.

Dental hygienist Judy Morgillo urges him to stop wiggling that loose tooth with such gusto.

A social worker works the hallway, chatting with students and touching base with a colleague about a child’s progress.

In a little more than an hour, more kids and their families will arrive for Math Night. Their ticket to admission (and free dinner) is to look at some science project displays around the school and fill out an answer sheet about what they learned.

After hours of games that make math fun, students and their families head home at about 7:30 p.m.

It’s just another round-the-clock day at one of Syracuse’s Say Yes to Education buildings, where the term “community school” is the real deal. Tomorrow’s before-school programming starts at 7:15 a.m.

The extended day, extended year — extended everything — is a big part of the Say Yes to Education private foundation that has taken Syracuse schools under its wing.

At the heart of this pioneering program are two core components:

• A system that provides pre-K-12 kids and their families with intensive support — from extra tutoring to health services to pro bono legal advice — to help them succeed academically and graduate from high school, and …
• The ultimate commitment: the promise of free college tuition, fees and books for any student who earns acceptance to one of the participating public and private colleges.

Say Yes has succeeded with small groups of kids in select cities, but Syracuse is the first in the nation to launch it districtwide.

Dollars and a dream

Wall Street financier George Weiss founded Say Yes to Education in 1987 when he promised 112 economically disadvantaged sixth-graders in Philadelphia that he would pay for their college education if they graduated from high school.

Of the pilot group, 63 percent graduated from high school; about 39 percent received a post-secondary credential. (Just a year before, only 26 percent of the Philadelphia class finished high school.)

Since then, the philanthropic program has spread to several cities with selected groups of students in Cambridge, Mass., Hartford, Conn., and Harlem.

Say Yes has begun working with younger groups, offering an increasing array of support services — after-school programs, summer camps, mentoring, tutoring and other social, mental and health care programs students need to succeed.

After all, how can children concentrate on schoolwork if their family is getting evicted from their apartment, or if one of their siblings misses class because an asthma attack sent her to the emergency room?

The results have only improved, as Say Yes has modified the program to start earlier in a child’s life.

“We’ve learned that the earlier you start, the better the results,” said Say Yes President Mary Anne Schmitt-Carey. “In fact, we are convinced that our kindergarten cohorts have a good shot at leveling the playing field completely.”

The district is implementing the program gradually, adding several buildings per year, until 2011-12, when it’s operating in all 36 schools and serving Syracuse’s more than 20,000 students.

The higher education guarantee is open to all seniors who have spent the last three years in the district — and hundreds of students will go to a college in September.

“This is an extremely exciting and promising venture, demonstrating what’s possible when there’s true collaboration. NYSUT is proud to support STA in this endeavor,” said NYSUT president Dick Iannuzzi. He joined officials from the union’s two national affiliates on a recent Say Yes Labor-Management Day tour.

“This child-centered community school approach underscores the fact we must do much more than provide academic support,” he said. “We must tackle our students’ emotional, social and health care needs, too.”

The Syracuse effort is groundbreaking, he said, because it is a collaborative effort among teachers, support personnel, district administrators, city and state officials, the higher education community, local businesses, community groups and the private foundation.

“I believe you will get results because the plan will change the system for every child in Syracuse,” said National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel. “I want this to work because I want there to be a model for every child.”

The American Federation of Teachers, led by Randi Weingarten, has made community schools a top initiative for reform.

“This program offers a wonderful vision of what it can look like,” said Joan Devlin, who heads AFT’s education issues department.

Union buy-in

“Since Day One, the Syracuse Teachers Association has been supportive and included at the table every step of the way,” Schmitt-Carey said. “The union really helped pave the way to make it happen.”

Collaboration, though a nice word, is hard work, said Syracuse TA President Anne Marie Voutsinas. “We all just want to do what’s best for the kids.”

Despite “bumps along the road” in the first year of implementation, negotiations have yielded some landmark arrangements, including an urban teacher calendar that compensates educators for extended hours during the school day and school year, and more time for professional development.

This summer, six Say Yes elementary schools will offer five-week academic enrichment programs. Instruction will be provided by teachers in the morning; college students will serve as “camp counselors” in the afternoon.

The union negotiated a provision to provide flex time for social workers and make them 11-month employees.

This made it possible for Say Yes to add a social worker in every building so individual caseloads would be fewer than 200 students. Organizers worked with the union to build in time for home visits by social workers.

Funding comes through a mix of local, state, private and foundation sources. More federal funding is possible since community schools are supported by the Obama administration.

Schmitt-Carey wants to make the program self-sufficient within six years. While the program’s extra support comes to about $3,500 per child per year, urban school districts typically spend $10,000 to $14,000 per pupil annually using state and federal funding for after-school, summer and mental health programs.

“The trick is to spend the money as effectively as possible,” she said. “We identify gaps and raise money.”

Thus far it’s a bit more private money than originally envisioned, Schmitt-Carey said, “But we have faith there will be future funding.”

So far, 24 private colleges and universities will provide scholarships to eligible graduates. SUNY and CUNY campuses are taking part with help from $1.5 million in community foundation funds.

Participating colleges require students to first tap all financial aid avenues, and some colleges require a $75,000 income cap.

Aside from providing scholarships, Syracuse University President Nancy Cantor is providing extensive technical assistance through SU’s Education Department faculty and students.

Say Yes has already prompted more families to move back to the city, according to Syracuse Superintendent Dan Lowengard.

“For sale” signs in the city now include the “Say Yes” logo as a visible reminder that things are changing in this city, where fewer than half the students graduate from high school and more than 78 percent qualify for subsidized school lunches.

“We knew we had to do something dramatic to change the entire system, not just tinkering,” Voutsinas said. “We knew we had to give our kids something big. It’s called hope.”

By Eliot Brown

The Port Authority’s executive director swung back Thursday morning against attacks from Mayor Bloomberg, painting a picture of his agency as a cash-poor entity that already must scale back and scrap major projects including a major renovation at LaGuardia airport and a new midtown bus garage.

Earlier this week, the mayor went on the offensive against the Port Authority, attempting to have it back the financing for two private office towers at the World Trade Center. The move is demanded by private developer Larry Silverstein, who says the Port Authority has a responsibility to allow him to build now because of its own delays.

At a breakfast forum in the new Newsweek building (where the New York and Vicinity Carpenters Labor Management Corporation has its offices), Chris Ward, the agency’s executive director, told the union-backed Business and Labor Coalition of New York that the recession has caused the agency’s infrastructure spending to shrink by billions over the next decade. The implication was clear: Any more money devoted to the World Trade Center already committed—he put the price tag at $12 billion—will mean more cuts elsewhere.

“We had $29 billion and now we’re down to effectively a $25.5 billion plan,” he said. “I can tick off to you the things we’re not doing. And you can take that $12 billion I’m describing for downtown, and we get to an understanding of the implications for this region.

“We’re not rebuilding LaGuardia; we’re not doing the new Delta terminal at Kennedy Airport; we’re not expanding Stewart Airport; we are not redoing the Goethals Bridge. We are not doing those. We have no money in our budget right now for the Bayonne Bridge; we are not building an auxiliary bus garage in midtown Manhattan.”

The long list of cuts hadn’t been made public or even approved yet—the Port Authority’s 10-year capital budget isn’t up for a revision until December—so one probably can’t treat Mr. Ward’s word with finality (the governors of New York and New Jersey make the final calls on these matters). But, based on what he said, it seems the Port Authority has cut out of its spending plan almost any expansion or anything new other than the money toward the World Trade Center and the $3 billion for the new New Jersey Transit tunnel under the Hudson River, a priority for Governor Corzine. The LaGuardia project, for instance, envisioned a redo of the Central Terminal Building at the airport, and, at least until the recession, the agency had $1 billion in its capital budget for it.

With that said, it’s important to note that this comes in the context of a heated negotiation—or battle, as it seems—between the Port Authority and the city over whether or not the agency should back the financing of Mr. Silverstein’s towers, which have no private tenants.

Update 3:25 p.m.

Here’s the Port Authority’s latest capital budget, updated a year-and-a-half ago. The plan, at the time, was sized at $29.5 billion, with $8.4 billion for the World Trade Center. Last fall, the agency acknowledged it would need about another $2 billion to cover cost overruns on its delayed projects, bringing the total over $10 billion. Like some of the other numbers and projects mentioned here, the $12 billion figure Mr. Ward used doesn’t appear to have been approved by the agency’s board, in which case it’s no done deal and presumably includes some of the money the Port Authority would put up Mr. Silverstein’s Tower 4 as part of his financing counterproposal.

From Alan B. Lubin, Executive Vice President

This correspondence is to reiterate and clarify NYSUT’s position regarding the agreement between the Governor and various other statewide unions, as well as the potential impact of this agreement as it may apply to the public pension benefits available to all future public employees.

NYSUT has and will continue to support the lawful right of all unions to collectively bargain the terms and conditions of employment on behalf of their members. Moreover, in terms of bargaining, NYSUT recognizes that all unions and workers differ fundamentally in terms of who their public employer is, the nature of the services that they provide, for whom those services are rendered and the statutory and/or other qualifications necessary for rendering those services.
NYSUT does not support the imposition of negotiated changes on unions that are not parties to the agreement.

Read Alan Lubin’s complete letter: NYSUT

BALCONY will host a June 18th Breakfast Forum featuring a keynote speech by Port Authority Executive Director Chris Ward. Ward will describe and discuss the capital plan that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is currently implementing. This will be followed by a panel discussion on the Port Authority plan and other infrastructure initiatives, including a report from the New York State Commission on State Asset Maximization, the impact of the federal stimulus on New York and a status update on other state-of-the-art technological infrastructure initiatives previously championed by BALCONY.

Confirmed panelists for the discussion include BALCONY Executive Board member Dr. James Melius, Administrator of NYS-LECET (the New York State Laborers-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust), and Samara Barend, the Executive Director of the New York State Commission on State Asset Maximization. Other panelists will include Robert Ledwith, the Business Manager and Financial Secretary/Treasurer of Local 46 Metallic Lathers and Reinforcing Ironworkers; Brian Osterhout, the Director of Business Development for MJ Engineering and Land Surveying; Chris Levandos, Executive Director of Operations for Verizon; and Stephen McInnis, Political Director of the NYC District Council of Carpenters. The event will be chaired by BALCONY Director Lou Gordon.

“Infrastructure Investment is the most direct way to begin easing the economic plight of our state by generating good paying jobs and, at the same time, investing in our long term economic growth by developing infrastructure to support that growth,” stated Dr. James Melius, President of the New York Roadway Improvement Coalition .

This forum will be held at 395 Hudson Street (at Houston) in the offices of the New York and Vicinity Carpenters Labor Management Corporation. The registration and breakfast will begin at 8:00 A.M., and the keynote speech will commence at 8:30 AM, followed by the panel discussion. The event should end by 10:00 A.M.

The BALCONY Roads, Bridges, Tunnels, and Fiber Forum is sponsored by the New York State United Teachers, Verizon, the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce, the New York and Vicinity Labor Management Corporation, Professional Women in Construction, the Women Builders Council, the New York State Laborers-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust, and Local 46 Labor Management Cooperative Trust.

BALCONY has worked to find common ground between small business, labor, and advocacy groups since its inception in 2006, and has contributed policy suggestions for affordable health care coverage for all New Yorkers, for infrastructure and mass transit initiatives, and for “greening” the small business economy of New York State.

Assembly A 8401 Senate 5469: Summary and Information

On October 27, 2008, BALCONY, AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY, DEMOS, FREELANCERS UNION and NYU WAGNER ALUMNI ASSOCIATION held a special forum on the plight of uninsured New Yorkers in their 20’s — a group that includes more than 800,000 people, many of them working and/or living in New York without health insurance.

Read the bulletin: Health Care

by Joan Gralla

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Friday said he opposed the governor’s plan to cap property taxes because it was “undemocratic” and could require the city to pay for the extra costs that result.

Outside New York City, property taxes are the main way that counties, cities and towns raise money. If they can raise property taxes only 4 percent or less each year, the state likely will have to pay more of their budgets, and probably will siphon more of New York City’s tax dollars.

Bloomberg, an independent seeking a third term, on his weekly WOR radio show faulted some other cities for overpaying their workers, saying: “It’s going to become an obligation of the state, which means it’s going to become an obligation of the city.”

Every year New York City, whose economy powers the state, sends the state billions of dollars more in tax revenue than it gets back in aid.

Democratic Governor David Paterson says the property tax cap is needed to cut some of the nation’s highest rates which choke economic growth.

Also, banks’ wariness of real estate loans could lengthen the recession by imperiling job-creating construction projects.

A spokesman for the governor was not available for comment.

Bloomberg cited a range of problems with a plan to improve Manhattan’s Pennsylvania Station by moving its entrance a block west to the James A. Farley Post Office.

Not only were multiple levels of federal and state approvals needed but the design was too complicated.

“You’d have to go through so many twists and turns underground; nobody would want to use it because it would take so long to get down to the track,” Bloomberg said.

Any improvements for the overcrowded transit hub might be limited to just opening up space at Cablevision’s (CVC.N) Madison Square Garden, which sits on top of the station, he said.

Spokesmen for two developers that planned a massive complex around the new Pennsylvania Station, Vornado Realty Trust (VNO.N) and the Related Companies, were not available.

by James M. Odato and Rick Karlin, Capitol bureau

ALBANY — Gov. David Paterson and public employee unions are closing in on a deal to avoid the governor’s proposed 8,700 layoffs. Under the preliminary plan, the state would provide $20,000 “buyouts” to workers who voluntarily leave the payroll, people briefed on details said Wednesday.

The deal, the subject of serious discussions in recent days, calls for the unions to endorse a new pension package — the governor’s proposed Tier V — with more modest benefits terms than those available for decades to public employees.

The deal calls for the governor to drop his layoff plan. But the departures would have to take place this year.

Officials with the Civil Service Employees Association and the Public Employees Federation declined to discuss the deal, and the governor’s spokesmen would not take questions on it.

People briefed on details, however, said momentum for the deal has been building for days, and an announcement appeared imminent on a resolution to the layoff plan. But talks lost steam after news circulated Wednesday that the governor had vetoed a bill to extend expanded pension benefits for newly hired cops and firefighters.

The buyout offer would be for workers eligible for retirement, according to the people briefed, but details were still being sewn together. Initially, the deal would be an expense rather than a savings for the state. The costs could mount, into the tens of millions of dollars, to pay for the buyouts of almost 7,000 workers.

Savings from a Tier V package wouldn’t be realized for several years. Nevertheless, Paterson would be able to boast that he accomplished a major pension change that no other governor could produce.

Paterson accomplished something along those lines Tuesday when he vetoed a generous but costly police and fire pension bill that critics called a symbol of the state’s profligate spending.

The veto came without fanfare and took many in the Capitol by surprise. Noting that “state and localities are hemorrhaging revenue at an alarming rate,” Paterson vetoed a measure — identical to one approved by lawmakers and signed by the governor every year since 1981 — that allowed police and firefighters to continue collecting a more generous pension even as other public employees saw their benefits reduced.

The veto could put police and firefighters on the same footing as other public workers. Currently, so-called “uniformed” workers can retire with half-pay after 20 years of service. Although other state employees also can retire in 20 years under the system, they receive less of a payout, around 40 percent of pay.

Only future hires are covered in the veto, which has no impact on anyone now employed in the public sector.Labor advocates weren’t happy: “I’m kind of puzzled more than anything,” said state Sen. Diane Savino, D-New York City, who co-sponsored the bill extending the fire and police benefit. “This is something you would think the governor would have let us know. … If they’re using this as a bargaining (tool), this is not the way to do it.”

Budget watchdogs hailed Paterson’s veto for breaking what they described as a woeful tradition that favored powerful unions but shortchanged taxpayers.

The veto “is sending a really strong statement,” said Elizabeth Lynam, deputy research director at the Citizens Budget Commission, which studies state spending.

“Gov. Paterson made a gutsy decision,” agreed New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The higher police and fire benefits force municipalities to put about 15 percent of their payroll toward retirement costs, compared to 7.5 percent for other municipal jobs.

As of March 2008, the average person enrolled in the police and fire pension program earned $88,440, while the average pensioner collected $37,030, according to data from the state comptroller.

Paterson’s veto could be overridden if two-thirds of lawmakers in each chamber vote against him. But that could draw the Legislature into a potentially bruising and high-profile discussion of the state’s growing public employee cost, and the influence that police and fire unions wield over the Assembly and Senate.

Moreover, the veto is a concrete move in a legislative session that’s seen numerous calls for caps on spending as well as property taxes — pleas that have been met with indifference in the Legislature.

James M. Odato can be reached at 454-5083 or jodato@timesunion.com; Rick Karlin can be reached at 454-5758 or rkarlin@timesunion.com.

State pension tiers

New York’s pension system for public workers has changed over the years. Current workers can fall into one of four “tiers,” with benefits dropping from first to last. The tiers are based on the hire date of a worker:

Tier I: before July 1 1973

Tier II: July 1, 1973-July 26, 1976

Tier III: July 27, 1976-Aug. 31, 1983

Tier IV: Sept.1 1983

Police officers and firefighters fall into Tier I or II regardless of their hire date.

Source: Office of the Comptroller

by Manny Fernandez

Two seemingly like-minded political allies — labor unions and nonprofit developers of lower-cost housing — have taken opposing sides in Albany over a bill that would require the developers to pay construction workers the prevailing wage, essentially a union-level wage far higher than nonunion pay.

The developers, many of whom rely on government subsidies to build housing for low- and moderate-income families, say the bill would cut the production in half and increase rents at a vulnerable time for the industry, when the economic downturn has hampered the financing of low-cost housing. Supporters, however, argue that a prevailing-wage law would ensure quality construction and a decent standard of living for workers.

The bill, introduced in the Assembly in January and in the State Senate in April, would require developers of government-subsidized residential housing projects to pay the prevailing wage. It will be debated as part of committee hearings in Albany on Tuesday. Another bill in the Assembly and the Senate would require prevailing wages on projects financed by industrial development agencies.

Under state law, laborers on public works projects must be paid the prevailing wage, which varies according to the trade and location. The proposed legislation would expand the definition of public works to include all government-subsidized building projects by for-profit and nonprofit developers. Most workers who build subsidized low-cost housing in New York City are not currently required to be paid the prevailing wage. Projects receiving federal subsidies are required to pay it, under federal law.

“There is always arguing about what is public work and what is not public work,” Assemblywoman Susan V. John of Rochester, chairwoman of the Assembly’s Labor Committee, who introduced the bill, said in a phone interview on Monday. “This is an effort to try to clear it up.”

A report released last year by a nonprofit policy research group found that imposing prevailing wages on low- or moderate-cost housing projects could increase total development costs by about 25 percent and increase rents in a typical apartment by about $400 a month. The report was prepared by the Citizens Housing and Planning Council, which is made up of housing developers, construction company executives, bankers and academics.

The median nonunion wage for New York City construction workers in selected trades was $13.50 an hour in 2007, and the union median wage was $19.57, according to the report. Because of the increased costs associated with paying the prevailing wage, developers would need larger government subsidies to build the same number of units, according to the report.

“It will mean a lot of projects will not be feasible, or in order to make them feasible, they would be feasible for higher-income residents,” said Michael D. Lappin, president of the Community Preservation Corporation, a nonprofit lending consortium that has financed about 125,000 low-cost units around the state. “It will really have a direct impact on all the affordable housing being done. Much of that affordable housing is what has rebuilt New York’s urban neighborhoods.”

The New York State Building and Construction Trades Council of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., an influential labor group that represents the state’s major construction unions, has been pushing lawmakers to expand the prevailing-wage requirements for years.

“Is the cost of construction higher? Yes it is,” said Edward J. Malloy, president of the group. “But I think we deliver a better product, on time and in budget.”

Phillip Morrow, president and chief executive of the nonprofit South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation, which builds low-cost units, said the financial impact of paying the prevailing wage was only one concern. Mr. Morrow said he also worried that the nonunion, largely black and Hispanic work force that builds these projects would be replaced with mostly white union labor. “The unions don’t have the best record for employing minority workers and workers from the community,” he said.

Mr. Morrow said that if he had to pay the prevailing wage, his options would be limited. “We’re going to ask for more public dollars. In the Bronx, we don’t have the option of raising the rents. The market is not going to support these higher rents. We have to get more subsidy per unit.”

Opponents of the bill said federally financed projects receive additional money in order to pay the prevailing wage, but the proposed state legislation includes no extra financing. They said that because many of these projects receive private financing, they should not be considered public works, like schools or roads. “It’s absurd,” Mr. Lappin said. “Who thinks of public works as a 40-unit apartment building in the Bronx that needs some public help to keep it affordable?”

Assemblywoman John said developments such as Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, a residential and commercial project for which the city and the state have agreed to provide subsidies, were clearly public works. “I do believe that it’s important that we uphold the provisions of our State Constitution that say that when we’re spending tax money, people are paid prevailing wage,” she said.

Thanks to leadership from the Obama Administration, New York State has now added an additional 13 weeks of extended unemployment insurance benefits. This means thousands of individuals who have been victimized by the current recession and were on the verge of exhausting their unemployment benefits will continue to be eligible for unemployment in the near term. Congress and the Obama Administration’s swift and decisive action with regard to economic stimulus and unemployment benefits were intended to jump-start the economy and spur the states into action of their own.

Unfortunately, Governor Paterson and the State Legislature have yet to build on the President’s initiative by enacting necessary reforms at the state level. This includes increasing the state’s embarrassingly low maximum benefit, indexing that benefit and restoring our chronically underfunded Unemployment Trust Fund to solvency.

The New York State AFL-CIO looks forward to working with our state elected officials to improve our benefit, which ranks 2nd to last in the Nation in terms of wage replacement, and is the lowest of all of our surrounding states. The current maximum benefit of $405 per week has not been raised in a decade and amounts to just over $10 an hour, one of the lowest in the Nation. It is also important to increase the low unemployment premium paid by employers that has left our Unemployment Trust Fund insolvent, forcing New York to borrow an average of $90 million per week in order to fund our sub-par benefits.

Our unemployment system is set up to help struggling Working Families make ends meet when the economy cannot produce jobs. As a result, and in addition, the system has a great impact on the state’s economy as a whole. For example, unemployment insurance benefits provide Working Families the money needed to pay the mortgage, so in effect it helps our banks. The system provides recipients with money to help buy groceries and other necessities, so it helps our retail and Mom and Pop stores. And it helps our overall economy during a recession because it increases the tax base of our local communities when unemployed workers spend their unemployment benefits at the aforementioned local retail outlets.

Unfortunately, the Federal Government cannot do everything. Thanks to President Obama and Congress, the Federal Government did its part to help the unemployed. During the Great Depression it was the combined efforts of President Roosevelt and Governor Lehman that helped working New Yorkers. Now, we need our Governor and state legislature to take action themselves on the issues that only they can fix.

This includes an immediate increase in the maximum benefit rate of $405 per week to 50% of the average weekly wage. It means indexation of this benefit, so that Working Families who are victimized by a recession never again have to face a benefit structure that is outdated, and subject to the political whims of the times.

And finally, we need to be responsible and pay for this benefit, slowly and gradually increasing what employers pay, so that never again is the state forced to borrow billions to pay for those benefits. In the long run, this will save employers and taxpayers millions of dollars.

The New York State AFL-CIO is willing to continue to work with Governor Paterson and both houses of the legislature to pass meaningful Unemployment Insurance legislation that accomplishes the goals of helping individuals who have been victimized by the current recession, and bringing our economy out of this historic economic downturn.”

Governor Calls for Creation of State Asset Maximization Board to Provide Oversight Process for Potential Public-Private Partnerships

Governor David A. Paterson today accepted the final report from the New York State Commission on Asset Maximization. The Commission was charged with broadly examining whether asset maximization can benefit the State, as well as whether any specific New York assets are suitable candidates for Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs). The final report contains 27 major recommendations to help create jobs, generate economic activity and benefit colleges and universities across New York State. Some of the key recommendations include: school construction and renovation in Syracuse and Yonkers; 300 bridge renovations in all corners of the State; wind power on the Great Lakes; and high speed rail.

In addition to outlining specific project ideas that could be effective long-term projects, the report also recommends the creation of a State Asset Maximization Board to screen, oversee and implement PPPs. The State Asset Maximization Board will serve as an entry point for new ideas, provide continuous oversight and transparency, and enable New York State to tap into New York’s best and brightest minds – across the public and private sectors. The Board would be unsalaried.

Read the entire press release: June 1, 2009 Press Release

Read the full report from the State Asset Maximization Board: SAM

Tuesday, June 2, 2009
5:00 - 9:00 p.m.

New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli and a panel of private equity professionals will discuss the Common Retirement Fund’s In-State Investment Program that is looking to invest $528 million in New York-based companies, including early stage and growth capital for Upstate New York businesses.

The New York State Common Retirement Fund invests with private equity managers who seek to invest in companies in New York state that require capital for growth or to refinance ownership. The program, created in 1999, targets investment of state funds in the New York state economy. The program aims to help generate jobs and private sector investment in the state.

The event will also offer an opportunity to personally network with Upstate and NYC capital providers; legal and accounting firms; and others interested in venture and private equity transactions.

For more information, click: DiNapoli

We are going through an incredibly frightening environment permeated by muddled objectives, conflicts of interest and what has been characterized as a “legacy of misplaced priorities.”

The world’s financial system has collapsed and global central banks are faced with new, unproven strategies to deal effectively with these turbulent unchartered waters. Credit, which was on a 20-year binge, remains constrained, the markets and the regulatory agencies have failed, and the old rules governing financial flows of capital are moribund.

The nation appears to be on a bullet train to bankruptcy.

Read the entire article: Mackell

by James T. Madore

Gov. David A. Paterson is unlikely to resort to widespread layoffs of state workers this summer to cut about 8,900 jobs, despite the tough talk between him and labor leaders.

The Budget Division said last week the state payroll had shrunk by around 1,200 positions since the job-cutting plan was drawn up. The reductions were because of a hiring freeze and people leaving for retirement or other reasons.

So, the positions on the chopping block now stand at 7,687 from a workforce of 136,490. These cuts will be achieved primarily through more attrition and wiping out unfilled jobs. At most, only a few hundred layoffs are expected, experts said.

Lowering the state’s labor costs has been complicated by Paterson’s weak position in negotiating with the powerful Civil Service Employees Association, Public Employees Federation and eight other unions. Besides having dismal poll numbers, he limited his leverage by not inflating the jobs at risk. Previous governors attempted to scare rank-and-file union members with higher numbers to lobby their leaders into making concessions, experts said.

Limited success in the past

Govs. Mario Cuomo and George Pataki had limited success in the 1990s, however. The unions refused to grant significant concessions and thousands of jobs were shed to close budget deficits. But this was largely done through attrition and early retirement incentives, not massive layoffs.

“Historically, these things tend to get worked out,” said Robert B. Ward of SUNY’s Rockefeller Institute of Government in Albany. “The conventional wisdom is that the level of vitriol is higher than ever this year . . . but my sense is that things may have calmed down a bit.”

He added, “the number of actual layoffs is likely to be relatively small, if any.”

E.J. McMahon of the conservative Empire Center for New York State Policy agreed, though he said the unions had been emboldened by Paterson.

“He has shown no will power. . . . There is no reason to believe he will actually do anything,” McMahon said. “He should have threatened to lay off 30,000; then you would have union members thinking their jobs were in danger and pressuring the [union] leadership to accept what Paterson is offering.”

Experts pointed to California, Michigan, Wisconsin and other states that have compelled workers to take unpaid furloughs. New Jersey is calling for 14 furlough days from this month through June 2010.

Paterson so far has pushed for union members to skip this year’s 3 percent raise and postpone five days’ pay until they leave state service. He also wants to raise the minimum retirement age from 55 to 62 for new hires and require them to contribute more to their pensions.

A call for sacrifice

“We’ve offered a menu of ways that [the unions] could prevent the layoffs but they seem to want to try to vest the responsibility on me,” Paterson told Newsday. “I think the responsibility lies with them. They have got to show us that they are willing to make some sacrifices.”

Asked if he was committed to the job cuts, Paterson said he was, because otherwise $450 million in savings would be lost over the next two years. He also predicted the $131.8-billion budget would fall out of balance by $3 billion before the fiscal year ends in March because of plummeting tax collections.

Paterson’s job cuts affect only unionized workers at agencies under his control. Those taking the biggest hits would be prisons, 2,021; mental retardation, 1,434; mental health, 1,054; transportation, 624; and the State Police, 386.

Long Island would be spared somewhat because SUNY, the largest state employer locally, isn’t affected. Neither are the legislature and courts. There also aren’t any state prisons here.

Still, reductions are probable at institutions caring for the mentally ill , such as Pilgrim Psychiatric Center and Long Island Developmental Center, each with more than 1,500 unionized workers.

CSEA, in advertising critical of Paterson, has highlighted services for the disabled. Spokesman Stephen Madarasz said, “We’ve offered the governor lots of ideas for ways of saving money without layoffs. But this isn’t about money, it’s about trying to extract concessions from us to boost him politically.”

CSEA and PEF have called for using fewer consultants, hiring more workers to reduce overtime and expansion of flexible work schedules. Both have refused to amend contracts negotiated in better economic times.

By RANDI WEINGARTEN

MOST of us who backed the 2002 law that gives the mayor control of the city’s schools believed that it would bring stability, accountability and cohesion to the system. We still believe there is promise in that model, and we want to see the law, which expires next month, renewed. That is why we are offering the following suggestions to preserve it. As many New Yorkers know, we think the model can be improved, based upon what we have learned in the last seven years, by creating more checks and balances.

Think of it as Mayoral Control 2.0.

We have thought that a good way to do this would be to reduce the number of mayoral appointees on the 13-member Panel for Education Policy, which must approve policy changes, from eight to five. The mayor would no longer control a majority of members, but others with a stake in the system would be empowered. We have backed such a change in the law. But because Mayor Bloomberg, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith and others (including The Post) have disagreed, why not consider other possibilities that maintain the mayoral majority on the PEP but similarly provide for greater public input, broader discussion and more checks and balances on the mayor’s prerogatives?

What sort of alternative measures might work?

Ultimately, it’s up to the Legislature to decide, but here are some suggestions:

* Give PEP members fixed terms. Under the current law, the mayor can remove his appointees at any time. Giving them fixed terms instead would make them more independent and allow them to weigh in on issues without fear of being removed.

* Require the panel to hold hearings on the school system’s expense and capital budgets. Although decisions may ultimately rest with the mayor and the Department of Education, public exposure and debate of these issues might also serve as a useful check.

* Have policy proposals made in public in advance of panel meetings, complete with a list of pros and cons about the issues being voted on. Again, the additional debate and exposure could help inform — and improve — ideas pushed by the mayor and could act as a brake on ill-conceived plans.

* Structure meetings to allow for more public discussion and have them broadcast and archived online. The point here is not that any one of these measures is a prerequisite for renewing the law, but rather to note that there are many different possible ways to make improvements, bolster public input and provide greater balance. Indeed, other ideas may yet surface that would accomplish these goals.

In the end, all of us want a governance structure that creates and nurtures high-quality, safe learning environments that prepare children for college and life. The best such structure would ensure real discussion and debate before major policy shifts occur by creating an institutional voice for parents, students and teachers. That would lead to policies that best serve the interests of all parties. We know, for example, that schools that are collaborative, where teachers’ voices are heard and respected, are better for learning. Likewise, schools with parental input are inherently stronger. Thus, the Legislature could bolster the law to strengthen school-leadership teams, district-leadership teams and community-education councils as the 2002 law originally envisioned. Rather than being marginalized, these entities should be able to carry out their responsibilities so that parents have a role in decisions affecting their children and have their issues addressed.

Superintendents, who for a long time served as an important link between their communities and the central Department of Education, should also be re-empowered to provide schools with more local support, strengthen instruction and improve parental access. To improve confidence in student-achievement data and increase transparency over spending, the Legislature could require broader access to the numbers — and perhaps even an independent analysis.

The public’s trust in the data is crucial to its confidence in the system as a whole.

Finally, lawmakers should strengthen oversight and enforcement mechanisms. One shouldn’t have to go to court or hold a protest to get the school system to do the right thing. There are many different ways to run our schools. As the debate over governance moves forward, we should be looking for ways to ensure that every child has a quality public school to attend that actually improves outcomes for its students. Every company can improve its products. Teachers consistently work to improve their methods. So, too, can the Legislature produce a Mayoral Control 2.0 that improves the current system without totally reversing course. Doing so would put the city on the right track. Randi Weingarten is president of the United Federation of Teachers.

By Glenn Blain

More bad news out of Albany: The state’s projected budget gap could more than double to nearly $6 billion by the start of next year’s budget.

Gov. Paterson said Wednesday he’s bracing for a more than $3 billion shortfall in state revenues this year, which would come on top of the $2.5 billion deficit already projected for the 2010-2011 budget, which begins on April 1.

“We are going to have to look at further cuts,” Paterson said.

Paterson’s warning came less than two months after lawmakers adopted a $131 billion budget for 2009-2010 that boosted overall spending by about 9% and included more than $4 billion in new taxes and fees.

“New York doesn’t have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem,” said Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Long Island).

Paterson said his prediction was based on what happened to the state in the 2008-2009 fiscal year, when the state lost $3 billion in revenues.

“I guess I’m the eternal pessimist,” Paterson said.

Paterson’s pessimism was not shared by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) and Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith (D-Queens).

Both said it was too early to predict the state’s financial fate.

“There are hopeful signs of improvement,” Silver said, referring to the economy.

Even Paterson’s budget office said the latest estimates don’t back up the dire predictions.

“What we see is that we are essentially in line with the financial plan,” said Budget Division spokesman Jeffrey Gordon.

Gordon said Paterson was simply “voicing his concerns about the uncertainties in the economic climate.”

State Controller Thomas DiNapoli warned this week that the state’s budget year got off to a “poor start,” collecting only $4.8 billion in revenues in April, about $239.1 million below projections.

Read more: “State’s budget gap could hit $6 billion by next year, says Governor Paterson” - http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/05/20/2009-05-20_states_budget_gap_could_hit_6_billion_by_next_year_says_governor_paterson.html#ixzz0GFEPQ5Nf&A

The forum was held at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School and was attended by more than 80 persons from labor unions, small businesses, health care providers, community advocacy groups and legislators. The event focused on updates on health care reform efforts at the local, state and national levels and on finding common ground between business and labor on practical solutions for improving New York’s health care system.

The forum featured presentations and analysis of Federal and New York State Health Insurance and Care initiatives as well as a review of regional Rochester health care services. Introductions were made by Mark Cronin, Regional Vice President, Lakes Region, American Cancer Society and James Nofziger, Co-Chair of BALCONY-Rochester. A comprehensive review of regional Rochester health care was presented by Sarah Trafton, Associate Executive Director of the Finger Lakes Health Systems Agency (click here for a Trafton Presentation).

Read the full report: Balcony-Rochester

Other Proposals Will Make Insurance and Needed Health Services More Accessible

Governor David A. Paterson today announced legislation that will introduce several new initiatives to make health insurance more affordable and improve access to health care for more New Yorkers. The four bills submitted to the Legislature will: (1) extend the period of time for the federal Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) coverage from 18 to 36 months; (2) permit families to cover their young adult dependents through age 29 under their job-based insurance; (3) require health insurers to get approval from the Superintendent of Insurance before increasing premium rates; and (4) enact a series of managed care reforms to protect the ability of consumers who have health insurance to timely access necessary health services.

“These reforms will make health insurance more affordable for everyday New Yorkers. More than two million of our residents do not have health insurance, partly because of the high cost of coverage for businesses, individuals and families,” said Governor Paterson. “We must take the necessary steps to improve our broken health care system. By making insurance coverage more accessible, we bring people into the system before they need emergency treatment, reducing the overall cost of health care to the entire State.”

The Governor‘s proposals include:

* Expand COBRA for Employees to 36 Months: This bill will increase the period for employees who lose their jobs to continue their health insurance under COBRA from 18 to 36 months. Under COBRA, workers who lose their jobs can continue purchasing group health insurance provided by their former employers’ group health plans for limited periods of time under certain circumstances for themselves and their families. COBRA generally applies to employers with 20 or more employees, while the State’s “mini-COBRA” law requires that smaller employers – those who have fewer than 20 employees – offer the same continuation coverage. This allows employees to maintain health insurance at a lower cost than if they had to buy it themselves on the open market. The Governor’s proposed legislation will allow New Yorkers who lose their jobs to extend their health insurance coverage for a longer period of time, which is particularly important in the current economy with its record high level of unemployment.

* Insure Dependents Through Age 29: This bill, outlined by the Governor in his State of the State address, will require that insurers allow unmarried children through age 29 – regardless of financial dependence – to be covered under a parent’s group health insurance policy. Young adults ages 19 to 29 represent 31 percent of uninsured New Yorkers. They often become ineligible for coverage under their parents’ policies at age 19 or upon high school or college graduation, find themselves in entry-level jobs that do not provide employer-based health insurance, and cannot afford to pay premiums for individual insurance policies – which are much more expensive than group policies. Under the bill, premiums would be paid for by families, not employers, and would cost less because coverage is under group policies rather than individual policies.

* Prior Rate Approval: This bill will require prior approval of health insurance rates by the Superintendent of Insurance. Since 1996, New York has operated under the “file and use” system, under which health insurers can increase premium rates for policyholders without first having to justify the increases to the Insurance Department. The bill will reinstate the prior approval process, giving the Insurance Department the ability to approve rate changes before they are put into effect, and providing better balance between consumers and insurers in the rate setting process.

* Managed Care Reform: This bill will implement reforms that help consumers receive the care they need and cut some of the red tape that results in inappropriately delayed or denied claims. Some of the protections that will benefit consumers under the proposal are:

o Prohibiting insurers from treating an in-network provider as out-of-network simply because the referring provider was out-of-network;
o Establishing minimum standards to ensure that non-HMO’s have an adequate network of providers to meet the patient’s needs;
o Extending current protections for consumers in HMOs to consumers in “HMO look-alike” plans – health plans that operate the same as HMOs but are not licensed as HMOs, such as “exclusive provider organizations” or EPOs;
o Reducing the prompt-pay timeframe from 45 days to 15 days for electronically submitted claims so doctors and hospitals are paid more quickly;
o Limiting health insurers’ ability to make administrative or technical denials of payment for otherwise medically necessary services;
o Reducing the time insurers have to review requests for post-hospital care;
o Deeming a claim to be approved (rather than denied) when a health insurer fails to meet certain claim review timeframes;
o Extending protections to doctors and hospitals when health insurers seek to recover alleged overpayments. The protections include basic notice and an opportunity to challenge the insurers’ overpayment recovery efforts.

Insurance Superintendent Eric Dinallo said: “The Governor’s legislative package includes substantial reforms that will have a real impact on New Yorkers, allowing those who currently cannot afford health insurance to obtain coverage. In addition, these proposals will benefit businesses which pay for group coverage for their employees.”

Commissioner of Health Richard F. Daines, M.D., said: “I commend Governor Paterson for his commitment to increasing access to health insurance, which gives individuals access to consistent primary and preventive care and helps them avoid chronic disease and avoidable hospitalizations.”

The legislation announced today builds upon other initiatives aimed at increasing the availability and affordability of health insurance. In March, Governor Paterson signed into law his Program Bill to help New Yorkers who lost their jobs at small businesses take advantage of a COBRA subsidy made available under the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). In addition, the 2009-10 enacted budget eliminated certain barriers to enrolling in public health insurance coverage such as face-to-face interviews, finger imaging, and asset tests, and authorized the Department of Health to seek federal support for expanded coverage for low-income adults. Moreover, as of September 1, 2008, all of New York’s uninsured children became eligible for moderate or no-cost health care coverage under Child Health Plus.

The ad campaign does not promote a specific health care reform plan but will focus on the critical impact health care costs have on the economy. The campaign is part of ACS CAN’s ongoing work in the health care reform policy debate to ensure that lawmakers consider the interests of cancer patients, survivors, and their families as legislation is drafted. It is the latest in a series of ACS CAN health care reform collaborations with different organizations, which have included work with many of the groups listed above. ACS CAN’s health care reform effort is a component of the Society’s and ACS CAN’s joint initiative to improve access to care for all Americans, which is critical to achieving the Society’s mission.

A public relations agency working on behalf of the coalition will conduct targeted national media outreach in support of the ad campaign launch.  A press release, which includes a quote from Society and ACS CAN CEO John R. Seffrin, PhD, and the final version of the ad are available in the CML [Link] and in the Access to Care community on the Link. Information about the Healthy Economy Now coalition can be found at http://www.healthyeconomynow.org.   Additional information about the Society’s and ACS CAN’s joint Access to Care initiative and ACS CAN’s Health Care Reform campaign can be found in the Access to Care community on the Link.

Divisions that receive media inquiries should contact Steve Weiss, senior director, communications and media advocacy for ACS CAN, or Trista Hargrove, associate director, media advocacy for ACS CAN to coordinate efforts.

By Valerie Bauman

ALBANY, N.Y. - Gov. David Paterson wants to make health care more affordable and accessible by requiring health insurers to get state approval before raising premiums.

The proposal, now before the Legislature, would require companies to seek approval for increases through state Insurance Superintendent Eric Dinallo. Currently the state’s “file and use” system gives insurance companies broad discretion for rate increases without state approval.

“It has not worked because self-regulation in this sector has not resulted in the best pricing for New Yorkers,” Dinallo said. “It, instead, has resulted in driving New Yorkers out of health plans.”

Leslie Moran, a spokeswoman for the New York Health Plan Association, says there are serious problems with the measure.

“This is basically a bill that seeks to impose much greater regulation of health insurance premiums,” she said. “It’s basically exerting price controls on health care. It ignores the underlying factors that are responsible for an insurance premium. It would only regulate the cost of premiums without regulating the cost of providers, hospital cost.”

The bill is one of four Paterson proposals intended to help people who can’t afford private insurance, but don’t qualify for Medicaid, the government health care coverage for the poor.

“There are people who don’t qualify for the traditional safety net, but still need help, still need a leg up,” said Joseph Baker, acting deputy secretary for Health and Human Services to the governor.

Of New York’s uninsured, nearly one in three is between the ages of 19 and 29. Paterson’s proposal would allow families to cover children up to age 29 under insurance provided by their employer. They would be eligible if they’re unmarried and don’t have access to employer-provided insurance. Under the proposal, families would pay the premiums instead of employers, but it would cost less under group policies than if the young adult took out an individual policy.

Most plans now stop this coverage at 23 years old.

Senate Democrats already introduced similar proposals. Dan Weiller, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, said lawmakers would review the proposals; there is a hearing June 8 on prior approval of rate increases.

Paterson also wants to extend COBRA coverage from 18 to 36 months. COBRA allows people who have lost their jobs to continue with the same insurance plan they had under an employer. At $400 a month, it’s less than half the cost of insurance on the open market.

The final proposal in Paterson’s package would attack managed care to reduce bureaucracy that stands in the way of care and cut down on inappropriately delayed or denied claims. If an insurance company fails to meet a deadline for reviewing a claim, the proposal would require the claim to be approved.

The plan would also reduce the time insurance companies have to pay doctors and hospitals to 15 days instead of 45 days.

“You have a fairly regulated (health care) market,” Dinallo said. “The delivery of health care, not just insurance: Providers have regulated reimbursement and Medicaid and Medicare have built in ceilings, so when you have that, but you have one sector that is exclusively free market, you take the air out of the balloon.”

by Glenn Blain

ALBANY - The state Assembly gave its approval to same-sex marriage Tuesday night but the issue’s fate in New York remains uncertain.

“What we are doing is legislating civil, and I do mean civil rights,” said Assemblyman Matthew Tittone, a Staten Island Democrat who is gay. “I am not looking for the right to force the Pope to preside over my big fat gay wedding.”

Critics charged that the legislation, which was introduced by Gov. Paterson last month, would undermine traditional marriage and force religious institutions that run public facilities - such as dormitories and catering halls - to accept gay couples.

“The issue to me is the bible, the Torah,” said Assemblyman Dov Hikind, D-Brooklyn. “It is about God. It is about what I believe God wants.”

State Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith (D-Queens) supports same-sex marriage but has said he won’t bring the measure to the floor unless there’s enough votes for it to pass.

New York, NY According to mayor Michael Bloomberg and council speaker Christine Quinn, one of the world’s most comprehensive packages of legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from existing government, commercial, and residential buildings has been launched. A six-point plan, when enacted as part of PlaNYC, will reduce the city’s energy usage and save consumers money, while creating thousands of well-paying jobs and reducing the city’s carbon footprint. The six-point plan consists of four pieces of new legislation and two PlaNYC programs that will achieve carbon reductions, train workers for the estimated 19,000 construction jobs that will be created, and help finance energy-saving improvements using $16 million available from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The plan will also result in cleaner air, since emissions from boilers, furnaces, and local power plants will also be reduced.

According to the PlaNYC inventory of greenhouse gas emissions, almost 80% of the city’s carbon footprint comes from buildings’ energy use. Once implemented, the legislation will reduce citywide emissions by 5%, the equivalent of eliminating all carbon emissions from Oakland, Calif.

Read the entire report: Real Estate

Read the full report (PDF file):  Rough Roads