The two major business organizations in Westchester County said this year”™s state legislative session showed progress for the local business community despite the defeat of several marquee initiatives and the glacial pace of lawmaking.
The state Legislature concluded its 2014 session in a relatively quiet manner ahead of an election year. Lawmakers approved a series of bills heading to their legislative deadline, although pro-business groups were hoping for more action on some fronts.
The Business Council of Westchester and the Westchester County Association said the function of state government has improved in recent years and representatives from each group spoke with the Business Journal, outlining their informal legislative report cards for the year.
Wage Theft Prevention Act
The Legislature repealed part of the state”™s Wage Theft Prevention Act that required businesses to issue a wage rate notice to employees in the beginning of each year, file it with the Department of Labor, then keep the document on file for six years. Businesses said the provision was an administrative burden.
Pro-business lobbyists have sought to repeal the act, or parts of it, for three years.
John Ravitz, executive vice president of the Business Council and a former Assemblyman, said repealing that piece of the law was one of the major business lobbying successes of the year. “For small businesses, it was a real hit,” he said. “It”™s going to save businesses a lot of money.”
Despite the repeal of the notice provision, lawmakers voted to increase the fines associated with violations of aspects of the act including notice to new employees.
The Scaffold Law
The biggest disappointment for local businesses, Ravitz said, was the lack of action on scaling back the state Scaffold Law, which dates back to 1885. The law looks to protect workers at construction sites, particularly high-altitude projects, from unsafe conditions. Opponents say the law increases the cost of construction in the state with a provision that holds building companies and property owners 100 percent liable for “gravity-related” injuries at a work site.
Ravitz said the provision would increase the cost of the replacement Tappan Zee Bridge by as much as $300 million to $400 million. He said New York stood alone in how its law was written, but reform has been blocked by pro-labor groups.
Brownfield cleanup program
Close to the end of the session, the Legislature extended the state brownfield program, which offers tax credits for builders that clean up and develop environmentally blighted land. The credits were set to expire at the end of 2015 but have been extended to March 2017.
Marissa Brett, president of the Westchester County Association, said the short-term extension “will stimulate investment as well as bring about a cleaner environment.”
The extension was a compromise after legislators were unable to find common ground in reforming the brownfield program. Gov. Andrew Cuomo told Gannett newspapers he hoped to revisit reforming the program in the 2015 legislative session.
Hotel occupancy tax
A dozen Westchester municipalities requested approval to charge a 3 percent occupancy tax on hotel bookings within their borders. The bill wasn”™t taken up in the Senate for the second consecutive year, due to hesitancy to approve any new taxes. Westchester County has its own
3 percent tax on hotel bookings and four communities were granted authority to charge their own hotel taxes prior to the Cuomo administration. The lack of new hotel taxes was viewed as a victory by the local hotel industry.
Mandate relief
Municipalities regularly blame unfunded state mandates for the level of ever-growing property taxes, saying contributions to the state pension fund alone account for annual increases. Businesses also complain that over-regulation is driving up costs locally. Westchester”™s business community doesn”™t believe there has been real progress in issuing comprehensive mandate relief.
Ravitz said, “We need the legislators to really bear down. We need to continue to look at the amount of money that Westchester County needs to spend to give back on all these mandates.”
Brett said the governor has shown a willingness to work with the business community to make New York more competitive. “The object is to make New York State more ”˜business friendly”™ as business growth means job growth,” she said.
The long-standing Wick”™s Law has been a focal point but one that has not shifted much in recent years. The law requires municipal construction projects to bid separate contracts for projects costing more than $1.5 million. The law, advocates say, inflates municipal construction costs and even discourages officials from taking on infrastructure projects because of the price tags.
Not all bad news
Business leaders said despite several notable defeats, they believe state government has been trending in the right direction in terms of trying to lower the tax burden and passing budgets on time. The state also received an improved bond outlook from Fitch Ratings and Moody”™s Investors Service last month.
Ravitz said, “I think those are all positive signs. It”™s now drilling down to some of these laws.”
