On Monday, December 19, New York State’s Climate Action Council (CAC) formally approved the New York State Climate Action Council Scoping Plan. The final vote count was 19-3 with the dissenting members explaining their objections. We’ve also voiced our concerns about the flawed plan in recent months: · New York’s $340 Billion Plan To Go Green […]
On Wednesday, November 30, New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) released its 2022 Reliability Needs Assessment. The 92-page report includes a wealth of information about what New York’s electric grid needs to maintain reliability margins in the future. That future appears to problematic due to New York’s climate policies and all-electric push. This particular passage […]
On Tuesday, November 15, New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli published a damning audit of describing numerous failures involving the New York State Department of Labor’s unemployment insurance claims. “The agency resorted to stop-gap measures to paper over problems, and this proved to be costly to the state, businesses, and New Yorkers. The department needs […]
Given the size and importance of New York’s agriculture sector, you would think that the New York State Department of Labor would do a better job of letting New Yorkers know about the public comment period on the Farm Laborers Wage Board report. For unknown reasons, the Department of Labor hasn’t made a significant effort […]
The following op-ed was originally published in the Auburn Citizen. Governor Hochul recently announced the start of a statewide listening tour at farms across the state. The focus of the tour will supposedly examine the climate, workforce and economic challenges that farmers face every day. While those issues are undoubtedly problematic for New York’s agriculture […]
Employers across New York are about to get blindsided by an “Interest Assessment Surcharge” from the New York State Department of Labor. According to an update from the Department of Labor, surcharges stemming from New York’s unemployment insurance debt to Washington are about to hit employers. The surcharge is approximately $27.60 per employee. That may […]
In a letter sent to Governor Kathy Hochul on Monday, July 11, 22 members of the New York State Assembly’s Democratic conference requested that the governor use higher-than-expected revenues to pay down New York’s $8.1 billion UI debt to the federal government. This letter signals a new movement in the fight for UI relief which […]
Last week, members of the New York State Senate and Assembly wrapped up the 2022 legislative session. During the course of the session, both houses of the Legislature passed more than 1,000 bills. Last month, in partnership with NFIB of NY, we identified a package of bills that we dubbed The Excessive Seven that would […]
The following op-ed was originally published in The Buffalo News on April 27, 2022 Given the staggering size of this year’s $221 billion budget, it stands to reason that Gov. Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders would have enacted some unemployment insurance relief for employers across the state. After months of intense advocacy efforts by our […]
Upstate United is proud to join with 48 other organizations in calling on legislative leaders to support sensible reforms to the recently passed Hero Act. The joint statement can be viewed below: “While the NY Hero Act is well intentioned, we are calling on our leaders in Albany to work together to modify certain aspects […]