March 19, 2003 Message from the Chairman . . .Small Business Day events on March 25th are looking to be very interesting for Chambers and our Small Business members. There is still time to register – see the article below for a link to the registration form. How better to know what the most critical state issues are for small businesses than being in Albany and in front of our legislators in person? Around the rest of CANYS land there is a lot going on. We have a new membership committee in place with Peter Aust at the helm, our Board is considering issues such as Association Health Plan legislation in Washington, dangling Sole Proprietor Legislation items, and CANYS programming in conjunction with The Business Council’s Annual meeting (Sept. 17th - 19th) at Bolton Landing. A big thank you goes out to all Chambers that “stepped up” in the first phase of our E-Advocacy campaign in conjunction with The Business Council. Nearly 8,000 letters have been sent out hammering home the theme “more jobs, not more taxes.” Stay tuned for Phase II in the very near future. Regards and hope to see you at Small Business Day. --- Ray San FratelloInstitute Scholarship Applications Due . . .Want to attend the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for Organizational Management, but need a little help getting there? Apply for the CANYS Institute Scholarship, a $1000 scholarship designed to advocate attendance in the program. Applications were sent to your chamber in the mail. Applications are due Thursday, March 20. You can fax your completed application to 518-432-4537. Small Business Day: March 25 . . .Time is running out to sign up for Small Business Day. Don't miss the stimulating panels on "How Tort Laws Unfairly Effect Small Business," and "How to Get Health Care Costs Under Control," along with comments from Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and Secretary of State Randy Daniels. Join us in Albany on March 25, 2003 for Small Business Day. To register, click here: http://www.bcnys.org/whatsnew/events/sbdinfo.htm New York Day in Washington 2003 . . .Save the date and book your hotel now! New York Day in Washington, D.C. is May 14. A block of rooms is being held at the Washington Terrace Hotel on Rhode Island Avenue. To register you may call at 1-202-232-7000 and use CODE CHA0513 or online at http://www.reservations@washingtonterracehotel.com. The room block is only good until April 14, so book your rooms today! This is your chance to lobby on Capitol Hill for issues important to your local business community. The event kicks off with a Legislative Reception May 13th on “The Hill” with our New York delegation. We have invited Senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton to join us for our Congressional Breakfast May 14th, along with the entire New York delegation of Representatives. Then you’ll hear the latest developments on issues of importance to New York businesses from experts in the field, during our Issues Briefing. The afternoon provides ample opportunity for your group to meet one-on-one with your own Members of Congress and their legislative staffs. Please plan to join us and give your members the date, so they can plan to participate. Also, please help us design the CANYS federal legislative agenda for 2003. What are the top three federal issuesyour chamber is dealing with this year? Tell us via e-mail to maggie.moree@bcnys.org. How Many Employees Does CANYS Represent? . . .How many workers does your chamber represent? Of all the businesses you count as members, what is the grand total of employees within your membership? CANYS is interested in figuring out how many men and women we represent in the workforce. Please check your membership database and tally up the number of employees each of your businesses has. E-mail the figure to maggie.moree@bcnys.org. Tell Us About It . . .Jane Schramm at the Guilderland Chamber of Commerce wants to know what you think: do any other CANYS Chambers offer automatic bill payment opportunites for either membership or health insurance payments on a monthly basis? E-mail Jane at jschramm@acmenet.net. Nancy Ploeger at the Manhattan Chamber wants to know what you think: Please take a few moments to help with this important health insurance survey. The Manhattan Chamber will be taking the results to Albany and notifying the press. Also, please feel free to pass on to your associates and other business owners you know as the more information we have, the more effective our outreach efforts to improve this issue will be. http://www.manhattancc.org/survey/poll.cfm?poll_ID=30 Deb Warner at the Greater Syracuse Chamber wants to know what you
think about public pension costs for localities: Local governments
and school districts across the state are facing higher pension
costs in the coming year, in the wake of investment losses by state
pension funds as well as benefit increases enacted by Governor Pataki
and the Legislature. The Governor has proposed allowing localities
to stretch out payments over five years, reducing local taxpayer
costs in the coming year by an estimated $1.8 billion. Costs would
rise in coming years under the proposal. The reforms are subject
to the Comptroller's constitutional authority to accept them as
sole trustee of the pension fund. The proposal does not affect recent
benefit increases, including the ending of public employee pension
contributions for many state employees after 10 years. (Local pension
costs are also affected by local officials' decisions regarding
staffing numbers, wages and salaries.) If you're concerned about
this, e-mail Deb at Dwarner@syracusechamber.com
Mark Your Calendar . . . May
13 – 14: CANYS New York Day in Washington July
20 – 22: U.S. Chamber Executives’ Leadership
Forum July
27 – 31: U.S. Chamber Northeast Institute August
7 – 9: 2003 NAMD/ACCE Chamber Professionals Conference October
30 – November
1: ACCE 2003 Leadership Conference December
8 – 11:
ACCE Center for Creative Leadership ACCE Regional Education . . .The American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) has announced new regional education designed to bring core programming on effective chamber operations to convenient locations throughout the country. ACCE Regional Education: Visiting A Community Near You! is a series of one-day seminars that addresses the critical and practical issues of running a Chamber of Commerce. ACCE partners with a 'host chamber' in the designated region, and offers a member registration fee of $179. The first in the series is a course on Chamber Financial Management, conducted by Edward McMillan, CPA, CAE. Initially, four locations have been confirmed: Alexandria, VA, Birmingham, AL, Columbus, OH, and Lancaster, PA. ACCE will roll out four more regional education offerings this year, including locations in the Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountains. For more information on ACCE Regional Education: Visiting A Community Near You! visit http://www.acce.org/profdev/regional/
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