March 2, 2006
Small Business Day is March 28th
Chambers from across the state are now finalizing their plans to bring
delegations of small business people to Albany on March 28th for the annual
lobbying event, Small Business Day.
We need your members’ voices too! Co-sponsored
by CANYS, The Business Council and NFIB, the day is wholly devoted to
advocacy and education for your small business members.
Agenda updates are available online at: www.bcnys.org/whatsnew/events/sbdprogram.htm
Please be sure to schedule afternoon meetings with your own legislators, or those in key leadership or committee positions. A full listing of leadership positions and committee assignments can be found here:
Senate: public.leginfo.state.ny.us/statdoc/scomlist.html
Assembly: www.assembly.state.ny.us/comm/
$1000 scholarship to Institute available
The CANYS Board has once again approved a $1000 scholarship for a chamber executive or staff member to attend Institute.
The Institute for Organizational Management of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is looking for new students. The Institute curriculum is a four-year course of study designed by experts in association, chamber, and non-profit management. Participants take five required core courses each year with the same group of colleagues, creating a learning group that builds upon previous classes. In addition, participants also choose four electives each year to meet their personal objectives and boost their careers.
Northeast Institute is held at Villanova University in Villanova Pennsylvania, July 30 through August 3, 2006. For more information, go to www.uschamber.com/institute or call Jeff Shinaman at the Saratoga County Chamber: (518) 584-3255 or jshinaman@saratoga.org. —Jeff is on the Board of Regents for Northeast Institute.
To apply for the $1000 CANYS scholarship to Institute, get the application form HERE.
Engage your members with e-advocacy
Thanks to the efforts of many chambers around the state, The Business Council has successfully launched its first e-advocacy campaign of 2006 on workers’ compensation reform. Now, chambers have been challenged to double the number of faxes going to Albany over the next few weeks—for a grand total of 6,000 faxes before March 31. Get your memberships re-engaged now!
Another opportunity for chambers to leverage their members’ power is coming in the second e-advocacy campaign of 2006—tax cut proposals. A summary of legislative proposals can be found HERE. Detailed information will be e-mailed to each chamber executive on the launch of this new issue.
For questions or help in getting the comp reform and tax cut proposal messages out to your membership, please e-mail maggie.moree@bcnys.org.
"On the Road" with Chairman Peter Aust
One of the most enjoyable benefits of serving as your chairman this year is the opportunity to "hit the road" with Skye to talk and listen to you on important issues facing our organizations. Our first road trip took us to visit the Western NY Chamber Alliance in Buffalo, the Syracuse area chambers, and the Mohawk Valley Chamber Alliance in Rome on February 14-15.
We met our WNY colleagues on Tuesday afternoon and heard about MicroLoan programs, Energy partnerships and the IDA 504 Loan program. On to Syracuse in the evening for a fun dinner at one of Skye's fave spots...the Dinosaur Barby! Great food and company. We met colleagues for breakfast the next morning to hear about membership challenges and the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, a prohibitive identification requirement proposal for entering the US from Canada...affecting both commerce and tourism throughout NYS and beyond. A quick stop to welcome our newest chamber leader, Darlene Kerr, at the Syracuse Chamber and then onto a large group of chamber leaders in Rome for the meeting of the Mohawk Valley Chamber Alliance luncheon.
Throughout our tour we shared news of the creation of our Health Insurance
Task Force addressing the sole proprietor rate differential cap and further
research into prior rate approval through the NYS Insurance Department.
In addition, we outlined the priority legislative agenda developed by
the Business Council, with support and input from CANYS, that includes
another hopeful push to get worker's comp done this year!
It is our goal to visit most of you in the coming months and invite you
to let us know if a group of you will be meeting together, or hosting
a special event, where we can join with you. Our road trips are providing
valuable insight on how our organization can provide value to you as we
continue to build on our solid foundation. I hope to see you during our
next "On The Road".
Health insurance task force update from the Chairman
The CANYS Health Insurance Task Force met Friday, February 24th at the Mohawk Valley Chamber in Utica. Joining us was Mark Amodeo from the NYS Conference of Blue Cross/Blue Shield Plans and Sean Doolan from Hinman, Straub, a lobby group representing Excellus Health Systems who outlined their view on the factors fueling health insurance cost increases. From this intensive discussion, Mr. Doolan indicated that Excellus has agreed to support legislation that extends the cap on the rate differential for sole proprietors for another 3 years and at a 15% differential, versus the previous 20% allowed in the original legislation. In addition, Mr. Doolan will strongly encourage his client to provide actuarial data to CANYS on the sole proprietor experience in comparison to small group experience in their market. This, as you know, is a giant step forward in our ongoing quest to have access to this important comparison data. Our Task Force is optimistic that this data will be forthcoming in the near future. We will be continuing to have discussions within our Task Force and with our legislative representatives to outline the next steps in this process of effecting meaningful change in our ongoing health insurance challenges. —Peter Aust
From the U.S. Chamber: America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the national association of health insurers, released a report on the current status of health insurance premiums. The study found that premiums rose an average of 8.8% in 2005, a slower rate of growth than found in 2002, when premiums rose by 13.7%. Notably, AHIP reports that medical liability and defensive medicine prompted by the threat of lawsuits account for 10% of the cost of medical services. In addition, while existing state mandates continue to contribute to the cost of health care, the number of new state mandates nationwide has declined in the last 3 years, hopefully because states are starting to realize that expensive new mandates only make health coverage less affordable for the average person. View the report at www.ahip.org/redirect/PwCCostOfHC2006.pdf.
Tell us about it
CANYS January conference keynoter Bob Vosburgh of 9G Enterprises has just released the group’s new Board Retreat promotional. View it online at: www.9gs.org/video/promo13.wmv
SITE SELECTION Magazine has just recognized Plattsburgh as one of the top ten small communities in America for economic development success, due in large part to the efforts of Garry Douglas and the Plattsburgh-North Country Chamber. It is the eighth year in a row that Plattsburgh has been ranked in the prestigious top ten, which ranks small communities across the country in terms of new or expanded corporate facilities. Batavia, NY was also ranked in the top ten. Congratulations!
Joyce Minard, president of the New Paltz Regional Chamber, was honored at the third annual Gala Celebrating New Paltz. She has served as the New Paltz Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Executive Director/President for nearly 25 years, and also serves as co-chair of the Southern Ulster Alliance, and on the boards of Gateway Community Industries and Lighthouse International.
Got a question you’d like to ask other CANYS members? Job opening in your chamber? Great idea you’d like to share? Send it to maggie.moree@bcnys.org.
