10/06/04
Business Council Grades Legislators On Support for Business Friendly Policy Sen.
Seward gets a “B,” Assemblywoman Lifton a “C”
ALBANY—The New York State Business Council has unveiled a "Vote for Jobs Index"
to help citizens and businesses evaluate the voting records of individual
legislators on issues that affect the health of New York's business climate.
State Sen. Jim Seward and Assemblyman Brian Kolb were among 63 legislators
receiving a “B.” Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton and Assemblyman Gary Finch were
among 132 others receiving a “C.” All four represent all or parts of Cortland
County in Albany. Only three legislators, including Senate Majority Leader
Joseph Bruno, received an “A.” Twelve earned a “D,” but no legislator received a
grade of ‘F.”
Legislators' grades on the Vote for Jobs Index reflect their actions or
inactions on bills that address legislative priorities identified by The Council
earlier this year. All legislators' grades and voting records on the priority
bills, along with an explanation of how the Vote for Jobs Index works, are
posted at www.voteforjobsnewyork.com.
Legislators earned points for a vote that is consistent with The Council's
position and lost points for votes at odds with The Council's position.
Additional points could be awarded to (or taken away from) legislators who
sponsored and championed bills of interest to The Council. If legislators had no
record on a priority issue, they received a "0" on that issue. This is designed
to address the fact that many priority issues are never addressed because
relevant bills are not allowed onto the floor for a vote.
Seward, chair of the Senate’s insurance committee, earned the most points of any
local representative (+11), including three for his work in pushing Senate
passage of Freedom Health Plans, which would create a new 43% tax credit for
health insurance costs for businesses with 50 or fewer employees and which would
also authorize carriers to offer plans that would have higher deductibles
coupled with new health savings accounts.
Lifton’s “C” rating (-4 points) was due in part to her support of Timothy’s Law,
which at an estimated cost of $200 million to policy holders and $130 million to
the state budget would require all health insurance policies to provide full
coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders, including nervous
disorders, emotional disorders, and dependency on alcohol or other drugs, with
no limit on coverage of disorders not imposed on physical disorders. She also
lost points for her support of legislation that would require that public
utilities provide call center service assistance from centers located within the
state and within their own service areas. Lifton was credited for support of
other bills, however, including the Power for Jobs extender, divisible load
permits, and vicarious liability.
Finch, who also supports Timothy’s Law, earned a ‘C” with +3 points.
Assembly scores tend to be lower than Senate scores because many priority bills
never made it to the floor of the Assembly and the members therefore could not
earn (or lose) points by voting on them. Conversely, more anti-business bills
were taken up by the Assembly.
The Council's Board of Directors voted last week to produce and publish
information on legislators' achievements or failures on measures to improve New
York's business climate. The initiative, the first of its kind by The Council,
was developed in response to The Council's 2003 survey of its members.
Respondents to that survey emphasized the importance of state government action
on high-priority business issues and the need for The Council to respond more
aggressively to governmental failures in dealing with these issues.
The Business Council is the largest statewide business organization in New York.
Its membership includes the Cortland County Chamber of Commerce and other
chambers that helped develop Vote for Jobs New York.
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