The month of February was consumed by Budget Hearings and busy Lobby Days in the NYS Capitol. The Senate Finance Committee and the Assembly Ways and Means Committee held Joint Budget Hearings to receive input from State agencies and business organizations on the Governor’s Executive Budget proposals. This was also an opportunity to promote their ideas for consideration in the NYS Senate and Assembly one-house Budget proposals. Business groups came out in full force urging the Legislature to support, oppose, or amend the Governor’s Budget to include their priority issues.
Workforce Development Advocacy Day
NRLA, in conjunction with the Northeast Construction Trades Workforce Coalition (NCTWC), held a High School and BOCES Advocacy Day on February 12th in Albany to promote education and professional development in the construction trades. Students, principals, and teachers from seven school districts walked the halls of the Legislative Office Building and met with legislators to share the importance of supporting students interested in joining the construction trades. Some of the items under consideration in the NYS Executive Budget that the group was advocating for included:
- Reject Executive proposal to eliminate hold harmless provisions.
- Increase the aidable cap on BOCES salaries for career and technical instructors.
- Include a proportionate increase in special services aid for non-component districts.
- Support initiatives in school districts and BOCES Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs that have proven highly effective in helping provide students with the essential skills they require to successfully transition to college and career.
The group was very well-received, and the students did a wonderful job speaking with legislators and raising awareness.
In addition, a partnership has been formed between the NCTWC and the Lumber and Building Material Dealers Foundation (LBMDF). This is a very important development for many reasons but of significant importance, we will be able to apply for state and legislative grants through the LBMDF. We will also be able to leverage existing programs that the lumber and building materials industries are already doing. This is a very exciting development!
Updates on Our Priority Legislative Issues:
The NRLA Legislative Committee met via Zoom on February 22nd. The goal of that meeting was to finalize our legislative priorities and strategies around them.
Deforestation: S.4859-A – Krueger/A.5682-A – Zebrowski
Following the veto of this legislation in 2023, we anticipate the issue will be brought up again in 2024. In coordination with our industry partners AF&PA and ESFPA we felt the best strategy for us to pursue was to be proactive on the issue in 2024. As such, we met with the Assembly sponsor Ken Zebrowski in January to discuss where negotiations fell through last year in hopes of developing a pro-active approach and associated strategy to seek and secure favorable amendments. In addition, we felt having a conversation with the Governor’s Counsel, who we worked with in December and again in February, would help us better understand the landscape of the conversations during three-way negotiations. We learned a lot and will be leveraging what we learned especially as it relates to working with Senator Krueger. It is rumored that she is pursuing a budget play so we are working on possible language to be part of the conversation. More to come after we see what the Senator is proposing.
Retail Theft: PPGG Budget Bill Part A and Part E – Governor’s Executive Budget Proposal
S.6334 / A.6810 (Mannion/Dinowitz) Creates the Office of Organized Retail Theft
In addition to working with the Retail Council of New York State, I am also working closely with the Business Council, NFIB, Food Industry Alliance and three retail liquor store Associations, among others to elevate the discussions on Retail Theft. We are setting up a series of meetings with the Governor’s office as well as many members of the Legislature in support of what the Governor is proposing. We will be coordinating op-eds and grassroots activities in Albany and around the State. There will be a lot of activity on the issue in the month of March so be on the look-out for Action-Alerts. It would also be helpful to hear from NRLA members who can share real-world examples and actual data related to losses sustained.
Substantial Completion/Retainage: New Bill TBI
S.6855/A.1194 (Martinez/Braunstein) Retainage Payments
As reported in our last report, we have drafted bill language that would amend the State Finance Law and the General Municipal Law to allow materials that are delivered and accepted to be considered “substantially complete” thereby allowing for the release of retainage. We are working with Mike Misenhimer, Executive Director of the Northeastern Subcontractors Association (NESCA) to secure their sign-off on our proposed language.
Small Claims/Commercial Claims Increase
Thanks to NRLA-NY’s efforts back in the late 1990’s we were able to increase the jurisdictional limits in small claims and commercial claims in justice courts. On the last call of the NRLA Legislative Committee there was a discussion around a bill introduced by Senator Gianaris (Deputy Leader of the NYS Senate) that would increase the small claims and commercial claims jurisdictional amount to $10,000. Senator Gianaris amended his bill, which is no longer active, to only increase the amount for small claims, not commercial claims, which would hurt the small businesses that want to use that court process.
Unfair Competition
A sub-committee has been formed within the NRLA Legislative Committee to find creative ways through legislation or regulation to address unfair competition from the Amish, who are not subject to the same NYS Laws as non-Amish businesses. We are reaching out to other construction related associations including Associated General Contractors, New York State Homebuilders Association and Associated Builders and Contractors among others in hopes of elevating the overall issues around who the Amish are affecting. Having other groups involved will help garner legislative support and interest which in turn will allow us to ask some questions of the agencies in charge of overseeing and regulating workers, worksites, sales tax, worker’s compensation and even building codes.
Small Business Day
The event is on March 19th, in Albany, which is great timing for small business organizations to give a final push for their priority issues before the final NYS Budget is agreed-to. Please mark your calendars and try to attend this very important lobby day. The issues that they will focus on are combatting retail theft; Unemployment Insurance Costs; sunsetting the COVID Sick Leave Law as proposed in the Governor’s budget; halting the devastating lawsuits over frequency of pay for manual workers; and any additional surprises that come from the Senate and Assembly one-house budgets.