WNY Chamber Alliance Opposes Hoyt IDA bill

For Immediate Release

Contact:  Colleen DiPirro - 632-6905

President/CEO, Amherst

Chamber of Commerce

The Western New York Chamber Alliance, representing 27 Chambers of Commerce in a five county region, is strongly opposed to the ‘so called' IDA Reform Bill - A.8703.

Upstate New York already faces huge impediments to economic prosperity as we compete in a global marketplace.  Approval of A.8703 as proposed by Assemblyman Sam Hoyt will effectively curtail any future economic development in our respective geographic service areas.  Further, adoption of this onerous legislation has nothing to do with IDA reform or improving the states prospects for job creation and retention.  Rather, it would:

• Force private businesses to pay prevailing wages on the construction of their building or expansion projects. This provision alone would add 15-30% to the cost of a project, wiping out any incentive to invest in our region.
• Force operators of private businesses to pay the ‘median wages' of ALL occupations to employees who work in the building constructed with IDA support. This is significantly higher than minimum wage standards on all businesses, and impractical considering that a given business has a range of wages depending on the skill sets necessary to perform a job.
• Force private businesses to use contractors with apprenticeship agreements for the construction of a building resulting in most project owners being forced to use union contractors.

Not one of these provisions can be said to facilitate the creation or retention of jobs in New York State. 

The bill itself ignores the basis for IDA's existence, which is to encourage investment by businesses that lead to a healthier business climate.  All of the provisions can be said to benefit labor unions and allow them to expand their reach in upstate New York. 

The membership of the WNY Chamber Alliance will reach out to their members and encourage a strong lobbying effort to oppose this bill which is bad public policy for New York State.