Groups to target mandate relief in 2012

Kevin Law and Kathryn S. Wylde, who head the Long Island Association and the Partnership for New York City, respectively -- two of the state's largest business organizations -- will be taking aim early in 2012 at an issue that has been one of the most intractable for legislators, and one of the most burdensome for companies: costs mandated by New York State, including pensions and some social services and educational directives.

Law said that "mandate relief" will be one of LIA's "top legislative priorities" next year, he said in an interview. Wylde, also speaking in an interview, said state mandates have made New York "much less competitive" than other states in attracting businesses.

But state legislators have been talking about reducing mandates for years. Just this past legislative session, the Senate and the Assembly argued over some mandate reform measures, which eventually died. Law and Wylde said they will lobby for reform in the wake of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's successful push earlier this year for a property tax cap and a desire by legislators to reduce other taxes in the still-troubled economy.

"One of the areas where mandates are most costly is in the area of education, and the state legislature prescribes how money is spent, how people are hired and fired, and how programs are structured in gruesome detail," said Wylde.

Outgoing Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, who has fought state mandates for years, said in an interview such costs make up between 50 percent and 70 percent of the county's approximately $2.7-billion budget. Nassau's mandated costs will be about the same, county officials said.

Pension costs, Levy said, are "doubling every year and are unsustainable if counties are to survive." He applauded the business lobbying effort.

E.J. McMahon, a senior fellow at the Albany-based conservative think tank Empire Center for New York State Policy, said in an interview special-interest groups have kept some mandates alive for years, and change is only possible if the governor takes the lead.

In March, a state Mandate Relief Redesign Team delivered a lengthy report to Cuomo outlining the problems and adding some recommendations. McMahon said nothing has been done with the report. Cuomo spokesman Matt Wing said Cuomo "remains committed to mandate relief" and a new task force is going to "continue to work to bring all sides together to bring about change to the system."