Plugged In @ Hinman Straub

Welcome

We are pleased to bring you with the first edition of Plugged In @ Hinman Straub - a newsletter developed especially for our clients. For more than seventy years, Hinman Straub has been providing individual, institutional and corporate clients with a comprehensive array of legal and government relations services. This newsletter is just another way in which we hope to give you valuable information on events that are occurring in or around the State Capitol.

Please feel free to provide us with any feedback you may have. We look forward to continuing our strong working relationship.

To learn more about Hinman Straub, please visit our website.

Special Legislative Session

On Monday, the Senate held a legislative session that adjourned shortly after 11:00 p.m. following lengthy debate on Governor Spitzer's driver's license plan. During the session the Senate passed a bill to overturn the license plan and confirmed many of the Governor's nominees.

On Tuesday, the Assembly held a legislative session and passed several bills. Neither house acted on major legislation including campaign finance reform, reform of the Wicks Law, the Healthy Schools Act or increased capital spending.

2008 Budget Outlook

On Thursday, October 18th 2007, Paul E. Francis presented the “Budget Outlook for 2008” at the Rockefeller Institute of Government in Albany. Francis, Director of the Division of the Budget (DOB) and Senior Advisor to the Governor, focused on four major budget issues which served as the focal point of the State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2007-08 budget and which will once again set the stage for the upcoming SFY 2008-09 budget: Health; Education; Property Tax Relief; and Closing Corporate Tax Loopholes.

Click here for more information.

Budget hearings began October 24. Click here for the NYS Division of Budget's Hearing Schedule.

State Needs to Tighten the Reins on Spending DiNapoli Warns

New York State spending is projected to grow significantly faster than revenues over the next four years, State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli warned in a report issued Oct. 9.

Click here for more information.

Issues Aired Before Commission on Higher Education

In May 2007, Governor Spitzer created the Higher Education Commission and charged them with identifying ways of improving the quality of higher education in New York. Chaired by Hunter Rawlings, President Emeritus of both Cornell University and the University of Iowa, the Commission is expected to release a preliminary report to the public in December. They held a public hearing in Buffalo on October 11 and additional hearings are anticipated to be held over the next several months.

Click here for more information.

Governor Spitzer Announces Filing of Bi-Partisan Multi-State Lawsuit to Secure Health Insurance for Children

Governor Eliot Spitzer has announced that New York, Illinois, Maryland and Washington have filed a lawsuit against the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to challenge its unlawful action in imposing new rules governing the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Arizona, California, Connecticut, New Hampshire and New Mexico are submitting friend of the court briefs in support of the action, and New Jersey filed a similar lawsuit.

Click here for more information.

Universal Health Care

At the direction of Governor Eliot Spitzer, the New York State Departments of Health (DOH) and Insurance (DOI) are conducting a series of public hearings to solicit input on the development of proposals for achieving health system reform, increasing access to health insurance coverage and moving toward universal healthcare coverage in New York. The first hearing was held in Glens Falls in September followed by an October 5 hearing in Buffalo and an October 10 statewide telephone call-in.

Click here for more information.

Click here for the complete public hearing schedule.

Public Integrity Commission Is Now Fully Operational

The new Public Integrity Commission, established by the Governor and the Legislature as part of sweeping ethics and lobbying reforms enacted earlier this year is now up and running. Thirteen commissioners have been appointed and their first public meeting was held on October 10th. This new commission combines the former State Ethics Commission and the former Temporary State Commission on Lobbying.

Click here for more information.