Buffalo News: Another Voice: Two bills could seriously hurt small businesses in New York
By: Lev Ginsburg and Ashley E. Ranslow
As the holiday season approaches, inflation is causing and will continue to cause hardships for New Yorkers in the coming months. We are reminded of this at the gas pumps, the grocery store, our doctor’s offices, the mall and when the heating bills arrive. Consumer prices rose 7.7% this year through October. These large increases in the costs of goods and services are shared by consumers and small and large businesses alike. What can be done?
For starters, we can begin by not adding to the existing burdens being felt by families across the state. With a successful campaign behind her, Gov. Kathy Hochul now has a unique opportunity to stop some serious new costs to New Yorkers before they begin. Two bills in particular would drastically increase the cost of doing business in the state and would dramatically increase the costs of many goods and services, perhaps, most dramatically in health care. These bills, redefining temporary total disability in workers’ compensation and expanding wrongful death claims to include mental anguish for survivors, would exponentially increase the costs of insurance – costs that will hit consumers’ wallets at the worst possible time.
The first bill (S.768/ A1118), a workers’ compensation bill that completely redefines temporary total disability in the workers’ compensation system, would upend current law, allowing for unlimited awards at the temporary total rate for employees with mild or moderate partial disabilities should “light duty” work be unavailable. The bill unfairly targets small businesses which lack the capacity to create light-duty jobs. These small businesses, pizza shops, florists, hair salons, and thousands of others will face paying lifetime total disability awards to employees who are far from totally disabled. As a result, all businesses in New York will pay significantly higher workers’ compensation rates, costs that will be passed on to each one of us.
The second bill (S.74/ A.6770), would radically expand the kinds of damages recoverable in wrongful death actions, driving up liability insurance premiums for all public and private entities across the state. According to an actuarial analysis by Milliman, Inc., the bill would increase medical professional liability costs by nearly 40%. Automobile liability and general liability insurance would increase by as much as $2.2 billion. The result would be a 12.6% increase in annual premiums across the board for residents and businesses. These increases far outpace the inflation that we are already facing.
New York already has some of the highest jury awards in the country, and our liability insurance premiums are already some of the highest nationally. For struggling businesses, hospitals and local governments, these increases are, in some cases, enough to drive folks out of business completely. In our current economic environment, such dramatic increases in liability insurance costs will undoubtedly lead to price increases for consumers and even job losses.
Our businesses and communities are struggling with inflation, labor issues and an unpredictable economy. Gov. Hochul has been a friend to business and pledged to make New York more affordable to ensure our small businesses, family and friends remain here. We are hopeful that she takes the important opportunity to fight back against these increased burdens that would drastically impact the day-to-day well-being of average New Yorkers by saying no to these tremendously harmful, pocketbook-hitting pieces of legislation with her veto power.
Lev Ginsburg is counsel for the Business Council; Ashley E. Ranslow is NY State Director, National Federation of Independent Businesses.