Congestion pricing on the shoulders of Governor Hochul.

0:00 Speaker 1 Sunday morning. What is today is Paul Zuber. He’s the senior vice president judge the Business Council of the State of New York. And Paul Zuber, we haven’t talked in a while. I’m sure there’s a lot of stuff going on in Aubany. Would you fillish at what’s going on?

0:20 Speaker 2 Yeah, well, you know, John, there is a lot of stuff going on in Aubity. And and I think the biggest issue right now are two issues from from just a pure legislative standpoint, there is a bill that’s before the governor right now or soon to be before the Governor called the Climate Super Fun Bill. And quite frankly, John,

0:41 this is going to be a disaster for New Yorkers. What the bill tries to do is the bill tries to basically bleed money from oil companies by claiming that, you know, oil companies were the cause of pollution and therefore oil companies are required to pay a fine basically to the State of New York. Now, the problem with

1:04 that is, think about it, like, what were the oil companies supposed to do? Were they supposed to not provide us gasoline? Were they supposed to not heed our homes? How are you going to do this? And the claim is by doing this is going to help fund the climate law that you know, Governor Cuomo put together several

1:24 years back and Governor Hoko is following through with. But what we have found out that the Business Council doing some an analysis of the legislation, this bill is going to cost consumers. It’s going to increase the price of gasoline in New York. So when these legislators and everybody starts talking about the working class, people should realize that

1:49 the people who lease can afford and increase in gasoline are going to get hit with an increase of gasoline on a bill that quite frankly is unconstitutional, quite from makes no sense. And you know, we’re very concerned about this piece of legislation. But you know what we’re hopeful is, we’re hopeful is that the legislature will eventually next year

2:14 understand that there is an undercurrent in New York State. There’s an undercurrent in the rest of the country where people are finally waking up and saying, hey, when are you going to start thinking about me? When are you going to start doing things that mean something to me?

2:32 And I would I would challenge the state legislature to stop increasing workers’ comp costs, stop increasing taxes, stop putting the burden on businesses. Because when you put the burden on businesses, I’ll tell you what’s going to happen. You’re going to want to do things. They’re going to cut spending, which means cut jobs, or they’re going to increase prices

2:51 on consumers. And I hope, I hope that the New York State Legislature wakes up and realizes that that’s what the public is screaming for.

3:00 Speaker 1 Well, Paul Zuber, I don’t think they’ve waken up yet. They keep doing dumb things. I mean, they are dedicated. I mean, what are we waiting for for New York City, New York State to become a ghost own.

3:17 Speaker 2 I agree, John, I agree, and I hope that people. So what I hope is I hope people don’t take the election and look at it as some partisan thing. Oh, you know, Trump’s a Republican. How bad it is, and this happened, and that happened. Just look at what happened with the voters. You could be a Republican, you could

3:42 be a Democrat, you could be a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. The fact remains that there was close to a twelve percent swing in New York and it’s because people are dissatisfied with government. You know, we did a poll before the election with CEOs throughout upstate New York. Fifty six percent of them said it that

4:05 if they could start their business in another state, they would, So we have to wake up to what happened and realize that let’s start doing things that mean something for the people of this state. And what you have to consider and what a lot of these legislatures have to understand is business is an important part of that dynamic.

4:27 If you don’t support businesses, you don’t create economic development, you don’t create tax revenue, you don’t create jobs. And you’re right. I’m praying that they have this realization, but I hope they just, you know, cold hard facts, look at the data and understand it’s not about whether or not you supported Donald Trump or you supported Kamala Harris.

4:52 It’s about the fact that the people have spoken and the people said that they don’t like what’s going on, and we got to do something about it. And you know, people like you said, people are walking out of the state and they’re walking out of the state for a reason.

5:07 And it’s not because it’s not because the weather’s warmer in North Carolina or Florida. It’s because the business climate is better in North Carolina and Florida, and the job climate is better in North Carolina and Florida. And so we have to face that fact and we have to start doing something about it.

5:27 Speaker 1 I agree with you one hundred percent, Paul Zuba. Let’s I hope the State Senate, the State Assembly, the governor’s office. I hope everybody comes to light that things will not go well, especially with Trump being in the White House.

5:46 Speaker 2 You know interesting, yeah, and you know what. Look, I mean you know again, you know people have to put us there. When you’re elected, your job is to represent the people. So you got to put aside you your partisan politics and understand that. Look, he’s president of the United States, so and he comes from New York. So

6:08 let’s figure out how we can work together. Let’s start with that before we start with the premise that, well, we’re going to pass this law and we’re going to pass that law. Because we know he’s going to do this, and we know he’s going to do that. He hasn’t done anything yet in terms of doing anything that would

6:27 be counter to the needs of New York State. So what our legislators should be thinking about. Our legislators should be thinking about, how do we address the issues that the working class is facing in New York. How can we address those issues that are making people leave.

6:47 Speaker 1 Let’s hope there’s some common sense that prevails in orbiting in near future.

6:53 Speaker 2 I hope so too, John. I’m hopeful. There are a lot of good legislators out there. As you know, we work with many of them, and you know, I hope they all all realize that this is an opportunity. They should look at it as an opportunity to help the working class in New York, to help, you know, grow

7:12 New York.

7:12 Speaker 1 Thank you so much. Paul Zuber, Senior vice president of the Business Council of New York State, in the leading business organization in New York State.

7:23 Speaker 2 Thank you, John,