U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood applauded the Senate for extending critical transportation funding that has been held up since last Friday, disrupting work for thousands of federal and transportation workers nationwide. Kentucky Sen. Jim Bunning’s decision to block the legislation last week forced the DOT to furlough nearly 2,000 employees without pay Monday, temporarily shut down highway reimbursements to states worth hundreds of millions of dollars, as well as national anti-drunk driving efforts, and multi-million dollar construction projects across the country. “I am pleased that the Senate has acted to break its logjam and extend the Highway Trust Fund for another 30 days,” said Secretary LaHood. “This means that our valued employees may return to work. It also means that their important work getting the economy back on its feet, ensuring Americans’ safety and keeping critical construction projects moving will be able to continue.”

The Department of Transportation will furlough nearly 2,000 employees without pay Monday, temporarily shutting down highway reimbursements to states worth hundreds of millions of dollars, national anti-drunk driving efforts, and multi-million dollar construction projects across the country.

The action comes as a result of Kentucky Sen. Jim Bunning’s decision to block key legislation that would have extended several critical priorities for middle class families. That legislation covered tax credits for COBRA health coverage, unemployment insurance for 400,000 people, as well as the short-term extension of the Highway Trust Fund. The Fund supports all surface transportation programs for the nation - highways, bridges, transit and safety inspections, as well as efforts to encourage seat belt use and to fight distracted and impaired driving.

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New York Times reporter Danny Hakim writes that Gov. David Paterson in a bid to shore up his standing with labor unions is preparing legislation to require prevailing wages be paid on construction projects that receive public financing.

He writes:  “The legislation, which has the business community alarmed, would also impose wage requirements on large businesses that use space created by developments financed with public money, according to a draft of the bill. In New York City, those requirements would be $19.20 an hour — nearly three times the minimum wage — for a wide variety of workers.

The bill would exempt some projects, though it would cover a great many developments involving both private business and civic institutions. The governor’s proposal comes after labor unions and business leaders were unable to negotiate their own compromise earlier this year.

Labor advocates said the bill would ensure that fair wages are paid on projects financed with public money through industrial development agencies, which provide below-market-rate financing throughout the state, particularly in New York City, for hospitals, private schools, malls and any number of other development projects. But the business community said the changes would render the development agencies useless, effectively killing an important economic development tool amid a recession.

The importance of industrial development agencies has grown as the state phases out its Empire Zone program, another incentive for development.

“Why — in the middle of the worst crisis since the Great Depression — would the governor want to kill an economic development program that has created over 200,000 new jobs?” said Kenneth Adams, the president of the Business Council of New York State. “It’s a proposal that destroys hope for economic recovery in New York.”

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A new study of New York’s legal system conducted by Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a nationally known research firm, has concluded that New York’s legal system is the third worst in the country and is costing taxpayers millions of dollars through higher taxes and increased costs for goods, insurance and health care.  Savings derived from reforming the system would go a long way towards reducing New York’s multi-billion dollar budget deficit.  The study was conducted on behalf of New Yorkers for Lawsuit Reform, a statewide coalition of business, health care and consumer groups.

 “New York now faces a perfect storm of high tort costs, high tort-litigation risks, clogged courthouses, and nearly no tort reforms to balance a lopsided civil justice system,” said the report’s author, Dr. Lawrence J. McQuillan.

 The study found that, compared to all other states, New York’s legal system is “at the bottom of the barrel in various measures of state tort performance.  It has the second highest direct tort losses, the fourth worst relative tort losses, the fourth worst relative tort litigation risks, the third worst tort system overall, and the third worst tort rules and reforms on the books.”

“This study shows the enormous costs that every New York business and citizen carries because the state’s legal system is so weighted in favor of the trial attorneys,” said Kenneth Adams, president & CEO of The Business Council of New York State, Inc. “Real reform of the legal system could lower the cost of government, spur construction activity, lower health care costs and make New York more attractive as a place to do business.”

Read the full study.

Dan Heath of the Plattsburgh Press Republican writes - “High-speed rail service between Montreal and New York City is one key way to make North America’s first green transportation corridor.

Pierre Arcand, minister of international relations for the government of Quebec, said that was one of the topics of discussion when Quebec Premier Jean Charest and New York Gov. David Paterson met two weeks ago.

Charest noted that former Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau called for high-speed rail in the 1970s.

High-speed rail between Buffalo and Albany is almost a certainty, Arcand said at a lunch sponsored by the Plattsburgh-North Country Chamber of Commerce and the Center for Canadian Studies at Plattsburgh State.”

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Mark Weiner of the Syracuse Post-Standard reports - “The Upstate New York congressional delegation today secured the first chunk of federal money needed to lay the groundwork for a high-speed rail line from Buffalo to Albany.

Five House members gained a subcommittee’s approval of nearly $4.6 million to improve tracks and grade crossing safety across Upstate — essential work for a high-speed passenger rail line. In Central New York, Rep. Dan Maffei, D-DeWitt, and Rep. Michael Arcuri, D-Utica, each secured $1 million to be used on track and safety improvements in their districts.”

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Albany’s Business Review reports that Gov. David Paterson has appointed a panel to monitor the state’s spending of the federal stimulus money.

The panel will be headed by State Inspector General Joseph Fisch and include:

• James Sheehan, the state’s Medicaid Inspector General

• Barry Kluger, inspector general for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority

• Galen Kirkland, commissioner of the state Division of Human Rights

By Jennifer K. Levine

Yesterday I attended a meeting hosted by the Business Council of NYS on the Future of Public-Private Partnerships in New York State. Samara Barend, Executive Director of the NYS Commission on State Asset Maximization summarized the Commission’s recent report and further explained how public-private partnerships can be a win-win scenario for New York State. Development of the natural gas resources in the Marcellus Shale was mentioned during the discussion of the state’s energy assets.

Concerns were raised regarding the regulatory roadblocks in the development of the Marcellus Shale in New York and the ease with which Pennsylvania is moving forward to develop their natural gas resources.

A couple of examples come to mind when I consider public-private partnerships and the recovery of natural gas in the Marcellus. First, is waste water treatment. As I’ve mentioned here before, New York State currently does not have the water treatment facilities necessary to treat waste water resulting from hydraulic fracturing. Partnering with municipal water treatment facilities to either construct new or retrofit existing treatment facilities might be a PPP project worth considering. Another partnering possibility is pipeline construction.

Portions of the pipelines will inevitably cross state property and the state could benefit from the resulting leases. Another idea which is being implemented in communities around the country is the conversion of local and county transportation and municipal vehicles to compressed natural gas. This would significantly reduce carbon emissions from diesel fuel while shifting to an energy source that is local and not subject to the price volatility of foreign oil. An example of one such partnership is the town of Huntington, NY partnering with Clean Energy of Seal Beach, CA.

It is exciting to consider the possibilities. Let’s hope that once the DEC issues its drilling regulations we will actually see some of them come to fruition.

Governor David A. Paterson today announced the certification of an additional $95.3 million for transportation projects through the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The investments will provide for essential highway and bridge repairs and other long-term improvements that will create an estimated 2,287 jobs across the State. These certifications bring the total number of ARRA-certified transportation projects to 251, for which the federal stimulus package will provide $713.1 million of the $1.2 billion in total project costs.

See the list.

The Albany Times Union reports - “National Grid officials signed a $1 billion contract with NorthEast Power Alliance on Wednesday to upgrade the British-based utility’s transmission infrastructure in upstate New York. The five-year project will involve replacing and upgrading lines, towers, substations and transformers. NEPA is a joint venture between three engineering and construction firms — AMEC, R.G. Vanderweil Engineers and Michels Corp. The signing was at National Grid’s local headquarters on Broadway in Albany. There, Masheed Saidi, National Grid’s executive vice president, said the project will create 500 jobs in upstate New York. She said power will be diverted around lines taken out of service.”