Unshackle Upstate is a public policy initiative supported by the Corning Area Chamber of Commerce aimed at enhancing and revitalizing the business climate of upstate New York. The campaign urges state leaders to enact legislation that will unshackle the region from restrictive laws and policies that make it difficult for upstate businesses to thrive. Issues such as Workers' Compensation, Medicaid and the Scaffold law (which hold contractors absolutely liable for all construction-related falls) are a few of the areas highlighted in the initiative for legislative action.

The growing coalition, which now includes more than two dozen upstate chambers of commerce and business groups, continues to gain momentum and is generating a flurry of interest and media activity. With this year's election season winding to the critical votes, candidates are vocalizing their plans for upstate, too, many of which mirror parts of the Unshackle Upstate Agenda. We need to keep these issues on the forefront, as persistence is the key to achieving our reform goals and holding our elected officials accountable for change.

Below is a sample of media reports written this year about the effort and the current economic state of upstate NY:

• 3/25/06 - The Record (Troy) - Our economic decline needs to be reversed

• 4/17/06 - Buffalo Business First - Wilmer's praises efforts to boost upstate economy

• 5/7/06 - Misguided Discontent

• 5/24/06 - Suozzi Says He Would Empower Locals To Revive Upstate

The Corning Area Chamber of Commerce is committed to making upstate a better place for you to do business, and we strongly urge you to actively support the Unshackle Upstate campaign. Please visit www.UnshackleUpstate.com, and ask your employees, colleagues and friends to do the same! There you will find the resources to quickly and easily send automated letters to any or all of New York's legislators. Simply click on the Contact Albany button near the homepage's center logo and follow the prompts.

The Unshackle Upstate goal is to involve all of the businesses represented by the coalition's partner organizations 24,000 companies like yours employing more than half a million upstate residents. Consider this: if each member company of an Unshackle Upstate partner organization committed to sending 50 emails or faxes to Albany via the website (through the help of employees, board members, friends and family) more than 1 million messages would flood Albany. That's a collective voice impossible to ignore. We must work together to influence our lawmakers to enact the necessary reforms to reinvigorate our once-thriving business climate.

Please take the time to learn more at www.UnshackleUpstate.com, and get involved to tell Albany the state we're in.

The Corning Area Chamber of Commerce is pleased to bring you this vital information as a part of our Advocacy in Action programs. Make your vote count for business at the polls a strong economy and business climate help everyone in New York State!