By Joan Gralla
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York state should fight obesity, help more residents get health insurance and revive the upstate economy with a research consortium for hybrid car batteries and energy storage, Governor David Paterson proposed on Wednesday.
In a copy of his State of the State annual address, the Democrat said that despite what he called the worst economic crisis since the Depression, "This is no time for fear. This is a time for action and a time for courage."
New York's budget problems are among the most severe in the nation, partly because Wall Street's losses have deprived the state of a rich source of tax dollars.
Despite a $15.4 billion, 14-month deficit, Paterson recommended creating a $350 million fund to lend money to hard-pressed college students, which would partly be paid for with tax-exempt debt sold by the state mortgage agency.
Eager to curb obesity, which affects one in four New Yorkers below the age of 18, Paterson echoed New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg by calling for a ban on trans fats in restaurants and requiring chains to list the calories in their offerings. Paterson also proposed banning schools from serving junk food.
Building on clean energy initiatives begun by former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, Paterson set a goal of having the state draw 45 percent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2015.
Upstate New York, which has lost jobs and residents for decades, would be the center of a new research consortium focused on batteries for hybrid vehicles and energy storage.
Paterson's health-care initiatives include requiring employers to cover their workers' dependents up to the age of 29. The workers would foot the bill but the company's plan would cost less than individual policies.
Children make up about half of the 2.5 million New Yorkers who lack health benefits, and Paterson would enroll more of them in Medicaid, a state-federal plan, and Child Health Plus, a state plan. This would be accomplished partly by abolishing some current barriers, including requirements for asset tests, finger prints and face-to-face interviews to win admission.
(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Flood Morrow in Albany; Editing by James Dalgleish)
