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27 March 1980

Dr. James C. Ross

Vice President for Governmental
Relations

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37 Elk Street

Albany, New York 12224

Dear Dr. Ross:

I understand that Ms. Van Nest left a message in which she relayed
your request for short statements of suggested topics that the Governor
might raise with President Carter.

We have considered the request and offer three issues that we be-
lieve are of sufficient national and State-wide interest to warrant being
included on the Governor's agenda.

1. Radioactive Waste Disposal. The disposal of low-level radio-
active waste is a daily requirement in routine hospital care and in an
enormous range of biomedical research. This category of disposal poses
almost negligible hazards to the public and is quite separate from the
more serious problems of disposing nuclear reactor waste and related
materials. To the best of our knowledge, these issues require a national
(and largely federal) solution. With only two states now accepting low-
level radioactive waste--South Carolina and Washington--the problem is
once again becoming urgent. The cognizant federal agencies are the Nu-
clear Regulatory Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency. If
you need further detailed material on this topic, we and others in the
State can provide it promptly. For your background information, note the
attached copy of an excellent recent editorial in Science.

 

2. Funding for Renovation and Modernization of Facilities. For at
least ten years, federal support to educational and research institutions
has been under such pressure that specific funding for construction/re~
novation/modernization has been extremely small. Additional funding now
is needed: to meet new safety and: workplace standards; to conserve ener-
gy; to modernize obsolescent research facilities; to improve the effi-
ciency of libraries; and to fulfill the requirements for access to handi-
capped individuals, among other purposes. Even in a tight budget year,
we believe that the priority for such funding should be raised slightly,
if necessary at the cost of reducing other support for education and re-
search.

 
-

Dre James C. Ross
27 March 1980
- 2 -

3+ Tax Legislation Affecting Charitable Gifts. We endorse the gen-
eral aims of the Moynihan/Packwood legislation (S.219), which is now in
the Senate Finance Committee. The House version is the Fisher/Conable
bill (HR 1785). Such legislation would permit “above the line" charita-
ble contribution deductions on income tax returns whether or not those
who submit the return itemize their deductions. Another feature of the
legislation is that charitable contributions could be deducted over and
above the standard deduction taken on the short form income tax return.
It is estimated that about 20% more people would be able to take tax
credit for charitable contributions if this legislation were adopted.

Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this review.

Sincerely,

Kathy WA) ibals

Rodney W. Nichols
Executive Vice President

Enclosure

bee:¥Joshua Lederberg
Frederick Lehmann
David Lyons
Tonya Siddiqi
Sydney Woodd-Cahusac
Richard Young