NEW YORK CITY-With a new governor now seated in Albany who has promised to rein in state spending and create a more hospitable climate for business, industry groups are wasting no time in bringing their concerns to his doorstep. The Real Estate Board of New York has unveiled a voluminous agenda of issues it will address at all levels of government, while also serving as one of the drivers behind the Committee to Save New York, a statewide coalition that supports Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s cost-cutting agenda. And the New York Building Congress led a coalition of its own in presenting a white paper on infrastructure issues to the new governor.

“It’s time for the business community to express itself forcefully and REBNY is willing and proud to lead the charge,” REBNY president Steven Spinola says in a release announcing the organization’s 2011 agenda. “Our overall message for ‘11 is to say no to higher taxes and uncontrolled government spending. We are fortunate to have a governor who is willing to deal with an almost $10-billion shortfall and the fiscal practices that are the source of our budget problems.”

In his first State of the State address earlier this month, Cuomo pointed out that state government costs are “simply unsustainable” and said, “New York’s already hostile business climate—already ranked 50th in the nation—must change if we are to have prosperity.” He has also publicly endorsed the CSNY, urging business and civic leaders to join it, according to the New York Times.

Spinola spoke favorably of Cuomo’s fiscally conservative approach in an interview last June. “In commercial real estate or any kind of real estate, we’re looking for a governor who’s going to be strong, who will try hold the line on spending and hold the line on taxes,” he told GlobeSt.com. “I couldn’t ask for anything more than what this candidate for governor has indicated is his position,” namely that New York State “can’t continue to spend beyond its means.”

The REBNY president and its current chairman, Mary Ann Tighe, CEO of the tri-state region for CB Richard Ellis, also serve on the board of the CSNY, which on Tuesday announced it was registering as a lobbying group in Albany. They can count real estate colleagues among their fellow board members: Rob Speyer, president and co-CEO of Tishman Speyer Properties; Gary LaBarbera, president of the Building & Construction Trades Council of Greater New York; and Elizabeth Velez, president of construction management firm the Velez Organization. Also serving on the board are the heads of several business groups statewide, including Kathryn Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City.

Noting that the New York State Department of Transportation and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority have predicted combined capital funding gaps of nearly $20 billion through 2014, the Building Congress and its coalition partners have asked Cuomo to fix existing state funding streams to provide the greatest possible return to taxpayers. Chief among them is the state’s Dedicated Highway and Bridge Trust fund, frequently raided over the years to cover a variety of operating expenses and debt service.

The group’s white paper also recommends that the Cuomo administration look to public-private partnerships to leverage private-sector funds and expertise. “A spectrum of P3 models exist that enable governments to significantly reduce their exposure to risk and overall costs to the public while improving transportation networks,” according to the Building Congress.

The white paper is also sponsored by the General Contractors Association; the New York chapters of the American Council of Engineering Cos. and the American Institute of Architects; the Long Island Contractors Association; the Building Trades Employers Association; the Construction Industry Council of Westchester and Hudson Valley; the Association for a Better New York; the Subcontractors Trade Association; and the Laborers-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust.