Blog

When Governor Andrew Cuomo recently signed a bill making it harder for government workers to extricate themselves from labor unions, he said it was just “the first step of the resistance.” So, what will New York’s governor and lawmakers seek to do next for their public-sector union friends? Read More

Health coverage gains under the Affordable Care Act were concentrated where they were needed most—among lower-income groups and in the five boroughs of New York City—recently released Census Bureau data show. Read More

Any plan to reduce or eliminate what local governments pay into New York’s Medicaid budget would inevitably create winners and losers. The Assembly Republicans’ version, unveiled last month, is no exception. Read More

New York's government unions collectively spent more on lobbying last year than the state's biggest trial lawyers, landlord, tobacco and hospital interests combined. And topping the list, as usual, was New York’s powerful conglomerate of public education unions. Read More

The interactive map on this page depicts how the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) will affect New Yorkers in two different adjusted gross income (AGI) ranges: $75,000 to $100,000, and $100,000 to $200,000. Read More

Last week's New York state budget approval process was even more rushed, secretive, confused and sloppy than usual—stretching through Good Friday and the first night of Passover into the predawn hours of Saturday, March 31—all in the name of meeting an ultimately inconsequential April 1 "deadline" for the start of the new fiscal year. Read More

The largest revenue-raiser in the just-completed state budget, worth $2 billion over four years, is not a tax or a fee or even a legal settlement. It takes the form of semi-voluntary “grants,” mostly to be squeezed out of a Catholic Church-affiliated health plan. Read More

Buried in the state budget bills rushing towards passage under cover of Passover, Good Friday evening and the coming Easter holiday is the top item on the New York government unions’ wish list—a provision designed to trap public employees into paying union dues. Read More

New York's Legislature and Governor Andrew Cuomo are shoveling yet another $475 million into the biggest, murkiest, pork-barrel slush fund Albany (and perhaps any state capital) has ever seen. Read More