The main thing wrong with Governor Cuomo’s Medicaid budget is that it barely exists. His executive budget proposes to reduce funding for the state’s biggest and most important program by 10 percent, or $2.5 billion, but omits any plan for making that happen. Instead, the governor is delegating details to a panel of industry insiders who haven’t yet been named and don’t have a clear deadline. Read More
Maximum pension benefits averaged $69,609 for the 2,582 members of the New York State Teachers Retirement System (NYSTRS) who retired last year with at least 30 years of credited service time, according to data posted today on SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More
The complete 2019 New York state government payroll is now posted on SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center’s government transparency website. Read More
Wednesday's hearing on the governor's Medicaid budget gives lawmakers a chance to learn more from top officials about how the program developed its $4 billion deficit. Here are some suggested questions. Read More
A “prevailing wage” expansion in Governor Cuomo’s budget is riddled with carve-outs—and new discretionary power for the governor. Read More
An unusual clause in Governor Cuomo's Medicaid budget would trigger $2.5 billion in across-the-board cuts if the Legislature doesn't otherwise agree to a package of savings. Read More
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s response to the Empire State’s big Medicaid deficit, as laid out in his budget presentation on Tuesday, was a disappointing mix of delay, deflection and delegation. Read More
Governor Andrew Cuomo wants to further tilt New York’s public-sector collective bargaining landscape in favor of public employee unions—this time to pressure new employees to join. Read More