Looking ahead to an uncertain post-pandemic recovery, New York’s newly enacted state budget for fiscal year 2022 raises spending by staggering amounts that—barring an unlikely rapid return to peak 2019 economic activity in New York City—can't possibly be sustained for more than a few years. The budget is a mid-2020s fiscal disaster in the making: an incomplete bridge over a deepening river of red ink. Read More
The details apparently would get rancid if exposed to daylight, but Governor Cuomo and legislative leaders the broad outlines of their budge Read More
New York and its local governments—and yet the new state budget will pump even more money into New York's biggest capital pork-barrel slush fund. Read More
The only question left was how far the once-domineering, now politically damaged governor would go to make a deal. We now know the answer: pretty far. Read More
In the race to vaccinate its oldest and most vulnerable residents, New York has fallen behind. Although the state's overall COVID-19 vaccination rate is somewhat higher than th Read More
New York state today began its 2022 fiscal year without an adopted budget—which, in itself, is not a big deal. The state government can continue to pay bills and employee salaries next week if either final appropriat Read More
As a budget deal nears in Albany, reining in spiraling Medicaid costs seems to be the last thing on anyone's mind. Governor Cuomo is advancing only Read More
The complete 2020 New York state government payroll is now posted on SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center’s government transparency website. Read More
"...the Empire Center is the think tank that spent months trying to pry Covid data out of Mr. Cuomo's government, which offered a series of unbelievable excuses for its refusal to disclose...five months after it (the Empire Center) sued, Team Cuomo finally started coughing up some of the records." -Wall Street Journal, February 19, 2021SIGN UP TO READ ABOUT THE ISSUES IMPACTING NEW YORKERS.