In their budget bills, state Assembly Democrats and Senate Republicans both had the good sense to reject one of the most egregious fiscal-political gimmicks ever to emerge from Governor Andrew Cuomo: a temporary income tax credit that would have reimbursed a portion of Thruway tolls paid by New York State residents and businesses. Read More
Hundreds of updated school district teacher union contracts, along with the latest employment agreements between school districts and their superintendents, were added today to SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More
"Spending cap? What spending cap?" In effect, that's the state Assembly's opening public bid in state budget negotiations with Gov. Andrew Cuomo for the fiscal year that starts April 1. Read More
Gov. Andrew Cuomo's guest commentary on his proposed minimum wage increase was filled with the sort of misinformation and half-truths that have propelled the "fight for $15" for months now. Read More
Overtime spending by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority rose 11 percent in 2015, making it possible for hundreds of employees to double their pay, according to payroll records added today to SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s government transparency website. Read More
Statewide private sector employment in New York as of December was up just 1 percent over the same month a year earlier—less than half the national rate, and the lowest such growth rate in New York since the end of the recession in 2009, according to revised employment data released last week by the state Labor Department (DOL). The total year-to-year gain of just 76,500 private jobs was less than half the average recorded in each of the four previous Decembers since Governor Andrew Cuomo took office. Read More
Taxpayers continued shouldering costs for Sheldon Silver’s legal defense in the months after he stepped down as Assembly speaker, according to the latest Senate and Assembly expenditure data added to SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More
In his push for a statewide $15-an-hour minimum wage, Governor Andrew Cuomo frequently invokes fairness, justice and the rhetoric of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. But the pre-FDR Progressive Era advocates of the minimum wage had a worldview that today would fit in best at a Donald Trump rally. Read More