Ruling in favor of the Empire Center, a state Supreme Court judge in Albany has ordered the Cuomo administration’s energy and environmental agencies to release a supposedly incomplete "comprehensive study" of how to meet the governor's aggressive renewable energy goals. Read More
Press Releases
Chris Kendall of Madison County and Jacob Rieper of Columbia County are the DeregulateNY contest grand prize winners. Both nominated an antiquated state law requiring new limited liability companies (LLCs) to buy ads announcing a “notice of organization” for six weeks in two local newspapers, one weekly and one daily. This routinely adds several hundred to several thousand dollars to the cost of starting a business. Read More
New York could reduce its Medicaid costs by more than $3 billion under proposals released today by the Empire Center's director of health policy, Bill Hammond. Read More
The state Legislature should join Governor Cuomo in resisting and rejecting proposals to further increase state taxes on New York’s highest earners, E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center testified to the joint legislative fiscal committees today. Read More
The number of six-figure pensions paid to retired New York City education professionals has increased more than fivefold in the past decade, according to data posted today on SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More
The state Legislature should reject the Governor Cuomo’s proposal to expand the family income cap for the Excelsior Scholarships and devote more money to expanding the state’s existing Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), according to the testimony submitted to the joint legislative committees today by E.J. McMahon, research director of the Empire Center for Public Policy. 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
The Empire Center today kicked off DeregulateNY, a web-based contest inviting users to identify the worst government-imposed obstacle to doing business in New York. Contestants submit entries online and compete to win a cash prize and a trip to Albany. Read More
In his one 'State of the State' reference to Medicaid's overspending crisis, Cuomo pointed the blame at local governments—and implied that he will hit them up for a bailout. That's a fundamentally wrongheaded approach. The only real solution is to control costs, not shift them to local taxpayers. Read More
New York’s most comprehensive online database of state and local government union contracts has been updated with the latest collective bargaining agreements for local teachers, police and firefighters on SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More
Residents of the Mid-Hudson village of Liberty had the highest effective property tax rate in New York (outside New York City and Nassau) during fiscal year 2019, according to the newest edition of Benchmarking NY, the Empire Center’s annual examination of local property taxes. Read More