Press Releases

Federal income tax increases proposed by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama could indirectly blow a nearly $1 billion hole in New York State’s treasury over the next two years, according to a new report released last week by the Empire Center for Public Policy, a non-partisan, independent think tank. Read More

Payrolls of two of New York’s largest public authorities—the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey and the New York State Thruway Authority—are now available at SeeThroughNY.net, the government transparency website sponsored by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More

As schools open across New York State this week, much of what happens in the classroom will be affected by contracts between school districts and unions representing their teachers. Read More

School districts across New York State will increase their per-pupil spending next year by nearly one and a half times the current rate of inflation -- despite falling real estate values and clear signs of an economic slowdown -- according to an analysis issued today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More

Calibrated to the state Senate’s estimate of $135.2 billion in all funds spending under the enacted New York State budget for the 2013-14 fiscal year, the Empire Center’s “Spend-O-Meter” spins at the following rates... Read More

Contracts for Excellence (C4E), the centerpiece of former Governor Eliot Spitzer’s reform agenda for New York state schools in 2007, “could now more accurately stand for Commitments for Expenditures” because of the program’s emphasis on educational inputs over educational outcomes, says a Policy Briefing issued today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More

New York’s own energy policies have contributed to higher energy prices and dimmed the state’s energy generating prospects for the future, according to a report issued today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More

Lise Bang-Jensen, longtime Capitol journalist and former co-host of public television’s “Inside Albany” program, has joined the Empire Center for Public Policy as a senior policy analyst. Read More

"New Yorkers have paid a steep price for labor peace" under the 40-year-old Taylor Law authorizing collective bargaining by public employee unions, says a report issued today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More

New York’s 40-year-old Public Employees Fair Employment Act—best known as the Taylor Law—was intended to protect the public from strikes while extending collective-bargaining rights to government workers. But while public-sector work stoppages have become rare, municipal and school officials fear the Taylor Law unduly favors public-employee unions at taxpayer expense. Read More

New York’s new $121 billion budget spends at a rate of more than $331 million per day, according to an analysis released today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More

Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s historic education-reform plan aims to hold New York’s schools more accountable than ever before. But is the state’s educational-accountability system equipped to meet this challenge? Read More