Month: July 2005

The Empire Center hosted a frank discussion of consumer-driven health care solutions and discussed what the other option in the health care debate could mean to New York. Read More

In order to improve New York City's schools, Supreme Court Justice Leland DeGrasse is ordering New York State to massively increase funding for the school system: $5.6 billion annually, plus another $9.2 billion for capital expenditures. But is Justice DeGrasse's remedy really the last word in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case? Our panelists discussed why the Legislature is constitutionally free to consider other approaches. Read More

Ahead of a statewide referendum in November 2005, voters throughout New York State voted down a proposed constitutional amendment that would have reduce the budget-making powers of the governor’s office while strengthening the hand of Albany’s legislative leaders. The implications of such a change were explored by distinguished speakers starting with former Governor Hugh L. Carey, one of the most successful and effective chief executives in New York State’s history. Read More

Debate on New York Ballot Proposal One, which would amend the state Constitution to eliminate the existing requirement for state legislators to act on the governor's annual budget Executive Budget before initiating their own appropriation bills. It would provide for an automatic contingency budget, subject to legislative amendment, whenever a new budget is not enacted before the start of a fiscal year. Read More

It is certainly a memorable image: New York City mayor Abe Beame standing before the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem and leaving a plaintive, one-word note—“HELP.” Read More

The fundamental challenge facing New York as Gov. Pataki gave his 11th State of the State Address yesterday was essentially the same one he confronted when he first took office a decade ago. Read More

Arnold Schwarzenegger just proposed it for California. Michigan has had it since 1997. Florida has had an optional version since 2000. It's time for New York to join the revolution and adopt the same kind of 401(k) retirement plan that is almost universal in the private sector for its future civil servants. Read More

During the recent uproar over the Thruway Authority's questionable handling of a proposed Erie Canal land development deal, far too little attention was paid to the more fundamental question of why the Thruway Authority had anything to do with the canal in the first place. Read More