New York for decades has collected, under various names, a special tax on mobile phones. The tax, which today shows up on customer bills as the “public safety communications surcharge,” devolved from being a fee to pay for 911 services to a general revenue source with 911 services as a near second thought. Since 2009, almost half the surcharges paid by customers for public safety communications—more than $1 billion—have been redirected to New York’s general fund. Read More
The New York State Energy Planning Board reconvened yesterday to kick off a new round of energy planning. And it violated the state's Open Meetings Law before the gavel fell. Read More
Well-founded or not, a majority of New Yorkers who voted in 2021 had misgivings on the merits of no-excuse absentee voting. They rejected the same scheme the Early Mail Voting Law now imposes. They voted to maintain the status quo of the prior 55 years and their will should prevail because the Early Mail Voting Act is unconstitutional as a matter of legal interpretation and the history and tradition in New York's Constitution. Read More
New Yorkers will to vote this November on Ballot Proposal 1—a proposition to amend equal protection clause of the state Constitution. If approved by the voters in November, Prop One’s changes to the state’s equal protection laws could throw New York civil rights into turmoil. Read More
The rule of law scored a victory yesterday when a proposition to amend the equal rights provision of the state Constitution got knocked off this fall’s general election ballot. Read More
Lawmakers are taking victory laps over language in the state budget related to "squatters" but the change hasn't given property owners any rights or options they didn't already have. Read More
Adopting a more neutral statutory interest rate—like the rate under federal law—would address a distorting factor in the cost-benefit analysis of pursuing a meritorious appeal in the Empire State. Read More
This report analyzes how well 66 executive branch agencies are using the internet and technology platforms to meet their FOIL obligations (see table below). It evaluates how user-friendly agency websites are for making FOIL requests. And it examines to what extent agencies are using, or not using, technology to make both the agency’s and the public’s FOIL experiences better. Read More