On July 12th, the Obama Administration announced that it would unilaterally allow states to experiment through waivers with different ways of defining the “work” required of welfare recipients under the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program. This could be a first step to permanently watering down the “work participation” requirements that were a centerpiece of the 1996 welfare reform law and to backing away from the primary theme of TANF: personal responsibility. Read More
Governor Andrew Cuomo is urging youth to sign up for available jobs, basically hanging out a "help wanted" sign for the state's NY Youth Works and Summer Youth Programs. Read More
Governor Andrew Cuomo is betting the house on Medicaid managed care ringing up estimated savings of $34 billion, to be split between New York and the federal government over the next five years. Read More
A bill pending in the state Senate would weaken a key underpinning of welfare reform -- the Work Experience Program, or WEP. This is a one-house measure for now, and it's sponsored by a member of the democratic minority, to boot. But many of Albany's worst ideas have been born as one-house minority bills, so this one bears watching. Read More
A forthcoming academic study will provide further evidence that a proposed increase in New York State's minimum wage will destroy job opportunities for young people. Read More
The agreed upon fiscal year 2012-13 state budget contains two smart policy initiatives that both save money and happen to be good public policy: a state takeover of the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) state supplement payment and enactment of a new close to home initiative for low and limited risk youthful offenders. Read More
In delivering on Speaker Sheldon Silver's session-opening pledge to eliminate taxes on New Yorkers earning less than $30,000, Assembly Democrats have come up with a scheme that would make proud. Keep in mind the households in question already pay Read More
Just-released November indicate that Medicaid spending was within Governor Cuomo's new cap through the first two-thirds of fiscal 2011-12 -- but just barely.The $15.3 billion cap on state-funded Medicaid spending within the Department of H Read More