Category: Press Releases

New Yorkers now can scrutinize more state pork-barrel spending details than ever, thanks to a newly expanded feature on SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Recipient names and amounts for nearly 4,000 state grants totaling more than $600 million, including more than 500 approved on the final day of the 2015 legislative session, were added to SeeThroughNY today. Read More

The collapse of Health Republic Insurance of New York, a non-profit insurance co-op established under Obamacare, can be blamed largely on “an apparent breakdown in state oversight,” concludes a report released today by the Empire Center. The report says the state Department of Financial Services (DFS) should loosen its regulatory control of insurance premiums and refocus on the financial soundness of insurance companies. Read More

Amherst town police were the highest-paid group of local government employees north of the Mid-Hudson Valley, according to the Empire Center’s 2015 “What They Make” report. The town's 154 uniformed police officers were paid an average of $106,121. Read More

Canton's village police officers were the highest-paid group of local government employees last year, according to the Empire Center’s 2015 “What They Make” report. The nine police officers were paid an average of $73,729. Read More