Join the Empire Center for a morning of briefings and conversations about New York and its local governments.
Hear from experts about important trends and key policies affecting our towns, cities, villages and counties.
Itinerary:
- New York State Economy & Finances Unraveled with E.J. McMahon (Empire Center)
- NY Property Taxes: Navigating Albany’s Challenges with Ken Girardin (Empire Center)
- Local Government Practitioner Panel with Ari Brown (NYS Assembly), Phil Barrett (Clifton Park), and Mark Grimm (Albany County)
Empire Center’s Policy Academy
A look at the key policy areas that impact local governments.
Wednesday, August 23rd, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Breakfast will begin at 8:30 AM
About the Author
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ThinkNY: Medicaid Overdose
Join us for our upcoming ThinkNY webinar, where we’ll explore a groundbreaking analysis of New York’s Medicaid program and its growing challenges.
Empire Center Senior Fellow for Health Policy Bill Hammond will walk us through his Read More
ThinkNY Issues on Appeal; Mail-in Voting and Prop 1
Join us for our latest ThinkNY webinar, where we’ll delve into two election-related cases on appeal Read More
ThinkNY: Proposition 1
Join us for our latest ThinkNY webinar, where we’ll delve into Proposition 1, a proposed amendment to the equal protection clause of the state Constitution.
Cam Macdonald will discuss its disputed status on the ballot and how it got here. We’ll als Read More
ThinkNY: Healthcare Taxes
We're excited to welcome back Bill Hammond, Senior Fellow for Health Policy at the Empire Center. With almost three decades of experience in journalism and a deep understanding of New York's healthcare industry, Hammond brings unparalleled insights.
Jo Read More
ThinkNY: Taylor Law
Join us Friday at 11am for our next ThinkNY webinar. This month, we'll dive into the Taylor Law, New York's public-sector collective bargaining law.
The Taylor Law plays a huge role in how state agencies, local governments and school districts operat Read More
Green Guardrails Webinar
Join us for a webinar on Empire Center's latest report, ""
Report author Ken Girardin examines the implementation of New York's Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, the sweeping 2019 law that allows state agencies to regulate nearly every p Read More
ThinkNY: Medicaid
Medicaid is a taxpayer-funded safety-net health plan that covers a third of the state's population, and it's one of the costliest and fastest-growing programs in the state budget.
This webinar will give an overview of what Medicaid does, why it's so ex Read More
ThinkNY: NYS Budget Process
For this monthly installment, E.J. McMahon provides insight into the NYS budget process and how we should expect the following months to unfold.
ThinkNY serves as a platform for everyday New Yorkers and key decision-makers to come together for thoughtf Read More
Policy Academy
Join the Empire Center for a morning of briefings and conversations about New York and its local governments.
Hear from experts about important trends and key policies affecting our towns, cities, villages and counties.
Please register for the in-person seminar below.
Empire Center’s Policy Academy
A look at the key policy areas that impact local governments.
Wednesday, August 23rd, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Breakfast will begin at 8:30 AM
About the Author
You may also like
Opinion Poll – Tort Reform
Executive Summary
New Yorkers are dissatisfied with New York’s litigation environment and broadly favor changes to the state’s liability laws.
Voters overwhelmingly support reforms that align legal outcomes more closely with personal re Read More
New York’s Health Premiums Stayed at the Top in 2025
New Yorkers and their employers paid the highest health premiums in the lower 48 states in 2025, and their costs moved further above the U.S. average, according to recently released federal data.
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Nine Millionaires among NY’s Public Authorities in 2025
Nine millionaires, all healthcare executives, emerged among the 88,228 New York public authority employees, according to, the Empire Center’s transparency website.
The data includes payroll information from 385 different agen Read More
NY’s Medicaid Fraud Watchdog Shows Declining Performance
Enforcement by the New York's Office of Medicaid Inspector General has dropped in recent years across a range of benchmarks – a sign that the state's anti-fraud efforts have slackened even as its Medicaid spending soared. Read More
Long Island schools: Ahead of a very mediocre pack
Long Island may be New York's strongest case that money matters in education — and also its strongest warning that, past a certain point, more money is not the answer.
Long Island is widely regarded as one of New York's better education regions, exce Read More
K-12 SOS Little Falls pilot
SUMMARY
Little Falls City School District’s student results are mixed compared with the state average. The district is below the state average in Grades 3-8 reading and math, U.S. History and Government Regents, and the four-year graduation ra Read More
Another Unrealistic Sales Pitch for AlbanyCare
Proponents of establishing a single-payer healthcare system in New York State are making a fresh set of unrealistic claims about their plan – this time by highlighting the supposed benefits for local governments.
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132 NYSLRS Retirees Receive Pensions Over $200K in FY2026
A total of 132 retirees from the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS) were eligible to collect $200,000 or more in pensions during the 2026 fiscal year, according to , the Empire Center’s government transparency website.
Among the 132 Read More