State lawmakers spent $7 million on postage for bulk mailings to constituents between April 1 and September 30, 2016, according to data added today to SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website.

State senators spent $3.8 million on “bulk rate postage,” while members of the Assembly spent $3.2 million on “bulk mail,” according to expenditure data released by each chamber. The figures do not include the additional cost of paper, printing equipment or personnel who design and produce the campaign-style mailings.

The data also show the state Assembly paid $1.6 million during the period for “printing equipment” to a company which manufactures the industrial printers used by the Assembly to print taxpayer-funded mail pieces. Since October 2015, the Assembly has paid Heidelberg USA a total of $2.6 million for printing equipment.

Taxpayers can examine nearly $2 billion in operational expenditures by the state Legislature since 2006 thanks to the SeeThroughNY Legislative Expenditures database.

The Empire Center, based in Albany, is an independent, non-partisan, not-for-profit think tank dedicated to promoting policies to make New York a better place to live, work and do business.

You may also like

Fourteen NYC Educators Receive Over Half a Million Dollars in Pensions

Fourteen retired New York City educators received more than $500,000 in pension benefits in 2025, according to , the Empire Center’s government transparency website. The data was obtained from the New York City Teachers’ Retirement Read More

34 MTA Workers Made $200K+ In Overtime In 2025

Thirty-four employees of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) received more than $200,000 in overtime payments in 2025, as total annual pay surpassed half a million dollars for some, according to , the Empire Center’s governm Read More

Empire Center Breaks Down Albany’s Pork Barrel Spending

Albany legislators steered over $83 million in grants to 293 local projects between April and December 2025 , according to under a Freedom of Information Law request. The governor and state legislators hand-picked the grantees for mor Read More

Average Pay at Port Authority Surges as 11 Employees Collect $400k+

Eleven Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) employees collected more than $400,000 each in total pay last year as average pay surged nine percent, according to 2024 payroll , the Empire Center’s government transparency website. Read More

NYC Employee Pension Payments Cross $6 billion; 70 Members Collect $200k+

The pension plan covering most New York City government agencies, including the City’s subway system, had 70 members with pension payments of at least $200,000 last year, almost quadrupling 2019’s tally of 19, according to new , the Read More

23 MTA Workers Receive $200K in Overtime as Total Payroll Surpasses $8 Billion

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)’s payroll surpassed $8 billion in 2024 – a 2.6 percent increase since 2023, according to , the Empire Center’s government transparency website. Overtime, as measured using payroll records, totaled $ Read More

State Lawmakers Spend $268 Million on Legislative Operations

Spending by state lawmakers on office personnel and administrative costs varies widely, with some paying out nearly twice as much as others on their office operations, according to the most recent reported, posted to SeeThroughNY.net. Read More

Teacher Pensions Added to SeeThroughNY Include 26 Over $300k

New York’s two teacher pension systems last year had 26 retirees eligible to collect pensions of more than $300,000, according to , the Empire Center’s government transparency website. Data reported from Teachers’ Retirement System of the City of Read More