"I want the Legislature to understand that we're serious about reform." So said Governor Andrew Cuomo following his veto of two bills that would have strengthened New York's Freedom of Information Law (FOIL)—helping citizens hold government, at all levels, more accountable. So if you can follow the governor's logic, before he could show us he was "serious about reform," he had to block a pair of reforms he had sitting on his desk. Read More
Governor Andrew Cuomo has a chance to make good on a promise to New York taxpayers by signing two bills that would help make information more accessible for public consumption. Read More
State officials have not released formal estimates of how much revenue will be available for next year's spending plan, ignoring a 2007 law that was designed to bring transparency to the budget process. Read More
As part of his ongoing push for a statewide $15 minimum wage, Governor Andrew Cuomo repeatedly has denounced what he calls “the mother of all corporate loopholes.” In Buffalo this week, he amped up his rhetoric, reportedly charging that “business is stealing from taxpayers of this state.” Cuomo wasn’t referring to any of the notable business tax giveaways he has personally promoted, such as the $420 million a year the state doles out to wealthy film and TV producers, or the state's $750 million speculative investment in billionaire Elon Musk’s solar panel factory in Buffalo, or the 100 percent tax exemptions that will flow to the handpicked corporate occupants of START-UP NY zones. Read More
Starting next year, New York's state government plans to (finally) stop deferring a portion of its annual required pension payments—but over the next 10 years, it will still have to repay $3.3 billion it owes on pension fund borrowings since fiscal 2011. Read More
Last week, Governor Cuomo pitched a plan for a statewide $15 an hour minimum wage. That’s a 67-percent increase over what it will be by the end of this year. So what would this mean for the state’s economy? EJ McMahon from the Empire Center for Public Policy joined us to discuss. Read More
E.J. McMahon, president of the Empire Center, joined Fred Dicker to discuss Governor Andrew Cuomo's $15-per-hour minimum wage proposal. Read More
How would a proposed $15-per-hour statewide minimum wage compare to current pay ranges and historical precedents in New York? Read More