One of the best things about New York's newly adopted state budget for fiscal 2016 is something that's not in it (yet): a costly new state subsidy of homeowners' local property taxes. Governor Cuomo's Executive Budget proposal included an income tax credit (of the type also known as a "circuit breaker") that, when fully implemented by 2019, would funnel $1.7 billion a year to about half of the state's homeowners, plus renters. Read More
The pork-barrel spending better known as legislative member items has reappeared in a budget bill that New York State legislators are expected to vote on this week. Read More
The Legislature is on the verge of following Governor Cuomo's lead by making three big moves in the wrong direction. Read More
The New York State Senate spent $332,419 over a six-month period on offices vacated by two senators who had resigned, according to data posted today on SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More
The Empire Center is participating in "Sunshine Week," a nationwide effort to promote government transparency. Check back during the week to see our latest releases. Read More
State lawmakers have not lost their appetite for pork. The Senate and Assembly have stuffed millions of dollars in pork-barrel-type spending into nonbinding budget resolutions adopted Thursday — despite the fact that that governors have not allowed new legislative “member items” in the budget since 2010. Read More
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and the State Legislature are ensnarled in a fight behind closed doors that will shape not only this year's $149.9 billion budget, but the balance of power in Albany for years to come. Read More
“It comes down to how you feel about the ends justifying the means,” says Albany watchdog E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center for Public Policy. “Think of the worst thing you can think of a governor trying to do, then picture him trying to do it through an appropriation bill.” Read More