Complete report in PDF format

New York’s State Legislature spent $114 million during the six-month period ending last September, according to the latest legislative expenditure data posted at SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. SeeThroughNY now includes four full years of legislative expenditures, in what has become the most extensive searchable database of its kind available to New Yorkers on the Internet.

The expenditure information can be sorted by reporting period, expenditure type, and member name. Users can also isolate spending for individual units of the legislature’s central staff.

Ranked by office expenditures, the top spenders in the Assembly were:

  • Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan) – $431,683;
  • Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) – $380,013;
  • Catherine Nolan (D- Queens) – $341,720;
  • Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) – $337,381 (not including Silver’s expenditures as Assembly Speaker); and
  • Vito Lopez (D-Brooklyn) – $332,352.

The top spenders in the Senate were:

  • Pedro Espada (D-Bronx) – $1,201,150;
  • John Sampson (D-Brooklyn) – $884,466;
  • Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn) – $790,763;
  • Jeffrey Klein (D-Bronx/Westchester) – $765,549; and
  • Shirley Huntley (D-Jamaica) – $612,920.

For a copy of the individual members office rankings for the six-month period, click here.

To visit the legislative expenditure database, click here.

You may also like

Empire Center Issues State Policy Guide 

The Empire Center for Public Policy has released a policy guide and briefing book focused on the most important issues confronting New York. Read More

Legislative Staff Can’t Unionize: Report

New York’s legislative employees are not eligible to unionize under the state’s sweeping public-sector collective bargaining law. Read More

Six-figure NYSLRS pensions quadruple in ten years

The number of New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS) retirees eligible for six-figure pensions quadrupled over the last seven years. Read More

Average Pay Spiked at Port Authority in 2021

Average pay for Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) employees increased nearly 10 percent last year, to $123,000. Read More

Over 700 MTA Employees Earned More in OT than Regular Pay in 2021, Data Show

More than 300 employees were paid at least $100,000 in overtime and at least 734 earned more in overtime than in regular pay at the MTA last year Read More

Legislative Spending Unevenly Divided Among Members

Spending by state lawmakers on office personnel and administrative costs varies widely, with some paying out nearly twice as much as others Read More

Budget Testimony: Tax Outmigration Set to Accelerate

Governor Hochul’s executive budget risks accelerating the trend of high-earning New Yorkers fleeing the state. Read More

Budget Testimony: Dangerous Misplaced Priorities on Health Care

In his spoken testimony, Hammond had intended to highlight key shortcomings of the governor's budget, including its lack of a plan to investigate the state's pandemic response Read More