In lieu of actual mandate relief, Governor Cuomo wants to make a seemingly irresistible offer to local governments. Read More
Research
Governor Cuomo* is running TV commercials declaring that his proposed 2013-14 budget features no new taxes — a claim also widely reflected in most news media coverage of the budget. Read More
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli just announced approval of a $3.14 billion contract for construction of a new Tappan Zee Bridge. Read More
New York’s property tax levy cap makes it more important than ever for local governments and school districts to bring their long-term spending into line with long-term revenues. But most localities don’t issue budget forecasts that look further than a year ahead —making it it easier to put off tough decisions. Read More
New Yorkers will be hit with $1.7 billion in new federal taxes on private health insurance under the Affordable Care Act in 2014, the Conference of Blue Cross and Blue Shields estimates in this new report. Read More
Three years ago, a bill that would have forced landlords throughout New York State to accept recipients of federal Section 8 rent vouchers was vetoed by then-Governor David Paterson on the grounds that it would have placed an onerous regulatory burden on landlords and cost the state millions to enforce. However, in his State of the State message last week, Governor Andrew Cuomo indicated he’ll revive the idea as part of his own legislative program. Read More
Governor Cuomo’s third State of the State address included a laundry list of potentially pricey initiatives, ranging from an extended school day to a state-subsidized venture capital fund. We’ll find out how he intends to pay for it all next Tuesday, when he presents his 2013-14 Executive Budget plan, which will need to close a budget gap projected at nearly $1 billion without even assuming any new programs. Read More
The latest wrinkles in Governor Andrew Cuomo’s green energy policy, as outlined yesterday in his third State of the State message, include a “cabinet level energy czar” recruited from the Obama administration. Read More
From New York’s standpoint, the best that can be said of last week’s federal tax hike is that it could’ve been worse. Taxes on the wealthy went up, but “wealthy” was defined as an adjusted gross income starting around $500,000 for married couples, instead of at the $250,000 level favored by President Obama. At least 150,000 New York state households, including small business owners, were thus let off the rate-hike hook — for now, at least. Read More
After a decade of increased borrowing — much of it for non-capital purposes — New York will be closer than ever to its statutory debt ceiling in the coming fiscal year, according to a debt impact study issued today by Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. Read More
Governor Cuomo’s office has issued a press release boasting that the state Department of Financial Services has turned down $500 million in proposed private health insurance premium increases. But here’s the thing: New York State is also imposing more than $4 billion a year in taxes and assessments on private health insurance, mainly to subsidize Medicaid and other public insurance programs through the Health Care Reform Act (HCRA) budget. Read More
Senate Majority Dean Skelos today said that “enacting a stronger, permanent Kendra’s Law must be a priority for the 2013 session, and should be included in any legislative agreement on gun safety” as part of New York’s response to the mass murder in Newtown, Ct. (not to mention New York City’s recent subway-shoving incidents). Read More