Massachusetts for decades has posted better student outcomes than New York at a considerably lower per-pupil cost. In a new Empire Center report, a former member of the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education takes the first major step toward understanding this disparity by identifying key differences between the two states’ public education systems. Read More
Seven Port Authority of New York and New Jersey employees last year collected more than $200,000 each in overtime as total overtime surged, according to 2023 payroll data posted today on SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s government transparency website. The five-year increase in overtime far exceeds the Port Authority's payroll savings from phasing out bridge and tunnel toll collectors over the same period. Read More
Three in five New Yorkers (60 percent) say the state is on the wrong track, up from 55 percent earlier this year, according to the latest Empire Index poll of registered voters by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More
School districts presenting budgets to voters next Tuesday plan to spend an average of $33,404 per student, up 4.4 percent from the current school year, according to new state data. Read More
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)’s payroll jumped $663 million, or 9 percent, last year as overtime spending ticked up to a new record and subsidiaries dished out $261 million in retroactive pay, according to data posted today on SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s government transparency website. Read More
A state-ordered study of New York’s pandemic response has finally appeared, and it’s shaping up as a minor disaster of its own. Read More
Amid all the bipartisan noise, however, most Empire State tax filers may have noticed something interesting: their federal tax bills haven’t changed much at all. Even in highly taxed New York suburbs, most home-owning families with children are feeling a smaller federal tax bite. Read More
Gov. Hochul faces a challenge that will define her legacy as the state’s executive. To succeed, she must do absolutely nothing. Read More
Psst, have you heard about the new cheat code? It isn’t about slaying computer-generated dragons. It’s about gaming the federal Treasury—and states are rushing to cash in before Washington shuts the gimmick down. Read More
On March 7, Gov. Kay Ivey making Alabama the 11th state since 2011 to enact universal school choice. With its approval, it doesn’t matter if families choose to enroll at a public or private school, or to homeschool—Alabama’s Read More
Empire Center founding senior fellow E.J. McMahon showed the New York City Charter Revision Commission how the charter can be improved to better protect the public fisc. Read More
Testimony of Bill Hammond Senior Fellow for Health Policy, Empire Center for Public Policy Before the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committees January 23, 2024 Read More
Testimony of Bill Hammond Senior Fellow for Health Policy, Empire Center for Public Policy Before the Committees on Health, Mental Health, People with Disabilities, Higher Education, and Labo Read More
Comments by Bill Hammond Senior Fellow for Health Policy, Empire Center for Public Policy To the Department of Financial Read More
Testimony of Edmund J. McMahon Before the NY State Senate Civil Service and Pension Committee October 11, 2023 (Text as prepared and submitted) Work Read More