Yearly Archives: 2017

June 14, 2017. Ron Deutsch, executive director of the Fiscal Policy Institute, joined Alex Camarda, Senior Policy Consultant at Reinvent Albany, and Jennifer Wilson from the League of Women Voters, on Capital Tonight to discuss the "clean contracting" bill, which would require transparency of economic development projects. Ron argues that now is a good opportunity for the legislature to earn the community's trust and address the issue before the trial for the bid-rigging scandal as the legislative session ends. Here is the link to the [...]

June 14, 2017. FPI and other organizations gathered in the Capitol to ask lawmakers to pass reforms that would expand New York State's contracting guidelines in order to oversee economic development projects and to prevent other bribery and bid-rigging scandals. Reforms that these organizations are pushing for include a "database of deals", which track public money given to private corporations. Government-reform organizations including Reinvent Albany, the New York Public Interest Research Group and the League of Women Voters gathered in the state Capitol on Wednesday to beg [...]

June 9, 2017. In this op-ed Jennifer Hirsch argues that issuing driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants can help with economic development and provide additional revenue to help with economic struggles, such as flooding and urban blight. Hirsch goes on to argue how immigrants are not able to contribute to the local economy if they do not have transportation to local shops. You might not think of access to driver’s licenses for our state’s estimated 775,000 undocumented immigrants as economic development. But an analysis by New [...]

June 5, 2017. FPI, along with other organizations, are urging the New York legislature to make changes that will counteract some of the harm from Trump's policies. These include expansion of the Millionaires' Tax, the right to clean water and air, expansion of voting rights and help for the homeless, as well as protection for immigrants and prevention of bid-rigging and bribery. Ron Deutsch, who is with the union-backed think tank Fiscal Policy Institute, said Cuomo and lawmakers should act to address an economic development [...]

May 23, 2017. Listen to Ron Deutsch, the executive director of the Fiscal Policy Institute, and John Kaehny, the executive director of Reinvent Albany on the Capitol Pressroom with Susan Arbetter. Deutsch and Kaehny provide an update on the push to create a cleaner state contracting process. Here is the link to the Capitol Pressroom.

May 18, 2017. Jennifer R. Guzmán argues that undocumented immigrants, who we rely on for our dairy, fruits and vegetables, are struggling to fulfill their basic needs because they are prevented from obtaining a driver's licenses and are overcharged for rides to work, the grocery store and other places. She goes on to discuss the benefits to all if the New York State Assembly Bill A4050 is passed. She cites FPI's and New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer's reports in order to make this case. This [...]

May 12, 2017. In an article featured in the Nonprofit Quarterly, the author argues that Syrian refugees contribute to their host countries' economies and uses data on Turkey and the U.S. to demonstrate this. The author cites the report, "Syrian Immigrants in the United States: A Receiving Community for Today's Refugees," which was co-released by FPI and the Center for American Progress, to support her argument. She also argues that we should not focus on the negative rhetoric used, rather on the positive contributions that they [...]

May 10, 2017. FPI's executive director, Ron Deutsch, joins Alex Camarda, of Reinvent Albany, and David Friedfel, from the Citizens Budget Commission, on Capital Tonight to discuss the possibility of an anti-rigging bill being passed this year. Ron argued that the time for reform is now. Here is the link to the Capital Tonight Episode.

May 4, 2017. This article discusses how immigrant youth, protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), are often perceived as not paying taxes, when they do. In order to make this argument, they cite FPI and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy's co-released report on DACA recipients tax contributions. FPI's David Dyssegaard Kallick also argues that their tax contributions are often overlooked. The article also argues that DACA recipients hope that their tax contributions will help them when they apply for permanent [...]