Yearly Archives: 2018

August 30, 2018. The anti-immigration Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) which advocates for the elimination of all illegal immigration, cuts to legal immigration and not providing amnesty for children born in the U.S. of undocumented immigrants, is stepping into mainstream America, and moving away from the margins where it has previously been. Although this organization has been labeled a hate group, it has seen increased support and social media presence, and the recruitment of its previous leaders to the Trump administration. Pete Boogaard, of FWD.us, refers [...]

August 7, 2018. A new report from the Fiscal Policy Institute and Make The Road New York takes a look at the racial disparities in the state’s economic development spending. Ron Deutsch, Executive Director of the Fiscal Policy Institute, and Ben Wolcott, Campaign Researcher at Make the Road New York discuss the findings on WCNY's Capitol Pressroom with Susan Arbetter. Here is a link to the radio episode.

August 6, 2018. The Fiscal Policy Institute and Make The Road New York's new report discusses how investments by the regional economic development councils in predominantly white communities vastly outweigh those made in communities of color. In a new interview with Capital Tonight on Spectrum News, Ron Deutsch of the Fiscal Policy Institute and Yatziri Tovar on Make The Road New York talk about how New York State's economic development shortchanges people of color. Here is a link to the article and video on Spectrum News.

August 2, 2018. This article discusses the pressures being placed on the Senate to return to Albany to take up a bill re-authorizing New York City to operate cameras in school zones to catch speeders and the call to tackle ethics reform. The two ethics reform bills that stalled in the Assembly before its session ended in June are aimed at boosting government transparency and oversight. One of these bills is the "database of deals", a policy supported by The Fiscal Policy Institute, which would permit the public [...]

August 2, 2018. This article discusses a new report written by The Fiscal Policy Institute and Make the Road New York which shows that areas with a higher concentration of people of color across New York State are awarded less than their fair share of economic development funds. Additionally this study found that white males are massively overrepresented on the Regional Economic Development Councils which allocate these funds. “The regional council competition is one of the largest sources of economic development money in the state,” the [...]

July 26, 2018. This article discusses the introduction of a new bill that would establish New York as a "sanctuary state." Under the measure, which has been introduced by State Sen. Jose Peralta (D-East Elmhurst) and Assistant Assembly Speaker Felix Ortiz (D-Brooklyn), state and local enforcement agencies would be prohibited from acting as agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, severely limiting the information they would be authorized to share with federal authorities. Additionally, the bill would restrict state and local agencies from cooperating with ICE to arrest [...]

July 18, 2018. With the wave of unprecedented public corruption scandals and criminal convictions in New York State government, it would make sense for a wave of accountability and ethics reform to follow. That is not the case. Governor Cuomo and legislators have failed to adopt any of the ethics reforms called for by government watchdog groups, including toughening oversight of state contracts, eliminating a loophole that allows companies to ignore campaign-contribution limits, and appointing an independent monitor for ethics and election laws. With the recent [...]

July 12, 2018. This articles discusses the outcome of the bid-rigging trial, reaction from the Governor and good government watchdog groups who have long pushed to end the corruption in Albany. The outcome of the trial saw the conviction of Alain Kaloyeros, former SUNY Polytechnic Institute President, and two other COR Development executives and a Buffalo building developers. While the Governor dismissed the trial's outcome, saying that fraud should not be tolerated, government watchdog groups, including the Fiscal Policy Institute, say that New York continues to [...]