Continuing New York’s Legacy of Providing Health Care Coverage to Immigrants
February 9, 2018. New York State has a long and proud history of trailblazing innovative policies that expand access to healthcare coverage to all its residents. From developing and establishing the nation's first comprehensive health insurance program for children to the launch of the New York State of Health Marketplace under the Affordable Care Act, New York has often been a national leader in expanding access to quality affordable health coverage. In the midst of federal attacks against immigrants, Governor Cuomo recently announced that recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy will continue to qualify for state-funded Medicaid [...]
Making Facts Matter: Immigration Messaging Webinar
February 1, 2018. A webinar on how to understand and talk with audiences about the economics of immigration, featuring: David Dyssegaard Kallick, Fiscal Policy Institute Marisa Gerstein Pineau, FrameWorks Institute Andrew Lim, New American Economy Linda Fleener, Illinois Immigrant Business Coalition Denzil Mohammed, The Immigrant Learning Center Public Education Institute Sponsored by the Immigrant Learning Center and the Public Education Institute. The FPI powerpoint used for the discussion is available by clicking here. The best way to view it is by clicking from slide to slide in full screen, so you can see the simulated animations. (Some data in this [...]
Termination of TPS Hurts Families and The Economy
Termination of TPS Hurts Families and The Economy 26,000 At Risk in New York On January 8, 2018, the Trump administration announced that it would be terminating Temporary Protective Status (TPS) for individuals from El Salvador, and that these recipients have until September 9 to obtain another legal status or return to their country of birth. This follows a chain of terminations of other TPS statuses including Haiti, Sudan, and Nicaragua, while Honduras’s status is still under consideration. TPS provides protection from deportation and work authorization to individuals from countries that have are experiencing conditions such as civil war, natural [...]
The Dream Act Would Boost New York’s Economy
The Dream Act Would Boost New York’s Economy December 20, 2017. On September 5, 2017, the Trump administration announced that it would revoke the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). This program provided immigrant youth who are currently undocumented and arrived in the United States before the age of 16, work authorization, protection from deportation and the sense of security of being able to live a life like everyone else in the place they call home. It only took a matter of minutes for the Trump administration to negatively affect the lives of 1,300,000 DACA-eligible youth in the United States. [...]
Dream Act Would Boost NY Economy and Tax Revenues: Revoking DACA Hurts Both
Dream Act Would Boost NY Economy and Tax Revenues Revoking DACA Hurts Both The Dream Act would allow immigrants in New York to contribute more fully to the state economy, boosting longterm state’s $1.5 trillion GDP by at least $1.8 billion a year, and increasing state and local tax revenues in New York by $62 million, according to a report released today by the Fiscal Policy Institute that draws on analyses from the Center for American Progress and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The Dream Act would make it possible for undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as [...]
House and Senate Tax Bill Will Hurt New York’s Poorest Taxpayers and Result in Many Losing Health Coverage
December 2017, House and Senate Tax Bill Will Hurt New York’s Poorest Taxpayers and Result in Many Losing Health Coverage Impact of Tax Cuts to New Yorkers (Both Bills) The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) released its analysis of both the House and Senate tax bills for all fifty states. Both bills would raise taxes on many lower- and middle-income families in every state and provide the wealthiest Americans and foreign investors substantial tax cuts, while adding more than $1.4 trillion to the deficit over ten years. The graph below shows the share of the tax cuts by [...]
David Dyssegaard Kallick Participates in the “On Immigration” Panel Discussion
November 20, 2017. On November 1, 2017, FPI's Deputy Director and Director of the Immigration Research Initiative, David Dyssegaard Kallick, joined other experts in a panel discussion, "The Business of Immigration," hosted by City & State New York. He joined the moderator Stuart Schulman, Professor of Management at Baruch College Zicklin School of Business, Lorelei Salas, Commissioner for the Department of Consumer Affairs, Hollis V. Pfitsch, Deputy Commissioner at the Law Enforcement Bureau, and Dara Adams, Industry Program Director at FWD.us. The panelists discussed the role that immigrants play in New York City's economy through small business ownership. Watch [...]
HOUSE TAX PLAN: BENEFIT FOR RICHEST 1% in NYS GROWS OVER TIME
HOUSE TAX PLAN: BENEFIT FOR RICHEST 1% in NYS GROWS OVER TIME By 2027 Wealthiest 1% Get Average Tax Cut of $34,000 and Poorest 20% Get $90 A 50-state analysis of the House tax plan released last week reveals that in New York State the wealthiest 1 percent of New Yorkers will receive the greatest share of the total tax cut in year one and their share would grow through 2027. Further, the value of the tax cut would decline over time for every income group in New York except the very richest. House leadership continues to tout [...]
New Data from FPI: Refugee Placement by Metro Area and Locality
November 6, 2017. Until recently, refugee resettlement was something the United States took on quietly and with a justified sense of pride. Even as immigration policy became a controversial issue, refugee resettlement was generally kept out of the fray. More recently, refugee resettlement has become a focus of uneasy attention. With the refugee ban that was implemented by the Trump administration in the beginning of his term and the decision to cut resettlement numbers in half, it is more important than ever to recognize the significant contributions that refugees make to the United States economy. To understand where refugees are [...]
Congestion Pricing “vs.” Millionaire’s Tax: Why Not Do Both?
October 30, 2017. Here’s a story you don’t hear every day: in the latest spat between Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor De Blasio, both of them are right. Congestion pricing, the governor’s proposal, and a surcharge to the millionaire’s tax, the mayor’s proposal, are both good ideas. The not-so-secret feuding between the governor and the mayor has not served New Yorkers well. From the serious to the petty, the two Democrats don’t seem to be able to get along about much. But, in their dueling proposals to provide much-needed funding to improve New York City’s transit system, they [...]
A Constitutional Convention – A Risk NOT Worth Taking
A Constitutional Convention – A Risk NOT Worth Taking Ron Deutsch, Fiscal Policy Institute The New York Constitution articulates the legal rights of New Yorkers, and in many vital areas, provides our residents more protections than the U.S. Constitution. A Constitutional Convention is an expensive, complicated and potentially dangerous undertaking that is unnecessary because we already have a more rigorous and more democratic process by which the voters can adopt or reject individual amendments to the State Constitution on their individual merits rather than being presented with the kinds of omnibus “mixed bag” packages that were advanced by virtually all of [...]
Senior Budget and Policy Analyst
The Senior Budget and Policy Analyst will lead work in a range of policy areas of importance to the Fiscal Policy Institute. He or she will produce timely, comprehensible, and reliable research. A central part of the job will be leading FPI’s research analyzing state budget proposals in real time every January to April. The right candidate will have strong policy analysis skills, will work well independently and in teams, and will be able to communicate information effectively to diverse audiences. Like all FPI staff, the right candidate for this position will have a commitment to reversing the extraordinary racial and economic disparities in wages, income, and opportunity in our communities, and [...]
Uphill Employment Battle for New York’s Recent College Graduates
Brent Kramer, PhD, Senior Economist Kramer@fiscalpolicy.org August 3, 2017 ALBANY, New York – In today’s post-Great Recession environment, student loan debt has reached all-time highs, and more young adults are living at home longer, and are unable to purchase homes, cars, and other assets because of persistent unemployment or underemployment. Many young would-be workers are forgoing the job market altogether, and returning to school or taking unpaid internships in hopes of breaking into their respective fields. Eight years after the Great Recession, college graduates looking to enter the workforce after college are asking about the job market prospects throughout [...]
The Workers That Feed Our Families: Fighting for the Right to Organize
August 2, 2017. The Workers That Feed Our Families: Fighting for the Right to Organize Crispin Hernandez is a farmworker who felt he and others he worked with were not getting a fair wage or decent working conditions. The solution, he thought, was to organize with other workers to be able to negotiate with their employers. When he started organizing, however, he was fired. The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), who is representing Crispin Hernandez, filed a lawsuit against Governor Cuomo and New York State challenging the firing. Oral arguments for the case were heard on July 20 and [...]
Fiscal Policy Institute is Expanding
August 1, 2017. We’re pleased to announce some staff changes at the Fiscal Policy Institute. Kendra Moses recently joined FPI as Operations Manager. Kendra comes to us from Greater Adirondack Home Aides, where she was Chief Financial Officer and Consumer Directed Medicaid Program Director. Melissa Krug was hired as FPI’s new Poverty Policy Analyst. Melissa was a Center for Women and Government fellow at FPI through the budget season working on poverty issues. David Dyssegaard Kallick has been promoted to Deputy Director of FPI. He will also continue as director of the Immigration Research Initiative that he started at FPI. David has been with FPI for [...]
OUR VIEW: Celebrate World Refugee Day Saturday at City Hall
June 16, 2017. An editorial featured in the Observer-Dispatch cited FPI's and the Center for American Progress's co-released report, "Refugee Integration in the United States." The op-ed is not only an invitation to celebrate World Refugee Day with those in Utica, but it also discusses how Utica is a city that refugees have helped rebuild by contributing to the local economy and tax rolls and reversing population decline. There is little question that refugees are making significant contributions to our communities across the nation - Utica included. A report last year by the Center for American Progress and the Fiscal [...]
Language Diversity and English-Speaking Ability in Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse
June 12, 2017. Many institutions in upstate New York cities and metro areas are wrestling with translation services, language access, and other ways to help integrate local residents who didn’t grow up speaking English. And, while the immigrant share of the population is not as big as in cities like New York or Los Angeles, the diversity of languages spoken can make for its own challenges. An analysis of the 2015 American Community Survey 5-year data for Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse cities and metro areas demonstrates how languages spoken vary from the suburbs to the cities. As in most of [...]
Government Watchdogs Push ‘Clean Contracting’ Reform in Albany
May 11, 2017. FPI and a coalition of other organizations are calling on Governor Cuomo to sign a bill for "clean contracting" in response to the bid-rigging scandal last year. The coalition calls on the Governor to restore the power to State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli for all state contracts exceeding $250,000, an end to non-academic contracting by state-controlled non-profit organizations, the creation of a comprehensive “database of deals,” and a prohibition against state authorities, corporations, and affiliated non-profits doing business with their board members. “How many scandals and indictments are needed before we enact any meaningful reforms,” asked Ron Deutsch, [...]
Editorial: New Deportation Policy Has Human, Fiscal Cost
May 2, 2017. An editorial discusses the deportation case of Martin Martinez, an undocumented immigrant who has lived in the U.S. for 30 years, has a working permit, but also has two drunken driving convictions from over a decade ago. The author discusses sanctuary cities and argues how they try to distinguish between serious and minor crimes, and that new deportation policies make it difficult to fight crime. In the article, the author also argues that there are human and fiscal costs, and cites FPI's and ITEP's co-released report on DACA recipients tax contributions. That’s why police in Newburgh and [...]
Legal Status for Dreamers Boosts NY Tax Revenue
April 26, 2017. In an article discussing the findings of a 50-state report by The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and co-released in New York with FPI, David Dyssegaard Kallick, Director of FPI's Immigration Research Initiative, was quoted. The Trump administration is sending mixed messages about whether those granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status by the Obama administration will be deported or allowed to stay and work legally. David Dyssegaard Kallick, director of the Fiscal Policy Institute, said he believes one consideration should be the contributions young immigrants are making, in New York and nationally. "DACA recipients contribute $140 [...]
Immigrant Youth Add $140 Million to NY State Tax Revenues
April 25, 2017. What will happen to immigrant youth who as children were brought to the United States without legal status and were temporarily shielded from deportation by a 2012 executive order known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA? The Trump Administration is projecting very mixed messages about the present and future of these young people. To help shed some light on how DACA has allowed these young immigrants to contribute to our country and our state, a new report shows the state and local tax contributions of young people eligible for DACA. The 50-state analysis was conducted [...]