Good Governance

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 [...]

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 [...]

June 18, 2018. This article and corresponding radio clip discusses the bid rigging trial of a former associate of Governor Cuomo and two upstate development firms, who are accused of fraudulently obtaining lucrative taxpayer-funded state contracts, and the currently stalled-in-the-Assembly package of accountability and transparency reform bills. Multiple reform groups, including the Fiscal Policy Institute, want the Assembly to pass the package and restore the State Comptroller’s authority over reviewing the economic development contracts, and enact a public database, known as the "Database of Deals," of [...]

November 2, 2017. On Election Day, New York’s voters will have their first opportunity in 20 years to call for a state constitutional convention via ballot proposition. Nearly 100 Capital District voters packed the auditorium at the Guilderland Public Library last Tuesday night for a panel discussion titled “Would New York State Benefit from a Constitutional Convention?” The event, co-presented by the League of Women Voters of Albany County and the Women’s Press Club of New York State, was moderated by Susan Arbetter, host of [...]

A coalition of progressive groups including the NYCLU and Legal Aid Society announced its opposition to a ballot measure on Nov. 7 that asks whether New Yorkers should hold a convention to revise and amend the state constitution next year. Opponents such as Fiscal Policy Institute and New Yorkers Against Corruption, fear it could set the stage for rolling back protections and rights such as public-sector pension guarantees and legal protections for immigrants and the poor. “We have far more to lose than we have [...]

October 30, 2017. A group of progressive organizations, on Monday, gathered to voice their opposition to holding a constitutional convention, which voters will decide on Nov. 7. “We have far more to lose than we have to gain,” said Ron Deutsch, executive director of the labor-backed Fiscal Policy Institute. “We think this is a recipe for disaster.”   Access full article HERE  

October 30, 2017. There is just over a week left until New Yorkers head to the polls. Ron Deutsch, Executive Director of the Fiscal Policy Institute, and Susan Welber, Staff Attorney at The Legal Aid Society, weighed in on why they are urging a no vote on Ballot Question One, the Constitutional Convention Question.   Access to the full podcast can be found HERE.

On November 4th, New Yorkers will go to the polls and decide whether to hold a Constitutional Convention. Holding a Constitutional Convention, or Con-Con for short, would allow the people to exercise their right to make changes to alter the state constitution. This vote is held every twenty years, and the last time that a Con-Con convened was in 1967. If New Yorkers vote to convene a Con-Con, they would have the opportunity to elect delegates in November 2018 and then the Convention would convene [...]

October, 16, 2017. A panel discussion on the November ballot question of whether New York should hold a constitutional convention will take place at 7 p.m. Oct. 24 in the Guilderland Public Library, 2228 Western Ave. The event is presented by the Women's Press Club of New York State and the League of Women Voters of Albany County. Panelists will be Gerald Benjamin of the Benjamin Center for Public Policy Initiatives at SUNY New Paltz, and Ronald Deutsch, executive director of the Fiscal Policy Institute [...]

July 7, 2017. This article discusses Governor Cuomo's use of a "message of necessity," which bypasses the three day waiting period between the introduction of a bill and when it can be voted on, in order to rename the Tappan Zee bridge after his father. The assembly previously voted not to pass this proposal. Some, including FPI's executive director Ron Deutsch, do not view renaming the bridge as a necessity. Messages are supposed to be reserved for emergencies but are often misused for routine purposes, [...]