Good Governance

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, [...]

July 6, 2017. This article discusses the decision of the legislature, who chose to ignore ethics reform before the end of their session. The governor, who stated that ethics reform is a priority, is now proposing that a new inspector general could work under his office. Others are upset that the legislature did not approve ethics reform and are not convinced by the governor’s proposal because of the involvement of nine associates of the governor involved in bribery and bid-rigging scandals and the governor’s decision to [...]

July 2, 2017. In this editorial, the authors discuss the decision of the legislature, who decided not to pass ethics reform. The governor, who stated that ethics reform is a priority, is now proposing that a new inspector general could work under his office. Others are upset that the legislature did not approve ethics reform and are not convinced by the governor's proposal because of the involvement of associates of the governor involved in bribery and bid-rigging scandals and the governor's decision to disband the Moreland Commission. [...]

June 26, 2017. FPI's Executive Director, Ron Deutsch joins Barbara Bartoletti, Legislative Director for the League of Women Voters of New York State and Blair Horner, Executive Director of NYPIRG on WCNY News to discuss the failure of lawmakers to pass contract procurement and ethic reforms and voting laws. "It's been a sad day in Albany. It's a bad day at the end of the legislative session when nothing gets done on contract reform, on economic development reform and we are looking at a major [...]

June 26, 2017. This article discusses the failure of lawmakers to implement ethical reforms that would prevent bid-rigging scandals in economic development contracts. The article discusses how Governor Cuomo is against the contract procurement bill and is proposing to hire a new inspector general who will work under him. Many are not happy with this decision and do not agree with the Governor's proposal, including FPI's Executive Director, Ron Deutsch. Ron Deutsch, with the union backed think tank Fiscal Policy Institute, says it’s a missed [...]

June 24, 2017. An article in the Saratogian, that quotes FPI's executive director Ron Deutsch, discussed the failure of the Senate and Assembly to pass a routine school governance extender and reforms to prevent future bid-rigging scandals. They may convene again in the summer to make a decision on education and extending local sales tax. The Senate and Assembly adjourned for the summer Wednesday without acting on ethics reform, despite a 2016 legislative session that saw former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos get five years [...]

June 22, 2017. An article, featured in Lohud ,discussed Governor Cuomo's decision not to enact reforms for better transparency when allocating money for economic development programs. Groups called for changes such as a "Database of Deals" and the restoration of power to the state comptroller to review state contracts. The reforms were requested in response bid-rigging scandals. Legislative leaders and Cuomo failed to find a compromise on how to better review state contracts and job-creation programs amid the arrests last fall of Cuomo's former top [...]

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 [...]