Assembly Expenses Topped $1M in Latest Period

The Assembly paid $1.1 million to 130 members for costs related to "legislative duties" performed in Albany between April and September 2014, according to data posted today on SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center's transparency website. The data was released more than eight months after the end of the reporting period, an unusually long delay.

Assemblyman Mark Gjonaj of the Bronx collected the most in Albany legislative duty reimbursements, receiving $17,940 in the six-month period. Assemblywoman Earlene Hooper of Nassau County was reimbursed $14,135, the second most. The reimbursements include travel to and from Albany as well as "per diem" payments for food and lodging.

Income inequality is taking a toll on state governments

The widening gap between the wealthiest Americans and everyone else has been matched by a slowdown in state tax revenue, according to a report being released Monday by Standard & Poor's.

Even as income for the affluent has accelerated, it's barely kept pace with inflation for most other people. That trend can mean a double-whammy for states: The wealthy often manage to shield much of their income from taxes. And they tend to spend a lower percentage of it than others do, thereby limiting sales tax revenue.

As the growth of tax revenue has slowed, states have faced tensions over whether to raise taxes or cut spending to balance their budgets as required by law.

"Rising income inequality is not just a social issue," said Gabriel Petek, the S&P credit analyst who wrote the report. "It presents a very significant set of challenges for the policymakers."

More from the Skanner.

USASPENDING.gov

Learn About USAspending.gov:

The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA) of 2006 requires that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) establish a single searchable website, accessible to the public at no cost, which includes for each Federal award:

the name of the entity receiving the award;
the amount of the award;
information on the award including transaction type, funding agency, etc;
the location of the entity receiving the award; and
a unique identifier of the entity receiving the award.

USAspending.gov was first launched in December 2007 to fulfill these requirements. Prime award information shown on the website is provided by Federal Agencies through four main source systems. USAspending.gov receives and displays data pertaining to obligations (amounts awarded for federally sponsored projects during a given budget period), not outlays or expenditures (actual cash disbursements made against each project).

USAspending.gov has been updated in October 2010 to display of first-tier sub-award data (subcontracts and subgrants). Sub-award information shown on the website is provided by FSRS. The latest guidance documents pertaining to sub-award reporting can be found under News.

New Infographic Focuses on Participation in Government Programs

Participation in government benefits programs, both means-tested and non-means-tested, grew during the recent downturn. A new "How Do We Know?" infographic from the Census Bureau, "Changes in Use of Government Programs from 2008 to 2011", uses results from the Survey of Income and Program Participation to show changes over that period in households that receive benefits, as well as participation in specific non-means tested and means-tested programs.

How the 50 States Rate in Providing Online Access to Government Spending Data

The ability to see how government uses the public purse is fundamental to democracy. Transparency in government spending promotes fiscal responsibility, checks corruption, and bolsters public confidence.

In the past few years, state governments across the country have made their checkbooks transparent by creating online transparency portals. These government-operated websites allow visitors to view the government’s checkbook – who receives state money, how much, and for what purposes. Most of these websites are also searchable, making it easier for residents to follow the money and monitor government spending of many sorts. Today almost every state operates a transparency website with the state’s checkbook accessible to the public.

Over the past two years, the number of states that give citizens access to their state’s checkbook has increased from 32 to 46.

This report is U.S. PIRG Education Fund’s third annual ranking of states’ progress toward “Transparency 2.0” – a new standard of comprehensive, one-stop, one-click budget accountability and accessibility.

Updated NYS Legislative Spending Posted

New York's State Legislature spent $102 million during the six-month period ending last March, according to the latest legislative data posted at SeeThroughNY. The expenditure information, which goes back to 2006, can be sorted by reporting period, expenditure type, and member name. Users can also isolate spending for individual units of the Legislature's central staff.

Ranked by office expenditures, highest-spending members in the Senate and Assembly were Kenneth Lavalle (R-Long Island) at $510,598.26 and Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan) at $488,359.44, respectively.

The period covered by the Legislature's release of six-month expenditure data ends before the Assembly reportedly made a secret payment of $103,080, under the cover of "legal services," to settle sexual harassment claims brought by two former staffers against Assemblyman Vito Lopez (D-Brooklyn). However, it does include a total of $424,237 in payments, by both the Assembly and Senate, to four law firms for "legal services" not further specified in the data.

To view the database, click here.

State & Local Government Jobs Continue to Decline in Most States

Recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics continue to show broad declines in state and local government employment in a majority of states, although public-sector jobs have increased elsewhere. This Data Alert examines recent changes in state and local government employment at the individual state level, as well as the national level, using several recent periods for comparison.

Using three-month employment averages to smooth short-term variations, total U.S. nonfarm employment rose by 1.4 percent over the year ending in January 2012. The growth was driven by a 2.0 increase in the private sector (+2.1 million jobs). By contrast, all the subsectors of government reported declines in employment over the year. As shown on Table 1, federal government employment declined by 1.2 percent (-35,000 jobs), state government employment by 1.5 percent (-76,000 jobs) and local government employment by 1.1 percent (-163,000 jobs).

Updated Legislative Spending Posted on Internet

Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada (D-Bronx), spent $880,201 on his legislative office operations and staff in the most recent six-month period reported by the Legislature -- nearly $273,000 more than former Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno (R-Brunswick) spent during a comparable period in 2008.

Espada's office expenditures and those of other Senators and Assembly members for the six months ending March 31, 2010, was posted today as part of a searchable database on the Empire Center's government transparency website, SeeThroughNY.net.

The full text of this press release is available here.

Contact: Tim Hoefer - 518.434.3100

State government employment drops below level at start of recession

Total employment by state governments has dipped below its level at the start of the recent recession for the first time, a new “Data Alert” from the Rockefeller Institute of Government shows. After rising for eight consecutive months after the recession began in December 2007, state and local government employment has declined for 17 of the last 23 months as states have experienced record declines in revenue. An extension of extraordinary federal aid to states, expected to be approved by Congress, “would likely dampen but not eliminate pressure for additional cuts in state and local government employment,” Institute researchers Donald J. Boyd and Lucy Dadayan write.
Click here for the Data Alert.

A Graphical, Inside View of Government Spending.

The Center for Governmental Research has launched a new website, Govistics™, that can be used to access, in an interestingly visual way, information about spending by state and local governments. CGR is using the 2007 Census of Government data and will be adding data mash ups. There is free info, and also more extensive data available for a fee.

The Rochester Business Journal wrote an article about the service: Web tool enables access to government spending info.