See our memo of support for this @liunewyork.bsky.social bill, which allows new mayors to decide whether to continue lame-duck charter commissions: buff.ly/8Uhf85M

We just sent a joint letter urging NY leaders to fully fund the Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government: ✅ $9.1M for operations/staff ✅ Use new lobbyist fees to fund $750K in long-overdue tech upgrades NY's first line of defense against corruption shouldn't be underfunded. buff.ly/z0hb1rs

Our ask to Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins: close the transparency gap and publish Senate confirmation votes. Check out our letter: buff.ly/H8Ho6yK

Appreciate the leadership of @speakermenin.bsky.social in seeking to stop the overuse of no-bid contracts as she raised at ABNY this morning. Critical reform to ensure city fiscal integrity. Reinvent Albany supports her legislation to do that: buff.ly/e6Y3oYa

Our testimony to the Legislature on the NYS transportation budget focuses on: SUPPORT for funding state of good repair, $25m for MTA Subway Co-response Outreach (SCOUT) OPPOSITION to new MTA debt and carve outs to congestion pricing and camera enforcement buff.ly/qKsVRkG

We submitted written testimony to the City Council today, supporting the use of a compensation commission before elected officials' salaries are increased. We ask the Council to require the commission to hold a public hearing; the bill only makes it optional. buff.ly/DQzEG5q

Reinvent Albany Testimony on Environment Urges Legislature to Be Assertive. See our full testimony on environmental conservation issues: buff.ly/JkUNkjJ

Reinvent Albany Supports Speaker and Council Anti-Corruption Reforms for NYC Emergency Contracts. Read our full testimony:

One important finding from the report: Most state agencies could implement the @jamesskoufis.bsky.social @stevenraga.bsky.social bill with modest additional effort that Gov Hochul vetoed, capping response times at 60 days. If they aren't already, they are in need of major improvements, like OCM.

NEW: "Listening to FOIL 2026" report shows big gaps between best/worst 11 agencies. We analyzed 16k records requests to evaluate response times, backlogs & more. Agencies aren't publishing commonly requested requested or using electronic appeals features of FOIL software buff.ly/y0UrfBz

Read Reinvent Albany's First Take on Governor Hochul’s $260 Billion FY 2027 Budget 💰 buff.ly/LnAr5Lf

NYC Must Close Loophole Allowing Eric Adams 2025 Campaign to Pay at Least $600K to Anonymous Shell Companies. Read our statement here:

Our statement on the good, bad, and absent in the Governor's State of the State:

Good news for NYC's press. We thank Mayor Mamdani for trashing this bad idea before it even became an official NYC rule.

Our groups @citizensunionny.bsky.social @hfny.bsky.social @lwvny.bsky.social @nycbarassociation.bsky.social @nypirg.bsky.social call on Gov. Hochul to promptly fill the ethics commission vacancy to uphold the relevance and importance of COELIG. Read our letter here: buff.ly/0Hlf1bF

The data shows SCOUT works. Our groups @pcac.org @rpa.org asked Gov. Hochul to make the MTA SCOUT program permanent and expand it to 20 teams in the FY26-27 budget buff.ly/D4KDB7F

Check out Reinvent Albany's list of 10 things Mayor Mamdani can do to strengthen transparency, ethics, and democracy: buff.ly/WfRq9qD

Mamdani EO changing Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary makes progress in two areas: transparency and professional diversity More work to do opening up selection process, strengthening code of conduct Statement & analysis w/@scrutinize_org: buff.ly/51ygS4d

For NYC press: Major Changes by Adams Administration to Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) Issuance, Suspension, Revocation of Press Credentials Still Going Through Rule Adoption Process Public Hearing and Comments Due February 4th, 2026 buff.ly/9ISoI4K

Gov Hochul Vetoes Crucial Transparency, Local Democracy, and Money Laundering Bills. See whether the Governor's decisions were opposed or supported by us in our end-of-session bill roundup: buff.ly/OxBHDI4

Reinvent Albany @cbcny.bsky.social @partnership4nyc.bsky.social @rpa.org and Transit Costs Project thank @governor.ny.gov for vetoing A4873/S4091, the bill that would have prohibited MTA from using one-person train operation (OPTO). See our statement: buff.ly/PI2zEAH

We won't have to wait long to find out who Gov. Kathy Hochul's 2026 running mate is: www.capitolconfidential.com/p/when-hochu... - PSC orders "non-emitting" solutions from Con Ed - Blakeman on TV in FL - State Senate confirmation vote transparency - DOCCS heat mitigation plan - & more today

Ever wondered how your NYS Senator voted on a nominee for a judge, commissioner, or board member? Those votes aren't published online by the Senate. We FOILed the records and published them ourselves. 🔍 reinventalbany.org/2025/12/pres...

New York's state Senate doesn't publish how each member votes on the governor's nominees, making it difficult for constituents to get that information. Advocates at Reinvent Albany dug into those votes and have recommendations to improve transparency: www.timesunion.com/state/articl...

Check out Reinvent Albany's new report calling on incoming Mamdani admin to take five steps to improve how tech can be used to deliver better services to everyday New Yorkers. buff.ly/aZiz0Nf

With @CitizensUnionNY @CommonCauseNY @NYPIRG we asked the City Council to not raise their salaries without an outside compensation commission. Our testimony recommended a possible new structure & warned that this lame-duck hearing shouldn't be used to rush a bill through in 2026.

If the Governor cares about transparency, she must sign A8662-A (Gallagher) / S8432 (Hoylman-Sigal). Our joint memo of support: buff.ly/ZjGnBEB

Gov Hochul should veto S6815/A8292 – giving MTA workers an automatic defense for bus-lane violations meddles in NYC and MTA management and could encourage misuse of agency vehicles. buff.ly/P1MqL0D

21 groups urged the Governor to sign A8662-A (Gallagher) / S8432 (Hoylman-Sigal), which protects NY's LLC Transparency Act and was just delivered to the Governor. Read our memo of support: buff.ly/ZjGnBEB

Gov Hochul should VETO the bill that carves out Co-op City from bus lane enforcement. It slows buses and worsens pollution. The state Legislature should not be getting involved in local transit decisions. buff.ly/01VdEUW

Reinvent Albany commends the new @mta.info Capital Dashboard powered by open data. This upgrade shows the MTA's progress on rebuilding and modernizing the subways, buses, and commuter railroads. Check out the top 4 things we like about it! buff.ly/kVdszHb

Watchdogs Scrutinize & @ReinventAlbany Offer 21st Century Reform Agenda for How NYC Mayor Chooses Judges Report "Building a 21st Century Judiciary: A Reform Agenda for New York City," calls on the incoming mayor to make NYC judicial appointments modern and transparent ⬇️

🎉 FPF joins @reinventalbany.bsky.social and many other groups in celebrating NYC Council's passage of its landmark Freedom of Information bill! Read about how this bill will make NYC more accountable here:

🎉🎉 🎉 Transparency Groups Cheer NYC Council Passage of Landmark FOIL Reform Bill Statement on the passage of Intro 1235-A, sponsored by @galeabrewer.bsky.social here: buff.ly/XfnWNK0 Thank you @stopspyingny.bsky.social @beta.nyc @legalaidnyc.bsky.social @citizensunionny.bsky.social + more!

Testimony to MTA Board: Gov. Hochul Must Veto Two-Person Train Operator Bill Misguided bill will do nothing to improve subway service, and instead add costs that will ultimately be paid by transit riders. Read it here:

We dropped a new report re: train operations, everyone’s favorite topic. There’s some backstory that we will get too. But, the basic takeaway is modern train systems have moved away from two-person train ops. New York should, too! transitcosts.com/Train_Operat...

Yes. Veto this bill.

Report: 94% of World’s Transit Lines Operated by One Person Hochul Should Veto Bill Requiring Two See our statement on the new, important report out from NYU Marron's Transit Costs Project buff.ly/Umk9Dc0

Micron says Onondaga chip fab delayed to late 2030. They want $1.7b more state/local subsidies on top of current $21b taxpayer handouts. Read about it here: buff.ly/WQ0uHvn

Our testimony to Onondaga IDA: No to Micron Getting $880m in New Onondaga County Sales Tax Breaks. Micron is already getting more than $21.4 billion in government subsidies for Fabs 1 and 2 in Onondaga. Check it out ⤵️

Our friends at @citizensunionny.bsky.social are hosting a public Q&A on NYC ballot question 6 (even-year elections) this Thurs, 10/30, from 6-7pm. Register for their webinar!

Film/TV “tax credits” are taxpayer-funded giveaways. 38 states now pay producers to film locally—even though independent studies find NO economic benefit. Economist J.C. Bradbury thinks they're one of the biggest wastes of state tax money. Plus, $2b in Micron tax breaks. buff.ly/DfJzI8x

New York can’t fix one problem by creating another. When IDAs hand out tax breaks without creating jobs, they drain the revenue that keeps our schools strong. We need affordable housing and well-funded schools — not one at the expense of the other.

"Reinvent Albany, a good government group, had described it as the "most significant improvement" to the state’s public records law that the legislature had agreed upon in years.' buff.ly/TiWAojO

Our new report with students in the State Policy Advocacy Clinic, Brooks School of Public Policy at Cornell shows how IDA housing tax breaks are constitutionally questionable with little oversight—diverting revenue from schools and local services. buff.ly/5ha43mX

An Illinois legislator proposed a bill to guarantee independent analysis and public hearings for all publicly funded sports projects — could NY do the same? We could use it — see our list of NY sports subsidies rushed through with minimal public review in this week's Subsidy Sheet.

NEW report with scrutinize, "Backdoor to the Bench", finds NY’s constitutional cap on the number of Supreme Court judges spawns double dysfunction Clogged courts resort to secretive, highly subjective selection of acting judges as workaround

Statement: Hochul Vetoes Transparency Bill Backed by Press Freedom and Watchdog Groups Governor Fixes Nothing, Offers Nothing in Response to Persistent Public Concerns About Deeply Dysfunctional Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) Process Read it here:

🚨Transparency Boosting Bill on Hochul's Desk🚨 S2520-B/A3425-A by @jamesskoufis.bsky.social and Steven Raga is the most significant improvement to the Freedom of Information Law in years & would shorten the time the public waits for records. Governor Hochul should sign it.

Our report, Investing in the MTA is Investing in America: October 2025 Update, looked at MTA spending across 47 states. Did you know that the MTA has purchased K-9s from companies in 12 states, from Alabama to Illinois to Wisconsin for the MTA Police Department? 🐕‍🦺 👮‍♀️ buff.ly/Yxt4KZ6