"The longer budgets are delayed, the less power or voice the backbenchers or the majority of the legislature have to be heard and that is bad for democracy." - our John Kaehny on the late budget. buff.ly/3RCXiTe

Our John Kaehny said the audit illustrates why OTB “has no reason to exist anymore.” He noted that in NY, horse racing and betting — OTB’s statutory reason for existing — is “circling the drain.” “[It's]...going to be a matter of time before the Titanic sinks.” buff.ly/49NuGDt

Prof. Richard Briffault, Columbia Law School, former chair of NYC COIB, on the PCFB's decision: "It is self-sabotaging for the public campaign finance board to do something like this in the first major test of the New York State public campaign financing system."

The NYS budget is late for the 5th year in a row. Our John Kaehny details: "Really bad things happen in Albany, often when we don't know about them... journalists and the public don't know what's going on as much during the budget process, and that's not good for democracy."

EDITORIAL | Backseat drivers: Legislature should stay out of subway train staffing

"The city has the legal authority to void the contract…ultimately it will be the mayor who decides... 'Do we have to do this because vulnerable people will be terribly hurt, or can we find somebody else who can do this and do it better?'" - Our John Kaehny in @gothamist.com

"A state senator took free legal help from a group she funded with taxpayer money... Watchdog group Reinvent Albany says the arrangement creates an appearance problem."

Support for Seven Bills Strengthening NYS Government. Read our five new memos and two reissues: buff.ly/bdv1NwH

The Partnership for NYC raised $10M to fight tax hikes, but hid how much each donor gave. Our @rachaelfauss.bsky.social in @nysfocus.bsky.social calls it a "loophole," saying it follows the letter of the law but not the spirit buff.ly/lcQj9Fc

"...the coalition urged State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, and three chairs of relevant committees to shoot down the TWU Local 100-backed effort to prevent the MTA from expanding one-person train operation (OPTO) to more subway lines."

“'The audit shows that Western OTB was a politicized dumpster fire with bloated costs and plummeting horse racing revenue,'” our John Kaehny said “'However, the audit doesn’t address the basic question... does Western OTB, which is a public authority, serve a public purpose?'” @ipostnews.bsky.social

"Reinvent Albany said the board had an obligation to notify the campaign before the deadline. 'The current rules allow the Board to vote in favor of enabling Blakeman to cure his filing deficiencies'..."

"Blakeman registered for matching funds on Dec. 10 and was certified on Dec. 17. Meanwhile, the board changed one of their regulations regarding the LG, but they never told Blakeman or anyone else... Reinvent Albany urged that Blakeman be allowed to correct the minor matter."

The consortium of organizations behind Wednesday’s letter wrote that “[fewer] than 6% of 400 rail lines around the world use two or more train operators...” “These systems have operated safely without conductors, or any staff in some cases, on board,” the letter reads buff.ly/kJ2XJnC

“The problem is we don’t know exactly what Amtrak is asking the bidders to submit to them," @rachaelfauss.bsky.social, says the deal might allow real estate giants to profit. “But there may be a backdoor way for New York taxpayers to pay for it if the feds are proposing development as part of this."

Our John Kaehny in @nytimes.com, "Embarrassing display of self-defeating partisanship by the P.C.F.B.’s Democratic commissioners who totally ignored the spirit of the public campaign finance law and their own rules.” www.nytimes.com/2026/03/31/n...

Reinvent Albany statement featured on @spectrumnewsny1.bsky.social. The PCFB is currently meeting to determine whether GOP candidate Blakeman is eligible to receive public funds.

New York Public Campaign Finance Board Must Choose Principle Over Poisoning the Program with Partisanship. See our statement here: reinventalbany.org/2026/03/ny-p...

NYS Senate and Assembly Pass Major Transparency Bills for Sunshine Week: Legislature making great progress on FOIL during crisis in federal transparency buff.ly/p1Bl2eo

“$400m dollars, why would we not want that money here in NY?… Some would say that we’re not in our right minds if we would not do this decoupling... We can take the opportunity to uncouple ourselves from these opportunity zones this year," AM Dinowitz at yesterday's press conference

“It should be an easy choice to sit here and save the state a lot of money…this is hundreds of millions of dollars...that we can put towards some of the important programmatic issues that we all care so deeply about.” @sengianaris.bsky.social on why we need to end tax breaks for opportunity zones

View our statement with @cbcny.bsky.social @citizensunionny.bsky.social @lwvnys.bsky.social @nypirg.bsky.social and Common Cause NY: Budget Should Maintain Comptroller Pre-Audit Review of Contracts and Competitive Bidding buff.ly/tjSrgZL

As noted by our @realtomspeaker.bsky.social, "the illegal electioneering undermines public trust, furthering cynicism about the nonprofits, the candidates and the broader political system." www.timesunion.com/opinion/arti...

Congestion pricing ⬇️ More subway riders ⬇️ More investments in public transit. Check out @pcac.org's new report outlining the progress congestion pricing has made in bringing our subways back to their full potential! pcac.org/report/rider...

"NYS will lose up to $284 million a year starting in 2029. ...NYC alone would lose another $140 million, totaling roughly $424 million in lost revenue statewide annually." www.news10.com/capitol/deco...

Legislators, groups call to end NY tax breaks for Trump Opportunity Zones—costing up to $424 million/year with little benefit to New Yorkers. buff.ly/TpauyjA

"What’s going on in our state and across the country, transparency is needed more than ever... I’m always in full support of transparency - spreading sunlight in the dark corners or shadows that could be brightened more," AM Raga on S2520/A3425

We’re heading to NYC School of Data this Saturday, and we’re proud to sponsor sessions like this one hosted by @newyorkstateag.bsky.social. Learn how linking lobbying, campaign finance, and other data can reveal who’s shaping policy in New York. 💸🤝📜 Don’t miss it 👇 sched.co/2I0pC

🎉 Great news today - FOIL Reporting bill passed the Assembly! 🎉 🔆We celebrated Sunshine Week yesterday with key legislators @jamesskoufis.bsky.social @liunewyork.bsky.social @johnmcdonald108.bsky.social @lindabrosenthal.bsky.social @philsteckny.bsky.social AM Raga and transparency advocates 🔆

We and @beta.nyc sent our testimony to the City Council to fund 11 full-time Open Data staff, hold regular oversight hearing on Open Data compliance buff.ly/jIGS1fs

☀️ Sunshine Week is here and NY can lead ☀️ Our groups to the Legislature: pass 4 key bills to strengthen NY's Freedom of Information Law. Let’s make NY a bright spot against rising secrecy buff.ly/qjkIK9x

See Reinvent Albany's memos of support for two bills strengthening NYS government:

Our groups to NYC Council: Small Investment in OpenRecords FOIL Site Equals Big Transparency Gains @beta.nyc @citizensunionny.bsky.social @freedom.press @lwvnyc.bsky.social @legalaidnyc.bsky.social @stopspyingny.bsky.social buff.ly/BzboqX4

Ahead of #SunshineWeek 🌞, we are urging NY leaders to take practical steps now to boost transparency: 💻️ Use FOIL tools fully and pass transparency bills 🧑‍💻 Modernize the Open Meetings Law 📢 Publish Senate confirmation votes 🧑‍⚖️ Make more court decisions public buff.ly/7oExXvX

See what earns a 👍️ / 👎️ / 😐️ in our take on New York's FY27 One-House budgets: buff.ly/N9hnfUq

Support for Two Bills Strengthening Transparency and Ethics in NYS Government. Check out the memos here: buff.ly/3aLrfL7

Congratulations to @mta.info @ridersalliance.org @earthjustice.org + our amicus brief partners on the victory for congestion relief today. Judge Liman's decision rejects dangerous arguments from the Trump administration about executive power, such as the "unmistakability doctrine" re: contracts.

Opposition to One Bill, Support for Three Strengthening Transparency. See the memos here: buff.ly/1C3XZxT

A fiscally honest NY would replace billions in off-budget reimbursable tax credits with transparent, on-budget grants. Let the public see the real cost. Our taxes testimony calls for the state to end off-budget tax credits:

The subsidy math doesn’t add up. New Yorkers deserve investments that pay off. Our testimony calls for the Legislature to make fact-based policy and curtail corporate subsidies: buff.ly/VhJdwkt

We hope @governor.ny.gov and her team recognize the value and importance of non-profit news to communities, journalists and democracy.

We joined with @citizensunionny.bsky.social @freedom.press @mad-democracy.journa.host.ap.brid.gy @lwvnys.bsky.social @nppa.org @penamerica.bsky.social @sejorg.bsky.social to call for equal state support for non-profit news outlets. buff.ly/z5xS3WP

We and @citizensunionny.bsky.social r released a Q&A to answer questions from the media and stakeholders surrounding the "lame duck" charter commission announced by former Mayor Adams on Dec 31st. Check it out: buff.ly/LgM0zfm

We've put together some Key Resources on Amtrak's "New York Penn Station Transformation Project," including answers provided by Amtrak to our questions about the project. Check it out - we will keep updating it as we learn more:

NY’s courts are overwhelmed. We joined @citizensunionny.bsky.social Common Cause NY and Scrutinize to support the Uncap Justice Act and Timely Justice Act to modernize judicial staffing with transparency, data, and accountability. Time to fix the system. ⚖️ buff.ly/qaphcAo

ESD dropped a report claiming NY’s $800 million/year film-TV subsidy is a win for taxpayers. It’s fundamentally flawed. It assumes 100% of production spending and jobs exist because of the subsidy - with ZERO evidence. Garbage in, garbage out. Our analysis: buff.ly/QxDt2oF

We and other groups @freedom.press @legalaidnyc.bsky.social @mad-democracy.journa.host.ap.brid.gy @nppa.org @nyclu.org @sejorg.bsky.social @stopspyingny.bsky.social wrote to the NYS legislative leaders urging them to act now to strengthen FOIL in their FY27 one-house budgets. buff.ly/kioqrp0

New York taxpayers shelled out nearly $900 MILLION to Hollywood producers in 2025. Empire State Development's Q3 disbursement of $570 million in taxpayer subsidies is one of the largest for film productions in state history.

Corporate subsidy deals shouldn’t happen in the shadows. Check out our memo of support for S373 @sengianaris.bsky.social / A409 @solagesny.bsky.social which bans NDAs in corporate subsidy deals. No more secret giveaways. buff.ly/aGLKiYc

Reinvent Albany and 15 other groups, including @1199seiu.org @aqeny.bsky.social @citizenactionny.org @nysut.bsky.social @nyscoc.bsky.social ask Gov and legislative leaders to fund 3-year extension of Orange County IDA monitor