Sep 7, 2022
Two bills introduced by Democratic Senator Elijah Reichlin-Melnick, D-Nanuet, and supported by Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, should become law during the next legislative session.
S.8062 would exempt the ensure the state Comptroller’s office has the authority to review state contracts before they are ratified even if they are approved during a state disaster declaration. S.8086 would require DiNapoli’s office to study contracts that would have fallen under the office’s purview had they not been entered into during disaster emergencies.
“This is a bill which I’ve introduced really to take into account that over the last couple of years we’ve seen disaster emergency declarations that stretch on far past the 30 days,” Reichlin-Melnick, D-Nanuet, said during a Senate committee meeting earlier this year. “We have these very clear rules in place for the comptroller to review contracts and make sure there is not fraud and other issues taking place and for governors to continue to suspend those clearly poses significant risks.”
He’s absolutely right, of course, particularly in light of emergency declarations being continuously extended. One of those orders, issued Nov. 26, 2021, by Gov. Kathy Hochul during an Omicron wave of COVID that has long-since waned, suspended three sections of the state Finance Law that include seeking multiple bids before making major purchases and a required review by the Comptroller’s Office of major contracts. Shortly after that November disaster declaration was extended in July the Albany Times Union reported the Hochul administration had paid $637 million to Digital Gadgets, a New Jersey supplier of in-home COVID tests and a donor to Hochul’s campaign. The state Health Department bought 52 million tests at a cost of $12.25 per unit, or $24.50 for a two-test kit, which is as much or more than consumers would typically pay in a retail store, according to Bill Hammond of the Empire Center for New York State Policy. Because the purchases were made under one of Hochul’s emergency orders, they were not subject to competitive bidding or review by the comptroller’s office.
No one knows for sure if the campaign contributions from Digital Gadgets’ owners played a role in Hochul’s decision to spend more than half a billion dollars with the company. But in our opinion a review by the comptroller or requiring multiple bids would have resulted in New Yorkers getting a better deal.
Not only should Reichlin-Melnick’s bills become law — with full support from Republicans and Democrats in the state Legislature — but the legislature should return to special session and end Hochul’s emergency powers now. It has the authority to do so for any emergency declaration longer than 30 days — and in our view Hochul’s purchase from Digital Gadgets shows she should not have absolute control over the state’s pursestrings.
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