Hochul should sign bill ensuring transparency on emergency contracts

Personal experience tells us that the need to act quickly in a time of crisis often limits the best and least expensive options. In that sense the state is no different; there are storms to clean up, pandemics to ward off and disadvantaged New Yorkers to assist.

But the spending of vast sums of taxpayer dollars in designated emergencies also is different. Time and time again, waste, favoritism and fraud is hidden. More accountability, through transparency, is needed.

Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is required to sign off on all contracts over $50,000 with two exceptions: if the governor spends money tied to an executive order declaring an emergency and if lawmakers specifically exempt review. One of the responsibilities of the comptroller, who is independent of the governor and the legislature, is to act as the state's fiscal watchdog.

Unfortunately, last year, Gov. Kathy Hochul rejected a bill that would require quickly executed vendor contracts to be posted on state websites along with how the contract is tied to the emergency. So the legislature passed a new bill, sponsored by Assemb. Michaelle Solages, to address the governor's concerns. Unfortunately, the revision only requires summaries of emergency contracts, not the entire document. But even scaled down, the bill languishes in Albany. 

According to DiNapoli's office, had the oversight bill been signed in 2023 these are some of the contracts that would have to be made public:

• A $4 billion emergency rental assistance program which included $310 million to the company Guidehouse for administering the program. This vendor recently entered into a $7.6 million settlement with the federal government, which was investigating cybersecurity violations.
• Two contracts awarded to the State Police under the emergency gun violence order: One allocated $12.2 million to purchase land and a building in Albany. The second was for $9.1 million for a new training academy upstate. There was no explanation as to why these transactions couldn't be done in the routine state contract process. 
• A Department of Health purchase of COVID tests for $637 million with Digital Gadgets, a company owned by donors to Hochul.

The legislature, however, doesn't adhere to the spirit of its own bills.  In the current budget, DOH was authorized to contract with a single company to help those on Medicaid choose home care. The budget language wrongly exempted review by the comptroller, depriving the state of oversight and data it needs to determine what may be driving costs in the program.

Another reason why Hochul needs to sign the oversight bill: local governments need a model. As a result of the devastating cyberattack on Suffolk County, in 2023, County Executive Steve Bellone signed more than a dozen emergency orders that allowed contracts to be kept confidential. In 2015, Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano signed an emergency order linked to Superstorm Sandy that allowed him to award a $240,000 catering contract to the man who eventually would testify against him in a federal corruption case. The emergency here is the need for more sunlight.