Time for the Assembly to restore this powerful tool for protecting public funds.
Reinvent Albany thanks the New York State Senate for unanimously passing S6809 (Reichlin-Melnick) / A7925 (Zebrowski), which will restore some of the Comptroller’s authority to do a “pre-audit” review of certain state contracts. We also thank Senator Reichlin-Melnick for his leadership in introducing and passing the bill.
We believe this bill will help prevent corruption and protect public dollars. Then-Governor Cuomo pushed through a budget bill that removed many of the Comptroller’s century-old contract oversight powers in 2011. This allowed for the Buffalo bid-rigging scandals of 2015 in which over a billion dollars in state contracts were steered to major Cuomo donors.
This bill will enact into law the Comptroller’s review of many SUNY, CUNY, and Office of General Services contracts, most of which are already subject to review due to a Memorandum of Understanding signed by Comptroller DiNapoli and then-Governor Cuomo in 2019.
In its one-house budget, the Assembly included full restoration of Comptroller powers, most of which are covered under the bill. We urge the Assembly to pass the bill immediately.