Billions of Tax Dollars Will Be Rescued from Waste, Fraud and Abuse by Law Restoring Comptroller’s Contract Review

Reinvent Albany thanks Governor Kathy Hochul for signing S6809-A/A7925-A, which restores the Comptroller’s contract review powers stripped away in 2010 and 2011. We also thank the sponsors, Senator Reichlin-Melnick and Assemblymember Zebrowski, and their staff for pushing hard to get the bill through, and Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Speaker Carl Heastie for keeping the bill strong.

“This is a big win for public accountability. The restoration of the Comptroller’s contract oversight powers will keep tens of billions of dollars in New York State taxpayer funds from being lost to waste, fraud and abuse. That’s why this law was supported by dozens of important civic groups and budget experts from the left, right and center. New Yorkers of all stripes win when there is independent oversight.”

Said John Kaehny, Executive Director of watchdog group Reinvent Albany, which has been seeking restoration of the Comptroller’s oversight powers for more than a decade.

Under the agreement signed, the Comptroller will once again have the authority to review billions of dollars of state contracts before they are signed, including Office of General Services contracts, SUNY/CUNY materials contracts, SUNY Construction Fund contracts, and SUNY health care contracts, among others. In 2020, the Comptroller’s office received $235 billion in contracts for review, according to their 2020 Contracts by the Numbers report.

Thank you also to the many people and organizations who worked for more than a decade to restore this powerful accountability tool:

Ron Deutsch • Alex Camarda • Tom Speaker • Elizabeth Marcello • Rachael Fauss • Alliance for Quality Education • ALIGN NY • American Economic Liberties Project • Citizens Budget Commission • Citizens Union • Common Cause New York • Empire Center for Public Policy • Empire State Indivisible • Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies • Fiscal Policy Institute • Human Services Council of New York • Hunger Free America • League of Women Voters of New York State • Metro New York Healthcare for All • New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness NYPIRG • NYC Employment and Training Coalition • New York State Council of Churches • New York Statewide Senior Action Council, Inc. • PEER/NYPAN Progressive East End Reformers • Solidarity Committee of the Capital District • Strong Economy for All • Tenants PAC • United Neighborhood Houses • Westchester for Change • Working Families Party • AFSCME • CWA District 1 • District Council 37 • New York State United Teachers • Professional Staff Congress/CUNY • Public Employees Federation • Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union • United University Professions