State Senator Gustavo Rivera Introduces Bill To Provide Legislature Greater Oversight of Publicly Subsidized Health Programs

 

Today, Senator Gustavo Rivera (NY-33) introduced the “Oversight of Health Programs Act” (S.9512), a bill that will establish a routine process for the Legislature to request and receive records from private contractors that help operate publicly subsidized health programs. These contractors have cited protections for sensitive information, such as trade secrets, as a reason to withhold information from the Legislature and the Executive.

“My Oversight of Health Programs Act will empower the Legislature to perform our oversight duties and ensure that private contractors running publicly subsidized health programs cannot shield important information under the veil of trade secrets. We cannot allow contractors receiving billions of dollars from the state to operate government programs in obscurity. New Yorkers deserve proper oversight by their elected representatives. I look forward to engaging with my colleagues to pass this common sense proposal,” said State Senator Gustavo Rivera.  

During the tenure of the previous Governor, we saw an explosion in the use of private contractors for state government programs and operations. Since then, billions in tax payer dollars have been spent on them. There are legitimate concerns that these private entities withhold basic operational information from the state and bypass the Legislature’s oversight despite the precedent set by federal protections of such trade secrets. 

Currently, the only formal option the Legislature has to compel testimony from a contractor that declines to provide information in response to a request is through a public hearing or by subpoena, both of which are burdensome processes. The Legislature should reasonably expect the private contractors that are working for the State to participate in regular oversight activities.

This bill will codify enumerated powers that the Legislature already has under the state constitution and in doing so, it will:

•   Establish a definition of “trade secret” modelled after current federal law.

•   Create a process for record requests from vendors providing services in conjunction with the operation and delivery of a public health program.

 

•   Authorize the Temporary President of the Senate, the Speaker of the Assembly, the chairs of either the Senate or Assembly Health Committees, the chair of the Senate committee on Investigations and Government Operations, and the Chair of the Assembly Oversight, Analysis and Investigation committee to request and receive records from either the Commissioner of Health (COH) or a vendor. 

•   Establish clear deadlines for vendors to submit records asked by the requesting party. Failure to comply will trigger further reporting requirements to the requesting party.  

With healthcare being one of our State’s biggest budgetary expenses and with the Legislature being required to approve appropriations for these programs as well as establish laws to govern the operation of various programs, this bill empowers the Legislature to perform their oversight duties and protect New Yorkers from entities that in bad faith, shield access to information, even sensitive information from our State’s duly elected representatives.