Earlier this year, the state legislature wisely passed a bill that would reinstate oversight and public disclosure for expenditures made by the governor related to the migrant crisis.
Governor Kathy Hochul vetoed a bill requiring disclosure of contracts entered into by the governor without legislative approval during the pandemic.
In retrospect, it was a very foolish move on the legislature’s part to grant excessive emergency authorization to the governor. It was abused dramatically, as in when the governor gave no-bid contracts to one of her contributors that forced taxpayers to pay a significantly higher cost than the national average on masks and other COVID equipment. https://www.timesunion.com/state/article/How-a-Hochul-donor-received-637M-million-in-17424950.php
But, now that the pandemic is over, there’s even less justification for this lack of oversight.
The legislature did the right thing by reinstating the oversight through a bill passed earlier in the session. Outrageously, the governor vetoed it. The legislature needs to re-introduce this bill and override the governor if she vetoes it once more.