Issue Position: Making Our Government More Open and Accountable

Issue Position

I believe our State government must be accountable to its citizenry and that New Yorkers have a right to know that their tax dollars are being spent wisely by their State representatives.

I continue to sponsor legislation which requires state agencies, public authorities and the Judiciary to disclose their expenditures every six months. This detailed disclosure would provide the public with the ability to see what governmental entities are doing with valuable tax dollars. This bill has been passed overwhelmingly by the Senate, however, Assembly leadership will not allow the bill to come before that House for a vote.

Additionally, I sponsored a bill that was passed by both Houses requiring governmental bodies to provide the public with documents that will be discussed at open meetings at least 72 hours prior to those meetings. I sponsored this bill because I believed it would eliminate confusion on the part of citizens interested in tracking issues of interest and the action taken by those in positions of power over those issues. Unfortunately, Governor Paterson chose to veto that legislation. I have re-introduced the legislation reducing that requirement to 24 hours in hopes it will again be passed and signed into law by the Governor. I will continue to advocate for the adoption of this measure in an effort to provide additional public disclosure.

Recently it was reported a State agency spent $600k on office furniture in 2009 with so significant a surplus that the excess was given away to employees both last year and this year for their homes. These type expenditures must stop and my bill will go a long way toward exposing these actions.

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