Senate Passes Economic Development Reforms Protecting Taxpayer Dollars in Public Projects
Ron Deutsch, Director, New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness said, “The package of bills passed by the New York State Senate will go a long way to restore transparency and accountability to a broken system that has long been in need of reform. Restoring the Comptroller’s pre-audit powers, preventing intrastate pouching among IDAs and prohibiting nondisclosure agreements in economic development deals are all reforms that many advocates have been fighting to get enacted for years. We applaud the Senate leadership and members for pulling together a package of bills that represent an exciting first step in creating safeguards to protect the public’s money and restoring faith in government.”
Blair Horner, Executive Director of NYPIRG said, “The secrecy and unaccountability of New York's economic development programs have too often resulted in scandal and corruption. New Yorkers deserve development programs that work and are fully accountable to the public. NYPIRG applauds the Senate's package of reforms and urges support by the governor and the Assembly.”
Pat Garofalo, Director of State and Local Policy at the American Economic Liberties Project said, “In New York and across the country, large corporations are taking advantage of a slew of bad policies to extract resources from local communities, harm local businesses, and then hide their actions from the public. The economic development package advanced by the New York Senate today reforms these policies, bringing transparency and accountability to state and local government. New York’s S1196, for example, is an urgently needed ban on the non-disclosure agreements corporations use to secure corporate subsidies scams in secret. We hope it, and this broader legislative package, quickly passes the legislature and is signed into law, and that other states soon follow New York’s great example.”
Greg LeRoy, Executive Director of Good Jobs First said, “After decades of failure and corruption shrouded in secrecy and poor oversight, New York State is finally considering serious measures to stop wasting money and enable more public engagement in economic development. There’s more to fix, but these bills are a necessary start.”
Michael Kink, Esq., Executive Director of the Strong Economy For All Coalition said, “The Senate Democratic Majority Conference is moving our state forward towards accountability and transparency on corporate subsidies," said Michael Kink, executive director of the Strong Economy For All Coalition. "Ending secret deals, barring wasteful in-state 'piracy' subsidies, and restoring oversight protections are important milestones in transforming 'economic development' systems that too often work for big corporations but not for regular New Yorkers.”
John Kaehny, Executive Director of Reinvent Albany said, “Reinvent Albany thanks Senate Leader Stewart-Cousins, Deputy Leader Gianaris, and the all-star team of senators who championed this package of bills that will make state subsidies to businesses more transparent and accountable to the public. We support all of these bills and especially look forward to the Assembly joining the Senate by passing Senator Reichlin-Melnick's S6809A, which restores most of the comptroller's "pre-audit" powers, and Senator Ramos S8419, which makes ESD community advisories more transparent.”