Tedisco to Senate Majority: Where’s the Bill # for Independent Nursing Home Investigation Legislation?

Senator Jim Tedisco (R,C,I-Glenville) this evening is calling for transparency from the Senate Majority regarding legislation he authored to create a bi-partisan commission for an independent investigation into the deaths of over 6,400 nursing home residents in New York State from COVID-19.

It’s been over two weeks since Senator Tedisco’s office filed their bill to create an independent bi-partisan commission into the nursing home deaths. However, the Senate Majority has yet to allow a bill number to be issued for the legislation, which is highly unusual and it typically takes about 24 hours for them to issue a bill number.

“It’s unprecedented for a sitting Senator to have a bill held-up by the Majority Counsel for two weeks and keep getting told that we’re going to get a bill number for it soon. If the Majority wants to take my name off the bill and pass it as one of their own, that’s fine. It’s not the first time that’s happened to me in the legislature and I don’t have pride in authorship. I just want to see the legislature step-up and create an independent investigation to find out what really happened that led to the tragic deaths of 6,400 nursing home residents and provide answers and a measure of closure to the families,” said Senator Jim Tedisco. 

“In this representative democracy, I can’t expect the Senate to pass or bring a given bill to the floor, but they should always issue a bill number for legislation so measures can be circulated and reviewed by the public, media and my colleagues,” said Senator Tedisco.

Tedisco noted that the Senate Majority’s continued obfuscation and delay raises some questions:

“Why is the Senate Majority stalling on issuing a bill number for this nursing home investigation bill? 

“Is the Majority working in collusion with the Governor and Administration on this as part of some kind of cover-up?”