STATEMENT FROM SENATOR SUE SERINO

ALBANY, NY – Senator Sue Serino today released the following statement after news broke that key legislators are secretly meeting with members of the Governor’s Administration to discuss nursing homes:

“It’s bad enough lawmakers left for break today without bringing a single one of the bills they’ve been touting as fixes to the nursing home crisis to the floor for a vote. Now, it’s being reported that certain members of the Supermajority are blatantly ignoring New Yorkers’ calls for transparency and secretly meeting with the Governor’s team to discuss the issue. This is politics at its absolute worst.

Those who lost loved ones have been denied the transparency they deserve long enough. It’s time for the Legislature to send the subpoenas and launch the independent investigation needed to get real answers, inform policy, and save lives.”

It is expected that a letter that was sent in August to the Governor after last summer’s hearings on this issue will be discussed at the secret meeting. At the time, Senator Serino and her Republican colleagues who participated in the hearings, submitted a lengthy list of questions that were included with the letter that was signed by the Chairs of the hearings, Senators Gustavo Rivera, Rachel May, James Skoufis, and Simcha Felder. When the deadline passed without response, Senators Sue Serino and Jim Tedisco urged the Chairs to leverage their subpoena power to get the answers to the important questions.

To date, the Supermajority has taken no action in this regard.

Senator Serino is the Ranking Member of the Senate's Aging Committee.

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