Tedisco Bill Passes Senate Health Committee for Independent Investigation of COVID-19 NYS Nursing Home Deaths

Senator Jim Tedisco (R,C-Glenville) announced that the New York State Senate Health Committee today passed out of committee for the first time, his legislation (S.2067/A.3162), for an independent, bi-partisan investigation with subpoena power into the Cuomo/Hochul Administration’s handling of the pandemic as it relates to nursing homes. 

The bipartisan measure, which is being sponsored by Assemblyman Ron Kim in the Assembly, now moves to the Senate Finance Committee for consideration before it would go to the Senate Floor for a debate and up or down vote.

Passage of Senator Tedisco’s legislation is critical now more than ever, as Governor Hochul’s current state Health Commissioner Bassett told Tedisco during a public hearing that she never read her predecessor’s one-page March 25, 2020 Executive Order that forced COVID-positive patients into nursing homes and that she refuses to “unravel” what happened that led to the deaths of 15,000 of our most vulnerable citizens from the coronavirus in New York State-regulated nursing homes – one of the worst disasters in our state’s history.

Tedisco’s legislation establishes an independent, unbiased and bi-partisan investigation with subpoena power to perform a top-to-bottom review of what happened in the state’s nursing homes to get answers and provide a measure of closure for the families of those who lost their lives and help prepare for a future pandemic.  

The bi-partisan commission to investigate the nursing home deaths would consist of five members: one each appointed by the Senate Majority Leader, Senate Minority Leader, Assembly Speaker and Assembly Minority Leader, and chaired by an appointee of the New York State Attorney General. Each appointee must have expertise in health care and health care policy issues. Commission members would not be paid and they would have subpoena power. A report would be publicly issued and sent to the Legislature with findings and recommendations for the future.

“Instead of following the real science, our former governor’s use of ‘Cuomo Science’ doomed thousands of our citizens to death and neither he nor his former henchmen or anyone in the Cuomo/Hochul Administrations have been held accountable for it. We remember that every life lost was more than just a statistic, these individuals were someone’s spouse, parent, grandparent and sibling and they deserve justice. I appreciate the members of the Senate Health Committee passing out of committee my bill for an independent, bipartisan investigation with subpoena power into the deaths of thousands of New Yorkers in our nursing homes and urge my colleagues on the Senate Finance Committee to do the same and for the leadership in the Senate to then bring this measure to the Senate Floor for a debate and up and down vote so we can get answers for the families who lost loved ones in state-regulated nursing homes,” said Senator Jim Tedisco.