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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is under fire for dozens of surprising vetoes as 2024 winds down — including weighing in on legislation that would ensure greater transparency in emergency government contracts.
Good government groups, some homeless shelter advocates and trial lawyers are among those hoping the governor will get a big lump of coal this year after she held up some of their bills in the final weeks of 2024.
“Governor Hochul has vetoed legislation that would provide greater transparency to contracts that spend taxpayer money. Instead of fixing Albany's broken system, it is protecting it. “There is no reason to oppose transparency unless the governor has something to hide and a broken system to protect it,” Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), posted on X after the veto.
The governor rescinded legislation requiring public release of information about contracts entered into by the state during emergencies.
The bill, written partly in response to questionable government contracts handed out during the COVID-19 emergency response, has taken on greater importance as Hochul's administration has come under increasing scrutiny for bypassing oversight measures to hack lavish contracts.
The proposal, supported by State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, has been watered down compared to previous years.
“The governor’s claim that the bill would lead to the disclosure of ‘trade secrets’ is absurd,” the good government group Reinvent Albany wrote in a statement.
“The bill requires agencies to write a brief description of the emergency contract including the name of the vendor and what the contract provides.”
The governor's critics were quick to point out her hypocrisy after she declared in a video speech on her first day as governor that transparency would be “one of the hallmarks of my administration.”
The bill passed unanimously in both chambers of the Legislature, though legislative leaders have shown little interest in standing up to the governor and overriding her veto, even with enough votes to do so without Republican support in recent years.
For the third year in a row, Hochul also vetoed legislation that would change New York's wrongful death law to increase the number of people eligible to file a claim, an initiative strongly pushed by the New York State Trial Lawyers Association.
“The Governor has remained entrenched in the same positions she held on day one, offering no flexibility or willingness to engage in meaningful compromise,” NYSTLA President Victoria Wickman wrote in a lengthy statement criticizing Hochul.
The legislation is opposed by hospitals and tort reform groups who say the effort is actually intended to provide a boon to lawsuit-hungry lawyers. Its supporters point to the legislation of the Grieving Families Act.
“The governor has stood firm, prioritizing the well-being of New York families,” wrote Tom Stebbins, executive director of the New York Litigation Reform Alliance, a tort reform group.
Hochul wrote in her veto letter that she believes signing the bill could lead to higher insurance premiums and put vulnerable hospitals at risk.
The governor is also receiving criticism from community organizations that have been pushing legislation to amend the rules on how homeless shelters are compensated. Under current rules, shelters are compensated based on the number of people staying there.
Advocates, such as community organizations Safe Horizon, the Urban Resource Institute and Volunteers of Greater America in New York, say this incentivizes shelters to turn away childless abuse victims because they occupy rooms that could house multiple people.
“This veto will leave thousands of the most vulnerable New Yorkers — LGBTQ+ survivors, trafficking survivors, and seniors — with a more difficult path to safety and recovery in domestic violence shelters,” a Safe Horizon spokesperson wrote.
Hochul said she vetoed the bill because she was concerned it could lead to shelters taking in fewer people.
“This legislation does not maximize state resources and could inadvertently lead to decreased services in many areas of the state. Therefore, I am forced to veto this bill,” Hochul wrote in her veto letter in part.
There were some winners whose initiatives survived Hochul's veto festival.
Technologists looking to control artificial intelligence have reached an agreement with Hochul on a bill that looks to control how the country uses the rapidly expanding technology to make automated decisions.
Public sector unions have also announced the draft law, with concerns growing about how technology will automatically push current workers out of their jobs.
“I am encouraged that this legislation will lead to transparency about state agency use of artificial intelligence and protect the common sense of the state’s workforce,” AFL-CIO President Mario Cilento wrote in a statement.
There are only two bills left for the governor to consider. The first would provide state aid to help schools finance overdue buses.
The latter is landmark legislation for environmental activists that would give the state the ability to force certain companies it determines are responsible for climate change to pay more than $75 billion toward funding climate initiatives.
This legislation, opposed by groups representing New York's business community, would be a much-needed win for environmentalists.
Additional reporting by Anita Bhole.
