Full list: Hochul signs 85 bills, vetoes 57 others
And DOH is accused of a "rigged" bidding process for the CDPAP program in a new lawsuit.
Good afternoon — it’s Monday and Blasé Day.
In today’s CapCon:
Hochul has signed 85 bills and vetoed 57 others. See the full list and read about a few that stood out.
A home care company claims the state “rigged” the bidding process to take over the popular CDPAP Medicaid program for the winning applicant.
A member of the state Senate is running for mayor of Buffalo.
The Assembly has scheduled a public hearing on housing next week.
This Week in New York History: the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Albany Gazette and the invention of air conditioning
⚖️ CDPAP applicant sues New York after ‘lower’ bid rejected
A new lawsuit filed against the state Department of Health Monday claimed that the agency “rigged the bidding process” for a contract to handle the fiscal side of the popular CDPAP Medicaid program.
The lawsuit was filed by Freedom Care LLC, whose bid was rejected by the state in favor of Public Partnerships, LLP, a Georgia-based company.
“DOH structured the process with an apparent eye toward PPL, imposing eligibility requirements that eliminated almost all of PPL’s potential competitors — though, importantly, Freedom Care was able to jump through every hoop DOH erected,” the lawsuit said.
Freedom Care is represented by attorneys with the high-powered Gibson Dunn law firm, signaling that it’s a serious effort against the state. They want a judge to block the state’s contract with Public Partnerships.
The company claims in the lawsuit the state intended to choose Public Partnerships to take over CDPAP months before they were announced as the winner.
Public Partnerships had already been mentioned behind closed doors as an option when the law that prompted the bidding process was passed in April, they noted, pointing to some of our reporting in CapCon.
When the state put out its request for proposals, the requirements were skewed to favor Public Partnerships, the lawsuit claims.
Criteria for in-state applicants was stricter than what was required of out-of-state applicants, according to the lawsuit, and the state declined to answer questions on how the proposals would be scored.
The lawsuit also claims the state unlawfully coordinated with Public Partnerships before they were announced as the winner of the contract. That’s because, when it was announced in a press release, the state and company had already selected companies to subcontract with.
“That alone should be enough to annul the award,” attorneys wrote in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also points to some past blunders by Public Partnerships in other states and claims that Freedom Care’s bid was less expensive. That should have given them an advantage, the lawsuit said.
“Instead, DOH chose an out-of-state operator with an abysmal track record in other states — including Pennsylvania, where PPL was tasked with taking over for just 36 existing fiscal intermediaries serving just 20,000 patients — whose bid was materially more expensive,” the lawsuit said.
Freedom Care manages the care of 65,000 New Yorkers, according to its website.
Sam Spokony, a spokesman for Hochul, defended the state’s selection process in a statement, saying the proposal submitted by Public Partnerships was selected because it scored highest among the state’s criteria.
“This lawsuit is full of false statements – but the facts here are simple. The qualifying language was approved by the state Legislature and the RFP was put out for public bid,” Spokony said.
”The Department of Health followed the standard procurement process, reviewed over 100 responses, and scored each proposal based on the qualifying language, as per state law. At the end of that process, PPL scored the highest and was selected. The transition to New York’s CDPAP statewide partnership is already well underway and will take effect by April 2025,” he continued.
The state Department of Health did not comment on the lawsuit Monday.
"This legal action lays out the facts that Gov. Hochul made a backroom deal before this process even started,” said Bryan O’Malley from the Alliance to Protect Home Care.
“There is no other way to explain how a company with a track record as bad as PPL's would be allowed to manage the home care of our elderly and disabled. The legislature and governor still have time to fix this before New York becomes another PPL disaster,” he said.
Capitol Count features bills that move through the Legislature, including those introduced, passed and considered by the governor. Senate sponsors are capitalized.
✒️ Hochul signs 85 bills, including ‘Melanie’s Law,’ and vetoes 57 others
Gov. Kathy Hochul was in Poughkeepsie Monday to sign “Melanie’s Law,” a new statute that will allow judges to offer more protection to relatives of domestic violence victims.
It’s named after Melanie Chianese, a woman from the town of Wappinger who was killed by her mother’s ex-boyfriend.
State law allows a judge to issue an order of protection for someone who’s either an immediate family member or has had an intimate relationship with the potential perpetrator. That’s also allowed if the person is a minor.
Because Melanie didn’t fit those categories, she did not receive an order of protection for her mother’s ex-boyfriend while both her minor son and her mother did.
The new law expands the definition of who’s eligible to receive an order of protection to immediate family or household members, regardless of age.
Hochul signed five other bills Monday as well: one to make it easier to cancel gym contracts, one to keep drug labels visible, one to end some fees for leased cars, one to require information from telemarketers and one to require disclosure from restaurants.
Hochul signed 78 other bills Friday after approving one a few days earlier allowing more medical professionals to apply fluoride varnish.
I put the full list of bills Hochul signed over the past week into a public document with today’s date on it here. But here’s a line on five that stood out:
A4714: This repealed the criminal charge of adultery still on the books. Read more details on that from me here.
A6854: This establishes a program that will allow state prisons to purchase fresh produce from farms in New York.
S9849: This allows New York City to use design-build for public renovation and resiliency projects, not just new construction.
S610: This allows the state Board of Elections to promulgate regulations around the security of absentee ballot drop-off boxes.
A9329: This requires landlords to inform the whole building when a bed bug infestation is found.
And here’s the full list of bills vetoed by Hochul. Here’s a line on three of those that stood out:
A9354B: This would have created a universal web portal and application for housing assistance. Hochul said it would create a “massively complex” system.
S2124: This would have allowed physician assistants to be primary care providers for those on Medicaid managed care. Hochul said it was too narrow.
S9673A: This would’ve set a hard deadline for three downstate casino licenses to be awarded. Hochul said it would “change the rules in the middle of the process.”
Many of the vetoed bills would have required the state to study something or formed a new task force or commission. Hochul essentially said that, because they weren’t funded in the budget, they can’t happen.
There are still four bills on Hochul’s desk, one of which would commemorate Nov. 26 (tomorrow) as Sojourner Truth Day.
There’s a lot to watch in politics. This section gives you a quick look at news on elections that might interest you.
🦬 Sen. Sean Ryan is running for mayor of Buffalo
The departure of longtime Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown earlier this year left that job open for the taking in the 2025 general election and a field of candidates has begun to emerge.
I told you in mid-October about the first formal entrant: Garnell Whitfield, the son of one of the 10 victims of the 2022 mass shooting in Buffalo. He was also commissioner of the Buffalo Fire Department, but received a vote of no confidence in 2017.
State Sen. Sean Ryan has now entered the fray, he announced Saturday, and used what he sees as Brown’s record in office to kick off that campaign.
“After 20 years of neglect, you can see the cracks starting to show. We can’t seem to get our side streets plowed or potholes filled. Our children are poisoned by lead. Senior services are hanging on by a thread. Nearly a decade without fluoride in our water – and they never told us,” Ryan said in a statement.
“The incompetence of city leadership at times has been shocking. And City Hall has ignored the crises of poverty, segregation, and a shortage of affordable homes. It’s demoralizing for everyone working towards a better Buffalo,” he continued.
That wasn’t entirely a surprise. Ryan opened a new campaign account over the summer but left it “undeclared,” meaning it wasn’t earmarked for a specific office.
That account had about $24,000 in it right before the election. His Senate account had about $370,000 at the same time. We’ll know more recent numbers when new campaign filings are due next week.
Ryan joined the Legislature in 2011 after winning a special election to succeed Sam Hoyt in the state Assembly. He was elected to the Senate in 2020 and chairs the Economic Development Committee.
He won reelection earlier this month with about 58% of the vote compared to 36% for his Republican opponent, suggesting Democrats will likely keep the seat if Ryan wins the race for mayor.
If he doesn’t win the race for mayor, nothing changes for Ryan. He can remain in the state Senate and run for reelection in 2026.
At the Capitol gives you information about scheduled committee meetings, hearings and other government goings-on at the Capitol and in the Legislature.
🕥 At the Capitol: Mitchell-Lama hearing
The Mitchell-Lama program was signed into law in 1955 with the intention to spur new rental and cooperatively owned housing for middle-income earners. There are about 150,000 city- and state-supervised Mitchell-Lama apartments across the state.
But, because that program is decades old, it’s also faced financial hardships and challenges with infrastructure, leading to some units being in disrepair. This hearing would examine the challenges still faced by the program.
What: Hearing on the Mitchell-Lama housing program
When: Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 10 a.m.
Where: New York City: Assembly Hearing Room, 250 Broadway, 19th Floor
Who: Assembly Housing Committee
At the start of each week, we’ll plan to tell you about part of New York’s history from years past. This research is from New York State Historian Devin Lander, assistant Lauren Lyons and the New York State Museum, so you know it’s legit.
📜 This Week in New York History: The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Albany Gazette and air conditioning
📰 Nov. 25, 1771: The Times Union is the newspaper of record in Albany now but it was on this day that the Albany Gazette was first published. It was the first newspaper published north of New York City and run by James and Alexander Robertson, two Scottish immigrant brothers.
The Robertsons ran the paper for about a year before the volume of subscriptions overwhelmed their capacity. The brothers then fled to Canada during the Revolutionary War because of their support for the British.
The Albany Gazette was resurrected in 1784 by another set of brothers, Charles and George Webster. The paper reported on New York politics primarily. It merged with the Daily Advertiser but ultimately stopped publishing altogether in 1845.
🥶 Nov. 26, 1876: The first air conditioning system was invented more than a century ago by a New Yorker. That was Willis Haviland Carrier, an American engineer born in Angola. He attended Buffalo High School and Cornell University.
When the Brooklyn-based Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographing and Publishing Company was experiencing a humid summer, causing their paper to shrink, Carrier drew up a design for the first air conditioning system. He was granted the patent for his invention in 1906 and founded the Carrier Air Conditioning Company of America.
His company eventually became the Carrier Corporation, which is still in operation today. The demand for air conditioning spiked after World War II.
🦃 Nov. 27, 1924: The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was held on this day 100 years ago. The parade was much smaller, featuring Macy’s employees, floats, music and animals from Central Park Zoo. The parade was broadcast over the radio in the 1930s but took a break during World War II.
The parade began to appear on television in the 1940s and has been held every year since except in 1971, when weather conditions caused its cancellation. More than 44 million people still tune in to the parade every year.
More from the Times Union (Free for CapCon Subscribers):
Auto insurance companies to pay $11M to NY after 2020 cyber attack
State clears disgraced ex-county finance chief of wrongdoing in office
A Rotterdam mother's fight to educate her son
🥱 Blasé Day: I’m noticing that these special days are getting weirder and weirder as we near the end of the year. To be blasé about something means to be unimpressed or indifferent. If you don’t give a hoot about pumpkin spice lattes in the fall, that’s the word you can use to describe that feeling. But try not to yuck someone else’s yum.