June 8, 2018. Government reform groups are urging the New York State Assembly to pass two bills that have already been approved in the Senate that would reform New York’s economic development programs.
Ron Deutsch, with Fiscal Policy Institute, says the measures would increase transparency by creating a database of deals, listing details of all economic development projects that receive taxpayer money. Another bill would restore the state comptroller’s authority to independently review the projects.
Deutsch, making a football analogy, says the bill to restore the Comptroller’s oversight is like “adding a referee,” and the database of all economic development projects gives taxpayers a “slow motion instant replay.”
“So you are able to see what’s going on,” Deutsch said.
Here is the link to WSHU Public Radio.