NYS Takes Steps To Increase Transparency About Government, COVID Data

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NEW YORK – New York’ Governor has announced new steps to increase transparency in Government statewide and help better inform the public on Coronavirus data.

Governor Kathy Hochul first hinted at creating a new centralized website to track COVID-19 data last week. She followed up on Tuesday launching ny.gov/covid19data

“When I was first sworn into office less than two months ago one of my highest priorities I said then, and still continues to this day is to restore people’s faith in their government,” says Hochul. “An important part of that is increasing transparency. Transparency comes in many forms and there are many opportunities for us to establish that we will be the most transparent administration in the history of the State of New York.”

Hochul’s push for transparency follows her predecessor Andrew Cuomo’s tenure that many in Albany say is plagued with public distrust.

Two bills were also signed that require that documents discussed at meetings must be made available to the public on request or posted online at least 24 hours prior to the meeting.

“There are a couple of bills that have come before me that I believe will achieve that end partially because there’s many more facets of this and I’m going to be signing legislation in progress. I’ll be signing legislation that’ll be boosting transparency in state and local government,” says Hochul. “This is something I know quite a bit about, I spent 14 years and as a local government official. We had our Monday meetings and all of our agendas had to be available to the public even before the internet was widely available.”

Above all Hochul wants to make sure that not just her administration, but all government agencies in New York State provide accurate and timely info.

“So at the minimum I believe that every government agency in the State of New York that is subjected to the open laws meeting should provide this information because the best consensus we have are informed constituents,” says Hochul “They have a right to know what’s on the agenda. They have a right to contact their elected officials, and to share their concerns, and in cases where that information is not available until the last minute or at the meeting that denies the public what I believe they are rightly entitled to.”