Relates to the protection of people with special needs and the confidentiality of certain documents

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Patricia Fahy says this is needed

The State Constitution and the State Finance Law authorize the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) to conduct performance audits. Under Section 496 of the Social Services Law, officers and employees of the OSC are authorized to receive reports made pursuant to Article 11 of such law that are found to be substantiated as well as receive related informa- tion concerning such reports for the purpose of conducting the author- ized audits. Current law does not provide for access to information or reports which are considered to be unsubstantiated. The lack of access to information related to unsubstantiated cases is a significant barrier to evaluating the operations of auditees as such cases represent the majority of cases investigated. For example, according to the Justice Center's 2017 Annual Report, for State Operated facilities, 70.4% of closed cases were unsub- stantiated and 64.1% of the Non-State-Operated facilities were unsub- stantiated. OSC conducted an audit released in March of 2017 that assessed whether the Justice Center was meeting its responsibilities. Due to the lack of access to unsubstantiated information, auditors were unable to accurate- ly assess several of the key areas of the Center's responsibilities. Specifically, auditors were unable to assess whether the population of allegations and incident reports provided during the audit period was accurate and complete; or whether all allegations received were accu- rately categorized and recorded in the Vulnerable Persons' Central Register (VPCR). This bill would ensure that the duty of the State Comptroller to provide independent oversight is properly effectuated.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.