Republicans have taken another step in their search for an additional investigation into the state’s handling of nursing homes during the COVID-19 crisis by launching an online petition Wednesday to pressure Democrats into taking further action.
The petition is calling on Democrats, who hold the majority in both chambers of the Legislature, to pass a bill that would launch a new probe into nursing home deaths related to the virus.
State Sen. Jim Tedisco, R-Schenectady, held a press conference at the state capitol Wednesday to announce the petition with Assemblywoman Mary Beth Walsh, R-Saratoga.
“You can talk the talk, but you have to walk the walk sometimes,” Tedisco said.
The legislation that Republicans want to see passed would empower the Legislature to form a commission with power to subpoena state officials and conduct a deeper investigation into how more lives could have been saved at nursing homes during the pandemic.
The measure is largely supported by Republicans, but some Democrats have signed onto the bill as well. Assemblyman Ron Kim, a Democrat from Queens, is the main sponsor of the legislation in the Assembly.
Republicans have grown increasingly irritated with Democrats in the state Legislature for not using their power to subpoena state officials in their investigation into the state’s handling of nursing homes at the height of the virus.
Democrats in the Senate and Assembly held a pair of hearings in August on nursing homes during the pandemic, but haven’t announced any additional inquiries.
At the first hearing, State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker took questions from lawmakers for about two hours. He did not volunteer to appear at the second hearing, and Democrats did not issue a subpoena for him to testify.
Republicans are largely seeking the total number of nursing home patients who’ve died from COVID-19. Because the state doesn’t consider nursing home residents who die after being transferred to a hospital in its official count, the total number is unknown.
The Cuomo administration has defended its handling of nursing homes during the crisis, saying it was asymptomatic visitors and staff that brought the virus into those facilities, and that decisions made by the state didn’t make the situation worse.
The petition announced Wednesday by Republicans can be found on Tedisco’s Senate website: https://www.nysenate.gov/petitions/james-tedisco/governor-cuomo-release-real-nursing-home-numbers