Enacts the oversight of health programs act to allow for certain members of the legislature to request records related to any vendor contracted with the state to facilitate in the administration or delivery of any publicly subsidized health program.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9512
IN SENATE
March 19, 2026
___________
Introduced by Sen. RIVERA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to enacting the over-
sight of health programs act
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 the "oversight of health programs act".
3 § 2. The public health law is amended by adding a new article 49-B to
4 read as follows:
5 ARTICLE 49-B
6 OVERSIGHT OF HEALTH PROGRAMS
7 Section 4930. Definitions.
8 4931. Record requests.
9 4932. Trade secrets.
10 4933. Contract terms
11 § 4930. Definitions. As used in this article, the following terms
12 shall have the following meanings:
13 1. "Vendor" shall mean any entity that has a direct or indirect
14 contractual obligation with the state for the delivery of any good or
15 service.
16 2. "Publicly subsidized health program" shall include:
17 (a) child health plus;
18 (b) Medicaid;
19 (c) Medicare;
20 (d) basic health program;
21 (e) qualified health plans provided through New York state of health;
22 and
23 (f) any healthcare services provided through a successor program, or
24 an associated federal waiver to any of the programs identified by this
25 subdivision.
26 3. "Records" shall include, but not be limited to, books, accounts,
27 journals, ledgers, communications, manuals, rates, fees, analysis,
28 fiscal modeling, claiming instructions, or contractual agreements.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14351-02-6
S. 9512 2
1 4. "Trade secret" shall mean all forms and types of financial, busi-
2 ness, scientific, technical, economic, or engineering information,
3 including patterns, plans, compilations, program devices, formulas,
4 designs, prototypes, methods, techniques, processes, procedures,
5 programs, codes, or other information that:
6 (a) has independent economic value, actual or potential, from not
7 being generally known, and not being readily ascertainable by proper
8 means, by other persons who can obtain private economic value from its
9 disclosure or use; and
10 (b) the owner thereof has taken reasonable measures to keep such
11 information secret.
12 § 4931. Record requests. 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law
13 to the contrary, the temporary president of the senate, the speaker of
14 the assembly, the chair of the senate standing committee on health, the
15 chair of the assembly health committee, the chair of the senate standing
16 committee on investigations and government operations, or the chair of
17 the assembly oversight, analysis and investigation committee may request
18 and shall receive records related to any vendor contracted with the
19 state to facilitate in the administration or delivery of any publicly
20 subsidized health program in accordance with the provisions of this
21 article. Such record request must also include a reference to this arti-
22 cle of law.
23 2. Such records may be requested and received by the commissioner, or
24 the vendor.
25 3. A records request pursuant to this section shall not be overly
26 broad in its nature.
27 4. Records requested pursuant to this section shall be transmitted to
28 the requesting party within ten business days of the request, not count-
29 ing the business day it was requested.
30 5. If the commissioner or a vendor that was the recipient of such a
31 records request is unable to produce the records requested within ten
32 business days, they shall notify the requesting party in writing as soon
33 as practicable and provide an explanation as to why they are unable to
34 produce such materials within such timeframe.
35 6. If the commissioner of health or a vendor has failed to produce
36 such records within a total of twenty business days of the original
37 request, not counting the business day it was requested, they shall
38 notify the requesting party in writing as soon as practicable and
39 provide a written explanation as to why they remain unable to produce
40 such materials; provided, however, that such notification shall also be
41 forwarded to either the temporary president of the senate, or the speak-
42 er of the assembly, depending on which house of the legislature the
43 request originated from, if they were not the party that initiated the
44 records request.
45 7. The party requesting records, or the temporary president of the
46 senate or the speaker of the assembly, depending on which house of the
47 legislature the request originated from, may grant the commissioner or
48 vendor an extension to meet the records request. Such extension shall
49 not exceed a total of forty business days from the date of the original
50 request, not counting the business day it was requested.
51 § 4932. Trade secrets. 1. The vendor shall be responsible for identi-
52 fying if all or a portion of the records requested are considered a
53 trade secret including a brief description of why such records, or a
54 portion thereof, meet the definition of a trade secret pursuant to this
55 article.
S. 9512 3
1 2. If the records were requested from the commissioner, the commis-
2 sioner shall be responsible for having the vendor review and identify
3 such trade secrets.
4 3. Any records, or a portion thereof, that meet the definition of a
5 trade secret pursuant to this article shall be considered confidential
6 and shall not be disclosed by the party that has received such trade
7 secret as part of a request made pursuant to subdivision one of section
8 forty-nine hundred thirty-one of this article, except as authorized or
9 required by applicable state or federal law.
10 § 4933. Contract terms. Any contract with a vendor made after the
11 effective date of this article shall include explicit provisions related
12 to record requests pursuant to this article and required compliance,
13 provided however that such provisions may be included through a rider or
14 addendum to such contract.
15 § 3. Severability. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, section or part
16 of this act shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to
17 be invalid and after exhaustion of all further judicial review, the
18 judgment shall not affect, impair or invalidate the remainder thereof,
19 but shall be confined in its operation to the clause, sentence, para-
20 graph, section or part of this act directly involved in the controversy
21 in which the judgment shall have been rendered.
22 § 4. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
23 have become a law and shall apply to all contracts entered into,
24 renewed, modified or amended on or after such effective date; provided,
25 however, that the provisions of this act shall additionally apply to all
26 contracts existing on such effective date where such existing contracts
27 do not contain terms contrary to the provisions of article 49-B of the
28 public health law as added by section two of this act.
