Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo (D-Endwell) announced the Assembly passed a bill she authored to ensure taxpayer dollars are spent wisely by requiring the state to document expenditures for private consultants (A.6542).

"We spend millions in public funds to hire consultants to do the state’s work," Assemblywoman Lupardo said. "Better oversight and transparency in how we conduct business would reduce costs."

State agencies may be paying consultants more than they would to hire state employees for the same work. Assemblywoman Lupardo’s bill requires more detailed reporting of the State’s use of consultants, including tracking the number of individuals contracted by the state, the cost of those contracts and whether competitive bidding was used to award the contract. These criteria would help the public and government determine whether public employees could complete tasks more efficiently.

"The bill would better track how we spend taxpayer dollars," Assemblywoman Lupardo said. "Reforming how we conduct business makes our procedures more open and our spending more responsible. This measure will provide additional contract guidelines on how our state government plans and initiates projects."

The legislation has passed the Senate and will now go to the governor for his signature.

"I urge the governor to join this push for government accountability by signing the bill," Assemblywoman Lupardo said.