Grants the state inspector general jurisdiction over all state agencies; eliminates welfare inspector general and medicaid inspector general; repealer

Summary of specific provisions

Section 1 amends section 51 of the executive law, eliminating the current statutory exemption that bars the State IG from overseeing agencies, departments, and authorities that have their own statutory inspectors general. specifically, this section gives the State IG jurisdiction over the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), the welfare system (including Medicaid), and the Workers' Compensation Board.

Section 2 adds a new subdivision 4-a to section 52 of the executive law, establishing an MTA Oversight Unit within the Office of the State IG. Appointed to this office shall be a deputy inspector general who shall be responsible for conducting investigations into the MTA.

Sections 3 through 7 amend sections 1261(21), 1269-g(2), 1279 of the public authorities law and sections 216 and 219(2) of the transportation

law, respectively, to change the title of MTA inspector general to MTA chief investigator.

Section 8 abolishes the office of the MIA inspector general and states that the term "MIA Inspector General" shall he deemed to mean and refer to "MIA Chief Investigator."

Section 9 transfers all functions and powers of the MIA inspector general to the MTA chief investigator.

Section 10 provides for funding of the newly created MIA chief investigator's office and the MTA oversight unit within the State IG's Office: 10% of MTA Inspector General appropriations shall be reallocated to the MTA Chief Investigator's Office; 40% shall be reallocated to the MIA oversight unit of the state Inspector General's Office; and the remaining 50 shall be returned to the general fund of the state treasury.

Section 11 clarifies that the office of the MTA chief investigator shall be deemed and held to constitute the continuation of the office of the MTA inspector general as the content of subject matter requires.

Section 12 repeals sections 46, 47, 48, 49, and 50 of the executive law.

Section 13 amends section 74 of the executive law to eliminate the office of welfare inspector general and transfers all of its functions and duties to the existing Medicaid fraud control unit, which is headed by the deputy attorney general for Medicaid fraud control, and appointed by the attorney general.

Section 14 adds two new sections 75 and 76 to the executive law. Section 75 states the functions, powers and duties of the deputy attorney general for Medicaid fraud control in preventing, detecting, and investigating fraud and abuse within the public and medical assistance systems. Section 76 requires all state agency officials and employees to cooperate with information requests by the Medicaid fraud control unit and to offer any assistance as may be deemed necessary to aid in the investigation of fraud and abuse within the medical assistance program.

Section 15 amends section 835(9) of the executive law, striking the office of the Medicaid inspector general from the list of "qualified agencies" that provide criminal justice services and replacing it instead with the office of the deputy attorney general for Medicaid fraud control.

Section 16 repeals title 3 of article 1 of the public health law, thereby eliminating the office of the Medicaid inspector general.

Sections 17 through 28 amend the following, respectively, to transfer the functions and duties of the office of the Medicaid inspector general to the office of the deputy attorney general for Medicaid

fraud control: paragraph 3 of section 697(e) of the tax law; section 190(1) of the state finance law; the closing paragraph of section 190(2} (b) of the state finance law; section 190(5} (c) of the state finance law; section 23(2} of the social services law; section 136{2} of the social services law; subdivisions 2 and 5 of section 145-b of the social services law; the opening paragraph of subdivisions 2 3 and 4 of section 3653-d of the social services law; paragraph (c) of subdivision 1 of section 365-j of the social services law; paragraph (e) of subdivision 5 of section 366-a of the social services law subdivision 8 of section 367-b of the social services law; and paragraph (d) of subdivision 2 of section 369-ee of the social services law.

Section 29 abolishes the offices of the welfare inspector general and the Medicaid inspector general. When the term "welfare inspector general" or "Medicaid inspector general," or any equivalent thereof is used in any provision of the law, contract or document, such office shall be deemed to mean and refer to the deputy attorney general for Medicaid fraud control.

Section 30 clarifies that all of the functions, powers, duties, and obligations of the offices of the welfare IG and the Medicaid IG are transferred and assigned to the office of the deputy attorney general for Medicaid fraud control.

Section 31 requires the welfare IG and the Medicaid IG to deliver to the deputy attorney general for Medicaid fraud control all of their books, papers, records, decisions and other related property.

Section 32 states that the office of the deputy attorney general for Medicaid fraud control shall constitute a continuation of the offices of the welfare inspector general and the Medicaid inspector general.

Section 33 requires all federal appropriations made to the office of the Medicaid inspector general to be transferred to the department of law for the purposes of the office of the deputy attorney general for Medicaid fraud control.

Section 34 states the effective date.

Justification

A March 2011 study by the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) revealed that the following four IG offices are currently operating as separate agencies and therefore do not fall under the purview of the State Inspector General: (1) Office of the Welfare Inspector General (OWIG), (2) office of the Workers' compensation Fraud Inspector General (OFIG), (3) Office of the MTA Inspector General, and (4) Office of the Medicaid Inspector General.

While all of these offices perform valuable services within their respective agencies or issue areas, they also carry out duplicative and overlapping functions which not only burdens taxpayers' pocketbooks but also hinders the State's ability to develop and implement a coherent policy against government waste and fraud. Both from a financial and an efficiency perspective, the system is simply not sustainable. In order to eliminate duplicative layers of government bureaucracy and ensure that New Yorkers have an effective system against government corruption, the IDC proposes the following:

1. Eliminate the exemption that currently bars the State IG from overseeing agencies, departments, and authorities with their own statutory IGs; 2. Maintain the position of MTA Chief Investigator; reduce the Office's staffing and budget level, and use some of the remaining resources to establish an MTA Oversight Unit within the State IG's Office; and 3. Dissolve both OWIG and OMIG and transfer their functions to the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud control unit (MFCU).

By eliminating agencies with overlapping functions, namely OWIG and OFIG, and expanding the State IG's jurisdiction to currently exempted agencies, the proposal would effectively codify the State IG as the central government watchdog, streamline investigations of fraud, waste, and abuse, and save valuable taxpayer dollars. OFIG would be left untouched under this proposal, because it operates entirely outside of the State's budget, and consolidation would therefore not yield any savings.

Prior legislative history

New bill.

Fiscal implications

Consolidation of the State's inspector general system is estimated to save at least $37 million.

Effective date

This act shall take effect on the first of October next succeeding the date on which it shall have become law.