According to campaign finance records, Cuomo accepted at least $126,000 from the Greater New York Hospital Association and other industry groups and related lobbyists in the months surrounding last year’s budget, which included an 11th-hour amendment granting New York nursing homes broad legal protections from lawsuits and criminal prosecutions as the state became the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S.
Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens), an outspoken Cuomo critic who has publicly sparred with the governor in recent weeks, voted against the measure and has fought to repeal the immunity statute since last summer.
He and others are now calling on the governor to turn over documents and correspondences related to the immunity push and to return all healthcare-related donations.
“It’s clear that that industry wrote the bill, and they’re one of the only groups that had access at that time,” Kim told the Daily News. “You can’t put a toxic bill like that in the budget without having full access to the executive office.”
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