Rockaway, NY – Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato (D-Rockaway) has introduced legislation addressing conflicts of interest for public employees, in response to the radical proposals to fundamentally alter care at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital (SJEH). Prior to the pandemic, SJEH was working with an independent consulting firm, hired by the State Department of Health to analyze the hospital’s operations. One of the consultants became intimately aware of the accounting, personnel, and workings of SJEH, and was then appointed as Deputy Secretary for Health and Human Services for the NYS Department of Health, with jurisdiction over the review of SJEH.

“This consultant should never have been in the position of being able to make decisions that would drastically change how St. John’s functions,” Pheffer Amato said. “With his intimate knowledge of St. John’s inner workings, this consultant created proposals that would fundamentally change how the hospital works. Consultants can play an important role in assisting agencies in New York State, but a distinction must be made when a state contracted consultant transitions to government. This bill will ensure that a conflict of interest of this magnitude will never happen again.”

"This legislation will increase the standards of integrity for New York State employees and the policy process,” Senator James Sanders said. “Taxpayers rely on state employees to give objective advice on behalf of the public interest to promote sound policy decisions. This bill will remove conflicts of interest in the decision-making process."

SJEH is the only hospital on the Rockaway peninsula, serving over 100,000 residents. The hospital is also a significant source of jobs in the community, employing about 1000 union workers. Senator James Sanders will be introducing the Senate version of this bill.