Newsday is reporting that "state lawmakers tucked into this year’s state budget an extension of a law that grants a significant benefit to medical malpractice insurance companies operating in the red, such as Roslyn-based Physicians Reciprocal Insurers, a company linked to the federal probe of Sen. Dean Skelos.
The provision prevents the state Department of Financial Services from liquidating medical malpractice insurers that have a negative balance. It has been in place for more than a decade, renewed every few years and was set to expire in 2016, according to several sources and state documents. But in March, lawmakers took the unusual step of inserting the renewal in the state budget, a year before its slated expiration.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo didn’t include the malpractice provision in his original budget proposal, but the Republican-led Senate and the Democrat-controlled Assembly both did."
"Physicians Reciprocal, like other large companies in New York, contracts with a number of heavy-hitting lobby firms, including two that are tied to the environmental firm in the Skelos probe.
State lobby records show Bonomo’s company hired The Capitol Group and Brian Meara, companies that also represented an affiliate of AbTech, the Arizona-based environmental firm linked to the Skelos investigation. Physicians Reciprocal also hired Park Strategies, a firm led by former U.S. Sen. Alfonse D’Amato."
http://www.newsday.com/news/region-state/physicians-reciprocal-insurers-linked-to-dean-skelos-probe-benefitted-from-state-budget-move-1.10508653
Should legislation involving lawmakers accused of wrongdoing be subject to review and if found to be the fruit of corrupt practices be declared null and void, ie, repealed?
