Assemblyman Keith Brown (R,C,I- Northport) is joining the Assembly Minority Conference, including colleagues on the Assembly Oversight, Analysis and Investigation Committees in urging Majority colleagues to support their petition to use Section 62-A of Article 4 of the Legislative Law to issue a subpoena requiring New York State Commissioner of Health Dr. Howard A. Zucker to testify before the Legislature regarding COVID-19 nursing home deaths.

Minority members of the Assembly Oversight Committee Joseph Angelino (R,C,I- Norwich) and Michael Montesano (R,C,I,LBT- Glen Head) held a press conference this morning calling for cooperation from across the aisle in seeking accountability and answers to questions surrounding the devastation faced by New York nursing homes during the response to the pandemic from Gov. Cuomo and Dr. Zucker.

Section 62-A of Legislative Law allows committees to issue subpoenas to compel an individual to appear for questioning if a majority of the committee’s members sign a petition. Assembly Minority only needs two Majority committee members to sign their petition to issue a subpoena to Dr. Zucker.

“Unfortunately, the Majority’s leadership has been unwilling up to this point to seek out answers from the Gov. Cuomo and Dr. Zucker for the families and loved ones who want answers,” said Brown. “We should put the politics aside and come together to seek justice for the tens of thousands of New Yorkers who lost their lives because due to Gov. Cuomo and Dr. Zucker’s March 25^th mandate. I encourage every member of the Majority to support this effort to hold a hearing and subpoena Dr. Zucker on why these decisions were made and why they hid the consequences from us for so long. There is definitely a discrepancy in the numbers. We need to fix this problem now and prevent such a tragedy from happening in the future.”