“Today, I firmly stand behind Senate Minority Leader Robert Ortt and Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay in demanding bipartisan investigations into the governor’s mishandling of nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. This issue should not even be partisan; families have lost loved ones due to this governor’s decisions and their deaths were covered up to enhance the governor’s own agenda on his handling of the pandemic. Grieving families need answers and we will not stop until they get them.

“The governor’s March 25 directive that put COVID-19 positive patients back into nursing homes undoubtedly cost lives. Since this time, the governor has stonewalled us in the Legislature and those in the media as we have tried to get to the bottom of his handling of nursing homes. The attorney general gave us the roadmap for what needs to come next. Bipartisan investigations and hearings are imperative to getting answers, and it is our constitutional duty to complete this oversight.

“Along with investigations and hearings, the Legislature needs to rein in the governor’s emergency powers which he has enjoyed for far too long. Many of my Majority colleagues have come out to express their concerns with the findings in the attorney general’s report. Let’s turn this concern into action and bring back power to the Legislature so we can have true checks and balances.”