Midday News: NY Senate Passes Medical Aid in Dying Act, NJ Primary Voters Head to the Polls, Grand Central Fire Disrupts LIRR Service, and DOI Pushes for Mor...

Speaker 1: Welcome to NYC NOW, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Tuesday, June 10th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill.

Michael Hill: It's up to New York Governor, Kathy Hochul, to decide if the Medical Aid in Dying act becomes law. The state Senate narrowly passed it late last night. The bill would allow terminally ill patients to request medication to end their life. Democratic State Senator, Brad Hoylman-Sigal, says it's about relieving people of their pain.

Brad Hoylman-Sigal: "This is about exercising one's own freedom to control one's own body."

Michael Hill: Republican Senate Minority Leader, Rob Ortt, says Democrats should be worrying about other things.

Rob Ortt: "Assisted suicide, that's the priority. With all the issues facing New Yorkers."

Michael Hill: The governor's office says, "She's reviewing the bill." It's primary day in New Jersey. Voters are choosing candidates to be their party's nominee for governor and host of other races, including the entire state Assembly. Six Democrats and five Republicans running to become their party's nominee for governor on the ballot. Polls close at 8:00 tonight.

A fire at Grand Central Madison substation this morning is causing widespread disruptions to Long Island Railroad Service. The smoke hurt one firefighter and one other person. Authorities say more than 100 firefighters and EMS responded. Metro-North service, they say is uninterrupted. The City says ventilation fans are working to clear the smoke from Grand Central.

Taking a look now at that forecast. 67 with some rain out there. We do have a flood advisory for a few more minutes here for parts of the city, Westchester and Northeast New Jersey. Showers and maybe a thunderstorm after noon. Some sunshine and maybe a thunderstorm. A high near 76. There may begin a stretch of warm, even hot, sunny, dry weather.

Speaker 1: Stay close. There's more after the break.

Michael Hill: New York City's Department of Investigation says it needs better access to information from the agency in charge of protecting children. That's the Administration for Children's Services. Jocelyn Strauber is the commissioner of DOI, and she joins us now. Commissioner, your agency investigates other city agencies, but ACS is already overseen by the State Office of Children and Family Services. Would you tell us why, in your opinion, that's not enough?

Jocelyn Strauber: It's not enough because the oversight that we provide is independent and it leads to more public transparency about the work that ACS is doing. OCFS supervises ACS. They're responsible for them, but that's not independent oversight that an inspector general like DOI can provide. The work that OCFS does to oversee ACS, like the internal investigations that ACS will also do. For example, in the case of a child fatality of a family known to ACS, that is not independent oversight, and that does not give the public insight into the work that its city government is doing and how it could be improved. That's what we do, but we can't do it without better access to the relevant information.

Michael Hill: What's blocking you now from that access?

Jocelyn Strauber: It's really state law. State law for certain categories of information, that is, investigations of child abuse and neglect that are unfounded, that is, that are deemed without basis, we can't get any access to those records whatsoever. For other records, for example, a child welfare investigation where abuse or neglect is found, we need to go through OCFS, the state agency that you mentioned, and it is up to them whether we get access or not.

Michael Hill: Now, let me back up a second here. You said unfounded and you explain that. Why do you want access to those records if it's unfounded?

Jocelyn Strauber: Let me give you an example. Let's say we have a child fatality case. The history of that child and family with ACS may involve a number of cases where there were complaints of abuse and neglect that were unfounded. Just because they were unfounded doesn't necessarily mean they were rightly unfounded. We are not able to look into those investigations and kick the tires on those conclusions, regardless of how they were conducted, regardless of whether there's a flaw in the work that ACS did. That's why to understand the full history of the family with ACS, that's why we need access not just to founded records of abuse or neglect, but unfounded as well.

Michael Hill: Now, Commissioner Strauber, giving DOI more access to case information, doesn't that raise privacy concerns?

Jocelyn Strauber: We think to the extent that it raises privacy concerns, those concerns are outweighed by the value of an independent investigation that ultimately could yield recommendations that would improve outcomes for children and families. I would also say that we receive all kinds of confidential information about families that interact with the city in various ways. I think first, we can be sensitive to those concerns and take them into account. Second, I don't think they outweigh the need for rigorous oversight in this particularly important area where we're dealing with vulnerable children and families.

Michael Hill: Let's talk about how that can change. Right now, the New York State assembly is considering legislation that supporters say would force ACS to be more transparent. You've written in support of this, you've lobbied for this. Tell us what that bill would do, what this legislation would do?

Jocelyn Strauber: it would remove the barrier to DOI receiving the unfounded records that we've been talking about. It would also streamline and facilitate the process by which we would obtain access to the other records for which we currently need OCFS approval. We would be included within the category of entities like DA's offices in certain cases or the NYPD in certain cases that have access to those child welfare records.

Michael Hill: Maybe what you're yearning for would make a difference in this regard, too. To switch gears here just a little bit, we reported on WNYC that ACS own numbers show Black families are seven times more likely to be investigated compared to white ones. Do you expect this proposed new law would have any impact and any effect on that statistic?

Jocelyn Strauber: I think it's really hard to say without having access to those records, but certainly if we're able to see the full picture of ACS's interactions with families, we will be able to have a better sense of whether there's some disparity in the way families are handled by ACS. I couldn't say for certain whether whether what we would have access to if the legislation goes through would impact that statistic or not.

Michael Hill: Our guest has been Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber, head of the Department of Investigation for New York City. Commissioner, thank you for joining us.

Jocelyn Strauber: Thank you.

Michael Hill: The ACS says it's committed to transparency and that they appreciate the oversight role of the DOI. They say they proactively provide critical information to DOI on a regular basis and look forward to further discussions about the bill.

Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. This is NYC NOW from WNYC. Check us out for updates every weekday, three times a day, for the latest news, headlines and occasional deep dives, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

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