New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli today thanked Gov. Cuomo and the State Legislature for enacting legislation authored by state Sen. Martin Golden and Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi that enhances the Comptroller's ability to access state data to identify and prevent fraud, waste and abuse.

The new law (A.5056/S.3757) enables the Office of the State Comptroller to implement a modern electronic fraud prevention and protection system using data analytics to improve the detection of improper payments and identify fraud, waste and abuse in the state. Identifying transactions at the earliest possible point helps reduce losses and prevents errors from being made.

"We're charged with safeguarding the public's money. We use technology to track a vast amount- of financial data and identify millions in waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars," DiNapoli said. "The new law provides for faster and earlier access to data relied on by state agencies so we can stop more fraud and other problematic transactions before the money goes out the door.

"This law came about as the result of a close collaboration between the Assembly and the Senate, with input from my office," DiNapoli said. "My sincere thanks go to Assemblyman Hevesi and Senator Golden for their commitment to understanding the issues and their careful deliberation in the development of this proposal. My thanks also to Governor Cuomo for recognizing the tremendous value of this enterprise-wide system and signing the legislation into law."

State Sen. Martin J. Golden said: "Elaborate and sophisticated fraud schemes have cost the government billions of dollars. During these challenging economic times New York must do everything to detect and prevent fraud, stop waste and abuse in state government and avert unnecessary payments of taxpayer money. Fraud diminishes the effectiveness of government programs and places a financial burden on the state and its residents. This new law will streamline the process to recognize fraud, create an expeditious method to identify the perpetrators and will develop a mechanism to stop the needless loss of money."

Assemblyman Andrew D. Hevesi said: "I compliment Governor Cuomo for signing this legislation and congratulate Comptroller DiNapoli for his exceptional efforts on this bill. This process is an excellent example of how our government should work. This law will ultimately save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars by preventing waste, fraud and abuse."