A coalition of good-government organizations and progressive organizations this week urged Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign a pair of bills heading to her desk that are meant to boost transparency and accountability for major economic development spending projects.

The bills are aimed at boost openness for community advisory committees at economic development projects by requiring their meetings be open to the public and have meeting materials be posted to the website of the Empire State Development Corp., New York state government's chief job creating entity.

"Currently, there are no requirements that information regarding the potential spending of billions in taxpayer dollars is shared proactively with the public at large," the groups wrote in a letter to Hochul this week. "This legislation will require that community advisory committee meeting materials are published online, which is a meaningful step forward in increasing transparency of economic development project consideration."

Separately, advocates are calling for the appoval of a bill that is meant to restore the independence of the Public Authorities Control Board by repealing changes that had been in place under then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2019. The bill is meant to limit the power of the governor in replacing members of the board, with the hope of granting members more leeway in considering projects and their merit.

"These bills are common-sense measures that will ensure that the public and legislature have the information and tools necessary to evaluate and consider economic development projects, which can cost tens of billions of dollars," the organizations backed by Reinvent Albany wrote in the letter.

The transparency measures come as state lawmakers have sought to make changes to how billions of dollars in economic development money is being spent in New York. Projects in the past have been a source of controversy and public coruption concerns over the last 10 years, with a sweeping corruption case involving the Buffalo Billion program leading to the arrests and convictions of prominent developers and a former close aide to Cuomo.