Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, D-New York City, and Assemblyman Micah Lasher, D-New York City, are pictured at a protest in New York City in early April.

Democrats in the state Legislature want to use DOGE on Elon Musk’s contracts with New York state.

Legislation (A.8036/S.7153) was recently introduced by Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, D-New York City, and Assemblyman Micah Lasher, D-New York City. The legislators’ Determining Obligations and Guaranteeing Enforcement (DOGE) in Government Contracting Act takes aim at all of Elon Musk’s contracts, including the Tesla Gigafactory in Buffalo.

Hoylman-Sigal and Lasher say they want to investigate of all existing contracts relating to the leasing of state-owned premises to private parties for the production, manufacture and/or development of solar shingle products, electric vehicle charging networks, advanced driver-assistance systems, and/or supercomputer hardware to eliminate any waste, fraud, or abuse of state resources by Tesla resulting from the agreements.

“New Yorkers have had enough of Elon Musk using his influence to buy control of our federal government and slash critical funding under the guise of ‘eliminating waste, fraud and abuse,'” Hoylman-Sigal said. “New York state should not be doing business with Elon Musk, especially when there are open questions as to whether he is even fulfilling the requirements of his existing contracts with the state. That’s why Assemblymember Lasher and I are introducing new legislation to hold Elon Musk and Tesla accountable by requiring a thorough examination of the business dealings that New York State has with Tesla to determine if they actually are doing what they promised in terms of job creation, investments in supercomputers, opening new dealerships and payment of their leases. If they have not, then our legislation will require New York state to take any measures necessary to terminate our contracts with Tesla and get back any funds that Tesla may have improperly taken from New Yorkers.”

Specifically, the legislation will require Empire State Development to confirm whether Tesla has created promised jobs, invested in promised supercomputers, opened promised dealerships, and paid for promised leased space, and provide confirmation to the public. If Tesla is found to not have fulfilled their contractual obligations, the legislation will require Empire State Development to take measures to terminate contractual relationships and claw back state funds given to Tesla.

“Elon Musk is doing enormous damage under the pretense of cutting waste, while benefiting from one of the biggest and worst government subsidy deals in the history of New York,” Lasher said. “This legislation is about fighting back – both against this actual waste of taxpayer dollars by Elon Musk himself and against a regime that is directly hostile to the interests of New York.”

Published reports state Empire State Development is working on a new contract to extend Tesla’s lease of the South Buffalo factory, increasing the rent from $1 a year to $2 million through the end of 2029 and then $5 million for an additional five years after that. Spectrum News in Albany has reported there are no new incentives planned from the state, and there are rent penalties if Tesla doesn’t meet its promised investment in the Buffalo facilities.

“It thus may be the case Elon Musk is doing enormous damage under the pretense of cutting waste, while benefiting from one of the biggest and worst government subsidy deals in the history of New York,” Lasher and Hoylman-Sigal wrote in their legislative justification. “This legislation is about fighting back – both against this alleged actual waste of taxpayer dollars by Elon Musk himself and against a regime that is directly hostile to the interests of New York.”