The NYS Senate passed S.544-A on June 22, 2000, which would repeal the State's statutory schedule for attorney contingent fees in malpractice cases. The Assembly followed suit the next day. The current law provision limits the dollar amounts that an attorney may receive when working on a contingency basis by imposing a sliding fee schedule. GNYHA sent a letter on July 31, 2000, to James McGuire, Counsel to the Governor, requesting that Mr. McGuire recommend that Governor Pataki veto S.544-A. GNYHA believes that the bill will transfer compensation from plaintiffs to lawyers, thus encouraging lawyers to file more costly lawsuits. GNYHA noted that New York is at the forefront of the movement to protect patients from harm, through its incident reporting systems, extensive surveillance processes, and quality improvement requirements. Recently, the State Legislature approved the Patient Health Information and Quality Improvement Act of 2000, which will give more quality information to consumers than ever before. Also, New York's system respects a patient's right to seek redress for injuries, while attempting to control the high costs of malpractice litigation. By repealing the cap on contingency fees, as S.544-A would do, the State would be undoing an important part of New York's tort system. The Senate has until the end of the year to transmit S.544-A to the Governor for his approval.