Bill Text: NY A07401 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Prohibits admission of COVID-19 positive residents to residential facilities for persons with developmental disabilities; requires the department of health and the office for persons with developmental disabilities to develop an emergency treatment plan for COVID-19 positive residents of such facilities.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-03-21 - enacting clause stricken [A07401 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A07401-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         7401--A

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                       May 7, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  M. MILLER  --  read once and referred to the
          Committee on People with Disabilities --  committee  discharged,  bill
          amended,  ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
          tee

        AN ACT to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to  prohibiting  the
          admission of COVID-19 positive residents to residential facilities for
          persons  with  developmental  disabilities;  and  to  amend the public
          health law, in relation to requiring an emergency treatment  plan  for
          COVID-19 positive residents of such facilities

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. The mental hygiene law is amended by adding a  new  section
     2  13.44 to read as follows:
     3  § 13.44 Admission of COVID-19 positive residents.
     4    Notwithstanding any law, rule, regulation or guidance to the contrary,
     5  no  residential  facility  for  the  care  and treatment of persons with
     6  developmental disabilities including a family care home shall  knowingly
     7  allow  a resident who has tested positive for COVID-19 to enter or reen-
     8  ter that facility as a  temporary  or  permanent  resident  unless  such
     9  person provides proof of a negative test for COVID-19.
    10    §  2. The public health law is amended by adding a new article 30-D to
    11  read as follows:
    12                                ARTICLE 30-D
    13              EMERGENCY OR DISASTER TREATMENT PREPAREDNESS ACT
    14  Section 3090. Definitions.
    15          3091. Regional Step-Down Facility Plan.
    16    § 3090. Definitions. As used in this article:
    17    1. The term "residential facility" means any residential facility  for
    18  the  care and treatment of persons with developmental disabilities under
    19  article sixteen of the mental hygiene law, including a family care home.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD10531-04-1
        A. 7401--A                          2

     1    2. The term "step-down facility" shall mean  a  facility  specifically
     2  established to temporarily care for individuals who have been discharged
     3  from  a  hospital  after  receiving treatment for COVID-19, or any other
     4  sickness related to a pandemic, to a residential  facility  for  persons
     5  with  developmental disabilities where an individual resides until it is
     6  safe to return, for the purpose of preventing the spread of COVID-19  or
     7  any  other sickness related to a pandemic. Step-down facilities may also
     8  admit individuals from a residential facility who have  tested  positive
     9  for  COVID-19,  or  any  other  sickness  related  to a pandemic, or are
    10  suspected to be positive for such, who did not receive treatment or  who
    11  were otherwise not admitted and subsequently discharged from a hospital.
    12    §  3091.  Regional  Step-Down  Facility  Plan.  1.  The department, in
    13  consultation with the office for people with developmental  disabilities
    14  and  organizations  representing residential facilities for persons with
    15  disabilities, shall develop  a  plan  to  establish  regional  step-down
    16  facilities  to  reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19 or any other
    17  sickness related to a  pandemic  within  such  facilities,  particularly
    18  after an individual who has received treatment for COVID-19 or any other
    19  sickness  related  to a pandemic has been discharged from a hospital and
    20  would otherwise return to a residential facility while still contagious.
    21  Such plan will  account  for  a  possible  resurgence  of  the  COVID-19
    22  infection  rate,  or  the  emergence  of any other sickness related to a
    23  pandemic.
    24    2. The commissioner shall submit such plan to the governor, the tempo-
    25  rary president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the  minority
    26  leader  of  the senate, and the minority leader of the assembly no later
    27  than July first, two thousand twenty-one.
    28    3. The commissioner shall review and  update  the  regional  step-down
    29  facility  plan biennially, or more frequently if the commissioner deter-
    30  mines it necessary, and shall post such updated  plan  publicly  on  the
    31  department's  website and the office for people with developmental disa-
    32  bilities' website as expeditiously as possible.
    33    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.