Bill Text: NY K00319 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Memorializing Governor Kathy Hochul to proclaim April 2023, as Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Month in the State of New York

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 34-14)

Status: (Passed) 2023-04-24 - adopted [K00319 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-K00319-Introduced.html

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Assembly Resolution No. 319

BY: M. of A. Palmesano

        MEMORIALIZING  Governor  Kathy  Hochul to proclaim
        April 2023, as  Organ  and  Tissue  Donor  Awareness
        Month  in the State of New York, in conjunction with
        the observance of National Donate Life Month

  WHEREAS, Organ and  tissue  transplantation  has  advanced  from  an
experimental  technique  to  a  successful  mode  of  therapy; for many,
transplants mean an improvement in the quality of life; for others  they
mean the difference between life and death; and

  WHEREAS,  Each  year  the  waiting  list for organ transplants grows
longer; many people die before an organ becomes available; the need  for
organ donation is real and urgent; and

  WHEREAS,  Nationally,  the  current  waiting list for organs is more
than 100,000 and thousands more need tissues; in New York  State  alone,
approximately  8,100 people are waiting for a transplant; more names are
added to the waiting list daily and the number of people on the  waiting
list far exceeds the number of donors; and

  WHEREAS,  To  focus  attention on the importance of organ and tissue
donation and to express gratitude for those who have already  given  the
gift  of  life, it is the intent of this Legislative Body to memorialize
Governor Kathy Hochul to proclaim April 2023, as Organ and Tissue  Donor
Awareness  Month  in  the  State  of  New  York, in conjunction with the
observance of National Donate Life Month, which incorporates both  organ
and tissue, as well as other donations; and

  WHEREAS,  Citizens  of  the  State of New York have, for many years,
been encouraged to sign up to be an organ, eye, and tissue donor through
the New York State Donate Life Registry, a database of  individuals  who
have  chosen,  upon  their  death,  to  donate their organs and tissues,
through online registration, when they apply for or renew their driver's
license or non-driver identification card, or at various  locations  and
events held throughout the State each year; and

  WHEREAS,  Organ  and  Tissue  Donor  Awareness  Month  provides  the
opportunity to help New Yorkers learn more about organ donation, to help
the thousands of patients awaiting transplantations,  and  to  recognize
the  critical  need  for  organ,  eye,  tissue,  bone  marrow, and blood
donation; and

  WHEREAS, Many New Yorkers have set a powerful example,  agreeing  to
become  organ  and  tissue donors and taking a selfless action which may
potentially save or enhance the lives of others, yet there continues  to
be  a  shortage  of  vitally-needed organs and tissues and the disparity
between the number of registered donors and the number of people needing
transplants grows each year; a single person donating  at  the  time  of
their death can help as many as 75 people; and

  WHEREAS, No one knows when they or a loved one may need a transplant
to survive, or tissue to repair injury or treat disease; while there are

over  20  million  New  Yorkers,  currently,  an estimated 7 million are
enrolled in the New York State Donate Life Registry; and

  WHEREAS,  The  observance  of Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Month
provides the  opportunity  to  educate  people,  to  encourage  them  to
consider  organ  and tissue donation, to add their names to the New York
State Donate Life Registry expressing their consent to donate,  ensuring
that  more  lives are saved, and to inform their families and friends of
their decision; and

  WHEREAS, Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Month is also  a  time  to
recognize  and applaud the researchers, medical professionals, advocates
and volunteers, past and present, who have contributed so  much  to  the
advancement  of  organ and tissue donation and transplantation and, most
particularly, to acknowledge and express our deepest gratitude  for  the
extraordinary  generosity  and  altruistic  gifts of deceased and living
donors and their families, so that others may have  the  opportunity  to
rear  a  family,  hold  a job, and pursue a fuller and more active life;
now, therefore, be it

  RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its  deliberations  to
memorialize  Governor  Kathy Hochul to proclaim April 2023, as Organ and
Tissue Donor Awareness Month in the State of New York; and be it further

  RESOLVED, That copies of this  Resolution,  suitably  engrossed,  be
transmitted  to The Honorable Kathy Hochul, Governor of the State of New
York; and Donate Life New York State.