NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9600
SPONSOR: Rajkumar TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the mental hygiene law and the public health law, in
relation to including avoidant/restrictive food intake disorders as
eating disorders for the purposes of mental health
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To codify avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder in the statutory
definition of eating disorders.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1. Subdivision (a) of section 30.02 of the mental hygiene law,
as added by section 9 of part AA of chapter 56 of the laws of 2020 to
add avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, and remove reference to a
specific edition of the International Classification of Disease.
§ 2. Paragraph (j) of subdivision 1 of section 207 of the public health
law, as added by chapter 360 of the laws of 2014, is amended to specify
the aforementioned statutory definition.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND AMENDED VERSION (IF APPLICABLE):
JUSTIFICATION:
Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is an eating disorder
characterized by an aversion to eating that, unlike anorexia nervosa or
bulimia, is not related to body dysmorphia. ARFID is strongly associated
with other conditions such as autism spectrum disorder, general anxiety
disorder, or obsessive compulsive disorder, among others.
Only recently gaining a medical classification, ARFID is a little-known
and poorly-understood condition often dismissed as "picky eating."
Healthcare professionals have turned to ineffective force feeding over
evidence-based treatment.
This bill will educate the public on ARFID and direct proper resources
and treatment to support and uplift people with ARFID and their fami-
lies.
The bill also removes statutory reference to the International Classi-
fication of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification, which does
not define ARFID.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9600
IN ASSEMBLY
January 21, 2026
___________
Introduced by M. of A. RAJKUMAR -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Mental Health
AN ACT to amend the mental hygiene law and the public health law, in
relation to including avoidant/restrictive food intake disorders as
eating disorders for the purposes of mental health
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision (a) of section 30.02 of the mental hygiene law,
2 as added by section 9 of part AA of chapter 56 of the laws of 2020, is
3 amended to read as follows:
4 (a) "Eating disorder" is defined to include, but not be limited to,
5 conditions such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia [and], binge eating disor-
6 der and avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, identified as such in
7 the [ICD-9-CM] most current edition of the International Classification
8 of Disease or [the most current edition of the] Diagnostic and Statis-
9 tical Manual of Mental Disorders, or other medical and mental health
10 diagnostic references generally accepted for standard use by the medical
11 and mental health fields.
12 § 2. Paragraph (j) of subdivision 1 of section 207 of the public
13 health law, as added by chapter 360 of the laws of 2014, is amended to
14 read as follows:
15 (j) The eating disorders awareness and prevention program shall be
16 designed to promote the awareness of eating disorders as defined in
17 section 30.02 of the mental hygiene law and available services, as well
18 as to prevent and reduce the incidence and prevalence of eating disor-
19 ders, especially among children and adolescents.
20 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14438-01-6
