Requires healthcare facilities to maintain a fifty percent operating threshold of certain reusable healthcare protective textiles in their inventory unless a reprieve is provided for supply chain issues; provides a fine may be assessed for failure to comply, as determined by the commissioner.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7575--B
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
April 22, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sens. CLEARE, FERNANDEZ -- read twice and ordered printed,
and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Health -- recom-
mitted to the Committee on Health in accordance with Senate Rule 6,
sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as
amended and recommitted to said committee -- committee discharged,
bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said
committee
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to requiring health-
care facilities to maintain a fifty percent operating threshold of
certain reusable healthcare protective textiles in their inventory
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 2803 of the public health law is amended by adding
2 a new subdivision 15 to read as follows:
3 15. (a) The commissioner shall ensure that all healthcare facilities
4 as defined in paragraph (b) of this subdivision possess and maintain an
5 operating threshold of at least fifty percent of all healthcare protec-
6 tive textiles (HPT) as provided by a hygienically clean laundry service
7 provider; provided, however, that upon request, the department may grant
8 an extension or reprieve, at its sole and exclusive discretion if the
9 healthcare facility demonstrates, to the commissioner's satisfaction,
10 that such healthcare facility's inability to meet such requirement is
11 solely attributable to supply chain issues that are beyond the hospi-
12 tal's control and purchasing HPT at market rates would facilitate price
13 gouging by HPT vendors.
14 (b) For purposes of this subdivision, the following terms shall have
15 the following meanings:
16 (i) "healthcare facility" shall mean hospitals, skilled nursing facil-
17 ities, outpatient care centers, long-term care facilities, physical
18 therapy centers, comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation facilities,
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06988-08-6
S. 7575--B 2
1 end-stage renal disease facilities, hospice, physician's offices, non-
2 physician provider's offices, and laboratories;
3 (ii) "healthcare protective textiles" shall mean reusable textiles
4 designed to protect healthcare workers, patients, and support personnel
5 against exposure to infectious agents, bodily fluids, hazardous chemi-
6 cals, and other clinical risks by resisting fluid and viral penetration
7 and cross-contamination, including: underpads, lab coats, cubicle
8 curtains, barrier gowns as classified by AAMI/ANSI PB70 liquid barrier
9 performance levels (1-4), surgical gowns as classified by AAMI/ANSI PB70
10 liquid barrier performance levels (1-4), and isolation gowns as classi-
11 fied by AAMI/ANSI PB70 liquid barrier performance levels (1-4); and
12 (iii) "operating threshold" shall mean a constantly rotating stock of
13 HPT textiles being used, returned to a laundry facility, processed by a
14 hygienically clean certified facility, and returned to a healthcare
15 facility for use.
16 (c) Failure to possess and maintain such a supply of HPT may result in
17 a fine to be determined by the department; provided, however, that no
18 such revocation or suspension shall be ordered unless the department has
19 provided the healthcare facility with a thirty-day grace period, to
20 achieve compliance with the requirements of paragraph (a) of this subdi-
21 vision.
22 § 2. This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become a
23 law.
