Directs the director of the office of the aging to establish a caregiver crisis hotline to provide emotional support resources for informal caregivers of a person in need of assistance.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8875
IN SENATE
January 13, 2026
___________
Introduced by Sen. RHOADS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Aging
AN ACT to amend the elder law, in relation to establishing a caregiver
crisis hotline
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The elder law is amended by adding a new section 206-a to
2 read as follows:
3 § 206-a. Caregiver crisis hotline. 1. The director, in consultation
4 with the commissioner of mental health, shall establish a caregiver
5 crisis hotline to provide emotional support resources for informal care-
6 givers of a person in need of assistance.
7 2. Such crisis hotline shall be a toll-free telephone number, avail-
8 able statewide, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week and shall
9 provide a language assistance line to assist limited and non-English
10 language speakers.
11 3. For the purposes of this section: (a) "Informal caregiver" shall
12 mean the family member or other natural person who normally provides the
13 daily care or supervision of a person in need of supervision, or any
14 family member or other natural person who contributes to and is involved
15 in the caretaking responsibilities for such person in need of super-
16 vision. Such informal caregiver may, but need not, reside in the same
17 household as the person in need of supervision.
18 (b) "Person in need of supervision" shall mean any person who is
19 unable to attend to their daily needs without the assistance or regular
20 supervision of an informal caregiver due to mental or physical impair-
21 ment. Such definition shall not exclude persons under eighteen years of
22 age who suffer from mental or physical impairment.
23 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
24 it shall have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13571-01-5
