Repeals the emergency or disaster treatment protection act which protects health care facilities and health care professionals from liability that may result from treatment of individuals with COVID-19 under conditions resulting from circumstances associated with the public health emergency.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A3397
SPONSOR: Kim TITLE OF BILL:
An act to repeal article 30-d of the public health law relating to the
emergency or disaster treatment protection act
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill repeals Article 30-D of the Public Health Law (colloquially
known as the Emergency or Disaster Treatment Protection Act) with the
intent of holding health care facilities, administrators, and executives
accountable for harm and damages incurred.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends the Public Health Law by repealing Article 30-D.
Section 2 provides the effective date.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND AMENDED VERSION (IF APPLICABLE):
This is a new bill.
JUSTIFICATION:
As the COVID-19 pandemic has progressed in New York State, it is now
apparent that negligence by administrators and executives of nursing
homes has occurred at an extraordinary degree. The consequences have
been tragic: as of early May 2020, nearly five thousand of New York's
elderly and most vulnerable residents have succumbed to this disease,
and to date, there has been zero accountability nor transparency for
these preventable deaths. The ELFA bill (A.9506/S.7506) in the FY 2021
state budget bills codified Article 30-D of the Public Health Law. In
particular, Article 30-D egregiously uses severe liability standards as
a means to insulate health care facilities and specifically, administra-
tors and executives of such facilities, from any civil or criminal
liability for negligence. Repealing this article is a much-needed step
to holding health care administrators accountable and doing everything
possible to stop even more preventable deaths from happening.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
This is a new bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Immediately upon passage.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3397
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 26, 2021
___________
Introduced by M. of A. KIM, EPSTEIN, JACOBSON, GOTTFRIED, BYRNES,
MONTESANO, NIOU, GLICK, L. ROSENTHAL, BARRON, GRIFFIN, McDONOUGH,
STECK, CARROLL, CYMBROWITZ, HEVESI, SIMON, QUART -- read once and
referred to the Committee on Health
AN ACT to repeal article 30-d of the public health law relating to the
emergency or disaster treatment protection act
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Article 30-d of the public health law is REPEALED.
2 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02984-01-1
