NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A4756
SPONSOR: Gottfried
 
TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the public health law, in relation to
increasing monetary penalties for public health law violations and
providing support for the nursing home quality improvement demonstration
program
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To update money penalties to better deter bad behavior and incentivize
the correction of violations by health facilities and providers.
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Amends PHL § 12 to increase fines from the current $2,000-10,000 range
per violation to $5,000-$20,000; and deposit penalties garnered from
nursing homes into the nursing home quality improvement demonstration
program.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
PHL § 12 is the basic framework for money penalties relating to
violations of the PHL, where other monetary penalties are not specif-
ically written in statute. The $2,000 floor amount has not been updated
since 1990. The escalated amounts relating to repeat violations or
endangerment have not been updated since 2008. PHL money penalties are
outdated and non-threatening, considered by too many as a "cost of doing
business." This bill will dedicate amounts garnered from actions against
nursing homes to quality improvement in other, deserving facilities.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4756
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 5, 2019
___________
Introduced by M. of A. GOTTFRIED -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to increasing mone-
tary penalties for public health law violations and providing support
for the nursing home quality improvement demonstration program
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 12 of the public health law, as
2 amended by section 16 of part A of chapter 58 of the laws of 2008, is
3 amended to read as follows:
4 1. (a) Except as provided in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this subdivi-
5 sion, any person who violates, disobeys or disregards any term or
6 provision of this chapter or of any lawful notice, order or regulation
7 pursuant thereto for which a civil penalty is not otherwise expressly
8 prescribed by law, shall be liable to the people of the state for a
9 civil penalty of not to exceed [two] five thousand dollars for every
10 such violation.
11 (b) The penalty provided for in paragraph (a) of this subdivision may
12 be increased to an amount not to exceed [five] ten thousand dollars for
13 a subsequent violation if the person committed the same violation, with
14 respect to the same or any other person or persons, within twelve months
15 of the initial violation for which a penalty was assessed pursuant to
16 paragraph (a) of this subdivision and said violations were a serious
17 threat to the health and safety of an individual or individuals.
18 (c) The penalty provided for in paragraph (a) of this subdivision may
19 be increased to an amount not to exceed [ten] twenty thousand dollars if
20 the violation directly results in serious physical harm to any patient
21 or patients.
22 (d) Effective on and after April first, two thousand eight the comp-
23 troller is hereby authorized and directed to deposit amounts, except as
24 provided by paragraph (e) of this subdivision, collected in excess of
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07353-01-9
A. 4756 2
1 two thousand dollars per violation to the patient safety center account
2 to be used for purposes of the patient safety center created by title
3 two of article twenty-nine-D of this chapter.
4 (e) Amounts collected from an operator of a residential health care
5 facility licensed under article twenty-eight of this chapter in excess
6 of ten thousand dollars per violation may be transferred as determined
7 by the commissioner to the nursing home quality improvement demon-
8 stration program, to be used under subdivision six of section twenty-
9 eight hundred eight of this chapter in support of projects or programs
10 designed to improve specific areas of quality of care.
11 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately; provided that the amend-
12 ments to subdivision 1 of section 12 of the public health law made by
13 section one of this act shall not affect the expiration of such subdivi-
14 sion and shall be deemed to expire therewith.