Amd 677, County L; amd 353, Exec L (as proposed in S.2036-B & A.3237-A); amd 201, Pub Health L
Provides that the coroner, coroner's physician or medical examiner shall report to the division of veterans' services, in a form and time frame developed by the department of health, any death which appears to be a suicide by a person who, to the knowledge of the coroner, coroner's physician or medical examiner, is a veteran; defines veteran.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8715
IN ASSEMBLY
January 11, 2022
___________
Introduced by M. of A. HUNTER -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Veterans' Affairs
AN ACT to amend the county law, the public health law and the executive
law, in relation to reporting veteran suicide
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 10 of section 677 of the county law, as added
2 by a chapter of the laws of 2021 amending the county law and the execu-
3 tive law relating to the reporting of a veteran's suicide, as proposed
4 in legislative bills numbers S. 2036-B and A. 3237-A, is amended to read
5 as follows:
6 10. (a) The coroner, coroner's physician or medical examiner shall
7 report to the division of veterans' services, in a form, and time frame
8 developed by [such division] the department of health in a manner that
9 is protective of privacy and contains aggregate, rather than individual
10 data to the extent practicable, any death which appears to be caused by
11 suicide by a person who, to the knowledge of the coroner, coroner's
12 physician or medical examiner, is a veteran.
13 (b) For the purposes of this subdivision, veteran means a person who
14 served in the United States army, navy, air force, space force, marine
15 corps, coast guard, and/or reserves thereof, and/or in the army national
16 guard, air national guard, New York guard and/or New York naval militia,
17 and/or who served as a member of the commissioned corps of the national
18 oceanic and atmospheric administration or the United States public
19 health service regardless of discharge status.
20 § 1-a. Subdivision 1 of section 201 of the public health law is
21 amended by adding a new paragraph (y) to read as follows:
22 (y) To develop a form by which a coroner, coroner's physician or
23 medical examiner, pursuant to section six hundred seventy-seven of the
24 county law, shall report to the division of veterans' services any death
25 which appears to be caused by suicide by a person who, to the knowledge
26 of the coroner, coroner's physician or medical examiner, is a veteran.
27 This form shall at a minimum: (i) ensure compliance with the strictest
28 privacy protections and encourage data aggregation to the extent feasi-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03672-06-2
A. 8715 2
1 ble; (ii) provide the address to which the form is to be mailed or
2 submitted electronically; and (iii) include the county of residence and
3 the branch of service of deceased veterans during the reporting period.
4 § 2. Subdivision 26 of section 353 of the executive law, as added by a
5 chapter of the laws of 2021 amending the county law and the executive
6 law relating to the reporting of a veteran's suicide, as proposed in
7 legislative bills numbers S. 2036-B and A. 3237-A, is amended to read as
8 follows:
9 26. [(a) To develop a form by which a coroner, coroner's physician or
10 medical examiner, pursuant to section six hundred seventy-seven of the
11 county law, shall report to the division any death which appears to be a
12 suicide by a person who, to the knowledge of the coroner, coroner's
13 physician or medical examiner, is a veteran. This form shall at a mini-
14 mum: (i) ensure compliance with the strictest privacy protections and
15 encourage data aggregation to the extent feasible; (ii) provide the
16 address to which the form is to be mailed or submitted electronically;
17 and (iii) include the county of residence and the branch of service of
18 deceased veterans during the reporting period.
19 (b)] The division shall: (i) forward completed forms received from a
20 coroner, coroner's physician or medical examiner pursuant to section six
21 hundred seventy-seven of the county law to the office of mental hygiene
22 pursuant to subdivision (g) of section 7.07 of the mental hygiene law in
23 a timely manner; and (ii) compile such information for inclusion in the
24 annual report pursuant to this section.
25 § 3. This act shall take effect on the same date and in the same
26 manner as a chapter of the laws of 2021, amending the county law and the
27 executive law relating to the reporting of a veteran's suicide, as
28 proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 2036-B and A. 3237-A , takes
29 effect.
