Establishes a Minority Coordinating Council on Asthmatic Affairs within the department of health to assess the asthma risk factors for the minority citizens of our state, counties and regions; identifies the existing barriers to quality asthma treatment and care among minorities; develops action steps for addressing care issues; launches a state-wide asthma awareness campaign to educate our citizens about the disease; requires report.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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9821
IN ASSEMBLY
April 12, 2016
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Introduced by M. of A. ARROYO -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Health
AN ACT to establish a Minority Coordinating Council on Asthmatic Affairs
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 the "Lydia Soto law".
3 § 2. Legislative findings and intent. According to the American Lung
4 Association, there are over 1.6 million New Yorkers with asthma, with
5 over 380,000 of them being children. The annual cost of asthma is esti-
6 mated to be nearly 18 billion dollars. Access to health care for ethnic
7 minorities is often hampered by socio-economic disparities, shortages of
8 primary care physicians in minority communities, language and literacy
9 barriers, and cultural beliefs about the role and usefulness of medi-
10 cines. There have emerged clear disparities in the burden and treatment
11 of asthma in the communities of ethnic minorities. The burden of asthma
12 falls disproportionately on the African-American and Hispanic popu-
13 lations, and especially on children of these ethnic minorities. There-
14 fore, it is the intent of this legislature to create a coordinating
15 council to address these issues and to improve awareness and management
16 of asthma prevention and treatment for minorities in this state.
17 § 3. The commissioner of health shall establish a Minority Coordinat-
18 ing Council on Asthmatic Affairs. The commissioner shall appoint as many
19 members as he or she determines appropriate. Such members shall be
20 representative of those regions of the state with significant minority
21 populations and shall include health care professionals with knowledge
22 and experience in the prevention and treatment of asthma and in the
23 areas of public health care funding. The council shall be tasked with:
24 (a) assessing the asthma risk factors for the minority citizens of this
25 state, its counties and regions; (b) identifying the existing barriers
26 to quality asthma treatment and care among minorities; (c) developing
27 action steps for addressing care issues; and (d) launching a state-wide
28 asthma awareness campaign to educate citizens about the disease, its
29 symptoms, and the ability to better manage asthma through prevention and
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03034-04-6
A. 9821 2
1 treatment. The council shall deliver an annual report addressing various
2 asthma program successes, new trends, data and issues surrounding minor-
3 ity populations suffering from asthma to the governor and the legisla-
4 ture beginning September 1, 2020, and annually thereafter.
5 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
