BILL NUMBER:S7527

TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to prohibiting smok-
ing on hospital grounds and residential health care facilities

PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
The purpose of this bill is to prohibit smoking on the campus grounds
and within fifteen feet of the property lines of general hospitals,
residential health care facilities and other health care facilities
licensed by the state in which persons reside.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section one of the bill amends public health law section 1399-0 to add a
new paragraph b to subsection 2 of that section prohibiting smoking in
outdoor areas of hospital grounds, and within fifteen feet of such
grounds or entrance or exit of such facilities. This section also amends
subsection 2 of such section to include paragraphs "a" and "b".

Section two of the bill sets forth the effective date.

JUSTIFICATION:
The facts are clear, secondhand smoke kills.  Nationwide, it has been
linked to over 46,000 deaths annually from heart disease and 3,600
deaths from lung cancer in nonsmokers.  Additionally, secondhand smoke
is responsible for lung infections and ear infections in children, as
              

well as exacerbation of childhood asthma and hospitalizations related to
all of these maladies.

Health care facilities are the places we go to get treatment, heal and
recover from serious health concerns. They should not be the place where
our health concerns start or are worsened. No child leaving a hospital
after suffering a life-threatening asthma attack should be forced to
walk through a cloud of secondhand smoke, a known asthma trigger. Hospi-
tals and other residential health care facilities are not only the plac-
es where the most vulnerable among us must go to heal, but they are also
the places where the example of smoke-free positive health practices
should be conspicuous.

Smoking within these health care facilities is already prohibited under
state law. The City of New York instituted a smoking ban within 15 feet
of hospital grounds, entrances and exits in 2009. In addition to this,
over 100 hospitals in New York State have already voluntarily instituted
such smoking bans. This bill is necessary to extend the prohibition
statewide, protecting those living, working and visiting in health care
facilities from exposure to the life-threatening dangers of secondhand
smoke.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
This is a new bill.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.

EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become law.