NY State Senate Bill 2019-S8476

Senate Bill S8476

2019-2020 Legislative Session

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Rules Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jun 03, 2020	referred to rules

2019-S8476 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Rules
Law Section:: Suffolk County

2019-S8476 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Requires that COVID-19 contact tracers in the counties of Suffolk and Nassau be representative of the cultural and linguistic diversity of the communities in which they serve to the greatest extent possible; further requires the Suffolk county department of health services and the Nassau county department of health services to annually submit a report on contact tracer worker diversity within the counties of Suffolk and Nassau including outreach efforts to recruit a diverse workforce to the governor, the temporary president of the senate and the speaker of the assembly beginning no later than December 31, 2020.

2019-S8476 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S8476

SPONSOR: MARTINEZ
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to require that COVID-19 contact tracers in the counties of
Suffolk and Nassau be representative of the cultural and linguistic
diversity of the communities in which they serve to the greatest extent
possible; and providing for the repeal of such provisions upon the expi-
ration thereof

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To ensure that COVID-19 contact tracers adequately represent the commu-
nities in which they are serving.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1. Requires the Suffolk County department of health services and
any other Suffolk County agency and any entity that hires persons to
perform COVID-19 contact tracing within Suffolk County to hire contact

tracers who are representative of the cultural and linguistic diversity
of the communities in which they serve, to the greatest extent possible.

Section 2. Requires the Suffolk County department of health services to
annually submit a report on contact tracer worker diversity within
Suffolk County.

Section 3. Requires the Nassau County department of health and any other
Nassau County agency and any entity that hires persons to perform
COVID-19 contact tracing within Nassau County to hire contact tracers
who are representative of the cultural and linguistic diversity of the
communities in which they serve, to the greatest extent possible.

Section 4. Requires the Nassau County department of health to annually
submit a report on contact tracer worker diversity within Nassau County.

Section 5. Sets out an immediate effective date and a repeal date of
January 1, 2022.

 
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND AMENDED VERSION (IF APPLICABLE):

N/A.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

COVID-19 contact tracers are an essential means to gradually and safely
reopening New York's economy. Contact tracers are tasked with notifying
and isolating potentially-exposed individuals as COVID-19 positive cases
are discovered. According to recent findings by Newsday, coronavirus
testing at community health centers in Nassau and Suffolk counties,
where the preponderance of patients are minorities with low incomes,
consistently has documented far higher rates of COVID-19 infection than
in the overall county populations, underscoring the prevalence of health
care disparities in communities of color.

Gaining trust is imperative for the success of contact tracing, and
ensuring that contact tracers have familiarity with varied languages and
cultural practices will help minimize further population exposure and
aid in stopping the spread of COVID-19. The Long Island region should
promote diversity in its contact tracing recruitment initiatives in
order to equitably distribute employment opportunities and enhance effi-
ciency in our contact tracing program.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:  None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire and be deemed
repealed January 1, 2022.

2019-S8476 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8476
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               June 3, 2020
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sen. MARTINEZ -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
 
 AN ACT to require that COVID-19  contact  tracers  in  the  counties  of
   Suffolk  and  Nassau  be representative of the cultural and linguistic
   diversity of the communities in  which  they  serve  to  the  greatest
   extent  possible; and providing for the repeal of such provisions upon
   the expiration thereof
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  The  Suffolk County department of health services and any
 other Suffolk County agency, and any entity that hires persons after the
 effective date of this act to  perform  contact  tracing  pertaining  to
 COVID-19 infections within the county of Suffolk, shall, to the greatest
 extent  possible,  hire  contact  tracers  who are representative of the
 cultural and linguistic diversity  of  the  communities  in  which  they
 serve.
   §  2.  The Suffolk County department of health services shall annually
 submit a report on contact tracer worker diversity within the county  of
 Suffolk including outreach efforts to recruit a diverse workforce to the
 governor,  the  temporary president of the senate and the speaker of the
 assembly beginning no later than December 31, 2020.
   § 3. The Nassau County department of health and any other Nassau Coun-
 ty agency, and any entity that hires persons after the effective date of
 this act to perform contact tracing pertaining  to  COVID-19  infections
 within  the  county  of  Nassau, shall, to the greatest extent possible,
 hire contact tracers who are representative of the cultural and linguis-
 tic diversity of the communities in which they serve.
   § 4. The Nassau County department of health shall  annually  submit  a
 report  on  contact  tracer worker diversity within the county of Nassau
 including outreach efforts to recruit a diverse workforce to the  gover-
 nor, the temporary president of the senate and the speaker of the assem-
 bly beginning no later than December 31, 2020.
   §  5.  This  act shall take effect immediately and shall expire and be
 deemed repealed January 1, 2022.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets

                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD16569-01-0

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