NY State Senate Bill 2021-S8217

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Finance 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

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Mar 21, 2022	notice of committee consideration - requested
Feb 02, 2022	referred to finance

co-Sponsors

View additional co-sponsors

2021-S8217 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A9691
Current Committee:: Senate Finance
Law Section:: Executive Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §168-a, Exec L
Versions Introduced in 2023-2024 Legislative Session:: S1135

2021-S8217 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Establishes March twenty-fifth as "We Care Remembrance Day".

2021-S8217 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S8217

SPONSOR: ORTT
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the executive law, in relation to establishing March
twenty-fifth of each year as a day of commemoration known as "We Care
Remembrance Day"

 
PURPOSE:

To amend the Executive Law to add March 25th as a day of commemoration
to be known as "We Care Remembrance Day" in the State of New York to
commemorate and honor the lives of nursing home and adult care facility
residents lost during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1: Amends section 168-a of the Executive Law to designate March
25th as "We Care Remembrance Day."

Section 2: Provides the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

On March 7, 2020, Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency in
response to the COVID-19 outbreak. While little was known about this
virus in the early days of the pandemic, it was clear that those who are
elderly, immunocompromised, or in congregate settings-such as nursing
homes and other residential healthcare facilities-were especially
vulnerable. For that reason, New York took drastic steps to suspend
visitation in nursing homes.

However, despite the State enforcing that extreme measure to prevent the
spread of COVID in these facilitates, on March 25, 2020, the Department
of Health released an order requiring nursing homes to re-admit or admit
COVID-positive patients and prohibiting these facilities from testing
patients for COVID-19. According to records, more than 9,000 patients
recovering from COVID-19 were discharged from hospitals into nursing
homes under this guidance before it was partially rescinded on May 10,
2020. In total, more than 15,000 residents of nursing homes and other
adult care facilities tragically died from this deadly virus.

While the former Governor's Administration contends that the March 25th
order had no impact on the rate of COVID infections in these facilities,
data suggests otherwise, and to date, the Legislature has consistently
failed to take any meaningful steps to fully investigate the State's
handling of the COVID crisis in these facilities.

Given the unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, complete and
accurate data is one of the greatest assets available to stakeholders to
inform fact-driven policy. It is critical that the State commissions a
full, independent review of its pandemic policies, learns from past
mistakes, and improves policies to prevent further loss.

From the beginning of this pandemic, it was clear that those in nursing
homes and residential health care facilities were some of the most
vulnerable to this virus, but unfortunately, the State failed to ensure
their health and safety was appropriately prioritized.
This legislation would designate March 25 as "We Care Remembrance Day"
in the State of New York to ensure that New Yorkers can pause to honor
the legacies of the 15,000+ nursing home residents who lost their lives
during the COVID-19 pandemic, reiterate the need to continue the push
for answers and accountability, and reaffirm our commitment to prevent-
ing the mistakes of the past from ever being repeated.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2021-S8217 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8217
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 2, 2022
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens.  ORTT,  TEDISCO,  SERINO -- read twice and ordered
   printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Finance
 
 AN ACT to amend the executive law, in  relation  to  establishing  March
   twenty-fifth  of each year as a day of commemoration known as "We Care
   Remembrance Day"
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Subdivision  3  of section 168-a of the executive law, as
 amended by chapter 237 of the laws  of  2020,  is  amended  to  read  as
 follows:
   3.  The  following  days  shall be days of commemoration in each year:
 January sixth, to be known as "Haym Salomon  Day",  January  twenty-sev-
 enth, to be known as "Holocaust Remembrance Day", February fourth, to be
 known  as "Rosa Parks Day", February fifteenth, to be known as "Susan B.
 Anthony Day", February sixteenth, to be known as  "Lithuanian  Independ-
 ence  Day",  February  twenty-eighth, to be known as "Gulf War Veterans'
 Day", March fourth, to be known as "Pulaski Day",  March  tenth,  to  be
 known  as  "Harriet  Tubman Day", MARCH TWENTY-FIFTH, TO BE KNOWN AS "WE
 CARE REMEMBRANCE DAY", March  twenty-ninth,  to  be  known  as  "Vietnam
 Veterans' Day", April ninth, to be known as "POW Recognition Day", April
 twenty-seventh,  to  be known as "Coretta Scott King Day", April twenty-
 eighth, to be known as "Workers' Memorial Day", the first Tuesday in May
 to be known as "New York State Teacher  Day",  May  seventeenth,  to  be
 known  as "Thurgood Marshall Day", the first Sunday in June, to be known
 as "Children's Day", June second, to be known as  "Italian  Independence
 Day",  June  twelfth,  to  be known as "Women Veterans Recognition Day",
 June nineteenth, to be known as "Juneteenth Freedom Day",  June  twenty-
 fifth,  to  be known as "Korean War Veterans' Day", the second Monday in
 July, to be known  as  "Abolition  Commemoration  Day",  August  twenty-
 fourth,  to  be  known  as  "Ukrainian Independence Day", August twenty-
 sixth, to be known as "Women's Equality Day", September eleventh, to  be
 known  as "Battle of Plattsburgh Day" and also to be known as "September
 11th Remembrance Day", September thirteenth, to be known as "John  Barry
 Day"  and  also to be known as "Uncle Sam Day in the State of New York",
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD14501-01-2
 S. 8217                             2
 
 September seventeenth, to be known as  "Friedrich  Wilhelm  von  Steuben
 Memorial  Day",  the  third Friday in September to be known as "New York
 State POW/MIA Recognition Day" except  if  such  date  of  commemoration
 cannot  be  observed  due to a religious holiday, such observances shall
 then be conducted on the second Friday of September, the  last  Saturday
 in  September,  to be known as "War of 1812 Day", the fourth Saturday of
 September, known as "Native-American Day", the last Sunday in September,
 to be known as "Gold Star Mothers' Day", October fifth, to be  known  as
 "Raoul Wallenberg Day", October eleventh, to be known as "New Netherland
 Day in the State of New York", October eighteenth, to be known as "Disa-
 bilities  History Day", October twenty-seventh, to be known as "Theodore
 Roosevelt Day", November ninth, to be known as  "Witness  for  Tolerance
 Day", November twelfth, to be known as "Elizabeth Cady Stanton Day", the
 third  Tuesday in November to be known as "New York State School-Related
 Professionals Recognition Day",  November  thirtieth,  to  be  known  as
 "Shirley  Chisholm  Day",  December third, to be known as "International
 Day of Persons with Disabilities", December  seventh,  to  be  known  as
 "Pearl  Harbor  Day",  December sixteenth, to be known as "Bastogne Day"
 and that day of the Asian lunar calendar designated as new  year  to  be
 known as "Asian New Year".
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Senate Bill S8217

Sponsored By

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Finance Committee

co-Sponsors

2021-S8217 (ACTIVE) - Details

2021-S8217 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2021-S8217 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2021-S8217 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments

Senate Bill S8217

Share this bill

Sponsored By

Robert G. Ortt

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Finance Committee

co-Sponsors

James Tedisco

Susan Serino

Daphne Jordan

Peter Oberacker

2021-S8217 (ACTIVE) - Details

2021-S8217 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2021-S8217 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2021-S8217 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments