S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
5027
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
I N A S S E M B L Y
February 11, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. JACOBSON, MAGNARELLI, EACHUS -- read once and
referred to the Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to requiring the
department of health to develop rules for all courts in New York state
to protect the court employees and the public from COVID-19
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 201 of the public health law is
amended by adding a new paragraph (z) to read as follows:
(Z) DEVELOP RULES, STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES FOR MEASURES TO BE IMPLE-
MENTED AT EVERY COURT IN THE STATE TO PROTECT THE COURT EMPLOYEES AND
THE PUBLIC FROM THE SPREAD OF THE NOVEL CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) INCLUD-
ING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO: (I) PROTECTIVE BARRIERS TO BE INSTALLED AT THE
JUDGE'S BENCH, THE WITNESS STAND, THE JURY BOX AND SUCH OTHER LOCATIONS
AS THE DEPARTMENT SHALL DEEM NECESSARY; (II) STANDARDS FOR SOCIAL
DISTANCING AND THE WEARING OF FACE COVERINGS BY COURT EMPLOYEES AND BY
MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC PARTICIPATING IN OR WATCHING COURT PROCEEDINGS;
(III) TESTING OF ALL COURT EMPLOYEES AFTER IT IS DISCOVERED THAT A COURT
EMPLOYEE OR MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC AT THE COURT FACILITY HAS TESTED POSI-
TIVE FOR COVID-19; (IV) QUARANTINE OF ANY COURT EMPLOYEE WHO HAS TESTED
POSITIVE AND THE REQUIREMENT THAT SAID INFECTED EMPLOYEE PRODUCE A NEGA-
TIVE TEST RESULT BEFORE BEING ALLOWED TO RETURN TO WORK; AND (V) SUCH
OTHER MEASURES AS THE DEPARTMENT MAY DEEM NECESSARY OR DESIRABLE.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02378-01-5
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profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published.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.