Relates to witnesses to a health care proxy; changes the witness requirement for the health care proxy from two adult witnesses to one adult witness; makes an exception for persons who reside in mental health facilities by requiring such persons to have two adult witnesses; includes falsely making or altering a health care proxy within the crime of forgery in the second degree.
S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
721
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
I N A S S E M B L Y
(PREFILED)
January 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ROSENTHAL, BRONSON, DAVILA -- Multi-Sponsored by
-- M. of A. GLICK, LUPARDO, McDONOUGH -- read once and referred to
the Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to witnesses to a
health care proxy and to amend the penal law, in relation to the crime
of forgery in the second degree
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 2 of section 2981 of the
public health law, as amended by chapter 708 of the laws of 2019, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) A competent adult may appoint a health care agent by a health care
proxy, signed and dated by the adult in the presence of [two] ONE adult
[witnesses] WITNESS who shall also sign the proxy. HOWEVER, A PERSON WHO
RESIDES IN A FACILITY OPERATED OR LICENSED BY THE OFFICE OF MENTAL
HEALTH OR THE OFFICE FOR PEOPLE WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES, SHALL
SIGN SUCH PROXY IN THE PRESENCE OF TWO ADULT WITNESSES WHO SHALL ALSO
SIGN THE PROXY. Another person, WHO SHALL NOT BE A WITNESS, may sign and
date the health care proxy for the adult if the adult is unable to do
so, at the adult's direction and in the adult's presence, and in the
presence of [two adult] THE WITNESS OR witnesses who shall sign the
proxy. The WITNESS OR witnesses shall state that the principal appeared
to execute the proxy willingly and free from duress. The person
appointed as agent shall not act as witness to execution of the health
care proxy.
§ 2. Subdivision 1 of section 170.10 of the penal law, as amended by
chapter 949 of the laws of 1984, is amended to read as follows:
1. A deed, will, codicil, contract, assignment, commercial instrument,
credit card, as that term is defined in subdivision seven of section
155.00 OF THIS PART, HEALTH CARE PROXY UNDER ARTICLE TWENTY-NINE-C OF
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
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.