Bill Text: NY A07998 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Establishes a Minority Coordinating Council on Asthmatic Affairs within the department of health to assess the asthma risk factors for the minority citizens of our state, counties and regions; identifies the existing barriers to quality asthma treatment and care among minorities; develops action steps for addressing care issues; launches a state-wide asthma awareness campaign to educate our citizens about the disease; requires report.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 37-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-01-03 - referred to health [A07998 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-A07998-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          7998
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                      May 25, 2017
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by M. of A. ARROYO -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. ABINAN-
          TI, BENEDETTO, BICHOTTE, BLAKE, BUCHWALD, COOK, CRESPO, DAVILA, DILAN,
          DINOWITZ, FARRELL, GALEF, GUNTHER, HEVESI,  HOOPER,  HYNDMAN,  JAFFEE,
          JEAN-PIERRE, JOYNER, LOPEZ, M. G. MILLER, MOSLEY, ORTIZ, OTIS, PAULIN,
          PEOPLES-STOKES,  PERRY, PICHARDO, PRETLOW, RIVERA, RODRIGUEZ, SEPULVE-
          DA, SIMON, STECK, TITONE, TITUS,  WALKER,  WEPRIN  --  read  once  and
          referred to the Committee on Health
        AN ACT to establish a Minority Coordinating Council on Asthmatic Affairs
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may  be  cited  as
     2  the "Lydia Soto law".
     3    §  2.  Legislative findings and intent. According to the American Lung
     4  Association, there are over 1.6 million New Yorkers  with  asthma,  with
     5  over  380,000 of them being children. The annual cost of asthma is esti-
     6  mated to be nearly 18 billion dollars. Access to health care for  ethnic
     7  minorities is often hampered by socio-economic disparities, shortages of
     8  primary  care  physicians in minority communities, language and literacy
     9  barriers, and cultural beliefs about the role and  usefulness  of  medi-
    10  cines.  There have emerged clear disparities in the burden and treatment
    11  of asthma in the communities of ethnic minorities. The burden of  asthma
    12  falls  disproportionately  on  the  African-American  and Hispanic popu-
    13  lations, and especially on children of these ethnic  minorities.  There-
    14  fore,  it  is  the  intent  of this legislature to create a coordinating
    15  council to address these issues and to improve awareness and  management
    16  of asthma prevention and treatment for minorities in this state.
    17    §  3. The commissioner of health shall establish a Minority Coordinat-
    18  ing Council on Asthmatic Affairs. The commissioner shall appoint as many
    19  members as he or she  determines  appropriate.  Such  members  shall  be
    20  representative  of  those regions of the state with significant minority
    21  populations and shall include health care professionals  with  knowledge
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD02377-01-7
        A. 7998                             2
     1  and  experience  in  the  prevention  and treatment of asthma and in the
     2  areas of public health care funding. The council shall be  tasked  with:
     3  (a)  assessing the asthma risk factors for the minority citizens of this
     4  state,  its  counties and regions; (b) identifying the existing barriers
     5  to quality asthma treatment and care among  minorities;  (c)  developing
     6  action  steps for addressing care issues; and (d) launching a state-wide
     7  asthma awareness campaign to educate citizens  about  the  disease,  its
     8  symptoms, and the ability to better manage asthma through prevention and
     9  treatment. The council shall deliver an annual report addressing various
    10  asthma program successes, new trends, data and issues surrounding minor-
    11  ity  populations  suffering from asthma to the governor and the legisla-
    12  ture beginning September 1, 2021, and annually thereafter.
    13    § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.