Bill Text: NY S04741 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Enacts "Stephen's law"; requires certified treatment programs to notify patients of their right to name an emergency contact.

Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-1)

Status: (Passed) 2020-11-11 - SIGNED CHAP.270 [S04741 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-S04741-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         4741--B

                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                     March 22, 2019
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sens. HARCKHAM, ORTT, BIAGGI, CARLUCCI, KAPLAN, KENNEDY,
          KRUEGER, MARTINEZ, RAMOS -- read twice and ordered printed,  and  when
          printed  to  be committed to the Committee on Alcoholism and Substance
          Abuse -- reported favorably from said committee and committed  to  the
          Committee on Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities -- committee
          discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
          to  said  committee  -- recommitted to the Committee on Alcoholism and
          Substance Abuse in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 --  committee
          discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
          to said committee

        AN  ACT to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to requiring certi-
          fied treatment programs to notify patients of their right to  name  an
          emergency contact

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. This act shall be known and  may  be  cited  as  "Stephen's
     2  law".
     3    § 2. The mental hygiene law is amended by adding a new section 32.17-a
     4  to read as follows:
     5  § 32.17-a Notification of emergency contact.
     6    Every  certified treatment program shall notify every patient of their
     7  right to identify individuals who should be contacted in case  of  emer-
     8  gency, as such term is defined by the commissioner.
     9    §  3.  The  office  of  addiction  services and supports shall develop
    10  guidelines to  encourage  certified  treatment  programs  to  work  with
    11  patients  to  identify individuals who can assist in their treatment and
    12  recovery, and to identify those individuals who can serve as an emergen-
    13  cy contact person  for  such  patient.  Such  guidelines  shall  provide
    14  instruction to certified treatment programs regarding recommended proto-
    15  cols for communicating with emergency contacts.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD05434-08-9
        S. 4741--B                          2

     1    § 4. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
     2  it  shall  have  become a law. Effective immediately, the development of
     3  guidelines necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective
     4  date are authorized to be made and completed on or before such date.