Bill Text: NY S05057 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes the COVID-19 nursing home commission to investigate the governor's administration and the department of health's conduct with regard to nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - REFERRED TO FINANCE [S05057 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-S05057-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5057 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN SENATE February 22, 2021 ___________ Introduced by Sen. GRIFFO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Finance AN ACT establishing the COVID-19 nursing home commission to provide a non-partisan investigation of the Cuomo administration and department of health's conduct with regard to nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Legislative findings. On March 25, 2020, the department of 2 health issued guidance that "no (nursing home) resident shall be denied 3 re-admission or admission to the nursing home solely based on a 4 confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19." The guidance also prohib- 5 ited nursing homes from requiring a hospitalized resident who was deter- 6 mined to be medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admis- 7 sion or readmission. 8 Over the summer, serious questions began to surface about how the 9 Cuomo administration and New York state's department of health was 10 counting COVID-19 deaths of nursing home patients. This came to a head 11 on August 26, 2020, when the department of justice stated they would 12 initiate investigations under the civil rights of institutionalized 13 persons act (CRIPA) regarding New York, New Jersey, Michigan and 14 Pennsylvania's responses to COVID-19 in public nursing homes. 15 On January 28, 2021, the New York state office of the attorney general 16 released a bombshell report that determined the Cuomo administration had 17 undercounted deaths in nursing homes due to COVID-19 by as much as fifty 18 percent. 19 This bombshell report was followed by a shocking revelation made by 20 secretary to the governor, Melissa DeRosa, during a closed door meeting 21 with members of the majority conferences of the legislature, in which 22 the secretary admitted the Cuomo administration "froze" when the depart- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD09874-01-1S. 5057 2 1 ment of justice requested information on how the Cuomo administration 2 responded to COVID-19 in nursing homes. 3 This commission is established to determine whether a cover-up was 4 occurring within the governor's administration during the months follow- 5 ing the March 25th department of health guidance and whether any uneth- 6 ical or criminal behavior occurred during that time. 7 The commission will be comprised of four district attorneys from 8 across the state, each appointed by a legislative leader. 9 The commission will publicize a report with a detailed account of 10 their activities and findings. Due to the lack of transparency coming 11 out of the Cuomo administration and the department of health over the 12 past several months, it is incumbent that this report be made public to 13 try to gain back some of the public's trust. 14 § 2. Definitions. As used in this act, "nursing home" means a nursing 15 home as defined in section 2801 of the public health law. 16 § 3. COVID-19 nursing home commission. a. A temporary state commis- 17 sion, to be known as the COVID-19 nursing home commission, is estab- 18 lished to investigate the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in nursing 19 homes in this state. The commission is hereby created to investigate the 20 Cuomo administration and the New York state department of health's 21 response to COVID-19 in nursing homes, specifically decisions made 22 before and after the March 25, 2020 department of health guidance 23 outlined in section one of this act. 24 b. (i) The commission shall consist of four members to be appointed as 25 follows: one member shall be appointed by the temporary president of the 26 senate, one member shall be appointed by the speaker of the assembly, 27 one member shall be appointed by the minority leader of the senate and 28 one member shall be appointed by the minority leader of the assembly. 29 (ii) All appointees to the commission shall be a current or former 30 district attorney of a county of this state. 31 (iii) All members of the commission shall be appointed within ten days 32 of the effective date of this act. 33 (iv) The commission may employ and at pleasure remove personnel, as it 34 may deem necessary for the performance of its functions and fix their 35 compensation within the amounts made available by appropriation thereof. 36 (v) The members of the commission shall receive no compensation for 37 their services but shall be allowed their actual and necessary expenses 38 incurred in the performance of their duties hereunder. Nothing contained 39 herein shall prohibit a member of the commission from receiving his or 40 her salary earned due to their county or state employee position. 41 (vi) The commission shall be entitled to request and receive and shall 42 utilize and be provided with such facilities, resources and data of any 43 court, department, division, board, bureau, commission, agency or public 44 authority of the state or any political subdivision thereof as it may 45 reasonably request to properly carry out its powers and duties pursuant 46 to this act. 47 (vii) The commission may administer oaths or affirmations, subpoena 48 witnesses, compel their attendance, examine them under oath or affirma- 49 tion and require the production of any books, records, documents or 50 other evidence it may deem relevant or material to the investigation. 51 § 4. Report. The commission shall make a report of its findings, 52 including, but not limited to any ethical or criminal violations the 53 commission believes were committed. The report shall provide a detailed 54 account of the activities and findings of the commission. The report 55 shall be submitted to the governor, the temporary president of the 56 senate, the speaker of the assembly, the minority leader of the senate,S. 5057 3 1 the minority leader of the assembly and the office of the attorney 2 general and shall be published on the office of the attorney general's 3 website. 4 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately and shall be deemed 5 repealed upon the commission's submission of the report to the governor, 6 the legislature and the office of the attorney general as provided for 7 in section four of this act; provided that the COVID-19 nursing home 8 commission shall notify the legislative bill drafting commission upon 9 the occurrence of the delivery of the report provided for in section 10 four of this act in order that the commission may maintain an accurate 11 and timely effective data base of the official text of the laws of the 12 state of New York in furtherance of effectuating the provisions of 13 section 44 of the legislative law and section 70-b of the public offi- 14 cers law.
