S1987-2013 Actions

• Jan 9, 2013: REFERRED TO HEALTH

S1987-2013 Meetings

S1987-2013 Memo

BILL NUMBER:S1987

TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the public health law, in relation to
prohibiting smoking on hospital grounds and residential health care
facilities

PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:  The purpose of this bill is to prohib-
it smoking on the campus grounds and within fifteen feet of the property
lines of general hospitals, residential health care facilities and other
health care facilities licensed by the state in which persons reside.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:  Section one of the bill amends public
health law section 1399-0 to add a new paragraph b to subsection 2 of
that section Prohibiting smoking in outdoor areas of hospital grounds,
and within fifteen feet of such grounds or entrance or exit of such
facilities. This section also amends subsection 2 of such section to
include paragraphs "a" and "b". Section two of the bill sets forth the
effective date.

JUSTIFICATION: The facts are clear, secondhand smoke kills.  Nationwide,
it has been linked to over 46,000 deaths annually from heart disease and
3,600 deaths from lung cancer in nonsmokers.  Additionally, secondhand
smoke is responsible for lung infections and ear infections in children,
as well as exacerbation of childhood asthma and hospitalizations related
to all of these maladies.

Health care facilities are the places we go to get treatment, heal and
recover from serious health concerns. They should not be the place where
our health concerns start or are worsened. No child leaving a hospital
after suffering a life-threatening asthma attack should be forced to
walk through a cloud of secondhand smoke, a known asthma trigger. Hospi-
tals and other residential health care facilities are not only the plac-
es where the most vulnerable among us must go to heal, but they are also
the places where the example of smoke-free positive health practices
should be conspicuous.

Smoking within these health care facilities is already prohibited under
state law. The City of New York instituted a smoking ban within 15 feet
of hospital grounds, entrances and exits in 2009. In addition to this,
over 100 hospitals in New York State have already voluntarily instituted
such smoking bans. This bill is necessary to extend the prohibition
statewide, protecting those living, working and visiting in health care
facilities from exposure to the life-threatening dangers of secondhand
smoke.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: S. 7527 - 2012

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it
shall have become law.

S1987-2013 Text

 S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 
 
                                         1987
 2013-2014 Regular Sessions
 I N  SENATE
 (PREFILED)
 January 9, 2013
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. MARTINS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
 printed to be committed to the Committee on Health
 

AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to prohibiting  smok
 ing on hospital grounds and residential health care facilities
 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

 

Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 1399-o of the public  health  law,
 as  added  by  chapter  389  of  the laws of 2011, is amended to read as
 follows:

 2. Smoking shall not be permitted and no person  shall  smoke  in  the
 following outdoor areas:

 A. ticketing, boarding or platform areas of railroad stations operated
 by the metropolitan transportation authority or its subsidiaries.
 B.  ON  THE  GROUNDS  OF GENERAL HOSPITALS AND RESIDENTIAL HEALTH CARE
 FACILITIES AS DEFINED IN ARTICLE TWENTY-EIGHT OF THIS CHAPTER, AND OTHER
 HEALTH CARE FACILITIES LICENSED BY THE STATE IN  WHICH  PERSONS  RESIDE,
 WITHIN  FIFTEEN  FEET  OF  A BUILDING ENTRANCE OR EXIT OR WITHIN FIFTEEN
 FEET OF THE ENTRANCE TO OR EXIT FROM THE GROUNDS  OF  ANY  SUCH  GENERAL
 HOSPITAL, RESIDENTIAL HEALTH CARE FACILITY OR OTHER HEALTH CARE FACILITY
 LICENSED BY THE STATE IN WHICH PERSONS RESIDE.
 

S  2.  This  act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
 have become a law.
 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
 [ ] is old law to be omitted.
 LBD02673-01-3

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