S2481-2013 Actions

• Jan 17, 2013: REFERRED TO CITIES

S2481-2013 Memo

BILL NUMBER:S2481

TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the New York city health and hospitals
corporation act, in relation to the financing of acute care or
emergency room facilities

PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: To provide for the financing of
emergency room facilities in two hospitals in each borough by the New
York City Health and Hospitals Corporation.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS: This legislation amends Section 6 of
1 of Chapter 1016 of the Laws of 1969 - the New York City Health and
Hospitals Corporation Act - by adding a new subdivision 8 to provide
that the corporation shall finance the operation of at least two acute
care or emergency room facilities which are located in two separate
hospitals in each borough within the city.

EXISTING LAW:  THE NEW YORK CITY HEALTH AND HOSPITALS CORPORATION ACT
WAS CREATED BY CHAPTER 1016 OF THE LAWS OF 1969.

JUSTIFICATION: The New York City health and hospitals corporation act
was adopted in 1969 and declared that "the provision and delivery of
comprehensive care and treatment of the ill and infirm, both physical
and mental, are of vital and paramount concern and essential to the
protection and promotion of the health, safety and welfare of the
inhabitants of the State of New York and the City of New York." It
further provided that the New York City health and hospital
corporation should be created to provide such health and medical
services and health facilities. That corporation currently has at
least 20 facilities under its jurisdiction including: Kings County
Hospital, Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center, and Coney Island
Hospital in Brooklyn; Harlem Hospital Center and Metropolitan Hospital
Center in Manhattan: Jacobi Medical Center and North Central Bronx
Hospital in the Bronx; as well as Elmhurst Hospital Center and Queens
Hospital in Queens.

Staten Island is a borough of nearly 12 million people without a
single NYC HHC hospital to meet the needs of the residents, as
proclaimed by the intent of the New York City Health and Hospital
Corporation act. The private facilities on Staten Island cannot handle
the burgeoning population on Staten Island without additional
resources.

This legislation requires the City of New York to accept the
responsibility it was charged with more than 35 years ago and has
neglected to date: the care and treatment of the ill and infirm on
Staten Island. It will require the City to provide funding for at
least two hospital emergency rooms in each borough. The bill requires
the City to merely provide the funding so that the City could pay the
existing hospitals on Staten Island to help expand their emergency
rooms to meet the needs of the people. It does not require the HHC to
build two hospitals.  The legislation also mandates that at least one
of the members of the health and hospitals corporation reside in each
Borough. While that is the current makeup of the Board, there is
nothing currently in place to mandate such a common sense requirement.


PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: 2012: A62 - Died in Ways and Means; 2010:
A.7404 - Died in Ways & Means; 2008: A.3380 - Held for Consideration
in Ways & Means; 2006: A6289 - Died in Corporations, Authorities and
Commissions

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Immediately.

S2481-2013 Text

 S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 
 
                                         2481
 2013-2014 Regular Sessions
 I N  SENATE
 January 17, 2013
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  LANZA  -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
 printed to be committed to the Committee on Cities
 

AN ACT to amend the New York city health and hospitals corporation  act,
 in  relation  to the financing of acute care or emergency room facili
 ties
 THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

 

Section 1.

Section 6 of section 1 of chapter 1016 of the laws of 1969,
 constituting  the New York city health and hospitals corporation act, is
 amended by adding a new subdivision 8 to read as follows:

 8. THE CORPORATION SHALL FINANCE THE OPERATION OF AT LEAST  TWO  ACUTE
 CARE  OR  EMERGENCY  ROOM  FACILITIES  WHICH ARE LOCATED IN TWO SEPARATE
 HOSPITALS IN EACH BOROUGH WITHIN THE CITY.
 

S 2. Subdivision 1 of section 4 of section 1 of chapter  1016  of  the
 laws of 1969, constituting the New York city health and hospitals corpo
 ration act, is amended to read as follows:

 1.  A corporation, to be known as the "New York city health and hospi
 tals corporation," is hereby created. Such corporation shall be  a  body
 corporate  and  politic  constituting  a  public benefit corporation. It
 shall be administered by a board  of  directors  consisting  of  sixteen
 members, constituted as follows: five directors shall be the administra
 tor,  the  commissioner  appointed  by the mayor as chief administrative
 officer of the health functions of the administration, the  director  of
 community  mental health services of the administration, the administra
 tor of human resources of the city, and the deputy  mayor-city  adminis
 trator  of  the  city,  or their successors, all serving ex-officio; ten
 directors shall be appointed by the mayor, five of whom shall be  desig
 nated  by  the  city council of the city of New York AND SHALL INCLUDE A
 REPRESENTATIVE FROM EACH OF THE FIVE BOROUGHS; and the remaining  direc
 tor  shall be the chief executive officer of the corporation. Such chief
 executive officer shall be chosen by the aforementioned  fifteen  direc
 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
 [ ] is old law to be omitted.
 LBD00761-01-3
 
       S. 2481                             2
 tors  from persons other than themselves and shall serve at the pleasure
 of the board. The terms of the ten  directors  first  appointed  by  the
 mayor, other than those serving ex-officio shall be as follows:

 Two  shall  serve  for  terms of one year each, one of whom shall have
 been designated by the city council;
 Two shall serve for terms of two years each, one of  whom  shall  have
 been designated by the city council;
 Two  shall serve for terms of three years each, one of whom shall have
 been designated by the city council;
 Two shall serve for terms of four years each, one of whom  shall  have
 been designated by the city council;
 Two  shall  serve for terms of five years each, one of whom shall have
 been designated by the city council;
 thereafter their successors shall serve for terms of  five  years  each.
 The  mayor  shall  fill  any vacancy which may occur by reason of death,
 resignation or otherwise  in  a  manner  consistent  with  the  original
 appointment.  Directors  may  be removed by the mayor for cause, but not
 without an opportunity to be heard.
 

S 3. This act shall take effect immediately.

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