Enacts the Public Health Modernization Act

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Erik Bottcher says this is needed

For nearly a century, prior to the mid 1980s, New York City was home to adult saunas, also known as bathhouses, which were establishments that provided sauna, bathing, and social spaces where adults could relax, socialize, and, at times, engage in consensual sexual activity. Adult saunas became especially important gathering places for members of the queer community because they offered a more inclusive and liberating environment at a time when they were subjected to widespread social stigma, street violence, police harassment, and more. Beyond mere sexual spaces, adult saunas functioned as community hubs where members of the queer community could organize and express them- selves openly without fear, helping to lay the groundwork for early LGBTQ+ rights activism. Everything changed with the emergence of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s. The disease devastated New York City, overwhelming hospi- tals and causing the deaths of thousands of people. State and city offi- cials faced mounting pressure to respond as scientists worked to better understand how the disease was transmitted and as public health offi- cials sought strategies to reduce high-risk behaviors. In October 1985, the New York State Public Health Council adopted emer- gency amendments to the State Sanitary Code, later codified as 10 NYCRR Subpart 24-2, prohibiting the operation of establishments that permitted specified sexual activity on the premises and declaring such establish- ments to be a threat to the public health. Although written in broader terms, the regulations were widely understood to have been adopted primarily to close gay saunas, which became the principal focus of their enforcement. The original 1985 regulation listed anal intercourse and fellatio as "high risk sexual activity"; the rule was amended to explic- itly include "vaginal intercourse" nearly a decade later. The closure of gay saunas reflected an emergency public health strategy adopted during a period of extraordinary fear and uncertainty surround- ing HIV/AIDS. Critics have long argued that closing regulated venues displaced sexual activity into less visible settings while reducing opportunities for public health engagement. Four decades later, the scientific and public health landscape has fundamentally changed. HIV is now preventable through tools including PrEP, PEP, routine testing, effective antiretroviral therapy, and proven harm reduction strategies. Yet the emergency-era regulation adopted in 1985 remains in effect despite the dramatic evolution of public health science. The Public Health Modernization Act repeals the outdated prohibition contained in 10 NYCRR Subpart 24-2 and directs the Department of Health, in consultation with public health experts, to establish a modern licensing and regulatory framework governing adult saunas. The legis- lation preserves public health oversight while replacing an emergency- era prohibition with evidence-based standards focused on health, safety, education, and harm reduction. Many cities across the United States permit adult saunas, and this legislation comes as more cities across the country are reexamining policies enacted during the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Earlier this year, Minneapolis repealed its 38-year AIDS-era ban on adult saunas, with Mayor Jacob Frey signing the legislation just before the city's Pride celebration. San Francisco has likewise moved away from outright bans, adopting regulations that allow saunas to operate under strict public health standards. The emergency regulations adopted in 1985 were implemented during an unprecedented public health crisis, at a time of widespread fear, limit- ed scientific knowledge, and few effective tools to prevent or treat HIV. Four decades later, those circumstances have fundamentally changed. New York's public health policies should reflect current science, protect individual liberty, and promote health through education, licensing, oversight, and harm reduction rathe

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.