Provides for the review of policies and practices pertaining to emerging infectious disease outbreaks in correctional facilities

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Gustavo Rivera says this is needed

New York has over 33,970 inmates housed within the Department of Commu- nity and Correctional Services (DOCCS), who rely on correctional health care providers for their medical care. Many inmates are at high risk for illnesses related to poverty, addiction, or mental illness. In the event of an emerging infectious disease, the inability to maintain personal distance and lack of access to sanitary supplies increases the risk even further. Subdivision 26 of PHL 206, enacted in 2009, authorized the Department of Health (DOH) to review policies and practices in DOCCS and local facili- ties relating to HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C. Implementation includes review of HIV and Hepatitis C services in DOCCS facilities done by State contractor IPRO, including on-site reviews, staff interviews, and medical record review. The 2009 law has been successful in addressing HIV/AIDS with a viral suppression rate consistently over 90% in DOCCS. Advocates have urged the expansion of this successful law. In 2019, the Governor vetoed a bill that would've expanded it to additional inmate categories and conditions despite calling it "laudable" in his veto message. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Governor signed a bill that would've added "emerging infectious diseases" to the HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C oversight but required a chapter amendment narrowing it explicitly to just COVID-19. That chapter amendment was signed in early 2021. Rather than having to name individual diseases every time there is an outbreak, this bill would enact the "emerging infectious diseases" language intended in 2020 before the chapter amendment.

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.