Permits the commissioner of health to designate local health officials to request copies of certain reports and records

• Democratic4
• Republican1

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why April Baskin says this is needed

The United States is facing an overdose epidemic. In New York State, there were 6,358 reported overdose-related deaths in 2022 and a high death rate of 31.4 according to the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics. To combat this overdose epidemic, public health officials need access to accurate and real time data to better develop and target evidence-based public health interventions. Under county health law section 677, county coroners and medical examin- ers are directed to make inquiries into unnatural deaths, including overdose deaths. This same section allows the New York State Commission- er of Health, or their designee, to request all copies of reports and records related to a death, including, but not limited to, autopsy reports and toxicology reports. The current law does not include a provision allowing a local health official to request these reports, so local health officials cannot get copies of these reports. It is imper- ative that local health officials be able to access this information as they are charged with reducing preventable injury and death and to perform public health surveillance. Local health officials must have access to this information and data to monitor morbidity and mortality trends in their jurisdictions and to determine how to best allocate resources to combat the overdose epidemic. This provision will allow the Commissioner to designate their powers to the local public health offi- cials to remove a barrier that exists with public health responses to overdose deaths.

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.