The scheduled 2018 New York State Legislative Session concluded last week amid many of the same speculations and controversies that have characterized all of the Legislature’s activities in recent years.  Once again, much of the activity turned on the Legislature’s tense relationship with the Governor, ongoing questions about control of the Senate, and a backdrop of corruption trials that continue to erode public confidence in State government.  This year, legislative activity was more constrained than usual, owing to the Senate’s inability to maintain a commanding majority on a consistent basis, which was attributable to the recent dissolution of the Independent Democratic Conference and the absence of one majority Senator serving in the United States Navy.  While the Senate was not entirely paralyzed, and at one point even accomplished a rare override of a gubernatorial veto, many legislative initiatives that were anticipated to move did not.

But even in this challenging year, many bills were passed in the health and mental hygiene space.  Examples include:

  •  Pharmacy:  The Legislature passed bills requiring manufacturers engaged in the manufacture of covered drugs sold in New York State to develop and operationalize a statewide pharmaceutical take back program, and authorizing the reclassification of controlled substances by regulation rather than by statute.
  •  Hospitals:  Legislation was passed that would require the Department of Health (DOH) to establish a sexual assault victim bill of rights, which hospitals must provide to every sexual offense victim presenting at the hospital.  Other legislation would authorize hospitals to establish standing orders for nurses caring for newborns, allow a nurse practitioner to witness and serve as a health care proxy, establish new standards for clinical laboratory supervision, and require the Office of Mental Health to supply educational materials to hospitals regarding discharge planning for individuals with mental health disorders.
  • Long Term Care:  Bills were passed related to virtually all aspects of the long term care continuum, including bills allowing residents of an assisted living program to access hospice services, requiring DOH to provide written notice to residents of adult care facilities when a temporary operator has been appointed, and clarifying the scope of the long term care ombudsman program.
  • Behavioral Health:  The Legislature approved bills related to maternal depression, the mental health impacts of tick-borne diseases, geriatric mental health services, and suicide prevention, among other mental health issues.  Bills passed in the substance use disorder space include a bill making it a crime for providers of substance abuse services to offer or accept kickbacks in exchange for patient referrals, a bill requiring the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services to provide information to school districts regarding the misuse and abuse of alcohol, tobacco, prescription medication and other drugs, and a bill allowing the use of medical marijuana as an alternative to opioids.
  • Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities:  Bills passed in this space include bills to establish identification cards for individuals with developmental disabilities, to allow individuals with developmental disabilities to be accompanied by staff of the same gender when utilizing transportation, to require 85% of the proceeds from the sale of Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) property to be used for state-operated residential or community services, to prohibit OPWDD from changing the auspice of any individualized residential alternative that is operated by the state, and to study and improve outreach concerning autism spectrum disorder.
  • Public Health: A number of the bills passed this session did not deal with specific types of providers, but rather addressed more general public health concerns.  Among these bills were a bill prohibiting discrimination in the provision of insurance based on the fact that an insured is a living organ or tissue donor and authorizing family leave to provide care during transplant preparation and recovery, bills prohibiting smoking in private homes where licensed child care services are provided or within 100 feet of library entrances, further restricting minors’ access to tanning facilities, a bill restricting minors’ access to electronic cigarettes, and bills addressing prostate cancer, Lyme disease, lupus, lymphedema, and lead poisoning.

Each of the bills mentioned above, and many others, now await action by the Governor, and it remains possible that the Legislature will return this year – possibly even in the very near future – to act on additional priority legislation that could not be moved before the conclusion of the scheduled session.  Once a bill is passed by the Legislature, it can be sent to the Governor for action at any point prior to the end of the calendar year, and in practice the bills are sent in several batches over the remainder of the year.  The Governor and Legislature work together to coordinate the timing of those batches, to ensure that the Governor’s staff has adequate time to review each bill and brief the Governor on it.

Once a bill is sent, the Governor has ten days to either approve it or veto it (not including Sundays); if by some chance the Governor fails to act (a very rare occurrence), the bill becomes law.  The only exception to these rules occurs at the end of the year, when the Governor is given thirty days to act, and the failure to act constitutes a veto (the so-called “pocket veto”).

If he vetoes a bill, the Governor will produce a veto message explaining his position.  He may also provide an approval message explaining his position on bills he has approved.  Where a bill comes close to something that the Governor could approve, but the Governor does not want to approve it in its current form, it is not uncommon for the Governor to negotiate “chapter amendments” with the Legislature, pursuant to which the Governor agrees to sign the bill in return for a promise from the Senate and Assembly that they will pass additional legislation at the next available opportunity to amend the bill language to address the Governor’s concerns.

This article represents the first in a series that will review the key bills in each of the foregoing categories in more detail, including both the bills listed above and others.  At this time, in most cases it is impossible to say with certainty how the Governor will act on each bill, but where appropriate, we will provide our best guess.  In the meantime, if you have any questions concerning the foregoing, please do not hesitate to contact Farrell Fritz’s Regulatory & Government Relations Practice Group at 518.313.1450 or NYSRGR@FarrellFritz.com.