Prohibits smoking on the grounds of general hospitals and residential health care facilities

4 Co-sponsors

• Tony Avella
• Kevin S. Parker
• Michael H. Ranzenhofer
• Gustavo Rivera

BILL NUMBER:S1987A

Title of bill

An act to amend the public health law, in relation to prohibiting smoking on hospital grounds and residential health care facilities

Purpose or general idea of bill

To prohibit smoking on the campus grounds and within 15 feet of the property lines of hospitals and residential health care facilities.

Summary of specific provisions

Section one of the bill amends Section 1399-o of the Public Health Law to prohibit smoking outdoors on the grounds of hospitals and residential health care facilities, including within 15 feet of a building entrance or exit or within 15 feet of the entrance to or exit from the grounds. However, residential health care facilities may allow patients or guests of patients to smoke outdoors in a separate area on the grounds designated as a smoking area by the facility.

Section two of the bill sets forth the effective date.

Justification

The facts are clear, secondhand smoke kills, Nationwide, it has been linked to over 46,000 deaths annually from heart disease and 3,600 deaths from lung cancer in nonsmokers. Additionally, secondhand smoke is responsible for lung infections and ear infections in children, as well as exacerbation of childhood asthma and hospitalizations related to al! of these maladies.

Health care facilities are the places we go to get treatment, heal and recover from serious health concerns. They should not be the place where our health concerns start or are worsened. No child leaving a hospital after suffering a life-threatening asthma attack should be forced to walk through a cloud of secondhand smoke, a known asthma trigger. Hospitals and other residential health care facilities are not only the places where the most vulnerable among us must go to heal, but they are also the places where the example of smoke-free positive health, practices should be conspicuous.

Smoking within these health care facilities is already prohibited under state law. The City of New York instituted a smoking ban within 15 feet of hospital grounds, entrances and exits in 2009. In addition to this, over 100 hospitals in New York State have already voluntarily instituted such smoking bans. This bill is necessary to extend the prohibition statewide, protecting those living, working and visiting in health care facilities from exposure to the life-threatening dangers of secondhand smoke.

Prior legislative history

2012: A.10307 was referred to the Health Committee.

Fiscal implications

None.

Effective date

This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become law.