Requires adult homes and assisted living residences to perform criminal background checks of employees; enables certain adult homes and assisted living residences to collect certain fees for background checks

5 Co-sponsors

• Greg Ball
• John J. Bonacic
• John J. Flanagan
• William J. Larkin Jr.
• George D. Maziarz

BILL NUMBER:S3782

Title of bill

An act to amend the public health law, in relation to requiring adult homes and assisted living residences to perform criminal background checks of their employees and prospective employees and to enable certain adult homes and assisted living residences to collect certain fees in connection with such background checks of employees and prospective employees

Purpose

To protect the residents of facilities who care for those most vulnerable, from sex offenders and violent criminals by ensuring that these facilities perform criminal background checks of their employees.

Summary

Section 1 amends Subdivision 6 of section 2899 of the Public Health Law, as amended by chapter 331 of the Laws of 2006 to include assisted living residences licensed in article 46(b) of this chapter, assisted living programs pursuant to Section 461(1) of the Social Services Law, continuing care retirement communities pursuant to article 46 of this chapter and any residential services for persons that are provided a license under article sixteen, nineteen, thirty-one, thirty-two of the Mental Hygiene Law or other residential services primarily under the jurisdiction of the office for mental health to the definition of "Provider."

Section 2 amends Subdivision 11 of section 2899 of the Public Health Law, as amended by chapter 331 of the laws of 2006 to provide that non-Medicaid-enrolled providers may seek reimbursement of the actual cost incurred by the provider of a background check from an employee or prospective employee.

JUSTIFICATION:, Currently, certified nursing homes, home health care agencies and long-term home health care agencies are required to perform criminal background checks on prospective employees. The Department of Health reimburses these facilities for the cost of the background check. There is no such provision for licensed assisted living residences, continuing care retirement communities, residential services for the mentally or developmentally disabled, or residential services for persons recovering from alcoholism or substance abuse. The residents of these facilities are among the most vulnerable in our population and depend on these residential facilities for their very existence. This was brought to light in January of 2013 when a 91 year old woman at the Loudonhill Home for Adults was allegedly sexually abused by a maintenance man employed at the adult home facility since 2008. This employee was previously convicted in 1984 of first-degree rape, sodomy and attempted sexual abuse and served 16 years in prison for victimizing a woman in Saratoga County. Had this facility performed a criminal background check, this man would never have been hired and a 91 year old would not have been victimized. Furthermore, it is not enough to only check New York's Sex Offender Registry or the National Sex Offender Registry, as those registries report only level two and level three sex offenders. It does not account for level one sex offenders or people that have been convicted of other violent crimes. A full criminal background check is the most

comprehensive employment screen necessary to protect those most vulnerable and placed in the care of others. While the Department of Health reimburses the facilities currently required to perform a criminal background check on its employees, the Department of Health will only reimburse the facilities added by this bill, if they are a Medicaid- enrolled provider. Those residential facilities which are not Medicaid -enrolled, may request reimbursement from the employee or prospective employee.

Legislative history

New bill.

Fiscal impact

To be determined.

Effective date

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