What's happening
This bill grants limited peace officer status to security personnel of the Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital Network in Cooperstown, NY.
Why it matters
Expands legal authority for hospital security. By granting limited peace officer status, the bill enables designated security personnel to legally intervene in situations involving mental health crises or public disturbances, potentially improving both patient and staff safety within and around the hospital network.
Specifies and limits powers. Security officers are given only certain powers—such as those related to mental hygiene law and specific law enforcement actions (like making arrests for certain offenses)—while explicitly prohibiting broader powers such as carrying firearms without a proper license. This limits the scope of their authority and provides safeguards against misuse.
Focuses on hospital and adjacent areas. The new status applies specifically to officers working within, directly adjacent to, or at affiliated sites of the Bassett Hospital Network, ensuring that these expanded powers are geographically limited to areas where hospital security needs are greatest.
Requires hospital oversight. Only individuals designated by the hospital’s board of trustees may receive these powers, creating an internal check on who gains this status and reinforcing institutional accountability.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Make Hospital Guards Peace Officers
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Print number 1662a
- Amend and recommit to codes
- Referred to codes
- Returned to senate
- Died in assembly
- Referred to codes
- Delivered to assembly
- Passed senateVote 54–9
- Ordered to third reading cal.1401
- Committee discharged and committed to rules
- Referred to codes
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Hospital Security Become Peace Officers
In Assembly Committee · Codes · Sponsor William Magee
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
1662--A
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 10, 2017
Introduced by Sen. SEWARD -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes -- recommitted to the Committee on Codes in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to granting peace officer status to officers and members of the security force of the Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital Network
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Section 2.10 of the criminal procedure law is amended by adding a new subdivision 85 to read as follows:
85. Officers and members of the security force employed by Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital within and directly adjacent to the Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital Campus in Cooperstown, New York, and affiliated hospitals and clinics owned or operated by Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital, and so designated by the board of trustees of the hospital. Such officers shall have only the powers enumerated in section 9.41 of the mental hygiene law and the powers listed in paragraphs (a), (b), (c), (d) and (h) of subdivision one of section 2.20 of this article; provided, however, that nothing in this subdivision shall be deemed to authorize any such officer to carry, possess, repair or dispose of a firearm unless the appropriate license therefor has been issued pursuant to section 400.00 of the penal law.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07218-02-8
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to granting peace officer status to officers and members of the security force of the Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital Network
Purpose
To enhance the safety of patients, medical personnel and the public by granting peace officer status to the hospital's security officers.
Summary of provisions
Section one creates a new subdivision in the criminal procedure law to outline the limited terms and conditions under which peace officer status would be granted to security officers at the Bassett Healthcare Network. It lists the powers that might be exercised by such peace offi- cers only on, or immediately adjacent to, the grounds and properties of the hospital, its affiliates and clinics.
Existing law
Section 2.10 of the criminal procedure law lists those who may be desig- nated as peace officers. A modified or limited peace officer status has been granted by statute in the past to security officers at various hospitals and health care facilities. Most recently, chapters 502 and 504 of the Laws of 2012 granted peace officer status to security offi- cers of Kaleida Health and the University of Rochester Medical Center.
Justification
Mary Imogene Hospital, also known as Bassett Healthcare Network, affil- iated with Columbia Medical School, operates and maintains six hospitals and multiple clinics across a large geographic area in rural portions of the state, where, in some cases, no local police department exists and where medical personnel experience extended response times by state or county law enforcement.
Medical staff and personnel are experiencing increased numbers of dangerous encounters that require prompt law enforcement response. Behavioral emergencies within the Bassett Network involving violence increased by more than 300 percent between 2014 to 2015. Typical emer- gencies may include unauthorized individuals seeking narcotics, disrup- tive actions by psychiatric patients, threatening behaviors by noncusto- dial parents, etc. The extended response times that may occur jeopardize the safety of patients, students, visitors and medical and support staff.
It should be noted that Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital, in addition to serving as an acute care facility, is also an educational institution and a psychiatric hospital - a teaching hospital affiliated with Colum- bia Medical School. Its responsibility for safety is broad and multifac- eted.
Bassett Healthcare Network's request has the support of local, county and state law enforcement agencies.
Legislative history
S.7029/A.9586 (2016) Passed Senate - 2016 Assembly codes committee
Fiscal implications
None to the state.
Effective date
Ninety days after enactment.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.