What's happening
This bill requires voluntary not-for-profit facilities' board members to complete and report training requirements, with exceptions for certain hospitals.
Why it matters
Raises Board Accountability. By mandating minimum training (including fiduciary responsibilities and best practices), the bill aims to ensure board members are better equipped to oversee not-for-profit facilities. This could lead to improved governance, financial oversight, and ethical standards in organizations serving vulnerable populations.
Links Compliance to Recertification. Facilities that fail to report both the board members’ names and training completion dates risk losing eligibility for recertification or refunding, making compliance with these requirements critical for continued operation and funding.
Excludes Certain Hospitals but Maintains Oversight. Hospitals governed under Article 28 of the Public Health Law are exempt from these new reporting requirements, but the bill clarifies this does not exempt them from other applicable state oversight, maintaining accountability through other legal channels.
Potential for Sector-Wide Culture Shift. By standardizing board member training across mental health, developmental disability, and substance use sectors (except for certain hospitals), the bill pushes for a cultural shift toward more professional, informed, and responsible leadership in New York’s not-for-profit human services sector.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Require Board Training for Nonprofits
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
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History
- Referred to mental health and developmental disabilities
- Referred to mental health and developmental disabilities
Full text
3 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
3593
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 25, 2017
Introduced by Sen. PARKER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities
AN ACT to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to the training of boards of directors or trustees of certain voluntary not-for-profit facilities or corporations
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The section heading and subdivision (a) of section 7.39 of the mental hygiene law, as added by chapter 800 of the laws of 1986, are amended and a new subdivision (a-1) is added to read as follows:
Registration, training and notification of boards of directors
or trustees of certain voluntary not-for-profit facilities or
corporations.
(a) Notwithstanding any other law, rule or regulation, the executive director, chairperson or president of a voluntary, not-for-profit corporation or facility which is subject to the jurisdiction of the office [of mental health] shall furnish annually to the commissioner a list of the names and addresses of the current members of the board of directors or trustees of such facility or corporation together with the last date of the current members' or trustees' completion of the training requirements. Hospitals operated pursuant to article twenty-eight of the public health law shall not be required to furnish completion of training requirements to the commissioner. Nothing in this section shall be construed to exempt such hospitals from the applicable requirements of the public health law. Failure to furnish [such] an annual list of names and addresses of current members of the board of directors or trustees shall remove such facility or corporation from consideration for recertification.
(a-1) The office shall establish no later than October thirty-first, two thousand nineteen minimum training requirements for all members of
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07403-01-7
S. 3593 2
the board of directors or trustees of a voluntary, not-for-profit corporation or facility which is subject to the jurisdiction of the office, with the exception of hospitals operated pursuant to article twentyeight of the public health law. Such training shall include, but not be limited to, the fiduciary responsibilities of being a board member or trustee and shall provide members or trustees with the tools and best practices necessary to effectively serve in such capacity.
§ 2. The section heading and subdivision (a) of section 13.39 of the mental hygiene law, the section heading as added by chapter 800 of the laws of 1986 and subdivision (a) as amended by chapter 168 of the laws of 2010, are amended and a new subdivision (a-1) is added to read as follows:
Registration, training and notification of boards of directors
or trustees of certain voluntary not-for-profit facilities or
corporations.
(a) Notwithstanding any other law, rule or regulation, the executive director, chairperson or president of a voluntary, not-for-profit corporation or facility which is subject to the jurisdiction of the office [for people with developmental disabilities] shall furnish annually to the commissioner a list of the names and addresses of the current members of the board of directors or trustees of such facility or corporation together with the last date of the current members' or trustees' completion of the training requirements. Hospitals operated pursuant to article twenty-eight of the public health law shall not be required to furnish completion of training requirements to the commissioner. Nothing in this section shall be construed to exempt such hospitals from the applicable requirements of the public health law. Failure to furnish [such] an annual list of names and addresses of current members of the board of directors or trustees shall remove such facility or corporation from consideration for recertification.
(a-1) The office shall establish no later than October thirty-first, two thousand nineteen minimum training requirements for all members of the board of directors or trustees of a voluntary, not-for-profit corporation or facility which is subject to the jurisdiction of the office, with the exception of hospitals operated pursuant to article twentyeight of the public health law. Such training shall include, but not be limited to, the fiduciary responsibilities of being a board member or trustee and shall provide members or trustees with the tools and best practices necessary to effectively serve in such capacity.
§ 3. The section heading and subdivision (a) of section 32.37 of the mental hygiene law, as added by chapter 558 of the laws of 1999, are amended and a new subdivision (a-1) is added to read as follows:
Registration, training and notification of boards of directors
or trustees of certain voluntary not-for-profit facilities or
corporations.
(a) Notwithstanding any other law, rule, or regulation, the executive director, chairperson or president of a voluntary, not-for-profit corporation which has been issued an operating certificate by or has received funding from the office of alcoholism and substance abuse services shall furnish annually to the commissioner of such office a list of the names and addresses of the current members of the board of directors or trustees of such corporation together with the last date of the current members' or trustees' completion of the training requirements. Hospitals operated pursuant to article twenty-eight of the public health law shall not be required to furnish completion of training requirements to the commissioner of alcoholism and substance abuse services. Nothing in
S. 3593 3
this subdivision shall be construed to exempt such hospitals from the applicable requirements of the public health law. Failure to furnish [such] an annual list of names and addresses of current members of the board of directors or trustees may remove such facility or corporation from consideration for recertification or refunding.
(a-1) The office of alcoholism and substance abuse services shall establish no later than October thirty-first, two thousand nineteen minimum training requirements for all members of the board of directors or trustees of a voluntary, not-for-profit corporation or facility which is subject to the jurisdiction of such office, with the exception of hospitals operated pursuant to article twenty-eight of the public health law. Such training shall include, but not be limited to, the fiduciary responsibilities of being a board member or trustee and shall provide members or trustees with the tools and best practices necessary to effectively serve in such capacity.
§ 4. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become a law; provided, however, that effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized and directed to be made and completed on or before such effective date.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to the training of boards of directors or trustees of certain voluntary not-for-profit facilities or corporations
Purpose
This legislation would direct OPWDD, OMH and OASAS to establish minimum training requirements for all members of the board of directors or trustees of a voluntary, not-for-profit corporation or facility which is subject to the jurisdiction of the offices, with the exception of article 28 hospitals. Training would include, but not be limited to, the fiduciary responsibilities of being a board member or trustee and shall provide members or trustees with the tools and best practices necessary to effectively serve in such capacity.
Summary of provisions
Section one of the bill amends section 7.39(a) of the mental hygiene law to require OMH to establish minimum training requirements by October 31,2016 for all members of the board of directors or trustees of a voluntary, not-for-profit corporation or facility which is subject to the jurisdiction of the office, with the exception of article 28 hospitals, and that the latest date of the member's completion of the training requirements shall be included in the list of board members that the agencies must give to OMH annually.
Read the full memo (897 words)
Section two of the bill amends section 13.39 (a) of the mental hygiene law to provide that the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) shall establish no later than October 31, 2016 minimum training requirements for all members, of the board of directors or trustees of a voluntary, not-for-profit corporation or facility which is subject to the jurisdiction of the office, with the exception of article 28 hospitals, and that the latest date of the member's completion of the training requirements shall be included in the list of board members that the agencies must give to OPWDD annually.
Section three of the bill amends section 32.37 of the mental hygiene law to require OASAS to establish minimum training requirements by October 31, 2016 for all members of the board of directors or trustees of a voluntary, not-for-profit corporation or facility which is subject to the jurisdiction of the office, with the exception of article 28 hospitals, and that the latest date of the member's completion of the training requirements shall be included in the list of board members that the agencies must give to OASAS annually.
Section four of the bill provides for an effective date on the 90th day after it shall have become law, provided that effective immediately changes to the rules or regulations necessary for the implementation of this act may be made.
Justification
While the vast majority of facilities providing care to New York State's developmentally disabled, mentally ill and chemically dependent individuals do an outstanding job, on occasion facilities have been found to have safety, quality of care and fiscal mismanagement issues. Recent investigations by the Commission on Quality of Care and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities (CQCAPD) have once again highlighted problems that can occur. For example, CQC's report on its investigation of the Evelyn Douglin Center found widespread fiscal mismanagement of public funds by the Executive Director and further found that "the agency's Board of Directors
failed in its fiduciary duty to closely monitor the executive director and hold him accountable for the management of the agency."
Boards of Directors play a very important role in overseeing the agencies that are responsible for the care of some of our society's most vulnerable individuals and spending millions of dollars in public Medicaid funds in the process. While various training opportunity are available to boards and board members, there are no minimum training requirements in place for board members and no way to know if board members have ever had any training. It is not always easy to find individuals willing and able to serve on agency Board of Directors. Often parents and other. concerned citizens agree to serve on a board not recognizing the fiduciary and ethical responsibility they are taking on. Furthermore, parents who are board members can have the uncomfortable position of questioning an agencies' management only to worry about how it may affect their child who is a resident.
The recent reports of CQCAPD have highlighted the need for some minimum level of board training on the fiduciary and other responsibilities members hold as well as knowledge of the tools and best practices that are available to effectively serve in such a capacity. Such training should be completed as soon as possible for new board members and should be required of existing board members who have not yet completed similar training. This would go a long way toward ensuring that boards do not serve merely as rubber stamps of an agencies' or executive director's actions but play an active role in overseeing the agency and ensuring the well being of it and its residents.
Legislative history
2015-16: S.2914A - Amend and Recommit to Mental Health & Developmental Disabilities 2013-14: S.1462A - Amend and Recommit to Mental Health & Developmental Disabilities 2011-12: S.3068A - Died in Alcoholism and Drug Abuse 2009-10: S.5596 - Referred to Mental Health & Developmental Disabilities
Fiscal implications
None to state.
Effective date
Ninety days after it shall become law provided that effective immediately changes to the rules or regulations necessary for the implementation of this act may be made.
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