STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7738 IN SENATE January 7, 2022 ___________ Introduced by Sen. BROOKS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules AN ACT to amend the county law, the public health law and the executive law, in relation to reporting veteran suicide The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 10 of section 677 of the county law, as added 2 by a chapter of the laws of 2021 amending the county law and the execu- 3 tive law relating to the reporting of a veteran's suicide, as proposed 4 in legislative bills numbers S. 2036-B and A. 3237-A, is amended to read 5 as follows: 6 10. (a) The coroner, coroner's physician or medical examiner shall 7 report to the division of veterans' services, in a form, and time frame 8 developed by [~~such division~~] the department of health in a manner that 9 is protective of privacy and contains aggregate, rather than individual 10 data to the extent practicable, any death which appears to be caused by 11 suicide by a person who, to the knowledge of the coroner, coroner's 12 physician or medical examiner, is a veteran. 13 (b) For the purposes of this subdivision, veteran means a person who 14 served in the United States army, navy, air force, space force, marine 15 corps, coast guard, and/or reserves thereof, and/or in the army national 16 guard, air national guard, New York guard and/or New York naval militia, 17 and/or who served as a member of the commissioned corps of the national 18 oceanic and atmospheric administration or the United States public 19 health service regardless of discharge status. 20 § 1-a. Subdivision 1 of section 201 of the public health law is 21 amended by adding a new paragraph (y) to read as follows: 22 (y) To develop a form by which a coroner, coroner's physician or 23 medical examiner, pursuant to section six hundred seventy-seven of the 24 county law, shall report to the division of veterans' services any death 25 which appears to be caused by suicide by a person who, to the knowledge 26 of the coroner, coroner's physician or medical examiner, is a veteran. 27 This form shall at a minimum: (i) ensure compliance with the strictest 28 privacy protections and encourage data aggregation to the extent feasi- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD03672-06-2

S. 7738 2 1 ble; (ii) provide the address to which the form is to be mailed or 2 submitted electronically; and (iii) include the county of residence and 3 the branch of service of deceased veterans during the reporting period. 4 § 2. Subdivision 26 of section 353 of the executive law, as added by a 5 chapter of the laws of 2021 amending the county law and the executive 6 law relating to the reporting of a veteran's suicide, as proposed in 7 legislative bills numbers S. 2036-B and A. 3237-A, is amended to read as 8 follows: 9 26. [~~(a) To develop a form by which a coroner, coroner's physician or~~ 10 ~~medical examiner, pursuant to section six hundred seventy-seven of the~~ 11 ~~county law, shall report to the division any death which appears to be a~~ 12 ~~suicide by a person who, to the knowledge of the coroner, coroner's~~ 13 ~~physician or medical examiner, is a veteran. This form shall at a mini-~~ 14 ~~mum: (i) ensure compliance with the strictest privacy protections and~~ 15 ~~encourage data aggregation to the extent feasible; (ii) provide the~~ 16 ~~address to which the form is to be mailed or submitted electronically;~~ 17 ~~and (iii) include the county of residence and the branch of service of~~ 18 ~~deceased veterans during the reporting period.~~ 19 ~~(b)~~] The division shall: (i) forward completed forms received from a 20 coroner, coroner's physician or medical examiner pursuant to section six 21 hundred seventy-seven of the county law to the office of mental hygiene 22 pursuant to subdivision (g) of section 7.07 of the mental hygiene law in 23 a timely manner; and (ii) compile such information for inclusion in the 24 annual report pursuant to this section. 25 § 3. This act shall take effect on the same date and in the same 26 manner as a chapter of the laws of 2021, amending the county law and the 27 executive law relating to the reporting of a veteran's suicide, as 28 proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 2036-B and A. 3237-A , takes 29 effect.

Relates to reporting of a veteran's suicide

What's Happening

Why It Matters