What's happening
This bill creates a task force to develop a statewide mosquito surveillance plan in New York.
Why it matters
Statewide Impact & Local Accountability. This bill affects every county in New York by eventually requiring each to develop and implement a mosquito surveillance plan, shifting the state from a fragmented to a unified approach and ensuring that even counties without current programs must act.
Expert-Driven, Comprehensive Planning. The task force is composed of state health, environmental, agricultural, academic, and local public health leaders, ensuring the surveillance plan will be based on scientific expertise, best practices, and lessons from other states, rather than being politically driven or piecemeal.
Long-Term Public Health and Resource Considerations. The task force is tasked with identifying funding gaps, recommending new revenue sources, and exploring cost-saving collaborations (like partnerships with SUNY), meaning the outcome could lead to changes in how mosquito-borne disease risks are monitored, reported, and funded throughout New York, potentially reducing future health threats.
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Who cares
State and Local Public Health Agencies
Responsible for implementing mosquito surveillance and control, these agencies will play a lead role in both the task force and in developing county action plans.
County Governments
Each county must develop and implement a mosquito surveillance plan, impacting local budgets, staffing, and public health operations.
Researchers and Academic Institutions
Experts in entomology, environmental science, and public health—such as those at SUNY and other universities—are directly involved in the task force and may benefit from increased funding and data access.
General Public and Vulnerable Populations
Residents, particularly those in high-risk areas for mosquito-borne illnesses, stand to benefit from improved surveillance and reduced disease risk.
Headline styles
Create Mosquito Tracking Program
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to environmental conservation
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
10393
IN SENATE
May 15, 2026
Introduced by Sen. ASHBY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Environmental Conservation
AN ACT to enact the "New York mosquito surveillance act"
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "New York mosquito surveillance act".
§ 2. Legislative findings and intent. The legislature finds that it is in the public interest to have a comprehensive mosquito surveillance program in the state, rather than a piece-meal approach. In order to best create the program, the legislature first wants to establish a year-long task force to study, evaluate and develop budgeting and other recommendations relating to specific actionable measures needed to implement integrated state-wide mosquito surveillance.
§ 3. New York mosquito surveillance task force. 1. The commissioner of environmental conservation, in coordination with the commissioner of health, is hereby authorized to establish the New York mosquito surveillance task force to study and assess the future of mosquito surveillance in the state.
2. Such task force shall consist of thirteen members with demonstrated expertise in issues relating to the work of the task force. The members of the task force shall be appointed as follows:
(a) seven members shall be appointed by the governor. The seven members appointed by the governor shall include: the commissioner of health, or their designee; the commissioner of environmental conservation, or their designee; the commissioner of agriculture and markets, or their designee; the chancellor of the state university of New York, or their designee; the commissioner of the New York city department of health, or their designee; the director of the Wadsworth center, or their designee; and a representative from the state university of New York's college of environmental science and forestry;
(b) two members shall be appointed by the temporary president of the senate;
(c) two members shall be appointed by the speaker of the assembly;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15914-01-6
(d) one member shall be appointed by the senate minority leader; and
(e) one member shall be appointed by the assembly minority leader.
3. The task force shall:
(a) study and report on current mosquito surveillance locations throughout the state, including but not limited to their costs, methods of surveillance, length of monitoring season in relation to transmission season, the number of traps used per site, types of traps and bait, which habitats are being targeted, which species of mosquitoes are being targeted and which are captured, trap counts, and collection schedule;
(b) identify current best practices in mosquito surveillance that are being executed in the state, as well as the gaps in the current surveillance;
(c) review current data reporting methods for mosquito monitoring and laboratory results and identify best practices or make recommendations for improvement;
(d) document other surveillance models that work well in other states and evaluate if New York state should adopt such models;
(e) explore and document how to expand surveillance to encompass each county located in the state;
(f) determine the different variables to expand surveillance in each county including but not limited to the costs, any barriers, implementation schedule, staffing considerations, administration, number of surveillance sites, additional biosafety level 3 laboratories that could be used for testing if necessary, and other testing considerations;
(g) record current revenue sources for surveillance, and where gaps exist; and
(h) report on possible future revenue sources within the state financial plan, and explore cost-saving methods for counties, including but not limited to, county partnerships or coordinating with the state university of New York.
4. The task force shall meet at least quarterly for one year following the effective date of this act. No later than ninety days after the final task force meeting, a report shall be submitted by the task force to the governor and legislature. Such report shall provide its findings and recommendations, including timelines and actionable measures, to implement integrated state-wide mosquito surveillance.
§ 4. County plans of action. Within one year of the task force report being filed pursuant to subdivision four of section three of this act, each county in the state shall submit a plan of action to begin, continue, or expand mosquito surveillance. Such plans shall be submitted to the department of health, and the department of health shall promulgate all rules and regulations necessary. Each county in the state shall begin its plan of action within six months of submission pursuant to this section, or by the start of the next mosquito season, or whichever time period is longer.
§ 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to enact the "New York mosquito surveillance act"
Purpose
To implement a more comprehensive mosquito surveillance program in the state that will enable health departments to better monitor mosquito- borne diseases that harm both humans and livestock.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 titles the bill the New York mosquito surveillance act".
Read the full memo (656 words)
Section 2 provides the legislative findings and intent.
Section 3 establishes a New York mosquito surveillance task force that will lay out a blueprint on how to execute an integrated statewide mosquito surveillance program. The task force shall consist of 13 members who analyze current surveillance and make recommendations on how to expand it statewide. The task force will meet quarterly for one year and conclude with a report documenting its findings and recommendations.
Section 4 requires each county to develop a plan of action. Within one year of the task force report, each county must submit a plan of action to begin, continue or expand mosquito surveillance. All counties shall begin their plan of action within six months after submission, or by the start of the next mosquito season, whichever time period is longer.
Section 5 sets the effective date to immediately.
Justification
Mosquitoes are a common nuisance in New York State that carry and trans- mit harmful diseases to both humans and livestock. Mosquito-borne diseases that are consistently present in New York state include West Nile virus and eastern equine encephalitis (EEE). EEE is a rare disease, but it is fatal in -33% of cases and results in long-term, detrimental neurologic effects in over half of survivors, including the development of personality diSorders, seizures, or paralysis. Children under 15 and adults over 50 are most at risk of developing severe disease.
Warmer and longer summers in New York state combined with milder winters and altered rainfall patterns have contributed to longer transmission seasons of these diseases. Between 1999 and 2024 the transmission season of West Nile virus in New York state increased by approximately 25 days, meaning there are 25 more days in the year when a person could be bitten by an infected mosquito. Changing environmental conditions in New York state have also allowed the invasive Asian tiger mosquito to expand its range into southern New York state. This species can transmit tropical diseases such as chikungunya, zika, and dengue viruses, which each can cause detrimental health outcomes.
As the Asian tiger mosquito expands northwards into New York state and transmission seasons of mosquito-borne diseases become longer, it is likely more New Yorkers will become sick with mosquito-borne diseases. Capturing mosquitoes and testing them for the viruses they carry is a common and effective practice that can alert local and state health departments of a potential outbreak before it happens. Using monitoring data, health departments can predict when and where a virus could be transmitted to humans and livestock and take preventative action to control mosquito populations before transmission can occur.
Currently, mosquito monitoring is sparse and disintegrated in New York state. Some county health departments have developed their own monitor- ing plans, and each have their own set of methods. Very often monitoring does not extend through the duration of the transmission season. To understand the evolving structure of mosquito-borne diseases in New York state, all counties need to monitor for mosquitoes using standardized monitoring protocols that reflect the entire transmission season.
A recent example of initiating mosquito surveillance occurred in St Lawrence county after 6 horses died from EEE in 2024. At that point, the county didn't have any mosquito surveillance and they were unsure how to move forward. There was no uniform state program, and the county had limited resources. After much consideration, they teamed up with scien- tists from SUNY Potsdam, Clarkson University and SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry to initiate their first mosquito surveillance program.
Legislative history
New bill.
Fiscal implications
to be determined
Effective date
Immediately
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.