Bill Text: NY A02144 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Requires hotels and motels to notify employees of the presence of bedbugs on the premises; requires the development and administration of training on methods and procedures for the eradication of bedbugs upon hiring and each year thereafter.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 9-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - referred to health [A02144 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A02144-Introduced.html

---

                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          2144

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    January 14, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by M. of A. L. ROSENTHAL, DINOWITZ, COOK, GLICK, ABINANTI --
          Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. ABBATE, ENGLEBRIGHT,  GOTTFRIED,  McDO-
          NOUGH, PERRY -- read once and referred to the Committee on Health

        AN  ACT  to amend the public health law, in relation to requiring hotels
          and motels to notify employees of the presence of bedbugs on the prem-
          ises and requires the development and administration  of  training  on
          methods and procedures for the eradication of bedbugs

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 1347 of the public health  law  is
     2  amended to read as follows:
     3    1.  All  departments  and  boards  of  health  and the commissioner or
     4  commissioners thereof shall have the power to enforce the provisions  of
     5  sections  thirteen  hundred forty-five to thirteen hundred [forty-seven]
     6  forty-eight, inclusive, of this [chapter] title.
     7    § 2. Section 1348 of the public health law is renumbered section  1349
     8  and amended to read as follows:
     9    §  1349.  Hotel sanitation; application of article.  The provisions of
    10  sections thirteen hundred forty-five to thirteen  hundred  forty-seven[,
    11  inclusive,]  of this [chapter] title, shall not apply to cities having a
    12  population of one million inhabitants or over.
    13    § 3. The public health law is amended by adding a new section 1348  to
    14  read as follows:
    15    § 1348. Hotel sanitation; bedbug notification and training.  1. Hotels
    16  and  motels  shall  notify  employees  of the presence of bedbugs on the
    17  premises and shall specify which rooms are infested.
    18    2. Notification shall be made  promptly  following  the  discovery  of
    19  bedbugs on the premises.
    20    3. In concert with the department, hotels and motels shall develop and
    21  administer  bedbug  training that shall be provided to employees who may
    22  be exposed to bedbugs as a part of their daily activities.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD00800-01-1
        A. 2144                             2

     1    4. Training shall be  administered  within  a  reasonable  time  after
     2  hiring and once again each year thereafter.
     3    5.  Training  shall  include  bedbug  identification,  procedures  for
     4  reporting infestations to pest management and treating infestations,  as
     5  appropriate.
     6    6.  Upon  discovery of bedbugs, the hotel or motel shall take the room
     7  or area out of service, but no items  shall  be  removed  until  a  pest
     8  control management company has inspected the area.
     9    7. For purposes of this section:
    10    a.  "Hotel  and  motel"  shall  mean  establishments  distinguished as
    11  hotels, motels, bungalow colonies, or any other establishment comparable
    12  or equivalent to any of those previously mentioned. The term  shall  not
    13  include  those  places  or  facilities not having the general character-
    14  istics of a motel or hotel as that term is generally understood and  the
    15  commissioner shall have the power to exempt from this section a place or
    16  facility  that is not within the intent of this definition of a motel or
    17  hotel.
    18    b.  "Employee" shall mean any person employed for  hire  that  may  be
    19  exposed to bedbugs as a part of their daily routine. Sub-contractors and
    20  independent  contractors  who  work  twenty  hours  or more per week are
    21  deemed "employees" for purposes of this section.
    22    § 4. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
    23  it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition,  amend-
    24  ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen-
    25  tation  of  this  act on its effective date is authorized to be made and
    26  completed on or before such date.