Bill Text: NY A05828 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Establishes a Minority Coordinating Council on Asthmatic Affairs within the department of health to assess the asthma risk factors for the minority citizens of our state, counties and regions; identifies the existing barriers to quality asthma treatment and care among minorities; develops action steps for addressing care issues; launches a state-wide asthma awareness campaign to educate our citizens about the disease; requires report.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 20-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-05-11 - substituted by s410a [A05828 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A05828-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          5828

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    February 26, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by M. of A. REYES -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Health

        AN ACT to establish a Minority Coordinating Council on Asthmatic Affairs

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

     1    Section  1.  Short  title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
     2  the "Lydia Soto law".
     3    § 2. Legislative findings and intent. According to the  American  Lung
     4  Association,  there  are  over 1.6 million New Yorkers with asthma, with
     5  over 380,000 of them being children. The annual cost of asthma is  esti-
     6  mated  to be nearly 18 billion dollars. Access to health care for ethnic
     7  minorities is often hampered by socio-economic disparities, shortages of
     8  primary care physicians in minority communities, language  and  literacy
     9  barriers,  and  cultural  beliefs about the role and usefulness of medi-
    10  cines. There have emerged clear disparities in the burden and  treatment
    11  of  asthma in the communities of ethnic minorities. The burden of asthma
    12  falls disproportionately on  the  African-American  and  Hispanic  popu-
    13  lations,  and  especially on children of these ethnic minorities. There-
    14  fore, it is the intent of this  legislature  to  create  a  coordinating
    15  council  to address these issues and to improve awareness and management
    16  of asthma prevention and treatment for minorities in this state.
    17    § 3. The commissioner of health shall establish a Minority  Coordinat-
    18  ing  Council  on Asthmatic Affairs. Members of the council shall include
    19  the commissioners of health, environmental conservation, office of chil-
    20  dren and family services, and the  division  of  housing  and  community
    21  renewal  or  their  designees. The council shall also include, as deter-
    22  mined by the commissioner of health,  representatives  of  minority  and
    23  low-income  communities,  health  care  professionals with knowledge and
    24  experience in the prevention and  treatment  of  asthma,  and  community
    25  groups that advocate for environmental justice issues. The council shall
    26  be  tasked with:  (a) assessing the asthma risk factors for the minority

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD02970-03-1
        A. 5828                             2

     1  residents of this state, broken down by county and regions; (b)  identi-
     2  fying  existing  barriers  to  quality  asthma  treatment and care among
     3  racial and ethnic minorities; (c) developing evidence-based intervention
     4  strategies  for addressing the lack of health care in these communities;
     5  and (d) launching a state-wide  asthma  awareness  campaign  to  educate
     6  citizens  about  the  disease,  its  symptoms, and the ability to better
     7  manage asthma through prevention and treatment. The council shall deliv-
     8  er an annual report addressing various  asthma  program  successes,  new
     9  trends,  data and issues surrounding minority populations suffering from
    10  asthma to the governor and the legislature beginning September 1,  2025,
    11  and annually thereafter.
    12    § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.