Asm. Angelo Santabarbara

Requires the office of mental health to convene statewide forums and listening sessions in areas with high rates of death by suicide, suicide attempts, or other risk factors associated with suicide, and high risk minority groups or special populations.

Directs the commissioner of health and the commissioner of the office for people with developmental disabilities to conduct a study of the delivery of services to individuals with traumatic brain injury.

Maddy summaryThis bill proposes creating a peer support program specifically designed for first responders to help them access mental health resources. It would establish a system where trained individuals within the first responder community provide support to their colleagues facing emotional or psychological challenges. The legislation aims to integrate these peer support services into existing mental health frameworks to better address the unique stressors faced by emergency personnel. Currently, the bill is in the legislative process and has been referred to committees for further review.

Maddy summaryThis bill allows patients to register for organ, eye, and tissue donation directly through their electronic health records, expanding the ways people can join the Donate Life Registry. It requires hospitals and electronic health record vendors to include a simple option for patients to sign up during their medical visits without charging extra fees. The law also clarifies that skipping this question or failing to check a box does not cancel any previous donation consent a person has already given. By integrating this registration into digital health tools, the bill aims to make it easier for individuals to record their wishes regarding anatomical gifts.

Allows for reimbursement of transportation costs for emergency care without prior authorization by the social services official including emergency medical transportation by an ambulance service certified under article 30 of the public health law; authorizes the commissioner of health to establish a reimbursement methodology to ensure providers are reimbursed.

Maddy summaryThis bill prohibits colleges and universities from using an applicant's family connection to current graduates as a factor in deciding who gets accepted. Under the new rules, schools cannot give special consideration to students based on their familial relationship to alumni, effectively ending the practice of legacy admissions. While institutions are still allowed to ask about family ties after a student has already accepted an offer, this information can only be used for data collection and not to influence the admission decision. The law takes effect on July 1st of the year following its passage.

Enacts the "New York wildlife crossing act"; directs the department of transportation and the New York state thruway authority to identify sites along all highways, thruways and parkways in the state where wildlife crossings are most needed to increase public safety and improve habitat connectivity and create a priority list of wildlife opportunity areas where federal grant monies may be available to implement the top five projects identified.

Expands the food donation and food scraps recycling program by scaling down the annual average tonnage requirement every two years until 2028; removes exceptions regarding recycler capacity.

Relates to aggravated harassment of an employee by an incarcerated individual; eliminates the requirement that an incarcerated individual causes or attempts to cause an employee to come into contact with blood, seminal fluid, urine, feces, saliva, or the contents of a toilet bowl by throwing, tossing or expelling such fluid or material.

Requires the department of veterans' services to provide legal and/or technical support to veterans who want to change such veteran's discharged status to honorable because such person was dishonorably or administratively discharged from the armed services due to sexual orientation.