Sen. Luis Sepúlveda

Maddy summaryThis bill requires healthcare providers found guilty of serious misconduct - such as sexual abuse, drug abuse harming patients, or inappropriate prescribing resulting in harm - to provide written disclosure to current and new patients before treatment. The disclosure must detail their disciplinary status, penalties, practice restrictions, and resources for further information. Providers must obtain a signed copy of this disclosure before the first patient visit or treatment. Exceptions apply in emergencies or if a patient is incapacitated and their representative isn’t available. The law applies to probationary orders issued on or after January 1, 2026.

Maddy summaryThis bill establishes the "Sickle Cell Treatment Act" to improve care for sickle cell disease patients in New York. It designates five "centers for excellence" (with two north of Putnam/Orange counties) and ten outpatient treatment centers based on patient populations, providing each center with annual funding ($500,000 for excellence centers, $250,000 for outpatient centers) to support specialized care, research, and equipment. The bill also modifies opioid prescribing rules to exempt sickle cell disease patients from a three-month opioid limit, ensuring they can receive necessary pain management without restrictive barriers. These changes directly affect hospitals designated as centers, sickle cell patients requiring specialized care, and healthcare providers managing chronic pain.

Relates to participation in World Trade Center rescue, recovery and cleanup operations by members of the organized militia; provides that members of the organized militia shall qualify as employees for the purposes of making a claim under the workers' compensation law for participation in the World Trade Center rescue, recovery and cleanup operations.

Maddy summaryThis bill (S 4955) sets new standards for how New York's Medicaid Inspector General audits and reviews payments to healthcare providers. It requires the Inspector General to follow specific protocols when checking claims, cost reports, or payments, including providing providers access to applicable standards before audits begin. Key provisions include mandating detailed explanations in audit reports, considering factors like whether errors were minor clerical mistakes (e.g., transposed codes), and limiting recoupment for isolated errors. The bill directly affects Medicaid providers who receive state medical assistance payments, ensuring audits are transparent, fair, and based on clear, documented procedures.

Relates to the health, safety and human rights of incarcerated pregnant individuals, incarcerated birthing parents and their children; requires the commissioner of corrections and community supervision to establish rules and regulations relating to conditions in institutions and correctional facilities and the treatment and care of birthing parents in such institutions and facilities.

Requires chain restaurants to display an added sugars warning next to or directly under the name of each food item with high added sugars content wherever such food item is listed on a menu, menu board, or food tag, and by any self-serve dispensing point at which such food item is dispensed.

Establishes visiting policies for incarcerated people, to provide incarcerated people opportunities for personal contact with relatives, friends, clergy, volunteers and other persons to promote better institutional adjustment and better community adjustment upon release.

Relates to enacting the rent emergency stabilization for tenants act on local determinations of a housing emergency; authorizes a city with a population of one million or more to declare an emergency as to any class of housing accommodations if the vacancy rate for the housing accommodations in such class within such municipality is not in excess of five percent and a declaration of emergency may be made as to all housing accommodations if the vacancy rate for the housing accommodations within such municipality is not in excess of five percent; authorizes other cities, towns and villages to declare a housing emergency after considering publicly available data and holding public hearings.

Requires the office of court administration, clerks, and all other records custodians to develop policies and procedures to ensure no identifying information or documentation relating to name change actions or sex designation change actions is visible or retrievable in any electronic database maintained by the state of New York or a subdivision thereof.

Relates to actions and proceedings seeking an abatement of rent based on violations of the housing maintenance code, applicable housing standards, the building code, or the health code; relates to the number of housing judges assigned to certain actions.