NY State Senate Bill 2025-S5406

Senate Bill S5406

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Requires all state and private agencies with mandatory reporters of incidents involving vulnerable people to retrain all staff on reporting to a 9-1-1 operator and the county district attorney's office

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Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Disabilities Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Feb 21, 2025	referred to disabilities

co-Sponsors

2025-S5406 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A823
Current Committee:: Senate Disabilities
Law Section:: Social Services Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §491, Soc Serv L
Versions Introduced in 2023-2024 Legislative Session:: S7580, A7004

2025-S5406 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2025-S5406 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S5406

SPONSOR: HARCKHAM
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the social services law, in relation to requiring all
state and private agencies with mandatory reporters of incidents involv-
ing vulnerable people to retrain all staff on reporting to a 9-1-1 oper-
ator and the county district attorney's office

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

Requires all state and private agencies with mandatory reporters of
incidents involving vulnerable people to retrain all staff; mandates
reportable incidents involving vulnerable people upon allegation &
discovery of medical emergency, physical emergency, trauma, abuse, or
neglect to be reported to a 9-1-1 operator, the county district attor-
ney's office, and state and private websites; requires written materials
for reporting and training to be updated and conspicuously located in a
timely manner

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends subsections 1 & 3 of social services law section 491
and adds a 6th subsection:

Subsection 1 expands mandated reporting of incidents to include 9-1-1 &
the district attorney's office, details when reporting becomes mandato-
ry, and requires content of relevant medical evaluations to be included
in the report.

* As referenced in section 492 of this article, such mandatory report-
able incidents include all suspicious and unexplained injuries to
include broken bones, hematomas, open wounds beyond minor first aid,
black eyes, swollen noses, extreme and questionable bruising, choke
marks, burns, all individuals served found unresponsive and all death
incidents

-Subsection 3 is amended to expand knowing and willful reporting
violations to include failure to call 9-1-1 and the district attorney's
office; increases the crime from a class A misdemeanor to a class E
felony.

Subsection 6 requires all public and private agencies in NYS with manda-
tory reporters to retrain their staff; update all training materials and
information brochures, wallet cards, and/or posters; and requires all
such materials to be conspicuously located in a timely manner.

Section 2 states the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Under current law, any patient abuse discovered at a residential facili-
ty for individuals with disabilities in NYS must first be reported to
the Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs
(Justice Center). However, there is no legal requirement to call 9-1-1.
Employees are trained to call the Justice Center immediately resulting
in a delay call to 9-1-1 if ever done.  While the Justice Center was
created in 2012 with good intentions, this process discriminates and
bypasses emergency response and circumvents all local authorities;
creating opportunities for abuse or medical emergencies to be concealed
and perpetuated.

After the Justice Center's third year of operation, their annual report
found 11,254 cases of abuse or neglect reported at disability residences
in NYS, but only 114 cases (-1%) were deemed worthy of criminal prose-
cution. During that same time period: allegations of abuse or neglect at
the hand of a caretaker, employee, or authority figure were reported and
subsequently investigated for 287 deaths-at least 140 of which the
Justice Center determined abuse or neglect likely occurred-but not a
single criminal charge was brought in response. 0-1% prosecution for
harming, or even murdering, some of New York's most vulnerable residents
is horrific & nauseating.

We cannot continue to bypass 9-1-1 call systems and discriminate against
our most vulnerable; Police and Emergency Medical Services exist to
protect the entire population. The agency created explicitly for the
protection of people with special needs should also be contacted when
vulnerable persons suffer neglect or abuse, but the Justice Center
cannot be a substitute for those in physical or medical danger, and
treating the Justice Center as such has led to appalling, astronomical
miscarriages of justice.

References:

*SPECTRUM NEWS NY, 10 Years After Son's Death, Father's Vigilance for
Those Living in Mental Health Facilities Remains,
https://ny1.com/nyc/queens/news/2017/02/15/jonathan-carey- facility-
protections-for-developmentally-disabled-albanv

*TIMES UNION, Five years in, critics say NY agency offers little justice
for disabled,
https://www.timesunion,com/news/article/5-years-in-critics-say- NY-agen-
cy-offers-little-13098350.php

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2023-2024: S7580/A7004 - Died in Disabilities/Died in Social Services

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

TBD

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2025-S5406 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   5406
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 21, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sens. HARCKHAM, GALLIVAN, LANZA -- read twice and ordered
   printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Disabil-
   ities
 
 AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation  to  requiring  all
   state  and  private  agencies  with  mandatory  reporters of incidents
   involving vulnerable people to retrain all staff  on  reporting  to  a
   9-1-1 operator and the county district attorney's office
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Section 491 of the social services law, as added by section
 1 of part B of chapter 501 of the laws of 2012, paragraph (d) of  subdi-
 vision  1  as added by chapter 391 of the laws of 2023, subdivision 4 as
 amended by chapter 126 of the laws of 2014 and subdivision 5 as added by
 chapter 422 of the laws of 2017, is amended to read as follows:
   § 491. Duty to report  incidents.  1.  (a)  Mandated  reporters  shall
 report  allegations  of  reportable  incidents  to A 9-1-1 OPERATOR, THE
 COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE AND the  vulnerable  persons'  central
 register as established by section four hundred ninety-two of this arti-
 cle and in accordance with the requirements set forth therein.
   (b)  Allegations of reportable incidents shall be reported immediately
 to A 9-1-1 OPERATOR, THE  COUNTY  DISTRICT  ATTORNEY'S  OFFICE  AND  the
 vulnerable  persons'  central  register  upon discovery. For purposes of
 this article, "discovery" occurs when the mandated reporter witnesses  a
 suspected  reportable  incident  or  when  another person, including the
 vulnerable person, comes before the mandated reporter  in  the  mandated
 reporter's  professional  or official capacity and provides the mandated
 reporter with reasonable cause to suspect that the vulnerable person has
 been subjected to a reportable incident. A report to the register  shall
 include the name, title and contact information of every person known to
 the  mandated  reporter  to  have  the  same information as the mandated
 reporter concerning the reportable incident. [Nothing in  this  subdivi-

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD01854-01-5

 S. 5406                             2

 sion  shall be construed to prohibit a mandated reporter from contacting
 or reporting to law enforcement or emergency services  before  or  after
 reporting to the vulnerable persons' central register.]
   (c) The substance or content of any psychological, psychiatric, thera-
 peutic,  clinical  or  medical reports, evaluations or like materials or
 information pertaining to the treatment of a  patient  or  client  of  a
 mandatory  reporter who reports a reportable incident of such patient or
 client pursuant to this article, must  be  provided  by  such  mandatory
 reporter upon request of the justice center for the protection of people
 with  special  needs  if  such records are essential for a full investi-
 gation of such  allegation,  notwithstanding  any  applicable  privilege
 which  would  otherwise bar the disclosure of such materials and records
 pursuant to article forty-five of the civil practice law  and  rules  or
 other  provision  of  law  except  applicable  federal law governing the
 disclosure of patient and related medical records.
   (d) Every mandated reporter is required to make a report to the regis-
 ter as outlined in paragraph (b) of  this  subdivision  unless  (i)  the
 reporter  has  actual  knowledge  that  the reportable incident has been
 reported to the register; and (ii) that the reporter has been named as a
 person with knowledge of the incident in such prior report.
   2. Any person or official required to report allegations of reportable
 incidents pursuant to this section may take or cause to be  taken  color
 photographs  of  visible  trauma  and  the face of the vulnerable person
 named in the report and upon the  consent  of  a  person  authorized  to
 consent  to  medical care for the vulnerable person, shall, if medically
 indicated, cause to be  performed  a  radiological  examination  of  the
 vulnerable  person.  Any  photographs or radiological examinations taken
 shall be provided to the justice center for use only for the purposes of
 an investigation of a reportable incident.
   3. (a) Any human services professional required  by  this  article  to
 report  a  case  of  suspected abuse or neglect to A 9-1-1 OPERATOR, THE
 COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE AND the  vulnerable  persons'  central
 register who knowingly and willfully fails to do so shall be guilty of a
 class [A misdemeanor] E FELONY.
   (b)  A mandated reporter who knowingly and willfully fails to report a
 case of suspected abuse or neglect  to  A  9-1-1  OPERATOR,  THE  COUNTY
 DISTRICT  ATTORNEY'S OFFICE AND the vulnerable persons' central register
 may be subject to termination,  subject  to  any  applicable  collective
 bargaining agreement. Any person or official required by this article to
 report  a  case  of  suspected abuse or neglect to A 9-1-1 OPERATOR, THE
 COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE AND the  vulnerable  persons'  central
 register  who  knowingly  and  willfully fails to do so shall be civilly
 liable for the damages proximately caused by such failure.
   4. A medical or other public or  private  institution,  state  agency,
 school,  facility or provider agency or its vendors or contractors shall
 not take any retaliatory personnel action, as such term  is  defined  in
 paragraph  (e)  of subdivision one of section seven hundred forty of the
 labor law, against an employee or agent or vendor or contractor  because
 such employee or agent or vendor or contractor believes that [he or she]
 SUCH PERSON has reasonable cause to suspect that a vulnerable person has
 been  subjected  to  a reportable incident and that employee or agent or
 vendor or contractor therefore makes a report in  accordance  with  this
 section  and/or  cooperated with the investigation of a reportable inci-
 dent. A court of competent jurisdiction may grant injunctive  relief  to
 any person determined to have been subjected to such retaliation.
 S. 5406                             3
 
   5.  State  oversight  agencies  shall  ensure  that  all facilities or
 provider agencies operated, licensed, or certified by such  state  over-
 sight  agencies  have  policies  and procedures in place to identify and
 report possible crimes against a service recipient by a custodian. State
 oversight  agencies  shall  provide  guidance  to facilities or provider
 agencies operated, licensed, or certified by such state oversight  agen-
 cies  that do not already have policies and procedures for the identifi-
 cation and reporting of possible crimes.
   6. ALL STATE AND  PRIVATE  AGENCIES  WITH  MANDATORY  REPORTERS  SHALL
 RETRAIN  ALL  STAFF  ON  REPORTING  TO  A  9-1-1 OPERATOR AND THE COUNTY
 DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE AND ALL STATE AND PRIVATE WEBSITES,  TRAINING
 MANUALS,  INFORMATIONAL BROCHURES OR PAMPHLETS DIRECTING REPORTING SHALL
 STATE THAT SUCH INSTANCES BE REPORTED TO A 9-1-1 OPERATOR AND THE COUNTY
 DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE. ALL FORMER POSTERS AND WALLET CARDS AND  ANY
 OTHER  INFORMATION  DIRECTING REPORTING OF CRIMES AND EMERGENCIES TO THE
 JUSTICE CENTER SHALL BE REMOVED AND REPLACED BY 9-1-1 REPORTING POSTERS,
 WALLET CARDS AND ALL OTHER SOURCES THAT SHALL BE  LOCATED  CONSPICUOUSLY
 IN A TIMELY MANNER.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

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Senate Bill S5406

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Sponsored By

Pete Harckham