STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1479 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 10, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. WEPRIN -- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Operations AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to requiring counties to maintain a confidential registry of people of all ages with disabili- ties for evacuation and sheltering during disasters The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 23-a of the executive law, as added by chapter 658 2 of the laws of 1996, is amended to read as follows: 3 § 23-a. [County] Confidential county registry of [disabled persons] 4 people of all ages with disabilities, as that term is defined in subdi- 5 vision twenty-one of section two hundred ninety-two of this chapter; 6 notice. 1. In each county having a local [disaster preparedness] 7 comprehensive emergency management plan pursuant to section twenty-three 8 of this article, in order to meet the special needs of persons of all 9 ages with disabilities who would need assistance during evacuations and 10 sheltering because of physical or mental [handicaps] disabilities, it 11 [is recommended] shall be required that each chief executive maintain a 12 confidential registry of [disabled persons] people of all ages with 13 disabilities located within the county. People of all ages with disa- 14 bilities shall be given the option to be included in the registry. The 15 [registration] registry shall identify those persons in need of assist- 16 ance and plan for resource allocation to meet those identified needs. 17 To assist the chief executive in identifying such persons, the county 18 department of health, [or] and the county department of social services, 19 the county department of mental health, such other county department or 20 agency as designated by the chief executive, shall provide [voluntary] 21 information about the registry and the registration [information] proc- 22 ess to all of its [special needs clients] consumers of all ages with 23 disabilities and to all incoming [clients] consumers as part of the 24 intake process. The registry shall be updated annually. The registra- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD03518-01-5
A. 1479 2 1 tion program shall give [disabled persons] such people of all ages with 2 disabilities the option of pre-authorizing emergency response personnel 3 to enter their homes during search and rescue operations if necessary to 4 assure their safety and welfare during disasters. 5 2. Upon the establishment of a [voluntary] confidential registry of 6 [disabled persons] people of all ages with disabilities as provided in 7 subdivision one of this section, the chief executive shall make such 8 registry available to the appropriate county, state and federal agencies 9 for their use in delivering services in the event of a local or state 10 disaster. The chief executive shall, upon [the] request [of the state 11 emergency management office], provide such registry information to 12 [such] the state emergency management office, provided that the confi- 13 dentiality of such information is preserved. The chief executive may, 14 at [his] such chief executive's discretion, use the registry information 15 for local disaster preparedness [only] in coordination with other poli- 16 tical subdivisions of the state, provided that the confidentiality of 17 such information is preserved. 18 3. Upon the establishment of a [voluntary] confidential registry of 19 [disabled persons] people of all ages with disabilities as provided in 20 subdivision one of this section, [at least semi-annually,] each chief 21 executive shall annually cause to be published in a newspaper of general 22 circulation within the county a notice of the availability of the 23 [voluntary] registration program and each chief executive shall, in such 24 chief executive's discretion, also provide information about the regis- 25 try and the registration process to other forms of media, and shall 26 further ensure that information about the registry and the registration 27 process is available on the website of such county. 28 4. All records, data, information, correspondence and communications 29 relating to the registration of [disabled persons] people of all ages 30 with disabilities as provided in subdivision one of this section are 31 confidential, except that such information shall be available to other 32 county chief executives for local disaster preparedness only as the 33 chief executive of the county maintaining such registry deems necessary. 34 Provided, however, the individual file of a person having registered 35 with the confidential registry of [disabled persons] people of all ages 36 with disabilities shall be made available to that person upon request. 37 5. All community-based services providers, including home health care 38 providers, shall assist the chief executive by collecting confidential 39 registration information for people [with special needs] of all ages 40 with disabilities who choose to provide such information as part of 41 program intake processes, establishing programs to increase the aware- 42 ness of the registration process, and educating [clients] consumers 43 about the procedures that may be necessary for their safety during 44 disasters. 45 6. A county shall not be liable for any claim based upon the reason- 46 able, good faith exercise or performance or the reasonable, good faith 47 failure to exercise or perform a function or duty on the part of any 48 officer or employee in carrying out a local disaster preparedness plan. 49 § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed- 50 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.