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N.Y. Senate orders Department of Health report on hospital closures and approves multiple bills
Summary
The New York State Senate on Feb. 25, 2025, approved a bill directing the Department of Health to report on the impact of hospital closures and passed a package of bills amending environmental, public health, penal and education laws and other measures, with roll-call results recorded on the floor.
The New York State Senate on Feb. 25, 2025, approved legislation directing the Department of Health to compile public data on the impact of hospital closures and passed a slate of other measures, senators announced on the floor.
Senator Gonzales, sponsor of the hospital-closure reporting bill (Senate Print 2633), told colleagues the measure aims to make data on community health care access public and to give the Department of Health authority to identify “distressed health care zones” that could be prioritized for funding. “New York's health care system is in crisis,” Gonzales said on the floor, citing recent and historic hospital closures. She said Mount Sinai Beth Israel had announced a March 26 closure and added that better data would clarify “what the impact will be on nearby hospitals and certainly on the communities that are involved.” Gonzales concluded, “I vote enthusiastically in the affirmative.”
The bill Gonzales sponsored directs the Department of Health to complete a report on the impact of hospital closures on health care access in New York State and to make information on community health care access publicly available; the bill text as read on the floor states the measure takes effect immediately. The Senate recorded the roll call and the bill passed with a roll call result recorded on the floor.
Votes at a glance (selected floor actions announced during the session):
- Title 117, Senate Print 678 (by Senator Martinez) — An act to amend the Environmental Conservation Law. Section reported to take effect on the thirtieth day; roll call announced: Ayes, 61. The bill was passed.
- Title 126, Senate Print 555 (by Senator Kroger) — An act to amend the Public Health Law. Section reported to take effect immediately; roll call announced: Ayes, 61. The bill was passed.
- Calendar 176, Senate Print 524 (by Senator Mayer) — An act to amend the Penal Law. Section reported to take effect immediately; roll call recorded: Ayes 59, Nays 2 (Senators Brissport and Scoofus). The bill was passed.
- Calendar 224, Senate Print 553 (by Senator Lu) — An act to amend the Education Law. Section reported to take effect immediately; roll call announced: Ayes, 61. The bill was passed.
- Calendar 225, Senate Print 620 (by Senator Stavisky) — An act to amend the Education Law. Section reported to take effect immediately; roll call announced: Ayes, 61. The bill was passed.
- Calendar 237, Senate Print 315 (by Senator Scoopis) — An act to amend the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law. Section reported to take effect immediately; roll call announced: Ayes, 61. The bill was passed.
- Calendar 298, Senate Print 936 (by Senator Gonzales) — Described on the floor as directing a state agency telework report; section reported to take effect immediately. When Senator Gonzales explained her vote for a related matter on the floor, the roll call for this numbered calendar item was announced as: Ayes 57, Nays 4 (Senators Grifold, Ort, Walsick and White). The bill was passed.
- Calendar 302, Senate Print 1284 (by sponsor listed on the calendar) — Enactment amending the Vehicle and Traffic Law; text read that Section 6 takes effect one year after becoming law; roll call announced: Ayes, 61. The bill was passed.
The session also included additional calendar items read and adopted by roll call. Where the floor transcript recorded individual senators voting in the negative, those names are recorded above exactly as they were read on the floor. Several other calendar items were read and approved without floor debate; the journal and routine messages were approved earlier in the session.
The Senate adjourned with a motion to meet again on Monday, March 3, at 3 p.m., with the intervening days to be legislative days.
Ending: The floor statements and roll-call results above reflect the measures read and passed during the day’s session as recorded in the Senate transcript. Where senators provided brief explanations for their votes, those remarks are reported verbatim and attributed to the named senator.
