New York A 1676: Relates to the commissioner of corrections and community supervision's heat mitigation plan for correctional facilities

Bill Text

STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          1676
                               2025-2026 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                    January 10, 2025
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by M. of A. BURDICK -- read once and referred to the Commit-
          tee on Correction
        AN ACT to amend the correction law, in relation to the  commissioner  of
          corrections  and  community  supervision's  heat  mitigation  plan for
          correctional facilities
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section  1.  Subdivision  6  of  section 112 of the correction law, as
     2  added by a chapter of the laws  of  2024  amending  the  correction  law
     3  relating  to  establishing an annual heat mitigation plan; and directing
     4  the extreme heat action plan work group of the  department  of  environ-
     5  mental conservation to analyze the impact of extreme heat on incarcerat-
     6  ed individuals and people working in prisons, as proposed in legislative
     7  bills numbers S. 7781-A and A. 9169-A, is amended to read as follows:
     8    6.  (a)  The  commissioner  shall  promulgate rules and regulations to
     9  establish and maintain an annual heat mitigation plan to  ensure  incar-
    10  cerated  individuals and correctional facility staff have options avail-
    11  able to stay cool, hydrated and safe during high heat temperatures. Such
    12  plan shall include, to the extent possible:
    13    (i) access to industrial fans, water, ice, and  additional  access  to
    14  showers;
    15    (ii) commissaries fully stocked with personal fans prior to the begin-
    16  ning of summer;
    17    (iii) monitoring temperatures in housing, program and industry areas;
    18    (iv)  maintaining  a list of incarcerated individuals and correctional
    19  facility staff []  medical conditions that  make  them  morewithwho have
    20  susceptible to heat and monitor their well-being;
    21    (v) increased rounds and wellness checks; and
    22    (vi)  providing shade on exercise yards if consistent with the facili-
    23  .ty's safety and security protocols
         EXPLANATION--Matter in  (underscored) is new; matter in bracketsitalics
                              [] is old law to be omitted. 
                                                                   LBD02905-01-5

        A. 1676                             2
     1    (b) The commissioner, as part of  such  heat  mitigation  plan,  shall
     2  [] develop a timeline to establishevaluate the financial and operational
     3    cooling stations [feasibility  of  establishingand provide evaporative
     4  ]  each  facilityfans toand a permanent sustainable cooling solution at,
     5  provided that upon a determination or finding that a permanent sustaina-
     6  ble  cooling  solution  is  feasible  in each facility, the commissioner
     7  .shall develop a timeline to implement the findings of such evaluation
     8    § 2. This act shall take effect on the  same  date  and  in  the  same
     9  manner  as  a  chapter  of  the laws of 2024 amending the correction law
    10  relating to establishing an annual heat mitigation plan;  and  directing
    11  the  extreme  heat  action plan work group of the department of environ-
    12  mental conservation to analyze the impact of extreme heat on incarcerat-
    13  ed individuals and people working in prisons, as proposed in legislative
    14  bills numbers S. 7781-A and A. 9169-A, takes effect.