Update from Assemblywoman Amy Paulin

Assemblywoman Amy Paulin (D-88) reports that the 2011 legislative session was for her, one of the most successful. Working in a bipartisan manner, Paulin was able to get many of her bill’s passed and she ranked fourth out of 150 in the number of her bills that passed both the State Assembly and State Senate. To date, Governor Cuomo has signed thirteen of her bills into law.

As a result, Paulin was named Chair of the Assembly’s Committee on Children and Families. Paulin’s 2011 bills reflect her new leadership role and her advocacy for students, seniors, and vulnerable populations. Some of Paulin’s bills that were signed into law this session include:

Adult Protective Services Record Sharing

The death earlier this year of 23-year old Laura Cummings, a mentally disabled woman who was held captive, tortured and brutalized by her own mother and half-brother, brought to light the tragic consequences that can occur when one state agency lacks access to critical information possessed by another state agency. Paulin’s law (Ch. 440 of 2011) will give adult protective services access to child protective services records to better enable them to determine whether a person is in need of adult protective services.

SUNY Purchase

Legislation was passed to allow SUNY Purchase to lease unused land on its campus to create a senior learning community. As many as 385 units may be constructed and 20% of the units will be designated affordable housing. Westchester County residents will be given priority for half of those units. 75% of the revenues generated by the lease will fund financial aid to qualified students while the remaining 25% will support the addition of full-time faculty positions at the university.

Early Intervention

Paulin’s bill gives counties a measure of critically needed mandate relief. Although state law requires commercial health insurers to contribute to the cost of early intervention services provided to children covered under their policies, private insurers pay only 2% of costs of the $654 million early intervention program. The failure by insurers to pay their share of the costs of early intervention services has placed an increasingly undue burden on municipalities. With this new law, municipalities will be better equipped to improve efficiencies in seeking reimbursement from insurers.

Immunizations

Paulin wrote a new law (Ch. 316 of 2011) that extends the law she authored that allows licensed pharmacists to administer flu and pneumonia shots to adults. Without this extension, adults would not be able to obtain flu and pneumonia shots in pharmacies or at other community facilities. Prior to the law, between 5,000 and 7,500 New Yorkers died annually from these diseases, and more than 75,000 treated in hospitals for flu-like symptoms. With the law, more than one million shots were administered in the past year. By allowing pharmacists to administer these vaccinations, the State will make healthcare more accessible to all New Yorkers and be better able to respond to a future flu pandemic.

Constituents can keep up with news and announcements on Paulin’s official Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/assemblywomanpaulin and follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/amypaulin .