A 1149: Requires the New York State Office of Mental Health to study the effects that awareness of or exposure to police shootings or killings of unarmed African Americans has on the mental health of African Americans in New York state and to deliver a finding of the results of such study to the governor and the legislative leaders.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1149 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY January 9, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. SIMON, GLICK, TAYLOR, CUNNINGHAM, COOK, REYES, SHIMSKY -- read once and referred to the Committee on Mental Health AN ACT to require the New York State Office of Mental Health to study the effects that awareness of or exposure to police shootings or kill- ings of unarmed African Americans has on the mental health of African Americans in New York state and to deliver a finding of the results of such study to the governor and the legislative leaders The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. 1. The New York State Office of Mental Health shall conduct 2 a study of the effects that awareness of or exposure to police shootings 3 or killings of unarmed African Americans has on the mental health of 4 African Americans in New York state. The study shall: 5 (a) identify the mental health risks and harm that awareness of or 6 exposure to police shootings or killings of unarmed African Americans 7 has on the self-reported mental health of adults in the state; 8 (b) compare the differences between the self-reported mental health of 9 African Americans aware of or exposed to such shootings or killings with 10 the self-reported mental health of other ethnic or racial groups aware 11 of or exposed to such shootings or killings, including but not limited 12 to Hispanic or Latino, Black, White, Asian or Pacific Islander groups; 13 (c) in assessing such harm or risks, utilize data from the Centers of 14 Disease Control, the Prevention Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance 15 System (PBRFSS), and the Mapping Police Violence (MPV); database 16 (d) contain recommendations as to how to increase accessibility and 17 affordability of mental health professionals for racial and ethnic 18 minorities, including African Americans; and 19 (e) contain recommendations as to how to decrease stigma, if any, of 20 mental health and mental health treatment in racial and ethnic minority, 21 including African American, communities. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD02828-01-5 
 A. 1149 2 1 2. No later than January 1, 2026 the New York State Office of Mental 2 Health shall prepare and submit to the governor, the temporary president 3 of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the minority leader of the 4 senate and the minority leader of the assembly, a report containing the 5 study's findings and recommendation for legislative or other actions 6 that can be undertaken to address the mental health risks and harm iden- 7 tified by the study. 8 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.